Question about dialogue in the series...

[BadWolfBandit]

So I'm new to animal crossing with new horizons, and one of the complaints I see is the dialogue.

So I went back to new leaf to compare... And I think the dialogue is significantly worse in New Leaf. It's a great game, don't get me wrong! But dialogue is 100x more repetitive in New Leaf (I had Mint say the exact same thing to me 5 times in a row before saying something different the 6th time finally)... And everyone just seems bland? I can't tell who is what personality because everyone is just.... Nice. They're boring.. every conversation ends like 4 dialogue boxes too early.

I laugh at a lot of dialogue in new horizons... But I haven't even really smiled at anything in new leaf villager wise. Special characters are a different story. Lyle, redd, shrunk are all funny. Isabelle is sweet. Nook is boring... But special NPCs seem well written as a whole in NL.

I guess I'm just confused. I'm not trying to be hostile to NL. I'm enjoying myself. The mini game island is great (take notes, nh), and it's been cool seeing the classic furniture everyone misses (I need ranch and astro in NH!). But everyone is so harsh on NH dialogue... When it's a huge step up from NL imo. It's not even really close...

Is there a better game to check out to see the dialogue high point of the series? The only game I'd have some trouble getting is city folk.

 

[kiwikenobi]

I suppose it depends on what kind of dialogue you like. The original Gamecube Animal Crossing villagers are notoriously rude, in a humorous way. Gamecube Resetti is actually kind of terrifying, also in a humorous way. For people who liked that humor, seeing the series moving away from that was disappointing. For people who maybe didn't like that tone as much, and wanted something more relaxed and pleasant, the future games were an improvement.

I personally don't feel any different about the dialogue in New Horizons compared to New Leaf. I like them both. Then again, it's been a few years since I played New Leaf. Maybe if I compared them both side by side at the same time, I'd notice a difference and feel more strongly about one over the other. But just from my own memories of playing New Leaf for several years nonstop, compared to my current experience with New Horizons, I feel like I'm enjoying them both about the same. The villagers wind up endearing themselves to me one way or antoher in both games.

But that's just my opinion, of course. I'm sure other people feel differently about it. And that's what it all gets down to, really. Personal preferences. If you're really curious about the dialogue in previous games that you don't currently have access to, you might try looking at videos of people playing the games on Youtube or somewhere similar. There are tons of videos of people playing all of the Animal Crossing games.

 

[Rosch]

I agree that the dialogue in this game is better overall. I think the problem lies on the fact that some of the personalities felt so stereotypical, such as lazies mostly talking about bugs and food, meanwhile jocks are turned into complete muscleheads.

Another problem is the repetitiveness. One major complaint were the dialogue they say when you first talk to them for the day, which seem to be only chosen from a pool of 4-5 text strings. However, only when you talk to them multiple times they say something new and interesting.

 

[BadWolfBandit]

I suppose it depends on what kind of dialogue you like. The original Gamecube Animal Crossing villagers are notoriously rude, in a humorous way. Gamecube Resetti is actually kind of terrifying, also in a humorous way. For people who liked that humor, seeing the series moving away from that was disappointing. For people who maybe didn't like that tone as much, and wanted something more relaxed and pleasant, the future games were an improvement.

I personally don't feel any different about the dialogue in New Horizons compared to New Leaf. I like them both. Then again, it's been a few years since I played New Leaf. Maybe if I compared them both side by side at the same time, I'd notice a difference and feel more strongly about one over the other. But just from my own memories of playing New Leaf for several years nonstop, compared to my current experience with New Horizons, I feel like I'm enjoying them both about the same. The villagers wind up endearing themselves to me one way or antoher in both games.

But that's just my opinion, of course. I'm sure other people feel differently about it. And that's what it all gets down to, really. Personal preferences. If you're really curious about the dialogue in previous games that you don't currently have access to, you might try looking at videos of people playing the games on Youtube or somewhere similar. There are tons of videos of people playing all of the Animal Crossing games.

Watching others play the other games is a really good idea actually! I imagine the earlier ones have less features to play through, so a let's play is interesting!

I'm curious about rude, terrifying villagers now. That sounds memorable at least. I don't know which style I'd prefer.

Post automatically merged: Oct 9, 2021

I agree that the dialogue in this game is better overall. I think the problem lies on the fact that some of the personalities felt so stereotypical, such as lazies mostly talking about bugs and food, meanwhile jocks are turned into complete muscleheads.

Another problem is the repetitiveness. One major complaint were the dialogue they say when you first talk to them for the day, which seem to be only chosen from a pool of 4-5 text strings. However, only when you talk to them multiple times they say something new and interesting.

I could see the complaint about some types being one note. The personalities are well defined in NH for better or worse. I was thrown by the opposite issue in NL... I had a lazy talk about exercising and it was just like... "Huh?"

I also didn't consider that my play style is part of it. I tend to talk to the same villager 10-15 times in a row. In NH, they'll say 10-15 different things. But you're right that it starts off basic. In NL doing the same thing, about half will be duplicate dialogue from the same character.

 

[Bilaz]

Oh my gosh finally someone who agrees. I have the same problem with new leaf. Seriously, the villagers saying one greeting line when you first talk to them is no big dealll.

Earlier when the game was new there was a slight problem with dialogue prioritisation where they’d comment on what you did yesterday and your outfit a lottt but that was fixed.

I agree that New Horizons dialogue is funny and entertaining and there’s a whole lot of it. In New Leaf they still give tutorial dialogue ages after starting the game, and it’s so repetitive that it’s reliable to aim for a specific line of dialogue to see who is moving.

in the Gamecube game and Wild World the villagers were more the star of the show so they heavily impacted gameplay a lot more. GC villagers had a lot more autonomy and WW villagers had hobbies which made each individual seem unique. It’s a trade off though with a lot less features in the game. I think the New Horizons villagers are the best ones since

 

[bebebese]

I also prefer NH's dialogue to NL's; they can both be repetitive but at least NH doesn't still give you tutorial dialogue hundreds of hours into the game.

To add some perspective, for quite a while NH's dialogue operated differently: villagers would have 1-3 pieces of "context dialogue" where they would comment on what the player was wearing/holding, what they did yesterday, if the player had any friends visit recently, etc. All of them would do this the first couple of times you spoke to them, and villagers get annoyed much sooner if you keep talking to them in NH, so this lead to the dialogue pool feeling ridiculously small. This got changed a few updates ago and I think the game is already much better for it.

 

[Altarium]

I agree. I've been saying this since the complaints about the New Horizons dialogue started to pop up. New Leaf made me actively dislike smug villagers because they kept comparing me to a bunch of cucumbers. Not to mention the tutorial dialogue even after 500 hours played. No thank you.

What's worse, villagers in New Leaf did absolutely nothing aside from walking around and maybe hold a bug net, fishing rod, or umbrella. In New Horizons they actually do stuff around your island, and the dialogue, while still not great, is a lot better than it was in New Leaf.

 

[Bilaz]

I just opened my new leaf game and talked to the first villager I saw a few times, Fang.
I have it on video for proof so if you know how to upload it let me know but it was
- same line about my ordinance I’ve heard since forever
- Sahara
- tutorial dialogue about retail and streetpass
- bland line about how much he likes his house
- comment on suspension bridge I’ve heard over and over
Then I stopped recording but I thought I’d see what happens if you keep talking to them
- the famous rumour dialogue line everyone uses to find out if someone is moving
- Sahara, again
- Line about having caught all fish which I’ve heard very often
- tutorial dialogue about using the lockers at the station
- the streetpass tutorial dialogue again???
then he didn’t want to talk to me anymore
:/ just saying but I think New Horizons is a vast improvement

I wrote this a while back but I don’t have the footage anymore, but still interesting

 

[Rosch]

After seeing Bilaz's post above, I've decided to do something similar in NH. The following are the topics Punchy talked about as I kept talking to him:

- common greeting
- Said that I look cool and snazzy in my 'chesterfield coat'
- Talks about the island being Halloween-y (because of many Spooky decor)
- Sky and clouds being different colors in different weather
- He wants me to call him "Prince Punchy"
- Working on new ways to say hi
- Sniffs and smells himself (because we're standing outside his house)
- The thing he's most proud of is his smell
- Wonders how my 2nd character has been because he hasn't seen him in a while

Punchy's dialogue has been exhausted at this point, so I restarted the game.

- Playing lost cave explorer before bedtime**
- HHA coming to visit tomorrow
- Mysteries in life... like mirrors
- Talks about smelling the big orange Leonardo was eating
- Can't stop yawning today (then asks for response)
- Asks if I knew about my 2nd character's favorite drink
- Asks if he looks cute on his 'holiday sweater'
- Different kinds of fall, like sportsy fall... booksy fall...
- Playing astronaut before bedtime**

**NOTE: The "playing __ before bedtime" dialogue shares the same first sentence, but different afterwards based on the activity.

Then dialogue has been exhausted again. It's surprisingly pretty varied and there isn't any talk of bugs (at least in this batch).

 

[Bilaz]

Yes the above fits my experience as well!!! It is quite varied with some really adorable lines

 

[VanitasFan26]

Okay I went back and checked all the past Animal Crossing games and here is what I think. In the original Animal Crossing and WildWorld all the villagers were very mean to you, always insulting you whenever you talk to them, and they can be really sensitive when you tell them "No" when they ask for a favor. City Folk is when the mean dialogue faded away. I mean sometimes they may say different things, but I found out that there is no "Lets Chat" option which really surprised me. It was natural the villagers were not mean nor they were too nice so I guess it was okay.

Now for New Leaf and I do have to agree with the OP that the dialogue is alot more repetitive than I thought which is a shock to me. The villagers would constantly ask you to catch a bug or fish for them whenever you talk to them, always telling you how stuff in the game works even though you already know at this point, and of course sometimes they repeat what they just said. To be quite honest I was really shocked by this. I really suspected that the villagers had more to say, but now I see what the problem is.

As for as New Horizons I will still stand by my opinion that the dialogue is still repetitive in that game, but the only difference is that unlike New Leaf the villagers barely ask for any favors and they will no longer repeat same advice you already heard, which is an improvement I will admit that. I guess there is an issue of balancing the dialogue choices of a villager of what they are going to say because the game is so RNG with how its going to pick what the villager is going to say.

For example, I was talking to Skye in New Horizons and she kept on talking about her clothing, pointing out the stuff on the island, talking about my clothes, asking me if I ever been in a villagers home, and then next one she didn't want to talk to me. You see the problem is its not the issue of what the villagers say, its how the game randomly chooses what dialogue to pick next, which makes me think the developers intended for you talk to them throughout the day and they will say different things. However the issue here is that the next day all those same conversation repeat again which is strange.

In Conclusion, the original AC and Wild World will always have the better dialogue for the villagers, because they felt realistic and had more character to them. City Folk was when all that rudeness was gone but they still had their bitter moments. New Leaf is when they really gone down hill with the dialogue and the same can be said with New Horizons. Its not the issue of what they say its how the game randomly picks it is the issue.

 

[Mutti]

If it were continuous changed dialogue i wouldnt mind as much the amount of text we get in game. but as it has not been updated since release (for the dialogue) it gets tiresome even as soon as you boot the game up, if there is no news do we really need a island hall announcement from isabelle? And if were flying for the 100th time do we need to see wilbur and orville’s continued speech on how to do stuff?

Yes its very helpful for beginners who have never played and need help geting their heads around the game but after a while the most beginner player would of grasped how to work the game and maybe a progressive phased out of the dialogue from the characters would be great in a future update