Every game comes with glitches and isn't perfect BUT I'm having a hard time justifying the amount of glitches that are in NH. This game started over 7 years ago when NL was introduced so that gave the developers over 7 years to make a game which is plenty of time to hash out glitches and make content for the game. I'm just so tired of all these glitches that came with the game not to mention I don't understand why people are justifying it when there is no excuse for all these glitches in the game.
Thoughts on the amount of glitches in this game?
- Thread starter Jared:3
- Start date
The release date delay should be enough of an indicator that the game was short for time in development and thus likely effected stress testing.
With that said, game glitches / bugs are something that plagues console games because it's so heavily client sided. Additionally, the game has reached a level of popularity that's never been seen due to recent events that more than likely attributes to how fast and widespread some of these seemingly random abuse methods are being duplicated.
I understand the frustration entirely, but I also think we need to consider the proper context of how this is all going down. Is it an excuse? Probably not. But I feel Nintendo has been quick to try and patch up the duplication glitches.
With that said, game glitches / bugs are something that plagues console games because it's so heavily client sided. Additionally, the game has reached a level of popularity that's never been seen due to recent events that more than likely attributes to how fast and widespread some of these seemingly random abuse methods are being duplicated.
I understand the frustration entirely, but I also think we need to consider the proper context of how this is all going down. Is it an excuse? Probably not. But I feel Nintendo has been quick to try and patch up the duplication glitches.
BipolarBear
Literally insane
There might not be an excuse but it shouldn't affect a majority of the player base unless you are heavily invested in online trade. And even then, people are absolutely going to take advantage of any form of save-data scumming and other forms of manipulating game data.
Miss Misty
Senior Member
All games have glitches. Literally pick any game and go watch a speedrun. Glitch after glitch after glitch, many of them you've probably never heard of and are pulled off by doing things you'd never think to try.
To be honest I'm more impressed (and you should be too) that the majority of glitches in ACNH are things the players can exploit for their benefit rather than game-breaking glitches that corrupt save files or even brick Switches. Plenty of $60 AAA titles with save-destroying, console-compomising glitches are released every year.
To be honest I'm more impressed (and you should be too) that the majority of glitches in ACNH are things the players can exploit for their benefit rather than game-breaking glitches that corrupt save files or even brick Switches. Plenty of $60 AAA titles with save-destroying, console-compomising glitches are released every year.
Any software will have glitches, games included. Even with a QA team a lot of glitches will get through and seen by the public, especially if you have a player base that actively tries to break the game for their benefit (see: duping). I do agree some of the glitches so far have been pretty bad, like the amiibo move out glitch, since that was happening with the "happy path" case. But usually code is really spaghetti behind the scenes and especially with games you get a lot of weird issues. There's a lot of functionality that can cross paths in odd ways.
They were obviously strapped for time since they delayed the initial release. It could have been possible they didn't have time for regression testing (which is a comprehensive test of all aspects of the game after they've written new code - to ensure that they didn't break any old stuff). But obviously as outsiders we can't know that. It's good to see them fixing stuff quickly though, and as a software developer I can definitely empathise with them. Some of the glitches seem like a coding nightmare to fix lol
They were obviously strapped for time since they delayed the initial release. It could have been possible they didn't have time for regression testing (which is a comprehensive test of all aspects of the game after they've written new code - to ensure that they didn't break any old stuff). But obviously as outsiders we can't know that. It's good to see them fixing stuff quickly though, and as a software developer I can definitely empathise with them. Some of the glitches seem like a coding nightmare to fix lol
I jumped into New Leaf late in the game, so I don't know if had many glitches and such.
But I do feel like despite the time they had to make NH, the amount of glitches isn't too awful, I've seen much, much worse in other games. My main issues are the glitches that are actually breaking people's games (such as the leaving with - feature). It seems nintendo has been -decent- (but not great) about trying to fix them, like fixing the 300 balloon glitch and the 'I've moved out' glitch.
But the duping glitches that seem one after another...I'm not sure how that kept slipping though, but again, the devs can't figure out every little thing a regular player might. There are people out there who will find and exploit glitches in any manner possible that a dev may not even think of. All they can do is try to patch it.
But I do feel like despite the time they had to make NH, the amount of glitches isn't too awful, I've seen much, much worse in other games. My main issues are the glitches that are actually breaking people's games (such as the leaving with - feature). It seems nintendo has been -decent- (but not great) about trying to fix them, like fixing the 300 balloon glitch and the 'I've moved out' glitch.
But the duping glitches that seem one after another...I'm not sure how that kept slipping though, but again, the devs can't figure out every little thing a regular player might. There are people out there who will find and exploit glitches in any manner possible that a dev may not even think of. All they can do is try to patch it.
What I think, this game has so many new content and kind of exceeds what other similar type of games hold, that there's bound to be bugs.
I'm only a 3D modeler but when I come across a bug (I'm used to calling them bugs than glitches), it just seems that it was overlooked or it was so minor. QA testers are trying to break the game constantly before it gets released. Sometimes game studios will pay people to playtest their product (don't know if Nintendo does this)
I'm thinking QA testers are looking for big bugs like oops the character fell through the world. Oh I got stuck on that corner.
So when you have these dupers, they're breaking the game in a different way than the character collider getting stuck, etc.
The dupe glitch, I was trying to figure it out. The gist of it, is it basically breaks the item collision while in the editor (placement editor?) I can't even imagine what that code looks like for the editor. There's bound to bugs within that. No doubt.
The game design pipeline is not an easy task.
happens. It's terrible when some breaks and you're just like wtf, when it worked perfectly 5 mins ago.
And so these dupers are constantly on the hunt for cheatsy ways. This is what they do. This is their lives in some way. If the bug gets patched, they're on the move for something else. They are tunnel visioned compared to QA testers who are bug generalists.
That's my basic defense.
I'm sure Nintendo is aware that these people exist. Maybe they didn't expect them to move so fast, like who knows.
I'm only a 3D modeler but when I come across a bug (I'm used to calling them bugs than glitches), it just seems that it was overlooked or it was so minor. QA testers are trying to break the game constantly before it gets released. Sometimes game studios will pay people to playtest their product (don't know if Nintendo does this)
I'm thinking QA testers are looking for big bugs like oops the character fell through the world. Oh I got stuck on that corner.
So when you have these dupers, they're breaking the game in a different way than the character collider getting stuck, etc.
The dupe glitch, I was trying to figure it out. The gist of it, is it basically breaks the item collision while in the editor (placement editor?) I can't even imagine what that code looks like for the editor. There's bound to bugs within that. No doubt.
The game design pipeline is not an easy task.
happens. It's terrible when some breaks and you're just like wtf, when it worked perfectly 5 mins ago.And so these dupers are constantly on the hunt for cheatsy ways. This is what they do. This is their lives in some way. If the bug gets patched, they're on the move for something else. They are tunnel visioned compared to QA testers who are bug generalists.
That's my basic defense.
I'm sure Nintendo is aware that these people exist. Maybe they didn't expect them to move so fast, like who knows.
I'm totally with you, OP. It's unprecedented to have this many big, gamebreaking bugs at release for a mainstream Nintendo game. Do I love NH? Absolutely. Do I think the team at Nintendo is working as hard as they can to iron out the bugs and give us a great experience? Again, absolutely. But to me this shows that something went seriously wrong in the development process of this game. All games have bugs, including Nintendo games, but I've never heard of a big Nintendo title like this having so many big and easy-to-encounter glitches with basic features, such as villager move ins. Or leaving by minus occasionally wiping people's save data.
It's clearly a big, ambitious game with a lot of new and complicated features. As someone who's about to earn their bachelor's in Computer Science, though, it is obvious to me that this game did not get the level of playtesting it needed. Possibly they were on a time crunch and decided to release it without reaching the typical standard of playtesting, rather than delay it yet again, especially with the state of the world. Personally, I think that was a valid choice and I respect all the work they're doing to patch things, but we're still allowed to complain about the number of glitches in the game.
(And to those asking: yes, New Leaf had glitches too, but nothing this major except possibly the net glitch)
It's clearly a big, ambitious game with a lot of new and complicated features. As someone who's about to earn their bachelor's in Computer Science, though, it is obvious to me that this game did not get the level of playtesting it needed. Possibly they were on a time crunch and decided to release it without reaching the typical standard of playtesting, rather than delay it yet again, especially with the state of the world. Personally, I think that was a valid choice and I respect all the work they're doing to patch things, but we're still allowed to complain about the number of glitches in the game.
(And to those asking: yes, New Leaf had glitches too, but nothing this major except possibly the net glitch)
DJStarstryker
Senior Member
They weren't working on the game for the full 7 years. This is the same team that worked on Splatoon and Splatoon 2.
voltairenism
the mac propaganda representative
Game breaking glitches are not found by coincidence. People see an oportunity and try to break the game (at least for duping). That's how optimizing glitches for speedruns are found. There are a lot of tools to look into the games code and overall people have better understanding of how games work. I think if New Leaf was released now adays, exactly like it was, there would be as many glitches.
LuchaSloth
Sloth
Honestly...this game is not "glitch-riddled" in the least. It's a very solid game.
Heck...I've watched people intentionally try to make certain glitches work...and they had to try REALLY hard in order to do so. Like...the glitch that lets you walk onto the ocean...I watched a youtuber try for hours to make that actually happen (the video was edited down to 20 mins or something...but, he said it took him hours of trying). It's certainly not something that would ever happen by accident or happenstance. Truly "bad" glitches happen in the course of normal gameplay...and in my experience, I haven't really seen any of those for New Horizons...
Heck...I've watched people intentionally try to make certain glitches work...and they had to try REALLY hard in order to do so. Like...the glitch that lets you walk onto the ocean...I watched a youtuber try for hours to make that actually happen (the video was edited down to 20 mins or something...but, he said it took him hours of trying). It's certainly not something that would ever happen by accident or happenstance. Truly "bad" glitches happen in the course of normal gameplay...and in my experience, I haven't really seen any of those for New Horizons...
I dont think the game is glitch riddled at all... I mean yes their are people duping items. But Didn't new leaf at one point be competely hackable? Its a very fun game even though I just got day or two ago and I enjoy it.
Playing normally I haven't encountered any glitches you would find in like a Bethesda game. Haven't fallen through the ground, been catapulted into the sky, or seen dragons defy the laws of physics. But there have been multiple duping glitches in ACNH made public knowledge in rapid succession, yes. That most normal people would never encounter naturally.
The game has a few million players at this point. People are going to find glitches! but during normal play, you probably won't see many of those.
For the amount of interactions in this game, they actually did a very solid job this time around!
Additional rant: people are way too quick on shouting "Omg, a glitch!", I've seen. Threads like "I haven't seen [insert entirely random event or visitor] in two weeks!!!" and "My campsite villager won't move into my town (simply because they have no plot available)!" are way too common.
For the amount of interactions in this game, they actually did a very solid job this time around!
Additional rant: people are way too quick on shouting "Omg, a glitch!", I've seen. Threads like "I haven't seen [insert entirely random event or visitor] in two weeks!!!" and "My campsite villager won't move into my town (simply because they have no plot available)!" are way too common.
AC-Kristin
Senior Member
i haven't personally noticed any.
Morningowl
Crose from Kiwi Isle
I haven’t encountered any glitches/bugs as far as I know. Mostly because I don’t participate in Villager trading(so I dodged that mess) and I don’t go seeking out glitches/bugs. Yes it can be ridiculous and I do feel bad for anyone who is affected unless you purposely glitched it. As mention in another post, I don’t think it as numerous as people are saying it is because people post numerous threads about the same glitch and/or people are quick to make a thread about a glitch that turns out not to be one. Sadly I have seem more stories about people accidentally deleting their save or have an ass of a sibling that delete it then game breaking glitches 
i've seen some really glitchy games in my time....NH is quite well-polished. of course it has glitches - most games do. hell, if you push a game hard enough, any game will have glitches. and there are glitches that simply will not reveal themselves until the game is released and millions of people are playing.
kiwikenobi
GONE FROM TBT
I didn't hear about this many glitches when New Leaf came out. New Leaf felt more solid, more finished, with fewer glitches. However, it also almost never got patched. I got the game on launch day, and I remember it getting updated maybe twice in its lifetime, and that includes the Welcome Amiibo update. But there was a duping glitch in New Leaf, and people did use it a lot, and as far as I know, it never got fully removed. So people just kept using that one glitch.
New Horizons is officially unfinished. Nintendo is still creating new content to add to it. They also keep updating it quite frequently, patching out glitches as they go.
I think the reason there are "so many" glitches at least for item duping in New Horizons is that Nintendo keeps patching out the old ones, so people who want to dupe things keep looking and looking until they find a new way to do it. If New Leaf had its duping glitch patched completely out, dupers probably would have kept looking until they found another way. And if Nintendo patched that away, they would have kept trying until they found another one. There will always be glitches in all games, just they won't all be discovered unless people have a reason to look for them.
That said, the number of glitches involving villager moving behaving very badly and save files getting corrupted seems to be distressingly high in New Horizons compared to New Leaf. I don't know if it's because they rushed the game out or what, but it's worrisome to me.
New Horizons is officially unfinished. Nintendo is still creating new content to add to it. They also keep updating it quite frequently, patching out glitches as they go.
I think the reason there are "so many" glitches at least for item duping in New Horizons is that Nintendo keeps patching out the old ones, so people who want to dupe things keep looking and looking until they find a new way to do it. If New Leaf had its duping glitch patched completely out, dupers probably would have kept looking until they found another way. And if Nintendo patched that away, they would have kept trying until they found another one. There will always be glitches in all games, just they won't all be discovered unless people have a reason to look for them.
That said, the number of glitches involving villager moving behaving very badly and save files getting corrupted seems to be distressingly high in New Horizons compared to New Leaf. I don't know if it's because they rushed the game out or what, but it's worrisome to me.
brockbrock
♬ jeg har ikke lyst til at dø ♬
I feel that a lot of anxiety, worry and frustration felt over the glitches wouldn't be as much of an issue as it is if we could have a save file backup of any kind. As it stands now we're kind of at the mercy of our files not getting corrupted, or not having a villager glitch (back when those were happening) and praying Nintendo fixes it (because it's never a guarantee and I know those few weeks for the people who experienced them went by agonizing slow not to mention several people restarted their entire save file because of it).
It's certainly stressful to hear people losing all of their hard work and nothing being done about. Nintendo says they're working on something, but that doesn't help the people who have already lost their islands.
As for the glitches themselves, I definitely don't recall there being so many when New Leaf came out, but it was more or less a finished product. As New Horizons certainly isn't and the focus from the developer is a continuous stream of additional content, it seems to be to be a different situation this time. Maybe the developers were rushed, but that's certainly not a unique situation. I think also with so many new, unexpected players getting Animal Crossing for the first time, the chances of discovering glitches are higher just because the pool of people who have the game is much larger.
It's certainly stressful to hear people losing all of their hard work and nothing being done about. Nintendo says they're working on something, but that doesn't help the people who have already lost their islands.
As for the glitches themselves, I definitely don't recall there being so many when New Leaf came out, but it was more or less a finished product. As New Horizons certainly isn't and the focus from the developer is a continuous stream of additional content, it seems to be to be a different situation this time. Maybe the developers were rushed, but that's certainly not a unique situation. I think also with so many new, unexpected players getting Animal Crossing for the first time, the chances of discovering glitches are higher just because the pool of people who have the game is much larger.
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