To those that restart, was it worth it?

[Hunch]

Let me first say that I am thinking of restarting, but also a bit.. scared, I guess?

New Leaf is my first AC game, so I didn't quite know what I could expect of it when I booted it up for the first time. I went with this map, which, in retrospect, is pretty awful. Whenever I want to build a new PWP, I'm struggling with putting it somewhere - because almost everything is too close to an edge, house, rock or a different obstruction. I'm getting pretty sick of it, especially when I compare it to some of the awesome layouts some of you guys seem to have. I've been playing for a while - I'm getting to the point where I can actually start scaping my village - but I'm only now realizing that my layout is pretty bad.

So now I want to reset, but there's stuff I want to move over to a new village; my silver tools, a stack of each fruit I have, a collection of furniture and clothes and possibly some hybrids.

I am aware that I could ask someone if I could drop my stuff in their town and pick it up with the new character (though I have no friends playing AC, I believe there's people here kind enough to let me do so ) - but as the 'bare necessities' are about 62 items already, I'm a bit reluctant to do so.

So, my question, to those that did start a new game after playing for a while - was it worth it? Did you find the game to be more enjoyable afterwards, or were you a bit bummed out about the stuff you lost?

 

[Chu]

I haven't restarted, in fact I hated my layout so much but still loved my town so I just bought a second game. However, that's not practical for everyone lol. In fact, it's kind of silly now I have two towns to run.
Anyway, I think if the worse thing is the pain of having to move things over (I'd be happy to help by the way, I wouldn't mind) then do it! I personally donated too much to my museum, catalogued a lot, had great villagers, love my apples, and love my grass, so I didn't want to go through all that. But moving stuff over is easy peasy you could even have someone save you a villager if you like one and want him or her to carry over.

 

[oath2order]

So, you told us what you don't like with the town.

What do you like about it?

 

[Farobi]

Omg, i have the exact same town layout as you. XP

 

[Hunch]

So, you told us what you don't like with the town.

What do you like about it?

The only things that are stopping me from restarting at this moment are my rare items, Filbert and Ozzie.

I have such little room for activities..

Omg, i have the exact same town layout as you. XP

Ahah, really? You're not losing your mind over it?

 

[Beanie]

I was in the same position as you. AC:NL was my first AC game so I kinda just chose a default map and didn't know about villagers until I started playing. By the time I was set on resetting I was a month into the game and had far too much progress. Items wasn't a big deal but all the PWPs I got, and the villagers I was so happy with and my shop upgrades were all taken into consideration. I ended up not going through with it because I like knowing that I worked around my horrible map (3 ponds and a really long winded lake) and my cafe is somewhere off in the yonder of my town xD But I grew to love it! I bought another copy of the game to get a better map though only for paths and designing purposes, so that was my cowardly way of dealing with my inability to part ways with what I have spent the past month on even though it's not perfect :3 (But I am aware that not everyone has the money to throw on more copies)

So my answer is...think about how much personal value do you place on restarting versus keeping your town? It seems stupid but sometimes making a list of pros and cons is a way to go. Do you value placement/villagers/town layout more than the time and effort spent on your game? Are you willing to ruin the Jenga tower to play it all over again? (It's a bad analogy I know haha)

 

[Wondrous]

I have resetting problems, lol. I used to reset like crazy, because I'd get bored after a few days, or after I found a flaw in the layout that would disable me from placing future PWP's. But I'm very happy to announce that I've found my permanent town. I'll be keeping it for at least a year, if not several. I don't care about neighbors, or native fruit, but the layout of my first town bothered me. The one I have now is insane, and completely 'my style'. I couldn't be happier that I restarted so many times, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have found this one. It has every single thing I wanted, and nothing that I didn't. <3

 

[oath2order]

The only things that are stopping me from restarting at this moment are my rare items, Filbert and Ozzie.

I have such little room for activities..



Ahah, really? You're not losing your mind over it?

What rare stuff? Is it like DLC you can never possibly ever get again?

 

[Solar]

I'm thinking about restarting too. I'm having the exact same problem Hunch, my layout is horrible for PWP's. I can't fit them anywhere...But what about my progress, my stores, my dream villagers I have...all gone *shudder*

 

[mayortash]

Seeing as its your first ever AC game and town I would say don't reset. I think at some point everyone has but likewise everyone remembers that first awesome town they had. And I truly don't believe any town is fully perfect. There's always a little imperfection that you grow to love.

 

[MadisonCrossing]

I was like that too. My layout was horrible, but I loved everything else about my town. I restarted anyway and really regretted it. If I could get my town back, I would. But I'm also partially happy because I can start fresh. I just feel like I hate myself when I first start off. But after I unlocked a lot, such as Public Works Projects, new villagers, and Leif's Shop, I decided that eventually I'll be back and then I won't think about my old town as much.
If the layout is the only thing I wouldn't restart unless you really, really hate it. Public Works Projects is another problem; it was one reason I restarted as well, now that I mention it. It's really up to you! If there's a lot of other problems, though, I would.

 

[Wondrous]

PWP's are major in this game. If you find that you don't have room, it's a problem. You'll never be satisfied with something like that. Items are always achievable (well, almost all of them), and neighbors are always moving in and out, but the layout will never change. If I were you, I'd restart.

 

[Isabella]

Your town map actually doesn't look bad at all. Try not to compare your town with others because remember that everyone's town is different and they all do have imperfections, even if they're small.

 

[hanzy]

I'm really really glad I reset my town! My layout was kind of nice, but a little boring. FIVE villagers clustered right around my house after I decided where I wanted it, so I felt like I was being suffocated by my own villagers xD Also, I only liked one of my villagers, which was Dotty! I got sick of my town and decided to reset. I settled for a good town with good villagers, but I started to really regret resetting my town because I missed Dotty so much! I decided to reset my town again, and vowed to keep resetting until I found Dotty! As luck would have it, the first time I reset, Dotty appeared!! And my other starting villagers were Kabuki, Hamlet, Benjamin and Poppy. My town layout is really nice and no villagers have put their houses near me this time! So, I'm really happy that I reset my town, but luck was also on my side.

 

[Attribule]

My previous town barely had room for public projects that weren't just a bunch of street lights, so I restarted and love having more room. Being able to build in your town is a major part of making your town the way you like it, and if you can't even FIT anything then you technically miss out on a lot of the appeal of the game: enjoying your town and making it look the way you want it to.

You can always get back items, villagers, badges, museum collections. Everything can be replaced, but your town is forever, so do what would make you happier in the end.

Edit: Also, in response to the person who said not to restart since it's your first AC game and town -- No. New Leaf was my first game as well, but I still restarted my town. Yeah, there's a novelty of it being your first, but when you dislike your town it's not like you have any decently pleasant memories of it to begin with. If anything it's making your first AC experience poorer than it should be.

 

[Zerokii]

Nope, no regrets. I had a map similar to yours, not exactly but same super windy river carving an 'island' of land. It looked awesome at the time but the more I actually played on it, the more it drove me nuts. It wasn't even a matter of PWP, which I suppose would have probably been a problem later. It was more the fact of being unable to 'get lost' in my town. I dunno, I just couldn't have space. I was constantly tripping on streams and boundaries, and it made my map feel just so tiny. So I reset, and still don't regret it.

And I don't know how much this puts into perspective, but I also had both Whitney and Goldie in that town when I reset.

Anywhoo, in the end, it depends on the person resetting. How much do you really hate your current town, and how much effort are you going to put into finding your new town.

 

[sheepyton]

I had much the same problem, terrible layout and neighbors I couldn't stand. I ended up resetting and am happy I did. It took a lot of time and effort (I had almost all of the fossils, tons of fish, bugs and paintings), but at the same time, it's been kind of fun to get all of that stuff back. I also ended up getting really lucky with my villagers (Cheri and Felicity initially, then Bluebear from a campsite. I'm also getting some villagers I really like).