What do you consider when trying to choose your villagers?

Over all I value character design (if I didn't, I wouldn't want 3 Eagles on my island..), although I'm willing to make exceptions. I fell in love with Hazel's personality and I'm keeping Filbert and Peanut just because I'm pretend making them a couple lol.
 
I mainly care for the character design, but then also I try to take personalities into account as much as possible, because otherwise my town would consist pretty much of cranky villagers only lmao.. I feel like the vibe and aura of a villager just needs to feel right to me!
 
My factors are:

- Nostalgia
I had Stitches in every game and I fell in love with Molly playing New Leaf. My top two favorites, I looooove them. That being said, I wanted to get new villagers this time around so other villagers I have a lot of nostalgia towards (Francine, Octavian, Genji) I’m not getting. ; u ; Marina is an exception though. When I found her on an island I couldn’t say no.

- Design
I want villagers I wouldn’t get sick of seeing after 1000+ hours playing. I prefer more simplistic designs like Lolly and Marshal but also unique designs like Stitches and Ketchup. I also LOVE when a villager doesn’t look like their personality type. Like how Genji looks Cranky and Dom looks Lazy when they’re jocks and how Chief looks Smug when he’s a Cranky.

- Personality
I try to have each personality type which is why I let Sherb go despite loving him. :( There isn’t an Uchi’s design I really vibe with though besides Muffy (and Anges maybe?) and their designs don’t really match my other villagers.

- House Interior
If I’m on a fence with a villager, a really nice interior could sway me.

Before I was concern with species diversity but I threw that out the window when I got Stitches and Judy ahaha.
 
I have kind of started considering more how a villager will fit thematically in my town more so than appearance and what I personally like. (There are a ton of villagers I personally like, so this is more of a way to narrow down my choices.)

I have decided I'm going to get a Switch Light and a second island, and for that, I think I'm going to just let villagers move in naturally and see what happens.
 
It's a mix between several things :
- Design that are appealing to me and fits my island style.
- I want at least one of each personality for variety sake .
- If I can avoid having more than two villagers of a same species it's better.
- I like to discover villagers while playing so I stay open minded even if I had some dreamies in my mind, I am welcoming to potential surprises and crushes on some villagers I didn't expect.
 
Soooo many things! It starts with choosing a personality I hopefully don't have, then finding a character design I like, and from there I have to find different things to nitpick to whittle it down. My main focus is always on diversity and trying to add a villager that brings something I don't already have (species usually being the biggest factor since I tend to lean on the same kinds of villagers) and sometimes even considering how their house exterior flows with my island design lol
 
I think I mainly go for vibe and aesthetic. A cute character design really appeals to me. Some villagers I just like for nostalgic sake as I have a lot of attachment to them. I do like a variety of personalities, but I'm not necessarily concerned with having all of them if I'm very attached to villagers I already have to be honest.
 
I do like a full spread of personalities, and ideally not 3 of a personality, but we'll see.

The second thing is character design; while I like villagers that are cute, I'm also very fond of villagers who are high-concept (by which I mean, have a clear concept that's easy to describe), or whose designs help me flesh out their characters in my head. I don't sweat popularity too too much.

From these two things, I tend to, when possible, assemble a "short list" of villagers I'm interested in, and from there, check off that short list with in no particular order: Aesthetic Theme, Availability, Species Variety, House.

Additionally, I feel like how I feel about them as I play with them is important; early villagers stand a pretty good chance of creeping up into my "favorites" category, ala Hazel or Lopez or Cyrano or Blanche, all of whom I loved (and sometimes lost) in New Leaf.

Being able to build narratives about them through any way, whether design, house, history in my town, is really important. In New Horizons, I'll add "Do I know what to do with their yard," which turned Pietro and Merengue from "short list but not must-haves" into "Well I guess I am married to them now."

At the moment, I'm not concerning myself with a permanent list of dreamies, but I am keeping my short lists in mind.
 
These are my most important points for me

1. One of every personality type, a max of 2 per type

2. No repeating of species. As much as I love Marshall and Poppy, I won't get both.

3. Their designs. I have noticed I can be rather picky, but I have a short list of villagers of every personality type I like..


Right now, I am thinking of cycling most of my villagers after getting their picture frames. I am thinking of keeping Poncho and Pashmina as I started with them. Depends on if I can get their houses to look nicer.
 
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