Why are you playing New Leaf?

I'm mostly playing New Horizons, but I've been occasionally going back to New Leaf because it has Club Tortimer and New Horizons has nothing close to that.
 
ACNL is the first game I’ve played in the series. Every day I had something to look forward too, something to accomplish. For three years (without TTing) I built up my town of Eden. While I do have 4 towns in total, I’m currently working on another town and look forward to spending time building that one up as well.

As for NH, this game in the franchise of AC has been a huge step backwards for me. I expected so much more from a game we waited 7+ years for. Unlike many who play NH, I don’t feel stressed because of the terraforming, the stress I feel from this game is the lack of goals. NL provides so many things to strive for such as upgrading you home, working toward the HHA rewards, badges, upgrading your shopping district and so much more. NH lacks most everything we looked forward to in NL.

Although, NH has a few nice features, NL for me is superior on most every level.
 
I got New Leaf in July of last year. It's the only Animal Crossing game that I have (other than a copy of amiibo festival that I bought just for the amiibos and game collecting) and the first one that I've ever played. This game is different and I feel like even though I kind of gotten to the point where not much really happens anymore and there's not much room to grow, there's always something new. Also the social aspect kind of there too, it's hard to talk to my friends since everything that's going on, and this is kind of a way to help cope with that in a sense, even if the dialogue is repetitive. I do wish that I had New Horizons but I don't have a Switch.
 
Besides the fact that I don't have NH, I still play NL quite often compared to other games. I've had the same island for six years. At this point it's just been such a commitment that I don't want to abandon something I've spend six years of my life on. However, I also noticed that the item catalogue in NH is extremely barebones compared to NL. Not sure how much that's going to impact how much I love NH once I get it because I love interior decorating. My favourite furniture set (rococo) isn't in NH either :(
 
I actually think New Horizons does a lot of New Leaf's mechanics better than New Leaf does. But I felt like it was... not my style? I think my favorite way to play New Horizons is to catch bugs and fish and try to fill the museum. I like a relaxing playstyle where I just hang out and vibe, which is not how I play New Leaf. In that game, I'm time traveling all over the place and trying to build the best possible town. I guess I just put so much time into my New Leaf town that I don't want to start a new game until I'm satisfied with it, haha
I didn't jive with New Horizons when it came out but it has updated a lot since then. I'd love to try it again if I still had the game, but my sister took it with her to college so alas lmao
 
But I felt like it was... not my style? I think my favorite way to play New Horizons is to catch bugs and fish and try to fill the museum. I like a relaxing playstyle where I just hang out and vibe, which is not how I play New Leaf.


This sums it up for me too. I also wasn’t a big fan of the whole crafting thing. I just recently started getting back into NH after my 3ds screen decided to die. I also felt like there were more goals in New Leaf and I liked just chilling on my bed with a drink and my 3ds having time travelled to later in the day to get bells from fishing for sharks and golden beetles at the tropical island so I could max out my house and build more service projects (you get a fountain, and you get a fountain, and you get a fountain!)... and of course the whole dialogue thing.
 
I'm not CURRENTLY-currently playing, but in general I've always been pretty sporadic in my AC gameplay once the initial hype wears off. I'll want to hopefully make a habit of checking up on my town every once in a while, because there's so many villagers I love that I can't possibly have them all in my NH island while still making new memories! (Plus it feels weird to have the same villagers multiple times over while playing at the same time)

Also, there's a lot of features in NL that aren't, and I don't think ever WILL be, integrated into NH. And in the meantime, I think it'll be fun and nostalgic to play with friends every once in a while on the island <3
 
I mainly just play it still because it was my introduction to the series and I spent SO MANY HOURS on it. Also, I have some of the Sanrio villagers and I love their designs so I enjoy loading up the game to visit them :)
 
I was very late to the party 😂
I got it for christmas last year but ended up forgetting about it. I then resarted in April and really wanna make my town look how i envisage it to in my head.
Also don't have a switch soooo lol
 
In 2013 both of my friends (yeah, I only had two...) both played it and because I couldn't afford the game let alone a 3DS in the first place, I would always either watch them play it or listen to them talking about it nonstop in the playground at lunchtime.

Since then I always wanted to play it too after seeing how much fun they had with it.
Around the same time I had found jvgsjeff's AC videos which got me more invested in the series in general and led to me begging for literal years to my family to buy either New Leaf or Wild World for me.

I finally got my own copy of NL in late April this year along with a 2DS so I could, y'know, actually play it. I thought it was probably the best time to get it considering the release of New Horizons (can't afford a Switch either haha).
 
NL has become one of my daily habits I guess lol,, I like to check up on my town for twenty minutes everyday while I eat my snack and have a coffee. I find it more relaxing than NH because there's less to do, if that makes sense? I don't feel pressure to decorate everything because my town's so small that not much of it is barren, unlike my island lol.
 
I still play New Leaf because just like others have said, I feel that I need to finish what I started. I’ve had the game for around 5 years, and I’ve decided to reset and have a fresh new start. I know that the game is less popular now with NH out and all, it’s just that I want to accomplish something before the Wifi servers get shut down forever. I want to be able to create a town that I’m proud of.
 
New Leaf was my first Animal Crossing game, and I fell in love with it. I played it for at least two or three years, but unfortunately, I foolishly got rid of my Beautiful Town ordinance before taking a somewhat prolonged break, and when I came back, my town was in shambles. It broke my heart so much that I found it difficult to continue playing again, so I put the game down for a long time.

I was really excited for New Horizons leading up to its release, but when I actually started playing, I was disenchanted. IMO, it was a big step back from New Leaf. Although a polished game with plenty of QOL changes, I did not find the crafting system appealing, and I didn't like the increased focus on outdoor design in lieu of the furniture sets that I had grown to love, and the comfort of interior design focused item collecting. I also had no interest in things like terraforming. All in all... playing NH made me feel so nostalgic for NL that I picked up NL again, deciding to start from scratch rather than sell my old town or keep my old catalog. I'm glad I decided to do it, because now I'm hooked again!
 
To me, it's the most complete Animal Crossing game to date :)
New Horizons is great, but there just isn't a lot to do. New Leaf has more stuff to unlock (e.g. more shop upgrades) and features more activities. So all in all, it just motivates you to play for a longer time.

Thus, I still love playing the game today and it is still relaxing to play every couple of days for at least a few hours
 
New leaf calms my soul, new horizons makes me stressed and makes me feel fomo.

This summarises it perfectly for me :) NH just made me feel stressed while playing New Leaf feels relaxing. I was constantly in fear of my tools breaking and instead of going to the island to catch some rare fish, I had to craft baits one by one, which got really annoying.
 
I'm playing New Leaf because New Horizons became such a boring game with the lack of stuff to do. New Leaf has a lot more going on since there is more shops and alot more interaction with your villagers. Sure the customization is limited but still I'm enjoy my time in New Leaf.
 
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