Why in the world is exterior customization locked to house upgrades??

[lPeachy]

I feel like this was a huge mistake personally, I like having varying sized houses for different characters and it’s frustrating that the only way to get all the customization options is to upgrade to an almost “complete” house!
I want cute little cottages that aren’t stuck with the boring OG exterior just because I don’t want to upgrade the interior and spend millions of bells for a new door and paint job just to actually use one room inside

I really wish the different options were unlocked/bought through the NM system instead.

 

[ellienoise]

It's ridiculous. Also the fact that I have to upgrade the back and side rooms before I can build the upper room pisses me off sooo much... Like, I hate big houses! and I really hate not being able to change its exterior ugh.

 

[lPeachy]

It's ridiculous. Also the fact that I have to upgrade the back and side rooms before I can build the upper room pisses me off sooo much... Like, I hate big houses! and I really hate not being able to change its exterior ugh.

Right?? At least in NL we could mostly choose the order in which we built our extra rooms. And exteriors were their own things in the shop! Even if we just had a random rotating stock of the exterior options like we do with fences I’d be happier

 

[Corrie]

I know right. I chose aqua for my roof colour and for some reason it just looks like a regular blue so I wanted to change it to purple so I had to pay off my loan first in order to do so.

 

[skogkyst]

It's in there to give some sort of progression mechanic attached to expanding your house. It's pretty unfortunate in cases like yours, though.

 

[Dustbird]

It's called progression. Without it we wouldn't be playing the game.

 

[John Wick]

It does suck for those who don't want a maxed out house, but then again, it sucks we don't at least have the option for 8 x 8 side rooms, and attic and basement.

What IS with the rectangle!

 

[lPeachy]

It's in there to give some sort of progression mechanic attached to expanding your house. It's pretty unfortunate in cases like yours, though.

I get that to an extent but even in past titles exterior customization has been a separate entity. The options were randomized daily and took an entire day to complete as it does still. The progression mechanic to expanding your house was just that, getting more and bigger rooms to shove all your cool furniture in.

Post automatically merged: Apr 15, 2020

It's called progression. Without it we wouldn't be playing the game.

Except that it never has been in past titles. The reward for Upgrading your house was literally just having a cool bigger house and if you managed to get to a “mansion” you got special house shapes. Exteriors have never and IMO should never have been locked to upgrades. Progression has nothing to do with it.

Post automatically merged: Apr 15, 2020

It does suck for those who don't want a maxed out house, but then again, it sucks we don't at least have the option for 8 x 8 side rooms, and attic and basement.

What IS with the rectangle!

The rectangle is def odd in that they force it onto us. I wish it was a small square first and we could upgrade to the rectangle or somethin’. I don’t hate the shape but I don’t love that it’s the only option either

 

[starlightsong]

I don't understand how having extra space to place things in your house and extra rooms to design isn't already viewed as "progression" tbh lol, in the past I have never once felt like "oh man I really wish all these cool exterior options were locked behind house expansions I might not even want in order to make me feel like I'm progressing since I'm clearly not progressing already by getting a bigger house!" And I mean, even then, storage space is also tied to house expansions. Why can't exterior options still be their own thing like always and if there must be something extra to make you feel a sense of progression, it's the extra storage space you get each time? I shouldn't have to be stuck with a bland boring basic house if I don't wanna upgrade when that wasn't the case before.

 

[trashpedia]

Ikrrrr I really like how pretty the exteriors are but apparently it's going to cost around a million bells woth of expansions for me to actually unlock that feature considering I just unlocked the back room. I would have to get the left and right room next in order to do unlock it

 

[Larimar]

Not only that, but house storage is too. I really dont see why they decided to put so many things behind the upgrades when the only reward we need is the house upgrade. It just forces people to upgrade their house earlier than they want to for the sake of unlocking the extra stuff, completely killing the natural progression aspect.

I have every room but the basement now for the sake of storage space. I have nothing to do for my house right now and I really wish I could've put the bells towards other projects

 

[unintentional]

It's called progression. Without it we wouldn't be playing the game.

allowing us to pick the order of upgrades would also be progression.

 

[RooftopsRevolution]

It makes sense from a game design standpoint (as a game design student anyway). You want the larger customization to be something that is earned. I also sense that it might have to do with them not wanting to make too many house models since a lot of the customizations aren't simple retextures like roof colours. (I believe the items on the house are one model and not separate. The roofs are just retextured.)

 

[5cm/s]

i really liked my smol one-room house, and i wish we could have customized the exterior and also gotten all the storage without having to upgrade to a full house ;;

 

[PugLovex]

i feel like house mortgages are a bit much too... like 2 mil for a basement? it’s kinda tricky to earn bells in NH compared to new leaf

 

[Dustbird]

It makes sense from a game design standpoint (as a game design student anyway). You want the larger customization to be something that is earned. I also sense that it might have to do with them not wanting to make too many house models since a lot of the customizations aren't simple retextures like roof colours. (I believe the items on the house are one model and not separate. The roofs are just retextured.)

This. I've studied game design as well and now work in the industry.

I'm sorry but some of the criticism against the game I've read here on this forum, are from a game design perspective, absolutely laughable, and goes against the very tenets and core philosophy of good game design.

I'm seriosuly so sick of reading these posts. I'm not gonna argue that people have the "wrong" opinions, but I AM gonna argue that some of these opinions are just blatantly ignorant and uninformed. Sue me, I don't care.

Go and read a book about game design and then talk to me again about how this game is "badly" designed. Ugh. I'm out.

 

[Larimar]

This. I've studied game design as well and now work in the industry.

I'm sorry but some of the criticism against the game I've read here on this forum, are from a game design perspective, absolutely laughable, and goes against the very tenets and core philosophy of good game design.

I'm seriosuly so sick of reading these posts. I'm not gonna argue that people have the "wrong" opinions, but I AM gonna argue that some of these opinions are just blatantly ignorant and uninformed. Sue me, I don't care.

Go and read a book about game design and then talk to me again about how this game is "badly" designed. Ugh. I'm out.

I went back an reread every single comment in this thread specifically and... no one said it was bad? They're just pointing out flaws. Why are you taking it out on us here if you have a problem with other threads?

I understand that not having experience in the field means that people may not understand certain mechanics, but we have a reference for what Nintendo is already capable of in a previous game. The house upgrade system was just fine in NL, and it had almost none of the limitations this game's house has. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :O

Like I said previously, upgrades feel more forced onto the player this time around because they decided to lock more behind them. It's simply not akin to the overall style of animal crossing.

It's not "ignorance" or "misinformation", we've seen it done before, we know it's possible, but nintendo simply chose to try a different route and it hasn't worked out for some people.

 

[RooftopsRevolution]

This. I've studied game design as well and now work in the industry.

I'm sorry but some of the criticism against the game I've read here on this forum, are from a game design perspective, absolutely laughable, and goes against the very tenets and core philosophy of good game design.

I'm seriosuly so sick of reading these posts. I'm not gonna argue that people have the "wrong" opinions, but I AM gonna argue that some of these opinions are just blatantly ignorant and uninformed. Sue me, I don't care.

Go and read a book about game design and then talk to me again about how this game is "badly" designed. Ugh. I'm out.

Thank you thank you!
Honestly the glitches and errors were understandable given we had to wait extra time for this game and we knew the dev team was under pressure.
I don’t blame people for not knowing. Illusion of the expert I guess I’m happy to educate to my knowledge.
Nice to meet someone in the industry!

 

[JKDOS]

Even New Leaf had a system where you had to have a mansion before buying the mansion remodels IIRC. When you first enter Nook's Homes. Look in the bottom right corner.

 

[RooftopsRevolution]

I went back an reread every single comment in this thread specifically and... no one said it was bad? They're just pointing out flaws. Why are you taking it out on us here if you have a problem with other threads?

I understand that not having experience in the field means that people may not understand certain mechanics, but we have a reference for what Nintendo is already capable of in a previous game. The house upgrade system was just fine in NL, and it had almost none of the limitations this game's house has. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :O

Like I said previously, upgrades feel more forced onto the player this time around because they decided to lock more behind them. It's simply not akin to the overall style of animal crossing.

It's not "ignorance" or "misinformation", we've seen it done before, we know it's possible, but nintendo simply chose to try a different route and it hasn't worked out for some people.

Again I think might have to do with saving money and resources on the game because of the overall scale of the customization as a whole. You’re seeing it as “NL did it why not NH” but that’s not really how it is. The models would have to be redone from scratch for each housing size. Given the scale of the game and the amount of stuff they had to do, I would rather see it in its current form than have more stress on the dev team and more delays.
its just not really something I see worth getting hung up over.There are a hundred and one reasons why this might have had to happen as well as giving the player something to look forward to. There’s so much customization at the getgo.
The “it ain’t broke” mentality is kind of hard because that’s sometimes not feasible when games are made I do believe in some criticisms like removing core characters being a bad move but not really this