Animal Crossing: New Horizons Hype Thread

[Uncivilized Elk]

it scratches an entire different itch for me, exactly because of the things you said in your second paragraph. AC is relaxing, Stardew isn't.

Click to shrink...

So much this for me as well.
Stardew either made me feel anxious, or left me questioning why I should even sink my hours into the game. I felt like I could never just... relax.

Animal Crossing on the other hand just feels like a little moment of zen every time I boot it up.
I'm most worried about this new crafting addition messing up the feel with the new iteration. I really don't want to feel like I'm harvesting resources in AC, I want to feel like I'm just collecting whatever might come my way on a given day.

 

[DaveB]

I feel like Nintendo are doing some master class trolling right now with news/reveals for everything, but no Direct as of yet.

That said, I really hope they drop one soon and more specifically, open up eShop preorders. I have a game voucher burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[Pirate Bae]

So who's gonna be the ringleader for our Era black market turnip ring lmao

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

So who's gonna be the ringleader for our Era black market turnip ring lmao

Click to shrink...

All my turnips be dead. So I'm not the one

 

[GJ]

I get that it's an island vacation but I really am going to need a retail space to go visit and shop from daily. I hope I'm not crafting ALL my stuff.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I'm very curious at this point. A small town already fits with all the stores, the mayor's office and bank, etc. I'm wondering if the game is going to be very similar and just have all those things on the island, or if they're really mixing things up.

"Crafting" is pretty nebulous, I wonder if we'll be getting materials for whole structures or buildings at some point. Could potentially be a resource farming kind of situation.

The whole "Island" thing (And not much confirmation of certain things in previews) is really a toss-up with what things are going to change and how drastically.

Click to shrink...

If Rhennik's theory about multiple islands is right I'm sure there'll be a 'shopping' island. We can already see a campsite island with pinetrees and a tent to the top right of the Switch, so I'm sure there will be more. We already know fossils are in the game, and Blathers is as well. We don't know where the Museum is, but I'm sure it'll be in the game. Probably in the same street where all the stores are.

 

[Raccoon]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

 

[Pirate Bae]

If Rhennik's theory about multiple islands is right I'm sure there'll be a 'shopping' island. We can already see a campsite island with pinetrees and a tent to the top right of the Switch, so I'm sure there will be more. We already know fossils are in the game, and Blathers is as well. We don't know where the Museum is, but I'm sure it'll be in the game. Probably in the same street where all the stores are.

Click to shrink...

That would be cool. I wonder if we'll get a boat or something to zip across the islands.

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

Click to shrink...

Eh, me in a way. I do want my museum, roster and able sisters store in my main island. Other than that, I don't mind the whole multiple island thingy.

 

[poptire]

In college I played hours and hours of Wild World with my friend Jordan. He's since passed away. Gonna be bittersweet playing this new one without him ever being able to visit my town or brag about his bug collection and stuff.

 

[FoolsMilky]

If Rhennik's theory about multiple islands is right I'm sure there'll be a 'shopping' island. We can already see a campsite island with pinetrees and a tent to the top right of the Switch, so I'm sure there will be more. We already know fossils are in the game, and Blathers is as well. We don't know where the Museum is, but I'm sure it'll be in the game. Probably in the same street where all the stores are.

Click to shrink...

I saw that and that in and of itself sounds exciting. But I have to be honest: Pocket Camp was not my cup of tea and felt like a very derivative version of Animal Crossing. If there are multiple islands, I hope that they feel unique and customizable rather than "Get resource here, that's the purpose of this area". The split areas in Pocket Camp did not really make the experience better and only made it feel less like Animal Crossing.

Multiple islands sounds exciting as long as this really is a fully-fledged game, whereas in my opinion, Pocket Camp was a skeleton of Animal Crossing with it's split areas and reductive assignments.

Also not to throw another bummer into the works but I hope the "Nook Miles" tasks or whatever are a little more open rather than a list of things you're supposed to do to get meaningful progress in the game. The freedom of Wild World was really enticing, spelling out the game with a list of tasks might be boring. I do like when there's just a mountain of tasks and you get to choose which ones you do though. Let's you set long term goals and decide for yourself what you want to do in the game.

 

[Enduin]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

Click to shrink...

Yes and no. I like it, but at the same time I want all the main stuff to be accessible right on the main island. I don't want to take a boat or plane in order to visit the shops or go to the museum.

But potentially having different biomes to visit and more unique locations and extra npcs would be really cool. It all depends on the implementation.

 

[GJ]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

Click to shrink...

It already was a multiple islands kinda thing in New Leaf though. You went through a small 0.5 sec loading screen if you entered the shopping street. Those shops were never part of your town to begin with (except for Re-Tail). If there's a boat at the northern part of the island that takes me to the shopping beach in 0.5 seconds when I enter it it'll practically be the same.

 

[TheCongressman]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

Click to shrink...

In my perfect world, you'd go exploring on a boat, and find various islands. They'd have different items, villagers, or stores/facilities. You'd be able to later fly back and recruit villagers to your island, and also bring the stores over if you'd like. But then later on, you'd also be able to buy new islands to develop. Unfortunately, I fear this may be 'too ambitious'.

What I do absolutely hope is that all the stores aren't lined up all together like in New Leaf. That's by far the worst change in the series. I want to completely lay out my island(s).

 

[Raccoon]

Yes and no. I like it, but at the same time I want all the main stuff to be accessible right on the main island. I don't want to take a boat or plane in order to visit the shops or go to the museum.

But potentially having different biomes to visit and more unique locations and extra npcs would be really cool. It all depends on the implementation.

Click to shrink...

yep, exactly this. I'm getting antsy without any substantial news.

At least give me (eventually, as they're built of course) Nook's Cranny, a post office, the Roost, a police station, and maybe the musem locally. Everything bourgeois-er than that can go on a mall island or w/e

edit:

It already was a multiple islands kinda thing in New Leaf though. You went through a small 0.5 sec loading screen if you entered the shopping street. Those shops were never part of your town to begin with (except for Re-Tail). If there's a boat at the northern part of the island that takes me to the shopping beach in 0.5 seconds when I enter it it'll practically be the same.

Click to shrink...

I kinda hated it in new leaf too

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

yep, exactly this. I'm getting antsy without any substantial news.

At least give me (eventually, as they're built of course) Nook's Cranny, a post office, the Roost, a police station, and maybe the musem locally. Everything bourgeois-er than that can go on a mall island or w/e

edit:

I kinda hated it in new leaf too

Click to shrink...

Same.

 

[Enduin]

It already was a multiple islands kinda thing in New Leaf though. You went through a small 0.5 sec loading screen if you entered the shopping street. Those shops were never part of your town to begin with (except for Re-Tail). If there's a boat at the northern part of the island that takes me to the shopping beach in 0.5 seconds when I enter it it'll practically be the same.

Click to shrink...

I just don't see that Boat or Plane taking .5 seconds though, which is ultimately my issue. I love AC but for sure you're going to have to talk to someone to get on that vehicle and then have animations and second or two cutscene of it leaving/arriving. A transition as you walk across the train tracks is nothing, but something like this could be an easy 10+ seconds long affair. Just look at the stupid bus to the city in City Folk.

 

[GJ]

I kinda hated it in new leaf too

Click to shrink...

Fair enough, lol. I like it. It's nice and compact, everything is in one place and it doesn't take space away from your main town. For New Horizons I've dreamt about a general online hub-ish island with stores where you can buy shit, trade with other people etc. But we'll never get that, haha.

I just don't see that Boat or Plane taking .5 seconds though, which is ultimately my issue. I love AC but for sure you're going to have to talk to someone to get on that vehicle and then have animations and second or two cutscene of it leaving/arriving. A transition as you walk across the train tracks is nothing, but something like this could be an easy 10+ seconds long affair. Just look at the stupid bus to the city in City Folk.

Click to shrink...

True. That bus fucking sucked. But think about a row boat with a city sign next to it. You walk up to it, your villager just hops in and the screen fades to black as they row away. Fade in and you're arriving on the shopping island. I think something like that could work in a second or two, and that wouldn't be that different from crossing the tracks.

 

[New Donker]

For right now, no game save is ABSOLUTELY blocked from transferring in one way or another. While we have saves that are blocked from transferring saves by itself, a full profile transfer will transfer every save to a new system, be it Yu-Gi-Oh or Mario Maker 2. I'm more curious if AC will block even that since all we have is an unofficial translation to work from.

Click to shrink...

I guess there are issues with situations like...if I transfer my save to a switch that has animal crossing installed, which island takes over?

 

[Raccoon]

Fair enough, lol. I like it. It's nice and compact, everything is in one place and it doesn't take space away from your main town. For New Horizons I've dreamt about a general online hub-ish island with stores where you can buy shit, trade with other people etc. But we'll never get that, haha.

Click to shrink...

My biggest problem with modern Animal Crossing is efficiency at the expense of atmosphere. Since its inception Animal Crossing has been about converting minor inconvenience into gameplay: the way you have to arrange furniture like a puzzle; the way you have to buy stationary and walk to the post office to send letters, all the while having inventory space to do so. I'm sure I could think of more examples of this game design in time, but one of these principles is the concept of distraction. If you're going to the store, for instance, you used to have to walk through your town and see bugs and fish and villagers and either choose to ignore them or succumb to your curiosity. It isn't obvious, but this is gameplay! This phenomenon is resource management, your resource being time. And when you have a discrete section of the town in which you talk to the villagers, and a discrete part of town where you do all of the task-oriented market stuff, it detracts from both this element of the gameplay and the game's atmosphere.

Animal Crossing was first advertised as a "life simulation" game (or "communication simulation," as I've also seen). I am wary of the trend from New Leaf onward of leaning into the "simulation" of that descriptor while increasingly neglecting the "life" (or "communication").

Not to be too presumptuous, but I'm sure XandBosch has opinions on this school of thought, especially my last point.

 

[GJ]

I guess there are issues with situations like...if I transfer my save to a switch that has animal crossing installed, which island takes over?

Click to shrink...

You can't. The only way to transfer your save to another Switch is by transfering the contents of your entire Switch over to a new, factory resetted Switch. That means every profile and every save game, and that means they will be gone from your original Switch. This is unconfirmed as of now, but should work.

 

[Enduin]

True. That bus fucking sucked. But think about a row boat with a city sign next to it. You walk up to it, your villager just hops in and the screen fades to black as they row away. Fade in and you're arriving on the shopping island. I think something like that could work in a second or two, and that wouldn't be that different from crossing the tracks.

Click to shrink...

For sure that could work, I just don't have faith they would actually do something like that. Crossing train tracks there's really no other option but to go straight to a transition screen and just loading into the next area, but something like a boat or plane that's meant to travel from one location to another distant location, I cannot see them just going straight to a transition screen and then appearing on that other island.

I guess there are issues with situations like...if I transfer my save to a switch that has animal crossing installed, which island takes over?

Click to shrink...

Saves don't appear to be transferable at all. So nothing would be overwritten as it can't be moved from one system to another.

 

[New Donker]

You can't. The only way to transfer your save to another Switch is by transfering the contents of your entire Switch over to a new, factory resetted Switch. That means every profile and every save game, and that means they will be gone from your original Switch. This is unconfirmed as of now, but should work.

Click to shrink...

I thought you could transfer a profile to any switch, not just a brand new one?

 

[GJ]

My biggest problem with modern Animal Crossing is efficiency at the expense of atmosphere. Since its inception Animal Crossing has been about converting minor inconvenience into gameplay: the way you have to arrange furniture like a puzzle; the way you have to buy stationary and walk to the post office to send letters, all the while having inventory space to do so. I'm sure I could think of more examples of this game design in time, but one of these principles is the concept of distraction. If you're going to the store, for instance, you used to have to walk through your town and see bugs and fish and villagers and either choose to ignore them or succumb to your curiosity. It isn't obvious, but this is gameplay! This phenomenon is resource management, your resource being time. And when you have a discrete section of the town in which you talk to the villagers, and a discrete part of town where you do all of the task-oriented market stuff, it detracts from both this element of the gameplay and the game's atmosphere.

Animal Crossing was first advertised as a "life simulation" game (or "communication simulation," as I've also seen). I am wary of the trend from New Leaf onward of leaning into the "simulation" of that descriptor while increasingly neglecting the "life" (or "communication").

Not to be too presumptuous, but I'm sure XandBosch has opinions on this school of thought, especially my last point.

Click to shrink...

I totally see where you're getting at and you have a fair point. I have to say I do like the inclusion of Re-Tail in my town and I always build The Roost Café when I start a new town just because I love it being there, so I still hope things like that are possible in New Horizons. But it doesn't really matter if you have to move to point A to get to a store, or walk to point B to get to a street with shops, as in both instances you'd have to walk across your island to get there. You'll still come across villagers, insects, fish etc.

I don't know how things are where you live, but where I live we don't have a random shoe store somewhere, 5 miles away from a book store, which is far away from a single café. We have shopping streets, malls and a city center. So if you're talking about AC being a life sim, an island with a mall or a street with shops would be more realistic than random stores and buildings all over your island. I don't know if this is different in other countries, but I don't think it is. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

I've never thought while playing New Leaf that I didn't encounter enough villagers, or didn't see enough insects on my way to the Able Sisters.

I thought you could transfer a profile to any switch, not just a brand new one?

Click to shrink...

You absolutely can, but your AC save will stay behind if you do it that way. The only way to transfer your AC save, again - unconfirmed, would be to transfer the entire contents of your Switch. And that would be impossible to do with a Switch that already contains an AC save file since a single Switch can only have a single island.

 

[New Donker]

You absolutely can, but your AC save will stay behind if you do it that way. The only way to transfer your AC save, again - unconfirmed, would be to transfer the entire contents of your Switch. And that would be impossible to do with a Switch that already contains an AC save file since a single Switch can only have a single island.

Click to shrink...

Gotcha. Unless they implement a full system transfer in a firmware update.

 

[Kirbivore]

I guess there are issues with situations like...if I transfer my save to a switch that has animal crossing installed, which island takes over?

Click to shrink...

Sadly I'm rolling back from my comment because I remembered that islands aren't tied to a profile. So uh... right now it's complicated. Hopefully there's something in the save data menu in the game.

 

[Raccoon]

I totally see where you're getting at and you have a fair point. I have to say I do like the inclusion of Re-Tail in my town and I always build The Roost Café when I start a new town just because I love it being there, so I still hope things like that are possible in New Horizons. But it doesn't really matter if you have to move to point A to get to a store, or walk to point B to get to a street with shops, as in both instances you'd have to walk across your island to get there. You'll still come across villagers, insects, fish etc.

I don't know how things are where you live, but where I live we don't have a random shoe store somewhere, 5 miles away from a book store, which is far away from a single café. We have shopping streets, malls and a city center. So if you're talking about AC being a life sim, an island with a mall or a street with shops would be more realistic than random stores and buildings all over your island. I don't know if this is different in other countries, but I don't think it is. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

I've never thought while playing New Leaf that I didn't encounter enough villagers, or didn't see enough insects on my way to the Able Sisters.

Click to shrink...

I see your point. I suppose I'm just resentful of the routines that develop when people play Animal Crossing with a pragmatic, goal-oriented approach in mind, and New Leaf made it easier to compartmentalize your play into "villager time" and "everything on the main street" time.

I do see what you mean about the unrealistic nature of having everything dispersed throughout a residential area. Something about it always felt palpably super small town and I appreciated the resultant aesthetic variety.

All of this being said, I said earlier in the thread that I'll be fine with New Leaf's approach as long as the sort of buildings you do see in a residential area can be present.

I'm a university student without very many friends, and I've recently developed the habit of going for long walks through the neighborhoods near my campus, usually listening to Bob Dylan, and appreciating the way people live. Seeing an elementary school surrounded by houses or kids skateboarding behind a church in the afternoon, or even just people walking their dogs or sweeping their porches, gives me a feeling of serenity that I cannot adequately describe. Regardless of implementation or my amateur analysis of game design, I really only want New Horizons to emulate this feeling.

 

[GJ]

Gotcha. Unless they implement a full system transfer in a firmware update.

Click to shrink...

Exactly. Which I'm sure they'll do, since if the Switch Pro is real and is released in 2021, people would want to be able to keep their AC island they've spent hundreds of hours in.

Spoiler

Please, Nintendo...

 

[JohnnyMoses]

In college I played hours and hours of Wild World with my friend Jordan. He's since passed away. Gonna be bittersweet playing this new one without him ever being able to visit my town or brag about his bug collection and stuff.

Click to shrink...

Sorry for your loss. Hopefully playing this sparks some good memories!

 

[GJ]

I'm a university student without very many friends

Click to shrink...

You're always welcome on my island...

 

[Raccoon]

You're always welcome on my island...

Click to shrink...

heck yeah thanks friendo

 

[Fridaynightcatlady]

I see your point. I suppose I'm just resentful of the routines that develop when people play Animal Crossing with a pragmatic, goal-oriented approach in mind, and New Leaf made it easier to compartmentalize your play into "villager time" and "everything on the main street" time.

I do see what you mean about the unrealistic nature of having everything dispersed throughout a residential area. Something about it always felt palpably super small town and I appreciated the resultant aesthetic variety.

All of this being said, I said earlier in the thread that I'll be fine with New Leaf's approach as long as the sort of buildings you do see in a residential area can be present.

I'm a university student without very many friends, and I've recently developed the habit of going for long walks through the neighborhoods near my campus, usually listening to Bob Dylan, and appreciating the way people live. Seeing an elementary school surrounded by houses or kids skateboarding behind a church in the afternoon, or even just people walking their dogs or sweeping their porches, gives me a feeling of serenity that I cannot adequately describe. Regardless of implementation or my amateur analysis of game design, I really only want New Horizons to emulate this feeling.

Click to shrink...

You're welcome to my island as well! :)

 

[Pedrix]

Re-downloading Pocket Camp is hype-killer or hype train?

 

[Jerm411]

Don't know if I'm feeling the entire island vibe yet...probably because I loved New Leaf so much.

Still will be there Day 1 and still super hyped for it though.

 

[Raccoon]

heck yeah, era animal crossing archipelago

 

[GJ]

Re-downloading Pocket Camp is hype-killer or hype train?

Click to shrink...

I'd say hype-killer. It's not that fun and might burn you out on AC a little.

 

[BigTime_2018]

it scratches an entire different itch for me, exactly because of the things you said in your second paragraph. AC is relaxing, Stardew isn't.

Click to shrink...

I have to say I'm surprised by how many people say Stardew is calming. I uninstalled it because it was too stressful. Days were too short, and it made me feel obligated to do tasks instead of making me want to do them.

 

[Everywhere]

What Animal Crossing can learn from Stardew Valley


Nothing

 

[GJ]

I have to say I'm surprised by how many people say Stardew is calming. I uninstalled it because it was too stressful. Days were too short, and it made me feel obligated to do tasks instead of making me want to do them.

Click to shrink...

Stardew is one of my favorite games of all time. It absolutely helps me relax, but in a different way from AC. At first the days are short in Stardew, but a few seasons in they start being way too long for what you wanna do, and to me that's one of the goals/rewards of the game. When you start having the ability to place sprinklers you'll spend way less time on your crops, so you'll automatically create more time to do other stuff. And even then, if you go exploring in the caves for example, you'll run out of energy way before the end of the day. You can eat stuff to replenish your energy, but it isn't necessary. You can just go back the next day. Especially when you get access to the mine cart that gives you a ride back home.

So yeah, it can be a bit hectic when you first start out and don't have a lot of the good stuff yet or don't know what to do, but when you get a little further in the game some aspects of the game practically play itself. And there aren't really any penalties to playing bad. If you can't finish growing a specific crop you need for the community center in year 1, you'll have time to do it in year 2. There's no hurry at all.

 

[OverdriveOtaku]

So who's gonna be the ringleader for our Era black market turnip ring lmao

Click to shrink...

My first real foray into active Reddit usage several years ago was continuously hounding turnip brokers minutes after they posted, best believe I'll be active when it starts going on here for NH.

 

[Enduin]

So who's gonna be the ringleader for our Era black market turnip ring lmao

Click to shrink...

We need to get a discord and or Google sheets going to coordinate and rig the market. See ahead of time when might be getting those juicy big spike patterns and plan things out.

 

[Pirate Bae]

We need to get a discord and or Google sheets going to coordinate and rig the market. See ahead of time when might be getting those juicy big spike patterns and plan things out.

Click to shrink...

I'm so in

 

[Raccoon]

oh man guys we're gonna get that gray market turnip wealth and I'm 1000% here for it

 

[refusi0n1]

Isn't resetti unemployed now?

 

[Jader7777]

We need to get a discord and or Google sheets going to coordinate and rig the market. See ahead of time when might be getting those juicy big spike patterns and plan things out.

Click to shrink...

Put me in this stalk gang.

 

[Unicorn]

Why bother with turnips when beetles are all night every night?

I'm probably gonna be a foreign fruit baron again, unless there's a new revenue stream. Turnips just epitomized my terrible luck.

 

[Deleted member 7092]

I'm liking this (s)talk of white collar crime, but I like Enduin's suggestion of a discord even more.

Do we have one yet for Animal Crossing Era?

 

[Stat]

So much this for me as well.
Stardew either made me feel anxious, or left me questioning why I should even sink my hours into the game. I felt like I could never just... relax.

Animal Crossing on the other hand just feels like a little moment of zen every time I boot it up.
I'm most worried about this new crafting addition messing up the feel with the new iteration. I really don't want to feel like I'm harvesting resources in AC, I want to feel like I'm just collecting whatever might come my way on a given day.

Click to shrink...

Yes! I love Stardew Valley but it felt like a race each and every day to complete tasks and be efficient in everything.

AC is just relaxing and letting whatever happens, happens. Having those little moments.

 

[Strat]

I've got so many projects and so much shit on my plate right now and I'm just dying for this game. I've been ready for yeeeears.

 

[Darkgran]

Man, is anyone else super bummed out about the "multiple islands" hypothesis? I just want to have one town with everything in it. It'll probably end up being cool though

Click to shrink...

I'm sorry what is this hypothesis?

 

[ErrorJustin]

God I'm hyped for this game.

Its greatest success of its biggest failure is undoubtedly that it seems to take a major cue from modern-day grinding/crafting/building games by slowing down your progress and having you "tech up" slowly over time. Gathering raw materials, refining them, storing them, until you have enough to build what you want. Upgrading your tools, so-on. Feels much more outdoorsy and survival-y, with an emphasis on "taming" the world and making it your own.

On the one hand, this is BRILLIANT. I'd love for a perfectly-paced AC game to truly give me months worth of stuff to grind through and a reason to truly keep coming back beyond the changing of the season and the new bugs, new fish, etc.

But on the other hand if that balance isn't perfectly nailed it won't feel good.