[Confirmed] Animal Crossing: New Horizons will force every individual Switch user account to share the same island

[darkazcura]

I dunno sounds like you will be able to choose whether you want your own island or to share when you create your profile, but you will be locked in at that point.

We will see. That wouldn't nearly be as bad, but they aren't really limiting the potential of this game by allowing users to have only one island. It would be cool if I could have a local island with my wife, my own island, an island with extended family, etc.

 

[Andri]

Have you watched the first Lego Movie?

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They are the parent.

 

[emb]

Was wondering how they would handle it. Makes sense, though it would kinda be nice to have the option to do it either way.

Back on GameCube I just made four characters so I could get more stuff at timed events (mainly songs). Now, my main thought is letting younger relatives play, and for that purpose, I kinda like the Switch's normal sandboxing stuff. Seems like it will be pretty easy to mess up a town in New Horizons.

 

[DaveB]

First a March 2020 release date and now this? Son of a bitch! Preorder cancelled with prejudice!

...I am totally kidding! This doesn't bother me at all since my wife and I will be playing on our own Switches anyway. We've never been able to share a single game card with any of the games in the series. Wild World led us to buy a second DS and New Leaf lead to a second 3DS. We only had one Wii and one copy of City Folk, but that was because it was impractical to have two due to the TV factor.

 

[KhandoleezzaRice]

Not a problem. You can work together, quarantine off different areas for each player, or just flex your superiority and say that no one is allowed to mess it up. If you were the type of person that threw down ground textures in previous games then you would have to maintain some sort of control anyways. We also have no clue if this is a New Leaf thing where only the first player is able to make some of the more significant world level customization choices.

 

[SolidChamp]

Does this confirm that the island is a separate entity from the main town?

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

Does this confirm that the island is a separate entity from the main town?

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No. In all likelihood the island is the main town

 

[Woylie]

Now that I'm re-reading the quote, I'm wondering if it's kind of ambiguous as to what exactly it means.

When they say you can't have multiple islands, do they just mean you can't have multiple islands on one Switch profile? If so, that makes sense? I'm imagining maybe it works like how the previous games worked - you could, hypothetically, select the player you wanted from an in-game drop down menu before the town loads, like in previous games. And then each Switch profile could have an island with four players associated with it?

Or has it already been clarified that each Switch profile corresponds to one player in the town only? If that's the case, what does the game do with a system with more than four profiles?

They need to clear up the messaging around this for sure if it's actually not shared on the whole system, and fix it before launch if it's what people are fearing. I feel like it might be the former though, considering I can't think of any Switch games that do something like that (sharing a save between user profiles) so I'm not even sure if it's possible.

 

[MaitreWakou]

This is the same as every other entry, no?

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Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't this how Animal Crossing has always worked?

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It is. You share your world with other people playing on your system/game card since the very beginning of the serie, it's part of its identity.
I understand that people would want to have the option to create their own separate town, but those acting like it's a step back need to read the article because it's just the same it has always been. Unless that, this time, you can have 8 accounts/players on your world, when before that it was only 4.

 

[julian]

So what happens to your saves in the cloud? Does your village not get backed up? Is it lost if you lose the system?

 

[Kouriozan]

Wish we had the option for that, it can be good or bad depending on how you want to play this.

 

[ThatMeanScene]

Like why not both? Give people the option. Its not that hard, Nintendo.

 

[Woylie]

So what happens to your saves in the cloud? Does your village not get backed up? Is it lost if you lose the system?

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There are games like Splatoon that don't support cloud saves, I could see this being one of them.

 

[julian]

There are games like Splatoon that don't support cloud saves, I could see this being one of them.

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Oh I know. That's why I wonder if this is another case of that. That would be the true shame if so.

It would also mean you can't continue taking care of your town on another system.

 

[TheRaidenPT]

Terrible idea they should go back in this ASAP

 

[Deleted member 7092]

I appreciate the title update. I didn't even consider the alternate interpretation of the quote when making the thread, and while I still think the message is that there can only be one island per system, it's not an iron-clad definitive statement.

 

[Psittacus]

Seems like an odd move considering the "colonising an island" theme

 

[ChrisD]

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't this how Animal Crossing has always worked?

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Yes lol.
The only difference is that the Switch has profiles so I guess people figured they'd each have their own island?

I am curious as to how save data will work. Can one buy another cart and have their own, or will Switch read AC as AC and only allow one island per Switch regardless of cart?

 

[erpg]

I'm okay with this.

 

[Raccoon]

will Switch read AC as AC and only allow one island per Switch regardless of cart?

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this

 

[Wiped]

Good. Back in my day we didn't do this careless swapping out of carts to get a new town. If you had your own DS, you had the right to buy another copy of the game to play. These were the rules, and they served us well.

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Yeah but even if you buy a 2nd copy, you'll still have to share the same island as you are forced to by the account system on the Switch. Not like the DS

 

[Bulbul]

It is fine the way it is, the save system always worked like that.
This was a fun part actually, I don't mind sharing the same island.

 

[Raccoon]

Yeah but even if you buy a 2nd copy, you'll still have to share the same island as you are forced to by the account system on the Switch. Not like the DS

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I think you misread my post. If you didn't have your own DS, you didn't deserve your own town.

 

[Deleted member 2791]

By the way, if you want some real bad news, it seems that the game isn't compatible with cloud saves to avoid tempering the data in relation with the time/days (which is bullshit):

https://www.gamekult.com/jeux/animal-crossing-switch-3050879505/test.html

Avec l'arrivée des cloud saves et la sauvegarde automatique, comment allez-vous gérer les interventions de M. Resetti ?

HN : New Horizons ne sera pas compatible avec la sauvegarde dans le cloud, pour éviter de manipuler le temps, qui reste l'un des concepts fondateurs de la série.

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With the arrival of cloud saves and autosave, how are you going to manage M. Resetti's role ?

HN: New Horizons will not be compatible with cloud saves to avoid time manipulation, which is one of the founding concepts of the game.

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[h8bit]

have the folks who are upset about this ever played an animal crossing game or..???

 

[h8bit]

By the way, if you want some real bad news, it seems that the game isn't compatible with cloud saves to avoid tempering the data in relation with the time/days (which is bullshit):

https://www.gamekult.com/jeux/animal-crossing-switch-3050879505/test.html

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this however is bullshit. always terrified of losing my AC save.

 

[Chucker]

I'm wondering how many of the people that are positive about this are parents.

Because the idea of sharing with my 5 year old is not great.

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I'm stoked to play this way with my 8 year old. Hell, we've been on the EraCraft realm for a year and that's all one world for everybody. I'd start building, she might come along and make her own modifications but it was fun to watch her make it her own. Also, it's Animal Crossing, there is only so much you can do.

 

[FearMyWrench]

have the folks who are upset about this ever played an animal crossing game or..???

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They're upset that their option to have another island is being taken away from them, besides buying an entire new Switch. In the New Leaf fanbase, it's incredibly common for people to own multiple copies of the game for multiple towns.

 

[dotpatrick]

By the way, if you want some real bad news, it seems that the game isn't compatible with cloud saves to avoid tempering the data in relation with the time/days (which is bullshit):

https://www.gamekult.com/jeux/animal-crossing-switch-3050879505/test.html

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Eh.

I kind of suspected this would be the case. I mean it still sucks but isn't at all surprising. The 3DS Save Backup stuff didn't work with New Leaf either AFAIK.

As soon as they revealed that cloud saves wouldn't work with Splatoon 2, I knew the same would be the case for AC on Switch.

 

[FearMyWrench]

By the way, if you want some real bad news, it seems that the game isn't compatible with cloud saves to avoid tempering the data in relation with the time/days (which is bullshit):

https://www.gamekult.com/jeux/animal-crossing-switch-3050879505/test.html

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Saw this coming but confirmation is good. Really a shame given how upsetting losing an AC save can be but they were never going to allow it with concerns of duplication.

 

[h8bit]

They're upset that their option to have another island is being taken away from them, besides buying an entire new Switch. In the New Leaf fanbase, it's incredibly common for people to own multiple copies of the game for multiple towns.

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mmm i guess that makes a little more sense since some functionality is locked behind inter-town moving and trading.

 

[Kneefoil]

So I'm still confused on how this works. If my roommate and I both have a Switch and both get the game, can we set up an island that basically acts as a server for our games? Meaning that we could both have our tents on the island with the same surrounding environment, characters, etc? And that if one of us logs off, the other could still play and advance on the island?

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If you both have Switches, no, but if you share a Switch, yes.

If you do have separate Switches you can only visit someone's town, and likely only when they're playing. However, if Dream Suite comes back in this entry, you can visit a friend's town even when they're offline, but your actions will be more limited: can't make any permanent changes or bring anything back from there.

have the folks who are upset about this ever played an animal crossing game or..???

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Just because things have always been one way doesn't mean they couldn't possibly be better another way.

 

[neon/drifter]

That sounds good to me, that's basically how it was on the game cube

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This. I kinda got excited by this news to be honest!

 

[HeySeuss]

That lines up with the rules for the family online plan of up to 8 people sharing, so it must be tied to that. I'm guessing if you each have a separate online account it won't be that way, only if you have a family plan as a means for online.

 

[Megatron]

I have my own Switch, so this decision doesn't impact me.

My three younger sisters, however, all share the same system. They all love the series, but their playstyles and design sensibilities are all wildly different. They shouldn't be forced to endure each other's clashing Animal Crossing lifestyle philosophies.

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Oh no. They might have to learn how to co exist with people with other opinions, and compromise. Something like 'this is my part of the island to decorate and that's yours.' Not just be isolated strangers living in the same house. How horrifying.

 

[Rover]

I am wondering if the logistics of the save system and visiting other people's towns is too funky to do something where it could support hopping between towns on one system.

You also have to consider that the switch would potentially allow people to create tons of accounts and towns. People did this on Gamecube but they had to buy separate memory cards for each town.

 

[Kneefoil]

That lines up with the rules for the family online plan of up to 8 people sharing, so it must be tied to that. I'm guessing if you each have a separate online account it won't be that way, only if you have a family plan as a means for online.

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Nah, I don't think you need to have an online account at all, unless you plan on visiting other people's islands and not playing locally. It has more to do with you only being able to make 8 accounts on any Switch.

 

[HeySeuss]

Nah, I don't think you need to have an online account at all, unless you plan on visiting other people's islands and not playing locally. It has more to do with you only being able to make 8 accounts on any Switch.

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Yeah that's true. Nintendo won't mandate online play. I guess it is weird tho how each user can't have their own share file, but this is a community oriented game so it doesn't bother me.

 

[Deleted member 7279]

So you can't have two separate islands on the same game cartridge? Sounds about right. I know on New Leaf I made an alt in my town just to have more storage space for things I wanted to hold on to items that I needed to store and didn't have a practical solution for.

 

[BassForever]

Sorry op that's how I and most people want Animal Crossing to be. Loved having my sister and brother share my town, see the things they did, and see how the npcs talked about them.

 

[--R]

Good. That's the way I want it.

 

[NSESN]

The cloud save is disappointing but seems to me a thing that can't be solved without making the game always online
I wish nintendo made an emergence cloud save for games like this. But I guess that is too much to ask considering the quality of their online services at the moment

 

[Deleted member 5359]

Me arguing with my neighbors

 

[Spine Crawler]

people forget that this is what animal crossing is in the first place. you are supposed to play the game together. same town, same villagers and all that jazz. just different times.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/iHZGv

 

[Charizard]

Yeah that's true. Nintendo won't mandate online play. I guess it is weird tho how each user can't have their own share file, but this is a community oriented game so it doesn't bother me.

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On the Wii U everyone had same Smash Bros save file. Ruined the game for me TBH since the main thing i got it for was to 100% it myself

 

[Gnorman]

Should be an option imo.

 

[grand]

So... Every Animal Crossing game ever.

 

[Deleted member 9971]

😂 i guess if i ambored of my island ill have to just delete it the oldskool way.

 

[plebc]

So my sister and I can't have our separate islands at all? I know how much time she invests into it so I would feel sorry for changing anything in hew town.

At the end I won't be able to play this game.

 

[Amnixia]

Shame if true/unchanged before launch. Same as how you can't have multiple saves in BotW under the same profile.

Some Nintendo choices are so boggling.