Let's discuss: Animal Crossing
Let's discuss: Animal Crossing
The format of these posts is simple: let's discuss a specific game or series!
Sadly I am feeling horribly ill right now, as I have Covid for the 3rd time in my life. Nothing serious, but just feeling like shit for the third day in a row. This made me think back to a game that released at the perfect time during the pandemic (the one that isn't Among Us).
Let's discuss the Animal Crossing series. What is your favorite game in the series? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn't work for you? Are there other games that gave you similar feelings? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let's get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: Age of Empires, Super Mario, Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
If New Horizons was your first animal crossing game and you were disappointed by the lack of personality that the villagers had, go play the original AC. Almost no customization options outside of your house interior, but the villagers have way, way, waaaay more personality. Not really surprising since, iirc the series was originally supposed to be focused on your interactions with the villagers.
Yep! I'm pretty sure I can remember Resetti in the original Gamecube version making me cry as a kid after getting yelled at for accidentally turning off the system without saving...
I also remember Phyllis, who basically hated your guts for interrupting her night shift.
And of course there's the actual villagers of the town too, some of them were definitely a lot more... liberal... with you, personality wise!
Oh man, they get absolutely pissed if you hit them +3 times with an axe or net, which is way easier to do by accident than you'd want; if you hit a villager once, the game seems to assume that you want to hit them again, so attempting to interact just results in you pummeling/slashing the villager. I've had them tell me I don't deserve friends, that I'm a freak, that I'm a horrible creature who shouldn't be around people, etc...
Even if you don't accidentally or intentionally piss them off, they can be very rude and condescending when you first start playing. They chill out after you start interacting with them (and you have to interact if you want them to treat you nicer), but it can take weeks for them to start doing that. That's what I love about the GameCube animal crossing; the villagers aren't tripping over themselves to make you happy. In New Horizons, villagers basically exist to make you happy and feel better about yourself; however, they make it very clear they don't like you at first in the original.
(Also yes, you can hit villagers with an axe in the OG game and they have a slightly different reaction to it. It's hard to do though and would seem like a bug if it weren't for the fact that they react differently to it)
and the gyroids! and the NES emulators! There are additions to modern AC that really bring it up a notch (custom fashion, WAY more furniture items), but there really was a charm to the original that modern Nintendo would never bring back. They don't want to scare kids with villagers that could be anything other than vaguely positive towards you, and they don't want to give their back catalog away for "free".
If New Horizons was your first animal crossing game and you were disappointed by the lack of personality that the villagers had, go play the original AC.
Is the original N64/GC the one where other villagers have the most personality? What are some other differences regarding NH, New Leaf and City Folk?
Oh, some more differences vs New Horizons:
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no autosaves and Resetti will chew you out if you reset/quit without saving (New Horizons added autosaves and almost entirely removed Resetti).
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time travelling back in time relative to your last save will also trigger Resetti.
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playable NES games. They can be hard to find, but you can play them if you get any (iirc you can also transfer the roms to your GBA/GBA SP to play on-the-go)
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home customization is still a thing in the original; however you only have a max of 3 rooms (2nd floor, 1st floor, basement). However, you can't customize your basement floor or walls and the basement won't count towards your HHA score.
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no "cloud" storage, all storage is in furniture items, which have a max capacity of 3 non-furniture items (clothes, tickets, flooring and walls are fine, but not furniture). This is what the basement is for. (It's actually kinda fascinating how furniture storage works, but I won't get into that unless you're interested)
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maximum of 15 villagers instead of 10.
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you can ask villagers if they have any chores for you; this is actually a great option and I'm annoyed they removed it because it means you don't have to repeatedly spam villager dialog with the hope they'll eventually give you a task.
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there's an island you can visit with another house which you can use as storage if you want. However, it's a bit difficult to access on emulators because you can only get to it if you have a GBA connected, so you have to either emulate a connected GBA or use gecko/AR code to permanently enable Kapp'n.
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no town hall
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there are cops (they don't really do anything except tell you if there are any
freelost items in the lost-and-found or if there are any upcoming events). -
Tom Nook is the only real vendor, as afaik Mable and Able only sell custom designs. Additionally, instead of Redd, it's Tom Nook who occasionally sells artwork for the museum.
There are probably others I'm forgetting, but that's kinda the main gist of it.
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I haven't played City Folk, Wild World or New Leaf, however my impression is that the GC/N64 version is the only one where the villagers can be actually hostile to you. One of the biggest differences aside from personality, is that you have very little freedom when it comes to village customization. You can basically plant or cut down trees or flowers, and that's about it.
Note: there are like, 4 different versions of the OG animal crossing, the international GameCube release is the only one with an English translation.
I hope you feel better soon knokelmaat!
I only played Animal Crossing on the switch right into the pandemic. I was sick in the first wave and that strain was wild. The whole world was in a state of panic and AC was a cute little haven while we bunkered down. I played every single day until two llamas got married and I was hunting for little hearts... then I had a moment and I never touched it again.
It's funny that that franchise shares the same acronym as Assassin's Creed.
Love this series so much! Relaxing and chill and just fun to go at your own pace and make your own goals. I remember buying two cartridges for Wild World so I could have two saves! Also played a ton of New Horizons during the pandemic, like a lot of people I think. I actually kind of got burned out on that one and haven’t played in a long time, my island is probably covered in weeds now, ha ha!
I really love how they opened up more customization in New Horizons, including the terraforming. But they need a better system for actually doing the terraforming in the next game, because it seems so finicky right now. I also would love to see some inspiration from Pocket Camp come to the main games with more ways for the villagers to interact with your outdoor decorations so the villagers don’t just end up sitting on the ground most of the time!
the bad thing? it came out a month before ff7 remake so i didn't get to fully experience it
the good thing? everything else plus i love catching butterflies :)
the best thing? animal crossing literally kept me going while recovering from surgery :)
Oh no, freakin' COVID! I swear it eats up your mind like a zombie - stay strong. Don't let it winnnnnnn! (And by that I mean rest as much as you can but also eat and drink what you can)
a) Why did I miss the Eartbound and Telltale conversations. Boo!
b) The first Animal Crossing played via the purple purse will always have my heart. It's the best of the best and I remember staying up wayyyyy to late with my buddies beautifying our town and searching for ghosts. The only other one I ever played was the - wait that was a lie - I have actually played two. The only other one I remember playing was the one on Nintendo DS. A friend tossed me their old DS and my sibling tossed me some games - this included (and Rhythm Tengoku being one of the other ones. I absolutely do not remember any other games. Wait, lied again - I played one with Sudoku). But I didn't really dig it, or the DS as a whole. I don't think I like multiple screens for much of anything, and even work on a single monitor to this day. I also clearly don't love resistive touch screens and felt the little stylus was fiddly and hard to use. But it was more of a game as a whole. Just not for me.
Then covid happened, my gal got a switch and I played the new AC a bit while she ran around as Link. Eh, I literally don't even remember it. I might have aged out, or it might just be my disinterest in non-turn based games (which is pretty much my bread and butter now because I don't want a game to be able to dictate how and when I play it). It was much more forgiving than the old stuff. Idk where the HELL the gyroids were - but they might be in the game now. We were in some kind of tropical paradise (I believe!?) which I dug from an islander perspective. But as a whole, just didn't really care.
But I kind of feel that way about most "cozy" games nowadays. And it's funny, because I play games to "turn my brain off" so it's not that aspect. It's just that I think there's some weird brain-drain infantilization of the masses and that these games are kinda like the binkies of the brain. But there are some real pros to these types of games as whole. I think they give certain individuals a lot of structure, things to do that make them feel successful, and individuals to form relationships with. Like, give this game to an older individual who's open to playing them, and I think they'd go ham. Give this game to individuals who have certain qualities that society tends to push to the fringes - and I think it'd also be great. To be honest, Animal Crossing is about 700x less goofy than The Sims - even with its pastel graphics and chibi forms. But a lot of these games as a whole radiate kind of a toxic-positivity that I just don't vibe with. Especially when we know statistically a lot of developers - let alone GAME developers are terribly depressed.
And like, there's a light to looking to the bright side - eating potato chips - etc. Like there's a nice side to getting real basic sometimes. Especially when your brain is on fire (for whatever reason). It's probably why I play select games repetitively until it's akin to eating only peanut butter sandwiches 100xs over and get tired of them. You don't have to learn new systems really, and you're never truly challenged. Or if you are, because you're familiar with the mechanics of the game you can just ride the wave - get the dopamine and turn off. But 10/10 I don't think it's the healthiest thing to indulge in all the time. But that's just my opinion and pretty much every Nintendo made game (let alone games like Stardew) have cult followings because they really touch people where they need it.
So it is what it is. But also, on Stardew - I played it a long time ago. I had fun, then I had an okay time, now if you stick me in front of a crafting game of any kind I will burn you at the stick. The original Harvest Moon is/was (eh, debatable) one of my favorite games. It's cute, but it's also dirt-brown like a potato. It's ultra simple, kindness coins bs. I don't have to see a single portrait of anyone I am talking to. I don't really even have to give a poop about talking to anyone. I can just farm and care for my grumpy cows and chill. All while cleaning a massive field that I will never fully utilize. By this I am saying - Stardew even is too much for me. It kinda feels creepy to me too. Like it has the secret smugness and hoity-toity crap I hate so much about Seattle. And being the emotional creature I am - if I am not digging something it really takes a lot to sway me in the other direction. But the big picture reason why I put all of this is because I am clearly not the audience of either game in these modern times. So big reason why I wanted to post any of this is to say AC1 - yes! AC++!? Eh.
Tom Nook is a rotten bell-grubbing bastard.
But its a cute fun game. I only ever played the one on GameCube and a tiny bit of New Leaf. I liked finding old NES games on the GameCube one and playing them on the in-game NES.
My first game were Wild World but I actually played New Leaf to death.
I think my favorite in the series is New Leaf so far. Granted, I didn't play a ton of the GameCube version.
The only thing I wish new leaf did better was how you unlocked public works projects.
Additionally, villagers moving in and ruining your paths/designs was a pain. Otherwise, I thought the game was great. It could have used even more dialogue (which is crazy because it was already very long )
The games hit such a good mix of customizing, collecting, and discovery.
Dinkum was a great reskin/reimagining of this genre
NH is one of the worst games I've ever played
Boss Fight Books is releasing their AC book later this month! https://bossfightbooks.com/products/animal-crossing-by-kelsey-lewin
ACNH could have been so incredibly good, but there's so much low hanging fruit, qol-wise, that they seem to have intentionally not addressed.
I heard some airy fairy info about how they added frustrating aspects to encourage players to take a break but its honestly nonsense. Bulk operations have so much friction, playing the game in multiplayer removes such a great deal of functionality to the point where it's just not fun to have people on your island.
In fact that's the part that frustrates me the most, they had mini games and such in a previous entry for multiplayer fun times! Why can't we have stuff like that in ACNH? Truly baffling.
It did get me through lockdown though, so +1 for that.