New Horizons: Failing From Success

[@TheIrishDino]

The insane positive response to this video means the world to me lads! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the video and can share their own experience in the comments. I do want to address the space buns/afro puffs part of this video. As many have pointed out, the actual problem many black players were unhappy about was the fact that the person themselves had said racist things aside from posting a picture of their AC player with afro puffs. That and many players saw that renaming the hairstyle was appropriating black culture. My research certainly should have been better and I wish I could have clarified this in the video. There is no room for racism and it's very unfortunate that most articles and sites I usef to research this part of the video never looked at this aspect of the situation. Thank you guys for the kind words nevertheless. I hope despite that flaw, you enjoyed the video - the dinosaur from the video

[@JoshingYa]

Do you have a single shred of proof of this?

[@TheIrishDino]

@@JoshingYa since I didn't find anything in my original research, I looked again on sites like reddit and twitter from around 2020 to see what PEOPLE thought rather than articles. It's true what I said in the video that some black players didn't care and some did. But intentionally calling a hairstyle something that it isn't is cultural appropriation, even if it's a minor case like animal crossing. Another thing many black players didn't appreciate is that amount of white players that blew it out of proportion. Knowyourmeme.com has detailed this actually.

[@JoshingYa]

@@TheIrishDino No, I meant do you have any proof at all that she was racist outside of the space buns?

[@TheIrishDino]

​@@JoshingYa There have been plenty of accusations and tweets that spread. Whether they were legit or not, I obviously don't want to be on the side of somebody who could potentially say these things. It didn't help that she kept the buzz going about her "space buns", bringing more attention to herself. It's not a drama I particularly want to discuss I think it's best if we just realize what she did was wrong and accept it. It's WELL over by now as it should be. Like I say in the video, these type of controversies should never happen for a game like animal crossing. But they do. In all honesty, it's word of mouth. Some shared images of her saying racial slurs that may or may not have been shopped. Some say she's completely innocent. But since it's all over, what she did by continuing to promote herself using this very weird method of attention grabbing was absolutely wrong, racist or not.

[@everythingslayer_888]

But they CQN be called space buns. It’s personal preference.

[@ruelie]

i really like the idea of a villager being more cold and rude towards you but slowly becomes your friend instead of them just immediately being all buddy buddy from the get go

[@Toribell1928]

Yeah they used to! It was really fun, similar to Brewster and sable

[@pandascanrun]

Played a bit of new leaf then new horizons. Sable was def a bit ruder in new leaf

[@crushcircuit]

im pretty sure this is how it worked with cranky villagers in some of the past games and it makes me so sad that theyre toned down so much in this one T_T

[@ruelie]

@@crushcircuit yeah me too :( as a kid it just made making friendships more meaningful if they took more time

[@crushcircuit]

@@ruelie yeah!!! i remember in my very first ACNL save file i got real attached to rolf because of how he gradually warmed up to me over time! its super unfortunate that they seemed to miss the mark real hard on what made animal crossing so special back then, but at least we can always go back and play those games when we want to... i actually started up another ACNL save file a year or two ago, this video is making me want to go back to it XD

[@verlice239]

I worked so hard to get a villager i really wanted and when i finally got her she had the exact same dialogue as another villager. That was extremely disappointing.

[@VinnyUnion]

I've chuckled upon reading this. It somehow reminded me of "In the End" by Linkin Park.

[@verlice239]

@@VinnyUnion in the end it, indeed, didn't even matter

[@Kk-lt1hs]

@@verlice239 😔

[@disneyvillainsfan1666]

If I get to hear a Peppy Villager talk about being a pop star one more time, I'm going to hit them with a net. Same with the Lazy Villagers bragging about bugs in their house. 😠

[@Nel_Annette]

@@disneyvillainsfan1666 Why did they make the Lazy villagers so... gross... in this one? They used to be fun little stoner-esque dudes but in this one they talk about their crusty-ass clothes and bad hygiene in general. I hated them.

[@evelynsteger436]

The most disappointing thing imo is that you get all that island space, yet you only get a museum and 2 shops. You would think with the emphasis on decorating and designing an island you would get more shops to place around everywhere to make it feel more alive but apparently not

[@Unnoticeable-and-Forgotten]

I wish the coffee shop wasn't in the museum and was it's own building

[@SotiCoto]

I wish the shop could have been upgraded to the level of New Leaf's shop. Y'know, actually being able to buy more than 3 random things at the same time. And New Horizons being what it is, those 3 things are usually an ancient loom, a traffic cone, and some sort of industrial device I can't even identify. Do the Nooklings really believe I need a home full of wood-chippers, fuse-boxes and those metal queue fences from music venues? What do I have to do to just get a bed that isn't made of scrap wood?

[@ConcordeTH]

disagree, with the idea of putting furniture out ive designed areas using the island customizer and made areas in my island such as a space pot using custoed downloaded black roads etc and using barb wire fencing and all the space styled furniture like the rockets, the floating moon rock and the space shuttle etc, i ahve other areas laid out too with the space like a fruit forest/orchard, a desert area made with desrt stule furniture for my villager Ankh.

[@LadyVenVen]

You can just make other account and add their houses to your island. That’s what I did and it works great. You can make that into different shops and decorate it

[@ConcordeTH]

​@@LadyVenVen i did the same and you know what i tunred my alt accounts homes into? museums. I made 4 alts. In one building I display fake artworks and other pictures you can get in the game like moms artwork, in another I display Models collected, such as the DAL plane models, the van models from pocket camp and my fish and bug models. Also my trophies and zodiak figurines. The other 2 building is where im now collecting all villager posters and framed photos which imstill working on now whilst also collecting amiibo cards for every album in real life.

[@lilJess0831]

Something that’s also worth mentioning is the music. There were songs in previous games that were silly, strange, melancholy, haunting, beautiful. Each hour’s theme was unique in sound and atmosphere. I really miss that.

[@TheIrishDino]

Yep! I used a lot of New Leaf/City Folk tracks in this vid mostlu because they hit harder than New Horizons.

[@barrysteakfriessimp_real]

i miss how silly and weird the AC OST could get. what happened to stuff like the 1 PM track or 2 AM track from PG (Population Growing, the first game)? i like the island feel of NH's hourly OST but it feels bland because there's a lack of diversity in each track, just the same instruments. i can't even tell or remember which one's which (except 2 PM, which i can always tell purely because that track annoys me _so so_ much). NL's hourly tracks could range from upbeat to quiet to a little unnerving at times (think 7 PM) and they're all diverse in both their themes and instruments. and while many of them use the main theme leitmotif, it never feels like a re-hash of the same melody and even uses different melodies in many of the hourly tracks. to me, the earlier games feel like eating different unique and flavourful cupcakes, while NH's OST feels like biting into cardboard 24 times.

[@Sparks.u]

Absolutely this!

[@frenzy2061]

Part of the reason I stopped playing new horizons was because of the music. I couldn't stand it. Most of the time I muted my switch when I played it. The tracks in wild world and new leaf were so peaceful.

[@lilylollielegs34]

I always wished they would have brought out an option to play the older games OSTs

[@lenandersson617]

I like how the concept of Animal Crossing is to feel less lonely in the world. As someone with no friends to play with though I still feel as lonely when playing this game. I feel like Animal Crossing New Horizons is made for the opposite audience, those who do have friends.

[@TheIrishDino]

That's actually true. Whats the point in island designing if there is nobody to see it or visit it. Very good point!

[@dynogamergurl]

the new ac game probably feels lonely because the villagers are kinda flat and one dimensional. they don't really feel like true friends. in the older games you actually had to build up a bit of a relationship with them like you would irl. the villagers as friends feel fake in comparison.

[@bonyeni]

Yeah in that sense I partially blame Nintendo Online (Also since it’s the perfect punching bag for a lot of the stuff I don’t like since it’s always involved)

[@jinsoulfish9105]

see, the game feels like it was targeted for people with friends, except when you actually play with your friends you’re EXTREMELY limited on the things you can do. you can’t even sell your fish to cj if he’s on a friends island, so there’s no “hey coke to my island so we can fish” or anything like that, it’s just showing off your cute island

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

I agree. Up until the KK slider bit was completed I was at least motivated in game with or without ACNH human friends playing as well. Oddly enough, I went back to playing sims 2 ( as a relaxing thing after work now). Same basic comcepts but the building is on-going (finding your sims love, friends, having kids, etc) and the goals seem more interactive. There’s a point where ACNH only is fun if you can find other human players playing the game as well. I have lost a bit of interest in completing the museum because there is no one to go there with and the slow crawl to complete the art (the hardest part) doesn’t feel worth it if I don’t have ACNH social connections irl. And the three I made aren’t active players since I got into it later the they did and they’ve moved on to playing other stuff more regularly. Sims 2 has been more my cozy game fix now. Like if I go downtown in Sims 2, I am flooded with NPCs and all kinds of neat unique interactions. If I go to the museum, cafe, or the store in ACNH, I sometimes get lucky and a villager is walking around, but the interactions are boring or generic after awhile. Where as in Sims 2 when I leave my house bubble and go to one of many community lots, heck, I might see a fight in the street…or be in one.

[@harliecurcio1705]

I miss the DRAMA of the old games. I still think about the love triangle involving Pelly, Phyllis, and Pete to this day

[@theamandible1862]

Yessss! Or the random Tom Nook and Sable lore from City Folk😭

[@VentraleStar]

Those are the only things though and they are just side dialogue that was memed…not sure how that is drama

[@HorrorGirlNat]

I loved Phyllis she was such a b*tch.

[@Manakuuchiha]

As a child I thought Pete was cheating on his wife Pelly with Phyllis 😭

[@gypsywoman9140]

​@Manakuuchiha Pete certainly was gonna break Pelly's heart, even if they weren't married or dating. She was in love with him, but he was more interested in Phyllis. He liked her sass. Phyllis did not reciprocate. I believe this was in New Leaf or Wild World. Tom and Sable had some history and things seemed to go awry after his time in the city. They both missed the closeness they once shared. I can't remember if Tom's ego was bruised after the city or what. I believe he also has a history with Redd where once upon a time they were business partners but Redd screwed him over.

[@rachelt4792]

In previous games, we also used to be able to talk _with_ the villagers instead of them talk _at_ us. Remember the slider & multiple choice options we used to get? Now we’re only able to respond once in a blue moon. We were even able to get involved in our villagers’ arguments. One would ask who’s right and we would upset the one we didn’t side with. Man, I miss that. I wish they would give us a big dialogue update.

[@Nelliecosplay]

Such a great point. I miss having proper answers to their silly questions SO MUCH

[@QueenMariposa5]

It's so weird for them to ask you questions that you can't respond to. They barely ask for favors or to play games neither

[@claudiama3560]

You just made me remember the slider that sometimes came up when they'd ask you something like, how much do you think Apollo likes music? And I would stress myself out not knowing how to answer haha

[@aru_.]

if i ever played animal crossing i would want to have at least 4 villagers who hate my guts

[@mr_m4613]

You still get involved in your villagers arguments in new horizons.

[@aleccino]

The lack of nook shop upgrades is the most unforgiveable sin for me. I absolutely loved upgrading the store in New Leaf and getting more options.

[@blu.berrii]

yess agreed ! i think they totally could've kept the upgrade system and added customisation, so that the bigger and better Nook Stores could still fit within your islands' aesthetic. I can totally understand someone not wanting a huge supermarket on their island, but I'm sure if a bigger Nook Store could be customised, and keep the current store's island aesthetic, it would work. ALSO not being able to work at Brewster's made me really sad. I honestly don't know why they removed so many fun features from the last game, it makes it feel like this game doesn't have many additions despite being really unique from the last games.

[@herreichhorn0.0]

Upgrading the store or all the other shops in ACNH always gave you a clear goal to work towards. It was really in NH that I realized while still being chill, these goals were a big motivating factor for me.

[@secretaryjecc495]

And the lack of new updates to fix these lackluster features is sooo unforgiveable

[@penguu2387]

YES. The shop upgrades were always super exciting. When I realized there wasn't going to be a mega-mart, it kind of devastated me.

[@Acme_the_rubberhose_dog]

Nah fr tf have they done literally why Those closed stares behind the counter did us dirty asf

[@colleenroberts8202]

Your little anecdote made me cry. My mom is in her late 50s and has never taken notice of my interest in gaming. One day I caught her looking over my shoulder while i was playing ACNH. She started asking questions about it, so I showed her how to play. She made an account on my Switch. I started a character for her. When my sister's family came to visit, I showed her how to play with her grandchildren. For her birthday, my dad bought her a Switch.

[@multi3656]

Man I wish my mom would have the interest and time to pick up a game like Animal Crossing to relax a bit. I remember back then when she play New Super Mario Bros Wii with me and my sister. Definitely one of my favorite moments in gaming.

[@APsGTG]

@@multi3656gaming needs more respect. Such an art form that brings people together

[@Linkophere]

@@APsGTGits THEE most mainstream it's ever been. Just 20 years ago if you played video games, youd be seen as a loser nerd with loser nerd hobbies to now if you apply to a job they want to hear how many hours you sink into a single game console.

[@APsGTG]

@@Linkophere the point is that it’s still an art form that isn’t properly recognised as such. Idk what you’re shouting for you need to calm your goofy self down.

[@Chris-yu3co]

Warming my cold heart over here Colleen 🖤

[@liesebeam8910]

My least favorite thing about New Horizons is that gold tools break. It just meant i had no incentive to actually get them. I felt like i was wasting gold for nothing so i gave up and just started buying tools. I had too much money so i didnt care about the extra price.

[@twlight9000]

This was the biggest flop for me as well. An item I knew would never break would have been a huge game changer for me

[@etch-6261]

i thought that once i got gold tools they would never break, once i found out that gold tools can break a switch flipped in me, i didnt want tonplay the game anymore

[@liesebeam8910]

@@etch-6261 exactly! It felt like i was building to nothing. Whats 20 more hits? Its cheaper and more effective to make 2 30 hit shovels. Especially if I'm farming resources to get the other gold tools.

[@mrlaz9011]

The devs seemed really intent on forcing you to use the new crafting mechanic no matter how utterly grating it could get.

[@twlight9000]

@@mrlaz9011 Yep in a game designed to relax I found myself really annoyed about tools all the time and it took a lot of the joy out

[@AmalieLinden]

You know the dialogue failed when even Pocket Camp has slightly harsher villagers and more varied villager dialogue. Like, sporty villagers actually feeling quite different when you talk to them and getting to develop a preference. Truly remarkable.

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

My first AC game was Pocket Camp. My second was New Horizons. The dialogue change was such whiplash that I'm so afraid to play any of the original Animal Crossing games.

[@AmalieLinden]

@@sherbertshortkake6649 The other mainline games should have way more personality !! Its mostly only New Horizons that missed the mark in terms of personality. Some characters will even straight up insult you. So if youre after more personality, then the other mainline games are great !! You even get more lore on some of the villagers :]

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

@@AmalieLinden That's exactly what I'm worried about: the whiplash from transferring from New Horizons dialogue to Wild World dialogue might just be enough to snap my neck

[@thethingcalledlisa]

I feel bad for people who’ll never see character development in cranky villagers or be extremely annoyed by a snooty character and now just dislike them for their diva looks and not attitude

[@jgambale3391]

I also feel like Pocket Camp has way more holiday/real world event dialogue which I like a lot as well

[@_snowylil]

honestly, one of the main things that made me give up on the game was that every single action took such a long time - i loved it when i first started, it was a cute, relaxed vibe, but when i want to terraform an entire island and put effort into building something fun, the lengthy animations for every tool swing, every entry and exit from a door, crafting, picking stuff up and putting it down again, *ladders*, it just started to really wear on me and i figured i'd have a better time expressing creativity in something else

[@Toribell1928]

Yeah one of my biggest criticisms. If you want to make it a decorator that’s fine but at least make that part of the game convenient😭 why couldn’t you just design it then wait a day for “construction” or something?? That would have been better imo and still been in line with the game’s real world pacing

[@maximumbeans9310]

Also, the game takes too long to give you the full suite of creator tools. By the time you get them, you’ve kind of done everything, and it’s a bit like having infinite Lego with no real aim or purpose. Yeah, you can do whatever you want within reason, but what’s the point? There’s no wider goal tied to it other than just “go wild”.

[@annabananalover4229]

The loading screens are insane new leaf loads in a quarter of the time

[@JamesTDG]

That tedium really can cut off a lot of steam

[@VentraleStar]

@@annabananalover4229 Seriously…new Leaf does loading times better now 😑 is this a cult? everything takes forever in New leaf.

[@mimi-iv4ck]

Amazing video! Honestly the villagers personalities is the biggest issue for me and most players assume. It can feel very lonely when it's supposed to be the opposite of that

[@TheIrishDino]

Thank you and yeah, they are the true bread and butter of animal crossing. New Horizons just feels like lettuce and a million types of toppings.

[@pib7684]

@@TheIrishDino that’s the perfect way to describe that game!!!

[@thethingcalledlisa]

They really should’ve either added “alternative” personality-times (no idea how else I should call it) where there is like “Lazy A” and “Lazy B” and they have some different dialogues or a higher likelihood to say specific things (for example “Lazy A” talks more about food whilst “Lazy B” talks more about being lazy and dreams) and they should’ve made the personalities more extrem eventhough that might make some people dislike them but I miss Del being rude

[@barrysteakfriessimp_real]

yeah. i feel that the villagers feel less like weird and funny friends you meet in a neighbourhood that you slowly grow closer to, and more like... coworkers, if you get what i mean. they feel so sanitised and too polite, they insist they're your friend and yet never seem to get too close to you like a friend would. sure you can visit them and hang out, but you never really do anything together. you don't really do favours for them anymore, you don't get this weird dialogue that makes you like them more from them. they say the same things over and over and are interested in really broad topics, and i feel so disconnected from these little guys which sucks because i love the villagers i have on my island. Lyman, the little green koala, is one of my favourites and yet i don't feel close to him, he's just a face i like having around and it makes the game feel more lonely for me. New Leaf was the first AC game i played, and while many of the villagers feel a little bland in that game, i actually feel pretty connected with them, like i actually live with them and that i'm friends with them. with NH, i just... don't feel that. it feels constructed. i don't think i like that. (also does anyone find the general aesthetic of NH pretty corporate looking? i miss the textured backgrounds and the cute little wooden clock, i like how the beta of NH looks way more personally and i wish that was a style we could switch to or something)

[@spacebird107]

i miss when the villagers were sassy and actually insulted you sometimes :( it was a funny part of the game that gave the villagers more personality

[@99xara99]

Unpopular opinion: I feel like taking away the furniture item series from the older games further took away from New Horizons. Sure, some of them weren't particularly pretty, but I loved having themed rooms and *collecting* complete sets of furniture. I loved the new furniture too, but they should've added instead of exchanged.

[@TheIrishDino]

YES! Like I remember the mushroom sets, Gracie Graces sets and so much more from New Leaf. I cannot remember any in New Horizons aside from "sleek"

[@F1areon]

@@TheIrishDino The "Cabana" series is technically in NH but it's been renamed to "rattan", iirc

[@AppleJuiceStudios]

I was heartbroken that I couldn’t have the Lovely set. I always had that set in every single AC game except NH

[@chrisgonzales5597]

I miss the apline set every day

[@IdiotRace]

I mean the thing is they didn't take stuff away, it's just the level of model detail on furniture that is in NH is on a way higher level than pocket camp or NL. So they didn't have the time/resource to make every single furniture set from the previous games. This is a problem that happens to lots of games when they transition from lower res (3DS screen resolution is 240p remember, compared to the switches 720/1080) to HD. Usually the first version of a game series that ends up with a huge graphical overhaul tends to have less content because of this. I mean I'm sure Nintendo could've thrown more money/resources at it but again they are a massive multibillion dollar corporation at the end of the day so they'll just choose the most profitable thing to do over what the customer actually wants. Edit: I know people are going to bring up pocket camp, but even those models are lower poly than the stuff in NH. Which aside from the hideous predatory gacha stuff they can crank out so many different things constantly.

[@artemis_173]

i loved new horizon because like many other people this was my first (real) animal crossing. I loved it until i played some older games (mainly new leaf) and realised... damn there's so much missing.

[@timkelmer1268]

That remind me of fallout 4 fans.

[@gemil9933]

I bought animal crossing new horizon but just didn’t enjoy it as much as the old ones so didn’t put even 3 hours into it.

[@yoshixcrossing2355]

The main thing that bothers me is how prior games had more than 6 types of fruit and it was never brought back in NH. Ntm the minigames being completely absent

[@catandrobbyflores]

What i really miss is running errands for the villagers. And just randomly a villager giving me new clothing because i had a carp in my pockets.

[@Starpotion]

The thing is you still can run errands but they're ridiculously simplified and almost nonsensical, like giving you the shirt they're wearing for fetching a piece of fruit that's 5 five feet away from them. It's a one and done interaction that make radiant quests in Skyrim look like FF14 story quests. I honestly have no idea why they didn't expand upon the system from Pocket Camp where you could actually build up a relationship with villagers and have to learn their preferences.

[@tylerwhittemore3908]

​@@StarpotionI would love a friendship level up system like in pocket camp. And to add to that, giving the player much more dialogue options whilst talking to influence how an animal reacts to you.

[@SpagettiSpeltWrong]

​@@StarpotionTo be honest in the near 2 years that I've been playing ACNH the quests I've gotten haven't been that bad. Sometimes they're a little dumb but other times they'll ask you for a specific fish or bug and I do like those. Or the little quest they give you when they have a fight with another villager. I like how opening the present one of the villagers gives you before giving it to the other villager actually makes both parties a little disappointed. Though I do think the game would benefit from having a more in depth relationship system rather than villagers just forgetting everything after every play session

[@klausing8]

It's such a shame though, they said they would support this game for years after the release, but they only really supported it for barley two years after! But the updates it gave us were stuff already present in the series!! I feel bad for not playing anymore but the qualtiy of the game needs so much more updates, like the Nook Shop and crafting in bulk

[@twlight9000]

I really why they didn’t put in bulk creating in the game. Seems like a no brainier 😅

[@kinasakuraba]

Definitely the worst offense to those of us who played NL was "Introducing a new feature: swimming!"

[@everythingslayer_888]

Don’t forget all the furniture sets they basically cut from the game

[@ChicagoMel23]

*barely

[@snapplegu6100]

@@everythingslayer_888 I will never get over not having rococo and the eventual replacement being not even close to as cute

[@Edward_Avila]

Also with the advent of social media, we have all these people showing off their beautiful islands and it made me feel like shit about mine LOL and it doesnt help that just moving other peoples houses takes a literal day, it was extremely demotivating for my uncreative ass looool

[@nikolachiara9285]

While I understand this sentiment, I don't really see how this point is relevant to any discussion here, it has no relevancy to this argument. Everyone has their own issues in designing their island. You would feel this way about any creative game in that case

[@Mar-uc7kk]

@@nikolachiara9285well actually it is exceedingly relevant. People made their islands so great because of the complete creative freedom that was handed to the player.

[@anastasiab4391]

Agreed dude I had the same experience

[@androphobe]

I literally stopped playing for 3 years because everyone else was so far ahead and had beautiful islands LOL. I recently deleted mine and am playing again though

[@Klassyy]

Time travel then??? one treasure island and i have millions of bells

[@grannyisnotamused]

The biggest miss for me in NH, was the OST. Even after you get the hourly songs, they all feel so similar to me. In the outro, you used my absolute favorite hourly song from New Leaf, and I recognized it immediately. They were all so unique, and after years of playing, I could tell you which hour was which. In NH, I still can’t do that. There’s just no…. Flavor?

[@notreal6762]

High-key this is what bothers me the most. Sometimes I'll literally play nl music while playing nh, but it's not the same as it actually being in-game

[@hikawagetsbitches]

NL’s ost is so good

[@Soandnb]

I have every single NL track ingrained into my head, bar maybe the morning songs. I counted how many times the main motif shows up in those tracks, and only half of them have it (and even then 12AM really scrambles the cadence up), compared to every single hourly track in NH having the main motif.

[@breadbugs]

NHs hourly osts all largely sounds the same when compared to NLs or WWs. doesnt really have any charm to it unlike those games since its just mostly guitar

[@Double400]

I was so disappointed by NH's ost. Don't get me wrong there's a few tracks off of it I really enjoy, but most of the tracks I'm either indifferent to or genuinely annoyed by, meanwhile I adore almost every track off of New Leaf

[@hana-chan420]

Dude. As someone who put THOUSANDS of hours into New Leaf, and couldn't figure out why exactly New Horizons didn't measure up in comparison despite everyone hyping it up like it was the second coming, you finally put into words all of the conflicting feelings and lowkey guilt I went through when I dropped the game after only a few weeks. This video is amazing, from the script to the editing, the music choices, the jokes...you nailed it!!! I hope nothing but the best for you and hope your video making skills take you very far in life.

[@TheIrishDino]

Thank you so much! :D It's unfortunate how vastly different the vibe is in ACNH and I am not surprised that fans really didn't feel a connection with the game.

[@vchlopie9357]

You’re so me man. horizons didnt hit as hard as the new leaf feel despite the constant hype

[@mr_m4613]

Speak for yourself, im approaching 4,000 hours in new horizons.

[@piti6678]

@@mr_m4613 good for you 🙄

[@_Roly]

​@@mr_m4613 I'm glad! It's good to have different opinions, and while I personally could never, it's great that others can!

[@MegaE25]

I still believe that the ability to customize your island and really make it your own was a huge step up compared to the other games but NH still felt really hollow to me. The lack of shops and the boring villagers are what mainly contribute to that. One of my most greatest memories of New Leaf was how I had my house built kind of secluded off in the top part of the map and before I knew it 2 or 3 villagers had built there houses directly in front of mine. One of these villagers had given me a nickname and soon enough that nickname had spread to the other villagers who lived in front of my house but not to the other members of the town. So this small group of villagers felt like my best friends in the town as they would come out of their houses in the morning and greet me all by the same nickname and they would water my garden and plant new flowers in front of my house. And than there was Kabuki who was a grouchy villager who kind was stand offish at first but felt like he really warmed up to me over time because of how often I talked to him and did requests for him. I never felt anything close to these in NH.

[@vasheal]

Sounds like you lost your imagination along the way.

[@goose2888]

​@@vashealNH* lost it's imagination, not the commenter

[@oHolyHandGrenade]

@@goose2888why not both?

[@Gamechamp3000]

My wife and I tried to unlock the next shop upgrade for months before finally giving up and googling the unlock conditions, only to discover our shop had been maxed the entire time. Then every patch we'd just assume "okay, THIS is the one that adds in the full shop upgrades".

[@TheIrishDino]

It was so disappointing. One shop upgrade is an insult compared to New Leaf

[@sophiej6893]

The villager issue always tends to be the main issue for me. Greta is one of my favourite villagers, and not one I'd have thought I'd love, because back when I played NL, she moved in and working to "get to know her", so to speak, and going from hating her and her hating me, to becoming friends, was so rewarding it really gave me a soft spot for her. You don't get that anymore.

[@ElizabethVonnegut]

yeah !!! why is butch so nice to me?!?!?! he is supposed to hate me

[@zephyrias]

I just got Greta to move into my Island. She kicked off Elvis! 😂

[@Cha-he9ch]

Right, I had the same thing happen with Keaton! The older Animal Crossing games were always about hating a villager because they looked super weird/ugly and talked to you like crap and walked all over your flowers and DARED to be your next house neighboor, and then growing to love them and becoming best friends through the days of socialisation. I miss that.

[@hollyruffner6823]

Lobo is still one of my favorites because winning him over in NL was so rewarding!

[@IodineGia]

This is exactly why I liked Peanut as well back in ACWW, she used to hate me back then. Now that I got her in ACNH, It feels anti-climatic that she's kind to me and she ACTS SO SIMILAR to Audie.

[@weegaboo]

There's one key thing I think you've missed about the tool durability system, which I was especially expecting when you brought up Breath of the Wild. In Breath of the Wild, your weapons do in fact break. This is a worthwhile mechanic, because the different weapons are different in some way. When your weapon breaks, you may end up needing to use a weapon type that you don't like, or a weapon that isn't nearly as effective, or a weapon that doesn't have the special perk you like. In New Horizons, all tools do the same thing. The only difference between the flimsy shovel and the golden shovel is the durability. There is no reason for tools to break in that game.

[@WhimsicottFanatic]

Hell, while it came out significantly after both games, Tears of the Kingdom made distinction between weapons even more of a thing Like, with BotW, there really wasn't all too much different with weapons, yeah there were 3 different types of weapons, but ultimately almost all weapons, except for the elemental and Ancient/Guardian ones, purely had a numbers difference, ie damage and durability TotK made it so the different weapon types had unique special attributes to themselves that allowed for so much more options with them Silver weapons gain increased damage if they're wet, Royal Guard weapons gain increased damage when they're about to break, Forest Dweller weapons will have fuses materials that usually only have one hit before it's broken off [such as Puffshrooms] stay on and be used indefinitely, etc. But like you said, New Horizons doesn't really have any noteworthy difference between the different types of each tool, aside from gold ones

[@queenoffabulous2156]

A cool thing with Botw system if you especially liked a specific weapon then you'd have to make the effort to track it down, in acnh you can just go into the store and buy a shovel if you can't be bothered to make one

[@MissFanette]

Speaking about the characters what really disappointed me is that they never ask you to do anything. Or very rarely. In New Leaf, they would ask you to bring a fruit, a butterfly, to find another villager etc... They would give us those little goals and variates the dialogues + sometimes made you feel like you could discover a bit more about their personnalities and get closer to them. But here, you talk to them and it feels like talking to them or not didn't change anything in your game.

[@pb542]

I played for a week (NH) and they already asked me three times to bring them something + once they asked me to play a game with them… I never realised it’s something rare

[@MissFanette]

@@pb542 you can play with them it’s true, but it’s always the same game … and sometimes you can go to their place . but compare to New Leaf it’s not that interesting :/

[@EingefrorenesEisen]

I keep saying this. We need activities with our villagers! Minigames! Swimming! Sports! Fossil/Bug hunting! Maybe caves and cave exploration! Cooking, organizing/cleaning, NES games we can play with them -- the list of possibilities is limitless, honestly.

[@absolutelydegenerate1900]

They still ask you to get things like fish and bugs for them, sometimes they will ask you to deliver a present to another villager to help them make up an argument they had over various things. Usually when they have the little bubbles over their head is when they dish that stuff out

[@absolutelydegenerate1900]

@@EingefrorenesEisencave exploration would be pretty cool. Maybe another way to find fossils or another section of the museum where you find rocks, precious stones, and semi precious stones. They could make it educational like all of the other things. Give you a reason to bring fruit so you can break rocks and try to find new things down in the depths

[@vishu1334]

I wish we could place all the shops in our own island instead of Harv’s Island. This would allow the island look more “full”

[@thethingcalledlisa]

It’d be great if you could choose if they should be on the mainland or Harv’s

[@dr.doofenshmirtz8991]

that's a cute idea but i got no space on my island lmao

[@RealBradMiller]

@@dr.doofenshmirtz8991 Then it would be cool to have the ones you want, or none at all. It should be up to you!

[@nihili4196]

Or at least make Harv's island part of the island. Maybe it would be connected with bridge, and you had limited degree of customisability of it too.

[@vishu1334]

@@nihili4196 omg! I never thought of that! Amazing idea

[@LisaMichelle98]

One thing you haven't mentioned that upset me as a long time player, was the concept of updating the game with 'new content'. Adding in swimming was a content update hyped up like it was something new, while it shipped with the base game in New Leaf. Sure, we got farming and some other new things, but it was so overhyped (partially by the community) that it just left a sour taste.

[@Zehmaskedman]

Yeah most of the update were just adding back stuff from old games, that was pretty lame. Plus they just stopped content updates right after dropping 2.0 like "hey we finally finished the game that we shipped incomplete, yeah it sold a ton but so what, we have your money byyyye". I still feel bitter about that.

[@LilacMonarch]

Gotta loves how games are always released unfinished these days

[@JamesTDG]

Don't forget the insane amount of features that required you to pay for an online subscription just to use

[@vasheal]

Not really

[@patrizia_688]

The most disappointing thing is, that they stopped listening and let the game sizzle out. That’s the very worse part Honestly.. just give me a ACNL Remake with ACNH graphics

[@bcj842]

Animal Crossing: Old Leaf would be a nice game.

[@onlyangcl]

in my opinion, the graphics in new leaf play a big part in the game. in terms charm, coziness, etc… but maybe that’s just me.

[@King_Luigi]

"Stopped listening"? ...when did they _start?_

[@josmamatotaldrama]

@@onlyangclfr fr

[@neverpass04]

@@onlyangcl Totally agree, all of the older ac games’ graphics/art style had such a great specific charm to them

[@KiboWinsGames]

tool durability is annoying, but honestly it would be a hundred times less annoying if there was any indicator for it. what makes me mad is that axes have durability in past games, but you could visually see your axe wearing down as you use it. they had a perfect visual indicator for tool durability before and instead of implementing it at all in new horizons, they removed it from the axe, as well.

[@wdf70]

Or just remove durability all together. It's a mechanic that creates a nuisance more then adding any meaningful gameplay. Sure it makes you use the crafting menu more often which is a big selling point of the game, but you're having to take up your limited storage space storing extra tools because they all break eventually. It's the same kind of inconvenience that adding "survival" mechanics to games that weren't built with survival in mind as resources are everywhere and the "hunger, thirst and sleep" bars are just a "Stop what you're doing, bring up your RPG menu and consume a food and water item." It doesn't add any nuance to the game, it just asks you to pause what you're doing every couple of minutes.

[@lilylollielegs34]

It’s the same issue I have with breaking weapons in the new Zelda games

[@citiaii]

@@lilylollielegs34 very good point. they’re forgetting what makes up the gaming experience for players in pursuing graphics

[@annierminx]

can we all agree that a watering can breaking is absurd

[@stopcollinme]

@@annierminx very!

[@tay8824]

Animal Crossing New Horizons released at a time when my grandpa was dying from cancer. I ended up building a grave on a small piece of land that was cut off by rivers and filled it with flowers. He loved gardening and looking at this virtual resting place gave me some sense of peace

[@baronsionis6855]

Fantastic video. Definitely felt quite underwhelming to see Nook's Cranny only evolve once and for all those shops to be brushed aside for a more aesthetically pleasing yet now rather lifeless island design.

[@TheIrishDino]

Thank you! And I fully agree

[@ChicagoMel23]

It’s not lifeless at all. Still could’ve been better though

[@ParkBarrington360]

At least Labelle has a full outfit now instead of just a damn apron

[@AveryAnarchy]

Biggest issues for me was limited dialogue/limited emotions of villagers and the fact items are just...decorations. I can put an amusement park ride down but I can't...ride it? My villagers can't? I feel like free browser games from 2010 would've let players interact with things. It feels more than outdated. As an even bigger kicker-in Pocket Camp, the PHONE game, villagers CAN interact with things such as sitting in a hot tub and riding the amusement park rides. My biggest question for Nintendo still is why they could do that for a free phone game, but not New Horizons...? this is why I have no faith they will ever strike that "perfect balance" and drive the series in a good direction. They have sent across a clear message to fans that making the maximum amount of profit is all they care about now. It's sad, but Animal Crossing is just...a part of my life that feels like it's behind me. I used to be such a big fan, but now I am so frustrated and have such little faith in Nintendo to make a future good game I've walked away from the series entirely

[@Jdudec367]

That is a issue but customization still does matter and the series could still be headed in a good direction. Not really, Nintendo does try to improve their games and make them better. They still could make a good game, and I mean NH was a good game.

[@pizzaroll3356]

For me NH wouldve been the best game if they didnt stop updating a year later. And the whole dialogue i agree. They feel your talking to the same character but in a different model.

[@morayfrye]

While playing NH, I noticed that I didn't really feel connected to the world. I feel like this is because when I first started, I felt important to this island, and when the game gave me a goal to get K.K. Slider to perform, I was determined to get him on the island. And after you do that, suddenly, the game just lost the parts that made it AC. (I'm speaking as someone who started NH in 2022, not at its peak in 2020, so some of this may be subjective) I don't think giving the player one main goal is a good idea. Sure the other games' biggest goal was paying off a debt, but you didn't need to do that. And with NL, since you were mayor, your biggest goal was to just make a nice town as mayor. And NH, it was just having K.K. perform on the island. Which while I did like it, since it made the island feel less deserted, once you complete that, which you very likely would, the game feels like you have beaten it. And Animal Crossing doesn't really work as a game you need to beat. (I still would like to see the concept of animal crossing characters exploring dungeons with the player, which was considered way before the series was turned into a life simulation game)

[@AveryAnarchy]

@@morayfrye you are absolutely right. and quite honestly, the terraforming soured me. It just does not WORK in Animal Crossing. This isn't Minecraft, but NH feels like the Minecraft of Animal Crossing. It could've worked as a spinoff game, like an extension of Happy Home Designer-but AC has always been about you living side by side with your villagers. NH feels like 2 different games, since the K.K goal is so linear and streamlined, that you feel like you're playing more of a crafting RPG. then he performs, the credits roll, and all of a sudden, you are playing Minecraft: AC edition. it just isn't harmonious. I actually kinda liked the K.K goal, since I am more of an RPG person myself, I love having goals and quests! it's the tonal shift that just absolutely doesn't do it for me. Like you said, you really need the freedom in AC, and NH doesn't give you that.

[@taylorjohnson6898]

Yes I actually enjoyed pocket camp more because they put AMAZING items into that game and the villagers interact with them!!

[@CrazyNekoChan331]

Another thing that I believe made the game fall flat was the amount of things that had been cut from previous games. Not only the amount of shops and shop upgrades, but NPC characters, furniture sets, and many mini events like playing games with the villagers. And especially something that felt lacking was things that could be done when actually playing with friends, because there is nothing to do and no real reason to actually visit friends' islands. Which is even more noticeable when in New Leaf they had a whole mini game island

[@xkristixx]

The villagers feel like collectibles? Nah, they ARE collectibles! Villager hunting is a thing. You get their pictures if you talk to them and gift them enough. GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL! 😅

[@TheIrishDino]

That's so true the picture and poster hunters scare me

[@cutetwirll]

Pokemon who? I only know Animal Crossing

[@floralDilemma]

it feels exactly like shiny hunting in pokemon and it really shouldn't

[@koiyune]

unless they're not A or above tier on the acnh tier list

[@meowmeow2442]

i miss the peak of this game in 2020 with the silly blackmarket and the entire nook miles tickets economy

[@TheIrishDino]

"The silly blackmarket" is my favourite animal crossing phrase now lol

[@imgonnawinwin3451]

nookazon and the little capitalistic trade stations in everyone’s islands (and the raymond scams) + waiting in 16 hour queues to get into someone’s island for turnips while being home on a school day 2020 was the best year for this game to release

[@bee748]

the honeymoon phase :(

[@thethingcalledlisa]

I remember making absolute bank on Nookazon and gettin a ton of Nook Miles tickets now they’re still in the in-house-storage ‘cause I never wanted to use them; fun times

[@ilovehomestuck9231]

@@thethingcalledlisa omfg nookazon.. i used to be semi famous on there it was actually wild

[@besupaaa]

I remember I'd go CRAZY trying to find clothes from the same type to match them and pass the fashion tests. IT WAS SO EXCITING! And now when we talk to Label she approves everything... There's no challenge anymore. And the subject of money, I remember people charging actual money for you catalogue items. Also charging money to decorate your island or decorate your house.

[@elianwyn]

Surprised you didn't bring this up, one of my least favorite things about New Horizons is that the very nature of making a fully customizable town means that there are no notable landmarks anymore. Things like the villagers gathering around the lake for fireworks, or some trees and bugs thriving at different elevations, or fish that spawn in certain parts of the river... that stuff really doesn't work when you are able to totally reshape the town at will. There was something really special about that feeling of exploration and the way that each town had unique setups for stuff like the post office, store and police station...I can still remember the layout of my GC animal crossing town to this day.

[@charlieblanchard5644]

Fish are still location based in new horizons?...

[@Grima1805]

​@@charlieblanchard5644some are

[@curlzOdoom]

I agree. I remember putting a lake in my NH game, but it felt so purposeless because there was no guarantee that villagers would even interact, much less it being a notable landmark for villagers.

[@MapleLunii]

@@charlieblanchard5644 They are but you can literally shape certain parts of your town to target those specific fish now I guess is what they're getting at

[@ShadowOfCicero]

I remember my very first GC town had three levels, which I hadn't realized was possible. Even with later towns, getting that formation was cool when it happened. However, the thing I'd always wanted was to be by the sea. City Folk gave me that chance, and even started with one of my favorite neighbors next door. As for New Leaf, even picking between three layouts caused too much optimization. What had the most flavor turned out to be one tiny patch of beach only accessible by wetsuit. I once lost hide-and-seek because I didn't expect one there.

[@tripledyou9580]

My biggest issue I had was how much the game just didn’t want me to decorate. I spent so much time trying to get this one wood bench and never got it. So I’m just stuck with this empty space on my island reserved for this bench and I will NEVER get it because of how long it takes to get recipes. The game wants you to decorate and yet the game holds your freedom to decorate above your head.

[@ozymandias7]

This is where I'd put my bench...if I HAD ONE

[@Rose_amethyst]

And it's so annoying to terraform

[@LilacMonarch]

The recipe system was definitely a bit dumb. I like the way it's done in minecraft, recipes are unlocked but can be bypassed if you know what you're doing

[@chantellenolan]

Have you tried a treasure island?

[@BlankSaorii]

If you're still playing, I'd recommend a treasure island :). I just tried my first one last night and it really helped me out!

[@wolffang489]

I think the thing that killed it for me was the mechanical changes *around* DIY. The reduction/changes in the shopping and furniture market stuff was, in my opinion, significantly caused by the emphasis on making furniture yourself instead of maximizing selection of things to buy. The crafting also added to the amount of daily busywork to collect things around town which, while always a part of the franchise, was inflated by such a degree that instead of feeling like something I could casually pop into for ~30 minutes a day if I'm not feeling a long session, made me feel compelled to spend far longer doing the most chorelike part of the game. Holidays were even worse where instead of a few things getting added to the shop or a balloon box or two, I'm left gathering eggs every day for weeks in addition to everything else. Maybe my tastes have changed, but I feel like the game took the casual daily tasks elements to such an extreme that it's a hardcore time sink instead.

[@MikhailKutzow]

I think one of the most telling signs of how the focus has changed would be flowers. Before New Horizons, you could destroy them by running over them, and they would wilt and require you to water them or they'd die. In New Horizons, flowers will not die no matter how hard you try, and watering them just helps them spread. To me this really illustrates how the world is now a sandbox that revolves around the player, and the game doesn't want to inconvenience them or ask anything of them. As compared to the older games, which tried their best to feel like a world that the player merely inhabited. (Also you can't even destroy flowers by digging them up. This just adds them to your inventory and you have to sell them. This became a huge hassle when I wanted to redesign part of my town that was overrun.)

[@CrazyNekoChan331]

The part with the town being overrun by flowers: It annoys me so much that every time it rains the flowers spread like IRL weeds and you can't simply get rid of them quickly, but instead have to collect them all one by one and go to sell them

[@gkdair1413]

Flowers became the new weeds. My town is absolutely infested with them and it would take literally HOURS to clean them up, organize them, and sell the extras. It's just not worth it.

[@fireferna]

That is the main reason i don't have flowers everywhere anymore. Once i discovered that flowers don't die, and you have to pick one by one with a shovel, they dont die when you run over them and they spread like fucking weed without you even watering them i simply gave up. And that was my absolute favorite part on NL. Hybrid flowers were such a cool thing to do but NH just destroyed the whole concept. I now have small contained spots in my island with a few hybrid flowers and that's it. I don't care about them anymore.

[@NinjaWeedle]

@@gkdair1413 I mean they could do that in new leaf too with the beautiful town ordinance but destruction was...faster in that game

[@guadalupeestrada410]

I recommend using fences and paths to keep flowers from spreading. Even a blank customized plot keeps plants contained. 😊

[@ShipRail_Studios]

Wow, this video was great. Honestly, you took the words right out of my mouth with this game. Barring the robotic villagers and mostly less-than-great OST, I have another issue with the game that I see NOBODY talks about. Villagers don’t leave goodbye letters after they move. The devs took what is possibly the most emotional and impactful moment in an AC game and just removed it. Which sucks, because they removed probably the only instance of me being able to care about these lifeless dolls.

[@TheIrishDino]

The goodbye letters are sorely missed actually! I guess I never noticed they were gone because any villagers I liked, I kept.

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

I should emphasize that the OST is not "less-than-great"? Unless you're referring to something other than the music quality?

[@kinasakuraba]

​@@sherbertshortkake6649No, it's definitely less than great. I used to know exactly what time it was by just listening to the music, but NH music all kinda runs together. And there's some awful music that plays after like 2am? I forget because I actively avoided playing that late after I heard it. It's a bunch of horns and it's really bad.

[@sherbertshortkake6649]

@@kinasakuraba Ahhh that makes sense then

[@mrlaz9011]

the afternoon music in particular makes me wanna rip my ears off.

[@jennagrace2030]

As someone who was playing ALOT during lockdown with their friends we missed being able to play multiplayer like we did in new leaf. Sure you can go to each others islands and run around but that got boring fairly quickly, at least in new leaf we could go to the island and play mini games which we looked out for in each update that never came. Honestly don’t think it would have succeeded so much if it wasn’t for turnip place and nookazon that gave you a purpose with friends

[@citizenvulpes4562]

See, that's what I don't get. In a game like this, Mini games Should be present, or you just have a house chore simulator.

[@reflectlight1368]

yeah; its a massive downgrade because new leaf did have mini games

[@ingridbean]

The hourly music is so much better in new leaf. It's relaxing and I never got bored of it, but in new horizons I rarely have the volume on

[@TheIrishDino]

I wish you could change the hourly music into the past games' stuff yeah! I don't mind acnh's ost because New Leafs was unbelievably good. But it would be nice to change or even turn off the music if you wanted to.

[@Nick-yv1rm]

@@TheIrishDinoI would love to have the music of wild world/city folk. Nintendo should capitalize on this nostalgia

[@marxmarxmarxmarxmarx]

I always keep my volume low and put on acnl ost 😵‍💫 I hate nh’s ost so much

[@JetPackDino]

Absolutely true. Just look at how many fan videos there are on KZbin about the music of New Leaf. There are so many! But for New Horizons there's almost nothing. The music for NH was a huge disappointment.

[@taylorjohnson6898]

One of the reasons I stopped playing was because the game relies so heavily on interacting with other players to get items. I don't want to interact with strangers and there is this weird unspoken AC code of etiquette that a lot of people are really dramatic about that you wouldn't know about unless you are heavily involved w communities on reddit etc. even on Pocket Camp I would constantly see people being super rude towards other players over trivial things it was exhausting lol

[@cheddarsunchipsyes8144]

FR it’s so dumb. I’m not some professional acnh trader and I don’t haves thousands of bells I just need some fruit 💀😭

[@vivid8979]

What etiquette lol?? You basically just: LF(Lookjng For): "Insert Item you want here". FT(For Trade): "Insert Item you want to trade for the item you want here".... Most of the time the currency that's highly sought is ofc bells or NMTs... People will DM you if they liked your offer... Then either they will ask for your Dodo Code or they will give theirs... EZ and simple.. It's not Rocket Science or you don't even need a Masters Degree for this one... The only "etiquette" you need to follow is to always leave at the airport to avoid any bugs or whatever weird stuff that can arise due to online.... But that benefits both parties so it's whatever...

[@SotiCoto]

I remember that. The shop would only sell furniture rarely and every piece only ever comes in one colour, so if I just wanted to decorate my own damned home with anything other than utterly basic wooden crap, I had to trade with other players... and every single time you have to treat them like demigods descending to earth to grant their favour to mere mortal plebs. I got so fucking sick and tired of spending weeks collecting offerings and begging for trades just so I could get a sofa that wasn't lime green or whatever. And 4/5 of the people I'd spoke to would have what I needed, but they wouldn't even let me look at it unless I had the 1/5000 rare thing they hadn't seen yet. And if I happened to have something that people needed, and seemed willing to share, I'd get a storm of entitled messages demanding I hand it over and assuming I'd be able to let them into my island to run riot and pick my flowers or whatever within the next 5 minutes.

[@LilacMonarch]

They should really have some sort of matchmaking system similar to the preferred rules in smash, so you can specify whether you're looking for casually hanging out or professional trading etc. Or maybe it wouldn't help, idk

[@JamesTDG]

That interaction bit also required paying for NSO, which I still can't afford, which made me miss out on a lot

[@Mijuki]

I just hope that the next Animal Crossing game will be a bit more of a cozy life simulator with cute friendships and not head more into a full town decorating game

[@kitsovereign4127]

Great video. It feels like the series went from being about a life sim where you join a community, to about building a pretty dollhouse and posting it on social media. I always felt like there was "nothing to do" and thought the limited dialog and store were part of it, but you're right - the KK Slider "goal" really does suck the air out of the rest. As they keep giving the player more and more power over customization and turn them into their town's god-emperor, every minor setback and "grind" just feels ten times worse.

[@megasocky]

the same effect happened to the sims series

[@marvelous9718]

@@megasocky for both games I was never good at customization but that’s just me lol. That being said I was never too interested in the “dollhouse” aspect in earlier games, the gameplay is what kept me playing. So having to focus be more on that than gameplay just left me disappointed in two new games for two of my favorite franchises :(

[@bobbob1876]

Regarding tool durability-- axes broke in the previous games (not the golden axe though), and they had visual indicators of their durability! They'd get cracked and a sound effect would play for each significant stage of use. New Horizons removed these indicators. That shiny new axe looks exactly the same as that axe that's one chop away from shattering into a million pieces.

[@wolffang489]

I was certain I remembered *some* tools breaking in older games, but that was the whole point of the gold variants of them.

[@bobbob1876]

@@wolffang489 Normal and silver axes broke, but gold ones did not. Some equipables are consumable, such as party poppers, and tripping with a balloon causes it to fly away.

[@LilacMonarch]

That's so baffling that they would remove durability indicators...in the game with durability on EVERYTHING

[@Hulderkall]

I remember being so hyped for New Horizons after having been obsessed with New Leaf and getting so excited to try the new landscaping features and make a place to call home. But I never ended up even getting to it cause the early game was so slooww, lacking any sort of variety or motivation for things to do so I could actually even progress to the features that the game was built around. Remembered seeing people having gotten so far and questioning how in the everloving they had managed to get through so quickly and what I wasn't getting or doing right. Seeing vids like this nowadays have helped me better understand what I was feeling and why I never ended up liking New Horizons but it still makes me incredibly sad and upset and someone who really wanted to love this game to death and do all these things that genuinely captured my interest

[@QueenOfPessimism]

My sister is a series vet and nh was my first game. We both stopped playing around the same time for the same reasons: it’s boring and waaaayyyy too grindy. They villagers are samey and there’s not much to do. In new leaf we had a ton of fun (I didn’t fully play it but i had fun watching her play it) and there is a huge difference between the two. There’s actually stuff to do and a personality.

[@SvengelskaBlondie]

That's really depressing, I stopped playing New leaf cause talking with your villagers sort of sucked already back then (it was like they almost forgot to write the dialogue and did that in the last minute). Got no interest in playing another AC game with crap dialogie, id rather just get the Gamecube version (recently bought an old cube).

[@beckys3383]

I Could never really tell people why I didn't love acnh like the other games, but this video literally explains it all and more. Great job.

[@TheIrishDino]

Thank you!

[@EspyThePan]

Me and my mom play animal crossing and my grandma (my moms mom) had died when she was only 14 and getting the heartfelt letters from the in game mom meant a lot to her❤

[@onedirectioninfection5756]

you're the only person i've seen critiquing ACNH on the lack of villager free will and it being a bad thing!! finally! i don't want to control every aspect of my villager. i want their house to be planted in the middle of my delicately crafted flower field and have the inside of their house look like an episode of hoarders. too much control in ACNH is a bad thing for the series

[@TheIrishDino]

Oh it's absolutely one of the sneakier changes that really impact the game hardest. Thank you for watching!

[@onedirectioninfection5756]

@@TheIrishDino of course! I agreed with basically everything. I really hope AC doesn't continue down this path of dictator mayor. i wish they'd return to how it was in ACWW where there were designated areas they could possibly move. it'd bring back some autonomy but also not ruin builds or projects since you can build around the plots

[@julitakamaki4386]

I liked being a dictator. It’s my island. Lol

[@onedirectioninfection5756]

@@julitakamaki4386 it's not only your island, your villagers and other NPCs live on it. it's weird and unnatural to control their every action, they cant even pick out their own clothes or furniture anymore. in previous games you were just another resident which was a lot better

[@Jillberto]

I recently talked to a friend of mine about this. I do not enjoy THAT much of freedom in animal crossing, I think its to much and kinda takes away some fun. I remember struggeling so much to make a pretty island in the earlier games, but it was fun to struggle.

[@specwastaken]

what an insane watch. the research and time that went into this project was insane. good work dino, you should be proud of yourself

[@TheIrishDino]

You're too kind robyn! :) Thank you

[@SilentMeteorite]

17:10 Villagers not moving away before asking you, I believe, was introduced in Welcome Amiibo. So I'm pretty sure it was actually implemented just to punish players less for not playing for a while, not motivated by the increased customization

[@RM-um9xx]

Honestly beyond the two controversies you mentioned I remember there being a HUGE culture of bullying/judgement when the game first came out, if you had an "ugly" town or villagers or if you didn't spend tons of time grinding for all the rare items, for money, etc you were basically a second class citizen. Yes that happened in NH and previous games but I don't recall it being nearly as bad.

[@babyrubyjane]

The amount of bullying and competitiveness that came with this game was horrendous. It was absolutely insane. Anything someone did with their island or whatever, it was suddenly controversial or considered cheating. People use cheat mods in The Sims all the time and no one bats an eyelash, whatsoever. Not to mention how many people profited off of this game, creating their own channels to gain a following, but as soon as it ran dry for them, they just up and left their fanbase like they meant nothing to them. The only thing that ever mattered to them was the attention and money they garnered from it all. It was selfish and twisted. The world we live in, nowadays.

[@RM-um9xx]

@@babyrubyjane you're right, remember the whole debate over star trees? 🤦 ...these kids would sh!t their pants if they found out the amount of hacked towns there were in NL. And on the Dream Suite, too. People were fine with it & even admired the creativity of the towns made through hacks.

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

The irony is that the Doom Eternal community is super friendly. It's probably because AC brings in so many normies, which means you get all the highschool fashion bully types whose lives suck so much they gotta take it out on other people just trying to play the silly animal game.

[@marcar9marcar972]

@@babyrubyjaneI really don’t see the issue with a channel dropping the game if it drops in views. If you’re running a business why try to force a product down people’s throats they don’t want? I think you’re getting the wrong idea from that. Sure these guys do want to make money but they also want to give people quality contents and trends are trends because they give people what they want atm.

[@Its_Asteria]

​@@marcar9marcar972I think it's an issue when the fan base you have IS in relation to what you're making. So if people followed for ACNH, they're going to give money to see that even if it's not popular anymore. It'd be different if it was a channel that started on something else and tried out ACNH and didn't like it. I think that's where the difference is. Good example I can think of is a furry youtuber suddenly dropping off the face of the earth to start making youtube videos about movies. Yeah a lot of their fan base, made of furries will stay and still like their content but if your entire channel is built off that and you dip out midway, I think that's a bit risky for your business. Dunno I was trying to think of an example to explain what the other person may have meant

[@AislingNightmare]

People weren’t just paying to receive Raymond, at the height of his popularity people were paying in-game currency to SEE Raymond. Like meet and greet events with him and screenshots. That’s how popular Raymond was.

[@sprint7412]

Damn it! I got him early in the game without trying and didn't know how much he was worth because I stayed away from the online discussions. I actually thought everyone got him because I would see images of him everywhere even though I was ignoring new horizons content.

[@cheddarsunchipsyes8144]

BEUH 💀💀

[@sweethistortea]

My sister got him by pure chance, I didn’t know how popular he was.

[@LilacMonarch]

I only knew about him from the "haha femboy cat in a maid dress" memes of him, no idea why he got so popular lol

[@starcrysis23]

@@sprint7412same, I like the character and he’s still on my island but I don’t get it. I grabbed him when he was at my campsite in April 2020.

[@johannaloisa]

The previous games just had much more life in them, life that went on without you if you weren't there to play through it. I loved the snarky comments from villagers, the hourly music and while i love the customization of acnh sometimes it's just a bi too overwhelming.

[@cutespacedragon1012]

As much as I like terraforming, I agree it would be more fun to design around a static landmass. Another gripe is that I wish they COMMITTED to terraforming and let us edit freely Sims style. I decided to reshape my island but gave up half way because I bit off more than I could chew... now when I check in on occassion I'm greeted by a half wrecked heap that would take hours to fix instead of nostalgia.

[@mastermarkus5307]

I agree with both of these points, DEFINITELY that if there's going to be extensive customization they HAVE to make it more intuitive and less tedious than "you have to use your character as the point where you adjust something."

[@chromberries7329]

​@@mastermarkus5307it would be nice if you could hire a "construction crew" to give a "blue print" to for terraforming/path making/moving buildings. Finally started playing the game again and I'm about to quit it because of the joystick drift screwing my path making.

[@maayanyaniv7539]

I think something that could improve acnh a lot would be to enable multiple save logs- be able to save your island and still start a new one. This means you can let your inspiration run your playtime and design new things and explore the starting plot again without losing your island that you put so many hours into and are so emotionally attached to.

[@Zectifin]

I hated 1 island per console. My gf got the game and i hated the coop. no inventory and cant go off and do my own thing without buying another switch. I would have started my own island as I would have liked to experience the progression myself, but we only have 1 switch so everytime I decide to log on the island has jumped way ahead in progress. I ultimately quit and she played it by herself. I still got to experience the cute music and everything she did in game as we were holed up together during lockdown and we moved the TV next to our gaming PCs. I don't think I'll ever play it unless we get another switch and I don't really see that happening.

[@ttmfndng201]

I think that would just take it even further from the charm of the old games. being able to have multiple towns makes each one feel less special. It makes you even more a "god of the town" rather than just someone living in it.

[@theflyingspaget]

​@@ttmfndng201and? They're already going too far with decorating villager homes, go full hog and let us do whatever. Right now they're halfassing everything.

[@CrazyNekoChan331]

The one 1 island per console is in my mind the biggest middle finger. Because eventually you just run out of things to do and it would be nice to start over, however loosing all the progression also can feel bad. So in the past I would often have a main game where I did all the hard work and then eventually down the line get a 2nd-hand copy for cheap to simply start over as much as I like. But no luck here, which is even worse for people who share a Switch console and can only have 1 island that they have to share

[@zoegallamore7984]

@@CrazyNekoChan331 That was the beauty of the save file being tied to the cartridge. I remember when I restarted New Leaf years and years ago, and I was never able to get into it as much as with my first town but I hadn't played in ages so thought it best to restart. So when I started New Horizons I decided that I wouldn't restart, but now I want to change my island name, and originally I wasn't going to terraform much but then did, which makes me picking from my 4 island options based on the rivers pointless. But I have some things that I don't want to lose. The way the game is, though, I feel like I might as well just get amiibo cards for the villagers I want, start over, do that, set up something reasonably nice looking and then go back to playing New Leaf. Or even Wild World, so I can have to work on making friends with villagers (although I keep getting mixed up with the controls these days). The old event days were so much better too.

[@ducktail4068]

biggest reason for me is alot of features were cut back or dumbed-down compared to previous games. hair salon, post office, whisp etc. this game focuses too much on decoration and player initiated experiences, rather than things happening on their own like a real animal crossing game, too much freedom and control to players makes it pointless for the game to do stuff on its own because the player can either craft it themselves or do it themselves.

[@magukkun]

The ending of this video made me emotional. I was just 14 when my father passed in 2019. New horizons came out out years later in the middle of a global pandemic. Being a shut in and showing him all the pretty things of the new animal crossing game, my achievements, the museum... it would've made him happy, it would've made us closer. Being sick most of his life, he didn't make it through chemo and only got worse and worse, day by day. I remember placing down a little grave, near the sea, away from everything else, on a little hill in my past acnh save, before deleting it. I've yet to do it on the new save, which i let my little sister start. She's the island representative, I'm just a town folk, it feels better to me because it just seems like I moved from that new leaf town to a deserted island to move on from what was our past, giving my sister a whole island and myself just a house and a place to live in, on a silly digital island. I remember abandoning ACNL after having some mail sent by "Dad". Fortunately for me, that "dad" does not send any letters in ACNH. It's like I can finally be at peace. Thank you for this video.

[@ThePoeticGamer_Em]

I am so sorry for your loss. This is so beautiful. My son lost his dad in 2020 also at the age of 14, but I’m the one who made a little peaceful graveyard on my island to commemorate him. This really resonated with me. Thank you for sharing.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

I feel you. I lost my mother many years ago and the first time I got mail from “Mom” I needed time away from the game for awhile.

[@lordfizzz]

❤

[@basedtortellini]

I also unfortunately made use of the gravestone, good to know im not alone ❤

[@rawrii1928]

I had a similar experience to yours. My dad and I used to play animal crossing new horizons (and new leaf) for years together. He passed away a few months ago from a heart attack, but the games will always be special to me because of this. I've had a really hard time returning to them as much as a miss playing.

[@muttmoo]

I was much more attached to new leaf than new horizons. I felt as if I was in an actual community rather than the stress of doing everything

[@wolffang489]

Feeling pressured to do everything and having more stuff daily to do was what turned me away quick. Wild World was probably my most hours played game because of when it was in my life and the friends I had around then but City Folk and New Leaf are fond memories. Original was a white whale that I could only play at friends houses while New Horizons probably had less hours than my guest character on friend's original game. That first Easter and all the new chores I was pressured to do before the event ended just killed the enthusiasm for me.

[@justadragonryu]

When they first released the game they said there would be at least 3 years of updates. Then at the end of the 2.0 trailer, only about 2 years after release, it said no more major updates… huh?? They just dropped it after that, I was so shocked. It feels unfinished.

[@carlwilliams7333]

I think the very beginning narrative nailed it. I love the customization. I love building the island, but it's so lonley. I'm in charge of everything and with most people Villagers are just asthetic choices, not "people." Its a job, and one that feels like there is no reward. And on top of that, there's not really anything else to look foward to. They stopped supporting it. Definitely one of the times I wish Nintendo allowed for a modding community to florish because as it is I just feel longing.

[@ophelieb.1257]

I think the best thing they could do for us now is to release a reboot of new leaf where you can craft and decorate outside but with the quality of life improvements we desperately need. New Leaf is still my favorite from the franchise

[@Hauntaku]

Imagine New Leaf but with all the character customization from New Horizons

[@ophelieb.1257]

@@Hauntaku yeah that's whzt i had in mind writing the comment, sorry if it wasn't obvious, English isn't my native language

[@neverpass04]

@@ophelieb.1257 you speak better english than most native speakers that comment on youtube lol, don’t worry about it

[@Orchids.and.Endlers]

@@ophelieb.1257 you wrote it like a native speaker ! Couldn’t tell until you said so :)

[@Flygono03]

Crafting should never be in Animal Crossing again in my opinion but your idea of updated New Leaf with some New Horizons features sounds great

[@karamiddleton9973]

My boyfriend and I had an idea for a ‘city dweller’ version of animal crossing where you live in an apartment in quieter, bit run down area of a big city (which you can take the subway to get to if you want to go shopping or meet up other villagers if you want!) and the animal crossing characters are more free to roam. You can run for city council and propose ideas for improvements and as you improve your area more people move back in. You can get a part time job (as in you sign up for shifts and it’s like a mini game and you can make money!) at the coffee shop or the pizza parlor. You can volunteer to plant flowers in the park, you can host community events in the apartment or in the pizza parlor. You can have a roommate, you can move out after you’ve earned enough money if you want. As well, the interaction could be like catching a villager littering and confronting them (with a choice of dialogue from nice to passive aggressive to mean) and as you build up your city the villagers react to their surroundings, like if they feel the subway is too far from the apartment block you’ll hear them complain about the trek- in which case you could move the subway or put a bike rack in or buy them some roller skate! It’s a bit different from the other animal crossing games but I’d like the games to be more interactive bc I got bored p fast. The core of this version of the game is building genuine community and if you can’t tell I REALLY want to play it

[@fluffycritter]

One of the things that I really missed from New Leaf was the desire paths, how the grass would be worn through where people were walking. That aspect made the village feel so alive and lived-in, and that would have integrated *perfectly* with New Horizons' terraforming. It's a little thing but it made a big difference to me.

[@bluetoad6848]

New Leaf felt so amazing to play. The game had so much content, while also heavily rewarding you for long term play. Things like the Town tree, main street/shop upgrades, badges, they all helped in making New Leaf such a grand experience. It also helped that most of these also had a gameplay feature attached to them... aside from maybe the badges... New Horizons on the other hand felt more like a fad. Something you play to just feel the time before a better experience, or new fad became available. You ran out of things to do so fast, and the game heavily favors style over substance, which ironically was very lacking early on. I mean even now, you still can't change the shape of your home like in NL, and the house in NL is still way bigger than NH. Also the updates for NH were pretty bad... I think Nintendo knew this game was a shallow experience and tried to drag out the game as much as possible with some of these update, like how they significantly nerfed the bank interest rate. Or never added in bulk crafting or a better DIY recipe unlocking system, or improved tool durability, even though fans have been complaining about these aspects since like day 1. All these things did nothing but dragged out how long it took to get certain items, and I believe Nintendo were fully aware of this detail. Hence why they've never attempted to fix any of it.

[@neverpass04]

yeah it’s as if Nintendo saw the sales and figured it couldn’t sell any more than it already had so they figured why even update the game, unless of course the update was primarily dlc that you have to pay for…

[@Jdudec367]

New Horizons does not really feel like a fad it feels like a game too. Or to build new stuff and to finish projects and really build your island town and to upgrade stuff too. Not really tbh, I mean not all that much there is certainly substance but it is missing some stuff. Huh? It always had style and added more stuff back and substance. So that one thing means it lack substance or style when it still has a lot more customization then NL has? Not really. It was not really shallow or at least all that shallow, it did not drag it out it made there be more things to do. Nerfing the bank interest did help players from breaking the economy though. Ok true those things should have obviously been added. Not so much the bank interest nerf actually, I doubt they were. Do not give them too much credit.

[@Jillberto]

I was shoked at how fast you payed off your credit in NH. I didnt like this fact at all.

[@rihassu]

As someone who played New Horizons and went back to New Leaf, it's crazy how different player motivations can be. I never got into New Leaf properly because I wanted the overcustomization of New Horizons. At the same time, each villager had such different things to say that my gameplay revolved around them. It's kinda like Sims, where NH focuses on build mode and NL focuses on the game itself. I think it depends from person to person who values what more, but I agree that people who loved AC before NH are robbed of an experience they were promised from previous games (also like Sims 4, ironically).

[@shiburu]

Apollo was my favourite villager when i was younger because he just didnt want to talk to me but eventually opened up to me and it felt so special, same with pecan with how snotty she was but eventually treated me like a real friend When i managed to get apollo in new horizon... He was so... Blank. Water downed and saying the same thing has two of the other villagers in my town and it hurt the child in me in a way because i was so excited to see him again but this isnt the apollo i knew, it was a reskin of my other villagers cosplaying as apollo

[@shootingsmilla1239]

Same here, but with pocket camp, I haven’t got him yet, but it sucks that they have no personality, Pocket Camp was my first game, I really loved the villagers and how they were different from one-another, Apollo was also one of my favorites, same with Goldie, Rosie and many others

[@ardoniedaurano2036]

If there's one thing that I found fascinating as a kid in the firsts Animal Crossing Game, it was this "organic" aspect. There wasn't much UI or jauges... The game was giving a random face based on answers in a dialogue to the players and they had to deal with it. The fact the villagers were moving in and leaving your town without your permission. This added a lot of charm to the game in my opinion, and NH removed it.

[@Double400]

NH pretty much changes AC from a life sim to a customization sandbox so a lot of the natural aspects about old AC were deemed too inconvenient for the customization the game prioritizes, but like those life sim elements defined AC for me. This game is fun but if you're an old player who enjoyed the life sim elements and wasn't too crazy about customization, this game sort of leaves you in the dust

[@Nightcoreheaven1]

I remember when I first started playing animal crossing New Horizon’s, and after a while of playing it, I used to be so irritated by the lack of emotion besides happy that the villagers had that I would just attack them with my net to see them get mad so I could actually see them feel something else

[@Resonance1919]

My biggest hope for the next animal crossing game is for them to give every single villager a unique personality. Even if that means we get less villagers overall I still think that it would be a positive thing

[@nataliemilburn2585]

I think it’d be really cool if they figured out some sort of mbti system for the villagers, that was they can have a variety of different traits instead of being put into one box

[@senflyer-]

I think a way they could address this could be subtraits. For example a complaint I heard from newer players is when a villager likes sports all they will talk about is sports. Having a subtrait would allow them to batch more variety without it becoming too overwhelming. Another idea is a bonus trait that only unlocks after befriending them. In the same way how we first meet someone isn't the same as years later, this could encourage repeat interactions and add another level of depth. As an example let's say instead of just sporty it could be like: Sporty + Shy (Bonus: Will do a workout event together when friends)

[@Becks72]

For me, this is where Stardew Valley has SO much more value. The villagers have different personalities, you really have to work to build a relationship with them and you get different events or presents based on how good friends you are. It makes it feel so much more like a community and pulls you into that atmosphere.

[@TheIrishDino]

I played starfew for the first time late last year and got hooked. But I think the one thing AC has over it is the freedom of creativity. Like, yeah stardew has much better characters in terms of lore, emotion and arcs. But Animal Crossing can be a unique experience to each person. Different villagers and different town layouts. Stardew will always be more fleshed out but the AC series makes you build the story, which I think is neat

[@Becks72]

@@TheIrishDinoInteresting! For me, I totally disagree. NH and Stardew are equally open ended to me. In Stardew, you can choose your spouse, your farm layout, what crops you chose to focus on, what skills you want to build, what achievements you chase, who you befriend, how you make money. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people with the same layout and everyone feels drawn to befriend different people just like in AC. You also are less pushed to do certain things like the DIYs which became such a stress for me in NH. If you want to spend a whole season fishing or mining, you can. If you wanna speed run the CC, you can. Anyway, great to see a KZbin from home succeeding. Up the lad! 🇮🇪

[@TheIrishDino]

@@Becks72 I see what you mean! What with Stardew's open-ended nature of being able to run your farm however you want, design it however you want and treat each character in a way you desire. I guess the only thing I can say in AC's side of things is that all of the actions you can do with characters in Stardew are all programmed to each character? Like, one player marrying Emily and another player marrying Emily will have quite similar experiences because you have to do certain things to acheive that. In Animal Crossing, you can charm so many different villagers (even with the same personality types) and it would feel different from anothers experience, purely based on what gifts you give them, how you treat them, etc. Like there is more creative freedom on friendship. Whereas in Stardew, certain characters like certain things and as long as you do them, you'll get the romantic cutscenes and stuff. But I would say, Stardew has made me feel a lot better than ACNH ever did while playing so... idk lol Finally, YESS, repping the Irish. Time we takeover KZbin haha 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪!!

[@Becks72]

⁠@@TheIrishDinoI find there’s a lot of overlap in players between the two games so it’s always cool to see which one people gravitate more towards and why. Cool chatting with you and excited to see more of your videos! Chucky ár lá, a chara! 🇮🇪🇮🇪

[@rustyshackleford234]

I prefer Minecraft, the villagers dialog in that game is PHENOMENAL! When villager number 247 said: “hrrrrr”, it actually changed my life.

[@SleepyKittyPaws]

the worst part of new horizons is the new fanbase who jumped into the series with new horizons and started lecturing old timers on what the series was or should be

[@rafaeldoraguille9169]

NH sucks and I'm glad to see more and more people making content on how much of a disappointment it was for old fans of the series. I never came to realize how deeply Animal Crossing relies on immersion until some time ago, after watching a video on the theme. Makes me appreciate the ways New Leaf keeps the players from having too much control over everything and encourages them to think creatively to achieve their objectives.

[@Zectifin]

nah doesn't suck at all

[@Tetsuya_EyeToe]

Yeah all those sales and all the videos/communities...oh yeah it sucks lol.

[@Earthboundmike]

@@Tetsuya_EyeToe Does it? I've played all the animal crossings and I've only got any serious amount of time in the first and this one. It's not a great game, it certainly has issues but it certainly doesn't suck. Your dislike of something doesn't make it suck. I can name several bugs, and things that irritate me about the game too. Actually, because I do think the game is around a c+, Lief being bugged, being able to get duplicate DIY recipes when there are so godamn many, golden tools just why why do they barely do anything, flower overgrowth.

[@LeDarksideLe]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@Tetsuya_EyeToe Units sold ≠ good game. those sales where over half were from being a game surrounded around hype and Covid. Bandwagon consumers hopping on this game because everyone else started playing it even though it’s not their cup of tea. And communities burdened with scammers and basically having its own black market 😂. This game doesn’t suck but it’s not the best in the series even though it sold the most. NL>>>

[@wifi961]

You only ever see the generic dumbasses of Reddit complain like. There are millions of people who dumped hundreds of hours on this game and love it.

[@kawaiinekochick2]

In the past dialogues were also behind being closer to a certain character and visiting them instead of just the context. The reward was closeness instead of physical items. Made it feel real

[@phoebe5]

There apparently is some aspect of this in NH, except you become"close" to the villagers so fast that you barely experience it. Like how they super quickly just stop asking you for favors because it's tied to relationship

[@rando5708]

I was laughing throughout this entire video and then you put in the last anecdote about your grandfather like man my heart wasn't ready for that emotional whiplash

[@TheIrishDino]

Whiplash babyyyy!!! I'm glad you enjoyed the video though lol even with the whiplash ending

[@liahuribe2126]

I think I’ve ever helped wisp a handful of times in the (lets say) year and a half I actually played this game (because…it got boring im sorry) and wisp always has the most basic gifts. I mean they could have made it interesting and made wisp appear every once in a while like Redd and made a better mechanic of helping him, like idk, he possesses a villager and you have to talk to them and if they say anything out of place you catch wisp with a net… and he gives you spooooky gifts like, idk, a séance set, weird chairs, dead flowers, COOLER STUFF IN GENERAL

[@99xara99]

I had totally forgotten that you literally had to UNLOCK THE BACKROUND MUSIC by getting K.K. Slider! Like who made that decision? The music is so important to this game why hide it? In my opinion New Horizons has 2 main problems: 1. Lack of long-term-goals such as advanced buildings and upgrades (I'm talkin Nook upgrades, Gracies shop, unlocking building projects in ACNL) and 2. lack of character depth and interactions. In the older games, I love how the multiple choice questions and games kept you engaged, especially Wild World.

[@mangohub3252]

The amount of people saying they got burnt out after “hundreds” of hours as a negative to me is wild, that’s like an insane amount of value I can’t remember the last game I played for that long

[@merchantarthurn]

The DIY recipe thing is SUCH a pain. It should have been possible to get duplicates because it is nice being able to gift them to other people, but it should be weighted to be far more likely that you get something new. That some recipes are secretly gated behind villager types is a pain too, since villager typing might not be something a casual player notices or cares about. I'm a dweeb and made my own tracking spreadsheet so I could see what I was missing, what sources I needed to get them from etc. I also have >1000 hours playing and I'm still missing 200 recipes. 80 of them are recipes that all villagers can give you (like the wreaths). Some of these are from the cooking/HHA expansions, but given I was canvassing friends and strangers for spare DIYs AND was using the 3 other villager slots to get DIY bottles and still couldn't get everything, that's absurd!! Golden tools breaking is such a fucking shit show that I've only ever made them as trophies. Gold nuggets are hard enough to get that I haven't amassed enough to craft everything once yet (which I'm also tracking) - I'm not gonna use them on stuff that'll break, even if it takes a little longer.

[@tallmyster1323]

I genuinely wonder with this game, how well it would have *actually* succeeded if there was no quarantine and nasty stuff that happened at all.

[@TheIrishDino]

Hmm that's interesting actually yeah

[@khyleegiselle1567]

I think it would’ve still succeeded regardless because the franchise is one of Nintendo’s biggest and it had been several years since we had a new installment, fans including myself had been wanting a new game for a long time, but you can’t deny that quarantine definitely influenced more people to buy the game

[@maxpowers6738]

I honestly think it would be a lot different and people wouldn't be complaining about the game lacking content because they wouldn't have played it to death at launch.

[@marcar9marcar972]

It still would have been massively successful

[@_Roly]

​@@maxpowers6738 nah I've played the others much more, this one ran in to problems for me much faster

[@destinyhntr]

Animal Crossing went from being the cool parent who guided you to do things yourself, to the helicopter parent who refuses to let you do anything at all until you've proved that you can do the most basic chores.

[@AscendedDemon]

Honestly I don't even think they need to make villagers rude or anything to have spice. I can hardly recall villagers being mean at all in New Leaf but they had far more personality. Like I remember that sometimes villagers would say something like "ooh villager and other villager sure seem to be getting on well lately." Like you could get an idea of how your villagers got on with each other through other ones gossiping. Like I distinctively remember Bones and Lobo in my town would get talked about so much like they were super close. None of that in New Horizons. Also cranky has been my favorite personality for so long that I feel like New Horizons did them so dirty. Like yeah they've always had the vibe of "old man" but now it straight up feels like they're geriatric and don't understand how anything works. I feel bitter because now it just feels like they're loudly proclaiming "I'M OLD" every other sentence and that's like the extent of their personality.

[@inkyquartz1797]

youre telling me, i used to love how jocks were written in the gamecube era, they were just kind of blunt and aloof, but now they just talk about sweat & muscles NON. STOP.

[@TheIrishDino]

Thats totally true. They somehow managed to make one dimensional characters even MORE one dimensional lol

[@jasperjazzie]

@@inkyquartz1797 yeah, a lot of people are saying "i wish the villagers were meaner!!" and i get it but i feel like it's less the meanness and more just anything that deviates from the single character trait we get from each personality type. jocks like working out, lazy villagers like food and sleeping, normal villagers like baking and reading, and snooty villagers like the finer things and are worried about their appearance, and good luck getting them to ever focus on something different...jock villagers are definitely the worst with that, like just let us have himbos who aren't obsessed with sports 24/7 lmao

[@MH-bt3eu]

I like that villagers can't move away and you can move their houses. I just wanted some sass and better dialogue and minigame like Tortimer's minigames island. The customisation is great but life sim should've also been the focus.

[@wolffang489]

I think there's a compromise. Make it so they can move away if thinks get real bad but probably won't with a minimal level of care. Or perhaps there's a certain threshold of villager happiness/friendship where they won't move without letting you know first and giving you a chance to win them back, but veritable strangers will come and go with the weeds.

[@boop99]

That little story at the end about the lily and seeing the candles made me tear up because it was so sweet. It also made me think about my grandfather who passed away recently. 😞

[@dynogamergurl]

12:02 this is my biggest reason for wanting the villagers to be mean again.when I was a kid I had really experienced mean or rude people much. AC taught me a lot about how the real world operates even if it took me till my teen years to understand those lessons ac taught me in retrospect.

[@thedapperdolphin1590]

I think customizing my island was really fun, but there was no reason to stick around once I did that. The customization itself also feels too limiting. I’d love it if the island was at least four times bigger and had more villagers to compensate for the size. A variety of shops and upgrades would also be good.

[@KogawaYuri-ENVtuber]

YESS PLEASE

[@alexbiersner3350]

I picked up the game after the lock down hype. I bought the game so that I could play something with my girlfriend. She came over to my island and gave me a whole bunch of bells. Then I saw her island and she gave me the grand tour of what an island could look like within a couple of years. But then my girlfriend's daughter misplaced the Switch Lite they were playing. The daughter had he rown profile and own island that she worked just as hard on. Never did find the Switch; I have a funny feeling that it was stolen. But then my girlfriend got a new Lite for herself and told her daughter that it'll never leave the house. Even though I didn't really have that much going on in my island, I had a good chunk of money from money trees, selling stuff etc. So it was a good moment when she came over and I gave her some bells, fruit and crafting items. It was the best "pay it forward" moment in my life, to say the least.

[@Vexmus_]

Finally someone put it into words! "Most of what the developers focused on this game wasn't important to animal crossing as a series." Its been like, 3 years and I couldn't put it properly into words until today - and you're so right! New horizons was so manufactured (figuratively and literally)! This was a fab video!! Keep it up man :)

[@TheIrishDino]

Thank you!

[@Jdudec367]

I mean Animal Crossing was always about building your own experience and NH still does that.

[@ConfusedMushroom]

Great video! What really kept me from playing more, although I played around 100 hours (not near your 1000 hours hahaha) was the lack of personality and dialogue in the characters... I ended up going back to New Leaf and Wild World, because even though I enjoyed the customization part, it was like leaving on a dystopian island of empty dolls.

[@pocket-slime]

“it was like living on a dystopian island full of dolls” you summed up what I was feeling perfectly. it’s heartbreaking that this game can get so many things right while also getting so many things dead wrong. it’s missing its wholesome charm that the old games captured so beautifully.

[@JohnDoe-z2r]

Villagers seem to have less personality and agency. As for being able to customize the island so much, I really don't like feeling like I'm the god, being able to mold it however I want like clay. It makes it feel like a soulless simulation sandbox instead of a living world with character

[@downbeatdialga1341]

As someone who’s only prior experience with Animal Crossing was New Leaf, I really miss several things from that game. I loved Main Street’s appeal with the different shops, and the music changing with the seasons and even the time of day. New Horizons sorely lacks that change, only having like 3 or 4 different tracks through the entire year. It made gameplay become monotonous really quickly. The aforementioned issue I brought up regarding the absence of Main Street also sucked, with the player having to wait for a specific merchant to set up shop on their island, as opposed to just waiting for the shop to open. I think the biggest issue with New Horizons-though no fault of Nintendo or the player base-was the game releasing during the pandemic. For the first time in videogame history, NH’s entertainment now had to compete with players being home 24/7. With New Leaf (and obviously the older entries on Home consoles), Animal Crossing was a game that the player would only be able to play in short bursts. Kids would likely only be able to play it after doing their homework or before bed, and adults whenever they could squeeze in some time between work. Animal Crossing is a game meant for downtime, following schedules of different NPCs and facilities to progress your town and your overall experience. With the pandemic however, all any of us HAD was time. Students had online classes, some where they could get away with muting themselves and turning off their computer’s camera, and just play video-games during class. Many now worked at home and could play these games for much longer intervals. And with easy ways to exploit in-game time traveling, players could rack up achievements on their island that they shouldn’t have been able to do (normally) for a month. The pandemic gave us time-arguably way too much, more than enough to blitz through moments on our islands, that we should’ve spent a year or more just going through the motions instead.

[@zephyrias]

Too true! I’m still taking my time with the game 😂 while Ive experienced most of the major holidays. Its fun to load up the game and work slowly on the island.

[@CatMuto]

NH graphics, better villager customization from the get go, improved inventory and stacking, maybe remove the 'grass removes if you walk too fast', and I would like to see an NL remake.

[@rachelt4792]

Well put. Although I still believe releasing during the pandemic was better than delaying the game. I couldn’t imagine how bad my mental health would’ve been without NH, and I know many others feel the same.

[@mia-ux3cb]

I really love the new aditions in acnh but man do i miss the alive vibe from acnl, waking up everyday being eager to see what changed in the city and the shops, it sucks that no matter how much you time travel you wont have consequences. And the fact that the villagers' personality feel so empty, I usually avoid talking to them now. Its really sad because now I realize those aspects were my favorite parts of the franchise: the villagers, the shopping, seeing your town progress over time, but now they are gone... but visually acnh is absolutely stunning and the improvement of some game mechanics, like the inventory slots and character customization are amazing. But for me it seems pointless to play in the longterm, since the most important things of the previous franchise aren't there anymore... sometimes i feel like playing but this enthusiasm only lasts for one week and then i let the game collect dust again for months. i hope the next animal crossing will feel more alive again and not like a static plastic island.

[@wastelanderone]

Way back when on the Gamecube Animal Crossing I used to sit and reset my Gamecube over and over just to see whatever madness Resetti would spout next. NH could never.

[@j-boogieCC]

it really is crazy how you can time travel 40 years and the only consequences are cockroaches and you’re villagers saying the missed you it’s even worse since they reduced interest from having money in the bank

[@ieatmud24]

that ending was pure cinematography- along with that other earlier instance where the visuals synced with the music and it was just. AAA. so good. so satisfying. thank you

[@TheIrishDino]

I'm so glad you like the cinematography of the video, you're one of the first to mention it! Thank you for enjoying and commenting about it!

[@kingnote6669]

Honestly, starting with New Leaf, the series departed from the life simulator genre to the decorating genre. I remember complaining with friends about how flat the villagers were in New Leaf before New Horizons came out. The last game that had actual dynamic villager dialogue was City Folk / Let's Go To The City. I understand why people are disappointed with New Horizons when they compare it to previous games in the series, it is very disappointing as a life sim! However, I think of New Horizons as a decorating simulator, the villagers, for better or for worse, are mostly decorations in this game. I love New Horizons for the creativity and building of really cool islands. If you're trying to play New Horizons like a classic Animal Crossing game, you will be disappointed.

[@incognisance4293]

Tools breaking is the biggest sin in this game. Whoever thought that was a good idea and approved the concept just massively missed the mark.

[@LanaWolfYT]

He’s actually wrong tho the tools broke in previous games

[@incognisance4293]

@@LanaWolfYT I know that, doesn’t change the fact that tools breaking in the most recent entry is so dumb. It’s an anti gun mechanic with 0 upside, so don’t know why anyone thought it was a good addition.

[@Vandus-ds]

@@incognisance4293 Wouldn't be a problem if Gold tools were unbreakable.

[@incognisance4293]

@@Vandus-ds but they’re so it’s a moot point.

[@Vandus-ds]

@@incognisance4293 Just saying the breakage is not necessarily the problem, just that it isn't handled well. Tools break far too often, so you are incentivized to get better tools that should break less. Logically, if you got the best tool in the game, you would expect it to be the best because it doesn't break (or broke so rarely that it really didn't matter). A lot of what changed in NH felt like a sacrifice for features that no one asked for, instead of being features that simply added. The core issue namely being crafting. It was a good idea, but in order to make it work the devs made sacrifices where there did not need to be any. Tools broke before, but now they break far too often because you have more solutions to deal with a broken tool. This is a net-negative, where you have an annoying mechanic that degraded another annoying mechanic and made the experience worse overall. If tool breakage was hardly an issue or you could eventually craft something indestructible, it wouldn't feel that bad in the end because you are only subject to the setback every so often. They could just remove tool breakage, but that makes crafting far less valuable as a mechanic so from a dev point of view that would be a no go. The whole game feels this way. You can only buy a couple pieces of clothing at a time in the shop. You can only craft one item at a time. You can only print one NMT at a time. All of the ideas are great, just poorly executed when you realize player's who are seriously invested will have to do these things thousands of times over and over. A shopping cart for clothes, a craftable machine or upgraded workbench to make multiple items...all of this would go so far to make the game more enjoyable. All that to say tool breakage is not inherently bad. It was just executed so poorly and was never solved like many of the other core issues in this game.

[@ChaosUnown]

I think my biggest gripe with New Horizons is that everything just takes sooooooo long to do. The fact that all of the innovative new features like terraforming didn't unlock until after the credits hit should speak for itself, but even THAT feels like a slog to do when you finally unlock the tools. It tries to extend playtime by slowing everything down to a crawl.