The handling of this game is just fucking embarrassing.
>release the game with a ton of basic content from previous games missing >have to pray that the live service update model will flesh the game out across a year+ of updates >6 months later and it only really added some basic features that should have been in at launch like diving and the museum art gallery >play it up like this is actual new content when a game 7 years ago came with it out of the gate >still can't even get begged-for QoL updates like multi-crafting either >it's now Fall and people are waiting on another update, which probably won't come until October anyway >Nintendo releases random pointless tutorial videos and watch AC fans' repeated disappointment thinking there might be update news >the update will probably just be Brewster added into the museum(once again just old content that should have already been there), maybe another missing NL furniture set like they did with the mermaid one, and the Halloween holiday
Fuck this. This isn't the experience Animal Crossing should be. This isn't comfy, it's just being jerked around like a mobile game audience after paying full price. Might as well play Pocket Camp if you just want a cold hard decorating simulator, which is all NH is really good for anyway. And PC even gets updates more often and with better item variety too.
I fear that Nintendo's handling of NH will become a trend in these types of games.
Nathaniel Williams
I've been enjoying my time with NH for what it is, but I'll probably be jumping ship from the series at this entry. It has a solid foundation, but I don't like what games have become with having a full price tag while essentially being an early access title. I just don't think mainstream games are made for someone like you or me anymore. I think I'll primarily be sticking to older games and interesting indie titles that pop up on occasion.
Josiah Lewis
What's the best alternative to Animal Crossing? Preferably a game with a large, active online userbase.
Ethan Garcia
There really is none, and that might be part of the problem. There's no real competition for this niche.
Carson Bell
Main reason why I stuck with New Leaf. Kind of wish I bought WW at a garage sale too.
Mason Murphy
This is just Nintendo now.
New Horizons' whole gameplay shtick is forcing players into a crafting hell to keep them playing. It's Animal Crossing. We were gonna keep playing anyway.
I get making flimsy tools have a durability to introduce players to the crafting mechanic. But once you crafted your non-flimsy variant, that should be it. It shouldn't break. But it does. And yet, if you go through all the tedious and meticulous effort it takes to get the coveted golden tool, it's not actually a tool. It's a recipe. Because it will break. And you will have to craft it again. Plus, OPs point is another huge one. Crazy Redd has been in Animal Crossing since its fucking Gamecube days, and you're telling me you're "supporting the game post-launch" by including him in an update a month later?
And don't even get me started on their other series. Breath of the Wild being such a huge seller that now the next Zelda game is just a sequel and they're even milking it with a new Hyrule Warriors.
Fire Emblem Three Houses is Nintendo "listening" to criticism from Fates where they didn't like having to buy 3 separate games for the stories, so instead they give us 4 stories in 1 game but content wise 90% of it is all the goddamn same.
I don't even need to fucking explain Pokemon's current state.
And now Mario 3D All-Stars, too.
Nintendo is just like most of the other AAA publishers at this point. They cut corners and follow the money. And I mean, of course they do, business and finance-wise that's a great move. It's just disappointing from both a consumer perspective and a fan perspective.
Though I hesitate to call myself a Nintendo fan just because I don't even want to be associated with the fucking people who make excuses for Nintendo and encourage these disgusting habits these days.
>Though I hesitate to call myself a Nintendo fan just because I don't even want to be associated with the fucking people who make excuses for Nintendo and encourage these disgusting habits these days. Pretty much me. I've had enough of this shit after being disappointed for over a year worth of disappointing major releases like NH, 3H and SwSh. Nothing but ports and disappointment past right now. Plus Nintendo gets a pass these days for doing shit that EA or other less-sacred-held companies would get properly slammed for.
Rune Factory 5 is pretty much all I'm still hopeful for on Switch, but that could be in delay hell now for all we know. At least since Nintendo isn't developing it themselves it has a better chance of being a complete game on release.
Nicholas Long
You can't even criticize this game because the fanbase will eat you alive because this game is "supposed" to last years. How the fuck is this shit supposed to last years with the current content and update approach. If anything in years this will look like an actually finished game.
Jackson James
>Breath of the Wild being such a huge seller that now the next Zelda game is just a sequel Are you seriously so tainted by contrarianism that you don't see the potential of a more refined BotW? Reminder that the best game in the series was also "just a sequel"
Brandon Campbell
That's my big problem with Breath of the Wild. The game has so many inconveniences and no gameplay factors to sort of make them a bit more fun to deal with. If you like that sorta thing, cool.
But if any other company came out with a game with so many flaws like Breath of the Wild they would be torn a new asshole. But not Nintendo.
I'm not being contrarian, perhaps I should have included that I really hate Breath of the Wild. If they inject a little bit of the Zelda formula into the sequel or don't make it as much of a pain in the fucking ass to play, I'll love it. I'm even planning on buying the sequel just because historically, at least new Zelda games usually have a lot of innovation, even straight sequels like Majora's Mask.
Brody Ward
>we nigga im broke
Lincoln Roberts
Another criticism of this game - the music. Who's the fuckhead that thought it would be a good idea to include a super grating synthesizer in almost all of the hourly music?
idk if people here saw this but yesterday the AC devs held a talk at CEDEC twitter.com/PushDustIn/status/1303639432327655424 It's mostly about how they developed the artstyle, but from it we can gather that they did a lot of ground-up rebuilding for ACNH that clearly took a lot of their dev time. Case in point: zero reused furniture from ACNL or Pocket Camp. Which makes the state this game released in make a lot more sense, they're still finishing it.
Jaxson Perry
>90% of it is all the goddamn same that's kinda disingenuous, but ok
Angel Phillips
Not really. You've got a different narrative that shares like half the similarity with the other stories. You've got a different set of units. And maybe you don't have a different set of units! If you recruit everybody, your party is basically the same too.
There's maybe 5 unique maps in the ENTIRE game. All 4 stories use the same maps for almost the same story reason. Training at the monastery is the same across all 4 playthroughs. The only truly unique thing between the stories is the story itself. That's it. Sure, you can play through the stories using different classes and stuff but you're still doing the same shit. It's still the same content.
Nathaniel Cox
It's funny since that's obviously the idea behind this update strategy. Get modern ADHD gamers to stick with it longer because they think players need to see constant updates to stick with a game anymore. And you know, maybe that's true for a lot of retarded people.
Yet at the same time even my most hardcore AC friends who defended Nintendo to hell and back when we saw the gutted state of the game's launch all quit playing by May. And they played every other entry for at least a full year before putting it down. They didn't even discuss the summer update that added swimming or anything. That felt pretty damning to see. Another friend and I were critical since launch and they gave us tons of shit for it, but then they ended up playing barely longer than we did.
Jack Martin
I can't even put my finger on what my issue with the music is. Maybe it's what you're talking about, but either way I've had zero urge to listen to this game's music when I'm not playing. I even muted it when I was playing too. Meanwhile I liked the soundtracks of all the previous games as comfy background noise. This one just didn't do it for me.
Also the first week being that fucking title theme on loop before you unlock the town hall for hourly music to even start was a goddamn retarded dev choice. I hate that song now after hearing it for so long, Christ.
Jose Green
What if Zig Forums, plebbit, and steam crowdfund one?
Jeremiah Lopez
The hourly music in NH is a lot more "grounded" in terms of instrumentation, whereas previous games had a more ethereal and nostalgic atmosphere. Compare the acoustic guitar, double bass, drums, and trombone at the forefront of music in NH to the piano, steel drums, and harmonica used in NL.
I think my main problem with NH's music is how samey it feels. Back with WW/CF I used to be able to name what hour it was just from the music alone. New Horizons it all just feels like a musical blur
Tyler Lopez
This too. I can't pick out a single hourly song from another one in this. In NL or any of the other games I noticed how different some were much more easily, and they stuck with me better too that way.
Tyler Kelly
Nogami thought that the model of "(re)release a game with minimal content and add it later down the line" that worked twice with Splatoon would work for Animal Crossing as well, but he failed to notice the big difference between the two. Splatoon very much benefits from starting out lean- start with a small core, balance it, then gradually add more on top while tweaking everything. On the other hand, every new addition affects everything that came before it for the player. Even if you don't end up using a new weapon you'll have to learn and theorycraft what to do against it, and with new maps and even modes you don't even have a choice, you will have to consume the new content one way or another. Animal Crossing's additions are more lateral, they expand the scope but not really depth. This might have worked for a franchise like that 15 years ago, but nowadays everyone is lazy and has a phone full o' spoilers always ready, so there's not even a sense of wonder anymore. You just fill a checklist of new items (or don't if you don't liek them), and lay the game off for another month till new patch hits. Unsatisfying.
Animal Crossing was never a game deep enough for your scrutiny.
Bentley Lee
Don't hate the player, hate the game. There is nothing more important than making money as easily as possible.
Don't like it? Make us Communist. Otherwise keep crying.
Samuel Taylor
And even then, the characters from each house have a defined role and since all the characters can potentially use the same classes, even if you don't recruit anyone you'll still play mostly the same way unless you play on higher difficulty settings. It's not like Fates where you have very different and varied classes available in Conquest and Birthright with just a few characters who are playable in all versions.
Chase Allen
>Aaaaah, they fucked up >Aaaaah, the game is a failure.
As much as you armchair game directors love to sit here and pontificate on how much Kyogoku fucked up its the third best selling game in Japan ever (behind Pokémon red and blue) and it's sold nearly 25 million copies worldwide with the majority of that beyond March, so clearly this guy's made an excellent decision.
Jeremiah Edwards
>sales = quality
Gabriel Young
That's because every track is just a remix of the main theme.
Hunter Campbell
You can make a garbage game and still sell gangbusters.
