Animal Crossing We wanted a Horizon as well

Balladeer wrote:

In less good news, Rodney's moved in.

Keep his name out of your mouth.

I chased a sodding giant clam around the seabed for close to ten minutes non-stop, cursing whichever jobsworth designer thought a benthic that moves at exactly the same speed as you underwater was a good idea... before realising that you're meant to paddle up stealthily and then dive.

I bet Jay's loving the addition of octopodes. Even he can't dismiss the magnificence of this:

Red cephalopod benthic:

I did my first bit of diving yesterday. It was nice enough.

Nintendo clearly didn't want a second delay or to crunch the team, so they're putting out the content that should have been in the game originally. I'm okay with that.

If that's what they're doing then I'm doubly glad. The game felt plenty complete enough from the start, and by adding this in now it feels fresh and interesting, extending the life of a title that by now my and others' interest is/was starting to flag in.

Anybody seen a

rare seasonal bug:

yet? I can't find one anywhere, anywhen.

Buskalilly wrote:

I did my first bit of diving yesterday. It was nice enough.

Nintendo clearly didn't want a second delay or to crunch the team, so they're putting out the content that should have been in the game originally. I'm okay with that.

There aren't many major publishers which would choose to do this rather than crunch the staff and/or nickel and dime the customer.

That's why they're the one company Loony Lefty Luke allows himself to idolise. When it turns out Shigsy diddles kiddies or Reggie pressured a city council to not ban slavery or something, I'll be shipping off to join a militia and kill billionaires.

Found one! And the catching joke genuinely made me laugh.

Speaking of money, I paid off my final loan over the weekend. There's no reason to, but millions of bells were burning holes in my pockets and I didn't have much else to spend them on. I think that's a sign that I'm nearing the end of the game's life for me, along with The Lady stopping playing. We had a good run.

I've handed the keys to my island over to my girlfriend, who is now turning it into a utopia. She was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more space on the island, or that you couldn't start new islands without having to go through all that early game waiting, so it's nice for her to be able to renovate mine without tearing hers down.

I'm guessing you're pretty much done too then Muss?

I'm still going on every day, and it's now my most played Switch game at "100 hours or more". I'm not quite at the stage where New Horizons is coming to the end of it's natural life for me, but I'm mostly good after checking in for ten minutes each morning. 

On another note, did anybody else buy that 400-odd page New Horizons Official Campanion Guide? All these updates have made that book well out of date - £25 wasted!

We have that guide. My girlfriend still uses it. Handy for things like breeding flowers or giving you an indication as to how the stalk market will work. It's a really chunky book so still a lot of good stuff in there. But yes, well out of date too!

I wouldn't say that I was done with it Balla, but I am doing other things. There will be a time where I log back in again and do the 10 minute cycle, but for now I'm not. I guess I'm done for now, but much like New Leaf I will get back into it at some point. Even if I don't it still had a good innings.

Great game, enjoyed it a lot.

I actually went back to my island over the weekend, as I took my Switch with me to my grandparents.

As I hadn't logged in ages I expecting to find loads of weeds etc but actually wasn't changed

There were a lot of weeds on my island. I know because I kept having my switch shoved into my face with a 'look at what you've done!'

Aww.

I've got to admit that at this point I'm bored of the 10m cycle. I can see myself coming back to the game when the next update lands though, although without a helpful girlfriend I'd be concerned about my villagers and weeds.

My island is probably a weeds-ridden hellscape by this point. I've not checked it in so long. I think the daily cycle grew old for me, sadly. How do you Animal Crossing addicts keep up with the game for years on end?

I was feeling a bit of fatigue with it earlier this week when I was logging on just for the sake of it, sure enough though it pulled me back in when I got a few new recipes and all of a sudden I spent 2 hours on it instead of 10 minutes.

One huge issue that Animal Crossing always creates is the fear of missing out and I think I need to break that cycle to stop it becoming something I resent, it's not supposed to be a chore so whilst I've yet to miss a day on it I might do soon for the sake of my own enjoyment.

I think that's a big issue I've got with the GaaS model - they really enjoy implementing FOMO as a way to hook their player base into continuing to play and like you said Smurf, over time it begins to feel like a chore and breeds resentment with the game. Games are meant to be fun.

In the immortal words of Reggie, "if it's not fun, why bother?"

Funnily enough, if they were updating more regularly than once a month like a GaaS model then I'd probably be more in to it.

I suppose it depends on how much you're into the game and how long you've been playing it. Burnout is definitely a thing - I've totally skipped this season of Destiny 2 because I was growing weary of the game towards the end of its last season (plus, y'know, FFXIV...) and I don't know if more frequent updates would keep me hooked on AC:NH.

Treesmurf wrote:

One huge issue that Animal Crossing always creates is the fear of missing out and I think I need to break that cycle to stop it becoming something I resent, it's not supposed to be a chore so whilst I've yet to miss a day on it I might do soon for the sake of my own enjoyment.

I agree with the above, and it's one thing I've never been keen on in the series.  For example, I started off wanting to build every item of zodiac furniture - as a result of last week, the chance is now pretty good that I've missed out on Cancer fragments entirely.  Having missed a few things makes me less inclined to turn on the game again as it'll always feel a bit 'incomplete', and before I know it a month's gone and it feels like I've passed a point of no return.

Are you getting the Ophiuchus set?

[Side note - no idea why Ophiuchus has suddenly become a thing when it's been 'in the zodiac' for ages.]

Who-ius? I feel like I've just seen a spoiler for actual real life!

Anyone up for sharing their dream code for visiting their island? Easier to organise than meeting up and exploring each other's islands! Though I may feel quite inadequate visiting yours if it's very good. I might plop my code in here tomorrow if anyone's interested.