Animal Crossing We wanted a Horizon as well

I think it was just a case of "this was in the last game so why isn't it in this one?". People will play it for a few days and soon realise it didn't add a whole lot to the experience which for me highlights where their approach has been a little off for this game, it's nice to have frequent content added but when these pieces are added individually they look a lot less impressive than if they were all there at the start alongside other things to do. My assumption is that having its own direct should mean there's more than just the coffee shop on the way though, Tortimer's mini-game island perhaps?

Jimbob wrote:

Actually... my biggest question... why does everyone keep going on about bloody Brewster? What do people really like this? I don't understand. I don't understand.

It's because he makes bloody good coffee.

Treesmurf wrote:

My assumption is that having its own direct should mean there's more than just the coffee shop on the way though

Yeah, there is surely more to it.

As for why people have been clamouring for the coffee shop specifically? Aesthetic (which is what the game is all about!)

As someone who grew up in a small English town, working crap jobs for excessive hours and still barely affording to get by, sitting in Brewster's cafe was my one taste of the kind of metropolitan life where one actually has the time to sit down and just enjoy a hot drink, soft jazz and the feel of existing. Between Brewster and Godot, that feeling of cool they exuded made me start drinking coffee IRL. I don't think it'll have the same effect now, but back in the day going in and enjoying my cup of joe was a really important daily ritual.

I'm interested to see what else they're bringing to the table, the mini game island is a good shout and could possibly see me dipping back in for a bit.

Honestly though, it's difficult for me to see myself getting back into this in the way some people still are. Regardless of what the new news is. I think I'd personally really like stuff that made my island feel like more of a community as opposed to a doll's house. For example, some lighter town management. Such as tailoring parts of the island to lazy villagers - lots of places to sit and eat - or places for jocks, like making mountain trails or running tracks or something. Things that might make some villagers happy or sad depending on how your island is built, and which might influence who wants to come or go. That's all obviously beyond the scope of New Horizon, and Nintendo were right to focus on the aesthetics for sure. I'd just like the next one to give us a bit more depth to the folk who live there without encroaching on what people love about the games already.

A lot of peopel fell out of love with the series as it did less and less of what you mention, Muss, so it wouldn't be the wildest thing for Nintendo to take that route.

Treesmurf wrote:

I think it was just a case of "this was in the last game so why isn't it in this one?". People will play it for a few days and soon realise it didn't add a whole lot to the experience which for me highlights where their approach has been a little off for this game, it's nice to have frequent content added but when these pieces are added individually they look a lot less impressive than if they were all there at the start alongside other things to do.

I feel like the game could/should have gone one of two ways: full live service, or all there from the beginning. I've dumped the game for a while personally and I don't think I'm alone, and Brewster, or any smaller update, isn't going to get me back into it now. If that sort of update had been more frequent near release I might have stuck with it for longer.

Then again, there's always the possibility that was always their idea, and COVID stuffed it as it did most other things.

They were on record as saying they'd delayed it once to avoid crunch, and those regularly updating live service games are only possible due to extreme, permanent crunch. Hours in places like Epic are perpetually horrendous.

Personally, I'd have taken another delay for a more feature-rich release, but I know that isn't how business works and as luck would have it, they released at the perfect time.

Crunch evasion is always appreciated.  The day Nintendo is formally revealed to be a huge horrible sex-abusing company, I will have some very difficult decisions to make.

Having said that, I still feel like this is too little too late. If you're going to avoid crunch then may as well leave the game as is and move on at that point. (Unless it turns out that 5 million still play this weekly.)

It sold 31 million copies in the first nine months, so for 5 million people to still be playing it, that's only one in six. Even one million would be worth doing the odd update for, as I doubt it's a huge team going at it.

Let’s wait and see what the Direct unveils before we decide it’s “too little”. I’m expecting something grander in design and ambition than Super Mario blocks or a pie on March 14th.

There’s a point in saying it’s “too late though”. Of course, the world is a very different place now than it was on 20th March 2020. New Horizons was the right game at the right moment, but there’s no doubt that the commercial and social phenomenon it became was because most of those thirty-one million players were anxious, isolated and locked down by law. Can Animal Crossing grip people again in the world where we’re all allowed to go see Ayr United Vs. Greenock Morton?

I'd rather play Animal Crossing than watch Harry Kane sit in the corner of the pitch and play Pocket Camp on his phone when he's supposed to be scoring for Spurs . . .

I have mixed feelings about the 'state' of AC in 2021. Prior to Horizons I would've classified this whole franchise as one of my favourites, but something about this instalment just hasn't settled with me in the long term.

Not to say that the game is bad, more I feel like I've just sunk way too much time into the rest of the series over the last X number years. I do hope though that this new Direct chucks some substantial new stuff into the mix - I feel like Horizons launched way too early from a content perspective.

stu_the_great wrote:

Not to say that the game is bad, more I feel like I've just sunk way too much time into the rest of the series over the last X number years.

This is generally my feeling about the series.

I feel the opposite way. Even with over two hundred hours on my clock, I really feel that New Horizons has more to offer.

I hope the Direct on the 15th brings more news that Brewster’s Roost and amiibo cards. Can’t remember if I’ve said this already, but I’ve felt for a few games now that Animal Crossing has missed a trick by not introducing new bugs, fish, seabed creatures, flowers and especially several new characters mid-life. Welcome amiibo on the 3DS kind of did this, though the best outcome from that were (the absolutely brilliant) Puzzle League and Desert Island Escape minigames.

Something obvious (albeit superfluous) I’d like to see is a return on in-game NES games for folk with Nintendo Switch Online. They just look nice, is all.

Well that was a little bit more substantial than I was expecting. A lot of good quality of life updates coming with a free update, plus moving in to paid updates for the future, starting with the inclusion of Happy Home Paradise. Might be time to dip back in to island life.

I'm into all the free stuff they mentioned; will probably get me back in a little bit.
I'm not too fussed about the Happy Home thing, but it makes sense for that to be paid; on 3DS they released it as a standalone game. If paid stuff is always new experiences like that I'll be okay, if they charge for the sort of updates that they've been giving out for free so far I'll be a little disappointed.

The new content looked good, that I'm tempted to start a new island.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Let’s wait and see what the Direct unveils before we decide it’s “too little”. I’m expecting something grander in design and ambition than Super Mario blocks or a pie on March 14th.

There’s a point in saying it’s “too late though”. Of course, the world is a very different place now than it was on 20th March 2020. New Horizons was the right game at the right moment, but there’s no doubt that the commercial and social phenomenon it became was because most of those thirty-one million players were anxious, isolated and locked down by law. Can Animal Crossing grip people again in the world where we’re all allowed to go see Ayr United Vs. Greenock Morton?

I think Cappa nailed it. This was much grander in design and ambition than Super Mario blocks or a pie. It's also several months too late for me. Granted, I'm an extreme case: I deleted my ACNH save file because I didn't want it hanging over me, calling me back to do things I didn't enjoy too much. However I'm guessing a lot of people have fallen off the bandwagon to greater or lesser extents, and I don't know if even this chunky update will tempt many of them back. As Buska has said the reasoning behind this sounds noble, but that doesn't change the final result sadly.

Still, my sister will love it.

Following bad times in our family, and then in the rest of the world, my Mum (in her 60s) really made the most of Animal Crossing as a game she can get into; it's my Switch, but Animal Crossing is essentially her island. This update made her so very happy! So I'm sort of back in to the game, as essentially I need to help out with the heavy lifting so she's got room to plant vegetables...

I like the look of this a lot. Just like Dusty, this is all more substantial than I was expecting, and it’ll encourage me to dive back into island life. Happy Home Paradise will add a lot to New Horizon’s longevity for the folks who are really into the design of their homes and islands - Happy Home Designer on 3DS proved that there’s a lot of substance in that concept. That’s not really me though, my island is a 5-star rated bin.

I like the look of all the new stuff, though it remains to be seen whether it will tempt me back in at the moment. It's a bit daunting when you've been off the bandwagon for well over a year now.

Something I've always thought would fit the series well would be birdwatching. Turn the game into a mini Pokémon Snap. Give the player first-person binoculars with a photograph ability and a little book to mark new finds in that change with the seasons - what's not to like about that idea?*

*creeps who start upskirting their animal neighbours.

Birdwatching is a brilliantly fitting idea for Animal Crossing that I’d never thought of before. Something new like that would have been really good – it’s been mostly the same collectable fish, bugs, art and fossils since the series’ debut. I never really got into diving for sea creatures. There’s some that seem impossible to outspeed.

Not at all unhappy with what's coming out on November 5th though - I'm really looking forward to it, I'm ready to go back to New Horizons.

Balladeer wrote:

Still, my sister will love it.

Can we swap your sister for you?