Animal Crossing

[Pastelle]

A thread for this exists but it hasn't been posted in since 2013 so lets starting fresh. Guess you could say we're turning a New Leaf...

Animal Crossing is a community simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo, in which the human player lives in a village inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, carrying out various activities including fishing, bug catching, etc. The series is notable for its open-ended gameplay and extensive use of the game systems' internal clock and calendar to simulate real passage of time. -Wikipedia​

There are many different ways to play and enjoy Animal Crossing, and I figured we could have a place here to discuss it! I imagine New Leaf will be the main topic of discussion, but feel free to talk about the other games in the series.

Some topics of discussion to start things off:

1. Favorite / Least Favorite Villagers?
2. Memorable stories you've experienced?
3. What's your style of decorating?
4. What keeps you coming back despite its, admittedly, boring premise?
5. Do you think the game functions better on home or portable consoles?

~Go to town!~​

 

[jumpluff]

I feel mixed about Animal Crossing, my favourite game series of all time. It's basically my happy place, but the real time elements give me severe anxiety because I am not good with acceptance, and I am bad at that aspect of the game. So what happens typically is that I play binge amounts on a file for a month or two to get my fix (I've played through a year in a month before) and then stop because I'm distracted, then get too anxious to get seriously addicted again. Right now I constantly think of picking up New Leaf and playing again for some good chill times, but I tend to play obsessively and have school starting, I worry about picking up all the event items I missed, and I'm worried about my villagers. @__@ I think it's the attention to detail, and the ability to appreciate those things (no other fandom loses its shit over being able to sit on benches except maybe the pkmn fandom), that helps give the game its flavour.

My favourite villager is Bunnie, I love all the rabbit villagers but she's my favourite. I'm a big fan of Stitches too, most adorable design. Don't think I have a least favourite, I've played all the games so many times (except AC:CF, I didn't use my Wii much) that most have some sort of entertaining memory attached.

I wish I was better at improvisation, I use colours and series a lot. I've been thinking of picking up Happy Home Designer when I have some more money. Probably one of my favourite features is recolours, I love using those in my home and when I get new furniture I love seeing what I can do to it. I love food items, they're always so cute. I keep coming back because it makes me happy, because I love powergaming Animal Crossing and because I don't get bored of little touches easily... it's exactly those little moments of tiny discovery or new dialogue that bring me joy, or new items.

The original Animal Crossing (well, the GameCube one, technically) is my second favourite Animal Crossing because of the events and how they lent the world a relatable charm, and I think Wild World struggled a lot with this, as did AC:CF, but putting that aside, the series itself is basically designed for handheld consoles. It's a game that's in theory meant to be consumed regularly but in small, peaceful doses; it's a game that's meant to ground you in your life and encourage you to focus on small but ritual things every day. The convenience of a handheld is perfect for this, because a) you can take it with you b) it's more likely to stay in your handheld (although now I guess we can get digital copies of games and tbh I think digital AC is a great idea) c) you have it when you need it for real time events. Eventually, portable versions will get big enough villages, I hope -- New Leaf certainly had a good feeling of scope, which is what Wild World really lacked \o/

 

[deetah]

Animal Crossing is my favorite game series ever! I think the animals are really cute, and it's just a relaxing atmosphere. My favorite villagers would have to be Gayle and Merry! I love both of them, I think they are both adorable. I started my first Animal Crossing game when I bought Animal Crossing: City Folk. I really enjoyed that game, and it was a good game to calm down or relax. Since I enjoyed the game, I then bought Animal Crossing: New Leaf. This is probably my favorite game in the series. I love being able to visit an island, and meet other players! Interacting with the animals is still just as fun. Just recently I bought Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and I have to say, I love it! Unlocking things with play coins is cool, and you can redesign and customize furniture for the cute creatures. I love being able to see other people's creations and designs online too. And designing facilities is pretty sweet. The series keeps me coming back because I am an animal lover, and the different personalities the animals have are really cool. I like decorating when there is a certain theme, it is harder in my opinion to decorate without a given theme. That's how I have always designed each room in my houses in the games, with a certain theme. I think the games are better on portable consoles because you can take them with you, and it's just very convenient!

 

[GoodMorningEspeon]

I've really only played New Leaf, mostly because my friend was super hooked on it so I thought I'd give it a try. I often forget to play and check in on my town and it's massive quantities of weeds, but whenever I remember, I end up getting hooked all over again. I always find the need to change the town tune and flag (although I'm much worse at pixel art than I am at composing or recreating a tune from elsewhere).

When it comes to bad habits, I have plenty of them in Animal Crossing. Whenever I return from the island (which is probably the most enjoyable part of the game for me, especially when doing tours with friends), I never remembe to take my stuff out of the basket. I haven't cleared the fruit off of my trees in months. My storage is cluttered with all sorts of unassessed fossils, furniture and clothing I don't want, and so many pitfall seeds (I'm going to plant them all over my town to mess with some visitors one day). In the 2+ years I've had my current town, I haven't ever let a villager leave just because I like all of mine so much; Pudge, Genji, and Savannah are probably my favorites.

I've never been too creative when it comes to decorating. Most of the time I just try to find furniture that would fit the type of things that I would put in my own ideal house, but the HHA doesn't really appreciate that as much as I do.

I've never played Animal Crossing on a home console so I can't really judge which one I personally prefer, but I think that a portable Animal Crossing title made it a lot more accessible than a home console installment. Local multiplayer makes the game a lot more fun and gives me more reason to play it in order to spruce up my town for visitors.

 

[Martin]

I've played Let's Go to the City (GB name for City Folk) and New Leaf. I remember that I was super hyped for the latter before it's release and then when I got it I simply couldn't keep up with the progress curve that my friend had, and as he started pulling miles ahead of me I sorta lost interest. My bug-farming ability is terribad and a villager moved in on top of my golden peach sapling that I planted on day 1 and not one has appeared since, meaning it was hard for me to make money and consequentially hard to expand my house. I'm also terrible at storage management (which isn't helped by the fact that all wardrobes/draws/lockers provide access to the same storage, meaning that I can't just keep filling new dressers with more stuff) and i managed to fill my entire storage system as a result.

I could probably do rather well if I just reset my town and started fresh provided that someone doesn't move in on top of my default shiny fruit sapling again (everyone I've asked said that they have them on day 1, so I'm assuming that there is one in every town when you have just moved in) and I'd probably enjoy it much more like that, but my motivation for it was completely killed which is a shame. I'll probably consider it if someone explains effective storage management to me though.

Anyone got any tips?