Animal Crossing: New Horizons

[Nicktendo]

Sums up my thoughts 

 

[LazyBoy]

18 hours ago, Sheikah said:

 

 

Yep, it's a problem for anyone with multiple users on their Switch who play disproportionate amounts. Which I imagine is most users, since it's rare two people ever play the same amount. My wife isn't going to vandalise anything but I know she likes to play these sorts of games a lot. It wouldn't leave very much for me to work towards or unlock.

A large part of Animal Crossing is working to unlock new town buildings, finish museum collections, upgrade shops and build up your villager relationships (or purposefully destroy them). Having someone else on who is ticking those objectives off means you're not playing a large part of the game. And if they're playing more than you, you potentially miss out on a lot!

I don't see how anyone can argue that this enforced system is better than having the choice between their system and having separate towns. Heck, they could make it so that you can have separate towns but visit each others town at whim via the train station. That way, if you do end up buying separate Switch consoles at some point down the line you are not fused on one account, so should be able to play with each other at the same time.

 

I'm totally sympathetic to the choice arguement, I am. 

Would it to be fair to characterise our difference of opinion to how saves are used in a game? I still think how a game is saved is part of game design. Resident Evil would not be the same with the choice to save whenever. Saving has become more continuos and forgivable over time, but I still think it is a valid option for game design, and one of those options may include the amount of saves you can make. Maybe that's a bit old school though.

[LazyBoy]

16 hours ago, Nicktendo said:

Sums up my thoughts 

 

Sorry for the double post. He says something in there that I fundamentally disagree with - "you cant dictate how we have fun with your game." Well yes they can, it's their game. I mean you can't go full GTA and massacre your fellow villagers - but what if you want to? Surely you have the same objection - I want to enjoy it how I want, give me a gun. 

Sharing a village is a mechanism of the game that Nintendo want to create. You may not like it, but to discredit it simply because it removes agency from the player is to discredit any game that isn't a sandbox. 

Edited February 8, 2020 by LazyBoy

[Nicktendo]

Just now, LazyBoy said:

Sorry for the double post. He says something in there that I fundamentally disagree with - "you cant dictate how we have fun with your game." Well yes they can, it's their game. I mean you can't go full GTA and massacre your fellow villagers - but what if you want to? Surely you have the same objection - I want to enjoy it how I want, give me a gun. 

Sharing a village is a mechanism of the game that Nintendo want to create. You may not like it, but to discredit it simply because it removes agency from the player is to discredit any game that is a sandbox. 

I was more referring to the fact you cannot transfer your save between one console and another. Pretty stupid if your Switch breaks or you want to upgrade.

As for Nintendo setting the rules for their own game, I'm all for it. Though it's funny how they've taken a step backwards with this game, when other games in the same series were not as restrictive. 

[LazyBoy]

Just now, Nicktendo said:

I was more referring to the fact you cannot transfer your save between one console and another. Pretty stupid if your Switch breaks or you want to upgrade.

That's a fair point, but I imagine they will come up with a mechanism for that. They won't want to negatively effect any potential Switch Plus.

[Nicktendo]

4 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

That's a fair point, but I imagine they will come up with a mechanism for that. They won't want to negatively effect any potential Switch Plus.

That's my hope. Though I think this should have been in the thought process from the very beginning. 

Also, if they lock a transfer behind a Nintendo Switch Online sub (which many things are already pointing to), that would be an extremely scummy move.

[Sheikah]

I'm totally sympathetic to the choice arguement, I am. 
Would it to be fair to characterise our difference of opinion to how saves are used in a game? I still think how a game is saved is part of game design. Resident Evil would not be the same with the choice to save whenever. Saving has become more continuos and forgivable over time, but I still think it is a valid option for game design, and one of those options may include the amount of saves you can make. Maybe that's a bit old school though.

Resident Evil 2 was recently remade and you could save whenever, and it still felt very much Resident Evil. In fact, it was better.

[Hero-of-Time]

Here's a pretty cool video that popped up on Era this morning. It shows certain features that were either exclusive or originated in the Japanese E+ version of Animal Crossing on the GameCube.

 

[Nicktendo]

Looks like the reference to "in-game purchases" has been removed? Link here

There goes the final 10 minutes of our AC discussion on the podcast 

Still, yet another confusing message from Nintendo. A direct would have sorted all of this mess out, but Nintendo gonna Nintendo. 

[Hero-of-Time]

12 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Looks like the reference to "in-game purchases" has been removed? Link here

There goes the final 10 minutes of our AC discussion on the podcast 

Still, yet another confusing message from Nintendo. A direct would have sorted all of this mess out, but Nintendo gonna Nintendo. 

Which is exactly what i've just said in my points about this weeks episode.  

[Ronnie]

It's funny how fans expect/demand game-focused Nintendo Directs over a month before release. A far cry from back in the day where a game would come out and people would find things out by playing it. If I could resist watching it when they do have it I would, but sadly I'm not that strong willed.

 

[Nicktendo]

3 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It's funny how fans expect/demand game-focused Nintendo Directs over a month before release. A far cry from back in the day where a game would come out and people would find things out by playing it. If I could resist watching it when they do have it I would, but sadly I'm not that strong willed.

 

This is a completely disingenuous point. Magazines and websites existed in the 90s and 00s, you know. Information has always been out there, and it definitely wasn’t as tightly controlled as it is now by Nintendo. 

No one is asking to know everything in an E3 blowout years before the game releases, but preventing misunderstanding like the countless ones AC has had is something that all potential customers should be able to expect. Even a general direct which had a two minute explanation on how saving in AC works would have done it. A CLEAR statement on Nintendo’s website would even be better that what they’ve said so far, which, as always, is bugger all.  

This is particularly annoying when, so close to launch, official box art appears online which seems to suggest something and Nintendo has no official explanation to either confirm or deny either way. Made worse by the fact that this information is changing.

A month from launch and we have more questions than answers. Now if that was about the game’s CONTENT, I wouldn’t see that as a problem at all, but this is not about content. It’s about what we’re actually going to be able to do with a piece of software that costs £50, and how much “ownership” and “control”, I guess, we’ll actually have over it. This also includes whether some features will be locked behind additional purchases. 

Don’t confuse content with technical features / specifications. I don’t care if we see more of the game itself, I do, however, want to know what arbitrary restrictions Nintendo is going to place on me. 

[Hero-of-Time]

13 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

It's funny how fans expect/demand game-focused Nintendo Directs over a month before release. A far cry from back in the day where a game would come out and people would find things out by playing it. If I could resist watching it when they do have it I would, but sadly I'm not that strong willed.

Nintendo have caused these expectations. I mean, Animal Crossing: New Leaf had a 40+ minute Direct a fair few months before release. The amiibo update also had a decent sized Direct but that was in the same month as said update. There are a few other examples of games getting their own Directs a month or two before release. You can see why fans expect it to happen when Nintendo have done it many times in the past. 

[Ronnie]

19 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

This is a completely disingenuous point. Magazines and websites existed in the 90s and 00s, you know. Information has always been out there

And previews, reviews, gameplay videos are a thing now. Doom Eternal, Ori 2, Nioh 2 are all out in a month, no one's clamouring for a 30 minute presentation on those games outlining everything they have to offer. 

19 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

but preventing misunderstanding like the countless ones AC has had is something that all potential customers should be able to expect

I'm obviously out of the loop, I'm unaware of the countless misunderstandings so far. Sure the save data/backup stuff but I hadn't heard of any others.

19 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

This is particularly annoying when, so close to launch, official box art appears online which seems to suggest something and Nintendo has no official explanation to either confirm or deny either way.

It's posts like this that give video gamers a bad name. Seriously, just chill out. Don't lose sleep over a rating that says In App Purchases, an explanation will come.

I 100% understand wanting to know about how game saves are going to be handled though. They've already said they're working on a solution and will have more info shortly. The game's out in over a month, all signs are pointing to a Direct next week so, I'm fine to just find out then. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ronnie

[Ronnie]

20 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Nintendo have caused these expectations. I mean, Animal Crossing: New Leaf had a 40+ minute Direct a fair few months before release. The amiibo update also had a decent sized Direct but that was in the same month as said update. There are a few other examples of games getting their own Directs a month or two before release. You can see why fans expect it to happen when Nintendo have done it many times in the past. 

Sure, and we'll get one this time too.

I just think it's funny that wanting to know everything about a game before it's released has become the norm nowadays. Fully aware Nintendo are the ones that started the trend.

[Nicktendo]

8 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

And previews, reviews, gameplay videos are a thing now. Doom Eternal, Ori 2, Nioh 2 are all out in a month, no one's clamouring for a 30 minute presentation on those games outlining everything they have to offer. 

I'm obviously out of the loop, I'm unaware of the countless misunderstandings so far. Sure the save data/backup stuff but I hadn't heard of any others.

It's posts like this that give video gamers a bad name. Seriously, just chill out. Don't lose sleep over a rating that says In App Purchases, an explanation will come.

I 100% understand wanting to know about how game saves are going to be handled though. They've already said they're working on a solution and will have more info shortly. The game's out in over a month, all signs are pointing to a Direct next week so, I'm fine to just find out then. 

Read again, Ronnie. I said I don’t want / need a 30-minute presentation. I said I wanted an explanation of a mess (which it is) caused by Nintendo’s bad messaging. 

I’m not losing sleep over it, I’m not buying this game because Nintendo have done nothing to convince me to part with my money. 

I think raising these points is valid, considering how much Nintendo are needlessly getting wrong with the Switch, a view many people on this forum share  

Sorry, but a gaming forum is just one place where people discuss expectations and hype. I said above I don’t care about the content of the game. Why join in and purposefully ignore points I’ve made if you have nothing to contribute other than essentially “shut up gamers”? Seems a weird position to take on a gaming forum 🤷🏼‍♂️

Edited February 13, 2020 by Nicktendo

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Ronnie said:

Sure, and we'll get one this time too.

I just think it's funny that wanting to know everything about a game before it's released has become the norm nowadays. Fully aware Nintendo are the ones that started the trend.

I think it's a generation thing. I imagine most of us on here would be quite happy with a launch trailer and then not see anything until release. That's probably because most of us are in our 30's or above at this point and were used to just having magazine coverage for up and coming games. The younger generation have grown up with video previews, Directs and a constant stream of Youtube footage and as such are always wanting more. 

[Ronnie]

25 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Read again, Ronnie. I said I don’t want / need a 30-minute presentation. I said I wanted an explanation of a mess (which it is) caused by Nintendo’s bad messaging. 

And they said you'll get one. I'm still unsure about the "countless misunderstandings" relating to messaging, excluding the whole save backup thing which they've already said they're working on ...?

25 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

I’m not buying this game because Nintendo have done nothing to convince me to part with my money.

They've released two trailers, a Treehouse Live segment and are (presumably) about to put out a deep dive Direct on the game. Not sure what else they can do to try and convince you  

25 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Why join in and purposefully ignore points I’ve made if you have nothing to contribute other than essentially “shut up gamers”? Seems a weird position to take on a gaming forum 🤷🏼‍♂️

I "joined in" by saying how interesting it is that gamers expect deep dives on games nowadays compared to a few gens back where we would find things out by playing the game.

The gaming community is famous for making a mountain out of a molehill. A Direct is coming, previews from outlets like IGN are coming, all I'm suggesting is people be patient. I'm ok to wait to see if the game has in app purchases or not.   

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ronnie

[drahkon]

25 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Nintendo’s bad messaging. 

I always wonder what's going on in big companies when something like the big Animal Crossing: New Horizons' WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING WITH SAVES disaster of 2020 is making the rounds on the internet. Do they just call in a meeting and say: "Eh, fuck it. No one needs clarification for another few weeks."? They surely must know that people are annoyed with it? Or is it just a matter of: "Lol, they gonna buy this shit anyways, and cough up money for an online subscription to be able to have a back up save (maybe)."?

 

[Ronnie]

3 minutes ago, drahkon said:

I always wonder what's going on in big companies when something like the big Animal Crossing: New Horizons' WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING WITH SAVES disaster of 2020 is making the rounds on the internet. Do they just call in a meeting and say: "Eh, fuck it. No one needs clarification for another few weeks."? They surely must know that people are annoyed with it? Or is it just a matter of: "Lol, they gonna buy this shit anyways, and cough up money for an online subscription to be able to have a back up save (maybe)."?

Maybe 5% of the total sales of the game are aware or annoyed by this so called "disaster"? And they've already made a statement about being able to back up your saves.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Ronnie

[Nicktendo]

21 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

And they said you'll get one. I'm still unsure about the "countless misunderstandings" relating to messaging, excluding the whole save backup thing which they've already said they're working on ...?

They've released two trailers, a Treehouse Live segment and are (presumably) about to put out a deep dive Direct on the game. Not sure what else they can do to try and convince you  

I "joined in" by saying how interesting it is that gamers expect deep dives on games nowadays compared to a few gens back where we would find things out by playing the game.

The gaming community is famous for making a mountain out of a molehill. A Direct is coming, previews from outlets like IGN are coming, all I'm suggesting is people be patient. I'm ok to wait to see if the game has in app purchases or not.   

Not enough to convince me. So (presumably) I won’t buy it. 

In-app purchasing is another misunderstanding. Cloud saves. Back-ups. Transferring data. Whether NSO is required for back-ups or transferring. Countless. 

Where did I say I expected a deep dive? Where has anyone said that? Using your loose “gamers” term to misprepresent the people of this forum is really just so classy. 

Magazines had previews, reviews and all that jazz. Now imagine people hadn’t been told whether they needed an Expansion Pak before Perfect Dark launched. We knew about it then because magazines told us way in advance.

Enjoy the game. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Nicktendo

[Ronnie]

2 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Cloud saves. Back-ups. Transferring data. Whether NSO is required for back-ups or transferring. Countless. 

Apart from the already discussed in-app purchase thing, I asked what other "countless misunderstandings" there were apart from the save data backup thing, so basically transferring data. Cool.

[Nicktendo]

25 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Apart from the already discussed in-app purchase thing, I asked what other "countless misunderstandings" there were apart from the save data backup thing, so basically transferring data. Cool.

You take every word only at its literal meaning. Cool. 

[Hero-of-Time]

39 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

Maybe 5% of the total sales of the game are aware or annoyed by this so called "disaster"? 

That is generally the case. Most people who buy the game won't know or care about the issues because they don't follow gaming news. It was the same with Pokemon. The fan base complained about Pokemon being cut, game went on to sell 16 million in a stupidly short time frame. The Call of Duty fan base weren't happy with certain things in one of the games. Game went on to sell millions. Jim Sterling recently made a video about this kind of thing.

I've said this a few times in the past, gamers who do keep up to date with gaming news and voice their opinions on forums aren't the ones who dictate where the market is heading or how well a game sells. It's the masses who have the power and as long as they don't care then sadly nothing will change.

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's the masses who have the power and as long as they don't care then sadly nothing will change.

Probably why Nintendo just doesn't give a damn about rectifying or clarifying the issues surrounding the game. New Horizons will sell millions of copies and probably millions of Switches, too. They know they can get away with it  

It's a damn shame that companies in general are able to get away with it  

By the way, my mom's part of the problem. She recently told me that she heard about some issues but doesn't give a damn. She just wants to spend another 800million hours on a new Animal Crossing.  
I thought about breaking her Switch a month into the game's lifetime but then she'd probably just by another one. Feeding right into Nintendo's scheme...OH MY GOD.