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[Machina]

Straight off the bat, I will fully concede to GAF that I have never played any Animal Crossing game. Not a single one. The most I have seen of it at all was the Game Grumps playthrough in 2012 that lasted about 6 episodes. I think I got the general gist of it, that you join this little town where you buy your own house and start living amongst its population of unique and charming characters. It came across as a sort of Sims-lite, but I'm happy to be corrected on that point.

Is that really all it is? Because just going on off hand experience, that feels like it could get boring pretty quickly. What is the one element that keeps people glued to the game? Is there ever any special objective or task that you can or have to do?

 

[John Dunbar]

mom story incoming.

 

[georly]

It's a game that might sound boring on paper, but once you start playing it there's a chance you get into it. There are dozens of objectives and maybe one of them resonates with you. (filling museum up, decorating your house, making friends, making money, etc etc).

It's only sorta like sims, but it has more of a focus on hand-crafted npc villagers.

I dunno, new leaf is 20 bucks - if you have a 3DS pick it up and try it, if you hate it, it's not a big deal, but there's a chance you like it.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

It's an RPG. But you level up in that your town gains things and your loot is furniture and more.

As you said, you haven't played it so you don't have an idea of how its addicting. The great writing and characters just add to the charm.

 

[Pinko Marx]

You say it's just Sims-lite like that's not enough. Remember the Sims is one of the highest selling series of all time.
For me the games are a low-stress calming time waster. The music is A-1, there's a collectathon aspect, decorating, and the game does a good job of making you feel part of a quirky video game community with different characters each having their own mannerisms.
Oh and it has a gr8 gameplay loop. You can hop in for 30-1hr and be done for the day, come back again the next and do it all over it with incremental progress each day. You do some digging for fossils, talk to town folk, write some letters, send some gifts, do some light cleaning, and you've made progress. There's also seasonal stuff since the game operates in real time. There's a lot to come back to.

 

[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

It's relaxation in a game wrapper, with good music and pleasing graphics.

 

[DylanEno]

Idgaf for simulators like the sims or whatever but animal crossing is the tits

 

[jph139]

Nope, you pretty much have it. It's half Sims style life simulator, half "collect shit: the game."

Works for some people, doesn't for others.

 

[Maxinas]

It's not a game meant to played for hours. A well made animal crossing mobile game would do wonders for this very reason.

 

[Sol1dus]

I put the most hours out of any 3ds game into AC. It's mindless in a way, there's not way to lose, and it's just relaxing.

I put countless of hours into the turnip market here on Neogaf with other players and got so rich I eventually helped my little brother build up his own town and do his thing.

The game takes patience for sure but it's meant to be picked up and played in short spurts every day or so. I haven't played it in months but I do enjoy it still whenever I go back to it.

 

[semiconscious]

i've been playing animal crossing: wild world for at least a few minutes every day since it was released (2005). &, tho i really can't explain why, i still enjoy it ...

 

[Mudo]

I buy all of these and barely play them. Is New Leaf playable solo ok? I remember you visit other ppl to get fruits you can't get or something? Also the stores close early so i can't sell things. I tend to play late at night mostly like after midnight. I would love to dive in just not sure if that's feasible alone

 

[Kouriozan]

There is some answer in Someone explain the appeal of Animal Crossing games?

Personally this is a very relaxing game for me, one in wich you simply do what you want with no end objectives.

 

[Octavianus]

It's cute as hell and playing it makes me feel really relaxed.

 

[Sinfamy]

mom story incoming.

Literally the only thing I think about when I hear this game.

 

[rhandino]

I was in the same boat too OP but then I was gifted New Leaf for my 3DS and then I became semi-addicted to the point that first and last things I did during my day was check my town, talk to my animal neighbors, visit their houses, do some project for it and collecting random junk to decorate my house or sell it to expand said house or buy some cool clothes.

I don't know, its like escapism in its more pure distilled form.

mom story incoming.

 

[VeryGooster]

Chillin on that island with your peeps catching sharks.

New Leaf is secret GOAT Nintendo soundtrack

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

It's a delight to play. Hang out, walk around, collect stuff, fish, drink some coffee, look for sea shells, check the bulletin board, decorate your house...

I love it.

 

[TheMoon]

heart.

Spoiler

also, if you don't come back and pay of your god damn loan, you gon' get got, motherfucker.

 

[TheCongressman1]

Just play it. That's the easiest way to see. I was kinda in the same boat, I thought I wouldn't really enjoy it, but I ended up putting wayyy too much time into New Leaf.

Super excited to see what they have on Switch.

 

[Swiggins]

I was in the same boat too OP but then I was gifted New Leaf for my 3DS and then I became semi-addicted to the point that first and last things I did during my day was check my town, talk to my animal neighbors, visit their houses, do some project for it and collecting random junk to decorate my house or sell it to expand said house or buy some cool clothes.

I don't know, its like escapism in its more pure distilled form.

Nobody makes me cry my own tears...NOBODY! T_T

 

[nyttyn]

It was facebook gaming before that was even a thing.

Or, to put it in a way that sounds less derogatory (because I'm not bashing facebook or cellphone gaming here!): It's a casual, light-hearted experience that you can keep coming back to in short bursts, that provides a lot of things to do in a comfortable routine with cute, charming graphics, but doesn't translate well to extended play sessions.

It's kind of like chicken soup for the soul, in that regard. No, it's not the most complicated game on the planet. Far from it. No, you can't play it for extended sessions. It's a slow burn. It's something you add to your daily routine, to put a smile on your face, to fill some time and have some light fun. Add to that lots of little goals, and animal crossing is a champ for filling a small block of your day every day, like a comfy chair.

That's the sort of space a lot of facebook games filled, and that a lot of mobile games now fill. And it's the same appeal Animal Crossing, to me at least, has. It doesn't demand much of the player, doesn't let them get carried away as it has clear limits, but provides a lot of semi-structured goals to keep them coming back (getting new furniture, seeing new neighbors, covering your town in flowers, in those new town furniture thingies in new leaf, etc).

It'll definitely get really boring if you just blast through it and play it for 2+ hour sessions a day, but that's why it has a lot of limitations (small and large) on how much you can play, and why it has a lot of possible goals that can only be filled over a long period of time. It is the definition of a casual slow-burn game, and if that's a good or a bad thing is something only playing it can really answer for you since words can't quite explain the chicken soup for the soul effect it has, try as I might.

 

[ldar247]

Dunno OP, I tried the 3DS game to see what all the buzz was about and it just seemed like a shitty skinner box. Even if something like that was appealing to me, there are probably hundreds of similar time wasters on Android that I could get for free.

 

[adamantypants]

A lot of the fun was in waiting for the actual times of days or dates for things to happen; which is entirely missed by watching a let's play

 

[Bronx-Man]

An Animal Crossing for iOS/Android would be one of the highest selling apps ever. The world is ready for it.

 

[Iacobellis]

I was in the same boat too OP but then I was gifted New Leaf for my 3DS and then I became semi-addicted to the point that first and last things I did during my day was check my town, talk to my animal neighbors, visit their houses, do some project for it and collecting random junk to decorate my house or sell it to expand said house or buy some cool clothes.

I don't know, its like escapism in its more pure distilled form.

I've seen this story many times before but was always confused about the ending. Were the letters and gifts from the person's mom, or the mom charcater in the game?

 

[sirap]

It's kind a like planting your own garden. Boring work, but you feel a sense of ownership and pride once the first flowers bloom.

 

[Enduin]

I've seen this story many times before but was always confused about the ending. Were the letters and gifts from the person's mom, or the mom charcater in the game?

Pretty sure it was from the mom character in the game.

 

[Pinko Marx]

I've seen this story many times before but was always confused about the ending. Were the letters and gifts from the person's mom, or the mom charcater in the game?

There's only one mom in the story in that's the author's mom who died.
She had a character in the game and she wrote letters to her children's characters.

 

[ngower]

As others have stated, it has an addicting pull to bring you in daily and it's really an objective-less game (there's stuff to do, but you can do it at your own pace or not at all). For me, the appeal is in how relaxing it can be....it's not to say that the game is boring, but I just don't feel on edge or as if I'm being challenged to better my skills to achieve some ends. I don't really play New Leaf anymore, but the moment it's announced for Switch I'm in.

 

[baconcow]

Here is a thread that might help answer your question:

• Animal Crossing - Why do people enjoy it?

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

The interface and UI design is so fucking borked, I couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried. The actual activities and aesthetics are super relaxing and zen like. But the item management system, menu placement and organization, and the utter tedium of clearing space is such ass, it totally sucks the fun out of it.

I'm hoping either the mobile game or inevitable Switch game really finally streamlines things.

 

[Camjo-Z]

I've seen this story many times before but was always confused about the ending. Were the letters and gifts from the person's mom, or the mom charcater in the game?

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

It's not for everybody, to be fair. It's okay to not be interested.

 

[Novocaine]

You cannot chill with any other game like you can chill with AC.

 

[SporeCrawler]

its about goofing around all day doing nothing in particular... i think its a game born out of the observation that many games where you have to rush to meet an objective stresses out people and thats actually the opposite of what a game is supposed to do

 

[Coffinhal]

Smart game design. Try it and you'll see.

 

[themagicalkitsune]

Fishing.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

An Animal Crossing for iOS/Android would be one of the highest selling apps ever. The world is ready for it.

Unless they charge more than 0.99, then it'll be a flop.

I hope everyone is ready for IAP animal crossing on mobile, if they go the "make an actual animal crossing lite game" route for mobile.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

I've only played New Leaf, and I was disappointed. The game is very clunky, you can't go full packrat because your backpack is modest and your storage is finite, your "town" is extremely barebones, you rarely need to use your home, events are sparse, etc. It was just much shallower than I expected.

The only things I enjoyed were putting together outfits, talking to my bae Coco, and harassing undesirable animals until they left.

 

[Falchion]

It's a delight to play. Hang out, walk around, collect stuff, fish, drink some coffee, look for sea shells, check the bulletin board, decorate your house...

I love it.

It really is an amazing game with a feeling like none other. You can just tend to your world and let all your real life problems drift away.

 

[Avallon]

Nostalgia.

 

[MysteryQuesadilla]

I had never played an Animal Crossing game prior to New Leaf and absolutely adore it. I don't know if I "get it" like others do but its just a fun little game that I can play for a few minutes, fish, get some silly dialogue from NPC's, and put down.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Animal Crossing... man, it's actually pretty hard to describe the appeal of these things. They're just about the chillest games imaginable. Play one for like 20 minutes, three days in a row. If you don't get it after that, then it ain't for you!




BTW Y'all, definitely make sure to quote the Mom Story when you react to it, so we can make every page of this thread insufferable to scroll through for no good reason

 

[Murkas]

I'm scared to visit my town, it's been a few years. There's probably dead plants everywhere , been quite a few years (around the time Club Nintendo offered a free game if you registered select 3DS games).

 

[ngower]

I've only played New Leaf, and I was disappointed. The game is very clunky, you can't go full packrat because your backpack is modest and your storage is finite, your "town" is extremely barebones, you rarely need to use your home, events are sparse, etc. It was just much shallower than I expected.

The only things I enjoyed were putting together outfits, talking to my bae Coco, and harassing undesirable animals until they left.

The town is sparse at first, you have to build it up. Look at some of the dream journal videos on YouTube, people with the time and creativity pull off some amazing work.

As for storage, you can re-but anything from the catalog with the exception of the limited items or stuff you get from coins, which you can store away pretty easily without feeling like you're running out of space.

I'm not saying you played it wrong, but your assessments seem pretty off from my experience.

 

[bananafactory]

It's happiness and anxiety and joy and rainbows and fun and friendship and achievement and discovery all wrapped up in the cutest little package ever and you can share it with friends

 

[dangerskew]

It's video game comfort food.

 

[Poppy]

because i want to be friends with animal people

 

[Lanrutcon]

I was in the same boat too OP but then I was gifted New Leaf for my 3DS and then I became semi-addicted to the point that first and last things I did during my day was check my town, talk to my animal neighbors, visit their houses, do some project for it and collecting random junk to decorate my house or sell it to expand said house or buy some cool clothes.

I don't know, its like escapism in its more pure distilled form.

holyshit.jpg

Put a goddamn tearjerker warning on this thread, you bastards.