Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5Anybody getting this game? As somebody who has played 0 games in the franchise, I’m clueless as to what to expect. I watched the trailer (but not the direct yet). I just know the game seems to be extremely popular. I bought the physical copy just in case it’s not my thing, it should be an easy resell at a minor loss.
It seems like a combination of Farmville and Stardew Valley.
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Yeah, it’s pretty similar to Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon if you’re familiar in that it’s basically a town simulator. You build up your house over time, collect furniture and such, make clothes, gather things for a museum, get to know neighbors, and in the recent ones act as the sort of mayor. It’s a good vibes game some people can get lost in.
@ThomasF A key difference is that Animal Crossing’s clock is in real time. Unlike Stardew Valley and its ilk, the day doesn’t end and advance to the next when you go to bed, but instead it’ll be whatever time it is on your island as it is IRL (unless your console’s clock is wrong). Drop in any time of day, any time of year, and there’s pretty much always something you can do.
It’s even less goal-oriented than those games are too. Animal Crossing really is something unique.
@lljk @ThomasF And if you don’t play for a few days in a row your favorite villager packs up and moves away and you cry. I MISS YOU ANTONIO!
@lljk @sammydog01 @ThomasF I’ve been sucked into Township for a couple of years but it’s gotten a bit boring lately…
This could be bad for me…
Unless it doesn’t work well on Android…
@llangley @lljk @ThomasF Nintendo Switch
@lljk @sammydog01 @ThomasF thanks. I checked Play Store and all I get is Animal Crossings Pocket Camp. Been there, done that one… just got boring.
Right now we should all be getting cardio in so we can run from the zombie apocalypse
I would quibble to point out that the Animal Crossing series is much older than either Farmville or Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley is heavily inspired by an even older series called Harvest Moon.
So I wouldn’t call it a cross between the two, even though there are some similarities.
I’ve played all of the games in the series. The game isn’t really like Farmville or Stardew Valley in that you don’t have a farm to run or any real responsibility. You are free to do whatever you want, or nothing at all. Also, Animal Crossing is played in real time. So when you get into it, it can actually be kind of an imposition on your life when you “need” to play your video game at a certain time of the day for certain events. (That’s generally pretty limited in more recent games. But there are still holiday events which will require playing on the holiday to participate.)
One related warning when starting out, the game can be quite slow to start out. In past days, you wouldn’t have many tools for the first few days which meant that you were fairly limited in what activities you could do. So prolonged sessions aren’t really much fun at the start. The crafting mechanism in this game may help eliminate that issue though.
@tmntman Thanks for the info.
I played Animal Crossing Wild World, New Leaf, and City Folk. I would get the new one but I don’t have a Switch. My son says he’ll let me borrow his once in a while. I bet he charges me.
Just don’t buy the game at GameStop. That place is a horror show right now. They’re making the associates work without cleaning supplies right now. It’s legitimately dangerous.
@wishlish I preordered from Amazon with delivery for tomorrow, but it seems like that’s delayed now. I don’t do GameStop, but I did read all of the posts about it.
Trying to decide if I care enough to cancel on Amazon and pickup locally.
@lichme @wishlish I’m going to Target to pick mine up this afternoon. I guess I’m not over my impulse buying. And I’ll get the digital version tomorrow.
@sammydog01 @wishlish
@lljk convinced me to buy digital, just placed my order through best buy, since they have the $10 member gift card with pre-order.
Any thoughts on buying physical vs digital? I normally do physical, and was planning on it for this game too (in case I don’t like it and wanted to sell it)
@lichme I generally buy physical for Xbox for big games that I’ll play for a long time (borderlands, red dead, etc), but I plan to eventually get this for the kid on Nintendo Switch. So much easier not to have to swap cartridges when buy digital.
@medz That would be my reasoning for going digital, but if I don’t like the game, I’d be stuck with it.
I still have quite a few unopened games, or games with less than 3 hours played (BOTW, Links Awakening, Mario Maker 3)
@lichme Under normal circumstances, Animal Crossing is a game that’s greatly improved by getting the digital version, due to how most players check into it for a little while each day instead of playing it in long sessions. The lower barrier to booting it up in the form of always having it on your Switch helps a lot with this.
You could buy the physical version, resell it later to put that money towards the digital version, and keep your island, as Switch games keep their saves on the console even if you buy them physically. You could also wait a while for impressions from other first-timers; waiting a few days or more after release won’t permanently lock you out of anything.
@lljk The internet agrees with you. Went digital. Thanks!
Does it allow local co-op?
@medz Up to 8 players I believe, 1 island per switch if I read correctly
@medz Yes. If you have multiple players on the same Switch and living on your island then up to four of you can play at the same time, but it’s a bit limited since all four of you have to be on the same screen.
You can also do local wireless multiplayer if you and your friends each have Switches of your own, where you get to travel to each other’s islands and do stuff. That’s the full experience, IMO.
@lljk cool. I’ll play with her locally to get her going on it. She has a friend with a Switch and we’ve been trying to get them set up to play Switch games together online. Switch seems complicated in that regard. (especially voice chat) Minecraft is different from Fortnite which is different from everything else… if nothing else, they’ll be able to voice chat over Amazon Echo or the Xbox app on their tablets… I think… Part of my issue is only my account has the paid online service. (same with her Xbox account)
Unless, Animal Crossing allows for in-game party chat on the Switch itself?
@lljk @medz I would imagine that we could visit eachother’s islands here with an invite or a code of some sort as well?
@medz
And here I was wondering why you wanted a fruit stand in the game.
@therealjrn what exactly are you insinuating/proposing? You can make my fruit stand anytime, baby.
Oh…like fruit stand being a farmer co-op…like a grain silo thing?
@medz
/giphy hard banana
Should I get a Nintendo online membership too? Will that let me visit you guys too?
Me 3 months ago: I would love to play Animal Crossing but it will cost $260 and that’s crazy.
Me today: I NEED IMAGINARY FRIENDS!
@sammydog01 Yes, if you have Nintendo Switch Online, you can visit other players who also have online access. It’s $4/month or $20/year for one person. There’s also $35/year for a “family” membership of up to eight people, which makes it cheaper than the individual annual membership if you have even one other person to split it with.
That also grants access to multiplayer for any other Switch games you have, as well as lots of other perks (including a bunch of free NES and SNES games).
@sammydog01 Those classic SNES/NES games are the best part of the online access. You also get limited access to tetris 99, which is pretty fun.
My digital purchase of Animal Crossing came with a trial of the online access, which I don’t have a use for since I subscribe to it anyways. I also got 1 year free of individual access with twitch prime, although I’m not sure it that’s still offered.
@lljk
Thanks for the info. I only have the free year from prime/switch, so I’ll likely do the $35 plan so she can play on her own account once we get her friend up and running
5 Below has Animal Crossing amiibos for $5- I bought a bunch for my son’s Easter basket and went back today to pick up some for me. They only had 2 left. He said they’re useful but I really have no idea.
I forgot how much I loved this game. I just killed my battery and had to plug my Switch back in.
Hey I saw it was 49.99 for the physical copy at wally world when I was out and about earlier.
@thismyusername YOU WERE OUT AND ABOUT??? What’s it like out there?
@therealjrn @thismyusername It’s awesome- the grocery stores have milk!
POPSOCKETS! SPA KITS! POLLY POCKETS! AWESOME!
I caught 2 oarfish and 3 coelacanth this morning. I’M ROLLING IN BELLS!
If anybody is interested, my friend code is SW-6427-9124-4417
@lichme Sent you a friend request. I think. I tried anyway.
@sammydog01 Got it!
@sammydog01 You must not have your gates open, tried to invade your islands a few times
@lichme They’re open now. If you stop by check out Godzilla Mountain. It’s the only remotely intersting thing I own.
@lichme I don’t remember how to type messages
Did you guys see this shirt?
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/slider-king
They have Isabelle too but she’s kind of creepy.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/crossing-over?ref=w_cnt_wp_4_17