Against All Odds, the Animal Crossing and DOOM Communities Have United

Originally Posted by spainlinx0 (Post 13697368)

17 more days. I'm dying for this damn game to get here already.

Originally Posted by lopper (Post 13697736)

So how intrusive are the real time restrictions I hear about? Waiting for stores to open, someone to wake up, a tree to regrow, etc. Ive never played an AC game before and this one looks really interesting, but this timed mechanic is a real turn off.

Originally Posted by Some Dude on Reddit (Post 13697736)

#A little intro, and why I'm writing this.

I'm /u/Thopterthallid. You might remember I wrote a similar [introductory guide for Hyrule Warriors](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwi...onfused_as_to/) as well as [one for Super Smash Bros Ultimate](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwi...ash_bros_game/). Maybe you've never heard of me and don't give a damn. As a short introduction, I was an aspiring writer and journalist who due to some mental health issues, bad timing, and bad luck never made it into a career. When I wrote that introductory explanation of Hyrule Warriors a couple years back, it received a ton of love and really rekindled my love of analysis, writing, and droning on about stuff that I like.

I suspect that a huge percentage of people on this sub have either already played Animal Crossing, or just have no interest in it. This guide is more for the people who just haven't had the chance to really look and see what the game is about. With that, thank you for taking the time to check this out. I hope you find my post helpful, amusing, educational, or just a good way to kill some time.

#So just what is Animal Crossing? What makes it different from other life sim games like Stardew Valley, or Harvest Moon?

The first Animal Crossing game that released in the west was simply titled 'Animal Crossing' for the Gamecube. It was a near identical port of a Japanese N64 game called Animal Forest, though with some added features.

At the time, the whole "Life Sim" genre wasn't nearly as popular as it was today. The Sims had just released a year prior on PC, and Harvest Moon was the only other game remotely similar. Animal Crossing brought two very unique ideas to the mix. The Real-Time Clock, and the virtual absence of any sort of consequences, penalties, game over screens, enemies, combat, or drama.

The series has taken the same formula since it's beginning. Your character, the only human in the game, has moved into a town of animals. Unfortunately, you're flat broke. However, a raccoon named Tom Nook sells you a house for virtually no money down and has you pay off an interest free loan. The gameplay is mostly just talking to the animals that live in your village, running errands, planting flowers, catching fish and insects, and eventually working towards paying off your loan and upgrading your house. There's no enemies to fight, no game over screens, and nothing at stake. It's just a casual life sim that's oozing with Nintendo charm, soft relaxing music, and colourful characters that millions of players around the world have fallen in love with.

#How does the clock work?

In Animal Crossing, the in game clock is the same as the one hanging on your wall. When an hour passes in real life, an hour passes in the game. In the short term, the time of day you choose to play the game affects what events occur in the game. If you turn the game on at midnight, certain shops might be closed, but it's the perfect time to catch nocturnal fish or animals. On a larger scale, different events and holidays occur on different dates which yield chances for large cash payouts, rare furniture sets, or other unique bonuses. I want to stress that there's no in-game method to manipulate time. You can't play the Song Time to return to the dawn of the first day, you can't sleep in a bed to warp to the next day, and you can't fast forward or slow down time. By that alone, I think you can start to see the differences between Animal Crossing and other life sim games such as Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, or The Sims.

#You said the game has no consequences?

I did, and that's both true and not true. Let me explain:

In games like The Sims, your Sim can die from performing dangerous actions. In Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, you can lose a lot of money if you don't care for your farms. In Animal Crossing, for a game that's entirely surrounded around the passage of time, there's no time limits. Nook will never harass you about your debts, getting stung by bees or bitten by mosquitoes only delays you a little and gives you a puffy face, you won't starve, you won't lose money as a punishment for anything, and nothing you build can be destroyed. So, while the Sims may be *slightly* more realistic about giving you a genuine life simulation, Animal Crossing lets you live out an idyllic, fantasy life that lets you escape from a while from the hustle and bustle of real life. It's true that you can lose a bit of money by planting fruit trees in the wrong spots, or by letting turnips spoil by not selling them in time, and once in a while you might get bit by a spider or stung by a bee, but beyond that there's no "video gamey" type game overs or penalties.

#What do you do in Animal Crossing?

Animal Crossing is very much a "do whatever you want game". There's no enemies to attack you, so you can just park your character next to the ocean and listen to the waves and soft music. As for actual mechanics though, here's a little list to give you an idea:

- Fishing and catching bugs.
- Upgrading, and decorating the interior and exterior of your home.
- Talking to Animals, and performing short quests for them, such as giving them a certain item, catching them a certain bug or fish, helping them find a lost item, or just making deliveries between them.
- Designing pixel art patterns for use in clothing, flags, furniture, and more.
- Simple errands, such as picking weeds, planting flowers, or paying off your debt to unlock more upgrades.
- Collecting seashells.
- Digging up and identifying fossils to sell or display in a museum.
- Collecting furniture, wallpaper, and carpets.
- Playing in special holiday events.
- Visiting other players' towns to trade and compare towns.
- Some Animal Crossing games had a different area you could travel to that had new features. Animal Crossing had a deserted island with a single villager living on it, and second home to decorate, City Folk had a big city with tons of shops and new features, New Leaf had a tropical resort where you could meet and play with strangers over the internet, and New Horizons will have procedurally generated untouched islands with special items to find.
- New Leaf added the ability to build large scale outdoor structures such as fountains, bridges, and new shops.

In short, the "goal" of Animal Crossing has always been:

- You're dropped into a somewhat procedurally generated town.
- You pay off debts by selling items to unlock new features and upgrades.
- You do it all at your own pace.
- It can take months, if not years to see and experience everything.

#I've heard people use the term "Time Travelling". What does that mean?

Animal Crossing's clock is tied to the internal clock of your Nintendo Console. Time Travelling is the controversial practice of adjusting your console's internal clock in the system settings for in game bonuses. This can be as simple as setting the clock half an hour earlier so that you can get to the shop on time to sell your items, or setting the clock 8 months into the future to do holiday events. In some games, you could even load up all your money into the bank, and travel to the first of each month to collect interest. Time travelling is a **very** divisive issue between Animal Crossing fans.

**Arguments in favor of Time Travelling that I support:**

- Animal Crossing is a game that demands a lot of time, though not necessarily all at once. Playing for 30 minutes a day on your lunch break will get you so much more done than binging once a week on the weekend. Not everyone can commit to playing every day, or every other day. Time travelling can help you see what the shop had throughout the week, and give you lots more opportunities to get cool items you'd otherwise have missed.
- On the other hand, some people can only play during very specific times of day. If you work an unusual schedule and perhaps don't get home until midnight, all of the shops might be closed. That can be a huge issue if you've got more high value items than you know what to do with and have no way of selling them. By setting the clock back a few hours, you can unload your stash.
- Holidays in Animal Crossing aren't like holidays in games such as say: MMOs. In an MMO, the Halloween event will probably last two weeks. In Animal Crossing, it's on a single day for only a few hours. That's typically your window to acquire spooky themed furniture. If you're busy that night, then you're out of luck. Unless on November 1st you set the clock back a day to participate in the event.
- At the end of the day, it's your console and game and you can play how you like.

**Arguments against Time Travelling that I also support:**

- People inevitably post spoilers on forums and subreddits. You can bet that some of the more dedicated grinders are going to have obscene amounts of money and items in the very first few days after the game's release. In the original Animal Crossing, Nook would build a golden statue of your character in front of the train station once you'd gotten the final house upgrade. This is something that surprised and delighted when I was younger. It took many many long months to get to that point, and even if you found a way to make very large amounts of money very quickly, it still takes several days of construction to get the house finished. The current world record speed run to reach this point is under 20 minutes, and while some other money exploits are used, time travelling is imperative to skip the construction segments which normally take a full real day. It sucks for people who choose not to time travel to have endgame bonuses and otherwise secret upgrades spoiled.
- If a large group of friends all get the game, players who use time traveling have a huge advantage over players that don't. It's true that it's not a competitive game by and means, but it's kinda disheartening to visit your friend's town that's been fully kitted out by skipping construction times, or by using money exploits that involve time travelling (such as speed-growing an orchard of rare fruit).
- As the industry moves towards online connectivity as a mainstay, "cheat codes" have largely been retired as a common addition to games, and publishers move quickly to patch exploits. Regardless of what anyone tells you, Animal Crossing DOES have an economy, as proven by /r/ACTrade . It really sucks for people who work hard to find a rare item and want to trade it online only for other players who have used time travelling to acquire large quantities of them.
- Punishments for time travelling have existed since the series' first instalment. By Time Travelling, valuable turnips will spoil, and your town will be covered in weeds. Beyond this, there's no real way the devs can stop players from doing it as the mechanic is tied to the console at an OS level. The only way they reasonably could is by requiring a constant internet connection, and that's a huge deal-breaker for a huge number of gamers.

**As for me:**
I really do think that time travelling at least spoils the fun for myself. This isn't like Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley where all you need to do is sleep in a bed to move to the next day, nor is it like Majora's Mask where experimentation and time manipulation are in game mechanics. In Animal Crossing, the passage of time is an in game currency all of it's own. Nearly every mechanic in the game is balanced by the passage of time. By planting a rare fruit tree, the investment of time is taken into account when considering how much those fruit will sell for. Growing a massive orchard of rare fruit takes time, but has a massive payoff. With Time Travelling, not only can you make the trees grow instantly, they'll bear fruit non-stop which will allow you to exponentially grow your orchard. I choose not to use it, but I don't condemn others for doing it, provided they stay the hell away from forums. If you want to time travel, feel free! But don't use it to get an edge over your friends, or /r/ACTrade, or post spoilers on the subreddits.

**Note:** Some people seem to have gotten the impression that in New Horizons, you won't have the ability to time travel. This isn't true. [This individual on an Animal Crossing forum did an excellent job pointing out why](https://www.belltreeforums.com/showt...n-New-Horizons).

#So what's different about New Horizons?

New Horizons is the biggest departure for the series (if you don't include spinoff games). In classic Animal Crossing, you're dropped off in an established town. Other villagers already live there, and there's already shops. You're a resident in a town, but it's not really *your* town. In the past, you've occasionally had the opportunity to decide where certain structures go, and in New Leaf you've had more control than ever being the mayor.

New Horizons however, you start in a completely empty deserted island along with two other random villagers. You'll decide where people set up tents that will eventually become their houses, you'll decide who gets to move in and when, and you'll even be able to shape the landscape to create rivers, cliffs, and waterfalls. On top of that, there's a full crafting system which is new for the series. Collecting resources and building your own furniture will be an important part of the game.

I suspect that watching the recent [Nintendo Direct](https://youtu.be/Ie4WZCLbtVs) will do the best at showing you all the new features.

#Will I like New Horizons?

That's the million dollar question isn't it?

Everyone I've ever known who's tried Animal Crossing has liked it. Now, that doesn't mean it was everyone's favorite game, but they saw the appeal after giving it a try and many of them went on to buy it. Some of them fell so deeply in love with the series that it was all they played for months.

**Play Animal Crossing New Horizons if:**

- You enjoy cute, wholesome games. There's little to no sadness going on here. It's just a game about living on a peaceful island with animal friends.
- You enjoy a bit of a grind. You need money in this game to progress through the upgrades. None of these upgrades are game-changing, but they give you a larger house, or a second floor, or allow you to build structures like bridges and shops. That said, just about everything you do in the game translates to making money.
- You want to enjoy a game for a long time. Animal Crossing is the opposite of a game you enjoy for a week and move on. It's about the passage of time, and watching things grow. This is the kind of game for people who want to play a game for months, if not years.
- You're looking for something absolutely stress free. Animal Crossing is one of the most zen, and peaceful games you will ever find. It just makes you happy when you're playing it.
- You want a game that's going to be supported with free updates for years.
- You get excited seeing rare fish or bugs.

**Consider avoiding Animal Crossing if:**

- You're looking for a game you can complete in a week and move on. This isn't a 10-20 hour adventure game. This game doesn't ask you to binge it for long hours into the night, but it does want you to be playing it fairly regularly over a long period of time. The people that get the most out of Animal Crossing are the ones able to play it multiple times a week, and can maintain that pattern for months. Animals notice when you haven't played in a while, and weeds slowly begin to take over your town the longer you're away. Nothing terrible is going to happen if you don't play for a long time, but the game isn't subtle about pointing out you haven't played in a few weeks.
- You're looking for a game with a narrative. Animal Crossing has no story beyond the story you make for yourself. Chatting with villagers isn't going to unravel secrets of their past, there's no great mystery to be solved, and you certainly aren't going to save the world. Talking to villagers is just chatting about life, offering wisdom, telling jokes, and just making friends. The only secrets and mysteries in the town are the ones you discover organically while playing. And while you aren't going to save the world, you can certainly make this little slice of the world your own.
- You're looking for something action-heavy or exciting. Animal Crossing is about peace and zen, and the closest thing to a stressful moment are aggressive insects and spiders who will try to bite you or sting you if you attempt to catch them. Even then, the only punishment is your character makes a pouty face for a while and you'll lose your target.

#What else?

I think I've said all I can say on Animal Crossing, but I'm happy to answer any questions or listen to any comments about my writing. Thanks for listening, and see you all on March 20th!

Originally Posted by lopper (Post 13697736)

So how intrusive are the real time restrictions I hear about? Waiting for stores to open, someone to wake up, a tree to regrow, etc. Ive never played an AC game before and this one looks really interesting, but this timed mechanic is a real turn off.

Originally Posted by The Questyen (Post 13697914)

One of the coolest things about Animal Crossing is that it's not a huge time sink each day. You're usually not going to spend hours upon hours playing unless it's the first day. On average you're going to pop in each day spend 30 minutes doing your stuff and then you play something else.

Originally Posted by Decker (Post 13697972)

Crafting things like rivers and pathways might take a bunch of time though. At least it might for me.

Originally Posted by milo bloom (Post 13699404)

Any interesting pre-order bonuses? Like swag or something?

Originally Posted by milo bloom (Post 13699404)

Any interesting pre-order bonuses? Like swag or something?

Originally Posted by tanman (Post 13699551)

I'm really surprised how many old ass dudes play this game :lol: I really thought my siblings and I were the only ones that played it. I really love it but now I'm feeling twangs of guilt for all those towns that I've abandoned over the years. :(

Originally Posted by spainlinx0 (Post 13700403)

I was thinking of opening up my 3DS town, but I decided against it. I don't even want to know what's going on in there. The townsfolk probably strung me up for neglect.

Originally Posted by Sonny Corinthos (Post 13703331)

Does anyone know if you will be able to use the Nintendo controller to play this game? I hope so because the thoughts of having to use joy cons is a huge bummer.

Originally Posted by Sonny Corinthos (Post 13703331)

Does anyone know if you will be able to use the Nintendo controller to play this game? I hope so because the thoughts of having to use joy cons is a huge bummer.

Originally Posted by The Questyen (Post 13703478)

Not sure what you mean by "the Nintendo controller". Do you mean those NES style controllers for the NES online service? Or are you talking about the pro controller?

Originally Posted by Sonny Corinthos (Post 13704023)

I don't know where my head was yesterday. I meant the Pro Controller.

Originally Posted by spainlinx0 (Post 13707528)

The release date was always 3/20 as far as I know. I just pre-ordered it on the shop so it would be good to go at midnight or whenever it goes live.