Animal Crossing New Leaf Player

I've had Animal Crossing: New Horizons for six weeks. Nintendo sent me a copy for review at the end of February, and I've played it almost every day since then. I have more than 120 hours of playtime, according to my Switch Lite. That's not as much as some, and that's actually one of the problems that I've noticed since my review.

1. Animal Crossing New Leaf Player Customization
2. Animal Crossing New Leaf Guides

The issue isn't that I haven't played as much as others but that I feel the need to make comparison in the first place. After the initial tutorial experience, which lasts approximately two weeks of daily play, New Horizons is devoid of explicit goals. Nintendo wants players to feel free to decide what to do. And while I haven't put much time into achieving a 5-star rating for my island, I feel more and more like I should when I see others showing off theirs on Twitter.

When I wrote my review before the public release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I didn't realize just how much social media would change the way the game feels. Social channels were around in 2013, when Animal Crossing: New Leaf launched for 3DS. But they weren't as ubiquitous. More important, it was significantly more challenging to post a screenshot from Nintendo's dual-screen 3D portable than it is from the Switch.

Of course, that didn't stop me:

• The player models in Animal Crossing: New Leaf are taller and presumably older. The player can now change their pants, skirts, shoes and socks in addition to their top. Their face will be determined, like other games, while on the train by Rover.
• Animal Crossing finally went mainstream with New Horizons, which has already outsold all of the series' previous entries. That means a lot of new players exploring the world for the first time.
• New Save File Decide the player name and town name, and begin playing the game. The mayor decides the town name. Up to four players can live in one. Animal Crossing: New Leaf game system.

@timturi in your house! Must've E3 streetpassed. #ACNLpic.twitter.com/scDHingFEl

— Jeff Grubb (@JeffGrubb) June 22, 2013

Even as the Switch makes it easier to post screenshots and clips, social media has also … I don't want to say 'hit its stride.' That implies it's taking a jaunty stroll into the future. Social media has metastasized into more parts of our lives than ever.

And that makes it easier than ever to get the fear of missing out even in Animal Crossing.

I definitely am. Ever since school was cancelled because of the pandemic, I've just been playing AC:NL 24/7. I stopped playing because I wasn't sure how to get all the upgrades and how to properly play, but now I do know how and I've upgraded. Trade, Buy & Sell Animal Crossing: New Horizons Items on Nookazon, a peer to peer marketplace for Animal Crossing: New Horizons players.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is different

The FOMO is not completely external to New Horizons. Vice Gaming's Gita Jackson does a great job of explaining that here. I'm not going to restate her, so go read that as well. But I'll add that Nintendo has made some subtle additions and tweaks to Animal Crossing's formula that make New Horizons feel fundamentally different.

In my review, I noted that New Horizons supports longer play sessions than the early game in New Leaf. And this is generally a good thing. You can still fish, catch bugs, travel to an island for resources, and decorate your home. But now you can also collect crafting resources and DIY recipes, decorate outdoors, and complete achievement-style quests.

Or maybe you can try to get all the items during a timed event like some sad people:

37 disgusting recipes completed #AnimalCrossing#ACNHpic.twitter.com/NuDZYdmvLZ

— Jeff Grubb (@JeffGrubb) April 12, 2020

In addition to just giving players more to do, New Horizon's additional features also change the cadence of Animal Crossing.

In New Leaf, players were pretty limited in terms of options of how to 'progress.' You could upgrade your home, add to your museum, design clothing, and interact with your villagers. New Leaf's mechanics were simpler — and I would even call them worse — than New Horizons.

But because everything was equally devoid of intrinsic rewards, many players felt they had more freedom to choose their own path in New Leaf. New Horizons, meanwhile, can often make you feel like you could be doing something more efficient with your time.

Sure, you could spend some time fishing, but you shouldn't let the day go by without getting your mats in case you need them to get the maximum amount of bells from a hot item in the store. Or you should grind out your daily Nook Miles challenges so you can buy plenty of Nook Miles tickets to find an island with rare loot.

Don't waste your time

New Leaf's mechanics were more meaningless and boring. But that's why they worked well within the structure of Animal Crossing, which is supposed to feel free of structure. It's a paradox. But you do things in Animal Crossing because you decide they're important even though you know they aren't.

You can still make those choices, but in New Horizons, Nintendo has stepped in and made some choices of its own. It built progression paths with reward loops and constant feedback. And for people who grew accustomed to previous Animal Crossing games, that can feel alienating.

But New Horizons has real frustrations

With New Horizons, Nintendo addressed hurdles that prevented some people from getting into Animal Crossing. And while a list of achievements like Nook Miles demystifies the game, I'm willing to trade some of the illusion to get a more rewarding game overall.

My deeper frustrations with New Horizons don't stem from a comparison to New Leaf. I'm still more hung up on the interface and multiplayer.

Cool things you can do with imovie. Before I get into this, I'll admit that I just spent a lot of words critically examining Nintendo's decisions to streamline and modernize Animal Crossing's mechanics. Now, I'm going to beg the company to streamline and modernize its user experience. But I'll gladly declare myself a hypocrite to not have to go through four button presses and an animation to build one DIY recipe.

I get that Nintendo wants to make Animal Crossing feel conversational, and it should maintain that when it comes to the villagers and maybe even the shopkeepers and Tom Nook. But I don't want to have a conversation with my workbench or the airline.

Let me queue up recipes in my workbench and hook the bench into my home's storage. When I want to go online, I get that Nintendo wants me to go the airport. But then just give me all of the options in a single menu. It's baffling that if I choose the wrong option, I can't just go back one menu. I instead have to start the conversation over from the beginning.

It's infuriating.

Online multiplayer

Workshare for mac. Nintendo also needs to rework multiplayer so that it is true drop-in/drop-out. Right now, the system stops everything for more than minute when someone else joins. And it does this to ensure it can save everyone's game to avoid item duplication and other tricks.

A better solution would be if Nintendo used dedicated servers. When a player wants to go online, spool up a server and then track everything that happens. And give us back some of our time. Then it won't matter if someone is in a menu when a friend wants to join.

Islands and accounts

Finally, dealing with accounts are as big of a headache as I expected. Before Animal Crossing: New Horizons launched, I wrote that the game was making me anxious. Nintendo was tying an island to your console, and even moving that to a new device was going to require a separate, special system.

But now people are finding themselves in all sorts of frustrating situations. If you join a family members island as a second player, you can't take that character or island with you if you get your own Switch. And New Horizons may make you want to do exactly that because Nintendo gives secondary players a really raw deal.

While the primary resident representative on your Animal Crossing island gets directions from Tom Nook and the power to decide where everyone goes, additional players are locked out of all that. Player 2 cannot even contribute materials to build the Nook's Cranny store.

It feels inconsiderate of players in a way that can really sour a family's experience with New Horizons.

Conclusion

I still love Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and I'm playing it every day. I'd also continue to recommend it to almost anyone. At this point, I'm checking in for shorter sessions. I'm also able to put aside the FOMO, and I'm also looking past any design funneling to still choose what I want to work on.

Animal Crossing New Leaf Player Customization

My island is still pulling me back to fill out my museum, for example. When I go into the game, I want to spend my time fishing and catching bugs. And then if I get distracted along the way … well, that's just Animal Crossing.

But I am definitely shaping my experience in a way to avoid more frustrating elements. The online multiplayer is annoying to start and frustrating to participate in, so I'm just not using it much. I wish I could just send letters to people on my friend list, but that option doesn't open until we also play together online. It's yet another hurdle to enjoy the social features.

That's OK, though. People are going to start moving on from Animal Crossing soon. And I don't need them to catch a neon tetra.

VentureBeat

• up-to-date information on the subjects of interest to you,
• our newsletters
• gated thought-leader content and discounted access to our prized events, such as Transform
• networking features, and more.

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, you can visit other players towns locally or overthe Internet. You can do this by visiting the train station in your town. Thispage explains how to use the train station to visit towns and invite otherplayers to your town.

Train Station Color

The train station can have blue, green, red, or brown coloring. This is decidedrandomly when you create your save file.

Animal Crossing New Leaf Guides

Adding Internet Friends

Double bonus video poker. To allow other players to visit your town over the Internet, and to visit otherplayers' towns over the Internet, you have to exchange 3DS Friend Codes.

To do so, go to the Home Screen of your 3DS, tap the smiling face icon near thetop of touch screen, then tap Register Friend in the top right.

If you are in the same room with the person you want to exchange friend codeswith, choose Local.

If you want to add a friend over the Internet, choose internet, then enter theother player's Friend Code. The other player must also manually enter yourFriend Code on his or her 3DS. Otherwise, he or she will not show up in yourfriend list.

Opening Your Gate to Invite Others to Your Town

To allow another player to visit your town, you have to go to the Train Stationin your village and talk to Porter the monkey. Tell him that you want to inviteothers to play in your town. He gives you the option to open your town tonearby players or far away players. Nearby players can visit using the3DS wireless connection, and far away players can visit if you and the otherplayers' 3DSs are connected to the Internet.

Opening the Gate to Nearby Players

If you open your ticket gate to nearby players, Porter will ask if it's okayto turn off your Internet connection and switch to wireless. Then he will open thetrain station gate. Anyone playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf nearby can visit your town even ifyou haven't exchanged friend codes.To send everyone home, talk to Porter. Facebook messenger video app.

Opening the Gate to Far Away Players

Talk to Porter and tell him that you want to open the ticket gate forfar away players. Only people who have exchanged friend codes with you willbe able to visit your town if you open the gate to faraway players. To sendeveryone home, talk to Porter.

Visiting Other Players' Towns

New horizons animals. To visit another player's town, that player has to open his or her gate as described in the previous section. https://nqieuu.over-blog.com/2021/01/inkscape.html.

Visiting a Nearby Town

If you are visiting a nearby town, Porter will search for players nearby whohave their gates open to nearby players.He will list any that he finds, and you can tell him to check for more if hementions a different town from the one that you want to go to.You can visit a nearby town even if you haven't exchanged friend codes withthat player.

Visiting a Far away Town

To visit a far away town, your 3DS has to be connected to the Internet. Also, a player with whom you have exchangedfriend codes must have his or her gate open to far away players. When you tell Porter that you want to visit a far away town, he will listall of the towns of your friends that are open, if any. Choose one from thelist to visit it.

Going Back Home

To go back to your town, just talk to Porter and say that you are going backhome. You will ride the train back to your town.

Animal Crossing Friends List

Animal Crossing has its own friend list in the game. The friend list can be accessed by tapping the orange button near the top right of the touchscreen.

Adding Friends in the Game

To add friends to your Animal Crossing friends list,you have to visit someone else's town or have another player visit your town. Whenever your gate is open or you are visiting another player's town, therewill be a green button in the bottom left of the touch screen that has icons of people on it.Tap that button to show a list of everyone in the current town.In that list, tap the name of theperson to add that person to your Animal Crossing friend list.

Best Friends

After you add someone to your friend list, that person can choose to add you as a best friend. When you are on each other's friend lists, that person can tap the heart next to your name to add you as a best friend.

Best Friend Chat

If you and a Best Friend are playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf at the sametime, and both of your 3DSes are connected to the Internet, you and your BestFriend can send chat messages even if you are not in the same town. Just tapthe orange button in the top right of the touch screen, then tap the name ofthe player you want to chat with. Type in a chat message and click send, andyour friend will see the message.