Seeing K.K Slider play all morning in the rain, I tried to put a cup of hot cocoa down for him. Tom Nook’s voice blared over the PA, “You can’t place things on the plaza!” What the heck? For a guy who claimed to be a big K.K. fan, he sure is a wet blanket. Which reminds me of a few things in Animal Crossing that could be better.
Note: This is a wishlist of features for Animal Crossing New Horizons. If you don’t play the game, it’s not very interesting. Unless I say something funny.
Ridiculous Work Ethic
I am certain the developers set up the plaza at the start of each day so they don’t have to program characters moving things onto the plaza for the concert. A cheap trick, but what happens is Tom Nook and Isabelle never leave the office or sleep. K.K spends an entire day on a stool singing and playing without break before his 6PM concert. For a guy who wanted to visit my island, I’ve never seen him walk around my island. Even the camper guest stays in their tent all day.
Blathering On About Fossils
Long after the fossil collection is complete, Blathers offers the same dialogue when assessing my fossils. He knows we have all of them. I know he has all of them. Let’s not beat around the bush about there not being anything he needs and not adding to his personal collection. I’m only getting them assessed so I can sell them to the Nooks. This is another case of cheap programming to let the existing behavior handle the situation, but it adds time and gets tiresome at the end game.
Streamline Flying
There’s too many prompts for whether I want local or online, and Dodo code or not, which then prompt extra trips to the internet. Pack those questions into four choices and save me some time. Also, don’t lock the host and visiting guests until I am past my last prompt to fly to their island. That’s stupid, what happens if I put my game down to go potty? The other players get stuck while the green banner scrolls on their screen.
Toys I Can’t Play With
Most of Animal Crossing is decorating my house and island with stuff that would be fun to play with my friends. Items like the pool table or bicycles aren’t interactive. This is a missed opportunity for mini-games to play with friends after they’ve visited my island and seen how much prettier it is than their island. Otherwise, there’s not much reason for them to come back.
No Holding Onto Things
Many players set aside an area for extra recipes and items that guests can rummage through and take what they need. This causes Isabelle to lower their score and suggest selling things, which misses one of the R’s in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We need storage containers to organize our stuff and keep a pile of stuff for our friend when they visit.
Craft to Storage Pipeline
I hate having to exit my crafting screen to open my storage so I can move supplies into my pockets so I can re-open the crafting screen to finish what I am doing. If the crafting table is in my house, just access my storage for crafting and remove the hassle.
Giving the Curse of Common Recipes
Certain recipes are part of the storyline of the game and are available in the Nook store. No player needs these to fall from the sky or be found on beaches or handed out by residents who think they’ve discovered the next big thing. Stop handing them out as even more chance for repetition when we’re hoping to get something new.
Shops of All Flavors
According to legend, older versions of the game had a coffee shop called the Roost. Bring that back, but also consider custom shops. Let me buy a few, plop them down and customize the exterior and set up the interior to be an arcade or bar or even a school. What’s the point of all these items if I can’t make buildings to use them (without Isabelle yelling at me for indoor items lying outdoors).
The Writing Isn’t On the Wall
My island, Moreau Cay, shifts from normal tropical getaway to scene of horrific genetic experimentation. There’s a few clues along the way, but I can only place them on the ground. The game doesn’t support pasting custom designs on the walls (or panels) without a canvas frame which looks terrible.
Actual Durable Tools
My wife’s pet peeve is tool breakage. Sure, in the beginning, it’s all about getting limited resources, and making choices about how to use them. Tools that break adds to the challenge as you need to fix your tools using those same needed resources. But Animal Crossing isn’t a survival game like Ark or Minecraft. It’s supposed to relax, not frustrate. And by the time you’re polishing your island, getting interrupted to make a new shovel every day isn’t fun.
Stickier Stuff
At times, there’s a lot of stuff on the ground, either placed there or fallen from a tree. It’d be helpful if the placed stuff wouldn’t be scoopable unless we entered a re-arranging mode or something. Perhaps a mode we turn on to not let items be moved. That way loose items are easier to grab.
Larger Panels
I’ve made a lovely boardwalk with side and back walls, that I have to use a ton of Simple Panels (1x1) to complete. Different widths would be helpful and reduce the total number of deployed objects in the game, which is almost always helpful for game performance.
More Out Time for Isabelle and Tom
Just as I should go outside more, Tom Nook and Isabelle spend a lot of time in the Resident Services building. They never come out (except Isabelle during the Sunday fireworks in August. For all I know they’re shacking up together in the backroom. It’s not natural. The staying indoors part I mean. What two consenting talking animals do is their own business. Though, if Tom Nook is the boss, that’d be inappropriate. It’s too complex. They need to come outside more and take a proper break.
I Want to Ride My Bicycle
The bike stands there, taunting me. I can look but never ride the trails of Moreau Cay. Is this island a hell designed to torment me?
Food For Fridges
Why can I change my clothes via the refrigerator? On what planet does that make sense? And where is the food? Wouldn’t it be nice to make a nice lasagna in the oven and invite my buddy Rex over for dinner so he can get some new food stains on his shirt?
Is It Really Safe to Go Back In the Water
I’ve caught quite a few sharks in the waters around Morea Cay, which I hope isn’t hurting the population. Then Tom Nook said we could go swimming in those same waters. Photos exist of swimmers near finned fish. It’s just a matter of time before there’s blood in the water.
Is This All There Is?
Now that I’ve gotten all that off my chest, nothing has changed. That’s just the way things are on Moreau Cay. Will Dr. Moreau ever create the perfect community? Will we ever find out the ending to Maglevs in Love?
If you’d like to see, perhaps the answer lies on Moreau Cay.
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