I’m currently playing through all the mainline Animal Crossing games and thought it would be best to start with the first entry in the franchise: the original Animal Crossing for the Gamecube.
Having played New Horizons religiously at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and playing bits and pieces of City Folk and New Leaf, Animal Crossing is where the roots start to enrich and implant themselves, the nutrients and progressions that have allowed the series to bear fruit through testing out new activities. Examples include taking away holidays in Wild World and becoming the mayor, the focal piece of the narrative in New Leaf. Furthermore, that goes without saying that Animal Crossing is the least developed and polished game of the mainline franchise, and it makes sense since it is the first game and it serves as a testing ground on whether the game would sell well with the activities provided for us.
Animal Crossing oozes with personality; villagers are a lot more brute and honest yet distinct from the other entries. Many people cite that they miss that Animal Crossing villagers had personalities akin to their personalities in the original Animal Crossing. Yet, these personalities felt organic and interesting to invest yourself into. You’re a new person coming into town, and some villagers will frown on you while others are very kind. Although the dialogues starts to become more repetitive over time, I still wish that the villagers' personalities in the original Animal Crossing were carried over to its successors.
The bug and fish collection in this game is rather small, with only 40 fish and insects to catch in the game. There are only five ocean fish in the entirety of the game, making ocean fishing pretty fruitless and cumbersome. Once you catch the bugs and fish that are in season (which is not very many), it becomes tedious over time. With the museum, instead of having Blathers assess your fossils, Blathers has you send off your fossils to a museum and research facility. After you send your fossils, it takes one day for the facility to return your fossil in its analyzed form. This can be cumbersome since it takes time for you to find out what fossils you find, especially if you only need a few more fossils.
Yet with the lack of variety and activities that Animal Crossing provides, it somehow feels comforting. It feels like a game that I can turn on after work for 30-45 minutes and feel fulfilled by the end. It feels as though I don’t have to overwork myself to achieve my goals. Animal Crossing, to me, encourages you to go at your own pace. Go at your own pace with collecting your bugs and fish, paying off your home loan, upgrading Nooks Cranny, etc. That is a feeling that continues to permeate future Animal Crossing games, but somehow it still resonates with me with Animal Crossing, although it is not as fleshed out as its future successors.
Having played New Horizons religiously at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and playing bits and pieces of City Folk and New Leaf, Animal Crossing is where the roots start to enrich and implant themselves, the nutrients and progressions that have allowed the series to bear fruit through testing out new activities. Examples include taking away holidays in Wild World and becoming the mayor, the focal piece of the narrative in New Leaf. Furthermore, that goes without saying that Animal Crossing is the least developed and polished game of the mainline franchise, and it makes sense since it is the first game and it serves as a testing ground on whether the game would sell well with the activities provided for us.
Animal Crossing oozes with personality; villagers are a lot more brute and honest yet distinct from the other entries. Many people cite that they miss that Animal Crossing villagers had personalities akin to their personalities in the original Animal Crossing. Yet, these personalities felt organic and interesting to invest yourself into. You’re a new person coming into town, and some villagers will frown on you while others are very kind. Although the dialogues starts to become more repetitive over time, I still wish that the villagers' personalities in the original Animal Crossing were carried over to its successors.
The bug and fish collection in this game is rather small, with only 40 fish and insects to catch in the game. There are only five ocean fish in the entirety of the game, making ocean fishing pretty fruitless and cumbersome. Once you catch the bugs and fish that are in season (which is not very many), it becomes tedious over time. With the museum, instead of having Blathers assess your fossils, Blathers has you send off your fossils to a museum and research facility. After you send your fossils, it takes one day for the facility to return your fossil in its analyzed form. This can be cumbersome since it takes time for you to find out what fossils you find, especially if you only need a few more fossils.
Yet with the lack of variety and activities that Animal Crossing provides, it somehow feels comforting. It feels like a game that I can turn on after work for 30-45 minutes and feel fulfilled by the end. It feels as though I don’t have to overwork myself to achieve my goals. Animal Crossing, to me, encourages you to go at your own pace. Go at your own pace with collecting your bugs and fish, paying off your home loan, upgrading Nooks Cranny, etc. That is a feeling that continues to permeate future Animal Crossing games, but somehow it still resonates with me with Animal Crossing, although it is not as fleshed out as its future successors.