Animal Crossing (1 Viewer)

[James Slade]

So who is planning on buying Animal Crossing? I think I will but I wonder how much fun it will be by myself. Seems a lot of the game is geared towards memory card swapping with other cubers. None of my friends are cubers.

I also heard that the game is coming with a memory card, a town takes 57 blocks or something like that!

So what are your thoughts will this game be fun, dumb??
I would like it to keep me busy until Metroid arrives!!!

 

[Kyle-K]

I've been playing it for the last couple of days... (check your local Blockbuster)... and I have to say it is an odd game.

I can't say I've really done anything productive... or all that exciting... but for some reason, I can't seem to stay away from the game... I keep logging into the game for a few minutes every couple of hours to say hi to people and wander around for a bit...

I don't know that I would buy it however, since it is seems to require someone else to play with, with their own town to complete some tasks... but you can have multiple players in the same town... and you can trade items with other players over the internet (via codes)...

In closing, I can't recommend (or discourage) this game... I think you need to try it and see what you think about it personally... However if you know others to play/trade with, it is probably a safer bet...

--kyle

 

[Mark Evans]

I am all over this game the second it comes out .
It looks laid-back and slow-paced in that Sims kind of way, but that's great! My girlfriend is unable to handle anything as complicated as Luigi's Mansion, so my one hope for her is to get her to share town space in Animal Crossing with me :p).
I'm definitely impressed that we're seeing some more esoteric game design coming over from Japan, so I fully intend to support those designs that appear cool, hence me buying this.
Besides, since you can buy an NES in the game and there are around twenty cartridges available for it (including Zelda, if the rumors are true), I imagine that could be a spot of fun right there. Original Mario Bros? Sign me up!
If you're not sure about it though, why not just wait a week or so and see what everybody thinks of it here? Since only two or so people on this board are given to rampant fanboyism, you could probably pick up some good opinions on what people do or do not like about the game. I'll admit right now that I am predisposed to think this is cool, but I'll certainly tell you if I think it's crap

 

[John Berggren]

This is perhaps the most anticipated game for me next to Mario (which I fear I'll complete before AC comes out). The game looks excellent, and it'll be wonderfully interactive between household players. I hope I do get the chance to interact with other AC communities, but I'm not sure how that'll work. With the codes though, I don't see why we couldn't have an AC community here. Direct memory card sharing will be more difficult.

Keep in mind with renting before buying that you cannot move your AC game from memory card to memory card, so if you intend to use the populated memory card included with the game (advisable, since it supposedly has NES games on it) than you'll have to start over.

 

[James Slade]

A HTF Animal Crossing community would really be cool!!
I would be in for that!!!!

 

[MikeAlletto]

So what are your thoughts will this game be fun, dumb??

Well...I wasn't even going to post unless that question was asked I think it looks incredibly dumb. You leave little notes for another person on an electronic board on your memory card then give the card to a friend. Am I the only one that thinks that sounds extremely dumb? Its about as dumb as passing little notes during school. I saw a story on it on Extended Play last night. The Nintendo guy was saying how parents and kids are using it to communicate...why not just TALK to each other in real life seeing as how the family members are in the same physical building as each other. They are calling it a communication game. The whole thing seems very, Japanese...if that makes any sense. Its like that whole dumb electronic pet thing.
But I'm sure it'll be a win for nintendo. It was probably extremely cheap to make and probably took no time at all.
The only thing that I find slightly cool about it is the whole old NES game thing. That clearly was added to sell more copies of it.

 

[John Berggren]

You may want to read some reviews before you jump to too many conclusions, particularly that it was easy to make.

It's taken nearly a year to come from Japan to the states because it has more text than the most (if not any) RPG.

I'd suggest anyone give this game a try. Every review I've seen has called it addictive.

And you don't need to swap cards to communicate, that's just one of three methods. There are four game slots on 1 card, and those can communicate automatically. You can communicate with shared codes, as we've discussed here. You can also slot 2 cards in at once and go visit another community, even move in there, and keep your friend's card while he (or she) keeps yours. In doing so, you get more opportunities in the game for variety (different trees or fruit, for one, and different NES games for another) that you can bring with your character back to your own town.

I have a feeling this game will be vastly underestimated.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

The whole "leaving notes" thing was more for Japanese families than American ones, at least that's what an interview I read somewhere said.

Nintendo was doing a beta test for this game where you could sign up with a friend. You also got a free copy when the test was done.

I heard this game comes with a memory card that has some NES games on it already to play in the game or on your GBA. I also heard you might be able to (in the future) use the SD card adapter to download legal NES games from Nintendo's website and play them in AL.

I also remember reading that the sequel will be online.

 

[Mark Evans]

Mike, I dunno what magical household you're lucky enough to be in, but you have to remember that most households are often extremely busy. If I had kids I think it'd be cool if I was home for lunch while they were at school to find they'd left me some little note or something. Or the mom who leaves for work early and wants to send a note to her kids.
Bloody brilliant idea if you ask me, and far more personal than e-mail. Nobody says that people don't talk, this just lets them do it more often.
As far as the mem card passing goes, since the towns are all random and are designed to not have certain commodities like various fruit types in them, it makes sense to trade on-line or pass the card off to a friend so they can see what your town is like. It's like a version of The Sims where you have actual control of things.
Then again, I always passed notes in school, so what do I know?
But, I will definitely be up for trading with anybody else on the Forum who picks this sucker up.

 

[BertFalasco]

That clearly was added to sell more copies of it.

Why is that? Nintendo is the one company with gamers as number 1 priority... Where are the facts, and how "clear" is it. What reason is there to swipe away the benefit of little doubt?

 

[MikeAlletto]

Why is that? Nintendo is the one company with gamers as number 1 priority... Where are the facts, and how "clear" is it. What reason is there to swipe away the benefit of little doubt?

To me it does not seem clear as to why old-school NES games that have nothing to do with the idea of animal crossing are there except to lure more people to buy the disc so they can play their old favorites. Since this seems to be the only way to play them unless you have an NES or an emulator with the roms.

I'm not trying to rain on your all's parade, but the question was asked "does it look dumb or fun." I am curious to see what you all think of it though when it comes out.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I thought the NES emulator thing was there strictly for a bonus thing. An NES emulator built into a game doesn't exactly seem like a great selling point.

And with the memory card switching thing, I think you can load your memory card and your friend's memory card at the same time and go from your village to theirs, so both towns are alive at once.

 

[Yoon Lee]

The Nintendo guy was saying how parents and kids are using it to communicate...why not just TALK to each other in real life seeing as how the family members are in the same physical building as each other.

With the same token, why people play sports games instead of going out and play themself? Don't tell me it's because you get to play Kobe or Shaq; you're just playing polygonal object with texture map that looks like Kobe on it. You don't talk about same thing as you talk to your sister in the kitchen when you talk to your sister playing a cat while you play a dog in Animal Crossing. It's a game and what you do in a game is not same as what you do in real life.

 

[Rob Lutter]

I am playing this game right now (rented from Blockbuster) and DAMN is it addictive (and fun!). The graphics are N64-esque (wasn't this originally a 64 game?), the sound is GREAT, but the real seller of this game is that there is SO much to do in your town.
I am preordering it tomorrow from EB

 

[Steven_V]

To me it does not seem clear as to why old-school NES games that have nothing to do with the idea of animal crossing are there except to lure more people to buy the disc so they can play their old favorites. Since this seems to be the only way to play them unless you have an NES or an emulator with the roms.

Animal Crossing and roms are not the only way to play old-school NES games. The Gameboy Advance is already home to many great conversions/remakes of old NES games. Also coming soon is the Link Removed for the GBA that will also allow you to play old-school NES games!

 

[John Berggren]

The old NES games are included, IMHO, because Animal Crossing is a community where you can essentially do anything you would in a traditional community. One of these things to do is play video games. I haven't personally seen it implemented, but I suspect that might be the case.

Also, I've heard the video games are a "housewarming present".

I don't think NES games are going to sell Animal Crossing, but good word of mouth will.

 

[James Slade]

Well for me, having just beaten SMS and needing some thing until Metroid, I have decided to give this game a try. If just a few people from this forum are interested in trading etc. we should be able to get some value from the game.

I will also get people who vist me on a regualr basis to play a bit from time to time to try and spice things up

 

[MikeAlletto]

Rob, since you've played it. What is the 'game' part of it? What are the goals? Is it just a 'do anything' game? No goals? Probably the same reason I don't like The Sims is why I have my doubts about this one. The Sims was fun for the first hour or so, then I just felt like killing the Sim, it got annoying.

With the same token, why people play sports games instead of going out and play themself? Don't tell me it's because you get to play Kobe or Shaq; you're just playing polygonal object with texture map that looks like Kobe on it.

Actually playing a video game sports is WAY different thing than getting your friends together to play some ball outside. You get to control an entire team (most of the time). You get to perform amazing moves that you could only dream of doing. And its just a different type of competition as compared to playing a sport in real life.

I could see if this game was playable online. Then it would make a little more sense to send messages to people. Basically it would be a chat room.

 

[Steven_V]

For those who may not have seen these yet, here are some review scores for Animal Crossing:
EGM: 9, 9, 9.5
IGN: 9.1
Famitsu: 9, 9, 10, 9

 

[Andre F]

This game is tempting...just not sure if I'd play it enough. I didn't like the Sims that much...