This is pretty much my mentality as well. New Horizons could definitely surpass New Leaf if it keeps getting amazing updates and some quality of life patches.
I think it's worth mentioning that the handheld nature of new leaf (small screen, forces you to hold your hands together and makes your neck crane down) makes it MUCH less accessible to those with disabilities then NH. I literally can't play new leaf for more than an hour for this reason.
I personally really don’t like new horizons hourly music at all it feels a bit too energetic all the time like its trying to get me to do stuff when all i want to do it sit and watch the sky whereas new leafs soundtrack just feels relaxing and calm most of the time and i just like all the music a whole lot better anyway thats just my opinion
I think you just hit the nail on the head for me there as to why I don't feel relaxed in New Horizons, I constantly feel like I have to be doing something and I can't just stop for a minute and chill. I really think it's the music, its so energetic and has that same irritating motif playing over and over, it actually agitates me.
Honestly I think I might start playing new leaf again instead of horizons. I love both games to death it’s just I hate how much customization new horizons gives, it’s so overwhelming. It honestly stresses me out seeing my island because I feel like I have to decorate the entire item and have every space filled up. New leaf didn’t stress me out at all. I never felt even slightly stressed in new leaf.
@@davyf33 yeah it makes me feel sad walking around my island and seeing all the open space, I know stuff doesn't have to be there but I feel forced for it to be there
Yeah I feel pressured to make my island look amazing in New horizons even though I already have 5 stars my island feels unfinished and there is nothing substantial I can do to fix that until we get more features. I've started a new game on New leaf and everything just feels better, more relaxed and more personal.
Me too. Some things I liked to have pre determined and having certain things you can’t do. It doesn’t feel like the old games. The identity is lost. (Being a newcomer to an already existing village.)
@girby kru you don't understand that the sound of the game isn't just music. the sound of the wind, trees bugs, etc. are pretty relaxing for lots of us
@girby kru - I don't even want to contemplate fishing without the sound to go by. Sound is also how I am alerted to balloons and shooting stars. You can even sometimes hear villagers ping and greet each other, which can lead to a villager conversation to eavesdrop on.
I agree, and I’m not just saying that because I have immense nostalgia for it. Once you hit a 3 star island in New Horizons you have seen every major thing in the game, and that is because it is required to. Unless you want to work towards 5 stars (which I did) you are done. New Leaf just had more to do from the start, and while adding features in gradually has its perks, it isn’t necessarily ideal for Animal Crossing. When you played the 8am NL theme I was brought back. Me and my brother got the game in a toys R us or something, and I’m so glad we did. It’s one of my favorite franchises now. I remember going up to a beach house on summer vacation with my cousins and playing the game with all of them. Unfortunately they didn’t stick with Nintendo like I did, they either switched platforms or dropped games entirely, which means I’ll just have less memories with this game. New Horizons is very underwhelming in comparison because of how watered down it is, it’s good for beginners but they just added the most basic necessities and launched the game. It’s very polished and very good, don’t get me wrong, it’s already my second most played switch game, but I haven’t touched it in a long time. I was clueless when it came to games back in the New Leaf days, so I had trouble upgrading from a tent to a house XD but nothing about New Horizons is as memorable as New Leaf, which is one of its most fatal flaws. I know this sounds crazy but I’m excited to see what they do with the next game, because this game just doesn’t fully itch that animal crossing scratch.
The part about things not being as memorable is so right. I remember so many events from new leaf vividly, like when I first caught a coelacanth after 3 years of playing on a snowy Christmas break day , or when I donated all the fossils I was in the car going to the mall. In New Horizons, I don't feel any of it. Everything happens so easily and quickly. I payed off the tent loan in 30 minutes, unlike in new leaf where it took a couple days. And how in new horizons I got the coelacanth in 10 minutes, unlike in new leaf where it took 3 years! Basically, I'm saying that things don't feel like they matter in this new game as much, with things like nook islands making it easy to get new fish and fossils and stuff
Yeah New Leaf had so much to do throughout the whole playthrough. You slowly got stuff like the roost, museum second floor, public works projects, etc. In New Horizons you can do almost everything in the first week or 2 which is a shame.
Something that really got me out of New Horizons right in the beginning was the shitty looped 20 second song until you get the town hall, I always loved just running around in my cities and chilling listening to the soundtrack in the previous games. Even after you get the town hall the music is just bland and not really good in my opinion. It was so relaxing especially the night music, in New Horizons its just meh
You hit the nail on the head. New leaf, especially in the long term, has wayyy more for interact-er, which I am one. New Horizon, by making virtually everything on the island something you build up to, makes the final destination honestly kind of less lively compared to New leaf. (By that I mean there’s just less cool NPCs and things to do at one moment.) Also I like how the value of bells in New Leaf was solidified by public works, instead of just house upgrades and random furniture in New Horizons. The music too...LORD the NL soundtrack is amazing, and NH just doesn’t stick half as much.
I feel like Animal Crossing Kinda falls on a spectrum from Life Sim to Creativity Gamecube, Wild World, and City folk all fall on the Life Sim side since they lack most decorating despite kinda advertising it. However, these games have some of the best villager interactions that both ACNL and ACNH lack. New Leaf is kind of an equal scale of sorts. The villager interactions are... mediocre to say the least. However, you get a limited amount of customization. For some, this was a perfect middle ground, and for some it was a frustrating middle ground, both opinions make a lot of sense and are right in their own way. New Horizons is full on customization since you can change almost everything about your island!!! Overall, just the fact that every AC game has kept these two elements, even if streamlining one or the other, just shows that this series is amazing!!!
I completely agree with this comic. Couldn't have said it better myself. I think, while New Leaf lacks some of the customization that Horizons has and some of the more complex aspects of older games, New Leaf strikes that perfect in-between of Life Sim plus creativity, making it so it feels like you're living a better version of your own life. All of your villagers are your friends, yet you can still have different opinions and things they want you to do for them. Compare this to older games where they treat you like scum of the Earth, and New Horizons where they're all just dialogue when you talk to them, rarely ever wanting to do anything with you. Yet, you still can do so much with your town. I feel like the public works should be a staple. New Horizons is a little too liberal with it's ability to place everything outside in my opinion. I feel like it makes town building a little too open to the point where towns are so artistic, it's a struggle to live in them. Public work projects make it so you can't just place anything anywhere, and that you have to pay to put something down, making it an accomplishment to build it
Completely agree. Never had a gamecube so i havent played original (I want to though) but Wild World and New Lead were some of my favorites. I loved unlocking the buildings, villager interactions, the NPCs, and I even just miss being able to invite villagers over to my house. I dont care for decorating that much, so all the customization is overwhelming. On top of that, getting all of the fish, bugs, fossils, and diving creatures is sooo much easier now. I still love New Horizons and play it almost daily, but like you said the villager interactions arent the same, neither is the music (including KK Sliders music) 😭
i own both games, but i very much still play new leaf. new horizons stresses me out so much, the atmosphere makes it feel like i always should be doing something. i feel pressured to craft, and grind more for my tools which are constantly breaking. i dislike the lack of main street and non villager npcs. the island also is so barren despite it having better graphics. new leaf, forever and always.
As someone who started with new horizons and then started playing new leaf too I can agree, new leaf is just better, sad to see so much is missing from new horizons just so the game can have a longer play for people.
Animal crossing new leaf was INCREDIBLE, such a magical playing experience & an excellent game. I'm excited for new horizons updates, but new leaf can't ever be replaced for me.
You are so right. I feel like New Horizons nailed most of the content, but it just has too little of it to fill a day. Even the Post Office, which most people say was useless, had a lot more charm and was fun to visit at times.
I agree so much with you in the two types of AC players part. ACNH is such a good game for those who love to design their town, but NH feels like it focuses too much on that aspect and the whole interaction aspect is just left behind. Villagers are the same or even worse in some aspects when it comes to interacting with them than in NL. NH hasn't done any crazy changes to the way villagers work, and it's sad cause they could make incredible stuff like villagers having memory and being able to have actual friendships with other villagers. That could affect the way they interact with each other and even the gameplay at some point. AC has so much potential and sometimes it feels like Nintendo doesn't want to explore it, which is a shame.
An idea I've had for a while is a music app for the phone where you can change your "playlist" to the hourly music of other games. Maybe you could also combine hourly music to make a dream playlist of sorts.
I love that New Leaf is borderline... *depressing,* in its atmosphere. I hate how happy and cheerful New Horizons is, it doesn't make me feel happy, it doesn't make me feel anything. New Leaf is laid-back and it can be cheery but it can also lead me to tears through the soundtrack and the aesthetic and the personal storytelling provided by the villagers and the internal timeline.
The music in New Leaf is amazing. Every track carries a warm feeling and a boatload of memories. When I hear 7AM I immediately feel the day change from a cool Saturday afternoon in 2020 to a warm Monday morning in 2016. New Leaf is my favourite, for sure. The graphics may have aged like yogurt but the fun stays intact!
@ItzEllieGacha UwU This is one of the millions of little inconsistencies that bugs me about NH; the Gamecube theme has been an obtainable song for a long time now, and WW/CF and NL are both overdue for their themes to be added, but especially WW/CF. But what do they do instead? They add the NH theme as an obtainable song, and have the WW theme (the extended version, at that) as an unobtainable song that only plays if you enter a song's name incorrectly! I was really looking forward to having it play in my house going into the game, but I guess they have to overuse the new theme as much as they can
If I could get the museum of New Horizons (but bring back the information, that's a necessity), the crafting system, the entire look of New Horizons, and the house mechanics of New Horizons, and put them in a New Leaf for the switch, then my life is perfect Edit: Thanks for the New Leaf 7am track, one of, if not my favorite animal crossing track Edit 2: I revoke my thank you for you playing the 8am track from New Horizons, my least favorite animal crossing song
The difference for me is I play new horizons on mute with the tv on. New leaf I have my headphones on and I'm 100% in the game. The music is FAR superior in new leaf in my opinion. I still love both games :)
Two Words: Town Tree I actually overall see ACNH getting better than ACNL, but the lack of a town tree type thing is so upsetting and it can't be really implemented since we already are a good chunk into our island development. I wish we could get a thing that reflects both progression and the overall atmosphere like the town tree did. I swear, sitting on that tree gave me nostalgia for ACNL after ONE MONTH OF PLAYING.
The tree needs to come back. The plaza as a whole feels a little empty, despite Leaf and Kicks always visiting. I want something besides a Nook Miles Feat to show my play hours, something to incentivize me to keep playing. I'm not even playing regularly now. I collect my monthly fish and bugs then dip out until the next month rolls around
Ninja Pickle Yeah, and while we’re at it, they need to bring back badges too. Hopefully that will be in a upcoming update with a tortimer island like place; and actually make some use of NSO.
New leaf brings me the best vibes, the music takes me back to being a little kid, playing it for HOURS once I got back from school. And to this day I still listen to 5pm when studying. It brings back vibes of no stress, and honestly new horizons is just a competition to see who has the best island, and most bells, new leaf was about relaxing, a break from reality. The music has so much thought into it I can go on for hours. The nostalgia makes me wish I can go into a time machine and go back then. Of course I am not saying anything bad about new horizons! That music shows a story of being in lockdown, playing it for hours, and taking a little break from being at home all day.
Mix new horizons and new leaf together u would get a perfect animal crossing game and mix a little wild world in it with how the villagers talk and how differnt they are
I’m playing new leaf for the first time after playing new horizons because of all the praise it garners and I’m very impressed with the game. Although I do like new horizons soundtrack and atmosphere better (I just really like the island feel), new leaf really just hits different
It will always be my fav because it brought so much charm and character and edge to the expansive world and showed the awesomeness that acnl could bring to the table and yes I do listen to the daily soundtrack album when I use to study at community college
I would say City Folk, as it felt the most country and isolated. The music in the game was great (especially the theme song), the character models still hold up to today, and the easy upgrading of shops.
Yeah, i felt the same regarding the music. It was hard to really put my finger on it, but it almost feels like the music in New Horizon is busier with trying to be a nice and catchy song (which, to be fair, it succeeds in) than it is to establish a fitting atmosphere. New Leaf stands among one of my favorite OST's of all time, largely due to how it works in tandem with the game itself to elevate every single experience.
I loved new horizons up until terraforming. The game from that point forward felt so overwhelming that I quit around a month ago. This makes me want to play new leaf again
Same here. After I fixed my island to how I wanted, I just leave and come back every 2 weeks or so. Compare this to New Leaf, where everyday is an adventure
I remember when New Horizons first came out. Everyone was asking if there was hourly tracks because they couldn't hear it. As for me, if you gave me a New Horizons track, I wouldn't be able to tell you what time of day it was or tell you what I see in my mind. If you gave me a New Leaf track, I would know what hour it was and I'd have very distinct memories of that time in my mind. Like 5pm for example. If you play me 5pm, I immediately know what hour that is and imagine myself walking around my town during a beautiful sunset.
When you go to club lol at night, dj kk plays a song and every few minutes will have a break in the song to play YOUR town tune and show your town passport photo on the big projector. such a small thing adds so much and thats why new leaf is the best.
oh yeah. i love decorating and had fun perfecting my town in nl, but its not nearly as fun in nh. why? the lack of stuff to do otherwise. in nl, it was like slowly building up a community. in nh, since all you have to do is decorate, it's like "how fast can i make things look perfect." not to mention how dreadfully slow terraforming is and i dont wanna waste hours of my life pressing a. its just boring. in new leaf, decorating was a fun side thing, not the main focus. if i wanted to decorate, id just open the sims, a far superior decorating game.
woah i never thought about the soundtrack progression. with that comparison i feel like new horizons has a much more crowded sound like theres less breaks between notes which is overwhelming
for sure, New Leaf is my favorite AC game, but the one thing I really hated was how exploitable the island was for bells. like, the game is simply incredible, and I absolutely agree with your points, but the island really hurt my enjoyment for the game, cuz it became so easy to get bells in a quick amount of time
thank you thank you thank you thank you! I could not figure out why I was so much less compelled to play new horizons. This video PERFECTLY sums it up.
I’ve felt for awhile since the release of New Horizons that it doesn’t exactly cater to my style of play. There are so many different unlockables, things to do and things to collect in New Leaf and that’s what I love about animal crossing. I absolutely loved the first week or so of New Horizons. I was unlocking stuff, advancing my island etc, but after I got K.K. to come to my island, I lost some passion for the game. There just wasn’t much for me to do anymore, only 2 shops and 1 shop upgrade. I’m not very good at designing my island either and it’s not really what I enjoy about Animal Crossing. The music in New Horizons was not as good as New Leaf I feel too. The tracks are very much the same and I feel like part of the reason is to not take away from the creative aspect of the game. I love both of these games, but I just feel like New Leaf pulls off what I like in Animal Crossing much better.
7AM brings back memories man. Every morning on weekends me and my brother would grab an electronic and mine would always be my 3DS and I would open and start playing at 7:00-7:10 in the morning. It was my most played game and I miss the parts that NH cut. Though I have 320 hours on NH it will never be as close to me as NL.
Ok, I haven’t played Animal Crossing GameCube or New Horizons but I’ve played Wild World, City Folk, New Leaf and Pocket Camp, and my favorites are Wild World, New Leaf (I’ve spent the most time with this game so I’ll admit I’m biased) and Pocket Camp
You made perfect sense and your entitled to your opinion. Really like the content and the nostalgic trip back to new leaf. I've got more hope for new horizons though.
I only had new leaf for 6 months before getting new horizons. I played that for months and went to check my new leaf town because of nostalgia and found out my 3ds is broken.
I think Nintendo was trying to do something else with the music. 'Cause as you said, in NL the early morning music is slow then slowly becomes more energetic. To me, that seems to represent the mornings for people who don't have school/work in the morning and can enjoy their mornings at their pace. Okay idk if this is just me but NH 7 a.m. gives me a "wake up get ready for school" kinda vibe.the
What was the interactivity with villagers like in new life! In new horizons when you have more than one personality type the feel the same and repeat the same things. Did new leaf have this too?
I honestly wish nintendo put new leaf onto the switch, granted I havent played new horizons much due to school, and new leaf was my first animal crossing game, but since so many people are complaining about new horizons and are nostalgic for new leaf, it would make sense
nah you're not nostalgia blinded, i got new leaf during the new horizons hype as my first animal crossing game cuz i couldn't afford a switch and then when i finally got a switch 3 months later after the new horizons hype i tried out new horizons but liked new leaf more
New Leaf is the absolute peak of Animal Crossing. New Horizons had potential, but so many aspects like how it was unfinished and the music that doesn't really fit the atmosphere and the lack of any personality in villagers just ruined it.
Don't get me wrong, I adore New Leaf and the Animal Crossing series, but I really want to play Horizons. Sadly I do not have a switch and it's very unlikely I'll get one.
I like New Horizons music. However, most of the songs do not fit the time they play at. New Leaf's songs all felt like they fit the time they played at almost perfectly. New Horizons has upbeat songs when it is in the middle of the night!
I love everything about New Horizons... except the music. The music is the main reason why I have a hard time playing the game. I can't turn it off, I'm stuck listening to their different songs for an hour. The only exception was the 5 AM music. But dear god I hated 3 AM music the most. I miss the New Leaf music. Most of them were so peaceful and relaxing.
Im back 10 months later and oh my god i thought id never get bored of animal crossing music the music in NH it SOOOOO repetitive i cant with 2pm and the interactions i cant the animals talks the npcs like
I can't go back to NL's grubby graphics so it'll always be city folk for me, lol New leaf had my least favourite ost, it never sounded like animal crossing music to me :( I like that NH made the effort to incorporate old motifs and instruments, but also brought its own flavour
I kept noding so much through the all video that my neck hurts. I hate NH's soundtrack for the most part. And the lack of content is baffling to the point I'd like a New leaf port on switch. Sad right ?
Acnl is my favorite ac game as someone who loves the interaction i cant really get into acnh the characters just seem dulled down to me compared to other installments
If they hadn't picked the worst soundtrack for acnh, and had the ability to add in shops to your own "main street", I think the game would have been very close to perfect. Unfortunately, this didn't happen.. so it's a 5/10 for me.
I personally like New horizons better because of the customization, that’s the major reason why I didn’t enjoy new leaf, it just wasn’t enough for me 😗
A lot of people are saying that New Horizons has a horrible soundtrack and although its the worst in the series so far its not bad. The main reason people dislike it is that the music varies only slightly from hour to hour.
