Animal Crossing: New Horizons is undeniably a good game and, in many ways, an improvement over its predecessors. It addressed the issue of not having enough to do by introducing a plethora of tasks as well as the ability to customize and landscape an entire island. It shoved practically every villager into its tiny file size so that players like me could get their favorite ones to come to their island, and it offered lots of ways to interact with other players in multiplayer.

However, Animal Crossing: New Horizons almost killed my love of gaming thanks to one of its most frustrating features. It's something that a lot of players have encountered, but something that is a lot more nuanced than I once thought. While a lot of the responsibility for this issue lies with Nintendo and the game's fundamentally flawed design, there is some responsibility that I and many other players must bear.

Animal Crossing: New Horizon's Villager Dialogue Is Repetitive

It Gets Grating Very Quick

One of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' biggest flaws is how quickly villagers seem to repeat dialogue. It is easily the biggest feature that I hope changes in the next Animal Crossing game as it fundamentally ruins the social sim aspect, which is, at least in my opinion, the most crucial part. In my initial playthrough, which, like everyone else, was during COVID-19, I found myself rapidly encountering the same lines of dialogue over and over again, which all but killed my enthusiasm for Animal Crossing as a whole. It almost made me fall out of favor with gaming altogether.

Now, that may seem a little extreme, but it became evident to me that Animal Crossing: New Horizons was prioritizing mechanical freedom over atmosphere and, dare I say, vibes. It is easily one of the most annoying aspects of New Horizons as, while I appreciate the ability to completely alter the appearance of my island, I would have much rather had villagers that felt like real people, not soulless beings that dispense witty one-liners ad nauseam.

It is especially frustrating considering that villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons completely lack any bite. None of them are rude like they were in the original AC games, which means every conversation with them devolves into a player-appreciation party. This happens even with the best Animal Crossing villagers, who were famous for being a little bit mean, at least initially. I felt almost immediately like the world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons was hollow and that spending any amount of time in it expecting to build bonds as I had in other Animal Crossing games was futile.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that almost everyone complaining about repetitive dialogue in New Horizons fell into the same trap that I did.

However, after much reflection and returning to Animal Crossing: New Horizons all these years later, I realized that this was almost completely my fault. In fact, I would go as far as to say that almost everyone complaining about repetitive dialogue in New Horizons fell into the same trap that I did. That's because New Horizons, much like the previous games, is not meant to be played in one go, or even across the span of a month. However, circumstances and a new game design philosophy forced us all to approach it that way.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Isn't Meant To Be Played In One Go

It Should Be Played In Short Bursts

Simply put, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game intended for short bursts. It is a game that should be approached as a daily momentary distraction, a brief escape from the monotony of life for fifteen minutes or so before switching it off. Not every task needs to be completed every day, and, most importantly, not every villager needs to be talked to every day. However, I, much like a lot of people who played New Horizons in 2020, didn't really have that luxury.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the only game that kept me sane during COVID-19, and even then it didn't last particularly long. I didn't have a lot to distract myself from the horrendous events happening around me, so funneling all of my attention into maintaining my colorful island felt like a good move. However, this then led to far longer play sessions than felt necessary, with me desperately trying to feel any sort of connection with the digital avatars pondering about my islands with their goofy expressions.

I suspect many others treated Animal Crossing: New Horizons in this way, and it's hard to blame them. Because, even without COVID-19, the revamped gameplay loop in New Horizons also encourages longer play sessions, even when it is counterintuitive to the overall design philosophy of the Animal Crossing series. The various tasks that players can complete, the many projects that can be invested in, and the total freedom over island customization means that hours can be spent in New Horizons, which is a lot longer than the mere minutes that could be spent in earlier titles.

Nintendo clearly moved the focus away from the villagers onto other aspects of the game, which, in turn, hurt the best part about it.

For the next Animal Crossing to be better, it must abandon this design philosophy as it completely ruins the flow that the original games had. It also, in my opinion, is one of the leading causes of villager repetition. Of course, I still absolutely stand by the notion that I and many others are to blame for quickly exhausting the game's limited pool of dialogue by playing nothing but New Horizons for hours on end. However, Nintendo clearly moved the focus away from the villagers onto other aspects of the game, which, in turn, hurt the best part about it.

Nintendo Needs To Focus On Villagers More In Future AC Games

They Need To Become The Priority Again

One of the reasons Animal Crossing: New Horizon's dialogue is so repetitive is that the unique dialogue is locked behind default phrases. There is likely a lot of dialogue written per villager - it's worth noting there are 413 in New Horizons - but it's hard to get to any of it when so much of it requires players to talk to a villager four or five times before it is said. It's a messy system, one that the highly-anticipated Animal Crossing 7 needs to fix. However, it goes beyond simply tweaking the frequency at which villagers dish out new dialogue.

I've felt for a long time that Nintendo's willingness to make villagers feel like independent beings has been slipping. Where once villagers would do whatever they liked, regardless of how it affected the player, now they endlessly placate them. The most a villager will inconvenience me is by requesting a favor, which is essentially one of the few meaningful ways of interacting with them in New Horizons. It's a shame, as villagers were easily the main reason I and a lot of other people played Animal Crossing in the first place. It's why so many of them are fondly ed.

I hope that Nintendo rectifies this going forward, as each villager's unique personality and plenty of dialogue will make the next Animal Crossing game feel more alive. I would rather Nintendo reduce the number of villagers so it's easier to make them feel like individual beings rather than bloat the game with lifeless ones. While it is fair that playing an Animal Crossing game nonstop will eventually lead to repetitive dialogue, it simply shouldn't have happened so quickly. Animal Crossing: New Horizons may not have perfected villagers, but it can help teach the next game how to get them right.

Source: ssstrawberry123/Reddit