If you have any interest at all in Souls-likes and want to see where the genre really started, consider Blade of Darkness. An updated version is available on GOG with modern resolution support and slightly improved controls (still clunky as hell in comparison to newer games, though).
Don’t know if it’d be something worth while, but if you’re looking for a game to just pass the time, Devil Dice (or XI in Japan I think) for PSx. Trailer linked is highest quality I could find.
I’ve fallen down the hole that is X4 Foundations. It is consuming my every waking thought. It has a frustrating learning curve and a lot of things to criticize but I do so love building my space empire and learning the subtler points of the game.
If New Horizons was your first animal crossing game and you were disappointed by the lack of personality that the villagers had, go play the original AC. Almost no customization options outside of your house interior, but the villagers have way, way, waaaay more personality. Not really surprising since, iirc the series was originally supposed to be focused on your interactions with the villagers.
Yep! I’m pretty sure I can remember Resetti in the original Gamecube version making me cry as a kid after getting yelled at for accidentally turning off the system without saving…
I also remember Phyllis, who basically hated your guts for interrupting her night shift.
And of course there’s the actual villagers of the town too, some of them were definitely a lot more… liberal… with you, personality wise!
Oh man, they get absolutely pissed if you hit them +3 times with an axe or net, which is way easier to do by accident than you’d want; if you hit a villager once, the game seems to assume that you want to hit them again, so attempting to interact just results in you pummeling/slashing the villager. I’ve had them tell me I don’t deserve friends, that I’m a freak, that I’m a horrible creature who shouldn’t be around people, etc…
Even if you don’t accidentally or intentionally piss them off, they can be very rude and condescending when you first start playing. They chill out after you start interacting with them (and you have to interact if you want them to treat you nicer), but it can take weeks for them to start doing that. That’s what I love about the GameCube animal crossing; the villagers aren’t tripping over themselves to make you happy. In New Horizons, villagers basically exist to make you happy and feel better about yourself; however, they make it very clear they don’t like you at first in the original.
(Also yes, you can hit villagers with an axe in the OG game and they have a slightly different reaction to it. It’s hard to do though and would seem like a bug if it weren’t for the fact that they react differently to it)
and the gyroids! and the NES emulators! There are additions to modern AC that really bring it up a notch (custom fashion, WAY more furniture items), but there really was a charm to the original that modern Nintendo would never bring back. They don’t want to scare kids with villagers that could be anything other than vaguely positive towards you, and they don’t want to give their back catalog away for “free”.
If New Horizons was your first animal crossing game and you were disappointed by the lack of personality that the villagers had, go play the original AC.
Is the original N64/GC the one where other villagers have the most personality? What are some other differences regarding NH, New Leaf and City Folk?
I haven’t played City Folk, Wild World or New Leaf, however my impression is that the GC/N64 version is the only one where the villagers can be actually hostile to you. One of the biggest differences aside from personality, is that you have very little freedom when it comes to village customization. You can basically plant or cut down trees or flowers, and that’s about it.
Note: there are like, 4 different versions of the OG animal crossing, the international GameCube release is the only one with an English translation.
no autosaves and Resetti will chew you out if you reset/quit without saving (New Horizons added autosaves and almost entirely removed Resetti).
time travelling back in time relative to your last save will also trigger Resetti.
playable NES games. They can be hard to find, but you can play them if you get any (iirc you can also transfer the roms to your GBA/GBA SP to play on-the-go)
home customization is still a thing in the original; however you only have a max of 3 rooms (2nd floor, 1st floor, basement). However, you can’t customize your basement floor or walls and the basement won’t count towards your HHA score.
no “cloud” storage, all storage is in furniture items, which have a max capacity of 3 non-furniture items (clothes, tickets, flooring and walls are fine, but not furniture). This is what the basement is for. (It’s actually kinda fascinating how furniture storage works, but I won’t get into that unless you’re interested)
maximum of 15 villagers instead of 10.
you can ask villagers if they have any chores for you; this is actually a great option and I’m annoyed they removed it because it means you don’t have to repeatedly spam villager dialog with the hope they’ll eventually give you a task.
there’s an island you can visit with another house which you can use as storage if you want. However, it’s a bit difficult to access on emulators because you can only get to it if you have a GBA connected, so you have to either emulate a connected GBA or use gecko/AR code to permanently enable Kapp’n.
no town hall
there are cops (they don’t really do anything except tell you if there are any free lost items in the lost-and-found or if there are any upcoming events).
Tom Nook is the only real vendor, as afaik Mable and Able only sell custom designs. Additionally, instead of Redd, it’s Tom Nook who occasionally sells artwork for the museum.
There are probably others I’m forgetting, but that’s kinda the main gist of it.
One of my favorite games, although the second game tops it in my opinion. Sadly, I could never get my friends into the game, since I’d have loved to play it coop.
Love this series so much! Relaxing and chill and just fun to go at your own pace and make your own goals. I remember buying two cartridges for Wild World so I could have two saves! Also played a ton of New Horizons during the pandemic, like a lot of people I think. I actually kind of got burned out on that one and haven’t played in a long time, my island is probably covered in weeds now, ha ha!
I really love how they opened up more customization in New Horizons, including the terraforming. But they need a better system for actually doing the terraforming in the next game, because it seems so finicky right now. I also would love to see some inspiration from Pocket Camp come to the main games with more ways for the villagers to interact with your outdoor decorations so the villagers don’t just end up sitting on the ground most of the time!
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