Question about Animal Crossing

[crunchewy]

I've never played the game in any form and was wondering what this game is exactly. It's difficult to tell what you do in the game just from reading the description on the back. What do you do in it and what makes it fun? I'm serious with these questions. :) Most importantly, is it a game that a 5 year old could play? Does it have a lot of written dialogue or does it have spoken dialogue (or both, and if both, a lot of written, or mostly spoken?)

[moiety]

You start the game off by moving to a new town, where you are given a small house to live. Well, not given. The town shopkeeper Nook expects you to pay for it over time. So you spend your days doing errands for the neighbors, collecting items from those errands, going fishing, catching bugs, digging up fossils for the museum, keeping the town clean and full of trees and flowers, etc. You can sell back to Nook items, fish, bugs for Bells (their currency), which in turn you can use to pay off your debt. You can also buy items from Nook.

Everytime you pay off your debt, you are given the option to upgrade to a bigger house, which of course comes with another loan to pay off. You continue to do that until you have made every upgrade and have a nice big house to fit all your stuff. In the meantime, you collect items and decorate your house. There are themed furniture, all kinds of miscellaneous items. You get points for how you decorate your house. You can visit other towns via memory card.

There's just a wealth to do in the game. And it's definitely for any age. There is no speaking (except for squeaks and other animal noises). The game is mostly text (dialog included).

Do you have any other specific questions about the game? There's just so much packed in there. I hope I've given you somewhat of a better idea.

Oh also, if you have a DS, I recommend getting that version of AC instead. Mainly because the whole visiting other towns is done over WiFi and thus you can connect to people all over the country. Much easier than GameCube, where you basically need the other person's memory card plugged into the other slot.

[Allnatural]

I've thought about getting this game, but I understand it's the type of game where you really need to invest time each and every day, lest your house, town, etc. fall into disrepair. In other words, it's not something you can put on the shelf and come back to later. Is that true?

[moiety]

Yes this is true. The game runs in real time, so if you turn the game on at 8AM, it is 8AM in the game, and progresses at normal time. If you don't play for a long time (e.g. several days, weeks or months at a time), weeds grow, neighbors move out, things like that. So yes, it does take a commitment to the game. There's also seasonal differences too, such as different bugs and fish available during different times of the year, holidays and seasonal events, etc. So the game encourages you to play over the entire year.

On average you need about a half hour just to turn on the game, remove the day's weeds, mail in your fossils, turn in the previous day's fossils to the museum, water the flowers, follow-up on any unfinished errands, etc. You don't have to play everyday, but the more time you leave between playing, the more weeds there are, you miss out on items available at Nook's and the fossils that are waiting to be dug up, and neighbors will begin to leave. If you play every few days, your town will still be manageable.

If you have time to invest in it, it's really a lot of fun. It can get tedious though. I love the game, but I admit that over time you'll find that you just can't commit that much time to the game. Again, I recommend the DS version over the GameCube version for the WiFi (easier to visit friends and trade items) and the portability.

If you like collecting, that's the root of Animal Crossing. Read some reviews to get an even better idea. If it still interests you, I definitely recommend you give it a try.

[crunchewy]

That was extremely helpful. Thank you very much! It sounds intriguing and I do think it sounds like my nearly 5 year old would like it, but on the other hand I really wish it had spoken dialogue so he could play it on his own more easily. If I do get it I'll probably opt for the Gamecube version because it's easier for me to read dialogue for him if it's on the TV as opposed to having to look on a DS with him.

[io]

I would say you can definitely leave the game for long periods though. My kids play it periodically (like once every 4-6 months or so ;)) and they don't have a problem. Sure, there's lots of weeds, but they don't care. And they like squishing the cockroaches (that you get in your house). And we actually still have many of the same animals in town from when we first started playing it 3 years ago.

But I'd say it will be tough for a 5 year-old without a lot of supervision. It does require lots of reading to do errands for the animals. However, they can get by with fishing and bug catching without any need for reading. Just make sure to teach your kid to leave the game properly. If you don't go back to your house and save that way then you get this incredibly annoying Mole pop up when you restart who makes you click though 30 screens of dialog before you can continue. This is particularly annoying on the DS version because it is so easy for my kids, anyway, to turn off the DS accidentally. Then they get yelled at when they start back up...

[Allnatural]

...squishing the cockroaches
Why the hell didn't someone say this in the first place? Sold! ;)


Now that I think about it, I suppose one could cheat by adjusting the GC's clock prior to playing. So what if the game is out of sync with the outside world...

[io]

Why the hell didn't someone say this in the first place? Sold! ;)


Now that I think about it, I suppose one could cheat by adjusting the GC's clock prior to playing. So what if the game is out of sync with the outside world...

Well, yeah, I did that all the time for the GC and DS versions when I was trying to take care of stuff. Part of the problem was that I could usually only play late at night, and didn't want to see the same conditions all the time (not to mention Nook was always closed). But now only the kids play them and they just like the surprise of it being whatever it is ;).

And don't forget that in the GC version you can find and collect (and, of course, play) various NES games. These are the same ones they are charging $5 for on the VC now.

[Ruahrc]

Yeah I don't have time to consistently play the game either, so I get around it by messing with the game clock. Say I don't play for a month, when I play again I just reset the clock in the gamecube back to like a day after I last played. I can go in the game now and it thinks only a day has passed. I can take care of errands, etc. and then save the game. Then I set the GC clock foward a week (remember that the GC clock is still 3 weeks behind "real time") and then I can go in and take care of more stuff, etc. Do this over and over until I'm caught up to "real time".

The game will not screw up if you time travel like this, but it will go nuts if you travel backwards in time. For example, say you play on Nov. 18th. Then go into the GC clock and set it back to Oct 31st. When you start the game it will think that 11 months has passed because it went backwards. That is the time when you will see all kinds of messed up things like animals moved out, weeds ALL OVER, etc.

BTW there is a way to get rid of all the weeds at once, periodically between the hours of 2am and 5am, a ghost will appear in town. You can talk to him and he will ask you to catch 5 floating spirits with your net. Catch them all and talk to the ghost again and he will offer you a reward. One of the reward options is for him to remove all weeds in town. So you don't need to worry too much about picking weeds if you just use the ghost every now and then.

A 5-year-old will probably enjoy doing things like fishing and planting trees, cathcing bugs, etc. but there are definitely things they will not pick up either- for example Sow Joan (intentionally named like Dow Jones), the cow who you can buy and sell "stocks" from (in the game they are actually turnip stalks) or understanding the concept of a mortgage (although this may be a neat way for them to learn!). Rest assured, however, with all the things to do and collect, plus the numerous holiday celebrations and special events to do, this is a game with real staying power. It can be picked up quite cheaply nowadays so it's definitely worth getting, it's one of those "revolutionary" games that breaks the mold and has gameplay unlike any other title before it.

PS- each town can have up to 4 human players living in it at the same time. So you could also start a character who lives in the same town as your kid, and although the two of you can't play at the same time, you can send each other messages, or gifts, etc. through the game.

Ruahrc

[crunchewy]

Again, great info. Thanks and I'm definitely sold on the idea now. There were a few copies of the game at the kmart across the street from where I work the last time I checked, so I'll stop by there tomorrow and hopefully still find one.

[kevlar51]

What's cool about AC is the community of faithful players that built up around it. When it first came out, boards went crazy. And it was awesome because we were all experiencing the same holidays and events together. We were all excited that first Saturday night to hear K.K. Slider, because none of us had before, save the time travelers.

Same with the DS version.

[bigdaddy]

After awhile the animals speaking almost sound like English. :)

It would be really hard for a 5 year old to read it all, unless they are "advanced", but I think he would love walking around digging things up and fishing and hunting bugs. Plus it is a family game, so if you could help him play 10 minutes a day I think you would both enjoy the world.

And when he asks why a cat named Bob is wearing a dress I would like to know your answer. :)