The Crossing Conundrum

[Turtlekid1]

Okay, so I thought maybe the original Animal Crossing could last me until September (when 358/2 Days comes out), but now I'm just not sure.

So I'm thinking about getting either Animal Crossing: Wild World, or Animal Crossing: City Folk.  On the one hand, with WW, you have the portability; on the other hand, with CF, you have (probably) more items/bugs/insects (Yes?  No?).  At this point, price isn't much of an issue; a new copy of City Folk is only about five bucks more than Wild World on Amazon. 

So the question is, which one to get?  I've asked some people on the chatroom about this, but the predominant answer there is a resounding "Neither; get a good game."  I happen to think Animal Crossing is a good game, thanks much (in the words of Tom Nook).  Surely there is someone else here who also thinks so and has a thought or two on which game is the better choice?

[Glorb]

To me, they're all interchangeable, slow-paced, single-player imitation MMOs, but that's because I haven't logged the hojillion hours everyone else here seems to have.

[Lizard Dude]

I'm going to use this thread to link this:

alone in nuclear disneyworld, a calculated assault on Kingdom Hearts

[Turtlekid1]

I grow weary of people declaring "this game sawks" because they personally didn't enjoy it.  Instead of insisting that the game is awful and can't possibly be fun for anyone, can't they just admit they didn't like it - PERSONALLY?  Yes, I think those people annoy me more than the fanboys who take it to the other extreme.

But I don't want this topic to become the next Kingdom Hearts debate. 

Which Animal Crossing game, people?

[ShadowBrain]

I haven't even played it and I think I'm going to go with City Folk. Sure, I didn't buy the game, but it's only because I didn't see much in it I didn't already see in the original and Wild World. As someone who's never touched the latter, though, I think you might as well jump to CF straight up. Sure, WW is portable, but at what cost? I'll tell you what: You can't do as much as in the original, and what you can do isn't all that easy on the eyes (not that graphics was ever the series' strong suit). It seems to me that, the infamous dying-grass thing aside, CF brings together the best elements of the previous games, plus DLC and online.

[BP]

Here's an idea:

Ocarina of Time
StarTropics
Punch-Out!!

This is of course assuming you're wanting to play video games until the video game you're waiting for comes out and not wanting to do video chores. If you DO want to do video chores, get both! You'll have twice the work to do and the same number of rewards!!

[Weegee]

Don't knock the Crossing, BP. Obsessively searching for rare fish and insects while performing mundane tasks for your anthromorphic neighbours is DA BOMB.

Anyways, City Folk is essentially a big-screen clone of Wild World, with a few novel features interspersed throughout. These include a handful of new furniture sets, special gifts like the Pikmin Hat and Carnations, a renovated clothing-design system, and the understandable removal of the "Mini Moustache" accessory. Additionally, Wi-fi apparently works much more smoothly in City Folk.

[BP]

And for what? You get no rewards for anything you accomplish in the game, really--a bigger house, sure, a bigger house so you can do twice the chores to afford to decorate. There's just no satisfaction in life sims. No real story, nothing fun to do... multiplayer is basically a glorified Pictochat (which was ultimately more popular at the political booth thing we all did as sophomores because everyone with a DS can use it).

It's not all bad. Remember secret bases in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald? THOSE need to make a comeback. Better than the ones in the big fat bulky stupid underground in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. The one where you mix records and have permanent NPC copies of your friends and their parties for battling all the time. What I'm saying is that the whole of Animal Crossing could be integrated as a small feature into a real game: to enhance secret bases. I mean the secret base system was practically already all of AC minus the mundane part and with less customization.

What I'm saying is, Animal Crossing is a combination of secret bases in R/S/E, minus all the fun, plus Pictochat.

Edit: While I'm at it, I'll add that making money in Pokémon is also a stupid hassle. Until you get the Amulet Coin. Then it piles up before you know it.

[Toad]

Go with City Folk. You don't have to worry about the DS battery dying as you attempt to catch that last bug/fish, and using the Wiimote to swing the net/fishing rod is actually pretty fun (kinda like the Wario Ware Smooth Moves version..)

Maybe Nintendo will eventually make a patch to fix the grass problem.. Pfft! Who am I kidding.. they've moved on to other things now..

[Weegee]

You don't have to worry about the DS battery dying

Good point. Animal Crossing seems to drain a portable's batteries particularly fast. My DS displays the low-battery warning light after only four hours of Wild World.

[CrossEyed7]

And for what? You get no rewards for anything you accomplish in the game, really--a bigger house, sure, a bigger house so you can do twice the chores to afford to decorate.

What rewards do you get for playing any game? Your TV doesn't hand you a bucket of fried chicken for killing Bowser. Women don't suddenly realize that I'm irresistible because I can knock Don Flamenco's toupee off in the first round. My grandma doesn't come back because I got a 900 in Tony Hawk. All I ever get is a picture or a number or a song or the chance to do more of what I've already done. Video games are always about the journey, not the destination, and if someone enjoys the journey of Animal Crossing, more power to them.

I grow weary of people declaring "this game sawks" because they personally didn't enjoy it.  Instead of insisting that the game is awful and can't possibly be fun for anyone, can't they just admit they didn't like it - PERSONALLY?

Anyway, go with City Folk. It's really the definitive version of Wild World; the Hitler mustache is the only real advantage WW has over it. Personally, I can't stand playing Animal Crossing on a handheld. To me, it was always supposed to be relaxing and laid-back, and it's much easier to be relaxed looking at a big screen with hands as far apart as you want than hunched over looking at a tiny screen with hands tensed up in a fixed position. Also, the frame rate really suffers on WW; it would have been much better to design a game for the DS from the ground up than to just jam a GCN game onto a DS card. Maybe you're more reasonable and less picky than me, but frame rate can totally make or break a game for me. And there's also DLC and stuff, and since CF is still relatively new, Nintendo is still paying some attention to it. Also, WW doesn't have Wisp, so if you don't play for a month, you're gonna have to pull up all the weeds yourself. And you can get hairstyles from the beginning instead of having to wait for Nookington's. I could go on.

As for the grass bug, I think it's a bit of a crapshoot. My family's town has absolutely no grass, even in places they never walk on; mine has absolutely no paths no matter how much I walk in the same spots. I say give it a week or two and if you're uneasy about the amount of grass at that point, start your town over.

[Weegee]

According to numerous FAQs, a portion of one's grass re-grows during each day that the game is played. That is, your grass will reappear within weeks if you bother to at least, say, check Nookington's daily. Conversely, letting your game collect shelf-dust will only amass a veritable crapload of weeds in your town.

[ShadowBrain]

So is it really a bug, then? People use that word because they dislike the thing, but I think it's just a, well, failed aspect of realism (and one that, as I said before, ironically fails to take advantage of one of the series' trademark gimmicks). Still, in the parallel universe where Nintendo does decide to fix that, that'd be the first case I've ever heard of of a patch removing an intended feature.

While I'm at it, I'll add that making money in Pokémon is also a stupid hassle.

I'm not sure whether this is extraordinary or not, but I don't think I've ever wanted for money in the Pokemon games. Also, for what it's worth, "the underground" is okay in my book, if only because it makes it way easier to get fossils and evolution stones (unlocking Spiritomb and the Secret Base in general, though... no).

[Weegee]

I'd much rather of had evolutionary stones available to buy at the department store as they were in FR/LG. Lugging several of each stone around for lack of a PC item-storage system is a nuisance, to say the very least.

Aren't you glad that Turtlekid made this Animal Crossing thread for us to discuss Pokemon in?

[Toad]

I lost!

Ocarina of Time

Actually go out and see if you can find the Gamecube disc. The Wii download has no rumble feature. I know this is a minor complaint, but I like my rumbling controllers.

Unless you're ok with no rumble.