Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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Skinypupy
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

I picked up AC:NH last night. Booted it up this morning, and found it to be a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable game...with one MASSIVE problem.

The problem is that you only get one island per Switch console. The first person to start up that island is considered the "owner", and any other players to play on that system are considered "visitors". Everyone shares all the resources, buildings, and everything else on the island. That's great if you want to share the same game with all the other people in your family...but what if you don't? Now, my fun little island that I was so looking forward to building up and lovingly crafting is now at the complete whim of my 6-year-olds. I can't give them their own game and their own island to go wreak havoc on, they are required to play on mine.

Here's the other problem. Let's say Wonder Twin A gets on the Switch in the morning, picks all the weeds, cracks all the rocks, grabs all the cherries, etc. Then guess what happens when I get on later in the day? All those resources are gone, and I have no way to get any of them. If Wonder Twin B decides to terraform half my island into a giant pit? Nothing I can do about it. Little B wants to create a waterfall right where I was going to put a building? Oh well, guess I'm out of luck.

It has taken my opinion of the game from "I'm so excited and can't wait to play this!" to "Well, I guess I might mess around with hit a little bit " It's hugely disappointing, tbh. I think it would have been a really fun game to play by myself and then have a co-op game we could mess around with together. Not so much when it's required for the island to be entirely at the mercy of my kids. Guess I'm selfish that way.

I'm sure it'll be worth the $60, as the kids will probably enjoy it. I've lost all interest though.

(CAVEAT: I've never played an AC game before. Maybe this is the norm in this series and everyone is cool with it, but it seems like a massive 'blech' to me.)
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Blackhawk »

Wow, that is just plain ridiculous. Animal Crossing used to by my kids' #1 game. This would have been a nightmare back then. What were they thinking?
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by stessier »

Yeah, I posted that info in the Nintendo thread. It stinks.

One thing I wondered...what if you bought two copies of the game? If each copy could have its own island, I could live with that. Still wouldn't be thrilled, but cheaper than buying everyone their own game AND Switch.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by JCC »

2 carts won't solve the issue. As of now it's one island per Switch system. Up to 8 Switch accounts share the same island.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by stessier »

It's really shocking that they don't understand how people play the game.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

stessier wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:27 am It's really shocking that they don't understand how people play the game.
That was my first thought as well. I figured I had to be misunderstanding it somehow, until I started poking around online, and saw a bunch of articles about it. Really wish I would have known this coming in.

Here's a perfect example of why it's terrible. I had captured about a dozen different bugs and fish, and had them all stacked up in tanks next to my tent so I could donate them to the museum when it was finished building this morning. When Wonder Twin A was playing, he had picked up every one of my tanks (which I had found over the course of about 90 minutes), put them in his inventory, and simply sold them back to the store. I asked him why, and he said that since I had already picked over everything else on the island (all the weeds, rocks, sticks, etc.), the only way he could make any money was to sell all that stuff back to the store. We had a little talk about not destroying other people's stuff in-game...but they're 6. This is a sibling fistfight just waiting to happen every day.

The worst part is that the game is an absolute blast to play. It's a 10/10 type of game, but the completely botched multiplayer makes it really hard to recommend unless you're playing entirely solo.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Paingod »

Skinypupy wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:22 amThe worst part is that the game is an absolute blast to play. It's a 10/10 type of game, but the completely botched multiplayer makes it really hard to recommend unless you're playing entirely solo.
This seems like a serious issue for a good number of people who might share a device or world. That sucks.

My wife is very interested in the game, and I'm interested in playing it with her - but the odds are that we'd get two Switch devices and two copies of the game - so we could visit each other when we wanted to and otherwise play solo at will. They were absolutely not considering any model except the one we might use.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Zarathud »

Skinypupy wrote:This is a sibling fistfight just waiting to happen every day.

The worst part is that the game is an absolute blast to play. It's a 10/10 type of game, but the completely botched multiplayer makes it really hard to recommend unless you're playing entirely solo.
Our older daughter has been told to deal with it, as she was being an asshole to my younger daughter about coop play anyway. She told my younger daughter to “go ahead and take all of your sister’s stuff if she won’t play nice.” I ended up buying Sims 4 for the older daughter to keep the peace.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by wonderpug »

I'm sharing my island with a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old. Thankfully they're old enough that I'm able to set some ground rules of not messing with each other's houses, only use stone axes on island trees so they don't get chopped down, etc. For some of your other problems:
Skinypupy wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 8:57 pmHere's the other problem. Let's say Wonder Twin A gets on the Switch in the morning, picks all the weeds, cracks all the rocks, grabs all the cherries, etc. Then guess what happens when I get on later in the day? All those resources are gone, and I have no way to get any of them.
For 2000 Nook Miles, you can get a ticket to travel to a randomly generated island that's yours for the plundering. It'll have plenty of weeds, rocks, trees, fruit, etc. that are all just for you.

The routine I'm starting to form is to try to be the first one to play in the morning, mildly farm our island for some Nook quests but leave most there for the kids. I'll fly to other islands if I need more stuff, then at the end of the day after the kids are asleep I can run through our home island and grab anything else I really want.

As for terraforming and such, I'll just set some ground rules with the kids when we unlock that, but I can understand how that would be frustrating if your kids are too young to be trusted to follow that restriction.

The game itself is fantastic, though, despite falling flat a bit on the local multiplayer.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by coopasonic »

This sounds like justification for daddy to have his own switch (not for me personally, but for some of you guys). it's a shame I'm the one with all the Target credit. :P
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

coopasonic wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:29 am This sounds like justification for daddy to have his own switch (not for me personally, but for some of you guys). it's a shame I'm the one with all the Target credit. :P
I'll be damned if I'm gonna shell out for another $300 Switch and a second copy of the game just because Nintendo sucks.

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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by coopasonic »

Totally heading off topic here but do you take the switch with you when you travel? I guess less often now... but either you or the kids are deprived when you travel and you can solve that!

On the topic of Animal Crossing, I don't get it. I played a bit of one on one of the handhelds once so I did give it a try. I also don't get Stardew Valley... yet I have enjoyed various versions of the Sims.

I guess super casual games just don't do it for me.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Paingod »

coopasonic wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:44 amI guess super casual games just don't do it for me.
Have you ever enjoyed a zen garden, pushing sand around a few rocks in a small box?

I think it's the same mindset. It's calm, peaceful, and quite the opposite of stressful.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

coopasonic wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:44 am Totally heading off topic here but do you take the switch with you when you travel? I guess less often now... but either you or the kids are deprived when you travel and you can solve that!
Not very often, tbh. I'll take it once in while if there's a game that has really grabbed me, but I usually leave it at home. Biggest problem is that my eyes are getting so bad that most games are really difficult to play in handheld mode, especially when there's no font size adjustment in most. I simply can't read them.
On the topic of Animal Crossing, I don't get it. I played a bit of one on one of the handhelds once so I did give it a try. I also don't get Stardew Valley... yet I have enjoyed various versions of the Sims.

I guess super casual games just don't do it for me.
I'm usually not either, none of this type of game has ever appealed to me. However, this one hits the sweet spot of being remarkably well done and coming at a time when a low stress, chill game is sorely needed. Doubt I would have given it a second look if we weren't all confined at home and under massive stress.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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Skinypupy wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:06 pmDoubt I would have given it a second look if we weren't all confined at home and under massive stress.
If I ever find myself with a crippling illness and confined to my bed for a couple weeks, I'd wish I had this to play.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by coopasonic »

Paingod wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:50 am
coopasonic wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:44 amI guess super casual games just don't do it for me.
Have you ever enjoyed a zen garden, pushing sand around a few rocks in a small box?

I think it's the same mindset. It's calm, peaceful, and quite the opposite of stressful.
Yeah, that's not me.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

So, apparently having a single island per console is the way the AC games have always functioned. A fact that I was very forcefully made aware of this morning after I naively commented on a FB article about it by mentioning that, as a completely new player, this form of multiplayer was quite jarring and frustrating.

(Side note: Good lord, gamers are giant assholes if you dare make a negative comment about something they like. Captain Obvious, I know, but...sheesh.)
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by JCC »

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:36 pm So, apparently having a single island per console is the way the AC games have always functioned. A fact that I was very forcefully made aware of this morning after I naively commented on a FB article about it by mentioning that, as a completely new player, this form of multiplayer was quite jarring and frustrating.
I think that may be MOSTLY true, but it certainly was NOT true of the Gamecube version. It was one village per memory card. I think they should let you pop in different SD cards for different villages on the Switch, but I am sure they won't.

Not that I am upset about this either way. The original was more than enough AC for me.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by stessier »

JCC wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:45 pm
Skinypupy wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 12:36 pm So, apparently having a single island per console is the way the AC games have always functioned. A fact that I was very forcefully made aware of this morning after I naively commented on a FB article about it by mentioning that, as a completely new player, this form of multiplayer was quite jarring and frustrating.
I think that may be MOSTLY true, but it certainly was NOT true of the Gamecube version. It was one village per memory card. I think they should let you pop in different SD cards for different villages on the Switch, but I am sure they won't.

Not that I am upset about this either way. The original was more than enough AC for me.
I don't think it was that way on the Wii either. My wife and I both had our own worlds. Maybe we were swapping memory cards to get that - can't say for sure. I'm old.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

I’m definitely not alone in being frustrated by this.

It sucks being player 2 in Animal Crossing
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by ChuckB »

Rats - Dodo airline has apparently flown me to Corona Island and I'm now discussing social distancing with the residents

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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Malificent »

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2020/03 ... -horizons/

If you want an amusing take on Animal Crossing...
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by ChuckB »

Ok, a question for the AC pros here on the board about "iron nuggets". On some days I have seen 1 or 2 stone heaps that I can "farm". So far, farming 5 or 6 of these heaps got me ... 3 iron nuggets (I also flew to another island and there was one heap with no iron). The store needs 30 iron nuggets, does that mean that it'll take me around 1 1/2 months to get this stuff together?
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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ChuckB wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:39 pm Ok, a question for the AC pros here on the board about "iron nuggets". On some days I have seen 1 or 2 stone heaps that I can "farm". So far, farming 5 or 6 of these heaps got me ... 3 iron nuggets (I also flew to another island and there was one heap with no iron). The store needs 30 iron nuggets, does that mean that it'll take me around 1 1/2 months to get this stuff together?
First, you can get 8 drops out of each stone heap thingie. After your first hit, there's a sort of timer that starts, so you want to hit it 8 times as fast as possible. You can dig a hole behind yourself to help with keeping in position.

But to get your 30 nuggets, your best bet is to buy tickets to the randomly generated islands. The first one you get for free, and after that it costs 2000 nook miles. The island you go to is generated just for you to strip mine all you want. I think I did about 3 trips to get my 30 iron.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by ChuckB »

wonderpug wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:20 am
ChuckB wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:39 pm Ok, a question for the AC pros here on the board about "iron nuggets". On some days I have seen 1 or 2 stone heaps that I can "farm". So far, farming 5 or 6 of these heaps got me ... 3 iron nuggets (I also flew to another island and there was one heap with no iron). The store needs 30 iron nuggets, does that mean that it'll take me around 1 1/2 months to get this stuff together?
First, you can get 8 drops out of each stone heap thingie. After your first hit, there's a sort of timer that starts, so you want to hit it 8 times as fast as possible. You can dig a hole behind yourself to help with keeping in position.

But to get your 30 nuggets, your best bet is to buy tickets to the randomly generated islands. The first one you get for free, and after that it costs 2000 nook miles. The island you go to is generated just for you to strip mine all you want. I think I did about 3 trips to get my 30 iron.
Thanks - really helpful but one important addition (had to look this up since I was failing): you can't do this if you have eaten any fruit, otherwise you'll break the whole sone heap with the first strike of the shovel. My first trip to an island got me 15 iron nuggets
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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If you have a toilet, you can poop out any fruit charges you don’t want!
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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wonderpug wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 10:52 am If you have a toilet, you can poop out any fruit charges you don’t want!
Hey - just got a toilet yesterday (yes, my character is running around on an island with a toilet in his pocket). Not sure, though, if I want to install it in my new 1 room house ...
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Suitably Ironic Moniker »

If anyone's interested in visiting other OOer's villages, we should put our friend codes in the pinned thread. I put mine in there.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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My code is in the thread also, and I'm Southern Hemisphere, so I have different fish if anyone wants them...
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Skinypupy »

So, we played an active multiplayer game for the first time tonight, with Little B 11.0 and Wonder Twin 6.9b playing at the same time. Somehow, that implementation is even worse.

The active player is the "leader", the second player is the "follower". The leader is the only one who can accomplish any tasks, pick up any items, gain Nook miles, etc. The follower literally just...follows them around. Nothing they do gains them any advancement. No Nook points, they can't sell anything for bells, they can't even access their pockets. The follower can pick stuff up, but it doesn't go into their inventory, it goes into the general recycle bin...and the leader is the only one who can access the recycle bin.

You can switch the leader at any time, but we found that just caused more drama as they fought over who got to lead (because, honestly, why on earth would you want to play as the follower?). Got to the point where we had to just set a timer, and they would switch who was the leader and who was the follower when it went off. At the end of an hour, both kids said they had absolutely zero interest in playing the game together like that again.

It's baffling to me how such a solid game that is so wildly popular has such horribly bad multiplayer implementation. A simple split-screen would have been infinitely better than how it currently works.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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We're late to the party but loving the game. My wife got her Switch Lite early last week with Animal Crossing and started playing - then we lost power with no prospect of getting it back for days and it was suddenly a priority to get more Switches for me and the kids. In short, over one week, our family dropped close to $1000 on Switche Lites and 4 games. There's a bill that will come due, but man - sitting in the dark for 50 hours was a helluva lot more tolerable with a good handheld console.

Animal Crossing has completely absorbed my wife. She played the older DS version so much that she had $6m+ Bells in her bank account when she logged into it last (before she got her new Switch). I expect the new one will pull her in harder. All weekend she was glued to it, even after the power came on.

I'm enjoying it and actively avoiding looking up info about it. I want to be as surprised by the game progression as I can be, and it's been entertaining.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by freelunch »

Bumping this thread because why not?

My Southern Hemisphere island ("Canton") is open to friends for some of most days, and I've friended everyone in the pinned Switch thread. If anyone wants to try for different bugs or fish (or visit a different tailor) feel free to drop in. I see other OOers playing regularly but gates are rarely open.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Reemul »

Yeah i'm on a lot, i just forge to open up, will try to remember and will visit as well. I'm addicted, now on to relaying my island and knocking cliffs down etc, it's very addictive.
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by ChuckB »

Yes, will do the same - I think the only ones on my Switch friends list are from OO. My Switch name is ChuckB
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by freelunch »

ChuckB wrote: Tue Mar 24, 2020 9:11 pm Rats - Dodo airline has apparently flown me to Corona Island and I'm now discussing social distancing with the residents

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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

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Hangin' with ChuckB
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Paingod »

My wife and I have been at this game now for over two months. A little each day. I find it pretty relaxing. She just loves the calm as well. We often sit and play together once the house winds down and we're just chilling before bedtime with the TV on in the background.

There are a LOT of quality of life things I'd like to see, most of them from that fan video that was sent around a while back. Warning: This video cannot be unseen and may make you wish for the changes they demonstrate (which as far as I know Nintendo is not considering).
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by ChuckB »

I also enjoy AC, in parts because it is a relaxing and calm experience. I never play any mobile or idle/clicker games but assume they have a similar appeal, but ...

... I sometimes get angry about how disrespectful the game is to the player. Unfortunately, the video shows only a fraction of the possible QoL improvements and I'm not even a fan of streamlining everything to make this play as fast as possible (which is not the overall idea of the game anyway). Example: I earn so many Nook miles that I HAVE to exchange them for Bell vouchers from time to time (mainly because there is not much you can actually do with them). Each Bell voucher costs 500 miles (and gets you 3,000 bells) and it is only possible to exchange one voucher at a time and it takes 10 (TEN!) button presses to exchange the first voucher and then 7 (SEVEN!) button presses for each additional voucher (in addition to the waiting for the text to draw and the stupid voucher to print). This is just BS
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Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

Post by Paingod »

ChuckB wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2020 6:03 pmEach Bell voucher costs 500 miles (and gets you 3,000 bells) and it is only possible to exchange one voucher at a time and it takes 10 (TEN!) button presses to exchange the first voucher and then 7 (SEVEN!) button presses for each additional voucher (in addition to the waiting for the text to draw and the stupid voucher to print). This is just BS
The absolute tedium of normal tasks may be what kills the game for me. I'm totally fine with maintaining my island daily, but if I want to accomplish something, it can get tedious.

Fishing, for example. I've got millions of Bells in the bank. So much cash that I don't bother shaking my fruit trees anymore, or fishing for profit, or anything else that's just for money. But at the beginning of each month, there's some new fish to catch, some of them rare. The easiest way to do this is with fish bait and specific locations - rivers, ponds, cliffside rivers, ocean, pier. So I run around and shovel up clams. Button to dig, wait, hold it high, read the same message I've seen exactly 537 times, button to put away. Button to cover up the hole, wait until done. Move along.

I collect 20 clams. That's 60 button presses with 20 repeated text messages. Build them now? Head to a crafting station, press a button to open the menu and scroll down to Fish Bait. Press to craft, wait while built, review text message, press button to finish, wait a second, press button to continue building, wait for inventory to load, press button to craft fish bait and press button to confirm - repeat this process 20 times. Crafting adds 82 more button presses and 20 text messages. That's 142 button presses and 40 text messages to acquire and make 20 fish bait. I do the crafting process without looking at the screen and just watch TV. Press, wait, press, wait, press press. Press, wait, press, wait, press press. Press, wait, press, wait, press press.

I'd probably shake my trees for cash if I didn't have to physically walk to three sides of the tree to collect the fruit... from my 150 fruit trees.

Outside of the (I agree it's insulting to players) repetitive motions in the game, it is absolutely adorable and relaxing. Right now I'm trying to breed flowers and considering a complete renovation of my town to make it feel more organic and less grid-like.
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2021-01-20: The first good night's sleep I had in 4 years.
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