I've had a blast, but....

[Geekgirl]

I have really enjoyed playing this game on my PC and on my Switch.

I bought two copies of the game and regret nothing. I've over 80 hours in this play through and have restarted once, so in my head, money to playtime value means the game has been a solid win.

However, and I understand we're in early access and more will be released, I am pretty much done with everything available to me.

My character is max level.
Realms and biomes are unlocked.
Max friendship level achieved.
Boat, garden, store, restaurant are all at max.
Quests are complete.
Just running around and playing I have chests full of mats/parts.

So... now what? Why would I play daily? Why log in? I'm not trying to bait anyone here, I am just wondering what the intended long-term draw is going to be.

Does anyone else feel like progression might be too fast? I think they could slow everything down by half and it still wouldn't feel slow.

Animal Crossing was my main game prior to this, and so I'm used to things either taking a beat to happen (even with TT), and this still feels really fast to me.

[HeartClock]

Based on the things that you listed, I assume you didn't decorate your house nor the valley (aside from the quests with Scrooge)? Part of the game is to be creative with how your home and the valley look. So if you are bored, you can always do some redesigning/rearrangements with the furniture and stuff.

Also, I think the reason why you think the progression is too fast is because you're rushing things a bit, just like many players tend to do, it seems. You're supposed to take your time. I've been playing this game since September and I still have a few quests to do. Granted, there was a small period where I didn't play the game at all, but still.

But if you really wanna know what's going to make the game last when it will be fully finished: just check the castle and count all the doors in there, as well as the possible characters that won't have a realm (like Ariel or Stitch right now). Add to that the possibility to decorate the valley (and your house) however you want, along with the multiplayer feature that will be implemented.

EDIT: just adding one last thing: the devs seem to be trying to find ways to make the progression slower (as seen with some of Stitch's quests), so I guess they realized players were finishing new content too fast. That said, I think it's okay for players to move onto other games until a new update arrives. In fact, I think it's pretty much what tends to happen with Early Access games, seeing as how long developing new content can take.

[RedLouis_NL]

I am still busy with unlocking all critters and crafting all recipes. Also the challenges under dreamlight duties take a lot of time. To really complete the game it takes more than just completing quests for me.

[Geekgirl]

I just want to say that I appreciate your responses and your takes on things.

I also guess I understand the idea that I have may have "rushed through". I don't feel like I played this game "faster" than I normally would or pushed anything - I didn't time travel or look up ways to finish quests and whatnot. I just happen to have a LOT of time to play during the day. And maybe that's the hitch? (One I am fully willing to accept, by the way - it's really part of why I started the conversation). Perhaps I just play more than what the devs initially anticipated. You know? If they expect the typical player to play, say six hours a week, but I am playing three hours a day... it makes a difference, you know?

[Bleep]

i bought this game in november. max'd health, open'd biomes, (basically everything, like you). i'm retired, so..... aside from getting occasional memories, moonstones, and other items that pop up (every day!) it only "worth it" if you like playing. i do. but i agree... it's getting tedious. i'm not interested in "fixing the house" (i'm NEVER there). i also don't befriend the animals (they're doing ok without any help). the "never ends and you will not complete" quests bored me pretty early on. but, like acnh and stardew, it's a pretty good game.

[HeartClock]

Originally posted by GeekGirl717:

I just want to say that I appreciate your responses and your takes on things.

I also guess I understand the idea that I have may have "rushed through". I don't feel like I played this game "faster" than I normally would or pushed anything - I didn't time travel or look up ways to finish quests and whatnot. I just happen to have a LOT of time to play during the day. And maybe that's the hitch? (One I am fully willing to accept, by the way - it's really part of why I started the conversation). Perhaps I just play more than what the devs initially anticipated. You know? If they expect the typical player to play, say six hours a week, but I am playing three hours a day... it makes a difference, you know?

You didn't play the game "faster", but you probably didn't play it "more slowly" either, which might be why you ended up "rushing" through the game. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does eventually lead to a temporary lack of stuff to do. This game is meant to be enjoyed at a slow pace, after all.

I happen to have a lot of time during the day too, but I still took a REALLY long time to do all the quests and I still have a few to do + lots of decorating. If you want a reason to log in everyday, then I suggest playing this game less, and instead playing a different game or doing a different activity the rest of the day. That's what I've been doing lately to make sure I still have stuff to do everyday until the next update comes.

[kitsuneblue]

to be fair there is going to be a lot more to the final game, more characters and I am guessing areas, just look how many locked doors are in the castle. If they slow it down any more then the finished game will go way to slow.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

I just spend time working on the collection quests. I only spend a few minutes each day working on fishing one or two of the areas, mining gems, feeding critters, or foraging spices.

While I got a few areas complete, most just keep expanding the total count required so I doubt you were able to get them all done in 80 hours. I am almost at 300 hours and not even close...but I do limit my time so it doesn't get grindy.

[Katterang]

Originally posted by GeekGirl717:

I just want to say that I appreciate your responses and your takes on things.

I also guess I understand the idea that I have may have "rushed through". I don't feel like I played this game "faster" than I normally would or pushed anything - I didn't time travel or look up ways to finish quests and whatnot. I just happen to have a LOT of time to play during the day. And maybe that's the hitch? (One I am fully willing to accept, by the way - it's really part of why I started the conversation). Perhaps I just play more than what the devs initially anticipated. You know? If they expect the typical player to play, say six hours a week, but I am playing three hours a day... it makes a difference, you know?

I've been in the same exact spot myself. Currently am to be honest. I am on Stitch's last quest for level 10 and it felt rather rushed for me, but I also played 3-5 hours a day when I wasn't working as much. Now I spend about 1-2 hours and play another game as well on top of it. Usually just daily things at this point, I check for if anything is available, though with the critters, most of them are in the mornings when I'm at work or when I'm asleep already

[donlotiel]

I am retired & when I found this game, I spent way too much time getting things done. To be honest, I wasn't even sure what "early access" meant, (all games I've played that were still in production were considered Beta versions). If I had known this one was basically in Beta, I would have slowed down & not tried to finish things so quickly. Now I've got everything done, so I just piddle around fishing, mining, foraging, etc. Scrooge's inventory leaves a lot to be desired, so I just decorate with what I have for now. I moved all my houses to the Meadow to make a neighborhood, made parks in the plaza. Now I'm thinking of totally redoing everything. But even with all the quests & stuff done, I still enjoy being in the game. I do not regret my purchase & will look forward to all the great stuff they will give us in the future.

[Skyerunner]

I too love the game but have done everything. It would help immensely if Scrooge's store ever had anything new or that I don't already own. I'd be more apt to do more decorating. I also think they should slow down the friendship quests.

What I really think would help is if each day a random character or two had some sort of daily quest (the duties get pretty boring after a while). These dailies could award random silly stuff or random useful items (two iron, five snowballs, etc) or, even better, points that could be used to buy more slots in our storage chests.

It would also be fun if we could invite characters over to our houses for a get-together. Not just one we've tagged to hang out with and certainly not all of them. They could just sit around and babble for a while and then leave. Maybe we could go to Remy's, make someone their requested meal and sit down with them while they eat it.

[Delta_BOSS]

Game has been released way too early:
- Missing some basic major Disney characters
- Has huge potential, but... Game isn't finished in its current state.

[MadDawg2552]

Originally posted by HeartClock:

Also, I think the reason why you think the progression is too fast is because you're rushing things a bit, just like many players tend to do, it seems.

I didn't rush the new content. I did only one quest per day and I finished all the content before Christmas.

The daily tasks in the game right now:

- Pick all of Wall-E's veggables
- Steal fish from Moana's boat
- Clear the 10 night thorns
- Pick up the gold and purple chests (play every day to at least get the purple chest for the 10 free moonstones... they add up over time)
- Break all the rocks, water all the mushrooms, dig all the shiny holes
- Give favorite gifts and talk to villagers (until you complete the dreamlight duties)
- Feed all the animals (until they are all your friends and you've completed the dreamlight duties)
- I might have missed one

Doing all that should take up an hour of your playtime, then you can go play another game.

[Geekgirl]

Originally posted by MadDawg2552:

Originally posted by HeartClock:

Also, I think the reason why you think the progression is too fast is because you're rushing things a bit, just like many players tend to do, it seems.

I didn't rush the new content. I did only one quest per day and I finished all the content before Christmas.

The daily tasks in the game right now:

- Pick all of Wall-E's veggables
- Steal fish from Moana's boat
- Clear the 10 night thorns
- Pick up the gold and purple chests (play every day to at least get the purple chest for the 10 free moonstones... they add up over time)
- Break all the rocks, water all the mushrooms, dig all the shiny holes
- Give favorite gifts and talk to villagers (until you complete the dreamlight duties)
- Feed all the animals (until they are all your friends and you've completed the dreamlight duties)
- I might have missed one

Doing all that should take up an hour of your playtime, then you can go play another game.

This is where I am at as well.

Again... I enjoy the game and I have had a great time playing. I really, really like the game and will recommend it to folks. This is not that kind of a post.

I am legitimately trying to begin conversation on what the long-term draw is going to be moving forward. As a game "with no end" it needs a hook to keep people logging in.

Everyone who has responded with decorating is right--the players who love to make areas and picturesque spots in game with decorating and rearranging definitely have a great platform. I have seen so many cute posts already on Reddit and Instagram. Much like ACNH, there's a lot of great furniture that you can both purchase or build, and so it opens up a lot for players to do. And there are SO MANY creative people. So that's great!

If they enjoy decorating.

I mean...

Some of us just aren't any good at it. Some of us have spatial issues in games. Some of us have mobility issues that make lining things up difficult. Decorating on the PC vs on the Switch are two COMPLETELY different experiences on a mobility level. For some players logging in to decorate is not going to be the hook.

Again, I also understand we're in early access. But I also think that this is where these misses will be caught, I think this is where we're supposed to catch them.

So I am asking...

If you're not into decorating what would be your hook?

For me? I think, again, progression could be halved and it would still feel progressive. Part of the reason for that line of thinking is that with the re-spawning resources and farming happening so quickly, there is always something to do while you're working toward the larger, far-reaching goals.

I'd also love to see more resource-needing quests. Yes... like the clock towers. They took a while to do and I liked that.

I like the most recent quest line being a slow burner, it gives you something to look forward to.

[donlotiel]

Originally posted by Skyerunner:

I too love the game but have done everything. It would help immensely if Scrooge's store ever had anything new or that I don't already own. I'd be more apt to do more decorating. I also think they should slow down the friendship quests.

What I really think would help is if each day a random character or two had some sort of daily quest (the duties get pretty boring after a while). These dailies could award random silly stuff or random useful items (two iron, five snowballs, etc) or, even better, points that could be used to buy more slots in our storage chests.

It would also be fun if we could invite characters over to our houses for a get-together. Not just one we've tagged to hang out with and certainly not all of them. They could just sit around and babble for a while and then leave. Maybe we could go to Remy's, make someone their requested meal and sit down with them while they eat it.

There's some great ideas here! They really need to do something about Scrooge's store. So many repeat items, empty shelves, etc. It would be nice if his store didn't restock once every 24 hrs. I think that if we buy an item, that slot is automatically filled with another item.

And I like that daily quest thing. It wouldn't have to be anything big. Just some little something to do to get stuff.

And I also think our avatars could interact more with the characters. They wave & speak to us & we just stand there & look at them. At least let us wave back.........lol!

[MadDawg2552]

Originally posted by GeekGirl717:

I think, again, progression could be halved and it would still feel progressive. Part of the reason for that line of thinking is that with the re-spawning resources and farming happening so quickly, there is always something to do while you're working toward the larger, far-reaching goals.

I think slowing down progress would only make things worse, not better. If I know there are quests available and I'm locked out of them for no particular reason other than padding, I wouldn't like it. The Stitch quests made sense story-wise, and there were other quests to do to fill the time, as well as the star path.

Unless you mean "collect 200 clay" instead of "collect 100 clay"... though I think that would make people mad, too.

I think a short-term solution is just to make daily repeatable quests that villagers give you and they can reward you with hard-to-find resources (like that clay I mentioned, or snowballs) or maybe a food item... or possibly even a furniture item from their collection.