I have decided to upgrade to a 3DS XL. My 3DS feels too small for my hands and ends up hurting after a while. The best upgrade option I can think of is to get the Animal Crossing 3DS XL. They don't sell white 3DS XLs on their own yet so this seemed like a good opportunity. Sure, there's no "Fuck you, pay me" version but this will do.

I have wanted to play animal crossing but never got round to it before. It looks kind of weird without any real point. So please enlighten me. I want to know what I am getting myself in to. I know this version isn't out yet, but reviews should hit a week before it comes out in the UK which will give me time to cancel my order if this incarnation is bad but assuming I'm going to get it, I want to know what it is all about.

Is there a main objective? Is there progression? Is there an economy? Is there XP/Levelling? What is the main gameplay even?

All these questions and many more. I could just go watch videos but I want to hear it from you guys.

@alistercat: It's a game about daily live in a town. You play a character living his/her daily life, chatting with the locals, going fishing (and in this new entry, swimming), hunting for fossils, gathering fruit, leaving messages for friends, customizing your house and your clothes, and generally just having a relaxing time. There's no main objective, save perhaps paying off the debt on your house, on which there is no time limit.

The game is based on real time, so whatever date and time it is in real life, it is in the game. So certain days will play host to in-game holidays and other special events. One major new thing about the game, however, is that this time around, you're the mayor of the town, so there are more customization options than in past games, allowing you to make changes and improvements to the town.

But really, it's just a relaxing game where you hang out with your animal buds and learn to curse the name of Tom Nook.

The main objective is to pay off your loan to Tom Nook. The progression comes with that. There are different stages of your mortgage, and whenever you pay one part off you get an upgrade to your house (more floor space, upper floor, side rooms etc.). The game 'ends' when you've payed off the last loan and fully upgraded your house.

There's no XP or leveling system.

The gameplay comes from you walking around town, meeting people, doing odd jobs for the residents to make money, and trying to find collectibles in the form of paintings, fossils, bugs, and fish which can go on display at your towns museum.

This seems to sum it up nicely, I think.

It's a walk around, do a little gardening, do a little fishing, dig up a couple of fossils and talk to your friends simulator.

Think of it a daily 15 minute escape to another world free from the hustle & bustle, noise of traffic and screaming neighbours and that pushy boss and stressful demands of everyday modern life and it becomes its own form of meditation.

Is there a point? Is there a goal? Sometimes the lack of these things is all you need to unwind.

There are some very general goals, but nothing substantial. It'll never tell you that you have to do something outside of the tutorial. The most they'll ever do is offer up rewards for doing something (ex: pay off your house loan in order to expand it's size or add on new rooms), and its up to you if you care about that reward or not. They give you the tools to do what you want, and you do just that basically.

There's a lot of collection involved. You may want to set up your house in a certain way, prove you're a master fisherman and catch every fish, create your dream town, hang with friends online, etc. etc. Most everything you do involves earning money to fund whatever activities you enjoy in game. It mainly just supposed to be a relaxing do whatever kind of game. Everything happens in real time, so the pacing is slower than most games. I tend to just go through a routine and spend an hour or so playing each day.

You know there's a wiki here, right?

People should mention in this new game you are the mayor of the town, and that has its own mechanics to go with it from what I know.

@dan_citi said:

What happened to Tortimer? He was dope!

There is a certain zen aspect to these games after you play them enough. I played the original daily for over a year or so and have played the various sequels quite a bit too and I have found this in every one of them. You build daily routines (weeding, collecting fruit, finding and identifying fossils, etc.) that you fall into. There is no real objective, just to live in town, run errands for the villagers and stuff like that. Fishing is by far my favourite thing. I find it incredibly relaxing to do.

There is a reason a lot of people (myself included) call it Animal Crack. It seems really weird but it can be incredibly addicting.

Tortimer has retired to a tropical island and is living the good life.

@jjweatherman: I was looking for slightly less dense and detailed explanations. Wiki's aren't always written in a way to introduce someone to a game.

Everyone so far has been very helpful.

The main thing I always enjoyed was talking to all the citizens each day, meeting ones who had just moved in, driving away the ones I didn't like by assaulting them with the bug net, etc.

The little exchanges you can have with them are just really funny and endearing.

@alistercat: In my experience (99% of which was the DS version), for the first few weeks, you'll play it a lot. And then it starts to transition into this daily routine of making your rounds through the town each day checking for fossils, fish, bugs, and cashing in fruit harvests. But there's always holidays and especially seasonal changes that will bring you back to the game months down the line.

So I'm intrigued to try an animal crossing game. Should I get the new one, or should I get an older ds one?

Does it even matter? Help me understand, duders.

I doubt the differences will be big enough for it to really mean much. Personally I'm getting the new one but if your not sure a cheap copy of Wild World on DS would probably be a safer jumping off point.

If you have the $35, I'd just go ahead and jump into the new one. It's got a bunch of new features considering the DS game is eight years old.