RolStoppable said:
Because it's about boring stuff. It's pretty comparable to The Sims in that regards, but it has its own twists and focus. |
That's really offensive and doesn't really answer the question.
I haven't played Animal Crossing (yet). To me, it borrows a little from the steam of the Harvest moon series, whereas in HM you had huge focus on farming, instead AC seems to focus on the village and 'social'/personalization part of the series. If it was just farming in HM, it would probably get boring really really fast. However, what you do has a heavy influence on your life in the village, because you have to make money to do certain things and also helps with socializing and building reputations with villagers...
It's kinda like a role playing fantasy world, but it's something you have a little more control over than in a standard role playing game where a pre-set story plays out along with building stats. So it's story-making, and girl's like that kinda stuff. Especially customization. Animal Crossing can also be played online too, I think? Harvest moon and Rune Factory do a good job of satisfying with plot mgmt, putting yourself into fantasy role, while also satisfying need to build stats, reach goals, achieve pivotal points in the game and finish activities...the cutesy artstyle and such lend itself to the fantasy world and keeps it non-serious ... it's entertaining for me to do because it's a relaxing passage of time, keeping you pretty well engaged in what you are doing and allows you a lot of customization. I play those games when I want to take a break from life and it is actually good for my concentration. You feel not only a sense of accomplishment from playing, but making something that is uniquely you... I may have played some of the games more than a few times, but each time I start, I do something different and it's interesting to see how it turns out (the farming/money making particularly). It doesn't take itself seriously and you can have fantasy marriages, even though most of the time it is a guy, so there's always that romance element... it just gives you a lot to do and ways to influence the outcome. Unlike in most games, where you're always trying to get to one main point in the plot-line.
I'm really interested in Fantasy Life when it comes overseas... if I had a 3DS (yet), I would just play the Japanese version. It kinda reminds me of Tactics a little bit for some reason because of all the 'roles'... I haven't tried to read any reviews on it yet, but I'm betting it's good.
Wii U sales make me sad. I'm beginning to wonder how much the Japanese really care about graphics... because... of the handhelds, the graphically lowest one is doing fantastic. The PSP has way worse graphics than the PS Vita and yet the Japanese seem unmoved to upgrade... I mean, a lot of games are animu style stuff... it's nothing ground-breaking. So you have to wonder, if maybe... it's more the artstyle versus the graphics that are a huge pull there. One of the Nintendo Wii U's big selling points was the graphics and HD quality gameplay and yet... they are unmoved to do the upgrade it seems. Could naturally also be the lack of games... it's just an idea I had. I don't think the Wii U is having a drought or anything like that though.
