Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp/YMMV


 * Author's Saving Throw: In a rare move by Nintendo, especially during the game's 2.0.0 run, they took notice of the negative feedback regarding Gulliver's Ship post-2.6.0 and attempted this. These are the things they decided to fix: (applicable starting from November 21, 2019)
 * Any item can be exported to any island instead of being restricted by island requirement.
 * Bells needed for quick refresh are lowered.
 * Export points needed and time taken for a voyage are reduced.
 * Cargo items other than the golden package no longer require sparkle stones to craft.
 * The number of snacks received as souvenirs are increased.
 * Ear Worm: Considering how often a player boots up the title screen (hey, it's a mobile game that runs with Play Every Day), one might not help but hear the theme tune in their head even when not playing. This also extends to the rest of the soundtrack.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: Cashed in by Nintendo in the form of event fortune cookies. Much of the event fortune cookies star animals that are already these to begin with according to the fanbase (Marshal, Rosie, Filbert, etc.). The fan-favorite rabbit sisters Chrissy and Francine are the most notable, being the only ones to share an event fortune cookie theme together.
 * Game Breaker: Conceptually, the Leaf Tickets serve as this like a typical premium currency. They are used to speed up crafting times, upgrade inventory/Market Box slots, use special event tools, among others, making upgrades/completion much quicker and often leave the player with little to do after that. But this is downplayed by the fact that the Fortune Cookie Shop is purely luck-based regardless of paying method, though cookies bought with Leaf Tickets allow the player to gain stamps which in turn become a Stamp Card per 10 stamps. Note that Stamp Cards are the only way to claim a fortune cookie or re-issued event item of the player's choice (at least for the latter, this was until the introduction of the Reissued Items crafting event itself).
 * Genius Bonus: Wedding-themed event items are the spotlight every June, with 2019's June even including a Fluffy Cloud Heaven aesthetic. June is a month associated with weddings, as it is named after Juno, the goddess of marriage.
 * Good Bad Bugs: Clipping quirks with the camera (especially inside the cabin) can cause any shots with the player lying on bed, if close enough, to make said bed disappear, making the player look like they are sleeping on the floor. Naturally, players can exploit this for hilarious photos, especially combined with certain furniture and/or animal placement.
 * Replacement Scrappy:
 * Since the Gyroidite Collection scavenger hunt event (which features static figures of the past collectibles as furniture), it appears that some fans are tired of the gyroidites altogether and would rather have the normal gyroids (which are, other than the Lloid character, unavailable in this game) from the main games.
 * Gulliver has the misfortune of, according to the playerbase, becoming this to himself. The Scrappy Mechanic entry down this page explains why.
 * Scrappy Level: Happy Homeroom's event classes in general, but the following are the ones that stand out.
 * Any of the event classes tied to event fortune cookies. Pay-to-win is in full force due to its gacha mechanic, and not even "Good eye!" items can help enough. 3-medalling this type of class demands having the entire set. Even merely passing (1 medal minimum) requires having at least one such item at the easiest difficulties. While it is alleviated somewhat starting from the introduction of Cherry's Rockin' Cookie whose tie-in classes also require non-event items (which also applies to all non-cookie event classes since then) and eased a bit further with non-exact items giving a "Flawless!" rating as long as they fit the theme (applies to all classes since the introduction of the Grim Rosewater Cookie's tie-in class), 3-medalling these classes is still out of the question if the RNG is against the player (or they are not a "whale").
 * The Party Balloons Room 3 class, for being the first non-cookie event class to throw a premium item into the mix. Said item costs 120 Leaf Tickets (remember that these are costly already in real-life money). Thankfully, this is not as bad as a later premium-required event class mentioned below, as it is possible to easily get a "Good eye!" from other furniture from the "toy" category, provided the player at least has everything else if they want to get all 3 Medals from this class.
 * Probably one of the lowest points from Nintendo is the event class Gyroidite Collection 3. It is bad enough that the player has to grind for a lot of those pesky kingly gyroidites to even craft the event's spotlight item, the kingly-gyroidite statue (500 required). How about throwing a very expensive premium item into the mix? That's right! The 200-LT gyroidite statue is required for the best score, so better pay up, bud. Sure it can be covered up with another item as an alternate way for 3-medalling it, but this event introduces the "gyroid" furniture category, which that statue belongs to... so no other furniture use for the poor player. And all the furniture belonging to this category so far only appears in this scavenger hunt event, so happy grinding!
 * Pop Quiz classes. During that type's early run, it was doable by using all the items obtained from completing the main events (gardening, fishing, scavenger hunt, seasonal). However, it did not take long for this class type to also slip in required items that can only be obtained from special fortune cookies. Good luck trying to 3-medal them.
 * Scrappy Mechanic:
 * The fortune cookie system, that is all. Unsurprising, as this is the game's take on the gacha system.
 * Since version 2.2.0 that introduces the Happy Homeroom mini-game, this has become worse, especially if the poor player ends up dumping all the common fortune cookie items on Gulliver. Later normal levels of Happy Homeroom pretty much require this type of item if the player wants a chance on 3-medal-ing them, or even just get a passing grade at least.
 * For that matter, the Stamp Cards. To get one, get 10 stamps. To get stamps, buy fortune cookies using Leaf Tickets. While this should not be bad on its own, the trading system is what makes it loathed. It is not enough that it takes around 500 Leaf Tickets (and these are costly in real life money, with a US dollar being equal to 20 Leaf Tickets) to get one measly Stamp Card, but most available items take more than one Stamp Card to get. It does not help that the only way to lessen this effort is to buy "a pack of five" fortune cookies, which... only gives one bonus stamp on top of the five from the cookies.
 * The campsite's 40-furniture limit. Depending on a player's decorating style, this can be easily reached and yet still leaves some empty spaces worth decorating, yet cannot.
 * During Fishing Tourneys, Chip will always tempt the player into renting the golden rod (costs 80 Leaf Tickets) after fish submissions. Players who are not careful with their finger taps tend to end up renting it, wasting Leaf Tickets for those who do not want it. He does this. Every. Single. Tourney. Thankfully he stops talking about it after the first few submissions unless the player deliberately wants it, but it is still annoying. He no longer does this since the debut of Fishing Tourney (Aquarium), but... see a later entry down this list.
 * The garden events. Luck-Based Mission should never be placed on top of Luck-Based Mission in a heavily time-consuming Timed Mission. To elaborate, the player plants seasonal flowers, wait for them to grow (or use flower food... or get Lloid's help), then see if rare creatures show up upon bloom. That is not enough. Capturing them is the second Luck-Based Mission, meaning it is possible to spawn many creatures yet miss every single one of them. Collaborating with active friends just slightly reduces the annoyance.
 * Gulliver. The player can trade items with him in exchange of some snacks (and even exclusive animals) instead of selling them for a few Bells. There are reasons why "trash bird" is his derogatory nickname by the fandom, aside from his main function. For one thing, giving him items is done one. By. One. Second, applicable in pre-2.6.0 versions, much of the mechanics beyond the basic trading itself is Guide Dang It, so good luck trying to figure out a suitable trade to get the snacks/animals the player wants. Even then, there is still RNG for the chance of bonus stuff (yes, the exclusive animals are part of it).
 * The 2.6.0 revamp managed to make it even worse. Once the update went live, it did not take long for players to loathe the new Gulliver's Ship. While reward variety has been increased (not just snacks and maps), the mechanics behind this have made things too tedious. First, the three islands are randomly-generated each with their own reward pool and item requirements for a single trip. Even though the player can refresh the islands (though this can waste either time or Bells depending on the player's preferred method of refreshing), getting the islands they want remains a Luck-Based Mission of its own, especially with the fact that the player can get the same unwanted islands again even if they have cleared it (except for special islands; a special island disappears when 100% of its rewards have been obtained). Second, the item requirements. Now, the cargo quality points are clearly shown on-screen when the player attempts to load items, but the catch is that, as mentioned earlier, an island only accepts certain types of items. Worse, certain islands impose load limits per trip on certain items, so loading duplicates of those items are pretty much prohibited. A trip can only be made if the loaded items fulfill the point requirement. Woe betide the player if they do not have the required items, especially on map-filled islands, which brings up the third problem: the cargo. Cargo are new items the player can craft, varying in type, color, and quality. But all three share the same problem, which is the massive reliance on valuable materials to craft just one. All of them require sparkle stones (while easier to obtain many of them this time, these are still highly valuable), and do not even get started with the best cargo item, the golden package (150 points), which costs more sparkle stones and adds the more limited HH materials to the mix. Good luck getting all the new animals from the new Gulliver's Ship!
 * Thankfully, Nintendo decided to address the various issues related to this. See Author's Saving Throw above.
 * The hyped Reissued Items event manages to garner complaints from the playerbase, for one good reason: The sheer amount of resources required to craft them. Crafting one item from this event requires not only a type of common material and an essence, but also sparkle stones and HH materials, which are hard to grind in huge amounts unless the player has played for a long time and prefers to preserve rare materials, as well as the newly-introduced reissue materials, which can only be obtained from clearing Goals, clearing their maps, or buying Leaf Ticket packs containing said material. Crafting price varies from 30,000-350,000 Bells, which is expensive for newcomers. Only premium items are exempt from this, but of course, these cost Leaf Tickets in the first place. Not to mention, if the player missed out literally every item featured and wants them all in the on-going event, the resources are not enough to craft them all before the event ends.
 * Any of the Collection events. These feature wall, floor, or clothing items locked behind paywall (with a few exceptions from the wall and floor ones having at least one that costs Bells and the regular crafting materials, though this is obviously uncommon). It finally culminated in the Backpack Collection event, which once again, locks the new-to-the-series back accessories behind Leaf Tickets (the very first such item is locked behind event fortune cookies). Costing nearly 1,000 Leaf Tickets in total, the playerbase has erupted in anger over Nintendo's decision. And it only got worse with the introduction of Rock-Star Collection right after that, which features 15 premium items.
 * The maps, especially after becoming prominent event rewards instead of obtaining the reward items directly. These drain resources very quickly and the player has no way of getting rid of unexplored/incomplete ones, basically turning them into another paywall that locks players from animals and items they can usually obtain for free. Even if the player is rich, expect a very quick Bell, essence, and friend powder drainage.
 * Since version 2.4.0, the Happy Homeroom minigame will nag the player to replenish HH Vouchers if they happen to run out without any Golden HH Vouchers to use. Worse, the Replenish button is right at the bottom where the player will be more likely to tap (it is the same position as the class start button) and thus accidentally lose Leaf Tickets! Stop Helping Me, game! Seriously!
 * Note that the similar kind of nag screen is also applied to garden events, albeit less risky than the above, but it is still annoying as it either invokes Viewers are Morons or tries to encourage players to spend resources (thus, at the end, their real life money).
 * The Fishing Tourney version is even more dangerous. Careless players tapping anywhere to either fish or just walk to another spot can end up wasting 80 Leaf Tickets here.
 * Those with the golden rod can not get away scot-free either, especially if they never even use the pricey throw nets in the current Tourney. This event also features another nag screen advertising the lg. tourney throw net (just 20 Leaf Tickets, so buy, buy, buy!). Sure there is no "buy" button on the screen in this case, but it looks as if Nintendo is too desperate.
 * One of the updates allows favoriting items to keep them from being accidentally sold or given to Gulliver. Considering the loads and loads of items a player can collect, keeping certain ones in their own list seems fine. However, items obtained from events are automatically favorited by default, so players that do not want them have to tediously unfavorite them every time they get them.
 * Crosses over with Tainted by the Preview. The service is not even out yet at the time of this writing, but once the announcement of the paid membership service Pocket Camp Club was dropped, players began to throw a fit. It also does not help that the service starts running at the same date that Nintendo addressed the new Gulliver's Ship, implying that the warehouse feature means limiting certain items from being dumped anyway despite "allowing any item to be dumped" being one of the promised fixes. Players also hate that the additional Freemium means that their money will inevitably get sucked dry if they continue playing even without paying mind to the service since Nintendo loves giving away more event items that can be potentially unable to be sold/dumped. It can also be compared with Mario Kart Tour's Gold Pass, which is similarly scrappy for Bribing Your Way to Victory, locking out the score-friendly 200cc (Scoring Points being the key to victory in that game), additional achievements (which also help in obtaining all the offered rewards), and certain rewards including exclusive karts and gliders (certain tracks require these exclusives for the best score, see the first point). The Bribing Your Way to Victory in Pocket Camp comes in with one plan implying that the player does not have to play the game every 3 hours to keep up with everything and another implying easier Memory unlock due to this particular plan giving away fortune cookies.
 * That One Sidequest: Anything not tied to the events (as the game otherwise has zero final objective) can be considered this if they are too tedious to complete.
 * The regular fortune cookie items (Timmy's, Tommy's, clothing cookies) are the hardest non-event items to complete because of the sheer reliance on RNG to get them all. Unlike the event cookies, these are the only ones that cannot be bought with Leaf Tickets, so getting them to even appear requires lots of patience when the player is not abusing the "any item" request that allows them to gift an animal a rare item which in turn can potentially reward the player with such cookies. Last Lousy Point is inevitable as the player begins to hunt for the last missing ones only to run into duplicates of stuff they already have.
 * Getting all the regular Market Place items. Every few hours, the Market Place's items change, so once Last Lousy Point begins, the player has no choice but to watch the location like a hawk to see if it has items the player does not have yet. Worse, outside of certain circumstances (like certain clothes being obtainable from level 7 animals), there are no other ways to bypass this.
 * How about accumulating five-digit amount of caps from the Brake Tapper mini-game to get all the OK Motors items? While there is timing required to consistently get caps, the amount obtained is abysmally small per spin (normally 5, 30 from Big Win, 50 from Huge Win). Keep in mind that playing the Brake Tapper itself requires friend powder, which is not easy to come by (in large amounts anyway; the player can still get a tiny amount from watering friends' gardens, cross-pollination, and certain Goals) unless a garden event is going on.
 * Obtaining all animals from Gulliver's service. This is pure Luck-Based Mission. Since Gulliver's overhaul in version 2.6.0, this section is divided into two, as both are considered scrappy by players:
 * In versions pre-2.6.0, apart from the need to include duplicates in the item dump to trigger the bonus easier, nothing influences how likely the player will get the exclusive animal/map from said bonus. Once the player is down to very few animals/maps still yet to be obtained, get ready to waste time being greeted with constant bonuses of generic treats until the RNG finally smiles. For the maps, however, there is still a required extra step of completing them first before getting the animals associated with them. These drain essences pretty quickly and make the player grateful that instantly clearing non-Leaf Ticket maps only requires 5 Leaf Tickets.
 * The new Gulliver's Ship, meanwhile, amps up the Luck-Based Mission and tedium by having the animal maps contained in special islands that have a very low chance to appear during a refresh. It takes days to get a free refresh, and while the player can use Bells to do it earlier, it costs 300,000! There more than 90 islands, and with such low chances of getting special islands (and it is possible to get the same islands again, including special ones if they are not cleared yet) let alone map-contained ones, this can empty the player's Bells very quickly. And even if the player gets the coveted "X and Pals' Island", these islands only accept cargo, which the player can only obtain by crafting, but is a drain on valuable materials. The player also cannot cheat their way by loading duplicates of the same high point cargo, as the islands impose certain cargo with how many they can be loaded at a time. And 200 points are required to make the trip possible. And it takes around 6 cycles to finish (Leaf Tickets can make the trip finish faster, hint, hint), and even then the souvenir offered may not contain the map the player wants unless the reward pool is low enough to at least certainly contain it. Remember, the player can only take one souvenir for free at a time (unless the player uses Leaf Tickets), and must send off Gulliver again for another free try if they did not get the map they wanted. Doing this as a purely F2P player can possibly take months or even years, and that is if the resources are not running out first. Note that the aforementioned issues have been toned down starting from November 21, 2019. See Author's Saving Throw above.
 * Getting all the non-event flower trade items. This requires a lot of time investment and luck at the garden due to its cross-pollination mechanic. Not to mention that it requires a lot of flowers (including the very rare blue tulips/purple pansies) to get everything.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks:
 * The version 2.2.0 app icon and title screen are badly received. Players complain how cluttered these look compared to the more "humble" looks in the previous versions. It also does not help that these also come with a really bright color scheme (the spring version of the old title screen was also very bright, yet players did not complain as much due to its appearance) which can strain the eyes.
 * No surprise, players do not miss this color scheme once the game receives its November 21, 2019 update, which changes into a warm pink color that is more pleasing to the eyes.
 * Post-Golden Week 2019, the daily log-in rewards see the free Leaf Ticket rewards being Nerfed from 15 to 9 per week and no tools (fertilizer, nets, honey, request tickets, calling cards) being rewarded at all, with the rest being filled with Bells and treats. Combined with the more predatory direction when it comes to premium content since then, players' complains have become even louder and they begin to concern about the franchise's bad impression even being brought over to the upcoming Nintendo Switch title.
 * Despite maintenance not even being finished yet, the 2.4.0 update got lambasted for changing Shovelstrike Quarry's item cycle from every 3 hours to 12 hours (as compensation, the amount of rewards given away per visit gets a buff in this update), which can indirectly cause further Difficulty Spike to Gyroidite Scavenger Hunt events.
 * Since the August 20, 2019 update, some creatures have been rotated out as new ones were introduced. Ironically, this received a mixed reaction from players, despite creatures being unobtainable after a certain time period has passed being nothing new to the game. Until this is officially confirmed to work similarly to the seasonal creature rotation in the main games, this will remain the case.
 * Overall, the 2.6.0 update left a bad taste in players' mouths. Bad enough to start a flood of 1-star reviews... which tend to suspiciously vanish or have their ratings increased to 5 stars while retaining the negative comments. Here are the highlights:
 * The new Gulliver's Ship. See Scrappy Mechanic above for why.
 * Players are also not fond of the Nerf applied to Fishing Tourney spawns per cycle.