I love the series, but after having spent close to 300 hours across the 4 games I played, it becomes more and more apparent how empty they are. And this is theoretically the one with most to do.

Animal Crossing is an amazing experience but a mediocre game. The closest thing to it are farming simulators like Story of Seasons and Stardew. Except they have actually fleshed out characters, instead of hundreds of villagers with one out of a few personalities and some quirks. They do have a lot of charm, but they're inferior in every way. Which is why the game discourse goes more into "I love this villager because of how they look" as opposed to "I love the writing for this character". Outside of the store clerks and Isabelle.

The real time clock is a unique idea, but you'd need to play regularly for a year to get to see events. Which are the only time the game deviates. Someone could put 100 hours in one month and then get bored. The only reason they'd play more is when there's an event, potentially months after they stopped playing. Same about seasonal specific bugs and fish.

The activities are enjoyable but few. And their profitability varies a lot on season. Summer fish is the best way to make money for instance. The amount of time it takes to do things also means that progression is slow. Which is good for a game like this, but it builds up on the other frustrations, like it not having much to do.

The house decoration is fun, but with how grindy it is to expand your house and how you need to check the store daily to hopefully get things you like, it ends up taking too long for you to be able to play with it enough.

This and the Gamecube game are very treasured experiences of mine, but they are just not good games.