Animal Crossing: New Leaf First Week Impressions

 

I'm not wearing shoes!

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the fourth installment in Nintendo's wildly popular life/world/happiness simulator. This version rolled out onto the 3DS on Sunday, June 9th, and I have been working tirelessly to bring you first hand information! What do I like, what don't I like? What's new? What's familiar? What's missing that I wish remained? As a veteran and fan of the series since its start on the Gamecube in 2001, I feel qualified to share this information!

What's new?

So many things. Shoes and socks are now purchasable, as well as pants, skirts, tank tops, dresses, and t-shirts. The customization options are huge! More bugs, more fish, and aquatic life such as urchins, sand dollars, and anemones! NEW FRUIT! Players earn badges from Phineas as they meet milestones in-game, there's an island awaiting your presence with tropical fish year round, and SWIMMING! Players can purchase a wetsuit (or rent one while on the island) to swim for fun and also to dive for hidden treasures and creatures. When you move into town you get to choose where your house goes! Players become mayor of their town, then choose projects to build (such as bridges, benches, and street lights) in order to liven up the area and make citizens happier. Oh, and you even get to choose where those items go! Ordinances can also be placed into effect, changing how the your town functions. Some choices include Early Bird, Beautify, and Big Bells. They make the town livelier in the mornings, make flowers grow more frequently and never wilt, and make it so shops pay more for your items, respectively. There are many ordinances to choose from in order to suit each individual player's needs! And believe it or not, there's even more beyond my ramblings!

 

Once a day for 2 play coins, you can buy a fortune cookie. Exchange the fortune for a rare prize!

What stood out right away?

NEW FLOWERS AND FRUIT! This was seriously a long time coming. I love being able to change individual aspects of my outfit, and I love that there are so many more shops to pop into. Nook now runs the Home Improvement store, which he shares with Lyle. Nook still sells home upgrades, but now he also sells customization of doors, roofs, fences, mailboxes, and more. Lyle will give you your up-to-date Happy House Academy score, as well as pointers for improvement. Pelly still works at the Post Office, and Mabel and Sable are once again in their clothing shop, but they are now joined by Label! Label runs the accessory shop attached to Mabel and Sabel's. Eventually Leif the Sloth will build a gardening store, and Nook's nephews run Nooklington Junction selling furniture, tools, and the ever exciting new product: fortune cookies. Re-Tail in town is run by an adorable llama named Reese. She will buy your wares for a good price, and players can also set up items to sell to other players as well as citizens. When her husband wakes up he will build custom furniture, too!

 

New Leaf sees the return of many old favorites, including the Bug Off! You get prizes for beating the current high score holder, too.

Do I ever play with the 3D on?

I really don't like the 3D. I can only turn it on a tiny bit or else I get a headache, and even then I have to sit just so in order for it to look right. I sometimes forget the thing even has a 3D feature. Let me know in the comments whether or not you use your 3D, or if it gives you similar issues!

 

Completion of Public Works Projects includes lots of pomp and circumstance, and I like it!

How are the graphics?

Usually I don't care much about graphics, but I'm pleased to say that Animal Crossing: New Leaf looks great! Super crisp, sharp, and colorful. The sprites move smoothly and there's great detail to be seen on the fish, bugs, and miscellaneous other things. I disliked Wild World for the DS because I didn't like how the graphics looks when players walked around (quite the hinderance, you know).

 

Kapp'n returns with sea shanties and weird compliments! If you go to the island a lot, and you're like me, you'll get sick of them.

Does progress move quickly?

The diligent player will have no issues making rapid progress. As soon as access to the island opens up it becomes easy peasy to make tons of bells in short order. A trip to the island at night will net between at least 100,000 because of all of the rare tropical tree beetles. The game has been out just over a week now, and as of this writing I have my first upstairs expansion on my home (which means three home upgrades already!), a second bridge, and a fountain. By the time this article posts I plan on having a campsite built, too!

 

Me in my wet suit getting ready to deep sea dive and avoid some very rude jellyfish.

Are there any Cons?

I can't stop playing.

My buddy and me exploring the multiplayer features. We happen to be matching, and I blinked!

Is there anything that I feel is missing?

The 3DS has a microphone built in, so I feel that Nintendo seriously dropped the ball on not incorporating voice chat into the multiplayer features. Communication with friends in-game is still as arduous as ever: hunting and pecking on the keyboard with the stylus, and a very limited number of characters at a time. I find it easier to keep a text or IM conversation going on my phone or computer. Using the touch screen keyboard just takes too long.

 

The huge array of new sea creatures to discover via diving makes me so excited that I want to scream.

Also, the astronomy tower is gone! That gives me the sads, because that was an awesome feature of City Folk.

Is this a title that would benefit from being a Digital Download?

I kind of wish I had gone digital for this one. As Iwata said, Animal Crossing is a game that can be played year round with new content nearly every day. There's little to no reason to ever take it out of your system! But, I am a collector, and a visual one at that. I love seeing my games and systems lined up on my shelves. It brings me joy! I have three games on my 3DS from the eShop, and even though they're convenient I still miss having their boxes on my shelf. So, if you aren't a visual collector and you haven't yet bought Animal Crossing because you just can't decide if you should go physical or eShop, my recommendation is eShop!

 

I was confused when I saw Phineas, but now I can't wait for him to show up again and give me more badges!

Additional thoughts:

I love that we can take in-game screenshots by holding R and L down at the same time! That is truly badass! The mini games on the island are incredibly fun and challenging, offering even more gameplay to participate in. I'm anxious to use the QR code feature for clothing and wall patterns, and I love that I can add people to a Best Friend list and be able to send them messages even if we aren't in one another's towns. Nintendo really outdid themselves this time.

There is so much more to be said about New Leaf, but I don't want to overwhelm readers. Just know that this article is but a sampling of the wonders awaiting you!

 

Thanks to the fortune cookies, my room is becoming a Nintendo haven (and I couldn't be happier).

Tips!

If you haven't started a file yet (and you care what your character looks like), then be sure to reference this Face Guide to have some control over your visual outcome! Also, know that Rover gives you a few different town layouts to choose from at the start of the game. How awesome is that?!

So WHO ELSE is playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf? I don't delve into multiplayer games nearly as often as I'd like, and I want this experience to be different! Here's my Friend Code:

0087-2393-3677

, please send me yours! I want to play!

-MJ

*header and preview images from Nintendo. All screenshots are from my personal collection!

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Animal Crossing 3DS speculation and excitement!

Lately I've been playing Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii again. I stopped playing about two years ago because I felt pretty bored. Initially, Animal Crossing has tons of things to do. The player must clean up the town, plant flowers and trees, get to know the neighbors, repay home loan debt, and fill up the local museum with fish, bugs, fossils and famous paintings. Because the game moves in real Earth time, this all takes about a year.

What to do once that is done, though? That has become my dilemma. I still have paintings and bugs to find, but overall the game has lost a lot of its appeal. I've been popping into Kakariko for about twenty minutes every day and doing this: hunt for weeds, water flowers, plant new flowers, talk to everyone, sell some fish. The game is overflowing with content and potential, but has very finite goals considering that it literally goes on forever.

Animal Crossing 3DS has so much potential. What is that shrub on the left!? Source.

With E3 come and gone, and no mention of Animal Crossing 3DS whatsoever, the community of AC lovers at large is in overdrive wondering what kinds of features will be in the newest game. My focus isn't necessarily what the new features will be (although of course I'm curious!), but it is more on what will be added that will keep the game interesting even after the museum is full. Let's take a look at what we already know!

-players will be able to swim in the ocean bordering their town
-lamp posts and benches can be purchased and placed around the town for further beautification and customization

Lamp posts in Animal Crossing 3DS! It looks so cozy. Source.

-items can be hung on the walls of player's houses
-character customization has been boosted in the form of altering both pants and shoes (in previous versions girls only wore dresses and guy's shorts were unalterable. In City Folk, shoes could be changed to match clothing, but only by visiting the shoe shine guy in the city.)
-players will have the option to become mayor of their town
-streetpass will be incorporated as a way to visit towns, as well as a venue for neighbor swapping
-it appears that players will start life in their new town by living in a tent
-hangouts can be arranged with your in-town neighbors

I have really high hopes for what a lot of these facts could mean for gameplay! First, if we start off living in tents, that could mean that it will take even longer to get a real house. This automatically extends gameplay by creating a longer loan repayment period. That could seem cheap at first glance, but previous versions haven't incorporated tents, so I'm all for it!

Swimming time in Animal Crossing 3DS! Source.

Swimming has been sorely lacking from every iteration, so it is a huge relief to finally see it in the 3DS version! It would be really great if Nintendo added a secret island or cove that could be swum to on certain days or at certain times. Also, what if the ocean had a tide? That'd be so cool!

The potential to become mayor of your town is by far the most exciting piece here. To me, it's the longevity piece that I'm looking for. In one segment of video from Nintendo Direct last month, we see the player sitting at an important looking desk with a computer, and a villager is talking them up. Will players be dealing with town issues and helping citizens? I certainly hope so!

Animal Crossing 3DS, mayor problems. Source.

Animal Crossing 3DS is set to release in Japan this fall, and for the U.S., we simply have "2012" as a release date. I have my fingers crossed for something around Christmas, and a little prayer that it doesn't get pushed to 2013! Are there any other AC fans out there? Would you like to exchange Friend Codes for City Folk? :D Also, what are you hoping for in the 3DS version?

-MJ

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Aggression from gaming, or aggression from losing?

Recently I've been playing a lot of Kingdom Rush, and it plucks heavily at my stress/aggression mind strings. I generally don't play tower defense titles because they become exponentially difficult and the repeated attempts to win, causing repeated failures, makes me extremely flustered.

Whenever video games get me angry I can't help but think of the multitude of articles linking aggression to violent games. I get a little curious and confused though, because non-violent games can cause aggression, too.

It's the act of winning that humans crave, and video games involve winning. All games have goals to achieve, finishing lines to cross, and/or enemies to beat. People play games as a hobby, but also to win. We do most things to win; we're a goal oriented species.

So I believe it's the losing, or nearly losing, that causes the stress, anger, and aggression. Therefore, even the most innocuous of games can cause aggression. As an example, let's look at Animal Crossing!

Happy, rainbow, talking animals and flowers. Oh yes. Source.

Animal Crossing is an extremely low key game. There's not really a way to win in the traditional sense, but there are tons of goals. However, there are no time limits for these goals. The entire game goes at the player's chosen speed, and all is well and dandy and full of flowers.

There are tiny, potential wins embedded in the game: if one is trying to catch all of the fish or all of the bugs, and they repeatedly fail to catch a rare bug, then that can cause stress, frustration or even aggression. In trying to catch the rare bug, a goal has been set, and suddenly winning or losing becomes a reality in this otherwise goal-less game. (I love Animal Crossing, I'm not trying to bash it.)

Studies always focus on overtly aggressive games, such as first person shooters. I am positing that these games can cause aggression more often not because they're violent, but because they're heaped with goals and constant opportunities to win and lose.

You encounter a player of the opposing team? It's win or lose time. And you

are always up against the opposite team. Duh. Source.

The greater number of win/lose scenarios, the more opportunities for losing and subsequent stress, frustration or aggression. We are hard wired to set goals and to achieve them; we want to win!

I know the desire to win quite well because of the fact that I lose so often. And I've never been a good loser. This is the main reason that I avoid shooters, racing games and tower defenses. They are riddled with opportunities to lose, and I know that I become stressed, frustrated and want-to-throw-things aggressive when I lose, and lose repeatedly at that.

I prefer to be a happy gamer! I fill my gaming time with Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, Zelda, and Mario. While Zelda and Mario are goal oriented games, they present a gameplay that spaces out the win/lose goals, which makes them more palatable. Open-ended titles such as Skyrim and Fallout also provide enough options that the player can stray away from the goals and do something else in-game if they feel stress or aggression rising in them.

What do you all think? Do you feel that aggression in gaming only comes from violent titles, or do you believe that it is more involved with the frustration/disappointment associated with losing?

More importantly, how do you deal with losing repeatedly at a video game? I hope it's not throwing things! :D

-MJ

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