Getting stoked for Animal Crossing: A New Leaf

So I've got back into the habit of playing Animal Crossing because a friend started and Animal Crossing is like a drug.

Yeah, pretty much. 

And like all older games that have sequels, we started talking about New Leaf. And past one of the early videos, there wasn't much else to say. But apparently as of Valentines Day, they released as Japanese Nintendo Direct video about the 3DS game.  So here's what we already knew for a little while:

• Most shops and such are not in the town itself 
• You are the mayor of the town
• You now have a choice of pants and shoes
• There is more than just the 6 personalities that have existed since the original
• Public projects for the town

So that's what we had to go on before Valentines Day. Now that that's that's been almost a month ago, let's look at the new stuff.

Nostalgia

So one thing that they did that was like the original was the opening. 

And apparently they can't hold a 3DS straight at IGN

So you're on a train with Rover and the monkey that controls the train and Rover talks to you, asking questions that determine your name, gender, and I guess the town map which is new, and they took from Wild World and later the "you can all share a card and live in the town" which I'm not too big of a fan of.

My face when  my boyfriend donated some of the fish to the museum before I could. 

It just feels a bit like a family with divorced parents in that you have to share custody of town being your child. Although you can pay off your house quicker, you miss out on doing certain things like possibly completing the museum exhibits, or getting the bragging rights of paying off the debt. Which I know this analogy falls apart after "pay off the house quicker" it still feels awkward.

Brand New Stuff That We Didn't Already know

Happy Home and Dream Suite: Street Pass

So Animal Crossing did a good job for street pass. They didn't make too much of a fuss if you can't find people with the game. It gives you small items and you get to see them, their house, and their town. Happy home is where you see who you've met and depending on how many times you've seen each other, they'll give you different small items. 

Then there are about 48 houses you can have in this area at any one time, and see how much care, or lack of care, they put into their house. 

And sometimes you can have that awkward moment when the person has the same hat as you

The little sign next to the house, that's their Dream Address. You can use this address and go to the dream suite to go to a dream version of this person's town. Why a dream version? So you don't destroy some one's town when they've spent hours on it. 

Go ahead, run through the flowers, chop down trees, plant pitfalls (if you can), it won't effect the town. 

Although you can still invite people over, and they can be mean, but that's a horse of another color. 

New Shops

Re-Tail 

So this is a second hand store by a couple of alpacas

They're so fluffy! 

And you can sell to them. It's basically a second hand store. And you can encourage people to buy your old stuff if you want. One thing that they also do on top of buy your old crap is that they can reupholster your furniture with new wood and new patterns. So if you wanted more things to match that can be done easier. 

Although this is a little much for me.

 And the pattern is possible because the the designs no longer require a fixed pallet. Meaning you can use whatever colors you want. And you can zoom in on the pattern, being able to get more precise. Another cool thing about the patterns is that you can save them as QR codes and share them with friends to give them to use in their villages. 

Nook-

So Nook no longer runs his own shop, his nephews/apprentices run it, and they take turns doing so. 

Why? No one really knows. 

But anyways, you think you're free from Tom Nook's debt? Think again. 

Real Estate

He's just decided to focus on just putting you in debt for the rest of your life. He runs the real estate agency with Lyle. 

I'd like to think Lyle's moved up to living in the model home in the picture. 

So the one advantage of Nook still doing real estate, you have more customization. You can change the roof style, the doors, if you want a chimney, and when you want to expand certain things. You don't have to expand rooms in an order, you want a basement before you get side rooms? If you can afford it, sure. 

Club 101

So there are two functions of Club 101. One is to learn emotions from Dr. Shrunk, who teaches it to you in exchange for fruit.

I don't think Dr. Shrunk is doing well if his business plan is to pay him in fruit. Which he eats immediately

So he tells a joke and it teaches you an emotion. Which makes me think that you are not human, but a robot since you have to be taught anger, happiness, and such. The second part happens at night where KK Slider preforms every night. Yes, every night. Although almost everyday he doesn't take requests, he's a DJ remixing his stuff. 

So you can dance and hangout with your friends. You can also see Shrunk dance, but that's terrifying. So the one night he's not a DJ is the same night he's been doing his thing for years, on Saturday. It's the same as ever but with some new songs. 

Shoe Shank 

Yes, that is the legitimate name, Shoe Shank, because Shawshank Redemption references are great in Animal Crossing. So its a store with shoes and shoe accessories, so socks. 

Annnnd that's about it with the shoe shop. 

There's also rumors about The Cafe and I have heard nothing about the post office or the hair salon, but we've got three months. This leaves us with the little scraps they've showed us of multi-player. 

The Island

So you can go to an island with friends or alone in which it's summer all year long. You can get fish and bugs that normally only appear in the summer. and you can get things during your stay at the island from a gift shop. 

But don't worry about bells, they don't charge in bells here, you have to earn medals by winning mini-games called tours. Which are run by Tortimer, the old mayor. The one thing I've got to say that's good with the mini-games is that they encourage cooperation,, not competition. The faster you all finish, the more medals for all. With a maze mini-game they encourage those to help the others that have yet to find their items. 

All in all, I'm ridiculously excited for this. Next paycheck, I'm pre-ordering just for that guarantee. And I got my information from IGN, I own nothing, I just wanted to pass the news and geek out about it. Here's the video I got the pictures and information from if you're interested.  

Dawnguard angst

So I got Microsoft, points and bought the three Skyrim expansions. So I'll do one at time, starting with the first one, Dawnguard.

So in Dawngaurd you are the the same character you made in Skyrim and get asked one way or another to join the Dawnguard. On my original save game I was invited by one of the members. This time around a guard decided to mention it while I was trying to find where the hell the blacksmith went.
So I go there and talk about how I like killing things, including vampires. He then changes from not liking me that much to loving me like I'm his long lost child, hands me a crossbow and says get to it. I forgo the crossbow, since it's shit compared to a daedric bow. And so I go to the cave and just start shooting things while sneaking.

Pretty much this

 Until I got bored, took out a warhammer and played golf with skulls. Then comes Serana.

Her in sunlight (which she'll bitch about)

So she's helpful, but not all the time. She says some funny lines, but at times it seems like she's a whiny teenager going to the dentist. She'd complain about the sunlight, then about the snow, then being in a town, then fighting things then OH GOD SHUT UP. She's a good example of the double edged sword of companions. She's helpful and sometimes witty, but a lot of times she gets knocked out or raises stupid things to fight for her. 

But back at the plot, since I decided to help kill vampires, I recruited people and got armor. Which at this point I threw in a barrel. 

Noticing a pattern about the items here?

The items aren't bad, just it's about the level of imperial leather. So it's a little pointless to use it at level 50 and on. And I didn't want to do the improved crossbow quest yet. I hate dwarven ruins with a passion. But that's not much of a problem . 

So I go on the Stop my Dad questline. 

Via ihaslemons on DeviantArt

And clearly it was her sweet roll, she bought it 

 And looking back it was pretty much daddy angst from her. Then suddenly Falmer angst. They're the last two brothers that aren't blind brutes, and I have to do an old falmer ritual to get to the castle to kill the last brother. Then I apologize to the good brother for killing off his race. Wait, what?!

I'm supposed to apologize to one of the two brothers for killing the other one, making their race extinct? But they're two men! They've been doomed for at least a thousand years to begin with. Do they not know how how the baby making process works? And even if one was a girl, the inbreeding after a generation or two they'd be too messed up to be worth saving anyways. 

I think that it should have gone the way of MvM personally. 

So Dawnguard was fun in some respects, but the story was relatively weak. I the plot holes are kind of large, but if you like playing as a werewolf the perks make it more enjoyable.