I’ve certainly written enough about the limited edition Animal Crossing: New Leaf that came in the mail the other day, but what about the game itself? I’m happy to report that I’ve been playing it for the majority of the week, and it does not disappoint! It’s far too early to give my final verdict, and I have yet to unlock a lot of the game’s content (I still can’t go to the island, for example), hence why I’ve called this “early impressions.” Oh, be warned, there are going to be lots of screenshots of my game (Which you can conveniently take whenever you want by pressing L and R! Nifty!), so if you don’t want to see what townspeople are in the game or be otherwise spoiled, I suggest you avert your eyes!
You certainly don’t start with that cute little house at the top of the page! No, instead you’re stuck in a tent until you can pay off your first loan. You can’t start working as mayor until you get a house, as well, so it’s pretty imperative to pay off that loan straight away. Luckily it doesn’t take very long at all to do so. It’s pretty quaint under the stars, though, don’t you think?
Here’s my first act as mayor – planting a tree! I love how you can see all the townspeople gathered around. Funny that I started out with not one, but two, tigers, though!
A glimpse inside Shimoyake (Egbert in English)’s house. He’s certainly into all things astronautical!
Sumi (Nan)’s house, on the other hand, has a more classic feel, and she’s got quite the collection of musical instruments. The other day I suggested she buy a chest of drawers from the local recycle shop (just for kicks, since it’s a new feature in this game) and she replaced that fancy turntable with it! It looked so much better before…
Here’s Johnny (Gulliver)! He appeared on my beach the first night, but I’m not sure if that’s random or not. Admittedly, I like to play through the game and be surprised by things as they happen, so I haven’t really read any guides or anything like that. I couldn’t help but take a screenshot when he asked me to name the place he was thinking of that was home to koalas and kangaroos! Well, he’s talking about Australia, of course! What a funny coincidence. The next day I received a letter from him from Australia and a special Ayers Rock present for my house, which I then promptly gave to Shimoyake because he asked for it. Now I kind of regret giving it away!
The blue llama is perpetually sleeping until a certain point in the game (sorry, not sure what his name is). When he wakes up, he’ll modify your furniture for you!
New townspeople started moving in on the second day. Arthur here is pretty cute, don’t you think? I love his mustache! Apparently he’s one of the new additions to New Leaf.
Hey, it’s Rolan (Sahara)! I got her to make over my house for me, which gave me a new floor and wallpaper.
And to finish the tour, here’s a token fishing shot. I absolutely love the puns throughout the game, and if Wild World was any indication, I’m sure the English version will do a great job capturing the atmosphere and humor of the game.
Well, if you’ve got this far, congratulations! I think it’s very obvious that I’m throughly enjoying my time with Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Though it’s definitely bigger than any previous Animal Crossing game, the first few days are very similar to what I remember from Wild World, but the online features and island, in particular, are really great new additions (that I haven’t been able to spend much time with yet, unfortunately).
I’d like to take the opportunity to announce a new column I’m planning, as well! I’d like to do a weekly (or so) feature that chronicles my adventures in the world of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. I haven’t nailed down a name yet, but I’m tossing up some things like “My Week in Animal Crossing: New Leaf” or “Greetings from Animal Crossing: New Leaf.” If you have any suggestions for a name, I’d love if you left your ideas in the comments!
Oh, here’s a bonus image of me visiting Punipen of Dudelde Studio‘s town! Don’t miss his adorable flag design:
If you have any questions about the game, leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.
Nice read. Perhaps you could call your reflections “Memos of a Mayor” or something along those lines.
I have the game too and have been religiously playing it for a week now. But I still haven’t had a single visitor since no one I know has it. I’m pretty sure we should connect :3
Thanks for the suggestion, Lachy! Memos of a Mayor is a really catchy title. I’ll definitely take that one into consideration 🙂
And yeah, we should visit each other’s towns! I’m just headed off to bed now, but I’ll reply back tomorrow with my friend code so you can add me. Have you unlocked the island yet?
How about “As the Leaf turns”? It sounds both overly dramatic and totally cheesy.
Hmmm, I was just about to chime in that I like both of your suggested titles for your New Leaf column (so glad you’re going to do this, by the way!), but then I read Lachy’s and Shawn’s ideas and, well, I think I like them even more! That said, I think whatever title you end up using will be more than fine.
Thanks for not only sharing your impressions, by the way, but so many screenshots, too. I’m sooooo glad Nintendo decided to include that feature in this version of the game. Methinks a loooooot of New Leaf screenshots will be finding their way onto the Internet in the coming months/year.
Finally, I do have a question for you: Does this game start off as the others do — with a “heading to town” scene that winds up determining your gender and overall appearance? If so, did you look up how to make your character look as she does now, or did you just “go with the flow”?
Hehe, it is very dramatic and cheesy! I like it! Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll definitely consider it 🙂
The screenshot feature really is wonderful! I have tons more screenshots that I took during the first few days that I didn’t even include in this post… I pretty much take a picture of every bug and fish I catch for the first time, haha.
Oh yes, the game does start out on the train, and you have to answer three questions that determine how you look (oddly, you’re not allowed to take screenshots during that sequence). Someone sent me a link to a face chart, so I decided to take a look at that and pick the face I liked best and then choose the appropriate answers. All of the faces are quite cute, though! I never new those questions actually determined your appearance, actually!
Do people still move away? If so, it’s a no-go for me. I had to stop playing Wild World due to that, and also Resetti, who fails to account for the fact you have to quickly knock-off the DS, so your wife doesn’t suss you’ve been trolling her save-file, lest she walk in on the fact, and realize you’ve nothing better to do on a Tuesday evening before she gets home from work.
These shots of AC:NL are really making me wish my 3DSLL were here right now. I’m going to try and document my AC adventures as well. Hope you’ll make a cameo appearance in some of the photos!
Ha! I imagine I’ll also be using the screenshot function a lot after the NA version comes out, Anne 🙂 As for the game’s opening being similar to that of the previous games (where your answers to a set of questions determines your appearance): Sounds good to me! I plan on making use of a face chart, too, as I want to make sure I get the face I want this time around. (While playing the other games, I always forgot that it was possible to trick the system.)
Looking forward to seeing all your pictures! Do link me to your blog when you get it up and running!
Yes, unfortunately people still move away. Actually, I kind of like that because there are so many villagers (over 300 now) that I want to see as many as possible! Of course it’s nice to keep your favorites…
You know you can have multiple “saves” in the same town, right? So you could have one character and your wife could have another character, both in the same village. Maybe that’d solve your problem? 😉 But yeah, Resetti is still around (though I haven’t seen him myself, but he does appear when you get disconnected from the internet when visiting someone else’s town)
Will do! Hope to get it up and running during the winter holiday.
The first time I played an Animal Crossing title (it was Wild World) I
had no idea the questions at the beginning are important to how your
face and hair turns out. So I played a character I never really liked so
much for a looooong time. When I found out I can trick the system, I
made a new character and deleted the old one but kept the town. Now I am
using a face chart everytime I start a new Animal Crossing-game. The
fact, that the town has a train station and the game starts with your
way to the town in a train reminds me of the Gamecube-title of Animal
Crossing.
I had no idea the questions influence how you looked until just before I started New Leaf and someone told me! I’m glad they did so I can have a face I like 😀