Nintendo Switch: Animal Crossing New Horizons

By ninetylives - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - No Comments

Hello my little nuggets! Has this circuit breaker been treating you guys well?

It's been a while but here I am, bringing with me a post on Animal Crossing: New Horizons! To be honest, I've never ever thought that I would enjoy playing any of the Animal Crossings because it's too slow and with no actual storyline, but I've been pleasantly surprised.

ACNH provides a sense of normality and some structure of time, especially in this period of bleakness, and I'm genuinely having fun playing.

So, Timmy and Tommy brings you to an island, you get a tent, you upgrade your tent to an actual house, expand your house, and pay off your debts to Tom Nook, all the while beautifying your island and trying to attract residents to live there. The "goal", I suppose, would be to get your island to a 5* rating.

my first night!

There's not much you can do in the beginning, having the ability to terraform your island is locked behind a 3* rating. I looked up a bunch of guides and it seemed like the fastest way to a 3* at that point in time was to just invite as many animals as you could so that was what I did. Once terraforming was unlocked, that was when the game actually started for me.

I only managed to get a copy after the circuit breaker started (and it took days of constantly checking) so pardon my still almost bare island. Honestly I think this post is going to end up with me talking mostly about my island and experiences more than an actual review.. but here we go~

To start off, when Timmy and Tommy gave the option of picking one of four random base island layouts, I did not know that even after you unlock terraforming, the Airport and Resident Services Plaza will not be movable. As such, I didn't bother thinking much about it, and simply just picked the nicest looking one out of the options, which is a huge regret for me, since now my Plaza and Airport are not aligned.

My native fruit was apples, so I went with Genesis for my island name. I was considering naming it after FF Crisis Core's Zack's hometown (because he's my absolute favorite) but Gongaga just was not cutting it for me. I was considering then naming it Banora, because you know, Banora White apples.. But then I decided to just name it Genesis instead.

I got Cobb and Ursula as my first residents, and man, I really disliked them at first. Cobb just wasn't my aesthetic and Ursula looked like she was constantly judging me. I wanted them GONE. After I invited a few more and managed to get a 3*, Cobb requested to leave, and I agreed. Right after I agreed though.. I absolutely regretted it because he was nothing but nice to me.. There was nothing I could do but take a final photo with him so, here's one.

you will be missed, Cobb

Ursula is still on my island, and I might replace her ultimately, but for now she's staying. Her speech is kind of annoying though, and I would rather Cobb than her but for now I guess it's okay. She tried to nickname me twice and they were nonsensical, but the third time I disagreed with her nickname she let me input my own, so I went with Human. I thought it was quite funny, considering I'm the only human on the island.

I have Monique, Chops, Pinky, Egbert, Amelia, Buzz, Phil, Vesta, and Tybalt in addition to the original Ursula. I had Keaton, but I replaced him with Tybalt, because I already had 2 eagles, so Keaton had to go. I'm trying to collect a pair of whatever species I already have, though that might fall through. Originally I was planning on a whole set of only one species, but there are so many species and I can't possibly only choose one!

I love Monique, she's so cute, and reminds me of Marilyn Monroe, so she's never leaving my island, ever.

So, island layout. The only thing I had in mind was to create some sort of Maldives vibe for my residents near the beach which kind of worked but I feel kind of also didn't? I set it off to the right side further away from the airport and plaza and cut off by the river because I was thinking of noise pollution which makes no sense because it's a game?? I'm slowly moving the rest of resident homes there, but right now 4 are still stuck where I originally dumped them, because I've stored my scorpion stash on the last 4 Maldives plots of land and Flick hasn't visited yet.

I winged the rest of the island, with only the main idea being alignment.

My orchard is flanking the Airport, and all I'm missing are some pears.. Anyone has pears? I wasn't planning on planting any bamboo yet, but every time I checked the island evaluations Isabelle kept insisting on more variety of trees so there we go. Now I've dropped back to a 2* and she's been non stop saying there's not enough flowers. Isabelle, how many flowers do you want!! I don't have any hybrid flowers yet, so right now it's kind of sparse and mostly just the basic flowers. I concentrated them on my campsite, though I might have to have another garden since I nEeD mOrE fLoWeRs. I do have a separate breeding garden, but it hasn't been doing well..

I kind of wanted to have my house with the entrance being under a waterfall but there were too many limitations so I left it where it originally was, which actually kind of aligned up with the river so I'm glad. I don't have much furniture cataloged yet so it's tiresome trying to design the rest of the island, plus it seems like there might be new shops in the future, so I left the space empty for development phase 2.

My favorite part so far is the money tree garden behind the Plaza, because that's where I'd like to think Tom Nook stores his stash of gold, and my forest. I cut some space between all my trees so I can put a Monster statue there. The plan was to have the Robot Hero on the other side where I've marked, and have a bunch of mini cars around so it looks like there's a fight, but I'm unable to craft the Robot Hero yet.. Was planning to have some red floor lights in the area so it looks a little more explosion-y but I haven't chanced upon those items so right now it's just sad looking.

The next plan is the rock garden. Have you guys seen those? It's a great idea for easy harvesting, but I haven't found a suitable spot for my rocks yet. I was thinking of having them in this creepy forest looking thing with the transmutation circle but it seems like they're unable to spawn on custom designs. If you guys want to make your own rock gardens, here's an easy way to do it! The video is a great help.

I've seen a bunch of really gorgeous islands and there are so many amazing player designs!! So many talented people out there. I've saved a bunch of outfits and custom path designs, though I seem to always just default to the basic grass.

The only thing I've designed is my school uniform (which Ursula wore!!!) and my current phone case, which is literally a pair of eyes and simple enough to do.

im dressed like a tour guide

Here's a link if you want to find some more outfits! Some I got off here, like my Final Fantasy 7 flag, but some of them I randomly came across on Instagram.

Ultimately, I'm really enjoying New Horizons and I do feel like it was expanded my horizons quite a bit. I like to fly though most of my games, and playing this now had taught me how to slow down and enjoy each day. It's something to look forward to when I wake up. Is Gulliver going to be stranded on my beaches today or will I see Redd instead? Is Flick going to be here so I can offload my my horde of scorpions? Perhaps maybe the cutie C.J is here for my fishes? Will I see Celeste or Wisp tonight?

I can't wait for Nook's Cranny to finally upgrade, and I'm glad I managed to make friends with the Able Sisters. My Museum is coming along nicely, and I'm already looking forward to the next season. Having Leif and Label visit is a happy affair and overall Animal Crossing New Horizons just sparks joy.