I don’t think I can accurately describe the emotions I felt when, after an especially rough day where going to bed early seemed to be on the table, I suddenly caught wind that the big 2.0 update dropped about 24 hours early. I guess for most people, this would be something exciting to make up for the day, but for me, it was really the last thing I needed. I’ve been incredibly anxious about the update since the Direct and while there were a few features I am genuinely excited for; for the most part I’m just… stressed.
I don’t mind new features (minus cooking, but it’s an expansion of the DIY system which I just don’t care for so), but I just… did not want more items. Between the lack of space (due to terraforming restrictions and lack of room expansions) and just it being so late at this point, if there HAD to be new items, I just wanted it to be small… and nothing about this update has been small. This update practically doubles the amount of items in the game and while sure, a lot of those items are variants (many have 8 color options), it’s still overwhelming.
I think what really is getting to me most with it right now is I generally categorize things into multiple sections– For example, DIYs goes to Random DIYs, Villager DIYs, Celeste DIYs, Event DIYs, Nook Miles Redemption DIYs, etc. But this update resets almost everything. Villagers have new DIYs and Cooking DIYs, there’s new Nook Miles things, you can get recipes from Leif, Celeste has new DIYs, Fence colors count towards the catalog, K.K. has new songs, and just every single checkmark I had has not only quickly come undone, but with a list that feels as long as when I first started playing. And while clearly I must be in the minority with the amount of people who reset their islands for fun, I have never cared for that kind of thing. I was thrilled when I was done and I could relax and just work on decorating or whatever I felt like and not constantly worry if I didn’t have the game going 24/7, I could miss something. Because with the randomness, it’ll take even longer all on your own.
Maybe I’ll feel better when I can find a surefire list of everything (I know there’s some, but they’re either just images which doesn’t help with keeping track or saying which are DIYs or the actual names, have all the variants mixed in including ones that don’t actually matter to the catalog, and/or they also have old items mixed in) and can cross things off and prioritize stuff, but right now, it’s just kind of a bundle of questions and stress about missing out on everything.
While I’m sure there’s some new items I’ll absolutely adore; for now, it just feels like too much. And as someone who is very much a “dump everything out and work from there” type of person over a little bit at a time, each step feels incredibly daunting. And there’s still so many weird limits that just makes it worse. Regardless, we’ll move into my actual play sessions now and as always, you can find the recordings up on my Youtube channel.
Immediately upon booting up, Isabelle started talking about everything happening and explaining about the ordinance system.
I also had plenty of mail letting me know about the latest additions.
I decided to head to Blathers first as besides it being the closest stop of all the places I wanted to go, I figured that we would once again need to upgrade the Museum for Brewster’s Cafe so it was best to get that knocked out ASAP. What I was not prepared for was how apparently Brewster’s Cafe closed and he was missing.
I have so many questions about how this happened. Did something go wrong? Did Brewster want to retire? If it’s the latter, do we really want to ask him about working at a cafe again?? This entire scenario is resolved way too quickly, but maybe we’ll get to learn more about it from Brewster eventually. Regardless, for our search, Blathers gave us a photo of Brewster so we know what he looks like.
The update also introduced the whole Morning Exercise/Stretching stuff which honestly the Button Controls were harder than I expected? The timing was really odd. Maybe one day I’ll try it with motion controls.
At Resident Services, I immediately bought the Storage Upgrade and ended up selecting Beautiful Ordinance again. With my weird sleep schedule I can have really late hours and really early hours so Early Bird vs Late Owl doesn’t work enough for me. Bell Boom has always seemed worthless. I then picked up soe of the various new gadgets and things for Nook Miles (and also stopped back at the Nookling shop for stuff as well before they closed). It was… a lot to say the least. This is just some of them:
I then decided to recolor the Fences around the Outer Cafe area as the weird orange-y brown of the Lattice fence has bugged me for AGES.
It was then off to meet Kapp’n.
Right away on the island he brought us to, we ran into Brewster.
I’m glad he’s okay because Blathers did not make it seem that way. Regardless, I headed back to Blathers and let him know.
Upon talking to him again though, he ended up giving me some neat posters. I temporarily placed them along that wall just to see them as it had the most clear wall space. They’re pretty neat.
You may also have noticed that I set my first (and possibly only) Accent Wall there– fully making this room feel more like a backyard.
During all this, Cookie actually came to visit. I was probably one of the few people who didn’t miss Villagers visiting us or inviting us over. It’s not that I don’t enjoy seeing them, but they have always come over while I was in the middle of decorating and this was no different.
She actually left pretty quickly though which I am not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
After that, I worked on crafting a lot of the DIYs I had gotten so far– essentially, if I had the items to craft it, I did. I will say my issues with Cooking aside, the stove is pretty nice.
I also made some adjustments over here to add the Donation Box and eventually, the Balloon Cart as well.
I finally headed out to Harvey’s next.
It’s a good thing this was in the Direct or I would be very concerned.
I’m pretty excited for this area, even though I have most things done at this point. At the very least, having Reese & Cyrus and Leif around permanently will be pretty helpful.
I ended up giving each Lloid 99,999 Bells as getting one to 100K would make it so you can’t donate anymore. I know it’s unlikely they’ll get finished off by Harvey or Harriett, but just incase…
I ended up doing Reese & Cyrus’ shop first and then followed up with Leif’s today. I’ll likely do Tortimer’s next.
Back in town, as it was passed midnight at this point, I was able to order more Nook Miles Items. These are probably my two favorites of the new batch.
I also planted the Gyroids I had gotten from finding Brewster. The… stream rising is unsettling.
The Pastel Plaza stuff is right up my alley. I ended up putting the bench here, but I’m not sure if I like it more than what I had before so maybe I’ll put this somewhere else…
I tried playing around with the Clock and Arch as well, but they just didn’t mesh well with everything else.
Thanks to some kind people, I was able to get a potato seed and at least get one new crop in my little plot of land.
I also got some of the cute Glow Moss and Vines which I had fun decorating a bit. Regardless of what happens to that middle area, the Glow Moss and Vines will stick around.
The new reactions are also pretty cute. My only complaint is several are quick different poses (Much quicker than like the Yoga/Exercise ones) and I think it would’ve been better if they switched when we pressed A or something because they also only loop once so I feel like it’d be hard to stay in the pose you want for long.
I do appreciate that we can do the Closet poses just out and about now though.
I then learned, thanks to a friend, that in addition to the whole way DIYs can work, sometimes your Villagers will cook at their stove and you can talk to them for them to teach you a recipe.
I had wanted to do more Kapp’n Islands, but unfortunately, you can only do one a day -_- Because everything has to be overly restricted in this game.
Anyway, the clock rolled over to 5AM and I got to unearth my first two Gyroids.
I really want to find a nice place for them, but I’m at a complete loss.
In addition to all the furniture, there’s also new clothing items as well and already multiple cute things. I’m not sure if anything will fully beat my current outfit though.
I also managed to get another seed– a Tomato this time! Just Squash, Carrots, Sugarcane, and Wheat to go…
I made sure to check out the House Exterior additions this time as I was too focused on the Storage yesterday, but… it really was just the four shown in the Direct. It was really disappointing… I’m sad my castle isn’t back. So I ended up just doing the next Storage Expansion.
Meanwhile, the Museum was now under construction to set up the Cafe (so I won’t be able to see Brewster until tomorrow).
Heading back to Harvey’s to see Reese & Cyrus and pay of the Lloid raising funds for Leif’s shop, I noticed Harriet was set up. One nice thing was that she actually will set your hair back if you don’t like it so you can get the new hairstyles (I’m guessing it’s one a day– it only let me get one haircut today anyway) without having to go and switch yours back later.
The first hairstyle I got was the one I was debating on too, but as I thought, it’s just a bun with some hair down. The search for a better ponytail to actually happen in this game continues.
Harvey was talking to Reese & Cyrus and the dialogue was really cute.
I tried really hard to get all the Nook Miles stuff and other new items I had gotten customized that I could not for cataloging purposes, but it was… so draining. With so many of the items having large amounts of customization, the cost (About 5K on average, but some items can be closer to 10K or 1K), and how long each dialogue prompt you had to go through took, it was really unfun. I’m glad there’s no limit to how often you can, but I just got bored. I couldn’t even get through customizing all the [customizeable] fences (as they’re now in the catalog). With so many colors, it was just driving me nuts… I still have four more to finish later.
In the meantime, one item I was surprised had no customization was the new Park Fountain. I initially tried putting it in front of Resident Services, but it didn’t look that great, so I tried near the playground. I’m not sure if I like it or not in either place. Somehow it feels small? Even though it’s the same size? It’s a shame as I love the Seals, but something about it is throwing me off and I don’t know why.
Finishing up some morning stuff, I took another Kapp’n trip and clapped along to the song. Unfortunately, there was nothing good on the island besides another Gyroid fragment which I decided to just keep as is.
My town got enveloped in fog which was kind on unsettling.
I also surprisingly had one of the new Villagers in my Campsite today– Petri.
The Elegant set, while it has some things in common with the Rococo set, is not entirely the same. The beds especially are very different, but I still am glad I managed to get the couch:
I also got some new bags, but I wish they worked better with my outfit… I also want the Dreamy Pochette as a backpack.
For now though, I think I’m going to take a break. It’s just so incredibly overwhelming and until I can figure out a way to organize it all, that feeling just gets heavier. Maybe I’ll feel better when I can focus solely on the expansion… I can at least hope it’ll make cataloging a lot less overwhelming.