Initially, I had planned to include this with next week’s post, but by popular vote, I’m just posting it now instead. Most of this was written on Wednesday immediately after the Dev Update video went out.
So, while I don’t have too much more to say since my last DDLV entry, I thought in addition to the few things I have to share, I could talk about my thoughts on the update details!
For one, we finally have Daisy coming to the Valley! It’ll be nice to bring her in, though, I have no clue where I’ll fit her house or store. Speaking of the store, I’m not really the type to share my designs, but I guess it could still be fun to fill the building to some extent. If we can put it on Eternity Isle, I’ll probably try to fit the store in the Shopping area, but I can’t really decide where until I see how big it is in-game.
In addition to being able to share our designs, apparently there will be weekly challenges. I kind of hope they’re just like a personal thing where you make it and if you do, you get these new motifs/patterns and stuff over a voting thing like Dreamsnaps because I feel like the results can vary too much (and there is a higher chance of someone just being inappropriate). Unfortunately, we didn’t really get any information on how these challenges will work.
Moving onto the Expansion update, I’m surprised the Hourglass is getting another upgrade. I’m a bit nervous about that if only because finding the different Prisms was super annoying and it feels likely there will be more to find if there is another upgrade tier.
I’m really curious if the Critter colors will be considered their own thing or if it’s just like a color skin and doesn’t change anything. It’s also not really clear if getting these monochrome Critters will be new ones you can find or just a fun effect. Or maybe both. I feel like it’s supposed to be just a fun filter thing, but I just don’t feel 100% sure. I guess I’ll know soon enough though.
In general, I know so many people who are excited for Oswald. It’s honestly nice to see him get another feature in a Disney game. I do feel like of all the Expansion-exclusive characters thus far, he’s the only one who I feel truly fits in some way, but I still don’t really like characters being tied to expansions.
I think I would’ve preferred Expansions being just Biomes with new quests and storylines that will probably include existing characters, but not be the entire reason you get them and that’s what I thought they would be in the first place. Or, if they HAVE to have new characters, it should be ones that aren’t really integral to the main cast or teasers we’ve been given for a long time in which case I still think the only one that fits the bill is Gaston.
Going back to deciding on house positions… I do think I’m pretty much sold on Daisy’s Tool of Magic Boutique being in the ‘Shop’ area in Eternity Isle unless it can’t go there. If it can go in both areas, or just the original valley, I probably want to try and fit it in the plaza. And I think that’s kind of where the problem lies as pretty much everything I want to put in the Plaza and I absolutely do not have room for that.
I can maybe fit one thing as is. Anything else requires moving stuff around. I suppose I could move the Fairy Godmother– while I don’t think I’d be putting her back in the Forgotten Lands, I could put her in Glade of Trust which is where most of the Nature-esque buildings have gone at this point.
I don’t have the slightest clue where I would move the Teacup ride though. Maybe to Isle of Eternity somewhere? Still no clue where though and then the only ride I’d still have in the plaza is the Ferris Wheel, but the Teacup Ride never really looked like it had a proper home there anyway. There’s also the Zen area which I suppose I could remove (or at least rebuild it), but I do really like it and while I will make another version of it in Eternity Isle, I don’t think I want to bulldoze my existing one in the Plaza.
I think, at the moment, I’m pretty Gung-ho on trying to fit Oswald’s House/Theater, Daisy’s House, and Daisy’s Boutique in the open spaces in the Plaza and moving the Fairy Godmother and Teacup ride. I feel like that’s the best option. I’ve moved the Teacup ride in advance, but as for everything else, I’ll wait until the update.
Speaking of rides though, I am really excited for actually being able to ride them. The number of games that give you these big interactive things and don’t let you actually participate in them blows my mind so it’s nice to see a game ACTUALLY rectify that. It also makes me WANT to use the rides more as now it feels more of a use than just ‘item taking up a lot of room’. It really makes me wish we had some kind of ‘Toon Town’ biome which I also think would fit Oswald’s stuff nicely too as I WOULD like to make somewhere feel like a Disney Park, but I don’t really want to bulldoze a whole area to do so and none of the biomes really speak to me for that in the first place.
Anyway, the update is just a week away now, which I figured at this point. As for everything in the meantime… Honestly, it’s been pretty quiet. Mostly, it’s just been more Dreamsnap stuff:
I also managed to hit level 10 so I unlocked the trophy! Besides putting one outside near my house, I also put one in the Museum-y area.
Memory-wise, I finally got the last Cooking memory I needed so now it’s just suffering through Digging where I don’t even know where to start. With mining, I could get into a rotation to get all the mining blocks in a good formation. With cooking, Remy’s kitchen would help with that. With flowers, well, I got those out of the way before you could no longer water any flowers to get them, and just made a group of them… Fishing was also just kind of going around in a specific path.
But digging I just feel I’m at a loss on where to even start to get through it. Any gardening plots I set up I make permanent, so I rarely dig new holes. It just makes it super inconvenient and as far as I can tell, digging in the same place does not do anything either so I need to just… dig up a whole area for no reason :/
I am hoping to do more decorating on Eternity Isle, but I think I want to wait until Summer when the final act is out in case of any big changes before setting down more stuff in the Desert and Jungle areas.
The only other thing I really did was a lot of re-crafting due to items disappearing from the Collection list so it would be all set and ready for the update. Unfortunately, it seems it’s a bug and they just… wipe every time I close the game which sucks. I hope this will be fixed in the upcoming patch.
As an aside, I also took this time to finally update my overview page which has been massively behind so that’s all ready for the update too now.
Edited April 29th, 2024: So, the patch notes just went up so let’s talk about more of the details!
Looking for another way to flex those creative muscles? Drop in to the Boutique each day to help Daisy redecorate a corner of the shop or take on her inspiration prompts to earn exclusive items, including new Touch of Magic clothing and furniture bases.
This does make it sound like it will be personal creative challenges which is nice, but I do kind of wish you could do one after the other instead of daily as I just prefer to do things in bursts.
I’m not sure what to think just yet of the new Star Path, though, the last one ended up surprising me quite a bit, so we’ll see. I think my main concern is just the same issue I have with all the Disney rides: I have no clue where to put them and so I feel like a lot of the items I get will just be stuck in the furniture menu for a while. We have already seen the new Critter though and at the very least, I am excited for that. I also am curious to see Minnie’s and Daisy’s new outfits. I hope we’ll get the trailer tomorrow/before the update on Wednesday (and if so, I’ll likely update this again).
The Villager mail sounds really cute. I hope the messages will stick around permanently as I know some mail has had timers.
The Premium Shop updates all sound great:
o All weekly shop rotations are now comprised of 8 bundles / items.
o Preview clothing on your Avatar before buying.
o Get a better look at any special animations an item may have, thanks to a revolving preview display.
o Toggle between day and night – where applicable – to get a better idea of how an item will look in the Valley before buying.
Though, I still don’t understand why we can’t just have a shop with ALL the items that slowly adds new ones overtime over the current rotating system, especially when the game will not be free to play anytime soon, if ever, now.
Reading over the Expansion stuff and still not really excited to have to go grinding for pieces of things again… The repurposing sounds helpful at least so I’m hoping that will also be able to be used for newer parts. I wonder if the new Scramblecoin figures will be crafted or require a higher rank of Scramblecoin.
Regardless, this one specific part does make it sound like there will be a new variant of each of the three critters to find:
– Make friends with new variants of the animal companions wandering Eternity Isle, albeit with a monochromatic flair.
Going to have to grab the Cabbage, Eggs, and Banana Splits back out of the chest.
Just two days left until we can get started. I think I’m going to work on Daisy’s stuff first and then make my way back over to the Expansion after.