One of the things I really enjoyed doing for New Leaf was planning things out ahead of time. That said, it was a little easier when Japan got the game 8 months in advance– I had started my planning 2 months before Japan’s release and this time, I’m doing it 2 months before the global release which is a 1/4th of the planning time, but also a bit more exciting to go into knowing we’ll all be starting somewhat close together (I say somewhat close because eShop goes by the respective country’s time and maybe a bunch of us will be visiting Australia again to preorder ASAP BUT ANYWAY…).
And when it comes down to it, some of what I’m thinking may not be possible– this will be a lot of rambling based off what we’ve seen so far, but it’s entirely possible some of this may not be able to immediately be done. Some of it will also be based off things I noticed in like… New Leaf and am semi-expecting here to an extent based off what we know.
When I played New Leaf, my big goals every single day until I was done were:
-I had to pay off anything with a debt that day. (IE: First got your tent? Pay it off. Got the house upgrade? Pay it off. Have a building being worked on or a public work? Pay it off. The day you get the debt, the day it has to be paid off)
-I had to buy every single thing in the shop.
This generally meant that I would max out all counters to get things sooner– shops coming, new buildings, and of course, new house upgrades. With the hint that things develop based off how you develop them, it makes me think we may see similar here– upgrading our house shows we want more and buying out everything may increase shop stock.
In addition to those things, I’m hoping to also make every crafting recipe I have available (and whenever I have a new one, make it immediately) plus complete Nook Miles ASAP. Obviously, assuming some will have more lofty accomplishments like badges, that’ll take much longer, but the point is to try and do as much as I can or at least hit that first milestone ASAP.
While I know some people will reset for villagers or a certain map, I’m not going to do so. I’ve never reset for villagers, I don’t really mind having to wait to get the villagers I want (and now, there’s no fear of a villager ruining my hopes and dreams with their house placement). While I can be picky with maps and did reset a short bit in New Leaf, I’m just going to hope I see a map I do like enough to just start immediately.
I’m mostly just hoping I can place my house near a waterfall. As long as I can do that, I’m good :P Fruit-wise, I’d love to get peaches again for the obvious pinkness, but I’d also be really happy with Apples (which have my favorite perfect fruit variation) and Cherries. Apples are my favorite fruit in real life followed by Cherries which is part of why I usually hope for them. If I don’t get them, it’s not the end of the world though beyond the sadness of only being able to plant the perfect fruit of the type I get– though, who knows, maybe that’ll work differently in New Horizons. Either way, I can plant the fruit normally and just may end up replacing a handful of my town’s fruit trees for a different kind. Thinking about it, I didn’t have tons of fruit trees in my New Leaf town anyway– I mainly ended up using a lot of bushes and flowers and a good variety of the various fruit trees.
My big hope with the town itself is essentially “Pink Sea 2.0”, but that really doesn’t mean much. My second description is a “more natural” Pink Sea and what I mean by that is essentially, no patterns. As much as I loved the paths and waterways I ended up using in the original Pink Sea, I’m actually not a big fan of patterns and I never really have been. I used them very sparsely in HHD for that specific reason. Part of it is because it’s so easy to ruin the illusion of it all, but also because I’m not really the best artist and while I did my own changes to patterns to make my own take on them, it wasn’t really the same as doing it all myself. Similarly, the limits were a huge pain– not just in how many you could make, but not being able to edit them if you didn’t make them… which sucked when I made a pattern on my main character and then had it be gotten from a side character. While most of the patterns I remembered to save first, some I missed in the shuffle and it’s still kind of frustrating.
Obviously, things that NEED a pattern like the flag and certain public work projects (if they make a return) are exempt from the “no pattern” rule, but I’m hoping things like the waterways from Pocket Camp will be available and I am looking forward to trying to make a natural path with the new systems in New Horizons– maybe there will even be some pretty pink path option (Edit as of February 2nd: and that sure feels fairly likely now along with actual stairs!!), who knows. This may also seem like a weird stand to take when my New Leaf dress was also a pattern, but with new dress styles and having essentially some designs I am absolutely in love with in Pocket Camp, I am really excited to see what we have in store from the official designs and I’d be very surprised if I DIDN’T find something I’m in love with. At most, and only if we could do different design options with patterns (IE: skirt styles/lengths, sleeve styles, etc.), I may consider remaking a design just to have it in another color as there’s… definitely been official designs I loved, but the color not so much. Or you know, like how my Princess Shirt/Dress/Top was changed from pink to blue for a new furniture set *SHAKES FIST AT CITY FOLK*. I’m really hoping that dresses may have multiple colors though like what Pocket Camp has done. Maybe a new option at the Able Sisters to dye your clothes similar to how Cyrus can refurbish things. (Edit as of February 1st: And with the reveal of new renders, I may be right about color options)
I am debating on if I want to just use the same flag I did for New Leaf or change it up. I guess we’ll see. I find the thing I’m having the most trouble deciding is actually with my character. I know we’ll have new faces and even nose types, but this face:
I’ve had this face since the very first Animal Crossing game. I never used guides or anything– I just answered the questions honestly and it was somehow always the one I got with the original pink hair. It’s part of why I was so happy for the first female Villager variant in Super Smash Brothers because it was the one I had gotten at the start. But as we know for NH, we’ll actually be able to pick.
For the most part, I genuinely do like the face. I would say my only big complaint would be that I wish the lashes didn’t curve the same way and one went to the left and one to the right like most of the other faces. I also was kind of sad the “brown eyes” version looked so silly with it– it doesn’t really work as well with other colors, especially as the lash color would change too.
I’ve always had mixed feelings on the noses, but it feels like such a core part of AC, I don’t know if I’ll change it or not… I guess I’ll see what the new faces are and stuff. I remember really loving the eyes in the Funny Glasses, for example, but having no use for wearing the glasses themselves.
As for hair… I still keep hoping for a new ponytail and honestly, this makes me feel like there could be:
It especially makes me hope for a curly ponytail of some kind– I feel like we’ve seen a few nice wavy/curly longer hairstyles and I just would love one pulled into a ponytail so badly. Fingers crossed at least. Heck, if they want to do DLC hairstyle packs, I’d buy them.
Finally, I keep going over my villagers. I feel like there has to be at least 10 you can have like New Leaf– possibly more (I say possibly because while City Folk had 10 too, it did have some downgrades from Wild World and the Gamecube version, which I feel the Switch could possibly beat, had 12), so that’s what I’m currently setting my goal to.
Now, I love my New Leaf villagers. Ruby I also loved a lot and if it wasn’t for her house placement, I may have even kept her (possibly over Julian). I also have a bunch of villagers who were not in my town (mostly due to limits, but some just not in the series) that have a special place in my heart: Lolly, Gayle, Beardo, Ursala, Tutu, Midge, Norma, Cheri, Pekoe, June, Goldie, Maddie, Megumi, Ellie, Tia, Lily, Rocket, Annalise, Epona, Nana, Carmen, Zucker, Blanche, Flora, Aurora, Sprinkle, Gala, Lucy, Ruby, Etoile, Stella, Vesta, Marshal, Poppy, Bianca, Freya, and Whitney.
Regardless, I do like to try and have some new villagers too. I feel like Merengue, Diana, Cookie, Peanut, Flurry, Maple, and Marina are just… absolute must have’s. Cookie, Peanut, and Maple were some of my first villagers and I was so sad when Cookie wasn’t in Wild World. Maple and Peanut have always been with me. Marina stuck around since Wild World. And Merengue, Diana, and Flurry are easily my favorite villagers in New Leaf overall.
I would say after those 7, Molly is very close. I also like Tia and Etoile a lot, but depending on how many villagers there are and new designs, I want to make sure to give them a chance too. Especially after this Nintendo Switch sticker reveal:
(this has been enlarged by me– there’s sadly no official bigger size yet)
LOOK AT THIS CUB:
THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL. I WILL NEED THEM IMMEDIATELY. THEY ARE PART OF WHY I EVEN DECIDED TO WRITE THIS ENTRY NOW.
I am currently referring to them as “Cotton Candy Cub” or CCC for short until we know their name officially. I love them so so so much. And I absolutely need to get them in my town. The Bear Cubs are actually one of my favorite villager models– the other is Deers.
This sheep also looks really cool:
And I can’t wait to see what other villagers there may be.
I just hope we won’t lose any of my favorites (or too many in general… They already all had such nice models in the Animal Crossing Plaza on the Wii U).