Friday, July 05, 2013

Just in case you didn't know, Animal Crossing: New Leaf has taken over my gaming life

And worse, it's nearly taken over the rest of my life, too, but that's another story.

(That said, I should note that things have gotten quite a bit better in that regard in the last week or so due to the fact that I'm pretty darn happy with my New Leaf village at the moment--so most of the time I now spend in it revolves around me chatting with my buds, checking the shops, digging up fossils and gyroids and plucking errant flowers from the soil.)



Anyway, I'm sharing this here because: 1) I'm guessing at least a few of you are in the same boat and, as such, may be looking for a bit of supportive company, and 2) I'm hoping it'll help explain why my blogging output has been suckier than normal since Animal Crossing: New Leaf entered my life three or so weeks ago.

With that out of the way, are any of you also finding yourself a bit obsessed with this disturbingly addicting 3DS game?



If so, which aspects are most responsible for your New Leaf obsession? Is it arranging flowers, or planting and maintaining orchards? Or maybe it's decorating your house, or creating fabulous pieces of clothing?

For me, the main draw at the moment is the overall town-planning element--laying down paths, deciding where to place public works projects, that sort of thing. Soon, though, I'll likely transition from focusing on that to focusing on getting the interior (and exterior, really) of my home(s) in order.



By the way, if you'd like to check out my village, Animachi, but are too shy to visit it while I'm there (or you have a hard time attracting my attention while I'm playing the game), you can do so by sharing my "Dream Address"--5600-2252-0337--with the Dream Suite's Luna.

Feel free to share your New Leaf town's Dream Address in the comments section below, as I've love to check them out when I'm not busy watering my precious flower beds or stockpiling (and selling) beetles that have been scoured from Animachi Island.

23 comments:

Justin Difazzio said...

I haven't been NEARLY as active as I'd like to be in laying paths and planning orchards...but I've always kind of been a live-and-let-live kind of guy...so mine's about flowers as accents and not that much hard work. Maybe some day I'll start laying proper paths and cordoning off sections of town for orchards and gardens...

Francisco said...

I'm addicted to games. Wii, xbox 360, etc.. Today I play on the iPad, but after reading so much about AC New Leaf I desire to own a 3DS to test this game, it looks amazing. Is it worth it?

Zaphod65 said...

I've been playing obsessively, too. I'm taking the opposite approach by focusing more on my house's interior so it looks cool and memorable for StreetPass before tackling the village as a whole. With this mornings addition of my basement, I have all the rooms. Now I get to start enlarging them!

After your tweet the other day, I stopped selling my fossils. That fourth museum exhibit is going to be nothing but mini-fossil models. lol

My dream address is 4600-2181-7712.

thegaygamer.com said...

No need to feel bad about that, Justin--this is the first time I've ever laid paths in an AC game, and I'm usually not too uptight about orchards either. Not sure what prompted me to care about this time around, to tell you the truth, but I have to say I'm liking the results!

Robert Lopatto said...

hah the towns been one big canvas for my overgrown garden. Tree's are nice but I cant stop laying down patterns with tulips. I'll ahve to peek at your place sometime soon.

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Francisco! Hmmm, is it worth it? To me, it is--obviously! I always have a hard time figuring out if it will 'click' with others, though. Some people really find it charming and love the personalization aspects of it, while others find it to be a boring chore. Anyway, I'd say if you have the $$$ for it, give it a try. What's the worst that can happen?

thegaygamer.com said...

That's interesting, Terry--that you're taking the opposite approach. I'm guessing most folks 'play' the game as you do, though? I usually focus on my house, too--or that's what I've done in past AC games--but for whatever reason I'm focusing on the landscape, etc., this time around.


I am starting to enlarge my main house, though, so pretty soon I'll be ready to pour a lot of attention into that aspect of the game.


Oh, and thanks for sharing your dream address! I've already visited your town, of course, and hope to do so again, but I'm glad others will be able to do so now, too!

thegaygamer.com said...

OK, now I want to see your town, Robert. Why the obsession with tulips, by the way? Is that an interest in your real life, too?


I'd say my favorite flowers in the game are lilies, by the way--which is kind of funny when you consider they're probably the least represented in my town at the moment...

Zaphod65 said...

I've mostly been grinding like crazy because I'm going to visit my family next week and want my house to be awesome when it turns up in my niece's and nephew's games via StreetPass. I'll probably slow down after that.
I irony is I haven't StreetPassed anyone playing the game yet, but I've had a few visitors turn up via the Dream Suite. Go figure. lol

Robert Lopatto said...

haha oh its 5800 2265 9815, I hope you dont mind some weird catch phrases lol


I wish I had more time to fill the place but I only get to play in small chunks. Going to peek on yours now.

Robert Lopatto said...

Oh and to answer your question, I do enjoy gardening , its just remembering to water that I find hard...


Also my old house had a lot of tulips around in the spring so maybe that had something to do with it...

thegaygamer.com said...

That's too funny--and cute--that you're working on your house so it'll blow away your relatives when you see them soon :)


BTW, I've StreetPasses just two people who've played the game so far. Sadly, I only got to see the house of one of them, as I StreetPassed the first person before I'd unlocked the option in my own game :|

thegaygamer.com said...

Ha! You don't need to worry about weird catch phrases with me, Robert. I'm not easily offended :)

thegaygamer.com said...

Ah, yes, watering. I'm not a fan either--although it's growing on me.


I don't really have to worry about it, though, as I have a beautiful town ordinance in place at the moment :)

Monster_Hunter2882 said...

I think my 3DS is taking over my gaming life in general. My 3 most played games this year are all games for it (Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Etrain Odyssey IV). Then there's the recently released Project X Zone and the soon to be released Shin Megami Tensei IV, both of which will probably take several hours life away. Then there's upcoming games like Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, Pokemon X/Y, and Zelda: Link Between Worlds. Then there's even more with 2014 releases like Super Smash Bros. and Bravely Default and even more with games that have yet to get announced western release such as Monster Hunter 4, Dragon Quest VII 3D, One Piece: Unlimited World Red, and Sayonara Umihara Kawase. As for AC:NL taking over my life, luckily enough my schedule and my job which has inconsistent hours have been kind to me. I've also been playing while watching TV and people don't mind if I play while Socializing so I've been able to put in a ton of hours. As for my dream address its 4200-2260-2919. A warning to anyone who visits my town via dream my house is a mess but I do have plans for it.

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Sam! I'm glad you commented again, as I wanted to say thank you for the bells you sent to my two characters after visiting Animachi a few days ago (you really didn't have to do that!) and I also wanted to say sorry for the connection error (or whatever) that caused that visit to come to an end. Hopefully you didn't lose everything you bought, etc., while you were in my town? If so, let me know and we can schedule another visit in the near future.


BTW, I completely agree about the 3DS in general taking over your gaming life. For me, it's done that to the extent that I even have little interest in the Wii U at the moment. And like you said, things are only going to get worse in the coming months.


Thanks for sharing your Dream Address! I'll be sure to check it out shortly. I love seeing what other people are doing with their villages--whether they're awesome, ugly, scary, fascinating or something else entirely :)

Aki said...

Well... I'm as addicted to this AC than I thought I'd be ! Actually, I think I won't be leaving it aside as "quickly" as I did with Wild World : there are so many things to unlock and so much personalization available !

But right now, my village is quite a huge mess, so when I see all these nicely organized ones... I'll be taking my time, I guess !

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Aki! Oh, I definitely won't stop playing this game anytime soon. The scary thing is that I played City Folk every day for about eight straight months, and I'm liking New Leaf A LOT more than that game at the moment.


As for taking your time with this game: that's what you should do, in my opinion. Don't rush it--let it happen :)

Nightmare Bruce said...

First off I love that stone tile texture you're using. If only we could make transparent edges so tiles would merge with the ground easily.

I'm actually shocked at how insidiously New Leaf has taken over my life! It helps that my girlfriend plays it too so we're always trading items and reading funny dialog...this game has a huge amount of character.

Town planning is my favorite too--I made a meditation space with a stone path and benches to sit on, and right my long term project right now is "PITFALL FIELD", an obstacle course/treasure field I want to invite some folks over to for an item hunt contest. Unfortunately my animals keep wandering into the blast zone and everyone is getting pissed off, haha. I'll have to wall it off with Hibiscus bushes.

Right now I've started posting dumb AC comics inspired by the animals in my town on my blog. Check it out when you get time!

thegaygamer.com said...

Hello again, Jeremy!


I'm glad to hear you like the path pattern I'm using. I wasn't completely sure about it for the first week or so, but it's since grown on me to the point that I'm now loving it.


That said, I do wish you could make designs with transparent edges so the paths, etc., would merge seamlessly with the surrounding grass. Maybe we'll get that in the next AC game?


I LOVE the idea of a pitfall field, by the way :) And a zen zone, too.


I'm amazed by how much I've gotten into the town-planning aspect of this particular AC game, by the way, as I've never really bothered with that in the past. Oh, I planted orchards and flower beds, but that was about it. I've never done paths before, and I have to say they've been a game-changer (pun intended) for me.


BTW, you and I will have to meet up sometime, if you're interested. I'd love to check out your village, and you're also welcome to come visit mine!

Nightmare Bruce said...

Haha, the pitfall field is tearing my town apart to be honest...I keep coming across angry villagers who wandered in while I was doing my own thing. And then I had a public works project built...in the middle of the pitfall field. The post-ceremony afterparty was a massacre, I will tell you that.


Absolutely we should visit sometime! I'll have to get my house presentable, haha...no head for interior decorating. My friend code is 0662-2563-3994.

thegaygamer.com said...

Oh, I wish I could have seen that in action, Jeremy! I love the idea of all of your villagers (or a good chunk of them) falling into pitfalls during the post-ceremony afterparty, as you call it :)

As for switching FCs and visiting each others towns sometime: YES, that would be great!

Here's my Friend Code: 3050-8125-7171 I'll add yours next time I'm on.



Oh, and don't worry about your house! My houses are complete messes at the moment--too busy worrying about the landscape, etc. to put too much effort into my homes' interiors at the moment :)

Francisco said...

ok, I bought my ACNL. Tomorrow my house will be ready!