Chaos in Town

For those of you with a Nintendo 3DS that live in the United States: y'all already know about Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the game that came out back on June 9.

I'm going to be honest when I say that me having this game is a very bad thing. No, not in the sense of me hating the game or anything of the sort. (Au contraire - why would I own something I hate?) Rather, it's detracting me from having fun with other things, because it's one of the few game that secretly installs a "Play me forever!" voice in the back of your head. Depending on the person, they can either ignore it entirely, or be suckered into listening.

Here's me saying hello from the front of town hall. And yes: that's an actual screenshot of my copy of the game. All the photos accompanying this entry were taken from my 3DS.

For me, the voice is as strong as the voices I get whenever a new Pokémon game is released. And seeing as how this is a sim game of sorts, let's just say I'm screwed.





Now, why would a fun game in the hands of a video game fanatic such as myself be a "bad" thing? Well, let's consider the following.

Public works projects and town ordinances are nothing compared to the intimidation of public approval ratings. Yeesh...

First off: I entered this world blind. I decided to name the town Gefallen and name myself Josh (as opposed to any other monikers I had in my mind). As I got off the train, I was greeted by half of the town and proclaimed as the mayor. Well, that's just great. I thought I told myself I'd stay away from politics, and now I'm here, organizing areas for zoning and handling citizens' compliments and complaints alike.

New Leaf now allows you to hang pictures (and other hangable objects) on your walls. As such, I deemed it necessary to hang things on my back wall.
From left to right: Apple Bloom "presenting" Gefallen's town flag (the Halo series' "Mark of Shame"), a portrait of a saluting Big Boss, and Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

As if being mayor was bad news on my part, I eventually had to come home to a crisis of interior design. Since my house is a growing two-story, I now have to find lots of eye candy and pieces of furniture to decorate my home. The last thing Gefallen needs is a mayor whose house is aesthetically blacklisted by the homeowners' association. I would be the laughingstock of the town - and then nothing would get done!

I am so thankful that this guy is not a loan shark.

And then there's Tom Nook. Everyone who's ever played an Animal Crossing game knows who this pseudo-kingpin of a tanuki is. In most incarnations of the series, he's your landlord and you pay off an ever-increasing debt in order to own a small house. (The debt gets bigger should you decide to expand.) It's implied that he owns the majority of the town. To quote IGN:

Tom Nook might look innocent enough, and when you first arrive into town, he might even seem nice, but beneath that furry façade lies the cold, dead heart of a megalomaniac whose sole desire is to make a quick bell. Sure, he gives you a place to live, but then he dumps you deeper in debt than you could possibly imagine, and forces you to start working it off. You don't get a say in the matter.

In New Leaf, his role changes slightly. Rather than own the town store, he holds a monopoly on the real estate business, and his nephews move in to fill the void at the register. And yet while we loathe this guy, we're forced to keep shelling out bells... all in the name of a slightly bigger house. *sighs*

The literal fruits of my labor. After a few days of taking care of the saplings, I get to reap the rewards.

But I suppose it can't be all too bad. Despite everything going on, I've found some time to set up a nice orchard and garden chock full of fruits and flowers. The flowers help with my approval (apparently villagers know if I water plants or not) and make the town look awesome, while the fruits can be sold in an attempt to pay off my exorbitant debts to Nook. Plus, a variety of fruits encourages trading - and I've already done so with a good amount of my friends who own New Leaf.

Players won't admit it, but they'll grow attached to some of their neighbors.
Because of the story mentioned below, I've decided to make sure Ribbot never leaves.

That, and I have awesome neighbors. Take Ribbot the robot frog here for example. Roughly two days after I moved into town, he asked me for a favor, despite knowing how busy I was. He was redecorating my house and asked me if I had any furniture to spare. I looked in my house (then a tent - I was busy paying that damn Tom Nook off) and found a relatively unused green chair. I gave it to him, and in return, he gives me a flat screen television. A TV for a measly chair. WOW.

I've gotten some other good trades, but none have beaten Ribbot's.
I mean, just look at that resolution! =P

See? I wasn't joking! Man, I have such cool neighbors.

New at the shops: fortune cookies whose messages correspond to certain rewards. And the cookie gods decided to bless me with Samus Aran's Varia suit! Huzzah!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go cosplay in town for no real reason. Until the 'morrow!