Sunday, March 22, 2020: A Rainy Afternoon and a Fishy Evening

I played quite a lot of Animal Crossing: New Horizons today... and by that I mean my sister played quite a lot while I watched. Starting with mid-afternoon, when it rained outside, I caught a snail sitting on a rock. You can also see my new outdoor DIY workbench I crafted - basically a log for a table. Pretty convenient - my sister used it quite a bit!

I also found I can redeem Nook Miles for an ACNH-themed Nintendo Switch! I noticed as well in the airport there is limited-time stationary for cherry blossoms and Bunny Day - I wonder if once Nintendo stops updating the full game, it will be there permanently into the game? I might write my sister a birthday card using one of them - I'll show it off in tomorrow's entry.

In terms of progression, I managed to gather 30 piece of iron ore so the Nooklings can build Nook's Cranny, and also donate enough to Blathers so he can get a permit to build a museum! Based on Kaitlyn's I saw (see yesterday's live-stream), it seems it's a smaller museum for now? I'll find out tomorrow. I like how you can choose whether Blathers discusses whichever fish, bug, or fossil you're donating as in the older games - I believe he didn't have too much to say in New Leaf, so it's great to see that's back.

Anyways, as I was saying at the start of this post, my sister ended up playing a lot tonight (we were all around the couch on the TV), doing a ton of fishing (according to Nook Miles+, she has 100 fish! We enjoyed checking out the Critterpedia, and looking up what fish can be found where.) She caught all 40 fish in the GameCube game, and loved it in City Folk as well - now there are 80 fish to be caught! I love how she pointed out the weird spouts in the sand that you dig up to get bait, and discovered (as you'll see below) fish tanks are stackable. Impatient as ever, she created her own little museum outside (and inside) her tent. (I put that wheel I got from a balloon present as a birthday surprise.)

As it happened, she ended up discovering some new things first, such as Wisp! Your task when you find him is to find 5 spirits around the island - exactly like how it was in the GameCube game!! I played briefly in Handheld Mode after she was finished to find Wisp myself. She also tried eating fruit, and was able to put trees in her pocket and break rocks for gold ore! Even though I was slightly worried about these features when they were shown in a Direct, it really seems like they're totally optional, like everything in the game, and can be kept out of the way if you don't care for them.

So yeah, that about wraps up my time tonight. I'll probably play briefly tomorrow morning to check out the new items on the island (I never mentioned - Tom Nook now gives a broadcast now when you start playing, and I'm sure he'll mention all the exciting events happening!). I don't really take too many pictures when playing with my family, but we have tried out the couch co-op addition where we all play together on one Switch - any I do I'll add into future blog posts. I am also planning Friday night multiplayer sessions as well, which will be live-streamed. This blog will probably be more focused, thus, on my single-player experiences with the game, and livestreams more on the multiplayer side. (Tomorrow, for instance, I will be streaming Super Paper Mario on the Nintendo Wii - check it out at 1:30pm!)

Alrighty, that's enough plugging other content. I'm definitely enjoying my time with this game, both by myself and as a family game! My progress may be slower compared to other YouTubers playing, but I'm more focused on enjoying the game - I've never been about trying to blaze through its content. It's a game about slowing life down for sure, and I'm enjoying that aspect of it as much as I can. Anyways - see you tomorrow, either live or in another Animal Crossing blog post!