Tag: Nintendo

Thursday Media Review: Pokemon Legends Arceus

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following review contains spoilers to the game, so do not read if you do not wish to be spoiled

Pokemon’s one of the most significant IPs out there, and ya boy’s here have reviewed Pokemon Sword and Shield, and did play Brilliant Diamond/Stunning Pearl (will write a review of that game soon). However, one of the most anticipated titles released for this year since its announcement. Released on January 28th of this year on the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon Legends Arceus is a game that many said has made some very anticipated changes for the franchise for good and maybe helped out the somewhat lackluster Sword and Shield series. Does it stand up to the game? Well, here’s my review of Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

Story Summary and Gameplay

PL: Arceus starts with your main character being teleported into the past by the pokemon Arceus, the god of the Pokemon world. He only tasks you with one goal: “Seek out all the pokemon” and teleports you to Hisui, which is Ancient Sinnoh. You meet Professor Lavanton, and after a brief tutorial of the game, you are whisked with him to Jubilief Village and the headquarters of the Galaxy Team. There, you are introduced to your supervisors, Cylene and Commander Kamado, and your rival and fellow corp member Rei/Akari (determined by your character’s gender selected.) Laventon tasks you with compiling the Pokedex of the Hisui Region, all while solving the mysteries of Hisui. Meanwhile, you’re aiding the native Diamond and Pearl clans with the sudden frenzy of their Noble Pokemon. Eventually, more of the world is revealed, and you learn of the mystery of how you were brought here, to begin with, and a final battle with the one who brought you to this ancient land in the first place.

Gameplay-wise, PL: A carries some of the typical pokemon gameplay mechanics of fighting, but you now have some very different things that deviate from the normalcy of the older pokemon games. Pokemon are no longer found in the tall grass and can be found wandering the world, for starters. They can either have three kinds of behaviors: They can be indifferent/friendly toward you, flee from you upon seeing you, or outright attack you if they spot you. Another new thing is that you don’t need to capture Pokemon through battling but indirectly. If you’re sneaky enough, you could launch a Pokeball at an unsuspecting pokemon and catch it without fighting it. Your chance of catching it increases if you use items to stun or distract them.

With aggressive Pokemon, you’ll either need to be more creative or go the old-fashioned way. The aggressive Pokemon can hurt you unless you use your Pokemon or dodge the attack. The screen will darken then go red before you are knocked out and rushed back to the next camp (and lose your items.)

As you progress through the main story, you’ll meet the Noble Pokemon; Pokemon worshipped by the Diamond and Pearl clans as avatars of Almighty Sinnoh. Some Nobles like Wyrdeer, Ursaluna, Basculegion, Sneasler, and Braviary will help you on the journey by lending their strength to traverse the lands faster, fly over it, cross waters and even scale mountains.

Others such as Kleaver and Arcanine need to be quelled due to the effects of that mysterious frenzy. Unlike most old battles where you must fight the Pokemon, Noble Battles behave like some action RPGs where you must reduce their bar to zero, throwing balms at them. Sometimes, if the opportunity arises, you can have your pokemon duke it out with the noble and, by KOing them, doubles the balm’s effectiveness for a short time. Also, should you fall to a Noble, you are given a chance to continue the fight where you left off without resetting the fight.

As your Pokemon gets stronger, they will be able to master some of their moves by leveling or using an item called a Seed of Mastery. Mastery allows you to use actions in either Agile or Strong forms. These forms have their pros and cons.

For example, an Agile move can have a chance of making your pokemon move faster or attack again on the same turn but with weaker damage.

Meanwhile, a Stronger move will be more damaging and accurate but may make your PokemonPokemon slower and vulnerable to an extra attack.

Lastly, when you capture a pokemon in PL: A, you need to fill out the Pokedex more than catch the Pokemon, and that’s it. When you capture them, you need to gather more data on them until it’s completed, like how many of that Pokemon you caught or evolved, where or when you caught them, or if they were doing an action like flying or if they were unaware of you when you caught them.

Legendary Greatness: What made PL: A good?

Pokemon Legends Arceus has some pretty fun aspects of the game. One of them is the open map exploration of the five areas: Obsidian fieldlands, Crimson Mirelands, Cobalt Coastlines, Alabastor Icelands, and Coronet Highlands. Each region has its biomes, environments, and Pokemon found in those environments. It also gives the backstory of what would be ancient Sinnoh.
Another liked is the capture mechanic system. Instead of battling Pokemon, you can catch them unaware and skip the whole thing. Great for catching some strong pokemon without risking harm to your team.

Another liked is the capture mechanic system. Instead of battling Pokemon, you can catch them unaware and skip the whole thing. Great for catching some strong pokemon without risking harm to your team.
Another is the crafting in the game. I didn’t mention this, but in PL: A, you can craft supplies for your inventory. Gathering resources like Apricorns and Oran Berries in the wild, you can prepare them into Poke Balls and potions for your journeys. Crafting is great for saving money on other items or new clothes for your character.

Lastly, you can get ALL The Pokemon. No more split versions in PL: A; you can catch them all without relying on trading or gimmicks that make it very difficult, like in the past. Want a Machoke to a Machamp? Just get a Linking Chord and evolve it! Want Scyther to a Scizor? Just use Metal Coat on it.

Forgotten in the Past: What the game lacks

Though PL: A is excellent, some problems annoyed me or need improvement in these categories.
One such issue is that though the game is excellent, there isn’t much outside of completing the dex or the story. Sure after you finished the Hisui Dex, saved the Hisui region, and such, there isn’t much of anything like trainer battles. You do get some rematch fights in Jubileaf Village and the occasional run-ins with the Miss Fortune trio of bandits and maybe rematches with the Noble Pokemon. Still, beyond it, nothing much once most of the series is complete.
Another problem that can be a bit of an annoyance is some of the new pokemon evolutions. Some Pokemon, like Kleavor, require one item to evolve them, and most trade-equipment items needed for trade evolution were made so simple that they made the game enjoyable. However, some evolutions like Wyrdeer and Overqil require some more unique evolutions, such as using their signature moves being used in combat several times until they’re ready to evolve. Also, my favorite Pokemon, Ursaluna, requires the use of a Peat Block but sadly must be done on a full moon night in-game. That can be frustrating indeed.
Lastly, the issue comes to recovering your items lost if you blackout. If you recall, I said you lose your items if you blackout, but it can be reacquired through a Lost and Found side-mission where you explore the map and retrieve lost sachels left by NPCs or by other players if linked to the internet. Sadly this is the ONLY way to get your lost items back, and you can’t seek them out on your outside if you lose them. Thus you have to rely on the online aspect to retrieve your stuff.

Secrets of the past

Before I go to my conclusion, here are some secrets for those who want to get Pokemon Legends Arceus (info from Serebii.net)
If you have to save Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee data, you’ll access free Pikachu and Eevee Masks.
Suppose you have Save Data of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Stunning Pearl. In that case, you get a double feature: You’ll get access to the Team Galactic outfit (the modern version) and access to a special Request mission that lets you capture Darkrai.
Pokemon Sword and Shield save data do the same but give you access to the pokemon Shaymin and give you a Shaymin.
Though Shaymin and Darkrai do not go toward the Hisui Pokedex requirements, they’re pretty good to have them.

Should you Get it?

As a Pokemon fan, I’d endorse getting Pokemon Legends Arceus if you’re a fan of the franchise. The game’s a big breath of fresh air for a franchise that needs one. Open exploration with creative methods of capturing and battling while taking place in an old region of the past. New forms and evolutions of old Pokemon?

All it’s missing is you setting up a Pokemon league. Though there are whispers and rumors of some kind of DLC, there’s no confirmation of its validity. But hey, a guy can dream can’t they?

References

Christmas Media Review: Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX

Written by TheChoujinVirus
Note: The following review may contain spoilers to the games

Merry Christmas everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin with a Christmas gift for you all to enjoy.
I remembered not too long ago, I did a review of the Monster Rancher Anime not too long ago, and I brought up the Monster Rancher anime (I’ll be redoing that in the future as I felt reviewing whole seasons wouldn’t be a good idea.) In that review, I mentioned the game series. You had the original released in 1997 and the 2nd game released in 1999. Through December 9th, 2021, came the release of a game that Koei-Tecmo made before. That is Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX, a game port released for Smartphones, Nintendo Switch and Steam. How does this game stack up? Here’s my review of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX

Summary of the Story

Monster Rancher 1 and 2 have different settings and locations. Still, they all have one story in common: You are a rookie Monster Breeder that is hired by FIMBA(Monster Rancher 1) or IMa(Monster Rancher 2) to raise monsters and become a Master Breeder of monsters.
You usually have two choices of how to get your monsters: a choice of three starter monsters (Eg. Dino, Tiger, and Suezo in MR1; Arrowhead, Zuun, and Mochi in MR2) or using CDs to unlock other monsters. The remake solves the gimmick by providing music/game data that gives you some monsters and some (since modern items do not have access to CD disc drives).
Once you acquired your monster, you now have to do the following to get them ready to fight in battles, like doing jobs or drills to power up your monster or acquire money. Feed your monster to ensure they have the nutrients for training, jobs, and battles. You also make money from side things like jobs and expeditions, though the money you’ll be making will be through the game’s tournaments you’re participating.
Monster Rancher 1 and 2 usually use a Round Robin style tournament (though Monster Rancher 2 gives us Elimination). Winning the matches will usually provide you with money, sometimes a prize like Disc Chips, medicine, and even rare items like a Dragon’s Horn. The Official Tournaments will raise your monster rank, which helps you unlock new monsters, upgrade your ranch, and allow your monster to fight the next grade. Starting at E Rank, you must work your way up to S Rank, then win the Big Four Tournaments to beat the game (MR2 lets you have a new one called the Legend Cup, which immortalizes your monster in the Hall of Fame.) However, it’s not as easy as just doing jobs and going into tournaments. You have to manage everything about your new monster. You have to manage their diet, training routines, when to rest, and lifespan. That’s right, monsters can grow old and die due to many things like giving them too much medicine, forcing them to run ragged, or them getting hurt in tournaments. Luckily you can freeze old monsters and fuse them in the future to make stronger monsters for your progress. You also have Expeditions, which are minigames that allow you to use your monster to explore around a map to search for rare items and stuff to sell or help raise your monsters once acquired. Battles are unique as you manually move your monster between several distances (Far, Mid-Far, Med, and Close). Each range has access to an attack that your monster can use by spending energy known as “Will.” Some attacks will inflict something called Withering, which not only damages but reduces Will on the target. The fight lasts for 60 seconds, and the objective is to either KO your opponent or have more Life than your opponent. Just remember to ensure your monster isn’t KO’d with Low Will as that can badly injure your monster or, worse..kill them in the arena.

Best in Show: What the game excels in

1 & 2 DX solved a lot of the gimmick problem of the old with the music data. You don’t need any third-party device as the whole thing is on the cartridge/game itself; thus, you can play offline without needing a connection. It’s also an innovative way of providing access to monsters that would have been lost due to the modernity of technology. Another is that the monsters themselves look fantastic. Each monster species is unique through various means such as stat growth, moves, playstyles, and even lifespans. Monster Rancher 2 takes the age by adding multiple types of lifespan growths. Some can have normal development, others burn out like a bright candle, and some just are late bloomers. There’s no definite raising method for some monsters. Lastly, the game itself introduces a form of online PvP, which is your monster vs. an AI-controlled opponent of other players (or you can have an AI vs. AI fight.) This has not only brought some ways of battling other players but even brings on competitive tournaments online

Worst Breeder: What the game lacks

One of the most significant issues of the games is that there’s no explanation for the mechanics themselves. First-time players will not know side things like stress management, the lifespan of monsters, percentage, even knowing about the spoil/fear mechanic. Also, not knowing that some drugs and battles will cut lifespans short. Monster Rancher 2 is just as complex as some fans of the game made an advanced third-party viewer needed to better understand the hidden mechanics behind them. It can become annoying with expeditions as you may need 3-4 stats to boost for an expedition monster (Life, Pow, Skill, and Int) and that Int is the factor that can determine your monster’s success (and ensure they don’t get somehow lost in an open field.)
Another problem is the monster unlock mechanics to get some monsters. For starters, to get the Hengar monster in MR1, you have to go to Reno, dig through the ruins for four limbs, then you have to win an A-Rank invitational to win the Doll head to get the Hengar. Then you go back to Reno again when the expedition begins and have your monster (who has 500+ Int). Have it read the tablet to be used, or in Monster Rancher 2, to unlock the Beaclon, you need to feed a Worm 30 Jelly Cups, must be at least four years old in the game, the loyalty of 80 or more, and be C rank or lower and have low to none fatigue and stress.
This makes some monsters unavailable and hard to get when you accidentally unlock a mighty monster from a disc. Lastly, the entire game is more or less an IOS port, which means that Steam and Switch versions are the same and makes things harder to do as you don’t have button modules for controllers (or stuff not known.) This makes playing games a pain to do in some situations.

Should you get it?

Monster Rancher 1 and 2 DX is a game that will give folks a taste of the old games for a generation where the tech made it difficult to emulate. Hopefully, this game can bring a revival of this franchise.

  • Koei-Tecmo
  • Nintendo
  • Steam

Thursday Media Review: Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise (and Update 2.0)

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: The following may contain spoilers to the game (including new features)

Happy Thursday everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here. Not too long ago, I overheard some excellent news from the latest Nintendo Direct. Animal Crossing was getting some new long-awaited content (I took a break last year due to rediscovering WoW and my NCCT classes). The newest game is not a game, but DLC for New Horizon, but it behaves as its own game. Released on November 5th of this year, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise and Patch 2.0 of New Horizon brings some new life into the game in less than a year.

Gameplay+Story

To see my review of the original Animal Crossing New Horizon, please click here to get my review. We’ll be focusing on Happy Home Paradise and 2.0

First off, Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise’s story more or less picks up after you’ve got three stars and got K.K. slider to perform for your island. You are greeted by Tom Nook, who calls you to meet him at the airport. There you are greeted and referred to a friend of his. Lottie, a pink otter who made her first debut in a previous game Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. She offers you a job for Paradise Planning, a vacation home resort and remodeling business in a large island archipelago chain. You are tasked with designing the animal villagers that visit the island as their dream vacation homes. Alongside Lottie, you have two new characters and co-workers. Wardel, the manatee who runs the Paradise Planning shop where you get to buy some exclusive furniture for your house back on your island; And Nico, the monkey who guides you and gives you tips on how to design your villager’s home. Over time, as you gather more clients for Paradise Planning, you later help out with building facilities for the island such as Schools, Restaurants, Café, a Hospital, and even an Apparel store.

In Happy Home Paradise, compared to New Horizon, you are tasked with designing all villager’s vacation homes. Some villagers will have a specific theme that fits, such as Jacque and his “Very Exclusive Club” themed home or Ketchup’s Tomato-themed room. You put three items that the client requests (and add furniture, wallpaper, and other stuff) and simply design the best house you can do. You’re not just limited to the interior, but also the exterior of their homes too. You can add furniture to the exterior and things like trees, bushes, flowers, and fencing.

Upon completing a job, you’re paid in Poki (the currency of the island). You can use that to buy furniture exclusively from Happy Home Paradise and bring it over to your island (including new ceiling furniture like lights and murals). The more houses you complete, the more the main resort island improves. Through that, you can unlock facilities and new features such as Partitions to give parts of a room a divider between them, background noises for providing an atmosphere, adding a second story to the vacation home, and even allowing roommates to share a house for themselves.

But Happy Home Design isn’t something new as well. Patch 2.0 brings you a whole new feature to the gameplay since Patch 1.3’s return of Diving. 2.0 Brings a ton of features into the game that breathes new life into the game
The first feature introduced is a new form of DIY: Cooking. You can now cook food that you can use as furniture for your house or eat to give you strength (which yields more than eating a single piece of fruit). It also adds 4 new crops (alongside Pumpkins); Tomatoes, Potatoes, Wheat, Carrots, and Sugarcane. They can be used to create various things like bread, smoothies, fish dishes, and various other edibles that your character can whip up.
Another new feature introduced is the return of the Kappa, Kapp’n, and the mysterious island tours. Unlike the airport tours set in a few islands, Kappn’s tours are random and can bring you to various unique times, days, and even seasons. Meaning your island is in the summer, but you can find a winter island out there. This makes it helpful for finding seasonal fish or bugs (I ran into a summer island and caught a ton of stuff).
The game also adds 12 new K.K. songs for you to enjoy, such as K.K. Break (a song many suspected has been influenced by a specific meme), K.K. Lovers and K.K. Polka.
The Roost makes a return, too, bringing back Brewster and his coffee bar back into your village’s museum. Though this time, it now adds a new feature: An Amiibo phone that lets you invite villagers and special characters to the Roost for a cup of coffee (sometimes they may bring others with them, such as Blathers and Celeste). You can also see returning Animal Crossing characters that haven’t made an appearance in years should you use their amiibos, such as Resestti, Chip, Gracie, and Dr. Shrunk. Also returning is the aerobics stretching segment exclusive to physical exercise days from older Animal Crossing titles. Now a minigame you and the villagers can participate in alongside some old companions. That’s right, we got the Gyroids back. These little noisemakers make a return and with a new feature. Sometimes, on a mysterious tour, you may find fragments of these little guys. If you bury the fragments back at your village and then water them, you’ll be able to grow a gyroid. Not only can you do that but customize them to match some colors and thus make them unique to your own house.
Harv’s island has gotten an update too in this expansion. Originally a place to take photos, it now hosts a co-op of various businesses for you to look around. Some of the random roaming villagers like Redd, Kicks, Saharah, and Leif can be found there from time to time selling their goods (or vacant if they’re visiting your town). However, we have four returning villagers. Tortimer, the former mayor and owner of the island, now serves to help you access your home storage inventory. Reece and Cyrus also return to provide their customization services to you. Not only can they do work for stuff that you can do, but they also can do exclusive work that regular DIY customization lacks, such as customizing fences for your village or Nook Mile furniture for your town. Katrina, the fortune teller, returns to do what she does best: reading your fortunes. Lastly, we have Hariett, the hairdressing poodle who can teach you some new hairstyles that you could benefit from.
Lastly, Animal Crossing adds several new and returning villagers from the game. Some of the newest villagers include the likes of Sasha, Cephalobot, and Shino. While the returning villagers are characters not seen in over 20 years since the first Animal Crossing game. Those characters like Chabwick, Ace, Azalea, and Faith give 2.0’s new villager roster a whopping 16 total. Something not seen since 1.9’s return of the Sanrio Amiibo villagers.
In short, there’s a ton of new content that some new and established players will be seeing while playing the game.

Happy Home Greatness: what they provide

The expansion and update provide a ton of unique features that change the game. One such that is enjoyable is the connectivity between Happy Home Paradise and New Horizons. The last Happy Home game didn’t have much connection save for just being a spin-off game. However, Paradise adds interconnectivity for those who bought the DLC. For starters, any furniture you buy from the island can be used in your village as well, and some of the DIY recipes you’ve created can also be used in decorating your own house. Also, you can bring your villagers to the resort by gifting them souvenir chocolates. This gives some players with no amiibos a place to give their favorite villagers to visit from time to time.
Another feature that makes the expansion good is the convenience of Kappn’s Tours and Harv’s island. Initially, one would have to travel or visit another person’s island to find some fish or bugs at a specific season. Now with the return of Kapp’n and his tours, you can have a chance to fill the fish and thus not worry about the fear of missing out. Also, Harv’s island and the co-op allow you to visit some wandering merchants for a chance at some stuff you missed or mostly in hopes of finding what Redd has for sale to fill the museum.
The last feature one would find interesting is the cooking. This was a feature many animal crossing fans wanted in since forever and hinted in some games. It also allows folks to make use of some fish like Sea Bass, Red Snappers, and pumpkins for other than bells or one-time furniture for a specific Holiday.

Beestings: what the game lacks

Though the game is fun, it has some problems that make it moot and annoying, at worst, when it comes to it.
One such example, of course, is not all features of Happy Home Paradise can be used in New Horizons. What I mean is that though you can create isles and partitions for your home and others, features like background noises, lighting, expanding the room, and adding a second story are exclusive to Happy Home Paradise. This can feel real disappointing for those who unlocked the feature of being able to redecorate your villager’s homes back on your island (and there are talks about a game-breaking bug that can ruin your game if using this feature.)
Another issue is that though we get to see some older villagers return through the patch or amiibos, not all the villagers have returned. I’m talking about the crossover villagers. These villagers were tied to other games when using amiibos from those games such as The Legend of Zelda, Splatoon, and Monster Hunter. Though we did get the return of the Sanrio villagers, it’s disappointing that some like Felyne, Wolf Link, and Inkwell haven’t made a return back to the game. These characters were pretty popular for a ton of reasons and made using non-Animal Crossing amiibos helpful.
Lastly, though the game has some great perks, the major problem is it’s locked behind time. For example, when you’re building shops for the co-op, you can only donate a max of 100k per day, meaning those billionaires who hoarded bells will be prevented from day 1 from getting the plaza done. Kappn’s tours are more or less locked one tour per day. It is understandable as one could go around and farm bells or fill their museum of bugs and fish; however, that’s an annoying feature that makes it feel padded.

Conclusion: should one get the game?

Happy Home Paradise and 2.0 adds some new life into a game and gives folks a taste of what live patches Animal Crossing New Horizon may have in store for the future. For those who took a break from the game, it’s a good incentive to return while those playing for a year will find new features to explore.

Addendum: As of 11/11/2021, confirmed by Youtuber Crossing Channel, a hotfix was released for the designer bug that would brick your game if you designed people’s homes back on your island.

References

Friday(Thursday)Media Review: Animal Crossing New Horizon

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: This review may contain spoilers to the game. If you do not want to be spoiled and want to be surprised, don’t read.

Heya, it’s ya boy, Choujin here.

I recalled my last media review, we talked about the Animal Crossing movie that I wanted to do a review of the newest animal Crossing game. For those who might not have been paying attention, the Nintendo Switch had one game released on March 20th. It’s a hugely anticipated game that people were waiting for a very long time. So enough with the banter and long-winded chat, and let’s get started with the review of Animal Crossing New Horizon.

Summary of the Series and Gameplay

Animal Crossing, in general, is basically a soft life simulator game where you move into a village of animals where you explore, collect furniture, do jobs, catching bugs and fish, digging up treasure, make friends with your virtual animal neighbors (or with other players or friends) as well as participate in holiday events. Though animal crossing is known for not its story, things changed in New Leaf, where you become the mayor of your town and can build items called Public Works Projects.

In Animal Crossing New Horizon (like all animal crossing games), you play as a villager. However, in this game, you are part of Nook Inc’s Deserted Island Package. You and two other villagers (in my playthrough I started out with Reneigh the horse and Poncho the Bear) are greeted by Tom Nook. You are then given the first task in setting up your tent (and helping out your first two people with their shelter) as then you’re tasked with gathering items and food to celebrate your first day on the island. You get to name your island at this moment, too (for me, I called my island Astera), and you’re on your way of island life.

Though throughout your game, as the first player (known as the Island Representative by Tom Nook), you are tasked to improve the island. Such tasks include having stores opened (both The Nooklings and Abel Sisters), getting the Museum, encouraging villagers to move into your town and planting plots for their houses, and finally building up your town’s rating in order to attract K.K. Slider to your town for a performance.

Though throughout your everyday life, the game encourages you with a cool feature called DIY (Do It Yourself), which at the beginning of the game lets you build furniture and, in some parts of the story, things like your first bridge and plots for new neighbors. Of course, it’s also used to craft yourself tools like shovels, bug nets, fishing rods, and slingshots. Best of all, the DIY system requires you to gather resources. Some resources are made from stuff like twigs, rocks, iron ore, wood, and even odd things like Easter eggs and peach petals.

Oh, and if you need more resources, your town’s airport, known as Dodo Airlines, will take you to other islands to gather resources. All it costs you is Nook Miles, a currency you get through doing daily activities like catching fish or talking to neighbors. Sometimes, you may get random events besides holidays. Some days you may get visited by C.J. the Beaver or Flick the Chameleon (both buy fish and bugs at higher prices as well as hosting tournaments), Saharah the camel who sells wallpaper and carpets for your house, and others like Kicks the Skunk or Label who sell you rare clothing.
Animal Crossing doesn’t have any limitations save for what your mind can do and how far you can do with your island.

Island Paradise: What makes New Horizons great to me?

New Horizon brings several different things to the table than previous expansions. One such unique feature is the whole early part of the game. While the first Animal Crossing games had you move into a village and New Leaf lets you become the mayor of your town. New Horizon has a plot where you have Tom Nook setting up a deserted island into a thriving Island town or city. The satisfaction of watching your town start from just tents to houses and seeing it develop gives you a sense of pride.

Another thing I like is the DIY system. The ability to craft your own furniture does shopping for furniture a bit easier. Why waste money when you can make your own bed? Acquiring the recipes are also pretty fun too, as you can find them from your neighbors, the Nookling store, bottles that wash up, and even from balloons. Each is pretty unique and cute to boot. This makes decorating your house pretty fun.

Finally, what makes the game good is from what is described as they incorporated the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. This means that summer happens during Christmas if you register your island as being Southern Hemisphere. Something that I never thought would be implemented in Animal Crossing. One factor is that they also incorporate the Welcome Amiibo feature from New Leaf. Later in the game, once you have built the campsite, you can recruit villagers through the use of old AC Amiibo cards. This can make getting favorite villagers much, much easier. Though as the game has some feats I like, there are some parts I felt are lacking.

Island Issues: what the game needs improvement.

One glaring issue I find annoying is tool durability. As I mentioned before, the DIY system lets you build tools, and sadly the tools break over time. Flimsy items break the quickest while the iron (and unfortunately gold) break the slowest. This can become a pain in the butt if you’re trying to use them and suddenly having them shatter after a few uses. You either have to make multiple items in case one break (which means that it takes up space). Another issue I felt was the story takes a pretty slow pace. As much as I know, Animal Crossing is more of a journey than a destination, it can become a bit of a slog when the game takes its fat time. I felt annoyed when Blathers arrived, and I had to wait the next day just to get the Museum, and one factor was when I had 3 neighbors move in, I had to wait 3 full days just for all three of them to move in (they moved in one at a time) so it felt inconvenienced for my goal to play the waiting game.

Especially when you learn that it takes one month (without changing your switch’s internal clock) for the Nookling shop to open. One issue I may have is the neighbors. Sure, they greatly improved on the neighbors’ design and have them do some interesting things like having them sing and having sheep villagers finally wear shirts instead of scarves, but the problem is their personalities. Though each character is an individual, they still have the same default personality categories (e.g., snooty, grumpy, lazy, etc.), which means that some villagers (example Ketchup and Flora) will share the same mannerisms and words despite being different. It can be frustrating to notice that, and it doesn’t help that some of the Amiibo Villagers aren’t in the game (these were exclusive villagers that came from non-AC amiibos such as Epona from Zelda amiibos and Felyne from the Monster Hunter Stories Amiibos.) It feels a bit annoying I can’t have those characters as I had good memories of them from New Leaf.

Lastly, though, the game’s big feat is the multiplayer, as you can have up to eight players. The problem is that whenever someone arrives or leaves, everything is paused, and you have to go through a bit of a cutscene. Not a problem if you got one or two people visiting, but when you got more..it can be SOOOO annoying when hosting things as simple as Turnip trading or just get-togethers. I’m sure you’re going to ask me, “But Choujin, what about the One Island per switch thing.” I didn’t put that on the list as I don’t need another island, and one island is enough for me to enjoy. However, I do feel for those who share the same game and the same house with family but are fearful of being locked out.

Should you go across the New Horizon?

In short, the game is a pretty fun game to play and something you can pick up for a few hours a day to check up on your villagers and build your island to the ground up with only your imagination. Would I suggest New Horizon for anyone? If you’re an Animal Crossing fan, yes! If this is your first foray into the Animal Crossing franchise, I’d go for it too and start off. It’s a perfect game for anybody who is following shelter in place orders and beyond that. What makes it also enjoyable is that there’s going to be future DLC and events that’ll make the game last longer for those who bought it on release day.

References

Thursday Media Review: Animal Crossing the Movie

Written by TheChoujinVirus

Note: this review may contain spoilers to the movie.
Also, though I do link a fandub of the movie, I do strongly suggest ya support the franchise through buying their games. Pirates may be free, but creators and devs need that cash.

Happy Thursday, everyone, it’s ya boy Choujin here.
A few weeks ago, ya boy here got his copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and has been playing it for a pretty long while (especially with the Stay at Home order). However, we’re not going to be talking about the game..yet. That’ll be for another time, for now, I got a question for you. Did you know that Animal Crossing had a movie released in 2006? Betcha you didn’t see that coming? Yes, it’s true the franchise had its first movie, made by Nintendo, OLM Inc, VAP, and distributed by Toho on December 6th, 2006. Animal Crossing the Movie (or by its movie title Dobutsu No Mori) is something not many people expected. So how is the movie? Well, let’s dive into this movie together. Lucky for us, I’ve watched a fandub version made by SillhouettedProductions, who put his heart and soul into this.

Our movie starts out inside of a Taxicab driven by Kappin’ as we’re introduced to our protagonist named Ai. She’s moving to the town of Animal Village and is all excited to live on her own. At Town Hall, she is introduced to Pelly and Mayor Tortmire (who is so worried about his upcoming election), Pelly informs Ai to meet Tom Nook, the shopkeep (and her landlord). Upon arriving at Nook’s Cranny, Tom Nook already puts her to work as “The quickest way to getting used to your life in Animal Village is working.”. Nook’s advice pays off as she meets Rosie, a blue cat, and Alfonzo, a sandy brown alligator who follows a ninja. She also meets Whitney, a snowy white wolf who seems calm but with a sharp tongue. She then stops by the Abel Sisters, and this is where we meet Ai’s BFF, Margie. She’s got a dream of wanting to be a fashion designer. Ai finishes her job and heads home, only to run into the ninja boy again. This time, he introduces himself as Yu, the neighboring boy from the other village who visits Animal Village to play with Alfonzo. Throughout the few days, she helps Tom Nook and starts to shape her house out nicely.

Though one day, she’s about to do a delivery for Apollo, an eagle villager. Yu comes out of nowhere and knocks her into the blue rose garden. This suddenly brings the attention of Mr. Resetti, the “Enforcer of Justice,” who enforces the rules in Animal Village. He takes it easy on Ai as they deduced that she didn’t do it on purpose. Ai wants to apologize to him, so Resetti points her to a place called the Roost. Ai heads there, only to get lost in the Animal Village Museum. Her screams attract the attention of the owl Blathers and his sister Celeste, who calm her down. Blathers starts blabbing about the fossils, to which Ai explains she was here to look for the Roost, to which Celeste points to her the way. Though she spots an empty Diplodocus display. Blathers explains that he hopes to one day find and display the fossil (all while blathering about the Diplodocus). Ai enters the Roost and accidentally mistakes Cesar(a Gorilla) and Cyrano (anteater) for Apollo. It was until the real Apollo (an eagle) walks into the Roost and calmly laments at someone destroying his rose garden. Ai delivers her package and admits that she was the one who did it. Apollo simply leaves, leaving Ai worried if Apollo hates her now.

While delivering supplies, she meets Margie again (who helps her) while the two discuss, Margie, makes a comment about she dreams of wanting people to wear her original inspired clothing designs, comparing it to her “cherry pie.” One night, after writing a letter to her mother, Ai spots a note in a bottle on the beach. Ai opens and reads the note, telling her that “Above the Pine forest, On the Eve of the Winter Festival, a miracle will occur.” Ai is so puzzled about it until she sees a strange object streaking across the sky.

We’re given a time skip to the Summer, everyone is enjoying their fun under the sun as Ai, Margie and Rosie watch Whitney walking down the beach. Rosie mentions that Whitney and Apollo were rumored to be dating a long time ago. Margie chastises her for spreading rumors while mentioning that Mabel would help find a store that would sell one of her best designs, though she feels she’s not that good. Ai reassures Margie that she needs to keep at it, and sooner or later, she’ll be enjoying her Cherry Pie in no time. A few minutes later, we see Yu and Alfonzo digging holes in the hunt for fossils. Leaving tons of holes and angering Mr. Resetti in the process. The two managed to evade Mr. Resetti’s tongue lashing. Ai finds another letter on the beach telling her to plant pine trees marked on a map. The next day, everyone is having a nice day as Pelly tells Ai and the girls that the town’s preparing for the fireworks festival and that K.K. Slider will be arriving. The trio spots Yu and Alfonzo digging for fossils, and they successfully fond an ammonite fossil. Rosie replied that she found a ton of those fossils in a cave. Yu, so eager to find the fossils, drags the girls along the journey (to the three’s annoyance). While their makeshift pirate ship nearly got battered, they found the cave and the ammonite fossils inside.

Yu and Alfonzo cheered at their bounty until Ai notices that the cave also has the fossilized remnants of a Diplodocus. Yu suddenly sees this and tries to get to the fossil, only for the group to escape a near cave in. Ai and Rosie hold a now distraught Yu from running back into the cave for the fossils with Margie telling Yu to listen to them.  After that adventure, the town is now prepped for the Fireworks Festival. Rosie is nervous that K.K. Slider hasn’t shown up yet while Ai notices Margie drawing a new design inspired by their fossil fun. K.K. Slider shows up, and as he asks the crowd for a request, Margie asks for him to play K.K. Bossa (a song from the A.C. game). While he sings, Ai has memories of what Margie told her. Once K.K. Finishes singing, everyone enjoys the festivities. Yu and Alfonso buy a “very rare” (though revealed not) Golden Slingshot from the shyster Crazy Redd. Ai, talking with Rosie and Margie, states she wants her own cherry pie (oh and Tortimire has a firework off his face while feeling reassured that his election is secured).After the festival, Ai writes to her mom and explains that she felt a bit jealous that Margie has a dream she can chase. She finishes writing her note as she reads the four letters she got, all related to the winter festival and miracle. She goes back to writing her letter, telling her mom that she doesn’t know what her cherry pie will be, but she can smell it in the oven.

. We’re given another time skip, this time in the cold autumn. Ai is seen running, as we’re given a brief flashback. Rosie asked Ai why she wasn’t at Margie’s going away party, to which Ai had no clue she was leaving. Rosie explained that Margie moved away in order to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. A distraught Ai cannot find Margie anywhere and is left distraught. Meanwhile, Yu and Alfonzo plan a pitfall prank on the town, trapping Cyrano and Cesar. However, their traps fail on Champ, the athletic monkey. Ai falls into one of these traps but is so saddened that she doesn’t seem to respond or anything. She heads to the Roost Café as it starts to rain, asking Brewster for a cup of coffee. Whitney notices Ai, then the song K.K. Bossa plays on the speakers. Ai gets a memory of her best friend as she starts to cry when Brewster asks if Margie is listening to this song. Whitney angrily argues that Ai shouldn’t cry that her friend moved and that a proper lady should be happy that her friend moved on. Ai states she wasn’t upset about her dream but was upset that Margie didn’t tell her she was moving. Whitney laughed and explains to our protagonist, telling them that she needed to believe in herself and that Margie and Ai’s friendship was already set and not shattered. Ai leaves the Roost with Whitney’s advice, all while Whitney talks to Brewster about how the bond between women are strong as they can be separated but their friendship will last, but a bond between a man and a woman is different as even when it’s a short time, it won’t be mended so easily.

Ai, feeling better, returns home and notices a famished walrus named Wendell. She invites him to his house so he can eat some food. Wendell discussed that when he gets hungry, he gets depressed, and thus when he’s depressed, he gets hungry. Ai then gets a letter from Pete, the pelican mailman, and is ecstatic that it’s from Margie. Wendell left while she got the letter, so Ai reads the letter. Margie wrote that she is sorry that she never told Ai as she didn’t want her to be upset. She leaves Ai a picture of herself with a note telling her its time to eat her Cherry Pie. Rosie arrives to check up on Ai, and she reads Margie’s letter all while a meteor shower is happening. Ai feels better and happy that Margie is happy with her dream, and that she’s got confidence. Our next time skip puts Animal Village in the powdery white winter. Everyone’s getting ready for the Winter Festival and preparing for the contest as Ai heads to the museum to study with Celeste. Resetti is puzzled over all these pine trees that showed up, while everyone is doing their best. Yu and Alfonso now hopping about in bunny outfits. Ai, while on her way to the museum, wonders if the miracle will happen as the winter festival lights turn on. Once at the museum, Celeste and Ai discuss the possibility of UFOs and which Ai wondered if the notes she found were a prank. Celeste reassures Ai that the thought of UFOs is becoming popular, which makes her excited.

Ai looks through a telescope and notices a UFO plummeting down and into Animal Village. Everyone in the village heads toward the crash site, all scared to get close to the UFO. Ai suggests they help it, while Yu and Alfonzo warn she might get zapped or chipped. The UFO opens up, and we are greeted by Gulliver, the pilot of the UFO. He explains that he needs his five spaceship parts in order to get back home. Everyone heads out to find the missing parts as Champ states he saw apart. Yu states he saw another part as well, so Ai follows behind him as their chase takes them back to the cave that caved in. Just as it was futile to moving the large boulder, the group is reunited with Margie, who is visiting the town on holiday. The rest enter the cave as they find the UFO part resting on top of the Diplodocus skeleton. Yu climbs the fossil (easier as winter hardened the rock) and is able to get the spaceship part though falls and is rescued by his friends (Rosie humorously leaves Alfonzo holding the bag as Yu falls on him). Yu is alright, though is disguise is knocked off as he compliments her for catching the spaceship part.

They return back to Gulliver with their part, and it’s revealed that Champ found the same one as well. It’s then revealed the part Ai found is an actual alien. Gulliver wondered if the object he bumped into was this creature. Ai helps the little guy get back to which the alien is healed and thanks Ai. Ai thanks Yu for his help as the UFOs ldepart, Whitney wonders if the aliens have their own village. The UFOs thank Ai by creating a constellation for her, everyone is at awe. Afterward, Ai meets Apollo, and he explains that he wasn’t mad over it while glad that the miracle happened. Ai wins the competition for her constellation, and Tortimer wins the election by voting for himself. Gulliver leaves and thanks to the villagers, all while wondering why he left. As Gulliver left, he lamented his plan in creating a large landing pad was for bust as it attracted real aliens.

Ai writes to her mom about how she feels she’s an honorary member of Animal Village…
 During the Credits, we get to see what happens after the Winter Festival. Tom Nook opens up his new shop Nook N’ Go, Blathers with the help of Mr. Resetti is able to secure the Diplodocus skeleton and now displays it in the town museum, Rosie is ecstatic over a new outfit as Ai and Apollo now are good friends. Whitney finds a bouquet of blue roses and Margie is inspired from what happened at the Winter Festival and Ai is happy, wondering what life will bring her. With that, our movie is officially over

What made the movie shine

The anime has a pretty cute slice of life basis, a good change of pace if you want an anime that’s got some heartwarming stuff that isn’t something made by Disney (not knocking on them). The main characters that are shown have some personality that gives them something unique than their video game counterparts. For example, Margie’s character mentions her dream of being a fashion designer or how Tortimire obsesses over his mayoral election. For an animated movie, it went out of their way for their characters. Another thing that’s likable is the music, which is actually redone for the movie, especially with K.K. Bossa (which actually has lyrics for something that in-game is just musical furniture for your virtual house). Lastly, this is just a nod to the fandubbers, but they did a pretty good job with the work and doing their best to capture the personality of the characters from the game. Also, the series is based on Wild World, the D.S. Animal Crossing game. Most game-based things would try and be more original, but making a nod of a game that was released not too long ago

What the movie pitfalls in

Though the movie itself is awesome, it does have some issues. One such is the main focus on just a few characters, Ai, Yu, Alfonso, Rosie, and Margie. There was something interesting about characters like Whitney, Cyrano, Cesar, and Apollo. They didn’t get much screentime, heck Hopper, the penguin in the movie who existed as a gag for fishing, seemed to have more screentime than most of the cast. Some are just passing by or just a one-time view that’s a “blink, and you’ll miss it” for characters like Dr. Shrunk or even Katie. Lastly, the fandub may have been a great attempt, but there are moments the audio buzzes, and some parts may not feel as professional, but it’s good.

Conclusion

 In short, the anime (including the fandub) is a nice adaptation of the Animal Crossing series. It’s a shame the series was never released to the U.S., nor was any plans of a sequel being made in the future. If you’re a fan of Animal Crossing, I would suggest you watch this movie either from the Veoh links here or somewhere easier. Other than that, I enjoy this movie.

References