My Thoughts on Animal Crossing New Horizons.

Tuesday 14 April 2020


It's pretty obvious by now how excited I've been about being able to play animal crossing with my sister again, in fact, it's the only reason I got a Switch in the first place. I had a feeling an Animal Crossing was coming to switch anyways but when it was announced I said to James that we need a switch and we went halves on one. In that time I've played a variety of games and I love the concept of the Nintendo Switch it's very versatile and easy to use, being able to put it in a dock to play on tv or play handheld appealed to me most because it meant I could play in bed or downstairs on my tv. My sister and I have spoken a lot about playing animal crossing together and making sure we are able to visit one another and I never realised I needed a Nintendo online subscription in order to do this so James got me and him the family pack for a year which was pretty affordable.

I was ecstatic to jump right in when the game arrived but wasn't sure just how many of my friends would be playing which is why I was shocked that nearly my whole switch friends list was playing it, after years of seeing people say you're not a proper gamer if you play Animal Crossing it was nice to see just how many people didn't care for this ignorant argument and would happily play anyways, me being one of the people. You will get a choice of islands to choose from my advice here is to pick wisely because you won't be able to change how your beach looks or where the plaza is placed, I was lucky and had mine in a place I could work with. The other big choice was where to put my house and I regret where it is now and have been slowly moving shops and resident's houses in the position I think is best before I move my own.


Before I could even think about doing this I found myself grinding for hours for bells and completing tasks for nook miles. They're both very different things but you're able to buy a lot of what you need for upping your islands star rating as well as using nook miles to buy bells which have helped me a lot! On top of all this, I found myself collecting the bugs, fish, and fossils I needed for the museum before even considering selling them for bells much like I did in previous games but once they're donated I can sell off as many as I like but only between 8am-10pm at night. My town looked hilarious when I stacked fish and bug outside of nooks cranny waiting for them to open the next day, they do have a box you can use to sell but your products will only sell for 80% of their price. Since discovering this I decided to time travel, I know this is frowned upon but once I was unable to sell anymore and had to wait for shops to open I didn't want to wait.


Due to me time travelling, this didn't only benefit me but also friends and family who play with and visit me it's fine if you want to take it day by day and get things when the time is right but some of us want to get their island sorted so when I went forward in time I could finally craft the ladder to climb higher and sort out those dreaded weeds (they're pretty really) because I had the recipe I had people coming to me with the ingredients to build them a ladder so it was me giving back which made me smile. I'm always cautious when I do time travel as I don't want any of my residents to move out, I worked hard to get the ones that suit my island and would be so sad if they moved away.


Some may find the craft element to be tiring but for me, it meant that I could collect and store ups supplies and use as and when I needed them, it also gave me the initiative to break as many tools as I could to get a stamp for nook miles. In fact, there are a lot of random things you have to do in order to her a stamp for nook miles which helps the grinding process be less of a chore. I enjoy fishing the most but because of the Easter event that happened it made catching fish I needed to sell a lot harder and more frustrating but I found myself either eating the eggs, selling them or giving them to friends once I collected enough for the easter event. 

Speaking of eating I spent too much time finding fruit to eat so I could move trees around without completely chopping them down, I still have so many more to move but with the ratio of more trees than fruit atm I guess I will have to stock up on more when I go to a mystery island! Yes, you only get a limited amount of space in your inventory so pick what you need wisely when you visit the mystery islands, I mostly go to make tarantula's spawn as they sell for 8k each at nooks cranny and 12k each when Flick visits. I tend to hunt for the Tarantula's the night before Flick visits (I tend to know the days due to time travelling) so I can go back and forth to the mystery islands with the help of my nook miles I saved up and stockpile on spiders.


One main thing that irked me throughout the game was the fact that I couldn't select more than one of the same kind of clothing or accessory in the Able sister's shop and would have to go in and out of the dressing room in order to do it. The same with crafting, If I have lots of materials to craft more than one kind of recipe there should be a way to do this, it can get a bit tiresome but that doesn't mean I won't spend ages standing there making one of the same recipes over and over again until I have what I need. My biggest bit of advice is to not rush the game if you want to get the most out of it, I've seen a few people who time travelled further than I have said they're bored now once they got everything they needed to be built and sure there is no wrong way to play the game but if you rush it, of course, you will run out of stuff to do. To be honest, though there is a lot more to the game than getting everything built, catching bugs, fishing, finding fossils and recipes and making the island your own unique place sucked me into the game for hours.


Here are some of my top tips:

  • Getting residents you want to move in can be a long task so a lot of us end up wasting nook miles to visit mystery islands to see who is available to invite, if you can get hold of them to use AC Amiibo cards, you can invite the animal on the card to the campsite. Once you do invite them 3 times and make sure you craft them what they ask for each time, ask them to move in even if you already have enough residents. I got each of mine from the cards to ask a resident of my choice to move out and within 2 days I had the animals moving in.
  • Shaking trees can be risky business, the wasps are brutal and I used to run into my house to get away from them, now when I shake trees I make sure I have my net equipt so I can catch them before they sting me, it can take a bit of practice but it's a big help.
  • My friend showed me this one when hitting rocks put some holes behind where you stand so you don't bounce too far back which makes your reaction time slower giving you fewer supplies when you hit the wrong, the holes keep you in place.
  • Found a glowing mark on the floor? Dig there and you will find a money bag, replant the money bag to make a money tree.
  • If you're time travelling visit the Nook machine every day to get more nook miles, this is how I have built up so many.
  • When I'm low on money I buy Bell vouchers with the many nook miles I have, the vouchers sell for 3k bells each but cost you 500 nook miles to purchase.
  • If you're going to buy turnips don't time travel they will go rotten fast, make sure to check with your friends every day what their turnip prices are sometimes your friends will have a better price.
  • Hot items in your shop are so handy, ask the Nook brothers what the latest ones are or check the board outside, they will sell for the double the price they're worth and are a good way to make money. 
  • Don't ignore Gulliver, if he visits 30 times and you help him that many times he will give you a cool recipe!
  • Same goes for the Ghost (wisp) they will ask for help and give you the option of something new or something expensive as a gift got helping them.
  • Before even thinking about opening your gate to people when you load the game up ALWAYS check your beach, there will be a new washed-up bottle with a recipe in, you don't want anyone else taking that until you know if you have it or not, I give my recipes I already have to friends.
  • Helping out your friends can be a big benefit to you (it has been for me) a lot of my friends ask me for favours and do the same in return which has been a delight.
  • Don't listen to PETA's bullshit article about the game, AC has been around for years and just because so many people are enjoying it they have gone out of their way to be negative.

I love this game, I have played it every single day since I got it as I can't put it down, it's helped me make new friends and be able to play AC with my sister again. Being able to take photos in photo mode with friends and residents as well as stuff I created has been a delight, seeing the community come together happily helping one another was much needed whilst the world is going through such a drastic and scary thing. I would, however, I would love to be able to travel to a mystery island with a friend and maybe be given the option of buying a companion ticket, it would make it even more fun when trying to catch spiders!


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