Random Thoughts

Things have been pretty rough recently for various reasons, so I'm going to distract myself from all that by talking about a few things which have been bringing me joy.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 2.0
A couple of months ago I decided to do a bit of date manipulation to finish off the art collection (by resetting the same day over and over) so I could finish my museum and maybe quit the game. I accomplished this, and Nintendo promptly announced a huge update with thousands of new items and new things to do every day. So I'm back on that horse and loving it again.

I've updated my dream at DA-4989-3336-9453. It's been raining so once again there are flowers everywhere, and I've rearranged a few things so all my spare flowers are hanging out on the beach. Which is to say, if you need flowers, please let me know! New things since last time are a new entrance with two bridges, a farm area, the beginnings of a treehouse, and a redesigned museum garden. Also, the clock room is getting out of control.

I also spent way too much money on packs of the new Amiibo cards so if anybody wants to trade doubles, I'm in!

Speedrunning
Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Nintendo Switch remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games, were released the other day. I mention this not because I'm playing them (I'm not), but because the speedrunners have discovered a ton of new glitches and strategies to go fast, and I'm loving watching how excited they are to find them. So far this includes:
- If you turn the music off, the game skips all the level up and healing jingles and it shaves minutes off the run.
- If you hatch an egg in front of a particular NPC he will no longer block you from proceeding to Sunyshore City while it is experiencing a blackout
- If you use surf immediately after fighting a trainer near the water, you can float over the terrain (or under it) and progress the story in unintended ways, including by skipping Victory Road completely

It's still early days and they're still trying to figure out what categories and rules to formalise on the leaderboards, not to mention the risk that any of these glitches could be patched at any time, but it's the discovery process that's bringing me joy anyway.

Mini Metro (iOS)
Friendship ended with desktop PC version, now mobile version is my best friend. I'm not going to say I'm good at it, but I also haven't linked it to any social media, which means it won't show the global leaderboards, so I have no idea! I'm finding I get the most joy by coming up with my own challenges, usually "only use the 3 lines it starts with".

Unpacking (PC/Switch/Xbox)
This is a very fun, short puzzle game about unpacking a person's boxes into various dwellings over their lifetime. It has a wonderfully subtle type of storytelling, as you get to know the person through their belongings, what changes and what goes with them from house to house, along with the decisions you have to make about where to put their belongings in each house. Very cute pixel art, some of it very nostalgic. It's short for how expensive it is, but I really enjoyed it. Since I finished the main story, I'm just achievement-hunting now.

According to Isabelle there will be a meteor shower tonight! It'll be starting at 7pm AWST/11am UTC and I'll be awake at least until 10pm, possibly later.

There's no guarantee Celeste will show up, but she usually does for these.

I'll open my gates to friends around then! Come in your best star-watching outfit.

(This icon is tagged Celeste... wrong Celeste, but close enough!)

For my own reference, along with anyone who may have visited my island, here is the list of design codes I use on my island, along with the source and/or how I found them. My intention is to update this as I add/remove designs.

My Animal Crossing Dream Address: DA-4989-3336-9453

Museum stone path border: MA-5093-4566-9963 (found via YouTube video)
Woodland stone path: MA-6624-9147-4107
Terracotta path border: MA-2579-1401-1104
Galaxy brick paths: MA-5047-0001-1952
DIY recipe sign: MO-Y77T-Q2YK-955F
Arcade floor: MO-88NY-8GQV-QDHW
Diner stage: custom, based on this design
Stardew Valley-style fruit markers: MA-9749-4582-4863 (Found via Reddit discussion)

This morning I checked my island rating with Isabelle in Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch) and it came back as 4-stars. She suggested I might want to clear up some of the items on the ground. Oh, I thought! I'm almost at 5 stars!

Spoilers: I was not close to 5 stars.

I am, however, very stubborn.

There are a lot of guides for how to hit 5 stars, and I'm here to tell you that a lot of what they say is not what I did, but it may be easier or faster to follow those instructions anyway. I chose to just follow whatever Isabelle suggested to me and change what I was doing when her suggestion changed.

( Here's what I had when I finally hit 5 stars: )

This took ~5 hours of solid playtime. I went back and forth to Isabelle many, many times.