A Journal from a Wild World

Animal Crossing is a game series that I hold very dear. I've wanted to experience an older Animal Crossing game for a while, particularly considering my issues with New Horizons, and I figured this would be the perfect time to look at how the series has changed over time, and see if I'm just complaining for the sake of it, or if things really have changed for the worse over time. Starting up Animal Crossing: Wild World, I decided that it would be fun to keep a stream-of-consciousness journal of my progress and thoughts along the way! Plus it'll make it easier to write about it when I inevitably write my article about the Animal Crossing series. I hope you enjoy my journey through a Wild World!

Day 1

I started at midnight, so I basically just did the tutorial part-time job at Nook's shop.
Met my villagers, and it was instantly apparent that there were 3 distinct personalities, they have such vibrancy to their differences! Including an asshole! My starter villagers were Rolf, Yuka, and Goose.
After I finished my part-time job, Nook promptly kicked me out and went to bed. I didn't have any tools yet, so I didn't get to do anything else for the night. I'll call that Day 1. Excited to start my new life in the town of "Ninten"!

Day 2

Kind of like the actual Day 1, because I actually get to play now ahaha!
Controls are a little rough, since it seems to emulate the feel of something like the GameCube controls, but having entirely-digital inputs make it hard to angle yourself right. I also feel like I'm constantly squeezing my thumb down on the arrows super hard for no reason when I'm just walking in a straight line, not sure what that's about. For reference, I'm playing on my DSi LL.
It's a little slow to start due to the limited number of tools you can obtain per day, but it let's you ease into the game and how it works. Not too much, not too little. It's weirdly useful for me, playing the series in reverse order, to get used to how things were as compared to how they are now.
Having The Roost open right away is unexpected! Very cool though! I love getting my daily cup and earning Brewster's trust (even if I'm pretending he's brewing tea instead of coffee). The stage in the corner is also cute, gives K.K. a local folk musician kind of vibe, even if I haven't seen him yet. Really love the local, hometown feel of Wild World, and The Roost exemplifies that perfectly. ♥
I made some custom designs, but since I can't design the sleeves or back separate, it's just a repeating pattern. It's a little limiting, but ultimately fine. It's more of a design challenge.

Day 3

Not much to do today, the tools available from Nook's Cranny didn't change, so there's no new activities. I could go fishing for hours for museum donations and bells, but I'm not really feeling it...
The villagers are fun to talk to at least! Love chatting with my neighbors, they're so full of life and have so many fun things they say!
The flowers need watered...
Slowly but surely saving bells to pay off that home loan!

Day 4

Finally got a shovel!!! Oddly enough, I could only find one fossil, but I made sure to get it evaluated and donated!
Blathers checks fossils and accepts donations one at a time, huh? It's slower than the bulk assessment introduced in New Leaf, but it's not bad! Animal Crossing is good at forcing you to slow down, leave the hustle and bustle for a while, and just relax. I really like that aspect of the games, all the way up to New Leaf (though NL does speed things up a little, and NH speeds things up a lot). I think there's value in that, and I'm glad that Wild World is heavy on that aspect.
Talked to Copper and Booker for the first time, changed the flag, looted the lost & found. Might try and get my girlfriend to play with me when I need to upgrade the Nookway. If she enjoys it, maybe we can do the Katie/Kaitlin quest sometime, too!
Crazy Redd's was on the plaza for the first time, he really is so much shadier in the older games... I entered a dark tent by reciting a password, where I was immediately found to be impersonating a club member, and was then prompted to pay 3,000 bells for a membership of my own, which I apparently signed for...
He sold me a fake painting.
There's no way to tell if any of Redd's art is real or fake until you try to donate it, and it's always a 50/50 chance. Kinda makes more sense for a forgery to be almost indistinguishable, not super obviously fake when you look at it. From a gameplay perspective, it's far more gambley with its premise, but I think I'm here for it. It'll just take me a little longer to fill out the art gallery.
Didn't go out to catch any fish, though I probably should have.
No net yet, so no bugs or anything. Saw a balloon, but no slingshot.
Decided to move my flowers to a couple little garden areas, that way watering them is easier.
Making bells is very slow-going, I need to start prioritizing gathering shells, catching fish, eventually bugs, etc. Really want to pay off my home loan and expand, as well as buy the furniture that cycles in the shop. I could really use a wardrobe or something for storage...
Drew my first constellation at the observatory! Connecting the stars to make legible shapes is pretty hard, but I was able to form a classic Animal Crossing leaf out of them, aptly named "Doubutsu no Mori".

Day 5

Swapped from playing on my DSi LL to playing on my og DS!! It's a much nicer experience, the D-pad feels like it was designed for 3D games, where the DSi's pad is too small to feel all that good in 3D space. Also the lower-quality screens add a certain charm!
Bug net!! Now to find bugs to catch...
New villagers!! A couple new ones are here now, though I adore Daisy, Punchy, and Twiggy.
Tried sending some letters! Wild World has a strangely-good DS keyboard? Super tight character count though, mostly due to the screen size of the stationary when displayed. Also sent 1000 bells to my future self for my birthday, and sent a letter in a bottle adrift!
Lyle sells insurance?? I didn't expect an Animal Crossing game to have an insurance scam, but alright! Technically it does exactly what is advertised, so the "scam" is more in the terrible rates, but it's a one-time purchase, plus you can select which day Redd visits on! Not all that bad in the long run.
I went ahead and bought Accident Insurance, so I can get a (very small) payout if I trip and fall, get stung by bees, etc. I also picked for Redd to visit on Wednesday, because I usually have a lot of time to kill on Wednesdays and I'll play Wild World more then.
At first I wasn't sure how this game generates dig spots per day, because I only found one, and it was a pitfall seed. Later in the day I found a few more, they were just smaller and harder to spot than I had anticipated. That probably means that there were more fossils yesterday when I got my shovel, I just couldn't find more. I still don't know specifically how many dig spots generate per day, but today's haul was 1 pitfall seed, and 2 fossils. I got both of them assessed by Blathers and donated to the Ninten Museum. The cultural development of Ninten is in my capable hands!
Really trying to tend to the flowers, it's so hard when they wilt after just a day! There's not even a convenient animation or visual difference to show that a flower was watered...
Saw another balloon, but still no slingshot.
Found an aloe plant in a tree! Much better than the cactus I had in my house before... Yeowch.
Listened to my first K.K. Slider show and rolled the staff credits! I chose "Forest Life" as my first K.K. song, and he slipped me a bootleg of the show afterwards to add to the tape deck in my house! What a cool guy.
Spent a bunch of time between everything running around and gathering up all the fruit and seashells I could see. Made a couple thousands bells, enough to pay for the things I mentioned, as well as chip away at my home loan! I think I'm only 5,000 bells away from paying off my initial mortgage, which I should clean up tomorrow in no time at all.
The music in this game is so lovely! I ended up sitting my DS open and just listening to the hourly themes play while I worked on this webpage. New Leaf music is pretty great, New Horizons is repetitive and bland, but Wild World really feels like the music is a huge part of that atmosphere and overall experience, and if you play on mute you're missing a big part of it. Genuinely a great soundtrack, I can't pinpoint what it is, it's just really good!
It feels like each day has had more and more for me to do, from Day 1 being just the tutorial (albeit by my own doing), Days 2 and 3 being pretty slow, but Days 4 and 5 having a lot of tasks for me to do. Maybe it's just because of specific random things being rolled by my game, but it feels like it all intentionally slides you into the loop of Animal Crossing, without feeling too hand-holdy or forcing you to miss out on anything. It sets the scene, it sets the tone, it teaches you a few basics, and it sets you loose in a world that keeps expanding every day! I'm sure I'll still have slow days with less to do, but that's just how life is. I just think that Wild World so far feels like it's trying its best to guide players without railroading them, leaving the world open while also giving you options. It's a really nice feeling, a different vibe from New Leaf, for example. I think there's merit to both the Wild World and the New Leaf approach to Animal Crossing, but it's just such a breath of fresh air for me, especially coming off of a two-month New Horizons bender (though I am still playing it a couple times a week, too). Really loving Wild World so far. ♥

Day 6

So much mail today??? 7 letters all at once! One from the HHA, I scored a 404... One each from Twiggy, Punchy, and Daisy, responding to my letters from yesterday. One from Wishy the Star, I forgot I saw a shooting star last night! I got a moon! Two letters from Lyle paying out 100 bells each for both times I got stung by bees yesterday, starting to pay off! I've made back... 1/15 of my initial cost. B-but lemme tell you, it'll stack up, just you wait!
No new tools at Nook's. Not sure when the axe or slingshot become available, I may have to just be patient and upgrade the store.
Funny I should say that! I walked out but then needed to go back to Nook's for something else, and he greeted me by saying he'll be closed tomorrow for renovations! Awesome! ☆
Went and paid off the last of my home loan, easy-peasy! My first remodel should be done tomorrow, getting a bigger main floor! ♥
Found out that there's a hidden spot of the pattern design screen that lets you set a pattern as the background for your bottom screen menu! It even replaces the pattern that starts in there and gives you a shirt with that pattern on it! Got a trans flag banner scrolling by now, might try making a design that's specifically suited to repeat and scroll for the menu like that.
Getting better at spotting fossils, also found a pill bug under a rock! Not that great at fishing, but that's not new for me, ahaha! Still, I was able to catch a carp! That's something for the museum, at least!
My coconut I planted yesterday wilted... do you have to water saplings? Another coconut washed ashore today, so I just plucked it and chose a new spot I thought might work better. If this one wilts too, I'll try watering it!
The recycle box in Town Hall had some furniture, add in a nice table that was in Nook's Cranny today, and my living room is coming together a bit! I've got a green table to put my tape deck on, Twiggy gave me a green lamp for going on a journey of self-discovery with her, and the recycle box had a blue bookcase! Very close to a solid color set ahaha! I think the living room looks cute so far, I'd like to get the matching bookshelf instead, and as I expand I'd like to add a couch of some kind somewhere. Maybe I can even make room for a TV eventually! I think stylistically I prefer the cozy vibes of the Classic Series, but I'll take what I can get in the meantime! The green set seems nice enough while I work my way up to it. Maybe I'll use the Green Series for the downstairs and the Classic Series for my upstairs...
I also discovered that you can swap out the beds that the players use in the attic! It's the only form of customization you can do up there, but it's cute! I tried it out by putting down the ranch bed that was in the recycle box, I'm not a fan of its design so I won't use it, but it's good to know that I can swap whenever I want!
Wrote some more letters to my favorite four villagers, Yuka, Daisy, Twiggy, and Punchy! I also found out that the catalogue will add stationary from letters you've received, so I have a whole slew of designs to choose from in the future! I imagine it'll just keep growing as I keep get letters back from my neighbors more and more. Some exceptions include the HHA letter paper and Lyle's insurance paper, which are catalogued but can't be ordered. I was hoping to commit insurance fraud...
Blathers is... really hungry. I think every single fish I've donated has been accompanied by an anecdote about how they're best cooked and served. Makes me wonder if every fish in this game is edible? Will he have something to say about all of them? Somebody get this poor bird some sushi or something!
I chatted with Twiggy later, and she gave me an apple clock, which reminds me I need more fruit! I started with oranges, but as soon as I get access to an axe I'm gonna start laying out a grid for an orchard. I remember hearing that if you mail a villager a letter with a native fruit attached, they might send you back a response with a different fruit! Too bad I already mailed those letters I wrote earlier... I suppose I can send some to my not-quite-so-favorite villagers too, just to see what I can get.
By the end of the day, I think I'm much better at catching fish, but no good at catching bugs... They're so hard to spot on the sides of trees, I keep scaring them off just walking around! On the other hand, I caught like 7 different fish to donate, so it balances out I think. I would like to get better at bug-catching eventually, definitely before the first Bug-Off of the spring.
I did manage to catch a bee mid-sting, terrifying! It's so hard to catch bees, glad I didn't get stung again... though I suppose that's insurance money I missed on. Ah well, there will be many more bee stings in my future.
The last thing I did before wrapping up for the day was bury a shovel using a second shovel. It's unusual to buy two of the same tool, but I've heard rumors of a special tool that can be found up by doing such a task with two shovels...

Day 7

6 letters today! Responses from all my villagers, a couple items (no fruit though...) and one letter from my mom!
The rumors were true!!! I dug up the shovel that I buried and it was the rare and elusive Golden Shovel! Now I can plant bells to try and grow Bell Trees! Now to gamble with how many bells to plant...
Unfortunately, Nook's Cranny is closed for remodeling today, so I can't even sell my second shovel I used...
That actually puts a damper on a lot of things I could've done today. Since I don't have any kind of home storage, and I can't sell items, my pockets will get really full really fast. I can drop items on my house floor to make space, but I can only do so much of that, too. I can't mail my neighbors any letters today either, since I can't buy stationary. I can at least sell clothes that villagers gift me (if indeed they gift me anything at all) to the Able Sisters, since I learned I can do that, but there's a lot of other stuff that will have to be paused until tomorrow.
That includes my house! I got my first expansion, my main floor is a lovely 6x6 now! But with Tom Nook taking the day off to remodel the shop, I can't talk to him about my next loan to pay off... Guess I'll save my bells for now.
I'm quite the bee-catching expert now! I'm catching them pretty consistently, which is good because they sell for a good price! ...though that's more insurance money down the drain. I think I'm understanding the real scam of Lyle's insurance. I suppose it's still a nice backup in case I slip up and DO get stung, right?
With a lack of many other things to do, I did some more pattern designing! I used Nookipedia to recreate some old pattern guides from a Nintendo Player's Guide for Wild World, namely the Boo, Dr. Mario, and Designer patterns. All three are super cute to see scrolling along my menu! I may try making more of the patterns from that page, gonna have to store some on display at the Able Sisters in addition to the ones I'll keep on me.
Wow, I didn't even notice when I first loaded in, but two more new neighbors moved in today! Roscoe and Filbert seem to have moved to town! Always happy to have some new faces around town! ☆
Going around town to visit the villagers who weren't out and about, I discovered that Punchy is sick! With the shop closed, I can't bring him any medicine... but hopefully he'll still appreciate the gesture if I do it tomorrow!
Visited Twiggy, who totally has a theme going with the Blue Series, and lamented she didn't have more blue furniture. I ran over to my house real quick and brought her a blue shelf, which she loved! (She failed to notice it was the same as the one already in her house...)
I chatted with Daisy outside and she talked about her love of fossils, before mentioning I should totally help her expand her fossil collection. I think I already dug up all my fossils for the day... do villager favors carry over into the next day? I'd happily bring her some then! Maybe I can just generally give her some duplicates I dig up. I'm bound to get plenty of those as the museum starts to fill out.
I gave Blathers a goldfish, and he thankfully didn't talk about eating it!!! Big win for the fish fandom!
Unable to empty my pockets, I've opted to dump my things out on the tables and floors of my house. I'll clean up tomorrow when Nook reopens the shop.
As my last act before wrapping up, I buried 1,000 bells using my new Golden Shovel. Tomorrow we'll see what comes of it: a regular tree, or cold hard cash!

Unable to help myself, after supposedly "wrapping up" for Day 7, I proceeded to play more, mainly catching fish. As it turns out, I'm still not great at catching fish. I donated some of them, but the duplicates all stacked up in my house as furniture until the next day. I also found a loose fossil, which ended up being a duplicate, so I gifted it to Daisy. I did some minor rearranging (around the clutter) to try and maximize my feng shui, but that's something to worry about more on Day 8.

Day 8

The Nook 'N' Go is officially open! A much larger selection of items to choose from, and with the tools section expanding I got the slingshot and axe right away!
Tom Nook didn't waste any time in telling me about my home loan... I've got 120,000 bells to pay off before I can expand again. Time to get to work, I suppose! I got a jumpstart by selling all the stuff that had piled up in my house overnight while the shop was closed. Hopefully the HHA didn't notice the clutter...
Minorly arranged my living room to maximize feng shui, but very minorly. I'll take better advantage of this later when I have more furniture to decorate with.
Running around and selling all kinds of things to rack up money, but my spare fossils always go to Daisy! Wrote more letters to my villagers too! Still crossing my fingers for a foreign fruit...?
Brought some medicine to Punchy finally, which he seemed to appreciate! I'll check on him again tomorrow, too.
Since I finally got an axe, I cleared an acre of land to plant my orchard. It's all oranges for now, but once I start getting some non-native fruits, I'll clear some trees and plant those instead. Hopefully soon I'll have a productive fruit orchard going! Easy money too, once I get something other than oranges in here.
More of the usual overall, digging up fossils, catching some fish, running errands for villagers, selling the excess at Nook's shop. I should have enough for that home loan in no time! And in the meantime, I'll keep expanding my collection, both in the museum and at home.
I got my friend to pick up Wild World for the first time since her childhood! She's got a part-time job to work, but sometime soon she and I will play and we'll trade fruit, maybe swap villagers, hopefully share some constellations, it'll be great! I've got pears in my future! ☆

Waiting on an orchard!
~ Alex Amelia Pine