Happy Home Designer: Add it to your Christmas list

If you know only one thing about me, know this:
I love Animal Crossing.  If Animal Crossing was a religion, I would never leave the church. 
Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS was the game that really ushered me into the world of gaming.  I've sung its praises before so I won't wax poetic in this post.  I'll just say this "I love Animal Crossing 5 eva!" (Cuz that's more than 4 eva.)
You can imagine my complete and absolute delight when I heard the news that an Animal Crossing spin-off game was making its way to American soil and it was called Happy Home Designer and it was the most adorable thing I'd ever laid eyes on.

Let's get to the nuts and bolts of the game:

• It wouldn't be an Animal Crossing game if you didn't work for that miserly trash panda Tom Nook.   Specifically, you are a designer at Nook's Homes which is a delightful little home renovation business introduced in AC: New Leaf.  Your first client comes in willingly but, after that, you're sent out to the street to drum up business.  The more houses you design, the more furniture, wallpaper, flooring, etc. becomes available to you.  Unlike the previous AC games, you design the inside and outside of your clients' homes based on the theme they request.  

• First things first, I'm the realest you choose the location from a map of the town.  (Incidentally, you can build multiple houses on the same site.  So the perfect site for one house will still be there when another client comes along.)  There are desert plots, beachfront property, mountain top vistas.  You can then tap the site to change the season.  You choose from several styles and sizes of houses, you can change the roofing, the siding, the style of door and fence.  You can add trees, shrubbery, and outdoor furniture like picnic tables, birdbaths, various pieces of sports equipment.  So much stuff.  (The ability to customize your yard is something that is sorely lacking in the AC games.)  You can get creative by using typical indoor decor such as lamps and rugs to customize your clients' outdoor living space.  

• And decorating inside the house?  That's even more awesome.  My one criticism, though?  Even if you give your client a mansion, you are still only going to decorate one room.  You can get creative and divide it with panels and screens and large pieces of furniture.  But the absolute best part?  You can hang light fixtures, ceiling fans, hanging plants, bunting...  It's like decorating a real life house except better because there is no pesky wiring to worry with.  Did you unlock an item that you know would be perfect in a previous client's house?  Don't worry.  You can visit them and add to the decor whenever you want.  Although, sometimes you'll catch them chilling in bed.  That can get awkward.
  
  

  

  Pekoe feeling zen.

•  You can use your Play Coins to unlock "design lessons" which allow you to refurbish furniture and other things...  (To be honest, I haven't unlocked many things yet.)  

Typical me.  Sitting down on the job.

• Isabelle, your loyal assistant from New Leaf, will show up and allow you to start designing projects in the downtown area such as a school, a hospital, and a cafe.  These projects are a bit more demanding because you will be provided with a list of items that must be included to pass muster.  However, working on these projects unlocks lots of other decor items that aren't strictly household items.  Think copy machines and soda fountains.  As the game progresses, the town expands and you may be asked to expand on previously completed projects as well as have the opportunity to start new ones. 

• Last, but most definitely not least, amiiboooooos!  **read in your best Oprah voice**  (I ordered the game with an amiibo reader because I'm still using an older 3DS.)  You can add your favorite AC neighbors to the game using the amiibo cards.  There are even special characters like Resetti and KK Slider.  For the most part, these special characters give you carte blanche when it comes to decorating but special items will pop up in your inventory  that you know is meant for them.  I mean... how are you going to personalize Harriet's house without a vanity or basket of beauty products?

• The game play, overall, is entirely relaxing.  A great game to zone out with at the end of the work day or before bed.  Sure you have clients to please but they're pretty laid back when it comes to their homes.  (They are animals, after all.)   

Lopez can't wait for me to leave so he can chew on the furniture.

What I did on my blogging vacation

Don't let the title mislead you.  I didn't actually go on vacation.  I just took a mostly involuntary vacation from blogging.
So what have I been up to?  How about a bullet list?

• Personal life stuff:  I said goodbye to my bestest furry friend of 11 years in July.  Unfortunately, he was suffering from some degenerative mental issues which were making him aggressive towards our other dog and people.  Also, I've been ill with a mystery disease that the doctors here aren't that eager to find the cause of/treatment for.  *sigh*  I see a specialist in December because he's booked until then.  Small town life.  Gotta love it!  Anyway, I've been tired, achy, and just generally feeling like I'm coming down with the flu.  I have had the downtime to read and watch TV, though, so it's not all bad.
• Reading:  I've been reading lots of books on Buddhism lately.  My two favorites so far:  Transform Your Life:  A Blissful Journey by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and Buddhism:  Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen. I also read a couple Ann Rule books and I'm working through a book of Anne Sexton poetry.
• Playing:  I've been farming it up on Story of Seasons but then Happy Home Designer (an Animal Crossing spinoff game) came out and I've been spending my gaming time designing houses for adorable critters.  (Expect a full report at a later date.)

• Watching:  Season 6 of The League, season 4 of Once Upon a Time, season 1 of The Following, and season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I've also been re-watching all the Star Wars movies which has incited a household feud of which movie was better:  Return of the Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back.  Obviously Return of the Jedi was better because Ewoks.  Duh!

I hope to get back to blogging, even if it means I only crank out one post a week.  But I'm going to shoot for two because dream big, right?

It's the time of the season

For a new Harvest Moon game:

Always pre-order the games that come with adorable bunnies

I haven't always been a fan of the Harvest Moon franchise.  Simulated farming?  Who wants to do that?  I attempted to play a version for the PlayStation but the hours in the day went by too quickly and I'd find my little farmer fainting before he could even plant one lousy field.  Years later I decided to give it another shot on my DS with Harvest Moon:  Grand Bazaar.  I sunk hours and hours into the game.  I dreamed about it.  I named my children after its characters.  Then I got to a stopping point and I ended up trading it in.
Then came The Tale of Two Towns which just never quite filled the hole in my heart left by Grand Bazaar.  So I was skeptical  when my local Game Stop advisers tried to talk up Story of Seasons.

GSA:  "But, you love Harvest Moon-type games.  We know you'll like it."

Me:  "I can't just be giving my heart to random games that don't make me feel like I'm the only player for them.   I want a love like I had with Grand Bazaar."

GSA:  "If you pre-order, you get this adorable stuffed rabbit!"

Me:  "Shut up and take my money!"

Story of Seasons (SoS for brevity's sake) has a lot of features customary to most of the Harvest Moon games:
You find yourself the owner of a rundown farm
You buy animals and raise crops
You can hunt around town for herbs, flowers, building materials, etc.
You can build relationships with your fellow townsfolk and, eventually, get hitched
The Nature Sprites make an appearance in this game (What can you do with them?  Um, let me get back to you on that.)

SoS features a Trade Depot where people from neighboring towns come to hawk their wares.  This is where you can buy animals and tools, materials, and seeds that aren't found in your town.  You can also swim in the surrounding rivers to find fish and materials like gem stones and iron.  Blueprints are needed to build animal houses, a refrigerator, fences for your farm, and for upgrading your farm tools.
As you progress in the game, it is possible to rent other fields that have special purposes like mushroom farming and beekeeping.  The only problem is you have to compete with the other farmers in town for the rights to use the fields.  One of the farmers lives in a damn mansion!  Seriously?  I can't compete with that.   Must be nice when all your farming is handled by the hired help.
I spend the majority of my farming day working on my fields and taking care of my animals.  One of my cows had a baby.  So freaking exciting.  I can't wait to be able to raise angora rabbits and llamas and whatever other critters SoS throws my way.
The relationship aspect bores me.  I talk to everyone in town, but I find the intricacies of finding a man to settle down with to be too tedious.  I have to cook his favorite meal so he'll like me?  How fucking cliche!  I just want to harvest my turnips and play with my cows and chickens.
I'm a loner, Dottie.  A rebel.

Life is just a fantasy

Can you live this Fantasy Life?

I had played Animal Crossing:  New Leaf for a solid year when I decided it was time for a change.  Luckily, I have a friend (that isn't just a website) in the know and she started sending me trailers for a game called Fantasy Life.

Her:  It's an RPG...  But I think you'll like it.
Me:  RPG?  Like do I have to battle stuff?
Her:  Yes.  But I still think you'll really like it.

I'm more of a lover than a fighter, but I decided to pre-order anyway because I  like to try new things.  And by "new things" I mean games that require nothing more than me sitting on my couch and pushing buttons.  I'm adventurous like that.
So Fantasy Life starts out with you picking a "life" which is your job.  I picked wizard because I like to get my Harry Potter on and, frankly, jobs like angler sound boring as hell.  Each life gets its own mentor that you have to check in with as your skills progress.  My mentor was... a cat.  Holy cliche, Batman!
The main storyline is the same no matter what life you pick:  The land you inhabit, Reveria,  is beginning to fall apart and you are the only one to save it!  Are you intrigued by the oh-so-original plot yet?  Also totally original elements of gameplay:  battling wild critters to level up, meeting people that you can later invite to your party, and finding special items in treasure chests throughout the game.  Groundbreaking!
Your mentor will give you quests that you complete for "bliss" points which allow you to level up but also move forward with the story line.  Bliss also helps you earn things like pets which you can take with you on your adventures.  (This was probably my favorite part of the game.)
Bliss is also earned by doing favors for the people you run into on your travels through Reveria.   At some point it becomes a necessity to visit the guild and change lives to do these favors for people.  And then, when you think you're off the hook, they turn around and ask you for yet another favor.  Talk about a pain in the ass.
I can say that based on time-sinkability (It's a word!) and its cuteness alone, I would definitely recommend Fantasy Life for beginners and seasoned gamers alike.  I found the game to be pretty challenging as it progressed.  If we're being completely honest here, I'm stuck in the last part of the game and I'm not actually sure if I need to change lives to progress or not.  Being the easily distracted and stubborn gamer I am, I have swapped out Fantasy Life for Story of Seasons (review to come) until I break down and get some walkthrough help.

Pop Cutie

I was hesitant to write gaming posts, but I do play games so I guess I could be considered a gamer.  A casual gamer?  A recreational use gamer?
Growing up with three brothers, I was constantly exposed to video games but I only got to play them when someone wanted to test out a new fatality code for Mortal Kombat.  When I finally did get a little gaming time in I would inevitably try to make Mario jump by yanking up on the controller and end up in a pit of lava.  One of the my brothers would sigh.  The other would laugh.  The other would take the controller and "teach me" how to play, which meant he was going to play for 3 hours straight and why didn't I go play with my Barbies or something?
Moving forward to a very boring trip to Pennsylvania where it rained the entire time and, perhaps sensing the impending outbreak of my cabin fever, one of the teenagers took pity on my and offered the use of a Nintendo DS and the game Animal Crossing.  And it was good.
You mean I'm not limited to the doing the same levels over and over again?  A spandex-clad ninja isn't going to rip my spine out through my throat?  I can befriend talking animals?  What sorcery is this?
As soon as I got home, I went out and procured my own DS and a copy of Animal Crossing and proceeded to sink hours of my life into the game.  And when life in my town got repetitive, I began to seek out similar games:  the cuter, the better.
Which lead me to Pop Cutie!  Street Fashion Simulation.  The game had a tiny blurb in a Game Informer (It's not Call of Duty.  I'm lucky GI gave it the time of day.)  and I immediately knew I had to have it.

Domestic help chic! Source

The gameplay is fairly simple:  You are given a stall at a sort of upscale flea market to run.  You are in charge of designing the clothes you need to sell, stocking the clothes, assisting customers, and hiring employees.  Your work day is spent walking along the street outside the market and talking to people who tell you what the latest trends are.  You want to stock up on trendy things so you can make those dolla dolla bills, y'all.

Pink kitties are a timeless classic.  Source

The fashion design aspect was somewhat laughable.  Clothing styles were presented based on chosen keywords and then you could choose the colors.  If you were worthy enough, you got called into a "Fashion Battle" where you dressed a model, based on a trend or theme and had to compete against some rather colorful characters, your rivals.  Battle wins and your shop sales helped you advance in the game and actually graduate from selling knockoff Louis Vuittons at the flea market to owning your own boutique.  Tres chic! 
True to my gaming roots, I never won the fashion battles.  I was too busy toiling away in my shop to care.  I was a designer for the people, dammit.  Ain't nobody got time for haute couture. 
Pop Cutie was definitely a time sink and, because it was originally released in Japan, it definitely did not disappoint in the cute department.  Your mailman is a robot, you are often helped by an alien frog (because alien frogs know everything about fashion), and a mentor dressed in kigurumi.  It's the perfect mix of playability, kawaii, and quirkiness.