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! ☆

Day 9

Another 100 bells in insurance money came in the mail today, slowwwwly getting towards breaking even... I haven't mentioned every time that I got stung and got a payment, but I believe I'm at 400/3000 bells so far? I'll start keeping a ledger of insurance payouts I get from now on, and we'll see when I break even and start profiting.
Checking on my orchard, most of the sprouts are standing tall as nursery trees! A couple wilted, but I tried watering them and I'll check in again tomorrow.
Crazy Redd is in town! I stopped at the Nook 'N' Go on my way over, he's very bold to park his tent right in front of town hall... Had to repeat a password to keep out the fuzz, but I ended up finding a Dainty Painting! ...a forgery of one, at least. *sigh* Time to start making those bells back, I suppose.
I did also pick up a Lucky Black Cat to boost my HHA score! Plus, it's cute :3
Apparently the afternoon mail hadn't come yet, 'cause walking back to my house I noticed my mailbox stuffed full of letters, all with presents attached! Yuka sent me a cello, Punchy sent a stone wall, Twiggy sent a citrus carpet, Filbert sent steel flooring, Daisy sent some charcoal tile, and surprise letter from a snowman had a snowman lamp! Lots and lots of gifts, most of them going straight to Nook's sale box... but it's the thought that counts! I'd love if they'd send a fruit or even a Blue or Green Series piece...
The Nook 'N' Go will be closed tomorrow for renovations, again! I feel like I'm accidentally speedrunning the shop upgrades, I guess I'll be without a shop tomorrow.
Brought Punchy some more medicine. Not sure if he'll be better by tomorrow, but I sure hope so, what with the shop closing and all...
Bought enough stationary to send all of my villagers a letter today! No fruit growing in town right now, so nothing to attach, but I'll make sure I have paper on hand for tomorrow when Nook's isn't available, and I'll attach some fruit if I can find it! It'll still be a couple of days before my orchard is fully grown, so I'm subject to the randomly-placed fruit trees the town started with.
Honestly, after the orchard is fully grown and I'm harvesting fruit from there regularly, I may go around and chop down all of the other fruit trees when I notice them. I can keep the fruit condensed to a specific part of town for easy harvesting, and gives me space to plant regular hardwood and cedar trees that I can shake bells and furniture from (and the occasional bee hive). If I really need more fruit, I can always expand the orchard.
I dug through the recycle bin in town hall, and there was a Mini Croakoid in there! How random! It gets to sit proudly next to my retro stereo for now.
I've gotten to be pretty close with Sable! We chat every day, and I'm pretty good friends with the Able sisters. I always love stopping in to say hi!

Oh yeah, and that friend I mentioned yesterday who started playing Wild World again? She actually has a website, and she was inspired to start her own Wild World diary after seeing mine! Check out her site and the awesome stuff she's writing, including her new journey through Wild World!

Check her out, she's awesome :3

Day 10

Wow, the double-digits! Weird to think I'm closer to two weeks than one week, but exciting to see how far I've come, and look forward to everything I have yet to do!
Rolf moved out while I was away! Honestly good riddance, he was pretty annoying all things considered. I suppose I'm left to wonder where he's off to. Somewhere nice, I hope.
Another hundred bells in insurance payments! Sitting at 500/3000 now, making slow but steady progress!
Nook sure isn't a liar, the shop is closed again for remodeling. I'm happy to have a better shop in town, but I hope it stays open for a little longer next time...
Gracie was visiting town for the first time! She wasn't a fan of my quiz answers, so I ended up with a moldy shirt...
The wilted saplings in my orchard didn't revive when watered, and in fact disappeared overnight! There's a couple other saplings I planted that wilted the same way. Is there a nuance to tree-planting that I'm missing? Or is it really this random?
Because I usually play in the afternoon/evening, I usually don't see too many balloons floating through, which is a shame because I actually have a slingshot now! They only appear between 10 AM and 4 PM, so one of these days I'll just have to make it a point to play earlier. Maybe on Sunday (today being Thursday) I can buy turnips from Joan and farm balloons for a while.
I've gotten fairly lucky with my fossils so far, I haven't had too many duplicates! Only four overall I believe, two of which went to Daisy, one got sold, and another is still sitting in my pockets. The fossil exhibit is going much better than my fish and bug exhibits, and certainly better than the art exhibit!
Gotta remember to check on all the flower patches I have, had to water some today. Really trying to beautify the town, though with saplings wilting left and right, it'll definitely take me a while... but that won't stop me from going for it!
With the shop closed, I wanted to keep it casual today. No fishing when I can't sell the excess, very few bugs available in the winter, keep it lowkey for today. When the Nookway opens tomorrow, I'm gonna go all in on fishing! Gotta fill that aquarium!
Speaking of winter, I'm so ready for it to be over... the snowy aesthetic is fun for a few days, but after a week or more it starts to wear on me. Not nearly as visually appealing with its color palette, the lack of bugs, the lack of many unique seasonal fish, I'm really looking forward to spring in the Wild World. According to my Animal Crossing calendar, spring starts on February 25, so I have some time to wait. I suppose I'll just have to be patient.
Afternoon mail seems to come at 5 PM, so I got letters to check! They were all from villagers, none of them had presents... but they all seemed to like their letters, at least! My mailbox sure is getting full from all these letters I'm saving. I'll have to clean out the notes I don't care to keep pretty soon! I used the extra stationary I bought yesterday to write more letters to villagers, though I only had a couple items to share as gifts. I made sure the text was all explicitly about fruits, even name-dropping the ones I don't have (excluding pears, since my friend will help me out with those). Hopefully this leads to some fruitful results... :3
I finished up my day by going around and chatting with my neighbors I hadn't accidentally run across already! Punchy is still sick at home, poor thing... Hopefully I can see him walking around someday soon! I chatted with Daisy about fossils and hung out at her place for a bit, and then I called it a day!

Day 11

Today was a morning session! There was a letter from my mom, but she doesn't send me gifts prior to New Horizons, so it's just a nice sentiment I suppose.
Walking through town was a little disorienting, after days of bare trees all the oranges regrew at the same time. At least I'll have plenty to mail as gifts!
The new Nookway is open! It looks very similar to the exterior of the former Nook 'N' Go, which is lovely, but the interior looks more like a grocery store than a convenience store. Plus there's a really lovely background track while you're shopping. Certainly an upgrade! More tools, more stationary, more flower seeds, definitely more furniture! Was able to snag a Green desk and a Classic clock, both of which look great in my house! I could me maximizing my feng shui, but... the Green Series looks so nice all together in the living room! There's a couple other pieces in there too, but I love having the overall theme of the Green Series for now. Eventually I want to have the upstairs room be the Green Series room, and the main floor be the Classic Series. Well anyways, I hope this incarnations of the store stays open for more than a day or two, ahaha!
I still reeeally need a storage furniture... I think all of them (or at least most of them) only show up in Crazy Redd's? It's gonna take a while if that's the case. My pockets are almost constantly full, and the more furniture I get the more cramped my living room gets, too. Really need a Green dresser/wardrobe, or a Classic vanity/wardrobe...
(I double-checked on Nookipedia: there are absolutely dressers, wardrobes, etc. that show up in Nook's shop, but both of the series I'm collecting only have their storage items at Crazy Redd's... Just my luck, huh?)
More letters going out! I wrote to almost everyone in Ninten, being sure to mention fruit, all featuring a lovely orange as a gift! The afternoon mail comes at 5 PM, so I'll have to check back in later and see what my villagers sent back from yesterday.
My orchard is growing nicely! It should be ready to produce fruit tomorrow or the day after! As soon as I get some non-native fruits in here, I'll cut some trees down and make space for the new crop. For now though, I'll have a whole acre of oranges to sell!
Punchy was still sick when I went to visit him, but I gave him some medicine I picked up and he's feeling a little better! Hopefully tomorrow is the last dose he needs? I like Punchy a lot, I hope he feels better and get to do his own thing.
I shot down my first balloon! The furniture item was... a sword‽ A katana, to be specific! I put it down in my house, I'd rather keep it on hand than get rid of it. I suppose it'll look more in-place once I get my Classic series living room set up. Then it'll be like a cool antique display!
More importantly, shooting down a balloon lets me know what my town's Rare group is. Since I got the sword, all I had to do was look up its furniture group in Wild World (a list of A, B, and C, of which the sword is group A) and now I can see what group of furniture is the rarest to get in my town! Sorting Nookipedia's furniture catalogue by group, I can see the rarest furniture in my town, for example if I want to collect the Classic set, the chair, sofa, and clock are the rarest items in the series. I already got the clock today! There's also some other cool items, like the writing desk, the kitchen furnitures, and the mochi pestle.
While looking for Twiggy to give her a Blue bench I found, I ran into Sahara! She asked me to help her run deliveries around town, which I happily obliged. I ran some deliveries around to some of the Special Characters around town, and I got a Tatami flooring as a reward! I always like to have at least one Tatami room in Animal Crossing, I think it's a lovely theme for a room. Maybe once I get the side rooms built... or maybe the Tatami room wil be the upstairs, and the side rooms can all be colors like the Blue and Green series! So many interior design dreams~!
I stopped in to talk with the Able sisters and listen to some childhood stories, and then took a break for a bit. I'll check back in later to get my afternoon mail, and do some fishing to see what I can find!

Later that day...

I got letters back from everyone who I mailed to yesterday! Though I only got gifts from the two villagers I managed to find items for. Yuka sent me an opulent rug, and Daisy sent a kitchen sink (in an envelop???). Unfortunately for Yuka, I prefer the exotic rug I already have in my house, so off to the sale bin with it. Daisy's kitchen sink will find an awkward spot along the wall until the distant day that I can afford the side rooms, at which point I intend to put the kitchen in the northern room.
I have really high hopes for the letters I mailed out today! Even if I don't get fruits today, I'm sure this method I'm using will get me there eventually. I just have to be persistent!
I opted not to spend too much time fishing tonight, since I'm going to have a lot of free time tomorrow, so I'll hopefully be able to fit a little bell grind in there as well. Big things in the works once I have more bells to throw at my mortgage!

Day 12

Lyle's back again, filling out his questionnaire. This week he's selling Damage Insurance, offering payouts for falling victim to an art scam from Crazy Redd's. I paid 6,000 bells for this one... so now I'm at, uh, 500/9000 bells to make back? 600/9000 counting today's payout? Oh...
I got letters back from my villagers, all complete with gifts! Punchy sent a cardboard box (classy), Daisy sent a green lamp (I already have one?), Twiggy sent an opulent rug (another‽), and Yuka sent a ranch flooring. So, uh, nothing much. But it's the thought that counts, right? I'll keep writing back and forth!
I don't really feel like writing a half-dozen letters to villagers today though... It's probably fine if I just write to Daisy and Punchy, right? It's just a lot to write out 5-7 nearly identical letters every single day, complete with a fruit gift. I'm sure the others won't mind, I went the entirety of New Leaf and New Horizons without sending my neighbors a single piece of mail! It should be fine (～￣▽￣)～
The Nookway shopping music is definitely the best shopping theme so far, it's so nice! Really makes me feel like I'm perusing the local shop!
I was digging up fossils and found a Mega Lullaboid! What a surprise that one was! I didn't plan on collecting gyroids, but at this rate I might as well, right?
Brought Punchy some medicine, first and foremost. He seems to be doing better! I hope he makes a full recover soon?
Both my coconut tree and my fruit orchards are both fully grown today!!! I tried planting some oranges in the gaps in the grid where the saplings wilted before to see if I can make it work, or if those gaps are necessary for some reason. Hopefully I can fit them in and maximize my acre!
Another gyroid‽ This time a Metatoid! I must have missed a rainy patch between picking up my afternoon mail yesterday, and loading in today. I never expected to find gyroids today!
I'm a little bit torn about whether or not to keep all these gyroids... So far I only have three, but that's still a lot of space in a house as tiny as mine! Especially with the lack of storage space I'm dealing. They sell for 828 bells a piece, so there's some decent change to be had, I just know they can do a lot for a home's HHA score. Hmmm... I don't really care much for collecting gyroids personally, so I'll probably sell them off. Rather have the bells than the floorspace taken up! No hate to the gyroid fans out there, more power to ya!
Shot down another balloon! It had a pine bonsai, which I just went ahead and sold, but it's cool all the same!
I dug up a Mega Sproid, which went straight to the shop as well.
I almost forgot, but later tonight I'll come back to watch K.K. Slider perform at The Roost! I'll have to look up the song list again and pick what I want to request!
I shook a tree and found an iris table, which, while not for me, is very cute!
Filbert apparently saw a really good movie, and now it's a trend to want a jackhammer... which he gave me! That was nice, but I really don't follow popular movies...
I went ahead and collected the coconuts from my new palm tree, and planted two more palm trees in different spots! Come the spring, the beach be a really nice coastline to explore and relax on!
I've also made sure that I'm planting new trees with the saplings that Nook sells every day. I'm trying to clear out the trees that generated on the dirt paths, and only plant new ones on the grass. The palm trees are the exceptions, because they have to be close to the sand, but other than that I'm really trying to keep the paths clear! Hopefully I can keep things neat and orderly, and also get a good town rating. Only way to find out is to try!
Another balloon... and it was a gerbera! I'd keep it around if I could actually plant it, but alas it doesn't fit my taste in furniture. Off to the Nookway with you!
I put 10,000 bells in my savings, and have about 9,000 bells on hand. I'm slowly but surely saving up my bells, ideally I want to pay off my mortgage in chunks out of pocket, and slowly build my savings as a backup in case I desperately need bells for a spotlight item at Nook's shop or something like that. Of course, at some point I want to donate to the Bookdoxians! They live such a poor life, the least I can do is send them money for fried dirt. The feathers that you get as rewards are pretty nifty, too.
(I'm something of an echeladder-climber myself!)
I'll watch K.K. Slider's show tonight, and write about it tomorrow. I may also spend some time running around and catching fish! Easy money, museum progress, a real win-win of a gameplan. I love just moving through each day and relaxing, Wild World - despite the title - is actually a very calming game, and the experience of living in your town is just so lovely and cozy, I couldn't ask for a better time! Sometimes mid-session I'll just set my DS down and do something else I needed to do, and let the hourly music play. Everything has an air of ease and contentment that makes it a refreshing break from the rest of the world. Even taking my time to write about it, I find myself feeling incredibly at peace when I play. What a wonderful experience ♥

Day 13

Saw K.K. Slider live last night! I requested "Marine Song 2001" and loved the live performance! Decided to play the bootleg from the show in my house for a while. It did make me wonder when/if Nook starts offering K.K. songs in the shop? Maybe not until Nookington's opens?
It was snowing when I stepped out of my house for the first time! The gently-falling snow mirrors the recent weather where I am, and it was honestly quite lovely.
Insurance payout! I'm officially at 700/9000 bells! I'm... getting there. Town Hall let me know that I made 50 bells in interest from my savings account for the month of January! The HHA also scored me an 8,844 point score, tell me that I'm doing better, but need to expand and get more furniture in there. Progress! Daisy also sent me a random gift of some plaza tile!
It seems like none of the bells I planted grew into bell trees... and those orange saplings I planted wilted again! I'm not sure what's up with that! They should hypothetically have enough space around them... the top and bottom rows of trees grew just fine with a tree just one space away on the left and right, and the left and right columns grew with two spaces between trees. I'm not sure what's different about the middle row? Instead of five all in a row, there's three, with an empty space between them where trees grew just fine on the top and bottom. Why is that??? Maybe what I'll try is chopping down the left and middle trees in that row, and leaving the right one. I'll plant an orange one space to its left, and so if it grows with all the extra space to the left. If it works, I'll move down the line and fit all the trees in. It's the only course of action that comes to mind other than chopping down the whole orchard and starting over with more spacing. I don't want it to come to that, but if it must, I will.
Joan is in town today! (duh.) I went ahead of bought a red turnip seed, and 100 white turnips for 102 bells apiece. I'll talk to Nook Monday-Saturday and see what's what! I know that turnips can obviously go lower than that, but I can only buy them once a week, and there's also plenty of fluctuation that could make me a huge profit at any point this week! So I'll keep my eyes peeled.
(Do red turnips spoil, too...?)
The Nookway had a timer on sale, which I thought about... but my pockets are tight enough as it is, I'll wait until I have somewhere to put tools way before I get things like the timer.
Punchy was already looking much better when I visited him! No more droopy head, shivering fever, just a sore throat now! I gave him some more medicine and I'll check back tomorrow, hopefully he's only a day away from a full recovery!
I found a fossil, which turned out the be the last missing piece of the dimetrodon display!
It was at this point that I saved the game and took a break, as I was about to go see a movie with some friends! After coming home, making dinner, and doing some other tasks, I finally returned to my DS and ran around Wild World some more!
I went ahead and planted the red turnip seed I bought, and gave it a good watering! Supposedly I have to water it every single day and it'll get huge and sell for a good price, but I'm gonna hold onto it. I hear there's a hungry fellow who comes to town from time to time who may give me something good in exchange for a hefty red turnip...
I stopped by The Roost for a late-night cup. I grabbed a seat next to Phyllis, who wasn't exactly looking for company, and enjoyed a warm brew on a cold winter evening. The Roost music is so calming and relaxing, I think if real life had background music, that would be mine when I'm trying to unwind. It's just so lovely and cozy, it makes me feel like I'm actually in a cafe. Maybe it reminds me of the various coffee shops I've visited in the past, I'm not sure, but I love it either way!
Talking with the Able sisters every day, Sable has been telling me some family stories. I had no idea the Able family had so much writing associated with them in Animal Crossing, it's so sweet and emotional to hear Sable tell some of these stories that even Mable was too young to remember. There's so much depth to the characters and their dialogue, and I think Mable and Sable are the perfect example of that. So much reward just for chatting with them every day.
Wrote Punchy and Daisy some letters! Continuing to mention fruit, continuing to attach oranges as gifts. It sure would be nice if I got something useful soon. I'm really getting tired of the smell of citrus...
I was impulsive and bought the timer. I suppose that's one less spot in my pockets now...
I had a special touch to bee-catching for a while, but I seem to have lost it... At least I have an insurance policy that will cover me when I slip up!
I just found out that Nook's shopping catalogue in this actually has a completion number above each category of item, so I can actually track my 100% completion progress! For example, here's my catalogue stats as of right now:
Furniture 50/562 | Walls 13/63 | Floors 12/63 | Clothes 9/256 | Umbrellas 0/32 | Hats 1/130 | Stationary 36/63 | Gyroids 4/127 | Fossils 21|52
While checking my catalogue, I realized that at some point I found a blue cabinet??? I've been looking for a storage unit this whole time! I must have given it to Twiggy without thinking about it, but either way I ordered one for myself from the catalogue, so that should show up tomorrow!
I think the constellations mechanic is really really cool. There's of course the obvious part, where you get to design shapes in the stars to see on the top screen at night. The part that I thought about tonight is the fact that constellations, despite being recognized the world over, are technically a cultural phenomenon. When Celeste says she has a star chart with no constellations, that's a totally normal thing that could exist. You don't need Orion to know which star is Rigel, the star chart can totally still tell you that. The constellations, the shapes the stars make, is a cultural interpretation of the shapes we see in the night sky. It's like cloudwatching but with shapes in the stars. The idea that nobody in Ninten knows what constellations are, and so they make their own, it's kind of beautiful. And then you can visit another town, maybe a friend from Anytown, and you might swap some constellations and teach each other new star-shapes? A proper cultural exchange? That's amazing to me! It's such a fun activity in the game, and a fascinating social interaction for players. One of the reasons I love Animal Crossing is for its ability to create situations like this.

Day 14

Mail call! Another 100 bells from my insurance, sitting at 800/9000 bells towards breaking even. Also some villager letters, including a Spaceman Sam from Punchy (???) and a toilet from Daisy (...)
I also received my blue cabinet from Nook Shopping! Finally I can access my storage! It's so nice to suddenly have so much room for furniture, wallpaper, flooring, clothes, etc! This is a real game-changer for collecting and decorating, I'm so excited to start tucking items away for the future.
Watered my red turnip!
There was a blue clock on sale at Nookway! I went ahead and snagged it, though I completely emptied out my pockets to do so... I'll have to sell some fruit and seashells before I go and try to pick up anything else!
My trick with the orchard is working so far! By freeing up space, the next sapling successfully took root! Hopefully I can repeat this pattern once it grows, and eventually fill in the middle row! It does make it more difficult to replant that row in the future, but that's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it. I have a few ideas of how I could make it happen, but I'd want to wait until I have probably two non-native fruits, just to be sure I can maximize my time spent chopping, planting, and growing.
I ran into a new villager while running around, Victoria! I don't know much about her yet, but her race horse aesthetic is really cute! Hopefully she'll be fun to share a town with.
Caught a shooting star wish just in the nick of time!!! Actually, as it turns out, tonight was something of a meteor shower, with several shooting stars flying by all through the evening! I've heard that you only get one reward per day by wishing on a star, but I made a couple wishes just to be safe.
Got a little bit emotional talking to the Able sisters today ;-;
Brought Punchy some more medicine, he seems to be doing great! I'm hopeful that tomorrow will get to be the first day he can roam around town! He's been stuck home sick literally since he moved in, poor cat...
I'm ripping through axes like paper trying to rearrange the forest in town (the Animal Forest???), but Nook doesn't have any on sale today, so I paused my vengeance against the trees until tomorrow. Slowly but surely clearing and replanting in a more neat arrangement that leaves pathways clear and still retains the greenery! Tending to the flowers on top of that. I haven't checked my town status in a while, but I feel I should probably wait until I'm further along in the process before bothering with scores or anything like that.
I really don't feel like writing letters to my villagers today, it's been a long day irl and I'm already playing my session in the evening, I don't think it'll be the end of the world to take things slow and maybe write to them tomorrow.
Turnip prices dropped to 57 bells this evening... I'll be holding onto them for a good while and seeing what the stalk market does later in the week. Fingers crossed!
I went ahead and ordered some more Blue series furniture from my catalogue, now that I can put them in storage. I'll keep them in there until I feel like my Blue set is outnumbering my Green set that's currently in my living room, and then I'll swap them out to try and get a theme going. Obviously eventually the Blue and Green series are both going to go in the side rooms of the house, but until I can get more Classic series furniture to fill the main floor, they'll get to take their place for a while.
Stopped by The Roost for an evening cup, then stepped outside to enjoy the 7 PM music before the clock rolled over an hour. Easily one of my favorite things to do in this game is just stand around and listen to the various themes. There's so many great tracks, it just makes me want to loiter in different spots and let them play out. I hung around and listened to the bell toll, and the 8 PM music begin. It's such a lovely track, like so many others, but I just never stop being amazed by how much I enjoy the music of Wild World. This might be the first Animal Crossing soundtrack I go out of my way to download as an album, at least the hourly tracks.

And that's how I let my fourteenth day in the Wild World end: relaxing in the forest, watching the stars twinkle overhead with constellations of my own design, and listening to the soothing strum of an acoustic guitar. Thus ends the second week of my life in the town of Ninten. Things have gone really well for me ever since I moved in, and even the less eventful days have been lovely to spend my time in. I haven't felt like a single second here was wasted, rather that it was spent on the noble pursuit of peace, joy, and relaxation. Living in Ninten has given me a moment each day to take things slow, enjoy some cozy vibes, and appreciate the small things in life. It's a peaceful way to unwind after a long day, whether a positive kind of long or a negative one. Even the parts of the game that I don't understand, things that confuse me, aren't frustrating in the least. No, every aspect of my life in the Wild World has been a building block, confusion leading to understanding, work leading to rest, business leading to leisure. It's a cause and effect that balances out life in a way that feels so rare in our world. Relationships, income, travel, decor, these things can feel so stressful in our world, but in the Wild World, you don't have to worry about it. Everything works out, and all you have to focus on is what you want to do each day, and then do it. Animal Crossing: Wild World encourages you to take everything a day at a time, not to worry too much about what you might have missed yesterday or what might happen tomorrow. It encourages you to live in the moment and find joy in today, whether that's in work, or leisure, or socializing, or solace. There's not one way to play Animal Crossing, and there's not one way to spend your time in the Wild World; you have to go out and find your own way. Whatever path you choose is the path you were meant to be on, so don't stress too much about doing the "right" or "wrong" thing. Decide what you want today to be. It's your day, after all.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Wild World, and I don't intend to let it end. I still have a lot I want to do in this game, and I'm going to continue to play daily until I no longer find joy in the process. I may not keep such detailed journal entries, and instead of 10-15 point entries detailing everything I did, it may look more like 5-7 point entries that just hit the highlights. I may also stop announcing daily updates via RSS and only announce days featuring events (which I'd probably cover more in-depth) and big things that happen that I write about. I really love this journal and intend to upkeep it for as long as I find joy in doing so, but I don't want it to take quite so much time. Simplifying it will make me more likely to keep up with it, which is exactly what I want to do. Less bullet points, less random happenings, but more detail on the things that do happen, and hopefully more profound thoughts like when I talked about the constellations and the soundtrack and such. This game is really amazing, I enjoy it so much, and I want to continue to share that joy with readers via this journal. Animal Crossing: Wild World has such a wonderful style and feel, and I really couldn't ask for a better time. Thank you to everyone who's followed along these two weeks I've played and journaled in this manner, I hope you continue to keep up with my life in the Wild World for as long as I can keep you as a part of it! Cheers to many more happy days in the small town of Ninten!

02/02/2026 Written by Amelia: Thank you for a wonderful two weeks in Wild World! Cheers to many more happy days in the town of Ninten!

Day 15

I recieved my green Boondox feather today as a reward for all my donations! Eventually I'd really like to have all the weathers in a drawer in my house, and wear the fancy rainbow one! Proof that I've climbed my echeladder to the highest rung!
Another 100 bells from my insurance today! Puts me at 800/9000 bells... almost a tenth of the way there?
Punchy is well again!!! I saw him walking around town for the first time, we can actually chat and do stuff now! Really nice to see him better, also gives me a jumpstart on our friendship.
Katrina was visiting on the plaza today! I had her forsee my future for 100 bells, but it just gave me bad luck for the day. Tripping and falling left and right.
Did lots of landscaping today! Axe and shovel both got a workout, stumps and saplings all over the place. I also planted some more flowers, watered the wilted ones, etc. I check my environment rating, and I'm still in that mediocre middle range where the feedback doesn't really say much of anything, other than Pelly telling me I could use more greenery. I'm trying, okay? ;w;

Day 16

My mom sent me a cherry!!! I went ahead and planted it right away, hopefully in a couple days I can have three cherry trees growing in the orchard!
Insurance payouts got me up to 1000/9000, I'm one ninth of the way to breaking even on my insurance plan.
Crazy Redd was on the plaza today, and he sold me another forgery... Are we sure this is a 50/50 chance?
Enjoyed a nice cozy cup at The Roost. I'm really getting tired of this snow, can spring come faster?

Day 17

The cherry sapling took root! I got worried for a second yesterday after planting it, "What if it doesn't take root? It took so long to get a cherry, what if I messed it up?" but all is well! I may eventually chop it down and replant somewhere else, but once the tree is fully grown I'll just replant all three cherries, and make sure the supply is sustainable. After this one is producing fruit, I'll rearrange the orchard a bit to optimize its placement.
Another 100 bells of insurance, now at 1100/9000 bells!
Tried planting some new coconut trees in some new spots. It would be really cool if they grew! Either way, I'm gonna fill those little outcrops on the beach with flowers. Easy to plant all over, out of the way so they don't get trampled too easily, and spaced out enough that I they'll get me some environment points in different acres? It's hard to measure the distance when the map doesn't explicitly tell me like the GameCube game, but I'm trying to guess to the best of my ability, and eventually I'll get that perfect town status!
Ran into Rover at The Roost! He talked to me a lot about travel, and mentioned he'd love to meet me in another town's cafe! I love Rover, he's one of my favorite special characters, and I always wish that he showed up more often in the average day-to-day.

Day 18

The coconut trees I planted took root! Once they're fully grown, I'll start transplanting (trans-planting?) some flowers to surround them and make some cute oceanside flower patches! I've discovered that pansies are my favorite style of flower in Wild World, but I'll probably make each little outcrop a different breed surrounding their own tree. Not to mention, all these coconuts will turn a sizeable profit!
I spent so many bells, I earned my Nook Shopping membership! Supposedly there are special discounts in my future? I also got mailed a scale model of Nook's Cranny!
The Bright Nights festival starts on Monday! I'll have to play through that and see what sorts of things I can discover over the course of the week!
There's one more seasonal creature I still need to catch, the Stringfish. It spawns in the evenings after 5 PM, but it only appears in the river as one of the huge shadows. Pretty rare, huh? I haven't even seen a huge shadow since I started looking for it...

Day 19

Goose moved out at some point, he let me know by letter. I don't hold anything against him, but we didn't really vibe, so I'm not broken up about it or anything. Hope he's somewhere nice.
Alas, while checking houses for the Flea Market happening today, I found out that Punchy's moving as well... He will be sorely missed, he was so fun to have around town for the brief period where he wasn't bedridden. I hope he has many tasty adventures in another part of the Wild World!
K.K. was at The Roost taking requests, so I put in a request for "My Place"! I got the boot of it, so that'll play in my house until next week's concert!
I have a new neighbor, Samson... he's uh, he's fine I guess. I'm not a big fan of jock villagers, I'm sure there are people out there who like them but they just don't gel with me personally. I spoke to him once, and then he had the audacity to barge into my house and say "Cheap deals? Outta my way, coming through!" For real??? So yeah, not off to a great start with Samsom.
I did a ton of gardening like I said I would! Moved flowers around, basically all of them are on those outcroppings by the beach where I'm growing coconut trees. I left some space for flower breeding, I want to let nature do its thing and produce some unique colors! Once those grow in, it'll be a super lively and colorful spot of town!

Day 20

The HHA sent me an evaluation today. 9,358 points! I'm doing better, but they really want to see me expand my house. You and me both, HHA inspector.
The flowers are doing great! Diversified the patch of white roses when I found the seed packet for some red roses in Nookway. Curse my eternal clumsiness, I keep trampling them because I forget not to run while tending to them, but overall they're growing in fine!
My cherry tree produced fruit for the first time today! I took the opportunity to begin rearranging the orchard. I left the initial cherry tree, in case I need more and also to mark the boundary of the orchard, but also planted all three of today's harvest in what will be the cherry column. As a byproduct of all this, there were a lot of oranges on the ground, and it took several trips to the Nookway to sell them all off...
Speaking of expanding my home, I paid off my latest loan! I'll be getting my next and final main floor expansion tomorrow, and I'll quickly start on paying that off! I'm really itchin' for those other rooms...

Day 21

Today was the start of Bright Nights! Every day I'll get the chance to vote who's house has the best lights, and it runs until next Monday!
The cherry trees I planted took root, so the cherry column is growing strong! Once they're fully-grown I can clear more space on the far end, and make sure that everything is ready to recieve a new non-native fruit for planting next. Hopefully I don't have to grind for too long to get the others I need! Oranges and cherries will be great for now, plus coconuts on the coastline.
I'm such a regular at The Roost that Brewster has offered to add pigeon milk to my coffee to make it a latte!
...it does beg the question of where this milk is sourced, but I don't think I mind. I love a good latte!
I got my new loan details from Tom Nook, I owe... 298,000 bells! That'll sure take me a minute to take care of, but I'm already on it!
The house expansion is great! I have so much room to arrange furniture, space things out, it's wonderful! Really looking forward to getting those side rooms and doing some themes in there, plus getting the second floor, but the main floor has so much room now and I'm sure I can find some more furniture to throw down and bump up my HHA score!

Day 22

The rate at which I'm donating fossils slows down by the day, but I'm making great progress! I already have more than half of the total collection, and I haven't failed to donate a single new thing I've found! Hopefully it won't be too long before that wing of the museum is completely full, then I can focus on filling the other three, and sell off the daily dig spots for cash.
The orchard is coming along nicely! I'm glad that took root, because I clearly don't understand how Wild World checks for saplings to grow or not... most of the saplings I plant around town end up wilting! I thought the rule was that they had to have a clear tile on all eight sides of the sapling? All of these saplings have that, and yet they wilt anyway... Well, as confused as I am, I won't stop trying! I mean, some of them have grown, so it doesn't hurt to keep it up. Also letting flowers bloom in the random spots they pick each day, in addition to tending to my flower patches along the coast. Perfect Town, here I come!
I think I'm unfortunately not a huge fan of most of the fashion options in this game. Most of the patterns just don't really appeal to me, I'm been wearing the sailor uniform I found on like, day 2 or 3. I've drawn a couple of patterns myself (what would an Animal Crossing game be without a Chara sweater?) but in terms of the actual items available from The Able Sisters, nothing else has really caught my eye. I'll keep a lookout just in case, but so far, not much.
Why do these villagers understand the concept of mutual aid better than a lot of leftists? Two neighbors individually noticed I was short on cash, and when I confirmed this, they both happily gave me items to sell and make money from. Twiggy even mentioned "I'm kinda broke too, but girls gotta look out for each other!" I can make 15 posts online about needing help with my monthly expenses, and not even a fiver tossed my way. Animal Crossing is an ally of the proletariat, I suppose!

Day 23

Was a slow day today. Mainly I did some landscaping! Watering flowers, planting new ones, tree arranging, etc. The cherry column of the orchard grew in! I didn't harvest it today, but it's all ready to start making some cash off of non-native fruits! I also realized that it's pointless to buy the regular hardwood saplings from Nookway when I already have the Golden Shovel. I can plant 1,000 bell bags and have a 1% chance to grow a Bell Tree, and if not, no harm done! It's a regular hardwood tree at that point, so it's ultimately the same as if I bought the sapling, but I have a small chance to make crazy cash when it grows up. Granted, the sapling is less than 100 bells and I have to bury 1,000 bells at a time, but that gamble could pay off big-time one of these days, so it's worth it in my opinion. The other big benefit is getting to plant as many hardwood trees as I want per day, instead of being restricted to one sapling a day at the Nookway.
I did try out the full stylus controls for a few minutes! I had a snack, I set my DS down, I wanted to see what it was like. It's very strange, "clunky" doesn't feel like the right word but it certainly wasn't natural... It does everything you would want it to do, and even gives you more analog control over the player's movement (much like Super Mario 64 DS), but it just feels weird. Definitely not the way I'd recommend to play, but I suppose it comes in clutch when you just have to play one-handed.
The Bright Nights are still going until Monday, so the town is all lit up! Honestly I was expecting my first big festival in Ninten to be more... hands-on? Bright Nights is a very laid-back kind of event, where it happens to the town, it's not necessarily something that you do. Most of the buildings and some of the cedar trees are decorated with lights, and Tortimer is outside Town Hall to let me vote who's house I think is best decorated (I just keep voting for Daisy because she's my bestie), but other than that it's pretty much business as usual. Doesn't really change the trajectory of my day-to-day tasks much, though it does mix up the winter scenery that I had been complaining about, at least a little. It's just enough to tide me over until spring starts in a couple weeks.

Day 24

Just a casual, late-night session tonight! The shops are closed by now, so mostly just running around and doing some small maintenance stuff.
Made sure to stop by The Roost before K.K. Slider left for the night! I didn't have any particular requests, so he picked a random track: K.K. Love Song! I'll be playing the boot of that in my house for the next week!
Playing every other day like I have this week makes it pretty hard to keep the flowers from wilting... I may try and make it more of a point to spend a few minutes in Wild World each day. I have a lot more fun with the game when I'm on a streak!

Day 25

The HHA rated me again today! They were quite pleased with my upgraded space, and the way I've arranged things, netting me 11,860 points! They're apparently looking forward to me expanding further and decorating more... me too, folks, me too.
Twiggy was announced as the Bright Star, the winner of the Bright Nights festival! I thought it would be announced tomorrow, but hey I'm not complaining; we're one step closer to spring!
Another big landscaping day! Some little tree adjustments, lots and lots of flowertending! Watering, planting, arranging, weeding, etc. Trying to get random flower patches in more acres to bump up my town rating, while also grouping together like-kind flowers so they can potentially breed some new colors while they're out there! Pelly says my environment rating is still in that middle area where it's not great but not terrible, so I suppose I need even more flowers! That's totally doable, just limited by Nook's supply amount.
I think they should bring back the ability to sell clothes to Mable! I'm a big fan of games where there are "specialty" shop keepers who will pay more for certain items if you go out of your way to sell to them, specifically. Ever since I first played New Leaf, I wished than Blathers could actually buy your fossils for his personal collection, maybe at a slightly-increased price so you can make a little more by selling to Blathers! In the same way, I love that you can make (marginally) more bells selling clothes and such to Mable in Wild World. It's such a great mechanic in games, I wish Animal Crossing would do more of it! I know New Horizons had Flick and C.J. who buy bugs and fish respectively, but I want more. It's such a small mechanic, optional to engage with, but so great for people like me, ahaha!
I harvested my cherries for the first time today! Just a single tree nets 1500 bells! Between three cherry trees, and several coconut trees, that's a decent chunk of cash every few days! One thing I wish Animal Crossing would do is take a bit of a cue from Harvest Moon, and have the fruit trees show the unripe fruit growing on them leading up to the day they're ready to pick. As it is, it's hard to tell which trees are fruit trees and which ones are just hardwoods unless they're ready to harvest, and there's no way to tell how close you are to another harvest until it happens. I feel it wouldn't be too big of a change to show fruit trees actually growing fruit, and it would be pretty insubstantial for some people but really nice for players like me.
Currently rebuilding my habit from New Leaf and New Horizon, where instead of paying my loan directly every time I have some bells for it, I instead put them in my savings in increments of 10,000. This way, I make some interest on the account if I don't pay my loan by the end of the month, I work towards the achievement for saving certain milestone amounts, and when I'm ready to pay I just withdraw the needed amount! It's a bit more economical, and builds good habits for saving money instead of spending it just because I have it. Who'd've thought it? Animal Crossing teaching us good life habits. At some point that money will also start going to the Boondox to get more feathers, but my house is my first priority.
I haven't been shaking many trees for a while, I don't feel like I get much out of it. A couple hundred bells per day, two common furniture items, and a truckload of bee stings? No thank you! Though because I'm not shaking trees, and thus not getting stung, I'm making zero bells per day on breaking even with my insurance plan... so uh... it seems Lyle got the best of me. I'll absolutely continue recording here every time I claim insurance money! It's just a lot slower coming in now... Hopefully one day I can still break even on it though.

Day 26

A new neighbor moved in today, Bud! He's just another jock villager, so like, meh... but I'll chat with him now and again! Maybe he'll be cool?
I haven't found a new fossil in a good few days. On the upside, I've been making a bunch of bells off of selling them! Growing my savings decently between duplicate fossils and fruit harvests.
Some more flowering today! Planted some new ones, not much to revive since most of the wilted flowers recovered already! Slowly but surely filling the town with colors!

Day 27

I said early on that the controls are a bit awkward, and that's certainly true. However, with enough time, you start to get used to them in the way where you learn the quirks of movement and interaction, and can act accordingly. The one-tap delay when switching between button and stylus controls, or the 8-direction control in a 360-movement game, they start to fade to the background and as you get used to just accomodating for these weird little quirks as you play. I noticed this today when I was running up to a dig spot I saw, and I tapped different arrows as I approached, ever so slightly, so that my angle when I hit A to dig was perfect and I got it right on the tile. When I first started, lining up to dig was actually a little annoying! Now I'm quite used to it all. It just takes some getting used to, and is absolutely due to the hardware limitations of the DS. New Leaf on the 3DS would, of course, improve all of these things, but it's by no means unplayable in Wild World. It just takes time.
I talked to the guards, and apparently Dr. Shrunk is here today! I forgot entirely about expressions and learning them from him! He shows up around town on a random day each week, it's kind of amazing that I haven't seen him yet? Anyway, he taught me the emotion for shyness, and each time I see him after this I can select a new emotion to learn! Unlike later games, where you can learn all the emotions in one big menu to select from, in Wild World you can only know four at a time. They're triggered by little buttons in the keyboard window (y'know, for typing messages?) which is pretty streamlined as far as player-to-player communication! Send the message, tap the emote. Pretty nice! That's probably part of the reason why you can only have four at a time, is to make sure they can fit in the menu. The other reason is likely memory storage, knowing Wild World and all the weird limits it has so it can store and load data in a timely manner. It works a lot like Pokémon, where once I fill all four slots, I can continue to get him to teach me emotions, but I have to replace an old one with the new one. I'll get to play around a bit with the emotions he has on offer each week and see what four I want the most!
My blooming-to-wilted flower ratio today was quite good! I consider that all luck though, I haven't been preemptively watering my flowers like I should. I'm waiting until my overall flower count is higher before I bother being preemptive! No sense in maintaining the status reemptively until I'm trying to hold Perfect for two weeks, right? Though I did keep the project going by planting more flowers around town!

Day 28

Samson moved out! Got a letter from him today. I swear, I'm just going to rip through these jock villagers until I get some that I gel with...
Crazy Redd is on the plaza today! No special furniture for any of the sets I'm collecting, but he did have a Nice Painting! ...holy shit! It's actually real! Wow, after such terrible RNG with the last... three or four? I actually got one! A very small start to the museum's art wing, but a start all the same! Finally!
I have about half of what I need for my current house loan in my bell savings! If I can keep up the momentum, I'll have that next expansion in no time! Second floor, here I come!

Day 29

A late night session, shops are closed so it's mostly just standard cleanup. Flowering, watering, fossil-checking, etc.
Phyllis is much more direct than Pelly is with her feedback on how to improve the environment rating. She claims I need more trees, but I thought I had a ton of trees??? I know that a "perfect" acre is just a point system that I can run up via methods like flowers, but does the game really expect me to have more trees? I suppose my orchard is currently a bare patch where more fruit trees will eventually go, I'm that's holding me back some. There's probably one or two places I could fit another sapling in, but I'll focus on flowers to run my point totals up. Thanks for the advise, Phyllis, but I'll do things my way!

Day 30

Wow, the big three-oh! Roughly a full month into my Wild World journey! I feel like I've already made so much progress, and I still have so much on my to-do list! I suppose that's the mark of a good Animal Crossing game: plenty of progress, plenty left to do, and no intention of stopping now.
While watering flowers, I ran into Twiggy, who begged me not to tell anyone about what I caught her doing. Upon realizing I didn't actually see anything, she breathed a sigh of relief and said that was good. Huh???
Saved even more bells for my house loan, I actually did the math wrong before when I said I had about half, I only today broke the 100,00 bell mark in saving for my 290,000 bell mortgage. Oops... Either way, making good progress! That's 100,000 bells in my account! I forget at what milestones I get the little scale models as rewards?
Tried planting another tree today! Hopefully its position will let it take root, I want to try and squeeze some more saplings in with the current forest foliage, in addition to my standard flower sowing.

Day 31

Today is my birthday! Daisy showed up at my door right when I stepped outside to gift me a birthday cake, and I also got letters from her, Twiggy, and my mom telling my happy birthday and sending various items. Even my past self sent a letter forward with 1,000 bells and a kind message. I felt very normal about all of these things.
Coconuts and cherries are ready to harvest again! Time to rake in the cash, and funnel it straight into my ~~off-shore account I use to evade taxes~~ savings account!
There's a fishing tourney tomorrow! It's been posted on the notice board something like a week in advance, but it's finally here! Can't wait to go all out for that tomorrow!

Day 32

HHA assessment came in today! 11,062 points! They claim that I'm collected enough to net some lucky bonus points, so that's nice! Not exactly sure what milestones there are to reach in Wild World. Are there plaques like in the later titles?
The Fishing Tourney is today! Tortimer says it's all about catching the biggest fish before 6 PM, so we'll see what I can reel in before then. The last Tourney I did in New Leaf was specifically to catch the biggest seabass, but I suppose a general "biggest fish" is an easier competition, ahaha! Either way, it's time to get fishin'!
(Maybe I can get lucky and find the stringfish I'm after, too?)
Completed another skeleton in the museum! Every day is one step closer to a complete fossil collection! Once the spring rolls around, I'll get started on the fish and bugs more.
I spent a bunch of time fishing, running up and down the river and shores, catching as many large fish as I could (especially seabass) and by the time 6 PM rolled around... Filbert won with a massive seabass. It wasn't even close. Damn. Better luck next time.
It just occured to me that yesterday was Saturday! I completely missed K.K. Slider's weekly performance! Ugh, guess I'll have to catch him next week.

Day 33

So I started playing this morning before leaving the house, but I didn't think twice before plugging in my Everdrive to take it with me, and it power-cycled my system, so I got my first proper visit from Mr. Resetti. We already met at The Roost before (which he remembered! cool!) but he walked me through his whole spiel about the importance of saving. I'll remember to be more careful about plugging in GBA cartridges when my DS is on...
I'm not sure when Joey moved in, but I ran into him in town today! He's not a jock at the very least, so maybe we'll get along better than the last few villagers that have come and gone!
My battery got pretty low after doing some chores, so I opted to save early and just pick up my fossil tasks and such tomorrow!

Day 34

I stepped away from the game for a couple of days, was really busy with work and just life, but y'know what? It's spring now! It's time to check out the greenery!
I got a letter that Twiggy moved away. Honestly a little sad, she was one of my original villagers I believe? We definitely spent a lot of time chatting, and gave her a lot of blue furniture. I hope she's well wherever she goes.
These flowers are brutal... You spend just a day or two away, and half of them are dead! Spent a bunch of time going around and watering them, what a mess...
Other than that, I just did the usual: checking fossils, planting flowers, picking fruit, that sort of thing! We're closing in on the end of the month, so I'm hoping for a decent bit of interest on my savings account! Steadily moving towards my next house upgrade with that, plus making sure to expand my catalogue wherever I can. I'll do some reading on the fish and bugs that are present now that spring is here, and keep my eye out for new museum donations!
Speaking of spring, everything looks so nice in green! The town is more vibrant, there's new fish and more bugs, there's events and such to look forward to, it's wonderful! Super excited for everything moving forward, cheers to a wonderful spring in Ninten!

Spring is finally here!
~ Alex Amelia Pine

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