Happii Homu Dezainaa Day 3

Day 3 is a little bit short, it was played while waiting in line for Dark Pit amiibo. I start off by being told by Takumi that the emotion is now available to use. I'm also alerted that Caramel is home, and in another book, under the "client list" there's the villagers I decorated houses for, and I can depart to visit them.

So, we head over to Caramel's house, and she tells us all about using amiibo cards! Hooray! Too bad I don't have the NFC reader/writer to be able to do so right now...

I'd like to be able to get other villagers to visit each other, but oh well, until I get the physical copy and that ONE card, I'm unable to do so. I then depart, and just like New Leaf, she gave a cute little wave as I was walking out the door. That was it, I can now walk around outside!! I'm instantly greeted by Tomuson, and he's quick to figure out I'm the "room coordinator".

(Honestly, now I'm moving. Thinking a room coordinator though...)

Okay, Tomuson, I guess it's my job after all, so let's hear what you're searching for in this new home of yours. Apparently, it was a sort of "stylish city room". Oooookay. Not sure about the theme, but hey, I'm new here, give me some credit!

I wasn't sure how to fit that kind of theme, and this is raw translation I'm doing, so maybe it's not exactly what I'm thinking, so I decided that the patchwork-style was "stylish"- seemed to me, so that's what I gave him all the pieces of I had. He was the first to receive a haniwa (gyroid in localization) as well, as I figured they're kind of trendy in big cities, right? Oh well, I figured with a pineapple bed, and a dartboard, my job of decorating his room was done. Here's a couple Kodak moments from the cut-scene:

He seems to love coffee, he was drinking it in every scene. I wish I could have been more "stylish city" but I did my best under the circumstances. My red light began flashing, so I knew my day was going to have to be called at this point either way. At least I got the "Hi" action!

Heading back to the office, Takumi let me know I had to do my daily write-up, so I did so, and called it a day in the game and real life. Until tomorrow!

Happii Homu Dezainaa Day 2

Apparently after I called it a day yesterday, I was prompted to be notified for "play data" send- StreetPass/SpotPass I'm guessing.

I believe I said yes, but went through it a bit fast, so I'll confirm I did agree to StreetPass game data swap once the physical copy comes- according to FedEx will be Monday. I'll also then get at least one amiibo card, and can find out if they're really region free (assume they are) by testing it on my NA New 3DS and my JP New 3DS, Getting back to the game. Since each save is considered a new day, I think I'll upload each play as a day as well. My second day started with Caramel sitting in the little area, and Takumi introducing her to me, with letting me know that she's here for a design- apparently she moved in on her own.

So, then I got my chance to chat with her- you don't really get a choice after you're introduced, you automatically go to the meeting. I didn't get to choose the house spot, but she did give me notice that she loves books and wanted to be surrounded by books as the theme.

So, off we went to decorate her house. Knowing she loves books, I tried to give a theme like a library- guess she must spend her free time reading. Of course after you're done decorating, you still have to talk to the new resident. She's asked me if it really is finished, and lets me know that her desire has finally been realized.

Afterwards, you get a cute little cut-scene that shows the resident enjoying their new surroundings. This is a perfect Kodak moment, so I took a pic!

She then lets me know starting today this will be her new house, she's pretty excited about it:

That led to me learning a new emotion- you get new emotions from the animals after you successfully fulfill their request. It's the happy emotion with a little icon of a smiley face.

(Get happy, a new action)

That led me automatically back to the office, where I'm informed by Takumi that I learn these "actions" from the residents. Phew! What a full day of decorating a house, so I called it a day in the game, and the same in real life! Until tomorrow.

Happii Homu Dezainaa Day 1

So, today I started my new job at Tanuki Housing. I was met by Tanukichi who welcomed me to join the group. Here's how my virtual avatar will look (Yeah, this is- in response to Tanukichi's wondering if this was the sort of look I wanted).

I got introduced to my fellow workers, and Kento was pretty emphatic about it! I wonder if Digby, his NA counterpart is going to be this enthusiastic as well- and yes, Takumi is giving the love emotion.

First things first, I've got to change into my new uniform and dress like everyone else. Doesn't it make my eyes pop? LOL

Now that we're ready to join the others, we begin like every other Animal Crossing game and go right to work- hey, I thought this was a game, who said anything about working?? First up is getting a feel for decorating using a Lovely styled request!

There were only so many items available to use for decoration, with only a handful from the Lovely series in prior games. I may have overdone it, and it turns out it was Takumi's house too:

(Actually here is really my house)

Okay, so that was the end of my first day. I spent over an hour just arranging and moving around furniture. It is nice being able to use the stylus to move furniture instead of the drag/pull method of prior games, but if you still want to drag/pull furniture to move it, you can. The setup allows you to put a single space between them, which you'll move sideways to walk around- kind of a cute little feature. After setting up the house, I went back to the office to call it a day, and I think I'll call it a day in real life. Until tomorrow!

Final countdown before play of Happi Homu Dezaina!

This is it fans, the final countdown blog! The time has come, bookmark now to catch all the content of Happy Home Designer as my next blog post will be actual game pictures!! I'll try to catch as much as I can, but given the vast amount of translating for a text-based game, I'm going to pick and choose which ones go on here, especially since the same SD card will also contain the game, tobidase, and all the pics taken, so it's getting kind of full. That said, look forward to seeing Happy Home Designer, the newest game in the doubutsu no mori series!!

Daily countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 3: Under 36 hours!!

For today's post, we will be less than 24 hours away by the time today is over! It's getting closer and closer to returning to Animal Crossing's roots, and again working for Tom Nook- greedy, money-hungry, realtor! In all reality though, tomorrow will likely have 2 blog posts. The final countdown, and the first post on starting my new career as a home decorator! It's one of my favorite aspects to the series, and I am really, REALLY looking forward to this!! Especially since there's an amiibo launching this Friday the 31st at Best Buy. Knowing how hot these things are right now, I'm going to start waiting at midnight, and I can't wait to have the newest Animal Crossing game Happy Home Designer to play while waiting!! People ask what I'm playing- it's Happy Home Designer! Or, if I'm pronouncing it properly, will be Happii Homu Dezainaa. Until tomorrow when the game is released in the world, enjoy the next to last countdown post!

Daily countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 3: Under 48 hours!!

We are now less than 48 hours away from the start of uploading pictures from Happy Home Designer here as I start my journey as a home designer, back working for Tom Nook, or as he's known in Japan tanukichi. I can't wait to start getting requests, and posting what I do, and why I do it. Hope everyone will look forward to it, it's only 41 hours away from me downloading the physical copy, and playing the game. Getting excited!!!

Daily countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 3

It's now Sunday (Monday in Japan), so we are only 3 days away from HHD being released to the world! From what all is known, furniture can be placed both inside and outside of houses, and can be moved similar to the Sims in style, but just because they're using a similar mechanic doesn't mean it's going to be exactly like the Sims. Simulation, it is, but this is a far, VERY far different game than the Sims!

I end this again trying to stay positive, and hold off buying any amiibo cards from scalpers. The NA version doesn't release until September, plenty of time for them to iron out all the kinks going on right now in Japan. Until tomorrow when we'll be only TWO days away from launch!!

Daily countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 2

Next entry in the daily blog, and I have decided, despite also having a physical copy ordered, and coming, to download a digital copy of the game so I can start playing it as early as Wednesday afternoon! I already pre-loaded the amount on the e-shop, so now it's just buying, and downloading the game. Thanks to the massive time difference between the US and Japan, that means Wednesday, July 29 I will have a digital copy of the game downloaded to my special edition tobidase LL- why not keep all the 3DS doubutsu no mori games on one system anyway, right? Won't have any amiibo cards to test, but it does mean I can start uploading pictures, and giving my daily adventures as a happy home designer- gee, I wonder how they came up with the name!

I know it's repeated, and with rumors swirling it's having it being cancelled, and hard to come by in Japan (thanks to scalpers) I still urge buyers in the US to avoid buying them now. Please get the US version 6-pack when it comes out. Their names will be in English instead of kana, and you'll get more cards a pack. These scalpers charging $15 or more a pack is just crazy, save your money, they're not like the figures, the cards will look DIFFERENT per region as their names differ per region. Please avoid scalpers, it'll make things much easier going forward. Thank you.

Daily countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina

So begins my daily blog for the next few weeks. It's been a while since I started a new game, let alone a game in Japanese! I've been reviewing the Genki and Busy People Japanese books, making sure I refresh myself with all the Japanese I studied the last near 2 years. I'm already thinking about how I'm going to do certain villagers- assuming of course they're early on, otherwise it may be several months before I finally can decorate their houses! This series is one of the best I've played, which is why after 13 years I still play it! I am now leaning toward owning two copies of the Japanese version, because it's going to be a long wait- even if it's just a few days, for the physical copy, and I have an e-shop account on my tobidase edition LL, why not add a second digital doubutsu no mori game to it? It's tempting, very, VERY tempting!!

Again, I still want to urge buyers to hold off buying amiibo cards from scalpers, they've inflated the prices way beyond the MSRP, and need to be avoided at all costs. These cards have very high chances of being in ample supply, no need to feed them anymore. Let's send a lesson to these buyers who buy dozens of these packs with the idea that they're going to make hundreds of dollars off them, by NOT buying them. Please, trade with people before you buy their increased prices- you'll even be able to buy more packs for the same price they're charging for one pack! Until tomorrow!

Countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 3

Coming out in just one week is Happi Homu Dezaina, the Japanese version of Happy Home Designer. I'm done with the weekly updates, and starting tomorrow until I return to weekly updates after receiving the game begins DAILY UPDATES!! That's right, I'm now going to do a daily blog! It's going to be interesting, as this week will be doing daily countdowns until the game is released! Thinking of a worst case scenario should my order be cancelled, or for some reason delayed, as a backup I will download the game to my LL, and begin playing on it daily. I really don't wish to play it digitally, but I WILL play this game, even if the physical copy won't come on time!

Now that we are only 7 days away, expect to see more amiibo card packs up for sale online. Once again, I urge fans to avoid paying large markups for what is expected to be plentiful quantities of packs. These scalpers need to be hit where it hurts, and that's by not paying their large markups! Please avoid buying them until they are released, you'll be able to buy MORE packs with the same amount you would have paid for the 3 random card packs! That's right, Japan only has packs of 3 while America gets packs of 6! 

Countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina 2

It's now July 16, exactly 2 weeks away from the Japanese release date of Happi Homu Dezaina!! The biweekly updates are now going to become weekly, so stay tuned for the next countdown update next week! Some new information has been revealed about the game, including furniture customization and other customization using play coins!! Another revelation is that the pictures taken can be uploaded directly to MiiVerse. There should be no shortages of pictures after this game is released given the vast amount of New Leaf photos circulating around the internet. Remember fans, scalpers would have you pay 5 times the MSRP for the amiibo cards, so please hold off buying any until their regional release from retailers, these packs have great chances to be in very high numbers, plus are totally random cards, you won't know what you're getting until you open it! I request to keep from feeding scalpers that you wait until they're released at your local retail chain before you resort to paying 5 times (or more) MSRP! It will allow you to buy MORE packs/cards for the same price than paying insane markups.

Ending with a rather somber note, it has come with great sadness to many Nintendo fans who recently heard and then passed along that company president and CEO Satoru Iwata has passed away. I was a fan of Iwata, especially with his bringing Nintendo back to a level not seen since the SNES days. Nintendo was finally relevant again under his lead, and making headlines not for how violent games were, not for how Nintendo's sales are lagging behind Sony and Microsoft, but for how simple, fun and exciting games were flying off shelves thanks to the hottest systems on the planet the Wii and DS. Both revolutionary in their designs, both set new records for Nintendo, both in the handheld arena and console arena. It is with many thanks that I give Iwata for foreseeing the idea that graphics aren't everything, gameplay and design can more than makeup for any lack of processing power. Sure, the 3DS and WiiU aren't super high selling game systems like their predecessors, but at least they're only slightly behind pace of what the GameCube and Game Boy Advance were at a time when there's even more competition than ever before by smart phones and tablets. Always the innovator, and a very smart man, Satoru Iwata will never be replaced. The biggest blow to Nintendo has come in the loss to the one who once again made video games in general synonymous with their name. Wii really did like to play Iwata, and your legacy will live on forever. Nintendo Directs will never again be the same, I felt like they really were directly to me. RIP Iwata-sama, you're leaving a great legacy behind.

Countdown to Happi Homu Dezaina

It is now July 2, 2015, and we are now 28 days from the launch of Animal Forest Happy Home Designer. Let's get those pre-orders in if you haven't already, and try the best you can to avoid scalpers trying to sell you those random 3-packs of amiibo cards, their MSRP is less than $3, but they're charging $15 or more a pack! Be wary, I used Play Asia, who's charging $6 a pack (still high, but better). It's only 3 packs I ordered just to get an even 10 since the game will come with one as well. That's it for the countdown today, stay tuned two weeks will be the next update, hopefully some more information will be leaked about the game between now and then!

doubutsu no mori happi homu dezaina aka Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer

Okay, so I've had some issues trying to get into the Animal Crossing blogging space, mainly since I've already got an established routine of the time I play, the way I play, and trying to introduce all that at the point I tried to begin a blog just didn't transpire. So, what I plan to do is create a brand new blog using the newest game in the series, Happy Home Designer. I bought a Japanese New 3DS just because I really, REALLY wanted those faceplates, and you know, I have all their other systems, and to keep up with Bob from youtube's "World of Nintendo" collection (okay, not really, but if he has them all, and considers himself a Nintendo collector, I should at least do the same since I consider myself to be one as well).

Let me begin by saying I have tobidase doubutsu no mori. I got it February, 2014, and at the time couldn't even read a single kana. Shortly after trying to play it, realizing how difficult it is not being able to read it, I found some Japanese classes at a local college, and enrolled in them. Over the course of studying more than a year, I've learned many words and phrases that I now see routinely in tobidase, and it's given me the confidence to try my hand at Japanese HHD. It debuts July 30 (29th in America due to the time difference), and I have it pre-bought from an Asian site (Play Asia), who is scheduled to ship it on/before July 30 JP. I should be receiving early August, or it may come in July. It's on the fastest possible shipping method, so hopefully it's sooner rather than later! ;)

I plan to blog about it when I get it! I will start out doing a daily blog. Then, after a couple weeks, cut it down to a weekly blog. Given how my town should be advanced by then, I'll do a biweekly blog. After that, assuming this was received the first week of August, we should be into late September, the time when everyone else will be able to get their own copy, so no need to continue blogging, but maybe I'll continue a monthly blog, just to keep everyone up on how the town's progressing.

The town will be called "てをやく" due to the fact the very first town I ran was in a language I had no idea how to read thus it was titled that, so to stay consistent, every Japanese one will be titled that from here on out. For those curious, here's a link to its meaning: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%A6%E3%82%92%E3%82%84%E3%81%8F#Japanese

I am not doing this to get a free copy from Nintendo- for that matter, I prefer physical to digital downloads as the "Mayor Program" gave the mayors digital copies; I already have the NA version reserved anyway, the JP version is simply just to show my town from the beginning, what I think of it, how I setup the houses/main street, how the amiibo cards worked for me, what I liked/disliked about them. People may not agree with my likes or dislikes, but they're the things I personally did/n't like.

Finally, I want to end this the way I'll do the blog, but in reverse, and countdown until release in Japan. It's a month away, so I won't update to the countdown for a couple weeks, then I'll begin doing a countdown weekly, and finally daily, so hopefully my copy arrives shortly after it's released, and I don't have to do too much of a post-countdown, a countUP if you will! :P