My thoughts on the news of Nintendo 3DS going offline soon.

It's, at best, two months until the online functionality of many DS games will become useless with the shutdown of online 3DS servers. 

Realistically, I know this is an inevitable consequence of time passing - old things are less profitable and tougher to maintain against new technologies, and it's only natural that Nintendo would take this step. But there's a part of me that yearns for the online functionality to never end! I'm 100% tinged with a deep nostalgic love for the 3DS (specifically ACNL online) and it probably just skews my view... maybe I look at the 3DS online functionality the same way a mother lovingly looks at her ugly baby but I just can't help it.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf was one of the best ways Nintendo ever implemented online play and it's appeal has been so great that many current ACNL players cite this online functionality as their reason for still playing! Tortimer Island and the mini-games were (and are) phenomenal; the appeal of playing these games with friends and earning medals to buy special items is seemingly timeless and it's just such a shame to know that soon this will become impossible. For many, including myself, the online functionality of the 3DS created core memories. I have countless memories of whole days spent online on ACNL, hoards of messages me and my online friends sent to each other and it's also where I discovered my love for online trading - in the years since that discovery I have traded with 500 people across three AC games. For a generation of players, the 3DS connected us and fostered deep bonds so this farewell is going to be bittersweet but I think somewhere deep down we all knew it was going to happen eventually. The warmth its given us in its lifetime will live on forever in a fuzzy ball of nostalgia waves, I'm sure.

A letter to the former me

You are a 4-foot-six void of wonky smiles and auburn hair. You are the source of my soul, your origins and unwinding meticulously organised and redacted into 1287 pages - just for me and my future eternal wonderment. In each page, gathered together for me by a man I will never meet, I learn about you and the secrets you keep from me. 

I am a child of chaos. I am disobedience in a bottle, pressurised by a decade of what the faxes call 'Neglect'. These little stories in their hundreds detail a shameful history - it reads as a tired and boring situation. But it was real for you, wasn't it? You are an amalgamation of emotions you were never taught about, the ugliest part of both the people who held you. You are the solution you created for unsolvable problems. I flick through your emotional biography and highlight my biggest surprises - how was six years supposed to prepare you for the challenges I read about? Its a fair question, but you didn't raise it. Every thirty pages tells me of the same dreadful upbringing, devoid of stability in every area bar the documentation of it. You are suffering in human form - or so I want to claim... but the truth is we dont know each other. I think I know you, but you exist as a sort of nothingness in the back of my mind, and Im satisfied that you couldn't have expected I would be the outcome of your misery. So... all I can do is make an educated guess.  

You are tan and boisterous. You like crabbing at the beach and were jealous when Sophie learned how to do a cartwheel but you couldn't. You're six years ahead in maths and recently started taking a separate class for top-performing students, you even became a big sister. Every description of you shows how happy you are despite your circumstances, you can only come across as relentlessly optimistic. I wonder if it was optimism or a case of just not having any other option but to march on. 

I have to admit that people urged me not to ask for these reports about you. It was a worry that you may bring unrest to the family again. But I wanted to understand why we ended up so far apart - who could I have been if we were still connected? Were you worthwhile? Questions I could never answer. You are 1,287 pages of bad luck and dubious role models. I try to reach in through the paper; I fill in the redacted names that I know myself and it brings me a little bit closer to you. It changes things... Its never enough, and Im glad Im not you, but I hope that somehow you know your misfortune is not forgotten. 

  

''TO PLYMOUTH CHILD SERVICES, 

  

Maria has been moved to Aunts house and is now classified as a Looked-After Child. A Child Protection Plan review has been requested. 

  

[Redacted], Social Worker'' 

132 Freckles - Short writing piece.

 I see you every night. We’re no more than five feet apart each time we meet, so close I could describe you freckle by freckle - but the freckles are becoming inconsistent. Each time you visit me I try to paint your picture in my mind so I’ll never forget it, but I am forgetting. I’m forgetting the flecks of green amongst the blue in your eyes and I’m loosing track of the exact shade of auburn to best describe your hair. I try to reach out across the layers of time, through the thick haze, grasping desperately for your hands. I blink, and your there - I blink again and you’re gone. The natural response is to spin around and check behind me, but all around I ever see are blues and greys that would never come from your vibrant soul. It’s a vast nothingness. I reach up in the hopes I may breach another layer, another memory. Maybe I could grab your feet and pull you down to my reality, but I never see your shoes either. What do you need for me to bring you to me again? Your laugh is in the distance, each time I chase it though I realise the pitch changes, the frequency is shifting as we become more distanced. I see you less and less these days. If only I had more time, I would count each freckle on your face once more. I would sweep you away off your feet, and we could slip away into another reality where I can still be beside you. I would brush you hair and tell you how every sunrise was made for your eyes. Every October you visit me. You hold my hands, you reassure me that this is better than the other option. I want to disagree but I don’t think I can. By the time you were 11 you were more tumour than human, it was only natural that this was the outcome. But you’re crossing a threshold where I fear I’ll lose you, even in my mind. This October was coming for many years but it’s now in my horizon and I can’t avoid it - October 26th is when you will have been dead longer than you were alive. It happens to all of us eventually, but when it comes to you I linger on that fact. I question how it’s real, every day I wake up and hope somehow that you simply decided to move on from me. That’s why I never hear from you. You just decided we weren’t meant to be in contact, and so you carried on with your life, achieving every dream you laid out in your youth. We both know better than that. I reach through again, hoping your hand will fall into mind, but that happens so rarely now that I’m forgetting the exact softness of your palms. 

You appear before me again. The haze is a warm yellow and pink and your innocent eyes lights up the nothingness. I see you and your 132 freckles, a gappy and childish smile taking over your face; a mature and worn grin appears on mine. I can once again articulate the softness of your hands - comparable to perfectly fluffy clouds, the scent of your Nivea Rose body cream lingers and I feel your heart beat slowly on my fingertips. But as soon as my hand touches your chest, you vanish as quick as you appeared. I shoot up out of bed, lucid and aware in half a second and pull out a notepad from under my bed.

‘’ 132 freckles ‘’ ... In her 11 years she had 132 freckles. 

Fashion Dreamer - A release date has finally been announced !

 

Well... boy am I happy for this one. It has been a long and unusually cold 7 months since Nintendo announced that Fashion Dreamer (Style Boutique 5 to those of us who have been waiting for this moment for the better part of a decade) would be coming to the Switch, but we are finally here and a release date has been shared! After almost a year of waiting I'm relieved to have a firm date and Im sure my partner is too - shout out to his tolerance of my monthly meltdown about how there still wasn't a shared release date for Fashion Dreamer. I'm sure the excitement is a sentiment held by many who enjoyed the original Syn Sofia games from the late 2000's and early 2010's but I do also hope the release of a new title will bring in a new generation of designers ready to begin their own fashion journey! I will undoubtedly be pre-ordering the game ready for release day, which will probably look like me staying curled up in bed for as long as I can manage while furiously crafting outfits and uploading them to Youtube. 

Until November 3rd there is yet more waiting but eager fans can take solace in knowing that our long wait is nearly over. 

FASHION DREAMER PRICE: $49.99 (US), $64.99 (CA), 6,578円 (JPN), £39.99 (UK)

MovieStarPlanet at unreasonable times

Stress is something that comes naturally to me these days, with all the upcoming exams and coursework. I'm finding it hard to not only keep up motivation but to keep up with the work itself and it's leaving me utterly overwhelmed. Not to worry though, as MovieStarPlanet always has my back.

In my 13 years of MSP I have reached many goals on many accounts, but in recent years I took on the challenge of making as much progress as possible on one single US Server account, and recently there has been a lot of progress for me to be happy about. I understand it may seem ridiculous that Im 1. playing MSP at 20 years old and 2. I'm playing MSP during exam season, but when there are busy times filled with real-world troubles it's important to find time for things that will make you feel better - even if they're silly little online games.

The first cool thing I did recently was hit level 40 - and then 41 30 seconds later. I can't believe it. This is the highest level I've ever been and it's simply my 9-year-old self's dream. I am so happy to have such a developed account and Im even more thrilled to think about how I got there with hard work and dedication. Another wonderful thing about my level-ups is the fact that I am now already level 41 (and making my way to 42) which is just making me think level 50 - a lifetime goal - is not just possible but reasonable. As amazing as level 40/41 is, the prizes were still awful as always.

Of course, there is the question of how exactly I jumped 2 levels in under 1 minute and how difficult it was... to which the answer is my piggy bank. My beloved piggy bank, who had not been cracked open in over 3 years, finally met his maker so that I could meet level 41. I was umming and arring over whether it would be a good idea to open it, given the fact that it had been 1054 days of collecting all my diamonds, coins and fame but ultimately I decided if not now.. when? I couldn't sit on it forever. If I did then those rewards would probably end up wasted because I'd never open it until the game came to it's end. Now that I've done it I feel pretty chill and happy about it! I'm up to 4000 diamonds, plus the aforementioned 2 levels, and it feels pretty damn good.

Honourable Progress Mentions:

I hit 1 Million starcoins earned. That was another first-time milestone that also made me feel very cool and happy, but I will admit it doesn't necessarily feel like I've had 1 million coins... I've only got 150K now so where did they all go? Am I really that big of a shop-a-holic? Oh well...

There are almost 10,000 autographs in my fame mag (note: my fame mag has also not been opened in 3 years). This is less of an objective milestone and more of a 'hehe look at what I can do' thing. It just makes me feel good! 

Ultimately, none of this has anything to do with my exams or grades or feelings or whatever, but what it IS is a nice break when things are getting really tough to cope with. I hope that wherever you are you are not under too much stress and if your exams are soon then I wish you good luck!

Some art and an update (:

Hi all !! I hope you've been having a good few weeks. I wanted to take a little time out of my day to share with you this art I had commissioned on the Bell Tree Forums. Full credit to the artist is available from the link to my toyhou.se profile at the bottom of both my blogs (I think?? It may be elsewhere).

I haven't been posting much for a whole mix of reasons, but the major one is I have been super busy with law work trying to make sure I can attend university this September and its completely wiped me out. The other free time Ive had has been used to be with me and my friends, but worry not hypothetical blog reader!!! For I have not given up on blogging and will return reliably probably some time in June. 

The only reason I'd come out of hiding is for Animal Crossing or the new Fashion Dreamer game Ive  been waiting for since the Nintendo Direct in February - but there's still no firm date for the latter.

Anyways Im gonna go, I hope I see you all soon.

Monday in Bermuda: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord.

This is a snip-it from: Monday in Bermuda: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord. Please consider reading the full post and letting me know your thoughts.

 Tom Nook is the business-man turned bellionare landlord who is subject to the brunt of hate from a select group in the Animal Crossing community - but a lot of the hate seems to come from misjudgement of his character rather than genuine negative qualities. These concerns often stem from his character in Gamecube, who was known for non-optional house upgades with ever increasing loans, leaving the player in a seemly bottomless pit of debt, however the case for Tom Nook being more of a victim of angry players than an actually bad man is strong when considering the information Nintendo has slowly shared with us over the past 21 years. Therefore I present today: In defence of Tom Nook: The only good landlord.

It is made abundantly clear that in Animal Crossing houses are just as expensive and as big of a commitment as in the real world, and yet despite this Tom Nook is willing to give the player an entire house - free of charge if the player is never interested in paying off the loan given to them. There is no interest on the payments and profit margins don't appear to concern Nook. While it's true that in older games there was the expectation for chores to be completed for him, planting flowers and delivering carpets for a 20K bell house is still a fantastic opportunity for the player and these tasks can be easily completed in around 20 minutes. 

If the player is not satisfied with their house - since it is a fact that if you do choose to never pay your loans your house will remain a measley 4x4 room - then New Horizons might be the perfect solution because Tom Nook provides the player an entire island, leaving it up to the player to decide how the island will look, feel and operate. The island belongs to Tom Nook (Specifically Nook Inc.) and so, reasonably, if he wanted to take full control and manage the beautiful getaway himself he could; and yet he is happy for you to take control and for him to take a backseat simply excecuting whatever land development wishes you come to him with. It could be argued that maybe he lets you design it because he wouldn't be sure on how to do it himself but even then Nook could still retain a lot more control than he does.

Some may argue that Tom Nook's major drawback is not the loans but instead the view that he is harsh and tough - too harsh and tough. This can be seen in older games where he was abrasive and sometimes outrightly rude, at times questioning the player for slacking or accusing them of making chit-chat when they're supposed to be running his errands. However it is not the case that Nook is just uncessarily rude because his blunt and sometimes seemingly unfair attitude towards the player comes from a place of concern and care. Nook is a life long business man and some of his experiences have left him with a hardened view of the world that the player should be mindful of when considering his personality. It is known when Tom Nook entered the business world he faced hardship - leaving his home town to go to the city with plans of being a successful business man and ultimately being unable to see his dream become reality, in part due to negative experiences with Redd. Tom Nook says himself that he is ok with being viewed as intimidating because it may enourage people to pay back their loans and I therefore believe that criticising him for being 'too tough' is unfair, given that the rough exterior comes not only from a place of care but from real world experience. For Nook, unprofessional behaviour is something that has negatively impacted his life before, so its not unreasonable that he would have a low tolerance for such behaviour - even Nintendo officials said that Tom Nook wanted to teach the player about responsibility as well as the fact that if the player doesn't repay their loans he wont be mad or make an issue of it.

... The rest of this post is linked above (: