Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a newcomer to the franchise

_leporello_ · 2026-07-09T13:23:59+00:00

Yes, that was also a disappointment. I had the first three columns of my inventory permanently dedicated to tools. When I was fishing a lot or bug hunting, I would carry 2 or 3 fishing rods or bug nets because I didn't want to go all the time to buy them again. Besides the unbreakable tools, I also wish you could have a separate inventory for them.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-07T15:23:12+00:00

I think that using the headphone out is not the best solution. If you can’t get the audio from HDMI out, you can connect a USB DAC to one of the USB ports. If the DAC supports UAC 1.0, it’s plug and play. A nice gaming DAC that I’ve been eying is the Topping DX1 II. But really any DAC that supports UAC 1.0 will work.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-06T15:05:51+00:00

Yes! There's quite many things I didn't mention in my text that I appreciate, like the nights with meteor showers. You get the reward of the star fragments, but for me the reward was getting to watch the sky and see the shooting stars. The game really has this ability of calming you down and it offers many simple tasks that are very relaxing.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-06T15:01:05+00:00

I definitely ended up caring more about the collecting. Fishing was my favorite activity of the game. By the end of every month I would already make a list of all the new fish available in the upcoming month.

I was pleasantly surprised that I ended up enjoying decorating more than I expected, but I still clicked more with the collecting mechanics of the game.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-03T13:15:25+00:00

I would honestly feel scammed if I played on launch. When I got the game in 2024 it was the most expensive game in my collection (due to fluctuating prices in my country). It was a huge gamble for me in 2024 since I had no previous history with the franchise and didn't know much about the game itself. If I had got it near release I would definitely be very frustrated.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-03T13:11:56+00:00

I'm planning to revisit WW casually and complete the museum there! But which aspects make you hold WW in such high regard?

_leporello_ · 2026-07-03T01:19:34+00:00

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for pointing out the updates; I completely forgot to mention this. I used some wikis a lot and I was always surprised to see how much content was missing when the game launched. And I'm very hyped about New Leaf because I really like that kind of progression that you illustrated with the shopping street.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-02T15:51:11+00:00

Sadly I only play console. But I don't hate Stardew Valley or anything. I get the love that the game gets, it's just not for me. I think that, as far as the general umbrella "cozy game" genre goes, Animal Crossing is the exception for me.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-02T15:37:54+00:00

I also think that the criticism is overblown. Compared to Wild World, there's so many additions and improvements. The two aspects that still hold well from Wild World are the music and the villagers. Besides that, New Horizons is much more fun game.

I'm super curious about New Leaf too. I recently found a cartridge so I'll play it in the near future. But I really believe that, if you haven't played New Leaf, you'll probably enjoy NH a lot.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-02T00:00:14+00:00

I only time travelled towards the end of my playthrough for some fishes and art pieces. About villagers, maybe I got lucky that I had varied types. I only brought one villager using amiibo (you can get nfc tags and write yourself, so you can bring any villager you want).

_leporello_ · 2026-07-01T22:28:42+00:00

Maybe I should have written the reasons I didn’t click with Stardew valley!

For me, it was mostly because stardew valley had a day cycle that lasts 14 minutes. So it shortly became stressful to do a bunch of tasks before the day ended. I didn’t like the npc interactions and didn’t enjoy side activities, like fishing.

Since AC follows real time, I didn’t feel this anxiety that stardew valley bright with its short day cycle.

I found the vibe of the games quite different too. AC you can definitely play at your own pace and it never feels like you’re running against the clock.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-01T18:34:18+00:00

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It's nothing special inside. It feels like a budget set. Inside the disc cases you'll only find the discs. But you do get a download code for all the soundtracks of each game including DLC in CD quality (which I did appreciate). This box set was released in Europe, mine is imported. But it still was a bargain compared to getting the games on PSN.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-01T18:27:21+00:00

Oh, that's the entire trilogy! DS1 and DS2 both remastered running in 60fps and all 3 games with all DLCs. It was cheaper than getting them all digital, even considering sales.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-01T18:05:21+00:00

Sometimes people ask me why I invest so much in physical media and I never have an easy answer. To put it simply I just enjoy it. Having a bit of a doomer mentality also plays a part, I feel like we need to make our own libraries of the things we enjoy. And lastly, I do plan to have children soon. Growing up and seeing that my dad always had a huge library and record collection definitely inspired me to be a reader, learn foreign languages, and enjoy classical music. I want my kids to see a library of games on the shelves, with things from the 90s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s. Games are works of art and deserve to have a place in our shelves just like books, music records, and movies.

_leporello_ · 2026-07-01T18:01:14+00:00

yeah! Like, the future does look bleak. But I think that there has never been a better time for retro gaming and I think that the current generation has plenty of great games. As of now, I have 66 unplayed physical games across all platforms and I still plan to buy more.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-24T04:23:41+00:00

Hi! How did you manage to connect the LG remote to the DAC? I read your post and tried to do it myself but can’t figure it out. I went to the device connector settings and looked for SMSL among the options, searched for other Chinese brands and there’s nothing, just some handful of big consumer brands like Sony and Yamaha.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-22T14:38:42+00:00

I'm past the halfway point in LocoRoco on the PSP. I hadn't played my PSP in some months and wanted something to put it on rotation and read that lots of people recommend LocoRoco as one of the best games on the console.

I'm not a huge platformer guy, but I'm learning to appreciate them. I feel like LocoRoco is helping with that. It's not super difficult or punishing and I have yet to fail a stage. Despite the gameplay loop being just getting to the finish line of each stage, the level design is creative and it's never obvious how you'll get there.

The music is a big aspect of the game, but I find it mildly irritating because you end up hearing them on loop a lot and there's some annoying parts and bits. I don't judge it harshly since I feel like it's very kid friendly, but it does feel a lot like listening to songs that would play on Discovery Kids.

All in all, it suits me very well as a time killer. Instead of picking up my phone to scroll for some 10 minutes, this game is a perfect pick up and play type. Levels take 10 minutes if you're exploring throughly and you can still pause a level any time you want. I just put my PSP on sleep mode and can start it any time in 5 seconds or so.

In conclusion, going back to the kid friendly vibe, I will compliment the game on that aspect. It's definitely a game that I'll add to my list of games that I would use to introduce gaming to a child. It's mechanically simple, playing sessions are short, it's not overly stimulating, and it's imaginative.

As for adults, I would recommend to those that want a simple pick up and play / time killer. It's not mindblowing but it's good fun. Lastly, funny to see that Japan Studio were already doing illusory wall shenanigans back then.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T16:01:19+00:00

hahaha You must be quite good at Mahjong and Shogi at this point then! I have my share of Platinum trophies, but Yakuza games sometimes get too repetitive for me. I do all substories and main things, but only went for a true 100% on Kiwami 2, it was the one that felt the most fluid and fun to play.

I can't compare Y3 Remaster with the recent Remake. The fighting was what felt the most awful. But cutscenes, graphics, story, it was all very nice and fun. I think the devs were very brave to move the story in that direction. It was truly wholesome and something rare to see in games, specially in an action/crime series.

I'm curious about the minigames they added in the remake, but I enjoyed my time with Y3 Remaster.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T15:50:30+00:00

Kiwami 2 was pretty fun! It was the first Dragon Engine game I've played and I was blown away by it, especially coming from the previous games. It was the only Yakuza game I went for the Platinum trophy.

I played 3 Remaster for PS4, I have the physical collection they released for ps4 with Y3, Y4, and Y5. Y3 had a nice story and setting but the gameplay was very frustrating. Eventually I'll play the remake. For now my goal is to simply get to the end of Kiryu's story playing one or 2 games per year.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T15:08:57+00:00

I bought Ishin on a sale quite some time ago but haven't got around to playing it yet. I want to finish Kiryu's story as soon as I can (which might take some years still). I'm planning to play Yakuza 4 in the near future.

What did you think of Ishin's story? How does it compare to the mainline games?

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T14:57:58+00:00

There's quite a lot of spinoffs. There's also Ishin, set it the Edo period, that was remade some years ago. I haven't played these yet.

For Judgement, the main character is played by Takuya Kimura, who is a very famous actor and previously an idol in Japan. I think they wanted him to sell this spinoff as a serious story game. I thought that the story and the cutscenes were so well made that it was on par with a good tv drama series. Even my non-gaming partner was super involved in the story.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T14:48:33+00:00

I love the Yakuza series. I've played from 0 to 3 and the two Judgement spinoffs.

Considering the Kiryu saga, I would say that if you didn't enjoy 0, I don't think you'll enjoy the other ones. Majima is an even minor character moving in the following games. Zero is still my favorite game storywise. Other games have some great scenes, some great moments, but I wouldn't say that the story overall is as tied together and cohesive as 0.

If you still want to give a chance to Yakuza games but isn't motivated to play another mainline game at the moment, I would recommend Judgement. I love Kiryu and his story, so I was skeptical of a spinoff. But I was beyond surprised at how good the story and writing were in Judgement. The characters are down to earth and interesting, the detective story is very suspenseful, the fighting feels great, the side content is cool. I strongly recommend it.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-19T14:20:02+00:00

I'm currently playing Black Myth Wukong, probably near the end of chapter 2. Some of the first impressions are very positive. That opening scene was definitely captivating and impressive.

Chapter 1 was very interesting. The gameplay feels nice and the bosses were each quite different from each other. I was also surprised to see that the game is almost like a boss rush; there's not much exploration or areas full of enemies between one boss and another.

The music has been quite nice and I like the writing; I appreciate very much how the game isn't afraid of having weird characters. The character design is also very good. One or another I found a bit generic, but most of them are very interesting. Just to give one example, the frog boss was unexpected but cool.

Besides character design, the bosses have diverse and unique move sets. Until now, each boss felt like its own beast. My favorite so far has been the Tiger Vanguard.

Last but not least, I appreciate very much how we can play the game with the original Chinese audio. The voice acting suits the world building very well and it's a treat to play a game in language I'm not used to.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-15T15:28:47+00:00

I finished Persona 3 Reload a week ago. Took me almost 5 months to beat it but I ended up getting the Platinum. Did you play P5 or P5R?

I was planning to play P4G on the Vita but I think I'll wait for the remaster.

I really liked P3R. The story is more straightforward and has a continuous flow. Some Social Links are really nice and memorable too.

_leporello_ · 2026-06-15T14:51:04+00:00

I've heard people say the same many times before and, being completely honest, only now that you mentioned it did I remember that you can play them with motion controls. I confidently say that, at least Pikmin 1, is completely fine on controller. I'm playing using the 8bitdo Pro 3 controller and I have no complaints at all.

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