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This long anticipated day is finally here! 😀 But for many, this special day still hasn’t come yet — a big spoiler warning to everyone who does not have New Leaf!
Monday, June 10 (Day 1):
Aww, reading that, hearing the music, and seeing all my neighbors’ joyful faces… it was such a sweet, special moment, even though I was expecting it and have seen countless similar screenshots. 🙂
The start of my town is the 10th instead of the 9th because it took me a day of resetting to find a town I felt good about settling into:
It’s not anything extraordinary, but I’m happy with it! I was looking for triangle grass, apples, a river that isn’t too long and winding (but not too short and simple either), and a waterfall that meets the ocean at the bottom of town. I also had pretty strict requirements for building placements because I want one side of the river to have a city atmosphere (with the train station, town hall, and Re-Tail shop), and the other side of the river to have more of an earthy garden atmosphere (with the town tree plaza).
Also, I wasn’t really looking for specific town hall or train station designs, but I’m really glad I ended up with the blue coloring for both:
I was sooo nervous about picking my house location! >_< I'm pretty sure the mayor's house is permanent, so choose carefully! I ended up placing it in a nook formed by the river.
Mayor Estel is living in pretty shabby quarters right now 😛
After the tree-planting ceremony, Isabelle (my secretary) said that I had the rest of the day off to do whatever I pleased. So first I met my neighbors:
How sweet and supportive (and trusting of a complete newcomer to run the town 😛 ) they all are! It was also great meeting all the various workers and shop-owners, old and new: Pete and Pelly, Reese and Cyrus, Timmy and Tommy, the Ables, etc.
I was interested to find Saharah wandering about my town, but…
Aww.
Then I went around shaking trees and selling shells until I had enough money to buy a shovel and fishing rod, which of course opened up new ways of making money — and donating to Blathers!
This really took me by surprise! I was only trying to find the money rock. Does this mean that the rocks around town aren’t permanent? 😕
I can’t believe how quickly I was able to catch these. 😮 I caught the hammerhead, walked just a few steps up the beach, saw another finned fish, and it was the shark! I keep hearing how it’s easier to make money in New Leaf, and it does seem to be true in my experience so far.
The down payment for my house wasn’t bad at all, only 10,000 bells! I was expecting at least double that.
I love all the details on Main Street: the dirt path, stepping stones, bushes, and cute little flowerboxes.
And this view *_*
Donating to Blathers is so quick and easy now that you can give him multiple items! 😀 I might miss his long-winded responses a bit, though. Maybe he’ll still do that if you only give him one thing to identify/donate?
Found a delicious apple! I shook it down, but figured that I should probably wait until I get an axe to plant it, so that I can cut down a tree and bury the apple where the tree used to be — ensuring its growth.
In the evening I worked on finding homes for three more residents of Citàlune: Lyra, Violet, and Fern. It probably isn’t necessary to have them right now, but later on I bet I’ll need more pattern/storage space, and I think it’s best to go ahead and pick their house locations now, before more neighbors move in. I didn’t feel as nervous about picking their house locations because I think you can demolish non-mayor houses any time, though it will also remove the resident from town, I believe. I carefully chose all the house locations, so I might not ever have to do that, but I’m glad the option’s there.
This is Lyra, whose name and face I’m re-using from City Folk:
We can pretend that Lyra moved out of the abandoned Seahaven and into Citàlune.
Violet’s future house will be by the waterfall, I love this location. 🙂
And Fern’s is on a cliff overlooking the sea.
Here’s a map that includes everyone’s house locations and labels:
I wish I could have paid off all their down payments, but Nook’s Homes closes at 8 PM, that’s really early! >_< Oh well, guess I’ll have three tents around tomorrow.
Estel’s should be gone, though, I think. So a goodbye shot with the tent. ^_^
Part of the reason why I decided to name my town Citàlune and its mayor Estel is because both names allude to the night sky (lune—moon, stel—star), and I think nighttime is incredibly beautiful in New Leaf. 🙂 Can’t wait to see things like meteor showers and the aurora borealis in my town!
A Forest Life 
Oh my gosh! Congrats with the new town. ❤
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I love the town map. 😀 and your house location, It seems like you own the whole nook of the river to your self or something. xP Can't wait to see what patterns you put on your town. 😀
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Good luck with the new town and all!
Yay, glad you like it! Yeah, I like how large and empty the nook in the river where my house is… wonder if it’ll stay that way. xP (The fact that neighbors can move in wherever and ruin your plans is one thing that I’m not looking forward to, but oh well!) Thanks, good luck to you too with your town! 😀
Oh cool, Are you still here? If so, Wanna wi-fi? ^^ I got a lot things prepared already.. well.. half-prepared. 😛
Sure! Do you want me to bring apples? 😛
I got apples already though, but i’ll give you some mangoes and lychees if you want. 😀
Wow! Another person with New Leaf 😀 I really hope you have fun with it, your town already looks nice 🙂 I like how Lyra looks in New Leaf too, it was weird seeing a character from another game all tall with long legs though 😆
The names Citalune and Estel are really nice, I like (as you mentioned) the link, lune meaning moon and stel as star 🙂 I’m looking forward to some more posts from this game, I like it already 😛
Thanks Will! New Leaf seems great so far, I hope you’ll get it and enjoy it too! 🙂 Hehe, that’s true, Lyra’s grown a bit taller since living in Seahaven. 😆 I’m glad you like my town and character names! 😀
Congratulations!!!
Citàlune looks awesome! And ahhh you got the blue station+town hall by accident x3 That was a lot of conditions your town met, though! For the apples and grass I guess you have to actually set foot in the town first, before you can decide on it (did you have to do that a lot?). It feels like a well-balanced map and I like how unique each of your characters’ house positions are!
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Naww, your neighbours are so nice ^^ Haha, when I saw the tree-planting picture, I thought Vladimir was a girl and Robin was a boy 😆 How odd that you can get special visitors on your first day 😮 And you got the one visitor who can’t help you on your first day 😆
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Whoa nice catch, getting two sharks so quickly! 😯 We got the game in a good season xD Did you sell them or donate them? 😛 And the rock you broke is the only non-permanent rock in your town (it’s like a “fake” rock xP). All your other rocks are permanent and the extra gem rock will pop up in a random spot each day.
Thanks Teru! 😀 At first I was picking the best map that Rover showed me and going into town every time, but eventually I started only going into town if I really liked one of the maps and it fit all my requirements. (I figured that even if a map that didn’t meet my requirements had triangle grass and apples, I still wouldn’t really want to settle on it.) Sometimes you can see if a town has a certain grass shape or town fruit before exiting the train because it shows a view of the train driving across the tracks and into the train station.
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I was starting to get discouraged while resetting, wondering if I’d set too many conditions and if I’d better settle with something less (so that I wouldn’t be resetting for ages D:). And then wondering what would be the minimum requirements I would settle for… So I was very glad that this town turned up that has all my requirements, plus the blue train station and town hall! ^_^ It might not be 100% flawless, but I’m sure I’ll love it even more once I get to customizing it for my tastes and plans!
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I donated the first sharks, but it seems like they might be less rare in this game compared to Wild World, so I bet they’ll be a great source of money in the future! 😀 Thanks for clearing that up about the gem rock; I was hopeful for a bit that maybe the rocks weren’t permanent, so that if there was a rock in the way of a path, maybe eventually you could destroy it when finding a gem inside. xP Today I noticed a rock that I didn’t remember before, and it was indeed the gem rock, so I think I’m getting the hang of it now. 🙂
Oh, getting to know our rocks already, are we? xP
Good thing you persevered ^^ I remember feeling discouraged as I reset for my WW town for the houses. I just ended up jumping on the first town I came across that had that one house style I was after, so I ended up giving up on a couple requirements, but was also pretty lucky with others. Knowing you eventually got the town you wanted will give me a bit more patience too when I come to resetting for mine ^_^
Hey Amy! I’ve fallen in love with your town – it is GORGEOUS! I didn’t know villagers can move in wherever. I thought they still had them old signs. I’m thinking of putting my house by the waterfall that joins the river to the sea – I didn’t realise you could do that, and was pondering over choosing a house by the sea or a waterfall. I was gonna tell you about the rock but Teru got there first. Can you put the gems in your house, ’cause I seriously don’t think anyone’s tried that. It would work if you put a sapphire in an ice-themed room. Your neighbours are pretty cool too – I’ve heard stories about people always getting really bad neighbours when they start, and ruin the sentimental photo of you planting your tree. I noticed you picked the ‘cute eye’ face. I’m debating over that and the eyes Fern has. I was also thinking that when I get the game, it’s a possibility that we could Wi-Fi. If you have a sort of ‘I don’t really Wi-Fi with people I don’t personally know’ policy, that’s OK. But Wi-Fi doesn’t work on anything but my 3DS, and the only person I know who’s buying the game can’t use Wi-Fi. So, I guess it would be cool. 🙂
I love the way you got the blue train station and town hall! And you didn’t even get them on purpose, LOL. They’re the ones that I want, but I’m thinking what if I look at a town with all my ideal requirements, but the train station is green and the town hall yellow or something. But you can update them in time, at least.
Your villagers are pretty cool, as I said, but kinda random – a pink bear. Named Vladimir. But, yeah, good luck getting your dream neighbours!
Love the town! 😀
Thanks Serena, glad you like it so far! 😀
I thought I’d be glad that the signs were gone because I didn’t really like them in past games; I found them a bit of an eyesore on the landscape, and you’d have to avoid planting stuff nearby. But at least they gave an idea of where you could plan certain areas for landscaping! >_< I hope everything works out for my landscaping plans and that the villagers' houses aren't too much of a problem. If they are, I hope that being patient and letting the villagers with offending houses move out will solve this problem… It might turn out that my dream neighbors will simply be ones whose houses are cooperating with my plans! xP But I also hope that they'll be neighbors I like and have pretty house styles. I can dream 😛
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That should be a great house location! I would've put a house near the other waterfall, too, but my town tree is very close to that waterfall, so I can't do that… but on the other hand, I do like that my town tree is near the waterfall, it kind of enhances that special area. 🙂 Also, just a quick tip about how the house selection process works: It seems to be based on the "square" you're standing on as you talk to Nook. So if he says something's in the way (like a rock or cliff), you could just move one square away and see if it works. For Violet's house location, I got the house as close to the cliff/waterfall as I could without him saying anything was in the way.
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Yep, I put my gem on the floor of my tent for safekeeping before I found out I had access to storage space at the train station. It appears inside how it looks outside, like the icon in your inventory, and when you walk over it there's a text label. (like there is with stationary, fruit, etc.) It's still pretty, though, and that's a really good idea you have! 😀
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I picked what are often called the 'anime' eyes because of how they look sparkly, it's like they're starry eyes for Estel, whose name means star. 🙂 And that was my thinking as well about the town hall and train station colorings; if I'd found a town layout I liked with triangle grass and apples, but with not with my favorite train station and town hall designs, I would've picked the town anyway.
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Sure, I would love to WiFi! 😀 I don't go out of my way to WiFi with people I don't know on animalcrossingcommunity.com, but I'm very open to WiFing with people I've met through my blog, or other AC blogs. 🙂 Sorry this comment is so long. 😯
Woah, you replied so fast! That’s great though, I love it when that happens! 😀
I really get your point on the landscaping thing. I mean, it’s great not to have those annoying signs littering your town, but the fact that a house could plop down right next to yours is a bit of a wary point for me. I also loathe the idea of grass wearing away. I wondered if it did, hoping it didn’t, but Jeff from jvgs.net (Who got the game about four weeks early, as a gift from Nintendo) posted a picture lately about his town’s grass wearing away. Doggone, I wish they wouldn’t do that. 😦
THANK YOU for saying that about the square where you stand being your house spot. No websites said anything on this matter, and I wondered if it was where you were or Tom Nook or slightly to the right or left, so that was really helpful to me! 🙂
D’aww, thanks for saying I had a good idea about the gem in the ice room! I was also thinking about using the shoji wall and ACWW tatami floor would look amazing if you put gems all over the floor. 🙂 But I guess you’d be missing out on quite a bit of cash.;)
I’ve heard about an eye-contact salon in NL (Not sure how true this is, though…) so I was thinking of Fern’s eyes, then turn them green, like mine, but that’s if the place actually exists. I guess your method of town-perfection is pretty good, and you can always change the buildings anyway. 🙂
Great! I can’t wait to get the game, I just hope Wi-Fi works on my New Leaf, our Internet doesn’t work with Nintendo on old DS games, but I can connect to it on my 3DS, so fingers crossed! And we seem to be in competition about long comments/replies, so don’t worry about it! I love reading, and I’m so pleased you took the time to write such a long reply to me! 😀
LOL, I’ve just seen the European ad for New Leaf and I practically squealed in excitement! 😀
Yeah, I’m not crazy about the grasswear either, though I’ve heard that the rate of deterioration is not as fast as it was in City Folk, and that it grows back faster. So far I’ve been playing in my town as if there wasn’t any grasswear, pretty much walking all over town looking for fossils, weeds, new flowers, etc. It might come back to bite me later! 😐 But I hope I can figure out some good pathways for my town soon, I haven’t done that yet. I usually plan paths by using a gridded map, which I should probably make for my New Leaf town soon.
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I’ve heard that too! Hehe, and I was planning on giving Fern green eyes. 🙂 Can’t wait to customize my characters’ appearances more!
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If internet connection works for your 3DS, I’m pretty sure it should work for New Leaf as well! 😀 I look forward to seeing Ogygia! Ahh, I haven’t seen AC:NL commercials anywhere but Youtube. xP
Reading this post makes me want to go buy New Leaf! I wasn’t going to, but now I mightt…it’s just all so expensive and I know they’ll just come out with a newer version of the DS!
Aww, that would be great if you did! 🙂 But yeah, I understand how expensive it is! I don’t think there will be another new portable version of AC anytime soon (Wild World came out over 7 years ago!), but maybe for the Wii U? No idea! But I probably wouldn’t get that one…
Aah, I’d been waiting for your to start on your New Leaf town! I’m from Europe, so I’m not getting the game until tomorrow or even the day after, but I’m already planning the kind of town I want as well.
Thanks for making such elaborate posts, though! I only played Wild World before this, and there is so much more to customize in New Leaf, so I’m learning so much about what kind of things I should be looking for in my town. I’ve abouuut the same criteria for my town as you, but I tend to get impatient resetting a LOT, so I might end up settling for something less in the end. I don’t know. XD;
Citàlune looks absolutely gorgeous though, and I just adore the moon&stars-theme you’ve taken with it. Did you also make Citàlune a ‘late-night town’?
Thank you! I’ll be reading your second post now (:
Good luck with finding a town you like, I hope you get all the requirements you want! 😀 The good thing is there’s so much to customize in New Leaf, so a few things like bridge locations and the look of the town hall and train station can be changed later. And over time everyone’s towns will be so unique depending on the landscaping and town projects that will be built. ^_^
Aww, thank you! 🙂 I thought about going with the late-night town ordinance; it would be fitting for Citalune and nice to be able to go to the shops later at night, but I just now implemented the beautiful town ordinance today. Having no wilted flowers, few weeds, and no garbage in the rivers is just so tempting 😛 Thanks for commenting! 🙂
I can finally read Animal Crossing blogs again! I really love your neighbors! I have Jay too, he was always a favorite of mine. You did a great job of condensing a full day into just one post by the way, I couldn’t. I wanted to be sure I remembered every moment of my first day. 😀
I agree about the nightime too, it’s so much darker in New Leaf and the moonlight highlights the tip of their heads. I’m really enjoying the realism in the games graphics, even the grass looks detailed and light shines off it from a distance too! I’m still to make second characters but I’m pretty sure I’m settled on the path design I showed you a few weeks ago.
I guess I’ll move onto your next posts now! I can’t wait to WiFi with you. Be sure to add me as a best friend too so we can chat when we’re both online doing our own things in town. 😀
Oh, I don’t have Jay, I have a snooty named Robin. 😛 But I like Jay, too, he’s been around in various towns of mine (AC:GC and various AC:WW ones) lots of times!
Yeah, I did take a lot more pictures than I included here. Since it’s so easy now, I go a bit overboard with taking pictures sometimes, and it would be way too long of a post to include them all. xD Ahh, I’ll go read your post, can’t wait to see what your town’s like!
The sky, grass, and textural details are beautiful. I especially love how the color of the water changes with the time of day, like at sunset it turns purple or pink, reflecting the sky. I haven’t played Wild World much since starting New Leaf, it’ll be interesting to go back and compare with those old graphics. 😛
I look forward to WiFing too! 😀 In Wild World I never opened my gates much randomly because there was no point; it was highly unlikely that anyone would happen to see my gates open and come over. But I’ll try to open my gates more often in New Leaf since WiFi will be a lot more common in this game. I’m not sure how the best friends thing works yet, but I’ll be sure to add you to that when I figure it out. 🙂
Ah, I don’t know what made me think he was Jay. Well, they’re both birds so I guess I’m partly right… kinda… not at all.
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I filled my SD card with hundreds of pictures so I’m really using my blog as a way to unload them and remove them from my card. I agree, the ease of taking them really does make you want to save more of your memories.
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I love the water effects too, in fact I mentioned that in my post too! Especially in rivers, the waves are so detailed. 🙂 Hm, I may think about doing a comparison post between their graphics, it might be fun!
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I’m still in the habit of keeping closed too, City Folk was very much the same in terms of inactivity. I’ll look forward to visiting!
Did you have to reset a lot to get the town you wanted? I been resetting so much, but I feel like my standards are too high. I want circle grass, cherries/apples/peaches, blue train station and blue town hall, south facing waterfall, and a town tree that is not next to Re-Tail. I am getting discouraged but I don’t want to “settle” because then I’ll end up resetting anyway. It’s frustrating but I have to keep trying!
I did indeed! I reset for many hours over a few days before I got this town, and this town isn’t even 100% perfect, so I could’ve/should’ve maybe reset for longer…
Your standards don’t sound too high to hope for! Some people out there even reset for specific maps, and it sounds like you aren’t that picky. Your requirements seem pretty understandable and reasonable to me!
I know the feeling, it’s really discouraging to wonder if the right town will ever pop up… but it will eventually, so don’t give up 🙂 Good luck!
Sorry if I am spamming but this blog actually inspired my Animal Crossing blog. If you went on my blog and gave me some feedback I’d be very appreciative.