Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Acorn Festival in Animal Crossing

Although I have been immersed in Island of Happiness, I continue to receive emails regularly about other games I have covered in the past. In fact, 'Sims2 Castaway' and 'Animal Crossing Wild World' generate emails frequently. 'Chronicles of Narnia' when it finally was released in the U.K. generated a flurry of emails that only now is beginning to slow down a little. As games are released in different parts of the world, emails arrive from those quarters, forcing me to try to remember details about games that I have not had time to play myself for quite some time.

In any event, I am writing about Animal Crossing Wild World today because the question asked by the player inspires reflection of a philosophical nature. In fact, Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing have much in common philosophically. Although each creates a fantasy world, that world has very real rules of conduct and gameplay is designed to force players to recognise the value and power of Nature.

The player wrote to me as follows: 'I found your email on a page on the internet, and it said to contact you if we had any questions, and I can't find any acorns during the Acorn Festival week. Other residents in my town said you find them all over town but I haven't found 1, I just got mailed 1 by my mom! Please email back!! Thank you (Y)'

It had been a very long time since I visited my own Animal Crossing village. I knew that time travel could disrupt the appearance of acorns or any other item produced by Nature. In fact, time travel in Animal Crossing can cause great proliferation of weeds in your village...

In fact, after I queried her about time travel, the player referred to my General Guide and found the answer to her problem there.

Here it is:
'I found out why it didn't work: in my town I cut all the trees down and have 6 fruit trees around Tom Nooks shop, and on your page it says that you can only find them under the fruitless trees...'

I am writing about this issue here because it is not uncommon for players to be a little greedy where fruit trees are concerned. They cut down all the trees that display no fruit and plant fruit trees in their place.

When the Acorn Festival arrives, there are NO acorns in their village because the trees that did not produce fruits in fact are oak trees!

Every plant and every item found in Nature has a purpose. Harvest Moon reminds players of this by using the common weed in special Recipes. In fact, even errors in cooking have some use. 'Elli's Leaves' are made from Failed Dishes. The common Stone is used in a Recipe for Sweet Potatoes in many Harvest Moon games as well.

Do not be too quick to chop down a tree in order to substitute one that produces exotic fruit... Do not be too quick to dispose of all Weeds. There usually is a purpose for every item under the Sun.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, I remember this festival. This is the one that Tortimer put on a giant acorn over his head and gained an alter ego - begging everyone to find him the delicious, hardened fruits of the trees in exchange for his collection of oddly-shaped mushrooms. My village enjoyed this festivity quite well, until the day a certain chipmunk moved in ... but that is all in the past.

Oh, and yeah ... you really shouldn't cut down all your trees ... as they are the only way to obtain some of the rarest insects of all time, like the elusive spider. That one took quite some time to hunt down.

Freyashawk said...

That's right, Mars. You make me long to return to my village! I remember venturing forth early in the morning with my net to catch an elusive insect ... or hoping to see a glimpse of an alien craft and find the spacecraft crashed nearby.

I made a mess of my village though. I am a terrible packrat and I buried treasures everywhere, after filling all the storage cabinets as well as attaching parcels to all my old letters. Four people in my house and still not enough storage space. (I had all sorts of rare fish and insects in their little aquariums on the floor during the week. When the time for the weekly assessment approached, I'd have to tidy up quickly, cramming them into my pockets instead.) I did enjoy that game though. I wonder if the residents would lynch me on sight now for my long neglect.

Anonymous said...

Gulliver ... and his cheap UFO ... I never shot him down once. Even though I had the golden slingshot, the crafty pelican always managed to catch me at the worst times - wether I was running from bees, fishing, going into buildings, or just too down south at the beach when he showed up.

Thus my Nintendo shrine was never completed because I never got a Metroid, and on my last day I swore revenge against him by turning my village into a fortress with gun emplacements and anti-air missile launchers everywhere. (putting down art designs helps the imagination go far) I also encouraged my neighbors to shoot him down at sight via letters before I took the bus and left my village.

But that too is in the past now.

Anyway, I'm not sure if you know or not ... but you will have the option to hold on to all that stuff in the next game. You can transfer characters, furniture, and even your museum data over to City Folk. So ... you may want to consider doing that if you have rare items you cherish. Personally, I usually prefer starting from scratch ... , especially with a game like AC, although, had I received that Metroid (and not sold my game) I would've probably transferred that ... as I would not like to go through such tedious work again ...

Freyashawk said...

Oh wow, Mars, no I didn't realise that you could transfer your data to City Folk! How marvelous.

As for Gulliver, well, you must not have read my HUGE Animal Crossing Wild World Guide. I found a way to shoot him down every time. What I would do is turn the game on at 6.00 a.m. promptly and wait. If no regular visitor (such as the insurance agent or Joan) was on the calendar for that day, I knew it could be a Gulliver day. I then waited in the centre of the top of the screen. He would appear invariably within about 40 minutes of turning on the game one day each week, if I recall correctly. My Guide gives all sorts of details about this. I am ashamed to say it but you seem to have a better memory of the game than I at this point!

Your description of your anti-aircraft missiles made me laugh...

I do have a Metroid by the way, stashed somewhere in my house with all my other loot.

I intend to write Guides for the upcoming Animal Crossing games, although they will NOT be official guides...

Harvest Moon always comes first with me, but I have a very great fondness for Animal Crossing.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that's what I get for not using a REAL guide ... and just the lame Nintendo one. Official or not, I find guides, like yours, infinitely more informative concerning such games. The only reason I bought the Nintendo one was for quick reference on all the bugs, fish, furniture, etc.

And I feel the same way about Harvest Moon ... especially since I just picked up ToT today and now live ... somewhat comfortably on the beach property which is the coolest looking IMO. But I won't stray off the topic and bore you with that.

Oh, and kudos on the Metroid - that must've taken quite awhile to get it.

Freyashawk said...

Mars, to be honest, I expect there will be a very errors in the 'official' ToT guide that I wrote, based on some differences between the version of the game that I played and the ultimate retail version. There may be other errors as well, because I couldn't 'update' the guide after a certain point. All I can do now is offer players the chance to ask questions by email, as always!