Aria Nook Violet
Senior Member
Inspired by the Buck appreciation threat I decided to create my own about Jay however I didn’t want to completely copy and paste @themysterybidder idea. I didn’t post this in the New Horizons thread because I want this to cover all different games of Animal Crossing with jay in it.
Jay is a character that has been in all games since the very beginning and it is only fair this thread does the same, a love for Jay in all games he’s been in.
Me and jay go way back so what better way to document all that in a thread while also discovering others appreciation of him in the process. This isn’t just my thread but is also yours.
if you want to share anything be it screenshots or videos of the games or even fan art (properly credited of course) feel free! I will be doing the same as I have time!
If you all don’t mind I will start. So the first time I got introduced to Animal crossing was in the beginning of the year of 2013 through youtube videos of New leaf playthrough. At this time I was a student that struggled with personal stuff so those years weren’t easy. I felt I wanted to try New Leaf as it seemed at the time the right game to play however the game was sold out and it was never in stock in my country until the amiibo festival game was released so for some years there was no way to get it where I’m from. The demand in my country at the time was almost none, so that's why. With no way to get New Leaf I decided I should first discover if the game was going to vibe with me so I got my hands on Wild world.
Yes! At the time I had seen a few youtube videos about New Leaf but only the train scene up until the player talks to isabella. I didn't want to see more because I didn’t want to spoil myself and knew nothing of Wild world. I didn’t even know what a life simulation game was (even though I had played sims before). I really didn’t know what to expect and that was the best decision I ever made as it made it feel more special. I want you all to have that in mind.
A side note! Starting with Wild world instead of the other older games was the best decision I ever made without even realizing at the time XD I did go right and forwards between the other games but chose Wild world because it was the simpler game and felt like the right one to start with.
So I will start with sharing my experience with Jay in Wild World since this was my first Animal Crossing game that led me to love Jay. It will be the most emotional one of the posts I will create just to let you know.
“Why is there only one guy? He must be feeling left out.”
His house was literally to the left of the map near the beach and isolated from the others. It reminded me of myself in a way and without going into details I had recently been “freed” from bullying at school, bullying started by girls so seeing Jay isolated like that it touched me a bit.
So he was the first one I talked to and I remember the first impression being he is kinda rude to me plus he is sporty and loud. Man, I’m trying to be nice sir! But I am never one to judge so I thought I would give him a chance because if I’m nice to him maybe he will start to open up. Maybe he was hurt and was lashing out XD lol. Of course that was not what a digital animal was thinking but I projected myself in Jay and it helped me at the time. Sincerely I don’t feel embarrassed about it. By projecting myself in Jay and pretending he was a bird with personality I could in a way interact with helped me think about other perspectives which unfortunately I had never had the chance to even think about because I had never had friends. How was a person without friends supposed to gain social experience? I still lack the social skills but I am in a much better place and in part it is thanks in part to these small experiences that helped me eventually get out of that dark place.
Anyway back to the game! Man was Jay a handful! We had an unlikely duo. Jay, a jock that loves to exercise all the time and then there was my character, a depressed girl that felt unmotivated to move or do anything. That didn’t stop Jay from demanding my character run in less than 10 minutes or 5 to get him something XD I laughed at it because in a way it felt like he knew lol. Like he was telling me “to just move!” or “just do it!”. He would threaten me!. If you don’t do this I’m going to get you! and I was like 0.0 omg! ok! ok! I will do it! just don’t hurt me! XD. I didn’t take it seriously of course and I actually found it funny. But maybe that is because I grew with spyro the dragon and that game’s humor sure is something else lol.
...Help me...
In Wild world each villager is assigned a hobby and Jay’s hobby was fossil collecting and him being a jock he was active about asking me to collect fossils in a time limit.
As you know a few fossils appear on the ground daily so I had limited choices when it came to get the exact fossils Jay wanted. It isn't like fish or bugs that I can keep catching in a day and eventually get it. Fossils don’t respawn and that was a problem because I would fail Jay requests at times since I didn’t have the specific fossil he wanted. I either failed or made Jay happy but even when I failed him the guy would not care. He kept constantly asking for my help, challenging me to catch fossils in a time limit and because of him I even failed to complete the museum.
OMG! It was a daily dilemma! I had two options! To either donate the fossil to the museum or just give it to Jay as he asked. It felt like a story with split paths even if it wasn’t one lol.
I remember I started to count which fossils I had given to Blathers and which I had given to jay to balance things out because I was favoring Jay each time and started to feel bad for the museum and Blathers lol xD
Slowly as I played daily I was getting out of bed to of course study just to please my parents but to also play wild world and spend that time doing something I wanted. Yeah it was in a video game but like I said it was a simple step for me to later get better. Jay was one of the reasons I decided to keep on living because he gave me a small purpose as I recovered in my own way.
I never realized why I felt so happy by helping Jay at the time but as I better understand myself I think now I have the answer. At the time I felt like a failure that no one could rely on. I still struggle with that till today and having Jay constantly challenge my character to find fossils even when she failed to do so well it felt like I could be relied on. That was something real life never provided to me and the game did and I’m glad it did. Anyway! The relationship between laria and jay was going great! They eventually became best buds and it was wholesome! It felt special just thinking about the fact that a friendship between two people doesn’t always need to be between two people with similar tastes (Jay being sporty vs Laria hating sports.)
Eventually it happened! The day my heart sank. Jay was in boxes and had said nothing! I got really worried as from the few things I knew about New Leaf was that once villagers were in boxes there was nothing I could do. I panicked as Jay had recently opened up to my character and was now leaving. I realized that even though the town had other characters in the game it would not be the same without him and I still wanted Jay to give me his picture since I had heard it was the ultimate friendship reward in game.
Moving out? It was even raining in game
I was stressed as I searched the internet for a way I could stop Jay from moving while I had the game on with Jay walking around in his now empty house. I discovered it was still possible to stop him (Thank god!). The way that works in wild world is to talk to them a bunch while they are in boxes until they hint at not being able to leave. I really didn’t really know what that was supposed to mean but I talked to Jay until he eventually mentioned losing the passport and not being able to leave plus thinking it was not the best idea and I left it at that.
Still he had never said that he was going to stay and so it was still uncertain and all I could do was just hope for the best and wait for the next day. Next day comes around and my heart is beating so fast. I’m really nervous and scared of opening the game and it even felt ridiculous at the time. I was so nervous for a virtual character but at the time animal crossing was my safe space outside of the harsh reality and Jay was my best friend in that space so without him it just felt empty you know.
I open up the game and jay’s house is still there but I still haven’t seen Jay so I go searching for him and he is walking outside. I felt so happy! He didn’t leave you guys! XD I talk to him a bunch and you know what also happens? Jay gives me his photo! Then I finally give in and start to cry hahaha!
I am more than aware that the game is a bunch of programming and 3D models but the sequence of events that had led to that moment, after all the rollercoaster of emotions to him finally giving me his photo, the ultimate gift of friendship. It felt like I was finally accepted and that I had gone through a relationship arc lol. So that moment hit me hard and I haven’t forgotten it to this day.
Do add to that the next day jay asks me to invite him to my character’s house so he could see the photo of him I displayed there. I cried again XD If felt like he was validating the relationship bro. My eyes hurt a lot on those days lol.
I like to head canon that Jay knew my character was feeling emotional from all that had happened and needed company and so invited himself to her house so he could just give emotional support and hug it out.
It felt like Laria and Jay, two characters that didn’t fit in, had finally found each other and bonded in a most unexpected way. I looked at it and that gave me hope to keep trying to achieve that place in real life in the future. It certainly helped a bit with the severe depression at the time.
Jay was exactly what I needed and thanks to this experience I was convinced to buy New Leaf when I could. But I will leave that for another day. This is getting big.
While New Leaf is a little less emotional I did spend two years in that game so I have more to talk about that. It will have more posts but I will properly separate them in time but yeah that is my experience playing Wild world with Jay.
A side note: I have a few more Wild world pics to share but I will add to it another day. That post won't have much text as the context is already explained here.
Jay is a character that has been in all games since the very beginning and it is only fair this thread does the same, a love for Jay in all games he’s been in.
Me and jay go way back so what better way to document all that in a thread while also discovering others appreciation of him in the process. This isn’t just my thread but is also yours.
if you want to share anything be it screenshots or videos of the games or even fan art (properly credited of course) feel free! I will be doing the same as I have time!
Post automatically merged:
If you all don’t mind I will start. So the first time I got introduced to Animal crossing was in the beginning of the year of 2013 through youtube videos of New leaf playthrough. At this time I was a student that struggled with personal stuff so those years weren’t easy. I felt I wanted to try New Leaf as it seemed at the time the right game to play however the game was sold out and it was never in stock in my country until the amiibo festival game was released so for some years there was no way to get it where I’m from. The demand in my country at the time was almost none, so that's why. With no way to get New Leaf I decided I should first discover if the game was going to vibe with me so I got my hands on Wild world.
Yes! At the time I had seen a few youtube videos about New Leaf but only the train scene up until the player talks to isabella. I didn't want to see more because I didn’t want to spoil myself and knew nothing of Wild world. I didn’t even know what a life simulation game was (even though I had played sims before). I really didn’t know what to expect and that was the best decision I ever made as it made it feel more special. I want you all to have that in mind.
A side note! Starting with Wild world instead of the other older games was the best decision I ever made without even realizing at the time XD I did go right and forwards between the other games but chose Wild world because it was the simpler game and felt like the right one to start with.
So I will start with sharing my experience with Jay in Wild World since this was my first Animal Crossing game that led me to love Jay. It will be the most emotional one of the posts I will create just to let you know.
The wild world experience
So I booted up the game and of course what is the point of this thread without mentioning Jay? Jay was the first jock villager I got on that save so he was my introduction to this series. In Wild world you always have 3 starting villagers and I remember two were girls villagers, Savannah and Eloise, and then one guy that was Jay. I remember my reaction was like:
“Why is there only one guy? He must be feeling left out.”
His house was literally to the left of the map near the beach and isolated from the others. It reminded me of myself in a way and without going into details I had recently been “freed” from bullying at school, bullying started by girls so seeing Jay isolated like that it touched me a bit.
So he was the first one I talked to and I remember the first impression being he is kinda rude to me plus he is sporty and loud. Man, I’m trying to be nice sir! But I am never one to judge so I thought I would give him a chance because if I’m nice to him maybe he will start to open up. Maybe he was hurt and was lashing out XD lol. Of course that was not what a digital animal was thinking but I projected myself in Jay and it helped me at the time. Sincerely I don’t feel embarrassed about it. By projecting myself in Jay and pretending he was a bird with personality I could in a way interact with helped me think about other perspectives which unfortunately I had never had the chance to even think about because I had never had friends. How was a person without friends supposed to gain social experience? I still lack the social skills but I am in a much better place and in part it is thanks in part to these small experiences that helped me eventually get out of that dark place.
Anyway back to the game! Man was Jay a handful! We had an unlikely duo. Jay, a jock that loves to exercise all the time and then there was my character, a depressed girl that felt unmotivated to move or do anything. That didn’t stop Jay from demanding my character run in less than 10 minutes or 5 to get him something XD I laughed at it because in a way it felt like he knew lol. Like he was telling me “to just move!” or “just do it!”. He would threaten me!. If you don’t do this I’m going to get you! and I was like 0.0 omg! ok! ok! I will do it! just don’t hurt me! XD. I didn’t take it seriously of course and I actually found it funny. But maybe that is because I grew with spyro the dragon and that game’s humor sure is something else lol.
...Help me...
As you know a few fossils appear on the ground daily so I had limited choices when it came to get the exact fossils Jay wanted. It isn't like fish or bugs that I can keep catching in a day and eventually get it. Fossils don’t respawn and that was a problem because I would fail Jay requests at times since I didn’t have the specific fossil he wanted. I either failed or made Jay happy but even when I failed him the guy would not care. He kept constantly asking for my help, challenging me to catch fossils in a time limit and because of him I even failed to complete the museum.
OMG! It was a daily dilemma! I had two options! To either donate the fossil to the museum or just give it to Jay as he asked. It felt like a story with split paths even if it wasn’t one lol.
I remember I started to count which fossils I had given to Blathers and which I had given to jay to balance things out because I was favoring Jay each time and started to feel bad for the museum and Blathers lol xD
Slowly as I played daily I was getting out of bed to of course study just to please my parents but to also play wild world and spend that time doing something I wanted. Yeah it was in a video game but like I said it was a simple step for me to later get better. Jay was one of the reasons I decided to keep on living because he gave me a small purpose as I recovered in my own way.
I never realized why I felt so happy by helping Jay at the time but as I better understand myself I think now I have the answer. At the time I felt like a failure that no one could rely on. I still struggle with that till today and having Jay constantly challenge my character to find fossils even when she failed to do so well it felt like I could be relied on. That was something real life never provided to me and the game did and I’m glad it did. Anyway! The relationship between laria and jay was going great! They eventually became best buds and it was wholesome! It felt special just thinking about the fact that a friendship between two people doesn’t always need to be between two people with similar tastes (Jay being sporty vs Laria hating sports.)
Eventually it happened! The day my heart sank. Jay was in boxes and had said nothing! I got really worried as from the few things I knew about New Leaf was that once villagers were in boxes there was nothing I could do. I panicked as Jay had recently opened up to my character and was now leaving. I realized that even though the town had other characters in the game it would not be the same without him and I still wanted Jay to give me his picture since I had heard it was the ultimate friendship reward in game.
Moving out? It was even raining in game
Still he had never said that he was going to stay and so it was still uncertain and all I could do was just hope for the best and wait for the next day. Next day comes around and my heart is beating so fast. I’m really nervous and scared of opening the game and it even felt ridiculous at the time. I was so nervous for a virtual character but at the time animal crossing was my safe space outside of the harsh reality and Jay was my best friend in that space so without him it just felt empty you know.
I open up the game and jay’s house is still there but I still haven’t seen Jay so I go searching for him and he is walking outside. I felt so happy! He didn’t leave you guys! XD I talk to him a bunch and you know what also happens? Jay gives me his photo! Then I finally give in and start to cry hahaha!
Do add to that the next day jay asks me to invite him to my character’s house so he could see the photo of him I displayed there. I cried again XD If felt like he was validating the relationship bro. My eyes hurt a lot on those days lol.
It felt like Laria and Jay, two characters that didn’t fit in, had finally found each other and bonded in a most unexpected way. I looked at it and that gave me hope to keep trying to achieve that place in real life in the future. It certainly helped a bit with the severe depression at the time.
Jay was exactly what I needed and thanks to this experience I was convinced to buy New Leaf when I could. But I will leave that for another day. This is getting big.
While New Leaf is a little less emotional I did spend two years in that game so I have more to talk about that. It will have more posts but I will properly separate them in time but yeah that is my experience playing Wild world with Jay.
A side note: I have a few more Wild world pics to share but I will add to it another day. That post won't have much text as the context is already explained here.
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He overworked my character man!
