What to consider when just starting?

[VelveteenCat]

So I finally ordered myself a copy of New Leaf. It will only arrive in a couple of days, but I'm excited While waiting, I'm realizing that I don't have much of a clue of what to expect. I watched a few beginnings of Let's Plays, but that didn't really give me a feel of the game and I'd rather not spoil to much for myself. What I know is that I want my first town to last forever (or as long as the game keeps me interested), so I want to make sure to not make any wrong decisions. So a few questions:
1. Do native fruit and flower matter? They don't in New Horizons, but it seems like people are somewhat particular about them in NL...? Why?
2. I know the conversation on the train matters and I already found a face guide. Is there anything else that seems inconsequential but ultimately determines important aspects of the game?
3. Is there anything to keep in mind when it comes to town maps?
4. Out of curiousity, how long does an average daily gaming session take?
Please only let me know the really important stuff; I'd like to go into the game as blind as possible, but as aware as necessary, if that makes sense

 

[LadyDestani]

1. Do native fruit and flower matter? They don't in New Horizons, but it seems like people are somewhat particular about them in NL...? Why? There's no such thing as native flowers in NL. You can get all the flowers within your own game through various means.

Native fruit does matter to a lot of people because NL has perfect fruit which are special variations of the 5 regular fruits (apple, peach, pear, cherry, and orange). Only perfect fruit based on your native fruit will grow in your town. If you plant non-native perfect fruit obtained from trading, it will grow regular fruit trees and not more perfect fruit.

When you start your NL town, there will be 1 perfect fruit on a random tree. Do not sell this! Plant it somewhere safe and you can grow perfect fruit trees.

2. I know the conversation on the train matters and I already found a face guide. Is there anything else that seems inconsequential but ultimately determines important aspects of the game? I can't think of much besides the questions on the train. There are also a series of questions that you'll be asked at Shampoodle's when you want to change your hair style, hair color, or eye color. You can find similar guides online to get your desired results, but these changes aren't permanent. I think you're limited to one visit per day, but if you don't like the outcome you can change it again later.

There are a few Public Works Projects that cannot be moved or taken down once they are built. Police station, cafe, and camp site are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Be sure you're happy with the location before you build them.

3. Is there anything to keep in mind when it comes to town maps? That's really all up to your preferences. Since there's no terraforming and buildings can't be moved in NL, make sure you like the layout of the Town Hall, Re-Tail (shop), and Town Plaza. You can also pay attention to the river, the beaches (one long beach or a divided beach), and placement of the existing villager homes if you think those things will matter to you. Also, remember that you can't move your own house once it's been placed so choose carefully.

4. Out of curiousity, how long does an average daily gaming session take? Depends on what you want to do. Bare minimum for me would only take 10-15 mins to do all the daily activities. Add in things like shopping and talking to villagers and I could spend 30-45 mins on the game. But you can always spend more time doing extra things too.

I hope that helps and that I didn't give you an unnecessary spoilers. I tried to limit the information to the basics. I hope you enjoy New Leaf!

 

[VelveteenCat]

1. Do native fruit and flower matter? They don't in New Horizons, but it seems like people are somewhat particular about them in NL...? Why? There's no such thing as native flowers in NL. You can get all the flowers within your own game through various means.

Native fruit does matter to a lot of people because NL has perfect fruit which are special variations of the 5 regular fruits (apple, peach, pear, cherry, and orange). Only perfect fruit based on your native fruit will grow in your town. If you plant non-native perfect fruit obtained from trading, it will grow regular fruit trees and not more perfect fruit.

When you start your NL town, there will be 1 perfect fruit on a random tree. Do not sell this! Plant it somewhere safe and you can grow perfect fruit trees.

2. I know the conversation on the train matters and I already found a face guide. Is there anything else that seems inconsequential but ultimately determines important aspects of the game? I can't think of much besides the questions on the train. There are also a series of questions that you'll be asked at Shampoodle's when you want to change your hair style, hair color, or eye color. You can find similar guides online to get your desired results, but these changes aren't permanent. I think you're limited to one visit per day, but if you don't like the outcome you can change it again later.

There are a few Public Works Projects that cannot be moved or taken down once they are built. Police station, cafe, and camp site are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. Be sure you're happy with the location before you build them.

3. Is there anything to keep in mind when it comes to town maps? That's really all up to your preferences. Since there's no terraforming and buildings can't be moved in NL, make sure you like the layout of the Town Hall, Re-Tail (shop), and Town Plaza. You can also pay attention to the river, the beaches (one long beach or a divided beach), and placement of the existing villager homes if you think those things will matter to you. Also, remember that you can't move your own house once it's been placed so choose carefully.

4. Out of curiousity, how long does an average daily gaming session take? Depends on what you want to do. Bare minimum for me would only take 10-15 mins to do all the daily activities. Add in things like shopping and talking to villagers and I could spend 30-45 mins on the game. But you can always spend more time doing extra things too.

I hope that helps and that I didn't give you an unnecessary spoilers. I tried to limit the information to the basics. I hope you enjoy New Leaf!

Thank you so much, this helps a lot!
Shampoodle sounds like something that could be fun to experiment with

One more question about villager houses: If a villager moves out and someone else moves in, will they reuse the old lot as they do in NH or do they just randomly pick a new spot?

 

[LadyDestani]

One more question about villager houses: If a villager moves out and someone else moves in, will they reuse the old lot as they do in NH or do they just randomly pick a new spot?

Villagers will move into completely random spots. You don't have much control over where they move, but if you have the Welcome Amiibo version or update you can block areas off by laying patterns on the ground. This is helpful to keep villagers from moving in front of your house, other buildings, bridges or ramps.

 

[VelveteenCat]

Villagers will move into completely random spots. You don't have much control over where they move, but if you have the Welcome Amiibo version or update you can block areas off by laying patterns on the ground. This is helpful to keep villagers from moving in front of your house, other buildings, bridges or ramps.

Thanks for answering again
I have read several times about people having years long grudges against villagers for moving into certain spaces, but I didnt think they could end up right in front of the player's house. I'm kind of looking forward to the possible chaos

 

[Halloqueen]

Something to consider which hasn't been covered as of yet is that, unlike New Horizons, the location of rocks is permanent and cannot be changed through ordinary, non-hacking means. One rock per day is destructible for the purposes of ore collection but otherwise, the main rocks in your town are indestructible and are going to permanently be wherever they're generated to be upon town creation. You'll want to be sure that their location doesn't negatively impact whatever plans you might have for the layout of your town.

 

[VelveteenCat]

Something to consider which hasn't been covered as of yet is that, unlike New Horizons, the location of rocks is permanent and cannot be changed through ordinary, non-hacking means. One rock per day is destructible for the purposes of ore collection but otherwise, the main rocks in your town are indestructible and are going to permanently be wherever they're generated to be upon town creation. You'll want to be sure that their location doesn't negatively impact whatever plans you might have for the layout of your town.

That's interesting information, I didn't think there would even be rocks in the game since there is no crafting. That definitely seems like something to keep in mind when finding the perfect little town. I am curious what the rocks are for in NL, but please don't tell me

 

[LadyDestani]

Thanks for answering again
I have read several times about people having years long grudges against villagers for moving into certain spaces, but I didnt think they could end up right in front of the player's house. I'm kind of looking forward to the possible chaos

Yep, Lopez moved in literally 3 steps from my front door. I still loved him but it was quite annoying.

 

[VelveteenCat]

Yep, Lopez moved in literally 3 steps from my front door. I still loved him but it was quite annoying.

I can imagine!
I think I picked a tight enough spot for my house to not have that happen, but who knows^^

The game arrived and I made my choices, now I hope that there won't be any regrets.
Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[Aleja]

Its possible to get beach areas with the town generator that are basically inaccessible . there will only be two ramps down to the beach and they arent necessarily gonna match the river cuts. I have a little strip of beach on the north west side that i cant reach without a wet suit. No jumping pole, no ladder. Now i actually like this and its not so big that ive ever had gulliver spawn there but keep it in mind.

 

[VelveteenCat]

Its possible to get beach areas with the town generator that are basically inaccessible . there will only be two ramps down to the beach and they arent necessarily gonna match the river cuts. I have a little strip of beach on the north west side that i cant reach without a wet suit. No jumping pole, no ladder. Now i actually like this and its not so big that ive ever had gulliver spawn there but keep it in mind.

Okay, I guess this is really good information for new players, because I actually happened to get a map like that I thought that the other beach would be somehow unlocked later on, but now I'm thinking, probably not.
Good to know that there are wet suits (haven't come across one of those yet), so that the beach will be accessible that way at least^^

 

[Hypno KK]

The only things I can think of adding right now:

- You can control where a villager moves using plot reset tricks, and if you install the WA update, you can more easily block off certain areas. There's a bunch of guides in this subforum.

- Villagers move out differently. In NH you can stop playing for a long time and nobody will move out because they wait until you're back to ask you about it. In NL, they can move even when you're not playing. The only way to prevent this is deny a villager's request to move out on the last day you're playing. If you stopped playing without doing that first, there are some guides on how to TT to safely play again without losing anyone.

- When a villager moves out, you can't move them back in immediately. You need to move a certain number of villagers (I don't remember how many) before that villager can move in again.

- Villagers from the regular campsite can't kick anyone out to move in, I think this might be different if you're using an amiibo with Harvey's RV campgrounds.

- There's no way, iirc, to move out your 10th villager. The only way to do this involves moving out someone else and possibly moving someone in again so that villager will no longer be considered your 10th.

 

[AWESOMEGAMER]

There is a way to fix this (sort of)
PWP and pastern tool
We do not have control over who moves in but where they move in
OH YES YES WE DO we can do that
This is the games building placement rule
Use the PWP to your advantage as villagers will not move in near any or near PWP
pattern- 3x3 no villager will move in nor over any pattern that is 3x3
x x x
x x x
x x x
That is your grid
Nor on top of any buses bamboo or rocks
But flowers trees tree stumps and special stumps and mushrooms they will move on top of :-<
I have combined patterns with bushes bamboo rocks rocks flowers and trees. I make paths (I learned in Minecraft they have videos

Villagers also will not move there houses towards the edge of anything. No cliffs no water.
You can force your villagers in to the boxes with the 3x3 to move into your boxes I do it all the time.
Happy Crossing Later Gamer
-Kai (^^)/