I’ll be playing a lot more this week. As of midnight Tuesday night - all non essential businesses will close till April 8th.

Time for a drink. Oh wait I’m still at work.

I need rocks too. Rocks !!

@TriforceBun I'm so glad to see someone else say this! The phone feels so out-of-place here, it really clashes with the atmosphere and charm of the series. I have no idea how the devs didn't think this one through. If this is supposed to be an island escapist fantasy game, then why in the world does it feature the one item that most embodies the modern world from which one would be escaping? It makes no sense. They should have at least tried to Nintendo-fy it, such as making it something similar to the Game Boy Horror / Virtual Boo devices from Luigi's Mansion games.

@canonj I've recently been playing Stardew Valley with some friends, and it hasn't ever crashed on us. However, on occasion it will freeze up for a few seconds as it re-syncs players, which can be a problem if it happens during the combat sections as usually the enemies are still moving in the background during it, even though no movement is shown on the screen.

I'd take Stardew Valley's de-syncing over what happens in Animal Crossing. Twice, a fellow guest has left a town we were visiting by either losing connection or turning off the system. Both times, it caused me to lose all of the items I found in that town or gave to the host. So the host lost the rare fruit I had given her AND the rare bugs I had caught were deleted from existence. All because somebody disconnected without talking to the damn bird. And I had to pay for the privilege! Nintendoomed.

@Secret_Tunnel

I've heard that after you break rocks, they will respawn in new locations, 1 per day.

@Zero

My biggest source of iron has been, as you've said, getting the nook miles tickets. The two islands I've been to have had at least 3 or 4 rocks each, which drop ~4 iron per rock. That, plus hitting up your town's rocks on a daily basis should get you stocked up pretty well in a single day. And I feel like my estimates are probably a little low.

@Mop it up

I feel the same way. I wasn't a fan of the sheikah slate's design either, but this is probably worse. Something so high tech and interconnected clashes with the quaint, idyllic charm of the series. Like, Animal Crossing is supposed to be an escape to a simple, slow placed town. A bubble unto itself. When I think of smartphones, I think of the opposite. I like your idea of making it a souped up Game Boy instead. I've gotten used to it by now, but it definitely threw me off at first.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Just for my own sake, would you say you're getting more iron from just hitting the rocks vs. breaking them?

Whenever I've broken a rock, it has only dropped an item or two. Usually just clay or stone. When you hit a rock but don't break it, you can keep hitting it to get more resources. When they actually drop stuff, I've been able to get 8 items from a single rock.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Sounds good, thanks.

I mean, I don't mind the phone... it's not like Animal Crossing villages are super low tech or anything. I always have TVs, game systems, stereos, etc. in my place eventually. Why wouldn't I have a phone?!

Plus it helps explain how you can instantly contact your friends in other villages, which probably doesn't NEED an explanation, but it still explains it nonetheless.

There's some good smartphone humor in the game to go along with it as well.

I really love this game. It feels like the game every other Animal Crossing game has built up to. I was having a hard time thinking how they could realistically improve upon New Leaf. Wow, have they!

@Zero

Yeah, I don’t get the complaint. If anything I found it entirely in-character for Tom Nook to create his own line of smartphones that try to run your life.

@kriswright

Yeah, I'm not sure exactly how tongue-in-cheek "Nookmiles" is supposed to be, but it has cute animations so I'm cool with it.

Speaking of miles, I was super excited about being able to pay for my house and such with them, but... that's only at the beginning? Now it's mostly just Nook-brand junk you can redeem them for?

I wonder if more things will be added over time. I don't need Nook licensed gear! So I have mostly just been using them to get tickets to islands. Which is fun but eventually all islands will start to feel the same. It feels like such a tease to introduce this cool new mechanic that has a large purpose at first and then nah, that's only at the beginning, now it is mostly for Nook-branded junk?!

Mind you, it feels like as long as I'm going to earn bells I might as well do stuff that gets me miles too. But I hope they serve more of a purpose moving forward?!

@Zero

Yeah, hopefully. I'd like another inventory space upgrade too, please. I'll pay 100,000 Nook miles for that.

Aww, hell nah! And his name is Harvey?

@Hinph

I almost didn't get the joke. Yikes! But this Harvey is pretty chill. He was a cool addition in New Leaf. Er, groovy addition.

@Hinph

Haha!

@Zero

I'm pretty sure you get big "personal" upgrades with the Nook Miles too, like more pocket space (the most valuable upgrade of all)! Of course, you'll have to wait a bit for the tent to expand once you get the stuff you want.

I need to get better tools than these flimsy ones. How do I get better tools? Mine suck.

@GameDadGrant You have to buy the crafting kits. The kids sell them I think? Or with Nook miles? Somewhere.

Nook Miles gets you the upgraded recipes, so check the ATM thingy in Residential Services. It might take a day or two if the recipe isn't there yet though. Just add one iron nugget apiece to each flimsy tool!

I know it can't last forever but I love how every new day seems to bring new things so far.

Sometimes it is a little confusing though. Yesterday? Nook gave me some fence and told me that he would also give me the way to craft it.

But he didn't give me the way to craft it. So I figured he would eventually and started a project with the stuff he gave me. I'd keep talking to him to see when he would give me the crafting recipe but he never mentioned it. It wasn't in the shop either?!

Eventually I realized it was in the Nook Miles redemption place, but honestly I'm not sure if it was there right away or it came later. BUT... the TYPE he gave me WASN'T there, just other types of the same thing. So I have this half-finished project using this specific type of the thing he gave me, with no idea how to get more of that type?! I'll probably redo the project with one of the types I can craft now, since I can make an infinite amount of them (well, if I find the crafting materials) but my projects are big! I have to redo a lot now!

Damn you, Nook!!!