It's time for the morning coffee and I can hear the doorbell

A courier dropped this off at my house earlier today. It's something that I have been waiting for for quite a long time. I mean, I ordered my copy of the game only a week ago, but I have been eyeing it since before the release (American release - 9th June). Wow, has it really been almost a month? 

This isn't my first contact with the Animal Crossing series. About three years ago, I think, I got my first console ever - a Nintendo DS. That's when I found out about Animal Crossing: Wild World and I was quite excited to give it a try. But while I really liked the idea of the game, I found myself bored with it fast. 

However, after a month or so of reading and watching videos I found myself wanting more still. So here it is. 

Everyone starts off pretty much the same in New Leaf. You arrive in your town, you get mistaken for the mayor, pick a place for your house and plant a tree. The only differences at this point are pretty much the chosen names, the town fruit you get and the town residents you end up with. 

Speaking of the names, I'd like to explain mine: the name of my character, Rain, is something I ended up calling my playable characters in the past, whenever there was an option to (Pokemon, for example). It's uncreative, I know, but I like rain and it kinda grew on me. 

The town name, Yuanyang, could mean two things - either a mandarin duck or a Hong-Kong beverage, a mix of milk tea and coffee. I basically wanted to give my town a coffee-related name (I love coffee) and that was the only thing that I thought sounded cool enough.

As for villagers, so far I share the town of Yuanyang with Rhonda the rhino, Static the squirrel, Egbert the chicken, Carmen the bunny and Coach the bull. Having not played the previous Animal Crossing games, I don't really have any favourites or anyone I wish would move into my town. I'm not too fond of rhinos and bulls as animals, though both Rhonda and Coach seem like nice enough... people? Coach calls me "ladybro", what's not to love? So far, my favourites are the cranky Static and the peppy Carmen. 

Fortunately in New Leaf it's much easier to pay off your first loan than in the previous games... Living in a tent is kinda cosy, though.

If I had a tent this big, I would actually like camping. 

Unfortunately you won't be able to unlock anything in the game if you don't upgrade to a house, so tomorrow  I'm gonna have to say bye bye to the tent!

I basically ended up going on a giant shopping spree. I bought almost everything Timmy (or was it Tommy?) and the Able Sisters had for sale. Including this... whatever the hell this is. Looks kinda like the Oculus Rift?

In the end, there isn't a whole lot to do on your first day in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. And yet I still spent a good 2.5 hours playing, collecting fruit, fishing, talking to villagers, planting fruit... I'd say this is a promising start.