Before we get into my own journey with the update, I want to talk about the most advertised part of it: The DreamSnaps. When first announced, I was honestly pretty concerned– These types of things can so easily become a popularity contest and with the Touch of Magic tool, those who may struggle with it may be at a disadvantage.
They then announced that you could earn Moonstones just from participating and then I felt a little better about it because even if maybe you wouldn’t earn as much as if you won, at least it was an option that could work out for most people.
Except then it was announced that there would be exclusive furniture/items tied to it and that really sucks. It’s one thing if it’s another participation thing (like Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer where you could earn the special item no matter what), but it sounds like it’s a prize for winning, not participating.
I am glad that the Touch of Magic stuff won’t count even if that puts me in a bit of a bind because I literally only wear a Touch of Magic outfit. I guess I’ll have to use some of my other clothing for once. I would say the main concern now though is just with Scrooge’s shop inventory. It’s supposed to get a rebalance update, but I do think more people may be encouraged to time travel just for more items to use.
Anyway, I guess the short version is I wish the Dreamsnaps were just a “everyone who joins in gets something” and not “also there’s these exclusive prizes”.
With that aside, let’s go into the actual gameplay stuff. I haven’t really played much at all beyond checking Scrooge’s shop and maybe removing some night thorns if they’re in the way. Finding the Moonstone chests, even though I desperately need the Moonstones, is honestly just not very fun and so I’ve mostly given up on it.
I think in general, the Premium Shop has me pretty discouraged with the incredibly unbalanced prices and the increased price for Critters as well. I know a new Crocodile was shown during the trailer and I’m genuinely scared for how much that will be when it shows up.
Literally the only actual kind of new thing I’ve done is I started placing some of a border path:
I don’t know if I’ll do this everywhere yet (maybe just the Plaza)– I’m kind of torn. My favorite path’s border doesn’t look particularly nice, I hate that you have to remake all the paths as they require tons of materials (I was really hoping it’d just be a toggle per path), and path placement takes a long time without having to remove a bunch in the first place.
The border paths can also be super finnicky and you really need to do it all in one go to prevent them getting all messed up. The main boon for them is that they make corners look a lot nicer and that’s really the only reason I’m considering using them.
Anyway, the first thing I wanted to try and do with the update (after checking Scrooge’s shop) was to find and befriend Vanellope. I’m still not super confident on where I want to put her house. The beach is one option, obviously, because of the Volcano and stuff, but I feel like my Dazzle Beach is already pretty crowded.
The other option would be the forest where I could make some kind of little candy-themed area, but I don’t know if it really feels like it fits. When it comes down to it though, I just don’t think we have a good area for it, though, it’s not the first house I’ve felt that way about. It’s probably the one that I’ve felt most frustrated about though. I think most of the other ones I at least found somewhere that I settled on enough for it to feel like it worked, but nothing I can think of feels even somewhat acceptable here.
And I suppose Vanellope agrees with that assessment considering her very first friendship quest requires decorating around her house to make it look like a ‘candy biome’.
But before we get into that, let’s go back a little more to right before that. Vanellope’s introduction questline starts with Scrooge and essentially introduces the new DreamSnap update. I’m already really wishing I had so many different furniture items.
I honestly do kind of like it, but I probably won’t be keeping the room as is. I think there’s enough variety to make 2-3 Wreck-it Ralph rooms and I kind of want to wait until I unlock all the furniture to do so. I’m just not particularly great at working ‘in parts’ so not having everything available yet makes it a little hard to want to work on things.
Anyway, I did end up putting her house in the Forest after all simply because it’s kind of the most desolate. The beach really is a bit too busy and I do kind of like the candy theme in the forest– very Candy Land-esque.
Part of me wants to carve out more of an area to really make a Candy-esque part now or something, but I think I’ll still work on unlocking more things first. I had fun with the kart parts too (If you’re having trouble with them, I have the recipes here), though, was surprised you don’t really see the finished kart then. I guess the level 10 one is kind of close.
After getting the house set up, it was time for hobby sharing so after finishing the valley chores usual things like mining, farming, and fishing, you got to play hide and seek with Vanellope. She’s in the mine which I really should’ve just checked first, but I checked all the smaller areas first… Plus optional dialogue is fun.
Vanellope’s next quest involved finding a Sword to go have some “boss battles” which uh, not my favorite quest– I feel bad bothering characters and they are trying to be good… sort of. I did appreciate the color scheme though.
I kind of wish we could’ve done the battle of wits with Scar though. I like riddles.
That said, it was then time for Vanellope’s final friendship quest and honestly, probably my favorite one. You went around on a quest to gather keys to unlock the chest in her house. I didn’t expect Buzz Lightyear to be the Princess though.
With that done, I went and entered the first official DreamSnaps challenge. Once again, there’s a lot more I’d have liked to do, but oh well… I do wish I had a pink version of this dress with actual sleeves though…
Voting starts next week. I’m expecting to be last, honestly. Regardless, my playthrough will be up on Youtube soon, if not already if you want to see me play through the update and decorate as well!