Merry Christmas!

For those of you who are peeking out the window and listening carefully for the characteristic pitter-patter of reindeer hooves on the roof, we here at Picostyle wish you all the best for Christmas. Hope your holidays are filled with all the people that you love most ... because that's what truly matters.

Pico vs. Pigg: Christmas Edition

Pigg and Pico. It's difficult to not talk about the two in the same sentence at times, but with good reason. Both are run by the same company, and in the end Pico owes a whole lot of its current success to its older brother. Or sister. I could never tell when looking at this thing.

That's not to say Pico doesn't have it's own share of credibility, though. It was the first to feature room additions, room expansions, a clothing preview feature, the New York areas, and so on. While there's a lot in common, there's also quite a difference between them. I've always found this interesting, so I wanted to do an update regarding a handful of similarities and differences. What better way to start than comparing the way each one has celebrated Christmas? And winter in general, for that matter. This is going to be a lengthy post, so if you are interested at all please click "read more" to, well... read more! Or you can just look at the pictures. I wont yell at you for it.

First, some very quick back-story: Pigg has been open for nearly 2 years now. Pico is closing in on its 1st year in just a few months. Since Pigg was open for a longer period of time, I was personally able to celebrate 2 years of a virtual Ameba Christmas. In this post, I wont be comparing every single little detail. Instead, I plan on comparing a handful of the items and areas in each game. I'll break them down into different categories and sections, as such:

My Christmas Items (House Decor):



This is the image I will use as a starter for my comparisons. Why? Well, because both Pico and Pigg have some of the same items seen there. The designs for these items are obviously identical in each game, so I'll just be comparing the cost (or whichever way the items were attained).

Christmas Quest

UPDATES:

• Added information regarding a way to always get into the Secret Forest.
• Fixed some details about the main quest.
• Daily Gacha has a new weekly item!
• Making a .gif out of the seizure-inducing action when you find a black mushroom, just to preserve its greatness.
• Added a picture of the final gift for completing the main quest.

Hot off the heels of the Pirate Quest comes an entirely new Pico adventure, and just in time for Christmas. If you weren't a huge fan of the previous quest, there's a chance you might not be so enthusiastic about this one either. I think you should still try it out, though, because some of the items you win along the way are nice. In my opinion, at least.

Since the only other update today involved the Daily Gacha being stocked with a new weekly item (make sure you get the Candy Cane Stick with Christmas Holly Leaves before they're all eaten), I decided to make a quick and simple guide... just in case anyone is having some issues with certain aspects of the quest. Be warned, though. THAR BE SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT! And no, not the "Sleepy Elijah is Luke's father" or "it turns out Chloe was dead the whole time!" type of spoilers, but spoilers regarding secret areas and specific items you can win. Let's begin!

Prologue:



Start by clicking on this letter, which should be laying around near the entrance of your room. A screen will pop up and briefly explain what this new quest is all about.



After that, head on over to the Pet Farm area.



To begin your quest, you will have to click on Shepherd. Who is that? He's the one who looks like... well, we'll save that for later.

I'm Dreaming of a Pico Christmas

Well, we are now a mere 15 days away from Christmas, and Pico's celebration is still going strong. Today, they've released a couple more updates to brighten up your holiday. Or darken it, depending on how you feel about certain things *cough*Premium Gacha*cough*. Oh, my apologies. I still have that terrible cold from last week.



The 2nd weekly item has been added to the Daily Christmas Gacha. What's the new item, you ask? Why, it's none other than the "Can't Wait to See What's Inside, Christmas Sock." Remember when I recently made a comment about them running out of names for their items? This certainly doesn't do much to prove me otherwise! It's extremely straightforward, though, so I'll give them that. If you want this item, make sure you play now before they are all taken away and hung by the chimney. Yes, groan all you like, but I had to say that.



What's that? Another Premium Gacha, you say?! No, it can't be! Sarcasm aside, I think many people saw this coming from a mile away. The theme for the new Premium Gacha is "White Christmas," which you can find in NYC Downtown. Initially, I wasn't impressed with what I saw from the previews.



But, after viewing some of the items up close in various rooms, I noticed that there are quite a few nice decorations and clothes in it. If you happen to have extra gold weighing your pockets down, I don't think it would hurt to at least spin once or twice. And, speaking of NYC Downtown, the Broadway Boutique was stocked with 3 new room decorations.





By the way, if your family or friends ask why you didn't buy them any presents this year, be sure to tell them "Pico took all my money away! It's their fault! I had to spin the Premium Gachas! " They'll understand... or they'll look at you like you're crazy and ask "Who's a Pico? And what's a Gacha?!"

The next couple 'updates' weren't blatantly mentioned in any of Pico's blog posts, but rather they are subtle things I happened to notice while playing today. First of all, if you've been ringing, you might've seen that the bell has now been decorated:



We all know how tedious ringing can be, so at least this will keep it interesting for a while. Right?

...right?

The other update involves the entire game screen. Remember how you had to constantly click on those little black arrows towards the lower right corner of the screen to pan around? Well, that's old news. Now you can simply click anywhere within the game screen, drag it wherever you please and let go. I think this feature is particularly helpful if you are zoomed in and/or decorating your house.

How do you feel about today's updates? Did you spin the White Christmas Premium Gacha yet? Also, did you notice those last two additions (decorated ringing bell and screen-drag feature) before reading this post?

"Come sit on ol' Santy's lap little boy...."

Ooooo!!! All of these Christmas outfits have got me so excited! No matter what you're wearing, you're sure to look absolutely adorable. We've got Santa suits, reindeer and lamb themed outfits, Christmas sweaters... it's just too much to handle!

No really Ameba, stop with the premium gachas already XD

See all of those cute little presents under around my tree? Those aren't just for decoration, honey! They're gonna open on 12/24. Yay! I can't wait to see what comes out ^_^ (Don't spoil it, Pinkerton :P)

Peggy has been such a good girl this year, so she got to sit on Santa's lap and ask for some presents. And with the help of Santa's Elf Lovely Weather, we were able to send her wishes to the North Pole.

What did you ask Santa for this year? What is on your wish list?

This year I really want a Hello Kitty room humidifier. LOL! DON'T LAUGH AT ME!!!

Lots of love,

Ayuhime xoxoxo

Simply Having a Wonderful Pico Time!

Well, it's that time of year again. Lights are going up, stockings are being hung, snow is starting to fall and people are tackling each other in stores over anything that is on sale. Yes, I'm talking about Christmas! The holiday spirit is nearly unavoidable at this point, and now it has even invaded Pico. To be honest, the update came as a complete surprise to me. This was the first week in a long time where they didn't notify us of any maintenance, so I did not expect much when logging in today. But those little Pico elves over at Ameba must've been up all night decorating and restocking the shops...



This was the very first sight I was greeted by today. Lala, Clover and Art decided to show off their new Christmas garb, as well as some fancy dance moves. I, for one, think they might've drank out of the eggnog bowl one too many times. Once I saw this, though, I knew I was in for a treat.

Once again, the Daily Gacha has been completely restocked with new Christmas items. And, similar to the past two holidays, there are "rare" items that will change every week. This week's item is the Special Attention Seeker’s Christmas Hat:



Wait a minute, let's take a look at that name for a moment. Special Attention Seeker’s Christmas Hat? Really? They are officially running out of names for these items. Anyways, there are a variety of things to win... ranging from food to mittens to shirts. If you are lucky enough, you will win one of these "secret" snowmen:



Sadly, though, he slowly melts away as time goes on. Is that supposed to be a metaphor about life, Pico? Huh?! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL US? But I digress... that's not the end of the holiday madness. Not by a long shot.