the all-purpose Harvest Moon thread

[Wolfolotl]

Harvest Moon, called Bokujou Monogatari (which translates approximately to "Farm Story"), is a series of farm-simulator games made by Marvelous Entertainment and formerly localized by Natsume, though XSEED is now the official localization team and the official English title of the most recent game was changed to Story of Seasons since Natsume still owns the Harvest Moon name. The series is considered a relatively casual game, with not a lot of focus on plot or action or skillful button presses, though there exists a spinoff series or two that changes the game up; most notably, the Rune Factory series, which incorporates RPG and fantasy elements.

also, you can date people in Harvest Moon games did I mention that

so I felt like this would be a nice thread to have, what with plenty of Harvest Moon games to go around and nowhere to talk about 'em! this thread can serve whatever Harvest Moon-related purpose you need, whether you're a newcomer looking for a place to start, a hardened farming veteran who wants to question the legitimacy of winter crops, you wanna ask for tips on what to do to succeed, tell an interesting story of yours, or just go on and on about how Nami is the Best Bachelorette in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, then here is the place for you

[Vinyl]

This game is pretty great
I was recommended it a long while ago but at the start of the month I finally decided to play it, so I began with Friends of Mineral Town. I did what anyone would probably do when they start playing a game for the first time. I began running aroung the place, exploring, talking to the locals.. Then I met Popuri and thought she was cute. Then I found out she likes chickens, which made it even better for me cause I love chickens.

[Rixithechao]

Oh man, the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series are two of my favorite game series and yet they're ones I'm not super familiar with. I've only played three of the former -- Friends of Mineral Town, A Wonderful Life and Lost Valley -- and two of the latter -- Tides of Destiny and 4. And of those I only really played RF4 extensively. I was excited for Lost Valley because it's freaking Harvest Moon mixed with Minecraft, but it ended up being a major disappointment because they stripped out a lot of the community sim elements and all of your daily tasks take so much time that you barely have any time left over in the day to go hunt down the next NPC you need to meet to progress the dang plot.

But Rune Factory 4 is fantastic, got all the way to Act 3 in that one. The butler trio are easily my favorite characters -- Clorica is adorable, Volkanon is hilarious and badass and Vishnal's pretty chill.

And I just remembered, there's a nice HM clone called Stardew Valley being published by Chucklefish. Apparently it's coming out sometime this year.

[ohmato]

The only one I've really played extensively is Friends of Mineral Town. Overall I find it pretty fun, but it comes with its various peeves. Nothing better than flinging material possessions at people to get them to love you.

And I just remembered, there's a nice HM clone called Stardew Valley being published by Chucklefish. Apparently it's coming out sometime this year.

I am patiently waiting for this, it seems pretty great. They were streaming it a little bit ago on their Twitch. Although I would say it was closer to Rune Factory than HM.

[Jesuiscontent]

I played the SNES one ages ago

on emulator

and I loved it. Thinking about it I'm honestly surprised I got into it that much considering the only RPG experience I had back then was Mario RPG. Even though the actual "map" of the game is this small there's just so many things and secrets to do and discover, that's really what's great about this series I think. Like after a year WOW all along under your house there was an underground mine with moles and shit.
I played it multiple times but I don't think I ever "properly" finished it because the ending is so long to arrive. I married Ann every time though because tomboys

I tried the N64 but didn't get into it? It was pretty sluggish

Back when the DS flashcarts became a thing I tried Rune Factory 1. Again, I didn't like it too much, I don't remember much but the combat felt tacked on and a chore more than anything

However, a lot more recently (this summer in fact) I bought Rune Factory 4 because someone strongly recommended it and I LOVED it. I exactly got the feeling I got in HM SNES of urgency and always "have something to do". Like "quick I need to harvest all these turnips and pinapple and cook them and ship them before 8AM oh and I need to buy some seeds to replace them oh and I need to cook the daily Manju for Xiao Pai FUCK I don't have bamboo sprouts anymore I have to go farm for them SHIT I'm out of RP I have to go to the inn WHY THE FUCK IS THE INN CLOSED oh my GOD that's because there's a festival today but it's noon I missed the funny plaza dialogue !!! *reset*"

The battle system is pretty cool as well. Even if most of your success depends on your gear it's still pretty fun and the possibility of switching to different playstyles with each weapon is a plus. The crafting system is also great, there's just so many things to try and make, and it's pretty fun trying to get every item in the game and ship them once for 100% shipping box completion. Overall great game, definitely one of the best purchases I made on 3DS

Also Xiao Pai a cute

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The "story" is pretty stupid though. I like when it progresses because that means more areas open up but holy shit it's the most cliched anime writing when it gets to these parts. I like the random villagers interactions and dialogue because they are silly and fun, but the story dialogue is awful and just unnecessarily drags on. Like the ending of the second "arc" just doesn't end, I literally spammed B to skip everything after some point. The event system kind of sucks as well, I have one million hearts with Xiao Pai but still not married because lol random chance event not triggering???

But Rune Factory 4 is fantastic, got all the way to Act 3 in that one. The butler trio are easily my favorite characters -- Clorica is adorable, Volkanon is hilarious and badass and Vishnal's pretty chill.

I hate having clorica in my party, for some reason she's the only character in the game that spouts random voiced lines when you're just walking around for absolutely no reason. like why do I keep hearing "YAAAAY" and "THATS GREAT" when there's absolutely nothing going on lol.
I'd actually prefer if Amber did that because a lot of her voiced lines are hilarious. RAN RAN ROO

[Telamon]

I remember playing one Harvest Moon game for, i dunno, ps1? and it was total crap compared with the earlier games. but what i really remember was that i bought it at Borders, or all places.

DAE remember Borders?

[Rixithechao]

Also Xiao Pai a cute

Agreed.

The "story" is pretty stupid though. I like when it progresses because that means more areas open up but holy shit it's the most cliched anime writing when it gets to these parts. I like the random villagers interactions and dialogue because they are silly and fun, but the story dialogue is awful and just unnecessarily drags on. Like the ending of the second "arc" just doesn't end, I literally spammed B to skip everything after some point. The event system kind of sucks as well, I have one million hearts with Xiao Pai but still not married because lol random chance event not triggering???

Oh ye gods, the event system. Waiting to trigger the bachelorettes' events is the worst, and it took forever for the one that kickstarts the third act. There's even a separate event with a similar name! I kept checking every morning for weeks and then I got excited because I thought it finally happened, but no, I had to deal with some freaking bird stealing shiny trinkets. Blargh. I also accidentally skipped through an entire scene of Meg's Elven Kingdom event and never found a transcript of it. :(

I hate having clorica in my party, for some reason she's the only character in the game that spouts random voiced lines when you're just walking around for absolutely no reason. like why do I keep hearing "YAAAAY" and "THATS GREAT" when there's absolutely nothing going on lol.
I'd actually prefer if Amber did that because a lot of her voiced lines are hilarious. RAN RAN ROO

Really? I could've sworn other characters did that, not as frequently as Clori though. It is kinda silly when they do it out of nowhere, but I still find Clorica's sleepy cheers pretty cute.

Also, have you ever had your party members throw items to heal you while out on the overworld or in dungeons? Because Clorica does that a lot and sometimes she misses so I'm able to pick them up and stuff 'em in my inventory. I was able to get two free royal curries this way, and they sold for 500,000G each (sorry Vishnal, I know you love those things, but that kind of money so early in the game? There's no way I'm passing up that opportunity.)

So yeah, Clorica will always be best girl to me.

[Wolfolotl]

I was excited for Lost Valley because it's freaking Harvest Moon mixed with Minecraft, but it ended up being a major disappointment

part of the reason for that may be because it was not actually made by Marvelous, but purely by Natsume after Marvelous transferred localization to XSEED in what a lotta people suspect was just a move to cash in on a name that they're somewhat known for before the fans found out the news

also gosh a lotta people seem to like Rune Factory a lot! it's not really my thing, but I did play a bit of Rune Factory 2. I married Yue because Yue's the best and also I never got past Winter of Year 1 because the plot just never happened