Twin Village Section: I know that Grand Bazaar came out not too long ago, but Harvest Moon Twin Villages came out in japan a bit before Grand Bazaar hit America. Well, no news of Twin Village is out yet, and many fans are speculative that it will be released somewhere late 2011 to 2012. I strongly agree as well, since it took nearly two years for Grand Bazaar to reach America. Maybe not, but to us fans, the wait is even LONGER filled with our anticipation and hopes. If i find anything, i'll post it up right away!
if you're curious to how the games might be, i found a review about it done by someone else. all credit goes to her/him. Its in two parts.
part one: http://www.tehvidya.com/2010/11/harvest-moon-twin-villages-i-dont-like-it/#comment-276
part two:http://www.tehvidya.com/2010/11/harvest-moon-twin-villages-more-reasons-why-i-dont-like-it/
this review gave a general feel to the game. i hope it helps a bit for the more curious.
Harvest Moon 3DS: YES! For sure that Harvest Moon 3DS is coming out. Marvelous is working on the developments of the game the last time i checked. so 3DS is coming out this march, and that means, that HM3DS can be expected somewhere late 2012 to early 2013 maybe? which means around 2014-15 for us America. Woot! Still, we have Rune Factory Oceans to come out and keep us busy if you count Rune Factory in any related-ness to harvest moon ( i do, its called a fantasy harvest moon after all), and hopefully Twin Villages before that. Rune Factory 3 was pretty good, though the story line was a bit shorter than hoped and GB is still out there to keep us entertained for our HMHearts.
Till next time some HMNews comes drifting by
~Guree Love
Sunday, February 6, 2011
HM GB: Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar
Design/Graphics: 95
This is by far, the prettiest Harvest Moon game i played for a portable (which is the only Harvest Moon that i DO play). the trees sway in the wind. the water ripples, the flowers bloom and the snowmans stare. I'm not too sure how much a DS can handle, but I'd say that this game was simply amazing in the graphics department. It has a soft feel that makes you feel comfortable and happy inside.
Features/Possibilities: 80
The point of this Harvest Moon is to sell things in your bazaar. Sounds interesting huh? it is, and its simply adorable when you see your character ringing her/his heart out for the customers to come and buy your stuff.
But they took out mining in this game which was kind of a bummer, and fishing is limited to only a few places. The items all have rankings of stars from .5 to 5 and its okay, cept when you have to carry fish till bazaar time (which is once a week) and you run out of room since different fishes and differents ranks don't mesh at all. Its not like sunshine islands where you could just squish everything together, so you need a lot of space for that.
There are windmills that you use for the game to make/ferment things and its a interesting new experience, though it takes forever and i mean FOREVER for some of the stuff to actually be created. But the windmills make more money than simple crops and sell for more in the bazaar.
you get cats and dogs to take care of your sheep and chicken and once they're trained, they'll take out the livestock for you. very handy and no more dragging the chicken out one by one when your cats have been trained. Its a very nice feature that i welcomed greatly in harvest moon.
You can also jump in this game (double jump) though it isn't a very needed feature and you can catch bugs, though one bugs looks like the other and you can't really tell if you caught one already or not.
No upgrades are needed except the expansion of your fields, creation of basment and expansion of your storage. There is a horse racing section too that comes a long later as well.
oh and when you throw something, you don't lose it. THAT was a much needed thing in harvest moon. animal or item they make a boing sound and bounce when you toss them on the ground.
This game had a lot of new features, and lost some few, classic (?), features that older harvest moon games used to have.
Characters/Bios: 45
The characters in this town were very two-dimensional and i was sorely disappointed. They're cute in their own ways, but don't go any deeper than that. Have an internal problem? they talk to you about it in a very light hearted sort of way that makes it not that big of a deal (if there IS any problems at all). They were too happy go lucky and too ... naive?
there are guys and girls you can marry since times have changed in harvest moon here goes.
Ivan: He's the teacher of the game. Kind older brother type.
Freya: The independent woman in this game. She has long brown hair and gives off an air of elegance.
Dirk: The boyish younger brother type. Ivan's younger brother. Wears a hat with a feather in it.
Antoinette: the goth-ish girl in this game. a designer with a social problem like personality. has blue short hair.
Sherry: the mayors daughter. perfect goody goody i'd say.
Lloyd: the mysterious guy in this game. Wears a turban with glasses. always work with him.
Angelo: the artist. kind of lazy and laid back with long brown hair and an orange/yellow berrett
Daisy: the hotel maid. cutesy, blond curly short hair. loves sweet and wears a white and pink /striped maid outfit.
Amir: the foreign prince. dark skin and white hair.
Emiko: a priestess of sorts. long black hair with traditional (japanese?) dress. doesn't know much about outside world.
yes, compared to FoMT, this is a much shorter character bio. the characters don't really go much deeper than that. maybe as i play deeper in, an epiphany will hit me. They were cute, but nothing staggering. I mean sunshine islands didn't have deep characters either, but SI had more realistic ones. GB characters were fine, just not very interesting to talk to/ marry.
plus the mayor kind of ticked me off. i don't know whyyy.
Comparisons/Gamplayabilty: 40
The most recent HM i played, and the one that disappointed the most.
It didn't have any mines and if compared to SI/IoH it lacks by a lot. There were upgrades for this game, no sprites, no goddess, no shipping guy. by far the graphics were the best, but the characters lacked dept, the place was too small and the .... kay this is really disorangized. i'll put it like this.
The graphics were really good and it was very pleasing to see. i was very happy when i first started playing the game. but the fishing was inconvienent. There are only four fishing spots and you need multiple different rods to catch different fish and you can only cook like 5 of them.
the map was completely useless compared to SIs maps and the town and are was so small. there are six places overall. that's even less than mineral town which had 8 places to explore.
the characters were bland and you diddn't really feel connected to them all. when the characters were at red heart, you couldn't even tell that they liked you. it was barely noticeable and didn't help motivation wise for marriage.
The herding for the animals was a splendid idea. i really liked that.
you only have one watering place again. i liked the fact that you could draw water from any source of water, but not in this game. its like SI where you HAVE to get it from one area. kind of bothersome.
there are so much more fruits and vegetables you can grow which is nice.
the animals look the same as SI, but that's not too bad.
no more shipping bin guys. you have to store everything (till you run out of room, which you will find is QUITE often) to sell at the bazaar once a week.
time goes by 1 min = 1 sec in real life. Its very tiring and slow, and you find it hard to fill the days...
different levels of winds and you can actually go out in a storm day, though it doesn't matter since your farm doesn't ever fill up with weeds and rocks and your animals don't get herded on stormy days. also, it's pointless cause your barn is attached to your house so you can take care of them without ever going outside. wish they had thought of that for ALL the previous games, but no. i really liked that.
if i think of more, i'll write about it.
Guree Factor: 30
okay, its really low, i know and sorry if my review came off as negative. its just, i REALLY didn't like this game. i had my moments, but it wasn't really worth it. the characters were boring, the farming was bleh, the town was bleh. i don't know.
and the thing that pissed me off was two things. one, the time goes by WAY too slowly in this game. you know in harvest moon games, when winter came along (like in FoMT) you'd have NOTHING to do. you'd run out very quickly? that's waht happens in this game, but its EVERY SINGLE DAY. and winter, you jsut wake up feed animals give gifts, sleep. literally. the whole 1min=1sec thing really ticked me off sooo much. you finish everything by 10am and till 5 you have nothing to do. why wait till five? you can water your plants again to make them produce faster. but oh gawd there is nothing to do between those times. i talk to the villagers, give gfits, catch bugs collect items, sell the items and bugs, go around and talk to more people jump into the river and hope for something lucky item take a shower jump into rivers some more, collect more bugs talk to more people. and bam, its like 2pm. so i go around and talk to more people and catch more bugs and jump into more river and you got the picture.. then you get the animals and its not that bad, considereing it takes like 2 -4 hours to brush and milk all your cows and sheep! yea, thats right, you sit there for 2-4 mins brushing cow. its a process i found very painful. it was torture to go up to a cow and watch your character brush it for like 5 seconds when i became very accostumed to brush move brush move brush move. but it fills your time, so i always made sure i put a LOT of effort into brushing my cows, taking care of my chickens. then i'd go around and collect and give and sell and such then come back and re water. then train my cat and dog till bed time. it got VERY tedious after a while and there were times i wanted to fling my DS across the room and jump on it with very hard shoes on. i had to plan how to make my days LAST LONGER, when normally it was how much stuff could i cram in one day. normally, i used to go to bed in HM like around 2 am trying to finish one more thing, but in this game as soon as it hit 6 i got to bed. until the animals, then bed time was around 10.
second annoying factor: the brushing the cows part. oh my a;ghjl;ertio;ajd;ra. i REALLY hated that part soo much it became a part two. i felt like my life was wasted brushing those stupid cows. and they move so much so that you lose track of ones you brushed and ones you don't. so i'd brush atleast 12 times even if i only have 6 cows. gawwwww. and the game lets you brush them for those 5 secs and you don't know you already brushed them till the music sign doesn't come up. and even if you did know, you couldn't stop yourself. the whole time thing was okay, when i got the animals and thigns to do, but after brushign those cows for a week, i wanted to shoot myself, and it isn't just a way of speaking. i really wanted to stab myself and let the misery end!
Total: 2.9/5
Yea, i really didn't like this game. It had nice features, but the features were ruined by gameplay and character which makes a game good. i mean no matter how wonderful the graphics are, it doesn't matter if the gameplay sucks. i mean, if a gameplay is amazing than we ignore the horrible graphics and that is why some of us still those old favorites. this didn't cut it for me. i tried to play this game again and again, and gave up after the fourth try. it didn't have that harvest moon magic. but that's just me, guree. you might like it, though i think most weren't as satisfied either.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
HM FOMT: Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town (or MFOMT)
I'll be honest with this one. This was the first HM game that got me hooked to the series. I might have a lot of personal bias for this game, but i played this game the most so my review for this game should be the most accurate!
Design/Graphics: 80
Okay. I'll be as honest as I can. HM FOMT doesn't have the best graphics that GBA can offer, but the graphics themsevles are really cute. The designs of the village is very appealing and the wordings and the surroundings are very pleasing to the eye.There are tiny little details that you probably won't notice right away, but adds up to make a very satisfying game overall!
Features/Possibilities: 90
There's so many to do in this game, but i'll just name them up front and right away. you can upgrade your house, barn, chicken coop. You can get up to ... i think it was four different houses. one on your farm, one on the beach, one on the town and one in the mountains. You can mine in this and fish and both aren't annoying. Simple activities. You can obviously farm and take care of your animals. Animals include: dog, cows, sheeps, horse and chickens. You can collect honey as well as other useful items such as bamboo, berries and apples and mushrooms. there are places you can't access till you have gone further and beyond in the game. each time you play through the game, you'll find that there's more to it as you go along. it's crazy.
you can also get married like most HM games, have a child which has two stages. You can cook in this game as well as many festivals that make you feel a part of the town. (like chicken and horse festivals!) not as much as sunshine islands or rune factory, but pretty good considering its an old game.
Characters/Bios: 100
The characters in this town seem pretty bland at first but as you get to know them, they're worth delving into. I'll give a detail of all the marriagable ones, since those are the most important in any harvest moon game.
Anne: She's the daughter of the innkeeper. She has red hair with blue eyes tied into a braided pontail with a white bow. She wears overalls and a regular t-shirt. She loves to eat and help out her father in the inn. i won't give any personal history, but she and her father care for each other very much. She's probably the most cheerful in this game, and the most tomboyish.
Karen: She's the store owners daughter. She has brown hair with blond bangs and wears shorts and a tang top with a vest. She's themost mature out of all of them and likes items such as wine and cheese. She seems the most "older sister" like out of all the girls and seems to know what she wants the most. She's also probably the most independent out of all five girls.
Elli: She's the nurse of Mineral Town. She's like the perfect good girl. Cooks and cares for her brother and grandmother. She is obviously in love with someone, though who you'll have to find out. Maybe you can steal her away. She has short brown hair and eyes and freckles splashed across her nose. She's very nice but at times very motherly like. If you like that kind of girl, she's all yours!
Popuri: She's like the ditzy cutesy, dumb (?) girl in this game. She's like the sweet little sister like character and she actually is the little sister! so it makes sense i guess. she has pink hair with nearly purple eyes and wears a dress with a headband. She's very sweet once you get to know her and her personality opens up more asyou get a long.
Mary: She's the bookworm of this game. Simply put. She wears glasses has black hair tied in one long loose ponytail down her back with black and sometimes golden eyes! yes! her eyes turn gold at certain expressions!
She loves to read and is very caring about nature, that might have to do with her father's influence. She likes animals and she writes her own books. She isn't exactly shy, but more lost in thought is the way i'd describe her!
Comparisons/Gamplayabilty: 100
This is the first HM game that i have ever played so i can't really compare, but it's a very simple title. The graphics and gameplay is simple enough a kid would understand, yet deep enough that keeps adults like me interested. A lot of people are saying its a enhanced port/remake of Harvest Moon Back to Nature. Its a very worthwhile game! Very Addicting!
Guree Factor: 100
okay.. i loved this game to the extreme. it was so simple and cute and addicting. the gameplay was easy and you could understand how the system works within a couple of hours. for people who are used to the hard core harvest moon like sunshine islands which had an immense amount of things to do, this game might seem boring. The graphics are a bit dated now and its not as pretty as say grand bazaar though the characters are the most genuine i've seen in any harvest moon game! (DS/DS cute seems to be pretty good with characters through...)
For Guree Factor, i gives this game a complete 100!
Total: 4.7/5
yes guree factor is totally biased! its my blog, but sometimes a customer's view is very important!
Design/Graphics: 80
Okay. I'll be as honest as I can. HM FOMT doesn't have the best graphics that GBA can offer, but the graphics themsevles are really cute. The designs of the village is very appealing and the wordings and the surroundings are very pleasing to the eye.There are tiny little details that you probably won't notice right away, but adds up to make a very satisfying game overall!
Features/Possibilities: 90
There's so many to do in this game, but i'll just name them up front and right away. you can upgrade your house, barn, chicken coop. You can get up to ... i think it was four different houses. one on your farm, one on the beach, one on the town and one in the mountains. You can mine in this and fish and both aren't annoying. Simple activities. You can obviously farm and take care of your animals. Animals include: dog, cows, sheeps, horse and chickens. You can collect honey as well as other useful items such as bamboo, berries and apples and mushrooms. there are places you can't access till you have gone further and beyond in the game. each time you play through the game, you'll find that there's more to it as you go along. it's crazy.
you can also get married like most HM games, have a child which has two stages. You can cook in this game as well as many festivals that make you feel a part of the town. (like chicken and horse festivals!) not as much as sunshine islands or rune factory, but pretty good considering its an old game.
Characters/Bios: 100
The characters in this town seem pretty bland at first but as you get to know them, they're worth delving into. I'll give a detail of all the marriagable ones, since those are the most important in any harvest moon game.
Anne: She's the daughter of the innkeeper. She has red hair with blue eyes tied into a braided pontail with a white bow. She wears overalls and a regular t-shirt. She loves to eat and help out her father in the inn. i won't give any personal history, but she and her father care for each other very much. She's probably the most cheerful in this game, and the most tomboyish.
Karen: She's the store owners daughter. She has brown hair with blond bangs and wears shorts and a tang top with a vest. She's themost mature out of all of them and likes items such as wine and cheese. She seems the most "older sister" like out of all the girls and seems to know what she wants the most. She's also probably the most independent out of all five girls.
Elli: She's the nurse of Mineral Town. She's like the perfect good girl. Cooks and cares for her brother and grandmother. She is obviously in love with someone, though who you'll have to find out. Maybe you can steal her away. She has short brown hair and eyes and freckles splashed across her nose. She's very nice but at times very motherly like. If you like that kind of girl, she's all yours!
Popuri: She's like the ditzy cutesy, dumb (?) girl in this game. She's like the sweet little sister like character and she actually is the little sister! so it makes sense i guess. she has pink hair with nearly purple eyes and wears a dress with a headband. She's very sweet once you get to know her and her personality opens up more asyou get a long.
Mary: She's the bookworm of this game. Simply put. She wears glasses has black hair tied in one long loose ponytail down her back with black and sometimes golden eyes! yes! her eyes turn gold at certain expressions!
She loves to read and is very caring about nature, that might have to do with her father's influence. She likes animals and she writes her own books. She isn't exactly shy, but more lost in thought is the way i'd describe her!
Comparisons/Gamplayabilty: 100
This is the first HM game that i have ever played so i can't really compare, but it's a very simple title. The graphics and gameplay is simple enough a kid would understand, yet deep enough that keeps adults like me interested. A lot of people are saying its a enhanced port/remake of Harvest Moon Back to Nature. Its a very worthwhile game! Very Addicting!
Guree Factor: 100
okay.. i loved this game to the extreme. it was so simple and cute and addicting. the gameplay was easy and you could understand how the system works within a couple of hours. for people who are used to the hard core harvest moon like sunshine islands which had an immense amount of things to do, this game might seem boring. The graphics are a bit dated now and its not as pretty as say grand bazaar though the characters are the most genuine i've seen in any harvest moon game! (DS/DS cute seems to be pretty good with characters through...)
For Guree Factor, i gives this game a complete 100!
Total: 4.7/5
yes guree factor is totally biased! its my blog, but sometimes a customer's view is very important!
Friday, September 17, 2010
by Fan to Fans
Hello everyone. I go by the name Guree.
Lately, most Harvest Moon games seem to be short in information. There are wonderful sites such as Ushi no Tane that helps you with the games, but when you want to find information on the game (in the form of a review) there doesn't seem to be any sites to help us with that.
So I decided that i'll make one. I have a HM fanatic heart and i'll try my best to keep up with the most current and happenings of the HM world. I'll also do reviews of the older games as far back as i can get them. (mainly just up to Advance games. I do not have the way older systems. I'm sorry, and if I find a way to get to it i'll review those too!)
Also, when my Japanese language in reading and writing has improved greatly ( I still have a ways to go) i will try to obtain the games from when their release in Japan and review those too. (that might take a while. I'll have to get older for that =.=)
Overall, my fellow HM fans will get to know what the game is about and whether you might want it or not. (I'll try to keep it as.. factual and non bias as possible, though i don't think that might work out so well) I'll state the facts, but try not to spoil the game so you can play. I'll have character bios in detail, though heart events you'll have to find out yourself.
I'll also mention what you do for farming, the full possible capabilities of the game all in paragraph form! I'm not a very fast gamer, so i might take some time. My posts will probably have to be updated daily and it would take a while. Maybe with time this blog can be of some use. If not, then its okay. I enjoy writing in general.
For information on all things Harvest Moon, I'll do my best.
~Guree Love
Lately, most Harvest Moon games seem to be short in information. There are wonderful sites such as Ushi no Tane that helps you with the games, but when you want to find information on the game (in the form of a review) there doesn't seem to be any sites to help us with that.
So I decided that i'll make one. I have a HM fanatic heart and i'll try my best to keep up with the most current and happenings of the HM world. I'll also do reviews of the older games as far back as i can get them. (mainly just up to Advance games. I do not have the way older systems. I'm sorry, and if I find a way to get to it i'll review those too!)
Also, when my Japanese language in reading and writing has improved greatly ( I still have a ways to go) i will try to obtain the games from when their release in Japan and review those too. (that might take a while. I'll have to get older for that =.=)
Overall, my fellow HM fans will get to know what the game is about and whether you might want it or not. (I'll try to keep it as.. factual and non bias as possible, though i don't think that might work out so well) I'll state the facts, but try not to spoil the game so you can play. I'll have character bios in detail, though heart events you'll have to find out yourself.
I'll also mention what you do for farming, the full possible capabilities of the game all in paragraph form! I'm not a very fast gamer, so i might take some time. My posts will probably have to be updated daily and it would take a while. Maybe with time this blog can be of some use. If not, then its okay. I enjoy writing in general.
For information on all things Harvest Moon, I'll do my best.
~Guree Love
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