Harvest Moon MFOMT or DS Cute?

Nintendo DS [ Game Guide ]
Linny
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I've played both these games several years ago but I don't remember which is "the better game", which I know may be subjective but I wanted to know people's opinions on which is the more enjoyable experience and has the best gameplay elements. I have an imported copy of both games and I'd like to get back into one of them to improve my reading in Japanese since I'm studying it, but I'm not sure which to pick up again...

I do like you can choose where buildings go in DS Cute, and since I have both games the bachelors one isn't a big factory for me because either way I'll probably marry Gray (him taking longer to marry doesn't really matter to me, last time I played I married Cliff in year 4). Main thing I'm worried about with DS Cute is the festivals seems slightly less nice (I think there's no horse race...?) and I'm worried it's too easy to make money in it. I'm also unsure if maybe the Mineral Town guys are more fleshed-out in MFOMT since they're the bachelors the game focuses on and in DS Cute they're more like...side-options? But this is just me guessing.

Can anyone help? I guess pros and cons for people who remember the gameplays of both would be helpful. I'm guessing DS Cute fixed most of the glitches in the original version... I want to play a game that won't get stale too quickly, and I rather it not be too easy to make money.
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Code_Name_Geek
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I’ve played the boy version of both of those games, so I don’t know about the bachelors specifically but here’s what I think gameplay-wise.

I love FoMT because it is very similar to my first Harvest Moon game (Harvest Moon 64), and those characters will always be near to my heart. It has the simpler mechanics of the old games, so if you’re primarily looking to use the game as reading practice maybe that could be a benefit. It’s been a while since I’ve played this game but I seem to remember that I had collected almost everything there is to collect and had tons of money. One thing I do like better is that all the shops are in the village (in DS you have to phone in to the Mineral Town shops to order stuff). I don’t have many cons about this game because I don’t mind the old mechanics that I grew up with, but if you’ve played newer Harvest Moon games then DS will be more like those than this one.

DS is similar but the gameplay is expanded. There’s more variety of items and so much stuff to collect/do that it keeps the game interesting for a long time, and I didn’t have a problem with making money too fast (it helps that there is a TON of stuff to buy). There are some modern conveniences like stacking items and a much larger bag, and more items would give you more things to read which could also be a bonus. The dialogue seemed pretty repetitive in this game, but though I don’t remember what FoMT is like I would imagine they’re fairly similar in this regard (and I think my perception is coloured by the newer games with huge amounts of dialogue). The animal petting minigame using the touchscreen is a nice feature of this game as well. And yes, Cute did fix the glitches that the boy version of DS had.

Here are some of the long term goals in both games (not actually spoilers, just for post length):
Spoiler:
-Complete the shipping list
-Dig up the cursed tools in the mines and get them blessed
-Catch all the fish
-Befriend the Harvest Sprites (though DS has waaaay more than FoMT)
-Playing Harvest Sprite minigames
-Getting married and having a kid
-Discovering all the cooking recipes
-You can get cabins in both games, but I think the requirements are different
Here are some that are unique to Cute:
Spoiler:
-Find 60 harvest sprites to get married
-Find the rest of the 101 harvest sprites
-Get to the bottom floor of the four mines (the last one of which has over 65 000 floors…)
-Collect all the trading cards (which you can buy in booster packs when you have money to burn)
-Dig up the cursed accessories and get them blessed
-Raise the levels of your crops and animal products (I don’t think you could do this in FoMT??)
-Once you have tons of money, make all your buildings out of golden lumber
It may seem like I’m recommending Cute but that’s not the case, I think both are great choices! It depends what you’re looking for in a game, and I would highly recommend playing both eventually. (If you do decide to play both, I’d recommend starting with MFoMT because I find it nicer to add new mechanics than to take ones you’re used to away.) Sorry this is so long but hope it’s helpful!

On another note I just started studying Japanese as well! I have a long way to go to be able to read well enough to play a game but maybe someday. :)
Linny
Anonymous Fish

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Code_Name_Geek wrote:I’ve played the boy version of both of those games, so I don’t know about the bachelors specifically but here’s what I think gameplay-wise.

I love FoMT because it is very similar to my first Harvest Moon game (Harvest Moon 64), and those characters will always be near to my heart. It has the simpler mechanics of the old games, so if you’re primarily looking to use the game as reading practice maybe that could be a benefit. It’s been a while since I’ve played this game but I seem to remember that I had collected almost everything there is to collect and had tons of money. One thing I do like better is that all the shops are in the village (in DS you have to phone in to the Mineral Town shops to order stuff). I don’t have many cons about this game because I don’t mind the old mechanics that I grew up with, but if you’ve played newer Harvest Moon games then DS will be more like those than this one.

DS is similar but the gameplay is expanded. There’s more variety of items and so much stuff to collect/do that it keeps the game interesting for a long time, and I didn’t have a problem with making money too fast (it helps that there is a TON of stuff to buy). There are some modern conveniences like stacking items and a much larger bag, and more items would give you more things to read which could also be a bonus. The dialogue seemed pretty repetitive in this game, but though I don’t remember what FoMT is like I would imagine they’re fairly similar in this regard (and I think my perception is coloured by the newer games with huge amounts of dialogue). The animal petting minigame using the touchscreen is a nice feature of this game as well. And yes, Cute did fix the glitches that the boy version of DS had.

Here are some of the long term goals in both games (not actually spoilers, just for post length):
Spoiler:
-Complete the shipping list
-Dig up the cursed tools in the mines and get them blessed
-Catch all the fish
-Befriend the Harvest Sprites (though DS has waaaay more than FoMT)
-Playing Harvest Sprite minigames
-Getting married and having a kid
-Discovering all the cooking recipes
-You can get cabins in both games, but I think the requirements are different
Here are some that are unique to Cute:
Spoiler:
-Find 60 harvest sprites to get married
-Find the rest of the 101 harvest sprites
-Get to the bottom floor of the four mines (the last one of which has over 65 000 floors…)
-Collect all the trading cards (which you can buy in booster packs when you have money to burn)
-Dig up the cursed accessories and get them blessed
-Raise the levels of your crops and animal products (I don’t think you could do this in FoMT??)
-Once you have tons of money, make all your buildings out of golden lumber
It may seem like I’m recommending Cute but that’s not the case, I think both are great choices! It depends what you’re looking for in a game, and I would highly recommend playing both eventually. (If you do decide to play both, I’d recommend starting with MFoMT because I find it nicer to add new mechanics than to take ones you’re used to away.) Sorry this is so long but hope it’s helpful!

On another note I just started studying Japanese as well! I have a long way to go to be able to read well enough to play a game but maybe someday. :)
Wow thanks, that was a really thorough breakdown of the two games! Hmm... Maybe you're right with the mechanics thing, maybe I'll start with MFOMT and if I get bored I can just try out HM DS Cute again.

Also, I don't want to tell you what to do but in my opinion you should try to play games (rather, immerse yourself) in Japanese even if you feel you're not ready. It's uncomfortable at first but if being unable to read makes you unable to play, which is obviously not fun, then your brain will work harder to figure things out than if you're just studying as a "past-time". I just recommend maybe understanding the way basic grammar works, but if it's a question of not knowing enough words then you can just look them up as you play (and then even save them to an Anki deck if you want). It's up to you of course but one of the best ways to learn is immersion and now with the internet and video games we can do this digitally... worth thinking about!
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Code_Name_Geek
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Linny wrote:Wow thanks, that was a really thorough breakdown of the two games! Hmm... Maybe you're right with the mechanics thing, maybe I'll start with MFOMT and if I get bored I can just try out HM DS Cute again.

Also, I don't want to tell you what to do but in my opinion you should try to play games (rather, immerse yourself) in Japanese even if you feel you're not ready. It's uncomfortable at first but if being unable to read makes you unable to play, which is obviously not fun, then your brain will work harder to figure things out than if you're just studying as a "past-time". I just recommend maybe understanding the way basic grammar works, but if it's a question of not knowing enough words then you can just look them up as you play (and then even save them to an Anki deck if you want). It's up to you of course but one of the best ways to learn is immersion and now with the internet and video games we can do this digitally... worth thinking about!
No problem, glad to help!

I definitely will pick up a game soon! What I meant was that I’m only a week into my Intro to Japanese class so I’m wanting to focus on that for a bit to get a solid foundation (not to mention it’s pretty great immersion on its own). Thanks for the encouragement though! Maybe I will start up my Japanese Tamagotchi again (it’s one of the newer ones with a decent amount of reading, but not overwhelming).
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