Is the game worth it? What's the general consensus?

Where're the crops?! Searching the world for seed wisps on Nintendo Switch, Steam Ps4, and Xbox. [ Game Guide ] JP release = None. NA release = Mar 2021. EU release = Mar 2021.
Velvet
Growing Garden Gnome
Growing Garden Gnome
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Post  Posted:

I've heard only bad things about Harvest Moon since the title had been taken over by another company. And so I've never had an urge to play any of them. But what about this one? I can't help but notice that there's a separate forum for the game, so maybe it's not as horrible if it deserves its own forum, whereas RF4 does not.

For me the pinnacle(s) of HM games were Animal Parade and SoS: Trio of Towns. These games were only eclipsed by RF4 with its incredible variety of dialogue options for the villagers, something I'd kill for in all other games of this ilk. So this is what I'd be comparing One World to. Please share your opinions. Even if it's not as good as these three, I wonder if it's at least as good as older HM games (before the franchise was taken over). If so, I'd still consider playing it someday.
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Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
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Post  Posted:

It isn't a matter of adding up their 'worth' in some way...Rune Factory games never get their own forum, as the entire series is a spin-off that Fogu doesn't focus on. They get one forum for the series as a whole. Story of Seasons games and Harvest Moon games all do get their own forums, unless they are a spin off or a mobile-only game, and then they get lumped into a subforum together. There's also how much conversation a game generates. If it's hardly getting anything posted on it, making a forum for it isn't worthwhile. (Light of Hope didn't generate all that much interest in people, it seems...it never got its own forum.)

I personally liked One World quite a lot...much better than Pioneers of Olive Town (though graphics in Olive Town were better-looking, to my preferences anyway). I like ANB and Trio and SoS1 better than One World, but I like One World better than all other Harvest Moon games, including the others by Natsume and Marvelous, both. The story was easy but fun to follow, and the 200 or so crop mutations add a lot of playability, for me. The character graphics are finally in good proportion now, too, though Natsume's strength definitely is not in the visuals/graphics. The animals are very cute in One World, though...probably the cutest baby animals of any of the games thus far.

I thought Lost Valley was an interesting new angle on Harvest Moon, honestly, though it lacked a LOT on the social side (basically everything.) Skytree was a slightly improved version of the same thing so I got bored with it, and Seeds of Memories and Light of Hope I had no interest in at all. But One World was quite solid, imo.

The events and dialogue are okay. Not special, but not terrible.
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greensara
Carrots... yum
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Post  Posted:

If you would like a more in depth picture of One World, and the opinions of the players here on the forum, I would suggest checking out some of the threads that were fairly active when it first came out, like the general thread, the impressions thread, and so forth. Personally, I quite liked the game and think it was Natsume's best solo try yet. Was it the best farm/social sim ever? Probably not, but it was a decent one. I think the general consensus here was mostly positive, with some loving it, some liking it, and some thinking it was at least ok and not terrible.
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Mikodesu
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Post  Posted:

The strong suit of One World and Natsume's Harvest Moon titles has been their farming mechanics. Farming is the focus. Ranching, the social sim aspect, those are set dressing. In One World in particular they're not bad by any means. It legitimately feels like effort was put in. Just not as much effort as for farming. Farming is where depth is, where the majority of the gameplay is, where your time will be spent.

So as to if the game is worth it...that's what I would consider. Do you want a game that focuses on farming, or a game that focuses on events and romance?
Velvet
Growing Garden Gnome
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Post  Posted:

Thank you, everyone! I had no idea that the game is good but now I'll put it on my to-play list for sure.

The focus on farming is interesting, and 200 of mutations sound great. Definitely worth checking out. Honestly I'm not looking for anything specific in a game like this, like only farming or only romance, because I like all the aspects, but as long as something is done really well in such a game, it's going to be a blast to play.

My only complaint about games like HM and SoS is that they become too easy too fast, typically in only two seasons I already earn too much money, and by the end of the year I've already bought everything there was to buy. I usually lose motivation to play and don't even get to marry because of that, and I'm not joking, I've played many games and haven't married even once. By the time you can marry someone there's nothing to do in the game anymore and I quit out of boredom. I've come closest to marriage in Tree of Tranquility, but I couldn't bear waiting for it for almost three months while having nothing to do! (The marriage date got pushed back so much,or rather pushed forward, because of NPC marriages)

I get it now why there aren't separate forums for RF games. I guess they aren't as popular because you can't play as a girl in the first five of them (and it doesn't help that you have to first play as a guy to get to the girl phase in two of those first five). I haven't played all of them myself, and I'm going to look into hacking the Wii titles in order to replace the main character sprites with female sprites if possible (although there still won't be any bachelors in RF:F, and RF:ToD will reset relationships once you get to the bachelor phase). I really like RF games for combat, it adds a lot to do in a game of this ilk, especially when you've set it to Hard or Hell, you can't just blast through the game as fast as I usually do anymore! And RF4 social aspect is hands down the best I've seen thanks to variety, each day NPCs have different lines.

Btw there's a hack for RF3 USA (not mine), if anyone is interested, that replaces all text in the game to refer to the main character as "she" and "her". With how feminine the main character looks, it's very easy to imagine him as a tomboy girl, although there still aren't any bachelors. But I've enjoyed playing like this anyway, I'm not a lesbian but I can pretend to be one, for the sake of playing as my own gender :) If anyone cares, you can find the hack at romhacking.net, just search for Rune Factory hacks over there. There's also a hack for the very first Harvest Moon that allows you to play as a girl, although I've been unable to make it work with my game and others have failed, as well, so the only option to use the hack is to find a modified R-O-M online that the hack author eventually provided (it's called Harvest Moon Sara Edition).

I'll remember that Lost Valley and Skytree Village are decent, too. I had no idea that there was anything good about those "new HM" games, so I'm glad I asked. :)
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