First impressions

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.
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The game officially comes out tomorrow. I have it preordered so hopefully I'll get to play it after work.
So I'm making this topic for first impressions. Natsume didn't do too much revealing on this game so besides the general look, storyline and a few of the townsfolk, not much else is known about this entry.

Who's excited for it? Who preordered? Are you going to wait until you hear more about it or to see if it goes on sale in a year or so?
I'll write my impressions on it once it's in my hands but I'd like to hear from others too.
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Getaris
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I have it predownloaded too. I’ve heard natsume didn’t give many reviewers early access to the game, which is kinda sad, but I’m looking forward to playing it.

I’ll make sure to post my impressions here once I have time to play it.
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Pre-ordered, but physical and late so idk when I'll get my hands on it. :( (Spouse wanted to get me the NISA limited edition so that's really sweet don't get me wrong. I'm just dying already and it's not out yet. :lol: )

I'm way too excited! Waiting is going to be awful. I'll definitely be back after playing some with how I feel about the game.
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I pre-ordered a physical copy, with the plush chicken, so I will see when it comes in the mail. Hopefully it won't get delayed. I am going in with low expectations so I can hopefully be pleasantly surprised, lol. I am excited to get to do some new farming though, however it turns out.
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Here are my first impressions. Going to mark for spoilers just in case:
Spoiler:
The game is a ton of fun and I'm loving every minute of it. The exploration and the amount of freedom you have is so amazing. Your progress is a little bit gated right at first; you have to finish the story in the first town before you can move on. But once you do that, you can go anywhere in the world your feet can take you and do the plot in any order that you want. You can make a beeline straight to the town where your chosen marriage candidate lives, or stay in one place for months to farm the crops that grow best in that soil/climate. There are no wrong choices and no wrong way to spend your time; whatever you feel like doing in a given moment is the right thing to do. Some highlights:

-The music is lovely as always.
-The graphics are really charming. I especially love the personified weather icons--cloudy weather looks super grumpy, extra-hot days have this "RAAAAWR X(" angry-looking sun. And while it's not a new feature, the characters' animations during cutscenes look fantastic. They really add a ton of personality to the game, especially to the otherwise silent protagonist (though s/he is implied to talk, and some of the things you're implied to have said can be hilarious).
-Brand new cast of characters, though a few are obviously descendants of characters from previous HM games.
-Time passes fairly quickly, but you can stay up basically forever like in Animal Parade. Of course, your condition will deteriorate if you do, so you'll need tons of stamina recovery to pull this off. If you pass out from stamina loss after midnight, you'll lose an entire day and wake up the day after that.
-Mining has been greatly nerfed compared to previous Natsume HM games. Gems are much rarer and the ones I've found so far sell for comparatively small amounts of money. I'm not sure about fishing because I haven't done much of it yet.
-The focus of this game is very firmly on farming. Farming and cooking are your primary sources of income, and there are tons and TONS of cool new things to grow. The sheer variety is staggering.
-Mutations have always been a cool feature, but discovering them could be painstakingly tedious, especially in TLV. One World spectacularly nails the feeling of wonder when you wake up and discover a totally new crop in your garden. The crop encyclopedia will also show you how many mutations a given crop has, and when you grow one, it will show the mutation conditions.
-The harvest wisp mechanic is awesome. Instead of buying seeds, you'll be foraging most of them by finding wisps in the right time and place. It might sound tedious, but it lends itself to a really pleasant rhythm where you first spend your time foraging a stockpile of seeds, then a week or so planting and growing them. After you harvest, you can pack up and leave the area, or spend a few days foraging seeds to repeat the cycle. This splendidly breaks up the usual daily chore tedium, especially since you can move around so freely.
-My only gripes so far: the horse could stand to be a little faster, and barn chores take too much time. You're now required to pet and brush every single day, but time doesn't stop in the barn/coop.
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Sounds great, Lirishae :) Maybe this'll be this spring's farming game for me.
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Thanks for sharing, Lirishae! :) I'm already feeling a bit relieved, honestly. It sounds like Natsume really put the effort into this one. I know it's not easy to achieve, but...that flow state in games where different systems are flowing into one another is the gold standard, imo. And that's the vibe I got.

Can't wait to hear more thoughts on the game, and thanks everyone who's playing One World and is willing to share for the rest of us who are still hesitant!
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Lirishae, who else is a descendant besides Gabrielle and Doc Jr? Sounds cool!
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I’d be interesting in knowing how many characters are there (not necessarily who are they, just an approximate amount). Since the pics on the eshop and everywhere kinda only show the marriage candidates, a few identical color-coded miners, and Doc Jr.
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I bit the bullet and purchased this on the eshop. It just seems a better fit for me than PoOT. I haven't cared much for most of the Natsume iterations but this one interests me.

I'll post impressions after i've played a bit.
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RodCopper Fishin wrote:Lirishae, who else is a descendant besides Gabrielle and Doc Jr? Sounds cool!
Samantha, the merchant who buys the stuff from your shipping box, seems like she's probably a descendant of Sam's.
Getaris wrote:be interesting in knowing how many characters are there (not necessarily who are they, just an approximate amount). Since the pics on the eshop and everywhere kinda only show the marriage candidates, a few identical color-coded miners, and Doc Jr.
I've met 34 characters so far, and there's at least a few more I haven't met yet. In addition to the people on your friend list, there are unnamed NPCs in towns who can give you quests and things.
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Getaris
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Ah ok so there’s like different tiers of characters, like in Island of Happiness. Thanks for the information, I was a bit worried the “one world” would be a big too apocalyptic.

Also hah, I suppose this is where we finally get to meet another member of Sam’s fabled family.
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I’m heartbroken (not really). I checked my package and it says the expected delivery is on the 9th!!!
I had a coupon so I won’t cancel but it look like I might have to wait a bit before I dive in. We’ll see though, it’s late here so there’s a chance it’ll update tomorrow and I’ll get it a little sooner.
Lol for those who get it on time, I hope you enjoy and share here the pros, cons and everything in between :)

@Lirishae: out of curiosity, you said the time goes by kind of fast. Do you know how long an in game hour is to rl approximately?
Also is the controls easy to get used to?
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How did/has Linshae gotten to play OW a day earlier than everyone else?
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Briarwyn wrote:How did/has Linshae gotten to play OW a day earlier than everyone else?
Because some of us were given advanced copies of the game :shifty:

Each in-game hour is 30 real-time seconds. But you can stay awake all night and not forced to go to bed at 5am. There is a stamina penalty for staying awake all night though, as using tools and such take more heart when you're exhausted.
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