Make your perfect Bokumono game out of...

SNES, HM64, BTN, STH, A Wonderful Life, Another Wonderful Life, AWL:SE, Magical Melody, Puzzle de HM, Tree of Tranquility, Animal Parade, Frantic Farming, Hero of Leaf Valley, My Little Shop, Seeds of Memories, Lil' Farmers, Light of Hope, Popolocrois: SoS, and Doraemon: SoS.
User avatar
Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
Posts: 4252
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

Post  Posted:

...features from OTHER Bokumono games.

If you could cherry-pick the best features from any Bokumono game and compile them into one new game, made just for you...nobody else has to like it!...what would it have?

For me, my ideal Bokumono game would have:
  • A New Beginning's farm placement grid, including even soil plots you can pick up and move around.
  • Trio of Town's numerous love and friendship events that really flesh the characters out.
  • Trio's farming with multiple fertilizers...but I'd prefer only 3 qualities per crop to a potential of up to 4.
  • ANB's item building and construction...but with Trio's ability to buy the materials. (I LOVE making my own buildings! I hated having to go to Ludus or any other shop to buy them...I'd much rather do the building myself. But being able to BUY the materials from Westown was really nice.)
  • Trio's lack of friendship decay!
  • Trio's food effects like time slow-down or walking speed boost, etc.
  • ANB's fishing (in that you can fish up recipes and blueprints) but with Trio's only needing ONE click to reel them in.
  • ANB's town reconstruction, that allows YOU to place every building where you want it. (I could prioritize putting shops really close to my farm, along with my favourite villagers...saved me a lot of time when going on errands or socializing!)
  • SoS: FoMT's animal care. No specialized treats, no physically PUSHING cows out of barns! The bell was wonderful. I even like the breeding for maximum affection, though it'd be more fun if breeding had more customization to it than that.
  • SoS: FoMT's time-freeze indoors.
  • SoS1's character portrait style.
  • SoS1's cooking interface where the cookbook reopens to the last recipe you looked at.
  • SoS1 or Trio's clothing and character customization.
  • ANB or Trio's level of story/goal-having. (I like to have a lot of choice about what goal to be working toward...ANB's recipes and blueprints were great motivators, and Trio's Town Link Ranks and Farming Tips, too.)
  • Trio showing little heads on the map to show where people were.
I could probably think of more, but I'll stop there to see what everyone else thinks of as the best features, cuz I'm sure there's some I've forgotten completely. If including Natsume game features...I'd add being able to get crop variants.
Kaiyumi
Wacky Weed Puller
Wacky Weed Puller
Posts: 124
Joined: Jun 19, 2008 4:06 pm

Post  Posted:

This is a fun thread! I had been considering making something similar, because the last few games really got me thinking about this. There are quite a few opinions that we share, but to emphasize a few and add some of my own...

(As a forewarning, characters, character development, and personal relationships are always the first thing I gravitate to in games/movies/other media..so the strongest opinions that I have ended up concerning those aspects as opposed to the actual...farming OOPS--)

3oT - Crops/Animals. ...Alright, so this was actually a little too aggressive for me at first, but I've really come to enjoy working up the ranks of all of my animals and crops in this game. That said, I'd probably like a slightly more watered down version of this (i.e. instead of having 4 different factors to consider with animals/crops, maybe...lowering it to a respectable 2 or 3 depending). I did enjoy this though, because it gave me another personal goal to achieve even after I finished everything else.

SoS/AnB/3oT - Character Customization. ...........I just want to make my own characters aaaa.

3oT - Variety of dialogue. The fact that they had pre/post dating and marriage lines change for all festivals (among all of the other dialogue!) was such a lovely touch for the eligible characters, and I really felt like the events in this game helped flesh out the characters more than some of the previous ones.

AP/AnB/3oT/etc - Goals. I realized after playing the new FoMT that I truly need some sort of overarching goal to help drive my momentum. I still enjoy it to an extent, but at this point, just plopping me down and going "okay, go!" isn't enough to hold my attention for long.

Original FoMT/ToT/AP/etc - Rival Marriages. I know that this is a point of contention because a lot of people just don't like rival marriages, but I always thought it added a nice little touch! I think it'd be nice if there was sort of a mix of the original FoMT (last rival event unlocked in Y4) and ToT/AP (must have rival up to a certain heart value + they ask you if they should pursue their crush) so that those who want to have the marriages can, and those who'd rather ignore them can choose to do that as well!

AP - Children/Rival Children. Part of this ties in with the above. First, I enjoyed how you were able to have two kids, that their personalities depended on their second parent, and that they'd help with chores! Secondly, it was also great that rival couples got unique kids of their own; it really helped liven up the game vs. "You are the one, young married couple with a kid in this entire town".

SoS: FoMT - Marry Anyone. Such a simple little thing, but a huge one. They kind of danced towards this with the "Best Friends" system in HM:DS Cute and by letting your farmer dress in whatever clothing they want in AnB/3oT, but it was nice to see that the new FoMT finally stopped taking gender in as a factor for marriage. I know that this was especially meaningful to a lot of people who grew up with the games and had to settle for being the opposite gender just to marry who they wanted, and I think it should be included in future installments.

ToT/AP - Bachelor/Bachelorette Selection. Maybe this is a weird one, but something that always really struck me about ToT/AP was how much I really liked the variety of marriageable candidates. Maybe it was a little excessive to some (AP has a total of 20 candidates, if memory serves), but I loved how colourful they all were, their different roles/personalities...and how the special candidates here were actually appealing (oof, those days of the gourmet and kappa...)

3oT - Waving/Eating with people/Lack of friendship decay. I just crammed these all together because they're all related to villagers' friendship, but I loved that I was able to just casually "chat" with all the characters in the passing when I just didn't have time to stop and talk properly. It was also just a sweet touch that you could eat meals with households and your own family and have a little conversation with them. Finally, best of all, I appreciated not having to fear losing friendship with people if you didn't talk to them everyday!
User avatar
Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
Posts: 4252
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

Post  Posted:

I would agree with keeping the more complex animal treat system in Trio if you could see the effects of all of them more clearly. Like...I want to eliminate the treat for improving 'coat', cuz you get no visible or product benefit out of it, afaik. Maybe have them glisten a bit, all glossy, if you improve their coat quality...or deepen in colour or something. (Size, product level and product quantity all had measurable improvements, so I didn't mind them as much, but I the 'coat' improvement did nothing I could actually see.) I love to be able to SEE the changes I make in the world with my hard work, so anything that has no actual impact leaves me unmotivated.

Rival marriages would be something I'd be totally into...IF the rival events and potential pairing up could only be triggered AFTER you got married...or after you complete some complicated rigamarole to make it possible prior to that. And I'd like it more if each person had the potential of being paired up with 2 or 3 different people, letting you choose. And then the kids could be dependent on that, too, and the events you'd get.

(I'm pretty sure the only way I'd really like rival stuff would be more trouble than the devs would ever go in for...but it'd be FUN, and a great motivator to continue playing after marriage in the newer-style games, imo.)

Otherwise our lists have quite a bit in common! :) I desperately need lots of goals to choose from, too...it was so easy to stay motivated in recent games because there was always more I wanted to do. (Playing for 50 years to get an essentially useless cottage doesn't work as incentive, for me.)

ANB's blueprint/recipe and placement systems really make me want to play it again, though...the events are so lackluster compared to Trio's, and the mechanics are slow and choppy when you compare to the two games that came afteraward. :(
Kaiyumi
Wacky Weed Puller
Wacky Weed Puller
Posts: 124
Joined: Jun 19, 2008 4:06 pm

Post  Posted:

Oh, that's an excellent point! I'm someone who thrives off of being able to see the fruits of my labour, so getting to actually see a difference between an S coat animal and a D coat one would be great!

I would love a rival system like that. I agree that the developers would understandably consider that to take up too much time/be excessive...but oof, in an ideal world? I would love to have the opportunity to do a little matchmaking (hello, newer Fire Emblem games) and having kids unique to each pair! I feel like AP really did an excellent job in that regard, but potential rival marriages were admittedly way too easy to trigger in that one if you wanted to be friends with everyone.

It's so interesting to me that every new installment of SoS tends to be...DRASTICALLY different in most aspects. On one hand, it's kind of nice to have fresh mechanics, but on the other, I'm always constantly wishing that they had done this or that instead. 8')
User avatar
Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
Posts: 4252
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

Post  Posted:

SEEING crops and animals get huge made me want to give them the right fertilizer/treats to make that happen. It's very motivating, like being able to upgrade your house from a gross shack to a cozy little hut, and then to a more spacious house...fun stuff, for me.

I think a rival system like I have in mind would eliminate almost all objections. Firstly by not being possible to trigger accidentally. Secondly, no jealousy...you wouldn't see your chosen one flirting or getting blushy with anyone else unless you wanted to. And even if you decided to make rivalry possible pre-marriage by completing some complicated quest, each character would have 2-3 romantic options, meaning there is no 'one true love' you're thwarting by choosing one of them for yourself. You, like those 2-3 others, are merely one of the people that character could be happy with. (Well, I suppose the 2-3 options could even include a pairing that isn't really suited to each other, and would have problems. That'd be really interesting, event-wise, and maybe you'd even have to do more work to try to make a pair that didn't mesh well get along better...but I think that would be even MORE complicated and maybe kinda contentious, lol.)

I love to see my impact on the game world...and I love, love, love being able to make the world my own with extensive character and farm customization and plenty of different goals that you can pursue at your own pace.

Ugh, talking about it makes me really want a new game right away! But...they change every time. No saying the new game will be all that close to my ideal, any more than the remake was. But I've liked the last three games a lot, even if the first SoS had a lot of unfortunate features.
User avatar
freckles
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Posts: 557
Joined: Oct 09, 2008 4:11 pm

Post  Posted:

I'd say I'm pretty lenient when it comes to the game mechanics so long as they aren't overly complicated and/or boring (though I suppose that's up to my discretion).
  • Where I do have strong opinions:
  • AWL's child rearing... I don't care if I sound like a broken record when I say this « Cow Poopoo » profoundly impacted me as a kid LOL. Like... I was so invested in my little family and the future of the family farm. Which brings me to my next point --
  • AWL's passage of time was meaningful. You watched characters grow up (or grow old, even die...) and your bonds would deepen as a result. You grow old with your spouse!! How cute is that. Each chapter of your life can have its own goals and milestones, moving toward the game's ultimate goal. I think they could expand on this in a really thoughtful way.
  • A mixture of AP and AWL's animal care. Bring back the silkworms!! Also I « Snuggly Bunny » loved the cows in AWL they were such CUTIES!! Hugging them gave me serotonin lmao. I remember DS Cute tried adding an affection system that was very meh but not completely disposable as an idea!
  • SoS: FoMT's time freezing is just a must.
  • SoS: FoMT's bisexual marriage candidates. Or, like Mass Effect/Dragon Age, each character has their own unique sexuality. Not sure how this would complicate
  • bringing back rival marriages a la FoMT/AP style. Especially bringing back AP's rival children! Bonus characters aka playmates for your child? Loves it.
  • Wait, did I say child? Why not children like AP? « Mayor Thomas » that was fun. Might be a personal preference (I don't even want kids irl...) but idc lol :lol:
  • SoS/AnB/3oT character customization is pretty cool. At the very least, keep the option to change (diverse) skin tones.
  • Earning recipes like in Sos: FoMT!
  • No friendship decay like in 3oT.
  • NOT AnB's graphics please... the cows were so ugly. (this does not apply to character portraits)
I can't remember which had the best dialogue variety and crop system but so long as those also don't fall short, this would be my perfect game :heart:
Caindoglover
New Seedling
New Seedling
Posts: 8
Joined: Oct 31, 2019 2:47 am

Post  Posted:

• AWL's child rearing system. You will never understand how happy it makes me to be able to interact with the child in meaningful ways. This is literally the only game where your child isnt furniture and it is so disappointing that they refuse to make the child matter in more titles. Being able to show the child all kinds of items and get unique responses is great and I was tickled to death when I played as a kid. And being able to carry him anywhere and all the super cute interactions like snuggling still to this day makes me warm and fuzzy. I so badly want this in a game again.
• AWL's aging/time passage system. This goes hand in hand with the child interactions. I want to see my child grow up into an adult dang it. Plus literally any sense of time passing for anyone. I loved seeing the age set in on the buildings and people's hair/faces as you played into the later chapters of AWL. I know some people probably don't like to see darker stuff in these games but I liked that people died (I actually hated so many old people outlive you).The same way I like people moved in. It felt like the most alive town in the series because of it. Nothing ever stagnated.
• AWL's animal care system. I know everyone and their mother hated that the cows only gave milk for a year and then you had to get them pregnant again, but I'm sorry...I liked it. I LIKED the realism. I liked that male animals actually existed in a game for once and were needed to fertilize an egg or for the cow to get pregnant. If they had just given a bigger barn and allowed for more than one to be pregnant at once than maybe fewer people would have hated it. But it taught me things that applied to real life as a kid and I appreciated that. So I continue to love it and want it in a game again. Fight me. Also the cows were the cutest cows in the series. When they licked my face I ascended.
• AWL's darker tone/more realistic feel. Even among the older games AWL feels darker and I very much love that about it. It doesnt fully commit to all of the things it could like Celia's arranged marriage but that's fine. And when you compare it to the new games...the tone is massively different. SoS games are so saturated and overly cheerful it's ridiculous. It is like nothing bad ever happens. And if you like that then great but I really wish there was some kind of realism like people with disabilities, people with bad pasts, people who have something bad currently going on like an abusive relationship. There just is nothing anymore. Everyone is always happy when I talk to them and it's super boring. I mean, Muffy actually gets visibly depressed in her dialogue in ch.2 of AWL if you dont marry her and wont accept gifts. It hurts my heart. The same for Galen. Isnt it wild how characters actually had emotions beyond happy and in love with you outside of cutscenes?
• AWL's aesthetics. It has the best visual style of any harvest moon/sos game hands down. This technically isn't a feature I suppose but it is something I miss a lot. The new games are so...ugh. Why so anime? And chibi? AWL hit a nice balance. It isnt quite realistic but it is proportioned well enough to not be chibi. Besides the characters, the way the rest of the world looks is good too. It just makes me feel peaceful which is the whole point of these games. Newer games also are way too brightly colored imo. It wouldn't hurt them to tone it down a bit.
• BTN's rival marriage. I miss it. I miss it so much! And I'll take any form of rival marriage it doesnt have to be BTN, this is just the one I know best and would work best in a more AWL type game which is the type of game I want. If I was working under the assumption of 1 year to marry like in AWL then the last rival event would be blocked off until the winter month. If you arent married by then it's your own dang fault if your pick gets stolen. I know it was certainly my own fault in BTN when my pick got stolen. It is nothing to get upset about, just start over. People who get so upset to the point they don't want it in the games...just blow my mind.
• AP's rival kids. Rival kids are half the reason rival marriage is so good. And in an AWL style game your kid could have so many scenes with the rival kids throughout the years. It would be amazing and was honestly a lost opportunity back when they made AWL. For me personally I'd never want a game that progresses without rival kids, in this AWL style, so I'd have two rival sets, one that has to have their scenes viewed for marriage and the other that just automatically marries at the end of year 1 no matter what. I wish the devs thought rival kids were this important even in regular games. Even without scenes they are still cute.
•SoS:FoMT's gay marriage. It was just a good step forward. For me personally it just means I can play as the best designed protagonist for that game instead of picking based on marriage. Lol Thank goodness for FoMT. I would have died playing as anyone other than the guy with the hat. It hides his awful bobblehead. This is why rival marriage cant be based on a friendship system like AP though.
DON'T give the crops and animals fifty qualities to improve. It stresses me out and I hate it. I dont play harvest moon to work myself to death. I want to chill and almost not think. Just sort of drift. People complain AWL didnt have enough to do and maybe it could have had a few extra activities to influence the kid but it nailed the chill vibe. BTN did too. I go back to both those games constantly. Never have I replayed any others. And honestly this remake just makes me want to go play BTN instead...the remake just doesnt hit right.
• I'd also rather not get to place things on my farm and in the village. Its nicer when things just are where they are and that's the end of it. I dont need all the customization and in fact am agitated by it. Not talking about the character customization, I sometimes enjoy that, just the farm.

This was basically me showering AWL with love. Lol It was almost my perfect game as is.
User avatar
Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
Posts: 4252
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

Post  Posted:

No one's going to fight you...this topic isn't meant to be a debate about the comparative merits of all the different game features. The topic is specifically to make YOUR perfect Bokumono game, not 'make the Bokumono game that you feel will please the largest possible group'. I prefer to make topics that don't debate what is the best in a general way, but in a specific way...for you. Because there's no way to make everybody happy. We have evidence of that right in this thread. I would hate your ideal game because I don't like the features you like, and you'd hate mine for the same reasons...
User avatar
freckles
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Posts: 557
Joined: Oct 09, 2008 4:11 pm

Post  Posted:

@Caindoglover, I have to agree with you that part of AWL's appeal was its dark (eh, is it even dark? maybe it's just unsettlingly realistic considering later iterations) tone. FoMT felt like it was still in the same vein. So many missing family members in Mineral Town... lots of sad stories. SoS felt hollow to me for a long time, which was why the games were forgettable to me. I couldn't tell them apart (I did like Trio better though).

@Kikki, I might be wrong but I think that was just hyperbole on Cain's part.
User avatar
Code_Name_Geek
Tubular Turnip Farmer
Tubular Turnip Farmer
Posts: 341
Joined: Mar 13, 2017 7:14 pm

Post  Posted:

Ooh great idea for a topic! Here are the features that I would choose for my perfect BokuMono game:
  • ToTT: Request board - I loved the request board in this game, it made the gameplay loop even more addicting for me. Though I would rather not have the story locked and upgrades tied to the request board, as that tended to stall progress too much, but having requests to do as a side thing was really fun.
  • ToTT: Friendship indicator for all villagers on dialogue boxes - I really liked that the marriage candidates had coloured flowers and the normal villagers had white flowers that showed their friendship levels in this game, it made the gradual increase of friendship more noticeable without having to obsessively check a menu. It was a nice visual touch that gave the dialogue box some more style too!
  • ToTT: Indicators for which cows need to be milked - Idk if this was the only game that did this, but when you selected the milker cows would get a milk symbol in a little speech bubble above them if they still needed to be milked. It’s a little thing but it made it sooo much easier to keep track of that.
  • ToTT: Irrigation trenches and fertilizer - I thought the irrigation trenches were really neat, and I also liked that the fertilizer was a multi-day thing and not something you had to do every day. Though I would like an easier way to dig them—it was a little tricky to get the button movements exactly right.
  • Older games - Discovery/inspiration cooking system - I like being able to just cook recipes that I have the ingredients for, instead of having to wait for someone to tell me how. I also like learning new recipes by inspiration, but having the freedom to cook them ahead of time if I want to. But at least let me select my own ingredients and have cooked dishes be profitable (looking at you, SoS:FoMT).
  • SI: The mushroom hunting pig - Okay I admit that I just love pigs and want to have one lol. But I would like it to live on my farm this time because travelling to that island every day to visit it was kind of a drag.
  • SoS:FoMT: Dedicated space for fruit trees - Planting fruit trees has always stressed me out so much because I’m worried I’ll change my mind later, and then I often have to start over with star rank depending on the game. I would like a dedicated orchard area, larger than the one in SoS:FoMT to accommodate more tree types, where I can plant my trees and they won’t interfere with my regular crops.
  • Older games: More fixed farm layout - Similar to fruit trees, I find it kind of stressful to decide where everything goes instead of having a field here and a barn here. At the very least, I don’t want to deal with multiple barns like in 3oT—just let me upgrade my one barn to fit everyone please! Though I think I would like a game where you could decide the farm layout if it was easier to move things around. The ideal system for me would be an edit mode where it switches to an overhead view and you can move things around without having to pick them up with your character, a little like the furniture edit mode in Sims. Then I could see myself having fun designing layouts if it wasn’t so tedious to move stuff around and get a good overhead view.
  • SoS:FoMT: S/s marriage system - This one is absolutely a must, more than anything else on my list. I just want to choose who to marry based on character and not gender.
  • 3oT: Character development/family meals/variation of dialogue - I think 3oT got the whole character thing almost perfect, so I’d love to see character development of that depth return again.
  • Older games: more involved mining - The mining nodes are just incredibly boring. Though I do think that the old mining system needs quite a few tweaks to modernize it, since it’s far from perfect in SoS:FoMT, but I’d just like to see something more involved than hitting a node (even a tunnel with daily respawning rocks would be more interesting than the nodes).
  • 3oT/AWL: Child mechanics - There were a few things I liked here, but especially the fact that your kid would look like their parent. It made them feel more unique depending on who you picked (and do it for s/s couples too… the Harvest Goddess is totally capable of making a magical baby look like their parents lol). I’d like to see some variance in personality depending on the other parent too, maybe along the lines of AWL (but not quite so involved since I don’t want it to be the main focus of the game). I also like when the kid goes to play with other kids in the town, since it’s much cuter than them just running around the farmhouse all day.
That’s all I can think of for the moment… it’s been fun reading everyone else’s responses too!
User avatar
freckles
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Not the Eggplant Wizard
Posts: 557
Joined: Oct 09, 2008 4:11 pm

Post  Posted:

I forgot about the pig!!! I loved having one in Magical Melody ;___;
User avatar
Kikki
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
UNoT Extreme Mooomber
Posts: 4252
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 6:01 am

Post  Posted:

I didn't think of this, but if you want, you can add features from Rune Factory, as well. For example, I'd really like to have minimal voice acting added. A few greetings and lines like 'that looks good' when you're carrying food or 'what awful weather' when it's raining...and maybe just a few key lines from events...not entire speeches or anything like that.

The dating from RF4 would be nice, too. And maybe magical crops, too.
Kaiyumi
Wacky Weed Puller
Wacky Weed Puller
Posts: 124
Joined: Jun 19, 2008 4:06 pm

Post  Posted:

^ Minimal voice acting would be a nice touch for sure!

I also like the mentions of AWL; that was my very first Bokumono game, so it still holds a special place in my heart. 8') I don't think I'd be able to play through it as I did in the past, but I definitely wouldn't mind a game where the characters have more realistic personalities/backgrounds/struggles. I really love how the characters and town grew up with you too!

Thinking about it, I'm so conflicted; on one hand, the fact that the game actually "ends" and has slightly more realistic characters would give me a main goal and encourage me to actually get through all of the years. On the other hand, sometimes I just want a super happy-go-lucky game that has no end and that I can keep going back to.

...I guess I kind of have two ideal Bokumono games now. B')
Caindoglover
New Seedling
New Seedling
Posts: 8
Joined: Oct 31, 2019 2:47 am

Post  Posted:

freckles wrote:@Caindoglover, I have to agree with you that part of AWL's appeal was its dark (eh, is it even dark? maybe it's just unsettlingly realistic considering later iterations) tone. FoMT felt like it was still in the same vein. So many missing family members in Mineral Town... lots of sad stories. SoS felt hollow to me for a long time, which was why the games were forgettable to me. I couldn't tell them apart (I did like Trio better though).

@Kikki, I might be wrong but I think that was just hyperbole on Cain's part.
Yeah BTN had poor Gotz with his dead family and the winery had the missing daughter. Those are just the two I can think of off the top of my head. It's probably part of why I like that title too. The older games just knew how to hit a good balance of hard truth and light gameplay. I always gave Gotz my dog's puppy cause I didn't want him to be lonely. Lol I hate they took away the puppies in fomt.

I think Trio could have used fewer characters so each one got more scenes. If I remember right the villagers only got two each, right? One or two more scenes for each in exchange for losing some characters would have benefited character depth in my opinion. Three towns is just a lot. The heart event scenes were amazing though. So I agree it's been my favorite SoS since AP.

And yeah basically hyperbole. I just got super into what I was writing. It's just kind of how I talk. I come off as confrontational when I'm passionate. Haha
User avatar
VanillaCookies
Custodian of Corn
Custodian of Corn
Posts: 435
Joined: Apr 04, 2008 9:37 pm

Post  Posted:

AP: Rival kid system.
AP: Their entire child system. I loved being able to have two kids and getting to actually watch them grow up made me want to keep on playing even well past Year 3. Only change I'd make is to slow the entire process down a bit. It takes half a season to finish a pregnancy in this game and barely longer for the kids to age.
Save the Homeland: The ability to chose different varieties of horses. AP did this as well to some extent but I loved how I actually got my pick in this game.
AP: The phone was a life saver on festival days. Please bring it back.
AP: Their mining system was my favorite out of all HM titles. I know some people don't like having to dedicate 15 real world minutes to something like that but I vastly enjoyed it.
Tree of Tranquility/Save the Homeland/Trio: The part-time job system. It was a nice little way to improve your heart rankings with villagers and earn money in the early game.
AP: BRING BACK THE HARVEST KING.
AP: While the bells did get tedious I liked the overarching narrative and felt an active dislike going back to SoS:FOMT and finding the story even more gutted there than it had been initially. It got immensely boring for me...
SoS:FOMT: The vibrancy of the color palette they're using is something I desperately want going forward. It just makes the games feel so much warmer.
SoS:FOMT: Equal marriage is something I desperately want to be a recurring theme.
HM64: LET MY CHARACTER GET DRUNK AGAIN PLEASE.
Magical Melody/DS Remakes: Bring back a soft achievement system please. While the Sprites/Musical notes aren't to everyone's tastes I really liked having a secondary objective to running my farm. It was something, like children in AP, that could keep me playing long after my farm goals and been achieved.
AWL: The seed maker. That's pretty much it as this is probably my least favorite game style in the series.
AP: Being able to have lots of pets and being able to teach them tricks.
Magical Melody: Pick where your first house is, then have the ability to buy other plots for farming around the entire map.
Magical Melody: Have horses be actually worthwhile beyond transportation. I made a pretty penny in this game just breeding and training horses for the big Horse Race festival, as any horse sold that had won it was worth A LOT.
ANB: I second the placement grid, as well as their entire building system. I don't want to have to build the entire town layout again but I would love the ability to customize my farm.
Trio/AP: Fertilizer system.
Trio: Crop and animal system as well.
Trio/Most modern SoS games: Their cooking system. I prefer it when the game has more recipes to play around with, however I do wish they'd go back to the old style of being able to still cook recipes if you lucked into figuring out their ingredients even without the recipe on hand.
AP: The models, minus poor Owen and his bobblehead.
AP: The amount of dialogue people have to say is insane in this game. However it's heart system is arguably one of the worst in the series. So I'd take that from any modern HM game baring ANB.
Trio: Town ranks.
ANB: Their multiplayer was FUN, if also immensely broken. I'd still like to see it again for the giant animals that'd spawn. :lol:
AP: The ability to change the furniture placement in my house and pick out colors I liked.
ANB: For the housing interior variety. Trio for the outside style variety.
Trio: The amount of festivals, again to help spice up gameplay.
AP: For the fishing variety.
AP/SoS:FOMT: A time system that bridges between these two extremes (very long days versus very quick days) would be ideal for me. As FOMT went by a little too quickly for me while AP's days were so long your character can be finished with all their chores/mining/greeting/etc well before 17:00 and then just have nothing but free time.
SoS:FOMT: Time freezing in doors.
Later SoS Games: The character customization was amazing, and I really loved the variety of clothing I could make for my character to wear.
AP: The ability to go outside during a typhoon.
Post Reply