How long do you play HM/SoS games for?

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.
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Harvest moon and story of seasons games can go on forever if we want them to (apart from a few exceptions). How long do you usually play them for?

I played HM animal parade until my old Wii U crashed, which was shortly after the birth of the 2nd child. The first story of seasons was a different case as I played until I had seen all the vacation events in like year 10 or 11!

Most other games I play until the child grows up and I see all the events. Rune factory 4 was the exception to this though as I still wish to continue playing every now and again even after seeing everything.

Do you think there should be more post game content in these games or that they should make marriage not one of the last things players do before finishing the game? Perhaps having a better online mode would fix things, with new coop or competitive missions separate from the main game that rotate monthly or so?
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Kikki
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Are we talking hours spent playing the game? My record for a single paythrough is just over 400 hours, for ANB (thanks to Sanjay....but also thanks to him, I can never really do much with other plays because I don't want anyone other than him. I tried, but it falls flat.) At that play time, I was just reaching Year 5.

I've played SoS1 for more than 600, but that's across 3 files, possibly 4. I think Trio was about the same. SoS1 I also played almost to Year 5 in my Nadi file (I already had every animal and the ferris wheel or whatever that thing was called, and you can only get those after Fall of Year 4, which is how I remember when I stopped playing.)

I don't think I've played past Year 3 in Trio, though it's a better game than SoS1...it just doesn't have any compelling long-term goals like ANB and SoS1 did.

There are any number of things they could do to extend the appeal of longer play in Bokumono, but some people prefer good NG+, to do alternate replays rather than playing the same file forever. I like both, personally. In ANB I really would have wanted to extend my one play in particular, but I do like when the game makes me want to just keep playing the same file. Updating the game with new goals would be awesome. One thing I always wanted to see was to have them update with a line of quests for your child. Either for things for you to do for and with your child, or maybe to temporarily let you play AS your child...maybe set up their own little garden and little market shop, or play with the game's other children, have events with them, etc. (Mind you, some people don't have kids in the game, so there'd have to be some equivalent alternative.)

Bit of a pipe dream, but there's a load of things I can think of that would make me want to just keep playing. Not so much in Olive Town because I just didn't find Olive Town lovable...the characters were so boring to me. So you have to begin with a game I'm enjoying a lot before I could care about adding NG+ or post game features.
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Never really looked at the amount of I time played, I was mainly thinking about in game time.

I usually only like doing one file most of the time as I am not a fan of doing the same things over again. I tried restarting Animal Parade but since I had done everything already it didn’t interest me. That’s also why I am not that big on new game plus, I have only ever used in in FE games which had different paths which drastically altered the story. In Bokumono though new game plus is basically doing the same thing all over again. I understand why people like NG+ but it’s not for me.

I second you on trio of towns. The game is great, the characters are great, the story is better than most other games but after a certain point there is nothing to do. Your spouse’s dialog may sometimes change at the end of the yearly festivals and at different stages in your romantic relationship but that’s about it, there is no real incentive to keep me playing.

PoOT I did not see all the events. I played through for an in game year and then I quit. I literally felt nothing while playing the game. They added extra event with the DLC but ehh, they were basically just fetch quests with no big incentive to finish.

The idea about having an extra mode where you can play as your child, start a shop or have a mini garden sounds adorable, especially if there is a short cute story to go along with it too. It could be a mode accessed from the menu like newlywed mode in RF4S.
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It would go so well with post-marriage (or post-game) match-making, with the couples you match-make having children, preferably unique to the pairing. You could have a whole second generation to play, with a new farming system and goals and new events with the other kids (not sure what age I think those kids should grow up to...stay little, be teens, or even eventually be adults...dunno!) It could be DLC, cuz that'd be as much work as a second game so they would *need* to charge money for it, but if it gave me more great gameplay, I'm very willing to pay. It could come in segments rather than all at once, like a mobile game.

I generally don't like mobile games because I'm not really into casual-style gameplay, and even story-based stuff often lacks the depth I want. But regular updates are the one thing about mobile gaming that I think would be great for more console games to pick up on. Optional updates and DLC for my favourite games is something I'd really welcome. They're less work for the dev team because the world, the models, the assets, etc...they're already made. But rather than a new game I may not even like (like Olive Town) I'd so love if there were more to play of ANB or Trio (or even SoS1).
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I’m also someone who will play to see most/all content, but usually not start a second file or touch the game again for years. The few times I tried a second file I wound up dating the same spouse because it felt like cheating otherwise. XD It will take me years to return to a game. I played Back to Nature again relatively recently, and am thinking of going back to the 64 version soon, but not, like, IoH/SI, which I played to death when they came out.

The longest in-game time I had recently was SoSFoMT, which I think was on year 5? I had completed everything but the random platinum produce spawns. Unfortunately, I was trying to marry Kappa, and didn’t have the heart to save-scum for those anymore. I played RF4S through the end of the third act, I was married with a kid, but I didn’t like crafting enough to complete the maze, and I had finished all the farming tasks. Don’t remember how many in-game years it was, since there’s a time skip in that one.

I’m more likely to move on when the farming tasks are complete, or aren’t moving toward a goal. I’ve quit more than one game before I had kids because I wasn’t motivated enough to pass the time to their birth. I like the Natsume farming system because there’s so much to do. I paused my One World play through after making a hideous spreadsheet to track crop mutations, but I’m thinking of picking that back up before the end of the year to try to complete more of it.
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Kikki wrote:It would go so well with post-marriage (or post-game) match-making, with the couples you match-make having children, preferably unique to the pairing. You could have a whole second generation to play, with a new farming system and goals and new events with the other kids (not sure what age I think those kids should grow up to...stay little, be teens, or even eventually be adults...dunno!) It could be DLC, cuz that'd be as much work as a second game so they would *need* to charge money for it, but if it gave me more great gameplay, I'm very willing to pay. It could come in segments rather than all at once, like a mobile game.
I’d be all for a port of trio with this mode included as paid DLC. The match making system is good on one hand because there are no set in stone couples you are coming in between like the old games but on the flipside, it would probably cause arguments about best couples and all that. Ugh. Can’t we all just agree to disagree? But it would eliminate the issue with rival couples for sure, especially since it is only for the one mode. As for all the couples having unique children, that would be really cool, although very unlikely. They will probably just pull a FE fates and have the children linked to the father or something. But honestly, I can’t see Komari and Wayne’s child being the same as Siluka and Wayne’s child for example. I would be fine if they did this with ANB or SoS 1 too.

What would they do with the leftover character though?
Sticking to trio for the moment, say I marry Yuzuki (my fave bachelor in trio), I then pair off the characters as follows:
Komari and Wayne, Siluka and Ford, Kasumi and Ludus, Hinata and Lisette. Where does that leave Illuka? Will she stay single or will they just match her up with a generic NPC? I honestly don’t know.

Sorry that I’m straying off topic
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It's your thread...but yeah, it's gone off your original topic with this. I'll put my reply here under a spoiler
Spoiler:
Well, for me...I don't see any need to pair EVERYONE up. I find that unnatural. Lots of people stay single! I certainly have, by choice...it's what I want from life, not something I got stuck with because I didn't have another option. (Sometimes I even felt like I had to fight to stay single, lol. It's been a lot of work sometimes when everyone seems so convinced that a woman in her twenties and thirties should be looking for a man!) I don't think every character needs to pair up. I'd prefer if it was all optional. If you really think Ford and Siluka would make a great pair or great family, then they can pair up. And if one of the other characters seems ill-suited to being alone, pair them up, too. But leave anyone you don't feel compelled to pair up...people aren't pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. We don't all need to interlock.

That's my opinion, anyway. I think it'd also be nice if you can have some influence on if they have children, if they remain childless, if they adopt...etc. Really let us form our own whole second generation in the game.

As for the kids...I figure each character would only have a small pool of other characters they *can* be paired up with, say three or so (I don't think everyone needs to be able to be paired up with *all* options...that's just weird, and not interesting, either...there's a lot of appeal to me in having the candidates for each character be limited) and each potential pairing would have their own specific child or children. And I don't think it has to be limited to your own characters romance options. Miranda and Frank could be options for each other, for example (though honestly I believe Frank genuinely wanted to stay single and had no interest in Miranda...I believe her regard was one-sided. Still...an option!) I could kind of see Megan and Moriya as an interesting couple, too...they'd have some unique issues/events!

It'd be neat, though, if rather than pairing certain people up, you could do something else for them, to contribute to a next gen play segment. Like if Iluka doesn't pair up, maybe it's because she wanted to concentrate on her career, and she spawns a whole chain of smoothie restaurants so each town eventually gets a stand you can buy unique recipes from, to suit the region. Or maybe characters could adopt or foster children in their personal stories, with or without getting married.

I'd like that. :)
And I'm making a new thread to continue discussing this! Will come back with a link when I have it :)

EDIT: Here it is! If you liked the off-topic stuff, go to that thread to continue talking about it. But if you have an answer for Somerandom's actual topic here, about how long you play your games for, please continue that discussion here! :)
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Code_Name_Geek
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How long I play for really depends on the game. Usually it's about 2-3 years, getting married at some point in that time and seeing my child born, but for some (like ToTT) I get well into Year 4 without marrying because I can't decide who to marry. My goal is usually to make it to see my child grow up but I've only accomplished that in one game so far, which was Trio of Towns. Occasionally I'll also get a game that doesn't click with me right away and I only make it about a month before trying something else (ANB was like this for me), but I'm always open to trying those games again in the future because sometimes I'm in the mood for different things.

As for hours, the most I've ever spent on any one game was about 350 hours on Trio of Towns, all on one file. Others that are pretty high (probably between 100-200) are HM64, the original FoMT, ToTT, and SOS1.
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It depends on a lot of factors. Have got to year 6 on ToTT, but for HMDS, only into year 2. Got to year 3 in AWL:SE more than once.

Time-wise, ToTT easily have eaten more of my time than the other two mentioned put together. If each day takes 30 minutes on average, a year takes about 60 hours, so year 6 means over 300 hours spent, but I often end up with an average of closer to an hour/day. And I've done more than one run.

Have also played through the original HM game, so 2.5 years there. So much time spent making the most of those eternal 6 pm evenings to plant and water crops, and chop wood.
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I usually play until my kid completely grows up. The year really doesn’t matter. Though my highest year count was SI with year 25. And that’s mostly because I spent most of that time not taking the plot seriously.
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The game that I played for the longest was HMDS. On my first copy of the game, I think I had played through at least year 64. Typically I’ll play a Harvest Moon game until I’m burnt out on it or until there’s nothing else for me to accomplish.
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There is a consistent pattern of me getting to somewhere between Fall of the 3rd year and Fall of 4th year and then real life happens, I lose my rhythm and end up never picking my file back up. Atleast with 64 and BTN, I just looked through my 2DS's activity and before I foolishly deleted my ANB file (to make way for Dragon Quest VII, which may of been a good trade imo) I had 112 hours on my ANB file.

That, or, I tend to get married and when the child is born I end up losing interest. I remember distinctly doing that in AWL in a year and a half in game time and I ended up disliking the game for years thinking it was too easy. It wasnt until a year or so ago that child rearing is the POINT of that game came to my attention lol
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How long I play the HM version actually depends on how my personal life goes.. I played BTN as a teenager and I played it for like 10 years in game twice. Mostly because I didn't have any other games to play..

Now that I'm able to buy my own games I don't play it for more than 5 years or so.. some I didn't even see my child fully grown, because I have more game options, so I don't get stuck with only one game.

So, nowadays it would be it. Around 5 years or less, unfortunately.
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