Harvestella

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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Mikodesu
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Mabbie wrote: Oct 06, 2022 7:20 am I'm a bit disappointed to read this thread. I don't know about the price in dollars, but it's really expensive in our currency, so I had high expectations about this game. It doesn't seem to be worthy at all..
Have you played any of the demo, or just read through the thread? The best I can say for Harvestella is that the trailers don't do it justice. Both gameplay and story are actually pretty good! (From what I've played, they are.) The name doesn't bother me, but I can see it causing some problems going forward because "Harvest" says "Moon" to a lot of the community. If it's anything, Harvestella is a Rune Factory clone. And aside from what I'm guessing will be a lack of depth to the social aspects, I could see it being a fairly successful one too.

I would say to wait for reviews to come out, and consider wishlisting the game on Steam. Since it's coming out for PC at the same time as Switch, it won't be long before it goes on sale. On sale, I think it will be worthwhile. The price is still my biggest problem, personally. I'm very likely to buy it, I'm just not sure when yet.
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Elithegaymer had a video about a Squeenix Japanese blog where it mentioned tweaking the time. Also, there will be 'life companions' eventually in the game.

I've got the game pre-ordered on the e-shop and can't wait til Nov 4. I can only afford to support one system so I don't spend a lot on games. I've really enjoyed the demo so for me it's worth it.
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I definitely wouldn't advise anyone to make a choice on Harvestella without trying the demo, but...I guess it's possible that the demo isn't available in some areas? If true, that would be unpleasant. It's in an odd niche so it's definitely one I'd want to try. I will be going back into the demo myself, sooner or later...when I have a bit more energy. I don't think I'll be able to make a decision on it unless I complete the demo effectively, getting all the story that's permitted completed in the time frame they give you.

I personally don't find Harvestella to be very similar to Rune Factory since RF has a story, but calling it 'story-driven' would be a stretch, for me, and this game doesn't seem to have much focus on crafting skills. (I can't remember if there was any skill-levelling at all in this game, now...I'll have to go back in and refresh my memory.) But it's certainly closer to RF than to Bokumono.

I hope it does have 'life companions'. If it doesn't, it's even less similar to RF than I thought it'd be. Because I must admit that I was expecting a higher-budget version of Rune Factory when I went into the game, and I was probably a bit put off when I didn't feel like that's what I got. Though I do like the characters and story a fair bit so far...the story is intriguing.
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Mikodesu
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Very good to hear about life companions! That adds another level of depth to the game, which is intriguing. :)


As for the demos, since Switch is regionless, and Steam is with rare exceptions universal save for the currency you're buying in, accessing the demo shouldn't be an issue I think. Aside from just...the time/effort involved. I'd very much say it's worth playing a little before judging. Because before I played it I felt very much that it looked like a cheap knock-off.

For why I think it's a "Rune Factory"-like...

- Has a markedly Japanese-style fantasy setting

- Story progression and unlocking new areas is linear, and almost exclusively tied to the story

- Including but not centering story or progression around farming and ranching

- Crafting

- Multiple weapon types/combat styles

- Events that take place outside of the main story


Whether or not it FEELS like a Rune Factory game is a personal thing (I kinda feel like it does), but on a mechanical level, it apes a lot. Right down to the amnesiac protagonist. In other better formed sub-genres clones don't have to be exact copies either, think Metroidvania, or Soulslike.
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Kikki wrote: Oct 06, 2022 7:29 amThat really depends on what you were going into it for. If you want a farming game, with the full farming-life experience, including relationships and family-raising, yeah, I'd say this is a pretty big disappointment.
That was what I wanted of this game, like the HM/SoS games... my main objective is always getting married and having kids. :'(
Mikodesu wrote: Oct 06, 2022 9:34 am Have you played any of the demo, or just read through the thread? The best I can say for Harvestella is that the trailers don't do it justice. Both gameplay and story are actually pretty good! (From what I've played, they are.) The name doesn't bother me, but I can see it causing some problems going forward because "Harvest" says "Moon" to a lot of the community. If it's anything, Harvestella is a Rune Factory clone. And aside from what I'm guessing will be a lack of depth to the social aspects, I could see it being a fairly successful one too.

I would say to wait for reviews to come out, and consider wishlisting the game on Steam. Since it's coming out for PC at the same time as Switch, it won't be long before it goes on sale. On sale, I think it will be worthwhile. The price is still my biggest problem, personally. I'm very likely to buy it, I'm just not sure when yet.
I've read several threads, not only here in this forum.. I value the gamers experience and opinions, and what killed my mood the most was the time going too fast in-game. Seriously, that gives me major anxiety. Lol
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Mabbie wrote: Oct 07, 2022 5:56 am
Kikki wrote: Oct 06, 2022 7:29 amThat really depends on what you were going into it for. If you want a farming game, with the full farming-life experience, including relationships and family-raising, yeah, I'd say this is a pretty big disappointment.
That was what I wanted of this game, like the HM/SoS games... my main objective is always getting married and having kids. :'(
Well, word is that there ARE relationships ('life-companions') but I don't know if that includes marriage or not, and I've heard nothing about having children.

I'd still advise trying the demo. It's free, after all...I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't try it to see for yourself...unless you just really dislike JRPGs as a whole...as everyone perceives it differently, it costs nothing, and if you don't like it, you can just delete it and forget about it with nothing lost. Plenty of people don't find the game clock/time passage to be a problem at all, others do. Most people seem to dislike the farming mechanics, but I love them. I have no idea what the consensus is on the combat system...I found it pretty run-of-the-mill JRPG action combat. Nothing special, but easy to assimilate.

I do think it's about the story, though. Not sure it's worth playing if you don't get into the story. So far I haven't discovered anything about the game that'd be enough to make me continue if the story itself wasn't interesting (but it is, imo.) It's a JRPG much more than a sim, in my books. I do wish they'd let us get a look at the people we'll be allowed to romance (presumably) and how that'll work. I did hear talk of a very attractive man outside of town from another character that made me wonder if I was hearing about an eligible fella, but I never got to meet him, at least not the way I played...maybe there's a way in there, I dunno. I was also curious about farm expansions and other towns and what happens when the season changes (do I have to move to another town??) but those things aren't covered in the span of time available to you in the demo, at least as far as I was able to see.

I still have no idea if I'm going to buy the game or not. I need to restart the demo and get to the end, knowing what I know now and prepared to make the most of it. I'm too tired to tackle it right now but I'm definitely going to.

But still, the point of this to me is: free demo. :)
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Mikodesu
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Mabbie wrote: Oct 07, 2022 5:56 am I've read several threads, not only here in this forum.. I value the gamers experience and opinions, and what killed my mood the most was the time going too fast in-game. Seriously, that gives me major anxiety. Lol
Aw, I'm sorry! :( If it helps at all, K8sMum did tell us that the devs are going to slow down time a bit before the game releases. Hopefully after it does they'd be able to release an updated demo, so you can see if it's any better for you. (Or at least, post release thoughts on the clock speed.)

I do wish we just knew more about how the game was going to work. They're being pretty secretive, which is a shame.
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K8sMum
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It looks like farming is going to be more important than the demo shows [https://mobile.twitter.com/SquareEnix]. I'm not sure if I'm posting the link correctly, but let me know and I'll try again. You'll need to scroll down a bit.
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DId you mean to post a specific tweet? That is done by using this code (though you have to replace the round brackets with square ones) and placing the tweet number (in the url) in between:

(tweet)1579094596667453440(/tweet)

So if I replace those round brackets, what you get is this:
Not sure if that's the one you meant to post, though, since it does mention crops here, but no mention of the farming being important, that I can see. That tweet shows that farming may be a bit more complex/deep than expected but unless I am missing a detail in the screenshots, it doesn't seem to indicate the importance of farming to the game overall.
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Shan O 123
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Boop


Kikki you’re a ninja lolololol!!!!
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K8sMum
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Thanks for the heads up on posting, Kikki.

I'm seeing it as being important due to the many types of crops that can be grown and the specific places they are grown in. There must be a need for the different crops, even if only for cooking or gifting.. Ergo, to me it makes the farming seem more important.

I may be wrong. Tbf, Squeenix lists it as a lifestyle simulation RPG.
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Kikki
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Here's an article on stuff they've decided to tweak based on demo feed back of Harvestella.
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K8sMum
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Kikki wrote: Oct 19, 2022 4:51 am Here's an article on stuff they've decided to tweak based on demo feed back of Harvestella.
You beat me to it, Kikki; just read this on NL. It's great they listened to feedback and made adjustments. I think I'm the only one here really enthusiastic about this game, but I can't wait til Nov 4.
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Kikki
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I'm probably going to get the game...just not likely on release, since I think I'd rather wait for a sale, what with the misgivings I have for it. Square Enix is great for sales, thankfully...I'm not sure about within the first year of release, but afterward their games all go on pretty good sales multiple times every year.

This'll depend, of course, on what games I have on my waitlist (the games I pass by on release but am still interested in) the next time I have a gap in my backlog. I still plan to re-start the demo now that I know how the game works a bit more, to see if I can squeeze a better result out of my time. I hope it's a great game, anyway. Of course I do, lol. Why would I ever hope a game was bad, I wonder...
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Mikodesu
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If there's one good thing you can still say about Square Enix, they do listen to demo feedback, and I like that a lot. :) It's always little stuff, but it can make a big difference to the final experience when you add everything up.

I'm waiting on reviews to drop to make my final decision on the game. I still wanna make the leap, but a few more days to decide won't hurt. I'm not seeing a preorder discount for Harvestella anywhere, either.
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