Grand Bazaar or Sunshine Islands?

[bailey]

Okay, so a series of long train rides are in my future and I want to choose a new DS game to pass the time. I'm trying to decide between Grand Bazaar and Sunshine Islands. So, a question to anyone who has played both: which did you prefer?

My favorite HM game ever was Friends of Mineral Town, which I liked for the character interaction, events, and the seriously diverse and open-ended gameplay (tons of different things to do at any given time, lots of ways to run your farm).

Of Grand Bazaar and Sunshine Islands, which would you say has better characterization/villager interaction? Is one more open ended or have substantially more to do, in your opinion(s)?

[Kam]

Sunshine Islands.

There is way more to do, the characters are far more interesting, and there is way more to do (I feel like I said that already. Huh).

Sunshine Islands has animals for you to befriend, Sunstones for you to gather, a mine for you to dig in, wild mushrooms for you to collect, forageables for you to find, and fish for you to catch.

Grand Bazaar has a few forageables, fishing, a weekly bazaar, and jumping. Whoo.

Once you start collecting Sunstones and raising islands, SI will keep you busy for an entire in-game day. In Grand Bazaar, you run out of things to do around three o'clock.

As for villager interaction, in Sunshine Islands it's pretty much a requirement for you to befriend the other villagers and give them gifts. In Grand Bazaar, it's really just something to do to pass the time.

So, yeah. Sunshine Islands >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Grand Bazaar.

[Alyx]

Sunshine Islands is a better game in my opinion (with the exception water/sun point system). There's more to do, better character interactions, etc... I do enjoy Grand Bazaar though. Its relaxing and easy to play. Its a game I can set aside for a while and pick up again without having to spend forever trying to figure out what I was doing. Sunshine Islands provides more content though, but with that comes a little difficulty.

[Kross lover/fan]

Sun Shine Islands all the way... Grand Bazaar is nice and all but there is SO much more to do in SSI. GB you can only sell things once a week if your lucky , not that many interesting characters and well.....yeah it gets boring after a wile. so definitely stick to SSI SO much more things to do.(fells like she is repeating herself too )

[Zeodyte]

Sunshine Islands trumps Grand Bazaar hands down, however, for a train trip, I would suggest Grand Bazaar as it is far less involved than SI, unless you are looking to put some long term effort into the game later on. Then, by all means, choose SI. As it has already been stated, there are far more options available to you in SI and it will keep you more devoted than GB, in my opinion.

[hmClaire03]

Sunshine Islands is more adventurous than Grand Bazaar. Go Sunshine Islands!!!
Grand Bazaar is good too.

[basketshooter10]

Wow. SI was the worst HM I've played. Maybe it was because there was too much stuff to do.

Sunshine Islands trumps Grand Bazaar hands down, however, for a train trip, I would suggest Grand Bazaar as it is far less involved than SI, unless you are looking to put some long term effort into the game later on. Then, by all means, choose SI.

Yes. When I played SI, it usually involved having a binder full of printed information to keep track of everything, which might not be great to keep track of during a train ride. You may not be the same way, but that is my experience.

[rainydaze]

if you are looking for more to do, sunshine islands is the answer. i still haven't accomplished too much in that game, and in grand bazaar i have done a lot in little time. SI has a bit more interesting character dialogue to me, but GB is very cutesy to me anyway, since there are no "dramatic events" or anything (at least in my opinion) that i have unlocked so far

so, in summary, i think SI would be a good choice in your case, but i do enjoy both

[bailey]

Wow. I didn't even think of the possibility of there being too much to do.

Before this thread, I was leaning toward Bazaar and now I'm strongly leaning the other way. The only thing that seems intimidating about SI, now that I've read a bit more, is the sun/water points system, which seems like it would absolutely require a lot of note taking... hmm.

Sunshine Islands trumps Grand Bazaar hands down, however, for a train trip, I would suggest Grand Bazaar as it is far less involved than SI, unless you are looking to put some long term effort into the game later on. Then, by all means, choose SI.

Yes. When I played SI, it usually involved having a binder full of printed information to keep track of everything, which might not be great to keep track of during a train ride. You may not be the same way, but that is my experience.

Thank you both for thinking of that. As it happens, I'm going to have a 2-hour train commute twice a week for a least the next four months, so I'm looking for a serious time-sink. That's why I thought of Harvest Moon specifically over other games... DS Cute and Mineral Town were long and satisfying. I'm sure I'll play elsewhere, too -- it just seemed like a good time for a new HM game, if ever there was one.

Now I'm getting excited.

[basketshooter10]

Wow. I didn't even think of the possibility of there being too much to do.

Before this thread, I was leaning toward Bazaar and now I'm strongly leaning the other way. The only thing that seems intimidating about SI, now that I've read a bit more, is the sun/water points system, which seems like it would absolutely require a lot of note taking... hmm.

Oh yes. Even with IoH, I took a lot of notes to keep track of sun/water points.

[BTNFan]

I'll make it short for you-
Sunshine Islands-YES!
Grand Bazaar-NO!
Have you played DS/Cute? If you haven't I'd recommend it. They're like upgrades of More/Friends of Mineral Town. And here is how to choose between SI and GB-
If you like annoying your customers, heartless shells for villagers and bachelor/ettes , absolutely no plotline except for the town having a nice breeze and living in a place called Zephyr Town, choose Grand Bazaar!
If you like collecting Sun stones, decent villagers annd bachelor/ettes,a nice storyline and living on the several islands of the Sunshine Islands, then choose Sunshine Islands!
That's it!

[PechaDot]

Wow. I didn't even think of the possibility of there being too much to do.

Before this thread, I was leaning toward Bazaar and now I'm strongly leaning the other way. The only thing that seems intimidating about SI, now that I've read a bit more, is the sun/water points system, which seems like it would absolutely require a lot of note taking... hmm.

I had to go on a few 2 hr train trips at one point, and I played More Friends of Mineral Town to pass the time. I had a notebook with me. I had certain pages I marked Events,Farm work, Villager likes and dislikes and so on. For sunshine islands, you could just bring a cheap notebook and copy a bit from the SI ushi site on a few pieces of paper. Though I heavily recommend SI over GB.

[Ninja Cicada]

Definitely Sunshine Islands. I haven't actually played Grand Bazaar, but from what I've picked up on this thread and previous ones, Sunshine Islands is a lot better. I own SI and the gameplay is more interesting and you're always busy. I'm into my second year and there's never been a time where I got bored because of nothing to do.

[Taniyama Mai]

It all depends on what you want. If you want a challenge, SI. If you want a relaxing game to keep your mind of something else(or your surroundings), GB.

For me, IoH and SI were just too complected, they had too much to do, too much to keep up with and too many difficulties too soon. I really missed the simplicity of FOMT and SS. In those, the aim of the game was all about the farm. In the new ones, its all about something else, and the farm (while is a key component) is more of a side deal. For a train ride, I like simplicity. I like to enjoy the game and the calming effect it has over the challenge. One thing I loved about SS was while it had a challenge(getting enough sprites to marry*I played it like I did FOMT*) it was still a good relaxing game. GB is the same for me. It has that challenge but is still mostly a fun, relaxing game.(the harder the challenge, the more difficulty I have, the more frustrated I get, the less fun I have:/)

Now, if you want a challenge, if you want a lot to do, if you can ether keep all your info in your head or in a notebook/ext, then SI is the game you want. It has a lot more complicated things for you too do, more charas to look after, more areas to go to, and over all, just more. But bigger isn't better, cause it was so complicated (IoH and SI) that I never got past the first season.(if even the first week) If I did, I spent more time on Fogu and in the guide trying to figure out what I was trying/needed to do than I did playing the game. For me, this is not what I want in a game so I do NOT rec it , but if you want to try, go right ahead.^_^ Its all a matter of how good you are with a challenge and keeping your info straight(which can be a challenge in and of its self;P)

[basketshooter10]

Why everyone hating on GB?!?! Wow. Like Taniyama, SI was complicated, although IoH was pretty much perfect.