Ushi No Tane Forum

Would you consider this an "ideal" starting game for Harvest Moon? I've heard from plenty of people like Fin that this is the best game HM has had in years...Of course, I've been familiar with HM for many years but to be honest, I've never played any of the games. I've played ToT once a few years back but I got bored of it eventually...or maybe it was because I was too into Super Mario Galaxy at the time...but I've heard good things about AP...

So, to those who've already played this, what do you guys think?

I have yet to play this game. But i can tell you any harvest moon game is a good game to start with because they are each a stand alone story. Some games you will see people from a former game yes. But each Game begins its own time line and its own goals.

hmmm... I haven't played the game, but concerning the whole games to start with depends on what interests you, difficulty with the game or if it's easier, sunshine islands (you have to build a barn, chicken coop etc) and animal parade (I think the stuff is already provided) are probably the two best I've played, one has a slower time frame and the other has a quicker. If you can rent games then try that first (though the two of them are probably pretty cheap now) you can probably tell which one you like more.

Anyway that's my personal opinionXD;;; others may have better advice cause I liked TTOT more than most of the gamesXD

Well, I recommend the first one for SNES. It's on wii virtual console, and despite it's simplicity, it's a really fun game. Then, I guess you could try FoMT/BTN/Boy and Girl, that are considered some of the best in the entire series.
After that, some of the newer games, I suggest Grand Bazaar.

Picked those because you can play through them quickly, in comparision to other titles (MM, SI).

I'd start with MFOMT or FOMT then maybe move onto one of the DS ones. Perhaps DS CUTE. Then as for newer ones I'd try Two Towns.

PeachyKeen wrote:I'd start with MFOMT or FOMT then maybe move onto one of the DS ones. Perhaps DS CUTE. Then as for newer ones I'd try Two Towns.

Same, but I'd not recommend the DS/Cute set, not for a bit, haha. I'd say M/FoMT, then something like, hm, like Animal Parade, if you have a Wii, or if not, THEN DS/Cute, and for newer ones, ToTT and ANB. We all have our own personal opinions; my first Harvest Moon was actually Save the Homeland on PS2. You couldn't even get married in that one!! Still loved it. Music was amazing.

I have to break it to you straight; after RF4 you might find this game disappointing.

It's a good game, and is better than most other HM games, but... yeah.

Nurse Fin wrote:I have to break it to you straight; after RF4 you might find this game disappointing.

It's a good game, and is better than most other HM games, but... yeah.

Well I'm probably never going to be a full fan of RF because it's spin-off of Harvest Moon and is one of the worst games when it comes to grinding, and in Frontier, some annoying/bad voice acting and crafting system, but I hope I like 4, all the other RF games have been rather disappointing to me and haven't been in my game library for long.
But I'll still try 4, but in the mean time I'll be playing LoB.

From what I hear LoB is the second/third best HM game in my opinion.
For me the best is the very first HM and HM 64, I don't have them on the wii but actually have them for their original consoles for years now.
I have to deal with the blurriness of non-HD games on a big HD TV~

The voice acting is amazing... if you play the Japanese version. -tomato dodge-

But I think HM games are full of grinding too, it's just not focused on stats-- instead it's the repetitive motions of talking (and/or giving gifts) to people every day, taking care of crops and animals every day, raising product levels and so on... RF4 has so much more meat between these features (really good characters and integration of cast, more advanced dungeons and party system, tons of events, pretty good storyline for once) that makes it more fun to play IMO. But I still enjoyed ANB a ton.

Nurse Fin wrote:The voice acting is amazing... if you play the Japanese version. -tomato dodge-

But I think HM games are full of grinding too, it's just not focused on stats-- instead it's the repetitive motions of talking (and/or giving gifts) to people every day, taking care of crops and animals every day, raising product levels and so on... RF4 has so much more meat between these features (really good characters and integration of cast, more advanced dungeons and party system, tons of events, pretty good storyline for once) that makes it more fun to play IMO. But I still enjoyed ANB a ton.

It would be cool if I could switch between english and japanese voice acting when it comes here. that is, if natsume does voice acting. And I really hope that if they do use Johnny again, don't make him use his high-pitched voice again. . .was annoying in Frontier. . .though I'm pretty sure he's busy with other anime and games for awhile.

I never really focused on star ranks and such in HM but it was pretty easy to raise them. So I wouldn't call it grinding. . .to me it's only grinding when it starts making you mad or just stupid.
But now you're making want RF4 even more now, when i was reading about it. it seemed better then the past so I was hoping it will be good.
I just wish I could see some video's of it.

Nurse Fin wrote:I have to break it to you straight; after RF4 you might find this game disappointing.

It's a good game, and is better than most other HM games, but... yeah.

I thought as much...

ANB/LoB seems more focused on pure costumization, based on what you've covered...

This is what I think. If you like sims/animal crossing then this game is for you. truefully I never played a harvest moon...well only a bit when my friend had the 1 for the ps2 i don't have much to say ,since my friend sold it so I couldn't get into it. lol but I think I would have got bored of any harvest moon game cuz I think it always felt like it was missing some thing. I think that was customation. since harvest is kinda sim/rpg game that for me kill it not being in the game. so i think this game would be good game to start off with. Since it's the first i'm going to buy and play to the end. so we can be on that same boat lol

I haven't played LoB, but I've watched a few gameplays for the beginning.
I'm really looking forward to LoB/ANB because of the customization, and the idea of building things. I agree though, some of the previous titles have been a dissapoint, but this one looks like it'll cover for those.

ToT didn't interest me either, really. I got AP soon after its release, and quit playing ToT. AP was a really good improvement of ToT, in my opinion.

Apple_Blossom wrote:I haven't played LoB, but I've watched a few gameplays for the beginning.
I'm really looking forward to LoB/ANB because of the customization, and the idea of building things. I agree though, some of the previous titles have been a dissapoint, but this one looks like it'll cover for those.

ToT didn't interest me either, really. I got AP soon after its release, and quit playing ToT. AP was a really good improvement of ToT, in my opinion.

ToT seemed really slow paced when I first played it a few years back. Then I just got bored with it.

ANB does have a really slow start the first year, especially the first few months until the important characters arrive. It might be okay for a starting HM but I think the old HM64 is best, but then I'm bias towards that.

The town design part is new to this version and it does add an extra dimension to the game play as you have to design your town as well as your farm. I like the town wish lists even though it's really a hard grind to get some of the items.

The game doesn't really start getting good until you have the bronze axe and you can start getting rid of those trees. Then you can really start getting your town to the way you want.