First Impressions

Nintendo 3DS. The first Bokujou Monogatari game localized by XSeed Games. [ Game Guide ] JP release = Feb 2014. NA release = Mar 2015. EU release = Dec 2015.
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LeBurns
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Well I've never played the JP version and really haven't spoiled too much using guides. After playing more than I should have (according to my wife) last night here are my first impressions.

Seedling mode = YES!

Customization. Honestly after playing Fantasy Life where you have about 60 sets of eyes (and you can set them high, low, wide, close, large, small) the customization was very lacking. Course RF have none at all so I guess it's better than that. I wanted to make someone who looked like my FL character (I'm role-playing it's the same guy), but I couldn't even get the skin color right.

Only one week training = YES!

Buying stuff. I must be missing it but I can not see where it tells me how much of the item I'm trying to buy I already have in my bag and storage. Is it there? Like if I want 10 bags of seed and I know I have some in storage but don't recall how much, I have to go all the way back to the house, check, then go back to the store?

I have not been able to catch anyone at the trade depot yet so I don't know how that works. Just as well since I have no money anyway. Spending it all on meals to restore stamina.

Thought my cow as going to die. I got it after the store was closed so I couldn't buy any food. Next day the store was closed. Next day I passed out trying to hit a rock (I though I could hit it just one more time...). Finally got food to it. Can't figure out if I really need to let it out or not. You'd think they would have given you some fodder with the cow.

The map is pretty confusing. More than once I've found myself on some farm where I had no idea where I was. I assume I'll get used to it.

I guess I need a frig for some of the stuff I'm carrying. No idea how to get that yet. Need a bigger bag also but that's 70,000 ... HAHAHAHA.

Overall I guess it's ok. I am expecting it to get better though so I'm moving forward.

What are your first impressions?
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Anonymous Fish

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Holy moly where to start... Banked 9 hours and now forcing myself to bed so i can function maybe tomorrow (5 am my time) seedling mode is definately great as the grind eventually gets me and i tend to give up.

Streamlined crop tending and animal tending is amazing. Hate the purchase limits but understandable as id be soo rich right now without them.

Diving seems cool and i made it to the first few days of summer but please tell me theres more foraging areas?

The horse doesnt suck... Soo happy about this especially fiven the map size. Dem carrots though cant wait to get growing them myself.

All in all soo in love definately my new all time fave Boko game <3
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LeBurns
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Farming is simplified it seems. I will say the tree chopping animation looks a little crazy.

I've can't find a pitchfork for sale and I got stuff piling up in the barn.

Apparently you don't water grass. I guess it just grows on it's own.

I have a peach seedling, but I have no idea how to plant it. :(
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Blue Leafeon
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LeBurns wrote:Customization. Honestly after playing Fantasy Life where you have about 60 sets of eyes (and you can set them high, low, wide, close, large, small) the customization was very lacking. Course RF have none at all so I guess it's better than that. I wanted to make someone who looked like my FL character (I'm role-playing it's the same guy), but I couldn't even get the skin color right.
lol, right? I do like how this game ACTUALLY HAS MY HAIRSTYLE. Long hair with the bangs pulled to the side. (Called "Cool Long" or something.) But I really wish we had some...narrower eyestyles to choose from. All the eyestyles are like O_O and it's a bit annoying. They're like, half the size of the head, lol.
Apparently you don't water grass. I guess it just grows on it's own.
From my experience, you never had to water grass in the first place. It grew on its own regardless. At least, that's how it worked in ANB.

Anyway, my first impressions:

The week-long tutorial was nowhere near as rage-inducing as ANB's was, for sure. I did find it funny that after the River Swimming tutorial, the game gave you a disclaimer about real rivers being dangerous to swim in. These days they are pretty dangerous, with all the different...issues you could get from them.

My first complaints are the lack of choice on my hairstyle and clothes at the beginning of the game. The hair style is quickly fixed when you unlock the closet, but I have yet to find a way to get out of this darn dress. I am a tomboy at heart, and I refuse to wear dresses IRL.

My biggest complain is--as I've posted in my other topic--the fact that you're given a cow and NOT a pitchfork. And the pitchfork blueprints apparently has a random chance of appearing in the silk country shop list. If I could just sell the cow until I get the pitchfork I'd be fine, but I've yet to come across anyone who would buy/sell livestock, so bleh.

Seedling Mode so far is, as some has said already, a bit too easy. The only real way I've found to deplete my energy is to cut down trees/smash rocks on my property. However, the price reduction is definitely not helping my lack of money, LOL. I guess I will have to raise more crops to sell.

Back to positive things: I really like the hair in this game.
Image
The ends of the hair (abet looking a bit ragged) isn't a straight line like a lot of games would do out of sheer laziness. It actually frays at the end like real hair. The other thing is that it bounces around when you do things--not even Fantasy Life, with all its fancy customizations, had realistically moving hair. In fact, if you had long hair, it cut through your capes. :(

I also like that they brought back ToTT's jumping mechanics. ANB had jumping too, but if you weren't specifically jumping over a fence, you wouldn't move forward at all. Now you can jump around freely, and I've enjoyed jumping off of ledges over onto ledges as shortcuts. I also enjoy making my character bounce a second time because I landed on top of something. The other day I almost landed on Mistril and was like OOPS SORRY!

The trading depot thing seems like something that will get less annoying as I get used to it. And unlock new countries. Being able to sell only twice a week is taking a toll on my spending habits, LOL.

My opinion on the bachelors so far:

Fritz is adorable, but he seems more like the kind of guy I'd want to be BFF's with. He seems really fun and kind, even if he tends to mess up in his attempts to help people. XD

Klaus is turning out to be slightly less dull than I thought he would be. I haven't heard him mention his age at all yet, and so far he's said quite a lot of nice things to me.

Raeger is absolutely adorable when he smiles, but he still has the issue of looking sleepy due to the way his eyes were drawn. He's also a slight bit boring, but I guess that comes with being totally dedicated to your work--your personal life kind of takes a massive hit lol.

Mistril is cute and he acts very mature for a guy looking as young as he does. I didn't like how he pretty much told me to buy up his whole shop when I visited him, but I'm just going to pass that off as him joking around and not really meaning it.

Still waiting on the other two to show up. In the meantime, my goals are trying to get a pitchfork and trying to unlock sheep so I can get out of this dress.
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Hopefully since I've played the JPN version I'm still allowed to post in here, but it's been awhile so now that I've kinda been refreshed on the game, my first impressions:

-Great localization so far. Oozes with charm!

-They really should have made Silk Country show up more often in the beginning to compensate for not having more vendors open. Going like 5 days without being able to sell sometimes early on is pretty rough. Obviously later when more of the vendors come to town it isn't an issue at all, but still.

-I know some people don't like it, but I love the streamlined farming. I love being able to harvest a bunch of stuff more quickly, and animal care taking is less of a chore imo.

-Stamina is pretty rough (playing on regular) so I have to visit Rae's a lot. Not a bad thing since I'm there for give-giving anyways. Will get better since I just made my kitchen!

-Being able to change your looks (after your first house upgrade) at any time is awesome

-You absolutely should be able to gift while people are eating. It's just a silly mechanic

-You should also be able to chat and get dialogue/flower dialogue while people are working. No Rae, I'm not stumbling into your kitchen for fun, so stop telling me to get out, I just want some dialogue come on > >; on that note, at least you can gift them while they are working at the shops

-The music is way better than ANB imo.

-Being able to assign items from your inventory to the quick menu is fantastic.

-Horse is too clingy, but I love being able to fast travel to town (using a carrot). Especially if I've forgotten something back in town I don't have to make that trek back on foot.

-I love how fast your character moves, and how fast other people move. Though the leads to gifts being scattered all over the ground because I'm a horrible aim

-I've heard people say the characters are "too nice" but honestly coming from ANB it's refreshing imo. Once you start unlocking events/flower events with them and building a TV for programs, it gets a lot better and their personalities shine through better.

-I really wish there was more of a story, but I can deal with that. I'm not expecting RF styled story, but just something extra besides the simulation stuff to keep you going.

-It's nice to be able to see how much people like you by pressing the left trigger, since the emote corresponds to whatever "flower level" they'd be at.
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Ronin19
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Overall...I LOVE IT!

So much better than ANB; the faster paced farming, XSeed's translating, the better characters, the MUCH better heart/flower events (I've only gone through Mistel's white and purple events, but I loved them!), the MUCH better music, seedling mode, etc.

That's the short version without really explaining anything.
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Beedlebud
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So far

Pros-
Characters seem fun

Dialogue is great

Farming is pretty streamlined

Everything seems faster than ANB.

Cons-

Character customization is pretty limited (lol at the one choice for darker-skinned people), though at least some of that get's fixed quickly.

While not as long as ANB, tutorial is still looooong. I really don't know why a "skip" option isn't present, I've been playing HM for more than a decade now I know how it works.

This can kinda go in with the previous con, but the dialogue can get pretty long-winded too.

Not a fan of how selling is handled.
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