Ushi No Tane Forum

Anonymous Fish wrote:actually stardew valley started out as a "unofficial" sequel to the snes and GB/C

64 already exists though? I don't see why they'd do a sequel for SNES. AWL, FOMT, etc sure but 64?

Anyway, guys like OP make me think that XSeed really needs to do something to make people realize that SOS is the same series as pre-split HM. I know many people who like HM, but don't search it up alone, who are completely ignorant on the fact it's the same series under a different name.

Anonymous Fish wrote:

Anonymous Fish wrote:actually stardew valley started out as a "unofficial" sequel to the snes and GB/C

64 already exists though? I don't see why they'd do a sequel for SNES. AWL, FOMT, etc sure but 64?

Anyway, guys like OP make me think that XSeed really needs to do something to make people realize that SOS is the same series as pre-split HM. I know many people who like HM, but don't search it up alone, who are completely ignorant on the fact it's the same series under a different name.

Its not exactly easy to do so especially when they can't mention the name "Harvest Moon" due to copyright issues that would no doubt lead into some kind of legal hissing fit. Most casual fans who don't know about the split will not know the Bokumono title and not know about the difference, so its hard to really explain that without using the copyright title.

Marvelous (which is XSEED's parent company or w/e) wanted to start anew and drop affiliation with Natsume and their localization title in its entirety. Since their primary market is in Japan, most of their primary profits are safe and not remotely affected by the split. SoS seems to have done great in their sales and reception anyway; so anyone who doesn't know about the split will probably find out via word of mouth at some point or stumble upon the game later on.

Can't they buy the name from Natsume? Would it be too expensive?

I don't know what they could do to fix the confusion but it is an issue that still plagues the SOS series.

Anonymous Fish wrote:Can't they buy the name from Natsume? Would it be too expensive?

I don't know what they could do to fix the confusion but it is an issue that still plagues the SOS series.

Natsume isn't going to give up their number one meal ticket. They make more money in the long run keeping it and making their own games versus selling it. They made the Harvest Moon IP and seem determined to keep it alive. [Not to mention, selling it now would only deepen the confusion. Marvelous doesn't even need the title. They're games do well even in the west with the SoS title and taking back the HM title would only hinder them after they already made their own IP and (seemed) quite successful.

This kind of issue just takes time to sort out. Fans usually in the know will correct those who don't know about the split, but otherwise folks will have to figure it out themselves.

Anonymous Fish wrote:Can't they buy the name from Natsume? Would it be too expensive?

I don't know what they could do to fix the confusion but it is an issue that still plagues the SOS series.

From my understanding they really didn't care about the name tbh.
I could be wrong, I'd heard that actually they didn't really care though. Which would make sense when you consider their target audience wouldn't even affected by the name thing at all. We just happen to get the games it seems like, where the Japanese audience is the target really.


I mean, honestly while I don't think people should have to do super research before buying games (which lets face it other games have ended up being a lot worse than they seem so there's already an issue in general) the old HM/SoS series has had a few entries people felt 'cheated' and badly about. If you're buying games purely based on the name without any sort of idea if it seems fun or not, not only is that not really a good idea that's never been a good idea.

Maybe I'm jaded since I've been burned by other games, this isn't even just a SoS/HM issue this is just games sometimes. Buying solely on name recognition is something that's been an issue in other series too for various reasons.

Ultimately I think if you love something you should build it up, it feels like too many people have focused too hard on tearing others down with this and really it should be more about building up what you love. Yes, people can be critical of things (even things they love let's be real) but there's a difference between being critical and venom. Venom doesn't help what you love really. Promote SoS so that people know it exists to check it out, that's the best course of action IMO.

Yeah as far as we know they didn't actually bother asking for the name. Or at least that's what I remember hearing back then when it happened.

Only natsume and marvelous know for sure though.