Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos (Prerelease Chat)

An open-world Harvest Moon game featuring a large volcano, a pint-sized goddess, and the great Doc Jr. [ Game Guide ] JP release = /shrug. NA release = Sept 2023. EU release = Oct 2023.
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greensara
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I guess they decided to go with the cell-shaded style this time. Kind of like OW meets BOTW. The portraits look little weird with how cartoony they are in contrast, but otherwise the art looks pretty good. I may have to play as a boy, the male protag is eye candy this time, lol. I wonder if it will have a lot of reused characters or a mostly new cast again? I'm ok with Doc Jr again, but I'd rather have the candidates and npcs be new. Oh, and I hope everyone has names this time, it took poor Jamil's mother a while to finally have a name.
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Kikki wrote: Mar 15, 2023 9:35 am Well, Natsume's HM games have always been ugly ducklings, but as compared to Olive Town, more fun. That was my opinion after completing both of them, anyway! I simply enjoyed OW more than OT. Anthos looks really, really good, for a Natsume game; I'm honestly rather surprised. It's not like it's competing with AAA games now, visually, but it's an extraordinary leap from the graphics of One World.
Same here. I'm quite happy about the new graphics and hope, the game will be as pleasing to me as the other games before.
Kikki wrote: Mar 15, 2023 9:42 am I wonder if 'Judy' is a bachelorette.
Maybe that's what the small flower symbol stands for, but that would also mean, that Doc Jr. isn't a bachelor again bespite the fact that many loved him and Doc.
Getaris wrote: Mar 15, 2023 10:52 am The language they use in the list of features, and the flower next to the girls name in that screenshot, might imply same « Chicken Hugging » marriage is an option. But still, it’s just a possibility, not a certain thing.
Woo five different bachelors and five different bachelorettes! Marry whoever your heart desires!
I would also guess, that's what it stands for. Maybe Natsume added this, after even Story of Seasons implied it in their games. Would at least be something the fans kept asking for a long time, so it could be possible.
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JustABeautifulGuy
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I personally like the look. It’s still far from perfect but it works well enough. All the new/updated assets shown so far such as crops, tools, etc look very good but assets that were reused from One World and previous games kinda drag down the quality. But it’ll probably easily grow on me. My only wish would be for them to add more random objects here and there in the world, it’d really help making the scenery feel less barren. But for their budget, this is probably the most they can do and I’m impressed. Hopefully, it’s all uphill from here.

I also wonder if the game has been delayed or not. All the articles mention the game will be out later this year with no mention of the initial proposed summer release.

Edit: did some spying and looked at the mini-map and I found some characters! :)
Spoiler:
One's clearly Judy and other one is Doc Jr. And then there's one more red-haired girl and orange haired character. Their designs are rather plain like Judy so I hope they're not candidates. Natsume better keep up with the designs they had for OW!
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Last edited by JustABeautifulGuy on Mar 15, 2023 1:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Getaris
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It already looks less barren compared to one world, but as long as it doesn’t affect performance I wouldn’t mind some more flair.

One thing that kinda bothers me about the characters, and this is a total nitpick, is that the eyebrows render over the hair, but the eyes don’t. It. Should. Be. Both. (Or neither :shifty:)
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Getaris wrote: Mar 15, 2023 10:52 am It looks like a giant step up from One World!

The language they use in the list of features, and the flower next to the girls name in that screenshot, might imply same « Chicken Hugging » marriage is an option. But still, it’s just a possibility, not a certain thing.
Woo five different bachelors and five different bachelorettes! Marry whoever your heart desires!
In one of the female MC screenshot when she talking to Judy. There is a flower blub with a music note.
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greensara wrote: Mar 15, 2023 11:41 am I guess they decided to go with the cell-shaded style this time. Kind of like OW meets BOTW. The portraits look little weird with how cartoony they are in contrast, but otherwise the art looks pretty good.
I'm okay with the cell-shaded style since it remind me of anime. I find with the portraits and I want to judge it when I see actual game play.
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greensara wrote: Mar 15, 2023 11:41 amI may have to play as a boy, the male protag is eye candy this time, lol. I wonder if it will have a lot of reused characters or a mostly new cast again? I'm ok with Doc Jr again, but I'd rather have the candidates and npcs be new. Oh, and I hope everyone has names this time, it took poor Jamil's mother a while to finally have a name.
The no-name thing was disturbing. I mean, how hard could it have been, to give every NPC a name? It was strange that there was ever a point where they didn't have one. Very odd decision, to me. I'm trying to think of other games where they did that, but I can't offhand come up with any where the characters were named 'Strong Man' or 'Gentle Woman' rather than having actual names.

The male MC really is a cutie, this time. :) Fair enough; the feMC was cuter in One World, imo.

I'm curious about the DLC, as it's bound to have it. I'm sure it'll be standard. One candidate of each gender, and some fancypants peculiar animals/pets like mint tigers and so on. I'm betting it'll basically be the same kind of package as One World had.
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Getaris
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I sure hope they don’t do that thing where the base game has all the dlc hidden inside already again. It would be nice if they focused on the base game as much as possible, instead of wasting time making content they’ll hide from the player.

I believe DLC should be made after the game is ready and complete.
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Yeah I dislike DLC in general, but I'd rather they have something that feels like an addition to the base game rather than something taken out of the game and put behind a paywall. PoOT implemented it badly but I liked the idea of being able to go to a seperate island for the DLC, kind of similarly to AC.
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I kinda like the way the DLC was integrated into the base game in OW, especially that the extra characters participated in festivals. DLC islands/separate areas always feel completely detached from the base game for me, like “Here’s the extra content you paid for! We put it over here because it’s not as good as the rest.”

Not a fan of the DLC rollout for OW, as I didn’t play at launch and the fast deployment was a bit disappointing.

Love the screenshots for this one! Really rooting for same-« Chicken Hugging » marriage based on this hype. Sad about Doc Jr not being a candidate again, tho. 😭 Hopefully the others will have as much personality as him.
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Getaris
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I suppose it’s worth mentioning that I did enjoy the dlc area and story in OW, I’m just not a fan of the fact the island was there from day one, waiting for them to say “ok you can pay us now”.

In terms of dlc for this game, I would enjoy if they let us visit one (or a spiritual sucesor to one) of the towns from a previous game. Maybe something fun and obscure, like Chestnut Town, either with some of the same people, or descendants.
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simside wrote: Mar 15, 2023 3:22 pm Love the screenshots for this one! Really rooting for same-« Chicken Hugging » marriage based on this hype. Sad about Doc Jr not being a candidate again, tho. 😭 Hopefully the others will have as much personality as him.
I've seen on Reddit that they've confirmed it in a Facebook post. They're really trying to win all the points with this one so far. I hope the actual gameplay doesn't disappoint and they do address all the flaws from OW.
Spoiler:
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simside
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JustABeautifulGuy wrote: Mar 15, 2023 3:35 pm I've seen on Reddit that they've confirmed it in a Facebook post. They're really trying to win all the points with this one so far. I hope the actual gameplay doesn't disappoint and they do address all the flaws from OW.
Spoiler:
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Ooh! Glad they confirmed so early! That’s great news.
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Mikodesu
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Confirmation on gay marriage is awesome! Natsume, keeping promises. Let's « Snuggly Bunny » go! :) Now I'm just hoping for a PC launch. Probably too many platforms to develop for for a small studio, but I can dream. Let it run well, and the rest is gravy at this point.
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I’ve played all of Natsume’s HM games and enjoyed them, but I will admit this one looks the best. They have definitely improved and listened to fan feedback. Look at that night sky! :heart: Idk how or why, but I’m vaguely thinking about Animal Parade and Save the Homeland when I look at those screenshots. It must be the art style or something. Still hoping one day the Bokumono series or this one will have rival kids return! :)
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