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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Awesome Cat wrote: Mar 15, 2023 12:45 pm
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.
Oh, I like the cell shaded look, I just thought the portrait style seemed out of place.

I hope they don't lock everything behind finishing the story again, like festivals and marriage. I suppose that's to get you to play longer, but it kind of works opposite for motivation. Maybe unlock things gradually as you reach plot points? This is a problem I guess for plot driven vs. set your own goals.
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Getaris
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Speaking of festivals, I sincerely hope they make it possible to join them after 10 am because I don’t think I ever joined any in OW
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Mikodesu
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greensara wrote: Mar 15, 2023 5:35 pm I hope they don't lock everything behind finishing the story again, like festivals and marriage. I suppose that's to get you to play longer, but it kind of works opposite for motivation. Maybe unlock things gradually as you reach plot points? This is a problem I guess for plot driven vs. set your own goals.
Maybe if they lock it behind starting a region's story rather than finishing it this time? Assuming Anthos is going to be semi open world again, we'd need to at least be able to get to the different towns for their festivals. But I can't imagine being able to run from one end of the map to the other to make it to a festival in time, either. Guess it's all gonna depend on the size of the world.
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Getaris
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I don’t expect it to be too big, but their last two games have had instant travel as an unlockable feature anyway, so it should be easy enough to move around regardless.

Since we now have a big landmark, I fully expect the map to be a loop, surrounding the volcano.
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Mikodesu
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Fast travel from the beginning would be great. The compromise to me would be some way to call your horse. (Especially since we already know horses are back.) Maybe less fast travel points, and a horse call. Reminds me of how much of a pain it was to move the house back to the spring area in One World for the horse festival. I liked using the horse, but...having to take it with you in the morning wasn't great.

On the landmark thing, I wonder if the whole map will be a loop or if every region will have a landmark? They could go with a giant island, though. That would be different?
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Just gonna drop this Gematsu link here. It's only the same info as is on Nintendo Everything, but NE has that horrible image system where you have to load the page over entirely again to see each image. Gematsu doesn't. So here's the link to an article from Gematsu.

EDIT: BTW, just noticed that the nighttime screenshot is showing shooting stars. I wonder if they're gonna do something Animal Crossing-y with that, or if it's just a pretty visual.
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Thanks for that, Kikki.

It does look much better! Those dead, doll eyes in the portraits are a bit off-putting to me, but I can live with them if the rest of the game delivers. The MC lad is very cute! Hopefully the worlds will feel less empty.

My expectations aren't very high, tbh, but odds are 99-1 that I'll be buying it unless something really horrible comes out. I want both franchises to deliver the magic of the older games however they want to interpret it. But deliver, dammit.
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greensara wrote: Mar 15, 2023 5:35 pm
Awesome Cat wrote: Mar 15, 2023 12:45 pm
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.
Oh, I like the cell shaded look, I just thought the portrait style seemed out of place.

I hope they don't lock everything behind finishing the story again, like festivals and marriage. I suppose that's to get you to play longer, but it kind of works opposite for motivation. Maybe unlock things gradually as you reach plot points? This is a problem I guess for plot driven vs. set your own goals.
Hasn't play OW so everything locked behind the story even the festival? Yeah that's suck, I don't mind building up town and unlock festivals here and there like RF5, but lock them until the story ended seem too extreme especially if they have not real reason behind way it like that.
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It looks... fine? Better than OW, but still sort of lacking presence.
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I’m very impressed :0 I haven’t played a Harvest Moon game since The Lost Valley, but I might be buying this one. I’m not sure if anyone has commented on this yet, but I was observing the image of the conversation between the female MC and Judy and it seems to me like the height difference is off? In the background the female MC is approaching Judy from behind, but even if they were standing side-by-side, wouldn’t Judy still be taller than the female MC? In the sprite close-up or whatever you might call it, the female MC is definitely taller than Judy. My depth perception isn’t great but the height gaps between the two ladies don’t seem to match up in the picture. It’s a very minor detail but I’m very intrigued by it :lol:

Anyways I love the expression on Doc Jr.’s face in the chicken picture and I’m looking forward to learning more about the game :D
Last edited by FarmingForDaysMan on Mar 16, 2023 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bluie wrote: Mar 16, 2023 7:06 am It looks... fine? Better than OW, but still sort of lacking presence.
If this aim at me. You forgot to putted it it look fine to me. Don't get me wrong, I do want them go beyond my level of fine. :lol: But I'm fine with this level of graphic, besides I'm a gameplay type of guy.
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FarmingForDaysMan wrote: Mar 16, 2023 9:55 am I’m not sure if anyone has commented on this yet, but I was observing the image of the conversation between the female MC and Judy and it seems to me like the height difference is off? In the background the female MC is approaching Judy from behind, but even if they were standing side-by-side, wouldn’t Judy still be taller than the female MC? In the sprite close-up or whatever you might call it, the female MC is definitely taller than Judy. My depth perception isn’t great but the height gaps between the two ladies don’t seem to match up in the picture. It’s a very minor detail but I’m very intrigued by it :lol:

I noticed the height difference too. But I think it could also be that the conversation started with the mc in her running animation, so she’s leaning forward a bit and bending her knee.
Last edited by Getaris on Mar 16, 2023 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Awesome Cat wrote: Mar 16, 2023 9:57 am
Bluie wrote: Mar 16, 2023 7:06 am It looks... fine? Better than OW, but still sort of lacking presence.
If this aim at me. You forgot to putted it it look fine to me. Don't get me wrong, I do want them go beyond my level of fine. :lol: But I'm fine with this level of graphic, besides I'm a gameplay type of guy.
Gonna stick my nose in and say I'm quite sure that comment wasn't directed at you, Awesome Cat. It was just Bluie saying her own opinion of the screenshots so far. As long as I've known her, Bluie's never been the type to go around calling out other people's opinions.
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FarmingForDaysMan
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Getaris wrote: Mar 16, 2023 9:58 am
FarmingForDaysMan wrote: Mar 16, 2023 9:55 am I’m not sure if anyone has commented on this yet, but I was observing the image of the conversation between the female MC and Judy and it seems to me like the height difference is off? In the background the female MC is approaching Judy from behind, but even if they were standing side-by-side, wouldn’t Judy still be taller than the female MC? In the sprite close-up or whatever you might call it, the female MC is definitely taller than Judy. My depth perception isn’t great but the height gaps between the two ladies don’t seem to match up in the picture. It’s a very minor detail but I’m very intrigued by it :lol:

I noticed the height difference too. But I think it could also be that the conversation started with the mc in her running animation, so she’s leaning forward a bit and bending her knee.
That’s a very plausible idea. It’s kind of hard to tell just how far apart they are, but I can’t stop looking at their chins and I can’t imagine the female MC being that much taller even if she did straighten up :lol: maybe we’ll have a definitive answer as to who’s taller in the sort of near future?

Edit: I say this in jest, but a wild thought just occurred to me. Maybe in this game you’ll be allowed to choose your character’s height like a Mii but the sprite close-ups display the canonical height of your character :lol: Highly unlikely, but it’s pretty funny to think about.
Last edited by FarmingForDaysMan on Mar 16, 2023 10:41 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Kikki wrote: Mar 16, 2023 10:00 am
Awesome Cat wrote: Mar 16, 2023 9:57 am
Bluie wrote: Mar 16, 2023 7:06 am It looks... fine? Better than OW, but still sort of lacking presence.
If this aim at me. You forgot to putted it it look fine to me. Don't get me wrong, I do want them go beyond my level of fine. :lol: But I'm fine with this level of graphic, besides I'm a gameplay type of guy.
Gonna stick my nose in and say I'm quite sure that comment wasn't directed at you, Awesome Cat. It was just Bluie saying her own opinion of the screenshots so far. As long as I've known her, Bluie's never been the type to go around calling out other people's opinions.
Ah okay. I probably still was in the defensive mood cause how much that I used twitter and when I said my opinions on stuff. People said I'm either boot licker or a hater. This probably some of the nicer things people said.

So that why I want to make it clear it's was my opinion and I do want Natsume go way beyond my level of fine.

Also I'm sorry to them that I come off bit defensive
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