Harvest Moon and Rune Factory I was introduced to the

Harvest Moon and Rune Factory

I was introduced to the series at a young age. Before the age of online reviews and news about games everywhere. This allowed me to enjoy it for all that it is. Not be turned off by how lame it may sound on the outside. At their core both series are a farming simulator with light dating sim elements. Rune Factory also includes dungeon crawling. However, they have an addicting quality unlike any other games. You get hooked fast and find yourself playing them over and over. Some of them have near infinite replay ability.

Making a post about it in hopes that some people who have not yet given it a try will go out and try it. If you have played it or this causes you to try it then comment back about who you decided to marry and your experiences.

PS. Sorry Natsume and Rising Star do not make good trailers of the series. So the video is Japanese. However the games are not and if your interested go search for more gameplay videos.

List of games in series to try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harvest_Moon_video_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rune_Factory
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jdodson Admin wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:20am

Looks like a bug in the embed video part, I'll fix it. Thanks Jacob!

Timogorgon Member wrote on 10/08/2012 at 07:01pm

I'm a big fan of Harvest Moon 64, which was actually the first HM game I played. Since then I've tried A wonderful Life which I was not so much a fan of (I should note that I had the PS2 "special edition" which was marred by some pretty bad frame rate issues). I also tried Innocent Life, which was just terrible. I really would like to find another, good Harvest moon game though. Were there any other HM games that were similar to HM64 that you could recommend?

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:04pm

Thanks jon. I see your problem there white. I tried the same. I had played A wonderful life on gamecube then tried to play it on ps2 later when i wanted to finish it. It was horrible to say the least. Innocent Life I don't even know what to say about that one. I put way to many hours into it hoping it would get better. Worst harvest moon ever.

If you want HM64 sequels:
Back To Nature(girl version I THINK), ps1
Friends Of Mineral Town GBA
More Friends of Mineral Town GBA
Harvest Moon DS v1.1
Island of Happiness DS
Sunshine Islands DS

Alright so let me break it down FoMT. (see above) Is a lot of peoples favorite. It's not as advanced as some of the later games though but, has longevity and is great fun. Harvest Moon DS is plagued by bugs even the 1.1 version. However if you can get past the bugs the game would actually be enjoyable. Island of Happiness is kind of hapazard with controls and more for harvest moon veterans who want a challenge. Sunshine Islands to me is really great. More to offer then friends of mineral town. A new cast of characters unlike the other sequels with the old ones returning but not eligible for marriage. It's a direct sequel to Island of Happiness and is quite a bit easier with better controls.

I'll make a part 2 post about good ones in general

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:09pm

Alright so great harvest moons to play that have NOTHING to do with Harvest Moon 64

1. Animal Parade Wii (sequel to ToT)
2. Tree of Tranquility Wii
3. Tale of Two Towns DS and 3DS
4. Magical Melody Gamecube

And the upcoming new harvest moon looks fantastic
A New Beginning 3DS (also known as The Land of Origin)

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/08/2012 at 10:10pm

Also sorry correction. Back to Nature is on the ps3's marketplace and on psp.

Tungsten wrote on 10/09/2012 at 12:24am

Alright, I haven't played any since the SNES. How have they held up? I remember it being really fun but I always felt really constricted by the time limit.

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/09/2012 at 04:11am

Well the snes era of harvest moon doesn't really hold up to the test of time. Not nearly as refined as the newer editions. Harvest moon 64 is the first one that was able to remain great no matter how much time has gone by. If you haven't even tried that one. You definitely are going to want to play that one. If you would like MORE time in your days go ahead and try animal parade on wii. That one gives you lots of time. I love it. Tale of Two Towns is the opposite. Time goes by in the menus and in buildings making the days go by staggeringly fast. I found it hard to keep up with but my other friends didn't have any trouble.

Tungsten wrote on 10/11/2012 at 01:35am

Ya, I'm slow. Animal parade it is. In a game like Harvest Moon, I want to take my time, water every last plant, and never fell like time is running by.

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/11/2012 at 10:12pm

Hope you have fun with it. A good plan of action though when playing. Is to sort of plan out your day. As your in a building time never goes by. So now you have got time to think of whether you want to go mining for the day or tree chopping. Or just try and give gifts to everyone. Trying to do everything in one day is less of a time constraint then an energy constraint. Unless you have got tons of food to chow down regularly to keep the energy level up.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 10/11/2012 at 10:47pm

One of the reasons I really liked the N64 Harvest Moon better than the (admittedly small selection of) other Harvest Moon games is that the pacing felt really nice. Indoor activities like feeding/tending to your animals or shopping in the village, gave you time to plan out your outdoor stuff, like gardening or fishing. The days were just long enough that if you wanted to cram in almost everything you could, but short enough to keep the everything moving along so you saw the results of your labor (plants growing, cash from foraging) quickly.

(For anyone interested, I actually posted Harvest Moon 64 for one of our retro Tuesdays here: http://cheerfulghost.com/WhiteboySlim/posts/356)

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/12/2012 at 04:39am

I agree with all of that as well, although...to say Harvest Moon has a small selection! It's as long a series as final fantasy or Dragon Quest. 24 total games. Of those i think about 4 are ports. There are others that are similar to ports but actually completely enhanced and changed. There's a harvest moon out there for lots of different types of people. None of them are the "ultimate" they all have features that are different. Though I would like to one day see a harvest moon with all of the features from each harvest moon in a single game.

Timogorgon Member wrote on 10/12/2012 at 08:03pm

Oops! I meant the selection of Harvest Moon games I've played is small. I should really proof read my comments before posting. XD Yeah the Harvest Moon series is pretty expansive. One of these days I'm going to try the Rune Factory games. They look pretty cool.

On a related note, I picked up Harvest Moon: Back to Nature on PSN/PSP. I haven't really played much of it yet, but look forward to plowing (see what I did there?) through it. :D

Jacob_Richardson Post Author wrote on 10/12/2012 at 08:27pm

hahaha. nice pun. I love rune factory frontier on my wii. Can't wait for rune factory 4 to come over from japan.

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