[3DS] My issues with Natsume's 3DS port of Tale of Two Towns

[Barley Yodel]

{NOTE: In case some new folks don't know me, I'd like to state here and now that I am an AMERICAN WHOSE SPELLING TENDS TO LEAN TOWARD BRITISH ENGLISH SPELLING.}

Alright, first thing is first:

PROS
* After all of these years, we FINALLY have villages again.

* Rutger looks pretty doggone dapper. Better than some prior mayors.

* No longer forced to plant crops; kind of.

* "Two places to live in! Special festivals all around!"... blah blah blah...

* You can carry your storage with you, horse and buggy style!

* The return of the festival music from Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (and Back to Nature.)

* Konohana has a cool theme.

[I'LL ADD MORE IF I FORGOT ANY]

CONS

* Time almost NEVER stops. It only stops when: A. You're talking to someone. B. You're accessing the shipping bin or C. You have your records menu open.

* No refrigerator, tool chest, shelf, etc. Everything is stored in one compartment.

* Terrible version of Rune Factory ~A Fantasy Harvest Moon~'s request board. Time limits, no canceling requests, request limits, etc.

* TWO message boards in both of the towns, each containing specific things you (to all intents and purposes) need to have.

* You NEED to participate in the Cooking Festival MANY MANY times if you want to get anywhere in the game.

* The stupid STAR POINT system from more recent games returns, albeit with ONE major difference. If an item has a different star level than another of that same item, you CANNOT combine them. NOPE. Unlike games like Harvest Moon- Sunshine Islands, the game REFUSES to average out the items' star rating for you. So you'll be stuck with 5000 stacks of 3 branches.

[I'LL ADD MORE IF I FORGOT ANY]

PERSONAL GRIPES

* While a lot of old favourites from Harvest Moon- Friends of Mineral Town return, only l33t g0dpl@y3rz will be able to obtain them. The Hot Springs are a good example.

* Playing 15 minutes of this game sucks all of the energy out of me, and leaves me bored to death. I have yet to find one bit of interesting interaction that healed this, BESIDES ONE INSTANCE. The dialogue Rutger's wife, Rose, said regarding their "hidden gift exchange" somehow unbored my mind. Who'd of thought?

[I'LL ADD MORE IF I FORGOT ANY]


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of that said, I'd like to ask folks who've played this game to give their opinions on the aforementioned things.

So... GO!

[TheFarmboy]

Well. Let me explain about each.

No Problems:
Timer (If you played games like AWL or ToT, then you'ld be use to it)
Storage Compartments
Request Board
Star System.
The Tunnel (not yet, still need to unblock it though)
The Flowers instead of Hearts
Construction costs (I found that making money in this game is quite easy.)

I do however, have a problem with two things. The fact that you have to look at the request board for tools/buildings instead of asking the carpenter annd blacksmith. And probably the freshness, realistic, but still annoying.

Otherwise I don't really have much problems with it.

[Shadownami92]

Though to be more specific, the timer goes by slower it seems than it does in ToT, but faster than AWL. So not only is it not a problem. But I found a good amount of balance in terms of how much you can get done each day. After you get the horse you can do all your farm work, talk to everyone in town, and gather almost everything in the forest and do some fishing in the same day.

I will agree that the request board can be annoying at times, it's hit or miss when it comes to what you need to find. My brother was able to finish tons of requests for eggs and stuff. But for me I got those same requests even though I started at the Planting focused town so it was nearly impossible for me to finish those requests at first.

And having to use it for getting stuff from the blacksmith can be a little annoying.

The tunnel isn't really a problem, it doesn't take that long on horse, and the scenery is more enjoyable.

There is more than enough room in your cart most of the time so the quality points stacking system isn't something I mind, I would prefer it over accidentally stacking a super quality item on top of poor quality items to basically lose that hard work in getting the rarer and harder to get quality items.

And I actually like the cooking contests, it's not even hard to participate in them at first because the mayors give you the items you needs. I also like how the more you cook, the more recipes you can get.

The only major problem with the 3DS port is the freezing honestly. Other than that it's been a much higher quality Harvest Moon game then most HM games that have come out in recent years.

[Barley Yodel]

Originally Posted by Shadownami92

Though to be more specific, the timer goes by slower it seems than it does in ToT, but faster than AWL. So not only is it not a problem. But I found a good amount of balance in terms of how much you can get done each day. After you get the horse you can do all your farm work, talk to everyone in town, and gather almost everything in the forest and do some fishing in the same day.

I will agree that the request board can be annoying at times, it's hit or miss when it comes to what you need to find. My brother was able to finish tons of requests for eggs and stuff. But for me I got those same requests even though I started at the Planting focused town so it was nearly impossible for me to finish those requests at first.

And having to use it for getting stuff from the blacksmith can be a little annoying.

The tunnel isn't really a problem, it doesn't take that long on horse, and the scenery is more enjoyable.

There is more than enough room in your cart most of the time so the quality points stacking system isn't something I mind, I would prefer it over accidentally stacking a super quality item on top of poor quality items to basically lose that hard work in getting the rarer and harder to get quality items.

And I actually like the cooking contests, it's not even hard to participate in them at first because the mayors give you the items you needs. I also like how the more you cook, the more recipes you can get.

The only major problem with the 3DS port is the freezing honestly. Other than that it's been a much higher quality Harvest Moon game then most HM games that have come out in recent years.

Ironically, your one gripe with the game doesn't seem to occurvin my copy (I have the 3DS version as well.) Maybe your cart is damaged.

[Barley Yodel]

Originally Posted by TheFarmboy

Well. Let me explain about each.

No Problems:
Timer (If you played games like AWL or ToT, then you'ld be use to it)
Storage Compartments
Request Board
Star System.
The Tunnel (not yet, still need to unblock it though)
The Flowers instead of Hearts
Construction costs (I found that making money in this game is quite easy.)

I do however, have a problem with two things. The fact that you have to look at the request board for tools/buildings instead of asking the carpenter annd blacksmith. And probably the freshness, realistic, but still annoying.

Otherwise I don't really have much problems with it.

I've played AWL. That was my first Harvest Moon game, for God's aches. But time STILL passed at a fair speed in that game, so it wasn't an issue.

[Shadownami92]

My cart isn't damage, on the 3DS port lots of people have had the freezing problem.

And time never passed at a fair speed in AWL, it was incredibly slow, I mean it was REAAAALLLY slow. Slowest HM day cycle out of any game I think. Though in all honestly since there isn't much to do each day I would normally just go to sleep super early, since fishing wasn't very interesting considering that cooking wasn't that important and you could make bank off of tree seeds.

[Kaleb]

I feel like for the more current games awls speed would b great. Awl itself didnt have quite enough to do. Todaya games have me whip lashed though..lol

[Shadownami92]

I will agree with that, an AWL game with more townspeople (3 and a half girls isn't that good variety wise in my opinion marriage wise), proper festivals, lower the selling price of seeds and add the ability to sell the goat and I think it would be a pretty good game. Granted I wasn't the biggest fan of the chapters system...

[Kaleb]

Yeah...I didn't like the fact the game eventually ended but other then that AWL was probably my favorite. Needed more to do throughout the day though.

[Barley Yodel]

Originally Posted by Kaleb

Yeah...I didn't like the fact the game eventually ended but other then that AWL was probably my favorite. Needed more to do throughout the day though.

Ya, but later version let you go to a "Heaven" chapter.

I thankfully had both AWL and AnWL at that time, so it wasn't an issue...