What Makes Harvest Moon Enjoyable For You?

[TheFarmboy]

1) What makes Harvest Moon enjoyable for you?
What I enjoy about Harvest Moon would be the premise of managing a farm. And interacting with the villagers and the enviroment as well.

2) If you could add any two things to the newer HM Games, what would they be?
Tractors! And Maple trees.

3) If you could take away two things from the newer HM Games, what would they be?
Probably the repraising system for the ores they have in ToT/AP.

4) What do you miss from the older games?
Probably that the older characters, bachelor/ettes seem more appealing then what they have (I like the characters from ToT/AP though). And the experimenting they had with the different installments. I felt that later games where alot like Magical Melody.

5) What do you like about the newer games?
Probably the customization for your character and home. As well as the variety of crop and animals.

[Tithis]

Originally Posted by TheFarmboy

And Maple trees.

You are my new bestest friend.

[RoadRunner]

Mine is farming it’s the most important part of the harvest moon for me. Because I like to spend my time on farm, where I can grow crops and take care about animals. Farming makes me relaxed.

[Sephina]

For me, it's got to be the overall innocence. I grew up playing action, horror survival and role playing games otherwise, so I actually came to appreciate the simplicity and innocence of HM as a series when I'd had my day's fill of the other genres. HM can be as rural and simple or as large-scale and businesslike as you make it and the ability to have a pretty wholesome, insulated game where your goals really are just to farm and save a Harvest Goddess really appeals to me as a comforting and hearty break from games where you're always hurting others/living in a dark reality.

In terms of what I'd add and what I like in the new games, well... just more customisation (which LoO seems to have answered for) and more obscure animals like alpacas and owls, which ToTT did very well. Perhaps I'd add more types of trees and the ability to socialise more - sit and have meals/drinks with villagers, less routine and repetitive speech, more events that can be activated at any time...

I don't think I'd take anything away except for how irritating getting certain ores got in ToT/AP. All I miss from older games is the sense of community. I don't know how, but only recently in ToTT have I really got a sense of functioning and conscious community in any towns.

[Blackstar]

I love it because its anime and cute and i love animals and making things, and you even get a family in the game just love it get to do your own things and take requests, also the festivals taking part in random events get to customize i bit more in TOTT

[Harvest Maiden]

1) What makes Harvest Moon enjoyable for you?
The sense of accomplishment when you've built your ranch/farm up into something really respectable. I love putting effort into a project and really getting something out of it. As well, being able to establish a family and become part of a community is cool.

2) If you could add any two things to the newer HM Games, what would they be?
More customizing. Your house, your face, your clothes, your kid, etc. The more the better! (And it looks like A New Beginning is going for that so YAY.) As well, I would add in more character interaction (less line repeats) because it makes the experience more genuine.

3) If you could take away two things from the newer HM Games, what would they be?
It's pretty farfetched to dream for (especially with the shallow minds of the American market) but it would be so cool to see same gender relationships become available. Sometimes you're not really into ANY of the guys, so why can't you just marry a girl instead? It's not like you do anything but sleep in the same house so its not SO crazy.

4) What do you miss from the older games?
The simplicity. Its hard to ask for more customization and more character development and still keep it simple, but something that was so great about the first HM was how very simple it was to learn as you went along and how easy it was to recover from a mistake made.

5) What do you like about the newer games?
More characters (including bachelors/bachelorettes) and getting to see your child develop and grow (some games.) I think watching your child develop is one of the coolest features to include.

[pinkcatmint]

1) The relaxing pace, especially if the game has a slow day timer, is my favorite thing. I love exploring the HM games to see what is over the next hill, down the next mineshaft, etc... Interacting with the townspeople and wooing a future husband or wife. Growing the best crops, raising the happiest animals, upgrading your farm. So many fun things to do.

2) Please, please, please put the Save Anywhere and Pause functions back into these games! Gamers have real lives to live, you know. It would also be nice to one day have a more realistic, grown-up version of Harvest Moon that would deal with things like relationship problems, money problems, death of a loved one, or allow you to marry someone of the same sex. AWL was the most realistic of all HM games because it had some of these aspects, plus it had more realistic animal breeding (chickens don't lay fertilized eggs without a rooster!) I'm a happily married woman, but I've been harassing Natsume about the same sex marriage thing for a while. They need to listen to their gay,lesbian, and bisexual fans too.

3) Please remove the Star Rating system for the items found/gathered in the wild. They are a pain because they take up so many different inventory slots. Why does lumber/stone have a Star Rating anyway? Keep the Star Ratings for the items from your farm if Natsume wants to, but at least get rid of their wild counterparts. Either that or give the player a hell of a lot more storage space. Also please remove the horribly high prices for remodels/upgrades. 1 million for a house upgrade? 2 million for a hot spring? Really?

4) I miss the backstories and deep character interactions from some of the classic games. You learned a little about their families, where they came from, what their dreams were, the problems in their daily lives. It made them more real somehow. My first HM game was Back to Nature and I still see those characters as friends. The characters had so much heart in those classic games. I think that is the problem with the newer games, they don't have heart.

5)I like some of the newer graphic styles. Save the Homeland's cell shading was awesome. I like a lot of the new characters. They have more variety, a wider range of skin tones. I like all the festivals because it keeps the game from being too monotonous. I think the extreme customization in the upcoming HM game may be the key to success. I think you can even arrange the town how you want. It sounds pretty cool. It would be awesome if they let you cut down trees and build your own house like in Minecraft.

I need to send in my ideas for HM games to Natsume. I've been working on an aquatic-themed HM game involving Leia the mermaid. Not sure if anyone would like it though.

[pinkcatmint]

Oooh! Maybe they could add Angora Rabbits! Cute, fluffy and you could gather the hair from them like sheep.

[Galickgirl]

1) I love animals and how you can build a family!

2) Hair cuts! I get so mad when I can't change the main characters hair... And, it will be cool if it can be a two player game, if that will ever happen.

3) The animation is pretty bad! If the animation could be realistic, that will be nice. The tailor shop can let you have the choice to design an outfit, like in Animal Crossing. And, more locations for your house!! I know that ToT gives you the choice to either put your house in the three spots in the river district: near the Ganache Mine district, by the ocean and near Waffle Town. That will be cool if you can have more choices.

4) All the HM games have farming in them. For some reason, playing the old games gave me more of an urge to play them, rather than the new games. I agree with Xylon, when you mine more, you get more money by how much your hammer is upgraded. That was kind of depressing knowing that you're getting more money in the new games, by mining than the older games...

5) I like some of the artwork when you speak with the people. In TT, when you talk to the people, they look a little bit more realistic than in the other games, more the newer games like RF, HM:ANB, etc. If they keep the artwork pretty good and even make in even more realistic, I think it will make the game more playable! =]

[Bara2684]

I love RPG games so this was a good pick for me. You get to choose what you grow, what you raise, who you get married to, and I just love farming games!