Can Harvest Moon Compete With Stardew Valley?

Can Harvest Moon Compete With Stardew Valley?

Back in the 90s and early 2000s, the farming sim genre was pretty much dominated by Harvest Moon. Fast forward a couple years though, and that’s not really the case anymore. Like it’s kinda crazy how different things are now compared to when this genre first started. Now, I’ve already talked about all this before, but to get everyone caught up… OKAY, so there was this game called Bokujo Monogatari right? It came out […] So Natsume started publishing the games in the west and […] So THEN Victor Interactive Software was acquired by […] And because of that we now have Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon… See, it”s not that complicated… Ok so look, basically we have the real Harvest Moon just with a new name. And uh… Fake ass Creme Betweens Harvest Moon? So, these two fought it out for a bit BUT eventually it was all for nothing. Because, in 2016 a little indie game called Stardew Valley came out of nowhere and pretty much effortlessly swiped the farming sim crown from both of them. Stardew Valley basically wiped these two off the map. So, is there even a place for either of these franchises in a post Stardew Valley world? Well, let’s take a look at each new entry from Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons to find out! Alright so, Harvest Moon: One World. Also known as: "Aw f***, I bought the wrong one…" Yeah, for those of you who don’t know Natsume’s Harvest Moon doesn’t really have the best track record with most of these games feeling like cheap mobile games that were made to fool people into thinking this is the same Harvest Moon you grew up with when it’s, ya know… [Glass breaks] it’s not. So, yeah I wasn’t feeling the best about paying… 50 F***ING DOLLARS FOR THIS S***?? And there’s already DLC? Alright… So, we start on the title screen with some classic royaltyfree.mp3 so you already know my expectations are through the f***ing roof. [Harvest Moon: One World Title Screen Music] What do they got me on hold…? [Title Screen music plays through phone] We then select our character, get some very basic customization options and we’re off to the races. Now, I’m guessing some s*** went down in the last Harvest Moon because this one takes place in some dystopian future or something. Like, there’s only like 3 people in this entire village and the only vegetable that exists here are potatoes. Also, no one seems to know how the hell seeds work. But, there’s this book right? That talks about all these other kinds of crops that existed in the olden days But, PSH those are just fairy tales you can’t tell me you actually think something called a… "CU CU mber" actually existed… But, the main character insists there’s gotta be more to life than just potatoes and…. …this guy… [Cow Moo] So, we set off to prove just that. Along the way you’ll also be testing this new invention the expando-farm. It’s an entire farm you can just… stuff in your pocket. Yeah, you can literally pick up your entire farm and just move it to a completely new area and this is basically what the entire game revolves around. Honestly, I thought this was such a stupid gimmick I mean, one of the main appeals of these types of games is growing attached to a small community as you build up your farm. If you’re constantly on the move you’ll never get the chance to experience that. But, the more I played… The more I started to really like this idea. Like, it’s exciting to move your farm to a completely new region and discover its unique elements. What are the people like here? What kind of crops do they grow? You may not be able to become attached to these areas like you do in other farming games but it keeps things fresh and is a really nice change of pace from the usual farming game setup. For example, in other farming games like Stardew Valley once you’ve seen everything the area has to offer that’s it… But here, once you grow bored of a village or someone in the village Yeah, go f*** yourself Branden You can just pack up and move somewhere new It’s such a unique approach to these types of games. However, while the idea definitely stands out the actual execution is… pretty awful. The world just…isn’t worth exploring. It’s all just a bunch of small villages connected by these super boring and linear paths. Also, you can only set up your farm in these very specific spots so like 99% of the world is just empty filler. There isn’t even much to the different regions with each feeling basically the same with a different regional coat of paint splattered on top. Same goes for the characters with none of them having any real depth at all which makes it hard to grow attached to any of them. Which speaking of characters it’s almost like they gave up halfway through with most of them being named things like "Strong Man" "Thoughtful woman" or who could forget "Friendly Man" He’s just too F***ING friendly The game is also a technical mess with a super choppy framerate people teleporting all over the place and these really weird graphicalglitches Like…yeah Yeah, that looks finished… THEN there’s the DLC which I’d be fine with. But the fact that they spent time and resources on making this extra paid content instead of ya know… Polishing the actual game when it VERY MUCH needed it is just… baffling. I’m just…disappointed with this game. Because, I was initially having a decent time with it. Like I said, I have to commend them for trying something new here. But, it’s just not executed well at all. I’d love to see this idea fully realized in a better game and who knows maybe they’ll continue to refine it with future entries. But for now… I just want my 50 f***ing dollars back. Also, I love how if you type Harvest Moon in on the eShop Story of Seasons comes up. Like even Nintendo knows THIS isthe one you actually want. Which speaking of: Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town. HOLY S*** is this game boring… …at first. Yeah, this is just a problem that every modern Story of Seasons game has and unfortunately it doesn’t look like they did much to fix it here. They just take SO LONG to get going with all these super unnecessary tutorials shoved down your neck. It’s like they don’t respect the player at all and just assume you have no idea what farming even is. "The hell is this s***?" Once you get past all that though this is just a pretty standard farming game… and that’s exactly why I find it so disappointing. Now, don’t get me wrong I like this game, it just…. doesn’t do anything new or ground breaking. It’s all stuff I’ve seen before and most of it is stuff that’s already been done way better in previous entries. There’s also quite a few borrowed elements from other series like Stardew or Animal Crossing which is fine… But they just don’t add much to the overall experience. Like you start out in a tent on a deserted piece of land like in New Horizons you donate to a museum like in Stardew There’s even this Egg Festival which… …Yeah they’re not even trying to hide it. It just feels like they threw this stuff in because all of these other popular games are doing it so I guess we have to do it too… Which is a terrible way to design ANY kind of game. You see, something like Stardew Valley works so well because allof its systems are tied togetherin a meaningful way. Everything has a purpose which means you’re always making progress no matter how you choose to play. But here…that’s not really the case. Everything just feels so disjointed like…why should I donate these fish to the museum when I could just sell them? Why waste time on these minigames? Why do I have to scoop up these puddles every morning? Why should I talk to ANYONE when the most interesting thing they have to say is "The sun sure is bright" OH YA DONT F***ING SAY. "f*** that’s bright" [Sigh] I don’t know, this game is alright I guess. It just doesn’t do anything to really define itself. And because of that it ends up feeling pretty forgettable. Like, even though Harvest Moon: One World was a broken mess of a game I’ll at least remember it for its unique concept. But this? It’s just another Story of Seasons game. I see no reason at all to play this one over any of the other entries. Basically, Harvest Moon is the more interesting but broken game. And Story of Seasons is more polished, but doesn’t do anything noteworthy. So, back to my original question then. Do either of these franchises have a place in a post Stardew Valley world? Honestly, right now…no. Both of these games are 50 god damn dollars while Stardew Valley is over here for less than half of that and has been offering free content updates since 2016. With either of these games you’re literally paying double the price for what? 3D visuals…? But, just because they aren’t on the same level as Stardew Valley now doesn’t mean I think they should just throw in the towel. Competition in any industry is always a good thing it encourages innovation and gives consumers a choice. I’d love to see a world where the farming sim genre is just as competitive as any other genre with each series doing its best to out do the rest. But, right now your choices are just…Stardew Valley or…nothing and I find that to be pretty frustrating. I mean, Story of Seasons has been going for 25 years now, and this is all they have to offer? Like I said at the beginning of this, the farming sim genre is very different now compared to how it was a decade ago… But, Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons just…don’t seem to agree? It’s almost like they’re just ignoring the fact that Stardew Valley even exists. Neither of these games feel like they’re making any real effort to compete with it which doesn’t bode well for either of them. I mean, Stardew Valley was made by a single person while both of these games have entire studios behind them so…what’s their excuse? Stardew Valley isn’t going away and the more these two continue to drag their feet the more irrelevant they’ll become. There’s definitely potential here though, with both of these games. They just need to stop ignoring the elephant in the room and actually put up a fight…

Harvest Moon once dominated the farming sim genre, but nowadays? That’s not really the case, with the surprise indie hit Stardew Valley claiming the farming sim crown in 2016. So, is there even a place for Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons in a post Stardew Valley world? Well, let’s take a look at Harvest Moon: One World AND Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, each for the Nintendo Switch to find out!

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