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"The Jet Gamer"Review:Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns
9 years ago
Time for a 3DS game that requires a commitment to play.
Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns
Well now, Harvest Moon for the 3DS. Yeah, this is definitely a game that requires quite the commitment if you wish to play through it. I already played this game for a couple of weeks now and honestly, I just got to the point where I felt I wanted to move onto my next game. This can be both a good and a bad thing, but I wonder if this is because it is good or bad in this games case? Some Harvest Moon games are better than others. Is this one of those versions that is worth it, or is it worth a pass? Let us find out shall we.
Gameplay
Most people know Harvest Moon as the farming simulator, well that is pretty much what this one is as well, but Harvest Moon is always a lot more than just farming. It is also about starting a new life in your new village as you not only grow crops or help raise animals, but also get to know the villagers and slowly begin to integrate as part of the town while doing your farming job. All the while, you are usually trying to find a wife or husband to spend your life with, depending on the gender of your character, and start a family. A tale of two towns is no different here, but there is one big difference, and it is part of the story, but I’ll mention it here, as it does slightly change the gameplay. There are two villages to choose from, one is Bluebell, which is more focused on animal raising, and then there is Konohana, the one I choose, that is more focused on growing crops. You can do both in either village, but depending on which area you choose, either the fields or the barn are bigger when you start the game. You can expand these later in the game, but it takes quite some time before these options become available. It takes commitment to get bigger and better raising areas or fields to grow in. Growing crops is a simple process. You buy seeds, which you then planet after you have tilled the land, and then you water and look after them until you can pick them. At this point, you can either sell them for more money, or keep them for other purposes later, which there are reasons to do so. Animals aren’t that hard either. It is pretty much, give them attention, feed them, and take care of them as needed, such as milking cows and sheering the sheep. Now, as I mentioned, you can sell your product for money, which is good as you need it to buy upgrades and more product to grow or raise. There are also lots of requests that the villagers will give you which sometimes requires giving up your products or finding wild products to give to the villagers. This makes them happy, but they always give you something back in return. Sometimes these are other products for you grow, but a lot of the time they are cooking ingredients or food. Cooking is a major part of the game, but also a part that I can see why people need to look online for help. You can cook many things in this game, but unless you look online for the recipes, you will end up wasting a lot of product on failed dishes instead of things you need. One reason you need cooking as well, is that cooking is a major part of the story, which I will bring up in the next section. So really, I can see how this can be frustrating for someone if they don’t know you can go online and find the recipes online. The same goes for giving people gifts that will make them like you more and for things like marriage requirements and things that people hate that will hurt your relationships. I honestly think the website I found for this game is very helpful and does explain a lot about this game, but the fact that I honestly think you need this website when you are playing does show me that the game does lack some explanation on things in this game. I understand the game wants you to figure some of this stuff out with trial and error, but with the slow pace a harvest moon game has, you would be playing this game forever. You will find yourself doing some of the same tasks over and over in this game. You basically get into a routine of talking to the people, watering crops, taking care of animals, fulfilling requests, and looking for a mate. You will see yourself doing the same exact tasks, day after in game day repeatedly. That is pretty normal to a harvest moon game, thus why these games aren’t for everyone, and also why they take a commitment to play. There is nothing wrong with that if you can throw enough events and other things at the player to keep them on their toes of course. This game does an okay job at that, but I do think there could be a little more in it to make it great. Just remember, get into a routine in this game. It really does help you get the jobs you need to do done, and give you enough time to either do requests, or hunt the wild for random goods to either stockpile for later or to make a little money on the side when your crops aren’t ready. I did eventually stop playing this game for the time being in the middle of the second year, but this game can easily go on for many years in the game. Just remember, if you want this game series, be sure you have time to commit to it. I can’t stress that enough. Other than that, this games gameplay is actually one of the better harvest moon games. It could have been a little better if you didn’t sort of need the external website for some of the more minor explanations that would keep the game from being super long if you just had to do trial and error though.
Story
The story of this Harvest Moon game is that the two villages, Konohana and Bluebell have slowly over time started to hate each other. The mayors of the two towns fight whenever they see each other. The two towns also used to be connected to each other by a tunnel through a mountain that is between the two villages as well. It is your job in this game, to first choose which village you wish to live in, and then work on getting the mayors to one again like each other and to eventually reopen the tunnel between the villages to make the two villages basically be working together as one again. That’s the main story of the game. Sure, there is the part where you are trying to start your own farm or ranch and start a family in these towns, but that is sort of a back thing that really has no story connected to it at all. The main story is about fixing these two villages relations and getting them to like each other again. You would think there would be a lot more diplomatic things you had to do, and also many more events that would need to take place for this to be fixed, but there is only one way to fix the situation. That is by competing in the cooking contests that happen four times a season. Yes, you heard me, the cooking contest is the only way to help fix these mayors disputes. By competing in the contests, you make the mayors get together and slowly over time start to understand that neither is better than the other and that their villages can be friendly competitors that can work together again. To get the villages together again, two things must happen. First, you must fill up the heart meter between the mayors that appears after the contests. When you win the contest, the hearts will fill up faster than if you lose the contests, so it is best that you try to win the contests, but often times, the contests are random, since it is village vs village and you do have to rely on your fellow villagers to help make good dishes as well. Even if you just watch, it will raise the heart levels for the mayors, but very little. You always want to compete, even if it isn’t a good dish. Yeah, this is the story. You compete in cooking and help heal the rift between two villages. The two village’s concept is actually a great concept, but honestly, I think it could have been handled better. Having pretty much the bulk of your story be stuck behind cooking contests like this just seems silly to me. You can’t help them in any other way. Anything else you do in the game with the characters is based on your own characters day to day life and his goal to be friends with everyone and to start a family. This just seems like a wasted opportunity to do more with the story and to not have this game be only about the day to day life grind of trying to make a living and start a family. This isn’t the worst story around, but it just feels like a missed opportunity.
Graphics
The graphics of this game aren’t that bad. I know this game was a simultaneous release on the DS and 3DS, but really, the game looks fine for the 3DS. I know it isn’t the most wonderful graphics in the world, but honestly, everyone looks fine and designed very well. The animals, crops, and people all look fine, and the close ups of the people look very well designed as well. No one looks really super pixilated, and you can easily tell people from each other. There is nothing amazing about the graphics in the game, but they aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. It reminds me of the Harvest Moon games back from the original PlayStation era and the early games, just with a little extra flair. I do think this series has had more success in this style than in the 3D style, and I think this is another example of just that. The only thing I have to say about the graphics though is that there is occasional slowdown when it comes to them. When you water too much at once, or when there is a lot of weather effects on the screen, this game can occasionally choke a bit and slow down. It is very temporary, and usually only happens when it comes to strong weather effects or strong watering effects. If they had fixed this little bit, then the slowdown would have pretty much been nonexistent. Other than that, this game looks fine to me.
Sound
This is another section where honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with the game, but there is also nothing super special about the music either. The music in the game is very nature oriented as you would expect when you are on your farm or out in the wild, and then the music in the villages is themed after where they are sort of based off of. I will discuss Konohana since that is the village I chose in this game. The village’s music is very Japanese themed, which makes sense based on the way several people dress and how the village’s houses are designed, all in japanesish style. You hear this music whenever you are in or passing through town, otherwise, the only other music you hear is the farm and nature music and of course the other villages music. There is special event music that pops up from time to time as well when they happen, but you won’t hear this as much as the other. As I said, the music is just another one of those things that is really just good, but nothing wonderful. I would have liked there to have been a bit more music choice, but what you get is good overall.
Control
Honestly, the controls are pretty good once you get used to them. You do have some tricky moments when you first get started on learning how to control the consecutive actions controls, but other than that, everything else is pretty easy to get a hold of when you get started. What I mean by consecutive actions is where you make the character jump right into the next action right after he finished the last action. An example is when you water one row of crops, you get the character to jump right into watering the next row. Tilling the ground is the trickier version of this to do, but once you learn the correct button motions you won’t have much trouble with it. You just have to learn the right way to push the buttons to get this to work, otherwise, you won’t be able to make rows and instead you will make single holes, which isn’t going to help you at all in this game. Other than this, I can’t see much else that is hard to control or figure out about this game. You only use the style during a small mini game where you pet your animals to make them happier, and even then, that is optional. Unless you accidentally click on your animal when the animal is asking for this mini game, you won’t even need to pick up the stylus at all in this game. Honestly, I think that is for the best, as the style I don’t see having much point in this game anyway. Just stick to normal controls.
Replay Value
The replay value is where I feel these Harvest Moon games are very subjective. I might enjoy playing a harvest moon game again in the future, but others may find these games not replayable at all. This Harvest Moon game has a lot you can do, but you have to be willing to commit to it as I have said many times already. All of them are usually like this, and this one is no different. You can choose different villages to be a part of, you can go after different mates and you can focus on making different friends or growing different crops or raising different animals each time you play the game. There are a lot of little things you can do different in this game, but overall, you also do a lot things you the same over and over again as well. Harvest Moon games can be repetitive. It can be very easy to get into a funk with this game or to get very bored with them and want to play something else. I can see how this can happen, and honestly, there were a few times where I felt like this as well. That is always going to be the main troubling thing with harvest moon. It is a bit of a repetitive game. I can’t deny that at all. If you can get into this game though, like I did for the most part and you have lots of time to invest into it, you are going to have a very long lasting and replayable game on your hands here. For those that don’t like that though, they are going to be very bored with this game very fast from its repetitive nature. This is a day to day life simulator in a way after all. It is not for everyone in the replayability. Yes, there are different things you can do, but if you find the day to day life grind in this game boring, you are in for a boring time over all.
Overall, I would say that Harvest Moon 3D: A tale of two towns is a pretty good Harvest Moon game over all. It offers something different from other harvest moon games with the two towns you can visit, but it also does a lot of things the same as well, which is both good and likely boring to some people. Boredom and repetitiveness is going to be the big combating thing that will hurt or help this game appeal or not appeal to certain people. Everything else in this game is pretty good, but there is also nothing wonderful either I would say. This is a decent game, that if you can get past the repetitiveness, you are going to have a very very long game on your hands that you can enjoy and get to know quite well after how long you have invested in this game. IF you can’t get past this though, don’t even think of picking up this game. This series is appealing to me at times, but it isn’t for everyone that’s for sure.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Harvest Moon 3D: A tale of two towns an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 8
Story: 6
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Control: 9
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns
Well now, Harvest Moon for the 3DS. Yeah, this is definitely a game that requires quite the commitment if you wish to play through it. I already played this game for a couple of weeks now and honestly, I just got to the point where I felt I wanted to move onto my next game. This can be both a good and a bad thing, but I wonder if this is because it is good or bad in this games case? Some Harvest Moon games are better than others. Is this one of those versions that is worth it, or is it worth a pass? Let us find out shall we.
Gameplay
Most people know Harvest Moon as the farming simulator, well that is pretty much what this one is as well, but Harvest Moon is always a lot more than just farming. It is also about starting a new life in your new village as you not only grow crops or help raise animals, but also get to know the villagers and slowly begin to integrate as part of the town while doing your farming job. All the while, you are usually trying to find a wife or husband to spend your life with, depending on the gender of your character, and start a family. A tale of two towns is no different here, but there is one big difference, and it is part of the story, but I’ll mention it here, as it does slightly change the gameplay. There are two villages to choose from, one is Bluebell, which is more focused on animal raising, and then there is Konohana, the one I choose, that is more focused on growing crops. You can do both in either village, but depending on which area you choose, either the fields or the barn are bigger when you start the game. You can expand these later in the game, but it takes quite some time before these options become available. It takes commitment to get bigger and better raising areas or fields to grow in. Growing crops is a simple process. You buy seeds, which you then planet after you have tilled the land, and then you water and look after them until you can pick them. At this point, you can either sell them for more money, or keep them for other purposes later, which there are reasons to do so. Animals aren’t that hard either. It is pretty much, give them attention, feed them, and take care of them as needed, such as milking cows and sheering the sheep. Now, as I mentioned, you can sell your product for money, which is good as you need it to buy upgrades and more product to grow or raise. There are also lots of requests that the villagers will give you which sometimes requires giving up your products or finding wild products to give to the villagers. This makes them happy, but they always give you something back in return. Sometimes these are other products for you grow, but a lot of the time they are cooking ingredients or food. Cooking is a major part of the game, but also a part that I can see why people need to look online for help. You can cook many things in this game, but unless you look online for the recipes, you will end up wasting a lot of product on failed dishes instead of things you need. One reason you need cooking as well, is that cooking is a major part of the story, which I will bring up in the next section. So really, I can see how this can be frustrating for someone if they don’t know you can go online and find the recipes online. The same goes for giving people gifts that will make them like you more and for things like marriage requirements and things that people hate that will hurt your relationships. I honestly think the website I found for this game is very helpful and does explain a lot about this game, but the fact that I honestly think you need this website when you are playing does show me that the game does lack some explanation on things in this game. I understand the game wants you to figure some of this stuff out with trial and error, but with the slow pace a harvest moon game has, you would be playing this game forever. You will find yourself doing some of the same tasks over and over in this game. You basically get into a routine of talking to the people, watering crops, taking care of animals, fulfilling requests, and looking for a mate. You will see yourself doing the same exact tasks, day after in game day repeatedly. That is pretty normal to a harvest moon game, thus why these games aren’t for everyone, and also why they take a commitment to play. There is nothing wrong with that if you can throw enough events and other things at the player to keep them on their toes of course. This game does an okay job at that, but I do think there could be a little more in it to make it great. Just remember, get into a routine in this game. It really does help you get the jobs you need to do done, and give you enough time to either do requests, or hunt the wild for random goods to either stockpile for later or to make a little money on the side when your crops aren’t ready. I did eventually stop playing this game for the time being in the middle of the second year, but this game can easily go on for many years in the game. Just remember, if you want this game series, be sure you have time to commit to it. I can’t stress that enough. Other than that, this games gameplay is actually one of the better harvest moon games. It could have been a little better if you didn’t sort of need the external website for some of the more minor explanations that would keep the game from being super long if you just had to do trial and error though.
Story
The story of this Harvest Moon game is that the two villages, Konohana and Bluebell have slowly over time started to hate each other. The mayors of the two towns fight whenever they see each other. The two towns also used to be connected to each other by a tunnel through a mountain that is between the two villages as well. It is your job in this game, to first choose which village you wish to live in, and then work on getting the mayors to one again like each other and to eventually reopen the tunnel between the villages to make the two villages basically be working together as one again. That’s the main story of the game. Sure, there is the part where you are trying to start your own farm or ranch and start a family in these towns, but that is sort of a back thing that really has no story connected to it at all. The main story is about fixing these two villages relations and getting them to like each other again. You would think there would be a lot more diplomatic things you had to do, and also many more events that would need to take place for this to be fixed, but there is only one way to fix the situation. That is by competing in the cooking contests that happen four times a season. Yes, you heard me, the cooking contest is the only way to help fix these mayors disputes. By competing in the contests, you make the mayors get together and slowly over time start to understand that neither is better than the other and that their villages can be friendly competitors that can work together again. To get the villages together again, two things must happen. First, you must fill up the heart meter between the mayors that appears after the contests. When you win the contest, the hearts will fill up faster than if you lose the contests, so it is best that you try to win the contests, but often times, the contests are random, since it is village vs village and you do have to rely on your fellow villagers to help make good dishes as well. Even if you just watch, it will raise the heart levels for the mayors, but very little. You always want to compete, even if it isn’t a good dish. Yeah, this is the story. You compete in cooking and help heal the rift between two villages. The two village’s concept is actually a great concept, but honestly, I think it could have been handled better. Having pretty much the bulk of your story be stuck behind cooking contests like this just seems silly to me. You can’t help them in any other way. Anything else you do in the game with the characters is based on your own characters day to day life and his goal to be friends with everyone and to start a family. This just seems like a wasted opportunity to do more with the story and to not have this game be only about the day to day life grind of trying to make a living and start a family. This isn’t the worst story around, but it just feels like a missed opportunity.
Graphics
The graphics of this game aren’t that bad. I know this game was a simultaneous release on the DS and 3DS, but really, the game looks fine for the 3DS. I know it isn’t the most wonderful graphics in the world, but honestly, everyone looks fine and designed very well. The animals, crops, and people all look fine, and the close ups of the people look very well designed as well. No one looks really super pixilated, and you can easily tell people from each other. There is nothing amazing about the graphics in the game, but they aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. It reminds me of the Harvest Moon games back from the original PlayStation era and the early games, just with a little extra flair. I do think this series has had more success in this style than in the 3D style, and I think this is another example of just that. The only thing I have to say about the graphics though is that there is occasional slowdown when it comes to them. When you water too much at once, or when there is a lot of weather effects on the screen, this game can occasionally choke a bit and slow down. It is very temporary, and usually only happens when it comes to strong weather effects or strong watering effects. If they had fixed this little bit, then the slowdown would have pretty much been nonexistent. Other than that, this game looks fine to me.
Sound
This is another section where honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with the game, but there is also nothing super special about the music either. The music in the game is very nature oriented as you would expect when you are on your farm or out in the wild, and then the music in the villages is themed after where they are sort of based off of. I will discuss Konohana since that is the village I chose in this game. The village’s music is very Japanese themed, which makes sense based on the way several people dress and how the village’s houses are designed, all in japanesish style. You hear this music whenever you are in or passing through town, otherwise, the only other music you hear is the farm and nature music and of course the other villages music. There is special event music that pops up from time to time as well when they happen, but you won’t hear this as much as the other. As I said, the music is just another one of those things that is really just good, but nothing wonderful. I would have liked there to have been a bit more music choice, but what you get is good overall.
Control
Honestly, the controls are pretty good once you get used to them. You do have some tricky moments when you first get started on learning how to control the consecutive actions controls, but other than that, everything else is pretty easy to get a hold of when you get started. What I mean by consecutive actions is where you make the character jump right into the next action right after he finished the last action. An example is when you water one row of crops, you get the character to jump right into watering the next row. Tilling the ground is the trickier version of this to do, but once you learn the correct button motions you won’t have much trouble with it. You just have to learn the right way to push the buttons to get this to work, otherwise, you won’t be able to make rows and instead you will make single holes, which isn’t going to help you at all in this game. Other than this, I can’t see much else that is hard to control or figure out about this game. You only use the style during a small mini game where you pet your animals to make them happier, and even then, that is optional. Unless you accidentally click on your animal when the animal is asking for this mini game, you won’t even need to pick up the stylus at all in this game. Honestly, I think that is for the best, as the style I don’t see having much point in this game anyway. Just stick to normal controls.
Replay Value
The replay value is where I feel these Harvest Moon games are very subjective. I might enjoy playing a harvest moon game again in the future, but others may find these games not replayable at all. This Harvest Moon game has a lot you can do, but you have to be willing to commit to it as I have said many times already. All of them are usually like this, and this one is no different. You can choose different villages to be a part of, you can go after different mates and you can focus on making different friends or growing different crops or raising different animals each time you play the game. There are a lot of little things you can do different in this game, but overall, you also do a lot things you the same over and over again as well. Harvest Moon games can be repetitive. It can be very easy to get into a funk with this game or to get very bored with them and want to play something else. I can see how this can happen, and honestly, there were a few times where I felt like this as well. That is always going to be the main troubling thing with harvest moon. It is a bit of a repetitive game. I can’t deny that at all. If you can get into this game though, like I did for the most part and you have lots of time to invest into it, you are going to have a very long lasting and replayable game on your hands here. For those that don’t like that though, they are going to be very bored with this game very fast from its repetitive nature. This is a day to day life simulator in a way after all. It is not for everyone in the replayability. Yes, there are different things you can do, but if you find the day to day life grind in this game boring, you are in for a boring time over all.
Overall, I would say that Harvest Moon 3D: A tale of two towns is a pretty good Harvest Moon game over all. It offers something different from other harvest moon games with the two towns you can visit, but it also does a lot of things the same as well, which is both good and likely boring to some people. Boredom and repetitiveness is going to be the big combating thing that will hurt or help this game appeal or not appeal to certain people. Everything else in this game is pretty good, but there is also nothing wonderful either I would say. This is a decent game, that if you can get past the repetitiveness, you are going to have a very very long game on your hands that you can enjoy and get to know quite well after how long you have invested in this game. IF you can’t get past this though, don’t even think of picking up this game. This series is appealing to me at times, but it isn’t for everyone that’s for sure.
Overall, in my opinion at least, I give Harvest Moon 3D: A tale of two towns an eight out of ten.
Gameplay: 8
Story: 6
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Control: 9
Replay Value: 8
Overall: 8
ClayMongoose
~claymongoose
Harvest Moon makes me think of Pokemon for some bizarre reason...
MTH001
~mth001
Care to share?
Tails_Fanatic
~tailsfanatic
OP
Oh really?
ClayMongoose
~claymongoose
Graphically I mean
