Poll of the Day > The Harvest Moon series really went downhill.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The success of Stardew Valley is a testament to that.

HM64 was he height of the series, because the game was targeted towards adults. After that, they progressively began whitewashing the games, removing any adult themes, and making them ultra cutesy in an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. The gameplay consistently improved, but the games became shallow and boring. It is a shame.
---

I also have been disappointed by the lack of same sex relationship options. Stardew Valley handled it really well by requiring you to give flowers to an NPC before any romance scenes would initiate. That placated the people who get butthurt about that sort of thing.
---

not that the things you said arent true of some actual harvest moon games but doesnt natsume have the name now and is making harvest moon games that have nothing to do with the series now?
---

TheSlinja posted...

not that the things you said arent true of some actual harvest moon games but doesnt natsume have the name now and is making harvest moon games that have nothing to do with the series now?

Dunno. I dont really follow the games anymore. They have alienated me.
---

TheSlinja posted...

not that the things you said arent true of some actual harvest moon games but doesnt natsume have the name now and is making harvest moon games that have nothing to do with the series now?

Yup. The true Harvest Moon series is now called "Story of Seasons"
---

I think Back to Nature was still good, but since then it's definitely been meh.
---

TheSlinja posted...

not that the things you said arent true of some actual harvest moon games but doesnt natsume have the name now and is making harvest moon games that have nothing to do with the series now?

I believe so.

I think the Story of Seasons games are by the company that made the Harvest Moon games before Natsume got ahold of the franchise name.

https://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/734977-story-of-seasons
https://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/185269-story-of-seasons-trio-of-towns
---

I enjoyed HM Tree of Tranquility.
---

Mario_VS_DK posted...

I think the Story of Seasons games are by the company that made the Harvest Moon games before Natsume got ahold of the franchise name.

The actual development's been done by the same people the whole time, and released in Japan as Bokujo Monogatari. Natsume localized the games as Harvest Moon, but stopped localizing those games a couple years ago and started releasing different games under the Harvest Moon brand. XSeed picked up localizing the BokuMono games, and has released them as Story of Seasons.

Story of Seasons was decent, but I couldn't help but compare it to Rune Factory 4 and feel it fell horribly, horribly short. That said, RF4 was a bloody masterpiece, so maybe that's not entirely fair. I'd probably put SoS up there with HM64, though. I lost interest and drifted away from the game before finishing it (including not actually getting married because I just didn't care about any of the candidates), but the game's shortcomings that led to that aren't really anything HM64 didn't also suffer from. The series has just fallen behind as the standards for character development and mechanical depth change.

HM is one of those series where I always meant to play a game but never did.

CountessRolab posted...

I also have been disappointed by the lack of same sex relationship options. Stardew Valley handled it really well by requiring you to give flowers to an NPC before any romance scenes would initiate. That placated the people who get butthurt about that sort of thing.

You mean the people who get butthurt about a lack of same sex relationship options? >_>
---

Zeus posted...

You mean the people who get butthurt about a lack of same sex relationship options? >_>

Yes, how dare people want to have representation in a game. What an awful thing for gay people (who not only made the mistake of existing) to want to be able to feel like themselves when playing a game.

That was sarcasm.

Zeus posted...

HM is one of those series where I always meant to play a game but never did.

CountessRolab posted...

I also have been disappointed by the lack of same sex relationship options. Stardew Valley handled it really well by requiring you to give flowers to an NPC before any romance scenes would initiate. That placated the people who get butthurt about that sort of thing.

You mean the people who get butthurt about a lack of same sex relationship options? >_>

Wouldn't they be butthurt in the abundance of same sex options as well?
---