https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?u=28809 Blue Gartr Forums Built for the gamer inside all of us. Fresh to Elite, join our community supporting Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, other MMOs, and all sorts of games en Thu, 16 Jul 2026 07:37:16 GMT vBulletin 5 https://cdn.bluegartr.com/images/styles/bluevb4/misc/rss.jpg https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?u=28809 https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=289 Tue, 08 Mar 2016 04:53:57 GMT Image: https://manawillfixit.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/2016-03-07_00001.jpg?w=800 I have a very long history with Harvest Moon – the...

I have a very long history with Harvest Moon – the quintessential farm rpg, so that at this point I pick up each iteration and make a study of how each entry in the series builds off previous games, and how the designer implements the different features that makes each of the games unique. I was intrigued when I saw this game had come out, my friend asked me if I had tried it yet and I knew I couldn’t pass on this game.

The game’s art style gives the first impression that it is modeled off the original SNES title, which while some people may feel that it is the best entry in the series it hasn’t aged well in terms of difficulty and gameplay length. Once the player begins the play experience they quickly learn that while it does feature many things present in the classic harvest moon titles it also takes heavy inspiration from the more modern entries, as well as games like Minecraft or Terraria.



Player feels like they have a lot of freedom — from day 1 I have a lot of choice over what crops to grow and where to spend my time. Harvest Moon utilizes heavy gating in their experiences which makes the game less fun if your playstyle has you trying to rush to unlock different portions of the game. If I want to fish all day that is acceptable, simply having the level up mechanic informs the player that they can build up their experience in a number of ways.

Narrative elements are very well designed the introduction creates a strong narrative for the player character’s beliefs while leaving it open ended enough. Almost each day in the early season the player hits a new bit of narrative which guides them on their way. The NPCs all have busy lives and their dialog changes based on a variety of things, as you get to know them they give additional hints on likes and dislikes. They feel like living people instead of objects I need to interact with to progress in the game.



The most important element that makes the game work well is the amount of tuning that went into the time and player energy systems. This is a core mechanic of farming games, how much can you do in a day, how long the different actions take, how soon until the next season. A typical day takes 10-15 minutes which is the perfect play session, time passes in 10 minute intervals, and pauses when the player brings up a menu, watches tv, or plays the fishing minigame. In Stardew Valley the player can tend a plot of 54 plants and then still has ample time and energy to go fishing, mining or woodcutting and by summer are able to earn enough to get upgrades fairly quickly.

The crafting system also is superior to even what is featured in Story of Seasons, players go to the crafting screen and the crafts they have currently available light up if they have all the appropriate supplies. Players unlock new crafts through leveling up or purchasing them, when they hover over these items they can see what ingredients are needed to build them. This provides the player with soft goals, if they want to build a particular item they need to find the necessary resources.



There are certainly things that could be improved upon, pets and animals are definitely the weakest elements of the game. The pets don’t serve a real purpose, you can click them to make them happy but otherwise they are simply a cosmetic addition to the farm. Animals are more akin to plants than NPCs, you can touch them same as the pets but they cannot be herded, picked up or fed treats. Some of the interfaces are not entirely clear, the construction interface, for example, is fairly different from every other menu so the fact that there are multiple options is a bit obscured.



If you’re someone looking at checking out this genre of game I would definitely recommend Stardew Valley over Story of Seasons (which is the latest version of Harvest Moon, they have lost the rights to the old title.) There is a larger variety of gameplay, the characters are charming and it’s much more affordable than a 3ds title. ]]> Manako https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=289 https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=285 Tue, 01 Mar 2016 04:17:34 GMT Image: https://manawillfixit.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/secondneoimage.png?w=800 I first saw Neo Scavenger at PAX East, it was really up my...

I first saw Neo Scavenger at PAX East, it was really up my alley, and even more surprising it is made in Flash! It is a roguelike adventure game that features a realistic inventory system and has players trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The game has the player scavenging the fallen rubble of buildings to try to subsist; it is easy to die due to hypothermia, infection, or thirst.



The game is, no surprise, very brutal. Because it’s brutal you quickly learn to flee from people who are equal or greater in strength (or else you die) and that you have to face dogs when they attack at first, because again… death. One feature I wish they had was some recommended builds because I found that very difficult to figure out when I began, was I failing because I’m doing something wrong in game, or should I have chosen my skills differently.



The game is visually very simple, there are some nice flourishes with how the items are created and your character’s clothing and what they hold in their hands is displayed on the minimap. The story is revealed through short narrative breaks, through newspaper clippings and CDs, the first time experiencing the game the player is as naïve as their protagonist. The game only allows you to have one save which occurs as you leave the game, which can be frustrating, but the spirit of the game is to play through as far as you can, and probably encourages you to be risky when all is lost. When you die a stat screen appears showing how you spent your final time on the earth.

I haven’t been able to beat the game in the 30+ hours I’ve sunk into it, I certainly will continue slowly progressing deeper into the wasteland. ]]> Manako https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=285 https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=253 Tue, 24 Nov 2015 16:31:09 GMT Image: https://bucket.bluegartr.com/f1abf525bb47a886e0efac5ff141bfc2.png When I was in highschool I frequently played games on NewGrounds, and at...

When I was in highschool I frequently played games on NewGrounds, and at the time they had a series of dating simulators that were up there. While it may not be the most appropriate type of game for my age I enjoyed the narratives and how I was able to build the character’s skills throughout the game. So learning that there was a more appropriate game in the same vein, created in Ren’Py no less – I couldn’t pass up giving it a shot.

The game has the player guiding the queen along a week at a time, during the main portion of the week she has classes which build skills and on the weekends she can perform square actions which effect her mood. There are 4 different mood sliders which affect her personality and how she performs the various studies, and some studies unlock new activities on the board for her to perform.

The player builds these skills so that when the story encounters occur the player is able to apply those stats to affect the outcome of the interaction. At first it is challenging to figure out which skills are meaningful, and when the mood boosts to skills were worth using over a skill that would be more pressing during the plot. Once the game has been played enough it feels good to be able to hit certain perks, and if the character fails seeing what options are available.



The end wraps up the game nicely, properly recording enough choices so that the path felt meaningful, the text is well written and gives a feeling of accomplishment. The player’s choice is limited because the storyline doesn’t vary, but some choices lock out due to how the skills are trained. The end of game embellishes the choice it makes it better, for example there is a choice to invest in a printing press, which has limited impact during gameplay but provides a strong accomplishment for the queen once the game completes.



The game is similar to Reus in that it encourages replay, and offers varying goals for the different play-throughs. What is interesting is the gameplay mechanics in these cases are the same, regardless of the type of path the young queen takes. The game is tuned to be fairly difficult but the imagery used when the player fails is humorous and the player is able to plan for the event on following playthroughs.

This post was reblogged from my personal blog, I hope you enjoyed the review. I hope to do more reviews in a similar vein in the future, thanks for reading! ]]> Manako https://www.bluegartr.com/blog.php?b=253