Pros: Revolutionary, if I had to pick a word for this game, it's that. Yeah, the simple farm game, simplest of them even, but even something so small as this created a ripple effect that changed the future of gaming forever.
Harvest Moon, the first in the Story of Seasons/Bokujo Monogatari series, created by Yasuhiro Wada, really is a very simple game, but it did so much new, and in such a new way, that captivated me endlessly, and kickstarted a whole new genre of video games. Wholesome games! Alright alright, let's talk about it. In this game, you inherit a ranch from your deceased grandfather, and it's a run down old place, and it's your job to spruce it up, start a farm, plant crops, raise livestock, get to know the townsfolk, meet a special lady, start a family, make a lot of MOO-lah, and become, well, a ranch master! The system that makes this game function, what charts your progress, is a day-to-day calendar, with four seasons, 30 days apiece. Each day is on a set timer, which allows you to do whatever tasks you so desire within the time limit, then at night, you clock in, save your progress, go to bed and start the next day, repeating the cycle.
This blew my mind. Yeah, that right there, was mind blowing. Very commonplace now, wouldn't think twice about it. But a system where you control an avatar player, and it essentially functions like a mini-life, wasn't really seen much up until this point. A day and night cycle alone, where the graphics depicted on screen gradually shift from morning to sunset to night, and the different visuals for each season, was captivating. Also incredibly atmospheric and immersive. This was essentially a second life after all, and you're playing as an individual with their own actions, their own limitations and vulnerabilities too. This wasn't Sim City or Sim Farm or what have you, you weren't an all-seeing overseer god-like being, nah, you're this scrunkly little dude just trying to make it by. And that creates a deeper connection with, well, everything around you! Not to mention, the visual style for the game is very lovely, with cute chibi graphics! Easy to love.
Typically you start off the game foraging the woodlands for fruits and berries to sell, then fishing in the pond there, which is quick easy cash, enough to buy some vegetable seeds. Spring has Turnips and Potatoes, and Summer has Tomatoes and Corn. Each have their own properties like growth rate, regrowth, and can be sold at different prices. You'll need a series of tools to till the soil and generally work the farm, chopping wood, breaking rocks, cutting weeds and all that. So you're given a Hoe, Sickle, Axe, and a Hammer to do all the field work. Secondly, you'll want to plant some grass fields, to make way for chickens and cows, once you can afford them, which will grant you daily eggs and milk. You can keep them out to pasture, or feed them cut grass in their barns and coops from the silo. Very farm-y farm stuff! In addition to the livestock, you also get a pet dog early on, who's just the cutest dang thing! Make sure to pick him up or whistle them every day. They have the ability to keep your livestock safe overnight from wild animals (supposedly, I've never seen them myself). And lastly, and this is one of my favorite memories of the game, during the dead of winter, in the middle of the road just out in the distance of a foggy snowy setting, you meet a lonesome horse, simply standing there, as if meeting you was their destiny. It's a quiet and beautiful moment, a lovely memory. And they're wonderful, when they grow older you can ride them around your farm, and use their saddle bags to ship crops to make money more quickly than you would otherwise carrying them back and forth to the shipping container.
Outside the farm, is Flowerbud village, a bustling town full of villagers, shops, homes, a lovely town-square where seasonal festivals are held, and five bachelorettes that you're capable of wooing. Ann the tomboyish redhead who works at the tool shop, Nina the pink haired girly girl who works at the flower shop, Maria the blue haired girl who plays the organ at the church (yeah, there's a church in this game, with a Christian cross even, haha!!), Eve the blonde bartender who gives you free alcohol every night (yeah, for real, there's even a funny drunk animation for ya!), and Ellen, the short haired brunette girl whose family runs the restaurant, she's the one that gives you your dog at the beginning of the game. Get to know them, raise the friendship and heart levels enough (you can check how many hearts you have with a girl in their diaries...) and you can propose using a blue feather. Choose to marry, and you can start a family on your farm, even have a couple kids! Of course you gotta make your farm suitable enough for a family, and you can build your house larger, and even paint it, to look real nice. For the 90s, this was a lot of customization options, believe me!
So you've raised a family, built a successful farm, and made a ton of money, what's left? Well, there's some fun fantasy elements hidden in the game, little elf-like Harvest Sprite dudes underneath your ranch, these dudes can help upgrade your tools. And there's even a Harvest Goddess who can grant you a wish! Among other fun little elements that go beyond the simple life on the farm.
But in this first entry, you aren't bombarded by menus, and stats, it's all very mysterious, and simple... Very easy to get sucked in to this tiny comfy, uncomplicated life!
So what you'll come away with most of all, is that simple life, living in a cozy little town, running your simple little ranch, with your adorable itty bitty chibi animals. There's a lot to appreciate, and you really do, day after day, form a connection. And you'll fall in love... It's no surprise to me, that Harvest Moon changed the world. Shortly after this game came out, we got games like Animal Crossing, the Sims, Farmville, Boku No Natsuyasumi, Minecraft (yeah, I'm saying it, Minecraft owes a lot to Harvest Moon), and most influential of all, Stardew Valley, which caused a MASSIVE wave of farm and farm type games permeating the games industry to this day, expanding the audience of people who play games immensely.
Harvest Moon was a small seed, planted in rich fertile soil, that then sprouted into a giant beautiful beanstalk.
Cons: heh, how do I go back to the negatives after that?... Well, this was the first step after all, and made by a small team, so there's plenty of hiccups with gameplay or elements that are just a bit too basic that later games would improve upon immensely. I would say though, the one standout con for me, at the time of this game's release, was that there's a definitive ending, the game stops, and you can't keep playing. That was a major bummer for me, I wanted to continue my farm until the day I grew bored of the game, not when the game forced me to... And yeah, this too, was something immediately remedied in the very next entry!
What it means to me: My grandmother, I've mentioned her before here, she was a wonderful person, created a loving and welcoming space for us grandchildren to play and have fun. And every time we'd visit her, we'd rent a SNES game. Upon one visit, she actually had a recommendation for us, which wasn't very common, let me tell you! She suggested this game, a game about... farming? Well, she knew when we were little, we loved to play with farm animal toys at her house, so, it was a good suggestion, so we rented it!!! My grandma, she was such a big hearted loving soul, and us kids didn't think outside our little world of action platformers or fighting games very often... So a game about farming, this is not regular!! But oh my God, thank you, grandma!! This game, this entire series that we then fell in love with, my brother and I owe it all to her.
Harvest Moon, the first in the Story of Seasons/Bokujo Monogatari series, created by Yasuhiro Wada, really is a very simple game, but it did so much new, and in such a new way, that captivated me endlessly, and kickstarted a whole new genre of video games. Wholesome games! Alright alright, let's talk about it. In this game, you inherit a ranch from your deceased grandfather, and it's a run down old place, and it's your job to spruce it up, start a farm, plant crops, raise livestock, get to know the townsfolk, meet a special lady, start a family, make a lot of MOO-lah, and become, well, a ranch master! The system that makes this game function, what charts your progress, is a day-to-day calendar, with four seasons, 30 days apiece. Each day is on a set timer, which allows you to do whatever tasks you so desire within the time limit, then at night, you clock in, save your progress, go to bed and start the next day, repeating the cycle.
This blew my mind. Yeah, that right there, was mind blowing. Very commonplace now, wouldn't think twice about it. But a system where you control an avatar player, and it essentially functions like a mini-life, wasn't really seen much up until this point. A day and night cycle alone, where the graphics depicted on screen gradually shift from morning to sunset to night, and the different visuals for each season, was captivating. Also incredibly atmospheric and immersive. This was essentially a second life after all, and you're playing as an individual with their own actions, their own limitations and vulnerabilities too. This wasn't Sim City or Sim Farm or what have you, you weren't an all-seeing overseer god-like being, nah, you're this scrunkly little dude just trying to make it by. And that creates a deeper connection with, well, everything around you! Not to mention, the visual style for the game is very lovely, with cute chibi graphics! Easy to love.
Typically you start off the game foraging the woodlands for fruits and berries to sell, then fishing in the pond there, which is quick easy cash, enough to buy some vegetable seeds. Spring has Turnips and Potatoes, and Summer has Tomatoes and Corn. Each have their own properties like growth rate, regrowth, and can be sold at different prices. You'll need a series of tools to till the soil and generally work the farm, chopping wood, breaking rocks, cutting weeds and all that. So you're given a Hoe, Sickle, Axe, and a Hammer to do all the field work. Secondly, you'll want to plant some grass fields, to make way for chickens and cows, once you can afford them, which will grant you daily eggs and milk. You can keep them out to pasture, or feed them cut grass in their barns and coops from the silo. Very farm-y farm stuff! In addition to the livestock, you also get a pet dog early on, who's just the cutest dang thing! Make sure to pick him up or whistle them every day. They have the ability to keep your livestock safe overnight from wild animals (supposedly, I've never seen them myself). And lastly, and this is one of my favorite memories of the game, during the dead of winter, in the middle of the road just out in the distance of a foggy snowy setting, you meet a lonesome horse, simply standing there, as if meeting you was their destiny. It's a quiet and beautiful moment, a lovely memory. And they're wonderful, when they grow older you can ride them around your farm, and use their saddle bags to ship crops to make money more quickly than you would otherwise carrying them back and forth to the shipping container.
Outside the farm, is Flowerbud village, a bustling town full of villagers, shops, homes, a lovely town-square where seasonal festivals are held, and five bachelorettes that you're capable of wooing. Ann the tomboyish redhead who works at the tool shop, Nina the pink haired girly girl who works at the flower shop, Maria the blue haired girl who plays the organ at the church (yeah, there's a church in this game, with a Christian cross even, haha!!), Eve the blonde bartender who gives you free alcohol every night (yeah, for real, there's even a funny drunk animation for ya!), and Ellen, the short haired brunette girl whose family runs the restaurant, she's the one that gives you your dog at the beginning of the game. Get to know them, raise the friendship and heart levels enough (you can check how many hearts you have with a girl in their diaries...) and you can propose using a blue feather. Choose to marry, and you can start a family on your farm, even have a couple kids! Of course you gotta make your farm suitable enough for a family, and you can build your house larger, and even paint it, to look real nice. For the 90s, this was a lot of customization options, believe me!
So you've raised a family, built a successful farm, and made a ton of money, what's left? Well, there's some fun fantasy elements hidden in the game, little elf-like Harvest Sprite dudes underneath your ranch, these dudes can help upgrade your tools. And there's even a Harvest Goddess who can grant you a wish! Among other fun little elements that go beyond the simple life on the farm.
But in this first entry, you aren't bombarded by menus, and stats, it's all very mysterious, and simple... Very easy to get sucked in to this tiny comfy, uncomplicated life!
So what you'll come away with most of all, is that simple life, living in a cozy little town, running your simple little ranch, with your adorable itty bitty chibi animals. There's a lot to appreciate, and you really do, day after day, form a connection. And you'll fall in love... It's no surprise to me, that Harvest Moon changed the world. Shortly after this game came out, we got games like Animal Crossing, the Sims, Farmville, Boku No Natsuyasumi, Minecraft (yeah, I'm saying it, Minecraft owes a lot to Harvest Moon), and most influential of all, Stardew Valley, which caused a MASSIVE wave of farm and farm type games permeating the games industry to this day, expanding the audience of people who play games immensely.
Harvest Moon was a small seed, planted in rich fertile soil, that then sprouted into a giant beautiful beanstalk.
Cons: heh, how do I go back to the negatives after that?... Well, this was the first step after all, and made by a small team, so there's plenty of hiccups with gameplay or elements that are just a bit too basic that later games would improve upon immensely. I would say though, the one standout con for me, at the time of this game's release, was that there's a definitive ending, the game stops, and you can't keep playing. That was a major bummer for me, I wanted to continue my farm until the day I grew bored of the game, not when the game forced me to... And yeah, this too, was something immediately remedied in the very next entry!
What it means to me: My grandmother, I've mentioned her before here, she was a wonderful person, created a loving and welcoming space for us grandchildren to play and have fun. And every time we'd visit her, we'd rent a SNES game. Upon one visit, she actually had a recommendation for us, which wasn't very common, let me tell you! She suggested this game, a game about... farming? Well, she knew when we were little, we loved to play with farm animal toys at her house, so, it was a good suggestion, so we rented it!!! My grandma, she was such a big hearted loving soul, and us kids didn't think outside our little world of action platformers or fighting games very often... So a game about farming, this is not regular!! But oh my God, thank you, grandma!! This game, this entire series that we then fell in love with, my brother and I owe it all to her.