#Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

madelynhimegami · 7 months

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About twenty years ago (probably closer to nineteen), I finished my playthrough of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

This morning, I finished my (first?) playthrough of the A Wonderful Life remake.

Well before I finished, I decided I wanted to make a post talking about it, giving my general thoughts on it. And I'll probably just end up rambling. Who knows if it's at all interesting to people but. Here goes.

Being able to save and load anywhere at any time is such a game changer. Holy moly. Even though I didn't really have to do a whole lot of reloading (except where fishing requests were concerned). But it still felt very good to have.

On a related note, the remake is so transparent about its mechanics, it's amazing. I know that AnWL already had some tranparency added to it (especially wrt your kid), but just. Having as much info as the remake gives you, at all times, is nuts. Makes things so much easier to finagle around.

Likewise, thank god for automatically recording cooking recipes. It was already practically impossible to remember how to make anything in the GCN games. The fact that the Harvest Sprites gave you a new recipe every day also helped. As did telling you when your cooking skill levelled up, because the GCN games didn't tell you anything.

Characters actually sound distinct now! The thing about mediocre localizations is that you don't know what you're missing out on until you get a good localization. And wow, the amount of personality shown by having characters speak differently adds a shocking amount.

Even with all of the QOL updates... the main thing that makes me never wanna touch the GCN games again is that they're a lot less bugged. I once again blame the old localization.

(you think there's weird stuff going on in the remake. you have no idea.)

That being said, aside from being able to select your pronouns at the start of the game, the cast (including yourself) don't really do much of anything to gender you. AnWL gave me so much gender euphoria before I even knew what it was. (Not to mention the FoMT remake set the bar for being gay in a way that AWL is set up couldn't really replicate). So... who knows. Maybe I'll end up replaying it someday anyway.

Granted, I say that, but as I was typing that sentence I thought about how the event for giving your toddler a bath was broken so that you could not give him one. Instead of a Yes/No prompt the game just said "Several days later..." and then continued like you had said no. Maddening.

Nuts to it, someone just give me an annotated textdump.

After so much hemming and hawing about who to marry in the remake, I ended up just marrying Nami again. One part autistic lesb solidarity, one part her kid being so goshdang powerful. Either way, I joked about how nothing about me had changed in twenty years.

Once I got to chapter two, I started screencapping like crazy. Got almost 400 of them on my switch now. I just wanted to note everything I could about what my darling baby girl was doing throughout her life. Also my wife.

In my original playthrough, even though I tried to influence my son into either art or academics, he ended up becoming a farmer. But then again, I also didn't understand how to influence him optimally. Which sounds awful out of context. Oh well, at least his life was mostly organic.

I managed to get my daughter into academics before chapter two ended. Probably the most interesting thing that happened was how her dialogue changed. She started reciting her ABC's to herself, and mumbled about books, and said that gemstones were like puzzle peices. It was darling.

Since I've only played the entire game with Nami's child, though, I do wanna replay the game just so that I can see what a different kid is like.

Problem is, it just brings back the marriage problem. And the child career problem, because even if I marry Muffy, like hell will I raise an athlete (but I don't want scholar again... but also if they're an artist they run away from home after the game ends, which is kinda messed up).

A lot of people in the village make comments about how air conditioning isn't good for people's health. They did that in the original game too, if memory serves, but it's still weird. Is this a thing in Japan, or was the person that wrote those parts of the dialogue have a vendetta of some kind?

This is another thing that I know got changed in AnWL, but I'm still so glad that chapters are only one in-game year long. There's a special kind of pain to get to the end of the year, only to learn there's more you need to play before you see your kid get older.

Despite that, I still got a whole lot done, to the point that I spent most of the last two years just idling because I had nothing else to do. Same way I got to the endgame of the original, come to think of it.

I never bought the teddybear. I wasn't gonna do it when my daughter was a teen by the time I had the money. I'm not that dumb. Doesn't do anything but be spoopy anyhow.

I seem to remember the seed maker being instant in the GCN game. If it was, it got seriously debuffed in the remake-- you can only put up to twelve crops in at a time, and it takes 20 in-game hours for the seeds to be produced. Obviously meant to balance how absurdly high tree seeds could be sold for, but the prices were already slashed to pieces, so it was just overkill and made it hard to keep up with what crops I did or didn't have seeds for.

I genuinely hope I never have to make nine of each rare crop again. I mean, technically I never had to anyway, but I did and it was so much pain.

Cows are absurdly expensive in the remake. I guess it's to balance the fact that there's no limit on how long cows can be milked, but

here's the dirty secret

If you have a cow and a bull, they'll mate on their own without you needing to order for it. My cows in the GCN games were constantly getting pregnant. Anyone who complains about cows going dry was doing it wrong.

Sheep are significantly more affordable, though. So I ended up getting mostly those instead.

That being said, a star/brown/marble cow giving S Milk (and the latter two getting their milk processed into butter and cheese respectively) does give you more profit than golden wool does... until you get the Blessed Clippers and you start getting two bundles of wool per sheep (which is insane). But wowie are they expensive...

My new personal hell is having a dozen sheep following me around to scream at me. Did they do that in the original(s)? I never bothered with them....

I'm still sad Flora's not a marriage candidate.

As I mentioned, I was basically without anything to do by the end of the game. Which makes the infinite postgame chapter's existence kinda funny? I don't know what else I'd want to do with that, since as far as I've been able to tell nobody has new dialogue.

No really. I can't even 100% the game anymore because Van stops selling goats, I have over 5 million G, I've grown each one of every plant, caught every fish, dug up all the digsite items, and have all in-game achievements. What would I wanna keep playing for?

Also, why isn't Nina in said postgame chapter? If it's the afterlife anyway, then she should be there too, dangit!

I still don't understand why the dog is trainable.

The player's child is so adorable. I love my daughter so much, she's such a sweetheart.

Wish her self-esteem wasn't so low from chapter 3 onwards, though... another reason to see the game married to somebody else.

I am so grateful there's no friendship decay for the villagers.

What a great game.

And now, some of me rambling about my history with the series:

I don't know what drew me to the original AWL game. All I knew is that there was coverage of it in an issue of Nintendo Power, and I just kept reading and re-reading it. I had a couple friends that swore by the HM games (in particular, 64 and StHL), but beyond that I guess something about it intrigued me to the point that it became a game I really wanted. Had a plan of how I would run the farm and who I'd marry. And counted the days before I finally got it (must've been a birthday or Christmas present).

And I played through it, beginning to end. Despite my brother scorning it. Despite one of the friends that swore by HM64 thinking it was such a watered down derivative it made him laugh several times even as he tried playing it himself.

I also got the girl version when it came out. Don't remember how I afforded it, but I remember that I was too embarrassed by wanting it to let anyone know I did get it but myself. Never managed to finish it, but boy howdy did it have a lot of gender euphoria. I got to be a mom.

...I tried other HM games since. I got Magical Melody (which I recall using Action Replay to turn my player character into a girl that make perfect sense to me now but I don't know what I had been thinking at the time), but dropped it shortly after my wife started expecting.

I got both versions of HMDS (mermaid wife yes please), but only stuck with them for about two or three in-game years each.

I got Isle of Happiness, but honestly the fact that every item had decay to it stressed me to the point I couldn't play without Action Replay codes to keep everything top quality and freshness forever-- and even then the crap you gotta juggle is crazy. Played long enough to marry the Witch though, so that ruled.

I got Hero of Leaf Valley, and that one I actually stuck through to the end (including forgetting how many zeros were in fifty thousand and ended up raising up half a million G before the second year's end), but got too paralyzed with indecision on who to marry (it was mainly between Gwen and Aurelia, since I read that Alice couldn't be raised to red heart after the credits. Game seemed to have thought I had my sights set on Lyla, though).

I tried Rune Factory 4... but something about it just didn't vibe with me so I bounced early.

Every now and then, I thought about going back to A(n)WL, or maybe trying a different one. Never did, though. And Stardew or other inspired's didn't ever really grab me.

And yet I inhaled the chance to play the AWL remake when the time came. And now I've finished it. Go figure. I'm still not sure what it is about that game specifically that calls to me.

I think the amount of interactability with your kid is a big factor, though.

#story of seasons #story of seasons: a wonderful life #A Wonderful Life #harvest moon: a wonderful life #SOS AWL #HM AWL

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satoshi-mochida · 1 year

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Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC via Steam on June 27 in the west, publishers XSEED Games and Marvelous Europe announced.

In Japan, the Switch version is due out on January 26.

In North America, the standard edition of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life will be priced at $49.99, while the premium edition will be priced at $59.99. The latter includes a copy of the game, 3.5 inches tall by four inches long pocket goat plushie, and a large cloth poster, all housed in a custom box. Both the poster and box share an original illustration by series illustrator Igusa Matsuyama.

In Europe, the standard edition will be priced at €39.99 / £34.99 for the standard edition, while the premium edition will be priced at €49.99 / £44.99. The latter includes a copy of the game, 140-page A5 notebook, chibi sticker, and an A3 poster within a custom outer box, both of which will share an original illustration by series illustrator Igusa Matsuyama.

Here is a brief overview of the game, via XSEED Games:

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life revisits the tranquil community of Forgotten Valley where the protagonist fulfills their father’s dream of running a farm. As the seasons go by, players will find their lifelong partner, raise a child together, and watch them grow up. Will their child carry on the family’s farm legacy or find their calling somewhere else? Only time will tell…

An unforgettable tale of friendship, family, and farming blooms back to life for a new generation. Originally released for the Nintendo GameCube (and later the PlayStation 2), the Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remake introduces a plethora of new events, enhanced festivals, a cornucopia of never-before-seen crops, and even more recipes to cook. Returning fans will find plenty of exciting updates to Forgotten Valley, while newcomers to the series will discover the joys of cozy farm life and the extraordinary characters that make this series shine.

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer