Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Pic source: Amazon.com
This game was officially released today, but I was fortunate enough to get my pre-order copy 4 days early and I’ve been playing it pretty much non-stop since then. I cannot say enough good things about it.
It’s not as “pretty” visually as Tale of Two Towns
Everything I thought “Gee, I wish I could ________” from the last game was added into this game. For example, instead of pushing A to pick up an item while foraging and then pressing Y to put it in your bag, you simply press A and your character puts the item into their bag automatically–completely streamlining the process! They’ve also added the option to buy recipes to cook from, rather than trial-and-error experimentation (which, I don’t know about you, but that led to countless “fail” dishes on my end!).
But even with all the little things to make the gameplay easier, Natsume’s added just enough new challenges to keep things interesting. In addition to your stamina bar, you now have a “health” bar. And the stamina bar decreases more quickly than in Tale of Two Towns. In ToTT I saved my cooking for the monthly cook-offs, but in A New Beginning I’ve found that I actually have to EAT food at some point during the day if I’m going to get all of my chores done! :O Eating the food actually MEANS something in this game!
Sleep also has more significance in A New Beginning. You can no longer keep your character awake all hours of the night and still wake up refreshed at 6am the next morning. If you stay up late and/or work your character too hard, you’ll find yourself sleeping in the next morning. It puts new meaning to the old adage, “Early to bed, early to rise.”
And, of course, the new customization feature is awesome. It’s a bit limited (don’t be expecting Saints Row or Skyrim levels of character creation here!), but the fact that you can choose your own look at all is pretty amazing for a Harvest moon game. There’s 3 face types, 4 skin colors, about 8(?) hairstyles, and 2 starting outfits to choose from.
Me. Watering my crops.
You’re given a lot more freedom when it comes to customizing your farm (and later the town itself). This allows you to prioritize your activities more efficiently and play the game how you want. That level of freedom helps to really suck you in.
As Dunhill (one of the NPCs) says, “This is your life. Find something you want to do with it and do it.”
I’m going to be playing this one for a long time to come.
Source:
http://reviewhat.com/?p=568