Harvest Moon: Back to Nature

released on Dec 16, 1999

Natsume's farm simulation series makes its debut on the PlayStation with Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. Starting out with a few rudimentary implements and very little money, you begin the arduous task of reviving your grandfather's farm and thereby claiming your place as its rightful heir. Players are given three years to achieve this goal. A year consists of four seasons, each of which lasts 30 days. Different crops can be planted each season, but before the seeds can be planted, the land must be cleared and then the soil tilled. Seeds must also be watered until the fruit or vegetable matures. Once the crops are ready for harvest, they can be placed in a shipping bin where they'll be collected and paid for. In addition to farming, players will interact with local villagers and partake in seasonal events such as the Tomato Festival and Fireworks Display. As more money is earned, players can expand their farm and begin to raise livestock such as chickens and cows.


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Eu amo esse jogo, como um simples jogo de fazenda te faz cair um cisco no seu olho.

A simplicidade disso é algo único demais



Pros: More, more, more, more of everything. Taking concepts and elements, and entire characters from Harvest Moon 64, and then throwing them all together, mixing them into something somewhat recognizable but also new...

This is the first Harvest Moon game to not release on a Nintendo console, instead releasing on the Playstation, where it found a ton of success. and there's a ton in this game too. A hefty amount more vegetables to grow, more in-depth relationships with the villagers in the new village of Mineral Town, you can make mayonnaise and cheese with eggs and milk, and yarn out of wool from sheep! You can even make meals and dishes in the kitchen with recipes that you've collected, which is a big first for the series too! You can also hire the Harvest Sprites as workers on your farm, give them flour and they'll scurry about the farm and you can set chores for them, it's fun! Also, the villagers walk around the town on a schedule, you can actually see them go about their day doing different tasks in different locations, actively. Some pretty neat additions to the series here!

Cons: UGH, I did not care for how they straight up copy pasted characters from Harvest Moon 64 and brought them into this brand new town, mixing up their family trees, changing their personalities and sometimes even their names... It just all felt... disrespectful, especially considering how very intentional the Harvest Moon 64 characters were designed based on their family lineage from Harvest Moon SNES... it just, man, it all felt wrong here. It really is the sour patch for me with this game, which is otherwise pretty decent, despite some hiccups here and there like loading times, reverting back to four directions of movement after Harvest Moon 64 introduced eight, and, this is a big nitpick for me, but the sound effects made when your character walks, it's a constant suction cup popping sound, and I find it rather infuriating, heh... Oh, and also, unlike HM SNES and HM 64, this game has a ton of menus and charts and such, just totally gamifying things and taking the series into a less simplified direction that I was not a fan of.

What it means to me: This game is the first Playstation game I ever purchased, as the other Playstation games I had played belonged to my older step brothers... But Harvest Moon was the series near and dear to me and my younger brother, so we just had to get this one, check it out. And so we did... and, I'm sorry, we just couldn't get into it as much as we did HM SNES and HM64, hell, even the Game Boy games were more charming and inviting for us. I will say though, this game did later receive a remake for the GBA that did improve some things a bit, and even later got another remake on Switch (I still need to play that one...). So, it did get better anyhow.

Eu me lembro muito de jogar harvest moon: back to nature no meu PlayStation 1 com a minha prima e ficar apaixonado com o jogo e como eu pude me divertir e relaxar tanto com algo tão simple como cuidar de uma fazenda, isso com certeza foi importante pra fazer eu gostar mais ainda meu sitio na vida real, essas memorias mostram quão carinhoso o jogo é com você e como voce pode curtir a simplicidade.

My childhood was composed by this game. Home alone, i don’t care. I was so immersive in this game that i didn’t even care. Awesome memories.

Uma das experiências mais agradáveis que já tive jogando, como é gostoso passar tempo nisto.