This review contains spoilers
Oh my lord where do I even start with this. So overall, I’d say this game is pretty solid. Enjoyable characters and a great mix of rpg and farming sim. The beginning moves at a snails pace but if you just push through it, it gets a lot better. The combat definitely takes some getting used to if you don’t normally play this kind of stuff. The games visuals are beautiful; stunning even. That being said, I wish that the attention and care put into the environment carried over into the NPC’s. They feel static, almost. Everyone looks the same and their side quests become more like “chores” than anything. The main cast of characters are all pretty enjoyable (Favorites include Heine, Emo, Brakka, and Unicorn) and their classes are all fun to mess around with. Though Emo and Dianthus’ classes are bit too slow for my personal preference. I played a good amount of the game switching between everyone to get a good feel for them and I tended to go with Avenger (Brakka’s class) and Shadow Walker (Istina’s class) for all the hard stuff.
The story itself was a little hard to follow at times. There was A LOT going on and a lot of plot twists where I felt like I was going in circles at times. I think they were trying to do a little too much with the story and it ended up being a jumbled mess. But I was able to understand what was going on most of the time.
There’s a lot to do in this game, between boss fights, collecting and of course, farming. But it never feels like there’s “too much” content. Just enough to give you something to do whenever you wanna walk away from the story for a bit. And the leveling system of your farm and fairy orders always give you something to work towards. By the end of the main story, I still don’t have all the conellu dolls or all of the food orders done so I’m looking forward to going back to finishing that and farming through the seasons without Quietus. I don’t think it’s a game I’ll ever go back to and replay but I had fun with it overall and definitely recommend giving it a try.
The story itself was a little hard to follow at times. There was A LOT going on and a lot of plot twists where I felt like I was going in circles at times. I think they were trying to do a little too much with the story and it ended up being a jumbled mess. But I was able to understand what was going on most of the time.
There’s a lot to do in this game, between boss fights, collecting and of course, farming. But it never feels like there’s “too much” content. Just enough to give you something to do whenever you wanna walk away from the story for a bit. And the leveling system of your farm and fairy orders always give you something to work towards. By the end of the main story, I still don’t have all the conellu dolls or all of the food orders done so I’m looking forward to going back to finishing that and farming through the seasons without Quietus. I don’t think it’s a game I’ll ever go back to and replay but I had fun with it overall and definitely recommend giving it a try.
Love the idea and work for this game but has it’s fair share of flaws.
Before I get into my review I just want to say that Harvestella is NOT your typical farming RPG. Yes there is farming in Harvestella but it focuses more on storytelling, exploration and combat like a traditional action JRPG. My main point being if you’re expecting Harvestella to be like Rune Factory, Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons you’ll likely be disappointed. That being said I had so much fun with this game. I did play on the Switch and while the graphics are just okay the visuals look amazing, the beauty and designs of the world looks like a mini version of Xenoblade Chronicles. The art direction for this game is VERY underrated, I love seeing all the glowing trees, crystals and crops during the night. The world itself has lot of detail for its villages and towns and feels alive in a believable way. And there’s also other biomes which look totally gorgeous. The first in game month or so is the tutorial, I personally don’t mind but I can see that being a turn off for some people. I’ll admit it’s very slow to really get rolling with Harvestella but once you get to chapter 3 things really start to get fun. You’ll get to do more with farming and combat. You’ll be able to plant a diverse amount of crops depending on the season and will eventually start raise live stock and you can cook up meals which is crucial for your hunger and stamina or you can sell your meals for high prices. Each season lasts 1 month and you have a one day season called Quietus which kills any and all living beings. Combat was just okay, I really didn’t like the controls for combat as it felt a bit off to me. It can get repetitive but you’ll be able to manage combat more when you have a party to fight with. You can also get jobs which unlock skill trees to upgrade your abilities. You don’t need to grind levels for you party members in this game which is a relief to me. Something I hated about combat is that you need to keep your hunger satisfied in order to have stamina to swing your weapons and sometimes I would get hungry in the middle of a fight with no stamina. Time management is a little bad at first but overall wasn’t a big deal for me honestly when I got used to it. There’s side quest as well which are nothing special since they’re your usual go and fetch quests but the stories for them are worth it at least. Something many critics and reviews didn’t talk about is the romance in this game. YES there is romance in Harvestella but it’s romance to a certain extent. During the main story you’ll build up friendships with some of the characters you’ll encounter. Once you max them out you get an engagement ring blueprint from the mayor after you complete the game and you can use that to craft an engagement ring and choose on who you want to take on as your “partner” aka lover for the post game. The soundtrack is chill with some of the ost being very memorable and relaxing.
Main story was pretty generic but was decent enough to keep me interested. The characters you’ll meet all have personality that suit them well. And as I said earlier in my review the story for the side quests are worth it. I loved learning about the problems some of the people have all while learning more about the world and lore of Harvestella. And as you build your friendships you have even more story to see which I absolutely loved.
I believe Square Enix did a good job, not great but I can appreciate the effort for this game a lot. I’d argue this isn’t worth full price since there are games that did better for a lot cheaper but I don’t regret my time with this game as I had tons of fun and will continue on playing for now to see what else Harvestella has in store for me.
Before I get into my review I just want to say that Harvestella is NOT your typical farming RPG. Yes there is farming in Harvestella but it focuses more on storytelling, exploration and combat like a traditional action JRPG. My main point being if you’re expecting Harvestella to be like Rune Factory, Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons you’ll likely be disappointed. That being said I had so much fun with this game. I did play on the Switch and while the graphics are just okay the visuals look amazing, the beauty and designs of the world looks like a mini version of Xenoblade Chronicles. The art direction for this game is VERY underrated, I love seeing all the glowing trees, crystals and crops during the night. The world itself has lot of detail for its villages and towns and feels alive in a believable way. And there’s also other biomes which look totally gorgeous. The first in game month or so is the tutorial, I personally don’t mind but I can see that being a turn off for some people. I’ll admit it’s very slow to really get rolling with Harvestella but once you get to chapter 3 things really start to get fun. You’ll get to do more with farming and combat. You’ll be able to plant a diverse amount of crops depending on the season and will eventually start raise live stock and you can cook up meals which is crucial for your hunger and stamina or you can sell your meals for high prices. Each season lasts 1 month and you have a one day season called Quietus which kills any and all living beings. Combat was just okay, I really didn’t like the controls for combat as it felt a bit off to me. It can get repetitive but you’ll be able to manage combat more when you have a party to fight with. You can also get jobs which unlock skill trees to upgrade your abilities. You don’t need to grind levels for you party members in this game which is a relief to me. Something I hated about combat is that you need to keep your hunger satisfied in order to have stamina to swing your weapons and sometimes I would get hungry in the middle of a fight with no stamina. Time management is a little bad at first but overall wasn’t a big deal for me honestly when I got used to it. There’s side quest as well which are nothing special since they’re your usual go and fetch quests but the stories for them are worth it at least. Something many critics and reviews didn’t talk about is the romance in this game. YES there is romance in Harvestella but it’s romance to a certain extent. During the main story you’ll build up friendships with some of the characters you’ll encounter. Once you max them out you get an engagement ring blueprint from the mayor after you complete the game and you can use that to craft an engagement ring and choose on who you want to take on as your “partner” aka lover for the post game. The soundtrack is chill with some of the ost being very memorable and relaxing.
Main story was pretty generic but was decent enough to keep me interested. The characters you’ll meet all have personality that suit them well. And as I said earlier in my review the story for the side quests are worth it. I loved learning about the problems some of the people have all while learning more about the world and lore of Harvestella. And as you build your friendships you have even more story to see which I absolutely loved.
I believe Square Enix did a good job, not great but I can appreciate the effort for this game a lot. I’d argue this isn’t worth full price since there are games that did better for a lot cheaper but I don’t regret my time with this game as I had tons of fun and will continue on playing for now to see what else Harvestella has in store for me.
Demo Thoughts: I got to the combat and said "yeah I think im gonna pass."
A fatigued yet kind-hearted love letter to humanity and its suffering across the ages.
Harvestella works within a framework of an eclectic mix of influences; Rune Factory would be an obvious choice, but the game goes far beyond the "farming sim + combat" elements of its gameplay: From the level design and combat mechanics of Etrian Odyssey and Final Fantasy XIV to the narrative chops of Nier, Harvestella wears its influences on its sleeve, to the point where it feels like a collection of the passion the devs have for the JRPG genre. But Harvestella rises far beyond a simple facsimile of the giants of the medium that it stands on the shoulders of, knowing exactly why it is that these game mechanics work and understanding how to weave them together into a tight experience. Etrian Odyssey works its level design magic on the way it utilizes TP to condition exploration: Do you keep going when you are low on resources and risk death or retire early from the expedition to safety? Harvestella adds this philosophy to its farm work aspect: Do you keep going and risk death before finding a shortcut, or will you risk interacting with that event hoping it will heal you? Or will you use the food you have obtained from your farm to give you the literal energy to keep going? Do you, then, plan out your farm to yield crops suited to your exploration needs, or perhaps more lucrative crops so you can buy upgrades for your farm? Will you spend the day exploring that new dungeon you just unlocked, or will you go back to a previous one to get the materials needed to craft items that will allow you to build shortcuts or clear new paths? None of these design elements are unique to Harvestella of course, but they are all woven together with the good judgment needed to make it stand next to its storied peers. And, thanks to the relative simplicity of all its systems, the game never feels overbearing in the things you can do, ironically making it a far more "relaxing" game than more complex farming sims.
But what ends up being most memorable about the game is no doubt its story. This is where the game digs its heels deep in choosing to be a "proper" JRPG above being a farming sim, delivering a melancholic story about grief and pain, and what comes after that. All the characters in Harvestella are defined by loss, and both the main story and individual character stories deal with that pain; the pain of connection, the pain of losing someone you love, the pain of never having known a proper home, the pain of betrayal, and the pain of humanity itself across time and space, condemned eternally to self-destruction. Harvestella makes use of the humanism at the heart of the genre to explore all these and more, in the process sinking its teeth in plenty more of themes ranging from spiritualism to the romanticism of scientific exploration. It may not be the most expertly woven story out there, but it is nevertheless filled to the brim with passion and kindness.
All of this is then capped off with Go Shiina's FANTASTIC soundtrack, offering his best work to date: From battle tracks such as this to area themes such as this, there is not a single track that is not memorable.
Game also deserves a shoutout for being one of the extremely few games out there to allow the player character to be non-binary, which was a nice surprise to see. However, you should still play the game as a girl so you can experience it as the greatest sf yuri love story ever told as it was intended. I Understand the devs' vision, do not question me.
Harvestella is ultimately a weird game that defies expectation, and perhaps its middling reception is owed to this. It is a game that one has to meet halfway and understand how and why it does what it does. If you can do that, you will find that its big heart will earn it a place in yours.
Harvestella works within a framework of an eclectic mix of influences; Rune Factory would be an obvious choice, but the game goes far beyond the "farming sim + combat" elements of its gameplay: From the level design and combat mechanics of Etrian Odyssey and Final Fantasy XIV to the narrative chops of Nier, Harvestella wears its influences on its sleeve, to the point where it feels like a collection of the passion the devs have for the JRPG genre. But Harvestella rises far beyond a simple facsimile of the giants of the medium that it stands on the shoulders of, knowing exactly why it is that these game mechanics work and understanding how to weave them together into a tight experience. Etrian Odyssey works its level design magic on the way it utilizes TP to condition exploration: Do you keep going when you are low on resources and risk death or retire early from the expedition to safety? Harvestella adds this philosophy to its farm work aspect: Do you keep going and risk death before finding a shortcut, or will you risk interacting with that event hoping it will heal you? Or will you use the food you have obtained from your farm to give you the literal energy to keep going? Do you, then, plan out your farm to yield crops suited to your exploration needs, or perhaps more lucrative crops so you can buy upgrades for your farm? Will you spend the day exploring that new dungeon you just unlocked, or will you go back to a previous one to get the materials needed to craft items that will allow you to build shortcuts or clear new paths? None of these design elements are unique to Harvestella of course, but they are all woven together with the good judgment needed to make it stand next to its storied peers. And, thanks to the relative simplicity of all its systems, the game never feels overbearing in the things you can do, ironically making it a far more "relaxing" game than more complex farming sims.
But what ends up being most memorable about the game is no doubt its story. This is where the game digs its heels deep in choosing to be a "proper" JRPG above being a farming sim, delivering a melancholic story about grief and pain, and what comes after that. All the characters in Harvestella are defined by loss, and both the main story and individual character stories deal with that pain; the pain of connection, the pain of losing someone you love, the pain of never having known a proper home, the pain of betrayal, and the pain of humanity itself across time and space, condemned eternally to self-destruction. Harvestella makes use of the humanism at the heart of the genre to explore all these and more, in the process sinking its teeth in plenty more of themes ranging from spiritualism to the romanticism of scientific exploration. It may not be the most expertly woven story out there, but it is nevertheless filled to the brim with passion and kindness.
All of this is then capped off with Go Shiina's FANTASTIC soundtrack, offering his best work to date: From battle tracks such as this to area themes such as this, there is not a single track that is not memorable.
Game also deserves a shoutout for being one of the extremely few games out there to allow the player character to be non-binary, which was a nice surprise to see. However, you should still play the game as a girl so you can experience it as the greatest sf yuri love story ever told as it was intended. I Understand the devs' vision, do not question me.
Harvestella is ultimately a weird game that defies expectation, and perhaps its middling reception is owed to this. It is a game that one has to meet halfway and understand how and why it does what it does. If you can do that, you will find that its big heart will earn it a place in yours.
Boy, is it ever nice to be gay AND nonbinary AND treated like that’s no big deal!!
Farming starts off incredibly simple compared to something like Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, but does get slightly more varied as the game progresses.
Easy action RPG elements, slightly more complicated than the farming, but no big challenge. I only died a few times, and never to a story boss.
The way this game explores tragedy reminded me of my favorite parts of Breath of Fire 1+2 and Infinite Undiscovery. The emotions and heart in the main and side quests are powerful, but unsettlingly for such a modern game, nobody breaks down? It is some kind of experience for utterly heart-wrenching circumstances to play out over and over but the people on-screen don't have the good weep they deserve. (There is one instance of particularly sharp emotion that really sold it that time, at least.)
While there is no consistent voice acting or expressions on character models (only their portraits) to bolster the emotional moments, the soundtrack is one of the most poignant I’ve heard in a video game. Some tracks are downright haunting. Could not have asked for better!
Also the food looks unbelievably delicious and the fish look gorgeous. The artist went ham on those. 10/10.
Great, highly-recommended experience overall; no regrets on tolerating “Hellooo little croppieees~” from the fairy over my shoulder on repeat.
Farming starts off incredibly simple compared to something like Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley, but does get slightly more varied as the game progresses.
Easy action RPG elements, slightly more complicated than the farming, but no big challenge. I only died a few times, and never to a story boss.
The way this game explores tragedy reminded me of my favorite parts of Breath of Fire 1+2 and Infinite Undiscovery. The emotions and heart in the main and side quests are powerful, but unsettlingly for such a modern game, nobody breaks down? It is some kind of experience for utterly heart-wrenching circumstances to play out over and over but the people on-screen don't have the good weep they deserve. (There is one instance of particularly sharp emotion that really sold it that time, at least.)
While there is no consistent voice acting or expressions on character models (only their portraits) to bolster the emotional moments, the soundtrack is one of the most poignant I’ve heard in a video game. Some tracks are downright haunting. Could not have asked for better!
Also the food looks unbelievably delicious and the fish look gorgeous. The artist went ham on those. 10/10.
Great, highly-recommended experience overall; no regrets on tolerating “Hellooo little croppieees~” from the fairy over my shoulder on repeat.
It just has the vibes, y'know. The farming is not especially complex but chill enough, the combat is janky but actually kinda relaxing if you play as a mage - and the story and world(-building) are actually really interesting! The game's also quite gorgeous, the artstyle and artworks and everything "art-" work really well together! I think I just kinda played it a little to much and a little to intensely, now I'm looking for something else - I will definitely finish this, one day in the future, but for now I need a break.
Can actually play as non-binary for once! 🙏 Really makes a difference, considering the protagonist is meant to be relatively self-insert.
Graphics on Switch version are often very bleary, especially noticeable in handheld mode. Shame, because it's otherwise very pretty. The character art is lovely.
Engaging gameplay, allowing the player to create their own balance between farming and JRPG elements, without forcing either. It is more JRPG than it is farming sim (the farming doesn't have the same depth as is found in others of the genre), but one can take the quests and story at their own pace.
Varied job system, and the story is interesting enough so far. Has side quests I actually want to do.
Appealing characters (moreso for me when compared with other farming life sims). Everyone has nice voice acting – too bad it's limited to small lines here and there.
Romance options are not gender-locked~
And the music is lovely... Would definitely purchase the soundtrack if they release that.
Graphics on Switch version are often very bleary, especially noticeable in handheld mode. Shame, because it's otherwise very pretty. The character art is lovely.
Engaging gameplay, allowing the player to create their own balance between farming and JRPG elements, without forcing either. It is more JRPG than it is farming sim (the farming doesn't have the same depth as is found in others of the genre), but one can take the quests and story at their own pace.
Varied job system, and the story is interesting enough so far. Has side quests I actually want to do.
Appealing characters (moreso for me when compared with other farming life sims). Everyone has nice voice acting – too bad it's limited to small lines here and there.
Romance options are not gender-locked~
And the music is lovely... Would definitely purchase the soundtrack if they release that.
I gave it a try, but having such a slow burn intro (game still hasnt felt like it started at hour 5) without having the plot, characters or setting to back it up. The game just feels soulless, and the farming mechanics are more a formality to give the game a gimmick, because dungeon crawling is an all day affair, and theres no customization or real reason to want to waste time farming.
To the games credit, it looks pretty good on Switch, the soundtrack is great and farming mechanics are simple and avoid being tedious. But an RPG with such a bland plot is meaningless. I have no desire to see the class mechanics when there's still tons of great JRPGs for me to play.
*To elaborate, tilling soil and watering crops is way less tedious than Rune Factory or even Stardew, because its not trying to be time consuming.
To the games credit, it looks pretty good on Switch, the soundtrack is great and farming mechanics are simple and avoid being tedious. But an RPG with such a bland plot is meaningless. I have no desire to see the class mechanics when there's still tons of great JRPGs for me to play.
*To elaborate, tilling soil and watering crops is way less tedious than Rune Factory or even Stardew, because its not trying to be time consuming.
I thought this was gonna be a, even if mediocre, good game to spend some time chilling.
At first it was cool and light enough to enjoy it, it was going good. But then the story begun to get convoluted as always and the farming mechanics turned into a hustle more than anything. It was then, when I realized it was going to be "longer than a day without bread" (as we say in Spain), that I just refused to go on.
Good luck if you try so.
At first it was cool and light enough to enjoy it, it was going good. But then the story begun to get convoluted as always and the farming mechanics turned into a hustle more than anything. It was then, when I realized it was going to be "longer than a day without bread" (as we say in Spain), that I just refused to go on.
Good luck if you try so.
TLDR: A great JRPG that seamlessly incorporates farming mechanics into the genre, but starts slow and feels strangely tight on budget for its starting 60$ price tag.
Personally, I loved this game; my own enjoyment was above 4 stars, but I think its really something where your mileage is going to wildly vary. I definitely didn't love it at first, mostly because I went through every single townfolk quest ASAP, which is where the game's worst parts show; low number of character animations, NPC models, lack of voiced dialogue, and lots of reused music. I still found myself excited to keep playing though, egged on by new recipes to make, plants to farm, characters to meet, all that. The slowest part of the game is also when you're recruiting your party, and each new member additionally brings a new job for you to use. I'm sure people aren't clamoring for another JRPG that starts slow and feels great by the end, but I'll spend the rest of this review explaining why this game was good, I promise.
I alluded to this earlier, but the farming is a consistent high point in the game. Its simple, of course, but still gratifying; everything you do on the farm feeds into combat, like how you make all your own items to use during combat.
I liked the cast, and all of the 2D art and character designs are fantastic. I mentioned the townfolk quests earlier, but all of the character quests were great- much more interesting storylines that also teach you about the game's world, and are also just in shorter, more digestible conversations than the townfolk dialogues. Overall, the game was pretty, though sometimes the seemingly low budget shines through. The music was another high point for me, even despite tracks getting reused often. I don't have many games I've played to compare this game's combat to, but I didn't feel any particular way about it. I'll take any JRPG where enemy encounters are seamlessly integrated into the world you're exploring, but perhaps that's a low bar nowadays.
The story goes places. The game is presented as typical fantasy, but I should warn you that it veers into sci-fi a fair amount. I was drawn in by it, and found it uplifting at times; it's pretty anime, though, and I could see some people reading it as trite.
At the end of the day, I'm going to reccomend this to JRPG fans, especially those who have played life sims before as well or just enjoy some simple pleasures. I don't think this game stands as some staple, but it does feel a little bit like an underappreciated title, and it's had good sales in the past.
Personally, I loved this game; my own enjoyment was above 4 stars, but I think its really something where your mileage is going to wildly vary. I definitely didn't love it at first, mostly because I went through every single townfolk quest ASAP, which is where the game's worst parts show; low number of character animations, NPC models, lack of voiced dialogue, and lots of reused music. I still found myself excited to keep playing though, egged on by new recipes to make, plants to farm, characters to meet, all that. The slowest part of the game is also when you're recruiting your party, and each new member additionally brings a new job for you to use. I'm sure people aren't clamoring for another JRPG that starts slow and feels great by the end, but I'll spend the rest of this review explaining why this game was good, I promise.
I alluded to this earlier, but the farming is a consistent high point in the game. Its simple, of course, but still gratifying; everything you do on the farm feeds into combat, like how you make all your own items to use during combat.
I liked the cast, and all of the 2D art and character designs are fantastic. I mentioned the townfolk quests earlier, but all of the character quests were great- much more interesting storylines that also teach you about the game's world, and are also just in shorter, more digestible conversations than the townfolk dialogues. Overall, the game was pretty, though sometimes the seemingly low budget shines through. The music was another high point for me, even despite tracks getting reused often. I don't have many games I've played to compare this game's combat to, but I didn't feel any particular way about it. I'll take any JRPG where enemy encounters are seamlessly integrated into the world you're exploring, but perhaps that's a low bar nowadays.
The story goes places. The game is presented as typical fantasy, but I should warn you that it veers into sci-fi a fair amount. I was drawn in by it, and found it uplifting at times; it's pretty anime, though, and I could see some people reading it as trite.
At the end of the day, I'm going to reccomend this to JRPG fans, especially those who have played life sims before as well or just enjoy some simple pleasures. I don't think this game stands as some staple, but it does feel a little bit like an underappreciated title, and it's had good sales in the past.
good game, changed for the better after the demo critiques, but the price is a little bit too high.
the stamina is so annoying I had to let my mates kill a boss bc my stamina was empty and it took sooooo long
overall having fun and just waiting for Brakka
the stamina is so annoying I had to let my mates kill a boss bc my stamina was empty and it took sooooo long
overall having fun and just waiting for Brakka
I liked the character events and side quests, the farming was pretty good if lacking in depth when compared to other games, combat is not very good unfortunately, dungeon design is good through the early game, and around the same time those fall off the story does too, but ultimately i think theres a lot more good content than bad.
A very low budget game with tons of heart. The mechanics never truly rise to the level they needed to but everything else makes up for it. Very enjoyable, hopefully DLC is incoming.
I can't believe how hard this story went. It was a very surprising game for me personally. I enjoyed the farm loop. I think the combat is nothing amazing, but as you unlock more classes, it gets better. I was really just enamored with the world, story, and characters. Music went hard as hell too. It's a hidden gem.
Excellent mechanics for both genres they tried to mix together. Would be an amazing game on the switch, taking this on the go would be the way.
Check out the whole review here: https://youtu.be/n24Rcrd_TN8
Check out the whole review here: https://youtu.be/n24Rcrd_TN8
Honestly, the older I get, the more I realize how much I hate time-wasting mechanics.
I really dislike stamina bars and time restrictions that limit what I can do in a "day", especially when that stamina bar dictates everything - from exploration to combat - and does not regenerate automatically for some fucking reason. I dislike trekking through overly-long levels and dungeons with a bunch of inconsequential loot as a reward for exploration. I dislike meandering story-telling where all of the characters are idiots and the pacing is constantly slowed down to explain things to you or being forced to "regroup" and stop your exploration.
I've just been having such a hard time getting into JRPGs lately, even though it used to be one of my favourite genres to play, and I dislike that I don't have the patience for this genre any more. As an adult and having to manage my time to make a place for things I enjoy like gaming and movies and reading, I really appreciate a game that doesn't waste my time more than anything else in the world.
I really dislike stamina bars and time restrictions that limit what I can do in a "day", especially when that stamina bar dictates everything - from exploration to combat - and does not regenerate automatically for some fucking reason. I dislike trekking through overly-long levels and dungeons with a bunch of inconsequential loot as a reward for exploration. I dislike meandering story-telling where all of the characters are idiots and the pacing is constantly slowed down to explain things to you or being forced to "regroup" and stop your exploration.
I've just been having such a hard time getting into JRPGs lately, even though it used to be one of my favourite genres to play, and I dislike that I don't have the patience for this genre any more. As an adult and having to manage my time to make a place for things I enjoy like gaming and movies and reading, I really appreciate a game that doesn't waste my time more than anything else in the world.
I played through most of Harvestella in three months, in bigger bursts. Then, after taking a break for three more months, I finally finished the last chunk, only three hours or so long. And I think I only now get what this game is going for, and I'm kinda sad it took me this long to realize, but well, it also made it kinda hard for me.
My reason for the break and the biggest problem in my view (next to the game being a little too long) is the huuuge discrepancy between the urgency of the story and the really relaxed farming gameplay. Its world is repeteatedly threatened by total destruction, yet Harvestella wants me to farm the ingridients and ressources to stop that destruction by playing in a relaxed, day-to-day farming-sim-fashion. This really turned me off from engaging with that aspect in the latter half of the game, because it felt so tonally dissonant. The interesting mysteries the games' plot revolve around also result in a kind of urgency to speedily move through the game. This ended up hurting the experience for me, as I think Harvestella is at its best when the loop of getting stronger through (literally) farming (Most of the time I ended up crafting dishes and drinks to enhance my health pool) and then advancing the story.
But I nontheless really love this game. It's story is really bold, picking a theme and confidently running with it until the very end. Harvestella imagines a Sci-Fi world which finds it hope in Fantasy, and I think that's just such a nice and original central idea. It's also such a beautiful game with gorgeous enviromental design and a great soundtrack, that allow it to really be flexible - even if there's a discrepancy on the gameplay side of things, the audiovisual indentity of this game contains both urgency and relaxedness really well. I don't believe they had a big budget here and I think they put the attention to detail in mostly the right places. The side quests are also really sweet and interesting, mostly skipping the unneccessary grinding and getting straight to the emotional core of each situation.
I think what I love most about Harvestella is its boldness, its vibes and it's readyness to create a little friction sometimes. It's such a lovely little gem that manages to combine familiar tropes and gameplay systems with its own ideas in a way that results in an experience that feels fresh. And I think that experience is best-played slowly, taking breaks as often and as long as you like.
My reason for the break and the biggest problem in my view (next to the game being a little too long) is the huuuge discrepancy between the urgency of the story and the really relaxed farming gameplay. Its world is repeteatedly threatened by total destruction, yet Harvestella wants me to farm the ingridients and ressources to stop that destruction by playing in a relaxed, day-to-day farming-sim-fashion. This really turned me off from engaging with that aspect in the latter half of the game, because it felt so tonally dissonant. The interesting mysteries the games' plot revolve around also result in a kind of urgency to speedily move through the game. This ended up hurting the experience for me, as I think Harvestella is at its best when the loop of getting stronger through (literally) farming (Most of the time I ended up crafting dishes and drinks to enhance my health pool) and then advancing the story.
But I nontheless really love this game. It's story is really bold, picking a theme and confidently running with it until the very end. Harvestella imagines a Sci-Fi world which finds it hope in Fantasy, and I think that's just such a nice and original central idea. It's also such a beautiful game with gorgeous enviromental design and a great soundtrack, that allow it to really be flexible - even if there's a discrepancy on the gameplay side of things, the audiovisual indentity of this game contains both urgency and relaxedness really well. I don't believe they had a big budget here and I think they put the attention to detail in mostly the right places. The side quests are also really sweet and interesting, mostly skipping the unneccessary grinding and getting straight to the emotional core of each situation.
I think what I love most about Harvestella is its boldness, its vibes and it's readyness to create a little friction sometimes. It's such a lovely little gem that manages to combine familiar tropes and gameplay systems with its own ideas in a way that results in an experience that feels fresh. And I think that experience is best-played slowly, taking breaks as often and as long as you like.
It's a shame this game wasn't advertised all that well, because honestly it's pretty great. Rather than the farming sim they pretended it is, it's more of a low budget jrpg with farming sim elements/structure. My daily routine in this game ended up being: farming -> side quests and character bonding -> dungeon exploration and story progression. Unlike, say, Rune Factory, the farming part ended up being a small portion of the game, with everything else taking most of my time.
The story is pretty slow paced and really takes its sweet time getting anywhere, even for a slow burn, but once it does it starts to go pretty insane. I'd describe it as a mix of Nier Automata and Xenogears, albeit a little more optimistic than those two in terms of tone. There are some truly crazy twists that stick the landing better than you might expect, and overall it just punched so much above its weight I was kind of shocked. While it is a bit limited by its budget, they do a really good job at using it well, and some of those late game areas/cutscenes look super good. Aria is also a very strong heroine with a great arc, and ends up being surprisingly fleshed out.
The side quests themselves are alright, they get you to do somewhat tedious tasks in exchange for world building. I did get pretty exhausted by how many focus on the most stereotypical straight romances ever, but there are some that go in surprising directions.
But it's the character quests that work as the real strength of the side content. There's about 10 in total, and each one does a fantastic job at developing each character, giving them strong arcs and exploring some really interesting and unique ideas. There wasn't a single one I found weak, and I greatly appreciated the variety they offered—no two feel the same. It's a bit of a shame that the cast dynamics aren't quite as developed in the main story, but at least these quests gave me a lot of reasons to care about them.
Romance is barely even an afterthought, and gets kinda tacked on in the postgame. I picked Brakka, and his was... fine, but pretty basic and short. There's also a pretty uneven gender ratio of romanceable characters, so you're pretty limited in options if you wanna go for one of the guys (especially when 2/3 have stories focused on letting go of a woman they cared for...)
Combat itself is sorta basic MMO stuff, there's a bunch of classes to switch between and a tiny bit of positioning, but overall it's a lot of dealing with cooldowns. The dungeons themselves are surprisingly well designed in spite of their limited budget, and the developers get insanely creative at using their limited resources/assets to create tricky little puzzles (mostly avoiding easily aggro'd super enemies that will destroy you), and keeping the layouts fresh and engaging.
The soundtrack was composed by Go Shiina, so obviously it's amazing. I'm not sure how they got him, but his pieces enhance the game so much, providing a big variety of unique songs. There is some iffy music direction here and there, such as certain dungeons using music more appropriate for short moments in cutscenes, but for the most part these songs are used very well.
It's also nice to see a Japanese game let you romance whoever the hell you want, and pick pronouns for your self-insert character. While I'm a bit too cis to appreciate the latter, I'm def giving this game credit for that.
Overall Harvestella is pretty awesome—I mean, I did put 75 hours into this thing. While it can be a bit of a jack of all trades master of none, it clearly has a lot of heart put into it, and the story sure does go places that only the most ambitious science fantasy jrpgs can claim to have in common. I highly recommend this to people who want something like Rune Factory, but with a stronger emphasis on story/dungeons/platonic bonding, and less emphasis on farming/crafting/developing romances.
The story is pretty slow paced and really takes its sweet time getting anywhere, even for a slow burn, but once it does it starts to go pretty insane. I'd describe it as a mix of Nier Automata and Xenogears, albeit a little more optimistic than those two in terms of tone. There are some truly crazy twists that stick the landing better than you might expect, and overall it just punched so much above its weight I was kind of shocked. While it is a bit limited by its budget, they do a really good job at using it well, and some of those late game areas/cutscenes look super good. Aria is also a very strong heroine with a great arc, and ends up being surprisingly fleshed out.
The side quests themselves are alright, they get you to do somewhat tedious tasks in exchange for world building. I did get pretty exhausted by how many focus on the most stereotypical straight romances ever, but there are some that go in surprising directions.
But it's the character quests that work as the real strength of the side content. There's about 10 in total, and each one does a fantastic job at developing each character, giving them strong arcs and exploring some really interesting and unique ideas. There wasn't a single one I found weak, and I greatly appreciated the variety they offered—no two feel the same. It's a bit of a shame that the cast dynamics aren't quite as developed in the main story, but at least these quests gave me a lot of reasons to care about them.
Romance is barely even an afterthought, and gets kinda tacked on in the postgame. I picked Brakka, and his was... fine, but pretty basic and short. There's also a pretty uneven gender ratio of romanceable characters, so you're pretty limited in options if you wanna go for one of the guys (especially when 2/3 have stories focused on letting go of a woman they cared for...)
Combat itself is sorta basic MMO stuff, there's a bunch of classes to switch between and a tiny bit of positioning, but overall it's a lot of dealing with cooldowns. The dungeons themselves are surprisingly well designed in spite of their limited budget, and the developers get insanely creative at using their limited resources/assets to create tricky little puzzles (mostly avoiding easily aggro'd super enemies that will destroy you), and keeping the layouts fresh and engaging.
The soundtrack was composed by Go Shiina, so obviously it's amazing. I'm not sure how they got him, but his pieces enhance the game so much, providing a big variety of unique songs. There is some iffy music direction here and there, such as certain dungeons using music more appropriate for short moments in cutscenes, but for the most part these songs are used very well.
It's also nice to see a Japanese game let you romance whoever the hell you want, and pick pronouns for your self-insert character. While I'm a bit too cis to appreciate the latter, I'm def giving this game credit for that.
Overall Harvestella is pretty awesome—I mean, I did put 75 hours into this thing. While it can be a bit of a jack of all trades master of none, it clearly has a lot of heart put into it, and the story sure does go places that only the most ambitious science fantasy jrpgs can claim to have in common. I highly recommend this to people who want something like Rune Factory, but with a stronger emphasis on story/dungeons/platonic bonding, and less emphasis on farming/crafting/developing romances.
Harvestella is one of those games that instantly grabbed me with its charming artstyle and vibrant landscapes.
Similar to Rune Factory, Harvestella blends hacknslash with farming simulation with enough depth to last out its 70 hour plus span.
There's a continuous growth in both aspects with skilltrees and added abilities for combat as there are tools, facilities and tons of recipes to gather for crafting and cooking, as well as levelling up abilities for farming throughout clearing different achievements.
That being said, there's also some areas of simplicity with minuscule gear customising and a glaring lack of parrying for the dungeon crawling.
Meanwhile the farming doesn't really offer too much variety in seeds or farm animals other than cufflows (fluffy chickens) and Woollums (more fluffy goats).
In the end the farming aspect serves as a hub simply for gathering foods and buffs to keep both your health and endlessly depleting stamina gauge up for your dungeon spelunking and if you play it right you honestly don't need to do much self managing with your farm when you craft more tools than can even do the work for you.
While the game starts out slow and sluggish, the story slowly strays through some typical plotlines, which thankfully is aided by some inventive twists and a likeable cast as you get past the early chapters and you start affinity bonding with your party members for some heartfelt individual stories. The interactions are mainly through the side characters to the main character and not as much bantering between the party itself, but it does work surprisingly well in the context of how the game has you generally in the center of the narration.
The lack of voice acting and overabundance of stock animation does hurt some of the experience alongside some chuggy framedips. It's a bummer considering how well written the story is towards the second half and how spectular the presentation can get for a few key events and especially for the bossfights.
While you will hear some tracks being replayed a bit too much in some cutscenes and even recycled at some dungeons, the individual tracks are by themselves nicely orchestrated pieces composed by Go Shiina and past chapter 3 the variety does get a lot better with some fantastic dungeon themes.
I really enjoyed my time with Harvestella and while the presentation can at times be sub par for it's steep pricing, Harvestella is loaded with lots of content, decent gameplay and a charming artistic style that may make it's steep admission worthwhile if you tolerate a few glaring rough spots.
Similar to Rune Factory, Harvestella blends hacknslash with farming simulation with enough depth to last out its 70 hour plus span.
There's a continuous growth in both aspects with skilltrees and added abilities for combat as there are tools, facilities and tons of recipes to gather for crafting and cooking, as well as levelling up abilities for farming throughout clearing different achievements.
That being said, there's also some areas of simplicity with minuscule gear customising and a glaring lack of parrying for the dungeon crawling.
Meanwhile the farming doesn't really offer too much variety in seeds or farm animals other than cufflows (fluffy chickens) and Woollums (more fluffy goats).
In the end the farming aspect serves as a hub simply for gathering foods and buffs to keep both your health and endlessly depleting stamina gauge up for your dungeon spelunking and if you play it right you honestly don't need to do much self managing with your farm when you craft more tools than can even do the work for you.
While the game starts out slow and sluggish, the story slowly strays through some typical plotlines, which thankfully is aided by some inventive twists and a likeable cast as you get past the early chapters and you start affinity bonding with your party members for some heartfelt individual stories. The interactions are mainly through the side characters to the main character and not as much bantering between the party itself, but it does work surprisingly well in the context of how the game has you generally in the center of the narration.
The lack of voice acting and overabundance of stock animation does hurt some of the experience alongside some chuggy framedips. It's a bummer considering how well written the story is towards the second half and how spectular the presentation can get for a few key events and especially for the bossfights.
While you will hear some tracks being replayed a bit too much in some cutscenes and even recycled at some dungeons, the individual tracks are by themselves nicely orchestrated pieces composed by Go Shiina and past chapter 3 the variety does get a lot better with some fantastic dungeon themes.
I really enjoyed my time with Harvestella and while the presentation can at times be sub par for it's steep pricing, Harvestella is loaded with lots of content, decent gameplay and a charming artistic style that may make it's steep admission worthwhile if you tolerate a few glaring rough spots.
Someone said, "What if Nier: Automata was a farming sim" and just went for it. The visuals are stunning, the character writing is endearing, and the sidequests tie in nicely with the overall themes of connection, loss, and rebuilding that the overarching story discusses. There's a lot here that will feel familiar to fans of the RPG genre, but presented in way that shows the devs understand why people keep coming back to these games. There's something really satisfying about finally reaching that next teleport point in the dungeon you're crawling through, or getting that new crop in order to finish a recipe you've been wanting to try, or unlocking a new ability in your chosen job. It's not perfect - Harvestella is mainly held back by its budget, which can most clearly be seen in its reused character animations and lack of innovation in both the battle system and farming mechanics - but it more than makes up for it with heart. I loved all the time that I've spent with it, and I'm happy that I can now point at a game other than the Rune Factory series for people who want an RPG plot to go with their farming sim.
It was. Okay. The sharp division between farming game and dungeon crawling rpg felt too harsh and made progression feel plodding at times. 2 halves of mid games shoved together to make a midder game. Oh well!!!!
I gave it my 5 hours. Both from a JRPG and farming standpoint, this game failed to grab me. I wanted to like it, I heard a lot of great things, but the pacing is incredibly slow. I can forgive poor pacing if other aspects of the game can capture my interest, but sadly nothing does.
The combat is passable at best. It simply feels like a button masher, as avoiding enemy damage seems like a task. You don’t get a good sense as to where the hit boxes are or where you need to be to avoid damage.
The characters intrigued me slightly, but after 5 hours I would expect to have have built some kind of connection with them.
Anyways, if I was starved for games, I would give it a couple of more hours, but with a growing backlog of amazing games, I need to move on.
The combat is passable at best. It simply feels like a button masher, as avoiding enemy damage seems like a task. You don’t get a good sense as to where the hit boxes are or where you need to be to avoid damage.
The characters intrigued me slightly, but after 5 hours I would expect to have have built some kind of connection with them.
Anyways, if I was starved for games, I would give it a couple of more hours, but with a growing backlog of amazing games, I need to move on.
Okay which UI designer was fired from Monolith Soft to work on this?
Good things:
- The farming tools look great. Their design is not the one you find in all farming games, and despite how notofthisworld they feel you can see how they would work.
- The farming aspect sometimes feels good. Barely.
Bad:
-Everything else.
I tried to ignore the bad in order to enjoy the good it had, but the game won't allow you. Buy any other farming game over this.
- The farming tools look great. Their design is not the one you find in all farming games, and despite how notofthisworld they feel you can see how they would work.
- The farming aspect sometimes feels good. Barely.
Bad:
-Everything else.
I tried to ignore the bad in order to enjoy the good it had, but the game won't allow you. Buy any other farming game over this.
Phantasy Star Online in the streets, Stardew Valley in the sheets.
I loved where they took the story in this. Gorgeous art direction and soundtrack carried me through a sometimes monotonous, inconsistent action RPG.
I loved where they took the story in this. Gorgeous art direction and soundtrack carried me through a sometimes monotonous, inconsistent action RPG.
the most epic farming game
its over for rune factory...
its over for rune factory...
for whatever reason this game just completely vibes with me - when I am farming in another farming sim I think wistfully of my beautiful farm over in this game
Really an ARPG that happens to have some farming in it rather than the Square Enix take on a Rune Factory-like that I expected it to be. Which would be fine, except it's not a very good ARPG. The class system is neat but actually playing it feels like an unpleasant midpoint between Dark Souls and, I don't know, Nier Automata or something. You have basic combos but actually committing to one, or using a class ability, locks you into an attack animation, but at the same time there's not much point in being patient and picking your shots Souls-style because the game doesn't really let you dodge anything anyway and you're just kind of expected to mitigate damage by eating food. Feels very sloppy.
As a farming game it seems to think the appeal of farming RPGs is entirely in doing daily chores. There's no sense of entering a community where everyone knows each other, no events to speak of (whether it be something like a town festival or really bad weather you need to prepare for), and barely any sense of the passing of seasons because each town in the game represents their own season so it can be the middle of summer but you're spending your time in the town where it's always cold and snowy. I didn't make it to winter but in spring, summer and fall my farm just kind of felt like it was in stasis.
I hung on for longer than I would have because I was told that its narrative gets weird in the back half. And it does! Just not enough that it seemed worth it to put more than the 60 hours I'd already sunk into it. I did find it kind of funny though how brazenly it lifts from a certain cult ARPG released in the last decade.
Cool music though!
As a farming game it seems to think the appeal of farming RPGs is entirely in doing daily chores. There's no sense of entering a community where everyone knows each other, no events to speak of (whether it be something like a town festival or really bad weather you need to prepare for), and barely any sense of the passing of seasons because each town in the game represents their own season so it can be the middle of summer but you're spending your time in the town where it's always cold and snowy. I didn't make it to winter but in spring, summer and fall my farm just kind of felt like it was in stasis.
I hung on for longer than I would have because I was told that its narrative gets weird in the back half. And it does! Just not enough that it seemed worth it to put more than the 60 hours I'd already sunk into it. I did find it kind of funny though how brazenly it lifts from a certain cult ARPG released in the last decade.
Cool music though!
The game is a fantastic adventure, with a incredible story which makes the world that you live in feel alive.
As an Action RPG this game is must have, it has an increible combat system that gets better the more you effort put in to it.
My biggest problem and the reason this game has such a low rating in spite of my praises is simply that as a farming game/Simulation game, The thing that was marketed the most, falls flat in a lot of areas, it does some really nice things, however, the thing that hinders it the most is how basic it is, on top of how much you depend from it to get good healing in the late game, you better save your crops, because instead of using them to grow friendships, it is exclusively for money and food, which is fine, but something to consider that this was the selling point of the game.
As an Action RPG this game is must have, it has an increible combat system that gets better the more you effort put in to it.
My biggest problem and the reason this game has such a low rating in spite of my praises is simply that as a farming game/Simulation game, The thing that was marketed the most, falls flat in a lot of areas, it does some really nice things, however, the thing that hinders it the most is how basic it is, on top of how much you depend from it to get good healing in the late game, you better save your crops, because instead of using them to grow friendships, it is exclusively for money and food, which is fine, but something to consider that this was the selling point of the game.
First farming sim that I'm interested in.