7
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.
This review contains spoilers
This is actually a sci fi RPG masquerading as a farm sim - so some players may be surprised at the turns the storyline takes.
I personally enjoyed the plot twists, and wasn't expecting the lurch into science and philosophy. The role the Omens play in the story was definitely my favourite part of the game, and this look at AI technology was refreshing from how it is normally portrayed. The themes of AI and environmentalism make this game feel very relevant to the present day.
To begin with, the game is a bit of a slog. Chapter 3 seemed to drag on forever, and amidst the tropes galore and fetch quest hell I found myself in, I nearly gave up. The characters are fairly predictable and one dimensional. This and the monotonous side quests let the game down. However, the "one day more" kept me plodding through and overall I'm glad I did as I eventually enjoyed the story as I wasn't expecting the sci fi elements, and I am a fan of such stories.
Combat is simplistic and requires little more than button mashing for the first two thirds of the game. Only in the later dungeons and the post game dungeon does strategy become more relevant. I find the omission of a dodge button slightly baffling.
There is lots for completionists to track down, including crafting materials, recipes, crops and character relationship levels. These levels increase over time, rather than requiring gift giving or correct dialogue choices.
The game is pretty - I imagine it would look fantastic on the Switch's OLED screen. I really loved how the trees and skies changed throughout the seasons and between the different areas (e.g. seeing the Northern lights or the cherry blossoms). The music is well orchestrated and good enough, without being mindblowing or overly memorable.
Overall, an eventually enjoyable, if not overly memorable experience. A decent mid budget JRPG game - just don't go in expecting Stardew Valley!
I personally enjoyed the plot twists, and wasn't expecting the lurch into science and philosophy. The role the Omens play in the story was definitely my favourite part of the game, and this look at AI technology was refreshing from how it is normally portrayed. The themes of AI and environmentalism make this game feel very relevant to the present day.
To begin with, the game is a bit of a slog. Chapter 3 seemed to drag on forever, and amidst the tropes galore and fetch quest hell I found myself in, I nearly gave up. The characters are fairly predictable and one dimensional. This and the monotonous side quests let the game down. However, the "one day more" kept me plodding through and overall I'm glad I did as I eventually enjoyed the story as I wasn't expecting the sci fi elements, and I am a fan of such stories.
Combat is simplistic and requires little more than button mashing for the first two thirds of the game. Only in the later dungeons and the post game dungeon does strategy become more relevant. I find the omission of a dodge button slightly baffling.
There is lots for completionists to track down, including crafting materials, recipes, crops and character relationship levels. These levels increase over time, rather than requiring gift giving or correct dialogue choices.
The game is pretty - I imagine it would look fantastic on the Switch's OLED screen. I really loved how the trees and skies changed throughout the seasons and between the different areas (e.g. seeing the Northern lights or the cherry blossoms). The music is well orchestrated and good enough, without being mindblowing or overly memorable.
Overall, an eventually enjoyable, if not overly memorable experience. A decent mid budget JRPG game - just don't go in expecting Stardew Valley!
Fair warning, this is not a cozy farming game. It is in fact a fully-fledged, party-based JRPG with a (big) farming part. The farming part is well realized and fun and there is a lot to do in it alone. But to progress you need to play the story as well, which takes a lot of time doing main-, party-member and side-quests that all come with extensive, non-voiced dialogue. So if you are just in the mood to do some farming and ignore the “social” and dungeon crawling parts, this is not a game for you. In Harvestella you will always go back and forth between farming, dungeon crawling and story bits.
That said, all the parts of this game are well made and work together hand-in-hand. For example, everything you need for healing life and stamina is made by crafting which is done with components you grow on your farm. There are obstacles in dungeons like broken bridges that need to be repaired with components created during the farming parts. Farming is your usual affair of breaking down rocks, collecting wood in the wild and planting and watering all kinds of seeds during the four seasons. Some stuff can be automated later in the game. Earned items can be sold for money, used in crafting or invested into farm and weapon upgrades.
Combat is pretty simple and reminded me of MMORPG combat where you mostly dodge area of effect attacks shown with red circles and lines while spamming standard and special attacks that are on a cooldown. There are twelve different character classes that all come with their own special abilities. Three can be equipped at once and freely changed during combat. You only control the main character Ein who can be female or male, while party members engage on their own.
The story itself is surprisingly deep - if you are into convoluted anime-stories - but the presentation itself is probably the biggest downside of the game. While the graphics and artstyle are pretty, it shows that this was made on a tight budget. There is tons of non-voiced dialogue transcribed in mildly animated ingame-cutscenes. The character animations repeat over and over, there are maybe a dozen of different animations for character interaction. The same goes for the music. While the music itself has some great tracks, they loop way too often over the play-time of 60-100 hours - depending on how much stuff you want to do in this game. It doesn’t help that some of the dialogue, especially the minor side-quests, is overly long. It really hampers the pacing of the game. I’d say, if you really focus on doing all the side-quests, Harvestella is ⅓ farming, ⅓ dungeon crawling and ⅓ dialogue/cutscenes.
The game runs great on the Steam Deck, but it doesn’t show video cutscenes which happen mostly at the beginning of a new chapter. There are only a few of them, but it’s still a big oversight and can hamper the enjoyment of playing this on Deck. I also had one part very late in the game where I just got a black screen after a cutscene and I had to play that part on my PC instead.
That said, all the parts of this game are well made and work together hand-in-hand. For example, everything you need for healing life and stamina is made by crafting which is done with components you grow on your farm. There are obstacles in dungeons like broken bridges that need to be repaired with components created during the farming parts. Farming is your usual affair of breaking down rocks, collecting wood in the wild and planting and watering all kinds of seeds during the four seasons. Some stuff can be automated later in the game. Earned items can be sold for money, used in crafting or invested into farm and weapon upgrades.
Combat is pretty simple and reminded me of MMORPG combat where you mostly dodge area of effect attacks shown with red circles and lines while spamming standard and special attacks that are on a cooldown. There are twelve different character classes that all come with their own special abilities. Three can be equipped at once and freely changed during combat. You only control the main character Ein who can be female or male, while party members engage on their own.
The story itself is surprisingly deep - if you are into convoluted anime-stories - but the presentation itself is probably the biggest downside of the game. While the graphics and artstyle are pretty, it shows that this was made on a tight budget. There is tons of non-voiced dialogue transcribed in mildly animated ingame-cutscenes. The character animations repeat over and over, there are maybe a dozen of different animations for character interaction. The same goes for the music. While the music itself has some great tracks, they loop way too often over the play-time of 60-100 hours - depending on how much stuff you want to do in this game. It doesn’t help that some of the dialogue, especially the minor side-quests, is overly long. It really hampers the pacing of the game. I’d say, if you really focus on doing all the side-quests, Harvestella is ⅓ farming, ⅓ dungeon crawling and ⅓ dialogue/cutscenes.
The game runs great on the Steam Deck, but it doesn’t show video cutscenes which happen mostly at the beginning of a new chapter. There are only a few of them, but it’s still a big oversight and can hamper the enjoyment of playing this on Deck. I also had one part very late in the game where I just got a black screen after a cutscene and I had to play that part on my PC instead.
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.
This game is really fun, it's worth it.
Played time: 65hrs
Played time: 65hrs
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!
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.
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.
Its a jack of all trades master of none. I really wanted to like this game. im coming up to finishing this week. but I kinda know my thoughts and feelings now. Its got lot heart in the quests I loved a lot of the side stories and adventures! Some of them are really touching and sweet. But as for the gameplay its really average. both the farm sim and the JRPG are just very boiler plate. When I feel the idea could of been so much more! I really hope they get a shot at a sequel! you could do a lot worse then this for a game! but you also could do a lot better!
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.
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.
I got this game for the simulator aspect and very quickly forgot that it was a farming sim
Played on Steam Deck.
Beautiful game with a beautiful soundtrack and a surprisingly interesting story. For me, the harvest gameplay wasn't as intrusive as I expected so great one.
Beautiful game with a beautiful soundtrack and a surprisingly interesting story. For me, the harvest gameplay wasn't as intrusive as I expected so great one.
Did everything in this. Came in expecting it to be a farm sim game with light combat. Turns out the farming was the side content. A neat game reminding me of .hack/Trails.
I miss this game, I wish I could reexperience it again
Big heart. Gonna miss this world and its people.
The combat leaves a lot to be desired and it’s just so tedious.
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.
Its okay. there isn't anything technically offensive about it but there's also nothing that wows me away and makes me wanna spend another 20 hours on it. Could potentially set up a good sequel though.
Un juego precioso en todos los sentidos, con una trama muy interesante y unos mensajes muy bonitos sobre la humanidad, el planeta y la esperanza. Tiene sus carencias jugables, pero me ha resultado muy divertido y lleno de contenido.
This was an extremely pleasant surprise. The ‘work’ component of farming games has done a good job of keeping me away from other games of a similar type like Rune Factory but something about how this one all came together means that this is much more than the sum of its two individually simplistic parts. The story gets kinda crazy and the soundtrack’s by Go Shiina so it’s got that pomp and energy to keep you going.
Steam Deck report - Expect around 3 hours of battery at 60fps. There aren’t any graphics settings so just set and forget. There’s a bit of weirdness around the prerendered videos, though there’s only about 3 of them in the whole game, but check ProtonDB before starting off as one’s right at the beginning.
Steam Deck report - Expect around 3 hours of battery at 60fps. There aren’t any graphics settings so just set and forget. There’s a bit of weirdness around the prerendered videos, though there’s only about 3 of them in the whole game, but check ProtonDB before starting off as one’s right at the beginning.
Omg, How Dare The Same Company Who Has Made Games About Fighting Climate Change And Organizations Trying To Take Over The World DARE Become Woke By Having PRONOUNS And GENDER As Optional Choices In Their Games!!! This Is Disgusting And Should Not Be Allowed By Anyone!!!! Protect The Children From Disgusting Video Games Like These That Are Trying To Brainwash Them Into Gender Ideology!!!!! #BoycottSquareEnix
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This game is a hidden gem. I was excited for it ever since its release. The story involves time travel, magic, and farming. I love the casual pacing elements the game presents (You're not pressured to do all the story before a deadline date, so you can spend all your time farming if you want!)
The characters are all very lovable, to the point I was having trouble choosing which ones to keep in my party. The music is incredible, the visuals are wonderful, and the puzzles the game presents you with are challenging and rewarding.
Something the game does that is very unique to timeline-based RPGs: Dungeons have 'shortcuts' which can be unlocked by spending a little bit of in-game time once you reach them. Utilizing these shortcuts can make each floor of a dungeon possible to clear in a single game-day cycle, while it would otherwise be difficult to do so.
When compared to other farming RPGs like Rune Factory or Stardew Valley, I would choose Harvestella 100%.
The characters are all very lovable, to the point I was having trouble choosing which ones to keep in my party. The music is incredible, the visuals are wonderful, and the puzzles the game presents you with are challenging and rewarding.
Something the game does that is very unique to timeline-based RPGs: Dungeons have 'shortcuts' which can be unlocked by spending a little bit of in-game time once you reach them. Utilizing these shortcuts can make each floor of a dungeon possible to clear in a single game-day cycle, while it would otherwise be difficult to do so.
When compared to other farming RPGs like Rune Factory or Stardew Valley, I would choose Harvestella 100%.
This review contains spoilers
Deceptively good game I reckon. Visual direction of the characters and landscapes were gorgeous, and I appreciated how large all the dungeons were. Music was great. Sidequests made me come to quite like the cast. The combat wasn't fantastic, but the effect animations were all quite flashy and I enjoyed having to navigate around the AOE attacks of bosses and larger enemies. Harvestella's heavy sidequest focus, boss design and its story revolving around the four Seaslight (crystals) are places where you can really feel that this was one major inspiration feeding into FFXVI. In that sense I suppose it was good I accidentally took a 7 month break on the game, since approaching it this side of FFXVI offers that new insight.
Additionally: Obligatory Xeno-posting. Thought I was signing up for an Atelier-lite, but actually received Square Enix's spiritual successor to Xenogears. I clued into it being as such pretty early after a vague inkling that Geist reminded me of Grahf, and then began noticing more similarities in the narrative. But near the end it really went all in on that with the plot recurrences and specific homage/parallels, such as "mother Sophia" of the church, Lost Gaia = the Zeboim ruins, another consciousness buried within Ein, and most excitingly the Gaia Defense System being visually modelled on Kadomony and its powers as an existence-altering perpetual motion machine mirroring the Zohar. Among a number of other things, and even some recurring Xenoblade iconography.
Additionally: Obligatory Xeno-posting. Thought I was signing up for an Atelier-lite, but actually received Square Enix's spiritual successor to Xenogears. I clued into it being as such pretty early after a vague inkling that Geist reminded me of Grahf, and then began noticing more similarities in the narrative. But near the end it really went all in on that with the plot recurrences and specific homage/parallels, such as "mother Sophia" of the church, Lost Gaia = the Zeboim ruins, another consciousness buried within Ein, and most excitingly the Gaia Defense System being visually modelled on Kadomony and its powers as an existence-altering perpetual motion machine mirroring the Zohar. Among a number of other things, and even some recurring Xenoblade iconography.
really need to pick it back up, super pretty n chill game
A game whose identity is ‘no identity’. It’s overwhelmingly fine. I thought it might have a slow start, but soon realized it also had a slow middle. A decent enough game if you meet it halfway.
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
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.
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.