This game started the downfall of the Harvest Moon series and it never recovered from it. One of the first games to ever disappoint me so greatly that I wasted spending money (was my parent's money so whatever actually) on. I could have picked any other game but since I loved Back to Nature so much I just saw Harvest Moon and thought, wow damn, this also exists for the Gamecube?! This can only be better! But no, it lacks everything that made BtN great.
The biggest criticism I have with this game is that the game world is insanely small. It's like moving from a nice comfy village to a barren wasteland. Where everyone also is a boring person that reminds you too much of real life. People living their own life, growing older, you can feel how nobody in this game loves their life. As a little kid I was appaled and thought, wow, I really wish I don't grow up to become like ANY of these people (Didn't quite work, I'm just as boring as these NPCs and also hate my life)! There's literally not a single festival that's worth your time, not a single person that you want to marry or truly want to hang out with, nothing to explore, it feels like you're trapped in a cage you can't escape from. Maybe that's what the game really wanted you to teach? About the suffering of real life? Every other Harvest Moon makes living in a boring ass little town look like fun and full of love. While this one shows you that it can also quite suck to live somewhere where absolutely nothing of note happens. Living a life you don't want to live. A life that's hard to escape from. Restarting the cycle of boredom and lack of ambition onto your own kids so they can take over your old boring job you grew tired of so they can do it for you.
The biggest criticism I have with this game is that the game world is insanely small. It's like moving from a nice comfy village to a barren wasteland. Where everyone also is a boring person that reminds you too much of real life. People living their own life, growing older, you can feel how nobody in this game loves their life. As a little kid I was appaled and thought, wow, I really wish I don't grow up to become like ANY of these people (Didn't quite work, I'm just as boring as these NPCs and also hate my life)! There's literally not a single festival that's worth your time, not a single person that you want to marry or truly want to hang out with, nothing to explore, it feels like you're trapped in a cage you can't escape from. Maybe that's what the game really wanted you to teach? About the suffering of real life? Every other Harvest Moon makes living in a boring ass little town look like fun and full of love. While this one shows you that it can also quite suck to live somewhere where absolutely nothing of note happens. Living a life you don't want to live. A life that's hard to escape from. Restarting the cycle of boredom and lack of ambition onto your own kids so they can take over your old boring job you grew tired of so they can do it for you.