This game is too good for how little I heard people talk about it. This game feels like a weird mid-PS2 release that became a cult classic.

I had no idea the farming was as in-depth as it is. I fully expected it to be Harvest Moon like, just hoeing 3x3 fields, planting seeds, watering each day. I had no idea you had to manually till, plant, and water the fields with such intensity and attentiveness. Each harvest had me excited to try what I'd learned in the scrolls I'd acquired that year to make the next harvest even better. The power surge you got after harvesting felt so good, every single time.

The combat doesn't need to be as good as it is. I don't know who decided to put DMC combat in their farming game but what a choice. Hitting huge combos feels good. Slicing through 20 enemies at a time is so fun. The varied amount of platforming and combat challenges offers so much to do so you never feel like you're just waiting around to harvest rice. They continue to unlock new mechanics and bonus missions to the end of the game and offers a hearty amount of post game as well. The music is super catchy and it looks pretty to boot. The PC port was surprisingly really good too.

It's not perfect. There were definitely some segments that had me really frustrated and angry. Mechanics not melding together well, bad level layout, poor mission objectives, the mid-game volcano event. But I'm still giving it 5 stars because it was rough around the edges in the perfect way. It truly feels like a forgotten PS2 title in all the right ways, even in being bad. More people should try this game out. It's something special.