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Harvestella Is A Cozy JRPG With Flaws
Harvestella has released just in time for those cozy, autumn farming sim vibes! But did you know that Harvestella is also a JRPG? Square Enix has decided to give a crack at a farming simulator with their own spin on it and the results are a lot more Rune Factory and a lot less Harvest Moon. Harvestella is set in a world where you can choose to cultivate your farm, chat up the locals, beat up some monsters in a dungeon, or choose to advance the story — it’s all up to you! Every 30 days, the seasons change and a new season has started to occur in the interim…
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Rune Factory 5 Feels Incomplete and Nearly Unplayable
The initial release for Rune Factory 5 was delayed late last year due to COVID complications but finally released a year later on the Nintendo Switch! The big farming simulator games – Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Rune Factory – haven’t been doing so hot on the jump to the Nintendo Switch. Last year, Story of Season’s Pioneer of Olive Town was an unsatisfying dumpster fire while Harvest Moon’s attempt around the same time was similarly unenjoyable with equally horrible feedback and reviews. Rune Factory 5 has fallen in the same boat and it’s been made clear that the publishers for Story of Seasons and Rune Factory haven’t quite…
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Shin Megami Tensei V…Better Than Persona V?
Shin Megami Tensei V is the first game I’ve played in the series, and I am enthralled with the apocalyptic universe that I’ve been dumped in to. This series is all about the darkness and cruelty of the world, offering a reminder that the odds are often stacked against humanity, caught between wars between angels and demons, and this addition to the series is no different. The Shin Megami Tensei universe is a desecrated world of despair and ruin, with plenty of challenging and unforgiving bosses, really cool demon lore, and you get the opportunity to recruit powerful demons to fight at your side using fusion and negotiation…at a cost!…
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Exploring Rune Factory 4: Special
I’ve played the Harvest Moon titles since I was old enough to pick up a controller on the Nintendo 64, so I’m no stranger to the gameplay and the mechanics. Since the release of Story of Season’s 25th anniversary game was releasing soon, I wanted to find a game that I hadn’t played yet that would hold me over to its release. Rune Factory 4: Special was recommended to me by friends, and it was a pleasant, albeit unexpected and unique, surprise. Ultimately, I decided to pick it up over Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town since it looked like Marvelous really dropped the ball on their 25th anniversary…
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Bravely Default 2: You Won’t Want to Put it Down
Time to take off work and hole yourself up with Mt. Dew and pizza for a week—you won’t want to put this game down once you have your hands on it, because the story (and the gameplay) are actually that good. But if you don’t want to take my word for it, I’ve went into more detail below in my review of Bravely Default 2. If you’re afraid of spoilers, stop here. ✋? There are spoilers (from parts of the demo) in this review. You begin the game as a young sailor who has washed up on Halycon’s shore, somewhat affected by amnesia, with no personal belongings of your own. All you…
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Persona 5 Strikers: An Invigorating but Linear Sequel
The Phantom Thieves are back in Persona 5 Strikers to once again save the hearts and souls of millions—but if what you’re expecting is a familiar sequel, think again. Upon first loading the game, the familiar animations hit you in the face, and the Phantom Thief team dashes through the screen in all of their glory. And similarly to the beginning of Persona 5, you view a scene of Joker pulling off a super big heist, but the familiarity stops there. If you’re afraid of spoilers, stop here. ✋? There are spoilers in this review. Persona 5 Vibes: A Brief Overview By typing in a passcode and adding one of…
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Stardew Valley: Still Amazing Years Later
Stardew Valley is more than just running a farm and setting up a daily routine. Within the first few days of in-game gameplay, you’ve built your own system: wake up, check the weather, think about whether or not you’re going to the mine, water your crops, tend to your animals, say hello to your neighbors, go fishing, hit some rocks, go to bed. Sometimes you can’t go to the store due to store hours or holidays that must be meticulously planned around. You’ll start asking yourself questions like: Am I out of animal fodder and when does the store open? I have too much in my inventory, should I sell…
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Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town Is A Charming, Sweet Remake
I’m far from experiencing everything Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town has to offer, and I’m happy to admit that so far, it’s living up to my expectations (despite the few not-so-welcome changes). There are a significant amount of changes from the original Friends of Mineral Town (2003) released on the GameBody Advance. You return to the farm you once visited as a child to take over a neglected farm left behind by your Grandfather. You must till the land, make the land profitable, and who knows? You may find your soulmate in Mineral Town. What does that work entail? Everything a farmer typically does, including using a hoe…
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‘Harvest Moon’ Isn’t The Same Game You Grew Up With
A lot has happened since Natsume split from original developer Marvelous Interactive to create their own games under the Harvest Moon moniker – it was a major turning point at the beginning of Harvest Moon‘s 20th Anniversary. In Japan, Marvelous held the license to what roughly translates from Bokujo Monogatari to “Ranch Story”. Natsume localized the Bokujo Monogatari games as Harvest Moon until 2014. Though the company retains the rights to the title, Marvelous has partnered with XSeed games to localize the franchise’s games instead. To make matters more confusing, in 2014 Marvelous announced that their in-house publisher XSeed games would be localizing and publishing the Bokujo Monogatari series in…
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You Should Be Playing ‘Final Fantasy XIV’ And Here’s Why
Let it be known that Final Fantasy XIV bombed hard in its 2010 initial release. Not the game play itself, but everything else wrapped around the game was broken beyond recognition. Just to be clear, flowerpots weren’t the only cause of the server crashing; the developers failed adapt to changing trends in game design, opted to focus on graphics quality, and ultimately failed to realize in the process that their game would just not be fun to play. Their Beta testers knew about these issues for months, and they still released without fixing anything even slightly. Honestly the game play by itself was also broken. Your normal attack was an…
