Harvestella

Harvestella is a fresh coat of paint on a familiar wall. It’s a good wall, solid foundation, level, able to withstand the elements, and damn good paint. But it’s still a wall. If you want to play the newest, most innovative farm sim to date, it’s not going to be Harvestella. If you want to play the best version of the farm sim for the modern era, look no further. While it does some odd things, like invisible walls to areas you can clearly see, or not being able to jump on a rock, in the end, those don’t matter. Farming is fun, dungeon crawling is fun. The visuals and soundtrack help make Harvestella one of the best possible versions of the farm sim.

Harvestella is exactly the kind of game that would theoretically get everything right in a sequel. Its mix of action and farming isn't what every sim fan wants, its combat is hacky and it was clearly made on a budget. But its seeds have now been sown, and I hope they get a chance to flourish. [Issue #63 – January/February 2023, p. 72]

Harvestella is hard to readily recommend to the farming simulator crowd, but for those who miss PS2-era JRPGs/dungeon-crawlers, this is not a game you’ll want to pass up. Everything here feels comfortable but fresh, like a beloved, clearly worn jacket tailored to current measurements. Its streamlined approach to farming allows players to focus on a rich story set in an even richer world, featuring exploration and combat mechanics that actually make you want to stick around in the dungeons for hours. If you’re looking for a JRPG/farming sim that doesn’t compromise on story or beauty but allows you to turn your brain “off” after a long day, Harvestella is ripe for picking.

Harvestella is a game with a very addictive loop. With each dungeon leading you to a new plot revelation, and each season giving you new crops to grow it’s like the game is begging for “just one more day” and it can be hard to say no. While I wish that there was more depth to the characters, especially in the voice acting department, and the game doesn’t make any major strides, it is still a decently fresh take on the genre. It is important to know that Harvestella really is a JRPG before it is a farming sim; even though farming is a lot of fun, it is not the main thing you will be doing. Even though both farming and combat are simple, the combination of both manages to make Harvestella feel deeper than it actually is. So if you are on the lookout for a new RPG farming adventure to play after finishing Rune Factory 5, this might be it.

The mixture of two popular Japanese genres brings a relaxing experience that, although it seems innovative on paper, in practice brings only mediocrity and a rather superficial approach to the idea of a JRPG with farming elements.

So, my scoring may seem at odds with what I’ve said, but that should also demonstrate just how lackluster and dull I found the combat system, coupled with the unpolished models and environments. Still, if you can get past its faults and perhaps enjoy it, Harvestella provides a memorable, varied JRPG experience that boasts standout characters, an intriguing narrative, and one of Square Enix’s best soundtracks in years.

Mixing Final Fantasy with Harvest Moon feels like it should result in something more stimulating than this awkward mishmash, whose disparate elements all prove disappointingly underdeveloped.

Harvestella ist das eine Spiel unter Tausende. Anders als das Marketing gesagt hat ist das betreiben einer Farm rein optional. Man muss sich am Anfang im Tutorial für maximal 10 Minuten damit beschäftigen. Danach ist das nur noch ein optionales Minispiel zum Kopf ausschalten. Was dagegen sehr im Fokus steht ist die Geschichte. Man bekommt früh im Spiel die Aufgabe 4 Chronomalien zu untersuchen. Das sind riesige fantasievoll gestaltete Kristalle. Diese stehen für die 4 Jahreszeiten Frühling Sommer Herbst und Winter. Jede der Chronomalien steht nahe eines Dorfes und hat somit jeweils eigenständige Geschichten. Zum einen als Teile der Hauptgeschichte. Zum anderen als Nebenmissionen welche sich aus dem Handlungsstrang einer jeden Chronomalie entspinnen. Manche Nebenmissionen sind auch komplett eigenständig und reichen von Herz zerreizend bis Käse. Aber selbst den käsigen Nebenmissionen merkt man schnell an sie sollen genau das sein. Einfach mal ein paar Aufgaben um zu schmunzeln und zum fremd schämen. Und dann sind da noch die Charakterepisoden. Diese beziehen sich auf wichtige Figuren. Mal reine Gespräche, mal muss man den Charakteren helfen. Einige Charakterepisoden haben den Flair vollwertiger DLC's wie zum Beispiel der von The Last of US: Left Behind oder die Final Fantasy 15 DLC's um die Freunde der Hauptfigur. Vollwertig mit der Hauptgeschichte verwoben aber so, dass diese Charakterepisoden mehr Hintergründe bieten ohne Einfluss auf die weitere Geschichte zu nehme. Und das Beste! In Harvestella sind diese Charakterepisoden keine DLC's sondern von Anfang an mit dabei. Und da hören die Geschichten noch gar nicht auf. Die Untersuchungen der Chronomalien machen nur ungefähr die Hälfte des Spiels aus. Alles was danach kommt kann ich aber nicht anreizen weil wir dann in den Spoiler Sektor abdriften würden. Kommen wir jetzt zum Kampfsystem und den Dungeons: Wie in Final Fantasy kann man Jobklassen freischalten. Rächer, Magier, etc. Von insgesamt 12 bekommt man 10 im Verlauf der Handlung. 2 Jobklassen sind optional zu bekommen und wirklich gut versteckt. Bis zu 3 kann man gleichzeitig ausgerüstet haben und zwischen ihnen wechseln und mit aktiver Nutzung mit neuen Angriffen und Buffs in einem jeweils individuellen, wenn auch einfachen Skillbaum ausbauen. Das macht die Kämpfe gemessen an der Lowbudget wenn auch extrem schönen Presentation Recht abwechslungsreich. Diese finden in Gebiete statt die deutlich der Struktur von Metroid ähneln. Nicht in der Presentation oder Optik. Dafür sind die Dungeons aber schnell sehr Verwinkelt und man muss sich aufgrund der Puzzle artigen Übersichtskarte die richtigen Wege erst ersuchen. In der Praxis ist das bis auf das Endgame Recht einfach. Denn es gibt oft nur einen Weg mit kleineren Abzweigungen für Truhen oder Cornelu Puppen (Tauschobjekt für einen besonderen Händler). Es gilt aber immer auch Abkürzungen zu finden. Denn mit einem sehr großzügigen Tagessystem muss man um 0Uhr Zuhause sein. Sonst nimmt eine Dorfärztin immer höhere Summen Geld ab. Deshalb oft an Monolite speichern und im Notfall den Speicherstand laden um sein Geld zu behalten. Die schon erwähnten Abkürzungen sind dann sehr praktisch um die verwinkelten Dungeons nicht immer wieder komplett durchlaufen zu müssen. Wenn man viel kämpft dauert ein Lategame Dungen 3 bis 5 ingame Tage. Klingt viel aber in Echtzeit sind das ca 2 Stunden plus. Manchmal findet man auch kaputte Türen oder andere Hindernisse die man mit einem Reparaturset (für die Abkürzungen unerlässlich) oder mit Bomben reparieren beziehungsweise sprengen muss. Das ist aber im Regelfall nicht nötig weil immer nur eine Truhe oder eine weitere Cornelu Puppe hinter den Hindernissen wartet. Um Reparatursets und andere Dinge herstellen zu können ist es wichtig alles aufzusammeln was geht. Das ist aber immer nur nebenbei und nie eine reine Sammelorgie weshalb man drei Sekunden später schon wieder vergessen hat dass man etwas aufgesammelt hat. Zusammengefasst lässt sich sagen dass es viele tolle Geschichten, ein Jobklassensystem angelehnt an Final Fantasy und Dungen Strukturen wie in Metroid Spiele gibt. Dazu ist das betreiben einer Farm eine nette Abwechslung um den Kopf mal ausschalten zu können. Übrigens: Wenn ihr Geld für Heilgegenstände oder andere Sachen braucht lernt schnell zu angeln. Die verkauften Fische bringen mehr Geld als das was man in Dungeons findet und geben pro ingame Tag Fischen über 2000 bis (stand jetzt, Kapitel 6 von 10) über 3000 Grilla was die Spielwärung ist. Das ist verdammt viel und reicht um sich genug Heilgegenstände holen zu können um auch mal gegen das ein oder andere viel stärkere Furchtmonster zu gewinnen. Alternativ kann man diese auch immer wieder später in den Dungeons erneut aufsuchen. Kennst du dieses tolle Spiel oder bist du neugierig geworden? Wenn ja wie findest du meinen Test dazu? Das war mein Allererster. Schreib mir gerne. Du siehst in meinem Namen wo ich zu finden bin :)

It takes a little too long until you get the option to manually save so if that is as important to you as it is to me, you speed through the first in-game week following the story or prepare a 5 hour playing session until you get there. Graphics, obviously a game like this wouldn't get much polish in graphics and the Switch isn't that strong of a system anyway but at least they could have done better with Character models and animations. It might be just the view-angle but on the regular the character models look all outta whack. The proportions of the upper half to lower half of the models have such a discrepancy. They look like they were made by two different teams with vastly different skill levels, a small torso on giants hips and legs or so. I can deal with the environmental graphics but they are not that great in quality though. However, they did at least put some effort in creating nice graphics that feel unique to this world and didn't just basic good looking pre-made assets and called it a day. I do like the indication of loading zones and they aren't so bad, Rune Factory 5 had worse. What I don't like is you get no map indication of unopened chests or not collected items, even if you just pass by them with a bad camera angle and thus miss em. They certainly did a smart and give the player easy watering where you just can pour water endlessly on the fields. You also get some nice skills as you progress to make farming easier but that is somewhat expect so at least you can't say to fail on quality of life mechanics. On the other hand, what I didn't appreciate was the lack of selling value in descriptions so you had to note it down during shipping if you wanted to know. You hardly make any money plus compared to the price of the seeds. It also is a VERY terrible decision to not give you any way to break big stones on your field until close to endgame. UI is nice and clean and the map helps out though you have to "use" gathering spots at least once before they appear. Bit weird of a control scheme but not that bad to get used to. Many quest have surprisingly deep themes behind them. Cookie points for not making the player carry materials on you if you wanna craft something. Still a bit of a pain that you can only carry 9 of an healing item per each slot in your backpack. It doesn't do a good job to tell you all the places you can mine or gather specific materials. Another issue with that is that I like a reliable source of certain materials, especially heavily used ones and hate it if it's "RNG be merciful" all the time so either give me a shop to purchase materials (after you discovered them) or make it so "this spot only yields this material" and don't be too cheap with the amount you can get per day instead of 1 or 2 per spot. Over all it's a nice game. Sadly, it turned out to be exactly what I worried about when first I heard of it. It tries to be an RPG and a Farming-Life-Sim and didn't do either proper. For an RPG it's too short and simple where you leveling hardly improves anything for you and for a farming-sim, it's too shallow with too few crops, livestock variety and too little customization. You can't even have a pet (that isn't like a horse) and there are no festivals to attend do during the year. The trailer and previews also showed decoration but you only get 3 fences in color **** even have to place all your processing equipment on your field and can only use for one item at a time on the lower levels and a set amount of material for the higher ones.

"É um bom jogo, mas poderia ser bem melhor". Esse é o sentimento que fiquei quando terminei o jogo. Ele faz muita coisa boa, mas ao mesmo tempo não é espetacular em nada. Já no começo, ele tem alguma personalização de personagem, mas te dá tão poucas opções de personalização, que acredito que seria melhor nem ter. Na parte da "fazendinha" ele tem umas boas ideias, mas o retorno que o jogo te dá pelo trabalho de cuidar de sua plantação não é proporcional. Isso frusta bastante o jogador, porque as coisas são relativamente caras, você vende por quase o mesmo preço das sementes (por exemplo, a cenouta, que você compra de 90 a 110 dependendo da loja e do estoque, e vende por 130) e gasta bastante estâmina pra cuidar. Estâmina essa que você usa pra todas as suas ações na batalha do jogo. Como acontece em praticamente todos os jogos de fazenda, você só consegue vender seus itens na caixinha de venda, que te entrega o dinheiro todo dia após dormir. Como a história do jogo pende mais pra aventura do que para o farming, vender coisas nas lojas em tempo real seria uma boa opção de melhora. Na parte da batalha, é tudo também muito mais simples do que deveria ser. Não tem nem mesmo um botão de defesa, ou esquiva. O que torna essa parte apenas um apertar de botões e uso de itens de cura e recuperação de estâmina. Não é como se o jogador não precisasse usar nenhuma estratégia nas batalhas, mas como falei no começo, não é de todo ruim, mas poderia ser muito melhor. O jogo até té dá bastante opções de classes, 12 no total, cada uma com 4 ataques especiais, que dá um pouco de diversidades nas batalhas, mas nada que deixe ela exepcional. A história é um pouco confusa no começo, mas se torna bem previsível do meio pro final, até me deixando um pouco frustrado em certa parte com a burrice dos personagens principais que não viam coisas tão óbvias até alguém basicamente dar as respostas pra eles. As missóes secundárias são em sua grande maioria bem fraquinhas também, salvo algumas poucas que chegam até a surpreender. O final da história principal até chega a surpreender um pouco também, pelas escolhas moralmente complicadas que dão para o jogador, mas nem nisso eles se aprofundaram, basicamente te obrigando a seguir o "bom final" pra poder continuar o jogo. Resumindo, se você gosta de jogos de farming, alá harvest moon, e de rpgs de ação antigos, tem grande chance de gostar desse jogo. Levei em torno de 47 horas pra fazer tudo que o jogo me ofereceu, entre missões secundárias, entregar pedidos de receitas, pescar peixes raros, conseguir e evoluir todas as classes, e claro, a missão principal, e me diverti pelo menos em 70% desse tempo. Mas com todo o potencial que ele tinha, não tem como eu pensar nesse jogo como um desperdício do que poderia ser.

The most boring "quests" I've ever encountered in a game. Just button mashing through the hackiest, cheesiest writing, with content that will only appeal to preteens or younger. All padded out as much as possible: talk to NPC in this area, then talk to same NPC in a slightly different area. So dreadful you will actually look forward to the uninspired combat and farming mechanics. And hey also Japan? Can you please join the rest of us in the 21st century and stop putting all female characters in skimpy underwear instead of clothes? Who cares if there's a non-binary option when the game is straight up sexist.

Was hoping this would be a decent rpg life sim but as it currently stands, its one for the bargain bin. Combat is too repetitive and boring. The graphics are decent but the lack of production values really shows. There are some game breaking bugs which could erase your savefile. Soundwise the game is ok. The worst part of the game however is the poor main character design and bad writing. You can usually forgive a game for its shortcomings if it has a cool main character and good writing. Unfortunately, this has neither.