HARVESTELLA

This game is like if Final Fantasy, Monster Hunter World, and Edge of Eternity were spliced together in a laboratory. My wife’s boyfriend says it’s like if Final Fantasy and Rune Factory had a baby. Harvestella surpassed my expectations. Picked the game up on a Steam sale, and ended up pumping almost 150 hours into it, even with its apparent flaws, Square Enix cooked something special here. They wrongfully advertised this game as a farming sim when in reality it's full blown crazy JRPG where you start growing carrots and then you're facing an existential threat to humanity complete with enough sci-fi beats to make X-files sweat! I greatly enjoyed it and it was one of my unexpected games of the year. The plot/ lore/ writing is unexpectedly good and less cliche than your typical JRPG, and the job system is fun if flawed. I really did not expect NieR:Automata meets Shadowbringers but that's what we got! It's a game you have to play to understand why someone would like it. If you describe the game it sounds like a whatever game, but once you play you feel how truly amazing it is. One of those games that's greater than the sum of its parts, and does a lot with a small budget. Does it hit everything right? Of course not, the limited budget shows: Enemy variety is poor, very limited voice acting, the RPG aspects are somewhat shallow, and there's not a load of depth to the farming or combat which is very xenoblade-like, yet its still retains a fairly addicting gameplay loop, just enough to hook you until the story goes off the wall and grips you all the way, like seriously, this is one of Square Enix’s best JRPG stories without a doubt, and in their advertised farming sim game! As someone who spends their time playing either JRPGs or Farm Sims, this is a perfect balance between the two. IMO it's a perfect entry for anyone who has never dipped their toe into the opposite genre. It is such a cozy game with a crazy strong atmosphere and you will be longing to go back to play it when you have to go to work. I sometimes forgot I wasn’t playing NIER as I played it. I appreciated that the overall tone was slightly less depressing, but the story and sidequest were quite similar. Even the port town felt like the same place as in the original NIER game. The story took me by surprise in such a good way, and I was even impressed by the great writing in the side character stories and quests. They actually have depth thanks to some very good side character stories that really flesh them out, even random NPCS, yes those random ass NPCS staples in RPG’s, are memorable because their sidequests are actually heartfelt stories, not just go find my 10 pelts. Loved the characters, loved the plot, loved the world. Did feel like everything could have used more size and depth but hey, it wasn’t a big budget game, and I’d rather be left wanting more than left wishing it hadn’t overstayed its welcome. But the music, man. That music. That is where my expectations were blown out of the water. It’s so frickin good. And honestly, the soundtrack is beyond everything that got published during the last years. I purchased the soundtrack to keep listening to it while driving. Amazing game. Little things here and there I wish were improved or expanded upon, but the complete bats**t direction the plot devolved into was so notoriously Square Enix. It's a shame that it got a bad rep due to flawed marketing & review bombing by as***les. Unfortunately it was review bombed pretty early by people angry at how the male character model looked, how they expected the customization would be what one generally sees in a life sim but not JRPG, the demo being too fast (although they adjusted time for the actual release), and then some were just mad at the completely avoidable nonbinary option which made them go into troll-y conspiracy theories on the Steam forums. Real Solid game, truly. Definitely one of my favorite's I've played recently, with warts and all, the games ambition really made it stand out to me. Don’t miss this gem if you are into JRPGs. You can easily spend more than 100 hours with it. I recommend it even at full price. 9/10

I've already played over 50 hours of Harvestella and have loved it, but there are some things I found disappointing. I wanted to get closer to completing the game before leaving a review but I like taking my time to enjoy the game and purposely play it slow. I'll update once I finish instead. At this point I'm about halfway I'd guess. First and foremost, the price. I hesitated to play for so long after seeing so many negative reviews beside the price tag. After playing, I'm shocked so many people hated it. It's definitely a mesh between action RPG/farming. I'm not surprised it didn't do either perfectly, but I thought it was still well done. The keys chosen for fighting actions feel extremely awkward so I struggle in battle. Fighting itself just feels very off until you've done it for awhile, but coming back to it after an absence is rougher. I would say to wait for a sale, the game is amazing but there were certain things I thought would happen/would be available that were not and it disappointed me. Why is it worth it? The game itself is gorgeous, you can see the edges of some environment models, but overall the world is beautiful to just look at it. Your home is cozy, magical, and the story premise starts off simple and builds up. Is the story dramatic? Well, yes, and I enjoyed that. While fighting can be awkward to begin with, the farming feels much smoother. The world is interesting, although the NPCs definitely give recycled NPC energy after the first town. The fighting areas in game are interesting and so are the enemies. Despite having seasons and a plot line, the game allows you to move at your pace. If you want to rush and do everything in a year or two you could. Or, you could take 3 years to finish Chapter 3 - although you may miss out on some developments that allow you access to certain seeds/tools until you complete it. I thought the characters and their story lines were interesting, I don't know much about the MC at this point except...well, you know, 'amnesia'. There are plenty of job upgrades (you can switch among them at save points so your battle style can change), farm upgrades, items to find, recipes to find, and farm developments to keep you busy. The companions are interesting and my initial meeting with a certain character who is your first mini boss was hilarious in my opinion. Also, I hate fishing mini-games usually so I enjoyed the minimal effort this game requires to fish. I truly looked forward to playing this game. Where was I disappointed? Honestly, overall the ability to personalize anything is low. To begin with your character model has two options, and I can see how some people were upset that the options were so limited. You do not have any option for a super muscular hero, and with the exception of only a handful of characters in-game I just kinda went forward imagining that was how this world worked - everyone had big hips and narrow shoulders. However, I could see how someone who wanted either an MC or a single love interest option that was more muscular could be disappointed. You can change your race, hair or eye color, but I felt some of the hair colors didn't highlight as well as the generic blonde. Outside of that - the house can be upgraded, but from what I can tell nothing actually changes physically. So, it's beautiful, but it always looks that way. The farm, the animal areas, and most areas do not change except for a handful of developments that open more areas. So, if decorating your house or watching it grow is important - that's not gonna happen. Most disappointing was an attic area - I thought it would be the space you could 'personalize' but instead it's like a vague award spot that's never explained. There are seasons, Quietus is interesting, and your farm shows off each season but some places don't really change with the seasons and it's slightly off-putting but understandable as certain towns are associated with seasons...so I'm not sure how best it could have been handled. There are no festivals/holidays, although it could be explained with the serious plot. Last, some farming sims/RPGs include extensive love interest plot lines - from what I've heard this does not. The characters are well-developed and your companions do have personal quests, but don't expect a romantic plot line to follow the main plot - this is more of an epilogue development. Overall, loved the game. The music is amazing, graphics are amazing, and I found the game engaging. However, the ability to personalize nearly everything is limited/non-existent, battle controls make me feel like a flailing octopus, and the farming sim element is more to support your team in battles instead of developing your homestead.

TLDR: This is a JRPG with life simulation elements, not the other way around. Ignore the Steam page headline that says "Life simulation RPG", change your expectations, and you may well enjoy it. I'm glad I didn't get to refund it, even if I was unhappy at first. I would definitely buy it on sale, however, because the publisher's behavior doesn't scream that they wanted to give the game the refinement needed for its AAA-status. Now, for the more comprehensive notes: I'm actually glad I waited to play this long enough to be ineligible for a refund, because the first bad impression would've stopped me from playing what lies between a good and great game for my tastes, even though it could have been more. It's strange, because in many ways, after playing the game thoroughly, it really does feel as though, in some parts, a lot of effort and joy was put into things like the aesthetics of the world and its worldbuilding, the character portraits, the music, and even a good part of the writing. Much of this is contravened by many other things, however, that suggest that some people either didn't like the work they got, or, more likely, that the game was rushed by investors who wanted an expensive game out without the refinement required for a good experience. Whatever the cause, this manifests as: -Very limited character customization; hair color and eye color, and that more or less seems to be it, much in contrast to practically every other "life sim" out there. -Animations and choreography is often without variety, choppy, or otherwise janky, (They don't even have moving mouths!) and appears as though it was made in a rush. In the context of rushing, this makes sense, as you usually only make animations when the models have been made, which is later in the game cycle, where the suits may have become impatient. I've lost count of how many times the wacky "shaking my head" animation has been used in an already highly limited repertoire of animations. -Almost every character seems to have the same "base" shape with certain alterations. Namely, that everyone seems to have a pretty wide set of hips, including the males. -Very little voice-acting, mostly triggered when you go near an individual and hear them comment on something, or even just say "Hello" or "Have a safe trip", which, despite being homely, doesn't change the fact that having no voice-acting in dialogue is very suspicious for an AAA game in 2024, especially at the current price. Weren't it for the textures in some places being surprisingly detailed, I would be easily convinced the game was from, say, 2010. So why, in that case, do I actually quite like the game? -Where the game lacks in model and animation variety, it manages to create quite a few individual storylines that, while not very charming at first to me, became more and more interesting as more characters were added, while the depth of the stories seemed to get deeper and touching on various serious subjects, rather than becoming diluted as more characters were added. -Continuing on to this, while I must admit I was much less impressed by the very beginning and the last 1/10th of the story, between there it had only gotten more and more interesting, and touching on some pretty real subjects, whether or not I agree with the writers' conclusions. -The music, as far as I'm concerned, is absolutely phenomenal. I would have to write an entire new review for the soundtrack alone, but I can say that the peacefulness of the homestead track, the ethereal/lonely feeling of the Quietus track, and the various environmental tracks ranging from excited combat-music to somber ruins-wandering music... it's just right up my alley. -And finally, the worldbuilding and the beautifully designed environments, such as the glowing trees and crystals on the homestead, or the white granite buildings of Nemea flanked by clean water and cherry blossoms. There's a definite charm with hearing the nighttime tracks (each town + homestead have daytime and nighttime tracks) play in a rather fantastical environment. -The combat has some satisfying moments, even if it's not that amazing overall. For me, at least, it always takes a while to warm up to a game and start really enjoying it. I was sad and would have likely refunded the game when I first tried it. But not being allowed to do so, I committed to it, and I really enjoyed the experience. However, and I really must stress this... it really could have been much more. If I see this as a "good, sometimes great" game, then if they introduced modding (lol, good luck) after fixing all the above issues, it would have been a "great, sometimes fantastic" game. I don't have the biggest hopes for this franchise or the above wishes, given the reception and, frankly, "throw it out and forget about it" attitude that Square Enix seems to have taken with it. I wish to be wrong on at least one of those counts, though.

It's a fun game but broken so it can't be competed. I wouldn't recommend buying it as it's quite expensive for a game that can't be finished. The "Heavens Egg" Location is broken so the main story line can't be completed. Contacting the game developer doesn't work either.

I would like to point to my hour count, I've had a hard time figuring out if I -liked- this game for most of my play time, only after a friend asked my thoughts on it, I found it is a resounding 'no'. I will chalk this up to the promise of a mystery and a list of goals that give me bonuses carry me through a game that I eventually described to said friend as 'flavored paste'. [i]Some things/systems that are fine will not be mentioned because I'm already over my character count for this review, so if you're wondering why I don't mention crafting, dungeons, food, animals, and basic combat, that's why.[/i] The game is half JRPG, and half Farm Sim, and it is incredibly milquetoast in both respects. [h3]COMBAT[/h3] The combat is basic, You have basic attacks and then special attacks. There are different jobs, you can have 3 equipped to switch between in combat, but they're all some basic flavor of melee or ranged, some have elements/damage types attached to them, you hit enemies with elements/damage type they're weak to to do more damage, For bosses if you hit them enough with what they're weak to you get MORE damage, If you hit them with more than one type they're weak to you get to do MORE MORE damage. When you kill stuff you get exp to all jobs you've equipped, that you can spend on the skill tree for it to unlock more special attacks, up to a max for 4. The best thing about this system is each job has 2 items that can give buffs to any job, most of them fall into phys damage, magic damage, break gauge(the boss weakness bars), and crit. Sounds good right? Unfortunately the best part of the combat, the skill tree, is incredibly vague on what the upgrades to your special attacks do. So if there is a special attack called "Slash" and you go to look at "Slash II" to see what it gives you, it just says something like "Acquires Slash II". Ooookay? Do I get more damage? How much more damage? Does it give more range? Does it reduce cool down time of this skill? No idea! Hope you like looking at wikis, because you're going to start seeing a theme. Okay, so we've got our skills, and we can level up, this is a JRPG, so we get equipment too, right? Other than a weapon, the only swappable gear in the game is for the main character are two rings. Yep. 2. So what can these rings do? They can increase defense or attack, protect you from debuffs, or give you more Job EXP. Rings can have multiple slots, and you can make a device to make combine rings and kinda make custom gear with the abilities you want. There are multiple levels for each of the ability, even for the status defense items... but good luck figuring out what the difference is between similarly named ones. What does stomach ache guard do? How is it different from Indigestion?? No, I'm not joking, those are the ACTUAL names for the skills. You would think you can l just look at the ring and it will tell me what it does. No. Short of the defense/attack that you can actually change your stats, if you look at the ring, it just tells you something like "Stun Guard III" You know... the name of the skill. Guess where you have to go to find basic information about your gear?? Did you guess a wiki? I knew you would, you're smart like that, that's why I like you. Here's the thing, I can get through bad or bland game play for a good story. [h3]STORY[/h3] Unfortunately the main story starts of with your basic amnesiac with a bit of a mystery tease and then dives into some wild mental backflips by the end I wish I hadn't paid as much attention as I did. I'm not going into any specifics here. Maybe if I had gone in with a "This is parody" mindset and just laughed at it. Side quests are sub basic and a bunch of people being needlessly difficult because they have to drag out this quest chain for 3 more quests. Most of your interaction with your party members are done through the seasonal dungeon they're attached to. After that you have little side quests to get closer to them and a few other NPCs. They are all of similar quality. I think part of the problem I had is 99% of the choices during dialogue give the same response, and I don't mean, there is like a few about a paragraph of different text but the over all leads to the same result, no. The answer that immediately follows sounds like it could answer either reply same regardless of your choice. For example: The village mayor asks you to make some mouse repellent and your choices are: 'Sure.' or 'Don't you have any in the village?' And the line directly after you answer is: 'The one we have is a little weak. We're going to need something extra strong.' Which leaves the other half of the game. The farming. [h3]FARMING[/h3] Just like every other farm sim, you have your farm land, you have rocks and wood on it, you break it up and then hoe the land, plant your seeds, water, wait, profit. You start with 1/9th of the field you can get, not counting the two special fields you unlock later. Unlike other games, there is no reward for processing food, meals don't make them more valuable, turning a fruit into a juice doesn't change the price. After you unlock all of your field, max out your barn/coop and buy the extra inventory bags there is no reason to make more money except to buy seeds. I managed to unlock the max size of everything in spring of year 2, and the most infuriating things is it is not large enough because all of your processing machines HAVE TO BE PLACED ON FIELD TILES. You also unlock different types and colors of fences... again, that can only be placed on field tiles! That's it. That is all of the depth of the farming. You can't increase the level of the soil, if you want better quality crops you'll have to do fairy requests, we'll talk about that soon. There's nothing makes it special, nothing that makes it worth continuing to farm once you're maxed out on money, hell, I'd even say once you have the upgrades and a stockpile of food, there's no point to continue to bother with it. This is BAFFLING to me as a long time player of a variety of different farm sim games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Rune Factory. I would even put money on being able to beat the game without bothering with upgrading any of the farm. Half of this game is a farming game. That does not make a compelling case for it's [i]farming.[/i] [h3]THE OTHER STUFF[/h3] The only thing I was having fun with was doing all of the fairy quests. Each seasonal dungeon you free a fairy that give you what would traditionally be your farming tool upgrades, you do the things they ask they upgrade different areas to give you better quality crops, or crafted item recipes. It's basically a to-do list. They are not worth doing past the first half for the rewards. Once you beat the game you can marry one of your party members, I did not do so. Full disclosure, I did not beat the game. I got to the last dungeon when said friend asked me if I like it, and after thinking back on it, I would have been better off doing some mod for another farming sim rather than the 130 hours I poured into this game.

On the whole, this game feels a lot like a console game from several generations ago, probably due to it originally being a game for the Switch. But if you're going to charge $60 for it on PC, you're going to get judged like you are a $60 PC game. Ability to customize inputs is lacking for mouse and keyboard. For a game pad, all you can do is swap what the B and A buttons do. The game is voiced, somewhat. Basically some background chatter has voices, but not conversations. So the voice over is in the areas where it matters least. Character customization is lacking, giving you a choice of genders, then picking between two body types, followed by hair color, eye color, and skin tone choices. On the plus side, one of the skin tone choices is at least dark enough that your farming character can at least look somewhat like someone who works outside. Combat is "action", but you don't really have much in the way of control, no combos, little in the way of special abilities, which have cool downs. You can have 3 different classes active at once on your main character and swap between them, so that's a plus, and all three will get job points to unlock abilities equally. Your team members cannot be controlled and will do what they want. Overall, I think the game would have been better off if it were turn based, since then you could at least control your teammates, which would have added more life to the combat. The non-combat game play involves doing some chores (aka the farming) and then you can go adventuring, where you generally try to get to a save point or unlock a shortcut, before the curfew hits. Yup, chores and curfew. This loop can feel a bit off, as you'll have situations where you're, say, looking for someone in trouble, but you're making incremental progress toward them, with a reset to your house every single time, and then the daily chores, before you make more progress. There is a lore reason as to why you do have to return home, but it still feels a bit weird to have the story telling you that there's a desperate situation, while the mechanics are telling you to let it wait until tomorrow. As can happen with JRPGs, there are a lot of cutscenes, but you lack the ability to skip or double the speed, though you can spam click. Often times, you enter an area, cutscene, next area, cutscene. Go to sleep, cutscene. Now, it isn't a bad game. Just one that feels pretty dated despite being a relatively new one. If you can get it for $20-25, I'd say it is worth it. But for full price? It isn't.

《HARVESTELLA》的玩法看着就跟《符文工房》系列差不多，就是一个有着战斗系统的农场模拟游戏。我们每天要做的依然是种田、料理、采集、探索、战斗和推剧情，只不过游戏把主次调换了下，依然是SE最为拿手的剧情和战斗为主，种田和生活模拟为辅，于是就有了《HARVESTELLA》这么款不大一样的农场模拟冒险JRPG了！ 从《HARVESTELLA》的画面上看，一眼就可以看出《勇气默示录》和《最终幻想》的痕迹，各处场景都有着浓厚的幻想JRPG气息，特别是各处城镇、田园和自然区域在季节变化下的氛围，看过去就很有感觉相当漂亮！不过毕竟是几年前的作品了，用现在的眼光来看，整体的3D场景细节还是不大行，一些迷宫和不大重要的区域的环境设计也较为简单，只能说是符合当初时代技术的水准吧！ 《HARVESTELLA》的世界在四季交替的时候都会有“死季灾厄”降临，期间死亡之尘弥漫植物枯萎，正常人是无法出行的，当然，我们的主角铁定不是这“正常人”行列的，因此原本准备过田园生活的主角，就这么被一步步的推进了调查厄运真相的冒险旅程了！ 《HARVESTELLA》的农场操作比较常规，农田可以种植不同的作物，然后就是翻地、播种、浇水，再然后就是等农作物成熟后进行收获，收获后能出售换钱，也能用作制作材料。不同作物有不同的生长周期和适合季节，一些特殊作物还只能在特定环境里种植。农场还能扩建增加畜牧设施、扩大耕地，通过妖精相关的任务还能获得新的农业能力。当然，毕竟游戏的主题是冒险RPG，因此农场里的所有操作其实都是为冒险所服务的！ 游戏里我们晚上要进入森林、洞窟、荒野等不同类型的迷宫进行探索，顺便采集素材、寻找宝箱、消灭各种怪物，顺便推进剧情，然后在每天结束前回到住处休息。遇到敌人的时候会直接进入即时动作战斗，SE出品的战斗系统还是相当靠谱的，而这也是《HARVESTELLA》最为闪光的地方了！ 游戏提供多种职业供我们游玩，擅长剑术的战士、使用双刃进行暴击攻击的影行者，以及以魔法攻击为主的法师等等，每个职业有不同擅长的武器、技能和战斗方式，而且我们还可以同时装备多个职业，在战斗过程中根据情况直接切换。 手残党小伙伴们也不用担心，《HARVESTELLA》的战斗系统还算简单，没有要求我们有很高的操作水准，职业之间虽然有差异，也没有复杂到需要我们能去研究各种技能循环什么的。再加上队伍里的小伙伴也会一起参与战斗，这也就让整个战斗显得更看重职业搭配、属性弱点和技能使用时机，也让职业成长系统变得更有盼头！ 白天在田里翻土、播种、收获、准备料理和处理农场事务；晚上背上装备进入迷宫，和伙伴一起寻找素材、挑战敌人，再带着收获回农场整顿的游戏模式，现在看来其实已经不新奇了，再加上有着《符文工房》系列在前面默默耕耘闪烁光芒，因此《HARVESTELLA》这款“带有模拟农场经营元素的JRPG”热门不起来也算正常！毕竟它的模拟经营系统做得也没有多突出，战斗系统虽然优秀却也是同类作品得简化版本，虽说融合后游戏体验还算不错，但始终会有一种“专业的人做着非专业的事”的感觉！ [h1][quote=] [table] [tr] [th] 欢迎关注 [b][u][i]U_U鉴赏家培养计划[/i][/u][/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [th] 关注U_U鉴赏家，开启精彩游戏之旅。 [/th] [/tr] [/table] [/quote][/h1]

This is my favorite game of the last several years. The soundtrack from Go Shiina (God Eater, Tales of) is world-class, and the story is just as balls-crazy as you'd expect from a JRPG, but with an unexpectedly earnest optimism about the human condition that continually surprised me. The world-building is rich and the environments are visually stunning. Fans of the game will probably see as strengths the very same qualities that those with different taste would consider weaknesses. Namely, the simplicity and relatively shallow implementation of most of the game mechanics. There's enough complexity in combat and farming to allow for multiple viable strategies to choose between, as you would expect from an RPG, but not so much that you spend half your play time in menus fiddling with stats and equipment. Everything that would normally make a JRPG feel stressful or tedious has been removed or improved: [list][*][b]No grinding required.[/b] Just playing the main narrative at a steady pace and taking side quests as I came across them kept me appropriately-leveled for combat, without having to loop back around through previously-cleared areas just to grind for more XP so I didn't get my ass kicked, and without getting so OP that it sucked all the fun out of combat. Because of the day-night cycle, dungeons are designed to be completed in sections over the course of several in-game days, even taking long breaks in between if desired, so dungeon diving feels a lot more like "it's raining today, so no need to water my crops or pet my animals - let's go have a combat adventure and scoop up a bunch of dungeon goodies!" than "I am stuck in this godforsaken labyrinth until I beat it." [*][b]Clear and intuitive upgrade paths.[/b] While you can choose to unlock your skill trees for each of your combat jobs in any order, you can fully unlock the entire skill tree for every job. Every party member carries one weapon that's upgraded in a linear fashion, with each new dungeon you reach unlocking materials necessary for the next upgrade level, so you don't have to worry about whether you have the best weapons equipped - just keep upgrading until you reach an upgrade level where you haven't yet encountered the required materials and you know you've got the best weapons available thus far. [*][b]Satisfying even when played blind and unassisted.[/b] A thorough player who takes their time to explore and jots down their own notes while playing about where resources spawn/drop could feasibly 100% the game without ever needing to use a guide. There are no missables, no time-limited or failable missions, and no punishingly-low RNG drops, but there are still a handful of things you'll have to specifically work to achieve (e.g. accumulating enough HQ ingredients needed to cook the HQ version of every recipe to complete your Encyclopedia).[/list] Farming/sim fans should be aware that despite its marketing, this is an RPG with light farming sim elements, not a farming sim with RPG elements. And much the way they streamlined RPG mechanics to eliminate tedious repetitive grinding and make it easy to play blind, the same is true of the sim mechanics: [list][*][b]Farming primarily exists to support combat.[/b] You'll grow crops to make your own healing foods and juices, and to fund your weapon upgrades. Although you can continue playing for as long as you want, there just isn't much reason to keep farming after you've cleared the very last boss in the post-game dungeon and completed your encyclopedia. The closest thing to a Golden Clock end-game item that you spend a long time saving up for is just the last couple weapon upgrades that are crazy expensive. There aren't any late-game cosmetics or other non-combat incentives. [*][b]There's not much point trying to min-max your farm strategy unless you're a speedrunner.[/b] There certainly IS a min-max strategy, but the profit difference between the most and least profitable crops is relatively low. In many cases, raw produce sells for more than processed goods made from it. Ranching is especially shallow compared to other farming games - you can only get two kinds of animals (and each only comes in one color). Some will view this negatively, because it means there is no snowball strategy to getting stupid rich stupid fast through min-maxing. I view it positively, because it meant I could just play the game without constantly checking a guide. [*][b]NPC relationships are almost completely un-gamified, and romance is mostly not involved.[/b] Instead of building up a relationship through repetitive daily/weekly chores like talking to everyone every day, giving someone the exact same gift 100 times, and being rewarded with a special story event culminating in marriage, your relationship level with each party member increases every time you participate in a character story event with them, the storylines are basically platonic (although [spoiler]you can invite someone to live with you as your "partner" in the post-game, the dialogue in these scenes is vague enough that it can be easily be interpreted as conveying a close friendship [i]or[/i] a marriage[/spoiler]), and you're rewarded with combat bonuses that apply whenever you have that character in your party and unique upgrade materials needed for that character's weapon. I found it a refreshing change from how mechanical relationships can be in other sims, and 8 out of the 10 character stories were so compelling that I was always excited to see what would happen next! [/list] Finally, players should be aware that this game was clearly made with an AA budget despite Square Enix pricing it like an AAA title. The character models are basic, heavily recycled, and have a limited pool of stiff animations, and when you pet your mount most of the time his entire head clips through your character's body. Dialogue is not voice-acted (though there are some voiced one-liners that you'll hear when your avatar walks near to an NPC) and there's a [b]lot[/b] of text dialogue involved in the main scenario, side quests, and character stories. On the plus side, quest rewards are extremely lucrative, so completionists won't feel like they're trudging through all that text solely because it's required for 100%. As much as I love this game, I don't think $60 was the right price point. Luckily, SE puts it on sale for $30 pretty regularly these days, so you won't have to wait long if you want to hold out for that price. If you do love it, tell your friends, because there was so much potential here that could have been built on to make an even better sequel with a little bit more budget next time, but as of the time of this writing in 2024, the game has not sold anywhere near enough to warrant a sequel. I remain hopeful that against all odds it'll grow into a cult classic someday.

First: This is *Absolutely* NOT a farming sim or "life sim". The "farming" elements have squat to do with the story or gameplay. It's bland RPG that they shoe-horned in farming elements to capitalize on Stardew valley craze. First: Farming is *extreme* low profit compared to everything else in the game. Cooking is *ZERO* profit. Yep. The finished product of cooking is worth the Exact same as materials. You could, and probably should, skip all the farming elements. As for the rest: Is it bad? No. Is it good? No. Combat is mid... Classes are a joke. Other than the mage class, there isn't any real difference. Enemy Weaknesses/resists are a joke. They are being spammed with "resists" and "weak" where you can't tell who's doing what, and most of the symbols are indistinguishable from one another. "But you can switch classes to exploit weaknesses" The problem with that, is groups will have different enemy with different weaknesses, and they'll all be dead before you can figure out who is weak to what. And there is a timer on how often you can swap classes. So, it all boils down to: Fighter, or Mage. Mage is *incredibly* slow, but takes no damage if you have allies. Practically all fights are extremely easy to avoid. Leveling and gear, as far as I can tell, are inconsequential. Thus, you could skip the combat part as well. Story is decent enough. No voice acting. Very sedate. Overall, It's a low-to-mid game that fit my needs perfectly: I wanted to play something that wasn't bad to distract me from work when I need a break, but wasn't so good as to distract me from work when I needed to work. It's not something I *want* to play, but it's a good way to mindlessly de-stress. Sure as **** not worth $60, which is the only reason for the negative review. Regardless of the length of playtime, this is worth, at most, $20. Naming this "Harvestella" and labeling it a "farming sim" and "Life sim" is just a spit in the face of all players buying it for such.