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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: NWR_MattB on April 02, 2011, 12:07:17 AM

Title: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: NWR_MattB on April 02, 2011, 12:07:17 AM

Which game in the Harvest Moon series has sold the most?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/25940

Natsume recently held a Facebook/Twitter Q&A session with their fans, at which the publisher revealed that the best-selling Harvest Moon game is none other than Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for the Nintendo GameCube.

When questioned on which game in the series has sold the most, the publisher responded by saying:

"The overall best-selling Harvest Moon game is Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life for the Nintendo GameCube.  Others games in the series have come close, but none have topped the first Harvest Moon game for the GameCube."

Later on in the session, the Natsume representative also mentioned that they will continue to develop niche, family-friendly titles with potential for growth.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: KDR_11k on April 02, 2011, 03:39:43 AM

Urk, that game wasn't much fun. Too much of a chore.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: nintendo1945 on April 02, 2011, 10:02:01 AM

The Rune Factory games were so much better.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: KDR_11k on April 02, 2011, 11:23:51 AM

Agreed.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: StrawHousePig on April 02, 2011, 11:58:33 AM

Gotta agree with the Wonderful Life assessment. However...

Best: Tree of Tranquility
Greatest: 64

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 02, 2011, 02:34:11 PM

A Wonderful Life is my least favorite of the games in the series that I've played. Oddly enough, it came out on the same day as my favorite game in the series, Friends of Mineral Town.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: MoRZ on April 02, 2011, 04:11:59 PM

Guys, which one is the best for Wii?

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: JasonMaivia on April 02, 2011, 08:01:07 PM

(I'm not counting spin-off titles, like Rune Factory)

Best selling: Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life ...supposedly
It may be because it was the next Harvest Moon game to come for Nintendo home console gamers after Harvest Moon 64, and was the first 3D HM game on a Nintendo console.
It may also be because that people played Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland on PS2 and were disappointed.  I was one of them, and thought that A Wonderful Life was going to be THE 3D Harvest Moon game that gets it right.
:(


Best Grahpics: Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (without a doubt)
It makes me wonder why doesn't the Wii games look as good, or better.
Then I look at the rest of the Wii game library, and can see that most of everyone who develops for the Wii just doesn't try as hard to please those attracted to nice graphics.


Best Music: Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (Gamecube Version)
My personal opinion.  While the other games will have you hum a tune all season long, Magical Melody actually have more of its tunes in my head that I actually love. (I can also play them on piano and bass guitar.)


Worst in the series: Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (read below), Followed by Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland.


Best in the series: Harvest Moon: Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, Followed by Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (This is REALLY close to a tie, in my opinoin.)


Magical Melody and Animal Parade felt the most complete, with everything that you would normally find in a Harvest Moon game, and more.  A Wonderful Life was an empty shell of it all.


Animal Parade is a much-improved, updated version of Tree of Tranquility, and the largest of all Harvest Moon games.
Here are some of what makes Animal Parade better than Tree of Tranquiliy:
-Larger cast of characters
-More side quests
-Seed sowing is easier (no longer forced to do 1x6)
-More marriage candidates (with 4 more than Tree of Tranquilty: Witch, Wizard, Harvest Goddess, and the Harvest King).
-Can have TWO children (can be either boy or girl)
-Better pets system
-More clothes and accessories to buy (you can even buy stuff for your kids)
-More character interactions with everyone, including more cutscenes

-You can now carry around small animals that you own. (this coudn't be done Tree of Tranquility for some stupid reason.)
-There's much more to be seen.  Even subtle ones make a difference




Now.....as for that turd, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life:
-No Fesitvals
-Not much at all to buy, which makes farming/ranching almost a complete waste of time and energy.  Even house upgrades are automatic.
-Only 3 girls to woo, and you're forced to marry by the first year's end.....or it's GAME OVER.  No wedding. No Rivals.
-No seasonal songs (can only hear BGM in people's houses and from the records you play on your farm)
-No special goals.  There really isn't a reason to play.  I wanted to give up part-way through chapter 2.  By the time I got to chapter 3, I was just sleeping without doing anything with my farm and animals.
-The bum won't leave!  Moi.
-No Harvest Goddess (she'd dead.)
-Another Wonderful Life isn't much better (you play as a girl).






When Magical Melody was released on Gamecube, it was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY!!
-Lots of villagers with character who can move in/move out depending on what you do
-Can have multiple houses/barns
-Can own multiple pieces of land
-More people to marry
-AWESOME MUSIC
-GOALS!  You have a reason to actually continue playing the game once you've started
-Achievement System to awaken the Harvest Goddess.  Stuff like, ship X amount of crops, stand in the rain for X amount of hours, catch X fish, get X amount of steps on your pedometer, etc.
-A rival who's ranch is always in competition with yours
-You can marry your Rival (who's always the opposite gender as you), but....
-The return of festivals!
-While everything in the game is 3D, the gameplay is that of your traditional 2D Harvest Moon game.


After playing Animal Parade and Magical Melody, you'd NEVER want to ever want to play A Wonderful Life EVER again.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: rlse9 on April 03, 2011, 02:17:43 AM

I agree that A Wonderful Life was a disappointment.  The graphics for the game were so good for a Harvest Moon game and when I started playing it seemed like the game had so much promise, but it didn't keep my interest for very long.

My favorite Harvest Moon game is still Harvest Moon 64.  That game was so good.  Magical Melody had a lot of good ideas to it but something about the game just didn't quite do it for me.  I recently started playing Rune Factory 2 and so far I really like it, the first Rune Factory was a good game and this game seems to be an improvement, and I just bought Sunshine Islands so I'm getting back into the Harvest Moon world after a long break away.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: KDR_11k on April 03, 2011, 02:30:21 AM

AWL's core farming and animal handling just felt too tedious.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: RABicle on April 03, 2011, 07:50:25 AM

Quote

A Wonderful Life is my least favorite of the games in the series that I've played. Oddly enough, it came out on the same day as my favorite game in the series, Friends of Mineral Town.

This. God even knows what was going on in the offices at the time. Friends of Mineral Town is one of the most incredibly content filled games ever and Wonderful life is like... what the ****. It's a game about raising 2 cows but it's not fun.

Also isn't Animal Parade or Rune Factory Frontier one of the most played games on Wii or something?

At least the SNES version is on virtual console.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: Ian Sane on April 04, 2011, 01:34:52 PM

My brother is a big Harvest Moon fan.  I think he might have skipping A Wonderful Life because when he read about what it was offering it sounded weak.  But he played the **** out of Magical Melody.  For a while it was like any second I wasn't playing the Cube, he was.

I agree with Jason that Wonderful Life probably sold the best because from a Nintendo fan perspective it was the follow-up to Harvest Moon 64.  And when you think about it Wonderful Life might have soured people on the series so the superior Magical Melody sold less.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: Mop it up on April 04, 2011, 08:13:55 PM

Quote from: MoRZ on April 02, 2011, 04:11:59 PM

Guys, which one is the best for Wii?

Rune Factory Frontier.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 04, 2011, 08:20:44 PM

I'm to the point where I just refuse to play that kind of a time-sink game on a console. I bought Rune Factory Frontier, had it sit unplayed for a long time, and eventually sold it, realizing I'd never play it if it was tethered to a television. I hope they make one for 3DS, because I'd actually play that one.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: Mop it up on April 04, 2011, 08:25:36 PM

Games like that won't work on the 3DS because you'll run out of battery power before you get a chance to save.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: NWR_insanolord on April 04, 2011, 08:32:45 PM

I'm assuming they'd implement some sort of quicksave system. And since I play with the 3D turned off because I can't see it, I get much better battery life than most people.

Title: Re: Natsume Reveals the Best-Selling Harvest Moon Game
Post by: KDR_11k on April 05, 2011, 01:50:33 AM

Quote from: Mop it up on April 04, 2011, 08:25:36 PM

Games like that won't work on the 3DS because you'll run out of battery power before you get a chance to save.

Lame troll is lame.