I see Farming Sim has the main advert on Nintendo Life but I've not seen anyone talk about it. It doesn't strike me as a game that will get much attention from any of the main gaming websites and I was wondering if anyone had played the Switch version?
I have a work colleague who talks Farming Sim each and every day from his exploits on the Xbox and after a dabbling with some primitive farming in Stardew Valley I'm becoming a little curious about this one now. It might not help that my office is on a farm and we get to see some real life farming a lot.
They probably didn't pick the best month to release with DOOM, Skyrim and LA Noire coming. Yes I know, who wants to talk ploughing fields when there are demons to kill, dragons to slay and crimes to solve but another bit of 3rd party support on a Nintendo system surely deserve a little attention?
Farming Simulator is two things: extremely overpriced and strangely addictive.
It's not at all like the harvest moon-style farming sims. It's all vehicles, combines, heavy machinery, etc.
You don't have NPCs to interact with, and usually can't even move around on your own without being on a vehicle.
However, once you get the ball rolling with multiple vehicles working on multiple fields, going from here to there, selling grain and completing requests... It's quite cathartic. Kinda like a Zen state.
Still, they are yearly releases that change very little with each year, and they always end up on sale. So I wouldn't recommend going for the latest release.
No NPC's, but at least they finally have animals to breed and feed, and there's now even a picture of another farmer (someone you can sell your stuff to) So now it has at least one character resembling another human, and it also has a bit of life other than the farmside environment with some trees and crops.
To me the game felt strangely apocalyptic, and from what I've seen it's still a far cry from being vivid.
If you enjoyed talking to NPCs and have a life/adventure aspect in games like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley then this one is going to alienate you and/or bore you to tears.
Is there actually a goal except from making money to buy new vehicles and crops?
However, millions of Germans buy this every year. They have a fascination with licensed Traktors and Mähdreschers.
@dav2612@SKTTR@Meowpheel You could probably say that it's much like these bus driver and/or truck driver sims: seemingly boring and uninteresting, and yet strangely hypnotic and relaxing once you actually start playing them, even though you're doing the most mundane things, which normally isn't what you'd be looking for in a game. Well, at least: in my case, even though I actually do have one of these bus driver games on my PC.
And I also have SpinTires: if you like mud driving and ridiculously bulky Russian trucks and other vehicles, that's yet another game that might be interesting... (and it has dozens of mods as well)
As for Farming Simulator: from what I've understood, the biggest draw lies in the multiplayer, becoming the best/richest farmer while competing with friends or other gamers online.
@Hawkstream No, it's the most popular game in Germany, hence why Peer likes it so much. It wouldn't even register for most countries in Europe. I think this game looks very interesting as well. I will likely pick it up in the future when I buy a Switch. But I won't be paying €50 for it or anything like it.
If anyone is curious about the gameplay, you can get the 2014 edition for free on any Android/ios smartphone.
It's probably a lot more primitive than the most recent editions, but we can think of it as a... Demo.
For a better experience, you can get the 2016 edition, which is cheap... But not free.
Something interesting about the series is that while the releases are yearly, they actually zig zag around formats, one year they release for PC/home and the next it's for mobile/handhelds.
If anyone is curious about the gameplay, you can get the 2014 edition for free on any Android/ios smartphone.
It's probably a lot more primitive than the most recent editions, but we can think of it as a... Demo.
For a better experience, you can get the 2016 edition, which is cheap... But not free.
Something interesting about the series is that while the releases are yearly, they actually zig zag around formats, one year they release for PC/home and the next it's for mobile/handhelds.
@dav2612@SKTTR@Meowpheel You could probably say that it's much like these bus driver and/or truck driver sims: seemingly boring and uninteresting, and yet strangely hypnotic and relaxing once you actually start playing them, even though you're doing the most mundane things, which normally isn't what you'd be looking for in a game. Well, at least: in my case, even though I actually do have one of these bus driver games on my PC.
And I also have SpinTires: if you like mud driving and ridiculously bulky Russian trucks and other vehicles, that's yet another game that might be interesting... (and it has dozens of mods as well)
As for Farming Simulator: from what I've understood, the biggest draw lies in the multiplayer, becoming the best/richest farmer while competing with friends or other gamers online.
Something about them truck and bus driving simulators that interests me. Probably would only play a few times but driving a big truck across Europe looks kinda fun.
I bought that Tokyo bus game on Dreamcast years ago also.
@kobashi100 Yeah, I know, it's weird yet it truly happens, at least: if you're open to it. The first time I installed Bus Driver on my PC, I actually spent the ENTIRE evening playing it, and afterwards I realized I've only been driving around a city, picking up people, and finally driving back to the garage where the game starts from...
Same with SpinTires: driving trucks, tanks, pickups and tractors through a seriously muddy forest. Huge fun and kind of a "back to kindergarten playing in the sandbox" type of feeling, but otherwise completely useless. And STILL it is a lot of fun, especially because of all the different vehicles and their behavior.
Here's some footage of both games. The bus game can be downloaded for free on many sites, such as The ISO zone, ocean of games or by torrent, if you happen to find it interesting. There's even a second game in the series already, probably looking better and what not:
P.S.
I do believe I have that Tokyo Bus Driver game somewhere in my bag of "not playing them anymore" Dreamcast games collection...
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
I've now watched some footage of the Switch version, and I've seen they added cars that are driving on the roads (with people sitting inside).
A good start, but still, for me it's missing some details and charm in the environments. Rabbits in the grass, squirrels in the woods, sheeps on a hill, bypassers, a biker, families walking with their dog, an Eagle in the sky, something like that. I haven't seen anything of that in the old games, and unfortunately nothing in the new Switch version.
There's realism and love to detail for all the licensed vehicles and objects and they did a great job 3D-modeling them, but for me it would be a game changer if the environments had more realism as well. It's still too static and sterile for my taste.
I'd rather play the worst Harvest Moon game.
@SKTTR That's mostly the case with these sims: you should probably see it as a bonus or a luxury that there are even actual people in the vehicles: in the truck and bus simulators on PC and console, there aren't even people in there. Just look at the footage of that bus game I posted above: people do disappear from the bus stop, once you stop there and open your doors, but you don't see them standing inside afterwards.
The focus lies on the emulation of the vehicles and the tasks it needs to accurately perform and display, and any extra refinements are just a bonus if they put them in there.
Most of the environments in the game are often very large, and combined with the maximum possible amount of realism that these vehicles must display, it's probably one or the other, so either you get your squirrels, birds, rabbits and sheep and the vehicles and environments will look less detailed, or all of the processing power goes to the vehicles and their simulation.
Fans of the genre probably prefer the latter...
Still, give that SpinTires game a go, it's available on PC as well as on Xbox and Playstation. And some searching in the right places, such as some addresses I mentioned earlier, will also offer free versions to download, so you won't lose any money trying it out...
I wouldn't be surprised at all if playing with cars and trucks in the mud is going to put a smile on your face. Could be that I'm wrong, but often times, these type of games bring out the little boy in us that just wants to mess with his toy cars...
The way I see it, they develop this series since 2008, that's 9 years, and they put all resources into the realism of the vehicles, I understand that. But they don't win me over if they won't add some small details to give their game a nice touch, to bring it up to the next generation or at least a bit forward in all parts of the graphic design. I want just the basics of atmosphere for this kind of game. Visual and even aural fidelity. Especially when doing the repetitive tasks I can't watch a drab landscape with lacking animations all the time.
@SKTTR Oh, I understand where you're coming from, and to an extent, I can even go along with it, but on the other hand I also understand that if these extras put stress on the emulation or fidelity of the game, two VERY important factors in sims, that they would want to leave those out.
Which is why I suggested you and others to both try that Bus Driver game and SpinTires, also no vehicle drivers in there and little atmospheric animation safe for the truly necessary ones, but in the end, these games still kind of won me over and I actually had quite a bit of fun with them, especially with SpinTires, mostly because of the available mods for vehicles and landscapes, giving me new experiences for months in a row.
'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'
@SKTTR Oh, and especially SpinTires has anything but drab landscapes: highly realistic and interactive forests, mountains, lakes, rivers and so on. Day and night cycles as well. And a lot of interactive mud...
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Topic: Farming Simulator
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