PoPoLoCrois: Harvest Moon is a mash-up of two famous Japanese RPGs and is coming to Japanese Nintendo 3DS systems on June 18th. Another trailer has just been released in Japan which shows off some gameplay footage, as well as some charming animated sequences.
While the Harvest Moon series needs no introduction, the lesser-known PoPoLoCrois will be unfamiliar to a lot of Western players. It was originally a manga series which was adapted into five strategy RPGs – only one of which has ever made it outside of Japan, the 2006 PlayStation Portable release simply called PoPoLoCrois.
This new entry is something of a revival for the series, and calls to mind the recent 3DS title Fantasy Life - the sequel to which is controversially skipping Nintendo's handheld in favour of smartphones. We still don't know if PoPoLoCrois: Harvest Moon will be heading to the West or not, but fingers are crossed that it gets the localisation treatment - we dare say that it would fill a Fantasy Life 2-shaped hole for many 3DS owners.
Feast your eyes on the new trailer below and tell us what you think.
Comments 37
So we're just going to refer to everything as an RPG now? Because I've played Harvest Moon, and it's definitely not one
PoPoLoCrois was the first PSP game I bought and it entertained me while I was on a plane to Japan.
Looks good. I'll keep an eye out for this one.
Tetris is an RPG where you play the role of a block sorter
There is no chance this is coming to the West (incl. Europe!), right?
I had PoPoLoCrois for PSP it was a decent RPG. I never got into the Harvestmoon series. I even tried. Fantasy Life was excellent. The battle system looks good. Let's just hope I don't have to farm for hours. I might check this one out.
Looks like a pretty decent alternative to Rune Factory. Hopefully it jumps across the ocean!
@Chisel THIS
Definitely interested in this!
Who needs FL2??? I DO!
FL is my favorite 3DS game by far, a bit too much text at times, but well nothing is perfect... FL2 will provably be the first smartphone game I'll pick. Ever.
Popo... whatever, looks very promising, really interested in it, but I doubt it'll be localized..
Wow, it definitely feels a LOT like Fantasy Life (even though it seems the combat is turn-based). I adored that game, so consider me excited for this. Hopefully it gets localized.
Will it be called "PoPoLoCrois: Story of Seasons" outside of Japan?
I'm still so salty about fantasy life going mobile This won't make up for it, but if it reaches west it will definitely help
@ALinkttPresent Technically the term RPG stands for Role Playing Game. So in a sense, any game where you assume a role could be defined as an RPG.
Eh, if it doesn't have the online multiplayer functions that fantasy life had, I'll just pass. That was the only reason I even got fantasy life.
No online Function? I'm very interested but I had some of the most fun playing Fantasy life online co-op. This looks awesome and shame on Level 5 for moving Fantasy Life to Smart phones.
We need this in the west. Or else...
@May_Nyan who knows, they could actually work with Natsume for the HM name, go with SoS or make a completely new name for it. Or just not release it here at all.
@russellohh Not explicitly, but in the very first line "PoPoLoCrois: Harvest Moon is a mash-up of two famous Japanese RPGs ..." it definitely creates the impression of Harvest Moon being a Japanese RPG as well.
@undomiel ahhh that makes sense. Still, HM is basically an RPG with no battle system. I care more about the dialog, role I'm playing, and characters in several of the games than I ever have about any FF character.
Harvest Moon has RPG elements, but to call it an RPG would be a mischaracterization. It's more of a fantasy/sim game.
Those eyes freak me out.
@ALinkttPresent
Harvest Moon has actually been known as as an RPG for a while now, to the point both the creators and journalists alike questioned the viability of a farming RPG with the original game.
The thing I'd have to question it being if anything is a sim, since most events in the games are scripted and expansions/upgrades have a limited and set path. They play more like RPGs than sims, the only sim-like part is the subject matter and how you progress in the game. RPG/life sim would still be apt though imo.
Guess I'd rather have this than FL2 for smartphone, even if the genre is not quite the same. Let's hope for a western release!
This looks pretty good
Well, if PoPoLoCrois made it to the western PSP at one point, there may be — may be — some hope that this new entry could see release outside Japan. I love these type games so if it came here, it'd be a day one preorder for me — additionally because the PSP game looked good but never got a chance to play it (didn't have a PSP). Here's to keeping the fingers crossed...
I don't mind about Fantasy Life 2 on Android b/c the first game is hefty enough, can be played through 12 long and different ways if you were to complete all tasks in each job, and there's always a possibility for a 3DS port in the future. This title looks great but I'm curious as to how they would name it for English-speaking audiences. Popolocrois just doesn't sound like it has mass appeal.
This and other Level-5 games are highly polished, especially compared to Rune Factory 4 and the latest Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons.
@Pixel-Perfect haha yeah, it's like they have little jewels instead of eyes or something.
@c1pher_c0mplet I also love these type of games but if there is no online co-op I will more than likely pass up this game. Really not just because of no online play but the fact that I have a huge Backlog of games. Online play would be the kixcker though and move this game right to the top of that backlog.
FL was my jam, bread, and butter. Lovin this.
@ALinkttPresent have you ever played popolocrois? Because it was 100% RPG. One of the early great psp games.
@ollietaro i highly doubt a port of fl2 will be possible. it’s going to be on devices with a huge resolution difference, ram and cpu. i love my 3ds but it is not a cutting edge device. everything ive read about the decision is marketing based, but i can't help but assume they felt the 3ds was limiting their creativity due to hardware restraints. they were able to put a lot of detail in the first one but they can do so much more.
i just hope they don't paywall the game. build timers and energy systems.
@willdmonky I would actually consider buying Fantasy Life 2 for Android if it came out in English depending on the price, however it appears to have the exact same areas as the first one so I'm not too sure. The version of FL we've got is FL 1.5 and this new one looks like another update. The village area looks reminiscent of other games of the simulation/resource management genre on phones, and may presumably be of higher quality but who knows?
@Zombie_Barioth
I think the simulation is referring more to the farming than the actual life. But with our current technology, it's not really feasible to make any sort of life sim without scripted events
@Todd102030
That's exactly what I had in mind with the subject matter. With the scripted events I was referring to how things are triggered or unlocked, they really do play more like RPGS. For most games being successful/prosperous means unlock/complete everything, sims tend to be more open-ended than that.
Hmm, at first glance quite intriguing, unfortunately the battle system is not of my liking. But that's just me. I prefer Fantasy Life's Hack & Slash style which is in my opinion much more dynamic. And I'd rather stick to growing crops and tending to lifestock only. Add battling and it is too much for my heart!
Tap here to load 37 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...