ollietaro

Two items? Please. I bring almost three full pages of items with me on quests which is why I refuse to do the Chameleos quest in MH4U where you're not allowed to bring any items with you. And that bugnet looks suspiciously like a fish catcher...

Calling it a "cute-and-cuddly life sim" does no help for the game to reach a wider audience. I would say Pokemon is cute-and-cuddly. Disney Magical World has engaging action battles and an excellent forage/crafting system. Boys are averse to 'cute-and-cuddly' and I wouldn't exactly describe this game that way, anyways. Please think of different ways to word descriptions so as to be inclusive of everyone, girls and boys.

Why would you release a new IP on ten systems at once when it's not an established franchise? Here's why. You tag the game with "Spiritual successor to Mega Man" and fans donate lots of money. I thought Azure Striker Gunvolt was the spiritual successor. The desire to recapture the past involves a lot of people, a lot of money, and one confused (Arrogant?) captain at the helm. A $200,000 request for one DLC stage? This whole thing sounds ridiculous. Make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night, I say.

<-- My avatar.

So, these are mobile RPGs that are ported to 3DS? And there's no 3D which makes it a Virtual Console-esque experience. I played sprite-based RPGs on GBA but I just don't know about this one.

There may appear to be a difference, graphically, but I want to play this game on 3DS b/c some of the gameplay will take place on the bottom touchscreen. The 3DS setup fits these adventure/puzzle games perfectly.

@Yoshis95 Yes, it was a horrible choice for a voice for the ad and she speaks to the audience like we're children. They needed to go with an ad that was all-ages to maximize the target audience but instead they aimed it at children only. I'm an adult and I'm interested in Harvest Moon!

The story sounds like a classic Harvest Moon game and it looks appealing now that the blocks are smaller and the people are taller. I might spring for this one.

It looks like 1 part Harvest Moon (Expanding the village), 2 parts Legend of Zelda (Dungeons), and 1 part Monster Hunter (Boss battles). Looks good to me!

@Popful It does seem absurd to play that long just to hear one classic song, but I'm more interested in getting all of the upgrades which seems like it might take up to Year 9 to do. I want to know if there is a person that exists that has done this b/c it would take forever!

Now that you mention it, I would appreciate a more nuanced dating system like the one you mention. One where you don't have to look up the precise time, day, and dating spot to meet your intended bachelor/ette. I used fogu.com to gather a lot of research just to play Tale of Two Towns. I encourage you to try and make it in the game industry and realize your goals.

When comparing this to Story of Seasons, it will not measure up b/c there is simply way more to do, and more bachelors. However, when taken on its own (which will be hard for those who are used to Marvelous' Harvest Moons), it could be a nice game.

@Popful I read that the player resides just outside of Westown (where your character's relatives live) and can travel to the other two towns so I don't know yet if you must make a decision to join one over the other two as it seems like the player's town affiliation is Westown (the Country and Western-looking town). There are part-time jobs you can accept from the recruiter (similar to the message board system of Two Towns).

There are 9 songs from past HM games that Mikhail plays during the Fall Music Festival. Being that it is once a year, you might have to play the game up to year 9 to hear them all. People online have identified that he plays (so far): The Winter theme from Back To Nature/Friends of Mineral Town and the Fall theme from DS Cute. Two heart events with Mikhail each play an older song: the Wedding theme from Back To Nature and the Fall theme from DS.

The in-game clock might have to be slowed for your ideal version of Harvest Moon. You might add a particular goal to complete by the end of summer with a big payoff but that might detract from the sandbox nature of the game you have idealized however it's hard for gamers to want to play games without objectives. I would also add to your realistic take on it. It would be nice if it included the natural environments similar to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, only without the monsters. I would like the game to have swimming underwater, just like MH3U. Enhance the fishing aspects by giving unique animated models for each and every type of fish. How about swimming alongside non-aggressive sea creatures of the deep?

@Popful My favourite thing about Two Towns is making trenches in the gigantic Konohana fields. When I look at my fields with all the various trenches, it's like an obsessive's dream-come-true. You're the first person I've found whose favourite is Two Towns. The message board helped me gather butter and cheese to complete more recipes which was helpful since you don't get the fermenting maker in Konohana. I'm almost at Request Lv. 10 so I can get the Oracle's stamina boost requests. This may sound cheesy, but I was looking forward to getting the big house so I could get the bathroom which recovers stamina. Item management in this game was always a challenge as I usually have every slot filled and the fact that you can't discard Wonderfuls when you find them pissed me off. I love the seed maker, though, b/c it makes getting money a lot easier. I like the fact that in Story of Seasons you can combine products of different star ratings to save space. I wonder if you get to choose one of the three towns to live in this installment. I loved how in Two Towns you had to marry the musician, Mikhail, to unlock songs of previous HM games, except there is no music player to play them again.

@k8sMum Well, wait until Skytree Village comes out b/c there's only been one non-Marvelous-developed Harvest Moon game since the transfer to Xseed.

@Popful I live on the Konohana farm and I just wanted to fully upgrade it before I moved to Bluebell Town and upgrade it to the fermenter to make butter, cakes, and yogurt just to complete the recipes. I fully upgraded the fields, got married to Mikhail, and improved friendship with all cooking festival participants to at least 5 flowers each. Upgrades are tied to one-per-month and it takes a while to get through just one month.

@Dezzy True. But is it not a pain to do that? Do you save your games to your PC or just re-download them from PSN?

@AlexSora89 Did you buy GBA games when they came out in their generation? I still see 'em in used video game stores so they are all pretty much available if I were to want one. I don't really need GBA games on 3DS unless it's a cheap copy of a hard-to-find game like Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon. If they were priced similarly to Pokemon Blue/Red/Yellow on the eshop...then hell no! Pokemon Yellow is 12.49 in Canada!

@Dezzy It is ironic about the Vita's availability of games through the PSN and the cost of memory card real estate preventing many of these games from being bought.

@Clockwerk Blanket statements to be sure but how did Nintendo treat us like crap and butcher their online platform?

Well, I did not forecast another Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games competition but it looks like we are getting one for certain! The upcoming Harvest Moon: Skytree Village will finally be getting its own town for realz but Story of Seasons is getting three! Do not be fooled, though, b/c a trio of towns does not a good game make.

@Popful How were you able to complete Tale of Two Towns? I played it for so many hours and upgraded the Konohana farm quite a bit but it would take forever to get all the upgrades on both farms and get access to the mines, so I stopped playing.

@AlexSora89 All my GBA cartridges are playable still so I wouldn't have a need for GBA VC unless they released Harvest Moon, Kirby, and Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon.

@LeRaposa The games are especially overpriced in Canada with one example being Stella Glow going for $67.00!

Here's to eShop exclusives, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies and the upcoming Spirit of Justice!! (And hopefully The Great Ace Attorney will one day grace the English eShops!)

Localisation of video games can sometimes be a dodgy matter. I was worried about Style Savvy 3 for a while b/c it was released in the UK well ahead of the announcement for localisation in NA. I was troubled by the non-localisation of the Great Ace Attorney until I learned there's a fan translation project. I assume the protesting is reasonable and I wish my fellow gamers in Hong Kong to get what they deserve.

Day One buy, of course, and now I just need The Great Ace Attorney to fill the empty hole in my heart.

@RoomB31 I don't remember streetpassing with anyone who played it.

@Tsurii After avoiding a few enemies by running away, more appear and gang up to the point where there have me surrounded and I must engage in battle. I discovered there's an item to skip battles with lower-level enemies entirely and it still gives EXP.

@VanillaLake I've (so far) never needed a Nintendo game from a different region nor looked for a cheaper copy in another land. I suppose region-lock exists b/c they want us gamers to support our region's Nintendo. Playstation probably doesn't region-lock b/c as long as they get money, it just gets sucked up into a big Sony vacuum.

@Tsurii There are no random encounters in this new one?

@Monkeyofthefunk I'm an advanced player on 3U but 4U was even more challenging for me. Rajang takes unfairness and cheapness to a whole other level. I once yelled at my mom for no reason after I lost a hunt to Rajang b/c I was so frustrated and I put the game down for months, scared to revisit that once-troubled territory. I picked it back up but I didn't hunt a single Rajang again.

@VanillaLake I didn't get your reply b/c you forgot to press 'Reply" but I came back to this page to see your reply. Style Savvy 2: Fashion Forward was just announced for NA so I won't be looking outside my region for games right now. Region-free benefits my Vita b/c I can buy the Asian import physical copies of games where there doesn't exist an NA one b/c most Asian releases feature the English language.

I would love it if Generations would have underwater battles again but I could be in the minority on that one. To have to fight Lagi and Ludroth again without the underwater hunts is a bit of a letdown but alas I will play the game anyway. I'm really onboard for these Prowler missions and to see MHFU areas in 3D, especially the swamp with the wheat field.

@NewAdvent 4U never stuck with me either, although I did make it all the way to G2 quests. I just prefer the natural habitats of 3U.

FINALLY! I'VE BEEN WAITING ON PINS AND NEEDLES FOR THIS!! YAY!!! Mens clothing be damned.

I'm loving the tropical theme! So I guess there is no revisiting Kalos for a Pokemon Z unless they release it after Sun/Moon. How many new pokemon and Mega Evolutions, I wonder?

It would be nice for goals to be added to make this more of a game. At least Girls' Fashion Shoot had you take on modeling jobs as shallow as it was. There are higher quality, more fleshed out fashion games available for 3DS in Japan like Tecmo Koei's Fabstyle. Fashion retail simulation games are more fun than dress-up games.

As a 3DS XL owner, I couldn't be happier to see this news. It sounds like Nintendo is putting effort forward to extend the lifespan of the 3DS. I can't believe some people are saying it's at the end of its lifespan b/c I am not finished with it. The expansion to the female gamer market means more games like Style Savvy, which I love. Ace Attorney 6 and Pokemon Sun/Moon is in the works for us so it would be a terrible time to trim development of new games. We are nowhere near the end where Final Fantasy VI Advance was for the GBA.

Is this really not coming out in North America? Seriously?

@VanillaLake Thank you. Are there ways to purchase a cheap 3DS from a different region? The only game from a different region that comes to mind that I would buy is New Style Boutique 2 (and the bundle with the New 3DS and face-plate doesn't look half-bad). There's still a window of opportunity for the game to be released in North America so I won't drop any money on it right now.

@VanillaLake I don't know why. I was asking why a gamer would want to play games from other regions.

Canada doesn't have GameStops but rather, EBGames, which is where I got my Mew download code from.

@VanillaLake Please help me to understand this. Why do people want to play games from a different region?

@samuelvictor Yes, the region-lock would prevent you from playing PAL region games. Keep in mind, it's a Super Famicom design and not a Super Nintendo one and there are differences in design and nostalgia between the two consoles.

@VanillaLake Yeah, and it's the fact that it's based on the Super Famicom which I don't think will tickle gamers' fancy as much as an SNES design would.

I wouldn't mind remakes of any of the Japan-only games such as Gaiden and Geneology of the Holy War. I do not like grinding DLC and back in the day we had arenas which limited grinding, thankfully. Also, if you wanted more experience points, you would do what was necessary to fulfill the special conditions to unlock the gaiden chapters (2x, 3x, 5x, etc.).

This would be a Japanese N3DS? So then it would be called N3DS LL, not XL and it's region-locked so it wouldn't be able to play any of my games...This is news, how?

@Monkeyofthefunk Even having played all the way through MH3U has not been enough to prepare me for MH4U. The monsters in 4U seemed to make cheap shots... I had trouble with 4U monsters and this is someone who successfully solo'd the dual Deviljho 8* arena quest with the HBG in 3U.

I'm liking the areas in the background (and so good to see the beloved Deserted Islands!). Now I'm more confident about my pre-order purchase. Hopefully this game will be more gentle than MH4U

Based on playing my discounted copy of SMTIV at CAD $29.99, I would wait to buy this new one at 13.99 (the sale price of SMTIV right now). Frequent random battles hurt the experience and I know there is a way to avoid low-level ones and I might go another round one of these days when I learn how to curb that part of the experience. Maybe I should have been playing Devil Survivor this whole time.