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News Harvestella (farming simulation RPG from Square Enix) announced for Switch and Steam, out November 4

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I get that life sims can't have too big of a world if they want to focus on life in a location. From a game design standpoint, it makes sense. However, even if it's a sound idea, doesn't mean it's something that pleases me specifically.
Having now played the demo, the system is very clearly setting up for the world to be very big with tons of short cut warps and vehicles being teased for the player to use. I can't imagine if someone jumped into a game like this or RF4 that they'd be upset at the size of the world.
 
Having now played the demo, the system is very clearly setting up for the world to be very big with tons of short cut warps and vehicles being teased for the player to use. I can't imagine if someone jumped into a game like this or RF4 that they'd be upset at the size of the world.
Hopefully, that's the case. I'll just wait for the reviews to drop, and then I'll understand better if it's for me.
 
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Finally gave the demo a shot. My overall feelings are similar to what I thought of the Diofield Chronicle demo. I enjoyed it quite a bit! I'll agree that Harvestella starts out really slow, though. You've seriously got to put up with all the introductory stuff and such; it ain't called Prologue demo for no reason, lol.

Anyways, I'll more than likely buy it. I'm a tad disappointed with the lack of a PC demo still. The Switch version runs well enough for my taste, with some slowdown here and there, but it's stable enough in my eyes, and generally feels responsive and good to play. The art direction is great to me, I love the style. But it's brought down a bit by how blurry everything is, particularly outdoors. Like, yeah, they've definitely got a good AA solution in place, haven't seen much shimmering at all, but paired with the non-native resolution, it makes for a very soft image. Not super unpleasent to me -- I'd rather have it like that than jaggy. But I'd love for it to be just a tad sharper, like it is indoors, but that all the time.

The OLED at least makes some of the more intense colours really pop, like fire or the glowing crystal thingies, haha. Very cool to see!
 
Now that I had the chance to try docked mode, too, I'll say that, while it's overall clearer looking when compared to undocked, it's feeling choppier to me. Less responsive and more stuttering. Hmmm. So, both modes come with their own quirks, which is a shame.

Still loving the gameplay, music, art... So yeah, day 1 for sure at this point! Probably on PC, though.
 
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Finally got to play some of the demo, and my initial impressions are unfortunately negative. The biggest criticism is that farming feels like an afterthought, even the strafing system is iffy. Actually even the cooking and crafting are very simple affairs, too.

Time moves way too fast, especially when you’re out on the world map. Feels like a game that wants you to slowly grind and unlock timesavers and shortcuts. It’s just demanding time-wise and a lot of the things you do is basically just to help you buy more time, which I feel can get tedious.

The art direction is great, though, it’s fantastical in all the right ways, despite technical hiccups. The story is kind of interesting? The setup is, at least.

Combat is rather more involved than in Rune Factory, which is nice and all, but it’s still not as deep as I would like. And the combat doesn’t make up for the weaker aspects of the gameplay loop.

So yeah, I think my takeaway is that Harvestella isn’t a farming sim, it’s an action JRPG with some side activities tacked on. Personally not something that excites me, so probably gonna wait for a deep sale on this one.
 
So yeah, I think my takeaway is that Harvestella isn’t a farming sim, it’s an action JRPG with some side activities tacked on. Personally not something that excites me, so probably gonna wait for a deep sale on this one.


I think this is fair
probably I like it exactly because of that lol
 
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Played the demo a bit before going to bed last night and I just continue to adore that we're getting AA projects like these. I wish Nintendo took note and gave us more "handheld-esque" titles.

What a beautiful game too, though the smear on the outdoors ruins it a bit for me in comparison to the indoor scenes. Very similar art style to Xenoblade I imagine, and handheld resolution as well lol.
 
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Finally got around to the demo. Really, really enjoying it. The world is a bit naked and lacking in detail, but in terms of composition, it's gorgeous. Soundtrack is immaculate. The characters all seem likeable so far, and the story just intriguing enough.

I found the farming to be nice, not too deep but also not too shallow either. But I have limited experience with farming sims, my closest reference is AC: NH, which is a very very different game compared to this. Combat is decent enough at the beginning, though I wonder how it will work when more abilities unlock - as of now now, it's pretty one-note.

My biggest bummer is that the time feels a bit too restrictive, it ticks away way too fast in the overworld, and I would like to stroll around in the village without fretting that it will eat too much from the clock.

And finally, I love me some job systems, so I'm hoping that this aspect of the game will evolve naturally as time goes on.

Looking forward!
 
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A look at Winter blog update
Details on the Winter region and more mechanics have been revealed:


Also the full release includes the following changes from the demo (per Gematsu's coverage):

  • Reduced time lapse speed on the world map and the field.
  • Reduced hit time for fishing.
  • Reduced cooldown time for job changes.
  • Increased the Mage’s normal attack speed.
  • Partially reduced loading time.
  • Addition of a warning effect when a character’s HP is low.
  • Modified UI during save and auto-save.
  • Various assorted bug fixes.
 
Reduction of time lapse speed on the world map is a huge deal. Good fix.
I hope they give people a clearer warning as well, I know a few people who tried the demo and didn't even realize time was passing faster on the map.
 
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Finally watching the TGS presentation and I can’t get over how young the director on this game looks. So nice to see Square-Enix starting to let the next generation take the reins more.

 
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31/40 from Famitsu. Which I think a little tad low. They also gave 35/40 to Star Ocean, a game that doesn't look too hot.
Eh, Famitsu gave Live A Live Remake a 33/40. Anything in the 30-35 range is a pretty average score for them.
 
Article is light on specifics but it looks like there will be non-binary options for the player character. The good news is that we'll have a better idea of what that means in a few days.

The Non-Binary option was already in the demo tho?
It's basically first you select your gender from Male, Female, Non-Binary and than you select your model (you can use the masculine or female body with ANY gender). So the gender select is basically your pronoun option between he/him, she/her and they/them. I even tested it in the German version and it uses a German Non-binary pronoun (xier, which is a neo-pronoun and VERY rare sadly, because German has no natural gender-neutral pronoun that's not problematic)
 
The Non-Binary option was already in the demo tho?
It's basically first you select your gender from Male, Female, Non-Binary and than you select your model (you can use the masculine or female body with ANY gender). So the gender select is basically your pronoun option between he/him, she/her and they/them. I even tested it in the German version and it uses a German Non-binary pronoun (xier, which is a neo-pronoun and VERY rare sadly, because German has no natural gender-neutral pronoun that's not problematic)
Ah! I haven't touched the demo yet so I didn't know it was in there too.

Blog post yesterday added some more details around the Quietus dungeon and other minor mechanics:


I can see the pitch meeting for this was probably something akin to "What if Stardew Valley but also Final Fantasy but also Persona's Tartarus/Mementos?" :D

h/t to Gematsu
 
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A lack of reviews would make me a bit wary, ngl. I want to get this, but not necessarily day 1.
Same here unfortunately; as much as I love Rune Factory and the farming sim genre there are so many good games coming out that something has to give and that'll have to be Harvestella for the time being.
 
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I imagine we'd probably be getting reviews tomorrow?

The demo was nice but definitely didn't make me day 1 on the game. Combat felt a bit stiff and uninteresting, even though I liked the story and vibes otherwise. Really wish more of these farming sims put more effort into their combat, Sakuna is the only one that comes to mind for me that pulls out a top-tier combat system alongside excellent farming stuff (though the life sim elements aren't really present in that game so something did give there)
 
The Non-Binary option was already in the demo tho?
It's basically first you select your gender from Male, Female, Non-Binary and than you select your model (you can use the masculine or female body with ANY gender). So the gender select is basically your pronoun option between he/him, she/her and they/them. I even tested it in the German version and it uses a German Non-binary pronoun (xier, which is a neo-pronoun and VERY rare sadly, because German has no natural gender-neutral pronoun that's not problematic)
Yeah, same with the French version, they actually went out of their way to use neo-pronouns given that there's no "official" neutral pronouns (and there probably won't be for a long time, given l'Académie), which is really nice to see. The dialogue does tend to awkwardly twist itself into knots to avoid gendered language, but at least as far as I saw they never misgender you. I also really appreciate that there isn't a huge difference between the two models to pick from.

Either way I already have this one pre-ordered, ended up getting it on PC instead of Switch after the demo (it doesn't run too badly on Switch, but the visuals are so pretty I want to see them in higher res, and it was way cheaper)
 
I think reviews should start within 1 hour or so
Are you able to say when the embargo lifts? I'll be honest I was expecting them by now

Me too
Embargo lifted a couple of hours ago, but still no review

It could be a case of late codes release: I've received mine yesterday afternoon, with the embargo lifting November 3rd, at 5PM CEST but I'm totally not able to finish the review today - I'm still playing it, while writing

Maybe this is true for everyone (even if my small site usually receive codes after the main biggest outlets out there)
 
I think reviews should start within 1 hour or so


Me too
Embargo lifted a couple of hours ago, but still no review

It could be a case of late codes release: I've received mine yesterday afternoon, with the embargo lifting November 3rd, at 5PM CEST but I'm totally not able to finish the review today - I'm still playing it, while writing

Maybe this is true for everyone (even if my small site usually receive codes after the main biggest outlets out there)
Hm so yeah just seems like very late review codes. Unfortunate, this doesn't seem like a game that'll do super well without that, but maybe they just weren't confident enough with what they made?
 
Interested to see how this shakes out! I was so-so on the demo but it seems like they’re pretty committed to fixing things up and have already made some significant improvements.
 
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Not big on farming sims, but I hope this does well regardless. Efforts to diversify their portfolio are always welcome.
 
SwitchUp gave it 69%
I’m listening to their review right now and the stuff they’re complaining about is stuff that’s in most Rune Factory games, like your shipping box being your main income source, crops dying after the season ends (this is how it was in the first couple Rune Factory games,) having to sleep at home, stamina systems. It’s all stuff from the genre.
 
I’m listening to their review right now and the stuff they’re complaining about is stuff that’s in most Rune Factory games
Yeah, that’s also what I got from their review. I think I’ll have to wait for farm sim-oriented Youtubers to get a better handle on how satisfying the gameplay loop is.

However, from SwitchUp’s review and my personal experience with the demo, the life sim side does seem tacked on.
 
I’m listening to their review right now and the stuff they’re complaining about is stuff that’s in most Rune Factory games, like your shipping box being your main income source, crops dying after the season ends (this is how it was in the first couple Rune Factory games,) having to sleep at home, stamina systems. It’s all stuff from the genre.
It does seem like they had a different reviewer for their Rune Factory reviews (I mean it's just the two of them I think but yeah) so maybe Mark just doesn't gel with this genre as much? Glen (their reviewer for RF 4 and 5) gave both of the games scores in the 80 range, and it doesn't seem like the issues here wouldn't be present in either of those games (I've only played 4 but I'd certainly say they were present there for the most part)

Hard to say really but that might explain the lower score, but probably need to wait and see if its representative or not (really wish review codes went out earlier)
 
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Yeah, that’s also what I got from their review. I think I’ll have to wait for farm sim-oriented Youtubers to get a better handle on how satisfying the gameplay loop is.

However, from SwitchUp’s review and my personal experience with the demo, the life sim side does seem tacked on.
Has it been confirmed if you can get married yet?
 
it doesn't seem like the issues here wouldn't be present in either of those games
To give their review the benefit of the doubt, it’s hard to make 1:1 comparisons of gameplay features since farm sims are often more than the sum of their parts. If the dungeons in Harvestella are more sprawling and involved, for example, I can see why the time and stamina limits can become more aggravating. If you have to traverse the world map to go to another city to access a dungeon, I can see why it’s annoying to have to teleport back to your house, instead of being able to teleport back to that city’s inn.

But again, I’m waiting on more impressions, especially from the people more familiar with the subgenre.
 
To give their review the benefit of the doubt, it’s hard to make 1:1 comparisons of gameplay features since farm sims are often more than the sum of their parts. If the dungeons in Harvestella are more sprawling and involved, for example, I can see why the time and stamina limits can become more aggravating. If you have to traverse the world map to go to another city to access a dungeon, I can see why it’s annoying to have to teleport back to your house, instead of being able to teleport back to that city’s inn.

But again, I’m waiting on more impressions, especially from the people more familiar with the subgenre.
Fair enough. that's another good explanation. And I'm not trying to disparage their review or anything, I do like the channel and how they tend to highlight lesser known games

Though another potential explanation might be that they tried to cram this game in order to get the review out? We don't know when review codes were sent to everyone (@Aostia82 's was really late so maybe that was indicative given how few reviews are out), and this does not seem like the sort of game that goes over well in cram sessions (granted, I personally don't think any game does so maybe I'm way off here)
 
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