Harvest Moon 64.

[LensOfTruth]

Have you guys sat down with this one lately?

Harvest Moon is the farming game for people that like a challenge. No clicking here; You, as the farmer, must move around, converse with the citizens, and figure out how to make money while tending to your crops and livestock. Harvest Moon 64 sports some pretty decent music too. It's fun and addicting.

Unfortunately, the game feels rushed and unfinished. The environment graphics get drawn out while still on-screen, so everything in the lower right corner disappears in chunks. The translation is amazingly bad. "Write in Diar." "Hand, huh?" On the file select menu, "Move" is actually "Copy." It's really astounding. NATSUME must have rushed the original Japanese version only to rush the American localization, so none of the initial bugs are fixed.

Yet, the game enjoys a good reputation. Even after 20 more of these games (It's true; Look it up), a lot of people still say HM64 is the best. I have to admit, I have a soft spot for it. It draws me in every time, and I have fun working on the farm. After all, the game isn't broken. It's just very unpolished.

What does everyone else think?

[Exhuminator]

What does everyone else think?

HM64 tends to hold a lot of praise along with Friends of Mineral Town (GBA) and the original SNES release. I'm not sure how much better these three really are then all the other HMs that followed. Meaning maybe a lot of the other HMs that came after were just as good, but franchise fatigue had set in for its early players. As for me the only Harvest Moon game I own a physical copy of is Harvest Moon Animal Parade on Wii.

That said, I've been more interested in the Rune Factory series, the offshoot franchise of HM, which incorporates dungeon crawling and sexier waifus. I own quite a few games in that side series. Although the only one I've spent significant time with thus far, is the original Rune Factory on DS.

It should be noted for those who don't know, that the key developers behind Harvest Moon now work on the series under the name "Story of Seasons". The folks developing actual Harvest Moon games today are not the same, and it shows from reviews I've read.

[Forlorn Drifter]

With 64, I think part of the popularity comes from the nostalgia glasses for those who played this one first, along with the fact that it is slightly "rare" but still affordable in comparison to the SNES game. I like it quite a bit, but I found Mineral Town, Back to Nature, and Magical Melody to have a bit more oomph to them. I liked what I played of A Wonderful Life, but I never got past the second year, as it just turned into a grind with little to do at that point.

For me, part of my issue with the later releases was an increasing emphasis on social factors (at least in some of the games), along with the art styles. I think Animal Parade was one of the ones that finally made me hit the brakes a bit. There's some other ones I'd like to look into, but now that I'm doing this stuff for real, doing it in a game is a bit less endearing.

But, I'm holding on to my copy of HM:64 in hopes my grandchildren can sell that boxed copy and buy themselves a PS14 or whatever the hell they have then.

[Westane]

Back in highschool Harvest Moon 64 was a game changer for me. I played obsessively every chance I got and while the SNES game is what got me into the franchise, HM64 is what really made it special. For the longest time, I would tell you that Harvest Moon 64 was indisputably the BEST game in the franchise.

...then I went back and played it again a couple years ago...

It really doesn't hold up, and I found playing again to be difficult. I now hold Friends of Mineral Town in much higher regard, and it's probably my favorite in the series. Next to that would be Magical Melody and A New Beginning. I bought Story of Seasons and enjoyed it as well.

I'm with Exhuminator though. Nowadays I'd take Rune Factory 4 over any of the HM/SoS games as I find it just has a lot more depth and character, even when I'm looking for a more relaxed experience.

...I still need to play Stardew Valley...

[Xeogred]

I've never played any game in this genre, but they are incredibly intriguing.