I have an affinity for Harvest Moon DS/Cute, but I probably would not call it the best in the series. All I'm saying is that I played the game until I wore out the cartridge, and I STILL never really beat it. It has a lot of technical advantages over most of the series, including one of the largest rucksacks in the whole series, and has touchscreen inventory navigation. I am really sad that no other HM game has had both of those - most of the games with good inventory management have tiny inventories, so it's not as useful. In HMDS, I actually feel like I'm getting things done.
I've played Another Wonderful Life, Magical Melody, and DS: Cute, so I can only speak to those. Of the three, I'd recommend Magical Melody based on what ninjainspandex has said he's looking for.
Under cuts because I got carried away!
[Another] Wonderful Life:
This one is my personal favorite. It focuses on being an "experience" more than a video game with goals, and I found that incredibly interesting. Seasons are short (10 days long, I believe), and after each winter comes to a close, the story advances by several years and the town reflects the passing time. Kids grow up, adults grow old, new houses and inhabitants spring up... I absolutely loved starting out in the spring and being shocked by how my neighbors had changed. There are only four festivals, though, and no competitions, which I know is a huge letdown for some players.
This game is also the most "adult" of the three I've played, and by that I mean it can get pretty heavy. Townsfolk crying on your shoulder because they've been unknowingly implicated in affairs, parents potentially striking their children... it's not always a small-town paradise. You raise your child into adulthood in this game, and you wind up building a life of memories that are both good and bad. The game also has a definite conclusion, and I have to say I was legitimately moved by its ending.
In terms of gameplay, once you get your chores under control you tend to have time to wander around and pursue other things. Your farming and livestock plots are relatively small, you don't have to collect raw materials to expand your farmhouse or build new structures, tool upgrades are largely optional, and people don't move away if you fail to satisfy certain criteria. It's definitely the most relaxed of the Harvest Moons I've played, because there's really no "winning." The focus is on crafting a story, so if you're looking for a more achievement-driven and/or risky experience, it's not the one for you.
Magical Melody:
Magical Melody is focused on the gameplay and the achievement of goals. The whole point of the game is to unlock "musical notes" (read: achievements) until you have enough to trigger the ending sequence. From what I can tell there's neither a time limit for finishing nor a conclusive "it's over!" finale, so you're not on a finite pair of rails like you are with [A]WL.
Unlike [A]WL and DS[C], you are given the option to choose one of three plots in town for your farmhouse, with each plot being ideal for a certain style of farming (i.e. crops only, lifestock only, or a mixture). This helps focus your efforts and counteract feelings of being immediately overwhelmed or lost. Later on you'll be able to use other plots around town (either by using free "community areas" or buying new land) to try out other farming styles, should you be interested, which gives you nice flexibility. There are some cute festivals and competitions, and there's a large and varied enough cast of characters that your days definitely feel less monotonous than they could in [A]WL. You can also decorate your house, if that appeals.
There are more risks in MM, though. The town's population is tied to how well your farm is doing, what materials you are shipping, and how often you talk to your neighbors. New shops and villagers will arrive if your business is bustling, but if you slack too much on goods or chatter, stores will shutter and townies will move away. They'll visit you and cry on your doorstep before they depart, too, just to make you feel worse about it. (I suppose this makes the social aspect a more necessary gameplay component than in the other two titles, now that I think of it. Hmmm.)
DS [Cute]:
This one focuses equally on gameplay and social experiences, but it takes both up to eleven and makes them much, much harder. It's also the game I had the most issues with interface-wise, and I often had to search the internet for answers to things that weren't explained anywhere or would take years to figure out on my own (e.g. the locations of the cursed tools). That said... it's somehow still my second-favorite. If you want a challenge -- and a long one, at that -- this might be the one to go for.
DS [Cute] has a similar achievement system as MM, in that meeting certain requirements unlocks a "sprite" (a magical elf) who specializes in a particular task, and you need a certain number of sprites to trigger the ending. Assemble enough sprites of a particular team (e.g. watering, resource gathering, brushing/petting livestock) and you can hire them to carry out those duties on one plot of land for a certain number of days. The more they work, the faster and better they get at it. This is actually really cool, because it means you can avoid the situation of having more chores than you can possibly get done before 3:00 AM. It also frees you up to explore other types of gameplay without having to sacrifice what you've already started, and allows you to ditch certain tasks guilt-free if you discover you just plain hate them.
Which brings me to the most important thing to know about DS[C]. A great deal of your livestock interactions are going to be touchscreen-based. In [A]WL and MM, to brush your cow, you walk up to it with a brush and push a button. Done. In DS[C], a minigame begins where you have to furiously brush your on-screen cow within a certain amount of time. How well you do translates into how many heart points they receive, and affection builds slowly. Now imagine doing this with everything (petting, milking, washing...) and for every animal (chicken, cow, horse...). Every day.
DS[C] is also a risky game. Storms can destroy your buildings and kill the livestock inside, and the likelihood of disaster is related to what materials you used for construction. You can also actually lose to your relationship rivals in this game, which I thought was really fascinating. The writing and cutscenes are some of the best, though, in my opinion, and events are specific enough in terms of requirements that you're really never guaranteed to see them all. Makes it all the more exciting when you trigger one.
BogusMeatFactory wrote:If I could powder my copies of shenmue and snort them I would
A Wonderful Life is dire. There is so little to do compared to the better games in the series. I found in unbearably tedious.
Friends of Mineral Town is absolutely fantastic, and I've put well over a hundred hours into various playthroughsof that game. I'd recommend that one for sure.
If you have a PS1, Back to Nature is good too, but Friends of Mineral Town is essentially a GBA port of that game, so I'd just go with FoMT.
