So I was recently talking with a friend (the kickbutterer) about Harvest Moon, and she and I seemed to agree on some issues with the series and how it's changed over the years. Now I understand that change is necessary if a series is to stay fresh, but the change does need to be for the better and frankly, I just don't feel that's what we've seen in Harvest Moon.

Now the first real change came with A Wonderful Life which is my least favorite Harvest Moon to date. It's the only one I've played that I actually dislike, though it does have a few redeeming qualities, and it at least kept the right focus.

But things seemed to really go the wrong way after the DS iterations which also happens to be when the series really began to take off. The problem I'm talking about is that Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons now feels more like a relationship Sim than a farming life Sim. You see, Harvest Moon has always had a strong focus on building friendships and starting a family, but it was always kept in perspective until DS came along and made it more about...whatever the heck HMDS was about. Lol The older games were about life in a small country village, and it seemed legit in it's own fantasy way with the game embracing farming and WORK as a very important part of your life. You kept busy doing everyday farm work and life things, and it was still fun somehow.

But now they seem to be a relationship Sim (almost dating Sim at times) with a small farm based backdrop. The farming has been minimized so much that it's almost a one-button mechanic in some of the newer games and that's just a shame, and hardly fit to be considered a part of a series whose name in it's country of origin is "Farm Story".


Now the new changes are good, but not at the expense of the main focus. As I told ghostfishy, I would like to see the relationship aspects beefed up like they're doing, but also to see the farm life focus beefed up as well.

Finally it's worth noting that farming Sim and farm life Sim are not the same. Farm life Sim also includes the relationship building. One indicates pure work while the other indicates all aspects of life.


So my fellow Harvest Moon fans, what do you think?