Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning - Nintendo 3DS

While Story of Seasons (SoS is the new HM) has made some improvements on this title, I actually like HMNB better than SoS in many ways. It's really comes down to personal preference which one you will enjoy more. In this title, the town (including houses) and your farm can be customized. Some people find this to be tedious, but I really enjoy it; just make sure you remove trees so the buildings can fit. SoS has small areas in town that can be edited, but houses/roads are in place. Your farm area in SoS can be customized in much the same way as HMNB. I love the characters in this title much more than SoS, but they do need to be unlocked. As others have said, it is a slow start, but you'll find yourself unlocking new buildings/people fairly quickly. I found it less boring when something/someone new was being unlocked throughout gameplay. I like the forest area where you can forage, mine, and fish. I was disappointed that SoS only had different field areas for crops and no forest. The mine in HMNB has 3 mining spots, while SoS has one spot within the Safari. HMNB has an animal sanctuary where you can take livestock to reduce stress and eventually get "great" products. There is nothing to do in the sanctuary unfortunately, so it is bet to take care of livestock there instead of at the farm on the days you go so that you are not just standing around. SoS has the Safari which serves the same purpose as the sanctuary in HMNB, except the products are now called "+" products. Animals are in the forest in HMNB and can be befriended, but several need to be unlocked is SoS and then show up in the safari where you can befriend them. There are animals around the rental field spots and right outside of town as well in SoS. Trading in this title is done through the shops and various vendors that show up on certain days. SoS has vendors which need to be unlocked through shipping of several products/crops (there is no shipping box in SoS, all buying/selling is done through vendors). Some vendors take quite some time to unlock and this is the main goal in SoS. I found this tedious, repetitious, and boring as compared to HMNB. The livestock and crops are much easier to manage in SoS than HMNB. More crops can be harvested from the seeds and livestock care is much quicker and easier, but SoS needs this feature much more due to high shipping requirements. I prefer these features in SoS, but it is not a dealbreaker in HMNB. Both titles offer character customization which are quite similar. In HMNB you sheer wool, grow cotton/flax, forage down which is then processed by the tailor to make different clothing items. Hair is done at the salon. In SoS, hair can be changed from your closet and clothes are made by you instead. I kind of prefer the tailor/salon in HMNB, but that's just my preference. HMNB does have a few typos such as funa for tuna and other minor typos which are slightly annoying to me, but doesn't affect gameplay. All in all, both are good titles and worth playing. Personally, I think there is more to do in HMNB and more variety, but some disagree. I think most of what keeps you busy in SoS is producing/shipping loads of products. While that is a feature of all games of this title, there are WAY more shipping requirements in SoS. If you like lots of customization and want to bring characters in with that process, start with this title (HMNB). If you just want to farm and maintain livestock without worrying about town customization or unlocking of characters by building/placing their homes, start with SoS. There are some characters which unlock in SoS, but most are already in place. I look forward to the upcoming release of SoS Trio of Towns and will continue to enjoy HMNB in the meantime.

Harvest Moon is probably one of my favorite video game series ever. My love for this game all started with Harvest Moon 64 and has continued to grow with each new installment. Harvest Moon A New Beginning is quite different from previous iterations of the game in that it is completely customizeable. You can customize your character, farm, even the town. I really liked this addition to the series. I love being able to customize a game to suit my playstyle and this is no exception. I haven't gotten too far in the game yet, but I can definitely say that it's a great addition to an already great series. The beginning of the game definitely starts off slow. The tutorial is LONG, longer than any other Harvest Moon game I've played (and I've played quite a lot of them). While someone that has played through many a Harvest Moon game will find the tutorial redundant and unnecessary, new players to the series will find it extremely helpful. Like most Harvest Moon games, the beginning of the game (post-tutorial) is a bit slow as your funds are limited and this game also doesn't have many people in the town to start, but once you get passed the first week or so, you will find that you have more than enough to keep you busy. All I can say for that first week... aside from tending your turnips and potatoes... collect, collect, collect! Collect any item laying on the ground that you see... bugs, flowers, ore, sticks. Sell everything (except building materials and cooking ingredients). This will give you a nice profit up front so you can afford to purchase things later on. While Harvest Moon: A New Beginning is probably not my favorite Harvest Moon title (that belongs to A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon 64), this game is a very solid and fun addition to the Harvest Moon series. If you are a fan of Harvest Moon (and if you aren't and want to give it a shot, this is probably the game to do it with since it has such an in-depth tutorial), then I think you will enjoy this game!

In Harvest Moon, there are no enemies to blow up, slash, or jump over. There are no bosses, points, or button combos to memorize. Instead, Harvest Moon is a game of nuturing, relationship building, and persistence. It is a challenge like no other! While appealing to me personally, I think the "chore" aspect may not be for everyone. Some people are just turned off by (even the thought of) chores. One friend calls this game, "a waste of time," but in the end, what game isn't? I think the point of contention is the gaming industry's habit of instant gratification. This game challenges one's persistence in a way I find really fun and satisfying. I finished my first full year (in-game), so it's time for a review! PROS: In "Harvest Moon: A New Beginning," your character wakes up everyday to an ever-growing list of daily responsibilities. The priorities are totally up to you. I find game pacing is spot-on. Things start off simple. As a new player, I needed the initial simplicity to understand how this farm and village work together. The gameplay guides you but does not force you--in other words it is non-linear gameplay. Within a few days my farmer's tasks became more complex as I received more animals and met more villagers. The initial fun is in learning farming procedures and the learning the lay of the land. I enjoyed watering crops and helping my cows, sheep, and chickens (and bees!) grow and mature throughout the year. I like the relationship with nature and people that this game puts forth. It's not about conquering nature, but about seeking opportunities. The daily dynamics change with the weather and each season. When I find myself beginning to grow tired of doing the same routine, a new season comes--and with it new crops, new animals and insects and new season-specific activities. For example, bug-catching is important in spring while I've found that mining becomes more important by winter. By the second spring, I'm raising my own bees and far less concerned about wild ones. In "A New Beginning" there are always new things to look forward to. Weather events puncuate what would otherwise be a common routine. Even within each season, I find myself always looking forward to the festivals. Winning a crop context with a "big broccoli is strangely rewarding. I don't explicitly win points, but I gain the favor of other villagers by simply showing up. Like real life, "It's the thought that counts." Speaking of real life, I really enjoy this game's balance of fantasy and reality. This is the magic of "A New Beginning." Harvest Moon automates a lot of functions that would be tremendously complicated in real life--(i.e. building construction). But the management of it all is very rewarding and the "hard work" is somehow really fun and unique. I do like suspension of disbelief that time stops when I close the game. (In other words, your crops will mercifully still be green and luscious even if you stop playing the game for a month.) CONS: While "A New Beginning" is known for it's visual customization (i.e.clothing, hairstyles, and the ability to re-arrange objects), the lack of button customization is a big shortcoming. The "L" button does absolutely nothing! Why can't "L" be customized to access regular gifts to villagers? A hot-menu exists for tools, but another is sorely needed. Everytime I get lost in a long list, I am reminded that I'm playing a video game. This game has got to be the dozenth Harvest Moon iteration, so I would have expected this kind of thing to have been solved ages ago! Super long lists are a buzzkill. The lack of features for the touch screen is a disappointment. Most times the second screen is a dedicated vicinity map, which strangely does not illustrate the layout of my farm, nor does it track any of my animals--arguably the two most important game elements. During cut scenes, the second screen just shows an animated flowery wallpaper, with absolutely no interactivity. Sometimes I wish I could just switch off the second screen to increase my battery life. This most certainly won't be the last Harvest Moon game, so I'm sure Natsume with further refine the gameplay later. CONCLUSION: Otherwise, this is a really satisfying, fun, and unique game. It is my first direct experience with a Harvest Moon title, and is my favorite 3ds game so far. I have to admit that it's addictive. My advice is to keep an open mind and you might also experience the joys (lessons) this terrific gaming concept has to offer. Question if any other games actually challenge one's persistence. Finally, if we put as much enthusiasm with developing ourselves in real life as we do developing the skils of our RPG characters, think of all that we could accomplish!

This game is alright. I had to buy it on here for almost 40 bucks when at GameStop it's only 29.99... I kinda wish I had a GameStop gift card instead for on here, because its that price for a reason. Don't buy this game unless its that much... Because this hype is crazy and I don't understand why. People say it's slow paced but honestly, if you have played HM you know what to do. I've already finished my first year and I'm already on the 4th restoration plan for the town. The people are rather boring. In a year I haven't a gotten to know anyone, yet somehow Neil, Allen, and Rod have Purple Hearts. I'm hoping the other bacholars will be more... Interesting, then those three. The two biggest problems is with the grammar and also the kids. I have come across tons of gramical errors. (I can understand a few but I'm suprised. When speaking to Rod at his shop, when leaving he says "You have go?". This isn't the only one, there are a lot more... Which is still surprising.) It hasn't ruined it for me, but it's annoying, but the biggest thing is the kids. I hate how the kids are default children. I wish all the bacholars and bachollettes had different children designs that way at least marrying someone they look like your wife/husband. If I decide to marry Amir or well... anyone it wouldnt make sense look wise. (My character is black with black hair and gold eyes.) If I married Amir, Allen, Rod... no matter what I would would have a blonde haired boy and or a brown haired girl... I feel like I have to change my character now. I don't know I wish the child system was different. Honestly if you want spend 40 bucks get Rune Factory 4, it's way more fun then this HM... I hope Story of Seasons(The NEW HM, taken over by Xseed), will be better.

This game was the reason why i got the 3ds! after seeing such reviews i just had to get my hands on it. Tale of two towns ds version was the first harvest moon game i played, i bought it on impulse and i really loved the concept of the game. so when i saw this game i knew i had to try it out which meant i had to get the 3ds and since i'm not much of a gamer and don't really fancy 80% of the games for the 3ds/ds console i wasn't sure i should invest but after getting & playing the game it was totally worth it. (this is still the only game i own lol) The Game itself is a lot better than tale of two towns although it doesn't, seem like it at first. the story is much deeper. restoring the town is fun and watching new people move in and new things happen is interesting. you have to restore the town, befriend villagers, keep animals happy, keep crops growing, get new blueprints, make new cool and better items , gather and hoard everything!!! (except for the bugs and critter and also hoard some bees), befriend a marriage candidate, get married, get kids, attend festivals..the list goes onnnnnnnnnnnnn. not enough time and stamina in the day to complete everything. i'm still early on in the game tho middle of summer, year 1 and i'm nowhere near bored, i play this game any chance i get. for tale of two towns i was bored by summer year 1 because everyday was slightly repetitive. not this game. its a load of fun, never a dull moment! ( well after you get through first couple weeks). The only thing i really dislike about this game is the stamina.it goes down so fast, you wake full of stamina and by 8am after watering crops and taking care of your animals you're down to one heart and close to fainting. very frustrating, but i have read it gets better when you upgrade your farm tools so don't get discouraged :) overall if you are a harvest moon fan then you're missing out a ton if you don't have this game already!what are you waiting for? ..first time players, get it too, this game is a great place to start. if you like simulation day by day, slow and steady kinda game you'll really enjoy this!

This harvest moon really brings me back to when I played Harvest Moon 64. It's a pretty great game. If you're a fan of Harvest Moon then it will make a nice addition to your collection. But there are some problems with this game. Pros - Stay true to the series. You have your basic everything, grow crops, raise livestocks, ect ect. There's some new additions too like silkie chickens and llamas. - Gives you a goal to work towards. It's not just about restoring your farm and earning lots of cash and expanding it. You also have a goal too and that's restoring the town and it's a goal that you just can't ignore because it's vital to the game. - Great line of bachelors and bachelorettes to choose from with different personalities. - Best pro of all is that everything is customizable in this game. (Well almost everything). Your farm is customizable. You can move everything around to your liking. The town is customizable. You can move people's houses and store around for your convenience. You can also decorate it however you like as well. - Your character is completely customizable. From the gender to the hair to what kind of outfits you want to wear. And this is not just at the beginning of the game when you're designing your character. When you meet specific town restoration goal, shops will appear that lets you change your character from the hairstyle to giving you addition wardrobe. - There's a lot of townspeople and character and many areas to explore. - Variety of festivals. Cons - This could be a big deal breaker for many but the game starts out extremely slow. Literally you are in a town that's populated by three people. So there's really not much to do at all. And this is goes back to why you need to complete your goals to restore the town. As more and more of the town is restore more people will begin to populate it. - Restoration can be a pain if you're not using a guide or don't know what you're doing. Restoration can be a gruesome painfully slow process if you're not using a helper to let you know ahead of time what you need to collect and how. So if you're not using a guide, then the only way to ensure that you restore the town in a fast manner so that the game actually starts to pick up is to basically become a horder and horde everything you collect. For instance, the notorious weed that everyone hate. You think it's useless but it's actually an item that is needed to build something that is necessary to restore the town. But by the time you figure this out, you have to wait days, maybe even weeks to collect all the weed that you need and thus slowing your process. - It's not a bad thing to have a goal but when the town takes so long to restore, everything becomes extremely slow and boring. You can go for a whole year with just 6 people living in your town if you're not on track. That's a really boring town! - Unnecessary cut scene that you CANNOT skip. What were the makers thinking? For instance Neil opens his animal shop 4 days a week at 10 and closes at 6. If you happen to be in town around that time there's this really annoying cutscene that you have to watch EVERY SINGLE TIME and ITS NOT SKIPABLE. It doesn't benefit you in any way at all. Why did they even add it?! - Everyone in town eats extremely slow. Seriously, it takes them 2 hours to eat a single meal and when you combine breakfast, lunch, and dinner that's 6 hours wasted. WHO SPENDS 6 HOURS A DAY JUST TO EAT?! It's not so much of a problem but when you're trying to raise friendship or love you can't give them any gifts while they are eating. So yeah, you have to time yourself around their eating schedule. - Time goes by too fast. Time never stops, not when you're indoors, not when your outdoors, not when your in a your barn ect. Each minute is a second in real time. When the game starts picking up you'll have so much to do but not enough time to do it. Just tending to your animals and crops can take a huge chunk out of your day especially when time doesn't stop when your inside your barn or coop. But if you want to do other things, then you have to give up some time not brushing your animals or showing them some love. Other things to consider - Unlimited stamina. You can restore your stamina by eating food so if you have a lot of food, you can have unlimited stamina. The downside though is that there's no power berries or power ups that increases your stamina and many things takes up a lot of your stamina. You lose a whole heart by just brushing 5 animals. Yeah. - No mute on music. You get one music per season but if you dislike the music there's no option to just mute it without having to silence the sound effects as well. - The mining isn't tedious. Unlike most other harvest moon where you can explore the mines the mine in this game is very simple. You go in and hit three areas and then receive random things each day. That's it. No exploration. Overall the game is great but because of the slow start and slow process it can get boring really fast. I strongly recommend you use a guide so that you can speed up the restoration a little bit faster to bring in more townspeople to make things more livelier... either that or you're gonna be stuck with just 2 marriage prospect and an unpopulated town for a year+.

I have to be frank--I don't think the Harvest Moon developers have given us a truly good, solid portable iteration in the series for a while. I quite enjoyed (and still do!) Harvest Moon DS (the first entry in the series for the Nintendo DS) and its sister, DS Cute. I wasn't hugely fond of Island of Happiness. Grand Bazaar and Tale of Two Towns were both absolute flops, in my opinion. So I had my doubts about this game, and I went into it with a pessimistic attitude. I even bought one for a friend as a birthday present so we could compare opinions. The game has a slow start, for sure. Especially if you're a seasoned Harvest Moon veteran, you'll find that the tutorial at the start is long, drawn-out, dry, and utterly pointless. Yes, it's a new game on a new system, but Harvest Moon is such an easy game to figure out I found the tutorial a headache more than anything. I skipped the entire thing by pressing the A button and was able to figure out all the controls and the menu within about forty-five seconds. On the other hand, it's good for true beginners and especially those who have never picked up a game console before in their life. The REAL slow start, however, is not the tutorial. (I wish!) Instead, it's the fact that Echo Village is almost completely deserted when you move in. There is an explanation--the town is falling apart and most people have packed up and left--but still, for the first season there is virtually nothing to do but plant some seeds, forage, and chat with the few villagers who do remain there with you. One of my favorite parts of Harvest Moon is breeding animals and raising them, so it might not be a bad idea for you to give it a try. Where the game does shine initially though is with the customization system. For the first time in Harvest Moon history, you can customize your player character to your heart's content. Hair color, skin color, eye color, eye shape, even two different outfits to pick from at the beginning. My understanding is that a hairdresser moves into town eventually and you can change your hairstyles later in the game and get new clothes. I also believe that one can cross dress of sorts--males can dress and look exactly like females and vice versa. This is a new step for Harvest Moon, as one could theoretically play as a boy, wear feminine clothes and hairstyles, and still marry one of the local girls. Vice versa, of course. Very interesting, I'm experimenting with this by playing as a boy with a girlier name, pink hair, and big pink eyes. We'll see how it works! The controls in this game are nothing to hit home about, but good enough. You move with the circle pad, open the menu with 'X', jump with 'B', interact with things with 'A', and zoom in and change camera angle with the directional pad. Not being able to move your character with the directional pad, only the circle pad, may be a learning curve for some but it's really easy to get used to. The inventory isn't great this time, slightly cumbersome but it's all about getting used to it. I adjusted quickly. For those who enjoy moving their character around the map with a stylus (think Island of Happiness and Sunshine Islands), sorry to disappoint. The touch screen contains a map, the time, the season, and a place for the menu to pop up. I find being able to change the camera angle very helpful. The circle pad works extremely well. Everything else is pretty average. The graphics are nice! As is typical with Harvest Moon, they won't blow you out of the water and they don't really take full advantage of the 3DS's capabilities. I love the people's designs in the game, absolutely adorable and lifelike. They blink in their portraits! The animal's sprites are precious and the trees/flowers/rocks/wild animals/water/etc. all complement each other nicely. The only thing I don't really like about the graphics is the grass. All solid green, no texture that I can see. It's not enough to make me really dislike the graphics, however. Characters, though I admittedly have not seen much of them yet, are excellent this time around. Hana in particular, from the initial cast, is downright adorable. Be wary, though, the first bachelors that stroll into town are moody! Don't let that soil your view of them from the beginning, they will open up to you with time. And once Rod moves in, you'll have a bachelor that's nice right off the bat. The bachelors are all fairly good-looking with well-rounded and varied personalities. You may love them all, hate them all, or be able to pick and choose. That's no different. I love the bachelorettes--Witch Princess is back and she's got a whole new look! Michelle is my favorite by far, I'm a sucker for pink. Animals get huge praise this time around. A ton of variety and they all look amazing! I absolutely love the cows. They're almost comical. The other animals, some new (don't want to spoil everything!) don't leave me wanting for much, either. Pets are back and better than ever--I won't spoil much, but they do have some hilarious consequences if you feed them too much or don't take good care of them! The crops, unless you are very into that aspect of the game, are same as always with some new ones thrown into the mix. No real surprises there. The town, as I said, is absolutely dead in the beginning. A couple of buildings, some of which aren't even occupied, and your farm. But unlike previous Harvest Moon games, when you just waited for someone to move in, you take an active role in bringing people to your village. Blueprints make an introduction here, and you can purchase them, gather the materials required for them, and build new things for your village! Some plans are required to bring some characters into town. But follow that formula and your town will soon be bursting. Eventually, I believe you even get to change your town's name if you complete all the Blueprints. There is also the introduction of the Travel Agency, and you guessed it, vacations! There are several places to choose from and they're a great idea for honeymoons, birthdays, or just because. Overall... PROS + Good controls + Nice graphics + Great cast of characters + Customization + Animals/Pets + New Crops + Longevity (I can see myself being hooked on this until I go blind!) + Town building system + Travel Agency + Multiplayer (haven't experimented with this yet, if you try it and have feedback, leave a comment!) + An enormous amount of new little bells and whistles and features that you have to discover for yourself! CONS - Ugly grass - Horribly slow start - Inventory may bother some - Characters repeat themselves often when you talk to them That's really it. In my opinion, it's easily the best Harvest Moon so far and there's so much to see and do that even after you've done and seen it all you'll want to keep going forever. It's not perfect, but as you can see, the Pros greatly outnumber my superficial little Cons. It's an amazing game with few flaws and it's just waiting for you to pick up and play. So get out there and happy farming!

So, before I got this game I bought the game that Natsume made on their own, "Harvest Moon - The Lost Valley," and while that was a mistake and I returned the game, this game is exactly what I wanted! You can customize your character from the start from skin tone to hair color and eye color, it's great! I believe you get more options later but that's a great start. Like Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, you can befriend the animals around the town but you have to feed them and pick them up in order to do that, so at the beginning, you can only bother them and watch them run around trying to get away from you. Now, the TRUE beginning of the game is painfully slow. This isn't a Harvest Moon game where you start in a fully-founded town with all the bachelors and bachelorettes living in the town .The town is totally deserted except for three people, one of which runs the general store, one being your "tutorial guy" of the series, the second running the general store, and the third being the one that allows you to ship stuff and make money. Take note: YOU DON'T INSTANTLY GET MONEY IN THIS GAME!! You have to ship produce off and you get the money the next day. And at the beginning of the game, you should definitely plant some produce and run around the different areas collecting bugs and flowers to make money because there is literally nothing else for you to do in the first bit of the game. You can totally skip the tutorial if you've played a Harvest Moon game before. I pressed the A button until the tutorial guy(named Dunhill) left me alone and the controls are super simple, but controlling the camera with the D-pad may take a little getting used to. But it's nothing complicated. :D The game is adorable and it was exactly the Harvest Moon fix that I needed in my life. I felt a hole in my heart from the lack of good Harvest Moon or Harvest Moon-like games and this product definitely filled it for me. <3