Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories Announced (Wii U, PC, iOS, and Android)
- Thread starter Shard
- Start date
Hero of Legend
Member
It's sad that as only a AWL player I can come up with a simple roadmap of sorts far better than this;
- Get Toy Box on a game, 1st and foremost, that'd give them a HUGE edge over Marvelous as Wada is there and they already worked together on Hometown Story.
- A dev itself (Toy Box is really small I think) is tricky. Lost Valley was by Tabot who also made games like Wacky World of Sports on Wii (Kenichi Nishi from Skip worked on that no less), the original Tank Tank Tank in the Arcade, and that recent Marvel Disc Avengers game on 3DS. But I don't know if their portfolio says HM, however research showed a higher-up Victor person at the company, who also was at Genius Sonority, so there's that? Another option is Tachyon who works with Natsume on the Reel Fishing games on 3DS, Vita, and mobile. These at least seem pretty competent (way better than the Wii ones by SIMS), so there's that familiarity.
- Work out what you (Natsume) own of Harvest Moon including characters, assets, etc. If you want to established that this is still HM, try making an entry with the characters people remember from the SNES/N64/GC/GBA era. I find it telling that a chicken in Lost Valley looks straight out of the original games:
- Just make it AWL-style in a full 3D open world. It was your highest selling HM game and that was on GC. Why not bring back that formula? It doesn't need to be uber complex graphically!
Natsume have the capabilities and know-how to pull of a HM even Marvelous doesn't seem to want to attempt, especially as Story of Seasons seems dead on consoles (last was Animal Parade, or RF Tides of Destiny if you count Rune Factory). Be competitive!
- Get Toy Box on a game, 1st and foremost, that'd give them a HUGE edge over Marvelous as Wada is there and they already worked together on Hometown Story.
- A dev itself (Toy Box is really small I think) is tricky. Lost Valley was by Tabot who also made games like Wacky World of Sports on Wii (Kenichi Nishi from Skip worked on that no less), the original Tank Tank Tank in the Arcade, and that recent Marvel Disc Avengers game on 3DS. But I don't know if their portfolio says HM, however research showed a higher-up Victor person at the company, who also was at Genius Sonority, so there's that? Another option is Tachyon who works with Natsume on the Reel Fishing games on 3DS, Vita, and mobile. These at least seem pretty competent (way better than the Wii ones by SIMS), so there's that familiarity.
- Work out what you (Natsume) own of Harvest Moon including characters, assets, etc. If you want to established that this is still HM, try making an entry with the characters people remember from the SNES/N64/GC/GBA era. I find it telling that a chicken in Lost Valley looks straight out of the original games:
- Just make it AWL-style in a full 3D open world. It was your highest selling HM game and that was on GC. Why not bring back that formula? It doesn't need to be uber complex graphically!
Natsume have the capabilities and know-how to pull of a HM even Marvelous doesn't seem to want to attempt, especially as Story of Seasons seems dead on consoles (last was Animal Parade, or RF Tides of Destiny if you count Rune Factory). Be competitive!
Even worse, the art is just terrible instead of just generic. "Make it 2D, it'll be cheaper and it'll sell because of nostalgia!" is how I imagine they ended up with this.
It's basically imitating the SNES Harvest moon like Star Fox Zero is doing to 64.
Team Alucard
Banned
Lost Valley was awful and this game looks even worse.
Man, it was really stupid for Marvelous to willingly throw away 30 years for brand awareness.
Hopefully Story of Seasons sold well enough for the series to continue being localized.
Man, it was really stupid for Marvelous to willingly throw away 30 years for brand awareness.
Hopefully Story of Seasons sold well enough for the series to continue being localized.
Fusion Pizza
Member
Ugh Fucking Bullshit.
Infernal Monkey
Member
I like Natsume and I think they did a decent job with the series over the years.
But honestly what they are doing here is just lame. No one would ever confuse this with a game that had actual effort put into its design, but it will likely be profitable on brand alone. A brand that was built up over two decades largely by another developer.
what does Marvelous have to do with it? All they wanted was to localize their own games, now that they had the resources to do so
But honestly what they are doing here is just lame. No one would ever confuse this with a game that had actual effort put into its design, but it will likely be profitable on brand alone. A brand that was built up over two decades largely by another developer.
what does Marvelous have to do with it? All they wanted was to localize their own games, now that they had the resources to do so
Why the hell did they decide to start from scratch AGAIN instead of just making a Lost Valley sequel with all the crap they didn't have time/money to add the first time? Lost Valley was not a perfect game by any means but it's something that could very easily become good after a couple iterations, but it seems they'd rather toss everything out and start again for no good reason.
LurkerPrime
Member
Maintenance
Member
RPG Maker look-alike.
TheSlySoul
Member
Mobile releases
Harvest Moon in license only
... Pass ...
Edit: Yuck, that gameplay.
Harvest Moon in license only
... Pass ...
Edit: Yuck, that gameplay.
Yup.
The Yo Tornado
Member
If anything these releases are making me appreciate the work the original team does all the more. The Harvest Moon template doesn't seem like one that would be hard to emulate, yet these Natsume games lack all of the heart and nuances the Bokujō Monogatari games have.
PhoenixSFT
Member
Why are people bigger than the doors? What is this, a Harvest Moon for ants!?
Akhe
Member
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
The fuck. No one asked for this, and none of specifically this art-style change (a massive downgrade) was hinted in PR. Did the Lost Valley devs call quits, leaving Natsume with no good options? At this point it's looking grim for Seeds of Memories, I'd rather just get Story of Seasons or code a FoMT-style fangame.
Check out Stardew Valley. After seeing this, I'm convinced that they're not going to try to make another good Harvest Moon like the old ones.
TekGryphon
Banned
My man. I check that guy's development page 2-3 times a week. So much hype.
I really hope this isn't what got you banned because God damn, this post and then that video a few weeks later... it was like some Nostradamus shit.
The same developer that made Lost Valley is making this new game.
Again, I seriously don't understand why this new game isn't an iteration on Lost Valley and why they thought scrapping everything and starting again (again!) would be a good idea.
TekGryphon
Banned
Speaking of Stardew Valley, a new developer update just went up.
Still too early to do a full OP on it, but we're getting close
http://stardewvalley.net/
Still too early to do a full OP on it, but we're getting close
http://stardewvalley.net/
finalflame
Banned
Nah, I got banned for some unsavory comments in the DOTA2 Reborn thread. Whether it was called for is up for debate, but, I'm back.
Worst fears confirmed. Natsume was notoriously quiet about this game during E3, instead being vocal about goddamn DLC for Lost Valley, another game that is a disgrace to the Harvest Moon trademark.
Once again mobile gaming has taken a huge dump all over a beloved name. I guess all hope now really does rest in Story of Seasons and Marvelous. Sigh. Such a crock of shit.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
Good god it looks bad. Natsume is really shitting on this series and it's really a damn shame. I know we can always follow Marvelous and just pick up their titles but I still have a connection to this name and it's just a goddamn shame.
Yikes... it does look pretty bad. 
The Lost Valley looked a lot better. They're probably better off sticking to that game's style.
I was hoping they would go with 2D pixel art.
I really wish Natsume or Marvelous would make a Harvest Moon game like the original games again. That's all I want...
They need to go back to the roots of the series.
The Lost Valley looked a lot better. They're probably better off sticking to that game's style.
I was hoping they would go with 2D pixel art.
I really wish Natsume or Marvelous would make a Harvest Moon game like the original games again.
That's all I want...They need to go back to the roots of the series.
finalflame
Banned
I think offering a bachelor and bachelorette as DLC for Lost Valley speaks volumes of the direction Natsume wants to take this series. The decision to develop this title for iOS and Android just further solidifies the fact that they are just interested in making a quick cash-grab for people who have yet to realize that the IP for the real HM has moved over to Story of Seasons.
There is still a glimmer of hope in my heart that this video represents the game in a very incomplete state with placeholder assets, but, that's probably not the case. They were so, so quiet about this game during E3. It was almost impossible to find any coverage about it until days after E3 was over, and took even longer for footage to pop up. Either they are embarrassed of it in its current pre-release state, or want to show as little information as possible before releasing it later this year.
finalflame
Banned
And that's exactly what this is looking to be, a crappy, money-grab mobile game that will just get a WiiU digital version. This does not at all look to be the same mid-high production complete home console HM like HM: AP, HM:MM and HM: ToT were.
I knew the inclusion of "Android and iOS" in the platforms was a death sentence for many people's most beloved series. It's pathetic. Absolutely pathetic, and explains why they were so quiet about it at E3. They knew this would not please the crowd at E3, but will be a great microtransaction and DLC platform for gullible mobile players.
Goddamn it.
Alex_Mexico
Member
I've been clamoring for a real HM game for my iPhone for years now. When I heard it was gonna be in a 2D throwback style of the earlier days of the series I was exctatic (HM64 is still the best). But this shit? This is an eyesore! A load of crap, that's what it looks like!
A 2D top down GBA port of a PS1 game from 13 years ago looks better (Friends of Mineral Town) than this new 2015 one.
And why was this game being shown in a 4:3 ratio? Android and iOS phones are 16:9, not to mention WiiU and PC games nowadays.
What the ass is going on with this game?
A 2D top down GBA port of a PS1 game from 13 years ago looks better (Friends of Mineral Town) than this new 2015 one.
And why was this game being shown in a 4:3 ratio? Android and iOS phones are 16:9, not to mention WiiU and PC games nowadays.
What the ass is going on with this game?
Oyashrio-Sama
Member
SolidusDave
Member
Cool, I'm not annoyed anymore that this isn't coming to PSN.
Would still like to have a proper Harvest Moon game for PS4 instead of Farming Simulator though.
Would still like to have a proper Harvest Moon game for PS4 instead of Farming Simulator though.
Going for that Steam Greenlight audience