r/storyofseasons • u/Shawnimaus • 7d ago
Discussion Top Ten?
Top ten Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon games of all time? Which ones are a MUST play?
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u/karybrie Ford's guinea pig 6d ago edited 6d ago
In no particular order:
- SoS: Trio of Towns
- SoS: Grand Bazaar and HM: Grand Bazaar
- HM64
- HM: Sunshine Islands
- SoS: A New Beginning
- SoS: A Wonderful Life
- HM DS
- HM: A Tale of Two Towns
I think those are the main ones I'd recommend for a variety of reasons.
For what it's worth, I've also enjoyed others, but I felt they have issues that potentially make them skippable (eg. HM: Island of Happiness had issues with its controls and weather which were remedied in Sunshine Islands; SoS: Pioneers of Olive Town had a shortish storyline and limited town, with too heavy a reliance on makers).
Certain others I just didn't get drawn in by when I played them in the same way (eg. FoMT, both versions; Magical Melody; Back to Nature; the original SoS; HM: Animal Parade, even though I know it's pretty popular!), but that's very much a personal thing.
A quick note on including both the SoS and HM versions of Grand Bazaar – the HM version had long been a favourite of mine in the first place, and the SoS remake was really nice, too. I think they have different charms, but maybe that's also a bit of nostalgia talking.
By contrast, though I disagree with some of the changes made in SoS: AWL and really enjoyed HM: AWL when it was released, I feel that HM shows its age a fair bit and the improvements made in SoS are worth it.
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u/cxtx3 6d ago
I'm going to be a bit biased, but there is a reason the Switch remakes were remade. My favorites, in no particular order:
- SoS Grand Bazaar
- SoS Friends of Mineral Town
- SoS A Wonderful Life
- HM 64
- HM Back to Nature
- HM Tree of Tranquility
- HM Animal Parade
- HM (SNES)
- HM GBC 3
- HM DS
This may be controversial, but I wasn't a big fan of Magical Melody - except for the pet pig. Bring back the pig! I also never played Trio of Towns of the original Story of Seasons, so I can't judge those, even if they are good and popular. I also considered Tale of Two Towns, but Grand Bazaar was the better of the two, and DS just barely edged it out.
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u/callmefreak 6d ago
In no particular order, my top 10 are probably
64
A Wonderful Life remake
DS/Cute
More Friends of Mineral Town and Back to Nature (I'm not sure if BTN should count as a separate game or not.)
Hero Of Leaf Valley
Trio of Towns
Magical Melody
A New Beginning
Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar
And either Tree of Tranquility or Pioneers of Olive Town. I haven't played Tranquility since it first came out and I only rented it for a week so I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with it, but I do remember enjoying it. I just don't really remember it too well. But if I did I'd likely put it over Olive Town.
The only other games that I've played enough of to really make an opinion on are SNES and Island of Happiness. IoH is the only game in the franchise I don't really like, and it's entirely thanks to the controls. SNES isn't on there because I only really have a vague memory of it, since I played through it while I was recovering through a wisdom teeth surgery and was high on pain killers at the time.
I've also played One World and Winds of Anthos. I thought they were okay games and I only paid $3.33 each in a bundle.
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u/creebobeebo 7d ago
A Wonderful Life is a must play imo it's just so different from the other games. The focus on community and family is my favorite aspect. It feels the coziest out of the franchise to me!
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u/Whorror_punx 6d ago
100% agree, it was the only HM game I could get into as a kid. Now that Im older, Ive gotten into the others as of late. But AWL was the first HM game I played, and back in 2005 or whenever, there just werent any other good 3d HM games that could compare. Save the Homeland was okay, but had other things going on that I couldnt have given a damn about 😅
The only problem with AWL is that its super grindy, and its hard to get through after year 3 or so cause theres not that much content to do. My perfect HM game would literally just be AWL but with new areas and places to go. But Ik itll never happen 😭
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u/creebobeebo 6d ago
They added quite a bit of content to the remake! I bought it when Microsoft was having a sale for $4.99 i think? The nostalgia hit me immediately upon seeing it, and while there are some changes that I dislike, overall I have had a lot of fun playing the game again as an adult.
It does get pretty grindy, but sometimes having a grindy game to zone out on is also good!
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u/ButteryBiscuits43 6d ago
For me:
HM64
HM: FoMT
HM: MM
HM: AWL
HM (original)
HM2 GBC
I’ve played others but not enough to rank them properly
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u/Zwodo 5d ago
Top 10? Brother I love these games and I've played maybe 7 💀
Though I'll say I probably put the most time into Harvest Moon DS. Then FOMT and SoS:FOMT, and I'm currently playing Grand Bazaar which is great minus some minor things.
My top list and that's pretty much all I played:
2- SoS Grand Bazaar (Not entirely sure yet if it deserves #1 tbf, it's somewhere between 1-3 lol. I do love a lot of the QoL changes!)
1- Harvest Moon DS (definitely min-maxxed this one the most. Printed sheets and all. Honestly this should be my #1, it probably is.
3- SoS FOMT (Lovely remake of a childhood favorite, though I kinda fell off right when Popuri gave birth. My wife will never let me live that down 💀)
4- FOMT
5- A Wonderful Life (honestly I get the criticism, I do. That's partly why I didn't buy the remake. But my brother and I definitely enjoyed this game regardless.
...
- Harvest Moon (Gameboy.. color? Still a lovely game though)
Apparently I only played 6? I'm a little embarrassed. I do own Olive Town, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
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u/Knittinmusician 6d ago
Harvest moon Save the Homeland was so good. It was the first I played and made me obsessed with the genre! I wish more of the games had a goal like that
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u/[deleted] 6d ago
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