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This thread has been linked to the game 'Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life'.
Being VERY impatient i decided to pick up a copy of the JAP version of AWL from Play-Asia. It's all in Japanese obviously but i understand exactly what i'm doing and i haven't had this much fun since Animal Cossing, i will however be picking up the English version as well as it's that good!
Firstly lets put one thing straight, if you hate slow games and farming this isn't for you. It has some similarities with Animal Crossing but it's also very different so if you enjoyed Animal Crossing but hate farming proceed to this with care, when it hits the European Shelfs on March 26th 2004 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Firstly let me tell you a little about the structure of the game. There seems to be different chapters (i believe there's six) which you have to go through. Each chapter takes quite alot of hours to complete because it last one year in game time, you start of at spring and go all the way to winter and then chapter two starts, i believe each year last 4+ hours however i'm not certain, i reckon it's more personally, each day lasts quite a while but overall i still think they are too fast.. a minute lasts around 30 seconds and you hardly have any time to talk to people at first. At the start of the game you must name your cow, choose your dog( out of two) and name it and name yourself and your farm, surprisingly you can do all this in English! However character speech is in Japanese. Your farm is big, there's 3 patches of dirt for your crops (one's extremeley big and much more fertilised), there's a little grass area for your cows etc.. to go outside and a barn for them to stay inside. You got your house, the shipping house (where you buy items to be shipped to you and sell them) and loads more etc.. and there's alot of neat stuff lying around. The whole world in itself is massive, and everything runs nicely without any problems on screen why we are on this sunject lets talk graphics...
Graphics.
SUPERB, you really do have to see them to believe them. It's all in 3D. Your farm is on a lovely hill and you can see the sea and beach in the distance. At the Moment it's spring (which is called PARROT in the game if you didn't know) so lovely pink blossom trees and green grass is taking over the area, it really does make you feel all warm and nice inside, the birds are tweeting, your cow is mooing and the air is moving the fresh green grass, at night little lights glow pathways and stars twinkle in the night sky, early morning and you see probably the best sunset in any game. Roll on winter that's all i have to say! 9/10 'Stunning'.
Controls.
A little like Animal Crossing i suppose, the A button checks most objects out, picks up items etc.. and is mainly the button which is used the most The B button is mainly to cancel something. The X button is used for a quick shortcut to check your rucksack (which holds a lot more now) Z button goes into a first person mode. you control yourself with the control stick and C button moves the camera. Easy. 9/10
Sound.
Really at the mo it just seems to be music and some Animal Noises. Not superb but does set the scene. 6/10
Crops.
Thankfully seeds are now a little more cheaper then they were in Friends of the Mineral Town (GBA version: rating 89%). Also you start of with 3000 coins which is a blessing. Also you don't need to buy tools (unless you want to upgrade them, which you probably have to in the future) and it's all much easier to grow things. Firstly you must dig the soil over, secondly plant the seeds (correct veggie for correct season! for example at the mo i'm planting Tomato and Watermelon as you plant them in PARROT) water the patch once a day and there you have it! But thats not all.. AWL also lets you mix crops to get Hybrid crops which makes matters a little more confusing and as i haven't done this yet i can't really tell you about it! 9/10 a little more advanced and much more fun in full 3D. There's also lodas more to plant this time round.
Animals.
Superb. Cows, Goats, Chickens, Ducks, Turtles, Horses, Dogs the list goes on.. As i said before you only start of with a cow and you pick a dog! Quite looking forward to raising all these. 10/10
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is an excellent game and does Beat Animal Crossing in many aspects. The Graphics are excellent, there's so much to it i could of written loads more (but i don't want to ruin anything for you). I would only recommend importing it if 1) it's put back again another 2 months or so 2) If your impatient like me 3) if you only have a JAP CUBE. It's not unbearable to play in JAP but obviously you can't understand what people are saying other then that it's easily playable and i'm having a great time (god-knows what it'll be like in the English version) i would easily give this game 92% (don't add up the top scores as i haven't used them to get my final score). Just hope people give it a chance before slagging it off purely because it's farming! WELL DONE NATSUME! For more information on Harvest Moon Games and AWL go to www.hmotaku.net it gives you loads of information on Animals, Crops (the hybrid ones as well), people events. It really does help you if you have the JAP version also! Any questions please ask...
Firstly lets put one thing straight, if you hate slow games and farming this isn't for you. It has some similarities with Animal Crossing but it's also very different so if you enjoyed Animal Crossing but hate farming proceed to this with care, when it hits the European Shelfs on March 26th 2004 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Firstly let me tell you a little about the structure of the game. There seems to be different chapters (i believe there's six) which you have to go through. Each chapter takes quite alot of hours to complete because it last one year in game time, you start of at spring and go all the way to winter and then chapter two starts, i believe each year last 4+ hours however i'm not certain, i reckon it's more personally, each day lasts quite a while but overall i still think they are too fast.. a minute lasts around 30 seconds and you hardly have any time to talk to people at first. At the start of the game you must name your cow, choose your dog( out of two) and name it and name yourself and your farm, surprisingly you can do all this in English! However character speech is in Japanese. Your farm is big, there's 3 patches of dirt for your crops (one's extremeley big and much more fertilised), there's a little grass area for your cows etc.. to go outside and a barn for them to stay inside. You got your house, the shipping house (where you buy items to be shipped to you and sell them) and loads more etc.. and there's alot of neat stuff lying around. The whole world in itself is massive, and everything runs nicely without any problems on screen why we are on this sunject lets talk graphics...
Graphics.
SUPERB, you really do have to see them to believe them. It's all in 3D. Your farm is on a lovely hill and you can see the sea and beach in the distance. At the Moment it's spring (which is called PARROT in the game if you didn't know) so lovely pink blossom trees and green grass is taking over the area, it really does make you feel all warm and nice inside, the birds are tweeting, your cow is mooing and the air is moving the fresh green grass, at night little lights glow pathways and stars twinkle in the night sky, early morning and you see probably the best sunset in any game. Roll on winter that's all i have to say! 9/10 'Stunning'.
Controls.
A little like Animal Crossing i suppose, the A button checks most objects out, picks up items etc.. and is mainly the button which is used the most The B button is mainly to cancel something. The X button is used for a quick shortcut to check your rucksack (which holds a lot more now) Z button goes into a first person mode. you control yourself with the control stick and C button moves the camera. Easy. 9/10
Sound.
Really at the mo it just seems to be music and some Animal Noises. Not superb but does set the scene. 6/10
Crops.
Thankfully seeds are now a little more cheaper then they were in Friends of the Mineral Town (GBA version: rating 89%). Also you start of with 3000 coins which is a blessing. Also you don't need to buy tools (unless you want to upgrade them, which you probably have to in the future) and it's all much easier to grow things. Firstly you must dig the soil over, secondly plant the seeds (correct veggie for correct season! for example at the mo i'm planting Tomato and Watermelon as you plant them in PARROT) water the patch once a day and there you have it! But thats not all.. AWL also lets you mix crops to get Hybrid crops which makes matters a little more confusing and as i haven't done this yet i can't really tell you about it! 9/10 a little more advanced and much more fun in full 3D. There's also lodas more to plant this time round.
Animals.
Superb. Cows, Goats, Chickens, Ducks, Turtles, Horses, Dogs the list goes on.. As i said before you only start of with a cow and you pick a dog! Quite looking forward to raising all these. 10/10
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is an excellent game and does Beat Animal Crossing in many aspects. The Graphics are excellent, there's so much to it i could of written loads more (but i don't want to ruin anything for you). I would only recommend importing it if 1) it's put back again another 2 months or so 2) If your impatient like me 3) if you only have a JAP CUBE. It's not unbearable to play in JAP but obviously you can't understand what people are saying other then that it's easily playable and i'm having a great time (god-knows what it'll be like in the English version) i would easily give this game 92% (don't add up the top scores as i haven't used them to get my final score). Just hope people give it a chance before slagging it off purely because it's farming! WELL DONE NATSUME! For more information on Harvest Moon Games and AWL go to www.hmotaku.net it gives you loads of information on Animals, Crops (the hybrid ones as well), people events. It really does help you if you have the JAP version also! Any questions please ask...
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Being VERY impatient i decided to pick up a copy of the JAP version of AWL from Play-Asia. It's all in Japanese obviously but i understand exactly what i'm doing and i haven't had this much fun since Animal Cossing, i will however be picking up the English version as well as it's that good!
Firstly lets put one thing straight, if you hate slow games and farming this isn't for you. It has some similarities with Animal Crossing but it's also very different so if you enjoyed Animal Crossing but hate farming proceed to this with care, when it hits the European Shelfs on March 26th 2004 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Firstly let me tell you a little about the structure of the game. There seems to be different chapters (i believe there's six) which you have to go through. Each chapter takes quite alot of hours to complete because it last one year in game time, you start of at spring and go all the way to winter and then chapter two starts, i believe each year last 4+ hours however i'm not certain, i reckon it's more personally, each day lasts quite a while but overall i still think they are too fast.. a minute lasts around 30 seconds and you hardly have any time to talk to people at first. At the start of the game you must name your cow, choose your dog( out of two) and name it and name yourself and your farm, surprisingly you can do all this in English! However character speech is in Japanese. Your farm is big, there's 3 patches of dirt for your crops (one's extremeley big and much more fertilised), there's a little grass area for your cows etc.. to go outside and a barn for them to stay inside. You got your house, the shipping house (where you buy items to be shipped to you and sell them) and loads more etc.. and there's alot of neat stuff lying around. The whole world in itself is massive, and everything runs nicely without any problems on screen why we are on this sunject lets talk graphics...
Graphics.
SUPERB, you really do have to see them to believe them. It's all in 3D. Your farm is on a lovely hill and you can see the sea and beach in the distance. At the Moment it's spring (which is called PARROT in the game if you didn't know) so lovely pink blossom trees and green grass is taking over the area, it really does make you feel all warm and nice inside, the birds are tweeting, your cow is mooing and the air is moving the fresh green grass, at night little lights glow pathways and stars twinkle in the night sky, early morning and you see probably the best sunset in any game. Roll on winter that's all i have to say! 9/10 'Stunning'.
Controls.
A little like Animal Crossing i suppose, the A button checks most objects out, picks up items etc.. and is mainly the button which is used the most The B button is mainly to cancel something. The X button is used for a quick shortcut to check your rucksack (which holds a lot more now) Z button goes into a first person mode. you control yourself with the control stick and C button moves the camera. Easy. 9/10
Sound.
Really at the mo it just seems to be music and some Animal Noises. Not superb but does set the scene. 6/10
Crops.
Thankfully seeds are now a little more cheaper then they were in Friends of the Mineral Town (GBA version: rating 89%). Also you start of with 3000 coins which is a blessing. Also you don't need to buy tools (unless you want to upgrade them, which you probably have to in the future) and it's all much easier to grow things. Firstly you must dig the soil over, secondly plant the seeds (correct veggie for correct season! for example at the mo i'm planting Tomato and Watermelon as you plant them in PARROT) water the patch once a day and there you have it! But thats not all.. AWL also lets you mix crops to get Hybrid crops which makes matters a little more confusing and as i haven't done this yet i can't really tell you about it! 9/10 a little more advanced and much more fun in full 3D. There's also lodas more to plant this time round.
Animals.
Superb. Cows, Goats, Chickens, Ducks, Turtles, Horses, Dogs the list goes on.. As i said before you only start of with a cow and you pick a dog! Quite looking forward to raising all these. 10/10
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is an excellent game and does Beat Animal Crossing in many aspects. The Graphics are excellent, there's so much to it i could of written loads more (but i don't want to ruin anything for you). I would only recommend importing it if 1) it's put back again another 2 months or so 2) If your impatient like me 3) if you only have a JAP CUBE. It's not unbearable to play in JAP but obviously you can't understand what people are saying other then that it's easily playable and i'm having a great time (god-knows what it'll be like in the English version) i would easily give this game 92% (don't add up the top scores as i haven't used them to get my final score). Just hope people give it a chance before slagging it off purely because it's farming! WELL DONE NATSUME! For more information on Harvest Moon Games and AWL go to www.hmotaku.net it gives you loads of information on Animals, Crops (the hybrid ones as well), people events. It really does help you if you have the JAP version also! Any questions please ask...
Firstly lets put one thing straight, if you hate slow games and farming this isn't for you. It has some similarities with Animal Crossing but it's also very different so if you enjoyed Animal Crossing but hate farming proceed to this with care, when it hits the European Shelfs on March 26th 2004 YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Firstly let me tell you a little about the structure of the game. There seems to be different chapters (i believe there's six) which you have to go through. Each chapter takes quite alot of hours to complete because it last one year in game time, you start of at spring and go all the way to winter and then chapter two starts, i believe each year last 4+ hours however i'm not certain, i reckon it's more personally, each day lasts quite a while but overall i still think they are too fast.. a minute lasts around 30 seconds and you hardly have any time to talk to people at first. At the start of the game you must name your cow, choose your dog( out of two) and name it and name yourself and your farm, surprisingly you can do all this in English! However character speech is in Japanese. Your farm is big, there's 3 patches of dirt for your crops (one's extremeley big and much more fertilised), there's a little grass area for your cows etc.. to go outside and a barn for them to stay inside. You got your house, the shipping house (where you buy items to be shipped to you and sell them) and loads more etc.. and there's alot of neat stuff lying around. The whole world in itself is massive, and everything runs nicely without any problems on screen why we are on this sunject lets talk graphics...
Graphics.
SUPERB, you really do have to see them to believe them. It's all in 3D. Your farm is on a lovely hill and you can see the sea and beach in the distance. At the Moment it's spring (which is called PARROT in the game if you didn't know) so lovely pink blossom trees and green grass is taking over the area, it really does make you feel all warm and nice inside, the birds are tweeting, your cow is mooing and the air is moving the fresh green grass, at night little lights glow pathways and stars twinkle in the night sky, early morning and you see probably the best sunset in any game. Roll on winter that's all i have to say! 9/10 'Stunning'.
Controls.
A little like Animal Crossing i suppose, the A button checks most objects out, picks up items etc.. and is mainly the button which is used the most The B button is mainly to cancel something. The X button is used for a quick shortcut to check your rucksack (which holds a lot more now) Z button goes into a first person mode. you control yourself with the control stick and C button moves the camera. Easy. 9/10
Sound.
Really at the mo it just seems to be music and some Animal Noises. Not superb but does set the scene. 6/10
Crops.
Thankfully seeds are now a little more cheaper then they were in Friends of the Mineral Town (GBA version: rating 89%). Also you start of with 3000 coins which is a blessing. Also you don't need to buy tools (unless you want to upgrade them, which you probably have to in the future) and it's all much easier to grow things. Firstly you must dig the soil over, secondly plant the seeds (correct veggie for correct season! for example at the mo i'm planting Tomato and Watermelon as you plant them in PARROT) water the patch once a day and there you have it! But thats not all.. AWL also lets you mix crops to get Hybrid crops which makes matters a little more confusing and as i haven't done this yet i can't really tell you about it! 9/10 a little more advanced and much more fun in full 3D. There's also lodas more to plant this time round.
Animals.
Superb. Cows, Goats, Chickens, Ducks, Turtles, Horses, Dogs the list goes on.. As i said before you only start of with a cow and you pick a dog! Quite looking forward to raising all these. 10/10
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is an excellent game and does Beat Animal Crossing in many aspects. The Graphics are excellent, there's so much to it i could of written loads more (but i don't want to ruin anything for you). I would only recommend importing it if 1) it's put back again another 2 months or so 2) If your impatient like me 3) if you only have a JAP CUBE. It's not unbearable to play in JAP but obviously you can't understand what people are saying other then that it's easily playable and i'm having a great time (god-knows what it'll be like in the English version) i would easily give this game 92% (don't add up the top scores as i haven't used them to get my final score). Just hope people give it a chance before slagging it off purely because it's farming! WELL DONE NATSUME! For more information on Harvest Moon Games and AWL go to www.hmotaku.net it gives you loads of information on Animals, Crops (the hybrid ones as well), people events. It really does help you if you have the JAP version also! Any questions please ask...