Honestly I was so excited to get my hands on this, I have played a lot of natsume harvest moon, really i love all the ones i have played. I really attach nostalgia to them and cling onto it.
I fell in love with this game, I didn't go online to read the reviews until now. I truly understand the qualms everyone has I really do. I personally have just been dealing with the issues and put them on the back burner because i really love how they implemented, space, crafting, more customization more variety in having pets. However being extremely nit picky it should have been way more polished and with upcoming updates i hope they can tackle the following:
- obviously makers should be able to produce more, if they want it more challenging make the items higher to create them to allow them to still have a challenging feel.
-FPS should not be happening as frequently as they are it just shouldn't
-The townspeople to me i don't know i have been focusing so much on my own farm and experience with mining i haven't noticed, however when i was younger i was very much immersed in the romance and cut scenes. I really thought it would be better then the reviews i have read. I mean i really feel they should implement the portraits since they do have them in the menu option beside their likeness towards you. I hope they can reconstruct their emotions and dialogue in game since this is something most look forward to in these farming games.
-The first festival i think my heart sank a bit simply because you actually cannot engage in it, i thought that was so odd because that is a staple in these games. However the festivals do get better, and there should be more. I would love to see the tomato festival in the summer where theres a tournament between all the townsfolk.(harvest moon friends of mineral town i think?) I think especially in this one with all the different characters that would be so amazing, again i don't really know how much more they can implement on a game that's released and "finished".
I feel they were trying to be more innovative then the previous ones and implement some of the more modern games similiar to this i.e animal crossing, and obviously stardew valley. i feel they nailed variety for the most part, it needs to be polished but I do not regret buying this game. I am really just hoping they can address more of these issues to make it become the game everyone was truly hoping for in the beginning. If you are a fan I would pick it up but there are some set backs whereas most games have already addressed then released. Maybe just wait 6 months and see where they have progressed. I still am really enjoying it however.