Video games resembling Harvestella are the rationale I respect downloadable demos. When lately in search of a recreation to fill the hole between greater releases, I made a decision to offer this and The DioField Chronicle a attempt. Being extra of a tactical JRPG fan than a farming sim man, I absolutely anticipated DioField to win the battle, however no. Harvestella hooked me, and I’m glad I gave it a shot.
Perceive I don’t have a lot expertise with video games that rely closely on a farming mechanic. Sakura: Of Rice and Spoil might be the one to which I devoted a good period of time, primarily as a result of I favored how the farming—regardless of being a serious a part of the gameplay—instantly served the motion. It’s the identical with Harvestella.
You begin as a personality of your title and design (male, feminine, or non-binary) dropped in a small city with a plot of land that occurs to want tending. The larger story entails big crystal constructions referred to as Seaslight that dominate their close by villages. The townsfolk are used to them, however they’ve been appearing a bit wonky as of late.
There’s additionally the Quietus, a pure phenomenon that covers the land with lethal mud each 30 days. The Quietus kills all crops (dangerous for the individuals, however good for gameplay) and infects anybody who occurs to be outdoors earlier than it in some way fully disappears inside 24 hours. Anybody besides you, after all. Then, there’s the woman from the long run. And the farming fairies. And that speaking unicorn. And all of the mechs referred to as Omens. It actually looks as if a bonkers mixture of components that couldn’t presumably work, nevertheless it does. Fairly effectively, in truth.
I attribute that success to 3 issues, starting with the farming element. It’s a must to purchase seeds by varied strategies, then until your small plot of land to get them planted. Maintain them watered, and also you’ll be capable of harvest them inside a day or seven.
These components are then used for cooking objects that may restore your well being and improve your expertise in battle, be traded for rewards, or bought for revenue. Vegetation require particular rising situations, resembling a sure season or biome. It was fairly thrilling, for instance, after I lastly unlocked the water biome and was in a position to plant all of these seeds I’d been accumulating.
Reaching predefined objectives additionally opens new instruments that mean you can course of meals and supplies to unlock new recipes and talents. It’s very very similar to a simplified Atelier recreation in that regard, so I extremely suggest Harvestella to these biding their time till Atelier Ryza 3 arrives in February. Gathering the fitting components to lastly make a dish you’ve been after for fairly a while could be very rewarding, serving to the farming/crafting/cooking aspect to be fairly participating whereas not terribly troublesome.
Part two is exploration/fight. Harvestella affords a somewhat small however very various world that grows properly as you progress. You’ll be able to see your entire map at first, however most places are closed off by invisible partitions and time. There’s a day cycle to honor, so that you solely have from dawn till the “early hours” to get issues carried out earlier than returning house for sleep.
Time passes shortly as you progress from location to location, however that’s ultimately mitigated as you purchase sooner types of transportation. Time throughout the cities and dungeons strikes slower (or under no circumstances when the story requires), however that’s rather more to do there: struggle enemies, tackle sidequests, store, and many others.
The dungeons are distinctive in that it’s important to battle your method by them to achieve the next city. You’ll be able to select to bypass them after preliminary completion, returning solely to farm for components or full quests. The bigger city dungeons are the place you’ll spend most of your time. Once more, they’re not terribly massive, however they’re expertly laid out to require a number of runs to finish. It’ll take the higher half of a day to filter a bit, however you possibly can restore a bridge or ladder that makes it simpler to get by sooner in your second run. After all, there are additionally save/teleport places that mean you can fully skip dungeon sections and, extra importantly, warp house on the finish of an extended day.
Like crafting, battles are considerably primary. Though there are a dozen jobs you possibly can purchase, every with distinctive strengths and expertise to make the most of, fight is extra about preparation than get together optimization. You’ll be able to take two get together members into battles with you and cycle by three of your out there jobs. Monsters are weak to sure forms of assault, so issues transfer alongside faster should you’re sensible together with your setup. That stated, with no actual solution to defend your self, you’re going to take injury. That is mitigated by the objects you’ve farmed, as you’re meant to drink juice or eat meals throughout fight to revive misplaced well being and take away debuffs.
As such, farming and fight/exploration mix to create a enjoyable gameplay loop. Are inclined to your farm within the morning, head off to advance the story or full some sidequests throughout the day, then retreat to the farm within the night to verify the crops are planted/watered, objects are saved/bought, meals is cooked, and gear is developed. Begin once more the subsequent day to push additional forward. The additional alongside you get within the recreation, the extra you’re in a position to automate your farm so you possibly can spend extra time advancing the story.
That, by the way in which, is the third element, and the one which absolutely gained me over. I gained’t go into element for worry of spoiling something, however I can say it positively goes in instructions you gained’t count on. It additionally makes some advanced and clever observations on faith and authorities alongside the way in which.
Extra importantly, every get together member will get a collection of participating sidequests. These not solely present perception into who they’re, however reward you with objects and expertise. There’s little in the way in which of romance, for these searching for that, however you’ll get some strong friendships. And should you take note of your avatar’s selectable response choices you could even study a bit about the way to higher work together with these round you. What a superb listener this traveler is!
Visually, Harvestella pleases with its vivid, vivid colours and hanging world design that takes full benefit of the 3D visuals which might be considerably distinctive to the style. It’s like a smaller, extra stylized Xenoblade Chronicles, proper right down to the anime-style character design. The fight animations aren’t a lot to have a look at, however solely the boss battles final lengthy sufficient so that you can get bored by them.
The entire package deal combines to create an entertaining recreation that ought to enchantment to followers of JRPGs and farming sims. Each components are possible too easy to interact hardcore followers of both, however the profit there may be that neither will get in the way in which of the opposite. The steadiness between and the story that glues them collectively are sufficient to make Harvestella a recreation price tending to.