Info about HARVESTELLA: Official game description: HARVESTELLA, an all-new life-simulation RPG from SQUARE ENIX! ------------------------------------------------------------- Our protagonist awakens during the height of Quietus, a disaster that visits with the changing of each season – and a threat to all life. Lead a life of self-sufficiency with your vibrant house as a base and cooperate with allies to overcome various threats, all as you draw ever closer to the truth behind the disasters and the very world’s creation! Quietus ------- The season of death that visits with the changing of the seasons. Plants wither. People cannot even walk around outside, due to the dust of death that fills the air. And each year, Quietus persists for longer and longer… World ----- Nemea Town, where cherry trees bloom all year round. Shatolla, a seaside town home to a bustling tavern. Lethe Village, resplendent in the vibrant colours of the four seasons. The Holy Capital of Argene, cloaked in snow. Use the world map to travel to all these settlements and their respective dungeons. You will have to traverse beautiful, treacherous paths to reach the Seaslights – four giant crystals that govern the seasons. Daily Life ---------- Grow fruit, vegetables and crops in your fields to either sell or use as crafting materials. If you use the produce you’ve grown in your cooking, the food will grant extremely helpful effects for your adventures, such as HP recovery or temporary stat boosts! It might also be a good idea to take care of some plump cluffowl birds, dignified goat-like woolum, and a pet totokaku. Allies ------ Shrika, a missionary searching for a new form of faith. Heine, a pompous gentleman mechanic. Asyl, descendent of the Wind poem people. And Aria, a mysterious girl who claims to have come from the future. Cooperate with – and sometimes clash with – your allies, including these characters among others. Reach a deeper mutual understanding by facing their worries and their way of life head on. Combat ------ Overcome battles by switching seamlessly between jobs during combat – including the Fighter, adept with swift sword techniques, the Shadow Walker, which deals critical wounds with twin blades, or the Mage, specialising in magic attacks. When faced with a mighty foe, skilfully target their weak points to inflict the Double Break state and take them down in an instant! Release date: 4 Nov, 2022 Categories: Life Simulation, RPG, Farming Simulation, Single-player Story, Real-time Combat, Character Progression, Exploration, Resource Management - Hardware Profile: No data Feature extractions: - Community Price: No data - Playtime Metrics: No data - Time-to-fun: No data - Player Archetypes: No data Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category. Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews. What players like: - Engaging Story & Characters (weight 0.99): Players consistently praise the main story, side quests, and character development as highly engaging, interesting, and emotionally impactful. The narrative is noted for its depth, unexpected twists, and mature themes, making it a standout feature. - Successful Genre Blend (weight 0.47): The game effectively combines farming simulation with JRPG elements, creating a unique and enjoyable experience. Players appreciate the balance between relaxing farm life and engaging combat, with both systems complementing each other. - Stunning Visuals & Art Direction (weight 0.31): The game receives high marks for its beautiful graphics, vibrant color palettes, and breathtaking art design. Environments, character portraits, and overall visual presentation contribute to an immersive and aesthetically pleasing experience. - Enjoyable Combat & Job System (weight 0.28): The real-time combat system is described as fun, fast-paced, and strategic, especially with boss battles. The job system, allowing players to switch between multiple classes mid-battle, adds depth and variety to gameplay. - High Replayability & Content (weight 0.15): Many players express satisfaction with the game's replayability, noting ample content for 100% completion and continued engagement post-story. The game offers a significant amount of playtime and keeps players interested. - Smooth Performance & Pacing (weight 0.14): The game is noted for running smoothly with short load times and good optimization, even on platforms like the Steam Deck. The pacing of gameplay and progression is also appreciated, keeping the experience fluid. - Exceptional Soundtrack (weight 0.14): The music, particularly compositions by Go Shiina, is frequently highlighted as outstanding, magical, and emotionally resonant. The soundtrack enhances the game's atmosphere, fitting various scenes from calm exploration to intense combat. - Overall Positive Experience (weight 0.1): Many players found the game to be a solid, enjoyable, and often surprising experience. It's considered a good time killer and a quality title that delivers a decent experience across its various genres. - Well-Designed Dungeons (weight 0.07): Dungeons are generally well-received for their atmospheric design, unique mechanics, and interesting exploration. Their structure allows for completion in sections, preventing player fatigue. Common complaints: - Technical Issues & Polish (weight 0.73): The game suffers from various technical issues, including black screens, loading problems, and a general lack of polish. Controls are often described as clunky or awkward, particularly on PC, further hindering the gameplay experience. - Overpriced for Quality (weight 0.64): Many players feel the game is significantly overpriced for the quality and content it offers. It is perceived as unfinished, unpolished, and more akin to an indie title than a full-price release from a major studio. - Dated Graphics & Animations (weight 0.62): The graphics and animations are frequently criticized for being subpar for a modern game, often compared to older console generations. Character models are basic, animations are stiff, and visual quality is generally below expectations. - Lack of Voice Acting (weight 0.61): A significant complaint is the minimal to non-existent voice acting, especially during crucial story scenes. This creates a disconnect, reduces emotional engagement, and feels out of place for a modern, full-priced game from a major publisher. - Unskippable Cutscenes & Poor Pacing (weight 0.58): Players are frustrated by the excessive number of unskippable cutscenes and dialogues, which severely interrupt gameplay and negatively impact replayability. This contributes to a slow story progression and an overall unpolished feel. - Generic & Repetitive Quests (weight 0.51): Side quests and companion quests are frequently described as boring, repetitive, and uninspired. They often involve fetch tasks or trivial misunderstandings, contributing to a sense of grind and lack of meaningful content. - Shallow & Tedious Farming Mechanics (weight 0.5): The farming simulation aspects are considered basic, unoriginal, and often feel like an afterthought rather than a core gameplay loop. Controls are awkward, and the lack of depth, customization, and meaningful rewards makes farming a chore. - Unclear Genre Identity (weight 0.49): The game struggles to define its genre, attempting to blend JRPG and farming simulation elements without excelling at either. This leads to a disjointed experience where neither aspect feels fully realized or cohesive. - Simplistic & Unengaging Combat (weight 0.47): The combat system is widely criticized for being overly simplistic, lacking depth, and feeling outdated. Key features like dodging, blocking, and strategic elements are absent, leading to repetitive button-mashing and reliance on healing items. Gameplay feedback: - JRPG with Farming Elements (weight 0.45): The game is primarily an action JRPG with farming and life-sim elements serving a supportive role, often compared to Rune Factory or a blend of Final Fantasy and Harvest Moon. Farming mainly provides income and consumables for combat and exploration. - Dynamic Job Class System (weight 0.14): The game features a job class system allowing players to equip and switch between up to three different jobs mid-combat. Each job has unique skills and a talent tree, adding a strategic layer to exploiting enemy weaknesses. - Minimal Romance & Relationships (weight 0.11): While a marriage system exists, it's typically unlocked post-game and lacks significant romantic depth or ongoing events. Relationship building with companions is primarily platonic, progressing through side quests. - Farming Tied to Story Progression (weight 0.07): Many farming mechanics, upgrades, and full-scale cultivation are locked behind story progression and dungeon clears. This means players must advance the main narrative to fully develop their farm. - Tedious Side Quests (weight 0.06): Side quests are described as lengthy and sometimes tedious, with no option to fast-forward. While some add to world-building, others involve trivial NPC problems without meaningful choices. - Stamina Management System (weight 0.06): The game incorporates a stamina system that governs most actions, requiring players to consume food to regenerate it. Running out of stamina can severely hinder combat and exploration. - Story-Driven Dungeon Crawling (weight 0.06): The main story is a significant focus, often progressing through dungeon crawling. While the narrative encourages exploration, some players find the dungeon grind repetitive. - Boss Battle Mechanics (weight 0.06): Boss battles are a highlight, featuring interesting mechanics and requiring players to exploit elemental weaknesses to increase damage and trigger special abilities. Dying to a boss incurs penalties like losing money and items. - Daily Time & Stamina Limits (weight 0.05): The game operates on a daily time limit and stamina system that encourages efficiency in daily actions. This can lead to players feeling pressured to prioritize activities, though some feedback suggests the time limit is not overly restrictive. - Slow Paced Beginning (weight 0.05): The initial stages of the game are described as slow and linear, with limited freedom. However, gameplay gradually reveals more depth and pace after a build-up, with the overall difficulty not being high. Performance notes: - Fast Loading Times (weight 0.04): The game features very fast, often instant, loading times, especially when installed on an SSD. This significantly enhances the player experience by minimizing interruptions. - Occasional Crashes & Bugs (weight 0.02): Some players experienced game crashes in specific areas (e.g., 'Heavens Egg') and encountered general bugs. While one cluster reported no bugs, these issues suggest instability for a subset of players. - Limited Graphics Options (weight 0.02): Players note a significant lack of graphical customization options beyond basic resolution and VSync settings. This limits player control over visual fidelity and performance tuning. - Game Fails to Load for Some (weight 0.01): A small number of players reported being unable to load the game at all on their computers or laptops, suggesting a critical launch issue for certain system configurations. - DX12 Launch Option Issues (weight 0.01): Using the '-dx12' launch option can allow access to previously crashing areas but introduces graphical glitches, such as strange lines in text, indicating compatibility problems with this API. Recommendations: - Not a pure farming sim (weight 0.47): Players looking for a dedicated farming simulator like Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons will likely be disappointed. The farming mechanics are considered light and not the game's primary focus, leading many to suggest alternative titles for pure farming experiences. - Mixed recommendations (weight 0.29): Overall, player recommendations are highly mixed, with many expressing enjoyment but acknowledging significant caveats, primarily concerning the price and genre expectations. Some reviewers strongly recommend it, while others advise against it, especially at full price. - Patience is key (weight 0.02): The game requires a patient approach, especially during the early chapters which serve as extended tutorials. Players who are willing to embrace a slow pace and immerse themselves in the narrative will likely have a more enjoyable experience. - Try the demo first (weight 0.02): Given the game's unique blend of genres and mixed reception, players are advised to try the available demo on Nintendo Switch to determine if the gameplay and style align with their preferences before making a purchase. - Support for potential sequel (weight 0.01): Some players who enjoyed the game express a desire for a sequel with more polish and encourage others to support the game to make a continuation possible. - Some players uninstalled (weight 0.01): Based on limited feedback, a small number of players found the game unsatisfactory enough to uninstall it. Other player notes: - Desire for a Sequel (weight 0.08): Many players expressed a strong desire for a sequel or spiritual successor, hoping for upgraded mechanics in farming, combat, and crafting, and a smoother overall experience. This indicates a strong attachment to the game's core concept despite its flaws. - Decent but Not Exceptional (weight 0.06): While generally enjoyable, the game is often described as 'fairly okay' or 'decent,' rather than exceptional. It's seen as a solid, mid-tier experience that doesn't fully excel in either its farming sim or RPG components. - Budget & Development Concerns (weight 0.03): Some players perceive the game as a 'AA' title with a smaller budget, suggesting that while developers put effort into it, publisher behavior or investor pressure might have led to a rushed release, impacting refinement. - Character Development Potential (weight 0.02): While characters are seen as having more than one dimension, there's a general sentiment that they could benefit from much more development to deepen their personalities and arcs. - Controller Recommended (weight 0.02): The game appears to be optimized for controller input, with some players opting to play on Switch or Steam Deck over PC due to potential issues or preference for controller-based gameplay. - Community Translations (weight 0.01): The absence of an official Portuguese translation led to modders creating one, highlighting a gap in localization efforts for certain regions. - Minor 'Woke' Content (weight 0.01): One reviewer noted a 'tiny bit of woke nonsense' at the beginning, but found it easily ignorable, suggesting it's not a significant or pervasive element. Emotions: - Disappointment (weight 0.21): Players expressed disappointment primarily due to the game not meeting expectations, particularly regarding shallow or repetitive combat and farming mechanics. Other significant causes included a perceived lack of polish, missing voice acting, awkward controls, and a high price point for the quality delivered. The game's failure to excel as a hybrid RPG/farming sim also contributed to this sentiment. - Satisfaction (weight 0.19): Satisfaction stemmed from an engaging main story, well-developed characters, and immersive world-building. Players also enjoyed the game's unique blend of JRPG and farming sim elements, beautiful graphics, fitting BGM, and a stress-free, relaxing gameplay experience. Positive surprises regarding the game's quality and performance, especially on platforms like Steam Deck, also contributed to satisfaction. - Frustration (weight 0.15): Frustration was frequently caused by awkward or clunky controls, unskippable cutscenes, and a stamina system that felt restrictive. Players also reported game-breaking bugs, repetitive grinding, and a perceived conflict between the story's urgency and the daily farming routine. Poor combat mechanics and a lack of customization options further fueled this emotion. - Enjoyment (weight 0.15): Enjoyment was driven by the overall game experience, particularly an engaging and surprising story, charming characters, and a successful blend of genres. Players found the gameplay loop fun and relaxing, appreciated the visuals and art direction, and enjoyed the combat and job systems. The balance of relaxing farming with challenging fights also contributed to a positive experience. - Love (weight 0.03): Players expressed love for the game's overall style, its world, story, and themes. The music, graphics, and the engaging nature of the game also contributed to this strong positive emotion. Many simply loved the game and its core concept, especially fans of farming games. - Appreciation (weight 0.03): Appreciation was directed towards the game's unique hybrid nature, ambitious scope, and rich world-building. Players valued the emotional story, standout soundtrack (especially Go Shiina's work), and well-developed characters. The game's overall charm and deserving more attention were also noted. - Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement arose from action-packed moments, a captivating story with surprising twists, and fun boss fights. The immersive experience, stunning visuals, and masterpiece soundtrack also generated excitement. The desire to play more daily and the potential for a series further fueled this emotion. - Surprise (weight 0.02): Players were surprised by the high-quality and genuinely compelling story, often exceeding their initial expectations. The unexpected effort from Square Enix and how well the genres merged also contributed to this feeling. Positive experiences and unexpected plot twists were common causes. - Annoyance (weight 0.02): Annoyance stemmed from minor bugs, days ticking by too fast, and the effeminate male character design with limited customization. Players also found forced routines during urgent quests, grind, dry dialogue, and repetitive voice lines irritating. Unrealistic body shapes and wonky controls were additional sources of annoyance. - Engagement (weight 0.02): Engagement was primarily driven by the intriguing story and adventure, making players want to keep playing for long sessions. The characters, plot, and RPG systems also contributed to a feeling of being hooked by the game's narrative and gameplay. - Anger (weight 0.01): Anger was caused by the game not working as expected, game-breaking bugs that remained unfixed, and perceived poor game design. Players also expressed anger over useless dodge/sprint mechanics, meaningless restrictions, and an obnoxiously long intro. Atrocious M&K controls and a high price for a poor experience also fueled this emotion. - Pragmatism (weight 0.01): Pragmatism was solely related to the game's pricing, indicating that players were sensitive to the cost of the game relative to its perceived value or content. - Mild frustration (weight 0.01): Mild frustration was caused by game crashes, simple or repetitive farming and combat, and a lack of voice acting. Inventory management, restrictive day-night cycles, and story pacing issues also contributed to this feeling. Initial clunkiness and repetitive NPC models were minor irritants. - Mild disappointment (weight 0.01): Mild disappointment arose from a lack of voice acting, rough graphics compared to modern games, and average farming mechanics. The barebones nature of some aspects of the game also contributed to this sentiment. - Hope (weight 0.01): Hope was expressed for a sequel with significant upgrades and improvements, indicating a desire for the franchise to be developed further. Players wished for an evolved sequel that would address current shortcomings and build upon the game's potential. - Joy (weight 0.01): Joy was experienced through the fun gameplay, engaging story and characters, and the successful combination of favorite gameplay styles. Beautiful visuals, an engaging story, and the overall game experience, including the soundtrack and world-building, also brought joy to players. - Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stemmed from an unclear genre identity, particularly regarding the blend of farming sim and RPG elements, and the game's target audience. Players also expressed confusion about the combat system and the initial starting story, sometimes struggling to pinpoint what was fun. - Relaxation (weight 0.01): Relaxation was a result of the game's chill gameplay, open pace, and stress-free experience without strict time limits. Players found moments within the game that allowed them to unwind and enjoy a calm atmosphere. - Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia was triggered by the game's resemblance to PS2-era titles, older JRPGs, and Harvest Moon games. The mid-2000s JRPG qualities and an old-school PSX-era JRPG feel evoked fond memories for players. - Clarity (weight 0.01): Clarity was achieved when players understood the game's true genre and identity. This involved defining the game's genre, which helped them better appreciate its unique blend of elements.}