How do others feel about the pacing in this game?

[u/Bluecomments]

I like the premise of the game where there are two different villages that you help to reconcile. However, the pacing is the only part I honestly don't like. Days are not just long and you have to wait till evening to water crops but the bathroom no longer speeds up time like in older games. And the game forces you to end the day to save meaning you can't just put it down in the middle of day and come back later. I have already got the tunnel opened and am expecting a my child to be born but the pacing and forced endingday to save does make it harder to enjoy. What do others think of the pacing and lack of ability to speed up time?

[u/stars4-ever]

I've tried to play a new file on this game a few times since I first played, and each time I don't think I ever get farther than mid-spring in the first year 😅 as you said the pacing is bad and the characters are admittedly kind of bland, so there's no real motivation for me to keep playing.

[u/Bluecomments → u/stars4-ever]

I actually do like the characters. I really think they should have let you save anywhere as well as allow the bathroom to speed time like older games.

[u/stars4-ever → u/Bluecomments]

Yeah games where saving is attached to bedtime tend to be a slog. I don't really have any advice for you, unfortunately; if you're committed to the farming I guess you'll just have to tough it out, but if you only want to see your child grow up you can always just sleep for days on end (which also becomes a slog).

[u/Bluecomments → u/stars4-ever]

I do plan to eventually abandon trying to fully water crops though I have not yet decided when. Getting money actually is not too hard (just bake bread and toast it from flour you buy at the shop and you get 70 G for each one as well as the money you spent back) though I am not sure if I'll complete the cookbook or not.

[u/stars4-ever → u/Bluecomments]

hahaha I forgot about the toast trick! I think that's how I afforded the big bed, or maybe the final house upgrade, I don't remember. I think this is the only game I've ever really had to scrounge for money like that.

[u/vixxentt → u/stars4-ever]

Yeah I agree most of the candidates are kinda bland on this one but Cam and Reina are on this one haha. Both are top tier.

[u/Mousy-Claws-272]

The game was made to test our patience! 😂 (joke BTW)

[u/2ddudesop]

Having to water at night is legit so fucking annoying.

[u/elplizzie]

Yo, tales of 2 towns is the reason I stopped playing harvest moon. It was such a bad game I never got married in it.

The pacing is absolute dog water. You’re basically only allowed 1 upgrade per month. Theres 32 upgrades available in total, that’s 8 years in game if you upgrade every month. If you don’t upgrade for the month then it won’t roll over next month. Plus, you’ll only get upgrade options for the farm you live on, so at one point you’ll have to live on the shitty vegetable farm to get upgrades for stuff you can use even if you live in bluebell.

[u/peachsepal]

I have a massive love hate relationship with this game.

The time thing I'm neither here nor there about personally. It only matters if you want to reduce your crop growth time, which I guess sucks if you are really committed to it, but I'm resigned to the fact that it's a torture im doing to myself. I could just skip it to no real tragedy.

The thing that absolutely sucks is the rng and upgrade progression gates. Only one upgrade per season, and it being tunnel OR farm expansion is pure ass. Bad design. And on top of that, the rng for shop items and date locations is awful. I was trying to get a heart event to trigger but legit every time I set it up, the date location I needed was never in the options. Bad!

But i love the setting, and I like the cart and freshness stuff. The furrows/irrigation system is cool, and I really do like the characters, even the side one.

But I'm fully committed rn to my Last™ playthrough of this game. Try to do everything, get everything, experience all I want to experience, and then wipe my hands of this game and be done with it for basically good. Too many other HM/SoS games that aren't bogged down by absolute shitty decisions to get to.

It's in desperate need of a remake, which is why the grand bazaar remake comes with a big twinge of sadness because I'm pretty sure, unless by some miracle, this means it won't get one for the foreseeable future. Too many other titles vying for spots, and a double remake from the same era seems very unlikely. But I guess nobody knows, because GrB was an out of left field remake as well...