I See Posts Before My Eyes

Namely, August 4th.

So, yay,.

I’m gonna have to start using my “I Believe In Captain Olimar” tumblr feed soon, huh?

So to recap, I own:

A PS3 (plus the 1 and 2)

An Xbox 360

A Wii

A Wii U

A Game Cube

A 3DS (And my DS Lite, GB Color, etc)

A PS Vita

A PSP

And no friends.

(I mean video game friends, not “Friend” friends…I’m not THAT pitiful)

How do you play?

What the hell am I doing?

When does it get fun?  Or at least make sense?

What’s the recipe for a pickaxe?

Do they use the Steve Perry albums for the soundtrack, or the later ones?

Just got both of these, and am making my way through them both.

Tides of Destiny is part of the Rune Factory branch of the Harvest Moon series.  More than just straight farming and livestock raising, there’s much more of a monster fighting RPG aspect to the game, one that allows it to appeal to a separate audience.    ToD is wildly different from even the other entries in the Rune factory series - Regular players of the game may find themselves (you should pardon the expression) out to sea in this one, the gameplay and mechanics are so different with what has come before.  

The game borrows heavily (and successfully) from the Dragon Quest series, as well as its own Monster raising sub-series, DQ Joker.  Rather than take place in one town, you’re sent all over the world, exploring new islands to fight bigger and more powerful monsters.  There’s more harvesting than planting - you assign your captured/befriended monsters to tend for you.

Tale of Two Towns is much more in the classic style of the series, but with a twist of its own.  You choose between two towns to set up a home in, one more aimed towards raising livestock, the other more for farming.  So right away there’s a second replay built right in.  You can still do both type of farming in either town, but with the emphasis on one or the other, the game is quite different.  Milk and eggs, etc are easily available in the livestock town, allowing you to make one type of recipes quickly, while the more agrarian town won’t have them available until you raise your own cows and chickens.  

Also, while you’re still supposed to make friends with the other townies, another plot involves getting the two towns to stop feuding.  That’s done by a series of quests intended to get the mayors to grow more friendly.  So along with the townspeple’s requests for goods, mini-quests, and the endless critter and fish-catching (not to mention the obvious planting, watering and all), your days are as packed as ever.

The game is enhanced in the 3DS version, tho as far as I can see, it’s limited to some 3-D graphics and a wider view, thanks to the 3DS screen.  Street Pass allows you to trade goods with other players near you, though unless you know a lot of folks playing the game, that’s more a cute diversion.  But I have to give Nintendo props for finding ways to get players to interact, even as far back as the Pokemon series.

Tale of Two Towns is available for the Nintendo DS and 3Ds

Tides of Destiny is available for the Wii and the PS3

For info on all the HM and RF games, Freyashawk’s Harvest Moon Forever is a staggering collection of FAQs and information, well worth looking through.

There’s one already - Sly Cooper 3: Honor Among Thieves

Sly’s tech assistant Bentley gets seriously injured at the end of Sly 2, and starts using a wheelchair in 3.  Doesn’t slow him down at all - it’s a jet-hoverchair, and he’s the playable character in more than a few levels.

http://slycooper.wikia.com/wiki/Bentley