In the convoluted mass of an industry that spits out games like an unfortunate pinata spits candy, some of us gamers find ourselves captivated by a simpler genre of games.
Some of us find that allure while planting virtual radishes on a pixelated farm. We find happiness marrying women no more real than the girlfriends we wish we had, and raising offspring with the unrealistic expectation they’ll grow up better than we did (even though they stop growing at around two years old).
This gem of a series taught many of us older gamers what it was like to care for soulless NPC’s, and made us care about restoring a land left to us by a fake dead grandfather.
Therefore the question is: Why are there so few games like Harvest Moon?
Forget Rune Factory and similar spin offs. This is about other companies failing to capitalize upon this genre that’s just waiting on the next step to be taken. Games like Farmville simply serve as simple-minded clicking and right clicking for the dumb masses. Yet for some reason there are hundreds of Farmville clones, but the real small town fantasy experience has been completely neglected.
Like an untapped keg, the opportunity to create an incredible game that could capture the Harvest Moon experience just waits to be taken. It only needs a developer willing to go beyond settling for the dim-witted Farmville experience, and create a fake world that makes grown men learn to feel again…and maybe cry. (Only happened thrince I swear.)
