Gamecube - Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life

Format
Gamecube
Publisher
Natsume
Developer
Marvelous
Country of origin
Japan
Release date
US: July 26th, 2005
Genre
RPG

Harvest Moon : Another Wonderful Life

By David Rasmussen
6th Oct 05

The last time I reviewed this it was a first look at the game, now it’s time for the full review.
And it seems that unless the game really starts to shock and awe me then I have nothing much to say about Another Wonderful Life.
With the exception of some cosmetic changes (of varying degrees) here and there, this is basically the same game as it was before (with the male character instead of a female one).
Which is kind of a disappointment since the Japanese have just received a brand spanking new Harvest Moon game that seemingly is NOT a rethread, entitled “Song of Symphony” (or “Poem of Symphony” in some translations I’ve seen), so us receiving Another Wonderful Life is a letdown since the Japanese are sinking their teeth into an all new Harvest Moon experience as we speak.

As for this story? Here we go again. Your character arrives soon after her father dies, settling in with Takakura (the man you partnered up with in the last game) working to rebuild the farm. Along the way you meet the villagers (same as before) and set out to marry… one of three bachelors.
You get married, you raise a child, you watch the child grow up and you pass on. Just like the past game, which probably inspired The Sims 2’s birth to passing gameplay mode (coming soon to PS2, Xbox and GameCube). So now instead of telling you what’s the same, let’s see what’s different.

- New changes of clothes.
As you play you’ll be able to purchase clothes from the local “merchant” as he comes into town. This is a change from the previous game where you only had the one set of clothes that you never changed.

- Many many meters
Now you can keep a better eye on everything with meters for everything. Meters for yourself, for your dog, for the animals, etc. etc. etc. It takes the guesswork out of figuring out if your animal is going to get sick, or if he/she is happy or sad or something.

- New mirror
Take a look at yourself day in and day out, and maybe get an idea how you’re feeling.

- Dog training
Now you can train your dog to do tricks. It’s a very easy training system (hold down the X, Y and A buttons until your dog makes a little heart voice bubble) so you should be able to master it in no time.

- New produce shipping bin
Last time you could only ship milk/eggs/cheese and butter, but now you can also ship the produce you grow on your farm (an improvement).

- Missing field?
Your large field, which you used a lot in the last game, is now gone… could this mean you’ll be building a new building on this lot? A greenhouse maybe?

- New dialogue
Seeing that you are now a female character you’ll have all new scenes to see.

- Rivalries
While the so called “rivalries” last time was not very important, this time out you find yourself set against some competition for marriage… though you’ll end up with somebody regardless since the game will end after one “year” if you don’t get married (and it’s supposed to have a “sad sad ending”)

- Lower prices
Now you can afford to buy tree seeds faster, as well as buy fertilizer.

And now the disappointments of this game… besides the fact a majority of this game is still the same stuff.
- No new TV programs
Looks like it’s the same old stuff on TV from last time, no changes apparent from what I’ve seen.

- Still no “quick recipes”
The game still won’t make a menu of your recipes you learned for quick cooking (ala the PSOne version).

- Fertilizing the grass
Yeah. Apparently now you have to invest in fertilizer to make the grass in your main field (where the animals graze) grow. That is such a waste of time and money (considering you have to work hard to get the field growing properly)!

- Missing field
Yeah. Like I said above your large main growing field (the one you used a lot in Wonderful Life) is missing, replaced by a grove of useless trees. If this part isn’t used for construction of something than this is a waste of space, and a downer for the game.

- No new “wild” items
Seemingly the wild things you can find have not changed, at least not to the point I recognized any change.
That includes fish which seemingly also has no new breeds.

- Too “Vulcan”
Yeah. Now everything is more precise and analytical… to an extreme. Do I need to know how large the fish I just caught is? Unless this game has a fishing tournament option (which I haven’t seen yet) then this is not information I need to know. Ditto on the cold analytical nature of how you approach your animals.
In the previous game you often coo’d on and on about how good the animal was, or some rambling thing… this time out you just say the animal’s name and status… eck, how cold!
So the boy from last game was really in touch with his feminine side, while this girl seems to be rather too detailed oriented (like a boy)… what gives!

- The choices for marriage
You have three. Rock (the annoying blonde boy from the Inner Inn), Gustafa (the musician) and the guy from the next door farm… uh… Rock MIGHT be your character’s age, but what the hell! Gustafa seems to be in his 20’s or so… but the last guy is OLD!! 20’s to 30’s!! And you seem to be a late teen or early tween so what gives!! Why the hell are you marrying “old” two times out of three in this game!! Damn!!
(I won’t complain about the marriage thing since you got rushed to marry last time so there’s no difference in that). And don’t get me started with that underaged girl from the mansion being your “rival” for Rock!

- No new mini games
This should have been Natsume’s chance to dust off some brand new mini-games, a chance they blew by sticking to the same boring “games”… yuck.

- New seeds?
Uh… there are new seeds, right? So far all I’ve seen is they’ve renamed “sweet potatoes” as “yams”… so where are the new seeds?

Yeah, this game has new things… but it’s all cosmetic and nothing here is a real change.
What’s real change? The new game, “Song of Symphony”, seems to be filled with change. From the fact I think it’s set in a new village (seems that way to me), to the new “quest” that is a first in the Harvest Moon games (in which you need to gather the 100 notes of a certain symphony from what I could understand of this one particular plot point of Symphony), it is a far cry from this same old same old delivered by Another Wonderful Life. Yes, if this is your first Harvest Moon game for the GameCube then it’s a spiffed up new version that is a step above the original, HOWEVER you’d have to be a total die hard fan of the series to even consider buying this game… right?

Hmm… now here’s where it becomes tricky.
There are some merits to buying this.
You can now train your dog. Keeping an eye on your animals is easier now with all those meters keeping track of the animals from their happiness to their health. You can buy clothes and change your clothes during the game. And it links to the new Harvest Moon : More Friends of Mineral Town game which might also offer up changes in this game as you play (though I haven’t gotten that game yet so I can’t say until I’ve shaken that down review-wise).

If it was just this game I’d be a little wary… and I still am.
But I’m going to sit on the fence for now until I’ve seen “More Friends of Mineral Town”.
So let’s break it down now…

Harvest Moon Breakdown the 2nd
What’s Hot?
It’s Harvest Moon, and if you liked the original game and want another Harvest Moon to sink your teeth into then you might want this. It’s not entirely new, but it is at least something to hold you over until Natsume sees fit to release (tentative title) Harvest Moon : Song of Symphony in the near future.
With a new coat of gameplay and a new character to play as you might enjoy this.

What’s Not?
HOWEVER that new coat of gameplay is a thin one, and mostly cosmetic with no real changes to the gameplay at all! No festivals, no new mini games, no new quests or things to do, and you even lost your largest field from the last game and have to go through the hassle of fertilizing your grass field in order for it to grow! Talk about a pain! At least the game should have done things that the last game didn’t, but it’s just the same game with few changes. So if you were not entirely infatuated with the last game you will probably not change your mind about Another Wonderful Life.

Moments to Remember?
Not much… it’s basically the same as before but there are some new things here to look for… really.

What to Ignore?
Uhmmm… I think I don’t need to spell it out, so I won’t. So ignore it… cause if you didn’t like it the first time out it’s back again for the most part and nothing much changed except for cosmetic changes here and there.

Overall?
Yes, it’s basically the same game with some new bells and whistles (but nothing major). This is, though, what A Wonderful Life should have been! The game should have given you the option to play as a boy or girl, given you all the perks of this game without having to release a second game just to get to this level of development on the game. It’s a waste of money, and unless you skipped the first game (thus making it worthwhile to buy this since you didn’t buy the first game) you might as well wait until the game is marked down to $20 or less since it’s not worth shelling out $40 for more of the same.
It’ll get marked down soon enough, trust me, then it’ll be worth it. Not now.

-- David Rasmussen 6th Oct 05

Gamecube Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life Images