Trio of towns is so under appreciated, it’s standout modern S tier for me

I really loved original SoS. It has a ton of customization/variety and the vendors from different countries really made the game world feel larger. You can also run your own shop and compete for public lands, so it just does such a good job making you feel a part of the economy. The liked the characters/town and they had nice portraits.

Your opinion on FoMT and MFoMT actually explains why I didn't feel satisfied with the other HM/SoS games. FoMT was my first HM game ever, followed by MFoMT and it really made me so happy, I just can't say anything negative about it. When I tried to play the other HM or SoS games, I just didn't feel the same happiness that I had with those two. That explains why I keep on coming back to them even though I practically memorized every single detail and event in the game

Harvest Moon Animal Parade will forever be my number one Harvest Moon game only because of the art style & rivals+rival children. such a cool concept!!

Trio of Towns is my girl. Back in the day, I didn't expect her to be this good, I just saw the model, graphic, and color, and I'm like I want this game.

Save the Homeland on PS2 was my first Harvest Moon game. I really liked it! It was simple enough to start out with, not too many confusing mechanics.

The grand bazzaar was my first ever Harvest moon game. My brother got it for me right after I got my DS. It's what got me into gaming. It will always be my favorite game and holds a very special place in my heart. I really want them to bring it to switch

I'm so happy to see Magical Melody get A Tier! It's my favorite Harvest Moon game by far- I've been playing it a lot since it came out in 2006 and right now I'm currently replaying it to finally get all 100 notes! I had to have played it well over a dozen times over the years and I always got close to 100 notes but I never ended up completing it. Now, though, I'm at 94 notes with just a few more to go! C:

Great video! I love watching your tier lists and long reviews

"There's a long and tragic story to why I don't still have that PlayStation" Both me and my fiancé simultaneously: Siblings

God bless you for putting Harvest Moon 64 in S-tier lol. I don't think there's a video game that I've played more in my life. I'm in my 40s now, and I have to call it my all-time favorite game. I still play it regularly. (And, in response to your next question... Ann. Forever Ann. 😉)

Great video!! 64 is by far my favorite of the series. I did a lengthy playthrough recently and got the elusive party picture!

I loved your video!! I really need to get all those games I'm missing and play them right away 😻 My personal faves are Fomt, Harvest Moon DS and Story of Seasons. I played those games for such a long time. ❤

Ugh I love your passion with this series! Like you, I wanted to complete the series and 2 years ago I was able to. But I no longer do so especially with the variants of the same game like the PlayStation version, Xbox version. Good luck on the fun journey collecting them all!

Rune Factory is different compared to Harvest Moon in a lot of ways. It seems similar at first, but it actually puts much more emphasis into a farm-sim-action-RPG hybrid which, personally, I loved. This is kinda what I find in Sun Haven nowadays. I started with Rune Factory 3 and also played the 4th after that, they were pretty nice!

Trio of Towns is my favorite game in the series. I love it, especially with the social aspect. The characters are top tier for me. I hope you can play A Wonderful Life Switch soon! I'm loving it so far, again the social aspect and characters in this one are great.

appreciate the history lesson! i was wondering why Story of Seasons keep popping up when i searched for Harvest Moon. really fun times playing Back to Nature and A Wonderful Life when i was a kid. glad they're on PC now.

Innocent life was one of the times I was happiest lol you are not alone in the high rating! I had a ps2 and got the game as a gift, at first I was upset that it wasn't exactly like FoMT but somehow the aesthetics and gameplay reeled me in! Thank you for the tier list!!

I’m watching videos on Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral town because I’m looking for good games for my sp-really glad I found your video haha! I’ve never played a Harvest Moon game, seems like a good place to start! ☺️

Pretty solid list. Magical Melody and A Wonderful life are my favorites, just out of pure nostalgia. But I'm trying to get back into the series and play all the major games in the series that I missed. For example, I played Harvest Moon 64 and Back To Nature for the first time this year, and I personally really liked Back To Nature more. I thought BtN had more smooth controls, more farming options and crops, and more interesting character interactions. HM64 was still good, but I think it's little overhyped, the only thing I thought HM64 did better was faster load times and vertical movements.

I feel like the characters, gameplay, and the story in Rune Factory are a lot of fun to play. Characters like in RF4 feel alive, they can talk to each other, move freely and have a lot of things to say. I can always come back to RF4 and talk to them like actual people. Graphically, (in the 4th entry), it's amazing. They don't have that robot walking, they walk and can run normally, love it! Sometimes, games like Friends of Mineral town are a bit outdated, I can "talk" to them but mostly they will repeat the same phrases again The gameplay in Rune Factory is much more involved, from crafting weapons, armors, and tools to fighting and leveling up and finding materials. This part is subjective, some people might find it too much, but I like having more options on top of the farming Overall, I honestly think that Rune Factory is a better series than SoS in a broader view. However, SoS is still enjoyable for the targeted audiences and I'm always finding trying more SoS games

Traditional harvest moon is the best era ❤ it portrayed the best kind of life, the simple life.

Yep. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and the sequel is the bench mark for a good harvest moon!/story of season games.

So interesting that you put HM DS this „low“! For me, I played it several years and it means so much to me. There were so much hidden features and secrets… In Germany, we neither had More Friends of Mineral Town nor DS Cute, they just were never published here…

where would you rank the post-split Harvest Moon games? (I'm guessing at the bottom but who knows)

Highly recommend the Rune Factory games! Its a lot to take in at first but totally worth it! The characters are amazing and the writing is incredible! If you ever pick them up, I recommend starting with Rune Factory 4 Special; best in the series in my opinion. Loved the video! I also agree that Animal Parade is amazing XD

I'm curious, what's the Animal Parade Fanfiction called and where can I find it? Love the video btw ^^

Thanks for giving your takes on the games. For years Ive heard of this series but never really played them until I bought Rune Factory 5. Had a blast and wantwd to go to just Harcest Moon. Playing through Magical Melody right now and honestly I dont want to go into work tomorrow as all I want to do is play this,which is funny as Im more of an over the top shooter kinda guy but hey that just shows you the heart these games give. Im a vig fall guy so Ill defenitly be looking out for Trio of Towns.

Only one I ever played was a new beggining and absolutly adored it, it's what got me into rune factory, stardew ect. Recently got back into it~ currently back to this vid to see what modern SoS game I wanna grab

You know, I just discovered you after your segment on Orbalogy's "Influential RPGs that Redefined the Genre" video, and I immediately sensed I'd like you. But then I come to find out you're a massive Harvest Moon and Zelda fan!? Ma'am, this news has made my whole dang day. And your opinions? are actually?? so spot on??? We love to see some SoS: 3oT praise, cuz that game really does have everything (and does it all well, at that). FINALLY someone appreciates Magical Melody too! It's a clunky mess of overloaded chibi cuteness, but it is a gem nonetheless. I will say, my Harvest Moon Hot Take is that I, unfortunately, do not get the hype with HM64 😬 I have tried SO hard, I really have, but I didn't grow up with it (I somehow started with Save the Homeland, of all things, and wound up accidentally murdering all my chickens) and I always felt so rushed and confused playing it once I was older. I do, however, love how everyone in that game had that Gamecube Animal Crossing-style edge to them tho lol

Thanks so much for this video! I'm feeling a lot of Harvest Moon nostalgia and want to play again. I wanted to get your opinion before I buy anything though. I played Harvest Moon 64 and Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (Gamecube) when I was a kid. Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is only $5.99 on PS5. But I associate Harvest Moon with Nintendo lol. Hearing you rave about Friends of Mineral Town makes me want to get the Switch remake then maybe the A Wonderful Life remake next. Ahhh what would you suggest lol?

I enjoyed this video! I've been a pretty big fan of the series, ever since AWL on GameCube and the remake was so wonderful. I'd love to see input on post-breakup HM games, but some of them are so silly, haha. Though Winds of Anthos is actually pretty good so far imo!

Another fellow Harvest Moon Innocent Life enjoyer!! There are dozens of us I tell you!! 😂

I played Story of Seasons on the 3ds and couldn't get into it at all. The chatacters felt very boring and the town so empty. Then I tried Trio of towns and I fell in love! It's so beautiful and the characters are so much fun. I love thst you have three towns with very unique styles and cultures

rune factory enthusiast here, i HIGHLY reccommend the games, specifically 3 and 4. (both have releases on switch now too) 5 is okay but those two are some of the best in the series imo, and 5 doesn't really do the series justice especially if it's the first one you're introduced to

So funny story. I had played HM when I was a kid and I loved it. Years later when i was a teenager, my mom bought me SoS ToT for me. I thought it was knock off of HM so always ignored it. Only after playing it and then realising "wait this is HM" I falling in love with the games agian and cozey games in generall. ToT is still the best but as a european we sadly had a not perfect version. The DLC addes more things that I wished we got. I still hope if Marvelous ever Remakes it that they not only add, the DLC for everyone and same sex marriage (because Wayne made me think "Maybe I like men as well") but also too add more. The game first looks small but its larger and impressive. If they add more romantic intresstes or even a fourth location (like a hidden village), and bring thinks back like fusion crops or more animals I would literally love it more. Plus little thinks like more save slots, more personalitys to your character that would either give more challenge or more ways to play, maybe a fridge (so you can crops in them), maybe a book (or example in game) for the fertilizer to understand how it works and the most important, Hector as a romantic option. When many people aaid they wanted him I didnt understand but one cutsecne with him changed my view and now I understand. (P.S. sorry for the long text but I love the game so much that I could talk about it for days)

Playing animal parade right now for the first time since I was a kid and it’s just as amazing as I remember. The new game plus is such a cute and fun feature as well you send your kid off to plant a goddess tree on a new island which is such a neat concept. if I was going to choose the next game to get remade it would be this one it’s so great but could be perfect with some quality of life changes and I would like the harvest king/goddess to move in with you if you marry them I always would refrain from marrying them bc I wanted someone to do chores and make me a lunch lmao

Props for putting 64 in S tier. Highly recommend you try the Rune Factory 1 version of the Wii, it was probably the most high polished AAA feeling Harvest Moon game I've played in the 3D era.

You should totally start with Rune Factory 4 on the 3ds!! It's one of my favorite games ever! There is so much fun dialogue and all the skills and combat and forging and recipes. The characters are super fun too!

Well back then when a girl got married they weren’t expected to keep working yk. They would become house wife’s and their kids were the main focus. So it makes sense for some of the harvest moon games considering the era they came out and the type of life portrayed in harvest moon😂 the simple life ☺️ Btw Harvest Moon 3 GBC was a childhood game of mine therefore it’s my favorite.

What would you recommend is best for someone playing the games for the first time ever great vid btw

back to nature is the best series and the most nostalgia to play 😊

haven't played any of them yet aside from the gamecube one (which i couldn't stick to). I found it very daunting and confusing, yet charming - and I went for it first because many insisted it's the best one. Am I just plain dumb?

Popo was not even a flipping farming game but an adorable RPG ❤ Love loved it A tactical game like fire emblem Then I saw later that they made it into a farming game. Which I love. I should try it. But it's a very strange collab to me 😅

Trio of Towns, Animal Parade, FoMT and AWL are the best games in the series. One pattern I’ve noticed is that every first game for a new console/handheld lately is a really rough game but the one at the very end of the console cycle is the exceptionally amazing one. Switch games weren’t for me unfortunately, but I hope the next console cycle brings some great games! And you’ve gotta try Rune Factory 4! It’s such a great game which easily ranks high among the classics too. And Rune Factory series is finally going for a more mature look with Project Dragon!

This was fun to watch! I love your enthusiasm for this series. I've always wanted to play Innocent Life, so I'll see if I can get it Trio of Towns is probably my favorite in the series. I think the developers and localizers really knocked it out of the park with the characters, dialogue and events. It gives you a lot to do for multiple in-game years. I will say that I think the complexity of it sometimes works to its detriment, because it goes a little TOO far, especially when it comes to collecting materials for clothing. But I still appreciate all the work that went into it I'm one of the few who actually prefers Tree of Tranquility over Animal Parade! I do recognize though that AP is better in almost every way. But I liked the smaller island and town better in ToT. Plus, I will never forgive AP for what they did to my man Owen and his giant head

Quite frankly I find Tier-Videos to be quite boring and rather a chore to watch hahaha. BUT. I Really loved your style of narrating the video overall. I did not stop the vid one second or did anything besides of watching the entire thing in one session. I think it might be because you have quite a unique way to getting your point accross + I can feel that you adore the series as much as I do. For that reason alone: Thanks for putting the work into this! :) I loved every minute of it! Looking at ur List I absolutely see why you put FoMt and AWL in the S-Tier section. Never played Another wonderful life myself, but I can absolutely agree on the fact that it was a quite strange/charming game at that time and still is! The overall feel of taking care of your family just gives a whole different spin on the farming aspect itself - recently I read an article with Yasuhiro Wada that not only did he liked AWL the most himself for that same feeling (bc it was what he originally had intended for the series), but it was also meant to be titled "Jinsei Monogatari" which basically means Life Story. With FoMt being S-Tier I agree as well bc the gameplay loop is just sooo satisfying. The atmosphere is quite different from AWL, probably because mineral town is labeled as "the town" in the series, buuut it certainly has a distinct feel to it! I feel that everyone that played the older titles at least once shares quite a personal story/memories w them. The more I'm happy for you to share your experiences with us. As stated above: Great video, absolutely hooked me :)

IoH has…. It’s issues. The touch screen made it extremely difficult to play. But in the end, I preferred the heart events in it to SI. I loved that there were branching heart events, which gives you incentive to choose the “wrong” dialogue option sometimes. And even if they weren’t important to the game like in AP, a lot of people forget that IoH also had rival kids, which I appreciate. I’m in such a weird place with it overall- but it remains a fav, even if a lot of it is nostalgia.

I agree with a lot of them! Magical Melody was a personal favorite. Rune Factory was another really good breath of fresh air -- it's very Stardew Valley, in its own sort of way?

tale of two towns is amazing i loved playing it when i was little

Harvest moon (M)FoMT was my childhood!

Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life was my introduction back in 2004, but Magic Melody is my heart ❤😭😂

After playing the switch SoS titles and returning to Trio of Towns, I feel like I’ve gaslit myself into thinking FoMT and the other common top tier Harvest Moon/SoS games are better. There is SO much stuff to do, whether that be doing the farming tips, town ranks, friendships, marriage, the PLETHORA of festivals, collecting the clothing, recipes, or customizing your farm not just with your crop fields and barns, but the AWESOME amount of decorations themed from each town. Then there’s the large variety of pets, animals, and just about everything else. I replayed FoMT on switch and I feel like it didn’t take long before I hit the “what now?” Wall. But with Trio of Towns, even a hundred hours in you’ve likely only scratched the surface. It’s an AMAZING game that I don’t think is talked about enough- especially since it’s an anniversary game. Edit: this is NO shade to FoMT/MFoMT, I LOVE those games. Granted I think somehow the remake took the wind out of my sails a little bit.

The Rune factory games are masterpices especially 4

BTN/FoMT or any of the other basically same game would be top for me due to the nostalgic factor, but my favorite would be Trio of Towns. That one was just amazing! I love the concept of three different towns with different cultures! I love the layout of the towns. Plus Ludus became my all time favorite bachelor out of all the HM/SoS I played. I also love the way of farming in this game. Def my all time favorite HM/SoS game.

My favourite is a tie between friends of mineral town and trio of towns Grand bazaar was great too

I just turned 24. I also remember my older cousins playing. I've never played a single harvest moon/story of seasons but I really want to pick up this remake

I feel crazy cuz I remember Animal Parade to be much slower with loading times compared to ToT. Just getting across the map takes a lot longer too so everything feels kinda sluggis

I loooooved a new beginning

Showing my age here but I remember as a kid not being able to afford a GBC/GBA but we had a family computer and it was the golden age of old gen console emulators. I played the original SNES Harvest Moon (emulated) first and fell in love with it because of how relaxing it was. Next I played the Gameboy version which wasn't as good. But then I got FoMT and till this day it is not just my favourite game of the franchise but one of the GOAT in video games for me.

I've only ever played A Wonderful Life, and at the time I was just not in the right headspace to get into the series. I'm looking forward to trying the remake, especially since marriage candidates are no longer gender-restricted. Glad to have so many games to try!

Magical Melody is my favourite. It seemed like an improvement on a lot of the gameplay mechanics from AWL and FoMT. I really enjoyed the freedom and getting to choose where I lived, as well as starting from scratch. And the mining and fishing were great. I’ve got Animal Parade on the way rn and I can’t wait to try it out and see how it compares, wish I would’ve got it back in the day. The different art style threw me off at the time

It made me so sad to see a new beginning in c tier. Out of all the harvest moon games I've played, a new beginning is absolutely my favorite. I think it has the best farming (being able to water all your crops at once with the geyser is awesome, and between the instant seed maker and each seed planting 4 crops, its super easy to have all of your crops hit 5 stars very quickly). I wasn't a huge fan of having to choose the layout of the town, so i ended up just finding someone elses town design online and copied it lol, but i did have a ton of fun customizing the layout of my farm. I just wish they would port it to the switch so i could play it on a screen bigger than a 3ds

I so agree with your ranking, especially considering that Harvest moon friends of mineral town both versions makes me to become a fan of the harvest moon series. The biggest strength of Friends of mineral town is the town's people have alot of character depth(fun and lively). When I played another harvest moon series, i couldn't enjoy the town's folk characters like I enjoy friends of mineral town characters.

Island of Happiness was the first HM game I ever played and I loved it so much, I was in love with Vaughn and married him every single play though! I went back and tried to play it more recently however and ended up stopping because I realised it wasn’t that good and I didn’t want to ruin the nostalgia of it! 😂

For Rune Factory start on 4 on the 3ds or switch rerelease. Rf4 is one of my favorite games and i consistently replay it as the years go by. It has more focus on crafting and cooking due to the dungeon aspect but i love that you can tane monsters and bosses and ride them around town 😂I love that you can take the villagers with you when you go adventuring or doing anything really. The characters are charming and the story is interesting- there is soo much to do it kinda ruined regular farm sims for me.

Back to Nature and Innocent Life are my faves

Harvest Moon DS will always be my favorite game ❤

what kind of Tea do you usually Drink?

I adore Animal parade❤ i still play it. I am happy other people love it like me

I loved ds cute but that game was RIDICULOUS in terms of collecting sprites , marriage to skye ( to make the curry you had to wait a whole year) and farming. Has such a nostalgia and childhood love to it. It was so amazing when coupled with FoMT A close second is HMAP. Loved the concept of the animal parade, graphics are great and has aged so well! Tree of tranquility was ok Island of happiness was quite literally the worst game I played but I loved Vaughn

I feel the reverse with Rune factory!! I’m like yeah I could play harvest moon/ story of seasons but instead I could play a rune factory game… especially rf3❤

I started watching this video just found your channel and then I'm immediately attacked by your hot take on back to nature 😂 it's my first game and my absolute favorite and I don't like a lot of the remakes because they make changes that change the feel idk I'm just biased

(45:12)Awesome video & keep up the good work & I played three Story of Seasons games so far they all good but I played the most hours for my Nintendo Switch recently & that’s is Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town because it is my first farming game I ever played & it have the most hours on my switch so far & I played Story of Seasons Trio Towms on my 3ds for my 21 birthday & I completely hate the story & taking care of the crops & animals but the heart event with the marriage candidates are best of the game so far & same goes to Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town & I can’t wait to play Story of Seasons A Wonderful Life this year even I never played the original version before so this is going to be my first & best experience of the game so far in 2024

I loved grand bazaar omg the memories 😭

Return to Popolocrois is just okay, its a very simple rpg with a small amount of farming. I did like the story, though I don’t remember much about it

I find the Mineral Town games extremely unsettling- probably because my first Harvest Moon game was 64. Something about all the people looking the same but having different personalities and seemingly arbitrarily different family connections gives the village an existential horror vibe. It’s also weird on a meta level since the designers of HM64 clearly designed the characters around their families and their roles in the village, as well as their connections to the SNES games, only to change all of that for Mineral Town.

Pleeeease play Rune Factory, oh my gosh. It’s so under appreciated and just a wonderful series with great storylines. I recommend Rune Factory 4 for the 3DS or Rune Factory 3 Special for Switch.

Rune factory 3 and 4 on switch is where I would recommend starting

Nice but i wished you would have show images or clips of them too, that would be great

Harvest moon Island of happiness is objectively dogshit but i love it so much bc it was one of my first ds titles. I get so nostalgic for the bg music, plus i am Vaughn pilled 😩

I have ds and ds cute ! HM ds was my first harvest moon ever

Harvest Moon 64, Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life gets ranked S-Tier* YES LAWD!!!

Oh and I completely agree for me a huge part of harvest moon/sos is the world building and the characters and the bachelorettes that's why I kinda don't love stardew valley

I buy the story of season of 3Ds ( I buy a 2DS ) so now I can finally play the titles I wanted as child but never could… I want to try trio of towns to… and marry Inari 😊

My favourite Harvest Moon has to be Magical Melody, as you said it really reminds me of Gamecube Animal Crossing and that game is my favourite game! Runner-ups have to be Back to Nature and A Wonderful Life.

HM: IOH had the potential but screwed it up when you can only use stylus to move around. And it has a better map and storyline than SI. Hoping the SOS developers remake the IOH game with combined features of both games and put it on Switch.

You are my hero

The first game in the series I ever played was grand bazaar and I JUST got it added to my collection and I'm ready to play it for the first time in YEARS! 😶 LET'S PRAY I still love it. Omg I bought my grand bazaar game, it was the last in stock and it was around $20 I hope you get to play it. It's so much fun and It's classic for me. But that's just my opinion. I feel it doesn't have as much love as the other games.

Rune factory 3/4 is a solid introduction to the rune factory series (at least, in my opinion). It's really good and i honestly recommend everyone to try it. The social aspect in rune factory 4 is just out of this world. So much varieties in dialogues. Don't play rune factory 1/2 because it didn't age well.

I find it interesting (as someone who's never played a HM or SOS game) that your critique of "A New Beginning" (how the added customisation kinda compromises the identity of the series for you) is the same critique that some animal crossing fans have of New Horizons, that giving total control to the player makes you feel more like a god and less like a citizen who's just exploring a new town and getting to know people. Also interestingly, New Horizons is the first AC game I found myself getting invested in, and I spent months playing it after it first launched. I think I'm in the broader demographic of players that developers are trying to appeal to when they make these less faithful, more customisable sequels because I eat up anything with customisation haha.

Back to Nature always my favorite

Innocent Life - S Tier for me 😂

I played almost all version.. and i can tell HM Back to Nature is must on S tier unfortunately u didnt play alot that version. the BGM and event on game is better.

My favorite is also Harvest moon More friends of mineral town and friends of mineral town. I still play them until now. The other being the harvest moon the tales of two towns and harvest moon bazaar. And the rest being the rune factory. I don't play much of what I don't like or try lots of games and let them sit in the dust for not finishing so all of them are the ones I like to play a lot. I tend to only play games on nintendo though. Especially nintendo ds 'cause 3d games makes me very dizzy a lot so I tend to avoid them.

You NEED to get Grand Bazaar!! 😲It's so good and unique 🤩, especially when it came out. My #2 🥰 after "(More) Friends of Mineral Town" 😇. My 3rd Place is a Love-Hate-Relationship between, "Tale of Two Towns" & "Trio of Towns". ToTT would be fixed 3rd Place if it wasn't flawed so much. Like ALL Shops are closed on rainy days no matter what... 😩completely messes up your crop-cycles every now and then 😒, and the fact that it takes you 10(!) Years 😡in-game to finish your Farms due to genius idea of only 1 Upgrade per season 😭ToT does this way better, but it gets so mathematical by the mid-game that my ADHD-Brain struggles a lot 😵‍💫. (Still amazing Games outside.) Besides my emotional reaction to some questionable mechanics 👀, I highly agree with your list as I find it pretty fair judged and ranked 👍. (Besides HM64, which I would've put in D-Tier as it isn't fun compared to BtN and the controls on the N64 where aweful 😅) Thank you for your Video, it was so awesome to see someone with a passion for Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons ☺

You definitely need to play Rune Factory

Havent thought about Harvest Moon in years. Randomly looked it up today and thought your list was pretty good. I owned the original SNES, N64, GB, and the PS games. FoMT and 64 were my favorite but seeing SNES version on Nintendo Online is cool.

nice name dude

Island of Happiness is the one I’ve definitely put the most time into. 😅I thought it was great. The sequel Sunshine Islands, I didn’t like as much.