HARVESTELLA

Ever time i try to load and play get black screen. Turn off HDR, Overlays, restarted. This just doesn't run.

This game has elements of farming simms, and also some fighting and exploration akin to earlier scenes in Horizon. I recommend for players that like farming simms without too many chores, and players looking for entry level fantasy and exploration.

For years now, Square-Enix has been trying to make a good A tier original IP game. The games they've released have mostly been middling mediocrity. But finally, they've released a game that I'd actually call "decently good". First things first though, is actually set expectations, because in usual fashion, SE's marketing did an absolutely terrible job. Harvestella is a JRPG first, and a farming simulator in a somewhat distant second. Neither are particularly deep, but the JRPG portion is a proper (A)RPG with a full job system, dungeon diving, and overarching story that is surprisingly compelling, while the farming portion is just the player plopping a few veggies & fruits in an expandable (but still limited) area, and tending to 2 specific types of animals, all this so that you can have ingredients to cook food that you'll use as supporting items for the aforementioned dungeon diving. The audio for the game is...interesting. The music is pretty good, kinda reminiscent of Nier Automata's. The voice acting, by contrast, is almost non-existent. If the simplistic farming hinted at it, the lack of VA exposes the fact that this game had a low budget to work with. The story does lose a lot of it's impact when the only times you'll ever hear a character talk is in random grunts and shouts. Ofc, that's likely leading you to the question: "If it's that obviously low-budget, then why is it priced like a marquee game?", and the answer to that leads to why, I think, Square-Enix has been unable to make their lower-tier efforts stick: pricing misalignment. This game, like a lot of others in their catalogue, is way overpriced for how underbudgeted, and how unproven, it is. This game would be a FAR EASIER pill to swallow if were somewhere closer to 40$/€ base price than within spitting distance of AAA pricing that it is now. But I'm digressing there. the TL;DR for this review is: Low-budget JRPG with simple farming sim bolted in, compelling story but overpriced, rec'd when on sale.

VERY GOOD

If you like Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy, then you will probably like this game. I believe this is Square's first farming simulator attempt, and I like that they added their flair to it.

Excellent graphics, fast response in game play and loading, very strong story lines.

I really dislike being directed/herded in games. The first few hours is very much this. The farming aspect is clunky and not terribly interesting. The combat is also rather lackluster. No dodge or block, so that is how they make the farming useful. It very much reminds me of FFXIV before they completely revamped it. Uninspired and repetitive.