Moonstone Island

Hard to say if I would recommend this one or not. In the end I did drop this game without getting too far into it, so I guess it’s a no for me, but I would give a neutral rating if I could. My main issue with the game is how the deck building works. For deck builders I like to be able to experiment freely and swap out cards as needed, but this game makes it a punishing grind to do so. Each monster also has its own deck, so if you end up switching monsters then you have to do the grind all over agin. I ended up playing through what I did of the game with a monster team I didn’t really like, with monster decks I didn’t really like, but I never switched it up because the resources needed were so limited.

Honestly, there just isn't anything here that hasn't been done much better elsewhere. The main selling point, the monster collecting card battler, is functional but not super interesting, though I do like the armor mechanic. I ended up totally destroying the difficulty curve without even trying by just going all in on poison, since there are cards that can multiply the amount of poison on a monster, allowing you to achieve exponential poison stacks. I don't really even care about the game being particularly difficult, it just became super brain dead to win, even against things that were twice my level. The villagers are pretty one note, and there aren't even any interactions between them in mini events, unless I somehow completely missed all of those. Additionally, the story isn't really even present through the experience, I did the seasonal temples because I knew that i would need to, not because the game gave me any narrative to guide me to any aside from the first, and then some guy vaguely talks about some nebulous threat existing in the world. I didn't even realize the threat was of massive world ending scale until I killed the final boss and then everyone started saying that I averted some kind of major catastrophe. There just wasn't any significant connective tissue that tied the things I was doing to what was actually going on in the world around me.

I've seen this game for three years on my store page in my constant quest for new pixel farming sims, and finally caved after learning that they added a character customization feature (which... was odd that it took so long to achieve) but, alas. The first 30 hours or so, super fun. You can explore islands, find spirits, try to piece together Waldo's mind... but even after what I played, I wouldn't recommend the game. At least not without a heavy sale. Here are my reasons why. TLDR: Very surface-level, not fleshed out. Lack of exciting exploration, fun decorative resources, and interesting/note-worthy characters. No exciting loot or items, and you have to pay for essentials that should be included in the game. Needs a significant update to feel like a standard farming sim. 1) It's incredibly surface-level. I personally lost incentive to explore the dungeons after getting all of the shards I needed. I found that there's really no need to force myself into a boss battle with really no benefits except more stamina. You can basically just go for the seals at that point to help Waldo, and then... that's it for exploration. There are caves/treasure maps you can go hunt down, but its always the same type of loot: concoctions, a crafting recipe (that you can buy from Paolo's), 5 coins, a gem, and a Moonstone if you're lucky. It's actually the first game I've ever played where exploration is lacklusterly-rewarded. 2) Incredible lack of decoration. One of the best features of any pixel farming sim (in my opinion) is the ability to transform your home into your own. This game does not have that. Your options are incredibly limited. You get one wood path, stone path, wood fence, stone fence, etc. Even in the world, there is a lack of expandable resources like different trees, so you can't choose different variations of wood. Even if you want fun furniture, you have to pay for the DLC that has that, when it should be a basic feature of the game. Even if you want a cute house design, pay for it with the DLC--BUT! You have to put in all the effort of gathering the materials to build it, even though you JUST paid for it. Really making the players work for their money, I guess. This is also the first farming sim I've played where there are not any preset wallpaper or flooring options. You can't even change the walls and floors of your place to make it cutesy, or woodsy, or be that witch you've always wanted to be. You have the option to create a loom, but then you have to design each and every tile yourself, instead of just being able to buy wallpapers at Paolo's or at the General Store. Some people may have the patience for the digital art, but I do not, and thus, I am stuck with the vanilla wallpaper and floor set that has no personality and I wish I could change it every time I step into my home. 3) The battling system. The cards are fun and must have taken a lot of time to create, which I absolutely respect and appreciate, but they can be truly grueling when a boss with HP Rain cycles every turn (so you basically cannot inflict damage) and have to literally force quit the game to start over, or you have used all of your cards which now sit in the Discard pile, with no way of reshuffling a majority of them back into your hand so you can just finish off the spirit. I've definitely had battles where it took a full IRL hour to complete. Multiple times. 4) The NPCs. They are cute and the art is fun, but also so one-dimensional. You don't really get the opportunity to engage and learn more about them, since the chatting feature is simply Chat, Joke or Flirt which you can press a total of three times to earn heart points. I find this to be somewhat lazy? I'd much rather talk to an NPC once a day with a thought-out dialogue, enjoying the creative writing and effort put into the personalities of these pretty characters. There's mail and newsletters that are fun, and I wish more of that writing was incorporated into the game. You get maybe a line or two of dialogue from them, but nothing that really invests you into who they are. You can ask them on dates, but again, you get only a few lines. Waldo is by far the most interesting character, and the only character I basically spent my time playing this game for. 5) Again, surface-level exploration. Even in town, there's really nothing exciting to buy. I was shocked that you get like five stores (furniture/house expansion, general store, armory, research lab, flower shop) to invest your money. The town itself is just so lackluster and very small. I usually love festivals, but even in this game, the festivals I don't really care about. I fully expected that after you find all the islands, you get to travel to like another part of the world and get to explore more islands, different spirits, a new town, cool shops, etc, but I was wrong. This game is about three years old, and what I am suggesting is usually a big world-expansion update that could take a couple years to develop, which I totally understand. But if I was the developer, that is what I would invest my time into, if they haven't already. I haven't completed everything about the game and honestly don't plan to, not unless a huge update happens (that hopefully I don't have to pay for to enjoy). This game is fun and has a lot of potential to truly stand out amongst other farming sims with an exciting world concept, but again, I wouldn't recommend the game to anyone until some significant and well-thought out updates were added to the game. Thanks for reading, if you stuck around to the end!

I was pleasantly surprised by this game. It feels like a cross between Stardew Valley, Pokemon Yellow, and Slay the Spire. The combat is great so far (I'm still early/mid game, but the deck curation feels much like Slay the Spire with a bit more user agency), the exploration is fun, and although I haven't toyed all that much with decorating, it does seem like it has quite a bit of options for just making a cozy little home. Also, the devs get a huge thumbs up from me for putting this game on 75% off sale without paywalling content behind a bunch of DLC packs (like Icarus did). From what I've seen, all or most of the DLC packs are cosmetics (and they're inexpensive, so I may buy them anyway). You actually get the whole game for $5 on sale. To be honest, I'm surprised this game hasn't blown up already. It doesn't look like it has the same replay value as Stardew Valley, and there isn't multiplayer yet, but if they added renewable resources, long-term goals, and co-op, I legitimately believe this game could rival Stardew. At $5, it's a no-brainer anyway. If you were looking for a sign, here it is. Buy it! You won't regret it.

This game is super cute and has a very well organized walkthrough, as well as tons of clever pop culture references -- but I had a really frustrating experience where about 20 hours of progress disappeared, and I never got them back... I'm sad to say I'm abandoning this game. :( I tried all sorts of solutions found in forums online, but with no success. I even tried starting over from scratch, but when I went to save the game, the pop up save window stalled at 'loading', and froze that way. All in all, I recommend proceeding with caution knowing that people have complained about this issue several times, and not all solutions work out. I'm really disappointed.

This game is kinda woke which I didn't realize beforehand. I have no issue with diversity and letting people be who they are but the town roster feels more like an "all inclusive" checklist than a naturally created community. Half the dudes are apparently "They, Them's" ffs. ♥♥♥♥ is straight up dumb. You're telling me this tiny ass town of less than 10 folk has no manly men, every race, 2 non-binarys, and a gay guy? Oh wait no because everybody ♥♥♥♥♥ everything here. This is what "woke" is. This roster of characters was created with politics in mind. Also not just that controversial stuff but what sold me initially on this game was the cute ass main character design and cute fantasy vibes but then you have all these grounded ass normal human characters symbolizing each individual race and sexuality. It was just a bit jarring at first but that's on me for not looking into the game more I guess. Somehow though, despite all that, the game did manage to be charming and fun enough to keep me coming back. The characters have decent writing and the ones I engaged with on a deeper level were entertaining. The character art is also nice... I feel like a lot of games have some tacky ass art so I think they did a good job there and the world just looks pleasant in general. I think flying island to island exploring and doing the whole pokemon thing add a lot to the game in terms of keeping things varied and fresh. I grew up playing Harvest Moon and I feel Moonstone island added it's own cool systems as well as put it's own twist on existing ones in a fun way that managed to keep me engaged. I wish they were more creative with the characters and leaned more into that cute fantasy asthetic but this is a solid Harvest Moon-like.

Got this game from a friend but as a Christian I don´t recommend it because it´s not my cup of tea. The beginner tutorial made me quit because of the occult themes and the bland start. It´s `Pokémon` disguised as `spirits` that live in a medallion and your character being an alchemist that flies on a broom. I´m sure other people enjoy this game but I cannot.

Game that is meant to be cozy and welcoming, has varied identity for NPCs, this such and so on BUT YOU CAN'T GIVE YOURSELF PRONOUNS? WHY DO I HAVE TO HEAD CANON MY OWN CHARACTER??? THIS GAME IS 3 YEARS OLD!!!!!! THIS IS PATHETIC

星露谷加宝可梦两点晕倒版，我就寻思想玩个没时间限制的种田，两点还在追我

Stardew + Pokemon + Slay the spire. Just get it