ThePigMarcher

It was always going to be one of those games that divided reviewers so it really depends on what you're looking for or expecting. If you want something a little more action packed or combat focused then steer clear but if you want something that has a story that will enthrall and make you think, providing it grabs you, all wrapped up in a truly wonderful (albeit quite depressing) atmosphere, great characters and a beautiful soundtrack then I say go for it. It isn't perfect as some of my previous posts have indicated, but despite some faults the experience was truly memorable and I would probably place this amongst my top 5 Wii games , or thereabouts. I could be biased though, which undermines your request for a trustworthy review, as I am quite partial to most things that RSG bring over.

You may not be wrong. I'm only on day 7 in-game and I am already hooked on the thing. I am already trying to decide how to best spend my time, do I concentrate on building up the farm, spend a bit more time in dungeons, or chill out, forget everything and spend some more time flirting with the young ladies. Not forgetting that I have just discovered a hidden dungeon, need to build a barn, remember to catch the postie to send a letter for me, find a fishing rod. All this and I still haven't yet uncovered the whole recipe thing or the runey system. Only minor criticisms I can find at the moment is the loading is a bit of an annoyance and some of the character voices are a bit grating. Really shaping up to be an epic experience and well worth the wait.

I loved Magical Melody so I think you'll enjoy it. Just ignore the complete failure to make any translation or update for the Wii, other than some pointless and rarely needed waggle. Even the in-game instructions still pertained to the GC version, it took me freaking ages to figure out how to ride the horse, let alone race it effectively. I must get back to it at some point. Yes, there is the option to marry in this game. I've only met a couple of possible love interests at the moment but it seems that there is going to be quite a few to 'work' on. Still trying to figure my way around the place though. EDIT - Must type faster

RSG only officially announced the release date last week so it's hardly surprising that very few know that it's out . BTW, which Harvest Moon game was it you picked up, if it was ToT I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. I decided against it because of some really mixed reviews, apparent loading time issues and the fact that I can't help thinking the HM series needs a little reinvention. Which brings us neatly to RFF. It arrived this morning so I have only had really little time with it so far, nowhere near enough time to form a proper opinion so I'll probably edit this post a little later. One thing though which the videos already show, the thing is beautiful and nearer to the AWL look (but not quite up there) rather than the more recent HM outings. The manual itself is pretty extensive and it seems there is going to be a stack of stuff to do in this game, which may explain why some on gamefaqs are claiming to have spent over 100 hours with the thing.

Largely the reason why I haven't been interested in giving this a look, plus I've overspent a little on 'other' systems, with plenty more on the shopping list. May pick it up when it's cheaper but TBH, unless I find a compelling enough reason to buy into the whole Motion+ lark then I may not bother.

Major, major bumpage (still an understatement :p), but seeing as this is FINALLY due this week it may/may not merit it. Just curious to know if anyone else is planning on picking it up, as mine should be here tomorrow, or does anyone even care about this anymore, or is it a case that anyone who did care imported the thing over a year ago. I must admit that my interest was beginning to wear thin because of the wait and the fact that my usual import site hasn't had it listed for the last few months, but now that it is almost in my hands I am looking forward to it. Of course, after such a wait, there is a very strong likelihood of an epic disappointment with the game. So, any chance of this actually topping 100 sales ?

You can grab that final machine part as it won't trigger the 'point of no return'.

You should find the missing foods eventually, I seem remember having trouble tracking 2 as well, so they could be the same ones you're having problems with. The songbook is a major pain in the arse. On my first playthrough I only got 14 or 15 before getting bored and giving up. It was only those missing songs, 2 paintings and a couple of bits of equipment that I missed. On my latest run (which got interrupted by Fragile Dreams), I had got up to 18 so I may think about trying for them all this time. I don't think they're related to happiness but I may be wrong, but some are very well hidden and you'll most likely only ever be able to get a couple each night. Now that Fragile Dreams is complete I really should get around to finishing up this playthrough.

Had a similar problem myself and spent a little while desperately trying to battle on with a combination of a broken bamboo sword and a cat toy. Speaking of which, I'm still trying to work out what the deal is with playing with the cats and if there's going to be any benefit from it, there must be something or else why map them? Thankfully, I've found that money becomes really easy to come by once you get through the early phases so it's not a problem to have loads of back-up weapons, although the random nature of when the trader decides to show up seems a bit bizarre, as well as the frequent backtracking to bonfires which is a little tiresome already. Despite all that, and still wrestling with the controls I think it's fair to say that I am completely hooked on the story and how bleak everything is, so I'm definitely pleased that I gave this a chance, just hoping the story and atmosphere can maintain itself for the duration.

Some very early, spoiler free impressions. A bit of a copy and paste job (with some alterations) from something I posted on another site in case some of it doesn't make sense. Only played an couple of hours or so, but it looks like it may become an enjoyable enough experience. Graphically the thing is just beautiful and I also like the soundtrack, also an excellent job of implementing the Wiimote speaker into the game. The story is building up nicely and the developers have done a seemingly great job with creating a sense of isolation, and the very few early characters that I've come across have been pretty interesting or bizarre in the typical Japanese fashion. I can't comment on the English VO's as I figured the game would be more enjoyable using the Japanese voices. Quite enjoying the 'memory' items aspect and one part early on had a decent enough impact, so hopefully many more will follow. It's not all positive though: the controls are not the easiest things to work with so I am hoping that I do get accustomed to them, combat is a struggle as a result of this and I have even died 3 times already against very weak foes, thankfully the save points are plentiful so far. I can see that the breaking weapons could well be a problem and it seems quite random as to when it happens, one bamboo stick lasted a while, yet another broke almost immediately after I bought it. The inventory is also quite awkward to work with, and the limited nature of it is a minor issue, but, the frequency of the fire pits means it isn't game breaking. I should also point out that some (but definitely not all) of my issues with the controls could be due to fact that I rarely use the Wii now, other than Muramasa and LKS which hardly use Wii specific controls anyway, so things may improve slightly once I have retrained myself.

Mine has just arrived so I'll see if I can make some time to give it a brief look and post some impressions, especially as reviews still seem to be relatively thin on the ground.

Mine was sent by shopto today so it should be here tomorrow. Like EE, whether I get time for it or not is a different matter, because Dragon Age: Awakening (add-on) arrived earlier so I need to give that some attention.

The biggest gameplay issue seems to be with the clunky combat, so I'm hoping that the 'clunky' aspect is more due to the fact that Seto is not a combat expert, in a similar vein to Silent Hill games. Of course, the atmosphere would need to be spot on and really immersive to allow the developers to get away with it, and early signs are that they have done. With that being said, it could still be used as a viable 'get out' clause though if the broken combat is largely down to laziness. The limited inventory and broken weapons idea doesn't bother me, although I may well change my mind during the playthrough. Suppose we'll find out soon enough.

I was hoping to have seen some popping up by now. I did read somewhere that ONM* scored it 72%, but I haven't read the mag in ages so I'm not sure what they had to say about it. I figured that I would probably end up getting this anyway so I stuck in a pre-order today and am looking forward to it. * Apparently they also gave Rune Factory Frontier an 85%, which is another game I can't wait for, although I really should have imported it ages ago.

A bit of a bump :p I noticed that shopto were doing this for £16 so figured that I owed it to myself to finally pick it up. Got delivered earlier today and I've only played the opening Act and midway through the second, but this thing is shaping up to be a very enjoyable experience. I'd seen the videos etc but even so I was still taken aback by how good it looks, simply put, just beautiful. The combat is also very smooth although I can see it has the potential to get a little repetitive. I'm hoping that the whole forging/collecting blades (however useless some may be) will add some depth. At the very least, the completionist in me will probably make me acquire as many as I can. The first Wii game I have bought since last June, so it's great to be able to give the console some love again, especially with Fragile Dreams due next week and hopefully Rune Factory Frontier next month, then NMH2. Or in other words, thank fuck for Rising Star Games.

Any of the battles against rival Kings in Little King's Story. Not levels as such but qualify as sections, but I had to mention LKS somewhere in this thread :p.

After bosses I always seemed to get all of my troops back so I assume that's nearly always the case. I could be wrong though, as my initial playthrough was a while back, but I do remember experiencing a bloodbath at one point and the beach was still overloaded with resurrections the following day. The only time I seemed to ever lose a couple of townsfolk that never resurrected were usually those lost when doing something stupid against a non boss. I haven't done enough in the current playthrough to fully test the theory. Only lost 4 against Shishkebaboo and they all washed up. If the worst comes to the worst you could just marry off a load of couples and that will soon bring your population back up. Unless you become attached to some of your population and can't bear losing them like I did.

But most (if not all) of your lost troops would have washed up on Resurrection Beach the following day anyway.

Seeing as I have been hammering the 360 lately I decided to have a Wii Appreciation Day today, although my collection has been decimated after a recent clear out. First port of call was to start another playthrough of this. In fact, I haven't yet had the chance to look at anything else because I haven't been able to put this down (again) and it's f'ing ace to get back on this, it's still as enchanting as it was.

You may be right. I am really looking forward to this and it could well be the first Wii game I have bought since last June . That being said, I hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as Muramasa, that fate, being another game that I was really looking forward to and yet I still haven't had the motivation to pick it up .

Yes, both appearance and class can be changed. I even managed to make Shepard look worse than he did before, unintentionally.

I was also dying far too frequently, some of that was adapting and I also jumped straight in on Veteran which shouldn't really have been an issue but the changes made it tougher. I'll have to remember that with Pull, only just unlocked it so I haven't had a chance to test it yet, cheers for the heads-up. Shockwave is great, and I'm getting used to Charge now, it was also the reason for my multitude of deaths. I kept thinking I was going after a single enemy so would charge them, only to find out that a couple of other enemies where hiding around the corner . Being a little more cautious when I use it now which is obviously helping, along with a shotgun or melee follow-up of course .

Progress has been very slow for me as I am trying to split time with this and Darksiders (which has grabbed me far more than I expected). Really loving this though and although it took a while to adapt to some of the changes (especially as Vanguards seem a little tougher to use than before) but I'm now slowly getting there, most are beneficial anyway. I do miss the Mako though.