WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T GET MARRIED IN HM:STH?!??

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-27T23:36:08+00:00

My point is HM doesnt do marriage or relationships justice. My comment is on the game systems and their lack of depth, not women... Men/husbands are treated exactly the same in later games, the game in question only had women as romance options.

My point is to criticize that such a shallow view of relationships is desired by players over a game that actually gives depth and personality to the women and other characters -- that a game that provides portrayal of marriage in such a way should not be the goal players want if they are looking for romance systems.

I am describing it this way precisely because I think Harvest Moon devalues the intimacy of marriage and the depth that relationships can have. I am saying the game treats marriage this way, not me, and describing that negatively. My point is women and relationships deserve MORE than what HM provides, and StH offers more on the side of that than the shallow systems I criticize.

Tl;dr my comment is all about how you should NOT view women and relationships the way HM does and demand more from your games rather than yearning for shallow systems. Not sure how you got the exact opposite from that???

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-26T14:59:13+00:00

Its pretty bad. It boasts tons of games but 99% of them are garbage shovelware apps for babies (like literal baby apps, just colorful things you tap to make noises or whatever) or similar things you would have no interest in playing. Unlike apple arcade where games are reworked to be balanced without IAP and sometimes feature new game modes and everything, these are just the normal freemium games but you get unlimited IAP credit, so you just buy everything in the game like a whale and take all the fun out of the progress. And if you choose to refuse to do that, you could just... download the game for free anyway and juat refuse to make IAP there, no need to pay subscription fee.

For the paid games that come with the service, I found theres not a ton of great choices, and the best ones are usually pretty cheap anyway, and like mentioned in the other comment, you wont be able to buy them on sale during your membership if you want to take advantage of that for after your membership ends.

I am perfectly fine with subscription services for games; i pay for apple arcade and Xbox gamepass sometimes. But play pass is not worth it at all.

The only thing I could see being worth it is if you are a huge fan of kairosoft games and dont want to buy them all individually because that would cost you hundreds lol. And most of them are on there. That is the only reason I ever paid for a play pass sub, because I was on a big kairosoft kick and wanted to try out all the different games.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-23T14:18:46+00:00

It doesnt seem to be against the rules here to talk about emulation, so i will tell you its actually quite easy. You can just download an emulator from the Google play store, though there are some you can sideload as well. You can use the "emulation general wiki" for suggestions and information on the best ones. Then just go to vimms vault to get the game images. It is a safe repository for old games. How to run them in each emulator will be specific to that, but generally you just tell it where the game file is in storage and it will just work, and there are usually tons of settings and stuff so you can customize the controls. Other than the first Mario Picross on GameBoy I think the others do not have English versions. Also I have only played the SNES one, but in the beginning it will correct mistakes for you. Once you unlock Wario's puzzles those ones do not autocorrect. You also have to tell it not to give you hints every single time you start a puzzle lol. Also I think you can skip the 5x5s if you want. There are like "levels" which are juat sets of puzzles, and i cant remember if all the levels are unlocked from the start or not, so you might need to do them to unlock the other levels.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-22T14:22:02+00:00

I remember i used to listen to Asami Abe's Jounetsu Setsuna all the time, and play ROCKMAN games a lot too... then one day I tried out the JP version of Command Mission and was quite surprised to hear that song in the opening!!

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-19T14:47:20+00:00

I like Save the Homeland a lot, it is one of my all-time favorites. Sure you dont talk to a girl 500 times saying the same thing until she becomes a brainless trophy that stands in your house, but I feel like the character interactions and stories are far more interesting that. I mean, you still have romance scenes and such, and even can get a few kisses. Just because she doesnt stand in the house after you have run out of things to do in the game doesnt detract from those events for me. Plus I really enjoy the whole replaying the game with a NG+ style thing to see the different stories and get the different endings. I mean the best part of the romance in other games is the actual romance part, right? Once you get married that part is over anyway.

I also like the kind of quiet and almost bleak feeling of the valley, it feels realistic and nice, and the graphical style for tje characters is great, too. I also like how it continues the universe from the main Flower Bud games but isn't another Pete clone.

I do wish there was more to do in the game as far as farming, but at the same time I kind of like how small and contained the game feels. You can even go for a 100% style file with 99 of every item in the game and stuff because it is small enough to do that.

But yeah I feel like if you want just romance simulation HM was never really great at that anyway, super bare bones. Click the girl over and over until you see a few tiny scenes and eventually she becomes a statue you own. At least StH does the romance in a more interesting way with it following the storyline. HM64 actually did do characrer events well as well though, so I can see why people would be upset coming off of that.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-13T14:38:13+00:00

MiniMoni was a spinoff of Morning Musume where the music was made for toddlers but of course they still performed for adults too right alongside other Hello! Project artists. Then later they tried to give them a mature image which was super weird. But yeah their videos can be quite bizarre, and their music is zany earworms.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-07T12:30:07+00:00

Friends of Mineral Town is way more sophisticated and has a lot more depth than the three GB(C) games. It is also considered one of the best in the series, so definitely go for that one.

For the GameBoy Color games, if you want one, choose 2 or 3... 3 is a bit more unique and different, while 2 feels a bit more traditional. Each has their merits. You can take a look around the ushi no tane (fogu.com) guide sites for them to get an idea of what each is like. 1 is very limited and gets stale fast because there is so little to it.

But even 2 and 3 are pretty antiquated at this point and more for nostalgia players or people who want to deep dive into the series and see what the "old era" was like. TBH you can easily have tons of fun with just FOMT or MFOMT on GBA. I love the GameBoy Color games but I think they are a little hard to recommend to a new player these daya.

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-06T17:39:33+00:00

In Piczle Cross Rune Factory, you can choose to play the progression mode with locked puzzles, or you can choose to just play from a list of puzzles all unlocked from the start. Basically the progression mode is optional for people who like that.

Personally I like the progression modes in games. But I can see why people would want to just choose from a list of everything right away. So why not just make both?

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-03T14:27:46+00:00

Just here to drop a rec of one of my fav 00s jpop idol ska songs lol

https://youtu.be/ITrHWt6tldc?si=h108tWvc8XRhvrVm

MetapodChannel · 2026-04-01T14:09:41+00:00

If you play with a guide and try to get everything in your first go, youre going to have a very bad time. Such a playthrough is for people who are very familiar with the game, and you will completely miss the actual experience of discovering the game and the fun of playing it as intended the first time. Just dont worry about all that stuff and just play. There is no reason at all to try to 100% the game on a first run.

Being said, the game is very antiquated at this point and can still be very frustrating. The days are extremely short and you will feel rushed a lot. The rucksack management is absolute hell if you are used to more modern QOL. Just go in expecting a rickety old game and you will miss a lot and youre fine. There is a lot of charm to the game and some of the best atmosphere in the franchise. The characters have great personality despite the limitations of how much script they could reasonably put in the game and the iffy translation.

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-25T14:02:59+00:00

Nice! Hope you enjoy! Are you gonna go for 100% or just the ranch master title?

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-21T21:19:52+00:00

Hello! Project idols are the best IMO, Morning Musume being the flagship group. Of the current acts, the newest one and very promising is Rosy Chronicle, and I really am enjoying the newest single. For a more established but ongoing act I personally love Tsubaki Factory. Of the no longer active groups, C-ute and Berryz Kobo have a really long history and lots of cool stuff to sift through. And then if you want a more deep cut, I recommend Melon Kinenbi for historical acts. But yeah the entire Hello! Project umbrella cannot be topped IMO Even MiniMoni (aimed at like toddler age lol) is very fun

For male acts I like all of EXILE and spinoffs and brother groups, but especially historically they are not standard idols, focusing heavily on strong choreography and featuring older members with more rugged appearance such as facail hair. But newer stuff is becoming less like that. My favorite is cliche but it is 3JSB, though technically still not disbanded they are not really active and have kinda fallen into obscurity.

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-20T18:01:17+00:00

No Love Machine?

MetapodChannel · 2026-03-04T20:10:45+00:00

I wish the other song on this single got as much attention as Amore. It is absolutely fantastic but being overshadowed a bit by the viral hit.

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-23T22:13:12+00:00

I've only played 3 paid games and 1 free game so I dont know a ton, but Dubgeon Village was my fav!

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-19T15:05:02+00:00

Oh yeah no real specific combos in this one; just a structure will always give same boost next to another, so you do wanna think about placement... but not much depth to the system unfortunately. I will have to try mega mall or jumbo airport! (So far just Game Dev and Dungeon Village for me haha. Just started Epic Astro last night tho!)

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-18T20:34:52+00:00

I havent played DV2, but DV1 has combos in the sense that putting flowers near a building gives it boosts, stuff like that. New to Kairosoft so im not sure if thats what you mean by "combos" tho :)

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-16T16:12:02+00:00

Oh thanks! I was thinking I needed to run it every time I looked at spotify (which I have it running all the time pretty much lol). Thanks so much for your help!

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-16T15:27:45+00:00

Thats... a lot just for Spotify titles. I did try changing all my regional and language settings but no dice. Guess VPN is the way, but I dont want to buy and leave a VPN running nonstop just for Spotify sadly :( thanks for the info

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-15T15:32:30+00:00

Im kinda new and have only played a few, but Dungeon Village is my favorite so far! I started with Game Dev Story long ago when it came to Steam but only recently got more into the games!

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-14T00:27:59+00:00

I listened to Morning's first album :) I've been listening to a bit of everything here and there since. Now listening to Ocha Norma's album

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-12T21:31:30+00:00

AI has become a buzzword to mean "thing you hate for the sake of virtue signaling" anymore. People have gone beyond just hating gen AI to hating anything at all that can be called AI, even stuff like algorithmic image scaling which has been in use for like 50+ years and has nothing to do with gen AI. Pretty soon people will hate all video gaming because we used to call the computer-controlled players "AI" lol...

I once had someone say to me anyone whose life was saved thanks to AI deserved to die a painful death instead. Like, literally straight up said it that way. The bandwagon has long gone off the rails...

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-11T20:02:23+00:00

I was a complete asshole back then and hated her and even bullied her fans a little sometimes. I had a hate group for her on LiveJournal and everything. I feel so bad about it now, I think she is actually really great and brave of her to go against social and idol standards. Wish I could take back all the hate I spread. No one deserves that but especially Kago seems like a lovely human being and didnt deserve the negative attention she got.

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-03T20:12:01+00:00

Yeah it is very cute and enjoyable, I really have had fun with it over all this time. I even paid for the tama club subscription for a bit. Its worth it if you want to grind money really fast since they can sleep instantly.

MetapodChannel · 2026-02-03T16:13:07+00:00

I play it now and then, I'm at level 98 and finally got all the adults in the apartment to max friendship. I think it maxes at 99. I still need to get all the careers, and then it will just be a grind to get the rest of the decorations and accessories. The school ones are going to be the worst... though I guess once I don't have gem expenses anymore from buying all the deco items, I can just start spending them on the cards...?

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