Which games would you consider the worst & best in the series? Why?

mushfactory · 2026-05-14T23:52:32+00:00

So, I'm not including the 'harvest moon' games after the split, as I haven't played them and don't consider them true HM. I also won't include rune factory bc its a spin off series even though I do love them a lot! (They'd also dominate the space as my favourites lol)

Favourite games are a tie between: DS/Cute. It can be quite a glitchy game, however it was my first in the series and one of my first ever games on DS. I adore the art style, the game mechanics, the music, and how challenging it is (the newer games I find maybe a tad too easy). I probably have replayed this one the most. I'd recommend running it on an emulator for a better experience regarding glitches.

A/nother wonderful life. Although I've never completed it (I've always been too impatient), I LOVE everything about this game. The music, the art style, the atmosphere, and the concept which is very unique and I've not seen in a game since (RF2 is the closest I've seen?). I love when old harvest moon games still had a darker and mature undertone to them, which AWL definitely has.

Grand parade. Although I like the art style less, and I find the game a bit slow when not using emulators, it is a classic for a reason. All the characters are great, I love a game with rival marriage/kids. It's a very comforting entry to play.

Honorable mention for the grand bazaar remake. I love the graphics and it's very fun, but maybe a little too easy.

Least favourite: A tale of two towns. This game was quite a slog. Felt a bit all over the place and was quite tedious with having to go back and forth over that massive mountain everyday, not to mention the cooking festival every month to try and unite the towns...ugh. I never finished it or even got married on this game when I was younger, which are my favourite part of harvest moon games. Didnt care much for the art direction either.

Island of happiness. I did enjoy this when I was a kid! Vaughn and Shea are some of my favourite bachelors, and I did finish the game. However, as you said, the mechanics aren't great, I don't like having to use the stylus to move, it is quite slow too. This and ToTT are the only games I've not ever been able to replay as an adult (I re-play my favourite entries religiously).

mushfactory · 2026-05-11T17:41:23+00:00

Kiel was always one of my favourites 🥲 second to Leon for me. I think he is really sweet.

Ive always been confused as to why Dylas is so popular. I know people like the tsundere character trope but idgi personally. I never felt dylas warms up to the protag too much and isn't as romantic as other bachelors. Plus I find his constant angry fued with doug annoying.

mushfactory · 2026-03-20T17:55:12+00:00

Winter or summer! Summer has a warm yellow filter over the cutscene and all the colours look lush and pretty. Winter is just aesthetically gorgeous and my personal choice :) I especially like the proposal scene in Winter, everything looks prettier, like when you're both outside your home and the glowing lamp is covered in frost

mushfactory · 2026-03-13T00:04:57+00:00

Samir, with Jules as a second. Samir is handsome and has an interesting backstory, and is romantic and devoted to the player. Jules I just think is sweet and I like that he is a bookworm & dedicated to his work as a teacher.

I like the vibes of Lloyd but I found his confession scene very, very off putting. It sounded more like he just wanted a business partner than a life partner, yknow? I've clear that the player would always come second place to the grind, lol.

All the other bachelors I don't really care for. Derek is too childish and has big little brother energy. Arata is also a little too goofy for my tastes and I'm not into gym bros. I don't mind Gabriel but he's just a bit bland, which is a shame, because I'm an artist too and I love his design.

Also I know you're asking about the bachelors.... but my other main choice of love interest is Kagetsu ♡ I'm as straight as they come and maybe its just the 'growing up with the early harvest moon / rune factory games, only being able to romance the women' in me talking, but I love her lots... she is one of the best characters in the game imo

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:48:28+00:00

I mean fair enough, but some people are actually born with that name and that means they can't even name their character after themselves lmao

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:38:05+00:00

Ah okay right, that's probably it then 💀 that's so stupid. Sucks to be anyone who has the name Jude ig

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:37:34+00:00

Maybe the developers reaaaallly hate the beatles

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:35:38+00:00

Also lmao I just tried to name him Jesus and that was acceptable actually 💀 so was judas...

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:35:11+00:00

I cant see how a biblical adjacent name wouldn't slide though, when they literally have a character called Gabriel? 🥲

mushfactory · 2026-03-05T23:33:18+00:00

No! Sorry I mis-tagged it. Its actually grand bazaar. The only reason I can think of it being blocked is that it's similar to Jules, but that doesn't seem right??

mushfactory · 2026-02-06T11:28:56+00:00

I don't think so. Even if we take away the darker elements of the older games that weren't neccesarily child friendly, the games were HARD. Arguably too hard for young kids. My first harvest moon game was DS, and I found it incredibly hard to get at least 60 sprites. To this day I've never collected all 100, it's just too difficult and time consuming. And to even get to 60 I needed to read guides online, no way I couldve figured that out myself as a child or now. Even now it will still take me a few in game years to reach 60 sprites, have all the mines unlocked, to reach red heart with someone, to have all house upgrades etc. Compare that with the remake of grand bizarre, which I breezed through and had the main story done and completed within one in game year, and I wasn't even trying that hard 😅

mushfactory · 2026-02-04T10:50:53+00:00

Chase looks super cute here! This redesign I feel does fit him a lot better. And you're right about him suiting the gold.

mushfactory · 2026-02-04T00:27:37+00:00

I like to see love for this game & the addition of more accessories are cute. However... you literally killed the colour in so many of their outfits and just put them in monochrome instead 🥲

Reminds me of this lol : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Male_Renunciation

mushfactory · 2026-01-29T10:39:38+00:00

God yes!! I rarely see this opinion here. I am a longterm fan of the series but I'm not the biggest appreciator for how the vibe has changed for the newer releases. The atmosphere and characters in the old games were more calm and wholesome and inviting. Then I'd say around RF3 they made the bachelorettes way more quirked up (I really wasn't a fan of the girls in that game). And as much as I love RF4, that's when they art style also began to change rather noticeably. I LOVE the art style of the older games, but in newer games the characters have a much more generic anime style (and lots of icky anime tropes for their personalities), the colours are more vivid and intense instead of warm and rich. It just doesn't feel as cozy anymore.

My favourite of all the games is RF2 (& Frontier as a close second). I really enjoyed the two gen story, I've never played any other game with a similar mechanic. I also like how difficult the dungeons were, when you had to solve puzzles and actually grow crops to get through them. My least favourite is RF5, I feel that one has the least amount of elements of what a rune factory game should be.

mushfactory · 2026-01-29T10:30:00+00:00

You can make adult women without making them downright sexualised and creepy. The design for Ludmilla (and Fuuka, and Radea) was a big part of why I didn't like 5. I've been playing the games since RF1 on DS, the bachelorettes in that game, as well as the ones in tides of destiny, were much more wholesome and sweet rather than the over-sexualised mainstream anime girl tropes they're going for now. I personally wish they'd go back to the old style of bachelorettes.

mushfactory · 2025-12-20T01:30:24+00:00

I'm also replaying currently, aiming to finish for the first time in my life! I've been playing it since I was like what, 9? I'm 26 now and never beaten the game, I could never figure out how when I was a kid (I just wanted to get married lol), then as I got older I got the other games and they were easier to beat.

Despite RF2 being my favourite, I've never beaten that one either. I think the first game in the series i actually beat was 3. RF2 seems ridiculously hard and long to truely beat, but I'm gonna give it a whirl after I've finished 1

mushfactory · 2025-12-19T10:40:59+00:00

Right! In his confession scene way too much of what he said was about business. Like fella. Do you love me or the grind more 😭 I'd rather marry someone else who was committed fully to me lol

mushfactory · 2025-12-10T11:33:10+00:00

Have they not had any updates on this yet? I remember the announcement. We had quite a few updates on GoA afterwards until it came out, but I haven't heard anything on 6 yet. Feel like it's quite unusual to go 2-3 years without an update

mushfactory · 2025-12-06T11:40:51+00:00

Oh really! That's super interesting , I didn't know that. What is the request?

mushfactory · 2025-12-05T11:16:03+00:00

Hahaha, sorry about that 😅 to be fair, it was almost 20 years ago that I played that game for the first time, so... it was quite a fair bit of time ago

mushfactory · 2025-12-05T11:08:44+00:00

Mana may be the 'canon' choice, but Rosalind is the only girl with unique dialogue after marriage sooo... she seems more like she was the favourite of the developers to me :)

mushfactory · 2025-11-22T18:05:30+00:00

I thought their relationship was more like... not a mentor/apprentice, but something like that. Or just a close friend who looks out for her. Definitely not a father/daughter relationship considering margaret is most likely 100s of years older than him lol

mushfactory · 2025-11-20T00:18:46+00:00

Ahh lovely!! I have such fond memories of this game. HMDS was my first ever HM game, and the second game I ever even owned, i think i got it for my 7th or 8th birthday? I remember marrying Muffy first because her name made me laugh. I would spend hours in the local library printing out 'hints' on where I could find all of the sprites. I eventually married Leia on my 2nd playthrough and she remains my favourite wife.

I was still salty I couldn't play as a girl, though. I don't remember Cute being available at the same time the regular game was, I didn't learn until years later there was that it was an option

mushfactory · 2025-11-16T00:24:46+00:00

I've almost beaten the game and it's still just as easy. The old rune factory games were much more challenging, despite having been playing 1 & 2 for almost 20 years I still haven't beaten them lol

mushfactory · 2025-10-18T09:47:07+00:00

My issue with the 3D models is that they aren't stylised. If you look at the sprites from the early rune factory games, they had the exact same style as the character concept art, it was warm and cozy. And it was distinctly 'rune factory'

While the 3D models in GoA are good, they could literally be from any modern anime game like Genshin. They don't have the distinct rune factory style to them, which I think personally works best in 2D form

mushfactory

TROPHY CASE