I tried playing Harvest Moon on the SNES today and having played Stardew Valley for hours, I thought I’d try and see how tolerable the original Harvest Moon was in comparison. I know and understand it is unfair because there’s a 20 year gap between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, while also discrediting Harvest Moon’s later entries since there’s more than one.
Harvest Moon to me is a bit hard to revisit. Having to get used to only carrying two tools at the same time, your farm doesn’t seem as big, you don’t have a way to know that you’re tired as readily, you just have to watch for the signs and the village you visit doesn’t seem as characteristic. It’s a basic farming sim, it has to start somewhere.
But Stardew Valley does so many things that it is easier to revisit.
Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Now you got Rock, Paper, Scissors, Stapler, Banana, Atomic Bomb, Literature, Handcuffs, Police Brutality, Spock, Tweezers, Howling Dog.
And really, who would ever expect you to pick Tweezers? But it doesn’t lose to much, so it’s actually a great pick to twist your friends nipples. Unless they start EXPECTING you to twist their nipples, so they pick Atomic Bomb, and blow up all of civilization in a 30 mile radius.