Thinking of buying, would love some opinions.

[FuzzyAnimator]

I'll start off by saying I liked Stardew Valley, but wished it had better graphics. I also very much enjoyed My Time at Portia, but was disappointed by Yonder (just seemed too linear and repetitive).

So now that there's some context, thoughts on whether I would find this game appealing? What do YOU find the most appealing about the game? What would you change?

Thanks for any input. :)

[james64468]

Story and Relationships. But I be honest if you don't like a slow start You might not like the game.

[FuzzyAnimator]

Originally posted by james64468:

Story and Relationships. But I be honest if you don't like a slow start You might not like the game.

Thanks. I don't mind a slow start, so long as I'm engaged by the story.

[Errapel]

I found the story engaging, and the characters compelling. It has some fairly slow pacing in parts, in particular the start. Mostly so you can learn mechanics and 'earn' your progress rather than just ticking boxes.

If you enjoyed Stardew Valley and My Time At Portia... well it's somewhere inbetween. Better graphics than Stardew Valley, but different tone to Portia. No combat, but there is magic and crafting. The game's strongest points are it's characters and story.

[FuzzyAnimator]

Originally posted by Errapel:

I found the story engaging, and the characters compelling. It has some fairly slow pacing in parts, in particular the start. Mostly so you can learn mechanics and 'earn' your progress rather than just ticking boxes.

If you enjoyed Stardew Valley and My Time At Portia... well it's somewhere inbetween. Better graphics than Stardew Valley, but different tone to Portia. No combat, but there is magic and crafting. The game's strongest points are it's characters and story.

Gotcha, so more interaction and activity driven then, would you say?

[Kotatsu Cats]

As a middle-aged veteran of the farming sim genre, I absolutely adore this game. My favorite game of all time growing up was Harvest Moon for the N64, and Wylde Flowers is literally the only game I have loved in the same way. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Stardew Valley as well and it holds a special place in my heart, but there's something special about this one. Something about these particular characters, their personalities and the way they interconnect with each other and with Tara, connects with me on a personal level and I never get tired of them. I've long since passed the credits in "story mode" and I'm STILL finding new scenes and objectives! In retrospect, the gameplay progression at the beginning was a LITTLE slow, but that was to give the player a sense of balance and routine before introducing the more advanced mechanics. Then again, I thought this game had a downright breakneck pace compered to the old Harvest Moon games!

[Errapel]

Originally posted by FuzzyAnimator:

Originally posted by Errapel:

I found the story engaging, and the characters compelling. It has some fairly slow pacing in parts, in particular the start. Mostly so you can learn mechanics and 'earn' your progress rather than just ticking boxes.

If you enjoyed Stardew Valley and My Time At Portia... well it's somewhere inbetween. Better graphics than Stardew Valley, but different tone to Portia. No combat, but there is magic and crafting. The game's strongest points are it's characters and story.

Gotcha, so more interaction and activity driven then, would you say?

Yes that would be a good description.

[tainawoman]

Beside the story and the dialogues with very well built characters, I like that this game lets you play with as much micro-management as you like.

The inventory is unlimited, which I love, and if you enable Fish fingers in the settings menu, you will not have any problems with money. If you don't enable them, then you will play this like the other game, especially My Time at Portia, i.e. very slowly and with a lot of grinding.

[ash]

Wylde Flowers is a game that has voice acting, which makes the game unique and helps you get immersed in the story. It isn't your average farm sim game since it has many more aspects. It brings in a narrative journey that truly keeps you hooked.

The stories of each character are well-written and someone can relate to at least one resident in Fairhaven! You have your farming, cozy simple cooking, building relationships, romance, and witchy themes that are easy to understand. I hope you give Wylde Flowers a try!

[VahidSlayerOfAll]

Originally posted by james64468:

Story and Relationships. But I be honest if you don't like a slow start You might not like the game.

^^^^ i never would have been able to make it to the late game without playing the game at 2 times the speed. slowww start. later you get a recastable spell that helps you run and auto pick up items. also recasting them all the time and farming ingredients to make them wast fun....

[Eppie]

It was the story for me. It always pushes you forward with upgrading your farm, and it's actually pretty compelling. Some townsfolk are better than others, but I like the attitude some of them have. Not everyone is happy go lucky all the time. It makes them very realistic to hear them complain, or be scared, or worried, or excited about the things YOU are doing. Every day there is new dialogue. Unlike Stardew where people say the same things over and over (vanilla of course. Mods are amazing). Better than Harvest Moon too in that respect. One thing that might be worse than SDV is your main character. Tara is a little bleh to me, and I would have rather just had a custom character. She IS voice acted, but I would give them up for more customization. That's my main issue with the game in general: there is almost no customization. You can edit Tara's outfit, but you can't decorate your house, and anything you slap down is entirely functional. This was okay for me personally because I'm not very creative, but cozy gamers who love making there farms a reflection of themselves will have nothing to do here. It's just wake up, do chores, get everyone's unique dialog for the day, and then advance the story if you have the necessary materials at night. Honestly I cheated and looked up everyone's favorite gifts, but the way you do this without cheating is very nice (the silhouettes). I also "cheated" with fish ♥♥♥♥♥. Excuse me, fish sticks!! xD It's basically infinite money lol

Honestly I love this game, and I think anyone who likes the farming/life sim will love this game, as long as they are not dinguses worried about LGBTQ representation. There is a lot of that in this game.

[VahidSlayerOfAll]

Originally posted by Eppie:

It was the story for me. It always pushes you forward with upgrading your farm, and it's actually pretty compelling. Some townsfolk are better than others, but I like the attitude some of them have. Not everyone is happy go lucky all the time. It makes them very realistic to hear them complain, or be scared, or worried, or excited about the things YOU are doing. Every day there is new dialogue. Unlike Stardew where people say the same things over and over (vanilla of course. Mods are amazing). Better than Harvest Moon too in that respect. One thing that might be worse than SDV is your main character. Tara is a little bleh to me, and I would have rather just had a custom character. She IS voice acted, but I would give them up for more customization. That's my main issue with the game in general: there is almost no customization. You can edit Tara's outfit, but you can't decorate your house, and anything you slap down is entirely functional. This was okay for me personally because I'm not very creative, but cozy gamers who love making there farms a reflection of themselves will have nothing to do here. It's just wake up, do chores, get everyone's unique dialog for the day, and then advance the story if you have the necessary materials at night. Honestly I cheated and looked up everyone's favorite gifts, but the way you do this without cheating is very nice (the silhouettes). I also "cheated" with fish ♥♥♥♥♥. Excuse me, fish sticks!! xD It's basically infinite money lol

Honestly I love this game, and I think anyone who likes the farming/life sim will love this game, as long as they are not dinguses worried about LGBTQ representation. There is a lot of that in this game.

once you get those drone, money means nothing

[GrundleGrump]

The full voice acting helps this game stand out in a sea of options. I enjoyed my time with it but didn't continue much beyond year 2 or story completion as I felt my time with it was done and right.

To add to what I said, can I just emphasise that the voice-acting isn't just "there", but it's excellent. Like, some of the best I've ever heard in any game. It all fits perfectly.

And to prove I'm not a fan-boy commenter, I'll just point out that I couldn't care less about the LGBTQ stuff this game is pushing. I think it's actually a massive credit to this game that I can ignore it and still enjoy Wylde Flowers massively. Nothing against the LGBTQ stuff, but it's irrelevant to me personally.

Overall, smashing game. A sequel where we can move islands would be the next step and an instant purchase for me as long as main character remains along with original voice actress.

[Romaki]

To me, Wylde Flowers feels like a 3D Stardew Valley. The narrative can become a little to restrictive with what you can and should do, but it's also a pretty strong story with good characters. The story goes for one year and there's another year worth of stories and quests.

If you missed something in a season it can be quite annoying to return to it, but it can also be a positive that the seasons don't change automatically.

One thing that annoyed me was that I couldn't trigger the barn upgrade without having a grown cow in my barn. I'm not aware of more "you need this for that" issues though.

Personally I'm not a cozy player. My favorite part in Stardew Valley is the Skull Cavern. The mine in Wylde Flowers is pretty lackluster and has no enemies, but it's just means to an end.
My favorite part of Wylde Flowers was going through the story and its aftermath.