[Bugs, Remarks, and Suggestions]

[PANDACHU ❣]

Hi guys,

I don't want to spend too much time on chit-chat, so I'm gonna keep it short for the good parts: you've got a really good game with nice potential. Great job on everything you've done so far, I totally feel the '90s vibes from good ol' Harvest Moon in there, and I like it a lot. I enjoy the music, the art is beautiful, and the story is very interesting so far, as are the townsfolk.

There's a certain amount of stuff I kinda dislike though, either because of personal tastes or poor game design choices:

- Olric not being romanceable (which is weird; he's a very interesting and attractive character, a total teaser, and an absolute show-off);

- Time passes far too quickly. I don't have time to relax, I'm always worried I won't finish everything I have to deal with in time (and I certainly don't, I often fall from tiredness past 2 AM). Plus, when you fall from tiredness, not only do you wake up 4 hours later than usual (10 AM instead of 6 AM), but you also don't regain your full Health/Stamina. I find it extremely punitive.
You have more than one option here: shortening the added amount of time before waking up when you fall from tiredness, removing the cut of Health/Stamina regen, adding an option to make days longer, not forcing the player to sleep before 2 AM but instead adding an automatic transition at 6 AM to the next day without moving the player from where they are (in order to make all other next-day related mechanics still work)...
In any case, the current system is both archaic and frustrating, and there is no point in keeping it the way it is;

- You have access to Balor's goods in his wagon even before repairing the bridge, even though he keeps saying that he can't restock much without being able to travel with said wagon;

- You can access people's bedrooms at any time of the day, even if it's 1 AM and they're actually sleeping. If you then interact with them, they will happily make small talk with you.
When I first started the game and made my tour of the town for the "Meet everyone" quest, I was very surprised to be able to enter March's and Olric's bedrooms past midnight. I was like, "Hey. HEY! Wake up! I came to introduce myself. I'm the new farmer in town, nice to meet you. See you later! Don't call the cops, plz." ;

- Not much ways to say it: magic sucks. One of the worst magic systems I ever laid my eyes on. Don't get me wrong, I like the whole "Unlock your powers through game and town progression," but the way Mana regenerates is an absolute NO.
You can't add a magic system and make it so you can only cast a simple spell every 4 game days. That's one of the most frustrating magic mechanics I have ever experienced ever. And having a 0.1% chance to find a Mana Potion in a chest in the Mine is not what I would call satisfactory compensation. Having more than 1 Mana Point doesn't help either, since you still only get 1/4 of a Mana Point each day no matter your actual Mana Points. And between "Full Restore" and "Rain," I would without a doubt use it at least once a day if I could, with so many crops to water and energy to spend...;

- ...That leads me to watering cans. The way they work is pretty much a mess. Dunno if I'm the only one struggling with the targeting, but the more area it covers, the harder it is to make it work properly. If you need a lead about good watering cans, Rune Factory did it perfectly. As far as I remember, Harvest Moon DS did it very well too;

- You don't gain enough Renown Points from donations. It's very frustrating to read "Congrats, you gained only 5 Renown Points from that very rare and legendary bug you just donated. Want a glass of water too? I spat in it."

- The amount of money you gain from Money Bags (from Town Renown rewards) is pretty ridiculous. I thought at first it would increase with Town Renown level, but no. I still get only 100 to 150 coins at Town Renown level 27, same as at Town Renown level 2 and more. When everything is so expensive and there is so much stuff to buy, it tastes a bit salty to be honest;

- On Spring 26, I got a request for blueberries. It said, "Hey, it's blueberry season and I want some!" from the young cook girl, but I'm now in Summer and still no blueberries anywhere. Guess that's a bug?

- The backpack is FAR too small! I already bought the B backpack from the general store, but I surely need a C and D! With 8 tools to bring along at any time and so much stuff to gather everywhere, I'm always over-encumbered. The lack of space when it's an absolute necessity is always a painful thing no matter the game, and I have yet to find another vendor for enlarging my backpack;

- It seems fishs won't respawn in the Mine if you don't change floors. Sometimes they don't even spawn at all, even in large water bodies. Dunno if that's a bug or a feature, but that can be pretty annoying either way;

- It seems non-romanceable characters don't have any events at 2 and 4 hearts, and I didn't see it planned on the roadmap. Is there any point in even trying to befriend them, then? It would be a lot livelier if they had things to express or show to the player at some point;

- The different rooms in the Museum are off-limits; you can only have a preview of the different sets. It's a shame, I personally really enjoy traveling through the stuff I gathered;

- When a skill reaches 30, is the experience gained after that going to be allocated retroactively when an update brings the next tier, or is the experience just wasted into nothingness?

- Some perks need a rework, notably the ones that enchant armors/tools/weapons. You need an awful amount of ore to make an ingot, and you need 4 of them to craft something, but you only have a small percentage of chance to enchant something. When enchanted items don't even sell for a higher price, there is absolutely no reason to not make it a 100% chance enchantment but annoying grind and artificial lifespan;

- It seems you can't buy yourself a forge? I tried every vendors and didn't find any, and while I really enjoy crossing paths with a hard-at-work sweating Olric, it's a bit of a pain to travel through the whole town every time I want to craft something ore-related.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Hope I didn't sound too harsh, that's not the point. At all. Thanks for the game!

[Konidias]

I'm gonna hit on your points... mostly to help you and others who run into these issues when there are easy solutions or explanations:

1. The point of passing out at 2AM and losing sleep/health/energy is to provide some challenge. If you can wake up earlier, you aren't even getting 8 hours sleep. That's why you wake up at 10AM, because you need 8 hours of sleep. The health and energy depletion is so minimal that it's not even really a problem at all, considering how many places/ways you can get energy back. Removing needing to sleep completely changes the game, and this game was designed around needing to sleep... so I don't think they are going to change it.

2. You're complaining about accessing people's bedrooms and talking to them at any time of day... But like... isn't this less restricting? You just went on a rant about how restricting the time limitations are... but you're also unhappy they made it easier to talk to people?

3. Magic is underdeveloped, I agree... However more Mana Potions would absolutely break the game. I think they sort of shot themselves in the foot with that instant growth spell, because it's simply too strong. Full restore seems strong at first but honestly it's hard to even use 2 full energy bars in one day later in the game. The rain one is handy and pretty balanced. But the instant grow spell is broken. Like... imagine you could get mana potions more readily... What's to stop you from just insta-growing 9 expensive crops over and over? Surely the cost of the mana potions + seeds would be less than the amount you'd earn from crops... so it would be an infinite money glitch.

4. Blueberries are hard to find... they are in the eastern roads as forageables. I believe at the top right and possibly bottom right of the map. You have to break large rocks to access the areas.

5. You really don't need to bring along 8 tools in your backpack. A Pick, Axe, Bug Net and Fishing Rod are about all you need. You don't need the Shovel, Hoe or Watering Can for anything around the map. Not even digging up artifacts (you can use the Pick). You don't even need the 4 tools I suggested above, if you plan out what exactly it is you're doing. (going mining you don't need the Axe, and if you're not planning to catch bugs or fish, all you really need is a sword and a pick)

I will say I do wish the final inventory size was slightly larger. It might come in later patches, I'm not sure. It can be a bit annoying, but you can press G while holding an item to toss it on the ground, and as long as it's not on a mine floor, the item will stay there forever until you want to come back and get it.

6. I'm positive the museum rooms are planned, they just didn't have time before EA release to add them all. For now you can just check the wings for all the items donated.

7. Enchantments I think are more like "if you get one you get one" but also it's something to late-game grind for... as getting materials gets much easier as you go, so it's kind of just doing like gacha pulls trying to roll for an enchantment.

8. I'm sure a personal forge will come soon. At least you don't need to bring your materials there, so I usually just stop by and forge stuff on the way home from the mines.

[Doze14]

I agree with Konidias