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Holistic Guidance - Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
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List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $27.99
Your Save: $ 2.00 ( 7% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Natsume, Inc.
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20
Amazon Minimum Age: 60
Batteries Included: 0
Binding: Video Game
Brand: Natsume, Inc.
EAN: 0719593100072
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Feature: Play as a boy or a girl
Label: Natsume, Inc.
Manufacturer: Natsume, Inc.
Model: NDS10007
Platform: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Natsume, Inc.
Release Date: 2008-08-26
Studio: Natsume, Inc.
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Features
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Play as a boy or a girl
Attract settlers by building your farm
Fall in love and start a family
Explore the biggest portable Harvest Moon ever
Compete against other ranchers via online with Nintendo Wi-Fi
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Editorial Reviews:
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You're shipwrecked! Luckily no one was hurt and most of the passengers set sail for their destinations, but you found an abandoned homestead on a remote island. With hard work and skillful farming, you will prosper and help your adventurous shipmates establish a new village with roads, bridges and exciting places to visit. There's a lot of farming to do, people to date and animals to care for. It's a new beginning and a chance to raise a farming family of your own.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: My Opinion
Comment: I was very excited about this game, I got it pretty much right after it came out. The only other HM game I've played was the original one, so I was excited to see all the new things on this game.
I noticed a lot of people having problems with the stylus control. In the beginning, it was a little awkward, but after playing it for a few weeks, I've pretty much got it under control. I have had some issues with getting stuck and dropping some things, but not really enough to be a bother.
My biggest problem was that gameplay was real slow in the beginning. For the first two "years", very little happened. After spring of the third year though, gameplay has gotten much better. Almost too much is going on now. My advice on this is just stick with it, because eventually it will pick up.
I've only just started my third "year", so I know there's a lot that hasn't happened yet, but so far, I'm enjoying the heck out of it. If you like the other HM games, I would definitely reccommend this game. I'm 23 and female, and I think this game is addicting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Solid addictive game but pure time waster
Comment: Like many of the reviewers that gave average scores, I'm a veteran HM player. I've played Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness for over fifty hours now (almost to year 5) and have been quite disappointed. It's addictive, but it's no fun and frustrating.
Pros:
1. Includes both boy and girl main characters in one game. Huge plus.
2. Use of touch controls compared to HM DS. People complain about poor controls, but one just needs to get used to it. Note that you can use the D-pad/buttons to select and use the tools.
3. Almost no typos and glitches. Very solid.
4. Rebuilding an entire island town is a refreshing approach.
5. Tool upgrading thru wonderfuls adds a nice RPG element.
Cons:
1. Frustrating randomness. Crops only grows depending on weather conditions, which makes sense. However, you can go a whole season without profit cause it rained too much or get a series of cloudy days.
2. Cheap events and cheap festivals. The elements that really made the HM games great are neglected once again. The festivals have no activities, just participation crap. Where are the tomato fights, chicken sumo, horse racing, etc?!? There aren't even any mountain top romance scenes.
3. Mining is still no fun and is a huge time sink, and you can't avoid it if you want to progress. Mining sucks.
4. A lot of corner-cutting design decisions: several villagers have the same model, no wedding dresses/tuxedos for marriages, repetitive dialogs.
5. You're forced to socialize occasionally to prevent people from moving out or from refusing your gifts. Note that this game can reach up to 99 villagers.
6. So many tiny and costly upgrades meant to just slow you down.
7. Animal care mini-games are no fun and just gives you blisters.
8. Harvest Sprites no longer help you with the farm work!
Update - Forgot some major cons:
9. Separate spouse beds...what an awkward relationship.
10. Growing trees is terrible. Over a year to grow and addition 1-2 years to make the profit over just the cost of seeds.
11. No mayor, no clinic, no library (would be helpful to explain all the complications), etc. Just farm stores, 2 restaurants, and 2 hotels. What a lame town.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A game you've played before only longer
Comment: I've played nearly every Harvest Moon game on every system and this one is by far my least favorite. The main reason for this is that, in my opinion, the game doesn't really add any enjoyable elements to the series but instead places restrictions on all your activities to make them take longer to accomplish. For example, many of your crops are locked and won't be available until the second year comes or you ship a certain number of crops (likely accomplished your 3rd year or later). Does making it take longer for you to unlock things really make this game harder or more enjoyable. I think it just makes this game long and repetitive.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Harvest Moon Challenge
Comment: 'Island of Happiness' may be the ultimate challenge for players of 'Harvest Moon'. Your character can be either a boy or a girl. Having two slots for two different games allows you to play each gender independently on the same cartridge. Although the basic landscape and characters are the same for both genders, obviously candidates for marriage differ completely. This means that you effectively have two games in one when you buy IoH. In fact, rather than having only 4 possible 'Heart Events' for each Eligible Girl/Bachelor leading to marriage, each has different events based on the responses that your character makes in the course of each Event. The amount of detail that went into this game is staggering. Crops no longer simply need to be watered daily. There are Crops that require 'more' water or 'less' water, as well as 'more' or 'less' sunlight. Rice can be grown in special rice paddies and you can grow wheat, soybeans and buckwheat in your field. The addition of a Thresher and Flour Mill to the ordinary set of Makers in your Maker Shed increases the number of 'processed' goods. Island of Happiness, in short, can occupy the player for years. You need patience and determination to unlock every option, but as always, Harvest Moon can be played on many levels and even a beginner can enjoy this game, going at his/her own pace. There is no 'win' or 'lose' situation here. The graphics are wonderful and as ever, 'Harvest Moon' offers romance, poignancy, friendship and humour to its fans. It is more than a game: it represents a profoundly balanced philosophy of existence for every age group.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great game!
Comment: 5 stars=great, 4 stars=good, 3 stars=fine, 2 stars=poor, 1 star=horrible
Ill start with the controls. U can only control the character with touch screen. 4 ****
Sound(music): The sound is good and not annoying. I dont find it being repetitive. 5 *****
Gameplay: There is tons of stuff to do. U can fish, mine,cook, do house upgrades, huge selection of stuff to build and buy. 5*****
Graphics: Nothing wrong with graphics. Reminds me of HM Magical Melody.
5 *****
Overall, this is a great game. Will keep u busy for a long time. Best HM that i played on the DS.
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