Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (牧場物語　ふたごの村, Bokujō Monogatari: Futago no Mura, Ranch Story: Twin Villages) is a farming simulation video game developed by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo DS and 3DS as part of the Story of Seasons series. It was released in North America on the Nintendo DS on September 20, 2011 and on the Nintendo 3DS on November 1, 2011 by Natsume. The original release date for the Japanese version was set to February 25, 2010 but was moved to July 8, 2010.

Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
Developer(s)Marvelous Interactive
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Takahiro Yura
Producer(s)Yoshifumi Hashimoto
Artist(s)Igusa Matsuyama
Composer(s)Hiroshi Nakajima
Eri Yasuda
Ryou Kinugasa
Kengo Hagiwara
SeriesStory of Seasons
Platform(s)Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo DS
ReleaseNintendo DS[1]
  • JP: July 8, 2010
  • NA: September 20, 2011
  • EU: June 29, 2012
  • AU: July 5, 2012
Nintendo 3DS[2][3]
  • NA: November 1, 2011
  • EU: June 29, 2012
  • AU: July 5, 2012
Genre(s)Simulation, role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player 

The DS version is titled as Harvest Moon DS and the 3DS version is titled as Harvest Moon 3D. New features in the game include new animals like Alpacas and Honey Bees and a Pickle Pot that can be used to make pickled turnips.

An enhanced 3DS version titled Bokujō Monogatari: Futago no Mura+ was released in Japan on December 14, 2017. It included access to StreetPass and better controls.[4]

Story

Hundreds of years before the events of the game, the towns of Bluebell and Konohana were once friendly neighbor towns connected by a tunnel through a large hill. However, fierce arguments grew between which town's cooking was better than the other's. During one specific confrontation, the Harvest Goddess grew tired of the bickering and destroyed the tunnel, cutting off a majority of the town's contact. Centuries later the towns are still bitter rivals, only communicating during a weekly cooking festival.

The game begins with the player riding a horse up the mountain between the two towns. On the way, a fox jumps into the middle of the road, causing the player to swerve and fall down a cliff, knocking them unconscious. The player is later found on the ground by Rutger, the mayor of Bluebell, and Ina, the mayor of Konohana. When the player comes to, they realize that they don't remember which town they lived in. Each mayor insists that the player lived in their respective town, but the decision is ultimately up to the player.

Gameplay

The player starts the game by choosing a gender and picking to live in either Bluebell or Konohana. The two towns specialize in different aspects of farming. Bluebell specializes in farm animals while Konohana focuses on crops. The player's farm will have different features depending on which town the player has chosen. Like all other Harvest Moon games, the player must maintain their farm by planting and watering crops, and raising their animals. The player can also fulfill requests that are posted at each towns' message board. Choosing a town will not restrict the player to that town only, the player can travel between towns and interact with all of the townspeople. The player can choose to marry a bachelor or bachelorette, depending on the player's gender, from either town.[5]

Cooking Festival

The cooking festival is a cooking contest between the two towns. The festival occurs four times each season and the player can choose to either participate in the festival or cheer for the player's own town. Each town has a team of three participants who present a cooked dish to the judge. Whether the player participates in the festival or cheers for their town, the player will gain friendship points that help fill up the friendship meter. Once the meter is full, the towns will return to being friendly neighbors again. The player will gain more points by participating in the festival than they would if they were cheering for their town.[6]

Marriage

There are 6 bachelors and 6 bachelorettes to choose from. The player must give presents to a marriage candidate and raise their friendship points to a certain level. Once the player has 5000 friendship points with the marriage candidate, the player can take the candidate out on dates. Before marriage can occur, the player must have a big bed in their house and also trigger events that occur on dates. Once all marriage requirements for the marriage candidate are fulfilled, the player can propose with an item called the Blue Feather, which can be bought in shops. After marriage, the player can choose to upgrade the bed and remodel the house to have a child.[7]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
MetacriticDS: 68/100[8]
3DS: 63/100[9]

Harvest Moon DS: The Tale of Two Towns received a "Fair" rating of 6.5 out of 10 from GameSpot because it has an addicting and long lasting gameplay but it does not bring anything new to the Harvest Moon franchise.[10] IGN's Lucas M. Thomas gave it an overall rating of 6 out of 10. Thomas mentions in his review that "It's hard to love a game that's so based on hate."[11]

In Japan, Harvest Moon DS: The Tale of Two Towns was Marvelous Interactive's best selling game in 2010 with 230,000 sales.[12]

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References
  1. "Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns DS Release Dates". Gamestop. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  2. "Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns 3DS Release Dates". Gamestop. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  3. "Nintendo Direct – Upcoming release schedule for Europe" (PDF). Nintendo. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2012. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  4. "Story of Seasons: The Tale of Two Towns+ For 3DS Gets Its First Trailer And Screenshots". Siliconera. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  5. "Ushi no Tane: The Two Towns". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  6. "Ushi no Tane: Cooking Festival". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  7. "Ushi no Tane: Getting Married". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  8. "Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns for DS Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  9. "Harvest Moon 3D: The Tale of Two Towns for 3DS Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  10. "GameSpot: The Tale of Two Towns Review". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  11. "IGN: The Tale of Two Towns Review". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  12. "Siliconera: Harvest Moon The Tale of Two Towns was Marvelous Biggest Success Last Year". Retrieved February 3, 2013.
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