Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
Protagonist(s): Pete Claire Genre(s): Farm Simulation Role-playing Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS Release Date: NA: November 4, 2014 EU: June 19, 2015 AU: June 20, 2015 Developer(s): Tabot, Inc. Publisher(s): NA: Natsume Inc. EU/AU: Rising Star Games Country: United States Series: Harvest Moon Successor: Harvest Moon: Skytree Village

Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, also known in North America as Harvest Moon 3D: The Lost Valley, is a farm simulation role-playing game developed by Tabot Inc. and published by Natsume Inc. for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the first in the Harvest Moon series produced exclusively by Natsume due to Marvelous transferring the rights of the original Bokujō Monogatari series (known as Harvest Moon in North America, now known as Story of Seasons) to their own American branch, Xseed Games, starting with Story of Seasons, and was released on November 4, 2014 in North America, then in June 2015 in Europe and Australia by Rising Star Games.

Why This Valley Should Have Stayed Lost

1. This game is a major downgrade from the previous Harvest Moon games (now going under the name Story of Seasons), feeling more like an in-name only title instead of expanding on the previous games.
2. While the art style is cute, the graphics are low-quality even for 3DS standards, with a lot of the terrain looking identical to each other (especially during winter, in which you spend a majority of the main story).
3. Misleading Title: Despite the North American title "Harvest Moon 3D", you can't use the 3D slider in-game except for the menus and title screen.
4. The main story is rather short and can be beaten in about two days.

Redeeming Qualities

1. In fairness, a majority of the game's problems can be attributed to Natsume taking the Harvest Moon name in a different direction with an original series, but failing in execution.
2. The characters and animals look cute thanks to the chibi art style Natsume used.
3. While on the topic of characters, they are all likable and many offer their services to you, such as selling seeds (Sam), providing Insta-Buildings so that you can have structures such as a barn (Doc), converting ores to metal so you can upgrade your house (Bruno), etc.

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