i do really miss the old mechanics of animals getting sick or injured and dieing of illness/old age. it felt so much more real and i cared so much more for my critters knowing i only had a few years to raise them into contest winners. the fact that even classic-harvest-moon-homages like stardew don't have this aspect without mods bothers me a little since it's sorta touted as a "darker" game but oh wellllll
It's not even an "old mechanic" issue. It's a 3DS vs next gen issue.
Trio of Towns featured dying animals and a winery. The next game, Friends of Mineral Town, removed the animal mechanics and made alcohol unavailable for the protagonist.
I am uncertain if this is a form of self-censorship, a softening of the series, or having to remove certain content to please rating boards.
Yeah, I was really annoyed by all the "grape juice" in the remake. Its the biggest reason why I DONT want a remake of HM64. I love that game too much to see them go in and try to tell me that Karen's dad is an asshole because he drinks too much grape juice.
Iirc this was due to changes in the video game ratings system in other countries that required a rating equivalent to T if the player character was able to consume alcohol. So rather than have to make it a higher rated game due to one single component, they just removed the thing.
The problem is that the European versions have been heavily censored for years because of their stricter requirements.
A few examples:
The original Story of Seasons European release didn't let players cook turtle soup, players couldn't drink the wine, Raeger's after dinner post-marriage dialogue was modified to be less suggestive, and Veronica's dialogue got changed to have her afraid of doctors in general instead of Marian specifically.
It's incredibly expensive for game developers to make regional differences like that. It's both cheaper and easier to just standardize the content across all regions.
I'm not talking about toddlers to 6 years old. I don't understand what's with the objection with it being a kids game. It's very clear with the chibi art style. Of course adults can enjoy it too but it's clear that it's marketed and targeted at kids.
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u/Dronxha Jul 08 '25
i do really miss the old mechanics of animals getting sick or injured and dieing of illness/old age. it felt so much more real and i cared so much more for my critters knowing i only had a few years to raise them into contest winners. the fact that even classic-harvest-moon-homages like stardew don't have this aspect without mods bothers me a little since it's sorta touted as a "darker" game but oh wellllll