When these two companies ceased working together, Natsume kept the Harvest Moon copyright, and Marvelous was forced to rebrand. These games are made by a company called Marvelous and used to be localized by another company called Natsume. In 2013, the Bokujo-Monogatari franchise (translated as ‘Farm Story’) changed its English name from Harvest Moon to Story of Seasons. But First… What is Story of Seasons?Īah, yes. Then we’ll weigh it all up, and I’ll tell you which experience I believe is better overall. Now that we have an idea of what separates these two properties let’s take a closer look at what they do right and wrong and why. This means where one game fails at something, another may excel. Every game strives for something a little different. Harvest Moon, on the other hand, is not a cohesive experience. Stardew Valley is a stellar experience, with every aspect of the game being at least satisfactory. Stardew Valley was originally released on Steam in 2016 but has since been ported to various platforms, including the Switch and mobile devices. Recent titles can be found cross-platform, including PC, but older games are hard to acquire. Platforms - for years, the Harvest Moon franchise has mostly been a Nintendo exclusive.Harvest Moon only sees modding on emulated games, as even the ports to PC are infamously tricky to mod. Modding - Stardew Valley found its roots on the PC and enjoys a thriving modding community.Some older Harvest Moon games wouldn’t even let you play as a woman at all. Harvest Moon only implemented same-sex marriage in recent games. Stardew Valley has more romance options than most Harvest Moon titles and allows for same-sex marriage. Marriage - romance, marriage, and family are core aspects of both games.Stardew Valley westernized the calendar, emphasizing holidays celebrated in the English-speaking world, like Easter and Christmas. Holidays and Festivals - As it’s a Japanese franchise, calendars in Harvest Moon games follow a Japanese calendar with the appropriate holidays, such as white day and summer festivals (Natsumatsuri).Only a handful of Harvest Moon titles do this. Stardew Valley, however, gamifies both fishing and mining and, through the museum, incentivizes players to collect everything they can. Side Activities - Aside from farming, both include other activities for the player to engage in, like fishing, mining, woodcutting, and foraging.The crops available in each game differ too, but only superficially. Stardew’s quality system is based on probability, while Harvest Moon tends to be set in stone, dictated by the filling meters over long periods. Farming - both focus on farming but take different approaches to development.Although some titles reuse characters from previous games, like Animal Parade or Magical Melody. The setting changes between each Harvest Moon game, each with different characters. Setting - Stardew Valley takes place in the titular town, which is populated by a variety of townspeople.In contrast, modern Harvest Moon titles use 3-D models and environments. Art style - Stardew Valley uses retro pixel art to mimic the older Harvest Moon games.Stardew Valley uses the latter setup, where your grandfather leaves you his farm after he passes away. Premise - Harvest Moon games vary in their premise, from you seeing an ad in the paper to inheriting an old plot of land from a relative, usually a grandfather.What are the main things that set these two properties apart? They’re identical in many ways, but subtle differences add up to different overall experiences. Main Differences Between Stardew Valley vs Harvest Moon More than that, though, for all you Stardew Valley fans out there, should you pick up a Harvest Moon game in the future? Let’s find out. So let’s take some time to compare the core aspects of these two properties and see what everyone’s been arguing about. But there’s real value to one game that delivers on every front over a franchise of varying quality. No matter where one Harvest Moon game trips up, another will pick up the slack. The biggest problem with this question is that we’re comparing a single game to an entire franchise. So does experience or passion win out in the end? While Harvest Moon has dozens of games under its belt, Stardew Valley took its formula and perfected it with the love and care that a passion project deserves. And, as the internet is wont to do, many a fight has been had over which is better. Since Stardew Valley released in 2016, it’s been relentlessly compared to its inspiration: Harvest Moon. Stardew Valley vs Harvest Moon Compared - February 5, 2023.
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