A worthwhile addition to the series. Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar is a great experience, but filled with its ups and downs.
A REALLY LONG REVIEW: [ Warning ]
I am going to break down the pros and cons of this game and delve into some specific factors that make Grand Bazaar both a joy and pain to play.
First off, the Positives:
1. Like most games of the Harvest Moon series, Bazaar is highly addicting for all you farm geeks out there.
2. If you are a sucker for collectibles, and person with a penchant for routines and schedules- this game has plenty to offer.
3.The animations are cute, colorful, and extremely pleasing to the eye. The music is lively and the sound effects truly add to the experience of dialogue, setting, and atmosphere.
4. There are fun additions to the gameplay where you can hunt critters for extra moola and make your own fertilizer with the help of the wind plus some interactive wind whooshing technology via NDS mic.
5. Jumping is added to the movement of your character, which means you can jump over crops without damaging them, over rivers without finding a bridge to cross them, and whatnot. Jumping is awesome. And Double-Jumping, beyond awesome.
6. Cooking has always been a great and enjoyable part to the series. The usual recipe-hunting, finding a love interest, and fishing are all fun side quests in creating the perfect life for your character.
7. There are some challenges to the game, namely the bazaar. Every season, the mayor of Zephyr Town declares a quota that you must reach when selling your products to customers. In order to meet the usually high quota, you'll need to strategize and plan ahead to maximize your profits. After every bazaar, the mayor will rank the top three sellers and prizes are involved. This certainly adds a competitive edge to sell your best crops and other hard-earned goods.
8. Also, the bazaar means that most of your income will come once a week (although you can sell your goods at a local store, the prices you are selling it for is highly reduced as opposed to selling them at the market), so pacing becomes a must in keeping a successful farm running.
9. Overall, I can see some of the best elements of several Harvest Moon titles all neatly packaged into this game. It seems as if the creators sat down, picked up all the fun parts of each of the series, and managed to mash them together into Bazaar. It is definitely an improvement from the other DS titles so far, and I still haven't quit yet despite some of the annoyances in the game.
Now, the Things You Are Probably Dreading, Some of the Negatives:
1. Repetition. This has always been a given flaw in the series. However, after playing Rune Factory 2, where conversations with acquaintances change and tend to speed along to new ones, talking to people in Bazaar every day is a nightmare. You WILL endure the same dialogue with your neighbors for what seems like four seasons. Leveling up your friendship meter seems a lot slower due to the repetitive nature of the dialogue. Everything seems to remain stagnant; the seasons being the only thing ever changing.
2. a) The game controls have changed and I am not sure how I feel about it. Because Bazaar has introduced the Jump ability of your character, you'll mostly be pressing the "B" button to pick things up, talk, and etc. At first, I had a little trouble grasping the controls because "B" is usually the cancel button and pressing "A" to do everything seemed more natural. However you do get used to the "B" button but it still doesn't feel right. I feel there are too many actions associated with the "B" button (talking, picking things up/catching things, using items/tools, and so on) but I might just be a nitpicking.
b) Further ranting about the controls, I need to mention that the quick keys/shortcuts to holding items are entirely erased from the game (although a shortcut for holding tools is still there). This means you will have to open your bag, rummage through it, pick out your desired item, move it over to the "hold" space, and press "B" (which will trip up most people who quickly wish to take out an item). A little hectic, isn't it?
3. Time has also changed in Bazaar. Specifically the flow of time. Time won't stop when you open your bag for an item. You want to give a gift to someone? Well you'll need to open your bag, look for the item, and quickly "hold" it before the targeted character wanders off; or you will be left standing alone holding an object without anyone to give it to. Time won't stop when you're indoors either, meaning you are constantly under pressure to move. You need to either be in a conversation with someone/something to freeze time. Otherwise, you need to quickly go through your tasks and master switching through items. Even while cooking and looking through the calendar, time will be ticking, which is a huge stressball factor to the game.
4. There is no real main menu during the gameplay. All you have is a quick menu that shows the items in your bag. The only way you can view your assets and other valuable information, is to go home and look at your bookshelf. This becomes a huge pain when you have to hike all the way to your house just so that you can make sure of something minor. Looking through your bookshelf is no exception to the ticking time, so you will usually be forced to skim through the information (such as your friendship levels with the town, sales, and etc.).
5. And finally a MAJOR issue with this game is its SAVE system. You can only save once and that is when you go to bed. Therefore, you must complete a whole day's cycle in order to save your progress. If you make a mistake, tough luck unless you have the patience to start the entire day over. If you forget to water your crops and accidentally go to bed (saving in the process) you obviously can't go back because you already saved when you went to bed. There is an option of not saving when going to bed, but saving becomes a necessity because it is so scarce within the game and you do NOT want to lose an entire day's worth of work. So usually when you mess up, you have to grit your teeth and run with it. So if you are a perfectionist, you are going to suffer double the amount of repetition in order tidy things up, if you can.
I know the bad stuff seems to outweigh the good, judging by how much I've written for both sides, but that is not true. The good does shine through.
This review is coming from a Harvest Moon fan ever since the N64 days. I do try to take an objective perspective on most issues, but my love for the Harvest Moon series clearly has me up all night playing Bazaar until my eyes dry out and I begin hallucinating about brushing cows and sheep. I have been playing nonstop for a couple of days and Bazaar has become the source of my insomnia. It has its defining addictive quality, which makes it so hard to put down.
So for those who are not so much into collecting, have no interest in farming, have little patience, and whatnot, please stay far far far away from this game.
Otherwise, if you are a fellow Harvest Moon fan like me, or are drawn to the idea of Bazaar, come join me in a pleasant and wonderful but sometimes agonizing experience.