Harvest Moon: Animal Parade Review

So I have a confession to make, readers: I have not played a Harvest Moon game since Magical Melody. Know why? The damned Wii has not existed in a time when I could purchase it in my locale since...this Christmas! So yea, readers, that's where I've been. That thing is too sweet.

SO needless to say, I have been excessively addicted to Animal Parade. To be honest once again, I was mortified that I may have grown out of Harvest Moon. Yes...after writing about them in such mature ways, it just seemed like this would be too...cute. However, that was not the case and I think I have played from 3 p.m. to 5 a.m. for four days straight. It's SO awesome.

If you haven't played, I must plug. Plug the hell out of it, in fact.

Plot: So I guess if I didn't skip the intro, the reason behind why I have a sprite following me would have been explained. But you get to pick from four characters (a major step up from back in the day), two male, two female. Two are from Tree of Tranquility, two are brand new. I myself went with the new girl:
So you're in a cart at the beginning and the sprite named Finn is speaking to you about having to go see the Goddess. Cain, owner of Horn Ranch and driver of said cart, asks you a series of questions about your name and whatnot. He asks if you like eggs and cheese and vegetables and stuff. And like a dummy I just answered what I would say and now, I am a ranching even though I'm really not fond of the animal aspect of Harvest Moon. You still have a plot of land so I'm not positive how this would have changed things. But I digress.

This one deviates from what I call the 'classics' as you're thrown into pretty much saving the land. Single-handedly, might I add. No, you're not just farming, you're ringing bells, a task on top of living. Don't be dissuaded, mind you, it's aggravating but it just means this game is a little more advanced. And I only mean a little, I got all the bells my first year by the beginning of Autumn. Course, that's not 'Game Over', I still have to gain a title in order to see this elusive Harvest God.

Anywho,
Pros:

• Best of All Games: Animal Parade takes everything that was awesome about all the past games. There are many aspects of Magical Melody noticeable in the game such as now being able to buy products rather than just winging it and growing or producing your own.
• Bachelors/Bachelorettes: They're really actually kind of intriguing! I mean, they say stuff and have memories of things pass and they're just kind of cool and I enjoy most of them (See rants)
• Sense of Accomplishment: Whoo, you got through that A Wonderful Life chapter. Yay! I got all the expansions in HM64 or BTN...nah, this one, you feel as if your actions effect other characters, like you're more connected. I enjoy that aspect a lot
• Clothes: I'm a girl about this but having actual different clothes is exciting
• Controls
: The Wii is a different animal if you're not using a classic remote but it was amazing how easy it was to pick up how to control everything.

And, well...

CONS/RANTS:

• CHARACTERS: Okay, call me crazy...but I do have a hate list of characters. I do NOT like Maya and I'm sorry Maya fans but her sole purpose at life is effin EATING. When I read her rival events with "Chase" (*cringe*), I couldn't think of a more shallow creation. Renee got on my nerves at 1-3 hearts too but I suppose that was more her warming up. And GOD, Phoebe. Again, sorry fans, but she just...bleh. Yet another glasses girl that rubs me the wrong way...I see a trend. Craig, Anissa's dad...Jake, Maya's dad...man's NUTS. And...that's it.
  Rant for readers: I feel really bad now though that I made Anissa a bit of a conflict character in 'This Love'. She seems like such a nice character that she would never do that kind of thing to Jyun. And Kotomi ("Candace"), my God, she seems completely incapable of the stuff I made her do. Roomi ("Luna")...well, I have to say, aside for the nympho stuff, I think I was right on target. Lol. And you know, Julius kind of disappointed me but it would have been so much funnier if he called Candace "woman" instead of "sister" in that one event. I love him still, even if he wasn't as flamboyant as "Jewel in the Rough". Oh, and Gill's cool too! Argh. Ah well.
• WHY DO YOU HATE ME?!: It might be a better aspect for some but I am working my butt off giving every character a gift daily and they effin' take FOREVER to boost. And currently, I am pursuing "Chihaya" (no Chase, thanks) and when he confessed to me, no amount of words could describe how pissed off I was that all the bachelors heart took a WHOLE heart hit. And it happened instantaneously! That's a mad awesome grapevine. It was especially aggravating for one Gill and Wizard whom I just got up to ONE heart. Ugh...
• What am I, made of money?: Of course every game has some absurd amount of money needed to progress but I mean, I'm dropping serious cash. And MY GOD, this has to be the first game where I had to pay money for my property. Tough times, I guess, tough times.
• I got it the FIRST 200 times, thanks: That. Damn. Intro Screen. Every time you enter a new area, they have to go to a blackened screen to name the area. It's not rocket science after the first ten times. I know where I'm going! But EVERY time. And it takes forever too! Seamless, please? And if anyone knows if this can be turned off, please, for the love of all that's holy, tell me, I've looked.
• Mine Gas making me...tingly!: Okay, this is something that could have STAYED in Magical Melody. Gone are the days when you can go into a mine and your only fear is like...nothing. You're mining. Nope, no longer. Magical Melody was fine, it had holes you could fall into which was no big. But when you cracked a rock, you could get a status effect...again, just adds an air of excitement. But oh, Animal Parade just made it difficult. My brows rose at the "Speed-up" gas which I think was in MM but I don't recall it occurring quite as often. "Slow Down" gas..."darkness gas"..."poison gas" which I'm not even sure does anything as I can still work pretty well with it in my system..."sleeping gas"...? What am I, at a dentist? And single-handedly on the list of the most horrible Harvest Moon ideas: "COLD gas". Oh yay, I get a cold from some random gas! And it doesn't go away either with a good night of sleep. And know what's even greater? You get more toxic fumes than minerals! No need to say my mining category is severely low.
• Camera control: First couple of days, it gave me quite a headache how all over the place it is... you're either aerial or right up on the character or...just whatever. And to the best of my knowledge, I can't do much about it.
• AWL Realism, please?: So we're back to time stopping in places and you not actually seeing characters get to the places they go...AWL had more issues than pros but at least you see characters walking around a lot more. It's not completely missing, I see people exit and enter houses or walk around their area...but Dale magically making it from across town arriving in a bar just seems odd and I do miss that
• Graphics: ...I'll go there, they could be better. Another point of AWL was it was just gorgeous to stare at the sky. A little mention also is sometimes...weather just happens. But yea, it could be my tv but I doubt it...it just looks milky at times.

GRADE: A-
There were a lot more cons than pros, you'll notice, but this game is pretty addictive and sticks very close to Harvest Moon home but presenting you with a lot of things that Harvest Moon sorely needed. I would definitely play this one if you haven't yet. I have definitely enjoyed it thus far. I'll add on as I go