The problem with them using the name harvest moon is that the only reason they are doing it is to trick people into buying their games. People recognise the name and think it's a quality series that they grew up loving. Not realising that the series they know and love is now stories of seasons. Basically, they're charlatans. That being said, if and when they put out a good game (that is inclusive), I'm up for buying it. If its fun then I look forward to having a good time.
Yeah, it is bad, but lots of other publishers do the exact same thing, and I haven’t seen them get much slack for it. Nintendo just released Pokémon brilliant Diamond, which was created primarily (ironically) by Appci, not the Pokémon company. Square Enix would slap Final Fantasy on games that were actually NOT Final Fantasy at all (see Final Fantasy Legend on the Gameboy, which I bought as a kid because I thought it was a real FF game). I do agree that they should have polished the HM games more though.
@EliTheGaymer for me the difference is that its not that the brand got licensed out and has to get approval on if it lives up to the branding by the original creators. Such as with pokemon. And it's not that the original company went under and the name got bought out. So its this company or no games in the series at all. With harvest moon, they're actively trying to market themselves against the series people think they're buying. They're making claims about anniversaries as to try and reinforced that harvest moon is the same as always. They're releasing their games at the same time as story of seasons to steal their sales. So to me at least, this scenario is pretty different.
I agree with you. If they are willing to make good farming games they don’t need the title to trick old gamers like me. I got one of theirs and got confused, then realized that it was not HM. Charlatans is a good description.
This makes a lot more sense. I did know Natsume was a publisher so it makes more sense they would hire another company to actually make the game cause that's what they have always done. I like the concise way you delivered the information. Personally I am going to be open minded about both series cause there are titles from both that I liked and disliked. It's also interesting that there are two separate Natsume's. I am curious what the other company ended up doing or if it's still around.
Natsume-Atari still do make some console games like Pocky & Rocky and Wild Guns (which Natsume still helped them to localize). They also do pachinko and arcade stuff like that in Japan. I wonder if Natsume went to them first to see if they wanted to make the game or they just jumped straight to Tabot/Appci. Some details we may never know, haha.
The reason everyone is mad at Natsume is because they continue to lie about developing games that were made by Marvelous, and suppress anyone who calls them out. People like Bokujou Monogatari games, not games that are simply called "Harvest Moon". So when Natsume hires random companies to produce lackluster games, while calling them Harvest Moon, it brings the reputation of the series down. When Natsume then lies about making the classic Harvest Moon games, it prevents people from finding out about Story of Seasons, so anyone coming back to the series after 10-20 years think the games are just bad now, without realizing they're not playing actual Bokumono games.
I agree with you 100%. I still see people online all the time not knowing about the title being changed. I brought Harvest Moon: Light of hope, I had no idea about the name change and didn't enjoy the game. I got a 3DS to play Tales of the Abyss and suddenly Amazon started recommending Story of Season to me. After looking in the reviews I found out about the name change.
I don't care that the localization company kept the Harvest Moon name, but I do think it's kind of unintentionally deceptive... or maybe it is intentional who knows. Somebody unaware of the Story of Seasons split might buy a current Harvest Moon game off nostalgia not knowing the product is basically mislabeled. In the same sense people might overlook Story of Seasons, not recognizing them as making their childhood games. Though I think these remakes FoMT and now AWL are making themselves a lot more obvious by rehashing the old secondary titles. I stick with Story of Seasons because they made the Harvest Moon games I grew up with... I guess it's loyalty idk. A similar thing is happening with Battlefield right now... almost all the original devs have left DICE to create Embark Studios and the quality difference between the most recent Battlefield game lacking those veterans, and Embarks upcoming games dominated by those veterans are very obvious. But as you said, if any studio makes a great game there's nothing wrong with supporting them.
Yeah, this is actually what I think a lot of people don't realize. Companies hold the rights to games, but the people who actually make the games are constantly changing! I loved Warcraft and Blizzard used to be an amazing developer... But everyone who made the magic of the original games is long gone, but the company still owns the rights (and they released Warcraft III Reforged, an abomination!). Maybe what Natsume is doing is a bit wrong, but literally every big publisher these days does it. Nintendo? Released Pokemon DP, not made by the Pokemon Company. Square Enix? Released Final Fantasy Legend (not even a Final Fantasy game).
Yeah nowadays its kinda normal that big publisher hire different companys to make games under their IP but its something people don't seem to realise or care. Similar example would be the diamond and pearl remake for Pokemon, it was not made by game freak but instead ILCA, or how activision uses Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games as different studios for their call of duty games so they can pump out one of them every year.
Yeah, these days it’s more rare to find a long running series (2 decades+) that HASN’T switched developers. And even those that haven’t switched developers… how many people do you think left the company in the span of the twenty years? Any series that’s been going for a long time is made by different people than the originals with very few exceptions.
How can they include THE HARVEST GODDESS and harvest sprites in their games and not be accused of plagiarism is a mystery. Yeah, I tend to dislike videos that talk about Natsume games and SV, hate them because the old HM and the Story of Seasons games don’t deserve to be plagiarized, it’s not like thry sell millions. Rune Factory is a legitimate spin off of HM and the comparisons to games “inspired” by them make me sad. I adore Harvestella and read on Reddit part of the team was also responsible for the first Rune factory games. They’re totally different games, but if I get a dollar for every time I see some1 write “this is what RF5 should have been” I would be rich. It hurts a lot when those series, both HM and RF, are part of your childhood and no one knew about them. They struggled a lot and now there are competitors that simply plagiarize their ideas.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the next Harvest Moon as well. The crops and character models look really good! Hopefully the gameplay is good as well.
Thank you for being the voice of reason. I don't see what is so bad about having two series producing farming games. More choice is a good thing imo, and I don't think the new Harvest moon games are so bad we should all be disgusted and steer clear of them at all.
Yeah, I like that we are now getting more farming sims! Back in the day, Harvest Moon was the only farming sim available. I'm so glad that these days the farming sim genre is blooming, haha. Thanks for taking the time to leave a nice comment!
They are using a name that everyone knows as an amazing game to sell it but creating games nothing like the originals. The original people who made the good harvest moon games now have to sell their games under the name story of seasons. To most fans from the original games this was confusing. I had to google it when the remake of its a beautiful life harvest moon is now story of seasons its a beautiful life.
Yeah once I got that P.O.S. Harvest Moon One World I then learned a lot about Natsume and the split. Although I'm into the Story of Seasons series now (just beat Olive Town, starting Mineral,and recently got A wonderful Life), I won't say that I'll never ever get another Harvest Moon game. But as of right now none of the newer Harvest Moon games seem better than the last one I played
I totally agree with your sentiment. Harvest Moon is not a single person, or even company owned game. Its a rich tapestry of many voices. Natsume is an important voice in that conversation. They are fundamental in getting the first game translated. While they tried to release many additional IPs in the USA/West, none were nearly as popular. They often took risks on games that were non-standard (like HM). But as a result there company relied on Harvest Moon, hard. When Marvellous decided to change to change there translations to be in-house. Natsume was cut out of the profits and lost the major source of income. Nastume really had no choice but to use the only thing they had, a trademark for Harvest Moon. The first game left a really bad taste in peoples Mouths. I loved the second title (Seeds of Memory) tho. There was a few errors in your video. Natsume is a mostly US staffed company. Aside from the Japanese president, Hiro Maekawa. Graham Rann/Mkkay has been with the company since the N64 days. Adam Fitch was there during the DS days. Also Ben Flasher and there was Cece who was the community manager and ran the companies tumblr and Forum. There are japanese staff too like Sanae Maekawa. But i think its more mixed.
The name Harvest Moon literally came from someone who worked at Natsume… Now people are saying he should not have the rights to that name that he himself thought up… What makes it even funnier is that the man who created Harvest Moon initially is long gone from the company that makes SoS… So why do people still get so upset by this name change? Anyway, I’m curious to see how people react to Anthos because it’s a good game.
I never heard about Natsume-Atari until I backed the Kickstarter Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. They made the companion game Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. All the backers were mad at first as they didn’t know and were saying things like ‘Natsume ruined Harvest Moon, we don’t want them making the game’ until we were told it wasn’t the same company haha
Yeah, when I was researching for this video I came across that. I feel like it's a not so well known fact in the gaming world. Here Natsume is really just associated with Harvest Moon and nothing else, haha.
I just think it’s messed up of them and I cannot get past it to play them - I do enjoy watching you review them though! And I want to say I have nothing against your thoughts on it but I want to explain where the other side is coming from. To me, even though they are a company, a good company would be in business because presumably this is their passion. And it seems kind of bitter and childish of them to do take backsies on a name they choose when employed and/or contracted by the makers of bokujo monogatari. Just so they can try to make a quick buck in something they didn’t have the skills or passion to do. They’ve never made anything even close to living up to the magic and passion that comes through from what we in the west attach to the original harvest moon name. So it feels very icky what they’re doing in my opinion. If I come up with a name and logo for a client of mine during a contract period, I’m not going to be bitter once my contract is over and take it back because I see they are so successful with it and then try and scramble together a knock off version with other contractors while I sit in my lair of money lol that’s how I view it. To be honest I’m really confused on how they even got away with that - probably a contract loophole.
Thanks for commenting! I think you can think about it like this. You have a great relationship with another company. They make a game in their native language and you help them translate it. You chose a new name for the series in the west. You maintain a good relationship with them for two decades. The bulk of your sales come from this relationship. Now one day, they suddenly want to end that relationship. What are you going to do? If you don't have those sales, you will have to close down. Should you let all of your employees lose their jobs? Or should you partner with a new company and try to stay afloat? I do think it is slightly morally questionable to keep selling the games using the same name, but I like to think they had to do it to survive as it was their only lifeline.
@@elithegaymer I think it’s a bad business model if that was their only lifeline. No one should put all of their eggs in one basket! And I’ve never seen a publishing or localization firm only work on one game - very dubious decisions on their part all around in my opinion. With the amount of work they did to create games when that was never what their company was they could have worked to get new publishing and localization contracts with their track record being harvest moon, they could have been even more successful going that route.
@@elithegaymer Plus wouldn't they legally own it since they made it for localizing? Why not use it? Every interview I've seen they seem really attached to it and working in the past to localize the old HM games. The only thing I'm not a fan of is the 25th anniversary thing. Even if they aren't trying to be shady (and I don't think they are) they shouldn't do that.
I'm so glad you cleared this up cause the whole time I thought Natsume MADE the games like being a producer.. I still knew they always stinked but yeah this clears it up 😂
Haha, yeah, a lot of people in the fandom seem to think that Natsume makes the games in house! Just read a few comments anywhere and you'll see people who believe this. It seems a lot of people just ignore start up screens... no one paid any attention to the Tabot and Appci logos, haha.
Im late to this but really liked the video. It summed up my feelings about the two series perfectly. Always felt that if natsume could put out a good farm sim under their harvest moon title, that Id play it, while continuing playing story of seasons Theres just really no reason you cant enjoy both, and the marvelous loyalty some farm sim fans seem to hold to is unnecessary and kinda cringe tbh Even if most sos games are better than the modern hm games overall, Ill happily play the modern hm games if theyre fun Super excited for winds of anthos though, cant wait
Thanks for commenting on one of my older videos! Yeah, I don’t really understand the Natsume hate… And recently they have been really nice to me as a content creator! I’m really excited about the Winds of Anthos as well. I really hope it plays well because it seems to have improved upon all of the problems of One World. I guess we will know very soon!
I was actually rooting for natsume when they first announced their Harvest Moon title on the 3DS. I was not a fan of them using the name, however I was looking forward to having another farming franchise. What made me very angry is that they decided to churn out low-quality games under a name that is known for something much better. They have proven to me that they do not care about quality. The fact that they also try to leech attention from the story of season series with their announcement timing is also very sketchy and disrespectful. It's definitely a first world problem but you also have to understand that this is very near and dear to our hearts and that is why it evokes so much emotion. It's like this. If some stranger walks up to my mother and slapped her in the face. Is she going to be just fine? Yes. Is it still going to piss me off beyond belief? Also yes. 😅 But I understand your point of view too. I don't get mad at people who choose to buy their games. I will talk shit about the games themselves, but that's all. 🙃
You know, part of the reason I may be a bit more forgiving of them than most is because I missed their worst era. I have only played Light of Hope and One World. They aren't great games, but they aren't THAT awful. The games before them looked much worse. But yeah, thanks for commenting and be so nice!
I agree with you! I think it's great that Natsume is trying to keep up with the Harvest Moon games. That said, I don't like how the new Harvest Moon games are pushing for an open world experience. That type of game is hard to make. I don't even know if I would like an open world farming game. I enjoyed the Harvest Moon games for the 3ds so much more. They should go back for the older developer! lol One World was pretty bad imo.
Yeah, I think their biggest problem is trying to be too ambitious! They should start simple and build a strong base, and then build off of that. In their defense though, some other game series are guilty of being too ambitious as well (look at Pokémon scarlet).
@@elithegaymer I think I have some very unpopular opinions about this whole thing. I think that as a consumer, you can feel a bit betrayed when you buy your game and discover that it isn't developed by the same studio and it's a low quality game. That said, if you buy a game for name only and do not care to see any reviews to check the quality of the product, the fault is on you. It's hard to judge the situation when we don't have access to the contracts that the two companies had. At the end of the day, if natsume kept the name, it's because they owned it. We can't just look at natsume as a company that does nothing. There is a lot of work involved in branding a name and publishing a game. When the developers opted not to use natsume anymore, they knew that they would have to make a new name for themselves and invest in publicity so as to inform the consumers. I say that, but I don't even know if it was natsumes decision or the developers decision to part ways. Anyways, I am happy that the people that work for natsume and the developers of story of seasons were able to keep their jobs and are making it work the way that they can.
Nah Natsume is way more involved because every change has been due to feedback to Natsume. There's no way they're just publishing. I used to talk to CeeCee all the time before I left Tumblr and then the account got hacked. Natsume is super active with making changes based on feedback. I've been super involved with this since the second game. At least the mutation system is fun, I'm here for the farming.
I did feel tricked until I searched it up. Just company things honestly. Don’t have to like/hate it. It just happens. Glad I had a majority of things correct and learned even more
Imagine GrapeApe decided to hire a Japanese company to localize Stardew Valley and since trademarks don’t extend to oversees they started making Stardew Valley (tm) 2 and 3 and 4 and they were horrible games that were not a genuine attempt at doing the legacy justice but joyless cash grabs because Stardew Valley sold so well, but they’re allowed to do it because it’s “their” name. I’ll remind you everything Trump did was legal as well; but his business practices are not worth supporting either imo. Just food for thought.
It’s a bit different than that. The name Harvest Moon was made by Natsume. If you translate the Japanese name, it’s closer to Ranch Story. Also, lots of companies sell games under the same banner even if they aren’t made by the same developer. Square Enix put “Final Fantasy” on saga games, Nintendo sold Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, NOT made by the Pokémon company, as a Pokémon title, etc. I do agree about the quality part though (as stated in this video).
@@Beeautiful3233 Look I just don't agree with suing people for being inspired by something and making something of your own, so many things either are inspired by something else or people are going to assume they were that that's just messy. People wouldn't want to create things if it's similar to a big corporation, indie games stagnant and die and we get stuck with AAA BSery. No thank you And nah I've been playing since HM64. Over 20 years now. I know Stardew was inspired by mainly BtN, the creator isn't trying to hide that. But what you're suggesting is absurd!
The problem with them using the name harvest moon is that the only reason they are doing it is to trick people into buying their games.
People recognise the name and think it's a quality series that they grew up loving. Not realising that the series they know and love is now stories of seasons.
Basically, they're charlatans.
That being said, if and when they put out a good game (that is inclusive), I'm up for buying it. If its fun then I look forward to having a good time.
Yeah, it is bad, but lots of other publishers do the exact same thing, and I haven’t seen them get much slack for it. Nintendo just released Pokémon brilliant Diamond, which was created primarily (ironically) by Appci, not the Pokémon company. Square Enix would slap Final Fantasy on games that were actually NOT Final Fantasy at all (see Final Fantasy Legend on the Gameboy, which I bought as a kid because I thought it was a real FF game). I do agree that they should have polished the HM games more though.
@EliTheGaymer for me the difference is that its not that the brand got licensed out and has to get approval on if it lives up to the branding by the original creators. Such as with pokemon.
And it's not that the original company went under and the name got bought out. So its this company or no games in the series at all.
With harvest moon, they're actively trying to market themselves against the series people think they're buying. They're making claims about anniversaries as to try and reinforced that harvest moon is the same as always. They're releasing their games at the same time as story of seasons to steal their sales.
So to me at least, this scenario is pretty different.
I agree with you. If they are willing to make good farming games they don’t need the title to trick old gamers like me. I got one of theirs and got confused, then realized that it was not HM. Charlatans is a good description.
This makes a lot more sense. I did know Natsume was a publisher so it makes more sense they would hire another company to actually make the game cause that's what they have always done. I like the concise way you delivered the information. Personally I am going to be open minded about both series cause there are titles from both that I liked and disliked. It's also interesting that there are two separate Natsume's. I am curious what the other company ended up doing or if it's still around.
Natsume-Atari still do make some console games like Pocky & Rocky and Wild Guns (which Natsume still helped them to localize). They also do pachinko and arcade stuff like that in Japan. I wonder if Natsume went to them first to see if they wanted to make the game or they just jumped straight to Tabot/Appci. Some details we may never know, haha.
@@elithegaymer Natsume going to Natsume lol can you make this game for us? That would be so odd and confusing.
The reason everyone is mad at Natsume is because they continue to lie about developing games that were made by Marvelous, and suppress anyone who calls them out. People like Bokujou Monogatari games, not games that are simply called "Harvest Moon". So when Natsume hires random companies to produce lackluster games, while calling them Harvest Moon, it brings the reputation of the series down. When Natsume then lies about making the classic Harvest Moon games, it prevents people from finding out about Story of Seasons, so anyone coming back to the series after 10-20 years think the games are just bad now, without realizing they're not playing actual Bokumono games.
I agree with you 100%. I still see people online all the time not knowing about the title being changed. I brought Harvest Moon: Light of hope, I had no idea about the name change and didn't enjoy the game. I got a 3DS to play Tales of the Abyss and suddenly Amazon started recommending Story of Season to me. After looking in the reviews I found out about the name change.
I don't care that the localization company kept the Harvest Moon name, but I do think it's kind of unintentionally deceptive... or maybe it is intentional who knows. Somebody unaware of the Story of Seasons split might buy a current Harvest Moon game off nostalgia not knowing the product is basically mislabeled.
In the same sense people might overlook Story of Seasons, not recognizing them as making their childhood games. Though I think these remakes FoMT and now AWL are making themselves a lot more obvious by rehashing the old secondary titles.
I stick with Story of Seasons because they made the Harvest Moon games I grew up with... I guess it's loyalty idk. A similar thing is happening with Battlefield right now... almost all the original devs have left DICE to create Embark Studios and the quality difference between the most recent Battlefield game lacking those veterans, and Embarks upcoming games dominated by those veterans are very obvious. But as you said, if any studio makes a great game there's nothing wrong with supporting them.
Yeah, this is actually what I think a lot of people don't realize. Companies hold the rights to games, but the people who actually make the games are constantly changing! I loved Warcraft and Blizzard used to be an amazing developer... But everyone who made the magic of the original games is long gone, but the company still owns the rights (and they released Warcraft III Reforged, an abomination!). Maybe what Natsume is doing is a bit wrong, but literally every big publisher these days does it. Nintendo? Released Pokemon DP, not made by the Pokemon Company. Square Enix? Released Final Fantasy Legend (not even a Final Fantasy game).
Yeah nowadays its kinda normal that big publisher hire different companys to make games under their IP but its something people don't seem to realise or care. Similar example would be the diamond and pearl remake for Pokemon, it was not made by game freak but instead ILCA, or how activision uses Treyarch, Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer games as different studios for their call of duty games so they can pump out one of them every year.
Yeah, these days it’s more rare to find a long running series (2 decades+) that HASN’T switched developers. And even those that haven’t switched developers… how many people do you think left the company in the span of the twenty years? Any series that’s been going for a long time is made by different people than the originals with very few exceptions.
5:16 light of hope on iPhone is the BUGGIEST thing🙃. Constantly crashing on me
Wow, I didn't know they released it on mobile devices as well. I guess that explains why they had such low quality environments, hahaha.
@@elithegaymer
😂
Have you heard of the upcoming farming simulation game called Rear Sekai? Do you have any information on this game?
How can they include THE HARVEST GODDESS and harvest sprites in their games and not be accused of plagiarism is a mystery. Yeah, I tend to dislike videos that talk about Natsume games and SV, hate them because the old HM and the Story of Seasons games don’t deserve to be plagiarized, it’s not like thry sell millions. Rune Factory is a legitimate spin off of HM and the comparisons to games “inspired” by them make me sad. I adore Harvestella and read on Reddit part of the team was also responsible for the first Rune factory games. They’re totally different games, but if I get a dollar for every time I see some1 write “this is what RF5 should have been” I would be rich. It hurts a lot when those series, both HM and RF, are part of your childhood and no one knew about them. They struggled a lot and now there are competitors that simply plagiarize their ideas.
So far I've preferred Story of Seasons games, but am trying to keep an open mind with Natsume's Harvest Moon games, especially the one coming out soon
I'm cautiously optimistic about the next Harvest Moon as well. The crops and character models look really good! Hopefully the gameplay is good as well.
@@elithegaymer I agree! It seems to have a lot of potential
This was a great video! Want to see more like this :D
Thanks! I try to make different types of videos and see what works and what doesn't, haha. I'm glad you liked this one!
Thank you for being the voice of reason. I don't see what is so bad about having two series producing farming games. More choice is a good thing imo, and I don't think the new Harvest moon games are so bad we should all be disgusted and steer clear of them at all.
Yeah, I like that we are now getting more farming sims! Back in the day, Harvest Moon was the only farming sim available. I'm so glad that these days the farming sim genre is blooming, haha. Thanks for taking the time to leave a nice comment!
They are using a name that everyone knows as an amazing game to sell it but creating games nothing like the originals. The original people who made the good harvest moon games now have to sell their games under the name story of seasons. To most fans from the original games this was confusing. I had to google it when the remake of its a beautiful life harvest moon is now story of seasons its a beautiful life.
The reason I’m upset is because they put the Harvest Moon name on a trash game, otherwise I would of been happy for more Farming games
Yeah once I got that P.O.S. Harvest Moon One World I then learned a lot about Natsume and the split. Although I'm into the Story of Seasons series now (just beat Olive Town, starting Mineral,and recently got A wonderful Life), I won't say that I'll never ever get another Harvest Moon game. But as of right now none of the newer Harvest Moon games seem better than the last one I played
I totally agree with your sentiment. Harvest Moon is not a single person, or even company owned game. Its a rich tapestry of many voices.
Natsume is an important voice in that conversation. They are fundamental in getting the first game translated.
While they tried to release many additional IPs in the USA/West, none were nearly as popular. They often took risks on games that were non-standard (like HM). But as a result there company relied on Harvest Moon, hard.
When Marvellous decided to change to change there translations to be in-house. Natsume was cut out of the profits and lost the major source of income.
Nastume really had no choice but to use the only thing they had, a trademark for Harvest Moon. The first game left a really bad taste in peoples
Mouths. I loved the second title (Seeds of Memory) tho.
There was a few errors in your video.
Natsume is a mostly
US staffed company. Aside from the Japanese president, Hiro Maekawa. Graham Rann/Mkkay has been with the company since the N64 days. Adam Fitch was there during the DS days. Also Ben Flasher and there was Cece who was the community manager and ran the companies tumblr and Forum. There are japanese staff too like Sanae Maekawa. But i think its more mixed.
The name Harvest Moon literally came from someone who worked at Natsume… Now people are saying he should not have the rights to that name that he himself thought up… What makes it even funnier is that the man who created Harvest Moon initially is long gone from the company that makes SoS… So why do people still get so upset by this name change? Anyway, I’m curious to see how people react to Anthos because it’s a good game.
I never heard about Natsume-Atari until I backed the Kickstarter Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. They made the companion game Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. All the backers were mad at first as they didn’t know and were saying things like ‘Natsume ruined Harvest Moon, we don’t want them making the game’ until we were told it wasn’t the same company haha
Yeah, when I was researching for this video I came across that. I feel like it's a not so well known fact in the gaming world. Here Natsume is really just associated with Harvest Moon and nothing else, haha.
thank you so much for this!
Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment! I appreciate it!
I just think it’s messed up of them and I cannot get past it to play them - I do enjoy watching you review them though! And I want to say I have nothing against your thoughts on it but I want to explain where the other side is coming from. To me, even though they are a company, a good company would be in business because presumably this is their passion. And it seems kind of bitter and childish of them to do take backsies on a name they choose when employed and/or contracted by the makers of bokujo monogatari. Just so they can try to make a quick buck in something they didn’t have the skills or passion to do. They’ve never made anything even close to living up to the magic and passion that comes through from what we in the west attach to the original harvest moon name. So it feels very icky what they’re doing in my opinion. If I come up with a name and logo for a client of mine during a contract period, I’m not going to be bitter once my contract is over and take it back because I see they are so successful with it and then try and scramble together a knock off version with other contractors while I sit in my lair of money lol that’s how I view it. To be honest I’m really confused on how they even got away with that - probably a contract loophole.
Thanks for commenting! I think you can think about it like this. You have a great relationship with another company. They make a game in their native language and you help them translate it. You chose a new name for the series in the west. You maintain a good relationship with them for two decades. The bulk of your sales come from this relationship. Now one day, they suddenly want to end that relationship. What are you going to do? If you don't have those sales, you will have to close down. Should you let all of your employees lose their jobs? Or should you partner with a new company and try to stay afloat? I do think it is slightly morally questionable to keep selling the games using the same name, but I like to think they had to do it to survive as it was their only lifeline.
@@elithegaymer I think it’s a bad business model if that was their only lifeline. No one should put all of their eggs in one basket! And I’ve never seen a publishing or localization firm only work on one game - very dubious decisions on their part all around in my opinion. With the amount of work they did to create games when that was never what their company was they could have worked to get new publishing and localization contracts with their track record being harvest moon, they could have been even more successful going that route.
@@elithegaymer Plus wouldn't they legally own it since they made it for localizing? Why not use it?
Every interview I've seen they seem really attached to it and working in the past to localize the old HM games.
The only thing I'm not a fan of is the 25th anniversary thing. Even if they aren't trying to be shady (and I don't think they are) they shouldn't do that.
I mean... I just play story of seasons and call it a day.
I'm so glad you cleared this up cause the whole time I thought Natsume MADE the games like being a producer.. I still knew they always stinked but yeah this clears it up 😂
Haha, yeah, a lot of people in the fandom seem to think that Natsume makes the games in house! Just read a few comments anywhere and you'll see people who believe this. It seems a lot of people just ignore start up screens... no one paid any attention to the Tabot and Appci logos, haha.
Im late to this but really liked the video. It summed up my feelings about the two series perfectly. Always felt that if natsume could put out a good farm sim under their harvest moon title, that Id play it, while continuing playing story of seasons
Theres just really no reason you cant enjoy both, and the marvelous loyalty some farm sim fans seem to hold to is unnecessary and kinda cringe tbh
Even if most sos games are better than the modern hm games overall, Ill happily play the modern hm games if theyre fun
Super excited for winds of anthos though, cant wait
Thanks for commenting on one of my older videos! Yeah, I don’t really understand the Natsume hate… And recently they have been really nice to me as a content creator! I’m really excited about the Winds of Anthos as well. I really hope it plays well because it seems to have improved upon all of the problems of One World. I guess we will know very soon!
0:19 can’t wait
I was actually rooting for natsume when they first announced their Harvest Moon title on the 3DS. I was not a fan of them using the name, however I was looking forward to having another farming franchise. What made me very angry is that they decided to churn out low-quality games under a name that is known for something much better. They have proven to me that they do not care about quality. The fact that they also try to leech attention from the story of season series with their announcement timing is also very sketchy and disrespectful. It's definitely a first world problem but you also have to understand that this is very near and dear to our hearts and that is why it evokes so much emotion.
It's like this. If some stranger walks up to my mother and slapped her in the face. Is she going to be just fine? Yes. Is it still going to piss me off beyond belief? Also yes. 😅
But I understand your point of view too. I don't get mad at people who choose to buy their games. I will talk shit about the games themselves, but that's all. 🙃
You know, part of the reason I may be a bit more forgiving of them than most is because I missed their worst era. I have only played Light of Hope and One World. They aren't great games, but they aren't THAT awful. The games before them looked much worse. But yeah, thanks for commenting and be so nice!
Great video! Thanks for explaining everything ❤
Thanks for leaving a nice comment! I appreciate the support! ❤️
I agree with you! I think it's great that Natsume is trying to keep up with the Harvest Moon games. That said, I don't like how the new Harvest Moon games are pushing for an open world experience. That type of game is hard to make. I don't even know if I would like an open world farming game. I enjoyed the Harvest Moon games for the 3ds so much more. They should go back for the older developer! lol One World was pretty bad imo.
Yeah, I think their biggest problem is trying to be too ambitious! They should start simple and build a strong base, and then build off of that. In their defense though, some other game series are guilty of being too ambitious as well (look at Pokémon scarlet).
@@elithegaymer I think I have some very unpopular opinions about this whole thing. I think that as a consumer, you can feel a bit betrayed when you buy your game and discover that it isn't developed by the same studio and it's a low quality game. That said, if you buy a game for name only and do not care to see any reviews to check the quality of the product, the fault is on you.
It's hard to judge the situation when we don't have access to the contracts that the two companies had. At the end of the day, if natsume kept the name, it's because they owned it. We can't just look at natsume as a company that does nothing. There is a lot of work involved in branding a name and publishing a game. When the developers opted not to use natsume anymore, they knew that they would have to make a new name for themselves and invest in publicity so as to inform the consumers. I say that, but I don't even know if it was natsumes decision or the developers decision to part ways. Anyways, I am happy that the people that work for natsume and the developers of story of seasons were able to keep their jobs and are making it work the way that they can.
You could benefit from some better microphones or maybe its just the echoing in your room
9:54 😂
Nah Natsume is way more involved because every change has been due to feedback to Natsume. There's no way they're just publishing.
I used to talk to CeeCee all the time before I left Tumblr and then the account got hacked. Natsume is super active with making changes based on feedback. I've been super involved with this since the second game.
At least the mutation system is fun, I'm here for the farming.
Yay capitalism!
Haha, you literally made me lol.
@@elithegaymer lmao we aim to please
I did feel tricked until I searched it up. Just company things honestly. Don’t have to like/hate it. It just happens. Glad I had a majority of things correct and learned even more
I think they should quit making them. I don’t think they’re really all that great.
Imagine GrapeApe decided to hire a Japanese company to localize Stardew Valley and since trademarks don’t extend to oversees they started making Stardew Valley (tm) 2 and 3 and 4 and they were horrible games that were not a genuine attempt at doing the legacy justice but joyless cash grabs because Stardew Valley sold so well, but they’re allowed to do it because it’s “their” name. I’ll remind you everything Trump did was legal as well; but his business practices are not worth supporting either imo. Just food for thought.
It’s a bit different than that. The name Harvest Moon was made by Natsume. If you translate the Japanese name, it’s closer to Ranch Story. Also, lots of companies sell games under the same banner even if they aren’t made by the same developer. Square Enix put “Final Fantasy” on saga games, Nintendo sold Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, NOT made by the Pokémon company, as a Pokémon title, etc. I do agree about the quality part though (as stated in this video).
@@Beeautiful3233 Look I just don't agree with suing people for being inspired by something and making something of your own, so many things either are inspired by something else or people are going to assume they were that that's just messy. People wouldn't want to create things if it's similar to a big corporation, indie games stagnant and die and we get stuck with AAA BSery. No thank you
And nah I've been playing since HM64. Over 20 years now. I know Stardew was inspired by mainly BtN, the creator isn't trying to hide that. But what you're suggesting is absurd!