So. Last time I talked about the game Shepherd's Crossing 2 and called it a game very similar to Harvest Moon. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the differences in that game, too. well. Those games.
Harvest Moon is actually a very interesting case in and of itself, actually. The game started on the SNES. There was no gender choice involved. I 'll also admit that when I go on a nostalgia trip, that is the game I choose to play. I kind of grew up on it, and there is something relaxing about the simplicity of that version. ANYWAY. The series continued through. The second game actually released, Chronologically, was Harvest Moon GB. This was the first game with a gender choice.
I'll be honest, I don't know much about the Game Boy games. I know a couple facts (like in the third one the game ended once marriage occurred if you were playing a female, while you could keep on playing and have kids and such if you were a male.) In fact the interesting part of the series in regards to gender actually starts in the GBA era, around the time Friends of Mineral Town was released. Now the portable games had been allowing gender choice, while the console games were not (Though there was a Japan only girls version of Back to Nature... That was eventually released on the PSP as part of Harvest Moon Boy and Girl... Way to have an uninspired title there kids.). Friends of Mineral Town was one of the first of the handheld versions where you were once again, locked into playing as a male character.
This is where things get interesting. There were a few games released following the trend Friends of Mineral Town started - namely, there would be a boy's version released, then about a year later, a version would be released for girls. This version would include fixes for several GAME BREAKING BUGS. It is actually interesting to me. This led to in many cases the girl version being the preferred version. Actually being able to complete the game has a lot going for it, after all. Also from a marketing standpoint it makes a lot of sense. It allows them to re-sell the game, with fixes, and make more money.
This was actually most notable with the first game for the DS, called simply Harvest Moon DS (And Harvest Moon DS Cute, for the girl's version). Amusingly, this version reversed the issue with Harvest Moon GB3 (I would love to give a better title for that, by the way... but that is the title of the game.) where marriage to a town girl ended the game for males, but you could keep playing in females. In fact in DS Cute you could even have a "Best Friends" ceremony with another female character and be blessed by the harvest goddess with a baby! ... in Japan.
Yeah moral guardians didn't care much for that one.
THANKFULLY, however, in my mind, the games now allow you to just choose in the beginning of the game, with the choice really only affecting marriage candidates. (Whiiiich is another thing entirely. I really wish I could just freely choose who my character marries. I often find myself preferring the bachelorettes.) Frankly that's how it should be. I really did not like how some of the games would end early for one gender and not the other (Bah gender binarism.). Still all in all? I like how it's just not really a big deal in these games. You don't have differing abilities. It is once again, mostly a cosmetic choice.
Unless of course for nostalgia's sake you're playing one of the games where the girl's version fixes game breaking bugs. So glad to live in the era where downloadable patches are a thing...
(truthfully though? I prefer Rune Factory anyway...)
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