Rent Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar for DS
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Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar

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GF Rating
7.4

257 ratings

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GF Rating
9

Excellent

Awesome New HM Installment!

posted by DebLee (ALBERTSON, NY) Aug 31, 2010

Member since Jul 2006

13 out of 15 gamers (87%) found this review helpful

The latest Harvest Moon game, Grand Bazaar, is not one to be passed over! While the basics of farming and ranching haven't changed [much], there's plenty of new reasons to try out this game!

- The graphics are beautiful for a DS game!
- You start with a KITCHEN! You do have to buy your own cookware, but at least you get a kitchen from the start of the game.
- You start with a BARN! And there's a pre-made outdoor pen for chickens with a REAL fence that you don't have to maintain, as well as a large grassy field for your livestock to feed on. It's all free when you start the game!
- The Shipping Bin is gone. Instead, you sell your wares at a weekly Bazaar. There's a shop in town where you can also sell things, but you won't make as much of a profit at that store. Also, there are many special items (animals, tools, ores) that can ONLY be bought at the Bazaar, so be sure to budget enough time to do some shopping too!
- Pets are actually USEFUL! You can train your dogs to herd livestock, and your cats can carry chickens out to the pen. And you can PLAY with your pets, using a dog bone and a cat bell!
- No more paying thousands of coins for Makers. Instead, there are three Windmills that unlock throughout Year 1, and you can make all your cheeses, wool, fertilizer, etc. for free!
- New crops, new trees, new tools, new items to make and sell! There's also new Festivals, such as the Wine Festival!
- Favorite characters from previous HM games, such as Chen, Gannon and Pierre make cameos!
- You can buy premade dishes from the Cafe, and automatically learn the recipe! And since you don't automatically eat the food, you can save it, gift it, or sell it at the Bazaar.
- The day is slightly slower since the time is counted by minutes. HOWEVER, time does NOT pause when you enter a house!
- Every night you can automatically save your game.
- HORSE RACES ARE BACK!!!

If you were curious about this game, I'd HIGHLY recommend it! After all, it's just a rental right?

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

A good addition to the series, but bland overall

posted by Sniezka2 (TOLEDO, OH) Jan 9, 2011

Member since Sep 2010

Interesting at first, but eventually boring...
The game is easy to jump into, you start off with a lot of upgrades, and get more of them later on for free. No longer must you spend an entire year's earnings on stupid "makers" that only work for one or two items, and no longer must you spend endless months harvesting wood and stone to get a kitchen or a bath.

The only upgrades you must pay for are extra fields, and expansions of your stable and storage.

The new selling system is interesting, and encourages you to strategize and think about when you plant your items and when they'll be ready for harvest. It's easy to rack up profit via this system, even if you only get to sell once a week.

Unfortunately, at the core of it, the game is still the same. There is not much to it besides farming, theres no mining and fishing is less accessible during winter, so that season often drags on uselessly. The NPCs are bland and say the same thing every day, (so far) regardless of your heart level. Gaining heart levels is excruciatingly slow as well, and you will need a few years minimum to get married due to these harsher requirements.

I'm not sure if you can have a child in this game, as I've not yet played long enough to be able to marry anyone. After getting every upgrade, filling all my fields, and watering, fertilizing, harvesting... a thousand times over, it gets bland. After a year, pretty much everything that can be introduced in the game has been introduced, you've experienced all the festivals, and you've heard all the NPCs have to say.

Part of me wants to keep playing just for the sake of completion, but overall? this game is really boring once you've tried everything once, and that doesn't take long to do. If you're looking for a quick fix of farming, this game might be for you, but its not going to keep you hooked for more than a few days- a week at most. There isn't even any end goal to the storyline to keep you going.

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

Harvest Moon

posted by GameGirrl3 (FAIRMONT, WV) Oct 30, 2010

Top Reviewer

Member since Nov 2006

I'm a big fan of the Harvest Moon series,and I am enjoying this recent
addition.For me,the biggest "problem" I had with the other DS versions
was that after awhile,the game would get repetitive and I would quit playing and trade the game in.But with this one,the bazaar makes it alot
more exciting for me....I like the fact that you start out with a kitchen,a
barn,and an outside pen for your chickens.And when you buy a dish at
Joan's restaurant or at the bazaar,you automatically learn the recipe.
And I love the windmills too....you can take stuff like milk,eggs,crops,
ores,ect. and make things that can sell for more at the bazaar than the item itself.This probably would be considered a "newbie" game,but I don't think that's a bad thing.I think it's a good starter game for someone who's never played a HM game.So maybe rent it first to see if
you'll like it enough to buy it.

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