Tree Of Tranquillity will please both the newcomers and the fans of the brand. By reducing the complexity of some actions and enriching the gameplay’s structure it stands in the series’ high spots. There are some issues: festival are less fun than usual, and the character design differs a lot from the classic. But these are collateral elements, and those who are looking for a solid Harvest Moon experience will find what they want.
I picked this game up for like $6NZD and once I got into it I was blown away at how such a cheap game could captivate me. It was so good I once sunk 9 hours straight into it. I would've been fine paying $20NZD for it but I guess the best thing I can do is snatch up as many wild copies as I can find. In all seriousness from the farming to the dating to the mines to the fishing and even the story everything feels like an upgrade from previous Harvest Moon games and with the npc tracker and the new game plus mode where you play as your child, this game is worth more than it goes for. with the npc tracker and the animals being easier to manage, this game is actually better than **** Valley. My only two problems with this game are the lack of widescreen support and the loading times, which aren't too much of a pain cause the game music still plays over them and as a smoker, it's great to take a drag during those times. I would definitely give this a recommendation to anyone I know who has a Wii.
A solid entry in the Harvest Moon Series which does have it's share of nit-picky problems. You're moving to an island that you think is going to be a young ranchers paradise, however you soon realize that the island is doing less than fantastic. You're job is to craft some rainbows to help out the harvest goddess and save the island. Meanwhile of course you're still there to do what you came there for in the first place, start a farm. If you've never played a harvest moon game before it's a life simulation game based around farming. While farming you'll also be doing things like raising barn animals, fishing, mining, chatting with neighbors, starting a family, and of of course completing the main story which usually involves helping out the harvest goddess. All of those aspects are present in tree of tranquility and are done rather well in there own way. As you progress in the game you'll upgrade you're tools, the amount of things you can carry, and how much land you own to make you're life a little easier. The games music is relaxing and fitting and it's some of the best in any Harvest Moon game. Although the sound effects and the few voices that are in the game could use some work. The graphics are fine for the most part, but more than once I've caught myself staring at a character in the game and thought to myself, this character looks more like a mannequin than a human. Tree of Tranquility's worse problem however would have to be the load times. It takes forever to get from one place to another even when you're entering a smaller area, like a barn or a house. The games in game time works like this ten minutes in the game is a mere 5 seconds in real life and before you get an animal you can ride this makes getting place to place in time difficult, however I'd say the layout of this town works well with the short amount of time you are given each day. Like i said, this game has it's share of small problems but it doesn't stop this game from being what you we're expecting which is a solid Harvest Moon game. All the aspects of a classic harvest moon experience are there and are done well to the festivals, to the cut scenes, to you're very own wedding. If you're looking for a good harvest moon game for the Wii well here you go, and if you've never experienced Harvest Moon before, well then this is a good place to start.
The problem is that the game feels phoned in, from the tacked-on motion controls to the scan tutorial system that assumed you've already played every other Harvest Moon game. [Oct 2008, p.90]
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility has all the staples of a successful Harvest Moon title as well as a few new welcome additions, but it's not without its flaws.
Tree of Tranquility is very much the essence that this franchise has always dealt with. We have to harvest a different number of fields, looking forward to earn some money, to marry and all that familiar stuff that we should know very well at the date. There's nothing particularly wrong with the game, but lacks some new additions like the one's we've seen in Rune Factory.
The most depressing issue, however, is the four- to 10-second load time you'll suffer each time you enter a new environment, but methodically engaging gameplay helps make up for this.
While this game was enjoyable enough to keep playing it has its issues. The map was expansive but most of the areas there don't serve much of a purpose other than a minor one off plot area (ex: Lighthouse, peak of the mountain, inside the church) and there wasn't a whole lot of surprises to be found after the first short scavenger hunt. I found myself not really caring if I made a connection with the villagers because there wasn't a lot of character development and the story was so-so. The rainbow recipes were a little annoying because you could easily miss an item you needed to create them and be subject to wait an entire year before being able to get said item but I did enjoy having a purpose other than profit to grow crops, fish, mine, and raise animals. Festivals didn't feel as fun as in previous games. Last minor complaints are the stuck camera view was mildly irritating but overall not a big issue and there was no easy way to separate stacks of items. That being said, the game play mechanics were major improvements from previous installments! Switching between tools was easy, I could walk over crops, leveling up tools was handled well, animals could die of old age, I was allowed to continue after beating it or I could start over new, but with all my money, if I wanted to marry someone else, the kid could help out in daily chores, I could find out where each and every villager was at any given time, see their affection level, find out what they like at town hall(instead of guessing or looking it up online), and should a typhoon come I didn't lose an entire day(just crops).
All in all, it could be improved greatly with more story/character development but the basic core of the game(farming simulator) and game play mechanics are solid. It's not my favorite in the series and I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but it's not a bad game if you have some time to waste.
I don't like the plot that you actually have to create rainbows and stuffs to save the dying tree. I tried to play it, but I got bored too early. But this game is good, I know it is until I got to play Harvest Moon: Animal Parade which is way better and almost perfect.
I've played a good chunk of the HM series and was very disappointed by this one. I'd recommend the next in line, which is kind of a TOT.2 in a way(same characters/general idea), Animal Parade, because this one kind of turned me off to the series for awhile. The graphics are rather disappointing, especially while the previous installments of the series on the GameCube impressed me more. The controls are clunky, the sound effects get annoying--the sparse voice acting, a few lines for the player characters, are low quality and it makes me think they recorded it on a laptop microphone.. The day goes by much too fast to traverse the huge map effectively in a day(you often need to do this to buy seeds and supplies, wasting half your day)--this is remedied in Animal Parade, however. The camera is stuck in place, and sadly this is not changed in AP, either--the environments are interesting but the camera makes it so you can't appreciate them. I'm also a bit disappointing voice acting or additional features weren't added in this time around... Overall, I'm disappointed--I'd like a HM game where things like camera movement and graphics aren't sacrificed for nothing, and I'm eager to see if they make improvements in the next few games... Go buy Harvest Moon: Animal Parade instead.
SummaryIn Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Nintendo Wii, you find yourself in a troubled island town which once prospered with life and energy, but is now in serious trouble. The mystical Mother Tree that once watched over the island has disappeared, and the Harvest Goddess is nowhere to be found! The island has lost its connection wit...