• Publisher: Natsume
  • Release Date: Sep 30, 2008
User Score
7.9 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 4 out of 23

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  1. TattP.
    Jun 27, 2009
    4
    Had been enjoying A Wonderful Life and waiting to for the new version on the Wii, Tree of Tranquility is a huge disappointment for me. First of all, the first impression is the low graphics quality. In A Wonderful LIfe (GameCube) has much nicer and cuter design and details. Before you can hold a chicken and run anywhere with it..now you can only hold it and put down exactly where you got it from. So if it's blocking the eggs then you will keep picking the chicken up rather than the eggs which is super annoying. Also, in AWL, you can see the character rubbing his face with the cows and horses with love and passion.. now it's just a tap.. I think it has lost these kinda details, which I think they made Harvest Moon a great game play. Secondly, the controls...in ToT you can't change angles..when I try to water the crops, higher crops are blocking the ones behind (if there are any!). The good thing is that you can level up your skill and can now water/till more squares at once which saves a lot of time and energy. Thirdly, in AWL, you can order delivery of seeds or animals, but in ToT, you have to run all the way to the shops to be able to buy things and it could take up to half a day because there are more areas to cover. The telephone is merely for weather forecast (which is much more quicker and cheaper than telly) and shops opening time. Fourthly, I agree with previos reviews, the storyline is not solid enough. Also, a good game does not need game faqs walk through, but this game you can't play without one. Fifthly, one great thing (of many great things) in AWL is that you can manage sleeping time. In ToT no matter what time you sleep you'd wake up at 6am. If you don't go to sleep before 6am your character will suddenly become fatigue and super slow..and in ToT game, a day goes by in a blink. Although ToT has has unnecessarily taken away those great features from the previous Harvest Moon (i'm really curious why they did it). Improvements? More areas to explore; you can play as a boy or a girl, or your child (should have spent that time improving the controls and graphics). Collapse
  2. OliviaS
    Apr 5, 2009
    10
    This game is definitely worth every cent I paid. The controls, being that you can actually made motions to water, till and plant, make it the ultimate farming simulation. Plants are also walk-through-able, like in Rune Factory, which is a pro. And those are some of the minor things! Even the most hardcore Harvest Moon haters will love this game!
  3. SomeoneSomewhere
    Oct 4, 2008
    10
    This game is the best entry in the Harvest Moon series yet! I give it a perfect 10> Also you can finally turn the music off. =) Best of all you can explore the biggest HM world yet! It's a must by for fans and even non-fans.
  4. Stooker
    Feb 10, 2009
    8
    Never played any of the Harvest Moon games, so I can't compare this one to them. However, this one is pretty good and engaging. My wife bought it and I thought it would be the stupidest game and a waste of money, but after watching her play for a few hours, I decided to start my own game. It's like Sims on a farm with a storyline.
  5. JordynB
    Aug 29, 2009
    10
    Harvest moon is easily the most addicting video game I have. I've been a HM fan for a while, and I was really exited when I heard they were making a wii game. This game is really fun, and all the glitches in the last games have been fixed...
    PROS- -great storyline (most HM games have these)
    -good graphics (the festivals are ecspeacially pretty)
    -more choices (tree of tranquility ha
    s tons of choices including wife/husbands, animals, pets, houses, clothes, furniture and more)
    -Gender choice

    CONS-
    -Loading (the loading scrrens get annoying, ecspeacially if you accidently go somewhere)
    -No delivery (this also kinda goes along with the loading screens....you have to walk/ride everywhere)

    Even though there are both pro's and con's, I think the pro's outweigh the con's by a lot!
    I definatly reccomend this game!!!
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  6. AlliP
    Oct 13, 2008
    9
    I love this game. I only wish that the load times were shorter, because it is really painful to leave your house, wait for a loadtime, remember that you left your milker inside and have to wait through another load time. Aside from that this game is great, I love all the improvements, farming is much more enjoyable. I love all the crop and animal choices, and best of all you don't lose stuff by accidentaly dropping it on the ground when you meant to give it away. If you like Harvest Moon you must buy this version. Expand
  7. DanH
    Oct 3, 2008
    10
    Easily the best Harvest Moon game yet. Pretty much all the annoying factors of earlier games have been cleaned up. Seeds are sown in rows, tools level up quicker, you can walk through crops, gifts provide visible feedback so you aren't left trying to interpret bad translations, your rucksack doesn't need constant emptying during a harvest, you don't have to take each item out of your rucksack individually when shippiing, you don't have to talk to a person AND give them a gift (giftgiving resolves both in one action) so redundnat conversation is minimized etc. As a 34 year-old male with two kids, I really enjoy the series to relax by. Definitely a must for anyone who likes sims of this sort. Expand
  8. Rhyannab
    Jan 17, 2009
    10
    Fun game! Its so fun, better than all the other Harvest moons. But the camera perspective does give me a headache... Its so interesting, its so much improved!
  9. Feb 20, 2012
    7
    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.
  10. Apr 11, 2012
    4
    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. Expand
  11. Nov 28, 2012
    7
    Simplemente el mejor juego de la franquicia. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility supone lo máximo para la saga y establece un techo que será muy difícil superar.
  12. Jan 4, 2013
    7
    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.
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Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. 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]
  2. Bottom line: if you expect nothing out of the Tree of Tranquility except the same old same old, then this will do the trick. [Oct 2008, p.106]
  3. If you are really into farming, and don’t mind the repetitive tendencies of the series, then Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is a solid entry and definitely worth your time.