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Forums - Gaming - Harvest Moon: Light of Hope (Switch) Off-Screen Footage

Nuvendil said:
Yerm said:

okay but the actual Havest Moon games werent even originally called "Harvest Moon". its just a name that they invented when they got the localization rights. the Harvest Moon IP isnt the game series itself, its literally just the name. the actual games have always been named "Story of Seasons" in Japan and the new publisher chose to use the original name because Natsume owns the name Harvest Moon.

just to make it easier to understand - 

(until 2013) Natsume localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Harvest Moon"

(2013 onward) XSeed localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Story of Seasons"

(also 2013 onward) Natsume develops and publishes a new farming game series nder the name "Harvest Moon"

So wait, the new Harvest Moon games are *literally* impostors?  That's...got to be a sad existence for the developers working on these...

yep, Natsume are just pedaling random low-budget farming games as Harvest Moon Sequels. and they are allowed to do so completely legally because 1. despite not owning the games themselves, they still own the rights to the name and the logo, and 2. farming games are a genre and anyone is allowed to make them. 

meanwhile XSeed publishes the real games under the "Story of Seasons" name and people dont even give them a try because they think the real games are rip offs. and i recommend the new Story of Seasons games if youre wondering where the Harvest Moon magic went. because its not gone, its just somewhere else now



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The traditional Harvest Moon games were translations of Bokujo Monogatari - developed by Marvelous and its predecessor companies. When Marvelous switched publishers, some US court decided that Natsume owned the "Harvest Moon" trademark, despite the fact that the only involvement they had in the series was localization.

In other words, this new game has nothing to do with any of the past Harvest Moon games prior to 2013. This game is Natsume abusing the Harvest Moon trademark. It's very sleazy stuff.



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Yerm said:
Xxain said:

No it's not. It's very clear who holds the IP rights. Which company gets to call their version Harvest Moon and which one doesn't? 

okay but the actual Havest Moon games werent even originally called "Harvest Moon". its just a name that they invented when they got the localization rights. the Harvest Moon IP isnt the game series itself, its literally just the name. the actual games have always been named "Story of Seasons" in Japan and the new publisher chose to use the original name because Natsume owns the name Harvest Moon.

just to make it easier to understand - 

(until 2013) Natsume localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Harvest Moon"

(2013 onward) XSeed localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Story of Seasons"

(also 2013 onward) Natsume develops and publishes a new farming game series nder the name "Harvest Moon"

What is your point? Natsume published, funded and marketed the game. They are just as much if not more claim the IP as Marvelous. This goes beyond just a name you guys. I dont care about the name of the game in whatever region. It does not change the fact that Natsume has been funder of the series since day 1. Ridiculous that they are  "sleezy" for using for using a brand name they created 



Anyone thinking about getting this should buy Stardew Valley (or Story of Seasons) instead.



Xxain said:
Yerm said:

okay but the actual Havest Moon games werent even originally called "Harvest Moon". its just a name that they invented when they got the localization rights. the Harvest Moon IP isnt the game series itself, its literally just the name. the actual games have always been named "Story of Seasons" in Japan and the new publisher chose to use the original name because Natsume owns the name Harvest Moon.

just to make it easier to understand - 

(until 2013) Natsume localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Harvest Moon"

(2013 onward) XSeed localized the Story of Seasons games under the name "Story of Seasons"

(also 2013 onward) Natsume develops and publishes a new farming game series nder the name "Harvest Moon"

What is your point? Natsume published, funded and marketed the game. They are just as much if not more claim the IP as Marvelous. This goes beyond just a name you guys. I dont care about the name of the game in whatever region. It does not change the fact that Natsume has been funder of the series since day 1. Ridiculous that they are  "sleezy" for using for using a brand name they created 

Except for most of the series, Natsume did none of those things.  Natsume was the AMERICAN publisher.  All they did was localize the  Bokujō Monogatari series under the name of Harvest Moon.  Giving them any credit whatsoever would be like crediting Atari for the creation of Witcher 2.  The funders, publishers, and creators of Bokujo Monogatari are and have been for ages Marvelous in the region of origin.  Natsume actually was the key publisher/funder for only 6 of the games prior to the Story of Seasons change.  And the first 2 were by another 3rd party publisher and Victor Interactive themselves.  And Harvest Moon is not an IP, it's a name, that is literally, factually it.  They literally can not, say, remake ANY of the games they previously published as Harvest Moon because the actual IP - Bokujo Monogatari - is held by Marvelous, NOT Natsume.  They hold a trademark, that is literally it.  The developers, IP, etc of what you are thinking of as Harvest Moon are with Marvelous.  That is the reality, legally and factually.  Wikipedia sums it up well:Z


"Previously, Natsume published the series Bokujō Monogatari in North America under the title Harvest Moon. However, the developer of this series, Marvelous Entertainment, decided to have their own American division, XSEED Games, take over North American distribution in 2014. However, due to Natsume keeping the rights to the Harvest Moon name, the latest title in the series had to change its name to Story of Seasons[1] while Natsume took the opportunity to start making their own "Harvest Moon" games with Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. This has caused some degree of confusion"


And it is damn sleezy.  Basically, the devs decided to drop them and they got pissy and went to court and fought to basically rob the devs of decades of brand power and now use the name to sell products that have never risen, from what I can find, above being mediocre and are designed to create customer confusion.  It's just as sleezy as what Infogrames has done with the Atari brand. 


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Well, it's no Stardew Valley, but nice try.



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I'll probably skip this one, doesn't really look very good.



The graphics.... look really crappy.... wth happend?

This is almost Browser/mobile level.

 

StarDoor said:
Anyone thinking about getting this should buy Stardew Valley (or Story of Seasons) instead.

^ basically this.  Maybe try something like Rune Factory too?



If you want to make a 2d game, use sprites. Using 3d models from that perspective looks terrible and tacky.

Was looking forward to a harvest moon game on ps4, but nope. Everyone should stick to stardew valley.



I don't see what makes this awful, at all. Looks better than the aforementioned stardew valley, in fact.