Alright: so what is this thing called Harvest Moon?

There's an article about the lack of Linux ports of Japanese games which answers your question when it explores the root causes. The most relevant are:

1. In Japan, "PC game" is more or less synonymous with "porn game" in the minds of the general public. You generally either game on consoles, smartphones, or "indie jukebox"-esque arcade machines.
2. Japan's culture has an "if it's foreign, it's unimportant" streak to it which means that, if you go to a game industry gathering, their perception of the world is merely an extrapolation of Japanese trends. (Stuff like the PS Vita being huge and Steam being virtually unknown.)
3. PC ports of Japanese games tend to be terrible because they would never share their precioussss source code with an outsider and, for aforementioned reasons, there's a shortage of native porting talent.

I'd also suggest reading "Why Japanese Games Are Breaking Up With The West" for more context. The key thrust of the article being that Japan has always made games for the Japanese market and it was just luck that our tastes were running in parallel for a while.

Interestingly, South Korea is apparently the exact opposite. (Console? What's that? PC all the way!)

 

Interesting, @ssokolow. Thanks. I've long known about the insularity of Japanese society in general. I just never figured they felt that way about PC-based games or knew so little about Steam. Given how obsessively distribution-oriented the culture is, Steam and the Japanese would seem like a perfect matchup, but they probably could never see themselves using a non-Japanese platform for their precious games. (I wonder if games can be declared burakumin?)

 

Adding if i've noticed anything when PC ports are made they're usually TERRIBLE.

 

Well, the latter article I linked did mention there being a saying in the Japanese games industry: yo-ge kuso-ge (slang for "western game = shit game")

 

Well Japan is hooked on the PSVita it's more cheaper to make games on the PSVita then the PS4 as South Korea are very hooked on PC games they are the one biggest MMO people out there sometimes they get lack of sleep, In Japan the only PC games they play are either visual novels or something adult related, but I also noticed Japan is being addicted to smart phone games yes the app that let you spend real money ect.

Now I think of it Japan might like MMO added to PC games like Phantasy Star Online 2 the game we would never see.

And don't forget about the JRPG the big tittles that come out Japan is very critic about upcoming PS4 games and JRPG games and Wifus that the last very thought on my mind win I play imported games from Japan.

But if you look at the west you'll see a strange mix of PC people along with console people but west is not slowly getting use to smart phone games I see a lot of people getting upset manly win something comes out on the phone they rather have PC games or something for the console, but I think the PS Vita did die in the west I went to wal-mart and I never saw one PS vita at all so RIP PS Vita.
(It taken them almost a couple of years to sell there last one and after that they stop selling them)

Back on topic I never could get into Harvest Moon nor Rune Factory but I do like Stardew Valley.

 

Maybe they don't see them as one, but they actually are. The first three even had "A fantasy Harvest Moon" added too the title. I really love RF, too sad Neverland is gone :<

Don't think HM and RF are as casual as SV. I actually returned to my HM and RF after SV. In SV you can easily get you house and everything upgraded in half a year and every skill maxed out in one. It's a real shame. There is so much love in this game and than it being so casual it makes me not want to play it for long.
I just spend almost 150 hours in HM games (HM Story of Two Towns, RF4 and HM The Lost Valley, which is Harvest Moon only by name but not series...), which is more than I spend in SV altogether, because of the being too casual thingie.
And guess what? One has not one house upgrade, one has one and the other almost all (but the save is almost 200 hours in), THAT'S what I want from such a game, it's delightful. Oh and in SV the time is split between four saves and the HM/RF hours split into one and two in one of them (because I neither like the female chara design nor the male marriage candidates much and decided to start my male file early.)

Those are my three favorite HM games (I do count RF to the core HM and the by name one too but I have not yet played HM ANB and SoS, of which btw SoS is NOT called Harvest Moon but is actually Harvest Moon... (some fairly complicated story with the western name copyright being held by the localizer but the games getting localized by the developer or a third party and can't use the name anymore and the name owner now using it for their own games...).

RF4 is actually the best of them for me. RF4 has the best and most complex farming system I've seen in one of this kind of games. (Soil has quality and health, crops have quality and health, planting the same crops on the same spots for too long is bad! Weather can change every hour. Crops don't die because of season changes and can be planted in every season -some take several months to mature, but grow better in some than in others. You can harvest several whateveritbears from one plant and there are times when harvest is good or poor for some of them. Plus what ever I'm forgetting now).
A town and NPCs which actually feel alive plus action RPG elements (Hey, the last two apply to SV too, just that the NPCs and town in RF4 are just more alive). Crafting and levels for many things (including walkig xD) going to 99 for some and higher for others, it takes very long to max everything, it's delightful And upgrading your living space (you don't have a own house but a room -flight of rooms after upgrading- in the castle) and fields/barns is way more expensive than in SV, but still fairly easy to achieve. Which is ok, even if I would prefere them being a little more expensive, but there are enough to keep you working on getting them all for a long time.
And it's a handheld game, it's almost perfect ...almost... it has no gay option and the placing of objects in the world is horrible, I can never tell where exactly the thing I'm placing will end, making decorating and organizing your crafting area a pain.

Hmm maybe it's a pattern? I love RF, like HM and think SV is nice but sadly, sadly lacking in some important aspects. (Yes, the casual thingie...)

 

oh shit! *sounds alarm* WE GOTTA MARKIPLAYER FAN HEYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

What or who is a markiplayer? ö_Ö

 

what have you been living under a sponge, have you poor starbound community people even heard of youtube??!?!?

 

No and yes of course. So this markiplayer is a youtuber? I fail to see why I should know them and why my previouse post makes you assume I'm a fan of this person, I never even have heard about before. (Nor why the heck you are sounding some alarm because of this...).

 

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well in vauge points, markiplier played this game and compaired it to haves moon you dumb fuck, in nice words tho: well everything i just said but with three words taken from that sentace, lol my asshole-ness is seriosly gonna fuck me later on

 

Wooow, two persons play games, some are the same, which are similiar and compare them... maybe their impressions and preferences are similiar too? One must be the fan of the other... makes sense... for some maybe...
Wash your hands and mouth with lots of soap, they are dirty from the words you are writing, the hands at least. And maybe you should go and take a nap, you seem to lose control over what you write - possibly a sign of exhaustion.

 

well, my hands might be dirty from sonthin else too ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), oh wow i really need to stop, also ive been up since ystterday, i payed a visit with may dad and his drinkin' buddies and those motherfuckers had me up till 3:44

 

xD" More reason to give them a good wash then ^^
Hope you had a good time with your father and his buddies at least and now: sleep well ^^

(We are really offtopic now.... Sorry x_X)

 

I said core, they are HM barely. A fantasy harvest moon is kinda tacked on.

Not arguing if they are a HM game, arguing the point most don't consider them CORE HM games.