I want to get a new game. I'm willing to listen to suggestions, but for now, I'm trying to decide between Magician's Quest/Enchanted Folk and Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Are they even worth getting? I could always wait a while longer and get the next Harvest Moon game, which sounds more interesting, and I've heard that Magician's Quest is a bit clunky and hasn't aged well. On the other hand, I loved the old Harvest Moon games and Magician's Quest sounds really fun.
If you've played either of those games, what did you like and dislike about them?
By the way, does Magician's Quest really have bat villagers? Or is it only the sequel that has only been released in Japan?
I am a huge harvest moon fan (haven't played A New Beginning however) and I've also played Magician's Quest, so I'll give you my input ~
Things I liked about Magician's Quest:
- Similar to Animal Crossing but with magic. Learning spells was really cool and I liked to collect them ^^
- Taking classes was fun since you could pass notes and stuff
- You could date one of your classmates (they were animals though so i guess that's a little weird? :/ lol I liked it anyway)
- If I remember correctly, the dialogue was entertaining and I really liked talking to the animals
- I never found a whole lot of guides/walkthroughs for the game (there might be more now, I'm not sure) so it was fun trying to figure out how the game worked
- There was a magic shop and you could do little quests for the shopkeeper, which I liked (they got repetitive though)
- Going into "magician time" or whatever was always a crazy adventure XD
-
Flying on brooms
- You could ask a villager to follow you for awhile and then they'd just be by your side until you told them to leave. It was cute :3
Things I disliked:
- My house was infested with mushrooms
all the time. I didn't know how to stop it >.< (I also seem to remember something about furniture being stolen from your house? Not sure if that was it... But I remember I was afraid to put furniture down for some reason)
- There wasn't much you could do with spells other than prank the animals or have fun showing them off
- The shopping in this game was meh.. not as big of a variety of items as in AC, even though there were more stores and one was huge
- I sometimes got confused or didn't know how to do something and a lot of the time the internet wasn't very helpful. It was never a very popular game, so I could't find much guidance (again, there might be more now)
- Similar to Wild World, it got boring and repetitive quickly
- Compared to 3DS games, the graphics are terrible and I agree it hasn't aged well
Result: definitely better than Wild World, but not nearly as good as New Leaf or Harvest Moon. An interesting game and quirky, but hasn't aged well. I'm sure you could find a used copy for cheap though, so it might be worth picking up if you're bored and want to try out a unique little game.
I personally lost interest and gave the game to my cousin. Not sure if she like it or played it though (she was eight).
Harvest Moon on the other hand is one my favorite game series (along with AC and Rune Factory) and has been since I was little. I'm personally waiting for the release of Story of Seasons, but there are many HM games out that I'm sure you'd enjoy. A New Beginning got great reviews and is considered by many to be the best addition to the series (for handheld versions, that is). I'm sure you wouldn't be disappointed, but in my opinion Story of Seasons looks like it will be even better so you might want to wait.
I hope that helped! <3
