As usual, where Marvelous Entertainment takes two steps forward and corrects a complaint or two from the previous game, it takes one MASSIVE step backward. In the case of Two Towns, Steps Forward: The mechanic of the two towns adds welcome variety to the proceedings as does the message board mechanic borrowed from teh Rune Factory series.. Correction: Much improved characterization over the flat characters of Grand Bazaar and the storage system from GB is back but much improved.
And then comes the step back: The game takes too damn long. It takes nearly four years, in-game, to reach 100% on your farm. There are two farms, each with features that cannot be replicated on the other. The improvement requests only come once a month and there's no way to speed things up. Not to mention you can't unlock the tunnel mines until you reach 100% on a farm. Full One Hundred Percent Completion takes almost a decade. And that's leaving aside the player trolling of not being able to harvest the wireless fields for yourself and Alicia finally being a real bachelorette, but one that won't have a kid with you.
This would be one of the best games in the series, hands-down, without the Fake Longevity. With it, it's dragged down to the middle of the pack.
VideoGame The Tale of Two Towns
As usual, where Marvelous Entertainment takes two steps forward and corrects a complaint or two from the previous game, it takes one MASSIVE step backward. In the case of Two Towns, Steps Forward: The mechanic of the two towns adds welcome variety to the proceedings as does the message board mechanic borrowed from teh Rune Factory series.. Correction: Much improved characterization over the flat characters of Grand Bazaar and the storage system from GB is back but much improved.
And then comes the step back: The game takes too damn long. It takes nearly four years, in-game, to reach 100% on your farm. There are two farms, each with features that cannot be replicated on the other. The improvement requests only come once a month and there's no way to speed things up. Not to mention you can't unlock the tunnel mines until you reach 100% on a farm. Full One Hundred Percent Completion takes almost a decade. And that's leaving aside the player trolling of not being able to harvest the wireless fields for yourself and Alicia finally being a real bachelorette, but one that won't have a kid with you.
This would be one of the best games in the series, hands-down, without the Fake Longevity. With it, it's dragged down to the middle of the pack.
7 out of 10.