Natsume is releasing a series of developer diaries to focus on the upcoming Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley Nintendo 3DS game.
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The first takes a look at the redesigned tool system, which is being remade to let the gameplay "flow".
"When we sat down to design Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, we wanted to really study what made the game fun," said Taka Maekawa, who is producing the game. "We wanted to maintain the core value of hard work leading to great rewards, while minimizing anything that may detract from a fun game."
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"We took a long, hard look at the tool system and decided to go back to the drawing board," Maekawa continued. "We came to the conclusion that gameplay should flow, so we made three core changes to the tool system."
These changes include context-sensitive tools, where the game will offer you the only logical item you'd like to use in a given situation by turning the A button into a hotkey for that tool. You won't want to shear a tree, for example, so the game locks the axe to A when you move in front of a tree and allows you access that way, rather than requiring you to go through your inventory.
The second change is meant to save you time looking for ore to upgrade your tools, and instead replaces that system with Harvest Sprites. They will help carry out your chores if you just ask, though some players may not prefer this method as tool upgrading can be rewarding, if time consuming.
The final change is simply a gigantic bag, which can store up to 255 of each item. Though just a bit unrealistic, it will save you time running back and forth when your bag fills up, which most players will probably appreciate. This bit is added at the bottom of the press release, and sounds like an interesting twist:
"The game has a fully customizable world, and players can customize their field in any way they see fit: from a field full of tulips like they might see in Holland, to a valley filled with water like Venice, the choice is up to them."
Stay tuned for more details, which should mainly be provided by more developer diaries such as this as we lead up to the game's release later this year.
