All posts tagged in Marvelous
Jan 10, 2023
Brew Potions, Manage a Shop, Negotiate Prices, Find Love
Since we last heard about Potionomics, an alchemy-crafting, potion-selling sim, a lot has changed. Developes at Voracious Games now have publisher XSEED/Marvelous backing them up! Now, there’s also deck-building and romancing elements in the mix, in case the game wasn’t perfect enough. Not to mention you practically have Archimedes (the owl, not the inventor) by your side.
You play as witch Sylvia who’s inherited her uncle’s potion shop, along with a huge debt. Players must hone their negotiation skills, outsell crafty competitors, and appease the pickiest customers with the best products in Rafta. Decorating your shop is not only stylish, but can help you to increase your sale prices and provide better quality potions! Gathering ingredients and learning new recipes will also be essential.
Furthermore, certain merchants and shopkeepers will be yours to romance, as recently revealed. Characters such as Muktuk the walrus, Saffron the faun, Luna the moth-human hybrid, and 7 others! You can check out the latest trailer below.
Potionomics available now
Potionomics is now available on Steam and has gathered mainly positive reviews. You can get this adorable and magical narrative-driven, deck-building shop simulator on Steam here. There’s no news as of yet if Potionomics will be coming to consoles, although chances are great with XSEED as the publisher.
- Sep 10, 2022
Deck Building, Potion Making, Shop Managing Fun
Play as Sylvia, a witch who’s taken over her uncle’s potion shop after his untimely death. It’s now up to her to keep the shop running and carry on her uncle’s legacy. Luckily, Sylvia isn’t alone. With the help of her friends she’ll learn to negotiate, outsell her competitors, and perhaps make her shop the number one shop in Rafta.
Learn the necessary skills to negotiate with customers by befriending villagers and other merchants who can teach you better ways to run the potion shop. Use those new skills to manage Sylvia’s stress as you choose the correct cards to settle on the right price. You’ll also learn to create the potions you’ll be selling. Just be careful what ingredients you add to them, because you could end up with some awful concoctions!
While not everyone you encounter will be helpful, as some aren’t friendly, there’s also a chance for romance waiting for you. You’ll get to choose from nine incredibly unique characters for your romantic partner. Choose one to date or date them all to find which one you like best!
Coming to Steam October 17
After 6 years creating the game, developers Voracious Games are excited to announce that Potionomics will be available for PC via Steam on October 17th. You can currently add it to your wishlist.
For more potion making, check out Alchemy Garden, and for more management gaming, check out Bear and Breakfast.
- Apr 13, 2022
Build Friendships, Farm, Fight and Tame Monsters!
Rune Factory 5, by Marvelous (XSEED), released on the Nintendo Switch in America on March 22nd, 2022 and in Europe and Australia on March 25th, 2022.
Since hearing the news back in 2020, and waiting such a long time since the release of the previous game in the franchise Rune Factory 4 on the 3DS in 2013 (although now there’s a Special Edition for the Switch), it stands to reason that fans are nervous with exactly what has and what hasn’t changed with this beloved Story of Seasons (formerly Harvest Moon) spin-off series. Well, after playing countless hours of the JRPG/farming sim mash-up, I’m here to tell you what to expect before buying!
Rune Factory 5 VS. Rune Factory 4
Rune Factory 5 starts you off with the same amnesiac trope as usual as you’re brought to a small, quiet town called Rigbarth. Rather then issuing “Orders” as a prince or princess in Rune Factory 4, you’ll become a ranger for the organization, SEED, by protecting the town from monsters. In the same way, you’ll be able to spend these reward “points” toward town festivals, storage upgrades, and more! Moreover, you’ll be farming on the backs of a total of 5 Farm Dragons! See below for other such changes that might interest you!
- Fully 3D environments. However, no top-down camera views or grid lines for placing items.
- Same-sex marriages! Your choice between 6 bachelorettes and 6 bachelors regardless of your own gender.
- Items on the ground can be automatically added to your inventory. Or you can manually pick up several of the same item while running.
- Location markers are visible for all main quests and notable interactions, including scenes with marriage candidates.
- Several fast-travel locations within the town, as well as new outside areas. In dungeons, you can travel to any newly uncovered floor.
Available Now on the Switch
Although Rune Factory 5 suffers from some rather extreme lagging and loading issues and minor quality-of-life inconveniences, it’s still a welcome step in the right direction for future iterations of the series! Let’s us know what you think of the game so far! If you haven’t already, get Rune Factory 5 on the Nintendo Switch here!
- Jun 1, 2019
With new titles such as Doraemon: Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon: Mad Dash releasing soon, we here at myPotatoGames thought it was a perfect opportunity to look back at the Bokujō Monogatari series. Below you’ll find a list of a few defining games of Harvest Moon, developed by Marvelous. Moreover, the reason for why we now technically have two separate Harvest Moon franchises.
To summarize, the North American publishers responsible for the localization of the Bokujō Monogatari series change from Natsume to Marvelous’ own sister company Xseed Games in 2012. Therefore, we have Natsume continuing to create Harvest Moon branded games and Marvelous re-branding to Story of Seasons for their new line of farming simulation games. The PAL (European) distribution was handled by Rising Star Games and now Nintendo. Let us take a closer look at when this all began with the Westernization of this series.
Japan: Marvelous – Creators of Bokujō Monogatari
Harvest Moon was created in 1996 by Yasuhiro Wada and produced by Victor Interactive Software (acquired by Marvelous in 2003) and was known as Bokujō Monogatari in Japan. During this time, and until 2013, Natsume oversaw the English translation and publishing of the series, thus Harvest Moon.
The Last Harvest Moon Game -Before the Split
Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning was the last title in the Bokujō Monogatari series to be released under the “Harvest Moon” name with the developers involvement (Marvelous). The game was released on the 3DS in North America in 2012.
North America: Natsume – Publishers (2013-present)
In 2012, Marvelous discontinued licensing the series to Natsume. Natsume then began their own series of Harvest Moon games in North America and Europe beginning with the release of Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley in 2014. This is due to Natsume owning the rights to the brand and title of Harvest Moon. Therefore, the games below were not created by Marvelous but rather Tabot Inc. Light of Hope is their latest installment of their main series, released worldwide in 2017.
North America: Xseed Games (Marvelous subsidiary) – Publishers
In 2014, Marvelous Inc. announced that the latest installment in the series would be localized by their American publishing brand Xseed Games under the new series title Story of Seasons. The game Story of Seasons was subsequently released in North America in 2015 and the second game of that series, Trio of Towns, released in 2017.
We’re very excited to play as many farming games as possible and glad that this genre is on the rise. If you’re interested in Yasuhiro Wada’s work (the original creator of Harvest Moon) then you should check out his most recent game, created by his own company Toybox, Little Dragons Café. You can also check out our latest news on Rune Factory; a spin-off series developed by Neverland Co. and published by Marvelous.
