Big Farm Story, in all its glory, is tedious and skimpy with gameplay. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun game because I have played the heck out of it this past week, rather it means that it isn’t quite near where it needs to be.
DISCLAIMER: This game is in early access, so it is a work in progress.
Cultivate. Gather. Sell. Upgrade. Expand. These are the words that define what Big Farm Story is at its core. Let’s get this started.
In a world filled full of simulators, especially of the farming type, there is only a handful that have truly withstood the test of time. Stardew Valley (yay) and Harvest Moon (yay pt. 2), with maybe Farmville coming in a very distant third, are long-lasting simulators that feel complete in their purpose and innovative/fun in their design. Stardew Valley is one of the most popular of the genre, as it has been known to be effective on depression, while providing a positive message that, even when you fail, continues throughout the experience. Anyway, Farming simulators have a structured and relaxing flow to them and are generally loved by casual gamers (nothing wrong with that).
Goodgame Studios, who set their own expectations with a name like that, has brought out a farming simulator of their own called Big Farm Story. The idea of BFS is to run with the big boys of the farming simulator genre and for the most part the intentions to do so are firmly intact within its design. There is a lot of gathering to be done in BFS, upgrading and improving to be had with land and animals, and what seems like an endless amount of quests to achieve. All the right elements for a relaxing farming simulator are there, but did it get to the height of the previously mentioned games? Let’s find out.
Big Farm Story prides itself on a few things: simplicity, plenty of XP, and plenty of growth (both within the game and outside of it). It also stumbles in a few areas: depth and structure. The good does outweigh the bad, but the latter is significant in some areas.
The game is simple enough that anyone and everyone can pick it up and go. This game was born from mobile lineage and it is structured as such. The controls are essentially point-on-the-screen-and-go. There is no reason for a tutorial, you know what’s going on. In addition, the HCI is really high here, where you know that flashing objects are clickable objects and the game pretty much lays out every facet of functionality right there in front of you without asking you to think beyond the task at hand. In short, the controls and what’s going on in the game are self-evident, so there isn’t much of a learning curve, unlike other farm simulators.
The underneath structure, the actual gameplay design that is meant to keep you focused and occupied, is equally as simple. The point of the game is to grow a farm, raise some animals, sell and buy material, and upgrade the heck out of everything to get the most out of the game. For example, if you go and chop wood, you get wood pieces and XP. That material will translate over to upgrading a barn or upgrading a well, or even upgrading a chicken (yep — you can upgrade chickens, but not with wood. Wood chickens are silly). Staying with the chicken, I upgraded DipChick to a fully functioning chicken through gathering material around the land (and you can go beyond your farm) and producing chicken feed. The feed grew the chicken, then the chicken began laying eggs that I could sell (circle of life!). The coin brought me opportunities to make the inside of my home stylish and unique, as well as provided opportunities to get material to help me with other upgrades. This type of gathering and upgrading is pretty much how the entire game goes. You can use this same structure on your farm buildings and/or to grow plants — collect, grow, sell. See the picture? It’s what you would expect from a farm simulator. Of course, this same gameplay isn’t without flaws.
As you gather XP and level up, each step gives you a reward. With every level up, you can pick one of three randomly displayed rewards, which will essentially lead you to tasks. The reward you pick becomes your task until you level up again. The game will dangle other tasks in front of you, but if you didn’t choose a task as a reward, you cannot complete them without getting them as a reward (not at all confusing). For example, The reward I chose tasked me with cutting a certain amount of wood to make a ‘thing’. One of the other rewards, that I didn’t choose, was gathering material to upgrade a well on my farm. As I was gathering material for the reward I did choose, I gathered material for the well reward by accident. I went to the well at some point and it showed that I had the right material to upgrade it… but that upgrade was locked because I didn’t choose it when I was choosing rewards. I honestly do not understand the decision behind this locked tasked because if I have the material, then why can’t I just upgrade the darn well? It’s very baffling. I suspect maybe there is a shortage of content, so by locking tasks/rewards, you’re forcing your player to play the game at a Goodgame Studios pace. That is something that shouldn’t happen in a game, as it’s almost a F2P genre mentality. Again, this is mobile lineage at play.
As for the rest of the game, the only other complaint I have with it is that the game has a lot of ‘clicks’ to it. When I find something, I click on it to show it, then click on it again to acknowledge that I want it. This same pattern occurs when I reach the end of a map and have to transition to the next map. I get to the end of the map, it activates a button prompt with a boot icon, and then I have to click that icon to proceed. It’s like Goodgame Studios ignored 30-40 years of RPGs. What should happen with the latter is that when you reach the end of a map, you should automatically move on to the next (loading screen or not). Ultimately, this slowed the game pace down too. Toning down on the clicking should be high on the list of things to figure out while this game is in early access. This has to be corrected and there has to be more content when/if the pace picks up.
Anyway, these complaints, while justified, are very correctable through a patch or some sort of update. I know this is in early access, so I’m not going to be too hard on the game, but these are going to stop it from being a stand out amongst a sea of farming simulators.
As it stands now, Big Farm Story, in all its glory, is tedious and skimpy with gameplay. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun game because I have played the heck out of it this past week, rather it means that it isn’t quite near where it needs to be.
