A New Leaf Memories is a Huge Mess...

In this video, I share my first thoughts on A New Leaf: Memories, currently in Early Access on Steam.

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00:00 Introduction
00:25 Development
02:24 Farming
04:47 World
06:34 Town & Scaling Issues
08:19 Villagers & AI
10:20 Tools & Balancing Issues
11:47 Ranching
13:16 Final Thoughts

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[khaosreads]

This is so disappointing. I backed this on kickstarter because of how cute the art style was. The fact that the original developers weren't able to continue with their game makes me sad. I really hope Crytivo gets their act together and fixes this mess.

[KryaDiere]

The dark skinned portraits are so horribly done.... It's obv they just slapped on a black multiply layer and lowered the opacity over a light skin drawing, then erased out the eyes.... You can literally see it on Kelly's where her eyelids are white from where they erased 🤦‍♀🤦‍♀ What, their AI generator couldn't generate dark skinned chibis? haha

[magetsalive]

Survival Horror Farming Sim. The NPCs are all eerily similar and look somewhat... off. They react to you as if they're meeting you for the first time, every time. They follow rigid schedules with no deviation, if they move at all. Their houses are all exactly the same.

You may encounter an event with an NPC out in the field, where they have genuine and realistic (if somewhat strained and wary) interactions with you, they look normal... and they're far away from town.

There would be no possible way for the NPC to reach town before you, no matter how quickly they travel. _They are already there, as if they had never left, and they look... off._

Eventually, with enough exploration, you discover a cave system with ramshackle houses in it, and all of the far more convincing NPCs living there. They are... happy to see you. Even happier to get gifts. In fact, a neutral reaction is the absolute worst you can get from any gift. There are no disliked or hated gifts.

*You come to learn you are trapped in your role as a farmer in a location where the townsfolk have been replaced by fakes, and the real ones must survive out in the wilderness.*

Imagine if it were a real game lol

[farmhandler]

"Every day they do the same introduction... which makes sense because they are extremely forgettable" LMAO

[wizardlyfroggy]

At first I thought this was a Harvest Moon mobile cash-grab with lazy AI art, but after watching I came to find out it's an indie cash-grab with lazy AI art.

[ephonia]

I backed this project in the kickstarter and me and several other backers never got any of our keys so I would stay away from this. Literally thought it was dead.

[canariawing]

i feel awful for the original developers, crytivo should be ashamed of themselves. the original artstyle was so cute and charming. i would feel like total crap if my art got replaced with AI garbage. hidden tower is clearly no good both as developers and for business, crytivo should just drop them already.

[NutyRiver]

9:04 if you look at his irises, they look weirdly painted in a way that human brushstrokes wouldn’t do. I’ve tried nijijourney out of curiosity and this is DEFINITELY how irises generated by it look. This is definitely AI generated.

[AFKei]

9:09 Michael's eyes are also asymmetrical. Look at the texture on the irises; one of them looks like it's broken glass, and other has an extra highlight.

[Asunnixe]

What a shame Crytivio couldn't tell the Devs was using Ai and shame on the Devs not disclosing it either. Unfortunate situation! I hope they hire an artist to draw their portraits or do it their own, turning into Ai is lazy and not disclosing it is dishonest. I hope they can improve the game during the time it's in EA! Thanks for the review as usual!

[Alfredopizzaluver]

I'm so glad you're always advocating for more unique stuff in cozy games. It seems companies think cozy = low dev effort and we need to correct that!

[ryastor]

"pigeons that are struggling" made me laugh so bad

[belphegor]

The way you cooked them in the most subtle way made me chuckle more than once haha
It does look like the artstyle had a downgrade and a lot of the disappointments just add up to a huge pile of sadness.

[Scribble]

Congrats, devs, you've made Natsume's recent attempts to knock off Story of Seasons and Stardew look *competent*

That takes a lot of 'work'

[gxthicky]

Not the hover bus helping control the animal overpopulation 😂😂

[yakumorisuke]

What a shame - the original trailer with the original team looked amazing. Of course their health is far more important than a game! But it's a shame that the new workers don't seem to have even kept the spirit of the idea alive here.

[reyaer]

Seeing more about this game makes me think there’s *heavy* inspiration from My Time at Portia. A bus that goes around town, animals roaming all over, and having to place soil to grow crops. But Portia is a much higher quality product than this game. I’m honestly so sad to see this game compared to how it looked originally. This game honestly looks like an alpha build rather than what usual early access games look like. I’m glad the original devs are looking after their health but for what the game’s become, it’s so disappointing. But there’s one positive, that “Yaa!” Really got me 🤣

[booyahboogie]

oh yeah, that art is defo ai. See how the details melt together? The eyes are major clues, they vary so much between characters. even in other games that make different eyes for their characters (like genshin), the style stays the same.

[Maricel_Laxa]

When I first saw this on Kickstarter, I had serious doubts. It turns out, I was right. Now, I'm also skeptical about Ova magica, Puffpals, and Sugardew Island. The reason why I doubt is simply because they haven't shown actual gameplay.

[TheLittleBunns]

The bus being "a good attempt to fix the animal overpopulation" got me LOL