I played Oriental Valley so you don't have to

[@nicole9680]

One thing that's important to remember is that bad actors can use comedy or parody as a cover for lack of effort. I like the idea of a hyper surreal comedy farm rpg but this isn't that.

[@juljue_gaming]

Yes it kind of is with the description of their steam page. But the name is wrong...

[@nicole9680]

@@juljue_gaming I'm not doubting that is what they're saying the game is. I'm doubting their sincerity. The UI is jacked, the camera sucks, the controls are weird, and the features are under-baked. Humor is not an excuse to deliver a sub-par gaming experience. I think giving this game any credit is disrespecting comedy as a genre.

[@MsMoonDragoon]

@@nicole9680 yeah I'm kind of sick of people covering up this lack of skill with "its just a parody!!!" like my brother in odin, we both know you just cant make games.

[@gemwolfz2860]

just like garten of banban... it's funny i guess but like. the game is not fun

[@suicune2001]

The head of the town spills nails on to the road with no way of getting home? Sounds like the opening to a horror movie. Lol

[@TheMeloettaful]

I think that would be an interesting start for a horror-based farming sims lol 😂.

[@suicune2001]

@@TheMeloettaful Children of the Corn type farming sim. Plot twist, you're not the farmer. They want to use YOU for their crops! 😱😭😂

[@suicune2001]

@@TheMeloettaful They gift you the farm but it's demonically possessed and it tries to eat you but you somehow manage to fight it off. I guess here you could have two choices: Continue working the farm like normal and have to repeatedly fight off the demons every day Berserk style Or make a deal with the demons to give it souls. In exchange for the souls of others, it'll grant you boons like golden crops. Maye have a really long side quest to somehow exorcise the demon-possessed farm. Like, maybe needing to perform some kind of ritual to revive the Harvest Goddess so she can bless the land with her protection again.

[@TheMeloettaful]

@@suicune2001 or their sacrifice to their eldriech god to ensure a most bountiful harvest 😁! Someone needs to jump on this idea ASAP 😆💡!

[@suicune2001]

@@TheMeloettaful I'm already writing down ideas. 😂 I tried posting them but KZbin keeps shadow-banning it for some reason.

[@annieshavingthoughtsagain]

Oh dear. Those blank NPCs take me right out of the game. It's probably just a me thing but the mannequins hit wrong for me. They should have named this "Uncanny Valley".

[@nyahanaru8899]

It’s not just you

[@phoenixastra4429]

no I legit called them placeholders. Even if there was a story reason they could've made a ghost/spirity look unique being or wavy shadows...not just...white blobs. lol

[@phoenixastra4429]

@@nyahanaru8899 the fact that is says a 'little mushroom girl with a bamboo basket' and it's a stick figure 3d blob, is wild. They made it worse for them trying to decieve the players that they aren't placeholders, giving descriptions like that. It feels scammy.

[@HausOfZombies]

Same here. I played the demo awhile back and thought it was just filler so that the demo could be playable and recently realized I was wrong lol. I like things about the game but definitely don't care for the blank npcs.

[@danandtab7463]

Uncanny Valley lol that's a missed opportunity!

[@imannatasha3302]

I hate how many developers are taking advantage of this genre being popular now and making lacklustre games for a quick cash grab.

[@gucciguy3408]

Basically when the English Localizers of Harvest Moon took over the title. Though I will say the newer ones look more up to decent game status.

[@kikixchannel]

@@gucciguy3408 The English publisher was always the owner of the Harvest Moon brand. Harvest Moon is not the original name of these games. They were never 'Harvest Moon' in Japan but what translates to a "Farm Story', hence Natsume never took over the title. They literally made the title (the LITERAL title, not the game itself). The never took over the franchise either. It's just not being sold under a random name made by a publisher.

[@honaleri]

I love that the plot is just some kid can't figure out how to call an uber, and gets gaslit into a lot of manual labor until they can get home. Like....its a farm sim, aren't you supposed to...stay on the farm? Why build a life there under duress?

[@notatallfunctional]

Spirited Away X Animal Crossing

[@urnoob5528]

i dont see how farm sim means stay on the farm or not build a life there under duress thats just the story

[@honaleri]

@@urnoob5528 Urmaduh, that's not what the genre is a about, lol? You new here? 🤣 It doesn't need to be said farm sims are about building a life on a farm. Any life built with the expectation it's all temporary work just to eventually get on a bus to go home - isn't a life at all. 🤣🤣🤣 It feels more like abduction. lol.

[@chocomelo454]

​@urnoob5528 well you interact with all these villagers that you befriend, you build up yhe town or help repair broken things and you upgrade a house, you make a life there. Itd be sad if st the end of the game you just leave all of your friends, your animals, and family behind to go live on an off screen area.

[@honaleri]

Oriental Valley or "How to throw assets into Unreal Engine- Farm Sim Edition"

[@ehyzen]

idk how to explain bit this rly gives me the vibe that the game is at the very beginning of developing, it has that base UE feeling. this game has no business being sold as a finished game

[@svenbtb]

That's because that IS all it is lol, they just threw in a bunch of assets and called it a day.

[@catscanhavelittleasalami]

Wow, what gave it away? Was it the placeholder NPC portraits? Or the wonky animations? or the barebone dialogue?

[@MiguiMonkey]

"I love to see all of these new farming with the SAME EXACT animals that the developers bought for 34.99" and the train conductor's self-awareness for scams made me laugh OMG hahaha! 💀💀💀 Now this is the kind of roasting & humor I am down for!

[@rirururu4697]

Simp's story was so touching 10/10

[@TheMedicatedArtist]

The blank NPCs could’ve worked if *all* the villagers were blank, but had one distinct clothing item, like Basket Girl. The more the player interacted with that NPC, the more human they’d look. If the MC had a similar personality to Kuzco (The Emperor’s New Groove), Jasper (Klaus), or Bakugou (My Hero Academia), then their willful disregard of others could explain this stylistic choice.

[@browniethesnivy]

I love this idea! A similar concept was explored really well in the Webtoon “Surviving Romance.” I usually don’t like Webtoons, but I really recommend that one if you haven’t read it already 👍

[@JadeAnnabelArt]

Was thinking that as I watched. Like, the more you bond and grow with the town, the more personality it gets, the more human the npc's look, the more fleshed out it becomes. Such a missed opportunity.

[@farmhandler]

The blank npcs might have been okay if they all consistently had clothes. That would show some effort, but all of them being naked just seems lazy.

[@Anna-zt3jc]

or if every npc was blank lol

[@riam850]

Or you could make them more like a silhouettes - I remember that one game made all non interactable NPC that were ment to just fill the screen a bunch of single color silhouettes and since they were in multiple colors and environment was colorful it's just looked natural.

[@DuskoftheTwilight]

not gonna lie the image of that cow bench-pressing got a genuine laugh out of me.

[@dashboardfairy]

LMAO this game is such a trip trivia: Niuyang Village = Cowgoat Village Old man Jiang = ref to Jiang Jiya and his attempts to "fish" for a worthy master

[@revannia]

"Maybe she was from another universe. That would explain so many things." 🤣🤣🤣🤣I'm dying over here. 100% agree.

[@inqvizit0r]

This literally looks like a good premise for a horror farming game. Trouble getting home, those blank characters..... Add some kind of abandoned temple somewhere in the forest, several graves....

[@Kaya5778]

I feel bad that Josh had to suffer through this game (and pay for the “privilege”) but oh man, this review was hilarious.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Luckily, I was able to get a refund. 😅

[@airyspaw]

@@JoshGamingGarden Oh glad they allowed it. I hope it gets updates though but I am low on hope. I am so bummed. It looks very nice and the bench pressing cow killed me.

[@chocomelo454]

​@@JoshGamingGardenthe blessing of playing offline! If you play offline on a steam game, for those who dont know, it wont count the hours. So if you are feeling iffy on a game you just bought, play on offline mode.

[@brittanyxxbabyxx2186]

It’s sad I love the aesthetics. I Like the countryside of Japan, Korea, China for a cozy game for a cafe/ farm/ tea house or like “town mayor” plot line where you have to renovate a old town before it gets tore down. Or a studio ghibli vibe like Neighbor Totoro (just chill vibes cute spirit animals with farming and countryside living ) or howls moving castle ( and sell hats or be a witch that sells spells and potions) So much potential 😔

[@Tamaki742]

This one's definitely based on Chinese countryside though.

[@brittanyxxbabyxx2186]

@@Tamaki742 China I fixed it 🥰it would still be beautiful

[@katiethefandomgirl4412]

Not gonna lie, when I first joined the stream of you playing this I didn't know what we were getting into, this was a fever dream Weirdness aside, it's just another one of those new farming sims these days that got the mechanics down and made them functional, but without the knowledge on how to make them satisfying in cozy games.

[@BBALFONSECAPONE]

Reminds me of the new harvest moon series lol. You can see they're trying but completely lost

[@wildanbaxtli6913]

​@@BBALFONSECAPONEdespite Harvest Moon is not original developer anymore, I would thing they at least would take reference and learn from their past games. The fact they end up with game worse than indie stuff really confused me

[@TheWillOfJ]

It's a very small touch in the grand scheme of things but the fact that characters don't turn their head to look at you during dialogue really stands out when you've gone for this graphical style. The village head is talking to your knees!

[@momob4276]

I love how polite, sarcastic and cherry you are when you roast a game for being...well... it's certainly a game.

[@brandonsclips7741]

A game named Oriental Valley is crazy lmao. Like if anything it's just strange lol.

[@albytross8681]

Like who even uses the word oriental anymore 😂

[@tulip811]

Especially since it looks occidental 😂

[@serenegenerally]

I was abt to say 💀

[@ChemySh]

@@binarybq that translation is largely accurate, but 奇妙 is more accurately translated to 'intriguing' because it implies that sth is strange/abnormal ...BUT THIS AINT EVEN HER HOMETOWN

[@Feirgheim]

wait wait wait, so, a clue to go back to your hometown is going to appear, but in the meantime you could take the bus to another place?

[@froggycolouring]

Or you could just ask someone you know to come get you

[@awastedcow]

Wait omg. I thought this released as early access. This is 1.0?????

[@JoshGamingGarden]

Yes, this is the final product 😭

[@imkellyonfire]

@@JoshGamingGarden HOOOWWW?!?!?!?! >.

[@suicune2001]

That's what I thought, too. I thought this was an early alpha build!

[@bunniewood]

Devs just want to make quick money. Most are stock assets and AI

[@goblinmatt128]

The thing that gets me is that the main character looks pretty interesting to me design-wise and the NPCs that actually got designed look pretty ok. The mannequins are definitely either unfinished and passed off as "quirky" to sell the final game or, if they are on purpose, a total misstep for me. Either way, got a great reaction image out of "there will be no more simp in this village from now on" so at least the game wasn't a total loss

[@castillon0285]

"By that point, I knew that no matter what Deergrains would do, there was no way he could save this game" ---I laughed out loud

[@cari_iii]

"she told me to be careful of scams, i love the self awareness this game has"

[@maryo7690]

oh man I had this game on my wish list lol, I like the idea of the blank npc's, like a joke and how it differentiates between the actual characters, but Id probably want the game to be more fleshed out

[@akun50]

The Neko Arc-style eyes on the cat backpack tells me a lot about the random humor that's going to be in this game.

[@RaisinBug]

Another fun and fantastic review! 😂 I love the idea of an unserious farming game, but the gameplay itself seems like a frustrating and not-so-exciting experience. I held back on purchasing this game 'cause I was worried about getting motion sickness, which I was right about since I felt a lil nauseous from just watching this video. On a separate note, I misheard and thought you said that the character's name was Sim, which was funny enough, but then I saw it spelt as Simp in the dialogue and I couldn't stop laughing! 😂 Love the way you narrate your videos!

[@ChemySh]

I can explain why Luo Meili elaborates on the meaning behind her name: Chinese names are complicated to write. Consider that only 3k CN words out of possibly 100k+ recorded dictionary entries are commonly used, and you have people whose job is to perform divination to give your fetus a "lucky" name, a lot of CN people have to explain which word/kanji to use for their names. It's just a common thing to do when introducing yourself in China

[@clcwinegeart]

Watching the livestream of this was such a trip. Josh really took one for the team. I won't be playing it and I'm glad you got your refund.

[@Sejjin]

Ah I was having a rough day and your commentary made me smile and giggle more than I have in the past months. Thank you.

[@grahamhaddock3537]

I tried this out during NextFest and was like "this could be something but seems weird that a game so early in development is in NextFest" Then it released.

[@juljue_gaming]

Same for me I thought at a very early stage of development than saw the live streal and that it was a release and not even early access but the plot of the game on their steam page is coherent with the game itself so why not but not for me.

[@himechan1211]

This looks like the beginning stages of a game both in terms of mechanics and animation. What's sad is, if they put in a bit more effort and polished the game it could have been interesting. Also the lack of customization is a big no for me. I was a bit shocked when you said this was a full release...thinking it was in early access. Pretty much feels like an asset flip from what I'm seeing.

[@bubblegumplastic]

Maybe I can answer one piece of the puzzle for you: eggs can be collected in your pockets, as long as there's enough room and you don't crush them in there. But mushrooms can't be collected in your pockets. They are too fragile, and would get scuffed and then turn brown faster.

[@cubone285]

Even if this game isn't some strange attempt at art, this review most certainly is. Thank you for going through this lmao

[@Lupen69]

I dunno about you all but I love the coughing doctor. He's the best part of this and he deserves better

[@Asunnixe]

Glad you got your refund back! Honestly you should do a review of the lacking farming games as they come out, your script for them is perfect

[@captainsawbones]

Oh man i hope they take your idea on board /gen

[@cw7414]

"I love to see all these new farming games with the same animals they bought for 39.99" PLEASE tell me that was sarcasm, it just took me right out laughing !

[@rodelcorton8815]

Is that cow doing reps!!!

[@BBALFONSECAPONE]

And pooping milk!

[@nikkim9014]

This is like a fever dream. I cannot.

[@nivorann]

this honestly feels like a game someone created for a long term college assignment lol

[@MrZzToOoFlyY]

“If you ever make the mistake of playing this game” is killing me 😂 why does every one look like a white blob, its so bad.

[@FavAMVs]

I feel like two issues, beyond the laziness of the developers, is some of this might be Chinese humour. Things that were mocked in previous Chinese games/shows. The other issue is they didn’t get a localizer. It almost feels like they got google translate or something and decided that was good enough. Hopefully they improve on the problems and make it a better game for their players.

[@shozzy_id]

I love sassy Josh :D Thanks Josh, really helpful as always!

[@DiegeticDogma]

Thank you for protecting us 🫡

[@amytheshihtzumom]

“Bird!” During your live stream, I was thinking what it would be like if all the animals said their names like the bird.

[@Lunicia]

The stream was so funny 😆 I personally think that if the white characters were really only a choice for the sake of the parody it wouldn't have been so many of them. I agree, it was probably a mix of both: making a parody and laziness

[@nyahanaru8899]

Wow, that’s all I can really say thank you so much for playing that for us, Josh, the whole video I was thinking is this early access and then you said it was not I was just like how why my head hurts I’m not trying to be rude and mean, but that is what I thought

[@catieluvsrunefactory3805]

Thanks for uploading! Was interested in this, but seeing a lot of characters have no faces and a lot of odd dialogues. That cow bench pressing made me laugh though.

[@johndawn6951]

2:43 Holy unity asset Batman.

[@dawnmccarthy1]

The cows look like the classic harvest moon cows to me.

[@gda8773]

I really hope more people watch your review before wasting money on this game. Shockingly bad game, but fantastically funny review! Thanks so much for playing and reviewing for us. I definitely won't be buying this one 😂. Glad you got your money back.

[@retroxify]

This is an asset flip, only without most of the assets and barely any flip.

[@ChiNguyen-gj8lb]

I decided to buy immediately after seeing your video. I have too many “real” farming games that it’s kind of boring, so an “unique” and “stupid” with full of bug and funny things like this seems interesting and unique 😂

[@primadonna2312]

Hahaha this video was so funny. I love your sense of humor. :) It's a shame this game wasn't better made, it had real potential.

[@IDOLL_Dev]

I appreciate your helpful feedback about what to improve and I respect that you have a different opinion, but personally this is funny as hell and as someone who doesn't like playing most farming sims you just convinced me to wishlist this.

[@osakitty]

Thank you for making this sacrifice for us.

[@imkellyonfire]

i feel like too much work was put into having that cow work out xD whyyyy

[@katysayavong1928]

This review is so funny omfggg 😂 thanks for your service josh

[@Bakuuren]

So the mayor traps you in the village, and the train doesn't go to your hometown, and everyone somehow knows that. There are also spirits. It's official, your character is in purgatory waiting for judgment. $18 dollars for this?! Man, this game does not look fun. It makes me want to try my hand at making a farm sim, but that is a lot of work and time I don't have. Thanks for checking this out for us, Josh! I can save my money.

[@adipoke2112]

"If I was bored - which I was" 😂

[@nickcalnan]

I'm only five minutes into the video and you have my laughing so hard. 😂😂😂😂

[@alusandrea1501]

The names of those novels are peak Chinese romance novel titles. Too bad it's lazy since it does seem like an interesting premise. I wonder how much the weird dialogue comes from translation issues?

[@Purple_Pink_And_Fluff]

Surprisingly I really liked characters design in this game, especially main character, even though there was so little of them

[@Akane1313]

I’m sorry you had to go through what seems like a general scam of a game but your sarcasm is hilarious.

[@kimsonmagat7620]

the visuals is quite nice ngl. but the blank characters is giving creepy vibe the storyline is weird also but interesting

[@yolandab2274]

I guess I'm the weird one out but I've been enjoying the game a lot. And I've tried all the new farming games that have come out. For some reason the progression in this one just grabbed me.

[@mysticaccy]

Thanks for playing and reviewing this game, because i did thought bout buying it but now seeing the gameplay... Its not worth it and its an unfinished valley😂

[@snestendo]

Such a strange game. It's got some effort put in there, but not exactly. They state on the Steam store that AI was only used for the store page, but it's hard to imagine someone went all this length with decent art to make such a half-baked game lol some of the character art is varying, but some of it looks like they traced and painted over references of the models, so it I could also be just overtly wary considering some of the stuff that makes it onto Steam nowadays.

[@Sue_Online]

character art is definitely ai-assisted, there are some oddities that wouldnt exist if they were done by hand

[@beckyx8133]

This was on my wish list - off to remove it 😖 Got to admit the animals working out is amusing. Also, Josh thank you so much for the dedication in checking the months 😂

[@kalythai]

That backpack looks like the logo/mascot of DevCat, the devs of Mabinogi.

[@7Write4This9Heart7]

I still can't believe this is full release! LMAO!

[@Miwako_vklolita]

nooo i loved the art

[@ellabee1858]

You should be reveiwing The Last Craftsman instead of this oddity. The game is amazing, has many of the things I would like in Stardew. I bet Eric Barone wished he had thought of giving collectables tags. It really changes things in such a big way. Also planting with no tiling soil or watering! Now you really want to plant stuff, lots and lots of stuff:)

[@jerseywooly]

Hear me out on that doctor

[@imsunnybaby]

i really like our farmer girl's personality

[@mlec5893]

This reminds me a LOT of a mobile game you ought to try sometime, Josh - it's a Chinese title called Harvest Town. In that game as well as this one, a LOT gets lost in translation and just seems nonsensical (ex. the coughing doctor, the broom is the type old women used here) At least the English in OV is decent compared to HT. 😂

[@msemma4316]

Oh my gosh! I have never seen anything worse than these mannequin NPCs!!!

[@koiitree]

10:04 LMAO JOSH ALKSKJJKLD

[@lonely_space_egg]

Oddly enough, to me this game's graphics almost seem *too* good. I think if they forwent the attempt at a realistically lit 3d anime style and went for something emulating the gameboy, it could make the strange writing and mechanics work as a pastiche of the moon logic of that era of gaming - needing a broom to pick up apples feels very reminiscent of early Pokemon IMO. Guess they aren't many gameboy-styled assets to flip, though :/

[@dalejhunter1]

I recognize the cows more so from Story of Seasons games. They look pretty one to one with the cows in those games. Though... maybe its just because the asset just fits with that game. I dunno.

[@JoshGamingGarden]

The cows from that asset pack do look a bit similar to those in Story of Seasons, but they are different. Marvelous makes all of their own original assets for Story of Seasons.

[@FaeDream]

i played the demo for Next Fest, and it looked very unfinished. nothing changed on release it seems lol

[@Lillian-Amour]

How the heck does this have "very positive" steam reviews?

[@BBALFONSECAPONE]

Bots probably

[@katsuminara4036]

I would love a Spirited Away game or a Howl's Moving Castle game XD where you play as Chihiro and Sophie or make your own character

[@den......]

well, you know what they say, there's no time like this month second thursday

[@Tashinara]

This is not a full release or is it? Oo bc it seems the white plain npcs looking like placeholder lol it could be a nice one if it's wouldn't lacking of everything gameplay wise XD

[@kitox9117]

Idk what u on about this game is 10/10

[@mojaslatt]

"Oriental Valley" is a wild name ☠️

[@Icyangel10]

If it weren't for the fact this is not early access, there's a bunch of issues/laziness going on I would have found this funny This semi felt like a weird slice of life comedy anime especially with the blanks as background characters you can interact with. It's clear this game needs a lot of work to fix it up but I doubt anything will happen. The only good thing is that it's not an NFT scam or something. I dunno something feels like an asset flip especially with pointing out the animal pack the cow comes from.

[@fruity4820]

Ok, Simp did make me laugh. And the simlpe character design can work for him, i think they could have gotten away with it if it was just a one-off gag for this one charcater, but the fact that they did it for multiple characters make it seems like someone forgot to relpace the developer art with the final character models. i can imagine the clunky dialog is due to word-play that got lost in translation, a lot of games utilize word-plays to spice up the dialog bc everyone love a terrible dad joke, and no-one bets an eye, and those are very hard to translate. But Simp does confimes that they can find word plays that work in english, unless it was a complete accsident, which makes it even funnier

[@shiannwilliams3617]

Lol please do another part so funny i love

[@RainbowscapePictures]

Thank goodness you saved me from buying this title. Feels like everything in this game was half-baked.

[@GemmaKingsley]

I like the bus idea but beside that nothing

[@imaginarymenageriemanager6303]

Is is still being developed though? EA vs "full" release doesn't mean much, as plenty of games still receive major development past 1.0 or a "full" release. This goes for both indie and AAA nowadays, which is pretty sad to think about. The game looks kinda fun, but as you've said mostly in a quirky/weird way. If it still gets updates though I'd definitely keep an eye on it, because again, the EA tag doesn't mean much anymore. You should check out Dinkum btw, it got a new update the other day. I haven't played it in a good while myself. It's also roughly that game's price, but really polished. A cool AC meets MC type of game.

[@WizeDemon]

It looks assest flipped in some areas :/ which is not a good sign when stuff doesn't seem to blend in well

[@sophietemple2728]

If this game was released on April 1st instead of April 24th maybe all this would make sense

[@floofzykitty5072]

I bet a lot of the physical parts of the world are actually assets that were bought and not a whole lot of the game's composition is actually original. What makes me think this is that the game has a huge style mismatch. In a chill farming game, you expect to live a rustic and simple yet satisfying life if you work hard enough. The modern house you get right off the bat is not in theme with the rest of the game, and the mannequin-like people also feel cold and oddly dystopian, like this is some retirement village for defective robots. Even the clothes you wear and can buy notably don't even have farm-themed clothes like overalls and straw hats.

[@batty-bites3185]

'played the game so u don't have to' don't worry i was never going to with a name like it has. the fact that it was okay'd to let release on steam is kinda boggling.

[@cloudy4lockharty]

Gonna guess the months are "this, that, now, current, next, following, Month x(2,3,4...etc)" let me see if I was correct or close. edit: omg I got it with next and following, I was just missing last xD