Shepherd's Crossing

Wonderful game . Lots of farming knowledge relaxing escape from a crappy reality.makes u just wanna farm in real life.think it should be a higher rated game.also the hunting is definitely the topper that makes u wanna keep playn.

Honestly, I can't say this is a GREAT game, but its playable and understandable for the most part. Its no Harvest Moon, unless you count the first one, where all you can do is farming--and even that is limited. Your "bag" has (or starts out with) three open slots, plus another "tool" slot that seems to be limitless. You can't really plant anything, other then throw seeds on the ground and hope they grow--or get a duck who'll help grow what you obtain from cutting wild grass or making trades. That's another thing. You don't get money in this game. Instead, you use the supplies you gather, and trade it for other things. For example, you can trade two piles of hay for a marmot, which you can trade for either three pieces of marmot meat if its male or trade it for a young rabbit. And with the marmot meat, you can trade for three cabbage seeds, which you'll need to grow to feed your rabbits for their fur to grow thickly, so you can shear it to trade for even better stuff, etc etc. Its basically an endless growth game, so I can't fully complain that its not interesting. I'm sure there are other features to this game, how they keep mentioning a "hunt" that, from images, looks like an RPG dynamic, so I'm sure it'll be pretty interesting, but so far with the possible "wives" don't really appeal to me. IF there is a marriage option.

this didnt seem that fun. it was more about trading items to get other items. it sort of took the fun out of farming.

The idea is after years of wandering you have been invited to settle down in a village called Shepherd's Crossing, known for its fine wool. They give you a house, some land, some tools and some material to start with. You have to grow plants, to feed animals, which are butchered or seared to barter for more seeds and animals. It sounds simple and, at first, seemed simple. But tiny problems started to appear, tiny cracks in my farm. First, certain items seem to be useless. I bought a berry crate to fill with berries. I can't seem out how to put the baskets of berries into the crates. Same with many of the other crates and sheds. Items just pile up till I am plowing thru cabbages and seeds and hay. I never had any problem growing stuff, just figuring out what to DO with it and where to put it. Another example, ducks seemed trained to collect seeds and eggs and place them into sheds. The duck who collects the eggs DID his work. He put the eggs in the egg shed. Once I get more hens laying eggs he will be worth his weight in seed. But you don't know what a duck will do till after you buy him. I have a flock of ducks and collect stuff or just run around and don't do anything. Nor, outside of the eggs, do the other sheds seem to be filled with anything. Fences. Oh lovely. Pick it up, put it down, pick it up, put it down. No matter how I try the fences and round poles never seem to fit close enough together to keep the baby bunnies from escaping. Also, it could take dozens of time before they decide to line up the right way. I end up using crates and sheds to block gaps. One thing I learned to do - use the Dog House to house other animals, like male bunnies and roosters and some female animals. They can't bred in the Dog House and you don't need to feed them. So keeping them there acts like a reserve of animals and STOP the bunnies from reproducing faster than you can handle them. Also I found out that having hundreds of baskets of berries is good during the winter - I ran low on hay and found out that bunnies will eat berries. I also found out that chickens stay where the food it. Pile grass seeds in the area you want them to stay and they stay. No fences needed. Maybe if I fenced off the fields and let the bunnies run about all they wanted? Do I need to keep a dog on watch all the time? They seem to eat a lot when growing - how much do they eat as adults? Would they attack the other animals? I mean, outside of the ducks. But I still need help. How do I put stuff into the crates? How do I collect feathers from ducks when I start to bred them? Normal ducks not those free-loading super smart ducks who go around doing nothing. Why can't I just sell my produce instead of having to barter for everything? I don't want more bunnies! I don't need more logs! Well, those last few points are just complaints. Before I finish, let me point out that at 10 AM I started a game, figuring I would just learn how it works and stop after a few hours. By the time I looked up at the clock it was 7 PM! I wasted a day, trapped between trying to figure out how to use crates and wanting to solve the problems of how to grow more flowers so I could get more honey into the bee boxes. Why they can't call them hives, I have no idea. Maybe if I traded some super smart ducks for some flowerpots? The problem really is the manual is too thin and needs more HARD information about what controls are used for what items. Otherwise, adult or child, you will spend a day on a game you may never plan to return to. I did save them game and plan to continue if I can find out how some of the items work. Too bad there isn't any website I can find that explains more about how it works. I have looked. I would suggest against buying this game unless you REALLY enjoying farming.

I started playing this game at a friend's house and was hooked. In real life, I like growing plants, raising animals, and organizing things but I am stuck in an apartment with no land and cannot do any of it. Therefore this game allows me to release and experience what I enjoy most in my little apartment. However, this is not the typical game most people would enjoy. So read below before you buy. BASICS: This game is NOT about going on an adventure or killing bad guys, it is about escaping to a farm and doing farming. You stay on the farm for the entire time, feeding animals, sewing seed, hunting with your pet dogs, and bartering at the local store. The only interactions with other characters are predetermined video clips and the buildings you enter just lead you to menus, so you don't really go around investigating things or talking to people so its not a typical RPG. Most people will call this game "boring" but I honestly find it rather "peaceful." PROS: The animals, weather, seasons, etc are rather realistic and are very key to the relaxing beauty in the game. Crops and animals even respond appropriately to the seasons. The game has some strategy to it but its not overwhelming. For example: grass grows best under the shade of trees and animals mate quicker if locked in the same small cage together. In the game nearly everything can be torn down and rebuilt making the game rather forgiving. When the farm is larger you can teleport from one end to the other using a feather. The flow chart of how to barter for items, seeds, and animals is provided under the start button. My favorite part is there is no set time limit so you can go at your own pace. The only "deadline" if you will is ensuring all of your farm can survive winter and animals don't starve. The game even throws in some things to break up the monotony including storms, wild animal invasions, and a variety of crops and animals. The game also provides a calendar of sorts in the top right corner to help you track the passing of time. CONS: You are dumped on the farm without much instruction, what advice is given up front feels overwhelming/confusing, the advice comments are not recorded verbatim for future reference, and what is recorded in your journal is not that helpful. There are a lot of pop ups that appear over animals but there is no explanation for them. The game basically leaves you having to figure it out yourself. The are also no warnings of when something has been overlooked therefore animals can essentially starve to death without you even being told they were hungry. The fences do NOT place easily and it takes a lot of tries to get them built properly. When wild animals ravage your farm, it is not shown that they leave, so I made the mistake of thinking they were still on my farm and I ended up selling my own animals... this set me back in the game as I had to re-populate my farm (don't make the same mistake!). If you push the L1 button time speeds up and I too often bump that button so I found myself in winter when I was not yet prepared for it. The hunting part is very old school, like original final fantasy battles, but without the variety as the hunted animals always go first. NEUTRAL ODDITIES: The game has intelligent working ducks that work on your farm with you. I find the ducks rather slow and not very useful at first as I could run around and take care of the chores before they could. However, later in the game, some of the ducks are very useful as they help to collect harvested foods for winter storage. I would prefer the game to not include these ducks, however since they are here, i will use them. So that is the game in a nutshell. Hope this helps you determine if this game is for you.

Product shipped relatively fast and was in great condition. It came with the original case and artwork. The disc was listed as good condition and when I inspected it for the first time it was like new. It was everything I hope for when ordering games online.

After playing this game, it's not for the patient gamers out there. Having said that, I found the controls to be awkward and hard to learn. After a while, I just saved the game and shut it down, it just got too repetitive for me. It's somewhat like HarvestMoon, but the HM games are better than SC. There are not too many positive things that I like about this game, I can see why it's a low priced game. You can find these games in the bargain bin at your local Gamestop store. Not recommended for action gamers or people with little patience.

Eh