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Story is quite shallow. The farming component not well integrated. You get all these money and don't really have anything to spend it on except for more seeds. Not very imaginative if you ask me. NIce drawings/art but I didn't find the characters that likeable, especially the main character you control. On the dating piece, you could be pursuing one girl in mind, but was generally nice to someone else then suddently they've hooked up with you. I didn't like it. Not enough depth to the story.
I really just don't like this game. Characters and Arcs are just really generic and forgetable. I hate the main character. There was just no emotional investment compared to other visual novels. Most choices for relationships are two options and woe betide you if you guess the wrong one. There aren't many clues as to what's what. I understand VNs are meant for multiple playthroughs, but I see no point or drive to continue. Not to mention, there's little feedback in game on the stats available, it took me half a playthrough to realise what was going on with those. The art is nice and I haven't played much of the game so I'm probably missing alot - but what I have played is enough for me. It's so bland. I like the concept of the farming, but the dating/farming aspects don't meld well together, and it's just left a bad taste in my mouth. There are better VN's out there for your money's worth, honestly.
This game is your standard dating game, with a farming mini-game thrown into the mix. Honestly i don't see why the farming is there since it just hinders the romantic relationships with each character if you get over a certian ammount of money. Still the girls you can romance are sweet, brainy spice, sporty spice, baby spice and vanilla spice. If you fancy a shot at this game i'd recommend you grab it in the sale. Still an enjoyable experience none the less.
I like this game. Steve is a typical air-head teenager, and i feel bad for Jill when i was getting her achievement, by end up back dating a guy like him. But the farm system... I loved it! loved became rich with the farm, I loved the Steve relationship with his grandfather, the way his personality evolves throughout the game... So, yeah, for me it worth playing.
I met four cute girls and got friendzoned by all of them. More realistic than I would've thought. 10/10
Story Spoilers: Let me start this review by just saying that I guess I had different expectations for it. With that said, I think this game could use a lot of work if it were concerned with my thoughts/complaints on it. So to summarize what this game is about; You are a stereotypical slacker with low ambitions and a bit disrespectful. Your dad doesn't exactly get along with you, but figures your attitude needs changing so he drives you up to your older uncle's farm where you're expected to raise vegetables on a small plot of land. You get to drive into town within your first week of being there, where you'll meet 3/4 of the young women whom you can get to know better. Your uncle decides to go back to his normal schedule and lets you do with your week as you will. This leads you to several options for each day of the week; work more, visit the flower shop (Susana is here), visit the Library (Marian the Librarian is here), go for a jog (with Clara), stay at home (and talk to your ex-girlfriend Jillian), and relax. Choosing any of the options with the women will boost the tied "stat" that goes with it. These stats will reflect what you may or may not see when visiting the women. Your days start with working in the plot of land you're given. You have to clear out squares filled with weeds to actually start planting anything. Plants take a few or several days to grow, depending on if you use fertilizer or not. Once they are grown you can sell it. The choices you have at the plot are; clear out weeds, plant something, using fertilizer, water plants, and clean up a plant. Any of these choices will take up 1 hour of your time, I think you have until noon to get things done in the morning before you go to whatever you chose to do that day. If you go to the flower shop you can choose to buy more seedlings to plant in your garden with the money you've gained from selling your full-grown plants (or not full-grown if you want to sell those early for some reason, I think that is an option, but I never chose to do that). Okay, so I think I explained the garden part fairly thoroughly, let me just explain what I think was done wrong with it and why it's one of the complaints I have about the game. You grow stuff, you sell stuff, and you buy more seeds to grow and sell more stuff. You get money by doing this, and as far as I know that money had no impact on any other part of the game whatsoever. This gardening plot mechanic seemed like such wasted potential, and was a big disappointment to see. Plus the money you made from selling those vegetables would be less than you'd get working a part time job at minimum wage for the same amount of hours. Fertilizer cost $2, and sped up the growing process by 1 day, but takes away from your end profit and takes time to use.
Flower Shop: Summer in Fairbrook is a Visual Novel with an more or less properly integrated farming minigame (that actually does no/barely impact to the game... sadly) To begin: IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE! You should buy it on sale or in bundle or on other sites, 15€ is simply too much, the game itself is a solid novel. Story: You play Steve, college Boy who looks after cute girls - thats how his girlfriend Jill gets pissed off from him and brakes up. To all unfairness his Father sends him to his uncle to work as a Farmer for him as Steve lacks character and needs to be taught the hard way. There he meets the 2 girls Clara and Susana as well as the women Marian. He can get a love relationship with them, or phone his ex Jill and try to reunite with her. Each run takes about 45-60 minutes to complete if you rush (and with skip function after 1st run) the first one took ~80 minutes. Every day you start with the farming game, then you can choose what you want to do, either farm more (as said it does no impact to the game ... : ( ), go walking with Clara, visit the Flowershop to buy seeds and visit Susana, visit the Library to read books and visit Marian, phoning Jill or sleeping to cure fatigue. Pro: - Story, although not the best, you actually can enjoy and get to like the story once you played a bit of it. - Farm minigame (although kinda tirering after a while) - Many choices - Characters have a nice personality - Music - Background - Trading cards - Achievements Con: (somehow steam doesnt accept the formation in the end... -.-) - Price... 15€ is definetly over the top, this might be worth 5€, maximum of 7€, so buy only on sale or on bundle sites - More or less unpolished characterdesign, still not as bad as in the Heileen series. (Susana actually looks buitiful) - Repeatable dialogues when you visit the girls without having an event triggered - Farming minigame has no impact to the plot, not even an achievement, you more or less can skip it all day - Often scenes without sound at all - Not 100% appropiate for small children (might be okay for 14+? All how the parents may see it themselves) as the Marian route has a wet shirt szene where you can see her bra. Overprotective adults should therefore not let their smaller kids play that route ^^. This is stated as con only for parents buying this for their smaller children. It is not that of an "extreme" scene. Hard for me to rate and not to misrate it... either 6/10 or 7/10 so ill stick with 6.5/10 for now I enjoyed it, but i would never pay 15 € for it, bought it in a bundle or on sale, i dont remember anymore its been a while hanging untouched in my steamlogg.
4 love interests, 9 endings, steam achievements and trading cards! I enjoyed and highly recommend this Visual Novel and its little farming twist. The plot revolves around Steve, a guy who’s barely getting by at college with a D average, just got dumped, and has an appalling relationship with his father. His father sends Steve to live with his uncle for a “Summer in Fairbrook” as punishment for his low grades, where Steve is destined to become a farmhand. This trip changes him. His character developing based upon choices you make. The best aspect of this game is its character development. For instance, Steve’s character changes dependent upon whom you decide Steve should romance in Fairbrook. Other characters also change as events occur within the story. It takes a little while to work through all the endings, and also very enjoyable to do so, as you learn more about each of Steve’s love interests. Definitely recommend for people who enjoy VNs and dating sims.
As I believe someone else said, I wish there was a thumb going sideways.. a more neutral response. The Bad: This game is a lot shorter than any other games of similar genres that I have played. Like, way way too short (especially for the 14.99 price tag)... it only took me 2 hours to play through it the first time, and that's with actually reading everything. It only lasts the Summer (which I think had been a period of 4 months). Most games of this type tend to be at least a year.. So I didn't feel that you had a lot of time to make the choices you need. You also only get to decide on one thing to do every day. In the morning you work in your little garden patch, and then in the afternoon you do the one thing you decided to do (Eg. Go to the library, or for a run). Far too often spending time with the girls is nothing more than a filler "It was a lot easier to run with Clara today than usual... and so another day is over". It's a little annoying to find out that you wasted your only choice that day by getting nothing but filler text. When you do have a "meaningful" interaction with someone, you only get to choose one response through the whole thing (more often than not) and everything else is pre-determined.. so I found that the character did/said far too many things that I wouldn't have done, had I been given the option. More often than not pissing off people that you didn't intend to anger. I also, personally, found that choosing any of the women was quite limiting, as Steve makes it very clear that he still wants to be with his ex-girlfriend Jill... there by making chasing any of the other women just seem weird.... and when I did finally decide I like one of the other girls, I was able to get my relationship to the highest it could be... and we just ended up being friends.. not really sure what happened there. The good: The farming is decent, it doesn't make the game, but it doesn't break it either. The characters are decently interesting, if you ever actually get the time to talk to them in a capacity other than the flavour text added in the game, and the writing is fairly good. The music isn't bad, I had my volume down, so I didn't pay too much attention to it. The art is quite nice. All in all, I would give this game 50%.. it isn't good, but it isn't bad either... however, it's not worth 15 dollars.. so if you can get it on sale, then it's worth it, but you shouldn't buy it at full price.
IF only there was a thumb recommendation that shows the thumb aiming sideways in the only means to justify that me saying this game is fairly decent. It's not groundbreaking, it's not revolutionary, it's not bringing anything new to the 'visual novel'/'dating sim' genre (aside from the 'Harvest Moon' mechanics) but the game overall, is not BAD, per se. Far from it, it is a decent experience. You take control of a character (or need to say pervert) named Steve, as he recently broke up with his ex 'Jill' and you get sent to farm slavery by your dad throughout the course of the summer, while trying to score with new chicks around the block. And that's pretty much it. Fairly simple, not hard to follow and you will get to learn more about the new characters you interact with, depending on how much time you spend with a particular female to increase your many stats. Incresing your stats helps you to unlock this game's 9 endings...which I have spent 7 hours unlocking (if there are MORE endings then 9, please let me know). These endings are not anything special besides the fact of helping yourself to unlock an achievement and to see how that ending alters the original ending of the game. Phew, I managed not to give away spoilers. The art is decent, the soundtrack is decent, the story, in itself, is decent, the whole game is decent. While it may not be a worthwhile game to spend your money on, it's one of those dating sims that is only enjoyable first time through and a chore the other 9 playthroughs after that. Funny enough, there is a voice volume slider, and yet, there's no voice acting in this game.
With art that looks like it belongs in a 'worst of deviantart' tumblr, and such stunning romance candidates as rabid anti-traditional medicine hippie princess, ex-girlfriend who sounds like a nagging mother, cranky girl who is only interested in you because you're from out of town, and hot older librarian, Summer in Fairbrook is totally worth it if Steam discounts it to under a dollar. Then you can date the one good candidate, if you can stomach the atrocious weekly scheduling and annoying protagonist, that is. On the bright side, the music is good. But, seriously. There's already a romance farming sim series: it's called Harvest Moon, and the love options and time control are far, far superior.
This is an interesting little game. Winter Wolves has done a lot of great games, and while this is not as high up as most (It seems to be rough enough that maybe it is one of their earlier products), it still is satisfying. So, you split time between farming vegetables and fruits (berries are fruits, so are tomatoes) and trying to build a relationship with some available women... or even the one who dumped you before you got shipped off to this town. Oh yeah, you were shipped off to Fairbrook because you are basically a good-for-nothing slacker and your overbearing dad wants you to shape up... so he sent you to the brother he doesn't like so much for a taste of rural life. Now you can end up alone, or with one of the girls. Supposedly there is a normal and a special ending for each girl, but I have only seen the normal ones... guess I'm too good with the crops... (apparently there is a cash limit you shouldn't go over... cumulatively). Still a fun little thing.
I can't play this game because the protagonist, basically YOU, are such a terrible guy that it's not even enjoyable. A lot of girls play these games and quite frankly, a man like the main character is so unappealing that you can never get over his behaviors. The opening scene has him tell his aspiring doctor/politician GF that he is hoping to 'just bum around', meanwhile, he keeps kissing her and holding her hand, not reading her emotions, it feels like... Then she seems to miraculously not care, until he starts eyeballing girls in short shorts and tight pants. Ok, fine, a normal male looks at those things even while he is hugging his GF --I suppose (?), but then he can't turn away from them even when his GF is trying to have a conversation with him. It's like he's Abu the monkey in Aladdin, taking the gem. Really, he is that basic? Gosh, it's intolerable. The game goes on like this, with you in his Loser conciousness. He is too lazy to work, just wants to look at girls, doesn't want to get out of bed, has a bad attitude. Has an annoying goofy attitude that gets on my nerves. None of the girls in the game seem to really notice this. They seem to just react like it's a just a miscommunication. No, girls, the protagonist is just not interesting. So why would you want to play a game with a protagnist that is just not fun or interesting? I might play it just because I paid for it and I know it's short, just to see how the farming goes. But I won't really enjoy the story or the romances. In fact, I'll probably resent the game even more than I already do.
Grade: D The story is generic and forgettable even if it has its moments. The art is decent but uninspiring. The farming feels tacked on and is largely pointless (as you can only spend money on, gasp, more seeds). For genre of "dating sim" it does nothing new and features an un-relatable protagonist. I'm not sure how any girl or guy would find this story or its male lead compelling. I can't say I hate this game but it is a solid, "Meh."
What you see is what you get with this game. And what you see is a constricting disappointment. Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook is a shallow, uninspired dating sim with a tacked on and unless farming simulator. Steve is a dull, flat character with no chance to really gain any interesting traits. No matter what you do during your week, Steve stays the same. No new dialogue choices open up, no new events (You can go through each and ever event present in one play through, except for the ending events.) Each of the romancable options are two-dimensional and boring. You have the standard affair of the tomboy, the delicate, the bookworm, and this games interpretation of friend from your old life. None of these characters stand out on their own or branch out from their preassigned and obvious roles. This game can't even do something interesting with the 4 simple, tried and true roles it uses. The minigame of farming, which you would assume would be essential, is useless. The only thing you can do with the money you earn from it is buy more plants. There is nothing else that the money can be used for. And while the farming will inform your ending, it has no real measurable effect throughout the game. As the ONLY thing to do outside of simple interactions with the girls, you would hope it would be more interesting or even fun. For diehard dating sim fans, this game offers nothing new, interesting, or even fun. For people jsut getting into the genre, avoid this game, it is representative of the worst in dating sims. This game is too fast to beat and lacks any real meat. I would only recommend this game to dating sim enthusiasts looking for ANYTHING to play, regardless of quality.
I really enjoy the games Winter Wolves come out with. The music really adds to the atmosphere. Farming part wasn't really worth doing but it was a good distraction from the story from time to time to keep playing. Have seen 3 of the endings so far and like each one of them. Hope to see more games from them in the future
I really enjoyed this game. It's farmville meets dating sim, and I love it. You play as Steve, a lazy college kid shipped off to his uncle's farm in order to build some character. Which he does, by growing crops and getting to know the locals. As is usual for these games, there are four potential, quirky love interests. Unlike many such games, in order to get close to any individual love interest, you have to get to know everyone, and level up several stats. Getting the specific ending you wanted can prove tricky, as the stat you level up by spending time with a woman, is not the one that is vital to her romance path. This means you may be trying to romance one woman, only to wind up with a different one. And they're all quirky, there's your bossy ex, the neurotic poet librarian, the relatively normal girl attempting to escape from country life, and Susanna. Susanna appears in a LOT of WinterWOlves games (she's Myrth in 'Loren the Amazon Princess', and Sally in 'Roommates'), either because she's a neat archtype to write around, or someone on the team knows her in real life. She's vegan, into nature and natural healing. You mention in passing you'll take an asprin for your headache, and get treated to a lecture on chemicals and how natural remedies are so much better. But the game is gentle and fun, it is quite entertaining to see Steve learn, mature and grow up. The characters are not particularly deep, but they don't really need to be. You manage stats and get to know people, what more is there to say?
Another meh VN. What’s the point on having a farm simulator together with a dating simulator if when you earn over $1,000 you’re basically stuck in Fairbrook and cannot date the girls? It simply RUINED the concept of the game! The art style was okay, nothing fantastic and nothing terrible. BGs were ok too, BGM was a bit annoying sometimes. The story was meh and its characters were also meh. This game is really short and all about status raising, and you barely have time to talk to the girls. And when you do talk to them, it all happens way too fast. I only recommend this game if you’re already used to Winter Wolves VNs and/or it’s on a good sale. 3/10.
I really wanted to give this a good review but I couldn’t. The iPhone version is better but it stopped working after the iOS 4 update. I was very glad to see this show up on steam however I must say that the new mechanics almost ruined the entire game. The farming mechanic is useless and the rearranging of the way you spend your time broke the story in to parts where it just doesn’t feel as well made as the one made for the iPhone. The one advantage this one has over other dating Sims is that it doesn’t feel like it takes place in some kind of modified version of Japan and feels like an American story. It’s really sad how this came out on steam as the IOS version is in my opinion one of the best dating Sims I have played. My advice to the dev is if he still can restore the game to make it identical to the iOS version. This is also the 1st and only review I have ever done and plan on doing I felt this all had to be said.
I personally wouldn't recommend paying $15.00 dollars for this game. It's not that bad it's just short, not to mention the gardening gameplay isn't all that fun/ or even nessasary. Unless you can get it on sale for less than 5 dollars I wouldn't even bother.