Wow. A few hours into this, and I can already say, "This aint your momma's Harvest Moon."
This is definitely more difficult than the Mineral Town series. Not only are the controls different, but due to the fact that you have to build up the island IN ADDITION to your ranch, makes getting money and socializing that much harder.
I wasn't a huge fan of the sprites at first, but they've grown on me. And I definitely like the character designs. And yes, the close-up images blink when you talk to them.
Highlights:
1. Having the world map, the weather/time, and your stamina/fullness bar in the top screen is VERY handy. Especially when you need to track down a character.
2. Foraging is more lucrative this time. Especially since you can ship flowers and lumber/stone for money, leaving the grasses and crops for you to eat.
3. The character designs are appealing and more detailed than before. Yay!
4. Fishing seems to be easier. Or at least, there's less time spent standing in front of the water for hours waiting for a bite.
5. I don't have the money for one yet, but you can get a greenhouse later. Once you have the greenhouse you can micro-manage all your crops AND you won't waste time since you'll be indoors. Awesome!
If I have any nitpicks so far, it's these:
1. Controls. Obviously since this is the DS they want to make use of the touch screen as much as possible. But did they really have to change it so that you use the stylus to move? I mean, both the control pad and the buttons controls your tools. Why couldn't they just have the buttons controls the tools and leave the control pad for running? It makes no sense.
2. I don't know if I'll get one later, but there's no map of your farm. So I have to literally run all over it to see where weeds have grown and whatnot. Not fun.
3. I've only met two so far, but WHEN THE HELL CAN I START USING HARVEST SPRITES TO HELP WITH CHORES? Seriously, I will have no time to socialize if I spend so much time with my crops/foraging.
4. Stamina is pretty much the game it always is, but with fullness introduced it's a whole new ballgame. You have to keep eating to keep it up, because if it gets really low, you'll oversleep. I wasted several days waking up at noon because I didn't realize my fullness bar controlled my wake-up time. Grrrr.
5. You have to build your coop/stable. That means no chickens/cows/sheep right off the bat. Very annoying.
That's it so far. Hopefully I'll be able to increase my stamina and get some help with these chores, or else I'll be hard-pressed to marry that bachelor by year 4.