FS17 Let’s Play–Pine Cove Farm by Stevie–Episode 1
I realize I once said that I wasn’t interested in playing a map based from the Goldcrest Valley template. But Stevie was the first map modder I was introduced to back in the days of FS15 and I’ve played just about everything he’s ever created. So naturally when I began hearing about Pine Cove Farm….I knew I had to make room for a series of play on this wonderful map. While Stevie used the base Goldcrest template, he’s changed it up significantly and it is a beautiful work of art. The map is version 1.0.0.3 (the final version according to Stevie). The only modifications I’ve made to the map are in the form of starting equipment and the number of owned fields.
In this series, I’ve been asked (along with my silent investor partners) to restore the village of Pine Cove back to the vibrant community it used to be. Most of the local farmers in this area have finally fallen victim to the poor economy and even the local industry has suffered. Through a large scale effort, we plan to return the Pine Cove area back to what it once was. As was the case in my Goldcrest Valley series, I’ll once again enlist the trusty help of Billy Bob, Jim Bob and Stan to help with the daily tasks on the farm.
This series will begin on Day 2, Mid Spring and I am using the Seasons Mod which is still currently in Beta. Each season will consist of three game days, for a twelve day year. We are running large herds of dairy cattle, sheep and pigs in this series and will also be operating the produce market, compost plant and Bio Gas facility. As we have a number of large fields, the operation will employ the use of AI workers in the form of Auto-Combine and Courseplay. In addition, large equipment and multiple combines will be required to get the job done.
I hope you like the color John Deere Green, because you’ll certainly be seeing a lot of Green on the map. PCF requires BIG equipment and that is just how we’re going to play this map. Go BIG or GO HOME!
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I realize it’s been a while since I published a blog article. While I’ve been busy playing Farming Simulator 17 and recording much of my game play for the GrizzlyBearSims YouTube Channel, I’ve not turned away from this medium. While video blogs (or vlogs) are popular, I believe the written form of blogging is very much needed and I don’t plan to cease creating content in this form. By the way, Farming Simulator 17 is truly awesome. If you’ve been on the fence regarding upgrading from FS15 to FS17, I would certainly recommend making the move. New mods are coming out daily and while we still await CoursePlay, there is still a lot of goodness about FS17 to make it worth the move from FS15.
If you’ve watched my YouTube “Let’s Play” series on Goldcrest Valley (GCV), you know I’m about ten episodes in. For the most part I’m playing it in career mode. My approach to GCV was to take advantage of the new mission system and do as much work for the local farmers as I could. This does two things. First, it generates a nice sum of income. Second, it raises your reputation with these other local farmers and in turn, reduces the asking price of their additional fields. After all, one really can’t begin making a fortune in virtual farming until you own more fields. But I’ve wanted to do something different for some time and have decided to take a new approach to how I start a new map.
Perhaps you are aware of the new farm simulation game called Cattle and Crops (CnC). CnC is due to release (early preview) in the Spring of 2017, then the full version in late 2017. One of the highly anticipated new features of CnC is how it is supposed to simulate seasons. Cool huh? The Farming Simulator franchise (FS13, FS15, FS17) doesn’t simulate seasons by default. The addition of Soilmod sort of helped, but still….it’s spring/summer all year long. While Soilmod is not yet available for FS17, there is a mod called Growth Manager which (in my opinion) provides better crop growth management than what is available in the default game. Yes, it’s still spring/summer all year long….but we can still simulate seasonal farming with a little help from a few mods and our own imagination.
In addition to the Growth Manager mod, I also highly recommend the RealTime mod. This mod changes the HUD in the upper-right corner of the screen to show the game day number. With my new approach to virtual farming, this value is important in understanding the season I’m currently working in. Outside of these two mods, the rest is left up to your imagination.
Let me set the stage…..
First, there is no absolute right or wrong way to how you go about playing farming simulator. You certainly can start out in career mode and earn every hard earned dollar, euro or pound. This IS absolutely fun and extremely rewarding. I recommend following this method on at least one map. I think the satisfaction in knowing you built your farming empire from just a few thousand dollars and basic equipment, is key to truly getting a high level of enjoyment from the game. But, just as importantly….there is no wrong way of doing it either. Enter stage right, North Brabant for FS17.
The North Brabant map is situated in the Netherlands (very near Belgium) and for all intents and purposes, the fields, farms etc. very much look the same between these regions. You may have heard about the North Brabant map in FS15. It was quite popular and Mike-Modding has converted it over to FS17. I believe it is still a work in progress (WIP), but even in its version 1.0 state…it is very much playable and challenging. By default, when you load up the North Brabant map for FS17 you already own a fairly large number of the 47 available fields, 32 to be exact. With the exception of about 7 grass fields, the remaining owned fields need to be planted. Actually, they would need to be plowed, cultivated then planted if you want the highest crop yield.
A Seasonal Approach
My new game play for the North Brabant map, will find us in the Spring (April to be exact). If I understand the Growth Manager mod correctly, each game day will represent approx. one calendar month. In researching available information on the internet, I’ve created a rough schedule of how and what I’ll plant to achieve my seasonal style of play. Remember, with exception of the two mods I’ve mentioned….the rest is going to be left up to your imagination and your own desire.
My researched information and plan is not specific to the Netherlands, Europe or any particular region of the world. I determined through researching several US States agriculture sites when most of the FS17 crops should be planted and when they should be available for harvest. Again, due to the limitations of FS17….this is all only limited to your individual imagination and desire. In an effort for variety, I plan to plant the following crops: Wheat (Spring/Winter), Barley (Spring/Fall), Canola (Spring/Winter), Corn (Grain and Silage), Potatoes (Summer/Fall), Soybeans and Sugarbeets.
As I previously stated, each game day will represent approx. one calendar month. I’ve divided each season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter) to represent three game days each. Again, I’m starting in Spring and day 1 is April. The general idea (all subject to change as I truly get rolling) is to avoid the practice of just planting/harvesting over and over in the same fields without any consideration to the challenges of also factoring in the Winter season. In other words, placing a high level of importance of ensuring you have collected enough hay, straw and silage to sustain a large animal population from late fall until ????
Withering Off
Unfortunately, because the game itself will not automagically detect the slower winter growing season (example Wheat) I’ve turned plant withering off. An example of the collected research I’ve performed, shows that winter wheat crops are typically planted between mid-September and mid-October and will be ready for harvest around June the following year. This growth cycle is twice as long as wheat planted in the Spring. So therefore, I’ll simply ignore the fields I’ve identified as being planted in winter wheat until the appropriate time (June). Again, this is all about imagination and good note taking.
Animals Everywhere
From day one, I have established 100 dairy cows, 100 sheep and 50 pigs. Thankfully the Buy Bales Mod is your friend. I’ve used this mod to purchase enough bales to enable me to provide bedding and the creation of TMR for all my animals.
Winter Month Activities
There will be a period of time (approx. Nov. through Feb.) where no planting or harvesting will be performed. However, there will be no rest for the weary. This will be a great time to fire up our greenhouse operations and of course, animals will still need daily attention to keep them fully productive.
Measuring Success
This could all end up in a huge mess, be extremely successful or fall anywhere in between. I’ve changed most of the starting equipment and have purchased just about everything I can imagine that I’ll need. I’ve also paid off the bank loan and started with $60,000. If my calculations are correct, the milk income alone from 100 dairy cows should generate a net income of approx. $30,000 each game day. While I’m using some hired labor, I’m making an effort of keeping that cost as low as possible. But the general idea is not the amount of money I’ll have at the end.
You can follow along with my new approach to virtual farming via my YouTube channel and the new North Brabant series. The first video will pickup after about 5 hours of off video work which was required to get everything situated, animals up to 100% productivity etc.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has subscribed to my new YouTube channel and “Liked” my videos. I will occasionally provide blog updates on how this approach is working and at a later date, I’ll share my spreadsheet which I’m creating to help keep track of what I’m planting and when it will be available to harvest based on the seasonal approach.
I’m a little slow getting my new FS17 series rolling. I spent the past two and a half days playing and recording content for the series and have really just now stopped to take the time to edit, produce, render, upload etc. Unlike with my Paradise Hills series where I introduced each episode with a new blog post, I’m going to just start the series with this one post and have you look for future episodes directly on my YouTube channel. So do please subscribe if you haven’t done so already.
Farming Simulator 17 is everything I had hoped it would be. While there are still some bugs with my controllers, I’m confident Giants will fix these issues. Mods have already started to roll in. Some of the really “must have” mods have already been released and I’m keeping my spreadsheet current of the mods I’m finding and using in FS17. Just look on the FS17 tab at the bottom.
In this first episode, I sort of setup the storyline and provide some brief introduction to what FS17 has to offer. But because there is already so much content out regarding FS17 and Goldcrest Valley, I have limited what I share to just the content I feel applies to what I’m doing in this series. Like my FS15 series, I’m a little slow in getting my audio levels set correctly. So please bear with me.
Regarding my FS15 Paradise Hills series. There are just two episodes remaining. These will release on Friday and the finale on Saturday. For now, FS17 Goldcrest Valley will release daily (Monday – Friday) usually in the morning before 8 AM MST.
Enjoy episode one, Goldcrest Valley and Farming Simulator 17.
Perhaps I’m crazy…perhaps I’m just too easily entertained. Perhaps both…. Of all the cool features I’ve read about, watched on YouTube…the feature I’m actually looking forward to is the tip anything feature in Farming Simulator 17. Yes, I know with a mod we have placeable heaps. But just as it sounds, it’s just a heap. Check out this latest video from Giants and tell me this doesn’t excite you to the core.
I realize for the past week or so, just about all my content I’ve published via this blog has to do with my “Let’s Play” series on Paradise Hills. I’m truly having so much fun recording my game play from this map and making it available via my YouTube channel. This is something I plan to continue on a regular basis with the launch of Farming Simulator 17 less than two weeks away. But I also have a long list of FS15 mods that I also want to share and I plan to continue showcasing FS15 mods even after the release of FS17. At least for a short period of time.
The mod I want to showcase today is the Trailer Sounds mod. This mod is pretty much exactly as it sounds, when pulling a trailer you’ll hear the typical noise you could expect. I’m talking about the creaks, pops, bangs and clangs. This mod might not be for everyone, but since adding it…I do enjoy it. It matches up well with the newly added “brake sounds” tweak which is easily done if you use the Drive Control Mod. You can learn more about the brake sounds tweak by joining the PC-SG Simulation Gaming group and viewing this post.
If you are interested in adding some creaks, pops, bangs and clangs (along with tire sounds) then continue reading.
How can I get this mod?
The Trailer Sounds Mod is available here. I have personally downloaded, installed and tested this mod. The mod works and I use it on all my maps.
A brand new Cattle and Crops Gameplay Trailer was released today. If you’ve been holding onto your pennies in anticipation of the new Cattle and Crops farming simulation game releasing this year versus pre-ordering Farming Simulator 17, then go ahead and place that pre-order for FS17 TODAY! Cattle and Crops will not….I repeat, WILL NOT release in 2016. Yes…this is disappointing news. But in the past few hours we’ve learned a lot about who’s behind Cattle and Crops and a much better idea regarding their plan.
First, please direct your attention to the brand new game play video which was released today.
I must admit, I’m still mostly captivated by what I see from Cattle and Crops (CnC). For me, this has been the case from the very first video they released. However, it’s all starting to make a little more sense to me. Just as I mentioned earlier in the week when I posted the CnC news regarding the upcoming gameplay trailer, we haven’t heard much from CnC and I had started to hold little faith that we would see this game title actually release in 2016 despite what they stated on their website. The software business (including the gaming world) is all about marketing. We’ve heard practically nothing from CnC compared to GIANTS and their upcoming release of FS17. But again, it’s all making sense now.
I do applaud the CnC folks for not rushing this product out the door. If it’s not ready….then it’s not ready! While I’ve often thought the whole CnC concept was vaporware (not real, just a hoax) I’m now convinced this is an actual product/concept and I will continue to follow its progress. But we still have many unanswered questions. In my opinion, wonderful graphics is only part of what goes into a true simulation based game. The short gameplay trailer really didn’t demonstrate anything more than that. Time will tell just how much focus they have dedicated to produce a more realistic simulation versus an arcade experience.
The Cattle and Crops website has been updated to include much more detail regarding CnC, the people behind CnC and the future plans (including the Kickstarter campaign). Please visit the Cattle and Crops website for more information. When you view the actual Kickstarter page (and I hope you do), please pay close attention to what they are calling “Season Pass”. You’ll find this starting at the €44 level. I really don’t know what this means, but it looks like….sounds like…some sort of subscription “pay for play” model???
In closing, I don’t need to worry about my attention being pulled away from FS17 later this Fall or early Winter. As I’ve stated, I pre-ordered FS17 a few months ago and am looking forward to sinking my teeth into all that is new and different. At this time I’m undecided if I’ll participate in the Kickstarter campaign. I’d really like to better understand what they are attempting to achieve with what they are referring to as a “Season Pass”. I’m certainly not a cheapskate, I support GIANTS (and others) by purchasing most DLC made available for their titles. My advice to CnC is scrap the “Season Pass” concept and just produce affordable, quality DLC (like GIANTS) but please don’t become another Train Simulator.
Until next time…
Happy Farming!
Jerry
P.S. In the long run, it’s probably very smart for CnC to delay their release until the Fall of 2017. After all, at that point FS17 will be a year old and unless GIANTS changes their highly predictable release schedule, FS19 will be a long one-year away. This could mean the audience (you and I) will be ready to try something new. If CnC is successful in accomplishing all they hope to accomplish, it should also drive FS19 to be that much better.
As I type this blog article on 28 September 2016, we are less than one month away from the release of Farming Simulator 17. Giants will release Farming Simulator 17 on 25 October. The ability to Pre-order (with incentives) is currently still available. Just about everyone I know have either already pre-ordered FS17 or have committed to making the move. Actually most everyone I know, while certainly reserved regarding the true differences between FS15 and FS17, are actually pretty excited about the new release. I actually fall into this category as well. While I’m trying very hard not to get my hopes up, I am still excited about the changes I’ve seen and read about.
Again, as I’m typing out the words in this article, some farming sim enthusiasts are still actually weighing the value of Farming Simulator 15 and its DLC packages. A fellow FS15 gamer posted a question in the Steam discussion groups asking for opinions if “it really made sense” to purchase the FS15 DLC he is currently missing in his collection. He recognizes the cost of the missing DLC (he confirms to own the Gold Edition) exceeds the price of FS17, but still wants to know if it is really worth it.
There is a saying (at least in the US) that goes like this. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Said in another way, what is valuable to one individual, may not hold the same value to another. By the way, I’m certainly not calling FS15 DLC trash. I actually responded to this individuals question with the following statement “I think you are the only person who can really answer this question”. I went on to add some additional content to my answer, but really the true answer is defined in that first statement.
Earlier this week I sort of touched on the economy of the video game market in a post I wrote about the new Schwarzmuller Trailer Pack DLC for ETS2. I explained how the initial purchase of a game like ETS2, ATS or FS15 somewhat covers the developers cost to bring that title to market, but DLC sold along the way continues to keep the lights on and provides further motivation and financial support for future work. This is certainly the case for the DLC we’ve seen released by Giants for FS15. Each Farming Simulator version (13, 15, 17) are unique and unlike in the Flight Simulation market where you may have purchased an add-on for FSX 10 years ago AND that same add-on (or a slightly updated one) can be used for Prepar3D with no extra cost just isn’t the case. The best we can hope for is DLC equipment sold for FS15 (like the JCB as an example) would be part of the default equipment list in FS17. But more about this in just a minute…
Value of FS15 Today
As I previously stated, most everyone I know is truly excited about the upcoming release of Farming Simulator 17 on 25 October. The anticipation of this release has actually caused me to have a renewed interest in FS15. I’m going to announce in a few days a new project I’ve started. In a nutshell, it’s about limited game play on YouTube. But the excitement around FS17, does actually have me playing FS15 a bit more than I had been playing in recent months. However, even though I’m excited about the release of FS17, I also know that while FS17 will most likely dominate my virtual farming efforts….I’m not entirely sure I’ll immediately pull the plug on FS15.
On 25 October (the day FS17 officially is released) there will be absolutely no mods available. Mods that I hold very near and dear in my game play such as Drive Control, Courseplay, Auto-Combine and others will not be available for FS17. Most likely, dates on the October calendar labeled as 26 October, 27 October, 28 October etc. will be just like 25 October. Oh…I’m sure there will be some mods which were originally developed for FS13 which were converted for FS15 which will once again be converted to FS17 start to appear. But, I personally believe many days (perhaps weeks) and in some cases a few months may pass before we see our must have mods available. The main reason for this is the folks that develop a mod like Courseplay will not see FS17 until we all see FS17. Another saying which I believe applies here goes like this….”Good things come to those who wait”
FS15 DLC in FS17
Even at this late date we don’t know all the equipment which will be available as default/in-game equipment when FS17 releases next month. Giants has certainly done an outstanding job in building the suspense all the way to release day. What we do know however, is much of the JCB equipment which was sold in the FS15 JCB DLC will be available in FS17 as default equipment. It’s still unclear regarding the New Holland DLC pack and the Holmer DLC packs. But if I were a betting man, I would say these will also be included (or most will be included). In time, Giants will develop and release brand new and exciting DLC for FS17 and the cycle continues.
Bottom Line
For some, it may be worth picking up FS15 DLC (even in this late stage) to continue to broaden and enhance game play in FS15. For those on PC, I might suggest you look into mods…but that of course is a different story with the console platform. October 25th really is just around the corner. But if we reflect back on our childhood memories, the weeks, days and hours leading up to Christmas morning also seemed like eternity. But really….the value of FS15 DLC at this point in time is truly in the eye of the beholder.
The silence from Cattle and Crops over the past few months has been absolutely deafening. The last update on their Facebook page was 26 August and it didn’t tell us much. In contrast, Giants has been releasing news content multiple times a week on the much anticipated release of Farming Simulator 17. But the silence has been broken today with a news bulletin from Cattle and Crops.
According to the Cattle and Crops Facebook Page, we can expect a gameplay trailer to be released on Friday. C&C have also posted a countdown timer on their website which indicates the Friday they are referring to is this Friday, 30 September.
I’ll be honest, much of the excitement I had for Cattle and Crops has dried up. If this game ends up being more than vaporware, they seriously need to re-think their marketing strategy.
I’m not the only one that may have considered waiting to purchase FS17 if the communications from C&C would have been more forthcoming. I’m extremely impressed with how Giants have kept us all informed on the new changes coming to FS17. This is what marketing looks like. Unfortunately for C&C, I made the decision to pre-order FS17 as I really didn’t believe Cattle and Crops actually existed or if it did exist, it wouldn’t be releasing before the end of the year.
Again, I’m not the only one left scratching my head here. A Facebook user named Jarrod, posted “I’m not sure what your strategy is for releasing this game knowing that FS17 is already being released next month and pre-orders are already out there. If I were you I would wait and see the faults Giants are going to have and be so much better than them”.
Like you, I’ll watch the game play trailer on Friday. Will I lose any sleep over it Thursday night? Nope…but I’ll watch it. Most likely I’ll even have some comments to share here.
Over the past 72+ hours, the forum thread on the official Giants Farming Simulator 17 forum thread lit up with rumors of rumors of even more rumors regarding console mod support for the upcoming (and highly anticipated) release of Farming Simulator 17. For the record, I’m not a console platform gamer and I haven’t been a console platform gamer since the mid 1980’s when I replaced my Atari 2600 with a PC. I realize there are some advantages to console game play with certain game titles. But for a game application like Farming Simulator, in recent releases the PC has been truly the best option and this has been down to the availability of mods.
A game like Farming Simulator is certainly an awesome game in its “vanilla” format. But just like vanilla ice cream can be made so much better with some chocolate syrup, whipped cream and even a cherry on top, games like Farming Simulator become truly AMAZING with mods. Perhaps one of the best use for mods in Farming Simulator is the variety of add-on maps available. As someone who has enjoyed FS15 since soon after it released almost two years ago, I’m really not sure I would still be playing it today if I only had access to the maps released by Giants.
When Giants announced the release date for Farming Simulator 17, one of the really big news items was the availability of mods for the console platform. This included mod support for Sony PlayStation and Microsoft XBOX console platforms. Again, this was really BIG News and rightfully so.
However, late last week the discussion on the Giants FS17 Discussion Forum began to turn a bit sour with news about how Sony has blocked mod support for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. Both had been previously advertised to have mod support and both were denied mod support. A little more reading and it appears Sony blocked mod support for these titles because they do not allow mods which alter the game in such a way the player has total freedom over the game. For those of us who play Farming Simulator, the mass majority of our mods don’t alter the game in this fashion.
Over the course of several days, many who had pre-ordered one of the console versions of FS17 had threatened to cancel as their stated sole purpose of purchasing was based on mod support. I certainly don’t blame them. However, Giants did finally respond in the forum thread with the following comment “You can relax, we’ve worked with Sony to find a solution that works for both sides and nothing has changed since then. Mod support for both platforms, Xbox One and PS4, will be available at Farming Simulator 17’s launch”.
While Giants response is certainly good news. In my opinion it somewhat strengthens the idea in my mind that nothing in life is certain. At some point in time Sony (or even Microsoft) could block mods from FS17 and there is nothing Giants or you as the consumer can do about it. Of course, I’m hopeful this does not happen. In addition, will the process of submitting mods for the console version of FS17 become too difficult? Will some modders refuse to make available their mods to these platforms? So while FS17 will have mod support available to console gamers AND Sony and Microsoft will allow mods to their console platform, will the variety of mods be the same between PC and console? If not, what then?
Any console gamer making the assumption that all mods for the PC version will be available to the console (and they function correctly) may be in for a really big surprise. For example, I’m not a mod developer. But if I were, would I make the personal investment of purchasing console hardware and FS17 just to test?
But this does bring my thoughts around to a somewhat related subject of how mod distribution is handled for PC users. In short….It’s an outright mess! But I think I’ll save these comments for a future blog article which I’ll write and release very soon.
I spent some time in my lazy-boy recliner on Monday evening doing a little reading on the highly anticipated release of Farming Simulator 17. As I recently pointed out, the summer of 2016 (like most summer months) has been really busy for me. I’ve just not had time to spend gaming and when I don’t game….well I also don’t have much time to blog either. Of the simulation based games I frequently play (when I have time) I must admit it is Farming Simulator which is one I really enjoy and I think the reason for this is because it is not just one dimensional. Meaning, with American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2…the task at hand is driving a truck. With Train Simulator the task is driving a train and with Flight Simulator….Ok…you get my point. Now…please understand that I do enjoy each and every one of those sims. I also realize each of those do offer a great deal of variety in the types of trucks, trains and aircraft which can be operated. But the general premise is still one dimensional.
While Farming Simulator can certainly be one dimensional if that is how one desires to play it. Of course, in the early stages of a new map the game play is often devoted to just farming (planting, harvesting, sell, rinse/repeat). But as your farm/map gets rolling there’s plenty of other things to do including animal husbandry and even logging. Yes…yes…I know. The element of logging might be a short stretch with regards to connecting it to farming. I’ll also be honest and say that until I purchased my Logitech joystick and figured out how to get both the wheel/pedal AND joystick all working together, I absolutely hated logging. By the way, I recorded a YouTube video documenting how I managed to get it all working in Farming Simulator 15. Even without a joystick, a chainsaw and this modded woodchipper can help earn some good money and help remove some of those trees which always seem to get in your way. But hey….this blog post isn’t supposed to be about any of this.
The countdown to the release of Farming Simulator 17 is on everyone’s mind (including mine). If you are a Farming Simulator fan, then you know FS17 is expected to release on 25 October 2016. In early March of this year, I typed up a Top 10 wish-list of sorts for what I had hoped FS17 would include. Once FS17 has been released and I have a few hours with the game, I’ll certainly compare notes between my wish-list and FS17. But….from what I’ve been reading several of the items I called out may have been addressed. We already know FS17 will include more crop and animal types to the base game. Of course, with mods the sky is the limit and our friends who play Farming Simulator on a console platform will finally (with the release of FS17) have mod support.
As I mentioned at the top of this article, I spent some time relaxing in my Lazy-Boy recliner on Monday evening. With laptop in my lap, I began reading the over 40 pages in the FS17 Feedback thread on the official Farming Simulator Forums. Through the 40+ pages, the topic of conversation which began on 28 July 2016 is for the purpose of comments and feedback related to the screenshots, videos and other information officially released by Giants. While representatives of Giants have occasionally posted answers to questions and feedback to opinions, I only found a few examples of this. By the way, the links to the feedback thread are for the English language section. I’m told Giants may be a little more responsive in the German language section. As I don’t speak German…that does me no good. However, there is still a lot of good information in the English language section.
Some details I learned pointed me to the Giants Farming Simulator Facebook page. On the Notes page, I found information regarding the “New Environment” including the new North American themed map which is set in the Pacific Northwest of the US (Washington State). While I’m not that excited about finding and collecting the gold coins (I know some of you are), I am really interested in what Giants has described as interacting with local businesses, farmers and residents. While the missions in FS15 were fun in the beginning…I always felt more could be done other than just moving a pallet around or mowing. From the sounds of things, the new Mission System in FS17 will certainly be more interesting as we’ll have the opportunity to earn money by performing tasks on fields we currently don’t own. That’s pretty cool!
2017 – The Year of Farming
2017 is certainly shaping up to be the year of farming. In addition to the Giants release of Farming Simulator 17, we also have other “Farming” themed titles slated for release this fall. Of course, Cattle and Crops is the one at the top of my watch list. Of the “17 or 2017” branded titles, Professional Farmer 2017 was the first to release earlier this year. I sampled it by watching a few YouTube videos and quickly realized I would just keep my pennies in my pocket. Professional Farmer 2017 is available from Steam for $19.99
Next on the list is Farm Expert 2017. It’s been available as a pre-release beta but now has been officially released as of 1 September. I watched several videos and while I think it shows some promise I personally don’t plan to purchase at this time. Many of the reviews seem to point to issues which were present in the pre-release and didn’t get fixed in the full version. From what I have read (and seen), Farm Expert 2017 is more about the actual “Farm Management” versus farm equipment driving simulation. But having said that, I’m certainly going to keep my eye on this title and see how it progresses over time. Farm Expert 2017 is available via Steam for $19.99.
Pure Farming 17 is one I just recently learned about. They have a website and Facebook page with a few published videos. But unless I’m mistaken, the videos appear to be CGI and not actual recorded game play. The release is slated for early 2017.
Finally, Cattle and Crops. Some speculated Cattle and Crops was nothing more than a hoax. I suppose that could still be the case, but other than being excited about FS17, I’m also holding out some excitement for Cattle and Crops. It could still prove to be vaporware….but from all that I’ve read and seen about this new entry, it has all that we love about FS15 and all that we want FS17 to be rolled into one. Like Farm Expert 2017, Cattle and Crops is also supposed to be more than just a farm equipment driving simulation. But really who knows? Cattle and Crops, if you are reading this…why are you not pushing more videos, screenshots and general information out?
Final Thoughts
I’m just speaking for myself here. While I’m already committed to purchase Farming Simulator 17 (pre-order via Steam), I plan to just carefully and cautiously watch the other titles. I really don’t have an interest in owning and playing multiple farm sim games. Meaning, if I felt confident Cattle and Crops, Pure Farming 17 or Farm Expert 2017 had what it takes to beat Farming Simulator 17, then most likely one of those two titles would replace FS17 for me. But as it certainly stands today….I feel pretty confident in saying that FS17 will be enough of an improvement over FS15 to justify the cost and FS17 will become my “Farm Simulator” title once it is released.
However, if anyone from Cattle and Crops, Pure Farming 17, Professional Farmer 2017 or Farm Expert 2017 is reading this. This blog site averages around 4,500 – 5,000 page views per month. I’d be more than happy to write an honest review based on game play if you care to contact me.
As I’m traveling the next few days this will be the last blog post until mid-September.
