Should I play stuff like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley?

[Tonberry]

animal crossing is more of a game to play with friends and families. if you play by yourself, your goals are more limited to catch all of the bugs and fish, collect all paintings and fossils, ay off the debt, and do a bit of decorating on the island and house.
play with others and you can run around, fall into pit traps, have fishing and bug catching contest when you want to, chill and hang, make pixel art and memes. you get more out of it with others.

I think this is really interesting because I feel the exact opposite.
Animal Crossing to me is great because there's nothing "forcing" me to play it, and I've always felt that if you're playing it to "complete" it you're sort of playing the wrong way (you aren't but it isn't right for me). Logging in and suspending your disbelief, just hanging around doing chores and talking to neighbors is meditative for me.

As for the OP question; Never play something if you don't want to, but if you would ever get curious, I'd say give Stardew a shot. As others here have said, it's like Harvest Moon but bigger in just about every conceivable way so there's more to do than just farm and get married.

 

[MasterEn]

I think this is really interesting because I feel the exact opposite.
Animal Crossing to me is great because there's nothing "forcing" me to play it, and I've always felt that if you're playing it to "complete" it you're sort of playing the wrong way (you aren't but it isn't right for me). Logging in and suspending your disbelief, just hanging around doing chores and talking to neighbors is meditative for me.

As for the OP question; Never play something if you don't want to, but if you would ever get curious, I'd say give Stardew a shot. As others here have said, it's like Harvest Moon but bigger in just about every conceivable way so there's more to do than just farm and get married.

yeah, it's definitely meant to be more of a relax and chill kind of game. it's a bit hard to get into if your used to rpgs and collect-a-thons. you can and will do everything, but it's when you want to at your own accord.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Maybe you're more into hybrid games like Rune Factory or Atelier. I tried playing GBA Harvest Moon a while ago and I just kinda got bored at the start of it. Maybe I'll go back to it but eh. Atelier and Rune Factory are a mix of life sim and JRPG.

Other hybrid games include the (real) dating sim genre, which incorporates the time management of life sims into VNs, unlike a lot of newer popular dating sim games which are pure VN marketing itself as a dating sim while doing away with the aspect that made the genre unique. The pioneer is Tokimeki Memorial, of which a few games were fan translated. Persona 3-5 are also a hybrid of this genre, incorporating the time management aspects present in Tokimeki.

Sonic Adventure's Chao Garden also counts as a hybrid I'd say

and of course there's also Danganronpa

 

[Num]

games like rune factory are a good series in spite of the farming mechanics, not because of it. i think a real recommendation would be tensui no sakunahime. it also a mix of "intertwining combat and farming" except the farming mechanics are so good its practically the best part of the game. a lot of farming games rely on simply being a chore simulator for people who like watching numbers go up. but theres more complexity and enjoyment to actually farming and thats what sakunahimes in depth farming can really show you. in most farming games you just hit a button to pour water on crops and thats it, here you have to consider the water level it cant be too high or too low or youll mess it up. you have to think about what fertilizer you use what temperature, farming isnt something you use to turn off your brain like most other "farming sims." its more than just watching numbers go up and genuinely engaging. the story reminds me of the manga and anime silver spoon in a way. the protagonist is an arrogant city kid who looks down on farming as boring simple busywork that people without a good head on their shoulders end up doing (the very same mindset a lot of us have.) but then as the series progressed the protagonist is put down off their high horse and realizes just how its really its own skill, and starts respecting farmers and the whole farming process. with sakunahime its almost like youre learning and respecting farming together with her as you go through trial and error getting the hang of the mechanics. and then after youve learned to appreciate farming a bit more in games maybe then you can give other more basic farming sims another chance again.

also sakunahime is just cute

 

[PrismRed]

Like everyone mentioned, Rune Factory, you also can capture the monsters there so you can sprinkle in some Pokemon element there too.

 

[Xdqwerty Xdqwerty]

Animal crossing is boring

Forgot to mention I only played wild world

 

[Bakuma1997]

Forgot to mention I only played wild world

Now it makes sense, feels barebones compared to even GCN Animal Crossing