Harvest Moon Thread

[MrPopo]

Also does anyone else employ the method of not doing the center in a seed thing? I've been doing that a lot in FoMT(just because that freaking sucks when you have to wait the extra days for that center one anyways and it wastes space) until I befriended the harvest sprites last time I played that one...

I actually prefer to not do one of the side ones; when you get the Golden Watering Can it will water the 8 squares around you, so leaving a single side free lets you water a 9x9 patch in two shots, whereas leaving the middle free means it takes a few more (depending on where it is across all your rows. You can always remove the middle and an edge for one watering per but I feel like that's not worthwhile until your farm gets super big that saving the time/energy is needed. And I usually stop growing crops anyway after the first year since livestock doesn't have a time component (inside buildings time doesn't pass) and harvesting grass you can walk through.

[Westane]

No mention of A New Beginning for 3DS? I've spent way too many hours with every major Harvest Moon since getting addicted to the original SNES game (Now sitting happily on my shelf FINALLY!) and I have to say I think A New Beginning is possibly my favorite, tied closely with Friends of Mineral Town.

I'd love to still be a Harvest Moon 64 purist but truthfully, after spending some time with it recently, it hasn't aged as well as I wish it did. The same could be said of Back to Nature, which is why Friends of Mineral Town is SO good. It's BtN with more timeless graphics, some game additions, and it's portable.

As for console games, I think the nod goes to Magical Melody (FOR THE GAMECUBE!!!) as it gives you a lot of freedom while retaining that HM64 feel.

I haven't spent as much time with the Rune Factory games as I'd like but they're on the list. I'm also eyeing Story of Seasons, just wish there were more hours in the day.

[Exhuminator]

Has anyone spent any time with the HM Wii entries?

[Westane]

Has anyone spent any time with the HM Wii entries?

Back when I had my modded Wii and NEEDED a new HM experience I settled on Animal Parade. It took a bit of time to get passed some aspects of the game like load times between areas and questionable framerates, but it really ended up growing on me. Some systems are a bit, odd, like planting crops one square at a time, but this game leans more towards town interactions than farm management, though that's all still there.

It's like $20 on Amazon and I can recommend it at that. I didn't play Tree of Tranquility but I heard it's okay, though it has some issues that Animal Parade fixed.

Bonus, they both use the Classic Controller if you have it. That's why I'd recommend staying away from Magical Melody on the Wii, no classic controller support.

Oh and Rune Factory Frontier was really cool on the Wii as well, very nice anime aesthetic.

[Exhuminator]

Oh and Rune Factory Frontier was really cool on the Wii as well, very nice anime aesthetic.

I already own Frontier and Tides of Destiny on Wii. I will keep an eye out for Animal Parade though, thanks for the info on that one.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Has anyone spent any time with the HM Wii entries?

Yes and Yes. The two I have played was the Wii version of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody and Animal Parade.

Magical Melody seems initially like one of the better Harvest Moon games, until you put you some real time into it. It becomes dramatically repetitive and the notes you collect are very arbitrary achievements that start to slog down the game. It isn't a bad game, but it seems to be more of a generic Harvest Moon game and doesn't have a very defined style or theme compared to other games like Wonderful Life.

As for Animal Parade, I have to say that it was very enjoyable. The game itself has a great art style and allows for a lot of customization for your character. You can play male or female, have tons of potential relationship choices and a bevy of clothes and accessories to make your character unique and yours. the world itself is interesting and has a great cast of characters that have a unique personality. The goal of the game itself is also very good. You are set with the task of ringing these bells to summon the harvest king. You ring the bells by saving these sprites and performing certain tasks. These tasks are varied until the very end, which turns into a series of repetitive, "Make friends with so many villagers," and, "Get an S ranking in one of the various revenue categories." Overall though, there are tons of events and they streamlined a lot of the farming grind to make it fun and accessible. Also, cave exploration adds a lot of cool elements that make the game a bit more frenetic and fast paced as you dodge various gasses that you unearth as you dig.

The big focus is on the Animal Parade, a circus that comes to town from time to time and animals escape and it is your goal to find them and bring them back. Although it is in the title, it really isn't as huge of a focus as they make it out to be. The real focus is on the interactions with other people and the various things you can craft and do. There is decorations you can buy and customize your house and customize your character that makes it fun and adds more of a personal touch, a touch that I feel is missing in previous titles.

It is good and I recommend it. Also, if you have other people around, they can use a wii remote to waggle around a pointer on screen. If there are people or animals around and you waggle the point on them, it improves their relationship with you. It may seem silly, but if you have kids who want to play with you, it gives them something to do and have a bit of interactivity in your play.

[Exhuminator]

Animal Parade sounds highly decent.

Man there are a lot of DS entries. In no particular order:

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Islands
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming
Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar
Harvest Moon DS
Harvest Moon DS: Island of Happiness
Harvest Moon DS Cute
Puzzle de Harvest Moon

I think that's all of them? Anybody play any of these? Opinions?

[alienjesus]

Also does anyone else employ the method of not doing the center in a seed thing? I've been doing that a lot in FoMT(just because that freaking sucks when you have to wait the extra days for that center one anyways and it wastes space) until I befriended the harvest sprites last time I played that one...

I actually prefer to not do one of the side ones; when you get the Golden Watering Can it will water the 8 squares around you, so leaving a single side free lets you water a 9x9 patch in two shots, whereas leaving the middle free means it takes a few more (depending on where it is across all your rows. You can always remove the middle and an edge for one watering per but I feel like that's not worthwhile until your farm gets super big that saving the time/energy is needed. And I usually stop growing crops anyway after the first year since livestock doesn't have a time component (inside buildings time doesn't pass) and harvesting grass you can walk through.

I don't get why anyone would leave out a seed, especially with the regrowing crops. You'll be able to get the outside 8 exactly as you would if you left it out, but you'll get an extra crop at the end of the month.

Plus, in Friends of Mineral Town, the watering can can water the middle square anyway. Once you get it to silver rank (which isn't very hard at all, you can do it in like the first two weeks of the game pretty much) it waters a 2x3 square in front of it when charged. And, you can hire the harvest sprites to harvest the crop too. It's a total waste to not just leave all 9.

The gold watering can actually waters a 3x3 square directly in front of you too btw, so you don't need to take out a side square like PoPo suggested either.

[Opa Opa]

I don't get why anyone would leave out a seed, especially with the regrowing crops. You'll be able to get the outside 8 exactly as you would if you left it out, but you'll get an extra crop at the end of the month.

Time, space, inconvenience (for crops that bear fruit multiple times), and crops are eventually a waste of time.

[alienjesus]

I don't get why anyone would leave out a seed, especially with the regrowing crops. You'll be able to get the outside 8 exactly as you would if you left it out, but you'll get an extra crop at the end of the month.

Time, space, inconvenience (for crops that bear fruit multiple times), and crops are eventually a waste of time.

The harvest sprites harvest it, and watering it is no harder than watering anything else once your watering can is upgraded.

And we're talking Friends of Mineral Town, crops are by far the best way to make money.