Harvest Moon!

[Dan558]

I'm sure at least a couple people here play the series so I thought I'd make a thread about it. Who else likes the series?

Whats your favorite game so far?
Whats your favorite part? (family, livestock, friends, festivals/events, crops, home owning, etc. etc.)
In your favorite game whos your favorite character? (other mentions also welcome)
Whats your commitment to the title (how far do you usually go? years, events, etc)
Favorite crops/animals?
Do you have an interest in the marriage aspect? who do you usually choose?
Any questions on the series? (I've played probably about 80-90% of them)

Haters not wanted, curious people welcome!

(I'll post my preferences/input later)

[GypsyElder]

I love Harvest Moon. One of the most addicting games I've ever played.

My favorite is FoMT for GBA. I loved the townspeople. It has everything <3 I'm thinking of starting a new game to marry Ann this time. I married Karen in my current file. The first file I had, Ann got to a pale red heart and then I lost data

My favorite part? I like everything with how realistic it is from the amount of work you have to put in to how stores close on certain days and times ( "What the Poultry Farm is closed !?... F*ck it's Monday and I'm out of chicken feed " *Chicken is unhappy * )

My favorite character is Won: haha. It's the hat and the stache.

I usually play for as long as I can. In FoMT I was glad I could continue playing after I got married. When I played Another Wonderful life, I didn't like how the game ended at a specific point, but then again, there is a limit to the amount of work you can accomplish in that one as opposed to FoMT or MFoMT for example because you age.

I always get married but for me, the hole building a relationship with a bf or gf is the most fun. I found that there are less events between people after you get married though

Yes I have a question, wtf are "Nicies" in Another Wonderful Life that Nik Nak and Flack are going on about? Something with the animals? I have a decent amount done in that game already, I think my son is between ages 6-8 maybe.

I think there was only one more thing I wanted to do in that game which was buy the extra field for, so I could grow hybridized trees there.

The Harvest Moons for Wii I have yet to play :s because I don't want a Wii , but Harvest Moon is one of the few series that I want to play on it.

[Dodie16]

I'm a fan of the Harvest Moon games. Granted, I've only played like...3 of 'em, but that's a good enough start, eh?

I've played Friends of Mineral Town, More Friends of Mineral Town (which is the same as the previous, except you're playing as a girl) both on GBA, and Save the Homeland on the PS2. Out of those, I'll have to say that FoMT was my favorite, even with all the translation errors. MFoMT fixed a lot of 'em, and added better ways to track your progress, but I still liked FoMT better for some reason. Save the Homeland was okay, but you only had a year to..well...save the homeland. And after you do that, the game ends, and you start over again, though you get to keep a lot of the progress you made in your previous playthrough, aside from the relationships you built up with the townsfolk.

Favorite part of playing these games is interacting with the community, and building up relationships. :3 I liked giving people gifts, and seeing their reactions to them, and watching little scenarios once you've built a strong enough friendship.

I really liked a majority of the characters in FoMT, but I guess my favorite would be Popuri and her family. I like the story about how her dad left to go find a cure for her mom, Illia, and how delivery man Zack has feelings for Illia. Could make for some juicy drama, but Zack never crosses that line... :/

I once had a FoMT game go on for 5 years, in game time. I was trying to earn enough gold to get the summer cottage, but never managed to do it.

Harvesting sweet potatoes in the fall was a gold mine for me, so that's my favorite crop. My farm was never really profitable taking care of Sheep, so I usually focused on Chickens and Cows, mostly chickens though, since they're not as picky about being left out overnight. The horse was cool too. :3 Another favorite way to get mega moolah was to participate in the horse races, and use your medals that you won to get truffles, and ship them off when you got back home. Bringing along the basket allowed me to carry a heck of a lot of 'em, so I was raking in the cash.

Haha.. Yeah. I liked building up relationships, so the marriage aspect was pretty fun. I once had a game where I got all the girls hearts to turn red, and got to see all the special moments, so I could pretty much have my pick of whoever I wanted. I usually went for Popuri. She seemed the sweetest to me.

[Selcopa]

I always go for Karen

SNES was my first and tends to be my favorate. I did enjoy the N64 version with the greenhouse and all, also Mineral Town was alot of fun with the elves that helped you.

[Calvan]

My favorite was probably the original on SNES.

Just the pure sweet nostalgia behind it.
people may crap all over the series now a days, But I've always found it to be very innovative.

[motscroises]

I love Harvest Moon! It's so relaxing...like laundry.

I'm playing Animal Parade, and so far it's my favorite. I'm a little bit distracted by finals though. I always stink with crops, I buy all of these seeds thinking I'm going to be a crazy farmer with rows and rows of crops, but I end up messing it all up and accidentally cutting them up when I'm trying to get rid of weeds. I like the animals a bit better anyways and they're more lucrative. My favorite parts are making friends and contests, but I get crazy committed to getting my house upgraded and stuff right away.

My favorite character is the inn keeper in Animal Parade. He really likes martinis and he's such a creep xD

I usually play the game through kids and then start to get bored. Animal Parade is good though because there's a legit plot so I think I'll see this one through to the end. I like the marriage part, but mostly because I like the rival weddings.

[Dan558]

My computer already restarted once making this post so it will be brief and I'll add more later.

Whats your favorite game so far? Back To Nature/Friends of Mineral Town (BTN/FoMT) and Tree of Tranquility (ToT). Friends of mineral Town is basically an updated Back to nature, i owned/played both but got further in BTN because FoMT was repetitive of it and I can't play gameboy for very long. Animal Parade looks like it will easily bump out ToT. Animal parade has so many clothing options and the child system is massively updated with the ability to have 2 unique children that you can also dress.

Whats your favorite part? Family then Livestock and housing. Becoming part of the town by starting a family is real nice. I love the idea of ranching so milking cows and picking up chicken eggs repetitively never gets really boring. I like how the newer games allow for redecorating your house with styles and placing furniture.

In your favorite game whos your favorite character?
- Cliff, Ann, Popori (BTN/FoMT). Cliff usually becomes one of the closest bachelor friends, I like getting him the job at the winery so he can stay, too bad I usually take his batchlorette Ann. Popori seems really sweet and shes easy to become friends with especially when she and Ann are at the spring in the morning.
- Renee, Maya, Anissa, Calvin and Jin (ToT). When I started ToT Maya or Annissa was going to be my wife choice I became friends with them early. I eventually picked Renee though, not quite sure why I switched tracks but she was cute and I liked her farming/family background. Calvin is just cool, I feel bad for girls who got the glitched version of the game and couldn't pick him. I like the doctors in the harvest moon games usually and Jin was a good one. He was my friend and I was glad when he and Annissa married.
- Celia and Daryl (AWL). Celia was the helpful, nice girl next door. Daryl was 100% hilarity with his Yeti traps and over interest in your cows and kid (weird but funny).
- Dia and Alex (MM). I wasn't sure about anyone in this game, I didn't read many guides on it. I became friends with Alex the doctor because the doctors are usually cool. When Dia moved in I felt she needed a friend and I just ended up becoming closest to her out of the bachelorettes.

Whats your commitment to the title Basically until after the baby then the games slow down. By the time the baby comes around I'm typically very financially set so I can buy everything without problems. New events start becoming few and far between another thing Animal Parade improves upon with child and rival child events.

Favorite crops/animals? Sweet Potatoes - only for the money, Strawberries (yummy). Cows when they are varied, Chickens when thy are easy (very fickle in ToT). I liked the different cow breeds in AWL and the colors in ToT. Ducks are a novelty. Horses are only good when they don't take up barn space. I like the dogs more if its not the typical floppy eared ones.

Do you have an interest in the marriage aspect? who do you usually choose?Makes the game. The less "flashy" girls who are nice, sweet and kind. Ann (BTN), Renee (ToT) Dia (MM) Celia (AWL). Girls I consider flashy (and therefore would be a real bitch if the game wasn't so kid friendly) are Karen, Kathy and Selena. People are real obsessed with Karen.

Any questions on the series? I may have miscalculated on that, I havn't played any DS or PSP titles or the girl ones. As for Gypsy's question about the "nicies", sorry I have no idea I've never heard them mention that.

[Lady Rika]

Whats your favorite game so far?
Well I absolutly loved Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life. I just loved the sotry and it was for my Gamecube, i'd rented it from the movie place and never wanted to give it back. I thought it was the most amazing game i've ever played.

Whats your favorite part?
I thought that you got to get married and have a kid was epic, I highly enjoyed the dating scene. I liked having animals and taking care of them. How I sucked at the crops for the longest time as for cooking.

In your favorite game whos your favorite character?:
I liked Rock, Lumina and the little fairy people.

Whats your commitment to the title:
I was so commited, enough were I got the game everytime when we went to rent movies(back when people still did that haha) I don't know why I didn't just buy the game but I was young and couldnt find it anywhere. I played it non-stop, but then all hell broke loose. On the game you can have like two or three little slots of memory or whatever. I had my main one which I was married to rock and had a kid, flourishing farm and a whole lot of money. Then on my second one I was gonna marry marlin and see how that worked out. I was saving the game and I guess I wasnt paying attention...I accidently saved the puny beginner farm over my amazing one. I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOEEES"
I died a little inside. Seriously.

Favorite crops/animals?
I think I liked them all, I loved having the horse so I wouldn't run around and get exhausted all the damn time. Didn't have to eat as much with the pony, I enjoyed my cows and milking them and later making cheese and butter. Mmmummm cheese. =)

Do you have an interest in the marriage aspect? who do you usually choose?:
This was my favorite part, it took me so long for that damned guy Rock to fall in love with me. His character is a flirt/playboy and getting you to love him was hard. I kinda cheated and gave him the blue feather even though I wanted to wait till the end of the first chapter thing when the person who loves you the most comes and asks to marry you. But I was impatient and thought that I wouldn't get rock haha. Though it was fun. The chase or whatever.

I really wanted to play the old games because I have all the systems for them. I must look around next time I go to Gamestop, Half priced books(found the new gran turismo game in mint condition for $14, that was $40 in my pocket) and yard sales!

This is the best game ever, I don't think I know any haters on this game.

[Dan558]

One thing I have found missing from the series is any good pig raising option. In one or two games you can get a pet pig that has limited uses.

The problem I see developers having is the fact that pigs are really only used for meat on farms there are 2 ways I can see getting around this:

1. Raise them like horses where you sell offspring off for profit but with the specific mention that they are selling as pets. They would be like teacup pigs.

2. In a future game they should allow the purchase of a Pig Sty or an add-on to the barn for one. One can buy and raise pigs and with the Sty throughout the day they will have a chance to dig up truffles or other items leaving them on the ground like chickens leave eggs. This is kinda similar to the pig in MM or pets in Animal Parade but more as livestock then pets. Similar as to how not many crops can be grown in winter, pigs will dig up less or nothing at all during the winter, making them more unique as livestock.

I was saving the game and I guess I wasnt paying attention...I accidently saved the puny beginner farm over my amazing one. I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOEEES"
I died a little inside. Seriously.

I have a similar story where of thew 3 files in A wonderful life I had 2 my brother had 1. I had a file that was very far in and another that was a back-up about a year behind. My brother was saving his file and he accidentally saved over my far file. I was there when it happened and I yelled at him so he panicked and shut off the gamecube during saving, corrupting all three files! I was so mad at him. I have never bothered to get far in that game since, I moved on to other ones instead.

[Padraic]

I love the games, although, I can only say I put time into two, Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful Life.
I preferred A Wonderful Life because it was easier to get into, and could never get sucked into FoMT...
My favourite part definitely was the animals and wooing the locals. Being the aspiring zoologist I am, I spent much time with my animals and did nothing else but look after them. Sometimes I'd also forget all about them and focus solely on wooing the local lasses... My animals died after that winter :c
Nami, she was my waifu.
Having an ADHD attention span that I do, I could only ever get one or two years in before switching to play a new game. When I'd return I'd start a new file rather than continuing.
Chickens. The eggs were so nice as gifts, selling, and the chicks were adorable.
Nami. She was my Waifu.

The games are amazing, and now I have the need to play them, fun times :3

[Game_Guy567]

Love it.

[Heartless Angel]

Ah Harvest Moon... once I was a non believer. I was watching a friend play AWL on Gamecube some years ago, he'd been playing for hours, I'd just kinda glance over now and then to see if he was still at it (I was using his computer at his place for schoolwork, had left home after an argument with parents, in case anyone was wondering why I was there watching him play video games). He was. Finally I spoke up about what at the time appeared to be a really lame game. I was just like, "Dude, seriously? How the **** are you having fun farming corn?", he then proceeded to inform me that he wasn't farming corn, but rather strawberries. Not that that's relevant to anything, but I thought I'd throw that out there. After arguing about what possible entertainment value could be derived from a farm simulator, he finally just tossed the controller at me, said he was getting tired anyways and told me to just shut up and try it. About 10 hours later, he woke up to see me, still playing the game. He asked for the controller back, my only response was an eerily accurate Gollum impersonation. Took him about an hour to pry the controller out of my hands and get back to farming his strawberries. Needless to specifically state, I was an addict already. Within the week I'd purchased every game in the series, and have continued purchasing them as they've been released. I'm not sure WHY exactly I find these games so entertaining, but they're like a damned drug.

Whats your favorite game so far?
Rune Factory. When I discovered that Harvest Moon had mated with a JRPG, I think the the RPG addict in me had something like 87 consecutive orgasms.

Whats your favorite part? (family, livestock, friends, festivals/events, crops, home owning, etc. etc.)
Early on, storyline, dating process, getting to know everyone and everything. After the new wears off, I like getting all the uprades for everything. Then I hit completionist mode. After that, the most entertaining bit is the profit whoring. I like to see just what kind of ridiculous ammounts of money I can pull in in a single day. DS is probably best for that with the nice predictable mine formulas and farmability of ridiculously expensive materials. Not to mention I get 100 milk per cow per day now.

In your favorite game whos your favorite character? (other mentions also welcome)
Raguna. He's gottthe whole amnesia thing going on, mysterious past likely related to evil empires and killing shit, being called on to save people and do magical shit, yet he is NOT a total emo douche. Raguna challenged everything I thought I knew a bout JRPG protagonist. I was most pleased.

Whats your commitment to the title (how far do you usually go? years, events, etc)
Hardcore completionist, I must do EVERYTHING.

Favorite crops/animals?
The really obscure shit nobody ever tries to grow that I end up making absurd ammounts of money with. Like pumpkins in HMDS. Slow and annoying to grow, but after enough time invested, I have a basement full of max level pumpkins making me obscene profit every few days. Not the most efficient money, but once you get it going, it's just epic. I like the addition of Silkworms with the Wii titles. I especially like how somebody deemed it a good idea to keep worms in the same room as birds. Birds that eat a pile of food the isnstant it touches the floor. Unshielded. Totally unattended 90% of the time. With birds that have the choice between dead grass or delicious oversized worms. Utter brilliance. How do my silkworms live for more than 24 hours?! Also like how you can make up for shitty quallity silk by tossing em in a pot with flowers. **** yeah easymode profit!


Do you have an interest in the marriage aspect? who do you usually choose?

Yes. I usually pick the girl that reminds me most of someone I actually know, whether it be someone I like or not. That or I go for the blond. Can't go wrong with the cliche hot yet usualy not terribly intelligent blond (Karen, Muffy, Julie, Kathy, Mist, seriously, there 's one in just about every HM to date). If none remind me of anyone I know, or I'm not too nuts about the blonde (Like Muffy I didn't like, and after about 5 games with Karen I got kinda bored of her) I go for the obligatory nurse chick. Everybody loves nurse chicks!

[Red Wizard]

Wow I only got into farming simulation games after playing ruin factory 2 and had to buy at least one other game made by the same people to make sure I wasn't mistaken with the entertainment value of farming sims and I must say that now I love them shame there isn't a good faming sim like havest moon online.

[BlackBlade]

I played the first one and found it good but not great. Played 64 and loved it and now I started playing back to nature and rune factory. Addictive to say the least

[Edge]

I had no idea the series was so extensive.

My best friend is currently obsessed with it, enough to make me want to get a version and so far I'm looking at Friends of Mineral Town.

I think I saw a PSX version of it years ago but put it back on the shelf because I hadn't heard of it and didn't know if a farming simulation could be a worthwhile game. I regret that, it might be an odd idea for a game but it sounds like a lot of fun.