History GuideDangIt / SimulationGames

* The ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' series (both ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonNatsume'') is riddled with this sort of thing. While it generally only smacks those going for secrets or [[OneHundredPercentCompletion 100% completion]], there are several instances where normal players are frustrated.
** An egregious one is unlocking the first Hot Springs in ''HM DS''. You need to view Flora's Blue Heart scene to get it. If you haven't seen it before you marry someone else or she marries Carter, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]].
** In the series as a whole, triggering certain cut scenes (needed to marry characters or unlock new features) are a matter of being in the right place at the right time - and sometimes under the right conditions and with the right item equipped. (Ex: Elli's Yellow Heart event in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends Of Mineral Town]]'' can only be triggered on a sunny Wednesday on Mineral Beach between 9 AM and 10:30 AM)
*** Cliff's Blue rival heart event is especially bad. It has to be done between 11am and 4pm at the church on a rainy day that's not Saturday in either spring or summer of the first year. That last part is the thing everyone misses. In Autumn of the 1st year is an event that, regardless of the results, means Cliff will never be at the church under those conditions anymore. And being that you're probably busy during the 1st spring and summer (and the weather is random) there's a good chance you'll miss it if you don't know what you're doing.
*** A noteworthy example of an event only being triggerable under a certain condition is in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS (Cute)''. The random event where Rock hits on Muffy requires both of them plus Griffin being at the Blue Bar and Rock and Lumina being married. Sounds straightforward--except that an additional requirement is that ''Muffy can't be married'', something that [[http://fogu.com/hm6/chan6/events/a5_ficklene.php the official guide fails to mention]]. So if either you or Griffin have already married Muffy by the time Rock and Lumina get married, this particular event cannot be triggered.
*** Another lighter example is ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife Another Wonderful Life]]'' for Rock's third heart event (it has to be triggered by leaving your farm through the passage near Takakura's house, even though the event leads you near the bridge}, and Gustafa's final heart event (you have to enter the Inn and leave between 7:00 PM to Midnight to find Gustafa leaving the bar, even though there is nothing the event has that urges you to go there and you had no indication before that you'll need to head there).
** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness Island of Happiness]]'' tweaked the farming system used in previous games. The new crop growing system uses set time intervals as minimum time required in each stage, and adds water and sunlight requirements that don't always correspond, and the weather gaining its own modifiers. Too little, and your crops will never grow. Too much, and they'll wither away. Those ranges are wide enough to avoid complete ruin unless the [[RandomNumberGod randgen hates you]], but if you want that ultimate turnip for the festival? You need to hit the absolute minimum to grow - too much sun and water will only reduce the quality. The precise requirements for each crop, or exactly how the weather affects them? All in the guide.
** Also in ''[=IoH=]'', getting the fishing pole from Taro can be an exercise in frustration. First of all, there's no hint that you get the pole from him. Secondly, if you try to give him gifts right away to raise his friendship levels, he won't take them. It turns out you have to raise his levels at first by talking to him every for three to five days straight. And if you try to give him a gift before he's ready to accept... ''the "counter" resets'' and you have to start with the talking all over again. Getting the dog from Mirabelle and the horse from Chen are similarly frustrating.
** Plus improving your situation in general and unlocking more features and locations requires friendship with just about everyone, and friendship means daily conversations. ''With everyone.'' Investing more than half of your play time in ThePowerOfFriendship is more critical to running your farm than being able to balance a budget, which can be a huge GuideDangIt to westerners unfamiliar with the series, as they languish for years accumulating small fortunes that can't be spent, and never seeing half the island, or even half their potential farm.
** Then there's littering in ''Harvest Moon DS''. In the other games of the series, littering (throwing objects away outside of your property, and not into a trash can) causes a dip in friendship levels for the entire cast ([[FridgeLogic How can they tell?]]). In ''DS'', not only does littering on your own property count, but the penalties are ''insanely high''. Littering twice in one day can literally knock your love interest's Heart Level down one entire color.
** There's also Cursed Tools in the ''DS'' and ''Mineral Town'' games: Not only how to get them (randomly on certain mine floors, and only after you've upgraded your standard tools to their maximum) but how to remove the curses permanently (once you equip a curse tool, you can't un-equip it until you have Pastor Carter release the curse (Blessing)). In the DS games, it's a matter of money. In the ''Mineral Town'' games there are three different ways to break the curse: leave equipped for 30 days, Bless 10 times, use 255 times without un-equipping. The game doesn't tell you this, nor which method corresponds to which of the six tools.
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'' has seeds and different types of animals for sale, which naturally get unlocked as the player proceeds through the game. Yet there are alternative ways to unlock majority of things, but nothing in the game hints at this. Suffolk Sheep or Jersey Cows can be unlocked much earlier than late Year 2 or Year 3, if the player has three sheep or cows get born on the farm, respectively and some tree seeds are unlocked by shipping a certain amount of money. [[ScrappyMechanic Unfortunately, this does not work for Yam Seeds]].
** The most egregious case is hands down Natsume's internally developed ''Harvest Moon'' game, ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTheLostValley The Lost Valley]]''. Figuring out how to grow a mutated crop involves blindly guessing which combination of factors produce it out of the following variables: 31 elevations, 4 soil types, 4 seasons, 60+ seeds, 30+ types of fertilizer (or no fertilizer at all), number of times watered, plant's distance from water, up to 8 adjacent plants that can be any arrangement of the aforementioned 60+ seeds, and having Rowan's help or not. And that's only the factors the fanbase ''currently knows affect mutations.'' No explanation of how any mechanics work or what items do is given, and what hints exist in the game are usually misleading or [[TheComputerIsALyingBastard flat out lies.]] For example, Pink Spinach's description states it grows in swampy fall soil; it actually grows in ''barren winter soil.'' But you know what the real kicker is? '''There is no guide.'''
** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and its EnhancedRemake, steering your child into a specific career path is this. The children all default to certain careers (for example Muffy's and Rock's children usually become athletes). If you do very specific things you can gravitate them towards one career at the end of the game, however it's likely you'll need a guide for help. Even when using a guide it can be near impossible to get certain children to get into certain careers.
** ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsAWonderfulLife'' additionally has three couples--Nami/Gustafa, Rock/Lumina, and Cecilia/Matthew--with "rival" events brought over from ''Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life.'' They all have to be done before the end of the first year as after that--even if you don't marry them specifically--you don't see any more romantic events. However, activating them is ''another'' challenge, as each has specific times in which they occur and specific triggers--such as weather or moving past certain locations--and they must be seen in order. (For example, Rock/Lumina's first one requires both to be outside between 9 am and 2 pm, so if LazyBum Rock sleeps in until 2 pm, it can't happen.) Nami/Gustafa's third is one of the hardest to activate. It has to be fall or winter between 11 am and 6 pm, Nami can't be inside the inn, and it has to be raining--snow doesn't count. The problem is that if it's raining ''too'' early--before about 9:30 am, when she leaves out for the day--then Nami won't leave until the rain stops. Also if you've seen the 8 heart events for any half of the pairs, they're too much in love with you to bother flirting with their rival.

** While the ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' series adds some quality of life improvements over its spiritual predecessor Harvest Moon, some mechanics are hard to figure out without a guide or without talking to every villager hoping they mention them, and even then it may be an obscure hint. Specifically:
*** Romance events still need to be triggered in specific places in specific circumstances. They also need to be triggered in sequence, so being stuck at one of them may put a halt to that romance route for a while. The fifth game adds an icon on the map to show where to go to trigger the next cutscene, but it only appears when the conditions are met, meaning you have to check the map constantly or miss it.
*** Soil gaining experience is alluded but never gotten into detail, just hinting that different crops enhance the soil in different ways. The Magnifying Glass tool can show the soil's stats, but they are presented in a shortened form which doesn't even represent soil experience properly (since it also includes any nutrients added from fertilizer boxes and supplements). You would need either painstaking note taking or a guide to know which crops to plant to develop certain soil stats.
*** Some items, like fish or cooked dishes, can add extra stats if used to upgrade weapons. This isn't hinted anywhere.
*** The function of Light Ore is likewise not explaind beyond "giving weapons another appearance". What it actually does is allow you to transfer a weapon's base stats and "handedness" (whether or not it lets your shield benefit you) to a newly crafted weapon, which will use its own attack animations, providing access to pretty broken combinations.
*** Growing Sword and Shield Flowers is similarly obscure. You're told "the more you take care of them, the better they will grow"...which is only true in regards to seed quality, as which stats they will have is completely randomized; you may end up with a DiscOneNuke or a weapon as weak as the ones you start with and have no clue what you did to affect the outcome. The only way to figure out how their stats are calculated (they copy the stats of a random weapon) is to use the equally obscure and seldom-used blacksmith's appraisal service, which not many players would think of.

** An egregious one is unlocking the first Hot Springs in ''HM DS''. You need to view Flora's Blue Heart scene to get it. If you haven't seen it before you marry someone else or she marries Carter, it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]].

** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' steering your child into a specific career path is this. The children all default to certain careers (for example Muffy's and Rock's children usually become athletes). If you do very specific things you can gravitate them towards one career at the end of the game, however it's likely you'll need a guide for help. Even when using a guide it can be near impossible to get certain children to get into certain careers.