Line #25 YMMV/StoryOfSeasons


1	* AccidentalAesop: A common thing in dating sims, but... the best way to befriend somebody or have them fall in love with you is to shower them with gifts. Sometimes {{justified\|Trope}}, in that what the person likes correlates to foods or materials useful for their highly specialized jobs. Still doesn't explain why Rick and Popuri, who own a ''chicken ranch,'' are most easily wooed with ''eggs.''
2	* AudienceAlienatingEra:
3	** The fandom is torn on what time period their audience-alienating era spans but it's generally thought to have began around Magical Melody and DS. The characters are seen as shallower, several disliked mechanics were tried out, and the series as a whole got LighterAndSofter. It got worse when Marvelous said they were focusing on handhelds instead of consoles; they released six DS games but only two, near-identical Wii games (not including the [=WiiWare=] game ''My Little Shop''). Yasuhiro Wada has shown dislike to the way the games have gone; he especially dislikes how much focus romance is given within the series, and has since left the series to create other games. However, the Wii games were acclaimed (though they still weren't perfect) and the 3DS game ''A New Beginning'' is seen as an improvement over the past handheld installments.
4	** A large part of the fandom has been alienated again by the Switch era. Only one all new game was made out of the five that released, ''Pioneers of Olive Town''; two games, ''Friends of Mineral Town'' and ''A Wonderful Life'', are remakes of older games, while the other two are crossovers with the ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' series. Furthermore, ''Pioneers of Olive Town'' was not well received due to a lot of changes that appeared to be influenced by other games, especially ''VideoGame/StardewValley'' and ''Franchise/AnimalCrossing''. Two of the largest complaints were the over-reliance on item-processing machines and having townsfolk that, while pleasant, lacked the depth of personality that older games gave to characters. There was also a considerable lack of interactive festivals, including removing any harvest festivals (and thus making the player's farm seem almost disconnected from the town next to it; there's little incentive to improve your animals and crops when no one's going to judge them anyways).
5	%% * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The series is made up of awesome music.
6	* CatharsisFactor: Hate a certain character? Give him or her an item they dislike. Even better if you hate a certain rival in the game. You have the power to shape their life into a life of misery and loneliness.
7	* CharacterTiers:
8	** In a meta sense, in all of the ''Harvest Moon'' games (notably the later ones where random events are limited or removed entirely), making friends with any of the villagers who aren't the bachelor/bachelorettes or rivals are meaningless.
9	** Certain crops yield more gold and are more productive than other crops that are available in the same season (e.g. in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'', potatoes yield more gold and take only 2 days longer than turnips to grow).
10	* CommonKnowledge:
11	** Tell a casual western ''Harvest Moon'' fan that the video games were created by Victor/Marvelous. You'll be surprised by how many of them say "No, it's made by Natsume". This has caused some troubles after the split between ''Harvest Moon'' and ''Story of Seasons'' occurred.
12	** "Jack" is ubiquitous in the fandom but has never been officially used. The character usually called "Jack" is canonically called "Pete". "Jack" is a FanNickname that stems from the SNES game featuring a beanstalk. Same with his DistaffCounterpart "Jill", whose actual name is Claire.
13	** Despite popular belief, Marvelous didn't create ''Story of Seasons''. The series was originally owned by Pack-In Video (and developed by Amccus), which merged with Victor Entertainment. Marvelous later bought Victor Entertainment.
14	** Most ''Story of Seasons'' games are not made by the same team. The team that made ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'' consists of different people from the one that made ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' (or even ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility''). The series creator had left by ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade''.
15	* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: There are crops that yield a higher profit than the others each season, as well as "money tricks". Complacent gamers have no qualms about exploiting said money tricks and planting nothing but the most profitable crops so they can ace the game faster, even if it means the game will get more boring later on.
16	* ContestedSequel:
17	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' is this to many ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' fans (and the [[CreatorBacklash series creator]]) predominantly due to the alterations in characterization and the character's relationships to one another.
18	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility'''s MissionPackSequel ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'' is subject to a lot of this. It's very similar, but also has enough differences to cause this. A large portion of the debate seems to be because of CasualCompetitiveConflict.
19	** The two ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' games are this to both ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town]]''. The main complaints are the flanderized personalities of the characters and the game being very similar to the GBA games in terms of gameplay.
20	* DuelingWorks: With ''{{VideoGame/Harvest Moon\|Natsume}}'' by Natsume since the split; the games from each side tend to come out within a year of each other, with the first post-split ''Harvest Moon'' game, ''The Lost Valley'', coming out before the 2014 ''Story of Seasons''. They don't duel in Japan because [[NoExportForYou the Natsume Harvest Moon games aren't exported there]].
21	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
22	** Skye in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS Cute]]'' (the DistaffCounterpart) was created primarily so that there'd be a "special" marriage candidate for the girl versions, and he's extremely hard to find and talk to. Oh, he's also a [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad boy]] {{Bishonen}} GentlemanThief. No surprise, then, that he's become one of the most popular boys in the series.
23	** Other games have them as well, but with the exception of Skye, most are [=NPCs=] you can't marry. Examples include Flora (''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife''--she was a candidate in ''DS''), Pastor Carter (''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature More Friends of Mineral Town]]''), Alisa (''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness''), Marian (''Grand Bazaar'') and Eileen (''Tale of Two Towns''). ''Sunshine Islands'' even trolls you by giving Alisa heart events like a marriageable girl, but [[MarriedToTheJob having her turn you down.]] You ''can'' marry her in ''Tale of Two Towns'', but since she is a priestess, you can't have a child with her. (Something that Lara from ''VideoGame/RuneFactoryFrontier'' does the opposite way.) Hopefully you'll respect her decision at least.
24	** Wizard from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'' certainly seems to be one of the most popular bachelors with the fandom, along with {{Tsundere}} Gill, DeadpanSnarker Chase and [[TheFool Foolish]] Luke.
25	** Gray in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'' series, because he's a ShrinkingViolet. Cliff is very popular as well for the same reason.
26	** Dirk of ''Grand Bazaar'' won the first official popularity poll and even makes an appearance in ''Tale of Two Towns''.
27	** ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'':
28	*** Reception for [[DudeLooksLikeALady Marian]] has been overwhelmingly positive for being an exceptionally beautiful [[DudeLooksLikeALady man]] and for being a canon gay character that's handled tastefully. The fact that it's extremely common to find someone mistake him for female (and then be shocked to find out his real gender) certainly adds to his memorability.
29	*** Eda, the old lady who helps train you into a farmer. Her cheekiness, GrannyClassic appearance and nature, and FriendlyEnemy status [[note]]She and three other farmers serve as your rivals for extra land[[/note]] make her one of the most recognized characters in the game.
30	*** Klaus and Reager are usually at the top of popularity polls or people's top choices for ''[[VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014 SoS]]'' bachelors.
31	* FandomSpecificPlot: A game series that has a loose plot of "go to the country, be a farmer" and "[[DatingSim woo and marry a resident]]" opens itself up to lots of people writing SelfInsertFic about life in a small country town--good or bad--and pairing the player character with the bachelor(ette) of choice.
32	* FandomRivalry: With SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/StardewValley''. Unusually, it's mostly one-sided. Most ''Harvest Moon'' fans enjoy (or are at least neutral to) ''Stardew Valley'' while ''Stardew'' fans have been known to be negative towards ''Harvest Moon'' (especially since many haven't played ''Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons'' games, as while ''Stardew Valley'' has been released on PC, Platform/PlayStation, and Xbox the ''Harvest Moon'' series was a predominantly Nintendo focused series for years). This in turn causes ''Harvest Moon'' fans to backlash against ''Stardew Valley''.
33	* FanNickname:
34	** "Jill" for the first two female player characters after Sara, until their names were eventually revealed to be Claire [the blonde] and Pony [the brunette]. Most fans still use "Jill" over "Pony".
35	** Many people refer to any of the male protagonists without an ingame default name as "Jack" despite the fact that the DarkerandEdgier ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' protagonist is "Mark", the LighterAndSofter ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'' one is "Tito", the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland'' one is "Toy", and most others up until ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' were called "Pete".
36	** The ''Grand Bazaar'' protagonists have no official names, but the fans call them either "Hansel" and "Gretel" or "Oliver" and "Anita." (In Japan they were named Luft and Aria.)
37	** The female ''Magical Melody'' protagonist is often called "Melody" instead of her canon name "Amanda" ("Tina" in Japan).
38	** Doctor's name being "Tim" is this. It comes from mixing him up with another character. In most games he is "[[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Doctor]]", but in the DS games he's "Trent".
39	** The ''Save the Homeland'' protagonist's name is likely "Toy" but fans overwhelmingly call him "Tony" instead.
40	* FriendlyFandoms:
41	** There's quite a bit of overlap between ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' fans and Harvest Moon fans, probably due to the Support system in the former having similar attributes to dating in ''Harvest Moon''.
42	** ''Harvest Moon'' and ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' fans tend to get along due to the several similarities between the two.
43	** The series shares fans with its sister series' ''VideoGame/RiverKing'', ''VideoGame/HometownStory'', and ''VideoGame/LittleDragonsCafe''.
44	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Japan isn't fond of the rival marriage system, which is why many games after ''Grand Bazaar'' lack rivals (or only show the events but don't have rival marriages). The English-speaking fandom, however, is overall very fond of the rival system and wish it were in more games and would come back. This stems from two different ways of thinking: Japanese players feel bad about "stealing" someone's love interest and leaving them single from that point on, while international players enjoy seeing the other characters pair up and think it adds depth and doesn't leave everyone else in town single ad unmarried except you. Notably the full rival system hasn't been present since ''Tale of Two Towns,'' outside of cut scenes that will play, but won't result in a rival marriage and can only activate to a certain level.
45	* GoddamnedBats:
46	** The weeds, in a way; it's impossible to get rid of them completely.
47	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3'', you can just turn your entire farm into a watery grave with the shovel.
48	** In some games[[note]]Specifically, ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'', the ''Mineral Town'' games and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and ''DS Cute''[[/note]], you could invest a ton of money into putting grass everywhere you're not planting other seeds. You can technically do it in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' and ''Sunshine Islands'', but since you have to water grass in those games, it's far more trouble than it's worth.
49	* GoodBadBugs: The series is infamous for them, often related to Natsume's translation.
50	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' has several pointless glitches (tapping the bottom left corner of the title screen where the characters are lining up turns everyone into Leah), several annoying ones (going to the island during a festival results in the bottom screen blacked out) but lots of good bad ones. Examples include the infamous billionaire cheat, Lord Fa's cheat for unlimited wool, and that saving, turning off your DS and reloading the game clears out the entire mine floor of monsters (except, strangely, the moths).
51	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' you can cause your inventory to become flooded with several dozen copies of literally every item in the game.
52	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3'' there's a shipping glitch where if you have two different types of items, and you had more of one than the other then you could ship more of the thing you had less of. So if you had 16 turnips, but one gold egg, then by this glitch you could ship 15 golden eggs.
53	** Giving the Harvest Goddess a gift she likes on her birthday in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'' has the code for a portrait change in the text box instead of an actual message.
54	** A typo in ''DS'' has Cliff use ''<palyer>'' instead of the player's name during one scene.
55	* GoodBadTranslation:
56	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' had one of these, up to and including the fact that Natsume ''spelled their own name wrong'' on the title screen. The game's dialogue also isn't translated in a fluent manner and the grammar is sometimes off.
57	** The names of the ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' characters were [[DubNameChange changed]] to match their original names, since the Japanese ones had new names for plot related reasons. This however caused a few small plot-holes.
58	* GrowingTheBeard: Depending on who you ask, you may get different answers.
59	** The general consensus are that the game started becoming really good with ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', with its deep characterizations, rivals, and interactive festivals.
60	** Some says it started in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' with the number of different collections (e.g. Beauty Stars, Cooking Recipes, House Extensions and Legendary Fishes) and unlockable contents (e.g. Special crops).
61	** Fans of the newer games would say the game grew the beard in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility'', where it became more {{Bishonen}} driven and more [[LighterAndSofter fluffy and flowery.]]
62	** And finally, some are much happier with the way XSEED translated the games and how many of the games under their translation have opened up the possibility of queer representation.
63	%%* HarsherInHindsight: Klaus' warning. [[spoiler:It's exactly what Michelle did in the previous game ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning''.]]
64	* HoYay:
65	** Ash in ''Tale of Two Towns'' seems to talk about Cam a lot. Oddly, Cam never mentions Ash.
66	** Can be accomplished between your male farmer and Kai in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature''. Have him give Kai a lot of gifts, and then choose Kai to watch the fireworks with rather than any of the girls. The result is some wonderfully HoYay text about how "we saw a lot of fireworks together."
67	** Zack with Won in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'' series. There's only one bed and they share the house...
68	** Gray doesn't exactly turn down Pete if shown the Blue Feather in ''Friends of Mineral Town''.
69	* ItsEasySoItSucks:
70	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and its rereleases games gave smaller seasons, long days that run the risk of getting boring, love interests with no rivals who are much quicker to woo, a much smaller town, a huge rucksack, and in general is very simplified compared to other games. Since it's less of a challenge, it worked as [[GatewaySeries good way]] for newcomers to the series to get the hang of the general play through before going to the harder games.
71	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonGrandBazaar'' has been called "''Harvest Moon'' For Dummies."
72	* LGBTFanbase:
73	** Starting with ''Tale of Two Towns'' it was possible to customize your character to appear as the opposite gender, even if the game still treated them as what was picked. You could completely crossdress your character and then marry whomever of the "opposite" gender you chose.
74	** ''Story of Seasons:Pioneers of Olive Town'' gained a following as it was the first major game where your characters can not only get into homosexual relationships, but also get married as well. This was also present in the ''Friends of Mineral Town'' and ''A Wonderful Life'' remakes, the latter of which allows characters to be nonbinary.
75	* MemeticMutation:
76	%% ** There's one where it shows a cat, two dogs, a horse, a cow, a sheep, and a chicken. Those memes usually talk about the ridiculousness of some things of the game. For example, a meme like this might talk about how you can walk into a house with three people and only find one bed.
77	** A blue feather is used in many of the games as a proposal gift (akin to an engagement ring). As a result, amongst gamers it gets referenced a lot and many people discuss wanting to propose (or be proposed to) with one in real life.
78	** "This series hates little old ladies." [[spoiler:Ellen in ''Harvest Moon 64'', Nina in ''A Wonderful Life'', and Eda in ''Story of Seasons'' all are sweet little old ladies who die. Ellen's can be avoided, but there's nothing you can do to keep the other two alive--Nina dies in between chapters and Eda's death is part of the plot.]]
79	* MisBlamed: A lot of people mistake Natsume as being the developers of the game series, when in reality they were only the localization company for the Americas. Marvelous (after many name changes and buyouts) are the developers. Thus errors and glitches in gameplay that aren't related to Natsume (such as the mailbox being locked in a lot of games) are from Marvelous but got MisBlamed to Natsume. It can be unclear who caused what sometimes, though, as some glitches appear in the North American versions that aren't in the original Japanese. This is no longer on Natsume's head, as they were dropped as translators in 2014 and now XSEED Games does it all.
80	%%* {{Moe}}:
81	%%** Daisy in ''Grand Bazaar''.
82	%%** Cecil in ''My Little Shop''.
83	%%** Witchie and Dessie, in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014''.
84	* OlderThanTheyThink:
85	** The ''Harvest Moon'' series isn't the first game to feature [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090211223414/http://kotaku.com/5149307/knocked-up-a-look-at-pregnancy-in-video-games playable pregnancy]]; that accolade goes to the 1992 Platform/SuperFamicom game, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'', which is the first one to accommodate this.
86	** Claire wasn't the first female protagonist in the series--Sara was.
87	** Claire debuted in a Platform/PlayStation game called ''Back to Nature: For Girl'' before appearing in the remake ''More Friends Of Mineral Town''.
88	* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight:
89	** Fans of the older Harvest Moon games claim that Victor Interactive Software made the Harvest Moon games right, before it merged with Pack-In-Video Co. to become Marvelous Entertainment.
90	** Many fans feel that the series began slumping after Wada left and Hashimoto took over.
91	* QuicksandBox: Experienced ''Harvest Moon'' players will likely have an idea and clear goals in mind when they first start a game, but for a neophyte, the complete freedom and lack of concrete goals can be easily overwhelming. ''Grand Bazaar'' seems to be an intentional attempt to avert this trope.
92	* TheScrappy:
93	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility''/''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'', Luna and Selena are not well liked by the fandom. The former gets more flak mainly because Gill's rivalry scenes with Luna have her act very immature to Gill's calm nature. (Doesn't help that if the player tells Luna that she likes Gill, she'll act like a complete bitch to you by saying, "I'm prettier than you." Not something you say to the player that can decide your fate and make you single because of it.) Almost all of the bachelorettes act pretty catty when the player discourages them from confessing, but they're really just hated [[DieForOurShip because they marry the most popular guys in the game]], similar to poor ShrinkingViolet Sabrina from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness''.
94	** TheSlacker Rock from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' (and the rereleases and remake) isn't exactly a well-loved character (especially since JerkWithAHeartOfGold Marlin is a very popular bachelor in comparison in DistaffCounterpart ''Another Wonderful Life''), but ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS Harvest Moon DS (Cute)]]'' ranks up Rock's CasanovaWannabe traits to {{Jerkass}} levels. There's a scene in ''DS Cute'' where he'll try to ask the female player out despite the fact that you already have a husband--and if Rock is married to Lumina, there's a scene in both versions where he hits on Muffy, which really upsets Lumina when she walks in on it. In fact, some fans have been known to marry Lumina themselves in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and claim to have done so purely to save her from an unhappy relationship with Rock.
95	** Some players dislike Rick from the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'' series because he hates Kai, but he softens up a ''lot'' once he gets married, and even, eventually, is OK with his sister marrying him.
96	** Muffy initially got a lot of hate from certain parts of the fandom because of her femme style, flirtatious nature with the player character, and mode of dress; this came off as catty SlutShaming. [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap As the years have passed]] many fans have been a lot nicer to her and sympathetic to her love woes and feelings of sadness at getting older and seeking a stable relationship. Some even consider her to be a [[TheWoobie woobie,]] what with her seemingly chronic loneliness. And as of the ''A Wonderful Life'' remake, you can marry her regardless of gender.
97	** Michelle in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'' because of her third and final heart events, which reveal [[spoiler:she doesn't love you at all and just considers you a sucker that's willing to give her free stuff--free ''expensive'' stuff]]. Due to it only being able to be seen if you start dating her, the hate is mostly from people who either dated her thinking she was the best bachelorette or people that read her event details on a website.
98	* ScrappyMechanic:
99	** Seem to pop up with regularity in the DS games, including the cooking mechanics in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' and ''Sunshine Islands'', the animal mini-games in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and ''DS Cute'', the storage system in ''Grand Bazaar'' and the farm expansion and tool upgrade systems in ''Two Towns''.
100	** For players that hoard items, any of the games that have it so that farm vesture (crops, milk, eggs, flowers, etc) rapidly drop in quality and become rotten in just a few days.
101	** The damn ball in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and ''DS Cute''. If you sell it, Thomas will come by, scold you and give you a new one. If you leave it out somewhere, Thomas again will come by and tell you that you lost the ball. You'll have to keep it in your backpack--which is space-consuming--so he will stop bothering you about it. Fortunately, after you've bought the cabinet, you can put it there permanently so you won't have to carry it and Thomas won't bother you about it.
102	** Ironically, the whole marriage thing in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3''. People asked, even after this game came out, to be able to marry the other main character; in this game the opposite character is the ''only'' character available for marriage. People didn't want the wife to work while pregnant; play as a boy and the girl won't work for 60 days. (Play as a girl and you can't even play past marriage, since the game ends when you do get hitched.)
103	** Marriage in general can be this under some circumstances. Sure, you get a boatload of happiness points and the possibility of children, but in the first game you can no longer stay up into the night to finish crucial farm work without losing your spouse's approval, and a lot of said spouse's dialogue gets replaced with [[WelcomeToCorneria very generic-sounding advice and lovey-doveyness]], regardless of whom you married or [[OutOfCharacterMoment whether it would be in-character for them to say that]]. If you're the kind of player who enjoys characters [[GameplayAndStorySegregation for their personality rather than their game play benefits]], you might want to wait a year to see all of an NPC's unique dialogue and behavior before tying a ring on them.
104	* SequelDisplacement: A large portion of the fandom in the 2000s were introduced to the series through ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonFriendsOfMineralTown''. It's thus not uncommon for people to think the series began with either game--though with the release of certain games on Virtual Console, Nintendo Online, and Playstation Network it's becoming less frequent.
105	* {{Shipping}}:
106	** The fandom is completely devoted to this aspect of the series, and we ain't talkin' about what you do with your crops. Makes a certainly amount of sense, since the games are practically half DatingSim anyway.
107	** Because they lack [[PairTheSpares rival couples]] or even hints of pairings, ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'', ''Tale of Two Towns,'' and ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'' are the few installments in the series where the bachelors/bachelorettes are shipped with each other as often as they are with the protagonist, as fans take to imagining who the likely pairings would be if they existed.
108	* StrangledByTheRedString:
109	** In many games, there's frequently little to nothing stopping you from marrying your beloved the moment you get their affection high enough (which means they'll [[FourthDateMarriage agree to marry you even if that's really the first they've heard of your feelings for them]]), and you can still wait as long as you'd like to marry. Not so in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' (and its DistaffCounterpart ''Another Wonderful Life''), where the plot hinges on your marriage. If you haven't proposed to someone by the end of the year, the game will simply throw the character with the highest affection at you when the end of the first year comes, and hit you with a NonStandardGameOver if you turn them down. Celia and Muffy say they love you, but with Nami, she initially marries you for a more political reason if you don't propose to her.[[note]]She wants to stay in Forget-Me-Not Valley, but she's out of money and can no longer stay at the inn, making her only option to go back home and live with her drunken father. Marrying you means she would be able to stay there and prevents any unfortunate implications that an unwed woman staying at an unwed man's house may cause.[[/note]]
110	** The latter point is especially {{JustForFun/egregious}} in ''Grand Bazaar'', where the dialogue of the marriage candidates only changes when they're inside their houses/bedrooms, during certain times of the day. It only really changes until after marriage. Chances are, you might not notice it, which leads to this trope.
111	** It's better executed in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'': as you build up hearts with a marriage candidate, they actually ''woo you back,'' giving you gifts, sending you love letters, and even going on dates with you!
112	** ''Tale Of Two Towns'' is also better about building a more complex relationship. The way flower events work means you have to take your intended partner out on quite a few dates, and many of the suitors with families won't accept your proposal until their household all approves of you. If you're a girl and hold out on a guy, some of them will eventually bite the bullet and propose to you. On the other side of the coin, once you start going on dates, letting one partner monopolize your time long enough will start making the other jealous.
113	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'', ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'', and ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsTrioOfTowns'' you must officially "commit" to a bachelor/bachelorette with a dating ring before you can see their later heart events and work your way towards proposing. Unlike in ''Tale of Two Towns,'' both bachelors ''and'' bachelorettes will eventually [[LoveConfession confess to you]] and propose if you don't take the initiative.
114	** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3'', you can only marry Pete or Sara, the other protagonist that you didn't choose. What's even worse is that their personality isn't all that deep--and if you get married while playing as Sara the game ends after the wedding. At least you don't really have to think about the decision!
115	* SubbingVersusDubbing: After the split between Marvelous and Natsume, more fans critiqued the looseness of Natsume's translations, from their various {{Dub Name Change}}s, their [[BlindIdiotTranslation grammar errors]], and their {{Dub Induced Plot Hole}}s. Still, many fans enjoy Natsume's translations and many also prefer their {{Dub Name Change}}s.
116	* ThatOneSidequest:
117	** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' and the Fourth Mine. So very much...
118	** The Swimming Contest in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature''. You will be reloading and replaying that one ''a lot''.
119	** The snowboard contest and horse race in ''Grand Bazaar''. There's a reason you're allowed (and encouraged) to practice year-round.
120	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
121	** Some fans have this view on on the games after ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64''. Others have this view on ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature[=/=]Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town'', compared to ''Harvest Moon 64'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS''/''DS Cute''--and ''those'' get compared to ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' (and ''Another Wonderful Life''/''Special Edition'') and ''Friends of Mineral Town/More Friends of Mineral Town'', with many complaints being that the games that came after the best one made things too "easy" or less "sad." Often, it can be traced back to [[NostalgiaGoggles whatever game the fan started with]] being the "best" in the series.
122	** Many fans seem to feel that way with ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' and its many "innovations" (the all-stylus controls, the Fullness meter, the weather/crop growing mechanic, the reduced [compared to other games in the series] cooking system, etc.). ''Sunshine Islands'' adjusted some of these mechanics and was better received for it.
123	** In general, fans don't take well to the system in later games like ''Tale of Two Towns'', ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning'', and ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons2014'' in which the time passes in exact seconds, the method of catching bugs, and the quality rank of the items you pick up.
124	** The art style has changed quite a lot over the course of the series. Just compare the bachelorettes and bachelors between the early 2000 titles and early 2010 titles. Some fans say the series is just adapting to the newer styles in Japanese anime and games while others think they're intentionally pandering to people who prefer bishonen and bishojo characters. The art style and character designs in newer titles is a source of debate with older fans often preferring the cuter, less flashy designs and later fans preferring the newer designs.
125	* ToyShip: Often with two young kids in the village. These include Stu and May (''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature and Mineral Town''), Hugh and Katie (''A Wonderful Life'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS /DS Cute''), Charlie and Eliza (''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness''), and Rahi and Ying (''Tale of Two Towns'')
126	* ValuesDissonance: As the series has gotten more bishoujo, some of the bachelors and bachelorettes (like Luna, Mistel, or Fritz) have looked a bit ''too'' young. This {{squick}}s out many western fans but cute, OlderThanTheyLook characters are popular in Japanese games.
127	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForLittleGirls: The game was originally aimed at a gender-neutral audience, but you wouldn't know it by its heavily female fandom. The first few games had male-only protagonists but eventually they added females, either in a GameFavoredGender manner (women couldn't play past marriage) or in their own DistaffCounterpart games. Modern games always have an option to chose your gender. Starting with Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, incarnations of the game have began to look a lot more {{Bishoujo}} than before, with things coming to a head in the 2014 remake of the original game.
128	* TheWoobie:
129	%% ** Cliff in the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'' series.
130	** Sometimes May, especially where [[ParentalAbandonment her missing mother]] is concerned.
131	-->'''May:''' When I talk to Grandpa about Mom he grows all quiet. When I see Grandpa looking sad or angry, it makes me want to cry. [[TearJerker Then Grandpa tells me I'm a good girl.]]
132	** Poor Muffy seems heartbreakingly lonely at times, especially in games where the protagonist doesn't marry her and rival marriage isn't an option, like in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife''.
133	** Mira in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'' is miserable [[TheMourningAfter without her husband]] and won't even go back to work without encouragement at first. Even after the protagonist befriends her and she cheers up a little, she still remarks on how much she misses or loves him at most festivals. Similarly, Galen from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'' after [[spoiler:Nina dies.]]
134	** Grant in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS'', where he's obviously struggling to raise his daughter alone after his wife left them. [[{{Jerkass}} Kate]] isn't grateful for it ''at all'', berating him constantly and blaming him for every little thing that goes wrong. Admittedly, she ''is'' somewhat of a JerkassWoobie herself, but the fandom still tends to [[TheScrappy dislike her]] for her treatment of her father nonetheless.
135	** Marla the mermaid from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3''. [[spoiler: She once had a lover named Rocky, who had a twin brother named Ricky. Ricky was envious and loved Marla too, so he basically kills Rocky because of this.]] Marla doesn't know this and waits for her lover. She's so lonely that she sends bottles out to sea on the slim chance that someone will find them, let alone send back messages that she may never find. Her whole story is [[GuideDangIt pretty easy to miss too]], meaning that she'll probably never meet anyone new if you don't find her.
136	** An IronWoobie example. [[spoiler: If you raise Candace's heart level in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade'' while playing as a girl or when you're married as a boy, Candace says that Luna didn't cry when their parents died in order to help Candace and Shelly cope.]]

Context YMMV / StoryOfSeasons