Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons

I turned that one down already, since I wasn't ready for an animal. Granted, I could have simply bought fodder...

But I'm not to keen on a cow at the moment, anyway. I rather start with chickens. Maybe I'm too fixated on my playing habits from the first GBC game...

Dude, have you seen the size of most Harvest Moon strawberries? It takes both your hands to fit in it! It's huge!

But definitely agreed on how sad it is Bo isn't a bachelor. I'd still marry Calvin, but Bo's the one I would tease the whole way, and my sister says she would've outright married him (though Chase isn't so bad).

I'll be playing a girl if I make it to new game+. Probably either marry Chase, Toby or Luke on that one.

......Thinking about that one made me feel about 15% more gay.

Also, yeah, you always marry the adorkable one. Except that I have done so every single time I played Harvest Moon ever. It's getting a bit old.

Well, I am one of the few who married Carter (the archaeologist, not the priest), and he's not really...

...*suddenly remembers the scene where he dances around the word "pregnant" when asking you about morning sickness, because he's still kind of thrown off by the fact that, dude, he totally made it with a woman*

...Uh, never mind.

I recently bought Animal Parade and I rate it as my second favourite (BTN was my first HM game so I have Nostalgia Filter for it. But I really miss the little portraits of the characters when your speaking to them. I think it was a bit of a mistake to ditch them.

Though I'm liking all the eligable guys. I've narrowed down my choice to Toby, Owen, Calvin and the Wizard. Any suggestions on who to pick?

No Chase? I thought Chase would attract the most people.

Chase does, but I think tropers have slightly different tastes than "Generic Tsundere Bishōnen."

As I've noted, I really like Calvin and the Wizard. But beyond them, hey, I think Toby's pretty cute too. Owen is nice-looking, but on a personality level, his slight meatheadedness and party-boy attitude put me off a little.

Toby is just...<3

Although I personally love seeing Toby's events with Renee. Partially because they're one of the rival couples who actually seem to go together (maybe it's just me, but some of the rivals seem oddly arbitrary in that game), and also for the extremely amusing comment he makes regarding his son Matt:

"Everybody tells me he has my eyes!"

It would be cute if that passed on to your kids with him, too, but alas, no.

edited 16th Feb '11 5:58:12 PM by FreezairForALimitedTime

I am kinda drifting towards Toby, but then I'll end up feeling bad for Renee. And so, since I also like Phoebe, I might just end up with the Wizard.

Wizard does have the benefit of making it so nobody else needs to be made sad. Downside: No birthday for him. :(

Currently playing Harvest Moon Cute. First of all, thanks for telling me about this game Freezair! I adore it and I'm addicted to it. It's near the end of Autumn first year and I already have 395,000 gold. The excavation site is awesome that way. Having spent most of my time accumulating money, I'm finally transitioning into buying farm animals. I bought a stone bird house and now I'm saving up stones for a barn.

Currently I'm courting Skye and Marlin. I like both of them and I don't know who to choose. Oh well, I still got plenty of time.

I wish the "level-up" system from that game had stuck around in other games. It's really awesome. I like the fact that they even averted Money for Nothing and actually made things that cost the exhorbitant amounts you make while leveling up. All bonus items, of course.

Combined with the items that let you use tools indoors, and you can pretty much make the whole thing Score Attack—"How stupidly rich can YOU be?"

I think the Touch Glove is really the thing that made that game so unpopular with reviewers, because it is darn annoying. Well, and some glitches in the original.

Is having a basement the best way to level up crops? I'm sort of low on cash right now due to laziness. That'll soon change after I marry Marlin, since I can finally sell casino prizes to Van (you can't before you're married for some reason). 9 sprites to go.

On a separate note, I'm thinking of playing Rune Factory 3 next. Not for a while though.

Yes it is, because it means you can raise them without regards for the seasonal changes. It's pretty much the only way to level up Pineapple without waiting a year. There's also the Cave Behind the Falls, if you've found that yet.

Although I don't think the basement works well for trees, since I think they still have to go through their "flower season" before their "fruit season" to grow propherly.

I have and it's frustrating to water back there everyday, but luckily I just found the cursed watering can so it should be an easier task after I get it blessed. Also, I'm having difficulty with obtaining more sprites. I actually need 10 more. Blessing the water can and the hammer will net me two more, plus harvesting a pineapple in the Summer will be another. I'm thinking about spending a few days in the hot springs to unlock the second one. I can at least get 3 I believe from doing all that.

Most of the purple sprites you actually get by... hiring the purple sprites and using their healing powers a lot.

Also, with your disposable income, if you've got spare space in your field, you could load up on animals. Red Sprites hide there.

SO! Topic bumping time!

What does everyone think of Magical Melody? I'm considering buying it (original, not Wii port), but some things about it make me a bit nervous. Chief among them the fact that I don't really like a single one of the bachelors. What say you people about it?

Well, as I said earlier I didn't like it very much. I don't recall why. I just found it a dull game in comparison to AWL. I didn't play it at the time as a girl, so I'm not too familiar with the bachelors. A quick look on the Ushi no Tane site makes me conclude that there would only be two guys I'd truly date (Alex and Blue). The rest are kind of...meh.

A minor rant: I finally married Marlin in DS Cute. ^^ However, I still can't sell accessories to Van! I read that you could sell the Red Cape after marriage...I was so looking forward to that money. Now I have to save up the old fashioned way for a basement I guess. Does anyone know the problem?

I think with some accessories, you need multiples before you can sell them? I don't remember.

I'm pretty fond of Magical Melody myself. It's a little more freeform than most HMs — rather than following a more-or-less linear version of events in order to do things, you just do random stuff to collect notes and/or get people to move in. It can be a little Guide Dang It-y with what accomplishes what, but that's not exactly abnormal for an HM game.

Jamie is smack-dab in the middle of the Uncanny Valley, though. A deliberately Bifauxnen Tsundere Rival? Do not want!

edited 28th Feb '11 7:22:09 AM by NativeJovian

I do kinda like Louis (for looks) and Bob (for personality), but I still have that "no attachment" problem.

Also, I'm worried that it's too similar to Animal Parade. Is it? I'm not sure.

Wait, so no one like the PS version HM : Back To Nature?

I loved it! Although Fo MT is said to be similar, I found two massive changes after playing through the first few ingame days. First your characters get tired much faster, and secondly time move faster, making the game awfully difficult. Part of what I love the PS version was there was lots of free time to wander around and talk to people. In Fo MT, you spent most of your ingame time farming - not exactly fun.

Are the DS version better? Can anyone list down the changes/speciality of each DS version?

I just got Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the DS today. This and Fo MT will keep me occupied on the many bus trips I make throughout the week. Because HM is a series that is very guide dang it at times in terms of things (especially relationships) I was wondering if anyone had any tips to give before I run off in search of a guide.

^The short days are why you abuse the fuck out of the Harvest Sprites to farm for you. You can alternate between two halves day by day and give them copious amounts of flour. This keeps them happy and working on your farm. So long as you alternate, don't give them long work schedules, give them flour, and play with them they are happy beings.

edited 28th Feb '11 8:44:32 PM by Aondeug

DS game differences:

DS: Main goal is to rescue Harvest Sprites through tasks. Similar to Fo MT. However, you can "level up" crops by planting several bags of them in one space, increasing their worth. Cooking sytem only uses single utensils now per recipe. Cannot permanently get more stamina/fatigue, BUT you can get accessories including those that recover stamina/fatigue and those that make it so tool use doesn't drop it. Can grow in indoor greenhouses and keep ducks. Multiple fields with different growth rates. Goddamned Bats in mines. Game ends if you marry a Mineral Town girl. Son grows to teenage stage.

DS Cute: Same as the above, but you can also have a daughter and your game won't end if you marry a Mineral Town boy.

Islands of Happiness: Main goal is to repopulate/rebuild islands. Can make friends of wild animals. Instead of needing to water crops every day, crops now have a distinct amount of water/sun they need to grow. Quality system is based on how you adhere to this. (This is probably the biggest change.) Can keep different kinds of cow/chicken. Cooking is based on learning recipes. Most notably, there is a system of "sub-villagers" which you must attract to the town by performing certain tasks, whom you can befriend.

Sunshine Islands: Mission-Pack Sequel to the above, but now your goal is to raise islands. No more sub-villager system. Cooking becomes more "normal," I think. Also adds two new potential spouses: Will for girls and a girl whose name I forget for boys.

Grand Bazaar: Uses the crop system from the above, but also introduces the Bazaar—you sell items through this instead of the shipping bin, and it's once a week. Quality system is based on fertilizer like in other games, I think. Rivals have rival events, but do not get married even if you see them all. Also has more "platformery" movement—you can jump and swim at will, and even catch bugs in addition to fish.