Nostalgic Harvest Moon: FOMT

As you saw on my Birthday blog, I bought ALLOT of Harvest Moon Games. I <3 Harvest Moon, Ever since I bought my first game when I was 14. Sure I was a bit to late to get the HM Franchise fanbus. But I never stopped loving this awesome stuff :D

My first HM was Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town. This was just before Victor Interactive Software was bought by Marvelous AQL and Rising Star Games came in the scene play when Harvest Moon DS came out. Coincidentally its also one of the few games who boxes I kept.

First of all this opening screen is just fun. I always get happy when I see this screen and hear the music. And before I go rambling. This game was full of glitches and typo's in the translation which adds to the fun. But I'll keep those to myself for people who stumble on to this blog. It kinda takes the fun out of it :) And a thing I am missing with this game is the connectivity with the DS version. They had it in the Japanese and American releases, But Rising Star took it out for some ungodly reason. And so a whole lot of fun extra's where lost for the DS version, I still haven't forgiven them for it.

I just remembered that this was before I used my usual HM name Kelleth... And look at how long I played this. 7 years in game time! Actually that's not allot... I blame Pokémon Sapphire! Seriously though. I did my best and this was the first game I was actually good on most if not all the activities.

 On this game I am married to Ann who ran the Hotel/Bar with her dad. She was also the most easy to catch lol I always found it fun to hang out there at late times. So it was easy to just drag a present along

Back then I had to much to do on the TheGoodLife Farm. But I took every damn chance to win every side events and festivals. I particularly liked cheating on the horse races to get lots of presents and money for the misses. :)

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When it comes to Horse Racing, enter your horse. On the day of the competition, bring your basket and save the game before entering the Rose Square.
You may bet in the first two races if you want, but you don't have to. In the third race, bet 99 times on your horse and when you win, buy 39 broaches and sell them the next day by leaving your basket in the square (it won't disappear). Remember that broaches are much more worthy than diamonds. - ING_Cheats
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Also I found it funny that pretty much every cooking festival was a sure win when you managed to put a truffle in the dish. I actually enjoyed these standard festivals more then say the swimming contest in Back To Nature/B&G. And now that I think about it... That's why I dislike A Wonderful Life... Just 4 Festivals that weren't interesting at all. And why I loved the HMDS version so much because there where a ton of fun festivals to play out! Sure it keeps you away from the tasks on the farm... but look Fireworks! Who cares about farm work!?!

On the business side I got LOTS of things done. Like every member in my family having 10 hearts. And me having 9 of the power berries (I forgot which one I was missing) even the blue one. Sadly I never hit past the 1200000g. Which I needed to because I wanted to buy the open plot in town. And I don't think I'll ever hit the 50 anniversary to earn that home. lol

My animals though where doing great. I admit that could have done better with the sheep though and maybe let the animals out some more... As you can see quite a few chickens died of old age. So I renamed the chibby's with numbers and skipped 13. I never got that annoying with taking care if the animals like I did with the brushing thing in HMDS. But some days I just wanted to skip it and just hang out in Mineral Town.

The town is awesome. I love all the characters who all have lots of intertwining back stories and are just fun to hang out with. And I do love how the road on the left on the mountain leads to the Forget-Me-Not Valley from HM: A wonderful Life and HM: DS/Cute. Also there are no sea monsters in this game and Hanna does not get puppies in this game! :P I should have spend more time on the beach with Kai, But most of my time was spend on my farm, on the mountain and in the bar... Seeing a drunk Rick is terrifying.

Lets ignore the drunk Kai-beating poultry farmer and move on to my farm. Its pretty empty at the moment. I only have a line of strawberries which hopefully are harvest-able in the 2 days I have left. Also yeah the map is screwed up. You try to make a map from 16 DS screencaps. :P

At least I don't need to hoe down every square each day like I have to in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl or other certain games. As once the ground has been tilted no flash weeds pop-up randomly every damn day.  I can usually make up to 7 rows of crops on this field. The rest is grass for the cows and sheep

 Sadly I cannot grow anything right now.

Because my plants where already watered when I last saved

So I am stuck watching my crops grow. O joy...

I could cook. But then again I know EVERY recipe out of my head lol

 The cows, sheep and chickens have been tended to. Soooo all that's left is....

Sigh... fishing is fun. But not in spring. I never caught anything but trash in Spring!! Winter is for fishing! and that Image is correct! The fishes where trolling with the players! :P

What is fun though is mining, But this game has certain issues. I remember that no matter how healthy you are you always need to save each level. Because if you don't have any stamina drinks on you you'll out of steam in just a few levels down. And if you have a basket and fall unconscious you will be saved by the Doctor. No not that Doctor! I mean Doctor Trent! You wake up in the hospital. Like you normally do after passing out. But your basket is still on the floor you left it at! So you have to go back! Which fatigues you even more! So its best to avoid that and instead save like every level. Another reason for saving before hand is that once in a while you'll hit a dead end. And with that I don't mean level 255 of a mine. I mean that no matter at what level you might be, there's always a chance of not finding the stairs down and ending up with a blank field. So you are stuck and have to start over. But that's nothing, in HM: DS shit goes really tough! In those mines there's demonic chickens and other evil shit attacking you! You fight with basic garden tools, and they get tougher with every so level down! Who the hell do they think you are? Link!?!

So yeah... The mines are one of the reasons I still haven't gotten LV7 yet. I should really get back to playing soon and make that my first and foremost task. After that I'll maybe get to fish up some King Fish and hopefully get that house.

bachelorettes                                            

Aside from marrying Ann you can also go for: Popuri is the cute chicken-loving sister of the raging alcoholic Rick. She's a bit childish at times but wants to be taken as an adult. Even though she still wants your chocolate on the Pumpkin festival which is strictly for kids. I like her she's cute. ^_^ Karen is the daughter of the supermarket owner, she's a drunk like Rick who is of course her love interest. She fails at cooking. Mary: The shy daughter of a botanist and an housewife. She runs a library that holds allot her dad's books. Elli: The Granddaughter of one of the oldest residents of Mineral town. Who works for the Doctor... again Trent! Not that Doctor! She constantly worries about other people's health. And lastly the Harvest Goddess. Who aside from being hot isn't worth the trouble in this game. She's barely at your home (only for special stuff) and even if she was, she only got some character developments in the DS games from DS to Sunshine Islands and the Tale Of Two Towns. So that's about all the choices. Good choices And yet some how went for Ann lol

I can't really remember why I choose Ann as a bride. If I would to play it now I would have gone with Popuri. After playing older games through emulators I learn they changed allot about Ann in this game compared to the original where she (or her ancestor) was a blacksmith. I should try a starting a new save game one day.

Other Marriage Candidates:                  

Speaking of new games, here are a few of my other Marriage candidates. In HM:DS My bride was Muffy (also on AWL but I don't care). She's the same a Popuri in most ways. But unlike Popuri she doesn't have to put up with an annoying brother and a sick mother. Instead she lives with and hippy dude named Griffin who is awesome but at least twice her age... Next to her is Chelsea from HM: IH and HM: SI, a hard working day dreamer who falls in love with you because you work so hard on your farm. Seriously the gifts do zip here. She's cute though and worth the trouble. In Grand Bazaar my wife was Freya who is an hard working hotty who's barely in town. I remember choosing her because then I'd have more time catching bugs (which I ruled at) When I get started on playing the Grand Bazaar I actually bought instead of pirated I will probably choose her again or go for Emiko who is a mysterious lady who lives inside a water fall.

I actually hate Hero Of Leaf Village. Mainly because you need to run around just to be able to sell stuff. But I did manage to marry Alice. Who's basically the baddy of the whole story. But she's so cute xD. Next up is some one I wanted to marry but didn't after I decided to buy the actual game first instead of wasting my time with my R4. She is Nori from The Tale of Two Villages. She's not all that special but she looks cute and she's an tea addict like I am in real live. I am playing TToTT and I am loving it. Nori is definitely up next xD.  And lastly is Iroha! She is the black smith of Echo Village. She works hard and is really serious. I haven't really played the game yet. So I don't know much else about her And seeing how I still need to buy and 3ds and how Rising Star still is going to lay back doing nothing to the game for about at all, I doubt I am going to in the near future. Heck the 3ds is region locked. So I can't even buy one from America! Damn you Nintendo!!

O god, Muffy you are so adorable!

 Any way they aren't my all of favourite brides. I played a few other Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games. But Its better to keep the list short for this blog lol

Any way I really do feel like playing Harvest Moon: FOMT again. I want to play it anew and start over. But because I don't want to delete my old file I'll probably buy a new copy of FOMT. Till then I am happy with the other games I got :D

And that's about it. My Harvest Moon Blog is done. I wish that I could tell you more. But aside from this DS and AWOL I played most of the other Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games on Emulators for the DS and PSP. So I can't really count those as games I played lol. But as you can see on my birthday blog I am trying to buy them. (Even though its going to bite me in the back with toku stuff) And then I'll probably post another blog ^_^

All these images where taken from my own copy of Harvest Moon: Friends Of Mineral Town and my Bokujou Monogatari: 15th anniversary art book. All copyright goes to ©Marvelous AQL to ©Natsume inc and to ©Rising Star Games. And be sure to check out Ushi No Tane for actual HM details and info instead of random fanboy rambling.