Harvest Moon

Here's a series that seems to have become pretty popular, Harvest Moon. To be honest, I know nothing about this series at all. Not the least little thing. So, can some of you who have played it enlighten me: what is Harvest Moon about and why is it good or bad?

Harvest Moon is a series of games which started way back in the SNES days. They are farming sim/RPGs. Some consider them to be RPGs, but I don't, I call them farming sims.

The original game "Harvest Moon" caught the attention of many people at the end of the SNES era, due to it's unique gameplay style and the fact that this type of game had never been tried before. I for one, became instantly hooked on the original HM once I played it, and it still stands as one of my top SNES games.

The gameplay is simple, yet there is so much to do and accomplish in the average HM game, that it can take months to see everything that 1 HM game has to offer. The original HM was pretty basic, but the later installments became really deep and full of things to do.

At the beginning of the game, your nameless character is usually given a farm to watch over, and make thrive. You'll start out with little, and have to farm your way to happiness.

Farming means - planting, watering, and harvesting crops.
- buying, taking care of, and using/making money off of your livestock (which vary from game to game)
- cleaning up and maintaining your farm
- upgrading your house, sheds, and any other parts of the farm that you might have
- there is a lot more stuff in the later installments too

You will interact with lots of characters in town, which can sell you seeds, and lots of other stuff. There are sprites which you can hire to help you. Ways to upgrade and improve your farming tools. There are mines to explore to find precious metals and ores. There is a mountainside which you can pick wild flowers, berries, and various other things from.

The other main portion of the game is finding a mate. You will be trying to win the heart of a young lady, or a young man, depending on which version you are playing. So you will be delivering presents to her or him, and interacting with your chosen girl or boy. There are usually 5-6 mates to choose from. Then you can get married, have kids, yadda, yadda yadda.

As you can see, it's hard to cover all the things that can be done in a Harvest Moon game, since there is so much. My advice is to pick one up and play it for yourself and see what you think. There are a ton of them available:

Harvest Moon (SNES)
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (PS)
Harvest Moon: 64 (N64)
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
Harvest Moon DS (DS) (wouldn't recommend this one, it's crap)
Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland (PS2)
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (GC)
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (GC)
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition (PS2)
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (GC)
Harvest Moon Boy and Girl (PSP) (remake of Back to nature with the female scenario, I wouldn't recommend it, it's a bad port)
Harvest Moon: Innocent Life (PSP)
Rune Factory: A Harvest Moon Adventure (DS)

If I missed any, please let me know.

So, any questions Thoul?

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Harvest Moon is a series of games which started way back in the SNES days. They are farming sim/RPGs. Some consider them to be RPGs, but I don't, I call them farming sims.

That's probably what got me confused about it. It sounds more like a sim from what you describe and what I heard originally, but I kept seeing people call it an RPG so I wasn't sure any more.

If I were to start with one of the GC or PS2 games, which would you recommend? The DS and PSP games are out for now as I have neither of those systems, and I imagine a more recent console game would be easier to get my hands on.

You don't have a PSP or DS? You should look into getting one or the other, or both, they are great.

As for the PS2 and GC Harvest Moons, here's what I would recommend.

The only options that you would have for PS2 would be Save the Homeland and A wonderful Life Special Edition. If you are looking for the whole Harvest Moon experience, I would stay away from Save the Homeland. Despite the fact that it's a good game, and very well done, for some reason you can only date girls, and not marry them. I really don't understadn why they took marriage out of this version, it makes no sense. The wonderful Life Special Edition for PS2 is a remake of the GC Wonderful Life game with a few added extras. I've never played it, so I'm not sure what the extras are, but there is one reason not to get this game..........from what I've heard it's not a great port of the original. There is lots of slowdown and graphical glitches in the game. You'd be much better off with the Gamecube original.

A Wonderful Life and Another Wonderful Life for GC are good choices, but lack the options and things to do that the previous games did. The days also go by really fast in A Wonderful Life. Magical Melody was released for GC after A Wonderful Life, and is more of a throwback to the traditional style of Harvet Moon play, and you are able to choose if you want to be a boy or girl at the beginning of the game. (That's really the only difference between "A Wonderful Life" and "Another Wonderful Life". Wonderful Life has a boy lead, and Another Wonderful Lfie has a Female lead.

So based on this, for the standard Harvest Moon style play, on the systems you have, I'd recommend Magical Melody for GC.

Never played any of these games. When I read the subject line, first thing I thought of was the Harvest Moon (seen in the sky) and the song "Shine On Harvest Moon For Me and My Gal". That's an oldie.

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You don't have a PSP or DS? You should look into getting one or the other, or both, they are great.

I'm thinking about getting a DS in the near future, now that it has a Zelda game on it. That's a sure way to get me to buy a new system. The PSP just doesn't interest me much. I've only heard of one original, not-a-remake game for it that I'd really like to play.

I'll look into picking up Magical Melody. Hopefully one of the rental places in my area will have it in. Thanks for the recommendation.

Secret_Surfer wrote:

Never played any of these games. When I read the subject line, first thing I thought of was the Harvest Moon (seen in the sky) and the song "Shine On Harvest Moon For Me and My Gal". That's an oldie.

I wouldn't be surprised if the song inspired the title of the games.