Harvest Moon

[Zai]

Anyone on here play any of the games in the series? I'm waiting for Tree of Peace/Tranquility (for the Wii) to come out here in the US, currently. It looks good. =D

[Maxine MagicFox]

While the new Harvest Moon games haven't appealed to me, I am SO addicted to Rune Factory it's not even funny. I got it for Xmas but put it down for a month after getting frustrated with a boss but am back at it again!

I mostly enjoyed the original and Friends of Mineral Town. The girl versions don't appeal to me for some reason. Wonderful Life was a bust in my opinion. I liked Magical Melody but it still was VERY lacking.

STILL! That's not to say that I'm not interested in how this upcoming one is going to be like. I wish they would return to just basic 'field tending' and have as much girlfriend interaction as was in FoMT. NONE of the games matches FoMT's girl interaction - where you even had RIVALS! I loved it!

[Zai]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Zai]

Well, I just finished Misty Bloom Cave...on the 1st day of Winter. It was so freaking small. Siren was only hard the first time I faced her, and that was when I had no Rune Points and only half HP. I beat her on the second time I tried to. Of course, I was already at a level somewhere around 45, so that's probably the reason why. And I used a luck blade, too. I only had to use a recovery potion once. After I beat her, I gained about 4 or 5 levels. Fun stuff. Now to unlock the Ruins.

I plan on marrying Rosetta. But before I do, I plan on making a copy of my gamesave so that I can also marry Tabatha without having to go through the entire game again when she's already at 10 Friend points and 10 Love points. I plan on using a second file to marry Bianca.

Also, these two sites are great for HM info:

Great for info on the handheld games. Not as good for most console HMs.
Mainly useful for the console games. Has good info on a few handheld games.

[Maxine MagicFox]

LOL, *cough* yeah, I went into the battle at level 35. I'm sure yours was a lot more fun than mine. I guess I spent too much time worrying about crops. I usually don't worry about taking out the machines and stuff to unlock the doors until it's nearing the end of the season. Tabatha and Rosetta are the easiest to get their levels up. :\ Wasn't even interested in them and their levels rose to max long before Felicity's did. I actually had to DODGE talking to them or end up resetting them back to 0points if I reject them.

I think another reason why my level was so low was I was too busy worrying about getting married. ^_^ I got married before the end of the winter season - my first year.

As for sites, I never look too much into the info about upcoming games (strange, huh? considering I run websites where I am forced to do that and then provide such information) but I often go to the source with Harvest Moon games: http://www.natsume.com/

Still, I'll definitely check out those links. Thanks!

[Zephyr]

The main Harvest Moon I've played (and was introduced to the series with) is Harvest Moon 64. I played that game continuously for quite a long time.

My most recent DS game purchase is Rune Factory, and I'm loving this one even more. Unfortunately I screwed up and missed a chance at giving some cookies to Felicity (my choice) during the Spring Festival.

Between the first cave and tending the farm I've been keeping pretty busy, and I'm getting my first monsters to help me out. I really need one that can help with watering, if there is one.

[Maxine MagicFox]

[Vapour Trail]

[Zai]

[Zephyr]

[Zai]

Usually, though, they tend to release a second version of some games with the female main character. Like More Friends of Mineral Town instead of the regular Friends of Mineral Town, DS and DS Cute (which they just released here in the US and I believe in Europe, too). These versions tend to fix some bugs in the original, along with having different marriage candidates (Males, in other words. Though in Cute you can have "best friends" that are female and act pretty much the same as regular marriage. The only difference between BFs and regular marriage that I know of is that you can't have children with BFs). Though, in some games, they do offer both options. Like in Magical Melody (unless you buy the Wii version in Europe that only has the option for a guy) and the upcoming (for US and Europe) Tree of Peace/Tranquility.

Make sure, if you get Woollies in the second cave, that you have the shears. Otherwise, they are pointless as well. The milkers (don't know official name =0) are useless until you get to a certain cave where you can obtain Buffamo/Peekamoo, as well.

[masterofpsi]

I have RF, but I haven't played it much lately. I've beaten the story section, but I was planning on grinding my levels to death, then maxing cash/stats/etc.

Then I heard about Contra 4. One day, I swear that I will dig out RF again. Right after I get those last few challenges...

[Maxine MagicFox]

Personally for as strange as it is to me to say "I married her" I PREFER the boy versions. The girl versions have never clicked with me. But... then again... a real life friend of mine once pointed out that I have an absolute fascination for 12-16 year old boys - especially when they are in unrequieted love scenarios. Him and others after that have teased me by calling me a pedophile, especially when I talk about a new book character. So, I think I enjoy the boy versions more for the roles and having my boy properly treat a lady like he should!

[Zai]

My thoughts when you said 12 to 16 year old boys were

"PEDOPHILE! PEDOPHILE! PEDO BEAR! PEDO BEAR!"

So, yeah. =D

Also, anyone else think that (Another/A) Wonderful Life and the DS (ones with DS in their titles) games have too many hippy-like characters? You have Gustafa, then The Rock, then The Rock's parents. And then you have Nami. The drifter. The loner. The lone wolf. Single-o Girl-o, the typical mystery girl in many video games. She could also be considered a bit of a hippy.