Harvest Moon Forever: The Essences of 'My Sims'

Friday, October 5, 2007

The Essences of 'My Sims'

I now have spent a little more time both with the Wii and DS versions of 'My Sims'. Essentially, both games are 'Animal Crossing' with building added to the mix. There is a slight echo of Sims 2 for the DS in the idea of making tourists happy by improving the village. (In Sims2 for the DS, one ran a hotel and built or ordered improvements and renovations to advance the plot.)

The Wii is lightweight, elegant, versatile and creative, but I am not the only player who finds the Wii-mote absolutely exhausting. The sheer effort of trying to place a single building block on top of another one is mind-boggling when compared to the ease with which one could perform the same task on a PC, GameCube or PS2.
The dual control of the wii-mote and the nunchuk requires some adjustment as well. Perhaps I shall become a devout fan of the system but at the moment, my wrist aches and I find myself taking a break from the Wii version of My Sims not because I have tired of the game itself but because I physically am weary and somewhat frustrated.

Both versions of the game are extremely intriguing in terms of concept and gameplay. With respect to the Wii game, the game is centred on 'essences'. 'Essences' are objects that can be acquired through conversation, excavation, farming, fishing and other means. The 'essences' can be used to build, decorate or paint furniture. Different individuals are attracted by different essences. For example, there are 'cute' and 'spooky' essences, inter alia. If you use many 'spooky' essences in building and decorating, you will attract individuals who respond to 'spooky' elements into your area.

I do miss 'Rune Factory', I have to admit. I definitely have not tired of THAT Harvest Moon game, and I haven't even touched 'Harvest Moon Boy and Girl' yet, alas.
Nonetheless, 'My Sims' is worth some time and energy. I suspect that, like 'Animal Crossing', it is a game that becomes more addictive in the course of gameplay.

I hope to send a preliminary General Guide for the Wii and DS versions of 'My Sims' to IGN either on Monday or Tuesday.

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For all Harvest Moon fans and players

As Freyashawk, I have written about 150 guides for games, most of which have been guides for Harvest Moon games. These are published on IGN. IGN has given me the title of 'Mistress of Harvest Moon' and I strive daily to earn the right to maintain that title. Although there is a link page on IGN that lists all the guides published there, they are not organised by game, but rather given in alphabetical order. I therefore created this page in order to provide links to the guides I have created for each Harvest Moon game. If you access the General Guide for any game, links should be included to all other guides for that game in a section at the end. I will try to add links to ALL guides as time permits, but until I do, you always can refer to my user page at IGN for the complete list.

I wrote the Official Strategy Guide for Tree of Tranquility for BradyGames as well.
Harvest Moon Forever!

How to Use my Guides

I write three different basic types of game guides. I usually write a General Guide for every game, which is fairly comprehensive and deals with all aspects of the game. It may or may not be in the form of a Walkthrough, dealing with game aspects as they occur. My Innocent Life General Guide is an example of a General Guide that is organised as a Walkthrough.

After writing a General Comprehensive Guide, I often write a Calendar Guide giving birthday and festival dates, with additional information that may be helpful, such as favourite gifts for each individual. For all Harvest Moon games, I usually write a number of 'mini-guides', such as Events Guides for each year of gameplay, or Recipe Guides that give all recipes one can make. Fishing, Mining, Shipping or Item Value Guides are other mini-guides that can be very useful when playing Harvest Moon. Character Guides give detailed information about every character in any specific game. My Courtship and Marriage Guide is devoted to all aspects of Courtship and Marriage, including schedules of Heart Events, Rival Heart Events and the likes and dislikes of every Eligible Girl and/or Bachelor.

Although this site is devoted to Harvest Moon, I have included links to game guides for other games. I created a separate link section for Animal Crossing Wild World as well, because I wrote more than one guide for that game.

N.B. All my game guides are published by IGN. This webpage has been created simply to allow players to find links to all my guides more easily.

Copyright Infringement Warning

It is really sad to discover that there are individuals who are willing to steal my guides and to attempt to publish them under their names. Fortunately, there are many players who recognise my guides when they see them anywhere on the internet and who are willing to alert me when some one tries to steal my material. I want to thank all those players for their help in these cases.

Some one stole one of my guides and tried to publish it on Gamefaqs under his/her name. The guide has been removed and the poster has been banned. I now have a contact in the Legal Department at CNet. I spend many months sometimes writing a guide. They are available for the private use of any individual without cost, but they are not available for theft!
If you want permission to include a link to one of my guides on your site, please contact me directly.

Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town

You will notice that I wrote far more guides for More Friends of Mineral Town than I did for the original 'Friends of Mineral Town'. At some point, I would like to publish more specific Events Guides for Friends of Mineral Town, but players should be aware of the fact that ALL Calendar Events Guides for MFoMT can be used when playing the original FoMT. The Events are the same in most cases in both games. If, therefore, you are playing FoMT and you wish to know the events that can be experienced in the third year of gameplay, refer to the 'Third Year Calendar Events Guide' for 'More Friends of Mineral Town'.