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Any one familiar with classical Harvest Moon games knows about the 'Big Bed'. It is, not surprisingly, one of the requirements for marriage. If you don't have a 'Big Bed', no one will marry you? Is it a question of wealth and status? No! It's a very practical one. Another person would not be able to fit in your small bed with you and certainly not a spouse AND a child.
In Magical Melody, the Large Beds can be purchased at the Workshop but in Mineral Town and Forget-Me-Not Valley, you have the luxury of 'catalogue shopping' via the Shopping Network.
Many new players of Harvest Moon become agitated when the bachelor or woman of their dreams has been courted, has reached red heart level but will not accept the Blue Feather. If all heart events have been experienced, the reason for rejection often is the lack of a Big Bed in the house.
Harvest Moon games are founded on practical logic for the most part. The Shopping Network will not offer a Kitchen until you have expanded your tiny house once. There simply would not be enough room for it! With similar logic, the Shopping Network will not offer the Big Bed until you have expanded your house TWICE. Again, there would not be sufficient space for a large bed if you do not expand twice.
In Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon Cute DS, the Big Bed will be the next item offered as soon as your second house expansion is completed. That is why I do not expand my house for the second time until I have purchased ALL Kitchen implements. I feel that it is far more important to complete my Kitchen and be able to cook all dishes than to have a Big Bed that I will not use until later in the game...
At this point in my own game, on Saturday, 24 Autumn, I have two bachelors at deepest red heart level and the other ordinary bachelors at Orange Heart Level. I have experienced all four heart events for each of the ordinary bachelors. My second house expansion was completed this morning and as it is Saturday, the Big Bed should be offered today. As I rescued over 60 Sprites, thus rescuing the Harvest Goddess, my Blue Feather will be accepted if I offer it now.
It was at this point that I discovered a very interesting twist to the game. Although my house expansion has been completed today, if I access the Shopping Network Channel BEFORE I go outside to speak to Gotz, the item that is offered will be the 'Clock' instead of the 'Big Bed'! If, however, I go outside and speak to Gotz to receive his official annoucement of the completion of my 2nd house expansion, the item that will be offered today will be the Big Bed!
I never would have known this if I had completed my 2nd house expansion on a day other than Saturday. It is a small detail but potentially useful if any player goes into a panic, finding that the Clock is on the agenda when he/she expected the 'Big Bed' to be offered! In my game, actually, it was the 'Big Bed' that was offered, but I had gone outside to speak to Gotz before I accessed the Shopping Channel... I then decided to reload my game, to see what would occur if I didn't speak to Gotz...
My theory that the Shopping Network somehow was connected to Gotz' announcement proved to be accurate. I was offered the 'Clock' instead. All I had to do then was reload the game once again and speak to Gotz before I accessed the Shopping Channel.
It is situations like this that prompted me initially to write guides for Harvest Moon. I delight in these little 'puzzles' and feel a small sense of triumph when I solve them. Most often, the emails I receive from players ask questions that are answered in my guides but once in a great while, I get a question that is based on a peculiar set of circumstances such as the one I have described here. Now this information will be added to my Cute General Guide as well as my Courtship and Marriage Guide. Always speak to Gotz FIRST before you access the Shopping Network if your 2nd house completion occurs on Saturday.
For those players of 'Friends of Mineral Town' and 'More Friends of Mineral Town' who wonder how they will be able to order items from the Shopping Channel without having a telephone, the answer is: use the telephone at the Inn. You will find it on the bar counter. It costs only 10G to use. Watch television on Saturday in order to be offered the next item by the Shopping Network, then go to the Inn and use the telephone to order it. Zack will deliver it on Monday. If you try to use the telephone at the Inn without having watched the television first, you will not be able to purchase anything. You actually must watch the programme on television.
Similarly, in HM DS and HM Cute DS, you must watch the Shopping Channel before you use your telephone to ring TV Shopping. If you receive the message: 'There's no answer.', it will be because you are trying to contact them outside of business hours. Wait until 9.00 a.m. and try again.
Incidentally, business hours for all shops and businesses are included in my guides but in HM DS and HM Cute DS, they can be found in your BOOKS as well. Go to your bookcase and you will find a wealth of information about shops, crops and other aspects of life in Forget-Me-Not Valley. (In the U.K./European version of HM DS, there is no way to access your books. That version was NOT made by Natsume, by the way. I suggest that players in Europe order from a distributor in the U.S. via internet in order to be able to play the game the way it was intended to be played. Worse than the deprivation of the books is the fact that the Mineral Town characters cannot be unlocked in the European/U.K. version! It really is inferior in many respects to the Natsume version BUT it does contain ALL the nasty glitches such as the 'freeze file glitch'. So go Natsume ALL THE WAY.)
For those who have not experienced the glories of 'catalogue living', I have included a couple of photographs of the 'Shopping Channel' when it offers the 'Big Bed'.
Those players familiar with HM DS probably know the signature speech by heart but here it is for those who have not played this marvelous game yet:
That's right, it's that time again! It's surprising, it's exciting, it's catalogue living! It's time for TV Shopping!'
'Today we introduce to you... the 'Big Bed'! It's hard to sleep in a small bed. doesn't that trouble you? Sleep sprawled out on this bed, no problem. This 'Big Bed' is a mere... 10,000G! Call now if you want this!! TV Shopping pays the shipping costs for you!'
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