Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Bizarre Supernatural Warnings from little May




Winter appears to be the time of inexplicable happenings and glitches in Harvest Moon and Harvest Moon Boy & Girl is not exempt.

When I entered Ann's bedroom early one snowy morning only to be suddenly confronted by May in the middle of my dialogue with Ann, I was slightly puzzled, but then assumed it was nothing more than one of those occasional Harvest Moon glitches. Then, however, I went to Ellen's house on a Saturday afternoon and in the midst of my conversation with Thomas, May suddenly appeared once again, this time to beg me to be friendly to my horse. In her appearance in Ann's bedroom, she repeatedly protested: 'But he's a good pony...'

Two-thirds of the first Winter season has passed. Barley is due to visit my farm in Spring to assess my treatment of the colt he entrusted to my care. I have not been neglecting the colt, and have brushed it every day.

Even so, these bizarre visitations by May are beginning to trouble me. Is this a supernatural attempt to remind me of the danger of not caring for the colt?

A third, unrelated but equally bizarre incident is evidence that these anomalies are nothing more than glitches.

When I visited Basil this morning, instead of speaking to me as usual, he simply uttered a single word: Dummy.

After this piece of rudeness, he returned to his usual dialogue. I left the house and returned a moment later, only to be obliged to deal with the slur once again: Dummy.

I am posting this only as a curiosity. These glitches have no effect on gameplay. Despite May's ghostly presence in Ann's bedroom, I was able to give Ann a Spa egg without trouble. Despite being called a 'Dummy' twice, Basil's level of friendship remained constant. May's peculiar interference at Ellen's house had no real effect on any one in the room.

Nonetheless, there is a very small part of me that would like to believe that May really did insinuate herself into these scenes because of her great concern for the little pony.

NOTE: The photographs are irrefutable proof that these incidents DID occur. I wonder if any other players have experienced them... The fact that they occur at odd times and places probably are why the errors were not caught by testers before the game was released. Few 'casual' players visit Ann's bedroom in the early morning in Winter. Few 'casual' players speak to Thomas when he visits Ellen on Saturday afternoons. I will test these conversations again in Spring, but I believe the errors may be limited to the Winter season as I have spoken to Thomas at Ellen's house in other seasons and did not experience May's interruption!

2 comments:

Mountain Gnome said...

Bizarre!

I certainly don't remember these events, but then again, I certainly did not experience EVERYTHING.

Interesting! I'd be curious to know if they are real glitches or some message programmed by Natsume?

Regards
Shaggy

Freyashawk said...

Well, one can imagine May trying to remind you to care for the horse before it is too late!

I shall ask Natsume, but this is such an old game that few recall what was or was not actually programmed into it at this point.