Contests in Harvest Moon inspire Excitement or Dread!

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Most Harvest Moon games include Contests and Games of various sorts. There are 'gambling games' such as Won's Apple Challenge and Won's Slot Machine game in More Friends of Mineral Town, and the Casino games in HM DS. These basically require an investment of time, but nothing more, as if you do not like the results, you can reload your game and try again... It is nothing more than a matter of luck.

Then there are the Contests... some, like the Cooking Contest, require knowledge of the game and how to fix a superior dish with the best ingredients. I personally enjoy these Contests. Animal Contests fall into one of two different categories, either requiring maximum heart level or actually requiring that one 'win' a physical contest. It is those that require one physically to win a contest that I sometimes dread...

In FoMT and MFoMT, I always will maintain that winning the Chicken Contest is a matter of luck. One can have maximum heart level with the Chicken, do everything RIGHT in terms of cheering on the bird and still LOSE one of the rounds... Yes, it is a particularly nasty business as one has to win THREE different battles in order to win the competition. In Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, it appears to be a little more within the player's power to win or lose than it was in FoMT and MFoMT. Even so, replaying the event is far more tiresome if you fail to win as you must replay the entire day. In FoMT and MFoMT, you could save your game at the point of entering the Square and then replay if your chicken did not win all three rounds.

Worse than the Chicken Contest, however, in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl is the Beach Contest on Opening Day. I expect that, if I wanted to replay the same day countless times, I possibly COULD win it in the first year, but frankly, two attempts was one too many for me. You do not have a chance to practice the technique, unless you replay the entire day again and again. The first year, you go into the ocean cold as it were, without sufficient energy levels (due to the fact that you would have only 3 Power Berries at the most at this point) and without any practice in the technique of alternating your swim stroke with your breathing. It is so humiliating. Every one else glides effortlessly to the finish line while your character keeps turning belly-up like a beached whale and then, finally manages to creep to the finish line where Rick waves his arms frantically. I expect it will be far easier in the 2nd year, when I have more Power Berries. It wasn't worth the effort of spending two REAL days replaying a single Harvest Moon day... I am stubborn by nature, but not quite THAT stubborn, particularly when it involves a Contest of this nature.

I did win the Chicken Festival in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl in my very first attempt, only to suffer the most crushiing blow AFTERWARDS. I had much experience with this Contest in one way, as I had played many games of Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town. The buttons may be different but the method is similar.
There IS an element of luck here, if your chicken is too close to the edge and simply moves without any encouragement on your part, but for the most part, if you cheer it at the right moments, and sit tight when it is in a dangerous spot, you can win all three rounds with a chicken with 8 hearts.

The crushing blow came when I completed the rest of the day and went to bed. I saved the game and awoke to a weather forecast of a terrible hurricane. I thought to myself: No way!!! Not on 8 Summer, when I finally had a decent number of crops in the ground...

Changing the weather, however, requires that you go back by a full day. I initially thought that going to bed before midnight potentially allowed a different forecast but, after experiencing the same forecast a multitude of times, I resigned myself to the awful prospect of replaying the Chicken Festival.

It was late at night and I was NOT enthusiastic. In one instance, I dropped my chicken when I spoke to Rick and he then simply assumed I was not going to participate! I left the chicken on the ground there and walked home to 'read' my diary in order to begin the day yet again... In another instance, I dropped the bird when I was trying to speak to Jeff and it got stuck between two people, under their feet literally. I could not pick up the chicken. Each time I tried, I spoke to the individuals instead... I had to wait for the chicken to wander away from the people so I could pick it up...

I did manage to win the Chicken Festival again finally, after a couple of losses in the THIRD round. At the end of the day, I saved my game before sleeping, praying for good weather... and this time obtained a good forecast, thank God!

Yes, controlling the weather may be cheating a little, but there is a point where I cannot face the loss of all my crops. After all, the weather forecast is random. Why should I be punished when I did not commit a crime? O.K. Life isn't fair, and Harvest Moon imitates Life, but...

If the game itself allows an exploitation or change in results, I will take advantage of that.

The sad thing about Golden Eggs in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl is that they are not worth any more than a plain white egg. Not one piece of gold more... It is only when you have the ability to make Mayonnaise from them that you will profit greatly. That day still is in the future for me...