Harvest Moon Forever: Thanks for the Input from Players on the Gender Theories

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Thanks for the Input from Players on the Gender Theories

First, I want to thank every one who went to the trouble to post their findings with respect to the odd/even theory relating to your child's gender in HM Cute DS. It probably is random. After all, there is so much in Harvest Moon that IS determined randomly. One need only think of the appearance of any Cursed Tool or Cursed Accessory in the Mines in HM DS/Cute DS. Although they always will be found only on the floors specified by the game, you may not find them at all, visiting one of those floors 20 times. In another game, or on another day, you may find one the first time you visit one of the specified floors.

For the time being, in view of the data that players have posted, I would conclude that the gender of your child in HM Cute DS, alas, is random. In many situations, it is no more than coincidence when the same result occurs again and again in a game. I myself have been seduced into believing that a result depended on specific actions when it occurred again and again after meeting the requirements I had presupposed... only to discover later that it was random! I know many careful players who log all their actions and results as I do and then proceed to postulate a complex series of requirements for a result based on coincidence. We can be TOO clever sometimes.

The philosophical intention of Harvest Moon games is to create a REAL life, where Nature can behave randomly, where good fortune sometimes will follow you and sometimes will abandon you... We try to 'cheat' the game by finding exploitations and succeed in doing so, but it goes against the actual intention of the makers of these games. I always try to control the weather in my Harvest Moon games and this can be achieved very easily in games from the past, including FoMT/MFoMT and HM DS/Cute DS. All you have to do is save your game before you go to bed. When you awaken in the morning, listen to the weather prediction before you save again. If weather that is contrary to your own desires is predicted, simply reload and try again...

Well, Island of Happiness has sewn up THAT loophole now. Weather is determined 6 days in advance! How many players are going to play forward six days every night before midnight to see if Taro predicts a Typhoon or Snowstorm? Is it worth the effort? I couldn't be bothered in my game... I let those storms rip, when I never did so in other HM games when they could be avoided.

In fact, although weather is set 6 days in advance in IoH, the results are determined only at the time of the storm. Go outside after any storm to see what has been destroyed before you save your game. If your best trees or rare crops have been destroyed, for example, simply reload and try again... This mitigates the horror of being forced to endure a terrible typhoon or snowstorm in IoH. Furthermore, so far, I have not experienced the actual collapse of an Animal Barn/Chicken Coop or Greenhouse. I would need to confirm this with Natsume before I could state it as a categorical truth, however.

There is another random result in IoH that some players have not realised IS random. The appearance of Wonderfuls in Chen's Market during the Winter season may be based on a requirement that the last digit in your earnings is a 5, but even if you meet the requirement, the actual appearance of the Wonderful IS random. The colour of the Wonderful if and when it is offered is set according to a schedule, however. You therefore have two set conditions and one random effect in this situation.

As this post contains quite a lot of random information, I am going to add to it with the information that two guides for Island of Happiness have been sent to IGN. The links will be found on the right side of this page. Unfortunately, my own laptop has been sent off to a repair technician and my files are in disarray, so these guides need to be updated considerably, but it is a start. My Recipe Cookbook Guide and my Characters Guide will be published later today or tomorrow. ALL guides will be updated regularly as IGN is kind enough to allow that. I always feel it is better for players to have a basic guide as soon as possible, and I then add to that as I can. I am only one person and I have to play the games extensively as well as writing copiously in order to create these guides...

In other words, many more sections will be added to the General Guide and the text of all Heart Events and Rival Heart Events as well as all alternate Heart Events will be added to the Courtship and Marriage Guide. All the information is in my game journals, but it needs to be edited and transferred to the guides.

Finally, two offers:

I have another Harvest Moon webpage where I post stories about Harvest Moon written by fans. They must be based on an actual event in any Harvest Moon game. If any one wishes to email me a story, please do. I will post the best of them on the site.

We Love Harvest Moon

This morning, I realised it would be really interesting if devoted Harvest Moon fans shared their favourite event in ANY Harvest Moon game. I am creating a webpage, 'Favourite Harvest Moon Events'. Share as many as you like. You can add them as comments or send them as emails so I can add them as actual posts on the site.

Harvest Moon Favourite Events

No comments:

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'.