Harvest Moon Forever: Frantic Farming Strategies and Request

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Frantic Farming Strategies and Request

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More than a week after Frantic Farming was released, I am beginning to hear from other players who have found the game challenging in Story Mode and have not had an easy time completing every Story.

I wrote a little General Guide for Frantic Farming. Ultimately, I would like to include the actual text from each Story in the Guide, but I haven't had the time to transcribe them yet.

As I believe I wrote previously, my Strategy would be as follows:

Complete the game in Story Mode for both Chelsea and Mark, thereby unlocking the other two 'Modes', the Music player, the Records and some of the Character and Endings art. In doing so, you will unlock two new characters in the form of Shea and Natalie as well.

I did not find it that difficult to complete either Natalie's Story or Shea's Story.
In doing so, I then unlocked two more characters in the form of Vaughn and Elliot. It was after this that I met with my first real defeat in the final Chapter of Vaughn's Story. I still haven't completed Vaughn's Story...

In fact, this took me to the alternative strategy of playing the game in Story Attack Mode to unlock the other six characters. Doing so gave me vital practice in seeing how the Harvest Sprite moves and waters Crops. The tutorials are excellent but there is no real substitute for actual gameplay.

My biggest problem in Story Mode is running out of time in the Puzzles with a time limit. I don't run out of mature Crops as often as I run out of time.

I believe that the key to success is being able to use the Special Skill of the Character you are playing effectively. You need to 'set up' your Grid so that use of the Special Skill will have the greatest effect.

Another vital element in successful strategy is setting up the grid so that the Harvest Sprite's watering ALWAYS has the greatest effect. Chains, for example, increase his field of influence. When you are in a Mode that includes Stone-dropping, you need to make certain that you are able to break apart all the stones that fall on your field quickly without using all the watering efforts to do only that.

My own Touchscreen is worn out, which means that my own speed in moving crops is impaired. I think speed in moving crops is another vital element... and avoiding unnecessary or ineffective movements of Crops would be important where there is a time limit to the puzzle.

Big Crops and Gold Crops must be utilised to the maximum effect. Remember that, whenever a Big Crop is harvested, the Sprite will water a far larger area than usual. Set up your field accordingly BEFORE you harvest the Big Crop. Knowing when the Big Crops are set to appear is important as well. Don't allow nearly ripe Crops to be caught within the highlighted area... I often move Stones into those spaces when the puzzle includes those.

Gold Crops have two separate uses: when harvested singly, all other Crops of that type will become ripe instantly and be harvested. When they are at the end of a Chain, you receive a point bonus. Whenever the puzzle has a time limit, you need to bring any Gold Crop to the ripe stage as quickly as possible in order to maximise the benefit it will bring. Many times when I have been defeated, I had Gold Crops ALMOST at ripe stage in my grid.

At least, these are elements that I perceive... any other strategy tips from players would be appreciated!

Bluebomr2 mentioned a facet of gameplay that I neglected to add to this post: Favourites. It is extremely important to take note of a character's 'Favourite' Crops BEFORE you begin any puzzle as his/her Special Skill oftens affects only 'favourites'. These are not the same as 'Most Favourite Gifts', by the way. They are favourites specifically designed for the purpose of the puzzles in Frantic Farming. Each playable character has two 'Favourites'.

Actually, I'd like to make a Request:

If any player(s) would be willing to help transcribe some of the Stories in Frantic Farming for me, I obviously would credit them in the Guide and they would earn my eternal gratitude. The Stories I definitely still need are:
Lanna's Story, Denny's Story, Julia's Story, Sabrina's Story, Pierre's Story, Witch Princess' Story.

The only part of Vaughn's Story I am missing is the Ending...

2 comments:

Tanpoponoko said...: Yes, I'll be happy to help with this, but it would be much easier to send it via email than blog comment... would you mind emailing me so I can contact you more easily? I'm also working on a guide for this game for Ranch story, so I'd like to talk to you about a few other things, too!; September 2, 2009 at 3:04 PM
Freyashawk said...: No, no, I didn't intend for you to put reams of Event text into comments! Just please send in emails if you like. My email address is castleenchanted@aol.com

My email address is available always at the beginning of my guides as well.; September 3, 2009 at 2:13 PM

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!

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