Harvest Moon Forever: A Perfectly Stunning and Splendid Birthday in Harvest Moon

Saturday, October 17, 2009

A Perfectly Stunning and Splendid Birthday in Harvest Moon

Without giving away any surprises, I was delighted by my latest birthday celebration in the Harvest Moon game I am playing at the moment. Shocked... thrilled... I think that players will be well pleased!

I have been playing Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games for a few years now but I still am capable of being startled by new options in these games. The creators appear to have boundless creativity and enthusiasm and although they build on beloved characters and traditions, there always is something new and wonderful added to the mix.

I personally would recommend that players try to play ALL of the games in each series if they can find them. A number of players have been asking whether they should invest in Sunshine Islands or Island of Happiness. I think it would be a mistake to dismiss Island of Happiness at this point. Much of my pleasure in exploring Sunshine Islands is derived from my experiences in Island of Happiness. The two games are similar in many respects but each is unique. I don't see these games as being progressively better, but rather as a continuing saga.

Long ago, when I explored the Library in 'More Friends of Mineral Town', I was able to appreciate the books about Forget-Me-Not Valley because I had played 'A Wonderful Life'. HM DS and Cute DS drew upon previous games set both in Mineral Town and Forget-Me-Not Valley. Island of Happiness introduces many new characters but still includes references to Mineral Town and indeed, characters from Mineral Town visit the Island annually. Frantic Farming, a different sort of Harvest Moon game, still has wonderful Events that involve the characters from Island of Happiness. As for Sunshine Islands... well, more about that later.

Players have begun to discuss Rune Factory 3 but I should hate to play any future Rune Factory game without having played the original Rune Factory, Rune Factory 2 and Rune Factory Frontier. All these games are linked by a common history.

I have to confess that I enjoy the sense of familiarity I experience whenever I explore a new Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game. I am glad that I have some idea of what I can expect... but the little surprises and changes are very exciting as well. The creators of these games appear to have a very fine sense of balance where any new game is concerned. Without jettisoning the traditional aspects of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory that fans have grown to love and expect, they always introduce enough new surprises to keep our experiences fresh and exciting.

3 comments:

mimepop said...: awsome i have most of the harvest moon games.id prefer harvest moon cute than harvest moon more freinds of mineral town.there still both awsome.; October 19, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Anonymous said...: The new game sounds exiting, I cant wait to play it! Is there an official harvest moon website?; October 19, 2009 at 5:33 PM
GalPerson said...: Yes, actually, there is, Anonymous. It is here: http://www.natsume.com/ It is not the Harvest Moon website because there are other games on it as well, but Natsume is the company that makes Harvest Moon games and all of the games, old and new, are listed on the "Current Games" link, though those for the older game systems are listed in the "Archive" section.; November 8, 2009 at 4:29 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!

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'.