Sunday, May 23, 2010

Animal Problems in HoLV

Players have had sad tales to tell about their Animals in almost every Harvest Moon games. Animals sometimes become stuck in walls when builders expand homes or barns. Animals left outside, even in pens, sometimes escape and disappear, even though the game does not recognise that they have vanished...

Well, HoLV has some occasional problems with Animals as well. Some are amusing but others can cause loss of Hearts.

Another player's Journal vividly describes the problems she has encountered with her own dog Junah:

'Where is junah? Ugh! I can hear him barking but can’t see any part of him. I whistle. He’s behind the trash can in the wall. He can’t seem to get away. I waited by the bed again and made a quick grab for him. Is this normal? Does he sleep in the walls? In AP your dog slept by your bed...

In another entry:

'Where is Junah? Junah is stuck behind the TV. I whistle and looked out from behind the tool box. I can see his feet running under the TV. I walk over and the word 'Examine' is highlighted. I walk over to my bed and wait for the words 'Pick up', then grab him. I put him down again by the table. He’s walking funny. His feet are going forward, but his body is sliding sideways. He walks through the kitchen wall and into the fridge. The fridge looks like it has a tail as Junah’s tail is sticking out. Funny. I decide to leave him in the fridge to help himself to all the fish he can eat.'

Her descriptions are hilarious and happily, her dog's situation caused no loss in Friendship.

In my own game, however, my first Dog problem DID result in the loss of a Heart.

I had taken my dog to the Grocery Shop area to 'Search' for items. He did this quite docilely and successfully but THEN went into the sign in front of Ronald's Shop. He looked like one of those guys that appear in old films wearing 'sandwich boards' to advertise some one's business. He really appeared to be wearing the sign or else to have mutated into a half-dog, half-sawhorse creature.

This would not have been a problem had he responded when I whistled for him, but he failed to do so. The sun set and I think the silly creature fell asleep in between the boards. Meanwhile, knowing that I would lose significant FP with him if I could not take him home with me, I continued to whistle for him. In desperation, I actually walked into my Homestead, then returned to the area immediately to see if the shift in screen would shift HIM. Well, it evidently shifted him to another dimension as he had disappeared completely.

I went into the Homestead again to see if somehow he had followed me and had put himself safely to bed. No such luck.

He was at five hearts when I took him foraging. I may have incurred two black strikes, one by whistling at him after he fell asleep and the other by 'abandoning' him on another screen. The fact that I stayed up until 1.00 a.m. trying to retrieve him counted for nothing...

At 6.00 a.m. the next morning, he was at four hearts but waited by the food dish as though nothing untoward had occurred. Very annoying. My only recourse if I did not wish to live with the loss of affection would be to reload from another slot and replay the day. It isn't worth the effort. I have the Power Berries and it will be interesting to see how quickly I can win back the lost heart...

Incidentally, I won the heart back in a single day. Even so, it was irritating because it was the DOG'S fault and not mine!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My dog has completely disappeared and been gone for two whole seasons. He did get stuck in the wall one time and I retrieved him. Now, no sign of him. I've started putting food out for him in hopes he will return. Since the sound bothers the people I live with, I do not usually have it on, so I'm not sure if I would hear any barking. Sure wish he would come back! PS I could never move him up to any hearts, despite careful care of him, so no power berries for me!