Tuesday, May 25, 2010

'Endings' in Hero of Leaf Valley

Some one who saw one of my HoLV You Tube videos made a comment to the effect that it looked like 'Save the Homeland' with more Harvest Moon activities. In fact, although this is true in a very general way, Hero of Leaf Valley is far more complex.

For a start, I seem to recall that 'Save the Homeland' would end when you completed ANY Story Quest. Essentially, the first Story Quest that you completed would end the game. You then could begin again with some of your assets to follow a different Story Quest.

In 'Hero of Leaf Valley', you can COMPLETE as many Story Quests as you like without any fear that the game will end abruptly, cheating you of the chance to play any longer.

It is on 30 Winter in the 2nd Year that the 'Ending' to the first part of the game will occur.

If you have 50,000G on 30 Winter, you will experience one of THREE endings associated with 'Shoot for the Stars!', the Main Story Quest. The first of these will allow you to enter the third year with the possibility of courting and marrying Alice. This Ending will occur only if you defeated EVERY Robot sent into the Valley and if you decided to rescue Alice and the Funland employees from drowning. The second Event Ending is the one that occurs if you tried your best but did not defeat EVERY Robot. The third ending Event is the one that occurs if you couldn't care less about Alice and simply wish to purchase the Land and be done with Funland.

If you do not have 50,000G on 30 Winter, you can experience one of three other Ending Events. The first is associated with the Nature Preserve solution. The second is associated with the Tourist Destination solution. The third is the ending that will occur if you neither have 50,000G nor completed at least three Story Quests in the Nature Preserve category or three Story Quests in the Tourist Destination category. The last Ending, therefore, is the Event that represents failure to save Leaf Valley.

If you fail to save the Valley, you will be forced to begin the game again, but will be allowed to keep some of your assets. What is interesting, however, is the fact that, even if you succeed in saving the Valley, you have the option to start a new game with your current assets.

In other words, the old 'Save the Homeland' option to play a new game still exists. This may be the choice of a player who has chosen to complete only a few Story Quests in the first game and wishes to experience more Events.

Of course, with the PSP capability of keeping multiple save files, you can save your game before 30 Winter in the 2nd year and then choose to start a new game in one file while going forward into the third year in another file.

Players who do not choose to move forward into the third year will not be able to marry, nor able to create a Greenhouse or experience the Sprinkler system that is available only in the advanced phase of the game. They will not meet Zann...

Nor will they be able to marry. In the context of marriage, there is another potential 'Main Story' in Hero of Leaf Valley.

If you have spoken frequently to the Harvest Goddess, you may have noted her wistfulness and loneliness. Even in the first year, she is outspoken in her dissatisfaction with her isolation from all but the Harvest Sprites.

Many of the Story Quests in HoLV are connected to the Harvest Goddess in one fashion or another, but there is one that is vital to her future. If you have any desire to court the Harvest Goddess, you must complete the Harvest Goddess Temple Quest. Furthermore, you must make certain that, at the end of the 2nd Year, her FP is higher than that of any of the ordinary Eligible Girls. You then will experience 'Marina's Confession', an Event of Transformation in which the Harvest Goddess sheds her wings and divine duties to become the human Girl Marina. This represents a significant change and it is one that players may wish to consider.

You can keep multiple save files in Hero of Leaf Valley. If you wish to experience Marina's Confession, you MUST save one file before you have raised any Eligible Girl's Heart Level to a point where the Harvest Goddess no longer can compete for the highest rank in your affections. You then can split your game into two separate paths, one for a future where the Harvest Goddess remains her divine self and another where she is allowed to come down from her pedestal to seek a very human life.

Incidentally, you can find the text of 'Marina's Confession' in my HoLV Characters Guide.

All in all, 'Hero of Leaf Valley' is far more than a new version of 'Save the Homeland'.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you're right it may kinda look like save the homeland but A LOT more stuff.