Secrets of the Kappa in Harvest Moon

Although there are far more important aspects of Animal Parade to cover still, I couldn't resist the opportunity to deal with traditional mythology in Harvest Moon, one of my favourite subjects. Here is a little video about the Kappa as he appears in FoMT, MFoMT, Harvest Moon Boy & Girl and Animal Parade.



There was another old GBA game that featured the Kappa. I seem to recall that you could catch him and force him to give you special items in the form of weapons and armour. If any one can remember which game this was, post a comment. It may have been 'Lunar Legend' but I am not certain...

Harvest Moon Gender Discrimination

There are those who claim Harvest Moon discriminates against women by not allowing the woman to continue her game after marriage in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl. I do not think it was a deliberate form of discrimination but probably based on a smaller allotment of time to the creation of the Girl version.

The Girl version is rather strange in many respects. Many of the Heart Events of the eligible girls in the Boy version have been retained in the Girl version for no apparent reason. It is almost as though the individuals who were responsible for making the decisions in the Girl version were not familiar with courtship rules in Harvest Moon. Furthermore, some of the events are backwards. One experiences Elli's Third Heart Event BEFORE one experiences her Second Heart Event when playing as a girl in HM B & G. It is as though they simply decided to include X number of events from the Boy version irrespective of the significance of those events...

I find it maddening that romance in HM Boy and Girl, both when playing as a Boy and when playing as a Girl is based on the individual with the current highest heart level. Perhaps it makes sense but I don't like it. I always tend to use Romantic festivals as a means by which to raise the heart level of the girl or bachelor who has the LOWEST affection for me at that point in time. In Boy & Girl, the game decides the individual with whom you will be allowed to spend the festival.

There is a point where gender discrimination does occur, however, and that is the Fireworks Festival. If you play as a boy and have all eligible girls at a decent level, you can invite any of them to join you to watch the show. It is YOUR choice for once. If you play as a girl, however, the game intervenes and controls your life. Only the bachelor with the highest heart level will give you the option of watching the event with him. I had both Grey and Cliff almost at orange heart level, but Cliff's heart level was slightly higher and thus, he was the one who asked. The first time I played the event, I thought it would be the same as the Boy version and refused Cliff, thinking I then would be asked by Grey, but refusing Cliff forced me to watch the event alone at the end of the pier...

It is curious that Cliff's heart level has mounted steadily, even though I stopped giving him items some time ago, realising that I could not experience any more Heart Events until he had the Winery job. I have given Grey gifts each day and yet, his heart level is slightly lower than that of Cliff.

It will be interesting to see if Cliff is at red heart level even before I have any opportunity to offer him the Winery job. I almost would be willing to wager that it will be, even if I never give him another gift.

N.B. In contrast to Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, the Fireworks Festival in Cute is an opportunity to raise the heart levels of EVERY bachelor, even those who do not give you the option to watch the display with them. Only bachelors with green heart or higher will give you an option to invite them to watch the display but all Valley and all Mineral Town bachelors will be at the beach with the sad exception of Skye. Even where a bachelor is at blue heart level and does not allow you to invite him to watch the fireworks with him, if you speak to him, it will boost his AP by 2000 points. What this means is that, for the day of the Fireworks Festival, you can boost the AP of EVERY bachelor apart from Skye by 4000 points, 2000 points of that for speaking to him at the Fireworks Festival and 2000 points for changing your outfit. What is interesting here is that you will not raise any bachelor's AP higher by choosing to view the show with him. ALL bachelors to whom you speak will have an increase of 2000 AP the next day for your action in speaking to them.

Power or Wealth? It depends on your Gender

I feel a bit schizophrenic at the moment, playing the Boy and the Girl version of Harvest Moon Boy & Girl simultaneously. Although both versions share the same foundation fundamentally, there are some differences that are significant and others that are minor. Chief among significant differences is the fact that marriage in the Girl version ends the game. In the Boy version, you go on to create a family for yourself. For those who assume that the creators of the game are prejudiced against women, that assumption is quite false. There are many Harvest Moon games where a female character can marry and raise a family: 'Another Wonderful Life', 'More Friends of Mineral Town', 'Magic Melody' and 'Harvest Moon Cute DS' are among them.

I personally think that the reason why the option is not available in the Girl version is that it is based on an old Japanese game that never was produced in English. Perhaps it was created rather hastily or almost as an afterthought to please players who wished to play 'Back to Nature' as a girl... I wish that one could marry and have a child as a girl in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, but there is no profit to be made in belabouring the point. If you wish to have a family, play as a boy... I always court all the eligible girls and all the bachelors in every game in any case, so seldom save the results after marriage. So far, as a boy in HM Boy & Girl, I have married Ann and Mary without saving the results of either marriage. In fact, I went through half a year of married life with Mary simply in order to experience events that cannot be triggered before the second year, including a two-part Rival Heart Event for each girl.

Courtship and Marriage appears to be one of the primary concerns of players of both genders. As I have completed all the Heart Events for the eligible girls in the Boy version and my Courtship guide now can take a male player to a successful marriage, I decided I had to return to the Girl version of the game to do the same with respect to all the eligible bachelors.

As I initially began to play this game as a girl but switched to the Boy version as early as 11 Spring in my first year, I was appalled by the state of my girl's game when I returned to it. I have become so much more adept at the game after playing a year and a half as a boy...

I therefore simply began a new game, overwriting the rather feeble first attempts to play as a girl. Having amassed a number of Power Berries withiin the first week as a boy, I thought I would do the same in the girl version.

Imagine my surprise when, after throwing five crop offerings into the Goddess Spring, the Harvest Goddess gave me a piece of lumber! In the Boy version of the game, she gives a Red Power Berry after five crop offerings, a chance to share the Spa with the girl with the highest heart level after 10 and finally, after a total of 20 offerings, a piece of lumber that Gotz will pay a very generous price to obtain.

In the girl version, the gift of the Lumber is first and in fact, Gotz pays 3000G for it rather than 1000G. Apparently, the makers of this game felt that Power was more important for a Boy and wealth was more vital to a Girl!

I now will have to discover if I receive the Power Berry after I have tossed another five crops into the Spring or if I am offered the chance to share a bath with the bachelor with highest heart level... As it is only 8 Spring, I do not have that many crops ready for harvest at present. I shipped the first lot and will have to wait until tomorrow for more to ripen.

Well, I have experienced the events now. It cost me a total of TWENTY crops to obtain the Red Power Berry and there is no Spa event in the Girl version. When you have tossed a total of 10 crop offerings in the Spring, the Goddess WILL ask you if you have a Sweetheart. If you admit that you do, she will send the bachelor with the highest heart level to you... In my case, rather to my annoyance, it presently is the Doctor, so he came to me and threw me a Moondrop! Not even a Toyflower, but a Moondrop, the most common flower in Spring. Never mind. A part of me did not wish to save the result, but I'll keep a separate file at a point prior to this so I can experience the event with all the other bachelors. It is not THAT important, although it sent him to Blue Heart level instantly. I still need to raise his heart further in order to experience the Wednesday Lake event though, apparently.

To return to the main issue, however, the Power Berry in the Girl version is given only after 20 crop offerings, making it far more difficult in the beginning of the first Spring than it is in the Boy game. I got it, of course, but at what a price!

I have to say that there are other minor differences between the two games that can be very cruel. My first experience of the Spring Goddess Festival was utterly humiliating. Even though the scene in which Gotz gives you a gorgeous traditional gown to wear is very poignant, as it is an heirloom that should have belonged to his deceased daughter, the actual Festival is horrible in the first year. Despite the fact that I had plied the bachelors with gifts since the start of the game, no heart level was sufficiently high to allow me to gain an escort to the Festival... When I arrived there, Mary was with Grey, Elli was with the Doctor and Cliff and Ann were together... Rick remained with his sister, thus leaving Karen to her own devices, but... various individuals were determined to remind me of the fact that I had NO ONE.

Grey spoke besottedly of Mary and how 'cute' she was in pink. Anna made a comment to the effect that Grey and Mary reminded her of herself and her own husband when they were young...Elli crowed about the Doctor being HER date... and so on and so forth, ad nauseum. It reminded me of the worst nightmares one had as a young girl, with respect to school dances and the fear that one would not have an acceptable escort...

In all honesty though, we had a very clever tradition of throwing an annual Twelfth Night party and inviting ONLY boys so that my sister and I would have a choice of six dance partners. All the boys we invited were our best friends so it inevitably was a great success. I suppose the Spring Goddess Festival in Harvest Moon will teach me humility, at least in the first year. It is interesting that my gaming practice of bringing all eligible girls or bachelors to deepest red heart level before I allow them to marry my rivals is not unlike my actual experience.

Well, back to the arduous task of building a farm... Ironically, I have forced myself to put down the Boy version of the game temporarily when it actually had become FUN... I had all the farm, house and tool upgrades as well as the Hothouse. All the girls were there for the taking and I received gifts from each and every one of them at the Winter Thanksgiving... Now I am taken back to a point when I am struggling with life, having only the medium rucksack, basic tools and a very meagre amount of money. I actually COUNT the bags of coins I scoop up in the Mine each day at 10G each. This gave me another realisation actually. When you do not have the Basket, a trip to the Spring Mine is important for the number of 10G bags of coins you can collect... after all, Copper Ore only ships for 15G. With only a few slots in your rucksack, collecting bags of coin probably is as profitable as anything else, unless you are willing to toss out all ore apart from Mystrile.

New General Guide for PSP Harvest Moon Boy and Girl

If you look at the right side of this page, you will see that I have written some preliminary guides for Harvest Moon Boy & Girl. It is not really the way I would have liked to have covered these games, as I feel that I am forced to do everything in some haste... Nonetheless, I hope they will be helpful to players. I will continue to add to them as well as updating every guide.

In terms of HM Cute DS, I now have completed a Recipe Cookbook Guide (as well as my own Recipe list in the game itself), have completed the Calendar guides for the first and second year, and have written most of my General Guide and Courtship and Marriage Guide for that game. IGN will not publish these until the game officially is released on 25 March.

Natsume will send me 'Island of Happiness' later this month. That is very exciting, but there is a part of me that perceives it as a sort of consolation prize for losing my 'Cute' game! Nevertheless, I knew I would lose it ultimately when I first began my journey with Skye... Life is transient in any world, I suppose. The wonderful thing about Harvest Moon is that one always can begin a new life... Like other Harvest Mooon fans, I plan to do that on my own cartridge of HM Cute DS after 25 March.

The Beauty of the Fish Pond

It is only in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl that I truly have begun to appreciate the beauty of the Fish Pond. Although you have a Fish Pond in Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town, it really is not particularly significant in terms of gameplay. There is an error in fact in one of those two games that causes the Pond to hand you small fish instead of large fish and vice versa... There is no option to buy Fish Food at the Supermarket, however, and there are better ways to make money (such as fishing during festivals and exploiting the Horse Races to fill your basket with brooches).

You have a Pond in Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon Cute DS but it is an upgrade and the reason why you need to order it is not for fish but, as in 'A Wonderful Life' and 'Another Wonderful Life', so as to entice ducks to the farm. In HM DS and Cute DS, you actually must purchase the ducks from Popuri but she will not offer them until the Pond is built. Another reason for the Pond in HM DS is to persuade Leia to marry you... if you do not have a Pond, she will not have an appropriate place to live on your farm. Apparently, as a potential spouse, she sets her sights higher than the bathtub in which she is content to spend her days in Daryl's Basement... YOUR bathroom simply won't do!

Of course, if you had been able to persuade Leia to live in your Bathroom, you never would SEE her again, as all activities that occur in that mysterious chamber (and the Toilet) are hidden from players. Personally, I am glad that we do not have to view our characters on the toilet. In the Sims, for example, far too much time is spent in the latrine, with options to read a paper, play video games and many more. Mercifully, Harvest Moon does not subject its players to this sort of invasion of privacy...

The subject of this article is NOT the Bathroom but the Fish Pond. If you place two Large Fish in the Fish Pond and ply them with Fish Food daily, they may spawn others. Small and Medium Fish placed in the Pond will grow into Large Fish.

Now THIS is a Fish Pond that actually has some uses... Oddly enough, the first two fish I caught in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl were Large Fish. Despite my abject poverty at the beginning of Spring, I tossed them into the Fish Pond and began to feed them.
Sad to say, I ultimately sold them in order to be able to afford a larger rucksack and then was cross with myself for doing so... Meanwhile, I had caught a few small fish and one or two medium fish. The total number of fish in my Fish Pond at the end of Spring was 9, none of whom were Large Fish, sadly.

Two days ago, the total remained 9... Today, I saw that the total had jumped to 16. Going to the Pond, I removed a Fish and saw that it was Large. As I had no large fish in the pond after selling my 2 initial large Fish, some of the others must have grown to full size!

This sort of small detail delights me, even if it is not worth much in financial terms. Again, it makes all the hard work and effort worthwhile...

Ann's Birthday in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl

I always suspected that the deck was stacked a little in favour of Ann in Friends of Mineral Town. In Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, I have similar suspicions. Some say that your childhood playmate will turn out to be whichever girl you marry, but I always believed it to be Ann, irrespective of your ultimate choice of spouse.

In any event, there are a few events that involve Ann that are worth experiencing in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl. One of these is her Birthday Party at the Inn.

I was a little tardy with this one, as I had become too accustomed to Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon Cute DS... in those games, you cannot access your postbox. In FoMT and MFoMT, many wonderful surprises would come via postal service, but it had been a long time since I played either of those games.

It therefore was 20 Summer before I ever looked at the postbox, idly wondering whether or not the option existed in HMBG... I was deluged with old post! First, there was the announcement from the Supermarket to the effect that the Large Rucksack now was being offered. As I had purchased it the first day it appeared on the shelf, that notice was irrelevant.

The next notice was from the Clinic, to the effect that Bodigizer XL now could be purchased. As I felt that the price of these medicines was too high, especially in view of the potency of the Hot Spring, that too was not important to me.

It was the third item of post, however, that made me extremely wroth with myself. This was an Invitation to Ann's Birthday Party at the Inn on 17 Summer. I had forgotten that her birthday was celebrated at the Inn in FoMT and MFoMT, and had played through her birthday in HMBG, merely giving her a Spa Egg at the Goddess Spring in the morning...

I realised I had to experience the event, even if I did not save the results afterwards... Unfortunately, being of a stubborn and obsessive disposition, I knew secretly that once I went back in time to experience it, I would continue with that path, losing the work I had done from 17 Summer through 20 Summer in other slots...

There was one more announcement, this one from Doug to the effect that the Inn would be open from 6.00 p.m. on 17 Summer. Now, this announcement is rather misleading. To me, it would imply that the party would be AFTER 6.00 p.m. but in fact, what it means is that you must go to the Inn at any time between 11.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. if you wish to experience the Birthday Party Event.

Having resigned myself to the idea of replaying three days of the game, I performed all my usual chores and then took a spa egg to the Supermarket to have it gift-wrapped. At noon or thereabouts, I went to the Inn to see what would occur. (I was uncertain at this point of the meaning of Doug's announcement.)

The event in fact triggered when I entered the Inn shortly after noon. My rival Cliff was there as well as Ann and Doug. Both cake and pie were displayed on the table. Ann and Doug both appeared to be delighted to see me and Cliff was his usual morose self, muttering sadly about his sister, harping on her resemblance to Ann.

When I gave Ann her gift-wrapped egg (very nicely wrapped, I must say!), she was thrilled, telling me with great courtesy that my mere presence was gift enough, but obviously pleased by my offering.

The only negative result of this event is that it ends only at 6.00 p.m., thereby depriving me of about half of my ordinary working day as well as the shipping deadline. No matter... Ann's heart was boosted to green by the event and I now may be able to persuade the Harvest Goddess to place her in the role of 'sweetheart' for the Hot Spring Event.

'The Woodcutter and the King' and a Power Berry

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In experiencing Mary's Blue Heart Event, you have the opportunity to read the legend inspired by the real magical tree in the middle of the meadow to the right of the lake.

Mary will give you a book and ask you to read it 'between tasks'. At first, I did not know how to read the book... I tried to set it down on a table, thinking that I then would be able to press X to read it, but in vain.

In fact, the first time I experienced the event, I became frustrated in the end and returned the book to Mary unread. When she asked me to choose which character I liked best, I simply guessed, but chose the 'Woodcutter' thinking that this character would be more sympathetic to village folk...

I then replayed the entire day, partly in order to add the information about Mary's response to the incorrect answer to my guide and partly to test something that had occurred to me with respect to a possible way to 'read' the book.

In fact my supposition was correct. It was possible to read the book by pressing Triangle when the book was in the rucksack. The Triangle Button orders the game to 'Explain Item'. Pressing Triangle unlocked the entire story, which is rather long and quite charming.

Furthermore, it gives the entire tale of the magical tree in the Meadow and the fact that a 'rare nut' in the form of a Power Berry will be given if you take pity on the tree and do not chop it down.

Here is the tale of the 'Woodcutter and the King':

Text of Book:
'The Woodcutter and the King'
Once upon a time there was a woodcutter who lives in a small country. One day the woodcutter were called before the king. The king ordered the woodcutter to go and find a special nut that was said to prolong life.

'The woodcutter finally found the rare nut way on the top of a tall tree in the forest. But as he prepared to cut the tree down...

The woodcutter suddenly heard a voice.

It was the tall tree, asking 'please don't cut me down'.

The woodcutter felt pity for the tree and decided to let it stand...

To his surprise, the tall tree gave him the nut in thanks. The woodcutter had never seen a nut of that colour before, but he dutifully sent the nut to the king.

The king ordered the woodcutter to chop down the tree down and bring it to the castle. But the woodcutter refused...

In anger, the king threw the woodcutter in the dungeon and set off himself to cut down the tree. But none of the trees had any nuts, and the king lost his way and never came out.

The woodcutter was saved.'

End of Story.

I never would have had the opportunity to read this tale had I not played Harvest Moon Boy & Girl. It is little delights like these that make EVERY Harvest Moon game worth the trouble...

A very difficult life in HM Boy and Girl, but with rewards

Harvest Moon Log, Harvest Moon date: 3 Summer, Year 1. Earth time: Noon, 1 March 2008. I ask myself: 'Why bother with Harvest Moon Boy & Girl where the largest rucksack only gives me 8 slots and where at the beginning of Summer, I haven't been able to expand my house yet?'

Why indeed? There is a part of me that longs to spend my entire Harvest Moon life in the Forget-Me-Not Valley of HM DS/Cute DS, where each slot allows a stack of 99 items, where one can get rich on the first day of gameplay by digging in the Excavation Site, where my life at this point is rather easy and automatic...

Why did I have ANY interest in the PSP Harvest Moon Boy & Girl? My life is difficult there, far more so than in Friends of Mineral Town or More Friends of Mineral Town. The controls stick often, causing dreadful accidents where I throw away an item inadvertantly. Transportation is SLOW. In HM DS and HM Cute DS, one can buy a Teleport Stone in the second week of gameplay... Oh, for a Teleport Stone!!!

Having said all this, I still want to continue my life in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl. The graphics are wonderful, with vibrant colours and detail. Although it is very similar to FoMT/MFoMT in plot and even in terms of many events, there are new events to experience. In particular, the Blue Heart Events of the girls, hitherto the stuff of legend for me, now can be experienced firsthand.

When a game is difficult, moreover, the rewards are greatly appreciated once they are obtained. I have to say that I HATED the Swim Contest on Opening Day. I knew that I would. I did not win it. If I had been able to save my game immediately before I entered the Beach area (as one could do in FoMT and MFoMT), I would have replayed it again and again until I won it, but in the circumstances, where one must replay the entire day, I couldn't be bothered. I'll win it next year...

The most important motivation in continuing Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, though, may be the emotional attachment to characters. There is a real poignancy to some of the stories about characters in HMBG that does not exist in HM DS or HM Cute DS. These stories are included in FoMT and MFoMT, but I had forgotten how they tug at the heartstrings.

For example, there is the story of little May and her longing for her mother, Joanna. I just experienced the event where Barley asks me to help him find her, when she is missing... Finding her on the pier at last after 6.00 p.m., she told me: 'I hope Mom comes home soon... Then I can live with her and Grandpa, the three of us.' When I take her home to Barley, he asks her: 'Are you lonely living with me?'

Both children in Mineral Town are rather lonely. Stu lives with his disabled grandmother, Ellen. She is very loving, but cannot leave the house (apart from one incident in FoMT/MFoMT, where she manages to get to Kai's restaurant for a meal). Elli, his sister, spends most of her time at the Clinic. Until you engineer a regular babysitting job for Carter that includes both children, they wander about aimlessly alone, wishing for a playmate.

The story of Aja is another rather poignant tale of loss and longing. She is the daughter of Duke and Manna who ran off to the city. The Winery in fact was named after her, but she has not been willing to return and does not communicate enough with her parents. Duke's heavy drinking apparently started after her departure... Manna's loneliness is based on her longing for her daughter's return. Harris, the local police constable, is in love with Aja, but it is an unrequited affair.

For characters like these and for the excitement that new heart events brings, I am determined to continue my lives in Harvest Moon PSP Boy and Girl. Unfortunately, I now must gird my loins for the ordeal of the Sumo Chicken Contest. I hated that Contest in FoMT/MFoMT, although by being able to save at the point of entering the Square, I could replay it until I won. It was possible in those games to win even with a Chicken with only a single heart... but one had to be persistent. Even chickens with maximum heart levels could behave idiotically, again and again... I daresay it will be the same in this game.

Kai secretly visits Mineral Town in early Spring???

One of the joys of Harvest Moon is the way one can follow characters and the threads of a tale from game to game. Harvest Moon Boy & Girl may be very similar to 'Friends of Mineral Town' and 'More Friends of Mineral Town' in its characters, events and even much of its dialogue but there are some surprising differences and startling new events that delight the true Harvest Moon fan.

In the first week of gameplay, as a girl in HM Boy & Girl, I triggered an event with Cliff at the Church. Carter declared his intention to go to the Supermarket for supplies and asked me if I would watch the Church in his absence. Cliff, half-hidden in one of the pews, overheard and became extremely agitated at the thought of being left alone anywhere with a GIRL. He told Carter he would accompany him to the Supermarket. Both of them went out the door and I was left alone in the Church.

What possessed me to investigate the Confessional rather than simply walking out the door I never will know but I am very pleased that I did.

I was not terribly happy to be in the tiny dark room alone.

'Ugh, this is no fun...' I thought.

I had been there only a moment or two when Kai entered the Church.

Looking for Carter, he thought perhaps that the priest might be in the Confessional. Kai entered and began his own Confession!

I now had a choice either to tell him that I wasn't Carter or simply to go ahead and hear his confession. As dearly as I wished to hear his Confession, I knew that declaring myself was the right thing to do, so I told him that I wasn't Carter.

Outside the Confessional, he introduced himself. Carter and Cliff duly returned, putting an end to this intriguing encounter. Kai said he would look forward to renewing our acquaintance in Summer...