Harvest Moon (game)
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Harvest Moon is the name of a series of farm simulation/role-playing video games produced by Victor Interactive Software. English translation and distribution of the game is done by Natsume. The object of the game is to maintain the farm over a period of time, tending the crops and livestock through the seasons, while befriending the nearby townsfolk and getting married in some games. The first game was Harvest Moon, released for the Super Nintendo in 1997. Games in the series have also been produced for Game Boy and GBA, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and GameCube.
Most Harvest Moon games are permutations of a central formula. The game generally takes place over a set period of time (generally 3 years), in which the player is charged with the task of running a successful farm, getting married, having a child, and becoming friends with the townsfolk.
Most gameplay in the Harvest Moon games consists of planting seeds to grow fruits and vegetables in the spring, summer, and fall, and to collect items, make home improvements, and build personal relationships in the winter. A successful farmer must weigh the cost, selling price, number of harvests, and growth times of the various types of produce in order to pick the best product for each of the seasons.
The player must also balance their physical resources; if players over-exert themselves, they might not have the energy to perform needed activities, or might even get sick and miss a day of farming.
Activities common to all Harvest Moon games are:
Growing Produce: This is the central aspect to all the games, the player must find optimal planting, watering, and harvesting patterns. Find the most profitable plants, clear space for planting, and harvest the crops.
Gathering Materials: Many Harvest Moon games require the player to gather materials for home improvement, tool improvement, cooking, or simply selling. The most common resource at earlier stages of the game is wood; the player is able to chop up tree stumps to gather wood to add buildings to his or her farm. The various games also include materials collection by mining, foraging, and caring for animals.
Getting Married: The Harvest Moon games offer many choices for potential love interests. As the player spends time with the various potential love interests, they learn his or her likes and dislikes, shower him or her with gifts, and eventually propose. No Harvest Moon game has yet allowed players to pursue homosexual relationships - in Save the Homeland if the player (a male) gives flowers to another male character, they get rebutted on this point.Although in friends of mineral town, the sexuality of a certain character becomes some what of a joke.
See also
External links
- Harvest Moon Otaku (http://www.hmotaku.net/) - Harvest Moon fan site. Ranked first on Google.
- Website on all Gameboy versions of the game (http://www.fogu.com/hm)
- Harvest Moon Evergreen (http://www.hmevergreen.com/) - A simple site filled with information.de:Harvest Moon (Spiel)