Harvest Moon...

[solipsistnation]

Yup, it's another GameCube game, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.



My brother recommended this, and I've been really enjoying it... It's an RPG, pretty much, but also a farm simulation and (sigh) a dating simulation. It's got things that Animal Crossing has-- giving people gifts, fishing, interaction to build relationships, digging things up-- and it's got a very neat farm setup. You play day by day-- wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning, go out and milk the cow, put cow and horse out to pasture, collect any eggs your chicken(s) might have laid, water the crops, harvest anything that's ready to go, pack up dairy for shipment and sale in the city, plan out the day... More planting? Till the field? Maybe go into town and see if you can sell off some produce, see who's around, talk to them, give things to people you want to impress. If you have time, go fishing or find one of the 3 potential brides and see if you can woo them. I picked the toughest girl to woo, so I can't just give her flowers-- no, Nami is a smart girl and not easily swayed by mere springtime flowers. She prefers fossils and statues from the archeological dig, and flowers that bloom in the autumn. I suspect she will also enjoy sweet potatoes and autumn crops, once those are ready to harvest. She likes to eat fish, and the fish marinade (made from my own fresh tomatoes!) seems to make her grin the most. While in town, if the merchant is open, visit him to sell or buy things. Visit another farmer to buy seeds. Visit the inn for cooking tips. Head back to the farm in the evening to put the livestock back in the barn and milk the cow the second time. Give the cow and the horse a good brushing-down. Feed the dog. Maybe go fishing again, maybe visit town again for a bit of socializing. Head home to bed by 11. Sleep 7 hours. Get up, do it all again.

It's a very calming game, although not as soporific as Animal Crossing. It's surprising that farm life makes such a good RPG, but this isn't even the first of these games, and if I'd ever had earlier Nintendo consoles, I might have played them, too.

So I was playing this yesterday, watering tomatoes and cutting fodder for the animals (I need to have enough to last the winter!), and I realized that not so long ago, my family left Germany and headed for South Dakota. In 1912, my family headed West. They sold the farm, took the train, and headed for Oregon. There, they missed their original stop and found themselves in Sheridan. They bought land and settled down and started another farm. My grandfather was still farming that land when he died. Other relatives took over through the years, but the house and some of that land is still in the family (although another branch now). My father grew up on that farm. I spent happy childhood days roaming through the fields, playing in the creek, catching frogs in pools and climing trees. The first dead thing I remember seeing was a sheep that had fallen off of a bridge and died in a little ravine. I knew that farm better than my own back yard.

And now, 20 years later, here I am playing a video game about farming. What would my grandfather think of it, I wonder?

Comments

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

Another Wonderful Life is supposed to be out in the next few months. It's the girls version -- you get to play a girl instead, and marry one of the guys.

Harvest Moon has always been a good series, and very relaxing.

[gambl0r.livejournal.com]

Did you ever play the Maxis classic, SimFarm? It was sooo much fun. I played that just as much as I played SimCity 2000. In fact, I still remember the music that would play when the fair would come into town. I should try to find it and a program to make it work with WinXP. Then you can experience a *real man's* farm simulator ;)

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking that the description of "A Wonderful Life" made it sound sorta like "The Sims Go Farming". It sounds like it has that same superficial attention to the daily routine - not superficial in a bad way, but in the sense that you don't have to pay attention to absolutely everything a real person does. Sims have to go to the bathroom and buy food, but they don't have to cut their grass, for example...

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Actually, you do have to pay attention to more than I expected. Grass grows, and you have to cut it down for fodder, and things like that... Leave your cow out in the rain and she'll get sick, don't brush her enough and she'll give lower-quality milk, make sure you breed her once a year or she'll dry up, don't sell off the baby right away or she'll get sad and give lower-quality milk... There's a surprising amount to do here.