Support NeoGAF

[BlueSummers]

Gonna give this a shot why not. There are a lot of entries this time though

Anyway, Harvest Moon for me personally is Harvest Moon 64. They say nostalgia is not really about the game you played but at what time in your life you played it. Me and my 2 lifelong friends call it harvest moon fever. We would all stay in my 1 friends living room and just play for hours passing off the controller after a given amount of time. This was also my first entry into this type of game and the world just seemed so huge. Fishing, the album that you put photos into which would require you to complete a mini quest of sorts, additions to your house, mining, getting secrets while mining, the weather vane, the diff colored stable roof, the terrace which if you had at the end you could invite everyone over and they would be on it.

My young mind and self was completely absorbed in the world and the game felt boundless. We played for multiple years, but never did get to the 8th year i think? Where we were convinced you could get the big black jumper fish. The power of that game is that I STILL don't know if you can and I don't wanna ruin it by checking online. We found so many secrets on our own and would be dating different girls, and farming crops in diff ways. Then there was horse racing, dog racing, and even the different times of day were great. I still remember the feeling of waiting for night to come and heading to the bar. The juxtaposition of the quietness of the night in town and then you step inside and its light and noisy and you could have a few drinks and actually get drunk..stumble home, pet your dog and go to bed..god it all felt so real. I will never ever forget harvest moon 64 and the fever my friends and I had for the game. I believe in the end we all ended up "beating" it if you could even say that. We had a greenhouse stocked with rows of just corn, and had a near complete photo album with all house additions, all animals, different colored stable roof, wife, kid, we saw the cut scene with the inventor and the teleportation device. (We swore at the time there was some way to get it) and so much more. Oh and the weather vane would be on top of your house if you found it while mining. (We were also convinced there was some super secret thing you could get if you got so many floors down).

God, I could drone on and on about all the secrets, and how the world felt so connected and the ppl inside mattered. Giving gifts to people, or the girl you were trying to woo...a girl changing heart colors was just a huge feat for us a the time and then discovering you could get married and have a kid was mind blowing. We still really didn't use the internet to look up anything so everything was fresh and every discovery was ours. After I finish Fantasy Life, I think I need to give this game a replay. I would like to start playing the series again and hopefully start fresh with this game. My 3ds is getting a lot of love recently and I would like to add this to the list. Thanks again for doing these, they are great. Hopefully you enjoyed hearing my gush about this game. I just have so much love for 64 in particular and like I said would like to see how the series has evolved since then and start fresh with this new game. And the rabbit is too cute!

 

[Cronee]

My favorite one has to be the original SNES Harvest Moon. I discovered it about a year after its release and fell in love with it. I was a kid in middle school at the time and nearly everyday, after I got home, I spent every waking hour playing it. I swear, I beat that game probably 20 times that year. Each play through was better and more enjoyable than the last one and felt I had reached my max when I finished the game with two kids and more money than I could possibly spend.

I remember wishing I could just play one save file endlessly though, as having to start over and work my way back through just to explore every thing and find all the secrets was a little tedious. Still, that didn't stop me from fully enjoying the game.

I often go back to and try to do just one more play through but it just isn't the same.

Thanks for doing this giveaway. There's been a ton of generous GAFers lately. One day, I'll have something awesome to give away.

 

[weemadarthur]

For this new iteration, I am particularly interested in context sensitive tools. I'd sure love to face a rock and find the hammer in my hand automatically. It would reduce the menu tedium, which gets old real fast.

 

[maxcriden]

Just as a reminder, the contest will be closing tomorrow morning. I'll pick a winner then. It's going to be tough with all these great entries!

 

[Hero of Legend]

I asked, but is Canada excluded?

 

[shandy706]

A little proof that I enjoy the games. Even in my work office.

My favorite part of Harvest Moon is simply exploring the game world and building my own little "life" in it. The series is one of the first games where I felt like I was caring for and creating another little fun reality.

Thanks for the opportunity. My 2 year old will beg for that Bunny if I won.

 

[someguyinahat]

My favourite memories of Harvest Moon were playing two different iterations, both times angling to marry the chick with glasses, then ending up marrying the blonde.

First time I was all set to go for Mary, but for some reason I kept running into the rival events. I eventually gave up on that and settled for Karen.

Second time was Sunshine Islands. All set to go for Sabrina, but then I realized that jerk Denny was going to marry Lanna. Also, Vaughn was a cool guy and I thought he deserved a wife. So I married Lanna to save her from Denny, and Vaughn moved to town and stayed in Sabrina's house instead of showing up twice a week.

What am I looking forward to for the next Harvest Moon? I'm looking forward to Story of Seasons, which is the ACTUAL next Harvest Moon. This new game that's called Harvest Moon is more like Harvest Minecraft.

 

[maxcriden]

I asked, but is Canada excluded?

I'm sorry, I thought I replied. Yes, we have to keep it to America this time.

 

[MissileTrick]

I've never had the pleasure of playing a game from the Harvest Moon series.

Back when Blockbuster and Hollywood Video were still around en masse, they had N64 games to rent, and I always saw the case for Harvest Moon 64, but never a rental box for it(meaning, it was currently checked out). I waited and waited, came back every other day every week, hoping that it would be returned, and it never was; the staff alerted me to the fact that it was stolen, and wouldn't be ordering another one as it "wasn't fun/popular enough".

To this day, I have never played a game with the words HARVEST MOON written on the cartridge, and from the gameplay I've seen of this new game, I'm hyped up for it! Freeform gameplay, farming, marriage, and stacking dirt to make staircases to the sky sound awesome.

Dude the same thing happen to me. I wonder if it was the same Blockbuster or if there's a ring of Harvest Moon 64 bandits out to take every copy possible.

I just know Nabbit better not be apart of that. However for the safety of everyone, maxcriden I need to check your Nabbit's bag. You know for safety. :3


For real though I'm very excited to see who wins, I hope it's my favorite entry.

 

[DeuceGamer]

I guess I'll participate in this. I started playing games at a very young age and before the NES was released. I enjoy RPG's and own all of Nintendo's consoles as well as many other consoles. I collect games as well and have thousands of games in my collection. The reason I mention all of that is because, I've never played a game in the Harvest Moon series!!!! I've always watched the releases and many times while browsing for a new game I've looked at a Harvest Moon title but I've always passed for one reason or another. I never really put much though into why I passed each time but thinking about it now I think the main reason is that I like to jump into a series at the beginning. Consider it OCD I guess.

I've looked at this very collectors edition numerous times and have considered pre-ordering, it, but again have held off each time. If I were to win I look forward to finally getting a chance to see what Harvest Moon fans love about the franchise. I'm aware it's not the largest franchise, but from what I've seen and heard it definitely has a dedicated following. I know Harvest Moon (SNES) and Harvest Moon 64 are both beloved by fans. I look forward to finally getting to experience what everyone else has experienced with Harvest Moon. Since it would be my first Harvest Moon experience, I'm sure the experience would be as strong as a lot of those impressions already in this thread. Maybe this giveway was what was needed to get me to join in on the Harvest Moon franchise.

 

[Killer Yakuza B]

There's been a lot of good entries this time, I'm having a good time reading through the thread. Harvest Moon is a great series that I always enjoy playing and I'm curious about how this one turned out. Of course I'm not gonna enter the giveaway this time since I don't live in the US, but if I have time I might write something anyway, just for fun.

Good luck, everyone! And great job, as always, maxcriden!

 

[Piscus]

I love these threads! As I won recently, I think I will post just for funsies this time and let somebody else experience the joy. There are already enough deserving entries!

Spoiler

Unless maxcriden wants to give it to me. I can't say no to his charity!

I'll never forget the day I discovered the original Harvest Moon.
"A farming simulator?? WTFudge!!!"
My friend and I traded the game back and forth for years, it seems like. Maybe it wasn't that long. All I know is that we both were converted to it. I've played tons of entries, including 64, DS and DS 2, the original Game Boy entry, Friends of Mineral Town, and the forgettable one on Gamecube. I even picked up the first three Rune Factory games. My heart belongs to that first entry, though, and when it came out on Wii U's VC, I started my life once more - this time, with knowledge of the game's innermost workings from the start. I'll just leave these journal entries here.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
I should go back to the game and continue my journal. After all, three days is kind of weaksauce. Real life began to demand too much, but I still hear the game some nights, calling me to return to my homeland...

 

[terrisus]

I got the internet at home in the mid-90s. One of the earlier message board communities that I became a part of was an AOL message board for the upcoming Harvest Moon 64, which would end up coming out a few years later, in 1999. The SNES version had come out recently as well, but I hadn't gotten that one, I would end up waiting on the N64 version. And so this (along with an Ocarina of Time board) were two of the major communities that I was part of around that time.

The game came out, and was amazing, of course. We all got it, and played it a ton. The message board continued to go strong into the next millennium. Eventually, of course, stuff slowly moved off of AOL, and the message board disappeared. We tried to stay together on the internet as well, but have mostly lost touch since then.

Shortly before the N64 version came out, Harvest Moon came out for Gameboy as well. I was pretty excited for this version also, but, sadly, lost my original Gameboy around that time. Harvest Moon GB came out in August 1998, and the Gameboy Color came out in November 1998, though, so I figured I would just wait for the GBC and buy that.

I wanted to at least try out Harvest Moon though, so I asked a friend of mine if I could borrow his Gameboy. He let me borrow it for a bit, but he didn't want to let it go for too long, since he was busy playing a game that had just come out in September. Some game called Pokémon. >.>

From those two Harvest Moon games, I become pretty obsessed with the series. I would buy every version of it that was released on Nintendo systems from that point on up until A Wonderful Life. I also went back and bought the SNES version, and got More Friends of Mineral Town for GBA for my wife as well. Plus, it introduced me to a great message board community, and I'm very thankful for that.

After A Wonderful Life, I kind of didn't keep up with the Harvest Moon series. I mean, I still loved them, but just not nearly as much time to go around for all of them. I got A New Beginning for 3DS, hoping to get back into the series with that, but it didn't end up happening.

I'm definitely hoping to give it a shot again with The Lost Valley, though. You can help! Plus, that bunny is extremely cute :3

And, a reminder:

 

[MaverickHunterX]

I'm going to go a different route.

To be honest, I'm not as big of a Harvest Moon fan as my little sister (who I would love to get this for)

Usually, she watches me play the console, AAA-games (a lot of them being too hard for her; her words, not mine). But, the Harvest Moon series are some of the few games she can play on her own for weeks on end (without my help).

A big fan from the beginning, she has every HM title from the SNES original to the latest 3DS versions. Mostly, I try my best to try to score the collectors editions from GameStop/Natsume, (kinda missed out this time around; my bad) so it would be cool if I can add this to the collection.

Thanks either way...

 

[Camjo-Z]

I'd like to enter this, but I honestly don't have much to say about Harvest Moon. Don't know why, considering I played plenty of HM64 and must have put at least 60+ hours into A Wonderful Life as a kid, but I'm just totally drawing a blank. In fact, the only HM-related memory I can strongly recall is the extreme disappointment I experienced when I got Harvest Moon GB as a Christmas present when I was about 5 or 6, couldn't understand a lick of it. Hell, even a simple platformer like Super Mario Land 2 was difficult for me to get a handle on back then, let alone a farming simulator.

Congrats to whoever wins though, there are some serious Harvest Moon fans in this thread who will probably enjoy this more than I ever could!

 

[bon]

My favorite Harvest Moon will always be the original on SNES. The novelty of a farming RPG blew my mind back then, and I still enjoy replaying it to this day thanks to how fast the game progresses compared to later entries. The bad translation makes me laugh every time.

I'm interested in giving The Lost Valley a shot because of the landscaping stuff, and I'm curious about Natsume making a Harvest Moon game on their own.

 

[maxcriden]

I'll pick the winner later on this morning. Feel free to enter in the meantime.

 

[DryvBy]

I can't believe this only hit 2 pages...

 

[terrisus]

I can't believe this only hit 2 pages...

Still on the 1st page if you're using the superior 100-posts-per-page setting :þ

 

[Phantom Flapjack]

I've only played A Wonderful Life, but I remember having fun with the dating sim aspects. All my friends who were playing the game were picking Celia, so I went with Nami to be different. Probably not the wisest decision, but oh well. Also, Murrey was excellent. He needs his own spinoff. Moi.

 

[Azure Dream]

Going through YouTube videos since the mayor thing, all the series running jokes are clever. In general it seems like the quirky type of game that just doesn't get made anymore, intentionally slightly weird on purpose, but not overtly so.

 

[flatearthpandas]

Oh, neat. Didn't see this.

I bought Harvest Moon SNES for my girlfriend a couple years ago on the Wii because she was really big into Farmville. Like just about every videogame I've purchased for her, it was never used.

Later, I bought a Wii U and transferred over all of my Wii content. I saw Harvest Moon sitting there, unused, so I booted it up one time while we were both in the living room to see what it was like and maybe pique her interest, although Farmville had gone the way of the buffalo by this point (in our lives at least). She still didn't give a shit about it, but it took me about two hours before I noticed, having got caught up in building a farm.

Despite my dislike of Nintendo charging an extra $1.50 to turn an $8 SNES rom for the Wii into an $8 SNES rom for the Wii U, I paid them their dirty money and moved Harvest Moon onto the Wii U proper. The game rules my life for weeks. I don't know if it was the convenience of the Wii U gamepad (thing rules when you live with other people) or what, but I found myself dumping tens of hours into Havest Moon on the VC service where Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG had failed to grab my attention for more than a few hours.

Ultimately, I found the game to be hindered by repetitiveness and slowdowns, making the last year a real chore, but goddammit I finished it and almost immediately bought one of the 3DS games digitally. I didn't, because it was a full-price digital game, but I have almost pulled the trigger so many times. There's a kind of anxiety with it, that I won't like it as much, but then I can think of tons of things that could be improved upon from the original. I'll almost surely jump back in with a new title, but I don't know when.

As usual with these giveaways, I'm not sure I followed the prompt properly but I'm okay with a DQ. Thanks for reading

 

[Texan365]

I played the Harvest Moon that was on the SNES waaaayyyyyy back in the day. I don't think I ever got past planting crops though because I somehow never made enough money. But anways, little story:

I was a fairly OCD child when it came to games like this, so my first priority was to chop up all those tree stumps up and get rid of any rocks and shit so I could have a nice clear farm haha. Once I finished that, I bought some turnip seeds to begin farming.

OCD moment came when I made 3 nice 3x3 squares for the planting. Now, I'm not sure how it is now in Harvest Moons, but this was a big mistake....because the middle plant is inaccessible when you are trying to water...Man, I was soooo frustrated and even when I was able to pick up the water-able turnips, I still had to decide whether to waste my space and time watering those 3 now water-able turnips or to just waste the money. And since I was a kid, I wasted the time and space because I thought the turnips deserved to fully grow and join their brethren haha...

Anyone else make that mistake in the original?

 

[Koppai]

I haven't played a Harvest Moon since the Game Boy Color and I really enjoyed the graphical style. I know it will be different and this game is actually not the original series developed by Marvelous. It looks really fun and I hope I could be able to give it a try again

 

[ChrisD]

I'm late, but the topic reminds me of this.

I played a lot of the Gamecube. My parents knew all about the game, the system, the controller. (Seen as how, you know, they bought it for us kids.) They would occasionally say something in passing like, "I remember when it was..." or, "Games sure have changed!" I was used to the newfangled games, so I always found these mentions funny.

One day our "Papa Pringles" (grandfather) came over. I was playing Magical Melody at the time. He was speaking to my dad, but he was very interested in the game on-screen. Back "in his days" (when floppy drives were new) he was quite in the know about computers. But now, you have a kid playing a full-blown game on a television screen in front of you! He said something along the lines of how much things changed, and my dad says, "Yeah, now they even have whole MEMORY CARDS." Papa Pringles lit up. He looked like a kid, learning about the future. I explained to him (to the extent of my limited knowledge haha) how the card works, what all it holds, how it can be transported to friends' systems... It was all common to me, but he loved hearing about it all. I felt smarter than I was in that moment.

I think that was the most I ever got to speak to him. Which makes me glad that it was such a positive moment.

 

[Vandole]

I played the Harvest Moon that was on the SNES waaaayyyyyy back in the day. I don't think I ever got past planting crops though because I somehow never made enough money. But anways, little story:

I was a fairly OCD child when it came to games like this, so my first priority was to chop up all those tree stumps up and get rid of any rocks and shit so I could have a nice clear farm haha. Once I finished that, I bought some turnip seeds to begin farming.

OCD moment came when I made 3 nice 3x3 squares for the planting. Now, I'm not sure how it is now in Harvest Moons, but this was a big mistake....because the middle plant is inaccessible when you are trying to water...Man, I was soooo frustrated and even when I was able to pick up the water-able turnips, I still had to decide whether to waste my space and time watering those 3 now water-able turnips or to just waste the money. And since I was a kid, I wasted the time and space because I thought the turnips deserved to fully grow and join their brethren haha...

Anyone else make that mistake in the original?

I remember found something similar. Pretty sure I finally realized you could hack it with the sickle by the time the first summer rolled around.

On a related note I also remember having a lot of problems figuring out how the seeds worked the very first time I played. I only tilled one square of land instead of a 3x3 grid. I realized my mistake shortly afterward, but after only growing the one turnip I distinctly remember thinking "how the hell do you make money in this game?"

 

[maxcriden]

*drumroll please*

And, our winner....

Spoiler

Congratulations, Mr. RPG!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137056348&postcount=18

 

[flatearthpandas]

Congrats, Mr. RPG.

Thanks again for holding the contest, OP

 

[MissileTrick]

Congrats to the lucky winner!

 

[terrisus]

Congratulations, Mr. RPG!

Congrats!

 

[Piscus]

Heck yeah. He deserves to win!

 

[Ludist210]

Congrats!

 

[Mr. RPG]

*drumroll please*

And, our winner....

Spoiler

Congratulations, Mr. RPG!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137056348&postcount=18

I've never won a giveaway in my entire life man and I still can't believe I just won one for a Harvest Moon game, let alone a video game at all!

You're so awesome! Definitely the nicest person I've met in years (and I'm not just saying that because I won this). I also want to thank Natume for giving you the ability to do this giveaway (if they did!) They are definitely a very nice bunch of people from my experience.

I'll never forget this kindness. It really does mean a lot to me, especially considering I'm in a tough time in my life right now and I wouldn't have been able to buy the game anyway because of that.

I'll let you know when I get it and when I beat it. I can't wait to try it and add the little bunny to my collection of Harvest Moon stuffed animals. I wish they'd release a dog plushie again, haha.

Thanks everyone else for the congratulations! I really enjoyed reading a lot of your guys' experiences and I was really jealous you guys could remember all of that stuff. I have a pretty terrible memory and I can only remember very selective stuff about my childhood.

I'm gonna start working on my Harvest Moon-inspired game, The Meadow Story again sometime soon and hopefully someday all of GAF can play it.

 

[maxcriden]

I've never won a giveaway in my entire life man and I still can't believe I just won one for a Harvest Moon game, let alone a video game at all!

You're so awesome! Definitely the nicest person I've met in years (and I'm not just saying that because I won this). I also want to thank Natume for giving you the ability to do this giveaway (if they did!) They are definitely a very nice bunch of people from my experience.

I'll never forget this kindness. It really does mean a lot to me, especially considering I'm in a tough time in my life right now and I wouldn't have been able to buy the game anyway because of that.

I'll let you know when I get it and when I beat it. I can't wait to try it and add the little bunny to my collection of Harvest Moon stuffed animals. I wish they'd release a dog plushie again, haha.

Thanks everyone else for the congratulations! I really enjoyed reading a lot of your guys' experiences and I was really jealous you guys could remember all of that stuff. I have a pretty terrible memory and I can only remember very selective stuff about my childhood.

I'm gonna start working on my Harvest Moon-inspired game, The Meadow Story again sometime soon and hopefully someday all of GAF can play it.

:'( *sniff* You're too kind, Mr. RPG. It's my absolute pleasure and thank you for your amazing entry!

 

[totowhoa]

Congrats, Mr. RPG! That's awesome.

 

[mrklaw]

I'm entering to win it for my daughter. Neither of us have ever played a Harvest Moon game, although I do have hero of leaf valley on Vita. Always been curious, never managed to start.

My daughter loves minecraft, and whenever we play multiplayer she always builds farms and plants crops and breeds animals. She loves all that stuff, and will give the animals names etc even though in minecraft they kind of just stand there.

I love the idea of harvest moon allowing her to experiment a little deeper with that, and the animals having personalities I know she'll go crazy for.


Edit: lol super late to the party leaving my list there as it took so long to write

Is this a good game to introduce Harvest Moon to my daughter? She is 10.