Many people know me as a big Animal Crossing fan. But before I got hooked on Animal Crossing, I was addicted to another simulation game: Harvest Moon 64.
With a new Harvest Moon game (Seeds of Memories) coming this year to Wii U, I decided this would be a good time to revisit my old Harvest Moon 64 game save that I haven’t played in years. In my main file, which was in spring of the sixth year, I was married to Karen and had a son.
Since it had been so long since I’ve played, I’ve forgotten how to do everything I was supposed to do. But I took a quick tour of my house, including a stop to use the bathroom–I’ve been holding it in for years, after all!
I checked in on my chickens, my sheep, and my cows to feed them all. I went in my greenhouse to ship some corn that was ready, and I watered my few remaining crops. By this point in the game, I had already bought everything I needed so I didn’t need the money.
I then went into town to speak with the people, including Ellie’s grandmother who is thankfully still alive. (I think in a secondary save file, she ended up dying). In the cafe, I bought some cake…and ate it too.
Once I was done in town, I went over to the vineyard. I tried to steal some wine like I used to, but I must have been doing something wrong, so my bottle remained empty.
In the mountain area, I saw a cut scene where Maria helped get a grasshopper off of Karen (who was freaking out). Those are the nice touches that give Harvest Moon 64 its charm. It’s easy to see how I was once so addicted to this game.
As I began to go up the mountain, night fell and the screen got dark. Very dark. I suppose it was just my TV settings that made it nearly impossible to see anything at all, but I struggled just to find my way back home! The short length of days was always my biggest complaint about the game. There isn’t enough time in the day to even see the whole village.
Still, I wanted to take a walk on the beach, so I headed in that direction as the next day started up. After enjoying the ocean atmosphere, I finished up my game at the town square, where the sowing festival was being held. Kai selected me to go into the hot air balloon with him, so we went up, up, and away. The day concluded immediately after–I guess I should have fed my animals first. Oh well, I didn’t save my game so they’re still fine.
Here is a video of my adventure:
Like I mentioned above, Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories is coming out on Wii U at some point this year. Once it does, I will be blogging regularly about my adventures in the game. So please bookmark http://www.jvgs.net/hmsom/ if you’re interested in following along.
As you may know, the original developers of the older Harvest Moon games are no longer associated with new Harvest Moon games and have gone on to make Story of Seasons. But that game is only on 3DS so far, and I prefer home consoles over portables. If they made Story of Seasons for Wii U, I would gladly buy that as well. But for now, I’m looking forward to giving Seeds of Memories a shot as soon as it’s released.