| Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Marvelous Interactive Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Natsume Co., Ltd Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Advance |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Simulation game/role-playing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E |
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (Bokujou Monogatari: Mineral Town no Nakama Tachi in Japan) is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and published in the U.S. by Natsume. It was first released in Japan, in April 2003.
The game follows along the same lines as the rest of the Harvest Moon series, in which the player takes on the role of a farmer whose only goal in the game is to make a profit from the farm he runs. This includes producing crops and raising livestock. The player can also marry one of five women in the town or the Harvest Goddess, a nature spirit who lives next to Mineral Town. The setting of the story (Mineral Town) was also in another Harvest Moon game: Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is, in many ways, an enhanced Game Boy Advance port of that game.
Contents |
The main character in the game has no default name, but Natsume has referred to him as "Pete" in screenshots and in other Harvest Moon games.[1][2] In the opening sequences of the game, the player is shown as a young boy living in the city, whose parents take him to see the country, believing it would be good for him. During their trip, the player becomes lost, and in the process he finds himself on the farm of an old man, located in Mineral Town. The old man helps him contact his parents, and in the end offers to let him and his family stay for a few days, as he has no family of his own. The player's parents agree, and the player stays on the farm for a while. On the farm, the player plays with a girl who then becomes friends with him.
After the player leaves Mineral Town with his parents, he continues to write letters to the old man. However, one day, when he has grown up, the letters from his friend suddenly stop. Concerned for the farmer's well-being, he travels back to Mineral Town, only to find an empty, run-down farm. It is discovered that the old man had died around half a year ago, and Thomas, the mayor of Mineral Town, informs the player that in his will, the old man left the farm to him. The player then makes it his mission to restore the farm to its former glory, beginning the game.
Initially there is very little on the farm, save for some old tools. The player must begin by clearing the large field on the farm of weeds, tree stumps, twigs and rocks, all varying in size. From there, the player must plant a variety of crops to earn money to buy other needed things, such as livestock, in order to run a successful farm.
The social aspect of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, as in other Harvest Moon games, is a very large part of the game. There are many villagers to befriend, and by doing so the player may learn recipes and trigger events in which more about the villagers are learned. There are six eligible bachelorettes to choose from: Ann, Elli, Karen, Popuri, Mary, and the Harvest Goddess. If your wife's affection is kept at a red heart, after about a season she will become pregnant, and 60 days after she becomes pregnant she will give birth to a son.[3]
The game offers connectivity with the Nintendo GameCube game Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life using a link cable between the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube.
The player is given a dog in the beginning that they may name, that can be involved in the Frisbee Tournament in Summer. The dog starts as a puppy, but will be fully grown after two months.[4] Shortly after meeting Barley for the first time, he will stop by the player's farm early in the morning with a young horse. Barley will ask the player if they can take care of the horse. If the player accepts, they will have exactly one year to be with the horse, then Barley will return for it. If the horse has 5 hearts or more when he returns, he will allow the player to keep the horse, if not he will take the horse back.[4] If he took the horse, he will return in a year with a full grown horse for the player to keep, but this new horse will not have any hearts. To increase the number of hearts, the player can buy a brush at the blacksmith's store and brush and talk to the horse regularly. When the horse is fully grown and wears a saddle, the player can ride the horse around the farm and enter in the spring and fall horse races.
There are three kinds of livestock to be bought - cows, chickens, and sheep. Cows produce milk (requires a milker to be gathered), chickens produce eggs, and sheep produce wool (requires shears to be gathered), which can be shipped off to be sold. All the livestock produce will sell for more if the animals have maximum affection for the player, and also if they win specific contests.
Chickens may live inside the chicken coop, and it may be upgraded to accommodate eight chickens and two incubators. Placing an egg in an incubator will hatch a chick after three days. Chickens may be let outside, where they do not need to be fed, but if unfenced they can be attacked by wild dogs.[5]
Cows and sheep live in the barn, which also may be upgraded to accommodate sixteen animals and two pregnancy stalls. Cows and sheep will become pregnant with a special potion purchased from Yodel Farm, and will give birth in 20 days. The cows and sheep may also be left outside if the player has planted grass and it is full grown.[6]
The player may talk to or pick up animals and brush them to raise affection. During typhoons and snowstorms, animals can not be accessed. They are likely to become unhappy if they are not fed. If unhappy for a continuous period of time, livestock may become ill and can die if not treated with animal medicine. Animals will die of old age after several years.
The player will start off with an axe, hammer, watering can, sickle, and hoe, which can be used to do farm work. Going to Zack's house on the beach with an empty slot for a tool in your rucksack will earn the player a fishing rod.[7] Initially, the tools will only work on one square of farmland at a time, and the fishing rod can only catch small fish. Their range, ease of use, and ability can be improved by raising the experience level, then by combining them with different ores at the blacksmith shop, where the player can also buy a cowbell, shears, and a milker. There are also cursed tools located deep in one of the mines, which, once equipped by the player, cannot be put away until blessed at the confessional at in the church. These tools are upgraded differently than your normal tools. Other miscellaneous items that take up the tool slots include seeds and a teleport stone.
After upgrading their house, the player may purchase a kitchen from the TV shopping network. They may then purchase eight cooking tools for their kitchen: a pot, whisk, knife, frying pan, seasoning set, rolling pin, oven, and mixer. Through experimenting on their own or by befriending townsfolk and getting recipes from them, the player can create a collection of recipes to remake or improve. There is also a cooking show on the television on Tuesdays and, after becoming good enough friends with Anna, the player can go to her house on Saturdays to attend a cooking class.[8]
IGN rated the game at 8.9, or "great", saying that it was "deceptively engrossing", and that the graphical presentation of the day to night cycles was very well done.[9] GameRankings has an aggregate score of 82.4% from 30 reviews for Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.[10]
Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town is the female version of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. In this game, the main character is a girl, and can marry one of the five normal bachelors: Kai, Rick, Doctor, Cliff and Gray; and another three special bachelors in Mineral Town: Won, the Kappa, and the Gourmet Judge. The story in this game is different from Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. In Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town the player starts in the city, reading their newspaper. She sees an advertisement for a beautiful farm, and, excited by the prospect of rural life, decides to buy it. She visits the farm and finds out she was tricked, as the farm is run down and in need of maintenance. As she had already quit her job and sold her apartment, the player resolves to make the farm prosper the best she can, beginning the game. The base game remains almost unchanged, with the exception of several gameplay changes, improvements, and fixes.
IGN rated Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town at 8.5, or "great". It was noted that it is essentially a repeat of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, but that "it's still a great and highly recommended experience".[11] Gamerankings has an aggregate score of 80.08% from 13 reviews.[12]
|
||||||||||||||
.png){kind=link}