Roosterofdoom Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 What game should I start with? Is the Gameboy version a good representation of the series? Or should I go ahead and put down 20 bucks for one of the Gamecube versions? Or maybe 10 bucks for the PS2 version? If Gamecube or Wii, which one's best? I don't even know what they're like... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metavision Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 What game should I start with? Is the Gameboy version a good representation of the series? Or should I go ahead and put down 20 bucks for one of the Gamecube versions? Or maybe 10 bucks for the PS2 version? If Gamecube or Wii, which one's best? I don't even know what they're like... start with friends of mineral town or more friends of mineral town if you want to play as a girl. it's easy to get used to the mechanics and easier to transition into the more current games that have more stuff. most fans will say it's the best game out of the series and a lot of the newer games have cameos from mineral town so you'll recognize the characters. the game mechanics, or rather, story mechanics are atypical for the GC and PS2 version, save for magical melody, but that has a wii version you can get as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Alear Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 (edited) start with friends of mineral town or more friends of mineral town if you want to play as a girl. it's easy to get used to the mechanics and easier to transition into the more current games that have more stuff. most fans will say it's the best game out of the series and a lot of the newer games have cameos from mineral town so you'll recognize the characters. the game mechanics, or rather, story mechanics are atypical for the GC and PS2 version, save for magical melody, but that has a wii version you can get as well. I haven't played a lot of Harvest Moon, but Mineral Town does seem to be the best known. It's certainly a lot better than the GB one IMO. There's a PSX version and then one for GBA IIRC. I'm not sure if there were any differences besides the portability of the GBA version. Edited August 8, 2012 by L1049 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metavision Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I haven't played a lot of Harvest Moon, but Mineral Town does seem to be the best known. It's certainly a lot better than the GB one IMO. There's a PSX version and then one for GBA IIRC. I'm not sure if there were any differences besides the portability of the GBA version. I have both and I think the only difference between the original (PSX) and the port (GBA) is that the GBA is supposed to be set in the future of the PSX one but more or looks looks/plays identical. TBH I believe they are identical but I think the GBA one has a few more bonus features like being able to marry the harvest goddess , being able to buy vacation homes (in the same town two blocks away lulz) and I think golden lumber was introduced but don't quote me on that. so yeah GBA version is a duplicate + more (minor) stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four loose screws Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 (edited) start with friends of mineral town or more friends of mineral town if you want to play as a girl. it's easy to get used to the mechanics and easier to transition into the more current games that have more stuff. most fans will say it's the best game out of the series and a lot of the newer games have cameos from mineral town so you'll recognize the characters. the game mechanics, or rather, story mechanics are atypical for the GC and PS2 version, save for magical melody, but that has a wii version you can get as well. I'd agree that Friends of Mineral Town or More Friends of Mineral Town would be the best place to start (pick game based on desired gender, of course). These two are still the fan favorite to this day, as far as I know. Even now I'll pull out my game and be obsessed every now and again. You could download VisualBoyAdvance and play either of those games through that if you aren't against emulators. Which emulators will probably be the only way to go on this one. The game is arguably too old to safely find a reliable cartridge. You could emulate Harvest Moon 64. The series has improved vastly since then, and is mostly a favorite for nostalgia reasons only, but still a very fun Harvest Moon if you want to see what the series was like in simpler days. If you have a PSP or PS3, Back to Nature is a good option. It's available for $6 or so on the PSN. Back to Nature was originally a PS1 game, then brought to the GBA as Friends of Mineral Town. While I like Friends of Mineral Town better for it's slight tweaks to the gameplay, the Back to Nature controls are better because both the PSP and the PS3 controller have more buttons. Many commands that take two buttons on Friends of Mineral Town only take one on Back to Nature, which I like. It's a small difference in the long run, but the better controls may be best for a new player. As for the GameCube versions, A Wonderful Life/Another Wonderful Life were never games that I could really get into. I don't think they represent the best of the series. But Magical Melody is a great option. I never played it in full, but it's my sister's favorite. It's got the cute factor at maximum level and being able to buy your own plots of land outside of your own farm really attracted my sister to the gameplay. Other than that, The Tale of Two Towns is one I highly recommend. While it has a couple of glaring flaws that will make you want to pull hair out, I think it really has the charm of originals in it's own new way. New features like the abilities to grow rice, wheats, raise alpacas, and so on really attracted me, unlike many other more recent Harvest Moons that have fallen flat. It's also got the cute factor. Not as much as Magical Melody, of course, but if you enjoy that sort of thing, that helps you enjoy The Tale of Two Towns a lot. Although I don't know if you should play that one until you know you're really interested in the series, because this game takes a lot of hours to really feel like you've gotten anywhere. Well, all Harvest Moon games are very time consuming, but this one in particular. I just really liked this one. I suggest picking up the DS version, since the 3DS version really didn't add anything... unless you want to see a farmer hop around in 3D that badly. XD Edited August 8, 2012 by four loose screws Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metavision Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 3DS had some additional features and downloads I think. Dont have that version though so I can't really say but I'm sure Fogu has it outlined nicely. I wouldn't try any of the DS games as *starter* harvest moon games because they can get complicated and the GBA version is a good way to figure out which crops which be the staple "money makers" for the rest of the series. The newer ones have a lot more seeds and different things to unlock, best to get the basics down first I think. That and Harvest Sprites are actually useful in the early versions and you can abuse the crap out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
four loose screws Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 3DS had some additional features and downloads I think. Dont have that version though so I can't really say but I'm sure Fogu has it outlined nicely. I wouldn't try any of the DS games as *starter* harvest moon games because they can get complicated and the GBA version is a good way to figure out which crops which be the staple "money makers" for the rest of the series. The newer ones have a lot more seeds and different things to unlock, best to get the basics down first I think. That and Harvest Sprites are actually useful in the early versions and you can abuse the crap out of them. Yeah, I think (More) Friends of Mineral Town and Harvest Moon 64 are the best to start out with. Harvest Moon has enough of a learning curve without all of the new features involved. But The Tale of Two Towns is great if you have further interest in something similar to those games, but pretty different in its own way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapier Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 What game should I start with? Is the Gameboy version a good representation of the series? Or should I go ahead and put down 20 bucks for one of the Gamecube versions? Or maybe 10 bucks for the PS2 version? If Gamecube or Wii, which one's best? I don't even know what they're like... Start with Harvest Moon: Back to Nature (PSX) if you can, it's a lot like Friends of Mineral Town but easier and its got some stuff the last one hasn't. After you get the hang of it, I recommend playing Friends of Mineral Town. The GC one has a remake for the Wii from what I know. Have you heard about Rune Factory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roosterofdoom Posted August 9, 2012 Author Share Posted August 9, 2012 Have you heard about Rune Factory? No, is it similar or something? I downlaoded Mineral Town last night. Just lost a big batch of cucumbers because the season changed. That was disappointing. How do I eat or increase my stamina? I get tired way too easy and buy food, but don't know what to do with it. It's an all right game for now, but as of right now, I think it'll get boring pretty quick. Is this all I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstraLunaSol Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 Rune Factory is more or less the same as Harvest Moon, but has an actual storyline and dungeon crawling + bosses. And you don't really need to farm, you can just dungeon crawl for life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapier Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 No, is it similar or something? I downlaoded Mineral Town last night. Just lost a big batch of cucumbers because the season changed. That was disappointing. How do I eat or increase my stamina? I get tired way too easy and buy food, but don't know what to do with it. It's an all right game for now, but as of right now, I think it'll get boring pretty quick. Is this all I do? You have to find Power Berries. They're hidden in places that are really hard to find if you don't read a guide. Fortunately, fogu (a HM fansite which covers a lot of things) tells you where you can find them. Rune Factory is a fantasy Harvest Moon. I didn't like the first one much (although some people loved the new mechanics), but I loved the third. If you are interested, I recommend you play the third because it's the most newbie friendly of them (you start with a weapon, you don't have to wander around thinking about what you're supposed to do etc.). They are for the DS, with the exception of Tides of Destiny and Frontier (which are for the Wii). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roosterofdoom Posted August 11, 2012 Author Share Posted August 11, 2012 Okay, I'm pretty much hooked on this game. I've got all my tools upgraded with... Mysterli or somthing. Just finished my first year. Have two power berries. (The one from the field and the one from the fairy. Got the first one without even knowing what it was. I had it before my last post.) Curently working on the shopping channel berry. Got the biggest bag (I think?), and finally figured out how to quick change items/tools. Currently re-plowing my farm to prepare to plant again. Next task is to figure out what I can do with the girls with hearts. If you can't tell, I'm trying to go into this blind and learn as I go. Only thing I'll look up is Power Berries. Because they are impossible to fnd otherwise... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinKuma Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 You should have started with the SNES one which started it all imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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