Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Gamecube)

[Xanthippe]

I just picked this up for my daughter.  She liked ...A Wonderful Life but did not like having to play a boy.  She loves this one, because she gets to play a farmer girl instead.  It seems very similar to the last, with a few differences (the grass in the pasture doesn't grow without being fertilized first, for example).

I wish I could buy a sprinkler instead of having to water the 5x7 plot by hand, one square at a time.

I'm having trouble stringing two thoughts together, as my roof is being torn off right now with all the attendant noise.  If more  thoughts occur to me when it's quiet, I'll add them later.

[schild]

I liked the old Harvest Moons more. A Wonderful Life was pretty meh to me and I was thinking about picking up Another Wonderful Life and More Friends of Mineral Town but instead I decided to buy a wireless Xbox Controller. I'm pretty sure I made the right decision.

[AOFanboi]

I wish I could buy a sprinkler instead of having to water the 5x7 plot by hand, one square at a time.

Upgrade it, then! You get to water more squares at a time. At least in the GBA game, I assume it holds for the other versions as well.

[Xanthippe]

I bought the best one I can get from the guy who delivers from town.  It holds more, but doesn't water more spaces.  I'm hoping a better one will show up in the game later.

[voodoolily]

I concur with Xanthippe. I only played the first chapter of the first one (I'd rented it), but I killed 9 hours yesterday playing. I'm starting to get impatient that I can't have any carrots yet, 'cuz I finnuh ask Marlin to marry me and the man likes soup.

[Mr_PeaCH]

My daughter (and I) have gotten a lot of milage from HM:AWL (GC) which was our first introduction into the series.  I know she'll love playing as a girl instead of a boy (though that wasn't necessarily a huge hang up for her or her friends to date) but are there many other changes to the game?  Is it the same old town, same old people, same old stuff or have they made it different in other meaninful ways?

[voodoolily]

As far as I can tell, it's the exact same fucking game. Even most of the NPCs are the same, with the same names. But as aforementioned, since I hadn't played much of the first one, it doesn't really bother me. Was there a Yeti in the first one?

[schild]

It is the same game. But with different dialogue as you're trying to pick up a guy.

[tazelbain]

It is the same game. But with different dialogue as you're trying to pick up a guy.

Ya, why don't they give you the option doesn't seem like much extra work.

I have been wanting to try this game.

Which is the best one for GC,PS2, or N64?

[schild]

I prefer "Save the Homeland" on the PS2 to "A Wonderful Life" on Gamecube. StH is probably more expensive used than Wonderful Life is new though. Heh.

[voodoolily]

Another Wonderful Life is only $30, so who gives a shit?

Update: after much stalking and giving all my good shit to the asshole, I married Marlin and now have an adorable baby who miraculously never needs to be fed or changed. And since it takes forever to grow vegetables (not to mention the expense of fertilizer and seeds), one of my cows is knocked up (after the bitch went dry I had to cough up the $2500 for a conjugal visit from a neighboring stud), and my other cow is too young to give milk, I've basically been just going on archaelogical digs and picking flowers to supplement my income. That good-for-nothing I married doesn't do shit on the farm but stare at the ground, and I only have five hens, so I really have no income except for what I forage.

Why doesn't the little booklet tell you how to read your assets? Like I have no idea what most of the symbols on my son's "Likes" and "Skills" mean, or what ST, SP and AP stand for (I guessed ST is stamina, or when you need to sleep, SP is spirit and AP is appetite, but I'm just guessing). And when can I make more than soup or salad? And how do I process my dairy into butter and cheese? Is it like in Baten Kaitos where you just keep it in your rucksack until it changes, or do I get the ability in later chapters?

And how do I wash my animals? I brush them all the time, but my horse is a dick. I've only gotten  out of him once, and his happiness meter hasn't budged a single heart since I got him. And yes, I snuggle, talk to, brush and ride him every day, and even hook him up with the good fodder once in awhile. I even tried giving him a carrot, but he ignored it.

I must admit, since it's been balls-hot here in Stumptown, it's been fun to play in autumn and pick mushrooms. I can't wait for chantrelle season in a month or two! 

[Aenovae]

after much stalking and giving all my good shit to the asshole, I married Marlin and now have an adorable baby who miraculously never needs to be fed or changed. And since it takes forever to grow vegetables (not to mention the expense of fertilizer and seeds), one of my cows is knocked up (after the bitch went dry I had to cough up the $2500 for a conjugal visit from a neighboring stud), and my other cow is too young to give milk, I've basically been just going on archaelogical digs and picking flowers to supplement my income. That good-for-nothing I married doesn't do shit on the farm but stare at the ground, and I only have five hens, so I really have no income except for what I forage.

Best description of a game ever.

I've never played a Harvest Moon game, but I'm starting to come around.  Except yesterday a friend of mine was talking up Save the Homeland and mentioned that after 1 year the game resets and you have to start over.  Please tell me these games don't have some Pikmin bullshit where you get screwed if you dick around too long.  I prefer Sim City and Animal Crossing style games where you can just build and play and sandbox forever without The Man shutting you down when time runs out.

[Xanthippe]

To wash your cow or horse, get them by the water trough, then hold the brush and push them into position until you see WASH on one of the button choices (Y button maybe?).

I'm only in summer still, first year.  Courting Marlin, figured he would help with the farm.  So disappointed to hear he doesn't!

I was hoping he would be like a foreman or something so I could stop working and put up my feet.

Cow's only giving 2 milk a day.  Daughter played and saved my, er, her, game by accident but didn't milk the cows or water the fields.  Great, so the cow makes B grade milk and less of it.

Trying to find out how to get Ruby's spice, since a recipe I've seen calls for it.  Been giving her tomatoes and stuff like that.  So far, she hasn't given me shit.

[voodoolily]

Keep talking to Ruby, give her matsutake and fertilizer and milk and stuff, then on some evening go into her kitchen and talk to her. She'll hook you up. You can tell if you've befriended someone if their head turns when you walk past them. However! I've tried twice to make curry (as soup and as salad), but I ended up making "Something Odd". I have to wait a full year for more carrots before I can try again.

I figured out the washing thing eventually. In the summer the cows usually only give two milk in the morning and afternoon, but after they give birth and start giving milk again, expect 5 S-grade milk twice a day. I was making almost 2000G every day on milk alone.

Edit: Oh, yeah, the game is over if you don't get married by the end of first year. That's prolly what happened in Save the Homeland. But they actually do warn you about that in the leaflet.

[Glazius]

Except yesterday a friend of mine was talking up Save the Homeland and mentioned that after 1 year the game resets and you have to start over.  Please tell me these games don't have some Pikmin bullshit where you get screwed if you dick around too long.  I prefer Sim City and Animal Crossing style games where you can just build and play and sandbox forever without The Man shutting you down when time runs out.

Save the Homeland is complete sandbox... for the one year. You have to find something about the bucolic stretch of countryside that will make it more worthwhile than an amusement park...

It's Harvest Moon only in that there's a farm you work on. The real point of the game is to dig into the town and find out what makes this stretch of land special. (There are about 10 different possibilities, I think, for an ending.) Once you save the homeland, you go Groundhog Day-style back to the beginning of the year, and I think there are a few things you keep from the previous play.

--GF