Harvest Moon

You want to know something I was wondering about yesterday? Why are Harvest Moon games so addicting?

I was first introduced to it by a friend who couldn't figure out how to make money in Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. So I borrowed it for a couple of hours and figured out the whole shipping box thing - with her character, since starting a new thing when I was unsure about the rules in that regard seemed unsafe.

When I gave her my answer to her question, she wanted her game back. Of course I gave it back, but I most definitely did not want to. Why? What was the appeal?

I'm still not sure, and that was at least five years ago. Since then, I've played Friends of Mineral Town, More Friends of Mineral Town, DS, Tale of Two Towns, and a bit of Sunshine Islands; and I've loved every second of it.

You start the game off with a farm that's either run-down or just not very upgraded. You raise crops and/or animals to make money. You can also gather and sell wild plants in certain places. You use that money to attain tool or building upgrades, or to buy gifts or cooking ingredients.

You generally have at least five bachelors/bachelorettes to choose from to marry, depending on if your playable character is a boy or a girl. Personally, until Tale of Two Towns, I've preferred my main character to be a boy, because it's much easier to choose a favorite from amongst the girls. I didn't really like any of the guys in Mineral Town or Forget-Me-Not Valley, and Popuri and Celia were just so obviously the best out of the girls. Maybe it's just because I'm so in love already with a different fictional boy, so none of the others can ever compare...

Oh wow, I still haven't explained much about Harvest Moon, and I still haven't a clue why it's so addicting. Maybe I'll make another series of posts and go into a little more depth about the games I've played. Until tomorrow, then!