Lisa Breger

<<My kids, though, play Harvest Moon>>

Is this a board game, made up game, or what? I'd love to hear more about it.

Lisa



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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In a message dated 6/7/02 2:31:58 PM, lisa@... writes:

<< Is this a board game, made up game, or what? I'd love to hear more about
it. >>

Nintendo. There's one for Playstation they don't have, but they have it for
Super Nintendo, 64 and gameboy, I think.

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Description from a webpage:


The N64 update of the cult culturation classic is one of the most charming
entertainments of the year.

When Harvest Moon premiered on the Super NES in 1997, many gamers turned up
their collective noses at the idea of an RPG game based on operating a farm.
But even in the shadow of the revolutionary N64 this down-home Pak whipped up
quite a stir and a loyal following of dedicated virtual farmers!

If you missed the fun of Harvest Moon for Super NES, you owe yourself a shot
at the good life on Nintendo 64. The new edition is based on the same premise
as the original: grandpa leaves you alone on his run-down farm, and your goal
is to turn it into a successful enterprise, find a wife, and live happily
ever after. As in real life, this is easier said than done.

After some unusual customization choices (you get to name your character, dog
and farm and pick your birthday!), friendly characters gently school you in
the rudiments of rustic life. Should you forget anything, the game offers an
extensive series of tutorials.

Clearing the land, amending the soil and planting and nurturing crops takes
up much of the early part of the game. As you prosper, you'll want to buy and
care for sheep, chickens and cows. You'll even get a gift horse. Just be sure
not to look it in the mouth!

All work and no play makes for a dull farmer, so make frequent tracks for
nearby Flower Bud Village. Besides stocking up on seed, tools and fortifying
foodstuffs, the village is populated with five young women intrigued by an
ambitious chap like you. Elli, Maria, Popuri, Karen and Ann are an extremely
well-bred lot, so you'll have to work as hard on your wooing as you do on
your turnip crop.

Indeed, the villagers enjoy quite a busy social calendar. There are more than
a dozen activities throughout the year, beginning with the Planting Festival
in the spring and concluding with a New Year's bash. In between there is a
Firefly Festival, a Harvest Festival, two horse races and Thanksgiving, plus
ample opportunities to upgrade Flower Bud's infrastructure by repairing a
bridge and opening the Mountain Spring.

You can grow seven different crops, ranging from the humble turnip to the
highly lucrative strawberry. But once in a while you'll want to wander off
the old homestead. The hills and woods roundabouts are alive with mushrooms,
grapes, medicinal herbs and even more bizarre botanical specimens. Fish
nibble in a nearby pond. In winter, you can keep the cash coming in by mining
for precious minerals.

By and large this is a fairly faithful sim of rural life that's punctuated by
some extremely fanciful excursions. A nearby cave is the home of an elf who,
for some mysterious reason, speaks pig latin. A seldom-seen nymph cavorts in
a pond and a Moonlight Stone lies buried deep beneath the earth. Small
wonder, then, that the villagers dedicate a year-ending festival to scaring
away troublemaking ghosts!

Harvest Moon 64 scores your accomplishments after two years. Like farming
itself, though, this open-ended Pak encourages you to keep on playing, year
after year. You'll keep digging up well-buried nuggets of fun, like a recipe
for "Steamed Clams with Wine"!

This unusually tranquil RPG is an exceedingly pleasant diversion. Our main
beef is that female RPG fans -- and they are legion -- might be miffed by
having to play as a male character.


http://www.nintendo.com/games/gamepage/description.jsp?gameId=124#about

Jill

I was really surprised how long my boys played this game too. It seems to
be something they will go back to every now and again too.

A similar style game for the PC is "The Sims". You build homes for your
people, find jobs, etc.

Jill