Oddities of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

Ever play a game riddled with things that just... didn't seem quite right? Or spend hours doing research on a rumor that you heard, only to find out that it wasn't true? I know I have. What's your favorite rumors, tropes, or underlying themes in games? Is there something in a game that is slid under the radar making it more "E" rated? My favorite game that has examples of both would have to be from Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. Here are a couple of my favorite 'wtf' moments.

• The rumor that Rock is adopted. Ah man, this gets me every single time. Probably because it's most likely true. The thought of Rock being happily adopted with parents who never bothered to tell him makes me laugh, as Rock is just happy go lucky in his own little world. Rocks bears absolutely no resemblance to either of his parents. His parents are hard working people of Asian descent with black hair. Rock is white, laid back, blond, and 'lazy' doesn't even cover it. His parents don't even seem to like him, and they aren't seen conversing much in the game. Even as a kid I asked myself, "am I crazy or is there something wrong with this picture?"

They totally look related.

• The rumor of being able to get a chihuahua and a lizard.  I remember researching this for myself for hours without coming up with any result. It bothered me that there were these animals out there I thought I could get or my farm! It was a widely spread rumor that a lot of people believed to be true which I think just made things even worse. To this day, people still believe that this fact may be true, but it's not.

• "Cheating Husband" If you've watched all of a girl's three heart events, and continue to maintain your friendship but marry ANOTHER girl, you will witness cut scenes of the jealous girl coming to your house, verbally abusing you night after night. If you try to talk to the girl, she'll explain that she's mad at you, but will soften up after gifts. It's implied that you have a "woman" on the side, as you're trying to maintain a friendship and impress another woman, but you don't really. There's no cheating in Harvest Moon!

• Grant and Samantha's awkward marriage. Samantha is.. a crazy, crazy woman.. never could stand her. It is heavily implied in the game that she's an incredibly bossy, demanding and controlling wife and mother. She constantly tries to control the way that her daughter acts and dresses. Grant appears in the game as a "businessman", when really, he purposely gets up early to leave his house before his wife wakes up. He stays out as LONG as he can to avoid his wife, and even when he does come home, he goes directly to the bar. In Harvest Moon DS, Grant and Samantha are divorced. Samantha dumps Kate on Grant, and leaves him for another man. It's implied that she left because Grant worked too much and never paid any attention to her, but I think it's her fault as much as his.

• Murry and "Po-Po Valley". Did anybody else hear as a kid that Murrey would go back to Po-Po Valley if you donated enough money? I sure did! What a mistake that was, handing over all of my hard earned dollars. Instead, that bum steals food out of my fridge when I'm not looking and begs for the other villager's hard earned dollars.

• Daryl's strange mannerisms. I'm sure that one or two of you were afraid of Daryl as a kid playing AWL. He's a weird guy. He's one of those characters that just doesn't quite fit. Not to mention that he has a creepy fascination with your child, and he can be often seen peeping into your windows when you're not looking to "observe" your son. CREEPY. His fixation on your cows was also something that made you back away slowly and run the other direction when you saw this guy pacing around your farm. He then tries to capture Makumuku in winter time. He was definitely the "weird" factor for this game, and maintains this title even to this day throughout the series.

• The rumors surrounding Carter and Flora's relationship. Just like in real life, rumors are started that are... well.. rumors. Although it seems like Carter and Flora are going buck wild in their tent every night, the two are completely oblivious. If you talk to Carter and Flora, the idea about a relationship has never even crossed their minds, and they seem totally unaware that the villagers think differently. Their innocence about their situation is just plain adorable to me. Strangely enough though, when Harvest Moon: DS was released, Carter and Flora were both marriage candidates. They are also paired as a rival couple. So hmm, its up to you decide on that one!

• Patrick's Crush. The subject is nothing to joke about, but Harvest Moon somehow managed to slide pedophilia into the game under the radar. If you talk to Patrick when Lumina is nearby, he makes comments that very heavily imply that he has a crush on her. Now, while Lumina is technically 18 in the game, Patrick is still in his 50's and the reference is odd. You never really pick up on it as a kid, but you go back to play the game, realize it and go, "well that's wrong."

• Daachan the Bear. There's a bear that you're able to purchase from Van for your child. Throughout the course of the game, there's several cut scenes that indicated that this teddy bear is actually real. The bear creeped me out so badly that I wish I had never purchased it for my child. Late at night (on two different occasions), Daachan can be seen seen stealing food out of your fridge. Your child also speaks (or is presumably) speaking to the bear on a couple of occasions. The bear can also be seen walking, if he's laying on the floor out of place. You can also zoom in on the bear and stare it for a couple of in game hours - and the bear 's head will be turning side to side. o_o Not to mention that the bear also breaths... to this day, it's one of those things in a Harvest Moon game that legitimately freaked me out.

• Bad parenting. You may or may not have witnessed an example of bad parenting if you married Nami. Nami is hardly ever at home, even when your child is a toddler. Although the other spouses that you can marry will leave your farm during the day, Nami does this much more then the other candidates. She stays out late (often past 10PM at night), and frequently visits the bar. When your son is a teenager, she tends to have a short temper, and often fights with your son. Nami's son will be one of the most depressed as a teenager, partially because of Nami's behavior, and he mentions this if you try to talk to him. Maybe Nami wasn't cut out for this whole parenting thing.

Reviewing: Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life

Back when I was very new in the Youtube community I did a very amateur job of capturing footage of this game. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life was the first Harvest Moon game that I had ever played. I have this game to thank for my love of the series as I grew up. I have, and will always love Harvest Moon. I have played and own both the male and female version. Since they are very similar, I will be only reviewing the main male version, but I will include examples of the female version: Another Wonderful Life. I put the female version on my Youtube page, which can be viewed here. I apologize for the quality! 

Synopsis: For those of you that are not familiar with the series, Harvest Moon is a game that never ends. With no ending, the player can play as much or as little as they'd like and they have many choices to make to effect how their life turns out. Because it is a simulation game, it's very similar to The Sims. Your character (either a female or male, depending on the version) has come to a quiet valley to start a new life. Your father has passed away, and you've decided to take over his farm. That's all - the rest is up to you! Have a... WONDERFUL LIFE. See what I did there?

Pros:

1. The pace in which time passes in game.

In traditional Harvest Moon games, a year is 120 days divided into 4 seasons. This gives the player plenty of time to do time specific tasks and events in a month. Each month has 30 days, and you generally have 16 hours (approximately) in a day to do what you need to do. A minute in real life generally causes 10 minutes in game to pass. This makes for a very, very long game. Especially when the game never ends, and some things are missable! 

However, A/Another Wonderful Life is unique in that they do not have the same system! Each month only has 10 days rather then 30. They've kept the four seasons, and having 40 days in a year instead of 120 makes a huge difference. The game has compensated so that it does not interfere with game play. A second in real life is a minute in game time, and you can see the minutes tick by so you know exactly what time it is. It's a much more effective system. I love it and wish that more Harvest Moon games would do the same.

  

2. The amount of content was perfect. I never felt overwhelmed! 

Everything in this game was planned out so nicely that you never felt you were on a tight schedule. There wasn't so much to do that you never got around to things you wanted to do, but there wasn't a lack of things either! It was perfectly acceptable to do your chores for half of the day, and still have time for other things later on in the day. The number of love interests and villagers incorporated into the town was just right, and you actually really wanted to engage in conversation with everybody. They included various Harvest Moon variables from other games, but they did it in moderation. It is honestly very invigorating, and makes the game so much more enjoyable. Even to do those mundane tasks that nobody likes doing in Harvest Moon games (generally)!

3. It's got a touch of realism to it that other Harvest Moon games don't have.

Harvest Moon is meant for audiences of all ages, and so the content of the game is clearly very G rated. Harvest Moon: A/Another Wonderful Life got away with having a E rating, but still adds very real life characteristics that other games didn't have. A few examples include: divorce, aging, characters dyiing, and somewhat graphical scenes when your animals die. I enjoyed that your own character, your family, and villagers actually aged as the years went by. You had to maintain relationships with people, or else things wouldn't stay the way they were, and characters were "killed" off. It bought a very refreshing bit of changes as the years went on, and allowed for some great character development. This game also technically has an "ending" unlike a lot of games, just like your life eventually comes to an end. It made this game so much better, and put it in my list of favorite Harvest Moon games.

4. Your children actually develop, grow up, and you have influence in their lives. 

By far my FAVORITE part of this game, which puts it apart from every single Harvest Moon game. In most games, your child goes from a baby stage to a small child, but then growth stops. A/Another Wonderful Life is beautifully unique in that your child grows into a young adult! It takes 7 full game years (until the game ends), but it was so rewarding in a sense to see something come out of your efforts. Your child develops his own unique personality, own appearance, and you can even sway your child's career choices. It's something that I am praying more Harvest Moon games of the future do, because it's such an under rated idea that Natsume really ought to look back on. It is again, part of that realism part of the game. You don't just have this little baby forever, you age, along with your child. You run into the good (and the bad) as they grow up, and you see them blossom into a human being. Metaphorically, of course. The amount of diversity in this feature is something that again, is sorely missed.

Cons:

1. The map is unfortunately very dull, small, and doesn't offer much variation. 

As much as I love the pace of this paticular Harvest Moon game, it slows down after a few years of playing. You don't want to stop playing, because things change every year. However, things easily become dull and repetitive and it's very hard to keep playing after 3 or 4 years. The terrain doesn't change much, villagers don't hustle and bustle or change often, and there's never any new areas unlocked. The only area that you are able to go that's outside of the actual village is only accessible by connecting a Gameboy to the Gamecube. It's a huge hill that just teases you! Other villagers will come and go, but you never can. *sigh* Even expanding onto your farm isn't all that interesting, unfortunately. If the map was bigger, there might be more to explore, and more things to do in a day to keep the game a bit fresher as the years went by. 

2. Your character gets hungry, and the game reminds you. CONSTANTLY.

One of the most annoying bits of the realism part of the game is that your character does in fact get hungry! He/she does have to eat. If you choose not to feed your character, then be ready to face the consequences. The game is not shy in reminding you, every few minutes (or so it seems) that your character needs to eat! Your character will hold their stomach as it growls. The more time you allow to pass without feeding your character, the less of a gap there will be in between growling. This really interferes with game play. It slows you way down! Fortunately, your character can and will eat practically anything edible in game. Having to go and search for food when you are trying to perform another task, however, is just an added nuisance.

3. The game forces you to have children and get married.

This isn't something that bothers me personally, because I always get married in the game (eventually). You always have a child when you get married, so that comes naturally. But I don't think it's fair that the game forces you. If you don't know much about the game, or about the girls/boys that are available to marry, you might not get the results you want. You may miss events, or miss opportunities to impress one person or another. You only have 40 days to impress the one you want to marry, and if you don't propose to somebody they will come to your house and propose to you! If you say no to the proposal, the game will only go on for another year before it ends for good. The game will not let you continue without getting married, and you lose your chance after the first year. Most games give you plenty of time to get married, giving you time to get used to the game. Luckily for you, you only have three choices to choose in between... but be prepared to make a quick decision!