March 19
I only meant to play one day's worth, really I did. I figured a quick bout of farming prior to sleep and I'd satisfy that gaming itch in a small way. Four in-game days later and I finally decide that maybe it wasn't the best idea after all.

I've got tomatoes! My first produce came in today and I promptly dumped it in the cooler. It turns out that eggs and milk are the only things you sell daily (and get money for daily - I must have checked it at the wrong time of day earlier) and produce gets stored for either selling at your farmer's stand (heard about, no idea how to do it yet) or to Wandering Merchant Van. I doubt I'll get much for each item individually, but in bulk I'm betting it adds up nicely. In the meantime I've got to figure out how much to save for cooking, how to set up that roadside stall, how much time to budget to that roadside stall, and whether it's worth all the fuss.

Coming up next - watermelons! And they're square in that weird Japanese style, too. The farm up the road has them growing and ready to harvest well before my few plants are producing and they're cute little cubes. Polygon-saving measure or fun graphic design? I'm guessing it's a bit of both.

So far it seems that each plant can be harvested numerous times. All the produce I've seen so far grows on the vine, but that's going to be pretty strange when it comes to subterranean veggies like turnips and potatoes. It's yet another wait-and-see mystery to add to the pile.

As the days go by I'm starting to get a sense as to how to handle my routine. All the villagers are interested in various items, and figuring out what those things are is a process of experimentation. The mad scientist likes some kinds of fish, the doctor likes another kind of fish, I'm betting giving out produce will go over well when I finally get to do it, etc. I haven't successfully befriended anyone beyond the polite level they start at yet, but I'm working on it. I'm also getting to the point where I can recognize the characters from a fair distance, and I'm getting a handle on their daily routines as well. For example, I can blow off giving Nami, the red-headed bride-to-be, her gift of the day until late at night, because she's usually out walking until midnight or so. She's a pain to get stuff for but at least I know where she is.

My next big purchase - a pond. One of the things you can order from the shipping ledger is a pond, and I've heard no mention of it in any previews or reviews. Is it just decorative? Can you stock it with fish? Where will it fit on my land? No idea, but it's yet another thing to look forward to finding out. Thankfully it's relatively cheap, so another few days should get it in place.

March 20
Argh! No time to game today! The Harvest Moon games are all about proper time management, you'd think I'd have learned something from them.

March 21
Ten days!? Spring was only ten days long? Well isn't that a bit of a surprise! So lets see how this affects the game Each year should be forty days long, but this makes sense seeing as the game is thirty years long. It does mean, however, that my growing season is somewhat shorter than expected. Also, I've now got far less time to effect change if I really want to do something, like maximize the heart value on all three girls before the end of the year or befriend a villager before a certain time. So yeah, it's a bit of a surprise.

I'm experimenting with plants right now. Once you pick the vegetable off a plant, clicking on it will get a message that this plant will wilt soon. My first instinct was to hoe the plant down and replant, which I did to all my tomatoes, but I'm experimenting with my watermelons to see if they can be persuaded to give up one more harvest before death. I kind of doubt it, but it's not like I've got a million plants to tend.

I'm learning that the fishing pole may be my best bet when it comes to earning the friendship of the villagers. It seems that just about everyone, with only one or two exceptions, likes a free fish, and an hour or two's worth of fishing at the end of the day means I've wormed my way that much deeper into another couple of villagers' hearts. After a fair amount of experimenting I've found that my Animal Crossing instincts for fishing work against me, though. In AC, the split-second the bobber went down was the split-second you pulled in the fish, or it was too late. Harvest Moon's fish are no more forgiving of the timing, but they want an extra second to set on the hook before being reeled in. I pulled back a lot of empty hooks before I figured that out

Fishing can be one of the more frustrating things in the game, unfortunately. There's nothing like having the controller start to vibrate with a preemptive nibble and then having your guy reel it back in because he's hungry. You're patiently fishing, you're getting a nibble, and all of a sudden the sound effect "Guu~" appears behind you and you're holding your stomach, totally ruining the moment. It also can get interrupted by side events like Van setting up shop or the arrival of newly ordered products, both of which give a little cut scene and can mess up a good cast. Both things are good information to have, it's just I'd rather them not mess up a delicate moment, thanks.

Anyway, it's summertime now. The first thing I got was a horse, and it's a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Running around town taking too long? Hop on a horse and get there in minutes instead of hours. The Harvest Sprites also tossed me a Blue Feather, which is the item I'll be using to propose to Nami near the year's end. And finally, that pond I ordered arrived. It says that it's great for ducks, but I've yet to see one. Fall, during migration, maybe?

Summer also brings one more problem into the mix: it's hot. Plants now need to be watered twice a day, which is a problem seeing as my guy just doesn't have the stamina to do as many things as I'd like for him to do in a day yet. Once I get a few veggies into storage I can cook up a storm, and get some mid-day energy going for him, but at the moment I'm feeling a bit limited. At least snacking on the herbs that grow around the farm and village help a bit, but it's still something I'm looking forward to not having to worry about in the future.

I also got two cut scenes with the two girls I'm not actively pursuing: the cute, quiet, traditional Celia and the bubbly blonde Muffy. I think I blew Muffy's, but Celia's worked out all right. I kind of wish I'd been able to save and retry them both, just to see the different paths they could have gone along. Ah well, it's Nami I'm after and I did her cut scene right a few days ago.

Continue to: Week 1 Epilogue | Return to: Days 1 and 2