Harvest Moon 64: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"The farm's pretty run down. You've got your work cut out, but don't get discouraged!"''|'''The [[Permanent Elected Official|Mayor]]'''}}

''Harvest Moon 64'' is the third game in the ''[[Harvest Moon (Video Game)|Harvest Moon]]'' series, released in 1999 for the [[Nintendo 64]]. An [[Even Better Sequel]] to the original, it cemented the franchise as a successful (and [[Money Dear Boy|profitable]]) [[Cult Classic]]. ''Harvest Moon 64'' sticks to the [[Strictly Formula|series formula]] -- indeed, helped [[Trope Codifier|codify]] it -- and generally expands on original concept. The player's grandfather has recently died and the player has decided to move in and work the farm in grandpa's place. You have just over two years (until the end of the third Spring) to whip the farm into shape, become an active part of the local community, woo, wed, and bed a local bachelorette, and generally become a successful and responsible adult. At the end of this period, your father visits and grades your progress, marking the conclusion of the game as such, though there's nothing to keep you from [[Playable Epilogue|playing indefinitely after that]].

''Harvest Moon 64'' is the third game in the ''[[Harvest Moon (Video Game)|Harvest Moon]]'' series, released in 1999 for the [[Nintendo 64]]. An [[Even Better Sequel]] to the original, it cemented the franchise as a successful (and [[Money, Dear Boy|profitable]]) [[Cult Classic]]. ''Harvest Moon 64'' sticks to the [[Strictly Formula|series formula]] -- indeed, helped [[Trope Codifier|codify]] it -- and generally expands on original concept. The player's grandfather has recently died and the player has decided to move in and work the farm in grandpa's place. You have just over two years (until the end of the third Spring) to whip the farm into shape, become an active part of the local community, woo, wed, and bed a local bachelorette, and generally become a successful and responsible adult. At the end of this period, your father visits and grades your progress, marking the conclusion of the game as such, though there's nothing to keep you from [[Playable Epilogue|playing indefinitely after that]].

''HM64'' is, like the rest of the series, a [[Simulation Game]] that combines aspects of business, social, and space management games into a single whole. It holds something of an odd place in the franchise -- while it helped solidify much of the series' gameplay, it still suffers from quite a bit of [[Early Installment Weirdness]] and much of its content was ignored or altered for later ''Harvest Moon'' games. It's generally regarded as one of the best games in the franchise, but due to its age relatively few current fans have played it. It didn't help that ''Harvest Moon: Back to Nature'' (released at about the same time) had a different set of characters which took precedence over the ''HM64'' versions for quite some time, leaving them in something of a [[Canon Dis Continuity]] limbo. New games have reintroduced some long-missing characters, however (such as Elli appearing in ''Tree of Tranquility''), so that part of ''HM64'''s history seems to be over.

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=== This game provides examples of: ===

* [[All There in the Manual]]: The Japanese strategy guide goes very in-depth into everyone; stating ages, likes, their personality, among other stuff. It also mentions how Elli and Pete are the [[Official Couple]], and how Rick has a crush on Karen.

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* [[In Universe Game Clock]]: Game time passes unless you're either indoors or paused; the single biggest pressure in the game is getting all the stuff you need to accomplish done in the amount of time available to you.

* [[Japanese Holidays]]: Several of the festivals are based on them. Specifically, the Firefly Festival is very reminiscent of Bon, and the Starry Night Festival is somewhat similar to the Japanese celebration of Christmas (taking place on the 24th of Winter helps). There's also New Years Eve and New Years Day.

* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Your grandfather, the protagonist of the original ''Harvest Moon'', canonically married one of the bachelorettes from that game. All of the bachelorettes of ''this'' game are their granddaughters. This means that one of the five girls has the same grandparents as you -- making you cousins. The trope is presumably averted, however, since it's never stated ''which'' bachelorette is your cousin, so it's safe to assume that it's [[~~Schrodingers~~ Gun|not the one you married]]. However you can still have [[Squick]] induced if you court all the girls.

* [[Kissing Cousins]]: Your grandfather, the protagonist of the original ''Harvest Moon'', canonically married one of the bachelorettes from that game. All of the bachelorettes of ''this'' game are their granddaughters. This means that one of the five girls has the same grandparents as you -- making you cousins. The trope is presumably averted, however, since it's never stated ''which'' bachelorette is your cousin, so it's safe to assume that it's [[Schrodinger's Gun|not the one you married]]. However you can still have [[Squick]] induced if you court all the girls.

* [[Lost Forever]]: Cliff, Karen, and Kai will all leave the village if you don't befriend them quickly enough (though Kai will stick around if Karen does, given that she's his [[Love Interest]]). There are also numerous pictures with a limited window of opportunity -- some are one-time only events, and all of the girls' pictures will be unavailable after you get married.

* [[Magic Realism]]: Flower Bud Village is a normal rural community... except for the [[Nature Spirit|Harvest Sprites]], [[Kappa]], and [[Mother Nature|Harvest Goddess]]... and the [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone|suspiciously apropos dreams]] you occasionally have... and the [[Empathic Environment|trail of smoke into the sky]] whenever an elder dies...

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* [[NPC Scheduling]]: Character locations depend on the time of day, day of the week, and sometimes weather, not counting periodic exceptions like festivals and relationship events. Usually characters have a "working" location where they are most days, a handful of different "time off" locations that they randomly pick between on their days off, and an alternate location for bad weather if they would've been outside otherwise.

* [[Mainstream Obscurity]]: Often cited as the best ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' game however few fans have even played it. It's become quite expensive, often $35 - $80 a cart.

* [[Self Imposed Challenge]]: Numerous, but the most common is probably the "full album run", a form of [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] combined with [[Speed Run]] (since you have to do it all before you hit the [[Playable Epilogue]], with many intermediate deadlines for accomplishments imposed by scripted in-game events before that). See [[Bragging Rights Reward]] above.

* [[Self-Imposed Challenge]]: Numerous, but the most common is probably the "full album run", a form of [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] combined with [[Speed Run]] (since you have to do it all before you hit the [[Playable Epilogue]], with many intermediate deadlines for accomplishments imposed by scripted in-game events before that). See [[Bragging Rights Reward]] above.

* [[Shout Out]]: If Karen and Kai get married, their child will be dressed up in a Pikachu outfit.

* [[Super Title 64 Advance]]

* [[~~Videogame~~ Caring Potential]]: You can get some really heartwarming scenes -- for both your PC and others -- by being nice to people and getting certain events.

* [[Video Game Caring Potential]]: You can get some really heartwarming scenes -- for both your PC and others -- by being nice to people and getting certain events.

* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: You can also be a terrible, horrible person -- try giving people weeds and rocks, for example. Or just hacking at your animals with your tools. Or refusing to feed them.

* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: Naturally, if you abuse your friends and animals, they'll like you less. In the animals' case, this will usually mean they earn you less money, if they don't just flat out die from your abuse. Killing off animals makes ''everyone in town'' like you less -- and in the case of particularly animal-friendly characters like Ann, a ''lot'' less.