Harvest Moon: Back to Nature

Of course, if it were just a farming sim the game would be boring beyond belief, hmm? What you have to do is get the farm, currently a field full of sticks, rocks, and weeds, back on its feet within three years, while making friends with the people of the village and courting one of the village girls. This one of the cutest games I've ever seen, but not for people with no patience.

You start off with a little shack, a tv, your dog, 200g and some tools. The tools you start off with are an axe, a hoe, a hammer, a sickle, and a watering can.

Eventually you will be able to buy a house upgrade and get a kitchen, then another and get a bedroom for you and your wife, then you can get a greenhouse... You can get cows, sheep, and chickens, but you have to remember to feed them.

In every year is four seasons, each with 30 days. All the seeds you can buy have to be planted in the correct season, and they'll take a certain amount of time to grow. Don't forget, like I did, that you have to hoe a three by three space in the ground to plant the seeds. I wasted my first batch of seeds that way.

In the village, there are all sorts of places to buy things and people to meet.

At the general store, you can buy bread, flour, oil, curry powder, and rice balls, all useful for when you get a kitchen and want to cook things. They also sell rucksack upgrades so you can carry more things, and seeds you can plant. There are different seeds for every season. For instance, there are turnip, potato, and cucumber seeds for spring and eggplant, carrot, and sweet potato seeds for fall. Sweet Potatoes are the best thing to plant, because they grow fast and sell for a lot of money.

The blacksmith can upgrade your tools or make accessories for you to give to your girl if you have the right ore. He also sells the brush, which you can use on your cows, sheep, and horse once you get them so they will like you more.

Besides the village, there's a forest where you can pick up things such as bamboo shoots and mushrooms to sell. The carpenter, Gotz, lives there and if you have enough money and wood he can expand your house.

There is also Mother's hill and the little hill right by your farm, which has a hot spring to soak in, the Goddess' pond, and a mine where you can mine for ore.

There are five girls you can marry, and five rivals who will marry them if you don't.

First is Elli, the sweet little brown-haired nurse at the clinic. She lives with her grandmother, Ellen, and her little brother, Stu.

The Doctor, who may or may not be named Tim, will marry her if you don't. He runs the clinic and doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

Second is Mary, who runs the library and lives with her parents, Basil and Anna. She's a shy girl with black hair and glasses.

Grey, the blacksmith's grandson, will marry her if you don't. He works with his grandfather, Siabara, in the blacksmith shop.

Third is Popuri, the cute little pink haired girl who lives at the chicken farm with her brother Rick and her mother, Lillia.

Kai, who only comes to town in summer, will marry her if you don't. If he does, she'll leave with him and only return in the summer.

Fourth is Karen, who lives at the general store with her father, Jeff, and her mother Sasha. She has long blonde hair and loves the sea.

Rick, Popuri's brother, will marry her if you don't.

Fifth is Ann, who lives and works at the Inn with her father, Doug. She's a redheaded tomboy who doesn't think she'll ever marry.

However, if you don't marry her she'll marry Cliff, who lives at the inn and will leave town unless you tell him about a job. Of course, she won't marry him if you don't tell him, even if you don't marry her.

There are many more people than just those ten, and all the people you meet have birthdays, favorite items, and places they hang out.

Some of the others include;
Won, the chinese peddler who lives at the inn and sells unusual seeds. My personal favorite character, although I'm not really sure why.

Mayor Thomas, the mayor of the village. Has been described as looking like a clown, because he's really short with a really big red nose.

Greg, the fisherman, who will give you a fishing pole if you go to the beach with an open tool spot and talk to him on the weekend.

Barley and his little granddaughter May, who live at the Yodel Ranch. May is a cute little girl who likes flowers and is best friends with Stu, and Barley is who you want to talk to if you want a cow or a sheep. they also give you your horse if you go to their ranch in spring of the first year.

Kano, a photographer, who lives in the Mayor's house. What this guy does in the game or why he lives there, I don't know. But he does.

Pastor Thomas, who lives at the church and will take confessions if you catch him at the right time. The only useful confession is about littering, if you forget to throw away the junk you fish up in the trash can.

There are loads of little things you can do that I don't have the time or space to write up. If you want to find out a lot more about the game and see some screenshots, check out www.hmfarm.com.