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Cambdoranononononono's Harvest Moon, Magical Melody (GC)
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| [February 9, 2008 01:01:03 AM]
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GAMEPLAY
The customizable aspect of the game got a bit more interesting in this session, since I made enough money to start purchase some land and a chicken coop. I probably cared a bit too much about naming chickens, as this managed to stall the game a bit. I managed to establish a method for getting through a given day, though it occasionally got interrupted when new people move in. (I tried to move in a particular circuit so that I kept backtracking to a minimum and was at each building when it opened.)
I realized that I chose relative easy girls to woo (Jamie and Maria), in the sense that I was able to access their preferred gifts without too much trouble. I cheated a bit in that I looked up what they liked, since trial and error is a bit of a pain with this aspect. Apparently, giving someone a present that they dislike but isn’t intrinsically bad is enough for them to immediately become less friendly with you. (This doesn’t, however, stop characters from taking the item anyway and depriving you of a shippable resource.) This was probably intended to add to the challenge of befriending characters, but there are enough characters that it takes a while anyway.
DESIGN
The story in this game is pretty clearly a way to include some extra rewards into the otherwise standard Harvest-Moon-style gameplay. Most musical notes end up appended to some task or event that you would normally participate in anyway, like going to festivals, wooing/befriending eligible singles, and using tools. Apart from collecting notes, the game is mostly built on goals that aren’t exactly required by the game, but are necessary to keep the game interesting. The player doesn’t need to get married, buy all of the property, get fully-upgraded tools, or reach the bottom of the mines, but without doing at least some of these, the game would likely feel boring and pointless.
One thing that disappoints me in this game is the interaction with other characters. The dialogues isn’t particularly varied – the characters only have one line associated with a location, and will spend the rest of the day telling the player “goodbye” after speaking together once. A couple of these lines change whenever the player jumps whenever the friendship goes up a level, but this is gradual enough that it doesn’t really keep the day-to-day interactions from being monotonous. Little of the dialogue expands the character much, particularly when it’s used as an in-game tutorial, which happens relatively frequently.
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| [February 9, 2008 12:03:54 AM]
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SUMMARY
In Harvest Moon: MM, the player controls a farmer (either male or female) and takes part in various activities such as growing crops, raising livestock, socializing, fishing, mining, and wooing members of the opposite sex. As the player completes various tasks (shipping particular items, whistling a certain number of times, etc.), the game awards musical notes used (somehow) to revive a local petrified deity.
GAMEPLAY
Unlike my last couple of games, I had played this one before, so it didn't quite have that 'freshness' that comes with a game that I'm not familiar with. Still, I enjoy playing Harvest Moon now and then, so it was fun for me. I at least knew exactly which of the three initially available properties I wanted (river).
While I've often seen this praised as having more story than most Harvest Moons, it really just has a bit more of an obvious goal (reviving the Harvest Goddess), which doesn't really affect the open-ended gameplay very much. Apparently, people aren't nice anymore, so the Goddess turns to stone (on purpose?), and you must collect musical notes that appear for some reason when you do things. Every five notes turn into an instrument, and enough instruments will bring the Goddess back.
The gameplay is entertaining, though it picked up pretty slowly in this session since I've never really mastered moneymaking. There's a lot to do in a day, especially if you're like me and try to cram in every possible kind of activity. (Talk to every villager, water/harvest crops, weed, mine, fish . . .) I usually pick up a particular routine to get everything done in these kinds of games, but it had been long enough since I played the game last that I wasn't immediately very efficient.
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Cambdoranononononono's Harvest Moon, Magical Melody (GC)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Monday 4 February, 2008
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