Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and all related are property of Natsume. HARVEST MOON: FRIENDS OF MINERAL TOWN "YEAR ONE" GUIDE VERSION 1.3 Last revised: 6/25/04 By Gameboyguru (AKA GBG) Email: Venusar@AOL.com AIM: Venusar Note: Skip ahead to section five if you know all the basics of the game and do not care for historical jargon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Version History 2) About Me 3) General Knowledge a) Controls b) Advanced Controls c) Tools d) The Weather trick e) confessional f) Harvest Sprites 4) Story a) General b) Game 5) Getting Started 6) Spring 7) The end 8) Frequently asked questions 9) Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Version History: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Version 1: Guide Created About me Done General Knowledge done Story Done Getting Started Done Spring Done The End Done Credits Done Version 1.1: Correction. Corrected the location of the tools chest. Fixed my ASCII field. Put in the infamous missing chunk of FAQ. Corrected the noun syntax errors regarding the Harvest Goddess on day 24. Replaced the part where I refer to a "winter" portion of the guide and just outright said what I planned to do for a fence. Version 1.2: Revision. Revised my explanation for my ideal field. Made a questionable correction to the description for the fishing rod level 1. Added a Frequently Asked Questions section. Version 1.3: Expansion Added Summer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2) About Me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I choose not to divulge my true name to the Internet public at the moment, but I will say my Alias. My Internet Alias is "Gameboyguru" or better yet known as "GBG." It was originally created for a Card Captors fanfic, but it eventually stuck and I found myself using this name not only for the internet but name inputs in RPG's and such. I have a fanfiction.net profile. Just go there and search under Gameboyguru and you should get my profile. I believe it was in grade 7 when I was first introduced to the Harvest Moon series of games. I had heard about it before and subbed it as a farming game, but a friend of mine (who I do not communicate with any more) told me that the games were good. This guy introduced me to Final Fantasy, Legend of Zelda, and Earthbound, so I wasn't one to doubt him suddenly. So one day I hit my favorite mall (which has now changed for the immense worse) and purchased a copy of "Harvest Moon GBC." Though that was possibly the one Harvest Moon game that least represented the series, I was still hopelessly hooked. Despite the heckling I got from my brother, I played it and even for a short time was playing it in the car ride to school! (Which ended VERY quickly) Anywho, another game came along and I stopped playing… for like a month and a half. Once the other game was done with, I immediately went back to Harvest Moon. Even when the GBA came out and I was playing my favorite game, Megaman Battle Network, I immediately went back to Harvest Moon when all was completed. Then tragedy struck. At a garage sale, Harvest Moon GBC was sold without my consent and my farming foray came to an abrupt halt; and for a period of time, the "Harvest Moonia" was extracted from my body… I viewed the series from afar as I played other games and had a fun, "Harvest Moon" Free existence. Then fate intervened. I was totally psyched up over Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga and went to the nearest place to get it. Unfortunately, it was sold out. EVERYWHERE. I scanned over the GBA section of the store, hoping to find it despite the guy at the register said they were all out. Then is happened. My eyes fell on "Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town." A cold sweat overcame me. My mind was a blurry mess of indecision. I was able to resist HM 64 and Back to Nature, but this was on my favorite platform, the GBA! Before I changed my mind, I took the box and purchased the game. Thus began my friendship of Mineral Town. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3) General knowledge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In order to use this guide, you will need to know the basics of this game. Fortunately, I will explain as much as I can think of for better understanding. You might think this excessive, but the majority of people suffer their first year for not knowing the proper basics. a) Controls: Directional Pad - Move cursor/character in possible directions; shift pages in menus. A - Confirm choice; talk to person; read book; pick up/toss item/gift/dog/crop. B - Cancel choice; Use equipped tool. Start - Displays in-game menus or confirm a choice. Select - Displays your status screen. L - Whistle for dog and horse R - Run or Walk b) Advanced Controls: Advanced controls perform certain tasks vital for everyday activities. Become efficient with them is one of the keys to being a good farmer L + A - Take the lowest-right item from your rucksack L + B - Eats currently held item if it is edible Also switches tools in the rucksack (NOTE: It is advised you do not do this when you have a cursed tool; if you accidentally equip it, you will need Carter to remove it during confessional L + Down - Whistles only for your Horse L + Up - Whistles only for your Dog L + Start - Brings up the town map which has Mineral Town, the sprite's hut, your farm, the woods, the springs, and Mother's Hill L + Select - Brings up the Farm map (NOTE: VERY helpful for finding your dog, doggy ball, or horse!) A + B - Brings up the Rucksack menu (NOTE: Use this when you have cursed tools in your rucksack) c) Tools You start the game with five tools and the pedometer. Getting the Fishing rod will be highlighted in the 'spring' section of the guide Hoe: You use this tool to till the land for growing crops. Also, it is used to dig up deeper floors when mining. Level 1(default): Tills 1 square of land immediately in front of you. Level 2(copper): Tills 2 squares of land immediately in front of you. Level 3(silver): Tills 3 squares of land immediately in front of you. Level 4(gold): Tills 4 squares of land immediately in front of you. Level 5(mystrile): Tills 6 squares of land immediately in front of you. Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 39 of the winter mine. Tills a 12 x 3 area immediately in front of you with your position as the center. Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by having Carter bless it 10 - 11 times. Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Tills an 18 x 5 area immediately in front of you with your position as the center Sickle: This is used to cut down grass for animal fodder and any crops you wish to annihilate. This is useful for if you have crops growing when the season shifts and all they do it take up space. NOTE: Using this tool on your dog will cause it to run away scared. Level 1(default): Cuts 1 square immediately in front of you Level 2(copper): Cuts 3 squares, one immediately in front, and two from the top and bottom of the first square. Level 3(silver): Cuts 6 squares, two immediately in front, and four from the tops and bottoms of the first two squares. Level 4(gold): Cuts a 3 x 3 area of grass with you in the dead center of it. Level 5(mystrile): Cuts a 5 x 5 area of grass with you in the dead center of it. Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 79 of the winter mine. Cuts a 9 x 9 area of grass with you in the dead center of it. Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by equipping it for 10 - 11 days strait. Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Cuts a 15 x 15 area with you in the dead center of it. Watering can: Fill it up and let 'er fly! This will water the your crops once they have been placed in tilled earth. Pretty much any tilled earth can be watered. Crops only need to be watered once a day to grow Level 1(default): Waters a square immediately in front of you. Level 2(copper): Waters 3 squares, one immediately in front, and two from the top and bottom of the first square. Level 3(silver): Waters 6 squares, two immediately in front, and four from the tops and bottoms of the first two squares. Level 4(gold): Waters a 3 x 3 area immediately in front of you with your position as center. Level 5(mystrile): Waters a 3 x 5 area immediately in front of you with your position as center. Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 69 of the Winter mine. Waters a 6 x 13 square of land immediately in front of you with your position as center Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by having Carter bless it 10 - 11 times. Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Waters a 12 x 21 area with your position as center. Axe: Chop all the lumber you need! The axe will take branches and stumps and converts them into lumber. A branch is worth 1 lumber while a stump is worth 6 lumber! Level 1(default): Chop a branch with 1 hit, can't even dent stumps Level 2(copper): Chops a stump with 6 hits Level 3(silver): Chops a stump with 3 hits Level 4(gold): Chops a stump with 2 hits Level 5(mystrile): Chops a stump with 1 hit Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 49 of the Winter mine. Chops all branches and stumps in the current area. Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by using it 255 times [NOTE: Not the cursed level; you can just tap B repeatedly and rack up uses.] Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Chops all branches and stumps in the current area while using less energy to do so. Hammer: Hate those pesky rocks? Smashing things with a hammer solves everything! Level 1(default): Smash small stones in 1 hit, can't dent anything else. Level 2(copper): Smash a large stone in 3 hits, still can't dent boulders. Level 3(silver): Smashes large stones in 2 hits, boulders with 6 hits, but still can't dent large boulders. Level 4(gold): Smashes large stones in 1 hit, boulders with 3 hits, but still can't dent large boulders. Level 5(mystrile): Smashes boulders with 2 hits, still can't dent large boulders. Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 59 of the Winter mine. Smashes large boulders in 1 hit. Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by equipping for 10 - 11 days strait. Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Smashes all stones, large stones, boulders, large boulders in the current area. Fishing Rod: g Rod "hing RodCopper Fishin For fishing. … … Just kidding. You find the fishing rod by visiting Zack from 11 AM to 5 PM with an empty tools slot in your rucksack. With it, you can catch fish varying in size depending on which level rod you use. After casting at the desired level, hold B once "!" appears over your head. Sometimes you will reel the fish in, sometimes you won't. At Mineral Beach, you could even catch… other things. Level 1(default): Catch small fish only. (Rare chance of catching medium fish: Unconfirmed. - onesmellytaco@hotmail.com) Level 2(copper): Catch small and medium fish only. Level 3(silver): Same as copper version. Level 4(gold): Catch medium and large fish only. Level 5(mystrile): Catch large fish as well and only 1 power berry in Winter and only 1 cooking recipe in spring. Level 6(cursed): Find on floor 29 of the Winter Mine. Catch large fish, fish kings, Pirate Treasures and Ancient fossils. Level 6(blessed): Un-curse by using 255 times. [NOTE: Not the cursed level; you can just tap B repeatedly and rack up uses.] Same effect as the cursed version. Level 7(mythic): Same as blessed version, but is slightly more likely to catch Pirate Treasures and Ancient fossils. d) The Weather Trick Often in this guide I will bring up something called the "Weather trick. In order to do this, save before you go to bed. The next day, check the weather forecast. If it isn't to your liking, then just reload your file, sleep again, and check the weather forecast again. If needed, repeat this as often as needed to get the weather forecast you need. This is very useful for getting rainy days and more confessional time. e) Confessional Every Monday, Wednesday, and rainy day between 1 - 4 PM, Carter will be in the upper left room inside the church. In there, you can 'confess' to something. If you are not forgiven, Carter will yell at you, but nothing else will happen. If you are forgiven, then Carter will give you a little pep talk to make you feel better and something good will happen depending on what you confessed to. "I was cruel to my animals/Did not care for animals" - All your animals (Dog, Horse, Cows, Sheep, Chickens) will increase in affection toward you. "Townspeople don't like me" - ALL villagers (including the eligible bachelorettes) will increase in friendship toward you. "Overwork the HS" - All the Harvest Sprites will increase in affection toward you "Want to marry the HG" - Allows you to marry the Harvest Goddess after fulfilling all other requirements. These are mainly the important ones to consider. (Especially the first two) You can get in more confessional time if you use the aforementioned Weather trick to make it rain often. The one with the Harvest Sprites may get you invited to their tea party in no time at all! f) Harvest Sprites These vertically challenged fellows will become the very backbone of your farm once you get to really using their assistance. There are seven in all: Staid, (blue) Bold, (purple) Chef, (Red) Nappy, (Orange) Hoggy, (Yellow) Aqua, (Indigo) and Timid. (Green) On your status screen they will have a page to themselves showing their ability to do certain jobs, their affection toward you, and what work you have lined up for them at the time. Once a sprite reaches three hearts, you can enlist their aide in watering, harvesting, or caring for animals. Frankly, only the two former really matter. Using a sprite for taking care of livestock is just plain lazy and they can really do a sloppy job, failing to feed the animals and even not using the makers! To have a Harvest Sprite help out, talk to them and tell them you want their help. After that, specify which field you want them to assist in. After that, they will report to your farm the day after and begin working. Depending on their level of expertise in the area they are working in, they could either work really fast or really slow. To help them get better at something, play games with them! To play with a Harvest Sprite, talk to them in their hut and tell them you want to play. After specifying which type of game you want to play, you will begin the game. The watering game (the most difficult) is a game of memory. Your sprite will be in the center of a 25 x 25 field of tilled ground. At once, the ground will mysteriously start to water itself. Remember which ones were watered and if possible the order in which they were watered. For every square you get correct, you will hose down the square and earn a point. For every square you get correct in the correct order you will hose down the square AND make a plant sprout up; netting two points. If you duff the order once, then it is impossible to make any more sprouts for that round. If you select a square that isn't ANY part of the pattern, then "…" will appear above your sprite's head and you will LOSE a point, as in gaining a negative. If you select a square that was already selected and watered, then the same thing will happen. The score you need to pass will be displayed at the start of the game. It starts at 9 and eventually climbs to 30. There are three rounds in each game and depending how long you've been playing, there will be 3 and eventually 10 squares to water each round! It really is easy if you link certain watering formations to shapes and them create those shapes in watered squares. The game can be difficult, but worth it when a field of 30 x 16 crops is being watered actively whiles you mingle with the townsfolk. The Harvesting game (the middleman in difficulty) is one-button oriented, but by no means simple. Tap the A to harvest a lone turnip an infinite amount of times. You have 60 seconds and at first only need to harvest 2 turnips, but that will escalate to 11 turnips over time. The thing is, if you tap too quickly, then you will pull off the top of the turnip or make the sprite fall over, earning you a minus point. The key is to regulate your button taps. If your sprite turns orange, then red; you are going too fast. Slow down your button taps, but do not stop them entirely. Still, if you are in the red, chances are you'll get the minus point anyway, which only matters in advanced games. This game increases a sprite's ability to harvest crops. The funny thing is, they don't really pick the crop up and drop it in the bin rather than use pixie dust and TELEPORT the crop to the bin. It's quite fun to see a group of sprites decimate an entire field of freshly grown crops. The third game, the animal husbandry game, needs no explanation as I find it entirely useless. The only time you'd need this is un-cursing the cursed hammer and sickle, but otherwise using sprites to care for livestock is just plain lazy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4) Story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a) General I noticed that about 96% of the posts made on the message boards are by new guys in their first year. I had always wanted to make a FAQ or guide and am starting over my game. (Blasted Rival heart events) As I play my new file, I will note down what I do and tell you just how it is I went around doing these things. There is no right way to go about playing Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and by no way am I saying my way is perfect. In fact, that's all it is: MY way. If you do things your own way, that is fine, but if you are just starting out or need help making your first year in Spring count, then this is your guide. Also, I isolate all the girls in this guide because I am also doing a Heart Event guide and I need to make the heart levels accordingly. By all means, if you are courting a girl, then take the measures necessary to woo and marry her. I'm sure you can use another FAQ or guide for this. I'm assuming you know other basic stuff like the characters and such. Update: I erased my file for this game and restarted following my guide. I must say, it was quite interesting. Now that my newest game (I believe the fourth file I've ever done) has reached summer, I will rename this the "Year one" guide rather than just for spring. That can only mean that fall and winter are right on summer's tail! Wooh! b) Game As a kid, your parents took you to Mineral Town for a bit of a vacation. There was trouble in paradise as somehow your parents lost track of you and you were lost. A kind old man who ran a nearby farm heeded your hopeless cries. He called your parents and after reuniting you with them, invites your whole family to stay at his farm, which you all do. You spend the summer in the town and farm and have the time of your life. One day, a girl finds you merrily asleep at mother's hill and you two quickly become friends. Alas, the summer ends and your parents are ready to go home. As you say goodbye to the old man, he tells you his address so you can be pen pals with him after you get home. Also to see you off is the girl who you were such good friends with. "Just another reason to come back!" The old man quips merrily as you finish your goodbyes. Take a trip back to the present day where 6 months ago your letters from the old man had suddenly stopped. You visit his farm to investigate what the trouble was and see the place in your dream suddenly become a nightmare. Stones, stumps and weeds ravage the field and on a side note no one in Mineral Town is the same. Your desperate clinging on to those memories is cut short when the Mayor of the town, Thomas, runs up to you and begins to scold you for trespassing on the old man's farm. After explaining your relationship with the old man, Thomas quickly gives an apologetic look and tells you he had died 6 months ago and that in his will he left you the farm! After telling Thomas that the person in the will is YOU, he asks you if you would like to take the inheritance and run the farm. You quickly decide that you would love to restore this farm and make a living there. Somewhere along the way, you would also like to reunite with that girl from so long ago… Your friendship with Mineral Town begins! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5) Getting Started ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First and foremost, Harvest Moon is a game that requires you to think. So if you are playing it before school or before a huge standardized test; don't. Second, do not immerse yourself so much into this game to the point where other aspects of your life deteriorate. I myself have had declining grades since I started playing, but quickly was able to will myself to play less and do homework more until I was back on track. (Besides, playing on my SP at night is much more fun, anyways!) You must understand that you have to work fast in your first Spring to make it count and to really set up all the following years for a blazing success. Especially in the spring, where a majority of your time will be spent clearing the field. I will help in maximizing the time used to clear your field and be able to get to planting your crops ASAP. Next off, relax. This game isn't a violent action game where if you mess up, that's it your game over'd and your character dies. No. FOMT is actually very forgiving and allows you all the time in the world to build your life. Some just choose to farm like never before in their first year, hence the birth of this guide. The only thing remotely timed is getting your rivals married. But that takes four whole years. The game starts by naming yourself, your farm, and your dog. You are also given the choice to select your HM birthday. Mainly select the season in which your month of birth is in and then the day. If your birthday is on day 31 of a month… good luck with that. Just so you know… Spring: March, April, May. Summer: June, July, August. Fall: September, October, November. Winter: December, January, February. For instance, my birthday is March 8. So my HM birthday is Spring 8. After the beginning rolls through, you will be found in your house on Spring 2. Let's get started!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6) Spring ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MONDAY, SPRING 2: Seeing as how you moved in on New Year's Day, then slept in your farmhouse, your life in Mineral Town begins on Spring 2. As soon as you down your breakfast, head out the door and Thomas will greet you and offer some tips for farming. After you tell him you don't need any more advice, Thomas will leave and Zack will come and explain how to ship items and how you get tired. Nothing big. As soon as you regain control of yourself, find, pick up, and drop your dog. After gaining your day's affection with the dog, head back inside your house. Already you can start earning big bucks by doing the single most frustrating thing in the game: The Harvest Goddess New Years game. View the left channel on your TV and get playing. (If you get a different show, just keep pressing left until the Harvest Goddess appears) Basically the Goddess gives you a number between 0 and 9 and you must guess whether the next number she gives will be higher or lower than the first. Get it right, and you keep playing. Get it wrong, and you end the game with whatever amount you had right and get a prize accordingly. You can go up to as many correct guesses as you like, but seeing as how it is your first year, try for 10 - 14 correct guesses. Doing so will earn you relaxation tea leaves. As soon as you get one, press B to store it in your rucksack and try for another one. After getting three, rush outside and ship them. They are worth 1000 G each and are a very nice way to boost your money flow in the first few days. You can play the game a max of 5 times per day and the game is available on the first 5 days of Spring; effectively giving you a chance at 20,000 G within the first four days of being in the farm. The only catch is that the game can be INFURIATINGLY difficult to get 10 guesses right. I have spent hours playing and getting not a single relaxation tea leaves. Stay calm and just keep guessing. Once you are done getting the 5 leaves and have shipped them all, you can finally get to do other things. Once you finish up there, go to the chest at the lower right. You will see your selection of tools. Pick the Axe, Hammer, and Sickle and head out back south of your farm and start foraging. To your Right are two blue plants called Blue Grass. Pick those up and run to the blue-roofed building on your farm (the chicken house) and ship the grasses. Zack will take your shippable items from each bin, so don't worry. After going back down, use your axe to chop all the branches for 3 lumber. Not very impressive, huh? Pick up some flower and head to the hot springs. While there, you may see Ann and Popuri. Ignore them and toss the flowers into the pool with the waterfall and as you do, the Harvest Goddess will greet you! Decline her offer to connect to a Gamecube and introduce yourself to the two lovely ladies near the pool. If you are courting either Ann or Popuri, talk to them more times. If you aren't then just talk to them once to introduce yourself. After leaving out the way you came, head further south. There you will see Gotz, the woodcutter of sorts and you may catch Mary and her family going up to mingle with nature. Introduce yourself to the lot of them and make sure you picked up the Blue Grass in the Spring area on your way back to the farm. If you want, you can also pick up the Bamboo shoots next to where Gotz seems to be doing something. After shipping the aforementioned items, you can now either head into Mineral Town or Start clearing your field of branches. I performed the latter myself. Clearing your field of branches isn't rocket science; just take your axe and chop 'em all up. For help, use the farm map to see what branches are left. Remember that by running at stones, branches, and weeds will make you jump over them if there is nothing on the other side. For me there were 50 branches. Added to the 5 (3 in the woods and 2 in the Mother's hill area) I now had 55 Lumber. With that done, it was now time to mingle with the locals. When you barge into Mineral Town, explore every nook and cranny. On my pass through, I was able to introduce myself to all but Elli, the Doctor, Karen, Barley, and May. Other than those five, my sphere of influence touched all. (even the Harvest Sprites) If any heart events occur on your trips, then check my guide in later installments and see if you had wanted that to happen. Seeing them earlier than I did is nothing wrong. You don't need to do anything more than just get the introductions out of the way. If you have an activity-packed day, the latest you should get to sleep is 4:00 AM, despite being able to go to sleep and not oversleep until 5:59. I only say this because you have to at least restore two hours of stamina and Fatigue. If you have a day where you had nothing to do, then the latest should be 9 - 10 PM, seeing as how the last place in town (Doug's Inn) that is open in a day closes at 9 PM. For your first year, you will find the majority of days will fall under the first kind. Clearing your field with your last hours is still out of the question. (for me, at least.) Leveling up your tools is more important. But what shall you level up? The Axe is my answer. Not expecting that, were you? It's simple; in order to maximize your time spent in year one, you need to upgrade your house as often as possible. To do that you need lots of lumber, to get that you need the mystrile level axe ASAP, and lastly, you do that by what I like to call "Whacking." Before you make your own interpretation, let me explain. "Whacking" is when you use a tool uselessly only for the purpose of gaining it levels. (It is named after the relentless whacking of the axe against a tree stump and no avail.) Head over to the Goddess pond are and begin whacking one of the tree stumps with your axe. As my tools guide earlier dictated, you won't make a dent in the stump. However, using your axe against a stump, regardless of the effect it wields, will earn you experience to your axe. When you get blue in the face, hop in the hot springs for an hour to restore a good amount of stamina/fatigue and then get back to whack. By chopping away until the 3:30 AM mark, I was able to get my axe up to the silver level experience all in that one day. Not bad for a day's whack. By the time you are done, Zack will have come and picked up your blue grass and tea leaves, leaving you with well over 5,000 G. After you are finished and it is well into the morning, head back to your farm and get some shut-eye! If the weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow, go get your dog and bring him in. Your dog HATES wet fur. CHECKLIST: - Thomas and Zack laid down some gaming basics - Played the Harvest Goddess game and got five relaxation tea leaves. - Shipped 3 Blue grass and introduced myself to the Harvest Goddess - Cleared my field of all branches. - Introduced myself to all but the Doctor, Elli, Karen, May and Barley. - Trained my axe to the silver level of experience. - Left my dog out, the forecast called for no rain tomorrow. The checklist after everyday tell you what I did. It doesn't necessarily mean it is exactly like you should do it. (Like you could have met the five I didn't or shipped some bamboo shoots.) It only helps model your progress and sometimes can help you activate certain events. Note that the day's summaries like above will not all be so detailed. TUESDAY, SPRING 3: Check the weather forecast and whatever other shows you want before leaving, but do not play the Harvest Goddess game yet. Walk outside and you will be greeted by the plucky Won, a businessman from the east. He comes to your doorstep to announce that he has come to do business. When he walks away, NOW you can enter your house and begin the rage-fest that is the Harvest Goddess Game. After you have finished, signifying you had suppressed the urge to denounce numbers altogether; you can leave and go foraging again. Remember to pick up and drop your dog, as I will mention this no more in the entire guide. After finishing the day's foraging, go to your farmhouse and drop off a tool (for me it was the sickle) and leave a spot in your rucksack empty. You will see why later. Head into Mineral Town- At 12:40 on this day, Spring 3, I was able to trigger the Black Heart Rival Event between Mary and Gray. It occurs in the blacksmith. -but not too far. Go right to the Poultry farm and greet Lilia by buying a Chicken and about 100 bushels of feed from her. Why buy a chicken so early? You get a head start on your affection levels and the extra 50 - 200 G a day isn't too bad! Caring for chickens is very easy. All you have to do is pick up and drop a chicken to raise their affection. Pick up feed from the fodder bin and put it into the feed bin. The position does not matter, all that matters is that the feed is in there. Place an egg into the incubator to hatch a chick in three days Chicks do not need to be fed. In a week the chick will become a full grown chicken. Chickens will gain affection quicker if you leave them outside. Be forewarned that if you do not make a fence, that the eggs that a chicken lays will appear ANYWHERE about your farm and wild dogs will get to your chicken at night. Also be careful for if you leave it out for 600 hours (roughly 25 days) it will lay P-eggs when it reaches 8 - 10 hearts if it had previously won the chicken sumo. This will not be good for your shipping list for you entirely skip over Great Quality eggs and golden eggs. The Great Quality eggs can be obtained from other chickens, but the golden eggs only come from festival winners. Just make sure your chicken does not spend 25 days outdoors and after you ship and store all the golden eggs and mayonnaise your heart desired, THEN can you leave the chicken out and enjoy the superior-selling P eggs and mayonnaise. NOTE: Any accidental use of a tool like the sickle or hammer will make your chicken unhappy; be careful. Leave the poultry farm (after talking to Rick, and only talking to Popuri if you want to marry her) and make your rounds heading east. You will notice an establishment to the south, the Yodel Ranch. Gather up your will and avoid it for now. You will know why later. Head to Mineral Beach now. Pick up a yellow and an orange grass on the way to Zack's house. Upon entering, you SHOULD trigger the Fishing Rod event in which Zack will give you your last upgradeable tool: The Fishing rod! This event only triggers if you have a free space in your rucksack; see why I told you to drop off a tool, earlier? At 3:00 on this day, Spring 3, I was able to trigger the black heart event for Mary. It occurs in the Library. At 3:00 on this day, Spring 3, I was able to trigger the blue heart rival event for Mary and Gray. It occurs in the Library. After going around, return to your farm and ship the orange and yellow grass to add to your list of shipped items. Make sure to feed your new chicken before doing anything else! You don't want your only chicken to be unhappy! You can do what you want afterward, but for me I went right back to the stumps and whacked my axe all the way to the gold level and halfway to the mystrile level. I went to sleep at around 4:30 AM. Yes, I defied my own advice. Bad me! CHECKLIST: - Won introduced himself to me. - Played the Harvest Goddess game and got five relaxation tea leaves. - Shipped 3 Blue grass and threw a flower to the Harvest Goddess - Bought a chicken and 100 feed. - Finished my introductions to all but Barley. - Saw the Mary/Gray black heart rival event at 12:40 PM - Got the fishing rod from Zack and picked up a yellow and orange grass. - Saw the Mary black heart event at 3:00 - Saw the Mary/Gray blue heart rival event at 3:00 - Trained my axe to the gold level of experience and halfway to the gold. WEDNESDAY, SPRING 4 (RAINING FOR ME): Once again, head outside before playing the Harvest Goddess game. Won will once again greet you with a business proposition. He has three apples, the SUGDW apple, the HMSGB apple, and the AEPFE apple. They each stand for long-winded names that only glorify them even more. It is 500 G for an apple, so choose! It doesn't really matter which one you pick as they are all just normal apples. BUT, they do count as separate items on your shipping list and cooking with two of them produces the third. You will need about 3 of each apple. 1 For shipping and 2 for the recipes; that makes 9 times you will need to be visited by Won! Ship your apple and head back inside. Got the hang of the Harvest Goddess game yet? Yeah, me neither. After five EVENTUAL wins with relaxation tea leaves, head back out and do your typical foraging. Don't you just hate how you can only carry three items at a time, and the third one makes you unable to use tools? That'll end pretty soon. After shipping the blue grass and chopping the 5 lumber, head into your chicken coop. Oh, look! An egg! Don't ship it! Put in on the incubator. You will receive a pleasant surprise in about three days… Mineral Town a go-go now! Remember Barley, the guy you ignored for two days? Go to him. He will be at the desk in the ranch house. Speak to him and after you introduce yourself, your horse will already be on the way! Confused? It's Wednesday, and we all know what that means! Or at least the experienced of us. Confessional! Head into the church once it is between 1 - 4 PM and enter the upper left door. The screen will white out and you will hear Carter's voice. Confess to anything you wish, but my first confession was to overworking the HS. It's very important to befriend those little guys early! Speaking of the sprites, you should get gifts for them. Head into the Supermarket. At 12:00 PM on this day, Wednesday Spring 4, I was able to see Karen's black heart event. It occurred in the Supermarket. Depending on the time of day you enter the Supermarket, you may see Elli there doing some shopping and paying the Doctor's bill. If you still haven't introduced yourselves, do so now. First and foremost, you MUST purchase the rucksack upgrade. It is located under the basket. Examine it and Jeff will tell you the price. Buy it. You can now hold 5 items! Yay! What better way in which to take it for a test-drive than to buy 5 bags of flour? (Excuse me; "flower.") Take these to the Sprite's hut and give the bags to them. They will love 'em. Today is Bold's birthday, so there is a good chance he will be boosted to three hearts by this gift if you visited every day. Not much left to do, is there? Back to training that axe. Because it was raining for me, my fatigue ate away and I got tired much earlier. Once it becomes 12:00 AM (or 0:00) your fatigue is eaten away faster than normal; so imagine me at 2:00 AM in the rain whacking away. I went blue with 21 whacks! Oh well, there's always tomorrow… Go to sleep. CHECKLIST: - Bought a SUGDW apple from Won. - Played the Harvest Goddess game and got five relaxation tea leaves. - Shipped 3 Blue grass and 3 Bamboo shoots and threw a flower to the Harvest Goddess - Introduced myself to Barley. - Went to confessionals. - Saw the Karen Black heart event at 12:00 PM. - Gave flour to all the Harvest Sprites. - Trained my axe to the gold level of experience and 5/6's the way to mystrile (For shame!!) THURSDAY, SPRING 5: Today is a cause for celebration! Why? You are finally done with the Harvest Goddess game for the rest of this guide!! Of course, that is AFTER you complete it five times with relaxation tea leaves. However, hold off on that thought as you go outside. Remember Barley? This time he's come to YOU with a request! He brings you a foal (young horse) from the yodel ranch that seems to be the odd-mane out and wasn't doing too well. He requests you take care of it. Accept, of course! After you do, you can name him. Name him whatever you want within the character limit. My horse is named "Flash." Talk to your horse before going out to forage. Foraging still takes two trips, but that is soon to change. In the meantime, chop that wood and collect the blue grass above all. The bamboo shoots are of little importance and ship for half the blue grass; they are skip-able once they are on your shipped items list. You will notice that the blacksmith is closed today, no biggie. Just keep moving about the town in your normal manner, making sure to visit Zack's house. At 11:30 AM I was able to trigger the "Golden service time" event that concerned Won, Zack, and Karen. This is in no way a heart event as Won isn't your rival for Karen. Just watch as Won loses the ability to think rationally in the face of pure beauty. Continue your rounds of talking to people- At 12:20 PM on this day, Thursday, Spring 5, I was able to trigger the black heart event for Elli. It was in the Clinic. At 12:20 PM on this day, Thursday, Spring 5, I was able to trigger the black heart rival event between Elli and the Doctor. It was in the Clinic. -and after you are done finish up the training for your axe. By 4:00 (including an hour of hot spring restoration afterward) I was done and my axe was ready to be upgraded to mystrile level. So I entered the spring mine and began digging. I stopped at floor 6 and used my hammer to smash out a mystrile ore. I also took a black grass, junk ore, and gold ore for my shipping list. At 4:40 on this day, Thursday, Spring 5, I was able to trigger the black heart rival event between Karen and Rick. It was after I exited the spring mine. I held on to the aforementioned items due to it being past 5 and therefore would make no money from them. With my hammer already slightly used, I cleared my field of all small stones and was able to level it up to the bronze level. Now, I know what you are thinking. "But what about my fence!? I need stones and branches to make my fence!" I have this in mind. Gaining lumber and clearing your field as well as the leveling up of your tools are vastly more important than your fence. It's a slow process, but when the time was right, I started collecting branches from the forest and built my fence using them. At 5 pieces per day, it was by no means a quick task, but the branches never rot and that's all I need. Besides, the branches look cooler in my opinion. Now your field should be stumps, large stones/boulders, and a desert of weeds. No worries, though. The stumps will be out of your way in roughly 5 - 6 days. The weeds… well, you have your work cut out for you, don't you? In the meantime, get some shut-eye. I went to sleep at 1:30 AM. Did you remember to feed your chicken? It's your job to remember, as I won't remind you any more. CHECKLIST: - Finished the last day of the Harvest Goddess Game. - Got my horse from Barley. - Saw the Golden Service time event at 11:30 AM - Saw the black heart event for Elli at 12:20 - Saw the black heart event for Elli/Doctor at 12:20 - Trained my axe to mystrile level - Mined mystrile ore among other things - Saw the black heart event for Karen/Rick at 4:40 - Cleared my field of all small stones, Hammer at Bronze level. FRIDAY, SPRING 6 (RAINING FOR ME): Check out the variety channel! It's the one on the left. What do you see? Another program! It being Friday, this is none other than Mechabot Ultror fights again! There is a FAQ that will show you all of the episodes for all shows, so I won't go into depth about them. (This isn't an advertisement, I'm only stating a fact) If you check your mailbox, you will see you have a letter from Saibara telling you that he now has brushes in stock! Didn't Barley tell you that it was a good idea to brush your horse regularly? Keep this in mind as you do your day's foraging. Oh, and do not ship your chicken's egg quite yet. Take it with you when you visit the Harvest Goddess. Rather than toss it to the waterfall, toss the egg into the hot springs! (There is an unfenced area with an indicating sign) After tossing the egg in, you will now have a spa-boiled egg! Ann loves these things and they sell for 30 G more than regular eggs! Until you get a chicken that has 4 hearts, these Spa-boiled eggs will be your best source of income from your chicken. All that plus you kind of need them to complete your shipping list. Today is the day that all of your 'whacking' pays off. Take your axe and mystrile ore to the blacksmith. FIRST buy the brush. After doing so, THEN you can request an upgrade for your axe. Select 'upgrade tools' then your axe, then your mystrile ore. After confirming the 5000 G payment and 4 day grace period, Saibara kicks you out of the blacksmith for the duration. It'll be worth it when you start raking in more than 10 times the lumber per day you do now. Since today was raining for me, I visited Carter at the confessional and once again confessed to overworking the Sprites. That combined with a flour gift for the 7 of them boosted them up to 3 hearts each except for bold, who was at 4 due to his birthday gift. Also today I bought the basket. Whether you should buy it today is up to you, but believe me, this thing begins paying itself off when you can take EVERYTHING on your foraging trips and just wait until the Spring Horse races… Hoo-ee! Um… yes… back to the game… After making your rounds, return to your farm and drop the basket off where you can find it. Then NOW you can start tilling your field in preparation for the turnips, potatoes, cucumbers, and cabbages! Yay! Here is my lovely ASCII rendition of my ideal field. _________________________________________ |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |******************************|##########| |-----------------------------------------| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| |#################|#######################| ----------------------------------------- | _ - = Branches * = Tilled area, for crops # = Tilled area, for grass As you can see, my area for crops spans 30 x 16. It starts at the upper left corner (make sure you go right one and down one as to make room for your fence) The area to the bottom left is where I will encolse my chickens when I keep them outside and the upper right side is dedicated to cows/sheep when I am keeping them outside. The lower right side is grass for cutting down, conserving for rainy days. If you have your own way of tilling the field, then by all means do it your way! Mind you, this is the set-up for when I am a big-time farmer and I have a positive cash flow and all is well. Being year one, such a set-up is not possible. As I tilled my field, I was able to train my hoe to the bronze level. Not bad. At about 8:00 you should take a break and head off to the bar. At 8:20 PM on this day, Friday, Spring 6, I was able to trigger the black heart rival event between Ann and Cliff. It occurred in the second floor of the Inn. Some call it the hardest event to trigger. You simply cannot trigger it until this Friday and Ann must be at Black heart, no other color will cut it. Continue tilling your field until it is late. I went to bed about 1:40 AM. CHECKLIST: - Made and shipped a Spa - Boiled egg. - Bought the brush - Made Saibara begin upgrading my axe to mystrile - Visited the confessional - Began tilling my field. - Saw the black heart event for Ann/Cliff at 8:20 PM - Tilled my field and got my hoe to bronze level until bedtime SATURDAY, SPRING 7 "It should be born soon…" If you had followed the guide in terms of chicken rearing, you should be getting a newborn chick now. Name it and you'll afterward appear back in your house ready to start the new day. Take note that today is Saturday and we all know what that means: TV Shopping day! On the variety network you will see the item up for selling. It is VERY easy to forget to buy something, so make it the first thing you do for the day if you have troubles. You order stuff by going into the Inn and examining the phone in there. It costs 10 G to make a call and whatever price it is for the item, should you decide to buy it. Chicks do not need to be fed, so stick with the one-bushel of feed per day that you are still doing. Take the egg that your chicken laid and put that on the incubator. Three days later, you will have another Chick! As you go to sleep for the night, you have to wonder: DID I order that item from the shopping network? CHECKLIST: - Named a new chick - Bought the Mirror from the TV shopping network - Tilled field 'till early morn'. SUNDAY, SPRING 8: Check out the variety channel for the premier of My Dear Princess. One must wonder how all these shows seemed to have started directly after you arrived… Eh, just go outside. For the first time, there was nothing special waiting for me outside. No mail, no Won. Nothing. No biggie, anyway. First and foremost, you must get it into your head that you have a horse now. Take your brush and go to your horse. Talk to him and brush him and you're done for the day. I'm lazy, so I deprived myself of 30 G by just shipping the one egg in my chicken coop. After that was my foraging. Nothing of importance there. Mineral Town next! At 11:00 AM on this day, Spring 8, I was able to trigger the black heart event for Ann. It was at the Inn. At 11:50 AM on this day, Spring 8, I was able to trigger the blue heart rival event for Ann and Cliff. It was at the Church. After making your rounds about town, what you do next is up to you. What I did was mining. Yep, early in the game, you will mine like a mole to make ends meet. If you hadn't noticed, you've had a negative cash flow since the 6th of the month and you need to keep that flow going positive, or at the least negative possible. Grab your basket and head to the spring mine next to the waterfall that the Harvest Goddess appears in. If you are mining for ore and training your hammer, waste no time digging around with your hoe. Simply shatter all the rocks, place the ore in your basket, pick up your basket, leave the mine, re-enter, repeat. The process goes the same to train the Hoe. Dig all possible squares of the mine, shatter the rocks, then dig some more. When done, exit and re-enter. Once your basket is full, you can stop and ship. I did not get 30 ores before 5:00 Pm, so I shipped no ores today. Still, with foraging I managed a good 1000 G that day. On a more positive note, I was able to get my Hoe to Silver level and halfway to gold. My hammer was only 3/4's the way from Bronze to Silver; signifying my
concentration on the Hoe when I really SHOULD be concentrating on the Hammer.
I'll remember that for next time.

	CHECKLIST:

- Brushed/Talked to horse
- Saw the black heart event for Ann at 11:00 AM
- Saw the blue heart event for Ann/Cliff at 11:50 AM
- Mined in the spring mine.
- Got Hoe halfway to Gold.
- Got Hammer halfway to Silver.

	MONDAY, SPRING 9

To us Harvest Mooniacs, Monday will always be the day when our TV shopping
purchase comes in the mail via Zack. Head out to greet Zack and he will deliver
your item. For me it was the mirror. I know what I'M examining at midnight!
Also of interest for me was the mailbox. Why? Do you remember how I said that
going to confessional would get you invited to the Harvest Sprites' Tea party
in no time at all? Well, it was eight days in the making, and I checked my
mailbox and sure enough the letter of invitation was in there. The optimist
will think: "I was invited!" The pessimist will think: one less spot in my
rucksack until I go there! To remedy that, just go to their hut before 5:00 and
give one of the sprites the invitation like you would a gift. That will start
the Tea Party. Once it is 6:00, you are left with a Relaxation Tea leaves and
are deposited outside the hut, to walk home by yourself. However, you don't
need to do this right away! You have work to do!
Being in Monday, it is confessional day. It is now your job to remember:
Mondays, Wednesday, rainy days 1 - 5 PM. Like always, I confessed to
overworking the HS.
I bought seeds for the first time, today. I bought 12 bags of turnip seeds
today. Turnips are a great way to increase your money in just four quick days.
It set me back 1440 G, but it can be regained.

At 12:10 on this day, Spring 9, I was able to trigger the blue heart rival
event for Elli and Doctor. It was at Ellen's house.

I decided that by the time I went back to the farm, did something, and went
back to the Sprites' hut, it would be beyond 5:00, so I just went and triggered
the party at 1:00. five hours later, I walked back home. Ah yes, and before
then, I had hired three of them for watering duty for a week.

	The forecast called for rain tomorrow, so I put my dog in.

	CHECKLIST:

- Got the Mirror from Zack
- Got the invitation to the Tea Party.
- Went to confessional
- Saw the blue heart rival even for Elli/Doctor at 12:10
- Enlisted the help of three Sprites for watering
- Went to the Tea party.

	TUESDAY, SPRING 10 (RAINING FOR ME):

For me, my third chick hatched today. Seeing as how there is still only one
CHICKEN, I still only need to give one feed per day.
My sprites reported nice and early to watering duty… too bad it was raining.
There's always tomorrow. Hmm… my forecast calls for rain tomorrow, too. Curses.
Oh, well. I can still watch them play around.
After tending to my animals and foraging, I started sowing my turnip seeds
into my tilled soil. The rain took care of the rest. Mind you, you have to be
careful about large obstacles blocking your planting area. In my area alone
there was a whole large stone, so my sowing was cut off by about four turnips…
darn it. You will just have to wait for your equipment to upgrade until you can
clear your field of these nuisances; and let's not even START on your sea of
green…. And I don't mean money or a popular 'Beatles' song. I mean your WEEDS!
Just look at 'em all!!! Okay, now I'm going off on a tangent…
Speaking of clearing your field, guess what should be just about ready…? I'll
give you a hint: You got it worked on at the 6th and it is four days later…
Yes! Your axe! Or should I say… your MYSTRILE axe? If you followed the guide in
terms of leveling up your axe and turning it in to Saibara, the Mystrile axe
should be ready to take home now! Rush on over to Saibara when he opens and get
your Mystrile axe!
At about 1:00 PM I was able to trigger the "secret package" event concerning
Popuri and Zack. Even though it is not a heart event, it will still increase
your friendship with Popuri if you tell her you can keep a secret. It isn't
rocket science.
At confessional, I was able to get all the Sprites to four hearts except for
Bold, whose convenient birthday gives him a current amount of five. Not bad.
After you are done in Mineral Town, it is time to take your new axe for a test
run! Run into your field and stand in front of a stump, and I mean directly in
front like walking against it kind of. Then, while equipped with the axe, hold
the B button until your farmer stops doing his animations. In the case of the
Mystrile level, the max is when he has a popped vein from all of his effort.
After that, let the button go and watch the stump crumble. Repeat this for all
stumps you have. At the end of it all, I had 135 lumber. (insert evil laughter
here) If you wish, you can chop other stumps south and southwest of your farm
for 52 more lumber.
You still aren't done. Get your basket and mine some more. Concentrate on your
hammer, as it is the last item you need to upgrade at post-haste urgency.

	CHECKLIST

- Hatched a new chicken
- Planted my turnip seeds.
- Picked up the Mystrile axe.
- Saw the Secret packages event at 1:00
- Chopped all the stumps on my field
- Went mining and leveled my hammer up.

	WEDNESDAY, SPRING 11 (RAINING FOR ME):

Today I was greeted by Won. He came to me to sell me a vase for my home. It
set me back a cool 5000 G, but it's worth it. Every day, now, I can place
flowers I find on my foraging trips in this vase and by some magic the vase and
flowers combo will restore my stamina or fatigue even more when I sleep.
Besides, doesn't it look nice?
After going deliciously postal on the stumps in the forest, you may want to
consider heading off to Gotz and getting a house extension. The faster you get
that out of the way, the sooner you can order advanced stuff off of the TV
shopping network. If you have bought everything you can for your house, then
you get a different program. Any day this happens when there is still stuff to
buy is wasteful and puts a huge dent in your ideal first year. On a side note,
Gotz leaves me now with about 300 G.
I might want to mention now how there are four grasses on Mineral Beach. When
you are a big-time farmer, it won't be worth your time to ship them. This,
however, is not that time and every shipped item counts. With only 300 G on my
part, the need for foraging is multiplied. Only seven more days until the horse
races… only seven more days…
It being Wednesday and all, you should go to confessional. This time, I
confessed to not treating my animals right. Doing so will get my chicken,
horse, and dog to better levels and thus preparing them for their individual
events. The Chicken Sumo IS next season…
To end my day, I mined for a while. My hammer went all the way to gold level
and halfway to Mystrile. Not bad for a day's work! On another side note, my
foraging fetched me a good 1000 G for the day. It will do, for the time being.

	CHECKLIST

- Bought a Vase from Won
- Enlisted Gotz to expand my house.
- Confessed to treating my animals wrongly
- Mined and leveled up my hammer.

	THURSDAY, SPRING 12

Wake up to find a new day and say hello to Gotz- what the!? How long has he
been there!? Never mind. He will make something very good happen in three days
so just let it go.
Tend to the animals and watch the sprites work if you want the important thing
is that you visit the Harvest Goddess today. After tossing the flower in and
refusing to connect to a Gamecube, the Goddess will thank you for visiting so
often by bestowing upon you a Power Berry! This beauty will help you work
longer, but not much. For that, you will need more Power Berries.
While in town, do the Harvest Sprites a favor and give them flour like you
should have been everyday (omitting Sundays and Tuesdays) so that they will
stay happy. Nothing much else to say but just keep on mining, there.

	CHECKLIST:

- Got a Power Berry from the Harvest Goddess
- Bought flour and gave it to the Sprites

	FRIDAY, SPRING 13

AUGH!!! Friday the thirteenth!!! Your animals are going to be unhappy! Your
crops are going to wither!!! Your- Huh? That doesn't happen in FOMT? All that
happens is that the screen for the News is slightly messed up? Oh, thanks the
Harvest Goddess!
If you've placed an egg in the incubator as soon as possible at every chance,
you should be getting a shiny new chick, making three chicks and a total of
four animals in the chicken coop. That amount is the max until you expand the
coop, which may be a bit sooner than you think… In the meanwhile, enjoy
shipping your eggs with no second thought.

At 11:30 AM on this day, Spring 13, I was able to trigger the Black heart event
for Popuri. It occurred after I left the blacksmith

About the aforementioned event, the thing was that I was previously unable to
trigger it due to my lugging the basket around all the time. In the blacksmith,
I put the basket down and sure enough after leaving the event occurred.
Remember: You can't hold things to see certain if not all events.
3 days ago, I planted my turnip seeds. It takes four days for them to grow,
so… Yeah, they will fully grow tomorrow.  The thing is, I bought a LOT of seeds
and the amount of individual plants came to… oh, only 104 turnips!! How am I
going to harvest them all in a comfortable amount of time!? Simple, I'll do it
the same way I watered them. Oooh Spriiiiites!!! After making some flour-y
donations, I enlisted the last four to Harvest for a week. Tomorrow will be a
good day, indeed.
You might ask: But isn't tomorrow a holiday, making Zack not come? To that I
say, TECHNICALLY, tomorrow, the Spring thanksgiving festival, IS a holiday, but
there is no gathering, all the houses aren't locked up for the day, and Zack
DOESN'T come. The only difference is that if you give the girls cookies, they
will appreciate it more than usual. *cough*Karen*cough* With all that out of
the way, you can now come back to the mine and work some more. I finished
getting my hammer AND hoe to mystrile level by now, so I opted for weed
whacking. Yup, getting my sickle and chopping down weeds 'till I was blue in
the face. Let me tell you, the levels for your sickle will just shoot up!

	CHECKLIST:

- Hatched another chick
- Saw the black heart event for Popuri at 11:30 AM
- Enlisted the remaining Sprites for harvesting
- Mined until hoe and hammer were mystrile leveled
- Whacked weeds until bedtime.

	SATURDAY, SPRING 14 (RAINING FOR ME)

Today was the day that all my *AHEM* "hard" work was to pay off. I could only
do that with an equally hard amount of work harvesting them. It takes up a lot
of energy to do so! I mean, I'll have to move my eyeballs and all! Sarcasm
aside, I let my sprites work while I went off to forage, then to Mineral Town.
	Hmm… what day is today? That's right, Saturday! TV shopping! Score!
Lesse, next you should go out and buy some Potato seeds. Me, I exhausted my
last reserves of G for Potatoes. I was left with 44 G.
After sowing the seeds, I got right to chopping weeds. The unfortunate thing
is that it was raining today and I couldn't do a lot of chopping before going
blue. Oh well. I'll just take the 7720 G from my turnips and call it a night.
Oh, and I believe my second Chick became a Chicken today. Now I shell out two
fodder per day. Eep.

	CHECKLIST

- Bought the Clock from the TV shopping
- Dismissed two of the Sprites. One for Harvest and one for Watering
- Bought and planted Potato seeds
- Chopped weeds


	SUNDAY, SPRING 15 (RAINING FOR ME)

	"My, what a big house you have!"
Er… that is to say, it was three days since Gotz started working on my house,
and now the job is done! Now I can order more stuff from the TV shopping!
After basket-foraging and a confessional visit, I re-enlisted the two sprites
I let go yesterday (see the SPRING 14 CHECKLIST) to redo what they are doing.
If you have them alternate days, you will always have Sprites on the job. That
is why I dismissed two more Sprites. Therefore, I can regulate their
appearances and have at least 2 per day watering and at least 3 per day doing
harvesting. Most of the time, though, there will be 3 of the former and 4 of
the latter. It's up to you to regulate what your sprites do and when they do it.
The rest of my day was spent whacking weeds. Accursed rain!! If you must whack
a certain area, then opt for whacking only the areas where you plan on sowing
your seeds. It is important to till your field, too. A Power Berry waits!

	CHECKLIST:

- Marveled at my new house
- Dismissed two Sprites, enlisted two.
- Whacked weeds.

	MONDAY, SPRING 16

Yay! It's not raining! Yay! My clock is here! Yay! Only two more days until
the Spring Horse Races! Things are really starting to look up!
Despite today being such an upbeat day, there really was nothing special about
it. Um… nope! I did my foraging and confessional as well as my non-raining weed
whacking. I whacked 'em good, today!
Yesterday was the last day possible you could plant cabbages and be able to
harvest them. You buy those from Won. Despite the fact that they reel in an
obscene amount of money, they do not count toward your ability to buy
strawberries. Once you ship 100 turnips, potatoes, and cucumbers, it is
possible to buy strawberries from the Supermarket. There will always be next
year for cabbages.
	Oh, and I didn't do this, but if possible, BUY THE RUCKSACK UPGRADE NOW!!!

	CHECKLIST

- Did my thing and ended whacking weeds.

	TUESDAY, SPRING 17

Thomas will come today and tell you about the horse races tomorrow. If you had
a horse, you could have entered… but too bad, so sad. Your foal does not cut
it. Better luck next year!
Speaking of the Spring Horse races, tomorrow will be the zenith of your first
year of Spring! But for now, just keep doing your everyday routine. The faster
you get it done, the faster " 78K" day will come. Oops, I've said too much. On
a side note, my third chick is now all chicken. That's three eggs and three
pieces of fodder per day. Not too cataclysmic.

	CHECKLIST:

- Thomas told me about the Spring Horse Races
- Continued with the weed whacking and even did some tilling in the field.

	WEDNESDAY, SPRING 18

Whack weeds, till your field, you have plenty of time. The Spring Horse Races
will end at 6:00 PM, so make sure you start going at about 4:30 PM - 5:00 PM to
get there on time.
While tilling my field, I finally found my file's Power Berry, hidden in the
field. How lucky of me!
Once the time to go rolls around, make sure you do not miss it (reload from
last save if you have to) save before going into Rose Square, and most
importantly, BRING YOUR BASKET!!!

Okay, kiddies. Let's lay down the Horse Races for you! I affectionately refer
to Horse race days as "78K" days for a very good reason. There are items called
broaches that you can exchange for 18 medals at the horse races. These babies
sell for 2,000 G apiece. With the best rucksack, that's 30 with the basket and
9 with the rucksack. 78,000 G!!! See why I call 'em "78K" days?
In order to make sure you win, save before entering Rose Square, watch the
races and see who wins. Calculate the best payout in terms of bets - to -
medals ratio and invest all your bets into that one horse. You will need about
1,602 medals. 900 for the power Berry and 702 for the Broaches. You can do the
math.
Make sure you fill up your basket entirely and only buy the last broach when
all the hubbub is over. If your hands are entirely full to the point where you
cannot get your basket; good! Leave it there! Once you get home, just go to
sleep. DO NOT SHIP ANYTHING!!!

	CHECKLIST:

- Found the field Power Berry
- Attended the Horse Races

	THURSDAY, SPRING 19

Okay, sorry for yelling at you earlier but it was important that you keep all
your Broaches. NOW you can ship them. Run back to the square, get your Basket,
and ship the rest. Spend the rest of the day as you please

	CHECKLIST:

- Shipped the Broaches

	FRIDAY, SPRING 20

Check your Earnings screen. Yes, that is a lot of money. Go put it to good
use! I started the day by mining up a Mystrile ore. You know what that means.
After obtaining one, head off to the blacksmith and get your hammer done. You
won't have it for four days, but does that really matter?
I bought 12 bags of cucumber seeds and planted them all. Cut-off day for
planting these things is, I believe, tomorrow. Now that you are much better
off, things will be slightly easier for you, now.
Oh, and check your mail, today. If you have shipped three blue grass for every
day that shippable things are accepted, then you should have amounted to about
50 Blue grasses shipped and the Bodigizer XL should be ready. Let the good
times roll!

	CHECKLIST:

- Mined a Mystrile ore
- Took my hammer to get worked on
- Bought cucumber seeds and planted them.
- Got the letter for the Bodigizer XL

	SATURDAY, SPRING 21

Thomas will come to tell you about the cooking festival tomorrow. If you had a
kitchen, you could have easily made something. …But you don't have a kitchen,
so all you can do is be a spectator.
Today for TV shopping (if you have the expanded house and have bought
everything so far) is the cabinet, or "shelves." These play an integral role in
storing your green heart event stuff, flowers, dog ball, etc. The cabinet also
allow you to collect the jewels of truth. Unless you have "A Wonderful Life,"
it isn't worth it.
Let's see, my potatoes were harvested, so I went out and bought 12 bags of
turnips AND potatoes. The potatoes I planted today, the turnips will be
tomorrow.
If you have spare time, you really should be helping the Sprites out. For
every square they water, they gain their own kind of EXP, (as it indicated by
the bars under their names) but the EXP on your watering can is more important.
It's simple, just water your crops and you will get them done faster and both
your watering can and the Sprites gain EXP! It's win-win!

	CHECKLIST:

- Thomas told me about the cooking festival tomorrow
- Bought the "Shelf."
- Bought 12 bags of potatoes and of turnips.
- Watered my crops with my sprite's help.

	SUNDAY, SPRING 22

You really do not need to forage on the days when shipping matters not. In
fact, I have stopped my Spring foraging altogether! Think about it, I have 50
blue grass and the bamboo shoots are already on the shipping list. Not to
mention the 6,000+ G I own! I can EASILY slide by on my crops alone!
So, I planted the turnips and watered them. At about 5:00 PM I departed to the
contest. Since you cannot cook, just stay there. The theme for year one is
juices. Ann won the juicing contest. Yay. Not much else to say…

	CHECKLIST:

- Viewed the Cooking Contest

	MONDAY, SPRING 23

	The shelves! Thanks, Zack!

At 12:30 PM on this day, Spring 23, I was able to trigger the purple heart
event for Karen. It occurred in the Supermarket.

	CHECKLIST:

- Received the Shelves
- Saw the Purple Heart Event for Karen at 12:30 PM

	TUESDAY, SPRING 24

	I picked up my hammer today. Whammo! All the rocks in my field were history!
On another note, if you have visited the Harvest Goddess enough, then she will
ask if you like a girl. Tell her yes. Then pick a girl. If you pick a girl, the
Goddess will look disappointed and increase that chosen girl's affection
towards you. If you pick her, she will be elated and give you a relaxation tea
leaves. I opted for the latter. If you are courting a girl, then by all means
pick that girl.

	CHECKLIST:

-Picked up my Mystrile Hammer.
-Got a relaxation tea leaves from the HG

	WEDNESDAY, SPRING 25

I dropped off my Hoe and a Mystril ore. In four days, I will have a plowing
machine! I also increased the affection of the Sprites. Whichever Sprites were
in the hut, I showered with flour all day but going to and fro from the
supermarket. Boy was Jeff happy. Bold, too. He was up to 10 hearts in no time!
At about 12:30 PM I was able to trigger the "Stu's cold" event. It isn't a
heart event, but it will increase your friendship with Elli and others. It
happens at Ellen's house.

	CHECKLIST:

-Dropped off my Hoe and a Mystrile ore.
-Saw the "Stu's cold" event at 12:30.


	THURSDAY, SPRING 26

Today is the cutoff day for planting anything. Buy no more seeds for the rest
of Spring or they will wither come Summer.
On this day, Spring 26, at 12:30 PM, I was able to trigger the purple heart
event for Elli. It occurred at the Hospital.
I continued with my "give the sprites all the flour they can handle plan." I
foraged that day to slightly compensate.

	CHECKLIST:

- Saw the purple heart event for Elli at 12:30 PM

	FRIDAY, SPRING 27

Karen is at blue heart, can you believe it? It must be all that flour… I guess
I ought to be giving her some weeds when she blows past green level… I AM
working on my heart event guide, too!

	SATURDAY, SPRING 28

Make sure to buy the refrigerator. It is a vital key to storing stuff for
later use.
I also started to train my fishing rod, today. Better late than never, eh?
Unlike the whacking of an axe, watering a crop or mining with the hammer/hoe,
the fishing rod was the only tool I just mindlessly and rapidly used. Head to
the Spring Mine and just repeatedly press 'B' until you turn blue. Go to the
hot springs for three hours, then head back and repeat. The only reason I'm not
telling you to fish is because it can take up to an hour to get a bite, and you
do not have that kind of time to spare in your first year.

	CHECKLIST:

- Bought the refrigerator off of TV shopping.
- Began training my fishing rod.

	SUNDAY, SPRING 29

I picked up my Hoe at the Blacksmith and immediately got to clearing away my
cucumber stalks. When summer comes, they will be useless. Once I was
comfortable, I asked Gotz to work on my chicken coop. One could always use more
chickens!

	CHECKLIST:

- Picked up my Mystrile hoe
- Cleared my cucumber stalks
- Commissioned Gotz to expand the chicken coop


	MONDAY, SPRING 30

As you walk out, Zack will tell you of Beach Day tomorrow. That is the event
that concerns your dog. Since your dog is still a puppy, you cannot
participate. Oh well. Hey, if you check the mailbox (And have shipped 100
turnips, potatoes, and cucumbers like I did) then Stawberry seeds are now in
stock in the Supermarket!! Too bad it is the UTTERLY last day of Spring...
If you ordered the Refrigerator off of TV shopping, do not be alarmed when
Zack does not give it to you. Simply walk in and out of your house another time
and Zack will have returned, your Refrigerator ready.
Make sure to make your away to Mineral Town ASAP. When you do, you will see
Popuri and May welcoming some tanned bandana-wearing person. Meet Kai, your
competitor for Popuri! If you wanted these two to marry, then you can finally
trigger their heart events! That is, when Summer rolls around.
Continuing on my campaign for Mystrile tools, the sickle was next for
upgrading. One ore and visit to Saibara later, my sickle is gone and will be
replaced by a MYSTRILE sickle! Wooh!
Of the 100 chicken feed you bought oh, 27 days ago, how much do you have left.
Me? About 30 bushels. I could go longer... but why? Replenish your amount of
feed and make Lilia smile.
Now that you have a Refrigerator, you can finally buy unheard-of amounts of
flour to be given to the Harvest Sprites! I bought oh... 99 bags and reported
to my farm to make one lucky sprite very happy.
As you go to sleep, congratulate yourself on a Spring well done! My gain:
140,000 G and loss of 70,000 G. I owe it all to "78k" day! Now, get a good
night's sleep and get ready for Summer!

CHECKLIST:

- Zack told me about Beach Day
- Recieved the Refrigerator
- Saw the introduction event for Kai
- Mined a Mystrile ore and took my sickle in to be looked at.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

7) The End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope this guide for your first year Spring helped out any. If anybody has
any suggestions, comments, things to add and whatnot, give me a buzz through my
E-mail or AIM name.
	I may expand to more seasons, but never go beyond Year One. I make no promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8) Frequently asked questions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Q: In your FAQ, you tell us to start tilling our field with all the rocks and
stuff still in the way... I'm guessing you cleared the weeds from your way
while doing so, correct?  How many days did it actually take you? -Riiena

A: I indeed went through and cleared out all small rocks and branches from the
field, plus I weeded out all the unneeded weeds. The only things I left were
the large rocks and stumps until I got the mystrile tools. I didn't wait to get
the mystril tools, however, I just plowed away with the large rocks and stumps
still intact. With the large-scale planting I planned, it doesn't really
matter, does it?


Q: Power berries... did you get any of them during the first few days? My
farmer seems to always be tired, I just can't keep up with the guide. - Riiena

A: The first berry I got was about the 14th, so no. The other two in this guide
are in the day 18 area.


Q: Is there a trick to the goddess mini-game? - Slash9855

A: No. Nein. Nyet. Low. Nadda. Zilch. We don't have a winner. Sorry, try again.
The bottom line is: THERE ARE NO TRICKS/PATTERNS/CHEATS/EASTER EGGS, ETC. FOR
THE HARVEST GODDESS GAME. ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU OTHERWISE IS VERY LIKELY TO BE
LYING. NO EXCEPTIONS. Sorry about that, but I just don't know how hard to
hammer it into the people who constantly ask for tricks about the mini-game,
and the people who THINK they have a pattern. Because guess what? Unless
Natsume releases anything, you are wrong!!


Q: How do I build a chicken pen? - Soccerdemon24

A: By chicken pen, I can only assume you mean a portion of your fence on your
field dedicated to enclosing chickens. Do do this, you first chop lumber, then
you take lumber from storage (its near the horse's barn) and then place the
lumber somewhere on the field. Keep doing this until you have a fence of
comfortble size for storing your chickens. HINT: If you so have the time, you
can just pick up twigs from Mother's Hill and use them instead of lumber. They
look cooler and they don't rot.


Q: Can't I use stones? - Soccerdemon24

A: Rocks and sticks are exactly the same in terms of being used for a fence.
the only difference is that you get five fresh sticks every day. You only get
more rocks by suffering hurricanes or blizzards, which isn't exactly the way to
go. Verdict: you decide.


Q: Do I HAVE to get 5000 G from the HG game for the first four days?? -
Soccerdemon24

A: You CAN get less than 5000, but to use the guide the most comfortably, it is
advised that you earn 5000.


Q: Are cows essential for gaining money, and when should I buy some? -
Soccerdemon24

A: Cows are not - as you say - ESSENTIAL for money, but they are good to have
for winter times and whatnot. The best time to buy cows, in my opinion, is in
the Fall of year one, when sweet potatoes send your profits through the roof.
This way, you can get a head start on heart levels for the coming cow
festivals. If you care not about such things, then buy your cow at the start of
year two, just 'cuz.


Q: Would it be good for the animals if in their fences i grow grass? -
Soccerdemon24

A: It doesn't really matter where the grass is planted, as long as its there.
You can place it in the fence, you can also place it outside the fence. Your
animals will somehow get to it.


Q: Would it be wise to plant grass around my crops? - Soccerdemon24

A: That's an interesting thought, but it would not. Imagine charging up your
sickle and slashing down some crops along with the grass by accident.
Especially if it was a pineapple. *shudder*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9) Credits

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The staff of GameFAQs.com: Hosting this Guide

Natsume: For creating an awesome game

My Parents: For bringing me into this world

My Brother: For actually being SUPPORTIVE of me throughout the making of this
Guide

The guys at the "Friends of Mineral Town" message board: For helping me out
prior to the creation of this guide.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and all related are property of Natsume.

HARVEST MOON: FRIENDS OF MINERAL TOWN
"YEAR ONE" GUIDE
VERSION 1.3
Last revised: 6/25/04

By Gameboyguru (AKA GBG)
Email: Venusar@AOL.com
AIM: Venusar