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Harvest Moon: Back to Nature

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a video game in the farm simulation series Harvest Moon, developed by Victor Interactive Software. It is the only Harvest Moon game developed for the original PlayStation, as well as the first Harvest Moon game for a non-Nintendo console. Characters from Harvest Moon 64 were transferred to be the characters in this game, although with new lifestyles, personalities, and relatives, including the wooable girls from Harvest Moon 64 (Ann, Elli, Popuri, Maria [known as Mary], and Karen).

A girl-oriented remake Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl (or simply "for Girls"), was also developed, but until 2007, had not seen a localized English release. The setting of this game was later transferred to the 2003 and 2005 Game Boy Advance games Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town. Also, the game was coupled with the girl version and ported in (for North America) as Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl for the PlayStation Portable, although the box art and instructions portrayed it as a completely new game.

Gameplay

In the game, Jack (who can be renamed if the player so wishes) begins with a ramshackle farm, enough money to begin small-scale crop farming and no standing within the Mineral Town community. Over the course of the game, the player must build a thriving farm, and become friends with the citizens of Mineral Town. Whilst gameplay typically involves the acts of farming itself and interacting with the people the character meets, almost all of the actions a player makes must be balanced with the two most overriding factors of the game, time and money. A third factor, energy, threads through them both, but not in all circumstances and to an ever-decreasing extent as the game progresses.

Time passes whilst players traverse the village or remain outside buildings. The growing of crops and raising of livestock requires daily attention and the expenditure of time. The old and inefficient tools the player begins the game with cause crop farming to be a slow and unproductive way of earning money. Upgrading the tools requires time and money. Once the tools have been upgraded, it allows the player to farm more efficiently, resulting in more crops being grown at once. This results in more money being earned and more options becoming available. As the cashflow increases, the ability to upgrade tools further, buy more seeds of a higher quality at once and purchase livestock enables the player to increase their earnings yet further.

Players who find that they have purchased enough upgrades, extensions and stock for the farm and begin to keep their profit from farming will also find that they have suddenly acquired a lot of time as well. Instead of toiling over small patches of crops, they'll be tending far greater amounts of crops yet spending a fraction of the time doing so. This slow build-up to a sudden change of fortunes is a trademark of the Harvest Moon series. The common factor in this sudden turnaround of fortunes is the poor state of the farm at the beginning of the game, several of the game's 'days' are spent making the fields suitable for seed planting. This also is a common occurrence in the Harvest Moon series.

In Back to Nature, since the passing of Jack's grandfather, the farm has fallen into disuse and the fields have become overgrown with weeds. Once this initial obstacle is cleared, the player can then start to expand on these most basic tasks as they proceed to build up the value of their produce. There is no requirement for crops to be planted immediately or for any other tasks to be performed upon starting a new game, though players have a limited number of days before being asked to leave the farm if it remains in disrepair.

Energy is the other concern facing players who wish to be successful, particularly in the early stages of the game. The main character can perform a limited amount of tasks each day. Rather than displaying an energy bar, the game instead shows the character becoming more tired as he performs more tasks and spending time in a daze. Repeatedly pushing Jack beyond exhaustion will result in him passing out and having to visit the local hospital. Jack's maximum energy can be increased by locating hidden "power berries" scattered throughout the town. Energy can be regained through rest, eating, or visiting the local hot springs.

The weather can affect how the player completes their goals during that day. Regardless of season, most days are calm and do not cause adverse or positive affects on the player's activities. Rainfall results in crops being watered without player intervention, freeing time to pursue other goals, but at the same time, can cause the player to develop a cold, forcing him not to work for a day. Hurricanes and blizzards cause the destruction of crops, the loss of certain livestock if they're left outside and also prevent the character from leaving his home for the day.

Story

Years ago, the main character, Jack, came to his grandfather's farm for the summer. His grandfather was too busy taking care of the farm to spend much time with the boy, but the boy was free to explore the town and the forest as he wished. Jack befriended his grandfather's puppy and met a little girl his own age with whom he became close friends.

When the summer was over, the boy had to go back home, but he promised the little girl that he would return someday. He was waiting a very long time to meet her again

When Jack's grandfather died years later, Jack had grown into a young man, and he came to the town again to take over the farm. The mayor talked things over with the village, and they had decided that Jack could stay as the rightful owner if he could restore the farm back to its original state. But if Jack couldn't restore the farm, or wasn't able to get along with the villagers(or failed to woo a girl), he would have to leave.

Characters

Girls

Mary
Karen
Elli
Ann
Popuri

Rivals

Gray
Rick
The Doctor
Cliff
Kai

The Farm

Farmhouse

Jack's home begins the game as a single roomed house with a television set and a storage box, but can be expanded later in the game to provide more facilities. The first upgrade gives you a kitchen: a refrigerator, a cupboard for storing goods, and a stove to cook on, a further upgrade enlarges the house and adds a separate bedroom.

The storage box stores Jack's tools and seeds. As Jack is limited in how much he can carry by the size of his rucksack, the storage box allows players to keep items for later use without filling the inventory.

Watching television provides the player with information, light entertainment and the opportunity to buy new equipment. There are four channels the player can tune into, the content changes every day.

The first channel offers information about farming.
The second channel shows the weather forecast.
The third channel is a news channel that covers local events such as festivals.
The fourth channel is a commercial broadcast, showing a different program each day of the week, ranging from TV shopping to 'Mechabot Ultror', a show that parodies mecha anime shows from the nineteen-eighties.

Jack's pet dog has a kennel situated outside the farmhouse. There's an apple tree near the kennel which will bear fruit in the Autumn and may become home to a nest of bees, which will produce honey, if flowers are grown on the farm.

Outbuildings

The barn holds your cows and sheep, like the farmhouse this building can be expanded. Players interested in keeping livestock will spend time talking to their animals, brushing and feeding them in this building. If they are healthy and happy, you can get milk from the cows daily, and wool from the sheep weekly. The barn is where wool and milk processing machinery will be delivered, once they are purchased.

The stable provides living space for a horse, should the player choose to accept an invitation to care for the animal. You do not need to feed him, but he does prefer to be outside. If players treat their horse well, he will become an adult and can help carry crops. This enables Jack to work more efficiently as he doesn't have to run back to the shipping box when his inventory is full. If the horse is not properly cared for, there is a chance he may be removed from the farm.

The chicken coop provides room for five birds but can be expanded like the farmhouse. After the expansion you can keep up to 10 chickens. There is also an incubator to hatch chicks. The egg processing machine will be placed here if purchased by the Player.

All livestock can be taken or lead outside in order to feed themselves, though all dislike being left out in bad weather or during rain.

Though all the outbuildings which house livestock are present from the outset, players must pay for a hothouse to be built if they require one. Within the hothouse, any crop can be grown, even those out of season. Purchasing the hothouse enables crops to be grown and harvested during winter; this being the only way to farm crops during that season. Extreme weather conditions can destroy the hothouse, since it is not built to withstand such force. Players must consider whether they're willing to risk the expense of losing the hothouse and its contents, balanced by the opportunities it presents.

Arable Land

You can clear the land by pulling weeds, breaking rocks, and chopping stumps for lumber. Many experienced players like to keep the small rocks for fences later in the game rather than break them, this is smart because rocks don’t break during hurricanes or bad weather like normal wooden fences sometimes do (Fences are useful to keep control of the animals when they're out of their respective buildings). Your first hammer and ax are capable of dealing with only small rocks and branches (you can also just put the rocks and branches in your rucksack, and move them to another part of the field where they won't be in the way). After you upgrade the tools at least once, you can chop up stumps and break the large, smooth rocks. To do this, equip the appropriate tool, face the object, then hold and swing six, three, two or one times without moving, depending on which ore you upgraded your tool with. If you move, you will have to start over.

Upgraded tools will break and chop things with fewer strokes. The heavy and bulky rocks(not the smooth ones)cannot be broken with the first hammer upgrade.

Once you have cleared the land, you can till it using a hoe and then plant seeds. If you water the seeds daily, they will grow, and eventually you can harvest them and sell the crops. Some crops are single-harvest (such as potato) while others multi-harvest able (such as corn) and will give harvests until the season changes and the crops die,unless if you have a 'hothouse'.

There is a different set of crops for each season (spring, summer, fall), and none can be grown in winter without the purchase of a 'hothouse' in which all types of seeds can be grown.

Once you get the fishing pole from Greg and are able to catch fish, you can add any fish to the pond by throwing them into the water. Should you decide to raise fish you will need to feed them daily. In doing so they will breed. The fish do grow up (small fish become medium fish then become big fish). However during the winter the pond freezes over making feeding and removal of the fish impossible. (It can be noted that the player is free to remove the fish, store them in their refrigerator for any period of time and return them to the fish pond with no negative effects.)

Mineral Town and Surrounding Area

After tending their farm, players can visit Mineral Town to stock up on farming goods, mingle with the townspeople and even indulge in some fishing on the seafront or rivers. Most of the characters in Back to Nature live within Mineral Town itself, making trips into town good sources of gossip and a chance to woo Jack's potential brides.

Whilst most of the townsfolk can be seen following their routines and walking around the town, the player is not discouraged from entering the homes of townsfolk. Many will converge at the marketplace during the day to gossip.

The town's shops stock seeds, farming machinery, wine, cookery ingredients and other items. The ranch and chicken farm are located here too, giving the player the option of adding to his livestock herd and flock. Mineral Town offers services also, ranging from the church for confessional to the library for research. The blacksmith can upgrade tools to enable more efficient farm work whilst the clinic is available for health checks and assistance, should Jack become ill. The harvest sprites reside behind the church, they can provide assistance with farm work should the player befriend them.

Festivals are for the main part focused within the town itself, be it the tomato-flinging contest in the town square, the harvest festival in church or the various animal competitions where the player's animals compete against entrants from farms further afield. Players who make the effort to befriend the townsfolk will find that they are more often than not invited to attend festivals rather than turning up on the day having been informed of the festival by watching television.

Outside Mineral Town itself, beyond Jack's farm, a forest and mountain are located. Besides offering a plentiful supply of lumber, the forest is home to the carpenter, who is key to upgrading the farm buildings and progressing further into the game.

At the base of the mountain lies the hot spring, which will allow players to increase Jack's energy if he has been worn down by the rigors of his work. Nearby is a mine, where players can obtain a variety of ores. Ores have several purposes, not least being required to upgrade farm tools, thus increasing efficiency of crop farming.

Further up the mountain players will find a lake, there is another mine in the center of this lake, but since Jack cannot swim, players will have to find another way to gain entry. The mountain peak is both remote and romantic, during a couple of festivals the townsfolk will gather here to take in the view and celebrate the holiday.

Wedding bug in the EU release

In the initial EU release of Back to Nature there was a bug preventing players from getting married. This was fixed considering that getting married was such an important part of the gameplay and the game was later re-released with the bugfix. The bug will occur after proposing to a girl and she's accepted. The game will then play normally until the wedding ceremony is over. After the wedding the player will be back in the house with his new wife. The wife will ask what the player would like her to call him (Honey, Sweet Heart and other cute nicknames) and upon choosing one the game will go black and freeze. There is no fix for this bug other than to acquire a later EU copy with the bug fix. The Japanese and American versions of the game are not affected by this bug causing many players to buy the import version.

As there is no way to see if the version of the game a player have is affected by the bug or not until the bug is activated players are encouraged to create a separate save before proposing to a girl. Any saves after the proposal is accepted will lock the player into the bug and that save will become useless causing many players to become frustrated as it takes a great deal of time to come that far in the game. If the bug does appear load from the separate save and don't propose. You can still finish the game this way but you can never marry a girl. It is worth noting that a player can load up his broken save with another bug free Harvest Moon: Back to Nature disk and complete the proposal, then save after the bugged scene is completed.