Menu Systems

I must confess it's been nearly a month since I've posted anything, and I'm terribly sorry about that! I've been so caught up with the back to school rush and such, I've barely found time to play HM, much less write about it.  When I realized this fault, I kept putting it off, too lazy to come up with anything interesting to say.  As I put in my copy of HM:AP this morning however, I was marveling overt he convenience of the menu system.  

This got me thinking.  Why aren't all HM games this convenient? I know I've had real issues with some of the way menu systems were set up in past games.  I guess it's true that things only get better as they age, but looking back, I decided to compare and contrast the menu systems.  At first I was going to do a joint comparison, using all my HM games as an example.  But seeing as I have both a limited amount of time and a shorter string of patience, I thought it best to limit it to two.   After debating between Magical Melody vs. Another Wonderful Life and Tree of Tranquility vs. Animal Parade, I decided to stick to the general wii theme of the blog so far and compare the ups and downs of each using a three part judging system. 

Accessibility:

Tree of Tranquility - 8/10.  ToT seemed convenient at first, using the "c" button on the nunchuck (using the nunchuck/remote setting) to access the ring menu at the top of the screen, without using loading screens to slow us down.    However, holding down the same button to access the main menu was slow and lazy, reducing this score slightly.  

Animal Parade - 9/10.  AP improved in the menu accessibility by changing it altogether.  The same "c" button now open the general menu with a tap, and the down button on the control pad opened up the original ring menu.  While a bit awkward after so many hours of ToT, it was an easy adjustment, and much faster, earning AP the win for accessibility.

Appearance:

Tree of Tranquility - 10/10.  Everything about the menu appearance of ToT is perfect! The design is "tranquil" and incredibly done, giving an organic, rich feel that tied in beautifully with the appearance of the game.  Everything from the wrapping vines on the ring menu to the parchment-style background on the main menu really brought together the theme and feel wonderfully.

Animal Parade - 8/10.  I'll be honest in saying that I was not impressed with the menu style and appearance in AP.  Don't get me wrong- It was fine.  It just wasn't great.  The first thing noticeable is the difference in the ring menu.  The publishers have switched out the classy, elegant vines and gold for rounded, cutesy clovers and a more cartoony style.  As I said, it's not that I don't like it, I just don't love it.  The same issue arises in the main menu panels too, with a general feeling of something missing.  Therefore, ToT takes the win.

Functionality:

Tree of Tranquility - 9/10.  I loved the way the ToT menu functioned.  It was nearly perfect! The pages turned efficiently, everything was easy to maneuver and reorganize and data and stats were simple to understand.  The only fault was the short loading time to get to the menus initially, and that lacks in comparison to AP's noticeable lag.  

Animal Parade - 7/10.  The menu in AP just didn't cut it for me.  The loading time both to access the panels initially and to switch from page to page was barely acceptable, and the organization lacked in presence as well.  The bonus of characters ordered by heart level as seen in ToT was lacking and extremely inconvenient, and many of the other statistical pages seemed less convenient as well.  

Final Results:

Tree of Tranquility - 9/10

Animal Parade - 8/10

And the winner is, surprisingly, ToT, with a much more convenient menu in general.  What do you think?

Meringue's All Grown Up!

This post isn't exactly informative, and it may not even be exciting to you, but I was thrilled today while playing HM:AP, and had to share my excitement!  I was unable to capture the first few scenes on the "Child's Day", but they consisted of Gill and I talking, and then Meringue running toward us, exclaiming that she had "dressed herself for the special day".  We then followed her to the Church where Perry greeted us and gave her some "life advice".  Then it was back to Simon's Photo Shop for a family portrait.  Finally we headed back home at 12:00.  You can see what Gill's daughter looks like with her long blonde hair.  Her starter outfit is pink, but she also has a green dress in the closet.  Sorry the video is shaky, I'll check into a tripod next time. :)

The Wii Blues

More of a rant than anything, I'm curious as to why there are two future DS titles prepared for after Sunshine Islands, and yet no speak of a Wii release.  Harvest Moon: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar is the next title coming to the DS, followed by Harvest Moon: Twin Villages.  

Wind Bazaar: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar is the next title to be released for the DS.  Very promising, it introduced the opportunity to sell items to other villagers at a weekly Bazaar.  You can also purchase items from other villager's booths, and more will open as you advance in the game.  Another feature is the ability to connect and play at another friend's village via Wifi connection, and up to four people can participate. Not much is known about the game or release date yet, but more information should be available soon.

Twin Villages: Twin Villages puts a new spin on the HM series by, for the first time, allowing you to choose the town you'll live in.  One is centered around farming, the other ranching, and the choice you make at the beginning of the game will therefore affect how the rest plays out.  My understanding is that the bachelors/eligible girls and villagers are different based on the town you choose, but this could be misleading information.  Twin Villages also introduces the ability to raise alpacas and, wait for it...bees!  As the release date isn't yet set for even Japan, it's hard to determine when the US release will be.

And seeing how unique and promising these games sound, I'm shocked I haven't heard anything about another Wii Harvest Moon yet, not even plans!  My initial thought was that Nintendo would be introducing a new console and, therefore, the next HM would be released on that.  Nintendo is introducing a new console, but known as the Wii HD with high-def features, which should not affect gameplay now.  This brings me to the conclusion that there is no information on a follow-up, which is hard to swallow.  

I assume it would take a long while to design a Wii game.  I doubt that if Natsume is creating another HM Wii (which they'd better be!), they would recycle the same basic characters yet again.  This leads me to believe that the concept and completely new design would be causing the stall, but what do you think?

Winter Festivals

With a lot of holiday hubbub it's been increasingly more difficult to get a post written, seeing as I (and Hannah) have so much going on to prepare for the season.  And with a disappointing lack of ideas, I personally found it hard to get enough inspiration to write.  And then it hit me.  What about the winter festivals? They haven't been touched on in great detail yet, and now seems as though it's the perfect time to do it as it ties into the traditional time so nicely.

Harmony Day (Winter 5, 6:00-24:00): Harmony Day, what some consider the equivalent of Thanksgiving here in America, is an all-day event all over the island of Castanet.  The purpose of Harmony Day is to show your appreciation of other island-residents by giving them a piece of Shortcake. If you have an island member up to five hearts, they will give you a piece when you talk to them as well.  You can recycle the shortcake and give it back to rack up friendship points, or you can eat/ship it as well.  The possibilities of this seemingly pointless holiday really are worth it.

Starry Night Festival (Winter 11, 18:00-22:00):  The Starry Night Festival is held in Flute Fields on Moon Hill annually.  It's a romance festival, with a chance to picnic under the stars with a marriage candidate/spouse.  While the festival starts at 18:00, giving you a chance to get a picture taken and socialize, your romantic interest will not arrive to view the stars until 19:00.  While watching the stars, you'll see a shooting star that allows you to be granted one wish, provided you complete the challenge at hand. You must select one of the five options, three times in a row in order to get your wish.  But be careful of clicking too fast, as the wishes are scrambled at each screen and you only have a few seconds to choose, so think on your feet!  If your wish is granted, you will get one of the five things available (popular/family affection+, recover/choco pudding, dive/tarpon, sleep/stamina recovered, gain/1000G).

New Year's Eve (Winter 28, 18:00-23:00): The New Year's Eve celebration is even more grand than in ToT!  Held in Harmonica town's entrance, next to the clock tower, there are many booths and festivals to see and participate in.  You can choose to participate in any or all of the following: Mining Contest, Fashion Contest, Bargain Contest.  You'll also have the opportunity to buy unique items, especially rare outfits and accessories at Shelly's booth that can only be found once a year at that festival.  Once time has ticked away and it's 23:00, the new year's countdown begins and you have the opportunity to make a wish as well.  Depending on what you select, you can raise affection with romantic interests/spouse, the people of Harmonica Town, or the people of Flute Fields.

So as you're rushing through this real winter season, don't forget to take some time to relax and enjoy the joys of Harvest Moon's take on it.

Meet Hannah!

Alrighty, it's been about ten minutes since I posted, if not less, but I thought it was of utmost importance to let you all know about the latest (and first!) addition to "Ready...Set...Farm!"'s staff of writers!  Hannah is a Harvest Moon-aholic like the rest of us, and a close friend of mine. Now she's a writer here too!   Both Hannah and I (Helen) will be moderating the site as partners and writing posts, organizing contests...all that good stuff!

A bit about Hannah: We'll consider Hannah a "specialist" in Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, one of her favorite HM titles.  Making the top of the list is Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, but Harvest Moon: Animal Parade may take top spot soon enough.  Hannah is a tried and true farmer, just like me, but also earns her money by fishing and ranching.

You can see Hannah's first post, followed by more, coming soon here on "Ready...Set...Farm!".  Stay in touch!

Wonderfuls in Sunshine Islands

Upon playing my copy of Sunshine Islands last night, I (foolishly) made a mistake, the purpose of this post in general.  I had equipped both the red and blue wonderfuls to my watering can (upgraded) to allow for watering a 2X3 space, which saved both time and stamina.

However I don't know what I was thinking when I asked Charlie to remove the wonderfuls from my watering can, as they disappeared completely from my possession.  Frantically, I checked Charlie and Chen's inventory, to find the Yellow Wonderful, yes, but not either the blue or red.

Now you may know that in Sunshine Islands, only one of each kind of wonderful is provided for you.  After that, if you wish to have another wonderful of the same color, you must build the wonderful piece by piece (something I honestly don't have enough patience for).  I of course had played two seasons without saving (another dumb move on my part), and had to quit without saving in order to get the wonderfuls I had lost back.  It wasn't fun.

So this is me, telling all of you never to remove wonderfuls from your tools if you know what's good for you.  And don't say I didn't warn you.

The Animal Color Conflict

Well obviously, one thing that really excited me about Harvest Moon: Animal Parade was the ability to have different colors of each animal.  While that was available in ToT, it wasn't nearly as "customizable".  Before I purchased the game, I was under the impression you were able to choose the color of your livestock.  Excited, I purchased animal after animal, never seeing the option to select my color. Devastated, I decided it was because the color was just randomized.  Then, in angst, I purchased 5 cows, thinking surely that would solve my problem.  I would get at least a little variation.

So I rode my horse, Andrea, back to my barn, ran inside and found: five spotted cows, all identical.  I could have cried.  I decided to search for some information online, and after finding some, I came across the realization that the only way to get the color other than default is to sprinkle miracle potion on livestock.  Stupid me.  

Nevertheless, I thought it would be dandy to inform all of you ranchers out there to the different colors of livestock:

Horse: Grey (default), White, Black, and Brown.
Cow: Black&White (default), Black, and Brown.
Sheep: White (default), and Black
Goat: White (default), and Black
Ostrich: Black (default)

All birds (aside from the ostrich) and the silkworms only have one available color (the default).