Walking Through A Memory Lane Via Harvest Town
Once upon a time, I was obsessed with a game called “Harvest Moon : Friends of Mineral Town”. It was a video game made for GBA (game boy advance) back in 2003. Since I didn’t have the GBA, I downloaded the emulator on my laptop. I invested my time to get wealthy in the game. Through overtime, I learned a few cheats here and there; easy money especially. There are some things that even today, I am still curious about, the seaside cottage. This cottage can be obtained by connecting to a gamecube that till this day, I don’t know how to link to a gamecube. I spent so much time figuring things out and taking notes of every festival happening, but there was no result even after a few years playing.
There was also a very helpful website called, Ushi No Tane x4 that I used to check for cooking recipes and the festival towns. It was like the directory of everything I needed to know about the game. I stopped playing the game a few years ago and since then, have barely tried anything similar.
Today, since I got so bored and wanted to play some games, I checked my google play. There are some games I had in mind that I wanted to download but, my recommendation showed me Harvest Town, a pixel style video game which has similarity with Harvest Moon. At first, I thought it would be a rip-off version of harvest moon but after playing it a while, it was quite fun. It has some features that are new and different from the GBA version of Harvest moon. But as for the storyline, it’s the same. If you’ve ever played harvest moon, I’ll let you be the judge.
Here's the short gameplay walkthrough that I've tried
The first few scenes are so similar to Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town. There is a background story that basically tells the character is tired of living the city life and wanting to move to the countryside. The storyline is quite nice, so I recommend not to skip it. It may take a while but, hang in there.
In this game, I was choosing a female character and I named it briochelyn. In the old harvest moon, friends of mineral town and more, you also get to decide the character’s birthday which in the game will make the townspeople wish you a birthday. But, in that game, there was no such option, only the option to choose the character’s name and the skin color.
After choosing that, the character will meet uncle John, who is going to help the character, in this case Briochelyn, to get accustomed to the countryside life. There are some basic farming skills and learning tutorials. Don’t skip it if it’s your first time playing this game. It is, Indeed similar to the old Harvest moon where upon the first arrival, you will get some tutorial but instead from uncle john, it was from the mayor of the town. Then, you will also meet Steve, the guy who will help you upgrade your house. I couldn’t quite recall the name of the carpenter in the harvest moon friends of mineral town, but I think it’s similar.
Like the old harvest moon, in this harvest town, you will get a basic house. I have not been into the house yet and I don’t know if it’s even possible. Then, after some tutorials, you will get a phone which will show you some mini quests to make more coins. It certainly has more modern elements and more interesting features than what I used to play.
The tutorial will stop until you get to access the shop. The shop itself is quite massive and has many things that you will need to survive in the town. I only played this game for less than a day, so I don’t know what would happen if I fail. As the tutorial ended, I was trying to explore the city.
Just to the east, I met another townspeople. I tried to talk to them, and especially the guy. There were some options and I forgot what I picked but I earned some hearts. Then, I went to the shop in the city and went to the second floor. Like in harvest moon, you can only access the room in the shop if you befriended the girl who lives there. It was the same in Harvest Town.
After checking that out, I went back to the manor and quit the game.
A Decent Game To Kill The Time
In conclusion, after playing that game for a while, it can be potentially interesting. Though, since I was not accustomed to the map, the world, the quests, personally the game seemed very boring. The indicator was that I was not curious to follow through the quests unlike in many other survival games/ strategy games I tried. Again, For a mobile game with only around 300mb initial download, it’s quite a decent one to kill the time and you can get around without buying the items. If you want to be nostalgic about GBA Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town, try this game out!
 | Mac is a content creator that covers literature, books, technology, philosophy, nootropics, productivity, minimalist lifestyle, cybersecurity, and languages. Other than those, she is passionate about cooking and travel. In her free time, she enjoys learning various things. |