NCS Game Notes
» The intro to the game shows laid-back scenes of farm life such as milking cows, a rainbow arcing across the sky, a young child with father at the base of the rainbow, and other visual serenity.
» Press any button on the title screen and the following selections appear:
NEW GAME / Begin a new game
LOAD GAME / Resume a game from save data
MULTIPLAYER / Four player "whack-a-mole" with a newtype 3D twist to the conventional whack-mole gameplay
OPTION / Adjust sound volumes and listen to 85 SE and 57 BGM tracks
» Start a NEW GAME and you're able to choose a male or female lead. Both have a sprig of hair that pops out of the top of their heads and both wear farm type clothing. After selecting the sex, the game boots up a cinema of a ship coursing through the water as seagulls fly overhead. A travel brochure soon pops into view which checks out the destination. The captain appears and smokes a pipe on deck. You're eventually prompted to enter your name in kana, hiragana, or in English. We named our hero "Cowherd" since we plan on raising a bunch of cattle.
» After speaking to the captain on the deck of the ship, land is spotted and the destination is close at hand when a storm rushes up and turns the sky dark. Rain falls and thunder rocks in the background. The thunder sounds like someone flushing a toilet...
» A sequence plays where a green-haired goddess in gossamer-like clothing stands in the center of a black space while a halo of sorts radiates from her entire body. A pair of iridescent wings may be seen partially hanging from her back. After that sequence, a save prompt appears where you can store your progress to one of three available slots.
» In the next scene, hero gets up from his bed and stretches. Control is handed over to the player at this point. Use the analog stick on the nunchuk to move around and explore the rooms. There isn't much to see so head to your right and enter the room to the north. Next, move all the way to the left until you're able to descend a flight of stairs. At the bottom, you're immediately greeted by two workers - a pink haired woman and an orange-haired lassie.
» There is no vocal speech in the game but the characters speak with dialogue balloons that's accompanied by a crisp and sharp sound effect.
» The island you've landed upon to is filled with attractive buildings and affable denizens. A virtual tour of the different buildings is given automatically at the outset of the game after the hero leaves the shop with the green-colored moon-board in front.
» To view the controller commands (Japanese text) at any time, press the "-" button on the Wii Remote.
» After you meet someone at a location in town, you can view the place where you originally met them by pressing the "+" button to review. Places you've visited are also stored in your history.
» Unlike the early Harvest Moon games, you wander around town first to get acquainted with the denizens and then you get the farm. After obtaining two books from two citizens, talk to the mayor who's standing in front of the first building you were at and you can save your progress. After you sleep and exit the building the next day, the mayor walks up and leads you to a farm on the outskirts of town. Once you arrive, enter the store that sells produce and potted plants. Exit the building and you can help the farmer do a little weeding by pressing the Z button on the nunchuk to target a clump of weeds and then pressing the A button on the Wii Remote to rip it from the ground. Do a good job and he rewards you with a watering can.
» To bring up the inventory screen, press C on the Nunchuk and then rotate through your items with the analog stick on the nunchuk. To activate an item in inventory such as the watering can, press the B button on the Wii Remote.
» To water, you can point the Wii Remote upwards and your protag will keep watering. You can also hold it level and then point it upwards to water. The motion makes no sense but that's how it was designed. You can also point the Wii Remote downwards (straight down) to water. If you tilt it slightly, it won't register. You can also just simply press the "A" button to water.
» Your next task is to arm yourself with the watering can and then speak to the farmer again. He assigns you another task to water the plants in the field - you have about 2 minutes to fill the watering can with water from the basin located on the corner of the field and then fastidiously water each plant individually. There's exactly 25 plants to water. When you're done, it's about sunset so talk to the mayor and then head into the store to meet a new senorita who hands you a book. Talk to the owners inside and then go to sleep. You'll be prompted to save your data at this point.
» The next day, speak to the farmer outside. The plants that you watered yesterday have all sprouted luscious strawberries. Since the farmer can't pick them himself, he asks you to pluck the strawberries from their vines and place them into a storage box located in the corner of the field. Again, you have to go to each plant and pluck 25 strawberries from the crop and bring them to the box. You have 3 minutes to complete the task. To keep things efficient, you're able to carry about 6 strawberries at any one time so you can pluck them in a group and then bring it to the storage box. That night when you go to sleep, you have a dream about the Goddess in all of her radiant glory. She's literally radiant because she has sparkly things that waft around her.
» The next morning starts like the morning before with you waking up in your new room. Enter the main area of the building and the mayor is already there. He gives you some good news - he's about to take you to your own little farm. The lady of the house that you were staying at gives you 70G for your farming services. When you're about to leave with the mayor, the farmer hands you a gift of appreciation.
» Soon afterwards, you're standing in front of your new house with its pink roof and quaint exterior. It's not a manse but it'll do for now. The interior is already furnished with a library, a reading table, a bed, bureau, and a sink. The house is right next to the ocean which makes it proper ocean front property. Two little bridges are located on the northwest of the house. When you first check out the bridges, you'll meet a turtle who's crossing at the same time. If you stand in its way, it'll just continue walking and slowly push you forward. If you watch it after it crosses the bridge, the turtle wanders off into some vegetation.
» To whistle, press both A+B buttons together on the Wii Remote.
» Time passes even if you're just standing still. Ten seconds of real world time equals 10 minutes in Harvest Moon.
» To weed a field, simply stand over a weed and then press the A button. The protagonist will crouch down and pull the weed from the ground which then disintegrates. Weeding is exhaustive work which takes up a lot of your energy.
» You can save your progress by going into your home and then to the reading table. Select the first option to save your data.
» After doing some work, you can head back into town. If you enter the town library area with the benches, you'll see a girl sitting on a bench with a plate of cake. She then downs it with a single gulp. When she notices you, she moseys on over and introduces herself. Afterwards you can go inside the library and work a little bit to earn 80G. You can also work in the other business establishments around town to earn money but be aware that you'll do a full day's work and it'll be dusk by the time you're done.
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