THE GOOD:1. Amazing Graphics
2. Van!!!
3. Chapters? Marriage? Children?
4. Goat Milk!
5. Easy Begining
6. Soothing Musical Records
7. Hidden Cooking Recipes
8. Fishing!!
THE BAD:
1. Doors that don't open...
2. So much time, so little to do?
3. Random Events!?
4. Friendship Meter
SUMMARY:
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life was the very first Harvest Moon game that I ever played. Not only was I new to the series but I was stunned on how fun a game, completely based around farming and the life in a valley, could be. With the way the music matched the game's surroundings so well and how good the graphics were I was instantly addicted and sucked into playing the game.
There are a few features in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life that separates it from other Harvest Moon games making it easier or harder then these others. Unlike many other Harvest Moon games in this game the farm has been basically fixed up and ready for you to play in. No longer will you have to grow tired of chopping wood to provide lumber to build a barn, chicken coop, or maker shed. The farm already has them all! So at the beginning things are all so easy and put up for your character to begin his life.
The first thing I noticed when playing A Wonderful Life was the graphics the game held. They were amazing! Everything looked so real to me, it was almost like I was watching a real life movie while playing the character, walking around the town, picking flowers, talking to the villagers, fishing, and milking my cow. Not only did it play a huge part in what inspired me to keep playing but that wasn't all, the music also helped a lot too.
The music played in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life was set and played by two different records already given off at the beginning of the game, the Breeze and Quiet Winter Record. One being a quite fast and happy type of sound that went well with matching along with the Spring and Summer seasons. While the other being quite slow and just sad matching along with the Fall and Winter seasons. But these weren't the only music available, changes were also made in the music when a random event would occur, or when entering different places and areas in the game such as houses, the ocean, mines, spring, and the farm area. But being allowed to hear the soothing music coming from these random events was hard due to the fact the events were completely as said, random, and overall just hard to activate at times.
Van the traveling salesman is probably in my mind one of the best features that Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life has. He's not only a great source to buy from but when wanting to make money, he is the one to turn to. His buying prices are way better then the regular shipping box prices and when selling to Van you have all day, 6 pm, to sell to him. After selling your hard-worked-for products to him you'll begin to see a great raise in the money your making. Your also going to need to buy from Van to acquire the fishing pole and a brush for you animals. Later on in the game, Van also sells a completely new species of animal that's allowed to be raised and cared for, unlike in any other Harvest Moon game, it's a goat! Not only is the goat completely new but it's also ready to be milked! Yep, the goat gives it's own milk as well, it's milk sells just a little more then what regular milk from a cow would sell for.
Marriage, is one of the key concepts of every Harvest Moon game and is required in this game to continue on. Without marrying in A Wonderful Life, your character, Jack they call him, will not be able to move onto the next chapter in his life. So pick from the three available bachelorettes, Nami, Muffy, or Celia on who you will marry. Each of these girls have different features and attributes to their lives, each being different in some way or another. So pick wisely because once proposed to, with the blue feather, there is no going back. The basic thing I did when trying to score with these girls was give them a flower each day, and from there our relationship grew and grew. Even though there isn't a friendship meter available in this Harvest Moon game, while being in others, just talking with a villager and taking the time to give products such as flowers, milk, fruits, and wild items to these villagers will improve your relationship with them greatly. So just repeat this process everyday and in no time you will begin making friends from all around the valley, even though it may be hard at first, everything will get so much easier.
After playing A Wonderful Life for a few hours or so, finishing a few seasons and making it further in the chapters of your characters life, you'll notice that there is so much time in the game but very little to do. Well don't let this bring you down and from playing the game, I sure didn't and what helped me was fishing. Buy the fishing pole from Van because from there it adds a whole new level of enjoyment to the game. Instantly A Wonderful Life was more fun, I loved trying to catch fish from ether the Stream, Spring, or Turtle Pond. I also was excited every time that I caught a new fish species, and when selling them I discovered that they sold for good money as well making more things available for me to buy.
Besides all the time, villagers, chapters, fishing days, farm animals, random events, and Van Products that Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life provides this isn't all! As your playing, if you take just a few moments to search around outside or inside houses, looking at items or in rooms you will discover that the game also has recipes hidden everywhere. So here's another reason to continue playing, even if it may just be to look for these recipes. What I usually did was record the recipes on a piece of paper then I would get a hold of the products needed for the actual recipes. Then from there, I would make the actual recipe and feed my characters face full with delight from the good tasting food. Not only do all of these amazing features of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life make me want to continue playing the game they also teach me more about the farming life, and what people have to go through in a life like this.
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