Harvest Moon

[narikel]

I loved Harvest Moon in high school. While my friends were perfecting their Counterstrike headshot, or doing yet another Protoss Carrier swarm tactic on Starcraft, I was often found ploughing my virtual fields and living the quiet life of a Japanese villager. I played other games a plenty, and Harvest Moon was by no means the majority of my

Comments

[lyster]

Two housemates of mine spent a great deal of time last winter playing Harvest Moon. It was an odd experience for me, because this was during the recession and my employment differential was high; I'd return home after a day spent scrounging up Chinese translation work, hitting the pavement looking for jobs, writing, tour guiding for Swiss scientists, doing quite repetitive research work for the Berkman center, or whatever I had managed to make pay that afternoon (if anything), to discover that my housemates had spent several hours of the day doing... essentially what I had just done, only for fun, in artificial sunshine with pleasant music, and assured profit in exchange for hard work. I became quite bitter towards the game as a result. Modern cities aren't helpful and supportive farm communities with plentiful land where anyone can, with a handful of seeds, work hard and achieve wealth and comfort 100% of the time. In the modern day, even farmers go bankrupt -- and often

[lyster]

Gee, just realized that came off as far more bitter than I intended. My aopologies! The farming game has not, to my knowledge, ever hurt anyone, and does try to teach us the virtues of gardening and giving gifts to friends regularly, both of which are good things.

[narikel]

Harr! I didn't read it as too terribly bitter, and definitely understand the tendency of reality to stomp on and laugh little peasants like those depicted in the game. I believe I should have mentioned that during my introduction and brief obsession with the game was also during that peak time of my adolescence when I discovered just how crummy the world seemed to want to be, and thus Harvest Moon was part of a complex prescription to deal with it all by use of Rage Against the Machine, conspiracy theory books, and Star Wars Roleplaying (remember good ole Ulthwe?).

[flyonawndshield]

I remember reading an article in the mid 90s about the original Harvest Moon for the SNES and was so intrigued and in love with the concept that I spent the following year searching for a copy. By god's graces my best friend who lived down the street eventually scrounged out a copy (they're so rare that they sell for hundreds of dollars on EBAY today) of this Natsume gem. I played it for hours and hours and hours finding such joy in the little things. I felt the farmers pain as my cow got sick and stopped giving milk, or when I brushed my cow, so pregnant that its belly literally dragged on the floor saying "Good girl SHIT," as I named her, "You're a good girl

[flyonawndshield]

oh, and that article was of course in the greatest magazine at the time, NINTENDO POWWWA

[narikel]

I personally went for Popuri, the exotic pink-haired sweetheart who was the florists daughter, after a brief flirtation with the tragic and voluptuous Karen, the winemaker's daughter.

[brendanharmon]

Too bad it wasn't a flirtation with the winemaker's wife!

[brendanharmon]

I wanna become an astronaut-bodhisattva! I'd just circle the earth, sitting in lotus position, as my shuttle maintains constant orbit.

[narikel]

Not the CEO and President part? Working to insure the power and prestige of your country while insuring a growth in dividends for your shareholders?

[brendanharmon]

CEO-President? Ick, ick, what a boring combo. Very military-industrial complex. I think the astronaut part is the key ingredient here...
So how 'bout an astronaut-farmer? Harvest Moon in Space! Starting out so poor you can only afford a few moon rocks and half a tank of rocket fuel...