Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
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| Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life | |
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| Developer(s) | Marvelous Interactive Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Natsume |
| Designer(s) | Hong Zhang (Designer) Igusa Matsuyama (Character Designer) |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo GameCube |
| Release date | JPN July 8, 2004 NA July 26, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation/Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | CERO: A (All ages) ESRB: Everyone |
| Media | 1 × GameCube Optical Disc |
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Bokujou Monogatari: Wonderful Life for Girls?) is the sequel to the farm simulation video game Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and was released on July 8, 2004, in Japan and July 26, 2005, in America. Another Wonderful Life is equal to A Wonderful Life in most respects, with the exception that the main character is a girl instead of a boy. This mostly affects the story, although Marvelous Interactive Inc. tweaked some parts of the gameplay. The game's similarity with Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and its other flaws led to poor overall sales, unlike other Harvest Moon games that have "girl versions".
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[edit] Gameplay
Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life gameplay is very similar to its predecessors, involving planting, growing, and harvesting crops while taking care of the variety of animals inhabiting the farm that the player character inherits. The game also includes being able to court three bachelors and marry one of them by the end of the first chapter of the story. In later chapters, the character gives birth to a son, whom she must take care of.
[edit] Stamina
Unlike other Harvest Moon games, the player does not pass out when her stamina is low. Though she will work slower, and often stop as her stamina goes down and fatigue builds up.
[edit] Story
The story starts off that a young girl, guessed to be in her late teens (about 20 years old), has sent a letter to an old friend of her fathers, Takukara, requesting to work on an old farm. The character must work on the farm selling crops, produce, and many other items to make a living on her farm.
You must also get married by the end of the first year to one of three boys. If you don't the game will end, or the boy with the most hearts for you will ask to marry you. If you do, you will have a child. It is always a boy. There are three different children, all with different personalities and looks, depending on who you marry. You can influence your child on what his future will be. There are 6 different careers he can have.
[edit] Plot
[edit] Setting and storyline
The game progresses through 6 chapters in the game, which shows the player character going from young adulthood to old age. However, numerous years are skipped as the game is progressed. NPCs in the game, including the main character's son, also grow older as time passes. The game takes place in Forget-Me-Not Valley, populated by a variety of characters, who can move out as new characters move in while others grow older or die. The plot is that the main character, a young woman from the city, inherits a somewhat run-down farm in Forget-Me-Not-Valley and tries to make it successful with some help from her father's old friend, Takakura.[1] Each chapter is one year long (which is four seasons with ten days each in Harvest Moon time) and narrated by Takakura. The first chapter is called "The Beginning," the second is called, "A New Family," the third is called, "The Harvest," the fourth is called, "Farm Life," the fifth is called, "The Journeying Chapter," and the final one is called, "The Twilight Chapter." The chapters all show how the character takes care of her farm, befriend others, and court men according to how the player controls the character. Starting from the second chapter, the player character will have given birth to a son, whom she will have to take care of for the rest of the story.
[edit] Characters
There are a variety of characters in the game, but they aren't significant to the chapters in the game. The character the player controls, the potential husbands, and Takakura, however, contribute to the story.[2] The player character is a young girl that the player can name and control. She has inherited the farm after her father's death and is trying to make it successful. Her personality is unknown as she does not speak throughout the game, except when she faces the mirror in her house. She gives birth to a son in chapter 2 and grows older as the story progresses. She is also able to change her clothes. Takakura is the player character's father's old friend. He helps the player character run the farm and with other problems. During some point in the story, he gives her a talking plant called Tartan that mixes together seeds. Takakura is enigmatic, mysterious, and seemingly grumpy, but he's actually a kind, good-hearted man. He has good knowledge of the farm and can give good advice. He narrates each of the chapters in the story.
[edit] Bachelors
The potential husbands are Marlin, Gustafa, and Rock.[3]
Marlin, known as Mashu in the Japanese version, is Vesta's younger brother who has moved to Forget-Me Not-Valley for his frail health. He used to work in the city but now works for Vesta on her farm. He is 32 years old and has a crush on Celia, but may fall in love and eventually marry the player character if she wins his affections. He acts silent and moody, but is sensitive and gentle at heart. He has a hard time expressing his feelings and gets embarrassed easily. He enjoys curry, Bodigizer and Bodyhyper and Turbojolt (three medicines found in Forget-Me-Not-Valley), milk, eggs, crops, Tomamelo Salad (a salad made from tomatoes and melons), and drinks.
Gustafa, known as Gusa in the Japanese version, is a traveling minstrel that came to Forget-Me-Not-Valley for a peaceful place to play the guitar. He has also been searching for a nice place to write a song for a girl that's special to him. Although at first he sees Nami as a friend, they start to fall in love, unless the player character wins his interest. He acts similarly to a hippie and enjoys tranquility and nature. He likes flowers, normal milk, and things from the ruins, but dislikes mugwort (an edible plant found in spring in Forget-Me-Not-Valley), tomatoes, fish, and fishing gear.
Rock, known as Rokku in the Japanese version, lives at the inn with his foster parents, Tim and Ruby, and is a fun-loving party goer. He is rather flirtatious and enjoys the company of females. He seems to be interested in almost every girl, but his main interest will be towards either Lumina or the player character. He likes Mist Moon flowers, Toy flowers, fodder, coins, statues, light pickles, Tomamelo salad, cheese, butter, Veggie Burgers, and wool, but dislikes goat milk, skull fossils, failed recipe dishes, and tools.
The people (the husband you choose and your character) will later on grow gray hair as they get older in later chapters.
[edit] Development
Another Wonderful Life, developed around 2003, was announced to be "identical to the 'boy' versions."[4] On February 27, 2003, Natsume made an agreement with Ubisoft Entertainment, and Sally Cormack (Product Manager for Ubisoft), that the game would "bring many exciting new elements to the series."[5] On January 21, 2005, Natsume said that Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, as well as Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town would be sold in North America in order to give "gamers a chance to play as a female character."[6] The game was mainly intended for girls, since 40% of sales in Harvest Moon games are female gamers.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Game Lemon.com. Game Lemon. Retrieved on October 21, 2006.
- ^ Video Game Generation.com. Video Game Generation. Retrieved on October 21, 2006.
- ^ SwankWOrld.com. SwankWorld. Retrieved on October 21, 2006.
- ^ IGN.com. Not Just For Boys. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
- ^ NintendoWorldReport.com. News Article: Harvest Moon Gets European Publisher. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
- ^ IGN.com. Return to Harvest Moon: Natsume makes the girly side of Harvest official. Retrieved on October 19, 2006.
- ^ Nintendo Dojo.com. Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life on Nintendo Dojo. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Natsume's official Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life webpage
- Marvelous Interactive Inc.'s official Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life webpage
- Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life at GameFAQs
- Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life at the Open Directory Project
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