Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Encyclopedia
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is a video game in the farm
simulation
series Harvest Moon, developed by Victor Interactive Software
. It is the only Harvest Moon game developed for the PlayStation, as well as the first Harvest Moon game for a non-Nintendo
console
. Characters from Harvest Moon 64
were transferred to be the characters in this game, although with new lifestyles, personalities, and relatives, including the wooable girls from Harvest Moon 64 (Ann, Elli, Popuri, Maria [known as Mary], and Karen).
A girl-oriented remake, Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl (or simply "for Girls"), was also developed, but until 2007, had not seen a localized English release. The setting of this game was later transferred to the 2003 and 2005 Game Boy Advance
games Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town. Also, the game was coupled with the girl version and ported in ( for North America) as Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl for the PlayStation Portable
, although the box art and instructions portrayed it as a completely new game. In 2008, Marvelous Interactive released Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl for the PlayStation 3
and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Network.
This game does not have much difference in the PSP game Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl . They have the same graphics, gameplay, characters, cutscenes and other. The only difference in these two is in Boy & Girl, you can choose either to play as a girl or a boy.
Time passes while players traverse the village or remain outside buildings. The growing of crops and raising of livestock requires daily attention and the expenditure of time. The old and inefficient tools the player begins the game with cause crop farming to be a slow and unproductive way of earning money. Upgrading the tools requires time and money. Once the tools have been upgraded, it allows the player to farm more efficiently, resulting in more crops being grown at once. This results in more money being earned and more options becoming available. As the cash flow increases, the ability to upgrade tools further, buy more seeds of a higher quality at once and purchase livestock enables the player to increase their earnings yet further.
Players who find that they have purchased enough upgrades, extensions and stock for the farm and begin to keep their profit from farming will also find that they have suddenly acquired a lot of time as well. Instead of toiling over small patches of crops, they'll be tending far greater amounts of crops yet spending a fraction of the time doing so. This slow build-up to a sudden change of fortunes is a trademark of the Harvest Moon series. The common factor in this sudden turnaround of fortunes is the poor state of the farm at the beginning of the game, several of the game's 'days' are spent making the fields suitable for seed planting. This also is a common occurrence in the Harvest Moon series.
In Back to Nature, since the passing of Jack's grandfather, the farm has fallen into disuse and the fields have become overgrown with weeds. Once this initial obstacle is cleared, the player can then start to expand on these most basic tasks as they proceed to build up the value of their produce. There is no requirement for crops to be planted immediately or for any other tasks to be performed upon starting a new game, though players have a limited number of days before being asked to leave the farm if it remains in disrepair.
Energy is the other concern facing players who wish to be successful, particularly in the early stages of the game. The main character can perform a limited amount of tasks each day. Rather than displaying an energy bar, the game instead shows the character becoming more tired as he performs more tasks and spending time in a daze. Repeatedly pushing Jack beyond exhaustion will result in him passing out and having to visit the local hospital. Jack's maximum energy can be increased by locating hidden "power berries" scattered throughout the town. Energy can be regained through rest, eating, or visiting the local hot springs.
The weather can affect how the player completes their goals during that day. Regardless of season, most days are calm and do not cause adverse or positive affects on the player's activities. Rainfall results in crops being watered without player intervention, freeing time to pursue other goals, but at the same time, can cause the player to develop a cold, forcing him not to work for a day. Hurricanes and blizzards cause the destruction of crops, the loss of certain livestock if they're left outside and also prevent the character from leaving his home for the day.
Years ago, the main character, Jack, came to his grandfather's farm for the summer. His grandfather was too busy taking care of the farm to spend much time with the boy, but the boy was free to explore the town and the forest as he wished. Jack befriended his grandfather's puppy and met a little girl his own age with whom he became close friends.
When the summer was over, the boy had to go back home, but he promised the little girl that he would return someday. He was waiting a very long time to meet her again
When Jack's grandfather died years later, Jack had grown into a young man, and he came to the town again to take over the farm. The mayor talked things over with the village, and they had decided that Jack could stay as the rightful owner if he could restore the farm back to its original state within three years. But if Jack couldn't restore the farm, or cannot get along with the villagers, he would have to leave.
The stable provides living space for a horse, should the player choose to accept an invitation to care for the animal. You do not need to feed him, but he does prefer to be outside. If players treat their horse well, he will become an adult and can help carry crops. This enables Jack to work more efficiently as he doesn't have to run back to the shipping box when his inventory is full. If the horse is not properly cared for, there is a chance he may be removed from the farm.
The chicken coop provides room for five birds but can be expanded like the farmhouse. After the expansion you can keep up to 10 chickens. There is also an incubator to hatch chicks. The egg processing machine will be placed here if purchased by the Player.
All livestock can be taken or lead outside in order to feed themselves, though all dislike being left out in bad weather or during rain.
Though all the outbuildings which house livestock are present from the outset, players must pay for a hothouse to be built if they require one. Within the hothouse, any crop can be grown, even those out of season. Purchasing the hothouse enables crops to be grown and harvested during winter; this being the only way to farm crops during that season. Extreme weather conditions can destroy the hothouse, since it is not built to withstand such force. Players must consider whether they're willing to risk the expense of losing the hothouse and its contents, balanced by the opportunities it presents.
Upgraded tools will break and chop things with fewer strokes. The heavy and bulky rocks(not the smooth ones)cannot be broken with the first hammer upgrade.
Once you have cleared the land, you can till it using a hoe and then plant seeds. If you water the seeds daily, they will grow, and eventually you can harvest them and sell the crops. Some crops are single-harvest (such as potato) while others multi-harvest able (such as corn) and will give harvests until the season changes and the crops die,unless if you have a 'hothouse'.
There is a different set of crops for each season (spring, summer, fall), and none can be grown in winter without the purchase of a 'hothouse' in which all types of seeds can be grown. One particular crop, the Orangecup, can only be grown in the hothouse.
Once you get the fishing pole from Greg and are able to catch fish, you can add any fish to the pond by throwing them into the water. Should you decide to raise fish you will need to feed them daily. In doing so they will breed. The fish do grow up (small fish become medium fish then become big fish). However during the winter the pond freezes over making feeding and removal of the fish impossible. (It can be noted that the player is free to remove the fish, store them in their refrigerator for any period of time and return them to the fish pond with no negative effects.)
Festivals take place within the town on a yearly schedule. Befriending townspeople results in one being invited to more festivals rather than watching the television.
IGN
rated the original PlayStation version of the game at 7.5, or "Good", calling it "creatively deep", though it was graphically weak. While IGN rated the PSP counterpart of this game a 7.1, or "Decent".
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
simulation
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
series Harvest Moon, developed by Victor Interactive Software
Victor Interactive Software
Victor Interactive Software, Inc. was a Japanese video game software publisher and developer, established in 1970-08-03 as a division of Victor Entertainment.In 1996-10-01, Victor Entertainment Inc. merged with Pack-In-Video Co., Ltd...
. It is the only Harvest Moon game developed for the PlayStation, as well as the first Harvest Moon game for a non-Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. Characters from Harvest Moon 64
Harvest Moon 64
is a farm simulation video game developed by Victor Interactive Software and published by Natsume Co., Ltd for the Nintendo 64 video game console, and the third game in the Harvest Moon series...
were transferred to be the characters in this game, although with new lifestyles, personalities, and relatives, including the wooable girls from Harvest Moon 64 (Ann, Elli, Popuri, Maria [known as Mary], and Karen).
A girl-oriented remake, Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl (or simply "for Girls"), was also developed, but until 2007, had not seen a localized English release. The setting of this game was later transferred to the 2003 and 2005 Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
games Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is a video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and published in the U.S. by Natsume...
and Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town. Also, the game was coupled with the girl version and ported in ( for North America) as Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, although the box art and instructions portrayed it as a completely new game. In 2008, Marvelous Interactive released Harvest Moon: Back to Nature and Bokujō Monogatari Harvest Moon for Girl for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Network.
This game does not have much difference in the PSP game Harvest Moon: Boy & Girl . They have the same graphics, gameplay, characters, cutscenes and other. The only difference in these two is in Boy & Girl, you can choose either to play as a girl or a boy.
Gameplay
In the game, the main character (sometimes known as Jack) begins with a ramshackle farm, enough money to begin small-scale crop farming and no standing within the Mineral Town community. Over the course of the game, the player must build a thriving farm, and become friends with the citizens of Mineral Town. While gameplay typically involves the acts of farming itself and interacting with the people the character meets, almost all of the actions a player makes must be balanced with the two most overriding factors of the game, time and money. A third factor, energy, threads through them both, but not in all circumstances and to an ever-decreasing extent as the game progresses.Time passes while players traverse the village or remain outside buildings. The growing of crops and raising of livestock requires daily attention and the expenditure of time. The old and inefficient tools the player begins the game with cause crop farming to be a slow and unproductive way of earning money. Upgrading the tools requires time and money. Once the tools have been upgraded, it allows the player to farm more efficiently, resulting in more crops being grown at once. This results in more money being earned and more options becoming available. As the cash flow increases, the ability to upgrade tools further, buy more seeds of a higher quality at once and purchase livestock enables the player to increase their earnings yet further.
Players who find that they have purchased enough upgrades, extensions and stock for the farm and begin to keep their profit from farming will also find that they have suddenly acquired a lot of time as well. Instead of toiling over small patches of crops, they'll be tending far greater amounts of crops yet spending a fraction of the time doing so. This slow build-up to a sudden change of fortunes is a trademark of the Harvest Moon series. The common factor in this sudden turnaround of fortunes is the poor state of the farm at the beginning of the game, several of the game's 'days' are spent making the fields suitable for seed planting. This also is a common occurrence in the Harvest Moon series.
In Back to Nature, since the passing of Jack's grandfather, the farm has fallen into disuse and the fields have become overgrown with weeds. Once this initial obstacle is cleared, the player can then start to expand on these most basic tasks as they proceed to build up the value of their produce. There is no requirement for crops to be planted immediately or for any other tasks to be performed upon starting a new game, though players have a limited number of days before being asked to leave the farm if it remains in disrepair.
Energy is the other concern facing players who wish to be successful, particularly in the early stages of the game. The main character can perform a limited amount of tasks each day. Rather than displaying an energy bar, the game instead shows the character becoming more tired as he performs more tasks and spending time in a daze. Repeatedly pushing Jack beyond exhaustion will result in him passing out and having to visit the local hospital. Jack's maximum energy can be increased by locating hidden "power berries" scattered throughout the town. Energy can be regained through rest, eating, or visiting the local hot springs.
The weather can affect how the player completes their goals during that day. Regardless of season, most days are calm and do not cause adverse or positive affects on the player's activities. Rainfall results in crops being watered without player intervention, freeing time to pursue other goals, but at the same time, can cause the player to develop a cold, forcing him not to work for a day. Hurricanes and blizzards cause the destruction of crops, the loss of certain livestock if they're left outside and also prevent the character from leaving his home for the day.
Years ago, the main character, Jack, came to his grandfather's farm for the summer. His grandfather was too busy taking care of the farm to spend much time with the boy, but the boy was free to explore the town and the forest as he wished. Jack befriended his grandfather's puppy and met a little girl his own age with whom he became close friends.
When the summer was over, the boy had to go back home, but he promised the little girl that he would return someday. He was waiting a very long time to meet her again
When Jack's grandfather died years later, Jack had grown into a young man, and he came to the town again to take over the farm. The mayor talked things over with the village, and they had decided that Jack could stay as the rightful owner if he could restore the farm back to its original state within three years. But if Jack couldn't restore the farm, or cannot get along with the villagers, he would have to leave.
Dating
There are five girls that you can marry; Mary, Ann, Popuri, Elli, and Karen, who can be wooed by giving them gifts, of which five can be given per day.Outbuildings
The barn holds your cows and sheep. Like the farmhouse, this building can be expanded. Players interested in keeping livestock will spend time talking to their animals, brushing and feeding them in this building. If they are healthy and happy, you can get milk from the cows daily, and wool from the sheep weekly. The barn is where wool and milk processing machinery will be delivered, once they are purchased.The stable provides living space for a horse, should the player choose to accept an invitation to care for the animal. You do not need to feed him, but he does prefer to be outside. If players treat their horse well, he will become an adult and can help carry crops. This enables Jack to work more efficiently as he doesn't have to run back to the shipping box when his inventory is full. If the horse is not properly cared for, there is a chance he may be removed from the farm.
The chicken coop provides room for five birds but can be expanded like the farmhouse. After the expansion you can keep up to 10 chickens. There is also an incubator to hatch chicks. The egg processing machine will be placed here if purchased by the Player.
All livestock can be taken or lead outside in order to feed themselves, though all dislike being left out in bad weather or during rain.
Though all the outbuildings which house livestock are present from the outset, players must pay for a hothouse to be built if they require one. Within the hothouse, any crop can be grown, even those out of season. Purchasing the hothouse enables crops to be grown and harvested during winter; this being the only way to farm crops during that season. Extreme weather conditions can destroy the hothouse, since it is not built to withstand such force. Players must consider whether they're willing to risk the expense of losing the hothouse and its contents, balanced by the opportunities it presents.
Arable land
You can clear the land by pulling weeds, breaking rocks, and chopping stumps and sticks for lumber. Your first hammer and axe are capable of dealing with only small rocks and branches (you can also just put the rocks and branches in your rucksack, and move them to another part of the field where they won't be in the way). After you upgrade the tools at least once, you can chop up stumps and break the large, smooth rocks. To do this, equip the appropriate tool, face the object, then hold and swing six, three, two or one times without moving, depending on which ore you upgraded your tool with. If you move, you will have to start over.Upgraded tools will break and chop things with fewer strokes. The heavy and bulky rocks(not the smooth ones)cannot be broken with the first hammer upgrade.
Once you have cleared the land, you can till it using a hoe and then plant seeds. If you water the seeds daily, they will grow, and eventually you can harvest them and sell the crops. Some crops are single-harvest (such as potato) while others multi-harvest able (such as corn) and will give harvests until the season changes and the crops die,unless if you have a 'hothouse'.
There is a different set of crops for each season (spring, summer, fall), and none can be grown in winter without the purchase of a 'hothouse' in which all types of seeds can be grown. One particular crop, the Orangecup, can only be grown in the hothouse.
Once you get the fishing pole from Greg and are able to catch fish, you can add any fish to the pond by throwing them into the water. Should you decide to raise fish you will need to feed them daily. In doing so they will breed. The fish do grow up (small fish become medium fish then become big fish). However during the winter the pond freezes over making feeding and removal of the fish impossible. (It can be noted that the player is free to remove the fish, store them in their refrigerator for any period of time and return them to the fish pond with no negative effects.)
Mineral Town and surrounding area
Many characters tend to live within Mineral Town, making visits worthwhile for new information. The townspeople follow a routine around the town, and most of the houses are available for exploration. Mineral Town also contains shops for seeds, farming machinery, wine, and other items. Buying livestock is done within town, and expected buildings common to towns such as a "church", a library, an inn (it has the only phone in Mineral Town), a clinic (the sign says "hospital") , and more. Outside of the town, one can go to the blacksmith to upgrade tools and buildings. Located also out of town include several mines, a waterfall, a forest, and a mountain top that can be a romantic place for couples.Festivals take place within the town on a yearly schedule. Befriending townspeople results in one being invited to more festivals rather than watching the television.
Reception
The game received positive reviews and has a Gamerankings standing of 79.32%.IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
rated the original PlayStation version of the game at 7.5, or "Good", calling it "creatively deep", though it was graphically weak. While IGN rated the PSP counterpart of this game a 7.1, or "Decent".