Thanks from a Perfectionist

Hey. I just wanted to say thank you for all of the guides, they've always been immensely helpful to me. Harvest Moon is my fave series, even though I'm horrible at time management and such; coupled with my need to be a perfectionist, it makes these games really tough for me! But still, I love it. Right now I'm playing Harvest Moon DS Cute while waiting for the two new games (preordered, looking forward to my plushies). I think the farthest I've ever made it is 23 Spring, Year 1. I keep restarting...! I can never get my daily routine hammered out, so I struggle and feel like I've done something horribly wrong. Hehe, I have to try and get gifts to EVERYONE, but it's difficult... ah well!

Sorry, I ramble on (it's 3am after all, kinda loopy). Again, thank you very much...! It makes it so much easier to know what to give people. I'll hammer out my daily schedule someday...!

My response: Thank you for your email. I always am inspired to work harder when players tell me that my guides have been helpful.

I myself am a perfectionist and my own instinct is to wring the most out of every day in Harvest Moon. I find myself replaying a day in order to save a few minutes (in-game) here or there or to perform a chore better. I hate to make mistakes but really, Harvest Moon is VERY forgiving of errors. There are few errors that cannot be reversed. When you give an individual a gift he/she detests, you always can restore Heart Levels that have been lost. Littering can reduce an individual's AP to zero, but you can RESTORE that AP by giving Most Favourites or even gifts that are liked but not loved. I try to trigger events as early as possible in the game for the sake of the guide but an ordinary player has all the time in the world in many cases. If a game can last for 255 years, what is the rush? What errors cannot be reversed in 255 years???

You need to move on past the first Spring. Buy the Teleport Stone so you can visit every one early in the morning. Even if you give them items that they like rather than love, you can raise FP to maximum very quickly! You really do need to allow yourself to experience Events and make progress in the game.

By the way, my guides for Island of Happiness should be published on IGN on the day the game is released. My written guide for Tree of Tranquility will be published by Brady Games and is available now for pre-order I believe. As I worked on a printed guide for ToT for Brady, I shan't be able to write online guides for that game but a printed guide may be more useful in any case.