Harvest Moon : Friends of Mineral Town

Harvest Moon : More Friends of Mineral Town

Written by : Franck Knight

Started on : March 13th, 2006
First Submitted on : June 4th, 2010
Version : 0.2

========
Foreword
========

Welcome to my small guide to Harvest Moon for GBA. As I start writing

this, I
have no intention of turning this into a full blown guide. There are more
than
enough character guides and methods to befriend the people, you just pick
one
that seems to suit you. What I wanted to write at first is a sort of guide
to
start the game. Since both games are roughly the same, with a few
exceptions,
the methods can be used in either versions.

Just as a reminder :
Boy Version = FoMT
Girl Version = MFoMT
Both way of naming can be seen in this guide.

=================
Table of Contents
=================

1. Basic Controls
2. Harvest Moon at a Glance
3. Tools
4. Crop Basic
5. Animals Basic
6. Mining Basic
7. Fishing
8. Weather
9. Passing Time
10. Making Money
11. Mineral Town
12. Harvest Sprites
13. Wedding Blues
14. Useful Tricks
15. Festivals
16. Spring First Year
17. Summer First Year
18. Fall First Year
19. Winter First Year
20. Second Year
21. Third year and up
22. Gameshark Code
23. End word and Disclaimer
24. Version History

==============
Basic Controls
==============
As the title says, I'll try to explain how to work the controls out for
every
task you'll have to do.

--Menus--
Control Pad : Move selection arrow, scroll up/down, turn page
Select :
Start :
A : Select the option
B : Cancel / Previous Screen
L : Speed up the scrolling up/down
R : Speed up the scrolling up/down

--Farm - Empty Handed--

Control Pad : Move Character
Select : Open Earning Screen
Start : Open/Close Main Menu
A : Lift up item, Check Item, Talk
B : Use Equipped Tool
L : Whistle for Dog/Horse
R : Run/Walk

You can change the Run/Walk option in the Diary screen.

L + A : Pull item out of Rucksack

L + B : Cycle tool in hand from Rucksack
A + B : Opens Rucksack Menu

In the rucksack, pressing Start on an item will give you a choice to toss
it
out. It doesn't count as littering when you do.

Keeping B pressed down also lets you turn around on yourself, but when you
let
go, you'll use the tool equipped.

--Farm - Item in Hand--

Control Pad : Move character

Select : Open Earning Screen
Start : Open/Close Main Menu
A : Check Item (in front), Give Item, Talk,
Throw Item, Put Item in Bin, Put Item Down
B : Put item in Rucksack (if possible)
L : Nothing
R : Run/Walk
L + A : Cycle object in hand from Rucksack
L + B : Eat item (if edible)
A + B : Open Rucksack

The A Button does alot of things, as you can see, but it depends on the
situation. For example :
Holding Milk in front of the Cheese Maker will turn it into Cheese, but if
you're holding anything else, you'll just examine the Maker instead. In
certain
events, characters won't accept gifts so even holding something, you'll
just be
talking to them.

Some items can be put on the ground, like branches or wood pieces for
fences,
but only your field. Otherwise the item falls on the ground and disapears.
Most
items can't be put down thought, like food. Some items can be put down
anywhere,
such as your animals (Dog, Chicken).

Holding something allows you to check your mailbox, but if there's

something in
the mail, like some Wine gift, you'll note that nothing happens, not even
a
message that says 'no mail'. You'll need to drop the item first.

========================
Harvest Moon at a Glance
========================

Harvest Moon is just another game in the long tradition of Farm caretaking
games
Natsume has made. But this is easily one of the most detailed versions
there has
been up to now. There's lots of things to do outside of crops and animals,
you
won't get bored as the seasons play a bigger role.

So what exactly can you do?

We'll get into the details in the walkthrough, but you'll obviously need
to work
on the farm itself at first. You need a steady cash flow to work, if only
to buy
the seeds needed to grow crops.

The field is in a bad shape, so to clean it you will need to improve your
tools.
And once its cleaned you'll have to plan on having grass for animals. And
when
you get animals you need to take care of them everyday so their affection
will
rise and give you better products, worth a better price everyday.
And that's only the farm, because you can get more money by digging the
mines as
well. But you're not alone either, there's a whole village of people
living
their lives everyday, that can all help you in one way or another. You'll
want
to befriend many of them with gifts, including Harvest Sprites that can
directly
help you with your crops and animals everyday.

And then you'll want to find someone, and marry him/her eventually. You'll
get
to help the others marry in the village as well. Everyone has their own
little
life, and you're the new addition to it.

=====
Tools
=====
You have many tools at your disposition, but start with only 6. The box in
the
lower right corner of your house is the tool box, you can hold 64 tools in
there. The box contains the starting 6 tools, but there are quite a few
more to
get. Here's a list of them all.

Most tools have a 'charge up' motion, when you level them up. Simply
pressing
the button, even if its at max level, will still only result in a 'level 1
hit'.
If you want to use the 'level 2' ability, you need to charge it up. You'll
see
your character's motion change slightly as you charge up. Every change of
stance
means a different level of power.

--Hammer--
The Hammer is a versatile tool. It breaks the smaller rocks in your field,
but
also those in the mine when you go for some ore hunting. You can also use
it to
flatten some piece of fence. Its the only way to get rid of the rotten
pieces,
but it can also make good parts disapear.

At Copper, you can break the round rocks in your field too. It will take 6
charged hits thought.
At Silver, you can now break the round rocks in 3 hits, but also the big
boulders in 6 hits.
At Golden, you can break round rocks in 1 hit, and boulders in 3 hits.
At Mystrile, you can break round rocks and boulders in 1 hit.
At Cursed/Blessed, all boulders on the map will disapear with a single
hit.
 There are a few exceptions to this I think.
At Mythic, I don't know as I write this. Hopefully in the revision, yet I
don't
know how stronger this can become.

Note that the extra levels of power don't work in the mines, so don't
bother
charging up.

--Hoe--
Another useful tool, this lets you tile your field to allow planting
seeds.
Throwing seeds on untiled ground makes them lost. But on tiled seed, they
are
ready to grow. You can also retile grass when its freshly cut off, if you
need
to change your layout. Also, the Hoe lets you dig in the mines, for stairs
going down, money or black herbs.

At normal, it tiles one square.

At Copper, it tiles two squares in a line.
At Silver, it tiles three squares in a line.
At Golden, it tiles four squares in a line.
At Mystrile, it tiles six squares in a line.
At Cursed/Blessed, it tiles a row of 12 long per 3 wide, with you as the
center
of the width.
At Mythic, not sure again, bur probably even longer and wider, yeesh.

Here again, its not use charging it up in the mines.

--Axe--
With only one obvious use, you don't need a manual for this. Cut wood,
simply.

At normal, you can only cut the small branches.

At Copper, 6 hits can clear a stump.
At Silver, 3 hits clear a stump.
At Golden, 2 Hits clear a stump.
At Mystrile, 1 hit clear a stump.
At Cursed/Blessed, 1 hit clears the whole map you're in.
At Mythic, I don't see how better this can become.

--Scythe--
This is your main tool to take care of grass and weeds. Wild weeds will
grow on
your field randomly on non-seeded areas. You can cut them off with the
Scythe or
throw them on the ground. But grass needs to be cut off. You can also use
it to
get rid of old crops when changing seasons.

At normal, one tile is cut.

At Copper, three tiles wide in front of you, with you in the center.
At Silver, three tiles wide and 2 tiles away are cut.
At Golden, a set of 3x3 tiles around you is cut, with you in the center.
At Mystrile, a set of 5x5 is cut, with you in the center.
At Cursed/Blessed, a square of 7x7 is cut off, with you in the center.
At Mythic, I suppose its 9x9. Pretty big.

--Watering Can--
Obviously, you'll use this to water the fields. The amount of water it
contains
grows with the levels as well, but you also cover more ground with a
single
action.

At normal, you water 1 tile in front of you.

At Copper, you water 3 tiles wide in front of you.
At Silver, you water 3x2 tiles in front of you.
At Golder, you water 3x3 tiles in front of you.
At Mystrile, you water 5x5 tiles in front of you.
At Cursed/Blessed, you'll water 7x7 tiles in front of you.
At Mythic, must be pretty big area.

--Fishing Rod--
As you can guess it, you can fish out of almost any body of water. The
levels in
this case allow you to charge up to catch bigger fishes. At higher levels,
you'll fish less junk and better fishes out. Some fishes can only be
caught with
the best rods.

--Brush--
Lets you brush your sheeps, cows and horse, once a day each. Brush them
all
everyday to keep their affection rising.

--Milker--
Get the milk off of your adult cows every day.

--Clippers--
Get the wool off your sheeps once a week.

--Medecine--
Medecine is needed if your animals get sick. That can happen if you leave
them
outside when it rains, or if you don't need them for a few days. You might
never
even have to buy this if you do well.

--Miracle potion--
This is a potion to use on your cows or sheep to have them pregnant. They
need
to be put in the stall for that purpose first thought.

--Seeds--
You can buy the seeds at the supermarket or Won's place at the beach. Each
bag
seeds and area of 3x3 with you as the center. So you must stand in the
middle of
the 3x3 formation to seed them all.

--Podometer--
It just counts the number of steps while you carry it. It doesn't need to
be
equipped, just in your rucksack.

--Godess/Kappa Gems--
These special gems will make you recuperate your energy wihle holding it
in your
hands (no need to use them). Goddess Gem will heal your Stamina, and Kappa
Gem
your Fatigue. Both heal about at the same rate that the hot bath would.
Its
mostly used to recuperate when out of the mine, while walking back to the
farm
you can just keep it on and it will heal you.

Since time doesn't pass in the mine or in houses, its only useful outside.

--Upgrading Tools--
The 6 basic tools can be upgraded. If you check your earning screen, one
of the
pages lists the tools and their current levels. A progress bar tells you
how far
you are from being able to reforge it. Once a bar is full, a small colored
rock
appears under the bar, showing which kidn of ore you can use to upgrade
it.

The progress bar moves only when you use it, and slowly at higher levels.
Using
it during festival doesn't work to level them up, but you can use them in
the
mine where time doesn't pass. The best way to level them is to go to the
mine,
use the tool repeatidly until you turn blue, and take a dip in the nearby
hot
bath for 2 hours.

Once you can reforge it, you need to get the needed ore out of the Spring
Mine,
and bring it to Saibara the blacksmith. He will reforge it for a price,
but you
won't be able to use the tool for a few days while he's at work. Remember
to
come back to pick it up, he won't deliver it back to you.

One interesting thing to note is that you don't need to level them up in
order,
meaning from Iron to Copper to Silver to Gold. You can skip straight to
the
highest level, Mystrile. It will save you money and time in the end,
because it
will take only half as much money and half as many days total to reforge
it.

And yes, Mystrile is the 'highest level' to upgrade through levels, as the
3
others are acquired through special means. And also, the 3 higher levels
don't
replace your original tools, so you can keep your Mystrile tools. Read
below for
those higher levels.

--Cursed and Blessed Tools--

These are special tools, as they aren't upgraded from the basic 6 ones.
You need
to find the Cursed Tools in the Winter Mine, but they only appear once
every
basic tool are upgraded to Mystrile (that means reforged, not just leveled
up).
See the Mining Section for where to find them.

Cursed Tools can't be taken off once equipped, and even worse, they drain
stamina like no tomorrow when used. They aren't advisable to use at all
because
of that. The only way to take them off is waiting for a Confessional day
at the
church (Monday, Wednesday or Rainy/Snowy days between 1pm and 4pm) and ask
Carter to remove it for 1000G.

The Blessed Tools are when the curse has been removed off them. They have
exactly the same power, but without the huge stamina drain and limitation
to
unequipping them. How to remove the curse depends on the tool :

The Hoe and Watering Can can be uncursed by going on those confessional
days and
removing the curse 10 times. It costs 1000G every time, so all that is
needed
for this is money.

The Hammer and Sickle needs to be equipped and never removed for 10 days
straight. This can be a problem if not done in winter. In winter all you
need
to take care of are your animals, so ask for a sprite to lend a hand with
them.
On the 11th's morning, the curse will be lifted. You don't need to equip
the
Cursed item before the end of the day. It counts the number of times you
sleep,
not the number of hours.
The Axe and Fishing Rod can be uncursed after being used 255 times. Of
course,
with the huge stamina drain, this is almost impossible. But there is one
trick.
Alot of Festivals (Horse Racing, New Year Events...) have the 'unlimited
energy' tag, which means you can use any tool as much as you want and you
won't pass out. Bring them with you on such an event, and use it over and
over
until they both get uncursed.

--Mythic Tools--
The most powerful tools in the game, are possibly the hardest to get. By
the
time you got them all, they are possibly not as useful anymore either. But
for
completion sake...

You need to get all of your tools to Blessed state first, else you can't
find
the needed materials. The materials are the Mythic Stones, mentionned in
the
Mining Guide. They are rare stones indeed. Saibara will request one along
with
50000G (ouch) and 2 days worth of work. You probably will wait a good
while for
these, but its not necessary either. Most Blessed tools are more than
sufficient
for the work needed.

===========
Crops basic
===========
The thing to know about farming is planning a little about the space. At
first,
your watering can is weak, you won't be able to water more than a space at
a
time. What does that mean in practice? Means that you'll need to walk
beside
each tile to water them. Later on you'll have means of watering more, but
for
now, this is the basic.

You'll want to keep one of many formations in mind, and use the one that
you
find easiest simply. Your seed bag covers this area at most :

XXX
XXX
XXX Block

I call it the Block formation, or 9-tile. The problem is that when the
plants
are grown enough, you won't get to water the middle tile. So at first you
don't
want to use this formation. Some will argue that you can water the middle
when
you harvest the rest, but how will you replant the tiles if you can't
stand in
the middle tile?

So you will want to use 8- or 7-tile formations. Of course I would suggest

8
tiles for maximum profit, but you might just choose to do it differently.
Possible formations :

XXX X X X X
X X XXX X X
XXX XXX XXX
Donut Shallow-U Deep-U

I suggest the Donut or Shallow-U. The advantage of the Shallow-U is that

you
won't be 'jumping' to the middle tile by accident. I find that a bit
annoying,
but its not that much of a concern.

In your field, you'll want to have space to walk around them, so you'll
have
to tile like this :
X = Crop
- = Free space

--------- ---------
-XXX-XXX- -XXX-XXX-
-XX---XX- -X-X-X-X-
-XXX-XXX- -XXX-XXX-
--------- or ---------

You