THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH

This section of my guide has some very helpful tips. I wouldn’t
expect you do all the things I suggest you to achieve in this section
because you may want to do things your own way. Never the less I
suggest you read this section because it contains quite a few handy
tips such as the best times to get each girls heart up. I mention a
guide of what to achieve by the end of every season in the first year.
I also describe what to try to achieve by the third year.

A guide to what to achieve by the end of the first Spring:

* When you first start Harvest Moon a great way to make money is by
selling the natural resources.

* You should have enough money to buy seeds. Use your hoe to plow the
field and make it ready for planting seeds. Remember to water them every
day. The best formation for planting at the start is:

s s s
s s s
s s

To make the most of the seeds stand in the middle of the formation. If
you stand somewhere else for example: the top right hand corner you
would only get 4 planted seeds instead of 8. Some people reading this
are probably rolling their eyes thinking I am stating the obvious but
when I first started playing Harvest Moon I didn’t stand in the right
spot when planting seeds so I would end up wasting money instead of
gaining it. Once you have upgraded the watering can twice you can use a
planting formation like this:

s s s
s s s
s s s

* After a few weeks of selling crops and natural resources you should
definitely buy a chicken. Feed it every day and it will give you eggs.
If you miss feeding it a day it won’t give you eggs for three days!
Instead of buying chickens from the poultry farm it is best to put an
egg in the incubator. In a few days the egg will hatch and turn into
a chick.

* I guess that Elli is the girl that would be easiest to get her heart
up with this season because she likes all of the flowers this season.
In the Summer the pink flowers which Popuri loves are around so it would
be best to get her heart up then.
You can get Ann’s heart up any time by giving her spa boiled eggs.
The season that would be best for getting Mary's heart up is definitely
Fall. There are so many natural resources in Fall.
I would recommend getting Karen’s heart up in Winter because you
aren’t focusing on the other girls because by now they will have liked
you enough but any time is all right.

* In the night it is a great idea to cut stumps to collect lumber for
extensions.

* There is a mine behind the goddess fountain. Remember that no time is
taken up when you are inside so this is a great way to get money. If you
are into mining I recommend buying a shipping basket ASAP to make your
mining trips more worthwhile. The shipping basket will allow you to
hold 30 things at a time but beware because whatever you put in the
basket can only be used for shipping so if you accidentally put an egg
in there that you wanted to give to someone you will not be able to and
you will have to sell it.

* See Greg and receive a fishing rod from him.

A guide to what to achieve by the end of the first Summer:

* Plant seeds once again. The Summer crops are renewable which is
great because you are getting so much value for your money.

* You barely get any money from the natural resources this month so
instead of focusing on the resources I would focus on getting the
villagers to like you. As I have mentioned earlier this a great
season for getting Popuri to like you because she really loves the
Summer flowers.

* By now you should have enough money for the upgraded rucksack. Now
you can carry 5 items instead of three.

* You should also have enough money and lumber to do your first
ranch expansion.

* If you have been planting quite a bit you might even be able to
afford a cow or sheep. I would recommend buying cows instead of
sheep because cows can give you a lot more money. Whilst sheep
wool can give up to double the amount of money cows milk can, they
will only give you wool every 2 weeks. Cows on the other hand give
milk every day making them a lot more worthwhile.
Another thing that you should know is that I wouldn't recommend making
the cows pregnant using miracle potions. See Chapter Three - Animals
for more details.

A guide to what to achieve by the end of the first Fall:

* The most worthwhile crop to grow in this game is the sweet potato.
It is renewable, grows quickly, and gives you a good amount of money.
Unless you really want to ship more that 100 of every Fall seed to
unlock the extra Fall seed I would suggest only planting sweet
potatoes. In no time the sweet potatoes will make you rich (trust
me this is probably the best money making tip anyone could give except
for the exchanging animals trick.) One of the best hints anyone could
give on Harvest Moon is to 'GO CRAZY PLANTING SWEET POTATOES.' Even if
it means you practically fill up your whole field and have to employ
a lot of harvest sprites.

* Do more expansions.

* There are so many natural resources. You could go on a ‘Mary spree.'
By the end of this season as long as you give her at least five
natural resources a day she should have a red heart for you. Don’t
give her all of the natural resources. At least sell the truffle
(worth 500.)

* You’ll have enough money this season to buy many animals.

* You should definitely think about buying a shopping basket now.

A guide to what to achieve by the end of the first Winter:

* Do more expansions.

* Because you can’t plant seeds or get natural resources now is your
chance to get the villagers to like you.

* Getting the villagers to like you would be a good thing to do in
Winter because you aren’t real busy with your farm work although
unfortunately you won't be able to use any natural resources or
flowers. This is why having a kitchen by this stage would be a great
idea.

* If you have a shopping basket take it with you whilst mining. You
will make a lot of money mining this way and remember that because
it is Winter the Winter mine (across the lake) is accessible so it
will be easier to find better things whilst mining.

* Fishing and chopping wood would be great for doing in the night.

Here is a little guide of the things you should accomplish by the
end of your three years.

* Have all the house expansions.

* Be Married.

* Try making as many villagers as possible like you.

* See how many recipes you can make (I have wrote down all the recipes
in CHAPTER FIVE.)

* Make a lot of money

* Have a few power berries. Power berries are things which your
character eats to help increase his maximum stamina. Here is how you
can find them all:
* When you mine behind the waterfall you will eventually find a power
berry.
* Fish in the ocean and you will eventually catch one.
* Throw 5 things from your farm that you can ship into the goddess
pond. The goddess will give you a power berry. I have heard rumors
that you can only do this once a day but that isn’t true. The goddess
doesn’t appear on festival days.
* Plant at least 90 flowers in your farm and Anna will come and say
they smell lovely. Tell her that she can have as many as she wants
and she will be happy and give you a power berry.
* Win the swimming festival.
* Try cutting the tree by the flower patch and it will ask you to
stop. If you tell the tree that you will stop you'll get a power
berry. If you cut it you'll faint and never be able to get the power
berry again (unless you load your game.)
* Buy it at the horse race.
* Once you have bought all of the things from the shopping channel
the power berry will be available to buy.
* In Winter go behind the Winter mine and keep pressing X against
the wall that you can't see. Keep trying in different spots behind
the wall and you will eventually find the power berry.
* Mine in the Winter mine and you will find a power berry eventually.
* There is a rumor about being able to find one whilst fishing in the
pond ten levels down from the Winter mine. I have tried to fish for
the power berry but never succeeded. I think it is just a false rumor
because there isn't enough room on the start menu for 11 power berries
and because I have tried to find the power berry many times and never
succeeded.

* Try to have your ranch at least 40 percent improved.
Here are the amounts of percentages that you can get (in order of
what you will probably achieve first.)
I think that you get a little bit of percentage once you have planted
a few seeds and got rid of the junk from when you first arrive at the
farm (cut all the weeds and thrown away all the unneeded things that
you possibly can.)
1% for a certain amount of crops planted.
1% for each heart your dog has.
1% for each heart your horse has.
1% for each animal that you have.
2% for each house expansion.
1% for 15 recipes.
1% for each heart your wife has.
1% for each heart your son has.
NOTE: This does not all add up to 100% and I am not sure exactly how
you get 100%. In fact I have never heard of someone getting 100%
before! If someone could tell me how to get the extra percentages I'd
be really grateful.