THIS IS GONNA BE VERY VERY LONG. But Hopefully informative lol. I’m not amazing at this game, so if any of you have suggestions on how to play, reply to this post so we can make the ultimate guide lol. ♡
User @notsoslimshady recently asked me about Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - they're pretty stuck on how to play it and I can see why! When this game is so much different from the previous games, it can be quite hard to adjust to especially with the pressure of time behind your back, not to mention theres hardly any instructions on how to play, and everyday can seem quite mundane if you've got no routine ...
Each and every Harvest Moon game no matter which one can be played how you want. However, with this one, the games story changes in the decisions you make. e.g. if you don't get married in chapter 1 the game automatically stops and you have to start again ... fun lol.
In simple terms, your main purpose in this game is to achieve the best life possible. But how do you do this when there is little instruction apart from help your fathers farm grow? Most of this game, in my opinion, should be supported by a guide because theres so many random events, and so many career paths your child can take, and SO MANY ITEMS you can receive at random times ... its a pretty tough game thinking about it, and most of the extras you wouldn't be able to find without one.
Below is the way I play the game! Of course, play it however you like, but for beginners this guide should be pretty good. Warning, there might be minor spoilers so watch out!
♡ How I play the game. Chapter 1 ... ♡
Briefly in this chapter ...
Well, in chapter 1 I exclusively work on maintaining and growing everyones friendship because in later chapters, you can obtain gifts you wouldn't be able to get if you didn't build friendships - e.g items to build your childs stats. I also grow crops and look after my animals carefully, but friendship is a central focus. A really good guide on this can be found here, where it shows you approximately how many gifts you can give someone before they're your friend! When you become someones friend, they turn their head to look at you whilst they walk. However, you can only give certain people gifts when they're not busy - e.g. Cody cannot receive gifts when he's crossing his arms. So make a good plan on when you want to give gifts and what time of day you'll approach the towns people.
OK quick cheat I guess lol, on the first day of your farming journey BUY ALL THE BANANA SEEDS YOU CAN GET and plant them on your farm. Don’t even worry about money because you'll get plenty later on ... They must be planted one square apart from one another to grow. e.g like so ...
T0T0T0T ** must be planted a square from each other because they just
0000000 won't grow.
T0T0T0T
0000000
T0T0T0T
Your biggest source of money in this Chapter is fishing. I aim to go to bed quite early, so I wake up at 1AM so I can fish until around 9AM. After fishing, I tend to my cows to help them get S Grade milk (you don't wanna sell any milk thats A or higher because the profit isn't worth it at this stage, especially when your cow stops producing the good stuff.) Also, you should befriend Van so you can haggle pieces of fish ( as in, when Van gives you a price for a fish, you can reject it, and on some occasions he can give you a sum of more money!) A good fishing guide can be found here with locations of fish and haggling prices. (Gotta get those Sharksharks!)
I also 100% recommend if its the special edition you're playing, to always plant grass in this chapter. The more you get outta the way, the less time you have to spend planting grass in Chapter 2 - and you don't wanna waste time in this game. By filling your field full of grass, you can receive upgrades for your farm, and in Chapter 2, some villagers won't give you items if you don't have certain upgrades on your farm - aka grass ... evil game.
This Chapter is pretty easy, just make sure you make friends, collect any items lying around, and pick your wife (they each have different stats for their child - e.g. Muffy’s kid is hard to persuade and can be quite depressing lol.)
Briefly in this chapter ...
create banana seeds with the seed maker
start helping your childs career path
collect villagers items for better farming
get ducks ** only in this chapter **
Make sure to have befriended Daryl in Chapter 1 and the seed maker you receive from him can be used with the banana crop you planted earlier in the game.
You can make each banana into seeds which you can sell for big 💰💰💰!!! (even more if you haggle the prices with Van..)
In Chapter 2, I work on making money steadily, maybe buy a few chickens, a goat ... and helping my child to grow healthy and happy. Just show your child items that can influence the job he’ll get when he's older - e.g. if you show your child a crystal found at the dig site, he might turn into an archaeologist or if you show your child to Cody, he might become an artist when he grows up ...
Of course, there is new villagers here now and you can befriend them if you wish! The villagers in Chapter 1 are most important to befriend though.
Another issue in this chapter is that fairly on in the beginning, your cow will stop producing milk ... one way to fix this is to make your cow pregnant. Your cow will have a baby after 30 days, and for 10 days after your cow will produce special milk to feed her calf. After this, your cow will produce milk normally that you can sell, but the whole time while she's pregnant you'll have to survive without cow milk. You have to make your cow pregnant really, because it won't produce milk again unless you do this ...
In the special edition you can also purchase a goat - it can milk everyday but only for one year before it stops producing milk. You also can't make it pregnant, and therefor its pretty useless on your farm. So be cautious of wether or not you want one at this stage ... maybe buy one when the farming life gets quiet later on into the game and you can afford a side animal?
The main name I give to this chapter is item collection because you can receive items from Villagers that can help you with your farming in this part of the game. All your hard work in Chapter 1 of befriending everyone will pay off - yay! I recommend trying to get all the items, although they can be difficult to find because this game has a lot of random events - so you can't predict when you'll get items, and no guide is 100% accurate because of this. You’ll probably find yourself entering and exiting houses over and over just to trigger a cutscene that might not even happen!!! I recommend checking the The Right Tool for the Job trophy here because its a pretty good guide on all items, and the best one I’ve seen over the years. Just know the villagers’ routines and you should be OK!
This Chapter can seems too fast paced, and receiving all the items can be tiring especially if you have a whole farm to care and look after. Don’t forget about your animals - and make sure you feed your chickens lol. If you’ve received kitchen upgrades, cook any unprofitable fish and turn it into sashimi ... haggle and get even more cash!! Yay!!
♡ Chapter 3 and onwards ... ♡
Briefly in this chapter ...
help your childs career path each chapter
get appropriate career building items
do whatever you want now!!!
So your child is growing, and your farm is progressing. You might have ducks now, a cat and even multiple cows at this point! Its a great chapter because from here you can progress how you wish without having to worry about befriending everyone, you've done all the hard work already. You can still get items from villagers, but these items are to aid your childs development further, so pick what career choice you want your kid to have and get friendship items from the appropriate villagers. If you're running out of ideas of what to do in this chapter, make sure you care for your animals and develop your farms buildings! Make sure you have loads of bananas still because they're a valuable source of income, even if you have better ways to get money, its quick and easy. This chapter follows very close to the fourth, fifth and sixth one. You can do what you wish, providing you're supporting your child and his decisions.
The game is freedom from here, because you've received all items - you’ve probably got enough money to buy whatever you want. If you forget to get any items in the previous chapters, I think you can still obtain them - however, in heaven mode I’m not sure if you can get some of them as it takes you back to Chapter 2 ...
Just make your farm grow and make it the best farm Forget-Me-Not has ever seen!!!
This is just my way to play - but still, theres so many things to do! Collecting recipes, making food, obtaining golden eggs, wool, getting cutscenes you've never seen before, completing the mine (by finding a plate in every chapter...), making hybrid crops, finding out the truth about the Goddess Pond, seeing who your child will marry ...
Its such a great game, and for me its one of the best games I’ve ever played because of the freedom, and sense to do good for your fathers farm. Its a sad game, yes, but its true to life and with life there is always endings.
I hope you can enjoy this game as much as I do! It'll take time to adjust, but once you figure out a routine thats right for you, this game really is a breeze (sorry for the pun lol).
Good luck and have fun!!!!
Harvest Moon Trophy Guide a good guide for hints and tips about HM:AWL
Harvest Moon Gift Guide all gifts for everyone and how to get them.
Harvest Moon General Guide good basic guide on the whole game.
Harvest Moon Fishing Guide tells you all the pieces and types of fish.
Harvest Moon Child Career Guide basic but useful.
Harvest Moon Activity Guide things to do when you're bored.
Harvest Moon Animal Care get the most out of your livestock.
Harvest Moon Cow Guide good cow care guide.
Harvest Moon Crop Fusion hybrid crop guide.
