Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life
Developer(s)	Marvelous Interactive Inc.
Publisher(s)	Natsume
Designer(s)	Hong Zhang (Designer) Igusa Matsuyama (Character Designer)
Platform(s)	Nintendo GameCube
Release	JPN July 8, 2004 NA July 26, 2005
Genre(s)	Simulation/Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (Bokujou Monogatari: Wonderful Life for Girls) is the sequel to the farm simulation video game Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and was released on July 8, 2004, in Japan and July 26, 2005, in America. Another Wonderful Life is equal to A Wonderful Life in most respects, with the exception that the main character is a girl (whom you name) instead of a boy. This mostly affects the story, although Marvelous Interactive Inc. tweaked some parts of the gameplay. The game's similarity with Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and its other flaws led to poor overall sales, unlike other Harvest Moon games that have "girl versions".

Gameplay

Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life gameplay is very similar to its predecessors, involving planting, growing, and harvesting crops while taking care of the variety of animals inhabiting the farm that the player character inherits. The game also includes being able to court three bachelors and marry one of them by the end of the first chapter of the story. In later chapters, the character gives birth to a son, whom she must take care of.

Stamina

Unlike other Harvest Moon games, the player does not pass out when her stamina is low. Though she will work slower, and often stop as her stamina goes down and fatigue builds up.

Story

The story starts off that a young girl, whom you name, guessed to be in her late teens (about 20 years old), has sent a letter to an old friend of her father's friend, Takakura, requesting to work on an old farm. The character must work on the farm selling crops, produce, and many other items to make a living on her farm.

You must also get married by the end of the first year to one of three boys. If you don't the game will end, or the boy with the most hearts for you will ask to marry you. If you do, you will have a child. It is always a boy. There are three different children, all with different personalities and looks, depending on who you marry. You can influence your child on what his future will be. There are 6 different careers he can have.

Plot

Setting and storyline

The game progresses through 6 chapters in the game, which shows the player character going from young adulthood to old age. However, numerous years are skipped as the game is progressed. NPCs in the game, including the main character's son, also grow older as time passes. The game takes place in Forget-Me-Not Valley, populated by a variety of characters, who can move out as new characters move in while others grow older or die. The plot is that the main character, a young woman from the city, inherits a somewhat run-down farm in Forget-Me-Not-Valley and tries to make it successful with some help from her father's old friend, Takakura. Each chapter is one year long (which is four seasons with ten days each in Harvest Moon time) and narrated by Takakura. The first chapter is called "The Beginning," the second is called, "A New Family," the third is called, "The Harvest," the fourth is called, "Farm Life," the fifth is called, "The Journeying Chapter," and the final one is called, "The Twilight Chapter." The chapters all show how the character takes care of her farm, befriend others, and court men according to how the player controls the character. Starting from the second chapter, the player character will have given birth to a son, whom she will have to take care of for the rest of the story.

Characters

There are a variety of characters in the game, but they aren't significant to the chapters in the game. The character the player controls, the potential husbands, and Takakura, however, contribute to the story. The player character is a young girl that the player can name and control. She has inherited the farm from her father and is trying to make it successful. Her personality is unknown and only talks when the player picks a sentence(or word),she also talks when she looks in the mirror in her home. she gives birth to a son in chapter 2 and grows older as the story progresses. She is also able to change her clothes. Takakura is the player character's father's old friend. He helps the player character run the farm and with other problems. During some point in the story, he gives her a talking plant called Tartan that mixes together seeds. Takakura is enigmatic, mysterious, and seemingly grumpy, but he's actually a kind, good-hearted man. He has good knowledge of the farm and can give good advice. He narrates each of the chapters in the story.

• Marlin - A man who worked in the city, but now works on a farm with his sister Vesta and friend Celia because of health issues.
• Gustafa - A traveling minstrel. You can sometimes hear him playing his guitar by his yurt.
• Rock - A fun-loving, flirtatious, and slighty lazy party-goer who lives in an inn with his parents, Tim and Ruby.

External links

• Natsume's official Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life webpage
• Marvelous Interactive Inc.'s official Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life webpage
• Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life at GameFAQs
• Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life at the Open Directory Project