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Harvest Moon fundamentally is a farming game and your primary duty as a farmer is to grow crops for your village. In this version of Harvest Moon, there are four basic types of farming: Crops: Crops are the basis of any farm and you can buy bags of crop seeds from Karen's Supermarket, Vesta's Farm Shop and the Casino Window. You can plant seeds anywhere you like, but the ground must be prepared before the seeds can be sown. As in Magical Melody, you are not restricted to your own field, but can till any field that belongs to the community. Use your hoe to till the soil, then plant the seeds. A bag of crop seeds can cover nine squares, but if you till a 3 x 3 area, you will not be able to reach the square in the centre until your watering can is upgraded to a high level. Any Sprite watering your crops will be able to reach it, however, and whenever it rains, that square will be watered as well. Furthermore, the Necklace in this game allows one to reach any square on ANY field on the map while standing inside a building. I always plant the full nine squares rather than creating a horseshoe configuration for this reason. Why waste any seeds? N.B. The only places that are not accessible with a Necklace are the Super Field and the Basements. Other than these, all locations on the map can be reached when using a Necklace. In this game, you will be able to order a Seedmaker from Saibara once Gotz builds a Maker Barn for you. You can feed crops, fruits, flowers and mushrooms into the Seedmaker to produce bags of seed or spores. As in AWL/AnWL, it is possible to upgrade the quality of your crops. Sow more than one bag of seeds on a single plot to upgrade the Level of the crop that is produced. The effect is somewhat random but four bags of seed usually produces a higher grade of crop for at least 7 out of 9 crops. Sow seven bags in a single plot to obtain 9 upgraded crops. (The level of crop actually is randomly generated at the moment of harvest, but the odds of obtaining the upgraded level increase with the number of bags of seed planted. If, therefore, you plant seven bags of seeds in one plot, the odds favour nine upgraded crops. It still is possible to obtain one lesser crop in a square of nine but unlikely.) Once you have a higher grade of crop, you can feed that crop into the Seedmaker to produce a higher level of seed. Unfortunately, you cannot create hybrids in this game. As far as upgrading your crops is concerned, profits will increase dramatically with each level of crop that you produce. For example, a Level 2 Crop ships for 4x the value of a basic Level 1 crop. A Level 3 crop ships for 9x the value of a basic Level 1 Crop. Add to that the profit made by feeding the crop through the Cannery and you will find that farming has become very profitable indeed. It is by sowing more than one bag of seeds in a single plot that you will gain your upgraded crops. Once you have the Seedmaker, you can sow more than one bag of Level 2 seeds in a single plot to obtain Level 3 Crops. It is by this means that Giant Crops are created as well. The Giant Crop is a random effect and when it occurs, the Giant Crop will be a single plant that occupies 4 spaces. It will look no different from the other crops in the plot until it is ripe. It then will occupy 4 spaces. You will not be able to harvest it yourself. When you go to harvest it, Thomas will appear and bring the Legendary Harvest Sprite Team from Mineral Town to help with the harvest. Giant Crops are shipped automatically once they are harvested. Values of all basic, Cannery and Giant Crops are given in my Crop Guide, found at: Harvest Moon DS Crop Guide If you sow 4 bags of seed on a single plot, you probably will obtain 7 upgraded crops and 2 that are of the original level of the seeds you planted. If you sow six bags of seed on a single plot, however, you should obtain 9 upgraded crops. Giant Crops are a random effect, and in fact, you will make more of a profit from a 9 square plot of Level 3 crops than one with a Giant Crop that occupies four squares. Giant Crops are quite exciting, however, and the reunion with the Harvest Sprites of Mineral Town that occurs each time you grow one is an enjoyable event. Moreover, a Giant Crop is a requirement for one of Mary's heart events. (If you do not connect the GBA game FoMT/MFoMT to your DS, you will not have any opportunity to court the girls from Mineral Town.) There are 100 levels of crop in this game and each level that is shipped is recorded in your Shipping Menu. For each level, it will record the number that were shipped normally, the number shipped through the Cannery and the number of Giant crops that were produced. . Basement: This game allows you to grow crops year round if you order a Basement from Gotz. You can have three Basements and provided you place the appropriate Sun in each, can grow seasonal crops indoors. Finally, the Four Suns have a real purpose! They now can be used to fuel crop growth. There is a Sun for each season. In this game, the Suns are found on specific floors of the third Mine by using your Hammer. Gotz will give you a Sun when he announces that your first Basement is completed. The Sun that he gives you is random. Tip: If you do not have access to the Third Mine when you build your first basement, you may wish to save your game before you exit your house on the day that your basement is completed. If there is one crop in particular that you wish to grow, you can reload your game if Gotz does not give you the Sun you need for that crop. Suns appear to last forever as the game does not distinguish between a 'new' Sun and a 'used' Sun. Both can be stored in the same slot. Types of Fields: The Super Field, hidden behind the Waterfall, is the best land in the Valley but apart from this, there are three other types of field on which to grow crops. These are 'Normal', 'Fast' and 'Slow'. Your own field will grow crops at a normal rate. Crops grown in Basements will grow at a normal rate as well. The normal rate of growth for each crops is given in the book on Crops in your bookcase. Crops grown near water will grow faster. The areas that are near the Goddess Pond, Waterfall and Excavation Site will decrease plant growth by one day. Crops grown in any other field in the Valley will grow more slowly. Remember that the speed of growth has nothing to do with the quality of crop produced. To upgrade your crops, you need to plant more than one bag of seeds on a single plot, then make seeds from the upgraded crop that is produced, using the Seedmaker. The Super Field: The best land in the Valley is the Super Field, situated in a cave that is hidden behind the Waterfall. It is protected by huge boulders on either side. There is only one way to remove these barriers and that is by using the Legendary Sword. You will obtain the Legendary Sword when you reach the 255th floor of the Second Mine, provided you kill all the Dark Creatures on that level. A barrier in front of a doorway to another room will crumble, allowing you access. Enter the room to receive the Legendary Sword. If you wish to demolish the boulders at the Waterfall, however, you cannot use the Legendary Sword as a tool. Swinging at it will 'not avail'. You need to press 'A'. You then will experience an event wherein you use the sword to demolish the barriers to the Super Field. Any crops grown in the cave will grow faster than crops grown elsewhere. They must be watered daily, however, as rain cannot penetrate the cave. Trees planted in the Super Field, like trees anywhere else, do not need to be watered. N.B. Although you will meet Keira on the 255th floor of the Second Mine when you obtain the Legendary Sword, it is on the 255th floor of the Third Mine that she makes her home. If you wish to court her, you must find her on the 255th floor of the Third Mine. Trees: Trees can be cultivated in Harvest Moon DS. Tree saplings can be purchased only from Vesta. You have your choice of Apple, Peach, Banana, Grape or Orange. Each variety has its own growth period, from about a month and a half to two months. Mushrooms: New to this game is the ability to grow your own Mushrooms. You now do not have to wait until Autumn to have Shitake Mushrooms, Toadstools and Matsutake Mushrooms. Shitake Mushroom spores may be purchased from Vesta for 3000G. She will not sell these unless you have a Mushroom House. You need to order this building from Gotz. Once it is built, you either can buy spores or try to make your own. If you wish to make your own, however, you have to gather wild mushrooms in Autumn, place them in your Seed Maker, then sow the resulting spores onto the wood lumber you have placed on one of the pallets in your Mushroom House. Vesta does not sell spores for the wild varieties in any case. She sells Shitake Mushroom seeds or spores. In the autumn, you will find Matsutake Mushrooms and Toadstools in the wild. The toadstools are white and can be distinguished easily from the brown Matsutake Mushrooms. With the seedmaker, you can feed any of your mushrooms into the machine to make a bag of spores. There are six pallets in the Mushroom House as well as a Shipping Container. Place a piece of wood lumber on each as a 'bed' for your mushrooms, then cast a bag of mushroom spores on it. If you cast five or six bags on a single pallet, you should be able to grow a higher level of Mushroom. Mushrooms grow in three stages and their shipping values will depend upon their size when harvested: Matsutake Mushroom (S): 350G Matsutake Mushroom (M): 500G Matsutake Mushroom (L): 800G Shitake Mushroom (S): 50G Shitake Mushroom (M): 80G Shitake Mushroom (L): 120G Toadstool (S): 100G Toadstool (M): 130G Toadstool (L): 160G Shitake Mushrooms are the fastest growing variety, taking 35 days to reach maturity. Toadstools take 42 days and Matsutake mushrooms take 59 days. If you wonder why you ever would want to grow Toadstools, you may be surprised to discover that they make a great gift for a few individuals, although detested by most. The Witch Princess in particular adores Toadstools. Individuals who love Toadstools: Eligible Girls who love Toadstools: Will raise AP by 500 and FP by 9 for: Mary, Witch Princess Will raise FP by 9 for: Trent, Dr. Hardy As you can see, Toadstools have great appeal for any one involved in the field of medicine as well as all who dabble in the occult. N.B. Please note that Matsutake and Shitake Mushrooms are NOT interchangeable where recipes are concerned. 'Matsutake' is the equivalent of a 'Truffle' in FoMT/MFoMT. Shitake Mushrooms are the equivalent of ordinary Mushrooms. Flowers: Once you have the Seedmaker, you will be able to produce Flower seeds from the Flowers you gather. The varieties of seed are Moondrop, Toy Flower, Pinkcat Flower and MagicGrass Blue/Red. Any Blue or Red MagicGrass flower will create only one variety of seed that randomly produces red or blue flowers. In other words, if you feed a Red MagicGrass flower into the Seedmaker, the seeds you obtain will be no different from those obtained from a Blue MagicGrass flower. The number of red or blue flowers that will be obtained whenever you sow a bag of seeds is random. Like other crops, the quality of the flowers you produce can be upgraded by sowing more than one bag of seed on a single plot. If you sow 4 bags of seed on a single plot, you probably will obtain upgraded crops from 7 squares. If you sow 6 bags of crops, you will obtain upgraded crops from all 9 squares.