| \___________________________________________________________________________ | | | Game Release Data | | ___________________________________________________________________________| | / |/Genre : Simulation (Farming) | Developer : Marvelous Interactive | Publisher : Natsume | Distributor : Nintendo | System : Nintendo Wii | Official Title : Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (English) | : Bokujou Monogatari: Yasuragi no Ki (Japan) | Release Date : June 7th, 2007 (Japan) | : September 16th, 2008 (US) (projected) | ESRB Rating : E ___________________________| |_____ \ \ \ __________________________| |/ / / \ \ | | / / \ \| Game Summary |/ / \ | | / \| __________________________|/ _______________________| | | ________________________| | / |/Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (ToT for short) is the first Harvest | Moon game for the Nintendo Wii (although Magical Melody was re-released | for Wii in Europe and Australia). Gameplay requires use of the WiiMote and | a Nunchuk. | | Although the specific plotline for the different Harvest Moon games | differs, Tree of Tranquility retains the same general goals as previous | Harvest Moon games. You play the role of a farmer, given the task of | running a farm. As part of this task, you grow and sell crops and raise | animals to sell their products (milk for cows, eggs for chickens, etc.). | In addition to these goals, you also interact with the villagers, both for | commercial purposes (buying seeds, selling products, etc.) and social | reasons. Festivals play a key role in the game, giving your character a | chance to socialize and meet the neighbors. You even can meet and woo one | of the local bachelors or bachelorettes, get married and have children. |\ | \___________________________________________________________________________ | | | Plot Outline | | ___________________________________________________________________________| | / |/As mentioned, the "plot" of Harvest Moon games tends to change from | edition to edition. | | In Tree of Tranquility, the plot objective (like in Magical Melody) is to | reawaken the Harvest Goddess. This is performed by helping the Harvest | Sprites create rainbows and collecting certain "badges". Once all the | rainbows are created, the Harvest Goddess will reawaken, and the game | continues indefinitely. A more complete plot outline can be found in the | "Getting Started" section below (note that after the opening sequences, | the plot is mostly fluidly determined by how you play, and therefore there | is no overall summary). | | You'll also have the opportunity at one point to discontinue your current | game and start over as your child, while keeping your animals, items and | money. Unfortunately, though, the villagers don't react to you any | differently, and your character sprite is the same. You can even marry your | new character's mother from your previous play-through. Creepy. | |\ | \___________________________________________________________________________ | | | New Features | | ___________________________________________________________________________| | / |/As has become traditional in the Harvest Moon franchise, each iteration of | the game introduces several new features. Some features carry over into | subsequent games, some do not. Here are some the new additions to this | game, as well as features from certain previous games that are present in | ToT: | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Brand New Features | | All-New Livestock: Goats, Ducks, Ostriches and Silkworms. | All-New Crops and Flowers: Including rice and a half-dozen new flowers. | Character Customization: The ability to modify your character's clothing. | Villager Appearances: Villagers change clothing based on their settings. | New Game+: Ability to play as your own player's child. | Stay Up Past 6AM: No more is your character sent to bed at 5:50AM. | Motion Controls: Obvious for a Wii game, but tool use and other actions are | executed by motion controls rather than buttons. | More Robust Family: Your spouse actually does something (wife makes you | lunch, husband activity is uncertain), and your child can help on the | farm. | Wild Animal Adoption: Your character has the ability to adopt wild animals. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Returning Features | | Multiple Land Plots (MM): the ability to buy new land plots, as well as | choose the initial location of your farm. | Crop Quality (MM, AWL): different crops are of different quality depending | on multiple factors; better crops sell better. | House Customization (MM): in addition to simply having multiple house | "levels", there are added layers of house customization, from furniture | to new rooms. | Different-Look Children (AWL): Different children actually look different. | Play as Boy or Girl (MM): You'll choose your character's gender at the | beginning of the game. | Trees (MM, AWL): In addition to standard crops, you can also plant trees | that stay grown and reproduce fruit every year. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Improvements | | The most notable improvement comes in character interaction. Although full | details are not yet known, character dialog is expected to differ more, | and the general social framework is expected to be more realistic. | Hopefully, your husband/wife won't say the same thing all day. | |\ | \___________________________________________________________________________ | | | Controls and Other Basic Information | | ___________________________________________________________________________| | / |/________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Basic Information | | Let's get down to the over-detailed basics. In Harvest Moon, you play a | farmer. You run around, do chores, talk to people, give gifts, grow crops | and raise animals. You can play as a boy or a girl, but to avoid s/he and | other annoying gender-neutral terms, I'll most likely refer to the | character as a 'he'. | | Your character stays the same the entire game: this is you. He can do a | variety of actions, like walking, talking and using tools. He can hold | either items or tools. Items can be given or thrown away, whereas tools | can be used. He can only hold one item or tool at a time. | | He can run or walk according to how much the control stick is tilted. | He can talk to people by going up to them and pressing A. If he has an item | when he talks to a person, he'll automatically give it to them. If he has | a tool, he'll show it to them, but he might also use it on them - and yes, | they react. Don't do that. | | You can pick things up in the game. Just walk up to them and press A to | pick them up. On your back is the world's most space-efficient backpack, | able to hold dozens of items at a time, including all your tools. | | I think that about covers it. If you don't see something here, feel free | to ask. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Controls | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Button Controls | A Button: Talk, pick up items, choose options from menus, examine objects, | and use your currently equipped tool (hold down before release | to charge). | B Button: Get out latest tool, put away current tool, cancel in a menu. | C Button: Press to enter first-person view, hold to open rucksack. | Z Button: Confirm field square selection. | + Button: View information screens (see "Information Screens" below"). | - Button: View controls. | D-Pad: Select item without opening rucksack. | Joystick: Move (run by tilting all the way, walk by tilting slightly). | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Tool Controls | | These controls are only applicable when the corresponding tool is equipped. | | Watering: Hold the WiiMote upright (think of a watering can handle) to | charge, then tilt to the side (not to the front) to pour. | | Chopping/Hammering: Hold the WiiMote upright (same as watering) to charge, | then quickly drop it to horizontal. | | Hoeing: Hold the WiiMote horizontally, then lift it to vertical. Hold it | here to charge, then drop it back down to horizontal to hoe. | | Fishing (Casting): Hold the WiiMote horizontally, then quickly flick it | back towards you (vertical), then back towards the screen (horizontal) to | cast. Hold the WiiMote vertical for longer in the middle to charge. | | Fishing (Reeling): Pull the WiiMote back to vertical and wiggle the | nunchuk as fast as you can. | | Ringing the Bell: Shake the WiiMote back and forth. | | Less standard tools (milkers, shears, etc.) do not currently have active | movement controls, though they have been rumored to have been added for the | English version. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Saving | | Saving the game is done at the nightstand next to your bed. To save, simply | press A while standing next to the nightstand and choose where you'd like | to save the game. Note that unlike in some past Harvest Moon games, you are | not required to go to bed once you've saved. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Informational Screens | | Bringing up the menu (pressing the + button) introduces you to a sequence | of several informational screens with details about your farm, your | relationships and your tools. Which screen you're on is represented by the | icon on the wheel of icons in the top left; you can navigate amongst the | screens by using the D-Pad (for some stupid reason), and the control stick | to navigate within a screen. | | Lighthouse: Overall status screen. Displays general farm information (farm | name, house level, amount of animal feed on hand, number of | each animal), character information (name, birthday, general | information), and tool skill levels. | | Heart: Relationships with both livestock, pets, livestock and the | villagers (measured out of 10 hearts). Also features the new | creepy Harvest Moon stalker utility, which will tell you where | a particular villager is at any time (select their name to find | out). | | Rucksack: Identical to the rucksack screen. | | Chest: Recipes for individual rainbows, if obtained, and progress | through the Goddess quest. | | Tools: All your financial information, including total money, money | per season, and money gathered through each method. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Trashing Items | | In past Harvest Moon games, a major problem was that if you were holding | an item and accidentally pressed A (either just by slipping or by trying to | give a gift and the person moving at the last second), it would get thrown | on the ground and disappear. | | Tree of Tranquility has fixed this annoyance. If you try to throw an item | away (meaning press A when not facing a person or the shipping box), you'll | receive a confirmation screen, which gives you the option of either | throwing it away, or putting it in your backpack. And even then, if you | throw it away by accident, you'll have a momentary opportunity to pick it | up again. |\ | \___________________________________________________________________________ |_____________________________________________________________________________|
Game Info & Controls