In Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, you get the classic play of the Harvest Moon series with a slight twist: Your character is a girl now. You'll still have to start a little farm and turn it into a success, while pursuing romance. Seek out the right boy in different periods of your life, while getting the chores done and making money from your hard work.
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39 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Great Game!Dec 29, 2006
By Christi
"DoggiesRule95"
This is such a fun game for girls! You start out in the farm all alone. The whole 1st chapter you try to get one of the 3 bachelors to like you by giving them presents and talking to them. In the second chapter you get married to the guy who likes you the most. Here are your choices:
Rock: 22 in the beginning. A young dude who has no life virtues. He cares only for his looks and having fun. Rock is the easiest to marry, but trust me, don't!
Gustafa: 28. A smooth, happy musical guy. He's sort of a hippie. I would suggest him over Rock.
Marlin: 33. I married him and I suggest you would too! In the game he compliments my child and teaches him life-lessons. Marry him!
Whoever you marry you'll have a child. Depending on whom you marry is how he'll act and look. When they're babies they are SO cute! Then in the next chapter they're toddlers, then children, then a teenager! Love him buy giving him things he likes and talking to him often.
Back to you: You spend your 24 minute days by taking care of your *adorable* cows and chickens and goats or sheep. Taking care refers to:
1. Feeding them
2. Talking and petting them daily
3. If cows or goats; milking them
Your chickens and roosters are easier to care for. Just take their eggs and feed them! LOL
You also have an adorable dog you get in the beginning. You can if you want feed him but you don't have to.
Another thing you do during the day is taking care of plants! Plant them and water them. Typical. You can plant anything from potatoes to strawberries. You buy the seeds from another farm in town. Once the plants are grown you can give them away to people in the village, cook with them, sell them or just eat them plain. Yum.
Money: You make money but selling crops, fruits, milk, sheep fur, cheese, butter, rocks and gems found in the digsite, flowers found around the town and mushrooms also found around the town. Twice a month (Harvest moon months witch takes about 1 or 2 hours) a fat rich man named Van (what a wonderful name) comes to town and sells and buys with you. You can sell pretty much anything to him and buy furniture and clothes and whatnot from him.
What to spend your $ on: livestock and buildings them mostly. You can buy clothes and medicines from Van too. Money luckily isn't something you NEED witch I think is great. It's just nice to have.
Pros:
You don't NEED money
You live in a cute, peaceful town with a beach, houses, streams and ponds called Forget-Me-Not Valley
Really nice townspeople who each have different personalities
Pretty good graphics. Beautiful scenery.
The game doesn't take too long and doesn't end too quickly (I've been playing for more than 1 year)
I love the animals! Who would've known how fun it is to farm!
Great storyboard that doesn't get old.
You have a family! It's so much fun to be a mom and wife. ^^
Cons:
Here and there there are small typos (witch really doesn't matter at all)
ummm...... I think that's it!
Ending/Overall/Recap: You start on your own on your fathers farm, you get married have a kid, be a great mom, have fun farming, be friends with other people, fish, cook, and ride your hoarse! Yay that is so much fun =) Throughout the game there are happy suprises. This game is for anyone who is interested in life simulations. Because this is way better than sims+ animal crossing any other life simulation!
RATING: 100% * * * * * five stars most definitely =) plus five more * * * * * buy this game! Yep yep yep good game ^^
30 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Worth buying if you are a Harvest Moon fanAug 22, 2005
By Glory Questor One of my favorite experiences with a Harvest Moon game was with Harvest Moon 3 for the Gameboy. On that game, you could choose to be a boy or girl, and have a choice of animal (cat or dog). Since that game, though, Natsume split the girl and boy stories into two separate games for future releases -- a disappointing turn, since it's nice to have the option to play both genders.
So, the question on most people's minds would be, "What would make me buy this game for $30 and not A Wonderful Life for $20?" (or, "Why should I buy this when I already have A Wonderful Life?")
Put simply, this isn't just "A Wonderful Life with a girl", like others will tell you -- it's an all new A Wonderful Life (which could be called "version 1.5") with all kinds of neat updates and changes from A Wonderful Life:
- First, you get a chance to play a girl, which was never really done outside of Japan since the aforementioned Harvest Moon 3. The storyline, while on the whole the same, really does change quite a bit to match your new gender (since females wouldn't treat you like the same character as in A Wonderful Life). The beginning, especially, changes for the girl character -- instead of being "given the farm" like the boy character was, the girl was bored with the hectic life in the city and decided to move out to the country (Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town also have these beginnings).
- In A Wonderful Life, you have three options when viewing the diary: "Sleep", "Diary", and "Status Book". In Another Wonderful Life, this menu has been reworded and expanded into a much better diary menu:
- "Save": works just like "Diary" did
- "Sleep": same as before
- "Assets": This is NOT the same Status Book as before. While you still have some of the same options, there are all-new lists to look at that really help plan your farm even more (such as Diary and Produce Income and Item Lists)
- "Look in the Mirror": A new item that apparently works just like the mirror you can buy in Friends of Mineral Town. The mirror allows you to see your personal status -- the more tired you get, the more your character will mention it and the more tired she will look in the mirror.
- A brand new feature of this game is the addition of training your dog, and this is one of the best updates to the original game. In A Wonderful Life, all you could really do with your dog was pick him up and carry him around to show your affection -- not very exciting. Now you can train your dog to Give Paw, Turn Around, Jump, and Stand Up.
- You must now buy and use Vesta's fertilizer on your grass field to make it grow.
- A subtle change to the game is slightly sharper and smaller graphics, and smaller, slimmer text.
- New minigame challenges have been added: Teritory Capture and Milk Drinking. (These I picked up from the Assets screen, and haven't yet had a chance to play. There might also be more minigames, too...)
Overall, while the goals are pretty much the same as before, there is so much that is new here that Harvest Moon fans should not hesitate to buy it. Forget-Me-Not Valley is one of the best environments to come along in the Harvest Moon universe since Mineral Town, and now there are all kinds of new challenges and features that make it worth going back to for another farming adventure.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Slightly different from the original Gamecube version...Jul 30, 2005
By K. McEvoy The above product description provided by Amazon is fairly accurate except for the fact that there are only three (3) guys to pick as a possible husband in this female version of Harvest Moon. The main reason I gave the game four stars instead of five is for the choices of the possible husbands.
The opening is very similar to the original A Wonderful Life, with the same characters from the first Gamecube game. So far, no new people (I'm still in chapter 1). Your father owned the farm and you have been living in the city. He died a little while back and you have decided that you want to escape the pressures of the big city to settle down in a small village and work on a farm. If you wish to continue past the 1st chapter, you have to get married. I think the first game had better choices of who to marry, but in Another Wonderful Life your choices are the following: Marlin, Rock, and Gustafa (personally, I would have preferred Cody as a possible choice...oh well).
Just like A Wonderful Life, Another Wonderful Life consists of four season per year and only 10 days per season. It consists if more real time action (especially in regards to the weather) than other Harvest Moons have allowed.
You'll be able to raise around four types of cows as well as horses, chickens, ducks, sheep, and even goats. Eventually you'll be able to make cheese and butter and improve the quality of your crops.
Despite the similarities, there are some new features to the game...and perhaps even more than I have found out.
Some of these changes include:
You can now sell your basic crops and seeds...not just your 2nd generational crops/seeds.
You have to fertilize your grass pasture before your animals (cows, sheep, horse) can graze on it. This is similar to the other Harvest Moon games where you had to buy and plant grass seeds (only cheaper). They do grow back after cutting the grass (just the same as the other games). Fortunately, you are provided with enough fodder to feed your beginning cow until then.
You now have a training feature for your dog.
Seeds from Vesta are now cheaper...you can get all 5 basic fruit trees with your starting money and still have change.
You can now see the affection and health levels of your animals.
I imagine that the rest of the story line is nearly a mirror image of the first Gamecube game, so if you have already played that and finished it this may not be too different - but it may also give new insight to some of the other characters that you thought you already knew.
19 of 21 found the following review helpful:
Cute Game That May Take a Few Days From Your Life!Oct 29, 2005
This game is so addicting! You will end up playing for hours at a time! It's so much fun! I have a few complaints and a few positive remarks about the game but 1st a description...
This is a farming game. You play as a girl (if you are a boy by a wonderful life instead of another wonderful life it's the same game with just a few changes in the girls version that are very minor) You are trying to get married and run a good farm! You start out with one cow and a dog that you can name. You can name all your animals and you have to take good care of them so they will give you good products to sell and earn money for upgrades on your farm. It is nothing like being on a real farm but who wants to scoop cow dung and stuff like that! You have to feed and love your animals everyday (Its better if you take care of them and feed them twice a day but you don't have to!) and you don't have to clean the barn! The only down side compared to the boys version in this game is you have to bye fertilizer from Celia, Marlin, and Vesta and you don't have to in the guy version!
Now some complaints...
You can tell this game was meant for boys because the guys you can merry suck! I have married all of them and I have my own problems with each...
Marlin:
He is mean and doesn't do anything around the farm because of his illness. (what illness does he have anyway?!?! I think he is making it up) His kid is so cute! He has black hair and big blue eyes he looks more like you then Marlin (thank goodness!) but you can see a small resemblance to him. None of the guys work but Marlin is the only one that really has a reason why he doesn't. (even if it isn't a good reason) He can be a sweet guy and I got married to him by talking to him every day. I didn't give him almost any gifts (don't try and give him stuff when he has his hands in his pockets he wont take it!) I just talked to him daily and rejected pushy rock as much as possible and wala! We were married! He is a nice guy and I think I like him the best out of the other 2!
Gustafa:
He is a hippie! God! Why a hippie! He is a super sweet person when you get married though! His kid has brown hair like you and Gustafa and has blue eyes. He is a cute little guy 2 even if he does ask if you are square! (I think he has some problems) Gustafa is a sweet guy but he is very odd looking and *shiver* he is a hippie and dresses like a freak. I married him but didn't play with his game very much! He is pretty easy to marry (ok they are all easy to merry because the girls don't put up much of a fight like in More friends of mineral town!) you don't have to give him many gifts just find him everyday and talk to him.
Rock:
Rock is a playboy... I hate his guts but he is pretty funny! He is the easiest to marry but he is a lazy bum! He tells you when you give him a blue feather he tells you he will not work strait out so it's your fault for wanting this lazy guy! His kid has blond hair and brown eyes! He is ARORIBAL! He looks so much like his father as a teen its not even funny! You don't even have to try very hard to get Rock. Ignore the other guys and you will have his heart in no time! (or try and win marlin over some how I had to get married to rock the 1st time I was trying to get Marlin! They both had 4 hearts but something happened!
Oh well I have him now!) He is the cutest of the guys and takes little or no effort to win his heart.
The other thing is the grammar in this game is pretty bad at times. Like when you get a toy box for your kid and you click on it and it asks you "Why do you want to take out?" I think it means what instead of why but I guess its ok there are some other things in there that are pretty bad but I will not mention them all.
*Shiver* What is up with that scary teddy bear! It is soooooooooo creepy you can see it breath! Don't buy it you will regret it like I did!
The goat only gives you milk for a month! Stupid goat! At least you don't have to kill it off because it is taking up valuable barn space like in the boy version. You can just sell it this time.
They need to get some better-looking guys! They should make one for Nintendo or Playstation2 that has the guys from Mineral Town and Forget me not Valley! That would rock I would merry Cliff of Gray! I love them soooooo much! :)
Now for the good stuff...
It will give you hours of fun playing through you characters life!
You fall in love, have kids, and take care of your various farm animals!
You can name your animals!
The guys do have a good side and they can be really cute and nice when they want to be!
The babies are so cute! (enjoy them because soon the will become depressed teenagers!)
It has cheat codes (I like to use the cheat codes that give you money heheheh!)
You will get addicted! You will end up playing it in any of your spare time!
It is a super cute game that any of you The Sims players will love like me!
So you should buy it if you like role playing games and don't really care what the guys look like! Happy Farming! :)
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Farming FunMay 20, 2006
By Jendini Teriffic game. The first thing that struck me was how beautiful it was. Some of the characters in the game look a little odd, but the scenery is incredible. Sometimes I just step outside my farmhouse and watch the snow fall while the sun comes up. There is a zoom button that lets you look at things up close or in any direction, up, down, side to side, or even behind you. Watch the stars, the ocean waves, the sunrise in the different seasons, thunderstorms, or get a closer look at your baby.
I got Another Wonderful Life after playing the boy's version of the same game. It's fun playing as a girl. You get to change your clothes in the girl's version, and you marry one of 3 bachelors in town. There are more cut-scene events in the girls' version, which is nice. And you can see a screen which shows the happiness/health status of your animals. Each chapter runs for one "year" of game time, 6 chapters total. The boys' version runs 10 years for the same number of chapters and some players felt that it went on too long. Most things are the same as in the boy's game however. At the end of the game you do have an unlimited play option to keep going if you like.
There is one drawback. They made it MUCH harder to make money in the girls' version. You need money to do all the fun stuff in the game, buy animals, new clothes, build up your farm, etc. I solved this problem when I did a Google search on the game title and discovered a bug in the game (search on "major cheat" for "another wonderful life") that lets you have more money. Now I am playing happily.
You play the lifetime of the character. In the first year/chapter, you meet the bachelors and get married. In the second, your son is a toddler. The chapters progress until your son is an adult and your character is older. You work the farm the whole time, raising cows, sheep, goats, ducks, and chickens, and growing crops and fruit trees. There is an interesting twist on the crops in this game, you can mix them to creat hybrid crops! Cross an orange and a banana and get a new type of fruit. You can even cross the hybrid crops to make the second generation hybrids. These are more unusual and valuable to sell. All crops can also be used in recipes. Yes, you can cook in this game :-)
There is a linking feature to the game which is important. The game can be linked to "Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town" for GBA (Gameboy, hand-held game). That's the girls' Harvest Moon for GBA. Your characters can't go into the other game, but there is a traveling salesman character who does travel between them. This is how you get some special items in the game. New records are the most important in my opinion. Records allow you to change the music in the game. After farming for a couple of years to the same game music, those new records become pretty important! But you can have a successful farm and family without linking. If you choose to link, you will need a game link cable.
I love Harvest Moon. There are so many violent video games on the market, and so few where players can build something more positive than a kill score or a weapons cache. I don't know how many kids are playing, compared to adults, but it would be a wonderful game experience for a kid. It's simple enough for them, and complex enough for adults. Make sure to get a separate memory chip for each player for the saved games. You don't want to take the risk of a friend or family member saving over your game after weeks of play.
based on 58 reviews
( 58 customer reviews )
