As a child that didn't speak English, this game infuriated me to no end because I didn't know that there were requirements and a time limit needed to get an actual ending, unlike FoMT where you can just play endlessly without any worries, and kept getting the bad ending where the theme park got built. Lmao

So the only way to propose is to present the feather of a highly-endangered bird? Marriage rates must be atrocious.

Something really interesting I found out when I played as a kid is that if there's a certain horse color you want, favor that horse when you do the daily chore and that will eventually lead to being the horse given to you! I freaked out when I got the black horse instead of the regularly colored horse hahah.

6:58 "rude girl wont tell me her name but what she doesnt know is that i have in my hand the game instruction manual and i know everything about her already" 😂😂😂😂 hilar

Ahh, this was my first harvest moon and Lyla was my first love. My sister and I were HEARTBROKEN when she proved that she was in love with dang parsley. We beat the game in a few ways, I think. I'll always have a special place in my heart for this game. I really never connected the music theme to the looming future of the town. What a cool touch!

One of the things I liked was if your character got sick and apparently if you relationship is high enough with another character, they come and visit you. I had high managed to get high relationship with Dia and she made my character soup. I think in my first play through I got the ending with winning the race with the horse. I think I had gotten another ending before too but I don't remember which, I'd need to go back to my old PS2 card and see if I still have that save

I think this was the first harvest moon I remember rage quiting as a kid.

So I finally decided to play this game for real after watching the video, and since I can read Japanese, I of course played the original version of the game, and I discovered a really big translation error by Natsume: Parsley is not just related to Basil from HM64, he IS Basil, and this error even breaks the series continuity.
After the Blue Mist blooms, he leaves the village, saying that seeing it bloom helped him into making up his mind. A few days later, Lyla also leaves to go after him and tell him her feelings (resulting in you losing access to her shop for some time). After she comes back, she tells you that he was actually at a wedding, pratically confirming that this game is chronologically before HM64.

I'm sad this game doesn't have the marriage and time progression but it's also one of my favs. It has a coziness that's just IMMACULATE. Also the girls in this one are the best I had to wait till Magical Melody to be able to marry them.

I feel attacked. As a child I had a cap with my name on it 🤣

Also, the pay at Bobs farm is based on how long you're there, if you talk and brush each horse, and if you put food in each of their feed bins in the stable. Fun fact: whichever horse likes you first, which gives you a new dialogue besides the normal dialogue, is the horse you will get because that's the one who's affection you've raised the most. The other cool tip is in the stable, you can take any leftover hay from the chute and just keep it for your own farm, which is two pieces of hay a day. May not be much but it was fun to feel like I was stealing hay. Lol

From your comment at 20:00, PLEASE make a video on River King!! It's one that I've been curious about for so long but just haven't gotten around to playing yet. I would absolutely love to see you play it and your thoughts on it!!

When I played this game way back in the day, I didn't realize that the Moon Drop Dew event was time-sensitive and accidentally stood up Gwen. She wouldn't talk to me for a good while after that and that ended up killing that storyline. Whoops.

STH was one of my favs growing up 💞 the cast was so lovable and interesting, and I think it could have been a series favorite if it had included marriage and long-term play. however, the different endings were interesting as well. as you said, you can definitely see where AWL took inspo and expanded on some concepts. 😊

0:29 it's dangerous to be a grandfather in farming games

Wait, the grandfather of the farmer passes away? What a totally cool and unique idea!

This is such a huge nostalgic!! I always love HM series on PS2. I remember bring my ps2 to a villa for holiday and this is the only game i play. Although this one feels more gloomy and lonely than other series (for me), i had fun doing the part time job brushing the horse and doing the quest. Thank you so much for playing this game and made me remember so much things from my childhood!

I'm crying, I had this game in my mind for yearrrs and didn't remember the name, now I finally found it

Dang this is my childhood core game, along with Metropolismania, and Monster Rancher 3. Back then, i dont understand why most people dislike it.. I'm glad that you enjoy the game. 😄

THIS this right here was the first Harvest Moon game I ever played growing up and is what got me into the series I was obsessed with this game in particular! The fishing had me addicted like crazy and I always tried the horse race ending!