The month of March 2021 is a good one for farming fans, with Harvest Moon: One World releasing first and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town at the end of the month. Harvest Moon: One World has already been reviewed at LadiesGamers (find the review here), and now it’s time for our Beginners Guide. After all, farming in Harvest Moon: One World is slightly different!
Lets Get the Game Started
Starting in the game you get to choose whether your are a boy or girl, and what color skin, hair and eyes you have. There’s not more customisation there, though you can name your alter ego farmer yourself.
This would be farmer still lives with her mom and is dreaming about the days of myth, when there was more to eat then just potatoes found in the wild. Somehow the world is struggling to grow food, due to the disappearance of the Harvest Goddess.
You go on an errand from your mom to forage potatoes, and your next door neighbour joins you: Doc Jr. Nice to see Doc’s offspring from The Lost Valley and SkyTree Village back in this game. He must have even inherited his father’s lab coat as the sleeves are way too long! But like his father, he is an inventor, so that should come in handy.
The tutorial for the game is wrapped in a bit of background story to get the game going: after pulling up some potatoes YvoCaro sees a blue light. Following it she finds a Harvest Wisp, who gives her a seed. That is something she has never seen…the thought of growing something yourself! Anyway, this leads to meeting Vitae, the Harvest Sprite of Life who gives you a Medallion of Life. She explains there are only 6 in total in the world, and it’s up to you to search for them. If you manage that, Bountiful Soil will return in abundance, making farming much easier.
Time to spring into action and save the world. Of course…
A Farm on the Go
With a trip around the world in the works, Doc Jr. comes through with a very useful device: the Expando-Farm, to set up a farm anywhere you are. Very handy! The robot taking care of this is called Sparky and you can kickstart this power source by feeding him food stuffs. The meter on the left shows how much energy you’ve given Sparky. Remember that you can only store your farm once Sparky’s energy is at the max.
Before you set out your mom gives you a bag, and Doc Jr. gives you a DocPad: a farm configuration tool and a way to communicate with Doc as well. You open it with the “-” button on your left joycon. In this you will find:
- Calendar: shows special dates, birthdays and even the weather for the next week
- Bag: one tab for your seeds, crops etc and one tab with key items like hoe and brush
- Friendship: shows the people and Harvest Sprites you have met, describes the character, their likes, dislikes and birthday
- To do/ Requests: to do is marked by a tab with an !, requests on a tab with a ?
- Worldmap: shows where you are, where memory portals are and you can search for specific Harvest Wisps (more on all of that later)
- Save/Load: save anytime in the game, or go to another save file.
- Options: has multiple sub tabs underneath
* Records: shows your character, your level, your livestock and pets, total shipped and money earned. In separate tabs there’s also the number of animal products and crops you have achieved and lastly contest results.
* Tips: review all the instructions you get in the game
* Options: music and sound effect volume
* Return to title screen
* View Credits
So, off into the world….though the first hamlet you find isn’t as far as you’d think. YvoCaro sets up her Expando-Farm in Callison.
Blue Lights for Seeds and Get Your Tools
Soon you find the Sparky icon and you set up your farm by pressing A in front of the icon. The new farm comes complete with a barn and some squares where you can sow seeds. Making new squares by tilling them doesn’t work, so your options are set, for now. I usually make neat squares of 9 block to sow the same seeds in, but that’s not how it works in this game.
You cannot buy seeds in the general store that you find in Callison. Instead, you have to find the blue lights that are dotted all around. Little Harvest Wisps that give you a seed, of different kinds. There is an abundance of Harvest Wisps to be found and here is where your DocPad comes in. Go to the World Map, press Y and in the search bar scroll through the kind of crop seed you want. You will see the crop show up on the map.
Your farmhouse is pretty complete. There’s a fridge and a chest of drawers in which you can store your goods, plus an encyclopaedia with all you need to know.
The first person you meet is Samantha, who will empty your shipping box at 6am in the morning. After you leave your farm to look around, you meet Braden who teaches you what you need to know about caring for animals. He gives you a brush, milker and clippers plus a pitchfork, which you need to clean out the barn. Beneficial too, as the compost can be used as fertilizer. And like with farming, the game knows what to do: first pet an animal, then brush it, then use the milker if it’s a cow (or clippers when it’s a sheep). No need to select or equip.
You discover that there’s a general store in Callison and an animal store. As you get your seeds from the little wisps the general store has tools for sale, but of course, no seeds. You can buy an Axe and Hammer there.
The First Town Conquered
At this point you will get your first quests, and you have a main goal to progress the game: Braden’s cow Emily is sick. You have to talk to vet Gabrielle and though reluctantly, she will eventually point the way to the kind of food that will make Emily better. It’s in the clearing with the apple trees, but don’t bother checking for Emily’s feed in your pockets. Just follow the storyline and Emily will be well in no time.
With this problem solved, Callison’s memorial pillar returns to its old glory and you get the second medallion from the Harvest Sprite of Earth. The game opens up from here. Doc Jr gives you his new invention, the first Maker, that makes animal feed. And the morning after Vitae gives you the first Goddess Strawberry, which gives 1 extra heart.
Every time you get a new medallion you must remember to visit your mom, as she will give an expansion of your bag. And while back in your own neighborhood Doc Jr. has another nice addition too: Doc’s Crafts and Inventions shop. A machine that takes your ores that you will find in mines and turn it into the metal, and has some other nice things in it too.
Back in Callison you find that the bridge to the right is repaired which leads to new fruit bearing trees and a mine. In the mine you find your first ores, which you need to progress. Doc Jr. will ask for 5 bronze, so take 5 bronze ore and turn it into bronze in the DCI. Give them to Doc Jr. and in turn, there will be a fertilizer maker when you come back to the farm.
From here, you know what to expect in Harvest Moon: One World. Every part of the world looks different, from a summer landscape to lava rocks, and in every part you find new seeds, fruits etc. There are five distinct areas: the sprawling grasslands of Calisson, the gorgeous beaches of Halo Halo, the searing desert heat of Pastilla, the cozy hills of Lebkuchen, and the snowy mountains of Salmiakki.
So I’m ending this Beginners Guide with some tips to make gameplay more fun to do.
Farming and Taking Care of Animals
- The mechanics of farming are great: no need to find the right tool to use. The game does that for you only by clicking A. An unworked tile of land brings up the hoe, after which you can choose your seed. Want to add fertilizer? That’s next, after which you automatically water. It works the same when taking care of your animals.
- When you look at a harvested crop in your bag it shows to what season it’s reacts best. But they grow anywhere, needing more fertilizer and patience to let them grow.
- There are so many different crops in the game, and then there’s the possibility of crop mutations as well! By going into your house and pressing the action button on the Encyclopaedia (the blue book) – and then selecting one of the crops or flowers – you’ll be able to see how many potential mutations there is for a particular crop.
- I decided to keep 2 or 3 of each crop as a spare in my fridge or chest, as some requests can be easily fulfilled this way!
- Sparky uses energy from crops and foodstuffs. The Acorns and Mushrooms that you find on the ground work perfectly for that.
- When you pack up your farm to move it, it takes everything along, but not your plot of land with crops already in it. So either you have to travel back to water daily, or accept that they will wilt.
- Every animal you encounter in the wild can be petted, even the tiger! Bond with them (you can see your progress by the filled up music bar) and the smaller ones will act as pets, while the bigger ones will want to live in your barn. This will lead to animals you can ride, like camels and reindeer.
And Some More Tips
- You can save the game in the DocPad, but you can also choose Save and Sleep when turning in.
- Visit your mom after every medallion to get a bigger bag
- The calendar in your house not only shows birthdays and events, but also this week’s weather!
- If you don’t get back to bed before your Stamina (marked by the hearts atop the screen) runs out, your character will pass out. You won’t lose any items and will be transported back to your farm, but your condition will deteriorate. You can check how your condition is in the smiley face next to the hearts. If it’s not good (flat face or blue cross-eyed face) your stamina runs out much faster! So, early to bed the next day!
- Braden gives you 10 Milk as a thank you. Keep it, don’t sell it like I do. Because you need 10 milk in Lebkuchen to proceed! And buying a cow yourself is costly!
- You can buy a fishing pole in Lebkuchen, but remember: you need bait to be able to fish.
- The bridge on the road that leads away from Gabrielle’s house can be repaired with Ginko Lumber. You get this from Doc Jr. after he requests 3 regular Lumber.
- Requests can come through the mail, but also directly when you are talking with someone.
- Doc Jr.’s requests are important even though they don’t seem to amount to much at first. It leads to having makers, upgrading your barn etc. So even though it’s annoying that he is always putting pressure to make haste, it ultimately pays off.
- Want to go for one of the bachelors or bachelorettes? Do their requests!
Bachelors: Braden (Callison), Tristan (Lebkuchen), Jamil (Pastilla), Kanoa (Halo Halo), Sami (Salmiakki)
Bachelorettes: Gabrielle (Callison), Laura (Lebkuchen), Malika (Pastilla), Ahina (Halo Halo), Kirsi (Salmiakki)
The DLC will add another bachelor and bachelorette, Shogen and Sana from the far east.
