Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town

Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town' (牧場物語ミネラルタウンのなかまたちforガール, Bokujō Monogatari: Mineraru Taūn no Nakama-tachi for Girls, lit. Ranch Story: Companions of Mineral Town for Girls) is the female version of Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town.

It is the third game that focuses on the female perspective (the other examples being Bokujō Monogatari: Harvest Moon for Girl & Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life). It is one of the very few Harvest Moon titles to have a release be cancelled in PAL regions.

This game follows the pattern of a lot of Harvest Moon games - planting crops and raising animals. You may also befriend the numerous villagers of Mineral Town, and there are lots of optional events to view as well as many festivals to attend There is a choice of eight bachelors (five regular and three secret bachelors) to marry.

Plot

The player is sitting alone in her apartment, thinking about how tired she is of her life in the city. She wants something new, and as she's looking in the newspaper, she sees an advertisement in the newspaper about a farm for sale.

She decides to purchase the farm, and goes there to see it. Upon arriving, she meets with the mayor, Thomas who is surprised to see that somebody has replied to the advertisement. Although the farm needs a lot of work, Thomas says that the people of Mineral Town are desperate for a person to revive the farm. The player decides to live on the farm, and the game then begins.

New Features

A farming degree system has been introduced. This system allows the player to collect points for meeting certain goals and doing certain tasks. The degree categories are: shipments, fishing, animals, villagers, cooking, building, equipment, letters, events and heroine. There are a total of 100,000 points to collect.
New events with villagers not seen in the original Friends of Mineral Town. Events are now worth event points.

Gameplay

The main goals of the game are simple:

Upgrade the farm and make money by raising animals, collecting wild plants, fishing, mining, and collecting resources. Your farm degree can be increased by meeting certain goals.

Find a guy to court by interacting with him, giving him gifts, participating in "heart events" and in romantic festivals. Propose to him using the Blue Feather, and eventually have a child.

Interact with the people in town to strengthen your relationships with villagers. You can also connect to Another Wonderful Life (on the Gamecube) to interact with additional villagers.
Collect points towards your farming degree.

Marriage Candidates

Like the male version of this game, you may choose to get married. In the female version, the previous male rivals now take the place as possible choices, leaving the previous possible wives the new rivals.

Cliff - A shy young man who has temporarily stopped in Mineral Town. He goes to the church every day in the beginning and lives at the Inn on the second floor. He will leave during the first year if he does not find a job.

Doctor - His sole focus is in medicine. He likes to test out his latest medicines on available subjects and strives to try and cure people like Ellen and Lillia. He lives at the hospital and is found on the mountain on Wednesdays in the morning.

Rick - A young man who works at the Poultry Farm. His mother is Lillia and his sister is Popuri. He has become the man of the house since his father left to find a flower in the desert to cure his mother.

Gray - A city boy that came to live with his grandfather and learn the craft of blacksmithing. He's very quiet and tends to keep to himself. Lives in the inn on the second floor and works at the blacksmith with Saibara. Goes to the library often to visit Mary.

Kai - Free spirited guy who only comes to Mineral Town in the summer. He works at the beach shop during the summer, and when he's in Mineral Town he stays at the Inn.

Gourmet - The rather large judge of the cooking festivals. A lover of fine cuisine. You'll find him at the Cooking Festival once a year.

Kappa - Found at the lake in the mountain (except for Winter). Throw a cucumber into the lake to see him. Will only accept cucumbers as gifts, will give the player a special power berry.

Won - He's a swindler and prefers beauties like Karen over the looks of the player. He lives at the beach in Zack's house. He sells goods (such as a Jewel of Truth for 50,000G and flower seeds) that you can use to earn money.

Gourmet, Kappa, and Won are all special bachelors. However, the Gourmet and Kappa will not live with the player, similar to the Harvest Goddess.

Like the previous game, you may request your spouse to be a stay-at-home one, however, you will not have that option with Won. If Kai is married, he will live in Mineral Town permanently. You may also have a child 90 days after marriage if you've kept your husband at a high love level.

Rivals

There is a rival for each of the five regular candidates. The three special bachelors Gourmet, Kappa and Won do not have rivals.

Ann - Ann works with her father Doug and helps him at the Inn. She and Cliff get better aquainted throughout the time he spends in Mineral Town living at the Inn. If Cliff stays in Mineral Town and does not move out after Fall of the first year, the two may get married if the player does not marry Cliff.
Elli - Doctor's nurse and rival for his affection. She is absolutely smitten with him, even if he doesn't see it at first. Over time, however, the two will grow even closer and eventually marry if the player does not marry Doctor.
Karen - A long time childhood friend of Rick, Karen is your rival for Rick's affection.
Mary - Mary is often visited by Gray at her library, and the two will eventually grow close. Mary and Gray will marry if the player chooses not to marry Gray.
Popuri - Popuri spends a lot of time with Kai during his visits in the summer. Naturally, she is also your rival for him. If Popuri and Kai marry, Popuri will leave Mineral Town with Kai and the couple will only visit during summer.

Villagers

Mineral Town is full of other villagers that you are able to interact with.

Anna - Lives with her family, Basil and Mary. Loves to go to Rose Square to gossip.
Barley - Will sell you livestock through his animal shop, and also gives you your horse. A kind old man who raises his granddaughter May.
Basil - He studies the flora of the area, and has written many of the books at the library. Mary's father, and Anna's husband.
Carter - Mineral Town's pastor. He can be found in the Church, and loves to help the inhabitants of town.
Doug - Owns the town's Inn, which he runs with his daughter Ann.
Duke - The owner of Aja Winery. The husband of Manna.
Ellen - A sick but kind elderly woman. Stu and Elli's grandmother. Cannot use her legs, and never leaves her home.
Gotz - A lonely woodcutter. Responsible for house upgrades on your farm. His family died on Mother's Hill, and he now lives alone.
Harris - Mineral Town's only police officer. Lives with his father Thomas and never misses a patrol.
Jeff - Always working hard at the General Store which he owns with his wife Sasha. Karen is his daughter.
Lillia - A frail and sick woman who owns the Poultry Farm. She is the mother of Rick and Popuri. Her husband, Rod, left to find a cure for her disease.
Manna - Works at Aja Winery with her husband Duke. Loves to gossip with the other women of the town Sasha and Anna.
May - The young and energetic granddaughter of Barley. Loves animals, and can often be seen playing with Stu.
Saibara - The town's blacksmith. He will upgrade your tools for you. He is also Gray's grandfather.
Sasha - The fiery co owner of the General Store. Karen's mother, and is the wife of Jeff.
Stu - Loves to cause mischief, but has a kind heart. Lives with his grandmother Ellen, and looks up to his big sister Elli.
Thomas - Mineral Town's mayor. Organizes all of the festivals in town, and loves Mineral Town.
Zack - Responsible for shipping and importing for Mineral Town. He will pick up all of the product in your shipping box each day.

Animals

There are five different animals the player can rear. Most of these animals provide a source of income and have to be taken care of in a manner unique to each type of animal.

Dog - The player will start the game with a dog. To care for the dog, all you need to do is pick it up and leave it outside on sunny days. The player may also train the dog by playing fetch. Doing this will train him to chase away wild ones when they come to scare livestock at night.

Horse - After the player introduces himself to Barley , Barley will eventually drop by to give the player a horse to take care of. If the player takes good care of the horse, after a year, Barley will let him keep it. Otherwise, he will take it away for a year before giving the player another chance.

Chickens - Chickens are the cheapest animals the player can purchase and may be bought from the local Poultry Farm. To care for them, the player must pick them up and feed them. Chickens produce an egg everyday. The better you care for a chicken, the better eggs it may lay.

Cows - Cows may be purchased as calves from Barley's Farm. Cows can be cared for by feeding them, brushing them, talking to them and letting them outside to graze on sunny days. When you first purchase your cow, it will be too young to produce milk. However, after about a month, it will be old enough to milk with the milker.

Sheep - Sheep may be purchased from Barley's Farm. Sheep can be cared for by feeding them, brushing them, talking to them and letting them outside to graze on sunny days. Sheep produce wool which may be sheared and sold for money. It takes time for their wool to grow back.

Tools

The player will start off with an axe, hammer, watering can, sickle, and hoe. The fishing rod (which allows the player to catch fish in lakes, rivers, and the ocean) can also be obtained, later in the game. After tools gain experience the player can take the tool to the black smith with the appropriate metal and have it upgraded, though to upgrade at some levels special tasks and items are required.

The watering can, sickle, and hoe are used to prepare land and maintain crops. The hammer, and hoe may also be used to mine ore and precious jewels. After you level all your tools to mystrile, you can go down into the lake mine and find the cursed tools. The highest level of tool that you can get are 'Mythic' available after you "blessed" the Cursed tools and get a Mythic stone for the tool you wish to upgrade.

Connecting to Other Games

The game offers connectivity with the Nintendo Gamecube game Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life. To connect with the Gamecube game, the player must throw an offering (virtually any throwable item) into the Harvest Goddess's pool in More Friends of Mineral Town. When connected, entries will be added to the library with details about the characters in A Wonderful Life. Also, certain characters will talk about the characters in Forget-Me-Not Valley. If the player connects enough, he will obtain the seaside cottage, the ultimate reward for connecting.

Unlike past Game Boy versions of Harvest Moon (and even Harvest Moon: Back To Nature), Friends of Mineral Town does not feature the ability to trade livestock with other FoMT game cartridges.