Harvest Moon is a complex universe offering a multitude of activities and goals. In any Harvest Moon game, success or failure partly depends on the Player's willingness to participate in all activites, whether they are community-generated, such as Festivals, or profit-based, such as Farming, Mining, Fishing and Animal Husbandry.
It is difficult to maintain a perfect balance in terms of performing all duties as well as spending a little time each day exploring the Map and interacting with Villagers.
In A New Beginning, Crops can be watered twice daily. This is very time-consuming, especially in the early days, when the only upgrade that is available for the Watering Can is the Copper Watering Can. (You can obtain the Blueprints for better upgrades even before the first Autumn season, but you cannot obtain the actual Ores needed to complete them.)
Animals must be fed daily and collection of the Products they give is important to their health and happiness as well as your own profits. That takes time.
Usually, I perform all my Farm Activities and Animal Husbandry tasks before I leave Asgard Farm in the morning. That way, I am not likely to forget these vital tasks. It is a good strategy apart from one disadvantage. By doing so, I missed an Event with Neil that occurs only in the early morning hours at his House.
It was only when I was testing the new options that would become available in the Autumn Season by wandering through the Village, waiting for the General Store to open at 10.00 a.m. that, entering Neil's House, I experienced an Event. At this point, on 1 Autumn, I had reached Blue Heart Level with him. The Ring had been displayed in the General Store for almost a full season but I never had experienced ANY of his Events.
The 'Hard-Working' Event I experienced on 1 Autumn was his Black Heart Event. Back in the day, I would have been disgusted with myself for not having triggered it at the earliest possible date. I realised early in 'A New Beginning', however, that so many Events and options are interconnected that it is impossible to play the game the way I played earlier games in the series. In other words, raising Neil's Heart Level is NOT the only Requirement for experiencing his Heart Events. Restoration of the Town is a Requirement for the Purple Heart Event in a sense, as another Character and Shop in the form of Rod and his Pet Shop have been to introduced before the Purple Heart Event for Neil can occur.
Town Restoration is very much at the heart of 'A New Beginning'. It is my least favourite of the new options that distinguish this game from other Harvest Moon games, mainly because of the puzzle aspect. I do not mind buying the Blueprints required for the Items that one has to build but I hate to try to place all the new Houses and Items on the Map. It reminds me of the nightmare in Magical Melody when one would attempt to upgrade a building only to find it did not fit on the land. Endless moves required to find a method of placing it... frustrating and not fun for me.
In any event, 'A New Beginning' is worth the effort and I therefore bear with the Town Restoration with its placement frustrations for the sake of the rest of the game.
I will create a Page for the Schedule of all Events in A New Beginning. It always is usefusl to know when and how Events can be triggered although there are Players who prefer to be surprised.
Remember that it is not only Heart Events and Courtship that are based on Friendship Levels. There are many options in any Harvest Moon game linked to a specific Friendship Level with a Villager or other Character. For example, although the basic Fishing Rod will be given to you by Dunhill on 2 Summer irrespective of your relationship with him, you cannot obtain the Blueprint for the Master Rod unless you have 30,000 FP with Hanna.
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