Harvest Moon 64/Fall (Year 1)

Summer is finally over, and although the theme music may make you feel like you're running out of time, things will slow down a bit, especially after you get Karen's and Elli's pictures. This season brings about a shift in priorities. Where summer was about making money, fall is more about becoming friends with the eligible bachelors and extending your house.

Fall 1
If you haven't already, chop down what is left of the summer crops. Feed your animals and dig up a music box if you don't have one already and head into town. Stop by Lillia's and buy 3 bags of eggplant seeds. After trying to keep up with 5 plots, this should be an improvement. You should have plenty of money left over from summer, but you will need at least 35,000G to get a greenhouse and a kitchen. Stop by the bakery and give Elli an egg. Today is her birthday, so it will count extra today- don't miss her! At this point, both Elli and Karen should be at a yellow heart or above, or you are in trouble. Make sure to get some grapes to Karen, they're her favorite.

Go out to Mt. Moon and get familiar with the new layout of sellable items. Brown mushrooms and Medicinal herbs sell for the most, so give them priority over other items. Give a mushroom to the harvest elf and the carpenter to get the two mushroom recipes. Go back to the farm and plant the three seeds. If you have time left, ride your horse around the farm for a bit before you turn in. The annual fall horse race is at the end of the month and you're going to have to get him in shape if you want to have a chance.

Fall 2nd and 3rd
For the next couple of days, feed your animals and water your crops, then dig up a music box. If Elli's not at a pink heart yet, save an egg for her. Water the eggplants, then head to Ricks to get the box fixed. From there, either head to Elli or Karen and hand her the music box and either an egg or grape. By this point, both of them have to be at a pink heart, or you're not going to get their pictures. If you're really desperate to get Karen to a pink heart, head to the bar at night and talk to her while holding your dog (Saturday the 2nd is your last chance). If you continue to do this, her heart level will slowly rise. Cheap, but effective. If Elli's not close, then you're just out of luck.

If you have any spare items, give them away to whomever you happen to pass by. You need to start making friends with anyone and everyone. Sometime soon, the cow should grow up, so grab that milker and finally get some income out of that investment. If you do have a grown cow, Ann's father will stop by and ask if you want to enter it. It doesn't matter either way, but if you do, don't expect to win.

Fall 4th
Before you start the game today, restart the system. When you get to the screen where you choose the file, make a copy of your current game by clicking the "move" button. If it decides to rain in one of the next few days, you won't get the chance to get either of the girls' pictures. If this happens, it will be nice to have a fall back file. Just make sure to copy it again before you save over it.

Today is the Cow Festival. Gather herbs from the mountain and water your plants first. If you have the time, ride your horse around your farm until around 4:30. Head over to the Green Ranch before it gets dark to take place in the Cow Festival. Talk to everyone and drinks some milk. The game gets a little glitchy near the bottom, but it won't really affect anything. If you entered your cow, it will most likely get dead last. Anyway, enjoy the good night's sleep.

Fall 5th and 6th
If Elli or Karen is not at a pink heart by today, then you won't get her picture. It's not too late to get Karen at a pink heart by showing her your dog over and over, but if Elli's at a pink heart, there's nothing you can do at this point. So now we can forget about Elli and Karen and start getting those music boxes to Ann. She needs to be at a pink heart before the end of winter.

So now it's time to focus on the bachelors of the community. Use your eggs as gifts, as they are generally less expensive than anything found in the wild, but don't be stingy with those mushrooms. Try to get an egg to Cliff and Gray, milk to the potion master, and something to Harris and Ann every day.

Fall 7th
If today is rainy, go back to your other save game because it must be sunny today to get the picture. Make sure to get everything done in the morning. Water your eggplants, feed your animals, gather herbs, then give them out. Make sure to get back before dark. Ride your horse around your farm until Karen shows up. When she talks to you, reply "What?" and she will take you to watch the Keifu fairies sweetening the grapes. The night will automatically end and you should get Karen's picture in the mail the next morning.

Fall 8th
Check the weather today. If it is raining, go back to that previous save game. If tomorrow is sunny, then carry on. For the rest of this month, hold on to 4 eggs and hand them to the Jeff the Bakery Master, Ann, Cliff, and Gray. While out, pick up some grapes and a Mushroom and hand them to Kai and Harris respectively. It's okay to miss the guys every once in a while, but make sure to get a music box and a little something extra to Ann as often as you can.

Fall 9th
Today is a special day. Like the 7th, get everything done in the morning and get back to the farm well before 5:00. Elli will come around near nightfall and ask you to follow her, and who are you to argue? Follow her to the Goddess Pond where you will do some old ritual involving the Moondrop Essence. The day will end automatically and there will be a photo of the event in the mailbox the next day.

Fall 10th and 11th
Focus on getting gifts to the guys of the town and make sure that Ann gets something and a music box as often as possible. She needs to be at a pink heart before the end of winter. Eggplant harvests should be coming in soon if they haven't already. Sell all of them but one, which you should give to the midwife for a recipe. Now that Elli and Karen are out of the way, stop by the carpenter's house. Since it is unlikely that you have 30,000G at this point for a greenhouse, instead order a kitchen. You can get the Full Moon Berry on these days, but it's a bit out of the way. Feel free to get it if you're curious, but it's really too out of the way to be worth getting for any other reason.

Fall 12th
Today is the Harvest Festival. Feed your animals and harvest your crops in the morning and gather herbs if you have the time. As long as you get to the town square before 5:00ish, you will be able to participate. This festival is full of different crops and herbs and is where the Harvest King is decided. Talk to everyone several times and wait for Elli to come out. When she does, take the cake from her. If you find a coin in it, congratulations! You get the picture next spring. If not, then don't worry about it, there's always next year... After the ceremony ask Ann to dance with you, then get a good night's sleep.

Fall 13th-16th
Continue giving to the bachelors mentioned before until they have become friends with you. You can tell if you are good friends by what they say to you when you talk to them. Gray will open up a bit and actually talk to you. He will say "see ya" when talked to twice. Kai will say "isn't it great to work until you drop?" instead of "excuse me". Harris can be a bit tricky because he always seems to be in a good mood. When he is good friends with you, he will talk about Maria or the effect of letters and people's interactions. When Cliff is good friends with you, he will tell you about some of his past personal stuff and you'll get a new conversation picture of him looking all glum. Don't stop giving things to Ann, though. If your sheep happens to grow wool back, hand it over to her. Make sure to hand something to Popuri whenever you get the chance as well.

When you know that one of these guys is friends with you, stop giving them gifts and sell the stuff instead. Be as frugal as possible, leaving the carpet and the blue feather for later. Buy chicken feed as you need it, but only buy the essentials. We're trying to save up to build a greenhouse hopefully before winter starts.

Fall 17th-19th
Hopefully you are good friends with most of if not all of the guys of the town. If not, keep pumping out those gifts. Cliff should start hanging around the ranch more often ogling Ann, so he's easy to find. Ann should be well into a blue heart and getting close to a green heart by now. If not, keep those music boxes rolling. Note that at this time the game may not allow you to find music boxes. If they're still showing up for you, take advantage of it. Once the snow falls, they won't be accessible anyway.

Around this time, if you have been watering your crops every day, you should be getting the golden watering can. Not only does the golden watering can hold much more water, but it makes watering all the crops quick and easy.

Fall 20th
Today is the Egg Festival. Get all your farm work done in the morning. If it's before noon, you can collect some mushrooms up in moon mountain before heading into Flower Bud Village. As long as you get there before 6:00, you will be fine. The Egg Festival is probably the easiest of the festivals to win. The mayor will show you an egg and all you have to do is find another egg of the same color in one of the crates scattered around town. When you find it, bring it back to the mayor. That's it. Do that several times and you walk away with a power berry. Good deal!

Fall 21st-27th
At this point, you should be good friends with the guys in town. If you're really good, Gray has decided that you're good enough for Ann. At any rate, it's time to start giving gifts to other people in town. Winter will be upon us soon and wild herbs will not be available. Start giving the mushrooms to the carpenters, herbs to Saibara and the Potion Master, and the wild grapes to Karen's dad. Although these things sell for a lot, you'll soon be getting 1000G per day and once you have a greenhouse, money will be even less of an issue.

Speaking of, you should be getting close to that 30,000G required to get a greenhouse. Even if you have the funds, don't get it until after the fall horse race. The carpenters will be closed the next couple of days anyway as they work on their next project, but the head carpenter will stop by and ask you to help him out. For the next few days, get your morning work done, give things to Ann and Popuri, then come back to the farm and race your horse around until about 2:00. One lap around the house is about 30 minutes. At 2:00, go up to moon mountain. Even if you get there ten seconds before 3:00, they will pay you 1000G per day. When you get done, continue to train your horse and ride around until around 11:00pm before you head to bed.

On the 27th, Ann's father will stop by and ask you if you want to enter your horse in the race. For a shot at the horse race photo, of course say yes.