Harvest Moon 64/Walkthrough

Before I begin the walkthrough, let me just say that there are many ways to go about playing this game, and many different ways and times do do things. That being said, this guide will take you through a route that fulfills all the requirements for the party picture. Although the exact requirements are unknown (except by the original programmers of the game), the following is a list of the most likely requirements:


 * You must have all the house addons
 * You must be friends with everybody, including your child
 * You must be married, though I don't believe it matters to whom
 * You must have a baby
 * You must have at least 3 cows, 3 sheep, and 6 chickens
 * None of your livestock have gotten sick
 * One cow must have Large or Golden Milk
 * One Sheep must have the special wool
 * Your horse must have won at least one race
 * Your dog must have won at least one race
 * You must have all other pictures
 * You must have all the power berries
 * You must have all the recipes
 * You must have won and attended every festival possible (except other races)
 * You must have helped build the bridge and the spa
 * Your entire field must have something planted or be fenced

There are many claims of other things that may make a difference, such as shipping something every day, but according to the sites I read, I don't believe they really make a difference. Not that you shouldn't try to do it, but if you mess up, you shouldn't worry about it. Needless to say, this list is most likely more strict than the actual standard, but you know what they say: It's better to be too prepared than not prepared enough (or something like that).

Learn From Mistakes
These are some mistakes (bad enough to ruin my chances) that I made during the first few times I tried to get the party picture and how to avoid them:


 * If your character's face gets blue during work, stop immediately. Eat a medicinal herb before bed if you have one and don't save that night. If you are sick for a day, among other things, you will miss an entire day of work, your animals will get sick, and you will have not shipping anything that day. Whatever you're working on is not worth risking your entire game over.


 * It's extremely easy to run out of chicken feed and / or fodder if you're not paying attention to it, and, more often than not, it will happen on a Thursday when Green Ranch closes. Refill your animal's feed when it gets into the single digits, because otherwise you could very well forget, only to wake up on a Thursday, having just written in your diary. If this happens (and I assure you it does), you may be able to buy yourself a day by leaving all your animals outside. This will automatically feed them, but it will be a hassle getting them back inside the next day. If it's raining, you're just out of luck.


 * There is a glitch in the game where your cow's milk becomes better when it is healed after becoming sick. Although this is a quick and easy way to upgrade that cow's milk, I wouldn't advise it. Yes, it works, but it violates one of the requirements. There are other ways than abuse to earn your cow's love. Remember- Cows are people too.


 * If you do give the Goddess of the Pond an offering at the beginning of Summer and wish for weather, there will be a much smaller chance of a typhoon crashing through that summer. Some sources claim that if the weather channel says that there will be a typhoon the next day and you give the Goddess of the Pond an offering, wishing for weather, then the next day will be bright and sunny. I don't believe it, though, and you shouldn't either.


 * Make a copy of your game every week or so by moving your current game to an empty slot at the screen where you choose your game. This is so you don't have to start all the way over from Spring Year 1 if you make a small, but fatal error.

The Easy Part
To begin "Push the ". Wow, that was easy!

You'll be asked to name yourself, your farm (not that you ever see the name again), your dog, and your horse ("glue" is always a nice name). For birthday, I would choose Winter or Fall to allow enough time to befriend all the townsfolk so they will give you something nice on your birthday.

When you have entered all your information, you wake up in the farmhouse on the first day of Spring. Wait a minute? It's the 3rd? We must have overslept! Grab your rucksack and let's get going, there's a lot of work to do.