Introduction

Harvest Moon DS and DS Cute are some of my favourite games of all time, and a greater (and more rambly) explanation can be found here. I usually get to around the same place when I re-play these games- Married, maybe 65 sprites rescued, and maybe I have a toddler running around- before I get bored or restart. I’ve never 100% completed the games before, and honestly, I don’t think I will.

It’s not a game designed to be 100% completed. This guide for the Retroachievements list says it succinctly enough, but the most difficult achievements include travelling 65k+ floors in a mine, spending hundreds of hours in a Hot Spring (which is already a challenge to get), watering very specific tiles in the whole TOWN, and shipping an item 100,000 times.
And the worst of it? You can’t complete EVERYTHING in one save file. You can’t watch all the rival weddings AND get all the music records in the same file, because some records are unlocked only after marrying a normal, local candidate.

But that being said, I’m willing to give it a try. Maybe not 100% completion in the literal sense, but maybe… 99%? Or rather, 100% of these goals:

• Get married and raise a child (About as basic of a goal as you can get in HM)
• Win all the contests throughout the year
• Attend all the rival weddings
• Rescue 101 sprites
• Complete the shipping list
• Catch all the fish
• Mine to the bottom of all 4 mines
• Become best friends with everyone in town
• Upgrade all the tools and accessories to a mythic level
• Upgrade ALL the buildings (including the very expensive vacation villa)

And those goals range from ‘easy enough’ to ‘how about you build an actual life with real fulfilment and achievement you loser’. I don’t expect this to be a short ride, or even fun the whole time. Logs on this challenge might be months or years apart. But it’s in the long haul.

09/05/2025- First spring

I named my character Julia, chose the AWL design, and named my farm Sunny, my dog Russel, and my cat Mitzy. The story begins very, very simply- Julia is lazy and refuses to take care of the farm.

The Harvest Goddess and the Sprites are at their wits' end at getting Julia to work, but don’t want to give up because they promised Julia’s mother that they’d make her proud. After 2 seconds of thinking, the Harvest Goddess chooses to give up. The Harvest King, whom we never see but can hear, doesn’t like this. After a grim argument, he punishes the Goddess by turning her to stone. The Sprites insult him for this, and he sends them to another dimension. He writes a letter to Julia, delivered by the Witch Princess, and tells her to work hard to bring them all back.

Which brings us to the game, and the first thing I do is find the easiest sprites around town, break axes and stones, collect wild grasses, and say hello to everyone.

I encountered almost all of the black heart events for the rivals and a few for my character. And which candidate am I going for? You’ll find out.

I also saved up for the basket to rescue Veggie, completed the first mine (and then unlocked the second), harvested my first crops, and I am currently waiting for my hammer to be upgraded.

So, considering it’s the very start of the game, it’s been a rather productive gaming session.

 

 

 

 

10/05/2025- Commuting and working

I work on the weekends, and usually pass the time on the commute by listening to music, watching videos, or listening to summarised audiobooks on the Blinkist app. Though today I entertained myself by playing more of HM.

I received my golden hammer and quickly rescued Tulpin, harvested my strawberries and turnips, and low-key spamming the 3 Indigo sprites to get through the ‘ask indigo team to heal you X amount of times’ rescue requirements. In virtually every other playthrough before, I had never used the indigo team. To me they were always too out the way to use, even on the farm, and it was always easier to drink down the stamina drinks. But as I’m making an effort to rescue as many sprites as possible, I’ll do what it takes.

Still annoying though.

I didn’t get much done after work either, as real-life chores came first (boooo) and we had a long dinner. But I did harvest more crops and save a few more Sprites. I think Earth was among them, but I forgot pretty easily ^-^’

Also, I forgot that Spring 14 counts as an entire holiday in Forget me not valley. I don’t dare put items into the shipping bin on holidays, even though I’m fairly certain items are just collected the next day. It’s a habit I had as a child and I don’t think I’ll ever break it.

I sent my watering can to Saibira’s to get upgraded, and hired the watering team for my crops the day before. Would have been great, except I’ve only rescued two and they’re a bit useless. Now I’m gonna have wonky turnips （；´д｀）ゞ And to top it all off, there is the cooking festival the next day. I never understood why Sprites always take holidays off :| You work 5 days a month anyway

 

 

12/05/2025- Nice & Warm

I’m lucky enough that a day off of mine was on a particularly hot and sunny day. It doesn’t seem all too popular, but I prefer hot and sunny days over cold ones. Maybe because I’m more sensitive to the cold than other people, so my ‘nice and mild’ is pletny of others’ ‘way too hot’. That’s not to say I don’t like rainy days, so long as I don’t have to be outside in them, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of basking in the sun like a lizard （￣︶￣）

Anyway. That meant I could continue with the harvest moon quest outside in the summer house (Which is really an open shed with chairs and a sofa in it, but still gorgeous). Despite the end of spring being a bit of a drag, I got my Mystrile watering can so it won’t take me the whole morning to water my crops anymore. I also rescued Koto after eating 150 wild grasses, Fraw for shipping 1000 items (which unlocked the horse the next day), Kevin for placing a shipping item into the horse's saddlebags, and Roli for using the upgraded watering can. Maybe now with a 3rd member they won’t leave half my crops unwatered, but we won’t see ~

I also try to boost my fishing list at the Goddess pond, but even with the gold fishing rod I seem to have very poor luck. I end up saving infront of the water, casting my rod, and reloading if I get nothing or trash after an hour. After a few small fish, I remember the 24th is Marlin’s birthday. And even though he’s not my future husband in this playthrough, he is my usual go-to in DS Cute runs. I just always found him the most attractive and also most attainable out of the others, though I imagine that’s not much of a compliment to give someone. So since it’s his birthday, I go to buy him a nice bottle of wine… Except, it’s a Tuesday and the supermarket is closed, and I’m unable to get him his other liked items…

Sorry Marlin, maybe next year… Just as well, really. I hope to witness all the rival events and weddings, and I can’t do that if I’m too well liked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14/05/2025- We’re going on a holiday ~

For about the 3rd year in a row, my friends and I are taking a small trip to a seaside town. This time we’re going to Cleethorpes, a north-east town with not much going for it. At least from my research. But it does have a Taco Bell, which I think is a major factor in why we chose this place.

But my friends and I aren’t really looking for a jam-packed holiday with a million scheduled things on our itinerary. It’s very much a ‘Chill on the beach, play video games, and mooch about’ kinda holiday. About as low key as you can get. I love it \(￣︶￣*\))

Anyway, the journey takes two trains, and the 2nd one is just under two hours. Which is fine by me, because I have my mini farm to keep me entertained.

My main routine this summer is fish in the early mornings (when the chances are much better, apparently I wasn’t just unlucky in the afternoons), pay attention to my chickens, water my crops and realise I planted them in a very awkward way, talk to Kai, and trigger random events

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my downtime I start digging and watering spots around the valley to get the elusive ‘water a random secret spot’ sprites, and there’s no way to cheese this either. Except maybe using the tool necklaces but I only have one of those. Amazingly, I found one quite early! Eviran. One down, two to go!!

I also realise that it would probably be easier and more convenient to attempt this small challenge with higher levelled tools later on. Actually, yeah I might do that...

But for lighter news, my first chick has been born. Brambe, as I couldn’t fit Bramble.

I also got the mystrile sickle and rescued Forest, the leader of the green team. [I have no idea if rescuing the leaders will make sprites work better, but I’d hope so.

 

 

Later on, after my friends and I spent time on the beach (which was in low tide so no sea swimming for us), I continued my sprite challenge in the hotel room. It sounds anti social, but my friends and I are very much ‘be in the same room, make dumb jokes or half-watch silly videos and do our own thing’ kinds of people. It works perfectly for us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, perhaps it was the power of friendship, but I had a very productive gaming session. I found TWO more of the ‘water the secret tile’ Sprites,

and another two different sprites when I upgraded and used the mystrile hoe and fishing rod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also rescued Decoy after cutting 250 branches, meaning I’m half way to the next one at 500 branches.

Two chicks were born, Chilli and Delila.

I lost the chicken festival to nobody’s surprise (but it’s the taking part that counts! Especially for Venus, who’s only rescued after actively participating in 3 whole festivals)
AND I saved enough money to purchase another house upgrade and a pond. Thank you, Excavation site jewellery!!

o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on a funny note- My dog ball glitched into the bed because it was moved after the house upgrade. I can’t pick it up.

As weird as it is for Thomas to randomly ‘find’ dog balls that you know are in your own damn house, I think I’ll be happy to let him get this one.

 

 

15/05/2025- Diggy diggy hole

I didn’t make a lot of progress outside the mines today, especially since I spent most of my time being with my friends (and we’ve been having a great time on holiday ~ Despite. everything). But I did reach the bottom of the 2nd mine, which was 255 floors. Most of the time I just fell down the holes while attacking the mine creatures. Which by the way, are weird.

A whole ecosystem inside the mines. Are they real animals, adapted to the depths, or a manifestation of magic? Did the Witch Princess or the Goddess put them there? Are they the lost souls of the dead? Is the ‘Dark Hero’ at the bottom just the angry spirit of the AWL farmer from 100 years ago? Who put the sword there?? Σ(っ °Д °;)っ Honestly, you could fall into a strange rabbit hole with the on-goings of the mines, but weird, magical things are so commonplace in the HM games that I never thought about it until now.

I’ll probably have to return to this mine again sometime to finish the shipping list anyway, as I’m almost certain that I didn’t get everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20/05/2025- Back to summer

I’ve not written for a hot second. But I’m back from holiday and started playing again after a mini break, mostly because I returned to work and had other tasks to do, like seeing family and buying computer parts (。﹏。*)

But when I did make time to play, I got a lot done ~

The pond was finally complete, meaning I rescued Yacht when I fished in the pond. It also means I can now have ducks!! But not right now, cause I filled my sheds with chickens so now I have to buy a new shed,,, (* ￣︿￣) I swtg I am funding Gotz whole life right now. Sorry Mineral Town, hope you don’t need your only construction worker.

Since I’m rapidly running out of space on my own farm, I started an orchard by the Goddess pond. Honestly, due to the requirements for the harder sprites of the Blue and Green Team, I think it’s expected and basically necessary to grow crops outside your farm. Some areas (like behind the waterfall, the Goddess pond, and the fields outside the mines) are actually more fertile than your own farm.

I also crushed 250 small rocks, and rescued Stony!!

Then I put my game down for a bit and came back to it complete frozen φ(゜▽゜*)♪. and I hadn’t saved since the previous night,,, great,,, SO uh. I crushed 250 rocks again and tried to not be bitter. I also rescued Fry and Walter using the Mystrile necklace to finish poors quickly in the morning. It drains a lot of your energy, but I bulk ordered energy drinks from Van when he was in town, so Gotz isn’t the only person making his living solely from me.

 

A few days later, my pineapples were ready to harvest, and just in time for Kai’s birthday. I rescued Moor by shipping a pineapple, and boosted Kai’s affection to a blue heart (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) It’s a shame he’ll be leaving when summer is over, but Julia will be waiting for the next year ~ (Though I have to admit, Griffin is starting to look fine after a few rnadom events with him. Uh oh…)

I also attended the cow festival dispute not having any cows yet, as I’m still focusing on rescuing the bird-related sprites, but I did rescue Staurn in the process. He announces Valley news and reminds the player of festivals the morning of. I wish he announced birthdays to so I didn’t have to constantly keep them in mind, but nobody is perfect. The next day I also bought 2 ducks, thus giving me 10 birds and rescued Mick in the process. Next on my lift is having 15 animals born on my farm, and getting a total of 20 birds.

I also restored my stamina with the Indigo team 100 times to rescue Nette.

These sprites aren’t hard per say, but lord are they tedious, especially if you speak to them a second too early and have to mash through a monologue about turtles or ice cream or whatever. Urgh (￣﹏￣；) …

By that point it was past midnight, so I decided to be a functioning human and go to bed, otherwise I wouldn’t want to get out of bed in the morning.