Some QOL and game issues that have slowed me down

[Deilin]

I do like this game a lot, Been playing Harvest moon since it first came out and have a gameboy save that is 40 years game time. With any in the genre, there is good and bad. This is just some of the mechanics and quirks that have made the game a slight slog at times... There is so much potential so expanded DLC expansions with this game.

1) Always that one item you can't get...

Help me RNGesus. I have 2 saves going. My initial run (in year 3 bloom), and a run where I don't make the mistakes of the first run. That said, randomness can always bite you.

In my first run, it took over an in game year to get quartz Discovery 3 for glass. I never dug any up from excavation site until year 2. That leads to a second issue. I didn't get my broom until halfway through frost year 2 because I couldn't get a ruby to get the ax to chop spirit wood. I ended up looking up how to get the other ingredients and got them with no issue. A Cinderella fish still eludes me for some needs, even with the best equipment in game..

2) Discovery sucks...

Can't learn anything until you "find" it with no real clues of where and when until you do... Had to look up a lot. I miss the days a game manual that at least gave basic information before you even started the game.

3) targeting system is horrible.

In trying to make my farm area nice, i set out grass, and then put my studs and roost on thee grass,,, Everything is targeted, and that is bad. Some sort of "mode" system would help.

NORMAL = as it is now
FARMING = Targets crops, animals, animal buildings, and gathering
Decorating/Build = target decorations like paths, fencing, etc
Tool = targets only what tool you have in hand targets
Gather = only targets gathering

4) Movement (Cat/Tzoru/Broom)

Cat is hard to turn and pick up items. I also glitch and get stuck in most of the walls.

Have 5 Tzoru, one of each breed I've seen, and am unimpressed. Worst is trying to run uphill, which is slower than walking on foot. Even when sprinting, it feels slow

Broom should have ability to go up and down without other movement. Finally get the broom and is an unimpressed as with the Tzoru. I still find myself running most places since I haven't got the items to unlock alters.

5) TO round it to a top 5, farm/decor layering overlap on the west side preventing perfect decorating of outside farm (snap).

[Deilin]

I have a 6th....

Sprinklers. When farming, the most time wasted is watering. Almost all games have some sort of aid beyond raining that can help water faster (at extra cost of something, energy more water used). Maybe have the spirits that can help plant, water and harvest. Not as efficient as you, but something.

[Gingerbred Fred]

Spoilers 1 of 2:

1. As Frita taught Abrill: find Quartz on the ground; also dig it up from solitary Dig Mounds. Both such places lie around Frita's hut, Mansion & Farmland, along with 9 nearby Wheatfield/Beach area Dig Mounds.
Ruby: randomly in a Chest west along the footpath from Steppes to Desert.
Spiritwood: aim and toss Astral Termites, found in Dark Green wooden crates, at a stump to deliver 3-4 pieces to Abrill's backpack...So Cool...a Community Screenshot poster gave us the Termite Tip.
Cinderella: Primitive Rod & Dough (?) bait caught several (Spooner caught Sky Mackerels).

2. Patch 19 notes: "hardcore discovery" game. I make my own lists of discoveries in Notepad. I have for all lengthy games I've played since the 90's.

3. Targeting: agreed — Witch I Like — but Without picking up an entire Greenhouse by accident. Based on myriad player reports, I do Not do Cat Caves & Tzorus. One player posted a Community screenshot of his new Tzoru stuck headfirst in a treetop.

[Gingerbred Fred]

Spoilers 2 of 2:

4. I've had no Ishu's whatever with Cheshire (Abrill's vanishing cat familiar). Abrill never uses Teleport Altars; she loves flying too much...as do I. It's not a Flight Simulator; so it does take some practice and time to get the hang of it — with No panic-steering that wildly wobbles her.

5. Field planting plots and field decor misalignment has been left as is Since Early Access. Only greenhouses were modified to align with them.

6. Throwable Cloud potions found in Dark Green crates; eventually earn its recipe for doing certain Witch Exam exercises (Crystal Ball informs which ones). Irrigation Fertilizer, either bought or recipe-composted. Weather rituals for more rainy days (or sunny ones). Plant in Storm season, with off-season crops in greenhouses; Reverie season works too.

Do hope this helps.

[Deilin]

I'll be honest, I haven't used my stacks of termites and rock melting because everything says they destroy things (no hint of them still giving resources still).

As for the broom, you should still be able to do vertical movements without requiring horizontal movements.

In any case, there is a mater of bad luck with RNG. Still have dug up only one ruby, and the chests have been less than worthless, even moon phase ones. I have multiple chests with just rock stacks in them...