First day of Summer and all my crops die?

[GOobERdOod]

So indeed the first day of Summer came and I walk outside to see all my crops are dead and dried. I can't even get any seeds back from all that was planted.
All that gold invested in all those seed and now just dead???

Am I missing some strategy here? You would think at least you could salvage some seeds from your dried up crop because investing all that money was a real loss.

[Hurodrik]

All the crops that are season specific (which is most of them) will wither when the season changes. There's no getting around that unless you have a greenhouse. The only crop I know that grows in two seasons (summer and fall) is corn.

[GOobERdOod]

Thanks for the tip. :(
Sad day indeed to see all those plants just dead and no seeds. ::: crying shame :::

So how does farming make sense? It was just getting started and then whammo!

[CeliriaRose]

How was the investment a loss. Provided you were harvesting as you went you should have easily made the cost of the seeds back multiple times over.

[NotThatHarkness]

That's one of the weak points of the game. It sometimes fails to communicate basic game mechanics to people who haven't played Harvest Moon games before. I lucked out and saw this discussed on the forums before my first spring ended. Otherwise I would have been pretty livid.

Basically, don't plant anything you cannot harvest before the end of the season(s) in which it grows.

[GOobERdOod]

I did make the investment back but I bought seeds with the profits and then planted them.

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by CeliriaRose:

How was the investment a loss. Provided you were harvesting as you went you should have easily made the cost of the seeds back multiple times over.

That would only be true if the plants actually grew to harvest before the end of the season. If you plant on day 27 not knowing they'll all die, you'll lose money.

[Nauya]

You have to time your farming since certain things can only grow in certain seasons. Some plants are multi seasonal. When you look at the seeds, they all tell you how many days it takes to grow. Outside of the general store you can look at the board and see a calendar, you can also purchase one from Robin to put in your own home.

There's also much more to do than farming, heck, the game is open enough that you can get through it just doing a few things.

One of my friends playing has never farmed, all he's done so far is fight things and fish.

[dubesor]

Originally posted by TreyNutz:

That's one of the weak points of the game. It sometimes fails to communicate basic game mechanics to people who haven't played Harvest Moon games before. I lucked out and saw this discussed on the forums before my first spring ended. Otherwise I would have been pretty livid.

the game teaches you, several times in fact. on top of that the ingame tv has a channel for many mechanics

[GOobERdOod]

Originally posted by Nauya:

You have to time your farming since certain things can only grow in certain seasons. Some plants are multi seasonal. When you look at the seeds, they all tell you how many days it takes to grow. Outside of the general store you can look at the board and see a calendar, you can also purchase one from Robin to put in your own home.

There's also much more to do than farming, heck, the game is open enough that you can get through it just doing a few things.

One of my friends playing has never farmed, all he's done so far is fight things and fish.

Thanks for the idea. Yea I don't think I'll be doing any more farming too soon :/

[GOobERdOod]

Originally posted by dubesor:

Originally posted by TreyNutz:

That's one of the weak points of the game. It sometimes fails to communicate basic game mechanics to people who haven't played Harvest Moon games before. I lucked out and saw this discussed on the forums before my first spring ended. Otherwise I would have been pretty livid.

the game teaches you, several times in fact. on top of that the ingame tv has a channel for many mechanics

I only saw a weather report on the TV and a fortune teller channel - no tips on farming or anything else.

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by dubesor:

Originally posted by TreyNutz:

That's one of the weak points of the game. It sometimes fails to communicate basic game mechanics to people who haven't played Harvest Moon games before. I lucked out and saw this discussed on the forums before my first spring ended. Otherwise I would have been pretty livid.

the game teaches you, several times in fact. on top of that the ingame tv has a channel for many mechanics

I've only seen it mentioned once in-game. That was in a book which is hidden behind a non-obvious mechanic and frankly was rather difficult to click on in the library (which seems to have been fixed in a patch I guess). I haven't seen this mentioned on the TV yet, and I'm almost through fall. For something so major, that bit of info should have been communicated better, IMO.

[Nauya]

You gotta tune into your TV every day before and after bed. Sometimes a 3rd channel will pop up that gives you hints and tips and sometimes even teaches your character new recipes for things.

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by GOObER:

Originally posted by dubesor:

the game teaches you, several times in fact. on top of that the ingame tv has a channel for many mechanics

I only saw a weather report on the TV and a fortune teller channel - no tips on farming or anything else.

It only shows up on some days but I have seen a few game tips on the TV. Not very often, but then I don't check the TV every day (in this game or real life).

[GOobERdOod]

Originally posted by Nauya:

You gotta tune into your TV every day before and after bed. Sometimes a 3rd channel will pop up that gives you hints and tips and sometimes even teaches your character new recipes for things.

Oh well :: smacks myself in face :: I shoulda known to retune the TV! How could I have been so limey in the head?!
Oh yea - cuz I was too busy farming!!

[NotThatHarkness]

Originally posted by Nauya:

You gotta tune into your TV every day before and after bed. Sometimes a 3rd channel will pop up that gives you hints and tips and sometimes even teaches your character new recipes for things.

Are you kidding? The day is too short to check the TV twice a day.

Well, I guess I could just see if the tips channel is on. That's not something that's obvious to do though.