This is the newest addition to the Harvest Moon family! A sequel to Tree of Tranquility, this game was released in Japan October 2008, and released in the United States November 2009. The UK has not set an official release date yet, however when it is set, I will post it for all of you cool people over there in the UK to preorder!
For those of you who may not know anything about this game...
Basically, the island is in trouble (shocker there right?) and your character--male or female--must save the island from having to close down. The five elements (fire, water, air, earth, heart) have pretty much died out and it is your job to restore them. However, because there is ALWAYS a catch, the only way you can save the island is through restoring the Harvest Sprites. The five sprites, Alan, Ben, Collin, Daren, and Edge can only ring their bell through a series of different events. Once all the bells are rung, the Harvest God appears--making him elegible for marriage for the first time since Harvest Moon was created.
Apart from the main story line, there are different "side-events". From a ghost in the graveyard, a pirate treasure hunt, and different events with the bachelors/bachelorettes, this game has pretty much everything! Your other goal while playing is to start a family.
Bachelors: Luke, Owen, Julius, the Wizard, Harvest God/King, Gill, Chase, Calvin, Jin, Toby
Bachelorettes: Anissa, Candace, Harvest Goddess, Kathy, Luna, Maya, Phoebe, Renee, Selena, Witch
With each of these bachelors/bachelorettes comes two children. Once your heart level with your spouse reaches a certain number of hearts (different number for witch/wizard and goddess/god) your spouse will ask for a child. You can choose to accept or decline this proposal. If you accept (which is reccomened) you can choose the gender of the baby or have your spouse choose. To clear up a rumor: no matter what option you choose, even if you let your spouse choose, the child will always look like your spouse. 14 days later, your baby will be born!
~New Characters~
I already mentioned above that all of the bachelors/ettes will be staying for Animal Parade and I introduced the new ones as well. However, for the first time, there are *FOUR NEW PROTAGONISTS!!!!!*
Yukki is one of the playable boys in the game. When choosing your character, one can choose to play as Yukki or Takeru (the male protogonist from Tree of Tranquility) This time around, there are NO pre-programmed voices when your character wakes up or when your characters endures work.
Hikari is the female protagonist. Along with Akari (from Tree of Tranquility) she is one of the two females one can pick to play as. Personally, I think they are both adorable--seeing as I am female and have played all the female files before the male files. Although if you are looking for a change from tree of tranquility, Hikari is the way to go.
Obviously, YouTube is a big help, although not all of the events are posted for every single character. I have found that the event "spouse quarrel" has barely been recorded at all. (Chase is the only person I've seen this event happen to) So, it is my duty to record all of the Animal Parade events and post them here!
Questions or comments?! Feel free to leave them here and I will get back to you ASAP! Which, in my case, is pretty fast considering Animal Parade is my current infatuation ;)
The characters you'll see in my videos?
You may see a number of characters in my videos when they are posted here. To get more "aquainted" with them, here is some stuff about each.
Stephie: that's me! The character madly in love with Luke and my first ever file. :) She is the one grabbing all the rival events/marriages/kids, extra events, and all that stuff. If I decide to do the "children's journey" my daughter-in the next life-will live happily ever after with Chase/Chihaya or Wizard. Haven't decided yet.
ESmerela: My mom's character. Happily married to Owen. She, whether she knows it or not, is my expiremental character. She endures all the trials and tribulations that Stephie doesn't want to go through. If something interesting happens, I film it.
Sven: My expirement character. A true player, courts all the girls (so I can get their events). He is also the guy's worst enemy. Gifting them with the most horrible gifts possible (so I can record their responces) If he ever gets married, I will do the "child journey" and play as a boy again so I can marry the Harvest Goddess, if I play as a girl, I'll marry the Harvest God/King.
That's the plan!!! Now, I have also played a bunch of other Harvest Moon games, so I'm not cluless as to how everything works :) Even though this is an Animal Parade guide, I may throw in little annalogies or comparisons from other games once in awhile.
Done with my rambling? Leave a responce and let me know what YOU need help with! I'll make a special post on it if it is a big enough problem! Otherwise, I'll answer whatever question you have-just not make a post about it. Thanks!
Oh, and vote for which bachelor/bachelorette ESmerela's children should marry! She's having a hard time deciding which kid to send on and then who she should marry next!