I'm going to preface this by saying that I have never played any of the Harvest Moon series. I've seen a handful played, but I've never played one myself. Not really knowing what to expect, I bought the game right after 1.2 came out, loaded it up, played obsessively for a while, then set it back down. Then a few months later, went back to it, played it obsessively for a while, and then set it back down. In two years, I've logged 268 hours of play time. And I find myself going to it more and more when the stresses of real life get to be too much. You can play the game with an eye on maximizing profit, ignoring any other goals. There's nothing wrong with that, and there are plenty of ways to make money. Harvesting any of a wide variety of crops, making jellies, wines, cheese and mayonnaise, harvesting honey, creating an orchard full of fruit trees. You can go fishing, or mining, even raise fish or certain kinds of monsters (slimes). Talking to villagers gives you unique scenes to look inside Pelican Town and the relationships between the villagers. They will also send you useful things in the mail and most villagers have a recipe or two (sometimes more) that they will send you in the mail. Once you've upgraded the farmhouse once, you can cook a wide variety of meals with a wide variety of ingredients required. But you don't HAVE to do any of this. You can forge your own path if you want. The game doesn't force you into anything. I like to go down to the saloon, play one of my favorite tracks and talk to everyone in the saloon, then sit (well, stand, there's no sit animation) and relax until my song is finished. Finally, all updates to the game are still happening (1.4 came out last December), and they are free. There is no DLC, and there don't appear to be any plans for DLC. Simply put, this is one of the best $15 I've ever spent. It's a steal at twice the price. You'll find yourself coming back to the valley again and again. Now I have a fair to get ready for.
