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I'm not even sure if there's a large fanbase to the original Harvest Moon nowadays. However, I still decided to update my old fanfic scenes because I really enjoyed revisiting them and rewriting them into a better format of what they there back in 2016. Which seems like such a long time ago!
Harvest Moon was always my favorite game as a kid besides Animal Crossing. I used to go home and tell my grandmother about how I had a virtual cow to take care of and named her 'Moo-Moo' (I still love that cow BTW) I was only able to physically play the Gamecube version. But, I got so sucked into the fandom at one point to where I did a lot of research and watched more than my fair share of youtube videos of other versions of the game to get a well enough grasp on the universe these characters live in. I only have interest in Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, Friends of Mineral Town, and Harvest Moon DS: Cute.
The DS Cute version tends to have better character designs and development for the plot so I tend to reference that game the most. Mainly because it makes Marlin's character is more deep and likable than in the Another Wonderful Life game. I'm not just fond of Marlin and Jill. I actually really love the whole Mineral town gang including Claire. And will sometimes refer to those characters. And real talk: Muffy is my waifu 110% no questions asked!
I don't think there is a set time period for the Harvest Moon universe. For my story's sake, I decided to set a plot somewhere in the 60s. Mainly because of the clothing designs to most of the characters. Rock wears bellbottoms and looks to be dressed in mod fashion. Which can also indicate his 'slacker' behavior his parents are worried about. Gustafa is a straight-up hippie and Marlin has a pompadour which was extremely fashionable back then. Plus, his old-fashion views on women are questionable. Along with just all the other outdated items in both Forget-Me-Not Valley and Mineral Town. Plus, I also just really love getting a taste of another decade.
When I was rereading the scenes on my google docs I was actually laughing hysterical of how short and careless I wrote everything. And I don't think it was so much because I was terrible at writing. I remember not putting a lot of effort into the work because it wasn't my plot or my characters. Which, is still understandable in my eyes today. Though, I did things differently this time around and decided to put my heart into it. The idea for the vignettes from the start was because of Marlin has an illness that makes him extremely vulnerable to bad weather and other elements. It's the reason why he moved to the countryside.
My point being is that I wanted to rewrite this fanfic so even if you don't know the fandom you can still enjoy the universe these characters live in.
I also want to mention the fandom works that fueled my ideas and I still highly enjoy to this day: a fanfic called Seasons by A.H. Nichole and a comic of Claire and Gray named This Guy? by AngelCou
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Also, I kept changing Marlin's age while going back to researching his official age is 33-years-old. So, I'm keeping it that way. I figured Jill is probably 23-years-old because she seems to be around the same age as Rock who's 22-years-old.