Journal / Encyclopedia for recording known information.

The biggest problem with Harvest Moon style games is that it's easy to forget things you know about townspeople, to the point where you sometimes have to end up looking at a guide to figure out what to give who. So I was thinking, why not a journal at home to automatically record information as you come across it? So when you first talk to someone, their profile might look like this, without the text in brackets:

Monsters could be roughly the same. Instead of the above information, you unlock information about them as you kill enough of them. First their HP, then their attack / defense and then how many drops in total they have. But their known drops are recorded automatically when you see one drop. You could even have special fields, things like "Loves pumpkins (for taming)" or "Flees from eggplants".

 

I like that idea. I do want to mention one thing. This would be awesome to have in game in case your Internet goes down. That being said, I'm working on the wiki for the game. It's a work in progress, with as much information as I can get until the game is released, then it'll be full of info.

 

This is a good concept, having somthing to refer to everything that you have learned thus far in the game would be huge help in not forgetting those facts. And to oath, good luck on that wiki! I look forward to seeing it complete!

 

You know everybody can edit it

 

Ah, this would be awesome to have, although kinda..stalker-ish for the player in a way
He records what everyone likes in his/her little black journal..

 

It doesn't have to be an actual journal. It could be just a 'Knowledge' menu in the options, allowing you to sort through what's in your character's head.

 

I know that xD
Just thinking if it was an actual journal..
But that would make the game a bit..easy, having a knowledge database of every single living being in the Valley
I don't mind if there's an encyclopedia/journal of monsters/plants you've encountered before but a knowledge database for people of the Valley..a biological data of them..is a bit..OP in a way..

You can try recording what they like on a notepad or something..

 

Mmmm... I kinda like joker's idea here, if everything was just automatically recorded than it would eventually get kinda old and might make the game get a little bland with just consulting the "knowledge menue", I would rather prefur to have a notebook or journel to imput what I learn and discover myself. It would bring much more satisfaction I think if you discover somthing, note that experience, and refer to it for later than just discover somthing and have it sorted automatically in a menue.

 

Exactly, if that menu is there, it takes away the fun of finding out more about the NPC that you're living with
Although..would be more interesting if all the NPCs have randomized likes and dislikes, so people can't predict what they like

 

How does it take away the fun of finding out 'more' about the NPC there? It only reveals information that you've already learned by interacting with them and prevents you from having to memorize the likes and dislikes of 40+ NPCs without having to consult with a wiki page for things you've forgotten. Everyone shouldn't be expected to have a good enough memory to memorize birthdates, likes, dislikes and interests of a bunch of videogame characters.

 

Were not saying there shouldn't be any sort of aid in memorizing, were just saying that it shouldn't be in a menue. What me and joker are saying is that we think it would be more rewarding if we put what we learned into a journel/notebook of sorts.

 

It would still pop up in a menu if you accessed a physical journal in your house. There are people in this topic saying "No, it would be creepy if it were in an actual journal", so you can't please everyone it seems.

 

Well yeah, somthing would pop up and to some people it would be a bit creepy, but what would be even stranger would be this magical encylcopedia flitting over your head recording everything you do and having that information available on a whim. It's just that i think you should work a bit more to remember the things you learn, and i would like a system where i imput my own information for later use.

 

But... you already have that. In real life. It's called 'your brain' and 'memories'. When one of your friends tells you they don't eat meat, your 'magical encyclopedia' remembers that for future reference and can recall it on a whim. The difference between real life and the game is that you have very little attachment to the 40+ characters in the game and therefore your brain isn't necessarily going to easily recall that Ada likes roses, opals and carrots, while Billy likes eggs, milk and bread.

 

Thats what i'm saying though! We can't remember everything we learn, so thats why its important to take the time and note it down! It's like taking notes in a class so you can review what you learned and experienced later. I'm saying I would prefur to note the experiences myself rather than the game do it for me.

 

Then you don't ever have to pull up the character memories menu if you don't want to, you can open up a Notepad document and record it there. I personally don't think I should have to write down things in real life that my character has learned in-game. To take your argument to it's logical conclusion, crafting recipes shouldn't be listed anywhere either. You should have to discover them or read about them and then write them down in real life, rather than have them displayed in the crafting area to select what you want to make. Doesn't that sound like fun?

 

To answer your sarcastic statement, yes it does. You don't have to be rude you know, I'm just listing my ideas, as are you. The difference between your argument and mine is that you think mine is absurd and not really needed. The point of these threads is to make ideas, and then improve upon them, but all you have been doing is berating mine and not taking anything from it! I get you don't agree with my idea, and that you don't like it, but don't try to convince me that it is, because that would be trying to tell me that my opinion is wrong. Opinions aren't right or wrong, they just are there to state what a person thinks. So just take what you will from my idea, state why you don't like it, and just leave it be. I'm not telling you it has to be in game, I'm telling you that I would like to have it in game.

 

I'm not berating you, I'm trying to explain why your opinion on this is really odd.

My point: I'd like there to be a menu in game that I can access which records information my character learns.
Your point: No, I wouldn't like that menu to exist because I want to play the game differently. Even though I would never be forced to access that menu, meaning it would have zero effect on my gameplay while I record this information manually.

 

Why is it odd? To me it isn't. Isn't that what matters? I don't think that in any part of this whole conversation I have questioned the validity of your idea, so why is it so important to you to have to tell me that my opinion is so strange and outside ordinary reasoning? I like to profile information, I'm a very organized person. I think it would be cool to document what i find while in game. I prefur this than to having the documentation done for me. I've said this so many times, but you don't see my point; I would like to do this, does everybody else feel this way? No. Are there people who would like to do the information themselves? Yes. Thats the thing, you think i'm the only one who would like to see this kind of thing in game, and fail to realize it's a preference that maybe not everybody shares. Do you understand now?

 

Because my suggestion provides people who want the information to fill out as they discover it a way to do so, whereas your suggestion prevents that from happening because... you don't want that to exist, even though you never have to see it. It's the difference between "I believe everyone who wants icecream should have it" and "I believe no one should have icecream". No one likes it when someone tries to prevent people from having something optional but useful.

Or am I misreading what you're saying and you're basically asking for an in-game notepad to type things on, instead of using your computer's notepad? And if that's the case, do you want it existing alongside the 'knowledge' menu or in place of it?