First Day Guide: What To Do on Day 1 in SoS: FoMT

by Kal S.

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a remake of the classic Harvest Moon game.

It keeps all the nostalgic elements but delivers them in a more stylized format. It follows the same storyline as the original Harvest Moon: FoMT title, but with some quality-of-life changes that give it a remastered feel.

So let’s get started on our first adventure!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Simple vs. Normal Mode
- Simple Mode
- Normal Mode
Getting The Day Started
- Tip: How Sleep Works
Task 1: Cleaning Up Your Field
Task 2: Buy Seeds & Plant Them
Task 3: Foraging
Task 4: Explore The World

Simple vs. Normal Mode

At the beginning of the game you’ll have to pick between Simple Mode or Normal Mode.

Either is fine, so pick the difficulty that works for you! Story-wise, the mode you pick doesn’t make any real difference.

However, the mode you choose will determine how you play the first couple of days on your farm.

The mode selection menu in SoS: FoMT allows you to choose between Simple and Normal mode

Simple Mode

You get a couple of things set up for you already. You start the game with 5x as much money (2500G).

And you also get to have 18 turnips planted already on the farm, so it cuts down on initial expenses.

Simple mode will let you enjoy a more casual playthrough.

It’s also faster to gain progress because it’s easier to rack up friendship points. It doesn’t make the game super easy, but it improves your quality of life from the get-go.

Normal Mode

You start with the standard 500G and it’s all on you from there.

This option might be better for seasoned players that are used to starting from humble beginnings.

It’s also good if your play style favors a more grindy, min-maxing experience.

Getting The Day Started

You can’t change things like your name, gender, or your character’s appearance after you start the game.

However, you can equip new clothes by selecting the mirror in your house.

The mirror in your farmhouse opens to display costumes you can choose from

After the initial cutscene when you exit the house, you get introduced to Zack. He collects and sells all the stuff you put in the shipping bin every afternoon at 5:00 PM.

If you choose to play in Simple Mode, you can already harvest 9 turnips from the farm on the first day and sell them without having to do anything.

Zack welcomes you to Mineral Town by teaching you how to use the shipping bin

Keep in mind that if you ship anything after 5 PM, you won’t get money until the next day.

5 seconds of real time equals to 10 minutes of in-game time, so plan accordingly.

To make it easier to get around, you also have the ability to walk through crops and jump over objects.

How sleep works in Story of Seasons: FoMT

The bed in your farmhouse is where you head to rest after a long day.

But while that may seem simple, the sleep mechanics are a little more complicated in Story of Seasons.

Sleeping doesn’t necessarily guarantee a full restore of stamina and fatigue. According to the Story of Seasons wiki, this is how energy is regenerated:

Stamina

50 points per night, plus
7 points for each hour of sleep

Fatigue

5 points per night, plus
2 points for each hour of sleep

Make sure to come back every night before it gets too late, and avoid exhausting your stamina/fatigue meters.

You can monitor them by looking at the upper left corner of your screen. If your fatigue level maxes out (the icon will turn blue), you might oversleep the next day and lose time.

If you find yourself waking up with less stamina than you would like, you can head over to the hot spring near the bottom left of the farm to restore energy.

Task 1: Cleaning Up Your Field

Once you grab your tools and head outside, you’ll be greeted by an overgrown plot of land.

Your field will be littered with rocks and branches.

You can pick them up for resources, or you could just clear away the debris and then till the ground to prepare it for planting crops.

Sometimes you can find money in the ground, so it’s good to start clearing out your field before you buy the seeds.

You might find enough money to buy extra seeds, which means more profit!

Task 2: Buy Seeds & Plant Them

Seeds can be bought at the General Store, which opens at 9 AM. It closes at 5 PM though, so start exploring the town before that!

The store is located at the upper portion of the map.

The General Store is also closed on Tuesdays and Sundays, so make sure to head over ASAP if you want to make the most out of your first season.

Failing to get seeds on the first day means you’ll have to wait until Spring 4th to plant your first crops.

Unlike other farming games, the seed packets you get in SoS: FoMT cover a 3×3 field.

That means for each seed packet, you get 9 individual crops.

Task 3: Foraging

At the start of the game you have a stamina of 150. This tends to run out very quickly if you’re hoeing and watering the farm.

So run around the area and see if you can pick up any forageable items.

You can eat or throw them into the shipping bin for extra cash. This will be helpful when you’re just starting out in Mineral Town.

Here are some spots that usually have items you can pick up:

Map of Mineral Town with forageable locations annotated

Fruit tree – to the left of your farmhouse
Mother’s Hill – near the hot spring
Forest – south of town
Secret Forest – in the middle of town
Mineral Beach – east side of the map

Forageables will spawn randomly from time to time, so visit these locations!

Mouse over your in-game map to search for locations by name.

Task 4: Explore The World

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town has a lot of hidden gems and secrets.

There’s really no right way to play the game, so feel free to do whatever you want!

You can also talk to the other villagers when you explore the town for the first time. Interacting with them and giving them gifts will increase friendship points, so make sure to socialize often.