How Long Are Your Days? Options

[Saffy]

I'm not sure if there's a topic on this issue or not, but if there is it's probably very old so whatever.

How long does a typical day in Harvest Moon or Rune Factory last for you? Do you try to rush through you days doing only what is necessary? Or do you make sure you put every bit of effort you can into each day to make it completely worthwhile?

I find my days tend to last between 20 and 30 minutes. I can usually get through two or three days an hour, which is why the games take forever for me to do. I realize I'm probably doing too much in my days and could be rushing, but to me I'm always fixed on needing to get more done. I suppose this is the result of poorer experiences when I first got into Harvest Moon and would rush through more of my days only to accomplish little. But I believe I'm taking it a bit too far and am instead not actually getting anywhere in the game.

So I'd like to start speeding up my days. Aside from just doing the basics, are there any suggestions?

[Toaster Boy]

It really depends on which game you're talking about.

But mostly, I suppose my days are rather short. A day for me would be around 10 minutes? Probably a bit more. I can get through a week of Harvest Moon in an hour, as long as it isn't AWL. But sometimes I do take longer in the beginning, since that's the most eventful part of the game.

[Saffy]

What do you do in your days then? The only game I've ever had days that short would probably be HM SNES.

[Toaster Boy]

I'll give you an example of MM:

I wake up and water my crops, while sometimes fishing something for my dog and or pig to eat. Then I gave a gift to someone/some people depending on what I needed. (IE: Befriending Woody for a level three house) After I finished that, I would either fish or go mining for awhile and deposit them in the shipping bin. Usually around then it's 6 game time and that's when I'm out of stamina and go to bed.

When you add in animals, they just cut down on my mining/fishing time.

[Mizukithepanda]

Well, if we're talking the old 1 Day = 10 minutes thing, (like in HM64) then my days were always about 30-40 minutes long. But that's because I always filled my barn and chicken coop to the bursting point and had a full greenhouse. Aside from those things, I'd spend all day either chopping wood, befriending villagers or whatever I needed to get through the game. I always remember not having enough time to do what I wanted or needed...

As for cutting down, I guess I'd just try and play strategically. You know, plan what you want to do with your day in advance so you're not trying to pack everything into one day. Also, you might want to cut down on things in the game that are, themselves, time consuming. Personally, I think that takes the fun out of it, but if spending less time per day is what you want, then go for it.

[Saffy]

My goal is to actually make progress and play through the game. I know if I get really into the game I'll still end up with a good file and end up playing two years or so. But I feel if I spend over 12 hours getting through Spring then it's very unlikely I'll even complete a year.

[trinest]

I don't deal with sidequests and stuff in the game, most of the time if I do them its because I'm bored- otherwise a typical game day is only a few minutes, I go and do the crops and feed the animals and then go to sleep.

[Fennec]

I usually do a 20/30 minute day, but on animal parade, it's about 45 minutes, sometimes longer.

[Alhanalem]

Some are about 10 minutes, other about 8 hours
Usually it's from 45m to 4h, it depends on the game and what I have to do...

RF 1 & 2: 2h - 7h
Normal HM's: 45m - 3h
Sunshine Islands (yeah, I got the game ¬¬"): 2h - 8h