Use for upgraded tools

Question

So there are a lot of tool upgrades, but what is the use for them? I can see that they would sell for more if I were to sell them (which I don't) but how do they actually make things better? I can understand the hoe and the axe but when I upgraded the stuff once, I didn't see the improvement.

Answer 1

The primary benefit of upgraded tools is two-fold:

1. They use less stamina (This is absolutely huge, especially for the Watering Can)
2. You need to spend less time doing the same action.

I'm going to use the Watering Can as an example:

• Old Watering Can - uses five stamina per use, good for 8 fields before needing a refill.
• Watering Can - uses four stamina, good for 13 fields.
• Copper - Still four stamina, but now good for 18 fields.
• Silver - uses three stamina, and good for 23 fields.
• Gold - Still three stamina, and good for 41 fields.
• Master - Two stamina, and 55 fields.
• Orichalcum - Still two stamina, and 80 fields.
• Philosopher's - One whole stamina, and can water 112 fields.

What's missing here is the amount of time it takes to water a field completely; that's not very quantifiable, but by the time I hit Silver, I had two rows of crops, and I was alternating between them, up and down, and just watering constantly. I regularly go through all my crops in a couple of hours. Each upgrade also increases your walking speed while watering.

So, essentially, upgrades increase your efficiency. You can do more in the same amount of time, and use less stamina doing it. Since Harvest Moon is essentially a time management simulator, upgrades help you do exactly that.

Stamina and field values yanked from Fogu.