I couldn't get into it until I realized that night never ends and that you can just keep running to the hotspring to restore your energy.
>>2760868I don't know how "popular" it was at release, but my cousin asked for it one Christmas and my parents got it for him. I remember them saying it was hard to find and being a little bewildered at my cousin's taste in games. My cousin also played a lot of computer games, so I imagine he was interested in the simulation aspects. I think most of the popularity of Harvest Moon is thanks to the latter games in the series though.