HARVEST MOON TYPE GAME!!

None of these questions involve scripting.

author=Mirak
Ditch this idea until you're experienced enough. It's too high level a project for someone new to this, you need to be comfortable with eventing, using variables and common events, and even then your options might be limited, requiring you to involve yourself with scripting, which is advanced stuff in rpgmaker.

Make a few short games first, to get your feet wet in the software.

I can understand why most people endorse it, but personally, I don't entirely agree with the "make a few short games first" prescription for RPGMaking.

I'm currently working on my first solo project, and it involves some reasonably complex eventing, and I've learned most of that during and for the sake of the process of making it. By comparison, I learned a lot less from my briefly attempted practice project, because it wasn't that interesting to me, so I didn't have the same enthusiasm to learn in order to get it done. I think there's a lot to be said for learning by doing something you're enthusiastic about, and not everyone can get enthusiastic about short practice games.

That said, one thing I think anyone should absolutely do before they start any project is work out a clear picture of what the project is going to entail, and build up at least enough familiarity with the game engine to understand what it's going to require of you to implement it. It's one thing to start a project knowing you're going to have to build certain skills in order to execute it, it's another thing entirely to start a project without knowing what skills you're going to need. If you have to start with smaller and simpler projects in order to get a sense of the skills you'll need for a larger one, by all means do so.

On a related note, I think that rather than deciding to make a Harvest Moon-style game, and then looking for feedback on what sort of setting and features it should have, it's better to try and work out what you would want a Harvest Moon-style game to be like. The premise should be something that you, personally, are enthusiastic about, since you're the one who'll going to have to carry the weight of actually making it.