Thursday, July 3, 2008

Choking on a Rice Cake




This Event was so hilarious that I had to share it. I often replay Events, including Festival Events in order to satisfy myself that I have experienced all possible variables.

In HM Cute DS as well as in other Harvest Moon games, characters attending the New Year's Day Rice Cake Festival often refer to the possibility that some one could choke on a rice cake. Here are some of these remarks:

Hardy: I was just worried that somebody might choke on something... But then, I may be the one who chokes on rice cakes...
Elli: If you eat rice cakes too fast, you might choke on them! Be careful.
Kassey: I almost died once, a long time agao. I choked on a rice cake!
Patrick: My older brother almost choked on a rice cake once.

In Island of Happiness, this sorry situation can occur to YOUR character randomly.

Sabrina warned me of the possibility, saying that: 'If you eat rice cake too fast, you could choke... So be careful.'

Even so, I never dreamed it could happen to ME.

The first couple of times I played through the Event, nothing untoward occurred. I took my 'share' of rice cakes home with me. The reason I replayed the event a couple of times actually was the realisation that the number of rice cakes given to you is random. One time I obtained only one; another time I received 12. I was trying to discover what the maximum number could be when I actually CHOKED on a rice cake at the Festival!

You can see my character doubled over in the centre of the group, choking on her rice cake while the Islanders watch. Another screenshot shows her actually pounding the rice cakes. I loved that detail.

What a wonderful game this is! Fans of Harvest Moon may be aware of the fact that there is more than one version of each of the Heart Events. The next Heart Event will vary depending on your response during any Heart Event. In other words, there are different 'paths' for the Heart Events for any Eligible Girl/Bachelor in Island of Happiness. You would be required to play a dozen games at least to experience all of them. The fact that you can play either as a girl or a boy means that Island of Happiness actually is TWO separate games in a single cartridge.

There are dozens of 'optional characters' that only will come to the Island if you complete specific goals. They tend to be linked to accomplishments in one of the activities such as mining, fishing or ranching. Some of them appear to be linked to Island improvements, such as paving another road.

2 comments:

Jadis said...

You... choke? On a rice cake? That is unheard of, and keeps it novel! Maybe I'll try reloading the game over and over again...

I truly envy you for being able to get your own copy of Island of Happiness before any of us have it! I hope your guide for the game went over fine :)

Freyashawk said...

Thanks, Kalypsocry. Actually, I didn't accept the IoH assignment for a printed guide mainly because I thought I would not be able to meet their deadline. The game is HUGE. The assignment I accepted was for the upcoming Wii Harvest Moon game. And thank you for your kind wishes. I hope they like the guide... I actually haven't heard yet. I couldn't make the original deadline for that one either, but at least I was able to finish it ultimately. If it had been IoH, I can't imagine being able to write a proper guide for THAT in less than three months!

And by the way, it's not my own copy, sad to say. It has to be returned ultimately and I'll have to start from the beginning like every one else with the retail version.

Even so, it is very exciting to be able to explore the game early. More than that, it will allow me to have a guide for the game on the internet when the game is released.