One of the most interesting aspects of any Harvest Moon game is the individual nature of the responses of each of the characters you meet to gifts. One of my very first guides actually was a 'Taste Tests' Guide for 'Friends of Mineral Town'. My character, Aloysius, took a part-time marketing job with an undisclosed firm from another village in which he interviewed every character in Mineral Town with respect to their responses to different items. He catalogued these responses and, after sending the results to his 'employer', his findings were published on IGN...
After that, I produced more traditional 'Characters Guides' for each Harvest Moon game. I have created one for Island of Happiness in fact. You will find the link on the right side of this page. As yet, it is a 'work in progress' as I still need to transfer a host of responses from my Game Journal to the Guide.
The genius of Harvest Moon is found always in the details. Friendship is an integral aim in any Harvest Moon game and the gift of an item that an individual likes invariably raises his/her heart level. Island of Happiness is no different in this respect, but the actual responses of the characters can be very amusing or clever at times.
In Island of Happiness, you can raise EVERY character's heart level a little simply by speaking to him/her. This includes the heart levels of Eligible Spouses as well. Giving the individual an item he/she particularly loves will boost heart levels faster but a simple greeting suffices in truth.
If you have any free time during the day or night, you should travel to one of the outer areas of the Island to meet and greet every one there periodically. If you have a Teleport Stone, this becomes less time-consuming, but you still must travel the various paths to find every one in the area. Favourite gifts vary from person to person, but I have found there are three basic items that will please almost every one: chocolate, small fish and eggs. Every one will like ONE of the three. Some will detest the other two; some will like two out of three of these... each individual is unique, but you can't go wrong if you have all of these in your pocket when you go out to visit people on the Island. Having some Rubbish in your rucksack can be useful as well.
The old axiom that one man's rubbish can be another man's treasure always is proven in Harvest Moon. An old Boot usually will be accepted enthusiastically by one of the children in any Harvest Moon game, where most adults would be insulted by such a gift! The Witch Princess loves Fish Bones but, if you try to give her another variety of Rubbish, she will be offended.
Having a little free time to kill before midnight, I visited the Island Inn primarily to speak to Mark and in order to speak to all subsidiary characters as well. I gave Taka and Vanessa each a small fish, as they share a love of this item. Karen and Popuri refused to accept ANY gift from me as I hadn't spoken to either in a couple of days, but speaking to them was enough to set me back on the path of friendship...
When I went into Hiro's guest room, I decided to have a bit of fun with him. I therefore gave him an 'Empty Can' I had fished out of the river an hour ago. He surprised me a little when he responded enthusiastically (with music): 'How do you know what I like? Thank you.'
I didn't have the heart to admit that I hadn't known at all, that I had given it simply in jest... His response will be added promptly to the Characters Guide, however.
I did know that quite a few characters liked Empty Cans, but had not known him to be one of them as a former successful executive in a large firm. I had thought he would disdain any form of Rubbish. It goes to show once again that any character can surprise you in Harvest Moon!
7 comments:
Hiro clearly believes in recycling ... for cash.
Chocolate, small fish and eggs. Got it! =)
Well, SOMEONE has to like the empty cans, heh. =) Why else would you be allowed to give away the empty can (well, maybe if you really hate someone and want to lower their Friendship points or something)...?
Hmm, I keep hearing about this teleport stone--I should look into your guide for this, since I have now unlocked all three bridges and the areas are so HUGE and it's hard to talk to everyone who are so far away.
(I try not to spoil myself with guides too much, but sometimes I get really stuck in games, heh.)
How clever of you, Mars. You probably are correct, although he must hire some other less fortunate character to actually take the stuff to the recycling centre as Hiro sits in his room day and night and never budges!
Bunny, the teleport stone is expensive at 100,000G but can be found for sale at Chen's Market. It appeared in my game as soon as I unlocked the Rice Paddies. I would venture to postulate that you have to unlock EVERY area, which would include the Rice Paddy. After all, the Rice Paddy is one of the Teleport destinations. How could you go there if you hadn't unlocked it first?
The Horse is helpful in terms of transport until you can obtain the Teleport Stone, and in fact, although the Horse is slower, it will take you to your destination, where the Teleport Stone takes you only to the entrance of the Area. There is a section devoted to the Teleport Stone in my General Guide, which includes shortcuts and tips.
Your guides are the best.
Has anyone else run into a problem where there horse disappears? One day I went into the stable in the summer of year 2 and my horse wasn't there. I have looked all over the island for it and can't find it. It still shows in my assets list that I have a horse. Each day I have put pet food in its feed tray and it gets eaten - but its heart level is beginning to get lower. Do you have any advice?
There's something I found interesting about the gifts for subsidiary characters. A lot of them also like 'junk ore'. I always get plenty of this thing when I do some mining, the 'never-absent-ore-in-every-floor' *sigh*... Anyway, I was just so pissed off at that time and I gave them away to people and it turned out that many of the characters like it. Well, lucky me^^
That's true, Silver Oblivion. There are quite a few who love Junk Ore, but equally quite a few who DETEST it. I have been adding information like this to my Characters Guide as I continue to experiment with gifts. Some of the responses are hilarious, but it takes time to do this sort of research.
Post a Comment