Monday, October 13, 2008

Perplexing Event Requirements in Island of Happiness

With some misgivings, I have tried to be specific in my Guides where requirements for Events and Individuals are concerned, but each time I am specific, the requirement is proven false.

For example, there have been rumours to the effect that shipping at least 200 items, possibly from the shipping bin in front of Taro's house, is a requirement for Elliot's Purple Heart Event.

This has been proven false in two ways:
1. Players who did NOT ship 200 items were able to trigger the Event when Elliot reached purple heart level; and
2. Players who SHIPPED over 200 Crops from the shipping container in front of Taro's house were UNABLE to trigger the Event after Elliot reached purple heart level. One player shipped over 300 Crops from the shipping container in front of Taro's house and had Elliot almost at blue heart without being able to trigger the event...

Something else is going on here. As Farming Degree Points are the one consistent element in the game, I am attempting to discover if this may be an actual requirement, but so far nothing has been confirmed.

There is another possibility. In most Harvest Moon games, events are limited to specific days. I really would like to know what days players have been able to experience Elliot's Purple Heart Event. Characters have different schedules on different days of the week. I was able to experience Elliot's Purple Heart Event on Monday, but not on some of the other days of the week. Perhaps there are specific days when it can't be triggered and is as simple as that.

It is very possible that Event schedules will change depending on how many areas have been unlocked in a player's game, as the schedules of most characters change accordingly. For example, with respect to the Heart Events of characters who visit the Forest or Jungle on specific days, surely this will affect the schedule of any Heart Event. One will be obliged to play many different games to be able to pinpoint precise requirements in each situation.

Specifically:
1. Schedule of any Heart Event when only East Town has been unlocked;
2. Schedule of any Heart Event when only East Town and the Forest have been unlocked;
3. Schedule of any Heart Event when East Town, Forest AND Jungle have been unlocked.

In many cases, the schedule will be the same if the character is one who does not visit the Jungle or Forest... if he/she does, however, the schedule may be altered based on the days when the character would be in these areas.


It is rather vexing, in a way. Island of Happiness is far more complex than other Harvest Moon games where unlocking options and events are concerned. When players, including myself, were unable to experience Rival Heart Events, it did appear that the events were tied to specific items and shipping: shipping ores allowed Sabrina and Vaughn's events to occur, shipping Crops allowed Elliot and Julia's to trigger, shipping fish was the trigger to unlock Denny and Lanna's Events and cooking had the same effect with respect to Pierre and Natalie's Events. Is this in fact the case or is it simply a huge coincidence?

Even the Subsidiary Characters are not unlocked in the manner in which the original strategy guides claimed: you can bring ALL Fishermen apart from one to the Island in the first Spring without much trouble.

I do believe that the Mineral Town characters are unlocked when you achieve 50% completion in terms of the Island itself but possibly this will be disproven as well. In my own games, Popuri and Karen always are the first to arrive in the first Autumn season. If any one has managed to bring Mineral Town characters to the Island sooner than this, I would be interested in the details. I do believe that all bridges must have been completed in order for the Mineral Town characters to begin to appear.

In these circumstances, a Walkthrough for the first few seasons of the game probably is most helpful to players. I have written one and it is posted both here and as part of my General Guide for IoH. It takes the player from the start of the 1st Spring through Autumn to the arrival of Mark or Chelsea in the first week of the season.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

hello,
I have a question. I just bought greenhouse and bought a sun from chen to put in the greenhouse, but he's not selling any of the seeds for summertime (i have a summer sun)! i am currently in the winter season. Does this mean that chen only sells seeds for summer during the summer season and not in the winter time even though i have the greenhouse? Past harvest moon use to sell all seeds once you purchase the greenhouse.

Anonymous said...

Thanx, but this didn't answer my question(if you were trying to). I apreshiate the effort but I REALLY need to know(I'm on 10 hearts with Vaughn and still nothing!) I emailed you on my aim account and would appresiate if you could write back. THANX FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!!!!

Anonymous said...

Freyashawk, I recently encountered a bizarre happening with a plot of my crops. I own the official strategy guide written by BradyGames, so I have not read your general guide--if you have already written this somewhere in your general guide, I am unaware of it.

What happened was, my Eggplant seeds were growing on a hot Fall day, I watered them, and the next day, which was a fair day, the entire plot and the tilled squares had disappeared! While it wasn't a huge loss, I wondered what could have happened, considering the weather wasn't destructive....

Freyashawk said...

As far as the question about Vaughn is concerned, I have responded to your email. I do believe that you must have Denny on the island to experience Vaughn's Purple Heart Event. Keep catching and shipping fish to persuade Denny (and Lanna) to return. It wouldn't hurt if you fished from all different areas as well.

Now, I didn't write the official strategy guide for IoH. My Guides for that game are strictly online at IGN. Links on the right side of this page. There are only three Crop seeds that will be sold throughout the year once they have been unlocked: Cabbage, Pineapple and Green/Bell Pepper. Other seeds must be purchased during their seasons although you can buy any seeds for the season on the last day of the previous season as well. I probably should add a little section to my Farming Guide and General Guide advising players to stock up on seeds for their Greenhouse.

As for the Eggplants, yes, crops WILL disappear in IoH when Sunlight or Water requirements are exceeded. You don't need a storm to destroy crops. Too much watering of a crop that requires 'less' water will destroy the crop. Too much sun or too little sun can have the same effect. Each Crop has different requirements. My Guides give these requirements but you will find the description for each bag of seeds in-game will give you a clue as well. When a crop requires 'less' water, water it only once every two days. When it requires 'more', you can water it twice each day. Sunlight and water points are given in my Guides. In fact, I've added quite a lot about this to my IoH Guides, because farming is one of the more challenging aspects of this game.

Anonymous said...

i've looked through your posts and guides to try to answer this question myself, but i am still unsure: you say that all "main characters" must be present in order for your marriage proposal to be accepted. right now i am in the last week of summer, and i know Dr. Trent will soon be leaving. Mark just came back yesterday. Karen and Popuri are still absent. do i need all four of them present for my proposal to be accepted? i have Vaughn at an orange heart, i have the husband bed, and i have the blue feather. (i actually also have Shea at an orange heart)

you input would be greatly appreciated.

(i must say, your guides have proved incredibly helpful and i want to thank you for all your diligent work!!)

Anonymous said...

Thank you SO much, your guides are like... survival guides to Island of Happiness. Thank you!

Freyashawk said...

Aimee, first of all, the Mineral Town characters are not actually considered 'main characters'. They fall somewhere between the Main Characters and the Subsidiary Characters.

My latest version of the guide should state simply that you have to have unlocked all Main Characters. They actually do not need to be on the Island at the time of your marriage proposal. If you have unlocked them previously, that should suffice.

Freyashawk said...

P.S. Aimee, you should bring your prospective husband to full 10 heart level (deepest red heart), before you propose marriage.

Anonymous said...

Hey Freya,

i would like to thank you for taking your time to make all these guides for us to use. It really is VERY helpful!

I have a question on rival marriages. I have Eliot and Pierre's marriage done. (I randomly encountered their marriage event while walking around) I am trying to get the other two marriages but it's not happening! is there a limit to how many marriages can happen in a season?

Freyashawk said...

Anon, there's no limit on the number of marriages that can occur per season as far as I know. There are 'hidden' requirements though both for rival events and rival marriages. You need to fish rather extensively and regularly to trigger Denny and Lanna's events (and marriage). For Vaughn and Sabrina, you need to have animals and do a fair amount of mining regularly. I triggered almost all of them in the 4th Spring directly after triggering the last rival heart event for each couple.

Anonymous said...

i have vaughn at the orange heart and the game wont let me do the 4th yellow heart event so that means that i cant get him to a red heart. this is driving me crazy.

please help i have been looking for help all week

Freyashawk said...

First of all, you need to remember that there are different yellow heart events in IoH, depending on your response in the last event. Did you make the correct response given in my Courtship Guide? If so, then all you need to do now is make certain that you ship some animal products regularly and MINE! Yes, spending time in the Mine and shipping ore appears to be tied to Vaughn's events as well as Sabrina's, simply because they are a potential rival couple.

I do need to add the 'alternate' paths of Heart Events to the IoH guide still... so much work not yet completed this year, with Natsume's 10th Anniversary splurge on Harvest Moon games! Usually, I wouldn't have FOUR new Harvest Moons in less than 9 months! First there was Cute, then ToT, then IoH and now RF2, all released in a nine month period. (Rather like having a baby.) It will be 2009 before I complete any of the Guides to my own satisfaction, I daresay.