Using Harvest Sprites in Sunshine Islands

******************************************************************************
The sheer volume of responses available for each Character in Sunshine Islands, as in Animal Parade, is staggering and for those of us who perceive Harvest Moon and Rune Factory as true interactive novels, the intense labour innvolved in creating these dialogues demands our respect and gratitude.

In both Sunshine Islands and Animal Parade, you will find that basic dialogue changes according to Heart/Friendship Level as in any Harvest Moon/Rune Factory game when you speak to an individual at a specific location. In addition to this, however, there are specific unique dialogues based on the weather, on the season and on special Events such as upcoming Festivals. In Animal Parade, the ringing of a new Bell elicits special Dialogues as well.

In both games, these dialogues are not limited to human characters but apply to Harvest Sprites as well. In Animal Parade, the Sprites are connected to the Bells and are part of the main story. In Sunshine Islands, Harvest Sprites are available for 'Enchantments' to help you with specific aspects of the game.

More significant than dialogue is the actual labour that Sprites can be persuaded to perform.

Knowing how best to utilise the abilities of Harvest Sprites is an important strategy consideration in Sunshine Islands. It is an 'advanced' strategy as well, however, as you will find only one Sprite from each of the Teams, apart from the Red Team, on Harvest Sprite Island when you first gain access to it.

Details about all the Enchantments as well as the Members of every Team (and their likes and dislikes) are included both in my General Guide and in my Characters Guide for Sunshine Islands, but as it appears that there are many players who do not have the patience to read my admittedly long guides, perhaps it is worth publishing some of the information here.


Harvest Sprite Labour


Harvest Sprite Labour is a traditional aspect of Harvest Moon, but the methods by which this aid is given as well as the actual nature of the labour performed differs from game to game.

Sunshine Islands has added a new twist in the form of the Enchantments that can be ordered on Harvest sprite Island. Sprites are distinguished by their skills and Enchantments are area-specific. You therefore can ask for help on the Ranch, at Chen’s Shop or designate any other area and the ‘Enchantment’ can involve lower prices, increase in friendship or actual farm aid.

All of the Harvest Sprites unlocked by your actions will be found wandering aimlessly on Harvest Sprite Island. You can visit them daily to speak to them and give them gifts, but this can be very time-consuming. Nonetheless, it is only by raising the Friendship Level of the Harvest Sprite of a specific colour that you can persuade more Sprites of that colour to join the Team. A larger Team allows larger, more potent Enchantments.

When involved in any Enchantment, the Harvest Sprites who are working will be found in the area where the Enchantment is being performed. This is an excellent chance to speak to the Harvest Sprite and give him a gift if possible. Unfortunately, once the Enchantment has ended, the Team that executed it will ‘rest’, presumably inside the Sprite Hut, as you will not be able to find him until the rest period comes to an end.

Each of the Sprites that you meet initially is a member of a Team as in HM DS/Cute DS and each Team deals with specific types of Enchantments. One of your goals in Sunshine Islands is to increase the number of Sprites on any Team. As previously indicated, it is only through raising the Friendship Levels of existing members of the Team that you can persuade new members of the Team to join it.

If possible, concentrate on raising Friendship Levels of all initial Harvest Sprite Team members. At 2 Hearts, the second Member of the Team will appear. With 1-3 Sprites, ANY Enchantment will have only a ‘Small’ Effect. You therefore can ask for only 1 Sprite to participate in the Enchantment while the other one remains on the Island. That way, when the acting Sprite begins to ‘rest’, the other Sprite will continue to roam Harvest Sprite Island and you can interact with him daily without any hiatus.

Note here that although a Team of 1-3 Sprites can perform only Small Enchantments, the number fo Sprites set to perform a specific Small Enchantment will effect the number of days that the Enchantment endures.

For example, if you set the Green Team to lower prices at Gannon's Shop and you have only three members on the Team, the effects will be Small whether you set all of them or only one of them on the job and they will require 10 days of rest afterwards, BUT:

1 Sprite: Enchant 2 Days
2 Sprites: Enchant 4 Days
3 Sprites: Enchant 7 Days

In my view, extending the duration of the Enchantment in this particular instance is of little benefit. In two days, you can order two different projects. The amount by which the price of each decreases will be the same irrespective of the duration of the Enchantment. If you have only three members on the Team, it is better to keep at least 1 Member always 'in circulation' on the Island so that you can continue to boost Friendship levels in order to add more Members to the Team.

Note that Farm Aid by the Yellow Team and Animal Care Enchantments by the Orange Team are not defined by different sizes but only by the number of Sprites you hire to perform a specific task. Furthermore, the Rest Period after any of these Enchantments is only 3 days, irrespective of the number of Sprites who participated. Farm Aid and Animal Care Enchantments therefore operate according to a different set of rules from the other Enchantments. A Large Enchantment by the Green Team, for example, can require a Rest Period of 30 Days!

One of the biggest problems in Sunshine Islands as in Island of Happiness before it, is lack of time. A day is finite and each activity takes time. Meeting and greeting every Character on all existing islands will take considerable time until you have a Teleport Stone. Even with the Teleport Stone, you only will be whisked to a set ‘landing point’ at each destination, which means that you still have to walk to the specific location where the Characters are to be found.

Chasing the Harvest Sprites on Harvest Sprite Island, even if you can arrive at the entrance by teleport, takes at least an hour. Unlike ordinary residents, the Harvest Sprites will be outside all night cavorting, although Coral will not order Enchantments after 11.50 p.m. You therefore can make the ‘Meeting and Greeting’ ritual for the Harvest Sprites the very last action in your day.

As far as ‘preferred’ Gifts are concerned, all Harvest Sprites love Flour, the traditional ‘offering’ for Harvest Sprites in any Harvest Moon game. Until you have your own Thresher and Flour Mill, not to mention stores of Wheat or other Grains, you will be forced to pay over 1080G for a bag of Wheat Flour. If you buy a bag of Flour for every Team on a daily basis, you will spend over 7000G per day on Gifts for Harvest Sprites. This is a significant investment and one that is not necessary, except in the case of one or two of the Teams who are difficult to please.
The trick is to find the least expensive, most common item that a Team likes and to give that instead of being forced to rely on Flour as a Gift. Some Teams are more difficult to please than others, unfortunately. Although each Sprite Member in a Team will have his/her own unique dialogue and responses, one Gift to any Member will count as a Gift to the entire Team.

The easiest Sprite Teams to please are the Orange and Green Teams, because the Gift of Pet Food, an extremely inexpensive item will be accepted joyfully. Members of the Blue Team love Gems and Ores but they love Gelatin as well. Members of the Violet Team will accept a Small Fish with joy, which makes them fairly easy to befriend. It is the Red Team, the Yellow Team and the Indigo Team that require more expensive Gifts.

The Red Team can be given Wheat instead of Flour but the cost is almost the same for either and the Wheat Flour is the Most Favourite Gift. The Yellow Team loves Crops, especially Yams, but Crops are valuable commodities and if you are trying to meet shipping requirements in order to unlock new Seed types, you may wish to avoid giving Crops to Characters if there is a viable alternative. Although Ketchup is made with two Crops, a Tomato and an Onion, it is worth 500 Friendship Points to the Yellow Team.

The official description of the likes and dislikes of the Indigo Team is simply ‘Same as Residents’ and this mysterious pronouncement embraces some odd results. The Indigo Team, for example, loves Milk, is indifferent to Eggs and actively detests Wool. You therefore cannot assume that the Team loves ‘Ranch Products’. Milk may be a ‘Most Favourite’ in fact, so if you have Milk to spare on your Ranch, this may be a better Gift ultimately than Flour.

Giving a Most Favourite Gift as opposed to a simple 'Preferred' Gift does make a difference in terms of how quickly a 'New Friend' Event will occur but it is better to give a simple Preferred Gift than no Gift at all and better to 'meet and greet' daily even with empty hands than to neglect any Team.

In my own personal view, the most useful Enchantments are those offered by the Green Team. These can lower the price of items sold by any shop or decrease the amount of Material needed for any upgrade. By great good fortune, the Green Team is one of those that can be transported with joy by the most inexpensive items. As well as finding Pet Food acceptable, they love to receive Lumber and Material Stone.
Remember that simply ‘Meeting and Greeting’ any Character, including any Harvest Sprite, WILL raise Friendship Levels. Even if you have no Gifts for them, take an hour if possible at the end of each day to speak to them on Harvest Sprite Island in the interest of expanding the Teams.

Remember that, where ‘meeting and greeting’ as well as gift-giving is concerned, you will obtain faster results if you use the Stylus instead of the controls. I prefer the traditional controls in most cases, but using the Stylus definitely has its advantages when it comes to social interactions. One runs no risk of dropping or throwing a Gift accidentally when the Stylus is used. Furthermore, where it is a case of Characters who move rapidly about the screen, such as the Harvest Sprites, one need not chase them about so much if one employs the Stylus.

A greeting to one Member of the Team counts as a greeting to ALL Members, although each individual Sprite has his/her own unique responses. Moreover, as previously indicated, a Gift to one Member of the Team counts as a Gift to all. If you attempt to give another Gift to a different Member on the same day, he/she will refuse it, stating that all Team Members ‘shared’ the earlier Gift.

As with any social interaction, equipping a Friendship Pendant before you greet a Character or give a Gift adds to the point value of the action.


All Harvest Sprite Enchantments


There are three levels of Enchantment except where Animal Care Enchantments by the Orange Team are concerned:
Small: Requires 1 to 3 Sprites
Medium: Requires 4 to 6 Sprites
Large: Requires 7 Sprites

Where Animal Care Enchantments, such as Feeding or Moving Animals is concerned, there is only a single Enchantment but the amount of work that will be accomplished is determined by the number of Sprites that are hired from the Orange Team.

Tip for Ordering Enchantments: When any Harvest Sprite Team is sent to perform an Enchantment at any location, that Sprite will be given an extended period of rest afterwards. During the rest period, that Sprite will be inaccessible. If you look at the Effects of any Enchantment, 1-3 Sprites will be able to perform only a Small Enchantment. If you do not have four Sprites on a Team to allow a Medium Enchantment, you should assign only ONE Sprite to perform any Small Enchantment.

That way, when the Sprite rests, the other Member(s) of his Team still will be accessible on Harvest Sprite Island for the purpose of social interactions that raise Friendship levels.

As previously indicated, the number of Sprites set to perform any Enchantment of any a specific size will determine only the number of days that the Enchantment endures and will not add to its potency. With a Small Enchantment, therefore, 1 Sprite set to perform it will do so for 2 Days, 2 Sprites will perform for 4 Days and 3 Sprites will perform for 7 Days. If all three Members are set to the task, all three will have to rest for 10 days afterwards. An example of the precise effect of Small and Medium Enchantments at Chen’s Market is given below. When more Members of a Team were set to perform the same Enchantment, there was NO change in effect.

The actual size of the Enchantment, however, will determine its potency. In other words, a Medium Enchantment is more powerful than a Small one and a Large one is the most potent of all. Any Large Enchantment requires the full Harvest Sprite Team of 7 Members and thus, perforce will put the entire Team out of commission for a VERY long time. In terms of Friendship gain, however, the absence of all Team Members throughout the period of rest will not be as significant as it would as you no longer can entice any new Members for that Team to Harvest Sprite Island.

Furthermore, by ordering ANY Enchantment, you gain a significant number of Friendship Points with the Team. The following situation shows the effect:

When Freya ordered a Small Enchantment to decrease amount of materials required at Chen’s Shop, she experienced a ‘New Friend’ Event the next morning for the Green Team, bringing the sixth Member of the Team to the Island. When Freya did NOT order any Enchantment but simply continued to give a Most Favourite Gift to the Team each day, the ‘New Friend’ Event did not occur until three more days had passed.

The difference in potency between a Small and Medium Enchantment can be illustrated by the same example.

At Chen’s Shop, with respect to the amount of Orichalcum required to create various Accessories, the regular prices are:

Small Friendship Pendant: 5
Medium Friendship Pendant: 15
Large Friendship Pendant: 30
Small Harvest Goddess Pendant or Small Kappa Pendant: 10
Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant, Medium Kappa Pendant or Small Witch Princess Pendant: 30
Large Harvest Goddess Pendant, Large Kappa Pendant or Turbo Shoes: 60
Medium Witch Princess Pendant: 90
Large Witch Princess Pendant: 200
Time Slowing or Time Quickening Ring: 100
Godhand: 900

At Chen’s Shop, with respect to the amount of Orichalcum required to create various Accessories, when a Small or Medium Enchantment to decrease Materials are in place, the prices change to:

Small Friendship Pendant: 4 (Small Enchantment); 4 (Medium Enchantment)
Medium Friendship Pendant: 13 (Small Enchantment); 12 (Medium Enchantment)
Large Friendship Pendant: 27 (Small Enchantment); 24 (Medium Enchantment)
Small Harvest Goddess Pendant or Small Kappa Pendant: 9 (Small Enchantment); 8 (Medium Enchantment)
Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant, Medium Kappa Pendant or Small Witch Princess Pendant: 27 (Small Enchantment); 24 (Medium Enchantment)
Large Harvest Goddess Pendant, Large Kappa Pendant or Turbo Shoes: 54 (Small Enchantment); 48 (Medium Enchantment)
Medium Witch Princess Pendant: 81 (Small Enchantment); 72 (Medium Enchantment)
Large Witch Princess Pendant: 180 (Small Enchantment); 160 (Medium Enchantment)
Time Slowing or Time Quickening Ring: 90 (Small Enchantment); 80 (Medium Enchantment)
Godhand: 810 (Small Enchantment); 720 (Medium Enchantment)

As you can see, it is where the items are ‘expensive’ that it becomes truly advantageous to order the larger Enchantments. The difference between a requirement for 5 Orichalcum and 4 Orichalcum is insignificant compared to the ‘savings’ of 180 Orichalcum for the Godhand when a Medium Enchantment is in effect. Furthermore, there is no change whatsoever in the required amount for an Accessory that ordinarily demands 5 Orichalcum when the Enchantment is boosted from Small to Medium.
In the case of any Accessory with an ordinary requirement of 100 Orichalcum or more, even a Small Enchantment is worth ordering but it is better to terminate the Enchantment after a single day in order to put the Sprite back into circulation earlier. After all, you can order as many projects from Charlie as you wish in a single day but, after exhausting your supplies of Orichalcum, obtaining enough Orichalcum to create a new Accessory probably will take more than one day.
Where Gannon’s projects are concerned, on the other hand, there is a limit of one per day. If you wish to order an Enchantment to decrease prices or material requirements, it may be better to allow the Enchantment to run for a couple of days, if you have sufficient funding or materials for more than one project.


Enchantments are ordered by location and there are different possible Enchantments for every Location.

All Locations are:
Barn
Chicken Coop
Stable
Ranch
Mirabelle’s Shop
Chen’s Shop
Taro’s House
Pierre’s House
Slater’s House
Ray’s House
Martin’s House
Isaac’s House
Regis’ Mansion
Denny’s House
Lanna’s House
Gannon’s Shop
Carol’s Inn
Pig Pen
Shea’s Hut
W. Princess’ Home
Church

Where most private homes are concerned, the only Sprite Team that can be ordered to perform an Enchantment is the Indigo Team. The Enchantment is one that will raise Friendship levels. Exceptions are Regis' Mansion which 'controls' the Mine and Lanna or Denny's House which, depending on your Character's gender, 'controls' Fishing Enchantments.

Where any Shop is concerned, there are at least two possible Sprite Teams that can be ordered to perform Enchantments. The first is the Indigo Team, who can be ordered to raise Friendship with respect to the owner of the Shop and any one else who lives there. The second is the Green Team who can lower prices or perform other Enchantments depending on the nature of the business.

Enchantments at Shops are as follows:
Mirabelle’s Animal Shop
Charm: Raise Friendship
Team: Indigo
Lower Prices: Buy items for a lower price
Team: Green
Barter: Sell your animals at a higher price
Team: Green
Chen’s Shop:
Charm: Raise Friendship
Team: Indigo
Lower Prices: Buy items for a lower price. Does not affect 10,000G or 1,000,000G Tickets.
Team: Green
Barter: Sell at a higher price. Does not affect 10,000G or 1,000,000G Tickets.
Team: Green
Material Decrease: Reduce material needed to make Accessories
Team: Green
Gannon’s Shop
Charm: Raise Friendship
Team: Indigo
Lower Prices: Buy items for a lower price
Team: Green
Material Decrease: Reduce material needed to build or remodel
Team: Green
There are a few private homes where interesting Enchantments can be performed:
Regis’ Mansion:
Charm: Raise Friendship
Team: Indigo
Lava Removal: Reduce the amount of lava inside Volcano Island
Team: Blue
Denny’s House:
Charm: Raise Friendship
Team: Indigo
Fishing Skill: Increase how many hits you get when fishing.
Team: Purple
Lanna’s House
Charm: Increase Friendship
Team: Indigo
Fishing Skill: Increase how many hits you get when fishing
Team: Violet
There are Enchantments that can be worked upon locations where Animals are kept as well:
Barn:
Charm: Raise your animals’ affection towards you.
Team: Orange
Lower Stress: Lower your animals’ stress.
Team: Orange
Feed: Feed your Animals
Team: Orange
Move: Move animals in or out of the barn.
Team: Orange
Ship Animal Products: Gather and ship milk and wool.
Team: Orange
Chicken Coop
Charm: Raise your Chicken’s Affection towards you.
Team: Orange
Lower Stress: Lower your chickens’ stress.
Team: Orange
Feed: Feed your Chickens.
Team: Orange
Move: Move chickens in or out of the coop.
Team: Orange
Ship Animal Products: Gather and ship eggs.
Team: Orange
Stable:
Charm: Raise your pets’ affection towards you.
Team: Orange
Feed: Feed your animals, lowering stress.
Team: orange
Move: Move pet in or out of the stable.
Team: orange
Pig Pen
Charm: Raise your pig’s affection towards you.
Team: Orange
Feed: Feed and lower pig’s stress.
Team: orange
Move: Move pig in or out of the pig pen.
Team: Orange
Finally, Enchantments can be ordered at the Ranch itself.
Ranch:
Charm: Raise your spouse and child’s love toward you.
Team: Indigo
Ship Crops: Gather and ship crops.
Team: Yellow
Till: Till the field.
Team: Yellow
Water: Water the crops.
Team: Yellow
Reap: Reap dead crops.
Team: Yellow
Each type of Enchantment has a different time frame as well as resting period attached to it. For example, if you order a Small Enchantment for the Yellow Team to water your Crops, the Sprite(s) will work for one day and rest for seven. If, however, you order a Small Enchantment for the Green Team to lower prices at Mirabelle’s Shop, the Sprite (s) will work for 2 Days and rest for 10. A Small Enchantment for Lava Removal likewise will allow the Blue Sprite Team to work for 2 Days and rest for 10.

Note that you CAN release any Sprite who is performing an Enchantment after one day. Simply go to the location where the Sprite is working and speak to him/her. You will obtain a menu option that allows you to release the Sprite from service. This can be very useful as there is no point in extending an Enchantment if you cannot take proper advantage of it. For example, if you have sufficient money only to order one large building project from Gannon, there is little point in having a Sprite perform an Enchantment to decrease prices for the full period of that particular Enchantment. One day will serve your purposes better as by sending the Sprite home ‘early’, you will be able to use him/her again for a new Enchantment sooner.

The screenshots display three sets of prices for Accessories: the ordinary prices for some Accessories, including the Godhand, the prices when a Small Enchantment by the Green Team to decrease material amounts is in effect and the prices when a Medium Enchantment is in effect.