Thursday, September 16, 2010

Winter in Grand Bazaar

As this is my primary site, I thought I would share some details about the Winter Season in Grand Bazaar, although more information always will be found on my Grand Bazaar Site and Grand Bazaar Guides. Click the portrait of Freya on the right side of the page to go to my Grand Bazaar Site.

Winter in Harvest Moon games always tends to be quite different from the other three Seasons but Winter in Grand Bazaar has some very creative additions to the usual snowy landscape.

First of all, there are snowballs on the ground and although you cannot push them together to make your own Snowmen who speak and give you gifts as you can in Animal Crossing, they often DO contain Gifts from Nature. Throw the Snowball to smash it and you may find it contains an Ore Stone or other surprise, including Cooked Dishes and Flowers from every Season. Freyja found a Curry Dumpling in a Snowball on the second day of Winter, Moondrop Flowers and Magic Blue Flowers.

Incidentally, there are Snowmen of various sizes and designs stashed here and there throughout the Map, although I have yet to receive a visit from one on a snowy night as in Animal Parade, asking for a replacement for his lost nose.

Next, although the River is frozen in Winter, you can find cracks in the ice. Use your Hammer to strike the ice where you see the cracks and it will create a large hole where you can dive for items or fish. Despite the freezing temperature, your Character will react no differently to immersion in the water in Winter...

Ore Stones can be found on the ground in Winter as well as inside Snowballs and when diving in the River.

There are two kinds of sparkles in Winter. One is the sparkle of ice that can be found randomly anywhere on the map, including locations your Character could not possibly reach. These are 'eye candy' in the form of glittering ice from Winter's freezing temperatures. The othr sparkles are the usual ones that denote the presence of coins.

So far, the only Cooked Dish I have found inside Snowballs is Curry Dumpling. The Rank/Quality varies, however, making one Curry Dumpling worth more than another. A Snowball incidentally can contain another Snowball!

A new activity in Winter is Snowboarding. Mayor Felix will deliver a Snowboard to your House on the 2nd of Winter or thereabouts and announce that there will be a tournament on the 20th. You can practice on the course on the Hotel Screen. Once the Snowboard delivery occurs, you will find a Skateboard on sale at the Bazaar for 9000G. This appears to take a slot ordinarily devoted to one of the Pet Toys. The other Pet Toy will continue to be sold. I believe that the Pet Toy is chosen randomly but if you wish to make certain that both are sold at Felix's Stall, you probably should purchase the Skateboard and be done with THAT.

Amir will be introduced in the first Winter on or about 3 Winter by Mayor Felix and will stay at the Hotel. Milk makes him very happy. All likes/dislikes as well as the schedule of Amir's Heart Events can be found in my Courtship and Marriage Guide.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds fun. I'm still in the early fall season. Can't wait for winter!

eveejoystar said...

I'm only in Summer, but this has made me excited for Winter.

greensly123 said...

I found these to be super helpful during the winter season as I had been concerned that my stall at the bazaar would be unsuccessful due to the lack of crops. It does help significantly.

jennie e said...

In the Winter, you can also walk on the ice to get to otherwise inaccessible places. There is a little riverbank just north of the waterfall. If you go right past the bridge near Angelo's house, you'll find a little island and another small riverbank. You'll sometimes find goodies in these locations.

Phi said...

Hi Freya!

I want to start off by saying that I really appreciate what you do. So thanks! :)

There may be something wrong with my browser/internet but it seems that your site causes some lag when scrolling down. I'm not sure why but I just thought it something you might like to know.

Many thanks,
Phi

Miffle said...

Hey!!! I just want to let you know in the first week or so of winter you meet Amir!!!

Freyashawk said...

Miffle, if you go to my Grand Bazaar site, you will find a post about Amir. That information is included in my Courtship and Marriage Guide, along with the text of his First Heart Event.

Phi, it's the Amazon.com widgets. I had hoped they would be helpful, as they link to Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games on Amazon and supposedly, if any one ever used the links, I would receive a little credit (as I am not paid for writing guides)... but yes, they slow things down a bit. I refuse to allow adverts on my sites, but I thought that Amazon links to Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games were a little different.

Ah yes, Jennie, thanks for reminding me. This is very characteristic of Harvest Moon games... usually one location at least that can be reached only in Winter.

steph said...

im in early autumn and omg now I cant wait for winter!! sounds like fun!

by the way, i have an unrelated question.. (im nt sure where to post questions)

how do we upgrade the fishing rod to medium or above? I do know that we can do so using the windmill.. but i can only upgrade the short fishin rod to a short fishin rod.. im kinda confused about how it works =(

Kobieta czytajÄ…ca said...

I'm sorry for the off-topic, but I've heard that you're interested in comparative mythology. I highly recommend to check out what G.K. Chesterton wrote about it.

Cheers!

Stara Pisarka (Old Writer)

Freyashawk said...

Stara, Chesterton is a childhood favourite of mine, but I do have another site where I write about Mythology and other topics. It is my Notes from Freyashawk site.

Freyashawk said...

Steph, the Fishing Rod information is in my General Guide and I wrote about my own Fishing Rod foolishness on my Grand Bazaar site. You will be able to purchase a Medium Fishing Rod from Felix in the 2nd year and a Long Fishing Rod from him later in the game.

Freyashawk said...

Thanks, Stephen. People used to complain about it, but not for awhile.

Anonymous said...

i just bought the game it's great! your guides have always help in the past, im sure this time will be no diffrent. the new towns people are great to. I heard theres already a new game out in Japan, Twin Vilages, do you know anything about that?

Maya-Marie said...

bought grand baazaar the other day... I don't like it at all. the B button as action is throwing me off too much. :/ going back to sunshine islands.

tigress04 said...

I'm playing as a female. The Amir in my game have no heart indicator (on the bottom left) like the other bachelor. When I check my bookshelf, Amir is represented with orange heart instead of red like the rest of the eligible bachelor. Anyone else having this issue?