The Value of Accessories in Sunshine Islands

First of all, I would like to state that ALL of my Sunshine Islands Guides have been updated and contain much more information than they did yesterday. In fact, rather to my chagrin and embarrassment, I found that the General Guide contained some early misconceptions still in certain sections (even though the correct information was given in others!) so those have been corrected. I wish I had more time to edit, but there are so many details still to be added to all the guides. You always can contact me if there's a contradiction anywhere but I would be happier if my Guides didn't contain any of those.

I wrote a number of new sections for each of the guides including the General Guide. In the process of completing the Accessories List, I wrote a section on the value of the various Accessories.

Harvest Moon games tend to have a common foundation and many of the Accessories will be familiar to veteran players. Their 'value', however, may vary according to the game you are playing. I remember how excited I was when I first encountered the Witch Princess Earrings in HM DS. To have an Accessory that would restore BOTH Stamina and Fatigue seemed too good to be true!

Well, in fact, it IS too good to be true in Sunshine Islands. Here are the sections from my General Guide that deal with Accessory Effects.


Accessory Effects

As you have four slots in which to equip tools and/or accessories, you can equip more than one Accessory that has the same type of effect, making the effect cumulative. For example, when you purchase the Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant, you can equip it WITH the Small Harvest Goddess Pendant. The cumulative effect of both Pendants will be almost the same as that of the Large Harvest Goddess Pendant. The most significant difference is the need to use two slots instead of one. What this means in practical terms is that you may wish to use your Orichalcum to purchase a different type of Accessory in the early stages of the game, while continuing to use the Small and Medium Harvest Goddess Pendants to achieve maximum Stamina.

Unfortunately, the Witch Princess Pendants are a little disappointing. Although they increase both Maximum Stamina and Fullness, the actual degree of their effect is far less than that of the Harvest Goddess and Kappa Pendants. If you wish to be able to own a Godhand or one of the two Rings that alter the flow of time, however, you must buy all the Witch Princess Pendants first…

My own experience has shown that the best early configuration is to equip the Small and Medium Harvest Goddess Pendants with the Small Kappa Pendant, leaving one slot free for any Tool. When you can afford to purchase the Medium Kappa Pendant, exchange it with the Small Kappa Pendant. Increasing maximum Stamina has far more practical advantages than any increase in maximum Fullness.

The Small Kappa Pendant with the Medium Kappa Pendant will increase Maximum Fullness almost to the same extent as the Large Kappa Pendant would if equipped alone. As previously stated, however, increase in Maximum Stamina is more useful than increase in Maximum Fullness. As you only have 4 slots for equipment, it is far better to use the Small and Medium Harvest Goddess Pendants together with a Medium Kappa Pendant than to equip two Kappa Pendants.

Once you have Small and Medium Harvest Goddess and Kappa Pendants, you should collect 60 Orichalcum in order to buy the Large Harvest Goddess Pendant. When this has been achieved, you can equip the Large Harvest Goddess Pendant in one slot and the Small and Medium Kappa Pendants in two of the others, leaving one slot as always free for a Tool. When you have these accessories equipped, you will be in a fairly strong position in terms both of Stamina and Fullness. The considerable increase in your Energy Bars will aid you immensely in your exploration of the Mine.
Ultimately, when you have collected another 60 Orichalcum, you can obtain the Large Kappa Pendant and divest yourself of the Small and Medium versions.

Accessories that you no longer want or need either can be stored in your Beauty Box or sold to Chen. For the most part, their resale value is fairly low. The Small W. Princess Pendant, for example, can be sold for 1500G.

A vital Accessory that is sold by Chen instead of Charlie is the Teleport Stone, sold for 100,000G. It becomes available at Chen’s Shop as soon as you have 100,000G in your total earnings.

Effects of other Accessories

For those who are excited by the marketing descriptions of the various Earrings and Friendship Pendants, it may be useful to know how effective each actually IS in improving your life. You then may understand why I recommend the Pendants above the Earrings in terms of Stamina and Fullness effects.

Pendants increase the actual Bars in terms of potential Maximum Stamina and Fullness. The Earrings simply restore increments of Stamina and Fullness to your existing Energy Bars.

The Small Harvest Goddess Earrings, for example, restores 1 point of Stamina every half hour. The Medium Harvest Goddess Earrings do the same in half the time. The Large Harvest Goddess Pendant restores 1 point of Stamina every 3 minutes. If that sounds good to you, reflect for a moment on the value of Food in comparison. The actual effect of 1 point of Stamina is the same that you would obtain if you consumed a bag of flour raw. In other words, it is negligable. At the same time, remember that these Accessories MUST REMAIN EQUIPPED in order to function. Do you really have an empty equipment slot that could not be employed more profitably?
The Witch Princess Earrings may appear to be the ultimate Accessories with their description of having the power to restore BOTH Stamina and Fullness but their actual function for each is less practical than the Harvest Goddess and Kappa Earrings.

The Small Witch Princess Earrings restore 1 point of Stamina and 1 point of Fullness every TWO HOURS. Can you wait that long for the effect of a raw bag of flour??? The Large Witch Princess Earrings, which require a total of 100 precious Orichalcum to create restore 1 point of Stamina and 1 point of Fullness every half hour. In other words, it is an expensive Accessory that does very little even in the space of half an hour.

Friendship Pendants at first glance might be mistaken for the resource of the lazy or anti-social player but in fact, if you do not EARN Friendship through your own actions, the Pendant will not do it for you! What the Friendship Pendants do is augment the Friendship that your own actions have earned. The Small Friendship Pendant will give you a 20% boost whenever you earn any Friendship points. The effect of the Medium Pendant is a 50% boost and the Large Friendship Pendant increases Friendship Points by 100%. In other words, the Large Friendship Pendant doubles the value of any action you undertake, whether it is speaking to an individual or giving him/her a preferred Gift. This Accessory actually can be valuable, especially if you equip it before you embark on your daily ‘meeting and greeting’ rounds of the Islands.

No doubt the Witch Princess will be very cross with me for slagging off her Earrings, but however elegant they may be, they really are not worth their weight in Orichalcum...

At least, that is my experience...

Peculiarities of Equipment in Rune Factory Frontier

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In reality, I am a girl but in Rune Factory Frontier, my character IS male. Nonetheless, the Head Equipment upon which he must rely in battle to sustain and protect him very often is designed for a woman rather than a man. In fact, the creators of Rune Factory Frontier have exercised a certain bizarre sense of humour where much of the 'armour' or battle equipment is concerned. There is little hope of retaining any personal dignity if you wish to be well-protected. You either can take on the aspects of a Monster or those of a Girl (or Cross-dresser!)

Very early in the game, my character opted for the Pumpkin Head. It was extremely amusing to dash about the countryside, looking like Jack Pumpkinhead, the character from Oz, but it did not lend itself particularly to romance. My character is a handsome lad and I would rather see him decked out in a prince's crown or samurai helmet than wearing a Pumpkin Head, a Headdress or a Tiara.

Head gear includes a Pumpkin Head, Turnip Head, Cat's Ears, Whale Masque or Whale Hat as well as female accoutrements such as a Katusha, a Headdress and a Tiara. Of the three female accessories, the Tiara almost could be perceived as a royal crown visually but the description places you firmly in the realm of the ridiculous:

Tiara:20604G (Lv. 2)
ATK 0, DEF 99, MAG 120, FX Status Defence
An easy way to feel like a princess. It's shiny and looks very pretty.

Not precisely a description to bring out the masculinity in my character!

I happen to like a weapon or accessory that gives Status Defence. At high levels of experience, Status Ailments are not as upsetting as they were in the early stages of the game and with plenty of Formuade in the rucksack, there really is no reason to fear any Status Ailment, but I nonetheless always feel better if I am carrying a weapon or wearing a piece of Equipment that provides Status Defence.

I suspect that most guys who play Rune Factory Frontier opt for the head gear that allows them to become ersatz Monsters. My guy wore the Cat's Ears and Cat's Tail for a time as well as the Whale Masque, but ultimately I decided that the Headdress was the best option until I harvested an Emery Flower for the Tiara.

Remember when you plant any slow-growing 'Flower' or Herb used in Weapons or Accessories to use Greenifier to boost its level. Otherwise, you will be restricted to the creation of a Level 1 Weapon or Accessory or Level 2 at best if your experience levels at Forge/Workbench allow you to forge/craft 'with expertise'.

One aspect of farming that is extremely annoying is that, if you do not create a plan or map for yourself noting the position of each Crop, all seeds obviously look alike and you will be hard-pressed to know where to use your Greenifier and/or Formula C!

The last 'secret' Accessory upgrade in Rune Factory 2

My own stubborn character and the belief that there had to be one final 'secret' trade upgrade for an Accessory in Rune Factory 2 created considerable labour for me as I made Accessory after Accessory at my Workbench and upgraded each to Level 10 before trading it to discover whether or not it would be transformed. I rather suspected that the Accessory I needed was the CHAMPION BELT but that was one of the Accessories with the highest Skill Requirements in the game, so I doggedly continued to upgrade other Accessories to Level 10, knowing that each upgrade would increase my own Skill Levels even if it proved ineffectual in terms of a trade transformation.

It always is rather satisfying when a guess is proven correct. The moment when I saw the prompt to the effect that my item had been upgraded, I felt all the work I had done was worth the effort. A more sane player probably would have requested the name of the last Accessory from the makers of the game... but I'm glad I did it my way.

Here is a brief video that shows the complete list of Accessories that can be obtained as trade upgrades as well as one of the very best Accessories in the game.

Much Labour for Small but Surprising Returns

I am more inclined to experiment in Harvest Moon than to research the results of other players. I am certain there are lists of Accessories produced through the Multiplayer option in Rune Factory 2 somewhere but I always want to discover new territory myself.

Thus, a seemingly endless quest for materials to create Weapons at the Forge and Accessories at the Workbench, raising each to Level 10 before 'trading' it to see if it undergoes a strange sea-change and is transformed into a new item.

I am amazed by the sheer volume of Gold Ore required to create most of the 'superior' upgrades in Rune Factory 2. It is when the actual upgrades require 1 or even 2 pieces of Gold Ore that one becomes rather overwhelmed sometimes. After all, 2 pieces of gold for each upgrade means that you will need a total of 18 in order to upgrade a Level 1 Weapon or Accessory to Level 10. In many cases, the original item requires 4 pieces of gold as well to create...

The fact that I almost have completed the List is more of an achievement than any one who hasn't played Rune Factory 2 may not comprehend fully.

In any event, here are a few examples of Accessories that are transformed into new items when traded at Level 10. Unlike the unique Weapons created in the same fashion, these are items that CAN be created at the Workbench, but only if your character has high skill levels.

Easy Accessory Projects in Rune Factory 2

I believe I have discussed this in another post that deals with Lessons in the 2nd Generation of Rune Factory, but it may be useful, especially for Harvest Moon players with little experience in playing traditional RPG games, to continue this topic.

Rune Factory 2 includes all basic aspects of any Harvest Moon game such as farming, ranching, fishing, and mining as well as that of collecting items. The combat option, however, adds a new dimension to the 'collecting' aspect of the game.

Monsters who drop 'War Trophies' must be defeated in order to yield an item. They do not drop a Chest containing an item every time you defeat them, but it is a result that will occur periodically. Taking a Monster Ally with you into combat appears to increase your chances of obtaining War Trophies somewhat. It depends somewhat on the type of Monster as each has his/her own distinctive method of fighting. I have found the Wolves, both the Silver and Hunter varieties to be wonderful procurers of War Trophies in the Caves.

The purpose of this post, however, is to discuss Accessories rather than War Trophies.

A player with little experience of RPG games may underestimate the important of choosing the right weapon and equipment for combat in any given situation. He/she further may underestimate the need to raise experience and Skill Levels for the purpose of defeating Monsters (or taming them!)

Increasing skills in forging and creating Accessories are the key to obtaining the best weapons and equipment in Rune Factory 2. Although some weapons and accessories can be obtained by completing Requests, they are not the best that will become available to you provided you have sufficient skill levels to make them yourself.

A traditional Harvest Moon player with no RPG experience must learn how to interpret the descriptions of Weapons and Equipment in order to maximise success and minimise pain and loss.

For example, if you go to the Blacksmith to buy an Accessory, you may find the Field Gloves a little lacking in value if you do not pay close attention to your Statistics. After all, the item has zero Defence capability.

Field Gloves: Level 1, Defence 0
Protect your hands from blisters and calluses. No farmer should be without a pair.
STR up, BODY up

Is there any point in buying them, apart from their potential use as an ingredient in a Recipe to create something better?

In fact, by 'upgrading' the Field Gloves at your Workbench, you can make them into a rather marvelous Accessory in the early stages of the 2nd Generation.

You will find that there is an option to ‘upgrade’ basic items in the 2nd Generation. You can do this at the Forge or Workbench or you can trade over wi-fi with another player to increase the levels of your items. It is better to do it at your own Forge or Workbench for one simple but important reason: doing so will increase your own Skill Levels.

You will use materials each time you upgrade an item but the advantage in terms of increasing both Skill Levels and the power of the item itself are significant.

As the Field Gloves increases both Strength and Body, you will find the following effects with Level 7 Field Gloves. All it takes to upgrade the Field Gloves, by the way, is a single piece of CHEAP CLOTH.

Field Gloves: Level 7, Defence 6
Protect your hands from blisters and calluses. No farmer should be without a pair.
Increases STR and BODY: +5 STR +5 ATK +1 DEF +1 VIT

Another example of an easy upgrade is the ‘Cheap Bracelet’.
A Level 1 basic Cheap Bracelet has the following values:

Cheap Bracelet: 740G
Level 1; Defence: 1
Selling Price: 370G

Cheap Bracelet: Level 10, Defence 11

Each time you upgrade it at your Workbench, you will raise ALL values, including the Selling Price. You only need two pieces of Iron to perform an upgrade to this Bracelet. It is worth doing for the increase in your own Skill Levels if not for its own sake, although three upgrades to the Cheap Bracelet will increase its Defence point value to 4 and at the maximum level of upgrade, Level 10, as shown, it will give you 11 Defence Points!

When your Skill Levels increase a little, you should make upgrades to your Leather Boots. Only one piece of Bronze is required for each upgrade to the Leather Boots and each will raise your Defence by 1 Point.

Again, another reason for performing the Upgrades is to increase your Skills at the Workbench. Otherwise, you never will be able to make a ‘better’ class of Accessories.

Granted, a Silver or Gold Bracelet is superior to the Cheap Bracelet even before these superior Bracelets have been upgraded. It does require a far higher level of skill at the Workbench to create either, however, not to mention all the Gold and Silver in each.

Make maximum upgrades to the most basic low-level Weapons and Accessories to increase your Skill Levels as well as improving the only Weapons and Accessories available to you in the early stages of the 2nd Generation. As time passes, you will raise your Skill Levels to the point where you can create better items.

Meanwhile, Accessories with Defence Points really can make a big difference in combat. This may appear obvious to some, but all the emails I have received both with respect to the original Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 have made it clear to me that a large percentage of players really are oblivious to the fundamental rules of an RPG game. They go into the Caves with a bsic weapon, no shield, and no Accessories and then wonder why their HP is reduced to zero before they can make any progress against their targets. Defence is as important in any RPG as your character's ability to Attack. Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 may be 'Fantasy Harvest Moon' games with all the best elements of ANY Harvest Moon game, but they are RPGs as well.

New Harvest Moon Festivals and Wonderfuls

Although 'Island of Happiness', due now to be released in mid-August, includes most of the traditional Harvest Moon festivals from other games, it has some new festivals as well. In fact, the game differs from most other Harvest Moon games in that few of the Festivals will be celebrated or even displayed on the Calendar until your character 'unlocks' them through his/her accomplishments or the attainment of specific goals.

Areas of the map are 'unlocked' when your character pays for the construction of bridges and roads when those projects are made available at Gannon's shop. Once those areas are unlocked, your character will be able to expand his/her activities. In fact, the area where Festivals are held must be unlocked before any Festivals can be celebrated!

Island of Happiness therefore contains more 'surprises' for the player than most Harvest Moon games. Even an experienced Harvest Moon fan will not know what to expect in many cases.

For example, I was not surprised to discover a Cooking Contest in Spring but when I 'unlocked' the rice paddies and began to grow rice, a 'Rice Festival' appeared on the Calendar in Autumn. A 'Mining Festival' appeared in the second year in the Summer season.

Many of these Festivals include Contests and some are more difficult to win than others. The Mining Festival is an example of a Festival that requires a very high quality of gem or ore if you wish to win 1st Prize.

In Spring, Summer and Autumn, there are Crop Festivals with a different 'theme' each year. The theme is announced at the previous Crop Festival and will appear on the Calendar as well. Often, the theme will be a crop that you must unlock. If you have not unlocked the Crop by the time the Festival occurs, obviously you will have no chance whatsoever of winning the Contest.

Often the prize for winning 1st Place in any Festival Contest is a Wonderful. Players of HM DS and HM Cute DS will be familiar with 'Wonderfuls' but they are acquired differently and have quite different applications in Island of Happiness. In HM DS/Cute DS, one could mine for 'Wonderfuls' in the 4th Mine. They had no significant value as single stones. If you could collect a complete set, however, the Harvest Goddess would grant you a wish from a list of choices.

In Island of Happiness, 'Wonderfuls' can be set in slots in tools to augment their power in various ways. Each colour of Wonderful has a specific attribute. Some Wonderfuls allow a tool to operate on a wider area. Others enhance the quality of the item that is obtained through use of the tool. Another Wonderful creates additional slots when equipped to a Tool.

When you purchase a tool from Gannon or Mirabelle at the start of the game, it will have 1-4 slots for Wonderfuls. Gannon sells farm tools and Mirabelle sells ranch tools. A basic tool has only a single slot. Each additional slot raises the price of a tool by 1000G. A tool with four slots therefore will cost 4000G.

If you are a fanatical miner, you can obtain Wonderfuls from the Harvest Goddess when you reach the 255th floor of the Mine. She alternates Wonderfuls with Recipes for various coloured Curries, though, so it is only every other visit to the bottom of the Mine that will gain you another Wonderful as long as there are Recipes to dole out. (Have you noticed how valuable an item a Curry is in Harvest Moon games? Curries of various kinds are the key to Skye's heart and the heart of Keira, not to mention the delight of Flora...)

If you are not a dedicated Miner, you can obtain Wonderfuls in IoH by winning Contests at various Festivals.

The Wonderful that you obtain when you win a Contest is based on total Farming Degree points.

Finally, there is a possibility of finding a Wonderful for sale at Chen's Market in Winter as well.

Some Wonderfuls are more useful than others in the early years of the game. In the early stages of the game, a Wonderful that decreases the amount of Stamina that is lost with each use of the tool is far more useful than a Wonderful that expands the number of slots on a tool. Wonderfuls are not that plentiful, especially if you are not able or willing to descend to the 255th floor of the Mine. Unfortunately, in my own game, the first two Wonderfuls I obtained were Indigo, with the attribute of increasing the number of slots on any tool. I later discovered that the colour of Wonderful obtained at any Festival is based on the total of your Farming Degree Points so you can change the result by fishing or farming or performing any other action that will change your total. (Festivals end at a specific time, irrespective of the time of arrival. If you arrive at a Festival that ends at 6.00 p.m. at 5.50 p.m., you lose only 10 minutes of your day.)

In fact, you must obtain a Yellow Wonderful if you wish to unlock the area on the map where rice can be grown. A Yellow Wonderful augments the power of any Tool and you will not be able to smash the boulder that blocks the path north from your ranch unless you ask Charlie to set a Yellow Wonderful in your Hammer. Once you have unlocked the rice paddies, you must ask him to set a Yellow Wonderful in your Hoe if you wish to be able to plant rice. Finally, a Yellow Wonderful is required in your Sickle in order to harvest the ripened rice.

One Yellow Wonderful can serve the purpose if you go back and forth to Chen's Market to ask Charlie to remove the Wonderful from one tool and set it in another when required. It is inconvenient but better than not being able to grow rice at all!

The appearance of a Wonderful at Chen's Shop in Winter based on the last digit in your Farming Degree total.

Note on 18 August 2009: A player found this ancient post which had not been revised according to later information that IS included in my Guides... and he posted a comment here. Please always be aware that my posts on this site are not intended to be substitutes for my actual strategy guides. I seldom update posts on this site, sadly... I only discovered this one contained early erroneous findings because of a comment a player posted recently.

'Wonderfuls' cannot be set in any tool slot by your character. You must see Charlie, Chen's son, when he is at the counter, in order to equip any Wonderfuls that you own to a tool. There is no charge for this service.

Charlie actually is a very important character in Island of Happiness. He makes Accessories that are very similar to the Accessories in HM DS/Cute DS. Among others, you will find the Harvest Goddess Pendant, Harvest Goddess Earrings, Kappa Pendant, Kappa Earrings, Friendship Brooch and Turbo Shoes as well as a Pedometre.

As in HM DS/Cute DS, many of the Accessories are available in three different sizes. The larger sizes are unlocked usually when you order the smaller sizes. It appears that new accessories sometimes are unlocked when you have ordered a certain number of Accessories from Charlie after a set number of days pass. I wrote about Accessories in Island of Happiness in another post. Large amounts of orichalc are required to create Accessories, but there is no cost otherwise. A Large Harvest Goddess or Kappa Pendant, for example, requires 60 Orichalc. Orichalc can be found on the 50th floor of the Mine as well as on various lower floors. (You can find it on all floors between Floor 50 and Floor 74 randomly for example.) You can find almost EVERYTHING between Floors 250 and 254. More about the Mine later...

These posts are not intended to serve as a proper guide for Island of Happiness. My guides will be published when the game is released in August.