Island of Happiness Rival Events

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I have not been able to play Island of Happiness for some time now and in fact am working on preliminary guides for 'Sunshine Islands', its sequel. Island of Happiness remains the most sophisticated and complex Harvest Moon game to date, however and I only now realised that some assumptions made about the requirements for triggering Events may be incorrect.

In Island of Happiness, your character's actions affect the total population on the Island. In other words, if you bring two members of the Ranching Team to the Island, sheep will be unlocked at Mirabelle's Animal Shop. On the other side of the coin, if you fail to fish for a season and thereby ship no fish whatsoever, characters from the Fishing Team will leave.

Both Main Characters such as Eligible Girls/Bachelors and Subsidiary Characters are affected by your character's activities throughout the game. Players, including myself, who were unable to trigger the final Rival Heart Event between a couple initially performed a specific activity associated with the characters and then were able to trigger the Event. In other words, after I spent a fair amount of time fishing, the final Rival Event between Denny and Lanna triggered.

Today, a player left a comment asking how many fish had to be caught before the final Rival Event between Lanna and Denny would trigger. This is what caused me to reassess the entire basis of Island of Happiness. It may be the total number of Subsidiary Characters in a specific team who are present on the island at a given time that is the determinant rather than the activity (fishing, mining, etc.) per se where the requirement for any Rival Proposal is concerned. In other words, it is not the number of Fish that you catch but the number of members of the Fishing Team who are on the Island that is significant.

In like fashion, the puzzle relating to the actual requirement to trigger Elliot's Purple Heart Event could be solved using the same reasoning. In desperation, hunting for a hidden trigger for the Event, rather absurd theories about a requirement that a player ship 200 Crops from Taro's shipping bin arose but were disproven by players who were able to experience the Event without ever shipping a single Crop from Taro's bin. I expect that the requirement for his Purple Heart Event, apart from having the specified Heart Level, actually is based on the number of Farming Team Members who are on the Island. I suspect that, if you have not brought any of the Farming Team members to the Island you will not be able to experience his Purple Heart Event even if he is at Blue Heart level.

Another situation that shows the complexity of the game involves the Ranch products in Island of Happiness. The appearance of members of the Ranching Team is based on the number of Ranch products that your character makes. Initially, I believed that the products had to be made in the appropriate Makers until characters managed to bring the members of the Teams to the Island by making the same products in their Kitchen.

In fact, my Characters Guide needs to be revised to some extent based on extended gameplay experiences. It was written using an advance copy of the game.

In particular, if I am correct in assuming now that actual Events are based on the presence of a specified number of Subsidiary Team members rather than on totals of items obtained or shipped, it will simplify matters considerably.

I would be interested in hearing from other players on this topic.

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.

Elliot's Purple Heart Event in IoH

I filed this in a corner of my mind and then forgot about it until another player emailed me with the same problem. She has Elliot at Purple Heart level and as yet has been unable to trigger his Purple Heart Event.

I had a similar experience myself in my first game. With all other eligible bachelors, I was able to trigger their Purple Heart Events as soon as they reached Purple Heart. It therefore is not a matter of precise points but of some other hidden requirement. In Elliot's case, there must be some connection with farming but it is not as simple as shipping a set number of crops. It is more possible that it is connected with the Farming Degree Title.

My error in my first IoH game was to hoard my crops initially in order to have more Recovery Items. I did give some Potatoes to Elliot as well. In fact, it is better not to give Elliot ANY gifts but to make certain to speak to him daily after obtaining the Weather forecast from Taro. Conversation raises heart levels as surely as gifts even if more slowly.

In Elliot's case, there is no point in raising his heart level too quickly if you are sacrificing crops to do it. Ship those crops!

As Elliot is the first eligible bachelor you meet in the game, you probably will have him at Purple Heart very early in the game. Although he was at Purple Heart in the first Spring season, I was unable to trigger his Purple Heart Event until Summer. By then, I had met and experienced one of Denny's Heart Events as soon as Denny reached Purple Heart Level so it was Elliot alone who gave me trouble.

Although some players have claimed that there is a requirement to ship 200 items in the shipping container outside Taro's house, this in fact has been disproven by players who have experienced the event without shipping that many items and others who have shipped 200 crops from the container outside Taro's house but still have failed to experience the event.

It is possible that the days on which the event can be experienced change according to the number of areas you have unlocked.

When I experienced the event finally, he was almost at blue heart level in the middle of the first Summer season. Here's the text of the event:

Busy Elliot

At 6.00 p.m. I enter Taro's house to experience Elliot's Purple Heart Event finally. He is almost at blue heart level at this point.

Elliot: (!)

Oh, hello, Freya.
I walk up to him.
Sorry. I wish I was better company, but I'm working right now. Freya, I see you working so hard all the time. It inspires me!
Me: (...)
I then nod with vigour.
Elliot: What? You want to help me?
Wow. That's really nice of you. This is my job, though. You don't have to help.

My choices now:
I can still help, can't I?
Okay, then. Good luck!

Choose: I can still help, can't I?

Elliot: (...) Well, if you insist, I could definitely use a hand.
I nod with vigour.

Taro enters.
Taro: Elliot! Are you ready?
Elliot: Yep! We're just about to get started. We need to carry crates to the ship. Just follow me.
I nod with vigour.
Now we stand at the beach.

Elliot: Phew... That was a lot more crates than usual. Thak you, Freya!

Taro walks up to us.

Taro: That was some good work, you two. Thanks for giving us a hand, Freya. I have a few things left to do, but you two can take off.
He leaves.

ELliot: Boy, that would have been almost impossible without you, Freya! Thank you so much for your help! I owe you one!

The event ends with me at the door of Taro's house rather than at the beach.

If I had chosen:
Okay, then. Good luck!
Elliot: Thanks!

After:
Elliot: Sorry I'm so busy right now.