Harvest Moon Forever: Harvest Goddess Festival

Showing posts with label Harvest Goddess Festival. Show all posts

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Harvest Goddess Festival in Sunshine Islands

One of the most beautiful traditions in Harvest Moon is the Harvest Goddess Dance, usually performed by all the Girls for the Bachelors of the village. In Sunshine Islands, it is performed at the Meadow on the occasion of the Harvest Goddess Festival on 8 Spring to mark the Birthday of the Harvest Goddess. Shea is the only Bachelor who does not attend, although you will have the option to invite only a Bachelor at Green Heart or higher. The other Bachelors will be paired with your 'Rivals' for the Dance.

Rather coincidentally, Shea reached Green Heart on the day before the Harvest Goddess Festival. I therefore experienced his Green Heart Event as I prepared to ask the Bachelor of my dreams to accompany me to the Dance. His Green Heart Event actually includes a little dance. I therefore combined the Harvest Goddess Festival with Shea's Green Heart Event in this video:

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Rejecting your Gifts at Red Heart Level in IoH

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In Island of Happiness, the heart levels of characters will continue to increase, even if you never speak to them or give them any more gifts, if you wear the Friendship Pendant and if you continue to make advances in the game (such as bringing new residents to the Island, winning contests and such). What is different in Island of Happiness is the requirement that you speak to an individual regularly if you wish to have ANY gifts accepted by him/her.

For example, with all the bachelors at orange or red heart level now in the game, they will REJECT my gifts if I fail to speak to them regularly. Even a Thanksgiving Gift will be rejected...

Heart levels do not appear to decrease at all when a gift is refused. Once an individual begins to reject your gifts, you need to speak to that individual EVERY DAY for five days in order to lift the 'social curse'. This applies to all individuals and not only eligible bachelors/girls.

Notwithstanding this situation, any bachelor or eligible girl at orange/red heart level WILL accept an invitation to a romantic Festival or Event even at a point when he/she would reject a gift. I have tested this thoroughly now.

The Harvest Goddess Festival is approaching again in my IoH game. Sad to say, the guy I really wish to invite is NOT on the Island once again. Vaughn so far NEVER has been on the Island on 7 Spring, the day on which one makes the invitations to the Harvest Goddess Festival. If I live single long enough, one year the 7th of Spring will fall on a Wednesday or Thursday but at this point, it has not occurred.

I experienced the Harvest Goddess Festival event with all the 'easy' bachelors first: Denny, Elliot and Pierre. This year, I could invite either Mark or Shea, but not Vaughn, only because Vaughn is nowhere to be found.

Rather to my surprise, I discovered that Shea completely ignored this Festival, even at maximum 10 hearts, full red heart level. He continues to speak of his primary concerns: hunting and eating, no matter where we meet! I expect that dancing for the Harvest Goddess may be an 'alien' ritual to him. He certainly did not attend last year, and I daresay he won't be in attendance this year either.

I bowed to the inevitable and asked Mark to go with me. I fancy him in any case, although my heart still is pulled more by Vaughn for some reason. What is infuriating is that Vaughn WILL be at the festival always, and he will squire Sabrina, my RIVAL to it! Somehow, she manages to get to him with her invitation on a day when he is not on the Island... She must have his address and be able to send a trained carrier pigeon to him, as no ships are sailing today.

Tomorrow, therefore, on 8 Spring, however much I enjoy Mark's attentions, my heart will be soured a little by the sight of Vaughn dancing attendance on my Rival, even though she is a friend of mine. The worst moment always is when the bachelors and my Rivals display large red hearts for one another in the course of the dance. I suppose I shouldn't be greedy, though. It is rather exciting to be the 'belle of the ball' on the Island, with all the bachelors in love with me, but ultimately it is far better to allow the Rival Couples to marry.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

The Harvest Goddess Festival in Island of Happiness

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The Harvest Goddess Festival is not a celebration of the Harvest but of the Goddess. 8 Spring is the birthday of the Harvest Goddess and the day on which the Festival is celebrated.

The Harvest Goddess Festival is one that, unlike the Thanksgiving Festival, is not included in every traditional Harvest Moon game. Friends/More Friends of Mineral Town and Harvest Moon DS/Cute DS did not included the Festival. It is an extremely beautiful celebration of the power of the Harvest Goddess and one that adds to the spiritual component of any Harvest Moon game, even if in cases where your character has not raised the heart level of any eligible partner sufficient, it can be rather heartbreaking as well. In Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, for example, the object of your heart's desire may make comments about your Rival that almost break your heart... Even so, that need not occur more than once if you raise heart levels sufficiently before the next Harvest Goddess Festival.

I was thrilled to discover that you can unlock the Harvest Goddess Festival in Island of Happiness once you have unlocked the Church in the Forest. Playing as a girl, you do not experience an event wherein you will receive a beautiful festival gown as in HM B&G but it is a lovely celebration in the Meadow nonetheless. I have to say that the Event wherein Gotz brings you the gown that once belonged to his daughter is one of the most poignant in any Harvest Moon game. It was one of my favourite events in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl actually, and the ritual of dressing in the gown before walking to the Harvest Goddess Festival made the Festival very real to me. While wearing the Harvest Festival Gown in HM B & G, your character cannot perform ANY farming or ranching tasks. This is a very nice touch, making you feel that you really ARE wearing a special sacred gown, one that you would not dream of wearing while you milk the cows or weed the fields!

It has been many months since I had any chance to play HM B & G but writing about the Harvest Goddess Festival creates a longing in me to return to my life in that game. I do like the PSP platform better than the larger Wii or PS2, simply because it is as portable as the DS, even if the battery life is all too brief. Portable platforms have a special magic, because they allow the player to take the world of Harvest Moon or Valkyrie Profile or any other favourite reality ANYWHERE, without alerting the entire world to their existence.

Every one probably has experienced the scorn or criticism of a parent, partner or friend with respect to the amount of time and energy given to games. The DS or PSP circumvent this to some extent. The systems are small enough to escape detection in many cases. My DS and PSP both have been mistaken for devices engaged in 'serious business' by people who were unfamiliar with the platforms. (For some of us, a game is the most 'serious business' of all, but much of the world does not share these values.)

To return to the Harvest Goddess Festival, the celebration in Island of Happiness includes a sacred dance but there is less of the overt admiration of the Rivals than there is in Harvest Moon B & G. The actual dance is more compelling in B & G, however. In my view, the actual dance in B & G is one of the most beautiful events in any Harvest Moon game.

There is another wonderful event in HM B & G wherein Karen will visit you at your farm to teach you how to perform the festival dance. Despite the similarities between various Harvest Moon games, each game is unique and that is part of the enduring charm of Harvest Moon.

In Island of Happiness, the event that unlocks the Festival probably may occur almost a year before you experience the Festival for the first time. It is an Event that is connected with the Church and involves a discussion of the Festival. With the arrival of the Spring season, you will experience the Festival for the first time. As with any new Festival in Island of Happiness, you will be visited on the day before the Festival by the individual who is in charge of the celebration. In the case of the Harvest Goddess Festival, that individual is Alisa. She will tell you to invite some one to accompany you to the Festival.

This is your opportunity to court the bachelor/eligible girl of your choice. If his/her Heart Level is high enough, you will be able to accompany him/her to the Festival the next day.

Island of Happiness is interesting in its realism where this aspect of the event is concerned. On the day of the Festival, the eligible girl/bachelor will visit you at home and will wait until you have completed all of your chores/tasks. He/she then will accompany you to the Meadow to celebrate the Festival. After the Festival, he/she will bid you farewell. I love the actual dance in Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, but I love the way the Festival Event occurs in IoH as well.

Whatever the nature of the actual celebration, I for one hope it will be included in all future Harvest Moon games!

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For all Harvest Moon fans and players

As Freyashawk, I have written about 150 guides for games, most of which have been guides for Harvest Moon games. These are published on IGN. IGN has given me the title of 'Mistress of Harvest Moon' and I strive daily to earn the right to maintain that title. Although there is a link page on IGN that lists all the guides published there, they are not organised by game, but rather given in alphabetical order. I therefore created this page in order to provide links to the guides I have created for each Harvest Moon game. If you access the General Guide for any game, links should be included to all other guides for that game in a section at the end. I will try to add links to ALL guides as time permits, but until I do, you always can refer to my user page at IGN for the complete list.

I wrote the Official Strategy Guide for Tree of Tranquility for BradyGames as well.
Harvest Moon Forever!

How to Use my Guides

I write three different basic types of game guides. I usually write a General Guide for every game, which is fairly comprehensive and deals with all aspects of the game. It may or may not be in the form of a Walkthrough, dealing with game aspects as they occur. My Innocent Life General Guide is an example of a General Guide that is organised as a Walkthrough.

After writing a General Comprehensive Guide, I often write a Calendar Guide giving birthday and festival dates, with additional information that may be helpful, such as favourite gifts for each individual. For all Harvest Moon games, I usually write a number of 'mini-guides', such as Events Guides for each year of gameplay, or Recipe Guides that give all recipes one can make. Fishing, Mining, Shipping or Item Value Guides are other mini-guides that can be very useful when playing Harvest Moon. Character Guides give detailed information about every character in any specific game. My Courtship and Marriage Guide is devoted to all aspects of Courtship and Marriage, including schedules of Heart Events, Rival Heart Events and the likes and dislikes of every Eligible Girl and/or Bachelor.

Although this site is devoted to Harvest Moon, I have included links to game guides for other games. I created a separate link section for Animal Crossing Wild World as well, because I wrote more than one guide for that game.

N.B. All my game guides are published by IGN. This webpage has been created simply to allow players to find links to all my guides more easily.

Copyright Infringement Warning

It is really sad to discover that there are individuals who are willing to steal my guides and to attempt to publish them under their names. Fortunately, there are many players who recognise my guides when they see them anywhere on the internet and who are willing to alert me when some one tries to steal my material. I want to thank all those players for their help in these cases.

Some one stole one of my guides and tried to publish it on Gamefaqs under his/her name. The guide has been removed and the poster has been banned. I now have a contact in the Legal Department at CNet. I spend many months sometimes writing a guide. They are available for the private use of any individual without cost, but they are not available for theft!
If you want permission to include a link to one of my guides on your site, please contact me directly.

Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town

You will notice that I wrote far more guides for More Friends of Mineral Town than I did for the original 'Friends of Mineral Town'. At some point, I would like to publish more specific Events Guides for Friends of Mineral Town, but players should be aware of the fact that ALL Calendar Events Guides for MFoMT can be used when playing the original FoMT. The Events are the same in most cases in both games. If, therefore, you are playing FoMT and you wish to know the events that can be experienced in the third year of gameplay, refer to the 'Third Year Calendar Events Guide' for 'More Friends of Mineral Town'.