The Harvest Festival Dance in HoLV

I would like to dedicate this video to my friend and HM comrade, ILuvHM for all of her tireless work in logging the text of dialogue and events in Hero of Leaf Valley with me.

Your Kitchen in Hero of Leaf Valley

I am not the only player who experienced a little thrill the first time I walked into my new kitchen. First of all, whenever you obtain a Kitchen in Harvest Moon, you feel that you finally have ARRIVED. Your life becomes so much easier and cooking IS fun. All those raw ingredients that you toted about in your Rucksack for weeks now can be stored in the fridge or USED to create new dishes.

It may be possible to obtain the House expansion in Spring but most players do it immediately after the Summer Races. A House Expansion, after all, is desirable, but there are other expenses in Spring that need to take priority. Furthermore, you have to order one of the existing projects on Woody's Menu before the House Expansion in the form of Kitchen, Bath and Toilet will be unlocked.

The Kitchen, Bath and Toilet are situated in a separate chamber. You will awaken to find that your bed has been moved but if you expect to find a small kitchen counter in the same room, you will search in vain. Walk through the opening in the centre of the eastern wall and...

From the Journal of a good friend who is a Harvest Moon comrade as well:

'OMG… the kitchen is beautiful! When I woke up I’m like hey why is my bed moved? Oh yeh, the kitchen! Walk around looking….where is it? Slight sucking in of breath upon seeing it! Very pleasantly surprised. I had expected a starter kitchen like Joe and Kurt's.'

Players of A Wonderful Life/Another Wonderful Life may recall similar experiences with respect to the Kitchen in those games.

If you consider the premise of HoLV, which is story-driven, it makes sense to allow a player to obtain a Kitchen, Bath and Toilet as a single building project. After all, the business of saving the homeland must take precedence over everything else. Other Harvest Moon games that divide the House Expansion, Kitchen, Bath and Toilet expansions into four and sometimes even five different upgrades do not have the same urgency or time limit where the plot of the game is concerned. You have only two years to save Leaf Valley in HoLV. The HM gods mercifully decreed that, with the weight of this responsibility resting upon your shoulders, you should be allowed the benefit of cooking, bathing and changing your clothes with a single home upgrade.

For my part, it was the additional storage space that thrilled me most when my new house expansion was unveiled to me. Even with the Large Rucksack, I never had sufficient space, and it saddened me whenever I was forced to give away, sell or consume a seasonal item simply in order to free a slot in my Rucksack.

I, of course, had hoped to make every Cooked Dish as early as possible, but I finally had to dispose of my Apples and Oranges in the interest of space. No longer, though! All edible items can go into the Fridge, to await future use...

Your initial Kitchen provides you with a small Frying Pan and a small Pot. These allow you to cook any Dish that requires only one ingredient. Although all Recipes are included in my HoLV Cookbook Recipes Guide, I included an 'Easy Recipes' section in my HoLV Walkthrough/General Guide that gives all the Single-Ingredient Recipes for Pot and Frying Pan.

Remember that Cooked Dishes often are 'Wanted Items' by local merchants. In Summer, Corn is on the Wanted Items list at Clove Villa but Ronald's Wanted Items List includes Fried Corn. Martha will pay 60G for raw Corn, but Ronald will pay 100G for the same ear of Corn when it has been cooked in a Frying Pan. the Wanted Items Lists for every Season are included both in my HoLV Walkthrough/General Guide and my HoLV Shops and Businesses Guide.

The items that are the subject of Delivery Requests often are out-of-season. Once you have a Kitchen, it is easier to store Crops, Fish and items from the Wilds in anticipation of a future Delivery Request.

At the end of the first Summer, it is worthwhile to consider a potentially profitable Wanted Item that will go into effect on 1 Autumn. Scrap Metal usually sells for 10G, but during the Autumn Season, Louis will pay 30G for each piece of Scrap Metal. Unfortunately, you can store only a total of 99 items of any variety in your Toolbox. A single slot will take 99 items, but if you attempt to fill a second slot with the overflow, the Toolbox will not accept the items. You therefore must keep any excess Scrap Metal in your Rucksack if you wish to profit from Louis' need for the item in Autumn.

In the screenshots of the Kitchen, you will note that Freyr is dressed in an outfit that is different from the one worn throughout the pre-Kitchen period. A change of clothing is a benefit of taking a Bath in HoLV.

Incidentally, there is one very frustrating aspect in HoLV where the Bath is concerned. There is no prompt whatsoever at the door of the Bath or Toilet. If you stray too close to the door, your Character will slide right in, have a bath as quick as lightning and be out again, clearing the water from his ears... having WASTED his daily Bath while his energy still was at the full! I have done this twice early in the morning after cooking up some quick dishes at the counter... Very annoying! It wouldn't matter if you could have multiple baths, but only the first one counts, so it is very exasperating when your Character decides to have a quick bath without permission!

Family Life in HoLV

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This information, including the Rival Events, will be included in my Guides but as a player posted a comment to ask about one aspect of Family Life, I thought a post might be helpful.

First of all, 'Hero of Leaf Valley' is based on 'Save the Homeland', not 'Back to Nature'. It is 'Harvest Moon Boy & Girl', another PSP title, that was based on the old 'Back to Nature' and includes both the male and female versions of THAT game.

In the original 'Save the Homeland', you had two years to save the Village. At the end of that period, or when you succeeded in 'clearing' one of the possible Quests to achieve this, the game ended then and there. You then could start the game again, carrying over most of your items and assets and play through a different Story Quest, continuing to do this until you had experienced all possible Story Quests. In 'Save the Homeland', there was no option to marry, although romantic Events would occur with the protagonist of the Story Quest you chose to complete.

'Harvest Moon Boy & Girl', for players not familiar with 'Back to Nature' is rather similar to 'Friends of Mineral Town' and 'More Friends of Mineral Town' in that it takes place in the same village, has most of the same set of characters and many of the same goals. There is a big difference, however, between the 'Boy' version and the 'Girl' version of HM B&G. If you play as a Boy, you can marry and have a child. If you play as a Girl, however, the game will end when you marry. Rather unfair to those of us who ARE Girls, perhaps, but that was the way the original Japanese game worked and, on the positive side, at least you CAN choose whether to play as a Girl or a Boy. Furthermore, as it is a PSP title, you can play BOTH as a Girl and a Boy in different save files! Like many Harvest Moon games, it gives incredible value for the cost.

Now, to answer some questions about 'Hero of Leaf Valley'. It is a very expanded version of 'Save the Homeland' as it will not end after you save the Valley AND, you actually can marry in HoLV. The game is divided into two main parts. You have to 'save the homeland' before you will have the option to marry, although courtship can occur during the first part of the game while you are busy saving the Valley.

The first part of the game, therefore, is most similar to the original 'Save the Homeland', although it is not identical by any means. The game does NOT end if you manage to succeed in one of the three main Quests. If, however, you fail to save the Valley from the threat of development by the end of the 2nd year, the game WILL end and you will be forced to begin again. You will not be forced to start with nothing again, however. You will be able to 'inherit' many of your assets from your first failed game.

In the second phase, once the land is safe from threats of development, HoLV begins to resemble a traditional Harvest Moon game. You can propose to an Eligible Girl and marry her, provided all Heart Level requirements have been met. There are Rival Events that can occur between Eligible Girls and the bachelors who are interested in them, but they will not lead to Rival Marriages. Your own marriage does not result in any children.

There are other Events that cannot be experienced before the third year of the game and a new Character in the form of Zann, who somewhat resembles Ivan or Lute from Rune Factory games and who can create wonderful Accessories for you.

Some players have expressed a wish that one could have a Child in HoLV, but after all, every Harvest Moon game, although it is founded on the same general philosophy, is unique. Players who are familiar with 'Save the Homeland' will be thrilled by the amazing expansions of the game that can be found in Hero of Leaf Valley. If having a Child is your primary goal in Harvest Moon, there are many games that will satisfy your ambition. In the recent Animal Parade for the Wii, you actually can have more than one child. If you consider Rune Factory as part of the 'Harvest Moon' series, as I do, there is Rune Factory 2, where you actually can PLAY the game in the 2nd Generation as your Child!

One final point about Events in 'Hero of Leaf Valley'. Many players are using the terms from the Official Guide to describe the many Events that can be experienced in this game. I initially did the same in my Guides, but now intend to use my own terms because I am beginning to see that some events, quite clearly, are Heart Events and have very little to do with the Story Quests to which they are linked. The only link in many cases is the fact that they involve the same Eligible Girl who is the protagonist in the Story Quest. Instead of describing the Events as 'Mecha', or 'Farm Aid' or whatever, whenever an Event is a Friendship Event or Heart Event, I am going to designate it as such, although I will make certain that each Event either is described as 'Mandatory' or 'Optional'.

I have a couple of reasons for making this change. One is the fact that many of the Story Quests are linked and indeed, 'Optional' Events often are connected to more than one Story Quest. I still need to confirm whether or not experiencing a specific Event that involves more than one Eligible Girl or Character increases FP for all the Characters in the Event. Evidence that lends itself to the belief that it DOES increase FP if only slightly, is the fact that Heart Levels have changed immediately after I experienced an Event. On the other hand, simply 'meeting and greeting' any Character on a given day increases FP by +1 point. Experiencing an Event with a Character could be assigned the 'Meeting and Greeting' point for that day. In some specific cases, an Event will raise a Character's FP significantly and that is confirmed officially. Whether or not ALL Events result in some FP increase, however, beyond +1 FP for each Character involved, still needs to be confirmed.

Two Events that clearly are 'Heart Events' in HoLV are Dia's first two Events. They both are concerned primarily with her relationship with your Character. In the first, your Character 'rescues' her from a large spider. In the second, she confesses that your gifts to her have widened her appreciation of the knowledge she has gained from books. In fact, as her Heart Level increases, her general dialogue as well as her responses to specific gifts, often deals with the same topic.

Blueberries traditionally are Dia's favourite in more than one Harvest Moon game. In HoLV, however, her responses to the gift of a Blueberry as well as responses to other Berries would be bizarre if one did not comprehend their basis.

In fact, most of her Responses to Gifts of items 'found in the wilds' reflect a comparison of descriptions of itmems found in books with the reality of the item. Here are some of her early Responses to items. Note that these ALL are Gifts that are acceptable to her:

At Black Heart:

For Very Berry: ...Th-Thank you.

For Fish (S?) or Common Seashell: Oh, no, it smells so foul.

At Purple Heart:

For Blueberry: ...This is a little different from what I saw in the encyclopedia. ...Is it real?

For Orange, Strawberry, Very Berry: Can you...Eat this? It won't make you sick?

For Moondrop Herb or Fairy Dress Herb: ...It's a fairly common flower.

For Tomato: It's ...So dirty, covered in mud...

At Blue Heart:

For Very Berry: This is fairly sweet.

For Blueberry: I'm not sure how good these taste, but...I think I like the taste.

As you can see, if you look at the Responses knowing that Dia has been extremely 'sheltered' and therefore may be experiencing her first real contact with these items, dialogue that otherwise would appear ungrateful or discourteous becomes less so.

'It's ... So dirty, covered in mud...' for a Tomato for example, is the response of a girl who never saw a Tomato until it had been prepared in a Salad or Sandwich. The Response to a Seashell, 'Oh no, it smells so foul.' again displays the astonishment of a girl who saw pictures of shells in books but was unprepared for the reality of an item fresh from the sea.

Her responses to Blueberries and other Fruits are extremely interesting, as they show the incredible attention to detail that has been given to the dialogues in this game.

At Purple Heart:
For Blueberry: ...This is a little different from what I saw in the encyclopedia. ...Is it real?

This is the response of a girl who prior to this only saw pictures of Blueberries in an Encyclopedia. At this point in time, she has little personal knowledge of raw, unprepared Fruits, even those that are cultivated. Proof of this is given in her response to ANY other Fruit:

For Orange, Very Berry, Strawberry: Can you...Eat this? It won't make you sick?

As you continue to visit her, raising her Heart Level, her responses to these items change:

At Blue Heart:

For Very Berry: This is fairly sweet.

For Blueberry: I'm not sure how good these taste, but...I think I like the taste.

Here, you see how she has 'grown' emotionally to become more in touch with the universe and with her real feelings and senses. She is sharing HER actual responses to the taste of these Fruits.

The Event where she confides the effects of your visits and gifts puts all of this into proper perspective:

Dia stood in the Library facing me.

Dia: Oh, Freyr. ... I was just reading, thinking about things. I've realised that the things written in my books don't take place in a distant land, they happen much closer to home. ... What, well... About this gift you've given me. Lately, when I read, I find myself saying, 'Oh, I know this. I've seen that before...' Knowledge isn't only something to know. It's important that they are experienced. With everything you've done... I think I'm getting more interested in the outside world. I feel like I'll go for a long walk one of these days. ...Although by that I mean, I'll go as far as your farm, perhaps.'

This is one of the reasons I love Harvest Moon so much. It is not about 'clearing a goal' as much as it is about your ability to change lives, to bring prosperity AND happiness to others. If you take an interest in spoiled, shy Dia, she will become a better person, more courageous and more involved in the feelings and lives of others. Even at Green Heart Level, however, she has not changed fully...

If you follow Gina's Quest to make the Harvest Goddess Dress, you will see how Dia remains quite imperfect and selfish at the point where your Character asks about the 'Silk Thread' needed by the Harvest Goddess. Both Martha and Louis will tell you about the trader who delivers Miss Dia's clothes to the Villa and who undoubtedly has Silk Thread.

In fact, Martha will tell you that Dia purchased some recently:

Want Silk Thread

Martha: What? 'Silk Thread'...? I'm sorry, I don't have any. I think that the trader who comes to deliver Miss Dia's clothes may sell you some, but it's quite expensive. Now that I think about it, Miss Dia had just purchased some from him... I wonder what she'll use it for?

When you speak to Dia, however, to ask about it:

Want Silk Thread

Dia: 'Silk Thread'? ... Um... ...Could you ask some one else? Oh... Wait one moment. ...You wouldn't be planning on raising the worms that would make the silk thread, would you? P-Please, never bring those things to the villa! Understood?

When Katie and Gina are discussing the gown outside the gates of the Villa, Dia interrupts by calling for Gina to fetch her shawl for her. This may demonstrate her spoiled and selfish nature, but at the same time, Gina is at fault somewhat for not confiding her plans to make a gown for the contest. Gina is too self-effacing and both she and Martha are somewhat responsible for being over-protective of Dia and keeping her in her 'ivory tower'.

As the Story Quests develop, all of this changes gradually, and every Character in Hero of Leaf Valley changes. Even Alice and the other employees of Funland can be influenced by your Character...

New HoLV Cookbook Recipes Guide

I have created a new Hero of Leaf Valley Cookbook Recipes Guide. As of now, all Pot and Frying Pan Recipes have been included with about half of the Oven Recipes and a few Mixer Recipes. I hope to complete ALL entries tomorrow.

You will find the link to the Guide on the right side of this page.

If you work Part-Time in the Kitchen of Clove Villa, you may find a pattern in the assignments you are given. If other players have had different experiences, I would like to hear about them, but in my own experience, the assignments appear to be dictated partly by the time of day when you accept the Job.

If you go fairly early in the day, you are more likely to obtain the assignment to make 5 Blocks of Cheese. Later, there are assignments for Sandwiches and Fish Meal.
Medium Milk 'leftover' from the assignment is one of the more valuable 'leftovers'. From the Fish Meal assignment, however, you may receive Mushrooms, which can be given to the Sprites who love them.

Martha will not give you the Recipe for the Dish beforehand but when you make it successfully for the first time in her kitchen, your Recipe Book will be updated to include it.

One of the reasons I created the Cookbook Recipes Guide as quickly as possible was to help players with the Part-Time Kitchen work.

Tip: Whenever you have options to use more than one item as an ingredient during an Assignment, always use the least valuable or most common item and try to save the most expensive or rare items for your 'leftovers' if possible.

Leftovers may be random. I have performed the Cheese Assignment a few times and each time obtained a different amount of Medium Milk afterwards.

How to Save the Land in Hero of Leaf Valley

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Evidently, players are confused as to the different methods by which the land can be saved from development in 'Hero of Leaf Valley'.

As I have written in other posts, there are 16 different Story Quests that can be followed but these fall into three main categories.

The first category is the Main Story: Shoot for the Stars! The Greatest Farm in the World!

Many of the Events in this Story will be experienced automatically because they deal directly with the Funpark Corporation and the plan to develop the Land as a Funpark.
Alice, the CEO of the Company, will tell you that you can buy the land outright from the Corporation for 50,000G. Having the funds will not be sufficient to complete this Quest, however. You must defeat a number of Robot enemies created and let lose upon the land by the company...

There are two other ways to save the land from development, however, if you cannot manage the first or prefer one of the alternatives. As an alternative, you can transform the land into a Nature Preserve or into a Tourist destination.

Each one of the other Story Quests apart from the first is PART of one of the other two endings. You must complete THREE of the Nature Preserve Story Quests if you wish to save the land by cfreating a Nature Preserve. Or, you must complete THREE of the Tourist Destination Story Quests if you wish to transform the land into a desirable Tourist Attraction.

Players are confused by the Events that must be completed in this context. Each Story Quest has its own sequence of Events. Some Events in each Sequence are optional, which may be adding to the confusion. Others are mandatory. You must experience ALL THE MANDATORY EVENTS IN THREE OF THE STORY QUESTS either in the Nature Preserve category or in the Tourist Destination Category in order to save the land and be allowed to move forward to the third year.

If you choose one of the alternate methods, it is not a matter of experiencing a total number of Events from more than one Story Quest. It is a matter of completing three of the Stories successfully.


In other words, your options are to save the land by successfully completing:
Shoot for the Stars: The Greatest Farm in the World!

Or by completing THREE of the following Stories:

Tale of the Golden Potato Seed (Nature Preserve)
Tale of the Blue Mist and the Azure Swallowtails (Nature Preserve)
Tale of the Silver Fish (Nature Preserve)
Tale of the Blue Bird (Nature Preserve)
Tale of the Endangered Weasel (Nature Preserve)
The Hundred-Year-Old Cherry Tree (Nature Preserve)
The Secret Fossil (Nature Preserve)

Or by completing THREE of the following Stories:

Tale of the Harvest Goddess Dress (Tourist Destination)
Tale of the Cake Contest (Tourist Destination)
Tale of the Horse Race Champion (Tourist Destination)
The Harvest Goddess Temple (Tourist Destination)
Rebirth of the True Harvest Festival! (Tourist Destination)
The Holy Masterpiece (Tourist Destination)
The Legendary Baker (Tourist Destination)
Louis, the Inventor King (Tourist Destination)

You can complete Story Quests in another category if you wish but you cannot save the land by completing three Story Quests from DIFFERENT categories. In other words, completing 'The Holy Masterpiece' Quest, the 'Secret Fossil' Quest and 'The Tale of the Silver Fish' will NOT save Leaf Valley. You either have to complete two more Tourist Destination Quests or one more Nature Preserve Quest.

The screenshots are from three optional Events that begin three different Story Quests. The 'Tale of the Harvest Goddess Dress', 'Louis the Inventor King' and the 'Tale of the Endangered Weasel'.

Note that my 1st Year Events Calendar Guide, part of which is posted on this site, allows a player to co-ordinate his/her movements in order to begin as many of the Story Events as possible, giving his/her Character the option to choose the Quests he wishes to complete.

Tunnel vision always is a danger in any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game. This is why my Calendar Events Guide is formatted according to date rather than Story.

Some Energy Recovery Values in Hero of Leaf Valley

In the early stages of any Harvest Moon game, restoring your Character's Energy Levels usually is a problem.

In Hero of Leaf Valley, your Character can do fairly well in terms of tilling his field, watering his Crops and caring for his Chickens even at the outset. Most of the Part-Time Jobs are not that taxing. The exception, however, is Woody's Part-Time Work in the Forest.

You will find that your Energy Bar can empty quickly when you are chopping down Trees for Woody or working for Rudolph in the Mine.

If you wish to be able to continue to operate during the remainder of the day, you will be forced to replenish your Stamina.

Incidentally, a reader shared a little tip: During the period before you unlock the Mine, you can restore your Energy Bar completely if you tell Rudolph that you do not know how to mine. It means that you will have to go through the entire Tutorial again, but if your Energy levels are low when you enter the Mine, it will restore them, allowing you to perform your task for him afterwards.

Here are basic values for some of the items you can obtain at the start of the game. SR stands for Stamina Recovery and FR for Fatigue Resistance. All of this information is included in my Hero of Leaf Valley General Guide/Walkthrough.

Items found in the Wilds:

Orange

Orange: 30G
Energy Value: +8 SR +0 FR
Found in Spring and Winter near the Café/Bar and Pike Mountain area

Grass

Grass: 0G
Energy Value: Nil
Found near Plaza and Pike Mountain

Cranberry

Cranberry: 30G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in the areas of the Goddess Spring and Clove Villa

Chestnut

Chestnut: 20G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in Summer and Autumn in the Plaza area; found in Winter near Woody’s Carpentry Shop

Walnut

Walnut: 20G
Energy Values: +8 SR -0 FR
Found in Summer and Autumn in the areas of Pike Mountain and Woody’s Carpentry Shop

Black Truffle

Black Truffle: 60G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in Walnut Forest

Coral

Coral: 350G
Energy Value: Nil
Found on the beach near Crystal Bay

White Truffle

White Truffle: 60G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in Walnut Forest area

Star Truffle

Star Truffle: 80G
Energy Value: +8 SR -0 FR
Found exclusively by your Dog

Wonderful Seashell

Wonderful Seashell: 40G
Energy Value: Nil
Found on the Beach at Crystal Bay.

Green Herb

Green Herb: 10G
Energy Value: +0 SR +8 FR
Found in all Seasons except Autumn near Ronald’s Grocery Shop, Pike Mountain and other areas

Clam

Clam: 30G
Energy Value: +10 SR +0 FR
Found only in Spring and Autumn on the Beach at Crystal Bay

Pink Cat Mint

Pink Cat Mint: 20G
Energy Value: Nil
Found in Summer and Autumn near Pike Mountain

Grapes

Grapes: 40G
Energy Value: +8 SR -0 FR
Found near Ronald’s Grocery and near Woody’s Carpentry Shop in Summer and solely near Ronald’s Grocery in Autumn

Blueberry

Blueberry: 20G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in Spring and Summer near Ronald’s Grocery

Baby Truffle

Baby Truffle: 40G
Energy Value: +4 SR -0 FR
Found in Walnut Forest

Very Berry

Very Berry: 10G
Energy Value: +6 SR -0 FR
Found in Spring and Summer near the Plaza and the Café/Bar areas

Pontata Root

Pontata Root: 80G
Energy Value: +0 SR +20 FR
Found exclusively by your Dog when trained

Full Moon Berry

Full Moon Berry: 40G
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Found in Summer and Autumn near the Café/Bar

Moondrop Flower

Moondrop Flower: 10G
Energy Value: Nil
Found in Spring in the Clove Villa area and others (where clusters of flowers grow wild) and in Summer in the Pike Mountain area

Red Herb

Red Herb: 20G
Energy Value: +0 SR +10 FR
Found in all Seasons except Autumn near Florist/Item Shops and near the Plaza

Common Seashell

Common Seashell: 10G
Energy Value: Nil
Found on the Beach at Crystal Bay

Apple

Apple: 30G
Energy Value:
Found in all Seasons except Summer near the Goddess Spring and near Pike Mountain.

Note that one of the few items early in the game that will restore Fatigue is Red Herb.

Woody will give you a hint about this if you give him a Red Herb:

Woody for Red Herb: Oh, thanks. This is good for when you're tired.

As in many Harvest Moon games, you will find that the local Restaurants provide a fairly decent sources of Energy Recovery Items until you can afford to buy your own Kitchen.
In Hero, the two local Restaurants are to be found in a single location. The Café is open from noon to 5.00 p.m. and the Pub opens at 6.00 p.m. and stays open until Midnight.
Each has its own Menu but all items sold must be consumed immediately on the premises.
Daytime Menu at the Cafe:
Tea: 150G
This delicious tea will really relax you.
Herb Tea: 200G
It’s a soothing herbal tea. It will relieve a little weariness you might be feeling.
Energy Value: +0 SR +5 FR
Milk Tea: 200G
This milk tea full of fresh milk.
Cookie: 250G
A yummy, crunchy, homemade cookie.
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Muffin: 250G
This is a mildly sweet muffin. Comes with Very Berry Jam!
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Cake: 300G
It’s a sweet shortcake that uses pelnty of cream!
Energy Value: +32 SR +0 FR
Pancake: 300G
Hot and fluffy pancakes. Comes with sweet and yummy honey.
Energy Value: +30 SR +0 FR
Cheesecake: 350G
Every one loves cheesecake!
Energy Value: +36 SR +0 FR
Pub Menu:
Herb Wine: 350G
Energy Value: +0 SR +10 FR
Sauteed Mushrooms: 400G
Mushrooms sauteed in butter. Enjoy its simple flavours.
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Tomato Salad: 400G
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
French Fries: 400G
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Assorted Cheese: 500G
Energy Value: +32 SR +0 FR
Fish Meal: 500G
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Traditionally, drinks that operate to restore Fatigue Resistance are sold at night and items rich in Stamina Recovery are sold during the Day. If you find yourself in a positionn where you need lots of Stamina Recovery after 6.00 p.m. when only the Pub is open, your best choice would be the Assorted Cheese which will give you +32 SR.


Energy Resources from Ronald

Items sold at Ronald’s Grocery have fairly good Energy Recovery Values and, unlike the items sold at the local Restaurants, you will be able to take them off the premises to use when needed.
Rice Ball: 120G
Energy Value: +12 SR + 0 FR
Fluffy Bread: 150G
Energy Value: +10 SR +0 FR
Miso: 200G
Energy Value: +20 SR +0 FR
Honey: 200G
Energy Value: +22 SR +0 FR
As you can see, the most effective Energy Recovery Item sold by Ronald is Honey, which restores more Stamina than most of the items sold at the local Restaurants as well as being less expensive.

Hero of Leaf Valley 1st Year Events Guide

I am creating 1st and 2nd Year Event Calendar Guides for Hero of Leaf Valley in the style of my Event Calendar Guides for FoMT/MFoMT, HM DS and Cute DS. They will contain the schedules of ALL Events (both mandatory and optional) for all 16 Storylines. I have completed the schedules for the 1st Year for the first three Storylines and the Guide is live on IGN. By the end of the weekend, I hope to have both first and second Year Events for all the Stories.

You will find the link to the 1st Year Events Calendar Guide as well as my other HoLV Guides on the right side of the page.

Being an Anti-Hero (Temporarily) in Hero of Leaf Valley

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When you write a guide for a game, it is your duty to perform unpalatable acts, giving the 'wrong' response, the 'bad' response and otherwise exploring dark avenues instead of patting yourself on the back as you unerringly always choose the 'correct' and 'good' response that takes you forward.

'Hero of Leaf Valley' will draw you into a scenario that will be somewhat familiar both to players of 'Save the Homeland' and 'An Innocent Life'. Your Character must assume the role of saviour of the village...

At the start of 'Hero of Leaf Valley', the Harvest Goddess will quiz you to determine your aptitude to wear the mantle or cape of the Hero.

Her three questions:

A puppy is abandoned in the rain. What do you do?
Take it home.
Ignore it.


There’s trash on the ground. What do you do?
Pick it up
Leave it.

There’s money on the ground. What do you do?
Take it to the police
Keep it.

Every player will know the responses that are expected of him/her.

What happens if you give the 'bad' responses to all the questions?

For me, exploring ALL the possibilities is part of the thrill of working on a game guide.

It so happens that you can give any response you wish and you still will end up being the 'only choice' to save the land...

Thanks to a friend who is helping me to log the responses, I was able to do the negative ones without being forced to start over to log the positive responses. I had a feeling that your Character's choice of responses could affect Friendship Levels of other individuals in Leaf Valley.

As it transpires, they DO, but as in other Harvest Moon games, even 'negative' actions or responses appeal to SOME Characters. For example, littering sometimes will endear you to the Witch Princess...

Evidently, Friendship Levels are affected as follows:

If you give the 'positive' response or first response to each of the three questions
of the Harvest Goddess, you will earn +15 FP with the following individuals: the Harvest Goddess herself, Dia, Louis, Bob, Joe, Wallace, Chester and Nak.

If you give the 'negative' or second response to each of her three questions, you will gain +15 FP with Katie, Gina, Kurt, Ronald, Charlie, Renton, Rudolph and Nik.

If you give a combination of positive and negative responses, you earn +15 FP with Gwen, Lyla, Aurelia, Alice, Parsley, Tim, Woody, Martha and Flak.

None of this causes irreparable results, obviously, but if you have a specific target in mind in terms of Courtship or Friendship, you may wish to plot your responses accordingly.

I simply did not much like the responses Freyr gave in MY game and believing now that it could have an impact on the friendship levels of the people he would meet, I explored things a bit for two days and then reloaded... In any case, it is important to prove that players CAN give negative responses to all the questions and still assume the mantle of the Hero to move ahead in the game...

Even if you reject the idea of saving the land from the very start, the Harvest Sprites will forge ahead.

Flak: Yeah! Maybe you can help us save this land! Will you hear us out?

Your choice now:
Yes
No.

If you choose No:

Nac: What?! Don’t say that! We just want you to listen!

The Harvest Goddess then will make her appearance to quiz you further.

The negative responses sometimes lead to the most entertaining Dialogue, which is another reason to log them.

In this case:

Nic: W-W-What are we going to do? He’s a bad person! Terrible!

What is interesting here is that the Harvest Goddess will put a 'positive spin' on the negative as well as the positive:

H.Goddess: Calm down. He might just be the first honest person I’ve met. And I know there’s a good heart beneath that rough exterior.

Nic: Well, he can see us.

Flak: Yeah. He’s probably the only person we can ask anyway.

It takes me awhile to adjust to the controls of the PSP after using the DS exclusively for a few weeks... The PSP may be clunkier and heavier, but the graphics certainly are magical. Mind you, I love miniatures and the exquisite detail of Harvest Moon games on the GBA and DS continue to enchant me... Returning to FoMT yesterday reminded me of how marvelous THOSE graphics were even in the pre-DS era of gaming.

Later: Now that I have explored some of the requirements for the various Storyline Quests in HoLV, I can see that your Responses to the three Questions at the very start of the game can make a big difference if you wish to complete a particular Story.

Often, in order to trigger the first Event of some of the Story Quests, you need to have at least 30 FP with a specific Character. Your Responses to the three Questions, by giving you an instant boost of 15 FP with a group of Characters, make it far easier to begin certain Story Quests far more than others.

'Meeting and Greeting' a Character givea +1 FP. Giving an item he/she likes gives +1 to +3 FP, depending on the nature of the item. In some cases, the first Event in a Story Quest must be triggered before the end of the 1st Spring. With 15 FP with a pivotal Character before you even start the game, you would have a far easier task ahead of you...

A good strategy, therefore, for any player who would like to complete all the Story Quests, would be to start three different games. In each, begin with a different set of Responses and then branch off in that slot towards the Story Quests with Characters whose FP has been increased by your Responses.

Hero of Leaf Valley Guides

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I received my copy of 'Hero of Leaf Valley' this morning. Many thanks to Natsume! This is simply a brief announcement to the effect that work has begun on the Guides for the PSP title and that I hope to have a preliminary General Guide/Walkthrough published by IGN by noon tomorrow. It will be rather skeletal, to say the least, but will contain basic useful information.

Meanwhile, there is a part of me that wishes I could divide myself and begin a new game of 'Sunshine Islands', return to my ongoing 'Animal Parade' game and explore 'Friends of Mineral Town' again!

As a matter of fact, I am planning to make a video about Mayor Thomas, including his Events in FoMT, HM DS and the marvelous Event with Trent in Sunshine Islands. He is a bit of a shady character, as players familiar with him in different HM games know. After all, what Mayor with ANY dignity would come to your farmhouse begging for an item every year to satisfy a gambling wager???!

Which brings me to another question:

In those games where your Character has the option to beat him over the head with a farm implement, how many players chose the option to 'continue'?

The reason I mention FoMT, actually, is because I did start a new game yesterday in order to film the introductions to Thomas, Cliff, Trent, Karen and Popuri. Within the first half hour, I was drawn into the game once more, despite the knowledge that I would not have time to pursue it, especially with 'Hero' in the wings.

What a wonderful game 'Friends of Mineral Town' is, even now! They may create new systems, but the old games have enduring appeal. I look forward to a day when those old games will be available on ALL the new systems perhaps, when one will be able to download FoMT, MFoMT, HM DS, Cute DS and so on both to the Wii and to whatever descendant of the DS allows it... or even the PSP...

Which brings me to the DS Lite. I still love that system, despite the newer versions. How marvelous to be able to have Sunshine Islands, for example, in one slot and FoMT in another and to play either at will! How clever it was of Natsume to allow FoMT/MFoMT to unlock the Mineral Town characters in HM DS/Cute DS. I loved the way one could exist in two separate towns with two separate lives and yet have a crossover, as in AWL/AnWL with FoMT/MFoMT and FoMT/MFoMT with HM DS/Cute DS. The only problem with that was the demise of the systems for the games. When the GameCube was supplanted by the Wii, the option to connect to FoMT/MFoMT disappeared. You can PLAY AWL and AnWL on the Wii but how can you unlock Van's visits to Mineral Town?

That is where I hope one day that Marvelous and Natsume will create a downloadable method to unlock extras in the old games and play them on all the new systems.

Finally, it delights me to recognise that the underlying philosophy of Harvest Moon in Thomas' Introduction in FoMT continues to define every new Harvest Moon game: 'It's your farm, and you can do whatever you like.'

Hero of Leaf Valley

Looking forward to Hero of Leaf Valley

I should be receiving a copy of the soon-to-be-released Harvest Moon game, 'Hero of Leaf Valley' for the PSP in a few days... I will begin to work on Guides for the game as soon as I receive it. As always, I am very excited about ANY new Harvest Moon game while still feeling there still is a great deal to explore in all the existing games...

Incidentally, 'Hero of Leaf Valley' will be the third Harvest Moon game produced by Natsume for the PSP. The first was 'Innocent Life' and the second was 'Harvest Moon Boy & Girl'. In fact, as 'Harvest Moon Boy & Girl' really is two games in one, 'Hero of Leaf Valley' actually could be considered the fourth game produced for the PSP platform.