Showing posts with label IoH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IoH. Show all posts

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Details about the Greenhouse in Sunshine Islands



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The Greenhouse is an advanced option in many Harvest Moon games, including Sunshine Islands, that allows you to grow crops out of season. In HM DS and Cute DS, where water and sunlight had no specific individual requirements where Crops were concerned, the need for the 'Basements' that were the equivalent of a Greenhouse was not as great as it is in Island of Happiness and Sunshine Islands. In IoH and SI, the fact that weather can prove your undoing in terms of Crops that require either 'less' or 'more' Sunlight and/or Water makes the Greenhouse almost a necessity.

I had imagined that the Greenhouse option in both games would be the same but that is not quite true. The option IS expensive in both games... but in Sunshine Islands, you actually can add more than one Sun Box to further speed the growth of seasonal Crops.

In Island of Happiness, the Greenhouse actually is built on your original Field. In Sunshine Islands, however, it is built on Greenhouse Island, which is reached via a bridge from Link Island, reached via a Bridge from your Farm. This is true with respect to all three 'special farming' islands: Greenhouse Island, Rice Island and Fruit Island.

If you neither have a Teleport Stone nor Turbo Shoes, you will find yourself at a loss to visit Fruit Island and/or Greenhouse Island on a daily basis. As far as Rice Island is concerned, Rice once planted in Spring tends to itself and you need not visit THAT Island again until Autumn when the grain is mature and ready to be harvested.

The fact that the Greenhouse is located on a different Island has a rather cruel effect in Sunshine Islands which is to deny you any water source closer than the one located in the southwest corner of your Field. In Sunshine Islands, you cannot take water from the shore of the Island, as it is saltwater and would kill your Crops and Grains.

You therefore need to order a Water Spigot for the Greenhouse as soon as possible.

The cost is:

Add Water Spigot:
400 Lumber + 500000G
or 550000G

The cost of the addition of another Sun Box is:

Add Sun Box:
200 Lumber + 900000G
or 920000G

To me, the addition of a Shipping Bin is the least necessary of all options, but it is the least expensive as well as the cost for one is:

Add Shipping Bin:
200 Lumber + 1000G
or 15000G

Remember that, in Sunshine Islands, you can order an Enchantment either to reduce Prices or to reduce amount of Materials required or both.

As in Island of Happiness, the Greenhouse can be upgraded. The cost of the initial upgrade is:

Upgrade:
9000 Lumber + 500000G
or 999000G

These prices are not for the faint of heart and a player who slaved away to finally scrape together the amount needed to order a Greenhouse (even with a Green Team discount) without knowing what would be required afterwards may be dismayed to discover the price of these options. Even so, it gives the veteran players another challenge to surmount...

Once you have a Greenhouse, you cannot expect that farming will be nothing more than a matter of flinging your seeds onto tilled soil. Considerations of specific Water requirements for both Crops and Grains as well as seasonal requirements for harvesting Grains still apply. Knowing when to place a specific Seasonal Sun and how to prevent the loss of Grains that must be harvested in Summer is vital.

Incidentally, the acreage in the initial Greenhouse consists of 16 squares by 8 squares. What this means in terms of complete 3 x 3 plots is that you can fit a total of 10 in the Greenhouse. If, however, you are willing to sacrifice Seeds, you can grow more Crops in the remaining 'incomplete' plots. Another way of calculating space is to state that you have a total of 128 squares for farming. You can do as you wish with these... . Remember always that you will need to be able to REACH all the squares that you sow with seed. With sufficient Wonderfuls in your Watering Can, you will be able to reach all squares even if you do not leave space between Crops, and if you use your Stylus instead of traditional controls, you should be able to harvest all of them even in the case of multiple harvest Crops.

The actual configuration of the initial Greenhouse is set up to allow you to till your soil in eight 3 x 3 plots with a space between each on every side. My own procedure usually is to plant in unbroken rows with a single space between rows. In the Greenhouse, this planogram will give you four rows of 2 2/3 plots each. You therefore will waste 3 seeds out of 9 when you sow the final bag of Seeds in each row.

Tip: If you do not have a pair of Turbo Shoes by the time you obtain a Greenhouse, I would suggest that you invest in them as soon as possible. Even with a Teleport Stone, it will take 10 minutes to move from the Teleport destination on Link Island to the Greenhouse. When returning to the Ranch to refill your Watering Can, it will take 10 minutes to move from the Teleport destination of the Ranch (on the bridge) to the watering hole unless you are wearing Turbo Shoes. You will need 60 Orichalcum for Turbo Shoes.

Note that you can have more than one Watering Can in Sunshine Islands and can fill both before you go to the Greenhouse. If you do not have Wonderfuls set in both, however, they will have equal capacity in terms of 50 squares but will not water the squares with equal efficiency. You therefore may wish to go to Charlie to reorganise your Wonderfuls before you visit the Greenhouse... or not, as it is enough of a headache for me anyway, to switch my Orange Wonderfuls from Hammer or Axe to Milker each morning and back again... That's the limit of Wonderful Switching that I am willing to perform on a daily basis for the most part.

If you have only one Sun Box, you MUST keep the Summer Sun in place in order to grow Buckwheat or Soybeans until those Crops are harvested. You cannot 'switch' Suns in the Sun Box. To change from one Sun to another, you first must remove the existing Sun, leaving the Greenhouse without any Sun for a moment until you set the next Sun into the Box. Of the three Grains that can be grown in the Greenhouse, only Wheat will survive if you remove the Summer Sun and replace it with Autumn or Spring. WHEAT IS THE ONLY CROP THAT CAN ENDURE EITHER AN ABSENCE OR CHANGE IN SUNS IN THE GREENHOUSE.

You cannot sow seeds beneath the wrong seasonal Sun in the Greenhouse. As Soybeans and Buckwheat CAN grow during Autumn, you can sow them beneath an autumn Sun but if you remove that Sun in order to place a Summer Sun there in order to be able to harvest them, they will vanish instantly.

I have not grown any Grains to maturity yet in the Greenhouse in Sunshine Islands, but I have tested the ability to remove and replace the Seasonal Suns. Only Wheat survives that. In view of this, I do believe that my Island of Happiness Guidelines with respect to grains is equally applicable to Sunshine Islands.

From my Island of Happiness General Guide:


Tip for Growing Grains


For maximum success, grow all three ordinary Grains in your Greenhouse using a Summer Sun. You will be required to keep the Summer Sun in the Greenhouse for two seasons in order to be able to harvest Wheat and Soybeans, but both are crops that grow both in Summer and Autumn BUT CAN BE HARVESTED ONLY IN SUMMER. Changing your Sun from a Summer to an Autumn Sun will kill ALL Crops apart from Wheat, so do not do that. Simply plant Wheat, Soybeans and Buckwheat in the Greenhouse after placing a Summer Sun, then leave the Summer Sun in place until you have harvested all the Crops. If you plant them all at the same time, the Buckwheat will be ready for harvest first. In fact, Buckwheat requires less than a full season to grow. Soybeans and Wheat, on the other hand, require almost two.

As previously stated, you can water any Soybean Crop twice daily but do not water Wheat more than once every two days!

END OF GUIDE EXCERPT

One final difference between Island of Happiness and Sunshine Islands is that you cannot sow Fruit Trees in the Greenhouse. As a separate Island exists for Fruit Trees, that probably is the reason why this practice is disallowed. Unfortunately, this means that your Fruit Trees always will be subject to the vagaries of the Weather in Sunshine Islands. In Island of Happiness, however, you had to perform complex rotations of your Suns in the Greenhouse if you wished to harvest Fruit. Even so, the Fruit Trees grown in the Greenhouse were protected from the weather outside.

I need to scrape together enough money to order a second Sun Box before I relinquish Sunshine Islands to begin on Hero of Leaf Valley.

Another general Farming Tip is that you can leave mature Crops in your field to improve in Rank, Quality and Size as long as Water AND Sunllight requirements are not exceeded. This is one method by which to raise Rank from B to A as well as increasing size. Note that this is true with respect to items that grow in the Wilds as well. By leaving a coloured Herb on the ground for a day or two, it may go from B to A Rank. Even Seaweed left on the Rock at the Beach in Spring may improve from B to A Rank if you do not harvest it for a day or two. Although there is a limit to the number of items that can be placed on the ground, the game WILL drop more items the next day even if you have not harvested every item on the previous day.

Where multiple harvest Crops are concerned, I sometimes leave the Crop in the middle square in place in Sunshine Islands as long as possible to elevate it to S Rank. There is a point where the Crop will receive too much Sunlight or Water and wither, however. Always make certain to harvest it the night before this occurs.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Walkthrough for Perfect IoH Game

I continue to receive so many emails about Island of Happiness that I thought I should post this Walkthrough of mine for a 'perfect game' again:

Walkthrough for Perfect Game in IoH

I wrote this Walkthrough last year and it IS included in my General Guide for Island of Happiness, but evidently there are a large number of players who have not noted its existence.

If any one is having trouble with Taro and the Fishing Rod, or obtaining the Event with Mirabelle that allows you to obtain a Dog... or ANYTHING else in the first year of the game, please read this little Walkthrough.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Walkthrough for IoH and Guides in General

Instead of creating a new post, I have edited the existing post that provides a Walkthrough for the 1st three seasons of the 1st Year in Island of Happiness. The Walkthrough is included now at the end of my General Guide as well. In the Summer and Autumn seasons, I no longer provide a daily walkthrough as most of the activities a player needs to perform each day are no different from those given in the Walkthrough for Spring.

I now have begun to work on Rune Factory 2, although I am far from finished with IoH. As this is the only place in the world where I can moan about my frustrations in writing guides, I am going to be selfish for a moment and MOAN a little.

Whenever I begin a new game, I feel like a schizophrenic. There is a part of me who wishes to PLAY the game freely, without responsibility or delay. The other part of me feels compelled to write down every Event and every action taken in my game journal in preparation for the guide... It is the latter that ALWAYS is victorious in this little internal personality war. I therefore am moving EXCEEDINGLY slowly through Rune Factory 2, as I transcribe the text of every Introduction Event and every list of items offered at every shop or business.

I want to scream: 'Let me play this game!' 'Let me ENJOY it a little!'

I couldn't enjoy it properly though, if I neglected to write down the information that will be needed for the guide. I would be nagged by a little voice that would continue to tell me that I was not doing my self-appointed job...

Well, there's the MOAN out of the way. Now I will return to the labour at hand, which is to write down the list of items offered by another shop...

Monday, October 13, 2008

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.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Walkthrough for A 'Perfect Game' in Island of Happiness




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I've added a little Walkthrough section for the first season of the game to my General Guide but I thought I'd post the information here as well. By following this Walkthrough, you can have both the Original Inn and the Island Inn on the Island by the 2nd day of Summer. Both the Cafe and Diner will be on the Island and you should have been able to win the Spring Crop Festival, obtaining your first Wonderful, thereby unlocking Charlie's ability to set them in your Tools. The Original Inn and the Cafe will be expanded as well. You should have 35 Residents on the Island at the very least.


Daily Tasks in Spring: Collect Seaweed from the large boulder at the beach and ship it.
Collect ALL weeds and ship them.
Collect all Wild Grass: Give one to Taro each day, save one in your rucksack for energy restoration and ship the rest.
Collect all Flowers and ship them.
Water your Crops if you have sufficient energy to do so.

On your very first day on the Island, you will not be able to do anything apart from being introduced to your fellow shipwreck survivors and having your first Tutorial. You will meet Noe today and he will offer to teach you how to move using the stylus. Take this opportunity to collect every weed and stone on the field and ship all of them.
Use your energy to till two 3 x 3 squares with the hoe and plant the two bags of Seeds that you will find in your rucksack. You may or may not have enough energy afterwards to water them. Go to bed before you pass out!

3 Spring: Today you will meet Chen and Charlie. You have 500G and 2 bags of Turnip Seeds at the start of the game. If you wish to buy a bag of Potato Seeds, you can do this now, as well as buying some Chocolate to keep for emergency use in your rucksack.

Make certain that you give Taro a wild coloured grass as a gift. Blue Grass is the highest in energy value so give him one of the other two colours if possible. Do this EACH DAY to raise his heart level. Make certain that you stash one Wild Grass in your rucksack for emergency use and ship the rest.

Here are the values of the Wild Grasses that you will find in the first week in Spring in West Town and the Beach, the only areas unlocked at present.

Blue Grass: 20G (+10 SR +1 FL)
S Rank: 120G
Sell: 12G
Grows in Spring


Indigo Grass: 20G (+9 SR2 FL)
S Rank: 120G
Sell: 12G
Grows in Spring and Summer


Purple Grass: 24G (+7 SR +2 FL)
S Rank: 140G
Sell: 14G
Grows in Spring and Autumn

Collect EVERY flower and weed and ship them all. Gather Seaweed from the boulder at the Beach and ship it. You should have enough money after 5.00 p.m. to buy the Medium Rucksack from Chen’s Market. Buy a couple of Chocolate bars for emergency use.

4 Spring: You should be given 3 bags of Seeds to use in the Tutorial. Whatever you do not plant will be taken from you at the end of the tutorial so plant as many seeds as possible. Even if you cannot till a complete 3 x 3 square, till as many squares as possible and throw the seeds on them because you will lose them otherwise.

All tutorials end at 6.00 a.m., giving you an entire day afterwards to spend as you wish. Unfortunately, you may have very little energy after this Tutorial. Restore whatever energy you can with Wild Grass and Chocolate. Ship the Seaweed from the Beach and any Flowers and Weeds. Remember to save two Wild Grasses, giving one to Taro and keeping the other for energy restoration.

5 Spring: Today is the Shipping Tutorial. By now, you should have been shipping quite a few items daily. Don’t speak to Taro, however, until you have collected every weed and stone on your field and have shipped all of them. Time does not pass during tutorials. If you wish, you can water your crops as well. You should plant at least one bag of Potato seeds this week if you can.

Make certain that you give Taro a Wild Grass and keep one for yourself, shipping all others, as well as Seaweed, any Flowers and all Weeds.

6 Spring: Today is the Hammer and Axe Tutorial. Again, use the tutorial time to collect every weed and stone on your field for shipping. Water your crops if you can.

After the tutorial, collect the Seaweed and all Flowers and ship them, as well as any Weeds and every Coloured Grass except two. Give Taro one of them and stash the other for use in restoring your energy.

7 Spring – 10 Spring: Continue with the same activities daily. If you have given Taro a Wild Grass each day, you will obtain a Fishing Rod tomorrow.

11 Spring: At 6.00 a.m., Gannon will introduce himself to you and announce that he has smashed the boulder that prevented access to East Town. This gives you an entire new area to explore in order to gather wild grasses and flowers, as well as lumber and material stone.

If you have given Taro a Wild Grass every single day, you will experience an Event with him as soon as you leave your house. He will give you a Fishing Rod and ask if you wish to participate in a tutorial. You really need to do this!

Once the tutorial has begun: DO NOT SPEAK TO TARO!!! As soon as you speak to him, the tutorial will end.

Use this tutorial to catch 100 items. You will not be able to see your Energy bars, but your character will make a little motion with his/her hand when energy decreases by ½. At this point, eat at least 2 fish. Do not let your Energy fall below that halfway point as you need to keep enough energy in order to be able to water your Crops after the Tutorial. You should be able to catch 100 items at least in this fashion, as long as you eat raw fish on a regular basis throughout this tutorial.

This is your best opportunity to fish without losing ANY time, so make the effort and you will be rewarded. Catching 75 items will bring both Denny and Lanna to the Island! Subsidiary fishing characters will begin to arrive as well. You need 15 Subsidiary Characters to unlock the Diner and the Café. Exploiting the Fishing Tutorial is the best way to make a headstart on these goals.

You do need to ship quite a few of the Fish you have caught in order to bring Denny and Lanna to the Island as quickly as possible.

Make certain that you walk to East Town today to meet the Harvest Sprite of the district. Gather Seaweed, Flowers, and Wild Grasses as usual. You no longer need to give Taro one each day once you have the Fishing Rod, but continue to speak to all characters daily if possible.

12 Spring: If you used the Fishing Tutorial to catch at least 100 items, you probably will experience Denny’s Introduction Event at 6.00 a.m. this morning.

Depending on weather conditions in the past week and a half and the crops that you planted, you may be able to harvest Turnips today if you have not harvested them previously. Buy the Large Rucksack if you did not purchase it previously. Look for Fishermen on the Island. If you caught 100 items, you should have at least on Fisherman on the Island now: Kaleb. If you continue to fish diligently, Tyler and Iku should arrive in the next couple of days.

13 Spring: This morning at 6.00 a.m., you should experience Mirabelle and Julia’s Introduction Event. Now the Animal Shop will be open and you will be able to purchase supplies as well as animals once you have built barns for them. If you have sufficient funds, order a Chicken Coop from Taro today. If not today, order it tomorrow.

Remember to fish, continue to plant new Turnips and Potatoes, water them when necessary and ship Seaweed and all Flowers daily. Ship all Large and Medium Fish that you catch and most of the Small Fish.

14 Spring: Lanna should arrive at 6.00 a.m. this morning, if you have been fishing diligently. If you did not order the Chicken Coop yesterday, order it today. Look for Tyler and Iku, both of whom should have arrived now.

15 Spring: If you ordered the Chicken Coop yesterday, Taro will give you a chick today. Go immediately to Mirabelle’s Shop to purchase enough Bird Feed for at least a week. You may wish to purchase one adult chicken as well in order to have eggs immediately. An adult Chicken can be placed outside to find her own food during fine weather, but a chick must remain in the barn and be fed.

16 Spring: Your next major purchase should be a House upgrade from small to medium. Save your money for that. Meanwhile, continue to plant, water, harvest and ship crops. Fish daily and ship all large and medium fish. Ship most of the small fish but keep a few for energy restoration. Ship all Flowers and Seaweed daily.

17 Spring: Vaughn will arrive today on the island. You may find two more fishermen, Shane and Yoshi. If Lanna is on the island, Lloyd will be here as well in the evening in East Town.

18 Spring: Order your first house upgrade today if you did not do so previously. Continue to perform all tasks as usual.

19 Spring: If your house upgrade is completed, you will experience Eliza’s Introduction Event this morning. Afterwards, go to Gannon’s house and he will announce that his house has been upgraded. Go to Chen’s Market to buy a Refrigerator. As soon as you have purchased the Refrigerator, a Kitchen will become available. Purchase that when you can. The Cabinet can wait.

20 Spring – 26 Spring: You need to try to make enough money to order the Bridge to the Meadow. When the Bridge to the Meadow is completed, all Festivals will appear on your Calendar AND the Café and Diner will open, as you have fished enough to bring the required number of subsidiary characters to the Island.

Once you have the Diner and Café, your life will not be such a struggle to survive as Fullness and Stamina can be restored far more quickly and easily with Cooked Dishes.

28 Spring: If the Bridge to the meadow was completed yesterday, you will experience an Event announcing the Spring Crop Festival tomorrow. If the Bridge is completed today, however, the Event will not occur, but the Festival still will occur at the Meadow tomorrow. If you have been diligent in farming, you should have at least one 'A' Rank Turnip. Save it to enter in the Festival tomorrow. In fact, if you have ripe Turnips of 'A' Rank in your field, you should be able to keep them there overnight if you prefer, provided Sunlight and Water requirements have not been exceeded. Freshness does not really matter much where Crop Festivals are concerned. What matters is Rank and Quality. You really need a Rank 'A' Turnip to win.

Perform all your usual tasks today, collecting and shipping Seaweed and Flowers, fishing as much as possible and watering whatever crops still remain on your field.

29 Spring: Spring Crop Festival.
Take an 'A' Rank Turnip to the Meadow between 10.00 a.m. and 5.50 p.m. SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE YOU ENTER THE MEADOW!

You will win your first Wonderful today and you may wish to control the colour. This is accomplished by changing the total number of points earned towards your Farming Degree. If you do not obtain a colour that you want, reload, ship a couple of items or use a tool to increase points. At this stage, your energy levels will be limited, however, so you should not be too concerned about specific colours. Most useful probably would be:

Yellow Wonderful: Allows you to unlock the Rice Paddies when set in your Hammer or to smash large smooth boulders. In your Hoe, would allow you to till the Rice Paddies, but at the end of Spring, Rice may not have enough time to mature before it dies at the start of Winter. It would be a gamble to plant it now, but if you obtain a Yellow Wonderful, keep it nonetheless.

Orange Wonderful: One of the most useful Wonderfuls in the game. Set in any tool, it will double the yield. At this stage, when you need lumber for building, it would be very useful set in your Axe. Later, when you have access to the Mine, you can set it in your Hammer to increase Ore and Gem yields. Set in a Milker or Shears, it will increase Milk/Wool yields.

Blue Wonderful: If you obtain this, keep it and set it in your Watering Can. It will allow you to water three squares at a time.

Red Wonderful: If you obtain this, keep it and set it in your Watering Can. It will allow you to water two squares north to south, allowing you to reach the centre square in a 3 x 3 plot.

Green Wonderful: If you obtain this, set it in your Watering Can to reduce the Stamina use from 3 to 2.

Purple will give you 2G each time you use the tool in which it is set, and Indigo will increase the number of tool slots by 5. These are less useful, however, at this preliminary stage than the Wonderfuls described above.

REMEMBER TO FISH BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE MEADOW! You can fish as much as you wish at any Festival without spending any time doing so. You do need to be vigilant where energy is concerned, however. You won’t be able to see your Energy Bars at any Festival but your character will make physical gestures as energy is depleted. The first gesture is wiping his/her hand across his/her face, a movement made when energy goes below the halfway mark. When you are near the point of passing out, your character actually will totter on his/her feet, exhibiting weakness and dizziness in doing so.

All you need to do is to eat some of the fish you catch to keep your Energy above the critical point.

As always, water your remaining crops, fish as much as possible and don’t forget to set your Chickens outside on any fine day, returning them to the Barn at night.

In fact, if you haven’t built a little pen from Stones yet, do it today for your chickens. Setting them outside in fine weather reduces stress and increases affection as previously stated. If you have 4 feeders in your Chicken Coop and only 2 Chickens, you can fill all 4 feeding trays for emergency use on any Typhoon day in Summer. If they were outside for a few hours on any day prior to a Typhoon, they won’t suffer stress either, as the food in their feeders will be eaten on the day of the Typhoon.

As you are nearing the end of the season, try to keep at least one Seaweed for use in obtaining a Recipe, as you will not be able to gather it in any season other than Spring. Keep one of each colour of grass if you can for use later and a couple of Turnips and a few Potatoes for use in obtaining Recipes. When you have obtained 5 Recipes, Pierre will arrive on the Island.

When the Bridge is completed, Luke and Madelynn will arrive to open the Café and Diner. If you completed the Bridge only on 28 Spring, however, nothing will be open on the day of the Festival. You will have to wait until 30 Spring.

30 Spring: You should find the Café and Diner as well as the Original Inn and Island Inn on the island now. Go to each to meet every character. Now you can buy Cooked Dishes to restore your energy levels. With Madelynn, Nicole will arrive. With Luke, Lance will arrive. The Original Inn will bring Robin and Brook to the Island inmmediately. The Island Inn contains three individuals: Taka, Vanessa and their child. You should have at least 33 Characters on the Island.

One of the last member of the Fishing group should have arrived as well. This is Harvey, who frequents the Beach at night.

30 Spring: You should find the Café and Diner as well as the Original Inn and Island Inn on the island now. Go to each to meet every character. Now you can buy Cooked Dishes to restore your energy levels. With Madelynn, Nicole will arrive. With Luke, Lance will arrive. The Original Inn will bring Robin and Brook to the Island inmmediately. The Island Inn contains three individuals: Taka, Vanessa and their child. You should have at least 33 Characters on the Island.

One of the last member of the Fishing group should have arrived as well. This is Harvey, who frequents the Beach at night.

By the end of Spring, you should have shipped at least 100 Turnips and/or Potatoes. Turnips are easier to grow as they mature faster.

Summer Exploitation: The Seaweed was the key to early profit in Spring. In Summer, until the Mine is unlocked, the greatest amount of money is obtained when you catch and ship Pirate’s Treasure. Pirate’s Treasure can be caught only at the Beach. If you wish to ‘cheat’ a little, save your game BEFORE you cast your rod. If you don’t catch a decent size of fish or Pirate Treasure, reload and try again.

1 Summer: Today, you should experience an Event with Noe at 6.00 a.m., provided you have followed this Walkthrough religiously. He will tell you that the island has expanded and that more residents will continue to arrive. The event is entitled: A Growing Island.

Go to the Original Inn to experience its expansion Event. You will find new characters at the Original Inn in the form of Thelma and her granddaughter. Now you should have 35 characters on the Island.

Now go to East Town. You should find that the Café has been expanded as well. Enter each to experience the Event. Now you can obtain Recipes by giving Madelynn ingredients!

The Diner and Island Inn should be expanded in a few days if you continue to make progress, but meanwhile, you can obtain one Recipe per day from Madelynn.

Some ingredients will result in Recipes that you can’t make at this stage in the game. I would recommend that you start with Eggs, both for Luke and Madelynn. Egg Soup is the first recipe Madelynn will give you and required nothing but an Egg. Boiled Egg is the next. You only can obtain one Recipe per day, but remember to visit the Café each day with an ingredient Madelynn will accept. Both Pudding and Ice Cream are very useful recipes, but you will need a Cow before you can make them. Even so, there are many other recipes for Eggs that you can make.

Now that the Café and Diner offer Cooked Dishes to replenish Energy, you need to chop every Branch you encounter for Lumber. In particular, you need to begin to chop the wood that is in East Town. With an Orange Wonderful set in the Axe, you can obtain 2 pieces of Lumber each time you chop a branch. If you obtained a different Wonderful at the Festival, you still can work on increasing your store of Lumber for future building projects. After all, you can regain energy lost by buying a dish at Café or Diner before you return to West Town.

Your next goals:
To build an Animal Barn so you can obtain your first Cow from Taro;
To build the Bridge from West Town to the Forest, to unlock the Mine, the Harvest Goddess Spring, and the Witch Princess as well as some Subsidiary Characters. Nathan and Alisa and the Church will be unlocked only when the bridge to the Forest is built.
The prices for each are:

Animal Barn
200 Lumber + 12,000G
Or 22,000G if you do not have the Lumber

Bridge to Forest:
500 Lumber + 20,000G
Or 45,000G if you have insufficient Lumber

If your first Wonderful is an Orange and it is set in your Axe, you should have been able to obtain 200 Lumber fairly easily, but 500 will take longer, even with your yield doubled by the Wonderful. In fact, I would advise players not to wait for the Lumber to accumulate and use Gannon's Lumber instead. As always, fishing is a good option to obtain the money you need.

Early Summer: Depending on how quickly you can make the money to order the Bridge to the Forest, I would make this the next goal as completion of the 2nd bridge will produce the following results:

1. Allow you to meet the Witch Princess;
2. allow you to meet 3 more Harvest Sprites;
3. Allow you to meet the Harvest Goddess when you throw an offering into the Spring;
4. Allow the Island Inn AND the Diner to expand;
5. Unlock the Mine
6. Give you a new source for Wild Coloured Grasses, Flowers, Lumber and Stone.

1st Week of Summer:

You may not have sufficient funds for this project in the first week of Summer but save your money, continuing to fish, plant tomatoes and corn, gather Wild Grasses and Flowers, chop branches and do not forget to obtain a new Recipe from Madelynn each day.

You should be able to take eggs to her to unlock new Recipes for a few days; when she no longer has anything to offer in return for an egg, take chocolate. After that, take Turnips if you saved any from Spring and when those are exhausted, Potatoes. In all honesty, though, it is better to SHIP your crops in the first year because shipping 100 of each crop will unlock new options. If you did not save any crops from Spring, therefore, you have not made an error. Time enough for that next year.

The Chicken Festival will occur if you unlocked the Bridge to the Meadow, but your Chickens will not have the minimum heart level of 9 required to win. Even if you cannot win, enter one of your chickens in the Festival. It will gain a title, however low that title may be! Use the Chicken Festival as an opportunity to fish from the East River, shipping the items that you catch afterwards. As always, keep a sharp watch on your character’s physical responses when you fish at a Festival so that he/she does not pass out.

If you have given items to Madelynn daily for new Recipes, Pierre should arrive even before you have sufficient funds to order the bridge to the Forest. Once Pierre is on the Island, his fan will follow, giving you yet another Subsidiary character. Cooking will bring another subsidiary character to the Original Inn.

For Energy Recovery, use the Eggs that your chickens produce rather than using Crops in the first year. Eggs have low shipping value but are quite useful when made into Egg Soup or any other Cooked Dish. When you have an adult Cow who produces Milk, you can obtain recipes for Pudding and Ice Cream, two excellent recovery items in the early stages of the game.

One of the best Energy Recovery items is Relax Tea, but that is obtained in two stages. First, Luke at the Diner will give the Recipe for Relax Tea Leaves in return for a common green Weed. Make the Relax Tea Leaves, then give them to Madelynn at the Cafe for the Recipe for the actual Relax Tea.

2nd Week of Summer:

This is another reason to build the Bridge to the Forest! Luke has so many useful Recipes to offer. Other recipes he will give you are those that use Medium Fish: Sashimi, Boiled Fish, Grilled Fish and others.
Return to the Diner when the Bridge is completed to experience the Expansion Event. You now will be able to obtain new Recipes both from Luke and from Madelynn.

When the Forest is unlocked, the Island Inn should be expanded as well. You need to enter the Inn to experience the expansion event.

When the Bridge to the Forest is completed, ‘pack a lunch’ if you can by cooking your Eggs and taking every possible recovery item with you in your Rucksack before you enter the Forest for the first time. The reason for this is because you should be able to explore the Mine later in the day. Empty your Rucksack of non-essentials such as Branches, Stones, Lumbers and perhaps all tools apart from the Hoe and the Hammer. If you have the Large Rucksack, you should have sufficient slots for mining. If not, you will have a little more trouble.

One more act of preparation is advised: if you have an Orange Wonderful in your Axe, ask Charlie to remove it and place it in your Hammer instead today. You need to enter the Market before 9.00 a.m. to find him there. Otherwise, you'll be required to wait until the afternoon, as he spends the remainder of the morning at the beach.


Now you need to cross the Bridge into the Forest to experience the Witch Princess’ Introduction Event immediately. You will meet the Forest Harvest Sprite at the same time.

You will find a multitude of Wild Grasses and Pinkcat flowers on the ground, but do not collect more than one Flower now if you are planning to visit the Mine later. You need empty slots for Gems.

Afterwards, walk north and take the path to the left (west) to find the Harvest Goddess Spriing. A locked building will be seen to the right of the Spring. This is the site of the future Church. You should be able to unlock that in a day or two. To start the process, throw a flower (Pinkcat is to be found EVERYWHERE at this season) into the Harvest Goddess Spring. You will meet the Harvest Goddess, adding another Resident to your Individuals List and making all sorts of rewards possible in the future.

After you have met the Harvest Goddess, return to the main path and continue to walk north. As you cross into the Mountain area, you will meet the Mountain Harvest Sprite. Continue North afterwards, taking the winding path upwards first to the west and then to the east, through a narrow little bottleneck that leads to a clearing. At the top of the clearing is the entrance to the Mine.

You have a choice now between entering the Mine immediately or continuing north to the next screen by backtracking to the main mountain path and continuing north to the very peak of the Mountain. The reason for going to the top of the mountain is to meet the Mountaintop Harvest Sprite. If you have space in your Rucksack, you can continue to collect coloured Wild Grasses but leave the Flowers on the ground for your next foraging trip.

1st Visit to the Mine: If you can explore the Mine on the same day that the Forest is unlocked, so much the better but remember that there are no time limits where progress is concerned in Island of Happiness.
What you do need to do in the Mine on your 1st visit is to take home at least 20 items to ship. They can be gems or ores, even Junk Ore, but you need to ship at least 20 items in order to unlock Regis and Sabrina.

The first important floor of the Mine is Floor 25 where you can find Adamantite, a necessary material in the construction of Makers. It is not very likely that you will reach this floor on your first trip and do not be concerned even to attempt it. What you may wish to do is reach at least Floor 12, so that you can find the widest variety of gems, including Rubies and Emeralds. With an Orange Wonderful in your Hammer, each time you find a Gem/Ore inside a Rock, the yield will be doubled. This will be quite helpful to you.

Remember not to allow yourself to pass out. You should save your game as soon as you arrive on any Floor. If you stumble into a Pitfall and lose too much energy, you can reload instead of saving the error.
Make certain that you organise your Rucksack so that at least one empty slot always exists for any Item found inside a Rock. If you smash a Rock but your Rucksack is full, you will lose whatever items would have been found inside the Rock.

You can stack items of different Quality and Size, although I always try to keep each Rank separate as long as possible. The game actually averages the Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness of all items in any stack.

Do not bother to use your Hoe on the first visit. Your main priority this time is to find at least 20 Ores/Gems to ship. Make certain that you ship them before you go to bed!

Unlocking Regis and Sabrina: If you shipped at least 20 Ores/Gems from the Mine, you will experience Regis’ and Sabrina’s Introduction Even the next morning.

The day after you visit the Forest for the first time, return to the Harvest Goddess Spring to offer another flower to the Goddess. If you do this, you should be able to experience Nathan’s and Alisa’s Introduction Event tomorrow morning, unlocking the Church.

Before the 2nd week of Summer has ended, you should have over 50 characters on the Island, and experience the 2nd ‘A Growing Island’ Event, wherein Noe will tell you that even more people have moved to the Island. You should have at least 46% completion if not more.

Note: New options and events are unlocked by a combination of factors in Island of Happiness. If you follow this Walkthrough, you should be able to achieve all goals described herein, but remember that you need to ship crops, fish and items from the Mine regularly. You need to obtain new recipes as well.

Once the Bridge to the Forest is completed, you can order an Animal Barn from Gannon. You should have enough Lumber to be able to provide the 200 Lumber required and thereby pay far less for the Barn than if you had been obliged to use his lumber. Paying the higher fee for the Bridge allowed you to unlock a new area earlier. I believe it is worthwhile to do this. Now, however, you can use your own Lumber to build the Animal Barn.

When the Animal Barn is completed, Taro will give you a calf. This calf will produce no Milk until fully grown. You therefore need not purchase a Milker immediately although you should buy a Brush as soon as possible. Using the Brush daily raises an Animal’s affection level. The Brush can be used on your Horse and Sheep as well. Do not forget to buy Fodder immediately! There is no excuse for allowing an animal to be stressed from hunger.

I do not advise players to allow livestock to roam in the field when they are at low heart levels as they will not respond to the Bell. In fact, you cannot take any Animal outside until it is fully grown. You therefore must have sufficient fodder to feed all livestock.

I do not advise players to grow grass at this point either. Your energy levels are too low to justify the expenditure of energy. You do not need to water grass daily but it will need water. If it receives either too much or too little water, it will die. Don’t bother with it until the second year or so.

Depending on how far you have managed to raise Chen’s heart level, you may or may not have a Horse by the time the Horse Festival occurs in the first Summer. If not, do not fret. Attend and speak to every one to gain friendship points. Even if you have a Horse, you will have no chance of winning the Contest in the first year, as you need an Animal with 9-10 Hearts to win any Animal Contest.

Remember that most arrivals and Introduction Events are based on fulfilling specific requirements in Island of Happiness. This Walkthrough has included the actions and achievements that are required but if you neglect any of these goals or actions, you may not experience the events according to this schedule. For example, Pierre will not arrive until you have obtained 5 Recipes. It is not the date, therefore, but fulfillment of the goal that brings him to the Island. It is shipment of Ores/Gems that brings Regis and Sabrina to the Island.

Completion of the Bridges is fundamental and should be a very high priority. If you must sacrifice other goals temporarily in order to complete the Bridges, do so.

For the first season and a half, Fishing is the key to early success. Growing and shipping as many crops as possible is important but Fishing will bring you the highest number of subsidiary characters in the first season. Once the Mine is unlocked, you can focus equally on all activities.

Next on your list: persuading Chen and Charlie to give you a Horse and Mirabelle to give you a Dog. You may have noticed the little brown dog in the Forest. When you have raised Mirabelle's heart level to 2 Hearts, enter the Forest on a rainy or snowy day to experience an Event. Chen and Charlie will bring the Horse to your House.

Note: Mirabelle loves both Pinkcat and Eggs: 'Oh, a gift for me? Thank you very much, Freya!' You actually can speak to her when she is working at the counter to give her a gift. Go to the side of the counter and hand her the gift.
3rd and 4th Weeks of Summer:

Every player will achieve progress at a different rate and the weather cannot be controlled effectively in Island of Happiness, as it is set 6 days in advance. I therefore will not continue with a day-to-day walkthrough but rather one that deals with specific goals for each week.

In the 3rd and 4th Weeks of Summer, if you have achieved all goals given above, your new goals will be:

To order the third Bridge from East Town to the Jungle;
To ship as many Summer Crops as possible;
To have at least 1 Rank ‘A’ Tomato on 29 Summer in order to win the Summer Crop Festival and another Wonderful.
To make certain that Mirabelle is at 2 Hearts so that you obtain your Dog on the next Rainy Day.
To obtain enough Orichalc in the Mine to order the Small Harvest Goddess Pendant, Small Kappa Pendant and the Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant if you have not done so previously.

Each Bridge project is more expensive than the preceding Bridge. The third is the most expensive of all. You may or may not be able to afford it before the end of Summer. Not to worry. Continue to perform your regular chores, growing and watering Tomatoes and Corn Crops, fishing daily, visiting Luke and Madelynn with ingredients for new Recipes daily and visiting the Mine to obtain more Orichalc from the 50th Floor as often as possible.

A priority must be to obtain at least 1 Rank ‘A’ Tomato. You have a better chance of this if you have planted more than one plot of Tomatoes and perhaps have planted them on different days in both the first and second weeks of Summer. Typhoons can occur quite frequently in Summer, retarding the growth and lowering the quality of your Crops. Tomatoes do require a normal amount of water, however, so water them daily and hope for the best.

The Small Kappa Pendant is the only Kappa Pendant you need at this stage in the game but you are well-advised to have BOTH the Small Harvest Goddess Pendant and the Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant. If you equip BOTH, you can increase your Stamina almost to maximum level. With the Small Kappa Pendant equipped as well, you should be in a very strong position where Energy levels are concerned. The only drawback is the fact that these accessories will occupy three out of four Equipment slots!

Finding Orichalc in the Mine is not sufficient. Shipping Orichalc will not unlock the option either. You must have at least one piece of Orichalc in your Rucksack when you visit Chen’s Market in order to experience the Event that will add this option to the list of tasks Charlie will perform for you.

If you can take an ‘A’ Rank tomato to the Summer Crop Festival, you will win another Wonderful. I personally would opt for another Orange Wonderful at this point, as two Orange Wonderfuls in your Hammer will triple your yield in the Mine. It is too late to benefit from the Rice Paddies as even if you set a Yellow Wonderful in your Hammer to smash the boulder between your Farm and the Paddies, Rice cannot mature before the end of the year and will die when Winter arrives.

You could opt instead to increase your area of effect by obtaining a Blue or Red Wonderful but I think the Orange will give you the greatest profit at this point.

The Accessories I recommended will make a tremendous difference, allowing you to reach the bottom of the Mine. There you will meet the Harvest Goddess, obtaining more Wonderfuls and new Recipes.

Meanwhile, you may wish to fill your small chicken coop with chickens, in order to have 4 eggs each day for energy restoration. You may wish to buy another Cow as well, even though it will take some time for both cows to reach adulthood. Brush your Horse and Cows daily.

Even if Maribelle reaches 2 hearts in the Summer season, you may have to wait until Autumn to obtain your dog as the Event can be triggered in the Forest only in bad weather. It seldom rains in Summer at this point in the game.

1st Week of Autumn:

With the arrival of the Autumn season, you will find there are many rainy days. Enter the Forest on the first rainy day to trigger the Event that will introduce you to your Dog.

Mushrooms are found in the Wilds in Autumn. You will find Shitake, Toadstools and Matsutake. Take Shitake to Luke and make certain that you are given the Steamed Egg Custard Recipe. It is one of the best Energy recovery items at this stage, requiring an Egg and a Shitake to make. You will be able to obtain many Recipes from Luke by giving him Shitakes but most of them cannot be made at this point.
Another useful Recipe, but not one that is given immediately, is for Foiled Mushrooms. Before he gives you that Recipe, however, he will give you quite a few others. You may wish to keep your Shitake to make Steamed Egg Custards until later in the season after you have found sufficient Orichalc to make the Medium Harvest Goddess Pendant.

As soon as you can afford the Bridge to the Jungle, order it built. On the morning that it is completed, enter the Jungle to meet the final Harvest Sprite, Manfred, and two other characters: Shea and Wada.
Now you have access to all main areas of the Island with 50% completion. More Subsidiary Characters will arrive on the island now as well.

If you meet all new characters, you should be able to experience Mark or Chelsea’s Introduction Event the day after the last bridge is completed..

Once Mark/Chelsea has arrived, the Mineral Town characters should begin to visit the Island. If you complete the Bridge to the Forest in early Autumn, Popuri and Karen should be the first Mineral Town visitors.

If you have been fairly diligent in Farming, Fishing, Ranching, Mining and Cooking, the following characters should be on the Island on the day the 3rd bridge is completed:
Vaughn
Elliot
Denny
Shea
Pierre
Julia
Natalie
Lanna
Sabrina
W. Princess
Chen
Charlie
Felicia
Taro
Gannon
Eliza
Nathan:
Alisa
Mirabelle
Regis
Wada
H. Goddess
Noe
Neil
Earl
Rock
Ben
Kalen
Manfred
Kipp
Megan
Kaleb
Shane
Tyler
Yoshi
Iku
Harvey
Brent
Gail
Nima
Marisa
Vanessa
Robin
Hazel
Teresa
Aiylee
Luke
Taka
Lloyd
Hiro
Sean
Lance
Madelynn
Nicole
Moira
Thelma
Rita
Daria
Brook


This represents more than 50% completion and, the next morning Mark/Chelsea should be added to the list. A Subsidiary Character who will be added the day after the Bridge to the Jungle is built is Gerald.

Note that one of the Subsidiary Characters is linked to Farming and one to Ranching. If you have made little progress in these areas, Megan and Buck will not be included on your Individuals List. A couple of characters are tied to Cooking. Three of the Mining characters are included on this list, but if you have reached the 75th or 100th floor by this date, you will have 5 Mining Characters. In many cases, the characters will not be added to the Individuals List until you actually have MET them. Explore the Island to meet all new characters as soon as possible.

Your next major project should be the acquisition of a Maker Shed. You should have been collecting Adamantite in the Mine with each visit in anticipation of creating all the Makers.

Autumn of the 1st Year:

If you have not managed to order the Maker Shed before the end of Summer, make it your first goal of the Autumn season. Autumn will represent the season of greatest bounty in terms of items from the Wilds, as Mushrooms will be available throughout the Island in Autumn. It is important, therefore, to have built all three bridges if you wish to take advantage of this opportunity. Rare items available from the Wilds in the Autumn season include Blue Magic Red Flowers and Matsutake Mushrooms. (The Matsutake are the equivalent of the ‘Truffles’ in other Harvest Moon games.) If you take a Blue Magic Red Flower to Luke, he will give you the Recipe for Bodigizer, a potent medicine for restoration of Stamina. You probably will not be able to find sufficient flowers to MAKE many portions of it, however. If you give Luke the Bodigizer you make, by the way, he will give you the recipe for Bodigizer XL, the most potent Stamina restorer.

More practical, however, are the Recipes made with Shitake Mushrooms. In particular, you should obtain the Recipe for Steamed Egg Custard. With an Egg and a Shitake Mushroom, you can make a very good Cooked Dish that will aid you well in the Mine. I believe it is worthwhile even to purchase 4 Chickens from Mirabelle in order to have adult chickens laying eggs at the earliest opportunity as well as bringing a Ranch subsidiary character to the Island. If you are not gathering 4 eggs per day, however, you still can make Foiled Mushrooms or Grilled Mushrooms with nothing more than a Shitake.

Unfortunately, Recipes are given in a specific order that takes no account of the ingredients you actually may have unlocked. You will need to give quite a few Shitake Mushrooms to Luke before you obtain the Grilled Mushroom or Foiled Mushroom Recipes. In like fashion, you must obtain many other Milk Recipes from Luke before your gift of Milk will elicit the very useful Pudding Recipe.

Bear in mind the fact that you ultimately need to ship mushrooms in order to unlock seeds (or spores).
One reason to obtain a Maker Shed as soon as possible is to be able to order the Seed Maker. With this, you can convert mushrooms into seed to plant on the pallets in the southeast corner of your Field. Shitake are the most useful of all Mushrooms but you may wish to reserve one Pallet for Toadstools and one for Matsutake. Matsutake are far more valuable than most items, even if Shitake is required in more Recipes.

For your second Maker, I would recommend the Butter Maker, as Butter is an ingredient in many Recipes, but the Cheese Maker is very useful as well. Shipping Ranch Products will increase your Income and bring more Subsidiary Characters to the Island. As all basic Makers, apart from the Seed Maker, cost 20,000G and require 10 Adamantite to make, I personally would advise against the Mayonnaise Maker until you have made both the Butter and Cheese Makers. The reason for this is value for cost. Mayonnaise has a lower shipping value than the other Ranch Products. Furthermore, I believe that, at this early stage in the game, Eggs are one of the most valuable resources in creating Cooked Dishes as Recovery Items.

When you have at least 56% completion and 65-66 characters on the Island, you should experience two Events:
When you enter Taro’s house, you will experience his Expansion Event; and
At 6.00 a.m., Noe will visit your house in the 3rd ‘A Growing Island’ Event.

After these events have been triggered, when the 2nd Ranch character arrives on the Island, Sheep should appear on the Menu at Mirabelle’s Animal Shop. The easiest way to bring the 2nd Rancher to the Island is by purchasing a total of 4 Cows from Mirabelle. There is only one problem with this strategy if you have not expanded your Animal Barn first. A cow who is not an adult cannot be sold. You therefore will have a full Barn without any ability to buy a Sheep unless you sell an adult Cow. I would recommend that a player expand his/her Animal Barn instead of selling a full-grown Cow who may be the only cow at this point who has earned more than one heart.

Note that you never need to have more than 4 Chickens or Livestock in Island of Happiness for the purpose of unlocking any new option. My own strategy is to expand BOTH Barns but keep them only half-full. This allows me to fill all food trays in preparation for any typhoon or snowstorm (or in case I forget to feed the Animals one day!) Animals thus never suffer stress from hunger. I usually place the chickens outside in a pen during the day as they then will not require the Bird Feed set in their trays. This is another way to prevent stress from hunger if a storm occurs.

Ranch products have high shipping value, especially when you are able to play one of the Touchscreen mini-games. On the other hand, animal care is time-consuming, especially when one of the Touchscreen mini-games is offered. With too many Chickens or Livestock, you may find that you will be forced to use the Touchscreen daily in your animal care for more than one of your animals. If you enjoy these games, then this is a positive effect but if you prefer not to spend too much time on animal care, you may wish to keep your population small once you have made at least 100 ranch products in each of the Makers. Making 100 Mayonnaise, 100 Butter, 100 Cheese and 100 Yarn in your Makers will bring the other Ranchers to the Island. Once they have arrived, you simply need to make 5 of each Ranch Product in the Makers each season and greet the characters regularly to keep them on the Island.

There is a great advantage in breeding your own animals but only after the Animal bred has high heart levels. Any chick hatched from an egg or any Calf/Lamb born to an existing animal will have a heart level equal to half of the Mother’s heart level when born. (When it is an egg, the chick’s heart level will be half the heart level of the chicken who laid the egg initially.) It is possible that breeding has a positive effect on the mother as well in terms of her chances of winning an Animal Contest. A Cow who won the Cow Festival at only 2 Hearts was one who had given birth at least twice, perhaps three times prior to the Contest. To guarantee that your Animal will win an Animal Contest, however, she should be at 9-10 Hearts.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Name of the Island in IoH



The island where you wash ashore in IoH may be called 'Sunny Island' for convenience but one of the ultimate rewards if you bring every character to the island is the ability to rename the Island!

Go to the Harvest Goddess and make an offering as usual to experience the Event.


Name of the Island
HG: Thank you for all your offerings.
You’ve been on this island awhile, Freya!
There was once no one on this island. But it’s become so much more lively now!
I’ve just heard that you became a Ranch King, right?
As a reward, I’ll let you rename the island! It’s my gift to you, Freya!
So, go ahead and pick a cool new name for the island!
Freya Island, eh?
It's a good name! I like it!
All right, we're gonna use that name from now on!
Okay, see ya!

As Island of Happiness is rather complex, there may be more requirements to this than simply that of having brought all subsidiary characters to the Island. It is possible that you may need to have the Harvest Goddess at a certain minimum heart level and/or a specific number of Farming Degree points.

I actually had the Harvest Goddess at 10 Hearts and my actual title was Earth Ranch Duke (not King!) when I experienced this Event.

I don't think having the H.G. at 10 hearts is a requirement but it is possible that you may have had to have brought her a minimum number of offerings.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Island of Happiness: 'Winning' the Game!




Although there is no 'win' or 'lose' in most Harvest Moon games, you are rewarded when you complete goals. There often is a 'false' ending when you marry. Many players through the years have emailed me in desperation, telling me that their game ended when they married, asking me how to avoid that. Well, in fact, it's not a final ending. Very often, the credits will roll after your wedding in Harvest Moon.
If you have the courage to keep the system on and go through this, your game will resume afterwards...

In some Harvest Moon games, there are other 'endings' that reward you for your success but the game does not end afterwards in those cases either. IoH therefore has two 'endings', neither of which are final.

The first 'ending' is after your Wedding. The second occurs when you bring the last subsidiary character to the Island, completing the Inhabitants List. If, by the way, you did not allow all the Rival Couples to marry, thereby not being able to bring one or more of their Children to the Island, this will not prevent the Event from occurring.

The Event celebrates your success in creating a thriving metropolis from a deserted island.

On the morning after you fulfil the requirement to bring the last subsidiary character to the Island, you will receive a visit from Taro.

Taro: Hey, Freya.
You have a minute?

Taro enters.

Taro: There’s something I want to show you.
Can you come with me?

Me:(?)

You now will be at the Meadow. The townspeople surround you.

Taro: Well, I was thinking of hosting a festival tomorrow.

(All the residents are in a circle. There’s Gannon, Mirabelle, Felicia, Elliot, Chen, Julia and Natalie. My husband Vaughn stands next to me)

Me: (?)

Taro: When we washed up on this island, it was uninhabited…
The island was so empty but we started living here in the new world…

Me: (…)

Taro: We built everything one by one with our own hands. And then people started coming here.
As a result, there’s even a town where there are so many people on this island!

Felicia: We all owe it to Freya.
Freya, because of your great ranch, people came to this place.

Taro: I hope the island continues to prosper and I want to celebrate that with every one!

I nod.

Chen: Actually, I’ve already told everyone in the island.
We all wanted to surprise Freya.

Now I see all the subsidiary characters in different areas. The view moves slowly from one screen to the next…

Taro: Some came years ago, and there are some that came over the years on this island.
There are people that know this island completely, and there are those that don’t.
This island is made up of so many kinds of people.
All can join in this Festival!
We’ll celebrate together!

Now you will be treated to a fireworks display, after which the credits will roll for the second time.

My thoughst: I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life as the best.
Tomorrow will be great, too!

After the credits, your game will resume...

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Much Ado about Nothing: the Rival Couples Return!







*********************************************************
In an odd twist in Island of Happiness, after both husband and wife adjourn to Mineral Town for the birth of their child, the husband of any Rival Couple can be persuaded to return immediately afterwards by much the same actions that would encourage his return if he had left due to your neglect.

Pierre announced his return on the day after he left with Natalie. Denny returned a fortnight after he and Lanna went to Mineral Town for the delivery of their child. When Spring arrived, I began to grow crops in preparation for shipping to bring Elliot back...

I needn't have bothered. One full season after the departure of any Rival Couple to have the child in Mineral Town, husband, wife and child will appear on the Island.
The event will be announced by the husband at 6.00 a.m.

Here is the text of the return event for two of the Rival Couples:

15 Spring:

As soon as I awakened:

Pierre & Natalie, Back Again!

Long time no see, Freya!

Me: (!)

Pierre enters.

Pierre: Our child was born safely, so we’re back on the island.
Natalie and the baby are both here, so feel free to pay them a visit.
I’m cooking for three now!
See ya around.

When I visited Pierre's house, I did not experience an Event. In fact, neither Pierre nor Natalie referred to the child at all, but repeated the same statements as they had given before the blessed event.

I had to hunt for the child. The child is grown to the same age as Daria and others.

Jean: Are you Freya? I’m Jean. My dad and mom always talk about you.

Then: My dad is a great cooki! My mom is…

One day later, on 16 Spring:

Elliot & Julia, Back Again!

Long time no see, Freya.

Me: (!)

Elliot enters.

Elliot: Our baby was born, and we’ve just returned back from town.
Julia and the child are doing and doing well. Please come by and visit sometime.
All three of us are counting on you! See ya!

I promptly rushed to Mirabelle's House. Their child is dressed in blue.

Kelly: Who are you…?
You are a friend of Mommy and Daddy?
My name is… Kelly.

Then: My mommy and daddy are always mad at me.

Meanwhile, my own child, who now is a year old, born BEFORE any of the Rival Couples married, remains in his crib, a little peapod of an infant, while the children of the Rival Couples are walking and talking... My child only will be allowed to leave his crib (and share in his own birthday celebration) only when he reaches the age of 2.

Incidentally, perhaps I should caution players against giving Kelly any chocolate. When I gave her a piece as a sort of introductory gift, she turned on me, crying:
'You're mean! I'm gonna tell my daddy!'

Apparently, Elliot appears as a much stronger character now that he has fathered a child. I would have expected Julia's wrath to have been far more of a threat...
I was trying to be nice, of course, but as with any character in Harvest Moon, you cannot expect an item to be received well by every one.

Well, the mystery of the Harvest Goddess Festival this year is solved: the Rivals were NOT pregnant. They obviously had given birth to their children and were staying in Mineral Town awhile longer to allow their children to become toddlers at a prodigious rate.



In fact, the return of each Couple coincided with the anniversary of their Wedding a year ago. I can expect Denny and Lanna to return in about 10 more days.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Curiouser and Curiouser... Dance of the Pregnant Women...






Three of my erstwhile Rivals left the Island to have their babies in Mineral Town, followed instantly by their husbands. Pierre returned the very next day, claiming a need to continue to search for good ingredients, but Denny and Elliot remain absent.

Rather to my surprise, however, I arrived at the Harvest Goddess Festival to find all three pregnant women there with their husbands dancing attendance on them.


Natalie: Yo, Freya! I came back for the Harvest Goddess Festival.

Julia: Hi, Freya. I cam back today for the Harvest Goddess Festival.

Lanna: I wanted to see the Harvest Goddess Festival, so I cam back!

Elliot: Hello, Freya. Julia insisted we go to the Harvest Goddess Festival.
I just came along with her, but I’m glad that I did. It’s exciting!

Denny: Yo, Freya!
Lanna insisted on dancing at the Harvest Goddess Festival.
We got the doctor’s permission to come back for the day.

Pierre: I’m here with Natalie.
I’d really prefer that she rest…
But she looks happy, so I’m glad we came.

As their appearance had not chaqnged, it was difficult to tell whether they were pregnant or recovering from the delivery of their babies... whatever the circumstances, they remained 'Absent' on the Individuals List and the next morning, had taken the ship back to Mineral Town apparently.

This is a most intriguing game! If their 'couching' were similar to mine, they would no longer be pregnant but would be recovering from the blessed event. My child was born two full seasons after the announcement of my pregnancy. The Rivals left the island two full seasons after the announcement of THEIR pregnancies. This would have led me to suspect that the birth of their children would be accomplished immediately... but until the women return permanently with their children, I shan't be able to confirm anything.

The appearance of all of them at the Harvest Goddess Festival was a surprise, however, and it is characteristic of the creators of Harvest Moon to have entered that detail into the game, changing the dialogue of all the individuals involved to suit the circumstances!

Incidentally, see my later post on the return of the Rival Couples for the solution to this mystery!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

A new Baby in Island of Happiness





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I mentioned the birth of my son in the previous post with reference to two of the rival Weddings, but what mother would not wish to brag a little about the birth of her child? I think it merits a post of its own. The fact that many players share my intense interest in Vaughn as a prospective Spouse gives me more reason to devote a post to the Birth Event in Island of Happiness.

If you keep your Spouse at 10 hearts and expand your house to the largest Extra Large Size, you will find a Kid's Bed at Chen's Market a full season after your Wedding. Buy it instantly if you wish to experience the Pregnancy Event the next morning. If you do not purchase the crib, you will not become pregnant!

The earliest the Pregnancy Event can occur therefore is a full season after Marriage. After the Pregnancy Event, the birth of your Child will follow after two full seasons. The actual date will depend on any intervening Events that occur in the same week, such as Rival Weddings or Festivals. My own Child was due to be born on 10 Spring by my calculations but by experiencing two of the final Rival Heart Events at the beginning of Spring, the Calendar had to change to accommodate them.

The birth of my son occurred only after both of the Rival Weddings had been celebrated, on 11 Spring.

On 10 Spring, after the second Rival wedding of Pierre and Julia:
Vaughn: The baby should be coming soon. Be prepared!

11 Spring:

New Family

Vaughn is pacing back and forth in front of Mirabelle.

Mirabelle: Stop pacing around. A man needs to keep himself calm during times like these.

He ignores her and continues to pace relentlessly.

Mirabelle: It’s okay! Freya will give birth to a healthy baby.

Vaughn: How can I not be concerned now?!

Dr. Trent: (unseen): Keep pushing… Come on! A little harder!

Vaughn: (!) Hang in there, Tesora… I wish there was something I could do to ease her pain.

Mirabelle: (…) Yes, all we can do is wait. I’m sure that everything’ll turn out just fine!

The cry of a newborn infant rings out clearly, then:

A baby is in the infant bed above the Husband Bed.

Dr. Trent: Thanks to Felicia’s help, the baby was born safely.
Congratulations, Freya. It’s a healthy baby boy.

Mirabelle: What a brave-looking child!

Felicia: You did very well, Freya.

Vaughn: Is the baby?
Our baby?

Vaughn: Hey, let’s name the baby.
Any ideas, honey?

After you have chosen the name, your character will display a big red heart.
You only are allowed six letters.

Vaughn: Attila, eh?
Good name.
I like it.

Vaughn: Tesoro, Attila and I are a family now.
Having a new family member makes me so happy.

I nod.

My thoughts: It just sank in… I’m a mother! Attila, I’m so glad you were born!

No time passes here…
It is 6.00 a.m. still after the birth.
Go to the baby bed and tap on it.
The baby will cry and you will see a prompt:
‘I hope our baby grows up well!’

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

And finally, a Buckwheat Harvest in IoH





I should have had my first Buckwheat Harvest long ago in Island of Happiness. Stupidly, two plots of fully ripened Buckwheat confronted me for a few days before the crop vanished completely. As I confessed in a previous post, I had forgotten that Buckwheat, like all Crops in IoH, had to be harvested with a Sickle.

Well, the first game seldom is a 'perfect' game. My next game will be...

Meanwhile, I finally had my first Buckwheat Harvest, one day after harvesting Wheat and Soybeans from my Greenhouse. I have included screenshots here of fully ripened Buckwheat as well as Buckwheat at the first stage of growth.

A screenshot of the early flowering stage is included as well. At this stage, when the flowers are light pink, you CANNOT harvest the Buckwheat!

Incidentally, I now have included a few screenshots in my Island of Happiness Farming Guide. (Links to ALL my Guides to be found on the right side of this page as always.) I always resisted the idea of adding screenshots to my Guides in the past, as I wanted them to be accessible to ALL players, including those with very slow internet connections, but the Grains in IoH really require screenshots at their different stages. If players find the screenshots helpful, I may add more to my Guides in the future. I usually take thousands of screenshots whenever I play any Harvest Moon game but until I created this webpage, no one saw them but me.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Stages of Soybeans and Buckwheat in Island of Happiness



For those who wish to become ultra-successful farmers, here are some screenshots of Grains at various stages in Island of Happiness.

In one screenshot, you will see two stages of Soybeans. At the bottom is Edamame, ready for harvest, distinguished by the small purple blossoms. In the centre is another crop of Soybeans almost ready to reach the final stage. There are only two rows instead of three as I harvested the first row when they first displayed the blossoms that characterise Edamame. This plot is NOT at the final stage yet. The pods must change colour before you can harvest true Soybeans. In the upper plot is another crop of Soybeans at the first stage.

Buckwheat and Wheat are displayed in the other screenshot. The Wheat crops are at the first and second stages. The Buckwheat, distinguished by its reddish stalk, is at the first stage. I will add a screenshot of the Buckwheat I formerly grew which was fully ripe but never harvested.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Additional Requirement for Marriage in IoH

In many Harvest Moon games, you need more than a larger house and a 'Big Bed' if you wish to marry. You need a kitchen as well. I have not listed a kitchen as a requirement for marriage previously in Island of Happiness, but it may be one of the basic prerequisites.

I believe now that you do have to have all main characters on the Island in order to be able to marry. Every player who has been unable to marry has not had a major character. This information will be added to my guide.

It actually makes sense. I wrote a warning about not marrying in haste because some of the characters do not even arrive until later in the game... apparently the game is set up to force you to at least MEET every one, giving them some chance to impress you!

The confirmed requirements for marriage therefore are as follows:

1. Experience all Heart Events: Introduction Event, Purple Heart Event, Blue Heart Event and Yellow Heart Event; (Events vary according to your response during the Event; if you make the WRONG response during the Yellow Heart Event, you may need to experience a Recovery Event as well);
2. Have the Eligible Girl/Bachelor at 60,000 AP, deepest red heart level;
3. Have the Large House and buy the Husband/Wife Bed from Chen;
4. Have the Harvest Goddess at minimum 2 hearts and make certain Alisa and Nathan have not left the Island;
5. Have all main characters on the Island;
6. Buy the Blue Feather from Chen and experience the Popping the Question Event;

Actually, having a Kitchen IS a requirement, in a sort of oblique fashion, because you cannot have Pierre on the Island if you haven't obtained five Recipes and you never will obtain any without a Kitchen! Pierre is one of the main characters and you need to entice him onto the Island as well as all other main characters in order to marry...

To have all main characters on the island, you need to pursue ALL activities. Denny and Lanna arrive only if you have done quite a bit of fishing, Sabrina's arrival requires mining, Pierre's arrival requires Recipes and the unlocking of all areas, Shea's meeting requires the bridge to the Jungle and Mark/Chelsea only arrive when you have over 50% completion... so marriage can't be your only focus.