New Recipe sections in Rune Factory 2 Guides

When I first created the Recipe Cookbook Guide for Rune Factory 2, I found the Lessons at the School so interesting that I felt they needed to be included in the Guide. I therefore copied the text of each Lesson meticulously. Recipes that were not offered in Lessons were given simply with a list of ingredients.

I then added sections to the Cookbook Guide that lists the Recipes in the Default Order in which they appeared in the Workshop areas with their Skill Level requirements.

What this means in effect is that my Rune Factory 2 Cookbook Recipe Guide essentially has been complete for some time. I was not happy with it, however, in terms of using it as a quick reference guide for ingredients.

I decided to create another section that would list each item with its Skill Level requirements and ingredients instead of simply giving Skill Level requirements.

I now have completed that section for all Weapons and am working on the Accessories. It really does make it easier to find a list of ingredients for any item almost instantly. On Monday, these new sections will be placed at the top of the Recipe Cookbook Guide. The actual text of each of the Lessons given at the School will be placed at the end of the Guide in the same manner in which I usually place the actual text of Events at the end of my Guides.

The new sections listing ingredients for each item with Skill Level Requirements will be added to the General Guide as well.

I have made almost every Weapon and Accessory now and have added the descriptions of each to my Items List Guide and General Guide. It is much faster to harvest War Trophies from the four Underground Shrines than it is to wait for the right time of day or night and then use time fighting Monsters in a regular Cave/Dungeon in the hope of obtaining a War Trophy. By going through the Underground Shrines, I have been able to obtain many ingredients in a single trip.

Completing your Cookbook in Island of Happiness

In many Harvest Moon games, completing your Cookbook is a matter of trial and error, of having the required ingredients, the right implements and being able to put everything that is required together successfully. In Island of Happiness, all Kitchen Implements are included in your initial purchase of a Kitchen. Even then, however, you will not be able to make any Cooked Dishes until the actual Recipes for them are given to you by one of the following:
Luke at the Diner
Madelynn at the Cafe
The Harvest Goddess on the 255th Floor of the Mine

Two 'basic' Recipes are included with the Kitchen, one for Rice and one for Bread, but although they are deceptively simple, your difficulty in making either of them will be due to the fact that the ingredients must be unlocked first. Rice must be grown and harvested from a Rice Paddy, then processed through a Thresher before you can cook it in the Kitchen. Bread is made from Wheat, which is another Grain that has to be grown, harvested, then put through both a Thresher and a Flour Mill before you can make Bread with it.

So put the Rice and Bread on hold and try to fix a basic Egg Dish instead... You will find, however, that even this will be beyond your ingenuity until you have given either Madelynn or Luke (or each) an Egg. When you give either of them an Egg, you may be given a Recipe in return, but only if Luke/Madelynn actually makes a Cooked Dish successfully with your ingredient.

The results of any cooking attempt at the Cafe and Diner always are random. You will not be able to eat the Cooked Dish even if it is successful. The best you can hope to take home with you is a new Recipe that includes the ingredient you gave to the professional Cook.

My advice therefore is to give the lowest Rank and Quality of ingredient to Luke or Madelynn AND to save your game BEFORE you offer the ingredient over the counter to the Cook. If the attempt fails, you then can reload and offer the same ingredient again.

Each Recipe given by Luke or Madelynn is linked to a specific ingredient as well as being linked to a specific Cook. You only can obtain the Recipe if you give the required linked ingredient to the right Cook. The fact that an item is an ingredient in a specific Recipe will not lend it any power to prompt that Recipe from Luke or Madelynn. You have to give the RIGHT ingredient to the right Cook to obtain the Recipe.

For example,there is a Recipe for Steamed Egg Custard that requires both an Egg and a Shitake Mushroom to make. You cannot obtain it from Luke or Madelynn by giving one of them an Egg. In fact, you cannot obtain this Recipe from Madelynn at all. You must give a Shitake Mushroom to Luke to obtain the Recipe. Furthermore, there is a set order in which Recipes are given. You will receive new Recipes in a specific order by giving the required ingredient to the Cook.

I have begun a Recipe Cookbook Guide for Island of Happiness. You will find the link on the right side of this page, although it is a skeletal work in progress at this point. In fact, it is a matter of clerk work that must be completed somehow as I do have all Recipes in my game journals. I published it prematurely to force myself to complete it quickly, in all honesty. Lists of data are not my favourite sort of guide work but it is essential information and must be done. An updated, more useful version should be available later today.

I was working from the original test cartridge, so if the names of items have changed in the final retail version, they will be corrected later when I have reached the same point in my future (final version) game.

They are not organised properly and they are not written in the proper order yet. I try to organise my Guides by listing items in the same order that they appear in the game itself. Often this order has no logic in English but probably did in the original Japanese. Irrespective of this, I feel it is easier for a player to find an item if it is listed in the Guide in the same manner as it is listed in the game.

The Recipe Cookbook Guide therefore lists all Recipes in the order in which they appear in the player's own Cookbook when he/she accesses it either in the Farm Menu or in the Kitchen Menu. Writing any Cookbook Guide is one of the more tedious chores I set myself, but I myself find the results extremely useful and therefore persist in doing it for each Harvest Moon game. Cooking is one of the most interesting aspects of Harvest Moon. To have a completed Recipe Guide at one's fingertips always is useful.

Until the Recipe Cookbook Guide is complete, you always can find a fairly good list of 'Easy Recipes' in my General Guide. I posted one on this site as well about a fortnight ago.

Actually, I have drifted from the original intention when I began to write this post. I wished to give players a simple tip with respect to the entire process of obtaining Recipes from Luke and Madelynn. If you are one of those players who disdains a guide in Harvest Moon and wishes to do it all by yourself, remember that a Recipe may be linked not to an original raw ingredient but to another Cooked Dish.
When, therefore, Luke and Madelynn reject your Medium Fish after giving you a couple of Recipes, try to offer Sashimi instead. When Soybean finally fails to elicit a new Recipe, offer Tofu. When Wheat Flour no longer brings forth a new Recipe, offer Tempura instead...

Incidentally, the information as to where a Recipe is obtained is included in my Recipe Cookbook Guide. Under each Recipe entry, I include the way in which the Recipe is obtained (specific ingredient and specific cook), the shipping value and Recovery Value of the Cooked Dish, and finally the basic version and best version of the Cooked Dish. Where possible, I include the Recovery Value both of the Basic and Best versions...

This information takes time to organise. I think I will concentrate on including ALL entries first with the Basic Version of the Recipe and only then add the 'Best' version.

At the end of the Guide, I have begun a section that is organised by ingredients. It is a list of the ingredients that elicit Recipes either from Luke or Madelynn. In other words, under 'Egg', I am listing all the Recipes that can be obtained with an Egg...

I think this may be quite useful. It is kind of tiresome to keep visiting the Cafe and Diner with ingredients that neither Luke nor Madelynn will accept any longer...
If a player instantly can look at a Guide that shows ALL the Recipes that the ingredient will bring forth, it will save time.

By the way, when you visit the Harvest Goddess on the 255th Floor of the Mine, she will give you a gift, but if you attempt to return for another on the same day, you will receive nothing more. At first, I was a little bemused by the number of players who were able to reach the 255th floor twice in a day early in their games, but now I realise they were using cheat devices. Well, Harvest Moon does not take kindly to cheat codes ordinarily and the Harvest Goddess was NOT impressed apparently either.

This is the case with respect to any gifts in Island of Happiness. Manfred only gives one item per day as well.