Trent's Blue Heart Event: So cute but such a bore...

Trent, formerly known simply as 'the Doctor' in Mineral Town (FoMT/MFoMT) now is known by name either as Trent or Dr. Trent, depending upon the degree of formality between the parties. Elli invariably refers to him as Dr. Trent in HM Cute DS, making one wonder if even marriage would dissolve the title in front of his name.

I'm afraid she is welcome to him, as far as I am concerned. I always thought he was extremely cute and he still is, but he is SUCH a complete BORE. He rabbits on and on about diet and health, even as his level of affection for you increases.

His Blue Heart Event is no exception. Basically, you enter the Clinic in order to 'play' as Elli puts it or 'relax' as Hardy would describe a friendly visit. Hardy immediately decides to visit Romana and Elli offers to accompany him... As the plan is made only AFTER your arrival, you would be excused for thinking that every one is desperate to avoid your company! When Trent declares HIS intention to accompany the Romana delegation, injury is added to insult.

Hardy fortunately intervenes and puts your thoughts and feelings into words by saying: 'No, you stay here, Dr. rent. Freya came all this way, after all. It's a bit rude to Freya is all three of us get up and take off.'
(To say the least...)
Trent still is determined to add his weight to the delegation, however and continues to protest!
Trent: Huh? But I think...

At this point, Hardy is forced to snap at him: Don't think. Stay here and keep Freya company. Well, we're off.

Any woman who was not utterly besotted with Trent would be thoroughly disgusted by him at this point. I mean, a shy disposition is one thing but his desperate, repeated attempts to get away from you are too much!

Elli at this juncture says something rather amusing to those who know her well: 'OK. Take care of things while I'm gone.'

This is the girl who continually makes mistakes, who is nothing more than an assistant and who never displays anything but the most formal and respectful admiration for HER Dr. Trent. And yet, she is speaking to him here as if she is the one in charge and is handing over the sceptre of power to him temporarily. Not even 'while WE are gone' but 'while I'm gone'!!!

Well, to be honest, I applaud Elli's surge of confidence here, as no one else ever does or says anything to boost her morale and sense of self-worth. The many events you have witnessed wherein she makes mistakes in the clinic or where individuals refer to her mistakes in the past are numerous and excite both compassion and a small degree of anger and frustration with Trent for not defending her as much as he could! He does remark at one point essentially that she could be a good nurse if she would get her act together, but that is as far as it goes.

When they leave, you will be rewarded with the rather appealing sight of Trent blushing as he remarks upon the fact that it is 'just the two of us'. That is perhaps the best point in the entire event. He really is very cute.

In any case, with the other two off on their pilgrimage to the Villa, Trent proceeds to seize the day by delivering a long, boring lecture on diet and health.

You probably can guess the question that will determine his heart level. Yes, it concerns DIET AND HEALTH.

Trent: (...) Do you eat a balanced diet? Proper nutrition's an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.

Your choices:
I eat balanced meals.
I just eat what tastes good.

It is fairly obvious which of the two responses will please him, but really, eating 'what tastes good' is not necessarily tantamount to eating junk food! Nonetheless, I firmly squelched my instincts for mischief and dutifully told Trent that I existed solely on balanced meals.

It is only if you give this response that you will be given a very tiny window into the state of Trent's emotions. He will ramble on a bit about diet and health but THEN, after telling you that he is 'so happy to see you healthy and in good spirits', he will let you see that it is a bit more than his ordinary happiness at the sight of ANY individual who is in good health.

He will confess: 'I don't know why, really... You know... These ... feelings I have.'
He then sinks into tortured silent introspection in the form of (...)

You attempt to prise more out of him with a question mark, but alas. Trent does not take your bait. In fact, he tramples over what little progress he had made in courting you by saying:

Trent: ... I'm sure it's nothing. Just pretend I never said anything.

Perhaps you could have persuaded him to unburden himself further but Hardy and Elli return at this potentially interesting moment.

Romana, not surprisingly, was too busy to see the Medical Team. Hardy rather unexpectedly blames Sebastian for this!

Hardy: Romana was busy, so we got told to take a hike. Gr. That stuck-up Sebastian...'

Hardy's first remark, however, in response to Trent's comment that the two had returned quickly, is: 'Hmph. Too quick.'

He could be referring to their failure to see Romana, but I think he engineered the entire expedition in order to give Trent a chance to be alone with me.

Elli remarks that Trent looks 'a little uneasy' and Trent tells her that 'It's nothing' and then rather officiously advises me to return to my ranch.

Surprise, surprise... I am propelled unceremoniously out the door, left to wonder if Trent actually likes me or not, despite the fact that the event increased his AP by the usual 3000 points awarded for the 'correct response'.

Mind you, I did experience the event with the 'wrong response' as well, as I always do in order to add the information to my Courtship Guide. The lecture that Trent gave me almost made me want to use my new 'Lovely Maiden' martial arts technique on him!

Tell him that: 'I just eat what tastes good' and he will say:

Trent: That's no good, Freya. You're not a child anymore. Just sticking to the things you like could take its toll on your health. You need to keep track of what's going into your body.
Me: (...)
Trent: You are what you eat, as they say. As a doctor, it pains me to see an increase in unhealthy people.
Trent and I both: (!)
The door opens and Hardy speeds into the room, followed by Elli... In this situation, although Hardy says that their return was 'Too quick', it was not nearly quick enough for me...

In the scenario where you give the incorrect response, he actually tells Elli and Hardy, upon their return that: 'Apparently Freya needs to change her eating habits.' I mean, the nerve of the man! What really infuriated me was that he leapt instantly to the conclusion that the food that tasted good to me HAD to be junk food. That's the puritan in him I suppose. He actually implied that I ought to eat food that I actively disliked if it were healthy stuff...

I have to admit, however, that ice cream is a staple of my diet both in real life and in Harvest Moon. I am not certain that it should be categorised as 'junk food
in either world, though. It does restore 30 points of Stamina and reduces Fatigue by 20 points as well when made with nothing more than a small milk and a small egg!

In any event, I am not really looking forward to married life with Trent, when I finally choose him as a husband. I shan't stay long with him, that's for certain, despite his good looks. What would you bet that, after marriage, when Trent suggests that you choose a nickname for yourself, he will say something on the order of: 'You can call me Dr. Trent as always.'???

The Villa is a Hive of Activity

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There are many events that occur at the Villa, apart from the constant stream of regular visitors who come and go on a weekly basis.

The event with Karen is described in another post. There is a rather hilarious event that involves Van and a 'pot' with a history that dates back to Won, another famous character from 'historical' Mineral Town. The premise of Harvest Moon DS (in both male and female versions) is that it occurs hundreds of years AFTER A Wonderful Life and Friends of Mineral Town. Although characters have the same names and same appearance as their predecessors, they supposedly are NOT the same individuals, but rather their descendants.

In the event with Van, he attempts to sell a rare 'pot' to Romana for 10000000G. Romana replies that the price is far too high and asks him to knock off 'three of the 0s'. Van's response is to reduct the price to 1000000G. In the original FoMT and MFoMT as well as AWL/AnWL, Won's rare item was described as a vase rather than a pot. I am not certain if it is simply a different translation of the original Japanese word or if they are two different items.

Other events that occur at the Villa are events with Sebastian in the kitchen and Romana in her bedroom. There are events between Kate and Lumina as well. All these events are based on your friendship level with the parties concerned. Some are triggered at 100 FP but others at 200 FP. Somee will be familiar to players of the original English boy version of HM DS but others are new to English players.

Many players wondered about Mary's movements. She alone of the young Mineral Town visitors never stayed at the Inner Inn. You could not find her in the guest bedroom at 6.00 a.m. nor could you find her on the road from Mineral Town at any hour. In Cute, she is kind enough to explain her whereabouts between 6.00 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. on Monday, the day of her weekly visit.

Although she claims that she works in the locked room, she will not allow you entry! Perhaps she is lost in her creative labours and will not even hear your attempts to enter...

Sly Natsume... Jeff's unshown artwork in Karen's event

It is difficult to express the thrill that a true Harvest Moon fanatic experiences when an event that was eliminated from a previous version of a game finally is experienced. There were quite a few events in the original Japanese version of the boy game of Harvest Moon DS that were eliminated from the English version. These events for the most part apparently have been included in 'Cute'. Every week of gameplay so far, I have been able to experience new events hitherto denied to some one who is not fluent in Japanese.

I had heard of these events, of course and read about them, even done everything in my power to trigger them in the original English boy edition of HM DS. In fact, my contact at Natsume had been unable to tell me categorically whether or not they had been eliminated from the game... there are so many steps in the production of a game from its inception to its completion. Often notes from programmers are sketchy and it is only by playing the game diligently that one can see what is or is not included in the final version.

I am not the only player who does this, of course. There are scores of Harvest Moon fans who attempted in vain to trigger events in the original English boy edition of HM DS. Flurries of emails and board discussions dealt with the situation... Were the events there or not? Were there hidden requirements that none of us had discovered or had they simply been eliminated from the English version of the game? Ultimately, we came to the sad conclusion that they had been 'lost' somewhere along the way in the translation of the original Japanese game to English.

In Cute, I have experienced many of these hitherto 'lost' events effortlessly. When any 'new' event begins, the emotion that I experience is absolutely priceless. It is almost like discovering the 'Holy Grail'. There is that initial moment when one realises one has triggered a new event. Then, as the event unfolds, one recognises it as one of those mythical events one has read about but never had the privilege of experiencing. Such unadulterated delight!

It is almost impossible to express the degree of excitement to any one who never tried to trigger a special event in a game but was unable to do so. In HM DS, one did everything possible to make the event occur:

1. raise the affection and/or friendship levels of the character;
2. try to experience the event in different weather conditions: rain or sun
3. try to experience the event in different seasons
4. try to experience the event at different times of the day and night
5. And then, as a last resort: try to experience the event after marriage

Year after year, during gameplay, one kept these events in the back of ones consciousness. One became fairly certain that they did not exist, but even so...
Again, I was not the only player who was reluctant to admit defeat.

The inclusion, therefore, of all the 'lost' events in 'Cute' is extremely gratifying to any Harvest Moon fanatic. Now we can experience all those events that we read about but never were able to know firsthand. It is rather like finally being accepted as a member of an exclusive club. There is no substitute for direct experience and when Cute is released in English at the end of March, every Harvest Moon fan will have that direct experience!

For those who are new to Harvest Moon, it may be useful to know that there are two types of events. There are events that actually have a potential effect on your character's future and there are events that have no real effect. 'Heart Events' and 'Rival Heart Events' are events that potentially affect your future and/or the future of other characters in the game. You must experience a potential spouse's 'Heart Events' if you wish to marry that individual. You must experience all 'Rival Heart Events' between a couple if you wish to see THEM marry.

Harvest Moon is wonderful in that there are a multitude of events that really affect nothing in terms of success and failure but which can give you more detailed information about the characters. Once in awhile, an event like this can unlock a minor item or be the first in a series of events involving the same character. It is not essential to experience these events, but it adds enormously to the enjoyment and depth of the game.

Meanwhile, here are some photographs from the 100 FP event between Karen and Romana, when Karen asks to see Jeff's painting.

The makers of Harvest Moon often can be rather mischievous! There is a point in the event when Romana invites your character along to see a private exhibition of paintings by Jeff that never have been shown to any one. One becomes very excited at the prospect of seeing new paintings by Jeff... If one had played other Harvest Moon games, one would have seen paintings by Jeff hanging in the Inner Inn in AWL and AnWL as well as many paintings in Mineral Town in FoMT and MFoMT, and of course, there is the painting in Romana's bedroom in the Villa, but here one anticipates that one will be given an opportunity to see new paintings that never have been exposed to the light of day...

What happens then? Both screens go black and your character thinks to herself: 'Hmph... Even after seeing all these, I still don't get his art... I better get back to work.'

Actually, there are quite a few events in both the original Harvest Moon DS and Cute that involve either Romana or Karen. Romana is not as vital a character as she was in A Wonderful Life when only she could provide you with a marvelous watering can that would make your life as a farmer much simpler and she was the one who would give you a cat, but she still is an important character in HM DS where events are concerned.

Karen was the 'hot babe' in Friends of Mineral Town and she only will visit the Valley in Cute if you connect your cartridge to a FoMT or MFoMT cartridge. If you do this, however, you will be able to experience a number of events that involve her.