Determination is the Key in Obtaining Rare Gems in Animal Parade

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I may have published a post about this previously. Certainly the information is included in both my General Guide for Animal Parade and my Items and Shipping List Guide. If you are wondering why Rare Ore so seldom is refined into anything other than Scrap Metal or why Blue Wonderfuls more often contain Glass than Sapphires, it is strictly a matter of percentages. The precise percentages for any refined product are included in my Guides but I will copy them here as well:


Scrap Metal

Scrap Metal: 10G
Refined from Junk Ore, Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Silver Ore, Gold Ore and Rare Ore
Official Description: Worthless junk.
Rank: C
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine, Watery Cave

Iron

Iron: 50G
Iron Ore has a 50% chance of becoming Iron when refined.
Official Description: Iron extracted from iron ore. Used ot augment your tools.
Rank: C
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine, Watery Cave

Copper

Copper: 70G
Copper Ore has a 40% chance of becoming Copper when refined.
Official Description: Copper extracted from copper ore. Used to augment your tools.
Rank: C
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine, Watery Cave

Silver

Silver: 100G
Silver Ore has a 30% chance of becoming Silver when refined.
Official Description: Silver extracted from silver ore. Used to augment your tools.
Rank: B
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine, Watery Cave

Gold

Gold: 150G
Gold Ore has a 15% chance of becoming Gold when refined.
Official Description: Gold extracted from gold ore. Used to augment your tools.
Rank: A
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine, Watery Cave


Rare Metal

Rare Metal: 240G
Rare Ore has a 10% chance of becoming Rare Metal when refined.

Refined Gems

Refined Gems are created from Wonderfuls found in the Mines by smashing Rocks and Crystals with a Hammer. Refining any Wonderful costs 35G and the most probable result ALWAYS is Glass. Although both Wonderfuls and Ores can be found by smashing the same selection of Rocks and Crystals in any Mine, there are only two possible results when refining any Ore. When refining any Wonderful, there are either three or four possible results! Although the most probable result always is Glass, for each colour of Wonderful, there is a chance that refining will produce one of two or three different semi-precious or precious Gems. The most valuable of Gems always is the least probable, with a percentage of 5% in terms of chance.

Amber

Amber: 250G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining Amber when any Yellow Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in yellow wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine

Amethyst

Amethyst: 420G
There is a 10% chance of obtaining Amethyst when any Purple Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem rarely found in purple wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: A
Place: Watery Cave

Aquamarine

Aquamarine: 420G
There is a 15% chance of obtaining an Aquamarine when any Blue Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in blue wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Watery Cave

Crystal

Crystal: 170G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining Crystal when any White Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem rarely found in white wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Garmon Mine
N.B. ‘Garmon Mine’ in this context is the Upper Garmon Mine.

Diamond

Diamond: 1330G
There is a 5% chance of obtaining a Diamond when any White Wonderful is refined.

Emerald

Emerald: 690G
There is a 5% chance of obtaining an Emerald when any Green Wonderful is refined.

Garnet

Garnet: 270G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining a Garnet when any Red Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in red wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Lower Mine

Glass

Glass: 10G
Refined from any colour of Wonderful

Jade

Jade: 190G
There is a 15% chance of obtaining Jade when any Green Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in green wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Watery Cave

Lapis Lazuli

Lapis Lazuli: 300G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining Lapis when any Blue Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in blue wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Watery Cave

Opal

Opal: 330G
There is a 15% chance of obtaining an Opal when any White Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in white wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Garmon Mine
N.B. ‘Garmon Mine’ refers to the Upper Garmon Mine

Peridot

Peridot: 350G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining Peridot when any Green Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in green wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Watery Cave

Ruby

Ruby: 830G
There is a 5% chance of obtaining a Ruby when any Red Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem rarely found in red wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: A
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine

Sapphire

Sapphire: 620G
There is a 5% chance of obtaining a Sapphire when any Blue Wonderful is refined.

Spinel

Spinel: 220G
There is a 20% chance of obtaining a Spinel when any Purple Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem found in purple wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: B
Place: Watery Cave

Topaz

Topaz: 550G
There is a 5% chance of obtaining Topaz when any Yellow Wonderful is refined.
Official Description: A gem rarely found in yellow wonderfuls. Used to make accessories.
Rank: A
Place: Lower Mine, Garmon Mine

Where Wonderfuls are concerned, there are three possible Gems that can be contained in Green, Blue or White Wonderfuls but only two possible Gems in Yellow, Red or Purple, not counting Glass, which is NOT really considered a 'Gem'.

Green Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Peridot, Jade, Emerald
Blue Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Lapis Lazuli, Aquamarine, Sapphire
White Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Opal, Crystal, Diamond
Yellow Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Amber, Topaz
Red Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Garnet, Ruby
Purple Wonderful can be refined to: Glass, Spinel, Amethyst

If you study the descriptions given above, you will see that the most uncommon and most valuable gems of all in Animal Parade (as in the real world) are Diamonds, Sapphires, Emeralds and Rubies. Actually, this is not the case in the real world, where Diamonds exist in vast quantities in the earth but multi-national corporations have conspired to control the production strictly to keep the price high. Nonetheless, for the most part, the correspondence between Harvest Moon Gems and Gems in 'our' world are fairly equal. In Animal Parade, the incidence of finding one of the most valuable Gems is no more than 5% when any Wonderful of the corresponding colour is refined.

Like most situations with respect to Mining in Harvest Moon, however, the results ALWAYS are random. This means that, if you are determined, you can obtain the Gem or Metal that you wish. It may involve a lot of reloading but you can make certain that refining any Ore or Wonderful results in the Metal or Gem you seek.

Unfortunately, the Garmon Mines District is one of the few Districts that never becomes instantly accessible. Even with the Secret of the Animal Whistle which can allow you to return home instantly, you still have to arrive there either by foot or regular animal transport. Using the Animal Whistle to go to Harmonica Town and then walking to the Mine Cart in the Church Grounds is an alternative, but it is not much faster.

One of the reasons for persisting in order to obtain a specific gem is in order to complete your Mining List for the Mining Trophy. I have included two screenshots of the Mining Trophy. It is 'furniture' that can be placed in your home.

Another random result is the number of branches that any Tree will contain when chopped down with an Axe. Although any items on the ground such as rocks or boulders will decrease the possible number obviously, even when the ground is clear on all sides, you cannot guarantee a specific number of branches. It is NOT worth the trouble of reloading for this!

The maze in Fugue Forest is random and, if you leave the Forest completely and then return, you will find an entirely different configuration of paths. The clearings always are set in terms of the number of screens through which you pass, but the paths change. The Fugue Mushroom always is found on the same screen, however, even if its precise location on that screen differs from visit to visit. You only can find one Fugue Mushroom per day.

Another random result is the appearance of Bees on your field. Obviously, you must have flowers in bloom in order to attract bees, but if you save your game at 5.50 a.m. or earlier, awaken and leave the house to find that NO bees have appeared, you can reload and try again until Bees do appear. The more flowers that have bloomed recently, the better the chance of attracting bees.

Results that do NOT appear to be random, on the other hand, are the Seeds that the Bird in the Cemetary gives to your character each Thursday. Reloading again and again, my character always obtained the same type of Seeds on any given Thursday, although one does receive a different type each week.

Where the Weather is concerned, it no longer is as easy as it was in older Harvest Moon games to change the future. The Weather is loaded into the game at least a few days in advance, so reloading even two days previously will not change the result.

Thanks for the Input from Players on the Gender Theories

First, I want to thank every one who went to the trouble to post their findings with respect to the odd/even theory relating to your child's gender in HM Cute DS. It probably is random. After all, there is so much in Harvest Moon that IS determined randomly. One need only think of the appearance of any Cursed Tool or Cursed Accessory in the Mines in HM DS/Cute DS. Although they always will be found only on the floors specified by the game, you may not find them at all, visiting one of those floors 20 times. In another game, or on another day, you may find one the first time you visit one of the specified floors.

For the time being, in view of the data that players have posted, I would conclude that the gender of your child in HM Cute DS, alas, is random. In many situations, it is no more than coincidence when the same result occurs again and again in a game. I myself have been seduced into believing that a result depended on specific actions when it occurred again and again after meeting the requirements I had presupposed... only to discover later that it was random! I know many careful players who log all their actions and results as I do and then proceed to postulate a complex series of requirements for a result based on coincidence. We can be TOO clever sometimes.

The philosophical intention of Harvest Moon games is to create a REAL life, where Nature can behave randomly, where good fortune sometimes will follow you and sometimes will abandon you... We try to 'cheat' the game by finding exploitations and succeed in doing so, but it goes against the actual intention of the makers of these games. I always try to control the weather in my Harvest Moon games and this can be achieved very easily in games from the past, including FoMT/MFoMT and HM DS/Cute DS. All you have to do is save your game before you go to bed. When you awaken in the morning, listen to the weather prediction before you save again. If weather that is contrary to your own desires is predicted, simply reload and try again...

Well, Island of Happiness has sewn up THAT loophole now. Weather is determined 6 days in advance! How many players are going to play forward six days every night before midnight to see if Taro predicts a Typhoon or Snowstorm? Is it worth the effort? I couldn't be bothered in my game... I let those storms rip, when I never did so in other HM games when they could be avoided.

In fact, although weather is set 6 days in advance in IoH, the results are determined only at the time of the storm. Go outside after any storm to see what has been destroyed before you save your game. If your best trees or rare crops have been destroyed, for example, simply reload and try again... This mitigates the horror of being forced to endure a terrible typhoon or snowstorm in IoH. Furthermore, so far, I have not experienced the actual collapse of an Animal Barn/Chicken Coop or Greenhouse. I would need to confirm this with Natsume before I could state it as a categorical truth, however.

There is another random result in IoH that some players have not realised IS random. The appearance of Wonderfuls in Chen's Market during the Winter season may be based on a requirement that the last digit in your earnings is a 5, but even if you meet the requirement, the actual appearance of the Wonderful IS random. The colour of the Wonderful if and when it is offered is set according to a schedule, however. You therefore have two set conditions and one random effect in this situation.

As this post contains quite a lot of random information, I am going to add to it with the information that two guides for Island of Happiness have been sent to IGN. The links will be found on the right side of this page. Unfortunately, my own laptop has been sent off to a repair technician and my files are in disarray, so these guides need to be updated considerably, but it is a start. My Recipe Cookbook Guide and my Characters Guide will be published later today or tomorrow. ALL guides will be updated regularly as IGN is kind enough to allow that. I always feel it is better for players to have a basic guide as soon as possible, and I then add to that as I can. I am only one person and I have to play the games extensively as well as writing copiously in order to create these guides...

In other words, many more sections will be added to the General Guide and the text of all Heart Events and Rival Heart Events as well as all alternate Heart Events will be added to the Courtship and Marriage Guide. All the information is in my game journals, but it needs to be edited and transferred to the guides.

Finally, two offers:

I have another Harvest Moon webpage where I post stories about Harvest Moon written by fans. They must be based on an actual event in any Harvest Moon game. If any one wishes to email me a story, please do. I will post the best of them on the site.

We Love Harvest Moon

This morning, I realised it would be really interesting if devoted Harvest Moon fans shared their favourite event in ANY Harvest Moon game. I am creating a webpage, 'Favourite Harvest Moon Events'. Share as many as you like. You can add them as comments or send them as emails so I can add them as actual posts on the site.

Harvest Moon Favourite Events

Choosing your Events Wisely in HM DS or HM Cute DS

What to do? What to do? If you are playing the original Harvest Moon DS game, you can use my First Year Events Guide to plot out your game... with respect to the new Harvest Moon Cute, I am working on a First Year Events guide now.

When creating a new Events Guide and when plotting my own game, I often move ahead a day, without saving the results, to see which events can be triggered on any given day in specific weather conditions. I have reached a point now where weather is critical to define the game. It is Saturday night. Weather is determined when you awaken the next morning. I have a rainy day prediction saved in Slot 2 and a sunny day prediction saved in Slot 1.

As players of Harvest Moon DS know, it can be very confusing to save more than one game in separate slots as it is very easy to overwrite a game by saving in the wrong slot just once! Many new games for the DS do not allow the player to save in more than one slot for this reason. In any case, I need to decide which path to take.

If I allow a sunny Monday to occur, I can experience the following:
6.00 a.m. exiting the Excavation Site, Mary's 100 FP Event
6.30 p.m. at the Blue Bar, Marlin's 3rd or Blue Heart Event

If I allow a rainy Monday to occur, I can experience the following:
6.00 a.m. at the Blue Bar, Part I of Skye's 2nd or Purple Heart Event
10.00 p.m. at the Blue Bar, Part II of Skye's 2nd or Purple Heart Event

Marlin's 3rd Heart Event actually can be experienced in either situation, rain or shine, but there is a problem with this particular event, in that it will send your character straight to bed. That means that, should you experience Part I of Skye's Purple Heart Event at 6.00 a.m. but then enter the Blue Bar between 6.30 p.m. and 9.00 p.m., you will experience Marlin's Blue Heart Event and be sent to bed, unable to experience Part II of Skye's Event!

I do need to discover if, having triggered Part I of Skye's Event, if I miss Part II by experiencing Marlin's Event, will Part II trigger a fortnight later if I organise another rainy Monday? (My first chance would be fourteen days later as the blasted Chicken Festival is due to occur next Monday.) Or will it be lost to me forever? That will require a lot of organisation and time-wasting though... I am not certain I really wish to go through with that long-shot now.

In the meantime, which do I choose? Rain or shine? Players who are intent upon a single bachelor and do not care about 'non-essential' events never will experience my dilemma, but I know there are other players like me who are determined to experience EVERY possible event in any Harvest Moon game. My instinct is to experience Skye's event first as after all, he is only at purple heart level and Marlin is at blue heart level. I like to keep all the bachelors as equal as possible in terms of their heart levels until I finally choose one for my husband.