The official information states that, provided you do not stack the Wonderful Pieces that you obtain, Charlie may make a Wonderful for you that is NOT Purple. If Wonderful Pieces are stacked, however, the default colour always will be Purple.
Consequently, I meticulously kept every Wonderful Piece separate that I obtained either from a Festival or as a purchase from Chen's Market. No matter what I did, however, I always obtained a Purple Wonderful.
I now know why this occurred. The fact of the matter is that, ALL Wonderful Pieces obtained as prizes at Festivals are Purple irrespective of the colour of Wonderful that you would have obtained had you won 1st Prize. The only Wonderful Pieces that have a chance of being another colour are those purchased at Chen's Market. You therefore can stack all the Wonderful Pieces won at Festivals, but make certain that you keep any Wonderfuls purchased from Chen's Market separate (and remember which slots they occupy as well if you ever wish to be able to obtain a different colour from Charlie.)
The fact that only Wonderful Pieces purchased from Chen had the chance of creating other colours is an important piece of information that was lacking in my Guides until now.
A Website for all Harvest Moon fans providing Links to all Guides by Freyashawk: Actual Links on Right Side of Webpage
Showing posts with label Wonderfuls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonderfuls. Show all posts
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Friday, September 26, 2008
Making Money in IoH at the start
All Harvest Moon games are most difficult when you first move into your farm. After all, the farm has been allowed to deteriorate. You arrive at your new home with no skill in Farming, Ranching, Mining or Fishing. In some cases, you are a child of an urban civilisation, who presumably spent more time at a desk than striving towards physical stamina and strength. Your Energy Levels therefore will be very low.
Each game offers its own solution at the start. It is a matter of discovering the activity that can be exploited best. In HM DS/Cute DS, that activity is performed at the Excavation Site, where you can dig for jewelry and artifacts that are worth 2000G when shipped and almost twice that when sold to Van.
Island of Happiness is a little more difficult. You will not even be able to access the Mine until you have built the Bridge to the Forest. The most valuable Crops must be unlocked before you will be able to grow them. In fact, you will be required to unlock almost everything of value in this game...
The best exploitations early in the game probably are the Wonderfuls, but your first Wonderful will be given to you only when:
1. You win any Festival Contest;
2. You reach the 255th Floor of the Mine AFTER having met the Harvest Goddess by making an Offering at her Spring; or
3. You reach the Winter season.
You can control the colour of the Wonderful that you obtain by judicious use of Tools or shipping. Whether or not you have sufficient energy to do so in the first few seasons is another matter.
Possibly the most profitable Wonderful is the Orange Wonderful that will double your yield when set in a Tool. This means that the product obtained through use of any Milker, Clipper, Hammer or Sickle set with an Orange Wonderful will be doubled. This is extremely useful when you need to harvest Grains with the Sickle, increase your yield of Milk and Wool and your yield of any Ores and Gems in the Mine.
Until you are able to obtain any Wonderfuls, however, you probably will make the most money by fishing. In IoH, as in many other HM games, you will not have a Fishing Rod at the start of the game. It is only through friendship with a specific individual that you will be able to obtain one. That individual in IoH is Taro.
Speak to Taro daily to raise his friendship level. As he will give you a weather prediction for the next day that never is wrong, it is a good idea to speak to him in any event... Giving him a Coloured Grass will raise his Friendship more quickly.
Once you have a Fishing Rod, fish as much as you can. This activity will bring new arrivals to the Island and will allow you to make money quickly. Denny and Lanna will arrive only when you have caught specific numbers of fish.
Although you need to fish at every possible location in order to complete your Fishing List and catch the legendary King Fish, you should restrict your fishing probably to the Beach in the early stages of the game as this is the only location where Large Fish are to be caught. Furthermore, in Summer, you can catch Pirate Treasure that ships for 10,000G. In Autumn, you can catch Fossils of Fish that ship for 5,000G each.
To maximise your Fishing profits, save your Game BEFORE you cast your Rod. If you fail to catch a valuable item, reload and try again. That having been said, you probably need to catch a few small fish before you ever will be able to catch the more valuable items. I need to test this in a new game, but that usually is the way it works in Harvest Moon. Chances of catching valuable items increase only when your Fishing experience increases.
Even if you catch only Small Fish, however, shipping them will bring you more profit early in the game than anything else.
A comment by a reader reminded me of another early source of income, although you need to balance shipping with your own need for Recovery items. In your first Spring, your very first source of income will be items that can be collected from the Wilds. Any Wild coloured Grass, Flower or Seaweed can be shipped for profit.
It is only the Flowers that cannot be eaten, so you definitely should ship all flowers.
As far as coloured Wild Grasses and Seaweed are concerned, the Rank of these will depend on the point at which you gather them. Wild Grasses and Flowers gain in Rank, Quality and Size the longer they are left to grow. It is not time of day but the number of days that Flowers and Wild Grasses are left uncollected that is significant here. That is why, when you first unlock any area, the Wild Grasses and Flowers you find there may be of 'S' Rank. If you unlock the area at the start of the season, the rank may be lower, but if it is later in the Season, you may find all wild items to be of 'S' Rank.
Seaweed on the other hand, loses Rank as the hours pass and the best Seaweed is collected at 6.00 a.m. If you wait until the end of the day to gather Seaweed in Spring from the large boulder at the Beach, you probably will find it to be of 'B' Rank. There is no guarantee, however, that an early collection will bring anything higher. I have collected both 'A' and 'B' Ranks at 6.00 a.m., but on a day when I was able to collect 'A' Rank from the rock at 6.00 a.m., it was 'B' Rank when I collected it from the rock later in the day. This occurred on more than one occasion. Like so many details, however, it could be coincidence.
Note that Seaweed is available only in the Spring Season.
'B' Rank Seaweed, which is the 'average' rank for any item, will ship for about
830G. 'S' Rank Seaweed will ship for over 1000G. If you are diligent in going to the Beach early each morning to gather seaweed in your first Spring, you can augment your income by shipping high Rank Seaweed. You may need to keep some of it for use in restoring your Energy, however, depending on your total resources in the early stages of the game.
Once you have unlocked Festivals by building the bridge to the Meadow, you will be able to participate in Contests to win Wonderfuls. Another exploitation available is the ability to fish during Festivals without losing any time. The only risk here is in terms of your Energy levels. You will not be able to see your Energy Bars at any Festival but you can watch your character for the telltale physical signs that indicate depletion of energy. Make certain that you have Recovery items in your Rucksack and USE them if you are fishing during a Festival or you will pass out, negating the value of this exploitation device!
Remember, however, that you need to succeed in ALL aspects of life in order to achieve true success. You need to grow crops, raise animals, mine, fish AND cook as well as fulfilling social obligations on a regular basis.
Each game offers its own solution at the start. It is a matter of discovering the activity that can be exploited best. In HM DS/Cute DS, that activity is performed at the Excavation Site, where you can dig for jewelry and artifacts that are worth 2000G when shipped and almost twice that when sold to Van.
Island of Happiness is a little more difficult. You will not even be able to access the Mine until you have built the Bridge to the Forest. The most valuable Crops must be unlocked before you will be able to grow them. In fact, you will be required to unlock almost everything of value in this game...
The best exploitations early in the game probably are the Wonderfuls, but your first Wonderful will be given to you only when:
1. You win any Festival Contest;
2. You reach the 255th Floor of the Mine AFTER having met the Harvest Goddess by making an Offering at her Spring; or
3. You reach the Winter season.
You can control the colour of the Wonderful that you obtain by judicious use of Tools or shipping. Whether or not you have sufficient energy to do so in the first few seasons is another matter.
Possibly the most profitable Wonderful is the Orange Wonderful that will double your yield when set in a Tool. This means that the product obtained through use of any Milker, Clipper, Hammer or Sickle set with an Orange Wonderful will be doubled. This is extremely useful when you need to harvest Grains with the Sickle, increase your yield of Milk and Wool and your yield of any Ores and Gems in the Mine.
Until you are able to obtain any Wonderfuls, however, you probably will make the most money by fishing. In IoH, as in many other HM games, you will not have a Fishing Rod at the start of the game. It is only through friendship with a specific individual that you will be able to obtain one. That individual in IoH is Taro.
Speak to Taro daily to raise his friendship level. As he will give you a weather prediction for the next day that never is wrong, it is a good idea to speak to him in any event... Giving him a Coloured Grass will raise his Friendship more quickly.
Once you have a Fishing Rod, fish as much as you can. This activity will bring new arrivals to the Island and will allow you to make money quickly. Denny and Lanna will arrive only when you have caught specific numbers of fish.
Although you need to fish at every possible location in order to complete your Fishing List and catch the legendary King Fish, you should restrict your fishing probably to the Beach in the early stages of the game as this is the only location where Large Fish are to be caught. Furthermore, in Summer, you can catch Pirate Treasure that ships for 10,000G. In Autumn, you can catch Fossils of Fish that ship for 5,000G each.
To maximise your Fishing profits, save your Game BEFORE you cast your Rod. If you fail to catch a valuable item, reload and try again. That having been said, you probably need to catch a few small fish before you ever will be able to catch the more valuable items. I need to test this in a new game, but that usually is the way it works in Harvest Moon. Chances of catching valuable items increase only when your Fishing experience increases.
Even if you catch only Small Fish, however, shipping them will bring you more profit early in the game than anything else.
A comment by a reader reminded me of another early source of income, although you need to balance shipping with your own need for Recovery items. In your first Spring, your very first source of income will be items that can be collected from the Wilds. Any Wild coloured Grass, Flower or Seaweed can be shipped for profit.
It is only the Flowers that cannot be eaten, so you definitely should ship all flowers.
As far as coloured Wild Grasses and Seaweed are concerned, the Rank of these will depend on the point at which you gather them. Wild Grasses and Flowers gain in Rank, Quality and Size the longer they are left to grow. It is not time of day but the number of days that Flowers and Wild Grasses are left uncollected that is significant here. That is why, when you first unlock any area, the Wild Grasses and Flowers you find there may be of 'S' Rank. If you unlock the area at the start of the season, the rank may be lower, but if it is later in the Season, you may find all wild items to be of 'S' Rank.
Seaweed on the other hand, loses Rank as the hours pass and the best Seaweed is collected at 6.00 a.m. If you wait until the end of the day to gather Seaweed in Spring from the large boulder at the Beach, you probably will find it to be of 'B' Rank. There is no guarantee, however, that an early collection will bring anything higher. I have collected both 'A' and 'B' Ranks at 6.00 a.m., but on a day when I was able to collect 'A' Rank from the rock at 6.00 a.m., it was 'B' Rank when I collected it from the rock later in the day. This occurred on more than one occasion. Like so many details, however, it could be coincidence.
Note that Seaweed is available only in the Spring Season.
'B' Rank Seaweed, which is the 'average' rank for any item, will ship for about
830G. 'S' Rank Seaweed will ship for over 1000G. If you are diligent in going to the Beach early each morning to gather seaweed in your first Spring, you can augment your income by shipping high Rank Seaweed. You may need to keep some of it for use in restoring your Energy, however, depending on your total resources in the early stages of the game.
Once you have unlocked Festivals by building the bridge to the Meadow, you will be able to participate in Contests to win Wonderfuls. Another exploitation available is the ability to fish during Festivals without losing any time. The only risk here is in terms of your Energy levels. You will not be able to see your Energy Bars at any Festival but you can watch your character for the telltale physical signs that indicate depletion of energy. Make certain that you have Recovery items in your Rucksack and USE them if you are fishing during a Festival or you will pass out, negating the value of this exploitation device!
Remember, however, that you need to succeed in ALL aspects of life in order to achieve true success. You need to grow crops, raise animals, mine, fish AND cook as well as fulfilling social obligations on a regular basis.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Odd but Cool Side-Effect of a Red or Blue Wonderful
One of the most annoying aspects of animal care in Island of Happiness is the way that livestock animals move aimlessly from place to place when your character is trying to milk the cow, shear the sheep or brush an animal. This becomes even more frustrating when you have Tools set with Wonderfuls and need to spend a moment or two charging them before they are used. By the time the charge is complete, the animal quite often has moved away!
Blue and Red Wonderfuls increase the range of your Tools. One uses them logically in farm tools first as it is very convenient to be able to till a 3 x 3 square or water the same area with a single use of the Hoe or Watering Can.
Setting a Blue or Red Wonderful in a Ranch tool, however, will have the same effect. Having an extra Red Wonderful, I set it in my Milker. Much to my amusement, I then was able to milk two cows simultaneously. I suppose one could keep stacking the Wonderfuls until one could 'service' the entire barn with a single charged use of the Milker, Clippers or Brush.
Blue and Red Wonderfuls increase the range of your Tools. One uses them logically in farm tools first as it is very convenient to be able to till a 3 x 3 square or water the same area with a single use of the Hoe or Watering Can.
Setting a Blue or Red Wonderful in a Ranch tool, however, will have the same effect. Having an extra Red Wonderful, I set it in my Milker. Much to my amusement, I then was able to milk two cows simultaneously. I suppose one could keep stacking the Wonderfuls until one could 'service' the entire barn with a single charged use of the Milker, Clippers or Brush.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
A very Special Gift on your Anniversary
There are a number of Festivals that are celebrated differently after marriage as well as new Special Occasion Events that do not exist while you remain single.
The Thanksgiving Festivals and Pumpkin Festivals no longer bring any visitors to your house after marriage. Instead, your Spouse will bake special sweets for the Pumpkin Festival for a feast at home, even before you have a child. If you are a girl, your husband will slip Chocolate Cookies into your rucksack after you go to sleep on the night of the Spring Thanksgiving Festival. If you are a boy, your wife will slip Chocolate Cake into your rucksack on the night of the Winter Thanksgiving Festival.
All family birthdays are celebrated once you are married. If you have a child, your child's birthday will be celebrated for the very first time on the actual day of his/her birth. You need to enter your house after 6.00 p.m. to initiate any birthday Special Occasion Event.
Once you have entered, your Spouse will ask if you have finished work for the day. If not, you will have the option to leave the house to complete all unfinished tasks.
Once you tell your Spouse that all work has been completed, he/she will ask if you know what event you are celebrating. You must give the correct response if you wish to participate in the feast! Otherwise, your Spouse will be disappointed and you will be sent to bed with nothing. At the age of 2, when your child is old enough to accept gifts, you will be given the opportunity to give him/her a birthday gift on his/her birthday. (This occurs in ToT as well.) If you give an item that your Child dislikes, heart levels will decrease. A girl's taste differs from that of a boy, so you need to know what your Child likes. Lists are included in my Characters Guide.
It is on the occasion of your Wedding Anniversary, however, that you have the opportunity to obtain a very special gift from your Spouse. I do understand why players often do not like to read guides for a game, even though I write guides myself. It is rather thrilling sometimes to be surprised. Vaughn surprised me on our Wedding Anniversary by giving me an 'S' Rank Wonderful!
The Event ends the day and you awaken the next morning with all Stamina and Fullness completely restored, and an 'S' Rank Wonderful in your rucksack. The colour of the Wonderful you receive, like those obtained as prizes at Festivals is determined by the current number of points earned towards your Farming Degree. If you wish to obtain a specific colour, therefore, you can use a Tool BEFORE you enter the House to experience the Special Occasion Anniversary Event.
(A Tool can be used on nothing to increase point total as well as increasing your income if the tool is set with a Purple Wonderful. Each use of a Tool set with a Purple Wonderful will increase your earnings by 2G. It's not much, but...)
Here's the text of the Anniversary Event. For those who are as enamoured of Vaughn as I am, you will see that he demonstrates all the sweetness one could desire:
A Special Occasion
Vaughn: You’re home.
You finish work for the day?
Okay. I’ll wait till you finish work.
So, what’s today?
Very important day for us.
Our anniversary
My birthday
Your birthday
Our anniversary
Vaughn displays a big red heart.
Vaughn: Uh-huh.
Gotta celebrate together on a special day.
Got you a gift.
Thanks for everything.
I walk to him and take the gift. (with music)
My thoughts: The gift made me so happy.
What a great anniversary.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Colour of Wonderfuls Won at Festivals
Some one posted a comment to the effect that tool use may be the determining factor in the colour of Wonderful you will obtain as a prize at any Festival Contest in IoH. I am afraid that I misunderstood at the time. In Island of Happiness, experience with a tool does not lead to any upgrades. I therefore did not feel that your character's level of experience with any tool could be a determining factor.
According to comments posted here, as tool use does increase your Farming Degree points, it is relevant as the last two digits of your current Farming score determine the colour of the Wonderful.
Thus, tool use would have an effect. It seems to me that the system I employed is as good as any as there is no Accessory that displays points. Save your game before you enter the Meadow. If you do not receive the colour that you want, reload, use your Tools and then re-enter.
There is an order in which the colours will appear:
Lowest Score to Highest:
Blue Wonderful
Green Wonderful
Red Wonderful
Yellow Wonderful
Orange Wonderful
Purple Wonderful
Indigo Wonderful
Any one recognise the order? It's the same order as the Coloured Wild Grasses appear in your Farm Menu as well as the same order in which the Harvest Goddess will give you the Recipes for the Coloured Curries.
Thanks, guys, for your comments!
Incidentally, it does not require much tool use at all to change the colour of the Wonderful. A method that can profit you as well as changing the colour of the prize is to go to the entrance to the Meadow at 10.00 a.m. Stand on the near bank of the river, to the left of the bridge that leads to the Meadow and fish briefly. You should be able to judge how many casts of the Rod to cycle through each of the Wonderfuls with a little practice. With an ordinary tool, it varies between 10 and 15 uses for each change in colour.
According to comments posted here, as tool use does increase your Farming Degree points, it is relevant as the last two digits of your current Farming score determine the colour of the Wonderful.
Thus, tool use would have an effect. It seems to me that the system I employed is as good as any as there is no Accessory that displays points. Save your game before you enter the Meadow. If you do not receive the colour that you want, reload, use your Tools and then re-enter.
There is an order in which the colours will appear:
Lowest Score to Highest:
Blue Wonderful
Green Wonderful
Red Wonderful
Yellow Wonderful
Orange Wonderful
Purple Wonderful
Indigo Wonderful
Any one recognise the order? It's the same order as the Coloured Wild Grasses appear in your Farm Menu as well as the same order in which the Harvest Goddess will give you the Recipes for the Coloured Curries.
Thanks, guys, for your comments!
Incidentally, it does not require much tool use at all to change the colour of the Wonderful. A method that can profit you as well as changing the colour of the prize is to go to the entrance to the Meadow at 10.00 a.m. Stand on the near bank of the river, to the left of the bridge that leads to the Meadow and fish briefly. You should be able to judge how many casts of the Rod to cycle through each of the Wonderfuls with a little practice. With an ordinary tool, it varies between 10 and 15 uses for each change in colour.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Perishables in Island of Happiness include Wonderfuls
This is a brief mention of a characteristic of items in general in Island of Happiness. Any 'perishable' item has a Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness quotient. As time passes, the Freshness diminishes first, but it gradually will affect the Quality and Rank as well. Unless you have built a Refrigerator and Cabinet from Mythic Stone or have a 'Quality Improver' Maker to 'refresh' your items, they gradually will diminish in Freshness, Rank and Quality.
This is the case not only with respect to Crops and Fish but with respect to Wonderfuls and Suns. They actually are perishable items. The Suns purchased from Chen's Market will be of random Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness. The Wonderfuls purchased from Chen's Market or obtained on the 255th Floor of the Mine likewise will be of random Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness. It is only when you obtain a Wonderful as a prize for winning a Contest that it will be of S Rank, maximum Quality, Maximum Size and Maximum Freshness.
The reason I mention this is because any Wonderful or Sun that is 'used' by placing it in a Tool or Greenhouse respectively will diminish gradually. Furthermore, Wonderfuls 'stack' differently from all other items when set in a Tool. Ordinarily, items of the same variety will not stack automatically unless every characteristic is identical. In other words, they go into the same slot automatically only if Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness are identical.
When Charlie sets any Wonderful in a Tool, however, he will stack all Wonderfuls of the same colour. That means that an S Rank Yellow Wonderful, for example, will be stacked with a C Rank Yellow Wonderful, bringing its Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness DOWN immediately. Of course, using the 'half full/half empty' perception, you could say that an S Rank Wonderful would 'refresh' the C Rank Wonderful, boosting its Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness to some extent.
In any case, you can boost the Quality of any item by throwing it into a Quality Improver Maker, but that is the most expensive Maker in the game and you will be unable to afford one until you have made significant progress.
Remember though that the actual potency of any Sun placed in your Greenhouse will determine the amount of 'Sunlight' that your Crops receive daily. Try to use the best Suns in your Greenhouse, replacing those that have lost their potency. Toss any used Sun in the shipping container to complete your shipping list.
This is the case not only with respect to Crops and Fish but with respect to Wonderfuls and Suns. They actually are perishable items. The Suns purchased from Chen's Market will be of random Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness. The Wonderfuls purchased from Chen's Market or obtained on the 255th Floor of the Mine likewise will be of random Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness. It is only when you obtain a Wonderful as a prize for winning a Contest that it will be of S Rank, maximum Quality, Maximum Size and Maximum Freshness.
The reason I mention this is because any Wonderful or Sun that is 'used' by placing it in a Tool or Greenhouse respectively will diminish gradually. Furthermore, Wonderfuls 'stack' differently from all other items when set in a Tool. Ordinarily, items of the same variety will not stack automatically unless every characteristic is identical. In other words, they go into the same slot automatically only if Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness are identical.
When Charlie sets any Wonderful in a Tool, however, he will stack all Wonderfuls of the same colour. That means that an S Rank Yellow Wonderful, for example, will be stacked with a C Rank Yellow Wonderful, bringing its Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness DOWN immediately. Of course, using the 'half full/half empty' perception, you could say that an S Rank Wonderful would 'refresh' the C Rank Wonderful, boosting its Rank, Quality, Size and Freshness to some extent.
In any case, you can boost the Quality of any item by throwing it into a Quality Improver Maker, but that is the most expensive Maker in the game and you will be unable to afford one until you have made significant progress.
Remember though that the actual potency of any Sun placed in your Greenhouse will determine the amount of 'Sunlight' that your Crops receive daily. Try to use the best Suns in your Greenhouse, replacing those that have lost their potency. Toss any used Sun in the shipping container to complete your shipping list.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
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
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
Friday, July 18, 2008
New Harvest Moon Festivals and Wonderfuls
Although 'Island of Happiness', due now to be released in mid-August, includes most of the traditional Harvest Moon festivals from other games, it has some new festivals as well. In fact, the game differs from most other Harvest Moon games in that few of the Festivals will be celebrated or even displayed on the Calendar until your character 'unlocks' them through his/her accomplishments or the attainment of specific goals.
Areas of the map are 'unlocked' when your character pays for the construction of bridges and roads when those projects are made available at Gannon's shop. Once those areas are unlocked, your character will be able to expand his/her activities. In fact, the area where Festivals are held must be unlocked before any Festivals can be celebrated!
Island of Happiness therefore contains more 'surprises' for the player than most Harvest Moon games. Even an experienced Harvest Moon fan will not know what to expect in many cases.
For example, I was not surprised to discover a Cooking Contest in Spring but when I 'unlocked' the rice paddies and began to grow rice, a 'Rice Festival' appeared on the Calendar in Autumn. A 'Mining Festival' appeared in the second year in the Summer season.
Many of these Festivals include Contests and some are more difficult to win than others. The Mining Festival is an example of a Festival that requires a very high quality of gem or ore if you wish to win 1st Prize.
In Spring, Summer and Autumn, there are Crop Festivals with a different 'theme' each year. The theme is announced at the previous Crop Festival and will appear on the Calendar as well. Often, the theme will be a crop that you must unlock. If you have not unlocked the Crop by the time the Festival occurs, obviously you will have no chance whatsoever of winning the Contest.
Often the prize for winning 1st Place in any Festival Contest is a Wonderful. Players of HM DS and HM Cute DS will be familiar with 'Wonderfuls' but they are acquired differently and have quite different applications in Island of Happiness. In HM DS/Cute DS, one could mine for 'Wonderfuls' in the 4th Mine. They had no significant value as single stones. If you could collect a complete set, however, the Harvest Goddess would grant you a wish from a list of choices.
In Island of Happiness, 'Wonderfuls' can be set in slots in tools to augment their power in various ways. Each colour of Wonderful has a specific attribute. Some Wonderfuls allow a tool to operate on a wider area. Others enhance the quality of the item that is obtained through use of the tool. Another Wonderful creates additional slots when equipped to a Tool.
When you purchase a tool from Gannon or Mirabelle at the start of the game, it will have 1-4 slots for Wonderfuls. Gannon sells farm tools and Mirabelle sells ranch tools. A basic tool has only a single slot. Each additional slot raises the price of a tool by 1000G. A tool with four slots therefore will cost 4000G.
If you are a fanatical miner, you can obtain Wonderfuls from the Harvest Goddess when you reach the 255th floor of the Mine. She alternates Wonderfuls with Recipes for various coloured Curries, though, so it is only every other visit to the bottom of the Mine that will gain you another Wonderful as long as there are Recipes to dole out. (Have you noticed how valuable an item a Curry is in Harvest Moon games? Curries of various kinds are the key to Skye's heart and the heart of Keira, not to mention the delight of Flora...)
If you are not a dedicated Miner, you can obtain Wonderfuls in IoH by winning Contests at various Festivals.
The Wonderful that you obtain when you win a Contest is based on total Farming Degree points.
Finally, there is a possibility of finding a Wonderful for sale at Chen's Market in Winter as well.
Some Wonderfuls are more useful than others in the early years of the game. In the early stages of the game, a Wonderful that decreases the amount of Stamina that is lost with each use of the tool is far more useful than a Wonderful that expands the number of slots on a tool. Wonderfuls are not that plentiful, especially if you are not able or willing to descend to the 255th floor of the Mine. Unfortunately, in my own game, the first two Wonderfuls I obtained were Indigo, with the attribute of increasing the number of slots on any tool. I later discovered that the colour of Wonderful obtained at any Festival is based on the total of your Farming Degree Points so you can change the result by fishing or farming or performing any other action that will change your total. (Festivals end at a specific time, irrespective of the time of arrival. If you arrive at a Festival that ends at 6.00 p.m. at 5.50 p.m., you lose only 10 minutes of your day.)
In fact, you must obtain a Yellow Wonderful if you wish to unlock the area on the map where rice can be grown. A Yellow Wonderful augments the power of any Tool and you will not be able to smash the boulder that blocks the path north from your ranch unless you ask Charlie to set a Yellow Wonderful in your Hammer. Once you have unlocked the rice paddies, you must ask him to set a Yellow Wonderful in your Hoe if you wish to be able to plant rice. Finally, a Yellow Wonderful is required in your Sickle in order to harvest the ripened rice.
One Yellow Wonderful can serve the purpose if you go back and forth to Chen's Market to ask Charlie to remove the Wonderful from one tool and set it in another when required. It is inconvenient but better than not being able to grow rice at all!
The appearance of a Wonderful at Chen's Shop in Winter based on the last digit in your Farming Degree total.
Note on 18 August 2009: A player found this ancient post which had not been revised according to later information that IS included in my Guides... and he posted a comment here. Please always be aware that my posts on this site are not intended to be substitutes for my actual strategy guides. I seldom update posts on this site, sadly... I only discovered this one contained early erroneous findings because of a comment a player posted recently.
'Wonderfuls' cannot be set in any tool slot by your character. You must see Charlie, Chen's son, when he is at the counter, in order to equip any Wonderfuls that you own to a tool. There is no charge for this service.
Charlie actually is a very important character in Island of Happiness. He makes Accessories that are very similar to the Accessories in HM DS/Cute DS. Among others, you will find the Harvest Goddess Pendant, Harvest Goddess Earrings, Kappa Pendant, Kappa Earrings, Friendship Brooch and Turbo Shoes as well as a Pedometre.
As in HM DS/Cute DS, many of the Accessories are available in three different sizes. The larger sizes are unlocked usually when you order the smaller sizes. It appears that new accessories sometimes are unlocked when you have ordered a certain number of Accessories from Charlie after a set number of days pass. I wrote about Accessories in Island of Happiness in another post. Large amounts of orichalc are required to create Accessories, but there is no cost otherwise. A Large Harvest Goddess or Kappa Pendant, for example, requires 60 Orichalc. Orichalc can be found on the 50th floor of the Mine as well as on various lower floors. (You can find it on all floors between Floor 50 and Floor 74 randomly for example.) You can find almost EVERYTHING between Floors 250 and 254. More about the Mine later...
These posts are not intended to serve as a proper guide for Island of Happiness. My guides will be published when the game is released in August.
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