The Quest for the Scriptures in Rune Factory Frontier

There are two basic types of Event in Rune Factory Frontier and in any Rune Factory game for that matter. There are the 'plot' or 'storyline' Events that are unlocked by your character's own actions, usually in the form of an achievement, whether it is a matter of tilling a specific field, planting a specific crop or defeating a specific Boss Monster. These Events allow the story to progress, unlocking new areas or new 'life' options for every one in the community.

The other type of Event actually consists of a number of different types of Events but all are distinguished by a Heart Level or Friendship Level Requirement. In other words, no matter how handy your character may be with a sword, however much money he has made or however many expansions he may have, the Event will not occur until a specific level of Love or Friendship has been attained either with a single individual or with every individual who is involved in the Event.

In the case of Rune Factory Frontier, there are a number of Events that are linked and could be considered a 'chain of Events'. The Quest for the Missing Scriptures is one of these. The 'Chain Events' usually are not Events that advance your prospect of marriage with a specific Eligible Girl directly but as they tend to require specific Heart Levels on the part of any Eligible Girls involved in them, they often will be triggered at the same time as romantic progress is made.

Note that in Rune Factory Frontier, you can give more than one 'Most Favourite Gift' on any occasion to boost Friendship Levels faster. You can give lesser favourites as well, but a second or additional less favourite gift will have no significant value in terms of raising Friendship Levels. Although a true 'Most Favourite Gift' will have less value as well as a second or subsequent Gift than it has as a first Gift, the value remains significant enough to make the effort worth your while in some circumstances. Note that the actual Love Level or Heart Level is affected only by the first gift of the day.

In the case of the Quest for the Missing Scriptures, if you fail to experience one link in the 'chain', increase Heart or Friendship Levels until the Event triggers.
Selphy will not 'confess' her irresponsible act to you, for example, until she has reached almost 6 Hearts. As with many Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games, the little Heart Icon that appears on the Relations Page is not the true determining factor where Events are concerned. Rather, it is a point total that the player cannot see.
In Harvest Moon DS/Cute DS, your character could equip a Love Bangle that would allow him/her to view precise point values of Love and Friendship. No such accessory exists in Rune Factory Frontier. The 'point' I am trying to make here is that you cannot rely completely on the number of 'Hearts' or 'Smiley Faces' on the Relations Page, although they give a fair indication of your progress with any character. With respect to Events, the trigger may be 'more' or 'less' than a full Heart.

In fact, it may be useful to note here that the Wedding Bouquet Recipe has a different point requirement than the ability to ask a girl on a date. 10 Hearts is 'maximum' heart level in terms of the Heart Icons, but when 10 Hearts is attained, the Love gauge will be empty still, signifying to the player that a higher level of affection can be achieved. At 8 Hearts, you should have the option of asking an Eligible Girl on a date. At this point, however, you will NOT be able to trigger the Wedding Bouquet Recipe Event with Stella. It is only when you have 10 Hearts AND the Love gauge is full that the Event with Stella can be experienced, placing you in possession of 'Happiness 101', the final Recipe Book.

All that aside, here is the complete Quest for the Scriptures in Rune Factory Frontier. This 'chain of Events' is interesting because it demonstrates that weather as well as the actual day of the week can be added requirements in Rune Factory Frontier as well, as it is in other Harvest Moon or Rune Factory games.



N.B. The Quest for the Missing Scriptures as well as the Wedding Bouquet Events are included now in my 2nd Year Walkthrough for Rune Factory Frontier. As with any Event or chain of Events that is predicated on Heart/Friendship Levels, you can experience these either earlier in the 1st year or later than the 2nd year, depending on your character's Friendship and Love Levels with the various participants.

Heart Levels for Beginners in Island of Happiness

I received an email from a player today who asked me whether the hearts displayed in the Individuals List would change colour according to heart level. This made me realise that Harvest Moon traditions that many of us take for granted probably need to be explained to some beginners.

In fact, the hearts displayed in the Individuals List next to each character's name do not change colour. Hearts for any character eligible for marriage will be red and all other characters will be green. (I believe the hearts next to your child's name may be red as well.)

When you speak to any individual who is eligible for marriage in your game, you will see a heart on the screen itself. That heart will be black in colour when you first meet the character. As you 'raise' or increase his/her heart level, it will change colour. Each 'heart level' represents a specific number of points:

Eligible Bachelors and Eligible Girls:

0 to 10,000 points: Black Heart
10,000 to 20,000 points: Purple Heart
20,000 to 30,000 points: Blue Heart
30,000 to 40,000 points: Green Heart
40,00 points to 50,000 points: Yellow Heart
50,000 points to 60,000 points: Orange Heart
60,000 points to 65355 points: Red Heart

And the other character heart levels...

0 Hearts: 0 to 25 Points
1 Heart: 26 to 50 Points
2 Hearts = 51 to 76 points
3 Hearts = 77 to 101 points
4 Hearts = 102 to 127 points
5 Hearts = 128 to 152 points
6 Hearts = 153 to 178 points
7 Hearts = 179 to 203 points
8 Hearts = 204 to 229 points
9 Hearts = 230 to 254 points
10 Hearts = 255 points

If your character is a girl, there is an exception in the person of Shea, who never has any heart displayed on the screen. You can access the Individuals List at any time, however, to see what his actual Heart Level is. Two hearts, for example, represents 'Purple Heart' Level.

At deepest red heart level, the eligible Bachelor/Girl will be at a minimum of 60,000points or 10 hearts.

This system is common to most Harvest Moon games. In some games, like HM DS/Cute DS, you can purchase an accessory that, when equipped, will show you the precise number of points earned in Affection or Friendship with each individual. Island of Happiness has the Individuals List but no Accessory that displays precise totals in terms of points.

Walking your Dog in Harvest Moon

In many Harvest Moon games, you actually are able to 'walk the dog' by taking it with you when you visit people. You do not 'walk the dog' per se but carry it and when you speak to any individual while holding your dog, he/she will respond to it.
In many games, when you speak to any character who likes dogs, heart levels will increase, but when you speak to some one with a horror of canines, heart levels will drop.

In HM DS/Cute DS, many players make the rounds of every house in the Valley with their dog or cat early in the game when they are not rich enough to afford gifts. It is an easy and inexpensive way to boost heart levels.

There are characters whose fear or abhorrence of dogs persists from game to game. Popuri is one of these. In Island of Happiness, Gannon's fear of dogs is almost an Island legend. Chen pokes fun of the 'mountain of a man' who is terrified of the tiny creature.

It is not only Main Characters who respond differently to your dog in IoH but Subsidiary Characters as well. Most individuals love animals and will respond effusively, telling you how 'cute' or 'adorable' your dog is. Others, however, like Gannon, will respond with fear or even detestation. As always, save your game BEFORE you approach any one with your dog in order to avoid a negative result.

It is interesting to discover that, although most children are enthusiastic about your Dog, their Guardians or Parents often will ask you to keep the animal away from the Child, behaving over-protectively. As you can see in the screenshots displayed here, Thelma will ask you to keep the dog away from Rita. I believe Robin behaves in a similar fashion.

You can put your dog down on the ground anywhere outside your farm in Island of Happiness. In fact, you can leave him at another house or building and go home without him. If you leave him in another building overnight, he will reappear in your field the next morning.

A final point needs to be made about 'Pets' in Island of Happiness. When your Dog and/or Horse reach 10 Hearts, do not be complacent. Neglect can lower their heart levels quite easily. It is vital that you feed both Horse and Dog daily by leaving a portion of Pet Food for each in the Stable even if the animal is kept outside. The food will be eaten. If you fail to feed either Animal for a couple of days, you can lose as much as a full heart level.

You need to brush the Horse from time to time if you are not riding him regularly in order to maintain maximum heart level. Once you have a Teleport Stone, the horse may appear less attractive as a means of transport, but remember that the Teleport Stone takes you only to the entrance to any area and does not provide 'door to door service'. There is a way to use both Horse and Teleport Stone by combining both in a journey. The Horse is particularly useful in the Forest where there are many twisting paths and destinations such as the Church and Witch Princess Hut that cannot be reached via Teleport.

The upcoming 'Tree of Tranquility' for the Wii is one game where you actually can 'walk' any pet. You need to tame an animal by raising its friendship level before you can take it home as a Pet, but once an Animal becomes a Pet, you will have a choice of options whenever you speak to it. One of these options is to go for a walk. The same option exists with respect to your Child when he/she reaches a specific stage of growth. It is one of the most charming aspects of ToT, actually. I loved to walk through the Island with my cat running at my heels! (Your pet can be as exotic a creature as a Turtle or Penguin.) You will find all details about Pets, your Child and every other aspect of ToT in the BradyGames Guide.

Poor Popuri: Playing with Heart Levels in Harvest Moon

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In Harvest Moon Boy & Girl as well as Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon Cute DS, the gift that you receive at the Thanksgiving Festival depends on the precise heart level that the giver has for you. If the heart level is too low, you will not receive a gift at all. At blue heart level, you will receive a piece of chocolate. At green heart or higher, you will receive a piece of chocolate cake.

In Harvest Moon DS and Cute DS, you need not bother to try to obtain the lower level of gift, as chocolate is sold at the Supermarket. It is more fun to have every one at deepest red heart level by the time of the Thanksgiving Festival. As a girl, you will have to wait until the Spring of the 2nd year to receive these visits but as a boy, your first opportunity is the Winter Thanksgiving in the first year.

In Harvest Moon Boy & Girl, heart levels climbed steadily upwards even though I was not being particularly diligent in Winter, as I still needed to experience the Green Rival Heart Event for all of the girls and this cannot be triggered in the first year, as far as my own evidence shows. I did believe I could trigger the 4th and final heart event for the girls but so far, even though I have two of them at Yellow Heart level and almost at orange, I have not been able to trigger the final heart event in the first year. I am beginning to wonder if these events must be triggered in the second year or if they are season-specific and cannot be triggered in Winter in the case of Elli, Mary and Ann.

At any rate, I had Elli, Mary and Ann at yellow heart and Karen and Popuri at green heart as the Winter Thanksgiving day arrived. I then received Chocolate Cake from all five girls. This was not good, because I needed chocolate to complete my cookbook.

I therefore was obliged to replay the events after visiting both Karen and Popuri with a rucksack filled with rubbish I had caught with my Fishing Pole and giving it to them... When their heart levels were reduced to Blue, I stopped the torture and waited for the gifts...

At Blue Heart, thankfully, I received chocolate instead of chocolate cake. Now I can raise the heart levels of those poor girls again...

One really NEEDS at least two pieces of chocolate in order to complete all Recipes in the Cookbook. That is why I had to obtain the chocolate at any cost. If I allow these girls to marry my rivals, I no longer will receive Thanksgiving Day gifts from them. If I marry, I no longer will receive gifts from any one apart from my spouse. I therefore decided that my first year was the best option for this exercise.

I now have two pieces of chocolate in my Refrigerator and can make my own Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Cookies, thus adding those recipes to my Cookbook. Poor Popuri and Karen must be wondering about my erratic behaviour, blowing alternately hot and cold towards them!

The photographs show Karen at two different heart levels on the occasion of the Winter Thanksgiving in the first year. On the first occasion, I did nothing to change her level and at green heart level, she brought me a piece of Chocolate Cake, the same gift I received from the other girls this year.

On the second occasion, I rushed to the Supermarket and plied her with rubbish until her heart level decreased to blue. When she arrived at the farm later, she gave me a piece of chocolate instead of the chocolate cake I would have received had I kept her level at green.

Perhaps the title of this should be 'Poor Karen and Popuri', as the photographs I have included here show Karen at two different heart levels, but where Popuri is concerned, this is the SECOND time I have lowered her heart level only to raise it again later...