Cooking Tricks in Harvest Moon

My own introduction to Harvest Moon came rather late in the series in the form of Friends of Mineral Town, as the first gaming system I owned was the humble GBA. One of the great delights of playing FoMT was to be able to create new variations on Recipes and to work with the values of each Dish in terms of Restoring Stamina or Recovering from Fatigue.

In later Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games, the fundamental premises and mechanics of Cooking have had many different variations. In some cases, you must be 'taught' a specific Recipe either by being given or purchasing a Recipe Book or being told the Recipe by another character. In ToT, you could find new Recipes in the kitchens of other characters, displayed on the kitchen wall. Even in FoMT/MFoMT, you could learn special variations on Recipes from various townspeople, including actual cooking 'lessons' given by Anna and one special favourite given by various characters, including the Doctor and Carter.

In Island of Happiness, you 'learned' Recipes from the owners of the Diner and Cafe. Furthermore, each Recipe was triggered by the offering of a specific ingredient. The need to offer a specified ingredient before the Recipe would be given was an interesting variation.

In Rune Factory, Skill Levels in Cooking determine your ability to make a Dish successfully. Rune Factory Frontier offered a new element in making cooking interactive. You had to press a Button at a specific point on a gauge in order to make the dish successfully. One actually could improve the Dish by making it 'perfectly' or 'with expertise'

In some games, you must try to cook a Dish a number of times, even when you possess the Recipe, before you will be able to cook it successfully.

Whenever there is a possibility of adding optional ingredients to improve a Dish, you may be able to trick the game into believing that all Dishes made previously WITHOUT the optional ingredient have the value of the augmented Dish.

For example, if Pudding is made with Milk and Egg, you may be able to make 10 Puddings with Milk and Egg, then make an eleventh with Milk, Egg and an optional ingredient, such as Chocolate, then change the Recipe to make the ingredients in future Milk, Egg and Chocolate. It is possible that ALL Puddings in your Rucksack then will have the value of the new improved 'better' Recipe.

Site for Favourite Harvest Moon/Rune Factory Events

Still recovering from the events of the past few days, my energy is very low and I am not certain how many contributions I can make at the moment to the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory universe. I did, however, discover a site I had created some time ago yet never promoted (evidently) for Favourite Events in Harvest Moon (or Rune Factory.

Favourite Events in Harvest Moon

I had hoped that other fans of Harvest Moon or Rune Factory would submit their favourite Event from any Harvest Moon/Rune Factory game. Any one who wishes to do so should send the piece to me in the body of an email and I then will post it on the site.

A Note of Thanks

I would like to thank all the readers who expressed their concern for Beauty's little kittens, for those who sent their good wishes and those who prayed for the little ones. It is a tale, alas, without a happy ending for them, although I pray that Beauty is recovering fully. I established a very close bond with the two kittens and still find myself reaching towards the place where they rested in my pocket to see if they are warm enough. Even though the little girl exhibited more energy and interest initially, something must have been wrong internally with her as well. All the kittens were premature, although the two who were born live were fully formed externally, giving me hope that I could act as their surrogate mother.

I have neglected Rune Factory and Harvest Moon a little during the past few days, and only now resumed the Harvest Moon game on which I currently am working.

The irony is that I immediately experienced an Event in which I was offered my choice of kittens from two that were born of a large litter... I shut down the system without saving, simply because it reminded me of poor Beauty and her loss, but I have no doubt that I will enjoy the Event when I experience it again. Perhaps the Harvest Goddess is trying to ease my pain...

Foraging Tip for Harvest Moon and Rune Factory

I am playing a Harvest Moon game that is very similar to Island of Happiness and working on guides that will be available when the game is released. As in Island of Happiness, some items that are found in the Wilds are more common than others. In ANY Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game, however, you may note that there are specified 'drop' squares where items tend to appear. Keeping these squares CLEAR of any items will allow more items to appear. When the item is rather rare and is found only in a specific location, it can be vital to visit that location regularly if not daily in order to clear any other items from the spaces. Items such as stones and branches can be transformed into Materials for Building but even if you do not have time or a need to do that, pick up the stones and branches and stash them in your Rucksack. Doing so will clear all the potential 'drop' spaces, giving you a better chance of finding the rare item you seek on the following day.

This is true in Rune Factory as well as Harvest Moon. In any Rune Factory game, wild items can be found on tillable fields in the dungeons. Tillable squares can be cleared, ploughed and used to plant Crops but if you wish to continue to find wild coloured grasses as well as materials for building, you may wish to clear some fields in each Dungeon without tilling them. That way, you preserve a location for
branches and wild grasses to be 'dropped'.

In Rune Factory Frontier, Black and White Grass tend to be rare compared to wild grasses of other colours. They both can be found on your field randomly after a severe storm and throughout the Winter season. Set a tame Monster to the task of gathering them in order to collect as many as possible, and keep your field cleared of branches and stones in Winter in like fashion, with tame Monster labour. White Grass is an ingredient in Energy Drink X. It can be found in Urns in the Snow Ruins and in a Tower on the Floating Chamber of Whale Island randomly as well.

Update on Beauty and her Babies

I decided that the continuing saga of Beauty was better placed on the page devoted to my cats. If any one is interested in the latest developments:

Update on Beauty

Pocket Baby

I am posting here because one of the fundamental aspects of any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game is caring for animals.

I am extremely sentimental about my pets and all my Animals whether in Harvest Moon, Rune Factory or the 'real world'. I can remember my horror when my first chicken died of old age in Friends of Mineral Town. I couldn't bear to go through that again so in future, I always saved last BEFORE I went to bed. If my character awakened at the graveyard, I would reload until a different result prevailed. I then promptly would sell my beloved Chicken before it was killed off again by Fate, thereby rendering it immortal in some vague unstated fashion. Certainly, neither Popuri nor Rick ever spoke of the death of any of the elderly chickens I sold back to them when they had outlived their life expectancy!

In any other game where livestock or poultry had a defined life expectancy, I would make certain to sell the animal before I had to face a corpse or a tombstone.

I always found the Witch Princess extraordinarily attractive but could not bear to kill off 50 Animals for her in HM DS. I know there are players who are very conscious of the difference between a game and reality, but to me, all the Animals I have spent so many hours feeding, brushing, milking and petting in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory make them quite real...

Not as well, though, as a little animal struggling to survive in this world. I have a little kitten in my care whose mother is very weak and who therefore cannot feed himself. He was born late yesterday afternoon but the mother still is not settling from her labour. She is very young and probably not ready for this responsibility. He is hungry and cold but almost too weak to eat.

I have taken over the responsibility of trying to keep him alive for the next day or two. It may be a lost cause but I have to try...

The first step was to find a warm place for him. I found an old shirt with a pocket and placed him in the pocket near my heart.

I once had everything one possibly could need for this sort of enterprise, but no longer do. I do not even have an eye dropper. I do not have Catmilk either. Nonetheless, I am determined somehow to wage a struggle for the little one.

The only reason for posting this is the hope that those who read it will send their strongest wishes or prayer for his survival. They say there is power in prayer. This little creature, who looks as though he may be a bluepoint Himalayan, needs all the prayers in this world and any other.

New Harvest Moon and Rune Factory Cooking Site

While creating the little Trivia Test about Bianca, I became aware again of the odd combination of different cuisines that have become almost 'standard' both in Harvest Moon and in Rune Factory. Perhaps it is not odd at all to any one who lives in Japan, but from a Western viewpoint, dishes such as Doria and Gratin are associated with France rather than Japan. Furthermore, they are not really common dishes in English-speaking cultures at this point in time.

How many times have we made Doria or Gratin in our Harvest Moon or Rune Factory kitchens without ever baking the dish in the real world? How many players even know how to make these dishes?

I then thought it might be interesting to publish some 'real' Recipes for favourite Harvest Moon and Rune Factory dishes, so that fans of these games could cook them in their own kitchens.

My new 'Harvest Moon Cooking Site' is the result. I am not certain how many players actually will take the time and energy to make any of the Recipes I intend to publish there, but it may be of academic interest if not as useful in practical terms.

By the way, I am offering an invitation to Harvest Moon and Rune Factory fans to send me their own Recipes for these dishes if they are favourites in their own homes.
Please send only Recipes that you actually have made and tasted if possible!

A Completed Calendar in Rune Factory Frontier

One never should make assumptions in any game... and Rune Factory Frontier is no exception. Although once any new Festival appears on your Calendar, it will become a permanent fixture, the Formal Dates that are designated for each season do not remain on the Calendar.

Any Formal Date will appear on your Calendar with a Star and a description only after you ask a Girl on a Date during THAT season and she accepts the invitation. Once the season ends, the Date no longer will be marked with a Star.

It was only when I was trying to pinpoint the actual moment that the Date would be added to the Calendar that I thought to look at the Dates for previous seasons. Although I had taken an Eligible Girl on a Date each season, no Star marked those Formal Dates after the season was past.

The Formal Date Star and description therefore is a temporary Calendar addition.
The reason I am posting this is because a player asked me how she could add the Night of Holies to her Calendar. I told her that she needed to ask an Eligible Girl for a Date during Winter before it would be marked on the Calendar, which was correct. What I did not realise then, however, because I had not paid sufficient attention to my own Calendar was that, once the season is past, the Star disappears...

The Night of Holies may be an exception to the general rule as it corresponds to the Starry Night Festival in other Harvest Moon games. As I am in the Winter season at present, however, I shall have to wait until next Spring to see if it remains on the Calendar afterward or not.

Tip on Raising Skill Levels in Rune Factory Frontier

This is a common trick used by veteran players of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory but it may be useful to post it here for beginners. The information is included in my Rune Factory Frontier Guides by the way.

You can raise your Skills with respect to a particular type of weapon or tool simply by equipping it and swinging it. In Rune Factory Frontier, there are two times during the day/night when this can be done with the greatest benefit and least sacrifice of valuable energy or time.

Remember that time does not pass whenever your character enters a building. You therefore can use any Weapon or Tool inside your own Farmhouse or in any other building while time stands still. Energy, however, WILL be used.

The two best opportunities to increase Weapons and Tools Skill Levels in this way are whenever you go to the Laga Springs Bathhouse and whenever you return to your Farmhouse at the very end of your day.

Whenever your character take a Bath at the Laga Springs Bathhouse, all Energy is restored and both Health and RP bars are refilled. It therefore is wasteful for your character ever to leap into the bath before he has used almost ALL of his HP and RP. To do this, equip any Tool or Weapon and use it in the Bathhouse until your energy reaches the flashing red indication that respresents dangerously low levels.
Remember that every Tool has its own specific Skill and that Weapons and Magic are two different skills as well. Often a player will focus on one to the exclusion of the other in combat situations... if so, equip the type of Weapon in which your Skill Levels are lowest whenever you go to the Laga Springs Bathhouse or return to your Farmhouse at the end of the day.

When all your chores and tasks are completed and you are ready to leap into bed, do not do so without expending whatever excess energy remains. Remember, however, that you need to go to bed before 1.00 a.m. if you wish to awaken at 6.00 a.m. with both HP and RP fully replenished. Provided you go to bed before 1.00 a.m., you can use your energy to the point where the red flashing indication is displayed and still awaken in good health at 6.00 a.m.

If you employ this strategy on a daily basis, increasing skill levels that otherwise are not used sufficiently, you will be able to increase ALL Skill Levels to maximum without any difficulty.

Trivia Test about Bianca in Rune Factory Frontier

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These are a few trivia questions that will separate the (possibly insane) Harvest Moon/Rune Factory fanatics (in which group I would include myself) from the casual players. They all concern Bianca. If I receive enough responses, I may do the same for all the Eligible Girls in Rune Factory Frontier.

The following video contains the Trivia Questions:



For those who do not wish to take the time to watch this very trivial video, here are the questions in text form:

1. What reason does Bianca give for hating Rice Balls? (Please be precise.)
2. What two fish did Tabatha combine in a gourmet dish and what sort of sauce did she make for it?
3. What large item did Bianca buy long ago that she never used?
4. What gourmet dish does Bianca request that you bring to her, telling you meanwhile that she 'won't hold her breath' waiting for it?
5. What birthday gift did Bianca toss away when she was a child?
6. Which room in the Summer Mansion does Bianca consider to be too small?
7. What rare flower was used to make a new perfume that Bianca bought?
8. What type of dish does Tabatha refuse to eat with Bianca?
9. What dish does Bianca mention that takes 3 days to make?
10. Does Bianca have a small or large appetite?
Bonus Question: What is the most hurtful insult that Bianca ever made to your character? (All answers will be considered correct, but again be specific.)

The player who can respond correctly to all ten questions soonest will be awarded the (dubious) distinction of being Rune Factory Frontier Trivia Grandmaster/Grandmistress for the day and I will dedicate an RFF Trivia Video to him/her.

Note that any attempt to make dishes in your kitchen that correspond to those mentioned by Bianca are doomed to be unsuccessful in impressing her. The dishes do not exist under the names Bianca gives, but even if you make Recipes that closely resemble the dishes, she will not respond with any enthusiasm or any response that differs from her standard response to a gift of a Cooked Dish. After all,she herself will tell you that the only items she truly likes are those made by Tabatha!


Although most of the general translations in the English version ofRune Factory Frontier are good, translations of the names of specific items, including some War Trophies and Recipes were careless, which can be unfortunate. For example, Danny asks for 'Good Cloth', an item that does not exist under that name. His request in fact is for 'Quality Cloth'. Likewise, Tabatha, in speaking of her Most Favourite Item, calls it 'Porridge' when in fact the Dish she loves best is Oatmeal. There are other text errors of this sort, causing me to experiment with gifts for Bianca.

Although most of the Dishes are given rather grand-sounding names, often in French, they are not complex dishes really. I myself gave Bianca the Cooked Dishes that I felt would correspond most closely to those named by her, including a Milk Pudding and a Stew. All she said in response was her usual: What is this? Is it for me? I suppose I'll take it off your hands.

However, I suppose I would have to think of a special award if any player manages to find a Cooked Dish that will be accepted by Bianca as the one she requests that you bring to her, telling your character that she will not hold her breath waiting for you to find it.

Circle Portals in Rune Factory Frontier

As I base my Walkthroughs and videos on my own games and experience, it was left to Robert to tell me that one of my statements was 'inaccurate', that a Circle Portal is created simply after you confront any Boss. That actually makes perfect sense, but since I never allowed myself to be defeated when I confronted any Boss, I simply wrote that the Circle Portal would be opened after your character defeated the Boss Monster.

I will have to start a new game to confirm this myself because I have defeated all the Bosses at least once in my current RFF game, but as Robert's comment actually is logical, I am going to accept it as true and revise my guides accordingly.

It is useful for players to know that the first confrontation, whether successful or unsuccessful, will create the Circle Portal. As my own character WAS successful, I never stopped to discover if the mere confrontation and not the defeat would be sufficient.

Birthday Wishes

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From the age of 10, I often have found myself living on a different continent from my family and home on my birthday and therefore have experienced every sort of birthday emotionally as well as actually, from lonely to wonderful and incredible.

When I began to play Harvest Moon, I discovered that my character's birthday often would be celebrated by his/her family and therefore always chose the date that most closely approximated that of my real birthday. In Animal Crossing, your Animal Neighbours actually bring you a Birthday Cake on your birthday...

I often add my character's birthday to my Calendar Guide in jest. Only once or twice did a player email me asking how she could meet the character Freyr/Freya in her game!

In Island of Happiness, it was rather annoying to discover that I shared my birthday with Nathan... I believe there is an Animal in Animal Crossing with the same birthday as mine but there are so many Animals that the likelihood of having that Animal in my village on the occasion of my birthday is fairly remote.

So much for Birthdays and gaming... I really am writing this post to share two wonderful Birthday wishes that I received this morning from thoughtful friends.

With the power of the internet, I doubt that any Birthday of mine ever will be ignored, even if no one celebrates it in the real world in any given year... (I do suspect there may be some one locally who will organise something later in the day... at least one hopes so. One can't orchestrate one's own birthday really. It simply isn't done!)

I would like to thank the friends who went to all the trouble to send me special Birthday Greetings this morning! Now, if I only could find my ACWW cartridge and persuade a Neighbour to bring me a Cake despite the fact that the village no doubt is choked with weeds and the house infested with cockroaches in every cluttered room from LONG, LONG neglect on my part.

Upgrading Items in Rune Factory Frontier

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A question was asked as to how items can be upgraded in Rune Factory Frontier. Items that are made in your Kitchen or Laboratory as well as those created in your Forge or at your Workbench all can be upgraded to Level 10. You always need to be aware of the primary rule of upgrades in this game: the actual level of the upgraded item AT BEST can be only 1 Level above the level of the LOWEST LEVEL of ingredient used. The result will be 1 Level above the level of the lowest level of ingredient ONLY if you manage to create the item 'perfectly' or 'with expertise'. Otherwise, the Level of the Upgraded Item will EQUAL that of the lowest level of ingredient.

All tools can be upgraded using nothing more than two pieces of Scrap Iron. The ordinary rules of RFF still apply, however. If the level of the Scrap Iron is LOWER than the level of the Tool, you actually will DOWNGRADE your Tool when you reforge it!

It is with respect to Recipes that include Flowers as ingredients that players usually come to realise the benefits of using Greenifier, for many important Recipes for Weapons and Accessories include one or more Flowers as ingredients. For the common Flowers that can mature within a single season, the task is fairly easy. If you are diligent in watering the Crop and use both Greenifier and Formula C on one square, you can upgrade by three or four levels sometimes in the course of a single season.

Remember that you can use Greenifier ONLY ONCE on any single square, which means that the level of any Crop that you grow can improve only by one level. You can use any of the Formulae on a daily basis, however, and with Formula C, you will speed the growth by three days. I usually use Greenifier on the middle square only and then use Formula C on the same square on each subsequent day. Otherwise, if I choose other squares to upgrade randomly, I tend to forget which square has the upgraded Crop in it!

Where the Crop is slow-growing and rare, I try to grow it on the Floating Chamber near the Water Tower. With all my slow-growing rare Flowers at the same location, I can visit them daily without spending much time or effort to do so. Until you defeat the Giant Squid in the Water Tower, however, you will spend a fair amount of time, even with the rope shortcut, simply traveling to and from the Floating Chamber. It is not as practical to grow all the Crops there until you have established the Circle Portal. Until then, you may wish to confine your rare Crops to the various dungeons in Trampoli.

A general rule of thumb is: Don't use high level ingredients on Tools, because you can upgrade them from Level 1 simply by using 2 pieces of Scrap Iron. Use your high-level ingredients ONLY when all ingredients are high-level. Otherwise, you are wasting the level because the result will be based on the lowest level of ingredient.

N.B. My advice would be to take all four Elemental Capes and create a Black Robe instead. Even a Level 1 Black Robe would be superior to all the individual Elemental Capes.

The screenshots show a Level 2 Tiara, created using Level 1 Ingredients 'with expertise'.

Frantic Farming Strategies and Request

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More than a week after Frantic Farming was released, I am beginning to hear from other players who have found the game challenging in Story Mode and have not had an easy time completing every Story.

I wrote a little General Guide for Frantic Farming. Ultimately, I would like to include the actual text from each Story in the Guide, but I haven't had the time to transcribe them yet.

As I believe I wrote previously, my Strategy would be as follows:

Complete the game in Story Mode for both Chelsea and Mark, thereby unlocking the other two 'Modes', the Music player, the Records and some of the Character and Endings art. In doing so, you will unlock two new characters in the form of Shea and Natalie as well.

I did not find it that difficult to complete either Natalie's Story or Shea's Story.
In doing so, I then unlocked two more characters in the form of Vaughn and Elliot. It was after this that I met with my first real defeat in the final Chapter of Vaughn's Story. I still haven't completed Vaughn's Story...

In fact, this took me to the alternative strategy of playing the game in Story Attack Mode to unlock the other six characters. Doing so gave me vital practice in seeing how the Harvest Sprite moves and waters Crops. The tutorials are excellent but there is no real substitute for actual gameplay.

My biggest problem in Story Mode is running out of time in the Puzzles with a time limit. I don't run out of mature Crops as often as I run out of time.

I believe that the key to success is being able to use the Special Skill of the Character you are playing effectively. You need to 'set up' your Grid so that use of the Special Skill will have the greatest effect.

Another vital element in successful strategy is setting up the grid so that the Harvest Sprite's watering ALWAYS has the greatest effect. Chains, for example, increase his field of influence. When you are in a Mode that includes Stone-dropping, you need to make certain that you are able to break apart all the stones that fall on your field quickly without using all the watering efforts to do only that.

My own Touchscreen is worn out, which means that my own speed in moving crops is impaired. I think speed in moving crops is another vital element... and avoiding unnecessary or ineffective movements of Crops would be important where there is a time limit to the puzzle.

Big Crops and Gold Crops must be utilised to the maximum effect. Remember that, whenever a Big Crop is harvested, the Sprite will water a far larger area than usual. Set up your field accordingly BEFORE you harvest the Big Crop. Knowing when the Big Crops are set to appear is important as well. Don't allow nearly ripe Crops to be caught within the highlighted area... I often move Stones into those spaces when the puzzle includes those.

Gold Crops have two separate uses: when harvested singly, all other Crops of that type will become ripe instantly and be harvested. When they are at the end of a Chain, you receive a point bonus. Whenever the puzzle has a time limit, you need to bring any Gold Crop to the ripe stage as quickly as possible in order to maximise the benefit it will bring. Many times when I have been defeated, I had Gold Crops ALMOST at ripe stage in my grid.

At least, these are elements that I perceive... any other strategy tips from players would be appreciated!

Bluebomr2 mentioned a facet of gameplay that I neglected to add to this post: Favourites. It is extremely important to take note of a character's 'Favourite' Crops BEFORE you begin any puzzle as his/her Special Skill oftens affects only 'favourites'. These are not the same as 'Most Favourite Gifts', by the way. They are favourites specifically designed for the purpose of the puzzles in Frantic Farming. Each playable character has two 'Favourites'.

Actually, I'd like to make a Request:

If any player(s) would be willing to help transcribe some of the Stories in Frantic Farming for me, I obviously would credit them in the Guide and they would earn my eternal gratitude. The Stories I definitely still need are:
Lanna's Story, Denny's Story, Julia's Story, Sabrina's Story, Pierre's Story, Witch Princess' Story.

The only part of Vaughn's Story I am missing is the Ending...

Lava Ruins, 4th Floor

Here is a very specific Walkthrough of the 4th Floor of the Lava Ruins, showing a shortcut to the Isolated Stairway that leads to the 5th Floor:

Seasonal Farming in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory

Crops tend to be season-specific both in Harvest Moon and in Rune Factory. Those of us who have been playing Harvest Moon games for a number of years became accustomed to a specific correspondence between Crops and their seasons.

Whether motivated by a sense of mischief or simply by a desire to 'mix things up' to make the games more challenging, some of the seasonal correspondences for traditional Crops were altered in more than one recent Harvest Moon and Rune Factory game.

For example, in Rune Factory 2, Turnips, always designated as a Spring Crop, became a Winter Crop. Pink Turnips instead were designated as the Spring Crop. Onions, traditionally a Summer Crop, became a Spring Crop. Potatoes, always associated in Harvest Moon with Spring, became an Autumn Crop. Confusing? Most definitely.

I believe that Pumpkins, traditionally a Summer Crop in most Harvest Moon/Rune Factory games, were moved to Autumn in Tree of Tranquility. (That makes more sense in terms of an Autumn Pumpkin Festival in a way but I believe that Pumpkins will continue to be classified as a Summer Crop in most games.)

When I wrote a post about Crops in Island of Happiness, and described a field in error as containing 'Tomatoes, Corn and Turnips', it probably was due partly to the many changes I have experienced as a Farmer in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. Of course, the third Crop in the field consisted of Onions, not Turnips. (In my defence, I wrote the post after a virtually sleepless night, battling a rather nasty infection that caused high fever, terrible headaches, earache and sore throat.)

Another fact that has complicated my Farming expertise somewhat is the ability to grow Crops from ALL seasons simulaneously on Whale Island in Rune Factory Frontier, making it quite possible to have Corn, Tomatoes and Turnips on the same field... Nonetheless, it is embarrassing to make a mistake like that in a published post, and I am glad that some one caught it quickly!

One can become so accustomed to our Harvest Moon universe, certain fundamental rules relating to farming, mining, fishing and even social interactions that appear to be writ in stone... the unverse therefore is intensely real and one sometimes expects that these rules, like the 'laws of Nature' are unchanging. Making ANY assumption in a new game that is based on past games is a mistake unless proven by actual experience because the creators of any game are like Gods who can, in a single act, reverse any or ALL of the laws. The worlds of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory are detailed and complex, with characters who appear in more than one game and items, such as lithographs, Pirate Treasure, Fossils of Fish and Wonderfuls that acquire their own reality due to Harvest Moon, irrespective of any separate identity they may or my not possess in the 'real world'.

It is important for any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory player, myself included, ALWAYS to read the description of any item in any new game. Any bag of seeds that you purchase comes with a detailed description, including its Seasonal correspondence.
I never made the mistake of actually planting Turnips in Summer in Island of Happiness... but I did make the mistake of planting Turnips in Spring once in Rune Factory 2. Force of habit... and that can be a liability as well as an asset for a veteran player.

Score Attack in Frantic Farming

In my first video introductions for Frantic Farming, my focus was Story Mode, as it is the Stories that are windows into the lives of the characters from Island of Happiness, offering more insights into their relationships as well as humour, drama and friendly rivalries.

It is Score Attack Mode that probably should be a player's first experience with Frantic Farming, however, as Score Attack allows a player to familiarise himself/herself with the puzzles. Furthermore, you can unlock all new Characters either by completing the game in Story Mode using other Characters OR by playing the game a specific number of times in Score Attack Mode.

In Score Attack mode, your score is significant only when it is your highest score, as it then will be entered in your Records. A low score, however, is as effective as a high score in terms of counting towards a total that will unlock a new character.

Furthermore, you can experience the Special Skills of all the characters in Score Attack. The Special Skill of each Character is one of the most entertaining aspects of Frantic Farming.

This video shows all the unlockable Characters in Frantic Farming and the Special Skill unique to each:

Island of Happiness Farming Tip

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I am working now on Sunshine Islands, a 'sequel' to Island of Happiness. Working on my fields, I was reminded of a farming tip that I discovered and which should be added to my IoH Guides. In Island of Happiness, the success of any Crop is predicated by TWO factors: Water and Sunlight. There is both a point total minimum and a maximum in terms of every Crop. These are given in my IoH Farming Guide, a very specific, detailed mini-guide that deals exclusively with farming. If a Crop fails to receive the bare minimum in terms either of Sunlight or of Water, it will fail. If the amount of Sunlight or Water it receives EXCEEDS the maximum that is allowed, it will fail as well.

Weather conditions determine Sunlight and can provide Water as well. In Summer, in particular, your own character usually must water his/her Crops religiously as rainy days will be less probable than they are in other seasons. There is something that he/she often can do, however, to speed the growth process. You can water a Crop twice rather than once.

In the first few seasons of the game, you will struggle where farming is concerned unless you manage to obtain at least one Red and one Blue Wonderful for your Watering Can. Two Blue Wonderfuls and one Red Wonderful is even better, as you then can water a full 3 x 3 plot with a single use of the Watering Can, but even one of each colour will make your life far easier, as a single use then will water 6 squares or two rows.

Weather in IoH is determined almost a full week (six days) in advance, so you can cheat a little by jumping ahead a few days to see the results of any double watering you have performed. This is particularly useful near the end of any season for Crops that were planted late. Sometimes double watering of a Turnip Crop near the end of Spring or Onion or Tomato Crop near the end of Summer can mean the difference between a successful harvest and the lack of a harvest.

Remember that Water as well as Sunlight have maximums that you must not exceed. Double watering can be a great 'cheat' but moving ahead to see the results always is advised if you are in doubt as to the total points of Water the Crop has received from this strategy.

Another tip: Leaving your Crops unharvested can result in bigger, better Crops but it can cause them to die as well. Again, move ahead a few days to see the results. You may need to water an unharvested Crop in order to keep it alive... but often you will not need to do so.

When I suggest that you 'move ahead', you must do so without ever saving your game. Simply go to sleep, rush outside the next morning to see what has occurred in your field, go back to sleep, rush outside the next morning... and so on but THEN RELOAD!

Sleeping through any Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game is not a good strategy unless it is done on a temporary basis without ever saving your game.

Players who in Island of Happiness were unable to bring Summer Crops such as Corn or Tomatoes to ripeness in their first year may find that double watering will do the trick. Without a Watering Can that is augmented with at least one Blue or Red Wonderful, however, this strategy may be impractical. Remember that the colour of the Wonderful you obtain at any Festival is determined by the final digits in your Farming Degree total, which means that tool use can change the total. There is a set order to the Wonderfuls, included in my General Guide for IoH. The appearance of Wonderfuls at Chen's Shop in Winter likewise is determined by your Farming Degree total but the colour in this case is determined by the date. Again, this information is provided in my General Guide.

In the photograph at the top of this post, you will see a field in IoH on 27 Summer of the first year that contains Onions, Tomatoes and Corn. The ripe Tomatoes, now at Rank A, will be left unharvested until the day of the Summer Crop Festival. Freya will not be obliged to water them again as they have received sufficient Water to meet the IoH requirements. The Corn, if left unharvested and unwatered, will survive as well until the end of the Season.

The Onions that remain at seed stage will NOT ripen by the end of the Season unless she double-waters them every day. They were planted very late in the season. The other Onions that are nearly ripe need to be watered only once more...

She discovered this by 'cheating', moving ahead to the day of the Festival and then to the end of the season. It is possible that, should she have left the Tomatoes and Corn unharvested, but watered them each day, they would die from excess watering. She did not bother to confirm this, however, as they will remain at Rank A if she simply leaves them in the field.

In Spring, she successfully double-watered some Turnips planted very close to the end of the Season in order to bring them to harvest before the advent of Summer. Rank can be affected by double-watering, however... I believe it actually can decrease Rank in certain circumstances if the Crop has obtained close to the maximum amount of Water it can sustain. Even so, it is better to harvest B Rank Crops than no Crops at all.

When you double-water any Crop, it always is a good idea to move ahead to see whether or not it needs to be watered again on any given day. On a future day, it is possible that the Crop only will need Sunlight rather than Sunlight AND Water.

Once you have a Greenhouse, you will not need to spend as much time and energy on these factors. In fact, once you have a decent income, the harvest of a single Crop will become less important, unless you are trying to make quotas in order to unlock new Crops.

Here is another point that is worth mention where IoH is concerned. Although Freya has a Refrigerator for Crop storage, it is the smallest size. The size of the Refrigerator as well as the material from which it is made determine how well it can preserve items. In the smallest first Refrigerator that is purchased from Chen, items do not retain their Rank or Freshness very well, although they can be used as ingredients in cooking almost indefinitely. In this situation, if she wishes to win the Crop Festival, it may be best to leave the Tomatoes in the field where they will retain both their Rank and their Freshness.

Island of Happiness Rival Events

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I have not been able to play Island of Happiness for some time now and in fact am working on preliminary guides for 'Sunshine Islands', its sequel. Island of Happiness remains the most sophisticated and complex Harvest Moon game to date, however and I only now realised that some assumptions made about the requirements for triggering Events may be incorrect.

In Island of Happiness, your character's actions affect the total population on the Island. In other words, if you bring two members of the Ranching Team to the Island, sheep will be unlocked at Mirabelle's Animal Shop. On the other side of the coin, if you fail to fish for a season and thereby ship no fish whatsoever, characters from the Fishing Team will leave.

Both Main Characters such as Eligible Girls/Bachelors and Subsidiary Characters are affected by your character's activities throughout the game. Players, including myself, who were unable to trigger the final Rival Heart Event between a couple initially performed a specific activity associated with the characters and then were able to trigger the Event. In other words, after I spent a fair amount of time fishing, the final Rival Event between Denny and Lanna triggered.

Today, a player left a comment asking how many fish had to be caught before the final Rival Event between Lanna and Denny would trigger. This is what caused me to reassess the entire basis of Island of Happiness. It may be the total number of Subsidiary Characters in a specific team who are present on the island at a given time that is the determinant rather than the activity (fishing, mining, etc.) per se where the requirement for any Rival Proposal is concerned. In other words, it is not the number of Fish that you catch but the number of members of the Fishing Team who are on the Island that is significant.

In like fashion, the puzzle relating to the actual requirement to trigger Elliot's Purple Heart Event could be solved using the same reasoning. In desperation, hunting for a hidden trigger for the Event, rather absurd theories about a requirement that a player ship 200 Crops from Taro's shipping bin arose but were disproven by players who were able to experience the Event without ever shipping a single Crop from Taro's bin. I expect that the requirement for his Purple Heart Event, apart from having the specified Heart Level, actually is based on the number of Farming Team Members who are on the Island. I suspect that, if you have not brought any of the Farming Team members to the Island you will not be able to experience his Purple Heart Event even if he is at Blue Heart level.

Another situation that shows the complexity of the game involves the Ranch products in Island of Happiness. The appearance of members of the Ranching Team is based on the number of Ranch products that your character makes. Initially, I believed that the products had to be made in the appropriate Makers until characters managed to bring the members of the Teams to the Island by making the same products in their Kitchen.

In fact, my Characters Guide needs to be revised to some extent based on extended gameplay experiences. It was written using an advance copy of the game.

In particular, if I am correct in assuming now that actual Events are based on the presence of a specified number of Subsidiary Team members rather than on totals of items obtained or shipped, it will simplify matters considerably.

I would be interested in hearing from other players on this topic.

A Brief Tour of Frantic Farming

Here is the second of two videos I made to introduce Frantic Farming:



When contests are time-based, it is extremely difficult to take screenshots or clips and try to perform game actions at the same time!

Video Introduction to Frantic Farming

Here is a brief video introduction to the upcoming Harvest Moon game, 'Frantic Farming'. It is not really a tutorial, but rather designed to show a viewer a few of the different options that are available as well as some of the entertaining dialogue between characters who are well-known to players of Island of Happiness:



Without wishing to give away too much surprises, I did include some dialogue that should be of interest to all Island of Happiness fans. Was any one previously aware of how forgetful Lanna really is? We all knew that she was the dominant partner in the relationship with Denny but she now has no qualms in displays of absolute power.
Popper, who in Island of Happiness never made a squawk, now speaks up FOR Denny from time to time... There are many entertaining exchanges of this sort in Frantic Farming. You won't be able to experience them, however, if you do not prove that you are an expert farmer!

I daresay that the Multiplayer options will be fun, as Harvest Moon fans compete against one another. In one Mode, you can sow Rocks on your opponent's field rather like Brodik in Rune Factory Frontier!

First Look at Frantic Farming by Natsume

Frantic Farming could be considered a 'sequel' to Island of Happiness as the game is set on Sunny Island AFTER you have made the island a prosperous and popular location and persuaded all main characters to live there.

Those of you (including myself) who were rather infatuated with the silver-haired Vaughn will be able to unlock him as a playable character in Frantic Farming. In fact, you begin the game with only two playable characters in the form of Mark and Chelsea but each time you complete the game in Story Mode using a character, it will unlock some one new.

The Story Mode is based on a recurring theme in Harvest Moon (and Rune Factory). You are called upon to save your community from impending disaster. The other fundamental basis of the game is FARMING, which should come as no surprise to veterans both of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory.

The graphics are wonderful and the music is great. In fact, one of the 'unlockables' is a music player where you can play all the themes from the game on vinyl records. (It is interesting how vinyl refuses to become obsolete in ANY world, despite IPods and Zunes...)

Frantic Farming is a puzzle game and it is precisely what its name suggests: a game wherein one must harvest crops as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to move forward in the Story. There are other Modes apart from the 'Story Mode' in which a player can compete against other players as well.

Those who have grumbled about DS games that do not exploit the 'Touchscreen' option should be thrilled with Frantic Farming. The stylus is used almost exclusively. Crops are displayed on a small grid in squares in various stages of growth. Outside the grid, the Harvest Sprite awaits your orders. When you touch him with the stylus, he will move into the grid and begin to harvest ripe crops. It may sound simple, but quite a lot of strategy is involved. Whenever the Harvest Sprite harvests a crop, he then will water a specific number of squares surrounding that crop. Chains can be created that allow him to harvest more quickly and earn special bonuses. The legendary Gold Crops and Big Crops appear in Frantic Farming as well.
The puzzles can be quite addictive in themselves.

Note that the actual Mode of solving the various puzzles will depend somewhat on the character you play, as each character has a 'Special Skill' that can be utilised when a gauge is filled. The Special Skills can be dramatic or amusing. For example, Shea's Special Skill is a 'Crop Dance' complete with fire juggling while Natalies' Special Skill is the 'Sandwich', wherein a large Sandwich is given to the tiny Harvest Sprite to empower him to greater efforts.

What will make this game particularly attractive to Harvest Moon players, however, are the dialogues of characters in Story Mode, as they often offer added insight into their lives and histories. For example, Popper, the black bird who sits on Denny's shoulder, actually SPEAKS in Frantic Farming!

When I first began to play Frantic Farming, I was reminded a little of 'Princess Debut', another game that offered stylus action with an ongoing Story. Instead of practicing ballroom dances, one harvests Crops but in other respects, the two games are rather similar. There is a gallery of 'Memory' photographs to be unlocked for each character by completing the game for each in Story Mode. Records of scores are kept and players can compete either against their own previous records or against other players in Multiplayer Mode. There are differences, of course. In Princess Debut, you played a single character and it was the partner that you chose who would create variations in the Story. In Frantic Farming, you actually can play different characters and the dialogues and even the Chapters change in EACH Story.

I certainly would recommend Frantic Farming to any one who loves puzzles, any one who loves Harvest Moon in general and any one who particularly loved Island of Happiness.

'Heart Events' and 'Story Events' in Rune Factory Frontier

In Harvest Moon, there usually is a sequence of Events known as 'Heart Events' that are the foundation of your character's courtship of any Eligible Girl or Eligible Bachelor.

In Rune Factory Frontier, each Eligible Girl has her own 'Story' and there is a still that is included in the 'Memories' section of the game only when her Story is completed. Although the Events in an Eligible Girl's Story have been called 'Heart Events', strictly speaking, they are different, as you evidently CAN experience them after marriage. True 'Heart Events' cannot be experience once you marry.

In fact, one player actually took another Girl out on a Date in Rune Factory Frontier AFTER marriage to Mist!

I always experience all possible Events BEFORE I save a Marriage to any Eligible Girl or Bachelor either in Harvest Moon or Rune Factory. I therefore had completed all the Stories in Rune Factory Frontier while remaining single. I should not have made an assumption to the effect that these Stories could be equated to Heart Events in every respect.

In any case, my Guides will be revised to include the information that the Stories of other Eligible Girls can be completed after you marry some one else. What you cannot do is marry an Eligible Girl if you have not completed HER Story yet.

Time Out from Rune Factory Frontier

I am NOT finished with Rune Factory Frontier by any means. I still need to upload a few Proposal/Wedding videos I created last month as well as adding more details to all my guides. On the other hand, Frantic Farming is due to be released very shortly and I would like to have a completed Guide for that game on IGN on the day it is released.

I have not received official permission to post about Frantic Farming yet but I think I safely can state that it is a very addictive, fast-paced game that is certain to appeal both to gamers who enjoy puzzles as well as any one who loved Island of Happiness. For reasons which I will explain in my general review of the game, I believe that players who liked Princess Debut will enjoy Frantic Farming. I hope to be able to post a detailed review in a few days and perhaps a few videos as well.

Energy Drink X in the Lava Ruins

For those players who haven't the Cooking Skill required to make Energy Drink X themselves and have not reached the Floating Chamber on Whale Island in order to be able to collect it from the various Twin Towers there, you can find Energy Drink X on the 3rd Floor of the Lava Ruins.

Energy Drink X is the most potent of the three Energy Drinks available in Rune Factory Frontier. Beyond that, however, it is required to complete Rosetta's 'Story'.

Sue shared this information after I had researched the various Treasure Chests on Floors 4 and 5 without ever finding Energy Drink X on either. It is the 3rd Floor that has a Treasure Chest that often contains the powerful restorative drink.

I explored the 3rd Floor after reading her comment and confirmed the location, as well as creating a detailed Walkthrough description here. What is truly ironic, however, is that this information IS included in my Screen-by-Screen Walkthrough of the Lava Ruins. I had not read the Bestiary and Caves Guide recently. Today, when I accessed the Guide in order to add the location of the E. Drink X to the 3rd Floor Walkthrough, I discovered that I had included it when I initially created the walkthrough.

In any case, here is a new detailed description:

Here are the directions:

From the Isolated Stairway, go west down the long stairway. If you take the Shortcut Stairway, go north, detonate the bomb that clears the fallen masonry and continue north to the same long stairway, then descend. Go south past the Mini-Golems and then west through the sliding door that leads to a small chamber FILLED with Summer Monsters. (This is probably why I avoided the room for the most part in the early days of my explorations.) There are two Monster Generators in this chamber, each of which spawns two Summers. All plant monsters have the power to inflict Paralysis. If you are wearing a Wristwatch, you will be protected from both Stun and Paralysis. A Luck Blade or Smash Blade protects against Poison and Seal. The two in combination therefore protect against all common status ailments.

If you are riding a Transport Monster, it probably is best to dismount and use a weapon against the pesky creatures to clear the room most quickly. Paralysis will slow down the Monster unless you have consumed food with a temporary FX of protecting against Paralysis attacks.

There are two Treasure Chests in this chamber. One usually contains Fire Crystal, Lv. 6 or an Orange. The other most often contains Energy Drink X but sometimes yields Ketchup I believe.

I will include a new section in the Bestiary and Caves Guide for players who are looking specifically for E. Drink X. I refer players to my Guides but when asked a question often do not have time to reread all the information I myself wrote about a game... A little section dealing specifically with this should be helpful.