More Energy Tips for HM DS and HM Cute

It is interesting to note the very different effects of different cooked dishes made using the same ingredients. For example, using a simple tomato, you can make all sorts of different dishes in Harvest Moon DS or Harvest Moon Cute.

There are players who completely ignore the various effects of 'Recipes' in Harvest Moon games and who make the dish only once in order to complete their Shipping List. There are other players, like myself, who delight in every permutation of Harvest Moon games and who explore every possible avenue from mining to cooking in order to maximise their enjoyment of the world encapsulated in Harvest Moon.

One does forget some details, however, especially when one has played other games and written guides for them in the interim. By writing my new guides for HM Cute, I am able to revisit my original guides for HM DS and improve them.

In both games, it takes almost two seasons to complete the Kitchen with all implements. The Shopping Network offers one item each week and no more, apart from the items offered exclusively to the Harvest Sprites. As your character cannot acquire korobos, the Harvest Sprite items are out of reach. If you pay close attention to the descriptions of those items, you will understand that they are extremely impractical in any case.

Returning to the kitchen, however and to Harvest Moon in general, players should understand that there is a reason why one should collect items and store them even before you are able to buy a Refrigerator or Shelf. Your first opportunity to acquire a Refrigerator and Shelf will occur in the first Summer, but there are many Spring crops and wild items that are needed to complete Recipes. If you keep a few of these in your Rucksack until you are able to buy the Refrigerator and Shelf, you will be pleased that you did.

The kitchen becomes available in the first Summer as well, provided always that you expanded your house once and bought the other items offered by the Shopping Network. As previously stated, cooking implements then are offered each week, beginning with the Mixer. At the start of the second week of Autumn, you should have a Mixer, a Frying Pan and a Steamer, giving you far more choices in Recipes than you had with only a Kitchen.

A Tomato is a Summer crop but it is recommended that you collect quite a few tomatoes and ears of corn and store them in your Fridge before the season ends. You ultimately will be able to order up to three Basements from Gotz and grow crops in any season in them but in your first Autumn, you probably will not have a Basement. In any case, it is rather pointless to expand your house twice and spend your gold on a Basement before the first Winter. Your energy and gold are better spent on a Kitchen, Kitchen implements, tool upgrades and Makers from Grey.

By the second week in Autumn, I usually have three Animal Barns, three Bird Barns, a Mushroom Shed, a Maker Shed, all Makers and a full set of Blessed Tools. I upgrade my house only ONCE in order to be able to buy the Fridge, Shelf, Kitchen and all Kitchen implements as early as possible. If you upgrade your house a second time, the Big Bed will be offered immediately. There is absolutely NO POINT in buying the Big Bed BEFORE you have rescued 60 Sprites and the Harvest Goddess. Even if you have a bachelor at red heart level and have experienced all four of his Heart Events, he will not accept your marriage proposal until the Harvest Goddess has been rescued.

The reason I have 3 Animal Barns and 3 Bird Barns so early in the game is to rescue Sprites, by the way. At this point in the game, I have rescued 59 Sprites. I will be able to rescue the Harvest Goddess within a few days. All I need to do is ship 1 Bell Pepper to rescue the 60th Sprite...

The subject of this post ostensibly was Energy Tips, however, not gameplay tips in general.

Taking 1 Tomato harvested in Summer, one can make the following in the second week of Autumn in the first year.

First, one could eat the Tomato raw. That would give you: +3 SR -1 FR, restoring your Stamina by 3 points and reducing your Fatigue by 1 point. This is NOT the best use for your Tomato, however, as you might have guessed.

Without using any Utensils, you can use the Tomato to make a Salad. 1 Tomato by itself will make a Salad and that will give you +20 SR -5 FR, restoring 20 points of Stamina and reducing your Fatigue by 5 points.

If you have the Mixer, however, you can make Tomato juice with 1 Tomato. That will give you +20 SR -20 FR, restoring both your Stamina by 20 points AND reducing your Fatigue by 20 points!

Thus, if you need both Stamina and Fatigue recovery, use your Mixer and 1 tomato to make a glass of Tomato Juice. It is far more potent than a Salad made with the same tomato.

Furthermore, it is far less expensive to consume two glasses of Tomato Juice made in your own kitchen than to buy a Turbojolt XL from Van for 2000 Gold.

Here again are the values of 1 Tomato in different forms:

1 Tomato raw: +3 SR -1 FR
Salad: +20 SR -5 FR
Tomato Juice: +20 SR -20 FR

As you can see, it pays to use your Kitchen and raw ingredients wisely in Harvest Moon.

The Little Things in Harvest Moon: Virtues of Cooking

In an earlier post, I listed the first Cooked Dishes that could be made in Harvest Moon DS and Harvest Moon Cute DS as soon as you acquire a kitchen but do not have any implements. In that post, I concentrated on the value of Cooked Dishes as gifts for other people. In this post, I am going to discuss the virtue of Cooked Dishes primarily in terms of restoring energy.

The first implement that you can obtain from the Shopping Network is the Mixer. With the Mixer, you can transform Fruits and Vegetables into Juices and Lattes and make a couple of very important basic items like Butter and Ketchup. You actually can make Fish Sticks as well.

Again, I am not going to list ALL the Mixer Recipes here but only the ones that can be made in the first half of the first Summer of gameplay.

Fruit Juice
1 Strawberry

Fruit Latte
1 Fruit Juice
1 Milk

Vegetable Juice
1 Cucumber
1 Milk

Vegetable Latte
1 Vegetable Juice
1 Milk

Mix Juice
1 Fruit Juice
1 Vegetable Juice

Mix Latte
1 Mix Juice
1 Milk

Strawberry Milk
1 Strawberry
1 Milk

Tomato Juice
1 Tomato

Peach Juice
1 Peach

Grape Juice
1 Wild Grape

Butter
1 Milk

Ketchup
1 Tomato
1 Onion

Fish Sticks
1 Medium or 1 Large Fish

Here are the energy values for each of these dishes:

Fruit Juice: +20 SR -15 FR
Fruit Latte: +30 SR -15 FR
Vegetable Juice: +20 SR -20 FR
Vegetable Latte: +30 SR -20 FR
Mix Juice: +50 SR -30 FR
Mix Latte: +60 SR -20 FR
Strawberry Milk: +30 SR -15 FR
Tomato Juice: +20 SR -20 FR
Grape Juice: +7 SR -13 FR
Peach Juice: +10 SR -10 FR
Fish Sticks: +5 SR -1 FR

Butter: +1 SR -0 FR
Ketchup: +1 SR -0 FR

It will come as no surprise to discover that the energy values of Butter and Ketchup are minimal. What is interesting is the difference between the Energy Values of a Medium Fish consumed without cooking preparation, the same Medium Fish blended in a Mixer into Fish Sticks and the same Medium Fish made into Sashimi as a 'No Tool' Recipe. Here are the values:

Medium Fish eaten raw: +4 SR -1 FR
Fish Sticks: +5 SR -1 FR
Sashimi: +30 SR -3 FR

The simple act of throwing a crop into a Mixer can enhance its energy values enormously. Not all crops can be made into Juice, but many can. Here are the differences between the raw crop and the same crop as Juice:

Strawberry Milk: +30 SR -15 FR
Strawberry: +5 SR -2 FR

Tomato Juice: +20 SR -20 FR
Tomato: +4 SR -1 FR

Grape Juice: +7 SR -13 FR
Wild Grape: +10 SR -2 FR

Peach Juice: +10 SR -10 FR
Peach: +2 SR -3 FR

As you can see, in most cases, the Stamina value will be far greater if the crop is made into Juice. The Fatigue recovery will be substantially greater as well. The only anomaly here is the Wild Grape. It has a much higher Stamina value when consumed raw BUT its value in terms of reducing Fatigue is far greater when made into Juice. Grape Juice, by the way, can be made either with a regular Grape from a grapevine or from a wild grape.

Very often, players of Harvest Moon games become seduced by the concept of Elli Leaves and focus on them exclusively when cooking for energy purposes, but as you can see, there are many easy recipes for cooked dishes that will restore energy significantly. Elli Leaves cannot be made until you have EVERY cooking implement in your kitchen. The recipes given here require nothing more than the Mixer.

Tips on Cooking in HM DS and HM Cute DS

This information will be included in my new General Guide for Cute as well as my Cooking Guide but meanwhile, I have created a little tip section for players of either game.

If you are the sort of player who, like me, tries to unlock or acquire every item as soon as possible in the game, you will find that the earliest date when you can have a Kitchen is Monday, 14 Summer. When your kitchen is delivered, you will be fairly limited in the dishes you will be able to prepare, not having any implements yet.

Here is a list of the Recipes you CAN make without any implements with notes about the characters who like them. It is valid both for the original Harvest Moon DS and for the upcoming Harvest Moon Cute.

Your First Recipes:

Your First Recipes in Harvest Moon Cute will be 'No Tool' Recipes. Those that you will be able to make in the first half of Summer are as follows:

Mayonnaise:
Egg (S), Oil

Salad:
Cucumber and/or
Tomato and/or
Cabbage
N.B. In HM Cute, using more than one of these is simply a waste of ingredients. It will not change the SR or the FR. You could use a Carrot as well, but you won't have that until Autumn and by then, you should have all Cooking Implements and a wealth of recipes. Lumina, Karen, Rock, Cody and Vesta like Salad but the real advantage of making it is as a gift for Wally. It is the first gift you can obtain that will raise his FP by +9.

Sandwich:
Bread
Tomato and/or
Cucumber
N.B. In HM Cute, using more than one of these 'fillings' is simply a waste of ingredients and will not affect SR or FR. You can use a Boiled Egg as well, but you won't have a Pot at this point. Cliff loves sandwich and it is one of the first items that will raise his AP by +500 and FP by +9.

Fruit Sandwich:
Bread
Strawberry and/or
Peach
N.B. In HM Cute, using more than one 'filling' will not improve SR or FR. Later in Summer, you can make a Fruit Sandwich with a Pineapple and next year, with any Fruit, but at the moment, only Strawberries and Peach will be available.

Pickled Turnip
Turnip
N.B. This is one of the easiest recipes in any Harvest Moon game and is a dish that pleases most senior citizens. Of the bachelors, Gustafa alone loves it but it is one of the first items that will raise his AP by +500 and his FP by +9. Of other young people, Nami and Karen alone like Pickled Turnips. It is one of the first items that will raise Takakura's FP by +9.

Pickled Cucumber
Cucumber
N.B. Another easy recipe. The same individuals who love Pickled Turnip on the whole will love Pickled Cucumber. It is one of the first items that will raise Gustafa's AP by 500 and FP by 9 and one of the first to raise Takakura's FP by 9.

Bamboo Rice
Bamboo Shoot
Riceball
N.B. An easy dish but a few people actively dislike it, so be careful.

Sushi
Riceball
Sashimi
N.B. This is a great recipe and one that many people will like. Sashimi is a 'No Tool' recipe as well. Among bachelors, both Griffin and Cliff LOVE Sushi. Most of the older characters love it as well, including Galen, Hardy and Sebastian.

Raisin Bread
Bread
Wild Grape
N.B. Marlin loves Raisin Bread, and it is slightly less expensive than the Wine you have had to give him each day to boost his affection. Other characters who love Raisin Bread are Mary and Ruby.

Sashimi
Fish (M) or Fish (L)
N.B. Please note that you cannot use a Small Fish to make Sashimi. Sashimi' is one of the first items, apart from the Lithograph, that really excites Carter. Before you have a Kitchen, you will be limited to gifts of riceball or wine that only raise his AP and FP by +300AP +3 FP but with Sashimi, you can raise it by +500 +9 daily. Griffin loves Sashimi but he will be just as excited by a raw small fish, so Sashimi will not represent anything better in terms of courting him. He is one of the easiest bachelors to please. All the elders love sashimi as well.

Kate, Murrey love sashimi but the real plus here is that Takakura loves it. He is a difficult character in terms of gifts at the start of the game. Until you catch Big Fish, you will not have ANY gift that he will welcome. The advantage of Sashimi over Big Fish is that it can be made using a medium fish.

Ice Cream:
Milk
Egg
Optional: any fruit
N.B. Hugh, Chris and Van love Ice Cream and Lumina likes it.

This is not a comprehensive 'No Tool' Cooking Guide but it is comprehensive in terms of the dishes you can make if you order the Kitchen at the earliest possible day in the Summer of your First Year.

Some of the first 'cooked dishes' you can make have higher energy values than any other items you have been able to obtain, apart from the Medicines you can buy from Van.

Here are the Energy Values for the Recipes given above:

Salad: +20 SR -5 FR
Sandwich: +40 SR -5 FR (bread and tomato)
Fruit Sandwich: +40 SR -5 FR (bread and peach, same for bread and strawberry)
Pickled Turnip: +20 SR -4 FR
Pickled Cucumber: +20 SR -7 FR
Raisin Bread: +30 SR -4 FR
Sushi: +40 SR -1 FR
Sashimi: +30 SR -3 FR
Bamboo Rice: +30 SR -1 FR
Ice Cream: +30 SR -20 FR

Ice Cream actually is the best of these Cooked Recipes, if you suffer both from lack of Stamina and high Fatigue. If you add fruit to the basic Ice Cream recipe of 1 Milk and 1 Egg, you will raise the SR value even higher.