Money

When you first begin this game, as in every Harvest Moon game, you will feel extremely poor and rather helpless. You need money in order to be able to order a Bird Barn or Animal Barn, so ranching is not an option at the very start of the game. You need to begin to grow crops as soon as possible, but these take time to grow and seeds cost money, so farming really is not an option in the first week of the game. Until you acquire your first fishing rod on the first Saturday of Spring, you will not be able to fish either. That leaves you with the ancient task of gathering as well as archaeology. Gathering wild items actually is extremely profitable in this game. In Spring, you will find two types of wild grasses, orange and yellow, as well as Bamboo Shoots. Bamboo shoots are a wonderful source of energy even though they do not ship for as high a price as the wild grasses. Most wild grasses are a good source of energy, but those found in Spring are not the best for this purpose, so you ought to ship most of them, only saving a few of each type for the future, when you will be able to use them in recipes. Your greatest source of income at the start of the game is the Excavation Site, situated in the Northeast corner of the map. Go through the Cave entrance there to find the 'dig'. Here, by using only your hoe, you will find all the accessories that were available from Gotz and the Horse Races in FoMT and MFoMT. The toiletries you find are not worth much in terms of shipping value but make splendid gifts for girls. It is the jewelry that will make the most money for you, shipping for 2000G each. When sold to Van, the same pieces of jewelry can make 3250G each. You need to be aware of Van's willingness to barter and to pay considerably more than the ordinary shipping price for certain 'rare' items. Van will pay a huge sum for any upgraded product, whether it is a ranch product or a bag of seeds. Rare items such as Pirate Treasure and Fish Fossils can be sold to Van for far more than their shipping values. By the end of the first year, you will have more money than you ever will be able to spend, but at the start of the game, you need to be aware of the ways in which you can make money easily and quickly. Like Won in MFoMT, Van offers the enterprising player hope of becoming rich very quickly. Your second priority at the start of the game should be to unlock the Sprite Casino. Details about this are given in the section relating to the Casino. You basically unlock the Casino by finding Roller on 8 Spring, simply by walking towards Vesta's farm and crossing the bridge. The other Sprites who work in the Casino are rescued when you explore various items in the village. These are the Well, the fountain in Romana's courtyard and the stove in the yard outside the Inner Inn. You only need one dealer Sprite to begin to make money in the Casino. The most profitable game is Poker. To gamble, you need 'chips' or Medals. These can be purchased at the Casino Window. You only need to purchase 10 Medals really as once you begin to play, you will win more medals, especially if you save your game only after winning and reload without saving each time you lose. Medals can be used not only to gamble, but to purchase special items sold at the Casino Window. These include various books as well as some very important accessories. No longer must you dig in the Mine to find a teleport stone. In this game, you can buy one at the Casino! Other useful accessories sold at the Casino Window include the Love Bangle and the Truth Bangle. When worn, the Love Bangle will show the Heart level of any individual you encounter. The Truth Bangle will display your current Stamina and Fatigue levels. There are other accessories that are sold only at the Casino Window but you will not be able to purchase them at the start of the game. You cannot 'spend' your Medals anywhere but at the Casino. You can convert items purchased at the Casino into gold, however, if you sell them to Van. Van will buy Relax Tea Leaves as well as the Accessories sold at the Casino. You can make a considerable profit if you sell these items to him. For example, Van will pay up to 16,500G for a Truth Bangle. You cannot have more than one Truth Bangle at any given moment, but once you have sold it to Van, you will be able to purchase another at the Casino. You need to be aware of the fact that every medal is worth 10G, however. The prices that Van will pay for Casino items really are not that high if you make the conversion from medals to gold and recognise the original price of every item in gold. It only is worthwhile to sell these items to Van if you won the medals in the Casino. If you convert gold into medals in order to purchase the special Casino items, you will find that the price Van will pay for them will not yield much of a profit. If you can afford to do so, you really ought to plant more than one bag of seed in a single plot. This will allow you to grow a higher level of crop. Four bags of seed will yield a higher level of crop, not for all nine squares, but in a couple of squares. It is only if you plant 7 bags of seed in a single plot that you will be guaranteed upgraded crops in all nine squares. At the start of the game, the highest level of crop that you can obtain through this method is a Level 2 crop. You will not be able to grow a Level 3 crop until you have the Seed Maker. You can grow Level 2 Fruit Trees as well. Fruit Trees are expensive, but they are worth planting. They will not yield any fruit at the start of the game, however, so will not be a source of income for you until later. If you want to have all types of fruit in your second year, however, you need to plant at least one fruit tree of each type in the first year. Trees cannot be planted in Winter, unless you plant them in the Super Field or a Basement, so plant any trees before the beginning of Winter. Your best source of instant profit in farming, however, comes from the Cannery. This is a Maker that can be ordered from Saibara for 20,000G and a piece of Adamantite. In this game, you will not be able to buy ANY makers until you have a Maker Barn. The Maker Barn must be ordered from Gotz. When built, it will house every type of Maker. The Cannery should be the first Maker you order. With the Cannery, you can convert almost any item that can be shipped into 'canned goods'. This increases the value of the item enormously. The Cannery is not limited to crops but can be used to convert even flowers and fish. You cannot keep the goods produced, unfortunately. They are sent immediately into the shipping container. For example, a small fish ships for 200G. A small fish when processed through the Cannery will ship for 300G. In this game, you can toss an entire stack up to 99 of any item into the Cannery, rather than being obliged to feed the items one by one into the machine. The Cannery, therefore, should be the first Maker that you purchase. As far as upgrading your crops is concerned, profits will increase dramatically with each level of crop that you produce. For example, a Level 2 Crop ships for 4x the value of a basic Level 1 crop. A Level 3 crop ships for 9x the value of a basic Level 1 Crop. Add to that the profit made by feeding the crop through the Cannery and you will find that farming has become very profitable indeed. It is by sowing more than one bag of seeds in a single plot that you will gain your upgraded crops. Once you have the Seedmaker, you can sow more than one bag of Level 2 seeds in a single plot to obtain Level 3 Crops. It is by this means that Giant Crops are created as well. The Giant Crop is a random effect and when it occurs, the Giant Crop will be a single plant that occupies 4 spaces. It will look no different from the other crops in the plot until it is ripe. It then will occupy 4 spaces. You will not be able to harvest it yourself. When you go to harvest it, Thomas will appear and bring the Legendary Harvest Sprite Team from Mineral Town to help with the harvest. Giant Crops are shipped automatically once they are harvested. Values of all basic, Cannery and Giant Crops are given in my Crop Guide, found at: Harvest Moon DS Crop Guide As you can see, you really need both the Seedmaker and the Cannery in order to maximise your farming profits. N.B. One of Mary's Heart Events requires the presence of a Giant Crop on your land. If you have her at high enough heart level when a Giant Crop is produced, wait until Tuesday to harvest it in order to be able to experience her 3rd Heart Event first. By far the quickest way in which to make a tremendous profit, however, is by asking Gotz to build an Animal Barn, then purchasing a Cow. By using your milker repeatedly, you can upgrade it from Level 0 to Level 1. Once it reaches Level 1, each use of the Milker will raise it another level. When it reaches Level 100, you will obtain 99 bottles of milk each time you milk a cow using the Touchglove and 100 bottles of milk each time you milk a cow without the Touchglove. By using the Touchglove with the Milker, you can obtain any size of Milk. Milk can be converted into Cheese by using a Cheese Maker purchased from Saibara for 20,000G and a piece of adamantite. As in the case of any Maker, Gotz needs to build a Maker Barn before you will have the option to order any Makers from Saibara. If you have upgraded your Milker to level 99 and you have a Cheese Maker, you can obtain 99 Large Cheese each day from each cow you have. Cheese is one of the items that Van will pay a good price to obtain. Van will pay about 813G for 1 Large Cheese and he will pay up to 81675G for 99 Large Cheese. Remember that a Cow yields milk every day. If you upgrade your Milker and buy the Cheese Maker, you can obtain 99 Large Cheese each day and, rather than shipping them, store them until Van's next visit to the Valley. Sell four or five stacks of 99 Large Cheese to Van and you will have more than enough money to satisfy your needs. Gathering Wild Items As in all Harvest Moon games, the ancient lifestyle represented by 'gathering cultures' provides both income and a good source of energy. Items can be found in the wilds in all seasons, although very few in Winter, apart from the white grass that can be found outside and the black grass found in the mines. In all other seasons, however, you will be able to find about 10 wild grasses each day and other items such as bamboo shoots in Spring, wild grapes in Summer and mushrooms and toadstools in Autumn. In this game, you need not set food outside the house to discover where items can be found on any given day. If you open your Map and tap any area with your stylus, you will be able to view a close-up of that area. The close-up will show all wild items on the ground as well as any individuals who are in the area at that point in time. The Necklace when equipped will not allow you to gather items or harvest crops. You will have to go to the area in person to gather wild items, although that will not involve much expenditure of time if you have the Teleport Stone. What you may notice is that there are specific 'drop spots' on the map where items are found again and again. If you make a note of those squares and make certain that you clear any weeds that sprout there, you will obtain more wild items. If a 'drop spot' is occupied by a weed, a wild item will not be able to occur on that spot until the weed is removed. Stones and branches obviously will have the same effect. If you are interested in obtaining the maximum number of wild items, you therefore need to take note of the 'drop spots' on the map and keep them clear. How to Become a Millionaire The first way to make money quickly in this game is by digging in the Excavation Site for jewelry, then saving it to sell to Van when he opens his stall on any day that ends in 3 or 8 (the 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th, 23rd and 28th of each season, unless the day falls on a Festival). Van will pay about 3260G for any piece of jewelry, if you barter with him until he offers this price. You can find a new floor configuration any time you re-enter the Excavation Site, thereby allowing you to dig for as much jewelry as you wish in a single day, provided you keep your energy at a decent level. This will not make you a millionaire, but it will give you a decent income, allowing you to order upgrades for your farm and purchase animals in the first season. Like every Harvest Moon game, there is a way to exploit an activity in order to make millions quickly. In this case, it is through your Cows and Sheep. What is required in order to make millions in this fashion is: at least one Cow and one Sheep, the Touch Glove, a Brush, a Milker and a pair of Clippers. You will not be able to buy any livestock until you have an Animal Barn, so order that from Gotz as soon as possible. When you have purchased a Cow and a Sheep from Yodel's Farm, you will be able to shear the Sheep instantly but will be obliged to wait a week or so for the Cow to grow fully into an Adult or Large Cow. (Cows from Yodel's Farm come to you as adolescents of Medium size.) When your cow is an adult, you will be able to milk it. While waiting for your Cow to become an Adult, you can level up your Milker by using it inside any building until it increases from Level 0 to Level 1. When it has reached Level 1, you then need to use it 100 more times in order to make the exploitation possible. What occurs when your Milker is at Level 100 is that you will obtain 100 bottles of milk each time you milk an adult cow! An adult cow can be milked daily so you will be making a fair income even from one cow very soon if you level up your Milker even before your Cow is fully grown. (If you use the Touchglove to milk your cow, you can obtain 100 bottles of Large Milk. If you simply use the Milker, you will receive 100 bottles of Small Milk.) Not only will you receive this bonus from reaching Level 100 with the Milker, but you will receive an upgraded ranch bonus as well. If you equip your brush with the Touch Glove, you will be able to wash your Animal. If you open your rucksack and place the milker or clippers in the slot next to the equipped brush, you will be able to perform a trick that will make you wildly rich! Wash the animal using the Touchglove, then press the Back button and as soon as you see your open rucksack, equip the clippers or milker in place of the brush. If you do this quickly enough, you will receive an upgraded bonus product. The level of the product depends on the number of times you have used the Touch Glove and the type of product depends on the implement you equip in place of the brush. In other words, if you equip the clippers, you will obtain wool and if you equip the Milker, you will obtain milk. Generally speaking, wool is worth more than milk, but here is where bringing your Milker to Level 100 will prove even more beneficial. If your milker is at Level 100, you will obtain 100 bottles of upgraded bonus milk each time you perform this trick! You can wash all your cows and sheep as well as your horse. By performing the trick, you can obtain bonus ranch products from each one of them every day, including the horse. This is the easiest way to become a Millionaire and even a Billionaire within a season or two. Incidentally, you can use the Bonus Ranching Trick to obtain infinite quantities of milk from a single animal in one day. You will be limited only by time, energy and patience as to how many bottles you collect. If you equip the Brush and place the Milker in the slot next to the brush, then equip the TouchGlove in your Accessory Slot, as soon as you activate the Brush (by standing in front of the animal and pressing A), press the 'Back' button. DO NOT EVEN BEGIN TO WASH THE ANIMAL. You can do this again and again to obtain product each time. The only reason milk is superior to wool is because, if you have raised the level of your Milker to 99, you can obtain 99 or 100 bottles of milk each time you perform the trick. Caution: Your energy will be depleted quickly, so make certain that you restore it if you intend to use the trick again and again on a single animal in one day. Though this means, you will be able to ship enormous quantities of milk even if you own only a single cow. (Remember, however, that you actually need to WASH the animal after you have used the trick repeatedly this way if you wish to obtain any affection points for doing so.) This is the easiest way to unlock the last Sprite Station, by the way. The Ranch Bonus Trick is a glitch, however, so it may cause problems with your game.

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