Mining

There is an Excavation Site as well as four different mines in Harvest Moon and they are unlocked in different ways. The Excavation Site is the only place where you will be able to mine at the start of the game, and you only can use your Hoe here to uncover 'artifacts'. The 'artifacts' you uncover basically consist of the accessory items and jewelry acquired only at the Races or through Saibara in FoMT/MFoMT. These are brooches, chokers, bracelets and earrings as well as Toiletries. The Toiletries appear to be seasonal, and Perfume only appears in the sixth year of the game. Sunblock is the first Toiletry that you will find in Spring of your first year. Skin Lotion appears in the Summer Season. Although you do have an Accessory Slot in this game, you cannot wear the items of jewelry that are found at the Site, even if, as a boy, you somehow fancied the idea. Items found at the Excavation site must be sold or given as gifts. N.B. If you bargain with Van, he will pay more for jewelry items than you receive when you ship them. The only problem with this is that the items you sell to Van will not count towards your Shipping Total. Specific shipping totals must be reached in order to unlock a Horse, as well as being requirements for the rescue of some of the Sprites. If you need some extra cash, however, Van will pay up to 3200G for any item of jewelry found at the Excavation Site. Mining Guide Using the Mines Mining in this game has characteristics similar both to FoMT/MFoMT and Magical Melody. There are more mines here, however, and each has its own special items. None of the Mines is available at the start of the game. You need to unlock each of them and there are different requirements for each. The sections below that deal with the individual mines give the requirements for each as well as the special items found in each of the four mines. When you visit the Mines, take your Hoe and Hammer in order to find items. Items are found by digging with your hoe and by smashing rocks with your Hammer. Accessories can be extremely useful in the Mines as well. The Harvest Goddess Hat is the most useful when using Hoe or Hammer in the Mine as it actually decreases the amount of Stamina used when wielding any tool. The small Harvest Goddess Hat can be purchased from Van. The large Harvest Goddess Hat is found as a Cursed Accessory in the Third Mine. When Blessed and equipped, it will cut the amount of Stamina used in half! Once your SR has reached zero, you should equip the large Kappa Hat as it will prevent you from gaining any Fatigue whatsoever, no matter how many times you use a tool or how far you fall down any hole. The Truth Bangle is another useful accessory. It should not be equipped while using tools in the Mine, as it will not affect Stamina or Fatigue, but it should be equipped periodically and especially BEFORE you fall down any hole, as it will show you precise SR and FR. You will need to keep your energy high in the Mines. Unlike FoMT/MFoMT, three of the mines in HM DS contain 'dark creatures that will harm you if you come into contact with them. There are two sorts of dark creatures: walking creatures and flying creatures. The flying creatures each have a 'flight path' and simply go back and forth along that path. The creatures on foot, on the other hand, actually will find you and attack aggressively. You need to dispose of the creatures on foot as soon as you reach any floor of the mine before they can attack and harm you. Some dark creatures are more dangerous than others. For example, the Dark Chicken will take more HP than a Dark Chick, as one might imagine. You can defend yourself from Dark Creatures by using your Hoe or Hammer, but a Sickle or Axe is more effective. The most effective weapon against the Dark, however, is the Legendary Sword, which you will obtain when you reach the 255th Floor of the second Mine. This Sword can destroy all dark creatures within its radius, sweeping in a circle when used. You cannot miss easily with the Legendary Sword either. It is easy to miss when attacking a Dark Creature with any other tool, especially flying creatures. Another aspect of Mining that is absent from FoMT/MFoMT but which will be familiar to players of Magical Melody is the fact that every floor of the mine contains both stairs by which to descend to the next floor and holes by which to fall lower a random number of floors. The maximum number of floors that one can fall varies from mine to mine. Even if you do fall through a hole rather than using your hoe to find the stairs, you will lose energy when you fall, so make certain that your Stamina is not at zero before you begin to move about on any floor. Otherwise, you will pass out as soon as you reach the next floor. Specific items are found on specific floors so if you are searching for a particular item, you may wish to look for the stairs when you are near the level that contains the item rather than allowing yourself to fall down holes, as you may go too far if you fall. In fact, you will not lose energy when you descend by way of stairs. You only lose energy whenever you use a tool. If you have a Goddess Hat, you could equip that while using your tools in the Mine to limit energy loss. Otherwise, equip your Truth Bangle to keep a close watch on your energy levels. The location of both the stairs and the hole(s) may change if you save your game, then reload it on the same floor (unless you have uncovered them and saved your game after doing so), although they usually can be found in the same locations. What does not ever change, however, is the location of black grass or items that are inside rocks. The best way to mine, therefore, is by first slaying all the dark creatures on the floor, then saving your game BEFORE you begin to use your hammer or hoe. After saving, use your Hammer and Hoe to search for special items. DO NOT SAVE AGAIN. Instead, remember the location of any special items and reload your game without saving. When your game has been reloaded, go instantly to the location of any special item and uncover it with your hoe or smash the rock that contains it. As soon as you find the item, save your game. Dark creatures who have been defeated on any particular floor will not respawn when you reload on that floor. N.B. There is a way to rid yourself of all Dark Creatures on any specific floor temporarily if you save your game, then turn off the DS completely. When you turn the system back on and reload the game, the Dark Creatures on that floor will no longer be there. Problems can arise, however, if you reload your game after falling too far (through a hole) or passing out on that floor. When you reload after ANY 'event' of this sort, the Dark Creatures will reappear. If you do not experience any 'event', you can reload without expecting to find the Dark Creatures again. There is a way to 'trick' the Dark Creatures if you do not wish to fight them. If you wish to be able to work in peace in a certain area of the floor, move to the opposite end of the room. The Dark Creatures will follow you. When they have congregated there, save your game, then reload. When you reload the game, the Dark Creatures will be in the area to which you 'tricked' them into going. This should give you a few moments of peace in which to explore the opposite side of the room. Incidentally, there can be more than one hole on a single floor, so do not feel that you are 'safe' from the threat of falling through the floor once you have uncovered one hole. Many floors have two holes rather than one. Energy Trick This is mentioned above, but I am devoting a separate section to it for players who do not read every section of the guide as it is a very useful trick. To operate most effectively, you will need the Large versions of the Harvest Goddess Hat and Kappa Hat. When you first arrive at the Mines, your Energy level should be 100/100 SR and 0/100 FR. This is easy enough to manage. Before you use any tool in the Mine, equip the Large Harvest Goddess Hat as an accessory. This will decrease the amount of SR lost with each use of a tool. If possible, have the Truth Bangle in your rucksack so you can look at precise levels at any point. If the Large Harvest Goddess Hat is equipped, you should be able to use Hammer and/or Hoe 100 times before your SR reaches zero. When it finally reaches zero, equip the Kappa Hat instead. The Large Kappa Hat will not affect your SR, but it will prevent ANY Fatigue gain! You therefore will be able to use Hammer and/or Hoe indefinitely if you are wearing the Large Kappa Hat. Whenever you fall down a hole, you lose SR if your Stamina is above zero and FR if your Stamina is at 0. Wearing the Kappa Hat will prevent any gain of Fatigue. What this means in effect is that you never will pass out however many floors you fall. This is particularly useful in the 4th Mine when you can fall 300 floors at a time! Mining for the Cursed Tools The Cursed Tools are found in the Third Mine on specific floors. You need not have a full set of Mystrile tools in order to find them and this makes HM DS very different from FoMT/MFoMT in that respect but you must have enough experience for a Mystrile tool even if you did not order the actual upgrade to Mystrile level. The first floor on which Cursed Tools can be found is Floor 24. Unlike FoMT or MFoMT, ALL Cursed Tools can be found on that floor! If you are looking for the Cursed Tools, you will NOT want to allow yourself to fall down a hole. The best way to mine in this particular case is by using both slots as the appearance of Cursed Tools at any point is random. From the time you first enter the mine on the ground floor, do NOT move onto ANY square without uncovering it with your hoe first. This will prevent any situation wherein you fall down a hole. Remember, there can be more than one hole on any given floor. Second of all, save your game before you use ANY tool. Then uncover every square with your hoe to find the location of the stairs, the hole and any black grass on that floor. DO NOT SAVE YOUR GAME! Smash rocks to find special items as well, replenishing your energy with any medicines or food you have. This foray will not be saved, so do not worry about using all your supplies. Once you have found the stairs and any special items you seek (ores or Suns in particular), reload your game. Now go directly to the site of the stairs and uncover them with your hoe, saving your game as soon as you have done this. Now go to the site of any stone that contains an ore or Sun and smash it to obtain the special item. When you have done this, save your game again. Now go to the stairs, but before you descend to the next floor, save your game in BOTH slots. (N.B. In theory, the floor configuration may change when you reload your game on any given floor, but I have known occasions when it did not change no matter how many times I reloaded. That is why it is best to save in BOTH slots if you are searching for a special item.) Repeat this performance until you reach the 24th floor. When you arrive at the 24th floor, you should have both slots saved at the 23rd floor. Save one slot only at the 24th floor as soon as you arrive. Now defeat all the Dark Creatures using the method of your choice. You either can use the Legendary Sword or turn your DS off, then turn it on again to clear the floor of the creatures. Now you will need to uncover EVERY square to try to find a Cursed Tool as well as the stairs to the next floor, if you intend to find more than one Cursed Tool on this trip. Do not save your game when you find the Cursed Tool! Smash rocks as well to look for a Winter Sun. You can find more than one Sun on a floor, by the way, especially on floors where Cursed Tools can be found. Incidentally, the stairs usually can be found within six squares of the stairway by which you descended to any floor. Moreover, the stairs can be on a square next to the wall or directly adjacent to the other stairway. In this sense, mining in HM DS is more like Magical Melody than FoMT or MFoMT. When you reach the square where you found the Cursed Tool the first time, save your game before you uncover it. If you uncover it and would like to have a different tool, simply reload and uncover it again. (Save at that spot with your hoe equipped BEFORE you uncover the spot. That way it will be easy and fast to reload.) You can find any of the 6 Cursed Tools there. Sometimes, when you reload, you will not find ANY tool where you found one the first time. If this occurs, simply reload again and again until you do. As stated before, if for example, you find the Cursed Watering Can at a certain spot, but would rather have the Fishing Rod, simply reload again and again until you uncover the Cursed Fishing Rod at the same spot. Do not forget to look for 'Suns' on the floors where they can be found as you search for Cursed Tools. Spring Suns will be found on Floors 1, 11, 21, 31, 41, 51 and so on. Summer Suns will be found on Floors 2, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52 and so on. Autumn Suns will be found on Floors 3, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53 and so on. Winter Suns will be found on Floors 4, 14, 24, 34, 44, 54 and so on. N.B. Make certain that you have an empty slot available for the Cursed Tool BEFORE you descend to the floor on which it is found or you will not be able to find it! Mining for the Cursed Accessories You can use this procedure when you search for the Cursed Accessories as well. In fact, in the same way as the Cursed Tool in a specific space will change from reload to reload, the Cursed Accessory will change as well. As the Cursed Accessories are not found above Floor 324, you may wish to follow a slightly different procedure when mining specifically for those. The first step in finding the Cursed Accessories is to take many items in your rucksack that will restore Stamina and recover Fatigue. Make certain that you have Bodigizer and Turbojolt, Elli Leaves and/or other items, and have them in quantity. You are going to fall deliberately 100 floors at a time perhaps, and this act will take almost 100 Stamina at one fall. When you enter the Mine, go at least to Floor 2 or 3 in the ordinary way, by uncovering the stairs. When you reach Floor 3 or so, instead of uncovering the stairs, save your game as soon as you arrive, then find the hole instead of finding the stairs. When you have found it, reload without saviing. Uncover the hole instantly, then save in both slots. (I advise both slots although in this game you can do it in one. Both slots give you a bit of flexibility, however, as well as preventing a terrible error of carelessness.) Now fall down the hole. If you fall substantially less than 100 floors, reload and fall again. Keep doing this until the fall takes you approximately 100 floors. Now, as soon as you arrive at the next floor, save your game in one slot and make certain to recover your Stamina and Fatigue as close to 100/100 Stamina and 0/100 Fatigue as possible. Restoring your energy instantly is extremely vital as the next fall will reduce it to 0 if you haven't done so and cause you to pass out on arrival. Again, find the hole but do not save! Reload in that slot, uncover the hole instantly, then save in both slots. Now, before you allow yourself to fall again, make certain that your Stamina and Fatigue levels are as close to perfect as possible. Now fall through the hole. Again, make certain that you have fallen as close to 100 floors as possible. Repeat this performance step by step until you have reached the 300th floor. When you have reached the 300th floor or as close to it as possible, you will now wish to fall fewer floors in your next fall. If you wish, you even could find the stairs instead of falling, as your destination is either Floor 324 or 335. If you can fall to within 10 floors of either of these floors, well and good. You could fall another hundred, but there is no point in wasting more energy! When you reach Floor 324 or 335, save your game instantly in one slot, restoring your Energy levels as close to perfect as possible as you will need energy for the search. The Cursed Accessories, like the Cursed Tools are found by using your Hoe. Do not save your game again after the initial arrival on this floor and recovery of Energy. Simply search. Eat everything in your rucksack if you must, but don't stop searching. When you find the location of the Cursed Accessory, reload without saving. If you want a fail-safe guarantee, however, save the Accessory in your other slot. That way, if by some terrible chance it does not reappear, you have something to show for your pains. Now reload the game and go instantly to the location of the Cursed Accessory. DO NOT UNCOVER IT, HOWEVER. Instead, save again at that spot, with your hoe equipped. Now you are going to acquire the precise Cursed Accessory that you want, as a different one will load in that spot each time you reload the game. My own personal choice would be the Witch Princess Earrings or the Friend Pendant at least for the first one that you keep. When you uncover the Accessory you want, save your game and return to the surface, unless you have enough energy to go further for more Cursed Accessories. After all, if you did this at Floor 324, you only need to go 11 more floors to find another... It all depends on the number of items you have in your rucksack that will restore energy... Excavation Site: When you go through the opening in the Mountain in the Northeast corner of Forget-Me-Not Valley, you will find yourself at the Excavation Site. Flora and Carter can be found here during the day. Bring your hoe and search for 'artifacts'. Artifacts that you find at the Excavation Site include all jewelry items that you could purchase from Saibara in Mineral Town or obtain at the Races there. Toiletries only available at the Races in Mineral Town now can be discovered at the 'dig' as well and vary from season to season. There is a tip at the end of this guide that explains how to exploit this wonderful resource. Whenever you enter the Excavation Site, you will find a new floor configuration. It is a good idea to save your game as soon as you enter. Equip your Hoe and search the floor but do not save your game when you find a special item. Instead, reload your game and then instantly go to the location of the item, uncover it, then save your game. It is easier to remember the location of any item if you dig in a pattern. Start with the outer squares of the floor, those squares that are next to the wall. Go round the room completely and if you find nothing at all, reload your game without saving, then go round the room in a circle (or large square), exploring all the squares that are next to the ones you previously explored. In other words, you will circle the room again and again and each time, the area covered will be closer to the centre. This makes it easy to recall the position of any special item. If you enter one of the Mines, when you return to the Excavation Site, you will find that the floor configuration has not changed. It is only by going outside that you will change the floor configuration. Here are the shipping values of some of the items found at the Excavation Site: Sunblock (Spring Season): 43G Lotion (Summer Season): 45G Facial Masque (Autumn Season): 48G Dress (Winter Season): 50G Choker: 2000G Bracelet: 2000G Earrings: 2000G Brooch: 2000G There are other items such as Perfume that can be found here later in the game. Perfume appears in Year 6 and ships for 40G.) N.B. Van will pay over 3200G for any piece of jewelry. Items sold to him will not count towards completion of your Shipping List, but jewelry is a good item to sell to Van as the profit margin is significant. Toiletries, on the other hand, are best saved to give as gifts. Even Van likes toiletries and you will gain 3 FP with him if you give him any toiletry as a gift. Incidentally, once you have the Can Food Maker, you need not rely upon Van to make a good profit from jewelry found at the Excavation Site. Any piece of Jewelry shipping through the Cannery will be worth 3000G. There are four mines in this game and they are accessed through the Excavation Site. Each must be unlocked and you will find details on how to obtain access to each in the sections that follow. 1st Mine To gain access to the First Mine, you must equip your hammer, then enter the Excavation Site when no one is working. I suggest going there after 9.00 p.m. You will experience a scene with Carter wherein he will tell you he has discovered a tunnel but needs your help to open the wall. When you do so, you will have a doorway into the First Mine. (The same event will occur when you meet the requirements to unlock any of the four mines.) As a matter of fact, if you go to the 10th floor of the First Mine immediately after experiencing the event that unlocks it and defeat the Dark Chick there, if you re-enter the Excavation Site after leaving, you can experience the scene to unlock the Second Mine on the same night! There are only 10 Floors in the First Mine. The following items can be found in the First Mine using your Hammer: Junk Ore 1G Copper 15G all floors Silver 20G all floors Gold 25G Floor 3 and lower Mystrile 40G Floor 6 and lower Dark Creatures: Dark Chick 10th Floor Found in the Mine by using your Hoe: Black Grass 10G The Dark Chick is the first of many creatures that inhabit the Mines. You must defend yourself from these creatures, using a Tool to strike them. They will disappear when hit. When you defeat the Dark Chick in the First Mine, you will unlock the scene that gives you access to the Second Mine. 2nd Mine In order to unlock the Second Mine, you must defeat the Dark Chick on the 10th Floor of the 1st Mine, then return to the Mine when no one is working there. You will experience another scene with Carter similar to the first but the Second Mine is very different from the 1st Mine. The Second Mine contains gems, rather like the Lake Mine in other Harvest Moon games and specific gems are found on specific floors. Unlike other Harvest Moon games, this mine is inhabited by dark creatures who are hostile, however. The Second Mine has 255 Floors, like the Mines in FoMT/MFoMT When you reach Floor 255 and defeat all the Dark Creatures there, the barrier at the doorway there will disappear. You then will be able to enter another room. Here you will obtain the Legendary Sword provided at least one of your tools is at mystrile level. This sword is the only tool with the power to destroy the huge boulder formations on either side of the Waterfall. When these boulders are destroyed, you will gain access to the Super Crop Field. The Legendary Sword also has more power than other tools to defeat the Dark Creatures in the Mines. In the Second Mine, you will be able to fall more than 1 Floor at a time. The number of floors you will fall in any case is random, but the maximum is 10. Items found using your Hammer: Junk Ore 1G All Floors Amethyst 60G Floors 1-40 Agate 62G Floors 1 -50 Fluorite 65G Floors 10 - 60 Peridot 68G Floors 20-70 Topaz 70G Floors 30-80 Ruby 75G Floors 40-100 Emerald 80G Floors 50-100 SandStone 60G Floors 60-100 Moonstone 55G Floors 70-100 Diamond 100G Floors 80-100 Alexandrite G 10,000G Floor 100, and every 10th floor after that Pink Diamond 10,000G Floor 100, and every 3rd floor after that Items found using your Hoe: Black Grass 10G All Floors Lithograph 1G Floor 50 and every floor that ends in 50 Legendary Sword Floor 255 (but only if you defeat all Dark Creatures on that floor first) Dark Creatures Dark Butterfly: 3 HP All Floors Dark Beetle 3 HP All Floors Dark Chick 5 HP All Floors Evil Butterfly 10 HP Floor 60 and lower Evil Beetle 10 HP Floor 60 and lower Dark Chicken 15 HP Floor 10 and every 10th floor after that 255th Floor of the Second Mine Keira does not live on this floor, nor will you find her here again after you obtain the Legendary Sword from her. If you revisit the 255th floor, you will be required to defeat all the Dark Creatures by hand before the barrier will crumble, but there is no point in doing so, as you will obtain only a prompt telling you that you have no further business on this floor. Keira lives on the 255th floor of the THIRD Mine and that is where you will find her. If, when you first visit the 255th Floor and defeat all the Dark Creatures there, you do not have enough experience with any tool to upgrade it to Mystrile level, Keira will NOT give you the Legendary Sword but will tell you that you need more experience. You actually do not need to have upgraded a tool to Mystrile, but you do need to have enough experience with one to order an upgrade to mystrile. 3rd Mine The third Mine has 999 Floors. You will gain access to the Third Mine only after having reached the 255th Floor of the 2nd Mine and having defeated all the Dark Creatures on that Floor. You then will be given the Legendary Sword as well, provided you have sufficient experience with at least one tool to be able to upgrade it to Mystrile level. When you enter the ground floor of the Third Mine, you will find almost every square occupied by a rock. Fortunately, the stairs usually can be found within a few squares of the entrance. Save your game immediately after entering, then either defeat the Dark Creatures and save again or turn off your DS and then turn it back on to reload the game. Find the location of the stairs without saving your game again, then reload, go to the location of the stairs immediately, uncover them, and save your game in both slots. If you only wish to visit the 255th floor, find the location of the hole instead of the stairs and follow the same procedure in uncovering it. If you save your game in both slots, you will have a fall-back 'safe' file if you find yourself on a floor with no stairs or hole to descend further. As the ground floor of the third mine always is filled with stones, you may find it easiest to uncover the stairs to descend to the first floor beneath the surface before you search for any holes to use to descend further. The Sleeping Princess Keira will be found on the 255th Floor of the Third Mine. She is one of the special Magical Girls that you can marry in this game. When you reach the 255th Floor, you will be obliged to defeat all the Dark Creatures on that floor before you will be given access to the chamber in which Keira the Sleeping Beauty slumbers. Walk into the chamber to experience her first Heart Event. Each time you visit the 255th floor, you will be required to defeat the Dark Creatures again in order to destroy the barrier that separates the mine chamber from the Princess' bedchamber. If you try to cheat by turning the DS on and off to eliminate the Dark Creatures, the barrier will not crumble. Moreover, if you fall through a hole in the floor BEFORE you defeat all the Dark Creatures and witness the destruction of the barrier, you will be unable to trigger the event if you return to that floor by reloading your game. It therefore is wise to save your game in both slots at the 254th floor each time you visit Keira, only saving in one slot on the 255th floor until the barrier crumbles. Remember that you can find a Mythic Stone in this mine only if you do not have one in your possession. A Mythic Stone can be found on the 255th floor of the 3rd Mine. If you have a Mythic Stone, therefore, ship it before you visit Keira again in order to be able to find another one on her floor. The Cursed Tools are to be found in the 3rd Mine. When the curse is lifted from any Cursed Tool, it becomes a Blessed Tool. Blessed Tools are far more powerful than their Mystrile equivalents. Cursed Tools are powerful as well but they drain a tremendous amount of energy. It is best not to use them until you can afford to have them blessed. Moreover, once a Cursed Tool is equipped, you will be obliged to pay to have it removed from your hand. It costs 1000G to remove a Cursed Tool from your hand and 100,000G to remove the Curse from the Tool and transform it into a Blessed Tool. You must have at least one tool upgraded to Mystrile Level if you wish to find any of the Cursed Tools in the 3rd Mine. You must have transformed the Cursed Tools to Blessed Tools in order to be able to find a Mythic Stone in the 3rd Mine. In this game, you will be able to possess only a single Mythic Stone at any given time. Make certain that you either give it to Grey to upgrade a Mystrile tool to a Mythic tool or ship it before you return to the 3rd Mine if you wish to be able to find another Mythic Stone. (In FoMT/MFoMT, you could have as many Mythic Stones as you wished but this game is different.) In this game, you can find more than one copy of any Cursed item and floors on which Cursed Items are found are not item-specific. In other words, you can find ANY Cursed Tool or Accessory on ANY designated floor. Items found using your Hammer: Junk Ore 1G All Floors Copper 15G all floors (floors ending in 1) Silver 20G all floors (floors ending in 2) Gold 25G All Floors (floors ending in 3) Mystrile 40G All Floors (floors ending in 4) Orichalc: 50G All Floors Adamantite 50G All Floors Spring Sun 1G All Floors that end in 1 Summer Sun 1G All Floors that end in 2 Autumn Sun: 1G All Floors that end in 3 Winter Sun 1G All floors that end in 4 Mythic Stone 20,000G Up to Floor 255, every Floor that ends in 0; from Floor 255-999, every Floor that ends in 5. (Found on 255 as well) You usually will find 1 piece of Adamantite and/or Orichalc on EVERY floor of the Third Mine. Items found using your Hoe: Black Grass 10G All Floors Lithograph 1G Floor 50 and every floor that ends in 50 Cursed Tools (no value) Floor 24, 35, 48, 52, 68, 71, 87, 99, 106, 118, 124, 135, 142, 153, 162, 178, 185 and 197 Cursed Accessories 15,000G - 70,000G after Blessing Floor 324, 335, 348, 352, 368, 371, 387, 399, 406, 418, 424, 435, 442, 453, 462, 478, 485, 497, 724, 735, 748, 752, 768, 771, 787, 799, 806, 818, 824, 853, 862, 878, 885 and 897 Cursed Tools The Cursed Tools must be blessed in order to operate in a positive fashion as well. There are two different ways to remove the Curse on any Tool. You can ring the Church and pay 100,000G to remove the Curse on a Tool or you can find all 9 of the Lovely Stones from the 4th Mine. As in FoMT and MFoMT, the Mythic Stones will not appear in the Mine until you have all 6 of the Blessed Tools transformed from the Cursed Tools. Mythic Stones can be used to upgrade Mystrile Tools to Mythic Tools. Unlike FoMT or MFoMT, however, you only can find 1 Mythic Stone at a time and until it is used or sold, you will not be able to find another. Some players have had trouble obtaining the last Cursed Tool. I believe now that you must experience Keira's First Heart Event on the 255th Floor of the Third Mine before you will be able to find the sixth and last Cursed Tool. Certainly this is true in Harvest Moon Cute DS, the 'girl' version of this game. It is possible that you will not find the sixth and last Cursed Tool in HM DS until the Tool Box has been delivered to your house. The clue to this is in the description of the Tool Box on the Shopping Channel: 'The product I'm introducing today is... This Tool Box. You'd like to get more new tools, but your rucksack is full..., That's when the Tool Box will help! Put your tools in here to make room in your ruckack. Then you can get new tools! This Tool Box costs a mere 2000G...' When Thomas delivers the Tool Box, he will state: Hey, Freyr. The Tool Box that you ordered arrived. You need a Tool Box if you have lots of tools. Otherwise you'll have a problem. That's a good purchase. Anyhow, it's delivered.' In Harvest Moon Cute DS, you can find a full set of Cursed Tools even before you have been able to purchase a Tool Box, provided only that you have experienced Keira's 1st Heart Event. If you do not expand your house quickly, the Tool Box will be offered by the Shopping Network as the fourth offering after the Beauty Box, the Round Table and the Clock. If you do expand your house, however, the next level of items will be offered by the Shopping Network, beginning with the Refrigerator. In Harvest Moon games, the order in which you choose to improve your life is a matter of personal preference, but items and upgrades are unlocked by specific actions and purchases. I personally believe that the Refrigerator and Cabinet (Shelf) are more vital than the Tool Box, and in fact, there is no urgency with respect to finding the Cursed Tools, apart from the fact that Blessing them will result in the rescue of Harvest Sprites. As there are 101 Sprites to be rescued, however, again, it is a matter of personal preference as to which ones to rescue first. You only need to rescue 60 Sprites in order to rescue the Harvest Goddess. Cursed Accessories There are Cursed Accessories in this game as well as Cursed Tools. The Cursed Accessories must be blessed in order to have selling value and in order to operate in a positive manner. When cursed, they will operate in the opposite fashion! The best of the Accessories you can find here is the Witch Princess' Earrings. This accessory will restore your Stamina and recover Fatigue over the course of time, doing the work both of the Kappa Earrings and Goddess Earrings. Some of the Cursed Accessories you can find are as follows: Slow Shoes: Decreases Movement Speed. (When Blessed, will increase Movement Speed.) Time Ring: Speeds Up Time. (When Blessed, will slow down Time.) Harvest Goddess Earrings: Reduces Stamina bit by bit. (When Blessed, will increase Stamina bit by bit.) Kappa Hat: Speeds up Fatigue increase when using tools. (When Blessed, will slow down Fatigue increase when using tools.) Harvest Goddess Pendant: Decreases Maximum Stamina Rate (When Blessed, will increase Maximum Stamina Rate.) Friendship Pendant: Can't Make Friends Easily (When Blessed, will add 2 points to every one's FP overnight.) Harvest Goddess Hat: Increases Stamina loss when using tools. (When Blessed, will decrease Stamina loss when using tools.) Kappa Earrings: Fatigue Rate up bit by bit. (When Blessed, Fatigue Rate down bit by bit.) Kappa Pendant: Decreases Max Fatigue Rate. (When Blessed, increases Maximum Fatigue Rate.) Witch Princess Earrings: Decreases SR bit by bit. Increases Fatigue Rate Bit by Bit. (When Blessed, increases Stamina bit by bit. Decreases Fatigue Rate bit by bit.) As you can see, the Cursed Accessories operate in the opposite manner as their Blessed Counterparts. When Blessed, however, they will operate in a positive manner. Some Cursed Accessories found in the Mine when Blessed are the Large version of accessories that can be purchased at the Casino Window from Jet or from Van at their 'Small' level. For example, you can find the Truth Bangle, the H.G. Pendant, H.G. Earrings, H.G. Hat, Kappa Pendant, Kappa Earrings and Kappa Hat in their Cursed forms in the mine. Although you can purchase Friend Pendants in the village, you can find the Large variety in the Mine. When you have found the Cursed version of any Accessory in the Mine, its Medium counterpart will become available from Jet or Van at some point in the game. The Accessories that are unique to the Mine are the Time Ring, the Fast Shoes and the Witch Princess Earrings. As stated previously, the Witch Princess Earrings restore Stamina and reduce Fatigue. The Shoes will allow your character to run quickly. The Time Ring will slow down time whenever you are outside a building. These unique Accessories exist only in two forms: Cursed or Blessed. There are no 'small', 'medium' or 'large' Witch Princess Earrings! N.B. When you have found the Cursed version of a Large Accessory, the corresponding Medium Accessory will become available at some point, even if you never purchase the Small version. If, therefore, you wish to have a complete set of each Accessory, you must purchase the Small version as soon as possible after finding and blessing the Large Accessory. There is no reward for completing an Accessory collection, by the way, but some players do it for their own personal satisfaction. Telephone the Church in Mineral Town to have the Curse undone. Do not choose the option of 'Remove a Curse' as it simply will remove the Cursed Tool from your hand! If you equip a Cursed Tool by accident and do not have 100,000G to spend on the transformation of the tool to Blessed, you will be obliged to pay 1000G simply to unequip the Cursed Tool. Otherwise, it is far better to pay 100,000G to undo the Curse from the Tool. To undo a Curse, it will cost 100,000G. Is that your selection? So I'll undo the Curse from the Accessory. When they are Blessed, the Accessories found in the 3rd Mine can be used or sold to Van. The approximate price he is willing to pay for each varies from accessory to accessory. For 'Witch Princess Earrings', he will pay up to 243495G. For a 'Time Ring', he will pay up to 246520G. For a 'Friend Pendant L', he will pay up to 590725G. If you are mining for Cursed Accessories simply in order to sell them to Van, it would be best to choose the 'Friend Pendant L' as you will obtain a higher price for that than you will for most of the other accessories. By the way, you can find any number of Cursed Accessories of the same variety in the Mines and possess as many as you like. There is no restriction, unlike the restriction on the number of Mythic Stones you can have at any given time. Even with one Cursed Witch Princess Earrings in your rucksack, you can find another Cursed Witch Princess Earrings on the same trip to the Mines, although you will be obliged to hunt on a different floor for it! 4th Mine The Fourth Mine has 65,535 Floors, and you can fall 300 Floors at a time. You will be unable to unlock the 4th Mine unless you have visited the 255th Floor of the 3rd Mine to find the Sleeping Princess as well as reaching the 999th Floor of the 3rd Mine and defeating all the Dark Creatures there (including a Dark Cow!) You need to have at least one tool at Mystrile level but need not have all of them at that level in order to unlock the Fourth Mine. Once you have met all requirements, simply visit the Excavation Site as before after 9.00 p.m. to experience another scene with Carter wherein he requests the use of your hammer to open an entrance to the fourth and last mine. Items found using your Hoe: Black Grass 10G All Floors Lithograph 1G From Floor 50, every Floor ending in 50 Bronze Coin All Floors Silver Coin All Floors Gold Coin From Floor 1-300, every Floor ending in 0 Items found using your Hammer: Blue Wonderful Floors ending in 10 Purple Wonderful Floors ending in 20 Green Wonderful Floors ending in 30 Indigo Wonderful Floors ending in 40 Red Wonderful Floors ending in 50 Black Wonderful Floors ending in 60 Yellow Wonderful Floors ending in 70 White Wonderful Floors ending in 80 Orange Wonderful Floors ending in 90 As you can see, these mysterious stones are found only on Floors that end in 0. Navigating the 4th Mine When you enter the ground floor level of the 4th Mine, you will find that it is completely different from the 3rd Mine. You will see an empty expanse of floor with no stones to smash. The ground floor should have both stairs and a hole. You can decide which you would rather use to descend further. The only advantage to going far in the fourth mine is for the purpose of creating a new record for yourself. Any Wonderful Stone can be as easily found on the highest level where it appears as the lowest level. In other words, you can find the Blue Wonderful as easily on Floor 10 as floor 2010! Remember that you will lose 100 SR for every 100 floors that you fall when falling down a hole. If you wish to conserve energy as much as possible, you may wish to return to the surface after finding any Wonderful Stone, then descending again to find the next one. You do not use any energy when you climb back to the surface. Incidentally, specific floors in the 4th mine seems to follow certain patterns. Often very large floors with only a single rock (and one Dark Creature in the form of a Dark Cow) will have neither stairs nor holes by which to descend further. Once you have smashed the rock on a floor of this sort to obtain a Wonderful Stone, your only option is to return to the surface, then descend again to reach another floor of this mine. There are 9 Wonderful Stones and when you collect the last one, the Harvest Goddess will appear to grant one of three wishes. Once your wish has been granted, the stones will disappear. You then can collect all nine again for another appearance of the Harvest Goddess with three more wish options. The three wish options are loaded randomly into the game when you find the last Wonderful Stone. You may wish, therefore, to save your game before you uncover the last Stone. If you do not like the wish options that the Harvest Goddess gives, you then can reload your game to try again, in the same manner as you can reload to find a different Cursed Tool or Accessory in the Third Mine. N.B. REMEMBER ALWAYS TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE EMPTY SLOT IN YOUR RUCKSACK WHEN SEARCHING FOR A SPECIAL ITEM OR IT WILL NOT APPEAR! ESPECIALLY WHEN COLLECTING WONDERFULS, YOU WILL NEED A SEPARATE EMPTY SLOT RESERVED FOR EACH WONDERFUL BEFORE YOU REACH ANY FLOOR WHERE A WONDERFUL CAN BE FOUND. The 'Wonderful' Wishes: When you have found the ninth and last Wonderful stone, the Harvest Goddess will appear and offer to grant a wish. The eight other Wonderful stones will join the ninth on top of your head and then shoot off your head like fireworks. She then will give you the option of choosing from one of three wishes. She will declare: 'Tadaaaa. You have now gathered all of the 'Wonderfuls'. Congratulations. And so, I'll grant you one wish of your liking. Pick from the next page.' Here are a list of options that are randomly given by the Harvest Goddess: Give me an item. (She will give you the Harvest Goddess Flower.) Raise shipping price.. Heal my animals' sicknesses. Raise my farm level. (Raised Title 3 degrees from Apprentice Level 7 to Apprentice Level 10) Recover my St/F. Please give me money. (Can be about 11000G) Give me a HS Medal. (2000 to 4000 Medals given randomly) Make me popular Take curse off equipped item. N.B. The option to 'Take curse off equipped item' appears to be available in EVERY case. It is only the other two wish options that change randomly. When she has granted your wish, she will say: 'I'll be on my way. I'll take the 'Wonderfuls'. Do your best to gather more.' The one wish that offers something unique is the wish for 'an item' as the Harvest Goddess Flower is an item on your Shipping List. Although it is worth only 1G in the Valley as opposed to the 1,000,000G that you would obtain for it if you could sell it to Won in Mineral Town, if you wish to complete your Shipping List you will need to obtain at least one of these at some point. In terms of monetary value, the option to 'take curse off' is worth 100,000G as that is the price Carter in Mineral Town charges to bless a Cursed Item. If you ask for money, you will obtain about 10,000G to 11,000G from the Harvest Goddess. Raising your Farm Level by three degrees is an interesting option although the benefits of that will not be as obvious as some of the other wishes. Obviously, at the end of the day, the choice is yours... Thomas and the 4th Mine If you reach a floor that ends in 00, you will see that there is a secret chamber beyond a barrier, quite like the chambers on the 255th floor of the 3rd and 4th Mines. In order to destroy the barrier, you must defeat all the Dark Creatures on the floor without cheating. When the barrier crumbles, you will be able to enter the secret chamber. Here, rather than finding Keira, you will find Thomas. Thomas: What am I doing? Can't you see? I'm doing business! After he announces this, you will be able to buy items from him. Among these: Water (Just normal water): 100G Bread: 1000G Mix Juice 10000G If you buy water, 'Thank you. This will get Mineral Town going. Come back again.' Water will restore 1 point of Stamina but will not affect FR. Floors ending in 20 and 60 have only a single stone. Floors ending in 50 and 00 have many stones. Courtship of Keira and Mining Tips and Tricks If you wish to court Keira, the 'Sleeping Beauty' of Harvest Moon, you must visit her on the 255th floor of the Third Mine. Each time you visit her there, you must defeat every Dark Creature on the floor before the barrier will crumble. You cannot cheat by turning the DS on and off, nor can you fall through the floor by accident and then reload on the 255th floor. If either of these events occur, the barrier will not crumble. It therefore is a good idea to save your game in both slots on the 254th floor, then descend to the 255th floor in one slot only in case you are pushed down a hole by accident or otherwise fail to complete the quest of defeating all Dark Creatures in order to cause the barrier to crumble. When you visit Keira on the 255th floor, her affection will increase by 2000 AP even if you give her nothing. If you give her Golden Lumber, her AP will increase by 800 and her FP will increase by 9. When you give Keira the item requested in one of her 'Heart Events', her AP will increase by 5000. If you are serious about courting the Sleeping Beauty, you should visit her daily, giving her Golden Lumber each time, apart from the occasions when she has requested a specific item and you need to give that to her in order to 'satisfy her'. Making these trips to the 3rd Mine can have other benefits if you remember that lithographs are found on every 50th floor and a Mythic Stone can be found on any floor that ends with 0 until the 255th floor and on the 255th floor itself. Only one Mythic Stone can be held in your possession at any given time, so make certain that you sell or ship the Mythic Stone you have before you visit the Mine. When you go to the Mine, do the following: Save your game only in one slot on the ground floor, find the stairs and descend to the 1st floor. Here, save your game in the other slot. Now find the hole rather than looking for stairs. If you do this by falling down the hole, don't save your game. Instead, reload on Floor 1, uncover the hole immediately and then save your game in both slots. Now fall down the hole and try to land on one of the following: Floor 50, or as close to Floor 100 as possible. If you land on Floor 50, save your game only in one slot and uncover the Lithograph and the hole, then save again in both slots. If you land on Floor 47-49, it may be worth your while to uncover the stairs and descend carefully, floor by floor to Floor 50 to find the lithograph and a Mythic Stone there. In the same fashion, if you land on Floor 97-99, you may wish to uncover the stairs and descend carefully, floor by floor to Floor 100, to find the lithograph and a Mythic Stone on Floor 100. In either case, I always keep one slot saved on the previous floor, whether it is Floor 49 or Floor 99, in case there is no Mythic Stone or no lithograph on the next floor. That way, you can reload at Floor 49 or Floor 99 and descend again to a new configuration at Floor 50 or Floor 100. I like to mine in an organised fashion, but of course, you can take your chances and simply smash stones on every floor that ends in zero, hoping to find a Mythic Stone or wait until you reach Floor 255. Remember that ALL special items in the mines are loaded randomly onto the floor. Although the probability for finding a lithograph on a designated floor appears to be far higher than the probability for a Mythic Stone, once or twice on a designated floor, I actually could not find a lithograph. This occurred only twice and I successfully uncovered lithographs on over 100 occasions. So you see, it is almost certain that you will find a lithograph on a designated floor. Mythic Stones, on the other hand, are less probable. Sometimes I must reload three times before I can find both a Mythic Stone and a lithograph on a designated floor. I still prefer to do that rather than taking my chances, as I then have one less item on my list of 'things to do.' You can fall almost 100 floors at a time in the 3rd Mine, so it is possible to reach the 255th floor in three falls only. I basically try to fall to the lowest floor possible each time unless I can fall to a floor that is within three floors of a lithograph. In other words, I try to fall to 47-49 or 97-99 in the first fall from the hole at Floor 1. I then try to fall to Floor 147-149 or Floor 197-199 on the second fall. On the third and last fall, I try to reach Floor 247-249 or any floor from 250-254. I then use the stairs to descend to the floor with the lithograph or the 255th floor. Using this strategy, you can find up to 5 lithographs and 1 Mythic Stone in a single trip to visit Keira. If, after visiting Keira, you wish to explore the Mines further, find the hole on the 255th floor, then try to fall to a floor that is as close as possible to a floor where a Cursed Accessory can be found. The first floor where one can be found is Floor 324. The next is 335. See the section on the Third Mine for all floors where Cursed Accessories can be found. As far as the Cursed Tools are concerned, I have not been able to find any since I obtained a full set of Blessed Tools as well as a full set of Mythic Tools, but I need further verification from other players as to whether or not they can be found once a player has a complete set of Blessed Tools. In any case, as you can see, visiting Keira can be a fairly easy task if you save your game in both slots and make certain that every fall through a hole 'counts'. If you do not care about lithographs or Mythic Stones, it is simply a matter of reaching the 255th floor as quickly as possible. REMEMBER ALWAYS TO RESTORE YOUR ENERGY AS SOON AS YOU LAND WHENEVER YOU FALL DOWN A HOLE! THE FARTHER YOU FALL, THE MORE ENERGY YOU LOSE.

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