The Mechanics of Heart Events and Rival Heart Events in Grand Bazaar

You will find most of the early Heart Events and Rival Heart Events for the Eligible Girls and Bachelors in my Courtship and Marriage Guide now. As always, I am able to update my posts of these guides on weekends, while the version of IGN remains unchanged until Monday. You therefore will find newer expanded versions of my Guides usually on this site.

It is interesting to note that other Events such as the Events that unlock the three Windmills will occur on different days in different files, so it is possible that they are loaded into the game randomly within a specific 'window of opportunity'. In five different files now, I have experienced the Windmill Events on a number of different days, within a seven day period! I never have triggered one on a rainy day, however, so good weather may be a requirement. Another Requirement is that the Events will not occur on a Festival Day or a Bazaar Day.

In Hero of Leaf Valley, there was a specific hierarchy for Events. Events that were mandatory for the best successful 'ending' had first priority. It is possible that Grand Bazaar has a little hierarchy in certain situations as well. For example, if you purchase an Animal or an Expansion at the Bazaar, the Delivery of that Animal or Announcement of completion of the Expansion ALWAYS occurs on the next morning at 6.00 a.m.

The Visits by Felix in the first year to deliver Tea for the Tea Party and Wine for the Wine Festival respectively did not occur on the same day in different files. Obviously, the Event must occur before the Festival date, but within that requirement, there apparently is room for variation.

Events and Weather for the next day evidently are loaded into the game when you save it before going to bed on the previous night. The save File actually will include sound effects for the Weather that is current when you awaken.

Originally, I thought that Heart Events might be random to some extent once any requirements had been met. I now realise that they simply obey specific rules as in any Harvest Moon game. They will not occur on any Festival or Bazaar Day and most require fine weather. If an Eligible Girl/Bachelor's Heart Event will occur only on Sunday, for example, one has less chance of experiencing it as soon as all requirements are met as most of the Weekly Bazaars occur on Saturday or Sunday. With rainy weekends and Bazaars, my male Character had no opportunity to experience Sherry's 1st Heart Event until fairly late in Spring. It was so late in fact, that she had attained Purple Heart level by the time he was able to experience her 1st Heart Event and her 2nd Heart Event occurred the very next day.

I do believe now that Rival Heart Events have Heart Level 'ceilings' as in other Harvest Moon games. It appears that, once the Eligible Girl/Bachelor reaches Purple Heart Level, you no longer will be able to experience the 1st Rival Heart Event. If any one can refute this, I would be happy to hear it, but in the files where my Character raised Heart Levels too quickly, he/she missed the 1st Rival Heart Event for one or more couples. Rivals never marry, but most players like to experience as many Events as possible. I therefore would advise players not to raise Heart Levels too quickly in Grand Bazaar. The Spring Festivals such as Flower Festival and Spring Harmony Day offer extra opportunities to boost Heart Levels. It may be better on ordinary days simply to 'meet and greet' all Eligible Girls/Bachelors than to ply them with too many Gifts until you have triggered the 1st Rival Heart Events for all couples.

As far as marriage requirements are concerned, there is an added requirement for each Eligible Girl and Bachelor to raise the Heart Levels of specific Villagers before any proposal of marriage will be accepted.

These involve the Eligible Girl or Bachelor's Family or another individual who is treated like a family member and are as follows:

Ivan: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Dirk for a successful proposal
Dirk: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Ivan for a successful proposal
Lloyd: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Felix and Sherry for a successful proposal

Sherry: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Felix and Lloyd for a successful proposal
Antoinette: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Claude for a successful proposal
Daisy: Must have at least 3 Hearts with Stuart and Ethel for a successful proposal

The text of all Heart and Rival Heart Events will be found in my Courtship and Marriage Guide in the sections that deal with each of the Eligible Girls and/or Bachelors involved in the Events.

Heart Events and Rival Heart Events are romantic Events that occur either between your Character and an Eligible Girl or Bachelor or between the Eligible Girl or Bachelor and your Rival for his/her affections. The first Heart Event has no requirements in terms of Heart Level but subsequent Heart Events do. As indicated previously, where Rival Heart Events are concerned, there is a 'ceiling' in terms of the Heart Level of the Eligible Girl/Bachelor. If the Eligible Girl or Bachelor's Heart Level exceeds a specific Level, you no longer will be able to experience the Rival Heart Event. In terms of the 1st Rival Heart Event, the basic Requirement is that the Eligible Girl/Bachelor has not attained Purple Heart Level. Once Purple Heart level is reached, you no longer will be able to experience the 1st Rival Heart Event.

Heart Events actively involve only your Character and an Eligible Girl or Bachelor even if other Characters are present. There is a point in the Event where you will be required to make a choice between two Responses. The Response that you choose will affect the Character's Heart Level either positively or negatively. Both results are included in the text of any Heart Event.

Rival Heart Events, on the other hand, involve only the Eligible Girl or Bachelor and your Rival for his/her affections. You will witness the Event but not be an active participant in it. There may be other peripheral Characters in the Event but the main Characters are the Eligible Girl/Bachelor and your Rival.

If you choose the incorrect response in the course of any Heart Event, it may decrease the Heart Level of the Eligible Girl/Bachelor but it will not prevent you from experiencing the next Heart Event nor from marrying the individual when all requirements are met. If you feel that you made the wrong response, you can reload your game to experience the day again with any Events that can be triggered, but once you have saved any result, you will not be able to experience that Event again.

As in other Harvest Moon games, any Heart Events can be experienced when the Character has exceeded the Heart Level requirement for the Event. In other words, if you did not trigger the Heart Event at a lower level, you can experience even the Black Heart Event when the Eligible Girl/Bachelor is at deepest red heart. You NEVER need to lower an individual's Heart Level in order to trigger any Heart Event. It is the Heart Events that are a requirement for marriage to any Eligible Girl or Bachelor.

Rival Heart Events involve only the Eligible Girl or Bachelor and your Rival for his/her affections. You will witness the Event but not be an active participant in it. There may be other peripheral Characters in the Event but the main Characters are the Eligible Girl/Bachelor and your Rival.

As Rival Couples never marry, Rival Heart Events are not as significant in Grand Bazaar as they are in other Harvest Moon games. If the Heart Level of the Eligible Girl or Bachelor is too high, you no longer will be able to trigger the Rival Heart Event associated with a specific Heart Level. As previously stated, you no longer will be able to experience the 1st Rival Heart Event if the Eligible Girl or Bachelor has attained Purple Heart Level.

The purchase of the traditional Harvest Moon 'Big Bed' is a requirement for Marriage. After marriage, you can have a Child although the Child never will become an adult.

If you choose the incorrect response in the course of any Heart Event, it may decrease the Heart Level of the Eligible Girl/Bachelor but it will not prevent you from experiencing the next Heart Event nor from marrying the individual when all requirements are met. If you feel that you made the wrong response, you can reload your game to experience the day again with any Events that can be triggered, but once you have saved any result, you will not be able to experience that Event again. If you choose the 'incorrect' Response in the course of the Event, the Heart Level of the Eligible Girl/Bachelor will decrease. Heart Colour may or may not change depending on the actual point total at the time the Event is triggered. In other words, if the Eligible Girl or Bachelor only reached Purple Heart Level on the previous day, giving the incorrect Response in the course of the Purple Heart Event will result in a colour change back to Black/Grey. If, however, the Eligible Girl or Bachelor almost has reached Blue Heart Level when the Event is triggered, the Heart Colour will remain Purple, even with the Affection Point loss.

The Gift of an item that an Individual detests will result in a subtraction of Affection or Friendship Points but it will be a smaller point loss than that which results from an incorrect Response during any Heart Event. Gifts that a Character likes will result in an increase in Affection Points and a Most Favourite has the greatest value of all. The ordinary value of a Most Favourite Gift when given as a Birthday Gift is multiplied.

The purchase of the traditional Harvest Moon 'Big Bed' is a requirement for Marriage. After marriage, you can have a Child although the Child never will become an adult.

Information received from a player, as yet not confirmed in my games:

Evidently you cannot make a successful proposal in the first year, even if you have met all Requirements for marriage. The earliest that you can marry is the 12th of Spring in the second year. Furthermore, no marriages will occur during the Winter Season in any year. (Unconfirmed in my own games, although more than one player has been unable to marry in Winter and in the first year.)

As of 23 September, the schedules of all Heart and Rival Heart Events are included in my Courtship and Marriage Guide as well as special Day-by-Day Calendars for Heart Events and Rival Heart Events.