Main Walkthrough
A seasonal celebration of the changing of the year, the Harvest Festival is a regular, important event in Princess Maker 2. Taking place on the same month each year, the Harvest Festival gives your daughter an opportunity to put her hard-earned skills to the test in one of four contests. Take the grand prize and you'll be rolling in money, as well as some very useful items.
This guide will take you through the ins and outs of the Harvest Festival in Princess Maker 2. You don't have to participate, but ignoring the Harvest Festival is a sure way to undercut your daughter's progress.
The Basics
The Harvest Festival takes place in October (10th month) of every year of the game. During the Harvest Festival all other activities are suspended, and you only have two scheduling options: Participate in the festival or stay home. If you decide to stay home your daughter will be treated to a month-long period of Free Time, which can be handy if her Stress is especially high.
The Harvest Festival consists of four contests, each with its own rules, duration, and prizes. The contests set benchmarks for your daughter's stats that you'll need to break to win. You can only choose to participate in one of the contests per Harvest Festival, and it takes up the entirety of the month. You won't return to the menu until the contest is over, so once you've begun the month you'll be committed to your daughter's current equipment, items, and stats.
Once your daughter reaches the age of fourteen she'll receive a Rival, assuming her reputation in a particular field is high enough. Earning a Rival will clear your daughter's Stress after their introductory cut scene. The Rivals will compete in one of the contests, and if your daughter doesn't participate in the same contest her Stress will rise by 10.
Combat Tournament
A series of one-on-one battles to see who will come out on top, the Combat Tournament is for daughters who specialize in, well, combat. Your daughter will need to win four fights against the kingdom's mightiest warriors. There are many potential combatants, though they generally work out into one of three categories:
- Dedicated physical fighters
- Dedicated magic users
- Combined fighters and magic users
If your daughter has a rival (Anita for fighters, Wendy for magic users) they will always be your first opponent. They are powerful opponents who get stronger with each passing year - especially if you're playing Princess Maker 2 Refine - so if your daughter can beat her Rival, she's usually in a good position to win the whole thing.
Combat Tournament battles play out the same as street battles, and similarly to battles against monsters. Your daughter needs to deplete her opponent's HP or Morale before they can deplete hers. The higher her Combat and / or Magic Skill, as well as her defences and equipment, the more likely it is your daughter will survive each round. Her health and Morale are restored between rounds.
Generally speaking your daughter won't do all that well in the Combat Tournament until she can easily survive all of the adventuring areas, up to and including the Northern Mountain. Equip her with some Mithril Armor (and a Katana, if you rely on physical attacks), then try your luck. The final enemy in the tournament is usually a melee-driven hulk named Massal Halbar / Muscle Halbal, so you may find magic more useful than physical prowess for the final match. Either way, your Combat / Magic Skill and Attack / Magic Attack should be as close to 100 as you can manage if you expect a victory.
It's important to note that the Combat Tournament does not necessarily last until an opponent is defeated. Each battle takes place over nine rounds, at the end of which the character with the most remaining HP wins. You can be avoiding every attack and still lose if your daughter has a low starting HP, so make sure you buff up her Stamina before entering the Combat Tournament.
Winning a round at the Combat Tournament will earn you 300 gold. If your daughter wins the entire Combat Tournament you'll receive 3,000 gold, a Royal Sword, and +20 to your daughter's Fighter Reputation or Magic Reputation, depending on which combat style you used more. If your daughter comes in second place you'll receive 1,000 gold and +10 to your daughter's Fighter or Magic Reputation.
Royal Art Festival
The contest of choice for any daughter who favors the Painting class, the Royal Art Festival is a grand display of the kingdom's top artistic talent. Contestants are graded on the painting they submit, and the entrants with the top three scores win prizes. Although one of your daughter's potential Rivals will always participate in the Royal Art Festival, she is not considered a Rival in these contests.
Unsurprisingly, you need to spend a fair amount of time in Painting class to win the Royal Art Festival. There are two reasons for this:
- Occasionally while studying Painting your daughter's teacher, Filkins, will ask if she wants to create a painting. If you give him 100 gold for materials your daughter will paint something that can be submitted to the Art Festival. This is the only way to participate in this contest.
- Painting raises your daughter's Art stat. The quality of the painting produced above is equivalent to the Art stat. The higher the stat, the better the painting, the more likely you'll win.
The Royal Art Festival is arguably the easiest contest to win. Get your daughter's Art stat to 90 or above, then let her produce a painting. Once she comes up with 'Advent of Angels', she'll almost always win the Art Festival. The closer you get to 100 Art before your daughter creates 'Advent of Angels', the more likely you are to win. You can either use the Dancing class to push Art up, or just not create a painting when asked, before you max out the stat. There are no redos, so make sure 'Advent of Angels' is as good as possible!
The winner of the Art Festival receives 3,000 gold and a Master's Brush, as well as +30 Social Reputation. Second place receives 1,200 gold and +20 Social Reputation, while third place receives 800 gold.
Dance Party
A battle to see who can cut the best rug, the Dance Party is for daughters who love the Dancing class, as well as physical pursuits in general. Contestants are graded on Artistic and Technical Merit, and their combined scores determine who comes out as the winner. Your daughter's Rival for this contest is Patricia.
In order to participate in the Dance Party your daughter needs a dress, at minimum the Cotton Dress from the Tailor. She'll also need high Art (Technical Merit) and Glamour (Artistic Merit) scores to reach first place. The closer to 100 points in Art and 200 in Glamour, the better your daughter will do. The Dance Party is judged by the Minister from the palace, and having a good relationship with him further greases the wheels in your daughter's favor. The Minister values Intelligence over all else.
The overall winner of the Dance Party receives 4,000 gold and a Lady's Ring, as well as +40 Social Reputation. The Technical Merit winner receives 1,000 gold and +30 Social Reputation, while the Artistic Merit winner receives 500 gold and +20 Social Reputation.
Cooking Contest
The favored competition of housekeepers everywhere, the Cooking Contest is a great choice for your daughter's first or second Harvest Festivals. It's entirely possible to boost your daughter's stats high enough to win on the first year, giving you a big foot up for the rest of the game. Your daughter's Rival for this contest is Marthia.
In order to win the Cooking Contest your daughter will need high Cooking and Sensitivity scores. Cooking should be pushed as high as you can get it - 100 is the max - while getting her Sensitvity to around 200 should do. Any higher and you'll risk having your daughter run off, and if she does this on the month of the festival you'll have no choice but to skip it. Housekeeping and Babysitting are good starter jobs if you want to win the Cooking Contest.
The winner of the Cooking Contest receives 3,000 gold, a Paradise Egg, and +40 Housework Reputation. Second place receives 1,000 gold and +25 Housework Reputation, while third place receives 500 gold and +15 Housework Reputation.
First-Place Rewards
Whenever you place first in a Harvest Festival contest you'll receive an additional prize. All four prizes are worthy of note, for a variety of reasons.
- The Royal Sword can be used in combat, though it isn't at all useful. That said, it adds +50 Elegance to your daughter, which is very handy for social climbing. You can also sell it, but doing so will anger the King and the General, hurting your daughter's reputation. Once you have the Royal Sword, you should keep the Royal Sword.
- The Master Brush boosts your daughter's Art stat by 50 while in the inventory. Very handy for a few jobs, as well as winning the Dance Party. Unlike the Royal Sword you can sell the Master Brush without repercussion. Unless you want your daughter to become a painter you should sell the Master Brush before the game ends, as it almost guarantees that outcome, given the extreme boost to Art.
- The Lady's Ring boosts your daughter's Elegance, making it useful for social climbing situations. It can also be sold for a nice profit, again without repercusion.
- The Paradise Egg has three potential uses. When you get home from the Harvest Festival Cube will offer to turn it into a meal, and if you agree your daughter will receive +50 Stamina. If you turn him down and sell the egg you'll receive some money. If you leave the egg in your inventory for a month it will hatch, and the creature that comes out will bless your daughter with +100 Sensitivity. The Stamina boost is generally the best use for the Paradise Egg, but the choice is yours.
Main Walkthrough
