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Harvestella may look like Final Fantasy meets Stardew Valley on the outside, but it puts a few twists on the farm sim genre that take a bit of getting used to. Time passes differently here, and you need more than just a few sword whacks to take down Harvestella’s enemies. A unique end-of-season event also means you need to plan your time more carefully than usual. This Harvestella beginner’s guide includes tips for managing your time, using the hob system effectively, and topping up your limited resources to make crafting a bit easier.
Walk, don’t run
If you think you’re moving a bit slow in Harvestella’s fields and caves, that’s okay. You are moving slowly, but the alternative is running, which consumes a significant chunk of your stamina. Time passes slowly everywhere except on the world map, but replenishing your stamina is costly, especially early in the game when access to cooking ingredients is limited.
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Now Playing: HARVESTELLA – Launch Trailer – Nintendo Switch
You’re better off taking it a bit slower than you might like and conserving stamina, so you can use that energy to complete tasks on the farm or harvest essential items in the field, such as lumber and stone.
Travel fast
Fast travel unlocks in Chapter 2, when Dianthus teaches you how to use the Motus Monolite, the magical-looking orbs you may have seen dotted around every location. How to use them just involves pressing the action button or key when you’re next to them. You can travel to any activated Motus Monolite in a given area or travel back to your farm. The benefit is that this travel method cuts down on time spent on the world map, which means you can devote more time to your other activities.
If you need to return to your farm quickly before Chapter 2, keep a Return Bell on hand so you don’t get caught out after dark.
Plan ahead
Like other life sims, you only have so much time in a day, and you need to use it wisely. After finishing your daily routine around Bird’s Eye Brae, decide what you want to do next before setting out to wander the world map or speeding along the Motus Monolite network. Even with fast travel, you’ll likely only have enough time to explore one area or complete one or two quests in a day. There are no hard time limits, but it’s still a good idea to spend your days wisely and efficiently.
Get some seed funding
Crops are your best source of money in the first few chapters, so while you should set aside some Grilla–cash in Harvestella speak–for inventory upgrades and new skill books, most of your profits should go back into buying seeds. Low-cost veggies such as Dress Lettuce should be your foundation, thanks to their decent profit margin and short growing time. Once you have enough extra cash, splash out on more expensive seeds. You naturally won’t be able to afford as many of these as the low-cost seeds, but they help fill out your cash reserves much more effectively.
Get a job
Once you start unlocking jobs, make sure to switch them out and experiment with every new class and their skill boards. Your basic attacks can only carry you so far, and as in traditional RPGs, unlocking new skills is vital for tackling stronger enemies and bosses. Harvestella starts with the standard fighter and mage jobs, before branching out into support roles, healers, and more complex attackers who can combine melee skills with magic to sweep the field.
Just don’t forget your skills have cooldown timers. You need to plan your attacks and combos carefully to avoid getting stuck with no special abilities at hand. One way to make sure you have every situation covered is by stacking your jobs. You can equip up to three jobs and swap between them with the press of a button, so bear that in mind when deciding how best to approach a challenge.
Stop and chat
Chatting with the good folks in every village does more than just give you some insight into their daily lives. Some have lengthy side quests to saddle you with. Most of these are loaded with lore and surprisingly involved storytelling, and they all reward you handsomely with thousands of Grilla and other items.
Not far into the story, you’ll also unlock the option to chat with your party members at a Motus Monolite, and you should, every time. These chats increase the buffs that food provides, which makes them perfect prep work for taking on tough dungeons or the even tougher bosses that await you at their end.
Quiet time
One of Harvestella’s unique features is Quietus, a day of death that occurs at the end of every season. No crops grow during Quietus, normal people aren’t out and about, and your activities are fairly limited as a result. Make sure to factor this into your seasonal planning.
It’s not all bad news, though. During Quietus, the well on your farm transports you to a multi-layered dungeon with even more wells. These are either full of treasure, nothing, or monsters, but whatever you get–unless it’s nothing– is always handy since you can take it back home and either sell it or use it in crafting.
Look to your own backyard
Basic resources such as lumber and stone come from outcrops at various places around the world, but your access to them is fairly limited in the early game. It can take two days or more just to get a decent amount of resources accumulated for simple tasks, such as making a hammer, but you can supplement your resource gathering with mining and lumber outcrops on your own farm. Granted, these only supply you with a handful of each, but it can help make the difference between crafting something vital and having to wait yet again.
The fish pond on your farm also has some valuable catches in there, so don’t forget to cast your line from time and time and ship or cook what comes out.
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