Harvestella is the latest farming sim to make its way to Nintendo Switch, but even though farming is a major feature of the game, exploration and combat play a crucial role in those farm sim mechanics. Since there is a surprising amount to get into, we have 11 tips to ensure your success when you start playing Harvestella.
One thing to know about Harvestella is that time is of the essence so it’s important to take advantage of any time-saving techniques available. These 11 tips will not only help you as you start the game but make sure you have all the tools you need to make the most of every day.
1. Start With Crops
As the name suggests, Harvestella will involve planting, watering, and harvesting a lot of crops. A day in the game typically starts at 6 a.m. well before shops have opened up so it is worth working on the farm before leaving to explore any dungeons or towns.
After unlocking the hammer, the rocks on the farm can be destroyed to provide more space for crops. Plow the ground, plant some seeds, and make sure crops are watered to earn plenty of money to unlock some more features around the farm.
2. Empty Pockets Before Traveling
After finishing the farming work in the morning, it’s time to venture out into the world and visit the town or explore a dungeon. Pocket space is limited, so it’s important to make sure you’ve only packed the essentials and have room to collect items outside the farm.
The first thing to do is to offload any harvested crops by placing them in the sell box and earn money from the produce the next morning. From there, many raw crafting and cooking materials will be unnecessary so they can be stored in the storage box. Of course, there are some things that are worth keeping on your person.
3. Carry Some Healing Items
Raw cooking materials help recover a lot of health when in the dungeons, so be sure to keep a few in stock just in case things get tough. Unlocking the cooking feature allows players to make use of raw ingredients and make food that provides much higher recovery.
Healing items also heal the entire party at once instead of a single party member. If a party member’s health is low, do not hesitate to break out a little snack to keep from getting knocked out. Luckily, if a party member is knocked out, they recover after a bit of time, so it’s not as crucial as protecting your own playable character.
Getting knocked out is bad because you’ll be subject to medical fees and lose six hours of the following day, so don’t be stingy with healing.
4. Always Carry Repair Kits
Broken bridges are a common obstacle in dungeons that require repairs in order to reach a secret area with a treasure chest or even progress the story. Carrying a few repair kits will ensure that bridges do not become a source of frustration in the dungeons.
Crafting repair kits does take 20 minutes, but that’s far less than the time that would be spent heading all the way back home to make one. Craft them using one lumber and one hardstone, both of which can be found throughout the dungeons.
5. Always Carry Return Bells
Time is a crucial resource in Harvestella and any item that helps save more of it is going to be essential. Return Bells will teleport your character back home instantly and make it easy to go to sleep before midnight.
A Return Bell can maximize the amount of time spent in a dungeon without having to worry about the time needed to get home. It takes three Monolite Fragments and 20 minutes to craft.
6. Build Ladders
Like crafting, repairs do take some time to make but it is always worth using the hour needed to repair a ladder found in a dungeon. These ladders provide quick routes through the dungeon and shortcuts that skip much of the winding path.
Luckily, building ladders doesn’t require any resources outside of time, so they can be built without the need for repair kits. Unfortunately, ladders can only be built from the top so any new dungeons will require exploration to reach and repair.
7. Unlock Fast Travel Points
The first major dungeon provides players with the Motus Magicite which will allow them to activate Motus Monolites which act as fast travel points. Though the fast travel is convenient and overall beneficial, there is a caveat to using fast travel in Harvestella.
Fast travel can only be done within a specific location. Fast travel points in a town will only allow travel between points within that same town. This applies to dungeons as well. The one exception is that players can use any Motus Monolite to travel home instantly.
Regardless, these fast travel points are going to cut down a lot of the time it takes to walk from place to place and provide more time to progress down a dungeon or even quickly shop for some seeds.
8. Check the Minimap
The minimap is located at the top right corner of the screen and it provides a lot of helpful information. While it takes a bit of getting used to, the most helpful aspect of the minimap is the ability to see any harvesting locations along the path to find ores or gather plants.
Familiar dungeons or areas become a quick spring with the minimap because the resourc points are easily visible without surveying the area thoroughly. In addition, the minimap can indicate any new areas yet to be explored. Opening the map with the minus (-) button will provide a better look, but the minimap is more readily visible at any given point.
9. Use Job Points
Battling enemies will earn job points that can be used to unlock abilities in any given job or class. These will unlock special attacks, bonus abilities, strengthen attacks, or even lower the cooldown time when switching between jobs in battle.
The abilities unlocked for each job will only become more crucial as the enemies become stronger and stronger. Some jobs will provide attacks and abilities that give an advantage over some of the bosses in the game so it’s worth checking these skill trees regularly.
10. Don’t Forget Special Attacks
In the thick of battle, it can be easy to forget some of the resources at your disposal. Some fights can be overwhelming, but a special attack can really change the tides in these situations.
Special attacks will start fully charged at the beginning of an encounter, but after use, there is some wait time before it recharges and can be used again. Switching between jobs gives instant access to that jobs specials but a cooldown timer will still appear after using that job’s specials.
Do not forget these because they could make the difference between victory and defeat. A defeat typically means being knocked out which comes with some punishments. Days will start at 12 p.m. instead of 6 a.m. and Cres will charge her doctor’s fee.
11. Get To Bed on Time
Listen, I hate going to bed early as much as the next person but there are some consequences for failing to do so in Harvestella. Get to bed by midnight to ensure that your character does not pass out.
Passing out will result in the same punishment as getting knocked out by enemies. Cres will charge some doctor fees for the treatment and back home and the next day will start at 12 p.m. instead of the 6 a.m. start time.
These were 11 tips to ensure your success in Harvestella when you start the game. Time truly is the most valuable resource in Harvestella, so be ready to take advantage of every resource, item, and technique to save as much of it as possible. For more guides on Harvestella, stay tuned to Twinfinite.
