Cultural Levels

Each small town in Anthos is in need of assistance. Whether related to deserted buildings or long-forgotten festivities, the villagers will recruit you to help them revitalize their towns.

A town's restoration status is displayed as the town's cultural level. This rank starts at zero stars and increases as you help the town. The maximum rank is at 5 stars. Any cultural level points you earn after the stars are all filled won't be used towards completing another town's rank.

As you increase a town's cultural level, the town's atmosphere will change. You'll find more decorations around the town (flowerpots, etc.), and the shop's inventories will expand. If you are living in the town when its level changes, exiting your farmhouse will trigger a scene where you see improvements made to the town. If you don't live in the town, the Tiny Harvest Goddess will tell you that the town is doing better and suggest you "Go check it out!"

A scene will happen when you begin the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cultural star. There isn't a town revitalization scene when you complete the 5th cultural star, even though Tiny implies you should go and see if anything changed.

Increasing Cultural Levels

When you start helping a village, the local star rank will be at zero points. As you help remove the Harvest Sprites' walls, you'll earn cultural-level points. You'll be through the first star when the wall finally goes away.

After that, living on a farm near the town is the primary way to influence a town's cultural level. The goods you ship via your shipping bin will influence the nearby town's cultural rating, adding to the town's star rank in the morning.

Not every farm space in Anthos will influence a village's cultural level. The Breezy Hills Farm, Desert Entrance Farm, Oasis Farm, River of Blessings Farm, Snowy Playground Farm, Southern Cliff Farm, and the Twin Ponds Farm do not affect any town's cultural level.

(Note: The Breezy Hills Farm used to influence Providence before the game's launch-day patch was applied.)

Another way to influence cultural levels is to complete the fetch requests given to you by the townsfolk. While it doesn't influence as much as living nearby, you can still move through the star ranks while having your farm in an out-of-influence area.

The last way is to participate in the town's festivals. You'll earn a bit of cultural level by joining the town's events.

3-Star Lock

Eventually, you'll earn enough points to complete the third star in a town's cultural level. The third star will flash to indicate you can't proceed further. At this point , you need to complete specific requests to move the cultural level to the 4th star. These step will involve 1) completing the town's festival restoration task and 2) helping the adventuring merchants prepare for their travels, if applicable.

Lectenbury

After Ver's wall is removed, help Nemo bring back the Flower Festival. Talk to him to learn about his request, then bring him 10 Marguerite, 10 Strawberry Pansy, and 10 Viola.

• There is a single wisp with Marguerite Seeds to the east of the Lectenbury mine, farther east than the wisp that gives Daisy. Unfortunately, the remaining Marguerite wisps are in the Lookout Plains area; a difficult area to reach early in the game.
• The closest Strawberry Pansy wisp is right by the waterfall in Lectenbury. Alternatively, you can complete a request from Nemo for 2 Daisy to receive 10 Strawberry Pansy Seeds.
• Viola can be found in the Breezy Plains area between Lectenbury and Providence, south of the road.

Once completed, the social event Flower Festival will take place every Spring 15.

After you turn over the flowers to start the Flower Festival, Nemo will ask you to help him prepare for his trip to look for rare flowers. He will ask you to bring him 4 Baguette, 3 Butter, and 3 Fried Egg.

• Baguette is a recipe you can make in your kitchen by combining 3 Wheat. You can buy Baguette for 330 G at any open restaurant if you have enough money. Niel will have a villager request that gives 3 Baguette when you give him 5 Tomato.
• The recipe for Butter is at Selena's restaurant in Lectenbury for 1000 G. One meal of Butter requires 3 Milk.
• The recipe for Fried Egg is also at Selena's, but for 2000 G instead. You can combine 1 Egg to make 1 Fried Egg. Judy can also reward you with 3 Egg if she gives you the task to bring her 3 Silver.

If you don't own a cow, Judy's villager tasks can reward you with Milk. The villager request she sends to your farm mailbox will reward 3 Milk for 10 Fertilizer. Judy will offer another 3 Milk reward task when you talk to her and she asks for 10 Glass. You may need to complete her other daily tasks before she asks for Glass again.

You can purchase Fertilizer cheaply at any flower shop or make it by placing Compost into the Fertilizer Maker on your farm. Raw Glass Gemstone can be found in any of the ore mines in Anthos and processed into Glass at a crafter shop.

Bring Nemo the required goods, and you'll start on the 4th cultural star the next time you visit Lectenbury after you've gone to bed.

Lilikala

After Aestas' wall is removed, talk to Brendon at the newly-rebuilt restaurant. He wants to restore the fun Big Fish Festival and asks you to bring him 5 Ahi Poke, 5 Jumbo Grilled Fish, and 10 Board Lumber.

• Ahi Poke meals can be purchased from Kate, who is standing right next to Brendon inside the Lilikala restaurant. This dish sells for 3900 G, costing you 19,500 G to buy all five! Optionally, you can cook Ahi Poke using your kitchen, as you received the recipe while helping Aolani restore Lilikala. Combine 1 Tuna, Bluefish Tuna, or Yellow Tuna; 1 Onion; and 1 Tomato. Tuna and Bluefin Tuna are at the end of the Great Pier or the far southern tips of the Shallow Playground. Yellowfin Tuna are at the ends of the pier in Lilikala with paths that cross each other like an X. If you're having difficulty reeling in large fish, use Level 1 Bait (50 G at any tool shop) and land the bobber as though it is floating at the tip of your fishing rod or closer. The bait will entice the fish to swim closer to you, and the shorter cast distance means you have a better chance at reeling in the fish before your tool strength is depleted.
• The recipe for Jumbo Grilled Fish is at the Lilikala restaurant for 1000 G. The default fish used in this dish is Dorado, but you can use a variety of large fish that aren't Dorado such as Barracuda (DLC), Bluefin Tuna, Golden Dorado, Mahi-Mahi, Nidhogg (DLC), Pollock, Sea Bass, Silver Dorado, Tuna, and Yellowfin Tuna. It may be easier to catch Sea Bass in Lilikala than to catch a Dorado, a large fish found in a few places. If you do want to use Dorado to cook Jumbo Grilled Fish, you can find the fish in the fishing spots to the west of the Fall Foliage Walkway warp statue, along the sandy riverbank southwest of the Three-Pronged River warp statue, and even the pond at the top of the hill in Herbsburg.

Bring the cooked means and the Board Lumber to Brendon to restore the Big Fish Festival. This date event takes place on Summer 22.

Next, go talk to Trinny, the ponytail sister. She is around the southeast section of the town's piers. Trinny explains that their village held a fishing contest twice a year. To restart the festival, she requests that you bring her 5 Board Lumber, 8 Square Lumber, and 12 Material Stone. Once revived, the Fish Faceoff will take place on the 6th of every season.

Now that the two festivals are restored, head back to the Lilikala restaurant and talk to Brendon again. He's become inspired to travel the world and needs your help to prepare. Like with Nemo's trip in Lectenbury, Brendon will request you bring him 5 Baguette, 3 Butter, and 3 Fried Egg. Bring him the meals to complete this task.

After going to bed for the day, Lilikala will move on to the 4th cultural star the next time you visit.

Herbstburg

After taking out Autumnus' wall, head back to the town and talk to Tori, the pony-tailed woman you helped to move back from Providence. She wants to get people interested in mining. Let's start a mining festival! She'll rent a mine and invite competitors to judge which one is the best at spelunking for ores and gems. She'll ask you to bring her 5 Board Lumber, 8 Square Lumber, and 12 Material Stone. Bring her these materials to revitalize the Mining Festival, which will take place on the 19th of every summer and winter. While Tori says the festival will occur at the Herbstburg South Mine, it actually will occur at a random mine. The starting point will always be Music Square in Herbstburg. After entering the contest, you'll be transported to one of the outside world mines.

Once the town reaches 3 full stars, talk to Otto to hear his goal of holding a Music Festival on the regular. He needs you to bring him 5 Orange Juice, 5 Doria, and 10 Board Lumber.

• The recipe for Orange Juice is 1000 G at Lothar's restaurant in Herbstburg, located inside the town's inn. Optionally, he also sells Orange Juice for 120 G each.
• Doria's recipe is also at the Herbstburg restaurant, but for 2000 G. You can make this meal by combining 2 Rice, 1 Wheat, and 1 Milk. Rice Seeds can be purchased at the Herbstburg tool shop, found with Harvest Wisps, or received as a reward for completing villager tasks for Otto. Wheat is a seed found around Providence or purchased from the tool shop in Lectenbury, and Milk is a cow-or-Judy thing.

Otto will then revive the Music Festival on Autumn 22nd. After you participate, a musical instrument will remain on the Music Square stage. Interacting with the string instrument will start the Music Festival mini-game. Unfortunately, you do have to wait until Autumn 22 to unlock the beat-matching game. If you happen to complete Otto's request on Autumn 23, then you have to wait a year before you can participate.

Return to Herbstburg after clearing these two tasks to unlock the 4th Cultural Level star. You do NOT have to complete Franziska's camera filter tasks or revive the Harvest Festival to move past the 3rd star.

Zimagrad

Once Hiems is fully dressed and the Zimagrad Wall is destroyed, head back to Providence and talk to Gunnar. He is in the house near the bridge into the center of Providence, coming from the Breezy Plains road. Tell him the wall is gone so he can return home, along with the other misplaced Zimagrad residents.

After he returns home, you can find Gunnar in the house behind Lina's and Karl's house. Talk to him to learn about an Aurora Festival that used to take place in Zimagrad. Gunnar wants to restart the winter season sky viewing party. He will ask you to bring him 5 Hot Milk, 5 Mushrooms au Gratin, and 10 Board Lumber.

• Hot Milk recipe is for sale at Rebecka's Restaurant in Zimagrad for 1000 G. You'll have to combine 3 Milk to make 1 Hot Milk, so 15 total Milk is required.
• The recipe for Mushrooms au Gratin is for sale at the Zimagrad restaurant for 2000 G. To make this dish combine 2 mushroom (White, Hot, Cold, normal, etc.), 1 Wheat (or mutation of wheat), and 1 Hard Cheese. The recipe for Hard Cheese is at the Lectenbury restaurant for 1000 G after the Lectenbury 3-star lock is cleared. Combine 3 Milk or Jersey Milk in the kitchen to craft 1 Hard Cheese; you'll need a total of 15 Milk to make the 5 gratin dishes.

After handing over the items, the social Aurora Festival will occur every Winter 15. Head to Zimagrad between 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm and talk to the marriage candidate you want to spend the evening with.

Once the Aurora Festival task is done, talk to Gunnar again. He wants to start exploring the world and asks that you help him prepare for his adventures. Just like with Nemo and Brendon, Gunnar will ask you to bring him 5 Baguette, 3 Butter, and 3 Fried Egg.

Bring Gunnar his food, go to bed, and the Zimagrad 3-star lock will release in the morning.

Providence

As there isn't an adventuring merchant to help here, there are a few festivals to set up at the central hub in Anthos.

After you remove Ver's wall around Lectenbury, return to Providence and talk to Martha, the animal shop owner. She'll tell you about horses and her dream of returning to the Equestrian Challenge horse race. As she's in shopkeeper mode when you talk to her from the opposite side of her shop counter, go around and talk to Martha from the side to have a normal conversation. She'll ask you to bring 5 Board Lumber, 8 Square Lumber, and 12 Material Stone. You can make the two lumbers using your house workbench, and any town crafter can convert Stone to Material Stone. Once restored, the Equestrian Challenge race occurs every season on the 23rd. If you don't own a mount, Martha will loan you one so you can still participate.

The second festival to unlock in Providence becomes a task from Martha after the small Harvest Goddess Spring is restored using the oasis water. Talk to the animal shopkeeper about her plan to hold a small animal race called the Critter Crawl. Martha asks that you bring her 5 Board Lumber, 8 Square Lumber, and 12 Material Stone. These materials are easy to fetch. This task unlocks the Critter Crawl, a small-pet race on the 28th of every season. Like the Equestrian Challenge, Martha will have pets you can borrow for this event.

The last 3-star festival to unlock is the Anthos Expo. After the other towns have moved past their 3-star lock, visit Zimagrad and talk to Doctor Sinel at the clinic. He's impressed with how well Providence is doing. In days past, there was an Anthos-wide contest where the villages would send their best crops, animals, and dishes to compete. Sinel would like to revive that festival and ask that you bring him 5 Board Lumber, 8 Square Lumber, and 12 Material Stone. The Anthos Expo will take place every season on the 10th.

Return to Providence the next day to complete the 3-star lock release.