A (hopefully) helpful beginners tip list (Seedling update)

Nintendo 3DS. The first Bokujou Monogatari game localized by XSeed Games. [ Game Guide ] JP release = Feb 2014. NA release = Mar 2015. EU release = Dec 2015.
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BigBangBaby
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Post  Posted:

Hello I just thought I would give some tips for SOS that I think might be useful for anyone getting the game at the end of March. These are mostly things I didn't know til later because I didn't really have any good guides when the japanese version was first release (also there was no seedling mode xD). Or things I figured out along the way such as good ways to make money. I'm sure Cher's guide will cover anything I say ^^ but hopefully I write something useful for you ^^

3/27/15 - so a local store near me broke the release date and I bought an English copy today. I began a new file on seedling and noticed some kinda big changes that I thought would be important to add. Now when I made this tip list, I never played the seedling mode patch as I stated above, mine were veteran. When I read the info about it, I thought it was just a price decrease and a stamina decrease. It seems though that there is an item increase in the amount of some things being sold (I'm assuming it's like this for the japanese and English seedling modes because it wouldn't make sense for them to be different). This update is mostly about fertilizer, as I've only been able to play to spring 16th so far. It seems the stock for some items increased. Anything new will be blue ^^
[on a side note I wanted a more relaxing playthrough but only 16 days in, seedling already kinda feels waaaaay too easy but that's probably because I'm use to the veteran/normal xD]



*Make sure to save 5 turnip seeds from spring, you need them for the seed maker

*spring money
If you feel like reloading, while hand fishing reload until you find a gem or fish fossil. You don't need gems like peridot early on so it's ok to sell them. The area by Eda, you can find fish fossils and those are with 4000. If you reload for 1 fish fossil and 1 gem that's almost 8000g a day. (Gems are like 3700)

*making money
It is very easy with the following items: flax seeds, seed maker, and the sewing room. Depending on how you spend your money you should be able to get them as early as summer. Work on getting your flax seeds to star level 5. Plant a lot of flax, harvest it and save a few to turn into seeds to grow more. For what you don't save, take to the sewing room and spin it, then dye it either silver or gold, and the final step will be turning it into gold/silver linen. At the lowest star level 1 piece is worth 2750, so 1 plot or 9 pieces will be worth 24,750$. If you get it to level 5 and win at least 1 crop festival with flax you can sell 1 piece of gold/silver linen for 7700$, 1plot/9pieces will be 69,300$ (Money money!). You can also do this once you get cotton and I do recommend growing a lot of cotton but I suggest saving it for making clothes to unlock tropical country (which I'll say why further down the list)

*checking friendship
Thankfully they added something to help you check the friendship of non marriageable villagers. To do this go up to the npc as if you are going to talk to them but instead press the L trigger. Icon will appear above their heads and these will represent your friendship. It starts with an angry swirl and ends with hearts. Here are some examples sorry for the quality they are old pics I took with my tablet xD
http://i62.tinypic.com/1el660.jpg http://i57.tinypic.com/24g2amd.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/kf2wl4.jpg http://i58.tinypic.com/e84b2p.jpg

*Story Spoiler
Spoiler:
Pretty sure everyone knows but make sure to talk and befriend Eda. There are a few events you will see with her and sadly once she dies you obviously can't see them (my first playthrough I didn't know there were events with her since I didn't have a guide so I kinda had the attitude why give gifts to someone who is going to die Q.Q )
*Fishing Rod
You will get your fishing rod from Otmar towards the end of spring/beginning of summer year 1. Walk into his shop and there will be a scene, the result will be a fishing rod! You can give Otmar butterflies to help raise his friendship http://fogu.com/sos1/basics/tools.php

*Eat at Raeger's restaurant whenever your health is low
He will share recipes with you after a couple of meals to collect all the recipes from him you need to buy 129 meals (http://fogu.com/sos1/villagers/marriage/raeger.php). he has a lot of cheap dishes so no need to worry. You need to buy all the basic recipes before he starts giving them to you.

*plan wisely with your fertilizer.
Fertilizer can easily get used up fast in this game depending on how you play. In ANB I would use fertilizer on 1 of each type of crop, mushroom log, tree etc. in order to get 5 star seeds. Now while that worked well then because I could just go buy a lot of fertilizer when I ran out, it's not that easy to get hoards of it in SOS. The reason why is because while Otmar does sell fertilizer he only sells a limited amount each day, which ranges from 10-20 (you won't be able to buy on days his shop is closed or on holidays).
Now you can MAKE fertilizer as well. You can make basic fertilizer out of weeds or small branches. while this is good you can still easily run out of fertilizer fast, especially once you unlock more seed types. Between what I hoarded from Otmar and made myself, while I thought I had more than enough Instead I ran out very fast until I limited the fertilizer to certain crops.
you can raise the star value of whatever crops you want according to what you grow more of in your game ^^ but here is my suggestion:
1. Crops that grow year long (ex. flax, wheat, wasabi, mushrooms, tea trees/bushes)
2. Crops that regrow (ex. tomatoes, corn, yam, broccoli)
3. Single crops (flowers included)
4. Trees
Of course once you level up most of your crops you won't have a fertilizer issue anymore ^^ or depending on how fast you get the black ornament objects that make the seed maker level combo ^^
So with seedling it seems you probably will not worry so much with fertilizer (if at all) In my Japanese files Otmar never sold more than 10-20. So far each day I've gone to his shop he has sold 40 fertilizer xD each day he was open

*Get lots of wood and stones
with any bokujo monogatari game since you need them to make buildings etc. In this game you also need materials to upgrade the Safari (an ex. For the safari is, If I remember correctly, the second upgrade needed like 700 wood and 300 stones .. So yeah xD and there are a couple of upgrades). You also need the materials to make the simpler items required to unlock the ice and tropical country. My recommendation is if you used the flax method or just have a lot of money always buy small and normal wood and stones from the carpenter, any amount helps. Also the countries will eventually sell seeds to plant that are just trees you grow to cut down for small and regular wood. Story Spoiler
Spoiler:
I recommend using the farmland you gained from Eda and use half of it to grow trees to cut down
A plus if you are able to get a lot of small wood from those two methods it lets you save small branches to use for fertilizer instead of wood supply.

*Keep animals stress free
Now we already know this from previous games but if you see your animal's stress bar reach half full I would recommend taking it to the safari that day. Always let animals that get stress easily outside or take them to the safari often if you have time (also this helps them get closer to producing great items ^^). If your animal is too stressed it will run away (they are easy to find its just annoying >.<). I mostly had this issue with my Suffolk sheep, while my friend had the issue with her silkies (I never had an issue with silkies so i don't think its related to a type of animal, might be the animals personality) Talking to and brushing them everyday was not enough, if I didn't let them outside one would end up running away and get sick :(

*Do lots of merchant requests !
Similar to the board in ToTT eventually you'll be able to do requests for the different trade countries. Completing requests helps raise your friendship with the countries. Raising friendships unlocks some items that they sell at their shop (ex. Hot spring blueprint)
You will also get rewards such as money and items. The more requests you complete the higher your rank will be which will lead to better requests (such as ones that reward black frame ball and black blocks blueprints which are needed for the black combo to raise star levels in the seed maker). All special requests that reward blueprints/special items will be blue ^^
Anything turned in for requests will count towards your total amount sold (so don't worry about giving tools/dishes/crops/etc to the requests instead of selling them directly. Since it's going to the vendor anyways it still counts \(^o^)/

*Fishing is my life!
Spoiler:
If you enjoy fishing as much as I do and want the upgrades as fast as possible than dedicate your work towards tropical country. Sadly tropical country has the fishing rod upgrades so until you unlock it you are stuck with the basic rod. I remember my first file I pretty much never fished because I didn't know the tropical requirements and didn't get that country until year 5 xD
*wooing Nadi
Some recipes can only be received from eating at Raeger's, won from contests or bought from an evil entity known as the traveling salesperson. Nadi's favorite food, green juice/veggie juice, is received from the salesperson. I find that the salesperson is the devil and the game developer who created them is the ultimate troll. You will meet them in fall if I remember correctly and will only come 20 days after you last purchased something. The problem is them showing up is random and sometimes takes forever. I find saving your game around 12 then going in and out of your house between 13:00-15:00 were the best times (at least for me) for the salesperson to show up (if no show just load back to 12 or whenever you saved last and play your day normally). I have gone 2 seasons without seeing them though grr.....lol anyways end mini rant and hopefully you have better luck than I.
Back to Nadi! From completing some of the country requests you will actually get his favorite dish as a reward! So be sure to hoard them if you want to woo Nadi without over stressing getting the recipe fast.

*What I sold to unlock Ice Country and Tropical Country
You can find what totals you need here http://fogu.com/sos1/basics/difficulty-modes.php. The following are just suggestions off of what I sold and found easy to make. I'll put the category first and what I sold after it. (Also in my second year I had all the rented lands filled plus my green houses and some farmland for crops. I started letting go of rented farmland around winter of that year)
Ice country
Fences - wood fences ~6 small lumber~
Decorations - hay bales ~10 fodder~ (in my first year I had 4 plots and harvested from them each day. You can also buy fodder from Otmar), you can also do wood bench ~8 lumber~ but why waste wood when fodder is easy to get
Garden objects - flower pots and beds (I grew a lot of flowers so making them were easy for me) and lattices ~14 small wood~
Streets - all of these are pretty easy. I did stone steps ~3 small stone~ and stone road ~5 big stones~
Furniture - basic/wood table ~8 lumber~ and cabinet ~6 lumber~ (There's a few easy ones those 2 are what I sold the most of)
Wallpaper/flooring - wood/simple floor ~13 small lumber~ and wood/simple wallpaper ~15 small lumber~
Tropical Country
Tools - basic is a good way to go BUT if you are like me and didn't want to waste ores to early, there is something you can do instead of making tools...... Buy them. Otmar sells 1 of each basic tool at his shop each day he is open. So if you have lots of money just buys tools from him each day and sell them to the countries ^^ (if you want to raise your level with merchants and fill this requirement, some merchant requests are for tools so you can kill 2 birds with one stone. It just depends on what materials you have and how fast you want to reach this requirement ^^)
-you'll probably have a super easy time with this in seedling, not only is the amount you need to ship decreased, but Otmar sells 2 of each basic tool instead of 1
Seeds - really anything would be easy. If you have greenhouses just grow a lot of yams or something that regrows than make them into seeds or grass seeds. When doing country requests you will often get seeds as a reward, since most are half star seeds just sell them back to the countries ^^ Also since I had a lot of money from flax I would just buy seeds from the countries and Otmar, then sell them back xD
Crops/produce - anything. Honestly just from selling and doing merchant requests you'll finish this probably without realizing it. But again if you need to use a green house and fill it with plants that regrow ^^ also milk and eggs ^^
Cooked Recipes -any recipe that requires 1 ingredient will make it easy to fill this (salads and juice for ex.). Once again a simple way is to grow a lot of something in a greenhouse. I mostly did tomatoes and made them into juice or a salad. If you have a lot of chickens you can make egg soup or boiled egg. You can use Otmar again if needed ^^ he sells I believe 20-30 carrots a day when he is open so just buy them and make them into carrot juice. Also merchant requests will often reward you with dishes, since the are low level in stars they won't recover a lot of stamina for you so.... Just sell them back ^^
Processed Goods - linen! Lol because I made so much gold linen and sold it that covered a part of my processed goods, but selling any cloth will count ^^
Spoiler:
(different countries will eventually sell basic cloths like linen cotton and wool so once again..... If you have a lot of money just buy and sell it back xD)
. Alot of processed products came from my pottery house. Since I had a lot of money I would buy all 3 types of soil each day it was available and just make the simpler pottery. I also had a lot of milk and fruits so I made cheese and wine to sell.
Clothes - cowboy outfit. This is where growing a lot of cotton and saving it came in handy. To make the cowboy outfit you need 1 red 1 yellow and 1 blue cotton cloth. So grow lots of cotton, dye them red yellow and blue, turn into cowboy outfits and sell! There are other simple outfits to make as well I just found that one to be the easiest ^^

Also here is a a list I made as a reply to someone else's question from a different post, might be helpful here ^^
Things you can't trade over wifi:
Silkie eggs
Arucauna eggs (they don't want you to have any animals before they are available in your game xD)
Gold seeds
Gold produce
Gold eggs
Great products
Downs
Some of the fancier clothes
Some accessories
I believe all Rings/earrings
Blue and red pearls
orichulum
Pink diamond
Adamantite
Mithril
Platinum
Furniture/wallpaper etc.
Tools (I can't remember if you can trade the very first/basic tools, but I don't think you can, you definitely can't trade any after that)

This is really all I can think of for now, if I think of something else that might be useful I'll put it in. Hopefully this was some what helpful ^^ if anyone else who has played the Japanese version has a tip they want to add post below ^^

**sorry for bad spelling and grammar. I typed this pretty fast on my tablet and didn't really check it over to much xD. If something is confusing or doesn't make sense let me know and I'll change the wording or explain it better!
***I am never really sure what to consider a spoiler or not, so if there is something I should put as a spoiler please let me know and I will fix it quickly. If I put something as a spoiler when I didn't need to let me know and I'll remove it ^o^
Last edited by BigBangBaby on Apr 04, 2015 3:36 am, edited 22 times in total.
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BigBangBaby
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Post  Posted:

The poll is because I've started hoarding seeds for my English files and for my friends who are getting the games. After a couple of days from the games release (so people have time to reach when you get to multiplayer) I've been debating if I should spend a bit of time just opening or going to people farms and gifting 5star seeds. So I've just been wondering what people would prefer
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Last edited by BigBangBaby on Mar 28, 2015 8:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Really awesome guide! <3 Thanks for putting in the effort to make this!

I'd maybe put in huge letters above the spoiler tags that it contains really big story spoilers, so people don't accidentally click on it ^^
HummingGillz
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Ooh, this is great! I'm one of those super achievement types, so this is a good foundation for me to start planning for what to do in my file so I can get everything.
Rem
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Post  Posted:

Thanks for the tips! :D

I'm so glad you mentioned there's the option to buy/resale to help with the requirements for the vendors. Money making
is definitely my favorite thing to do in HM/SoS, but I was worried money would be too easy to make and I wouldn't have anything
to spend it on. :)
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sadeofraine
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Ooh, thanks a lot! I'm kinda a derp about things so any knowledge I can get helps a bunch. Especially the Nadi thing (he's not at the top of my list, but I'll woo them all as much as a can before I have to choose. Damn harem-blockers. :'D). And money. Knowing how to make butt loads of cash always makes for a happy Sade.
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BigBangBaby
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Ah ! that's good I'm glad the list is being helpful to people. I've never really made any helpful lists or guides for people so I was worried a bit that it wouldn't be useful ^o^
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Kross lover/fan
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Thanks so much for making this thread this had helped me confirm some of my theories. Plus since I'm going after Nadi first, so that little bit about him helped me (I'm so not looking forward to the traveling salesman) :(

Hay btw it's been bugging the crud out of me, how on earth do you get the fishing rod? Do you start off with it or do you get it from someone?
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BigBangBaby
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Kross lover/fan wrote:Hay btw it's been bugging the crud out of me, how on earth do you get the fishing rod? Do you start off with it or do you get it from someone?
You'll get it at the end of spring beginning of summer year 1. Be friends with Otmar and one day when you enter his shop there will be a scene and he will give you the fishing rod. A plus is, like a good majority of villagers, you can just give him butterflies as a gift ^^
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Arcy
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Kross lover/fan wrote:Thanks so much for making this thread this had helped me confirm some of my theories. Plus since I'm going after Nadi first, so that little bit about him helped me (I'm so not looking forward to the traveling salesman) :(

Hay btw it's been bugging the crud out of me, how on earth do you get the fishing rod? Do you start off with it or do you get it from someone?
http://fogu.com/sos1/basics/tools.php
The beginner Fishing Pole is given to you by Otmar when you walk into his shop on Spring 30 or later of your first year.
ETA: Simu post! It didn't even give me the warning. Oh well! There is obviously a big difference from reading everything you can find out about the game and actually playing it.

Thanks for making this thread, BigBangBaby!
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Kross lover/fan
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Arcy wrote:
http://fogu.com/sos1/basics/tools.php
The beginner Fishing Pole is given to you by Otmar when you walk into his shop on Spring 30 or later of your first year.
... :oops: I don't know what's more sad, the fact that I'm the one who first posted that link in the Cher's guide thread or the fact that I've read through it about 4 times and just now saw the part about the fishing rod (that or I've read it and then completely forgot about it, which sometimes happens) *hides under a rock*

Anyway thanks for the responses, and so fast too. (I obviously need to start paying more attention to what I read and not just post it right away)
Dolce-crema
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this is a really sweet gesture, i love that your willing to offer seeds to people.
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Autumn_Song
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The traveling salesman is Fall of Year 2, I'm pretty sure though. But great guide. :bunny:
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youngnozomi
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Thank you so much BigBangBaby!

I have a question about befriending villagers that might be helpful to add to this beginners' list. Do you need to befriended certain villagers to gain items?

I know that recipes are not needed for cooking. So you don't need to befriend villagers for those like in ANB. But is there anyone else we should befriend faster than others besides for the events you can miss with
Spoiler:
Eda
and the fishing rod from
Spoiler:
Otmar
.
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Tael
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Post  Posted:

BigBangBaby wrote:Things you can't trade over wifi:
Silkie eggs
Arucauna eggs (they don't want you to have any animals before they are available in your game xD)
Gold seeds
Gold produce
Gold eggs
Great products
Downs
Some of the fancier clothes
Some accessories
I believe all Rings/earrings
Blue and red pearls
orichulum
Pink diamond
Adamantite
Mithril
Platinum
Furniture/wallpaper etc.
Tools (I can't remember if you can trade the very first/basic tools, but I don't think you can, you definitely can't trade any after that)
Anything useful you can trade over wifi besides 5 star seeds?
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