Items with star quality that can't be increased (?)

[Kikki]

I recall finding a thread about rock salt when doing a search on this topic a few days ago, which I was searching since I can only buy rock salt from Caolila at 0.5 stars. Even with your maker quality boosted, you won't get more than 1 star salt out of that. I found a 1-star rock salt in my inventory and vaguely thought my 'finding misc' pet might have brought it to me once (or found it on a treasure hunt, not sure which, though I think it was it's finding job, not the treasure hunt). Then after my MCs kid was born and everyone was giving presents in celebration, Iluka handed over a 2.5 star rock salt.

So you can get it to go up, I guess, but only in painfully small increases and you'll probably NEVER have 5-star rock salt or salt, right? Truffles, too...one of my pets brought those, once. But what about pepper? Curry powder? And there are possibly more, but those are the ones I can think of. Are we stuck with having those at 0.5 stars forever? Even 2.5 or 3 stars is okay since my cooking level and other five-star ingredients tend to make up for the gap when using these items as toppings, but if we're stuck with half a star, aren't those ingredients always more of a detriment to cooking than a help? Pepper is the only type of topping you can use on mashed potatoes, for example, so if you want to make a five red-star mashed potatoes, you can't...it'd only be possible by hacking. Yes? And curry powder isn't even a topping, it's a main ingredient, so for any curry recipe you HAVE to use it...but you can't ever increase it's star rank from 0.5?

I can't help but feel like I must be missing something, because I can't think why the developers would even include those items in the game with a star-rank attached if there is no way to raise it.

If anyone has any good info on this, I'd appreciate it. I can't stand not understanding how my game actually works. -___- And if I'm working with 0.5 star ingredients just because I'm too stupid to figure out how they work on my own, well...if someone knows better, I'd definitely like to hear about it.

[Shan O 123]

I know the bought items doesn't go up, but the items you find/get as gifts goes up slowly depending on the year you're in/ how many FP you have.

[Kikki]

That's true for foraged items (according to Cherubae's guide, in year seven you can get five star foraged items, lol.) but you don't seem to be able to forage rock salt, pepper, curry powder or truffles on your own, and curry powder and pepper, are, as far as I know, not available except to purchase, so not even your pets can bring you one once in a blue moon. And I don't think even a pet will bring you curry powder or pepper. (?) Though since they can bring you rock salt...I don't know.

I don't think they can ever go very high, though. Even with your pet at top level, I don't think it brings you anything better than...I'm not even sure since mine is level 7 (should be nearly 8, now) and brings me mostly 1.5 star stuff. 2.5 stars? And you'd get it very rarely. (In two years, my pet has brought me rock salt once, that I can recall.)

I'd just like to find out if I'm just missing how to increase those star ranks, or if it's really impossible, because it currently looks to me like it IS impossible, which just...doesn't make sense to me. So I've gotta ask since it's not like I don't frequently miss and/or misunderstand things. Thanks, Shan.

[Shan O 123]

Hm, nothing on gamefaqs either. Granted, I just made a account over there days ago and can ask for you if you want.

[Kikki]

If it's no trouble, then anything that helps confirm whether it's possible or not would be nice to have. Currently I can only think it's impossible, but it seems like it really should not be, so...I keep wavering and staring grumpily at my supply of very pathetic 0.5 star pepper and curry powder, lol. With truffles and salt/rock salt you have to be really patient, but it IS possible. But the other, I just can't figure. If the quality can never be raised, why do they even HAVE a star quality?

[Shan O 123]

Just made the thread. https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/185269- ... s/75439620

Maybe we'll get some answers.

Side note, the site doesn't let you edit your spelling mistakes.

[Kikki]

Thanks, Shan. I've always mostly avoided gamefaqs...had no idea you couldn't edit afterwards. No wonder, then. Very few people make any posts without typos. I'm betting no one will know for sure...maybe that information just isn't available. Also I think a good portion of folks who post on gamefaqs are lurkers on this board, too. (And probably some members, as well, of course.) But it's always possible that someone does have a definitive answer.

[*LaI*]

Unless I'm missing something else, pets at 10 hearts and level 10 will bring 2.5 stars items. Which, considering the time it takes to raise pets levels, is quite bad.

Bit offtopic, but you can edit in gamefaqs Probably need a higher rank if just joined tho.

[ChaosAzerothCat]

When I asked and told it really didn't matter as other things can balance it out. You're not alone in being bothered by this.

Like that may be true but... It's frustrating!

[Kikki]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'd gathered...that your rock salt brought by pets would end up capping at 2.5...though I'm not sure if there is any influence given by game year or pet age. (Seems like a bit of a long shot.)

But I'm actually okay with 2.5, as with my other ingredient being 5 stars and my cooking skill maxed, a 2.5 star ingredient or topping wouldn't knock me down at all. But even with other HQ ingredients and a good cooking level, a half-star ingredient is detrimental. (Unless the recipe you pick has a lot of other ingredients that can make up for it, that is...but if it's a one-ingredient dish like mashed potatoes...no good.)

Though even if I'm okay with it, it DOES seem weird to me. Why show a quality rating that can't be raised, at all or even only to half? Why not make it an item to which quality does not apply? They used trophies to raise the quality of otherwise un-raise-able items like maple syrup...so I do wonder why they'd just leave a few items like this, impossible to raise to max (or maybe even not at all). Makes me think I must have missed something. But since I haven't been able to find any info on it, I increasingly suspect that they really did make it like that. I just don't know why...

EDIT: ChaosAzerothCat...true. It really is frustrating, because it's inconsistent for no clear reason.

[*LaI*]

Yeah, that's kind of what I'd gathered...that your rock salt brought by pets would end up capping at 2.5...though I'm not sure if there is any influence given by game year or pet age. (Seems like a bit of a long shot.)

I tried jumping to year 7, and the items they gave were still 2.5 stars. Foraged items were 5.

[Kikki]

I tried jumping to year 7, and the items they gave were still 2.5 stars. Foraged items were 5.

Oh, hey...thanks for trying it. That confirms that much for sure, then So if those definitely cap before you reach five stars, probably the others can't be raised, either, cuz if there are already two items (truffles and rock salt) that can't be raised to max, I don't see why there wouldn't be others.

Though I still don't understand why they did it that way. But I suppose only the developers could answer that. Maybe it was an oversight, or they figured no one would care. But since a lot of people with a 'completionist' frame of mind play games like this, I think that would be a bit of a silly thing to assume, ha ha...

[Shan O 123]

^
Now you have me curious Kikki lol.

[Kikki]

^
Now you have me curious Kikki lol.

It's my curse. (Because I can't imagine it's my gift.) I know that the majority probably shrug and say 'that's just the way it is', but I want to know WHY that's the way it is, since it doesn't make sense to me. If a thousand items in the game HAVE no quality, and a thousand more do, and you can only raise the quality of 996 of 1000, and there's no explanation why you can't raise the other 4... I just don't get it, and it bugs me. I know I have to resign myself to not getting an answer, but I thought I'd at least see if someone actually had one, first. Thanks, everybody.

I'll just continue to scowl at my .5 pepper all by myself, lol.

[*LaI*]

The only explanation is that everything used for cooking has to have a star rank, ofc that doesn't explain why there is no way to max that star rank It bothers me quite a bit too.