Hello! Out of my adventures in Farming Life RPG games, I’ve found I enjoy pretty much all of them. All of the various series do something a little different, and that’s awesome!

Today, I want to talk about one of my favorites: Harvest Moon: Skytree Village (Published & developed by Natsume for the 3DS). When I started playing Skytree Village (SV), I will admit I found the game very frustrating because a lot of the game mechanics are very different from the older Harvest Moon games (Produced by Marvelous, Inc.). However, once I got past the frustration and dug into some guides, I found the game to be a relaxing, fun experience that has moved it way up on my list of favorite games.

As such, I’m going to share a “Things I wish I had known when I started” guide, to help lesson the frustration of relearning and let the game shine. You might have seen some of these tips floating around my blog before, but I wanted to collect them all into one place.

So let’s get started! Check below the cut for the full guide. ;D

Farming - The Tools

There are tool upgrades in this game and you get them from the Harvest Goddess.

The more you farm, water, mine, and collect different crop and animal product types, the more tool upgrades you unlock (you want to do this).

The tools of SV are some of the most flexible in the entirety of this game genre, and they make farming really fun and really slick once you figure them out. You start with a 1x1 tool (each hit creates one farmable plot) and eventually work your way up to a Goddess Tier tool that creates 9x9 plots (that’s 81 farmable squares at once!).

The best part? After you upgrade, you don’t have to make farm plots that large. Even with the 9x9 tool, I can still make 1x1 squares, or hold down to do a 1x3 set, or a 3x3, or the 5x5. You have all the options!

Collecting and planting crops, as well as fertilizing, however, stays locked at 3x3 grids. You start with that and you end with it. It’s not a huge deal, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re planting giant fields.

Lastly, don’t forget that you can change your farming view by pressing Select. It’s a bit more help in early game when you can only till one plot at a time.

Tip: Your watering can holds 200 plots worth of water. The amount of water your watering can holds never changes, but the amount you can water at once will upgrade with the can.

All About The Mutations, Baby!

One of the coolest things about SV as a game, is that you can grow any seed in any season. That’s right! No seasonal limitations! If you want to grow strawberries in winter, you can do it!

That isn’t to say seasons don’t matter, though! Each plant does best during a certain season. For example, you can only get “Great” quality Strawberries during Spring, and White Berries can only be mutated from Strawberries in the Winter.

This combines the best of both worlds, giving you flexibility in your farming, while also keeping some of the challenge.

But as the title of this section says, a great deal of the game’s unique farming mechanic revolves around Mutations. Mutations occur when a crop grows into a different crop due to certain growing conditions (such as the example above: Planting Strawberries in Winter can result in getting White Berries.)

An invisible stat that effects Mutations is your crop’s Health. The Healthier the plant, the better chance it’ll mutate into something else. The more you fertilize, the healthier it’ll be!

Tip: Rowan the Harvest Sprite “helps your crops grow” by raising their health. Use Rowan as much as possible!

To figure out what grows when, and how you grow various mutations, you need to get yourself a Guide. While they do give little hints about how to grow different things during the game, and encourage you to experiment, the truth is there’s over 100 different crops to grow and mutate and it can get a little overwhelming for a new player (especially things like Cranberries that have to be in swampy water, not adjacent to each other, with a specific fertilizer, and at a low elevation).

Lots of people have created guides, so find one that works best for you! I found mine on the Natsume forums & it’s been a vital resource.

To unlock plant mutation seeds, you have to sell the crops you mutated to the shops (Sam or Bastian, doesn’t matter–though Bastian gives you more money for your crops). It takes between 30 and 50 crops to unlock a seed depending on what it is. I recommend saving up 30 of a mutation and then selling it to Sam or Bastian (just in case you need it for a request before you’ve unlocked the seed). If 30 didn’t unlock it, you probably need 50.

If a mutation requires a specific Fertilizer, you only need to use it once to get the mutation. But those specific fertilizers tend to be better quality, so I’d use them more if you can afford it. It makes the plant healthier and raises your RNG chances at the mutation.

Tip: The first request the Harvest Goddess asks for is Pearl Onions. It is possible to get those in Summer of Year 1, but it’s not easy–so make sure you use fertilizer every day! Plant (a lot of) Onions in dry soil in Spring to mutate Scallions. Sell 30 Scallions to Sam to unlock the Scallion Seed. Plant a ton of Scallions in Dry Soil in Spring to mutate Petite Onions. Sell 30 to Sam and unlock their seeds. In Summer, plant your Petite Onions in Grassy soil and make sure they’re not directly next to each other (they need space or a different crop around them–if two Petite Onions are touching each other on the grid, they won’t mutate) to get them to mutate into Pearl Onions. It’s a challenge, but you can do it!

Oh, and one more thing:

Tip: Trees take a Year to grow and produce fruit. Planet them as early as possible & make sure there’s nothing growing in the spaces around them & plant them at least 2 spaces apart from each other. Specifically Oranges & Apples, since those are used in requests.

Terraforming

The terraforming of your farm is one of the unique features of SV and was introduce in Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (and significantly improved upon in this game thanks to tool upgrades). Certain crops grow best at certain elevations (and you can only find certain fish at certain elevations), so it’s important to know what those elevators are!

The level that the entrance to your house & town are at is “0″ in the game. The entrance to the Harvest Goddess Spring is the highest elevation (19) and Rock Bottom (where you can’t dig any further down) is the lowest (-19). Each “block” that you place or dig up counts as “1″ (or “-1″) elevation.

As you unlock more of the giant farm, it becomes easier to designate certain areas as growing zones for mutations that you want.

In addition, there is also “Soil Types.” Plots near water are greener, and plots far away are dry. You can manipulate this by moving water around (something that takes a bit of getting used to) and they change with the seasons.

This is one part of the game that requires a bit of hands on experience to get the hang of it and seeing it in practice is easier than trying to explain. But as you play, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Animals - So Cute (I love that Donkey)!

The animals of this game are just like every other Farming RPG game: Pet them, feed them, brush them, and love them! You love them, they’ll love you back with quality animal products.

While there a lot of different Feed options, I wouldn’t bother with much outside “Great” or Regular Animal feed that you can buy from Sam. The RNG isn’t nice enough to make the other ones matter all that much (and when animals are max hearts, you’ll start getting quality goods anyway).

The biggest difference in this game and most of the other series, is that animals will NOT produce goods until they’ve eaten. Animals finish eating at the top of every hour no matter what. So if whether they start eating at 7:10 or 7:59, they won’t finish until 8:00. If you don’t want to wait, try to time it so they starting eating close to the top of the hour (though sometimes I like to get all of the petting and brushing out of the way while they’re eating so I can collect goods when they’re finished).

You let animals outside using the bell on the barn once you’ve unlocked Calvin, the Red Harvest Sprite. I don’t usually bother because you have to remember to ring it again to bring them all inside before 5:00pm (otherwise they stay outside all night).

Tip: Sometimes the animal pathing isn’t great and it can take them a while to get to the food bins. However! There’s a way to get around this – after you put the feed in their boxes, check the animal notebooks. When you leave it, they’ll magically all be in their spots eating (no long walk to their food required.)

Fishing – Expand the lake.

Fishing in this game is pretty straight forward. Throw the line, use or don’t use bait, and then wait for a fish shadow to swim up to your line. When it bites, rapid tap A to reel it in. Like most games, you can catch certain fish in certain seasons, but with a unique twist of adding elevations to the game.

It’s not that hard to collect most of the fish in this game. Just fish at different elevations during the seasons and you’ll get most of them. If you’re looking for something specific, a guide will help, but for the most part it’s not that necessary unless you’re stuck. If you’re having trouble catching something, use bait (a lot of the Larger Summer Lake fish require at least Piranha level bait or higher).

If you feel like you’re waiting too long for a fish to bite, or you don’t see the shadow of the one you want, just recast the line. It’ll reset the RNG. :D

Tip: Expand the main lake after you unlock it. Piranha and a lot of the larger fish can only be found in the center of bodies of water of a certain size. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but it required expanding the main lake by at least 4 tiles on the three main sides. When you get your boat, set it in the exact center of the large lake. If you cast the line and see really tiny shadows, you got it! If not, reposition your boat until you do, or go expand the lake a bit more.

Mining – Every Other Day!

Mining is pretty simple (and gets a lot easier once you upgrade your tool so that you only need to hit the ore once). You hit an ore with your hammer and you get items as designated by the RNG. Certain ore nodes in certain mines give you different items.

Mine Ore Nodes can only be mined every other day because they take time to respawn their materials. This was my biggest hang up the first time I played, so I’m letting you know now so you don’t forget.

Tip: If you can’t remember what day you last mined and don’t want to waste time running down to the mine to find out you can’t actually hit a node, coordinate with Dewy. The Harvest Sprites can only work every other day, so if you only mine on days you water with Dewy, it’s easier to keep track of.

Embrace Your Inner Hoarder

The Random Number Generator (RNG) of SV is not your friend.

If I had any large criticism of the game, it’d probably be this. While you can manipulate mutations somewhat by raising plant health, whether or not you get a mutation is still based on the RNG. It’s the same for the quality of animal products you receive, and what items you get from the mines. Most of my early game frustration was from needing certain items for quests that the RNG refused to give to me (Let’s just say I spent a lot of time early game screaming about mithril–which you can probably find on my SV tag.)

The answer to this? Save everything. Everything. The only things you should sell are things you can buy seeds for (unless you’re trying to unlock a seed)–that includes “Great” quality crops (or at least save 10 to 20 of each).

Tip: If you can’t buy a seed for it, don’t sell it.

This will save you so much frustration when you get to fulfill a request or need to build something with rare materials (or need Miracle level animal products or rare fish for a main story quest). You will earn more than enough money just by selling basic crops you can plant, so don’t waste rare items!

When you get to late game, you’ll have a better idea of what you can part with and what you can’t if you need quick cash (fertilizer for certain mutations can get expensive). But until then, don’t risk it.

No Gifts - Just Chemistry

One of the center points of most Farming Life RPGs is relationships with villagers and potential love interests. In a majority of the games, you earn this by giving gifts. SV does things a bit differently. It’s “Heart/Friend Point” equivalent is “Chemistry.” You earn chemistry by talking to villagers every day, and when you reach a certain percent, they’ll start asking you to do things for them!

The Request System

Your biggest boosts in Chemistry will come from answering villager requests. They usually involve growing something, or mining something, or baking something, or whatever else they ask for. Thankfully Requests never expire, so if they happen to ask for something you can’t get in that season, it’ll still be waiting for you the next year.

When you complete requests, you get more than a friendship boost–you often also get rewards like seeds, recipes, opens up cut scenes, or it unlocks things in the shops. Every character has 8 main requests that complete their story line, and then they begin having “Seasonal Requests” that repeat endlessly (a great way to grind certain seeds).

In particular, doing Dean’s requests will unlock all the important fertilizers in Sam’s Shops, and Elise & Bastion unlock recipes. Doc’s requests also get you free farm buildings, like the first Farm and the Fertilizer Bin–so don’t forget him!

Tip: The Harvest God & Harvest Goddess’ later requests reward you with Blessed Flour (which is Gabriel’s 8th Request).

The Sprites – Your Best Friends

Use the Harvest Sprites. Use them. They are your biggest help in the game and they make time management so easy! There’s about 7 to unlock in total, you can only use 3 at a time, and each sprite will require one day of cool down. So essentially, you use 3 one day, and then use 3 different ones the next. It sounds complicated, but you get the hang of it really quickly and you’ll have a routine down in no time!

Reminder: How much the sprite does will depend on their Chemistry. The higher their chemistry, the more they’ll do for you. The more you use a sprite (and talk to them when they’re working), the higher their chemistry! Example: When you first start, Dewy doesn’t water very much, and he’ll only water close to the Goddess Spring. By the time his chemistry maxes, he’ll water pretty much your entire farm.

Here’s a quick run down of what each Sprite does:

Rowan - Raises your crop health. He’s your best friend when it comes to mutations. He’s like a second fertilizer! Blossom - Same as Rowan, but for flowers. :D Dewy - Waters your crops. He waters in random square patches, so it can be a little uneven at times. Try to use Dewy early in the day to help this out a bit and make sure everything gets watered before he leaves. Calvin - He lets your animals outside on Sunny days when you ring the bell on the barn. If you don’t call him a second time before 5:00pm though, he’ll leave them out all night. Use Calvin with caution. Woody - He plans trees for you to get lumber, but more importantly, Woody also plants magical green trees that are the only way to collect Mysterious Lumber. Flint - He spawns random orange ore notes that only spawn on dry and rocky soil. I assume what you get from them gets better with his chemistry, but I haven’t tested it. Oliver - He makes your animals feel better if you missed a day of care.

Progress the Plot

If you’re having trouble finding something or unlocking something, progress the plot. (Example: You don’t get the jump button until the 4th or 5th day–yeah, this one’s a bit odd, I know). Unlocking the Skytrees by fulfilling the main requests unlocks the Ax, the Hammer, and the rest of your tools.

You can unlock all seven Skytrees in Year 1 fairly easily, truth be told. A lot of the more fun gameplay happens after that (discovering mutations, customizing your farm, and getting married).

Tip: Win at least two contests as early as you can. This is a plot requirement for the last Skytree. After Sam says “You’ve already got the town’s trust!” go interact with the seedling you planted (walk up to it and press A) to finish up the story plot quest. This might seem obvious, but I didn’t realize that and I spent like a month of in game time trying to activate a cutscene with no success and thinking I glitched my game.

Marriage and Family - Happiness can be achieved!

Marriage is pretty easy. Raise your interest’s chemistry by doing their requests, make sure to thank them on special holidays, and ask them to the romantic nights out.

You can’t get married until you unlock the Quest for it after the Skytree plot, but you can work on buttering up your sweetie until then. :D

It’ll take you step by step with quests to get married, so I won’t go too into depth with that, but it’s your standard fair: Unlock the biggest house, get a large table set, and a large bed.

The marriage in this game is simple, but I think it’s easier than in some other games (which can be nice). Also, I love the kid system in this game! Your child is really cute, and I loved watching him crawl around.

Just make sure to remember to feed and play with your kid every day! Or they will take longer to grow up. (And your child’s last stage of development is another story quest, so be on the look out for that!).

Tip: The pregnancy event happens about a month after you build the crib, not after when you get married. In my game, I think I got the event the day after I got married because I had built the crib so early. XD

Have Fun!

I hope that helps! If you’re thinking about picking up the game for the first time, or visiting again after a first attempt, I hoped this little guide of tips helped you out.

Skytree Village became one of my favorite farming games thanks to the slick farming mechanics and the fun of hunting down mutations (as well as a love of the simple and cheesy story and dialogue), so I hope you can enjoy it, too!