Stardew Valley #9 – Luau

Time for some more farming fun in Stardew Valley.

Summer, Day 7

After tending to my crops, I spent much of the day in the mine. I got down to level 23. It was otherwise an uneventful day.

Summer, Day 8

Today, I had the blacksmith process a few geodes for me. Unfortunately, none of them contained anything good.

I decided to do some more mining, but I got an unusually late start. It was already 4:30 p.m. by the time I started. By 10 p.m., I made it down to level 24. It was all green down here, and there were lots of enemies to fight.

Level 24 of the mine in Stardew Valley.

I only needed to find one more ladder down to unlock the next elevator, so I kept looking…and looking. But it was getting really late, so I started to head home at 1:40 a.m. But soon after that, I learned something new. When 2 a.m. rolls around, your character passes out and your day ends. Whether you’re ready or not.

Summer, Day 9

I found myself at home as the day started, but I had a letter in the mail from Dr. Harvey. He said someone dropped my body me off at the clinic last night. The worst part? He billed me 603g for my medical expenses! Auuggghhh! What a pain!

I decided to take a break from mining. The blacksmith processed some more geodes for me, but again, nothing of interest. I went down to the beach, where I picked some seashells for Isabelle. Oops, wrong game. 😛

I tried to chat with Haley, but she just said “Ew, you’re all dirty.” And this is not the first time she’s been rude to me. Sometimes the prettiest people on the outside are the ugliest on the inside.

Haley: Ew, you're all dirty.

I returned home and smelted some copper ore into copper bars. I also started cutting down some trees on my property.

Summer, Day 10

Today, I spent the entire day on my farm. Most of it was spent cutting down trees, although I also smelted more copper.

Summer, Day 11

The Pelican Town luau was held today, so I headed down to the beach to check it out!

The Pelican Town luau in Stardew Valley.

The best line of dialogue at the event came from Elliott. He said that he forgot all about the luau being today. It surprised him to see it going on when he just happened to roll out of bed after oversleeping. 😀

Elliott: I woke up late, stepped out of the door and found myself in the middle of all this hubbub!

There’s a big tub of soup that the entire town contributes to; everybody throws in an ingredient! Sounds like that would be gross. I dropped in a hot pepper that I grew. I hope everyone likes spicy soup!

The governor comes to the event each year, and he apparently judges the soup. He took a spoonful and declared it to be just average. Well isn’t that just soup-er.

Governor: Hmm... I don't have much to say about this. It's an average soup.

After that, the event ended.

Summer, Day 12

Today, I returned to the beach. I had enough wood (300 pieces) to repair the bridge down here. I was able to reach a new area with several small ponds and another pier.

Ponds in Stardew Valley.

I collected some coral and some sea urchins from this area, and they ultimately sold for a pretty good price. My evening was spent in the saloon, and then I returned home for the night.

BOTW #23 – All Memories

In Gerudo Town of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I had a chat with an archeologist named Rotana. She told me about a temple to the east, and a new shrine quest popped up on screen. But as soon as it appeared, more text appeared saying that the shrine quest was complete. This was a shrine I already opened up in entry #18. It makes me wonder how many of these others I’ve already solved, but just haven’t spoken to the right person yet.

Up on Gerudo Summit, I saw the dragon Farosh and shot at it. I recovered Farosh’s scale for hitting the beast with an arrow. I needed one of those to offer to the Spring of Courage, so I headed there right away.

The Spring of Courage in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Giving the offering opened up a shrine, and I also redeemed four spirit orbs for a stamina wheel while I was there.

There’s been one side quest (Recital at Warbler’s Nest) that I’ve wanted to complete for a long time, but I couldn’t because I didn’t know the recipe for salmon meunière. They probably told me the recipe at one point, but I could never find it again. It’s not in the recipe book at the Slippery Falcon, and nobody involved would give me the details.

But I was tired of waiting, so I just tried a couple of things until I made the right dish. I took it to the hungry bird, and the recital went on as planned. A new shrine popped up out of the ground as a result. I’m glad to finally get that one done with.

Kotts: Last one to mom is an unhatched egg!

The next time I visited a goddess statue, I traded in four spirit orbs for a stamina vessel. This completed my third ring of stamina, which is the maximum. This will make it easier to climb just about any obstacle I come across. All of my remaining spirit orbs will have to go towards heart containers.

Near Gerudo Canyon, I caught a horse and took it to Zyle to complete a side quest. While I was in the area, I also rescued Sesami’s four friends for another side quest.

I soon stumbled onto the “Test of Will,” which had me beating the heat and outlasting three Goron Blood Brothers. That opened up another shrine.

Bayge: PUMP IT UP, BROTHER!

On the shores on Lake Kolomo, I found a spot that looked like one of Princess Zelda’s photos. And sure enough, I found a glowing spot and recovered a memory there. Finally finding that memory gave me new motivation to find the remaining memories as well.

After searching a bit, I found another memory near the royal ancient lab ruins. That left only one photo, and it appeared to be near Hyrule Castle. So I headed to the Central Square area and started searching the walls. However, I found no memory. So I figured it must be inside the Hyrule Castle gate…in other words, the final area, where the map switches to the divine beast style map instead of the standard outdoor map. By the way, it’s very annoying that we can’t use the standard map here.

Of course, the area has lots of guardians. But I generally just ran past them as I explored. I found a number of new areas where I hadn’t been before, including some secret passageways and some mine carts.

Riding a mine cart under Hyrule Castle.

I even found a Hylian shield in the lockup, and later I found Princess Zelda’s room…and I read her diary! 😛 After that, I found it…the glowing spot where I recalled the memory I needed.

I returned to Kakariko Village and told Impa that I’ve recalled all twelve memories. She basically said “not so fast.” There is one more to recover, and she showed me a picture of what to look for. She said I could get there in half a day’s time. So after thinking about it for a minute, I had a pretty good idea where it was.

I headed there right away, and caught a wild horse to help speed up my search. It didn’t take me long, though. I recovered the final memory. Without spoiling it too much, I’ll just say that it showed the events that led to Link being put in the Shrine of Resurrection in the first place. Well, now I know how I got there. 😛 And that completed the “Captured Memories” main quest.

While exploring a suspicious-looking spot on the map, I found the eighth heroine statue. So I took a picture I needed for a side quest.

Eighth Heroine Statue

I returned to Gerudo Town to show the picture to someone, and then I completed another side quest there as well. I gained entrance into the Gerudo Secret Club, where I bought a new outfit.

Link looks like a skeleton in the radiant outfit.
Do these clothes make me look skinny?

In another side quest, I captured and tamed the royal family’s white horse. Toffa rewarded me with the royal family’s saddle and bridle that Zelda once used herself. On her horse, I mean. Oh, and I got to keep the horse too. Pretty good deal.

Toffa: What? You brought the royal family's white horse? Well I'll be... Grandpa wasn't lying!

I’ve made some good progress on quests this time. Here’s my current status:

Completion percentage: 42.01%
Shrines: 111/120
Korok seeds: 239/900
Shrine quests: 36/42
Side quests: 61/77
Hyrule Compendium: 352/385

See you next time!

Stardew Valley #8 – Summertime

Summertime has arrived in the world of Stardew Valley.

Summer, Day 1

I set up for the new season by preparing my fields for new crops. I planted some melon seeds I already owned, and then headed to Pierre’s for some other seeds. I only bought some tomato seeds and blueberry seeds for the time being, since I still have limited space in my backpack. It’s so berry annoying!

I spent my day foraging and just exploring to see what was new for summer. When I got back home, I saw some glowing orbs around my property. At first I thought they were ghosts or something, and then I realized they were just fireflies. 😛

Fireflies in Stardew Valley.

Summer, Day 2

Today I bought a few pepper seeds, wheat seeds, and radish seeds. I planted some of them on my farm, and then I went down to the beach to relax for a bit. I picked up some seashells while I was there, but I didn’t get much work done.

After I went to sleep, I heard a loud rumbling sound.

Summer, Day 3

As I started the day, a message informed me of some news: There had been an earthquake overnight! That explained the noise I heard. The first letter I received in summer was from Mayor Lewis. He wanted me to find his purple “shorts.” I’m not sure why “shorts” is in quotation marks, but this can’t be good. 😛

Journal: Mayor's Shorts. Mayor Lewis has lost his purple "shorts". He's asking you to find and return them... Discreetly.

At the community center, I donated a few items (a sweet pea, spice berry, and grape) to complete the summer foraging bundle. A new scroll was unlocked on the bulletin board.

I noticed that the boulders leading to the railroad (which I tried to blow up with a cherry bomb last time), were now gone! Apparently the earthquake cleared the rubble away, opening up a new path! (Seems a bit backwards, but I’m not complaining).

I followed the path, and found a bath house!

The abth house in Stardew Valley.

There are locker rooms and a spa. You can get into the water to refill your energy gauge! This place looks really well maintained for a place that was separated from all of humanity by a wall of boulders. 😛

In the spa in Stardew Valley.

The new path also led to a train station. But it didn’t look like the train was coming anytime soon.

The train station in Stardew Valley for Nintendo Switch.
Can I take the train to the Kalamari Desert?
Summer, Day 4

Today, I worked on clearing up some weeds, sticks, and rocks from my property. I also talked with some people, including the wizard, who I hadn’t visited in a while. I didn’t get much else done, though.

Summer, Day 5

I used my hoe to till the soil to make a fourth area to plant seeds. I put down some assorted summer seeds. I might as well use them while they’re in season.

Over at the mine, I worked my way down to level 20 for the first time. Not only did that unlock the level 20 elevator, but I also found this treasure chest. A steel smallsword was inside.

A treasure chest in the mine of Stardew Valley.

I hung out in the Stardrop Saloon in the evening, before heading home for the night.

Summer, Day 6

I went to the blacksmith’s place today, and I found Mayor Lewis inside. He said he was collecting Clint’s business tax. Uh-oh, do I owe tax too?

Clint processed three geodes for me, which I dug up in the mine yesterday. They contained slate, jagoite, and a thunder egg. The first two were new ones for me, so I donated them to the museum next door.

As I was walking through town, a notice appeared on-screen. It said “a train is passing through Stardew Valley.” But I was nowhere near the train station, so I didn’t bother trying to see it. Maybe another time.