Advanced Tips + Walkthrough [STRATEGY] [ARCHIVED]

[high sequoia]

THIS GUIDE IS A HEAVY WIP AND DAY 1 IS NOT FINISHED. 🙏

Update
1.1 changed almost everything for this. I'm leaving this up for right now because some of the info is still good but this will be getting majorly redone and instead of a speed run focus it's going to be more of an advanced walk-through kind of guide. This really isn't a game where ""speed run"" applies anyway- pre 1.1 it still took 7 IRL days and approx 22/24 hours to get to icy peak.

This guide contains a TON of spoilers, and will eventually cover the entire story quests. Are you the type that wants to progress in games as fast as possible? Then this is the guide for you! Before we begin, please keep in mind - this game supposed to be fun, and limited in progression each day. If you didn't do something in the most "optimum" order/way- that's okay! There is no right or wrong way to play. Enjoy the journey. ✌️

I have by no means perfected the best order, fastest time, etc. This is very much a "living" document, so don't take any of these tips as hard rules. I can't guarantee when Day 1 will be completed and when Day 2 will be available. This took me a lot of time playing the game and writing everything out with screenshots, so I apologize if you're wanting tips for later on and it's not available yet. I'm adding field note updates as I progress in my speed run of things I discover: #1140052180552929291 message

This guide is NOT intended for:

• Step-by-step quest/temple/puzzle completion
• A spoiler-free game experience
• New players - while you are more than welcome to use this guide, it's not going to go over all the game mechanics, etc

You should direct all questions on how to complete quests, find resources, etc to #🕹questions-and-help or review all of the amazing guides we have already in #1137765837441351700 You can check out the master-list of guides here: #1138500832485179564 Please reserve comments to this guide for things like: your own tips/strategy improvement for days already in the guide, questions about how I've written or shared something if it's unclear, or corrections if you find any errors.

Quick Links To Important Guides

• #1138412997182767204
• #"[COLLECTABLES] All Maps with Markers"
• #1138677914414612581
• #1138683478850945024
• #1138443324894748722
• #1139502432985034883
• #1138554334280425522
• #1139614455009910957

Quick Links To Sections in This Guide
Day 1

• Overview: #1140052180552929291 message
• Guide: #1140052180552929291 message
• End & Prep for Day 2:
• Read the field note updates if you want to start using this even through it's not finished: #1140052180552929291 message

[high sequoia]

I totally did this my first try.....I decided the bird character was cursed and became a dog for the rest of the speed run. It took me an embarrassingly long time to complete day 1 with the best progression, and I had to restart three times due to a mess-up on day 2, and then messing up day 1 a couple times. I'm gonna quickly summarize those mishaps so you keep it top of mind as we go. These are "speed run" killers/story quest progression stoppers. If you happen to make similar mistakes and want to maximize your days 1 & 2, you will have to restart.

Reasons I Had To Restart

• Day 1 gifted all of her gifts before acquiring the volcanic guitar to get the friendship flower collectible reward
• Day 1 purchased a kawaii furniture item from that used needed to craft the snorkel on Day 2 (this was remedied by trading in #1134514869731852358 but if you can't do that & you end up with bad RNG luck like I did, you'll have to wait an extra day for the snorkel)
• Day 1 gave a pumpkin which affected heart level progression and inability to unlock a story quest
• Day 2 gave a friendship flower meant for

There are other minor mishaps you can make that won't necessarily slow you down or require a reset but will effect maximization of resources, but we'll cover that more as we go.

[high sequoia]

DAY 1 OVERVIEW

Day 1 %, time, and completed quests should look something like this:

We will be relying heavily on the daily rewards and collectible achievements in order to get the best gifts possible for each character. These are the most important achievements that are possible to unlock Day 1. We'll go over exactly how and when to complete the most vital of them in the nitty gritty later on. It's more than possible to have a higher completion with your collectibles day 1- I only focused on what I knew would progress me further in story quests & picked up others in normal play. YMMV depending on how much time you want to spend playing the game.

You'll notice that I didn't complete the Fish Extraordinaire, but it's listed here. If you have the time to catch 100 fish, you can prep for Day 2 when we meet because this is his 3 star gift. I am personally not going to worry about this Day 1, nor necessarily try and do it for Day 2. Edit: if you don't get the mermaid totem, you will not unlock his story quest Day 2. Unfortunately me betting on 6 of his 2 heart purple fish being enough, his heart level nearly maxed out but didn't make it. So his story quest for me is pushed to Day 3.

You also do not have to try get the Master Critter Catcher reward - I tend to unlock this very quickly because I always grab critters when I run across them. Having the totem from the Heroic Benefactor is more than enough to get you up with

This guide is meant to be timeless- all of the daily rewards we're relying on for speed-run purposes are Repeating Rewards. As of the time of writing this guide, the Launch Celebration event is going on so daily log-ins include some extra rewards. I'm including the Launch Celebration event info are so you aren't confused later on if I have something and you're not certain where it came from.

[high sequoia]

DAY 1 GUIDE

Day 1 Gifts
We'll talk about this as we go, but for quick reference, this list is the best we can do for each character's daily gifts today.
Do not craft or gift a character until it's in the guide.

3 Mama's Apple Pie
3 Strawberry Shortcake
3 Tofu Bread
1 jack-o-latern + 2 Pumpkin Pie + 🌸 3 jack-o-laterns
3 calming crystals
3 music boxes
3 music boxes
2 music boxes + 1 guitar
3 pineapple pizzas
1-3 critter totems and/or 1-3 bush friends
3 Cinnamon Bread
nothing 😭

On the Plane
You don't need to talk to every character. You can go directly to Hello Kitty and when she asks if you've made your introductions, just say yes. This does not appear to affect anything in the game. When you jump out of the plane, make sure you travel forward a bit so when the yellow rings appear you can easily fall through them. If you go through all of them, there will be a gold Island Challenge Airplane Trophy you can collect! If you miss some rings- don't worry, there will be an opportunity to do this again an unlimited number of times after you've completed all of the story quests and get to level 14 with . The trophy is just a vanity object and will give you a minor bump in your % game completion. Having a free piece of furniture will help for later on in Day 1, but honestly you can get so much from treasure chests as you travel the map it's not a big deal.

Finding My Melody
wants you to find and bring her back to the rest of the group, but we don't have to do it immediately! is really easily found on the mini-map. I use this time to collect all of the materials and chests on the resort. It's a minor time-saver - if you wait to do this after taking back, you will trigger a cut-scene with on the beach and I usually save his intro quests last to cut down on time running back and forth around the resort.

The #1138443324894748722 is a lifesaver to find spawn points for almost every material in the game. It's a WIP, so just keep that in mind. I only focus on the materials & chests on the resort, but it is possible for you to parkour your way to the crescent shaped island and all the little ones, but it's really not worth doing right now. You can't swim so you have to be super careful where and how you jump. Plus, it'll end up being a redundant trip because we'll be going back there later when we unlock fast-travel via the mailboxes. All of the materials you need for the beginning quests can be found on the resort, and you should have more than enough amounts of each.

I also use the time before returning to gather the quest materials I'll need later - namely strawberry crates, the mannequins, and the pink umbrellas. If you're don't know where to find everything, you can view the locations in #1138412997182767204. There's no map I'm aware of at the moment, but strawberry crates are super easy to spot so I don't think you'll run into trouble not having enough for the quests we'll be doing.

Notable Resort Treasure Chests
Not only are these not all of the chests located on the resort, there very well may be others that would be useful to point out, too! These are just the ones I made a note of because they will help us later on.

Lost Luggage Quest
Surprise! You can actually grab this luggage from the water before you can actually swim. It's a bit weird because you'll need to jump into the water right on the luggage and try and grab it at the same time before you hit the water and "black out". We will want this to give to later, so it's worth grabbing now. I've played both with iPad touch controls and a Bluetooth controller and it's possible to do on both, but definitely easier with a controller.

Quests + Quests
Once we've gathered all the materials from the resort, it's time to return to her friends. You'll then be prompted to go to her shop and help out which will trigger some quests. The first one she will ask you for 3 strawberry crates so she can open her shop. You should be able to give those to her immediately. Then, you'll trigger her next quest.

We will be giving each character on the resort a gift from . I start with so I can get a strawberry from him. You will end up triggering another quest with right after that will give you the camera. I go ahead and do his quest right then and there so it's out of the way. I don't bother with taking pictures of on day 1, but if you want to, you'll be able to start right away.

Gift + Quests
I like to give his gift from next so we can trigger his Standing Up, and Stack Cakes quests. I forgot to take a screenshot of giving him his 🎁 , but I think ya'll get the idea, lol. You should already have the mannequins so you can give them to him right away.

Gift + Quest
Now we'll head to the beach and trigger a small cut scene with . Follow him to the docks and give him his gift. This will trigger his Prank Preparation Quest.

Gift + Quest
Next up is ! Give her 's gift, and then complete her Umbrella Escapade Quest. She'll reward you with Mama's Apple Pie. Give her the pie as her first gift from you, then go to the oven and make the Pineapple Cake for , and a Strawberry Shortcake for . Don't make more than this for the moment. Head over to on your way out from 's bakery and give him the pineapple cake to complete his quest.

Gift + Quest
Now make your way over to to give him his gift from and his lost luggage. The power crystal quest should get triggered now. Follow to the gate and wait to talk to him until you see the ❗above his head. Then, he'll give you the power crystal sensor plans. Head to his workbench to craft the water balloon asked for. Then, give it to to get the last magnet we need to craft the power crystal sensor.

Power Crystal Quest
The first temple you need to go to is right by Chococat. If you step on one of the pink switches, he will too which will unlock the door. Inside you'll get the first power crystal and a stamina apple slice. The second temple is located right on the beach slightly above where and his comic stand are. The final power crystal is on an island you can't access yet because the bridge is broken. will suggest you go to to ask for help.

Go to to ask for help. This will require another 2 strawberry crates which you should have already. Give the Strawberry Shortcake you made earlier and the crates. Once the bridge is fixed, will ask you to fix up one of the cabins. You have to do the cabin shown- you can't choose another one on the resort to progress in this quest. Go ahead and do that now - we'll come back to the cabin later on.

Go back to the gate to place the yellow power crystals to get access to the rest of the map. By the time we're done with day 1, we will have every single fast travel point except those underwater and Icy Peaks, so buckle in and get ready for some walking. I personally end up fixing up one other cabin on the resort before I head out so that I will be able to have the possibility of two visitors at a time for day 2, but it's not required.

[high sequoia]

Your map is going to be blanked out until you've traveled these areas, so we'll need to rely on what we already know about the map or use the handy ones available in #1137864846914891877 to help guide our path. We want to avoid triggering the cutscenes with and to start. There are some important places we need to visit, and we need to gather some materials, treasure chests, and other quest items as we go. I personally use the opportunity to gather all the resources available in the swamp, but it's not necessary to get everything. Just keep in mind the more you grab now, even if we don't use it Day 1, it'll help you down the line. If you don't know where materials spawn, check #1138443324894748722 . Apples aren't marked, but those are available throughout the swamp and spawn on the trees.

This very ugly map shows you the general path I take when entering the swamp. The blue path is us entering, be careful of the red square as that is where and are. It isn't that big of a deal if you end up triggering their cut-scenes, but I prefer to visit them when I have everything I can give them from the swamp area.

The yellow path is the slight detour we need to make to get the apple stamina slice, and then we enter the area where the maze and pumpkin patch is. You should be traveling off of these paths to get resources and use it as a general guide to get where you need to go. There are multiple ways to traverse the swamp and avoid the red square, so do whatever makes the most sense to you. After we've raided the swamp, we'll travel the pink path to trigger the cut scene with & .

If you're following the general paths I've described above, this is the order in which I found everything. (blue path to yellow path) If you need specific locations check #1137864846914891877

During my time in the swamp, I usually go ahead and pull all the levers for the ghost train ride so that it's already done when I'm actually doing the quest. Then, I'll go along the purple path. This isn't required but since you're already here and have to do it anyway, why not? 🤷‍♀️

Now it's time to head to one of the most important areas for Day 1 - the pumpkin patch. We need to collect every single pumpkin available and get the jack-o-latern recipe. Luckily, they're super easy to find! #1138443324894748722 shows the places pumpkins spawn. In most of my day 1 runs, I get 7 pumpkins, which is the exact amount you need for everything to work. If you only end up with 6, I'd recommend trying to trade in #1134514869731852358 but I've never had that happen, personally, so hopefully you won't either. If you do, I don't believe you'll need to restart the run, but you'll figure that out soon if that's the case.

Once you've gotten everything, it's time to head over to where Kuromi is hiding in the bushes - just after the bridge. After her cut scene, she'll go across the bridge and near the mailbox. Give her the gift from and then talk to her when you see the ❗ above her head. You'll trigger her Delivery Service Quest that'll require you to go back to . Before you go back to the resort, you'll need to stop by to handle his quests.

We'll be giving his gift from and the green conch we picked up earlier. In return, he'll give us the crafting recipe for the flippers that will let us swim. If you grabbed all the items shown previously, you'll have what you need to craft it. You should also trigger the Nature Reserve Quest which will get you access to the critter-catching net soon. You should have the swamp critter list from earlier, so you just need to put it in place & the next step in the quest will require you to talk to

Quests
Now you can head back to the resort! Go straight to and you're going to continue the Furnishing For Friends Quest by buying an item from her shop after she tells you to. Talk to her first. If a Hello Kitty furniture item is available, I tend to go for that since requires you have some furniture before she'll visit. Then, deliver 's pumpkin to and follow outside to unlock fast travel through the mailboxes. You do have to interact with each mailbox in order for it to become somewhere you can teleport to, so we'll be stopping to every one we come across from here on out.

Next, we'll wanna take care of the furniture in the cabin for 's quest. This is when I'll head to my 2nd cabin right above where is. If I haven't done it already, I'll unlock it now. It really doesn't matter where though- this is just my personal preference since I like to end Day 1 with multiple cabins so I can potentially get two visitors on Day 2. You can go back to the one on Cozy Island if you'd prefer not to have another cabin. You should have the Coastal Bed at this point, which you'll want to place. Interact with it to go to sleep- doesn't matter what time you choose to wake up. This will give us 3 calming crystals from a collectible reward that we'll be giving to later.

Companion Abilities + Quest + Gift Cooking
Head over to visit next. I've done so many variations of day 1 that I will say, this is the ideal time to take care of this so that you can use the companion abilities from and for cooking and gifting. I've also done variations of day 1 where I waited to do this at the end, and I was still able to complete everything. This is just a way for you to maximize your resources.

You should already have one Mama's Apple Pie from the Fresh Friendship collectible achievement, so go ahead and give that to . If you only have one flour, make one Strawberry Shortcake and give it to first . If you don't have any strawberries, make one Tofu Bread and give it to . Depending on how much you've done with materials collecting & treasure chests will determine how you do this. Our end goal here is that gets 2 Mama's Apple Pies, and gets 2 Strawberry Shortcakes so that we can complete their 3 daily gifts.

When you have 's ability, ask her to come with you and make 2 Pumpkin Pie for and then the stuff for . If you can, you can make 3 Tofu Breads for . This is the best we can do for them Day 1 so you can gift them all of their stuff now if you have it. If you don't have enough for right now, that's fine. There are other chests in temples around the map with flour so we can just take care of him then. are your priority in that order.

[high sequoia]

Quest
You should be able to unlock the Meet The Island Beings Quest. Unfortunately I don't have any screenshots due to my restarts and thinking I already covered this. If for some reason you need more friendship with , you can give her her lost luggage, location in #1137864846914891877 . This is something we will do at some point on Day 1 , so it's possible it may be a requirement. Apologies for not having this 100% confirmed for you. This quest is possible, however, Day 1. After you unlock 's companion ability, I bring her along with me most of the time as I go for the rest of Day 1.

*Edit: 's lost luggage is required to get the quest, you can explore the rest of the map and handle it later, too.

Quests + Gift Crafting
Before we head back to to complete the Delivery Service Quest, we need to head over to to craft the flippers, net, and 1 Jack-O-Latern to gift to . If you don't have enough string, go to and gift him the Tropical Material you got as a collectible reward for Traveling Party.

Now we go back to the swamp! Make sure you unlock the mailboxes along the way. Locations shown in #1137864846914891877 . I tend to go to first but I don't think it really matters if you decide to go to instead. Once you complete the Delivery Service Quest and gift the Jack-O-Lantern and 2 Pumpkin Pie, you will unlock the Re-Haunt The Spooky Swamp Quest. I don't bother doing this one until later because we need to get a friendship flower so that we can give her the Jack-O-Lanterns we'll get by completing the quest. If you didn't have enough pumpkins from earlier to craft everything and can't trigger this quest, you'll need to restart.

Quests
Next you need to talk to who will ask you to catch a Lily Frog. They are a common enough critter spawn near where he is so you shouldn't have trouble finding one. If you do, check out #1138683478850945024 for guidance. You can also give his missing luggage that you picked up earlier now (if you have it. To be honest I'm piecing together multiple speed runs, so you may need to circle back to him for the luggage later. If you don't have it now, it's totally fine. We'll get to it later. This won't affect quest progression.)

When you get your frog, donate it to receive the Bog Star Fragement. This will allow you to access more temples around the map. I don't bother dealing with the critter lists right now becase you can still catch them even if you can't donate them. I end up coming back to the Nature Reserve towards the end of my play-time and handle the rest of the needed stuff then. It really doesn't matter, though.

💎 Gemstone Match House
It's time to meet and now! I tend to use this time to gather materials and critters along the beach that borders the swamp's edges. There's a chest with an alternative recipe for Fabric that can come in handy later on. As for getting up Gemstone Mountain, I find this to be the easiest place to climb. You will be able to get another lost luggage close by, too, from this point.

Before we meet , stop by the Gemstone Match House and use all 4 of your game tickets to play. The RNG here will determine how much you'll need to craft in music boxes later. In every speed run I've done of Day 1, I get enough iron from this game and the map to craft what I need. You can also get music boxes as grand prizes that will help a ton. If you're lucky you'll get some Rocky Music Boxes which is the best gift for Pekkle Day 1. You won't be able to get the recipe for this until later in the game, unfortunately. He does like the other music boxes just fine, though, and it's never hurt my progression to give him any other type. For more info about this minigame, you can check my guide here #1139614455009910957

Gifting
It's very likely you won't have Rocky Music Boxes for . If not, just give him the gift from for now. If you got other music boxes from the Match House, wait for now to gift because we may need them for first. Before we head to we need to make sure we grab the Ingot Crafting Recipe. It's located by the Dance Hall. I also use this time to gather materials, open treasure chests, do temples, etc. When you're ready, head over to to unlock his mailbox, give him 's gift, and the 3 calming crystals we got earlier.

Near 's boat there's a chest with an ingot that's worth grabbing if you remember. Since we're already close by, get to the Icy Peaks entrance to unlock the mailbox fast travel point, and grab the stamina apple slice from the chest. If you don't know where that is, check #1137864846914891877 There is also another stamina apple slice we need from Gemstone Mountain, so before you leave make sure you grab that too. When you've finished up what you need to do, it's time to visit Mount Hothead and meet . I tend to just jump off the mountain near the zip line and fall/float down. Make sure to unlock the mailbox after you land.

Mount Hothead + Possible Gifting
Most of Day 1 going successfully relies on Mount Hothead's resources and the ability to unlock vital collectible rewards. If you haven't been going heavy gathering materials in other areas of the map, you need to do that here. Every single iron nugget and obsidian will be invaluable for crafting Volcanic Music Boxes to make sure that we have the best gifts for . We need the magma blooms in order to make Cinnamon Bread for today, and whatever we have left will come in handy for Day 2 when we can give him his 3 star gift which also requires magma blooms. While you're traversing the Mountain, start from the beach and work your way up to where you eventually meet Retsuko. The recipe for the Volcanic Music Box is located on the beach towards the end of the map. Be sure to grab the next piece of lost luggage and unlock the mailbox after you meet .

Become A Goat
The areas of Mount Hothead we'll be getting to are actually meant for much later in the game. However, with the power of parkour and patience, you can get all the way to the Caldera. Because we don't have enough stamina apple slices just yet for the extra stamina bar, we'll have to climb up twice. I believe there is a way to only have to do it once, but it'll rely on how is gifted and if you happen to get 3 critter totems from collectible rewards. That is possible but tedious & time consuming so I opt not to. To get to the first temple, I like to go up these set of rock cliffs.

??? PROFIT
Grab everything you see. If you're lucky you'll get some cinna blooms. The spawns for cinna blooms, especially early game, make it really rare, so if you don't end up with a ton that's okay. Whatever we can get now will just make Day 2 easier because we're not going to use them today. When you're ready, it's time to become one with your goat spirit animal and climb to the next temple. #1138443324894748722 will show you the spawn locations for cinna blooms!

These are the rest of my preferred spots to go up to the next temples until I got to the stamina apple slice we need. If you haven't done this before and are confused, ask for help in #🕹questions-and-help 🙏 This is not meant to be a step-by-step guide for the parkour you need to do- I'm just pointing out where I find it easiest to climb. Because we only have 1 stamina wheel, and are doing things probably not originally intended by the devs to get to these areas, you may find yourself "blacking out" if you touch certain "lava rocks", or by falling in weird spots. That's okay - you're not doing it wrong, it happens to all of us. Just be persistent and channel 🐐 energy.

Field Notes:
Day 1 - what I can remember off the top of my head that will help you is that you'll need to catch 6 sailing charmfish and 10 summer sole fish check #1138677914414612581 summer sole fish are to release with for max sand dollars, charm fish are for day 2

You have to catch 100 fish between Days 1 & 2 to get the mermaid totem for to unlock his story quest on Day 2. I didn't restart for this, but if you are really wanting to optimize, you have to get the totem & 5 of his 2 heart purple fish using the friendship flower you get from the daily reward. If you do the comic quest you'll also be able to unlock the ability to dye clothes with and all other prerequisites the quest unlocks.

On day 2 gift after you unlock the upgraded soda machine because you can do that day 2 & make her 3 heart soda gift and it'll allow you to get the potions sooner. I messed up and didn't do that so had to wait until day 3. It's not a big deal in terms of main quest progression, but if you care this will get it sooner.

You can complete the entire main story quests pre 1.1. in 6 - 7 days (RNG affects this with daily quests for friendship increases), and play approx 3 - 4 hours every day. Your speed will be determined by if you collect everything on the map every day (I did), and how familiar you are with the map & game to begin with.

Major tips overall:
Wait to gift characters until you have the best possible gift. Focus on friendships important to main story quests as you go.

Days 1 - 3 are the most crucial to get right imo.

[high sequoia]

Note: the 1.1 update very well may have completely changed the strategy for this. I will eventually update with more tips but I'll need to redo it to be able to give a step by step ☠️

[high sequoia]

Update
1.1 changed almost everything for this. I'm leaving this up for right now because some of the info is still good but this will be getting majorly redone and instead of a speed run focus it's going to be more of an advanced walk-through kind of guide. This really isn't a game where ""speed run"" applies anyway- pre 1.1 it still took 7 IRL days and approx 22/24 hours to get to icy peak.

[STRATEGY] Advanced Tips + Walkthrough

[plain anchor]

Advanced Tips + Walkthrough [STRATEGY]