Village Levels
As of a week or so ago, the Villages have new dev zones!
Spring Village has a new dev zone in the centre of the far south. There is a new warp to the Dev Zone 3.
Summer has one that is an island facing Kusatsu's Inn.
My initial misconception was that I could do as I pleased. Every one needed a place to live and Crops had to be grown. Every villager needed to be paid. Apart from that, I paid little attention to all the specific requirements until I found myself unable to reach the higher levels.
First of all, every Village is intended to be unique and Summer is a bustling shopping destination so once you really do not need businesses in your dev zones. You simply need to staff existing businesses when you are allowed to do so. They do unlock at different levels.
Winter does need shops in the dev zones. All they had initially was the Izakaya and the smithy.
If you man all the businesses and see a '1' after any, it means there may be a duplicate. Duplicates are not useful.
If Woolby remarks that some of the villagers have not been assigned tasks when you go to a Village Menu, it means that every job should be addressed. A villager being a Farmer does not necessarily qualify if you have no one set to Mining or Logging ot catching Fish.
Decorations that are duplicates do not count. The Village icons that are on any decoration show where they count in terms of their effects. Placing a Snowman anywhere but Winter has no effect apart from visual and counting in terms of the total number of decorations that have been placed.
Barns take a great deal of space but they are not required in every village. It was only by removing the Barn in my Winter Village that I had space for the business it required to attain Level 10. HP is given by homes. RP is given by businesses. I did not eliminate the Barn. I simply moved it to my Spring Village. My Large Barns currently are in Spring and Autumn. I like the large monsters. I have the King Wooly, the White Wolf that was Fubuki and Nine-Tails.
Mind you, the Winter Village has the Herder Icon in its list of jobs like the other villages. I did think though that Villager Happiness was not diminished when I moved the Barn to another Village.
I have yet to confirm whether an Empty Barn requires a Herder.
Another error I made was growing the Crops only in the Village specified for them... well, it is not necessary and one Village Requirement is to grow 18 different Crops. That means crossing seasonal lines.
Note however that when a specific Village requirement is to grow a specified number of a specific Crop, they only count it seems when grown THERE. I tested it by growing Winter flowers in the Spring and Autumn Villages.
Make certain you can house every one and that all businesses are stocked. Each Barn needs a herder. If you do not assign one, you will obtain no products.
I do not know if assigning a Villager to Fishing in all four villages matters. I have discovered fishing is utterly random. I have caught freshwater and ocean fish at the same location. Rain has some effect, but other than that...
I have caught a Flounder only once on an island in the sky. I will keep trying. Subari requests two. There are recipes that require Flounder as well. Absurd that it is almost impossible to find.
Later: I discovered that one of Watarase's Requests gives 5 Flounder as a Reward. Much easier than catching them for the sake of completing a Request by Subaru.
I have yet to answer my own question as to whether Village Level can decrease although I suspect that once divinity returns, it cannot be taken away. So far, neither has the 100% happiness ever decreased after Level 10, nor has there been any dialogue to the effect that it could.
I have yet to make one Village, probably Autumn because it has so much space, a pilgrimage site with the Kagura Shrine and the other sacred shrines, and both Heavenly and Underworld areas. I took time off to start a new game to document everything. Even though it is frustrating to have my life with Kai and little Misha on pause, every experience is richer when experienced in the new game because I know the history and the characters. Little details were lost on me the first time round. And yes, this game is THAT good to want to do it all again.
Happiness is Lodging and no empty businesses. I still need to discover how age matters. Every Village Level 9 was at 100% and that did not change.
Buildings Make the Village 5
Construct and place Tent
Reward: 10 Rice Flour, 3500 Gold
Buildings make the Village 6
Construct and place Grand Shrine
Reward: 5 Yellowtail, 4,500 Gold
Buildings Make the Village 7
Construct and place Shrine
Reward: 10 Mayonnaise: 5000 Gold
As I reach Level 10, there are new Ema Plaques posted by Takumi:
Buildings Make the Village 9: Construct and place Treasure House:
Reward:
10 Marbled Meat
6000 Gold
Buildings Make the Village 10
Construct and place Heavenly Tower
Rewards:
Light Crystal x 10
10,000 Gold
Buildings Make the Village 11
Construct and place Underworld Tower
Reward:
Dark Crystal x 10
10,000 Gold
I had constructed an Underworld Tower and placed it before seeing or accepting the quest so it did not count!
13 October:
A recent update provided a new dev zone for the Summer Village. There is a warp circle to the left of Kusatsu's Inn but once you have been there, you can warp directly from the Map to the island.
In my new game, my Villages are at Level 8 or 9 and it is the 21st day of Summer. I focused on reaching the point in the Main Quest where I now need to defeat the Tagesanbruch. In doing so, I paused the Village development in terms of total numbers of Crops needed. Villagers assigned to farm needed you to be an overseer. Left unsupervised, they will leave behind empty fields and unwatered crops daily.
There is another area that needs to be addressed now in my new game in order to raise the Villages to maximum Level. I need to go through the wilds, defeat more monsters, and clear any remaining Blight.
The Main Quest tells me to explore Rakshasa Gorge but I need to explore my local regions as well.
Seeds and Crops:
Seed Savant potentially gives you more seeds while a Crop Whisperer gives you potentially a higher level of Seed 8 believe.
Soil Specialist can give a Farming Bonus of 20%
Village Contests
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One of the requirements for raising Village Levels to 10 is holding a contest.
For Winter, I organised the Freshwater Fishing Contest.
For this, you must be at the Winter God Shrine at 8.00 a.m. and speak to Zaza. Any actual fishing is done at Watarase's. It does end at 7.00 p.m. but you will hqve fished out every spot long before then. I tgink the most fish I caught was 24.
The Harvest Festival is a Spring Festival. It begins promptly at 8 at the Spring God Shrine by speaking to Sakaki. I submitted at Level 7 Giant Turnip and won. Although it declares it ends at 7., it was over at 9.00 a.m.
I won a Field and Valuable Medal.
