Welcome to the enchanting world of Echoes of the Plum Grove! If you’re just starting out, here are some essential tips to help you navigate the game’s marriage, family, and career aspects effectively. So here are 16 beginner tips that will help you get started and keep a good rhythm in the early stages of Echoes of the Plum Grove.
Marriage: Choose Wisely, But Not Too Slowly
- Maximize Spouse Benefits: When you marry, avoid immediately turning your spouse into a farmhand. As a farmhand, your spouse loses all their money, which means you can no longer trade with them. Trading with your spouse is incredibly beneficial because it allows you to sell items late at night, avoiding spoilage and missed opportunities. Additionally, a non-farmhand spouse earns about 40 coins daily, while a converted farmhand earns only 20. Keep the trading channel open to make the most out of your spouse’s financial capabilities.
- Don’t Delay Marriage: While it might be tempting to wait for the perfect partner, it’s more pragmatic to marry early. Early marriage enables you to have children sooner, which is vital since the game uses chance to determine if you have kids each night. Delaying marriage risks dying without an heir, which can lead to lost progress. If you want to pursue someone with challenging gift preferences, consider turning off aging until you secure a date. Remember to disable aging for all characters to maintain balance in the game and ensure your children have appropriate age-mates.
If you need a complete guide on how to get married and have kids then this guide is for you.
Family Planning: The More, The Merrier
- Children and Farmhands: Send your first child (the heir) to school, but utilize your other children as farmhands. This strategy helps in maintaining a productive farm while focusing on your heir’s education and future.
- Inclusive Options for Same-Sex Couples: Don’t worry if you’re in a same-sex relationship; the game supports various methods to start a family, including pregnancy and adoption (both overseas and from orphanages). This inclusivity ensures that every player can experience parenthood regardless of their marital setup.
Career Choices: Strategic Partnerships
- Marrying into the Right Career: Some professions offer more benefits for your gameplay. For example:
- Blacksmiths: Marrying a blacksmith is advantageous as you won’t need to search for steel tools daily. Blacksmiths provide consistent access to essential items like nails and iron bars.
- Carpenters: A carpenter spouse is also beneficial, offering a steady supply of nails and a rotating stock of furniture, which can enhance your home. Carpenters also sell lantern oil, which can be quite useful.
Culinary Skills: More Than Just Cooking
- Cooking Skills: Even if you play with the hunger mechanic turned off, don’t ignore your cooking skills. Participating in the summer cooking competition requires a broad knowledge of recipes. Without this, you may find yourself stuck in dialogue, unable to progress. Additionally, the competition provides free ingredients for preparing meals on the spot, which can be a crucial boost in the early game, even if you cannot keep the meals afterward.
Resource Management: Early Game Strategies
- Profit from Wood: Wood is a renewable resource that sells for 10 coins each, making it an excellent early-game moneymaker. Shake as many trees as you can daily, but avoid the forest for shakeable trees; they don’t seem to exist there. While wood is crucial for crafting and story progression, don’t hesitate to sell it before establishing steady crop and animal income. Unlike some games, it’s often beneficial to sell your wood in Echoes of the Plum Grove.
- Daily Mining: Stone, another essential resource, is less abundant than wood but just as important. Mining can be tedious due to the travel time and lantern oil usage, but it’s vital for crafting. Aim to mine daily to avoid shortages, especially since stone is needed for 90% of crafting recipes.
- Always Carry Lantern Oil: Keep at least one lantern oil on hand. It’s used extensively in mines and during significant story events. Running out can slow you down significantly, especially at night when you risk waking up late and finding shops closed. While crafting lantern oil might be unclear, don’t hesitate to purchase it when necessary.
Economic Tips: Spending Wisely
- Be Prepared to Buy: Sometimes, purchasing items is unavoidable. For instance, the smelter recipe, essential for crafting bars and nails, might not be available until winter if you neglect your crafting skill. Accept that buying certain items is part of the game to avoid stalling your progress.
Limbo Challenge: Tackling the Pillars
- Mastering the Cooking Pillar: The cooking pillar in Limbo is particularly challenging; it requires at least 60 gold star meals (30 donated, 30 gifted). Learning a vast array of recipes is necessary, which you can acquire through quests and leveling up. While you can buy gold star meals from taverns or bakeries, relying solely on purchases is inefficient and costly. Balance buying meals with preparing them to progress more effectively.
- Crafted Goods for the Crafting Pillar: If you’ve neglected your crafting skill, you’ll find relief in knowing that fertilizers count as crafted goods for the crafting pillar. Other items like butter, cheese, lantern oil, nails, and bars also count. Avoid donating nails and bars, as they’re constantly needed for other crafts. Discover what you can craft easily and use those items to fulfill the pillar’s requirements.
- Fishing Pillar Strategy: For the fishing pillar, lobsters, which are needed, aren’t available until autumn and winter. Don’t focus solely on this pillar; broaden your efforts across all pillars for more efficient progress. Many players complete the social pillar inadvertently by engaging in various activities like foraging and farming.
- Efficient Use of the Limbo Area: Travelling to and within Limbo can be tedious and resource-heavy. Once you acquire an icebox or cellar, use it to store gold star items. This strategy lets you transport them in large batches, reducing the need for frequent trips and saving lantern oil.
General Advice for a Balanced Game Experience
- Avoid Tunnel Vision: It’s easy to become hyper-focused on one pillar, but remember that all pillars require time and skill leveling. Play naturally, as if the pillars didn’t exist, and you’ll find your progress much smoother and quicker. For example, you might complete the social pillar without realizing it by simply engaging in daily activities.
- Storing Gold Star Items: When preparing for significant challenges like Limbo, store your gold star items efficiently. This preparation prevents wastage and minimizes the need for repetitive trips, allowing you to focus on other aspects of the game.
