TUTORIAL: How to play this game an actually have FUN

[Skaijo]

Okay. After a month of fiddling around, I've found a way to play this game and not only get the best ending each time--but also have **fun** in the process.

This game has issues strictly from a design point of view (1. Fatigue system is relied on to much and accrued to frequently, 2. The forget a card mechanic forces you to downgrade your deck too often, 3. The AI is not the smartest yet relied on each turn to proceed in the game, 4. Failing a conversation because of 1-3 makes the game feel really frustrating/out of your control + characters actively getting angry with you for something that doesn't feel like you had any input over makes things worse... etc.). Alright. Clearly the game was has issues in the design. To me, that just sounds like it was intended to be played in a certain way that's not clearly communicated to the player. Lo and behold, when you discover that specific way, the best ending in the game shows up--and not only that, it's the same method that circumvents these previously mentioned issues and lets you have fun in the process. I'm going to share that with you in this post in detail.

So, here's how to do it:

1. UNDERSTAND THE MECHANICS OF HOW TO 'WIN' THE GAME

To put is short: The main priority of the game is stocking your shelves with inventory and nothing else. Or should I say, if you focus on that, all the key characters/roads/moments will come to you naturally. So instead of chasing characters down to complete their storylines, focus on your single job of being a gatherer of store goods and you'll be fine in multiple fronts.

One of the biggest frustrations I had in earlier playthroughs is that I would try to collect enough shapes to visit as many places as possible and try to make everyone happy. It's not until several playthroughs did I come to understand that this is not a communication/make people happy game (while there's certainly good lessons about the nature of communication/happiness in this gamet) --this is a store management game. The point of the game is the collect items from folks that you can eventually sell in the store. In other words, if someone isn't going to sell you something--don't talk to 'em.

To put it even more bluntly: You need at least 3 items per day to keep your store stable. Greater than 3 per day improves the quality of your store. You can determine the quality of your store based on how clean the shelves are. If you see a lot of cobwebs and broken planks, you're doing poorly, if everything is clean--you're "WINNING" the game. And by "winning" I mean: 1. Nadine will be impressed with your actions to keep the store going, 2. Elias will fall in love with you, 3. Samuel will keep the town fed, 4. the caravan will keep your town alive, 5. You become the local hero. Everything factors off of you getting at least 3 items per day. That's the goal of the game. Honestly, nothing else matters as characters will live or die regardless of your actions. They have their own priorities and so do you. So stick to your one job--the game is written in a way such that if you do this, most (if not all) of the story beats will resolve amicably.

Just to reiterate. You're goal isn't to globetrot around the lands and solve mysteries, it's to find a neat roundtrip route that avoids accumulating too much fatigue that still lets you collect 3 or more items each day to sell in your store. All the major story beats can be achieved by simply sticking to a route nearest Bartow and keeping your store well-stocked. Here's my typical route: Leave Bartow and go to Pancheo. Pancheo alone has an artist where you can gain Art, a candy maker who will give you Licorice, and a mayor while toast you with Wine all in one stop. That's already a day's worth of items in the first town with nothing but your starting deck of circle and triangle cards. You don't have to go out much further to meet your goals either. By day two, you can get Chocolate and Matcha Tea in the next town past Pancheo, leaving you with hardly any fatigue and regularly 4+ items to bring back home each day. You can spend the rest of your time completing story quests *after* you've hit your quota. Quota first story missions afterwards, because even if you fail your story beats, so long as your store meets it's quota, the game considers this a 'win'.


2. UNDERSTAND HOW TO 'WIN' CONVERSATIONS

Your primary goal with each move you make in a conversation is to establish Accord. Accord is essentially an extra life that lets you (or the AI) make mistakes on the playing board without losing progress. This offers you a lot of flexibility to transition out of card types you don't have into card types you *do* have while also letting you brute force your way through really obstinate (or brain dead) conversation partners. The best way to build accord is with a DOUBLE CARD (ex. a card like Triangle-Triangle, or Circle-Circle). Literally make your entire deck nothing but these double cards. Ideally, you should have all double cards of just two major types. Upgrade your double cards to the same same type + power like Observe, Insert, or Shuffle. There are some cards that are blank on both sides that let you match the last card that was played--these are fine to have one of, but they're also situational. It's always better to keep it simple and start conversations with folks you're guaranteed to have easy conversations with than to risk convos with situational cards that will force you to downgrade your deck at the end of your talk.

Just keep conversations simple and build Accord as often as possible. Do this and it's near impossible to lose.

But there's a catch! You don't want to 'Win' every conversation. Some conversations end with you being ROBBED (Lil Oslo and Lars for example have convos where they take your items if you successfully win their conversation). In these cases, purposely lose the convo or PLAY YOUR FATIGUE CARDS on the board to gtfo of that convo and move on. Regrettably, you'll just have to commit to memory who you shouldn't talk to--but kids and the one armed bandit are no good towards 'winning' the game.


3. UNDERSTAND HOW TO 'WIN' THE STORY

This is subjective, but for me, the motivation of the game and crux of the story is to learn what happened to your mom, become a successful shopkeeper, and save the city of Bartow. This can be done by keeping a strictly CIRCLE/TRIANGLE focused deck (composed of double cards) and keeping to a tight route that circles around the the North Bartow up to Pancheo all the way to Rimea and back to Bartow again. That's about a 4 city circuit made up of folks who will either speak Triangle or Circle for the most part. When Hana opens up later in the game, you'll be able to have the easiest conversation in the game with Nameless, the person who will reveal the mystery of your mother to you. Likewise, you'll be able to warm the heart of the mayor of Pancheo, securing an ending with the influential Circle community, where you can change the group for the good with the info you received from Nameless. Nadine is Circle Triangle throughout and keeping on her good sides gives her the courage to stand up to the Rikers. Moreover, you'll be able to keep close with Elias who will eventually move out with you as your partner as you become a local hero and give one of your stores to Samuel. You'll be rich, powerful, and successful--all while knowing what happened to your mom and empowering others to stand up to tyrants if you just stick with the main starter deck shapes.

Now there are folks that speak Circle Diamond, or Triangle Square--and here's the thing, with a deck solely focused on Circle/Triangle doubles, you'll be able to talk to these folks too. That's because 50% of your deck is suited to these folks in 3/4th of the map. Just build Accord whenever possible and you'll be able to compensate for misplayed cards. Because of this, you'll have no problem securing important story-related items like Vinegar, Scrap metal, and a Viola in towns that share just one of your shapes.

Tldr: You win the story with a Circle/Triangle double-focused deck that builds accord because that's the deck that wins conversations and as long as you keep to a focused circuit around Bartow, you basically win the game without running into any of the more frustrating mechanics of the game.

General List of Protips:

1. Not all card powers are useful. The Power that lets you insert cards inbetween cards in the field is one of the best powers because it lest you maintain accord at the end of the deck (that may have a shape you don't have) while pushing you towards the end of the round/game. The flexibility of being able to play a card in multiple spots on the field is OP as heck. One of the worst cards is Listen as it forces the AI to play multiple cards and, towards the later days, most NPCs have mixmatched cards that never build accord and can leave you in a tight spot where you still risk losing. Keep Shuffle cards in your hand as you build fatigue, then play them to refresh your hand and bury the fatigue back in your discard pile. Use the X-Ray power to see what new characters have in their hand so you can coax the best Accord-building plays out of them. Chatter is a nice tool in that it lets you play two cards and keeps the control in your hands as you play.

2. Don't talk to people who you know don't speak your language. You'll end up getting a card from them that will impact the synergy of/ruin your deck. Best to avoid them until a different playthrough where you can explore their storyline in full. Remember your priorities.

3. Don't freak out if you fail a conversation. The bigger goal is to make sure you bring home at least three items back to your store each day. You can miss story items and still meet your quota and still 'win' the game. And on your best days, you'll have 5-6 chances to bring an item back home. You only need three to be successful.

4. When you're mid-traveling, always take the pitstop. The odds of something bad happening are too low to justify the boons of losing fatigue, doubling one of your strongest cards, or gaining a new power.

5. You will have to downgrade your deck eventually with a forced card swap at the end of a conversation. It's just the way the game works. But think of it like this: Pick one card in your deck as the throw away card (ideally a copy of something you already have multiple copies of). This one card in your deck is your throwaway card that you'll toss out as soon as you get something better. So instead of progressively tainting your whole deck, keep it to just one card. You can have multiple "bad" conversations and just swap out your one throwaway card. In this way, you can still have a strong deck and the worse that will ever happen to you is that one card in it is weak. Be mindful though, that you don't have to talk to everyone--just prioritize the folks you can do business with that will give you items.

6. If you talk to the dog in Anka, you'll give you an item (often Scraps). It's worth Anka just for this post day 3.

7. There's an Earth Quake around day 3 that introduces a new card type. Don't take it. Not every city was effected poorly by the quake and even the ones that were still speak either Circle or Triangle.

[löyly]

- First of all: spoiler warning and/or tags, please. -

What if it IS a communication game and your goal IS to globetrot around the lands and solve mysteries, though? What if "winning" isn't the point? What if one of the points is that communication can't always be "won"?

There are different ways of playing this game, and different things to enjoy. I had fun with it within the first couple of minutes. I've done five playthroughs with five different endings, and I liked all of them.
Some of the card tips up there are helpful, I'll add a gamechanger for me: the double-double cards, with two symbols on both sides, that you can get from Nadine and Ramir. Best cards in the game IMO because they are 2-in-1. Though of course if you only stick to the small "winning" route, they aren't as important.
And a hack I used from the second or third playthrough to get new results or the cards that I needed: quit the game mid-conversation (or just after) and restart to try again.
This will also make you notice that there's nothing wrong with the AI. It's like that on purpose to reflect that people aren't perfect, that they can be unattentive, in a bad mood, difficult to get along with etc. Just like you get more difficult to talk to when you're exhausted. And not every outcome of a conversation will lead to an "upgrade". And sometimes things aren't in your control and people will get angry with you even though it's not your fault. And you can't make everyone happy. What if it IS a game about communication.

[They call her Big Tesco]

Originally posted by löyly:

- First of all: spoiler warning and/or tags, please. -

What if it IS a communication game and your goal IS to globetrot around the lands and solve mysteries, though? What if "winning" isn't the point? What if one of the points is that communication can't always be "won"?

There are different ways of playing this game, and different things to enjoy. I had fun with it within the first couple of minutes. I've done five playthroughs with five different endings, and I liked all of them.
Some of the card tips up there are helpful, I'll add a gamechanger for me: the double-double cards, with two symbols on both sides, that you can get from Nadine and Ramir. Best cards in the game IMO because they are 2-in-1. Though of course if you only stick to the small "winning" route, they aren't as important.
And a hack I used from the second or third playthrough to get new results or the cards that I needed: quit the game mid-conversation (or just after) and restart to try again.
This will also make you notice that there's nothing wrong with the AI. It's like that on purpose to reflect that people aren't perfect, that they can be unattentive, in a bad mood, difficult to get along with etc. Just like you get more difficult to talk to when you're exhausted. And not every outcome of a conversation will lead to an "upgrade". And sometimes things aren't in your control and people will get angry with you even though it's not your fault. And you can't make everyone happy. What if it IS a game about communication.

Seconding this 100%. OP's post had some great tips (thank you!) but I have to agree that I didn't personally feel that this was a 'winning' game.

For me, this game is a masterpiece because its design tells the story for it - one that I found particularly relatable and poignant. If you go travel the world, you will meet people who will change you - for better or worse - and when you go home, maybe you'll find it harder to connect with people. That's what I did in life, and that's exactly what I experienced. If you stay local, sure you might stay in everyone's good books... but then where's the adventure? The opportunity to grow and explore? That's what some of my childhood friends did, and while they're comfortable, they've also limited their lives in ways I wouldn't personally want for myself.

I'm not saying the design is *perfect*. It's not. But it's also not far off IMO. Its mechanics tell a story about choosing to explore and maybe change too much to go home vs sticking with what's safe and familiar and never branching out, and they do that VERY well. My point is... each is a valid approach with its own trade offs that will speak to different people, and at the end of the day, i don't think every game needs to be optimised for the 'best' ending. That's not what it seems to be about.