Black Whistle quest, and Protip

[AFRO THUNDER]

So I just got done running around with you know who in Layer 4. At this point, should I go straight back to Orth to get the black whistle quest, or keep progressing through the layer?

Also, those gathering skill descriptions are misleading. They don't make you gather/skin/mine faster, they double the resources you get from them. Really good for getting rope threads.

[DRayX]

Go back to get the black whistle quest. You'll kick yourself if you get to the end of the layer and don't have the quest.

[Splat ♥]

supposedly the curse wears off faster with the better whistle you have

[PerfectLife]

Originally posted by Splat am bored ♥:

supposedly the curse wears off faster with the better whistle you have

being able to fast travel out of 3 and 4 is amazing... 4 has a crazy good fishing spot and you can just pop back and forth. I feel like you're weirdly encouraged to get the whistle, then go back and do quests gather materials.

[DRayX]

Also note that getting new whistles also lowers the food (and health) costs for moving between zones and fast-traveling. With black whistle getting fast-traveling to layer 5 costs like 93 food IIRC, and with white whistle it's like 30.

There are also easy enemies on lower layers that drop materials that are rare on higher layers. It's definitely best to progress a bit before farming. Trying to farm layer 3 or 4 before getting black whistle would be crazy, and you'll waste so much less food if you get white whistle too.

[Hentaika]

By entering layer 4 you are forcing yourself into a mandatory path with Riko that pretty much already makes you reach end of the layer only to backtrack after that.
The small location with loads of plants is pre last location pretty much, every other area is pretty much optional.

I guess they made layer 4 simple since layer 3 is pretty long and you need to do both.

Riko questline ends back near exit to layer 3 so part of backtracking is already done for you.

[DRayX]

Yeah. Note that the Riko questline has a couple of mandatory fights, so if you used all your weapons on the layer 3 interference unit, you'll have to make multiple trips.

[PerfectLife]

Originally posted by DRayX:

Yeah. Note that the Riko questline has a couple of mandatory fights, so if you used all your weapons on the layer 3 interference unit, you'll have to make multiple trips.

I let riko kill everything during her mission... she can't just rely on other people forever.

[Hentaika]

You have to kill at least the 2 beasts for hard meats solo, can get you hard stuck otherwise with not enough weapons.