Action adventure RPG Ever Oasis just launched a year on from its original E3 2016 unveiling and Koichi Ishii (of Square Enix’s Mana series fame) has championed a new desert world for you to journey through as you build an oasis of your own to house the many Seedlings and other beings that you meet on your travels.
If you’re considering picking up Grezzo’s (the developers) first non-Zelda related Nintendo 3DS title then these handy tidbits of information should prove useful for building a burgeoning oasis full of happy residents in no time.
Attracting more travellers
You play as Tethu, the chief of the last oasis and it’s your job to transform your home from the small haven you created with the water spirit Esna into an expansive eutopia with room for travellers from across the desert, and the only way to increase the size of your oasis is by levelling it up.
Travellers are the key to speedy progression as they bring commerce to your home in the form of Bloom Booths, can aid you in combat, offer unique abilities ideal for puzzle solving and, if you take the time to chat to them, you may unlock a few extra side quests along the way. As such the more that visit, the better.
Sleeping
You’ll naturally encounter plenty of travellers within your oasis as you play through the main story, however, if you’re ever wandering around and haven’t been introduced to anyone new of late, have a sleep.
Sleeping turns the clock forward to the next morning, replenishing fruit and growing any crops you may have planted in your garden, as well as ushering in new visitors, both Seedlings and Noots (who don’t stay but do help grow your economy by buying items from your oasis’ Bloom Booths) alike.
Stronger monsters also come out at night, so unless you’re looking to actively level your team up, you can avoid any overtly challenging combat before you’re ready.
Bonus tip: If the game tells you that it’s not a good time to sleep simply move between the various ‘screens’ of your oasis as this also has a chance of triggering the arrival of new travellers.
Side missions and requests
In order to win over visiting travellers to the point that they decide to become residents of your oasis, most will present you with side missions personal to them. It absolutely pays to play as a completionist in Ever Oasis, as travellers who become residents bring more variety, not only to the types of Bloom Booths that you can set up, but also to combat; with unique move sets, attacks and special items.
As such, whenever you’re taking a stroll through your oasis keep tabs on both your To-Do list and Requests list (found in the start menu). Most side missions relating to the To-Do list also show up as blue accented chevrons on your map, so try to clear those off whenever possible to win over new townsfolk before proceeding with the main story.
Bonus tip: Activate quests before leaving your oasis – you can’t change objectives once you’re out in the wider world and will have to return home to do so.
Caring for Bloom Booths
Resident Seedlings have the ability to create a variety of Bloom Booths, selling everything from food and drink, to clothing and novelty items. They serve as the sole means of income and it’s one of your many jobs to make sure that they stay in business.
There are two things to keep in mind to ensure a stable income from them: make sure that they have plenty inventory and make sure to collect your earnings (known as Dewadems) regularly.
Stock takes the form of a variety of items which you’ll encounter as you venture out beyond the walls of your oasis. Depending on the Bloom Booth you might need to harvest fruits, collect items dropped by enemies or take select residents out with you in your party to dig up piles of dirt or mine for ore.
You’ll know what each booth needs by stopping by and chatting with the owners, or simply trying to hit the ‘Restock’ option when inside, whether you have the necessary materials or not. Touching on a point from earlier, sleeping is also a great way to respawn items, enemies (which drop items) and regrow fruits, if certain booths are running low.
If ever you see the blue Dewadem icon floating above a Bloom Booth, use Tethu’s Green Gale ability to whip your cut of their earnings into your pockets.
Bonus tip: It also pays to position similar types of Bloom Booths together, giving them an extra boost by building the relevant booster plant next to them (found under the second tab in the Bloom Booth build menu).
Combat
No matter how safe you might feel inside the walls of your oasis, you’ll have to venture out beyond them to meet new travellers, unlock new areas and defeat the Chaos that’s plaguing the land and its inhabitants. Part of that journey will require that you have to pull a few punches (or rather, swing a sword) every now and then. As such, make sure that these basic combat concepts are under your belt before taking on any beasties.
Dodging and countering
Most enemies signpost their strongest attacks before lunging at you, make sure to lock on to your opponent (using ‘L’) and strafing so that you are to the side or behind them to avoid getting hit. You can also press ‘B’ to dodge out of the way, however, some characters move slower than others which can sometimes leave you vulnerable for a second or two. Test your character’s dodge before getting into a combat situation.
So long as you’ve successfully avoided an incoming attack most enemies will then present you with a window of opportunity where you and your teammates can launch a swift counter-attack without fear of taking damage.
Healing
Always head out into the world with plenty of healing items on you. They can be found, bought or made and based on which ones you’re using, will heal different amounts of hit points (HP). Using a heal on one character also affects everyone within your party, so they can go a long way.
Provided Tethu is still alive at the end of a boss battle, your entire team will be healed automatically when you defeat said boss, so save your healing items if you aren’t in dire need of them.
Changing characters
You can bring up to two travellers with you on your journey into the sands, which you’ll likely choose based on their unique abilities and/or their combat effectiveness. Remember that in most cases you can teleport back to change your team mid-mission (provided you’re not in combat) without needing to back-track.
Collecting experience
Each member of your party gains experience points (XP) from combat independently and it isn’t counted until you all return to the oasis. As such, it pays to travel back often to level up you residents so that you can swiftly return to the desert stronger and better equipped to take on even tougher foes.
Bonus tip: You’ll sometimes meet characters out in the world who’ll want to join your party immediately. If it’s already full and you decide to swap one of your teammates out, they may not be able to collect the experience they’ve earned since you last left the oasis.
Instead, reject the initial offer from a potential new teammate, teleport back to your oasis to collect your XP and free up one of your team spots by talking to Shakuro before teleporting back to add that new member to the now free slot in your party, having not lost any XP in the process.