Point of the desert obelisk

[PookieDoodle]

I don't get the point of building the desert obelisk. It seems that by the time you've got a million coins you've probably made it through the skull cavern. And even if you haven't, how can you justify spending that much money for it? What could you get in return that's worth it? I mean, other than you nearing the end of your game and you just want to buy everything because you can. Seems like there's a few things like this. Things we really could of used and then didn't really need at all by the time we can afford them.

 

[imnvs]

First, it means you can get to the dessert even when Pam isn't working for one reason or another (outside her working hours, or one of those days she takes off).

Second, it means you're not spending for the bus fare every time any longer.

Third, it's required for perfection.

...

Also, as I explained to someone else... the obelisks, the return scepter and the golden clock? These are all luxury items. You don't need them to run your farm. You don't need them to do anything really. They are luxury items that make it easier to do these things that you could still do, but now you can do them with less work involved. These are things that should never enable you to do something you couldn't do before getting them.

So yes, you don't need these things by the time you can achieve them. That's kind of the point. These are luxury items that simply make things you can do already easier to do.

 

[Boo1972]

Also, depending on your play style, I do think it’s helpful to get there early when completing Mr Qi’s quest. If I need to collect prismatic shards and am going to spend time spamming staircases, I like to get there early. If I’m battling the skull cavern invasion and want to use minimal staircases, I like to get there early. Heck, when I needed to kill more mummies to complete my monster eradication goals, I would go for a few hours at night after Pam left for the saloon. I actually think the desert obelisk and the island obelisk are always useful. I tend to build them before the cheaper ones.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Pookie for me, one of the main things I love to do late game is see how far I can get in the caverns. I'll very routinely prep for a trip the day before, head that way ASAP, and get to delving, just for fun. That and fishing are my main two end game loves, and fill the time between grand projects and farm reorganizations. So for me, it's the very best Obelisk because then I don't have to wait nearly 4 hours for Pam to get to the Bus Stop, I can just go. I have easily crafted and used over 100 Desert Warp Totems, so the Obelisk represents hardwood / iridium / coconuts / omni geodes that I don't have to spend.

Think of it this way - every other Obelisk, you're saving yourself (with a horse, some espresso and pepper poppers) maybe 30 minutes in game. 50 minutes at the very most, and that's a stretch. The Desert Obelisk, thanks to having to wait for Pam, you're saving 4-8x that amount.

 

[Lew Zealand]

First off, Stardew Valley is a Return Sceptre sim game. If you don’t get it, well….. you’re not getting it.

The point of the game.

You get 2M g in the game to get the Return Sceptre achievement. It’s there, I’m sure of it. Probably just a bug why it doesn’t show up, I’ll ping CA about it.

The Obelisks are expensive but I’ve gotten 3+M g every save before completing level 100 in Skull Cavern and what else are you gonna spend it on, eh? The best time savers in the game for an impatient person such as myself if your horse or the Minecarts (lol) just ain’t cuttin’ it.

Return Sceptre sim! You must grok it.

 

[CryogenCrystals]

Personally I think, for players who don't love mining, I could easily see them not wanting to prioritize the desert obelisk or not seeing it as super important (I just bought it for its early day porting ability but a friend hates the mines so doesnt want to port there faster lol).

In my mind, these folks are simply at different parts of their game with different priorities. Some players want to prioritize doing/getting/finishing all content and have all convenience items to do things speedily, other's don't care about this and that's fine. As they say, there's no wrong way to play the game. For my friend, the obelisk would be a waste of money at his current progress point, he needs his cash for other things first. He doesn't see the ROI of it either because he is focused on those other things and is enjoying the trekking around to find artifact spots, forage, and things in his travel that he would miss by warping. I've gotten to a point where there's money to burn in my cash stash, so I dropped the loot on it.

So, as usual I think the point in spending depends where folks are in their own priorities and gameplay. If it isn't your priority right now, then you can probably safely ignore it for a while.

 

[Worblehat]

Seems like there's a few things like this. Things we really could of used and then didn't really need at all by the time we can afford them.

This is Catch-22 game design, which was the guiding principle for much of Stardew Valley. The community upgrades and the cookout kit are the most extreme examples, but the obelisks and many other aspects of the game follow the same pattern. The Return Scepter, on the other hand, is one of the rare cases where something's cost is in the same ballpark as its value. (Maybe even underpriced, it's so good!)

There are two reasons to care about the desert obelisk: do you want to get to the desert before 10am (or at other times when Pam is unavailable)? Do you need it for Perfection? For me the answers are "haha absolutely not!" and "I'd rather get the clock first", so the desert obelisk is in the same bin as the mountain obelisk, just a nuisance to check off the list once I have the clock for the last two percent of Perfection. The beach obelisk would be in the same category if dragon's teeth were easier/quicker to come by, but I found it useful as a placeholder for the island obelisk (and I find the latter genuinely useful).

 

[Giant Octopodes]

This is Catch-22 game design, which was the guiding principle for much of Stardew Valley. The community upgrades and the cookout kit are the most extreme examples, but the obelisks and many other aspects of the game follow the same pattern. The Return Scepter, on the other hand, is one of the rare cases where something's cost is in the same ballpark as its value. (Maybe even underpriced, it's so good!)

There are two reasons to care about the desert obelisk: do you want to get to the desert before 10am (or at other times when Pam is unavailable)? Do you need it for Perfection? For me the answers are "haha absolutely not!" and "I'd rather get the clock first", so the desert obelisk is in the same bin as the mountain obelisk, just a nuisance to check off the list once I have the clock for the last two percent of Perfection. The beach obelisk would be in the same category if dragon's teeth were easier/quicker to come by, but I found it useful as a placeholder for the island obelisk (and I find the latter genuinely useful).

In regards to the Return Scepter, for me it's a sub out for just passing out (which has an average cost of under 1000 especially if you have the right friends), which means it only offers significant return after around 200 uses. That's like 2 years of in game time, so it's not a priority for me initially. Of course, once you have your teleportation network set up at home, using it can start saving *tons* of time as you zip home and warp off to your next destination, so I agree it's a fantastic tool - eventually. But I always get the Obelisks first, then the Return Scepter, then the clock. Which just shows, different priorities for different folks!

 

[Worblehat]

Very different! I use the scepter multiple times a day, every single day. And never pass out. I even use the scepter to get from the farther aisles of the cellar to the front door, rather than taking the trouble to walk (I'm sure Lew Zealand approves of that level of laziness! ).

 

[PookieDoodle]

Everyone makes a valid point. Especially about Pam and the update. Some days she doesn't show up until well after 10 am. Others, she's gone to the beach or has a doctors appt. I do hate waiting on her. You know, you wake up and you've already packed 10 lunches, lol and it's a lucky day. You're raring to go. And Pam's taking the long way to get to the bus stop. Sometimes I like to walk behind her to try and push her along.

But it would be nice to get to the skull cavern when I wanted to and not when the bus finally gets there. There have been lots of times I've gotten to the level I had hoped for and boom, it's already midnight. I could use that extra four hours. And logically, if I had that much extra spelunking time, it would validate the million coins.

 

[Elenna101]

Yeah, I use it a lot for getting to Skull Caverns without waiting on Pam, as others have said.

That being said, if you're doing Skull Caverns, you're going to get plenty of omni geodes that you can trade for way more desert totems than you'll actually need. So IMO it's mostly a convenience so you don't have to remember to stock up on desert totems.

And Pam's taking the long way to get to the bus stop. Sometimes I like to walk behind her to try and push her along.

Tip: If you stand in front of her and block her way, after a few seconds she'll suddenly speed up and push past you. Unfortunately this speed boost will go away once she enters a different area, but it can still work out to quite a bit of a speed-up if she's not too close to the area transition when you do it. IIRC, if you block her right as she exits her house, and again as she enters the bus stop, she can get to the bus shortly after 9am.

Or just trade for desert warp totems, it's way easier and less annoying...

EDIT: I guess if you're mostly using staircases to go down in SC, you might not be getting lots of omni geodes. In that case the obelisk is probably pretty useful, yeah.

 

[CryogenCrystals]

Very different! I use the scepter multiple times a day, every single day. And never pass out. I even use the scepter to get from the farther aisles of the cellar to the front door, rather than taking the trouble to walk (I'm sure Lew Zealand approves of that level of laziness! ).

That's awesome, I'm totally going to try that lol

 

[Salty1]

I feel like the desert obelisk is more useful than the water/mountain, but it's still more costly than necessary unless you reaaaaaally want to save all your omni-geodes. Otherwise, you can generally just trade enough omni-geodes from your cavern trips to stock up on desert totems instead - it's not bad though, just not quite as good as some of the other luxury things.

 

[PookieDoodle]

I feel like the desert obelisk is more useful than the water/mountain, but it's still more costly than necessary unless you reaaaaaally want to save all your omni-geodes. Otherwise, you can generally just trade enough omni-geodes from your cavern trips to stock up on desert totems instead - it's not bad though, just not quite as good as some of the other luxury things.

That's so true. Especially since I have tons of farm totems. If I start doing that someone should let Pam know. Because then she'll just be sitting there day in and day out in the off chance that Emily would be going to the desert. Oh well, at least I gave her a chair and some coffee to occupy her time.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Very different! I use the scepter multiple times a day, every single day. And never pass out. I even use the scepter to get from the farther aisles of the cellar to the front door, rather than taking the trouble to walk (I'm sure Lew Zealand approves of that level of laziness! ).

I do believe I need to pass the onerous burden of Chief Lazy to the Right Honorable Sir Worblehat for excessively creative use of the Return Sceptre in service to Laziness the Valley over. Warping from the Cellar to the front door is just the kind of thinking the world needs in this time of lavishly excessive effort and perspiration. Once in a generation a hero is molded from the rough hewn morass of humanity, destined to underachieve in just such a way as to show the rest of us muddling through the dank and darkness of mere walking, into the Light of knowledge, time efficiency, and sloth.

I hereby bequeath to you, Worblehat, this Woefully Orinary Sash of Respectful Restiveness. When I dig it out of the piles of stuff in the garage. Do with it what you wish but don't clean it as it's made from cheesecloth and anyway, that'd reek of effort.

 

[One More Day]

This thread would have made so much more sense if you'd asked the point of the mountain obelisk, which transports you to the middle of nowhere in particular.

It's no quicker than getting the minecarts directly to the mines, you still have to walk a bit to get to Robin's shop, and by the time you spend 7 figures on an obelisk, the spa is pointless because you can clearly just buy energy in the form of salads from Gus.

By comparison, the desert obelisk represents amazing value

 

[PookieDoodle]

This thread would have made so much more sense if you'd asked the point of the mountain obelisk, which transports you to the middle of nowhere in particular.

It's no quicker than getting the minecarts directly to the mines, you still have to walk a bit to get to Robin's shop, and by the time you spend 7 figures on an obelisk, the spa is pointless because you can clearly just buy energy in the form of salads from Gus.

By comparison, the desert obelisk represents amazing value

After reading other posts, I agree. I went ahead and made the desert obelisk.

 

[imnvs]

I do believe I need to pass the onerous burden of Chief Lazy to the Right Honorable Sir @Worblehat for excessively creative use of the Return Sceptre in service to Laziness the Valley over.

I'll use the Return Sceptre to get from my kitchen to the front door. I use it when I wake up to get to the front door, since my bed is as far from the door as is possible. I think I have to challenge for the title.

This thread would have made so much more sense if you'd asked the point of the mountain obelisk, which transports you to the middle of nowhere in particular.

It's no quicker than getting the minecarts directly to the mines, you still have to walk a bit to get to Robin's shop, and by the time you spend 7 figures on an obelisk

To make a quick correction, the Mountain and Beach obelisks prices went down to .5M at v1.5, so only 6 figures.

 

[PookieDoodle]

I'll use the Return Sceptre to get from my kitchen to the front door. I use it when I wake up to get to the front door, since my bed is as far from the door as is possible. I think I have to challenge for the title.

To make a quick correction, the Mountain and Beach obelisks prices went down to .5M at v1.5, so only 6 figures.

Even at .5M, I think I can walk to the mountains. Especially after getting the shortcut.

 

[LoveElliotsHair]

You don't get to win the game unless you have all the Obelisks and the clock on your farm. So even if you don't think they're necessary to get from one place to the other, they are required to get 100% completion. If that's not your goal, then don't get them.