(Hopefully) small requests

[Cococinel]

1. I rarely farm grapes because I already forage them a season earlier and the farmed version adds nothing new . A possible means to make farming grapes its own experience is to add ice wine to the game. Ice wine is made from grapes left on the vine until the first frost hits (and is quite delicious). There's several ways to represent this in gameplay, but my suggestion would be for outside grape vines to make it to the 1st of winter starting an appropriate farming level. Like, suppose that up until Lv.6 outside grape vines can't make it to Winter 1. Starting Lv.6, there's a 20% chance that a grapevine survives and then 20% more with each additional level. On Winter 1, and only on Winter 1, you can harvest ice grapes (same sprite, different name/ID). Ice grapes would only be double the value of normal grapes, while ice wine could be 2000-2500 rather than 3 × base price?
2. Any chance the Wizard would be able to move fruit trees? I'm also fine paying for Robin to go back to carpenter college and learn tree-moving. So much of the farm layout can be easily redone any time at no or minimal loss yet the fruit trees, which take four years to age, cannot be moved. It makes the other remodeling options somewhat bottlenecked.
3. I'd like for amber to be added to seaside crab pot catches and jet to be added to river/lakeside crab pot catches. And for both to be rare woodcutting drops. Just for a few gems besides pearl to be acquired through other means than mining.
4. Animal care would be a lot easier if there was some sort of visual cue if an animal has already received their daily hug. They could glow a bit or receive a ribbon or something else, but just anything that'll help me know. (On the use of ribbons, managing a lot of animals also is difficult when you can't tell at a glance who's who. Maybe animals could come with some sort of cloth the player can set the color for to help identify them without opening the animal's window?) Taken care off well enough in 1.5 with the auto-petter.
5. Television is such a fun part of the first two years and thereafter I only ever make use of it when preparing for the Skull Cavern challenge and finding good days to plant grass.
   1. Something I'd like very much for late game is a "camera system". That is, I'd like to have access to the same screen you get when buying a building or animal through the TV so that I can see how the farm is doing and where any particular animal has wandered off to without having to run around. It'd work as part of the second house upgrade.
   2. There's been so much new stuff since the game was released and "Livin' Off The Land" is still the same as it was back then. Surely there's enough by now for a three-year loop instead of a two-year one.
   3. Not a small request, but since I'm already mentioning two of my three wishes for the TV I might as well mention the third. I like the treasure hunting from Secret Notes #16, #17, and #18 and I'd like to have more of that. What if completing the three treasure hunts would award the player with a subscription to a treasure hunt channel that randomly is on and shows a location where to dig for a random treasure for one day only? Could be a good way to make some of the rarer items a little more obtainable, like pearls, strawberry seeds, and (more) treasure chests.
6. Any chance the bee house could get an animation update? It always seems so dead and now that there's a butterfly hutch I was wondering if the bee house could be made to spawn one or two bees too to show activity?
7. Could characters saying what they or someone else (dis)likes be added to the gift logs instead of the gift log only updating when a gift is actually given? Was already a thing. I'm just not very perceptive.
8. Could the horse get some upgrades:
   1. A late-game teleport-the-horse-to-your-current-location scepter? Something in the 5-6 million range of pricing to make it like the clock: nice to work towards, but with limited influence on the challenge of the game. Taken care off in 1.5 with the horse flute.
   2. Could horseshoes be added as upgradeable at the blacksmith's? The benefits could be speed related, but also thinks like that horse gets warped along if warp totem or return scepter is used while standing right next to the horse", an arrow a la tracker function to point where the horse is if present in the current area (I personally lose a lot of time regularly on figuring out where I've parked my horse, especially on the farm), or the ability to trample/deal damage to enemies when riding (powerful, but useful in only two locations tops atm).
9. Could holding a fishing rod with bait in front of a crab trap also load the trap with bait? It would be nice not to have to get the bait out first and then put it back in and I can't readily think of any drawback.

Thank you for reading.

 

[imnvs]

If "Ice Grapes" were implemented, and if their value was double that of regular grapes, I'd be fine with Ice Wine being double the value. Making it work in some alternate, caviar-like way with the fixed price just seems unnecessary.

As for gift log being updated by dialogue, perhaps secret notes could also update the log?

 

[redbobcat]

#4 - What if animals displayed an empty heart icon above their heads until you pet them. Would make it easier to spot the little ones in the grass too.

#6 - I’d like to see a couple of bees buzzing around bee houses, as long as it does not become a swarm but only displays a few bees regardless of the number of bee houses.

 

[Odin]

4. Animal care would be a lot easier if there was some sort of visual cue if an animal has already received their daily hug. They could glow a bit or receive a ribbon or something else, but just anything that'll help me know. (On the use of ribbons, managing a lot of animals also is difficult when you can't tell at a glance who's who. Maybe animals could come with some sort of cloth the player can set the color for to help identify them without opening the animal's window?)

There's a very small cue (at least on PC), if you hover your mouse over an animal and it still needs to be pet, the cursor will turn into a hand. I'd imagine this works on console too although it would be a bit more cumbersome. It would be nice if there was a clear way to tell at a glance for sure.

 

[Cococinel]

If "Ice Grapes" were implemented, and if their value was double that of regular grapes, I'd be fine with Ice Wine being double the value. Making it work in some alternate, caviar-like way with the fixed price just seems unnecessary.

As for gift log being updated by dialogue, perhaps secret notes could also update the log?

My suggestion is just one way to go at implementing ice wine, and ultimately all I want is ice wine. I'd be cool with pretty much any gameplay details, including never a 100% guarantee a given grape vine survives to Winter 1. That said, my reasoning for the specific suggestion is such:

1. I don't think the grapes used to make ice wine actually have a name and they aren't desirable by themselves. Only the final product, ice wine, is. Hence, a fixed price would do justice to reality better than the standard calculation.
2. I think a high price is justified because of the highly situational production as well as the fact that if picked in Winter the Junimo Huts won't help you and if you were relying on the critters to get past the trellises, now you've got some chopping to do too. Of course, would the gameplay be something like if any grape grown in the last week of Fall is good for ice wine, then a 3x value is very much justified.

Quite right about the gift log. I'd forgotten for a moment that that too contains a wealth of information that ought to be listed automatically.

#4 - What if animals displayed an empty heart icon above their heads until you pet them. Would make it easier to spot the little ones in the grass too.

#6 - I’d like to see a couple of bees buzzing around bee houses, as long as it does not become a swarm but only displays a few bees regardless of the number of bee houses.

Oh, that empty heart icon sounds good! Less obtrusive than my suggestions and with additional usefulness. It could even come into two sizes or colors to indicate urgency in terms of the animal's current affection. Like, purple for animals below four hearts and red for those above. Not quite as good as individual markers, but it would come close as to why I want to be able to identify a given animal at a glance.

I was hoping the butterfly hutch code could somehow be reworked for the bee houses. There's not too many butterflies, just enough to make things lively.

There's a very small cue (at least on PC), if you hover your mouse over an animal and it still needs to be pet, the cursor will turn into a hand. I'd imagine this works on console too although it would be a bit more cumbersome. It would be nice if there was a clear way to tell at a glance for sure.

I did not know/realize that. It isn't as useful as I'd like, but it does make a difference.

 

[Cthulhu]

I thought the gift log *was* updated when people told you about likes or dislikes. There are a number of foods on my like-list that I know I never gave as gifts.

 

[Ereo]

I think so too. It definitely is for secret notes.

 

[Cococinel]

I've given it another look to see if was mistaken. Secret Notes do update the gift log (something I'd sorta missed because #1 roomie Krobus doesn't have a secret note), but talk does not. Or at least, my immediate point of reference is Lewis's (misleading!) line about blueberries. I know he's said it multiple times and there's nothing about blueberries in the gift log.

 

[Ereo]

I think the ones where they outright tell you about someone else likes and dislikes do get added. Like Demetrius telling you never to give Robin stone.

 

[Cococinel]

I think the ones where they outright tell you about someone else likes and dislikes do get added. Like Demetrius telling you never to give Robin stone.

I can't at present check, but that sounds logical. That still leaves static lines like Lewis's blueberries and Krobus's liquorice* ones unaccounted for. Which leads me to realize that there's also no log for anything relating to the Movie Theater - neither food nor movies are stored in the gift log. I reckon those are outside the scope of the gift log, but it'd be useful information to have.

(*Krobus doesn't technically say they love liquorice, but the phrasing made me think they'd be curious to try, hence why I bought them liquorice first time I took them to the theater and have ever since... Krobus doesn't like much in the theater, but at least that.)

 

[Ereo]

Well, the dwarf tells you he wants to try milk, but is disgusted if you bring him any, so you can't rely on what they want to try.

 

[nicodeux]

I was about to write a small suggestion for this, but as this is already suggested here, just quoting it:

6. Any chance the bee house could get an animation update? It always seems so dead and now that there's a butterfly hutch I was wondering if the bee house could be made to spawn one or two bees too to show activity?

I would also love to have a small number of bees (not a full hive, of course) buzzing around the bee house to show that honey is being collected. Animation would then not play in winter or indoor bee houses.

 

[Professor Brian O'blivion]

I would like to see the ability to display unused weapons, rings, boots, hats, etc, like on table tops for display or the ability to hang them on the wall, rather than selling them for next to nothing, throwing them away, or leaving them in a chest for eternity.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

I love the idea to add another year of Living on the Land!