Bloomtown: A Different Story Beginner Tips

Bloomtown: A Different Story is finally out, and players are quick to hop on that train. The game wins us over with its gorgeous aesthetic, intricate storylines and dialogue, and turn-based combat. It's basically an all-you-can-eat buffet of your favorite genre elements, and we've been starving for a selection such as this one.

Bloomtown: A Different Story Beginner Tips

Before you dive in and inevitably spend the next 6 hours on a gaming spree, you might want to read about some tips and tricks to help you in the long run. It never hurts to be just a bit extra prepared for your journey ahead. We promise we've avoided spoiling you all the fun as much as we could!

Level Up Charm

Since most of the game will depend on your choices, it's important to level up your charm for better dice rolls. Charm doesn't only get you the outcomes you want, but it will also help you level up your other stats subsequently, so it's important to start with that.

You should also consider leveling up your Smarts once, since afterward, it will level up alongside your Charm. If you fail a dice roll and get a failure side quest, fret not—you can restart the day by reloading your save.

You can only level up charm through conversations in the early game or watering Ramona's flowers, so the more you accumulate from the start, the better rolls you'll have later on.

How to Level Up Skills

Charm

• Conversations
• Water Ramona's flowers

Smarts

• Reading books
• Crossword puzzles

Proficiency 

• Crafting
• Cooking
• Fishing
• Farming

Guts

• Shooting range
• Anything with Chester

Buy Better Equipment From the TV

The TV has a cool feature in Bloomberg and it's not just for entertainment! While the shop sells some decent equipment at a fairly reasonable price, you can get even better equipment from limited deals on the TV.

Once a week, for a whole day, you can choose 1 out of 3 items to buy from the TV, just by interacting with it when it's on. The items will be listed one after the other, and you will have the option to either purchase or reject the offer. If you reject all three, you won't be able to bring back the menu, and you'll need to wait another week until the next TV shop.

If you reload the save after you reject all three offers, the items offered through the TV shop will also randomize and won't be the same ones you encountered before. 

Unlock Passive Traits

Passive Traits will help you with combat and grant you certain effects to aid you along your gameplay. Each friend will help you unlock and level up a specific passive trait, so don't forget to check up with all of your pals!

Hangouts

• Hang out with a friend once per day
• Hugo can only be invited at the House
• Chester can only be invited at his room's door
• Ramona can only be invited outside of her house
• Ruth can only be invited at her shop

Subdue and Equip Demons

The more demons you have in your possession, the better stats you'll be able to get once you fuse them into your main demon. It's a bit difficult to weaken and subdue multiple demons in an encounter, so just focus on getting the one that you want. In combat, they prove quite useful, as you can take advantage of their attacks too. 

To subdue a demon, make sure that you Isolate or Down them using an elemental attack that they are weak to. 

Battle Strategy

What's most important to remember during a fight is the order of the characters, so you can properly distribute the upcoming attacks. The order is as follows:

Emily ⟹ Ramona ⟹ Chester ⟹ Hugo ⟹ enemies

With that in mind, you can try and put your Buffs, Ailments, and Heavy Melee on Emily; Ranged Attacks, Buffs, and Debuffs on Ramona; Buffs and Ailments on Chester; and the elemental damage on Hugo, and you can one-shot most of your enemies.

Do Tasks Before Going to The Underside

This is an important one: the Underside will always return you home by 9:30 pm, regardless of when you went there. You could have infiltrated at 9 am or 9 pm and it will still send you back at exactly 9:30 pm. This is why you shouldn't worry about the Underside too much, it won't disappear. 

Instead, focus on spending the day doing other tasks, such as hanging out with friends, leveling up your skills, gathering resources, fishing, exploring, making money—and at night, when you're all done with all of that, go and quench your desire for combat. 

When you're back from the Underside, you will still have 30 minutes to spare to finish the day with any activities you'd like. Time management is crucial!

Free Items and Money

First Day Advance

• During your first day, as you're gathering Dandelions for your main quest, you will be prompted to help a group of kids
• Do a charm roll by asking them for some money (if successful, they'll oblige)
• Gather up the fallen apples from the ground, as they will help you restore some SP in combat
• You can go to the tree house once you've talked to all the kids and completed all the side quests they'll give you—they'll only be available during this cut scene

Candy Shop

• The Candy Shop offers 3 free candies per day
• Candy gives you slight SP restoration in combat

Telephone Pranks

• With high enough Charm stats, you can win free items like a sword or a cake by pulling a successful telephone prank

Be a Good Kid

• If you call Mum on day 2, you can get your Grandpa to give you extra cash
• With high enough Charm stats, you have a higher chance to be given more money
• If you behave well around Grandpa, you'll be rewarded

Best Meals for Combat

There are two convenient recipes you can make with minimal ingredients that restore a good amount of your HP and SP:

Vegetable Stew (+70% HP)

• 2x Tomato
• 1x Cabbage

Licorice Candy (+100% SP)

• 3x Sugar
• 1x Licorice

You can purchase seeds at the Flower Shop and grow your crops, and the best part about reaping your fruit is that you get the seeds back!

Bloomtown: A Different Story Release

Bloomtown: A Different Story is a narrative JRPG set in a 60's Americana world with a little bit of everything. You can enjoy turn-based combat, a deep plot, taming monsters, and social RPG elements all in one game. It's nostalgic, it's investing, it's cozy—and it's out for you to enjoy now.

• Price: $24.55 (Introductory Offer until October 8, -10% at $22.49)
• Release Date: September 24, 2024
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

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