Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin – Beginner’s guide on how to grow the best rice
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is an interesting game developed by Edelweiss that takes us into an adventure with an oriental setting where we will play as Sakuna, a harvest goddess, who is banished to the dangerous Hinoe Island, which is populated by a group of marginalised humans and is also threatened by demons. While in Hinoe, Sakuna will discover a village in the middle of the mountain and will decide to dedicate herself to growing rice in order to improve the quality of life of the local people. But, the demons of the island will not let everything be so simple, so Sakuna will have to fight against them using her farming tools.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin manages to convey to its players the feeling of being in a Japanese fantasy story thanks to its graphic section, its character design and its excellent soundtrack, which ends up complementing the immersion. However, the most outstanding feature of this game is undoubtedly its gameplay, which fantastically combines two very different genres: Side-scrolling Platforming Action and Farming Simulator. In the action gameplay, players will be able to kill hordes of demons through all kinds of combos that Sakuna will be able to perform with his sickle. While during the management of the rice cultivation, Sakuna will have to carry out correctly all the processes that these cultivations entail. It is very important to make good rice cultivation since it is the only way to make Sakuna more powerful.
That said, it has a detailed farming system that is simple to learn, but very complicated to master, where each process must be done correctly in order to obtain the right rice crop, so below is a guide with important tips for beginner players to help Sakuna grow the best rice possible.
Mix the seeds with mud and water before putting them in the seedling box
The first thing you have to do to grow the rice is to simply place the seeds in a bucket and then mix them with the selected amount of mud. It is important to clarify that the amount of mud placed in the bucket will determine the quality and quantity of rice at the end of the process. A greater amount of mud will increase the quality of rice, while less mud will increase the quantity.
After this, the mud must be mixed with water, which will make the lower quality seeds rise to the surface. This produces an effect equal to the mud, where less water will increase the amount of rice, while more water will increase the quality.
This makes it clear that in this process a decision must be made between the quality of the rice (which improves the Sakuna stats) and the quantity. That said, the most advisable thing to do when starting the game is to produce greater quantities of rice, since having more food and more rice to market will be very helpful during the first hours of the game. After advancing more in the game and the difficulty increases, the best thing will be to prioritise the quality of the rice.
After this, the rice seedlings will be placed in the seedling box and should be waited for to grow before planting. In the meantime, you can start making the fertiliser.
Prepare good fertiliser
To make the fertiliser, first a not very pleasant step must be made, which is to go to the toilet that is next to the rice field to take the fecal matter from the place and then to take it to the fertiliser pit with a bucket. Then it is recommended to add five ingredients of each type of fertiliser to make it more complete, and to improve the results, amber is added.
To finish it, additional components must be added, which are salt, spring water, renowned water, rotten food and powder of transformation. The rotten food is very abundant and improves the quality of the rice, but increases the pests in the crop. For this reason, salt should be added, since it decreases the pests in exchange for increasing the toxicity of the crop, but the water will decrease this negative effect.
However, during the first hours of play, it is recommended not to use so many ingredients for the fertiliser, as it will be better to save inventory for future crops. When you have made more progress in the game, you can give priority to the ingredients used, as each one strengthens different Sakuna stats.
It will need to rest for several hours before it can be used (the powder of transformation will accelerate this time). And when it’s ready, you just need to water it all over the field, while also removing any rocks. It is important to mention that the effect of the fertiliser only lasts 10 hours, so it is best to always apply it in the morning.
Before planting the rice seedlings, it will also be essential to till the whole field, as this will prevent weeds from growing that could affect the growth of the crops. When you advance more in the game, you will be able to count on the “Furrow Sight” skill, which will indicate the places that are still to be tilled, making the task easier.
Plant the seedlings and take care of all their growth
When the seedlings are large enough and the field is ready, the next step will be to plant them individually. The seedlings should be placed very close to each other, but be careful that they do not make contact. As you advance in the game, you will get a skill that shows a grid in the field, which will serve as a guide to know where to place the seedlings.
Once the rice is planted, it will be necessary to open the water source and fill the field, but it will also be important to take into account the water levels. The crop will go through three offshoot stages, during the first two the water level should be placed until it reaches Sakuna’s ankle (which would be 20% water), and when the third stage arrives it is recommended to drain all the water. After this, the crop will go to the sprouting stage, where the water should be filled again until it reaches a level of 30% (a little above Sakuna’s ankles). It is very important to take into account that the water will evaporate slowly due to the sun, so it will be necessary to open the water source from time to time so that the crop returns to an optimal water level.
In Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, it also usually rains a lot, this causes the water to overflow, so it is recommended to talk periodically with the samurai next to the storehouse to tell us the weather forecast.
During the growth of rice, regularly appear elements that try to damage the crop, as is the case of weeds, which must be removed every morning. Insects can also appear in the field, so during the offshoot stages it is advisable to place some ducks in the place to deal with these pests. However, when you arrive at the sprouting stage, you should take out the ducks, as they may eat the rice.
If the crop is properly watered and fertilised daily, it can be harvested at the end of the summer.
Harvest the rice and prepare it
Finally, the only thing left to do is to harvest the rice, which is recommended when the weather is dry and hot. To do this, you only have to cut the stems with the sickle and then place them in the drying racks and wait approximately 10 hours for them to drain completely. Then, the Threshing will be performed, which is to remove the rice grains from the stems. When this process is finished, the next thing will be to take the grains to the rice pounder and then to the Water Mill.
Lastly, the rice must be hull, which will define whether the rice will be white or brown, because the more the rice is discarded, the whiter it will be, but the process will take longer.
Having done all that, we finally have an ideal rice for Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin. However, it is essential to explain that the White rice is of higher quality, so it will increase the stats of Sakuna. While the Brown rice offers greater nutritional advantages, since it offers more buffs.
That said, if during the whole process you preferred to have high-quality rice, the best thing would be to choose a fairly hulled White rice. But, if during all the steps it was chosen to have a bigger quantity of rice, it will be better Brown rice.
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