Alright, let's start. For anyone looking, this is version 19.2 (Pretty sure)
***Spoilers ahead***
So the first playable part begins when you're in your room. Once Ivy leaves, you can interact with your room. First thing you want to do is interact with the grandfather clock. I brute forced my way through it, without realizing that I would be collecting 5 notes from within the house that would tell me the combination.
It is: 1 - 5 - 6 - 9 - 10
This gives you the clock key. Use it to open the chest in your room. It will come in handy later as well, when you can go into Ivy's room. In the ceiling, there is a hatch, which can be unlocked with the grandfather key to find a map. It is not useful just yet, but it will be. There are a lot of easter-eggs/exploratory tasks that you can do, which will increase your level. It is worth doing so, as these level ups give you attribute points, which you can use to increase your character's abilities.
Endurance - HP
Wisdom - MP
Power - Atk and *maybe* accuracy? It reads "How successful your actions are"
Agility - Basically, tasks that have time constraints (Job serving drinks at bar, etc.), are easier, since agility makes the time decrease a bit slower. Personally, I upgraded this all the way first, along with a few points spread out in Power and Luck.
Luck - Increased rates of drops, powerups, crits, and maybe more.
As I was talking about, the portrait all the way at the left of your room, has names, with "click to reveal names of more kings" or something along those lines. Click through that for an achievement and a level up. Hover your mouse over everything, interact with everything that glows. Except your bed. No need to sleep. Yet.
Now you leave your room. Ivy is next door, click on it to see your first nude portrait. Nothing fancy, and not important to do so. She says she will see you downstairs later. Now, another mechanic. The day has 4 parts. Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. Depending on the time of day, different characters will be in different places. Sometimes, certain questlines will require you to alter time of day, which can be done by pressing the little icon at the top left. So press that, make it afternoon, meet ivy, talk, things are fairly simple now.
Now, you can more or less enjoy the story. I'll just address all the questions/confusing things that I've seen in this thread so far, and what I've been confused about myself.
1) If you think things are being repetitive early in the game, you're most likely wrong, and missing out on something. You can head to the lake, talk to Naamu the glittering dragon, and give it 25 gold to ask questions about the different girl routes. It will give you a hint as to what you need to do to advance that storyline.
2) Melkor's Tomb is not in the Hilltop as it has been in the past version(s). It is at the top right, unlocked when you open the hatch located on the ceiling in Ivy's room, and get the map.
3) For Lily (The Bookshop keeper/Alchemist), lake frogs are found by fishing in the lake with special bait, Brightbugs. These can be found either by going to Melkor's tomb with bottles (Bought from Janet the Halfling Shopkeeper), or way later in the game, by giving Merah (Slime girl) One of each type of fruit you can grow. However, the latter is a gamble, as she can give you many different items, so you're praying to RNJesus.
4) For the brothel, Revitalizers are made by giving Janet (Halfling Shopkeer) two Mana Nectars. You need 3 total, so you need 6 Mana Nectars. These are acquired by farming outside your house. Side Note: This garden will be a major source of income/XP, and will require heavy investments of mana. I recommend using all mana here, as mana isn't particularly needed unless you're venturing down Melkor's Tomb, since there are some monsters that take only 1 physical damage, no matter your power.
5) Also for the brothel, you'll need to use Lily's Alchemy kit to craft Ancient Silk. You'll need an Antique Rag and 2 Ectoplasms (Found in the Karos Mining minigame, Melkor's tomb, or through Merah's RNG). You need 2(?) Ancient Silks I believe, so that'll be 2 Antique Rags and 4 Ectoplasms. Remember, when performing alchemy, you don't want to put anything in the leftmost slot (it'll look different from the other three slots). You'll put the Antique Rag in first, then 2 Ectoplasms, and craft.
6) For Scarlet, when there's the entire talk about her sleeping inside the house, there will be a time when she will be sleeping inside the main room of the house in the Evening. Make sure to talk to her then, that will advance the storyline.
7) For those towards the end of the game, who can't find Erza, you need the Silver Crest first. This is acquired by talking to Orson, asking about the two drunks in the tavern (Reynauld and Dismas), and then talking to Reynauld and Dismas, and choosing the "Stealing from Customers?" option. This will give you the silver crest and a lockpick (Lockpick not particularly useful, since we used the Clock Key), and the silver crest goes on to the little statue above the sarcophagus in Melkor's Tomb.
8) Luna, the dryad/owner of the brothel, has a h-scene that requires you to have about 12-15 points of Endurance. When you have this, go to inventory, drink a potion called "Lily's Concoction" (Crafted by giving lily a lake frog), and then talk to her and pay the 350G for her services.
9) Kiki, the goblin, has a h-scene that requires you to pay her once after you meet her and finish the initial h-scene, and choose the Anal option.
10) Finally, I believe I have addressed all concerns? Let me know if there are additional questions. And I know someone will ask for cheats. I highly recommend not using them because frankly, there is really no reason to. This is a beautiful game, with beautiful art, and it's a blast to play through. Plus, it's really not hard on resources at all. Work at the bar for like 3 days, and you should be making 500 a night, which is more than enough to last you a solid while.
- Hope this helped, let me know if I missed anything, or if there are unanswered questions.
