Farming Games Guide: Part One

     Introduction:

     There are hundreds of games to play around Neopia. Each one with its unique style and way to amuse anyone who volunteers to play. You can play adventure, card & board, luck & chance, puzzle, strategy or action games, if you like. Each one of them award the best 17 players on the world each day with an unique trophy. There are thousands of Neopians out there, and obviously each one of them is going to have his/her own specialties. This means that if you want to be a trophy collector, you will need to compete with all this people, so it’s safe to say that collecting trophies is not that easy, right?

     If you are already a trophy collector, and you are hunting some new trophies to add to your lookup, but are stuck and don’t know which ones to chase for, this is the perfect guide for you: A list of 15 farming games, which will be divided in three parts. But you may be asking me: What is a farming game?

     Introduction:

     The definition of a farming game is basically a game that, once you have already figured out the strategy, what you need in order to achieve perfection is simply time. You don’t need specifically to be an awesome player at this game, because after all it’s not the kind of game that requires that. You only need to keep playing the game until you finally reach the score you desire. You can score as many points as you want, as soon as ou have enough time to do so. Then, without further ado, let’s get to the action, with the first five farming games:

     1)Dubloon Disaster – Dorak, a very brave pirate, found in one of his sea trips a shipwreck. He also found a nice treasure of dubloons, and it was there, he just needed to pick them all up. The problem is that the sea is surrounded by intelligent mines that follow you while you try to get the dubloons! There are seven types of dubloons, which can give you from 10 to 1,000 points. Your goal is to get the most number of dubloons as possible, before one of the mines get to you.

     Every time you pick a dubloon, a mine will be released on the screen, and all of them are going to move towards you. The maximum number of mines that can be set up on the screen is nine. You will need to avoid them while trying to get the dubloons. You can get rid of some mines by moving around the screen in a way that two mines collide one against the other. You can also type "scallywags" in order to create a whirlpool on the screen, so all the mines will be drained to its center. But use the code wisely, you can only use the code once per game. This whirlpool can also appear randomly after you collect a dubloon coin.

     You can see on the High Scores List some players that made 5k, 6k, even 9k points on this game, and you wonder: Did they get the "Two Hundred Dubloon Coin", which grants you 1,000 points, a several amount of times on a single game? They could definitely have gotten a few high value dubloons, but for sure they had to play a lot as well. And in order to do so, they had to use the farming strategy to achieve a high score. Basically, what you need to do is keep getting the dubloons as fast as possible, and avoid the mines. Easy right? It is, indeed. But the main tip on this game is to not let the mines to collide. Every time you do so, you will get rid of two mines, which may sound good at first, but it's not. After you get more dubloons, more will appear on the screen anyway, so you will not get entirely rid of them. But if you do so, you will let randomness in on your game, as the mines can appear at any place of the screen, which can be really close to you. So if you want to make a high score, make sure to let all the mines stay on the screen, and just keep getting all the dubloons.

     When you get to the stage where there are currently nine mines on the screen, every time that you pick a dubloon, nothing new is going to happen. A new dubloon will respawn at a different place on the screen, and the existing mines will keep following you. Eventually, the mines will be blocking your possibility to pick a dubloon, especially when they are on the center of the screen. But don't be worry, just keep travelling around the sea, and control the positions where they will be. When they are close to you, just move to a safer spot. In order to get a high score, you will just need to repeat this strategy over and over, as all the other farming games on this guide. If you have to take a break or have an emergency that makes it impossible for you to keep playing, you can type the secret code in order to clear the sea from the mines. But remember, you can only use it once, and if you do that, be aware you could risk your game as the new mines that will appear will respawn randomly on the screen, and one of them could appear right in front of you, so use it only in emergencies!

     This game has no limit of score. You can keep playing forever if you like (and if you are able to handle that much). When you already reach the score needed for the trophy you desire, just let one of the mines get you and send your score. If you haven't got a high score before, you will also win an avatar from your efforts, which is gotten by scoring over 2,500 points. Probably you will need much more than that if you want to get a shiny gold trophy, so do not celebrate after you reach this score. Just keep playing and focus on your main goal!

     2)Mynci Beach Volleyball – It is a simple volleyball game. There are six rounds to play, each one with a Red Mynci that learns more and more how to play when you progress through the levels. Unlike normal Volleyball matches, though, you can hit the ball as many times you want before throwing it onto the net to the opponent. In order to win one match, you need to score 12 points before the Red Mynci does.

     If you win a match, you will score 50 points from beating your opponent plus 10 points for every point you have more than him. That means the highest score achievable for one round is 50 + 10 x 12 = 170 points. So the apparent highest score for this game is 170 x 6 = 1,020 points, which is only possible if you win every round by scoring 12 points without your opponent scoring a single one (this is not correct as the max score is 1220… do you get 200 Points by finishing the game perhaps?). That sounds pretty tough to make, and yet there are some players on the High Scores List that manage to make more than this score, but how can they do that? The answer is based on the farming strategy, which will be explained below.

     If you decide to lose but not to win the game, you will score 5 points for every point you made on the current match, so the trick to score higher than 1,220 points is to let the game go to "tie break" and never let the difference between you and your opponent go more than 2, otherwise the match will end. Then, after you are happy enough with your score, simply let the Red Mynci win the match, and you will be awarded with a high score and a nice trophy. Let's say you are aiming for 1,100 points. As you score 5 points per point you made, the amount of points you need to score on the match is 1,100 / 5 = 220. Just a reminder, if you are going for this strategy, but not the "winning all matches" one make sure to lose the game, otherwise if you win the match on tie break, you will only score 50 + 2 x 10 = 70 points on this round. Also, it’s relevant that if you manage to score more than 800 points, you will be given a cool avatar as well, along with the possibility to receive a new trophy!

     3)Sutek's Tomb – If you are looking for puzzle games, this is the perfect one for you! You face the hot sands of Lost Desert, trying to solve this endless puzzle in order to have the opportunity to get a part of the possessions of Sutek, which he was buried with, one of them is the shiny and beautiful trophy given to the best players of this game. To play the game, first of all choose between easy and hard modes. The "Easy" mode has a smaller puzzle, but it gives you less points, so if you want to get the trophy, I strongly suggest you to go for "Hard" mode. In both of them, you have 60 seconds to play. Otherwise, the time only runs when you have the control to move pieces. When you make a move and the tiles start moving and matching, the clock stops. And it evens increase as you manage to find a nice combo streak!

     Basically, what you need to do is match three identic tiles in order to score points. You can only do that by moving one tile to one of the main adjacent directions: right, left, up or down. When you find a match, the blank space will be filled with the tiles that were directly above them, and new tiles will appear on the boards. So it's pretty obvious the game is quite unbeatable! You can either keep playing until you get tired and intentionally finish the game and send your score or if the time runs out and you lose the game.

     That means if you want to be successful on this game, you will just need to farm the game with the basic strategy to find matches as fast as you can and not the time run out. As said earlier, finding matches as fast as possible will let the clock stop from running, and also can work in your favor, as if you make a nice combo streak you will win a few seconds on the clock. Besides that, you can pause the game if you are too tired simply by clicking on the hourglass situated on the right side of the boards. Also, typing "plzsutekcanihavemoretime" (one time per game only) will give you 30 additional seconds, and if you are stuck on the game and cannot find a match, type "pyramibread" (unlimited) and Sutek will give you a hint. He is not that bad after all, right?

     This game may be a bit tiring at the first place, but at some point you will see scoring gets pretty fast. There are some special tiles that, if removed, will give you a decent amount of points (e.g. a bomb, an ankh, a painted scarab and also the Phantom Orange Shirt Guy), and if you manage to take them off, you will move forward nicely. Besides, if you are not motivated enough, think about the opportunity of winning this trophy and also an avatar (achievable if you score over 2,000 points) simply by having patience!

     4)Raiders of Maraqua - On this game, you move our hero, a Koi named Karpoh, into the Ruins of Maraqua in search of a treasure. Although, there are gonna be some enemies whose objective involves stopping you from getting your treasure. Your goal is to push the treasures available on the map inside the treasure chest. You can also move the bubbles and use them to your favor, producing a path that a treasure can be moved and also beating the enemies, that will keep reappearing inside a bubble.

     This game seems not a farming game. I say that because you can keep completing your tasks and getting through the 20 available levels to be beaten. Although, we are not going to do that if we are aiming the trophy. First of all, because after some point, the levels will become harder and harder, the enemies seem to be smart and will try to get you. You will also realize that you will not be able to score as high as 500 points if you complete the game to its fullest.

     Second of all, the easiest way to score points on this game is also the reason why this game is a farming game. In order to get high scores 1,000 points or even more, you will need to stay at a level and keep defeating the enemies that will respawn on the screen. That's because when you are able to eliminate one of them, there is a random chance that a transparent bubble will appear on the bottom of the screen and will float up to the top. When it is collected, it will award you 5 points multiplied by the level you are currently at. For example, let's say you are at level 10, and you collect a transparent bubble. You will receive 5 x 10 = 50 points for each floating bubble you get on this level.

     My suggestion of a level to apply this strategy is Level 10. It has a decent amount of bubbles around the screen. It is not that hard to get to this level and as I said earlier, it gives you a decent amount of points per transparent bubble that you get. The Slug Monsters that eventually will respawn on this level are also an important part of your strategy, because often enough they release new bubbles around the map, which gives you an infinite amount of bubbles available to throw against the other enemies. So if one Slug Monster appears, try to not eliminate him. Besides that, be patient. It takes a bit for you to score some points with this strategy. Also, if you manage to score up to 800 points on this game, you will also get awarded an avatar, accompanied with the trophy you were already aiming.

     5)The Castle of Eliv Thade – Deep into the Castle of Eliv Thade, you control Gilly through its rooms. Every time you move her to another tile she's already at, Thade will appear with an anagram for you to solve. The number of letters of an anagram, such as the amount of points you get once you solve the anagram correctly is related to the game difficult you choose before starting and the amount of tiles you decide to move. You can move the maximum of three tiles per turn. Your goal is to move Gilly through all four rooms of the castle and collect four different items, each is located in one different room. Once you collect all the items, you can now go to the crypt in the bottom right corner of the screen to complete the final anagram.

     Upon completing the game, you will receive 50 points for entering the crypt, 150 points for solving the final diagram, 150 bonus points for completing the game and 50 points for each item you collect. This is a total of 550 points. If you take a look at the High Scores List, you will see a bunch of scores way above that, and the reason is simply because the owners of these scores "decide" not to get the game done after they get all the requirements in order to enter the crypt, and keep playing with the farming strategy, which will be explained in a second!

     The farming method consists simply by moving around the same tiles over and over, getting the anagrams correct and scoring points every time you do so. Let's say you are playing on Hard Mode, and you do 3 tiles moves. If you get the anagrams solved, you will score 10 points every time you do that. That means if you want to score 4,000 points, all you need to do is solve the amount of anagrams to get the additional points for the 550 you already have (if you finish the game), which is 4,000 – 550 = 3,450 points, in other words exactly 345 anagrams. If you are determined enough to go for a trophy, and manage to score above 1,200 points, you will also be able to get an avatar showing for the others that you were good enough to beat The Castle of Eliv Thade!

     To be continued...