There are some of us out there that wish we could be transported away from our lives and onto a warm, tropical island in the blink of an eye. It's a nice fantasy, but ultimately unrealistic...unless you're playing Stardew Valley. With Update 1.5, the game has expanded to include the Fern Islands, specifically the volcanic Ginger Island. It has plenty of activities to partake in, including the Volcano Dungeon, Island farming, Golden Walnut puzzles, and even a Pirate Cove.
You could spend countless in-game and real-life hours exploring everything Ginger Island has to offer, but having to take Willy's boat there every day definitely puts a damper on the fun factor. This is why investing in the Island Obelisk is so valuable; it can warp you to Ginger Island in one click. The Island Obelisk is similar to the other Obelisks in that they require many of the same steps in order to unlock and purchase it for your farm, so keep reading to make sure you've checked them all off.
Complete The Community Center (Or Joja Warehouse)
Considered by many as the major driving force early on in the game, the Community Center offers challenges to players that force them to dip their toes into every aspect of the game in order to complete. For those who dislike fishing or find fighting tedious, it can be a frustrating ordeal, but the rewards offered by the Junimos make it absolutely worthwhile. We also have a helpful guide for completing the Community Center if you're having trouble.
Once you've completed every bundle, you'll get a heartwarming cutscene of all the villagers enjoying the new Center. After this, you will be able to trigger the cutscene that unlocks the Wizard's Quests, which are necessary for getting any Obelisks onto your farm.
Complete The Wizard's Quests
The first quest, "Dark Talisman," involves the Wizard enlisting your help to retrieve his Magic Ink from his ex's house, the Witch. In order to access the warps necessary to do this, you'll need to snag a Dark Talisman, but luckily Krobus knows where to find one. He'll unlock the Mutant Bug Lair for you, a small dungeon full of bugs that has the Talisman you seek at the end. Put it in your wallet...
And then onto the next quest! Lots of players love "Goblin Problem", not just because it unlocks so many rewards, but because it also grants access to the Shrines in the Witch's Hut. These Shrines can erase your ex's memory, turn your children into doves, and allow Monster to appear (or disappear) from your farm at night.
All that's necessary to complete the quest is a jar of Void Mayonnaise to satisfy the Goblin Henchman blocking your path. After this, the Wizard will allow you to peruse his magic book that conjures structures such as Obelisks and Junimo Huts on your farm.
Unlock Ginger Island
Players were rushing to unlock Ginger Island when Update 1.5 dropped; figuring out the necessary components becomes a community-based effort, with everyone sharing solutions they've found. Needless to say, it's more of a late-game feature, requiring the completion of the Community Center as well.
You can access an in-depth guide here, but the main ingredients needed to repair Willy's Boat and sail over to the island are
- 200 pieces of Hardwood
- 5 Battery Packs
- 5 Bars of Iridium
After that, you'll be able to set sail for the low price of 1,000 g per trip.
Collect The Necessary Ingredients
Iridium Bar x10: A standard requirement for all of the Obelisks, Iridium Bars are a common building material for more magical/intense equipment and items.
These are easiest to obtain by mining for Iridium Ore on levels 115-119 in the Mines, deep levels in the Skull Caverns, or breaking open Magma and Omni Geodes. Then all you have to do is pop five of them into a furnace with one piece of coal.
Dragon Tooth x10: One of several new items introduced with Ginger Island, the Dragon Tooth is used in only one recipe in the game: The Warp Totem. It's super convenient to be able to warp over to the Island when needed, but saving those Dragon Teeth can help you warp over endlessly without spending a thing.
You can find Dragon Teeth in the skeletal remains of a Dragon in the Volcano Dungeon, or by killing a Lava Lurk (with a 15% chance of dropping a Tooth.) A Stingray pond can also produce a Dragon Tooth when at full capacity.
Banana x10: This might be the trickiest item to get on this list, especially since getting yourself a Banana Tree is so hard in the first place. Five Dragon Teeth can be traded with the Island Trader for a Banana Sapling, though it does make collecting the ten necessary Dragon Teeth harder.
You might prefer completing Professor Snail's quests, as he rewards you with a Banana Sapling after collecting every Large Animal Fossil. Saplings can also be found by cracking open Golden Coconuts, with a 1/7 probability rate.
Once you've obtained a Sapling, you'll have to wait for it to mature into a Banana Tree, which takes 28 days at a minimum. After that, you have to collect ten Bananas, which will take ten days. Talk about waiting around.
Raise 1,000,000 Gold
Since the Island Obelisk is usually unlocked later in the game, you might already have saved up 1,000,000 gold already. If not, we recommend placing as many Kegs as possible and growing tons of the most valuable fruit and turning them into Wine.
Using the Island's farmable soil will give you lots more room for crops, and they'll never die from the seasons changing. Pineapples continue to produce more Pineapples and grow spectacularly in the Island sun, not to mention they garner a base price of 900 gold each. Have fun saving that gold!