By
Jon Michael,Tj3n,GarvielRuss,+4.6k more
updated
The Homestead is your hub zone for the game. It features storage areas, respec opportunities, high-level shops, and a place to hire new party members.
The Homestead is initially unlocked when you discover your first Star Stone or Blood Stone. Two are in Cyseal: one at the scene of the murder, and one held by Evelyn. The former automatically triggers when you enter the room; the latter triggers after you resolve The Apprentice and the Stone. You'll likely trigger both early in Part 2.
advertisem*nt
Throughout the game, there are 14 Star Stones or Blood Stones. Star Stones will always automatically activate when you get close to them. Blood Stones are items that will remain in your inventory, and will be activated with a double-click from the inventory. (There are some exceptions, such as a Blood Stone activating through dialogue options when you're doing the An A-Mount of Healing Magic side quest in Part 7.) Every Star Stone and Blood Stone, once activated, will unlock another room in your Homestead. Note that you need to find at least 12 stones combined to beat the game, and it is possible to miss a couple permanently depending on certain choices you make regarding quests.
After the first stone activation, you'll be granted the ability to teleport to the Homestead at any time via a small button below the minimap.
Here, we'll go over the list of rooms available to you in the Homestead, as well as their functions. Although you generally do not have a choice in the order in which they unlock, you do have a choice in which of the elemental rooms to unlock and in what order. You'll want to unlock the rooms that give you the most opportunities given your skill set.
The Hall of Heroes
The Hall of Heroes allows you to hire new party members. Their initial cost scales to their level of skill. Their purpose is to give your team a little more flexibility, especially if Madora or Jahan is redundant to the skills of your Source Hunters. If you choose not to take Madora or Jahan with you from Part 2, you'll lose access to their personal quests later in the game, though you can always come back for them.
If anyone in your team is dismissed, they will wait for you in the Hall of Heroes, where you can pick them up again. Non-active members don't earn experience though, so it's possible that dismissing a party member too early means he'll fall too far behind in levels to become useful to you. Note that Madora and Jahan sometimes go to the Hall of Heroes if they're dismissed, but sometimes they return to where you found them in Cyseal: the King Crab Inn and the library, respectively.
During Jahan's personal quest, it's possible that Jahan will leave your party permanently. You'll need to hire a new hero at the Hall of Heroes to replace him, unless you think you can beat the game with a limited group.
The Inner Chamber
The Inner Chamber gives access to the Source Hunters' bedrooms. The left bedroom belongs to the first Source Hunter you created; the right bedroom belongs to the second. There is a trunk at the foot of the two beds, and when you give the “Send To Homestead” command from a Source Hunter's inventory, it will appear in their respective trunk. Only the Source Hunter who owns the trunk can open it; the other characters, including the other Source Hunter, cannot.
advertisem*nt
The left bedroom also contains a mirror that allows you to change all the cosmetic options of the character. You can change voice, gender, hair, face, and everything else except the name. You have unlimited use of this mirror.
The Four Elemental Rooms
The Four Elemental Rooms are stationed in front of the central statue. You will unlock them one at a time slowly over the course of the game. Each elemental room contains a shop that sells high-level skill books, though the shops are partly scaled and will sell skills near your current level.
It will be your choice as to which room is opened when. As such, you'll want to choose the room that will help you the most when you have the chance; you'll likely want to favor unlocking rooms that directly help your Source Hunters.
The Hall of Frost contains skill books for Expert Marksman and Hydrosophist.
The Hall of Wind contains skill books for Aerotheurge and Scoundrel.
The Hall of Stone contains skill books for Geomancer and Witchcraft.
The Hall of Flames contains skill books for Pyrokinetic and Man-at-Arms.
The Armory
The Armory contains an anvil, a whetstone wheel, and a large furnace. These can be used to craft or improve gear that you make or find along your journey. It does not contain any shops, though there are a lot of ores and ingots lying around that you can take.
advertisem*nt
The Hall of Secrets
The Hall of Secrets contains an NPC named the Teller of Secrets, who will sell you treasure maps and such to high-level loot spread throughout the game world. Her secrets are expensive, but you'll always make a profit.
The Hall of Darkness
The Hall of Darkness contains an NPC who can trade Ability points for Attribute points and vice versa, or completely re-spec a Source Hunter. The initial cost for a re-spec is only 1000 gold, which is an irrelevant cost by the time you unlock him. However, upon a re-spec, your character will forget everything she knows, which means you'll have to re-buy any skill books that you wanted to keep. Though this isn't prohibitively expensive, it is significantly time consuming.
Note that you cannot re-spec any other party member other than the two Source Hunters.
The Trader's Emporium
The Trader's Emporium is a room containing a merchant who sells high-level items and gear. However, by the time you unlock him, it's possible that what he sells isn't worth buying. Still, his gold reserves are high and resets often, so if you find yourself with a lot of loot, consider selling to him first so you don't have to run around the entire world to all the shops.
The Chapel
advertisem*nt
The Chapel contains a flat stone altar that serves as a shop. It sells only high-level potions, which are useful but limited. You may want to pay the Chapel a visit before a boss fight.
