When players first start Wild Hearts, it might not seem like money is all that 'useful' for anything. Outside of the occasional crafted Armor or Weapon Upgrade, there really isn't much else to spend it on.
But, as players progress further and further they'll unlock other things to spend it on such as Ornaments, Town Expansions, and more. Not only that, but Armor/Weapon upgrades get more expensive too. And, anyone messing around with different weapon upgrade paths knows just how much money this burns through. So, let's go over a few of the best ways players have found so far in Wild Hearts for getting money quickly, from the most to the least useful methods.
Hunt The Monsters In This Monster Hunting Game
First up is the easiest method by far, just play the game. As players hunt Kemono, they'll constantly receive Kemono materials that are meant only for selling. For these and any item in the game that has no purpose outside of being sold, look for the 3 'Mon' Coin icon, as these are the visual identifiers for these types of items. The ones that are rewarded after a Kemono hunt, for example, are always listed after the Kemono 'part' materials but before any other material rewards of all different types such as Crystals or Blood (the icon will also be a different color). Be careful though, as there are a rare few of these that are used in making Ornaments, but they'll always say this in their item descriptions.
In any case, every Kemono in the game has a material thats only meant for selling, which means players can 'kill two Fumebeaks with one stone' and hunt Kemono to progress the story while also building up a stockpile of money. For the absolute 'fastest' way of doing this, players should pick the highest level Kemono they can that isn't too much of a pain to fight (AKA no Lavabacks), and just join those hunts through Hunter's Gates or from the World Map as often as possible.
Just remember to try and carve any broken parts that fall off the Kemono before the Final Blow. Of course, the endgame Kemono tend to have the most expensive materials to sell, but those are (obviously) at the end of the game, so players trying to make money 'now' should just make do with the highest star-level Kemono available to them.
The Challenge System AKA Fisherman's Guild Requests
Second up for methods of making quick cash that doesn't require much time are the Fisherman Guild Requests offered by Nobumitsu at the Wharf in Minato. These are basically just 'general' challenges that players can easily complete while hunting or gathering without entirely focusing on them. To give a few examples of the kinds of requests asked, these involve:
- Defeating Kemono without perishing at all.
- Defeating a certain number of Kemono (in general or on specific maps).
- Buying items from Kogyoku's shop.
- Gathering Small Kemono materials (in general or on specific maps).
- Gathering a certain number of a specific material or material type (Timber, Meat, Fish, Plants, etc).
As players complete these requests, they'll get Stamp s as a reward that are representative of how 'difficult' the task was (seen underneath the request description). For every 5 stamps, players will receive different rewards, capping out that 'page' of requests at 25 stamps.
Most of the rewards are uncommon materials or something similar, with a lot of them being very useful in crafting Ornaments. But, as far as money goes, players are aiming to reach each page's 25-stamp milestone as quickly as possible. This last reward is just a lump sum of money, and once it's claimed a new set of challenges and milestone card are generated.
Some of these challenges do take a fair bit of time, such as gathering creatures on a specific map, so players should absolutely try and clear the easier ones such as hunting Kemono, gathering Timber materials, placing certain types of Karakuri, and so on before grabbing anything that sounds too labor intensive. Keep in mind that for each challenge 'page', completed challenges won't refresh after they've been done once, so players can't just grind out the 'Kill 8 Kemono' challenge over and over again. And, while the monetary reward might seem small at first, as players clear more cards, this amount increases. For example, after clearing about 5 or so cards, the 25-milestone gives a whopping 9k in currency.
Resource Routes & Creature Materials
And third, this is probably the most monotonous or 'boring' method of gaining money quickly, it's using item drops from Creatures, materials, or items gained by petting/slaying Small Kemono to sell for money.
Each map in Wild Hearts has a whole slew of different minerals, timber materials, edible consumables, Creatures, and Small Kemono spread throughout it that players can usually find in the same area each time they reload the map. And, since each 'Chapter' of the game usually has higher variants of these resources (Sakura Stone instead of Corestone), this method does become more cost-effective as players advance the story.
But, relying on selling items such as Corestone, Ancient Timber, Coral Fragments, and so on is usually only worth it if players have a huge surplus they've been building up. Figuring out a 'route' around a map to run, grabbing as many items as possible, and then starting a 'hunt' from the Detailed Map to reset the area can make decent money, but it's not very fun. And, it usually doesn't amount to more money over time than just hunting Kemono and selling their coin-type materials would.
Other than this, players can also use the Dragon Karakuri Wildlife Cages and Pens to keep Creatures of all sizes that will routinely give resources for free over time. Combine this with the different Dragon Karakuri Tsukumo Shrines they can build to passively generate minerals or materials and even the Paddle Scoop that catches fish on its own, and it's easy to see how they could get a sizeable chunk of money over time. The most efficient method of this, by the way, involves just Fast Traveling from map to map, looting all of these Cage, Pen, and Shrine Karakuri, hunting a Kemono or two while they refill their resources, going back and grabbing any resources passed or Small Kemono slain during the hunt, and then repeating this whole process.
Wild Hearts is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.