Yog-Sothoth's Yard is a game that runs on a schedule. Although there are many cut scenes that you can trigger just by fulfilling specific prerequisites, most of the story events show up at the same time whenever you play through the game. This means that, with some forewarning, you can be prepared to deal with upcoming problems well in advance.
This guide breaks down everything that happens in Yog-Sothoth's Yard. It also covers the many Main Tasks that you'll need to complete to make your way through the game, and offers tips on how to circumvent some of the trickier challenges.
Chapter 1 - I'm a Cat
Week 1
- Monday
- Day - Main Task: Preparing for Business (upgrade the Front Desk), Hoshino cut scene
- Night - Main Task: Preparing for Guest (upgrade Room 201)
- Tuesday to Thursday - Upgrade Rooms 202 - 207
- Friday - Unlock Divination
- Saturday
- Day - Main Task: Staff Dormitory (1) (upgrade Little Leaf's Room), Little Leaf cut scene, unlock Little Leaf Affinity
- Sunday - Unlock Yard, Clean Blockade / Yard
Week 2
- Monday - Yevna cut scene
- Tuesday - Yevna cut scene - Answer 'Damascus Rose' or you'll receive the Damascus Rose ending
- Day - Main Task: Staff Dormitory (1) (upgrade Yevna's Room), unlock Alchemy, Yevna Affinity
- Night - Yevna cut scene, unlock Hoshino's Shop
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 3
- Monday - Orange Ginger cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Ratings from Spirits (reach 1 Star Rating by the end of Week 4)
- Tuesday - Little Leaf cut scene
- Wednesday - Little Leaf cut scene - Little Bunny activated
- Thursday to Sunday - Free time
Your greatest challenge so far is raising your Star Rating to Level 1 by Week 4. Upgrade your existing hotel rooms (cleaning up the Yard will give you plenty of Wood) and do some Alchemy for your Insight score. The Little Bunny will keep your Clean score high, so don't worry about Cleaning. Not too difficult.
Week 4
- Monday - Phone cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Burdened with a huge debt (1) (have 50,000 gold saved up by the end of Week 4)
- Night - Blood Moon cut scene
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Blood Moon, Hotel Rating
If you've been working on your Star Rating then getting 50,000 gold by the end of the week should be a piece of cake. If you're struggling, however, try selling some materials to Hoshino to make up the difference in your cash. (Really, you will be fine.)
Chapter 2 - Entering the Crimson Dream
Week 5
- Monday - Orange Ginger cut scene, unlock Strategy
- Tuesday - Haa Lou Ling cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Staff Dormitory (3) (upgrade Haa Lou Ling's Room) - Can unlock Restaurant
- Wednesday - Yevna / Haa Lou Ling cut scene, Cat King Cut Scene
- Day - Main Task: Taste of the Restaurant (make Poached Chicken) - Unlocks Forext Exploration
- Night - Main Task: Ready for Exploration (raise Exploration to Level 4)
- Thursday to Sunday - Free time
Unlike most Main Tasks you don't have to complete a lot of the Main Tasks in this week - but you should. They will make your life much easier in the long run, as the Restaurant churns out a lot of money, and you'll need the ingredients from the forest to make the most out of the Restaurant. (The various types of Wood from the forest don't hurt either.)
Week 6
- Monday - Orange Ginger cut scene
- Day - Main Task: A Rare Calm (operate as normal)
- Night - Ruined city cut scene
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 7
- Monday - Phone cut scene, Dangkang / Orange Ginger cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Burdened with a huge debt (have 200,000 gold saved up by the end of Week 8) - 10% less gold earned for the week
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
The next two weeks aren't horrible as long as you've kept some gold back and continued to upgrade your rooms. If you've put the Restaurant to work it should be particularly easy. If you find yourself low at the start, look into selling any stockpiles of materials, and make good use of that Restaurant. Coupled with Forest Exploration you can quickly add lots of gold to your pile.
Week 8
- Monday - Lady Crow cut scene
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Tlipoca cut scene, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating
At the end of this week you'll meet Tlipoca, the final Staff Member. She'll ask you to sign a contract, and despite how dire this seems, the end results are pretty much the same regardless of your response. Expect some different dialogue in a coming cut scene.
Chapter 3 - The Fall of the Fallen
Week 9
- Monday - Staff Members cut scene
- Tuesday - Tlipoca cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Staff Dormitory (4) - Upgrade Tlipoca's Room - Unlocks Slaughter command
- Wednesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday - Tlipoca or Haa Lou Ling cut scene
Week 10
- Monday
- Day - Puyue Tao cut scene
- Night - Haa Lou Ling / Puyue Tao cut scene
- Tuesday - Cihuatl cut scene
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 11
- Monday - Puyue Tao, phone call cut scenes
- Day: Main Task: Being in debt (3) (have 20,000,000 gold saved up by the end of Week 12)
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
The Main Task of saving up 20 million gold is ridiculous - and not something you need to worry about. The debt will be resolved by the end of the month, regardless of how much money you have. Use your gold as you see fit.
Week 12
- Monday - Phone call, Staff Members cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: Where the Soul Lies (retrieve I's Soul Stone from the Carnival) - unlocks Soul Alchemy
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel
Normally you need at least one Extra-Item and an abundance of Souls to participate in the Carnival. This time you'll get in for free, and will only need one Soul. Use Slaughter or Soul Alchemy and you'll be fine.
Chapter 4 - Fantasy under the Earth
Week 13
- Monday - Staff Members cut scene
- Tuesday - Yevna cut scene
- Wednesday - Little Leaf cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Ready for Excavation (upgrade Excavation Level to 5) - unlocks Mine Excavation
- Thursday
- Day - Little Leaf cut scene
- Night - Little Leaf, Cat King cut scenes
- Friday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Cut scene
Ready for Excavation is another Main Task that you don't really need to complete. You'll need the Stone from the mine to upgrade your hotel, however, so you'll probably dust this Main Task off rather quickly. Completing this will unlock more Main Tasks: What is this? Dig it... (reach Layer 5)
Week 14
- Monday - Phone, Staff Member cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: Debt Free (business as usual)
- Night - Cut scene (this scene always seems to cut off before I can do anything; might just be an error)
- Tuesday - Sunday - Free time
Nothing special this week, despite the new Main Task. Just run the hotel.
Week 15
- Monday
- Day - Tlipoca cut scene
- Night - Cat King cut scene
- Tuesday - Little Leaf, phone call cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: Forest Crisis (1) (have 500,000 gold saved up by the end of Week 16)
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
Your Main Task for the remainder of this month is building up 500,000 gold. If you've been upgrading steadily you could very well have this much money on you already, and then some. If not, selling off items is a great way to make up the difference.
(Note that the game at first says you need 2,000,000 gold. The actual amount is listed under the Task List in the bottom-left corner.)
Week 16
- Monday - Carnival cut scene
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating
Chapter 5 - Even a Bioroid Maid has a Heartbeat
Week 17
- Monday - Staff Members cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: Another You in the World (business as usual)
- Tuesday to Thursday - Free time
- Friday - University cut scene
- Saturday - HOBA cut scene
- Sunday
- Night - Vulcan.K, Little Leaf cut scene
The Affinity panel will temporarily be disabled when you reach Saturday. (I suspect it is just supposed to remove Little Leaf, but you can't interact with anyone.) It will come back online during Week 18.
Week 18
- Monday - Staff Members cut scene
- Day - Main Task: The Price of Oracles (business as usual, -1 SAN per day)
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Although you don't have any specific goals to complete, you do need to keep an eye on your SAN. It will slowly trickle downward, and you still can't access Affinity. Rest as needed, and use some Holy Water items from your inventory in a pinch.
Week 19
- Monday to Sunday - Free time
Week 20
- Monday - Vulcan.K, Yevna cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: The Law of Alchemy (get five Gold before the end of Week 20)
- Day - Main Task: The Law of Purification (get one Pure Gold Element before the end of Week 20)
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night: Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
This week may be tense if you've ignored Alchemy. Before it ends you need to refine five Impure Gold via the Gold Formula given to you by Yevna. (Don't forget to activate the formula under Inventory in the Operation menu.) There are two ways to do this:
- Follow the formula. You'll need one Silver (AV 23) and one Metal Polymer (formula purchased from Hoshino - Lead, Tin, and Iron - or randomly refined) to create one Impure Gold. Best get to work.
- Use Random Alchemy to create your own Impure Gold. It has an AV of 30, and if you create batches of items it shouldn't take too long to scrape together five pieces of Impure Gold. You may want to save and reload if things don't go your way, as you don't have much time to gather the materials.
Once you have the five pieces of Impure Gold Yevna will automatically give you the Pure Element Gold Formula. Make sure you save your game before trying to make the stuff, unless you have a 100% Success Rate. You don't want to do all that again.
It is vital that you have Pure Element Gold in your inventory before the end of this week. You can't get into the Carnival without it, and although the game will carry on afterward your SAN will drop precipitously each day until you get a Game Over. If you want to carry on beyond Chapter 6 you must get that Pure Element Gold.
Once you're in the Carnival, bid on - and win - the Elder Sign. It should go for around 200 Souls. Once you have that you'll stop the SAN trickle that's been bothering you up to this point, and the story will continue.
Chapter 6 - Home and Away
Week 21
- Monday - Cut scenes
- Tuesday - Vulcan.K cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Forest Crisis (2) (have 1,000,000 gold saved up before the end of Week 23)
This week brings up your debts yet again. Getting to 1,000,000 gold in savings should be no problem by now so long as you don't go on a huge spending-spree. Sell all the items you've been storing up if you run short, and don't neglect the Restaurant.
Week 22
- Monday
- Day - Xiye cut scene
- Night - Cat King cut scene
- Tuesday - Haa Lou Ling cut scene
- Night - Haa Lou Ling cut scene
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 23
- Monday - Little Leaf, Haa Lou Ling cut scenes
- Tuesday
- Day - Haa Lou Ling, Puyue Tao cut scenes
- Night - Haa Lou Ling cut scene - Main Task: Miss Fox (business as usual)
- Wednesday
- Day - Puyue Tao cut scene - Main Task: Novelist? Explorer! (business as usual)
- Thursday
- Night - Cat King cut scene
- Friday to Sunday - Free time
Week 24
- Monday - Xiye cut scene
- Tuesday - Puyue Tao cut scene
- Wednesday - Puyue Tao cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Sinking into the Ink-Colored Sky (business as usual)
- Thursday - Cut scene
- Friday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night: Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
Chapter 7 - The Search for Dreams
Week 25
- Monday to Tuesday - Haa Lou Ling cut scenes (days are otherwise skipped)
- Wednesday
- Night - Cat King cut scene
- Thursday to Sunday - Free time
Week 26
- Monday - Yevna cut scene
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
At the beginning of this week Yevna will leave the hotel. She won't return until Week 33, and duringher absence you won't be able to Date her, or otherwise raise her Affinity. (You can still use all forms of Alchemy, however.)
Week 27
- Monday
- Day - Little Leaf cut scene
- Night - Professor cut scene
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 28
- Monday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night: Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
Chapter 8 - Drowning in the Endless Dream
Week 29
- Monday - Jiabai cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Forest Crisis (3) (have 2,000,000 gold saved up before the end of Week 32)
- Tuesday
- Day - Tlipoca / Jiabai cut scene
- Night - Professor cut scene
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
The debt continues. By now you should have a good idea of how to quickly earn and save up gold. Reign in your spending and use Slaughter for extra coin as needed.
Week 30
- Monday - Cat King cut scene
- Tuesday
- Day - Little Leaf cut scene
- Night - Little Leaf, Cat King cut scene
- Wednesday - Tlipoca cut scene
- Thursday to Sunday - Free time
Week 31
- Monday - Tlipoca / Cihuatl cut scenes
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 32
- Monday - Yevna cut scene
- Tuesday to Friday - Free time
- Saturday
- Night - HOBA cut scene
- Sunday
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
Chapter 9 - To the ends of the World
Week 33
- Monday to Tuesday - Cut scenes (days are otherwise skipped)
- Wednesday
- Day - Main Task: How to Fill Empty Dreams (business as usual)
- Day - Main Task: Emergency Repair Tool (refine five Broken Cores)
- Thursday - Nix cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Knitting 9,000 miles of longing (business as usual)
- Night - Nix cut scene
- Friday to Sunday - Free time
The big task in this week is refining five Broken Cores. You'll receive the formula as soon as you regain control of the game, and to complete a single Broken Core you'll need one Furnace Stone (blue, AV 18) and three Metal Polymers. The Metal Polymer was used for a previous Main Task, so you just need to make more of those. You don't have a ton of time to get the job done, so hopefully you've been keeping up on your Alchemy. (Note that if you have, you can also just try to get Broken Cores via Random Alchemy. They're purple, and AV 50. Good luck!)
Yevna will return to the hotel during this week, and she won't leave again. Little Leaf departs, though she'll be back by Week 34. (Oddly enough, the game does not end if you don't get five Broken Cores by the end of the week. You'll see one extra cut scene, and you won't fail Emergency Repair Tool, but otherwise things play out pretty much the same.)
Week 34
- Monday
- Night - Travel cut scene
- Tuesday and Wednesday - Cut scenes (days are otherwise skipped)
- Thursday
- Day - Main Task: My Home and My Love (business as usual)
- Friday to Sunday - Free time
This week puts Little Leaf back into the hotel. You'll miss out on a big chunk of the days, so this week is sort of a wash.
Week 35
- Monday
- Night - Haa Lou Ling cut scene
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
On Monday night Haa Lou Ling will ask you to leave the hotel with her. If your Affinity with her is high enough you can accept, and doing so will earn you the Returning to Nature ending.
Week 36
- Monday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
Chapter 10 - Flowers for Death Tower
Week 37
- Monday - Tlipoca cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Forest Crisis (4) (have 2,000,000 gold saved up before the end of Week 40)
- Tuesday
- Night - Tlipoca / Cihuatl / Yevna cut scene
- Wednesday to Sunday - Free time
Another 2,000,000. Well, you know the drill. If you've gotten this far then saving up that much gold should be a piece of cake.
Week 38
- Monday - Tlipoca / Yevna cut scenes
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 39
- Monday - Staff Members cut scene
- Day - Main Task: Becoming a Chess Player (business as usual)
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 40
- Monday - Cihuatl cut scene
- Day - Main Task: The Gully to Freedom (collect 10,000 Reverse Soul Drops)
- Tuesday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday - Staff Members cut scene
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
During this week you'll be instructed to refine 10,000 Reverse Soul Drops. You'll also be given 10,000 Soul Drops to begin the process. The game will automatically convert the Soul Drops into Reverse Soul Drops each day, so don't worry about it. Focus on earning money - and just make sure you don't somehow spend massive amounts of Souls.
Tlipoca leaves at the end of this chapter, and won't be available for Affinity activities. You also won't be able to use the Slaughter command. Tlipoca returns to the hotel partway through Week 43.
Chapter 11
Week 41
- Monday - HOBA cut scene - Answer 'Agree' to trigger the Lord of HOBA ending
- Tuesday - Little Leaf cut scene
- Wednesday - Haa Lou Ling / Cat King cut scenes
- Thursday to Sunday - Free time
Week 42
- Monday to Sunday - Free time
Week 43
- Monday to Wednesday
- Night - Main Task: In the end, it can be repaid (many cut scenes)
- Thursday
- Night - Main Task: Great Employee Team! (business as usual)
- Friday to Sunday - Free time
A chunk of this week is on storyline rails, and you'll just have to watch how things play out. Near the end Tlipoca makes an offer, and the only way you can accept is to have an Evil level of 100. (I think, anyway. A high Affinity - I was at Level 9 - with Tlipoca may also be necessary. You need to use the Slaughter command many times, I know that much.) If you accept you'll receive the Lord of the Night ending.
Week 44
- Monday to Saturday - Free time
- Sunday
- Night - Carnival, Blood Moon, Hotel Rating - Carnival cut scenes
Chapter 12 - Black Star Descent
Week 45
- Monday to Wednesday - Story cut scenes
- Thursday
- Day - Little Leaf / Yevna cut scene
- Friday to Sunday - Free time
Right at the end of the huge flurry of cut scenes that begin this chapter you'll receive a proposal from Little Leaf and Yevna. If your Affinity with both of them is high enough (I suspect Level 9 is the ceiling) you can trigger the Master of Meteorites ending.
Week 46
- Monday - Staff Members cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: Dream and Reality Cutting Method (business as usual)
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 47
- Monday - Staff Members cut scenes
- Day - Main Task: The World Ends (business as usual)
- Tuesday to Sunday - Free time
Week 48
- Monday to Sunday - Free time
For the most part this chapter is relegated to tying up loose ends before the big finale. Once you reach the end of Sunday on Week 48 you'll trigger the final string of cut scenes, which lead to multiple endings. One of them is triggered by choosing 'Puyue Tao' over 'Nix' early on in the cut scenes, while the rest are determined by choosing one of your four main Staff Members with a high Affinity score. Check the link above to see the various endings you can get.
Regardless of which ending you've chosen, you're out of days. Well done! You can now start the game anew, if you wish, and though you'll lose most of your items and your Hotel Star Rating, everything you've chronicled up to this point will remain, giving you a nice, juicy Insight score. You'll also retain any Extra-Items that you purchased / created / discovered up to this point, aside from the story-specific items.