Disney Dreamlight Valley – Talking about my Playthrough/Thoughts of the Expansion and recent update

While the Expansion has been getting the most discussion, it’s not the only thing in this update. We have Jack Skellington, possibly some new regular quest stuff, and even Multiplayer is finally here with the game’s full release. Hopefully this means we’ll see some of the Community items we’re still missing soon as well.

If you just want my general review on the Expansion/DLC, you can click here for my thoughts and on if I feel it’s worth it passed all the gamebloggy stuff. Otherwise, continue to read below!

As per usual, some quick things before we get to the update stuff. For one, I finally managed to get one of the Lifeguard chairs which was nice:

I also have gotten more inspiration on decorating those other houses, but I do want to see more of what gets unlocked in this update first before doing anything so with that said… Let’s get to it! This post was written over the course of about a week.

I think the hard part is deciding what to do first. Seeing what’s new outside the Expansion or rushing right over to the Expansion stuff. As per usual, I have literally no plan and will just be trying to do everything even if the order is a complete mess.

In the end though, Steam made my choice for me– the update was out, but the DLC was not. I know it was available on Switch and some other systems, but as I primarily play on Steam, that’s where I decided to start.

Of course, right as I got to starting, the Expansion did show up and I ended up having it start as I booted up the game regardless. I decided to still focus on the non-Expansion stuff first as planned which honestly turned out for the best because wow is the Expansion overwhelming, but we’ll get more into that in a bit.

While talking to Merlin due to the Expansion cutscene starting, I noticed something suspicious behind him near the bench.

Turns out, it’s a Matryoshka and is used to unlock Jack. You need to find all four sizes– a tiny, a small, a medium, and a big.

Before going Matryoshka hunting though, I wanted to stop by the mailbox first where there were quite a bit of rewards waiting.

With that done, while doing my Matryoshka search, I ended up setting up the thing for multiplayer. I’m not sure when I’ll check out multiplayer, but at least it’s all set up now.

Anyway, as you gave the Matryoshka to the tree, the tree would become more decorated until it opened up.

Jack then moved in and I ended up placing his house near the tree. The inside was nice.

I then got to work on Jack’s friendship quests. Getting this throne photo to tick was a pain and this photo isn’t even particularly good.

Also, obligatory new pets pictures and yes, I did immediately get the new Star Path pet because of course I did.

I also placed my favorite item from Jack’s friendship quest and one of the new items from the Premium Shop.

As for a more temporary thing, I like the banner, but I don’t think I’ll permanently keep things set up like this… I’m not sure where else to put the banner just yet though.

Also, these were genuinely adorable and I was really sad we had to destroy them over picking them up and keeping them…

Before finally going to the Expansion, I placed the other item that came with the cute Polar Bear over in Frosted Heights (as despite being called miniature, it’s still pretty big):

With everything new done besides Star Path stuff, it was time to continue forward to the Expansion area. And looking at the whole doorway area, clearly a lot more is planned…

It was then time to sail forward and we finally made it to Eternity Isle.

I genuinely love it so much. It’s so pretty, there’s so many waterfalls, I really like the crystals… Really, the only place that isn’t super my thing is the Desert area which considering my love of water fixtures, that’s not surprising.

There is a sandfall at least.

I decided to focus on the story before Friendship Quests as I figured they would require getting more areas unlocked. We ended up meeting EVE first and after some trial and error, we finally unlocked the new tool.

Next up, I ran into Rapunzel, but I also just want to show more pictures from around the area as it really is super pretty.

Eternity Isle is honestly huge– nearly as big as the Valley and feels like it has as much to do as the game did at the start and we know there will be at least two more updates coming for it.

While helping out Rapunzel, I also met Gaston. I did end up finishing Rapunzel’s part of the story first though.

And I was fairly excited about this new crafting item… But it was also bigger than I expected.

Anyway, with Rapunzel’s side done, it was time to continue working on Gaston’s and well…

With the Cave of Wonders revealed, it was time to go in. I LOVED the puzzle aspects of this so much but was upset I didn’t manage to get the tools upgraded again before doing it. I wish I realized chests would be trapped behind them. Obviously, I went back to get them later after I did, but I’ll explain more about this in the next section.

With that done, it was time to finally meet Jafar. I didn’t expect him to actually note that I didn’t need any hints for the puzzle and that’s kind of why I wish I got the upgrades before doing this.

I don’t know if it would have mattered, but each chest was a Pile of Gold of various sizes and Gaston had asked for gold and you say you didn’t find any, but I wonder if I was able to get those chests ahead of time if there would’ve been different dialogue like how Jafar has different dialogue about how you did on the puzzles and I just feel bad about it. I wish I could’ve had something to give it after…

Anyway, Jafar tried to take the tool from us, but failed and poofed away. There is an odd bug where you’ll occasionally see his sprite on the map, but he isn’t actually around. I’m guessing we won’t actually be able to have him as a character until one of the next updates for the expansion. Regardless, this is where the Expansion story ends for the moment.

With that done, it was time for working on friendship quests so I started with Rapunzel’s first because I adore her. I also crafted more water fixture-esque items. Honestly though, this bracelet is super pretty and I kind of wish it was an actual item we could have.

Rapunzel’s quests were really sweet and I relate to her a lot (I would say in general, my personality is a cross between her and Belle).

I still don’t think her or EVE should’ve been tied to an Expansion considering, but I’m happy she’s finally here. In general though, I wish they’d stop introducing just part of a duo or group.

Gaston without Lefou is pretty depressing, especially after playing through his quests. Rapunzel clearly misses Flynn/Eugene and I really hoped we’d at least have Pascal here, but no… Vanellope without Ralph, Kristoff still doesn’t have Sven, Stitch is missing Lilo, etc. They keep bringing them up and it just makes me really sad.

Anyway, Rapunzel’s questline ended with her hosting a painting class. I didn’t expect for us to also get to make our own painting. It reminded me of how I used to make these crazy pictures on KidPix deluxe when I was in Elementary school where I’d use hundreds of Stamps to make these giant pictures.

Rapunzel’s dress ended up being the final reward and I do love it a lot.

Also just more pictures from around the sights:

At this point, I remembered I hadn’t done my Dreamsnap entry yet so I finally took care of that. Blue isn’t usually my color, but I think it came out nice.

Of course, one of the last Star Path quests I got was to enter the Dreamsnaps competition which is… frustrating. Obviously, I’ll enter in two days as I don’t want to submit over my current entry, but I’m just kind of frustrated. I don’t like being walled, I don’t like how much longer and more involved some of the tasks are now, and there is even less of a reason for it to even be here now that the game’s free to play is currently not in the cards anytime soon.

In general, I hate only being able to see 6 (or 3 if you don’t upgrade) tasks at a time. Similarly, I still hate how the Premium Shop updates and again, with the changes, I dislike the FOMO Rotation set-up all the more.

With quests mostly done (I was stuck waiting until tomorrow to continue EVE’s and Gaston’s friendship quests), I decided to do some decorating and new rooms. First, I added some piles of gold to the Discovery Room on the 3rd Floor and switched out the Fireplace in my bedroom on the first.

I then decided to start some work on decorating the 4th floor. First, I have a bit of a Cozy Display Room where I wanted to put the Scramblecoin and other neat things. I then also made a fancy dining room to display more of the various food items in the game.

Meanwhile, back in the Valley, I made some room to place the new crafting table, added the neat Water arch thing, and also set up the Hot Tub near the pool though I may still adjust that last one…

Finally, I was able to continue with Friendship quests so I started with EVE’s first and this moment is really sweet, but again, really feels like it shouldn’t be behind a paywall.

EVE’s quest ended with Fireworks.

And even Gaston’s ending was pretty interesting where you had to decide for Stitch or Olaf to be his new “sidekick” which… I can’t believe they had us choose. I ended up picking Olaf because I think the positivity would do him some good and I also find it funny that Olaf’s voice actor is the same person who played LeFou in the Live Action show.

It was then time for the organization process. As an aside, the Glimmer item is super pretty when placed down.

I ended up switching out stuff in my character’s bedroom to try and just display some of my favorites.

I then ended up adding more to the dining room and moving most of the stuff I took out, along with various other things, to a new room on the 4th floor to essentially work like a ‘Museum’.

While I ended up using Floor 19 for most of the new items (and I guess I’ll turn it essentially into an Expansion Storage), I was able to fit the new flowers in the Flower Room on the 20th floor.

Going to the Star Path, I picked up the new dress and just… really wish there were other color versions (though, maybe also a bit of a higher collar). In general, I want a light pink version of a ballgown dress– we’ve only really had two dresses so far with the hands folded pose and I really want more in different colors– both of the current ones are grey-ish.

I also ended up getting Belle’s and Ariel’s Winter Outfits which I really loved. I don’t think I’ll ever end up changing these unless Belle gets a hood down version.

I also got the ice skating rink which was the final Star Path reward I really wanted. It’s disappointing it can’t actually be interacted with beyond sitting on the bench, but I’m not surprised.

Something that will be mentioned often in this entry is I constantly kept making additions and adjustments to the new rooms in the house. There’s just so many things and the gifts honestly look pretty nice.

What I didn’t expect was the Robot you could craft was actually a Critter you can wear! They’re so cute.

And, of course, with at least one of each new pet unlocked: the new poses. I honestly find the Capybara one kind of disappointing though. I think the pointing is just kind of silly, but the petting cute at least.

As mentioned, I did a lot of various re-arranging of things as I went and unlocked more:

I also made the Sandfall after FINALLY managing to get Scales (you fish outside of the bubble spots). It’s… a lot bigger than I expected and doesn’t really work in the more lush areas, but I’m leaving it there for now.

I’ve been super indecisive on what I want to move to the new biomes and what I want to keep in the Valley. I REALLY love all the Waterfalls and stuff and it kind of makes me want to set up a bunch of stuff and do a huge makeover in the Eternity Isles, but I also spent so much time setting things up in the Valley.

If you place someone in one area, they are removed from the other though so I’d have to re-adjust certain things if I do. Maybe I’ll just move over my most favorite characters, but it’s just… really hard to make up my mind. I’d have to move a lot of stuff too and some stuff can’t be adjusted at all in Eternity Isle. Despite that, I did know one house I had to move to the Valley– EVE’s so she and WALL-E could finally be reunited. I ended up using the space I had the Alien Party area that I didn’t really care for.

I did end up using some of the stuff to make a nice picnic area near WALL-E’s garden and the Waterfall though.

Finally, I ended up placing the new houses I got plus some stuff I newly crafted over by Vanellope’s.

Of course, I think the one thing a lot of people are wondering is what I think of the Expansion overall and if I find it worth it. The short version is, yes, I do think it’s worth it. You get pretty much as much content as the base game had (just less characters, but considering more updates are confirmed for the expansion, it could still end up pretty close). The biomes are honestly really huge, each kind of divided into sub-sections, there’s over 100+ new recipes, and it definitely feels like $30 worth of content, especially considering it’s not even ALL the content this expansion is supposed to have yet.

On the downsides, we still have various premium microtransaction features despite the game no longer planned for Free to Play anytime soon, if ever. I’ve had certain bugs I would run into occasionally prior to these release MUCH more often and in some situations, worse. I haven’t had this much soft-locking in ages and I had to reset the game 3-4 times just doing the main quest.

And there’s still the fact that some things in here were advertised prior. Obviously, these things have nothing to do with the content itself and I do think the game content is really interesting and the new biomes are beautiful.

I can’t comment on multiplayer because I still haven’t had the chance to personally experience it, but I will say I am disappointed to hear how many items can’t actually be given to friends along with the lack of any way to purchase through their catalog which would’ve been a really nice feature :/

Finally, the new tool, the Royal Hourglass. It’s… fine. Most things you turn back time on are solely through the story quest thus far, so it isn’t really used for any kind of treasure finding that way.

Besides removing certain obstacles, the big feature is that it works kind of like a metal detector and can find treasure by indicating which way to search by a glowing arch that points in the direction the treasure is in. It’s blue if you’re not close, gold if close, and a dark reddish-orange when very close. Essentially a hot and cold radar.

I would say the biggest disappoints for me with it are:

I was actually really excited for the treasure finding feature thinking it would lead you to one-time secret treasures like finding chests in certain Realms, but instead it’s just another grind with items respawning for you to find every so often in every single biome (and sub-biome in the case of Eternity Isle) and some items even only showing up on specific days.
An issue with both the Orbs you can trigger and the treasure hunting itself, it does not really take into account your surroundings at all. Multiple times I have had an issue where it’s pointed to somewhere I literally can’t get. This is a huge issue with the Orb Barrier stuff as that’s timed.
Finally, to get the treasure, you have to spam the interact button which is not only painful for me after a while (my entire hand and arm were killing me after playing so long doing that over and over), but frequently led to me accidentally picking up or harvesting things when I didn’t necessarily want to. Also the usual issue of sometimes talking to a Character you’re hanging out with when just trying to grab stuff.
Honestly, I’m already tired of the Orbs spawning even if I need stuff because I just am very particular about my organization things.
Actually hanging out with a Companion to get more stuff has a catch-22 attached because certain items (the gift ones) are actually weighted towards who you’re hanging out with. For example, if you’re hanging out with someone from Mickey’s and Friends, you’re mostly going to find Pink Bows.
Similarly, if you wanted to switch any Villagers to the new skill for the new tool, the book requires A LOT of the new ingredients as well.

In general, most of the new crafting stuff gets very expensive and unlike Dreamlight which you likely have a ton of at this point even with the addition of potions and things, some crafting recipes require a lot more Mist in addition to it being used for unlocking the various areas of each biome.

It just makes things a lot more grindy and the main way to earn mist is through the whole treasure seeking and removing rocks. I would say that’s really my only complaint. Well, that and whoever decided that Linguine with Pesto should be made with Oregano instead of Basil.

To finish this off, final Critter unlock moments that I haven’t already shown! I officially just have the Rare colors left.