So, I wanted to talk about my favorite game of last year: Stardew Valley. I’m not much of a fan of Harvest Moon but for some reason, I was sucked into Stardew Valley. It’s a simple farming simulator game that can take away hours and maybe even days in the real world. Here are some start up questions for the thread and everyone can discuss the game here. It’s on steam right now for 14.99$
What did you like/dislike about the game?
Which platform is better, PC or the console? [if you’ve played it on both, what’s different? is using a controller harder than regular keyboard and mouse?]
Who is your favorite character?
What’s your favorite event [heart events or first time meeting someone]
Did you set up the community center or go back to the joja corporation?
I’m co-piloting with one of my partners on PC and I’m crazy looking forward to when co-op mode is polished and officially released (I have been lead to understand there is a makeshift co-op mod floating around already). We’re still waiting on some of the geode minerals and fishing artifacts, and wondering how much the luck level of the day influences what you find.
Also, I like Stardew enough that I’ve been streaming it for quite a long while now and I’m still pretty into it. And in the most recent batch of videos, I just discovered that there’s a fetch quest that starts in the tunnel near the bus stop! Blew my mind.
I’ve completed the Community Center on another file previously, and I still have like 4 dang items left to complete it on my stream file, argh! Also, I’m horribly bad at the Skull Caves Even when I go on days with super good luck and bring bombs with me and such, it’s rare that I hit level 30.
Yep! Apparently it was always intended too, so it isn’t going to be a “slapped on” kind of thing either. My source was http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Stardew_Valley and a number of more rumour-like things I’ve seen floating around.
Also going though Skull Caves and getting a couple of 3-floor holes and still not getting close to where you want to be is the worst.
Man, I poured like 80 hours into the game within the first week or two of getting it. I’ve always been a big fan of Animal Crossing, and Stardew Valley really nails that same vibe.
I think my biggest problem with the game, though, is that it’s pretty front-loaded in terms of content progression. There’s a lot of neato gameplay features that the game tosses to you at the beginning, but after about 20 hours in, it becomes clear that there’s ultimately not much to them. Combat for example just sorta feels like an afterthought, and the Caves are long enough that it becomes exhausting by the time you get to the end of them. The game also tends to do this with the secret areas it teases you with; I remember getting really excited to finally open the sewers in the middle of the town some 40 hours in…only to figure out that it leads to a single hallway with an NPC in it.
Still, it’s a very cool game, especially considering the fact that it’s $15 and was made by a single guy, and I’ve had plenty of fun with it. I might start up a second playthrough eventually; that co-op thing sounds like it’ll be interesting.
I agree on the front-loading thing. Coming up towards the start of year 3 and I feel like there might not be much more to see, besides getting a few hard to get items.
I think I put a good 40 hours or so into this game after release and enjoyed the heck out of it! I think one of the more memorable things I remember of early release is that Abigail was using “you gave me a food” dialogue regardless of any gifts you would give her.
I think I became best friends with a purple haired girl by feeding her rocks.
I still need to go back and actually finish the Community Center though, I don’t recall how much actual game progress I made.
Fishing is so bad when you start. And it’s entirely possible it will never click with you and it just stays horrible. Leveling the skill helps a ton; the level 0 bar is just offenssively small.
Also, Voidburger I was the one who commented on an earlier video about that sidequest existing! I was so glad to see you remembered.
i think one thing that really needs improving is the rate of finding artifacts. I only have two left to find in my file and one of them is the fucking green toy. i ain’t gonna find that shit anytime soon.
before i had the greenhouse i found an ancient seed and planted it at the start of summer and it didn’t finish before i could get another seed :c luckily [and i mean by pure fucking luck] i found another one in the caves.
also, fuck the skull caves. every time i go in there, i’m 30+ down and i still haven’t found iridium. Makes me so mad.
These types of games should never be this much of a chore. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town was the perfect balance of challenge and fun wholesome cow milking and sheep petting.
Oh, it was you! Well thanks, that was a very helpful comment
And yeah the first time I did the fishing minigame I was completely “FUCK THIS” about it and wanting to never do it again. You really just gotta keep at it and get over that initial difficulty hump. The learning curve is a bit fucked up on it, but it’s worth it because fishing is one of the best ways to make money!
a great learning tool is the fall festival with all the games. i understood the fishing game there [since there really wasn’t a penalty when playing]. and i guess a game for the slingshot, too but the slingshot is traaaaaaaaaaash
and apparently there’s a glitch with the golden pumpkin from the maze but i haven’t tried it?
Fishing definitely needs practice until it clicks. Unless it doesn’t and it just sucks forever for you. I hear there are mods to make it easier though? And even though I’m pretty good at it now, fuuuuuck those fish that never stay in one place for more than a second.
Stardew’s quickly approaching my most played Steam game, which is not something I ever expected, but it’s so good on its own and it’s even better with a partner who’s obsessed with organization - my wife has spreadsheeted pretty much every single aspect of the game, from crops and greenhouse layouts and the community center bundles (we just have one stupid rabbit’s foot left!) to the social aspects (literally, a sheet for every character containing their likes, dislikes, their heart event activations…) and sidequests. I swear she’s more organized than the wiki, but I’m not complaining, I don’t think my interest in the game would have gone half as far without that spreadsheet. Very satisfying to check off heart events and community center bundles.
Though I do agree with above sentiments that the game’s starting to peter out around the end of year 2, unless getting married changes things drastically. I just want to push through to the beginning of year 3 so I can get Grandpa’s assessment of the farm, at least. Please approve of me, dead grandpa.
I don’t even want to think about doing the journey to the prairie king achievement lol
I made two profiles. In the first one, I had to marry Fab-Elliot because his hair was so fabulous. [and his four[?] heart event is also one of my favorites as well.]
The next file I married Leah because she’s best friends with Fabio. [And I like her heart events]
I love this game. When I was a kid, I was way into Harvest Moon, but when I got older and lost all of my imagination I found it super boring. Then I tried Rune Factory, which I felt pushed things way over to the other extreme. I don’t want JRPG nonsense in my farming game! Stardew Valley really hits the spot though.
On my first file, I married Penny, and stopped right before year 3. I started another one a few months ago after the update but didn’t make it through year 1 before stopping because some other game came out to distract me. I think I was about to marry Maru. I saved the community center both times. The other choice just feels wrong.
I am extremely interested in figuring out what the deal is with those three secret statues you can get by putting random stuff in the boxes. Seems like there is some other cryptic shit that has yet to be discovered.
I know what they are, I can tell you if you want. One of them is really fucked up, lol.
Yeah, I stopped in year 3 in my fist save file, too.
After the patch came out, I restarted a new file with the new things in it. A few days ago, I went back to my old file and I was like: oh my god, everything about this is wrong. My planting was all wrong, I didn’t have the necessary items in my greenhouse and I never built a stable. WHY past!me.
Even when I go on days with super good luck and bring bombs with me and such, it’s rare that I hit level 30.
