I finally got the game.

Someone told me to visit the town and introduce myself so I did that. Took all day. Went to bed, saved, have to go to IRL bed right now.

Not really sure what I'm supposed to do next. Is there any like... guidance... or am I just kind of supposed to start doing random things? How do I even know what is possible?!

@J.K. Riki
Nice write-up. I had a similar experience having trouble getting over the initial few days' "hump," but things started clicking after that. I like how much content there seems to be in the game, and its economy seems nicely balanced for the most part (a vital element of a game like this, considering what happened with HM: A Wonderful Life). There seem to be ample rewards for just about any chore, so I find myself bouncing around from farming, fishing, mining, lumberjack-ing, and generally getting to know the townsfolk. I also appreciate the gift limits to the NPCs, which I think helps balance the socialization aspect as well.

The interface is a big reason it took a while for me to get comfortable. It feels designed for a PC game or something, and never quite feels as intuitive as it should. I think Rune Factory Frontier on the Wii was a better example of how to design a large inventory in a game like this for a console controller.

@Zero
Yeah, it's a little overwhelming at first. The game has people give you tasks pretty regularly (especially early on), so you'll learn about a new gameplay element every day or two and gradually get more comfortable getting around and getting things done. For now, I'd say not to stress out too much and just focus on raising your crops and talking to people for the first couple days. If you have extra stamina at the end of a day, clear out junk on your farm; you'll be thankful for the extra space and the extra lumber.

Once the game presents you with the Community Center, start working on those immediately IMO. There's a handful you can do each season and some you can't do in Spring 1 but still do what you can so that hopefully by the end of Spring 2 you have it completed. Nice bonuses in completing that thing. Don't sell out the Joja Mart!

@TriforceBun Give me tasks as in it will automatically happen, or do I have to go talk to people?

I guess I got confused because the game told me to talk to people so I went and talked to a bunch of people and nothing seemed to come of it. I wasn't sure if I didn't talk to the RIGHT people or if it was more just to get me used to walking around the town or something like that.

Obviously I can just keep playing and find out but I need to sleep sometimes!

TriforceBun said:

I also appreciate the gift limits to the NPCs, which I think helps balance the socialization aspect as well.

That's super interesting to me because I hate that limit, lol! I find it so constricting, it drives me nuts. Also the whole "We will refuse to talk to you after two-attempts daily" thing. I get that maybe they wanted it to not feel like an RPG where a character will say the same thing 1000 times, but even that feels more realistic than "I refuse to say another word to you until tomorrow." Ah well, is what it is.

TriforceBun said:

The interface is a big reason it took a while for me to get comfortable. It feels designed for a PC game or something, and never quite feels as intuitive as it should. I think Rune Factory Frontier on the Wii was a better example of how to design a large inventory in a game like this for a console controller.

That's a good call, you're right. Also that the little arrow icon randomly appears, making it apparent the PC version came first. I'm not exactly sure why they kept the arrow icon in the Switch version... It's rather clunky.

Zero said:

@TriforceBun Give me tasks as in it will automatically happen, or do I have to go talk to people?

I guess I got confused because the game told me to talk to people so I went and talked to a bunch of people and nothing seemed to come of it. I wasn't sure if I didn't talk to the RIGHT people or if it was more just to get me used to walking around the town or something like that.

The quests/tasks will pop up usually (press the Minus button, which took me a LONG WHILE to figure out since it doesn't seem to tell you), or arrive in your mailbox, or you can visit the bulletin board outside Pierre's to get some on most days. I don't think I've ever gotten one just randomly talking to people. (In fact, randomly talking to people seems almost pointless in this game, to me, so the idea that the first day is ONLY that perhaps lends itself to that slow-start I was feeling...?)

The game does a not-so-great job at telling you when you're doing something right/wrong. I guess they wanted people to have the freedom to do whatever. That's a great thing after a week or two, but on the first few days I'd have loved to see you forced to stay in one major area of the game, while you got an understanding of how things worked. I can't remember how HM1 handled this (maybe it was just a smaller map?) but I didn't feel nearly so overwhelmed by that game initially. Maybe it held your hand a little more? (Also, maybe it is nostalgia coloring my view, but the town in HM is superbly designed, where as SV town is one of the worst town designs I think I've ever played. It's a non-intuitive mess, really. I don't mind a layout that isn't a simple grid, but you need to take some care that trees and rocks aren't always in the way of where a player is trying to go!)

I like how BotW handled this. You had some epic world, but it guided you perfectly through the Plateau if you just kept your eyes open. Stardew Valley pretty much doesn't guide you a single step, which is probably its biggest flaw. Thankfully that fades away once you brute-force your way into understanding the gameplay. Then it becomes just a fun time, overall.

EDIT: OH! Also, Zero, word to the wise!! BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE QUEST SCREEN. After you push the minus button, for reasons I don't understand, it is suuuuuuuuuuuper easy to accidentally cancel a quest you have, and there is no way to get it back. It's gone. I have accidentally lost probably half a dozen quests this way. So don't make my mistakes, lol. Watch that awful little cancel button they hid below the quest!

I will just chime in that I really like this game. I’ve played it for several dozen hours. My main gripe would be how relatively short the dungeon is and how easy it is to make money. I still occasionally play it and trying to max out relationships, max out your house and farm, etc is fun however by the end of year one you should pretty much have a self watering, self sufficient farm, finished the dungeon, maxed out a lot of skills (fishing in particular is a great way to make money) and the general motivation to play for me drastically falls off. I’ve never gotten through year two because of this. The rewards once you don’t have to worry about money, watering, etc Is hugely diminished. At least for me. I think more building options and creative control would go a long way in fixing this. Terraria for instance I still play after several hundred hours just because the developer gives you an absurd number of crafting tools and creative options to tweak out your fortress/castle/whatever. I come back to that game time and time again even 7 years later because of it.

So in short Stardew Valley is a fantastic game for somewhere between 15-30 hours and then just an enjoyable if not somewhat boring experience. Which for the price of admission is a tremendous value and a game I’d recommend to anyone. I just really wish they would add more content to the end game and allow more creative control of your home/farm.

Edit: Also the quest system needs to be reworked. 9/10 times they are just a complete waste of time unless you have the item sitting in your bank or inventory. Why would I try to go find/cook/mine/forage an item for someone for a couple hundred gold when I can go fish for 30 seconds and make the same amount of money? The rewards need to be tweaked and they need to make it more than one never ending fetch quest.

UPDATE:

I am now officially addicted to this game. From the slow start, it has become an amazing, brilliant experience. It seemed to hit its stride in Late Summer Year 1 and now I can hardly put it down. I see it when I close my eyes, lol.

Anyway, if anyone played a bit and then decided to quit, I recommend sticking with it until a ways through the first year. It gets SO much better. Enjoying it like crazy now.

Apparently this was the top earning Switch eShop game outside of Japan last year. Pretty good for a game that came out in October.

I've been playing a lot of this but it's tough to say if I'm super enjoying it or not. Often I just have my tasks and work towards them and it's not particularly compelling gameplay but it is addicting. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hmm.

Getting my first baby chicks was seriously sweet though. And I realized I didn't know how to feed them and they were getting hungry after a day or two and I started panicking and was like woah, I sure am emotionally attached to these video game chickens!

But then they grew up and it's like... eh. Who cares now. Need more babies.

@Zero

I just hit Winter in the game, so I'm off to buy some chickens at the next play session.

Also as far as "I'm addicted, but am I having fun?" that's an interesting game-design concept that I shall have to consider! I often ask my wife, who is super unreasonably addicted to Gardenscapes, if she is having fun. She usually glances at me with glazed eyes and drools a bit, which is kind of like a yes? Either way, I don't dare suggest she stop, because I made that mistake once. Never again.

I couldn't put this game down up until I completed all the objectives in the community center, cleared all the combat areas, got married, and finished the second year. At that point, it sort of felt like I "beat" it. I could keep going and making my farm bigger and more autonomous, but nah... I'm looking forward to seeing if the additional content they release this year pulls me back in. I definitely need some sort of objective to work towards to remain addicted.

Getting 80+ hours out of a $15 game was quite the value!

@Hinph

that's exactly where I stopped too. Give it take a day in year three. Accomplished those same milestones. I know people who go longer but that felt right to me.

My plan is to play until Year 3 rolls around as well, because I thought that's where the game "ended" given every person in this thread seems to mention being done after year 2, lol.

Then I'll give it some time away, and then go back and start again and marry Leah this time. TWO redheads in the game mean at least two playthroughs. It wouldn't be right otherwise.



EDIT: I was considering playing a third time as a female character, to see the difference (minimal as they are) but honestly the guys in the game you can date seem all pretty awful. Especially this d-bag:


If there was PvP in Stardew Valley, let's just say old Shane would accidentally wind up in front of the random train that comes along now and then. (Is there a point to that train, by the way? I don't get it.)

@J.K. Riki

I don't understand the train either and just never bothered to look it up. Only time I ever remember going up on that screen was to meet Penny in the bath house.

Shane becomes a better person as you friend him, but yeah... depression and alcoholism is no excuse for being nasty to people around you.

@J.K. Riki

Haha, you seem to like and dislike the same people I do. I haven't decided who to romance yet, but it's probably going to be Penny or Leah. Mayyyybe Abigail? Shane is the pits.

That Fabio guy by the beach is funny though.

Is this game more like Harvest Moon or Rune Factory? I've never cared for Harvest Moon, but I like Rune Factory.

@J.K. Riki I've started to ask myself that question more and more as time goes on. It usually happened with going for 100% completion in a game, which often involves tasks which are tedious and not fun. I've been getting better at fighting the completionist urge and moving on to a new game once it's no longer actually fun.

@Mop it up

I don't have as much experience with Rune Factory, but this game does a pretty good job at combining both, I think. If I had to pick, I'd say it leans more towards Harvest Moon I guess, but that's almost not fair because it feels very different from Harvest Moon. I was much more relaxed playing HM than I ever have been in Stardew Valley. Still, if you didn't like HM, it would be less likely you'd like SV, I think. (I still recommend giving it a shot at $14, but I understand if there's other stuff you'd rather play, certainly.)

@Hinph

I've been trying to look up zero things, though I caved when I couldn't find a Winter Turnip or whatever it's called. Didn't realize you could dig those wiggly worms. Once this play through is done, I will probably look up everything for play through #2. Just to experience it all before I move on to other games.

@TriforceBun

That Fabio guy is weird! Once he was at the library/museum and had a book in his hands, and I literally though it was some new female character I had not yet met. Was excited, then I talked to him and was like "Oh. It's you. Get a hair cut, hippee!"

Abigail also seems cool. I don't mind Emily, either. If I played four times, those would be my next picks, ha ha. Just not the blonde. She's such a jerk. She and Shane can go run off together. If I see them coming, I don't even say hello.

@J.K. Riki

We all say Year 3 is the end because the game simply has it's first "overall check" moment after the second year. However it does continue indefinitely and you can (I think) rate yourself at any time thereafter. So you can keep going to accomplish some tasks if you want.

@J.K. Riki
Whoa! I forgot about Emily! Yeah, it's more of a three-way tie between her, Leah, and Penny. I'll see where their stories go before I decide. I should get back into this; I haven't played in a month or two and I was in the first Autumn.

TriforceBun said:

@J.K. Riki
Whoa! I forgot about Emily! Yeah, it's more of a three-way between her, Leah, and Penny.

I need to get back into this game.