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Stardew Valley

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Seen about 8 conversations scattered around various threads by various folk on here - figured it was about time it got it's own thread!

 

Stardew-Valley.jpg

 

Absolute joy of a game; I put in a good thirty hours late last year, the ultimate stress-relief to come home to after starting a new job IRL. A truely mad undertaking for a solo dev.

 

In a game with so many things to do and the freedom to ignore everything; where have you put your energy?

 

I made it to the bottom of the mine (which I found very fun in a Gameboy Zelda kind of way, though frustrating as when the red mist descends (not metaphorcally)) and general farming, though generally sacked off being social; would have preferred if that side of it was less gift-based and more along the lines of Animal Crossing and natural.

 

How does it compare for you guys to Harvest Moon - and do you find it too much of a blatant rip off to enjoy?

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I picked it up after seeing Drachon playing it and getting his recommendation. I started off generally farming and ignoring everything else, I'm now on spring year 4, 6 million in cash, auto farms with Jumino huts and enough ancient fruit in the greenhouse for a cool 400k per week in wine.

 

I have more iridium than I'll need, and I just built a stable for a horse. Pro tip - get a horse. Shit that is so fast!!!

 

I'm actually going for the platinum, hopefully I'll have it in a week or two :)

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Wow, hadn't realised it never got its own thread in here! Strange cos as you've said lots of people owning/talking about/enjoying it! Makes sense for my post to go here now...

 

In my opinion it's better than animal crossing and harvest moon. There is such a huge amount of things to do it's difficult to get bored. I was massively surprised by the combat element, which is great fun and could be a small game on its own.

 

You can choose to do whatever you want, be a fisherman, raise animals, grow crops, go hunting.... And the game changes with you. It's subtle but at first all you want is money and you have no energy so everything is time management. I'm currently in year 4, I have more energy than I could use in a day and money rolling in :)

 

I think it sounds like a great example of what we can do with increased power if we aren't just turning it to graphics etc. Taking old formulae and implementing them with lesser limits on the current tech and seeing what you can do with it. Coming from a fan-made imitation sort of perspective as well I think you'd see a lot of love and subtleties put into the detail of the game that you might not always get so much with bigger titles.

 

The game really does sound right up my street - I love stuff with multiple options and variance but I think that's my real concern for getting it - I'll probably end up loving it too much and sink all my hours into it just like many of the folks here!

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I picked it up after seeing Drachon playing it and getting his recommendation. I started off generally farming and ignoring everything else, I'm now on spring year 4, 6 million in cash, auto farms with Jumino huts and enough ancient fruit in the greenhouse for a cool 400k per week in wine.

 

I have more iridium than I'll need, and I just built a stable for a horse. Pro tip - get a horse. Shit that is so fast!!!

 

I'm actually going for the platinum, hopefully I'll have it in a week or two :)

You just got a horse?? In Year 4????? Haha, I couldn't have put up with that. Got that within a few seasons.

 

Also doing the ancient fruit/wine/wine cellar combo.

 

Love this game, sunk 120 hours in very quickly. Got to year 3, completed the community centre, married, divorced and remarried. It's wonderfully well made and deep. I didn't play Harvest Moon actually but I've been told it's almost a direct emulation.

 

Only thing I would say negative about it is that at this point I just stopped. I see no reason to keep playing just to tick every box. Also since it doesn't have the benefits of mods on PS4, it's difficult to keep track of things like how many of x you've shipped, or which recipes you can make but haven't made yet.

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You just got a horse?? In Year 4????? Haha, I couldn't have put up with that. Got that within a few seasons.

 

Also doing the ancient fruit/wine/wine cellar combo.

 

Love this game, sunk 120 hours in very quickly. Got to year 3, completed the community centre, married, divorced and remarried. It's wonderfully well made and deep. I didn't play Harvest Moon actually but I've been told it's almost a direct emulation.

 

Only thing I would say negative about it is that at this point I just stopped. I see no reason to keep playing just to tick every box. Also since it doesn't have the benefits of mods on PS4, it's difficult to keep track of things like how many of x you've shipped, or which recipes you can make but haven't made yet.

 

 

 

Yeah it took me to winter year 3 for the horse, I was just using coffee before that!!!

 

The game is really deep, it took me a while to get into building relationships but it actually feels really rewarding getting all the little cut scenes. It's incredibly cute!

 

In regards to checking what you have shipped and cooked it actually tells you when you hover over the item / food / fish in the collections tab!

 

I need 4 more fish, ship 15 of each crop, complete the arcade game and complete the adventure guild tasks for the platinum :)

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Is that on console? Recipes on console don't show anything when you hover on them afaik, but I could be wrong. If you're right though, I might jump back in as that makes the rest of the trophies seem feasible.

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Is that on console? Recipes on console don't show anything when you hover on them afaik, but I could be wrong. If you're right though, I might jump back in as that makes the rest of the trophies seem feasible.

 

I've seen him on my friend's list playing it on PS4 so I would assume that's the version he's referring to.

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Yeah console version, in the collections tab recipes that you haven't made are blanked out with a ???. The crops show how many shipped and are blacked out if you've not sent any!

 

I had to check online to realise that I'd never sent out a sweet gem berry :)

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Ok yeah I looked last night. The number shipped helps, but the recipe layout doesn't. The list of recipes you haven't done/with ??? are blacked out, you can't see the name of them or even the icon properly, even if you know the recipe. And the recipe list in the kitchen does not show how many you've made. So you need to cross reference both, which isn't useful.

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Why do people play this over Harvest Moon?

 

All the reviews I've read say that it's clearly a copy, and enjoyable to play, but don't actually explain the (if any) differences and what makes it better.

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Because it's more modern, runs fast and smooth on powerful hardware, includes trophies/achievements, supports PC mods, is a labour of love to the original title crafted by literally one developer and has an upcoming multiplayer mode. Whilst from what I can see it copies a lot straight from HM, it adds all its own personalities and character backgrounds and tightens up a tonne of mechanics and adds plenty of all new features.

 

It's also cheaper than any Harvest Moon game and runs on non-Nintendo systems so there is that.

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Why do people play this over Harvest Moon?

 

All the reviews I've read say that it's clearly a copy, and enjoyable to play, but don't actually explain the (if any) differences and what makes it better.

 

I've not played it but I have harvest mooned a bit back in the day - everything I hear about this sounds like it's Harvest Moon but more. More depth, more options, and as sort of said it's the game made on modern hardware where there's more possibilities. For the price vs time you'll probably get out of it it sounds pretty good - I'm just waiting til after BotW to get it.

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This game is terrifying. I switch it on for like 5 mins and 4 hours just straight up vanished.

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Yep. Seriously. I've never played a game in a single stretch like I did Stardew Valley. I think I played it for fourteen hours one day.

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Fuck. Fishing. Their fishing minigame is up there with Nier in terms of being a pain in the ass.

 

Alternatively enjoying the rest of the game just fine other than the abysmal walking speed. Haven't been gripped into losing hours and hours playing though.

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Fuck. Fishing. Their fishing minigame is up there with Nier in terms of being a pain in the ass.

 

Alternatively enjoying the rest of the game just fine other than the abysmal walking speed. Haven't been gripped into losing hours and hours playing though.

 

Get a horse. And fishing gets easier.

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I find fishing easy now, with a better rod, the cork bobber is my fav, maxed out my skill and regular bait it goes just fine.

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So I bought this on the weekend. Even though Persona 5 is coming out. Thought it sounded nice. And I know Persona 5 will be waiting for me later. But...my farm. It needs attention.

 

I'm in my first year and it's finally turned to summer. I bought a chicken coop, my first lot of animals. It's all very exciting but I have a few questions.

 

I have four scarecrows, am I too paranoid about crows? The item description says they effect 8 spaces...but is that the surrounding eight spaces or eight spaces outward?

 

Watering is a hassle with a lot of crops but the basic sprinkler seems a bit...shitty. And I'm not swimming in Iron Ore. I only just got to level 40 in the mine. Any advice?

 

Also, some of my crops seem to die even though I water them and fertilise the ground. Does that just occasionally happen or am I doing something wrong?

 

Is there an easier way to feed my chickens? I put some grass in their pen and...well, they went at it like fucking piranhas. That shit ain't cheep.

 

I just built a silo but I have virtually no grass to harvest and putting down a grass starter pack doesn't seem to get things going too quickly. Is there an easier way to get grass to grow?

 

Currently my next investment is going to be a beehive.

 

I'm not really making big bucks. I'm a bit of a poor farmer.

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So I bought this on the weekend. Even though Persona 5 is coming out. Thought it sounded nice. And I know Persona 5 will be waiting for me later. But...my farm. It needs attention.

 

I'm in my first year and it's finally turned to summer. I bought a chicken coop, my first lot of animals. It's all very exciting but I have a few questions.

 

I have four scarecrows, am I too paranoid about crows? The item description says they effect 8 spaces...but is that the surrounding eight spaces or eight spaces outward?

 

Watering is a hassle with a lot of crops but the basic sprinkler seems a bit...shitty. And I'm not swimming in Iron Ore. I only just got to level 40 in the mine. Any advice?

 

Also, some of my crops seem to die even though I water them and fertilise the ground. Does that just occasionally happen or am I doing something wrong?

 

Is there an easier way to feed my chickens? I put some grass in their pen and...well, they went at it like fucking piranhas. That shit ain't cheep.

 

I just built a silo but I have virtually no grass to harvest and putting down a grass starter pack doesn't seem to get things going too quickly. Is there an easier way to get grass to grow?

 

Currently my next investment is going to be a beehive.

 

I'm not really making big bucks. I'm a bit of a poor farmer.

 

1) Scarecrows:

 

500px-Scarecrow_Range.png

 

I have some standing around but I didn't actually think about their placement...it seems to work, though. My crops stay alive.

 

2) Watering:

 

You just have to deal with it...it's annoying at first but when you manage to upgrade your watering can it'll be a little faster.

I'm in my second year and have a gold watering can and it's still annoying to water all my crops...I have started to craft some sprinklers, though, but mainly in preparation for a huge money maker. The last few ingame weeks have basically been: Water crops, harvest when available, sleep. In one year I should be able to make some big bucks. (I won't spoil how)

 

3) Dying crops:

 

No idea why some of your crops still die...maybe your scarecrows aren't placed properly. If it happens during fall then it's probably lightning strikes that destroy crops. Lightning rods are your friend.

 

4) Feeding animals:

 

Grass, trees, stones, etc. spread from spring to fall. Not sure if there's a way to accelerate this. In winter grass disappears.

 

5) Money:

 

It will come. With a little planning you can min max and make big bucks very early (you have to rely on a guide, though). That's not necessary, though, as you can't lose. Enjoy the game and figure out stuff yourself :) Unless you want to swim in money :D

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Spent pretty much every waking hour that wasn't work with this game last week. 68 hours in 9 days...Got married, one kid, finished the community center and basement fully stocked with ancient wine within the first two years in game.

 

I was intending to get the platinum but pretty much gave on the game when I realized the time and effort needed to search for random artifacts. For the most part I think I only got the 10mil trophy and collection trophies left so I don't see much reason to continue if I'm not going to get the platinum anyway.

 

As for watering, it is worth to spend the recources on quality sprinklers. Beside when planting the seeds in the first place, I never watered a crop again. They cost a lot of iron, but you save so much time and energy on not having to water them yourselves, so make them as soon as you can.

Edited by Tales

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@drahkon Nice! Thanks for the tips. I don't know why I thought the scarecrows had such limited range.

I think maybe I saw the sprinklers had crappy range assumed like the sprinkler I'd eventually be able to build better scarecrows...so just assumed the easy to craft one is poop. Ha!

 

Yeah, I'm not stressed about making money. It's fun taking it easy. I got a little stressed that my chickens were starving to death. Still need to work out how to look after them. I've got not grass to cut and I basically need to buy Hay from the neighbour (who wasn't there the day my chickens 'looked thin').

 

@Tales Do you know how you come across the improved sprinkler? Do I have to build a few of the basic ones and then learn how to craft the the improved version?

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@drahkon Nice! Thanks for the tips. I don't know why I thought the scarecrows had such limited range.

I think maybe I saw the sprinklers had crappy range assumed like the sprinkler I'd eventually be able to build better scarecrows...so just assumed the easy to craft one is poop. Ha!

 

Yeah, I'm not stressed about making money. It's fun taking it easy. I got a little stressed that my chickens were starving to death. Still need to work out how to look after them. I've got not grass to cut and I basically need to buy Hay from the neighbour (who wasn't there the day my chickens 'looked thin').

 

@Tales Do you know how you come across the improved sprinkler? Do I have to build a few of the basic ones and then learn how to craft the the improved version?

 

Increase your farm skill to get the recipe for better sprinkler. I didn't make them until year 2 though, not sure when I got them, propably in fall.

Edited by Tales

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Increase your farm skill to get the recipe for better sprinkler. I didn't make them until year 2 though, not sure when I got them, propably in fall.

 

Have you gotten the Iridium sprinkler recipe yet? Those things are amazing, although it marks the time when things on the farm start to get automated and you have less to do.

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I did, but by the I got them I was pretty much done with farming anyway, except for Ancient Fruit in the greenhouse. I did a little regular farming in year 3, but that was only to have a few of every sort of vegetable in case they were used in a cooking recipe, but for those I already had plenty of quality sprinklers set up.

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As a longtime Harvest Moon fan/player - how does this stack up against the original? It certainly looks pretty but people mention farming/selling/marriage etc but that happens in Harvest Moon games. The 3DS game A New Beginning seems to do all that and is lovely to do so. There's a new Harvest Moon game on the way (based on an email from the Nintendo) which seems intriguing as well.

 

I am torn as fuck.

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