Stardew Valley

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

So, have any other Escapists had the opportunity to play this fine game? For anyone who hasn't heard of it, the gist of it is: Harvest Moon...but for the PC. And if you haven't played Harvest Moon, it's basically a farming game with a JRPG aesthetic, and an extremely peaceful atmosphere. The last Harvest Moon I played was for the original gameboy, so I have no idea how it compares to newer Harvest Moon titles, but this game seems chock full of things to do so far compared to that.

This is definitely not a game for everyone, as the gameplay is pretty thin, but that's not really the point. If I want intense experience, I'll play League of Legends or Dark Souls. This is the kind of game I'll play when I don't feel like I can handle doing anything hard at the moment.

I'm really enjoying it, and it will probably be the game I play to simply chill out for the next few weeks. Watering some crops, chopping some wood, fishing, giving gifts to the village ladies (giggity) and making my farm look nice. It's all very therapeutic. And on top of this, you've got a nostalgic and super calm soundtrack playing through it all.


The only real complaint I have so far is that controller support is bit shoddy, so you can't really lie on a sofa or bed and play it from afar. Which would make a lot of sense for this type of game in my opinion.

So, anyone else playing it? What has your experience been so far?

just got this game yesterday and I've restarted a couple times (in these kinds of games I hate having a bad start), I've looked up starter guides and I think I've got that part down, but I've yet to find *any* answers online for a couple questions I have:

(hopefully someone in here can answer?)

1) Do fish ever go bad? I don't want to eat/use them if I should keep them for later, and likewise I don't want to sell them if that's not a good use of time vs energy cost, so I'm just curious if I stash them in my chest for later will they ever go "rotten".

2) Do you need to water tree seeds that you plant? I know they randomly fall/plant themselves in rng, but if I want them to grow for next year, do I need to water them ever in game?

 

[Fat Hippo]

just got this game yesterday and I've restarted a couple times (in these kinds of games I hate having a bad start), I've looked up starter guides and I think I've got that part down, but I've yet to find *any* answers online for a couple questions I have:

(hopefully someone in here can answer?)

1) Do fish ever go bad? I don't want to eat/use them if I should keep them for later, and likewise I don't want to sell them if that's not a good use of time vs energy cost, so I'm just curious if I stash them in my chest for later will they ever go "rotten".

2) Do you need to water tree seeds that you plant? I know they randomly fall/plant themselves in rng, but if I want them to grow for next year, do I need to water them ever in game?

1) Nope, fish never go bad. I still tended to sell most of them to supplement my income, since eating them raw doesn't really give you a ton of energy. But you can store all of those that you want to keep in a chest with no worries, as I did with the fish I needed for the community center bundles.

2) I don't think they need to be watered, but they will grow quicker if they have some space around them.

I don't really think you need to worry about having a "bad start" since the game seems pretty forgiving, and unlike Harvest Moon has no end date from what I've heard. So there's really no hurry to get rich quickly or anything like that.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

My biggest complaint with the first one was perhaps that I got married and my 'wife' basically had an instant and sudden shift in both appearance and personality.

(in short, she turned from weird quirky inventor girl into generic farmer's wife - while the game did vaguely acknowledge her background by the fact she creates several inventions to help you, it still felt really weird.)

Yeah, it was super disappointing in the first game when that happened to Ann.

At least Karen remained awesome after marriage in Friends of Mineral Town, though.

Anyway, this game is on my wishlist. When I have more time and money (or if it goes on Sale), I'm buying it for sure. I REALLY loved the first Harvest Moon game on the SNES way back when a friend gave it to me in high school, to the point where I felt super proud of creating my perpetual chicken machine. XD

In the meantime, I think I'll just get back to Rune Factory 4.

Actually, on that note, how varied and fun are the various date-able characters in StarDew? I mean, I like RF4, but none of the girls are all that interesting (outside of Dolce, but she's a package deal with the most annoying character in existence. ;_

 

[Pyrian]

So...someone just added a character sprite to Farmville?

You've never heard of Harvest Moon, have you?

So no it's more like Farmville is this without character sprites.

Um, guys? Farmville has a character sprite. Just sayin'.

 

[Dalisclock]

So I want to complain. I started playing this game just to see what it was like and then somehow an hour and a half of my life disappeared. It's like someone broke into my house and stole my time away.

Seriously, how the hell is this game so absorbing?

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

So I want to complain. I started playing this game just to see what it was like and then somehow an hour and a half of my life disappeared. It's like someone broke into my house and stole my time away.

Seriously, how the hell is this game so absorbing?

Easy. Games like this give you simple achievable goals and a clear sense of progress as you watch your plants grow, as well and offering a clear path of improvement (More crops = more progress!), and you always feel like you can handle "one more day" before quitting.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

So I want to complain. I started playing this game just to see what it was like and then somehow an hour and a half of my life disappeared. It's like someone broke into my house and stole my time away.

Seriously, how the hell is this game so absorbing?

personally for me, even though there are obvious timed/time limits on things (crops and such), the game absolutely lets you go at your own pace, so it nails the beginning story immersion with a very relaxing life away from the city, for me that is at least refreshing.

 

[The Gnome King]

The only real complaint I have so far is that controller support is bit shoddy, so you can't really lie on a sofa or bed and play it from afar. Which would make a lot of sense for this type of game in my opinion.

So, anyone else playing it? What has your experience been so far?

I'm a PC/mouse & KB guy, so controller support doesn't matter to me but I haven't had a chance to play around with this much yet, I've been enveloped in Grim Dawn and my backlog. It looks fantastic and I can't wait to play around with it.

 

[DrownedAmmet]

So I want to complain. I started playing this game just to see what it was like and then somehow an hour and a half of my life disappeared. It's like someone broke into my house and stole my time away.

Seriously, how the hell is this game so absorbing?

You think that's bad, I was watching this game stream on the Escapist, and when they ended the stream I said "it can't be over already! It's only been *checks watch* 2 hours!?"

Its a very peaceful game, like Minecraft with a little more life