The tips make it sound more strict than it is. The game is fairly lenient so you can work at your own pace.
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Stardew Valley - Tips and tricks (including 20 things NOT to do on first year)
- Thread starter Neiteio
- Start date
The tips make it sound more strict than it is. The game is fairly lenient so you can work at your own pace.
Yeah, Penny's an obvious candidate.
But her storyline's far too much "the poor trailer trash damsel with the heart of gold that needs to be rescued", which kinda creeped me out in retrospect.
Now Emily (the blue haired barmaid) is someone you could only marry after they added the ability to in a patch, is pretty amazing.
Some posters here seem to really be stressing out that we're sharing some tips that can make the game experience a bit more efficient, which some may find more fun given their limited time to play games and see what they have to offer.
I don't get the impression that any of the pointers in the OP take away from the game's magic. Seems more like a case where not knowing certain mechanics would just make the game mildly frustrating.
It's not like I provide detailed daily schedules or graph paper spreadsheets of how to plot your farm!
I don't get the impression that any of the pointers in the OP take away from the game's magic. Seems more like a case where not knowing certain mechanics would just make the game mildly frustrating.
It's not like I provide detailed daily schedules or graph paper spreadsheets of how to plot your farm!
mindatlarge
Member
Thanks for the tips. Seems like a pretty basic but useful list.
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
Hoo-doo speaking truth here. Have fun, mess up and get back to it whenever.
Irishonion
Member
My wife loves this game, probably did most of that stuff in the first year but she never touched a guide till after 100 hours. She just slowly figured out stuff on her own.
From my perspective of this game, probably the best way to play.
From my perspective of this game, probably the best way to play.
You didn't actually play the game yet, right? So how would you know?
You have plenty of people in this thread -that actually played the game- who disagree. And they feel going in without any rules is preferred.
I appreciate this. I'm just here trying to make sure people really get to experience the magic of the game as I did when I first played it. I get that that's not everyone's cup of tea but that's why it's a discussion board after all. Thanks!
Hispanic! At the Disco
Member
Ill build a silo before cutting grass, besides that ill figure it out on my own. I usually love lists like this, but not for this kind of game.
Master Yoshi
Member
I'm envious of everyone playing this game for the first time. It was absolutely magical.
Just ignore the list. Some of it is useful, but a lot of these are debatable. I prefer the bat cave and the difference isn't that big or game changing compared to the mushrooms. It also ignores bigger questions like "Do I want bats on my farm for aesthetic/nature preserve reasons?" There's objetively no right way to play Stardew Valley, and anyone who tells you otherwise is probably twitching slightly that you aren't playing it their way.
Also if I want Jojo Corp to thrive that's my bloody choice OP. The game already strongly steers people one way.
Fair points. I appreciate everyone's input.
I further refined the disclaimer and the intro for a more balanced approach to this topic. Emphasis on the game being lenient and forgiving, and how going in blind and simply relaxing and enjoying yourself is a perfectly viable way to play. The tips are just ways to be a bit more efficient building your farm, if you want.
Seeing as this game has no trophies on the Switch, people should be even less anxious.
Like, #11, about not selling your shit and rather hoarding it:
If you're anxious about what's safe to sell:
http://www.stardewcommunitychecklist.com/ -> "alphabetical" -> search for the item. If it's not on that list, it's only needed for absolutely not-game-essential completionist stuff (like cooking all recipes or crafting all items in the game). - like, don't read the site or the list, just check and if it shows no result, vendor that shit.
(the community center bundles give you access to some advanced gameplay stuff, like a greenhouse, the mining carts etc. - so it can be rather frustrating to know you'll have to wait a whole year until you'll get a certain reward, just because you happened to sell a certain item.
Like, #11, about not selling your shit and rather hoarding it:
If you're anxious about what's safe to sell:
http://www.stardewcommunitychecklist.com/ -> "alphabetical" -> search for the item. If it's not on that list, it's only needed for absolutely not-game-essential completionist stuff (like cooking all recipes or crafting all items in the game). - like, don't read the site or the list, just check and if it shows no result, vendor that shit.
(the community center bundles give you access to some advanced gameplay stuff, like a greenhouse, the mining carts etc. - so it can be rather frustrating to know you'll have to wait a whole year until you'll get a certain reward, just because you happened to sell a certain item.
This is an excellent tip. I'll add it to the OP.
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
I did a ton of these things and... yeah, most of this stuff is really subjective. It's not an objective based game. You just play it how you want to. Really suggest people ignore this kind of list of negatives.
ivanthebearable
Member
Gonna be playing for the first time so I appreciate the share, Neiteio. Always love getting helpful starting tips in games like these! Thanks!
SuperBanana
Banned
The game is incredibly fun and enjoyable. It's honestly a very, very pleasant game and was just what I needed in a depressing time in my life. I went in and winged everything and it was all fine so don't worry about it.
Don't get overwhelmed by all this info dumps what you should and should not do, it might seem like you have to juggle thousand things and relationships but you're totally free to do what you want, there's no pressure and nobody is pushing you for doing the wrong way.
OP's just giving some tips for guidance, don't take it too seriously.
OP's just giving some tips for guidance, don't take it too seriously.
Calamari41
41 > 38
Not true to the bolded, Neiteio is bullying us all into treating this game like a high stress job. We can't let him get away with it!
i mean, with all due love for the game - it is.
it's a farming game, so there is 'busiwork' involved.
Like 30% of each day you'll spend tending your farm (crops / livestock) - and even building a relationship with the other villagers is more about continuity (2 gifts a week) than role playing.
But as with other such games, the enjoyment comes from the whole desire of "after the next harvest, i'll be able to afford even more seeds, and when i've gone foraging tomorrow, i'll be able to chop enough wood to build 2 more sprinklers, which will reduce the amount of time i'll be spending, manually watering my crops.".
Better gear, bigger harvest, more profit, less busywork, more time to go foraging / spelunking / socializing, even better gear, even bigger farm ...
I am of the opinion that you really should experience this game, including some pitfalls, by experiencing it yourself. However I do really agree with this point.
Especially in lieu of not having an achievement system on the Switch, I feel that completing the community center forces the player to really get involved with every aspect of the game-play mechanics, which makes for a more rewarding experience.
theepicoftyler
Member
Honestly this list is full of inconsequential things. Stardew Valley is not a hard game, and it's not difficult to achieve anything you want in it. It's hard to really mess anything up in a way that would permanently put you at a disadvantage.
Stardew Valley is fun because there are a million things to do and you get to choose how and what you want to do. Play it that way.
Stardew Valley is fun because there are a million things to do and you get to choose how and what you want to do. Play it that way.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
From my own experience, I have to echo what others have said: Stardew screams "go in blind" as loudly as anything this side of Breath of the Wild.
I'm about as much of an economic min-maxer as you'll find anywhere—my top request for the next Animal Crossing is a vastly expanded economic game, and I'm the kind of player who thinks absolutely everything is better with management. And I can tell you this is not a game like Don't Starve or even Terraria where there are so many interactions, dependencies, and crafting chains that you'll never even see half of what's available without looking it up in the wiki.
The magical thing about Stardew Valley, for an economy-centric player, is that all of the information you want is transparently flagged and discoverable on your own (apart from some of the fishing, maybe). You can figure out for yourself what the most cost-efficient use of your plots and ingredients are just by looking at the numbers. I think the only thing I felt I needed to look up on my PC file was the protection radius on the scarecrows.
And it's also worthwhile to fail every now and then and lose some crops to a miscalculation or to the change of seasons. It's worth it to make mistakes and spoil a blooming relationship with an ill-conceived gift. It's all part of what makes the game great: it gives you the information and tools you need to figure out what is optimal, and it rewards you handsomely for doing it. It's all in the discovery, and like Animal Crossing, half of the experience is talking to other players after the fact and realizing that everyone else played an entirely different game.
I can't wait to start a new file on the Switch and do certain things that even the game makes you believe are obviously the wrong way to play, like siding firmly with corporate greed.
I'm about as much of an economic min-maxer as you'll find anywhere—my top request for the next Animal Crossing is a vastly expanded economic game, and I'm the kind of player who thinks absolutely everything is better with management. And I can tell you this is not a game like Don't Starve or even Terraria where there are so many interactions, dependencies, and crafting chains that you'll never even see half of what's available without looking it up in the wiki.
The magical thing about Stardew Valley, for an economy-centric player, is that all of the information you want is transparently flagged and discoverable on your own (apart from some of the fishing, maybe). You can figure out for yourself what the most cost-efficient use of your plots and ingredients are just by looking at the numbers. I think the only thing I felt I needed to look up on my PC file was the protection radius on the scarecrows.
And it's also worthwhile to fail every now and then and lose some crops to a miscalculation or to the change of seasons. It's worth it to make mistakes and spoil a blooming relationship with an ill-conceived gift. It's all part of what makes the game great: it gives you the information and tools you need to figure out what is optimal, and it rewards you handsomely for doing it. It's all in the discovery, and like Animal Crossing, half of the experience is talking to other players after the fact and realizing that everyone else played an entirely different game.
I can't wait to start a new file on the Switch and do certain things that even the game makes you believe are obviously the wrong way to play, like siding firmly with corporate greed.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
[Edit: double post]
TechnicPuppet
Nothing! I said nothing!
New day, new season just around the corner. Chasing perfection ruined it for me.
JinjoUnchained
Member
I'm so glad this is the first post. I think the OP advice is fine for a second playthrough, after you've discovered the world for yourself.
QuixoticNeutral
Member
The longevity of the game past the first year or so is all about taking pleasure in customization, like setting up a layout that just aesthetically looks nice or giving yourself a story to tell.
As a numbers/efficiency game, Stardew just isn't hard. I flagrantly violated half the principles in the list in this thread and was sitting on a full, self-watering greenhouse of Ancient Fruit and Starfruit plus multiple barns and coops before the middle of year two. And if all I wanted was to get rich quick, that was it—game over, I've figured it out.
The thing about "endless" games with files you can play indefinitely is that they do have an end-state: the point at which you think you've seen everything you're going to see. No need to hurry your way there.
I'd also add that the yearly cycle in the game is part of that process of discovery. Year one, you stumble, you fail, you try different things, you learn the systems on a small scale. Year two rolls around and you apply everything you learnt, this time with a fatter purse and deeper access to the caves, allowing you to scale up, mass-produce, and automate.
IntelliHeath
As in "Heathcliff"
What is the deadline for the game to get some kind of the ending like Harvest Moon 64?
Will the game continue after certain deadline?
How many potential partners in the game?
Will the game continue after certain deadline?
How many potential partners in the game?
Spukc
always chasing the next thrill
https://youtu.be/Q8Cmas3LMDU
Is this you OP?
*edit*
Amazing i watched that video a while ago and this thread reminded me of it.
First thing i will get is a chicken coop..
That dont get sprinklers is a bit rubbish imo.
I was swimming in ores at summer.
Sprinklers make the game so much easier.
Just do the dungeon asap.
Is this you OP?
*edit*
Amazing i watched that video a while ago and this thread reminded me of it.
First thing i will get is a chicken coop..
That dont get sprinklers is a bit rubbish imo.
I was swimming in ores at summer.
Sprinklers make the game so much easier.
Just do the dungeon asap.
If you actually read the OP, you'll see I link to that video in the second paragraph, and I note that I'm summarizing it
Confused101
Member
Going in blind and taking my first year to figuring everything out was a fantastic experience. Then in my second year, I really started to get organized and became quite successful. It was a lot of fun.
While OP's list is accurate, it's also not necessary. I say just jump in and see what happens.
While OP's list is accurate, it's also not necessary. I say just jump in and see what happens.
Incitemaybe
Member
Read through all the DO NOTS.
I'm going to ignore all of it and just meander.
This game is made to be relaxing I hope.
I'm going to ignore all of it and just meander.
This game is made to be relaxing I hope.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Ignore the OP list, echoing everyone's thoughts. Make your farm what you want it to be. Don't be weird and obsessive about making things perfect, enjoy its imperfections and enjoy its uniqueness.
You will be without your watering can when you upgrade it.
So wait till it is going to rain, so your crops will get watered anyway.
Tathanen
Get Inside Her!
Me too, but cause I realized that like 90% of these bullets are things I did in Harvest Moon 15 years ago, mostly unchanged. I'm not sure I want to just play "Harvest Moon, again." Was hopin it'd be more fundamentally different in certain ways.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I'd say the penalty for dying in the mine is so severe that if it happens you're better off turning it off before it saves and loading the day again.
yeah, to elaborate on this:
There's 2 mutually exclusive 'reward institutions' - one's the community center, which presents you with checklists (bundles) of items that unlock rewards.
One's the Joja Mart - which unlocks rewards by donating money.
You can imagine the former being a lot more fun than just spending money.
Coming from someone who played the first 2 years blind, and then on year 3 read a bunch of stuff to try to maximize my farm, I kind of agree with the people saying don't really pay much attention to these kinds of lists. It sort of turned my experience from something that was fun and mysterious to something that I took too seriously trying to get xyz exactly right (or get every achievement). However, tips can be helpful if used in moderation, so I appreciate the hard work by the OP and others who do provide everyone with this info!
It's a great game and it definitely is not strict with what you can/cannot do. So please don't let lists like this scare you away! They're just guidelines for people who might want the "perfect" first year. Years do pass relatively quickly in this game, so if you DO miss something, it's not like you have to completely start over from scratch.
It's a great game and it definitely is not strict with what you can/cannot do. So please don't let lists like this scare you away! They're just guidelines for people who might want the "perfect" first year. Years do pass relatively quickly in this game, so if you DO miss something, it's not like you have to completely start over from scratch.
WordAssassin
Member
I feel like I'm in an UnderTale thread so many people are talking about the "right" way to play this game to experience it's "pure magic". I'm hyped as fuck for it but people talking like that is, to me, more off-putting than a list of tips to help first time players.
It's basically Super Ultra Harvest Moon Alpha Turbo. There's no "right" way to play it, everyone will play it differently, you seem to be able to do pretty much whatever you want within the confines of "you are a farmer, run your farm".
With that, some people like helpful tips that improve efficiency, and some people don't. Neither one is right and neither one is wrong. For those that don't, they have no reason to enter a thread about helpful tips. For those that do, here is a list of helpful tips. Maybe the wording of the thread title could be a little different to not give the impression that these things are irreversible, but otherwise I don't really understand why this is upsetting to anyone.
I haven't played it yet but every impression I have is that this game is what Harvest Moon would be if Natsume had continued to make Harvest Moon games and not gone off the fucking deep end into whatever the hell it is now. So the core of the game is Harvest Moon, but then a shit load of other stuff added into it that sound like natural evolutions of the Harvest Moon concept. So it isn't just "Harvest Moon, again" it's Harvest Moon + a fuckton of new stuff. I mean right off the bat, Harvest Moon ends after the second(?) year, and this does not. That's already a major change and, IMO, a massive improvement. It also sounds like the core fundamentals of Harvest Moon have been greatly expanded on with things like mining. Unless I'm misremembering neither Harvest Moon nor Harvest Moon 64 (the only two HM games worth a shit, yeah I said it!) have any kind of cave system to go mining for ore in.
It's basically Super Ultra Harvest Moon Alpha Turbo. There's no "right" way to play it, everyone will play it differently, you seem to be able to do pretty much whatever you want within the confines of "you are a farmer, run your farm".
With that, some people like helpful tips that improve efficiency, and some people don't. Neither one is right and neither one is wrong. For those that don't, they have no reason to enter a thread about helpful tips. For those that do, here is a list of helpful tips. Maybe the wording of the thread title could be a little different to not give the impression that these things are irreversible, but otherwise I don't really understand why this is upsetting to anyone.
I haven't played it yet but every impression I have is that this game is what Harvest Moon would be if Natsume had continued to make Harvest Moon games and not gone off the fucking deep end into whatever the hell it is now. So the core of the game is Harvest Moon, but then a shit load of other stuff added into it that sound like natural evolutions of the Harvest Moon concept. So it isn't just "Harvest Moon, again" it's Harvest Moon + a fuckton of new stuff. I mean right off the bat, Harvest Moon ends after the second(?) year, and this does not. That's already a major change and, IMO, a massive improvement. It also sounds like the core fundamentals of Harvest Moon have been greatly expanded on with things like mining. Unless I'm misremembering neither Harvest Moon nor Harvest Moon 64 (the only two HM games worth a shit, yeah I said it!) have any kind of cave system to go mining for ore in.
The most concise way to describe it is just to link the wiki page on it haha. But in a nutshell: the different farm styles are better suited for different skills (farming, fishing, foraging, mining, combat).
go for standard.
All other farms only offer convenient access to something you can find in other places (like lakes / rivers / ocean for fishing, hardwood for foraging, ores for mining ... all found in other places that are literally just a minute away) ... Meanwhile, the 'specialized farms' are super restrictive if you ever do decide to go for crops / livestock.
Steverulez
Member
Those are some useful tips, I think I would be quite satisfied to know some things before I go in (although I've played over 100 hours on pc).
I prefer to start again a few times because I'm getting more efficient with the mechanics not because I don't know any of them so some helpful stuff in there for people who want them
I prefer to start again a few times because I'm getting more efficient with the mechanics not because I don't know any of them so some helpful stuff in there for people who want them