Stardew Valley released just three days ago and its already spreading like wildfire to anyone and everyone looking to rekindle the experience of playing Harvest Moon. Stardew Valley is an “open-ended country-life RPG” which basically means you run a farm. You’ve just inherited a farm from your grandfather and are faced with reviving a dilapidated old mess of a place. Like Harvest Moon, your farm is a mess and you’ll have to clean it all up. With nothing more than a few old tools and some coin, the choice of how to run the place is left entirely up to you.
I am absolutely in love with this game. I’m not going to review it fully quite yet because I’m only about 5 hours in, but I can already tell you it’s tons of fun and totally worth the $15 I paid on Steam.
From planting crops to upgrading your house, fishing, crafting, learning new recipes, building more structures, raising animals, exploring mines, fighting monsters, convincing people to like you, to even discovering the mysteries of the community center (which involves a Wizard…) there’s so much to do.
My biggest complain about all of these open-ended country-life RPGs has to be that I get overwhelmed. I want to do so much. I want to plant the right crops at the right time. I want to make sure I’m working on my relationships with the right girl. I want to get the upgrades to my house at the most opportune moment. I want to make sure I don’t miss out on a festival that comes once a year.
The reason I can’t do it all is because time passes in-game and there’s only so much you can do in a day before you’re out of energy and before it’s time to go to bed. As time progresses, seasons change. As seasons change, certain crops change — the world changes. If I stop thinking about trying to be perfect and simply start working toward a farm then I’m able to quadruple my enjoyment.
While Stardew Valley is currently single-player, multiplayer in the form of coop is supposedly in the works. I don’t know how that will play out, but it’s worth noting. Let me know if you pick it up! I’d love to swap stories and share tips. Definitely expect me to post regular updates on how my farm is progressing!
I bought it within the hour of its release and have played probably 30 hours since. Great farming game. With the combat, reminds me of Rune Factory for the DS. I don’t know if there are spells or as great a variety of weapons and gear as Rune Factory (I haven’t got anything better than a Wooden Sword and a straw hat), but I sure hope they included some variety.
After being lonesome during the Spring Dance, I’ve determined to ignore all the bitches except 1, instead of spreading my love around the village. I didn’t grow enough Flowers to satisfy all the ladies, so I’d recommend only focusing on a single broad.
I’m with you, Keen, on being guilty of trying to achieve everything at once. In Spring, in the early days, run around foraging, keeping 2 of each item you find in a chest for quests, then selling the rest. Buy and plant as many Cauliflower as you can, around a scarecrow. At some point, you’ll get a fairy that will cause a 5×5 section of them to instantly grow, which can net you ~4-5k and you can use that to upgrade your watering can and buying another huge batch of Cauliflower.
@Lokked I found a slingshot, but have not found any spells yet. The Combat is simple but fun enough.
Allso, another quick cash grap is getting 300 wood, and fixing the bridge down at the beach.
allso, I was like 25 hours in, before I found out you could give gifts.
I’m fast approaching the end of Spring and I have a massive batch of cauliflower that I’ll be able to sell on the last day. I’m stockpiling wood too for upgrades. Right now I really just need to get a more regular farm going but I run out of time in the day. I want to do so much…
I think my problems will boil down to focusing way too much on everyone else and not enough on myself. I spent lots of time exploring the mine, helping the community center, etc. My farm is sucking big time right now. 😛
With all the attention that this game has been getting, I buckled and picked it up. I’ve only played an hour and I know this thing is going to consume me. There’s so much to do and it’s hitting all the right buttons for the Harvest Moon fan in me.