Stardew Valley

On 04/15/2017 at 01:04 PM by Super Step

So my rental copy of Stardew Valley came in and I've been playing it. While it wasn't my first choice (it was literally my last choice in my GameFly Q), in a way the timing couldn't be more perfect.

The game shipped Monday and arrived this past Thursday, which was the first day of my Easter break. Thank you, Texas public colleges, for celebrating religious holidays I don't technically observe; minus seeing family and attending church with them.

That day was also the day after my list of Stage Select village music was heard on Nerds Without Pants and Julian read to listeners the part in which I said, of Kokiri Forest from Ocarina of Time, "it reminds me of reading The Hobbit and wanting Gandalf to go away; f* off old man, and screw adventure. This hobbit life of eating all day in a gorgeous countryside is the life for me. To hell with adventure."

Image result for stardew valley joja

"And besides ... is not playing CoD while pretending to work all the adventure one needs?"

I also am on vacation away from what is often a desk job. Yes, teaching involves a lot of standing. But otherwise, it's a lot of sitting at my desk, reading, lesson planning, grading and doing some of the extracurricular stuff I'm asked to do, like being a faculty advisor for the student PR club, PRSSA (I need to do more volunteer work though). To that end, he storyline of this game is basically: "Corporate cubicle work is soul sucking; take this letter, my boy, and learn how to farm as though it's not something requiring far more skill and knowledge than anyone from the city would know! You'll get the hang of it in like, a day or two, I'm sure. - Love, Grandpa Gramps"

Image result for stardew valley opening scene grandpa

"In my dreams, I yell at clouds, and become content."

Anyway, I am not far at all in the game, but part of that wanting to stay in Kokiri Forest/Hobitton thing is wishing there were a game entirely consisting of social interactions with RPG NPCs. And while Stardew Valley is also focused on farming, one of the first missions is to visit with all 28 new townspeople, of which I have met about 16 I think? So this is certainly a charming part of the game to me. I have also noticed that both men and women are listed as single, so ... that looks progreessive. I'm a big fan of this aspect of the game, even if I wish it weren't all text-based.

The other half of the game so far is farming, which ... so ok, I've planted like 15 parsnips in front of my house, but the game still tells me one of my missions is to plant ONE. How do I know when a mission is completed? Also, while I can see how the farming part would be relaxing, cutting grass with your scythe, building patches with your hoe, using water to plant seeds (you can get the water from the river nearby and there is a fishing minigame ... kinda wish giving that guy the fish I caught would be seen as a "gift" when outside the store before I did it ... he told me I could sell the thing ... anyway), chopping trees down with your axe, etc.

Image result for stardew valley fishing minigame

Fisher guy did give me a gift of a fishing rod, so it's only fair. Still ..

BUT, while relaxing, it is also ... how do I put this ... tedious as all holy fuck. Plus, you have a VERY limited energy bar, there's a backpack I'm about to buy but your initial inventory is VERY small, and you have to sleep A LOT to progress in the game, since this is how you regain energy and get crops growing.

It's kind of the perfect Easter game, both because of when it arrived and because Easter is about the renewal of life, which seems to be a theme of this game, etc. I can see why people enjoy it and I have as well, but I don't know if I'll get far enough in to really get hooked. I have a lot of other more modern-looking games to play and I'm a shallow, shallow man.

I believe one of the NPCs has a birthday today, so we'll see how that goes, and one cool thing about the game so far is you get a Zelda reference in the mines. I'll see how many other classic game references I can spot before returning it. How are you all?

Image result for stardew valley it's dangerous take this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m9QUoW5KnY

Cary Woodham

04/15/2017 at 01:32 PM

I'm going to be reviewing this game soon. I have a bunch of others to play and review first, though. I really am blessed. Although I can't figure out why I can get pretty much any game I want to review, but still can't get into E3 since 2012.

Super Step Contributing Writer

04/15/2017 at 01:59 PM

Look forward to it. I don't know either. My friend works for Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches and was invited ... But can't go. I honestly wonder which feeling is worse ...

But Julian has mentioned e3 isn't really worth it now and I believe him. I would rather see it online than deal with LA traffic, myself.

04/16/2017 at 08:28 PM

E3 was certainly worth it when I used to be able to go. But that was when it was more of a spectecale and other conventions like PAX hadn't been invented yet. LA traffic is terrible, though. Not a big fan of that city.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

04/15/2017 at 02:15 PM

yeah a whole game talking to RPG townspeople would be cool.

04/15/2017 at 02:18 PM

I feel as though one HAS to exist already. Like there are while games dedicated to one kind of action, why not a game focusing exclusively on NPC interactions?

04/15/2017 at 03:07 PM

there are JRPG's kinda like that. There's one where you're a shopkeeper, and you have craft items to sell to adventurers. But I'm intrigued by your idea too. I've been thinking a lot about rudimentary games since I started making my visual novel.

04/15/2017 at 03:13 PM

I saw that one, but i don't necessarily want to be the shopkeeper. I still want to be my own character and walk town to town. Like ME, but only the dialogue trees.

04/15/2017 at 04:05 PM

well you'd have to have a reason. Maybe you could be a traveling salesman or tourist who's decided to visit all the towns or something. I'd make that game, that would be fun!

04/15/2017 at 04:06 PM

I wasnl't saying no reason. I just don't really want to be a shopkeeper.

04/15/2017 at 05:31 PM

I completely understand. That game that's like that sounds boring. I was just thinking about it, and I had the idea it could be a murder mystery, like you're talking to all the people trying to figure who did it or something.

04/15/2017 at 08:15 PM

Like ghost trick without the stylus and time mechanics kind of. I do love ghost trick.

I think I'd be fine with just a life sim where conversation was the key. So Sims, but with actual dialogue. Or maybe an online MMO version of Sims. I dunno. Entirely conceptual and i can see the cracks in the marketability of this ... But i want it. Lol

04/15/2017 at 11:08 PM

ha ha.

04/17/2017 at 02:02 PM

hey been thinking about this a little. When you say you'd still be able to "walk from town to town", what do u mean? The game would have no combat, right, so would it just be walking, with maybe some things to interact with?

04/17/2017 at 03:38 PM

You could interact with the environment as far as finding things that reveal the character of other townspeople, and maybe you could open up new towns as you went along, but the crux of the game would be social interactions.

I guess if you wanted, you could help other people with tasks, but the point is to make a game that basically resembles the first part of an RPG, but there is no "quest" aside from building social relationships. No big bad or good vs. evil storyline, and any ending to the game would just be you solidifying who you are and are not friends with.

04/17/2017 at 05:03 PM

we're running out of room here, so I'm gonna blog about this.

04/17/2017 at 06:09 PM

Looks a lot more spacious on my laptop than on my phone though.

04/16/2017 at 08:41 PM

There is a game like that. It's called Chulip. It was a game about you moving into town and talking to all the townspeople so you can learn their schedules and get to know them better so you can kiss everyone. Yes, that's the goal of the game. It was on PS2 and was surprisingly brought to the US. I have it, but unfortunately, I don't think it's that good.

Before they made Chulip, the team that made that game also did Incredible Crisis on the PSOne. And later on they'd help work on most of the Chibi Robo games.

04/16/2017 at 09:34 PM

I actually think game grumps did a playthrough of that when jontron was still on the show.

04/17/2017 at 02:03 PM

damn Cary that's some serious trivia!

04/17/2017 at 03:41 PM

I knew there had to be something along the lines of my idea already.

As I was told in grad school, "whenever you think you have a completely original thought, either you're a genius or you haven't looked hard enough to find previous research/examples about the same thing ... it's usually the latter."

04/17/2017 at 09:50 PM

Yeah I know stuff sometimes.

04/17/2017 at 03:39 PM

As I suspected

I remember this. I kind of want to watch these in order now.

KnightDriver

04/15/2017 at 11:28 PM

I'm a Hobbit too. I always want a second breakfast. Go down to the pub and drink myself until I can't find my way home and sleep in a field all night.

I got Stardew Valley on my rental list. I'm glad it got a physical release because otherwise I couldn't rent it.

04/16/2017 at 02:50 AM

Interesting since it seems like such a digital indie title.

04/16/2017 at 08:50 PM

Yea, I was surprised it got physical. I guess it was a breakout hit.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

04/16/2017 at 02:59 AM

I adore this game, and a lot of the things you find tedious are things I enjoy about it. Basically the game is built around overcoming those limitations. You can improve/find ways aroud depleting your stamina bar so quickly, and get more backpacks.

Plus, there is a lot more to the game than farming. There's mining, which gives you a ton of money and plays out kind of like diablo with a decent amount of combat, and a lot of other insane things that I don't want to spoil.

But, if you don't like games that are essentially about getting more money, chilling out, and getting into a routine the game might not be for you.

It's fucking crack for me, I've spent 130 hours in it.

04/16/2017 at 09:20 AM

I think id's just that i haven't spent much time with it ( a couple hours every day) and don't have the money for those things. Also eish map had waypoints.

goaztecs

04/26/2017 at 11:00 AM

I don't know if I would enjoy this game. On one hand it sounds like a chore just to play the game, but on the other this might be fun. I think it will go on the wait and see list for me.

04/26/2017 at 03:37 PM

That's why I rented it. I can see why people like it, but just not for me right now.

PixlBit