Stardew Valley

[Amalthea]

Has anyone played Stardew Valley? I sunk a loooot of hours into it when it first came out and I had a lot of fun, especially with the modding that was available for it. I think ConcernedApe did a really great job with it, it wasn't perfect by any means, but I thought it was pretty well done. If I recall correctly he did most, if not all, of the game himself and was pretty good with fixing bugs/responding to players, adding updates etc. I haven't played it in awhile though, but I've recently been wanting to give it another go since the updated farms and multiplayer (I think?) was added.

Before the update I had my farm pretty decked out with Studio Ghibli mods (appearance mods). The scarecrows were changed to characters from the Studio Ghibli movies, I made Totoro plushies myself, and replaced art/pictures on the wall with artwork from the movies too  

Anywho, thoughts on the game? Who are some of your favourite characters? Did you do and modding? And feel free to post up screenshots of your farm if you have them!

[Moonface]

I started this a few days ago, and I'm loving it so far! I'm into Day 9 of Summer, Year 1, and I haven't really done much for my farm yet. I'm mostly just planting a load of seeds, and while those grow going out to forage, mine, and fish to build up money and resources for upgrading my tools or completing community center gathering quests. Modding won't be a thing for me since I'm playing on Switch.

[ShiraNoMai]

Stardew is so goooood. Watching Moony play it recently has me itching to pick my file back up where I left it, on the first days of Winter. I wanted to redo my entire farm layout since I figured while I can't make crops, I can better utilize that time to replanting my unplanned farm. The idea of it overwhelmed me at the time so I bounced off the game after that but I was completely unaware that someone had made a farm planner for the game that's fully interactive: Stardew Planner

[Moonface]

That farm planner is such a great tool. I don't think it has every possible item in it, but it has enough to at least plan out your buildings and paths. There's also a subreddit dedicated to farm designs for Stardew, and these two were my favourites I saw there:

https://i.redd.it/2mgst1er5j921.png
https://i.redd.it/394hxzv0g4531.png

I'm surprised you don't want to start a new save so you can use one of the other farm layouts Shira.

[WR91]

This game looks intriguing. Is it worth the pickup on the Switch?

[Moonface]

This game looks intriguing. Is it worth the pickup on the Switch?

I have it for Switch and it's perfectly fine on the system. The clock system can sometimes work against you in annoying ways, such as trying to reach deeper levels of the caves, but it's a neat pick up and go type of game.

[Moonface]

Stardew Valley 1.6 Announced
Despite not having touched this game in forever and this thread being dormant for a few years, I can't help but want to share this tweet from the developer that was made yesterday I didn't see until now:

Yes, the madman is still updating this game! I genuinely thought he was done with any major updates for this game a while ago, especially with Haunted Chocolatier in the pipeline, so just to see him still putting work into this game when it could've been done multiple updates ago is truly commendable. It feels rare to see any game getting this treatment that isn't a GaaS or doing other things to generate constant revenue beyond the initial purchase.

[Moonface]

Stardew Valley | 1.6 Update Releases March 19th
Since @ShiraNoMai has been playing a ton of this recently and all day today, I figured I may as well post this for her and anyone else who wants to know about the upcoming 1.6 update.

So the update will release on PC on March 19, with console and mobile following as soon as possible. Although a full breakdown of what the update entails hasn't been shared, there was a sneak peek back in September that shared some of the contents for the 1.6 update:

• A new major festival.
  
• Two new mini festivals.
  
• New late-game content, which expands on each of the skill areas.
  
• New items and crafting recipes.
  
• Joja alternatives to some of the end-game quests.
  
• 100+ new lines of dialogue.
  
• Winter outfits for the villagers.
  
• New type of reward for completing billboard requests.
  
• Support for 8 player multiplayer on PC.
  
• Many small additions and adjustments.
  
• New farm type.
  
• New secrets and more.
  

For anyone interested in the game but hasn't got a copy, or just wants to have it on PC, the game is currently 50% off on Steam until tomorrow.

[queenzelda]

I already own Stardew Valley on pc, but yes, I've known about the update coming. It's just good to know what day it's coming. Should be interesting to see what we get in the update. :3

[ShiraNoMai]

I hadn't played the game since my initial go of it when it launched in 2016. I was obsessed back then and I'm obsessed again. I got over my hurdle of Winter cuz farm layouts is what was putting a huge mental barrier in my head and I didn't want to ever consider doing that again. If my farm is ugly, so be it.

Very excited about this. The new rewards for billboard requests sounds lovely. Money is great but like, idk, I just had to grind 50 monsters for like 600 gold. I can make 600 gold from a gold starred Goat Cheese, which I can get with zero effort. Lmao

[Moonface]

@ShiraNoMai @queenzelda I'm curious, who did you two go with as your slave partner in the game to live on your farm with you?

I know for my original playthrough of the game I made a point of getting with Leah because I just really liked her character compared to most of the others, at least when it came to picking someone to make a love interest.

[Moonface]

Stardew Valley | 1.6 Changelog
Today marks the release of Version 1.6 for Stardew Valley, and although we got a few teasers of what to expect we can now finally see everything this update brings to the farm table!

The full changelog is incredibly long so I'm not going to post the entirety of it here, but I'll highlight just some of the most notable parts and leave the link here for anyone who wants to read the rest of it (I strongly recommend doing so): Stardew Valley Official Website | Full 1.6 Changelog

New Content & Features

• Desert Festival - a three-day event in spring which can be accessed after the bus is repaired.
  
• Two mini fishing festivals: Trout Derby and SquidFest.
  
• A new environmental “event” in summer.
  
• Festivals now have map and dialogue changes every second year (except the night market and desert festival).
  
  
• Added a “mastery” system, accessed via a new area, which grants powerful perks and items…
  
  
• Added a new farm type: Meadowlands Farm. It has a chewy blue grass that animals love. You also start with a coop and 2 chickens.
  
• Added four new crops (carrots, summer squash, broccoli, and powdermelon) which can’t be purchased at the store, and two new giant crops.
  
• Added four new home renovations: dining room, attic, expanded corner room, and cubby.
  
  
• You can now get multiple pets (after getting max hearts with your starter pet).
  
• Added two new cat and dog breeds.
  
• Added turtle pets.
  
• Pets that love you will sometimes give you gifts.
  
• You can now place hats on cats and dogs.
  
• Added an animals tab that shows all your pets & animal's.
  
• You can now build pet bowls in Robin’s shop, with three variants.
  
• The farmhouse and pet bowl can now be moved through Robin’s menu.
  
  
• Added a world map for Ginger Island, visible when visiting the island.
  
• Added a golden Joja parrot, which you can pay to find all remaining golden walnuts on Ginger Island.
  
• The world map now shows your actual position within the world in real-time (instead of showing you at a fixed point for each location). In multiplayer, you’ll see other players’ positions in real-time too.
  
  
• NPCs now have winter outfits.
  
• Added a prize machine in Lewis’ house. You can collect prize tickets as a reward for completing quests and special orders, and from repeated egg/ice festival wins.
  
• Added a new bobber machine in Willy’s shop, with 39 bobber styles to choose from. New styles unlock by catching new kinds of fish.
  
• A bookseller now comes to town twice a season.
  
• Added mystery boxes.
  
• Added a big tree, with a quest line which ultimately gives you some new neighbors.
  
  
• Over 400 new items added to the game.
  

Visual improvements around the valley

• Added waterfalls.
  
• Added more holiday decorations in winter.
  
• Added more pathstones to various maps.
  
• Added jack-o-lanterns after the Stardew Valley Fair in fall.
  
• Jelly, pickles, wines, and juices are now colored based on the ingredient item.
  
• Some trees have a chance to lose their leaves in the fall.
  
• Graphical improvements to building interiors.
  
• Lighting changes:
  • It now gets dark an hour earlier in winter.
    
  • Night tiles (e.g. town lamps) now activate an hour earlier in all seasons.
    
  • Indoor daytime lighting now smoothly transitions to night lighting over the course of two hours.
    
  • Night lighting in non-farmhouse indoor locations is now slightly darker.
    
  • Farmhouse lighting on rainy days is now slightly moody, and lights stay on all day.
    
  • TVs and trees of the Winter Star now give off light at night.
    
  • Added light sources to window light glows so there are no more “dark but lit” windows.
    
  • Made some improvements to the intro bus drive cutscene.
    
  • At night, hats are now drawn at the night-time color in the game menu portraits.
    
  • Removed lighting quality option. It’s now permanently set to ultra quality.
    

Quality of life changes

• Performance improvements.
  
• NPCs now shove chests out of their way instead of destroying them.
  
• If Pam won’t be coming to the bus for any reason, she now leaves a sign informing you and you can drive yourself to the desert.
  
• You can now “strafe” while charging a watering can or hoe, allowing you to reposition your tool hit area without changing your facing direction.
  
• Checking a pet bowl will now show a text bubble with the pet’s name.
  
• Added a new post-fishing sparkling text to indicate when you’ve caught something for the first time.
  
• You can now sit in chairs during festivals.
  
• You can now move filled chests by hitting them twice with a heavy tool (previously only with bare hands). The chests will shift one space at a time.
  
• You can now place flooring underneath most buildings.
  
• Male farmers are no longer forced into wedding clothes on their wedding day, so you can choose your own outfit for the wedding.
  
• You can now change the flooring of the slime hutch.
  

Other changes

• Gender-specific clothing variants can now be worn by any gender.
  
• You can now drink mayonnaise and jelly, and eat pickles.
  
• Added more descriptive titles to daily quests.
  

---

Yeah dang even trying to just pick some highlights ended up becoming bigger than I expected. It's crazy how big this update is when it originally was never going to even be a thing in the first place!
I swear this game should be an automatic win for the Steam Labor of Love Award when those awards are hosted at the end of the year.

[queenzelda]

@queenzelda I'm curious, who did you two go with as your slave partner in the game to live on your farm with you?

Uh? I never really chose anyone as my partner in the game. A lot of the characters that are available to date I was just like whatever, and just stayed single. 🤷‍♀️

[Moonface]

@queenzelda I'm curious, who did you two go with as your slave partner in the game to live on your farm with you?

Uh? I never really chose anyone as my partner in the game. A lot of the characters that are available to date I was just like whatever, and just stayed single. 🤷‍♀️

Fair enough.
In that case, what farm layout did you choose to start with then?

[ShiraNoMai]

@ShiraNoMai @queenzelda I'm curious, who did you two go with as your slave partner in the game to live on your farm with you?

I know for my original playthrough of the game I made a point of getting with Leah because I just really liked her character compared to most of the others, at least when it came to picking someone to make a love interest.

I romanced 4 people (Sam, Leah, Abigail and Sebastian) up to 8 hearts, ultimately went with Sam cuz I was doing that on my first playthrough and just decided to go along with that. But I'm torn on all four, if they gave it the option, I'd have a polygamy with them all

I also picked the traditional farmhouse again, but when I do another run of this, I'll do the new Meadowlands one cuz it sounds very cool.