charmander
Planter
I noticed there wasn't a thread to talk about this huge expansion mod and was told to make one, so here it is!
Stardew Valley Expanded
- Thread starter charmander
- Start date
Lew Zealand
Helper
I haven't played SVE yet, kinda like saving it for when I really need or want it? What would you say is the best thing about SVE?
Lenora Rose
Farmer
As someone who has tried, and accepted or rejected, a lot of different mods, things SVE does right (note, though, I only played with it an in game year/a couple real world months, so far):
- well integrated. The new people and locations within the valley work well with vanilla (with the possible exception of the extra long path to the mines, and you can configure that to allow for an entry in its usual place.) They have friendships, they talk to and about the town and its folk, people have opinions about one another, they're not just off in another town doing their own thing*
- the new characters don't just repeat the ones we already have, and are distinct from early on. I've met other mods where the new NPCs EVENTUALLY sound different, but at first they all blur together*. And they look like the vanilla art.
- it's interesting. When I run into something it changes, like how you get the sewer key, it makes me curious, not annoyed.
- conversely, too, they're not so wildly different from vanilla that you wonder why they were added to this game instead of playing a different game. Like, Tolkien style dwarves don't really seem like they belong in Stardew Valley where we have THIS kind of dwarf, but another farm and farmer makes sense.
- an actual plotline for Jojacorp, not just a slightly different way to do all the community benefits. (I'm still playing community centre, though, so I don't know as much as I might)
- the really big changes, like Castle Village, take a while to connect, so you're not bombarded all at once with all the things.
Cons (so far)
- There was one event which just confused the heck out of me, but at least the follow-up made clear what happened, if not why. (ETA: Apparently this event isn't an SVE event. It took me a bit of searching to find where it came from, as I thought I didn't have any other mods with significant events.)
And the biggest tip based on this: definitely take the time to make friends with Marlon, as a fair bit of content is connected to him. You can't befriend Gunther from the start, but eventually you start seeing him wander around town.
(I would like to note, I also feel like East Scarp does all this, except that some of the portraits aren't as vanilla as they ought to be.)
* I'm not going to name it because I'm sure the maker put a lot of work in, but I am thinking of a specific other mod for both of these points -- which has, noteably, not been particularly popular and you likely wouldn't have heard of anyway
- well integrated. The new people and locations within the valley work well with vanilla (with the possible exception of the extra long path to the mines, and you can configure that to allow for an entry in its usual place.) They have friendships, they talk to and about the town and its folk, people have opinions about one another, they're not just off in another town doing their own thing*
- the new characters don't just repeat the ones we already have, and are distinct from early on. I've met other mods where the new NPCs EVENTUALLY sound different, but at first they all blur together*. And they look like the vanilla art.
- it's interesting. When I run into something it changes, like how you get the sewer key, it makes me curious, not annoyed.
- conversely, too, they're not so wildly different from vanilla that you wonder why they were added to this game instead of playing a different game. Like, Tolkien style dwarves don't really seem like they belong in Stardew Valley where we have THIS kind of dwarf, but another farm and farmer makes sense.
- an actual plotline for Jojacorp, not just a slightly different way to do all the community benefits. (I'm still playing community centre, though, so I don't know as much as I might)
- the really big changes, like Castle Village, take a while to connect, so you're not bombarded all at once with all the things.
Cons (so far)
- There was one event which just confused the heck out of me, but at least the follow-up made clear what happened, if not why. (ETA: Apparently this event isn't an SVE event. It took me a bit of searching to find where it came from, as I thought I didn't have any other mods with significant events.)
And the biggest tip based on this: definitely take the time to make friends with Marlon, as a fair bit of content is connected to him. You can't befriend Gunther from the start, but eventually you start seeing him wander around town.
(I would like to note, I also feel like East Scarp does all this, except that some of the portraits aren't as vanilla as they ought to be.)
* I'm not going to name it because I'm sure the maker put a lot of work in, but I am thinking of a specific other mod for both of these points -- which has, noteably, not been particularly popular and you likely wouldn't have heard of anyway
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charmander
Planter
I like the new characters, especially Sophia, and the new places to explore. There's also events with Marlon, Morris, and Gunther now. It fits in well with vanilla, I almost forgot they're just there otherwise.
I used one of the mods farms (Frontier Farm) and while it was a bit overwhelming because of how large it is, I ended up really liking it.
It's true that you should definitely reach Perfection or just see all there is to see in vanilla beforehand, there's a ton of new content.
charmander
Planter
East Scarp is next on what I want to try, but I learned my lesson with starting Expanded before reaching Perfection and other Achievements I actually wanted. So sadly won't be playing ES yet.
Lenora Rose
Farmer
I can easily see why. I think East Scarp is smaller than Expanded (VERY few things are as big as SVE), but even so I've done one OR the other so far, not both. And while I have future plans to try Ridgeside Village and Sunberry both, I am deliberately saving them for other farmers as well.