Restartitis

[Draconifors]

Restartitis = when you feel compelled to start a new game, over and over and over again, often because you feel like you made some mistake, no matter how small, that you would like to undo but cannot except by starting over from scratch

It has plagued me with many games -- now including this one. My forest farm, which I do still have, made it to summer of year 2, at which point I started to feel I should have not only planned the layout and item placements better (which could be fixed, but it would take a long time) but also chosen a different farm type. As much as I like the forest, the lack of tiles for growing grass really became a problem with 13 animals... I did not want to be buying grass starters or hay all the time, but I wanted to have all of the types of animals I had acquired.

I had also sold a lot of items, such as slime, I had not known would be needed later, so I did not have enough stockpiles from which to draw when I found I needed to craft items like the oil maker.

I am definitely not aiming for a perfect or super optimized game, but better. So, I started a new save, using the standard farm. It's less interesting, but better for planning placements due to the lack of forest tiles. Also way more tiles for grass, naturally.


Anyone else with similar experiences?

 

[HaleyRocks]

Restartitis = when you feel compelled to start a new game, over and over and over again, often because you feel like you made some mistake, no matter how small, that you would like to undo but cannot except by starting over from scratch

It has plagued me with many games -- now including this one. My forest farm, which I do still have, made it to summer of year 2, at which point I started to feel I should have not only planned the layout and item placements better (which could be fixed, but it would take a long time) but also chosen a different farm type. As much as I like the forest, the lack of tiles for growing grass really became a problem with 13 animals... I did not want to be buying grass starters or hay all the time, but I wanted to have all of the types of animals I had acquired.

I had also sold a lot of items, such as slime, I had not known would be needed later, so I did not have enough stockpiles from which to draw when I found I needed to craft items like the oil maker.

I am definitely not aiming for a perfect or super optimized game, but better. So, I started a new save, using the standard farm. It's less interesting, but better for planning placements due to the lack of forest tiles. Also way more tiles for grass, naturally.


Anyone else with similar experiences?

You're telling me! Your thread post literally, came moments later after mine!

https://forums.stardewvalley.net/threads/has-anybody-else-regretted-the-farm-type-chosen-late-game-come.29787/

Although in my case, i dread horribly restarting a stardew valley play from scratch (if 1.6 didn't add too many things, i wouldn't even bother with new game at all)

 

[Draconifors]

Your thread post literally, came moments later after mine!

Yeah, I noticed. I was rather surprised to see your thread had appeared while I was typing this one. :D

Starting over is a bit of a slog, going through all the early-game stuff again (I'm skipping cutscenes I've already seen because there's a limit to how much I'm willing to sit through again), but at least to me the sense of progress and achievement, as I get further in the game, remain the same.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

Year 2 is still very early in the game, I don't think I've ever been ready to restart that quickly. There is still so much to do, and there are no time limits or penalties, and you can easily change things on your farm to suit your plans.
For instance, you can plant fewer crops to make more space for grass. If you have the greenhouse, you don't really need large fields of crops outdoors. You can buy slime from Krobus. You can move buildings.
I always try to make it to year 3 for grandpa's evaluation and trash bear. I max my skills and friendships, collect my stardrops, do the level 100 skull cavern quest, watch all the Queen of Sauce episodes. I get the furniture catalog, my club card, the wizard's magic ink, build Pam's house and the theater.
It's totally okay to start over whenever you like, if you have new ideas, or want to go in a different direction. But you also don't have to make everything perfect right at the beginning!

 

[Lew Zealand]

I'm one of those people trapped by sunk costs so I like to stick to my farms and deal with the issues, so restarting is not my thing unless I'm at actual end game. Which is: Most of the good outfits Tailored and at least some of the Farm themed to something completely useless that I like. So like ~35% Perfection. Instead if I don't like the Farm Map, I'll edit my save to another map and one time it actually worked! I posted that bit in @HaleyRocks 's thread as it fits there better.

 

[Draconifors]

Year 2 is still very early in the game, I don't think I've ever been ready to restart that quickly. There is still so much to do, and there are no time limits or penalties, and you can easily change things on your farm to suit your plans.
For instance, you can plant fewer crops to make more space for grass. If you have the greenhouse, you don't really need large fields of crops outdoors. You can buy slime from Krobus. You can move buildings.
I always try to make it to year 3 for grandpa's evaluation and trash bear. I max my skills and friendships, collect my stardrops, do the level 100 skull cavern quest, watch all the Queen of Sauce episodes. I get the furniture catalog, my club card, the wizard's magic ink, build Pam's house and the theater.
It's totally okay to start over whenever you like, if you have new ideas, or want to go in a different direction. But you also don't have to make everything perfect right at the beginning!

Yeah, year 2 isn't end game by any means, but it's the furthest I've gotten so far.

I don't even know what some of the things you mentioned are. :D I'll find out in time, though.

The game is very laid-back and forgiving in terms of how quickly, or even whether, you do things and progress, but I'm less so towards myself. It's something I'm trying to work on, and I suppose another reason for starting a fresh save.

I'm one of those people trapped by sunk costs so I like to stick to my farms and deal with the issues, so restarting is not my thing unless I'm at actual end game.

I can definitely understand that. It is a lot of time and work "wasted" if one starts over even after just half an in-game year, let alone in year three or later.

 

[ThePerfectGarden]

Welcome to the club! Restartitis of highest degree her. In a thread from January this year you can see what I mean. More than 45 saves since 2018, most of them cancelled in the first 3 years. Some even in spring year 1 ...

There can be a whole bunch of reasons: the wrong farm; I actually wanted to do it all differently; but also a name or name theme that I no longer like etc. pp. I don't mind having to painstakingly redo everything anymore - I actually feel beginnings are the best thing ever. To be honest, that doesn't just apply to this game, but to almost everything in my life: I would love to start all over again (and make everything better, which is of course an illusion).

But, hey, I even made it to year 8 in one save! Who says we can't improve?

What about you? Can you confirm that Restartitis might be a general life theme?

 

[Draconifors]

What about you? Can you confirm that Restartitis might be a general life theme?

Yes, I can. It doesn't apply to everything or nearly everything, but some things.

I'll be sure to check out your thread.

 

[Ereo]

My first save made it to year 4. the following ones to year 3. The latest ones get to somewhere in year 2… not because of any mistakes I make, I just get bored when I finished the CC. I’ve completed Ginger island once or twice. But I don’t like grinding, so I’ve never reached perfection. I usually get far enough on Ginger island that I pay all parrots and get through the volcano, but then what is left to do?

 

[FilthyGorilla]

I have endgame files I have dozens (or in one case hundreds) of years on.

I still make a load of farms, how about a fishing farm, what about a farm where I only mine and make slime hutches, what about a farm where I cook as many omelets in year one as possible?

I have my farms with significant progress to play on when I'm feeling tired and don't want to think too much then play on active farms when I'm in the mood for something a little different.

It adds some more variability to the way i play and keeps me from getting too bored of the same farm, if you play irl years on the same one it can easily get too distant.

 

[Odyssey]

Another serial restarter here! The furthest I've ever got is fall year 3, and the majority of my saves don't make it into year 3 at all. I'm particularly prone to restarting during Spring year 1 if I don't feel like I've set myself up well for the rest of the run.

Sometimes I stop playing a save because I've competed whatever challenge I set myself but more often I've either reached a point where the hard part of the challenge is over and I want to try something new or I want to redo the current challenge making different choices or generally playing more efficiently.

I'm hoping to get at least decently into year 3 with my current playthrough as I've recently downloaded Stardew Valley Expanded and I've read enough on its wiki to know there are various things that aren't accessible until year 3. I've also come up with a rule set that forces me to take things a bit more slowly than usual so hopefully that will help!

So far I've restarted this particular challenge only once (got fewer Strawberries than I would have liked, put CC speed gro down before egg festival and then missed some of those spots when planting in the dark, also changed my mind about the sprinkler layout I wanted a few days after planting said strawberries). Attempt 2 has made it into summer year 1 without too many niggling 'I could have done that better' moments so at the very least it should live for a while longer!

 

[LRangerR]

I don't think restarting so often is necessarily bad, but at the same time I don't think the farm has had enough time to really develop. Even if it's not perfect, if you're not a serial speed-challenge runner, there's really not much reason to restart a farm immediately (unless you're like @ThePerfectGarden and you like thematic farms).

 

[stardew_luv]

I don't think restarting so often is necessarily bad, but at the same time I don't think the farm has had enough time to really develop. Even if it's not perfect, if you're not a serial speed-challenge runner, there's really not much reason to restart a farm immediately (unless you're like @ThePerfectGarden and you like thematic farms).

I tend to agree. I am a serial restarter. But I have actual diagnosed OCD. So I’ve been trying to stay with farms longer now. If I want a change of scenery, I turn to a save editor to change farrm types. If I’m bored I start a new style or theme of farm, selling everything of value, to start afresh without making a whole new save file. I’m trying harder to stick it out and make the best of it. It helps me fight my irl OCD tendencies. Maybe it would help others here. Perfect is not possible. I’m totally against perfectionism being applauded (even rewarded) in this game. It turns a fun time into a stressful time. It turns a hobby into a time consuming all irl anything other than Stardew sucking obsession. It’s just not a healthy addition to the game for anyone.

 

[Gardening Spirit]

Restartitis = when you feel compelled to start a new game, over and over and over again, often because you feel like you made some mistake, no matter how small, that you would like to undo but cannot except by starting over from scratch

I am definitely not aiming for a perfect or super optimized game, but better. So, I started a new save, using the standard farm. It's less interesting, but better for planning placements due to the lack of forest tiles. Also way more tiles for grass, naturally.


Anyone else with similar experiences?

I had a similiar experience. My longest save was a Forest Farm but I regretted not choosing the Standard farm. I didn't have enough space to grow trees or crops. But loved the aesthetic of the Forest Farm.

My current save is my second longest save but on Standard layout. It feels less aesthetic and interesting to me but all the space is inspiring me to plan proper placements of everything and make an optimised and nice looking farm.

I did try and restart recently with the new Meadowlands layout, but it feels so frustrating to have to start everything again - the heart levels with villagers,

Spoiler: Spoiler

not having the Statue of Perfection for iridium

, having my future husband Shane treat me rudely Anyway I abandoned that save and just kept going with my Standard farm.

 

[smellincoffee]

I have my main, first save that I revisit regularly, and then I also have saves for the other farms. I made a lot of mistakes in the first game because I was a total newbie, so I was doing things like selling all the wood and stone I collected, ignoring forage, etc. I think it took me three years to do the community center, whereas in other saves when I've started knowing what I was doing I've wrapped it up as early as year 2 summer 3. As I've learned and tried things in other saves I've incorporated them into my first one -- like, I now know I don't have to completely surround a bee box to get honey. Just one somewhere around will do.

 

[SCLPTURES]

i have chronic restartitis, definitely. i have my first and only save, and i'm too into it to make a new one. i'm planning to finish it all off (which will take... a long time) and then i'll probably have no choice but to make another one

 

[MogBeoulve]

Nothing wrong with starting over, especially if you like the early game. If I haven't restarted at least two times, then it's actually a game I clearly don't enjoy playing.

 

[Antsy]

I like the early game a lot so I do tend to make new starts pretty often. Other times I'll stick with a particular farm through to perfection - or until I get really bored with grinding money for a dumb ugly clock and just don't care if I finish that process. I like to try out all the different types of farm layouts - some aren't great and make for more of a challenge. And using remixed Community Centre bundles freshens the game a lot and presents different challenges. Sometimes I go back and pick up a file I abandoned earlier. It's fine to restart or play a long time into a particular game - whatever you enjoy.

 

[Draconifors]

I like the early game a lot so I do tend to make new starts pretty often.

This is true for me as well, and not just with this game. Definitely contributes to my "problem"; on one hand, I would like to get to end-game one day, but on the other hand, the game can be more interesting when I don't have buildings full of animals and machines yet.

I'm trying out remixed bundles and mine rewards this time, and it's already paid off: I didn't get the animal bundle, which means I can get the greenhouse without having animals in upgraded buildings. I like animals, but I will be happy to need to manage grass and hay in the first year.

 

[stardew_luv]

This is true for me as well, and not just with this game. Definitely contributes to my "problem"; on one hand, I would like to get to end-game one day, but on the other hand, the game can be more interesting when I don't have buildings full of animals and machines yet.

I'm trying out remixed bundles and mine rewards this time, and it's already paid off: I didn't get the animal bundle, which means I can get the greenhouse without having animals in upgraded buildings. I like animals, but I will be happy to need to manage grass and hay in the first year.

I know it’s not the preferred option, but if you don’t like having to collect all of the items for the community center, Joja Mart membership is $5000g. Then instead of collecting a bunch of items you pay a fairly reasonable fee for each area. I think it $15000 for mine carts, $35000 for greenhouse, Bridge and boulder are around $20000-$25000 each, and bus repair is $400000 I believe. Just a thought as it might be easier for your do it as you wish play style.