Mobile stairs behind the railroad

Miretar

Planter
I gather this is end game content. Is it really necessary to cook, ship catch, grow everything etc. to enjoy this content?
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
I gather this is end game content. Is it really necessary to cook, ship catch, grow everything etc. to enjoy this content?
If you mean the stairs blocked by the Big Rock then yes, you need to do all those things plus a selection of others. The easy way to track your progress is in Qi's Walnut Room where there's a machine that shows your progress in each category. IMO the tricksyiest part of that list is it can look like you've crafted everything possible in your inventory but you're still missing something from the list. So you'll need to go back to each shopkeeper in every location in the game and find the recipe(s) you missed because they will not even appear as options in your Crafting menu until you buy them. I was missing 3.
 

Miretar

Planter
So basically players are being denied access to this section of the game for enjoying & playing the game in their own way? Why? Why deny players access to this endgame conte because they “haven’t done everything?”

Talk about performance art. Am I somehow unworthy for not doing this stuff? Seriously.
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
So basically players are being denied access to this section of the game for enjoying & playing the game in their own way? Why? Why deny players access to this endgame conte because they “haven’t done everything?”

Talk about performance art. Am I somehow unworthy for not doing this stuff? Seriously.
It's games. There are goals set in all games and if you don't want to do them, then you don't get the thing behind Door #1. You don't get the Tidepools unless you provide 300 Wood. Don't wanna get 300 Wood, no Tidepools. Same for Secret Woods. Same goes for Elytra in Minecraft. Same goes for Shield Weave Armor in Horizon: Zero Dawn. Ad nauseum.
 

Miretar

Planter
No, it’s performance art. There is a huge difference between providing 300 wood for tide pools or getting access to the secret woods to doing everything in the game.
 
So basically players are being denied access to this section of the game for enjoying & playing the game in their own way? Why? Why deny players access to this endgame conte because they “haven’t done everything?”

Talk about performance art. Am I somehow unworthy for not doing this stuff? Seriously.
What endgame content? A more efficient coop animal and a cutscene, in exchange for having according to the Dev 100% finished the game and definitionally not needing money anymore? I do not get much less agree with your perspective at all. But thankfully you don't actually need to do any of it, there's a guy named Fizz. You should look him up if it bothers you that much; you can get perfection without ever shipping *anything* much less everything, it's all completely optional.

If you do feel like engaging with the challenge / "performance art" as intended,
https://mouseypounds.github.io/stardew-checkup/
I find it helpful for identifying those recipes Lew alluded to. In my case I was waiting on perfection for an extra 3 seasons of in game time because I had missed the tub of flowers recipe from the spring flower dance.
 

Miretar

Planter
Let me tell you a true story. I worked in the rpg industry for years and in the late 80’s early 90’s got into an argument with one of the designers of the computer game Might and Magic, an early computer rpg. Having cut my teeth on D&D in the 70’s, I created a classic mixed race, mixed profession group for the game. Somewhere in the middle of the game, important not optional dungeons cropped up. Not a problem really, until the game pointed out that certain races would take damage in these dungeons. Of course players with single race parties were screwed. I expressed my frustration to one of the designers. This was the response I got:

”You’re not playing the game the way it’s meant to played.”

No, the paying customer was, in fact, playing the game in the way she wanted to play it. Something devs and designers still don’t understand. BTW doing everything in game is not a challenge—it’s mind numbingly dull. If you want a real rpg challenge try pen&paper rpgs. I recommend Paranoia or Rolemaster.
 

Lew Zealand

Helper
What endgame content? A more efficient coop animal and a cutscene, in exchange for having according to the Dev 100% finished the game and definitionally not needing money anymore?
This is the funny part of all this, like in the Wizard of Oz there's nothing behind the curtain. You miss a cutscene with your spouse or Lewis and an animal to make more g when you don't need any. That's a pretty big hint that it ain't all that and was never meant to be. I only did 100% Perfection in this playthrough to see how much of an annoyance it would be. Answer: not much but I'll only ever do it once and if I'd done it nonce I'd not have missed much.

I do not get much less agree with your perspective at all. But thankfully you don't actually need to do any of it, there's a guy named Fizz. You should look him up if it bothers you that much; you can get perfection without ever shipping *anything* much less everything, it's all completely optional.
Fizz! I always forget Mr. Coffeecup. Also another pretty big hint that getting that small endgame content (or Steam achievement) is relatively worthless. The rest of the game is what really matters.
 
Let me tell you a true story. I worked in the rpg industry for years and in the late 80’s early 90’s got into an argument with one of the designers of the computer game Might and Magic, an early computer rpg. Having cut my teeth on D&D in the 70’s, I created a classic mixed race, mixed profession group for the game. Somewhere in the middle of the game, important not optional dungeons cropped up. Not a problem really, until the game pointed out that certain races would take damage in these dungeons. Of course players with single race parties were screwed. I expressed my frustration to one of the designers. This was the response I got:

”You’re not playing the game the way it’s meant to played.”

No, the paying customer was, in fact, playing the game in the way she wanted to play it. Something devs and designers still don’t understand. BTW doing everything in game is not a challenge—it’s mind numbingly dull. If you want a real rpg challenge try pen&paper rpgs. I recommend Paranoia or Rolemaster.

But that's not comparable, for 3 reasons:

1) You're comparing non-optional content with optional content. The whole concern was predicated on them being important and not optional. This is just a cutscene and a chicken, it's entirely optional and has zero impact on the game, definitionally. There is nothing you can do with this content which cannot be done without. It's just a reward for completing a challenge which you may not like, but I do.

2) Nothing precludes you from completing this however and whenever you want. The other reason it was a problem was according to you it being in the middle of the game. This is at the very end, it definitionally does not block progress towards anything or allowing you to enjoy the full breadth of the game however you wish to do so.

3) You're not actually screwed at all! I'm doing a cropless Joja route farm right now; I guarantee you I'm getting perfection without growing any crops, much less shipping them. Unlike there where you couldn't do the thing, here you can absolutely still do the thing!

That's one of the main strengths of Stardew Valley imho; how much flexibility it affords in playstyle and self-imposed challenges. But if you limit the part of the game you interact with, then it shouldn't be surprising that yeah, not everything in the game can be interacted with (even though in this case it can). It would be like doing a challenge run where I never leave the farm map, and then complaining I can't fish. Or in my case, complaining that since I am not growing any crops I can't get large quantities of pepper poppers.

You accept those consequences for your decisions and nonetheless enjoy the game in exactly the way you wish to do so. Just my opinion of course.
 
I didn't think of the summit as a goal, or a way to access additional content. It's still new, it was only added in 1.5. It's especially for players who've been doing farms since early days, having 10+ year farms, trying different ways to minmax, speed runs, and figuring out every way to play for years.
Once you've been playing your farm for so long that you've already done everything, crafted and cooked and shipped slayed and befriended and found every walnut, and got past the point of trying to make money so you might as well buy the clock, that's when you get to the summit. It's not a goal, it's the little thing added in 1.5 to acknowledge players who've done everything.
 

FilthyGorilla

Local Legend
There's also now multiple routes to completion and unlocking these things, including just paying for everything, it's more of a mindless grind but it's absolutely skill-less and therefore doesn't have any sort of skill requirement to actually get to.

A game doesn't have to leave everything to the player, it should come with a bit of guidance and allowing the player to feel achievement for what they've done. It's like playing creative vs survival in minecraft, some enjoy just the ends to the things they do and that have been done but most enjoy the means and satisfaction of working towards and eventually completing something.

This happens with everything in Stardew to some extent, the cc locks stuff behind it, you plant a crop and have to invest time and energy into watering it to grow. There's no fun in anything if instantaneous or if it has no tangible reward. Do you truly enjoy getting diamonds in creative minecraft by just opening the menu and giving them to yourself? Why would there be any point to completing any task if the reward can't be something that isn't already available before it's completion?

That core thought process is literally what governs real life and brings any semblance of structure to a game such as stardew.
 

Maher

Farmer
What endgame content? A more efficient coop animal and a cutscene, in exchange for having according to the Dev 100% finished the game and definitionally not needing money anymore? I do not get much less agree with your perspective at all. But thankfully you don't actually need to do any of it, there's a guy named Fizz. You should look him up if it bothers you that much; you can get perfection without ever shipping *anything* much less everything, it's all completely optional.

If you do feel like engaging with the challenge / "performance art" as intended,
https://mouseypounds.github.io/stardew-checkup/
I find it helpful for identifying those recipes Lew alluded to. In my case I was waiting on perfection for an extra 3 seasons of in game time because I had missed the tub of flowers recipe from the spring flower dance.
Trixie too.
 

Maher

Farmer
Reaching the summit is like that moment in Myst where you've followed one path or another, have Done All The Things, and you can now go do whatever you want in the play world. The difference is that in SDV, you can actually accomplish things; continue fulfilling Bulletin Board quests, and whatever strikes your fancy, which is way better than Myst's abandoned world.

But really, it's just an easter egg. And an eternal supply of prismatic shards, so now enchanting tools is low risk.
 

stardew_luv

Farmer
If you mean the stairs blocked by the Big Rock then yes, you need to do all those things plus a selection of others. The easy way to track your progress is in Qi's Walnut Room where there's a machine that shows your progress in each category. IMO the tricksyiest part of that list is it can look like you've crafted everything possible in your inventory but you're still missing something from the list. So you'll need to go back to each shopkeeper in every location in the game and find the recipe(s) you missed because they will not even appear as options in your Crafting menu until you buy them. I was missing 3.
Yes you will need to hunt for recipies, some the villagers give you. But honestly there really isn’t anything special there. If you do not want to go through all that OP then don’t sweat it. Have fun!
 

Maher

Farmer
Start Farm. Get Leah to two hearts and try to kiss her. Get Maru to 8 hearts and agree to test her gadget. Go glitch into the summit. Fun times. Fun times.
Oh, and if I understand OP's platform correctly, he can glitch into the summit with impunity right now.
 

FilthyGorilla

Local Legend
I would think VERY hard about glitching my way into that particular place... Just saying.
Honestly you should, when you do you get to see a pretty hilarious (and scary) easter egg.

You can glitch out by going to the railroad, standing right next to the bottom exit, and swinging a scythe, sword, or hammer facing down. You'll slowly shift off the screen and a couple minutes after you're completely dissapeared you can walk up to the left and around the map all the way to the entrance to the summit. Then walk in and see the full experience
 

Slimeglasses

Planter
Honestly you should, when you do you get to see a pretty hilarious (and scary) easter egg.

You can glitch out by going to the railroad, standing right next to the bottom exit, and swinging a scythe, sword, or hammer facing down. You'll slowly shift off the screen and a couple minutes after you're completely dissapeared you can walk up to the left and around the map all the way to the entrance to the summit. Then walk in and see the full experience
Do you still get to see that end scene though? If you glitch there I mean.
 
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