How, and when, did you achieve perfection?

[tomaO2]

I've had the game for a few years but never really got too far in it. The furthest I'd gotten was to fall of year 1, and it says I played about 20 hours.

When I saw the 1.5 update, along with the fact that I'm still in lockdown for covid. I decided to give this a longer go. Over a month later, with 245 hours listed on my account, I've finally achieved the perfection rating. I feel like that should be a steam achievement.

I got it on day 25 of Fall, year 7.

My final achievement was buying the gold clock. I had 3-4 million at the start of the year, and I decided to make a strong go for it. So I planted a bunch of ancient fruit on my main farm and filled my ginger farm with fairy honey. I guess I was making 2 million a month, or so? I had also just finished the fishing collection the day before. Fishing the legendary fish was much easier than I thought it would be. I didn't think growing the bar with skill and tackle buffs would make a huge difference, but it did. I had been waiting to get the glacier legend in winter but I managed to ship enough goods so I would be able to buy the clock tomorrow, so I got some magic bait to catch it beforehand.

I was initially disappointed that nothing seemed to happen but then I slept on it and heard the earthquake for the next day. I liked the flood of birds that showed up, I think it would have been cooler if they had flown towards the mountain top and you could follow them, but I knew where to go anyway. The cutscene was great and then we get a sort of ending credits roll call, and it felt like a pretty satisfying event and a good capstone for the time I put into this game.

Looking back, the most annoyingly grindy bit of the game, was actually getting the auto-petter. I'm sure I spent more than 20 hours on that bit alone, and I did a bunch of day resets on that. Grinding for the clock came second. Those two events probably was not the biggest chunk of time I spent, overall, but the rest was more fun, and it felt I had steady growth from my work.

 

[LRangerR]

Perfection is never truly achieved, merely pursued.

 

[Elenna101]

Right now I'm mostly waiting on getting 10 million gold for the clock. Judging by my pace so far, I'll probably get it around end of spring/early summer (year 4), probably around 130-140 hours listed (although it's worth noting that the total number of hours doesn't include any time the game is paused, including pausing during animations). Probably could have gotten the money faster if I was planting more, or planting the best money crops exclusively, but it's a casual beach farm file and I didn't feel like watering much.

I also didn't get the cooking achievement until spring year 4 because for some reason I only kept one morel, which I used for the crafting achievement. Everything else was done by fall year 3.

 

[tomaO2]

I'm pretty sure I actually played at least 90% of those 245 hours, probably more, as I have restarted various days. I did take breaks, mind you, but the game didn't seem to count when I doing other stuff online, such as searching the wiki, or finding more videos to listen to while playing, or just doing whatever.

I'm guessing this because My steam account says I have played 380 hours. That's over 100 more hours that are not accounted for in my in game profiles. So, while the game doesn't count it when you have it minimized or when you restart days, Steam does.

Also, I'd hardly call year 4 slow, as I am on year 7. I got up to around 300 plots, and I was mainly just trying to get a bunch of gold star crops of all types.

 

[Elenna101]

I'm pretty sure I actually played at least 90% of those 245 hours, probably more, as I have restarted various days. I did take breaks, mind you, but the game didn't seem to count when I doing other stuff online, such as searching the wiki, or finding more videos to listen to while playing, or just doing whatever.

I'm guessing this because My steam account says I have played 380 hours. That's over 100 more hours that are not accounted for in my in game profiles. So, while the game doesn't count it when you have it minimized or when you restart days, Steam does.

Also, I'd hardly call year 4 slow, as I am on year 7. I got up to around 300 plots, and I was mainly just trying to get a bunch of gold star crops of all types.

Oh, you may have misunderstood my comment - I was saying that since the save file time doesn't count paused time, you actually played more than 245 hours. (And, as you said, it won't count restarted days.) Actually I'm surprised your Steam number is only 100 hours more.

EDIT: Oh, and sorry if I sounded dismissive or something with the comment about doing it faster. Year 7+ is completely reasonable, especially for a first playthrough! I guess I just feel like I should have been able to do it faster since I have probably almost 2500 total hours in this game lol.

 

[Bananapaws]

Spouse: We have liquid assets of 10 million? We can afford to send the kids to any college we want! Life will never be hard again!
Farmer: Hey, sweetheart, guess what I just bought???

 

[Lew Zealand]

I will never get it as I feel it's exists in opposition to the nature of the game.

A question that is asked pretty frequently here by new players is how best to play the game. My answer has always been: Do it your way. Which is to say that there's no best way to play the game and IMO the best way to play Stardew Valley is every way.

So everyone goes off on their merry way doing their quests for CC in Year 1, Skull Cavern dive, Min/Max the Farm, become Elliot's hairdresser. Everything works!

But now we have an unofficial and very grindy goal. We are all mildly suggested, pushed, pulled, nudged, tripped, and generally bamboozled towards The Same Goal. You might choose to ignore it and carry on, but then you also choose not to open up a tease which has been at the very core of SDV for 5 years now, sitting at top of the map like a pigeon staring down at you, readying its aim.

We'll see, I may change my tune and frankly I think I feel this way more because I don't like the parrots than anything and I need to grind through those pesky feathered gatekeeping mobsters before even considering endgame.

Ready to pounce, watch yourselves!

 

[Mici]

I am in year 7 and trying to reach perfection but the Legend fish is giving me a hard time. I'm demotivated to work on the rest now and wanna catch this darn fish before I do anything else xD

 

[tomaO2]

I always had trouble with fishing as well, but it got a LOT easier when I maxed out my fishing bar size. You need the master rod, gold star seafoam pudding (gold star food is done using Qi seasoning), and cork bobber. With this combination, I caught the Legend fish on my first try, and I caught it before the seafoam pudding timer wore out. I then did the same for the others. The only legend fish I missed a few times was the artic legend. The first 3 times I tried, it jumped up and down the entire screen a lot and I couldn't keep up, but it eventually did the smaller movements like the other legends did and I caught it. The reason could also have been because I forgot to have a lure that time. Still, even with that one I managed to catch it before the pudding wore out.

I will never get it as I feel it's exists in opposition to the nature of the game.

Next you'll say that completing the community center is also in opposition to the nature of the game.

It's a 'do what you want' game, but if what you WANT is to climb every mountain, and see everything there is to see, then perfection is there, just like the community center is there, and how collections are there, and achievement stars.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Next you'll say that completing the community center is also in opposition to the nature of the game.

It's a 'do what you want' game, but if what you WANT is to climb every mountain, and see everything there is to see, then perfection is there, just like the community center is there, and how collections are there, and achievement stars.

The Community Center is an early game method of showing you how to play different aspects of the game, especially if you forgot to try some things or missed part of how to play. It expands the scope of your gameplay and if you've been ignoring certain things, it reminds you to try them out. There also not much grinding for the CC, though getting the money to pay for the needed upgrades in addition to the Vault Bundle could be considered grindy. And it is necessary to open up 3 different parts of the game: the Greenhouse, the Quarry, and the Desert.

However Perfection has a lot of grindy bits - Obelisk, Clock, Monsters, even Friends and for many, Fishing. And I didn't find Fishing grindy but for me some of the other requirements here like Shipping and Cooking have grindy aspects.

I would have no problem with Perfection on its own with a Statue, an Achievement, a Golden Plaque in the Town Center or all of these things, but to tie it to a new location in the game which has been unfinished in the code for a very long time, and anticipated by many, does seem to be at odds with how the game is otherwise played. That is: a part of the game is hidden for anyone other than the most dedicated players. Even stuff that I haven't done yet (Skull Cavern Lvl 100) is pretty easily achieved with 99 staircases. I just choose not to do it that way yet.

On the other hand, if you do go through with all of that, I suppose a Statue, an Achievement, and a Golden Plaque in the Town Center might seem to be a bit of a letdown, so unlocking a new location is perhaps the only reward big enough to match the size of the task.

 

[tomaO2]

You never watched the cutscene for achieving perfection, I'd guess. It's not so much about opening a new location. It's also about giving an ending.

It's not a normal cutscene. It's a capstone. It's basically a credit roll. You don't get a thank you for playing the game, or a credit roll, but it's still basically that. I got a long conversation with my wife and we looked back on what happened over the past 7 years, and then it turned into a big cast call where everybody walks by on the stage. I used to think I wanted more new areas to explore, but I don't anymore. Does that mean that I will not play any longer? No. I can still play, but it's me sandboxing now.

I feel like I've achieved all the heights this game has to offer. When you think about it, it's pretty amazing that we continue to get more content 5 years on, and don't even have to pay for it. This is not something that can continue indefinitely. Eventually a creator has to say that it's time to wrap things up. I don't want new areas, I don't need new villagers. The game feels finished.

Also, the community center opens 4 areas. Ginger Island is not possible otherwise.

 

[LRangerR]

It's a capstone.

Capstones are overrated. Also pyramids.

And honestly, the game was a sandbox game at it's core anyways. I personally think that achievements have kinda ruined gamers in the last 10 years or so, and I'd actually be happy if the CC/Joja thing wasn't there, as well as all the achievements (the hatmaus can find a different way to give you hats pokey). I do understand Lew's argument in favor of the CC, but it still feels a bit hand-holdy for a sandbox game.

Next you'll say that completing the community center is also in opposition to the nature of the game.

Maybe not her, but I will. :P

But now we have an unofficial and very grindy goal. We are all mildly suggested, pushed, pulled, nudged, tripped, and generally bamboozled towards The Same Goal. You might choose to ignore it and carry on, but then you also choose not to open up a tease which has been at the very core of SDV for 5 years now, sitting at top of the map like a pigeon staring down at you, readying its aim.

In contrast, Harvest Moon was purely a sandbox game that ended at Year 3. No bundles, achievements, parrots. You were just grandpa scored after 3 long years of keeping those damn wild dogs away from your chickens and luring your cows into a trap box known as a barn. There wasn't even any reward for getting best grandpa score, you just did it. This is pretty much the difference between games of yesteryear and modern games. I could get deep into the psychology behind it, but i'll leave it at simple intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors. And at the end of the day, it's either you playing the game, or the game playing you.

On the other hand, if you do go through with all of that, I suppose a Statue, an Achievement, and a Golden Plaque in the Town Center might seem to be a bit of a letdown, so unlocking a new location is perhaps the only reward big enough to match the size of the task.

And one could argue that it's STILL not worth it.

I will never get it as I feel it's exists in opposition to the nature of the game.

In short: this ^

The only way I'd get it is if i was in a co-op farm, but it's so hard to find decent players.

You never watched the cutscene for achieving perfection, I'd guess. It's not so much about opening a new location. It's also about giving an ending.

Just watched on youtube. Definitely overrated. Also, too many parrots. Now i'm even less motivated to be perfect.

 

[Odin]

I still haven't achieved perfection on my main save, it's mostly 1.5 things I haven't done yet. My main save is currently on spring of year 8, so I'm certainly not going to be getting a "best time" for reaching perfection. But I've been playing this save since I bought the game and so I've put in many hours on it beyond just working on the game's main goals.

 

[Salty1]

I did it just to do it, and oddly enough the last thing I needed to do was make fiddlehead risotto since I hadn't had any ferns saved and none showed up on the traveling cart for me.

I definitely enjoyed it! But, I don't think I will intentionally go out of my way again. I just used the save that was closest to the end-goal already (got the golden clock previously and everything). I enjoy the game more when I make niche specialty farms and the summit basically encourages you to do the little-of-everything farm only. That's fine if that's what you want, but I'd rather just play my own way now.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Perfection is a thing often sought but never truly achieved.

My problem with the 1.5 content is that it isn't challenging, it isn't interesting, it's purely grind. The sort of boring pointless grind that devs have often falsely equated with 'content' to pad out the 'hours of enjoyment' that marketing often cites as a selling point.

I've never liked Mr. Qi in this game, his presence has always been jarring to me. His attitude to the farmer has always been egotistically superior. He always calls you 'kid', despite being a grown adult with a spouse and children. He keeps 'challenging' you with petty tasks despite being a rather busy individual making over five million per season and wildly successful by any measure. His condescending and arrogant nature has always rubbed me the wrong way. But this got dialed up to 11 for the 1.5 content. To the point where I went from 'apathetic to the point of rarely bothering to unlock his casino simply because I can't be encouraged to care enough about it' to 'actively disliking the fellow for trying to tell me how to run my business'.

Bluntly... I will never bother with the vast majority of the 1.5 content simply because Mr. Qi's attitude actively discourgages me from ever bothering with it. I simply do not care what 'reward' is being dangled, whatever it is, it isn't worth it. There is no carrot juicy enough to encourage me to deal with his bull-spit.

 

[LRangerR]

Perfection is a thing often sought but never truly achieved.

My problem with the 1.5 content is that it isn't challenging, it isn't interesting, it's purely grind. The sort of boring pointless grind that devs have often falsely equated with 'content' to pad out the 'hours of enjoyment' that marketing often cites as a selling point.

I've never liked Mr. Qi in this game, his presence has always been jarring to me. His attitude to the farmer has always been egotistically superior. He always calls you 'kid', despite being a grown adult with a spouse and children. He keeps 'challenging' you with petty tasks despite being a rather busy individual making over five million per season and wildly successful by any measure. His condescending and arrogant nature has always rubbed me the wrong way. But this got dialed up to 11 for the 1.5 content. To the point where I went from 'apathetic to the point of rarely bothering to unlock his casino simply because I can't be encouraged to care enough about it' to 'actively disliking the fellow for trying to tell me how to run my business'.

Bluntly... I will never bother with the vast majority of the 1.5 content simply because Mr. Qi's attitude actively discourgages me from ever bothering with it. I simply do not care what 'reward' is being dangled, whatever it is, it isn't worth it. There is no carrot juicy enough to encourage me to deal with his bull-spit.

I didn't know quite how to sum up my feelings about 1.5 but this pretty much hits the nail on the head for me.

 

[tomaO2]

*sighs*

Not sure how a thread asking for your stories of achieving perfection became, "why I hate update 1.5". I don't even think talking about 1.5 grind is really fair (other than the auto-petter). Most of the new content is done before you even get to Qi's room. You can have perfection mostly accomplished before even going to Ginger Island.

Can we possibly stay on topic? Like, if you want to make a thread bashing 1.5, or the game in general, be my guest, but I'd rather not have my thread turned into that.

 

[LRangerR]

Can we possibly stay on topic?

We are on topic. We're talking about how we'll never achieve perfection, and why, instead of when.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

*sighs*

Not sure how a thread asking for your stories of achieving perfection became, "why I hate update 1.5". I don't even think talking about 1.5 grind is really fair (other than the auto-petter). Most of the new content is done before you even get to Qi's room. You can have perfection mostly accomplished before even going to Ginger Island.

Can we possibly stay on topic? Like, if you want to make a thread bashing 1.5, or the game in general, be my guest, but I'd rather not have my thread turned into that.

You cannot achieve Perfection without getting into Qi's room and his endless grind. So to your question 'when will you achieve' the answer is 'never, for this reason'. However, if you want an even more on-topic rant, then I've got just the one for you, my friend!

Everything the Perfection quest asks for is pure grind. Ship one of everything, make one of everything, catch every fish, cook every recipe (which means obtaining every recipe which means it isn't even obtainable before the end of Y2), max hearts with everyone, find all the walnuts... it's a boring pointless grind for the sake of boring pointless grind. And in many cases, directly counterproductive to actually playing the game.

The problem is that you have all these optional things you can do if you feel like it, included with the knowledge that not everyone is into it, and very very few people will ever do them all. Now suddenly they aren't optional anymore if you want access to actual content. Which is lazy coding at its worst. Let's take a look at the numbers, shall we? This is from the Steam Achievements page, which granted isn't the entire userbase, but is a large enough percentage to be representative for our back-of-napkin calculations.

Many of these 'perfection' milestones are already achievements, which makes the numbers easy to look at:

* Master of Five Ways (getting skill 10 in all skills): 9.7%
* Legend (earn 10 million gold) isn't exactly getting the golden clock, but that is the price tag on said clock, so we can give the benefit of the doubt and use it as a stand-in: 5.4%
* Full Shipment: 2.9%
* Master Angler: 2.9%
* Protector of the Valley: 2.5%
* Gourmet Chef: 1.5%
* Mystery of the Stardrops: 1.3%
* Craft Master: 1.1%

So you took all these achievements, and made them mandatory to unlock additional content. You took the second rarest achievement (second only to Fector's Challenge) and locked content behind it!

So congratulations, to that likely less than 1% of all players (since one must have ALL of them, not just any given one) who are able to achieve Perfection. And these are the stats at least a month after the 1.5 launch, which likely encouraged at least some people to go through and complete them just to see what happens when you do.

This is poor game design at its worst, locking content behind pointless achievements that 99% of the player base will never see.

There, is that on-topic enough for you?

 

[Akemisora]

I got true perfection on Summer 25th, Year 4. Could be faster if that snake vertebrae didn't delay me. Because of it, I couldn't craft ostrich incubator.