General Stardew Valley Appreciation

[rosemary]

Hi there

Just call me Rosemary. I am sort of a farmer in real-life, so naturally was drawn to this game.

I began playing Stardew a week ago exactly, and never have I been so blown away and captivated by a game (Who am I..? Does not matter I suppose. But still true.). Much respect to Eric for sticking to his guns and creating this thing from the ground up all on his own (and his supporters, naturally). Every moment in the game is truly special, the soundtrack is beautiful and captures the essence of the game wonderfully. Every element is so smartly and thoughtfully made... creating a truly immersive experience. Additionally, it is cool to check out the development over the years on YouTube and see the improvement. I am rambling now. I love this game.

Is it just me... or does Stardew have something that most other games do not? I cannot put my finger on it.

 

[FarmerLaura]

I love this game too. Been binge playing it ever since my daughter gave it to me for Christmas. For me it combines all the things I love in real life...growing things, animals, strategic planning and financial planning, and challenging myself in general.

 

[x_mermaidhayley_x]

I agree such a well made game!!

 

[Chaya7]

I'm on my 6th game. I began playing Stardew Valley soon after it was first released. I grew up on an island; we had a large garden, a small orchard, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, cows, a horse, and of course dogs and cats. After awhile my mother had to go to work - but until then, she baked our bread, canned, and made preserves, jams, butter, and cottage cheese. We kids worked in the garden, cleared Scotch broom and brambles with a machete every year, fed the animals, cleaned stalls, and roamed the countryside picking berries.

CA is from the town just south of my island. I lived in that town for years, and perhaps that makes the game dearer to me. But he managed to capture my small-town farm experience - in spite of the game's fantastic and fun elements - so well that I always find it comforting to return to the game - feeding, gathering, harvesting and so on.

It has to be said that the characters, to whom I've grown attached, do not resemble the characters on my island. Eric's characters are so much kinder, healthier, and more interesting. But that just makes his game even better.

Beyond the fact that the game brings up so many warm memories from my childhood, it is marvelously complex and complete. Another thread asks what changes we might like to see in the next version, and for the life of me I can't think of anything. One can spend the day fishing by a mountain river or on an ocean dock, listening to the waves while pulling up treasures from the salt water. One can spend the day puttering about the homestead, fashioning and harvesting. One can spend the day managing the forest, or rambling about the Cindersap woods, gathering mushrooms, flowers, and berries. Tired of all that greenery or snow or rain? Zip off to the warm, dry comfort of the desert. Bored? Scare up some company in the village and perform tasks to "help" villagers. Frustrated? Enter one of three mines to slay monsters and mine treasures. There is so much to do, and the list just goes on, with goals aplenty to be achieved.

Yes, Stardew Valley has something other games do not. I have looked repeatedly, but there is no other game out there that comes even close to measuring up to SDV. I think CA is brilliant.

 

[Looh]

I've been following Eric and the development of Stardew Valley through his dev update blog posts for a couple of years before the release. (You can go back in time in the SV blog and see how things used to look like before release. I don't really know why i initially followed the blog since at the time (2013/2014) i haven't really been into such games. I've never played Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon, not even after SV. So there was almost no reason for me to keep an eye on this project. But somehow i did, and i've been reading the blog posts and was getting quite excited.

In January 2016, SV got announced to be released on Steam in february. And it was a no-brainer for me at that time. Once it was released, i bought it and got into it. And without a doubt it was the best game i've ever played, even to this date. This innocent little farming game that i followed for a couple of years, got released and it was so much more than just a farming game. SV really hit different. Playing Stardew on release day for hours and hours, really felt like something special. I can't really describe why since it's been four years now, but in those four years i've played a lot of other games and all of them didn't even got close to what Stardew Valley has achieved when it comes to the feeling you have while playing it. Everything's just perfect, the calmness of the game itself, the characters, the relationships you can establish, the farming aspect, taking care of your crops and animals, and the almost endless amount of depth to it... It's just beautiful.

While i was playing through the seasons and years of my first playthrough I felt the urge to get into gardening in real life. And so I started to inform myself on how to grow tomatoes and in March 2016 i got some seeds and got this journey started. Now, 4 years later i'm still using the seeds of my first tomato plant (which I've called Stardew Tomato by the way...) to plant some new ones every spring. I even started growing strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb and much more. Name another game that does that to you?

Stardew Valley is really something special. And everytime i convince a friend of mine to try it out, they fall in love with it as well.

So if you haven't played it yet, you should do so. Trust me.

 

[Bananapaws]

I never get over looking at all the stuff that came with the base game and thinking "ONE person did all of this. Everything." It still boggles my mind. As does the fact that CA has kept the price low and never charged for any of his updates. I've been a fan of Harvest Moon for a long time, but there were some thing that I didn't really enjoy, and bless him, CA fixed them in Stardew Valley. These characters had real, adult problems. They were flawed. They had bad habits. They felt alive. If my female farmer thought Abigail was cute, she could make a play for her. It was like HM suddenly grew up, and I like SDV much better.