How do you avoid stress/burnout?

RykerNightshard

RykerNightshard

Tiller
I've been avoiding Stardew for a bit, mainly because ever since I unlocked Ginger Island, I've been feeling really rushed, I have to check my cellar, check the luck, check my fields, check the greenhouse, check if it's someone's birthday, check my animals, fix that path the weeds broke, check my slimes, check my statue of perfection, check the weather, see if it's worth it to make a skull cavern run, go to Ginger Island, get materials, see if there's a good Qi Quest... There's so much to it all, and it's hard to do in just 15 minutes, especially when material hunting takes up most of the day, especially cinder shards, Iridium, and prismatic shards. And also making sure all my check-ins are on time. And harvesting my crops, checking my kegs, my fish ponds, my preserve jars, my mushroom logs...
 
Magically Clueless

Magically Clueless

Administrator
Staff member
Well the biggest thing to avoid burnout is to just take a break and stop playing for a bit. But another big thing is, if you're not having fun doing something, then just don't do it. For me, I do have a little list of dailies I do in a day (so it'd be talk to/gift spouse, pat my children on the head, pat my pets and animals, make sure everyone's fed, interact with my statues and do all my crops) and then after that i just decide the main one thing i want to do that day, or if i just want to wander around and do whatever

ginger island isn't really meant to be visited every single day, at least not how i see it. like, you should dedicate your day to ginger island if you want to go to the volcano or do stuff there and try to not worry about anything else. it's easier to visit ginger island more when you have a bunch of totems or you have the obelisk, but even still, it's okay if you don't do anything on the island for a while

if you feel your list of dailies is too long or you're not having fun with them, maybe you can sell off whatever thing you don't want to deal with. just sell your animals if you don't want to keep taking care of them, you can always buy more later. don't plant crops next season so you can focus more on other stuff. let your logs and ponds sit if you think they're taking too much out of your day. i think it's important to remember that the game goes at YOUR pace, and if you want it to be intense, it will be, but similarly if you want it to be slow, it will be that as well
 
Lew Zealand

Lew Zealand

Helper
Check less. Wayyyyyy less. What I do is not terribly different than Magically Clueless.

Inside:
Kiss :emily: spouse, nudge the TV and daily statues. House is too big to find the rugrats but I'll pet them if they're around. Cellar only needs checking on Spring and Fall 17th. Or maybe 13th? Meh I forget.

Talk to :emily: spouse between 11am-1pm to get different dialog. Talk to :emily: spouse ~6pm-9:50pm to get more different dialog.

Outside:
There's an indicator Keg and Jar. If they're pulsing away processing, everything else can be ignored. Everything. If they're ready, swap some Fruit in and sell the wine/jelly, a morning's work twice a week. If they're ready in the evening, ignore and do it tomorrow morning.

Check the Greenhouse every 2-3 days because I like the color of the Fruit Trees. Coop and Barn doors are left open and I have enough Farm Grass for animals to feed themselves. Check inside Coop and Barn once a week. Egg thingy and Cheez thingy are inside so I never see them unless I have nothing else to do: if it's 10:30pm one day and I'm out of do-things, I'll grab some Cheez and Mayo. Those machines process in a few hours. I check them maybe once a week.

Because I don't need money for anything.

If you need money for anything then I recommend doing ONLY ONE THING… OK or maybe two. When I needed
10,000,000g for the Ugly Clock, I grew ~190 of a single seasonal crop on the Farm (Rhubarb, Starfruit, Pumpkin) and Jarred and Kegged those to sell. Same went for the Ancient Fruit in the Greenhouse. That's it. 2 work mornings a week and in 3 seasons I had all the g. I occasionally ran out of those crops and just stuffed Pineapples and Tree Fruit I'd accumulated to fill the empty machines. That was not a lot of effort.

I check Ginger once or twice a week, it's mostly Tree Fruit now so its value is in the colors, not the gathering.

This leaves me with many empty days to do Fun Things, in order of importance:

:sandy: Sandy's Birthday
Festivals
Qi Quest Skull Cavern run (for fun not profit)
Qi Quest Mine run (for fun not profit)
Volcano run (for fun not profit)
Lucky Day Skull Cavern run for Treasure Rooms (for treeeeeaaaayyyyyzzzzhhhurrrrrrreee!
)

and more recently:
relatively Lucky Day Ginger Beach Treasure Totem Buried Pirate Treasure Dig for Rare Shirts and Golden Coconuts

That needs a more concise name. Hmmm…

Bobbi's Beach Coco Bongo


mmm, much better.
 
Last edited:
Mango Choo-choo

Mango Choo-choo

Farmer
I am not sure if you have played Persona5. It is a calendar related RPG game, if you don't refer to the Wiki, you will probably miss a lot of important activities. That made me anxious then I finally gave up playing this game. So does Stardew Valley. If you miss something, sometimes you need to wait for another year to get it. Therefore, my suggestion is to check the Wiki beforehand frequently to make sure you don't miss anything crucial. And you can watch some videos about how to expedite your process to achieve some progressive milestones. I watched a lot videos which taught me how to be smoothier in early game to improve my gameplay experience.

In a nutshell, learn more and enrich your skills playing the game, you will be stronger and unhurried in late game. No muss no fuss.
 
Lucky Demos

Lucky Demos

Farmhand
Well, I'm taking a break currently. I was on here today to see notifications and saw this. I've been taking a break from here too, to focus on grades and school, I play the violin so I have to focus on that too. (My math grade is extremely bad, I have a 87...) I would recommend making a list of the things you HAVE to do if they are seasonal, if not, put them off for a little and focus on one thing at a time. You got this Ryker!

(P.s, I'll be back on the 20th lol!)
(P.p.s, who's excited for Halloween???)
 
Nonak

Nonak

Farmhand
I found that using mods like automate for processing machines and ui info suit for luck/queen of sauce/birthdays really helps, since I don't waste time collecting/filling up the machines I have more time to do the fun stuff and I don't have to worry about missing something, as I can check it anywhere anytime. But if you want to keep it vanilla, you can put one keg/jar near your farmhouse so u can see where the rest of them is ready so you don't have to check them every day.
 
MogBeoulve

MogBeoulve

Local Legend
You will always get another chance to do stuff in this game, so I never prioritize doing every single thing every day. If there is something I want to do every day, like hug Krobus or pet all my rabbits, I will do it - but I know that I do not HAVE to. You can skip a lot of daily chores with no real impact on anything except maximum efficiency. My barn animals get checked once or twice a week and they've never managed to lose a heart. The one coop I have of non-rabbits has its own autopetter, so I just collect eggs for sale. I'll pop eggs into the mayo machines while I am in there, but I'm not going to be stressed that I didn't maximize the gold output. There's no rush to purchase the gold clock, after all.

Ginger Island was something I did in bits and pieces. I didn't really start building the farm there in earnest until I had the obelisk so I could teleport back and forth on my own terms. I still don't have all the walnuts (according to the tracker in the room I am missing seven) and might never get them all. I have enough pressure to be perfect at my job.
 
Gridball Pom Queen

Gridball Pom Queen

Greenhorn
It sounds like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to play a certain way. The great thing about the game is the level of freedom you’re given. You can live like Linus and not care about the villagers’ social expectations or the built in challenges(community centre, ginger island) and the game still goes on. Move at your own pace decide what you like and don’t like. Write it down so you’re clear on how you want to play.

I also tend to rotate through different video games every few weeks, so things feel fresh when I come back. A lot of games have come and gone through that rotation, but I always end back up in the SDV because you can play differently every time :)
 
MogBeoulve

MogBeoulve

Local Legend
Lucky Demos said:
Well, I'm taking a break currently. I was on here today to see notifications and saw this. I've been taking a break from here too, to focus on grades and school, I play the violin so I have to focus on that too. (My math grade is extremely bad, I have a 87...) I would recommend making a list of the things you HAVE to do if they are seasonal, if not, put them off for a little and focus on one thing at a time. You got this Ryker!

(P.s, I'll be back on the 20th lol!)
(P.p.s, who's excited for Halloween???)
Click to expand...
Please don't feel bad about an 87. Do try to study and learn the material, because not understanding math can trip you up in a lot of ways, but try not succumb to the pressure to be academically perfect. And come back and play Stardew when you feel like it, not a moment before.
 
Jayamos

Jayamos

Farmer
I like thinking of the game as giving me options, not commands. And there really are too many options to do them all, so which do I want to do? As in life…
One way I manage it is to have different farms/saves/farmers with different priorities. So my first farmer was a terrible miner, but the current farmer loves mining. Both are bad at birthdays, but I have one planned who will prioritize friendship and birthdays (and given how my brain works, will likely still miss some). So eventually I get to try out lots of aspects of the game without getting overwhelmed.
I’ve just been avoiding Ginger Island…someday I’ll get to it!
 
Lew Zealand

Lew Zealand

Helper
Jayamos said:
I like thinking of the game as giving me options, not commands.
And there really are too many options to do them all, so which do I want to do?
Click to expand...
This is a perfect summation.

from the OP:

There's so much to it all, and it's hard to do in just 15 minutes
Click to expand...
Yes. You can't do it all so do the minimum you need and spend rest of your time doing fun stuff!
 
Jayamos

Jayamos

Farmer
My only daily must-do is drink espresso!

I was going to say “check luck,” but on Fridays I harvest and keg ancient fruit, so I never do a Skull Cavern run that day and any mining/fishing will be purely recreational. Once the animals have full hearts the farm can run itself for a couple of days, especially with Junimo huts and autograbbers. Slimes don’t appreciate me checking on them anyway, so they’re strictly on the “when I get around to it” list. I’m sure I could get more coffee beans if I checked daily or even had scheduled coffee harvest days, but I have enough coffee, so randomly checking a couple of days a week is fine. Etc.

This play style isn’t optimized for anything except my own enjoyment. I could see wanting more of a routine, or wanting to maximize harvests, or prevent weeds from spoiling a beautiful layout, or get to some goal as quickly as possible. But the game can be a nice sandbox for figuring out what you really like or find important, and how to leave the rest alone.

And, really, it’s all just a bunch of pixels in the end. Nothing bad will happen if you get it “wrong”, which is why I enjoy these pixels so much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top