Types of Playthroughs

[Giant Octopodes]

Simple enough concept, post any playthrough ideas you have so we can all draw inspiration from each other if anyone is looking to mix it up! I'll start with the lowest of the low hanging fruit:

Joja Playthrough - You go the Joja route, RPing as a Joja employee. Otherwise no special stipulations or limitations.

Plus some challenge ones I've done, in roughly order of difficulty imho:

Community Center or Bust! - Best done as a competition, the challenge is to see what is the lowest calendar day you can get the Community Center done. Optionally also with the Remix bundles, whether the folks competing against each other are or are not doing the same bundles may drastically influence fairness though.

Forgot my Hoe - You don't have a hoe. Bombs are your only means of digging up soil, which makes farming challenging, especially early on. You can also do Forgot my Axe, but Forgot my Pickaxe generally doesn't work.

Self Reliant - You don't shop anywhere. Anything you want, you need to craft, and all purchasable recipes are out. Note that this renders the Community Center unachievable unless you carve out exceptions for structures and animals (plus a sunflower seed and poppy seed) or go the Joja route. I personally carved out exceptions for those, plus tool upgrades, backpack upgrades, and a bean starter and blueberry seed. That was as hardcore as I wanted to go with it, but technically none of those things are needed to complete the community center.

Hunger Strike - You don't eat or drink, ever. Sleeping and the Spa are your only means of Energy Regeneration. Lew might enjoy it. The Skull Caverns are a challenge like this, to say the least. Objectively not the most challenging, but I found it the most challenging because it clashed so severely with my natural playstyle and inclinations. Gotta admit, didn't finish the community center with this one, couldn't do it.

What are some ones you've done, or ideas you have for one?

 

[Worblehat]

I've been noodling about what to do for my second game, since my first is winding down. One idea I've seen in a couple places (apologies, not sure who first mentioned it) is to not use the seed maker on ancient fruit, since that's such an obvious "I win" button. You'd still get a few plants from artifact drops, but would have to use other methods (starfruit, pineapple, pigs, fish ponds?) to make your money.

A more recent thought, partly inspired by imnvs today, would be to only or primarily use Mixed Seeds. The strict version would preclude CC completion, so I'd probably favor the lenient version, allowing purchased seeds just to the extent required to complete the CC. Likewise the treatment of "free" seeds (starting parsnips, museum rewards, pineapple seed drops, etc.) would be up to the player, and my initial inclination would be to allow them. Whether to allow the seed maker at all in this idea is still unclear to me, needs more pondering.

Given my intense dislike of SC, I've also considered a "no mining" idea. Again, potentially loosened to "minimal mining" since it would be nice to finish the museum collection, CC, and befriend . This would be a very expensive playthrough idea since almost all ores would have to be bought from .

I know some players hate fishing, so one could imagine a no fishing (or minimal fishing) playthrough, relying on the Traveling Cart, gifts in the mail, and trash to complete what one can of the CC. I have no intention of trying this; I don't especially like fishing, but only the handful of most difficult fish annoy me.

 

[Ereo]

Variation in the self-reliant one:
Foraging only. No buying seeds, and only buy one of each animal.
I allowed for buying seeds from the cart. It makes the CC hard to complete, since mixed seeds don't contain all needed plants. For added difficulty, no storage of perishables until I get a fridge.


Rancher: try to live of animals as your main income. I always allow a small garden to complete the CC, but no large fields.

Fish farm: I used a beach farm to fill with fish ponds.

Beekeeper: make honey your main source of income. I'd do huge fields of flower (as opposed to the one flower your bees actually need) for a bit of realism.

 

[BlaDe]

I keep a list of the challenges I have done in my signature.

My biggest one has been completing the CC on summer 2, and the missing bundle on summer 4 year 1.

I have done Rusty Key Spring 6, and marriage Spring 18.

I am starting a run tomorrow night which is marriage Spring 17.

I will be routing early museum completion at some point.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

The vegan playthrough- no fishing, no animals. You can't complete the community center this way, and of course can't get completion for cooking.
The cassanova- marry and divorce everyone. Fewer and fewer villagers attend your weddings or accept your gifts. May also be combined with dozens of doves.
Simple variations- different farm maps with their unique specialties. Forest farm, expert foraging, wild seeds, fruit bats, truffles. Wilderness farm, monster eradication, slime hutch, slingshot expertise. Even playing as male or female can give the game a different feel.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Simple enough concept, post any playthrough ideas you have so we can all draw inspiration from each other if anyone is looking to mix it up! I'll start with the lowest of the low hanging fruit:

<snipped lots of great ideas to skip to...>

Hunger Strike - You don't eat or drink, ever. Sleeping and the Spa are your only means of Energy Regeneration. Lew might enjoy it. The Skull Caverns are a challenge like this, to say the least. Objectively not the most challenging, but I found it the most challenging because it clashed so severely with my natural playstyle and inclinations. Gotta admit, didn't finish the community center with this one, couldn't do it.

What are some ones you've done, or ideas you have for one?

LOL!! My first playthrough was pretty much Hunger Strike, for at least the first year or two because if I was actually going to put the effort into Farming or Fishing something, then you bet your butt it was gonna be sold for g. What kind of a sucker businessperson just eats their profits? I even sold the Spring Onions and Salmonberries. OK, I donated stuff to the Community Center Bundles and Museum but only after buying the items I wanted (Backpack, etc.) and I was double sure I didn't need it anywhere else. Actually I rarely even sold stuff and just hoarded it in Chests 'cuz you never know when you'll need something. Yes I did have hamsters, gerbils and guinea pigs as pets when I was a kid. Rodents FTW!

So when I ran out of energy I just went to bed and started the next day fresh. Makes empirical sense. Apparently to me. I didn't even know that you didn't get all your Energy back if you went to bed after midnight as I never made it up that late until much later in the game.

I would *love* to have a record of the game so I could know what the first thing I ate was, and when. It was very likely a Seaweed as I remember stocking up on those for just this purpose as I felt I didn't need the 20g by the time I had a lot of them. Even the Field Snack was an extravagance and I only allowed myself to make those either much later in that game or in my second save.

Seriously, when (I think imnvs) suggested using Iridium Cheese as food for the Skull Cavern run, that was practically sacrilege. Just EAT something that sells for 644g?!?

Swoooonn.......

 

[Worblehat]

Just EAT something that sells for 644g?!?

I completely agree. I also find this concept of needing to eat to restore energy to be pretty bizarre. Early in the game, yeah, you run low on energy sometimes, but for the most part I agree that it simply means "time to go to bed" (or do something that doesn't cost energy, like storing things in chests). Once you have one or two stardrops, energy is a completely irrelevant stat. Yet I've seen several people talk about mid- to late-game situations and refer to restoring energy. Surely that's a typo and they meant restore health, right? What on Stardewvia are you people doing that can make a dent in an energy bar that's been expanded by multiple stardrops?!?

Eating to restore health, on the other hand, that's definitely a thing. Though I only do the cheap or special-purpose stuff. Initially Field Snacks, later iridium salmonberries, with Life Potions when I need big heals. Eating cheese (of any quality), buying salads to eat - madness!

only buy one of each animal.
I always allow a small garden to complete the CC, but no large fields

This combination is my normal playthrough. No storing perishables without a fridge is an interesting idea, I like it!

 

[goboking]

Simple variations- different farm maps with their unique specialties. Forest farm, expert foraging, wild seeds, fruit bats, truffles. Wilderness farm, monster eradication, slime hutch, slingshot expertise.

This is how I did it. I still did everything regardless of farm type, but I really leaned into whatever the farm type suggested (foraging on the forest farm, mining on the hilltop farm, etc). I even chose spouses based on map type. I never did do full-on flower/honey playthrough though...hmm, maybe on my next playthrough.

 

[CryogenCrystals]

I'm currently doing a no-wiki, straight-from-memory second play through... I love the idea of the hunger strike and no shopping run throughs, no shopping would be tough lol

 

[Worblehat]

Another thought for a playthrough: the Linus playthrough.

Everything you do, you do outdoors. So no barn, coop, sheds, house upgrades; you can restore the greenhouse as part of the CC process, but can't use it for anything. Hardcore Linus-mode would require passing out every single night, but my inclination would be to allow going into the farmhouse to sleep (you'll wake up there regardless).

Finishing the CC without animals would be very luck-dependent since so many very specific items would have to come from the Traveling Cart. As best I can tell, if I'd done this on my current save, CC completion would have been in late Fall Year 5 (rabbit's foot). Or one could go Joja, but that does not seem very Linus-y.

The specific inspiration for this idea was "Hmm. What if I had to lay out my kegs outdoors? How many lightning rods would I need to keep everything safe?" (Yeah, I know, you'd probably just put the kegs in the tunnel, not on the farm map... Effective solution, but boring!).

Linus-mode would be logical to combine with the no-shopping playthrough. And extending it to not entering people's houses (so you'd miss a lot of the heart cutscenes) or the saloon would make sense. I'd make an exception for the museum since that's one of my favorite places in town. Probably Clint too, otherwise you're stuck with basic tools and would need to unlock the geode crusher to do anything with geodes. And I'm not sure what the crusher would do if it opened the first geode of the game (crusher would be looking at index 0 on the geode list). Visiting Willy would probably be OK. We know Linus fishes, and you'll need to upgrade your pole. And you'd need to allow visiting the wizard to even attempt the CC.

To attempt to bring Dwarf Fortress levels of !!Fun!! to Stardew Valley, the Wilderness map would be the obvious choice.

 

[Tom]

The specific inspiration for this idea was "Hmm. What if I had to lay out my kegs outdoors? How many lightning rods would I need to keep everything safe?" (Yeah, I know, you'd probably just put the kegs in the tunnel, not on the farm map... Effective solution, but boring!).

FWIW, I do put my kegs on my farm outside (long N-S rows west of the greenhouse), and lightning doesn't bother them. The reason I do it is it's the easiest place for refills. I suppose the Desert is a close second, but it's still a second.

 

[Salty1]

Given my intense dislike of SC, I've also considered a "no mining" idea. Again, potentially loosened to "minimal mining" since it would be nice to finish the museum collection, CC, and befriend . This would be a very expensive playthrough idea since almost all ores would have to be bought from .

For a lighter flavor, do this while picking either the hills farm layout or four corners. You're allowed what little spawns in the tiny quarry areas, but you can't enter the mines/skull cavern/etc. If that sounds too mild, also combine this with Self Reliant - I did that once just to see how far I got after the first two years (got three candles lit). It's great if you'd like a more puttering pace and want to value every scrap you stumble upon.

 

[Tom]

I am winding down (getting tired of) a Sustainability (Vegetarian+) Playthrough. In a couple of ways, it hearkens back to my first play: no weapons or intentional killing (I do use the Scythe in self-defense sometimes; and I use bombs) and no drug use (coffee) or pushing (I'm thinking of you, Harvey. Yeah, and you too, Leah, Shane, and Pam). In addition, it adds: no fishing and no off-farm chopping. I am pretty sure it's impossible to befriend Dwarf (no Scroll loot). Since I forgot I can get Ancient Seed from the Seed Maker, I will probably play it a bit longer just to do that at least. One of my favorite challenges of this style is doing the Skull Cavern with no sword and minimal Staircases; that's fun for me, and I have plenty of glee with just the goodies on Floors 30-80.

Some unanswered ethical questions:

1. If I don't cook animals and fish, do I buy cooked items from the Traveling Cart? I think I decided this was nowhere near a Perfection Run anyway, so probably no.

By the way, this playthrough style has since infected my other play, a pacifist farmer running around with no killing or fishing. I just don't play SDV like I used to.

 

[Zen_the_Ogre]

Organic harvest. You are not allowed any store bought fertilizers or seeds. All seeds must come from seedmakers, mixed seeds or wild seeds. You can buy a grown plant from pig lady to put in your seedmakers. Trees can be purchased but are not allowed in green house.

 

[Honeywell]

An Only One Challenge. You can only craft one of each crafted item (with the exception of consumables like bait, tackle, elixirs etc.). You can build one of each building. You can only buy one of each fruit tree and animal. And you can only grow one of each crop at a time. So those 15 parsnips you get? You wouldn't be able to grow all of them in a single season.

You can have multiples of crafted items/fruit trees etc. if you get them as a drop, reward, from a treasure chest, golden coconut or buy them from Mr. Qi. You can grow unlimited basic trees, fiber and wild forage seeds. If you unlock the greenhouse and Ginger Island farm you can grow an additional "one of each crop" in those locations as well for a potential of up to 3 of the same crop growing at once.

Quest Exceptions: The only exception to the crop limit would be for Caroline's Island Ingredients, Lewis's 100 Crop Order and Qi's Crop quest. You can also craft up to 12 kegs for The Strong Stuff quest and keep using them once the quest is complete.

 

[Polaris]

The specific inspiration for this idea was "Hmm. What if I had to lay out my kegs outdoors? How many lightning rods would I need to keep everything safe?" (Yeah, I know, you'd probably just put the kegs in the tunnel, not on the farm map... Effective solution, but boring!).

I actually did this until 2 days ago, when I put all the kegs and preserves jar into a shed.. Took 3 lightning rods to keep all the kegs safe, and I never put one near the preserves (my bad).

 

[Ereo]

Placement of lightning rods has no impact on where lightning strikes.

If you have a good number on your farm, everything is pretty safe.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Placement of lightning rods has no impact on where lightning strikes.

If you have a good number on your farm, everything is pretty safe.

This has to be the case as I have always left my chests outside as well as all of my machines, and for a lot of time my Kegs and Preserves Jars were kept outside. But I usually get the Lightning Rod pretty quickly from whichever Bundle it is (Demetrius'?) and plop it onto the Farm, and as far as I know I haven't lost anything. Lol, or I haven't noticed which is totally likely! IMO Sheds are better for Preserves Jars and Kegs with one indicator of each outside to show when they're done, but I like to be able to see everything at once.

You can't plan how little to do each day if you don't know what doesn't need to be done.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Yeah I may or may not have 20+ lightning rods on my farm. Hey, there's no such thing as too safe!

An Only One Challenge. You can only craft one of each crafted item (with the exception of consumables like bait, tackle, elixirs etc.). You can build one of each building. You can only buy one of each fruit tree and animal. And you can only grow one of each crop at a time. So those 15 parsnips you get? You wouldn't be able to grow all of them in a single season.

You can have multiples of crafted items/fruit trees etc. if you get them as a drop, reward, from a treasure chest, golden coconut or buy them from Mr. Qi. You can grow unlimited basic trees, fiber and wild forage seeds. If you unlock the greenhouse and Ginger Island farm you can grow an additional "one of each crop" in those locations as well for a potential of up to 3 of the same crop growing at once.

Quest Exceptions: The only exception to the crop limit would be for Caroline's Island Ingredients, Lewis's 100 Crop Order and Qi's Crop quest. You can also craft up to 12 kegs for The Strong Stuff quest and keep using them once the quest is complete.

I would struggle HARD with this, assuming this applies to the chest as well. Sure, chest and stone chest are different items, and you'd have the fridge and mini fridge to work with, but frankly I'm way too much of a hoarder for that to be even close to enough.

 

[Worblehat]

If you have a good number on your farm, everything is pretty safe.

It's just not clear to me what "a good number" is, and whether it changes with time. Anecdotally, it feels like it does change with time. I used to have 3-4 rods and saw no damage during years 1-2, but in year 3 I started seeing gaps appear in my pathways, and sometimes a few random bits of wood slurped into my inventory making me think lightning hit a tree. So now I'm up to 7 rods, and will reevaluate when I next see a storm sometime in Year 4.

Honeywell - nice! I'd call that the Highlander Challenge ("There can be only one!"). Giant Octopodes, maybe pretend that each color of chest is "different"? But that feels like cheating...