Stardew Valley

[Zarathud]

My kids and I are playing. The time keeps things varied, and the kids can keep track of it all. They finish everything they want to do in plenty of time — I’m always the one getting in just one more thing.

[wonderpug]

Is my hyperbolic assertion about it being top of class in this genre wrong? (Serious q).

Nope! You've got it right. Harvest Moon was fantastic in its early incarnations but it kind of lost its way over time. After one of those stupid intellectual property rights battle, Story of Seasons is now the continuation of what Harvest Moon used to be, and the new Harvest Moons suck.

Rune Factory I've heard is ok if you like more combat, and I've heard good things about Graveyard Keeper but haven't played it.

Stardew Valley is the new king, though. It took the best parts of the old Harvest Moons and made them better.

[Paingod]

I've heard good things about Graveyard Keeper but haven't played it.

I gave it a whirl but it didn't grip me the way Stardew Valley did. I felt like I was under more time pressure to accomplish everything, so it felt less relaxed and fun and a little more like work.

Stardew Valley is the new king, though. It took the best parts of the old Harvest Moons and made them better.

Indeed!

I played Harvest Moon in ages past, and again as an emulated game. A couple different versions, too, I think. Stardew Valley takes the recipe and dials it up to 12. My longest play was maybe ~24 months in-game time and I still hadn't managed to do everything.

[Hipolito]

I bought an iPad recently and it came with 3 months of Apple Arcade, so I've been trying games on that service. Stardew Valley happens to be one of them.

When I first delved into it, I saw the appeal, but wasn't sure I wanted to get into all this farming, fishing, mining, etc. It just seemed too much. I then read this thread and saw how much you guys enjoyed this game, so I tried it again.

And boom, it clicked. I was playing this game obsessively. I made thousands of dollars (or whatever the currency is) in spring, got to level 10 in the mines, got better at fishing, and finished a few of the bundles. (I didn't get very far in relationships. Never give a girl hay.)

But I was letting this game take too much of my free time, too much of my head space. I needed to back off. Maybe I'll return to this game some other time, or a similar game like Graveyard Keeper. And when I do, I'll play it on PC; the controls on iPad aren't optimal.

It was brief, but I'll remember my time on Frogburp Farm with a dog named Soil.

[Carpet_pissr]

On reflection, I think I actually preferred Graveyard Keeper over Stardew Valley (finished them both).

SV was rated much higher in terms of reviews IIRC, but that could be due to GK pretty much copying the SV formula and putting it into a less…cutesy theme.

I also felt I had a lot more options to ‘solve’ problems in GK as opposed to pretty linear gameplay in SV.

For instance, I’m not sure I fished even once in GK, even though it could have been a pretty big part of the game. I hate fishing, so I appreciated that I could still progress w/o being forced to.

[hentzau]

So no love for the 1.6 update to Stardew?

I haven't actually played it the new content, but I am amazed a game getting content update FOR FREE 7 years from when it was released. I'm deep into another play through right now (my 6th or 7th) and will wait for the update to hit Xbox before playing. Also trying to avoid spoilers on the update, but my daughters and son are all starting new farms on 1.6 (my son doing a MP farm) so I know some things are bound to be spoiled.

Also, we are so into Stardew Valley here at Chateau Hentzau that my daughters and I went to see Stardew Valley: Festival of Seasons a couple of weeks ago. The show was sold out so we ended up paying scalper's prices for the tickets. Man, that was great, to have the music that is so soaked into my gaming DNA performed live by the Chicago Philharmonic.

[stessier]

My daughter has spring break this week and has spent a minimum of 6 hours a day playing. She says the changes are pretty great.

[hentzau]

My daughter has spring break this week and has spent a minimum of 6 hours a day playing. She says the changes are pretty great.

I did see a brief segment about some of the quality of life improvements in the game. I'm really anxious to try them out, but I want to finish at least year 3 of my current farm. Well, and I would really prefer to play it on the Xbox. I have it on PC and could hook it up to my TV, but I'm cantankerous.