Very good to all video game lovers and yes, despite how archaic this game is, so far I gave it a chance.
I would add that many of my friends used to ask me to play it, but I would always get my body out of it by saying No to the game due to time constraints.
I am a fan of farm emulator games, since Harvest moon of super nintendo, playstation 1, ps2, Nintendo Ds and Nintendo wii, but I haven't played the Nintendo Switch one yet.
So starting from that fact I gave myself the task of playing it, and my analysis will be from the approach of my experience seeing what things are good or not so good in this game called Stardew Valley.
Undeniably the initial space of the farm that gives us this game is huge, has very large dimensions, although it is somewhat invaded by trees, but it is assumed that they are for that (to cut them and get wood).
A super favorable data is the player's energy, as it has enough and not easily fatigued, and it is also unlocked from the beginning "the thermal baths", where we can easily replenish energy before exploring the mines.
Another positive point is that we can advance walking on our crops... and yes, compared to harvest moon (we always lost a central square because we could not access to irrigate them with water), so in this aspect we can cultivate large spaces without losing vegetables.
It is worth mentioning that the effect of using the scythe "only applies to pastures", so in this game we will not have any problem for accidentally cutting our crops.
Undoubtedly the first dilemma is that everything is excessively EXPENSIVE, that is, the seeds and products needed for the farm, ie literally worth an arm and a leg (starting in the game)
P.S. They think you are swimming in money when you start the game and they want to rip you off, XD.
Another rather annoying aspect is the excess of decorative real estate items for sale, which is literally a spam of items we don't want, because we are focused on buying the seeds and upgrading our tools and nothing else.
Another negative point is walking blindly in the dark inside the mines and on the way back home after sunset.
And it's no exaggeration, at the beginning as we don't have memorized the map from the village to the farm, walking at night is a total pain as we have to zigzag a long stretch of road blindly.
I should point out that when we can finally build a torch from inventory, we are really disappointed because it is an object that we throw on the ground and not something that we can carry in the Indiana Jones style exploring caves.
P.S.: after going down about 120 levels in the mine "is when we finally get a ring of light", which allows us to slightly illuminate the character, but as always "it is an item too late" that brings little or nothing after suffering all the time walking blindly.
And then I left the most annoying issue for the end, the fishing system... initially it is quite uncomfortable to control, that is, in the version to play from phone and touch it is quite difficult to catch fish, because (the 1st fishing tutorial of the game is easy), but from there on and with the fishing rod that you are given, literally the fish will escape for having many things against.
I clarify that despite all the negative, "because they are temporary bumps that you will gradually overcome", as well as overcoming the fishing system that can be mastered with the necessary items.
The first thing you should do is to improve as soon as possible the tools you will need, in this case the pickaxe to break rocks
At the beginning of the game you will have few seeds, use your watering can and you must go straight to the mines and extract material from the rocks until sunset (5:30 pm) and then return your farm... being there you can cut trees in the dark until 1 am and go to sleep. Then you must repeat this mechanic to take advantage of the day in the game.
And yes, I know it is labor exploitation but you must do it, because going to sleep at 7 PM is a total waste of game and materials that you must necessarily accumulate to manufacture items later.
For the improvements you will need 5 copper ingots, and for each ingot you need 5 pieces of copper, little by little they will change the material and each time it will go up in price, which makes the game somewhat monotonous, because 90% of your day will be digging rock in the mines and the other 10% watering your small crop in your farm in the mornings.
Once you have upgraded your pickaxe tool to "metal or gold" material, you must start doing the same by repeating the process of making the ingots and money for the next tool which is the axe. For 90% of the things you will make require (wood), so you must now cut down as many trees as you can both within your farm and in the surrounding areas of the game.
As I have already played harvest moon, I know in advance that before the winter starts you must build the farmyard and buy chickens, because the crops will freeze and you will not be able to plant anything.
other gadgets will help you to make more profit in winter, such as machines to make mayonnaise and cheese from eggs and milk, as well as wooden barrels where we can make fruit jams by putting some product inside them.
Well in comparison this is the wall that 99% of Stardew Valley players will face...and I clarify that not overcoming this bump can make you give up playing it, so to overcome it, you must completely forget about your initial rod and go quickly to the port area and buy a training rod for 25 money.
I must be direct in saying that the first rod is too sensitive, but this one (the training rod) that you acquire will allow you to have better control and gain points.
It also influences a lot that before going out to fish, you look at your TV in your cabin (the luck that the fortune teller predicts), "if it is favorable, they will bite faster" and if it is not, then the fish will flee.
Another important fact is that no matter if you caught garbage while fishing, you must add the items you caught in the basket of products in your farm to sell them, so that at the end of the day you get more points for fishing. So do not save neither the garbage, nor the fish, because you must quickly raise these skills to unlock more items so that the fish do not struggle so much.
To fish you need to chase your target without letting it escape from the small green rectangular area where the fish is, (on the left side), no matter if you are at the bottom or in the middle of the depth.
And wait until the green bar on the (right) side rises completely.
To do this you must make a continuous pressure as if you were typing morse code, that is to say, to chase the fish that goes up "press 2 to 3 times continuously"... (to retain it inside the green rectangle that is the zone of the fish, you must maintain pressed without releasing the screen), if the fish sinks to the bottom, do not press anything and waits until the (rectangle arrives to the bottom of the well by itself), once the fish is again in the zone of capture, press 3 times quickly to follow it...and if it is in the zone of catch, maintain held are to release.
So it reminds me quite a bit of Morse code, as you must continually make small intermittent and sustained taps for that purpose.
It is important to clarify that it does not matter if the fish is at the bottom or in the middle, the important thing is to keep it in that rectangular area without letting it out, because everybody thinks that the objective is to throw the rod and bring it up to the surface visually.
That's why I add this detailed explanation to help you understand the fishing method.
Once you get 3 levels of fishing you can use fishing bait, which is the meat obtained from killing insects that you shred into smaller pieces. From this moment on you must stop using the practice fishing rod and go back to the initial one to get used to the sensitivity of the other rod.
Once you have mastered this one, buy the fiberglass fishing rod and repeat the process.
When you reach level 6 of fishing, more items will be unlocked, including the iridium rod (as well as fishing hooks and other items that will make things easier).
I recommend a hook that increases the area of the fish catch bar, because logically the idea is to make everything easier.
Returning to the game, there is a main objective which is to rebuild a building called civic center, usually you will be asked for an amount of products that you harvest from each season, so you must be attentive to (save some of these in the trunks that you make inside your hut). To gradually meet the proposed goals.
Undoubtedly try to go for 2 super necessary improvements
(enable the use of the mine lines) as wagons to go home or to town faster.
And then unlock the greenhouse, so you can grow whatever you want regardless of the weather outside or the season of the year your most favorable products that give profit or you need.
Logically there will be a challenge which is to rebuild an area of the civic center that is a collection of fish, and it is here where you must have learned to fish.
In general the fish are not that impossible to catch, they can be found in the river that runs through the village, the lakes above the village, below your farm and in the sea.
So eventually you will catch the fish, some will depend on the time of day, some are from 6 am to midnight, others will only come out from 2 pm to 2 am...and others are more specific and will only come out when it is raining all day.
Many times there is a street vendor that is located below your farm only on 2 days, which is Friday and Sunday...and among his random items you may find a fish from the list, so I recommend visiting him to discard fish and not to resort to take them out in the normal way.
As I said the logical thing to do is to improve your items by mining, then create the chicken coops and stables, as well as the silos to put the hay that you collect from the pastures or buy from the store below.
Followed by learning how to fish in the right way.
Once you have a daily production of vegetables, cheese, mayonnaise, fruit pickles, liquors and fabrics with the animal wool, acquiring money will be the least of your problems, as you can make between 10,000 to 20,000 a day without any worries.
I say this in case you have to fix the safe at the civic center with donations of 40k in cash and unlock the bus.
undoubtedly the only bad thing about the game is the graphics of the NPCs (villagers), as they are not at all attractive as they do not have a decent quality of art (if they were anime or something more polished there would be no complaint).
I'm not saying it's better than harvest moon, because it's not and never will be, but if you like creating farms and have fun with the mechanics of it, it might entertain you temporarily.
I must say that in my case, being someone more analytical and with experience in farm games, the truth is that Stardew Valley seemed to me super monotonous, because as I said, you must be more in the mines than in the farm (it is mandatory), especially also at the end, when you go "to the skull cave" in the desert, because there is no elevator to return and try another day later. Well, you must create a ladder with (99 pieces of rocks), so if you go down 100 levels, multiply this and you will know that you must carry more than 10,000 rocks to pass the mission.
That's why I think it should have had a title instead of farmer, something about miner. Since unfortunately you are forced to mine rock for everything and for the whole game.
Well, this is my general criticism, but if you like the game as you are playing it, then enjoy it.
P.S.: Harvest moon exists and it's better, so stop playing fan-made pirate titles and stick to the tasty stuff. XD
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the screenshots and gif were made by me on the game
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