Hello Ladies and Gents!Welcome to another fine 4th of July! Guess what I did in celebration of the holiday? I went and saw Independence Day Resurgence! I came after reading the reviews and whatnot, so I was fully prepared to expect the worst… my verdict? It is a terrible movie, but I will say that some of the action/sci-fi-y moments weren’t too bad. If the cast weren’t so lifeless, and if there weren’t so many gaping plot holes, it might have been an alright dumb action movie, or at least not as terrible as it was.Anyway, I am not posting today with the sole purpose of blasting IDR, seeing as there are plenty of critics doing that for me.
Over the last week and a half, I have been devoting myself to Stardew Valley, a purchase I acquired over the 2016 Steam Summer Sale. I am obviously a little late to the party, but I thought it would be fun to recap my experiences and state my overall impression of the game. For those who are unaware, Stardew Valley is a farming sim game; a game which is said to be inspired by Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing. Full disclosure, I haven’t played either game. I’ll be breaking this review/recap into two parts, year one and year two.
Year One
My first year within the game was an interesting one, I was reluctant to head straight to the wikis because I wanted to indulge in a truly honest and fresh-eyed experience, but I did crack eventually. I did not use my resources as resourcefully as I should have, instead choosing to waste my early days greeting the various villagers and spending my time idly fishing in the local lake. So I was not equipped with certain extremely helpful items until a couple seasons down the road. That said, I was immediately charmed by the atmosphere and artistic style of the game, in such that I wasted at least a day just strolling around the town, looking for all the secret areas I read about in other reviews. I started perusing my love interest towards the end of spring or the beginning of summer, by which time I had finally gained enough resources to acquire desirable gifts for my love. My biggest mistake in those early days was not prioritizing my crops, oftentimes I planted the bare minimum because I assumed that it was smarter to save my money instead of investing in more crops. For a while my crops were very meager, and I had to fight for every penny of my money. By the end of the first year, I had acquired enough money to start investing in farm buildings. I rushed an awful lot of development at the end of the first year, even though I didn’t quite have the budget to do so. Whatever I couldn’t quite cover with my polled resources, I cover with a bit of frantic fishing and desperate mining. Speaking of mining, I didn’t reach the bottom of the mines until about the end of Winter. By the end of the first year, I was just starting to catch up to where I should have been all along.
Year Two
Ok I’ll admit, at this point things were starting to become a little tedious, in part because I had been frantically scrambling to make up for resource shortage, and partly because I have zero sense of control. I had been playing this game non-stop for the last week, and the lack of good honest sleep was starting to wear me down. Despite my growing tedium, I had made significant progress, unlocking many community bundles and at least a few secret areas. At one point or another, I would find myself running to the lake or other fishing spot, because I had to get a certain fish, during a specific time slot, and during specific weather. I had also made significant progress in my courting of Alex, the somewhat irritating football-star wannabe. By the end of the second year, we we’re married and I was looking forward to have a child (provided that I upgrade my farmhouse to allow for a nursery). At about the halfway point for year two, I was at a point where I was finally enjoying a more comfortable income flow. I could make bigger purchases without worrying about breaking the bank. My gaming habits over the second year became a little more relaxed and I began appreciating the game a little more. By the end of the second year, I had unlocked the majority of buildable/upgradeable items and I was settling in as a farmer. The final bit of story plot happened on the first day of Spring of my third year, my grandfather’s ghost came back from the dead to rate my progress as a farmer. I don’t know all the possible responses, but I got the “You did a good job! Here’s a smiley face sticker, kid’ response. Not really, but that’s what it felt like, I certainly didn’t get the perfect response or the perfect reward statue.
Year Three
I’ve been playing past the second year for the sake of unlocking a few secret areas, and organizing my farm a little more to my liking. I also finally cleared my farm of wooded areas. While I can’t imagine investing too much more time in that particular saved game, I could imagine revisiting for the sake of completing the community center. I am ashamed to admit that I did not finish all the bundles in time, I could have but I ran out of materials for the friendship bundle (a bundle which I might need a whole another year to finish).
The actual review part :)
I like this game a lot, it fits nicely within the simulation genre, but it also has a compelling (if not somewhat threadbare) lore and backstory. Stardew Valley is very deep, there are so many secret areas, and secrets in general that you will have only scratched the surface by the end of your first year. Would this game appeal to everyone? Well it does according to the reviews, but I think that some people could get bored of it pretty fast. Stardew requires a lot resource mining, and it can get pretty tedious.
The 28+ villagers make remarkably entertaining characters, each with their own slight twist that make you want to get to know them better. You know how in games like Pokémon, the villagers would always have like one or two lines of dialogue, and they would just repeat them over and over if you continued to interact with them? Well the Stardew villagers are nothing like that (aside from a few exceptions), all of the characters have a limited amount of dialogue per day, and as your friendship grows deeper, the dialogue will reveal more of their character.
The price of the game is fair, and you get more than enough content for the price of 15 US dollars. The game was on sale up until 10 AM of July 4th, but it will certainly be on sale again (Steam Winter Sale!) I could go on and on about this game, but let me end with saying this, ConcernedApe put a lot of love into this game and it shows.
I want be to honest with you, and let you know what kind of commitment you’re getting yourself into with this game. I have logged 70+ hours with this game over the last couple of weeks.
Does this game have a lot of replay value?
I don’t know yet, I pretty much finished the storyline (except for that stupid Community Center part), but I could see myself playing it again, as a way to relieve stress or just enjoy the simple 2D nostalgia.
Just out of curiosity, any deals you all take advantage of this weekend?I saw a little blip about a big Xbox sale this week, quite a few big titles with some big discounts (around 50-75%).Anyway that was a recap of sorts, I hope you enjoyed and I wish everyone a safe and happy week.
*Side note- I realize that I was going to post a little mini-review, but then I didn't expect to get so swept up into the world of Stardew Valley. I believe I'll be posting a little somin' somin' later this week.
