Stardew Valley: A Spiritual 'Successor' to Harvest Moon

DaScorpion wrote:

Got a notice that an earthquake happened, but didn't noticed anything different around town. Did I miss something? lol.

Go north from town, past the house with the telescope. You can now go somewhere you could not before.

tboon wrote:
DaScorpion wrote:

Got a notice that an earthquake happened, but didn't noticed anything different around town. Did I miss something? lol.

Go north from town, past the house with the telescope. You can now go somewhere you could not before.

Ah, I see. I'll have to try that out next time I get on. Thanks!

Running out of health in the mines can be very bad for you. It happened to me twice, once after I found a wonderfully powerful sword. Ended up losing about 6k, and a ton of items from my inventory, including my sword. Ended up having to spend 9k on a replacement sword that wasn't nearly as powerful... :*(

trueheart78 wrote:

Running out of health in the mines can be very bad for you. It happened to me twice, once after I found a wonderfully powerful sword. Ended up losing about 6k, and a ton of items from my inventory, including my sword. Ended up having to spend 9k on a replacement sword that wasn't nearly as powerful... :*(

Dying in the mine is super-punishing for a casual game, IMO. The one time it happened to me, I just found it best to restart the entire day.

Speaking of the mine, I went in today to try to find an earth crystal for the mayo machine and because I was given a device that allows me to do something with minerals. I didn't really understand how the device worked, so I fed about 3 or 4 minerals into it, including the earth crystal, so needless to say (now that I do know how it works) I lost the earth crystal and will need to go back into the mine to look for another one. Oh well!

I thought earthquakes happened at the end of every winter to "reset" the farm each year. Interesting to know it actually does something else!

I've put in over 30 hours in this game and I'm barely through the beginning of winder in year 1. I honestly can't wait until spring, as the "water all the crops" part of my day should be taken over by my sprinklers, and I also understand the artisan aspect a lot better and which sells for a lot. Money has become much less of an issue once I realized how much I don't actually need to keep the stuff I make, aside from some presents.

I am having a lot of fun, but I think I am not a big fan of the socializing requirements. I am 5 stars with one townmate that is 'single', and 1 star for all the rest. The info required to properly please the Pelican Town population doesn't seem to be anywhere in the game, unless I am missing something.

Seems like the biggest boosts you get are from stumbling on one of their favoritest items and doing their quests from the bulletin and your mailbox.

They talk about the things they like pretty frequently. Linus (the homeless guy), for example is always talking about wild things. So pick up the season's foraging goodies right outside his tent and he's super happy. Its not his favoritest thing ever, but its the 2nd best response. I am up to 5 hearts with him just from handing him those and finding his basket for a mailbox quest.

Willy, the fisherman was pretty easy. I found a fish that its description says is quite rare. I gave it to him and he got the 'heart' response and had a unique reply about it.

Unless you're in some sort of huge hurry to get married, you don't need to worry about the social stuff too much. It will all come in time. I'm near the end of year two and I have people ranging from 0 hearts to 6 hearts and I just give people whatever I have on hand when I see them and I'll do the bulletin board quests whenever they seem convenient. I do at least always talk to anyone I pass too and I think that also stops hearts from decaying.

The social stuff is usually my least favorite thing in these type of games too, but if I'm in the game for the long term, whatever benefits to social will always come in time even if it's not as quick as those who focus on it.

I still don't even know who I will marry yet, though it will probably be either Elliot or Sam. (Wanted Demetrius, but he's already married.)

Finally found another iridium sprinkler for sale, so now I have two!

I've been giving everyone basic crops. The ones that grow in four days. Almost everyone likes those. The most important thing is their bday. A gift on that day is worth eight times as much.

master0 wrote:

I've been giving everyone basic crops. The ones that grow in four days. Almost everyone likes those. The most important thing is their bday. A gift on that day is worth eight times as much.

Yep, almost everyone like parsnips. It's a good idea to sort of carpet bomb everyone in town whenever you get access to a new item that you can find or grow yourself. These make for the best gifts because they don't cost much. You'll also find a lot of favourites this way.

trueheart78 wrote:

I am having a lot of fun, but I think I am not a big fan of the socializing requirements. I am 5 stars with one townmate that is 'single', and 1 star for all the rest. The info required to properly please the Pelican Town population doesn't seem to be anywhere in the game, unless I am missing something.

It's not super complicated once you get the basics down but it's still pretty dense because the game doesn't track any of that information for you. In my experience, you can divide items into specific gifting categories, here are some tips:

- Villagers have different dialogue depending if they like an item, like an item a lot, or it's their favourite. Favourite items make a little heart symbol above them. Sometimes you get tips about these from talking with other NPCs, it's best to keep notes.
- Gifts can be divided into certain broad categories: Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, Cooked Food and Gems. These items are near universally liked by the NPCs, but there will always be some exceptions. Other categories include Fish, Foraged items and Artisan goods like animal products. These are a bit more hit/miss with the NPCs but there are still some favourites in there.
- Fruits, vegetables and flowers are easily renewable resources and make for steady seasonal gifts while you figure out people's favourites.
- Items for fetch quests do NOT always match the preferences of the NPC who post them. Jodi hates cola for instance but asked me to bring her one anyway. (after spending all day looking for her I eventually found her... in the Jojomart. sigh)
- When you become better friends with NPCs they tend to drop hints about other NPCs favourites and the items they hate.

Tamren wrote:

- Items for fetch quests do NOT always match the preferences of the NPC who post them. Jodi hates cola for instance but asked me to bring her one anyway. (after spending all day looking for her I eventually found her... in the Jojomart. sigh)

She was in there buying it for Sam.

Tamren wrote:

Yep, almost everyone like parsnips. It's a good idea to sort of carpet bomb everyone in town whenever you get access to a new item that you can find or grow yourself. These make for the best gifts because they don't cost much. You'll also find a lot of favourites this way.

Hops works well for that too and seems like you can harvest it almost every day once it starts producing. That makes it very practical, carry a stack around and it doesnt eat in to your resources much otherwise.

bekkilyn wrote:

I still don't even know who I will marry yet, though it will probably be either Elliot or Sam. (Wanted Demetrius, but he's already married.)

Both my partner and I are playing this and we've both noted how poor the male romance choices appear to be. Not sure that the women have that much dimension either (at first glance) but the guys just seem so lame... well except for the rumpled Doctor.

Tyops wrote:

Both my partner and I are playing this and we've both noted how poor the male romance choices appear to be. Not sure that the women have that much dimension either (at first glance) but the guys just seem so lame... well except for the rumpled Doctor.

The marriageable men are atrocious indeed. I was open to romancing either gender and I really struggled to find anyone worth my time. I settled on Leah cause she was introverted and artsy. However, I got her to 6 hearts and she showed up at my doorstep with a HIDEOUS statue. I wish I could have rejected it and told her to never talk to me again.

Maybe I'll just be alone...with my hundreds of thousands of dollars.

_Free_ wrote:

The marriageable men are atrocious indeed. I was open to romancing either gender and I really struggled to find anyone worth my time. I settled on Leah cause she was introverted and artsy. However, I got her to 6 hearts and she showed up at my doorstep with a HIDEOUS statue. I wish I could have rejected it and told her to never talk to me again.

Of interest... I think Leah, Eliott, Harvey (the doctor) are the only seemly adult and independent romance options (and maybe Penny?). All the other ones seem pretty young and living with their parents... which might be really creepy.

Tyops wrote:

Of interest... I think Leah, Eliott, Harvey (the doctor) are the only seemly adult and independent romance options (and maybe Penny?). All the other ones seem pretty young and living with their parents... which might be really creepy.

I might have considered Harvey, but I really, really, really don't like that mustache. Superficial I know, but looks do count to some degree.

Personalities aside, Haley and Alex remind me of Mjoll and Aerin in Skyrim. Seems like if you take one, you'll end up getting the other. Haley even asked me to tell Alex "hi" for her the other day.

Haley can jump in a lake. She is just the worst.

While they might seem really shallow with limited contact, all of the candidates have hidden depths when you get to know them a little better. (some more than others). Though the game does suffer from lack of dialog after a while.

Spoiler:

Harvey for instance is a history nerd who likes warplane models and eats an awful lot of microwave food despite preaching a healthy diet. I guess his clinic isn't doing so well financially? I also came out of the mines one rainy night and had a nice moment with Abigail.

Once you get hearts up to 6 or 8 you start getting events that show you how these people really tick as well as some of the missing backstory.

Tyops wrote:
_Free_ wrote:

The marriageable men are atrocious indeed. I was open to romancing either gender and I really struggled to find anyone worth my time. I settled on Leah cause she was introverted and artsy. However, I got her to 6 hearts and she showed up at my doorstep with a HIDEOUS statue. I wish I could have rejected it and told her to never talk to me again.

Of interest... I think Leah, Eliott, Harvey (the doctor) are the only seemly adult and independent romance options (and maybe Penny?). All the other ones seem pretty young and living with their parents... which might be really creepy.

Penny works as the unofficial town school teacher, and Maru has a job working for Harvey. I don't think that Sebastian, Haley, or Abigail are employed in any way.

Sebastian is a programmer that works from home.

This discussion reminds me of this image. http://imgur.com/Bgjg5Dc

Interestingly enough the developer did say there was lots of requests to add people as marriage candidates. Shane apparently is popular. He did grow on me once he stopped being hostile.

As well as Shane, Emily and Clint could probably be added to the candidates. Though Clint seems to have a big crush on Emily and it would be a fun subplot to hook them up together. TBH once your farm is up to par it's really not that hard to maintain relationships and you could easily double the town in size and still interact with everyone.

Yonder wrote:

Penny works as the unofficial town school teacher, and Maru has a job working for Harvey. I don't think that Sebastian, Haley, or Abigail are employed in any way.

Elliot is a writer. Sam wants to start a band with Sebastian and Abigail. Harvey is a doctor. Sebastian is a programmer. Alex wants to be a football player. On the other side you have Leah who is an artist. Penny teaches the town children part time. Maru works at the clinic part time and could probably be an engineer. You'll quickly learn all of this stuff just by meeting and talking with them.

As far as Abigail and Haley go:

Spoiler:

Abigail plays the flute and wants to be an adventurer. Haley is a photographer.

But on the surface of things Haley seems like a materialistic airhead and Abigail just hangs out in the woods being sorta goth.

Having talked to all of them quite a bit, though I can't speak for the guys I think Penny is definitely the girl that most deserves a hubby and a nice house. That said I married Leah on the 7th of Summer a little while ago.

Penny all the way for me. I already liked her but when I poked around her room and found all the fantasy novels I was a goner. (But, joking aside, the domestic drama of her storyline is what really did me in.)

Question about gift-giving: am I understanding it correctly that you have to give 2 gifts to a person within the same week, and then you get the heart at the end of Saturday if you gave 2 but nothing if 1 and the slate is wiped clean either way?

danopian wrote:

Question about gift-giving: am I understanding it correctly that you have to give 2 gifts to a person within the same week, and then you get the heart at the end of Saturday if you gave 2 but nothing if 1 and the slate is wiped clean either way?

I don't think so, but only because I've barely been giving the social side of the game the scantest of attention, and yet I've managed to get a bunch of 1 stars on a number of people. If the slate was wiped clean, then I'd expect to have zero across the board.

Maybe I'm missing something?

Jonman wrote:
danopian wrote:

Question about gift-giving: am I understanding it correctly that you have to give 2 gifts to a person within the same week, and then you get the heart at the end of Saturday if you gave 2 but nothing if 1 and the slate is wiped clean either way?

I don't think so, but only because I've barely been giving the social side of the game the scantest of attention, and yet I've managed to get a bunch of 1 stars on a number of people. If the slate was wiped clean, then I'd expect to have zero across the board.

Maybe I'm missing something?

No this is off. There is just a straight limit of two gifts a week. Each gift is worth somewhere from 0 to 85 depending how much the like it. Talking is 20 points. Not taking once per day is -2. Every heat is 200 points. Birthdays multiply gifts by 8. Read this somewhere. I'll see if I can find the link after work.

Once you get enough points, you get the heart. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is.

Hint: Never give the wizard a sea slug. (It was all I had on me and I thought he'd like something weird!)

master0 wrote:
Jonman wrote:
danopian wrote:

Question about gift-giving: am I understanding it correctly that you have to give 2 gifts to a person within the same week, and then you get the heart at the end of Saturday if you gave 2 but nothing if 1 and the slate is wiped clean either way?

I don't think so, but only because I've barely been giving the social side of the game the scantest of attention, and yet I've managed to get a bunch of 1 stars on a number of people. If the slate was wiped clean, then I'd expect to have zero across the board.

Maybe I'm missing something?

No this is off. There is just a straight limit of two gifts a week. Each gift is worth somewhere from 0 to 85 depending how much the like it. Talking is 20 points. Not taking once per day is -2. Every heat is 200 points. Birthdays multiply gifts by 8. Read this somewhere. I'll see if I can find the link after work.

Oh, wow! I had no idea it was that complex. Is there a way to view the "points" or is it just operating in the background?

Im in my first Winter. Last night I spent the whole night and 4 or 5 game-days trying to find a stupid Dwarf Scroll II. It's the only one I have left. I tried following the Wiki's notion of where to get it but had no luck. I DID get SIX (6!!) Dwarf Scroll III though.

polypusher wrote:

Im in my first Winter. Last night I spent the whole night and 4 or 5 game-days trying to find a stupid Dwarf Scroll II. It's the only one I have left. I tried following the Wiki's notion of where to get it but had no luck. I DID get SIX (6!!) Dwarf Scroll III though.

Are these important? I did find II and III but I never saw the first one.

danopian wrote:
master0 wrote:
Jonman wrote:
danopian wrote:

Question about gift-giving: am I understanding it correctly that you have to give 2 gifts to a person within the same week, and then you get the heart at the end of Saturday if you gave 2 but nothing if 1 and the slate is wiped clean either way?

I don't think so, but only because I've barely been giving the social side of the game the scantest of attention, and yet I've managed to get a bunch of 1 stars on a number of people. If the slate was wiped clean, then I'd expect to have zero across the board.

Maybe I'm missing something?

No this is off. There is just a straight limit of two gifts a week. Each gift is worth somewhere from 0 to 85 depending how much the like it. Talking is 20 points. Not taking once per day is -2. Every heat is 200 points. Birthdays multiply gifts by 8. Read this somewhere. I'll see if I can find the link after work.

Oh, wow! I had no idea it was that complex. Is there a way to view the "points" or is it just operating in the background?

It like xp sadly. No way to see the points directly. Here's the link from the wiki where I read this:

Social Values

I had a few numbers off but otherwise I was fairly close.

Tyops wrote:
polypusher wrote:

Im in my first Winter. Last night I spent the whole night and 4 or 5 game-days trying to find a stupid Dwarf Scroll II. It's the only one I have left. I tried following the Wiki's notion of where to get it but had no luck. I DID get SIX (6!!) Dwarf Scroll III though.

Are these important? I did find II and III but I never saw the first one.

I found a few of the first one when I went back through levels 20 to 24 in order to find an earth crystal for another mayo machine. I don't know if they have any other importance, but you can donate them to Gunther for the museum.