The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let’s discuss Stardew Valley. What aspects do you like about it? What doesn’t work for you? Are there other games that gave you similar feelings? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let’s get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
Previous entries: The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire
You must log in or register to comment.
deleted by creator
I love this game (500 hours played), but I have to bring up a point of criticism…
One aspect which has not aged well IMHO is the “kindness coin” mechanic: The exchange of goods for the NPCs’ friendship and/or affection. You give the NPCs stuff, then you give them more stuff, then some more on top, then you get a cut scene and then you get back to giving them stuff until you trigger the next one.
Yes, the requests on the blackboard and the occasional personal quest mix up things a little bit, but overall the mechanic remains the same and for me over the years this has cheapened the interaction with the NPCs for me somewhat: They are mostly transactional and predictable to the point where you can calculate their outcome.
You have to give character A so-and-so many objects X to romance them. It takes so-and-so many days to do that.Sure, the “kindness coins” mechanic was industry standard at the time, but I wish there were more variety in regards to the interactions with the NPCs, because they are amazingly written and I wish there was more to do with them besides giving them stuff over and over again.
I’m sure he’ll probably use a different mechanic for Haunted Chocolatier, probably too late to change it for Stardew Vallery, given it’s age and the existing complexity of the game.
Are there games which don’t use this mechanic? Might be interesting to check out.
The most famous one ATM is probably “Baldur’s Gate 3” which offers a wide variety of mechanics and stats to measure if an NPC member of the player’s party is romantically interested in the player character. Two examples given in the talk I linked are the VNs “Monster Prom” or “First Bite”.
My understanding of Baldur’s Gate 3 is that everybody is romantically interested in the player character.
Maybe I’m just a catch?
Yes and no. Like in Stardew Valley, technically you can romance every NPC in your party, but in practice you have to meet certain criteria to do so and those differ from character to character. Of course, it is possible to “game” that system.
I really want to love this game. The artstyle is amazing, the music and sound effects are to die for, it’s truly magnificent. However, the gameplay seems too mechanic for me, like there’s no actual freedom to the game, you need to do these tasks on these days at these times or else you’re playing it wrong.
To be fair, that’s just the culture that’s come up around the game. You have to plan how you play if you want to “win” in the first 2 years, but the only thing you get is a few candles lit in your backyard, and you can still “win” in later years if you play more slowly. You absolutely can just plant some stuff around a sprinkler, sleep until they are grown, and do everything you want to do without being at all efficient with it
100% agree, i personally just don’t enjoy that background feeling that i have saying I’m doing this wrong and the stress i feel over having to get certain things done everyday. i already feel enough of that outside of videogames, I’d rather my time spent gaming to be an escape from the norm. Love the game, love the community, heck I play it semi-regularly, it’s just not my cup of tea, that’s all!
