https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/02/stardew-valley-v16-confirmed-to-release-in-march-hits-over-30-million-sales/
The next big free upgrade for Stardew Valley now has a release date in March and there's plenty to look forward to. Stardew Valley also just celebrated its 8th anniversary.
On the topic of Stardew Valley do people recommend doing a first playthrough unmodded? I feel like there's probably some decent quality of life mods out there
Honestly I've never felt a need for mods in stardew, and I've beaten it twice. The game's pretty polished as is
There is a handful of QoL mods such as an ingame encyclopedia so you don't have to alt-tab to the wiki. But I've completed the game a few times and would definitely say mods aren't nessecary at a.
Which mods would help with that? My big issue with Harvest Moon FoMT was how much of a guessing game the game was without a Wiki.
Cursed tools for example. You need to mine to the at least the 29th floor and every ten floors after that and they have a chance of not being there. If you aren't save scumming you can spend in-game years getting them! I ended up editing the ROM just so I didn't have to write down the birthdays.
Oh gosh, it's been awhile since I played. But Lookup Anything was what I had in mind when I wrote that comment. Might be impossible to FULLY separate from the wiki, but things like this certainly cut down on it.
The game is pretty perfect without mods. I don't think it really needs any QoL changes as there's no mechanics I found to be frustrating. The skill and tool progression feels natural and rewarding.
I played it normally a couple times and then installed some mods (like one that auto crafts from chests for future runs). Both were fun, but the modded runs were for specifically minmaxing
Stardew Valley Expanded is a popular one (and a big reason why I asked).
Stardew Valley Expanded is a fanmade expansion for ConcernedApe's Stardew Valley. This mod adds 27 new NPCs, 50 locations, 260 character events, 27 fish, reimagined vanilla areas, two farm maps, a reimagined world map reflecting all changes, new music, questlines, objects, crops, festivals, and many miscellaneous additions!
I'd avoid stardew expanded for a new player. It adds a lot that changes the tone and adds clutter to the world. It's not bad for when the basic game gets stale.
Lookup anything, the npc map mod, and better ranching are good ones to start with.
With the new update coming out, it may be a while before some mods get updated to be compatible with the new release version. I'd recommend starting your game unmodded, then look for mods that benefit your play style once you have a feel for the game and how it plays.
I definitely mod the hell out of my games. Some of my favorite mods are total conversion ones. I am just wondering if there are any mods that are viewed as pretty much essential by fans.
For example a lot of Bethesda games have unofficial patch mods, Fallout 4 has full dialogue mods, and playing OpenMW versus regular vanilla Morrowind. I'd say those are great for beginners.
Maybe there's something similar for Stardew Valley? Like a tractor mod.
Tractor mod is too powerful imo (still using it). Some others are jump, hoe, weather... sorry, my PC is currently broken, can't look it up.
I thought it might be. It was just one of the first mods I saw for Stardew Valley on the Nexus
I bought it but haven't yet managed to get into it.
Is it normal to wander around aimlessly feeling lost, or is it just me?
Yeah... sadly the gameplay loop gets a bit tired (for me personally anyways) after a little bit and I put it down for a while again. It's not the games fault, I just wish there was a hybrid of this and farming simulator, where it's not hyper realistic, but just more in depth/number crunchy I guess.
you might have a better time if you find a friend to chat away with while you work on the farm together
So would it be fair to say the general game plan is
Plus other skills to learn to grow the community center. Fishing, tree-chopping, fighting in dungeons. There's a sense of optimization as you learn, grow, and get access to more tools.
It's slightly more action-y than Animal Crossing, but yeah, still a farm game.
Wake up, feed animal, water n hoe, buy seeds/ plant, forage, quest/plan upgrades eat and dungeon or fish,, pass out on the way home
The game has the basics and does them well, but i feel like it's missing the hook. It's really good if you're already into the style, but it won't bring anyone new in.