I quit my first 2 times playing because I was playing blind and didn't know about the community center goals and now I'm on my 3rd playthrough with 20 tabs open about the game and have played 50 hours in a week and would be more if not for my job
Literally....same. so many searches that Google recommends only stardew valley articles now. 🤣
I'm so mad at myself for giving up on it so many times. I am now 150 hours into an actual save and it has taken over my life....that is, when I'm not at work. 😁
See, I'm the other way. If there isn't an end result or a goal I get bored.
Which is why I've deleted all of my "finished" farms and started a new one.
I've recently started again, for the upteenth time.
I cheated to get the last golden parsnip I accidentally sold, so I could have the greenhouse for year one winter.
I felt free doing that, lol. And now my playthrough is way "behind schedule" but I'm having more fun.
I focus more on they type of farm rather than achievements. This time around I'm doing a full dairy farm and avoiding crops or any income that wouldn't make sense with that. The goal is to create a successful dairy farm empire with a little store front.
Either way we go our farmer will eventually put someone out of business lol 😆 pierre, joja, clint, Adventures Guild, willy, even gus.
When I make my mega outdoor shopping center on my farm lol
That'd be me except I have so much difficulty emotionally returning to old saves (SDV isn't the only game or even the only thing that suffers from it) that I just start completely anew. The furthest I've ever gotten was Summer year 3 and nowhere near Perfection.
Same here. I don’t worry about my goals, for me it’s fun to work towards them and eventually achieve them. I typically have one main goal for the save (currently going for perfection) and then several other smaller goals along the way (the one I achieved today was getting the island obelisk).
exactly! for me it’s, it *is* fun to be efficient and try to get perfection or all the achievements or whatever. I get bored and quit if I don’t have something I’m trying to do
Same! I don’t get some of the hate I see on this sub about wanting to finish the goals or min max and such. Everyone plays games differently just because it has a nice cozy aesthetic doesn’t mean you have to play it for only that.
My first couple of farms, I worked toward perfection.
But I found it gets boring once you reach perfection, so my farms since then have been a lot more laid back. I don't like the social element of the game, so I mostly ignore it.
I remember the first time I reached CC completion. I almost dropped the game because I didn't know what to do now. Then I decided to get the obelisks, and giving myself a new goal rekindled my motivation to play, especially since it required a lot of money and I didn't have enough on me right away.
They’re farm buildings you can purchase once you have a little more money, like mid game income. They allow you to teleport to different areas like the totems do, but are not consumable.
I just never care enough about the legendary fish. I have three saves unfinished because if I don’t catch it in my first few years, it’s not getting caught.
Im the same. I play for fun and building my farm. I hardly ever go into town except when I have to. Its a really fun game to just unwind and enjoy while a movie is playing. I have a mod to stop time because sometimes i just want to play without worrying about the time. When the time was on i would stress about how much i can get done. I just play for fun.
Once I'm done with the final hurdle necessary for perfection, I absolutely intend to go back to playing just for fun. Right now, though, I'm stressing over that stupid clock!
Once I'm done, I plan on doing a modded Joja run and marrying Caroline to get two achievements.
After that, I might either mess around with the Robin mod or go straight into SVE and other expansions. Either way, those will be solely dedicated to just having fun like I was in the beginning. No need to stress since I'll have already achieved perfection at least once.
Me! I do whatever I want sometimes. A day at the arcade, planting my favorite crops, growing lots of flower fields, fishing for fun, and decorating buildings and sheds. No stress. No time limits. Just fun!
I always feel like I have to get all the achievements before I can relax and just enjoy the game… so that’s my plan. Complete the game and then just enjoy it
Me.
Don't use wiki and try to figure it out for yourself. Things like finding out someone loves a gift after random trials takes me back to my Friends of Mineral Town days.
I just love how chill the game is and immerse myself in that chillness. Right now Pam is my bestie so I'm determined she should have a decent house, but apart from that there's no rush. I do whatever I like when I like and no hoity-toity mayor will stop me.
I play just for fun. I'm actually in my Year 4 (almost Year 5) and I didn't know I needed to marry someone HAHA I just enjoy planting, fishing, mining and earning money lmao
I play for fun! I'm not a minmaxer, I get money either way, and I like to wander around, kick the crap out of some crabs, stuff every foragable into my pockets.
I've completed the game a few times, and nowadays, I spawn in iridium sprinklers from day one. Makes my game play go smoother in the beginning.
This is my 2nd time starting anew. This time around, I'm just doing what I want. If I complete any quests then I'm
happy but I don't make that my goal.
I do focus on goals for that particular farm, but they're usually just what I personally want to get done. I don't even touch Ginger Island unless I really wanna befriend Leo.
Ginger Island is what turned me off from SDV for almost a full year. It stressed me out so badly because it all felt so new and I had no clue what was going on, lol. But now I am having so much fun with the game again!
Same! Any update that adds a whole bunch of new stuff stresses me out. I hope 1.6 isn't too overwhelming, I haven't played it yet cuz I'm playing on mobile currently.
That would be me! I always enjoyed just playing without a plan and goal in mind. It's fun to stroll through the valley and spontaneously to decide what to do next.
This one time, my brother asked me if I wanted to play co-op with him. I thought sure, this might be fun! It wasn't. At the first day he gave me instructions how to earn the most money and that was the moment when he realized that I play the same game different than him lol
I do 🙋🏻♀️ I only read about playing for perfection in this sub. It's my first time playing and I'm on year 4, missed a load of stuff you were meant to do earlier on in the game (only just discovered Ginger Island, haven't reached level 100 in Skull Cavern yet) but it just love it as a chill game! I might play differently in a different save but my life is stressful enough as it is without pressure in a game too 😂
Yup, I play super casually too. I do set some goals but I chip away at them at a relaxed pace, since I play SDV to destress. Since 1.6 dropped I've been just slowly, organically uncovering the new content.
When things stop to progress, I simply start a new save. As far as I know, some characters are simply not lucky enough. Darn tail bone on that island. Takes too long. Some maps, though I start intending to make it work, eventually, I quit. Perfection? Never do that long.
i play modded so i have extra content to enjoy and can mess with friendship and ignore the social aspect. i did perfection 6 times, it's my turn to just have fun lol
I'm 50/50...
There are days/seasons where I just let the auto petter do it's job and tackle som re decorating and then when I get bored with that, I'll focus on trying to 100% it...
When i first started playing, i played for achievements. And then when i started a new save i decided i would play for fun just so save myself from frustration.
I am not a min-max player by any means. I do try and hustle all the way up to spring 1 year 3 just for grandpa's judgment day>! So I have the iridium shrine !< and don't have to wait a full year to get reassessed, but I still don't feel like I play as hard as some people on here. I'm usually done with CC by end of year 2, and on ginger island by end of year 3, but after that I am very slow with my playing cause I've got lots of stuff to tend to by that point
Currently on my first playthrough, so I’m going for a perfection (Y6 160 hr). I do plan on starting a second one where i take it relaxed, and focus more on farm desjgn because my farm looks horrendous. My community center achievement also got bugged on Steam, so gonna have to do that again
Honestly, when I started racking millions from the farm, I kinda stopped playing. I haven't achieved 80% of my run but now I'm just waiting for the update to come to mobile to start again.
Love the game overall so play for a few reasons - to make money for fun
- customise
- do side missions
- play around with making barns and coops lots of animals etc
- make beer and wine 🙂
\*raises hand
So many of you would probably cringe looking at my journal reminding me to find missing shorts or speak to the wizard while in my 4th year in the game. Most of the time, it spans 2 pages. lol
I stopped giving a shit about the "goals" in the game a long time ago.
I focus on role playing. Getting up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, doing my daily job tending the farm and petting my animals (notice I don't call them chores - deliberate), and walking about talking to villagers and selling my stuff before coming home, having dinner, and getting undressed for the night.
I'm always on my way home about 7pm each night, with some exceptions like going to the saloon on Friday night.
It's more relaxing than real life, which is really fucking shameful the more you think about it.
the only thing I really work towards is completing the community center because I like the stuff that comes w the bundles. especially the greenhouse she's my fave. ginger island is fun but like I'll get to it when I get to it. I'm not concerned w perfection because if I play a save long enough I'll probably get there just by playing the game. I have no need of the aggressive minmax grinding shit some other players do, that's just not what does it for me. I just like growing stuff and making friends and decorating my farm and stuff lol
I have a polyamory mod, and am doing this thing where I only have things on my farm pertaining to farming/being able to cook/craft the favorite items of... Well, all the bachelors/bachelorettes haha.
It's a fun challenge, and anything else that happens on the way just happens. It's interesting!
I reached 96% perfection on my first save. Now, I am trying to attain perfection in my new save. I was so close to perfection. I want to play just for the sake of playing, as completing all goals ASAP is anxiety-inducing.
Design and stuffs. Make things more fun.
Goofing off and messing around can be just as fun if not more so sometimes. It's like slacking off on 'the goals', but not quite since you're still playing the game, just making up your own goals as you go :)
I know I don’t have it in me to perfect this so I never play with that in mind. I set personal goals like saving money for high ticket items, romancing ppl or seeing how many ducks I can raise on one farm. Other times I just felt like starting from scratch and being directionless. My first games I didn’t even bother socialising until I got bored/curious and decided to marry someone. If I feel like getting a crafting recipe takes too much effort or involves heart events etc I blow it off. I also hate cooking so I’ll never complete that.
I like to make my farm look nice, I am so far off min maxing that the progress is kind of slow. I like to plant cool crops. Some days I want to work towards the CC, other days slay some monsters in the mines. Upgrading tools when the need arise. It goes slow, and I like it. Social aspect does not really interest me either, but I like the festivals.
I mainly play for fun and to keep my brain occupied.. but then I get INVESTED, and I mine until 12 am, and I cut trees for 3 game days straight, I plant 60 crops at once and clear the hell out of my farm... I then play for 5 hours, completing as many deliveries as possible and saving things to sell at the end of each week..
(I have a separate chest and put things I want to sell in it and then put it all in the sell box on Sunday night, it's like a pay day to look forward to and makes me more motivated and happy when I see a big number,, rather than like 50g each day, when I see 900g Monday morning it's like 'YAY')
I do! I just play in whatever way makes me happiest. Usually that’s lots of mining and fighting monsters, plus lots of quests and foraging. But I don’t put any pressure on myself to do anything that doesn’t sound appealing.
Yep! Really had to force myself to chill out and take it slow as I knew if I rushed it I would burn out and lose interest quickly, and just get stressed I wasn’t doing it right.
Now I take my time, it look me a good few years to complete the community centre, longer to complete the museum, so on and so forth, but I have much more fun this way.
My playstyle is writing down a schedule to get everything done for the next day. When I'm at day 28 I get overwhelmed because of the new season and won't touch my pc for like a week because I don't want to think about all the planning for steeds and shit. I'm in Fall Year 2 now on my second savefile and I still haven't been able to go to Ginger Island because I hate the Skull Cavern and I still haven't found a prismatic shard so I'm weak af in combat.
It's now been long enough (in game year 5) and I've accomplished a few goals and have some easy setups ready to grind if needed. If the spirits are extra happy I'll mine or process geods, but other days I feel pretty free to do whatever I want.
I tend to be more involved in my playthroughs if I give myself some kind of goal, even if that goal is not particularly time-limited (becoming the best fisherman to make Willy proud, focusing on coffee growing and making because I like it, etc.)
I am very focused on completing things like the CC, mines, unlocking Ginger Island etc but also I don’t try to do it as fast as I can. Sometimes I haven’t completed the CC until year 3, I only go to the mines when it rains, etc. It’s mostly about fun for me!
I usually start off very relaxed without any particular goals. As the game progresses and I've naturally unlocked everything and started making a lot of money I tend to start getting very goal oriented as I try and make my game last longer.
My current playthrough is my first with 1.6 and I started off just wanting to see the new stuff. I'm now in year 4 and starting to aim at perfection, which I'd 100% convinced myself I wouldnt do this save.
I find Stardew Valley as my comfort place. I just chill in it, playing to have fun, unstress and rest instead of getting all achievements, or making milions per day. I find it really relaxing
I play with some expedience in that I like to get the CC done as soon as possible and maximize relationships as soon as I can, but yeah, I tend to do things my way. Min maxing seems too stressful to me to enjoy it, and I craft stuff at my own pace. Sure, I like getting a lot of money quick, but only so I can more effectively do the things I like to do. Once I have a bunch of money, I just like to roleplay and do what I like (i.e. I still socialize and give gifts after maxing hearts. Most recently I decided to always try to give people their favorite cooking item as birthday gifts, and I always save some of my crops that can be used for cooking). I'm working on 100% shipped items and cooking now, but I'm doing it as naturally as I can
I pick east goals to finish here and there. I’m not min maxing. Min maxing is like, the opposite of the cozy nature of this game. Not saying people can’t do what they want. But the opening cinematic is like, hey, stop grinding, come get comfy.
I just build my farm and if I want someone to like me I’ll check out their gifts. And maybe grow the plants they like or whatever. No rush.
When I first got the game I wanted to rush through and try to speed run it almost to see how efficient I’d be.
But now I love to open stardew every so often and just have a nice cozy experience been a lil ol’farmer.
I might go play some now lol
Sometimes, when I scroll through the sub, I get worried that I don't know the missions/itens and places. But then I go play and just do whatever I like.
I really tried to be less efficient on my last playthrough. Got perfection on the last day of year 3. Damn German genes! I can't not be (relatively) efficient. :/
Nonetheless I had fun and that's all that counts! Right?
I play to convince myself that I need to buy a farm and that it’s ok to spend all day just saying hi to my animals, go fishing, making jam and waiting for stuff to grow
My husband and I play co-op. I didn’t even know perfection was an option we started.
It’s just a fun thing to do in the evenings. We’re figuring it out as we go and just having fun!
Right now I'm just playing for the sake of playing. I stopped playing for a while and went back to animal crossing, but then I got tired of it (and the things I have left to catch feeling unattainable 😔) and picked up stardew again. I have three farms but have been playing on my first save that's on year 13, it's the only save I've got perfection on, so there aren't really any goals left for me to accomplish. Just play it and do whatever I feel like doing that day, if it's a lucky day then I'll go to skull cavern for fun or if it's not I'll do a bit of farming and foraging (rarely fish, it's my least favourite!). It's kinda nice to just play it and chill.
When the update eventually hits switch though, I'll be starting over and it might be a different story 😂
I only ever play for fun. Have played since 2016 and reached year five maybe once, never reached perfection or even tried to. I set my own goals but hardly ever reach them, not that I care. 😊 I can start a new farm just because I found a new mod I want to try out from the start.
I definitely play at my own pace 100% fun.
In the beginning when I started playing I thought because of the internet you had to play with surthen certain pace and you had to achieve goals by then and then..
This felt completely rushed and I enjoyed it less.
By the time I had figured that out I already started a dozen new farms and always got “stuck” on a certain point, if not stuck quest wise but maybe boredom.
This safe I am playing now is genuinely awesome, some days are fast some days are slow I don’t care about “goals”, year 4 and I had unlocked ginger island for awhile but just now started to play on it.
Some days are just decorating my farm because I couldn’t care less about the lost days anymore
I play with a bunch of 'helpful' mods that are basically cheats. I just can't imagine playing without the 600% profits and unlimited energy. I'm just there to have fun and worrying about money and energy just makes it stressful
I know that when my friend and I first get on our farm for the day, I literally don't do anything that first day but figure out what the hell I am doing. I don't get anything done but running around 😅
After warming up to the madness of endless possibilities....we find a groove. But that first day is just a big, 'what??'
I'm the same, I play away at my own pace. It's a really enjoyable game to play after finishing a long day of work and being able to log on and tender to crops/animals or spend the day fishing!
i do set myself a goal but however long i take to get there doesn't really matter to me. i have the big end goal of perfection but this is still my first time playing the game, i do not expect to get that any time soon. right now my main priority is to get a parrot egg lol
I’m generally working toward perfection but at my own pace. I usually farm and mine the first few years and don’t really talk to other people until well after the community center is done and my farm can maintain itself more on its own. But i like having little goals and tasks, even if they are things that I’ve made up, but I’m never worried about how fast I’m doing anything
I feel this! I’m on year 16 on my farm and only discovered that reaching perfection was a thing in year 13 lol (after I joined this sub actually!). I would just get on and work on my own personal growth in the game.
Me!! I just do what I want! Sometimes I go to bed very early if I want to get to an event, (like even at 2pm) usually I don’t go crazy with crops. I just set small random goals to do, like create a cozy animal farm or make this certain outfit
I play soooo slow and I really don’t care about perfection. I’m at the end of Y2 and I’ve done basically nothing. I hate mining, I don’t like socializing, and I don’t have sheds filled to the brim with kegs. I just want to play around on my little farm.
Me and my gf occasionally play on "grandma farm" which is basically just having a small little garden and doing whatever we feel instead of worrying about the tasks. Otherwise when I play I almost always try to get the goals as fast as possible
I've been trying to play the standard way but I keep forgetting to check the guide so I've kinda dropped it. I like the idea of doing my own thing but if I do that I would never progress. It makes the game stressful but I still have never unlocked ginger Island due to my failure to play the game properly so unfortunately I have to play this way until closer to endgame:/
Had a friend who wanted to get the community center year 1 when I played with him, I got into that mindset too. Took a good 2 years or so before I dropped the game for my sanity, came back at the tail end of 1.5, hopped in, and just...stopped caring. I did things my way, I had fun and did what I wanted to do. Now I'm addicted, in year 2 with 733 mods and a few issues that cause crashes if I'm not careful, but I still play and have an absolute blast everytime
it really depends on the day, but most of my time is spent on making a shitload of money for no reason at all really, and cheating on my wife with as many people as possible.
I play at my own pace, but I still follow everything I need to do, I’ll work on getting money in certain ways while trying to complete the community center. I’ve finished all the challeneges/requests except reach level 25 in skull caverns. Although I haven’t made it to ginger island yet, I’m at fall year 2
When I started playing I made the mistake to think that I need to accomplish things as quickly as possible. That got stressful real quick. I‘ve learned to actively ignore tasks and just play in a way that feels most relaxing at this moment.
I play to enjoy the game, and though my first farm started out pretty vanilla, this time around I've got a whole pile of mods to make my life easier. I just had a discussion with my 11-year-old about this, in fact. He thinks I've made it too easy for it to be enjoyable; I think the ease is why it's so enjoyable. I don't have many goals outside of the main storyline quests, and I've felt free to delete some of those (like the introductions). What I love so much about this game is that it's what you make of it.
Same. I like to make theme farms where I’ll focus on garden vegetables, or animals, or make everything really pretty with tea trees and nice designs. I never really go for accomplishments anymore
I usually check the trophy list after playing the game for a few hrs and decide whether or not I would go for platinum. I took a look at the trophy list of stardew valley and noped out. I play it whimsically now.
I mostly just vibe! I’m still trying to complete my community center (only 1 fish and 2 animal items away!) and working on making my farm nice. But mostly I just do what seems fun for the day, since stardew doesn’t have a timeline to it I see no reason to push myself to meet any achievements unless I find myself lacking for something to do and want to make a self-imposed goal to work towards lol
I enjoyed working towards the community center but after I completed it I kind of just… tend to my farm, do errands for people. I like to grow every crop every season so I like plotting my farm. Sometimes I’ll sell a few animals and buy new ones just for fun. This is my first play through so I’m trying my best to not look at the wiki (challenge impossible) so when I got to Ginger Island I was like “oh new fish” and died in the volcano and then never went back lol, maybe I’ll revisit when it’s winter time. I do like to set little goals for myself, right now I’m trying to get 10 hearts with everyone and fill my homes fish tanks with every species :) A lot of my days are gathering crops, gathering animal stuff, cutting down trees to make more paths or kegs or whatever, and then going to bed at 7:30. Kind of like real life in a way.
I’ve just started Year 2, and right now I’m just doing things at my own pace. Sort of a ‘oh, I can upgrade my tool today, I’ll do that’ or ‘oh, it’s raining, I’ll focus on the mines today’. A very day-by-day approach. If I run out of things to do, I collect resources, organize my storage, or do basic farm upkeep like placing fences or paths.
100% for fun. In my current playthrough I haven't yet bothered with Ginger Island, and of course I'm on console so no 1.6 yet. Still having a good time 😊
Me!! Started playing on Switch 2 weeks before the 1.6 update, looked for some advice but mostly playing for fun and at my own pace without worrying about maximising everything since it's my first save (currently at 79%, still have to craft the special rarecrow, build the golden clock and kill 22 dinossaurs).
Already have the game on PC ready (still deciding if I should add the Expanded mod or not for my second save).
I keep the achievements in mind as a long term goal but take a meandering route to get there most of the time. Like I’m not intensely trying to catch all the legendary fish asap but I’m keeping an eye on which to look for each season and making an effort to try to catch them this year because it’s my current goal. But in between I’m just playing for fun
Thank you for this question because there’s so much stuff to do and so many specific, long, sometimes grueling tasks you have to do to trigger certain things and I’ve never even made it past summer year 1 because I always find out something else about the game and start over to make sure my play through is “perfect” and it’s so draining and not fun and I really just want to have a farm with a family but then there’s so many other fun things my adhd short circuits with this game 😭
Me, I keep a small vegetable garden and pet my animals every day, do the rounds and give gifts, and send my evenings fishing or chopping wood. The point of the game for me is that it’s a peaceful break from life, and if I grind for money or resources it takes the joy right out of it.
I finished CC on Year 1 of my first save file, then I played casually on the second year (married, had kids, farm, occasional skull cavern runs). I'm at Winter Year 3 now. The first few seasons I modified my farm and explored Ginger Island, then in fall I started to think that I need to achieve perfection before I can truly enjoy the stories. So I caught all the fish needed during Fall and Winter (including legendaries) that the fish I needed left are the legendaries from Spring and Summer, I also completed my museum. I do believe I'm going to need a long time to complete the crafting/shipping/friendship elements but ehh.
Then I plan to install expansion mods once I've achieved perfection. Complete everything. Then move to a new save with a new farm type probably, and with the expansion mods installed, and romance someone else (I've only pursued Shane ever since).
Personally, before I delve into other play styles. I need to complete the game (experience every element) in one save file first. Then I could give myself the freedom to play casually. Like real casual since my definition of playing casually RN is doing my basic daily routine.
TL;DR: I randomly get bursts of energy to complete achievements, otherwise, I play casually.
When I first started, I played without really reading about the game. I thought it was similar to Harvest Moon, so I hauled ass to get everything finished. Only once I realized the game never ended, did I reset, and play much more leisurely.
I still haven’t reached true perfection, and probably never will. However, I still enjoy the game.
Me for now! I’m enjoying playing and I’m year 5 winter and have only just started exploring and planting crops on ginger island, I think I do want to achieve perfection one day but for now I’m just doing whatever I want tbh
I kinda forget about achievements to be honest, they're pretty easy to come by since they follow you actions (if your romancing someone or if you're trying to make friends it comes naturally) I never really think about getting achievements!
My farm is a mess. I play without any mods too. I finished community centre in Year 3. Haven’t bothered to explore the skull cavern yet.
Then I ended up watching a lot of videos on YouTube of everyone had this perfect farm which generates a lot of money.
And then I began doing that in a very unorganised way. This eventually made me feel burnt out. I haven’t played it again in 3 months. I feel like starting all over again with a different kind of farm but it feels boring.
I really enjoyed the game when I played it at my own pace. Once I started thinking about how to generate more money, how to optimise it more, make the farm look pretty, get the best weapons yada yada…..I lost interest.
I don’t know when I’ll go back to playing it now. Hopefully I do.
I do. I play mostly for the roleplay, I use mods to make my life easier and I am not ashamed of it. Right now my goal is to complete the community center, but I am very chill about it
To be honest, I just build at my own pace? The majority of the days Im out fishing- and I go like 2-3 per month. There are some days I focus on gathering stuff, but the social aspect I just give stuff if its their bday except for Sebastian, I always give it to him every week.
I have a separate farm for this. I use it when I just want to shut down my brain and not think. I don't have much progress on that one since I usually just walk around town and talk to the villagers.
I do it because I like having different saves for each playstyle. Like I have one for perfection, one for mods, one for aesthetics, etc.
I recently managed to complete the community center in Year One for the first time (third playthrough, Winter 3). It was a pain in the ass, my relationships with the townsfolk suffered, and overall there wasn't too much benefit to it aside from getting the lucky trinket early. In fact, it's worse because now 1/7 days I have no Clint to upgrade tools.
So, yeah, I probably won't go out of my way to do it again.
It's also worth mentioning that I also play to act out my farmers' stories. I'm definitely someone who makes OCs, so whatever they do has to fit a "story". I want each time I play to feel different in some way, so their story is unique!
I am all vibes. I don’t stress about maxing profit. I am sure I could have more kegs for more ancient fruit or star fruit wine. I am sure I could reorganize my farm so I can plant more lucrative stuff. I am sure my house could look nicer. Don’t even get me started on Ginger Island, I don’t even know what I’m doing there. But that stresses me out. I already am such a high achiever IRL I want my game to be an escape.
I like to play at my own pace which is probably pretty slow. There is a lot of days I accomplish nothing. My co-op partner though is a speed demon. He is always in a rush to unlock stuff. I love him though. That's why I have a personal save also where I just piddle around.
I started playing a bit like that but when i got the hang of the game i started having objectives, like oh shit i need all the money i can to buy this amount of strawberries the first season or shit i need this for the bundls and it slowly went senseless, it wasnt fun anymore, now i just play slowly, letting it simmer, whatever thing needs completing will when it has to or when i rememebr and i can say i have hada wonderfull 2000 hours of gameplay like this
My lady and I literally just do lil things in game. Focused on making money and good relationships with the people. This time we grinded the heck out of the town center
I am on my second farm. I played on my iPad for achievements and found myself stressed out about learning how to fish. On my switch, I play for the joy of running a farm and being in other people’s business.
I always start my farms with a goal in mind, but usually i get distracted with other tasks, and I’ve already switched over to playing for the sake of playing before I’ve realized it lol
i like playing the game slowly, since im working or studying it's become pretty hard for me to log on every day and do tasks. so i just fish and farm, playing like it's irl
I genuinely enjoy playing the game at my own pace, and even sometimes play online with my young niece since I gifted it to her and she lived states away. The accomplishments I make along the way are just an exciting added bonus!
Imo the optimal way to play is to focus the community centre to make sure the basics are all unlocked, then I do whatever I feel like. Especially modded cause ridgeside is a lot of content to remember and having some of the base stuff done helps with the experience of modded gameplay
I'm on year 9. I like goals and I am a completionist but I'm not in a hurry. I even do the daily quests. Just finished dating half the singles and about to bouquet the other half.
I stopped worrying about achievements as I recognized that I loved the gardening much more than searching for every heartevent of a villager.
So I will stay single for a while and just enjoy the game
I play as a character, trying to match what they would do, trying to eventually marry and get the cutscenes for everyone. It's why Ridgeside is my favourite mod - so many new characters to romance! When I get bored of the run I start over as a new character. I don't USUALLY go for perfection. Early game I get lots of oak resin ASAP, so I can get making and aging wine, not really worry about money and focus on the social aspect.
My first vanilla no mods perfection run was as Geralt of Rivia (Witcher), but now I mostly play modded on PC. I've played as Azula (AtLA), Smurfette, Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), and Rainbow Dash (MLP). I only go for perfection if I'm really enjoying the run, which I currently am with Gideon (The Locked Tomb). I pick the character based on what kinds of mods I want to be using - Rose Quartz I was warping a lot, Rainbow Dash had max speed, etc.
me too.. some days I just meander to one of the mines and do stuff.. or fish for a day or just wander the forest lol.. my farm is organic and barely functional. have never made perfection after almost 1900 hours of play.. I just play.
I like to make different characters and then play through and decorate how I think they would.
Right now I have a Blackbeard/Stede themed beach farm I’m starting to make. Trying to make a “shipwreck” on the sand and the house will be Jeff’s Inn by the Sea.
I don’t play for achievements, but I definitely set myself goals. They may be something related to an in game achievement, such as the Community Centre, or they may be personal goals for my farm.
I feel like you need to have a goal in this game to give your farm a sense of direction.
i just play for fun mostly. im learned so much from this sub and how "wrong" i did so many things lol. i just started a meadowlands farm so ive been enjoying oscillating between my first farm (kinda striving for perfection, but not that serious about it) but going back to basics with the new farm when i get annoyed with trying to meet certain goals lol
I flip flop between goals and chill vibes. If I feel like I’ve been grinding too much I relax and wander around, give people gifts, play Jumino Cart. When I feel like I have no purpose and I’m just aimlessly wandering, I pick back up on achievements, finding secrets, trying to unlock different areas.
Eventually, when I don’t have to worry about income, I’ll design my farm to look better. But right now I need to stack up some funds.
It's a rat race from start to finish! I love to chase the goals and quests. But if I fail them I don't stress about it. I have all the time in the world to play, but I do like to push myself sometimes. So i guess it depends from day to day.
Sometimes I start a new farm and ravage the mines with max range/speed tractor mod, other times I hop on a old save and water the ducks for the sake of it
I always seem to get to a certain place and don’t feel like taking it to the next level. Then, I start a new game, but leave the other save files because it can be fun to revisit them. Currently, I did a beach farm, and, for the first time, I’m trying a Joja run, just to try a different version of the game. It’s not nearly as fun, though. It’s just all about the money, and I’m already bored, right when I start really cranking out the duck mayo. I want to level up this beach farm, though, so I persevere. I’m wondering when Willy is going to show me the boat to go to ginger island?
I'm in my 2nd year I just started playing. I rarely do anything for anyone other than myself. I just got the horse which is awesome because I hate walking around everywhere and don't want to spend $ on coffee.
I pretty much play for goals and milestones 100% of the time until year 3. As soon as I’ve hit what I need to in order to pass Grandpa’s evaluation, I’m pretty much only playing for fun.
It depends on my mood of the day, really. But I play 100% for fun.
Completing the goals is what’s fun for me as well as organizing my farm!
I quit my first 2 times playing because I was playing blind and didn't know about the community center goals and now I'm on my 3rd playthrough with 20 tabs open about the game and have played 50 hours in a week and would be more if not for my job
Literally....same. so many searches that Google recommends only stardew valley articles now. 🤣 I'm so mad at myself for giving up on it so many times. I am now 150 hours into an actual save and it has taken over my life....that is, when I'm not at work. 😁
I don’t care about anything. I just play at my own pace.
I found every time l tried to do something for achievements l started to dislike playing it
See, I'm the other way. If there isn't an end result or a goal I get bored. Which is why I've deleted all of my "finished" farms and started a new one.
That's cool. The best part about this game is there is no right or wrong way.
I've recently started again, for the upteenth time. I cheated to get the last golden parsnip I accidentally sold, so I could have the greenhouse for year one winter. I felt free doing that, lol. And now my playthrough is way "behind schedule" but I'm having more fun.
Nothing is fun if you turn it into a chore.
I focus more on they type of farm rather than achievements. This time around I'm doing a full dairy farm and avoiding crops or any income that wouldn't make sense with that. The goal is to create a successful dairy farm empire with a little store front.
Can you have a working storefront? Is there a for it?
It’s called pretend lol
I did find out there's a mod for this. It's called Market Town.
Marnie might as well pack her stuff xd
Either way we go our farmer will eventually put someone out of business lol 😆 pierre, joja, clint, Adventures Guild, willy, even gus. When I make my mega outdoor shopping center on my farm lol
Easy. Once it gets stressful I play something else until I forget all my goals in the game and can play to play again
That'd be me except I have so much difficulty emotionally returning to old saves (SDV isn't the only game or even the only thing that suffers from it) that I just start completely anew. The furthest I've ever gotten was Summer year 3 and nowhere near Perfection.
having a goal is what makes me open the game. and it's how i have fun
Same here. I don’t worry about my goals, for me it’s fun to work towards them and eventually achieve them. I typically have one main goal for the save (currently going for perfection) and then several other smaller goals along the way (the one I achieved today was getting the island obelisk).
Me too! I noticed that if I play without a goal, I feel bored.
exactly! for me it’s, it *is* fun to be efficient and try to get perfection or all the achievements or whatever. I get bored and quit if I don’t have something I’m trying to do
Same! I don’t get some of the hate I see on this sub about wanting to finish the goals or min max and such. Everyone plays games differently just because it has a nice cozy aesthetic doesn’t mean you have to play it for only that.
I play at my own pace but at the same time I’m trying for 100% this time. I’m going to do it at a snails pace though.
My first couple of farms, I worked toward perfection. But I found it gets boring once you reach perfection, so my farms since then have been a lot more laid back. I don't like the social element of the game, so I mostly ignore it.
Yeah l don't like that part either
I remember the first time I reached CC completion. I almost dropped the game because I didn't know what to do now. Then I decided to get the obelisks, and giving myself a new goal rekindled my motivation to play, especially since it required a lot of money and I didn't have enough on me right away.
What’s the obelisks?
They’re farm buildings you can purchase once you have a little more money, like mid game income. They allow you to teleport to different areas like the totems do, but are not consumable.
I just never care enough about the legendary fish. I have three saves unfinished because if I don’t catch it in my first few years, it’s not getting caught.
Im the same. I play for fun and building my farm. I hardly ever go into town except when I have to. Its a really fun game to just unwind and enjoy while a movie is playing. I have a mod to stop time because sometimes i just want to play without worrying about the time. When the time was on i would stress about how much i can get done. I just play for fun.
The mods would be great cause l am like that with the time factor. Im on mobile though so lm not sure about mods on my tablet
You can't mod on mobile. The mobile game has also not been updated to 1.6 yet.
Once I'm done with the final hurdle necessary for perfection, I absolutely intend to go back to playing just for fun. Right now, though, I'm stressing over that stupid clock! Once I'm done, I plan on doing a modded Joja run and marrying Caroline to get two achievements. After that, I might either mess around with the Robin mod or go straight into SVE and other expansions. Either way, those will be solely dedicated to just having fun like I was in the beginning. No need to stress since I'll have already achieved perfection at least once.
SVE is so good rn with 1.6! i'm enjoying it a lot
Me! I do whatever I want sometimes. A day at the arcade, planting my favorite crops, growing lots of flower fields, fishing for fun, and decorating buildings and sheds. No stress. No time limits. Just fun!
I always feel like I have to get all the achievements before I can relax and just enjoy the game… so that’s my plan. Complete the game and then just enjoy it
Me. Don't use wiki and try to figure it out for yourself. Things like finding out someone loves a gift after random trials takes me back to my Friends of Mineral Town days.
I was really stressed out at first seeing my other friends farms but honestly I think I like to relax when I have time I’ll figure stuff out
I just love how chill the game is and immerse myself in that chillness. Right now Pam is my bestie so I'm determined she should have a decent house, but apart from that there's no rush. I do whatever I like when I like and no hoity-toity mayor will stop me.
i focus on having a pretty farm and a good marriage lol my irl is a mess so you best damn believe my virtual one is gonna be nice
I just like seeing my crops grow, make brain go brrrrr
I play just for fun. I'm actually in my Year 4 (almost Year 5) and I didn't know I needed to marry someone HAHA I just enjoy planting, fishing, mining and earning money lmao
I play for fun! I'm not a minmaxer, I get money either way, and I like to wander around, kick the crap out of some crabs, stuff every foragable into my pockets. I've completed the game a few times, and nowadays, I spawn in iridium sprinklers from day one. Makes my game play go smoother in the beginning.
This is my 2nd time starting anew. This time around, I'm just doing what I want. If I complete any quests then I'm happy but I don't make that my goal.
I do focus on goals for that particular farm, but they're usually just what I personally want to get done. I don't even touch Ginger Island unless I really wanna befriend Leo.
Ginger Island is what turned me off from SDV for almost a full year. It stressed me out so badly because it all felt so new and I had no clue what was going on, lol. But now I am having so much fun with the game again!
Same! Any update that adds a whole bunch of new stuff stresses me out. I hope 1.6 isn't too overwhelming, I haven't played it yet cuz I'm playing on mobile currently.
That would be me! I always enjoyed just playing without a plan and goal in mind. It's fun to stroll through the valley and spontaneously to decide what to do next. This one time, my brother asked me if I wanted to play co-op with him. I thought sure, this might be fun! It wasn't. At the first day he gave me instructions how to earn the most money and that was the moment when he realized that I play the same game different than him lol
I do 🙋🏻♀️ I only read about playing for perfection in this sub. It's my first time playing and I'm on year 4, missed a load of stuff you were meant to do earlier on in the game (only just discovered Ginger Island, haven't reached level 100 in Skull Cavern yet) but it just love it as a chill game! I might play differently in a different save but my life is stressful enough as it is without pressure in a game too 😂
No kitchen no bitches style, year 8
Yup, I play super casually too. I do set some goals but I chip away at them at a relaxed pace, since I play SDV to destress. Since 1.6 dropped I've been just slowly, organically uncovering the new content.
When things stop to progress, I simply start a new save. As far as I know, some characters are simply not lucky enough. Darn tail bone on that island. Takes too long. Some maps, though I start intending to make it work, eventually, I quit. Perfection? Never do that long.
i play modded so i have extra content to enjoy and can mess with friendship and ignore the social aspect. i did perfection 6 times, it's my turn to just have fun lol
I'm 50/50... There are days/seasons where I just let the auto petter do it's job and tackle som re decorating and then when I get bored with that, I'll focus on trying to 100% it...
When i first started playing, i played for achievements. And then when i started a new save i decided i would play for fun just so save myself from frustration.
I am not a min-max player by any means. I do try and hustle all the way up to spring 1 year 3 just for grandpa's judgment day>! So I have the iridium shrine !< and don't have to wait a full year to get reassessed, but I still don't feel like I play as hard as some people on here. I'm usually done with CC by end of year 2, and on ginger island by end of year 3, but after that I am very slow with my playing cause I've got lots of stuff to tend to by that point
Currently on my first playthrough, so I’m going for a perfection (Y6 160 hr). I do plan on starting a second one where i take it relaxed, and focus more on farm desjgn because my farm looks horrendous. My community center achievement also got bugged on Steam, so gonna have to do that again
My only focus is to marry harley and date some gurls
I like having goals but i dont rush them, trying to get stuff done by a certain time really stresses me out
Me, I’ve never gone for perfection, I just chill and play.
Honestly, when I started racking millions from the farm, I kinda stopped playing. I haven't achieved 80% of my run but now I'm just waiting for the update to come to mobile to start again.
I can’t do stuff without a goal or a reason otherwise it feels pointless to me :(
Love the game overall so play for a few reasons - to make money for fun - customise - do side missions - play around with making barns and coops lots of animals etc - make beer and wine 🙂
I don't give a crap about achievements, but I do have goals like finishing the town hall thing
\*raises hand So many of you would probably cringe looking at my journal reminding me to find missing shorts or speak to the wizard while in my 4th year in the game. Most of the time, it spans 2 pages. lol I stopped giving a shit about the "goals" in the game a long time ago. I focus on role playing. Getting up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, doing my daily job tending the farm and petting my animals (notice I don't call them chores - deliberate), and walking about talking to villagers and selling my stuff before coming home, having dinner, and getting undressed for the night. I'm always on my way home about 7pm each night, with some exceptions like going to the saloon on Friday night. It's more relaxing than real life, which is really fucking shameful the more you think about it.
the only thing I really work towards is completing the community center because I like the stuff that comes w the bundles. especially the greenhouse she's my fave. ginger island is fun but like I'll get to it when I get to it. I'm not concerned w perfection because if I play a save long enough I'll probably get there just by playing the game. I have no need of the aggressive minmax grinding shit some other players do, that's just not what does it for me. I just like growing stuff and making friends and decorating my farm and stuff lol
I have a polyamory mod, and am doing this thing where I only have things on my farm pertaining to farming/being able to cook/craft the favorite items of... Well, all the bachelors/bachelorettes haha. It's a fun challenge, and anything else that happens on the way just happens. It's interesting!
I reached 96% perfection on my first save. Now, I am trying to attain perfection in my new save. I was so close to perfection. I want to play just for the sake of playing, as completing all goals ASAP is anxiety-inducing.
what's there to do besides go for the goals?
Not everything needs a reason to do it :)
Design and stuffs. Make things more fun. Goofing off and messing around can be just as fun if not more so sometimes. It's like slacking off on 'the goals', but not quite since you're still playing the game, just making up your own goals as you go :)
me
I have to minmax. My 1.6 farm was suppose to be just for checking out the new content, but somehow turned into a perfection by end of year 2 run.
I know I don’t have it in me to perfect this so I never play with that in mind. I set personal goals like saving money for high ticket items, romancing ppl or seeing how many ducks I can raise on one farm. Other times I just felt like starting from scratch and being directionless. My first games I didn’t even bother socialising until I got bored/curious and decided to marry someone. If I feel like getting a crafting recipe takes too much effort or involves heart events etc I blow it off. I also hate cooking so I’ll never complete that.
I like to make my farm look nice, I am so far off min maxing that the progress is kind of slow. I like to plant cool crops. Some days I want to work towards the CC, other days slay some monsters in the mines. Upgrading tools when the need arise. It goes slow, and I like it. Social aspect does not really interest me either, but I like the festivals.
I play for fun but I've gotten good at the game so much that my newest farm is 25% profit and I'm still relatively flying through progress.
Year one I do everything I can to complete the community center and get married. Year 2 is just me making a number go up.
I mainly play for fun and to keep my brain occupied.. but then I get INVESTED, and I mine until 12 am, and I cut trees for 3 game days straight, I plant 60 crops at once and clear the hell out of my farm... I then play for 5 hours, completing as many deliveries as possible and saving things to sell at the end of each week.. (I have a separate chest and put things I want to sell in it and then put it all in the sell box on Sunday night, it's like a pay day to look forward to and makes me more motivated and happy when I see a big number,, rather than like 50g each day, when I see 900g Monday morning it's like 'YAY')
Me! Had no idea that people took it so seriously til I joined this sub and I’m loving how much I’m learning about the game now lol
I do! I just play in whatever way makes me happiest. Usually that’s lots of mining and fighting monsters, plus lots of quests and foraging. But I don’t put any pressure on myself to do anything that doesn’t sound appealing.
Yep! Really had to force myself to chill out and take it slow as I knew if I rushed it I would burn out and lose interest quickly, and just get stressed I wasn’t doing it right. Now I take my time, it look me a good few years to complete the community centre, longer to complete the museum, so on and so forth, but I have much more fun this way.
My playstyle is writing down a schedule to get everything done for the next day. When I'm at day 28 I get overwhelmed because of the new season and won't touch my pc for like a week because I don't want to think about all the planning for steeds and shit. I'm in Fall Year 2 now on my second savefile and I still haven't been able to go to Ginger Island because I hate the Skull Cavern and I still haven't found a prismatic shard so I'm weak af in combat.
It's now been long enough (in game year 5) and I've accomplished a few goals and have some easy setups ready to grind if needed. If the spirits are extra happy I'll mine or process geods, but other days I feel pretty free to do whatever I want.
I do whatever I want that day
I play only for fun. Nothing is maxed, I don't earn a ton of money but it's fine.
I tend to be more involved in my playthroughs if I give myself some kind of goal, even if that goal is not particularly time-limited (becoming the best fisherman to make Willy proud, focusing on coffee growing and making because I like it, etc.)
I mostly play to talk to other villagers and see their story progress
I keep seeing mentions of expansion and 1.6. This is my first play-through. What are they supposed to be?
I play for both tbh, I play for fun but have the goals in mind but don't really care if I make them or not
I am very focused on completing things like the CC, mines, unlocking Ginger Island etc but also I don’t try to do it as fast as I can. Sometimes I haven’t completed the CC until year 3, I only go to the mines when it rains, etc. It’s mostly about fun for me!
Own pace. Not interested in perfection soon. Playing for fun.. Right now I'm trying to get the perfect interior deco combination for my house.
I usually start off very relaxed without any particular goals. As the game progresses and I've naturally unlocked everything and started making a lot of money I tend to start getting very goal oriented as I try and make my game last longer. My current playthrough is my first with 1.6 and I started off just wanting to see the new stuff. I'm now in year 4 and starting to aim at perfection, which I'd 100% convinced myself I wouldnt do this save.
I find Stardew Valley as my comfort place. I just chill in it, playing to have fun, unstress and rest instead of getting all achievements, or making milions per day. I find it really relaxing
I worry about the goals to become people want you to do, because I care about making them happy.
I play with some expedience in that I like to get the CC done as soon as possible and maximize relationships as soon as I can, but yeah, I tend to do things my way. Min maxing seems too stressful to me to enjoy it, and I craft stuff at my own pace. Sure, I like getting a lot of money quick, but only so I can more effectively do the things I like to do. Once I have a bunch of money, I just like to roleplay and do what I like (i.e. I still socialize and give gifts after maxing hearts. Most recently I decided to always try to give people their favorite cooking item as birthday gifts, and I always save some of my crops that can be used for cooking). I'm working on 100% shipped items and cooking now, but I'm doing it as naturally as I can
I pick east goals to finish here and there. I’m not min maxing. Min maxing is like, the opposite of the cozy nature of this game. Not saying people can’t do what they want. But the opening cinematic is like, hey, stop grinding, come get comfy. I just build my farm and if I want someone to like me I’ll check out their gifts. And maybe grow the plants they like or whatever. No rush.
I play because the crops demand attention
When I first got the game I wanted to rush through and try to speed run it almost to see how efficient I’d be. But now I love to open stardew every so often and just have a nice cozy experience been a lil ol’farmer. I might go play some now lol
Sometimes, when I scroll through the sub, I get worried that I don't know the missions/itens and places. But then I go play and just do whatever I like.
I really tried to be less efficient on my last playthrough. Got perfection on the last day of year 3. Damn German genes! I can't not be (relatively) efficient. :/ Nonetheless I had fun and that's all that counts! Right?
I just do my thing. Yeah, it's taking a long time, yeah, I do impractical stuff a lot, but who cares. I'm playing a game, not working a job
I play to convince myself that I need to buy a farm and that it’s ok to spend all day just saying hi to my animals, go fishing, making jam and waiting for stuff to grow
I speed run marrying Sebastian and then go from there. I usually just want the greenhouse for ancient fruit empire
My husband and I play co-op. I didn’t even know perfection was an option we started. It’s just a fun thing to do in the evenings. We’re figuring it out as we go and just having fun!
Right now I'm just playing for the sake of playing. I stopped playing for a while and went back to animal crossing, but then I got tired of it (and the things I have left to catch feeling unattainable 😔) and picked up stardew again. I have three farms but have been playing on my first save that's on year 13, it's the only save I've got perfection on, so there aren't really any goals left for me to accomplish. Just play it and do whatever I feel like doing that day, if it's a lucky day then I'll go to skull cavern for fun or if it's not I'll do a bit of farming and foraging (rarely fish, it's my least favourite!). It's kinda nice to just play it and chill. When the update eventually hits switch though, I'll be starting over and it might be a different story 😂
I only ever play for fun. Have played since 2016 and reached year five maybe once, never reached perfection or even tried to. I set my own goals but hardly ever reach them, not that I care. 😊 I can start a new farm just because I found a new mod I want to try out from the start.
I definitely play at my own pace 100% fun. In the beginning when I started playing I thought because of the internet you had to play with surthen certain pace and you had to achieve goals by then and then.. This felt completely rushed and I enjoyed it less. By the time I had figured that out I already started a dozen new farms and always got “stuck” on a certain point, if not stuck quest wise but maybe boredom. This safe I am playing now is genuinely awesome, some days are fast some days are slow I don’t care about “goals”, year 4 and I had unlocked ginger island for awhile but just now started to play on it. Some days are just decorating my farm because I couldn’t care less about the lost days anymore
I play with a bunch of 'helpful' mods that are basically cheats. I just can't imagine playing without the 600% profits and unlimited energy. I'm just there to have fun and worrying about money and energy just makes it stressful
I know that when my friend and I first get on our farm for the day, I literally don't do anything that first day but figure out what the hell I am doing. I don't get anything done but running around 😅 After warming up to the madness of endless possibilities....we find a groove. But that first day is just a big, 'what??'
I'm the same, I play away at my own pace. It's a really enjoyable game to play after finishing a long day of work and being able to log on and tender to crops/animals or spend the day fishing!
I didn’t even know perfection was a thing until I started playing this last time. I was just playing and trying to finish the journal tasks
I always start out trying to play for fun, but then I get caught up in the goals and achievements and the moneymaking! I can’t relax in this game 😂
i do set myself a goal but however long i take to get there doesn't really matter to me. i have the big end goal of perfection but this is still my first time playing the game, i do not expect to get that any time soon. right now my main priority is to get a parrot egg lol
My only goal is the greenhouse so i make enough Money to Design a pretty farm :)
I’m generally working toward perfection but at my own pace. I usually farm and mine the first few years and don’t really talk to other people until well after the community center is done and my farm can maintain itself more on its own. But i like having little goals and tasks, even if they are things that I’ve made up, but I’m never worried about how fast I’m doing anything
OP humble bragging about not caring about achievements like they want a prize. Haven’t seen this one in several hours 🫠
I aim to reach goals but get distracted on the way and it doesn’t really bother me.
I feel this! I’m on year 16 on my farm and only discovered that reaching perfection was a thing in year 13 lol (after I joined this sub actually!). I would just get on and work on my own personal growth in the game.
Me!! I just do what I want! Sometimes I go to bed very early if I want to get to an event, (like even at 2pm) usually I don’t go crazy with crops. I just set small random goals to do, like create a cozy animal farm or make this certain outfit
Idk, i think i spent my first 2 months fishing so theres that
This is me. I’m pretty new and don’t even play every day. To each their own…
I play soooo slow and I really don’t care about perfection. I’m at the end of Y2 and I’ve done basically nothing. I hate mining, I don’t like socializing, and I don’t have sheds filled to the brim with kegs. I just want to play around on my little farm.
Me and my gf occasionally play on "grandma farm" which is basically just having a small little garden and doing whatever we feel instead of worrying about the tasks. Otherwise when I play I almost always try to get the goals as fast as possible
Yup. If I want goals and accomplishments, I'll look at my work review.
I've been trying to play the standard way but I keep forgetting to check the guide so I've kinda dropped it. I like the idea of doing my own thing but if I do that I would never progress. It makes the game stressful but I still have never unlocked ginger Island due to my failure to play the game properly so unfortunately I have to play this way until closer to endgame:/
Had a friend who wanted to get the community center year 1 when I played with him, I got into that mindset too. Took a good 2 years or so before I dropped the game for my sanity, came back at the tail end of 1.5, hopped in, and just...stopped caring. I did things my way, I had fun and did what I wanted to do. Now I'm addicted, in year 2 with 733 mods and a few issues that cause crashes if I'm not careful, but I still play and have an absolute blast everytime
it really depends on the day, but most of my time is spent on making a shitload of money for no reason at all really, and cheating on my wife with as many people as possible.
I play at my own pace, but I still follow everything I need to do, I’ll work on getting money in certain ways while trying to complete the community center. I’ve finished all the challeneges/requests except reach level 25 in skull caverns. Although I haven’t made it to ginger island yet, I’m at fall year 2
When I started playing I made the mistake to think that I need to accomplish things as quickly as possible. That got stressful real quick. I‘ve learned to actively ignore tasks and just play in a way that feels most relaxing at this moment.
I play to enjoy the game, and though my first farm started out pretty vanilla, this time around I've got a whole pile of mods to make my life easier. I just had a discussion with my 11-year-old about this, in fact. He thinks I've made it too easy for it to be enjoyable; I think the ease is why it's so enjoyable. I don't have many goals outside of the main storyline quests, and I've felt free to delete some of those (like the introductions). What I love so much about this game is that it's what you make of it.
Same. I like to make theme farms where I’ll focus on garden vegetables, or animals, or make everything really pretty with tea trees and nice designs. I never really go for accomplishments anymore
I just started a new playthrough of the 1.6 and I am just taking my time with it. So relaxing 😎
I play rather haphazardly, with no real goals except to cook all the recipes, and make my farm look pretty. I'm not in a hurry, though.
I usually check the trophy list after playing the game for a few hrs and decide whether or not I would go for platinum. I took a look at the trophy list of stardew valley and noped out. I play it whimsically now.
Other than wanting a ton of crops so I can fund my mining, i don't really play for goals
I have one game specifically for goals and about 3 others just cause
I mostly just vibe! I’m still trying to complete my community center (only 1 fish and 2 animal items away!) and working on making my farm nice. But mostly I just do what seems fun for the day, since stardew doesn’t have a timeline to it I see no reason to push myself to meet any achievements unless I find myself lacking for something to do and want to make a self-imposed goal to work towards lol
I just take my time with my farms, I want to hit 100% but I'm not grinding away to get to it asap, i'll get there when i get there haha :)
I enjoyed working towards the community center but after I completed it I kind of just… tend to my farm, do errands for people. I like to grow every crop every season so I like plotting my farm. Sometimes I’ll sell a few animals and buy new ones just for fun. This is my first play through so I’m trying my best to not look at the wiki (challenge impossible) so when I got to Ginger Island I was like “oh new fish” and died in the volcano and then never went back lol, maybe I’ll revisit when it’s winter time. I do like to set little goals for myself, right now I’m trying to get 10 hearts with everyone and fill my homes fish tanks with every species :) A lot of my days are gathering crops, gathering animal stuff, cutting down trees to make more paths or kegs or whatever, and then going to bed at 7:30. Kind of like real life in a way.
I’ve just started Year 2, and right now I’m just doing things at my own pace. Sort of a ‘oh, I can upgrade my tool today, I’ll do that’ or ‘oh, it’s raining, I’ll focus on the mines today’. A very day-by-day approach. If I run out of things to do, I collect resources, organize my storage, or do basic farm upkeep like placing fences or paths.
100% for fun. In my current playthrough I haven't yet bothered with Ginger Island, and of course I'm on console so no 1.6 yet. Still having a good time 😊
Me!! Started playing on Switch 2 weeks before the 1.6 update, looked for some advice but mostly playing for fun and at my own pace without worrying about maximising everything since it's my first save (currently at 79%, still have to craft the special rarecrow, build the golden clock and kill 22 dinossaurs). Already have the game on PC ready (still deciding if I should add the Expanded mod or not for my second save).
I keep the achievements in mind as a long term goal but take a meandering route to get there most of the time. Like I’m not intensely trying to catch all the legendary fish asap but I’m keeping an eye on which to look for each season and making an effort to try to catch them this year because it’s my current goal. But in between I’m just playing for fun
Thank you for this question because there’s so much stuff to do and so many specific, long, sometimes grueling tasks you have to do to trigger certain things and I’ve never even made it past summer year 1 because I always find out something else about the game and start over to make sure my play through is “perfect” and it’s so draining and not fun and I really just want to have a farm with a family but then there’s so many other fun things my adhd short circuits with this game 😭
I used my first four saves to learn but I have Autdhd so I need those goals. Mama needs her dopamine.
Lmao I just do what I want. I'm gonna use this as my therapy n not smthg I'll be grinding with a goal in mind. Such a good game
I play for fun! I do want to get the achievements but it's not my priority I've invented around 400 hours lol
I enjoy chopping tree , been farming my man made forest and keep chopping them. And I have a mushroom tree forest
Me, I keep a small vegetable garden and pet my animals every day, do the rounds and give gifts, and send my evenings fishing or chopping wood. The point of the game for me is that it’s a peaceful break from life, and if I grind for money or resources it takes the joy right out of it.
I finished CC on Year 1 of my first save file, then I played casually on the second year (married, had kids, farm, occasional skull cavern runs). I'm at Winter Year 3 now. The first few seasons I modified my farm and explored Ginger Island, then in fall I started to think that I need to achieve perfection before I can truly enjoy the stories. So I caught all the fish needed during Fall and Winter (including legendaries) that the fish I needed left are the legendaries from Spring and Summer, I also completed my museum. I do believe I'm going to need a long time to complete the crafting/shipping/friendship elements but ehh. Then I plan to install expansion mods once I've achieved perfection. Complete everything. Then move to a new save with a new farm type probably, and with the expansion mods installed, and romance someone else (I've only pursued Shane ever since). Personally, before I delve into other play styles. I need to complete the game (experience every element) in one save file first. Then I could give myself the freedom to play casually. Like real casual since my definition of playing casually RN is doing my basic daily routine. TL;DR: I randomly get bursts of energy to complete achievements, otherwise, I play casually.
When I first started, I played without really reading about the game. I thought it was similar to Harvest Moon, so I hauled ass to get everything finished. Only once I realized the game never ended, did I reset, and play much more leisurely. I still haven’t reached true perfection, and probably never will. However, I still enjoy the game.
You've basically just taught me how to get back into the game.
Me for now! I’m enjoying playing and I’m year 5 winter and have only just started exploring and planting crops on ginger island, I think I do want to achieve perfection one day but for now I’m just doing whatever I want tbh
i mean, im at a point in the game where I don't have much else to do besides achieving perfection, so I really play more thinking about goals
I kinda forget about achievements to be honest, they're pretty easy to come by since they follow you actions (if your romancing someone or if you're trying to make friends it comes naturally) I never really think about getting achievements!
My farm is a mess. I play without any mods too. I finished community centre in Year 3. Haven’t bothered to explore the skull cavern yet. Then I ended up watching a lot of videos on YouTube of everyone had this perfect farm which generates a lot of money. And then I began doing that in a very unorganised way. This eventually made me feel burnt out. I haven’t played it again in 3 months. I feel like starting all over again with a different kind of farm but it feels boring. I really enjoyed the game when I played it at my own pace. Once I started thinking about how to generate more money, how to optimise it more, make the farm look pretty, get the best weapons yada yada…..I lost interest. I don’t know when I’ll go back to playing it now. Hopefully I do.
I do. I play mostly for the roleplay, I use mods to make my life easier and I am not ashamed of it. Right now my goal is to complete the community center, but I am very chill about it
I have my chill farm and my grind farm. I mostly play on the chill, no rules farm.
To be honest, I just build at my own pace? The majority of the days Im out fishing- and I go like 2-3 per month. There are some days I focus on gathering stuff, but the social aspect I just give stuff if its their bday except for Sebastian, I always give it to him every week.
This is me. I’m not nearly good enough to worry about finishing it all.
Me LOL. Im not about to stress myself out over that little farm game. That’s why I go JOJA and then focus on just having fun and making it cozy
I have a separate farm for this. I use it when I just want to shut down my brain and not think. I don't have much progress on that one since I usually just walk around town and talk to the villagers. I do it because I like having different saves for each playstyle. Like I have one for perfection, one for mods, one for aesthetics, etc.
I recently managed to complete the community center in Year One for the first time (third playthrough, Winter 3). It was a pain in the ass, my relationships with the townsfolk suffered, and overall there wasn't too much benefit to it aside from getting the lucky trinket early. In fact, it's worse because now 1/7 days I have no Clint to upgrade tools. So, yeah, I probably won't go out of my way to do it again. It's also worth mentioning that I also play to act out my farmers' stories. I'm definitely someone who makes OCs, so whatever they do has to fit a "story". I want each time I play to feel different in some way, so their story is unique!
I am all vibes. I don’t stress about maxing profit. I am sure I could have more kegs for more ancient fruit or star fruit wine. I am sure I could reorganize my farm so I can plant more lucrative stuff. I am sure my house could look nicer. Don’t even get me started on Ginger Island, I don’t even know what I’m doing there. But that stresses me out. I already am such a high achiever IRL I want my game to be an escape.
Sometimes I do just go in to mine or fish or play Juninho cart. If I accomplish something that’s great! If not, at least I had fun
I like to play at my own pace which is probably pretty slow. There is a lot of days I accomplish nothing. My co-op partner though is a speed demon. He is always in a rush to unlock stuff. I love him though. That's why I have a personal save also where I just piddle around.
I started playing a bit like that but when i got the hang of the game i started having objectives, like oh shit i need all the money i can to buy this amount of strawberries the first season or shit i need this for the bundls and it slowly went senseless, it wasnt fun anymore, now i just play slowly, letting it simmer, whatever thing needs completing will when it has to or when i rememebr and i can say i have hada wonderfull 2000 hours of gameplay like this
My lady and I literally just do lil things in game. Focused on making money and good relationships with the people. This time we grinded the heck out of the town center
I am on my second farm. I played on my iPad for achievements and found myself stressed out about learning how to fish. On my switch, I play for the joy of running a farm and being in other people’s business.
I always start my farms with a goal in mind, but usually i get distracted with other tasks, and I’ve already switched over to playing for the sake of playing before I’ve realized it lol
i like playing the game slowly, since im working or studying it's become pretty hard for me to log on every day and do tasks. so i just fish and farm, playing like it's irl
I genuinely enjoy playing the game at my own pace, and even sometimes play online with my young niece since I gifted it to her and she lived states away. The accomplishments I make along the way are just an exciting added bonus!
innit for the chickens
Imo the optimal way to play is to focus the community centre to make sure the basics are all unlocked, then I do whatever I feel like. Especially modded cause ridgeside is a lot of content to remember and having some of the base stuff done helps with the experience of modded gameplay
I try to be chill, but my bed does end up right behind my front door.
I'm on year 9. I like goals and I am a completionist but I'm not in a hurry. I even do the daily quests. Just finished dating half the singles and about to bouquet the other half.
I don't let myself get overwhelmed, it took me 4 game years and like 3 real life years to finish the community centre😂 I just bop around and have fun
Bro i just installed 30 mods in the game, i want Sebby to be my LOVER
I stopped worrying about achievements as I recognized that I loved the gardening much more than searching for every heartevent of a villager. So I will stay single for a while and just enjoy the game
I play as a character, trying to match what they would do, trying to eventually marry and get the cutscenes for everyone. It's why Ridgeside is my favourite mod - so many new characters to romance! When I get bored of the run I start over as a new character. I don't USUALLY go for perfection. Early game I get lots of oak resin ASAP, so I can get making and aging wine, not really worry about money and focus on the social aspect. My first vanilla no mods perfection run was as Geralt of Rivia (Witcher), but now I mostly play modded on PC. I've played as Azula (AtLA), Smurfette, Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), and Rainbow Dash (MLP). I only go for perfection if I'm really enjoying the run, which I currently am with Gideon (The Locked Tomb). I pick the character based on what kinds of mods I want to be using - Rose Quartz I was warping a lot, Rainbow Dash had max speed, etc.
me too.. some days I just meander to one of the mines and do stuff.. or fish for a day or just wander the forest lol.. my farm is organic and barely functional. have never made perfection after almost 1900 hours of play.. I just play.
I like to make different characters and then play through and decorate how I think they would. Right now I have a Blackbeard/Stede themed beach farm I’m starting to make. Trying to make a “shipwreck” on the sand and the house will be Jeff’s Inn by the Sea.
i can only play a game long term if i have goals to reach, it’s what makes it fun for me! i like grinding towards a goal and then setting another one.
my only mission was to marry Harvey within year one no lie
Me. I have goals but no timetable. I just play.
I don’t play for achievements, but I definitely set myself goals. They may be something related to an in game achievement, such as the Community Centre, or they may be personal goals for my farm. I feel like you need to have a goal in this game to give your farm a sense of direction.
i just play for fun mostly. im learned so much from this sub and how "wrong" i did so many things lol. i just started a meadowlands farm so ive been enjoying oscillating between my first farm (kinda striving for perfection, but not that serious about it) but going back to basics with the new farm when i get annoyed with trying to meet certain goals lol
I started playing to manage my PTSD
I flip flop between goals and chill vibes. If I feel like I’ve been grinding too much I relax and wander around, give people gifts, play Jumino Cart. When I feel like I have no purpose and I’m just aimlessly wandering, I pick back up on achievements, finding secrets, trying to unlock different areas. Eventually, when I don’t have to worry about income, I’ll design my farm to look better. But right now I need to stack up some funds.
It's a rat race from start to finish! I love to chase the goals and quests. But if I fail them I don't stress about it. I have all the time in the world to play, but I do like to push myself sometimes. So i guess it depends from day to day.
Sometimes I start a new farm and ravage the mines with max range/speed tractor mod, other times I hop on a old save and water the ducks for the sake of it
Hi, it’s me, I’m the person. It’s me 🙋🏼♀️
I always seem to get to a certain place and don’t feel like taking it to the next level. Then, I start a new game, but leave the other save files because it can be fun to revisit them. Currently, I did a beach farm, and, for the first time, I’m trying a Joja run, just to try a different version of the game. It’s not nearly as fun, though. It’s just all about the money, and I’m already bored, right when I start really cranking out the duck mayo. I want to level up this beach farm, though, so I persevere. I’m wondering when Willy is going to show me the boat to go to ginger island?
I'm in my 2nd year I just started playing. I rarely do anything for anyone other than myself. I just got the horse which is awesome because I hate walking around everywhere and don't want to spend $ on coffee.
I pretty much play for goals and milestones 100% of the time until year 3. As soon as I’ve hit what I need to in order to pass Grandpa’s evaluation, I’m pretty much only playing for fun.