Stardew Valley is a game where you play as a person who is beaten down by city life at the Joja mega corporation, taking up your grandfather's farm in Stardew Valley, a region on the southern part of the Ferngill Republic, bordered by the Gem Sea, north of the Gotoro Empire. You gather resources for your farm, plant crops, raise animals, get to know the townspeople and potentially marry one of the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes, and enter the mines to fight monsters.
But even though Strardew Valley is sunshine and rainbows for your character doesn't mean it is that way for the town. The most obvious is Kent, the veteran who returns to Pelican Town in Year 2, was a Prisoner of War with the Gotoro Empire and suffers severe PTSD. His wife Jodi? She got married young and is unhappy that she's got nothing but her children to show for it, despite deeply loving her family. Shane and Jas lost Jas' parents in a car accident and were forced to move in with Marnie, and Shane has fallen so deep into depression that he's suicidal. He, as well as Pam, are alcoholics who destroy themselves at the local Saloon thanks to how much they hate themselves. Even Marnie isn't in the best place, having a physical relationship with Mayor Lewis, but she wants more, and Lewis not only doesn't, but actively tries to hide their relationship. (This bothers people so much that there are mods force them to confront this!)
I could go on and on about the hidden pain for all the townsfolk, like how Pierre and the Wizard both suspecting that Abigail isn't Pierre's daughter, or Leah and Elliot's desires to get away from past lives and reinvent themselves in Stardew Valley, or the pain and loss of new NPC Leo, but that's part of what makes Stardew Valley fun; getting to know these people and bonding with them. They're people, living their lives the best they can until you come along, carrying all the baggage that real people would have.
As for how I look at Stardew Valley, on paper, it's a game I shouldn't like; I'm not into doing completionist runs of games, and I'm certainly not into resource gathering games. I mean, back when Minecraft had an in-browser demo on their official website, I played that for an hour because I got bored with the resource gathering before giving up on it. And that fishing mini game is why I have cheats. In fact, the only part of Stardew Valley that I should enjoy is the dungeon crawling and combat, which, while still enjoyable, is my second least favorite part of the game!
So, why do I love Stardew Valley, despite the entire game being something that, on paper, would be a game I'd hate? Because of the charm. Stardew Valley is more than the sum of its parts, something I saw WAY back when Allochii of the Gaijin Gamers streamed a few episodes of the game for their channel! It was so sweet and charming, and that wasn't even counting the fact that Allochii was the one playing the game, as her voice made it all so much more so.
Now, I won't lie; I mod the game and use cheats. The fishing mini game is why I use cheats; much Sans fight in Undertale, I just can't get a hand on it. And on all but my completionist farm, I use the CJB Cheats menu and CJB Item Spawner to get what I need for the community center bundles/projects for the town, but I have rules for that, too. For example, I can't spawn in something in until I've collected at least one of, I have to craft at least one of something to be allowed to spawn it in, and when new content comes to the game, I have to complete it naturally without cheating before I can spawn that stuff in.
Which brings me to the 1.5 update. This one is the reason I now have a completionist farm. There is a tangible reward for it, where we finally get access to the cliff that has been jumbled in the code since release, as well as the new statue and an extra scene with your spouse.
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Yes, Leah, we have.
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I really enjoy Stardew Valley, FAR more than I ever thought I would when I first heard about it. I never realized a game like this would be in my wheelhouse, but here it is. And I wouldn't change it for the world.
So come on down to Stardew Valley, get to know the people, and stay beautiful freaks!
