Escape the drudgery of 9 to 5 by moving to Stardew Valley to become a farmer.
Before starting the game, you first decide on your name and the name of the farm. Then you can set your appearance and your animal preference. Select the type of farm you like, such as near the river, on the hill or a standard farm. After a short cutscene, you decide to take the farm that your grandfather left you, the farm is in Stardew Valley, near Pelican Town. There are 7 types of farms for you to choose from, but you cannot change it once the game starts. The advanced game options for multiplayer options, or to present additional challenges and rewards, such as if you want to have monsters on the farm.
Your guide for the game at the start is Robin, the local carpenter and Mayor Lewis from Pelican Town. At the start, you notice that the game is quite run down and you need to clear the land before planting crops. At the bottom of the screen are 12 boxes for items in your inventory. The items can stack up, the amount of items is shown at the bottom right corner.
In the menu option, you get to see your total inventory, funds and earnings, all important things to keep your farm running. Keep track of your skills and special items and the title depending on your skill set. The friends you make and romantic interests will show up in the social tab. Give your neighbors gifts or chat with them to improve your relationship level, especially if you are intending to be romantic with them.
Access the locations of stores and locations of specific places on the map, the map will also indicate opening times for the shops. In the crafting section, create fences, gates or chests to decorate your own farm. Crafting requires raw materials, and they are at the bottom of the crafting items. You may have to craft items to fulfill orders to earn more money.
In the collections tab, you can keep an inventory of the items that you have collected and sold when you are in the game. There are fruits and vegetables, fish, artifacts, minerals, the recipes that you have created, your achievements in the game. Your notes and letters also appear in the collections tab, so you can reread the notes.
The options tab allows you to select how you want the game to run, such as showing portraits of your friends, hiding the tools and seeing where your tools are hitting. You can also enable the zoom buttons on screen by switching it on in the options tab.
The icons in the top left corner of the screen when you are in the farm have important information. The exclamation mark goes into your journal to keep track of your activities and orders. You have the calendar and time so you can plan your day throughout. As a farner the seasons and the weather are important. The arrow points in the direction of the sun, the little panel on the left is the weather and the right one is the season. The currency is in Gil, it is at the bottom of the time panel. You use gil to buy items such as gifts and furniture.
You have an energy bar on the bottom right, while your health bar will only appear when you are in the mines or when something hurts you. Typically, you will wake up at 6.50am but you can go to bed at any time of the day. But once you pass 2am, you will pass out.
How To Play
At the start, your main task is to prepare for your first harvest, no matter which farm you pick.The standard map favors farming skill, the foraging skill benefits when you have a forest farm. When you have a hill-top farm, your mining skill is valuable. You will be a great fisherman if you have a riverland farm, while you will have to be good at combat if your farm is a wilderness farm. A beach farm will encourage you to be good at foraging and fishing. If you are planning for a multiplayer game, selecting a Four Corners farm will accommodate all skills.
To level up a skill, you perform actions based on it. For example, you earn farming experience points by harvesting crops and looking after animals. When you have enough skill level, you will gain crafting recipes and have professions to have better products or better selling points. As your energy level is limited, you have to upgrade your tools so you can spend your energy better elsewhere.
Being a farmer is not only about planting and harvesting, it is also being part of a wider community. In Stardew Valley, it is important to form friendships with the townspeople. You also have to court your prospective partner if you want to marry one day. The villagers are split into marriageable, non- marriage candidates and characters that you give presents to.
Aside from harvesting and selling your produce, the quests are a good way to improve friendships, gain achievements and experience points, and earn some Gil. There are 4 types of quests in the Help Wanted Board: gathering, fishing, delivery and helping kill monsters. However, additional quests not in the board involve the main storyline, and you will trigger the quest when you come across specific items or when you finish a prior job in the storyline.
Once you are a married farmer, you now have to maintain a relationship with your spouse. You can still give gifts, but the twice a week limit is removed. Your spouse helps with the watering of crops and feeding the livestock. Your first kiss of the day will remove exhaustion status, which is helpful if you have been going to sleep late. However, your spouse can also be jealous or upset, which will affect your interaction.
You become more than a farmer in Stardew Valley, it is a community you can explore in and make new friends. Share your favorite type of farm in the comment area below so that more people can like the game.
