# Stardew Valley **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 24, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429 "2018-10-24T14:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/1 "2018-10-24T14:08:48Z")
I was looking to get my son into some games other than first person shooters, so I got Stardew Valley last night. I liked how the game has a retro look, almost like what you might expect in a mid 90’s SNES type game. There appear to be missions in the game but otherwise the gameplay seems fairly open and one is free to ‘live’ in Stardew Valley however one wants. I only got about an hour of play time in just to test it out. I’m not sure how my son is going to take to it. ‘Retro’ doesn’t mean anything to him because he never saw this style of game back in the 90’s. And while I gather it’s possible to ‘fight’ monsters in the game, it doesn’t appear like the combat model is any more sophisticated than having a weapon in hand and clicking on the bad guys. There does, however, appear to be some economic management elements to the game. Any suggestions on fun ways to make money? Are there other aspects to this game a 13 yr old boy might find appealing I should draw his attention to first? ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/2 "2018-10-24T15:20:36Z")
13 year old boy? Show him Abigail and Haley and tell him he can get either or both of them to be his girlfriend. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/3 "2018-10-24T22:32:23Z")
I’ve recently taken up this game, too. The biggest thing I notice about it just how unstressful it is. You can succeed faster or slower, but nothing will ever really screw you over. > [@](#): > > Any suggestions on fun ways to make money? There are five experience tracks (farming, foraging, combat, mining, and fishing), and really, you can make money on any of them (though combat and mining mostly go hand in hand). The most obvious way, and ultimately the most profitable, is farming to create produce, and then processing it to increase your produce’s value. But you can also do things like just planting a whole bunch of trees, and putting tappers on all of them, to sell maple syrup, or fish all day. > [@](#): > > 13 year old boy? Show him Abigail and Haley and tell him he can get either or both of them to be his girlfriend. I think that, even as a 13 year old, I would still have found Maru or Penny more appealing. But yeah, you can romance any of them, or Leah or Emily, or any of six different male characters if you choose (everyone in Stardew Valley is apparently bisexual). And speaking to a parent, don’t worry, there’s nothing too explicit about any of the romances. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/4 "2018-10-25T02:32:31Z")
Stardew Valley is a pretty great game. I got it for my daughter too (she was 11 at the time) and she loves it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/5 "2018-10-25T02:57:29Z")
Stardew Valley is freakin amazing, one of my all-time favorite games. It’s definitely not for everyone, though. Here are some of the gamerier elements. These include some very minor spoilers: -The community center is basically a way to have achievements. -You can earn over a million dollars by the end of the second year. -There are unlockable cut-scenes with every character (I think), depending on how you play. -There are unlockable locations. -There are few things in life more satisfying than delivering jars of homemade jam to everyone you know and having them be all happy about it. Again, it’s not gonna be for everyone, and if he’s not interested in breaking out of a particular genre like battleground-play, it’s gonna be a hard sell. But if he’s interested in trying something different, Stardew Valley is a shining example of a game done just right. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/6 "2018-10-25T02:59:27Z")
Oh–and as for making money, while a good spread of crops is always good, there are definitely crops that are more profitable than others. Take a look at some online guides. By the end of the first summer, it’s possible to get a chicken coop going, and once your livestock operation is up and running, there are some real opportunities for raking in money. Eventually you’ll be selling your aged goat cheese for ridiculous money. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/7 "2018-10-25T03:03:46Z")
It’s a great game and it is also coming out for iOS and Android. And your saves from PC will transfer to mobile. And the mobile is going to be the full game. I and my kids played it daily for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/8 "2018-10-25T03:38:35Z")
stardew valley is pretty much a fan reboot of the original SNES harvest moon …. your kid might like rune factory also or even better those are on the ds with wii and ps4 spinoffs ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/9 "2018-10-25T12:50:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve recently taken up this game, too. The biggest thing I notice about it just how unstressful it is. You can succeed faster or slower, but nothing will ever really screw you over. Played a few more game days yesterday, and I think this sums it up. ‘Urgency’ is not something one would associate with the game play. Consequently, there isn’t much to stress about. Seems like _anticipation_ more than anything is what propels one forward in this game…boy, if I can save up enough money to buy a mayonnaise making vat I can increase my income from my chickens and their eggs and then maybe make enough to able to afford a house upgrade… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/10 "2018-10-25T15:04:44Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I was looking to get my son into some games other than first person shooters, so I got Stardew Valley last night. I liked how the game has a retro look, almost like what you might expect in a mid 90’s SNES type game. […] And while I gather it’s possible to ‘fight’ monsters in the game, it doesn’t appear like the combat model is any more sophisticated than having a weapon in hand and clicking on the bad guys. If you want to keep some of those elements while the game being a bit more combat oriented, you might want to introduce him to [Terraria](https://terraria.org/). It doesn’t have the interpersonal RPG aspects but focuses more on exploring, fighting critters and building your world. Despite being 2D, you can really do a lot of creative stuff with it. That’s not to imply that you shouldn’t show him Stardew Valley. It’s a very popular game among all ages and genders. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/11 "2018-10-25T16:26:52Z")
Agreed that Terraria is, if not a sister game to Stardew Valley, at least a second cousin. There’s a bunch of games like this, where you explore and gather resources and build and maybe do some fighting and balance competing needs, and I will play these games until my fingers fall off. Minecraft, Terraria, Stardew Valley, Subnautica, and Oxygen Not Included all have some distant resemblance to one another, and I love them all. If you’re having trouble getting him interested in Stardew Valley, but want to expand his reach beyond shooters, Subnautica might be a good gateway game: it’s heavily science-fiction, it’s first-person, and it’s jaw-droppingly gorgeous. While there’s a good deal more violence in the game than in Stardew Valley, you’re the subject of it, not the instigator; in almost all cases in the game, the way to emerge victorious from a battle is to swim the fuck away. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/12 "2018-10-25T17:54:21Z")
I think the general term for games like this is “sandbox”, as in, you start with a world, and you can build whatever you want in it, without instructions on “how to do it right”. But yeah, calling it one genre leads to some interesting contrasts, like the chill, relaxed _Stardew_ and the constant-stress _Don’t Starve_ being considered the same genre. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/13 "2018-10-25T19:50:59Z")
Note that Stardew Valley does have a kind of story mission you progress through linearly so it’s not 100% a sandbox. But it’s something you can pretty much do at your own pace so you’re not forced to do it at any time or at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stardew-valley/823429/14 "2018-10-26T02:45:18Z")
Well, there are quests that will come up at certain times on the calendar, but you can put them off indefinitely, and do them in any order. And there are multiple lines of progression, but again, you can work on any or none of them you like. The closest it has to a Big Quest is restoring the community center, but you can do the pieces of that in (almost) any order, and there’s an option to just give up on the whole thing.