Retrospective - Stardew Valley - What's Harvest Moon Could Have Been

 

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Hello, welcome again to the Chronicles Review, this time with a game that had no right for being as addictive as it is.

For anybody interested in the background this is a game that was developed by only one person, also one of those games that are crafted with a delicate balance for a good time.

The Prelude:

We are workers on a office, tired of these style of life, like it was destiny we inherited our grandfather's farm in a town far from us so we pack and get ready for the new life.

The sealed envelope says that you were not so ready to change life yet 

On this point we are asked about some options and the creation of our avatar, then we select the type of farm that we want to have (This decision is final and you have to see it through to the end of your play time).

The farm only changes it's layout and some things there and here and that's it, the list is underneath.

The forest, that gives us hardwood way near than the normal gathering points.

The Standard with a lot of land to grow corps to your liking and nothing to special or hard(We recommend this one for new players)

The wilderness with monsters on the nights (not so recommended)

The fishing farm with lots of bridges and zones to make your living by fishing a lot

The 4 corners (I know it by that) is focused on tbe multiplayer but is basically a farm with a little bit of everything.

The Gameplay:

That's it for the story, the game is fairly simple on this side but works, from here to the end of the days (the game actually has an scene that feels like an ending but you can play as long as you want), we start working right away cleaning a plot of land to grow crops or we go to the near town to meet the new people.

We control a character in a up to down view, with a pixel art very well crafted, for the game mechanics are simple, every day we awake at 6 am (with the exception of certain specific situations).

A well crafted Pixel art is always a pleasure to see

We have all the day up to middle night to get back to bed, if not we will faint and be penalized the day after with awakening a lot later of the day and a economical hit.

We can use lots of items and some tools, fight and craft, at the end of the day the game gather all that you put on the box of the sales and gives you the money that you made on that day.

We can improve the farm in diverse ways to make easier our daily routine, like a greenhouse to grow the crops that we want without taking on account the season. 

Not a welcoming sight that's for sure

This is an open world game and you have all the freedom to explore as you like but the game has certain timestamps when the map opens a little more, like repairs of the bridges around or fixing up the bus for more far expeditions to a certain map.

We start from the basics, the game tells you by the way of a Npc, the mayor that you must plant crops for starters and then meet all the people on town, know where buy what or the services they provide and then focus on repairing the farm plots for constantly progression.

The mines are where your monster killing skills are used

You can develop your daily routine around growing crops or fishing to get money, a little into the game you can shift your job to a miner, more ahead you can process certain prime materials to make more processed products for more profit.

We really appreciate the effort to make this desire of progression feels natural, we will always be progressing one way or another, a new patch of land cleaned and ready to work, an improvement for the house or a new crafting table or a mean to make more processed goods.

For example, you will be leveling up, any actions that consumes energy will be upgrading your character, if you fight a lot then you will be getting less tired every time you swing a weapon or if you're always on the crops work then you will be getting less and less tired every time you plant seeds or water them.

You will access to two skills more powerful than the normal upgrades on level 5 and 10, these will mark your path on the later products depending on your choice

The World:

To no one surprise the game has a healthy roster of Npcs, all with different personalities, occupations, backstory and some of them are romance chances for your own avatar.

A whole of the charm of this type of games are the world as one giant piece for the mechanics to work.

The population of the town plays a big role on the immersion, meeting them, their dreams, their background, making them your friends and who knows, maybe one of them will be your companion for the rest of the play.

You can work all the way to this moment with the romanceable Npcs

The friendship works fairly simple, you start by meeting them and every time you interact with them you will gain"friendship points".

Talking to them or giving them gifts are the best way to gain friendship.

Events or their respective birthdays works well too(if the gift that them most like is hard to get, save it for the birthday for a massive increase of friendship, just a tip).

Everyone has it's particular routine and the shops has they schedules

The other part is the social events, and the example that comes to my mind as something similar are the social links from Persona, 

Every now and then (in Stardew are every time a hearth is filled) you will meet a event if you go to a certain location on a certain hour, sometimes this will lead to a decision that add or remove points, but these are by far one of the most interesting parts of this world.

They're usually unique and show another side of a character

This game also has some special orders that net you some money and also some friendship points with the character that did the order.

They're fairly simple and sometimes provide some context or the use that they will give to the item that they need, this sometimes serves to some strange jokes but nothing that hurt the experience.

The mines are another monster, it's basically a dungeon with rooms created randomly, the exploration consists of mining rocks in the seek of the ladder to continue getting down and getting more valuable ores.

At first they're pretty simple but farther down they starts to get interesting

A quick note : If you like the mines, don't sleep on the possibility of repairing the bus, trust me.

This gets interesting because every ten rooms the ambience changes, some harder monsters appear and sometimes you get an extra item that worth alone the trouble, add that you unlock an elevator that let's you drop off directly on the start of every ten floors.

In Conclusion:

It's no surprise for anyone that invested his time on the game that was the hit that it was.

The cycle of gameplay it's extremely enjoyable and relaxing, this mix makes for a powerful addiction, as a personal note, I lose count of the nights that I lost playing just one more day to finish this X chore.

I left out things like the seasons and the explanation of some quality of the crops, also the most important thing that I didn't mention is the multiplayer but for a reason. 

I don't have anyone to try it, sadly I hoped a long time for a multiplayer for this game but when the update came up, the people that played the game along with me, moved on to another game and wasn't interested, but the fact is that the game has it.

Hey at least someone can send me a message and tell me how good it is

The point of this game being great standstill and I hope that this review makes someone new try it.

Thanks for reaching the end, we will continue working hard for quality content.

- The Chronicles Team

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