Can i just ignore the other residents in the town

[Tripsout]

I'm a loner irl and i really can't be bothered pampering the egos of other people in the town it's starting to really annoy me lol... if i could kill them, i would. Do i need to bother with them as ive stopped talking to them and nothing seems to have changed, can i just play and ignore them ??

[Queen Rabbit]

A great thing about Stardew Valley is that you can play how you want!
Don't want to talk to the villagers? Just ignore them!

If you have no interest in the characters and their own little stories, then there is no need to talk with them.
And the game doesn't have a real end. So you could always start to talk with them, if you suddenly want to.
The only NPC that could be useful to be friends with is the Wizard. But only if you want to change your characters look. Besides him no other character comes into my mind... You can get small gifts now and then if you befriend the villagers.
But I don't know if you can really get anything from them besides the small gifts.

[Loathsome Llama]

As golden rabbit said, you play however you want!
That is not to say you will get the exact same outcome regardless however.
If you don't befriend anyone, they will not gift you things like recipies. "Heart events" will not occure until they are a high enough heart level, so you will miss that content as well, and obviously marriage is out of the question.
But that's okay, you can focus on just farming and money as long as you'd like, and if you decide you'd like to start befriending people, go for it. There is no time requirement, and if it takes you 10 game years or real life years, no worries!

[Nani Sore]

For the most part, people can be ignored. There's nothing that forces you to gain friendship with other residents.

That said, a large portion of the game is about creating friendships. The annual events such as the flower dance allow you to participate if you actually have enough hearts with a certain resident. Residents will also have their own events at a certain amount of hearts. They will send you gifts and recipes that you might not be able to find by watching the cooking show. It also counts toward's the evaluation at the end of year 2.

It's not necessarily required to gain friendship by constantly gifting players. Completing quests, or the community centre bundle for friendship also helps.

[Thutmosis]

You'll also miss out on some "Cooking Recipes" afaik ... but yeah you don't have to, if you don't need every little perk ...

[Tripsout]

thx guys i'm just going into fall in my first year and the gravity of how much i would have to do to get them and keep them all at max hearts was starting to drive me mad lol.

[Loathsome Llama]

Once they hit 10 stars they do not deteriorate, so that's something lol

[CeliriaRose]

Originally posted by Tripsout:

thx guys i'm just going into fall in my first year and the gravity of how much i would have to do to get them and keep them all at max hearts was starting to drive me mad lol.

You don't have to do much to keep them from losing heart levels. The heart level decay is extremely slow compared to the gain. You get 20 points just for talking to them, 20 for neutral gifts, 45 for liked gifts, and 80 for loved gifts. If you complete a delivery quest for them from the notice board you get 150 points. And If you give them a gift on their birthday you get x8 points meaning a loved gift would give you 640 points (over 3 full hearts worth). All this in comparison to not interacting with them for a day loses you 2 points, that's it just 2. Meaning that if you just at the bare minimum talked to them once you would have to completely ignore them for 11 days straight to go backwards (and if you happened to give them a loved gift on their birthday you could literally completely ignore them for 2 in-game years without losing all the points from that one gift). Also once their heart meter is full they no longer lose points from not interacting with them.

[rad rat ray]

befriending the villagers will give you various cooking recipes you can't get from watching TV, as well as crafting recipes from Robin and Linus. they'll also send you helpful gifts in the mail sometimes, and befriending them gives points toward the evaluation in year 3.

once you reach max hearts with someone you'll no longer need to maintain it, but befriending them isn't necessary and you can do it whenever you want (or don't).

[Tripsout]

Originally posted by Sabertooth:

Once they hit 10 stars they do not deteriorate, so that's something lol

wait is this true ??

[rad rat ray]

Originally posted by Tripsout:

Originally posted by Sabertooth:

Once they hit 10 stars they do not deteriorate, so that's something lol

wait is this true ??

yes

[Tripsout]

Originally posted by CeliriaRose:

Originally posted by Tripsout:

thx guys i'm just going into fall in my first year and the gravity of how much i would have to do to get them and keep them all at max hearts was starting to drive me mad lol.

You don't have to do much to keep them from losing heart levels. The heart level decay is extremely slow compared to the gain. You get 20 points just for talking to them, 20 for neutral gifts, 45 for liked gifts, and 80 for loved gifts. If you complete a delivery quest for them from the notice board you get 150 points. And If you give them a gift on their birthday you get x8 points meaning a loved gift would give you 640 points (over 3 full hearts worth). All this in comparison to not interacting with them for a day loses you 2 points, that's it just 2. Meaning that if you just at the bare minimum talked to them once you would have to completely ignore them for 11 days straight to go backwards (and if you happened to give them a loved gift on their birthday you could literally completely ignore them for 2 in-game years without losing all the points from that one gift). Also once their heart meter is full they no longer lose points from not interacting with them.

omg thank you for this i can see light now lol i thought it was just an endless circle of keeping them topped up

[Sander]

for bachelors the max amount of hearts before giving the buequet, is 8 hearts. The game treats this is as the maximun, so when bachelors reach 8 hearts they will no longer go down.

[kevinshow]

I agree with red255. Year 1, I mostly ignored people. Year 2, I have a ton of blueberries that I carry around. I use them in the mines and for gifts to people. There are probably 2-3 people that didn't like blueberries (I don't know if it is neutral or dislike) but most people at least like them. In other words, later on, it's much easier to give everyone gifts 2x a week and once more on their birthdays.

I use blueberries because I had to farm them up anyway. I'm not growing some other crop just for the gifting purpose.

I've also found that before the flowers grow, if you have wild honey and you don't want to sell them as is or cook with them, those are a good gift also.

[Silky Rough]

Originally posted by Golden Rabbit:

The only NPC that could be useful to be friends with is the Wizard. But only if you want to change your characters look.

Befriending the Wizard offers a bit more than just character cosmetics. Significantly more.
- Junimo Huts, 2 x Warp totems, Golden Clock
- Night terrors, kid removal, spouse memories

I noticed no-one said anything about friends and Grandpa's Evaluation. Acquiring enough friends and/or getting married can add 3 points to the evaluation. That's 25% of the score. I suppose it depends on when you'd like iridium without doing Skull Cave.

[hyperion]

Yeah, you probably can. I mostly ignore them now. I have 2 GFs, but don't have time to give them more stuff as I'm busy farming, foraging, mining, fishing, and building up my farm. And don't plan to marry anyone, not really sure what the benefit of that is. Maybe I will if I see a benefit later on.