Energy system is really annoying and days too short...

[9Days]

Don't get me wrong, I love this game.... HOWEVER, is it just me or does the energy system combined with short days make the game discouraging to play?

I really want to sink more hours into the game but being able to do hardly anything during the day without lots of prep before hand and then after you've prepped you've only got 10 mins of game time to do anything just makes it tedious.

Curious to what you guys think.

[akshirine]

It starts out tedious but as you level up your skills and upgrade your tools it take nearly no time nor energy to take care of everything. I think it can be off putting if you haven't played a similar game but it makes you feel like you've actually progressed at the game If the starting of it is tough. Doesn't take long before you have too much energy and time to do stuff

[DizzieDawgie]

Originally posted by akshirine:

It starts out tedious but as you level up your skills and upgrade your tools it take nearly no time nor energy to take care of everything.

According to Jolly's profile they've played for over 13 hours. Would you consider that still the "start"? How many more hours until they can expect the tedious gameplay to subside?

[akshirine]

Originally posted by DizzieDawgie:

Originally posted by akshirine:

It starts out tedious but as you level up your skills and upgrade your tools it take nearly no time nor energy to take care of everything.

According to Jolly's profile they've played for over 13 hours. Would you consider that still the "start"? How many more hours until they can expect the tedious gameplay to subside?

I consider that a start. Especially to a game like this. No game like this should be up and going full time in a couple of days. After 20 I had my farm is a state I didn't think was tedious but I also didn't bite off more than I could chew. During the rain I'd go to the mine. When it wasn't raining I'd use that time to clear part of the farm to build skills. I only called it tedious because it can feel that way if you don't make a "plan" for each day

[LetTheBodyFall]

I never really had a problem with it, and I'm already at 800 hours. Even when I start a new game, I usually have about 20-30 minutes of gameplay per day even tho I plant a lot of crops in the first week which is very energy consuming.

When I have low energy after doing my initial farming (about the first week or so of spring), I go around the map to talk to the townspeople and then forage for food, esp the green onions in the forest. If i fish, I eat the algae and seaweed so that adds a few minutes. Also when I chop trees, the seeds I don't replant will usually be turned to field snacks.

I don't prep anything. Literally the only planning that I do mostly revolves around my crops. I usually have a lot of forageables left so I can bring them to the mines and there I could get food like algae and carrots.

Like akshirine said, leveling yourself and your tools help, trying to get the stardrops will permanently raise your energy and health bars, so getting some of those early on would be beneficial. By the end of year one or at year two, you'd probably have more energy than you can spend in a day, esp if you've automated your crops.

[Snootch]

Pretty sure you can just lay in bed to regain energy if you don't want to sleep the remainder away.

[Easy Frag]

Originally posted by Snootch:

Pretty sure you can just lay in bed to regain energy if you don't want to sleep the remainder away.

Works only in Co-op.

[ehyder]

The first couple of season can feel especially short of time due to low energy. Eating food from foraging can help immensely. Then as you level up, gain new tech, and increase your energy levels it will feel like you have more time. You still need to, if not plan in detail, think a bit about how to balance all of the things you want to do. As @letthebodyfall says take advantage of rainy days (and the winter) to mine/fish/increase relationship levels.

You are going to have to make trade-offs, so at a minimum decide what broader categories of actions you want to work on in a season and try to stick to them. A big mistake is to try to accomplish too many things.

You can regain energy by going to the spa, once that is available. But that takes time :)

[Reimu Hakurei]

A big beginner mistake in this game is to try to advance too quickly. I made it myself, and while you can accomplish a lot in your first year if you really grind at it and operate at 100% efficiency, it's not very fun to play that way.

What you learn after multiple playthroughs is that the game is a lot more enjoyable if you do it slow and steady. Keep in mind which things are going to give you daily chores that you HAVE to do before you can do anything else, and try to give yourself as few of those as possible. Pick either animals OR crops to focus on in your first year. If you're going to have animals, plant fewer crops.

With crops, don't give yourself more than you can water by 10 AM or noon at the latest. Keep in mind the energy it takes. All of that will get easier and you can plant more when you have better tools. But in the first year, you are meant to feel like a small time farmer, so having huge crops in hopes of making money fast is just going to be a grind. Instead, leave yourself as much free time and energy as you can so that you can do whatever you feel like doing each day. Let the money trickle in from a few crops, a little fishing, a little mining, foraging, whatever feels right for you.

In my opinion it's a lot more enjoyable to play this game as a lazy farmer than an overly dedicated one.

[NoVa]

The game has its own mechanics to gain energy after day 2, if you have unlimited energy anyway why would you try to learn them?

Originally posted by Reimu Hakurei:

A big beginner mistake in this game is to try to advance too quickly. I made it myself, and while you can accomplish a lot in your first year if you really grind at it and operate at 100% efficiency, it's not very fun to play that way.

What you learn after multiple playthroughs is that the game is a lot more enjoyable if you do it slow and steady. Keep in mind which things are going to give you daily chores that you HAVE to do before you can do anything else, and try to give yourself as few of those as possible. Pick either animals OR crops to focus on in your first year. If you're going to have animals, plant fewer crops.

With crops, don't give yourself more than you can water by 10 AM or noon at the latest. Keep in mind the energy it takes. All of that will get easier and you can plant more when you have better tools. But in the first year, you are meant to feel like a small time farmer, so having huge crops in hopes of making money fast is just going to be a grind. Instead, leave yourself as much free time and energy as you can so that you can do whatever you feel like doing each day. Let the money trickle in from a few crops, a little fishing, a little mining, foraging, whatever feels right for you.

In my opinion it's a lot more enjoyable to play this game as a lazy farmer than an overly dedicated one.

Totally true, as someone who try to do everything in the first year, after you finish is insanely boring. The problem is "how do you downgrade your gameplay while keep it interesting?". I mean, you have to do something, and you are not gonna play bad on purpose. You can play with 25% benefits, but that doesnt last for more than 1 or 2 seasons as the growth is almost exponential.

[LazelimGiros]

Yes i agree it is really discouraging.

[Clovis Sangrail]

It is part of the game. If it is too hard for you at the start, then you should play something else.

But if you can overcome your desire for instant gratification, it is a fun and challenging game.

[I Kinda Fail]

it's just you

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

One of the main reasons that always prevented me to really enjoying this game.

[Reimu Hakurei]

Originally posted by NoVa:

The game has its own mechanics to gain energy after day 2, if you have unlimited energy anyway why would you try to learn them?


Totally true, as someone who try to do everything in the first year, after you finish is insanely boring. The problem is "how do you downgrade your gameplay while keep it interesting?". I mean, you have to do something, and you are not gonna play bad on purpose. You can play with 25% benefits, but that doesnt last for more than 1 or 2 seasons as the growth is almost exponential.

It's not so much about what to do after you finish the game. If you finish doing everything you care to do, you're done. But working super hard to get it all in the first year isn't fun, because of all the meticulous stuff you have to do every game day. If you're trying to plant a giant field of hundreds of crops before you've even found your first Stardrop, yes, you can technically do it, but it's not going to be fun. It's going to be a daily chore. The best way to play the game IMO is to play like you're lazy and value your free time. It's not about avoiding doing things, it's about minimizing things that force you to do them every single day, like crops to water or animals to feed.

I'd actually recommend not buying animals at all unless an animal ranch is your absolute goal. It takes a long time for animals to become profitable, so having 4 chickens or 4 cows or whatever in the beginning coop/barn is just going to give you an extra chore you have to do every morning for not a lot of reward. What I did instead on my latest playthrough was to save money, wood, and stone until I had enough to get a full deluxe coop all in one go, that way I'd have the autofeeder with my very first animals and never had to waste time filling the feed trough every morning.

With crops, it's tempting to try to plant 36 of everything or hundreds of crops, but until you have at least iron tools or lots of sprinklers, it's just a huge commitment that you'll have to do every day to water them, and that's boring. Instead I would recommend keeping your crop farm small until you have the tools to make it easy to manage.

So what do you do with your time if you're not doing those daily chores? Whatever you feel like doing! Fish a little bit. Explore the mines. Forage and pick the berries during berry seasons (this one can be especially profitable). Collect materials and craft things, try out weird ideas like crab pot/recycling machine farms. Wander around town and talk to people, give out gifts. There are tons of things to do in this game if you leave yourself with the energy and time to do them, and the game is a lot more relaxing and enjoyable if you aren't overworking yourself :)

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by Reimu Hakurei:

Originally posted by NoVa:

The game has its own mechanics to gain energy after day 2, if you have unlimited energy anyway why would you try to learn them?


Totally true, as someone who try to do everything in the first year, after you finish is insanely boring. The problem is "how do you downgrade your gameplay while keep it interesting?". I mean, you have to do something, and you are not gonna play bad on purpose. You can play with 25% benefits, but that doesnt last for more than 1 or 2 seasons as the growth is almost exponential.

It's not so much about what to do after you finish the game. If you finish doing everything you care to do, you're done. But working super hard to get it all in the first year isn't fun, because of all the meticulous stuff you have to do every game day. If you're trying to plant a giant field of hundreds of crops before you've even found your first Stardrop, yes, you can technically do it, but it's not going to be fun. It's going to be a daily chore. The best way to play the game IMO is to play like you're lazy and value your free time. It's not about avoiding doing things, it's about minimizing things that force you to do them every single day, like crops to water or animals to feed.

I'd actually recommend not buying animals at all unless an animal ranch is your absolute goal. It takes a long time for animals to become profitable, so having 4 chickens or 4 cows or whatever in the beginning coop/barn is just going to give you an extra chore you have to do every morning for not a lot of reward. What I did instead on my latest playthrough was to save money, wood, and stone until I had enough to get a full deluxe coop all in one go, that way I'd have the autofeeder with my very first animals and never had to waste time filling the feed trough every morning.

With crops, it's tempting to try to plant 36 of everything or hundreds of crops, but until you have at least iron tools or lots of sprinklers, it's just a huge commitment that you'll have to do every day to water them, and that's boring. Instead I would recommend keeping your crop farm small until you have the tools to make it easy to manage.

So what do you do with your time if you're not doing those daily chores? Whatever you feel like doing! Fish a little bit. Explore the mines. Forage and pick the berries during berry seasons (this one can be especially profitable). Collect materials and craft things, try out weird ideas like crab pot/recycling machine farms. Wander around town and talk to people, give out gifts. There are tons of things to do in this game if you leave yourself with the energy and time to do them, and the game is a lot more relaxing and enjoyable if you aren't overworking yourself :)

One could also argue that what is the point of the game then when you constantly need to leave out the key elements of this game leaving you with less options to have fun in the end because you need to run around like you have ants in your pants every day instead of giving you enough time each day to tend for the animals, handle some crops and also have some social activities, fishing and dungeon diving.
Doesnt mean that you should be able to do absolutely everything each day but at least some leeway would be nice where you can tend the animals, do some stuff in the garden and then pick at least one other branch of activity to pursue for rest of the day.
I mean so what if the content of the game would be "spent" faster that way because you get more done each day, should be the decision of the player how they want to approach this.