That annoying feeling that im playing it wrong.

[trashhh"Zootubke]

Hello everyone. At the begining i want to tell that i love Stardew Valley. Im thinking of it as of a game that i can chill and calm my brain a bit.

Yet i have a small problem. As im playing the game i always have that feeling that im doing something wrong. That im playing the game wrong. Some kind of preassure, that maybe instead of fishing all day, or growing plants all day i should do something else. Freedom of the game makes me a bit uncomfortable lol.

Any ideas how to solve? XOXOXO

[Snowy Sprout]

Maybe it would help to have specific goals in mind, so you know you're on track to achieve them.
Doesn't really matter what the goals are. Just having a plan gives you that feeling of accomplishment when you make it happen.

[.#𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌]

Despite there is no "wrong" or "right" to play this game I can somehow a little bit relate to your feeling. Sometimes I really like to just play along and have done several playthroughs like that, but I also sometimes like to set some goals.

You can set them yourself (like mentioned above) or doing some challenges, like finishing Community Center in Year 1, etc.

Even I was not a newbie I really liked this guide here:
https://community.playstarbound.com/threads/stardew-valley-1-1-newbie-guide.125018/

It gave me somehow a "task" for the first year. After that I set my own goals.

[Yu Ryujin]

I actually had the oposite feeling... this game, compared to harvest moon 64 gives you a lot of time and a huge amount of stuff to do. Too much in fact. In harvest each choice was really important to your games ahead (even choosing who to flirt) because you simply had not time-or posibility- enough to do it all.

in this game you can set your goals quite easily and make a lot of things in just 1 playthrough

[Whirl]

You can play for hundreds of years and it's almost impossible to lose. Even if you complletely run out of money for some reason (you spend all your money on seeds at the end of a month) you can still do things that make money and pick up again.

You don't have to make relationships straight away.

[Vinyl Scratch]

If you really feel like you're not doing something right, then make a goal of completing as much of the community center as you can in year 1. It is possible to complete the whole thing in Year 1, with only 1 item being RNG based, which is the red-cabbage. Normally you have to wait until summer year 2 to buy the seeds for it, but the traveling cart has a chance to sell the seed or cabbage, so check that every Friday and Sunday.

This will force you to do different aspects of the game, plant various crops, make wine, jam, honey, raise animals, descend into the mines fish in all the different locations at different times and in different weathers, etc.

Aside from that, there's really not much you can do 'wrong', the game is really open ended, and you can focus on whatever type of farm you want to make.

[Too lazy to choose a name]

Let me guess.
You forgot to plant one green bean and one cauliflower early(before spring 6) ?

You forgot Willy don't work when spring 9(And Non-rainy Saturdays) ?
You don't notice that Pam don't work when spring 25 ?
(Which means bus don't work when spring 25, you can't buy Deluxe Speed-Gro that day)
So that you forgot to plant one green bean and one cauliflower early.

(1 green bean, 1 potato, 1 cauliflower, 1 parsnip, 198 woods, 99 stones, 10 hard woods, 1 copper bar, 1 iron bar, 1 gold bar.... for bundles, and 1 gold star cauliflower for Luau.)

Or... you forget to upgrade your house ?
Forgot buy the recipe of Hashbrowns ?
Don't have enough Sardin ,Potatoes, or oil ?
Don't buy enough Trap Bobber for the Legends ?
Did you forget to upgrade your fish rod ?
(By the way, Angler is better profession
if you want Deluxe Speed-GRo + Starfruit when year 1 summer)

Don't have enough tapper ? (You need foraging level 3 to craft it)

[Too lazy to choose a name]

To be honest , I don't feel the Stardew Valley very relaxing.
So many festival only and a little a little rogue like. (You can only autosave when you sleep)
And the Skull Cave.
And this is a game about "time manage"....

[pcdeltalink]

As others have said, making your own goal or just playing around and experimenting a bit can help you get started. Don't be afraid to restart your file completely. The modding community in this game is also amazing and definitely adds a ton of stuff to the game.

Originally posted by Too lazy to choose a name:

To be honest , I don't feel the Stardew Valley very relaxing.
So many festival only and a little a little rogue like. (You can only autosave when you sleep)
And the Skull Cave.
And this is a game about "time manage"....

I do find it relaxing not only for the environment and the lovely music but just how it sometimes feels like I'm not under much pressure. The day is mine to do with as I please whatever activity that may be. Saving when you sleep isn't usually a big problem. If you really messed something up and just need to close the game without saving you've lost maybe 15 min of progress at the most. Not a huge deal.

Skull cave sucks. Never liked it and it's easier just to buy iridium sprinklers from Krobus on Fridays. As for any other iridium needs its possible, albeit rare, to get iridium ore from other sources like chests from fishing.

Time managing I think is more about setting specific goals that need to be done in certain ways. Completing the community center in year 1 for example was definitely the hardest challenge I've tried so far in this game, literally finished it 2 days before Spring year 2. Had to plan out so much and how to get money quick enough and what to spend said money on. Also, toward the end of fall for the rest of the year, the trade cart absolutely hated me and never brought me what I needed.

[MekaDovah]

Originally posted by Riot:

Hello everyone. At the begining i want to tell that i love Stardew Valley. Im thinking of it as of a game that i can chill and calm my brain a bit.

Yet i have a small problem. As im playing the game i always have that feeling that im doing something wrong. That im playing the game wrong. Some kind of preassure, that maybe instead of fishing all day, or growing plants all day i should do something else. Freedom of the game makes me a bit uncomfortable lol.

Any ideas how to solve? XOXOXO :sttanuki:

I'd say just remind yourself that there is no wrong way to play it and not worry about it. It's just different from what you're used to most likely.

[Pandora's Actor]

Originally posted by Riot:

Hello everyone. At the begining i want to tell that i love Stardew Valley. Im thinking of it as of a game that i can chill and calm my brain a bit.

Yet i have a small problem. As im playing the game i always have that feeling that im doing something wrong. That im playing the game wrong. Some kind of preassure, that maybe instead of fishing all day, or growing plants all day i should do something else. Freedom of the game makes me a bit uncomfortable lol.

Any ideas how to solve? XOXOXO :sttanuki:

you obviously are doing it wrong. find the thinking button in your brain and turn it off. Dont think just play.