How is this game for a first "Community Sim"?

[An Easy Target]

I have avoided this game for a while due to a disinterest in sims of this kind at the time I first saw it, and because I didn't like a thing or two I'd heard some players can do in this game.

However, I've over time come to realize I would like to try a game wherein I play a community-oriented, yet single-player game- courtesy of seeing my sister play and enjoy "Animal Crossing". I'm also less immature than I was once, and I realize I don't have to do any of those objectionable things that are why I boycotted this game originally.

I want to know if this game would be valid for someone entirely new to the genre; or if, a vermin like me had best move on?

[BCD]

I'm not sure I can fully understand your perspective, but I'd think it would be just fine. It's not a game that requires you to be an expert, and it's a really good farming sim. It's pretty different from Animal Crossing though, so don't expect it to be that.

[CloudSeeker]

I don't understand what you mean as well. I don't think this game is a sim at all. It for sure is not a community sim. This is a game where you build a farm, do quests and build relationships with other members in the community. I don't see where the simulation is in this.

[I Kinda Fail]

I don't think there's many games aside from obvious dating sims where gay content is forced upon you, if it upsets you that much. Even "The Sims" lets you choose whether your Sim is interested in men or women, or if they're transgender or not. You get to decide. Worst case scenario, you might find a game with a female protagonist that lets you decide whether to be into girls or not; bi/gay men are much less likely to be portrayed in media, unfortunately.

For example, the Life is Strange games let you decide whether to be a couple or just friends with another main character, and you can even choose to kiss one of the male main characters if you want... but the character is canonically bisexual, even if you don't have her interested in a girl.

Stardew is the same way; every bachelor is "player sexual". They're straight, unless you want to romance them. For example, Alex is paired up with Haley, but Alex will date a male farmer, and Haley will date a female farmer. But Alex will only ever express interest in girls otherwise. The only canonically bisexual character in Stardew is Leah; if you play as a girl, and date her, Leah will mention a previous girlfriend, but if you play as a boy, she'll reference an ex-boyfriend.

The friendship system goes up to 10 hearts with normal NPCs, and 8 with bachelors. You can befriend all the bachelors up to 8 hearts and be "safe" - but if you give them a bouquet, you'll be dating them, and they'll become more flirty towards you.

Around 8 hearts, it's lightly implied some of the bachelors might have a crush on you, but it's not explicit. Things like Alex saying "Tell Haley I'm busy", or Abigail almost revealing she likes the player.

You can also completely ignore the community aspect for the most part, if you want. Just hand out gems on birthdays, go to the holiday events, and you'll get everyone to maximum friendship pretty easily.

Still, OP, it's kinda weird not to play a game just for being inclusive... You don't have to do that aspect of the game if you don't want to. It's just nice for the option to be there for those who want it.

[I Kinda Fail]

Homophobia aside... As far as the community aspect goes, the game is alright. What I recommend doing is just chatting with people as you see them, and visiting the holiday events as they happen. You'll naturally see who's friends with who, how people act in public, etc. and from there you can decide who you want to befriend, if anyone.

Like, you might see Sam is a prankster, and want to befriend him... so while looking for Sam to give him a gift the next day, you find him hanging out with Sebastian and wonder what they have in common, so you try to befriend Seb too.

Or, if you want to be efficient about it, you can just keep track of when people cluster together and try to befriend groups of them at a time. Like how 5 or so of the town's women all exercise together on Tuesdays, or how about half the town visits the Saloon on Fridays.

Some NPCs, like Alex, are harder to find gifts for, but they're placed in a convenient location so you can talk to them frequently.

I don't remember the exact point values, but it's something like...

Talking to NPC: +20 points
Gifting a loved gift: +80 points
1 heart: 200 points

so if you talk to them 20 days in a row, or 2 days while also gifting them loved gifts, then you'll see the NPC's first cutscene usually. You decide the pace you go at.

[BCD]

Having played Animal Crossing: New Leaf in the past, I'm not sure AC is much better than Stardew Valley, albeit I wouldn't say that aspect of SDV is great either. In the "late game" I find it upsetting how there's no reason to talk to NPCs, as by that point they're all at 10 hearts and I just end up becoming a hermit, but it's a perfectly acceptable system. AC characters have much less personality, and I don't recall there being a whole lot of signs that indicate how close you are with someone. For that matter I think you can give AC villagers a lump of clay, at least via mail, and they won't be upset, whereas in SDV you occasionally hear that someone might be allergic to clay.
I'd say Abigail's 8 heart event is pretty overt, but I don't care either. The option is there, and the game would be worse without it.

[I Kinda Fail]

Originally posted by BCD:

Having played Animal Crossing: New Leaf in the past, I'm not sure AC is much better than Stardew Valley, albeit I wouldn't say that aspect of SDV is great either. In the "late game" I find it upsetting how there's no reason to talk to NPCs, as by that point they're all at 10 hearts and I just end up becoming a hermit, but it's a perfectly acceptable system. AC characters have much less personality, and I don't recall there being a whole lot of signs that indicate how close you are with someone. For that matter I think you can give AC villagers a lump of clay, at least via mail, and they won't be upset, whereas in SDV you occasionally hear that someone might be allergic to clay.
I'd say Abigail's 8 heart event is pretty overt, but I don't care either. The option is there, and the game would be worse without it.

The villagers actually do get offended in AC if you give them tires, cans and boots. :P

[BCD]

Oops

[Nakos]

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

The only canonically bisexual character in Stardew is Leah; if you play as a girl, and date her, Leah will mention a previous girlfriend, but if you play as a boy, she'll reference an ex-boyfriend.

Um... I think your emphasis feels a bit ... "off" to me. Kel's graphical representation is intentionally androgynous, and Kel ends up being whatever gender the player is.

So, Leah's orientation and preferences aren't ambiguous ("ambiguous" isn't really the right term, but it's the closest I can come off the top of my head), but they are specific to a given playthrough, and are reciprocal to the player's orientation and/or gender choice.

I think Leah's history and preferences are a bit more nuanced than those of the other bachelors and bachelorettes, but I still think "player-centric" is probably still a better way to describe her. It's just that (unlike the others) she actually has a previous (serious) relationship that's presented within the game.

Honestly, I think it's a bit weird to assume that someone who might be romantically interested in you might not have had other partners. The game kind of makes a big deal of it in a way that I've always found odd. Finding a partner you're actually compatible with isn't magic, it's work, and trial and error. The whole "assumption-of-previous-virginity (and/or "innocence")" has always seemed weird to me.

I guess what I'm saying is that I think it's weird that people expect that they have a right to make presumptions about a potential partner's previous relationship experiences. I appreciate that that really is a thing, and some people really do think they have that right, but it's always been off putting to me.

(And honestly, it's one of the things that's always made Leah more interesting to me as a potential partner for my character: She's the one who actually has a history, which goes a long way towards making her feel like an adult. As opposed to most of the bachelors or bachelorettes, who feel like "kids" to me).

[Ryika]

Originally posted by BCD:

Having played Animal Crossing: New Leaf in the past, I'm not sure AC is much better than Stardew Valley, albeit I wouldn't say that aspect of SDV is great either. In the "late game" I find it upsetting how there's no reason to talk to NPCs, as by that point they're all at 10 hearts and I just end up becoming a hermit, but it's a perfectly acceptable system. AC characters have much less personality, and I don't recall there being a whole lot of signs that indicate how close you are with someone. For that matter I think you can give AC villagers a lump of clay, at least via mail, and they won't be upset, whereas in SDV you occasionally hear that someone might be allergic to clay.
I'd say Abigail's 8 heart event is pretty overt, but I don't care either. The option is there, and the game would be worse without it.

I think these kind of games are all pretty... terrible when it comes to the "community" aspect. It's certainly not just Stardew Valley, but this part of the genre could be so much more than it is - it's like we've settled for mediocrity in this regard, a system that's functional, but nothing more than that.

I feel like I've been waiting for someone to innovate that part of the genre since back when I was a flour merchant, bribing harvest harvest spirits in FoMT. Stardew definitely made the chores less annoying, but it still doesn't really amount to much in the end.

[BCD]

Originally posted by Ryika:

I think these kind of games are all pretty... terrible when it comes to the "community" aspect. It's certainly not just Stardew Valley, but this part of the genre could be so much more than it is - it's like we've settled for mediocrity in this regard, a system that's functional, but nothing more than that.

I feel like I've been waiting for someone to innovate that part of the genre since back when I was a flour merchant, bribing harvest harvest spirits in FoMT. Stardew definitely made the chores less annoying, but it still doesn't really amount to much in the end.

It is pretty mediocre, yeah. I'm no 'genre veteran,' but I'd be at least curious to see an attempt at making the community aspect more involving. I guess gamifying friendship is a tricky thing to accomplish. Hopefully someone can nail it, one day.

[I Kinda Fail]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

The only canonically bisexual character in Stardew is Leah; if you play as a girl, and date her, Leah will mention a previous girlfriend, but if you play as a boy, she'll reference an ex-boyfriend.

Um... I think your emphasis feels a bit ... "off" to me. Kel's graphical representation is intentionally androgynous, and Kel ends up being whatever gender the player is.

So, Leah's orientation and preferences aren't ambiguous ("ambiguous" isn't really the right term, but it's the closest I can come off the top of my head), but they are specific to a given playthrough, and are reciprocal to the player's orientation and/or gender choice.

I'm working with the bachelor system, though. All the bachelors are paired up. Alex is with Haley, Sam is with Penny, Leah is with Elliot. So if a female farmer dates Leah, she'll have an ex-girlfriend, but she'd still originally be paired up with Elliot. That's why I said I consider her canonically bi, as opposed to a character like Alex who specifically only mentions girls before the male farmer moves in, and makes it a point to say he'd never even thought about being with a guy. Most of the bachelors are pretty ambiguous in terms of gender preference, like, I don't think 9/12 make any reference to dating same sex. (I think Abigail does?)

Of course, it's entirely possible that Leah and Elliot are just friends, just like Alex and Haley could be just friends... But it definitely seems like they're all paired up with their "endgame pairings" romantically, even if I don't agree with the pairs. (I think it'd make more sense for Penny to be with Elliot, since they're both so bookish. Penny and Sam have absolutely no chemistry, to me, but Penny being with a poet and the artist being with a musician make more sense to me... as opposed to the immature stoner kid being with the teacher.)

[Nakos]

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

Originally posted by Nakos:

Um... I think your emphasis feels a bit ... "off" to me. Kel's graphical representation is intentionally androgynous, and Kel ends up being whatever gender the player is.

So, Leah's orientation and preferences aren't ambiguous ("ambiguous" isn't really the right term, but it's the closest I can come off the top of my head), but they are specific to a given playthrough, and are reciprocal to the player's orientation and/or gender choice.

I'm working with the bachelor system, though. All the bachelors are paired up. Alex is with Haley, Sam is with Penny, Leah is with Elliot. So if a female farmer dates Leah, she'll have an ex-girlfriend, but she'd still originally be paired up with Elliot. That's why I said I consider her canonically bi, as opposed to a character like Alex who specifically only mentions girls before the male farmer moves in, and makes it a point to say he'd never even thought about being with a guy. Most of the bachelors are pretty ambiguous in terms of gender preference, like, I don't think 9/12 make any reference to dating same sex. (I think Abigail does?)

Hmm. Yeah, okay, that's a fair point. I hadn't thought about it that way.

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

Of course, it's entirely possible that Leah and Elliot are just friends, just like Alex and Haley could be just friends... But it definitely seems like they're all paired up with their "endgame pairings" romantically, even if I don't agree with the pairs. (I think it'd make more sense for Penny to be with Elliot, since they're both so bookish. Penny and Sam have absolutely no chemistry, to me, but Penny being with a poet and the artist being with a musician make more sense to me... as opposed to the immature stoner kid being with the teacher.)

I guess.

Elliot and Leah seems like a reasonable pairing to me. They're both creative people who would be willing to give another creator enough "space" to work. Something a non-creative person might not understand.

Whereas Penny honestly doesn't seem like a reasonable pairing for anyone. She's an adult child of an alcoholic, the game downplays that heavily, but in real psychological terms, Penny's mental state concerns me more than that of any other character. And even if she dances with Sam at the spring dance, that's about the only time they do anything together. On the other hand, she's constantly sitting and talking with Maru.

Well, okay, I guess I could see her with Elliot. But that's not necessarily a compliment to either of them, because I think Penny is likely to put herself into the caretaker role (completely unaware that she's doing it (as in the scene with George)). I'm skeptical Elliot would notice.

Although, to be fair to Elliot, he is actually the character whom I've never bothered to get to know, even a little bit. I don't think I've ever gotten past two hearts with him, and that's mostly just from running into him on the bridge.

[estehmanis]

I find the 2 first year in the game is pretty awesome, regarding friendship and stuff. Thats not much you could do except talk to them, observe and gifts, but i find them pretty fun since I play without wikis so i have no choice but to really observe their stuff and befriend all their families and friends (since they will drop clues on how to get them to like / hate you) also, figuring out their schedul could be quite a challenge amongst all your farming/mining chores.

The community quest is fun too, there's not much story going on for late game (which is where mods comes in). My only complaints is that the community centre just doesn't look alive enough considering how much work and story bit goes for it.

So, all in all there's easily +100 hours of play if this is for you. I don't know what you expect from SDV, but i find the community bit quite fun amongst all other stuff to do in this game, you befriend people and help build the local community.

And if you do buy it, I'm suggesting hold off on Wiki-ing stuff for your first playthrough, i found it really fun to just figure out (and sometimes miss stuff) on your own, you probably won't get all the secrets, but that could wait for another playthrough

[BCD]

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

(I think it'd make more sense for Penny to be with Elliot, since they're both so bookish. Penny and Sam have absolutely no chemistry, to me, but Penny being with a poet and the artist being with a musician make more sense to me... as opposed to the immature stoner kid being with the teacher.)

I 100% agree, though I think Elliot and Leah make sense as the two sort of weird artists.

Originally posted by Nakos:

Although, to be fair to Elliot, he is actually the character whom I've never bothered to get to know, even a little bit. I don't think I've ever gotten past two hearts with him, and that's mostly just from running into him on the bridge.

I never got the sense that Elliot was particularly oblivious to anything. He's just, as that secret note describes him, "foppish," or 'too poetic' if you prefer. I got him to 10 hearts once.

Originally posted by coldred:

I find the 2 first year in the game is pretty awesome, regarding friendship and stuff. Thats not much you could do except talk to them, observe and gifts, but i find them pretty fun since I play without wikis so i have no choice but to really observe their stuff and befriend all their families and friends (since they will drop clues on how to get them to like / hate you) also, figuring out their schedul could be quite a challenge amongst all your farming/mining chores.

The community quest is fun too, there's not much story going on for late game (which is where mods comes in). My only complaints is that the community centre just doesn't look alive enough considering how much work and story bit goes for it.

I started playind Stardew Valley Expanded. I'm not through with it yet, but it definitely seems to make the game interesting for a longer span of time.

That said, I do think the 'community system' isn't very involving. Sure, it's well integrated into the game and it works fine, but functionally all the game's different characters are basically identical: you give them gifts, you get X friend points, you give them more gifts, continue until marriage if eligible. It's all very scripted. It needs to be there and it doesn't disappoint, but I would hardly call it the meat and potatoes of the game.

Side note, I also agree with you about the community center. I find it beautifully ironic that after you finish the bundles and the community is allegedly restored the CC becomes useless and there's no reason to visit it ever again. Some villagers incorporate the restored center into their schedule, but it doesn't feel like it's seeing that much use.

[I Kinda Fail]

Originally posted by Nakos:

Well, okay, I guess I could see her with Elliot. But that's not necessarily a compliment to either of them, because I think Penny is likely to put herself into the caretaker role (completely unaware that she's doing it (as in the scene with George)). I'm skeptical Elliot would notice.

I'm also considering their cutscenes.

Leah and Sam both want the farmer to come to their shows, so it makes sense that they'd be supportive of each other's art.

Penny has the farmer talk to the kids about their career, and Elliot seems to love talking about himself. :P Elliot takes the farmer on a rowboat ride, and Penny absolutely seems like the type of gal who'd swoon for a boat ride and some poetry.

I also think Elliot and Penny are the weakest bachelors of their respective sex. Their personalities are just... not there for me.