Who Gets Mad If I Go The Joja Mart Route?

[Spartan Delta 27]

Hello there folks.

I completed the Community Center on one of my first Characters created for Stardew Valley some time ago. It was a very difficult process and I ended up having to ignore basically all the socializing and casual gameplay all for the sake of completing the Building and its upgrades.

I might be starting a new Playthrough soon, but I will probably go with the Joja Mart route this time. This is both because of ease of access to various unlocks and a need to actually go the Joja Route at least once.

All of that said, I am somewhat worried that some of the townsfolk will get upset at me and remind me on occasion of how "Joja's Expansion is Ruining Everything".


So my question is: Who gets upset/has repeating dialogue about the the Joja Mart Route?

Any help is appreciated. I would rather not get guilt tripped by the entire Town if possible, but the Community Center was its own form of torment.

[Big Convoy]

None of the NPCs get mad if you pick the Joja route, in fact, they don't even know it was you that bought that Joja membership. The only one who will call you out on it are other players.

[Spartan Delta 27]

Originally posted by Big Convoy:

None of the NPCs get mad if you pick the Joja route, in fact, they don't even know it was you that bought that Joja membership. The only one who will call you out on it are other players.

Ah, good. I already sacrificed one playthrough to complete the Community Center, so I am definitely interested in seeing how streamlined the Joja Route is.

[I Kinda Fail]

Joja route is fantastic if you want to do any kind of speed or challenge run. You can skip the Farming skill entirely, for example, and fill your farm with wild forage you've grown, with sheds full of crystalariums, with fish ponds, with slime hutches, tapped trees, etc.

Or if you completely hate fishing, you can just focus on mining and farming and skip fishing entirely.

Ironically, the Joja route is better for a gameplay perspective. If you repair the CC, then Clint will abandon his shop on Friday, a handful of villager schedules will change, and JojaMart which is open until 11pm and right next to a mine cart will close. If you side with Joja, however, everyone's schedule stays the same, Clint never abandons his shop, and you get to keep both Pierre's and JojaMart open; and JojaMart's prices now match Pierre's for seeds, so you have even less reason to shop there.

I always recommend repairing the CC first, since it's the "canon, good" story playthrough. JojaMart is the "bad ending", but it's so much easier to play it that I always recommend it for playthrough 2 and onwards.

However, I will say, if you want to do a long playthrough with friends, still repair the CC. JojaMart is so easy that with friends, you'll likely finish every bundle by the end of year 1. With a lack of things to spend money on at the endgame, you'll likely get bored quickly.

One last thing, OP: Did you do the "secret bundle" you can only do after fully repairing the CC? I won't spoil what it is, but you'll be able to do it the night before it rains... So if you haven't done it yet, I recommend playing another day of your file, using a rain totem, and when you go to sleep the path to the final Junimo bundle will appear. It's the same reward as playing with a Joja route, but it's thematically different and has different dialogue upon unlocking it, if you care about that.

[Spartan Delta 27]

Originally posted by I Kinda Fail:

One last thing, OP: Did you do the "secret bundle" you can only do after fully repairing the CC? I won't spoil what it is, but you'll be able to do it the night before it rains... So if you haven't done it yet, I recommend playing another day of your file, using a rain totem, and when you go to sleep the path to the final Junimo bundle will appear. It's the same reward as playing with a Joja route, but it's thematically different and has different dialogue upon unlocking it, if you care about that.

I did not do that Bundle. I completed the Community Center before that update and towards the end of that particular Save, I had sabotaged so many of my Friendships and Events that I just decided to get rid of it and start from scratch.

Maybe in the future I can pull it off, but that would probably be in the very distant future.

[Ryika]

Originally posted by Spartan Delta 27:

I completed the Community Center on one of my first Characters created for Stardew Valley some time ago. It was a very difficult process and I ended up having to ignore basically all the socializing and casual gameplay all for the sake of completing the Building and its upgrades.

The Community Center can easily be combined with whatever goal you have in mind. It might be a bit overwhelming the first time you try to complete it, but once you understand what you need and where you get it, you're left with more than enough time to befriend all villagers. Arguably, it even synergizes better with befriending the citizens, since you're doing so many different activities that will yield a lot of the favorite gifts of many villagers as a byproduct.

The JoJa Market route is certainly simpler, and more focused, but I don't think switching will magically lead you to not ignore the villagers. Quite the opposite, the simplistic goal of making lots of money pushes very hard towards a gameplay loop that neglects these aspects of the game.

Whichever route you choose, focusing on your relationship with the villagers is a conscious choice that you need to make and maintain either way.

[Včelí medvídek]

I like CC route much more and it is my preference in all games since I finished Joja in one playthrougth - that is somehow not fiting the spirit and story of game (after all, you left Joja company to move to Pelican town farm...] for me and is just about spending money {but ye, it allow reach eg. greenhouse faster and iut is investment that quickly return]

While completing CC bundles, it is "free" and each single one give you some handy rewards and I feel it as good game progress and set of reasonable goals for game, And if it take you year, two, three... does not matter, there is no rush for anything (even the evaluation at end of y2 can be repeated). So there is really no reason make it "torment".

And btw if you are into villagers friendship compelting CC Bulletin board add 2 hearts to all, which is actually lot of gifts and running around..

As noted above some people change their schedule due CC completed - but at same time Pierre gets opened at Wd which is handy as well.