Should i buy joja membership?

[needylight]

I'm a contemplating if I'm gonna buy the membership to repair things easier with coins or completing the community center which is a lot of items some of them i have never encountered before

[Dex]

if it's your first playthrough, i would highly suggest not goingto joja route.

[Omegatherion]

Yes, go the Joja route. It's much more rewarding if you buy in on the corporate greed to wreck those pessant villagers and their idyllic town.

[lamii]

I suggest that if it is your first play-thru that you don't do it, because when you go through the community centre, you learn a lot about the game as you go through it. Like yeah in my first run of the game it was also really tempting, but honestly like I 100% do not regret it because you learn so much more about the game and explore things you never knew, and it is WAY more enjoyable, even if it did take up to summer of my second year. Hope this helps :D

[ArrowAIM]

you decide but it's way better seeing Morris' butt get thrashed at the community center cutscene

but if you already finished community center before then sure

[Ryika]

Originally posted by needylight:

which is a lot of items some of them i have never encountered before

That's pretty much the point of the community center though, it makes you explore all aspects of the game.

If you don't want that, that's what Joja is for, but you'll lose a lot of the guided experience.

[tevrarain]

You get small rewards for each bundle you complete through the cc. You miss out on those through joja. Personally I've decided to never go joja. It feels wrong supporting the mega corporation that drove me out of the city in the first place.

[ChrillBill]

There is much to study and learn in this game and the community center is good for that purpose. It lets you explore different aspects of the game which in turn can give you a better idea of what you like and don't like. I did community center on my first playthrough and I have no regrets. I still do the CC route most of the times to this very day because I like collecting things and taking my sweet time doing so. Plus I am also a bit of a sucker for those Junimos. Joja route can be seen as a shortcut. Only way that would be challenging for me would be if I didn't know how to make a decent amount of money within the first year and this you learn pretty quickly I think. Try it on your next playthrough instead is my advice.

For me there is also a very distinct difference between vanilla Joja route and the Joja route present in the expanded mod. The later is much more interesting, less depressing and also provides a bit more depth to Morris for example. So if you are planning on trying mods in the future, I can really recommend giving the Joja route a go using the expanded mod.

[sverdrupjahn75]

It's definitely the easiest way, and the way I usually go, but it's really worth the effort to fix the community centre also. Plus, the cutscene when all is done is much more rewarding.

[TheCollector]

Going Joja route is like bypassing lots of content, almost like NOT playing the main game. A major challenge is to plan/coordinate your actions in the game to complete all the bundles depending on seasons etc. Joja route does not has this challenge.

Looking at achivements, 18.7% completed CC with bundles but only 3.4% went the easier joja route to buy all improvements by cash.

[Nakos]

The Joja route is cash in exchange for speedy, directed progression.

The community center is more eclectic and holistic.

Neither route is entirely good, nor entirely evil.

While the CC is the "good" route, both Shane and Sam lose their jobs when Joja leaves town.

Speaking personally, I've always taken the MC's back-story to heart: You start out as a corporate wage-slave working in a Joja cubical farm, and you find that life to be soul-crushing. That's WHY your character leaves the city and comes out to Stardew Valley, to seek a life that's closer to the earth, to the seasons, to seek something with more meaning, and to wring a livelihood from the earth with his/her own hands.

So ... I never do the Joja route, it feels too "evil" to me.

But in pure mechanical terms, it's there to be a faster, more direct way of playing for people who've already played the game at least once.

In terms of game mechanics, it's good design: It offers the player a meaningful choice. There are pros and cons to each side.

[Omegatherion]

Originally posted by Nakos:

While the CC is the "good" route, both Shane and Sam lose their jobs when Joja leaves town.

Sam starts cleaning the museum instead and Shane starts with his chicken breeding business. So they both still have a job.

[Nakos]

Originally posted by Omegatherion:

Originally posted by Nakos:

While the CC is the "good" route, both Shane and Sam lose their jobs when Joja leaves town.

Sam starts cleaning the museum instead and Shane starts with his chicken breeding business. So they both still have a job.

Sure, but the point is, there's disruption and lost jobs. That the Community Center route isn't without at least some negatives. The Community Center is the "good" route, but neither is meant to be entire light, or entirely dark.

[ChrillBill]

Welp, in the case of Shane I think it is actually better for him to lose his job because he does express that he hates it and that he would like a chicken farm if he could have a reset. Him losing the job at Joja is that reset the way I see it. I have never viewed the Joja route as evil or very dark. But I do find it a bit depressing when I think about the plan at the beginning of the game which was to get away from Joja and what it stands for. To reconnect with nature. But I guess everyone can have a change of heart. I also think that Lewis could probably have fixed the community center ages ago if he had spent less money on his silky undies and golden statues depicting none other than himself @.@

Morris and Joja are not the only greedy ones in this game. Pierre is somewhat of a scammer without spoiling why. So yeah, I agree that you can see both "dark" and "light" in both routes and especially in the townies. My biggest fear with the Joja route was that it would somehow transform the valley into something that looks like a dumpster and destroy the beautiful nature surrounding the valley. But that doesn't happen. They just "modernize" Pelican Town a little.

[Nakos]

And that's why I say it's good design: It's a choice. Giving players meaningful choices and decisions is (usually) good game design.


But again, personally, I always pick the community center, it's just what I prefer.

[Mirilene]

I once *tried* to go through with the Joja Membership, but I just couldn't do it ... and now, even on my 14th playthrough I still do the community center every time.