Should I use Stardew Valley Expanded?

[solamon77]

I have not yet played Stardew Valley. I only intend on playing it one time, that's it. I was waiting until 1.5 came out. Now that it has, I'm going to start a game up. Should I use the SVE mod considering I will only play this game through once?

[Amberbaum]

Hm hard to say. SVE tries to adopt the writting of the base game, but for me half of the writing is cheesy, over the top(mental health) and too expository in form of exposition dump events. The vanilla game just had the right amount of that.

On the other hand SVE adds a good chunk of content and it's not a buggy mess and the new areas are nice. Many mods have been made compatible with it.

If SVE isn't your thing then I recommend expanded access maps.

[nodehappy]

If you haven't played Stardew Valley before, you are encouraged to play it in its original form as intended by the developer.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Why would you only play it through once? just curious, because SDV is good for many playthroughs.

Anyway they recommend you play SDV on it's own before you add a mod like SDV Expanded. I wish you would consider playing SDV first, then try it with SDV Expanded that way you can see the differences etc.

Either way, to answer your question...
I HIGHLY recommend the SDV Expanded mod, I just don't think I could recommend it to someone who is going to only playthrough the game once because they would be missing out on the devs vision for the game.

Good luck with whatever choice you make, I hope you have fun!

[SashaMkai]

Lol you "intend" to play it one time only. SDV is so VERY addicting you will want to play it more than once. There are so many paths to take that just one isn't really enough. But , do play vanilla first. Once you fall in love with it you can always add SDV Expanded.

[-Na Shagul-]

Why are you so insistent that you'll only play it once? Still, to the point of the thread I don't think you should play it modded at all your first go around, and I also believe that your stance about only wanting to play through it once will change once you get further into the game.

[I Kinda Fail]

You should play the vanilla game. When you get tired of vanilla, there's nothing stopping you from THEN downloading SVE.

But imagine chatting with friends about games and one mentions SV, and you say "Oh I love SV! Wilbur is my favorite character!" and they have no idea who you're talking about.

Just like games like The Sims and Skyrim are much better with mods, I'd still say you should play them vanilla first to see how good the game is on its own before you try and improve it even further.

[solamon77]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Why would you only play it through once? just curious, because SDV is good for many playthroughs.

Anyway they recommend you play SDV on it's own before you add a mod like SDV Expanded. I wish you would consider playing SDV first, then try it with SDV Expanded that way you can see the differences etc.

Either way, to answer your question...
I HIGHLY recommend the SDV Expanded mod, I just don't think I could recommend it to someone who is going to only playthrough the game once because they would be missing out on the devs vision for the game.

Good luck with whatever choice you make, I hope you have fun!

Originally posted by -Na Shagul-:

Why are you so insistent that you'll only play it once? Still, to the point of the thread I don't think you should play it modded at all your first go around, and I also believe that your stance about only wanting to play through it once will change once you get further into the game.

It's just generally the way I play games. I have a pretty large backlog and I'd rather move onto something new than keep playing the same one. I don't ALWAYS do this, but it's pretty rare for me to replay something once it's beaten.

[Včelí medvídek]

SVE (and mods in general) are imho for people that finished game (~reached end game content) at least once.

[solamon77]

Thank you for all the advice everyone. I think I've decided to try the game first with the Extended mod in place. I recently played Vampire Bloodlines for the first time and I had the Clan Quest mod installed. That was a fantastic experience and I'm glad I did it. I think the same logic should hold true here. If I'm only going to play it once, I think it's probably best to have as much content as possible.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Originally posted by solamon77:

.

Ultimately it's your decision, but again I think for first time SDV players they should play it without those type of mods. I understand you want as much content as possible, but since you'll only be playing it once it's going to be odd in the long run for you to add such a huge expansion like SVE. You're not going to really know what's truly canon or not, but again that's your decision.

[BCD]

What was the Clan Quest mod for? I seem to recall hearing advice that you should play Vampire Bloodlines with mods straight up, but it was for an specific reason. It's apparently a really janky game and the mod's there to fix that jankiness. Victoria 2 (idk if there's grand strategy players here but it's my example) also gets modded often, because players think the game needs fixing or fleshing out. You don't continuously ask for Victoria 3 if you think 2 holds up that well.
All I mean is this: SDV does not need fixing or fleshing out. Mods can improve it, but if the reason you intend to use them is that you think the vanilla experience would be lacking, then I'd rethink it. Personally, I only even considered modding after I had played through the game a few times and figured it would spice things up. The stated purpose of SVE is to make the game as refreshing as when you first played it, if I recall correctly.
Maybe your line of thinking is different or you just figure it'll be more fun. In that case go nuts and mod away. I would just have that the reasons behind your decision hold up to scrutiny.

[solamon77]

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Originally posted by solamon77:

.

Ultimately it's your decision, but again I think for first time SDV players they should play it without those type of mods. I understand you want as much content as possible, but since you'll only be playing it once it's going to be odd in the long run for you to add such a huge expansion like SVE. You're not going to really know what's truly canon or not, but again that's your decision.

Does it matter what's really canon or not? It's not like I plan on attending any Stardew Valley conventions or anything. Plus, people seem to have a lot of great things to say about Extended. Since I'm only playing once, if I don't play Extended now, I won't at all.

[solamon77]

Originally posted by BCD:

What was the Clan Quest mod for? I seem to recall hearing advice that you should play Vampire Bloodlines with mods straight up, but it was for an specific reason. It's apparently a really janky game and the mod's there to fix that jankiness. Victoria 2 (idk if there's grand strategy players here but it's my example) also gets modded often, because players think the game needs fixing or fleshing out. You don't continuously ask for Victoria 3 if you think 2 holds up that well.
All I mean is this: SDV does not need fixing or fleshing out. Mods can improve it, but if the reason you intend to use them is that you think the vanilla experience would be lacking, then I'd rethink it. Personally, I only even considered modding after I had played through the game a few times and figured it would spice things up. The stated purpose of SVE is to make the game as refreshing as when you first played it, if I recall correctly.
Maybe your line of thinking is different or you just figure it'll be more fun. In that case go nuts and mod away. I would just have that the reasons behind your decision hold up to scrutiny.

Clan Quest added a couple small side quests that were specific to the clan you picked and also an additional chapter written by fans (but based on the tabletop source material) that fleshed out the Sabbat, turning them from simply the "badguy" vampires into a joinable faction with motivations of their own. Really cool stuff that gives context for why the Sabbat do the things they do.

As for whether SDV "needs" fleshing out, I doubt it does. The game has fantastic ratings and a lot of people love it, but since I'll likely only play it once, I want to get as much out of it as I can. To me, that means installing a highly regarded fan expansion.

[Nakos]

I'd say play the vanilla game first too.

I've played it many times, and I've never played anything but vanilla. SDV Extended looks ... well, it looks somewhat interesting, but it also looks like it misses the basic tone of SDV to some extent.

Basic SDV has a serene simplicity to it. SDV-E on the other hand looks a bit too "over-the-top" The additions are a bit to fancy, the (new) characters a bit too "anime" influenced (which I don't consider a good thing, but I'm well aware that's a personal preference and others may instead see that as a plus).

I MIGHT give SDV-E a try at some point, it would be fun to have more of the game, but ... it still looks like it misses the basic tone to me.

So, yeah, I recommend playing the vanilla game first too.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

Originally posted by solamon77:

Originally posted by xAlphaStarOmegax:

Ultimately it's your decision, but again I think for first time SDV players they should play it without those type of mods. I understand you want as much content as possible, but since you'll only be playing it once it's going to be odd in the long run for you to add such a huge expansion like SVE. You're not going to really know what's truly canon or not, but again that's your decision.

Does it matter what's really canon or not? It's not like I plan on attending any Stardew Valley conventions or anything. Plus, people seem to have a lot of great things to say about Extended. Since I'm only playing once, if I don't play Extended now, I won't at all.

You think you are only playing it once... but SDV is one of those games that merit multiple play throughs, and it gets addictive.