How "grindy" is the game?

[CatraGirl]

So if I get this right, this game is kinda like a top-down Terraria, but with a real home-stead and city, right?
So how is the resource gathering and building part of the game? Is it very time-consuming and grindy to gather stuff and build the fields on your farm etc or is it a "reasonable" amount of grinding? I mean, since that is probably the main gameplay part of this game, I would suppose it has to be somewhat time-consuming, but I hope you guys get what I mean with "reasonable". "Satisfying" would maybe be another word I could use...

[Megito]

Maybe the style of graphics is somewhat terraria, but the game is NOT like terraria.
It's a lot more like harvest moon, just updated somewhat.

[CatraGirl]

Originally posted by Megito:

Maybe the style of graphics is somewhat terraria, but the game is NOT like terraria.
It's a lot more like harvest moon, just updated somewhat.

Never played Harvest Moon.. so I have no idea how that's like. xD

[robruckus65]

it is nothign liek a top down terraria... it is like one of the older harvest moon games like harvest moo friends of mineral town... with some basic combat involved...you dont really build anyhting you can go to the carpenter to make /upgrade your huse and farm buildings... you cna choose where the farm buildings go... the resource gathering starts off slow until you start to upgrade your tools... getting the best ore in teh game kind of sucks but it is the end game ore so it swhatever...the game isnt really grindy at all besides gathering stuff to craft stuff... other than that you are jsut taking care of your farm and farming... just like a harvest moon game...

[OriginalGrubby]

Some things can be a bit grindy. Some parts of the game require things that can only be grown, fished, or found at specific times or during specific seasons. Some fish can only be caught at night, some only when it's raining, and so on. Their are ways around some of that depending on the path you choose in the story.

All and all it doesn't feel like much of a grind since you can advance the days as you see fit. If you want to get up, water your crops, and go right back to bed, you can. If you want to spend your days getting the most out of them, you can. Options, you've got em with this game.

[VerboseLamp]

All video games are predicated on repeating the same actions over and over again. The difference between fun and work is agency; does the game make you want to do those things because you're enjoying them, or are you just doing them because you feel obligated?

The pacing is reasonable, and I find that it does a pretty great job of matching the speed of the player. If you want to take it slowly and live day-by-day, doing whatever you feel up to in the moment, then that's a perfectly viable way to play the game. In short, it's only as much of a grind as you make it.

[NotThatHarkness]

I wouldn't use "reasonable" or "satisfying" or "time-consuming". I'd describe the grinding as "addictive". For the most part. You do get into RNG issues occasionally trying to get a specific item to complete a collection or something. But the bulk of the game isn't like that. Most basic resources can also be bought once you are rolling in gold.

edit: I've never played Terraria, so can't say. (Never played Harvest Moon either.)

[Mackenzie]

It is not grindy at all, really. All of the skills can be maxed out within the first year without much dedication spent on them that you wouldn't already do from natural play.

The main essence of the game is farming. Clearing seasonal debris, tilling soil, planting seeds, watering them during growth, harvesting and selling. You can take it a step further and process the harvests into more valuable goods.

In short if you like farming, you won't really consider the main purpose of the game a grind.

[Saint Landwalker]

Originally posted by Mackenzie:

It is not grindy at all, really. All of the skills can be maxed out within the first year without much dedication spent on them that you wouldn't already do from natural play.

The main essence of the game is farming. Clearing seasonal debris, tilling soil, planting seeds, watering them during growth, harvesting and selling. You can take it a step further and process the harvests into more valuable goods.

In short if you like farming, you won't really consider the main purpose of the game a grind.

Man, I clearly wasn't skillin' enough if it's possible to easily max out all five skills in one year of gameplay.

I just finally hit Level 10 in Mining, Combat, and Fishing, all within the span of about a week during Year 2 Winter...

[Leafshade]

As grindy as you choose to make it.

[VerboseLamp]

Honestly, I think "addictive" is straying into the wrong direction. "Addictive" implies that it has the player repeat actions out of compulsion, rather than enjoyment. There are certainly a lot of games that are built on this as a cornerstone of their designs and employ skinner box mechanisms and other psychological tricks, but this isn't one of them.

The game is "addictive" because it's genuinely fun to play, and you want to play "just one more day" because you're constantly just a step or two away from exploring something new, or completing some new goal or milestone. That's an example of how to pace a game really well instead of relying on cheap gimmicks or mechanics, imo.

[CatraGirl]

Originally posted by robruckus65:

it is nothign liek a top down terraria... it is like one of the older harvest moon games like harvest moo friends of mineral town... with some basic combat involved...you dont really build anyhting you can go to the carpenter to make /upgrade your huse and farm buildings... you cna choose where the farm buildings go... the resource gathering starts off slow until you start to upgrade your tools... getting the best ore in teh game kind of sucks but it is the end game ore so it swhatever...the game isnt really grindy at all besides gathering stuff to craft stuff... other than that you are jsut taking care of your farm and farming... just like a harvest moon game...

Alright, that sounds actually like much more fun than Terraria.

Originally posted by Tyril132:

All video games are predicated on repeating the same actions over and over again. The difference between fun and work is agency; does the game make you want to do those things because you're enjoying them, or are you just doing them because you feel obligated?

The pacing is reasonable, and I find that it does a pretty great job of matching the speed of the player. If you want to take it slowly and live day-by-day, doing whatever you feel up to in the moment, then that's a perfectly viable way to play the game. In short, it's only as much of a grind as you make it.

Well, yeah, what annoyed me about Terraria was more that you had to gather insane amounts of resources to build some basic stuff. Going through meters of sand just to get some ore etc.
From what you guys wrote, this sounds like it isn't the case here. So yeah, I think this might be more fun for me.

[Mackenzie]

Originally posted by Landwalker04:

I just finally hit Level 10 in Mining, Combat, and Fishing, all within the span of about a week during Year 2 Winter...

Assuming you regularly partake in those skills it should be quick very easy is my point. 5 solid days of fishing can get you to level 10 from scratch, as an example.

[Saint Landwalker]

Originally posted by Þórr:

Well, yeah, what annoyed me about Terraria was more that you had to gather insane amounts of resources to build some basic stuff. Going through meters of sand just to get some ore etc.
From what you guys wrote, this sounds like it isn't the case here. So yeah, I think this might be more fun for me.

There's definitely still an element of "Go find the stuff to make the things you want to make", but I wouldn't call it overpowering by any means. There are only a couple of crafting components that you can't just buy if you want to (Iridium Ore, Clay, and Fiber, off the top of my head). And two of those are easy enough to just go out and spend some time grabbing if you wanted some. (And late in the game, if you really want Iridium Ore, you can get Iridium Ore.)

Originally posted by Mackenzie:

Originally posted by Landwalker04:

I just finally hit Level 10 in Mining, Combat, and Fishing, all within the span of about a week during Year 2 Winter...

Assuming you regularly partake in those skills it should be quick very easy is my point. 5 solid days of fishing can get you to level 10 from scratch, as an example.

Yeah, I didn't spend a ton of time fishing, especially later on when my time was more devoted to other things, so that's understandable. The same is true for mining, since my passage through the mines gradually progressed to "Don't whack anything that isn't ore." Once I really buckled down, it didn't take me too long to finish the job. Although Level 10 Combat felt like it took for damn ever.

[CatraGirl]

Originally posted by Leafshade:

As grindy as you choose to make it.

Well, that was kinda my question. In Terraria you HAVE TO grind in order to do basically anything. You have to spent an immense amount of time just with resource gathering. I don't mind it if it is a reasonable amount, I just feel that it can get too grindy if it isn't balanced well.

[CatraGirl]

Originally posted by Landwalker04:

Originally posted by Þórr:

Well, yeah, what annoyed me about Terraria was more that you had to gather insane amounts of resources to build some basic stuff. Going through meters of sand just to get some ore etc.
From what you guys wrote, this sounds like it isn't the case here. So yeah, I think this might be more fun for me.

There's definitely still an element of "Go find the stuff to make the things you want to make", but I wouldn't call it overpowering by any means. There are only a couple of crafting components that you can't just buy if you want to (Iridium Ore, Clay, and Fiber, off the top of my head). And two of those are easy enough to just go out and spend some time grabbing if you wanted some. (And late in the game, if you really want Iridium Ore, you can get Iridium Ore.)

Well, yeah, it would probably be boring if there was absolutely no resource gathering involved. My worry was just that it was too much in relation to the other parts of the game, as it is in Terraria imo. But again, from what I've read in this thread, it does sound like this should be much more up my alley. :)