Thoughts and feelings on Update 1.6

[ChrillBill]

Hi everybody. So the new update has been out for a bit now and I am curious to know what everyone thinks about it and its content. Are you happy? Disappointed?

Is there something you wish had been there that you haven't noticed either in the game or in the changelog? Everybody's feedback is welcome!

Personally, I really like it! It feels like a very homey update, focusing on the player and the valley. A bit different from 1.5 which introduced a whole new island. I like all the improvements I have seen so far and I must say I am still so surprised by how much ConcernedApe managed to squeeze into this update!

Way back when we first heard about the 1.6 update, we were told that it would include some new content while mainly focusing on the modding aspect of the game (which has indeed been improved now!). But I think we got a LOT more than just some new content and I couldn't be happier! After a quite long break, it has been super fun coming back to this game and start exploring all the new content!

[Veylox]

I don't even know what content it's supposed to have, since I skipped the last few updates as well. I just saw 1.6 as a good excuse to catch up on that new island stuff that was introduced a while back.

I assume the green rain thing in summer is part of 1.6, it's interesting-looking but not exactly full of content, the rest I've yet to see. To be fair it's a bit disappointing that Haunted Chocolatier would go on pause for some minor content update

[Sebine]

Yeah I'm still wondering why Scarecrows don't show their AoE.

[Baked.Bread]

I love the charging bunny hop for the hoe and water can. I've enjoyed the new villager interactions.

[Coffee Addict]

only thing i dont like about the update is the new crops have to be plucked outta the ground via the new artifact spots and cant be bought anywhere other then that i love the new update

[maestro]

Originally posted by Niki Lauda:

only thing i dont like about the update is the new crops have to be plucked outta the ground via the new artifact spots and cant be bought anywhere other then that i love the new update

I see enough of those new artifact spots that I am actually kinda sick of seeing them, because I suspect that they take place of a normal artifact spot which makes getting the sewer key harder if that's true. And indeed, it took me a big longer than I'd like to get the key before I could start buying Krobus's sprinklers.

[Deffy]

This update has blown me away and my expectations were pretty high. Absolutely loving every bits of it. A LOT of my pet peaves with the game have been adressed albeit not all but it's already incredible that a few have been. My pet peaved were:

-Snake vertebrea being locked beind a wall of pure rng. Now with the new totem you can straight up create an infinite amount of artifact spots anywhere there is tillable soil.

-That also takes care of geode farming being extremely boring pre 1.6. Now you can get a ridiculous amount of geodes with said totem.

-Also takes care of golden coconut farming. Yes, the treasure totem albeit rightfully expensive and time consuming to get is incredibly powerful ESPECIALLY paired with a hoe with generous on it.

-Gathering a massive amount of matured crops were time consuming and a pain, also extremely repetitive. The iridium scythe is the best item in the GAME. Changes EVERYTHING. An incredible Qol and time saving item. Makes what used to be a chore to do actually FUN.

Now a pet peave that was semi fixed but not completely, being able to keep the hard skull cavern activated like the local mines at all time is super fun cause I've always loved killing those powerful enemies and farming galaxie souls and qi gems that way. The problem was that you had to wait for the quest to appear to be able to do this. Now you can do it any time...... as long as you get the quest to appear once first which is the problem unfortunately. Qi quests seem to be entirely rng, and who knows how many seasons / years you could potentially wait in a playthrough to finally get the skull cavern invasion to appear once. I think that is amazing that you can enjoy the hard skull cavern at any time but it is a shame that to unlock it permanently you have to pray that the quest appears first so it's still locked behing an rng wall. If CA could mitigate the rng of Qi quests like he did with the special order quests it would be perfect.

A pet peave that was not fixed; kegging a massive amount of crops is still a pain. When you have 1 or 2 sheds full of kegs it's fine but at some point it just becomes too much, which is why I can't go above 3 sheds or it becomes too repetitive and time consuming. I'm willing to lose gold for that to keep the game enjoyable. Kegging a whole day every week cause you have 5-6 sheds full of kegs is something I have experienced and want to never go through again. What is nice through, is that with the new house renovations, you can now place a lot of kegs insine your house in an efficient way, and the screen scrolls everywhere inside the farmhouse, making the kegging process more enjoyable. I wish Sheds also had that screen scrolling effect. I know there are mods for it but I refuse to use mods.

Something that was a pain pre 1.6 was farming fiber, but with the green rain in summer now it has become less of an issue, which is really nice! The green rain effect of instantly making most sapplings into a matured tree is also a tremendous help to 1. level up forage and 2. get a ton of wood early.

I honestly can't think of anything else, the game was already amazing and now it has reached a new level of heights. MASSIVE MASSIVE thank you to Eric for this update it is amazing and I'm going to be playing it for a long time. I heard that you'll soon be able to use clint's shop while he's upgrading a tool which is gonna be another amazing qol.

[Space is the Place]

I feel like there´s still tons of stuff we don´t know and we are only scrapping the surface.

Does anyone by the by has hear anything about stumps? I had a video detailing the log of all changes and I do remember him mentioning them, but now I can´t find it, and really want to know if finally tress grow from stumps like they should.

Other than that, I wish the racoon quests happened more often, seems like you gotta wait a week to get the next one. And I´m not sure about the books, the ones with powers are cool even if I personally hardly feel them, but the others... seems like a cheap way to get level 10 on all skills for new saves.

[Deffy]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

I feel like there´s still tons of stuff we don´t know and we are only scrapping the surface.

Does anyone by the by has hear anything about stumps? I had a video detailing the log of all changes and I do remember him mentioning them, but now I can´t find it, and really want to know if finally tress grow from stumps like they should.

Other than that, I wish the racoon quests happened more often, seems like you gotta wait a week to get the next one. And I´m not sure about the books, the ones with powers are cool even if I personally hardly feel them, but the others... seems like a cheap way to get level 10 on all skills for new saves.

You do not have to use any of them. Yes it is cheap but having more options for lazy players can be a good thing. I'm okay with that althrough I've never used one of those in my save and likelly never will cause yes it does feel cheap and lazy. What I can't let go of as easily through is the joja parrot on ginger island or how to entirely skip the progression in exchange for some money. Now I don't think that should've even been a choice. I really don't. I wouldn't use it but just having it there feels off.

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by Deffy:

You do not have to use any of them. Yes it is cheap but having more options for lazy players can be a good thing. I'm okay with that althrough I've never used one of those in my save and likelly never will cause yes it does feel cheap and lazy. What I can't let go of as easily through is the joja parrot on ginger island or how to entirely skip the progression in exchange for some money. Now I don't think that should've even been a choice. I really don't. I wouldn't use it but just having it there feels off.

That´s my point. I though the new NPC on the cave seeling you perfection was ONLY for Joja saves, but I saw it on my regular save. To certain extend, I see the appeal for let´s say streamers or someone who wants to do a new save on the new farm but doesn´t want to grind to end-game, those players would know how to get lots of money, but the reality is that it´s not even that expensive, legit stuff on game cost waaaaay more than this perfection tickets, the first one the guy offered was 50k, a joke number for any player who has reached Ginger Island and visits frequently. Me personally I have only made 2 Mr.Qi challenges and I´m gonna have to make tons more to get at least the exclusive recipes he sells, and the one challenge that let´s you activate the dangeros mine so I can finally get radioactive ore... knowing I can just pay quantities like 50k to complete those collection tabs or whatever... honestly it fells even more of a cheat that if i would be to use console commands and just give me every item in game whenever I want. Feels wrong.

All this things I would prefer if they were stuff that only appears on secondary saves after achieving it legit on the first one, just my taste, or just Joja runs. ANd yes, I understand it takes time to get to 100% on a save, but it does for every game and I don´t see many giving you a feature to have the final boss kill themselves.

I mean what´s next if we follow this approach? A button on steam to refund the game but still get all achievements? The ending video fo the story as soon as you start the game like that Suicide Squad bug?

Maybe I´m overthinking it, but I don´t like it.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

-snip-

That's the good thing with having a choice - that it is a choice. It's not forced on you, it's simply there for those who want to use it and those who does not, can just ignore it.

[Deffy]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

Originally posted by Deffy:

You do not have to use any of them. Yes it is cheap but having more options for lazy players can be a good thing. I'm okay with that althrough I've never used one of those in my save and likelly never will cause yes it does feel cheap and lazy. What I can't let go of as easily through is the joja parrot on ginger island or how to entirely skip the progression in exchange for some money. Now I don't think that should've even been a choice. I really don't. I wouldn't use it but just having it there feels off.

That´s my point. I though the new NPC on the cave seeling you perfection was ONLY for Joja saves, but I saw it on my regular save. To certain extend, I see the appeal for let´s say streamers or someone who wants to do a new save on the new farm but doesn´t want to grind to end-game, those players would know how to get lots of money, but the reality is that it´s not even that expensive, legit stuff on game cost waaaaay more than this perfection tickets, the first one the guy offered was 50k, a joke number for any player who has reached Ginger Island and visits frequently. Me personally I have only made 2 Mr.Qi challenges and I´m gonna have to make tons more to get at least the exclusive recipes he sells, and the one challenge that let´s you activate the dangeros mine so I can finally get radioactive ore... knowing I can just pay quantities like 50k to complete those collection tabs or whatever... honestly it fells even more of a cheat that if i would be to use console commands and just give me every item in game whenever I want. Feels wrong.

All this things I would prefer if they were stuff that only appears on secondary saves after achieving it legit on the first one, just my taste, or just Joja runs. ANd yes, I understand it takes time to get to 100% on a save, but it does for every game and I don´t see many giving you a feature to have the final boss kill themselves.

I mean what´s next if we follow this approach? A button on steam to refund the game but still get all achievements? The ending video fo the story as soon as you start the game like that Suicide Squad bug?

Maybe I´m overthinking it, but I don´t like it.

I'm with you here. I don't like it either. Pretend it's not there, the update is still entirely worth playing.

[Deffy]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

-snip-

That's the good thing with having a choice - that it is a choice. It's not forced on you, it's simply there for those who want to use it and those who does not, can just ignore it. :brownchicken:

Point is perfection is accessible to anyone now with little to no effort, and if in the end we can't really tell if a person has or hasn't used the cheats it devalorizes the perfection goal. It is perfectly okay if some things in games stay accessible only via hard work and dedication.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Deffy:

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

That's the good thing with having a choice - that it is a choice. It's not forced on you, it's simply there for those who want to use it and those who does not, can just ignore it.

Point is perfection is accessible to anyone now with little to no effort, and if in the end we can't really tell if a person has or hasn't used the cheats it devalorizes the perfection goal.

Well I for one wasn't planning on investigating how others may reach perfection :p

Why is that important to begin with? I think the only thing that should matter is your own experience, and if you are satisfied with your efforts. It's a single player game (despite the multiplayer feature) and to be honest, there have been so many cheating mods and other exploits during the years so if we are going down that road....

We might never find our way back!

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

-snip-

That's the good thing with having a choice - that it is a choice. It's not forced on you, it's simply there for those who want to use it and those who does not, can just ignore it. :brownchicken:

Deffy last response perfectly explains. You can compare it to an MMO, one player may pay for this, and other have to grind for it, but in the end they both had to part ways with something, either their wallet or their time. But there´s no button to simply get it implemented on the game.

It´s a choice for sure, but a tempting one for a lot of people, who would grind friendships now when you can pay an NPC to become friends with everyone? I don´t want to go to the dangerous mines just to get radioactive ore, but I was willing to press on cause I really like the game despite really disliking the skull cavern system and combat in general... 50k and it´s gone, a chunk of the game and a big part of the challenge of perfection dissapears. For every time you can get frustrated, you have an out, and one that apparently it´s easier to achieve than even playing a normal farm with no intention to end-game, it cost you more to update your house for the first time than paying to get one of the final achievements in the game I mean... how can you not see how this is a problem specially for future players?

The least Ape should have done and hide this under HUGE amount of money, it´s crazy that with 8 millions on my pocket I still need to grind another 2 to buy me the golden clock just to get a little closer to perfection... or pay 50k and forget about it. Completely demented price.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

Deffy last response perfectly explains. You can compare it to an MMO, one player may pay for this, and other have to grind for it, but in the end they both had to part ways with something, either their wallet or their time. But there´s no button to simply get it implemented on the game.

It´s a choice for sure, but a tempting one for a lot of people, who would grind friendships now when you can pay an NPC to become friends with everyone? I don´t want to go to the dangerous mines just to get radioactive ore, but I was willing to press on cause I really like the game despite really disliking the skull cavern system and combat in general... 50k and it´s gone, a chunk of the game and a big part of the challenge of perfection dissapears. For every time you can get frustrated, you have an out, and one that apparently it´s easier to achieve than even playing a normal farm with no intention to end-game, it cost you more to update your house for the first time than paying to get one of the final achievements in the game I mean... how can you not see how this is a problem specially for future players?

That's actually a very bad comparison - like I said earlier it's a single player game despite the multiplayer feature. I understand that you find this annoying, what I don't understand is why. I mean, if you have reached perfection the way you feel it should be reached, then you can feel proud and happy with your efforts. How others play Stardew Valley shouldn't affect you. I think it is within that mindset ConcernedApe has been as well when he implemented this. And in a way, it does make sense to me. Prices can of course be changed, but I don't see a problem with the feature being there.

This game was built and designed for single player. Before this update, there were other ways to speed up the perfection process although not as effective perhaps, but they were still there. I am all for hard work an dedication, that is how I have reached perfection myself and will continue to do so, because that is how I like to play. I couldn't care less even if I tried when it comes to how others play their games o.o