I'm surprised (game success)

[zakouski]

hello,

how is it that this game which is very successful and which has existed for many years with many players on a daily basis displays that the achievement "reaching Ginger Island" is obtained by (only) 10.4% of players? It seemed incredible to me.

[Aluvard]

Simple. " A Distant shore" achievement was added with patch 1.6.

[NBOX21]

And Ginger Island itself was only added in the 1.5 update that released about two years prior.

[ChrillBill]

Yep it's quite simple. Ginger Island came with 1.5 in December of 2020
The achievement was added in 1.6 which released in March this year (2024).

So there is almost 3 and a half years between them.

[zakouski]

hello Aluvard and NBOX21 and ChrillBill :)

I understand now. THANK YOU. I didn't know this fact...ok ok.

[EleventhStar]

this logic also works in reverse though:

1% have perfection achievement.
10% have ginger island achiement.
both achievements added at the same time.

so 10% of active players do perfection, which is honestly surprisingly high.

[Sunny]

Also, up until one of the more recent patches, Steam achievements didn't work for modded games unless you set up how you started the game by adjusting something in the game's preferences on Steam. You had to start SMAPI via command argument, and lots of peeps weren't comfortable figuring it out.

I also disagree that the Ginger Island stat is equal to 'active players', because plenty of folks play to community center completion/marriage/grandpa, and then start over. I have gone to Ginger Island precisely once (I mean in one save; not just one single island trip) in the last many years since it was added.

[zakouski]

hello Sunny,

ah yes interesting. THANKS

[Buffmania]

You've got to take into account of how few people get achievements for the games they own. The most completed achievement for sdv is only 60%ish, so roughly one in six people who get achievements make it to ginger island.

[zakouski]

hello Buffmania,

yes and I believe that many players limit themselves to farming and friendly relations but abandon the combat/mine exploration part except in the case where it is essential to go to the mines to obtain essential elements for general progression. progression is not compartmentalized so everyone has their own progress.

At first I thought I had to run like crazy but then I realized that I could just as easily slow down. Currently I have unlocked the community house, I am married and I just visited Ginger Island.

However I have done almost nothing in Calico Desert and Skull Mine so far.

[ape]

its weird to me aswell

[Aerogems]

Originally posted by zakouski:

hello Buffmania,

yes and I believe that many players limit themselves to farming and friendly relations but abandon the combat/mine exploration part except in the case where it is essential to go to the mines to obtain essential elements for general progression. progression is not compartmentalized so everyone has their own progress.

At first I thought I had to run like crazy but then I realized that I could just as easily slow down. Currently I have unlocked the community house, I am married and I just visited Ginger Island.

However I have done almost nothing in Calico Desert and Skull Mine so far.

There's also people like me, who don't really care about achievements. If we get one, fine, but we don't go out of our way at all to try to get them.

[zakouski]

hello Aerogems,

Effectively. I myself ignored the villagers for a long time and sometimes did not go to village festivals. not enough money and not the level for the mini games. It wasn't until the third year that I started to gravitate towards calendar programs.

[NBOX21]

Not to mention reaching Ginger Island requires quite a bit of dedication by itself. You have to either finish the CC or Joja routes, then help Willy repair his boat which requires 5 iridium bars, 200 hardwood and 5 battery packs. At that point, iridium is most likely still very hard to obtain for most players, and unless they have the Lumberjack profession at Level 10 which also requires the Forester profession at Level 5, such a resource can be difficult to find.

I'm sure most players feel comfortable just finishing either the CC or Joja routes and not going much further beyond that. The Perfection achievement (also added in 1.6) requires even more effort and dedication on top of that.

[maestro]

Originally posted by NBOX21:

, and unless they have the Lumberjack profession at Level 10 which also requires the Forester profession at Level 5, such a resource can be difficult to find.

Uh, what?

Every day you go to the "secret" woods, you get 12 Hardwood which respawns every single day. Or, if you started on the Forest Farm, IIRC, there's what, 3-4 respawning stumps there too?

You'd only need 17 days of visiting that place to get 200 hardwood.

Not to mention, you can plant Mahogany Seeds to grow your own hardwood trees right on your farm, though that can take awhile. You'd probably get 200 from the stumps than you would a mahogany tree, but the option does exist.

The Iridium Bars isn't really that hard, even if you don't go to the skull caves, you can get decent amounts of iridium from omni geodes which are a semi-common drop in floor 100+ of the mines just breaking rocks. Or, if you get lucky enough to find a rainbow shard and get a galaxy sword, the slimes in the skull caves drop it regularly enough that it wouldn't take more than a few runs even if only to floor 5 or so, to get enough to make 5 bars.

Barring any of those, a patient player gets an infinite supply of iridium after Spring of Year 3 from the statue Grandpa gives you which should be laughably easy to get by Year 3.

And the battery packs, well... it ain't like lightning rods are hard to make or anything.

You'd have to literally decide to not play the game at all to fail to unlock Ginger Island. Like, really, do you just finish Joja/CC and just stop playing, when there's obviously more content after that? I'm pretty sure Willy sends the mail to go talk to him like literally the day after you unlock the CC IIRC and that quest should make it clear that there's more content afterward.

A player who just stops and quits there, especially when there ought to be quite a few things left undone is like quitting a JRPG in the middle of the story, it makes no sense.

[NBOX21]

Originally posted by maestro:

A player who just stops and quits there, especially when there ought to be quite a few things left undone is like quitting a JRPG in the middle of the story, it makes no sense.

I'd consider finishing the Joja/CC routes in Stardew to be the end of the main story as there's very little plot elements that develop beyond that point. Most of the game's events are basically wrapped up by then, especially once you've reached Year 3 and have your farm evaluated.

Anything on Ginger Island I would consider post-game content in the same way Kanto from Pokémon Gold and Silver is the post-game. It's extra stuff to do after the main story that isn't necessary to get a full experience, but is there for the more dedicated players that want to get even more out of it.