Community Center

[DontMisunderstand]

Why does it take so much effort to get the evil ending where a business owner known to be price gouging vulnerable people who have few alternatives solidifies his monopoly over their livelihoods?

[NBOX21]

Technically, they're both "evil" endings.
One sees Pierre establish a monopoly on all the goods in town where he will eventually start his own soulless corporation, while the other allows an existing soulless corporation to grow their business and eventually drive smaller independent businesses out of the market.

So either way, you can't really win.

[AcePilot818]

In general, the community center/Joja route was probably just added to the game to add more content. Maybe CA just wanted to add it to the game. Either way the Joja route is easier than the community center route, which makes sense. It also makes sense that the corporate company may have had a hard time reaching the small isolated town and not have put much focus on it. These might contribute to the fact that the Joja route requires at least a little effort to complete.

[Clovis Sangrail]

If you finish the Community Center, Pierre should establish a monopoly and become very rich, then leave Caroline for his new trophy bride (maybe Haley?), and then Caroline becomes marriageable.

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by NBOX21:

Technically, they're both "evil" endings.
One sees Pierre establish a monopoly on all the goods in town where he will eventually start his own soulless corporation, while the other allows an existing soulless corporation to grow their business and eventually drive smaller independent businesses out of the market.

So either way, you can't really win. :Beebz_Angry:

Fair enough.

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by AcePilot818:

In general, the community center/Joja route was probably just added to the game to add more content. Maybe CA just wanted to add it to the game. Either way the Joja route is easier than the community center route, which makes sense. It also makes sense that the corporate company may have had a hard time reaching the small isolated town and not have put much focus on it. These might contribute to the fact that the Joja route requires at least a little effort to complete.

Having the game itself give a goal to work toward helps a lot for some people to get into the game.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by Clovis Sangrail:

If you finish the Community Center, Pierre should establish a monopoly and become very rich, then leave Caroline for his new trophy bride (maybe Haley?), and then Caroline becomes marriageable.

To be fair she is already "dating" the wizard and seeing what has happened from it I feel like she is doing fine.

Now Robin on the other hand....

[Bnn1]

The misconception is that small businesses care about the individual, whilst the larger businesses care only about the masses.

This is true, but on a whole different level - the small businesses care about the individual called "the owner", themselves. Larger businesses care about the owner, a whole bunch of employees, franchise bosses, executives, and so on.

Now who is better is debateable. If Pierre was a granny, we would love to support that store.

But Pierre is a man who brags about his produce during the fair, brags about his seed quality being better than the competition, which is wrong (all seeds have the same quality), is REALLY mad and sad when he loses to the player during the grange display competition, gets REALLY arrogant when WINNING the same competition, has a wife who at least has bouts of arrogance (otherwise she wouldn't be married to him), makes enough money to support the village but helps nobody in any way shape or form.

That the whole village just let the community center rot and fall to waste speaks volumes about all of them.

Lewis and his gold statue, his inability to confess about Marnie, his constant need to impress people like the Governor, his "you do the work, I just regulate"... the whole village is just so unlikeable because of Pierre and Lewis.

Plus, Pierre closes on wednesday. Middle of the week, closed. Once the CC is restored, he opens all 7 days, how absurd is that. The only time when he actually would have a reason to close and take a day off, to enjoy the new environment in the village, he choses to work the whole week, every day.

Pierre is a good example of the real life small countryside businesses going out of business, bad leadership, bad mindset, and owners who only think about money and success.

[BirbNotBird]

It's arguably which side is better or worse. I think Stardew is still one of the game which has a lot of nuances hidden behind "cozy relax chilling game".

Joja route
Pro: You create jobs for many individuals, and paved the road for the town to become a good investment zone in the future.
Con: Given the intro of Joja's office, you are definitively support an organization that isn't aiming for sustainability. Trashes and incidents was and is a problem for Pelican town, even before the arrival of farmers. You are supporting a huge corporation that values money, with the cost of Pelican Town's culture.

Community Centre route
Pro: You support and protect the sense of community that has long been forgotten yet remain in Pelican Town. You keep the peacefulness of the town, without it becoming a concrete jungle in the future.
Con: Turn out, many shopkeepers/politicians/civilians in Pelican Town are problematic. Greedy Pierre now owns a monolopy, and totally charges huge price which make Pam, Jodi, and Gus suffers. Lewis being Lewis, ineffective in repairing and maintaining the town (Seriously, we need magic plushies of the forest to restore everything in town, and education is being set up by a single girl). And again, if they are broken down in the future, I don't have any hope the town will fix on its own without farmer, because they are living their life hard enough.

Both ways are suck, but I prefer Community Centre. Maybe because I want something sustainable yet maintaining the peacefulness of the Valley. Joja Corporation is welcome to open the store again in my CC route to spite Pierre, but otherwise, I'm fine with Pelican Town being Pelican.

[Sstavix]

Yeah, the Community Center being the "good" ending has always led to problematic results in my mind. Pierre basically opens his shop seven days a week, meaning he's neglecting his wife and daughter even more (why is he always running a shop during festivals? He really needs to spend more time with his family!) Also, with the closure of the Joja Mart, Shane and Sam become unemployed and have to look for new jobs (apparently, Sam starts cleaning the museum / library, instead).

So yes, the town gets a swanky new community center. But what are the long-term costs to those who relied on the Joja Mart for their livelihoods? (And before anyone mentions the movie theater, I don't think Shane or Sam find jobs with the theater once it opens. It would have been nice to see, though....)

[Nakos]

.... Pierre is a local.

Sure, he's a money-grubbing [redacted], but he's still a Stardew Valley local who really does care about the town.

Joja is a "Bigbox" corporation that moves in and destroys local communities. There are several of them, pick the one you like the least.

Pierre has one store (as far as we know). Joja has dozens ... perhaps hundreds.

Morris has plans and does NOT ask for permission. Pierre does ask, he asks the townsfolk to join him in boycotting Joja.

Pierre is hardly perfect, but I'll take Pierre over Morris every time.

[BirbNotBird]

I do not prefer both of the bastards. But honestly, given the law of supply and demand, I really wish Joja Mart wasn't go away the moment CC is finished.

Keep both of the snuffers at bay since they both got themselves to destroy, without anyone dealing with their shenanigans.

[Bob of Mage]

Seeing as how Joja Mart actually has higher prices normally, and only is on par with Pierre during sales, or special deals for "members", you have to wonder what things would be like if there wasn't an alternative to them around? In all likelihood the special deals would disappear, and prices would climb. Sure it wouldn't happen overnight, but it would happen.

In terms of no one doing anything to fix the community, I feel like it is more that things are balanced on a knife edge. After the loss of grandpa, and the collapse of the farm, Stardew Valley barely couldn't keep going. It was a slow death, but the community couldn't sustain. The farmer arriving, pushed things back the other way, and restored one of the core industries of Stardew Valley.

Basically Stardew Valley was like a mining town, that lost its mine. Even if it is filled with wealthy citizens that can afford to stay there for the rest of their lives, there isn't much that would attract new investments, and things will break down over time.

So really grandpa is the one behind the town failing since he didn't do a good job of getting someone that would replace him in a timely manner.

[kingjames488]

really? people don't like pierre because he's arrogant and brags about his products?

it's called being a salesman... this is why you don't mix business and relationships.

[kingjames488]

Originally posted by PaulKrawitz:

Originally posted by Mod_Abuse_victim#488:

really? people don't like pierre because he's arrogant and brags about his products?

it's called being a salesman... this is why you don't mix business and relationships.

I don't care about his bragging, I'm annoyed by the fact that he's a lying piece of ♥♥♥♥.

He's a two-bit wannabe farmer who pretends that the protagonist's produce is his own.

♥♥♥♥ Pierre.

did he actually claim he grew any of it?
TBH I don't pay the most attention to dialogue but I feel like he just calls he "pierre's produce", as in the products offered at his store?

I feel like people are reaching a bit.

[BirbNotBird]

Originally posted by Mod_Abuse_victim#488:

really? people don't like pierre because he's arrogant and brags about his products?

it's called being a salesman... this is why you don't mix business and relationships.

Pierre is not a normal salesman. He is one of the worst slimy shady salesman the town has.

If you sell your products to him, depend on pricing which categorize products into good and bad, villagers will later comment.

Bad and they always say you produce weird stuff. Good and Pierre always claim he grows and fishes in his home garden while the snuffer stays at counter 24/7.

Contrast with Willy which he always be honest which fish you caught.