So not sure what other's opinions are on this but a friend of mine started playing Stardew about two weeks ago when she finally decided to get a Steam Deck. I spoke to her a couple of days ago and she told me she "really tried" but gave up because she wasn't having fun. I asked what she didn't like and she said she felt like she was missing things and wasn't completing things fast enough.
I got her to play multiplayer with me a couple of times and when I walked into her cabin the first day her bed was right up next to the door. I asked why she did that and she said to save time walking to the bed. I then noticed she was doing other little things that Let's Players do but she didn't really have a reason to do them.
She was asking us to do things like restart the day if she missed something or forgot something because she felt like she had failed. I told her there was nothing wrong with an entire day of doing nothing but talking to townspeople or not catching a catfish in your first Spring or missing a Spring related bundle in the first year.
She was just doing everything she'd seen let's players do like making sure to gift Caroline to get tea saplings early for fast money making even though they've been nerfed (she didn't know).
I just feel like there are a lot of people that come to the game thinking there's only one way to play and it's all about making the most money possible really fast or achieving certain goals on a limited time frame. Now that I got her to play casually and at her own pace, she's enjoying it. She didn't even feel bad about spending most of her gold buying wallpaper and decorations to make her house "pretty." She's having fun.
by A_Drop_of_Colour
6 Comments
I’d suggest to her to save for the catalogue so she can decorate as many times as she wants
Is it a bad thing for people to make videos that they’re interested in and aren’t aimed at walking newbies through the game? They’re not intended to be introductions.
Does she play games very much? It sounds like she got a steam deck just for Stardew. I could easily imagine feeling like that’s the way the game is meant to be played if they don’t understand those people have played *a lot* of Stardew and it’s not particularly stressful for them to min max, or they’re doing a challenge for their channel which isn’t meant for a relaxed player. Watching someone play a game for *hours* before you’ve really tried it in my experience is a good way to get the wrong expectations about how you’ll play at the start. Some people do enjoy min maxing from the very start but I wouldn’t expect most people to enjoy it. It sounds like she figured out she *didnt* like playing that way and settled into the game which is good!
Agreed, but there wouldn’t be anything else the content creators could make their videos on, since a slow casual play is less interesting as a video topic (basically any videos of the sort “just play however you want” style)
Good thing your friend opened up to the idea that minmaxing isn’t the only way to play- in fact minmaxing is the stressful way to play the game since it can be very research heavy for a total new player from pathfinding the most optimal route.
I can see both perspectives. Yes, following speedrun tactics is a quick way to make the game less fun because everything is heavily scheduled.
That being said, I also think it’s bad to tell her it’s okay to spend a day doing nothing, especially early game. A good chunk of the game doesn’t open up until you hit milestones, namely restoring the community center. If you don’t do things that you can only do in spring as it relates to the community center, you’re going to have a long time of waiting for spring/summer/fall/winter to cycle back around.
She might be having fun now buying decorations but what about after she’s decorated and it’s the middle of summer and she starts to play the actual game?
Day 1 to Day X aren’t as bad as I beat the game in the first year type click baity titles imo because they aren’t necessarily as min maxy and actually show off the gameplay.