My family grew up on the original farming simulator: Harvest Moon. After seeing Harvest Moon 64 at a friend’s house, we absolutely had to track down a copy for ourselves. A few years later we were consumed by Harvest Moon: Back to Nature on the PlayStation 1. With separate farms, the controller was passed between my twin, my dad, and myself for most of the summer. It must have been 2003 because I recall listening to Linkin Park’s Meteora on repeat while watering crops and wooing women. I distinctly remember we spent the Fourth of July mostly indoors that year, emerging to watch the fireworks after dark.
Our history with with the series extends past fond memories, my brother even wrote about his experience playing Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland last week. A chance to relive those days of freedom on a digital farm meant that the game Stardew Valley was an easy purchase a few years ago. Developed by Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, Stardew Valley was directly inspired by Harvest Moon in an attempt to recapture the feelings he had playing the original games. The game is fantastic. It gives you a plethora of options on how to rebuild your farm, extra activities to keep you consistently busy, and freedom to date a wide range of bachelors and bachelorettes.
Here’s the catch, I’ve never completed a three-year journey in Stardew Valley because I keep getting distracted by other games. After reaching the fifth day of spring in year two, I ended up taking a long and unexpected break from the game. Once I picked it back up I decided it would be easier to restart than try and remember what I was doing. Last year I made it back to the beginning of year two and you’ve probably guessed where I’m going with this…I didn’t play again until a few days ago. I’ve spent 76 hours combined on these save files and I don’t want to lose that progress again.
So, here’s my experience dusting off a year-old save file, determined to pick up where I left off without losing too much along the way. In the process I’ll narrow down effective ways games can welcome players back in after a lengthy break, as well as a few daunting aspects of jumping back in.
Friendships Paused, But Not Forgotten
In Stardew Valley you can befriend all of the villagers of Pelican Town. Early on the mayor asks you to introduce yourself to everyone in town, a somewhat formidable task when it comes to figuring out where the last few people are hiding during the day. Each villager has a unique birthday as well as items they like and dislike. Their friendship is represented by a series of hearts in one of the menus, letting you track who your best friends are and which villagers could use some attention.
In both save files my top friend has been Linus, an outcast living in a tent down by the lake. An early in-game event showing Linus digging around the trash for food broke my heart and it became my mission to give Linus food every day that I could find him. When I reloaded my save file from last year I was pleasantly surprised to find a letter from Linus waiting for me in my mailbox, along with a gift of Sashimi. I’m not going to question if eating raw fish from my mailbox is a healthy option, I’m just going to appreciate the fact that my best friend in Pelican Town still cares about me. I haven’t forgotten about him either.
The relationship menu became a handy tool for remembering where I stood with the villagers of Pelican Town. I recalled racking up hearts with Penny, Abigail, and Leah before finally asking Leah to become my girlfriend. I won’t remember all of the details of my relationships, but a quick list that shows who you’ve given gifts to that week is an excellent way to remind returning players of their priorities.
An Inventory Issue
I tend to hoard items in video games. Ever since I ran out of phoenix downs in the final fight with Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7, I always buy more items than I need and shy away from selling others in case I may need it down to road. It’s irrational, but I’m sure I’m not alone in doing so. After jumping back into in Stardew Valley I found a mess in my inventory, and it took me a few in-game days to get a decent sense on how I was organizing my chests filled with excess items. Why am I carrying 24 blackberries and a bottle of cranberry wine? I don’t know, but I’m sure 2021 Aaron would have that answer.
Thankfully, I’m nearly done with the community center, so I don’t need to be overly concerned about where my items are going. The community center is a major project that requires you to donate a lot of items to renovate the building, as long as you didn’t side with the evil Joja corporation wanting to take over the town. A helpful update that I originally wasn’t aware of added a community center icon in your inventory that lights up when you hover over an item that’s needed for a donation, giving players a better idea of what to hold onto.
I think inventory management is always going to be an issue in games, especially for ones that you aren’t consistently playing. My best option may be to reorganize my storage so I have a fresh idea of where everything goes.
Short-Term Tasks and Long-Term Goals
One aspect in video games that will slow down my reentry is an excess of quests. Too many choices on what to do can quickly become overwhelming. Stardew Valley is so open-ended, but I only found one quest waiting for me in my journal asking me to dig deeper in the Skull Cavern. This was obviously manageable (or easily ignored) and allowed me the freedom to focus on rebuilding my farm in both the short and long-term.
When I booted my save file back up I found myself on day 1 of Spring in the second year. The first day of any season is chaotic if you want to get a bunch of seeds in the ground, so this was a particularly stressful day to get back into the game. I stretched my character thin trying to pick out how many crops to plant, clearing the field, crafting sprinklers and forgetting I have livestock until about midnight. My animals didn’t seem too pleased when I tried to pet them in their sleep, so I created a mental note of visiting the coop and barn first thing in the mornings, I habit I used to have while playing.
As for my long-term goals, I’m basically turning my farm into a brewery. I built a shed in year one and I’m in the process of filling it with kegs to make pale ale as well as various wines and juices. I’ll soon begin to stockpile resources and finish filling the shed with kegs, eventually upgrading the size of the shed as well. I’m guessing I’ll have more money than I need before too long.
Overall, returning to Stardew Valley has been a little slow, but I’ve also had a busy week with work and a sick son. I’ve found it much easier to pick back up than other games that I’ve returned to after a lengthy break due to its laid-back and open-ended nature. My wife and I are happily playing when we get a chance, and we want to start a co-op file soon. At the same time, we’re also on our second round of the Stardew Valley board game, which has been temporarily set up on our basement table for the past several weeks. I think the board game is really cool, although I’m sure its complex rules would turn some people away.
Next week I plan to compare the Stardew Valley video game with the board game and focus on why the stress and tight deadline actually work in the board game’s favor. Until then, happy gaming everyone!
Aaron's Gaming Blog 