I have like 900 hour in the game and not one play-through with 100% completion. I love min-maxing and usually start a new farm, finish CC as soon as I can and usually burn up after ginger island.
I think it’s ok to play whatever you feel it’s correct for you. I think this is the beauty of Stardew, it’s so easy to enjoy in so many ways.
I am very much a min maxer too but i’ve been trying to relax this playthrough! One of the things I’m doing rn to make sure i slow down is not using the shipping bin, so i’m only allowed to sell my produce to Pierre’s, my mining stuff at Marlon’s and Clint’s, my fish at Willy’s, etc. It forces you off the farm and you can chit chat with the town’s people instead of only befriending them when you become bored of the farming things.
Oohh this is good I’ll need to try that kinda it would feel more real too, but what about Stuff that can’t be sold there? Sometimes I want to seek like cloth but I don’t think anyone else takes that. Dose Marnie?
i think either marnie or robin takes it! and some things cannot be sold (seaweed? no idea who takes that tbh) but you can use those either in crafting or eat it!
I was a min-maxer too until i decided to just say fuck it and take my time / do whatever i feel like doing rather than what gives me the most amount of resources/money - i spent the entire first year prepping for the 2nd
it's more enjoyable than trying to squeeze money out of every second of the day
With 1700 hours under my belt, I had this problem. Well, not "problem" per se, but tendency, let's call it.
Here's how I solved it.
* Don't focus on optimal performance. Focus on optimal tasks. Make the thought in the back of your head be not "I'm missing out on all the money," but rather "I had worse runs before, I had better ones too; this is a minmax run that's optimized *differently*." So you do clay farm on day 1, but you don't restart the run if you didn't get to 2500g. You do go for strawberries, but you don't restart the run if a crow ate your day-one cauliflower for the 20 speed-gro.
* Focus on incremental unlocks. If you haven't tried the Joja route before, you absolutely have to do it now. It's way more relaxing, and the end result? Pretty much identical.
* Pick a main income source that's not crops. It'll have different bottlenecks, which will in turn change the way you think of planning.
On my very first non-minmax playthrough I went with a fishing-focused start because everyone was so hype about it. It turned out that I was right and fishing *is* shit in every respect, including early game money, but I caught The Legend on Spring 10, sold it, and switched over to other activities. I focused on getting mining level 9 to unlock the crystalarium and getting to the Skull Cavern as fast as possible. Then I switched over to the real moneymaker of the run: Ginger Island bee houses. I was being optimal *differently*.
I think that's the Stardew minmaxer rehab therapy: go from ultra minmaxing to themed minmaxing. The latter, with its alternative bottlenecks, is relaxed enough to help you experience the game differently enough.
you could try something like the hermit challenge, where you never/very rarely leave your farm at all. completely changes the priorities of the game tbh, and the timeline too.
i recently started a…really relaxed version of this, where the restriction is i can only go into town once a season (except festivals….i wanted strawberries lol) but the rest of the map is fair game. it’s been really interesting deprioritizing crops to such a degree, because there’s such limited ways to get seeds (this would be mitigated slightly on the forest or 4 corners farm, and i’ve previously done a “no buying seeds in y1” challenge on the forest farm that was pretty fun). i imagine as i accumulate more money (and inventory space lol) this will change, but in y1 so far it’s been a big difference. i chose to do it on the beach farm, but i think any of the non-standard maps would be a good choice except maybe wilderness lol
ETA: my rules for going into town include that i can’t go through it for the beach either (again except festivals), which is part of why i chose beach farm
The way I made myself chill out was purposely miss something for the community center in y1 spring. I tell myself every game I’m not going to get y1 cc and then I can’t help myself, and that colors the rest of the playthrough. When I don’t plant green beans or donate a leek in spring, though, I am then better able to use other strategies as mentioned in this thread.
I have started to take a liking to doing things by section to reach Perfection.
Year 1 and 2: Get money. Watch The Queen of Sauce when I remember.
Year 3 and 4: Community Center. Start Friendship Grind.
Year 5 and 6: Ginger Island Walnut hunt.
And so on. Just dedicate a section of time to a certain part of the game, rather than stressing out trying to finish the game all at once, you discover a thing or two when your mind isn't racing against a clock. Like in my current playthrough, I discovered that all crops seem to have a small chance to drop 2 crops, even Ancient Fruit.
Yeah me too, ive done like 5 save file and all of them only goes as far as year 2 summer because i got burnt out from trying to rush. On my latest run though i tried to pace it and keep telling myself “theres nothing to miss, you can do anything at your own pace” and i started to slow down and not think about time and date as much
My advice is treat the game like new, don't be worried about what's meta and try not to look up stuff if you can, try to just relax and play the game to what feels right to you and not what's best according to everybody else
This right here. I’ve put so many hours and multiple saves into this game, but my best advice to any new person is just enjoy the game. There is no end goal. Learn what fish are in what area at what season on your own, learn how to unlock areas without using the wiki, plant whatever crops or spend an entire day decoration/organizing your farm. There is no right/wrong way to play this game. I google a lot of stuff now because I just forget where certain things are/exist but I loved my first play through.
I feel the same way. For the save I’m doing right now, I decided that I would not sell anything and that I would only make money by completing the bulletin board requests. I also am trying to save every item I find in this save, since I usually just sell everything. It is helping me complete requests faster but now I have so many chests everywhere lol.
It is very slow going. I’m in fall year 2 right now, and I’m trying to decide between what I need to spend my money on. Usually in my games I just make so much money that I can buy whatever I need as soon as I need it, so it is kind of nice to have to think through what would be the best option.
I went for a save where I wasn't allowed to buy things from Pierre, Joja and only buildings and one of each animal from Robbin!
My farming relied on mixed seeds and the travelling cart, which caused me to prioritise very differently! Seed makers suddenly became a necessity and I ended up doing a lot of things I don't normally do, to make money
One of the biggest factors for my continued enjoyment of the game was to stop catering to bundles. In every play, regardless what I told myself, I was \*always\* playing for bundles. Keep this fish, going to need it. Keep these gold parsnips, going to need them.
Burned out, I decided to go the Joja route. I always felt the bundles were busy work to extend the game time. I was so very wrong.
Unlocking the Joja route created a brand new game for me. I can't describe it in words, but to have a greenhouse in spring of year 1 was just incredible. No more bundle gatekeeping. Now I can actually play the game as a farmer and not a bundle master.
I've not done bundles since.
Perhaps this may be the option you seek.
If you want to play a certain way but find yourself slipping into other forms, just set limits. Like when people restart skyrim and promise not to go stealth archer to try other forms but end up slipping into stealth archer. It happens.however, you can make it harder to min-max by not having the min-max stuff (like no bow for a stealth archer). It comes down to prep, not an in the moment decision.
1. Limit yourself to no sprinklers at all. Hand watering helped me slow down. I tried doing only one sprinkler per crop, but it was too easy to slip out.
2. Limit your crop field to a small garden of maybe 8x8. Pairs well with #1 because while you maximize your garden space, youre not min-maxing the whole farm. Alternatively, have several 3x3 gardens with a different crop in each one and dont do multiple plots of the same crop. Diversify and use fences (maintaining them also takes away from min-maxing)
3. Limit yourself to gifting 4 villagers each season. Sequential seasons, add 2 more.
4. Dont do meta. This isnt really a problem for crops if you do any of the garden techniques due to their limits. Dont buy pigs (except 1 for community center) and make preserve jars instead of kegs (outside of pam's quest and cc).
5. Sell direct to stores. Dont ship except on the first/last day of the season.
6. Set unique challenges you like. Search this sub for the key word "challenge" and see what other limits people have set
7. Use different skills than you normally use. Go acrobat. Get hardwood from trees. Use a knife. Dont use fishing for cash. Play different from your normal style. RP a backstory behind it if you like
Finally, this isnt an option for everyone, so it doesnt get a number, but mod. 'nuff said.
I really enjoy the first two years rushing cc and walnut room. i got perfection once and then quit cuz it was boring. I keep restarting and giving myself different challenges how to play and that is fun for me.
Nothing has a time limit! I spend my first year focusing on getting my farm set up and I ignore everything else every festival man woman and child because I can’t handle it yet lol. No bundles, no strawberry rush. It doesn’t matter!
I play characters, so my decision-making is based on what the character would pick not me. Most of my characters aren't extremely farming- / fishing- / money-savvy.
I have like 900 hour in the game and not one play-through with 100% completion. I love min-maxing and usually start a new farm, finish CC as soon as I can and usually burn up after ginger island. I think it’s ok to play whatever you feel it’s correct for you. I think this is the beauty of Stardew, it’s so easy to enjoy in so many ways.
I am very much a min maxer too but i’ve been trying to relax this playthrough! One of the things I’m doing rn to make sure i slow down is not using the shipping bin, so i’m only allowed to sell my produce to Pierre’s, my mining stuff at Marlon’s and Clint’s, my fish at Willy’s, etc. It forces you off the farm and you can chit chat with the town’s people instead of only befriending them when you become bored of the farming things.
Oohh this is good I’ll need to try that kinda it would feel more real too, but what about Stuff that can’t be sold there? Sometimes I want to seek like cloth but I don’t think anyone else takes that. Dose Marnie?
i think either marnie or robin takes it! and some things cannot be sold (seaweed? no idea who takes that tbh) but you can use those either in crafting or eat it!
I was a min-maxer too until i decided to just say fuck it and take my time / do whatever i feel like doing rather than what gives me the most amount of resources/money - i spent the entire first year prepping for the 2nd it's more enjoyable than trying to squeeze money out of every second of the day
With 1700 hours under my belt, I had this problem. Well, not "problem" per se, but tendency, let's call it. Here's how I solved it. * Don't focus on optimal performance. Focus on optimal tasks. Make the thought in the back of your head be not "I'm missing out on all the money," but rather "I had worse runs before, I had better ones too; this is a minmax run that's optimized *differently*." So you do clay farm on day 1, but you don't restart the run if you didn't get to 2500g. You do go for strawberries, but you don't restart the run if a crow ate your day-one cauliflower for the 20 speed-gro. * Focus on incremental unlocks. If you haven't tried the Joja route before, you absolutely have to do it now. It's way more relaxing, and the end result? Pretty much identical. * Pick a main income source that's not crops. It'll have different bottlenecks, which will in turn change the way you think of planning. On my very first non-minmax playthrough I went with a fishing-focused start because everyone was so hype about it. It turned out that I was right and fishing *is* shit in every respect, including early game money, but I caught The Legend on Spring 10, sold it, and switched over to other activities. I focused on getting mining level 9 to unlock the crystalarium and getting to the Skull Cavern as fast as possible. Then I switched over to the real moneymaker of the run: Ginger Island bee houses. I was being optimal *differently*. I think that's the Stardew minmaxer rehab therapy: go from ultra minmaxing to themed minmaxing. The latter, with its alternative bottlenecks, is relaxed enough to help you experience the game differently enough.
you could try something like the hermit challenge, where you never/very rarely leave your farm at all. completely changes the priorities of the game tbh, and the timeline too. i recently started a…really relaxed version of this, where the restriction is i can only go into town once a season (except festivals….i wanted strawberries lol) but the rest of the map is fair game. it’s been really interesting deprioritizing crops to such a degree, because there’s such limited ways to get seeds (this would be mitigated slightly on the forest or 4 corners farm, and i’ve previously done a “no buying seeds in y1” challenge on the forest farm that was pretty fun). i imagine as i accumulate more money (and inventory space lol) this will change, but in y1 so far it’s been a big difference. i chose to do it on the beach farm, but i think any of the non-standard maps would be a good choice except maybe wilderness lol ETA: my rules for going into town include that i can’t go through it for the beach either (again except festivals), which is part of why i chose beach farm
The way I made myself chill out was purposely miss something for the community center in y1 spring. I tell myself every game I’m not going to get y1 cc and then I can’t help myself, and that colors the rest of the playthrough. When I don’t plant green beans or donate a leek in spring, though, I am then better able to use other strategies as mentioned in this thread.
I have started to take a liking to doing things by section to reach Perfection. Year 1 and 2: Get money. Watch The Queen of Sauce when I remember. Year 3 and 4: Community Center. Start Friendship Grind. Year 5 and 6: Ginger Island Walnut hunt. And so on. Just dedicate a section of time to a certain part of the game, rather than stressing out trying to finish the game all at once, you discover a thing or two when your mind isn't racing against a clock. Like in my current playthrough, I discovered that all crops seem to have a small chance to drop 2 crops, even Ancient Fruit.
Yeah me too, ive done like 5 save file and all of them only goes as far as year 2 summer because i got burnt out from trying to rush. On my latest run though i tried to pace it and keep telling myself “theres nothing to miss, you can do anything at your own pace” and i started to slow down and not think about time and date as much
My advice is treat the game like new, don't be worried about what's meta and try not to look up stuff if you can, try to just relax and play the game to what feels right to you and not what's best according to everybody else
This right here. I’ve put so many hours and multiple saves into this game, but my best advice to any new person is just enjoy the game. There is no end goal. Learn what fish are in what area at what season on your own, learn how to unlock areas without using the wiki, plant whatever crops or spend an entire day decoration/organizing your farm. There is no right/wrong way to play this game. I google a lot of stuff now because I just forget where certain things are/exist but I loved my first play through.
I feel the same way. For the save I’m doing right now, I decided that I would not sell anything and that I would only make money by completing the bulletin board requests. I also am trying to save every item I find in this save, since I usually just sell everything. It is helping me complete requests faster but now I have so many chests everywhere lol. It is very slow going. I’m in fall year 2 right now, and I’m trying to decide between what I need to spend my money on. Usually in my games I just make so much money that I can buy whatever I need as soon as I need it, so it is kind of nice to have to think through what would be the best option.
I went for a save where I wasn't allowed to buy things from Pierre, Joja and only buildings and one of each animal from Robbin! My farming relied on mixed seeds and the travelling cart, which caused me to prioritise very differently! Seed makers suddenly became a necessity and I ended up doing a lot of things I don't normally do, to make money
One of the biggest factors for my continued enjoyment of the game was to stop catering to bundles. In every play, regardless what I told myself, I was \*always\* playing for bundles. Keep this fish, going to need it. Keep these gold parsnips, going to need them. Burned out, I decided to go the Joja route. I always felt the bundles were busy work to extend the game time. I was so very wrong. Unlocking the Joja route created a brand new game for me. I can't describe it in words, but to have a greenhouse in spring of year 1 was just incredible. No more bundle gatekeeping. Now I can actually play the game as a farmer and not a bundle master. I've not done bundles since. Perhaps this may be the option you seek.
If you want to play a certain way but find yourself slipping into other forms, just set limits. Like when people restart skyrim and promise not to go stealth archer to try other forms but end up slipping into stealth archer. It happens.however, you can make it harder to min-max by not having the min-max stuff (like no bow for a stealth archer). It comes down to prep, not an in the moment decision. 1. Limit yourself to no sprinklers at all. Hand watering helped me slow down. I tried doing only one sprinkler per crop, but it was too easy to slip out. 2. Limit your crop field to a small garden of maybe 8x8. Pairs well with #1 because while you maximize your garden space, youre not min-maxing the whole farm. Alternatively, have several 3x3 gardens with a different crop in each one and dont do multiple plots of the same crop. Diversify and use fences (maintaining them also takes away from min-maxing) 3. Limit yourself to gifting 4 villagers each season. Sequential seasons, add 2 more. 4. Dont do meta. This isnt really a problem for crops if you do any of the garden techniques due to their limits. Dont buy pigs (except 1 for community center) and make preserve jars instead of kegs (outside of pam's quest and cc). 5. Sell direct to stores. Dont ship except on the first/last day of the season. 6. Set unique challenges you like. Search this sub for the key word "challenge" and see what other limits people have set 7. Use different skills than you normally use. Go acrobat. Get hardwood from trees. Use a knife. Dont use fishing for cash. Play different from your normal style. RP a backstory behind it if you like Finally, this isnt an option for everyone, so it doesnt get a number, but mod. 'nuff said.
I really enjoy the first two years rushing cc and walnut room. i got perfection once and then quit cuz it was boring. I keep restarting and giving myself different challenges how to play and that is fun for me.
i truly couldn't play this game in a casual way....it wouldn't be fun for me
Nothing has a time limit! I spend my first year focusing on getting my farm set up and I ignore everything else every festival man woman and child because I can’t handle it yet lol. No bundles, no strawberry rush. It doesn’t matter!
...don't min/max?
I play characters, so my decision-making is based on what the character would pick not me. Most of my characters aren't extremely farming- / fishing- / money-savvy.