Regrets and Dumb Mistakes

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by StarFruitBubbly, Aug 15, 2018.

  1. StarFruitBubbly

    StarFruitBubbly Poptop Tamer

    I admit, a lot of these mistakes could have been avoided, had I paid more attention to rules and guides. But hey, we've all done things we regret on this game. Here are some of the dumb things I did during my first year on Stardew Valley. Hopefully this list will be helpful to new players.

    1. Choosing the riverland farm layout: Before I explain, I just need to mention that choosing this layout is not necessarily a mistake. Like every other layout, it has it's perks and I am sure there are plenty of players who enjoy this farm. So please don't come after me! This is just my personal experience. As I mentioned in my first post, I regret this layout everyday because I often have to make the tough decision between aesthetics and profit. The relative lack of space is a serious hindrance to my personal goals as a farmer.
    2. Prioritizing livestock over crops: As a lover of all animals both real and pixilated, I failed to resist the adorable faces and endearing noises. As a result I wasted no time filling up my coops and barns with lovable little friends. But had I spent more time and money on crops, I could have reached my financial goals a lot faster.
    3. Taking my time with the community center: Because I unlocked all of the perks a lot later than I could have, I found myself getting bored with the game. But once I completed my first bundle, a whole new world started to open up and I realized that I had wasted so much time by ignoring such an important aspect of Stardew Valley.
    4. Planting crops BEFORE fertilizing the soil: Pretty self-explanatory. Not my proudest moment.
    5. Entering the Skull Cavern ill-prepared: It was hard to not run straight there after receiving the skull key, but my hastiness resulted in too many lost items, too many trips to Harvey's Clinic, and too many medical bills.
    6. Choosing fruit bats over mushrooms: Occasionally I'll get some nice fruits like pomegranate, but usually I just end up with the cheap, easily-foragable ones. I opted for mushrooms on my second game which I don't play anymore, and I found that most of the mushrooms have higher health and energy benefits than fruit. Chanterelle and purple mushrooms are great for long days of fishing or trips to the mines, but if you don't have mushroom boxes, they are harder to find.
    I am certain there are dozens more mistakes. Maybe I will make a part 2! Again, this is just my personal experience. What's dumb to me may not be dumb to you. Comment if you can relate! Thanks for reading!

    Sincerely,
    Your fellow farmer
     
    • ShneekeyTheLost

      ShneekeyTheLost Master Astronaut

      Concerning the issue of fruit bats and mushrooms... in the long run, it really doesn't matter which one you decide on, the impact on any game play is quite minimal indeed. Someone else was bragging about how much the mushrooms bring in, and after doing the numbers, the profit per day was less than a single chicken laying an egg per day being turned into mayo. So it is truly a matter of preference which one you wish, as there are no significant mechanical differences to be had.

      For myself, I tend to go Fruit Bats because it might help me finish off the Artisan bundle sooner, by using one of the fruit tree fruits that might spawn there over the course of the two or three seasons. If you can manage to obtain specifically a Pomegranate, you can avoid having to plant a tree just for a single fruit for the Wizard Bundle in the bulletin board.

      Conversely, the Exotic Forage Bundle is easily completed. Three of the five slots will be your Tapper products, then there's the Cave Carrot and then a Red Mushroom which are quite common in the caves and you are done. But even in a worst-case scenario, the bundle is done once you repair the bus and can gain access to the Oasis, as both coconuts and cactus fruits are considered exotic forage as well. And you really don't need to eat mushrooms, not when cheese is so easy to obtain in bulk.

      Some might call it a mistake, but I wouldn't. Neither choice really has any significant impact in a game, even in the high-level optimization play that I tend to favor. It's kind of like Luck in that way... people way overestimate its utility.
       
        StarFruitBubbly likes this.
      • Stryder87

        Stryder87 Giant Laser Beams

        Besides... why would you want boring mushrooms when you can have a totally cool Batcave?!? :)

        The Cave.jpg
         
        • StarFruitBubbly

          StarFruitBubbly Poptop Tamer

          @Stryder87 I actually had no idea you could place object in the cave!
           
          • ShneekeyTheLost

            ShneekeyTheLost Master Astronaut

            Be advised: the more stuff you put in the cave, the less room it has to grow things. Having said that, if all you want is aesthetics, knock yourself out!
             
            • Borodin

              Borodin Oxygen Tank

              Everybody makes mistakes. The important thing is to get up, dust yourself off and, with a song in your heart and a smile on your face, march confidently onward, prepared to make more. :)
               
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              • BlueSkyes

                BlueSkyes Star Wrangler

                My first regret was buying Joja Membership, when I didn't realize it was THAT bad. :catcry:
                (And I had gotten SO far! There was no way to undo it!) :avalicry:
                 
                • Lilliput

                  Lilliput Supernova

                  Not only can you place stuff, but it makes a fantastic place to breed slimes.

                  goo5.png

                  Just a little project of mine from a past save. That's a custom farm-cave retexture to look more like the slimes' own habitat in the mines, but it's still the same farm cave with bats selected for atmosphere. The slimes will not wander out of the cave opening. They're quite polite that way.
                   
                  • musical74

                    musical74 Space Kumquat

                    An early mistake I made was not turning the sap into basic fertilizer, sap is super common but it took me a little while to realize "I can turn sap into basic fertilizer and get more money because the quality is better"

                    One for the dumb mistakes category is completing a help wanted quest and accidentally giving the person the wrong item, and it's usually an item they aren't thrilled with :p
                     
                    • Lorekeeper of Wyverns

                      Lorekeeper of Wyverns Void-Bound Voyager

                      I can kind of relate on the livestock regret. While I put more emphasis on crops, having learnt from my disastrous attempts at playing Harvest Moon when I was younger and far more animal-obsessed (and put all of my focus on my animals as a result), I still bought far too many animals. If I recall correctly, I filled my coop to near maximum and my barn to maximum because I wanted all of the animals. It was fine in the early game, but when I had to factor crops and Skull Cavern runs into my day, it quickly got overwhelming. Now those poor animals go ignored, even though I loved having them when I didn't have so much to do.

                      And kind of related to that, for one of my dumbest mistakes, I made the terrible decision of donating my one and only Dinosaur Egg to Gunther. I didn't realise what it was, and ended up eventually having to glitch a new one in just so I could get the dinosaur I so desperately wanted.

                      That's not even the end of my animal-related disasters, either. One of my biggest in-game regrets is not planning out my first farm better to accommodate them. When I was trying to come up with a good layout for Driftwood, I was trying to leave as much room for crops as possible. My plan was just to leave a patch of grass for my animals, let the pigs root up truffles, and just go in after I'd harvested my crops and pick them up. Only problem is, I didn't leave a big enough area for what I'd assume was 20 or so animals by this point, which lead to all of the grass I planted to be absolutely gone in a couple of days. Only problem is, because I had this huge field of crops right below, I couldn't expand that field, so basically, those were lost truffle profits.

                      I also kind of regret not checking the wiki or YouTube when trying to clear the community center. While I did want to go in blind, it did lead to me having to put off finishing the community center for basically an entire year because I couldn't figure out what the fiddlehead fern was or where to get it... and finally discovered a couple of days into Fall. Still annoyed about that, even months later.
                       
                      • Sleeping Fox

                        Sleeping Fox Void-Bound Voyager

                        1.) In my first save I chose the Tracker skill (reveals locations of forageable items) instead of the Botanist skill (Foraged items always highest quality) because I love collecting stuff and thought it would be helpful for finding things quicker. But it's just little arrows pointing in a direction and often there is an arrow for every direction so I have to check every area to find everything anyway. In my second save I tried the Botanist skill and realized that it's very practical because if you collect only Iridium Quality items, they also take only one space in your backback and you don't have it cluttered with 3-4 types of every foraged item anymore. I'm so glad the update gave us the option to change professions.

                        2.) I always placed all my animal products into the mayo/cheese/wool/oil makers because I thought Artisan goods were always more profitable. I've only recently noticed that Iridium truffles are worth more than truffle oil, and that I don't have to waste my time with oil makers.

                        3.) I regret wasting my time on livestock and wanting to have all the animals just because they are so cute. Talking to every animal and picking up eggs takes a lot of time and doesn't make much money, and if I don't talk to the chickens for one day, the egg quality immediately drops (and sometimes they don't lay an egg at all). In my latest save I decided to only keep pigs for a change and realized that it is more relaxing and makes more money (and with the botanist skill the truffles are always iridium quality, even if the pigs don't have full hearts).

                        4.) It's impossible for me to play a relaxed game. Even in my first game I immediately tried to make a lot of money, buy every item, befriend everyone, and to get all quests done as soon as possible. Because of this there usually isn't much left to do after the second year. I tried to play a more relaxed game once, but after just a few game days I reverted back to my old ways. I regret that I didn't take things slower in my first save when everything was still new and I had time to explore, because in all my other saves I'm always busy and plan ahead which things I need for bundles and gifts.
                         

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