Quick Look: Stardew Valley

@counterclockwork87: That's the New part of New Dan.

I haven't played any Harvest Moons since the original SNES one, so apologies in advance if I miss any of the new additions, but here's how I think Stardew is different from Harvest Moon:

• Quick Requests: In addition to the "plant crops, harvest crops, plant more crops" cycles and indefinite quests, you can accept several requests you need to complete in 2 days. These help improve your relationship with the townsfolk, make some extra cash, and encourage you to diversify your activities.
• Finely-Tuned Time Limit: You never have enough time to accomplish everything you want to, but you usually have enough time to accomplish everything but 1-2 tasks.
• No Fail State: There is no way to Game Over or lose parts of your farm.
• Customization: Since there's no mandatory requirements or competitions, you're free to build your farm however you want, and the game provides a lot of land to do so on.
• Experience Levels on Activities: The more you farm, mine, chop wood or fight, the better you get at them, eventually unlocking specializations & new items to craft.
• Better NPC Characterization: The characters feel more realistic than most Harvest Moon NPCs; the game touches upon a few subjects like alcoholism, being outcast, parental abandonment, depression, and PTSD. Beneath the cheery exteriors, a lot of Stardew's residents are just trying to do their best in rather shitty circumstances.

TOMATOES!

If this came out on 3DS or Vita, it would be amazing!

Preeeetty blatant Harvest Moon/Rune Factory ripoff.

However, it looks like an actually good one and HM/RF own so I see no problem with this. Buyin' it.

DAMN YOU DAN! I am now 10 hours into this game, and I bought it last night!

This would be such a great Vita game.

Managed to somehow squeeze 18 hours out of the last 3 days for this game - and all I want to do is keep playing despite usually hating games where you have to grind..

The balance is amazing, the atmosphere awesome and the gameplay just keep being fun and super rewarding!

The last game like this I played was Harvest Moon on SNES. I liked it a lot, but for some reason or another never played another entry in the series, nor ever played an Animal Crossing. I might have to pick this one up.

Funny how he already said it's his game of the year. After playing it myself the last couple days, I can only agree. Also funny to see how differently people approach their farms. Mine looks very different to Dans

Same here, only game i played more was hitman, but i can't say i had as much fun with it than this.

Dan's enthusiasm is a joyous thing to behold and hear. Thanks for a great QL!