Quick Look: Stardew Valley

Don't know much about this game, but my immediate thought was, Dan, your playing Farmville.

EDIT: Although, I love the thought of old Dan living in this community and acting like a pariah.

@crelio Yes indeed!:

Love Dan's excitement for this. Convinced me to purchase it.

Would love to see Dan play more.

@paulunga: I agree completely. It's interesting to see how many people have never played Harvest Moon at all! If you are impressed with this game you should look at the orginial Harvest Moon and think about what it offered back in the day with the limitations it had (memory/graphics/etc). I may have to scratch the farm/building itch with Stardew Valley now... : / I can hear my wife mocking me already. :P

I don't get it. Dan and Jeff hate MMO's because they are filled with tedious grinding, repetitive gameplay, and are nothing more than an elaborate carrot on a stick; but love this game because its single player?

Yes! Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town is one of my favorite games of all time, but I haven't really been into any of the Harvest Moon games since then. This looks like a spiritual successor to that era of Harvest Moon. Definitely a buy for me!

@indure: jeff doesnt like it based on what he saw, and i don't remember dan making statements of that nature. Plus id say the type of game/game play is pretty different here than in an mmo.

I would really just love for this to be a series on the site. Just saying.

I loved Harvest Moon on the PS1 as a kid, but I was way too young to get a proper handle on the systems and get very far. I am completely sold on this game.

Ah Stardew Valley looks amazing. Very charming title.

Oh shit, it's Maru's birthday!!!

hmmmm. as a huge rune factory/harvest moon/story of seasons fan, watching this gives me mixed feelings...like 80%, maybe more, of the mechanics, things you can do, even some of the animations (speech bubbles over the head) look identical to those games...it's kind of troubling. you can do literally all these things plus more in rune factory 4. this does look pretty fun though. the characters and art look awesome and there seem to be some little improvements to what story of seasons/rune factory games have already done. its like they just took the anime out :P

How has Dan never played Harvest Moon?

@psydyl: Maru best girl.

I feel like I'm the only person romancing her. :(

I have tried so many times over the years to get into Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing games but for the life of me I couldn't find the appeal of them and I get bored soon after starting. I decided to try that type of game again with Stardew Valley and somehow got hooked pretty quick.

Racing against the clock and energy bars every day is so stressful tho.

If you have any love for PS1 and earlier era Harvest Moon games you are doing yourself a massive disservice not picking this up.

This game is fire as fuck! How's that for a box quote?

@spitznock said:

I don't really think Harvest Moon is some gaming touchstone.

@championfetus: I'd say that even if you've played and kinda disliked Harvest Moon in the past it's worth checking out. Cause unless the thing you disliked was the very concept of the day to day farming/whatever then this game probably addresses the annoying parts of those games.

The developer has said that he would love to bring the game to consoles. I think it's only a one man team though, so it might be a while. But he wants to do it.

@indure: Seems like Jeff really likes Phantasy Star Online 2 though.

I'm so happy Dan likes this game. It's so good!

It's officially out and not in early access anymore so it's finished, anything after release is additional content.

@sparklehorse: He's been updating it a lot based on launch feedback but no this is a proper video game now.

@ravelle: it was never in early access

The save system in this game is so insidious as Dan said. You always want to see what tomorrow morning will bring, and then once you're past the morning you can't save until you sleep. And then when you sleep you want to check the morning before you stop...

Played this for like 30 hours so far and loving the hell out of it.

PS Dan upgrade your damn watering can. Also make use of the spa before heading to the mines.

Careful there Dan, you're getting kinda likable.

Well that was flipping delightful. I could watch Dan play that for a long old time.

@williamflattener: I sort of see where you're coming from and understand your point based on this video, but I'd say that's not entirely how the game plays out - at least for me. I don't think the game is as scatterbrained as Dan makes it look here (understandable because he's trying to show a bit of everything). The game does encourage you to do a bit of everything especially towards the start, but if focusing in on one thing and doing it really well and efficiently is your thing, you can totally drill down into that, although maybe not right away. Obviously the game is still no Factorio or something more along those lines, but I'd say it actually is pretty focused and most of the "distractions" you can simply not engage with if they're not your thing.

It was in development while he released preview builds, that's about the same right?

I can't believe this is made by one guy. That's amazing.

Really liked Dan's enthusiasm for it too.

@pabba said:

I am a chicken from the kitchen,

and I ain't kidding although nothing is written.

Man, I'm stoked! Dan's excitement was so infectious! I don't think I've ever been so excited to play a game like this after watching a quick look :D Great stuff!

@ravelle: Aside from maybe as many as a dozen beta testers, and a couple youtubers who got it several days early, there was no build of the game out before release.

I've been playing this game too much.

I've lost sleep. Too much sleep.

I loved Harvest Moon and so much of this game is just a copy paste of Harvest Moon. Which is great by me.

Dan should try out Harvest Moon Back To Nature or the GBA remake Friends of Mineral Town.

Damn it Adam Boyes! Get this man a development team and get this game ported to the PS4 and Vita NOW!!

This would be so fuckin great on the Vita.

Ah oke, thought they were available for public.

Damn this game looks cool. Wish I had time to play it but this week is already packed

Is this only on PC?

it's harvest moon for the PC.

this truly is the year of our lord.

I am in the same boat, my friend.

Fuck yeah, I love this game!

This was a great Quick Look!

I bought this a few days ago knowing nothing about it, but hearing about the hype and the 15 dollar price tag. Haven't touched it yet, but this looks tremendous.

@danryckert Minecarts down in the mine have a bunch of coal in the back of them.

Ok so I don't play minecraft - and I am not familiar with Harvest Moon (computer not console gamer) but this looks like it would be work rather than fun. Can anyone explain to me the draw to these type of games?

I may be getting old but rouge likes, survival games, and these type all rub me the wrong way it seems sigh...

"I don't want Hayley to like me so I give her soggy newspaper I fish out of the river" - goddamn Dan I spat water all over myself like an idiot

So I liked Harvest Moon on the SNES a lot, but ended up not liking Animal Crossing.
So, is this for me?
I was going to buy it until I read a lot of reviews on Steam for it, saying that it's not as good as Harvest Moon or something Called "Rune Factory."

No NO NO!! California infection alert... California infection alert! I kid, but I'm not one to buy into the anit corporation hype.

Curious - do people really think this should change how games are looked at/reviewed (I know a quick look isn't really a review). I've always thought that a game is either good or it is not good. How many people worked on it or who they were is irrelevant.