This 12 months’s Stardew Valley 1.6 replace launched numerous issues to the smash-hit indie recreation, together with frogs, desert festivals, and inexperienced rain. That is all very thrilling, however one thing else arrived with the newest replace that doubtlessly turns the sport on its head. Within the newest model of Stardew Valley, you possibly can pay for perfection.
For many who don’t know, Stardew Valley has a perfection score, and should you get to 100%, you unlock a remaining cutscene to spherical out the sport. To get there, it is advisable craft every part, befriend everybody, discover all these pesky golden walnuts and Stardrops, and usually end each process the sport throws at you. That seems like numerous effort, and I can inform you, as somebody who’s carried out it earlier than, it’s. So, I believed, what if I simply bypassed all of it and accomplished the sport whereas doing as little as potential? What if I paid for perfection?
This may not appear to be such a criminal offense to the uninitiated, however as somebody who’s cherished Stardew Valley for years, it feels prefer it may very well be the worst factor I’ve ever carried out. You see, this recreation presents you with a comparatively binary selection proper from the outset: you possibly can restore the group middle and convey Pelican City again to life by working alongside the magical Junimos, otherwise you can provide in to the nice beast of capitalism and signal as much as the Joja Company – assume Amazon or Walmart – to show the dilapidated middle right into a Joja warehouse alongside Morris, the native JojaMart supervisor. In all my years, I’ve not as soon as opted for the latter choice.
It’s simply not the carried out factor. To finish the group middle, the sport forces you to attempt new issues: fishing, mining, or foraging uncommon gadgets. If you happen to go the Joja route, all it’s important to do is make sufficient cash to contribute to Joja, and you are able to do that just by rising probably the most profitable crops and by no means speaking to a soul in Pelican City outdoors of Pierre, who is sort of depressingly unaware that your actions are contributing to the expansion of his largest rival. It turns a recreation that’s primarily a celebration of anti-capitalist beliefs into one thing that may make Jeff Bezos grin with delight from atop his ivory tower.
Regardless of my pure inclination to help Pierre, Mayor Lewis, and the remainder of the Stardew Valley characters, I believed that I’d give the brand new path to perfection a go, simply to see the way it made me really feel. I believe I already knew the reply to that query, however within the identify of science, I began a brand new save, skipped by way of all the nice and cozy fuzzies about how you discover your solution to Grandpa’s farm, and acquired to getting cash. Thus my disheartening quest had begun.
The early a part of the Joja perfection route is fairly straightforward. All it’s important to do is make 135kgold to finish all of the Joja Group Improvement Initiatives, which in flip fixes the native bus, the quarry bridge, the minecart system, and your farm greenhouse whereas additionally demolishing an obstruction within the river that lets you pan for treasure. Then comes the primary demoralizing cutscene. As soon as every part is completed, you be part of Morris to have a good time the completion of the storage facility. Notably, nobody else from the city is current.
Already at this level, I felt a manner I’d by no means felt earlier than whereas taking part in Stardew. I felt a bit like a traitor. As I make fairly clear in my Stardew Valley evaluation, this recreation means an amazing deal to me, and I’ve recognized characters like Gus, the native barman, and Clint, the lonely blacksmith, longer than I’ve a few of my closest buddies. So, to show my again on them and have a good time the opening of the warehouse alongside Morris and his Joja lackeys felt like a betrayal. Sadly, this was solely the start, and it was solely going to get tougher from right here on in.
The following step concerned attending to Ginger Island. The tropical island, which arrived as a part of the 1.5 replace, is an enormous deal within the Joja run because it holds the 2 remaining items of the puzzle. First is the Golden Joja Parrot. Usually, you’d have to gather 100 golden walnuts to unlock Mr. Qi’s Walnut Room, the place you possibly can observe your perfection score earlier than discovering the ultimate 30. Nonetheless, because of the Golden Joja Parrot, you possibly can merely hand over 10k gold for each walnut you don’t have, and the fowl delivers them in a single day. So, after spending nicely over a million gold, I had all of the walnuts.
Then it was time to fulfill my remaining confederate and Joja Particular Providers Division consultant, Fizz. When you’ve unlocked Mr. Qi’s Walnut Room, you get a letter from Fizz, who asks that you just go to him in Ginger Island’s watery cave. That is the place the magic occurs. For 500k gold, Fizz can improve your perfection score by 1%. Unsurprisingly, I used to be solely at 4% completion after I first met the shady Joja rep, which means I’d have to put collectively 48 million gold to clear the ultimate hurdle.
So, I went industrial. I used all of the free land on the Ginger Island farm and within the greenhouse to develop Starfruit, probably the most profitable in-game crop, and toiled for a number of seasons to make it occur. It wasn’t as labor-intensive because the early a part of the run, as I had the assets to craft numerous sprinklers, but it surely was uninteresting. The routine consisted of planting a whole bunch of Starfruit crops earlier than sleeping for 13 days, harvesting, and repeating. I might have most likely carried out it faster, however the thrilling a part of this experiment was primarily over by this level.
After weeks of in-game sleeping, it was carried out. I trotted alongside to Fizz, handed over the 48 million, and I went again to mattress. The following day, I strolled down Ginger Island’s seaside for the final time, not even bothering to tug my sprinklers out of the bottom, and I checked the perfection tracker. 100%. Lastly. All that was left to do was return to Pelican City, head north, and step as much as the summit, the key space of the sport solely seen by fellow perfectionists and those that’ve spoiled it for themselves on YouTube.
So, how did I really feel stepping as much as the summit to look at Stardew’s fabled 100% perfection cutscene? Unsurprisingly, I didn’t really feel good, not good in any respect. Worse nonetheless the sport blatantly calls you out for taking the Joja route throughout the remaining moments, rubbing salt within the metaphorical wound. I’d technically achieved one thing, positive, but it surely felt hole. For hours, I simply farmed and farmed and farmed, ignoring virtually every part that makes the sport certainly one of my all-time favorites and turning it into one thing altogether extra monotonous and soul-sapping.
Nonetheless, whereas reaching perfection this fashion made me really feel nothing good, it was just for a second. Following the massive reveal of the ultimate cutscene, I merely returned to the title. From there, I jumped again into the save file the place I’ve a farm stuffed with lovely animals, the place I’ve made a house in Pelican City for Pam to rebuild her life, and even my Stardew Valley children, who, admittedly, I hadn’t missed all that a lot, but it surely’s good to know they’re there. Sure, taking the Joja path to perfection has given me a rejuvenated appreciation for every part Stardew Valley will be and what it means to me.
Finally, I can perceive why ConcernedApe made it potential to realize perfection this fashion. It really works in the direction of the overarching message of Stardew Valley, and I suppose a sure view of the best way to reside your life: doing issues the onerous manner, however the way in which that feels proper, is sort of at all times extra rewarding than the extra handy different. With one route, you be taught some classes alongside the way in which, make some buddies, and may even discover a sense of group, with the opposite, you sleep, work, and that’s about it. Additionally, with the latter, your solely actual buddy is Morris; let’s be trustworthy, we hate Morris.
So, if you need my recommendation, don’t pay for perfection in Stardew Valley. Whether or not ConcernedApe meant the mechanic to supply the philosophical dilemma I’ve interpreted it as or simply to present these determined to finish the sport an out isn’t clear, and I don’t know him so I can’t ask. Both manner, it’s not price it. It makes me consider that drained outdated cliche, about how the actual treasure is the chums we make alongside the way in which, however on this occasion, it’s truly true. And who needs to be buddies with Morris?
There you have got it, my expertise with paying for perfection in Stardew Valley. If you happen to’re searching for extra video games just like the indie farming hit to play, you’ll want to take a look at our guides to the very best cozy video games and the very best video games like Stardew Valley when you’re right here. Or, should you’re searching for a console the place you possibly can check out some Stardew Valley mods, see our listing of the very best Steam Deck alternate options.