WT Lite

Mo (who was last on the show just before Christmas 2023 talking about comfy games) joined Squidge to talk about the ultimate in comfy games: Stardew Valley.

Players

Squidge

Mo

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Content Warning

This episode contains spoilers for Stardew Valley and a few swears.

Please listen responsibly.

Show Notes

Mo has returned. You’ll remember Mo from our Christmas 2023 episode: “Christmas with Mo - Wrong Side, Flip Me Over”. Anyway, Mo joined Squidge to talk about the ultimate comfy game: Stardew Valley.

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

Waffling Taylor’s Lite: the pocket size podcast that packs a gaming punch.

In this first of two servings of bite sized banter with a side of gaming goodness, we catch up with Mo from The Squank and the Hag podcast to talk about all things Stardew Valley. We cover everything from fish fridges, channelling your inner Flappy Bird, to bard versus Darth Vader.

Without further ado, sit back, grab some snacks, and get ready for this episode entitled "Exploring Stardew Valley: A New Farmer’s Tale - Part One"

Take it away, guys

And Mo started us off with a pretty in-depth description of her and her podcast:

Mo's Avatar Mo

So I am one of the co-hosts from The Squank and the Hag. You can find us thesquonkandthehag.com. I am a nerd, and that’s really all there is, I think.

…

But video games, movies, TV, pretty much anything that can be nerdy, I’m into. I’m also into True Crime, and that’s what our podcast is about.

And, yeah, I feel like I’ve been on the show enough that I’m part of the family, so I’m sorry. Yeah, I’m just another Taylor. I am here to adjust your clothing. I’ll hem your… Isn’t that what it is? Isn’t that what you guys are? Like, I can hem your pants for you. I actually can hem your pants for you.

Stardew What-now?

And there’s no way to talk about Stardew Valley without talking about how easy it is to pick up and play. Mo hit the nail on the head with:

Mo's Avatar Mo

That right there is pretty much what they should make the synopsis of the game:

"I picked it up and I haven’t put it down since," because there, it is just one of those games that anybody can play. Like it, it’s just… so accessible, it’s so. Just easy to get into and it’s so low stress and relaxing.

…

So, like, different play styles can play it and everybody can enjoy it.

And it’s also just really nice relaxation because sometimes, at least I know for me; now, I am someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. So when I get into, like, those high stress, like, first person shooter games, I’m sitting here and I’m all tense and I’m like, "I’M GONNA DIE!"

Whereas with Stardew Valley you don’t have that and it’s just enjoyable.

Mo then goes on to mention a Stardew Valley-like which is set during a zombie apocalypse. With some post-edit sluthing, we found out that the game Mo was referring to was Zelter.

And Squidge brought up a really good point about what makes the game so accessible:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

I think Stardew Valley, a thing that’s got going for it is there’s no fail state.

Apart from if you’re in, if you’re like dungeon diving in the mines, if you get knocked out, you wake up at like the little clinic hospital place and they take some money off you for medical expenses. Apart from that, there’s absolutely no fail state.

…

So all the pressure’s off. Then you don’t have to worry about anything and if you miss something, it’ll come round the next year. There’s no ending state. You can always pick it up again if you miss something.

So, yeah, it’s very laid back experience.

And the lack of a fail state is what drew a lot of people to Untitled Goose Game—that, and the whole goose-based-shenanigans.

Any conversation about Stardew Valley, it’s lasting influence, how accessible it is, and how well crafted it is cannot fail to mention that the entire game (art, engine, music, and all) was created by one person. Eric Barone (aka “ConcernedApe”) is used in the book Ultralearning as a case study. Jay really recommends this book, by the way.

Mo's Avatar Mo

It’s gonna sound weird at first. Just stay with me. It’s similar to Photoshop where there are a million different ways to get to the same result. So, like, in Photoshop, you want to crop something out. There’s 20 tutorials. They’re all different, but you all get the same results.

So, like, with Stardew Valley, maybe you hate fishing. You can still succeed and, you know, make money, have a good farm and all that stuff without fishing.

What’s In A Name?

Squidge had a very simple question:

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

The name of your character, and what did you name your farm? And I’ve got a feeling your pet was a cat.

Mo's Avatar Mo

My pet was a cat. His name is Barnaby. My character is Mo. I got real creative with that one, and I don’t remember why, but I called it "The Havenville Farm." And I’m like, "where the [redacted] did that come from?" Like, why?

Like, I usually just, I don’t know, I don’t know why. When I come into games like this, like, Animal Crossing is another one where it’s just like:

"What’s the name of your farm?"

And I’m like, "Farm."

I don’t usually, like, I put more thought into the names of my animals than I do the name of my farm and my character. So, like, I got Eloise, I got Barnaby, I got Linda, I got, like, I got all these great animals. They all have stellar names, and then, "yeah, we live on Farm Farm."

How Much of a Time Sink is Stardew Valley?

We all love a good game, and the best ones feel like you’ve been playing for 10 minutes, but it’s actually been four days. So Squidge wanted to know how much time Mo had put into Stardew Valley.

Mo's Avatar Mo

So it is an approximation because I had a corrupt save

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

F in chat. F in chat. My condolences.

Mo's Avatar Mo

[It] had probably about 100 hours on it, too.

So I would say there was 100 hours that I lost, about 150 hours in my current Steam save. And I’ve also played it, not a ton, but I tried it on the phone, so I’d maybe have another 10 hours sunken on the phone.

So I would say it’s over 250 hours in this game, which isn’t my highest played game either.

ARK [Survival Evolved] is almost to a thousand. Yeah. So anyway. But, yeah, I have, I’d say probably around 250 hours of playtime.

How It All Began

As Squidge is at the very start of his Stardew Valley play through, he wanted to know how Mo’s first (in game) year went.

Mo's Avatar Mo

My very first 1st year was a nightmare.

But coming back you do learn things, and like one of the things that like you just have to grind something to get in the first year; whether you’re just like constantly doing your crops or you’re fishing or you’re foraging, basically you just have to get as much stuff possible to sell and then sell it.

So go to the mines, go chop stuff down. I know, like when you like leave your town, there’s like the forest where you can chop trees down, you can mine rocks without having to go into a dungeon or anything or like the mines or anything, like that. And it’s just like you, whatever you find the most enjoyable. Like, I love fishing in the game. Not everyone does, but I love fishing in the game for some reason. I love fishing in other games, like Stardew, Animal Crossing, if they world of Warcraft, if they have a fishing mechanic. I love it. I hate fishing in real life. I don’t know.

Squidge's Avatar Squidge

I think I know why fishing’s a little bit fiddly. One of the only things that I looked up was how to do fishing because I was really struggling with it. And one of the things that came up when I did a quick Google was, "if you’re struggling with fishing, buy the training rod. You won’t get any exotic fish, but you can level up your skills" I’m like, "okay, fair enough."

And then one of the things that came up on Google [was], "when playing the fishing mini game, channel your inner Flappy Bird."

And directly after this Mo drops a top quality hint around fishing:

Mo's Avatar Mo

But yeah, fishing is very difficult, especially on the phone version. So I do understand that that is definitely not everybody’s favourite thing. But fishing is a money maker.

If you can figure out how to get good at fishing, you will make bank. Like I have on my farm, in my kitchen. I have, like, all these refrigerators and all this stuff, and I have one fridge just dedicated to fish. So you probably haven’t gotten to this part yet, but if you get refrigerators and install them in your kitchen and then go to the stove, you don’t have to have the foods in your inventory to cook with them. Like, you can cook straight from your fridges. It’s amazing.

Mo then continued to drop a bunch more helpful hints over the next few minutes, but you’ll have to listen to the episode to hear them all. Waffling Taylors, not just a podcast about nonsense.

Social Events Are Fun

One of the key gameplay mechanics in Stardew Valley is the social aspect of the game. If you want to, you can build up friendships with the people in the town. But there’re also a lot of social events that you can join in with. And Squidge wanted to know which ones Mo enjoyed the most.

Mo's Avatar Mo

I told you I love fishing. The ice fishing event, I love it and I win it every time. I absolutely love that one.

There’s also, is it the night carnival or the night something? It’s down on the docks. A bunch of ships come in for like a couple days. And like, there’s a submarine that’ll take you down to the bottom of the ocean. So you can fish for exotic stuff. There’s like special shops. There’s like this coffee boat. You can buy artwork. You can get your fortune told. And like, that one is more just cute. Like, I love going down the docks and walking around because they [have] like all the little lights up and everything like that.

But the thing with the events is either you have to look online and find out exactly what they’re looking for and exactly what you have to do, or you just have to focus on your skill set.

So there’s the Easter egg coming hunt, where you’re competing against the computer to gather all the Easter eggs, which that one is partially luck of. Like, "where were you standing and where did they spawn?" And then, like, the ice fishing is skill, and, you know, it’s really gonna be based on each one of those things. I have to be in the right mood to do one of those. Cause, like, if I come to, like, the spring dance, where you have to go and you have to dance and you have to sit and watch them dance, and, like, "okay, it’s cute the first time."

…

I think the events are fun, and I do like that you can purchase specialty items through them, but sometimes they’re more hassle than they’re worth. So some people love them, some people hate them.

Music

Links to the music used in the podcast can be found below. Definitely check them out, because they're amazing tracks by awesome musicians.

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Games Covered

We mentioned 10 games in this podcast. In the following order, those games where: