![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I played Stardew Valley today for about an hour and a half and then had to call it quits because poor Peggy started howling in abject misery at being left on her own.
There's been a massive new update to the game (just before Christmas) and I have been trying to get to the new stuff, but between work and, well, *gestures vaguely* I am still in "Year 1" of my current playthrough, and the new stuff is mostly geared for after "Year 2."
SDV is a game I keep coming back to. It's a sweet, gentle little game that pushes all the right buttons for me. It's billed as a farming simulator, but there is so much content. It's got a super weird undercurrent of monsters and magic, obviously has had a lot of world building put into it, and was all written, designed, and programmed by one guy. It's very obvious that the game developer has Opinions about some things, but I've never come across anything so objectionable as to make me completely nope out of the game..
It's a nice escapist fantasy for me, too, since I can't actually live out my dream of purchasing a hobby farm. Instead I get to play a video game in which a kindly grandpa leaves me his derelict old farm in a town I've never heard of, and not only do I rebuild the farm from scratch, I also basically re-build the entire local community and economy single-handed, which is a heck of an ego boost, I'm not going to lie. There are story incentives for socializing with the townsfolk (you learn more about them and their families as you increase friendship levels), and game mechanics incentives for people who are less story-motivated than I am (they send you stuff in the mail or give you recipes).
I think one of the reasons I enjoy it is that the writing doesn't make every NPC a perfect person. There's a lot of small town stuff going on: people with secrets, with less pleasant personalities, people struggling with addiction and PTSD (there is a war veteran in town), and a man who has chosen to live outside the restrictions of society but who is nonetheless a part of the community.
Anyway, it was a nice interlude in my day. Peggy has been winding down so I may sneak upstairs and get in another few minutes before bed. She's snoozing on the sofa, so she can just as easily snooze on her nice comfy bed in her crate.
Tomorrow I go back to work. I'm not dreading it, but I'd rather stay home and play Stardew Valley, not going to lie.
There's been a massive new update to the game (just before Christmas) and I have been trying to get to the new stuff, but between work and, well, *gestures vaguely* I am still in "Year 1" of my current playthrough, and the new stuff is mostly geared for after "Year 2."
SDV is a game I keep coming back to. It's a sweet, gentle little game that pushes all the right buttons for me. It's billed as a farming simulator, but there is so much content. It's got a super weird undercurrent of monsters and magic, obviously has had a lot of world building put into it, and was all written, designed, and programmed by one guy. It's very obvious that the game developer has Opinions about some things, but I've never come across anything so objectionable as to make me completely nope out of the game..
It's a nice escapist fantasy for me, too, since I can't actually live out my dream of purchasing a hobby farm. Instead I get to play a video game in which a kindly grandpa leaves me his derelict old farm in a town I've never heard of, and not only do I rebuild the farm from scratch, I also basically re-build the entire local community and economy single-handed, which is a heck of an ego boost, I'm not going to lie. There are story incentives for socializing with the townsfolk (you learn more about them and their families as you increase friendship levels), and game mechanics incentives for people who are less story-motivated than I am (they send you stuff in the mail or give you recipes).
I think one of the reasons I enjoy it is that the writing doesn't make every NPC a perfect person. There's a lot of small town stuff going on: people with secrets, with less pleasant personalities, people struggling with addiction and PTSD (there is a war veteran in town), and a man who has chosen to live outside the restrictions of society but who is nonetheless a part of the community.
Anyway, it was a nice interlude in my day. Peggy has been winding down so I may sneak upstairs and get in another few minutes before bed. She's snoozing on the sofa, so she can just as easily snooze on her nice comfy bed in her crate.
Tomorrow I go back to work. I'm not dreading it, but I'd rather stay home and play Stardew Valley, not going to lie.
