There are a lot of ways to play and enjoy Stardew Valley. Players can focus on farming, crafting, exploring, or more likely a combination of all the above and more. There are a lot of things to do and see in this game.
Perhaps because of this, players will often make mistakes that can cripple their progress. Many players don’t pay attention to the little things that can become complicated nuisances later on. Here are some of the more common mistakes first-time players make and how to avoid them.
15 Ignoring Worms In The Ground (Artifact Spots)
As the player walks around, they’ll come across these strange spots on the ground with worms wriggling in the center. Unbeknownst to many beginners, these are Artifact Spots. Artifact Spots when dug with a Hoe can contain valuable loot.
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Lost Books, Artifacts, valuable crops, and Ore — among other things — can be found in these spots. They have a very small chance of spawning every day. These items are incredibly useful for progression, and finding even one makes the early game much easier.
14 Wasting Winter
Considering planting and harvesting crops typically takes place in the warmer periods, many players mistakenly assume Winter is a waste. They end up wandering around aimlessly and not taking advantage of this prime time.
Winter is a great quarter for making plans, gathering resources, speaking with locals, and other activities that are hard to pursue in the Fall or Spring. Winter is the season to make plans, explore, and prepare for the rest of the year.
13 Not Understanding The Save Mechanics
This issue isn’t one of willful self-sabotage, but more of ignorance about how the game’s mechanics work. The game saves whenever the player character sleeps. It does not save when the player closes the game and there are no autosave features or checkpoints.
Many beginners are unaware of this initially, or forget in the early stages of the game. As a result, they may check out during the day and lose some of their progress. Admittedly it isn’t major; at most, a player will lose a day’s worth of work. But it can be frustrating, and losing that big catch from a lucky fishing trip is no fun.
12 Avoiding Garbage Cans
When starting out, the beginner’s biggest obstacle is a lack of resources. One activity that can be used early on to obtain helpful items is to dig through garbage cans. These have a chance to spawn a number of items. The most helpful include the Cave Carrot, Field Snack, and Largemouth Bass. Of course, there is also the possibility to obtain useless items like Trash or Soggy Newspaper.
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This should never be done in front of any NPCs, as it harms the player’s relationship with the character. The only exception to this is Linus, who will develop a camaraderie with the player digging through trash.
11 Wasting Prismatic Shards On Gifting
Prismatic Shards are valuable items that have a number of uses in the game. One of the least useful purposes for these items is to give to fellow villagers to boost relationships, as every villager except Haley loves them. However, Prismatic Shards have so much potential that they should never be wasted on friendship, especially given how rare they are.
For instance, they can be used to get the Galaxy Sword, buy Magic Rock Candy, and enchant tools in the forge. There are plenty of other gifts give to the villagers that don’t require wasting Prismatic Shards.
10 Not Planning Ahead
With so much to do each day, it’s common for players to get so distracted they forget to think ahead. It’s important to remember that this game is built around the idea that little actions each day lead to greater results in the long run.
Players should be doing things that feed into the larger plan. For example, wood should be gathered to build more storage chests to stockpile seeds that will be needed through winter. A player should never just be gathering wood because they don’t know what else to do. Odds are, if a player doesn’t know what to do, it’s because they’re not thinking about what they need in the future.
9 Leaving Grass Alone
One example of looking ahead is harvesting grass. Many players will leave it alone because they don’t have the time to get to it. When winter eliminates the grass anyway it seems great, until they realize that hay costs 50 gold each.
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That Grass is a great supply of free hay that can be stockpiled for future use. The player may not need it right away, but odds are they will at some point. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of winter forking over a ton of money for something that was free a few months ago.
8 Putting Off Bundles
At first, Bundles may seem like a minor thing or perhaps even part of an achievement system. What most beginning players fail to realize is that Bundles are used to unlock later content. Even worse is that many of the Bundles are season specific.
Many new players will ignore the Fall Bundles only to realize their importance in Winter or Spring, and need to wait. Players shouldn’t break their backs trying to get these done, but dedicating some time every few days to grab an item or two on the list is worth it.
7 Ignoring NPCs
With all the farming, gathering, and crafting that needs to be done, talking to the locals seems like a waste of time and stamina. Unfortunately, it takes time to build relationships with those NPCs and that requires having conversations over and over again.
When the player does realize the potential an NPC has or looks to marry someone they’ll find themselves in for a grueling friendship points grind. Players should start early talking to a few people every now and then to minimize the grind later on.
6 Not Watching TV
In a farming game like Stardew Valley, it’s strange to think that watching TV would be an important part of the day. But it turns out the TV is a great source of information that beginners take way too long to find out about.
The weather channel lets players know what’s happening tomorrow. The Fortune Teller lets players know what their odds of finding treasure or catching rare fish are. Living Off The Land is a running series of tips and tricks. Perhaps most important is the Queen of Sauce who teaches players recipes that will be helpful when they build a kitchen and start cooking later. In fact, it’s often the only source of these recipes and reruns are a year away.
5 Forgetting To Feed Animals
For absent-minded players it’s good news that animals will not die if the player forgets to feed them. The downside is those animals will stop producing valuable resources the player can use.
Adding to this is the fact that even if they start producing, the quality will be affected if they don’t receive enough food. Forgetting to feed chickens every now and then may not seem like a big deal if they continue producing, but remembering leads to bigger eggs and better quality.
4 Getting Tunnel Vision
It’s very easy for players to get into a rut of repeating the same steps over and over again without any real progress. Beginners will often grind out making money without really understanding what they want to spend it on. It’s also common to amass wood while really only needing a fraction of it.
The other downside to this mistake is that players learn how to do something, and never realize there are better ways to doing things. It’s easy to fish the same spot over and over again, not realizing better bait increases the odds of better fish.
3 Putting Off Sleep
Like in real life, players need to ensure they’re getting enough sleep in the game. If the player puts off sleep too long they risk not getting quality sleep which results in less energy for the next day.
It’s hard to balance the need to get everything done and get to bed early enough. However, it’s important to maintain peak efficiency over the long haul. In many cases it’s often not worth finishing that one last project and putting it off tomorrow. Taking the time to do that activity can result in not having enough energy to do everything tomorrow and starting a vicious cycle.
2 Forgetting To Be Efficient
There are a lot of things the player could be doing, but there are really only a few activities worth doing at the same time. Sure, the player could go fishing, but in reality it may be wiser to get those storage chests built or swing by the store to grab a few things.
Players will often flit between activities not realizing there are ways to be more efficient. Lump activities together; for example, if the player is going into town for supplies they should visit a few NPCs. If the player is getting wood, they should consider what else they might need the wood for. Or maybe it’s better just to do the bare minimums and stat harvesting grass. Think about efficiency with each action and each day.
1 Choosing Efficiency Over Fun
Perhaps the biggest and most common mistake players make with this game is forgetting that it’s a game. The point is to have fun. Players can get so lots in the literal weeds they get burned out and get sick of the grind.
It may not make the most sense to go to the Skull Cavern or go to the Fair with all the things to do, but sometimes taking that break to do something fun is important. People in real-life need the occasional break and doing activities in Stardew Valley is no different.
Next: Harvest Moon Vs. Stardew Valley: Which Is Better?
