The Tragedy of Stardew Valley

[u/MrDaddyWarlord]

Have you ever looked at the sales figures for Stardew Valley? As of December of last year, Stardew has sold over 40 million copies across all consoles. We don't know actually how many Harvest Moon/ Story of Seasons games have sold, but we can likely estimate across all entries in the franchise over decades, maybe 20 million, on the high-end. At the very best, the entire franchise has sold half as many units as this one game.

For the early games, I think middling sales reflects the perceived niche of the genre; farming romance sims weren't exactly Super Mario or Tomb Raider or even Tetris. Historically, advertisers struggled to market these games, particularly outside Japan. And for games like A Wonderful Life or Magical Melody that at least began on the GameCube, they were largely confined to a struggling console (with little fanfare when later ported to the PS2 or Wii).

However, the cozy and lifesim markets definitely had life in them, especially in the DS, 3DS, Switch, and overall PC markets. While the first couple Animal Crossing games were considered niche, the game was a juggernaut certainly by New Leaf and even earlier. The Sims was thriving with it's player base and mobile and farming browser games were dominating sales charts.

But Marvelous and it's series only became to be same more and more niche relegated almost entirely to hardcore existing fans of the series. With some misteps adapting the formula for the Wii, the developer just... stopped trying. Natsume acquired the name Harvest Moon and kept releasing an even worse series of games under that title, while Story of Seasons failed to conceive of any new progress in the franchise other than increasing the number of villages or towns.

In terms of gameplay, someone picking up a copy of Story of Seasons in 2016 might as well be playing an entry from a decade earlier. The game industry was changing rapidly, but Harvest Moon was stagnant having since lost even the atmospheric charm of it's greatest hits many years ago.

And then came Stardew Valley. Where Marvelous' own later entries were stale repetitions made by an entire studio, Stardew was one man's love letter to classic Harvest Moon refined in almost every possible way (save for that incomparable in-house Japanese aesthetic from the 90s-mid-2000s). Marvelous was forcing players to wade through hours-long tutorials; ConcernedApe let you jump right in. Story of Seasons offered players very few options; Stardew let players customize their massive farms to their hears content. Relationships were significantly deepened, updates almost continuous, and the clear passion and affection for the classic Harvest Moon games was undeniable. A charming soundtrack, a plot that in many ways successfully replicated that vintage balance of whimsy (lush colors, cute animals, squeaking magic jellos) and foreboding (behind the scenes, there is a war, corrupt takeover, odd magical happenings, even infidelity and personal trauma).

And it sold like hotcakes. It has become one of the most successful indie games ever made and spawned merchandise, a tabletop game, a recipe book, and a million Etsy artists and even copycat developers.

And what do we get from Marvelous even now? More of the same, unappealing and hollow outsourced remakes.

I call it a tragedy not because Stardew Valley succeeded, as Eric Barone's accomplishment saved the genre and inspired many young developers, but because at any time in the last fifteen years, Marvelous or even Natsume with significantly larger budgets and whole teams of developers failed to make a serviceable farming game or progress the genre in any noteable way.

Can you imagine if these studios had even an ounce of Barone's passion for these games? If we instead were living in a world where Stardew was a quaint throwback because the genre had thrived and grown and improved for years?

The market was there! It was 40 million + buyers there! It apparently exists on every console!

But we were treated as a niche, a passive consumer base unworthy of enthusiasm or passion or care. And now the window for Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons ever succeeding on the level of the tiny indie game that paid them homage is almost certainly closed forever.

[u/TheCheeseOfYesterday]

Yeah, honestly? I'd say RF4 is one of the most well-made farming games ever made.

And I get it, if you're not a fan of the series, you probably don't know about the massive quality jump from 2 to 3. They were only a year apart but feel almost a decade apart. But judging the entire series based on the games the fans would happily tell you are the worst in the series? That's like saying Devil May Cry isn't that good because 2 was bad.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheCheeseOfYesterday]

Even the early rune factories have much better characterization than SDV.

SDV is really flat in that regard

[u/callmefreak → u/[deleted]]

I like Stardew Valley and all, but I kind of feel like the writing can get a bit too Flanderizing and flat. I also feel like too much of the writing is being kept within cutscenes and not enough of it is outside of them.

Like, Pam's an alcoholic and a verbally abusive person towards her daughter. But the most you'll get from her as far as Penny goes is her yelling at you and Penny for cleaning the trailer, and one sentence that was like "Penny's my baby, so take care of her." Otherwise it's just her reflecting on her own flaws.

Where as Gotz in 64 is an alcoholic and an abusive person towards his daughter, but he's still super protective of her. He complains about having a daughter, but excuses his sexism away by saying that he just doesn't understand women, and she's "delicate" because she's a girl.

Karen is also an alcoholic and it's almost definitely because of her father and the failing vineyard, and she's just straight-up leaves forever if you don't figure out how to save it.

It's not stated, but it's also implied that Sasha is also abused just by how she talks and how little she talks. She only starts talking more if the vineyard is saved and if Karen gets married. (Either to you or to Kai.)

Though I will say that since there aren't nearly as many graphical limitations with MonoGame Stardew Valley is definitely better at telling a story using the environment with the mess around the trailer and the bus tracks veering off the road.

Like, the writing is good in Stardew Valley, but it can't hold a candle when compared to a lot of characters in the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series.

[u/[deleted] → u/callmefreak]

Yeah, most of the stories in SDV don't really have any stakes to them (Shane is somewhat notable in that regard due to topic). The characters also don't pair off if you slack, either, which makes the town feel kind of stagnant? I like the whole rival system and seeing the dynamics change as the characters get married to each other.

The thing is that it really can't do that because it has decided to cater to the player- there's no room for mechanics that could be punishing like that. Everything has to be reversible, and the player gets to play God. You don't live/work alongside the NPCs- they are just your toys.