Stardew Valley's BIGGEST Problem

[@griffinrupe]

I agree 100%. I also think there's a ton of potential in the Joja line of progression being much, much worse for the people in the valley. Like let's go ahead and just put Pierre and Gus out of business completely and see how the people are hurt by that. What would they do after their stores are closed? No idea. but I think they wouldn't know what to do either so that could also be something cool to explore

[@Swingingbells]

Pierre and Gus passed out drunk with Shane on top of the cliff. 😅

[@caioleite5579]

The could become Joja's employees

[@spaghettiisyummy.3623]

Another Idea: Joja could sell seeds for dirt cheap. Like, 5g a pop cheap. BUT, THE SEED WOULD FAIL 70% OF THE TIME.

[@mynamejefffffff]

this would be great for a mod that expands on the pierre v joja conflict

[@benvictim]

THANK YOU! I brought up this issue before and people just brushed it off "oh they are most likely doing stuff off-camera. Them doing it off-screen is the whole issue! There is a dissonance between narrative and gameplay and I understand *why* it is there. CA wanted to show Joja was "evil" and thus the prices are overpriced to encourage the player to not even use it. I would agree with the arguement that even if joja had like 5g cheaper prices, majority of people would still go to pierre, since he is closer (time > price) while not destroying the "theme" of major industry like Walmart being evil. There are a few other narrative dissonances besides the joja one that is totally fixable but concerned ape never did go to fix. Like Shane saying "he will give up alcohol yet alcohol is still his best gift,

[@TheGamersApprentice-24]

I also think Morris getting fully kicked out without much of a fight makes people forget about joja later when they could’ve tried to make a comeback

[@treyhawk42]

Stardew Valley Expanded does some fixing of the Morris and Joja story. Joja is cheaper than Pierre's from the beginning, plus gives Morris a background story and Claire an identity.

[@TheEmeraldWeirdo]

Regarding the "Joja isn't actually undercutting Pierre" thing, keep in mind that both Pierre and Joja Mart sell more than what the game allows the player to buy. It can be assumed that they both sell things like food, clothes, media, etc. However, the game only allows the player to buy seeds and a few ingredients, because they're expected to live off the land and what they can grow on their farm. None of the other villagers are farmers, after all, so it would make sense for Joja's seeds to be more expensive, since they probably don't sell many (no real excuse for flour, sugar and rice, though). From this, it's more than likely that most of Joja's products _are_ cheaper than Pierre's, we just never see it because the farmer doesn't want/need those products, so the game doesn't give us the option to buy them. Also, I think a good way to better establish Joja as a proper villainous faction would be to add more cutscenes. Like, every time you make progress towards completing the Community Center, the next time you go into town, you get a new cutscene of Morris antagonizing the business owners.

[@Elliot226]

I mean that *could* be true, but that's kind of going above and beyond the actual game we're playing. The point is supposed to be that it's cheaper no matter what, that's supposed to be the pull for EVERYONE to choose them, including the farmer. I think it was just an oversight from CA since he didn't think people would really do it. You also have to account for it taking so much longer to just get to Joja vs Pierre's. Even if you're doing a Joja run, most people will still just buy their seeds and everything else from Pierre's because it's closer. There is no negative to doing this, which doesn't make sense in universe. Pierre should be more rude to the player or give them the silent treatment. Maybe even raise his own prices to make the farmer stop going there (thus furthering the issue of Joja beating out small businesses). You can't even buy a backpack from Joja, you HAVE to buy it from Pierre. So again, I don't really believe your points are actually true to the how and why we got what we got even though I see why you want to think that. I just wish the people who made corrections to Joja mods would update them for 1.6 because they definitely improved this part of the game.

[@benvictim]

I mean, that leads back to the whole video about the gameplay and narriative having dissonance. Sure Joja "could" have lower prices but the player just doesn't see them! That is like the whole point of the video @_@ They lack any actual gameplay narrative connection. If they are selling food cheaper... then we should see that. They should be selling pizza and other saloon items cheaper.

[@eggsnham.]

I feel having like 2-3 memberships needed to get rid of the community center could allow for some pressure to build up by having characters caving in and getting one as you keep playing

[@caioleite5579]

I agree! I get Joja not doing much if you decide to complete the community center, I would at most add a few cutscenes like the one where Morris goes to Pierre to steal the clients, but if you decide to go the Joja route, I think there should be more consequences. I think it would be great if one by one the stores would be taken by Joja. Starting with Pierre, then Robin, Gus, Harvey and maybe even Clint and Willy. Joja could buy their stores, make them become their employees, make Morris Regional Manager (responsible for all stores in Pelican Town) and then the whole city would be made of buildings with that lifeless blue Joja style. The city could become more dirty and there could be more trash lying around... just like a modern city, like the one the main character tried to escape. Then, with no competition, Joja's prices could become way higher (assuming they would be cheaper at the start, because like you said in the video, it makes no sense that their products are more expensive)

[@thornykettle112]

Shane could be fitting to further emphasize how evil Joja actually is. Like maybe he could say something about how he only gets payed pennies.

[@HollowKnight-cw6qj]

That's a pretty good point. Also i find it weird where the player just take a step in the mines and Marlon is give player a Rusty stick and tell us to kill the monsters in it. İ mean i am a farmer dude! İ never kill something and i don't know how to use a sword. İs this Town doesn't have a mayor or anything who can deal with those? Oh wait, of course Lewis is the mayor, the guy who does simply nothing

[@LuxyHugs]

@HollowKnight-cw6qj Lewis is the most competent mayor and he did not pay me 500g to say that

[@HollowKnight-cw6qj]

Try to stile his golden statu. He'll give you 750.😅

[@strangechimera9538]

Does he say directly that we have to kill the monsters, it’s been a while since I’ve seen the cutscene but I don’t think he means it like we HAVe to do it.

[@alphabros5226]

I'm glad you are observing this from the POV of someone who actively likes this game, that being said I'm not gonna watch this video just to make sure I'm not gonna get spoiled

[@theroyalteabagyoutube4928]

Just picked up this game after like 5 years to play with my SO and I gotta say I agree really strongly with you. There should be serious consequences to the other small business owners if you side with joja, Pierre and other joja competitors might be in deep trouble if they couldn’t compete. This is a real story about what has really happened all over the developed world and it often has ended in financial ruin for many people and contributed to rural depopulation at the macro scale.

[@a_naotenhonome780]

Businesses owners npcs and their family (like for example not just Pierre, but also his wife and Abigail) should be either impossible or very hard to befriend like taking 3 times more points to befriend them like normally would

[@Icyangel10]

This makes me want to see a mod that adds some of the things you suggested, newcomers can either play vanilla to see how things go or try this & people that have already played the game can try it differently/with the needed fixes/additions. Also the 1.6 update added Joja stuff to Ginger Island from the ability to use the boat in the Joja route to having Joja trained parrots that if paid find the golden walnuts for you. There's even a scene at night of Moris relaxing with the bags of money you paid the parrot as the trained parrots find the walnuts for you in the middle of the night like with the Joja route bundles. The Ginger Island stuff can still happen if you choose the Community Center route.

[@glgman]

The Stardew valley expanded mod adds more to the joja route

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

100% agree although I like how the game js mechanically. But this is about story, and thats something Stardew Valley doesn't have as a strong suit, so anything, even something like just making the Joja membership's seed prices like 80% of Piere's would be so much better

[@SerafineSilverstream]

There's actually the Joja parrot on Ginger Island that finds walnuts for money and the Joja "agent" in the Ginger Island mushroom cave who sells "perfection waivers". It's not much but thematically very fitting to what Joja is supposed to represent.

[@jrk1666]

As much as I like stardew, the story is shit

[@lunarhexagon8108]

To keep all mechanics as junimo hut open but disable junimo huts when siding with Joja, Joja could sell some building that could do similar thing like some drone collector, that would work similarly, at leadt sticking with themes if reason for all things staying available is to not make player 'loose', which is clearly goal, you cant really fail in that game as 'game over, you are out of lives', autopetter became to be available in skull cave only later if I am not mistaken, and surely was added there to not make people completely lose acces to such item if they dont do joja way

[@MegaMacX]

For me, Joja never was a villain in the first place. It's a soulless company, yeah, but that doesnt makes it evil by default. Morris might seem like a slimy little scum, but in the end, except the one scene where he waved his coupons around, joja and morris stays quiet in the background. Just because in our world huge companies use foul methods to achieve their goals dont have to mean that its also true in SV. The Junimo who live in the CC only live there because the building was abandoned. Maybe even your grampas old cottage had junimo in it until you moved in. They just live in old buildings that nobody uses anymore and move out whenever this building gets a meaning again. Most people make it look like Joja goes ahead and kills all Junimo and think your shouldnt be able to get Junimo huts anymore after this, but its not true, they just move out because the building gets a new meaning for people and is used again. And in the end, their task to get a lot of items only means that the farmer is going to exploit the village to its fullest, killing ecosystems in the forests and mines in the process. So in the end, if you compare who hurts the village more (The Farmer, Joja, the Villagers) my guess is that the farmer makes the biggest impact. Sure, the villagers seem to throw away their garbage into the waters and only think about themselves all the time, but nothing comes close to the destructive power the farmer has. Joja gives out Jobs for some villagers of pelican town and enables people like Pam and Jodi to live a relativ comfy life, if you take into account how usually a family with two kids or a jobless solo mum with a drinking problem would look like.

[@hikarikouno]

I'll also give Morris this, the line he has "Insult me all you want, but don't slander the name of Joja" kinda makes me respect him more. He's a scumbag, but a loyal scumbag. I'd be interested if they presented Joja vs Pierre as a more nuances issue. Joja helping villagers industralize, but lose the small town village charm, vs the more traditional Pierre.

[@MegaMacX]

@@hikarikouno Thing is, Joja isnt even affecting the player a lot. Their prices are too high for that. I guess if Joja was cheaper than pierre with something other than sunflower seeds, people would throw away their "ethics" in a second and go full joja. So as it stands now, Joja cant even compare to Pierre, even though he is closed on wednesdays and has his own shady behavior. I would love to see how people would change if Joja started to have 1 major crop per season cheaper than pierre (like potatoes, melons, pumpkin), how many players would just go joja. Would also be a fun idea to just randomize it, so its not always the same crop, but it has to be a major one (Parsnip, Potato, Cauliflower, Kale, Garlic for spring)

[@rainbowwings14]

100% agree honestly, despite being part of the reason you go to stardew, they barely have a presents in the game at all. Even other farm games like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, when they have a villain, have much more of a presents and you tend to see them when you reach certain mile stones from what I remember. I feel like if after certain amount of bundles are completed you get cut scenes of Joja doing more underhanded stuff to try to get people not to stop coming to them would be interesting. It doesn't have to really affect the player a lot, just be enough to make their present felt would be nice imo

[@loke6664]

äYou are right, the Joja route could use more variety from the community center route. I also think Morris and unnamed red hair cashier should be added as villagers so you could gain friendship with them and might feel a bit bad when they are chased out of town, just like Pierre should loose his business if Joja wins. I don't think Gus should loose his job though, he runs the village pub and people go to it since it is very sad to be drinking alone (besides Clint who is stalking Emily). Joja isn't really competing against that. And Joja should be cheaper with some seeds besides just sunflowers too. Maybe they could have a random seed discounted and sold 20% under Pierre each day at least. Besides, getting the auto peter from either skull caver, the dangerous mines or golden mysterious packages is usually not that hard so Joja could at least sell a few other hard to get items (for me they could sell oak resin, no matter how many tappers I have, I am always short on it). On my main farm, I think I bought a few seeds before Joja closed and that was just because I needed them on a Wednesday and waiting an extra day would cost me more. And the Joja bird and guy whop sell completion points should only be allowed on the Joja route. It should be at least somewhat tempting to take the Joja route. As it is now, it is mostly run by people who already been at the summit and makes a new farm, getting all those collections several times can be tedious.

[@ΣπυροςΣτεφανιδης-δ3θ]

You know that you're basically describing Stardew valley expanded right ?

[@loke6664]

@@ΣπυροςΣτεφανιδης-δ3θ I know there are mods doing it, yes. I do however think the basegame could use it too. Joja should be tempting even if it is the bad route, there wouldn't be any Wallmart if they had prices like Joja does in the game.

[@joyfulgirl91]

Popular mods existing are not an argument against using those ideas to update the game. They are the opposite, a way for people to tell devs what they like

[@CamTheGalaxy]

I agree with what you’re saying however the walnut bird and perfection wavers are more akin to accessibility and quality of life for someone who has already beaten the game so locking them behind Joja doesn’t really gel with Why they’re in the game. Replacing them with options that isn’t just Money if you go CC route could be a better alternative but it’s hard to think of a balanced alternative. I think a good way to look at the bird and perfection wavers being in CC saves is just showing Joja’s reach. You didn’t topple them, you didn’t even topple Morris, they are still kicking and looking for profits wherever they can

[@loke6664]

@@CamTheGalaxy Fair point, but they should at least be locked the first time for the Community center route since the golden walnuts and actually getting the perfection kinda is the alternative. The Joja route is all about money so just getting rich enough should be enough to complete it. The community center is about collecting rare items and become the best you can at all the parts of the games. But I agree that once you stood on the summit the first time, missing a couple of things can be very tedious. And an alternative to perfection waivers would be to have Mr Qi sell them for Qi gems, those take some work to get, particularly if you charge something like 100 gems for a waiver.

[@Lexow98]

I guess im a crazy person too then xD

[@TheRealRoyalArtworks]

I feel if there should be a time limit, maybe give players 5 years to complete the community center? I’m not sure how long some players took to finish it but I think 5 years is enough to get what you need while still battling the clock

[@shinydx]

stardew valley 2077

[@schuldigom]

I was honestly shocked to find out I could still pay for perfection after going the community centre route

[@JustGoldy77]

Talk about the mind electriccccc

[@monoduck]

This is a pretty good video, and I think it's accurate to stardew's whole deal

[@a_naotenhonome780]

This always bothered me, it just feels like you said the game offering different types of progression instead of offering a different story

[@grizzlygl7032]

When is the analyze of the mind electric😢

[@shingshongshamalama]

It's just Pastoral Simplicity wish fulfilment. It confuses the problems of capitalism for problems inherent to post-industrialism.

[@Clueless-N]

Pls continue hawaii part 2 theries🙏🙏🙏

[@IMeanMachine101]

Prefer JoJo every day

[@_kleine]

goat boy cute

[@chelleballo]

one word: mods

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

Not everyone plays with mods or wants to play with mods.

[@ΣπυροςΣτεφανιδης-δ3θ]

​@@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafanthen you're an idiot it's super easy and adds so much content not to mention it solves literally every problem this video had with the base game

[@servilleta__6075]

Mods simply aren't a part of the base game, using them as an argument is also ignoring how they can hinder the experience of the game and it's themes.

[@chelleballo]

@@servilleta__6075 imonly saying if you want morris to be a compelling character and for joja to be apart of the actual game then MOD if not then no ones forcing you

[@chelleballo]

@@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan if you dont then you dont get a compelling and fleshed out villian. im just saying IF thats what you want then one word: mods