l’m brand new to SDV and I keep getting overwhelmed because I don’t know how/where to start and panic as soon as the clock starts ticking. Do you have a guide or tips getting through the start of the game?
One thing that helped me was watching youtubers play the game doing weird challenges. When i saw what experts were able to do (and often times how many mistakes they could work around) i realized that the game is waaaay more “frozen in time” than any Harvest Moon game was.
I think there’s legitimately only like one or two thing that can be missed at all, and it’s like one cutscene (that doesn’t cut you out from anything with the npc).
For me the trick is the clock, I personally found it very intimidating! I found the best routine is to check the tv and see what your luck is for the day, check the calendar and see of i want to give someone a gift for their birthday, and then plan what i do for the day around that.
I don’t personally take up the quests for the npcs because i don’t know the map well and it felt more stressful. They don’t seem to care! Chatting with them every day I can and giving them something they don’t hate for their birthdays, I was already getting random npcs up to three hearts not even trying.
I could chat with you all day about it and this is already long enough, but i just have to remind myself the town is like a little special place just for me, almost completely frozen in time waiting to walk forward at my speed. ☺️
Just pause every 3 steps like I do while you make decisions.
Do quest in games. No need to stress. There’s no time Limit. Ever get confused about something in SDV? Check Wiki. It’s well created and understandable to new player(You just need to open 20 tabs xD)
Always use your energy to Farm and Chop down trees at start. Increase your relationship with town members. Always watch TV when you wake up.
If you’re brand new, take it easy. You can take as many in-game or RL years to complete it as you want.
That said, I typically use the first day to meet the villagers and buy 25 parsnips (to plant alongside the 15 gifted by Lewis), like in this video. I only clean the necessary to plant the 'nips, plus some pathways between the three farm exits. Plenty people go fishing because it’s a good source of early game income, but since I hate it I tend to delay fishing.
One thing that helped me enjoy SV more was just not worrying about completing stuff so quickly. You can always do it next year. If you’re playing in Steam you can use the notes function in Steam overlay and just write down everything you need to do. Then pick one or two things every day and just do those. Don’t worry about speedrunning it.
That’s good to know. I think I get into the “Persona” mindset of trying to keep strict timelines
I had no idea Steam had a notes feature. That’s super useful.
There’s so many different play styles so there’s no one right way of playing. I’m a very “throw caution to the wind” player.
Some tips I’ve seen for Spring Year 1 is to buy a bunch of Strawberry seeds so you can get one harvest before the season end. Save the lower quality strawberries so you can put them into a seed maker later.
If you want to have animals, get a silo built so you can begin to store hay for the winter.
Is there anything in particular that feels the most overwhelming to you?
Edit: If you come across a Dino egg, do not donate the first one to the museum. Save it to incubate and hatch a Dino which then will make more Dino eggs.
I save a bit of everything so that I can use them to complete help wanted quests on the board near the general store.
On the first day especially l’m not sure how much I’m supposed to clear, how much l’m supposed to forage, who I’m supposed to meet, and I’ve gotten lost on the way home and passed out more times then I care to admit.
You can use Map
There is a map for seeing where you are and the farm is. Most things are east of the farm.
Don’t worry to much about meeting people quickly. Just say hi to any villager you don’t recognize.
Don’t think about it in terms of how much you are supposed to plant, forrage, etc. Decide what you want to do and work on that.
For farming don’t till soil you aren’t planting. Unplanted soil has a chance to revert overnight. Plant how much you can afford both in cost of seeds and time / energy watering the crops.
A good general day is to get up water crops, harvest, and replant. Then think about what would improve your game the most and do that.
Need storage chop some trees for chests. Need energy forrage. Need better tools or sprinklers hit the mines for ore. Need cash fish or plant crops.
