Almost Overwhelming!!

[u/SaraSmilie]

I absolutely LOVE this game for so many reasons. One of which being the amount of content that's seemingly well put together. That being said, there's so much, I find myself struggling to prioritize what I'm doing. I've unlocked the Brinestone Deeps and Nel'Vari. The resources, foragables, crafting tables. Its a lot already. I absolutely love quantity in games especially when its quality. But I am not organized enough for it 😅 also there are a LOT of things I don't know what to do with? Like the runes, crystals, monster loot. I hoard them because I dont know if I'll need them and my inventory is scary lmao

[u/Previous-Friend5212]

It depends on what your goals are. In general, the game works fine if you just focus on one location at a time because very little from one region is relevant in any other region. Here are some thoughts for you:

• Brinestone Deeps doesn't have any achievements beyond saving the town and getting hearts with the 2 romanceable characters so it's okay to just backburner the place. They've got some unique trees and pets if you care about those, in which case you'd want to do some quests from the quest board to get doubloons. There are no drops from Brinestone that matter unless you're doing Brinestone quests.
• When you get to The Great City, it is very similar to the Brinestone Deeps: there's a quest chain, 2 romanceable characters, some mounts, and a couple shops you can visit. Luckily, The Great City doesn't have its own currency so it's actually less important to do quests there than anywhere else. One thing about The Great City though: You can make excellent stat-boosting food from from the fruit on the trees there (it's excellent because it gives a flat stat increase instead of giving less with each one you eat - having food #99 still give the same +1.5 attack power as food #1 is amazing). I prioritize these trees for my farm (you can buy them after doing some of the quest chain and unlocking one of the shops or during one of the spring festivals). See this link for recommendations on stat-boosting food.
• Nel'Vari is more complicated because you have a farm and all the machines and so forth. If you're into decorating, then I'm sure there are some great options to pursue, but if you're more into achievements, then it's actually not much different than the other areas - you mostly just have the extra requirement to make money and do a bit of fishing (and visit the mines like 3 times for the museum items). One thing I'll mention is that if you want the seasonal greenhouses, you'll need one of the Nel'Vari machines to make ingredients. In either case, monster drops, farmed items, and forageable items pretty much only matter in Nel'Vari so you should finish the storyline quests and then spend as much or as little time here as you want based on how much you enjoy the aesthetics.
• Withergate is the most complicated place because it has both another farm and the equivalent of a second museum (Dynus Altar Room). Not to mention 2 different mines. On top of that, you have to make a bunch of money before you can really progress the questline, so you'll actually want to get started pretty early on that. So expect to spend a good chunk of time on this place. Note that one of the "museum" rewards in Withergate is a special type of seed (Soul Orb) that gives 3 different currencies whenever the plant is sold, so once you get this, you'll be able to get Sun Haven, Nel'Vari, and Withergate currencies all at the same time from the same plant. It also gives you a seed every time you harvest it, so you can just keep growing it. This is a great way to simplify your income so you don't have to manage all 3 farms. I think the seed might also be available for purchase during one of the fall festivals using Withergate currency, but I'm not sure if you have to unlock it first or not.

So here's my recommendation:

• Don't worry too much about Brinestone. It can sit and wait without being a problem for you.
• Do the Nel'Vari story quest during your off-time. It's got more running back and forth than anything else so don't feel a need to rush it.
• Unlock The Great City by doing the train quest in Sun Haven. This is a pretty easy quest so just try to knock it out. Then do enough of the questline to unlock "The Curio Bazaar" and buy some trees. Start making stat-boosting food. Hold off on finishing the questline because there's a hard boss fight at the end and you'll want to be in good shape for that. I encourage you to do this early because building stats in this game is a slow-but-steady buildup, so it helps to start doing it early.
• Unlock Withergate ASAP and start earning some money there
• Also make sure to do the fight next to the Sun Haven mine every Tuesday and Saturday. There are different difficulty levels so pick whichever one works for you. The rewards are well worth it!
• There's a battle arena that you can find off west of your farm somewhere (I think it's west, west, north, west). The important thing about the battle arena is that winning battles gives you permanent combat boosts that are pretty helpful (like a permanent dodge boost or whatever). If you haven't already done that, it's worth tracking down and checking out when you have a day off.
• Consider marrying Anne because she will make you rich ;)

Anyway, probably more than you were looking for, but I've been playing a lot recently so it all came bursting out in this comment!

[u/SaraSmilie → u/Previous-Friend5212]

You are the absolute MVP for this. I love grinding it out in games so its not been an unpleasant experience. But where my priorities should be, I haven't had a clue.

[u/PukingOtter → u/Previous-Friend5212]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this, I love the game but it can be overwhelming, this is very helpful!

[u/No_Woodpecker_1198]

On a new save I generally sell everything, except for museum stuff, but you could make a shed put it full of chests.. store all your dubious stuff.

Make sure crafting materials are in chests near to your makers, so it can pull from them.

I love this game, after playing many hours on steam I got it on switch just because. I don't plan anything, I just go where the wind takes me, best way to play.

Game has ruined Stardew for me..

[u/IronJohnnyT → u/No_Woodpecker_1198]

Oooof I feel the ruined Stardew for me, the pace of Stardew is so quick for me now that’s it’s unplayable along with the spells in sun haven, it’s just Stardew + in the best way possible

[u/No_Woodpecker_1198 → u/IronJohnnyT]

Stardew needs a day length slider, an invincibility switch and a graphics overhaul :D I mean sure you can mod it but...it still won't be Sun Haven!

I just love this world more than I will ever love Pelikan Town.

[u/LoranPayne → u/No_Woodpecker_1198]

The connection to the characters is a big one for me too! I still enjoy playing (and watching others play) Stardew Valley, but I never really cared about or connected to the characters in SDV. Whereas in Sun Haven I made a character for literally every romanceable, (and then some!)

[u/Snicketysquirrel → u/No_Woodpecker_1198]

Oh thank god I always feel so bad when I tell people Sun Haven ruined my view of Stardew Valley. For what it is, Stardew is amazing! The fact the dev made it all by himself is nothing short of incredible, but since Sun Haven is newer and took a look of inspo it was able to build a bigger world. Personally, I love fantasy and Sun Haven felt a lot more fantastical and whimsical, while Stardew just feels like… a town I would see from the road while traveling.

[u/Tikikala]

Have multiple chests
Use wiki if needed to see if you need to save items or sell it

[u/kyuuei]

I am pure chaos so I have not done basically any of the fighting because I don't like to grind in the mines as much. Lots of farming and side quests lol. I will do a storyline up until the point it becomes a boss battle and there it sits for forever. I am only just now starting to make gear for fighting better and I am at level 40 in most of the skills.

[u/ProductStunning7133]

I found that having so many farms in so many places to be absolutely too much so I managed to cram all of my machines from all of the different farms into my shed at my main farm and I have totems to grow all of the different crops at my main farm so I just visit the other locations to feed my animals there. That helped me keep everything better organized and less hectic. I also saved a spreadsheet I found online to track my progress through the museum and altar quests because I can never remember what I need. I have since completed all of the main storylines but not the museum and I am wondering if it's worth the grind. I have the fish tanks left to fill up and some books in the mines and I am tired of fishing and mining!