Or something like that. It is a video game, so unlike the real world, happy endings are possible. Happy for whom though… well, we shall see.
Anyway, we left off last time as summer began on year three.
Stardew Valley Splash Screen
We had wrapped up all but one of the bundles needed to finish the community center. All that was left was to catch a pufferfish, an elusive sea creature that can only be caught on sunny days, between noon and 4pm, during the summer season. Also, it is a difficult fish to reel in should you manage to hook one.
Somehow, I managed it. I went out on the dock every day the sun was up… it rained at least one day… during the correct times and fished away, settling on the trap bobber, which causes the catch progress bar to drop 33% slower when the fish is outside the fishing bar zone.
The green is the fishing bar, the yellow is the progress bar
And that trap bobber was a boon, because the gyrations of a pufferfish on the line can be rapid and chaotic. You cannot tell what is on the line until you catch it… unless you use the bobber that tells you, but that is another tale… and at least one of the crazy catches on the line I succeeded with turned out to be an octopus.
Several others that were dodging my efforts with rapid motion got away, so I will never know for sure if they were pufferfish.
But I persisted and got a bit lucky. On just the fourth day of summer, and maybe my third day fishing in the sunshine, I managed to wrangle a pufferfish.
Pufferfish First Catch!
I had been playing on my own when I hooked the pufferfish, so when I got to the end of the day I saved and logged off. I was going to wait until my daughter was on to take the next step.
The next step was to finish up the last bundle in the community center, the specialty fish bundle.
One pufferfish to finish it off
Finishing a bundle summons the Junimos, the forest spirits that had inhabited the abandoned community center. They pop up around your character, startling them.
The Junimos appear!
They then collect the completed bundle and take it back to their hut in the community center.
This time, however, they assembled around the hut once they claimed the final bundle.
The Junimos around their hut
At that point they announced that their task at the community center was complete. The last bundle had been stowed away. They were set to leave.
The last bundle. Farewell.
As happens in Stardew Valley you have to wait until the next day for things to update.
While we slept the Junimos were up to something along the river over by the mine.
The final act of the Junimos
The removed the stones that had been impeding the river, allowing… well, I am not sure exactly what that accomplished. But the next time I went past there Willy was standing around and pulled me aside to tell me that ore was now in the river and that I could pan for it, providing me with a copper pan with which to do so.
I am reliably informed the pan can also be worn as a hat, should you not wish it to take up an inventory slot when not in use. I have yet to try that.
The next day we headed over to the community center and found the town all there to celebrate its restoration and reopening.
The refurbished community center
My daughter and I went inside where we both got our own version of the celebration events.
Mayor Lewis said a few words and awarded us the Stardew Hero trophy for our efforts.
The Stardew Hero award held up
At that point Morris, who runs the Joja Mart, the big company competitor to Pierre’s in town (a stand in for any soulless corporation you choose, Amazon or Walmart or whoever, and where your character had an awful job in the opening of the game before escaping to the farm in Stardew Valley) demanding to know where all of his customers have gone.
In a fit of civic pride (and patent self-interest) Pierre asks the town to boycott the Joja Mart, which has been predatory in its practices. True to form, Morris says he’ll just cut prices 75% to get his customer back. That is some real Rockefeller style business practices you have there Morris. Time for a bit of anti-trust action!
Pierre, having had to face the scorn of Morris in the past gets right in his face and as they square off you get two options to choose from:
- “Let’s be reasonable.”
- “Let’s settle this the old-fashioned way.”
My daughter and I, both chose the second option, which sees Pierre and Morris get into a fight.
The fight commences! Willy is just too interested in the fish to notice.
Caroline, Pierre’s wife, shouts his name while George eggs them on.
There are some animated blows and some witty repartee and then Pierre lands a haymaker that sends Morris flying out of the community center.
Morris sent flying… and packing… while Willy just watches the fish
And that is it for Morris, who is not seen again. The Joja Mart on the edge of town is abandoned when you visit it later.
The abandoned Joja Mart. Some say it is haunted.
I am not sure what happened to the people in town who had jobs there. Everything has repercussions. But maybe not in Pelican Town.
That done I thought we had now achieved enough to go back to grandpa for a re-evaluation. We had, at the end of year two, managed three out of four candles from him. Four gets you a special item.
Three out of four is passing, but still just a C
So a diamond was deposited at his shrine and we went to bed again, waiting to be visited by his spirit once more. Had we done enough to get the fourth candle? He seemed to think so.
Grandpa’s return trip
We were granted the fourth candle. Also, some trees grew since I was last there.
The shrine with four candles now
That got us the Statue of Perfection, which is shaped like happy pink cat.
Free indium for life!
It spits out 2-8 indium ore every day, which is quite handy. We’ll work on upgrading some tools at some point.
Meanwhile, Willy has something to show me… and I need to see a woman about a horse.