Cozy Up In Pelican Town: The Fandom Of Stardew Valley

What if a $20 pixel farm could outlast the biggest games on your playlist? We dive into Stardew Valley with Casey to uncover why this one‑man passion project still feels fresh: no microtransactions, free updates years later, and a design that lets you play fast, slow, or somewhere beautifully in between. From the first day clearing debris to that moment you realize the mines are deeper than you thought, the joy is in how the world responds to your pace.

We talk weapons, food buffs, luck days, and whether or not there's any merit into supporting Joja. We also spotlight the culture surrounding the game—fan art, major mods, and even the legendary “you can drink mayonnaise” patch note that shows how closely the creator listens to players. Casey brings sharp insights on what makes the characters resonate, which festivals are can’t‑miss, and where 1.6 quietly reshaped the late game. 

If this conversation lit a spark, follow and share with a friend who still dreams of the perfect sprinkler layout. Subscribe, leave a quick review, and tell us: are you Team Community Center or Team Joja?

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Transcript

Cold Open & Winter Vibes

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right, gentlemen and lady, we are back for episode 18. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

You rickrolled yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

I blame Ben for moving the buttons on me. Sorry. My bad. Just to throw them off, honestly. Oh man.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Well, I'm gonna mislabel everything next time.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

If I can be uh completely real, I I don't even know what to say. Like I was thinking about this earlier on the way over what I would talk about when we have our little small chat here at the at the beginning. And life has been so slow. Like I feel like we're deep in that that winter hibernation, as it were. Yeah. And there hasn't been a whole lot going on really. Like just kind of sitting around at the house and uh trying not to spend money and you know. Yeah, or we well, I thought so. And then I went and I checked the bank account, and it's like, uh well, maybe. I don't know. We'll find out. So it's it's usually like a month behind, is what uh what I'm told is that uh it'll it'll catch up. So we did pretty well in in January. Nice after being snowed in. And that was the same you know, month that we went to Disney. So I was gonna say you left all your money in Disney.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

That's that's where it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah, Ben, what have you been up to?

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Um let's see. We did some sledding this weekend. Yeah. Um, and then I've been getting the guest room ready for our friend Mark who's gonna come into town. So those are my two biggest things, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Sweet.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah, I bet you might be.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, honestly, just a lot of family time. Um, mother-in-law was in town on Saturday, that was fun. My parents and my in-laws are coming back this weekend. So yeah, it's just been a lot of family time, which has been great. Awesome. So it is fun. Well, Ben, do you want to introduce our guest?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yes, today to talk with us about Stardew Valley is my lovely girlfriend Casey. Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_04 1:50

Thank you for having me. I'll do my best to do justice to your podcast and this game that I love.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

I'm sure. I've heard, I'm sure we'll talk about it later, but I'm hurt. I've heard you've got a lot of hours into the game, so you know.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

I actually checked this morning and I was kind of disappointed at how many hours I actually had.

SPEAKER_03 2:06

It was lower than you thought was the.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Um, she hadn't broken 500, but oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

But I mean, I tried today.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I was gonna say she'd been playing most of the day, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

Only only a few hours. I couldn't squeeze 12 hours into like three.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

So unfortunate. Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Well, let's get that intro music going and we'll we'll introduce the podcast, changing it up a little bit. It's nice and peaceful this year. It is very peaceful. Very nice. Uh well, welcome to Phantom of Fandoms, the show where every single episode we dive into worlds that fans love.

Host Catch‑Up And Life Updates

SPEAKER_03 2:40

I am Nick with my co-hosts Ben and Michael, and we are just excited to sit here and have a nice peaceful conversation about Stardew Valley. Awesome. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Well, I'll uh kind of get well before I give the intro, I guess, uh maybe we should talk about what our backgrounds are. So, Ben, what's what's your background with Stardew Valley?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

I have been playing it on and off probably in since maybe a year after it came out. So nine years now, just on and off. I don't have like I have maybe 200 hours in it, maybe, which is still a lot. Like, I mean, that's probably one of the it's like of the all the games I've ever played, it's probably a significant like lead over anything else. Maybe Baldur's Gate. But okay, yeah. Um, but yeah, I have I have a good amount of knowledge, but I don't like I usually whenever I come back to it restart a farm. So like I I've only had like two or three deep runs, and I've never gotten like perfection and stuff like that. But yeah. Um Nick, I know you've played a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

I have. Um it's it's definitely one of my most played games. It's not my top. Um my top is Rocket League, actually. I have still I thought it was Mind Tracker. Yeah, I have not I didn't play Mind Sweep. I uh I haven't played it much recently, but I think it's still my top because I I legit do think I have over 500 hours in that game. But I was playing it pretty consistently for a while. But Stardew, I if I had to estimate probably somewhere to the tune of 60 or 70 hours, like something like that, I would imagine. Um, because I don't know. I made it into year two and I'm like well into year two, which I feel like takes a long while to get there. Um but uh yeah, no, I I've played it. I always have to I rely very heavily on the the wiki here.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Oh yeah, no, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Yeah. That that's the only way like I don't know how I'm sure there are some people that will play it and they're like, oh, you know what, I'm gonna be true. I'm just gonna figure it out along the way and whatever, but like it it is so dense, and if you want to be able to accomplish the things and know where to find the things and how to do the stuff and whatever, like I just don't think it's even possible. And I'm sure we'll get into it later. But I for me personally, I'm like, I I don't have time for that. I want to figure out where what are my goals and how can I accomplish those goals.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah. All right. Well, Michael, the person who's gonna give us the introduction of it, what is what's your knowledge of Stardew Valley?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

So, yeah, my background is at work today. I listened to the soundtrack, I think maybe about 30 minutes of it or so. And uh I felt

Introducing Casey & Stardew Focus

SPEAKER_00 5:10

very at peace like during the intro. So good.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Yeah, I got a question for you, Mike. So I know you've played some older games. Did you have you had an N64, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

No, no, I only had a PlayStation 1. Okay. I wasn't sure. No Harvest Moon, yeah. No harvest moon.

SPEAKER_03 5:24

Okay. It was based around like that's kind of where the the idea comes from. So I wasn't sure if you had played that one or not.

SPEAKER_00 5:30

Yeah. Well, uh, to that point, uh, why don't I go ahead and go the overview here? So uh Stardew Valley started as a true one-person passion project. Back in 2012, Eric Barone, better known as Concerned Ape, which is I found humorous, uh, wanted to make a game inspired by Harvest Moon, as you just said. Uh, but with deeper relationships, more freedom for players. So he did something kind of wild. He taught himself how to code, how to make pixel art, and compose music, and then built the entire game almost entirely on his own. Very impressive. Uh, after about four years of development, Stardew Valley launched in 2016 and quickly blew up. Uh, not just because of flashy graphics or marketing, but because it felt warm, thoughtful, genuinely personal. Um, since then it's kept growing through free updates and it's become one of those games people don't play just once, but they come back to do it over and over again. It's cozy, it's surprisingly deep, and it's a great example of how a small idea can turn into something huge.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

So uh before we pass to Casey just to get her like background on it, I will say one of the things I appreciate, like you just mentioned free updates, and the game itself costs like 20 bucks max. Like and so again, like for and nowadays, Michael, most games cost like 70 bucks. So, like and and half the time, like you have to buy DLC to get everything too. But like, yeah, uh concerned Ape has always released everything for free. He's not here to like make money. It was like you said, a passion project, and so like that's that's definitely one of the things I appreciate most about it. For sure.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

No, I I only recently found out uh that it was just one guy that did the game. I think it was um I don't even remember, I think it was when he announced the second game, and then I went and I looked into it and found out that he made this one basically by himself. And I I think in order to to appreciate that you have to play it to realize like just the scope of everything that he created is just insane. Um but I don't know, that's it's wild to me to think that he did it mostly just without a team. It was it was him just on his computer doing, you know, putting this all together. I don't know, it's just it's wild.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Yeah, yeah. Well, Casey, why don't you talk to us a little bit about like what what first got you into Stardew Valley?

SPEAKER_04 7:40

Um so it had to be my friends were playing it before. I was just a stubborn person like that. Um but prior to that I'd played a lot of Harvest Moon. Um actually not Harvest Moon 64, but a lot of uh More Friends in Mineral Town, Friends of Mineral Town, a wonderful life, which I think hot take, I think is one of the top ones, but that's that's another day. Um and uh I was actually like um really sick um the first time that I uh played it. Um so I was just like, I just need something that's you know like pretty easy. I can just kind of coast through, play as I want and everything. And my friends had recommended it, recommended it, finally got it through my thick skull. So I'm like, okay, I'll I'll give it a go. And uh granted I was, you know, like sick in bed slash on the couch those couple days, but I probably put at least like 20 hours into it over like the course of two or three days. Yeah. So it it got me pretty hooked right from the start.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

It sucks you in for sure. And like one of the things that like you kind of were talking about that I think is is one of the things that like people love most about the game is that all the time deadlines are like self-imposed, really. Like, you know, like there's

Origins Of Stardew Valley

SPEAKER_01 8:50

no like you can rush to try to get the community center done in year one or something like that, but you don't have to. Like you can take the game at your own pace. So yeah. Um well, Casey, like what what keeps you coming back to it after all this time?

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Well, kind of like one of the things you were saying, Nick, about how you know there's a certain way that you like to play it where you like to have the wiki up and everything, which to be fair, I do too. Um I I like to pride myself in thinking I know most of the stuff that I want to know going into it, but uh my prime setup is two screens harvest uh um Stardy Valley on one screen and the wiki on the other, just so that you know it's right there. Can when every single time I forget how much it costs to build a coop. Right I can pull it up right there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Um okay, so the wiki kind of guide so it gives you like how to play the game basically, or like what the mechanics are.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

You can search up everything. Okay. Um yeah, the cost of things. If there's a specific so every single character in the game has their own likes and dislikes. There are the community center that she just mentioned, like it has a a bunch of missions that you've got to do, and those missions involve collecting certain items, and there's a lot of items in the game that can only be collected at certain times of the year or certain places and things like that. So that's basically what it goes over.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Fish, for example. Like I always forget where what fish are where and when and like what weather, like it has to be raining to catch this one or whatever. Which uh did we talk about in the overview, like the actual like premise of the game itself?

SPEAKER_03 10:15

I guess not.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

No, I don't think so. No.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

No, we really just talked about Barome.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah. Okay, well, so those of you who haven't, it's a um the whole premise is you are given a rundown farm by your grandfather, who he passed away, right? Yeah, he passed away, leaves you in his will uh and a rundown farm. And so you wanting to escape from the city and like the busy life, you're like, okay, well, yeah, let's go do this. And so you inherit this farm, and it again, it's it's completely like all the the farmland itself is covered in trash and debris and stuff like that. So, you know, the first parts of the game are clearing it off and starting to plant stuff, but then you can go fishing, you can go down into the mines and find valuable stuff, you can um build barns and coops and raise animals like cows and chickens and stuff like that, and some more exotic ones too. But yeah, so it's all just about like building your farm bigger and bigger and unlocking new things and making money a little bit, but like, you know, it's again not one where like you're like, oh man, I I want to be the richest person possible. Because you hit it I at some point you hit a point in the game where like you're bringing in thousands of gold every day and you're like, eh, it's fine.

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Like, I'm assuming you do a community center run. Okay, yeah, you're right. Joja run.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So yeah, Michael, for for and for our listeners listeners who may not know Joja, Joja Mart is like think of it as Walmart, you know, like big big business, like kind of it's supposed to be kind of an evil-ish entity.

SPEAKER_04 11:41

Like Consignape does a very good job of painting it as morally bad. Um and other fun fact, that was actually where the farmer starts out working. Oh yeah, that's right. Um such an extra layer to then choosing to go and uh partner with JoJorp um instead of revitalizing the community center as the game wants you to do, but we'll get into that.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Ah, okay. I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

I gotcha. Yeah. So consumerism or small business. Yeah, right. Which one are you gonna support, Michael? No, yeah, exactly. Uh gosh. Well, uh, Casey, like besides Harvest Moon, which heavily inspired it, and it's it's launched a line of many other cozy games.

What Makes Stardew Stand Out

SPEAKER_01 12:20

But what do you think makes it more, I don't know, like um, what makes it stand out from other cozy games?

SPEAKER_04 12:27

Yeah, I mean, I think there are a lot of different factors that come into play um for Stardew Valley's success. I think it capitalizes on um, I mean, obviously it comes in the coattails of uh Harvest Moon, which I think then rebranded to Story of Seasons, but it's not that Harvest Moon. I'm not exactly sure where that went. But anyway, um Yeah, it capitalizes on the success of that, but it also builds on a little bit more um modern themes in video games while also tapping into um the nostalgia with the the pixel art and the style and the music and everything. Um but yeah, some of those more modern themes, like having a bit more mature um characters to relate to, um, and just a little bit uh more depth of story while also like there's a lack of um what is actually canon, and I I'll get into that later. Um, but that allows for you know the players to kind of come up with their own story, their own reasons as to why this is like this and why their character is like this and everything. So it just it um allows the player to have a lot of creativity and really create their own story and world within this world that's already been created for them and specifically for them, and that's another thing I'll talk on later.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

Is there like there is there is Stardew Valley fan fiction? Is this a like people just wow? I didn't even know that part.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

That's interesting. Yeah, so there are what like 24 at least characters in the game like that you can build relationships with?

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Yeah, yeah, definitely a number like that. I'm not gonna numb it. Oh yeah, I think one of the first missions um on you know in the very beginning is like you have to meet all 27 maybe.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Okay, yeah. Yeah. So and each of those characters has their own backstories, their own like um throughout the day. So every every you play like days, and every day is what 25 minutes, 30 minutes?

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Like 15, 20.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Really? Okay, that fact.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

I've played it enough.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Yeah, there you go. Um so like yeah, and but every day they have their own patterns, they like where they go. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, and because you can give people gifts and stuff like that. And so there's again, that's very complex like personalities built out into each one of them.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Yeah, that's crazy. And Baron, like, he created all that backstory, like every character's backstory, and like wow, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 14:39

Yeah. And I think part of it too that uh again made it such a success was that a lot of the um previous ones that had come before, like Harvest Moon, I'll mainly focus on that specifically, but because that's a like Japanese created game, there are a lot of I don't want to say like tropes and stereotypes, but the the characters have to fit into a certain kind of mold. And um Stardew Valley didn't have to do that. So again, that's that you know, additional uh character depth, a bit more m mature uh characters, uh more variety, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:12

I can remember after playing Stardew for a little bit, I wanted to see um you know, because I knew that the Harvest Moon was like this established gaming, like it'd been around for a long time. They had released tons of different titles within the the property and all that stuff, and I was I was kind of in the mindset that I'm like, well, I wonder, like, is Stardew like the the the gold standard? And I started searching around and I would go in and like try to you know just do some some Google searches and find out like hey, I want to play Stardew Valley, but like I've I've put enough hours into it. I want to try like I want I want to go and see if one of these other games is as good or whatever. And I think I did try one of the highest rated um harvest moons, and I was like, you know what? It's just it's just really good. Yeah, um call it out. I don't remember. I I seriously there's there's too many. I can't remember which one it was. Um but yeah, I I I went back and I realized after having playing it that it's just not that the depth is not even close to the amount of depth that you get in Stardew. Um and that that's I to me what makes it stand out for sure is that you can kind of spend your time doing a lot of different things. Um and I I don't know, it blows my mind. Like I went through and completed all the way through the the the mines, and that took ages to get through the the first mine. Oh, and then I realized that there was another mine, and then I went to to go try that out and um. Have you been to the island? I have not even managed to get the boat up and running. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

There's another there's some more mines on the island too.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Is there? Yep. And I'm sure and they get aren't they even harder than the one like I I feel like even with my uh I I thought I had like the the good armor and the good stuff that you needed to make it through, but when I went into the the second mine, I was like, nope, no, I'm I'm dying pretty easily compared to how I was in the the first one.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

But anyways, Skull Cavern will humble anyone, yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Isn't there there's also like a challenge, like can't you like turn something on and make it so that they're all more challenging? Is that I yeah, so I I want to go more in depth with it, but like I don't even know what I would need to to make that happen because I must not be good enough. I I can't probably they can I get taken out. These stupid things can hit you with one hit and just take down all your health all of a sudden. You can't spend like uh man, I can remember going down several levels trying to go through those mines because that was my like when I first started playing through, I think after I don't know, like I got my my my my farm up and running a little bit. I had some regular income coming from that, some animals, and then I was like, you know, I'm gonna go to the mine. I'm gonna really like get some of the get the minerals and all that stuff and get my collection in the the library and all that. And yeah, that was uh that was my main focal point of the game for a long while, was just all right, gotta go down to the mines. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

That's how a lot of people play it, and I think too, part of the success of that is that so like you were saying, like, you know, you thought you had the right armor and the right uh weapon and stuff like that. It's actually pretty limited in that regard. So you're kind of focused, and the combat itself is very simple. And yet, yeah, you you have to find a way to make it work with this very simple combat, these limited um armor, armory, and weapons. Yeah. Um, so it kind of is just get good. Sorry. Confirmed.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Nick is not good in Star. No, it's the truth.

The Premise, Systems, And Choice

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I yeah. Well, do you have the galaxy sword? No, you gotta at least have that.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Uh I do what is the I don't remember which one I've got. It's the I don't know, isn't there some kind of a doesn't matter if it's not a galaxy sword or something like that? Uh a red one. What's the red one? It's the best one I found. Yeah, yeah. I thought it was a katana, yeah. Um I think that's that's all I've gotten up to so far. The galaxy sword, though. Where do you find that at?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Oh, you gotta get a prismatic shard. Okay. And go into the desert. Oh, yeah, go on.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Yeah, and then have it get struck by lightning.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

Oh, okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

Sure, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

In the desert, there are like these three pillars that you stand between and you just hold the prismatic shard up above your head and you get a sword. Okay. Naturally. Yes. As it happens.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Didn't you read that on the wiki?

SPEAKER_03 19:17

Is that I I had not yet. I had made it that far. Is that the best sword in the game then?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Is that the I think so? No? No. I mean, okay, so like probably added more. Casey, Casey will like the 1.6 update, which came out what, like a year ago?

SPEAKER_04 19:31

Uh 2024, March.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

2024, yeah. So like it added so much that I don't even I'd know nothing about that Casey knows all about. So maybe that's one of those. Well, relatively speaking.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

Yeah, and I was just thinking earlier, like, I think if we if we're thinking of the same sword, the Lava Katana, and I mean I may be wrong, and I'm so sorry for being wrong on the internet, but Heaven forbid. The Lava Katana may actually have more power than the galaxy sword, but then you have to take into consideration weight and swing speed and um like other bonus effects that it can have. So again, it's you're you're working with like limited um uh differences in your armor and weapons and stuff like that, so you have to kind of create your own combat style.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Interesting. See, there we go.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Okay, well, does do either of you ever use the slingshot?

SPEAKER_03 20:16

Um I have on occasion, if something is is trapped, because I'm not very fast at doing it. So I need room to aim and and make that happen. All right. I did not find it very effective. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

That's why I'm like, does anyone use it?

SPEAKER_04 20:34

That's that's honestly more than I've used it, if I can be totally real.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah, hot take, I get it and put it in my bin immediately and just like it sits there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Well, clearly it needs a buff, is what we're concerned ape if you're listening. Maybe 1.7. I think you'll hear this podcast. Obviously.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

Yeah. Oh man. All right. Shall we move on?

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Uh Nick, do you want to take our next segment? Um, well, we we the big part of our podcast is kind of um where to start. Obviously, a lot of times we're dealing with more uh things that have a lot of different parts to the the property itself. This has, I would say, less, more so. But what what would you say if you had to say where somebody should start with Stardew Valley? What's your your recommendation, or what's maybe on a playthrough if they were gonna go in and like what should be their focus first, or what's the easy way for a beginner?

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Oh boy. Um well, as I was doing research for this, like I said, I want to do well by y'all, but um, one of the things that I kept coming back to was that there is no like one way to play this game. Um, and like Bedan mentioned before, there's no like timeline to everything. Um, so you can either play it. I kind of thought of it as, you know, your type A person and your type B person. Your type A person is very much like, I'm gonna get everything done as quick as possible. I'm gonna make as much money as possible, I'm gonna like, you know, speed run through everything, or the type B person that's like, I'm gonna make my farm nice and pretty. Okay, it might not be like super functional, and I'm just gonna like you know get to know these characters and enjoy the time and everything. So I think you want to recognize first and foremost what what kind of player you're going to be. Like, are you are you in it to like to get the completion, to get perfection, or are you in it for the cozy experience? And either is valid. Um but so yeah, recognizing that and then um again, you can start in on your own. Um, and it is pretty daunting. I've a few people that I've talked to who like started Stardew Valley but then like absolutely puttered out, which they're in the minority, but um they've you know said that it was really intimidating. All the characters, the big map, um, all the things that you can do.

unknown 22:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

Absolutely valid. Um, you know, if you're starting in on your own, feeling intimidated, just take it one thing at a time. Start with just, you know, learn what the farming is and everything. Um again, like like Ben said earlier, there's no timeline, no consequences for taking a year to uh complete the first objective or anything like that. Um or on the flip side, since it does have really good um uh cooperative play, um, both locally and online, finding someone else or some other people to play with you, because I think it can host up to four people, maybe even eight at the latest update. Wow. I don't remember, I don't remember exactly, definitely four though. Um I didn't even know.

SPEAKER_03 23:19

Is it is it couch co-op as well? I've never two people. You can split screens.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

Cool. Yeah. Um, but yeah, finding other people to play with again, assuming their play styles line up with yours.

SPEAKER_03 23:30

We should have addressed Michael with this question because he's never played, so that would have been the Michael, what would be your what would be your farm? How would you how would you play the game?

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Um, that's such a good question. I think I would lean towards how you describe the type B person, like just kind of enjoying it, like just seeing what it's about. Like, I don't know that I would go in there super like I want to get all this stuff done, and like, you know, I think I'd be more on the just like explore type, you know, and just kind of do my own thing. Here for the vibes. Yeah, exactly. It's funny too.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

Like, while it is a complex game, like it's weird. I I would describe it as complex but also simple at the same time. Like it's not a hard game to go in and like learn how to play the game. Like it is relatively simple. Like you're gonna, you're mining, you're fishing, you're farming, you're taking care of your animals. Yeah. Uh you're going, you're foraging. Um frolicking. Absolutely, you can frolick while I'm in. But that's the I mean, truthfully, I feel like that's the basis of the game. Like, there's not a whole lot outside of that, but what it really comes down to is the complexity of all of the stuff that he has put into it and the way that it interacts with each other. And I there's just there's just a lot. Like I said, that's what makes it complex more than anything.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Simple to learn, complex to master. Yes. That's a good way to put it. You should put that on a bumper sticker.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

That's right. Absolutely. Stardew Valley's slogan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Oh man. I want to. So we we haven't even addressed this right here. We got this cool thing up here on the on the table for our YouTube watchers.

Mines, Gear, And 1.6 Changes

SPEAKER_03 25:10

Yeah, exactly. It's always there for it.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Well, this is mine. This is the the Stardew Valley board game that released. It was on Kickstarter at first, but then I think about six months ago they released it uh on a wide publication. And you can see it's by concern ape, like so the maker of the video game also made this. Um, it's a cooperative board game. Nick and you and I have played it. Yeah, like and it's it's complex. Again, like all the systems are there. Um it was a good bit of fun.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

Like, I really enjoyed playing it. I think you and I played it. I if we ever played it again, I'd want to play it more uh the the more complex, like the harder version of the code.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Oh, we played the easy version. It was still like so whereas the game doesn't have like strict time deadlines and stuff like this, this absolutely does. You have one year to get like all this stuff done, and so like which is like 12 turns or something like that. Like it's it's it goes fast, but um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

It's maybe we should do like a bonus content episode where the four of us play the game and we'll just record it.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

That would be fun. I would gotta twist my arm. Yeah. No, I totally would. It was it was fun to play. I really I enjoyed uh hanging out and playing it with Ben because it does feel like the game itself. I mean, it's it's wild, so it's cool that he made that. And that apparently he's not only a master of creating like the the coding and what have you, but a board game master as well.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

I'd have to look at maybe he maybe he had help, but like I mean his name is the only like the publisher on it. So yeah, yeah, I see that. Yeah. Well, um, the next part of the starter pack we usually go to, Casey, for you, is your impassioned plea or elevator pitch. Formally called elevator pitch.

SPEAKER_04 26:47

Oh, they're not my words, unfortunately. I'm plagiarizing. Okay. That's all right. We do that. Uh apologies to not a placeofhonor.tumbler.com, but they made a just really succinct uh post about it.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Love it. All right. Sweet.

SPEAKER_04 27:01

Yeah, so uh basically, and Ben kind of said this earlier too, but it's a $15 indie game that came out almost a decade ago with zero microtransactions, still receiving free DLC updates to this day, which is absolutely bonkers. Uh, there are like, you know, $50 to $60 AAA games with paid DLC that have come out more recently and aren't nearly as actively supported or updated. Um, another big part again is like you can just tell that this game was just made by some guy who's really passionate about making this. And um, just based on the kind of content that comes out and the different updates, you can tell that like he's one that is interacting and listening to the fans. And, you know, if he's hearing them say, We want this, then he's like, All right, fine, here, have this. It's your world.

SPEAKER_02 27:47

I just make it.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

Um, and you know, like I said, there are so many different ways to play it. Um, it's just you can pour a lot of hours into it.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Great, beautiful, awesome. That was great. Beautiful and passion, please. That's going on a while. Well, yeah, thanks for that. Yeah. That was great. We're at the halfway point, so let's go ahead and take a quick break and uh we'll be back with some more.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Good deal.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

All right. I'm still feeling peaceful, guys. I mean, this is great. This is the winter theme or one of the winter themes. Yeah, perfect. Yeah. You're good at like the themes and lining things up. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

I didn't realize. So, in addition to the game, he made all the music himself too. Is that what you said? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

He learned to compose. Yeah. And then, right, yeah.

unknown 28:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

That is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah. It's somewhat simple music, but it's in the best way, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Yeah, for sure. That was great. All right. Well, next segment, let's jump into fandom culture. Um, so first question here, and this is for obviously, you know, anyone. Uh, what content outside of the game is there? So, like, we talked about the board game, you know, but are there uh any creators out there doing anything interesting or you know, et cetera, et cetera? So um I Nick, I know you mentioned it.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

I was gonna say I I'll jump in. I know um, because I had read about it recently, and I didn't know if either of you guys had heard about it, that he had been approached about uh making a movie at some point. Have you guys heard about that?

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Is that Casey mentioned something about it right before we started recording and you got here, but like yeah, you want to say what you were saying before?

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Uh sure. So yeah, uh this is um yeah, essentially he's been very um loose with his IP, letting just you know anyone uh create things for it, even if they make a little money off of it. Um, but the one thing that he's holding tight to is that um he is not gonna let go of his IP for any kind of movie deal. He said specifically, unless Studio Ghibli approaches him, which to be fair is absolutely the company that would do it justice.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. They'd have to be so it would you that'd be wild. It could it ever be like a live action star, dude? That would be crazy. Live action. Oh no, please.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Okay, well let okay, we're gonna go off script here a little bit. Okay, we kind of brainstorm what would be the story.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

So we I mean it would follow the same thing. Like, so you make your own characters, so like we we could cast any pretty much anyone as the farmer.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah. So grandfather dies, they inherit the farm, they gotta bring it back to life. I mean, honestly, that's a that is a great story. Yeah, it can happen.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

You got your antagonist Joja Corp, who definitely wants to sabotage your efforts to revitalize the community center.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

What's the name of the Pierre? Is that his name? Pierre. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:43

Are you wait? Uh are you talking the general store person or the Pierre's Morris. Morris is Joja Corp.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

Mo Morris is like the head of Jojo Corp. Like one of the very first days he is in the um the general store, like the small shop, like handing out coupons for discounts at Jojo Mart. Like, hey, don't shop here. Like he goes straight up into the shop. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

You know, this could be a good Hallmark movie. I was just thinking, as I was saying that, like he was like, Yeah, it's a little hallmarky, but a little hallmarky, yeah. Which is fine. I mean Yeah. Well, Casey, what about you? Anything outside of the game that comes to mind, like content-wise?

SPEAKER_04 31:18

I mean, I've been a big fan

How To Start And Playstyles

SPEAKER_04 31:20

of all the art that has come um out of the game. Um, I can't, you know, list anything specifically, but there have just been a lot of really talented artists who have um, you know, just uh tried their hand at, whether it's um the characters, the landscapes, or even, you know, if you include um people who make mods for the game, which can run the gamut from um you know, full-fledged additional content um such as like Stardew Valley expanded or Ridge Side Valley, um, to you know, just people who like, hey, I noticed that this character sprite looked a little funky. So here's a here's a mod to make their character sprite look a little different, or um, you know, make the scenery a bit of a different art style. There's there's just a whole lot of stuff out there.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

Wow, that's cool. Lots of just like more furniture you can put in your house that like people like just want like all just designed to themselves. Yeah, like like so like a lot of the game is like cozy vibes. So like if you want to make your house like interior nice and cozy and exactly what you want, people build out.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

I always wondered about that because he did not, I mean, like there is some some customization within there, but I'm sure now that you say that, I'm sure there's probably a whole lot more that people have just made and put into the game. Oh, a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

And a lot of the mods uh typically have to do with the romance paths and everything. So to add additional like romance content or change how a character's romance goes, um, there's a lot out there.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I wanna I wanna revisit the fan fiction for a minute because I was intrigued. What what if so I I'm assuming you have at least um partaken in some of what what's the like what do people write about? What's the the focus, or maybe in any of the things that you've read, what's the what's the story been that they've added to?

SPEAKER_04 32:55

Yeah, well, um a lot of the fan fiction definitely centers on the um um bachelors and bachelorettes because they're uh typically the most interesting to explore because they have the most content for them and everything. Now you got your diehards for people who are non-romancible, but that's a whole nother thing. Um so it's just a lot of exploring different character relationships, um, whether it's between the villagers um or as it more often is, a farmer and the villagers, which then it's it it opens things up a lot because again, you've got a diverse um you know, the farmer can be anyone in any kind of way. So then that also brings in the author's own character, so to speak. So there's a lot of stuff around that. But again, just because like that's the protagonist, and typically you write about the protagonist. Um, so there's there's a lot out there. Um, but yeah, mainly just focusing on the relationships between different characters.

SPEAKER_03 33:53

Yeah, I'm I'm fascinated by it. I mean, it doesn't surprise me, but I mean it's just man, it's wild. I can't it'd be I might have to go, I might go on a deep dive later. Here I am gonna be looking at it. Be careful out there.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

I will say one of the biggest barriers to entry is that a lot of authors will tend to write actually in second person. Yeah. Which is something very strange to initially read. But if you think about it like that is probably the best way to approach like a choose your own adventure kind of not not quite. Like it's it's very it very much follows a typical narrative for the most part, but it's just written in second person, and that's to kind of make up for the fact that the farmer can be theoretically anyone. Um so unless you are like specifically creating your own character and have like a specific story in my um this second person kind of allows for just that. You don't have to build your own farmer to show to everyone, they can just kind of step in.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Oh, very cool. Yeah, awesome. Well, uh are there any hot takes in the fandom? So let's get to hot takes. So, like, are there any hot takes within the fandom itself, or even that you have personally, maybe that you've heard from other uh uh Stardew Valley partakers?

SPEAKER_04 35:03

Yeah, so I in doing my research came up with a list of different things that people get feisty about. Um one of which is the character Clint. Um, there's the whole thing around the um the children in Stardew Valley. Um there is the whole witch and Abigail.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Um there is uh There's a lot okay, so Clint, which character is he? He's the blacksmith. Oh, the blacksmith. Okay. What's the what do people get feisty about Clint?

SPEAKER_04 35:32

Oh, a lot of people do not like him as a character just because he does kind of come up of a come off as a bit of a creep, especially with his crush on Emily. Yeah. Um there's also a part if you yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Um you would think I would know that considering that's my romance partner.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

You you don't remember the part where like you you got the girl and he comes up and he's like, hey man, you win, okay. I've I'd forgotten about it. I'm glad you request that.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

That's funny. Okay. So Clint's a creep, got it. Awesome. A little bit.

SPEAKER_04 36:05

Or at least that's the take. Some people are like, hey man, he just has really low self-confidence. Maybe he's you know struggling with social cues and stuff like that. There are lots of different ways to look at it, but the awkward blacks pretty divided.

unknown 36:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

I mean, he just sits in his blacksmith shop eight hours a day, except for what, like Thursdays or whatever. I can't remember what Thursdays and Sundays. I don't go often enough. Yeah. What? I know cracking open geodes. That's I'm there like every other day to crack open geodes.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

I only go on luck days.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Oh, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Well, wait a second. Luck days.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

What are luck days? Okay. You know how you have a fortune teller

The Board Game Adaptation

SPEAKER_01 36:40

channel on your TV?

SPEAKER_03 36:41

Oh, right, right, right. Okay, yes. So you wait for a high luck day.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

You'll be more likely to get the good stuff from the kids.

SPEAKER_03 36:47

Oh yeah, okay. I've I honestly had forgotten about that.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

For me, it's most it's usually just like I can't have this in my inventory anymore. And like I can't keep track of which chest I've got, which the which things in, and so I'll just go open them. It's fine. How many chests do you have? What?

SPEAKER_03 37:04

How many chests do you have?

SPEAKER_01 37:05

It depends on which game we're asking about here.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

But your main game?

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Do you have a my main game is on PC and I haven't touched it in years, but there were a significant amount. Yeah. For a while I had I had a bunch of mods in. One of them is that you can automate like um all your gem replicators, you can automate your cheesemakers and all this stuff. So like I had they were like all connected. Each one was like a series of them connected to a chest.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

And so Ben was a capitalist in this playthrough.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

Some of the mods like do some stuff that make it real easy. Like even something little simple as like one of my favorites is like automatic opening of the gates, like for your fences. Such a tiny thing, but to just walk up to your fence gate and just be able to like you don't have to hit the button to open it and accidentally hit it too many times and break open your gate and then just get really frustrated. Or is that just me?

SPEAKER_04 37:55

That would happen on a as I was playing earlier today. Actually, I went to open the gate, shut it on myself, open it again, and went to shut it and then pick like a flower nearby, which I didn't mean to pick.

unknown 38:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

It happens. That's a really frustrating thing when you pick your flowers because you can't put them back and they're you need them to make honey. Oh, I gotcha. Yeah. It's important to be at Michael's head right now. I feel like he's just blue screening until he's addressed. No, no, no. No, I'm I'm I'm engaged. I'm no, I know. I'll just give you a hard time.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

So any any other what's you had a whole list here. Now I'm like intrigued. You said something about the kids.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

What was the Yeah, so the kids that they're not supervised? Yeah, so the kids were um, I don't remember which update they came in, but uh nonetheless, they have not really been addressed very much.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

Oh, you mean the kids that you can have? Is that the kids?

SPEAKER_04 38:53

Yes, I'm not talking about uh jazz or Vincent or anything. Um, no, no. The kids that you can have with your romantic partner. Um, yeah. I I hate to see it, but somebody on on Reddit put it really, really well that once you have kids in Stardew, it just becomes a a a child neglect simulator. Because they're they're basically there, you can interact with them once a day. They you know a little heart comes over their head, and then that's about it. And then you just leave them and go do your thing. And sometimes your spouse like your dog.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

You like your dog, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:27

Yeah, yeah. Then your like spouse just leaves and your kids are home alone for 10 hours a day, but it's fine because all they do is putter around and yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

So I was gonna hit the uh the trombone sound effect, but honestly, that's a little too sad.

Elevator Pitch For New Players

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Yeah, the the trombone is more for you know the the funny sad stuff, but this is just like legitimately sad.

SPEAKER_04 39:46

Well yeah, so hot take, I do not care for the current situation of what the kids are in Stardew Valley. Now there's rumor in 1.7 that he's going to touch on that or you know, address that a little bit. But as it stands right now, honestly, the kids just are a bummer. And so I've chosen not to have them in many of my games. Yeah, yeah, because they don't even without mods, they don't even like look like you or your partner. They're just these random little spawns that come in. You don't get to interact with them much, they don't do anything. Like that's fine.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

Yeah, yeah. Maybe I'll add it in and make it more like the now it's gonna turn into the Sims. Like it'll be Stardew Valley Sims.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

You know, there was a Harvest Moon game. I believe it was either Tree of Tranqu Tree of Tranquility or Animal Parade. I get those two mixed up all the time, where you could actually do a legacy run. Oh, yeah. Yeah, raise a child and then play as that child in the next iteration. I never got to that point, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

I'm intrigued. But at the same time, like I feel like your farm in Stardew after three years is like as good as it's gonna get a lot of the time. So like there's nowhere farther to go with like a kid, but it could be interesting nonetheless. Oh gosh. Well, I think it's good time for us to jump into our group discussion. So, Nick, I wrote these would you rather questions, but you can read them. But like Nick, you do better. You just read them this, yeah. But I will say I I I wrote these as if for you, Casey, to tell us in real life if you would rather do these things. So not in the game, but in real life, if these things were to come up. What would you rather do?

SPEAKER_03 41:12

That's a good way of phrasing. Yeah, I like that. Uh, would you rather spend the night hanging out at Stardrop Saloon or down at the docks trying to catch some rare fish?

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Oh, this is an easy question. So I am a huge introvert, and yet I would rather spend the night at the saloon. Because, because in this game, again, uh depending on how you play it, but the way I play it a lot is building those relationships with the villagers and everything like that. And in my run, my perfection run, which is not quite at perfection yet, um, one of the things you have to do is get everybody up to eight or ten hearts, depending. Um, and one of the things that I found just really uh cathartic and enjoyable was every Thursday and Friday, no, sorry, Friday and Saturday night, most people would be at the saloon. I always made sure I was there by five or six o'clock, nice and punctual. I was there talking to everyone, enjoying the music, watching Robin and Demetrius dance, watching uh Sebastian taunt Sam at pool and all those things. And then I tried the arcade games a few times and got mad at those. But anyway, it was a real fun time. Uh

Fandom Culture, Mods, And Art

SPEAKER_04 42:10

but yeah, much rather do that.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

I've not spent much time in the star drop saloon myself. That's why I think I have you know the maximum hearts with my love interest, and then like one heart with like two other And that's again, that's an okay way to play it. You can be an introvert except for your romantic interest. Yeah. Oh man. Uh would you rather spend a day in the mines hunting ore and monsters or a day on the farm tending animals and planting seeds?

SPEAKER_04 42:36

Oh, farm 100%. It I You don't yearn for the mines. I do not have a yearning for the mines, actually. No. That is when I when I play with others, others are like, okay, I'm gonna go to the mines, but like, you do that. I'm gonna go plant some seeds. I'm gonna make this grass over here look pretty. No, I'd take a farm day any day.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

See, my uh I do not I'm not that type B either with my farm, like making it look all pretty. Like I'm trying to unlock the parts of it and like making, you know, so I've got all the buildings and they're upgraded as much as they can be and all that, but I am not I go and I look at some people with these farms that they've created and like, oh, it's all beautiful, and every space is taken up, and they've put out put down their pavers to make it look like in a certain way. And I'm like, man, I really I should put time into that making my farm look pretty. Yeah. Uh would you rather have a magic spa that could rejuvenate your energy or the statue of endless fortune that gives you a random item every day? I know what I would pick for sure.

SPEAKER_04 43:35

Well, I I'd love to hear.

SPEAKER_03 43:37

Oh, I'm going the first one. Rejuvenate your energy every day. Yeah. Uh that that sounds like I I need one of those. I'm I'm dreaming of that. You need a back to tank. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:47

That's that's absolutely my pick too. And also it just goes more thematically with with the game itself, and that like you want to build up your own farm, legacy, whatever you want to call it. And you do that with your own two hands, not with the That are handed to you. Except for the farm, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

Which is substantial. But you know, we'll we'll look overlook that.

SPEAKER_03 44:09

It's a small loan. Um would you rather have a return scepter or food that could give you buffs, like more strength, speed, and luck?

SPEAKER_04 44:18

I mean, as much as I love food, I do hate commute times. So it would be really, really convenient to just maximize that, you know, time part of my life and that like, okay, I need to go here, boom, I'm there. And okay, I need to go back, boom, I'm back, and have all that extra time to do other things with.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

I know, isn't there so I know you can get like the totems to go to different places, but there's not one that you can like, because I know the return scepter, isn't that the one that's only back to your farm? Yeah. But that's the one that you can do it. Like it's it's just it's infinite.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah. Infinite.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

And you buy it for however many gold. What is it? 10,000, 100,000 gold. That's substantial, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

But uh there's also you can build permanent totems. What are they? I can't remember what they call it. Pillars or something. Yeah. But you can put them on your farm. They can take you to the beach, the desert, the mines. Is that one? No. Mountains. Mountains. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:09

I rely on just the mine carts to I mean the mine carts are handy too. Don't get me wrong. So to I didn't even know about that. So you can have the totems that you put on your farm to go to Yeah. I believe you get them from the wizard. Okay. So you could do that, like have your here's my work totem, and then I've got my return totem to go. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Here's my grocery totem. Like yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Amazing.

SPEAKER_03 45:31

Um last one. Would you rather be able to see how many hearts you have with a given person or a visual representation of your energy or stamina?

SPEAKER_04 45:41

See, I thought about this one. Um I would definitely prefer the hearts just so that you can really know where you stand with somebody.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing, actually. Because I know how I feel. I feel like garbage, I know.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

So I don't need I don't need a thing to tell me that.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

You've got a general idea of how many spoons you have in any given day, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:01

It's fair. It'd be like the same as having like the the needs and sims, right? Yeah, a little bit. Let's tell you immediately. Do I really need those? I'm hungry. No, I just feel it. So technically those already exist, right? Well, we can go on to our uh our more just open-ended questions. So who wants to ask our first one? Michael, why don't you start us off?

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Yeah, I'd love to. I'd love to. So this is my favorite question of all time. I think I've asked most of our guests. This is my favorite question too. So but uh what is the local stardew scene like in Columbus? And have you ever made any real life connections through the fandom?

SPEAKER_04 46:38

Um, I'm sorry to disappoint. I have not done a lot of uh IRL stuff here in Columbus. I've been mostly um online, so I don't have a good answer for you there. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

No, it's all good. All good. Do we want to um address what just happened?

SPEAKER_03 46:57

I was just gonna let it happen.

SPEAKER_00 46:59

Okay, listeners, this is why you need to watch on YouTube because you miss you miss all the uh all the fun shenanigans.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

So Casey has poured her drink from a jar of mayonnaise.

SPEAKER_04 47:12

Excuse me, it's why 1.6 juice.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

1.6 juice, I apologize. Would you care to explain?

SPEAKER_04 47:18

I'd be happy to explain.

Hot Takes: Clint, Kids, And Lore

SPEAKER_04 47:20

So um back in 2021, um, again, Eric interacting with uh his fans and everything on Twitter. Um, someone had asked him about like, um, why can't you why can't the uh player character eat pickles or like drink things out of a jar, like mayonnaise specifically? Um, which great question. It leads to even greater things. But anyway, um his response was something to the effect of um, you know, they asked, like, do you just not are are you a pickle hater? Do you not like mayonnaise? Um and so his answer was essentially uh Why are you reading so much into this guy? You know, some people just don't have better things to do. But anyway, um it again it came to a great spot uh because he was like, you know, I like pickles well enough, mayonnaise, uh, I plead the fifth. Um the the boring answer was that he didn't want to make an animation for the farmer, like opening the jar and pulling out a pickle and eating it and everything. Um, but apparently that stuck enough to where people continued to badger and badger and badger about well, why can't we drink mayonnaise? It's a liquid, theoretically, in a jar. And then uh March 17th of 2024, two days before 1.6 came out, he um put out a a tweet that was uh just a single patch note that said, You can now drink mayonnaise.

SPEAKER_00 48:37

Oh, wow, amazing.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

And people celebrated this news. Um it became a a bit of a meme. And uh yeah, just but it yeah, just one of the one of the pillars of the 1.6 update in in my heart.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Yeah. That's that is just now in my mug.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 48:55

That is connecting with your fans on another level. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:58

I mean, truly, truly it is.

SPEAKER_03 49:00

I was I it just now caught my eye, now that I'm paying attention, that you are your your outfit is full of veggies like you grow on the farm. So I I appreciate the thematic matching of your outfit there. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

While I was out shopping today, I literally almost I wanted to find like a turnip or something so bad and just like have some raw vegetable on it.

SPEAKER_04 49:19

I know, I'm just sad I didn't I couldn't find a uh uh typical straw hat. Uh yeah. But you know, I also haven't won any egg hunts lately, so do I really deserve it? That's how you get the straw hat.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

Oh, I see. Okay. Gotcha. That's a very funny joke. You get to participate in even though it's for kids and it's all kids in the kids and Abigail? Well, you get how old are we?

SPEAKER_03 49:42

But my hat of choice is the fedora, anyways. I feel like I'm playing as Indiana Jones walking around by Fedora. Uh I think I've got a green jacket or something weird, like lime green that I've made. Nice. Matches perfectly, obviously. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:59

All right, back yeah, back into our discussion questions. So if the villagers of Pelican town were real people, who would you most want to befriend and who would you avoid?

SPEAKER_04 50:09

I think for befriending, definitely Leah, she's just got a real chill vibe. She absolutely belongs in Stardew Valley. Um, she's an artist, she's a steward of the land. Um she's just really friendly, really laid back. Um I mean, yeah, I I love love me some Leah. Um as for avoid I mean, there there's a whole clint thing that we talked about.

SPEAKER_03 50:35

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Yeah. Um and I don't think I would avoid intentionally for personality, but I feel like the fish stench that Willie would probably have would not entice me to want to spend more time.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

Willie is the fisherman who lives in a shack like on the ocean. Wow, so he's legit.

SPEAKER_04 50:54

Yeah, that's that's pretty much where he spends most of his personality is great, but you know, some things you can't overcome.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

I can't think of her name. Who's uh oh who's the bus driver? Pam. Pam Pam, that's right. And she usually she's if she's not driving the bus, she's hanging out at the at the saloon, right? Or their trailer. Or their trailer, yeah, I forgot.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

Yeah, oh, it is my turn.

SPEAKER_03 51:17

I'm sorry. I see, here we go. Um, if you inherited a rundown farm and had the opportunity to leave everything behind, would you?

SPEAKER_04 51:25

So, fun fact, I really considered this one because my um grandma has a farm um where she grew up on. It's uh one of those like centennial farms now. Um, and there are only two of us grandchildren, and I was just 11 years short of getting to inherit a farm out in the middle of nowhere. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_03 51:44

Yeah, could have lived Stardew for real life.

SPEAKER_04 51:47

I could have, yeah. Um, but no, now I now I get to enjoy it in a way where we just you know go there uh for like a week in the summer and I don't have to worry about you know taking care of the farm, taking care of the land. So really it's it's a win-win thing. But if given the opportunity in a real life situation, I love my modern conveniences too much.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Yeah, yeah, fair.

SPEAKER_04 52:09

The internet out there is so poor, you have to drive 30 minutes to get to anything. If you forget a single thing for your meal, you are SOL unless your neighbors have, you know, one of your two neighbors has whatever you're looking for. So yeah, I'd I'd have to give it a pass, but a nice, you know, vacation there would be enjoyable.

SPEAKER_03 52:26

I've dreamed of a simpler life these days. I don't know. Really you have all lately. I don't know if it would be on the farm, but like just all right, let me go and like just sell the property and go live somewhere on a I don't know, a beach town somewhere and live a simple life, open a burger shack, I don't know. Like, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Um I'll ask a question here. Um If Stardew Valley were adapted into a TV show, what kind of tone should it have?

SPEAKER_04 52:58

TV show, not a movie specifically.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

TV show, yeah. We think like One Tree Hill or like That'd be interesting.

SPEAKER_03 53:05

Really dramatic. I'm I'm picturing, I don't know about you, I'm picturing like a either a Parks and Rec office kind of situation. Oh, okay. So more like interviews with documentary. Documentary style. Honestly, that could be amazing. That could be amazing. A reality TV show.

SPEAKER_04 53:24

Exactly. Yeah. So I'm gonna have to turn this one back on you. I don't watch a whole lot of TV shows, but I love the ideas that are coming out already.

SPEAKER_03 53:33

I actually, when I saw that question on there, I'm like, that would be like the the perfect thing. I feel like an office style, like you're just the villagers come in, they talk about it, and like the weird stuff that hey, I saw the farmer come in and he Oh my gosh. 50 geodes that he cracked open, then he went and he gave a fish to someone.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

Like that's what we need is something that like completely from this perspective of everyone except the farmer. So like everyone is just completely like flabbergasted by what this farmer does. Yeah, yeah. And then there's like um gosh, and like the farmer, like in the game, like the farmer does barely talks. So again, like he's just this silent figure that's just like walking around down. Like or they, sorry, yes. I just meant, yeah, in general, but yeah, uh, that'd be funny. Uh okay. Uh what's the can't miss social event or festival during the year for you?

SPEAKER_04 54:22

Oh, that's a tough one. Um, I mean, in real life, I'm super predisposed to Christmas. So of course the celebration of the uh is it the winter feast, the winter star, one of the first things. Winter star, I think, yeah. Yeah, um, is is quite peak. But I think the one that stands out to me the most is actually the Halloween one. Just because, especially the first year that you go to it,

Would‑You‑Rather Stardew Edition

SPEAKER_04 54:40

your first time that you go to it, it is so cool how much like was put into it in terms of assets that in my experience are not reused. They're there specifically where there's really cool Halloween maze that that the town um has built and you, you know, go through to get your little prize at the end. But it's it's just a really cool thing that isn't really anywhere else in the game. Um, now with it being, you know, as well put together as it is, there's no, you know, year two looks like this, year three looks like this. Um, so it kind of loses its magic after the first time you do it. But for the first time you do it, it's it's really, really cool how much was put into it for this one day, one thing.

SPEAKER_00 55:22

That's cool.

SPEAKER_03 55:23

And I was looking through the questions to find out what I wanted to what I wanted to ask next. Um, I would say so that you already talked about 1.6 update. Has there been anything um that has come out about the next update? Like what are you what what are you looking forward to or what have you heard as far as the next update? I know you said kids, that they're looking to to update that potentially. Is there anything else you've heard?

SPEAKER_04 55:46

So, yeah. Um, yeah, so there was just an update recently. Um, one of the biggest things that a lot of people are looking forward to and speculating on and everything is that there are going to be two new romance candidates. Um now I believe it's been specified that they're not two new characters, but making two existing characters uh romanceable, which is what they did to Shane and Emily. I don't know which uh that it was. So that's what a lot of people are speculating, and and I'm behind that entirely. If I had to guess, like actually guess, I would guess the wizard and I'm gonna go with Sandy.

SPEAKER_03 56:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:18

Are you guys familiar, Sandy?

SPEAKER_03 56:20

Which one is she?

SPEAKER_04 56:21

She is the girl in the desert who's friends with Emily.

SPEAKER_03 56:24

Okay, okay. She runs her shop in the desert.

SPEAKER_00 56:26

That's funny. Yeah, yeah. Clever. Little on the nose. Yeah, yes. That's funny.

SPEAKER_04 56:33

Yeah, so I'm I'm really interested to see um what uh which one it's gonna be and how that changes the lore. Um, because again, a big part of this uh series is that a lot of the major um like part of the plot in this, concerned doesn't really fill it in. He's very much one who lets the player kind of decide what is canon and what isn't or why this is this way and stuff like that. So I think you know, he has to try to really fine line on adding more content, more story, more lore, while also adding enough to be able to be hands-off on it and let you know the players kind of decide what makes what.

SPEAKER_00 57:13

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. All right, well, I think we got time for a couple more here. Um I'll go I'll do one more. Um what's one character's backstory or plot that you wish we got more of?

SPEAKER_04 57:26

This is a tough one. I didn't do my homework on this one. Um gosh, I mean, of course, uh, Mr. P or G, whichever pronunciation you choose, um there's there's a lot that people want to discover about him just because he is this very mysterious uh character that is also like kind of omnipotent and everything.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Um Is he on the the island?

SPEAKER_04 57:55

He is, but he's also So he technically you can interact with him at yeah, Ginger Island. Okay. Um and in the casino as well.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

In the casino, yeah. I was gonna say I thought he ran the casino. Yeah, okay. But so yeah, he's this just like Is the casino on the island? What's the it's in the desert.

SPEAKER_04 58:10

Desert.

SPEAKER_01 58:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:11

I just in Sandy's place once you get past the guy who looks like a bouncer.

SPEAKER_03 58:17

Oh my god. Maybe I haven't made it that far into it. The guy that looks like the bounce maybe I can't remember. Maybe I did. Okay. I I did that was where I kind of was. Like I was trying to get in there to well again, I just had to get stuff for my collection to get into the like, yeah, the but like, yeah, Mr.

SPEAKER_01 58:33

Ki Chi, whichever, is just like he's some he's gotta be some billionaire or something like that. Doesn't he look like a robot too, kind of or something? Or am I making that up?

SPEAKER_04 58:42

I'm not I'm not sure if robot is a good word for it, but he he wears sunglasses all the time. He's got like a Fedora E kind of hat. I would I would more describe him as a little bit looking like a mobster. A little bit. Um yeah, he's he's this guy that seems to be behind the scenes on so many different things, and um it's it's really nebulous on whether or not he's you know this this millionaire who just has a lot of money who can make things happen, or if um he has magical powers like the wizard, um, but just executes them in different ways. Um, like in the 1.6 update, you can grow a uh Mr. Key fruit. I'm gonna say key from now on, um, that is like in the shape of his head. But once you are, you know, you have a time limit for uh that quest, and once you are done with that, those fruit just magically disappear. Um there are a lot of just interesting things that it's like, how are you doing this, sir? And who are you? Um, for instance, if I can drop one of my favorite fun facts, um uh when you achieve perfection, uh, spoiler alert, but when you achieve perfection, um the what is perfection?

SPEAKER_03 59:47

So is that oh boy? So I know community center for sure. Is that like perfect like ten hearts with every villager? Ten hearts with everyone.

SPEAKER_04 59:58

You have to have like shipped one of everything, um completed the museum.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:02

Okay, a maximum, I'm assuming, on all of the caught all the fish, like including the four legendary fish. Oh, I didn't know there's legendary fish.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:10

Oh my gosh, yes, mined all the things, gotten to the top of the volcano. Um I don't know if you have to actually like um forge all the things too. I feel like that's way above, but um oh the biggest the biggest barrier in my opinion i are those arcade games. Oh yeah, you have to beat the arcade games. Yeah, they're hard. Makes me feel things that I cannot say on this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:35

Sorry, I I interrupted. You said the the the something about the when you reach perfection.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:39

Well, before you give your spoiler, let me hit the spoiler warning.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:42

Oh, that's a good one.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:45

Um yeah, so there's a scene uh where you go up to this summit that has been formerly blocked off. Um and you go up there and you're supposed to meet with Mr. Key, and he tells you, you know, you've done a great job and blah, blah, blah, other things that I'm not gonna spoil, uh, because I haven't gotten there yet. But anyway. Um, fun fact though, if you so there is a way to glitch through um different barriers and get yourself up to the summit without having uh reached perfection. Well, we gotta love concerned eight because he saw this happening. But instead of, you know, like making it so that it wouldn't work or whatever, he's like, no, no, no, no, go ahead, go do that, see what happens. And so if you glitch up your way up the summit, Mr. Key greets you, he gives, you know, the normal spiel and everything until it takes a sudden turn and he like calls you out on glitching up here and cheating and not bleeding everything. Again, I haven't watched it fully, but I believe I remember seeing something about like the sky starts to glitch out. Um whoa. And then Mr.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:45

Key the demons come out and they pull you in like even better, Mr.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:49

Click Key pushes you off the cliff.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:51

Dang.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:52

And then you wake up in a hospital and brutal. Yeah, have to not start fully over, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:56

We've been watching Severance, and all I'm picturing now is Egan just at the top of the mountain, just like flying off. Yeah. Yeah, dude, that's perfect. Yeah. Uh okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:05

Miley, oh is that because obviously the the the island was added at a patch at some point. Was there because he's continued to add additional like layers to the game, and so the that's what the the that is currently where the completion lies

Festivals, TV Ideas, And Mr. Qi

SPEAKER_03 1:02:20

at that point, wasn't there? Because I thought that the the actual completion was what you get like a a letter from your your granddad or whatever after you do a certain thing or whatever that that's no.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Yeah, there's well there's that's like the the the end game. End game, yeah. It's like uh I can't it's finishing the community center and there's something else like you might in order to get that have to have a partner.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:43

I'm not entirely sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:44

Yeah, because there's his gravestone with like the three candles or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:49

Is the secret notes a part of it too? I think the secret is a good one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:50

Yeah, yeah, I think secret notes are part of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:53

But yeah, there's that's more of like completing the game, whereas this is the 100% completionist. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Yeah, because tracking down like again, like those prismatic shards, for example, are super rare. And most people will get the first one and use it for getting the galaxy sword. Sure. But then, like, oh, if you want to be a hundred percent perfectionist, you need to find a second one so you can sell it as well. And so stuff like that. And you need one for the museum, and like, yeah, there's there's lots of uses for them. Um okay. Hard one. Is there any merit to a Jojo Mart run?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

There absolutely is. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:30

I mean, it's it takes a certain kind of person to be able to get over that um moral hill, if you will, to go against a lot of what the game is trying to push you towards, which is revitalizing this community, keeping things local, keeping corporations out of this, you know, small town and everything. But on the flip side, um, so first of all, just from a uh gameplay perspective, uh doing a JoJo run actually uh changes the way that you have to play the game and what you aim for and everything. Whereas like the community center, you need to diversify and explore the game fully. With a Jojo run, you can get away with just uh what am I trying to say? Like um having a one specific thing that you do really well and just making a lot of money from it, um, which some people may enjoy, and that's totally valid. Um, but then you also have the competing factors of you need money in order to buy things from Jojo, but you also need money to get more money. So you're kind of, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:27

I was gonna say what you you're so you mean like a run of the game is what she's like the so you're talking about because I know what is it? You can sell, you do something, or they what is it? Something to do with the community center.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:38

Like if you can you can either rebuild the community center or support Jojo Mart, essentially. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:44

And what I believe ends up happening is if you support Jojo Mart, they tear down the community center and build like a factory or something. Yeah. Um evil.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:53

And Pierre's Piers closes down. I don't think it closes down.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:58

No. Um I've never done it, so yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, and that's the other thing that people are saying too, is that like there if if you're looking at this as a real community, it's actually far more economically advantageous to do a JoJo run for the community itself. Because if more jobs, more jobs, more jobs, because at least Shane, Pam, and Sam lose their jobs when Jojamart closes and they just go over and putt around at the community center and does who knows what, but that's a whole nother thing. Um uh you have Pierre then getting a monopoly of the town. Yeah, wow. Yeah. Um, oh yeah, different gameplay challenge. But yeah, and also for the fact that it like essentially the farmer is like, and I don't know economics is one class I got to see in, but like they're probably like sixty to seventy percent of the town's whole GDP. Um, probably. Yeah, yeah. So so from that perspective, there are definitely merits to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:55

And again, just as a player is there as many like parts. To that, because isn't it? I mean, that's a much lower bar to hit, right? To to get that. I think so. But it doesn't take you near as long to collect what it's just money, right? Or is there more to it than that?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:11

It's it's mostly just money. I I couldn't tell you again, not having done it myself, like if it is comparable in terms of time to do a community center run. But uh yeah, it's it's a different way to play the game.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:23

Now I'll have to I've got to look into that now. I didn't know what what that then what that entails.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:27

And I've I've seen things like, oh, well, Jojo Mars open seven days a week and like everything's like cheaper there, theoretically. So there's like some financial benefits for sure, but like again. It's such a hard moral thing to get over.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:41

You gotta sell your soul. Yeah. All right, corporation, good. That's what I got from that. All right, Nick, final question.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

Final question. Um okay. Uh I think you already addressed this a little bit. Uh at least I've got a guess about what you're gonna say, but what is your least favorite task in the game?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:00

Oh. Um I mean, there's there's so much about it that I I do like and and can enjoy. Actually, actually, I think it would have to be the um like milking of the cow, shearing of the sheep. Um, I'm not gonna lie, the um the auto thing that does it for you, that is just so peak and easy. Or like the one that even even the one that like picks up the eggs that the chickens and the ducks lay and they just all put it in one nice little thing that you just pick out of. That is so easy.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:33

And for the fact that you then don't have to carry around like the three separate tools or whatever to milk the cow to see your the uh do you still go and you you interact with each animal that we have?

SPEAKER_04 1:07:41

Yeah, I still go and cut them, but now I don't have to like scroll through my tools and like okay, there's a cow, pull out the milker, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:47

Because you only have very little space 30 uh inventory slots, so at max, yeah, you start with 10. So like yeah, that that takes up 30% of your yeah. Yeah, okay. That's fair. Awesome. Well, um, what's the next big thing in the fandom? We talked a little bit about 1.7, but what else is coming in the Stardew Valley fandom?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:10

I didn't prep for this question besides 1.7 because I'm I'm just so fixated and excited on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:15

I can answer like a little bit. So Concerned Ape a couple years ago announced that he's working on a new game called Haunted Chocolateer. Yeah. That's the I I think most anyone who's in the Stardew fandom is looking forward to this. And so, like, so we've um I think we're talking about this beforehand, but so Concerned Ape has worked on these games entirely by himself, I think, up until this year, which he announced that he's hired a couple people to help him with 1.7 while he focuses on a lot more on Hot to Chocolateer, which he is still, from what I understand, making entirely by himself. So that's like a couple years away still, from what I know.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:52

If I recall correctly, I thought I heard something about 2030. Yeah, I think that's like a target. It's been something that he's been like talking about for several years already.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:59

So uh similarly you want you wrong. I wonder what the scope of that's gonna be if it's already he's already what he announced it already, it's been two years ago, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:08

Yeah, something like that. But like, I mean, again, like this guy put so much into the first one, I'm okay waiting around until 100% whenever he's done with it, because he he will release it when he's ready for it and when he feels it's complete. Like, I mean, he'll probably do updates still, but like you know, he's not gonna put out something half baked and make you buy DLC later. It's so yeah, I'm looking forward to that. So the premise is you're you run a chocolate shop, but you also have to like you have to grow your own ingredients, you have to go hunt special magical ingredients to make your little chocolates more tasty, I guess. And there's something about ghosts, but I don't fully understand or know what yet, but could be interesting. It's supposed to be cool. Yeah, me too. It's supposed to be in the same universe, from what I know. So like that'll be interesting to see what correlates to it and what like uh yeah, little Easter eggs are in there.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:55

I'm just sad to find out that we might still be like three or four years out. That's a that's a long ways.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

Well, we

Joja Route Vs Community Center

SPEAKER_01 1:10:00

still got 1.7 to look forward to then. Yeah, 1.7. Yep. Can always go back to Stardew or Peloton Town.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:06

I did play some. I wanna see, I've never done it as as a co-op game. That's something I'd like to do at some point.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

Is that you have texted me a couple times.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:14

I just have never been like around my device while you it's a yeah, and it's uh I I feel like it's one of those things that I mean, I guess you could do it as you know, haphazardly, but if you're gonna, I don't know, if you're really gonna go at it, it's like, all right, we're gonna, you know, keep it, keep after it and do the the day cycle and try to make everything that you can. So I could see it being an involved process.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:34

That was my experience the first time playing at co-op was I was very much a type B player. I'm like, okay, guys, let's play. And they're like, all right, you're going to the mine on this day, and I'm gonna go focus on this, and you go get wood, and uh and I'm like, whoa. But then, like, once I got into I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, this is fun. Let's let's do this.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:50

Then you can give everybody's got their own little job, they're they're like they're in. So we're gonna specialize, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:56

You can try to talk Tori into playing.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:58

Maybe I don't know that she would. It's too uh, I don't know. It I think it's she I don't know if she's got the attention span for it. It's just uh it does go on for forever, so yeah. Well, it's a honestly, I I typically don't even get into games that much that are grindy, and this game is grindy, but I do I do enjoy it, probably because like it's it's it's chill in the way that it approaches it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:24

It's a great one. I I love it. One of the reasons I will have it is because it's such a great one to put on while I've got like some random TV show on, and I can kind of like multitask and like I can mindlessly just go fishing or go down in the mines or whatever it is, like, and it's like a good simple background task that I can still be paying attention to whatever else is on.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:40

All right, I know we're getting out, but you can mindlessly fish a little bit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:46

This guy's got skills. I don't die in the mines like Nick does. Apparently not. Yeah. That's all I do. I need to get better.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:57

I've died a lot in the mines. Well, actually, I've probably only died a couple of times, but I have I've uh gotten knocked down to low health and had to like, all right, well, I gotta I gotta head home early because I don't have enough stuff to make it through.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:12

Well, the secret is you just have your pockets full of cheese all the time. Right. Let's you get to take out your pocket cheese. Yes, the pocket cheese.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:19

Pocket bombs, but that works too.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:20

Well, yeah, but your pocket cheese keeps you alive. Right, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:24

Or pocket spaghetti.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:27

There's there's specific meals from the for the mines, too. I've never gotten too much into the the cooking aspect. We didn't even really talk about that because that's a whole entire aspect of it. There's so much we didn't talk about. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:38

Well, Casey, thank you so much for coming on and sharing a fraction of this game. But um, yeah, you are our resident expert, and so thank you for that, even though you may not feel it.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:50

Uh so uh what's coming up next, guys?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:52

Yeah, so I I am so excited. We have our our old college roommate, uh Mark Bailey, who we affectionately called Bark Maley or Breezy McLeod. That's I don't know if you guys remember that. I barely got that. He's uh gonna be on the next episode. Um, don't have a topic nailed down yet. It's more about just having him on, but we'll figure out a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:14

And uh just excited to have him in town and be able to interact and have him be a part of something that we've we've put together. Yeah, I'm so excited. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun on that episode no matter what we're talking about, as we do with every episode. Yeah, yeah, of course. Definitely.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:27

Uh awesome. Well, thank you guys so much, Casey. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:32

Thank you guys for listening.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:35

That's a wrap on this episode of Phandom of Fandoms. If you loved it, hit that follow button at FOF.pod on Instagram and threads, and leave us a quick review wherever you're listening to this podcast. It's like fuel for our little nerdy spaceship. Got a phantom us to tackle? Shoot us a DM. Until next time, stay curious, stay passionate, and keep repping what you love.