The economy within Stardew Valley heavily relies on players growing their own crops and selling them for a profit. The gold earned through this allows them to make purchases and upgrade their farm and earning potential. But when buying a silo from Robin, one investigative player found that what benefits them may not actually help that NPC in Stardew Valley.
Stardew Valley was released in 2016 and was built as an open-ended simulation role playing game. Heavily-inspired by the Harvest Moon series, the game starts as players inherit their deceased grandfather's farm. There are a number of different NPCs in Stardew Valley and Robin, as town carpenter, is an important one when it comes to building up a player's farm.
The video from The Prophecy goes into detail about when players purchase a silo from Robin in Stardew Valley. She is the only person in town from whom players can buy new buildings for their farm. In-game, the silo costs just 100 gold and it plays an important role for those players looking to have animals on their farm. For this price, Robin then spends 20 hours or 2 days building the silo, as the video states, at 5 gold an hour. And after all that work, Robin still isn't even able to afford half a salad at The Stardrop Saloon which costs a wild 220 gold in comparison.
As The Prophecy claims, something is wrong here. Either Robin is undercharging players when it comes to this building or Gus is overcharging for his food. One theory even goes so far as to say that Robin isn't paying that price and that perhaps at The Stardrop Saloon players are charged more than the NPCs. Which would be shocking, especially for those who have befriended Gus in Stardew Valley.
The Stardrop Saloon item list is only the beginning when it comes to high prices in Stardew Valley. For example one melon at the lowest quality level sells for 250 gold. And if players work hard and attain an iridium level melon, they could then sell it for the same value as 5 silos.
But this is all down to making an in-game currency work. The developer has to find the balance between making important items attainable without making them too inexpensive as to remove all the challenge. This can lead to moments where, in this example, a silo is worth less than a salad. Despite this the balance the developer has struck is part of the reason why Stardew Valley has become such a success.
Stardew Valley is out now for Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.