Stardrop
| Stardrop | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Collection |
| Location | Various |
A Stardrop is the only food in the valley that changes the farmer permanently. Eating one pushes the stamina bar up for good and refills it completely on the spot, whatever state it was in, and collecting the full set nearly doubles the energy a farmer started the game with. They cannot be stored, shipped, gifted or saved for a rainy day: the fruit is eaten the instant it is obtained, which makes each one a moment rather than an item. The set is scattered deliberately across every part of the game, so finding them all means winning at the Fair, reaching the bottom of the Mines, catching every fish, befriending the valley's monster, growing its rarest crop, marrying somebody and filling the museum. Finding every last one is also one of the requirements for Perfection.
The in-game description reads: A mysterious fruit that empowers those who eat it. The flavor is like a dream... a powerful personal experience, yet difficult to describe to others.
Overview
The effect is simple and enormous. Stamina is the real currency of a Stardew day, since every swing of a tool and every cast of a rod costs some, and the starting bar runs out well before the sun goes down. Each Stardrop raises the ceiling, and the difference between a new farmer and one who has eaten the lot is the difference between a morning's work and a full day of watering, mining and fishing without stopping to eat.
The Fair is usually the first. The prize counter there sells one for a large pile of star tokens, which is well within reach of a good grange display and an afternoon of games, so a farmer who plans for it can have a Stardrop in the first autumn.
The Mines provide the next. The Treasure Chest on the hundredth floor holds one, and since that floor is halfway to the Skull Key it tends to be found on the way down rather than sought out.
Willy sends one in the post. Catching every fish in the valley earns the Master Angler achievement, and the letter with the fruit in it arrives the following morning, which is a kind reward for the single most patient job in the game.
Krobus sells one in the Sewers, and he charges a fortune in gold for it. That makes it the only Stardrop that can simply be bought, and the one most likely to sit unclaimed in a mid-game save until the farm has money to spare.
Old Master Cannoli, the statue in the Secret Woods, trades one for a Sweet Gem Berry. Growing the berry takes a Rare Seed from the Traveling Cart and most of a Fall, so this is the Stardrop that has to be planned a season ahead.
A spouse or roommate hands one over once the relationship passes the point where the heart meter stops being about courtship. When two players marry each other on a shared farm, a gift box with a fruit in it appears for each of them after the wedding. Only one ever comes from a partner, however, so divorcing and remarrying produces nothing new.
The museum provides the last. Donating the complete collection to Gunther, every artifact and every mineral, is the longest single project in the valley, and the Stardrop is its reward.
Eating one prints a line about the favourite thing chosen when the save was created, either a remark that the taste is reminiscent of it or a note that the mind fills with thoughts of it. Two choices change the message. Naming the game's creator produces a different line, and so does anything with the game's own name in it, which answers with a sentence about feeling an unwavering connection to the valley itself. Both need the capital letters exactly right.
Notes
The order they arrive in matters more than it looks. The Fair fruit is cheap, the Mines fruit is on the way to somewhere else, and both can be had early, which makes the rest of the game materially easier. Krobus's is the one to put off, since gold is the easiest of all these things to come by later.
Willy's story at the Feast of the Winter Star gives the fruit a bit of folklore. He mentions that some people in the valley believe the Stardrop is connected to the Winter Star, which is visible from nowhere else, and it is the only explanation the game ever offers for what the fruit actually is.
All Collections
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
