Pick up the foragables for each season at the start of that season, and pop them in the community centre. That should make sure all the different bundles are unlocked.

Just play the game the first year. Plant a variety of things, try to get all the farm animals, fish whenever you like it, hit the mines. Choose the fruit bat cave.

Whenever you pick up something new, hold your cursor over it, and see if the bundle icon pulses. If it does, put that item aside (like into a dedicated chest) and once or twice a season, truck over the community centre, and make your deposits.

By the end of year one, you should have organically completed a good chunk of the bundles. Now, at the start of year 2, take inventory of what you still need to do, and take special care to acquire it. It should be a much smaller, and more manageable list.

You don't have to do it in 3 years. You don't lose the game or miss anything if you take longer.

And look at it that way, for the most part, the craft room and pantry bundles are seasonal. You just have to plant a few specific crops/collect a few foragables each season.

Boiler room bundle is really easy to fill once you explore the mines.

You can get a bunch of the fish just by fishing in each season, and there is nothing wrong with looking up the specific conditions for some of the fish.

Bulletin board bundle is also on the "you'll gather a lot of the items over time"

The vault is just money. And the traveling merchant is amazing to get some of the more rare items.

Yeah, I was in that boat on my first playthrough, I built a spreadsheet but still narrowly missed completing it before year 3 (still sucked at mining and did not get a purple mushroom in time). That's your first lesson right there: the game does not end when you hit year 3, you can keep going, you can retry Grandpa's evaluation however many times you need to (at a modest cost).

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, I would first hit up the wiki and make a list of all the things you'll need, and how to get them. Then look at which ones can typically only be done in a certain season. Don't even worry about those until that season rolls around. If you happen to get one early from the traveling cart or something, then that's just a bonus.

Next, don't even worry about the list at all for the first ten days or so of each season. Just work on doing a variety of stuff and building stuff up, and if you happen to get an item for the CC (the in-game inventory interface has an icon that will animate when you hover over such an item), cool, go donate it and cross it off your list. Then around day 11, look at what's still on your list. Is there anything that can typically only be done in the current season? Is there anything that you're pretty close to? Cool, focus on those for a bit.

Just do what you can when you can, if you realise you've missed something seasonal just write it on a notepad and get it next year, or you check the traveling trader every time she's in town you might be able to pick one up. People like to do it in year one as a little challenge/speed run, don't feel like you need to be competing in that for your first try.

>Like I have no idea how I am going to complete it in three years.

You don't have to, though. The primary purpose of the Community Center is to give new players guidance for something to work towards, and to encourage them to explore all of the various avenues of farming and activities the game has to offer. Completing it in a fixed time is certainly a challenge that a lot of people adopt, but the intent is the opposite of that. You can take as long as you want.

I'm glad I didn't try to finish it in year one because that would have never happened. I've been waiting two seasons for my rabbit to give me a rabbit foot. At first I thought I'd need three hearts, then I thought maybe it's because it's winter, then I thought maybe it'll finally work with a full five hearts. Nope. Full five hearts, spring, pets every day, and there's even blue grass, but I'm still not getting that rabbit foot.

I'm on around 50 hours and soooo close!! Just a few things to go!

Look at online guides to see which fish are in season for the center! Also if you haven’t picked already, when Demetrius asks if you want fruit or mushrooms in the cave go with fruit. That way you don’t have to worry about growing trees.

checking the travel cart in the forest every friday and sunday! i finished before year 3 using it.

Make sure to always save a bit from your crops for one thing

I recently started a new save and I'm trying to speed run the community center too! These are things that I didn't do my first time playing, so just noting them down for anyone else. Sorry about formating, I'm on my phone 😅

• use the sap from trees to make fertilizer so that you can finish the quality crops bundle faster (I didn't know this when I first played and just sold all that sap, my sister told me she did the same too ;-;)

• you need fiddlehead fern for the bulletin board (chefs bundle), and in order to unlock the secret woods you need a steel axe, so try to upgrade your axe to steel before the last week of summer so you can forage a fiddlehead fern for this

• check the traveling cart year 1 spring and summer for red cabbage seeds as there is a chance that they will sell it, as Pierre's doesn't sell it 1st year, and you need a red cabbage for the bulletin board (dye bundle)

• for the greenhouse/pantry bundle:

--> when you complete the fall crops bundle, you get a bee house, which you can use to get honey for the artisan bundle (if you don't want to use resources to make a bee house)

--> when you complete the animal bundle, you get a cheese press, which you can use to get cheese and Goat cheese for the artisan bundle (once again, if you want to try to save on resources)

--> definitely try to get the co-op and barn asap, and upgrade it whenever you can to big and then deluxe as you need all of the animals and the items they produce for the community centre, and they take a big component of the pantry bundle, especially if you don't go the fruit bats route for the cave on the farm (something I didn't realize until really late my first playthrough)

I'll try to update this comment as I continue through my own playthrough and learn more things!!

I’m so happy for you!! Now you can kind of play at your pace there are quests but I also feel incomplete until the CC is done

Awesome job! I'm about to finish it for the first timetoo, all i need is a poppy and a truffle

hey great job, i feel like the only way to not play the game properly is just by not enjoying it so good on you for taking ur time and there are definitely many fun and exciting things in your future:))

Nice! I'm on the same boat, I just finished it at year 3.

I usually am the efficient gamer kinda guy that bum rushes everything but with stardew I just wanted to chill lol.

Skull Cavern is soo hard tho

Congrats! And don’t worry there will still be many more tasks to do!

In game, I know some people can get it finished by the end of Y1 but I usually finish by the end of Y2. If it's your first playthrough, it'll probably be Y3.

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There's no rush to complete it. Take your time to learn the game and it'll get easier over time.

On my fifth year, probably even later. Most of the items comes from merchants, honestly. I play slow and didn't build a coop/barn until way later.

Maybe you should buy a Joja membership, and just buy all the upgrades instead of completing the bundles. It doesn’t lock you out of getting anything in late game; you can just focus on making money, and doing the things you like

I’m on a third year and I’m about 50% in… you’re not meant to complete it asap.

First time I’m sure it took me 3 or 4 years. Now I aim for before Grandpa rates the farm - so by the end of year 2.

The "trick" is to know the latest season you can get each thing, and do it by that season. The crops are easy - the greenhouse is one of the easier ones to complete by year 1 since it's mostly just 1 of each crop, upgrading your animals, and most importantly checking the Quality Crops bundle to make sure you plant around 20 of the ones you need 5 gold quality of.

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Here is my cheat sheet for other stuff:

Summer

Sunfish - River

Pufferfish - Ocean

Poppy

Fiddlehead Fern - Secret Woods

Sea Urchin - Easiest during Summer 12-14

Red Cabbage - Traveling Cart

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Fall

Catfish - River (rain)

Shad - River (rain)

Carp - Lake

Walleye - River or Lake (rain)

Red Snapper - Ocean (rain)

Tilapia - Ocean

Eel - Ocean (rain)

Truffle

Sunflower

Wheat (10)

Apple/Pomegranate (special mention as these trees can help you satisfy more bundles than other fruits, with Apple being > Pomegranate if you are just planting one)

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Winter

Tiger Trout - River (rain)

Bream - River

Largemouth Bass - Lake

Bullhead - Lake

Sturgeon - Lake

Sardine - Ocean

Tuna - Ocean

Ghostfish - Mines Floor 20

Sandfish - Desert

Woodskip - Secret Woods

Chub - River or Lake

Nautilus Shell - Beach

Tick the checkbox "Year 1 Complete" or something.

Always check the travelling cart in Cindersap forest on Fridays and Sundays.

Hit the mines. Theyre actually really fun, and the first tìme I was crawling my way through it, had a whole different kind of rush to it. What kind of jewels will i find next floor, what kind of monsters will i run into, what other kind of cool weapons are there in this game? (After you find your first neat weapon that isnt just a rusty/wooden sword.)

Unlock ginger island! Farm there :) Make money to build the obelisks to warp places! Try the mines! They’re not too scary but the skull cavern can be. Good luck!

OP, there's no practical reason for doing the CC over Joja. You can get all the major repairs, Ginger Island, True Perfection, etc on either route. There are some benefits, like the bundle rewards and the extra points for Grandpa's eval, but it doesn't outweigh the convenience of Joja.

The whole story is based around leaving a soulless, corporate atmosphere and reconnecting with nature. Finding joy in a simpler life, rather than engaging in a rat race. Choosing to support the local community over a giant corporation. As you make friends with Haley, she starts getting along with her sister. Sebastian starts to appreciate the valley more. George feels acknowledged. And the big symbol for all this, is the Community Center.

If you don't care about the emotional core of this game, there's nothing anyone here can tell you.

There is some stuff that opens up after completing the community center. Even if you're not on 1.5 yet, there's still some stuff that opens up, involving the wizard

Go and see your old fishing buddy Willy.

The… game? That’s like the first big goal of the game.

Completing the community center is a very good representation of the old saying: "It's not the destination, it's the journey." It basically gives you a goal in the game, something to do. Once it is completed there is a nice cutscene depending on how vested you are in the game's story/characters. After that I will say that mostly I am disappointed that it doesn't get more use. A few villagers will go to it once in a while but most of the time when you go there it seems empty and as a building itself doesn't have much of a practical use to the player when completed. Competing the community center does unlock some other things in the game which again give you something to work towards and do but it depends on how much more at this point you are willing to work on and do. As a side note if my tone sounds negative that is not the case, I love the game.