by We could say that the battle between MercaJoja and Pierre is the most important part of the plot of Stardew Valley . And it is that MercaJoja represents precisely that modern life from which our protagonist decides to escape at the beginning of the adventure to take a more relaxed life in the countryside.
That a large supermarket is established in Stardew Valley a priori should not be a big problem, although it is true that this greatly affects a smaller and more mundane business such as Pierre’s. But hey, that’s the way the world is and normally the fact that there is greater competition in a market contributes positively to consumers since this forces them to offer a better service or offer better prices to differentiate themselves.
The problem is that MercaJoja does not play fair and uses quite dishonest techniques that are typical of an extremely capitalist mentality. That it is true that in the end it is a company, but anyway.
I think you can clearly see which side I’m on, right? But hey, let’s start with the topic, which option is the most worthwhile? MercaJoja or the Civic Center?
And in case you don’t understand the importance of this choice… By choosing one you will end up bankrupting the other and will also change the mechanics of the game a lot.
JOJAMERCH: THE VILLAIN OF STARDEW VALLEY
To choose MercaJoja you will have to go there and talk to Morris. This will ask you to be a member of the supermarket in exchange for 5000 coins. If you accept and pay, Pierre’s store will be forced to close and you will also lose the Civic Center.
Below are the advantages and disadvantages. I will also add moral points even though you may not be too interested in them, in that case ignore them.
ADVANTAGE
- MercaJoja is open every day from 9:00 to 23:00.
- It has its own brand products such as Joja-cola.
- Sunflower seeds are cheaper.
DISADVANTAGES
- Morris (Joja’s owner) is clearly looking for Pierre’s failure and uses very dirty techniques to topple the competition such as giving discount vouchers at Pierre’s own store.
- Their prices are generally more expensive.
- If we want to be partners to support the supermarket we will have to pay 5000 coins.
- It promotes a game style based on the generation of money in ingested amounts .
- Choosing MercaJoja means returning to the life from which the protagonist fled. In fact we could say that MercaJoja is the main villain of Stardew Valley.
- Your employees are under great stress. One of the workers (a redhead) doesn’t even talk to us, she looks like a robot and we also have Shane who is clearly fed up with working there and therefore shows a rather annoying attitude.
- You will lose the Civic Center and the Lots system, which is great.
We could say that Morris is the villain of the game , so unless you want to take on some kind of “evil” role… Actually, not even that…
Joining JojaMerch is almost like giving up all the fun of the game , instead of collecting different materials and exploring everything and generally developing all the skills to progress; you will have to simply collect money.
You can collect money however you want, but I don’t know, I think Stardew Valley’s Lot collection reward system is one of the best things the game has to offer and by joining JojaMerch you change all that for a simple system of collecting a lot money.
But anyway, I guess there will be people who prefer that.
PIERRE’S LOCAL STORE AND CIVIC CENTER
Pierre ‘s Store and the Civic Center are linked and represent in a way what Stardew Valley is, what life is like in a small town that is self-sustaining through everyone’s work.
This is without a doubt the choice you should make if you want to play Stardew Valley, as it is precisely the choice that encourages the way the game should be played. It’s what your grandfather wanted in the game and it’s what your character wants a priori, since for some reason he has given up that modern life with large corporations and unhappy people in his work.
But what I say is useless if you don’t see the advantages of making this choice:
ADVANTAGE
- Represent what your character truly wants.
- Pierre’s prices are much cheaper except for Sunflower Seeds.
- Pierre is a well-liked person in the village and he is not stupid like Morris.
- Pierre doesn’t play dirty with his competition.
- It encourages a style of play based on exploration, collecting items, taking advantage of what each season brings, upgrading skills… which makes Stardew Valley great.
- The Civic Center’s upgrade system beats JojaMerch’s a thousand times and this is the key reason for me. In it you will have to collect several collections of objects to progress and obtain improvements. Let’s just say it encourages you to see all that Stardew Valley has to offer.
DISADVANTAGES
- If you prefer to dedicate yourself to going your own way and generating money and money, I guess it’s the best choice, but I don’t know… I still think the Batch system is much better.
- You will lose Joja brand products.
- Pierre is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is closed on Wednesdays. MercaJoja has a better schedule.
If you don’t support MercaJoja by becoming a member (at which point you can say goodbye to the Civic Center) and you manage to complete all of the Civic Center Bundles, you will get MercaJoja closed, which we could consider the true end of the game . The work of a town (more like yours, but anyway hahaha) will have been able to with the dirty games of a company with very bad faith!
WHICH IS BETTER?
For which you know, don’t choose MercaJoja , it’s not worth it. MercaJoja is the opposite of Stardew Valley and the Civic Center system is quite frankly the best thing in the game, how are you going to give that up?
I would only recommend trying JojaMerch in another secondary game, just to see what happens based on your decisions… and you’ll see that it’s not very pleasant.
