Favorite Thing In Stardew Explained: Ideas, Easter Eggs, and Gifts

When starting a new character in Stardew Valley, you always start with the Character Creator Menu. 

One of the fields to be filled in the menu is for the character’s “favorite thing”. 

This seems like it could be an extremely important piece of gameplay, albeit a somewhat mysterious one.

What does it do? How does it impact the game?

Don’t fret, there are no wrong answers regarding your character’s favorite thing!

Here is everything you need to know about Stardew Valley’s favorite thing mechanic, plus some extra tips and tricks to get all of the fun you can from it!

What Does the Favorite Thing Do in Stardew Valley?

The favorite thing mechanic in Stardew Valley is a required field on the character creator menu.

When you find one of the rare, energy-increasing food items called Stardrops during gameplay, the answer you provided for your favorite thing will add a personalized touch to the text given after eating. 

The purpose of the favorite thing is to allow the player to choose a personality trait for the character they will be playing with. 

As stated above, this personality trait will be incorporated into the gameplay whenever your character eats a Stardrop. These special fruits increase your total energy bar by 34 points. 

Upon receiving it, your character will immediately eat the Stardrop, and the game will randomly give you one of two personalized messages.

The two messages are:

1. You found a Stardrop! It’s strange, but the taste reminds you of [favorite thing].
2. You found a Stardrop! Your mind is filled with thoughts of [favorite thing].

There are exactly seven Stardrops to be found in the entire game. There are various points of the game where you can earn, find, or purchase one of the seven Stardrops. 

Here are all of the Stardrops in the game and how to get them:

Location/Source	How to Get
Stardew Valley Fair’s Shop	Earn 2000 Star Tokens
The Mines	Work your way down to the 100th floor of The Mines and open the treasure chest
Spouse/Roommate	Earn a friendship level of 12.5 hearts
The Sewers	Buy for 20,000g from Krobus
Willy	Earn the Master Angler Achievement and receive in a letter the following day
Secret Woods	Solve Old Master Cannoli’s riddle and present him with the correct item
Museum	Donate all 95 artifacts, minerals, and gems

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Does the Favorite Thing Affect Stardew Valley Gameplay?

The favorite thing does not affect Stardew Valley gameplay, except for mentioning it in the personalized text given when the character eats a Stardrop.

At no other point in the game is the favorite thing mechanic incorporated or used. The game will remain the same no matter what answer you provide.

Therefore, you can pick whatever you would like without worrying about negatively affecting your game down the road.

Favorite Thing Easter Eggs and Secrets

There are a few hidden Easter Eggs in the game that you can find by choosing a couple of specific things as your favorite thing. 

Each of these secrets is case-sensitive, so type them with the proper spelling and capitalization if you want to check them out!

Favorite Thing Secret #1: Stardew Everything and Anything

If you are overcome with love with all things Stardew Valley, you might decide to make your favorite thing something Stardew-related. 

By choosing anything with ‘Stardew’ in the text as a favorite thing, you will see a unique text after eating a Stardrop!

Stardew Message:

You found a Stardrop! You feel an unwavering connection to the valley itself. 

Note that you must capitalize ‘Stardew’; otherwise, this will not work. 

Favorite Thing Secret #2: The Father of Stardew

The creator of Stardew Valley, ConcernedApe, is another Easter Egg that can be found with the favorite thing mechanic. 

If you choose to enter ‘ConcernedApe’ as your favorite thing, this will give another unique message after eating a Stardrop.

ConcernedApe Message:

You found a Stardrop! Your mind is filled with thoughts of… ConcernedApe? (Well, thanks!).

Read more: Sprinker Types Explained in Stardew Valley

Some Favorite Thing Ideas

The sky’s the limit when it comes to picking your favorite thing!

Well, the limit is actually 13 characters, but they can be whatever you’d like! 

You may want to choose something that is one of your IRL favorite things. Many use their favorite food, flower, or person. 

Others prefer to use this as a chance to make their character have a personality of their own!

For example, if you are playing a character that always picks the nicest dialogue options, you may want to make their favorite things something sweet or pretty.

Things like sunflowers, peanut butter, or freshly baked bread!

If the character is going to be blunt or otherwise unpleasant, then maybe the favorite thing could be something that reflects this.

Items like anchovies, pineapple pizza, or spiders come to mind.

Finally, you can’t go wrong by choosing something humorous as a favorite item! Imagine eating a Stardrop just to be reminded of Mayor Lewis’ purple shorts!

Stardew Characters’ Favorite Things

Not only does your character have a favorite thing, but so do all the NPCs!

Each of the NPCs has a whole set of things that they love, like, dislike, and hate.

To gain their friendship, you want to give gifts that they love and like while avoiding gifting items they dislike or hate. 

There is a small set of items that are known as Universal Loves. These items are a safe bet for any of the NPCs since all of them love them. 

Here are the Universal Loves:

• Golden Pumpkin
• Magic Rock Candy
• Pearl
• Prismatic Shard (except Haley)
• Rabbit’s Foot (except Penny)

In addition to the Universal Loves, each has their own unique favorite items. 

Below, you can find a complete list of the NPC’s most loved items!

Character	Favorite Things
Abigail	All Universal Loves Amethyst Blackberry Cobbler Chocolate Cake Pufferfish Pumpkin Spicy Eel
Alex	All Universal Loves Complete Breakfast Salmon Dinner
Caroline	All Universal Loves Fish Taco Green Tea Tropical Curry Summer Spangle
Clint	All Universal Loves Gemstones Gold Bar Artichoke Dip Fiddlehead Risotto Omni Geode
Demetrius	All Universal Loves Strawberry Bean Hotpot Ice Cream Rice Pudding
Dwarf	All Universal Loves Gemstones Omni Geode
Elliot	All Universal Loves Crab Cakes Duck Feather Lobster Pomegranate Tom Kha Soup
Emily	All Universal Loves Amethyst Aquamarine Cloth Emerald Jade Ruby Survival Burger Topaz Wool
Evelyn	All Universal Loves Beet Chocolate Cake Diamond Fairy Rose Stuffing Tulip
George	All Universal Loves Fried Mushroom Leek
Gus	All Universal Loves Diamond Escargot Fish Taco Orange Tropical Curry
Haley	All Universal Loves (except Prismatic Shard) Coconut Fruit Salad Pink Cake Sunflower
Harvey	All Universal Loves Coffee Pickles Super Meal Truffle Oil Wine
Jas	All Universal Loves Fairy Rose Pink Cake Plum Pudding
Jodie	All Universal Loves Chocolate Cake Crispy Bass Diamond Eggplant Parmesan Fried Eel Pancakes Rhubarb Pie Vegetable Medley
Kent	All Universal Loves Fiddlehead Risotto Roasted Hazelnuts
Krobus	All Universal Loves Diamond Iridium Bar Pumpkin Void Egg  Void Mayonnaise Wild Horseradish
Leah	All Universal Loves Goat Cheese Poppyseed Muffin Salad Stir Fry Truffle Vegetable Medley Wine
Lewis	All Universal Loves Autumn’s Bounty Glazed Yams Green Tea Hot Pepper Vegetable Medley
Linus	All Universal Loves Blueberry Tart Cactus Fruit Coconut  Dish O’ the Sea Yam
Marnie	All Universal Loves Diamond Farmer’s Lunch Pink Cake Pumpkin Pie
Maru	All Universal Loves Battery Pack Cauliflower Cheese Cauliflower Diamond Gold Bar Iridium Bar Miner’s Treat Pepper Poppers Rhubarb Pie Strawberry
Pam	All Universal Loves Beer Cactus Fruit Glazed Yams Mead Pale Ale Parsnip Parsnip Soup Pina Colada
Penny	All Universal Loves (except Rabbit’s Foot) Diamond Emerald Melon Poppy Poppyseed Muffin Red Plate Roots Platter Sandfish Tom Kha Soup
Pierre	All Universal Loves Fried Calamari
Robin	All Universal Loves Goat Cheese Peach Spaghetti
Sam	All Universal Loves Cactus Fruit Maple Bar Pizza Tigerseye
Sebastion	All Universal Loves Frozen Tear Obsidian Pumpkin Soup Sashimi Void Egg
Shane	All Universal Loves Beer Hot Pepper Pepper Poppers Pizza
Vincent	All Universal Loves Cranberry Candy Ginger Ale Grape Pink Cake Snail
Willy	All Universal Loves Purple Mushroom Solar Essence Super Cucumber Void Essence
Wizard	All Universal Loves Purple Mushroom Solar Essence Super Cucumber Void Essence

Mods to Simplify Gift Giving

If you often forget who likes what, loves what, and hates other items, some mods can help you navigate friendship and giving gifts!

Of all, the simplest and easiest to manage is the Gift Taste Helper mod.

Simply download this into your mod file, and the game will now show everyone’s favorite gifts when you hover the pointer on their name!

If you are new to modding, here is the detailed guide with everything you need to know to get started!

There are thousands of different mods, from the small quality of life improvements to transforming your horse into an Abigail Centaur. 

Can You Change Your Favorite Thing in Stardew Valley?

You can change your favorite thing in Stardew Valley. If you have a friendship of four hearts with the Wizard, just enter his basement and offer 500g to the Shrine of Illusions.

This will let you edit your entire character, including your favorite thing. Otherwise, you can also do this by tweaking your character’s save file. 

If you are not yet close enough friends with the Wizard to be allowed in his basement, it is much safer to increase your friendship rather than going into the save file. 

To increase the friendship level quickly, give the Wizard two weekly gifts of his most loved items: purple mushrooms, solar essence, void essence, super cucumber, and the universally-loved items.

You can edit your save file if you absolutely must change your favorite thing immediately and don’t have access to the Shrine of Illusions. 

Here are the steps for changing the save file:

1. Make a backup of the save file, just in case.
2. Open the file titled SaveGameInfo. It should open up in a Notepad application. 
3. Press CTRL+F to open the Find tool
4. Type in favorite
5. Replace the old favorite thing with your new favorite thing.
6. Save and exit.

Changing text in a save file can corrupt the entire save, so be extra careful and always make a backup save file before proceeding.

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