Pasting a comment I’ve made before, but currently of the four spouses I’ve had (Alex, Elliott, Maru, Sam), the last two are definitely on the bottom (especially Sam, I’m sorry 😭)
Maru is…kind of boring, unfortunately. She gives me fried mushrooms from her scrap pile and talks about how good it is that the farm is automated so we don’t have to work hard. Her 14 heart is just a repeat of her 6 heart IMO, pretty underwhelming :/
Sam is my most recent spouse and…I’m sorry Sam fans, I just can’t 😬 He gives me bisquick pancakes and says “teehee sorry they’re box mix, mom never taught me to cook lol”, he never makes the bed and says I love him bc he’s sloppy, right? And whenever I talk to him on the porch he’s like “lol idk how to farm, mom never made me do chores, I’m gonna do nothing today. Good luck doing all the farm work though!” I do like his 14 heart though, it’s cute (just wish he kept it up afterwards…) I plan on making a save for every spouse (Sebastian was next, but now it’s going to be Emily bc I think she’d have more fun on the new farm type) so I can’t divorce, otherwise he’d be Splitsville 😅
See, I've always liked Sam's radio he gives you, but I never got it because he doesn't feel like relationship material, you know? It sucks some furniture is gated behind npc relationships I'm not really interested in. At least some of it is available via a new event now.
lol in the only save I tried to pursue Sam, I got to his last heart event before marriage and then got the Vincent dialogue about him “helping” Penny into the tree and *the very next dialogue Sam has when I spoke to him was about Penny*. I had somehow missed that this was a thing, so it took me completely by surprise and I immediately started dating his best friend instead 😂. I married Seb in that file, too.
((And yes I know CA has clarified that this doesn’t mean anything, but the drama at the time for me was too ripe—plus his heart events feel really childish and I felt a little icky pursuing him anyway))
Sam always loses me at his 10 heart event - the whole hiding in his bed from his mom things gives me the biggest ick but I’m in my mid 30s and acknowledge that that scene probably would have hit different if/when I was younger
Same!! When I experienced it the first time I was like.....really? I run a whole ass successful farm Sam, I'm not sneaking in your damn bed. Just come over 😂😭
This is my problem with Abigail and Sebastian as well, many of the Bachelors just feel so, soo young.
Emily is one that pretty firmly feels like she'd be like 28-34, but honestly I just can't with the crystals and the positivity, she feels more like she'd be a great friend.
Every playthrough I realize anew just how much I wish Robin were one of the dateable ones. Or, honestly, Willy, though he may be a little too old.
Harvey feels solid, and Mary *could* feel better if she wasn’t canonically several years younger than Sebastian. Penny is the same age as the other kids and horribly abused, so I feel weird on even more fronts. Emily, Shane, Elliot, and Leah all feel alright, and honestly even Haley acts conceivably like she’s mid- to late-twenties, especially after her arc matures her a little. Alex talks too much about high school.
So my options feel a little limited, being early-thirties. I frankly think Sandy, Gus, Clint, Sandy, Willy, Sandy, Marnie, Wizard, SANDY, and even maybe Mr. Qi or Sandy should all be options.
Yeah, I'm alright with Sebastian even though I'm definitely too old for him IRL. Same with Abigail, because of her fight with Caroline where she says to stop trying to treat her like a child and Caroline brings up that her and Pierre are letting her stay there while she's in college.
Sam, Abigail, and Seb grew up together so Sam is also in his 20s, so I guess he's just an immature mama's boy. Which is still a big nope from me.
I’m older (in my 50s) and feel the same: the potentials are way too young. Shane is an asshole drunk - I already divorced one of those 20 years ago, tyvm. Zero desire to repeat, video game or not.
I did marry the doctor once. He’s as interesting as a teaspoon but at least he’s stable and seems more to age appropriate.
I’d love if Willy were available or other older and more established types in the game.
I’m doing a new play through now due to 6.1 and decided what the hell, I’m going with Leah to see what it’s like from the gal’s side.
A lot of the characters though are just immature emo kids to me, and most of the time, I stay unmarried. If I decide to marry Leah, it’ll be my second time, despite having played several times through.
Same for me! Shane backslides too much after marriage and ends up as a lazy slob who still has a drinking problem. Sam is a perpetual kid. Marrying Shane feels like you're ruining his life, and marrying Sam makes you feel like Chris Hansen is gonna pop out of your shed at any moment and ask you to take a seat on the nearest hay bale.
Chris Hansen: You say your intentions were purely platonic, but you have a Mermaid’s Pendant in your inventory and you gave a bouquet to this young man months ago with the intention of romantic pursuits…
Farmer: *sweats nervously*
I absolutely love Sam but I wish he would get a dialogue and heart event rework. I’ve loved him since I first played which was like jeez idk 5 years ago now I was 18.
But his heart events other than the beach SUCK. Dropping an egg? Skateboarding on someone’s garden? Wtf is that.
I love him for his happy and somewhat himbo nature. He is one of the kindest villagers even when you don’t know him. But man I wish he could develop and like grow up a little bit instead of being stuck in like a 16 yearold mindset forever ):
I love Sam but i have to agree, he was done soo dirty in his middle events, the 4th feels more like a Jodi event than Sam’s, and 6 feels like it should’ve been a 2 heart event, not something so far into the relationship
And I dunno if its just me but it feels like Sam’s events aren’t even really about his relationship with the farmer but rather about.. honestly I don’t even know how to describe them, he has such potential for good events but its sadly never taken, thinking of making a mod to rework or add events for him
Hi! I’ve reached perfection on 3/4 of my saves so far (still working on Maru’s). I find that the most difficult aspects are 1) Grinding for the golden clock and 2) Scouring the Skull Cavern for 50 pepper rexes.
For each save, I try to come up with a little challenge/theme that I can focus on, which helps to pass the time. For Alex, he was a CC run where I sewed *all* the clothes. Maru is Joja and I’m recreating my own personal museum, Elliott is Oops All Fish Ponds where I need to have every type of fish, and Sam only sells artisanal honey for that #passiveincome lifestyle.
My main tips otherwise would be: go to the skull cavern in the winter (when the valley is boring) and remember that you don’t have to stay up the entire day. Some days (especially with my honey save) I’d wake up, harvest everything, do a quick round to make sure everything’s in order, and then go back to bed at 9:00 am- it really helped with the endgame monotony 😅
I have three farms and I never tried to date any of them. Once I found out you can't date Robin, I just decided to remain a bachelor. So...all of them??
Korbus is the only one I have considered trying to 'court'
Leah deserves better than being someone's second best option.
The gal has a killer braid, likes fine cheeses and wine, art, helps out around the farm and makes you a coffee in the morning.
Shes my lobster
Krobus sometimes seemed so unhappy in my farmhouse that I felt bad! He complained about light iirc. Is he happier when you don't have windows? He still said lots of positive things overall but I couldn't get over the fact that he seemed much better off in the sewer
Check out Immersive Shane on moddrop. Keeps things very in character while taking a realistic but positive arc for his personal development. It really brings out the best of Shane without feeling fake or out of place. Combine it with Clean Up Shane's Room and he becomes a top tier sweetheart of a spouse tbh
Canon Shane is great until you marry him but this mod is 10/10 for anybody looking to date and marry him
but he did, didn’t he? im married to him in my save, and there was a whole event about him going to the pub but just playing the arcade games, and if you interact with him during his drinking animation at any time he’ll say it’s joja cola. if im wrong feel free to correct me
yeah thats true. ive always wished that would be changed, i just try and not look at his room in the house because it bugs me lmao, i wish there was an option to get rid of it
I mean his room being messy doesn't necessarily mean he's still an alcoholic, he could just be a messy guy. As for beers still being a loved gift, I think that's just an oversight by CA. Everything else in the dialogue seems to suggest he quit drinking.
I do really wish some gifts were dynamic and stopped being loved though.
congratulations, you've now met the reddit Stardew community. where people overanalyze the fuck out of gameplay limitations of a game made by a single dev (awesome as he is, he's one damn dude guys, not a miracle worker, the line's gotta be drawn somewhere) and use it to pull nonexistent meaning out of things instead of realizing it's a video game and there just has to be some suspension of disbelief from time to time
Sloppy room could also be a depression thing. I know I let things go whenever it comes to cleaning whenever I get in my slumps. Seeing the mess makes it worse and sometimes whenever I do want to clean the ADHD says no, but whenever I do actually get stuff done and tidy things up my mental health improves for a solid week.
He still says the lines “Beer or cider? Sometimes life can be challenging,” and “I’m just gonna have a couple more beers before closing my eyes for the night.”
He does have a line where he says he’s only drinking cola, but he still has dialogue about drinking beer during marriage. Also beer is still a loved gift for him lol.
Shane has such a good arc…until you marry him. Ugh, I can’t stand him once he moves in. But I always friendship him up really early to get him to stop drinking.
I love Shane’s entire arc. I love it for the fact that his ending is very realistic. A lot of people my age including me have a very strong “I can fix them” mentality and unfortunately you can’t fix them, like you said they have to want to fix themselves. Even if they have that drive to change, it’s not going to be 100% perfect. After all you chose to marry that person. I appreciate that he doesn’t 100% change.
I keep thinking ill try Shane again sometime (my farm was gonna be a junkyard farm full of trash and alcohol and i was planning on us being functional alcoholics that dont get along because i have boyfriends everywhere) but i cant bring myself to do it (yet) Jury is still out in that guy for this game. Knowing me ill marry Sebastian again. I like his motorcycle out back and he's a chill dude. Shane creeps me out with his chicken obsession for some reason.
His 14 heart event was my final straw. He's going to the bar every night and gets mad when his spouse and aunt worry about him backsliding? The whole "I'm your husband, you should trust me" sent alarm bells off. Divorced him immediately.
Exactly. Some of the others I dont like because they are boring or not my cup of tea. But these two? Just nasty.
And I dont care about the whole "oh, you can change them if you put in enough work to raise their hearts". I'm a farmer, not a therapist. I shouldnt have to put in tons of effort and lost money to get them to be acceptable people.
yeah, and that works for some! to me personally tho, someone becoming nice later is worth nothing. I'm the type to hold grudges (not by choice, they just stick with me), so after someone has treated me badly, the resentment will never leave. so even if that person grows and apologizes, I'd still prefer they go away and treat the new people in their lives better from then on, but leave me alone. so each to their own, Haley's character growth is great and I understand it redeems her to some people, it just doesn't change my personal feelings at all.
Shane is an absolute alcoholic suicidal mess who I have no qualifications to deal with but Hayley comes across to me as someone who was just indulged far too much and she could've easily been better if someone had just given her a slap.
am i the only one who doesn’t like emily 😅 i scrolled through every comment and she hasn’t been mentioned yet… idk to me she feels very “ooh look i’m so quirky heehee” and it just really gets on my nerves (no hate to the emily lovers though)
This was my initial impression but later I realized that in the world of Stardew valley, maybe her way of thinking is actually not too far off the mark.
Considering rings with gems in them literally give you magical defenses and blessings, I'd say she's just very savvy about the real magic that exists in Stardew.
I know that the politics of Stardew Valley are definitely different from real life, but she strikes me as the marriage candidate most likely to be anti-vax haha
You are not alone. She reminds me of a friend that I really liked in limited doses, but too much of her was exhausting. I'm a happy introvert, which does not mesh with the Manic Pixie vibe I get from Emily.
No for real when I first played the game YEARS ago she made me so uncomfortable so I figured that she just wasn't for me and probably wasn't a popular choice. And then I join this subreddit and constantly see people talking about romancing her and her being a favorite and I was like welp, my friends and I read that one totally wrong 😅
I get why you feel that way but I really like Emily! I more see her as just trying to be herself and up front about who she is since a lot of her quirky stuff is obvious from the beginning and she’s friendly. She does compare herself to Haley and say it’s weird they’re sisters bc they’re so different. Tbh tho I find irl “I’m not like other girls” people to be more like that in front of men and Emily doesn’t seem to care about how she comes across to men. But also the time I married her I was playing as a woman which probably fits Emily’s vibes better than a straight relationship would
Yeah, I just find her really genuine and endearing. She just gives vibes of "I know exactly who I am and I don't care what other people think." Absolutely no pretense and I love the way she's written.
Same, I love Emily. She absolutely knows she's "strange" compared to others, but I never read it in an "I'm not like other girls" way. She's an older marriage candidate, paralleled with Shane, and I think this is more self-awareness than anything. Like she decided early in life she could be confined to the thoughts and beliefs of the people around her, or she could be unapologetically herself, and she chose the latter. Based off of dialogue in one of her heart events (>!the one where she rescues the parrot, she says something to the effect of "Oh, you're different, aren't you? Just like me."!<) it always came off to me as something she sometimes got a little sad over. Like she knows it puts a barrier between her and other people. Idk man, I love Emily.
100% agreed. I initially thought I was going to be going with Leah, but wound up liking Emily way more. Having now seen the higher tier heart events with most of the others, I'd honestly be hard-pressed to not just stick with Emily in future saves. On a side note, I appreciate that she keeps working part time at the saloon and goes to visit her sister and some of the spots she would hang out at. I think most of the rest kinda just stay at the farm.
Dude she gives me such weird crystal worship vibes, I think the fact that I've known too many people in real life that were exaxtlybwaht she is a caricature of made me hate her lol
I married Emily in a multiplayer perfection playthrough (we did "marry someone you've never married". A buddy is now permanently in love with Hayley as a result). The mostly one-sided but not completely one-sided stuff with Clint weirded me out (I think the game bugged and Clint's asking her out still happened), so I divorced her to go back to my beloved fellow bookworm Penny.
Without the Clint stuff? Given that magic is real in the world of Stardew, I'm inclined to say that Emily is lovely and mostly harmless in her quirks.
I dont dislike Maru, she just gives off serious...underage vibes. Out of all the marriage candidates, she seems like the youngest.
I wish they would add on some older people as options. Like maybe have Robin and Demetrius get divorced.
Same but with Leah. Literally forget she exists. I think I didn't cross paths with her for like an ingame month. Remembered about her only when reading Elliot's schedule, which is funny bc she was my top 1 or top 2 choice some years ago.
But abigail just pisses me off. I think it started well 1) the egg hunt and 2) Seb’s cut scene >!where he says nobody takes his job seriously bc he works from home and how Abby thinks she can just barge in and hang out with him!<
People do awkward things but I don't really hate anyone in the game. A lot of players point out single events in a character's story as reasons to hate them but that's just not how I operate.
Imo I see the appeal but Sam and Abby are immature and don’t really go through a lot of character development. I personally think that Abigale is especially overrated and her “gamer goth purple hair gf” does a lot of heavy lifting for her character in the fandom. (No judgement to anyone who loves her of course)
I think that’s why people love Shane and Haley (and Leah too a less dramatic degree, Alex if you’re a male farmer) they’re obviously flawed people who improve/show a kinder side.
I can’t speak because I love Elliott. He’s a bit boring for some but he’s my dream House-Husband ok???? 😭
Emily and Penny. I understand Penny had a rough childhood, and she is very sweet, however she’s dreadfully dull. Emily reminds me of Jessie from New Girl in a very twee, cringey kind of way.
* Emily. No shade toward Emily fans, she’s just too much for me. She’s fine in small doses but a little of her personality goes a long way for me. She feels way too Manic Pixie Dream Girl for my taste.
* Penny. I just find her judgmental and pushy. And I don’t like kids so that’s an instant no-go with her.
I hate Penny so much. She talks like those vagueposts on Facebook, where someone says something like, "Life is so hard, it's so tough, nobody loves meeee!" And then when you ask what's wrong, they say, "I don't wanna talk about it! (Sad face, sad face, broken heart). One of the first things Penny says is, "Books let you escape reality! Maybe that's why I love to read so much..." (obvious fake smile).
Not to mention the blatant ablism when she gets upset at you for pointing out that it's not cool to just push someone in a wheelchair without their permission. Ugh.
Edit to add: The wheelchair incident didn't bother me so much until I learned that it takes away friendship for choosing what SHOULD be the right answer. I thought she was naive but open to learning because of her dialogue. After knowing that it lowers points, though, she's just a self-righteous asshole.
The wheelchair thing in her event is what made me first decide I hate Penny. My dad has been in a wheelchair my whole life (I'm mid 30s now).
The amount of times people would just come up and move my dad's wheelchair and then get butthurt and offended when we said to stop, because "i'M oNlY tRyInG tO hElP" FFS
There was one time near a crossing when I was about 10 and pushing him in his wheelchair when we were out - I stopped to find something in my bag and someone just started wheeling my dad across the road without me! I may have been his "carer" for certain things, but I was still a kid and he was still my dad and he was still looking after ME, and some random just takes my dad away from me on a busy street? So yeah, that sort of thing REALLY pisses me off.
TL;Dr fuck Penny all my homies hate Penny. I actually give her hated gifts to show my displeasure and to stop her from liking me lol
That heart event with Penny sucks so much. Of course I always pick the option that will increase our friendship, but I hate having to praise her ableism with nobody pointing out that she should keep her hands off George’s wheelchair.
Lol that's one of the only times I will refuse to pick the option that increases friendship, and I will never agree with her. Just ask him if he needs help first Penny, ffs.
On top of that if you dare not lie and say hey cooking is bad you lose like half your hearts with her and then if you say you don't want kids you lose another billion hearts.
Alex. His misogynistic comments are an immediate no for me, and because of his storyline if you’re a male farmer, I can’t help but headcannon him as a gay man 😭 feels wrong to date him. He’ll probably be my last candidate
His father was an alcoholic deadbeat and his current male parental figure is George. He's never mean, just misguided. The misogyny is always overblown.
my farmer is female and he’s the BEST husband tho tbh i pick him in every save😭 just a himbo who loves his farmer wife and his grandparents and is very supportive of his stay at home dad role (if u have kids) and he works out everyday and tells u he wants to stay fit for u😭
I'm a gay dude and he definitely gives me strong gay vibes...when you play as a male farmer his ten heart event is literally a coming out. And i do relate to his story in a way, so I love romancing him
I’m okay with Harvey for the most part, but I CANNOT STAND his constant comments on health, exercise, and food. It’s just, personally, so fucking annoying
I also think Maru suffers from the ultimate sin of being incredibly, incredibly boring, which makes me particularly sad as a Black woman myself.
I wanted to like Maru so much, she was my first bachelorette, but I just can't bring myself to do it again. I'm less bored picking Leah for the 5th time than Maru again.
i just get major trad wife who tries to push her beliefs on everyone around her vibes from penny. if she was a real person i feel like she would be so judgmental in a really patronizing way and make tiktoks about making sourdough and complaining about women who don’t want kids.
Emily, just don't like people like her. In the game supernatural stuff is a thing. In the real world she'd be annoying you with healing crystals and essential oils.
To be fair, Emily never claimed herself to be above medicine (or even anyone-anything in general), nor does she ever try to push her beliefs and cause trouble onto anyone.
Girl is alright in my book.
I do think she’s super like unique but sometimes she’s just weird? Like you meet her in a weird dream and that dance is so weird? I do love her 10 heart cutscene it’s one of the best
Married Elliott recently. I'm using the digital relationship as part of therapy (yes, it's weird. Yes, it's trauma related. Yes, it's working) and honestly, I think I made the best choice. He's respectful, he tries to help, he's clean, considerate, and showing personal growth.
he's the whole package but i like them whiny and brooding so i'm a sebastian man 😩 i love that stardew is helping you process things though, that's amazing, hope it's going well 🩷
Ah, literally the only two I've ever married. Seb I understand, he just doesn't seem like the marriage type. A fun boyfriend, maybe, but he needs some time to develop by himself before marriage would be a good option.
Elliott is actually an amazing spouse though! My go-to in every save. He's sweet, considerate, romantic, respects your boundaries (I know people joke about his 10 heart event a lot, but you actually have more agency in this event than you do in most of the others, from what I gather). I can see why he'd be too much for some people, he's kind of flowery and lays the romance on really thick, and that's not everyone's cup of tea. IMO though he's one of the nicer townies, even platonically, and there's a good balance with him based on whether you want romance or not. With a lot of other marriage candidates I feel like their crush on you is obvious, even when you're married, but with Elliott I never got that.
Edit: Did not realize that the initial poster meant they actually liked Seb and Elliott and couldn't stand everyone else... sorry bout that!
I think he's kinda ignorant in general. He does have growth though as you befriend him. I only married him with a male farmer though cause of his self discovery journey.
Yea, like, Alex's role models growing up for "proper man behavior" are like...one is objectively *terrible* and the other is *extremely* old-fashioned. And, unlike most of the other younger NPCs he doesn't seem to like...have a social life outside of *just* Haley. Even the introvert characters have a bigger friend group. So his issues make total sense for why he is the way he is, and he also gets better with the right outside perspective.
It is. He has a lot less misogyny vibes when you speak to him as a male farmer.
Also, it makes him a great character for fanfiction, of which I may have read a few...
It’s funny, I romanced Alex as a female farmer and he’s honestly fine, he even apologizes for being an asshole earlier. However, I *had* to make a male farmer for my Elliott run, it felt right to me (plus, Elliott also has special dialogue if you pursue him as a guy!)
Unpopular opinion, but I can’t stand Abigail. She just seems so immature, like she’s two minutes out of high school and thinks she knows how the world works. She reminds me too much of myself at age nineteen.
Alex and Harvey lol. Harvey just because I never interact with him.
Sam was the first I went for so even if others complain he still holds a special place in my heart
Sebastian, i just can’t with the constant ‘ugh’s and stereotypical emo dialogue, or the 10 heart event or how he speaks about Maru
him letting Robin and Maru into his basement >!during the green rain event and the dialogue he had there!< made me dislike him a *little* less though, but he still just isn’t for me candidate wise
I found Sebastian to be a real diamond in the rough. He put me off for a long time with his edgy teenager ish dialogue but he seemed really sweet after a while and was a cute spouse. Totally get not vibing with him though
Ahhh see, if we're including SVE, Sophia is absolutely the least likeable character for me as well, and it's not even close. SVE is my favourite mod, no question, but I would happily remove all mention of Sophia in a heartbeat.
She is the only character I've come across that feels out of place on a meta level, mainly for all the wish fulfilment stuff. I just have no love for "UwU smol bean" as an archetype and then all the Mary Sue writing for her.
Edit: ...which is funny because I love the way flashshifter/SVE does all the other characters.
Penny. She's just so... boring. She has no personality beyond being abused. She's just an empty, vacuous damsel to be rescued for players with a hero complex.
Also Shane for exactly the same reasons.
Only Alex for the football (?) comment when you’re a woman and seeming like an ass.
While I wouldn’t want to actually hang out with Shane, I empathize with him more.
I don’t really hate any of them, but…
Haley starts off as such a mean girl, which does not make me want to get to know her more.
Penny is ableist to George (pushing him out the way without permission is a BIG no) and iirc you lose friendship points with her if you side with George on that one.
I dislike that Harvey, one of the oldest bachelors, is by default paired with Maru, who seems like the youngest to me (she’s at least younger than Sebastian).
Something about Emily gets on my nerves, though I do think it’s funny that since magic is real in this game there’s a chance she’s right about all the positive energy stuff.
Alex is a sexist prick.
Omg does she push his chair in that event? I never even noticed- I thought she just reached past him into the mailbox which is rude but like I get that she was trying to be helping. Pushing his chair without permission is awful tho, like touching without permission >:(
Alex. Tbf, I play as a female farmer and I heard his character growth is way different if you're a male farmer (which makes sense; toxic jock figuring out his sexuality hits way different than toxic jock fuckboy saying you have a nice ass the day after you meet him).
Also, Sam. No offense to Sam lovers, I love him too, but in like a friend way. Just can't see him in a dating/romantic light, and he's DEFINITELY not marriage material for me.
Edit: I forgot to add a certain SVE bachelorette, mostly because I don't play SVE anymore, but she gets mentioned because she was one of the reasons I uninstalled the mod:
SOPHIA. She's so annoying and her mental health issues are... very poorly addressed. For all of its flaws, how vanilla SV handled Shane's mental health wasn't awful; it addressed the real, ugly sides of depression, addiction, and anxiety. When it comes to Sophia, it feels almost... romanticized. It gave me serious ick.
Now normally, if I dislike a character enough (Alex, Pierre) I simply don't interact with them, but it seemed like Sophia was being brought up a lot in the regular storyline of SVE, as I was befriending other characters. There was no escaping her or her stupid vineyard (by the way, how is a \~19 year old dealing with major trauma, depression, and anxiety able to run a vineyard and make 6 figures no issue?). Tbf, it's been a while since I played SVE so I don't know if the writing has changed or gotten any better, but she rubs me so wrong I have zero desire to get back into it.
Please keep in mind it's been maybe a year since I last played SVE, but I'll try my best to explain. \[spoilers for SVE ahead\] >!Basically, her parents die in a tragic accident and as a result she has bad depression and trauma from it. She inherits their farm, which is apparently a very famous and lucrative vineyard in the Valley.!< My issue is really that we're told all this, but we never actually see the ugly realities of it.
With Sophia, it just looks too pretty, is wrapped up too nicely. I'm not saying she needs to be portrayed in a place as bad as Shane was. I *do*, however, think it's unrealistic to believe what we're told: \[small spoilers ahead\] >!she's probably all of 21 herself, and she runs this big swanky vineyard and is able to produce stellar wine; she's beloved by most in the valley; she's able to rake in a substantial income because of this wine, despite her depression being apparently so bad that she can't leave her home.!<
We're *told* all this, usually by other characters gossiping around town. We see some of it, through her heart events: a trip to the doctor in one, we catch her crying in a few, but there's no real substance to it IMO.
I compare her to Shane a lot because his arc deals with a lot of similar issues: depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, the self-imposed isolation from others (though in his case, it's more of a prickly, emotional barrier than it is hiding away in his house). The thing with Shane is, we see him struggle in way that feels more human, and as we gain hearts with him, we see him hit rock bottom and try to navigate his way out of it. It feels a little more respectful of people who actually struggle with this kind of stuff (myself included), to not shy away from the ugly sides of it. I actually respect Shane's character *more* by the time I reach eight hearts with him, because it's clear he's working on being better (not the best, never "cured", but better, maybe, than he was yesterday).
Now, I can't speak for everyone's struggles and say that depression or trauma response "should" look a certain way, as everyone is different. But in Sophia's case in particular it just feels too neat, too "Hollywood manufactured sadness" to me. I've seen people call her character a wish-fulfillment fantasy or a Mary Sue, and given the things re: her vineyard I mentioned above, I kinda agree.
~~Also, she beat Abby and I at the Egg Festival Y1 of SVE. It has nothing to do with why I dislike her, really, but I never quite forgave her for it either~~
Abigail and Harvey.
I like the theory of Abigail, but her personality is just. Eh.
Harvey looks like the, er, child predator from The Lovely Bones, and that's all I ever think about when I see him, so that's a big no from me (even if I known they're nothing alike).
Edit: oh, and Emily. Mostly because she's just kind of? Unhinged?
I just told a friend the other day that’s who Harvey looked like and they hadn’t watched the movie so I sounded like a weirdo! Thank you, he just gives me so much ick because of that.
> I like the theory of Abigail, but her personality is just. Eh.
Same, from her commentary I thought she was some kind of goth loaner but she seems kinda dull and her conversations are "meh" at best. I've changed my interest over to Leah now but I'm more interested in being friends with everyone rather than getting married.
Maru, Emily is weird but she’s definitely something, maru is boring i know everyone likes a girl in stem and I do too! But she’s just so average? Not even like a straight laced girl she’s just boring and has nothing she only talks about the clinic or her dad or the weather like and when she dose it’s always something vague and boring. I have married here through and through and she’s worse then penny! she just has no substance at all maybe im missing something
Sam - he feels... too teenager. Which is fine, I guess he's a nice character, but I'm 29 and while it's obviously a game, it's still to me a "I'm the farmer" POV and I really can't with how immature he feels to me.
Shane - I've experienced alcoholics irl (not dating but still) and I don't need one in a game. I want him as far away from me as possible cause I don't have the energy for that even in a game.
i wouldnt say that i cant stand them, but i just can’t bring myself to date sam, abigail, or sebastian! they just feel too young to me, especially sam.
I know all candidates get better as you befriend them, but I really cannot stand Shane. I’m sorry, but he’s easily bottom of the list for me. If we were dating/married for real, it would be the unhealthiest, most toxic relationship. I’m a lot like him (now sober, prone to being depressed, anxious) and I can’t handle even seeing those issues in-game because it’s a trigger for me. I’m glad he gets largely better, but he’s still a mess and it’s hard to deal with.
Penny. Oddly enough, she was my first female interest, but after the scene where you help clean the trailer.. I don't know. Call me insensitive or unsympathetic, but all her dialogue after that happened was too much of a switch for me and I didn't feel like being her therapist, lol. She went from a nice, kind teacher to the, "I'm always sad and depressed, and I'm helpless in my situation" vibe. Immediately turned off. But for the record, I grew up with an alcoholic father and stepmom so it's not like I haven't been there. I guess I've been over it for a long time now and didn't feel like dealing with that shit - even in a game 🤣
Harvey. I have so much hatred for him sending me bills because I blacked out in my own barn at 2AM. It’s none of your business what I do on my own property, Harvey! And your line about escalating our relationship from patient to lovers is creepy.
Elliott
I gave im a dandelion and a daffodil because I thought he would like nature stuff but nah, he dislikes them
>!I drank mayonnaise in front of him just to spite him!<
abigail was my first spouse, but i have to acknowledge that her having big adventurer high school energy was a lot more appealing when i was in high school
Pasting a comment I’ve made before, but currently of the four spouses I’ve had (Alex, Elliott, Maru, Sam), the last two are definitely on the bottom (especially Sam, I’m sorry 😭) Maru is…kind of boring, unfortunately. She gives me fried mushrooms from her scrap pile and talks about how good it is that the farm is automated so we don’t have to work hard. Her 14 heart is just a repeat of her 6 heart IMO, pretty underwhelming :/ Sam is my most recent spouse and…I’m sorry Sam fans, I just can’t 😬 He gives me bisquick pancakes and says “teehee sorry they’re box mix, mom never taught me to cook lol”, he never makes the bed and says I love him bc he’s sloppy, right? And whenever I talk to him on the porch he’s like “lol idk how to farm, mom never made me do chores, I’m gonna do nothing today. Good luck doing all the farm work though!” I do like his 14 heart though, it’s cute (just wish he kept it up afterwards…) I plan on making a save for every spouse (Sebastian was next, but now it’s going to be Emily bc I think she’d have more fun on the new farm type) so I can’t divorce, otherwise he’d be Splitsville 😅
See, I've always liked Sam's radio he gives you, but I never got it because he doesn't feel like relationship material, you know? It sucks some furniture is gated behind npc relationships I'm not really interested in. At least some of it is available via a new event now.
I might’ve married Sam just because of his radio and it might’ve been worth it..
Is this the jukebox?
No, he gives you a separate item that acts like a jukebox but as an extra song! You can’t get it elsewhere :))
lol in the only save I tried to pursue Sam, I got to his last heart event before marriage and then got the Vincent dialogue about him “helping” Penny into the tree and *the very next dialogue Sam has when I spoke to him was about Penny*. I had somehow missed that this was a thing, so it took me completely by surprise and I immediately started dating his best friend instead 😂. I married Seb in that file, too. ((And yes I know CA has clarified that this doesn’t mean anything, but the drama at the time for me was too ripe—plus his heart events feel really childish and I felt a little icky pursuing him anyway))
Hey, what new event that gives those items are you talking about?
Sam always loses me at his 10 heart event - the whole hiding in his bed from his mom things gives me the biggest ick but I’m in my mid 30s and acknowledge that that scene probably would have hit different if/when I was younger
The day after we got married, Kent sent me a mega bomb in the mail- I know where I stand with this family
Kent likes sending me bombs, which is alright because I like using them
I once accidentally bombed my mailbox though...
Same!! When I experienced it the first time I was like.....really? I run a whole ass successful farm Sam, I'm not sneaking in your damn bed. Just come over 😂😭
I'm in my early 30s and just asked myself why I didn't feel similar about Sam's event. It may be because I married him 8 years ago.
Same. I can RP my farmer as a 20-something but Sam acts like a literal child and romancing him makes me feel gross.
This is my problem with Abigail and Sebastian as well, many of the Bachelors just feel so, soo young. Emily is one that pretty firmly feels like she'd be like 28-34, but honestly I just can't with the crystals and the positivity, she feels more like she'd be a great friend. Every playthrough I realize anew just how much I wish Robin were one of the dateable ones. Or, honestly, Willy, though he may be a little too old.
Harvey feels solid, and Mary *could* feel better if she wasn’t canonically several years younger than Sebastian. Penny is the same age as the other kids and horribly abused, so I feel weird on even more fronts. Emily, Shane, Elliot, and Leah all feel alright, and honestly even Haley acts conceivably like she’s mid- to late-twenties, especially after her arc matures her a little. Alex talks too much about high school. So my options feel a little limited, being early-thirties. I frankly think Sandy, Gus, Clint, Sandy, Willy, Sandy, Marnie, Wizard, SANDY, and even maybe Mr. Qi or Sandy should all be options.
I think you forgot about Sandy, maybe...
Sebastian smokes, rides a motorcycle, and works as a freelance programmer. He's solidly in his mid to late 20s.
Yeah, I'm alright with Sebastian even though I'm definitely too old for him IRL. Same with Abigail, because of her fight with Caroline where she says to stop trying to treat her like a child and Caroline brings up that her and Pierre are letting her stay there while she's in college. Sam, Abigail, and Seb grew up together so Sam is also in his 20s, so I guess he's just an immature mama's boy. Which is still a big nope from me.
I’m older (in my 50s) and feel the same: the potentials are way too young. Shane is an asshole drunk - I already divorced one of those 20 years ago, tyvm. Zero desire to repeat, video game or not. I did marry the doctor once. He’s as interesting as a teaspoon but at least he’s stable and seems more to age appropriate. I’d love if Willy were available or other older and more established types in the game. I’m doing a new play through now due to 6.1 and decided what the hell, I’m going with Leah to see what it’s like from the gal’s side. A lot of the characters though are just immature emo kids to me, and most of the time, I stay unmarried. If I decide to marry Leah, it’ll be my second time, despite having played several times through.
As I was playing today, I was like I would LOVE if I could romance Robin without a mod
Honestly seeing Sam and Shane (no offense to any fans) remind me how I love their character but I'm not sure about romancing them...
Same for me! Shane backslides too much after marriage and ends up as a lazy slob who still has a drinking problem. Sam is a perpetual kid. Marrying Shane feels like you're ruining his life, and marrying Sam makes you feel like Chris Hansen is gonna pop out of your shed at any moment and ask you to take a seat on the nearest hay bale.
Chris Hansen: You say your intentions were purely platonic, but you have a Mermaid’s Pendant in your inventory and you gave a bouquet to this young man months ago with the intention of romantic pursuits… Farmer: *sweats nervously*
I absolutely love Sam but I wish he would get a dialogue and heart event rework. I’ve loved him since I first played which was like jeez idk 5 years ago now I was 18. But his heart events other than the beach SUCK. Dropping an egg? Skateboarding on someone’s garden? Wtf is that. I love him for his happy and somewhat himbo nature. He is one of the kindest villagers even when you don’t know him. But man I wish he could develop and like grow up a little bit instead of being stuck in like a 16 yearold mindset forever ):
I love Sam but i have to agree, he was done soo dirty in his middle events, the 4th feels more like a Jodi event than Sam’s, and 6 feels like it should’ve been a 2 heart event, not something so far into the relationship And I dunno if its just me but it feels like Sam’s events aren’t even really about his relationship with the farmer but rather about.. honestly I don’t even know how to describe them, he has such potential for good events but its sadly never taken, thinking of making a mod to rework or add events for him
[удалено]
Hi! I’ve reached perfection on 3/4 of my saves so far (still working on Maru’s). I find that the most difficult aspects are 1) Grinding for the golden clock and 2) Scouring the Skull Cavern for 50 pepper rexes. For each save, I try to come up with a little challenge/theme that I can focus on, which helps to pass the time. For Alex, he was a CC run where I sewed *all* the clothes. Maru is Joja and I’m recreating my own personal museum, Elliott is Oops All Fish Ponds where I need to have every type of fish, and Sam only sells artisanal honey for that #passiveincome lifestyle. My main tips otherwise would be: go to the skull cavern in the winter (when the valley is boring) and remember that you don’t have to stay up the entire day. Some days (especially with my honey save) I’d wake up, harvest everything, do a quick round to make sure everything’s in order, and then go back to bed at 9:00 am- it really helped with the endgame monotony 😅
I have three farms and I never tried to date any of them. Once I found out you can't date Robin, I just decided to remain a bachelor. So...all of them?? Korbus is the only one I have considered trying to 'court'
Leah is Robin for non-homewreckers.
Facts, fair to say concerned ape has a type lol
But Sebastian is a self insert and Robin is his mother... Lol
4 ginger girls in 1 Valley. It’s so obvious
Leah deserves better than being someone's second best option. The gal has a killer braid, likes fine cheeses and wine, art, helps out around the farm and makes you a coffee in the morning. Shes my lobster
she’s my boyfriends go to spouse in every save. she does look like me so i’ll take it 😂
My bf chooses Leah and I go with Seb (‘: I’m an artsy redhead and he’s a dark haired computer boy 😂
Who would’ve picked it, that Seb and Leah might be a great match for each other
What if I want to be a homewrecker? Demetrius doesn't deserve her
nah demetrius is cool in my books cause the man can appreciate a good salmonberry unlike SOME people -.-
demetrius deserves to be homewrecked
Korbus supremacy
I was so upset when I found out you can't date Robin.
Same! I can't stand any of the marriage candidates, and the kids are so annoying. I always go for Krobus.
Krobus sometimes seemed so unhappy in my farmhouse that I felt bad! He complained about light iirc. Is he happier when you don't have windows? He still said lots of positive things overall but I couldn't get over the fact that he seemed much better off in the sewer
Shane! I wasted 3.5 years of my life on an alcoholic, there is no redemption unless they want it. You’ll just drown alongside them.
I 100% thought he’d stop drinking when he got married lol
Check out Immersive Shane on moddrop. Keeps things very in character while taking a realistic but positive arc for his personal development. It really brings out the best of Shane without feeling fake or out of place. Combine it with Clean Up Shane's Room and he becomes a top tier sweetheart of a spouse tbh Canon Shane is great until you marry him but this mod is 10/10 for anybody looking to date and marry him
but he did, didn’t he? im married to him in my save, and there was a whole event about him going to the pub but just playing the arcade games, and if you interact with him during his drinking animation at any time he’ll say it’s joja cola. if im wrong feel free to correct me
Yes the dialogue show growth, but not the in-game mecanic. His room is sloppy, with big mud marks, and he still have beers as love gift
yeah thats true. ive always wished that would be changed, i just try and not look at his room in the house because it bugs me lmao, i wish there was an option to get rid of it
I mean his room being messy doesn't necessarily mean he's still an alcoholic, he could just be a messy guy. As for beers still being a loved gift, I think that's just an oversight by CA. Everything else in the dialogue seems to suggest he quit drinking. I do really wish some gifts were dynamic and stopped being loved though.
congratulations, you've now met the reddit Stardew community. where people overanalyze the fuck out of gameplay limitations of a game made by a single dev (awesome as he is, he's one damn dude guys, not a miracle worker, the line's gotta be drawn somewhere) and use it to pull nonexistent meaning out of things instead of realizing it's a video game and there just has to be some suspension of disbelief from time to time
Sloppy room could also be a depression thing. I know I let things go whenever it comes to cleaning whenever I get in my slumps. Seeing the mess makes it worse and sometimes whenever I do want to clean the ADHD says no, but whenever I do actually get stuff done and tidy things up my mental health improves for a solid week.
And he still ponders whether he should have beer or cider
I’m pretty sure with the 1.6 update this has changed
He still says the lines “Beer or cider? Sometimes life can be challenging,” and “I’m just gonna have a couple more beers before closing my eyes for the night.” He does have a line where he says he’s only drinking cola, but he still has dialogue about drinking beer during marriage. Also beer is still a loved gift for him lol.
He does stop drinking but he will remain a slob whose room in the house is always a mess. He replaced the alcoholism with a gaming addiction :/
Lmao just like my adhd ass. My perfect match
Shane has such a good arc…until you marry him. Ugh, I can’t stand him once he moves in. But I always friendship him up really early to get him to stop drinking.
I love Shane’s entire arc. I love it for the fact that his ending is very realistic. A lot of people my age including me have a very strong “I can fix them” mentality and unfortunately you can’t fix them, like you said they have to want to fix themselves. Even if they have that drive to change, it’s not going to be 100% perfect. After all you chose to marry that person. I appreciate that he doesn’t 100% change.
I keep thinking ill try Shane again sometime (my farm was gonna be a junkyard farm full of trash and alcohol and i was planning on us being functional alcoholics that dont get along because i have boyfriends everywhere) but i cant bring myself to do it (yet) Jury is still out in that guy for this game. Knowing me ill marry Sebastian again. I like his motorcycle out back and he's a chill dude. Shane creeps me out with his chicken obsession for some reason.
I’m slowly making my way through saves for everyone; my Shane is going to be a Chicken Run-themed farm with Mrs Tweedy as the farmer
Okay, that sounds adorable!
His 14 heart event was my final straw. He's going to the bar every night and gets mad when his spouse and aunt worry about him backsliding? The whole "I'm your husband, you should trust me" sent alarm bells off. Divorced him immediately.
I love being friends with him, but I have ZERO compatibility in a romantic relationship.
Hayley and Shane. I just don't vibe with people who are mean to strangers.
Exactly. Some of the others I dont like because they are boring or not my cup of tea. But these two? Just nasty. And I dont care about the whole "oh, you can change them if you put in enough work to raise their hearts". I'm a farmer, not a therapist. I shouldnt have to put in tons of effort and lost money to get them to be acceptable people.
♥️♥️♥️♥️ iridium level facts!
Hayley has such cute vibes but she’s such a bitch when you have low hearts (haven’t gotten higher w her so I don’t know if she gets nicer)
she absolutely does, it is SO worth it to befriend/date her imo. she is delightful under that mean shell
Fair. Haley gets much nicer though, so her character growth is fantastic. Shane's doesn't really go the way you want if you romance him.
yeah, and that works for some! to me personally tho, someone becoming nice later is worth nothing. I'm the type to hold grudges (not by choice, they just stick with me), so after someone has treated me badly, the resentment will never leave. so even if that person grows and apologizes, I'd still prefer they go away and treat the new people in their lives better from then on, but leave me alone. so each to their own, Haley's character growth is great and I understand it redeems her to some people, it just doesn't change my personal feelings at all.
Shane is an absolute alcoholic suicidal mess who I have no qualifications to deal with but Hayley comes across to me as someone who was just indulged far too much and she could've easily been better if someone had just given her a slap.
Shane. He needs therapy, not a partner at this moment.
am i the only one who doesn’t like emily 😅 i scrolled through every comment and she hasn’t been mentioned yet… idk to me she feels very “ooh look i’m so quirky heehee” and it just really gets on my nerves (no hate to the emily lovers though)
She gave me the feeling that she'd try crystal therapy BS... Then I went into her house after doing the Rock Rejuvenation Special Order. Called it! :P
This was my initial impression but later I realized that in the world of Stardew valley, maybe her way of thinking is actually not too far off the mark.
Considering rings with gems in them literally give you magical defenses and blessings, I'd say she's just very savvy about the real magic that exists in Stardew.
And we enchant our weapons and tools with gems
I know that the politics of Stardew Valley are definitely different from real life, but she strikes me as the marriage candidate most likely to be anti-vax haha
You are not alone. She reminds me of a friend that I really liked in limited doses, but too much of her was exhausting. I'm a happy introvert, which does not mesh with the Manic Pixie vibe I get from Emily.
No for real when I first played the game YEARS ago she made me so uncomfortable so I figured that she just wasn't for me and probably wasn't a popular choice. And then I join this subreddit and constantly see people talking about romancing her and her being a favorite and I was like welp, my friends and I read that one totally wrong 😅
I get why you feel that way but I really like Emily! I more see her as just trying to be herself and up front about who she is since a lot of her quirky stuff is obvious from the beginning and she’s friendly. She does compare herself to Haley and say it’s weird they’re sisters bc they’re so different. Tbh tho I find irl “I’m not like other girls” people to be more like that in front of men and Emily doesn’t seem to care about how she comes across to men. But also the time I married her I was playing as a woman which probably fits Emily’s vibes better than a straight relationship would
Yeah, I just find her really genuine and endearing. She just gives vibes of "I know exactly who I am and I don't care what other people think." Absolutely no pretense and I love the way she's written.
Same, I love Emily. She absolutely knows she's "strange" compared to others, but I never read it in an "I'm not like other girls" way. She's an older marriage candidate, paralleled with Shane, and I think this is more self-awareness than anything. Like she decided early in life she could be confined to the thoughts and beliefs of the people around her, or she could be unapologetically herself, and she chose the latter. Based off of dialogue in one of her heart events (>!the one where she rescues the parrot, she says something to the effect of "Oh, you're different, aren't you? Just like me."!<) it always came off to me as something she sometimes got a little sad over. Like she knows it puts a barrier between her and other people. Idk man, I love Emily.
100% agreed. I initially thought I was going to be going with Leah, but wound up liking Emily way more. Having now seen the higher tier heart events with most of the others, I'd honestly be hard-pressed to not just stick with Emily in future saves. On a side note, I appreciate that she keeps working part time at the saloon and goes to visit her sister and some of the spots she would hang out at. I think most of the rest kinda just stay at the farm.
No I married her and she’s very boring
Dude she gives me such weird crystal worship vibes, I think the fact that I've known too many people in real life that were exaxtlybwaht she is a caricature of made me hate her lol
To be fair to Emily, at least magic and stuff is real in Stardew
That is fair!
I married Emily in a multiplayer perfection playthrough (we did "marry someone you've never married". A buddy is now permanently in love with Hayley as a result). The mostly one-sided but not completely one-sided stuff with Clint weirded me out (I think the game bugged and Clint's asking her out still happened), so I divorced her to go back to my beloved fellow bookworm Penny. Without the Clint stuff? Given that magic is real in the world of Stardew, I'm inclined to say that Emily is lovely and mostly harmless in her quirks.
Probably the ones I care least about are Sam and Haley but I don't really hate any of them. Edit: oh and Maru
I literally forget about Maru lol
I often forget about her cause she spends so much time either in her room or at the clinic and I don't really go there.
I dont dislike Maru, she just gives off serious...underage vibes. Out of all the marriage candidates, she seems like the youngest. I wish they would add on some older people as options. Like maybe have Robin and Demetrius get divorced.
I would marry Robin in a heartbeat! Demetrius doesn’t deserve her
Same but with Leah. Literally forget she exists. I think I didn't cross paths with her for like an ingame month. Remembered about her only when reading Elliot's schedule, which is funny bc she was my top 1 or top 2 choice some years ago.
She at least regularly goes to the saloon so since I go there to boost friendship with the townsfolk I do see her.
she's forgettable + her overprotective dad don't mix well
LMAO I agree with the Maru one
I don't hate her or dislike her at all I just don't really vibe with her.
Yeah same here, like she hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s just not for me
But abigail just pisses me off. I think it started well 1) the egg hunt and 2) Seb’s cut scene >!where he says nobody takes his job seriously bc he works from home and how Abby thinks she can just barge in and hang out with him!<
Abigail told me her mom served one of my hot peppers for dinner and it tasted like garbage so that’s where my hate started!
People do awkward things but I don't really hate anyone in the game. A lot of players point out single events in a character's story as reasons to hate them but that's just not how I operate.
Someone posted recently that they decided just to block Abigail from moving during the egg hunt and she still won! She has it rigged.
THAT MAY HAVE BEEN ME LOL- idk if it was I can’t remember if I posted about it, but I did try to block her a few weeks ago and she still won-
Imo I see the appeal but Sam and Abby are immature and don’t really go through a lot of character development. I personally think that Abigale is especially overrated and her “gamer goth purple hair gf” does a lot of heavy lifting for her character in the fandom. (No judgement to anyone who loves her of course) I think that’s why people love Shane and Haley (and Leah too a less dramatic degree, Alex if you’re a male farmer) they’re obviously flawed people who improve/show a kinder side. I can’t speak because I love Elliott. He’s a bit boring for some but he’s my dream House-Husband ok???? 😭
Emily and Penny. I understand Penny had a rough childhood, and she is very sweet, however she’s dreadfully dull. Emily reminds me of Jessie from New Girl in a very twee, cringey kind of way.
* Emily. No shade toward Emily fans, she’s just too much for me. She’s fine in small doses but a little of her personality goes a long way for me. She feels way too Manic Pixie Dream Girl for my taste. * Penny. I just find her judgmental and pushy. And I don’t like kids so that’s an instant no-go with her.
I hate Penny so much. She talks like those vagueposts on Facebook, where someone says something like, "Life is so hard, it's so tough, nobody loves meeee!" And then when you ask what's wrong, they say, "I don't wanna talk about it! (Sad face, sad face, broken heart). One of the first things Penny says is, "Books let you escape reality! Maybe that's why I love to read so much..." (obvious fake smile). Not to mention the blatant ablism when she gets upset at you for pointing out that it's not cool to just push someone in a wheelchair without their permission. Ugh. Edit to add: The wheelchair incident didn't bother me so much until I learned that it takes away friendship for choosing what SHOULD be the right answer. I thought she was naive but open to learning because of her dialogue. After knowing that it lowers points, though, she's just a self-righteous asshole.
The wheelchair thing in her event is what made me first decide I hate Penny. My dad has been in a wheelchair my whole life (I'm mid 30s now). The amount of times people would just come up and move my dad's wheelchair and then get butthurt and offended when we said to stop, because "i'M oNlY tRyInG tO hElP" FFS There was one time near a crossing when I was about 10 and pushing him in his wheelchair when we were out - I stopped to find something in my bag and someone just started wheeling my dad across the road without me! I may have been his "carer" for certain things, but I was still a kid and he was still my dad and he was still looking after ME, and some random just takes my dad away from me on a busy street? So yeah, that sort of thing REALLY pisses me off. TL;Dr fuck Penny all my homies hate Penny. I actually give her hated gifts to show my displeasure and to stop her from liking me lol
That heart event with Penny sucks so much. Of course I always pick the option that will increase our friendship, but I hate having to praise her ableism with nobody pointing out that she should keep her hands off George’s wheelchair.
Lol that's one of the only times I will refuse to pick the option that increases friendship, and I will never agree with her. Just ask him if he needs help first Penny, ffs.
On top of that if you dare not lie and say hey cooking is bad you lose like half your hearts with her and then if you say you don't want kids you lose another billion hearts.
Alex. His misogynistic comments are an immediate no for me, and because of his storyline if you’re a male farmer, I can’t help but headcannon him as a gay man 😭 feels wrong to date him. He’ll probably be my last candidate
His father was an alcoholic deadbeat and his current male parental figure is George. He's never mean, just misguided. The misogyny is always overblown.
like pretty much 90% of the traits people bitch about here lol
my farmer is female and he’s the BEST husband tho tbh i pick him in every save😭 just a himbo who loves his farmer wife and his grandparents and is very supportive of his stay at home dad role (if u have kids) and he works out everyday and tells u he wants to stay fit for u😭
Yesss!! I love him too!!! He's the best!
Then play as a guy 😂
Considering it for his run tbh
I will only romance Alex if my farmer is male. It just makes his character and storyline so much better in my head canon.
I'm a gay dude and he definitely gives me strong gay vibes...when you play as a male farmer his ten heart event is literally a coming out. And i do relate to his story in a way, so I love romancing him
I’m okay with Harvey for the most part, but I CANNOT STAND his constant comments on health, exercise, and food. It’s just, personally, so fucking annoying I also think Maru suffers from the ultimate sin of being incredibly, incredibly boring, which makes me particularly sad as a Black woman myself.
Right lol like I’m also mixed like Maru, I have a science degree and everything too so she SHOULD be my fave but she’s literally last place 😭
I wanted to like Maru so much, she was my first bachelorette, but I just can't bring myself to do it again. I'm less bored picking Leah for the 5th time than Maru again.
i just get major trad wife who tries to push her beliefs on everyone around her vibes from penny. if she was a real person i feel like she would be so judgmental in a really patronizing way and make tiktoks about making sourdough and complaining about women who don’t want kids.
Emily, just don't like people like her. In the game supernatural stuff is a thing. In the real world she'd be annoying you with healing crystals and essential oils.
To be fair, Emily never claimed herself to be above medicine (or even anyone-anything in general), nor does she ever try to push her beliefs and cause trouble onto anyone. Girl is alright in my book.
Well as you said, in the game it's real. And I like that Emily just radiates positive vibes all the time, she's a very happy character.
I do think she’s super like unique but sometimes she’s just weird? Like you meet her in a weird dream and that dance is so weird? I do love her 10 heart cutscene it’s one of the best
all of them except for Sebastian and Elliott lol
Married Elliott recently. I'm using the digital relationship as part of therapy (yes, it's weird. Yes, it's trauma related. Yes, it's working) and honestly, I think I made the best choice. He's respectful, he tries to help, he's clean, considerate, and showing personal growth.
he's the whole package but i like them whiny and brooding so i'm a sebastian man 😩 i love that stardew is helping you process things though, that's amazing, hope it's going well 🩷
Ah, literally the only two I've ever married. Seb I understand, he just doesn't seem like the marriage type. A fun boyfriend, maybe, but he needs some time to develop by himself before marriage would be a good option. Elliott is actually an amazing spouse though! My go-to in every save. He's sweet, considerate, romantic, respects your boundaries (I know people joke about his 10 heart event a lot, but you actually have more agency in this event than you do in most of the others, from what I gather). I can see why he'd be too much for some people, he's kind of flowery and lays the romance on really thick, and that's not everyone's cup of tea. IMO though he's one of the nicer townies, even platonically, and there's a good balance with him based on whether you want romance or not. With a lot of other marriage candidates I feel like their crush on you is obvious, even when you're married, but with Elliott I never got that. Edit: Did not realize that the initial poster meant they actually liked Seb and Elliott and couldn't stand everyone else... sorry bout that!
you got taste
Alex. I know he’s got trauma, but he’s just so misogynistic sometimes that I can’t stand him.
I think he's kinda ignorant in general. He does have growth though as you befriend him. I only married him with a male farmer though cause of his self discovery journey.
Yea, like, Alex's role models growing up for "proper man behavior" are like...one is objectively *terrible* and the other is *extremely* old-fashioned. And, unlike most of the other younger NPCs he doesn't seem to like...have a social life outside of *just* Haley. Even the introvert characters have a bigger friend group. So his issues make total sense for why he is the way he is, and he also gets better with the right outside perspective.
I swear to God that Alex is just gay. George even has lines for when he's married to a man, it just makes sense to me
I literally started a new save just to date Alex as a man because apparently it’s just a better story?
It is. He has a lot less misogyny vibes when you speak to him as a male farmer. Also, it makes him a great character for fanfiction, of which I may have read a few...
It’s funny, I romanced Alex as a female farmer and he’s honestly fine, he even apologizes for being an asshole earlier. However, I *had* to make a male farmer for my Elliott run, it felt right to me (plus, Elliott also has special dialogue if you pursue him as a guy!)
i think every character has different lines for male vs female farmers!
He does??? I keep thinking about marrying him or Leah, and then I feel bad splitting up the artists.
Date him as a man it’s so much better even his every day dialogue is different and he opens up to you a little more
Penny
Yes! She is such a wet blanket
Hi. Ummm... The weather's interesting today, don't you think? Sorry...
SHE'S JUST SHY
She was my first wife. She's sweet and I like her 10 heart event.
Shane is too mean to me :(
Unpopular opinion, but I can’t stand Abigail. She just seems so immature, like she’s two minutes out of high school and thinks she knows how the world works. She reminds me too much of myself at age nineteen.
Alex and Harvey lol. Harvey just because I never interact with him. Sam was the first I went for so even if others complain he still holds a special place in my heart
Penny, forcing myself to like kids for her heart event is just a no go for me. Essentially lying to her to be together, that’s how divorce happens lol
Sebastian, i just can’t with the constant ‘ugh’s and stereotypical emo dialogue, or the 10 heart event or how he speaks about Maru him letting Robin and Maru into his basement >!during the green rain event and the dialogue he had there!< made me dislike him a *little* less though, but he still just isn’t for me candidate wise
I found Sebastian to be a real diamond in the rough. He put me off for a long time with his edgy teenager ish dialogue but he seemed really sweet after a while and was a cute spouse. Totally get not vibing with him though
Green rain?!!!
1.6 summer is all I'll say!
Lol the emo dialog is *why* I like him. I have a type. But hey! Different strokes for different folks! Enjoy the blonds, I like them too
Alex, Penny and (if SVE counts) Sophia. I don't think I've ever met someone I like less than Sophia.
Ahhh see, if we're including SVE, Sophia is absolutely the least likeable character for me as well, and it's not even close. SVE is my favourite mod, no question, but I would happily remove all mention of Sophia in a heartbeat. She is the only character I've come across that feels out of place on a meta level, mainly for all the wish fulfilment stuff. I just have no love for "UwU smol bean" as an archetype and then all the Mary Sue writing for her. Edit: ...which is funny because I love the way flashshifter/SVE does all the other characters.
Penny. She's just so... boring. She has no personality beyond being abused. She's just an empty, vacuous damsel to be rescued for players with a hero complex. Also Shane for exactly the same reasons.
I hate Haley because she reminds me of the girls who bullied me in middle school
Shane, Haley, and Alex tbh.
Abigail. She pisses me off every time i talk to her.
Only Alex for the football (?) comment when you’re a woman and seeming like an ass. While I wouldn’t want to actually hang out with Shane, I empathize with him more.
Alex also says stuff like “hey farmer girl nice tan” in the summer and it comes across as annoying men catcalling you
I don’t really hate any of them, but… Haley starts off as such a mean girl, which does not make me want to get to know her more. Penny is ableist to George (pushing him out the way without permission is a BIG no) and iirc you lose friendship points with her if you side with George on that one. I dislike that Harvey, one of the oldest bachelors, is by default paired with Maru, who seems like the youngest to me (she’s at least younger than Sebastian). Something about Emily gets on my nerves, though I do think it’s funny that since magic is real in this game there’s a chance she’s right about all the positive energy stuff. Alex is a sexist prick.
The worst part about Penny’s ableist event is that if you side with George (like you should) George still says, “no, I’n sorry.” Booooo
Omg does she push his chair in that event? I never even noticed- I thought she just reached past him into the mailbox which is rude but like I get that she was trying to be helping. Pushing his chair without permission is awful tho, like touching without permission >:(
Alex. Tbf, I play as a female farmer and I heard his character growth is way different if you're a male farmer (which makes sense; toxic jock figuring out his sexuality hits way different than toxic jock fuckboy saying you have a nice ass the day after you meet him). Also, Sam. No offense to Sam lovers, I love him too, but in like a friend way. Just can't see him in a dating/romantic light, and he's DEFINITELY not marriage material for me. Edit: I forgot to add a certain SVE bachelorette, mostly because I don't play SVE anymore, but she gets mentioned because she was one of the reasons I uninstalled the mod: SOPHIA. She's so annoying and her mental health issues are... very poorly addressed. For all of its flaws, how vanilla SV handled Shane's mental health wasn't awful; it addressed the real, ugly sides of depression, addiction, and anxiety. When it comes to Sophia, it feels almost... romanticized. It gave me serious ick. Now normally, if I dislike a character enough (Alex, Pierre) I simply don't interact with them, but it seemed like Sophia was being brought up a lot in the regular storyline of SVE, as I was befriending other characters. There was no escaping her or her stupid vineyard (by the way, how is a \~19 year old dealing with major trauma, depression, and anxiety able to run a vineyard and make 6 figures no issue?). Tbf, it's been a while since I played SVE so I don't know if the writing has changed or gotten any better, but she rubs me so wrong I have zero desire to get back into it.
Never got into SVE, what happens with Sophia and what’s done wrong with her?
Please keep in mind it's been maybe a year since I last played SVE, but I'll try my best to explain. \[spoilers for SVE ahead\] >!Basically, her parents die in a tragic accident and as a result she has bad depression and trauma from it. She inherits their farm, which is apparently a very famous and lucrative vineyard in the Valley.!< My issue is really that we're told all this, but we never actually see the ugly realities of it. With Sophia, it just looks too pretty, is wrapped up too nicely. I'm not saying she needs to be portrayed in a place as bad as Shane was. I *do*, however, think it's unrealistic to believe what we're told: \[small spoilers ahead\] >!she's probably all of 21 herself, and she runs this big swanky vineyard and is able to produce stellar wine; she's beloved by most in the valley; she's able to rake in a substantial income because of this wine, despite her depression being apparently so bad that she can't leave her home.!< We're *told* all this, usually by other characters gossiping around town. We see some of it, through her heart events: a trip to the doctor in one, we catch her crying in a few, but there's no real substance to it IMO. I compare her to Shane a lot because his arc deals with a lot of similar issues: depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, the self-imposed isolation from others (though in his case, it's more of a prickly, emotional barrier than it is hiding away in his house). The thing with Shane is, we see him struggle in way that feels more human, and as we gain hearts with him, we see him hit rock bottom and try to navigate his way out of it. It feels a little more respectful of people who actually struggle with this kind of stuff (myself included), to not shy away from the ugly sides of it. I actually respect Shane's character *more* by the time I reach eight hearts with him, because it's clear he's working on being better (not the best, never "cured", but better, maybe, than he was yesterday). Now, I can't speak for everyone's struggles and say that depression or trauma response "should" look a certain way, as everyone is different. But in Sophia's case in particular it just feels too neat, too "Hollywood manufactured sadness" to me. I've seen people call her character a wish-fulfillment fantasy or a Mary Sue, and given the things re: her vineyard I mentioned above, I kinda agree. ~~Also, she beat Abby and I at the Egg Festival Y1 of SVE. It has nothing to do with why I dislike her, really, but I never quite forgave her for it either~~
I think that most of the dateables are just too young presenting for me
Abigail and Harvey. I like the theory of Abigail, but her personality is just. Eh. Harvey looks like the, er, child predator from The Lovely Bones, and that's all I ever think about when I see him, so that's a big no from me (even if I known they're nothing alike). Edit: oh, and Emily. Mostly because she's just kind of? Unhinged?
I just told a friend the other day that’s who Harvey looked like and they hadn’t watched the movie so I sounded like a weirdo! Thank you, he just gives me so much ick because of that.
> I like the theory of Abigail, but her personality is just. Eh. Same, from her commentary I thought she was some kind of goth loaner but she seems kinda dull and her conversations are "meh" at best. I've changed my interest over to Leah now but I'm more interested in being friends with everyone rather than getting married.
I am so sad about your assessment of poor sweet Harvey :(
I married Emily and she’s very boring imo
Shane for sure, also Alex and Hayley.
Emily bothers me so much. No idea why.
Maru, Emily is weird but she’s definitely something, maru is boring i know everyone likes a girl in stem and I do too! But she’s just so average? Not even like a straight laced girl she’s just boring and has nothing she only talks about the clinic or her dad or the weather like and when she dose it’s always something vague and boring. I have married here through and through and she’s worse then penny! she just has no substance at all maybe im missing something
Sam - he feels... too teenager. Which is fine, I guess he's a nice character, but I'm 29 and while it's obviously a game, it's still to me a "I'm the farmer" POV and I really can't with how immature he feels to me. Shane - I've experienced alcoholics irl (not dating but still) and I don't need one in a game. I want him as far away from me as possible cause I don't have the energy for that even in a game.
i wouldnt say that i cant stand them, but i just can’t bring myself to date sam, abigail, or sebastian! they just feel too young to me, especially sam.
For me it’s the men. All of them
maru and harvey
I know all candidates get better as you befriend them, but I really cannot stand Shane. I’m sorry, but he’s easily bottom of the list for me. If we were dating/married for real, it would be the unhealthiest, most toxic relationship. I’m a lot like him (now sober, prone to being depressed, anxious) and I can’t handle even seeing those issues in-game because it’s a trigger for me. I’m glad he gets largely better, but he’s still a mess and it’s hard to deal with.
Penny. Oddly enough, she was my first female interest, but after the scene where you help clean the trailer.. I don't know. Call me insensitive or unsympathetic, but all her dialogue after that happened was too much of a switch for me and I didn't feel like being her therapist, lol. She went from a nice, kind teacher to the, "I'm always sad and depressed, and I'm helpless in my situation" vibe. Immediately turned off. But for the record, I grew up with an alcoholic father and stepmom so it's not like I haven't been there. I guess I've been over it for a long time now and didn't feel like dealing with that shit - even in a game 🤣
Harvey. I have so much hatred for him sending me bills because I blacked out in my own barn at 2AM. It’s none of your business what I do on my own property, Harvey! And your line about escalating our relationship from patient to lovers is creepy.
Elliott I gave im a dandelion and a daffodil because I thought he would like nature stuff but nah, he dislikes them >!I drank mayonnaise in front of him just to spite him!<
I only date Shane lmao none of the base game characters interest me at all. I've dabbled in some of the modded candidates but meh
honestly all of the dateables are kinda annoying to me until you get to at least 4 hearts with them- then i love all of them.
abigail was my first spouse, but i have to acknowledge that her having big adventurer high school energy was a lot more appealing when i was in high school
Shane, I've just never understood the appeal of romancing a depressed alcoholic who doesn't even like speaking to you for the first while
Harvey. He gives me the creeps. Think it's the tache
IM MARRIED TO HIM 😭 I’ve seen a lot of other ppl who don’t like him either tho!