Sexual Preference vs. Character Development

Let me explain myself, since the title may not make complete sense! (I didn't know how to word it better!!)

I don't really do reddit much. Or read reddit? However the reddit process is done. But I decided to look at it last night, because I'm a hungry stardew valley monster, and came upon a post that involved people's opinions of the characters. They mentioned how they felt the bachelorettes of the game were very well rounded and not stereotypey, but all of the bachelors were very one-dimensional and fell into very common tropes. I thought this was interesting, considering there were posts that were actually arguing the opposite. Most of the time, it had to do with their sexual preference, so if they preferred female over male, they were more likely to find the bachelors undeveloped (and vice versa). Of course, this may not be every case (especially since you may prefer both or neither!) but I think it'll be interesting to talk about. I've seen posts from straight women about how they chose a bachelorette anyway because they enjoyed the character, as well as straight men not really having any bachelorette as a favorite, etc.

I'll give a spoiler for myself: I absolutely was doing this. When someone said the males were very one-dimensional, I was in the process of sharpening my pitch fork. But... I prefer guys, and I never really gave much thought to the bachelorettes. It's even hard for me to pick a favorite, because I just don't know a lot about them. x_x It's actually much easier for me to identify and relate to the married ladyfolk than it is the singles of the fairer sex in the context of this game.
I think I might go through the characters for that reason since I don't think I gave them as much of a chance as I should have. One thing I can agree with though is that the ladies seem less obvious into stereotypes than the guys are- it was a little easier for me to pick my favorite with the guys before I got to know them, while all the ladies seemed somewhat the same to me (which may be because of my preferences as well).

I guess the tl;dr question for you would be: How did you approach the game when it came to romancing the singles in pelican town? Did you go all in, stick to only half of them, or ignored 'em all?

 

I like to play in a role play mode, whatever character fits mine best I'll go for though I like all the characters except for Haley and sometimes Clint and they are developed just fine at this point as you get to know them the dialogue and events tells you more about each of them. Though CA isn't done yet so for all we know he'll add more in time. I like most people in real life, don't be a jerk and we get along fine it's just a game so it doesn't effect my personal thoughts too much even when role playing but I guess I can see how a female or male wouldn't want to romance the same if they got too into playing. That's just me though.

 

I actually quite like most of the characters, even though I must admit that I kinda "forgot" about everybody else when I started trying to woo Leah. I'm bisexual, but I didn't really care much tbh and just tried to marry whatever character I liked the most (and Leah was pretty easy, as she loves salad and that's very easy to buy, haha). Leah and Elliot are probably my favorite of the bachelors/bachelorettes, but Haley's personality is actually a lot more "deep" than I thought at first, as she just seems like the usual drama queen. Sebastian and Alex have lovely backstories and personalities too! I think it's amazing how well made all of the villagers are, and I wouldn't say that the bachelorettes is one-dimensional at all.

 

I really must try and marry Leah though after Harvey I ended up with Elliot I love his character, like most of them Alex didn't rub me the wrong way I like a random variety with characters and all. Though I wasn't sure about him until I had some events with him and Sebby, is my third or fourth husband depends on when we get Shane, I know Haley warms up like the other moody villagers but her character type has definitely been bleh with me since mean girls...and jawbreaker among others. George is one of my favorites finding that he's actually a sweet old man just bitter over an accident that could have been avoided. He needed a friend other than his wife to talk to is all.

 

I'm a woman in my mid thirties. I have so far played only as a female farmer (numerous restarts). In RL I am attracted to both men and women, but in SV, I pretty much started out disliking ALL the date-ables. I think the likability has more to do with the player's maturity level and personality than gender-preference. Plenty of straight people play games as a character of the opposite gender and enjoy the game just fine. In fact, most good rpg games are, or used to be, male only player characters, and I know a lot of women who consider themselves straight who love those. And if you have ever played an mmo... well let's just say you shouldn't consider a character to represent the player behind it.

I feel like all the bachelors with the exception of Harvey and Elliot are FAR too young/immature to take seriously. Harvey was a dork, but I can live with that, and Elliot was butt ugly which I can't live with, so that left me with one option. (Thank goodness for portrait mods! That got me back to two options.) Of the bachelorettes, on the other hand, only Abigail seemed to be possibly on the younger side, though her maturity felt slightly more acceptable leaving me free to date any of them really. Haley from the get go is just a word that rhymes with witch, though, and Maru is the female counterpart to Harvey, so I was more inclined toward Leah or Penny.

Despite feeling pretty locked down in my choices, I set out to befriend them all, which more or less means dating them anyway. After lots of heart scenes, as time progressed in the game and I got to know them and I felt some of them matured, my feelings about many of them being viable changed for the good. There is still, however, a nagging feeling in the back of my mind about how I would feel if some cougar moved into town and started preying on my children, and that prevents me from really WANTING to date the majority of them, and it's the only aspect of the game I feel let down about. I think I should feel like all the candidates are at least twenty-somethings OR I should feel like the player character is younger (which is how it felt in that other game everyone compares SV to, which I also have always loved )

I'm really looking forward to Shane and Emily being options. (Again, portrait mods to the rescue!) I think either of them are mature enough. Emily is likable already, and Shane's got that bad boy thing going for him that I was drawn to from minute one, and even more so after the first heart scene. In RL, I'd probably waste my life on a Clint or a Willy, while pining for the Shane that got away, what-iffing over a Penny, and wishing I'd picked a Harvey - and I speak from experience.

 

Sexual preference indeed matters. In my opinion, since I only have eyes on the bachelorettes, I view the bachelors nothing more than buddies and completely off the radar in term of romance.

After 8 hearts relationship, usually the player can get the gists about each person's personalities. From there, I simply view which personalities suits me the most. Basically, it is a subjective choice.

Penny is special because of her kindheartedness, Maru for her adorkableness, Leah for her free-spirit, Abigail for her sense of adventure and outgoing, and Haley for her development in personality. However, for the bachelors, I kind of understand when people say they are not as 'high quality' as the bachelorettes. I think among the bachelors, only Elliot and Harvey got their situation sorted. This is just a personal opinion though, most likely to be wrong or biased.

That being said, PENNY BEST WAIFU FOR LAIFU.


"Ew, no." YOU COULD HAVE JUST SAID NO WITHOUT THE 'EW' PART, HALEY!

 

I do agree that some of the bachelors seems very young, but that may just be because I never really got any heart events with most of them. I think that Alex has quite a bit of character development, but that's just because my friend married him in her play through! (Also, Penny is bae and very adorable indeed )

 

I mostly agree with elysian_fate. I'm a (straight) female gamer about to get 30 and have played games as long as I can remember. This game reminded me alot of one of my fondest games, Secret of Mana, and I was gladly surprised to find out that Randi's hairstyle was an option, so I immediately re-created him. I love playing guys in games, and was double pleased to find out that you can date the same sex in this game. ^^

I also agree that most of the bachelors are a bit immature, but I guess that's to be expected with teenagers. However, like you say, the better you get to know them, the more mature (and thus more interesting) they become.

Sebastian was the first guy I spotted, during a rainy day, standing alone at the dock. He looked a little dark and mysterious, so I decided I wanted to learn more about him. I also find him the most attractive, but that is personal of course. We've been married for a while now and the thing I like the most about him is how he can be so unpredictable. He can say such sweet, sincere things - something you would not expect of him, honestly. He also seems to be really happy to live on the farm. Just makes me want to hug him, again and again. ^.^

I think Elliot is gorgeous too. Besides the appearance factor, I find him quite intriguing. I love how he expresses himself, it's so poetic. I created a new game yesterday (with a female character, for a change) and aim to get to know him better there. I want to create 2 more games after that, dedicated solely to Alex and Sam. I know you can date them all on just one save, but I don't like that idea.

What strikes me is how alot of women seem to appreciate Shane alot. To be honest, I can't stand him. He goes out of his way to piss you off and be rude, while at events he is suddenly all talkative and social..? I don't know. I'm usually very attracted to the badboy type, but.. Shane is definitely not hitting the right buttons. I guess part of the reason is also that I do not find him particularly attractive.

As for the females, well, I do not investigate them alot. From what I have experienced so far and from the things I have read, I can say that I really dislike Haley. Why should should someone put effort into gaining someone's affection, let alone shower them with gifts before they are even being considered worthy to talk to? She looks cute, but that's it. If I was a guy, I'd probably go for Leah. Strangely enough, I find the non-marriage female candidates alot more interesting, looks-wise as well as their personalities. Caroline has the coolest hair =3

 

I have no? all? the gender preference ((basically it doesn't matter and I do experience attraction)) but I kinda find the guys a little more boring than the girls. IDK why but I do.

 

I'm more ace than a deck of rigged poker cards, so my pref prolly doesn't have much input compared to some. I've been going into play basically be re-creating various D&D characters I have made over the years and applying their personality to a farmer and so whatever I learn towards in that playthrough is based on what my characters would have likely leaned towards. It helped that my first character I played was a wubble puff who would have wanted to try to make friends with everyone so I was able to see all the 1-8 heart custcenes on each single...and overall I found the variety of personality and developement to be pretty even mixed. There are characters from both sides of the boy/girl spectrum that I found to be fairly lackluster and flat personality-wise...but I never really attributed it to anything but probably my own perceptions and preferences.

 

Honestly I'm rather fond of most of the dateable characters (I'm not a huge fan of Harvey, though). My only complaint is that there's no option for a proper poly relationship. It would be a nice touch, and it would be good to see polyamory represented in a non-sleazy way in a game.

 

As I play a regular dude and as I am a regular dude, I'd like to be just regular old friends with one or two of the bachelors. Unfortunately, most of the heart events (hearts to begin with) have some element of romance. At least if feels that way. This is fine if that's your preferred option, of course. Praise the Altar of Waifu4Laifu Penny, may her hearts be forever equal to or greater than 12. ahem... anyway, I just wanna be a bro yo. Throw the pigskin with Alex. Jam with Sam. Beat up Elliot. Get Sebastian to install remote cameras in the female side of the spa. Have Harvey check my prostate twice a day. You know, all the regular bro stuff. Alas, there is no such thing as of yet.

 

For this first playthrough, I just went with the flow. Inititially my character was crushing on Haley, but I was also interested in Penny. In the end, he ended up with Leah. Probably because of all those nights at the bar and all. But really, I haven't regretted it. Seems like her personality is that of a strong independent woman, which is probably good seeing as I gotta usually work out in the fields all day.

 

Just a point of minor clarification/correction: CA has stated that, with the exception of the obviously older ones like Elliott and Harvey, the marriage candidates are intended to be considered as in their early 20's (although like many things, he's left it open to interpretation).

(And for those who can't believe the candidates are 20-24 year olds because they (the players) themselves at that age or the ones they know believe them to be more mature than the marriage candidates, personality-wise...ha. Ha. Hahahahaaaaaa. I envy you.)

 

My first playthrough I ignored everyone and focused on profit because naff relationships, get money.

Then I found out grandpa comes in much sooner than I expected to judge you like a bored old specter with nothing else to do so I was like k, time to pick someone to warm my bed so I can please this dead guy for some neat prize.

I have zero interest in females so I almost crossed them off, but after getting to know all the bachelors and deciding wow okay maybe the girls would be more interesting, so I got to know the girls too.
I was even less thrilled by the ladies and crossed them off officially, so I just picked Sebastian because he may seem like some emo edgelord but he's actually pretty smart and motorcyle rides at midnight are romantic as hell.

Also, I'm a completionist so I wanted to experience most of the things the game has to offer and while I truly wasn't interested in marriage, the completionist in me compelled it.

 

I don't really like any of the bachelors, I guess they're just not to my taste. But I really like the bachelorettes (except Haley) and especially Penny. I wish Sam would just fuck off and leave my waifu 4 laifu alone for once.

 

I have to agree with wolf here. I didn't really care fore any of the guys honestly. They didn't seem to catch my attention enough, even after getting their hearts up to maximum, and I'm mostly straight! For the three saves I have so far, my characters (all girls) have gone for Abigail, Leah, and Haley. The Haley save was mostly for funsies as a test save. Now I'm finding myself bringing Haley up from the bottom of my list, to a third place holding pattern. For the longest time, I all but ignored half the town on my first save until mid-fall of the first year,I just wanted to work on the farm and mine for ores lol.

 

Hmm I think all the guys are awesome. In fact I like too many to choose who to marry. I have been focused on getting to know Sam, Sebastian, and Harvey to pick one to marry so I haven't even started really getting close to the girls. So I can't really say anything about their characters yet.

 

so many penny waifu for laifus here! not sure whether to be intimidated or impressed. Both???

Thanks for all your responses, you guys and feel free to keep them coming!

I'm probably gonna do a wiki sweep of the bachelorettes so I can learn more about them. The only one that I have 8 hearts with in-game is Maru, but that's because I would go to the carpenter shop every day and talk to her out of convenience. She's very sweet, but nothing really jumps out that makes me want to talk to her more. I think Leah's events are pretty interesting, so she's probably the best one if I had to pick, BUUUTTT I seriously don't know much about them so I definitely focused on the guys more. (hetero female here)

I'll go back to my point about the guys seeming stereotypey: I think it can be easy for people to dislike or judge the bachelors at first impression because they all seem to fall under recognizable categories; the doctor, the slacker, the emo, the jock, and the guy on the front of all my mom's romance novels. I think that prevents people from seeing what's so great about the characters, though- and I think I like them more because they end up surprising me over and over again.

The girls are more genuine at a first glance, and their well-roundedness is placed from the start. You can kinda put them under categories (I can only think of "typical gamer girl" and "valley girl" for abigail and haley) but it's much harder to since their variety, save for Haley, tends to be implied from the get-go.
That's just my take on it though and someone may have different impressions! I guess I like to just uncover characters, which is why I like the guys more. Other than me finding them irresistibly cute of course.

At one point, I only really liked Sebastian and Sam, probably because I was able to talk to them more. Harvey was kinda boring, Alex was a jerk, and Elliot (although charming) was not my type at all. But, after playing the game for as long as I have and learning more about the characters- I honestly can't put them under any sort of bar. I hated Alex until I got one heart event with him and he just became very sweet afterwards. Harvey is the least interesting to me, but that's because I know about him the least. From fanart and stuff I've heard about him though, he seems very cute and endearing as a character. Sebastian remains my favorite because he has consistently surprised me in pretty much every way. I adore the tiny angst man.

 

So, I'm a male, and I like both men and women dating wise. When I started off the game, I went for Alex. Then I saw Penny. And fell in love.

But I find some of the male romance interests are a bit bland. Sebastian reminds me of when I was 13, and even though his character is great, I can't force myself to romance him. Harvey is, at least in my mind, at least 10 years older than myself and the characters I play, which kinda creeps me out. That leaves Elliott, Sam, Alex for the male romances. The only one I actually enjoyed, out of those three, was Alex. I haven't gotten to Sam just yet though.

For female romances, I'm tending to lean more towards them currently. Penny is my favourite so far, with Abagail following soon after. Maru is nice, and I haven't touched on Leah yet. The only reason I don't like Hayley is because she insulted my shoes. How dare she.