(Spoilers) I really love Fang but...

[Yuanfen]

I have to say, he was my first choice when it comes to date a character, because he is really caring and calm, some qualities that I like haha.
But I finally decided to reload my game after having done the heart knot event (he's still my second favourite character tho). I have two problems with the way he's portrayed:

- The switch he has, starting with "I like you you're a good person but don't stay too close because everyone suffer because of me" to "you're my whole world, let's get married, you're the light in my darkness and I can't live without you" is really,,, abrupt. He absolutely doesn't show this BIG degree of affection towards the builder when you are even good friend with him, the only hint you have about this before the heart knot event is his line "the builder is a person,,, but yes or favourite one". Because of his past and trauma, I can't see someone like him having this trust towards someone even by love. But it's a video game so, well... I was like let's try to forget this.

- no, my HUGE problem is his mommy issues. There's too much voicelines, texts and such (even more in CN than the translation) when he said repeatedly that "you remind me of my mother, "you're caring like my mother", "you cook like my mother" etc and seriously, it really made me uncomfortable. I'm someone who dated Gust in my time at portia, who have also difficult feelings about his mother. I thought it would also be portrayed in some way similiar, but this is too much. I don't want to be like your mother??? I want to be someone you think of as an individual person, that maybe remind you of your mother but I'm not,,, her. It feels you need to be her to be able to date him.

I really like him as a character, and I will surely date him in another save for the fun, but I find his romance quests and interest really,,, strange ? I wonder how you all feel about it

[TaylerBootz]

I married him. Yeah, the train scene went a bit... fast. However, I couldn't help but feel crushed during the whole heart knot quest-line.

Being faster was Elsie's transformation. (I guess she grew bigger boobs in a week?) As someone who grew up a tomboy, very annoying to see her change THAT much.

As for the mom thing, She was his only joy besides X. The only real dialog I've heard is the tofu one about how it's made like his mom's. The whole quest to get that recipe is literally "a taste of home" isn't it? If the only truly nice person was his mom (totally never mind about the teacher that took him in) then, yeah, we would remind him of her. I don't feel like his mom though. He worries a bit too much and stuff but for me, he is a bit relatable. (My trauma is different though.)

He's the only really mysterious one in Sandrock. (Unless you count Logan's story, but that was pretty predictable to me considering everyone said he was such a good kid.)
I'm keeping him. As for my next playthough, I'm gonna make friends, but otherwise leave the poor boy alone in the romance. I don't need him mad at me. Pixel man or not.

[rinofwater]

Fang is...a very polarizing character, either you're very attached to him or you're REALLY put off by him (or you're me, who could probably write a dissertation-length essay on how he's my flawed fave lol). There have been some efforts to try to adjust his story in the wake of community backlash, I noticed on my most recent playthrough, but they only do but so much?

The train scene I still don't really like, I don't like the pacing, I don't like the whiplash of it, (I do appreciate that it was adjusted to where you're not expected to go the jerk route for the sequence of events to make sense so it's not quite as bad as it was) though I choose to look at it as a "Fang's triggered and he's acting extreme and erratic as a result of that" at this point to make it a bit more palatable (and next time I play through, I'm probably going to try to see if choosing the options that don't have the mission end in starting the romance with him and then coming back an in-game week or so later with a heart knot works better from a roleplay standpoint).

As for the mommy issues, I'm very much convinced that this was a failure of the writers to actually put Sarnai in the intended context of Fang's broader arc (especially after having played the newest content with him). I'm about to ramble to hell and back on this one because I have Deep-Seated Opinions(tm), so apologies for the incoming text wall. Anyway.

Fang himself only really makes the comparison once or twice, like a vague mention of it in Leaving the Nest that could be taken that way and then one romance line that has the comparison made explicitly. The rest of the time, the comparison is made by The Plot(tm); there's Mort telling Fang's business that he got third-hand from X with only the context of "he comes around to tend the grave marker he made for his mother", there's X going out of his way to draw the comparison in Fragrant Memories with the Mapo Tofu and Remember the Good Times with the book (which Fang then participates in...and then stops when it gets to be too much for him). And then there's Relapse, which is actually where I think the ball was dropped the most for this at this point.

The way the mission is framed, it looks like the takeaway is meant to be Fang is so distraught about his mother's death to this day that it leaves him really ill; physically broken-hearted, one might say, and now you taking care of him is calling to mind the kind of love and care that he once would've expected to receive from his mother.

After playing the new mission "Him", I believe the role this mission was INTENDED to play in the plot of Fang's story is to showcase Fang's drive to cure this specific disease, why he wants to cure it, and that he's hit a big enough snag in his efforts to start to be demoralized about it. In the new mission, Fang finally has a tell-all about the symptoms of the disease that killed his mother (because his father is now displaying all of them and will die without intervention...and he's the only one who can treat him because Fang's the only one who's put in the concentrated effort to research the specific disease because...yeah, it killed his mom, and after she dies, his life goes to ♥♥♥♥ via a multitude of causes, not just the grief (though that's obviously a part of it too). And when he goes through his experimental treatment plan for his father, one of the major components was a bunch of hyacinth orchids, which is (1) one of the ingredients of the anti-cold medicine you need to make him to get back on his feet for Relapse and (2) impossible to get enough of in time without a lot of help, which he was not in kind of position to feel comfortable asking for by the time we get to Relapse, that's going to take at least two or three more missions to build to. So with that added context, going back through Relapse again shows that he was making progress towards curing that disease with this anti-cold medicine formula but hit a snag with being able to make it potent enough to have a curative effect. And he wants to do this so badly because of his mother. The ending cutscene for the mission also reads to me like Fang being upset at potentially even continuing the cycle of suffering that this disease seems to bring and is him being worried about you being scared and worried for him, when you're someone he's starting to grow to care for in his own way. (which would've then been made stronger by maybe having him be more standoffish for a little bit after the fact, but that's okay)

Basically, I think Relapse was supposed to be the same kind of thing in Fang's story as the picnic was in Arvio's, or the horseback ride to Elsie's secret spot was to her's; a declaration of the conflict of his story. But they focused in *too* much on Fang's grief over Sarnai and not enough on what that grief has propelled him to do...or maybe it centers the story beats too much on her instead of him. Talking to him during playdates, though, he will bring up his mother several times in those lines, but it's usually only to highlight that he does the doctor thing to "avenge" her, or it's if you specifically ask him about his past and he's sharing a memory or two involving her. Her role in Fang's story is to be a catalyst, or a call of fate, as well as his only solid reference point for human kindness in the world until coming to Sandrock, but because it wasn't Fang himself that got to tell that story on his own terms for a significant amount of his arc, it's wide open for misinterpretation (or maybe I'm the one misinterpreting it with my 100cc copium, but in order for it to connect back to his character revealed in daily convos, main missions, and playdate lines, this is the interpretation that makes the most sense to me)

So if you got through all that, uhm...I don't know if it helps any, but that's just kind of my take on it at this point

[TaylerBootz]

Just finished he after marriage "mission". He seems stronger already and I enjoyed the majority of his story. He's going to probably be my favorite My Time character for a long time.

[Vera♡]

They are all red flag walking, none of them is a "real good option", they are all toxic at some point. I get op, Fang to me was realy strange he is cute but oh boy.. im not your mother dude get therapy, at the same time i do like Pen and he is a ♥♥♥♥ show too, but the toxic ♥♥♥♥ on him i find it hilarious.
You just choose your poison.

[Yuanfen]

Originally posted by rinofwater:

Fang is...a very polarizing character, either you're very attached to him or you're REALLY put off by him (or you're me, who could probably write a dissertation-length essay on how he's my flawed fave lol). There have been some efforts to try to adjust his story in the wake of community backlash, I noticed on my most recent playthrough, but they only do but so much?

I understand the need to write an essay about him haha he's a really interesting character! I guess that's why the points that I think are "has been strangely portrayed" resonated more with me than a character I would care less about like idk Unsuur

Originally posted by rinofwater:

The train scene I still don't really like, I don't like the pacing, I don't like the whiplash of it, (I do appreciate that it was adjusted to where you're not expected to go the jerk route for the sequence of events to make sense so it's not quite as bad as it was)

Yes, I agree with this, I remember vaguely that the beta was worst,, in a few points. I'm really happy that the developers have taken in mind the opinions of the players about it

Originally posted by rinofwater:

As for the mommy issues, I'm very much convinced that this was a failure of the writers to actually put Sarnai in the intended context of Fang's broader arc (especially after having played the newest content with him). I'm about to ramble to hell and back on this one because I have Deep-Seated Opinions(tm), so apologies for the incoming text wall. Anyway.
Fang himself only really makes the comparison once or twice, like a vague mention of it in Leaving the Nest that could be taken that way and then one romance line that has the comparison made explicitly. The rest of the time, the comparison is made by The Plot(tm);

Actually, for this I have a problem haha because, while the FR/ENG subtitles are okay with that, the CN voicelines and subtitles really add more quotes about the resemblance between the builder and Fang's mother, and I felt it like an obsession at some point. In a certain way ironically (and I never thought I would say that one day) the translation is less,, blunt about the subject? And it's really appreciated. I just feel in the translation kinda the "ghost of his mother haunting his thoughts" or something like that I don't know if that makes sense haha, and I think it fit well with Fang's characterization.

Still, your thoughts about the new quest are really interesting, I thank you for your text wall haha don't hesitate!!! It's made the quest "Relapse" more understandable as well as some dialogues. I'm really glad to know that

[Yuanfen]

Originally posted by Vera♡:

They are all red flag walking, none of them is a "real good option", they are all toxic at some point. I get op, Fang to me was realy strange he is cute but oh boy.. im not your mother dude get therapy, at the same time i do like Pen and he is a ♥♥♥♥ show too, but the toxic ♥♥♥♥ on him i find it hilarious.
You just choose your poison.

I wouldn't be this,,, blunt about it haha but it's kinda that in a sense?
When you see the train scene with the confession, you have this sort of feeling that you are the kind of girl that is like "I can fix him", and it feels like all the cutscenes of Fang making great efforts to improve, to work on himself, to be able to speak like he wants to, mean
nothing, because in the end, with the train scene it's like you're the only one who can "change/save him".

I love him. I really love his character, and I feel bad about his problems, problems that resonate personally with me. But I don't like the idea of him seeing my character like it's the only solution to run away from his past, that it's suddenly his world, and in a few ordinary day voicelines later regarding cooking, or liking X,he's like "just like my mother". It seems it's better after this quest so I know that my impression can be super false if you see post events, but I find this quest sad. I find the result sad for him.

[rinofwater]

Originally posted by Yuanfen:

Actually, for this I have a problem haha because, while the FR/ENG subtitles are okay with that, the CN voicelines and subtitles really add more quotes about the resemblance between the builder and Fang's mother, and I felt it like an obsession at some point. In a certain way ironically (and I never thought I would say that one day) the translation is less,, blunt about the subject? And it's really appreciated. I just feel in the translation kinda the "ghost of his mother haunting his thoughts" or something like that I don't know if that makes sense haha, and I think it fit well with Fang's characterization.

That's probably where I have an easier time overlooking it to a certain extent, I've only got the fluency for the English version so I can't make a comment on the Chinese version yet. It's disappointing to hear that they really lean into it on that side, though (but well...I'm not exactly the target audience for that localization lol). It also kind of throws out the whole "this wasn't intended" argument to an extent, I suppose. More like they tried to accommodate for the uproar the English-speaking side of the fandom was in over the direction they were apparently taking his character and had quite the task in front of them to make it work.

I do like the "haunted by his mother" interpretation, I feel like that's a more succinct way to summarize my feelings on the whole dynamic.

Originally posted by Yuanfen:

When you see the train scene with the confession, you have this sort of feeling that you are the kind of girl that is like "I can fix him", and it feels like all the cutscenes of Fang making great efforts to improve, to work on himself, to be able to speak like he wants to, mean
nothing, because in the end, with the train scene it's like you're the only one who can "change/save him".

This was another big reason why I don't like the train scene, and it makes the fact that the true resolution for Fang's arc is marriage-gated to be more frustrating with that as the context. Because that last mission is great, it's everything I've been on my hands and knees begging for in a Fang mission and I was really happy to see it, it does a lot to solidify Fang's place in Sandrock, show off his personal growth, let him strut his stuff as a doctor, and get some much-needed closure, fantastic. Buuuuuuut you have to sit through "you're so perfect and you fixed me" to get there, which is not the best. Having different versions of the mission depending on if you're married to him or not? Sure, that makes sense, especially considering the contents of it. But locking it behind a mission that seems to invalidate a lot of the progress he's made is not great (though knowing that that's not actually the end of the story does help a bit too in a way)

[AlwayssNicole]

Please, can anyone tell me if Fang will purpose on his own. I cant find the answer anywhere. I dont want to purpose or give a ring if he's gunna say it first. Help!

[TaylerBootz]

Originally posted by AlwayssNicole:

Please, can anyone tell me if Fang will purpose on his own. I cant find the answer anywhere. I dont want to purpose or give a ring if he's gunna say it first. Help!

I think he is one that won't. Most of the ones that won't (like Qi) only hint at taking the "next step". I proposed to Fang. He did suggested kids after like a week though. The whole heartknot thing with Fang was a fast emotional rollercoaster.
I did wait wait a bit before proposing and even giving a heart knot because when I said "yes, this is a date" he mentioned taking things slow... so I did... Doesn't actually mean much once you get the date hearts filled.

[Enol]

That's pretty much how I feel about Fang, I liked his look and feel sorry for the whole thing him had to go through, but then....Maybe the dev wants to show builder become the special one for Fang, just like how his mom was the special one when he was young. However the way plot write it made me feel I am not becoming special, I become his mom.
Which, on the other hand, is good as for sim-game I would always go for pretty boys no matter what their story is LOL. And this game's writing is good enough to change me.

[House Gnome]

I married Fang first, and I still absolutely love his character, shoot, once I a married Logan I still went every couple of days to check on Fang, lol. I'm very attached to Fang, but now that I've done his full arc I won't marry him again. My personal feels on it are he is way too traumatized to form a healthy romantic attachment to the builder, but that he does truly love them. I feel more of a 'protective sibling' role is appropriate. Basically, I now 'adopt' Fang and X - a chosen family.

And yes, the character writing is excellent, I have strong feelings/opinions about every single bachelor/bachelorette (except Vinti, wtf happened there).

[I'm scared of Toasters]

I liked the dude and considered going for him but then the mapo tofu quest happened and I just noped out. He needs a therapist not a wife lol. I would like some more quests for friends to help him move on, it's a big shame that all of them are marriage locked, but I will never consider him for a spouse because of all this "mother this" "mother that". I know this is a game, but working with people like this is part of what I was trained for and it just... No. Just no.