I would like to remind all those asking for romance:

[John Boltgun]

We play a child. We are on the universe equivalent of a pokémon adventure for 12 year olds. Our character is constantly being referred to as a kid, and the game starts off explaining that we're on our coming-of-age journey and are only JUST old enough to start working and finding our calling and Saurname.

I'd like to avoid having one of the middle+ aged residents getting romantically involved with our character. It'd already be weird incorporating "puppy love" relationships, going further immediately enters creep territory.

[LordBlade]

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

We play a child. We are on the universe equivalent of a pokémon adventure for 12 year olds. Our character is constantly being referred to as a kid, and the game starts off explaining that we're on our coming-of-age journey and are only JUST old enough to start working and finding our calling and Saurname.

I see you're new to the internet. The amount of Poke-porn out there is terrifying. lol

But no, I agree with you. Our character is a kid on an adventure. Romance just doesn't fit.
There's plenty of games like Stardew Valley or Coral Island.

[Echorion]

I wouldn't quite read that much into it but I do get where you are coming from, but I think when most people say that they are just looking at their character as an avatar and nothing so insidious as that.

I don't think it really fits in this game either, but I wouldn't imply things of that nature. Devs still endorse all the out of game fan ships and so on after all; I imagine because they realise that is what people mean too.

There are more important things it looks like the game could use instead.

[AlexGoneLoco]

I don't really agree that our character is a child? Only the really elder characters call you kid, which is common no matter the age of your character in games/books/media in general. The character is an avatar of yourself, therefore it's whatever you want. Yes you're trying to earn your surname, but other clearly adult characters are doing the same.

I'm not saying I want romance or whatever, I don't really care either way. I just think there's more then one interpretation. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[russanloke]

I dont know where you might be from, but in the real world you start working as an adult. Child labor should be frown upon.

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by russanloke:

I dont know where you might be from, but in the real world you start working as an adult. Child labor should be frown upon.

And that justifies people wanting minor-dating-adult simulators?
"Oh the game already has underage individuals in the workforce so what's the harm having them date a grizzled old guy too?"
Creep logic

Edit: Also you must have grown up affluent because I and many people I knew started working when we turned 15, and previous generations much younger. In America, mind you. Plenty of other countries still have kids working by the time they're 8. The "real world" is not black and white, sweatshops exist and people shouldn't be advocating for creepy romantic features for their canonically underage video game protagonists.

[Senzoba]

Originally posted by russanloke:

I dont know where you might be from, but in the real world you start working as an adult. Child labor should be frown upon.

in the US you can start working at 12 although its limited

[AZURPHOENIX999]

Uh...no? We're expected to live by ourselves, manage a shop by ourselves, and spearhead the redevelopment of the entire island. With regards to the saurname thing, other adult characters are very clearly still earning theirs.

The player character is YOUR avatar in the world. You can't slap an age on someone else's avatar and then call them a creep for wanting romance, that's just bonkers.

[John Boltgun]

Multiple characters at multiple times throughout the game, as well as the game's own intro effectively narrate that your character is just a kid. So, yes, we can call you a creep for wanting romance.

Anime protags are often like 12-15 year olds. Look at Naruto, as a general example.

Originally posted by AZURPHOENIX999:

Uh...no? We're expected to live by ourselves, manage a shop by ourselves, and spearhead the redevelopment of the entire island.

Naruto grew up alone and by the age of 12 was fighting in wars, age 16 fighting moon ninjas.

Both of these settings aren't real, so you can make young characters shouldering heavier burdens than a REAL kid could handle. The entire Shonen genre is practically exclusively 12-14 year olds saving their worlds.

"Every year, young Paleofolk like you set out on their Paleoventure...
... A Right of Passage in which..."

Keywords "young" and "like yourself"
And the context of a right of passage for a young person is almost exclusively used in relation to growing up, so it's kind of extremely difficult to argue that our character isn't a kid.

The Paleoventure is an adventure in which Paleofolk discover themselves, and the ones we meet who are adults without a Saurname ALL also explain to us that it wasn't their "thing."
Either they're styled after hippie or stoner stereotypes and never wanted to work for their names.
Adi is young and bright-eyed still, his Paleoventure took him to OrbCorp who sent him to Amber Isle for being annoying. None if the adults without Saurnames that we meet are actively attempting to find one (that I've met.)

It's wild the length people will go to in order to justify wanting to ship children. Gold medalist gymnastics. Not "feeling" like your character is young despite the game and its characters outright labeling you as-such doesn't mean anything EXCEPT you're in the same field of thinking as the "age is just a number" camp.

I don't care if you "feel" a 12 year old is "an old soul" it's still a 12 year old. There is no moral leg to stand a debate upon.

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by AZURPHOENIX999:

Uh...no? We're expected to live by ourselves, manage a shop by ourselves, and spearhead the redevelopment of the entire island. With regards to the saurname thing, other adult characters are very clearly still earning theirs.

The player character is YOUR avatar in the world. You can't slap an age on someone else's avatar and then call them a creep for wanting romance, that's just bonkers.

Also to debate the avatar thing, there's no options for making older characters. There's no height slider, there's no wrinkles, etc. A 90 year old playing this has no options to play their age, because we are INTENDED to be playing a YOUNG character.

The Paleoventure is almost a carbon copy of the Pokémon Adventure, in which YOUNG Pokémon trainers backpack across CONTINENTS. They leave home when they're TWELVE. Every SINGLE Pokémon game makes this perfectly clear, your character almost always lives with their mother at the start of the game. Because they are children. The Paleoventure is practically the same thing, as far as the intro tells you. And the older characters who briefly remark on their own from when they were... oh what's the word...
Oh yes. "Young."

[Halla]

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

Multiple characters at multiple times throughout the game, as well as the game's own intro effectively narrate that your character is just a kid. So, yes, we can call you a creep for wanting romance.

Anime protags are often like 12-15 year olds. Look at Naruto, as a general example.

Originally posted by AZURPHOENIX999:

Uh...no? We're expected to live by ourselves, manage a shop by ourselves, and spearhead the redevelopment of the entire island.

Naruto grew up alone and by the age of 12 was fighting in wars, age 16 fighting moon ninjas.

Both of these settings aren't real, so you can make young characters shouldering heavier burdens than a REAL kid could handle. The entire Shonen genre is practically exclusively 12-14 year olds saving their worlds.

"Every year, young Paleofolk like you set out on their Paleoventure...
... A Right of Passage in which..."

Keywords "young" and "like yourself"
And the context of a right of passage for a young person is almost exclusively used in relation to growing up, so it's kind of extremely difficult to argue that our character isn't a kid.

The Paleoventure is an adventure in which Paleofolk discover themselves, and the ones we meet who are adults without a Saurname ALL also explain to us that it wasn't their "thing."
Either they're styled after hippie or stoner stereotypes and never wanted to work for their names.
Adi is young and bright-eyed still, his Paleoventure took him to OrbCorp who sent him to Amber Isle for being annoying. None if the adults without Saurnames that we meet are actively attempting to find one (that I've met.)

It's wild the length people will go to in order to justify wanting to ship children. Gold medalist gymnastics. Not "feeling" like your character is young despite the game and its characters outright labeling you as-such doesn't mean anything EXCEPT you're in the same field of thinking as the "age is just a number" camp.

I don't care if you "feel" a 12 year old is "an old soul" it's still a 12 year old. There is no moral leg to stand a debate upon.

You know, older people still refer to folks in their twenties as "kid", right? It's not always used to refer strictly to actual children. Sometimes it's just older folks talking to people of a younger generation. I'm 26, work with the elderly, get called "kid" all the time. The world is not black and white.

I personally view my character as being in their early twenties. It makes the most sense to me, as at that age you're still young but old enough to go out into the world, become independent and figure out who you are and what you want to do. You know. The stuff our player character is doing.

You trying to point fingers and call people creepy for just wanting their character to represent them at their own age is weird as ♥♥♥♥ btw, not entirely convinced you're not just a troll. What a way to make a mountain out of a molehill. Nobody, not a single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ person here, brought up 12 year olds being "old souls". That was all you. I recommend going outside, breathing fresh air, maybe letting the sun touch your skin every once in a while.

I don't even want to romance anyone in this game, I'm fine with not having that option. But wanting it when you already view your own character as at minimum a young adult is not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pedophilia, you tar pit.

[AZURPHOENIX999]

Originally posted by Halla:

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

Multiple characters at multiple times throughout the game, as well as the game's own intro effectively narrate that your character is just a kid. So, yes, we can call you a creep for wanting romance.

Anime protags are often like 12-15 year olds. Look at Naruto, as a general example.



Naruto grew up alone and by the age of 12 was fighting in wars, age 16 fighting moon ninjas.

Both of these settings aren't real, so you can make young characters shouldering heavier burdens than a REAL kid could handle. The entire Shonen genre is practically exclusively 12-14 year olds saving their worlds.

"Every year, young Paleofolk like you set out on their Paleoventure...
... A Right of Passage in which..."

Keywords "young" and "like yourself"
And the context of a right of passage for a young person is almost exclusively used in relation to growing up, so it's kind of extremely difficult to argue that our character isn't a kid.

The Paleoventure is an adventure in which Paleofolk discover themselves, and the ones we meet who are adults without a Saurname ALL also explain to us that it wasn't their "thing."
Either they're styled after hippie or stoner stereotypes and never wanted to work for their names.
Adi is young and bright-eyed still, his Paleoventure took him to OrbCorp who sent him to Amber Isle for being annoying. None if the adults without Saurnames that we meet are actively attempting to find one (that I've met.)

It's wild the length people will go to in order to justify wanting to ship children. Gold medalist gymnastics. Not "feeling" like your character is young despite the game and its characters outright labeling you as-such doesn't mean anything EXCEPT you're in the same field of thinking as the "age is just a number" camp.

I don't care if you "feel" a 12 year old is "an old soul" it's still a 12 year old. There is no moral leg to stand a debate upon.

You know, older people still refer to folks in their twenties as "kid", right? It's not always used to refer strictly to actual children. Sometimes it's just older folks talking to people of a younger generation. I'm 26, work with the elderly, get called "kid" all the time. The world is not black and white.

I personally view my character as being in their early twenties. It makes the most sense to me, as at that age you're still young but old enough to go out into the world, become independent and figure out who you are and what you want to do. You know. The stuff our player character is doing.

You trying to point fingers and call people creepy for just wanting their character to represent them at their own age is weird as ♥♥♥♥ btw, not entirely convinced you're not just a troll. What a way to make a mountain out of a molehill. Nobody, not a single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ person here, brought up 12 year olds being "old souls". That was all you. I recommend going outside, breathing fresh air, maybe letting the sun touch your skin every once in a while.

I don't even want to romance anyone in this game, I'm fine with not having that option. But wanting it when you already view your own character as at minimum a young adult is not ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pedophilia, you tar pit.

Well said. I also view my character as being early 20s, and all the accusatory ♥♥♥♥ being thrown around in this thread is genuinely insulting. Young doesn't exclusively refer to kids, especially when in comparison to the mayor who's almost literally a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fossil.

Alpharius, you can view your avatar how you want, since it's yours. You do NOT get to apply the same standards to everyone else's avatars, put words in their mouths, and then unilaterally pass judgement on them.

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by Halla:

You trying to point fingers and call people creepy for just wanting their character to represent them at their own age is weird as ♥♥♥♥ btw, not entirely convinced you're not just a troll. What a way to make a mountain out of a molehill. Nobody, not a single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ person here, brought up 12 year olds being "old souls". That was all you.

Willfully ignoring setting information handed to you via multiple points in the game in order to see your character as something you want it to be instead of what you are told is mental gymnastics. I'm not trolling, if I wanted to farm Steam's useless points I'd be on the Concord, Dragon Age: Veilguard or Star Wars Outlaws boards.

My entire point is that pushing for romance options in a game with a very young protagonist is no less creepy than stuff like that Jobless Reincarnation show. I made this thread after seeing 2 or 3 others asking for romances and no one in those threads pointing out the obvious issue: that no matter what y'all make yourselves believe, the game clearly outlines that you're playing a child.

[Tia1230]

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

We play a child. We are on the universe equivalent of a pokémon adventure for 12 year olds. Our character is constantly being referred to as a kid, and the game starts off explaining that we're on our coming-of-age journey and are only JUST old enough to start working and finding our calling and Saurname.

I'd like to avoid having one of the middle+ aged residents getting romantically involved with our character. It'd already be weird incorporating "puppy love" relationships, going further immediately enters creep territory.

How is a 12 year old in charge of a shop?

[John Boltgun]

Originally posted by Tia1230:

How is a 12 year old in charge of a shop?

How does a 12 year old go on a Pokémon Journey to tame and befriend creatures that could feasibily level a city block into rubble?

[AZURPHOENIX999]

Originally posted by I Am Alpharius:

Originally posted by Halla:

You trying to point fingers and call people creepy for just wanting their character to represent them at their own age is weird as ♥♥♥♥ btw, not entirely convinced you're not just a troll. What a way to make a mountain out of a molehill. Nobody, not a single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ person here, brought up 12 year olds being "old souls". That was all you.

Willfully ignoring setting information handed to you via multiple points in the game in order to see your character as something you want it to be instead of what you are told is mental gymnastics. I'm not trolling, if I wanted to farm Steam's useless points I'd be on the Concord, Dragon Age: Veilguard or Star Wars Outlaws boards.

My entire point is that pushing for romance options in a game with a very young protagonist is no less creepy than stuff like that Jobless Reincarnation show. I made this thread after seeing 2 or 3 others asking for romances and no one in those threads pointing out the obvious issue: that no matter what y'all make yourselves believe, the game clearly outlines that you're playing a child.

The reason no one brought up "the obvious issue" is because there is no issue. You seem to think that your interpretation of the character's age is the only correct one, and are judging other people based off of that. The character's age is NEVER explicitly stated, and some people choose to view their character as an in-universe representation of themselves. They're allowed to do that, and they're allowed to think that romance could be a pretty neat feature in a game like this.