Abigail or Haley? Who’s the better marriage option?

[Fanfiction aficionado 4000]

I’ve gotten a decent stretch into the game and have decided to start trying my luck with the pelican town dating scene.

I’ve narrowed it down to two candidates: Haley and Abigail, but I can’t seem to decide between them.

One’s an adventurous goth who eats rocks

While the other is a beautiful ice queen with a photography habit, prime for defrosting.

Lend a hand to an eligible farmer?

[Ragnaman]

Originally posted by Queen Droxxanna:

there is a mod that lets you marry both! In fact in a past run I married 21 times in the first 2 years --- all of them in the house at once, no divorces --- also had 23 children.

Mohammad playthrough.

[Concord Stan]

Neither, the objectively correct answer is Krobus

[Sebine]

Originally posted by Hiroko:

Haley, then immediately divorce her so she knows her place and marry the rock eater instead.

Yes

[Isaac_MonkeyBoy]

Originally posted by Concord Stan:

Neither, the objectively correct answer is Krobus

true, true... always choose the funky monster fellow.

[The Bored Chairman]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

What character development are people talking about?

Sure, Haley it´s the one that looks closer to a pornstar, but other than that... men she ask you to open her a jar of pickles and then complements on your strenght, she´s not even a character, just a cliche from more than 30 years ago. Besides, she spends the whole summer in the ice cream store just to gaze at Alex´s muscles and hair.

She´s just shallow and superficial, and choosing her it´s ironically, the shallow and superficial choice. And she´s not really the most attractive, she just looks like a pornstart, shows more skin, and has the personality of a 1950s housewife. I understand 70 year old people choosing her, or 18 year old horny teens, other than that... she´s useless.

And Abigail it´s just a child, like Maru and Sam. All hearth events with them are weird, feels like when the teeneage daughter of a friend gets a crush on you, except the character doesn´t seem bothered by it but instead goes full Epstein.

Here´s what you have to do: Choose between Leah or Penny. Penny it´s a little bit of a pitty case, but still she´s a mature woman with personality and dreams and it´s very maternal but doesn´t threat the player like a child. And Leah it´s CLEARLY the canon bachelorette, she´s an adult, she responds flirty with your advances, she makes a move towards you when she gifts you the sculpture and invites you to her exhibition, she even invites you to netflix and chill on a dialogue line (come to my house and we get a blanket and drink cider, this girl is directly asking you to heat her cold house if you get me), and her backstory it´s similar to that of the main character, plus she´s already all about nature and marrying a farmboy seems to fit her. Plus, she´s the only bachelor that doesn´t have a previous "will they won´t they" dinamic with anyone, she´s friends with Elliot, but their relationship it´s nothing like Clint/Emily, or Haley/Alex.

And if you choose Leah, then Haley can continue to salivate over Alex, Maru can continue having sexual dreams with her boss Harvey who is very asexual, Abigail can date Sebastian and see if they stop trying to be so edgy both of them and Penny can fix Shane because trying to help alcoholics it´s in her DNA after living with her mother for years, romance Sam when he grows up, and ended up with Vincent when she´s 40 and he 20 thus making her the true winner of romance town.

And the reason why I haven´t involved Emily it´s because I know girls like Emily, she´s vegan and its not taking the vitamin E pills, so her brain is rooting. I have dated waaay too much girls like Emily to not be aware of the dangers, trust me, they will have a yoga session and then tell you they had a vision of their previous lifes as Cleopatra, buy you overtly expensive pieces of rock and tell you to carry it in your pocket because it aligns your chackras during the afternoon, and then after a couple of months she will meet a new Italian gym monitor and talk you about how your relationship can actually improve if it´s an open one. Stay away from girls like Emily, every single time.

Haley goes from being the spoiled high school cheerleader to the town mom.

Based on what you written, you've never got past the 4 heart event.

Her 6 heart event shows that she isn't as superficial as she came off as, she will actually get upset with you if you offer to buy her a new bracelet (it was her grandmother's) and has sentimental value. Her 8 heart event has her asking you to help her take pictures with the cows and to understand them better. She gets kicked off after trying to ride one, ending up covered in mud, which she just laughs off (old Haley would've been fuming). The 10 heart event is just romantic fluff where you can kiss in the dark room.

Finally, the 14-heart event has her asking you to bake a cake for a town fundraiser in order to buy Jas and Vincent new school books.

Nobody else gets that kind of development. Shane comes close, but then immediately reverts back to his old ways when you get married, you're better off being friends as he gets his life together.

[swordsister]

Penny. The only real mature option out there. People tend to jump right on top of Abigail, however the relationship hinted between her and Sebastian feels pretty canonical. Maru and Harvey romance is also pretty preset. Same with Leah and Elliot. The only reason Penny sticks out is the fact that Sam is still a child. Penny feels at least a decade ahead of him in responsibility department.
The only candidate I dread is actually Emily. I really despise how she's practically forced upon you. You step into town and she's literally falling right into your mouth given every single opprtunity. The game also machanicaly ties you to use her house for certain utilities which is a horrble design decision to be fair. It also kinda bugs me to have to rely on cheat menu in order to decrease her desposition towards me right after she mails me Penny's favourite dish recipe. Not only that but it is dreadfully leading to an even where Clint mistakes you being into her and you cannot remedy that situation after working so hard to help him break his shyness.
Serously, poor Clint. He doesn't deserve this ♥♥♥♥.

[Space is the Place]

Towm mom? I´ve seen all her events (and everyone´s, because that´s exactly what every player does before deciding on who to marry, watch youtube videos of them cause I´m not gonna make 12 saves to see all 8-14 hearth events), still she acts like herself all year around. There´s two scenes where she´s more human, woopie doo, give her the mother teresa award. Other villagers are doing nice things for others on 4 hearths or even regular events, her one thing at 14 hearths and only if you marrie her doesnt impress me or change my oppinion on her.

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by swordsister:

Same with Leah and Elliot.

Lies, nothing more than lies. There´s not a single flirty line between them, and Leah is downright flirty with all players at certain point (she invites you to cuddle under a blanket and drink cider and makes you a sculpture call "how i feel about X" even before the bouquet).

And Penny does welcome Sam´s advances according to Vincent in only in some ocassions so... he may be young, but Penny seems to like it that way.

Originally posted by swordsister:

The only candidate I dread is actually Emily. I really despise how she's practically forced upon you. Serously, poor Clint. He doesn't deserve this ♥♥♥♥.

That we can agree on. It´s a really paintful sequence of events with no player input, and it does seem way more forced than most of the other bachellors scenes (which admittedly, they all are a little bit forced).

[swordsister]

I have to admit that I haven't paid much attention to the electricity between Leah and Elliot. They still kinda feel intellectually aligned.

That being said if i knew how to mod this game the first thing I'd attempt to integrate is
putting the breaks on Emily. Seriously girl, I'm NOT into you. stop.

[Space is the Place]

The magic crystal told her you two are destined and she won´t stop at nothing. She´s one more meditation session away from turning into a slasher killer murdering every other bachellor in town.

[The Bored Chairman]

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

The magic crystal told her you two are destined and she won´t stop at nothing. She´s one more meditation session away from turning into a slasher killer murdering every other bachellor in town.

This seems to be a common theme among people who aren't Emily fans. She seems a bit... off (funny enough, she wasn't intended to be romanceable in the original release), so maybe factoring that in, she might be a little less creepy, like a wacky aunt and the transition to bachelorette didn't handle it all that well.

Now, to play devil's advocate here, gems in Stardew DO have some interaction with magic (as evidenced by gem-related rings providing you with buffs and magic being a real thing in Stardew), but she's likely not all that educated on the subject and just thinks they have powers (the Wizard would probably tell you that gems just amplify spells and have no innate magical effects of their own).

Originally posted by Space is the Place:

Towm mom? I´ve seen all her events (and everyone´s, because that´s exactly what every player does before deciding on who to marry, watch youtube videos of them cause I´m not gonna make 12 saves to see all 8-14 hearth events), still she acts like herself all year around. There´s two scenes where she´s more human, woopie doo, give her the mother teresa award. Other villagers are doing nice things for others on 4 hearths or even regular events, her one thing at 14 hearths and only if you marrie her doesnt impress me or change my oppinion on her.

I never said she was Mother Theresa, only that she actually grows as a person. She's more interesting to me for that reason. She certainly isn't flawless, much as her early game self probably believes she is.

People have flaws. You might not like Haley's, but that's fine. I'm not a big fan of Leah because I find her boring. Her entire arc revolves around her art and that's about it. You don't really get a look into anything else, other than the fact that she had a jerk of an ex. Kinda like how Maru's entire arc is that she's smart. That's it.

[TJgalon]

Abigail always, as she a gamer, case close.

[Endora]

Well, of course the arcs will be of them, cause we know MC and thus what we really need to know is the partner. That aside, since I'm not really into girls, what I have to say is that after marriage all of them will be boring, so is better to choose the one that will give you the perks you want, been food or coffee for example.

[Space is the Place]

Originally posted by The Bored Chairman:

...

That makes sense and indeed will explain why her romance feels... weird. But in general, personal oppinion, but I would have much prefer if all hearth events were platonical UNTIL the bouquet is involved. It felt very very weird to be romancing unwillingly every single available NPC.

As for Leah. Look, I think you are commiting the same thing you accuse me off, in the sense that you say I do not see Haley´s arc... ok, then why you ignore Leah´s? She´s a very solitary person that other than Elliot she hardly deals with anyone else... and because of YOU, she gets convinced to share her art and make a presentation. That´s also an arc, you may feel it´s less relevant than Haley´s, you may feel she´s boring because both initially and in the end her art is the focus (no idea why it´s this a complain, I mean, all characters circle around a few topics, Haley being selfish and then becoming more willing to help out it´s also THE SAME TOPIC, just because it goes from one end to the other doesn´t imply the subject has changed drastically, her capacity to relate to others is still the primary focus of the narrative, hence, equally revolving around the one topic).

And I insist and don´t see anyone challenging this idea: Every bachellor has someone they are interested in, and someone interested in them, in some cases the same person but they just haven´t make that first step until the protagonist gets to town and steals everyone´s "will they won´t they" scenario. Emily has both Clint and Shane after her, evenb if she seems to be oblivious. Haley day dreams about Alex and it´s constantly chasing him and he loves it and likes to be liked by her. Sam and Penny had their little thing, that comment from Vincent makes it clear there may have even be one kiss here and there over the years. As for Maru and Harvey I´ll have to take the words of others, me personally have encountered little to aim at a romance there other than Harvey´s dialogue on the Lua and the fact they dance together in the flower dance, still it seems to make sense. Sebastian an Abigail are a perfect fit, for starters she seems one of the few people Sebastian tolerates... the only ones not into this are Leah and Elliot, they have no dialogue implying romance, none of them talks of the other other than to mention they are friends, and it makes sense that the two resident artists have a friendship. And like I said, Leah is downright flirty with the players every time the moment you reach certain hearths. They are the only bachellors that feel like you are not getting in between anything if you pursue any of them, so personally, I see them as the "vanilla" option. If it turns out the first time the game came out they were the only two bachellors, it would make sense for me.

[Zeo]

Originally posted by Fanfiction aficionado 4000:

I’ve gotten a decent stretch into the game and have decided to start trying my luck with the pelican town dating scene.

I’ve narrowed it down to two candidates: Haley and Abigail, but I can’t seem to decide between them.

One’s an adventurous goth who eats rocks

While the other is a beautiful ice queen with a photography habit, prime for defrosting.

Lend a hand to an eligible farmer?

People don't like Haley because she reminds them of a lot of girls that behave ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like that lol, but she have one of the most pleasant growths of the game, when I first started she wasn't on my radar, but after her 8 heart event I had a change of heart together with her lol.

Abigail love stories also are a lot of fun, she's the best pre 10 hearts event candidate in my opinion, but after the 14 heart events her ones are kinda boring to be honest... while Harley continues to grow.

Funny thing that Shane is the worst character of the game at the beginning, but people don't give Harley and Alex the same treatment that they give to Shane.