Marriage feels stagnant

[ScottishFoldEn]

I would like to start off by saying that Stardew Valley is one of my favorite games. I personally like cooking sims, farming sims, and life/romance sims; Stardew combines all these elements into a nice, casual experience that I love. However, this post isn't just here to praise the game. There are certain issues that I would like to see fixed in future updates. One of the biggest ones for me is marriage.

You see, I got married to Penny on Spring 3rd of Year 2, and we've been married for about a month. Although I like seeing her be on my farm everyday, talking to her and giving her a light kiss, these things get boring after a while. Now, this post isn't about how boring marriage is in the game. My personal philosophy is that addressing a problem isn't always enough; You must try and find solutions as well. So here are a couple of marriage features I think we be nice to see in Stardew.

Firstly, additional options for going on dates with husbands/wives. There are lots of couples in the real world who still like to go out to eat together every once in a while, especially on their anniversary. Keep in mind, i'm still only a month into my own in-game marriage, so there might be something nice awaiting me on the third of spring in my third year, however, it's not just anniversary dates i'm talking about here. One thing that would be nice is additional dialogue/cutscenes that could take place if the player chooses to take their in-game SO out on a date. Maybe there are some nice, fancy restaurants in the big city that I could take Penny to? Just a thought.

Secondly, and most importantly, is character development. Penny will occasionally mention how her father left her and her mother, Pam, because he "felt trapped". Now, this would be an interesting thing to expand upon when I am married to her. Perhaps I, the player, could help her come to terms with that abandonment through certain actions. Another thing I think could be interesting to see in her storyline would be to see Penny come to terms with this along with Pam. Pam obviously seems to have some pain in her past, given her drinking habits, and it would be nice to see Pam and Penny become closer through talking with one another. I could even see Pam trying to go sober for the sake of her daughter.

This kind of development doesn't just have to apply to Penny and Pam, either. One thing I think a lot of players have asked for is to see Jas and Vincent age as the years go by. We could see Jas struggle with finding the truth out about her real parents as she grows older. Vincent could try and reconnect with his distant father. The characters of Stardew Valley, as they exist now, are mere base plates. That is not a criticism, but more of a way of saying that there are so many ways to build upon them, to make them even more complex, and the game even more enjoyable. I hope you see this, Concerned Ape, because I think these changes would be some of the best to see in a future update.
Sincerely,
ScottishFoldEn

PS: It might be a big shift, but I thought that characters having a unique dialogue for every day of the year, depending on how many hearts the player has, would be a nice thing to add, though tedious. It would be better than constantly getting one of the same three responses every time I talk to them.

[Amberbaum]

May I say that this is a very common and long existing sentiment in the SDV community? It's one of the reasons why I haven't bothered with marriage in game. I like the build-up of the relationship, but it's seems to be a flat-line after that. Kids give off the same feelings and reading through what people wrote about them I'm not inclined to try them out. They are basically organic furniture that moves around.

As for your last paragraph try out dialogue mods. I don't think CA is going to rewrite everything. Having every villager say something different on every day is much more work then poeple believe it is. That's 112 new lines per villager.

[ScottishFoldEn]

Ah, I see. I've had the game for a while, but never really bothered to integrate into the community, so I wasn't aware of the demand. And as for the dialogue mod suggestion, I may give that a try. I've used mods before, but not dialogue mods.

[76561198228000512]

About the stuff in the spoiler tag: I think those should be addressed, regardless of wheter or not you married Penny, when you pay Robin to build Pam a house. I feel like the cutscene you get from Pam's 9♥ event after you buy her a house is too shallow. I agree with what you said there.

But yeah, in my lastest playthrough I married Haley just because I got her to 4♥ by the 1st flower dance day and thought "why not?" now I'm seriously considering divorcing her once I finish her 14♥ event (I'm still at 11♥s). I wasn't even going to marry her, I only did it for the stardrop. I wanted to get the platonic roommate, but the wiki doesn't say if the same friendship decay/post-divorce-brainwash rules apply to them... not to mention the specific requirements to "marry" them are much harder, given my current save is getting lots of rainy days...

[Panfilo]

I feel like it could offer more. Marriage really only opens up the opportunity to have kids, the occasional gift, sometimes they help water and feed animals (never felt like it really helped on the scale I needed).

My Time At Portia gave you actual gameplay bonuses depending on the spouse (though they weren't balanced, some were way more useful than others). Passage of time has a little more significance with one spouse up and ghosting you for mysterious reasons, and another that will up and die eventually

If they ever did a proper sequel that would certainly be an angle. I want the spouse to add something besides a carbon copy of their former room. So like Shane letting you borrow his motorcycle which is a better version of the horse, Abigail helping you out a little bit in dungeons, Maru tinkering with your machines to make them work faster, etc.

[Amberbaum]

Originally posted by Panfilo:

My Time At Portia gave you actual gameplay bonuses depending on the spouse (though they weren't balanced, some were way more useful than others). Passage of time has a little more significance with one spouse up and ghosting you for mysterious reasons, and another that will up and die eventually

I played My Times at Portia after SDV and the whole relationship pre/after marriage really surprised me in a very pleasant way. It's not groundbreaking or anything, but much more refreshing and interactive then SDV marriages or anything like that. Tho, MTaP had small team behind it and not just one single dev.

[Nakos]

Personally, I'd like a little more branching in the paths and cutscenes available to the Bachelors and Bachelorettes. From 1 to 4 hearts is fine, but beyond 4 hearts, they all start to get "flirty".

And ... (unlike some) I prefer to stick to one SO.

I'd prefer it if the Bachelors and Bachelorettes stuck to a platonic path UNLESS you give them the Bouquet. Right now the Bouquet is the flag for whether or not you can get the 9th and 10th heart. I'd prefer if it was also the flag to toggle the "flirty" scenes on and off.

Beyond that: Yeah, Marriage is a bit dry.


But hey, it's a game, the content is finite, it has to end somewhere.