Summary
- Stardew Valley players are disappointed with the lack of post-marriage interaction and individual character development for spouses.
- One player discovered a troubling downside after marrying Sam.
- ConcernedApe, the game's creator, addressed common complaints about marriage mechanics but won't focus on further patches for now.
A Stardew Valley player who married Sam has discovered that there's an unfortunate downside to choosing him as a spouse. It's part of a larger complaint that Stardew Valley players have shared about the way the marriage system in the game works, but this is a particular case that some fans didn't know would happen.
In Stardew Valley, players can choose to marry a select number of NPCs, or if they prefer, a multiplayer partner in co-op mode. In order to get married to a Stardew Valley NPC, players have to gradually build a relationship with the character and gain their favor before they'll consider dating, and ultimately, marriage. While a lot of players enjoy the interactivity with their chosen romantic partner, the post-honeymoon phase often leads to complaints and disappointment among players.
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One fan Gh0stUv4 has shared a downside that they discovered after marrying Sam in Stardew Valley. While they had no complaints about their relationship with the NPC themselves, they discovered that after marrying Sam, Sebastian would still go to Sam's room in his childhood home to practice for their band together. The included screenshot shows Sebastian completely alone in the room, as Sam is likely at the player's house.
Fans Lament Marriage Problems
In this particular case, players have been particularly saddened by the scene because it's well-known that Sebastian is a troubled character that has only warmed up to a few people in the town. While married NPCs in Stardew Valley will sometimes still engage in their old habits on select days, for the most part, they end up becoming a fixture on the player's farm. This can lead to some odd sights like this one with Sebastian, who is continuing to follow the usual schedule he shared with Sam prior to his marriage, while Sam has stopped doing so.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only complaint that players have had with marriage in the game. Many have lamented that the characters they married end up losing a lot of their characterization and sort of fade into the background in comparison to how interactive they were during the friendship and dating phases. A prior Stardew Valley patch improved upon this situation somewhat by adding a new 14-heart event exclusive to spouses, but they still behave largely the same way otherwise.
While ConcernedApe has already said that further Stardew Valley patches could very well happen in the distant future, for now, the developer's focus is on Haunted Chocolatier. If that game has a relationship system similar to Stardew Valley's, hopefully it takes some of these common complaints into consideration during the development phase.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- February 26, 2016
- ESRB
- E for Everyone (Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)
- Developer(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Engine
- Proprietary
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Stardew Valley does not currently support crossplay between different consoles and PC
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Simulation
