I am full-on trying to finish up the hundo chievo, which means marrying four people (and divorcing them) as rapidly as possible in quick succession. Doing this really underscores some of the weaknesses of the game. Such as the repeating dialogue. And how cringy the relationships are (in general), especially when you’re speed-running them. Each dating pattern is the same. You give a person gifts until they reach a certain numer of hearts. Three maybe? Probably four. Then, they ask you on a date. If you say yes, you get a letter from Sophia (the owner of the diner) telling you to come talk to her. She asks for tuna and something (can’t remember what), and then tells you to return the next night.
When I return, the other person tells me that they have something to say. They reveal that they have deep feelings for me and ask if I feel the same. When I say yes, then it’s one more date of their arrangement, and then I’m supposed to propose with a whole cockamamie scheme. It’s supposed to be a sweet local custom, but, really, it’s pretty eye-rolly. Oh, and if you turn down the person on the first date, then you’re best friends forever. Or until you give them a bouquet, and you can date them again. Apparently, that plus the ability to divorce was added in an update. Which, considering that one of the achievements is to marry every datable option (except the last-added character, but that character is the best so I married that persson, anyway) is a boon. There are seven achievements for this, which is a lot. And I have mentioned more than once, there is one person you can’t marry for the rest of the game if you don’t get to them (plus another) by the end of year one because those two instantly hook up in year two if both are single. And never break up.
(No, I’m not bitter at all that I knew that and still didn’t take pains to make sure I had done both marriages in the first year because I did not think I would want to 100% the game. Moral of the story: always keep an eye on the achievements, even if you don’t think you’re going to do them. Especially in a cozy game. Oh, and here is yesterday’s post with more musing on the topic.)
I left my favorite of the original datables for last, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Why? I have exhausted all my dialogue with this character. I have not gotten anything original from them in several seasons. Although, I did get one new line from another character, the first one I married, which was a nice surprise.
I understand the repeating dialogue to a certain extent, but the one thing that annoys me is when the dialogue is from an earlier time and no longer makes sense. Like when my first spouse, after divorcing them and all the witch stuff comes out, say that they had never dated a witch before (they’re the one who immediately hooks up with another datable in the second year). I was like, “I’m right here!”
Or how immediately they forget you once you dump them (with another ‘cute’ town tradition, by the way). Like I said my first spouse was literally with their next partner the scene after I broke up with them. Most of them were like, “Oh, I understand why you broke up with me” or “You gotta do what you gotta do”, which was…odd. There was one person who was truly broken up and another who said to give them a call if I ever wanted to get back together.
Doing it this way shows how shallow it all is. It’s much more broad than deep, and I think I would have been happier with less choices that were more meaningful. Like I said, they added the ability to divorce, date again, and remarry somewhere down the line, and while it makes sense from an achievement point of view, it really cheapens the experience. Right now, my day is get up, feed a few animal, tend to the Gloaming (don’t ask), and then go to bed so I can advance to my next wedding.
I’m back after marrying and divorcing the character who is the leader of a newly-established alternative religion. Easily my least favorihte datable by a country mile. Also, when I married every other person, all the other characters were very positive about it for different reasons. One who’s the game’s clown was praised for his sense of humor. Another who was moody and contemplative was noted for being deep and intense. This person? Almost everyone not in the church said a variant of, “Why are you marrying this person?” and “Good luck! (You’ll need it.)” It was truly hilarious, and I could not divorce this pperson quick enough.
So, after you propose to a character, you have to wait seven days while they plan your wedding. By the time I got to the church leader, I was fast-forwarding the days as quoickly as possible. Back when I was actually playing the game, I slowed down the timer to ‘relaxed’ because I felt I did not have enough time to do everything. Now, I have it on normal and am in bed by noon.
This is not good gameplay. Yes, it’s on me for trying to get the plat, but at the same time, it’s on the game for including this in the achievements. I really appreciated Hades (Supergiant Games) because by the time I got to the end of the game, I only had half-a-dozen achievements I needeed to get to get the plat. I thought a few of them would be super-hard, but they weren’t. I always appreciate a plat that you can basically get by playing the game.
For as massive as Elden Ring (FromSoft) is, you can get the plat in one playthrough if you savescum properly. Unfortunately for me, the cloud saves I made did not work, so I had to play it three times (have to get three different endings for the plat). I wasn’t too mad about it because I knew i would play it many times, regardless. Which I did. There are six different endings, and I finally saw the last of them. I’ve seen my favorite ending at least twice if not three times (I can’t remember), and I think I got the other special ending twice. I’ve started the game over a dozen times, but it’s massive so I have only finished it seven or so times. I have also done the entire DLC six times. I think. Five? Maybe five.
Back to this game.
I am now about to propose to my favorite character. They told me a fairy tale from their heritage that was something I had not heard before (in the game). It was so refreshing to hear something new! Also, I hate most of the nicknames the other suitors gave me, but I like the one from my soon-to-be betrothed. I’m actually not minding doing things while waiting for the romance to advance this time, which was not the case with the last three relationships. I have more to say on that, but it’ll have to wait for the next post.