I'm asking this question to get some people's perspective on the characters. After my marriage candidate, one of the first characters I made the effort to work up hearts with was Pam, out of curiosity of what made her the way she is, how she lost her husband, etc.. I was very disappointed to find out that Pam has zero associated cutscenes and instead sends you a cauliflower cheese recipe. On the other hand, a character who did have associated cutscenes was Linus, and I had high hopes from the first time I saw him rummaging through bins like I do for super cucumbers. But after getting him up to 10 hearts, I received naught but a recipe for better fish bait, and no information on his backstory or origin. I had anticipated a My Fair Lady-esque story, where your character can attempt to "fix" Linus by cleaning him up and introducing him to regular life as a regular person, only to find out that lifestyle simply doesn't suit him. What about you? Were there any characters who you expected more from?
I could expect more from pretty much every character, really. The cut scenes we are given only seem to skim the surface of whatever particular issue a character is having but people are multi-dimensional and there's tons more I'd be happy to learn about any of them. I'd love to see Clint gain some confidence and ask one of the ladies out (Emily if the farmer doesn't marry her); I'd love to see Penny move out of the trailer or maybe she and Pam get an actual house to share. I'd love to see Sebastian settle his issues with Demetrius and Maru. That's just naming three off the top of my head but the list could go on.
I'll second Clint getting more confidence (at least enough to make Emily realize that Clint's crushing HARD on her) and the relationship between Sebastian and Demetrius being better. Maybe make Demetrius not so obsessed with his work and Seb not be so emo, but that's more personal dislike of a trait than disappointed of an arc. Although that MIGHT explain why Demetrius fawns so much on his daughter and essentially ignores his stepson: Maru's a scientist too and Seb is a computer wizard, maybe the father doesn't understand his stepson's path and as a result ignores him?
Alex. Because I almost feel like his arc was set up but never followed through with. He didn't live up to the potential his story gave him. He puts up this macho, big-talking front because his life has been really hard (one of the hardest in the whole town, in my opinion). His dad was terrible to his mom, and he realizes that. And yet, if you're a female farmer, he starts off assuming that you can't catch a gridball, asks to see you in a bikini in the middle, and ends up... ordering a salad for you while he gets steak. I was hoping that he would be able to draw parallels between his attitude/assumptions and how his dad treated his mom, but it never happened (as far as I know--I've gotten him to 8 hearts and watched his 10-heart cutscene, but never dated him). I hear he's great if you marry him, but I'm not willing to go through the rest to find out. I also hoped that he would be more honest with himself about his chances of going pro and find some other life goals or hobbies that would allow him to be happy staying in Pelican Town. Like, I dunno, why not start a sports club? Or offer to teach the kids P.E. to help Penny out with her school? Comparing his arc to Shane's or Haley's, or the way CA generally did a solid job of setting up a stereotype and then subverting it, Alex was a letdown for me. Seconding Demetrius/Seb/Maru. At the very least, I wanted Demetrius to realize his mistakes with both of the kids, but especially the way he makes Seb feel alienated in his own home. Overall, I'd love to have seen more backstory for the non-singles.
I couldn't agree with your points more if I tried. I feel his 10-heart cutscene is such a let down and I mean that not so much in a critical way, it just lacked emotion for me. He's arguably the best batchelor after marriage that I've experienced due to the visible maturity and change of his attitude which, as you've alluded to, means there was a great foundation for development of character and backstory but it wasn't acted upon. Alex's dialogue, pre marriage, is also lacking and the repetition of certain phrases is dissatisfying. That being said, I adore Alex (CA too!) and his story and will always have a soft spot for him - I just wanted to give my opinion.
Yeah, I feel like at 8 hearts, the 'friendship arc' should feel satisfyingly tied up and there should be enough development for us to be thinking, "I could see being more than friends, and I'm curious how this person will continue to develop as a significant other." At 10 hearts, it should be clear what kind of a spouse they'll be and if they're the right NPC for us. Getting to 8 hearts and watching someone else's clip of the 10-heart scene with Alex, I just didn't feel that way. It's too bad, because it seems like lack of development has made a lot of people miss out on his good marriage stuff (myself included). I mean, Alex certainly isn't the only single this applies to. But I guess personally, it was the biggest letdown for me, because he had such a good setup with his backstory. I totally understand why CA didn't have time to write tons more dialogue. I don't want to come off as too critical of him, because 500 hours logged says I love this game, lol. But I've given the bouquet to three people so far, and I have to admit that their relationship dialogue has been somewhat... lackluster. More relationship depth/variety seems to be one of the top five most requested things for the game.
The only one I thought would get a cutscene that didn't was Linus - he gives an offhand mention of his previous life before he became a "wild man", but only that he won't talk about it. Clint is an odd one too, I managed to get the cut scene where you force him to ask Emily out on a date, but then a few days later I got the 8 heart event with Emily where he behaves like he never asked her out and becomes all depressed that I'd "won her over" - wouldn't mind, but I was married to Emilys sister at that point.
I missed a final cutscene where Clint and Emily get together. Even before Emily became marriageable I kind of expected her and Clint to be able to marry. I think in some Harvest Moon games NPCs where able to become couples, so I expected it at least for those two. But Stardew Valley isn't perfect and I hope CA will develope the villagers' story lines more in the future.
