It's here! Click right here! It's right here! You asked for it. You voted for it. Now, it's here! The Linus Narrative Overhaul! Linus is a mysterious man, living in Pelican Town for reasons long forgotten. Beaten by the world, all he wants is a true friend. In this Narrative Overhaul, I've designed Linus to have an engaging relationship, if you're willing to put in the time. With dialogues for every day of every season and every heart level, you'll have a reason to talk to Linus! How to install: Incredibly simple: 1. Download and Unzip the XNB file. 2. Go to where you installed Stardew Valley. 3. Go to Stardew Valley\Content\Characters\Dialogue 4. Move the XNB file over and overwrite the old one. 5. You're done! This mod is Rated E, and uses no gender pronouns for your player character. Follow me on Twitter! It helps, and you can see when new updates come out. Click here! I'm looking for FEEDBACK! If you played this mod and liked it, or didn't like it, please let me know here on Nexus Mod or at my personal e-mail at haywrites@gmail.com Check out my other Narrative Overhaul mods by clicking here! Thank you for playing! Check out haywrites.wordpress.com for more of my recent work! Click here for it! Right here! It's here!
Sooo I usually love your mods, and I was so excited to see a new one out, but this one just felt a bit... off. I'll try and get to the bottom of why. Ok, so I have always loved vanilla Linus, but your Linus seems extremely different from the original version. Like, they could be two completely different people. I always read vanilla Linus as a dignified, content man who lives an unconventional life. He lives with nature by choice, not because of poor luck or unfortunate changes in circumstance. He likes his life, is grateful for everything he has, and always tries to look on the bright side of things. He likely decided to make the leap to live a simpler life after becoming increasingly disillusioned with the more "normal" life he was living before. He always retains a quiet dignity and doesn't let the opinions of others or anything bad that happens affect his opinion of himself or his outlook on his life. When I was reading through your Linus dialogue, though, a lot of this felt like it had changed drastically. He is living in the wild because he's down on his luck, and constantly dreams of a better life, instead of being satisfied with what he has. He's always talking about how difficult things are for him and how he doesn't like the current season, etc, instead of being grateful for everything and looking on the bright side like he would in vanilla. He is unhappy with his current state of being and wishes things were better. He's not living the way he does by choice. I could almost get behind all these changes and accept that it was just a design decision on your part, not an oversight, to make Linus a more typical homeless man rather than an atypical hermit, if not for one thing. A lot of the lines you wrote seemed to take away Linus's dignity, which I absolutely do not agree with. There's one line in particular where you say something about him rubbing leaves on himself to make himself smell better and ending up all itchy. This line might get a quick laugh, but it (and others like it) make Linus into a figure for ridicule and comedy instead of a human being with pride and dignity. I found things like this in the mod to be a bit upsetting, because it in some ways mirrors the way homeless people are treated in our world. People who are homeless consistently and for long stretches of time also usually have quite a bit more on their plates than simply being "down on their luck". There is often mental illness, trauma, and all sorts of other hurdles they must overcome. Your Linus just didn't really read like a long-term homeless person, and, honestly, in a town as small as Pelican Town, having a hermit feels more right than having a homeless person. The last thing I found a bit odd was your choice to make Linus not have any memories from his previous life. I got the idea that they were repressed memories from some sort of trauma, perhaps? But I'm not sure why his entire past would become repressed... it seems odd. In the game, Linus is at peace with his past but doesn't talk about it that much with you because he thinks you should experience life and decide for yourself what you believe. Basically, vanilla Linus has agency. He has made the life he wants and is in control of his circumstances and how he views them, not the other way around. I found it a bit upsetting to see this agency taken away, to see him made a victim of circumstance and not feel as though his actions could affect his situation. Sorry for the wall of text, I just honestly was quite surprised by the direction you went with this and wanted to say why. This is all just my opinion, of course, though, and I'm only one person. I just found it a bit disappointing to see a character I really liked, like Linus, be so different and have a lot of the things I liked about him taken away. Again, just my opinion on the matter. I will stop rambling now. PS I still love all your other mods
I must say I agree with @Friendly_INTP I checked the dialogue and was a bit disappointed with the turn you decided to take with Linus. But ultimately, this is your mod and it's your interpretation, and I very much appreciate all the care and attention you show and share with the community
@Friendly_INTP: First of all, thank you so much for your feedback! This is the stuff I love to see, and I'm so thankful you took the time to wrote it. I figure I'll write here where I was coming from with Linus, because I do agree, I like the optimistic side of him, which I believe I kept. On the Design: So as you know, vanilla Linus is shy at first but eventually, around the 4th heart level, will open up that he seems pretty optimistic about things. That's...okay, but for my mods as you know, I have dialogue till the 10th heart level. As such, I decided to move those same feelings to the 8th and 10th level. He does come to talk about finding peace and embracing his situation, but not till much later. The reason for this is, when the player meets Linus in this mod, he's in a bit of a dark place. Things haven't gone his way in quite some time, and it's only through his interactions with the player that he comes to find peace and optimism. I didn't want his homelessness to be something that was to be made fun of, and I wanted the players to feel for him, yet also be there for him when he finds his peace. On Homelessness: So here's the twist about writing this mod: Linus and I are almost the same. I've been unemployed for the last six months, and for the last two weeks as I wrote the mod, I had no food. It made me think hard about a lot of things, and I put those feelings into the mod. You say I took away his dignity, but I disagree. No one should want to be in this position, and typically it's thrust upon them, either by their actions or actions they cannot control. I wanted to show that Linus wasn't weird, or strange, but a real person who had a life that had gone awry at some point. Yet, in talking with him and becoming his friend, he can find hope. Hermit vs Homeless In the main game, Linus talks about getting his tent vandalized, which is what inspired a lot of the direction I took with this mod. Again, all this assumes he is homeless and not a hermit. After looking the text over, and the event where he's eating trash behind the Stardrop Saloon, it suggested to me he's homeless. Thanks! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it, and I hope this explained a bit more of my thought process. Thanks for using the mods all the same!
I think i speak for everyone that uses this mod when i say "No man, thank YOU for making this." If i may be super bold i would like to request Pam's overhaul to be made next please. Pam is one of the characters that desperately needs dept in my opinion, which is a shame because i do like Pam.
2.0 out now! This Narrative Overhaul...Rehaul? Gets more in touch with how Linus is in game, making him a LOT more happy and guru-like than 1.0. I'll be curious to hear your feedback now! Get it here!
