Have any of you ever wondered about the disliked and hated gifts of some villagers? Why exactly do they dislike that certain item? Some villagers are clear why they don't like certain stuff. Leah admits many times that she loves to eat healthy so it’s clear why she wouldn’t like fattening sweets like cookies and ice cream or pizza. Harvey too is a health nut who tries to avoid other unhealthy foods. Kent claims Sashimi and Torillias were given to him as food rations in a POW camp so it’s understandable he’d have a PTSD flashback just from seeing them. But there are some items that I don’t quite understand the hate behind. Poppy. Why does everyone except Penny utterly despise this little flower? Sure it’s not the prettiest or best smelling but I’d rather receive a poppy than a ragweed or dandelion. If I truly did receive a poppy in real life I’d be a bit confused but I’d still appreciate the gesture. Haley and the prismatic shard. Why on earth does she hate the prismatic shard? The rarest most treasured item in the game, and she hates it whereas everyone else loves it. Was she hit in the head with one as a child and swore to always hate it? Did she have one before and it got lost or stolen? Seriously Haley, what is up with you? Penny and the rabbit’s foot. Again, an item that’s loved by all except one person. Why does she hate the rabbit’s foot? Is she anti-superstition and just doesn’t want to even think about it? Does she think it’s actually a rabbit's amputated leg stuck to a small ball bearing chain and that its supporting animal cruelty? Again, I’m very confused on this. Pierre and Corn. Even his wife is confused about this. Does he hate the taste? Does he hate the texture? The smell? The look? Or is he just plain allergic to it? I’ve never actually met a single person who didn’t enjoy corn in some fashion. Any other items in the game you guys think is odd to for the villagers to hate?
Having gotten Penny to 10 hearts gave me a little more insight into why she also doesn't like any of the alchohol items, but also a possible reason for the rabbit foot. The obvious reason for not liking alchohol, of course, would be Pam. However, when I watched the (8?) heart scene where Pam finds you helping Penny clean the trailer, I honestly was cringing because I was expected Pam to actually hit Penny. Perhaps there is some abuse like that in the relationship that we don't see. That would lend to her not liking the rabbit foot as she would see it as a correspdonding cruelty to a defenseless creature just like Pam's cruelty to Penny. Pure speculation, but plausable, I think.
I don't get the near-universal artifact/mineral hate, but my real-life desk has stuff like polished obsidian, a lump of coal, bismuth, and a shark tooth fossil on it, so maybe I'm just Seb IRL. You'd think at least Penny would be into all sorts of artifacts. Holly. It's described as a "popular winter decoration" yet it's hated by most. I feel like the random fetch quest generator in all its silliness has led people in my saves to ask for things they don't like, which leads me to wonder what they're doing with them. Other than putting copper bars under their pillows and mushrooms on chains, obviously.
Nobody likes the tea set. What? I could see Alex thinking it was girly, but really, if someone gave me a tea set I'd be really pleased. Treasure chests. Those things you pull out of... treasure chests. (I hate the recursive nature of that statement.) Ahem. As in, you can get a treasure chest /item/ out of a treasure chest event when fishing, and these things are worth a nice chunk of money! Yet everyone in the game hates these things. You don't want someone to walk up and give you about 5,000g in doubloons? Well, ok, then... Clay. You'd think the kids, Jas and Vincent at least, would get a kick out of playing with some clay. Vincent likes digging for bugs but not clay? Strange child. But it's a possible gift from either of them for the Feast of the Winter Star, yet they hate it?
People probably hate poppy because one species of poppy is the source of a drug, which the poppy might that species. But then again, why would Penny love it?
I have a theory that they hate poppies because they all play a village-based farm simulation game whose developer provides four quality levels of each item you can grow--while poppies come up inexplicably in multiple colors. Necessitating that much more storage space. Which is insane, you must admit.
The one I don't get is the near-universal dislike/hate for Joja cola. Outside of Sam everything dislikes it or hates it. If it's supposed to be Joja's flagship item, you would think more people beside Sam would like it.
Picture yourself part of a small rural community in which an international mega-conglomerate has located a branch. They've gone so far as to appear in the store of a local rival who's lived there all his life, and thrown down the gauntlet, actually advertising themselves on his premises. Even those who are tempted to buy from the outsiders, based on their lower prices, are *not* going to like their goods. In fact, it might be a point of local solidarity to hate them, as much as anything else. ...Or at any rate, that's one idea.
Maybe Penny hates alcohol because of her abusive mother but she hopes to escape her life through drugs? On a more serious note: In my opinion the love/hate behind flowers is just normal personal preference. Jodi's (and some other NPC's) hate for dandelions might just be that it is just weed for her. Dandelion always was rabbit fodder or weed in my childhood.
Maybe Clint hates holly so much because he's secretly the Stardew version of the Grinch in disguise!!!
Why do people hate treasure chests? Pam could DEFINITELY use one. Do they just hate items that can give them tons of money in return? Why does Abigail love pumpkins, but hate golden pumpkins and dislikes jack-o-lanterns? Does she like making the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern herself and receiving an actual jack-o-lantern takes away the fun? Is a golden pumpkin just too heavy to hold and a burden for her? If so, why not give it back? Honestly, to all villagers: If you dislike, let alone HATE, a gift, instead of being rude, just be like "That's sweet of you, but no thanks." If a sweet gem berry is so sweet and tasty, why are villagers so underwhelmed by it? Do they have a secret stash of them like Pierre has a stash of something, and that they have so many berries that one isn't that exciting? Why do people dislike the Stardew Hero trophy? Do they feel awkward about getting a trophy meant for someone else?
I've always thought that elvish jewellery would make a nice gift... But no, it's hated. The universal hate of artifacts is indeed very weird.
Maybe they respect the idea of the value behind the ancient artifact so much they would rather see you donate it to the museum than gift it?
For the longest time I've wondered why Krobus hates the strange bun. The Shadow People in the mines drop them, after all, and it's even possible for Krobus to have a strange bun for sale. With that in mind, you'd think he would be the one exception to the universal hate that is the strange bun, right? But then I got to thinking. What if he hates being gifted one because he knows what the implications of you being in possession of one are? He knows very well that you had to have killed a Shadow Person to get it. Granted, Shane also give you the recipe in the mail, but Krobus doesn't know that. And at first, the Dwarf's dislike of cave carrots threw me off. They go on and on about cave carrot dishes in that one line of dialog. But then I read it over again and realized that it's probably sarcasm. I wouldn't like having to eat the same things all the time either. What does still baffle me, though, is their dislike of geode minerals. They love gems and like foraged minerals. What's so different about geode minerals? This is even more baffling when you take their love of omni geodes into account.
On that note, I've always found it funny that Shane says he's interested in trying the recipe if you ever make it, but he hates it. Did you think that something consisting of wheat, periwinkle, and void mayonnaise was going to be good? Where did you even find this recipe? ...But then I remember that time he handed my farmer a void egg for breakfast and said that he bought them a long time ago and they were almost expired. What on earth are you getting up to on the days you leave the farm, Shane?!
I don't get the flak on muscle remedy. I may be biased here though because I could sure use some IRL right now though, lol.
The stuff Harvey sells is weird. The two things do different amounts of healing, yet are the same price.