As someone who is interested in the background of the characters in Stardew Valley, I thought this would be really fascinating to talk about. There are quite a few families in the game, some literal, some figurative, and all fairly interesting and somewhat broken in their own ways. So, what 'family' do you find the most interesting, be it their behaviors, relationships, or pasts? What do you like about their stories, and what do you hope to learn about them in the future? I suppose I'll include my large essay of an opinion in the spoiler: I can't help but notice the lack of supportive dads in this game. Kent's dialogue includes "you probably know (my son) better than I do," Demetrius is supportive to ONE of his kids (though I don't think that's intentional), a lot of mother figures seem to have disappeared and the fathers are never even mentioned. Jas lives with her aunt, Alex lives with his grandparents, Haley and Emily have to deal with their parents frolicking off and doing whatever they please. There are a couple of good motherly figures in the game which is why I mention the dads more; Jodi works pretty hard and Robin is a good mother despite having an obvious favorite. Not to mention, even though Caroline doesn't really understand Abigail, I think she does try to attempt. With Jas and Shane often talking about Marnie in a positive light, it goes to show that she is probably a good figure too. The only father figure that probably seems to stand a chance in my eyes is Pierre, but I'm not even sure since I don't know him incredibly well and Abigail is a fan of talking crap about her parents. Overall it seems like there is a lot of independence vs family support going on. Some characters are too independent, while others are completely dependent and it just seems to stem from their family history. Knowing that all the bachelors and bachelorettes are in their 20s, it's understandable that we may not see as much family dependence from their dialogue since they're, well, adults. Even so, there is a lot of dramas. A lot that I would like to uncover. At the very least, speculate. xP If I had to pick a favorite family, or well, the most interesting, I think I would choose Robin's family. With not much to go on except those two books in Robin's room, a lot of their stories seem to be cloaked in subtlety that you can, at best, make guesses about. It's easy to pass off Sebastian's dialogue about his family as simple rebellion, much similar to Abigail's, but I think his attitude may stem from past grudges and rejected attention from one if not both of his father figures, causing him to shut everyone out even if Demetrius tries again or Maru attempts to gain that sibling bond. While Robin and Demetrius seem very close, I do think there is that awkward line of who loves whom more as well as their own preferences (Demetrius fawns over Maru, while Robin's dialogue tends to refer to Sebastian). Both of their kids are brilliant, both dabbling in some kind of machinery (Maru tinkers, Sebastian cares for his motorcycle), both dealing with formulas and coding (Maru helps Demetrius in the lab, Sebastian is a skilled programmer) and both with an interest in space/science (Maru's room and telescope, Sebastian's sci-fi novels/comics). It seems like one child gets the limelight and praise for being a little more brilliant while the other probably forgets to even mention he has those hobbies or passions anymore. I just can't help but wonder if Robin and Demetrius butt heads about their kids and if they're not doing as great as they seem. Robin could be stressed about keeping everyone together (which isn't working out as there is an obvious rift between Sebastian and Maru/Demetrius) and Demetrius may be pressured from being the second husband and not being as emotional as he could be, as he's often wrapped up in his own studies and experiments. It's understandable to see why Demetrius would have Maru as a favorite and why Robin latches onto Sebastian, but I'd love to know more about it so I'm not talking out of my butt here. I'd eventually love some resolutions too, eventually bringing the family together and cease that incredible awkwardness that seems to be there during the festivals in which the four of them have to be near each other. That's because I'm a huge sucker for happy endings though.
Interesting point you make about the lack of father figures for all the male bachelors and most of the female. Abigail is the only one who seems to have both parents invested in her. Granted Haley/Emily's parents seemed to have just gone on a long vacation now that their daughters are adults. Kent isn't a bad father, he just got roped up in the military and all that entails. Demetrius I think has trouble relating to people, let alone an angsty shut in step son. If you read the book in his bedroom he seems to be trying to make an effort at fitting into Robin's life. Other then that we know next to nothing of Sebastian's father. Alex's father sounds like absolute scum. But his grandparents seemed to have raised him just fine.
My favorite family is the Junimo family that lives in the abandoned community center. Real talk. I'm ambivalent towards any of the "families" in the game. Individuals sure I can say I have favorite individuals who fascinate me more than others, but otherwise, most of the families just seem kinda cold too each other or aren't complete. If I had to say which one though, I'd pick Alex's family that consists of his grandparents. They're great people (once you manage to make it past George's grouchy-old-man-bitter-at-world-and-losing-his-legs deal). But of course I always was a sucker for the elderly. I find old people adorable for some reason.
It's a hard call for me because I find a lot of them have some pretty neat dynamics and depths. On one hand, I find Marnie/Jas/Shane potentially complex. Marnie is Shane and Jas' aunt...but Shane and Jas are cousins themselves according to the wiki. (which would mean Marnie has at least 2 siblings herself) Later on when you are high enough friendship with Jas she mentions how Shane is her godfather and that her parents died...meaning that Jas' parents apparently had a close enough connection to Shane (but not Shane's parents) to entrust him with that. Cause at a glance you'd think Marnie would be the godmother, so I kind of wonder if Shane back a bit ago did have something going on that would cause two adults to go "in the event we die, we trust you to take care of our child." Shane's dialogue at the luau makes it sound like he may have been from the city. Did he move out to Marnie's with Jas after her' parents died? Or maybe I'm just speculating moreso than I should be.
I think out of all the families in the game, Marnie, Jas, and Shane are the weirdest and the most endearing. An aunt and two cousins but they seem to have the most love and care in my eyes. I love it when you befriend Shane and he goes on about his chickens and how he feels about his family; I think he has a gentle heart that only gets exposed when you learn enough about him. Not to mention, their family (and Alex and his relationship with his grandparents) is the only one in which I don't feel awkward or feel like anything is wrong here. Which isn't bad at all, since we don't need the dramas all the time. xD
I'll summarize my feelings: Famiies: Demetrius, Robin, Maru, Sebastian- It's interesting to see an inter-racial couple that's married and has kids. They all have their individual lifestyles, jobs and hobbies. I know Sebastian wants to get out and live on his own, but what person doesn't at that point? Robin and Demetrius have date night at the Saloon on Friday. The family seems happy. George, Evelyn, Alex- George is dealing with the complexities of old age and being confined to a wheelchair. It makes him unsociable, but he's apologetic about it when he knows he's gone too far. Evelyn is dutiful to George and is the typical sweet grandmother type. Alex doesn't really do much except lift weights and talk about girls or playing football. He'd probably be doing his grandparents a favor if he left for college. Maybe I haven't opened any cutscenes, I wonder how his parents died. Kent, Jodi, Sam, Vincent - Seems like the most stable family of the whole bunch. Kent is a soldier who probably needs to be away for long periods of time when he's on tours of duty. Jodi is the doting mom and housewife, who's concerned about keeping the household in order. Sam wants to start a band and seems like a typical teenager. (He's older though, so it kinda feels weird how he's portrayed.) Vincent's a young boy who does young boy things. Traveling Parents, Emily, Haley - The girls are old enough to fend for themselves so the parents are enjoying their wealth by traveling the world. We really don't know much about the parents except that. Emily is trying to work though as well as get her tailoring business off the ground. Haley isn't as driven, though she does pursue her interest in photography. She is superficial most of the time, though she does care about the people who matter to her. Perhaps their parents should be more worried about trying to help their daughters move onto the next stages of their lives, then leaving two young women alone by themselves. Some perv farmer could move nearby and try to convince them to engage in some questionable behaviors. Pam, Penny- Pam is a raging alcoholic who lives in a trailer. Penny is the dutiful daughter who has to deal with her mother's habit and be the "grown-up". What happened to Penny's dad? Who knows. Penny is making the best out of a bad situation, but you can see she's depressed about it. This family is pretty broken. Marnie, Shane, Jas- Don't know much about this family, to be honest. Marnie doesn't seem to have children herself, but has taken up raising little Jas and giving Shane a place to stay. Shane is depressed about his situation, but does his best to make up for Marnie's hospitality. Jas seems to be well looked after. She seems pretty intelligent but has the mindset and curiosities any girl her age would have. A family of circumstance, but one that seems to be working. How would Lewis factor into it all? I think that's all of them.
I think at present (with my limited affection at least), all families still feel half-baked. While some felt more developed as individuals and some has further development as spouses (Robin/Demetrius) and/or siblings (Emily/Haley, Sam/Vincent), there's still some...disconnection if we're talking about the whole family.
I don't have a favorite family yet but if I had to say, I would say that Marnie, Jas and Shane are the one. I feel like in Robin's family things are very complicated esp because of Sebastian, he seems to push everyone away and if you marry him he'll say that Maru must be happy that he left the house, but if you marry Maru she shows that she cares for him and wish they were more close. Plus he seems to be the rebellious type when it comes down to Robin -even tho she cares a lot for him, I don't remember the dialogue now- and Demetrius is trying his best. I guess that not having his father around bothers him. Also Jodi's family, her husband coming back from war and having ptsd must be rough for him and also her, they don't seem to be really there for their kids, I guess Jodi wants to make sure they have what they need and Kent must be working on his problems, but I felt a lack of dynamic between them, esp with Vincent being the younger one. Sam's says something about feeling sorry for Vincent staying with his parents after he marries you and moves to the farm...
In regards to Sebastian and the sibling dialogue, when you first have two kids, he'll say something like: "I hope [baby 1] and [baby 2] get along. Maru and I always fought as kids... Now that I think about it, it was usually my fault..." That tells me that there is slow development with his opinions on family. I think he does realize he's been pushing his half-sister and stepdad away for far longer than he should have. I'm unsure how long he's been doing it though. I don't know whether there was a slow buildup of trying for attention and getting rejected by stepdad (developing jealousy over his sister) or if he was like this from the very beginning (which I doubt; I could be wrong, but Robin hints him as a pretty happy kid and Sebastian does talk about his childhood in a fond way) If you think about it, Sebastian and Maru are both marriageable candidates, so Robin and Demetrius probably got together when Seb was really young. There is the possibility that he's never even seen his real father since he was probably a toddler at the most; to me, I think his eager childishness transformed into petty sibling competition, which finally went to bitterness. It's just hard for me to buy it as simple teen rebellion with the stepdad hate, I guess. Either way, I think Maru is just unfortunately in the crossfire here and the conflict is mostly between Sebastian and Demetrius. Considering the fact that Demetrius and Sebastian never talk about each other, they probably had several falling outs until Demetrius gave up when Seb became an adult and Seb just stayed in the basement. As for "all the families seem half-baked", I can agree with that. There's a lot I want to know that 'taking guesses' won't satisfy. I'd love some legitimate resolutions eventually. I hope in later updates, we'll end up getting more character events that may not directly involve your farmer, like Sebastian apologizing to Maru and making up with her, or Kent re-acquainting himself with his kids, etc. etc.
It is worth noting that with the exception of Alex's family (Haley & Emily's family's status is still up in the air), every other family do want the best for their kids (yes even Pam). It is just that each one have their own separate issues they are dealing with. Demetrius/Robin's family's schism, Kent/Jodi's family have a PoW dad with some PTSD, Pierre/Caroline's deal with the looming presence of Joja take over putting some stress on their family, post-bus Pam, Marnie's family is a bit fragmented somehow that she had to pull and help Shane and Jas. Whose fault is it? Nobody. It's not a perfect world and there is no perfect family. Also worth noting that Jas does seems to have some slight issue if two things in her room has something to go by.
