LogFAQs > #932443117

yeah. the witch quest line is a bit too short and easy, the Mr. Qi stuff feels like an appropriate challenge for my endgame character.

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Harvey

It's at least plausible that Harvey only ranked this high because he's so boring I actually didn't notice him while I was rearranging my list, and he just happened to avoid being moved down along with the others in his class. Okay, but seriously, there isn't too much going on with Harvey. But I think he has enough that sets him apart from some of the others.

Firstly, he's basically the only really adult marriage candidate in the base game. Remember that Shane and Emily were added later. Aside from that we're told that Leah is among the "older" bachelorette characters. No, seriously. When your standard for the most mature character is Leah I think that speaks for itself. She is basically a 22 year old who just graduated with a degree in Art Appreciation and is just realizing that it's not actually worth anything. Hardly the first thing that pops into mind when I picture a mature character.

Enough about Leah though, this is about Harvey. So he's actually a Doctor -- he's one of the few marriage candidates who isn't just a straight up leech. Although the game doesn't really incorporate elements of this into the gameplay it at least sets a different tone for the marriage. Yeah, sure, you don't share the earnings from the clinic, it's implied to be doing poorly financially anyway, and Harvey will still charge you for medical supplies. But if you're into marrying dudes and you don't want someone like Sebastian who is just going to sit around your house all day and expect you to support him, I guess Harvey is the only real option.

Another interesting thing, related to this, is that Harvey actually continues to work his regular shifts even after you are married. Along with Maru, I think they are the only characters who do this. And Maru works FOR Harvey.

Emily, Shane, and Sam all reduce their working hours after marriage and spend more time on the farm.

It's pretty neat, and suggests that we could actually potentially marry shop owners, but for some reason ConcernedApe prevented us from doing it in almost every case. I'm not saying I want to marry Gus, but rather, a conscious decision was made to have Gus be a fat middle aged man instead of a sexy, young cafe owner.

Putting that aside, I think all of this information actually gives Harvey a pretty unique niche as far as bachelors go, and I'd actually be really interested if there was some kind of data to see which characters are chosen more frequently than spouses. While I doubt he's at the top, I actually wouldn't be surprised if he does better than guys like Alex, Sam, or even Elliot... despite looking like someone's dad in the 80's.

His ranking is relatively low on this list. But only in the sense that I think every remaining character on the list is at least pretty good, and he happens to be near the bottom just because I rarely go through the effort of going into the clinic every day to befriend him. If anyone here really likes Harvey I'd actually be interested to hear your thoughts on him.

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Linus

... "speaking of leeches"

Okay, I had to make that joke.

Linus is a fairly unique and interesting character and honestly I might have ranked him PRETTY high if this were still early on in my Stardew Valley career. He gives some good recipes and surprisingly good friend gift options despite living in a tent on the side of the mountain -- and he's insanely easy to befriend. Seriously, at the very least go and get the Wild Bait recipe from him. He's happy with almost anything you pick up off the ground, making him about as easy to befriend as Leah!

My issue with Linus is that while he claims he just wants to be left alone, and he doesn't care what other people think about his lifestyle... the more you get to know him, the more you analyze his character, the more you realize that is not the case. He seems to have this need for the player character, and other characters in stardew valley, to acknowledge his lifestyle as legitimate.

He honestly gives some fairly pissy responses if you say anything to him other than "there's nothing wrong with your way of life!" when he's digging through other people's trash. And it's clear he has no respect or concern for other people's personal property or THEIR values. He just wants everyone to acknowledge HIS values. None of this makes me hate him, and it is a pretty deep and interesting characterization, but it definitely makes me like him less than a lot of the people who scored higher.

He's not this likable, quirky hermit that I pictured him as when I first started playing the game. He's kind of a dick, honestly.

Lastly, I'll just mention something else. There is a bit of an air of mystery about Linus that makes fans speculate and wonder about his backstory. I think that ship has long since sailed. It's pretty clear we are never going to be given an explanation of why Linus is the way he is... which basically is the same as having no backstory. I hate to say it, but there it is. Someone had to.

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now I only see your dull imposter
https://imgur.com/BYYr6fn