Penny is....a little disappointing after marriage. What if she interacted with your kids more?

[DemiserofD]

I really like Penny before you marry her, but after marriage she gets really boring. I think the problem is that she doesn't interact with your kids very much. After all, children were her main goal in life! So it's a little strange that she doesn't seem to care about them more than the other spouses. Not that they shouldn't care, just, Penny maybe should care a bit more?

For example, Penny goes out and reads in her little garden. Why not have her bring the kids along with her, and play with them? And at night, if you come in at the right time, she could be reading them a bedtime story! And she could bring them along when she goes to teach Jas and Vincent!

I feel like making it clear she's really putting in the extra effort to take care of the kids would make her feel like she's really getting what she wants out of life!

Thanks!

 

[YellowGirl]

I actually posted something similar, in terms of children being more or less ignored in the game. I agree with you, and it’s not just Penny either. I’ve only been married to Sam and had kids with him in the game so far so I don’t know about other characters, but in his case, the most he does is say something along the lines of “I’ll feed (child name). You focus on the farm.” Or “I’ll change (Child name)’s diaper. You have enough on your plate already.” Along with a couple comments on how he likes being a father, but otherwise there’s no interaction at all. Unlike Penny it wasn’t his main goal to have kids, in fact he says “I never thought I’d be such a family man” but finishes that sentence by saying he likes the family we’ve created. The point I’m getting at is that I completely agree with you. If they love being a parent so much, why don’t they pay any attention to the kids?

 

[Lew Zealand]

For all of the wonderful little touches and additions that were added to the v1.6 update, the thing I see the most people including myself commenting on is how the spouses have so little variation in interaction or behavior after marriage. If there ever is a v1.7 update (never say never!) the people who play Stardew Valley as a casual game and play to relax or unwind or escape for a while (not min-max/100%-ers) would sincerely appreciate a big expansion in the capabilities of their spouse. To keep the extended experience after marriage more interesting. Spouses should be doing more towards their interests, like Penny with her own children.

• Penny asks for more than the "standard" two kids and plans outings to the Beach, Cindersap, the Mountains, the Train crossing to watch for one, the Community center to play. A once a year trip to Zuzu? (she and the kids aren't there and the Bus with Pam is gone that day)
• Abby accompanies you into the Mines, first only to Level 5 and leaves via the Elevator, and then farther each time.
• Alex trains in a local town a couple times a week (gone those days), and then tries out for the Zuzu Tunnelers and maybe doesn't make it for a random # of years but eventually does. He's gone for Sundays and you can choose to go to games to watch him (re-use the date with Shane assets for that one). And if you play long enough, he eventually retires.
• Emily opens up a clothing shop in town, maybe mail-only at first and does it from her old room in their house. Then expands to take over part of the house for an IRL storefront.
• Sam forms the band with Seb and Abby and is away at gigs in the evenings from time to time. They still practice in his old room, maybe you see them as the Stardrop Saloon bar band in their early days and after they get more successful they come back for occasional Friday night gigs.

There are so many options for all the spouses, I hope this comes but of course it's unlikely. I suppose modders have done things like this but I'm not a modder yet so I dunno much about that.

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Yeah I’d love these suggestion, especially that the kids get to actually go outside!

This is truly the most wanted and least paid attention to “for future updates” wish in the game…at least HERE. On Reddit and Discord and other places kids both in game and outside the game IRL are hated, unwanted, and they laugh at all of the horrible jokes made about having to have their irl kids, actually wishing they could “endovenate” them too. It’s horrifying to me as one who loves children.

Just an idea, but maybe CA fears if he made more to them it’d be worse on other forums? He was, after all the one who called it the dark shrine of selfishness, to erase your children you wanted and created, sound like it’s something he wouldn’t do himself. Enough people probably asked for that feature and he gave it and attached that name for a reason. He might not want to further develop something so many others rejoice in ridding from their games. Obviously, sadly, more people hate it than love it.

 

[LRangerR]

Kinda a big thing to say more people hate it than love it. Maybe more people would like it if there were more substance behind the children aspect of the game

 

[ArtifactSpot]

Kinda a big thing to say more people hate it than love it. Maybe more people would like it if there were more substance behind the children aspect of the games

True. One could only hope that’s the case! I was only suggesting a reason why CA may be choosing not to focus more on family dynamics in the game. There’s not many interested in it as it is in other forums.

 

[LRangerR]

Well it's nor our fault they're wrong ;p

 

[Freizeitfarmer]

Yeah I’d love these suggestion, especially that the kids get to actually go outside!

This is truly the most wanted and least paid attention to “for future updates” wish in the game…at least HERE. On Reddit and Discord and other places kids both in game and outside the game IRL are hated, unwanted, and they laugh at all of the horrible jokes made about having to have their irl kids, actually wishing they could “endovenate” them too. It’s horrifying to me as one who loves children.

Just an idea, but maybe CA fears if he made more to them it’d be worse on other forums? He was, after all the one who called it the dark shrine of selfishness, to erase your children you wanted and created, sound like it’s something he wouldn’t do himself. Enough people probably asked for that feature and he gave it and attached that name for a reason. He might not want to further develop something so many others rejoice in ridding from their games. Obviously, sadly, more people hate it than love it.

That's rather harsh judgment.
I for myself love my kids, and they love the game.
But it's true, the family story bow stops after the children get little kids. So this seems to be broken in kind of gameplay.
As long as there is no further family story I'm just not going to play that family part of the game.

On the other hand Version 1.6 is focused on modding. All others are extras. That's easy to forget as mods need much longer to develop than just start playing the extra content.
So I hope there are some good developers out there who advance the family story bow.
BTW: there is much to consider with "aging" as written already here: http://forums.stardewvalley.net/threads/children-update.21633/post-108249

at all: Have a nice Easter!

 

[LRangerR]

That's rather harsh judgment.
I for myself love my kids, and they love the game.
But it's true, the family story bow stops after the children get little kids. So this seems to be broken in kind of gameplay.
As long as there is no further family story I'm just not going to play that family part of the game.

On the other hand Version 1.6 is focused on modding. All others are extras. That's easy to forget as mods need much longer to develop than just start playing the extra content.
So I hope there are some good developers out there who advance the family story bow.
BTW: there is much to consider with "aging" as written already here: http://forums.stardewvalley.net/threads/children-update.21633/post-108249

at all: Have a nice Easter!

To be completely fair to the source material of inspiration, Harvest Moon only lasted 3 years max. In that game yourmchildren didn't have to opportunity to grow up or do anything useful, even I'd they were still kinda lumps still. I'm that game you got kids just for the score, nothing more.

 

[REtroGeekery]

I think the issue with children is that them growing doesn't work with the gameplay loop. Seasons change, plants grow, and farm animals grow (quite rapidly) but time has no effect on the town or any of the people. No one ages or dies once your farmer moves into the vallley and that's important. That's why you can hear about people being in very high years on a single farm: the game is designed so that one save can be played indefinitely.

It's already kinda weird that the farmer's children grow into toddlers when no one else is aging. Having them age further would break the timeless feel of the valley for many players or highlight the oddity that no one else ages for others (either of which could pull them out of the game).