POLL: Which NPCs do you think you should be able to make friends with?

[imnvs]

You can vote for as many NPCs as you would like, one or all or anything in between. So, who are you going to check the box for that you think should be able to love you, and who will you leave the box unchecked for because you think they shouldn't be counted against you when you're going for perfection?

I phrase the question the way I did because of one simple thing... to accomplish certain things you have to befriend everyone that can be befriended. Every additional person is someone you'll have to make friends with in order to achieve those things, so consider carefully.

 

[Odin]

I voted for Marlon and Birdie as I feel like they have the most potential for interesting heart events! Also I would totally vote for the Joja Mart cashier if they were listed. The only one I'd really be opposed to is Mr. Qi, who feels like a character that is interesting mostly because you don't know much about them, and I think learning more about Qi might ruin that a little bit.

 

[Quillmagic]

I voted for Marlon and Birdie (for the same reasons @Odin listed) and I also voted for Gunther, because why not.

Also I would totally vote for the Joja Mart cashier if they were listed.

That reminds me of the Stardew Valley Expanded mod, where you can actually do that! (I would love to see it in vanilla, though)

 

[Lemon_Stone]

I voted for all choices except for Morris, Mr. Qi, and Gil. The reason for Morris being that he's tied to the main story, so it might be difficult to befriend him unless you go the Joja route. If you restore the Community Center through the Junimo, he's gonna be run out of town. The reason for Mr. Qi being that I think he's best with that mysterious air about him. And Gil because all of his sprites are tied to objects, so it might be hard to make him work.

Honestly, the only way I could see Morris working as a befriendable NPC is if there was an alternate version of the Community Center restoration scene that you could get if your friendship with him is high enough, with said alternate scene leading to him not being run out of town, perhaps having a change of heart, ditching Joja and sticking around as a resident of Pelican Town. I actually kind of like that idea, but I don't know how likely it would be.

 

[Boo1972]

I also chose Birdie and Marlon, who seem to be the runaway favorites at this point. Birdie reminds me favorably of Linus and Marlon is all around great. I like Mr Qi, but an air of mystery suits him better. My 11 yr old is convinced he owns everything and we unintentionally work for him, which I find depressing. It’s better for everyone to make up their own head canon about the enigmatic Mr. Qi.

I find Gunther and Prof. Snail all too willing for us to take on the dangers of archeology and monster slaying while they sit safe indoors. Morris- just ugh. And Gil, I always saw him as pretty generous then I completed the magma sprite goals. I killed 150 sprites and got just the most useless “gift” in return. No thanks, Gil, no thanks.

 

[Salty1]

While I did not vote for Morris, I think it might still be fun to expand a few of his dialogue options in the movie theatre on the Joja route. I feel like that would more or less fill the same niche desire for those who want to bother going that path.

 

[Worblehat]

I voted for Birdie, Gunther, Marlon, and Snail. Birdie and Snail would make Leo less of an exception - instead of one new character to befriend to reach 100%, you'd need three. Wouldn't take any more time, since you'd be doing them concurrently. All four seem like interesting folks worth learning more about.

Re: Mr. Qi, I hate the guy and would love to see a late-game equivalent of Pierre punching Morris through the roof, with Mr. Qi as the recipient. Maybe after achieving Perfection (or even making some sort of "I'm fed up with this guy, forget about Perfection" choice) the pirates sail over and blast the Walnut Room door until it's buried under debris, or something.

 

[Akemisora]

Marlon and Gunther are underdeveloped and potential to have a nice adventure with them. So I chose them. Maybe go to mine together? Finding rare artifacts? Or simply listening to their stories might be interesting.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Gil.

100% Gil, he is my Spirit Animal. He must be grokked. Ever so patiently rocking, conserving energy like a West African Lungfish counting the days until the next rainy season but getting bored after "... 2". So well rested that physicists use him as the SI unit of potential energy, harvesting only the impulse of passing breezes (occasionally provided by Marlon after lunch) to maintain the motion of his chair. The relatively wild exuberance of my oft-repeated Lazy Farming is an abject embarrassment to him, needing 8 Iso Tank hours of daily sedentarism before he can stand the sight of me. Rumor has it that the last time one of his eyelids twitched was a result of a youthful Lewis needing a scarecrow, thinking that one tossed in the Adventurer's Guild corner would be great with just a bit more stuffing.

I need to know more of the Gil and his meaning, his background, and journey to this new state of matter.

 

[ImmortalCrustaceanKing]

I voted Mr. Qi because there's so much you can add to the guy that just makes him weirder. We all know the guy can milk snakes, he can code, he has surveillance absolutely gotdanm everywhere, but he can be so much more odd. Like, what if he never shares his backstory, except small, incongruent snippets? What if whenever he shared anecdotes, he always shared them about the same time, in different places, with different circumstances about them?

"This one time, in the late summer of 1957, I was out in the Calico Desert"
"Like I was saying, I spent the whole year of 1957 in Zuzu City. I was the head of the mafia."
"I was just a kid back then, in 1957, and I used to build things in the treehouse behind my house."
"I never had a treehouse. What are you talking about, kid?"
"I was never a kid. I came into existence in 1957 as a grown man."

What if we had more choice in how we could interact with him, what facade he'd build? I get that there's the sense of mystery that the man's meant to have, but it'd be funny to see it fail him at some point, or for it to fail him on multiple occasions, and he still has his facade because he built it on jest anyway.

I want to see him tell a good few truths while masking them under prior knowledge that we can know nothing about him. What if he was a mob boss? Nobody would put it past him. Or a prospector? Or a herpetologist? Or just some kid who chose to be someone amazing? We don't know which story is true, and making each story wrong would get a rise out of theorists, to say the least. He can be so much more weird, and it'd never be out of the question.

 

[Quirinea]

I chose everybody but Morris and QI. Morris because he's the representative of "the bad", and Qi for the same reasons many others commented here -- his job is to be a mysterious outsider.

Other candidates to befriend: Hat mouse and Welwick.

 

[PoppyForPenny]

Only very slightly related, but I wish we could see trash bear again after he does his Totoro magic umbrella flying cleanup. Maple syrup bear too!

 

[Lew Zealand]

Only very slightly related, but I wish we could see trash bear again after he does his Totoro magic umbrella flying cleanup. Maple syrup bear too!

Yes, the Trash Bear should show up on rare occasion either at night like the Crop Fairy or Witch, or on the End of day screen like the Alien or Santa Claus/Father Christmas. Maybe in the scene after 100% Perfection, too.

But that May-pal Serrup Bear! He needs his own story in the game. You cannot create an animal with that much personality and motivation and just use him for a single quest. That's practically a crime. He should visit your Farm in the morning in a cutscene on random occasions and ask to borrow some May-pal Serrup and if you don't have any, then he harrumphs off but not before politely asking you to maybe get some for the next time he visits. And then after that he might randomly steal one if you don't share but have some waiting in a Tapper on the Farm.

He walks by casually. Nothing to see here... just us bears taking a little evening stroll... Then he spots the Serrup all waiting there, ripe for the picking. That Farmer's been holding out on me! Wait! That stuff just grows on Trees??!? He nonchalantly walks over, not directly, just perusing. Nice Ancient Fruit you got here, Farmer. Does anyone actually eat those Artichokes? You haven't harvested your Coffee plants in 3 days, but who's counting, right? Oh! May-pal Serrup. Hm... Nobody eating this, either. Would sure be a waste if this Tree went through all that trouble and it just spoiled. Imma save you some work and just give this a good home.

<poink>

He takes the Serrup and casually walks off. He'll be back in a week...

 

[MogBeoulve]

If you get a telephone, maple syrup bear can call you.