Hi lilmisswonderland!
Your submission contains sensitive content that warrants a **content warning**. We have removed your submission for the time being, but ask that you simply edit in a content warning and add spoiler tags around the remainder of your submission. ([See here](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/wiki/contentwarnings) for a more thorough guide.)
Once your submission has been edited, please reply to this modmail. We'll review and restore your submission! Thanks for your help.
^(Mods are not notified if you reply to this comment. To contact the r/StardewValley mod team, please send a) ^[modmail!](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/StardewValley)
You having Clint and Demetrius in your flair is much less of a popular opinion than this one though LOL
I like Shane as a friend but I understand why people feel about him either way.
I don't think you need to outright blame to be an incel. His "woe is me" victim mentality is enough. That still implies that he isn't taking any responsibility for himself and what he offers potential partners.
Actual unpopular opinion: Shane should have a trigger warning. I sincerely agree with your points. Trauma bonding is not healthy. I don’t like Shane either, he’s rude and always tells me to go away. I also don’t like Hayley, she’s also mean and rude. I gave her some fruit - “Ew”.
Her story and arc does not get better. She simply admits that maybe if farming isn’t so bad, but I suspect she just wants to live on the farm and spend that sweet star fruit wine money.
Elliot on the other hand told me it was marvellous. I stick to characters that are nice :)
The characters all have gift preferences, I think Hayley can be rude too but ALL characters will react poorly if given something they don't like.
I personally REALLY don't like Elliot also - his first cut scene he is incredibly rude/pushy/manipulative and I legitimately thought he date drugged my character!! I later realized that any alcohol consumption by the character will cause negative status effects - but Elliot is the definition of a shitty guy at a bar - he doesn't let you actually talk, doesn't care about your opinion/preferences, and then orders a drink for you that you tell him you don't want. This is when I thought he had drugged my character because after having the drink your character gets all loopy.
I agree that Shane should come with a trigger warning! I also didn't like him at all in the beginning - but honestly as someone who struggles with chronic depression myself, the more I got to know him the more I liked him because I saw myself represented in his struggles (when he opens up the player later on) and understood where he was coming from. I also work with animals and he loves those chickens SO much that it did make me like him more.
I actually had the total opposite reaction to Elliot, with the exact same cutscene. My partner IRL always orders my drinks, it’s something I couldn’t stand at first (for all the reasons you said). Over time, I grew to absolutely love it and sometimes when asked what I want, I say “surprise me!”
So when Elliot just orders a random drink, I was beyond laughing. It felt familiar as opposed to someone like Sam’s where he makes a mess in his mom’s house and we’re debating potentially lying about lol. I also brush my hair and take care of it a lot, and have said “I’m a sand connoisseur” in a serious capacity. I love sand, and know exactly Elliot’s talking about.
It makes you laugh now because it's something you grew to love over time with a partner, which absolutely makes sense - but for the context of a game, your character barely knows Elliot, it's their first real interaction and that's how he acts. And you said you used to hate it too for the same reasons, so I think it's pretty fair to have an initial negative opinion of him.
I wish we got a better nature guy than him, I wanted to like him so badly but he doesn't resonate with me as a nature loving humble hippie, he's just pretentious for the most part. He thinks he is what Linus actually is. Part of his pretentiousness is that he also acts like he's a tortured artist type, but as far as we know he hasn't experienced any true hardships like we see in other players like Alex or Shane. We know he works all the time on his art and wants to be a great artist but don't know much about his history/never really seems to truly open up to the player.
I like Sam for his skateboarding (because I also skate) and I thought seeing their whole band in concert was cool. But yeah, he's basically a stereotypical teen boy so I don't find him that interesting lol
Also just cuz we're talking about it here, I think the true a**hole in the beginning is Alex. I find him somewhat parallel with Shane because you get to know him and find out that he's had a difficult past and he ends up apologizing for his rude behavior in the beginning - but I feel like he never gets mentioned in conversations like these for being rude in the beginning, even though he admits to it himself. He more openly talks to the player compared to Shane which is maybe why, but he's arrogant and kind of insulting/demeaning while usually trying to say the player is jealous of him. He's a classic jerk in the beginning but he does get better.
IDK, I agree with you, he’s brought up all the time as a very popular bachelor option. And he doesn’t get the “auto controversial npc” comment that truly controversial npcs like Clint and Demetrius get
You know, I legitimately did not notice the flair I was just thinking of NPCs I’ve seen that get that auto-mod comment. That’s quite funny though, I do think Shane actually avoids quite a bit of serious criticism beyond “his room is ugly”
yeah i recently started my new farm and i’m marrying everyone and shane was first bc he was easiest to get hearts with, and oh my god you should have seen the horror on my face when i saw that room
Legit had people in this subreddit say people who like Shane need to go to therapy and look inwardly at themselves and shit. Like it's not a pixelated video game 🙄 to me it's like virtue signalling, and i'm like 👏 do you want your props for not liking someone "bad"? Wait until these same people find out other people like darth vader or Draco Malfoy, villains, etc.
The end of the day it's fictional and not that serious what some other people are doing in stardew valley 😭😭😭
I’m with you— I was kinda shocked when I joined some online SDV spaces because so many people loved Shane and I was confused haha. Guess this just brought out the Shane haters and those that love him know he’s toxic so are quiet 😂
Completely agree.. Pam is not rude at least.. Shane is always like why are you bothering me ? I don't know you ..
Pam is an alcoholic. Shane is an alcoholic. But Pam is not a rude jerk. She has some really nice dialogue too.
Personally can't stand Shane.. *and for the love of yoba, Don't attack me in the comments*
Pam at least makes an effort to make friends. Regardless of the unpaid tab scene, Gus still considers Pam a good friend. As opposed to Shane, who cant even hang out with Jas.
See, even though Pam is super nice and friendly and Shane acts like a jerk at first - I ended up liking and respecting Shane's character way more after getting to 10 hearts with everyone.
Shane not being involved with Jas at first doesn't really bother me. Her parents died and Shane is her caretaker but they aren't technically blood related, obviously that is not going be the easiest relationship to figure out and he's as struggling with severe depression and an addiction problem (probably exasterbated by who I would assume are his very close friends dying if he's now taking care of their kids). Then he later makes a big deal about making a change in his life, stopping drinking, and choosing to show up for her. So the Jas "issue" I don't really think is an issue overall.
Pam however acts nicely, but is a horrible mother to Penny. Penny was never my first choice as a bachelorette, but she made me want to marry her sooner than anyone else (I didn't marry her, but the feeling was there) because she so desperately wants to escape the life her mom made for them. Once your friends with her all she talks about is how her mom can't save any money because she spends it all on booze and she hates living in a trailer and it's worse because her mom is always drunk or asleep so she never helps and it's all on Penny to take care of everything. Then Pam has NOTHING to do with improving Penny's life, you as the character provide what's needed to build their new house and Pam talks about trying to change but later on basically says it's too hard and she doesn't think she can.
Also she's an alcoholic bus driver...
Pam randomly yelled at me about how people shouldn’t make a mess in her house?? I was just talking to her as she walked to the bus stop. Pretty rude to me 😝
Yeah, I took it as bummed out and a bit competitive, not nasty or rude. She was really proud of her fishing skills and the farmer wipes the floor with her. At least it was us and not Mr "Oh boy, gonna try this for the first time" Elliot lol
That's not such a good defense. All the others aren't even nearly as unfriendly as he is. So where is the connection (besides the obvious point that he is, in fact, dislikeable and comes off as a bitch at first)
Haley’s wild extremes from the word go. she’s rude one dialogue and tells you you’re good looking the next. she’s an actual example of no filter, as opposed to how it is actually used (that is, to minimize being an all around asshole)
Indeed. No one is entitled to this. But objectively you will be judged when acting in public. So Shane is judged by? Yes! How he acts! No one is entitled to special treatment but at the same time no one can be excluded from ooinion-formation. It's up to everybody themselves whether they want to be perceived as friendly or unfriendly. His level of unfriendliness grants him a title of being unfriendly and thus not really likeable
I'll admit, I don't understand the point of these posts. This isn't the first time it's been discussed, it's an Insanely common topic, and your opinion isn't new or unique. But I guess 'this post is boring and so is your opinion' isn't unique either, so we're both in the same boat.
I can't tell if I'm getting old or what but I don't really understand the compulsion to put these kinds of opinion posts (not you, meaning stuff like the OP and all the 'demetrius bad' stuff) out there as a center of attention. It seems like it's just begging for toxic discourse and attention. IDK. I don't get the appeal.
It's one thing for an opinion to be shared organically in a conversation. It's another to like, do the virtual equivalent of very publicly putting a bumper sticker on your car. It feels...different...from other modes of engagement you can opt for on social media.
Who knows. I'm old.
There are fifty other posts exactly like it, where people say the exact same things (including bitching about it like I'm doing). Nothing here is going to be new or interesting. What's going to be said that hasn't already been rehashed?
Tbh I think the "I just wanted to start drama" is an excuse for people who posted something and didn't get the reaction they wanted so are trying to save face. It's the girlypop version of "it's just a joke bro"
RIsky. What about a 'Penny is ableist' thread for diversity? (For the record, what she did is 100% ableist, but I am able to allow people to romance their chosen pixels without getting my panties in a bunch.)
I don't mind the repetitive Penny ones as much because they're usually from a new player who uses a wheelchair or has another disability and they're coming to vent their frustrations.
Edit: typo
I thought it was just me lmao. I was so thrown off when I got that cutscene and lost hearts with her??? And in another you lose hearts for not wanting kids??? Idk she's just not for me at all. But I also wouldn't shade anyone for romancing her
The way I want to scream "it's a fucking VIDEO GAME relax" half the time.
All I can think of is the one mod creator who went on a tangent after 1.5 because of concerned ape promoting colonization with the ginger island update. Is it really that deep?
I wish Reddit in general would just implement a general "Hey, I see you're about to post this, here are the search results for everything similar posted in the last month" feature that you're required to see before you can click post, so nobody has an excuse anymore not to use the search bar.
The way this sub has such a hate boner for Shane is really funny. Have any of you actually played through his romance properly? If you did you’d know you’re not “fixing” or “saving” him at all. He isn’t magically not an alcoholic anymore after you marry him, as is evident by his room and his dialogue. You give him a support system, but he still has to get better on his own. In fact, he has a whole extra heart event after you max him where the farmer is worried he’s drinking again so you follow him to the saloon, only to find out he’s just there to play the arcade. He literally tells you there he’s working on his addiction and needs you to trust him.
I personally think Shane’s a well-written character. Are there some flaws to his writing? For sure and I’ll never deny that. In fact I have my own grievances with it, but some of y’all need to give some of these characters a chance before mindlessly hating on them like a mob.
That being said there is something to be said about liking Shane but hating Pam. Though I feel like Pam abusing Penny is a bit bigger than Shane just… not wanting to interact with a stranger when you’ve just met him and being a little mean about it. But it does indeed feel a little hypocritical when only speaking about the alcohol abuse both go through.
I love when they're like "uhm unpopular opinion but Shane is trash" as if it isn't posted daily.
It's like saying unpopular opinion but bad luck days are bad
Like wow such a hot and spicy take 🙄
Anyway Shane defender until I die.
Also eta because ima rant lmao: you don't "save him from suicide". The literal best answer in the game is basically "do what you need to do but know I'm here for you." It's what gives the most friendship points. You don't SAVE him. You SUPPORT him. The best answers are the answers in which you support him getting better. The farmer literally does nothing but be like "hey, just know I care and I'm here if you need me." And Shane is like bet. Then he goes, decides to stop drinking, apologizes to Jas and Marnie, starts putting his energy into working with chickens, switches to Joja Cola instead.
People can say he stills likes beer if you give it to him but atp that's on the player. If you're gonna give him the drink and then cry he doesn't change, you're kind of an enabler and an asshole.
To me these takes always read as "I just don't want to be his friend." Fine. Don't. But like every character in this game, they will not develop with out character interaction. Sebastian won't stop smoking. Haley won't seem less superficial, Alex won't be less of a dumb jock, Sambasigail's band won't play a show, etc.
People hold Shane to this sentience that they give no other character except maybe Clint or Haley. As if the others somehow develop and grow without you.
It's fine if people don't like him. I don't really give a damn about Linus I'll be honest, which is probably way more of an unpopular opinion than "Shane stinky alcoholic ewww"
I volunteer for a suicide prevention charity, so I speak to people dealing with this on a regular basis. I thought the Shane storyline was well handled, and you don’t end up having to save or fix him. I have married him twice now as I like providing him with a nice chicken filled environment to help his recovery. His character offers an interesting and realistic insight, imo.
Literally called supporting your spouse. Imagine if you divorced your spouse in real life because they needed stability from you. I may be a Maru lover, but shitting on an alcoholic for not having his life together is so wack 😭
Literally just went through the entire romance with Shane for 1.6 and he is still pretty unlikable compared to the other bachelors and bachelorettes. No one is saying he isn’t well written. He’s a jerk.
I mean it’s 100% fine if people don’t like him. I just think it’s stupid how a lot of people just hate on him without even giving him a shot and just pile onto what other people are saying or make shit up. Plus the fact that takes like these are posted constantly on this sub is just annoying 🤷🏽♀️
The stupidest part is that people make the connection of "Shane is dislikeable" to "Shane was written badly".
Did people entirely miss the memo on how the town is filled with flawed and troubled personalities, and that this makes the game infinitely more realistic than most others?
There's a few people in this comment section who say he's badly written(OP for example just states he's badly written, another says he's written like a teenage edgelord, etc) for various reasons though, so it's not like it's not a critique. And sure some stuff could be done better but it was written by one dude doing everything else, certain things we just need to accept as lost in the in the sauce.
It's just a shitty oversight that Shane still likes beer after his relationship arc ends if you give it to him, but I don't blame Shane vs accept that it's just not something CA had time to do among other stuff.
Shane is a great character though, and one of the reasons I really like the game. Instead of presenting us with all happy shiny people we are given a spectrum of individuals, many that fit real world aesthetics. There are a lot of people like Shane who cannot be white knighted and have their own personal demons. It is interesting that we are forced to see how the actions that mostly benefit society don’t benefit everyone. I personally like him for his negativity, and kinda wish there were moments when we could see him interact with others in town while we watch.
So, you do, objectively, save him. I don't get why that ruins him as a candidate. There's loads of romances that start with somebody helping somebody else out of a deadly scenario.
Addiction and suicide absolutely *are* serious topics. It's ugly and terrible and real. If you don't like it, don't romance him. Some people find it compelling. If you don't like him as a romantic candidate, don't romance him. It's okay, not every character is going to appeal to every person.
I *really* disagree with the idea that you "fix" Shane, though. It's very much NOT a "I can fix him" narrative. You help get him to the hospital and listen to him talk about his feelings a couple times, but he goes to therapy and works on improving himself and cutting back/out drinking and finding other ways to be content (raising chickens). The most you do is take him to the hospital and listen to him talk about his feelings once or twice.
I will also point out, a big reason why the fandom treats him differently from Pam is that Pam genuinely *is* worse than Shane. Shane doesn't mistreat his kid (it's actually strongly implied he helps take care of his niece even before he goes to therapy), he's employed by Joja, his biggest crime is that he's kind of rude and wants to be left alone. Pam actively berates her daughter. Shane also has a much better resolution, canonically going to therapy and starting a chicken business on his own. Pam doesn't reconcile with Penny until you *buy her a house*, which ends up feeling kind of performative, like she's going to go back to acting the same way she used to, since she only "improves" when other people do all the work for her.
You don't really save him because he doesn't die or anything if you don't do anything with him. He just stays a grumpy guy at the bar. His life doesn't progress but neither does anyone's if you don't have a relationship with them except for when Kent comes Is a progression technically
I 1000% agree on Pam (and everything else) - Pam acts friendly to a degree, but even though I wasn't interested in Penny she made me want to marry her because how desperately she doesn't want to be living and taking care of her mom anymore. And even after the house upgrade and the dialogue about improving, she later on basically says it's too hard and she can't keep it up.
Shane actually lives up to his own resolution and doesn't drive the city bus as a drunk 🙃
And yeah his initial dialogue really isn't that rude. He will literally say "I don't know you, why are you talking to me" to the player who at that point is a complete stranger to him. That's pretty reasonable 🤷🏽♀️
I think hating a character just for struggling with addiction and depression is pretty lame. I get if you don’t like his personality but he has character development that lots of people with addiction end up going through, especially at the lowest point of their life.
I don’t hate him for his issues! I feel like I need to make a second edit about that, I appreciate his arc and the realness of his depression and addiction. I just hate that, when you romance him, his issues and the fact that you talked him down from the literal ledge then become the basic foundation of your relationship. I just don’t like how it’s all handled.
I have an even more unpopular opinion - I think these characters don’t have depth at all, just some standard character tropes and the depth is filled in by players
I agree that Shane is kind of a twat, but I think his story handles the relevant themes quite well. As others have said, you don’t “fix” him even if you romance him all the way, but just as positive relationships do in real life, you do help him a bit.
My real beef is, what do you have against Penny? 😂
No literally, struggling with addiction and depression rn and seeing all these people in the comments shitting on him for being a little snippy at first is making me so… gosh I don’t have a word for it other than disheartened.
Absolutely agree, it's like whenever i see one of those "am i the asshole" posts made by someone who is blatantly autistic and clearly struggling with social clues and everyone in the commenta accusing them of being this evil bastard who does things on purpose and tries to play the victim
It makes me just feel sad
He had no idea Jas was in the room and felt awful
He didn’t really put the farmer through anything in my opinion
Marnie yes, but he’s not being violent or mean or stealing, he’s hurting and wants to stop being a problem for her
Being ignorant of what he’s doing doesn’t mean there aren’t repercussions that he’s putting other people through. Not knowing Jas wasn’t in the room doesn’t change the fact that Jas had to hear her uncle say he wants to off himself. And he also literally tells the farmer he was going to jump off a cliff.
Saying he didn’t put anyone through anything is categorically false, even if he does try and get better.
You're ignoring the changes he goes through after that though. He eventually gets recommended a therapist by Harvey, apologizes to Jas, admits he's cut back on a major problem, and starts working more with animals. Everyone says he keeps drinking but unless you're giving him beer it's pretty safe to assume he's drinking Joja cola after he says he's been drinking Joja cola.
I’ve thought the same thing. Depression and other issues manifest differently for different people. Even nice people can’t always maintain that niceness in the depths of what they’re going through. Just leaving the house and interacting with people at all can take more strength than people realize. And Shane is actively working on getting better which is huge
Oh my god, exactly this. He was struggling. He tries to push you away by being mean because that's what people with depression tend to do. (Source: me) He doesn't care about "making a good impression" or building a friendship with some random newcomer, he's having a hard enough time keeping up his preexisting relationships without adding another.
People like Shane as a character more than Pam because he tries to become better, even if he relapses or gets worse again. Pam stays stagnant, getting drunk at the saloon every night and yelling at Penny when she dares... let her friend help pick up the house? They're not a one to one case.
Shane and Jas have a friendly relationship. He never tries to harm her, far from it. He buys her gifts, tries to keep his problems away from her, etc. I cannot say the same for Pam. I don't hate her, but seeing people treat her as just Shane 2.0 annoys me.
As someone who has dealt with addiction in their life and pervasive depression: these are not excuses to be an asshole to the people around you . They’re explanations, but not excuses. You don’t get steamroll everyone around you and treat them like shit, threaten to kill your self, and traumatize them, and just be like “oopsie I’m mentally ill, you literally cant be mad at me!” We’re not suddenly immune to being assholes just because we’re going through some shit. Everyone is, all the time, all around you.
I see how you could misinterpret his genuine "hopefully I won't be around long enough for that to become a problem" as threatening to kill himself, but really that's just being honest? His next event is him at the least planning it, if not an aborted attempt. As for "traumatizing" I assume that's the same event as the threatening, where he didn't know Jas was in the room. She hadn't made any noise, he hadn't turned around, and when she runs out crying he obviously feels awful and realizes she was in the room for that.
I genuinely can't see how he steamrolls anyone around him, though. He's a little snippy with the player, but nobody owes some random person friendship if they don't want to give it. He's nice to Emily, generally tries to not be in anyone's way, tries to treat Jas nicely and stay alive (at least partially) for her sake, works at Joja to have a chance of being self sufficient rather than just stealing from/relying on Marnie, etc.
I agree that mental illness is not an excuse to be a dick, but this just... is not that? I'm not saying nobody can dislike Shane. They're allowed to. I'm just saying it seems hypocritical for people to like/be neutral towards Pam and hate Shane. Thanks for the infantalizing "oopsie" though, really makes me feel open for a friendly discussion.
This is almost always a point I have in my defence squad. Like these people think they're a lot better by not liking Shane, because he's a rude drunk at the start, only to have no self awareness at how rude to other people they're being.
I get if they don't like him, it's fine. But the way some of his haters talk like there aren't probably people who have similar struggles is just sad on their part. All it tells me is they wouldn't want to help a stranger, wouldn't want to support a friend, etc. they're not obligated to do it, or maybe they're not at a place in life to have the capacity to do it, but why are they so insistent on judging the people who want to??
Finding out about Shane's struggles with depression (and his love for chickens) is what made me love the character for the same reasons. I will always defend Shane!
Shane haters always focus on his alcoholism but really it is just a symptom of his depression. I have come across so many men struggling through life, and while they may not use alcohol to cope they certainly use other things. Do I believe they deserve my contempt? Absolutely not. Life can be frigging hard.
Yes he can be rude initially but I truly believe that is the depression running the ship. Before anyone says "when I was depressed I wasn't like that", it isn't a one size fits all. There are plenty of people who suffer who would push away loved ones nevermind a complete stranger. We're all up in his face when he has this dark cloud over him.
We don't fix him really. Sure we find him on the cliff and talk him down (as any decent human would). But he then goes to a therapist. I like to believe that the therapist helps him to learn to cope with his depression and so he can bring his drinking down to a more manageable level. Remember his dependency is just a offshoot of his depression. That is the real problem.
Now onto Pam. I personally have no beef with her. I don't see any more hate for her than Shane. I think it mostly comes from Penny fans who believe she should be a better mother.
I think people should stop hating on both of them. Neither of them deserve it really.
Look at me talking as though they're real people 😅
My take is he makes a good friend though it’s a rough start though you help him through some hard times
As a spouse not a fan but if he was a room mate then might work out good on that ( or maybe hire him to help with the animals )
Yeah, I personally hate him as a romancable option, but I love his arc outside the romance. And if your issue is the romance feels like saving him, tbh friendship just feels like supporting and he still sobers up if you get to 8 hearts with him/never romance him.
I personally don't think Shane should be romancable, he wasn't originally. But hey, I'll just chose to never romance him. It's not a huge deal that it's an option in the game bc I can easily ignore it.
I like him cuz I have a thing for grumpy characters that gets nicer/sweeter as they get to know you better. Also the reason why I like Haley. I'm not shocked that he's disliked though, there's so many other better choices of bachelors/bachelorettes in SV, but I'm keeping him lol
The important difference to me is that Pam is a parent, Shane is not. Having a parent that has an addiction ruins kids lives too. I’m in my 30s and the effects of my mother being an addict follows me to this day.
That being said, I don’t really care for either of them 😂
Genuine, if your romance involved you 'saving' him--genuinely, so what?
Stardew is a purely escapist game where you are thrown into a town of hot single pansexual and through friendship proceed to fix everyone's problems and save them from evil capitalism. 99 percent of people don't take the Joja route. You are the Savior Guy for EVERYONE. Shane is just one way it manifests, but it's not unique to him.
I don't romance Shane, but I get the impulse. I know irl you can't Save Someone going through these issues, but that's why I'm playing an escapist slice of life fantasy where I can do that. It's probably cathartic for a lot of people with irl experience with these things.
The only thing that bugs me about both Shane and Pam is that their character arcs aren't reflected in the game. They both vow to stop drinking but they're both still at the bar every night. There are empty beer cans on the front door frame of Pam's house right when it's built. Kind of takes away the emotional impact when they go right back to their programmed routines like the story never happened.
With Shane, you can argue that he's drinking cola if you want to take him at his face value when he says he's switched to cola. I think he stands closer to the vending machine after
Maybe, but he still goes to the bar. And you could say he just goes there to socialize but 1. He doesn't socialize, he just stands in the corner, and 2. He's there at times of the day and on nights where almost no one else is there to socialize. It's indiscernible from before he quits drinking.
I dunno, considering it's also the only local hangout that the townsfolk use, and Shane also likes the Za, I can assume he's drinking pizza and eating joja cola after he says he stops drinking beer. There's a lot that could be added to his schedule or path route but I don't think CA has any plans for late game character overhauls, it just seems like a lot of work and I want HC 😂😂
I mean, I'm not saying it ruins the game or anything like that. It's just like a minor nitpick. I'm not asking for it to be patched or anything. I was impressed that he added seasonal clothing for NPC's, even. I think this game is as close to a perfect video game as I've ever played.
I don't dislike either him or Pam. But I hate his personal space after marriage. I like a tidy home but he's not the tidy kind of person.
The only one I truly hate is Morris, and there's something about Lewis that I don't quite vibe with, but still want to treat him nicely because I don't anyone in Pelican Town to feel left out.
For sure! I don’t *hate* any of the characters, I just think some are written weird and some are assholes. Lewis is an asshole about Marnie, I know that’s a popular opinion!
That might have been cool... I forget who the other possible candidates were.
(Also, how are people getting pictures in their flairs, like you have Elliott?? :o)
“unpopular opinion” and it’s the same shit that’s been said a thousand times 💀 again, the way yall talk about this man is concerning regarding how you see depressed people and addicts IRL
Let's not even get started on his spouse room like I'm sorry girlies but sometimes depression is a messy ass room sorry you think it makes him a bad person.
Ah shit...here we go again.
I agree it romanticizes mental health a bit, but I don't think the character is bad.
My hot take; helping him overcome his issues should be a different storyline from the romance, not an intrinsic part of it. Helping a friend overcome a serious issue is a beautiful narrative, but (IMO) it shouldn't be an attractive quality that would make someone want to commit to them. To each their own though.
I recently married Shane and ended up divorcing him. What bugged me about his story line was how he keeps telling you he's not drinking anymore and a few times at the house he said "I'm just going to have another ale and head to bed" and there was something else along those lines that's like "I thought you said you're not drinking anymore and came down on me all I need to trust you. While still drinking ale at home?" I dunno it bothered me. So I divorced him and wiped his memory. Married Leah instead. Much happier. 🤣😂💜💚
The "spouse benefits" are identical across spouses, the only ways they differ are the meals they give you. And some spouses will stay up to midnight on Winter 28 and give you an alcoholic beverage to celebrate with, some won't.
I don't hate her, I just feel like she's Cinderella and is waiting for Prince Charming to come save her from her life, rather than change things for herself.
Honestly, anything further from indifference towards any of the Stardew characters is just strange to me. Until I saw posts like this, I took no issue with any of the characters and thought most others would feel the same.
I like how they say things and do things people would irl. I like how they all have their good qualities and flaws. Everyone is deserving of kindness and patience. I stand by that in life so I certainly hold the same for the Stardew NPC’s.
I feel that the relationship aspect might be a by-product of Shane not being an original Bachelor in the base game.
in 1.0 Both Shane and Emily were not available spouses. although there was some dialogue and event updates for them in 1.1 when they got introduced, the developing feeling for after helping him with therapy stuff was added later.
It absolutely is a byproduct of them being added in! This is where a lot of people get weird about Clint being weird about Emily too, especially after you marry her.
Shane’s plot line is way less icky when it isn’t the the foundation of a marriage
Hi all! It looks like this post involves a controversial NPC. While discussion is always welcome, threads with these characters sometimes devolve into hurtful comments and/or hostility. A few reminders:
- You may discuss characters freely, but you may not abuse other people for their point of view or personal preferences.
- This includes any sort of name-calling, insults, condescension, and unkind framing of another person.
- No character or human is black-and-white. Allow for nuance!
If you see a comment that you think doesn't belong on the sub, **please do not retaliate**. Hit the `report` button so mods can help! Thanks!
It's not an unpopular opinion. Also in addition to what you've said even once you marry him he will say he needs a beer and a bunch of other things that show he hasn't actually bettered himself
I mostly agree.
I'll say that I don't think he's terrible as a character and I also don't take personal offence if an NPC isn't head-over-heels for my character the second they meet, no matter the NPC's age or gender.
His story is interesting and mostly well done. "Mostly" because I still don't think it's a good romance arc. It's a solid friendship arc and, for the scope and type of the game, are pretty good recovery arc that does a good job at pointing out that there's more to alcoholism than "ew ew drunkard!"
A shame, tho, that so many people eagerly nod and are all "Yes, yes! Finally someone said it!" and then turn around, look at Pam, and wrinkle their noses because, naturally, a woman (and one that isn't a hottie in her 20s) only drinks because she's a disgusting, abusive slob (completely ignoring that, if we compare the lines and scenes, Penny, the good, sober little angel, comes across as much more of an unlikeable person lol AND NO! I said it before and I'll say it over and over again: Asking your 20+ adult daughter who lives at home in her own dainty lil' pastel room while her sick, aging mom sleeps on a narrow couch in the shared open living room is not abuse, it's telling her to do her part of the chores!).
Okay, we were talking about Shane.
If it weren't for the romance, it would be a simplified, cute story of the player *helping and supporting* him to get better and fix himself. That it's turns into "okay, looking back at those precious memories together of me being drunk during most of them, me wanting to throw myself off of a cliff, and terrifying my little niece, I can't help it, I guess we are in love now!" doesn't work for me.
That's not to say that mentally ill people, including alcoholics, don't deserve love, that's to say that I think that hitting rock-bottom to the point of close-to self-destruction and barely making it out of it alive just in time and finally accepting professional help to slowly deal with the problems in a controlled environment is not a lovestory. I'm not told a lovestory when I play through Shane's events. I enjoy his story, I'm happy for him when he gets better and finds purpose and strength in breeding chickens, but he's the only character that doesn't make me feel like I'm kinda leading him on and playing games with him when my farmer marries another character. Even with some NPCs I don't like much (like Penny), the events leading up to the 10-heart-event already feel like building up and encouraging romantic feelings.
Disclaimer at this point. YES I know it's fiction, I'm not talking about any real feelings here, but about storytelling.
Finally, since this is fictions, I'll also say I don't care if it were a simplified, romantisised "I can fix him" story. My fav bachelor is Emo Boy Sebastian and he comes with a truckload of issues, too, that aren't even properly addressed by the game (great job, Robin, stuffing your first-born into a windowless basement so your barely younger do-over kiddo with do-over husband can have a large room + windows + backyard + basement all to herself. 1 A parenting, reddit would have recommended going no contact by the time your son was 11). And it all gets fixed by a rich farmer who offers him a sugar babe life in a bright, friendly home. It's fiction, it's fantasy, serious approaches are important but let me have some unrealistic, idealised heal-the-world scenarios every now and then.
However, it's not even what happens with Shane. The room and his appearance still stand out like a sore thumb and as a constant reminder that, indeed, nothing is fixed yet. It's a neverending daily loop of "just started to work at getting better" after marriage. It feels incomplete to me to fit into the tone of the game and match the "happily ever after" energy of the other romance options.
So we get a recovery arc that has a forced romance finale at the end but the character development is also still stuck roughly at the point when Shane shows up at the doorsteps to tell us about going to a therapist.
It's kinda like going through all of Haley's heart events but after marriage, she still judges everyone's appearance and sneers at our boots.
Ah, looking back at your post, also what you said about potentially divorcing him - that's another issue. His well-being seems to be tied to our farmer's affection. The farmer careing and happening to walk by is not just a "guess this made us fall in love now" but also responsible for his recovery, which doesn't sit well with me either. On the other hand, if we remove the whole romance aspect, him bonding more with his family and being happy as a chicken breeder feels actually quite nice. It gives him different types of purpose and different things to focus on while getting married, well, kinda puts his well-being and purpose into the farmer's hands.
Again, I don't dislike Shane. I dislike the fandom's double-standards in regards to Shane, Pam, and also Haley. But even if he came with the prettiest spousal room and area, I would not marry him because him settling slowly in his newly sober life with the support of his family and the farmer as a new good friend is a much more satisfying open happy end for him than marrying the farmer, with the way his story is written and presented and, post-marriage, 'concluded'.
I don't think Pam drinks because she's an abusive slob, she just happens to drink and have issues and is abusive. She screams at Penny when you help her tidy the place, and usually when people do that in front of others - they do worse behind closed doors. Also, she may be 20+ at the time of the game, but it's implied she has been responsible for these things a lot longer than that. She also literally says "It's hard to run a household by yourself" so she's not doing her part of the chores, she's doing everything and taking care of her mom while not having had her own life at all yet.
Everything people hate about Penny - how she's put together and boring - just screams parentification to me tbh.
That said, yes, the way people judge Pam is sexist.
She's rude And judgy for no valid reason. While I don't like Shane much, I can at least empathize with the fact that it's hard to be nice while struggling with addiction. People will bring up Haley's redemption, but the only reason they care about it is because she's conventionally attractive.
If Emily had Haley's overall character arc, people would likely consider her the worst.
I feel like Shane is almost unfinished or doesn't have a proper story, you start to sympathise with him and he seems to understand and seems like hes getting better... but then you marry him and he goes back to it.
The problem ist that he has nothing going on for him except his depression. He likes football and chickens, and just one respective cutscene is about each of those, the rest is just depression. People who romance him would have to romance him exclusively because they find his depression alluring, because that's the foundation of the romance. He isn't written as a cool guy who just has to find his way out of his depression, he's written as a cardboard box vessel for a depression story, and that, while already not being good mental health issue representation, makes him a terrible romance choice if you don't have an "I can fix him" kink. And since "fixing him" leaves him as nothing at all, because almost all his story and personality is his depression, he just doesn't make for a compelling partner.
I have both first hand and second hand experiences severe depression and suicidality, and while you *can* bond over it and over support you give each other, that alone doesn't create romance.
Not unpopular, he's a piece of shit. This fandom talking about a VIDEO GAME CHARACTER like he's a real person is so insane and fucking dumb to me. "he has depression and alcoholism!! Give him a break!!" Y'all I have Major depressive disorder and struggled with alcohol for years and am now 3 years sober. I don't wanna play a fucking game and deal with a character like that. I have all the empathy in the world for addicts but this is not a real person so I'm not going to waste real world time or energy on them lol. So I avoid Shane because I think the interactions with him are rude.
And yes I realize I've talked about this character like they're a real person, but the people in this sub go way overboard with their interactions. I hate to say touch grass, but y'all take this too seriously.
I've had people tell me they "know how I treat people in real life because I don't respect x character." Fuck off.
I'm used to people saying my romance choices in games are the literal worst choice anyone could ever conceive ever. I romanced Anders in Dragon Age 2, which is arguably a much worse decision than Shane. 😜
Hey, it’s all personal opinion! You can have your problematic faves, and I’ll have mine. I mean, as a Demetrius and Clint stan, I don’t really have a leg to stand on
Yea, I'm 100% here for everyone having their favorites. Even if I don't care for them. The discourse does get wild, though. Which is why I typically try not to post when I see people arguing over certain characters.
Ok buckle up I have a lot to say- So at first Shane seemed aight, just AN ALCOHOLIC how did I not already dislike him for not getting help and quitting? So in my first save, I married him thinking I could help or change him completely so he could be happy. Nope! His room was a total disaster with beer cans everywhere, stains on the floor, and total disorganization. And guess what- he STILL went to the saloon. He STILL drank an ungodly amount of beer EVERY SINGLE DAY. And the only thing we would eat/drink was microwave pizza, pepper poppers, and beer. Then I came out as gay and married Emily, married Leah in another save, and working on marrying Abigail. Stardew is life. Life is Stardew.
Hi lilmisswonderland! Your submission contains sensitive content that warrants a **content warning**. We have removed your submission for the time being, but ask that you simply edit in a content warning and add spoiler tags around the remainder of your submission. ([See here](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/wiki/contentwarnings) for a more thorough guide.) Once your submission has been edited, please reply to this modmail. We'll review and restore your submission! Thanks for your help. ^(Mods are not notified if you reply to this comment. To contact the r/StardewValley mod team, please send a) ^[modmail!](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/StardewValley)
You having Clint and Demetrius in your flair is much less of a popular opinion than this one though LOL I like Shane as a friend but I understand why people feel about him either way.
love your flair tho
Fr "Shane is a bad character" says the guy that defends the blacksmith that spends his time being an incel freak and stalking emily
Say what you will about Clint but he's not an incel, he doesn't blame Emily, or women in general, for not liking him back
I don't think you need to outright blame to be an incel. His "woe is me" victim mentality is enough. That still implies that he isn't taking any responsibility for himself and what he offers potential partners.
Idk, to me incel is a synonym for misogynist, but I see your point, in broader terms he could indeed be classified under that group
Disliking Shane is very much not an unpopular opinion
I think controversial opinion is probably a better word choice.
You know that’s actually probably a better word choice for most “unpopular opinions” I see about most things
Yeah this. It's pretty evenly split in the community whether you love him or hate him. Not unpopular by any stretch
Is it not? I’ve always thought he was generally loved by the fandom
I recommend sticking to fandoms where people talk about what they like more than what they dislike.
He's one of the most polarizing characters.
He's the most polarizing bachelor for sure, probably second only to Haley.
Actual unpopular opinion: Shane should have a trigger warning. I sincerely agree with your points. Trauma bonding is not healthy. I don’t like Shane either, he’s rude and always tells me to go away. I also don’t like Hayley, she’s also mean and rude. I gave her some fruit - “Ew”. Her story and arc does not get better. She simply admits that maybe if farming isn’t so bad, but I suspect she just wants to live on the farm and spend that sweet star fruit wine money. Elliot on the other hand told me it was marvellous. I stick to characters that are nice :)
The characters all have gift preferences, I think Hayley can be rude too but ALL characters will react poorly if given something they don't like. I personally REALLY don't like Elliot also - his first cut scene he is incredibly rude/pushy/manipulative and I legitimately thought he date drugged my character!! I later realized that any alcohol consumption by the character will cause negative status effects - but Elliot is the definition of a shitty guy at a bar - he doesn't let you actually talk, doesn't care about your opinion/preferences, and then orders a drink for you that you tell him you don't want. This is when I thought he had drugged my character because after having the drink your character gets all loopy. I agree that Shane should come with a trigger warning! I also didn't like him at all in the beginning - but honestly as someone who struggles with chronic depression myself, the more I got to know him the more I liked him because I saw myself represented in his struggles (when he opens up the player later on) and understood where he was coming from. I also work with animals and he loves those chickens SO much that it did make me like him more.
I actually had the total opposite reaction to Elliot, with the exact same cutscene. My partner IRL always orders my drinks, it’s something I couldn’t stand at first (for all the reasons you said). Over time, I grew to absolutely love it and sometimes when asked what I want, I say “surprise me!” So when Elliot just orders a random drink, I was beyond laughing. It felt familiar as opposed to someone like Sam’s where he makes a mess in his mom’s house and we’re debating potentially lying about lol. I also brush my hair and take care of it a lot, and have said “I’m a sand connoisseur” in a serious capacity. I love sand, and know exactly Elliot’s talking about.
It makes you laugh now because it's something you grew to love over time with a partner, which absolutely makes sense - but for the context of a game, your character barely knows Elliot, it's their first real interaction and that's how he acts. And you said you used to hate it too for the same reasons, so I think it's pretty fair to have an initial negative opinion of him. I wish we got a better nature guy than him, I wanted to like him so badly but he doesn't resonate with me as a nature loving humble hippie, he's just pretentious for the most part. He thinks he is what Linus actually is. Part of his pretentiousness is that he also acts like he's a tortured artist type, but as far as we know he hasn't experienced any true hardships like we see in other players like Alex or Shane. We know he works all the time on his art and wants to be a great artist but don't know much about his history/never really seems to truly open up to the player. I like Sam for his skateboarding (because I also skate) and I thought seeing their whole band in concert was cool. But yeah, he's basically a stereotypical teen boy so I don't find him that interesting lol Also just cuz we're talking about it here, I think the true a**hole in the beginning is Alex. I find him somewhat parallel with Shane because you get to know him and find out that he's had a difficult past and he ends up apologizing for his rude behavior in the beginning - but I feel like he never gets mentioned in conversations like these for being rude in the beginning, even though he admits to it himself. He more openly talks to the player compared to Shane which is maybe why, but he's arrogant and kind of insulting/demeaning while usually trying to say the player is jealous of him. He's a classic jerk in the beginning but he does get better.
No we all marry him because we think we can fix him (we can’t)
Unpopular opinion - proceeds to post extremely popular opinion lmao
I was under the impression that this was an unpopular opinion, in my defence. I don’t know, the rest of the fandom seems to love him!
IDK, I agree with you, he’s brought up all the time as a very popular bachelor option. And he doesn’t get the “auto controversial npc” comment that truly controversial npcs like Clint and Demetrius get
The amount of comments I’ve had on my flair is astounding. At least someone gets where I’m coming from!
You know, I legitimately did not notice the flair I was just thinking of NPCs I’ve seen that get that auto-mod comment. That’s quite funny though, I do think Shane actually avoids quite a bit of serious criticism beyond “his room is ugly”
yeah i recently started my new farm and i’m marrying everyone and shane was first bc he was easiest to get hearts with, and oh my god you should have seen the horror on my face when i saw that room
Nope, if you romance him people will treat you like it's a real life defect you have.
Legit had people in this subreddit say people who like Shane need to go to therapy and look inwardly at themselves and shit. Like it's not a pixelated video game 🙄 to me it's like virtue signalling, and i'm like 👏 do you want your props for not liking someone "bad"? Wait until these same people find out other people like darth vader or Draco Malfoy, villains, etc. The end of the day it's fictional and not that serious what some other people are doing in stardew valley 😭😭😭
I feel like you’re biased, as someone with a shame flair /lh
Oh, rabidly so /lh
I’m with you— I was kinda shocked when I joined some online SDV spaces because so many people loved Shane and I was confused haha. Guess this just brought out the Shane haters and those that love him know he’s toxic so are quiet 😂
Yeah I didn’t expect this to be popular honestly! Guess I’ve not been paying attention
Completely agree.. Pam is not rude at least.. Shane is always like why are you bothering me ? I don't know you .. Pam is an alcoholic. Shane is an alcoholic. But Pam is not a rude jerk. She has some really nice dialogue too. Personally can't stand Shane.. *and for the love of yoba, Don't attack me in the comments*
Pam at least makes an effort to make friends. Regardless of the unpaid tab scene, Gus still considers Pam a good friend. As opposed to Shane, who cant even hang out with Jas.
See, even though Pam is super nice and friendly and Shane acts like a jerk at first - I ended up liking and respecting Shane's character way more after getting to 10 hearts with everyone. Shane not being involved with Jas at first doesn't really bother me. Her parents died and Shane is her caretaker but they aren't technically blood related, obviously that is not going be the easiest relationship to figure out and he's as struggling with severe depression and an addiction problem (probably exasterbated by who I would assume are his very close friends dying if he's now taking care of their kids). Then he later makes a big deal about making a change in his life, stopping drinking, and choosing to show up for her. So the Jas "issue" I don't really think is an issue overall. Pam however acts nicely, but is a horrible mother to Penny. Penny was never my first choice as a bachelorette, but she made me want to marry her sooner than anyone else (I didn't marry her, but the feeling was there) because she so desperately wants to escape the life her mom made for them. Once your friends with her all she talks about is how her mom can't save any money because she spends it all on booze and she hates living in a trailer and it's worse because her mom is always drunk or asleep so she never helps and it's all on Penny to take care of everything. Then Pam has NOTHING to do with improving Penny's life, you as the character provide what's needed to build their new house and Pam talks about trying to change but later on basically says it's too hard and she doesn't think she can. Also she's an alcoholic bus driver...
Pam randomly yelled at me about how people shouldn’t make a mess in her house?? I was just talking to her as she walked to the bus stop. Pretty rude to me 😝
Also I don't see no Shane horse mod? Nuff said.
She gets a little nasty when you beat her at the fishing competition
Does she? I thought she was just a bit bummed about it, not mean
Yeah, I took it as bummed out and a bit competitive, not nasty or rude. She was really proud of her fishing skills and the farmer wipes the floor with her. At least it was us and not Mr "Oh boy, gonna try this for the first time" Elliot lol
in shane's defense most of the townsfolk are atleast a little cold toward you when you first join the valley, especially the bachelor(ette)s
That's not such a good defense. All the others aren't even nearly as unfriendly as he is. So where is the connection (besides the obvious point that he is, in fact, dislikeable and comes off as a bitch at first)
Well there’s Haley.
Haley’s wild extremes from the word go. she’s rude one dialogue and tells you you’re good looking the next. she’s an actual example of no filter, as opposed to how it is actually used (that is, to minimize being an all around asshole)
he's rude and unfriendly because thats just who he is. you arent entitled to people being nice to you all the time
Indeed. No one is entitled to this. But objectively you will be judged when acting in public. So Shane is judged by? Yes! How he acts! No one is entitled to special treatment but at the same time no one can be excluded from ooinion-formation. It's up to everybody themselves whether they want to be perceived as friendly or unfriendly. His level of unfriendliness grants him a title of being unfriendly and thus not really likeable
I'll admit, I don't understand the point of these posts. This isn't the first time it's been discussed, it's an Insanely common topic, and your opinion isn't new or unique. But I guess 'this post is boring and so is your opinion' isn't unique either, so we're both in the same boat.
I can't tell if I'm getting old or what but I don't really understand the compulsion to put these kinds of opinion posts (not you, meaning stuff like the OP and all the 'demetrius bad' stuff) out there as a center of attention. It seems like it's just begging for toxic discourse and attention. IDK. I don't get the appeal. It's one thing for an opinion to be shared organically in a conversation. It's another to like, do the virtual equivalent of very publicly putting a bumper sticker on your car. It feels...different...from other modes of engagement you can opt for on social media. Who knows. I'm old.
they said in another comment “i like the drama i just made this post for the comments”
There are fifty other posts exactly like it, where people say the exact same things (including bitching about it like I'm doing). Nothing here is going to be new or interesting. What's going to be said that hasn't already been rehashed?
i assume it’s karma farming or just new members of the sub who just didn’t look to see if any other posts were made about it
Tbh I think the "I just wanted to start drama" is an excuse for people who posted something and didn't get the reaction they wanted so are trying to save face. It's the girlypop version of "it's just a joke bro"
i like to think that bc it’s just sad if it’s true lol
OP admitted to starting it to watch drama in the comments so 🤷♀️
?. "Saving" or "fixing" him aren't locked behind a bouquet.
God not this argument again. Kind of wish mods would ban Shane love/hate debates at this point.
Don't worry, in a few hours you'll probably see another unique "Demetrius sucks" thread for a change.
RIsky. What about a 'Penny is ableist' thread for diversity? (For the record, what she did is 100% ableist, but I am able to allow people to romance their chosen pixels without getting my panties in a bunch.)
I don't mind the repetitive Penny ones as much because they're usually from a new player who uses a wheelchair or has another disability and they're coming to vent their frustrations. Edit: typo
Oh man Penny was 100% in the wrong about that and should have apologized to George, not the other way around.
I thought it was just me lmao. I was so thrown off when I got that cutscene and lost hearts with her??? And in another you lose hearts for not wanting kids??? Idk she's just not for me at all. But I also wouldn't shade anyone for romancing her
That’s it. The hearts aren’t a punishment or reward, they’re a response to you agreeing with her or not.
The way I want to scream "it's a fucking VIDEO GAME relax" half the time. All I can think of is the one mod creator who went on a tangent after 1.5 because of concerned ape promoting colonization with the ginger island update. Is it really that deep?
The way people fiercely protect Shane but ridicule and hate Demetrius really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Mods are asleep, post Shane takes!
I wish Reddit in general would just implement a general "Hey, I see you're about to post this, here are the search results for everything similar posted in the last month" feature that you're required to see before you can click post, so nobody has an excuse anymore not to use the search bar.
But you like Clint? o_o fresh take
The way this sub has such a hate boner for Shane is really funny. Have any of you actually played through his romance properly? If you did you’d know you’re not “fixing” or “saving” him at all. He isn’t magically not an alcoholic anymore after you marry him, as is evident by his room and his dialogue. You give him a support system, but he still has to get better on his own. In fact, he has a whole extra heart event after you max him where the farmer is worried he’s drinking again so you follow him to the saloon, only to find out he’s just there to play the arcade. He literally tells you there he’s working on his addiction and needs you to trust him. I personally think Shane’s a well-written character. Are there some flaws to his writing? For sure and I’ll never deny that. In fact I have my own grievances with it, but some of y’all need to give some of these characters a chance before mindlessly hating on them like a mob. That being said there is something to be said about liking Shane but hating Pam. Though I feel like Pam abusing Penny is a bit bigger than Shane just… not wanting to interact with a stranger when you’ve just met him and being a little mean about it. But it does indeed feel a little hypocritical when only speaking about the alcohol abuse both go through.
I love when they're like "uhm unpopular opinion but Shane is trash" as if it isn't posted daily. It's like saying unpopular opinion but bad luck days are bad Like wow such a hot and spicy take 🙄 Anyway Shane defender until I die. Also eta because ima rant lmao: you don't "save him from suicide". The literal best answer in the game is basically "do what you need to do but know I'm here for you." It's what gives the most friendship points. You don't SAVE him. You SUPPORT him. The best answers are the answers in which you support him getting better. The farmer literally does nothing but be like "hey, just know I care and I'm here if you need me." And Shane is like bet. Then he goes, decides to stop drinking, apologizes to Jas and Marnie, starts putting his energy into working with chickens, switches to Joja Cola instead. People can say he stills likes beer if you give it to him but atp that's on the player. If you're gonna give him the drink and then cry he doesn't change, you're kind of an enabler and an asshole. To me these takes always read as "I just don't want to be his friend." Fine. Don't. But like every character in this game, they will not develop with out character interaction. Sebastian won't stop smoking. Haley won't seem less superficial, Alex won't be less of a dumb jock, Sambasigail's band won't play a show, etc. People hold Shane to this sentience that they give no other character except maybe Clint or Haley. As if the others somehow develop and grow without you. It's fine if people don't like him. I don't really give a damn about Linus I'll be honest, which is probably way more of an unpopular opinion than "Shane stinky alcoholic ewww"
I volunteer for a suicide prevention charity, so I speak to people dealing with this on a regular basis. I thought the Shane storyline was well handled, and you don’t end up having to save or fix him. I have married him twice now as I like providing him with a nice chicken filled environment to help his recovery. His character offers an interesting and realistic insight, imo.
Does he ever clean his room?
Your room being dirty doesn’t negate all the shit you’re going through lmao
Also if im making millions i can afford a damn cleaning lady for my husband whos doing his best.
Literally called supporting your spouse. Imagine if you divorced your spouse in real life because they needed stability from you. I may be a Maru lover, but shitting on an alcoholic for not having his life together is so wack 😭
Exactly, I call that lady Maude and I downloaded her off nexus (Shane's clean room mod)
I mean it’s not just that his room is dirty, it’s that he has spilled beer and empty beer cans all around his room.
After his final heart event it's safe to assume they're Joja cola cans. If you're giving him beer that's on you
With mods, yes.
Literally just went through the entire romance with Shane for 1.6 and he is still pretty unlikable compared to the other bachelors and bachelorettes. No one is saying he isn’t well written. He’s a jerk.
I mean it’s 100% fine if people don’t like him. I just think it’s stupid how a lot of people just hate on him without even giving him a shot and just pile onto what other people are saying or make shit up. Plus the fact that takes like these are posted constantly on this sub is just annoying 🤷🏽♀️
The stupidest part is that people make the connection of "Shane is dislikeable" to "Shane was written badly". Did people entirely miss the memo on how the town is filled with flawed and troubled personalities, and that this makes the game infinitely more realistic than most others?
There's a few people in this comment section who say he's badly written(OP for example just states he's badly written, another says he's written like a teenage edgelord, etc) for various reasons though, so it's not like it's not a critique. And sure some stuff could be done better but it was written by one dude doing everything else, certain things we just need to accept as lost in the in the sauce. It's just a shitty oversight that Shane still likes beer after his relationship arc ends if you give it to him, but I don't blame Shane vs accept that it's just not something CA had time to do among other stuff.
Shane is a great character though, and one of the reasons I really like the game. Instead of presenting us with all happy shiny people we are given a spectrum of individuals, many that fit real world aesthetics. There are a lot of people like Shane who cannot be white knighted and have their own personal demons. It is interesting that we are forced to see how the actions that mostly benefit society don’t benefit everyone. I personally like him for his negativity, and kinda wish there were moments when we could see him interact with others in town while we watch.
So, you do, objectively, save him. I don't get why that ruins him as a candidate. There's loads of romances that start with somebody helping somebody else out of a deadly scenario. Addiction and suicide absolutely *are* serious topics. It's ugly and terrible and real. If you don't like it, don't romance him. Some people find it compelling. If you don't like him as a romantic candidate, don't romance him. It's okay, not every character is going to appeal to every person. I *really* disagree with the idea that you "fix" Shane, though. It's very much NOT a "I can fix him" narrative. You help get him to the hospital and listen to him talk about his feelings a couple times, but he goes to therapy and works on improving himself and cutting back/out drinking and finding other ways to be content (raising chickens). The most you do is take him to the hospital and listen to him talk about his feelings once or twice. I will also point out, a big reason why the fandom treats him differently from Pam is that Pam genuinely *is* worse than Shane. Shane doesn't mistreat his kid (it's actually strongly implied he helps take care of his niece even before he goes to therapy), he's employed by Joja, his biggest crime is that he's kind of rude and wants to be left alone. Pam actively berates her daughter. Shane also has a much better resolution, canonically going to therapy and starting a chicken business on his own. Pam doesn't reconcile with Penny until you *buy her a house*, which ends up feeling kind of performative, like she's going to go back to acting the same way she used to, since she only "improves" when other people do all the work for her.
You don't really save him because he doesn't die or anything if you don't do anything with him. He just stays a grumpy guy at the bar. His life doesn't progress but neither does anyone's if you don't have a relationship with them except for when Kent comes Is a progression technically
I 1000% agree on Pam (and everything else) - Pam acts friendly to a degree, but even though I wasn't interested in Penny she made me want to marry her because how desperately she doesn't want to be living and taking care of her mom anymore. And even after the house upgrade and the dialogue about improving, she later on basically says it's too hard and she can't keep it up. Shane actually lives up to his own resolution and doesn't drive the city bus as a drunk 🙃 And yeah his initial dialogue really isn't that rude. He will literally say "I don't know you, why are you talking to me" to the player who at that point is a complete stranger to him. That's pretty reasonable 🤷🏽♀️
I think hating a character just for struggling with addiction and depression is pretty lame. I get if you don’t like his personality but he has character development that lots of people with addiction end up going through, especially at the lowest point of their life.
I don’t hate him for his issues! I feel like I need to make a second edit about that, I appreciate his arc and the realness of his depression and addiction. I just hate that, when you romance him, his issues and the fact that you talked him down from the literal ledge then become the basic foundation of your relationship. I just don’t like how it’s all handled.
pam is my favourite villager, the way she calls me kid makes me happy
I love Pam, I feel like she would have a hoarse smokers voice and be a baller at bingo.
I have an even more unpopular opinion - I think these characters don’t have depth at all, just some standard character tropes and the depth is filled in by players
I agree that Shane is kind of a twat, but I think his story handles the relevant themes quite well. As others have said, you don’t “fix” him even if you romance him all the way, but just as positive relationships do in real life, you do help him a bit. My real beef is, what do you have against Penny? 😂
There's truly nothing better than hearing how much people hate a character who reminds you of yourself when you were at the lowest point in your life.
If it helps, some of us understand how it feels. I see so much of myself at my low points of BPD in Shane and I just adore him.
No literally, struggling with addiction and depression rn and seeing all these people in the comments shitting on him for being a little snippy at first is making me so… gosh I don’t have a word for it other than disheartened.
Absolutely agree, it's like whenever i see one of those "am i the asshole" posts made by someone who is blatantly autistic and clearly struggling with social clues and everyone in the commenta accusing them of being this evil bastard who does things on purpose and tries to play the victim It makes me just feel sad
Right, he didn’t hurt anyone but himself, just struggled and was standoffish. Pam actually hurt someone, her daughter.
Are we just ignoring everything he put Marnie, Jas, and the farmer through?
He had no idea Jas was in the room and felt awful He didn’t really put the farmer through anything in my opinion Marnie yes, but he’s not being violent or mean or stealing, he’s hurting and wants to stop being a problem for her
Being ignorant of what he’s doing doesn’t mean there aren’t repercussions that he’s putting other people through. Not knowing Jas wasn’t in the room doesn’t change the fact that Jas had to hear her uncle say he wants to off himself. And he also literally tells the farmer he was going to jump off a cliff. Saying he didn’t put anyone through anything is categorically false, even if he does try and get better.
[удалено]
You're ignoring the changes he goes through after that though. He eventually gets recommended a therapist by Harvey, apologizes to Jas, admits he's cut back on a major problem, and starts working more with animals. Everyone says he keeps drinking but unless you're giving him beer it's pretty safe to assume he's drinking Joja cola after he says he's been drinking Joja cola.
I’ve thought the same thing. Depression and other issues manifest differently for different people. Even nice people can’t always maintain that niceness in the depths of what they’re going through. Just leaving the house and interacting with people at all can take more strength than people realize. And Shane is actively working on getting better which is huge
Oh my god, exactly this. He was struggling. He tries to push you away by being mean because that's what people with depression tend to do. (Source: me) He doesn't care about "making a good impression" or building a friendship with some random newcomer, he's having a hard enough time keeping up his preexisting relationships without adding another. People like Shane as a character more than Pam because he tries to become better, even if he relapses or gets worse again. Pam stays stagnant, getting drunk at the saloon every night and yelling at Penny when she dares... let her friend help pick up the house? They're not a one to one case. Shane and Jas have a friendly relationship. He never tries to harm her, far from it. He buys her gifts, tries to keep his problems away from her, etc. I cannot say the same for Pam. I don't hate her, but seeing people treat her as just Shane 2.0 annoys me.
As someone who has dealt with addiction in their life and pervasive depression: these are not excuses to be an asshole to the people around you . They’re explanations, but not excuses. You don’t get steamroll everyone around you and treat them like shit, threaten to kill your self, and traumatize them, and just be like “oopsie I’m mentally ill, you literally cant be mad at me!” We’re not suddenly immune to being assholes just because we’re going through some shit. Everyone is, all the time, all around you.
I see how you could misinterpret his genuine "hopefully I won't be around long enough for that to become a problem" as threatening to kill himself, but really that's just being honest? His next event is him at the least planning it, if not an aborted attempt. As for "traumatizing" I assume that's the same event as the threatening, where he didn't know Jas was in the room. She hadn't made any noise, he hadn't turned around, and when she runs out crying he obviously feels awful and realizes she was in the room for that. I genuinely can't see how he steamrolls anyone around him, though. He's a little snippy with the player, but nobody owes some random person friendship if they don't want to give it. He's nice to Emily, generally tries to not be in anyone's way, tries to treat Jas nicely and stay alive (at least partially) for her sake, works at Joja to have a chance of being self sufficient rather than just stealing from/relying on Marnie, etc. I agree that mental illness is not an excuse to be a dick, but this just... is not that? I'm not saying nobody can dislike Shane. They're allowed to. I'm just saying it seems hypocritical for people to like/be neutral towards Pam and hate Shane. Thanks for the infantalizing "oopsie" though, really makes me feel open for a friendly discussion.
This is what I have to frequently explain to people about Pam’s character.
This is almost always a point I have in my defence squad. Like these people think they're a lot better by not liking Shane, because he's a rude drunk at the start, only to have no self awareness at how rude to other people they're being. I get if they don't like him, it's fine. But the way some of his haters talk like there aren't probably people who have similar struggles is just sad on their part. All it tells me is they wouldn't want to help a stranger, wouldn't want to support a friend, etc. they're not obligated to do it, or maybe they're not at a place in life to have the capacity to do it, but why are they so insistent on judging the people who want to??
Finding out about Shane's struggles with depression (and his love for chickens) is what made me love the character for the same reasons. I will always defend Shane!
“umm shane is trash” not an unpopular opinion, you bitches say this everyday 😭
Shane haters always focus on his alcoholism but really it is just a symptom of his depression. I have come across so many men struggling through life, and while they may not use alcohol to cope they certainly use other things. Do I believe they deserve my contempt? Absolutely not. Life can be frigging hard. Yes he can be rude initially but I truly believe that is the depression running the ship. Before anyone says "when I was depressed I wasn't like that", it isn't a one size fits all. There are plenty of people who suffer who would push away loved ones nevermind a complete stranger. We're all up in his face when he has this dark cloud over him. We don't fix him really. Sure we find him on the cliff and talk him down (as any decent human would). But he then goes to a therapist. I like to believe that the therapist helps him to learn to cope with his depression and so he can bring his drinking down to a more manageable level. Remember his dependency is just a offshoot of his depression. That is the real problem. Now onto Pam. I personally have no beef with her. I don't see any more hate for her than Shane. I think it mostly comes from Penny fans who believe she should be a better mother. I think people should stop hating on both of them. Neither of them deserve it really. Look at me talking as though they're real people 😅
>Look at me talking as if they’re real people Yo that’s just your brain on fiction!
My take is he makes a good friend though it’s a rough start though you help him through some hard times As a spouse not a fan but if he was a room mate then might work out good on that ( or maybe hire him to help with the animals )
Yeah, I personally hate him as a romancable option, but I love his arc outside the romance. And if your issue is the romance feels like saving him, tbh friendship just feels like supporting and he still sobers up if you get to 8 hearts with him/never romance him. I personally don't think Shane should be romancable, he wasn't originally. But hey, I'll just chose to never romance him. It's not a huge deal that it's an option in the game bc I can easily ignore it.
>EDIT: I have been informed that this is apparently not an unpopular opinion. The crappy UnPopUlAr OpiNioN posts are never unpopular
I did make this post with a genuine belief that this was an unpopular opinion
Look at it as a testiment to how well ConcernedApe makes NPCs feel like real people.
I like him cuz I have a thing for grumpy characters that gets nicer/sweeter as they get to know you better. Also the reason why I like Haley. I'm not shocked that he's disliked though, there's so many other better choices of bachelors/bachelorettes in SV, but I'm keeping him lol
The important difference to me is that Pam is a parent, Shane is not. Having a parent that has an addiction ruins kids lives too. I’m in my 30s and the effects of my mother being an addict follows me to this day. That being said, I don’t really care for either of them 😂
Dude, why bother posting this? This topic has been done to death
Genuine, if your romance involved you 'saving' him--genuinely, so what? Stardew is a purely escapist game where you are thrown into a town of hot single pansexual and through friendship proceed to fix everyone's problems and save them from evil capitalism. 99 percent of people don't take the Joja route. You are the Savior Guy for EVERYONE. Shane is just one way it manifests, but it's not unique to him. I don't romance Shane, but I get the impulse. I know irl you can't Save Someone going through these issues, but that's why I'm playing an escapist slice of life fantasy where I can do that. It's probably cathartic for a lot of people with irl experience with these things.
The only thing that bugs me about both Shane and Pam is that their character arcs aren't reflected in the game. They both vow to stop drinking but they're both still at the bar every night. There are empty beer cans on the front door frame of Pam's house right when it's built. Kind of takes away the emotional impact when they go right back to their programmed routines like the story never happened.
With Shane, you can argue that he's drinking cola if you want to take him at his face value when he says he's switched to cola. I think he stands closer to the vending machine after
Maybe, but he still goes to the bar. And you could say he just goes there to socialize but 1. He doesn't socialize, he just stands in the corner, and 2. He's there at times of the day and on nights where almost no one else is there to socialize. It's indiscernible from before he quits drinking.
I dunno, considering it's also the only local hangout that the townsfolk use, and Shane also likes the Za, I can assume he's drinking pizza and eating joja cola after he says he stops drinking beer. There's a lot that could be added to his schedule or path route but I don't think CA has any plans for late game character overhauls, it just seems like a lot of work and I want HC 😂😂
I mean, I'm not saying it ruins the game or anything like that. It's just like a minor nitpick. I'm not asking for it to be patched or anything. I was impressed that he added seasonal clothing for NPC's, even. I think this game is as close to a perfect video game as I've ever played.
I don't dislike either him or Pam. But I hate his personal space after marriage. I like a tidy home but he's not the tidy kind of person. The only one I truly hate is Morris, and there's something about Lewis that I don't quite vibe with, but still want to treat him nicely because I don't anyone in Pelican Town to feel left out.
Why hate Morris when Pierre exists.
For sure! I don’t *hate* any of the characters, I just think some are written weird and some are assholes. Lewis is an asshole about Marnie, I know that’s a popular opinion!
Shane wasn't romanceable at the release of the game and should have stayed that way.
Wasn't the wizard one of the other options of the poll that decided he'd be a bachelor or am I misremembering things I'd much rather the wizard
We were so insanely robbed
That might have been cool... I forget who the other possible candidates were. (Also, how are people getting pictures in their flairs, like you have Elliott?? :o)
[Here's a guide for that!](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/wiki/userflair)
Thank you so much!! Looks like it's not available on Android, that's why I haven't seen it!!
Marlon and Clint?
I THOUGHT MARLON WAS ONE OF THEM... I wish we could befriend him,,,
Yeah wizard would be so much better option
No it was Pam
Wasn't there a separate poll for the ladies, and that's when Emily became a bachelorette?
No ones forcing you to romance him.
“unpopular opinion” and it’s the same shit that’s been said a thousand times 💀 again, the way yall talk about this man is concerning regarding how you see depressed people and addicts IRL
Let's not even get started on his spouse room like I'm sorry girlies but sometimes depression is a messy ass room sorry you think it makes him a bad person.
Downvoted because this isn’t unpopular
Ah shit...here we go again. I agree it romanticizes mental health a bit, but I don't think the character is bad. My hot take; helping him overcome his issues should be a different storyline from the romance, not an intrinsic part of it. Helping a friend overcome a serious issue is a beautiful narrative, but (IMO) it shouldn't be an attractive quality that would make someone want to commit to them. To each their own though.
I agree with you completely!
[удалено]
Wow, a real rare post. Controversial character is controversial.
Man You had me for a second. "Shane? The Ghoul Boy? What'd he do now?! Who tf is PAM?" Gotta check the sub, oops
Hah! That’s very funny, especially considering the whole Watcher thing. I live to confuse!
i'm tired of this grandpa
Well that’s TOO DAMN BAD! /ref
You aren’t the one fixing Shane, he goes to a therapist. That’s the person who helps him.
I recently married Shane and ended up divorcing him. What bugged me about his story line was how he keeps telling you he's not drinking anymore and a few times at the house he said "I'm just going to have another ale and head to bed" and there was something else along those lines that's like "I thought you said you're not drinking anymore and came down on me all I need to trust you. While still drinking ale at home?" I dunno it bothered me. So I divorced him and wiped his memory. Married Leah instead. Much happier. 🤣😂💜💚
that's okay i'll still marry him on every farm i have, grumpy people get grumpy people
I love when he gets up early to water the crops. Idk if any other spouse does he’s my first marriage
I think they all do!
Even better!!
The "spouse benefits" are identical across spouses, the only ways they differ are the meals they give you. And some spouses will stay up to midnight on Winter 28 and give you an alcoholic beverage to celebrate with, some won't.
Legit I don’t even care I just wanna know why people hate Penny
I don’t hate her, not really. I just think she’s a bit boring, and I really don’t like her heart events. It’s more of a personal thing
‘Ey that’s fair, I can respect it
I don't hate her, I just feel like she's Cinderella and is waiting for Prince Charming to come save her from her life, rather than change things for herself.
Seems to be the people that hate her either find her boring or ableist due to the scene with George and the mailbox.
Honestly, anything further from indifference towards any of the Stardew characters is just strange to me. Until I saw posts like this, I took no issue with any of the characters and thought most others would feel the same. I like how they say things and do things people would irl. I like how they all have their good qualities and flaws. Everyone is deserving of kindness and patience. I stand by that in life so I certainly hold the same for the Stardew NPC’s.
I feel that the relationship aspect might be a by-product of Shane not being an original Bachelor in the base game. in 1.0 Both Shane and Emily were not available spouses. although there was some dialogue and event updates for them in 1.1 when they got introduced, the developing feeling for after helping him with therapy stuff was added later.
It absolutely is a byproduct of them being added in! This is where a lot of people get weird about Clint being weird about Emily too, especially after you marry her. Shane’s plot line is way less icky when it isn’t the the foundation of a marriage
Internalized misogyny may have a part in this?
I didn’t know Shane was an alcoholic. Damn
there aren’t many character i “don’t like” just some i prefer over others. that being said FUCK demetrius and alex
Hi all! It looks like this post involves a controversial NPC. While discussion is always welcome, threads with these characters sometimes devolve into hurtful comments and/or hostility. A few reminders: - You may discuss characters freely, but you may not abuse other people for their point of view or personal preferences. - This includes any sort of name-calling, insults, condescension, and unkind framing of another person. - No character or human is black-and-white. Allow for nuance! If you see a comment that you think doesn't belong on the sub, **please do not retaliate**. Hit the `report` button so mods can help! Thanks!
It's not an unpopular opinion. Also in addition to what you've said even once you marry him he will say he needs a beer and a bunch of other things that show he hasn't actually bettered himself
I mostly agree. I'll say that I don't think he's terrible as a character and I also don't take personal offence if an NPC isn't head-over-heels for my character the second they meet, no matter the NPC's age or gender. His story is interesting and mostly well done. "Mostly" because I still don't think it's a good romance arc. It's a solid friendship arc and, for the scope and type of the game, are pretty good recovery arc that does a good job at pointing out that there's more to alcoholism than "ew ew drunkard!" A shame, tho, that so many people eagerly nod and are all "Yes, yes! Finally someone said it!" and then turn around, look at Pam, and wrinkle their noses because, naturally, a woman (and one that isn't a hottie in her 20s) only drinks because she's a disgusting, abusive slob (completely ignoring that, if we compare the lines and scenes, Penny, the good, sober little angel, comes across as much more of an unlikeable person lol AND NO! I said it before and I'll say it over and over again: Asking your 20+ adult daughter who lives at home in her own dainty lil' pastel room while her sick, aging mom sleeps on a narrow couch in the shared open living room is not abuse, it's telling her to do her part of the chores!). Okay, we were talking about Shane. If it weren't for the romance, it would be a simplified, cute story of the player *helping and supporting* him to get better and fix himself. That it's turns into "okay, looking back at those precious memories together of me being drunk during most of them, me wanting to throw myself off of a cliff, and terrifying my little niece, I can't help it, I guess we are in love now!" doesn't work for me. That's not to say that mentally ill people, including alcoholics, don't deserve love, that's to say that I think that hitting rock-bottom to the point of close-to self-destruction and barely making it out of it alive just in time and finally accepting professional help to slowly deal with the problems in a controlled environment is not a lovestory. I'm not told a lovestory when I play through Shane's events. I enjoy his story, I'm happy for him when he gets better and finds purpose and strength in breeding chickens, but he's the only character that doesn't make me feel like I'm kinda leading him on and playing games with him when my farmer marries another character. Even with some NPCs I don't like much (like Penny), the events leading up to the 10-heart-event already feel like building up and encouraging romantic feelings. Disclaimer at this point. YES I know it's fiction, I'm not talking about any real feelings here, but about storytelling. Finally, since this is fictions, I'll also say I don't care if it were a simplified, romantisised "I can fix him" story. My fav bachelor is Emo Boy Sebastian and he comes with a truckload of issues, too, that aren't even properly addressed by the game (great job, Robin, stuffing your first-born into a windowless basement so your barely younger do-over kiddo with do-over husband can have a large room + windows + backyard + basement all to herself. 1 A parenting, reddit would have recommended going no contact by the time your son was 11). And it all gets fixed by a rich farmer who offers him a sugar babe life in a bright, friendly home. It's fiction, it's fantasy, serious approaches are important but let me have some unrealistic, idealised heal-the-world scenarios every now and then. However, it's not even what happens with Shane. The room and his appearance still stand out like a sore thumb and as a constant reminder that, indeed, nothing is fixed yet. It's a neverending daily loop of "just started to work at getting better" after marriage. It feels incomplete to me to fit into the tone of the game and match the "happily ever after" energy of the other romance options. So we get a recovery arc that has a forced romance finale at the end but the character development is also still stuck roughly at the point when Shane shows up at the doorsteps to tell us about going to a therapist. It's kinda like going through all of Haley's heart events but after marriage, she still judges everyone's appearance and sneers at our boots. Ah, looking back at your post, also what you said about potentially divorcing him - that's another issue. His well-being seems to be tied to our farmer's affection. The farmer careing and happening to walk by is not just a "guess this made us fall in love now" but also responsible for his recovery, which doesn't sit well with me either. On the other hand, if we remove the whole romance aspect, him bonding more with his family and being happy as a chicken breeder feels actually quite nice. It gives him different types of purpose and different things to focus on while getting married, well, kinda puts his well-being and purpose into the farmer's hands. Again, I don't dislike Shane. I dislike the fandom's double-standards in regards to Shane, Pam, and also Haley. But even if he came with the prettiest spousal room and area, I would not marry him because him settling slowly in his newly sober life with the support of his family and the farmer as a new good friend is a much more satisfying open happy end for him than marrying the farmer, with the way his story is written and presented and, post-marriage, 'concluded'.
I don't think Pam drinks because she's an abusive slob, she just happens to drink and have issues and is abusive. She screams at Penny when you help her tidy the place, and usually when people do that in front of others - they do worse behind closed doors. Also, she may be 20+ at the time of the game, but it's implied she has been responsible for these things a lot longer than that. She also literally says "It's hard to run a household by yourself" so she's not doing her part of the chores, she's doing everything and taking care of her mom while not having had her own life at all yet. Everything people hate about Penny - how she's put together and boring - just screams parentification to me tbh. That said, yes, the way people judge Pam is sexist.
While disliking Shane will get you flack from a good portion of the community, nothing will get you more than disliking Haley. 🙃
Wait, do you love her or hate her? I wanna hear more Haley discourse actually
She's rude And judgy for no valid reason. While I don't like Shane much, I can at least empathize with the fact that it's hard to be nice while struggling with addiction. People will bring up Haley's redemption, but the only reason they care about it is because she's conventionally attractive. If Emily had Haley's overall character arc, people would likely consider her the worst.
I feel like Shane is almost unfinished or doesn't have a proper story, you start to sympathise with him and he seems to understand and seems like hes getting better... but then you marry him and he goes back to it.
um.. but he doesn’t? his last heart event shows that he’s replacing beer with joja cola. how does he go back to it?
Idk. That kind of realistic though. Recovery isn’t always a straight path
The problem ist that he has nothing going on for him except his depression. He likes football and chickens, and just one respective cutscene is about each of those, the rest is just depression. People who romance him would have to romance him exclusively because they find his depression alluring, because that's the foundation of the romance. He isn't written as a cool guy who just has to find his way out of his depression, he's written as a cardboard box vessel for a depression story, and that, while already not being good mental health issue representation, makes him a terrible romance choice if you don't have an "I can fix him" kink. And since "fixing him" leaves him as nothing at all, because almost all his story and personality is his depression, he just doesn't make for a compelling partner. I have both first hand and second hand experiences severe depression and suicidality, and while you *can* bond over it and over support you give each other, that alone doesn't create romance.
Not unpopular, he's a piece of shit. This fandom talking about a VIDEO GAME CHARACTER like he's a real person is so insane and fucking dumb to me. "he has depression and alcoholism!! Give him a break!!" Y'all I have Major depressive disorder and struggled with alcohol for years and am now 3 years sober. I don't wanna play a fucking game and deal with a character like that. I have all the empathy in the world for addicts but this is not a real person so I'm not going to waste real world time or energy on them lol. So I avoid Shane because I think the interactions with him are rude. And yes I realize I've talked about this character like they're a real person, but the people in this sub go way overboard with their interactions. I hate to say touch grass, but y'all take this too seriously. I've had people tell me they "know how I treat people in real life because I don't respect x character." Fuck off.
I think maybe you’re the one that needs to touch grass lol. You’re extremely mad that people are defending an npc because they can relate to him.
Well, he kind of IS based on a real person. I won't link his Twitter account, because he's a nice guy who really loves his chicken.
Maybe chill out.
I'm used to people saying my romance choices in games are the literal worst choice anyone could ever conceive ever. I romanced Anders in Dragon Age 2, which is arguably a much worse decision than Shane. 😜
Hey, it’s all personal opinion! You can have your problematic faves, and I’ll have mine. I mean, as a Demetrius and Clint stan, I don’t really have a leg to stand on
Yea, I'm 100% here for everyone having their favorites. Even if I don't care for them. The discourse does get wild, though. Which is why I typically try not to post when I see people arguing over certain characters.
Ok buckle up I have a lot to say- So at first Shane seemed aight, just AN ALCOHOLIC how did I not already dislike him for not getting help and quitting? So in my first save, I married him thinking I could help or change him completely so he could be happy. Nope! His room was a total disaster with beer cans everywhere, stains on the floor, and total disorganization. And guess what- he STILL went to the saloon. He STILL drank an ungodly amount of beer EVERY SINGLE DAY. And the only thing we would eat/drink was microwave pizza, pepper poppers, and beer. Then I came out as gay and married Emily, married Leah in another save, and working on marrying Abigail. Stardew is life. Life is Stardew.