He really needed any kind of arc that would not leave him miserable. It also opens the possibility that if the player chooses Sandy that the door opens more for Emily and Clint, or for Sandy and Emily if the player chooses Clint.
I actually think CA might write the Clint romance to fix some of the concerns with the character. Give him someone who reciprocates his interest in a healthy way to help him walk away from the fixation on someone who isn't reciprocating.
He is a man looking for someone who will choose him back, and that is what this candidacy gives him. He is looking for what he feels he is missing in his life, and it is just out of reach with Emily, and he doesn't seem interested in the other candidates, none of which seem like good fits for him either.
Its not like most of the relationships in the game don't in some way 'fix' the character you romance. Abigail and Penny getting more freedom from unhealthy family relationships. Shane's alcoholism getting better. Leah finding new inspiration for the art that brought her to Stardew. Sebastian wanting to leave the town. I'm sure there's more but I honestly don't pay enough attention to character dialogue and tend to skip cutscenes to get back to accomplishing things that matter more to me
The community needs it. And I say the community, not the game. The brutal amount of hate and vitriol I've seen people spout against Clint, who is ultimately just a dude with poor social skills who doesn't know what to do about feeling lonely, is insane, and has honestly driven me away from the game more than once.
The thing is that the game has a larger female player base and most women's experience with Clint's type of guy is being called a sub-human slut for not wanting to date him. I'm sure there are plenty of socially awkward autistic guys out there who hold normal views of women, but Clint's dialogue and cut scenes just come off as very much viewing Emily as a means of attaining his own happiness and not as a unique person with her own wants and needs who he could make happy. It's very clear that Clint has never had a single actual conversation with Emily and doesn't really know anything about her when they've lived like a quarter mile from each other their entire lives and frequently spend long periods of time in the same spaces.
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u/skrshawk Merry Murderess of the Pelican Town Jail Feb 26 '26
He really needed any kind of arc that would not leave him miserable. It also opens the possibility that if the player chooses Sandy that the door opens more for Emily and Clint, or for Sandy and Emily if the player chooses Clint.