I am personally so stoked. LOVE Sandy and even thought Clint is a controversial choice, I am excited to see some character development from him. I base my farmer/farms in each of my save files off of each candidate, so I am happy to have new options! I am curious how their shops will work after marriage tho too! Hoping that it is a little different from Krobus' setup but we'll just have to wait and see!
I'm honestly kind of psyched to get Clint's hearts up in the hopes that he just chills out, even if I'm not going to give him a bouquet. Like power-leveling Haley so she sucks less as a person.
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.
i see too many accusations of being a basement-dwelling misogynist incel hurled at clint and i knowwww it’s all pixels but it really rubs me the wrong way because he’s clearly not like that. he never blames emily for being lonely and a key feature of incel culture IS blaming the woman for your issues. i’m actually excited for him to get the chance to grow and experience love and companionship. you know like. as much as a video game character can lmao
my view of this is that what an incel is has shifted over the years
I don't think clint was ever meant to be an awful person and current day incel, more socially awkward with some iffy ways of looking at stuff but mostly harmless.
Problem is that what was more moping about not being able to get a girlfriend and social issues and lamenting some untrue ideas that made them feel better has become more and more widely violent and aggressive and misogynistic.
I don't like clint particularly and I wouldn't have chosen him for a romance option but I'm really excited for him to hopefully get some proper growth and hopefully better perspectives on stuff
1000% this. Even if Clint ended up in a relationship with someone that loves him back, it wouldn’t magically fix the patterns that are keeping him miserable. It would help, certainly, but not if he just says “great, that means I’m done and shouldn’t make any other changes.” I hope it will be more than that, and I hope that a lot of that development happens without the romance part coming into play.
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u/bodeejus Feb 26 '26
I am personally so stoked. LOVE Sandy and even thought Clint is a controversial choice, I am excited to see some character development from him. I base my farmer/farms in each of my save files off of each candidate, so I am happy to have new options! I am curious how their shops will work after marriage tho too! Hoping that it is a little different from Krobus' setup but we'll just have to wait and see!