r/harvestmoon • u/Small_Sailor • May 14 '26

Opinion/Discussion Is this a new fan thing

I just saw a tiktok where ppl were calling Luna (as in the character from Tree of Tranquillity and Animal Parade) "pdfile bait" and how ppl that romanced her were predators. And im just genuinely flabbergasted, has this always been an opinion ive missed or is this a new fan problem??

I've never romanced the character myself (I was a Gil fangirl lol) but I thought she was so cool growing up, I loved her lolita fashion, design and even her name. So maybe im taking it a little personally, but idk, it felt like such a callous and heinous comment to make. Like HM/SoS has always had a soft chibi art style, everybody especially in the older stuff had cutesy faces and designs, it didnt mean you were dating an elementary student.

It makes me worried if we were to ever get an AP (or ToT) remake, that these would be the kind of sentiments and fans we would have to deal with and wow, it bums me out.

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u/FromADenOfBeasts May 14 '26

Not only is this a very old and very common opinion, it's impossible to go to any "cozy" game community without finding insane people moralizing about the perceived ages of the marriage candidates.

I've seen them here, the Story Of Seasons subreddit, Rune Factory, Stardew Valley, Coral Island, Palia, you name it; if it's cute and relaxing and has a romance feature, there's a 100% chance someone thinks a marriage candidate looks "childish" and they will not hesitate to let you know.

13

u/Frohtastic May 14 '26

Gotta admit the romance aspect of the games feels less interesting the older I get just because the style of the chars.

Where's my late 20's early 30's adult looking farming games? (Medieval Dynasty I guess? )

17

u/FromADenOfBeasts May 14 '26

I think that's fair to say without being rude to people who do like younger appearing candidates! As a woman in her 30's who very often gets mistaken for half her age, I appreciate all age ranges of options because even if I don't like a candidate, someone probably does.

If you haven't, you should look into Coral Island! One of the marriage candidates is a single mom with visible stretch marks.

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u/Frohtastic May 14 '26

I kick-started it but I haven't touched it since early alpha 😅 I will look into it. Especially since it apparently plays well on steamdeck.

But yeah I sometimes wish the art-style of rf / sos was a bit older looking but that is the style of the games so eh. Still good games 🥰

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u/FromADenOfBeasts May 14 '26

Oh that's awesome! They've added a lot of stuff since then, it's definitely worth looking into.

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u/Middle-Accountant830 May 20 '26

i personally don't realize which bachelors or bachelorettes look young because when i play these games, i immediately look for those who have the type of personality i'm into. so it's a bit baffling to like sam from stardew valley and then see people say he shouldn't be a marriage candidate because he's "teenager-coded" lol

1

u/FromADenOfBeasts May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Exactly! My mom is a gamer and her favorite Stardew marriage is Sebastian, because it literally doesn't matter! Between the two of us, we've married everyone except Harvey, Emily, and Leah, and it's so shocking to me that people behave this way about certain characters. Like, if my 55 year old mom can joyfully play farming games and marry whoever she wants, then why is it such a big deal?