Should Rival Marriages Make a Return in the Story of Seasons series?

[@dresullos5309]

I really liked rival events and marriages as it added more depth to the marriage candidates growth and character development. I think over time the rival events have become somewhat bland though.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I would love to get some rival events that add to the story and have character development in them! Some of the events in the first few games made me laugh.

[@PandoraBear357]

It added to the charm of the old games. Like the npcs were actual characters with lives instead of just cardboard cutouts who didn't interact with anyone but you. A lot of the events in the original Mineral Town helped with world building as well as character building. Everyone had actual relationships with each other, both romantic and not romantic. Case in point, Cliff's found family with Mana and Duke, Karen and Rick's childhood friendship, and Zack's love for Lillia.

[@RedTunaRoll]

I loved rival marriage and though it elevated the game to its peak during Animal Parade. In AP, you actually had to actively work towards making the couples end up together (You needed to befriend the RIVAL). And the fact that the couple had children of their own was amazing! I loved the event where Gill and Chase would brag about who’s daughter was cuter lol. Overall, I think rivals enhance the life sim aspect a lot. It feels like your town is growing and not everything revolves around the MC. Sadly I doubt they will ever bring it back because the JP audience doesn’t like it and they are ultimately the first customers of the game. I can only hope they add it and make it an optional thing in the settings so that it pleases everyone.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, it would be great if they could have it be an option too turn on or off depending on if the player wanted this feature active or not. However, they probably don't want to spend resources on things that (they believe) won't be very popular...

[@lathyrusloon]

Right? it felt more like playing matchmaker for my good friends than rivals! And the littles running around and interacting with my kids was super cute. bragging about how cute their kids are or complaining about them not doing chores helped make it feel more natural. like everyone is growing together.

[@caitlinmyers]

Personally, I really loved how it was done in Animal Parade. Marriage candidates wouldn't get married/advance unless you were raising the hearts of the "rival" so it was never really something you had to stress about - however this does pose a problem in further games since you can marry whoever and rivals were set via player gender. I wouldn't mind if there was a way you could select what marriage candidates you are pursuing (like, putting a checkmark in the heart points tab) to let the game know not to trigger rival events/set the rival events to the other character. Or, more simply, rival marriages can happen via friendship with the couples AFTER you're already married. I personally HATE that no one else gets married or has kids anymore - it made the world feel so much more real and alive and now I get so bored after marriage I just stop playing. Meanwhile, in Animal Parade, I have 3 different save files where I married 3 different people and basically never got bored. I also loved that there were several marriage candidates of each gender that didn't get married, so if there was a worry of breaking apart an OTP there were always other options (Harvest Goddess, Harvest King, Wizard, Witch, etc.) that imo were really solid and interesting characters. While I don't think they'll bring it back I really desperately hope they do as the world feels really empty and stagnant without it, especially in the post game.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, maybe they could adopt a system like Fire Emblem where you choose whether or not the scene of them getting closer plays or not after certain requirements are met. I want other people to get married as well!

[@Belavula]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's so weird when your character keeps going and everyone else is stuck in a twilight zone of unchanging years going by...

[@maverickXD8000]

I personally like the whole rivalry concept in a chill game very interesting, especially because it adds a layer of depth in the whole idea of being the best marriage candidate and farmer in town (this actually kinda reminds me of the best builder of the year feature in the My Time series). Also, it literally means that the npcs have story progression and the world feels more alive, like, how do they want us to believe that there are so much bachelors in town and us (the player) are THE ONLY ONE option viable to them? Like you said, I would absolutely LOVE to marry the NPC I prefer and see what comes from that, like, what is the story progression with them, how would our children interact with the children of the other couples that otherwhise wouldn't exist if we married them? This could actually, potentially unlock different stories each playthrough that you choose different bachelors to marry ❤ But one thing I agree is that having a time limit to marry, especially if the rivalry turns that into a hard task would suck a lot. So there is that too!

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, there's definitely advantages and disadvantages! Maybe some games can include it and others can choose to not have them. I think PoOT really could have used them. It would have given some of the characters some much needed depth.

[@WoolCat5]

I love rival marriages, and especially rival kids! Island of happiness knocked it out of the park in my opinion, with one of the pair moving in with the other, and their child living there later too. Rival marriages and births add so much more depth and development to the game. You’re not the only one moving forward with your life and reaching milestones! I wouldn’t even really say it detracted from the coziness of the game either, since it’s not like the rivals come banging on your door demanding you back off or anything. Plus, correct me if I’m wrong, but you had to reach year 4 in a lot of the games before you could even view the final rival event that triggered their wedding. That gave players loads of time to raise the candidate’s affection to red level, which prevented them from marrying someone else anyway. And I’m not sure I’d necessarily say the rival pairings are canon, at least not until they’re married in your game. If one of them marries the player, then that relationship is canon. Also, there were always candidates who had no rival, so you could even get every pair together and still get married yourself! All in all, I loved them and I was so sad they were gone. I wish they’d come back pretty much as they were before, though I’d add in rival kids to every game too, and events between your kid and the rival kids ☺️ I don’t like divorce in my cosy farming sim games anyway, so I’d hate it if that got added, and no divorce means once you’ve chosen your own spouse, the others should be free to marry each other! The one issue I would have is that the NPCs would almost certainly default to straight relationships, since coding random pairings would probably be too complicated. But it’s an issue I could get past if the rival marriages were implemented well again, because the rest of the town feels very stagnant around me without them. Like, the player gets older because you see your kid go through different life stages, so all this is happening, time is passing, but the other bachelors/bachelorettes just feel kinda frozen in time if they never move forward and start their own families, which is sort of jarring to be honest. TL;DR - rival marriages are awesome, rival kids are even better, and the Japanese fandom let me down by saying they didn’t like them 😅

[@elithegaymer]

Well, almost all of these comments so far are saying they like them and want them back, haha. Maybe they should try to bring them back in some way in the future. At least have it be an option for the fans that like it. Also, I agree that one of the best parts is that they have kids and that your kids can interact with each other! So much potential.

[@WoolCat5]

@@elithegaymer it really adds so much more to the game! all those events you could see, allowing you to actually watch the relationship between these two people develop, plus the way it made the community around you feel more alive…man I miss them, haha

[@HeruruMeruru]

I loved how in Animal Parade your kid could make friends with the rival kids. I just love the idea of your kid making friends outside of their immediate family and wish it'd come back. I feel like a good compromise would be to allow the player to play matchmaker for the other characters, have it work similar to the supports in Star Ocean or Fire Emblem.

[@elithegaymer]

I’ve never played Star Ocean, but yeah the system in FE could possibly work in a farming sim. Have three support levels and you choose whether or not they advance to the next step.

[@xxChox]

I really really hate that they removed the rival weddings from fomt remake. I love that part! The town and the people feel so more alive and without it all those hints for feelings towards someone are just hints and they never play out. You play this game for maybe 10 in game years, you have a spouse, children, get a bigger and better farm and all the other people still repeat the same two lines every day you talk to them. The people just stay still in their personality, there's no growth for them. So I wish they would bring them back. I liked them how they were, but I could think of some changes for other people, who struggle with this feature. Maybe they could make it like the others are only getting married after the player did. So you don't have to rush or fear someone stealing your chosen one. After the player is married the game let's every possible pair have a wedding too. And for people who don't want to "ruin" the life of a npc and "steal" their partner: most games had 2 or more marriage candidates that wouldn't end up with anyone except the player, like the Harvest goddess and so on. Just take them and everyone else can be happy together.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I like the games that feel different as you play the game! If the NPCs say the same things all the time, it gets boring. I prefer to see them grow up at least a little bit.

[@magicwandstudio3141]

island of happiness let you married the other protagonist, which I was looking for in Story of Season, non of the bachelor or the bachelorettes really interest me. The male protagonist on the other hand

[@cozyeden]

One of my absolute favorite aspects of Animal Parade were the rival marriages and rival children! That’s honestly one of the reasons why it’s my favorite games. I think it’s really nice when you get that further character development for the characters around you. It was especially nice how the marriages only happened when you became best friends with the same-sex candidate. So there was plenty of time to get married to the person you want, and then you could help the rest of the town find love and thrive

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, I do kind of like the idea of playing match maker with the other people in the village! Gosh, everyone keeps talking about Animal Parade! I'm gonna have to try to pick this game up since I missed it, haha.

[@averyarp7901]

My heart was broke when my copy died and the wii was sold.

[@averyarp7901]

@@elithegaymer good luck used copies are scarce and they stopped making new ones.

[@wuzittooya]

@@averyarp7901 He could always use an emulator

[@lunarlexia3557]

I liked the rivalry concept because it made me feel good knowing that if I don’t marry them they won’t be lonely 😅😂 then again it is kind of messy like you said, to ruin one of the relationships lol..by the way, congrats on 500 subs!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@elithegaymer]

Thanks! Now we are almost to 600 subscribers! I should be able to post community updates soon. They say the feature is unlocked within a week of reaching 500 subscribers (it's been three days and not unlocked yet). But yeah I don't like the thought of the NPCs being alone either, haha. Some of them I feel worse for than others.

[@caitlinpenny7412]

I loved rival marriages! Animal parade has great rival events and the events with the children were adorable. I find it a bit depressing that everyone just ends up alone forever

[@elithegaymer]

Me too! I don’t like thinking that the other marriage candidates are alone forever… And I think HM64 has the cutest rival babies (one dresses up as Pikachu!)

[@angeladowmont7772]

I really want them to come back. Im already shipping peeps in my head. Plus, I don’t like feeling like I’m the only one. In AP, I went for Wizard so I didn’t split anyone up and hes super cute

[@elithegaymer]

I want them to come back as well! It adds more depth to the game.

[@sashageorges4643]

I love when the community in the games grow and evolve with you. I would looove to see other marriages. Not a farm sim but dragon age 2 did a good job of showing how your companions had other relationships bloom if you didn't persue them.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, this would also make playing on different save files more interesting! Getting to see how people would have lived if you hadn't married them.

[@samantha953]

I like the idea of rival marriage unlocks after you proposed to your chosen spouse. Then you still have everyone advancing. The could also introduce a new character after the marriage event for whoever didn’t get their predestined partner that way no one is lonely.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, everyone should get married around the same time… And then have a slight time jump! I like the concept of the village growing and advancing, but it’s implemented in so few games, sadly.

[@professorsequoia7318]

For me harvest moon/story of seasons games are at their best when the town you're developing in your life progresses with you. It feels weird when things in the town are effectively the same year 5/6/7/etc. Rival marriages add some sense of progression in the town and provides perfect opportunity for fresh events that you can look forward to many in game years after your own marriage! At least that's what I believe they could be. I just love this series so much and want to see it evolve

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I like the games that focus on the progression of time! I’m excited about the AWL remake because I’m hoping that the game will give us the feeling that everything is progressing as time goes on. Maybe they can add rival marriages (but probably won’t, haha).

[@professorsequoia7318]

@@elithegaymer I agree! I'm most excited for the AWL remake for that passage of time. I'm really curious if they're going to go with the typical chapter progression or the special edition 1 year chapter progression. Since we can marry bachelor's now I hope they put more into them versus their surface level from before. I could also see them adding Rival marriages! Just not in the typical way. As time persists I could see the remaining bachelor's and Bachelorette getting together after you've had your pick so to say lol

[@kiml.1565]

I really wish there were rival marriages again... As a player who is very into the characterization and setting and worldbuilding of the games, I do feel bad if I "steal" a love interest from another character I like and then that character ends up alone, but that also helped me sort of plan out my path in games! When I was a teen playing MFOMT, I remember liking Karen and Rick each individually and also their rival scenes, which helped me decide against Rick; on the other hand, I didn't like Mary and I didn't love their rival scenes, so I had no qualms about marrying Gray. I did the same thing in AP, but speaking of AP... There's another con that goes along with kid characters, because I'll look at the kid characters and think, "I'm going to make one of these children NOT EXIST", lol. That said, I love the added worldbuilding of the rival kids, and I think it's unfortunate that no one else in the town moves on in their lives and gets married, has kids, etc. I want my character's kids to be able to have a relationship with Rick and Karen's kids! Instead my kids are the only children in a town that is perpetually frozen in a state of eligible singles and the same children who were around before they were born. Thanks to the big focus on kids in AWL, they do have one or two town kids so that your kid can have a friend to grow up with, which I'd also be happy to see more of -- if not rival kids, then at least other young couples in the town who have kids or might have kids in event scenes!

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! See that's what's kind of sad about them removing this feature from the games... This feature was never allowed to evolve! Imagine if PoOT had rival marriages! It would make the second and third years so much more exciting and they could have added scenes of your child playing with the other children in the village! What a missed opportunity...

[@joanmarie4945]

They could just do it like Rune Factory 2, that Yue is the extra rival and ends up marrying the one that is left alone

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, in Magical Melody that could have worked since Jaime was the player’s rival and gender even changed based on the gender of the farmer!

[@ramenking1]

I think we need to repoll this question since it's been quite a few years since we've had rival events. It might be more work, but it'd be nice if localized versions of the game had this feature and Japan had this feature removed if they don't like it that much. Or even have the option of turning rival events off.

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, yeah, I demand a recount! I also think they should have an option to play with or without them. I mean, I find it funny that they just intentionally took them out of the FoMT remake...

[@JayJay-qu4nw]

I want them to come back . Keeps you on your feet , gives you children and couples to watch for their interactions. And there isn't much pressure at all to get married because at least for animal parade as long as you don't befriend your rival and love interest at the same time then you can take your time with pursuing the love interest. Never felt like "homewrecking" because if they're a bachelor / Bachelorette, it's free real-estate, even if there were Canon pairings it just made it easier to keep track of who was your rival at the time. I loved animal parade. If I wanted simple and slow I'd go play animal crossing. Or stardew valley. Harvest moon /story of seasons was always originally supposed to be slice of life , and rivals are part of life, they exist! And relationships aren't easy . These added features really help make a linear farming story replayable just to see all the extra things that happen because couples get together and everyone has kids that interact etc. You can feel the love and care put into creating events for rivals etc.

[@elithegaymer]

I agree. Now that we have Stardew and Animal Crossing, I feel like SoS games have an opportunity to try new things. Hard mode in Olive Town is just more grinding, not anything that makes you feel like you need to work harder. I think future games could try different modes (rival modes, time limit modes, or etc.). That would mix things up!

[@Cool-eo1oe]

I like rival marriages, and when they had kids like in Animal Parade/ToT. I think it makes the story more rich/wider. There USUALLY are enough special characters that you can just marry one of them, and pair everyone else up. That’s why I liked/what I did in Fire Emblem as well lol.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I like how FE does pairings as well. I guess not everyone needs a pair per se. I just think it would be sad if everyone is married except for one person, haha.

[@LuketheGoon]

I like the rival marriages.. Makes it feel like the other characters are actually developing relationships in a living world.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, its more interesting when you feel like the people in the town have lives of their own and don't just revolve around you!

[@evacontreraslianes5619]

YEEEEES PLEASEEEEE, I NEED THIS BAAAAACK!! when I discovered that in Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral town you had a rival for each marriage candidate I loved the idea to have rival who would go also after my candidate (in my case, Gray of course 😍), even more If the OTHERS candidates could marry each other meanwhile, it would be like a much alive village by the end of the game (I wanted to see Cliff married to Ran, and so many other ships by the time I could marry Gray (I don't know If this happens also, but do you imagine that after all couples got married they have their own children? like the new generation in Mineral Town), but when the remake came out and I discovered that the rival marriage wasn't in the game I was pretty angered and sad ;-; I would like this mecànic could come back, even If it's a different mode (In fact, this could be part of the "Difficult mode")

[@elithegaymer]

Wow, that would be interesting if it was a feature that we could toggle on and off! Right now hard mode doesn't have any perks (that I'm aware of) except for making the game more grindy (which it doesn't need, in my opinion). Adding rivals to hard mode would make things more interesting!

[@evacontreraslianes5619]

@@elithegaymer Exactly! And If it were like this you could choose If you want a relaxing experience with the normal mode (without rivals), or if you want a challenging game you put the hard mode with the rivals (os also It could be an Option feature, like a button that says "Rivals marriage ON/OFF") (at least, that's what I thought the time I discovered that in the remake the rivalry in the marriage had disappeared). I wish that Marvellous could read this so it could be a possibility for future games of story of seasons.

[@Belavula]

Yeah I pretty much stopped playing the game when I found out ):

[@mickymcbryan4814]

Duuuuude! I did not know you had a video on rivals. I’ve been watching you for a few weeks now but hadn’t realized you covered one of my fav mechanics in the older games! Thank you for this video, and honestly for all your videos. They are such a nice treat for break time or when I’m stressed. Wanted to comment before I actually watched, but really excited to watch the vid!

[@elithegaymer]

Aw, thanks for leaving such a nice comment! I like doing deep dives on different topics about the series! I’m glad that you have enjoyed some of them!

[@seraphina969]

I really really miss rival marriages. I'm a huge sap so I wanted everyone to have romance not just my character. I also really liked helping their relationships along by becoming friends with the "rival". It feels so unrealistic too that everyone would stay single forever. I think if it was either gated after you got married or after you got married and then you increasing your friendship with the rival to prompt the rival marriage. For divorce I don't know. I've never been the biggest fan of the option anyway? I can see why it could be an issue but I just also cannot think of being terrible to your partner for ages until they're like "do you even love me" basically. Urk. As for breaking apart couples I think just adding in the other gender farmer could work or a random npc or something. Or they could stay single, that happens too. NGL I've never once felt bad about swooping in and stealing Karen from Rick! LOL Either way I really miss it. It gave me something else to work on after I got married and really fleshed out the relationships of the town.

[@hannahkapferer508]

I think in Rune Factory 2 they made it so there were alternate couples where if you married one of the love interests the rival would instead marry someone else. I think that would work well, along with how they do it in Harvest Moon DS where you can only see a certain rival event after a certain year if the love interest is at certain heart color or lower. That way if you choose to stay single then everyone else will eventually get married and aren't waiting for you while still giving you plenty of to woo someone since if you pass the heart color then you won't get the rival event- unless you marry in which case I think the heart colors are ignored. It may take a long time for everyone else to get married, but at least they DO get married. In my opinion, being able to marry the same gender in newer games wouldn't matter, you'd just apply this to your "rivals" too. And I don't think it matters if they were paired up in straight marriages, as I just assumed being able to marry either gender meant the candidates were bisexual. And marrying one gender doesn't mean you're not still attracted to the other. I'm a lesbian, but I wouldn't mind dating a bisexual woman- just because she's also attracted to men wouldn't keep her from being attracted to me (my physical appearance might but...)

[@elithegaymer]

Well, I’m a gay man who is married to a bi guy, so yeah, sometimes gay people end up with bi people, haha. But yeah, I think in most video games these days, making all characters bi is just easier. I think in future games they could just have the opposite gender farmed marry the left over!

[@hannahkapferer508]

@@elithegaymer Yeah, that would be a good idea

[@elithegaymer]

@@FunnyRoses I like the idea that there are no canon marriage candidates and that as the player, we can choose who ends up with whom.

[@namevale8835]

I think they should bring back rivals! It gave the game more substance! I liked the challenge! I agree that they should have more marriages amongst the NPC's because it created a new generation.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! Hopefully a future game brings them back! I’d love to play match maker in a future game!

[@fabu6617]

I would include it in the games. I always enjoyed the events. By making the rivalmarriages only possible after you have married, there is no competition for the cozy players and an uneven number of bachlorettes and bachlors will make sure that in the end no one will be alone. Or make an even number of marriage candidates. A single parent isn't often portrayed in a farm life simulator.

[@elithegaymer]

I was actually just thinking that they could have the opposite gender farmer marry the odd one out! Just have that farmer move into town and live with whoever is the odd one out, haha.

[@raphaello246]

I recently got the Friends of Mineral Town remake. After I learned that they removed rival events and marriages, I can't get myself to continue with the game. Idk, I think rival events brought a sense of progression to the NPCs, instead of them staying the same forever.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, FoMT would definitely be better with rival marriages. They should have AT LEAST have it as a mode that we can toggle on and off. I miss rival couples having kids! The kids in N64 version were so cute!

[@riku-chan3229]

+2

[@sparkeythehamster]

I miss rival events and marriage so much, it gave the games so much more life. The idea that characters actually had lives and relationships outside of you made me love them all the more. I was obsessed with unlocking rival events in DS and Friends of Mineral Town, and I love the details that were added with the kids in Animal Parade. The newer games just put way too much on the main character, and everyone else just feels like they're sitting around waiting for the main character to do something. It makes the whole thing feel very hollow.

[@elithegaymer]

Did you play Olive Town? They have some events that don’t include you at all, haha. It’s funny because one such event ends with one of the characters looking over at you and saying…”Hey. Why are you even here?” But yeah, I do like the games that let the NPCs do their own thing.

[@mickymcbryan4814]

Just watched the video. You really summed it up well! I think that, at the end of the day, I would like the rival marriages back, but I also really enjoy shipping outside of my character. Systems like the support system in fire emblem where you can pair off people of your choosing in both platonic and romantic relationships might help, because then the couple aren’t based on a “one true love” you’re breaking up, but rather that you, as a character are actively bringing people of your choice together? Maybe you could have cute little events where you set people up on dates or something, based on what you ship? And you could have it like one of the marriage candidates approaching you asking what you think of x character, or if you have any friends to set them up with, and you can invite someone to a blind date with them after. Damn, I never thought of this idea before but now I really wanna play something like that.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I would love to see a Story of Seasons game have a relationship system like the Fire Emblem games! You could choose who gets closer to whom and then they would go on dates and get closer! This way as the player you'd have more control over the whole experience and the characters would get to have scenes where they get closer. It would be really cool and would really flesh out the characters!

[@bastistargazer]

Interesting, i talked with my sis about that topic today. I really liked Rival Events, not for the Competition more for the Extra Events, Kids and so on. A - Point for me is that it gives extra pressure, althought many rival events took years so i'm fine with that. My idea would be to give the player a pool of characters to choose from and add extra characters you can't marry but you can see how they get together, marry each other etc. I think that would satisfy almost everyone. A question i'm curious about and maybe a future Video idea? What's your opinion on Animals that don't get sick/die anymore and the romance system of Olive Town (No Kiss at the Wedding, no pregnancy for hetero Couples).

[@elithegaymer]

Thanks for taking the time to comment! Yeah, Olive Town does a lot of weird things, haha. Some of them turned out well, some of them kind of left me scratching my head. Honestly I think they just needed to spend a bit more time on it.

[@emperium108]

Now there are solutions for most of these: 1) canon pairing. You could have it so the farmer of the opposite gender ends up marrying the candidate that lost their partner. Or if you want to be more generous have various characters have "randomized" partners(yes I know this would mean more events/be harder but would certainly add replayability to see various parings). 2) have it so that the marriage candidates only marry AFTER you marry. Thus you get your pick of spouse. Or at least just make it a toggle for those who do not want it. Considering the Story of Seasons is fairly lighthearted I doubt divorce would ever be part of it. Hell, if rival marriages was a DLC right now for Friends of Mineral town/Pioneers I would be buy it immediately. Side note, I wish they would have conducted that poll for their non-japanese audience as well. I expect it would probably be more pro-rival marriage.

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, I would probably buy it as DLC too! Heck, I'd buy any DLC that would add more longevity to the game. Hopefully in some future games they at least give us the option to have them!

[@lathyrusloon]

I really enjoyed the rival events and marriages. In fact I really liked looking up the possible pairs and purposefully helping the ones I like along. I really liked the idea of their kids interacting with my own too. Playing matchmaker was just one more cozy aspect to the game play. It also made pursuing characters that Didn't have a match a little extra special, because I often didn't get married until anyone I might have (cough) lead on for items (cough) were happily paired off. So my marriage was the frosting on the cake. Overall the friend-marriages made a wholesome game even more warm and cozy. and I wish they'd return with more variety and diversity.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! I like playing matchmaker too. I hope at least some new games will have this feature in them! It actually would be nice if they added it to the AWL remake since divorce ends the game anyway (well, in the original anyway).

[@MoonBearization]

the only experience i had with rival marriages was in Tree of Tranquility and Animal Parade and personally I loved it. Because my kids could have friends in town which i thought added more to the town. Like all of the rival children from those games i absolutely adored. It made the world feel a bit more 'real' if that makes sense since my kid and like two other kids that start in the town actually had more kids to play with. Personally id love if they brought back the rival events where maybe theres a friendship meter and a love meter? Maybe not make it so you have to fight for a candidates love where it feels like a chore? Like for the rival marriages to happen in AP that i can remember is that you had to befriend the woman or man that was the same gender as you in the couple :O obviously if you can marry any gender regardless of your own gender theyd have to add a friendship bar and a love bar or something like that :O

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I really want for future games to have rival marriages and to have your kids grow up together! It will make it seem like time is passing and the town is constantly changing!

[@MoonBearization]

@@elithegaymer if i remember correctly i believe one of the runefactory games allowed your kids to "date" you know like little kid first crush kinda thing itd be cute if they had somethin like that

[@princeizo6892]

I personally dislike rival marriages and the main reason for it is just because of the way that I specifically enjoy games. what really gets me attached to characters within games is the personality that I build off of them based on what I'm given, Im a character creator myself, so it just makes sense that I have a strong tendency to flesh out characters way beyond what the original intention was. this is a huge reason why I'm so attached to farming and lifesim genre of games, because you have time to connect with the characters on a level beyond what the plot demands. I build personalities and head cannons based off of what works best with my interests and how the characters themselves behave, but when these rival heart events show the characters doing something completely opposite, it makes me feel less attached to the characters and less engaged in the game. I like to form my own ideas of who gets with who or who doesn't get with anyone, and when those head cannons are completely thrown off, it makes me not enjoy the game as much. plus it's kind of disheartening when all the rival marriages are straight couples and I'm the only one in a queer relationship in the town. I play lifesims to get away from a world where I feel so excluded, and rival marriages just make it worse.

[@elithegaymer]

Thanks for commenting with such a unique outlook! What would you think about the villagers marrying randomly after your character gets married? Or if you could personally choose who gets together? I’m a gaymer myself and I still think, there must be some way that we could get rival marriages to work in a unique way that gets rid of the some of the problems the earlier rival marriages had.

[@princeizo6892]

@@elithegaymer yea, I think if there was a way to choose who/if people got together, that would be amazing. The best option hands down. But i know its likely never going to happen, or at least not in sos/hm. So while its a perfect idea, I dont have faith in it happening. So for now if the options are one or the other, id rather not have them at all. Tho I would kill for a game where ur kid has a friend in town and they grow up together and maybe have the option of even getting married themselves 👀

[@jonathanflores8352]

I’d like for rival marriages to come back since it just makes the world feel more realistic; the NPCs deserve to be happy too. I’d just really like there to be other kids for the player’s kid to interact with. In Story of Seasons, you can’t really get divorced and I don’t think that’s a needed feature. Most people are dead set on who they wanna marry anyways. To ease the worry of someone “taking away” your marriage choice, NPCs could probably get married to each other AFTER you (the player) have married someone. As for “breaking up a canon couple”, the leftover bachelor/ette could marry someone outside of town. So like, any leftover guy could marry a “Jenna” or a leftover girl could marry a “George”, bringing that new character to live with them once they’re married.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I agree. An easy (lazy) fix would be to just have the opposite gender farmer marry the leftover marriage candidate. I also want to see more games in the series so more with your child and potentially span a longer period of time.

[@sosha20]

i agree with what a lot of ppl are saying: i also miss the rival pairings bc yes it does make the world feel more alive i think the best way to do it, is: 1.) make rivals an option that you can turn on/off in settings 2.) there will be canon couples (straight and gay!), but you can set it to random and their kids will be randomized too (the kids will always look like a mix of their parents; like in the sims) 3.) divorce is still an option (you can turn it off in settings tho) 4.) sometimes you like to be the bringer of chaos, so i'd make cheating an option and you could break up/ruin 2 relationships 5.) the partner who gets cheated on/left, gets custody of the kids (like a penality for ruining ppls marriages) and you have to pay child support (like 100G per kid or something every season); they'll still live the town so you can maintain a relationship with the child but depending on age the kid may or may not want to see you; and ex-in-laws will hate your guts 6.) you and the new spouse can have a child but only 1 (1st marriage you can have up to 2) 7.) you can still leave the farm to any of the kids but you must cultivate a good relationship with them

[@elithegaymer]

Yes, I really like the idea of letting us choose whether or not to activate this mode. It shouldn't be that difficult to implement! I really hope they don't just abandon this aspect altogether because of some poll of a small group of fans!

[@Belavula]

Being able to turn rival marriages on or off (even if only at the start of the game) would be incredible. I adore all the possibilities of divorce and character dramas playing out, but I know that would require people to write dozens upon dozens of possible outcomes (like a choose your adventure book!) which (while it would take a GIANT amount of time to flesh out) would guarantee repeat playability. I'd want to play the game over and over to see all the different outcomes/rival children/family dynamics, etc. Like I was so excited for other farming games, but once I learned these similar games didn't have rival marriages, I lost interest in wanting to play them. I miss Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons making me feel like the game had vivacity. It had a magic that seems to be lost for me now, and I'm not sure if it's just that I'm older or that the games have become lackluster where story-creation is concerned

[@cloudstrife8]

I miss the rival marriages. You fill out the town by having everyone else also get married and have kids. Plus more events. It's very easy to make it work, just make it so if the cannon pairs both hit X hearts with you together then they give you the option to play matchmaker for their final marriage event with some sort of trigger you can control.

[@elithegaymer]

I miss them, too (hence me making this video, haha). Yeah, I hope they find some way to include them in future games!

[@jdhvnnibun2983]

KZbin didn’t tell me you had a new video so now I’m late 😖 but I started playing harvest moon super late in the series. I didn’t even know that rivals were a thing and that seems so fun! I think it would be good to bring it back. It may be a little complicated but I think that it’s doable based off my knowledge from the game design classes I took in college. It may take a bit of time to flesh out but I think the fandom is stable enough that we would be able to wait it out! I think it would be awesome to bring it back and have it be a part of the intro to choose whether you want rival marriages or not. If you choose no then it can take you down the straighter path with linear options and if you choose yes then it opens up the rest of the options in the game. I think allowing divorce for all couples would be good and allowing courtship at all times would make it better. Like you can continue to get someone’s hearts up but as long as you don’t act on it everything is fine but if you want to you could divorce and court someone else whether they are married or not and cause controversy….but I’m coming from the sims community and we’re a little messy over there so I can understand if that’s too much for the average player 😂

[@elithegaymer]

Wow, you studied game design? That's so cool! But yeah, I'd love for future games to implement rival marriages again! It actually would be a really cool thing to add in the new remake since you can only get married once anyway. Also, I loved the sims back in the day but haven't played since Sims 2/Sims online (which I played very briefly). You still like the modern sims?

[@brooketilton6215]

I feel like if they locked the rival marriages behind your own marriage that could help, also if they at least have one bachelor and bachelorette that aren’t assigned to anyone that could help so no one feels bad about stealing anyone away from someone. It would be really cool if you befriend a rival enough after you’re already married they can come to you and ask who they should marry, but kinda in a “who do you think I would be good with?” Kind of way so it gives the player more choice in an organic kind of way and potentially you can recommend all the rivals go for the same individual and cause drama 😂

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I wanna play matchmaker in future games in the series! And not have anyone left alone…

[@Belavula]

See, this would be super complicated and convoluted to do...BUT, I would go nuts for this kinda thing! If my character gets with x bachelor/bachelorette and I can then SUGGEST a new bachelor/bachelorette for the rival person I lowkey 'stole' their potental spouse from, it would be amazing. Like, it just means you can play the game OVER AND OVER for different playthroughs for different stories! That would guarantee that a lot of us would play the game again and again and again. At least, for folks like me. Who would want to try for EVERY single pairing and adore all the different changes for the children of those rivals to befriend/enemy with my character's child, etc. I want possibilities. Without them, a game gets boring and lifeless

[@MoriSempaisNeko]

Rival marriages made the games more alive, It feels kinda dead without them. I really think they could've fixed it by (I would never do this) Use an item to give to the already married candidate to force a divorce and get with them. Or you know, you could just choose and stick with it. Personally, I don't think it was that much of a problem.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, there are definitely ways they could have solved some of the problems! Hopefully they poll fans again (or include international fans) and they change their minds.

[@ItsAzilo]

I really liked the rival marriages, but I can see why some people didn't like them. It gave the town more depth, in that it showed progression for the townspeople even without the player's impute. The only way I could see it working these days would be maybe a matchmaking system kind of like Fire Emblem Awakening's which let you pick who got with who. They could also do it similar to Rune Factory 2. In that game if you married someone that had a rival spouse, the rival would end up with one of the candidates that had no rival marriage normally.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I’d love a Fire Emblem style match making system in a farming sim too! I like that in some FE games you get to choose who gets together and then you see how their child grows up! I’d love a farming sim that implemented more aspects like that.

[@korinakorinakorina]

I miss rivals so much. I just want to slap the Japanese audience who apparently, was too gosh darn sensitive about it. I could be wrong, but I'd heard that for one reason or another, they hated the rival system. I don't want Muffy to end up alone if we don't marry her. Let her and Griffin officially be together!

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, they didn’t like the rival system. Heck, even some western gamers don’t like them. I think AWL would be the perfect game to have rival marriages since you can’t get a divorce anyway…

[@caratarmy9146]

I just hope that if they remake animal parade that it makes a return because I loved that there were other children in the game. I think a very very easy solution is to make one candidate that is the same gender as your character so they can "fill" the spot of whoever you take away. And if you marry them then everyone still has their other pairs

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah I think if they remake Animal Parade that they will have to still include them... It seems like a pretty integral part of the game... Maybe if the fan reaction is good then they can include this feature in other future games!

[@melaniea6749]

They should just implement choices in the game where the player can tell the npc characters who they think they should pursue. That way it's the player's choice if they want other relationships or not, or maybe even what couple pairings end up in the game.

[@ellidarffygrown]

My problem with rival marriage is that doesn't exist non-str8 couples, so if you can't make representative rival marriage, just keep it out.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, that's an issue that I have with them as well. All of the characters are in straight relationships unless you flip them, haha. This could be resolved though by having the marriage candidates just marry randomly after you get married and not being part of a set pair.

[@AlexandraStubbs]

I miss rival romances, it made the Story of Seasons games so much fun! I don’t like that the Player is the only one who gets married. And all the other rivals and their romantic bachelorettes/bachelors don’t get together. Their just left in limbo and it feels strange and not natural. I’m against divorce in the game and cheating, takes away what made Story of Seasons wholesome and refreshing.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I’m in the same boat as you! I can’t get divorced, I can’t hurt someone’s feelings, and I can’t be the bad guy! I’ve actually had to stop playing a few games that force you to do bad things, haha.

[@AlexandraStubbs]

@@elithegaymer Oh no, sorry you had to stop playing some games in the past. Yes agreed sir, lovely videos as always!

[@snowy2moon]

I loved the rivalry personally. I can understand the cannon thing but... I feel that adds a a hint of it being realistic. If you are too focused on your job (farming) then you may miss out on the person you like! I get that games are an escape from reality but... there are so many games already that let you basically have a harem. I liked the idea of the guy you like also having another girl who likes them, it just....fleshed them out more. Cause then it made it seem like the town actually had relationships than just npcs plopped all in the same area that don't really interact much with eachother.

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, that is true! You can't spend all of your time working or farming... Just like in real life. Rival scenes light a fire in you haha.

[@RhysezPieces]

I loved the Stardew Valley mods that introduced rival romances! Especially since I could pick and choose who got with who based on who I personally thought matched personality-wise. I think that could be a cool element in an official game: having the option to play Cupid and maybe influence two characters to chat which would trigger rival cutscenes and eventual marriages. It could be entirely player choice so if you wouldn't want them to date just don't advise them to date said person.

[@elithegaymer]

I have never heard of that mod before! Now I have to google that, hahaha. That sounds so fun!

[@Therizinosaurus]

idk why Japanese players don't like it, maybe it's just the loud minority among them. It's weird, cause they are not a challenge at all. You can definitely marry anyone you want in the old games very easily.

[@Gratitudespirit]

Both can happen, all they need to do is let the player PICK FIRST who they want to marry removing the competition aspect. (So no bachelor or bachelorette's are rival's or chooses each other, until the player picks) This way, the player can take as much time as they need getting all heart events with all the candidates. After they chosen who to marry, you can then match make and have the other characters become a pair, get married, and have kids! VOILA! WE GOT BOTH!

[@elleryrillaine]

I'm currently playing Animal Parade and I'm not even intimidated about the rivals. I actually want everyone to end up with each other so I can see the rival kids. It's also a plus that there are candidates that do not have a rival. If there are rivals in the remake, wouldn't it be cute if the players' kids become friends/married to the rival kids. 🥺

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! Maybe one day we will get a farming sim that takes place over several generations… or maybe even an endless loop? Haha. I personally like time progressing in the game.

[@elleryrillaine]

@@elithegaymer Reminds me of Kyneseed! It's a farm simulation that's currently in development. The "get's passed down from generation to generation" is one of their main selling points. The AWL remake's aging thing might open up new doors for Natsume's future SoS games!

[@Belavula]

Messy and complex is what adds spice to life. We need extra spice, please. I think the lack of complication gives the impression that the story-board makers are nervous of a challenge...

[@riku-chan3229]

The main aim to play harvest Moon Btn to me was to see gray talk about mary. Also i like cliff and ann events

[@TheBasil129]

I love rival events so much that i just couldn't get myself to buy the Friends of Mineral Town remake... It was one of the things i was looking so forward to seeing in that cute artstyle and then i found out they removed it. I truly hope it will make a return :( I'm looking forward to the new A Wonderful Life remake though and i hope a lot of new events are added and they won't remove too much.. (Like Nami getting together with Gustafa if you don't pursue either)

[@Siren_Melodic]

Well I think they should return with it being some have possible pairs and some not. But the time pressure put to the side as you may trigger rival events but unless you have them matchmake at a special npc to allow them to marry off. This may require you to be close enough to those you want to pair up. As it's something that works in games like Fire Emblem kinda the same way which is that you pair them up and help their relationship grow.

[@elithegaymer]

Sorry, your comment got flagged for some reason so I didn't see it before! Yeah, I think it should work the same way that it does in FE too! Then we can choose whether or not they move to the next step in their relationship or not.

[@Siren_Melodic]

@@elithegaymer I am glad you like the idea and if it's an npc that helps with matchmaking you could have a setting if they are there to begin with or not so as to have the rival pressure if you like someone who is part of a pair or not. But if there are some who stay single unless you pair them up then that helps with balance.

[@LuigiFunTime7665]

I haven’t played Story of Seasons Friends of Mineral Town before because I have no heart feelings of that game at all because I’m not a big fan of remake version games from old harvest moon games in my personal opinion but when I go through the sprite quest in Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town I see the marriage candidates in Olive town come to your farm & to see u & I see a future couple for the other marriage candidates & their relationship grow through out the game in olive town & that why i really love olive town the most because u get to see the marriage candidates warm up to u & change through out the game & I really enjoy it & I think u should make a video of the top best & less marriage candidates & heart event in olive town on your channel & it is your choice right now

[@elithegaymer]

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll see if I can work a video about that into my schedule.

[@LuigiFunTime7665]

@@elithegaymer your welcome buddy ☺️

[@Sleepy__Shadows]

This got really long but... I love rival marriages and want to see them reintroduced but I understand the problems people had with them. But I think all of those problems are fairly easy fixes. The most simple thing they could do is have no rival events happen until after the player has married so the player doesn't have to worry about competing for their chosen spouse. A second simple step is to stop calling them rival marriages and call them something more neutral instead, like "NPC marriages." Third, they could stop designing two npcs around each other as though they're perfect soulmates and you're some guy who came in and got in the way of their destiny by wooing one away from the other. More complicated, but still doable, is bringing in whichever protagonist you didn't pick to play as to be a npc so that there's enough single npcs to pair up, eliminating the issue of someone never being able to marry because of you. For example: In the Wonderful Life series the protagonists's canon names are Mark and Pony. If you play as Mark then in chapter 2 Pony should move into the inn and eventually marry one of the npcs. And most complicated but would go a very long way to fixing the issue of "canon couples" is to randomize the npc marriages. Not only does that fix the issue of a canon couple you're essentially breaking up it also adds longevity and flavor to multiple play throughs. Now no play-through will be the same. This could even add a mechanic where the player has the option to play match maker, getting their favorite couples together. Or they could choose to stay out of it, for players who don't care about that, and leave it completely up to chance. Other characters getting married and having kids adds so much life and content to the game that it's a shame to get rid of them just because of a few fixable problems. I'd love to see them revamped and brought back.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I actually kind of like the random marriages thing! It would really make each save file really unique. It would also be exciting to see who ended up with each other in each different save! I also like the idea of the farmer that you don't choose being in the game to marry the lone marriage candidate. That being said, would the other farm have their own farm or would they just hang around their spouse's house, haha.

[@kaylaslovely_]

I feel like with the remake of friends of mineral town they should have just taken it all the way there - leaving in the canon pairing events but not having rival marriages was confusing to me and upsetting because I was like why are they having romance events with other people 😭 but if there were rival marriages I can say “oh that’s why” but no it was all for not in the new game. That being said I have no idea how I feel about it overall. It seems like in pioneers of olive town they have another couple your age Lars and the red head from the museum who have love events together but neither are dateable so that’s a good add in - but so many people were mad they weren’t dateable. I’m not sure there’s a right way to do it 😭

[@elithegaymer]

I thought it was just strange the way Lars and the red head went on a date (that the player. character just happens upon). They don't even end up getting married so they might as well have been marriage candidates in my opinion. I wish PoOT would have included rival events. The people in the town need a bit more oomph in my opinion.

[@schokodeuli]

I got 2 scenarios where the fans would accept rival marriages: In one game you need to befriend your rival to trigger rival events (I think it was SI and IoH) I liked this concept because at that time you only could marry the opposite gender so you can just ignore the rival to marry your future spouse The other thing would be events where your rival asks the player for dating/ marriage advice. Meaning you can manipulate them: "I dont think that's a good idea"/ "Go for it!" For example...

[@elithegaymer]

Oh, I really like your second idea! In the earlier games that was like the opposite of what we got, haha. I think they don't have to be "rivals" per se, it could just be you as the main character playing matchmaker with the remaining villagers.

[@IReadTooMuchCrap]

I enjoy rivalry because of the depth. It’s been awhile since I played the original Montreal Town (20 years?!), so I don’t remember how complex the dialogue is. I guess nowadays the dialogue in the newer Story of Seasons games repeats itself too much so I have no reason to talk to characters anymore. It was an improvement, but also highlights the problem, when they introduced the wave-to-talk mechanic in Trio of Towns.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! It did add another layer of depth to the game!

[@Belavula]

Rival marriages and rival kids. If Wonderful Life has the rival kids become friends and/or a spouse for your grown child (eventually) that would be so amazing for me. I love setting people up with partners and making the whole community happy. I think it's so weird that they removed them without doing a survey in the U.S. Like, they could easily make a version without them for those who don't like them without removing them entirely from the experience ):

[@elithegaymer]

I agree. I think they should have kept them in the game but allowed us to choose between two different modes! I think most American fans would like to see rival marriages return.

[@EliJakobable]

The game that did it best was Hm 64. The way that they would get married and then everyone would have there own kids. I loved that Karen and Kai would have a pikachu baby lol.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I loved seeing the other couples have kids as well! It's really kind of amazing that after all these years... Harvest Moon 64 still does certain things better than any others. I still appreciate that its 3d with no load times.

[@diabloakland]

Yes i love rival marriages and children! It’s so much development and keeps the game lively and they should add divorce and more dating! And if others don’t like them- maybe we could have it on and off in settings orrrr like player modes: farm hand to veteran rancher, (easy to hard) and if ppl are worried about the lone bachelorette or bachelor we should add one more NPC and shouldn’t matter who like any gender should be able to marry to repair the canon issue. We could be home wreckers too and get divorced it’s not complicated! They could also put it for years 5 if your don’t get married rival events start but adding divorce option means no big issue! And with kids growing up too i love that.

[@superdave9]

I enjoyed rival marriage for the most part- gave me incentive to find a partner. And the new couples really fleshed out the town, like a next generation. I think the feature could return in a capacity like 4 years in-game. Or maybe it could be a player toggle thing?

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I hope that it can at least come back as an option. It really adds some depth to the games!

[@pastelshadows6437]

I really enjoy rival marriages, but I can understand why some people don't like them. The issue of losing a marriage candidate would be fixed though if they were post-marriage exclusive, and the issue of leaving a marriage candidate alone could be fixed by having a "backup" rival(Rune Factory 2 comes to mind). It could also just be a toggled feature, don't want rivals to marry? Turn it off in-game. Ultimately though I love how much more alive they can make the town feel, and Animal Parade really was the peak of rival marriages/children. I also just like watching other pairings get together, some of them are honestly adorable and even if I end up marrying one of the pair members I can still appreciate them. Mary and Gray comes to mind, I love them as a couple but Mary is also my favorite Mineral Town girl so I marry her a lot.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I hope they are able to find a way to bring rival marriages back because they really do make the town feel more alive!

[@earth9842]

One way they could fix it is by introducing a cutscene where the character the player if they should propose and maybe include a cutscene of helping them to make the player feel more involved

[@kaylaslovely_]

Oh yeah like asking if it’s okay and it’s your last chance to either help them and they get married or sabotage it and get back in the ring with that LI

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, that would be a good way to make sure the player character doesn't get locked out of marrying them. But what is the NPC gonna do when you say no? Start crying? Get angry with you? Hahaha, it would make for some interesting scenes!

[@nutty9966]

ive always love love loved the rival marriages. they always made the characters seem more human and the relationships were (usually) pretty cute, and when they had kids after marriage the kids were always adorable :) edit: also i liked the fact they got married in the first place and like you said, that you werent the only person getting married. it made me feel not as bad since they wouldnt just say single after the player gets married edit 2: okay so i just thought of something : since most games usually have special canididates what if when you got married to lets say luke or smth selena would go and marry the wizard?!?! i think thatd be cool so she wouldnt be alone!!!!

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah… I hope some future games implement rival marriages and emphasize the passage of time! I want to see my kids grow up with other people’s kids! That’s kinda hard without rival marriages…

[@BCOZzzy]

I was also the same way. I wish that they had characters that weren’t bachelorettes or bachelors just towns people that you can see like a cutscene. To me it adds a deeper meaning to the town and you can actually see it grow. I myself liked animal parades rival marriage was kinda cool cause they had different kids and I wanted to see everyone’s kid that I didn’t marry or marry someone else to see the others kid (hope that makes sense) that’s just me.

[@elithegaymer]

Did you play Harvest Moon 64? Did you know that one of the couples has a kid… who dresses like Pikachu? The other couple’s kids all got to wear really cute outfits. But now… no more kids in the town.

[@BCOZzzy]

@@elithegaymer I just got 64 a couple days ago but haven’t played it I am all about that. I have a dog named pikachu haha I really hope they bring things like that back it’s so fun to have things like that

[@elithegaymer]

@@BCOZzzy wow, good for you! Harvest Moon 64 is really an amazing, charming game. I’m sure you’ll find lots to enjoy while playing it! Shame they didn’t make a Harvest Moon 64 female version.

[@BCOZzzy]

@@elithegaymer I know I really like Another wonderful life its different, i just hope that the series can continue to keep adding fun interesting characters and also things that would help us want to continue playing and reward us for playing like 10 in game years

[@winnie879]

Bring the rivals back! Just have the relationships progress with others after you get married. Maybe two rival sequences and then blocked until you choose your mate.

[@raccoonism7494]

I loved seeing the other people get married after me. Personally, I like the idea of them randomly dating/marrying a random villager regardless of gender. I'm not a very competitive player by any means, so my ideal version would have it so only after you get married, like in Animal Parade. It could def also add replayability as you are locked into one spouse per playthrough.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I would love to see characters be able to marry different people! That’s what makes multiple Fire Emblem runs interesting. You can see how the same character would act in different relationships and in some games even see how their children would differ. I’d love to see a farming sim do something like that!

[@Dahachey]

I love the idea of rival marriages and children! although i haven’t experienced them for myself in game 😅 I was really disappointed when they removed them from the mineral town remake and i had been hoping for a long time for AWL remake that would have rival marriage and children since the main concept of that game is to see how everyone grows throughout the years

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! It was a missed opportunity. Strangely there are still rival scenes and some of them (like Rock/Lumina) get multiple rival scenes! I guess they thought instead of having one person be alone forever, everyone should be alone together, hahaha.

[@markos50100]

There should be rival marriages in these games, just make it so when you get married you are locked into that choice and after you get married the npcs start to have their events toward getting married. That way there is no pressure towards losing a potential partner until you made your choice. This is also the reason why I liked awl in the first place. You already get married within the first year and the story is based on your family.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I really want more Story of Seasons games to focus on family dynamics and have an evolving village as well! AWL has so much potential!

[@redzthename8958]

I’m also conflicted about it. On one hand, it feels more realistic that in a town of young adults, you aren’t the only one marrying or starting a family. On the other hand, you do feel guilty about getting in the way of a “cannon” relationship and making the other person alone for the rest of their life. Maybe if they put the feature back in the future, they can make it so the rival marriages trigger after you get marry and there be a character that will marry the other person if you marry someone who is apart of a rival marriage so you feel guilty about making them forever alone, I don’t know. I get why they remove the feature but it also feels weird to be the only person in town dating and getting married.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I think it may be a neat feature to include in some future games but the feature might not fit into them all. I'm actually surprised that everyone so far has said that they miss them or that they are conflicted! No one has come out yet and said that they hated the feature.

[@redzthename8958]

@@elithegaymer Yeah I never seen a post saying they flat out hated the rival marriage gimmick. At worst, I've only seen people feeling guilty about leaving someone single.

[@unemilifleur]

I want the town to be alive. So yeah, interactions between other characters please

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I want there to be more scenes between the villagers as well!

[@template585]

I have start playing Story of Seasons FoMT for the past two week as I have never played any Harvest Moon game before and wanted to expanded my interest in farming game. I honestly wish rivals marriage was still a thing in the game since at first, I got excited seeing the characters interacting with each other until nothing happened afterwords. I was getting bored with playing the game despite already getting married and having a child. It probably won't come back anytime soon.

[@elithegaymer]

I hope they do! I like seeing the town grow and evolve over time. I hope more future games are developed with this concept in mind.

[@Lilmonster920]

Ok so I’m actually waiting for the Animal Parade remake because it’s my favourite version of the series. The only reason I’m not playing it now is because I can’t carry it around and the only few in that game is the frame rate drops And even if they ported the game I’d still get it. I like the rival marriages for the kids that came along after they were so cute 😊 And I cannot forget to mention that the days were so long I could actually get things done and have spare time to mine or fish or whatever 😅

[@elithegaymer]

Different farm sims are funny in regards to how much time you have in the day! I personally actually prefer slightly shorter days (I know, crazy). I feel like most farming games these days are tending to longer days. HM64, BtN, and games in that era I remember feeling slightly rushed though.

[@vegetavegeta1894]

It should just be an option you can turn on at any point in the game. I'm thinking it should a thing you talk to the goddess about. Like wishing for others to find love or something. Or an option when you start the game. Also, some couples should be gay.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! They could implement the goddess somehow or make it so that you can choose it in the options.

[@Nurylon]

As someone who usually never marries and just dates everyone I like in these games (or might marry but purposefully sabotages whatever mechanic would usually make a kid happen XD) I’m not really a fan of rival marriages because they just feel like they super get in my way of playing. I might be more cool with them if it was a mixture of gay couples, polyamarous couples, open relationships, alongside a closed het couple or two; child-free relationships as well as relationships where they have tons of kids or have adopted a kid; town variety!! But as the rival marriages were, they were just cookie cutter straight kid having relationships which isn’t very engaging for me |D ((AWL has, given all that above, been a very interesting experience lol. I’m on the last day of autumn and still have only a small idea out of 3 candidates who I want to go for. And one of them wasn’t even on my radar til a few days ago!! Haha))

[@eeveefennecfox]

I've always wondered why none of the characters got married and now it makes sense now

[@elithegaymer]

Do you miss this feature?

[@windsmith4048]

Imagine if marriage rivals could also be married that would be very interesting.

[@invisiblechicken]

For me, I can see both sides, but from a player perspective, I have to side against it. Despite the story benefits, the pressure is more problematic, especially for new players and it could turn them against playing the game due to frustration

[@tisvana18]

The easy solution is to have an odd number of marriage candidates. The odd one out can marry whoever is single, the rest pair off with whoever they’re supposed to. Doesn’t fix issues with divorce, but farming games really don’t *need* those. Start a new save lol, why not

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, yeah I’d rather have everyone married and happy with no divorce option. If you wanna marry someone else, you can always start another save file…

[@chrisdedinside1013]

But I also think rival marriages should've been a bit more delayed, to give you a chance.

[@Lil_Queen_or_Bre91]

They need to bring it back not only in stories of season but also rune factory same with letting other couples have kids and I feel like the other couples having kids part would be good for a Wonderful Life and it's also kind of weird that they don't

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! It should definitely be in AWL because it would fit right in. I don't want the other marriage candidates to be single forever because I didn't marry them!

[@Lil_Queen_or_Bre91]

@@elithegaymer yeah it makes it kind of weird and awkward since there is no other marriage candidates having kids and I would not mind if they did something similar to rune factory 2 where there is rival marriages but there's also a few candidates that aren't rival marriage and if you do steal somebody's bride they will just get married to one of the marriage candidates that don't have a groom

[@DarkEcho32]

Personally,I think it should come back,but give the player first pick,or at the very least more leniency since this is a casual series.In terms of gay marriage,I think it should depend on the bachelor or bachelorette in question.A couple of gay and bi characters wouldn't be a bad thing

[@elithegaymer]

I don’t know. Originally I thought I would be okay with a system like that (more realistic, could go deeper with their personalities), but then Fire Emblem Three Houses came out. I hate that the only real male - male relationship (in the base game) is Lindhardt. Like, being gay means I only have one option?

[@namelessl.w.3476]

Games are a configurable medium. They could literally just make it optional via settings and voila! We can have our cake and eat it too! 😂👌🏻🎉💞

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, yeah, it really should be an option in a menu! My guess though is that they don’t want to dedicate time to a feature that some fans don’t want.

[@abbyolmsted7852]

I am sorry but I will never play one of these games again if there is no rival marriage. They gave the games more depth and replay value. To not put them in the game is pure laziness.

[@elithegaymer]

Wow, you really feel passionate about them! So do you avoid other games in the genre that don't have them either (like Stardew Valley)?

[@abbyolmsted7852]

@@elithegaymer I did enjoy Stardew Valley but I felt like I would have played it longer if there had been rival marriages to keep me interested. My favorite HM games are HM64 and FOMT, by the way. 🙂

[@chrisdedinside1013]

Another idea: rival marriages after you marry

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! I kind of hope they do this in A Wonderful Life remake since there is a time jump. Just have the other characters get married when you do!

[@xoxohsmfan]

I hate rival events ... CAUSE IM A SELFISH B**H HAHAHAHA ALL OF THEM ARE MINE MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH ! Im kidding 😆 i thibk having rivals are fun but its a bit tiring to keep up the farm and trying to woo my partner at the same time as well so having rival events can be abit tiresome. But i love the new concept that i can "marry" the girls and guys in this new game which is a bonus cause i love mary, docter, ellie and gray 😍

[@shiraragishintarou836]

I do really liked rival events, i dont have problem with your bad things about rival events. I think more important to me to make game more close to real life in this game. I dont like to see just me who step foward, i really like to see other people have their own life too. But, okay, its my own. If i want to see something like that, harvest moon not the only game to play. I'm not problem with no rival events, i still want to play them.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I’d prefer to have rival events in the game, but I will still play them without. I hope some games in the future though focus on the themes of times passing and characters getting older.

[@biancabunny6207]

I have a mixed opinion, on the one hand, I like the idea, because after the player is very far in the game and married, everything gets stagnant ... it would be interesting to see the characters marry each other and have a continuity in their story... BUT on the other hand... I feel that my decision to choose a bachelor would be completely influenced by the rivals; I'd hate to ruin a "one true love" couple... On Friends of Mineral Town, I was really upset and angry with the scene where Huang flirted with Karen, because i was really into him and i hated the idea that he got infatuated by Karen at first sight while he dumped my character in a scene... i have choose him just because he has no rivals but if this was a rival story I would have completely given up on getting married with him because of that, In other words, i feel like having a rival for a character i love would ruin my experience in the game, because i would give up of him and be alone in my game so the canon couples woudn't get hurted.

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, I know this is the second time that you have brought up that scene about Huang. It is kind of a jarring scene! At least they should have a scene later in the game where Huang apologizes and says something really sweet (like you have shown him what true love is).

[@biancabunny6207]

@@elithegaymer Haha this scene exist? xD i think i didn't got to see anything like that tho... but for you see, like it happened more than a year ago and i'm still have memorys about, every time someone talks about mineral town is this scene that i remember above everything else lol

[@ZazaLoveism]

If you can play boy or girl, and everyone's bisexual, they could add the character you're not playing as to marry the person whose partner you stole. So yeah, rival marriages should come back.

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah! They could just have the other farmer (the opposite gender as you) marry the lone marriage candidate.

[@robertedison5935]

I really like the rival event and I went it to come back and other kids and you should pay matching your river cheater help them find love

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, I like to help the villagers find love too!

[@ShepherdsCreek]

Almost every time I try to have a perfect game in harvest moon 64, someone will get married on a day I HAVE to do something and completely screw up my game lmao beyond that, i don't really mind

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, the pressure was on in Harvest Moon 64! I remember as a kid trying to get all the photos in a single save file... I couldn't do it!

[@ShepherdsCreek]

@@elithegaymer I've only ever done it once! Takes a TON of planning and luck!

[@Robertson-m6f]

I love river marry but I think you and your river should ask you who are you going for you get to the 4 heat even with them or someone else in your other players should move to the town in marry them like a sister or bother cousin

[@Robertson-m6f]

We need river marriage we need a little competition in the game it makes it fun

[@thedeerfamily7839]

I think it should be a chose to turn on rival marriages

[@elithegaymer]

Yeah, it would be nice to be able to choose whether or not we wanted them to be active or not!

[@MyselfandComics]

I’d rather be the only married candidate then feel like a home wrecker 😅

[@befrugalwithus]

Kind of wish they could get married and have kids.

[@elithegaymer]

Me too! It would make things more interesting in the long run!

[@SenyoMena]

Rival marriages and marriage children should come back. If it's too stressing for Japanese players they should add an ON/OFF option

[@elithegaymer]

I agree! I hope they give us this option in future games!

[@rachellyons1127]

Yes cause it kept it interesting 🥰

[@elithegaymer]

Haha, that is true! In some scenes you could really feel the jealousy!