Dafne, sweetheart shepherdess on a quest to be braver for her animals/family
Everest, cocky guard needing to understand talent still needs work
Fiore, quiet herbalist wanting to be able to set boundaries
Garnet, excitable inventor discovering she is a construct build by her father
Jaspa, a mischievous mage trying to rediscover his passion
Netuno "Nettie" searching for direction and a grander purpose
Ragnar, a stoic guard unable to forgive himself
Sylv, a curious mute nature spirit wanting to observe humans
Tanu, a mysterious merchant running from her dark past
Voting ended onJun 30
Bachelors/Bachelorettes for Rune Factory Style Game Below Cut
BACHELORS
Amalthea is the daughter of the local duchess of the town. Her initial personality is prim, polite, and overcompensating. She is fat, dark-skinned, and has perfectly styled long black hair, and dresses in beautiful pale pink gowns with pink bows is in her hair. Her heart events include helping her loosen up a little and feel free to pursue her love of horror writing. Her rival love interest is Fiore.
Briar is the local doctor of the clinic and older sister of Fiore. Her initial personality is boisterous, bossy, and hot-headed. She has spiky short brown hair, one blue and one green eye, tanned skin, and is always in her red medic’s coat with a quill. Her heart events are convincing her to let people solve their own problems and take time to herself. Her rival love interest is Jaspa.
Cassander is the heir to a confectionary empire sent to scout out new customers and flavours in the mountain frontier town. His initial personality is flirty, arrogant, and lazy. He is a tall, immaculately dressed pale man with loose long white hair, amber eyes, and always carries a little ornate box of sweets. During his heart events, the player learns about his insecurities and helps him become more responsible. His rival love interest is Tanu.
Dafne is a shepherdess who lives with her family on a rival farm. Her initial personality is sweet, kind, and easily frightened. She has glasses, blonde braids, freckles and sunspots, grey eyes, and wears simple blue dresses. Her heart events are about supporting her desire to become braver and more independent to protect her family and animals. Her rival love interest is Ragnar.
Everest is a local guard who stays at the barrack at the gatehouse. Her initial personality is jokey, egotistical, and competitive. She only wears half her armour, has pale skin, a black bob, brown eyes, and is very tall and muscular. Her heart events include her learning to take her job and skills more seriously and understand that work is more important than relying on talent. Her rival love interest is Sylv.
Fiore is the local herbalist who works alongside his older sister Briar at the clinic. His initial personality is shy, standoffish, and gentle. He dresses in scruffy ochre clothes, has tight curly brown hair, green eyes, tan skin, and always has a flower tucked behind an ear. During his heart events, he becomes more confident and willing to stand up to protect his peace. His rival love interest is Amalthea.
Garnet is the blacksmith and inventor. Her initial personality is enthusiastic, clumsy, and hopeful. She has a ginger flyaway twist, pink eyes, glitter on her cheeks, and wears a gold set of overalls and smudged rolled-sleeve shirt and bronze goggles. Her heart events revolve around her discovery that she is a construct made by her deceased father and balancing her identities. Her rival love interest is Nettie.
Jaspa is a travelling researcher sorcerer who has become bored with his academic path. His initial personality is mischievous, animated, and careless. He has dark blond swept-back hair, brown eyes, sunburnt skin, wears tight long-sleeves, and plays with a carved pebble during dialogue. His heart events involve helping him come to terms with his mentor dropping him and rediscover his love of magic research. His rival love interest is Briar.
Netuno “Nettie” is a fisherman who lives on a hut by the lake. His initial personality is cheerful, friendly, and laidback. He is tall and muscular with black braids, dark skin and a neat black beard and moustache who wears loose purple robes and a bandana. His heart events revolve around him wanting to find an identity beyond just fishing and find a real direction in life. His rival love interest is Garnet.
Ragnar is a border guard staying at the inn. His initial personality is dry, sarcastic, and cold. He is short, pale, and fat with spiky red hair, freckles, and is never seen out of his armour. His heart events involve him opening up his softer side and forgiving himself for the loss of his younger sibling. His rival interest is Dafne.
Sylv is a mute dryad living in his willow tree outside of town. His initial personality is curious, expressive, and optimistic. He is draped in leaves and vines with green hair, silver eyes, and bark-like skin. His heart events are about the player learning his silent language and Sylv learning about human customs. His rival love interest is Everest.
Taru is a travelling merchant staying at the inn. Her initial personality is mysterious, distant, and greedy. She hides behind her dark blue hair, has pale skin, black eyes, and wears sensible black travelling clothes. Her love events are about her past as a smuggler and helping her find a way to seek forgiveness from the people she hurt. Her rival love interest is Cassander.
sometimes i just think about how square enix created one of the most compelling sci-fi narratives in recent gaming history, successfully masked it under the pretense of a post-apocaliptic fantasy farming rpg (which it also very much is), made everyone who played it go through an actual trolley dilemma that had actual consequences, and then topped it all off by being a commentary on environmental ethics, climate change, religion, genocide, cloning, artificial intelligence, and colonization
and somehow its biggest headline was caused by mass review bombing bc it allowed u to identify as non-binary 😭😭😭
simply calling Harvestella a farming sim is a lot like simply calling Kingdom Hearts a Disney game: neither of those statements are inaccurate, but they both completely fail to convey all the existential crises, unethical science, identity issues, attempts to manufacture an apocalypse, metaphysical questions about the nature of humanity, and traumatized blonde girls in white dresses who just don't want to be forced to hurt other people
Harvestella will always be my point of comparison for cozy games because it's all about tending to my field and thinking about what food I'm going to pack when I'm outside the house one moment, then having an existentialist crisis and fighting the embodiment of humanity's desire for calamity and destruction the next. But you can always set aside the plot to think about farming forever if you like. Just make sure you sleep before curfew or you will PAY and harvest everything before the day where everything dies.
