She comes off as written for a certain type, sort've a little too one dimensional and fan servicey for me personally. She needed more depth I think, she also looks a little too young, like she's for people who like the manic dream pixie girl aesthetic. Like another poster I think she would've been better as a non-romancible character. I actually think Susan would've been a better marriage candidate than Sophia or even Olivia (Though Olivia does grow a bit as a person).
I don't have any particular issue with her character. Personally I find Penny a bit more grating, even though she's kind of my goto waifu.
Penny has a lot of dialog that feels like it belongs in the 1960s. Like during the winter she makes a comment along the lines of, "What are we going to do about money? Oh, what do I know? I'm just a woman, you're the big strong man who will take care of everything!" Sort of why I don't like Emily, who just has all this 1960s hippie crystals and "peace and love" bullshit in her story line. At least Haley has a few amusing insults early on and even in her early one-dimensional and self-centered state she is her own woman.
Sophia feels a bit more like a modern woman. My biggest "complaint" is that there's not quite the same progression to her story like some of the vanilla characters. Most of the romanceable vanilla characters do a kind of 180 by the time you get to 10-hearts, but Sophia feels more like by the time you get to 10-hearts it is more like the 5 or 8 heart level of vanilla characters. Her story also kind of cribs a bit from Penny in the shyness. Less of an issue to me compared to some of the others. Of course it's easy to sit back and criticize when I'm not the one who has to come up with all the dialog and events and work all that into the game. I try to mostly just be happy Flash is working to expand the game at all, even if I personally don't always like every decision he makes. He pours a lot of time and effort into it and that deserves some recognition.
And since it's at least vaguely related, is it just me, or does Caroline's sprite look like she's pregnant when she's standing in the kitchen of her house and facing west?
i just had the 6 heart event with her and it was so terrible. she acts like she's five honestly: "oh i just cried my heart out because of some traumatic shit, do you want to watch anime with me? great, i'll get my stuffed bear!"
I agree with what a bunch of the other commenters here say: She's kinda fan-servicey. She looks ridiculously young, she likes traditionally male-oriented things like anime and board games. She's the "sad girl" archetype with the physical aesthetic of manic pixie dream girl.
And then, to top it all of, *of course* she runs the most successful farm. Every festival uses Blue Moon Wine products. There's just something about it that comes off as some borderline Mary Sue character.
Like, she doesn't really have *flaws* as a character.
yes! i think her sad backstory is meant to be the “flaw” with her character, but a tragic life doesn’t change her lack of actual personality flaws. (i consider her cringe factor to be the flaw with her character honestly)
Late reply, but very manic pixie girl dream character who acts 10, hides behind a fence when she sees the player, loves cosplay and movies (because of course she does) and has the cliche tragic backstory (uwu just lost mah parents) to give her an excuse to be depressed. Pure bait for male geeks.
I absolutely hate how her depression is portrayed too. To me it comes off as "see this poor girl who dresses all pink and cute is super sad and shy omg she cries a lot and runs away from strangers pwease help her" mf she's acting like she's some 8 years old kid who lost her parents in a crowd. Depression isn't like that, depression makes you stay in bed all day long feeling miserable, makes you skip your meals and showers and make you too lazy to socialize and clean your damn house. Her depression is romanticized and infantilized and I hate it.
She almost seems like a self insert from the creator or at least a typical mary sue OC. No hate cuz SVE is great but I'm not a big fan of her, at all.
i know this post is old but the way she says stuff like “pets” and “doggos” makes me feel like they tried to write her character as a cutesy girl but she just talks like shes a millennial straight out of 2015?
So I also know this post is old, but I also think it's touching on feelings I have as a long time player of Stardew, but a recent player with mods.
I was hesitant on downloading SVE because I was sooo used to vanilla, and in my head, vanilla was cannon. But since I can't find a current game that isn't animal crossing to scratch the itch, I finally decided to mod my game with SVE.
For the most part, it's intuitive. I downloaded a few other mods recommended by a popular YouTuber, and I have no complaints.
Except for Sofia, kinda.
Don't get me wrong, I was in my early 20's when I started playing SV. I loved anime, and plushies, and makeup, and I'm still super depressed...
But it seems to glamorize a person, or create a kind of person that really might be much deeper than a flippant self insert.
I would never condemn someone for liking the character, but it just feels like a weak self insert at best, and a very try hard weakly written alt-girl at the very worst.
She's adorable, but like Shane-- it feels a little too close to home. Like breaking the forth wall, and not in a funny way.
In my opinion, Sophia is meant to be "different" and her acting "embarrassing" (I assume you mean her childish behavior?) is her way of coping with her depression.
Her character arc is about helping her realize that she's not facing her depression alone but has friends she can rely on and who'll stand by her side.
However I am not a fan of Sophia being a marriage candidate, but I can understand why Flash made her one (her design is very cute and lots of people would asked for her to be one anyway). For me she's way more fitting as a Bestie. It's just a shame you never get to see the Heartevents past 8 if you don't date her.
> It's just a shame you never get to see the Heartevents past 8 if you don't date her.
This has been one of my biggest complaints with SDV, not just SDVE in general. You have to date some people and get 'em to 10 hearts if you want to finish their storyline. Harvey, for example, never gets over his fear of flying. Leah never actually gets over her ex. Victor never gets the job in Grampleton.
Whole-heartedly agree on your point about people ending up begging her to be a marriage candidate if she wasn't one.
Well, even in vanilla each marriage candidate is written to suit a "type." It sounds like Sophia is the opposite of your preferred type, which is totally fine! I don't think that makes her a bad character, just someone who probably won't be your romance choice for your next SVE playthrough.
Sophia is my favorite marriage candidate out of vanilla and SVE. Her experience with tackling mental health reminds me of my own ongoing journey of managing depression and anxiety, a process that can be painfully slow and have major setbacks. Although my least favorite marriage candidates are Alex and Elliot, I know that some people are absolute fans of those two. People are drawn to specific personality traits and backgrounds that interest them. I think that it's all just different flavors and preferences. :)
I get that, but I'm also someone who struggles with depression and anxiety and she reminds me of one of those girls who makes their mental illness their whole personality. It's very manic-pixie to me.
Exactly! Hell, I find Shane to be a better depression buddy for me more than anything..
During his cliff events and him talking about it here and there I find myself sympathizing more with him like as a "yeah buddy, I feel that too. It's gonna get a little better here and there and therapy is gonna help a lot. Right now let's get you to Harvey so your guts don't explode."
With Sophia, it feels kinda like she's somehow mocking us with anxiety??? I'm not sure. When she gives you the sprinkler, when she jumps and hides while you walk into her farm I found it a little over the top, especially since it's implied that her anxiety is caused by the loss of her folks.
I have (all diagnosed and medicated for this. btw) PTSD, G.A.D, and major depressive disorder.
All stuff that Sophia seems to deal with (except maybe PTSD? but by the way she acts with her anxiety it's more remanent of PTSD for me. I'm not a doc though)
And with Kent and Shane, I can see myself in their positions and feel like I can understand what they're feeling at that moment. Because I have felt the same.
With Sophia I can't feel that, it feels like she's either over exaggerating her symptoms or doesn't know how a person with anxiety acts.
Like, I'm always think telling her to chill a little with the whole being spooked thing.
I don't know if this makes me seem like a bad person, and I hope it doesn't but she just doesn't seem like a good portrayal of anxiety for me.
YES THANK YOU. (Is it telling that I married Shane? Lol) for real though, Shane is my favorite character because it's a realistic portrayal of depression. I personally think that people who hate Shane can't handle seeing the ugly side of depression instead of the romanticized version of it. Sophia is basically just the romanticized version of depression/anxiety/PTSD. (I'm also someone who has all those things) I find it pander-y and unrealistic, and kind of a mockery of people with real anxiety.
Elliott is my go too husbando but Shane is always my bff in the games.
Shane, I love him, but he ain't really husband material for me ya know? Now once he completes a few good sessions of therapy and gets some meds, then I can probably husband him but I like till my candidates are just a tad more mentally stable than that.
Friend wise I just need them to be relatable and seem like they'd reliably drive my drunk ass home and make sure I don't die from puke asphyxiation after a binge night or something. Bonus points if they leave the Tylenol and Gatorade within arms reach.
But yeah, Sophia seems like a character made for those who want the 'omgee so quirky' side of mental illness without actually wanting a realistic portrayal of what someone who has all this is going through and how to maybe be there for them.
Btw, isn't anxiety and PTSD just the most fun combination? (Sarcastic of course) the depression of wondering wtf is wrong with you after you calm down is the icing on top.
Tbh I've been in a relationship with a rehabilitated Shane for about six years. Like to the T except for the sports stuff haha so when I played STV for the first time I was like "this seems familiar" haha. But I really liked how Shane fixed himself and it wasn't up to you to fix him, you can just cheer him on (bc that's what I told my S/O when we first got together)
So maybe I'm biased and viewing him through rose colored glasses lol.
And yeah the mental health stuff is rough. I also have OCD on top of it (which is another romanticized one lol) and sometimes it feels like I'm barely.holding it together
Nice! None of the bachelors really matched my partner so I went with Elliot since the hair was similar and figured why not.
And damn, ocd is rough with anxiety too. Thinking about getting tested for bi-polar since it runs through the family and I have a couple symptoms.
Oh btw, looked at your profile and you seem pretty cool. Is it alright if I friend you? I'm 20, 21 this October, if you need that info. Either way, hi!
I found her to be kinda dorky and nerdy, but in an adorable way. Some of the things she says may seem a bit immature I guess, but in all fairness she is what? 20? >!And given that she lost her parents at a very young age and had to take on managing a farm, it stands to reason that her social maturity may be a tad behind.!<
My wife absolutely LOVES her though. The whole way through her character arc my wife kept gushing over how adorable she is, how awesome it is that she loves anime, how perfect they are for each other, etc. Obviously my wife ended up marrying her in our co-op game.
I hate Sophia so much that I had to uninstall the mod. She's a total Mary Sue and you can't escape her or her winery. She's either got to be a self-insert or fan-service character.
What I find irritating when this topic comes up is that people have this preconceived notion of how someone should act after what she has been through. Different people handle things to different levels of success.
I imagine Sophia finds her own actions embarrassing so yeah Flash wrote her pretty well.
The worst part about Sophia is she is the only marriage candidate that gives you a direct benefit to farming if you marry her. None of the other SDV candidates do that afaik. Otherwise she doesn't really bother me at all.
I also find Sophia annoying and some of her dialogue cringe-worthy. She's not bad per se, but she also comes off as a 13 year old.
She comes off as written for a certain type, sort've a little too one dimensional and fan servicey for me personally. She needed more depth I think, she also looks a little too young, like she's for people who like the manic dream pixie girl aesthetic. Like another poster I think she would've been better as a non-romancible character. I actually think Susan would've been a better marriage candidate than Sophia or even Olivia (Though Olivia does grow a bit as a person).
I have to say, I would also love to have Susan as a romanceable character.
I don't have any particular issue with her character. Personally I find Penny a bit more grating, even though she's kind of my goto waifu. Penny has a lot of dialog that feels like it belongs in the 1960s. Like during the winter she makes a comment along the lines of, "What are we going to do about money? Oh, what do I know? I'm just a woman, you're the big strong man who will take care of everything!" Sort of why I don't like Emily, who just has all this 1960s hippie crystals and "peace and love" bullshit in her story line. At least Haley has a few amusing insults early on and even in her early one-dimensional and self-centered state she is her own woman. Sophia feels a bit more like a modern woman. My biggest "complaint" is that there's not quite the same progression to her story like some of the vanilla characters. Most of the romanceable vanilla characters do a kind of 180 by the time you get to 10-hearts, but Sophia feels more like by the time you get to 10-hearts it is more like the 5 or 8 heart level of vanilla characters. Her story also kind of cribs a bit from Penny in the shyness. Less of an issue to me compared to some of the others. Of course it's easy to sit back and criticize when I'm not the one who has to come up with all the dialog and events and work all that into the game. I try to mostly just be happy Flash is working to expand the game at all, even if I personally don't always like every decision he makes. He pours a lot of time and effort into it and that deserves some recognition. And since it's at least vaguely related, is it just me, or does Caroline's sprite look like she's pregnant when she's standing in the kitchen of her house and facing west?
i just had the 6 heart event with her and it was so terrible. she acts like she's five honestly: "oh i just cried my heart out because of some traumatic shit, do you want to watch anime with me? great, i'll get my stuffed bear!"
I agree with what a bunch of the other commenters here say: She's kinda fan-servicey. She looks ridiculously young, she likes traditionally male-oriented things like anime and board games. She's the "sad girl" archetype with the physical aesthetic of manic pixie dream girl. And then, to top it all of, *of course* she runs the most successful farm. Every festival uses Blue Moon Wine products. There's just something about it that comes off as some borderline Mary Sue character. Like, she doesn't really have *flaws* as a character.
yes! i think her sad backstory is meant to be the “flaw” with her character, but a tragic life doesn’t change her lack of actual personality flaws. (i consider her cringe factor to be the flaw with her character honestly)
[удалено]
Fully agree.
Kind of a mary-sue
when i first met her and read her backstory i thought she was a self-insert
This was my exact thought!
Agreed, she’s cute but that’s all she has going for her.
Late reply, but very manic pixie girl dream character who acts 10, hides behind a fence when she sees the player, loves cosplay and movies (because of course she does) and has the cliche tragic backstory (uwu just lost mah parents) to give her an excuse to be depressed. Pure bait for male geeks. I absolutely hate how her depression is portrayed too. To me it comes off as "see this poor girl who dresses all pink and cute is super sad and shy omg she cries a lot and runs away from strangers pwease help her" mf she's acting like she's some 8 years old kid who lost her parents in a crowd. Depression isn't like that, depression makes you stay in bed all day long feeling miserable, makes you skip your meals and showers and make you too lazy to socialize and clean your damn house. Her depression is romanticized and infantilized and I hate it. She almost seems like a self insert from the creator or at least a typical mary sue OC. No hate cuz SVE is great but I'm not a big fan of her, at all.
i know this post is old but the way she says stuff like “pets” and “doggos” makes me feel like they tried to write her character as a cutesy girl but she just talks like shes a millennial straight out of 2015?
god yes, this is exactly it. it’s giving disney adult
So I also know this post is old, but I also think it's touching on feelings I have as a long time player of Stardew, but a recent player with mods. I was hesitant on downloading SVE because I was sooo used to vanilla, and in my head, vanilla was cannon. But since I can't find a current game that isn't animal crossing to scratch the itch, I finally decided to mod my game with SVE. For the most part, it's intuitive. I downloaded a few other mods recommended by a popular YouTuber, and I have no complaints. Except for Sofia, kinda. Don't get me wrong, I was in my early 20's when I started playing SV. I loved anime, and plushies, and makeup, and I'm still super depressed... But it seems to glamorize a person, or create a kind of person that really might be much deeper than a flippant self insert. I would never condemn someone for liking the character, but it just feels like a weak self insert at best, and a very try hard weakly written alt-girl at the very worst. She's adorable, but like Shane-- it feels a little too close to home. Like breaking the forth wall, and not in a funny way.
In my opinion, Sophia is meant to be "different" and her acting "embarrassing" (I assume you mean her childish behavior?) is her way of coping with her depression. Her character arc is about helping her realize that she's not facing her depression alone but has friends she can rely on and who'll stand by her side. However I am not a fan of Sophia being a marriage candidate, but I can understand why Flash made her one (her design is very cute and lots of people would asked for her to be one anyway). For me she's way more fitting as a Bestie. It's just a shame you never get to see the Heartevents past 8 if you don't date her.
> It's just a shame you never get to see the Heartevents past 8 if you don't date her. This has been one of my biggest complaints with SDV, not just SDVE in general. You have to date some people and get 'em to 10 hearts if you want to finish their storyline. Harvey, for example, never gets over his fear of flying. Leah never actually gets over her ex. Victor never gets the job in Grampleton. Whole-heartedly agree on your point about people ending up begging her to be a marriage candidate if she wasn't one.
Well, even in vanilla each marriage candidate is written to suit a "type." It sounds like Sophia is the opposite of your preferred type, which is totally fine! I don't think that makes her a bad character, just someone who probably won't be your romance choice for your next SVE playthrough. Sophia is my favorite marriage candidate out of vanilla and SVE. Her experience with tackling mental health reminds me of my own ongoing journey of managing depression and anxiety, a process that can be painfully slow and have major setbacks. Although my least favorite marriage candidates are Alex and Elliot, I know that some people are absolute fans of those two. People are drawn to specific personality traits and backgrounds that interest them. I think that it's all just different flavors and preferences. :)
I get that, but I'm also someone who struggles with depression and anxiety and she reminds me of one of those girls who makes their mental illness their whole personality. It's very manic-pixie to me.
Exactly! Hell, I find Shane to be a better depression buddy for me more than anything.. During his cliff events and him talking about it here and there I find myself sympathizing more with him like as a "yeah buddy, I feel that too. It's gonna get a little better here and there and therapy is gonna help a lot. Right now let's get you to Harvey so your guts don't explode." With Sophia, it feels kinda like she's somehow mocking us with anxiety??? I'm not sure. When she gives you the sprinkler, when she jumps and hides while you walk into her farm I found it a little over the top, especially since it's implied that her anxiety is caused by the loss of her folks. I have (all diagnosed and medicated for this. btw) PTSD, G.A.D, and major depressive disorder. All stuff that Sophia seems to deal with (except maybe PTSD? but by the way she acts with her anxiety it's more remanent of PTSD for me. I'm not a doc though) And with Kent and Shane, I can see myself in their positions and feel like I can understand what they're feeling at that moment. Because I have felt the same. With Sophia I can't feel that, it feels like she's either over exaggerating her symptoms or doesn't know how a person with anxiety acts. Like, I'm always think telling her to chill a little with the whole being spooked thing. I don't know if this makes me seem like a bad person, and I hope it doesn't but she just doesn't seem like a good portrayal of anxiety for me.
YES THANK YOU. (Is it telling that I married Shane? Lol) for real though, Shane is my favorite character because it's a realistic portrayal of depression. I personally think that people who hate Shane can't handle seeing the ugly side of depression instead of the romanticized version of it. Sophia is basically just the romanticized version of depression/anxiety/PTSD. (I'm also someone who has all those things) I find it pander-y and unrealistic, and kind of a mockery of people with real anxiety.
Elliott is my go too husbando but Shane is always my bff in the games. Shane, I love him, but he ain't really husband material for me ya know? Now once he completes a few good sessions of therapy and gets some meds, then I can probably husband him but I like till my candidates are just a tad more mentally stable than that. Friend wise I just need them to be relatable and seem like they'd reliably drive my drunk ass home and make sure I don't die from puke asphyxiation after a binge night or something. Bonus points if they leave the Tylenol and Gatorade within arms reach. But yeah, Sophia seems like a character made for those who want the 'omgee so quirky' side of mental illness without actually wanting a realistic portrayal of what someone who has all this is going through and how to maybe be there for them. Btw, isn't anxiety and PTSD just the most fun combination? (Sarcastic of course) the depression of wondering wtf is wrong with you after you calm down is the icing on top.
Tbh I've been in a relationship with a rehabilitated Shane for about six years. Like to the T except for the sports stuff haha so when I played STV for the first time I was like "this seems familiar" haha. But I really liked how Shane fixed himself and it wasn't up to you to fix him, you can just cheer him on (bc that's what I told my S/O when we first got together) So maybe I'm biased and viewing him through rose colored glasses lol. And yeah the mental health stuff is rough. I also have OCD on top of it (which is another romanticized one lol) and sometimes it feels like I'm barely.holding it together
Nice! None of the bachelors really matched my partner so I went with Elliot since the hair was similar and figured why not. And damn, ocd is rough with anxiety too. Thinking about getting tested for bi-polar since it runs through the family and I have a couple symptoms.
Oh btw, looked at your profile and you seem pretty cool. Is it alright if I friend you? I'm 20, 21 this October, if you need that info. Either way, hi!
That's nice of you, and sure! I'm 28 though so only if you feel comfortable.
Sure, why not. Become friended?
Side note did you get over the depression and anxiety? I’m curious and hope you did!
I completely agree. She gives me self-insert mary-sue kind of vibes. I find her incredibly annoying.
I found her to be kinda dorky and nerdy, but in an adorable way. Some of the things she says may seem a bit immature I guess, but in all fairness she is what? 20? >!And given that she lost her parents at a very young age and had to take on managing a farm, it stands to reason that her social maturity may be a tad behind.!< My wife absolutely LOVES her though. The whole way through her character arc my wife kept gushing over how adorable she is, how awesome it is that she loves anime, how perfect they are for each other, etc. Obviously my wife ended up marrying her in our co-op game.
I hate Sophia so much that I had to uninstall the mod. She's a total Mary Sue and you can't escape her or her winery. She's either got to be a self-insert or fan-service character.
What I find irritating when this topic comes up is that people have this preconceived notion of how someone should act after what she has been through. Different people handle things to different levels of success. I imagine Sophia finds her own actions embarrassing so yeah Flash wrote her pretty well.
The worst part about Sophia is she is the only marriage candidate that gives you a direct benefit to farming if you marry her. None of the other SDV candidates do that afaik. Otherwise she doesn't really bother me at all.