Forgotten Marriage Vows...

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I almost forgot that I had neglected to go through the actual marriage ceremonies with both Griffin and Gustafa after I brought them to red heart in order to be able to record successful marriage proposals with each of the Valley bachelors. I had gone through the weddings with Carter, Marlin and Rock, but it is a rather time-consuming process and emotionally stressful as well. I put it on hold temporarily after doing three in a row, but then it slipped my mind that I never had experienced marital bliss either with Griffin or with Gustafa.

I had begun the process of lowering their heart levels in the 2nd Spring in order to be able to trigger the rival heart events before I remembered! Actually, lowering heart levels is a little more tricky in Cute than it is in the original HM DS, particularly if you still are trying to RAISE Mineral Town bachelor levels. If you recall, changing your outfit daily will raise every bachelor's AP by 2000 points. This is great when you are courting a bachelor but rather frustrating when you are trying to persuade him to go for your rival instead!

I had lowered both Gustafa's and Griffin's level to orange when I realised I still hadn't experienced weddings with either. I returned to Griffin, blue feather in hand and a gift that would bring him up again to red, only to discover he HAD returned to red heart level without any active encouragement from me. It was because I had changed my clothes, not for him but for the Mineral Town bachelors!
The same situation existed with respect to Gustafa when I visited him later. He had bounced right back up to red heart level overnight...

In any case, experiencing marriage with Griffin was very positive and quite touching. I am inclined to marry him for real someday... I have added the full wedding event to my Courtship Guide as well as his dialogue after marriage, but I will share the comment that touched me personally.

When you are married to Griffin and speak to him after noon, he will tell you: 'Once I started my family, it feels like I found my reason for living. That's what marriage does. No, it's probably because I married you.'

Even Skye could not have said anything sweeter... Nevertheless, I reloaded to my pre-marital state and went through the entire Gustafa proposal event again in order to experience marriage to him.

Having been pleasantly surprised by Griffin's romantic sensitivity, I began to hope that my negative prejudice against Gustafa was equally misplaced. I expected music to figure into the scene and indeed he broke into song both at the wedding and at the table after we found ourselves together at the farmhouse.

He did say one thing that I found rather satisfying, simply because it was so apt. When he asked me to choose a nickname, I typed 'Muse', thinking that this would fit Gustafa well. In fact, he responded with great enthusiasm: 'Oh, that's good! From now on, I'll call you Muse!' Although I realise he would have given the same response even if I had chosen something awful or cruel like 'Rubbishmusic lover', a part of me felt he really did appreciate my gesture.

I do have to say though that Gustafa remains as egocentric after marriage as he was as a bachelor. He does not begin badly in the afternoon when he remarks that: 'The atmosphere influences music composing.'

My hopes rose a little there, thinking he would tell me that my presence created the greatest atmosphere and that I was his Muse indeed. But no! All he said was: 'The scenery here is best for composing music. This is great.'

This is one man I don't wish to marry in ANY of my games, sadly. Of all the bachelors, he is the only one that I find truly off-putting. It is not so much his appearance, although I do find him singularly unappealing. It is his personality, which reminds me of too many artists I have known personally. It is as though his humanity is funneled into his music and nothing is left for real interactions with other people. If I recall all his events, there have been moments when he said something flattering to Nami or to me, but on the whole, he is too self-centred for my taste.

Requiring myself to experience all these marriages without saving the results is more stressful and unpleasant than people may realise, chiefly because I have to get through a week of waiting before the wedding will occur. The first time, I waited until Popuri's Poultry Shop and Yodel's Farm opened to sell off all my animals and then simply slept through the remaining days until the wedding. Selling all my animals is time-consuming though, so the next time I simply slept through the days, ignoring the animals. THAT was truly horrid, as each morning, I would be forced to deal with a disappointed and rather irate Harvest Sprite who would inform me that Animals had become 'sick'. Ultimately I would be visited by Takakura and the funeral music would play as he lectured me about my neglect...

My underlying fear that I would save my game absentmindedly, depriving myself of a chance to marry Skye as well as shackling myself for life with some one like Gustafa was compounded by the fear of having to live with the results of killing off my animals by sleeping through the week...

Fortunately, my trial has ended, for the time being. I have reloaded back to my single state, with all weddings recorded fully in my Courtship and Marriage Guide.

I still have to go through the Mineral Town weddings, of course. So much for my hopes of marrying Skye this Spring! It probably will be Summer before I have all four heart events for each of the Mineral Town bachelors under my belt. At least I can get down to serious use of Weapons of Hate now though... and bring my rivals closer to marriage with the objects of their desire.

Mind you, it is rather sad to spend so much time, energy and so many good ingredients fixing dishes that individuals detest! It would be a lot less expensive and labour-intensive simply to make the rounds each morning with Bird Feed in hand. Every Valley bachelor HATES a gift of Bird seed, although it lowers AP only by 800 points rather than 5000. With the 2000 point bonus of changing clothing each night, though, a reduction of 800 points per day becomes rather meaningless... If I do NOT opt to change my clothing, however, it will take much longer to bring the Mineral Town bachelors to yellow heart. At least with the clothing change combined with a Most Favourite Item, I can raise a Mineral Town bachelor a full level now each time he visits the Valley...