But then, this morning it finally happened…
Now I know why the child disappears if you get a divorce. I don’t know how I feel about that.
The game has this kind of dialogue already. There are two cut scenes about the child wish. One of them determines the gender of the baby. But after those two scenes the potential baby is never mentioned again until the baby arrival.Kikki wrote:I'm pretty sure it was because they added same-gender opportunities. I mean, maybe they just cut corners and it had nothing to do with that, but I can really see them not properly thinking through how they could handle a pregnancy between two men, for example. I don't think it'd be that difficult to include 'expecting' and 'baby's arrival' type scenes, though, in scenes that would work for anyone, regardless of who they are or who they marry. For example:
Farmer is sitting at the kitchen table with thought bubbles over their head. Spouse enters to see this, and goes over to give them a hug/kiss/pat on the head/whatever, and says, "What are you thinking about?" Answer options could then pop up.
If you choose the family option, Farmer and Spouse could have a lovey dovey conversation about a potential child/children. No mention of pregnancy or adoption would ever need to be brought up, to try to stay as neutral and even-handed as possible, to avoid excluding anyone and their chosen situation. If you chose the family option, you could then see family-making conversation from then on, one line per day or whatever, like "I'm so excited to meet/see/hold our child!" (Random and rather dull example, but let's just go with it, for the sake of ease.)
- I was thinking about having a family with you.
- I was thinking about you.
- I was thinking about having a tuna sandwich.
- Oh, nothing...I was just daydreaming.
Fast forward the allotted time period.
You get a cut-scene at some generically official-looking place that could pass as a hospital waiting room or an office, etc. A doctor or nurse hands Farmer and Spouse (who have a bag with them, which could indicate either a stay in the hospital OR that they brought stuff along for the baby they just adopted) a baby, and congratulates you on your healthy new son/daughter (the name input can go here.) A scene like that lets you think of it as though you just gave birth, or you just picked up your adopted child, either one. The baby's genetics would be determined the same way they were anyway; that doesn't need to change. Though personally, I've always felt that the game should let you choose your child's appearance the way you can choose the farmer's appearance at the beginning of the game. Seems even more feasible now that there are no portraits.
It's relatively simple to be inclusive in this, imo. I don't see why they had to axe the 'expecting' and 'arrival' scenes, unless they really were just cutting corners. Which would be sad.
That's also something I don't get because they did the pregnancy and birth events in SoSFoMT if you marry the opposite « Chicken Hugging », but had a magical baby event if you marry the same « Chicken Hugging ». I guess different engines might be the cause, but I can't say for sure.Kikki wrote:I get that they probably did this because of the same-gender pairings, but why not put in that bit of extra care and have the usual pregnancy/birth events, and add an adoption event, too? They could even let the player choose which they're gonna do. I suppose they think they can't, because how would they handle it if the player decided to have a pregnancy with a male-male pairing. I've half thought of a couple of scenes that they could do that would make note of your couple's intention to have a child, and then the child arriving, without it being clear whether they're being adopted or birthed directly...it could apply to anyone. But I wish they wouldn't hack bits out of the game to put a new feature in so shallowly.)