Damn Rune Factory

I've always been a Harvest Moon fan, and, though it is no Harvest Moon 64, Rune Factory 3 really soothed that itch of not having played a Harvest Moon game in so long. I've only been playing it for the past three days, mind, but I've been spending every free minute I have on the game. I'm in the middle of my first winter right now, and I'm finally getting the hang of farming well enough to, for lack of a better term, min-max my produce levels.

Buying out of season flowers, planting them, then tilling the withered leaves the next day, and doing it over and over again with scythed seeds of various in-season crops gets me to level 7, 8, and 9 within a week! Working on getting to level 10.

Not that that matters, though. It took me to early Fall to get four buffalmoos, or however they're called, and milk them for level 5 and 6 small milks daily. Now that that's turned into four level 10 medium milks, each worth, I believe, a little under 5000g, farming is just a hobby. With 20,000g daily, who needs other money makers?

In any event, I've heard many exclaim surprise about how many girls there are to marry in this game, and not being able to choose due to too large a selection, but I have to disagree. Yes, there are quite a few, but none of the girls really appeal to me. Or, rather, the few that do are unavailable. Namely Hazel and Monica. Hardworking, reliable Hazel, and sweet, moe-moe Monica~ After doing a few request, Monica went from that annoying anti-social brat who bites a lot to calling me dear! My heart~ It swoons! Hearing her voice is enough to make me smile. Her shy attempts at flirting will kill me! So cute. So adorable. Why can my character not wake up to that every morning? It's unfair, I say. Age discrimination is no laughing matter! Why, any who disagrees has simply not heard her call you onii-san. Truly, just hearing her greet you would turn any man to my side. I want to marry Monica, dammit!

That aside, namely as a result of my experience with Monica, I had been working on marrying Shana, solely because it would, naturally, let me be with Monica, but then a few lines of dialogue from Sakuya caught me. Namely the ones regarding her (and her mother's, apparently) desire to get the MC to crossdress. Oh, and the hints of Sakuya's fiery Capitalist ventures and ruthless drive toward her desires are rather attractive as well. So Sakuya it is. Plus, she really saved me once by supplying me with 68 pieces of iron just the day I needed it, and 72 pieces of silver a few weeks after. Overpriced? Sure, but what's the value of money when you have more of it than you'll ever need?

Regardless, I'm curious as to if there is anything special in pointedly refusing to marry, remaining the bachelor for as long as your lifespan allows. Or if it's just normal gameplay as the elder characters repeatedly make shameless remarks about how cute their daughter and you look together. Oh, and I also hope there's a crossdressing scene, but if there is, it will no doubt be 'off-screen' with no real sprites (3D or 2D) of the MC in drag... C'est la vie.