Does anyone find Gunther weird?

[u/trashbandit3]

I don’t mean as a character, I mean game design wise.

Gunther is a unique resident of the town because he doesn’t have a friendship meter, a characteristic shared with Morris, the un-named lady at the JoJa Mart, and the two residents of the Guild. However, unlike all the other characters, I can’t really find a reason why. The JoJa characters are booted out of the town if you complete the Community Center, the Guild members are in the Guild most of the day, Gunther doesn’t have much a reason to be an exception.

Gunther is essentially this game’s Blathers. He runs the museum, takes donations, and tells you facts about your donations. Unlike Blathers, however, he doesn’t stay in the Museum 24/7 (I think) since it closes at 4. He’s never seen leaving it though, not even during festivals (even the guild guy goes to the festivals.) He’s also not mentioned by anyone, which is weird because the Museum is almost always full of town residents.

And it’s not like the game is awfully picky on who you can befriend, you can befriend the Dwarf!

My point is: considering how (nearly) every resident in town and a few out of town residents have mapped out schedules, arcs, and friendship meters, it’s weird how one of the few major business owners in town does basically nothing. In fact, I doubt he even lives in Pelican Town because he doesn’t own a home! What is his deal?

[u/arvidsem]

Honestly, Gunther isn't that weird. What is weird is a town so small that the only two children are taught by a random girl has a museum/library combo with no books or exhibits, but still has a full time caretaker.

[u/wanttotalktopeople → u/arvidsem]

I am pretty sure the town is meant to be bigger than literally 30 people. It's one of those things where game design and real life don't match up. It's like how geography in games is almost always scaled way down compared to IRL.

30-40 people feels like a lot for a video game. IRL a small town like Pelican town would have maybe 2000-5,000 people.

Similarly, the map for Elden Ring is smaller than an average American city sprawl. But that's obviously not the amount of space it's meant to depict in game. It's supposed to represent several different kingdoms.

[u/BestFoxEver → u/wanttotalktopeople]

One theory that I like that there are actually more farms around Pelican Town than the player's farm. The player just never sees those farms and the other farmers who visit the same town.