Agung not datable?

[fossil patrol]

Dear devs,

I just saw the announcement of the final dateable characters. But I am a little bit confused, bcz a few months ago it said that agung would be part of the dateable characters but he is not in the list? Or did you change that?

[low glacier]

Hi! I'm just curious because probably I missed that post. Was this officially announced by the team?

[fossil patrol]

Can't load that announcement anymore
Back then they showed agungs picture when they announced that two of the merfolk would be dateable 🤔

[primal talon]

They gave us hope and then took it away, How disappointing!

[fathom mantle]

Yeah I was surprised too. I wonder why he got cut.

[small wing]

Honestly, I'm hoping that this is not set in stone. The devs have changed already the amount of datable merfolk from their original Kickstarter goal from 2 to 3 (see original backer goal info), so we know for sure that things can change.

Considering how Agung has been used in so much promotional content, it is understandable that we all assumed he was the one of the romanceable Merfolk. And I do have to admit that this latest development feels like we are being robbed of that romance, especially considering everyone's reaction here on Discord (I'm know I am definitely disappointed and it has put a bummer on my wish to play the game for the moment).

So, hopefully, devs will see the feedback from this announcement and perhaps reconsider Agung's current situation, if not I hope it is for a good reason. I'll wait until further updates before I play the game again for the moment

[modern sedge]

No offence to the dateable merfolk Semeru… but I was 💯 planning on choosing Agung.

Just a little reminder. Agung, the first one with dark hair has been replaced by Semeru in the dateable npc lineup for those new to this thread/discord. Don’t get me wrong Semeru is nice too, but…

[cerulean swift]

😦

[modern sedge]

^^^

[frank saddle]

It would certainly be nice to have two choices of mermen as we have two choices of mermaids.
If you prefer men and want to date a mer you're kind of stuck with one choice now which is a big shame

[cerulean swift]

I'd happily wait for this.

[fossil patrol]

Me 2 tbh...

[fathom mantle]

yeah that's my biggest issue. it's kinda a bummer that there's no 2 choices for mermen, but there are 2 for mermaids, which both are gorgeous and I love them, but I prefer guys. and design wise I'm more drawn to Agung than Semeru. So seeing Agung cut out is a bummer, I was looking forward to romancing him.

[jolly peak]

They never specifically said names of the dateable merpeople iirc

[radiant aurora]

It is a little strange that they put him right next to a dateable character in the promotional stuff, though. I understand if they don't want to add him bc I imagine that's a lot of work but I do at least hope they acknowledge it whether it was a misunderstanding or they ended up changing it for whatever reason, Im sure a lot of people were sold on the project bc it seemed like agung was going to be a romance option

[modern sedge]

I still want him as a dateable character. It doesn’t make me hate the game without him, but a comment I will forever make is “at one point we all thought we could marry Agung… alas it was but a dream that will never come to fruition” while playing this game on stream.

[sharp steeple]

I hope they reconsider, semeru is ok looks wise. I still prefer agung tho.

[dull socket]

Agung was not replaced because he was never in dating pool. Dev never implied that he would be datable.

[modern sedge]

Never implicitly stated, but oddly implied due to images used at the time of announcement of the dateable merfolk addition. It’s totally fine, but understandably many thought he “could” be one of the dateable npcs.

This one

Understandable that people were confused, but no one is accusing the devs of lying.

[inner acorn]

Yeah can we stop with the "the devs never explicitly confirmed he was dateable" pretty much everyone (even those who weren't holding out for him) were expecting him to be in the dating pool.
As Raynah said, they were the initial mermaids shown in the KickStarter campaign and when the goal of "merfolk kingdom expansion, 2 dateable merfolk" was added. They have since been shown together pretty much as a pair, Agung in particular heavily promoted, and then Denali is confirmed to be dateable but not Agung all of sudden, zero explanation.

Yes, Agung was never explicitly confirmed to be dateable but its really not strange for ppl to be surprised and feel blindsided. Considering everyone's reaction (including even those who weren't holding out for him), the majority of the community was clearly under the assumption he was a dateable character. I think thats enough to say that even if the devs didn't outright confirm him, they let the assumption sit.
No one is calling the devs liars and no one believes the devs have done this out of maliciousness. Its just a marketing blunder that ppl are feeling blindsided and disappointed about.

[modern sedge]

I just want to add that Agung is hawt! That hasn’t been implicitly stated so I had to go there.

[dull socket]

So any npc concept art is promoting them as datables? Also Agung was not "heavily advertised". Plenty of us were saying to people that Agung was never confirmed.

[modern sedge]

I am not continuing the debate which doesn’t exist. Never said the devs said he would be a dateable npc. This thread is just asking about whether it’s still possible and for the devs to know the interest is there. 👍🏼

[dull socket]

The op is claiming that Agung was in datable list. Also a lot of people are claiming that in feedback channel, but it is not the one for discussions, so I post in this topic.

[radiant aurora]

The main 2 possibilities I can think of is that it's either a marketing blunder/misunderstanding and he was never dateable or he was originally meant to be dateable then they decided against it for a mysterious reason but either way again I hope they do address it and are open abt what's up at least for the sake of the people who were inspired to buy the game bc of him. If he was never dateable and it was an unfortunate coincidence in marketing then that's ok and if the devs made a personal decision that they didn't want this character in the dating pool anymore for some reason that's also ok (like iirc another npc was inspired by a real person? I can see why they would feel uncomfortable making that npc romancable so maybe it was similar with agung) but I'm just wildly speculating lol

[inner acorn]

respectfully my dude, u don't not need to constantly hammer in "but he was never explicitly confirmed" we get it. We hear you.
But he wasn't explicitly denied either, and majority of ppl were led by his frequent presence in marketing and the way the Kickstarter is worded that both Denali AND Agung were the 2 romanceable merfolk.
All people are saying is that its not odd ppl thought he would be part of the dateable cast, and its valid to be disappointed when he was many ppl's marriage choice.
Now, if he had been confirmed to not be a romanceable character from the start, I could understand your insistence. But he was not.

[dull socket]

Do you though

[inner acorn]

do I what

[pastel ether]

Semeru looks like Derek, I like his look but I want Agung too.

[fossil patrol]

I am terribly sorry if it sounded like that! 😱
I wrote it right after seeing the list. I do not accuse the devs of lying! For goodness sake! 😱
I would only like a clarification if it was only our assumption or if they changed their mind along the way

But you must admit, that in the original announcement of 2 datable merfolk it sounded like agung would get added

[verbal cypress]

i think with so many people here, and on other sm sites, being so confused and disappointed about this, it’s clear there was some kind of misunderstanding/possible marketing blunder here about agung being romanceable. there’s nothing wrong with wanting clarification, especially when this many people seemed to be led to believe one thing when that wasn’t the case.

[split wolf]

I think the fact that Denali and Agung have been presented together is no misshap. Look at their fins. They are light and translucent; and very similar, contrary to the fins of other merfolks revealed so far. I think they've been presented together because they're siblings. I wouldn't be surprised if a big quest was tied to Agung, something like "find my brother disappeared somewhere in the depths", which would make Agung unavailable for quite a while, and thus maybe not ideal as a datable (I know other characters, like Ben and Nina, are seasonally gone; but their presence is not tied to the success of a quest, and so you WILL see them no matter how you choose to play the game).

[tidal laurel]

Respectfully, on the topic of the characters being heavily promoted: While both Agung and Denali were introduced at the same time, Denali was actually marketed and shown in the story a lot more than Agung (counted 11 artworks of her in total, including being featured as the poster mermaid in the wallpaper on the home screen of the game itself. Agung only has 6 artwork/ marketed less). I recently played the beach cleanup event, and Denali was watching the farmer chatting with Ling during the beach cleanup (more story involvement). It does seem like the devs had always planned more for Denali. Of course, I did hope that Agung was dateable too, and the marketing was a misleading when they introduced romanceable merfolk in the KS, but to explain a possibility as to why Denali might have been chosen over Agung or the other chars like Axel/Raina/Senja/Antonio etc. for the mystery slot, is likely because they have already planned more for Denali (marketing & story). As for Semeru replacing Agung's male mermfolk slot, im not sure. In terms of balance ratio, if you count Raj as male presenting, then the male and females in the game are balanced now. (but since Raj is nonbinary, some people did hope for a nonbinary third mer option too I guess?)

[steady terrace]

They should add another male dateable even if not Agung because now we have 2 female choices but only one male.

Not fair to us who wanted a merman husband to have no choice although wife wanters do :/

[upbeat slate]

yeah, I find it odd there are two mermaids and only one merman..

[ivory owl]

I’m new the community and instantly loved the Merfolk promo art. I hope they add in Agung as another merman option husband.

[gritty vector]

I hope they add Agung as a dateable option. I don't like there's only one merman option to date and two mermaids option to date. I hope they reconsider and add him as another merman dateable to be even as I really wanted to date him when I first saw him. But kinda holding out hope that a mod will allow that to happen if nothing more happens.

[cerulean swift]

Let us praaaaaaaay.

[ivory owl]

His personality is great too. Even more disappointed. It’ll be interesting to see if the upcoming merfolk story is the reason why he’s unavailable.

[jolly echo]

All else fails, you can always post in #🤝coral-feedback and keep the Agung hope alive

[somber crest]

if not agung (even though i realllly want him as a love interest) than at least another male merfolk to romance so it’s 2 females and 2 males!

[cerulean swift]

This would be nice. Although I do still pray for our lord and saviour, Agung. 😂