Last week, I wrote about how the different "Riverdale Rescue" characters developed friendships and romantic relationships. Depending on how close two characters become, they can really speed up shared assignments. Friendships follow the following progression: Unfamiliar --> Friends --> Good Friends --> Close Friends --> BFF. Romances follow the following progression: Unfamiliar --> Friends --> Good Friends --> Flirting --> Couple. Characters can only have one BFF and one Couple at a time, though they can switch as they spend more time with other eligible characters (for example, Veronica keeps switching BFFs with Betty and Kevin in my game). And one benefit to having a BFF or being part of a Couple is that those characters can go on special dates or hang-out sessions and win special prizes.
But there's one group of characters in "Riverdale Rescue" who seem to be forever free from any friendships or romantic relationships: Adults.
I first noticed this when Pop Tate came into the game. I wanted to see what would happen when he did shared tasks with either Betty or Veronica. Little "romance hearts" would appear when they would work with Archie or Jughead or any of the other guys, but I quickly learned that there were no romantic sparks when they worked with Pop Tate. Which is probably a good thing.
I didn't notice them at all at first, but I eventually noticed that there weren't any "friendship fist-bumps" showing up when Pop Tate worked with Moose or Reggie or any of the guys either. I guess that's a good thing too. It doesn't really model age-appropriate friendships for guys like Pop Tate to be BFFs with teenage boys, y'know?
Later on, I bought Kevin Keller into the game and noticed that he didn't form romantic relationships with any of the girls, nor with any of the main guys (though he seems to form crushes on all of the Archie Comics teen characters who've been created since 1970!). But I did try teaming him up with Pop Tate to see if any "romance hearts" blossomed. They didn't. Once again, this was probably a good thing.
I began feeling bad for the guy. He had nobody to hang with and nobody to smooch with.
I thought things might improve as I progressed through the levels. An assortment of adult characters would eventually get introduced to the game, including Mr. Weatherbee, Coach Kleats, Coach Clayton, Professor Flutesnoot, Miss Grundy, Miss Beazley, and Mr. Lodge. I had visions of Mr. Weatherbee and Miss Grundy becoming a couple, the two Coaches becoming firm BFFs, and Pop Tate finding his personal niche over time.
But even that's not to be. It seems like the Riverdale adults are pretty stand-offish. They enjoy watching the kids form strong relationships and rebuild the community, but they keep their emotions stuffed deep down inside.
I'm currently in Level 19. I've been playing Pop Tate for most of the game and most of the other adults for a few weeks now. Check out Pop's stats (Note: First image is his Information Page; Second image is his Romantic Page; and Third image is his Friendship Page):
Nothing. The man is an emotional void.
Is Miss Grundy -- currently the only adult woman in Riverdale -- any better?:
Nope. She spends all her time preparing for student exams and upgrading her home! She won't even give Mr. Weatherbee a chance!
In fact, none of the adults in "Riverdale Rescue" are capable of forming friendships or romantic relationships with anyone or any age. Coach Clayton can't even form friendship bonds with his own son Chuck, for crying out loud!
There are a handful of things that I would like to see altered a bit in "Archie: Riverdale Rescue," but I really have to admit that this is one of the biggest improvements that I would like to see made to the game. Riverdale is supposed to be the nicest place on earth, but how can that be when friendships and romances fall apart once folks enter their 20s?