Play Dates Guide

[Little Goldfinch]

Can some kind soul please make a Play Dates Guide. I've never payed Portia and I've no idea where to start. Thank you <3

[Nishi Kinuyo]

Well, there's currently not much to do from what I've noticed.
In big lines, it works the same way as in Portia (see guide for portia on it), with as single biggest difference being that you go have fun immediately instead of agreeing upon a day and time.
As for what you can do: light fireworks (requires firework items), sit and chat by the oasis (gift and compliment options), or go for dinner (dine, talk about work, and gift options).
Haven't done the fireworks myself yet, so I don't know which options you got other than lighting the fireworks.

[Edgar Allan Hoe]

You can get them to max pretty easily, but it doesn't seem to give you any extra bonuses for doing so right now.
Best plan I've found atm for a 45 or better enjoyment rating:
1. Prepare 2 "loved" gifts.
2. Take them to the blue moon, give 1 "loved" gift, order food(the game right now tells you exactly what to get them to make them happy), do the discussion option.
3. Take them to the bench by the oasis, give another "loved" gift.
Right now you should be at 45 and have the happiest emotion on the meter, so anything else you do is just gravy.
From there you can play wack-a-mole or shoot off fireworks.
Not much to say about wack-a-mole.
If you want to do fireworks, you can buy them from Arvio's shop. I'd get like 20 to 50 of each color. Each villager likes different colors of fireworks, and they'll be happier with the display if you use more of each color they like. It's really quantity over quality for this.
Sidenote for fireworks: Whatever pattern you make on the ground is going to display upside down in the sky, so make sure you draw whatever upsidedown so that it looks right when the fireworks go off.

So, yeah... but like I said, you don't seem to get a bonus right now for maxing out the mood, so it's not a big deal.

[Little Goldfinch]

Thank you, both! That does sound fun and I'll try it out <3

[Nishi Kinuyo]

I haven't managed to get the whack-a-mouse to work outside of the side mission with Mi-an and Elsie. So, does it only work with certain people? Or are there other requirements?

[Edgar Allan Hoe]

Originally posted by Nishi Kinuyo:

I haven't managed to get the whack-a-mouse to work outside of the side mission with Mi-an and Elsie. So, does it only work with certain people? Or are there other requirements?

Not 100% sure. I've only taken Owen, Mi-an, Grace and Qi on play dates and it worked for all 4 of them every time.
I just interact with the sparkling hammer and it asks me if I want to play together with the person I'm with.
I also have played it solo since the mission you're referencing, but as far as I'm aware there are no extra requirements.

[Zeesha]

Originally posted by Nishi Kinuyo:

I haven't managed to get the whack-a-mouse to work outside of the side mission with Mi-an and Elsie. So, does it only work with certain people? Or are there other requirements?

The only time I've had problems with Whack-a-mole, I didn't have the points to play. I have played it with Mi-an, Owen, Unsuur, on a non mission play date. For Grins I was going to get Yan's points up and then just hit him with the mallet but haven't done it yet :/

I did try to take Justice once, and couldn't figure why I couldn't get the mallet. Had 3 points left instead of four so it didn't sparkle/wouldn't activate.

[Nishi Kinuyo]

Even if it was the first thing I tried, I didn't get the interaction prompt.
Then again, maybe some people just aren't interested.
Only tried it with Catori and Hugo so far.

*edit*
Just checked, Mi-an will quite happily play whack-a-mole and even ask to play it when nearby. While with Catori I don't even get the option to play for the 60 Gols, nor will she ask me to play it. Currently friendship level doesn't seem to impact it either; I'm close to having four full stars with Catori while I'm only just above 2 hearts with Mi-an.

So I guess it might be dependent on whether or not an npc can be romanced or not.

[Edgar Allan Hoe]

Originally posted by 76561198033130250:

Even if it was the first thing I tried, I didn't get the interaction prompt.
Then again, maybe some people just aren't interested.
Only tried it with Catori and Hugo so far.

*edit*
Just checked, Mi-an will quite happily play whack-a-mole and even ask to play it when nearby. While with Catori I don't even get the option to play for the 60 Gols, nor will she ask me to play it. Currently friendship level doesn't seem to impact it either; I'm close to having four full stars with Catori while I'm only just above 2 hearts with Mi-an.

So I guess it might be dependent on whether or not an npc can be romanced or not.

Maybe! It could also be that the character's wack-a-mole AI isn't working, or their hammer swinging animation isn't in yet, so the option is temporarily unavailable.
I did notice that when playing with Qi, he just kinda stood around a lot.

[Strawberry Rose]

Originally posted by Nishi Kinuyo:

Even if it was the first thing I tried, I didn't get the interaction prompt.
Then again, maybe some people just aren't interested.
Only tried it with Catori and Hugo so far.

*edit*
Just checked, Mi-an will quite happily play whack-a-mole and even ask to play it when nearby. While with Catori I don't even get the option to play for the 60 Gols, nor will she ask me to play it. Currently friendship level doesn't seem to impact it either; I'm close to having four full stars with Catori while I'm only just above 2 hearts with Mi-an.

So I guess it might be dependent on whether or not an npc can be romanced or not.

It's probably because she runs it. For the same reason you can't take Owen out to dinner. So those two characters don't get to have access to all of the playdate options :-/ And with there being so few options, it's harder to have a good date with them.

[Nishi Kinuyo]

Originally posted by Strawberry Rose:

Originally posted by Nishi Kinuyo:

Even if it was the first thing I tried, I didn't get the interaction prompt.
Then again, maybe some people just aren't interested.
Only tried it with Catori and Hugo so far.

*edit*
Just checked, Mi-an will quite happily play whack-a-mole and even ask to play it when nearby. While with Catori I don't even get the option to play for the 60 Gols, nor will she ask me to play it. Currently friendship level doesn't seem to impact it either; I'm close to having four full stars with Catori while I'm only just above 2 hearts with Mi-an.

So I guess it might be dependent on whether or not an npc can be romanced or not.

It's probably because she runs it. For the same reason you can't take Owen out to dinner. So those two characters don't get to have access to all of the playdate options :-/ And with there being so few options, it's harder to have a good date with them.

Still leaves Hugo's reason.
Maybe he's "too old" to play it?

Or, as Edgar mentioned, it could be a lack of animations or AI.

I guess that, short of a direct answer from the Devs, we'll have to wait for the august update.

[Spaghetti Duck]

Originally posted by Strawberry Rose:

Originally posted by Nishi Kinuyo:

Even if it was the first thing I tried, I didn't get the interaction prompt.
Then again, maybe some people just aren't interested.
Only tried it with Catori and Hugo so far.

*edit*
Just checked, Mi-an will quite happily play whack-a-mole and even ask to play it when nearby. While with Catori I don't even get the option to play for the 60 Gols, nor will she ask me to play it. Currently friendship level doesn't seem to impact it either; I'm close to having four full stars with Catori while I'm only just above 2 hearts with Mi-an.

So I guess it might be dependent on whether or not an npc can be romanced or not.

It's probably because she runs it. For the same reason you can't take Owen out to dinner. So those two characters don't get to have access to all of the playdate options :-/ And with there being so few options, it's harder to have a good date with them.

You should be able to take Owen out to dinner, at least I was able to during a (non-romance) playdate. When you do dinner with him he has some line of dialogue along the lines of it being a treat because he doesn't usually get to be the customer.

I have also noticed weirdness with Whack-A-Mole. I've been able to play it with some characters and not others. I assumed that the ones who couldn't play it just didn't have the appropriate animations implemented yet, but who knows.

[Edgar Allan Hoe]

Originally posted by Strawberry Rose:

It's probably because she runs it. For the same reason you can't take Owen out to dinner. So those two characters don't get to have access to all of the playdate options :-/ And with there being so few options, it's harder to have a good date with them.

D: I take Owen to dinner just fine.
He does say "I'm not used to being a customer here", but he'll go.

[Laithor]

Whack a mole not working? I can see the sparkling hammer but there is no interact option. Am I missing something?

[Laithor]

Originally posted by Laithor:

Whack a mole not working? I can see the sparkling hammer but there is no interact option. Am I missing something?

For more context I was on a play date with justice after doing a mission and he wanted to play whack a mole. So I went over. Saw the sparkling hammer but there was no option to play. I ended the play date and after he left the option to play was there. Am I missing something?

[Dimensional Traveler]

Originally posted by Laithor:

Originally posted by Laithor:

Whack a mole not working? I can see the sparkling hammer but there is no interact option. Am I missing something?

For more context I was on a play date with justice after doing a mission and he wanted to play whack a mole. So I went over. Saw the sparkling hammer but there was no option to play. I ended the play date and after he left the option to play was there. Am I missing something?

Isn't the activation spot at the steps up onto the platform?