what triggers certain npc quests? (spoilers)

[AlphaGodith]

i've maxed relationship with all npcs and finished the parasaur questline. i've stopped doing board quests and figured out a stupid easy way to get tons of money, so there really isn't much to the game for me anymore.

but i still have some quests missing apparently, cuz zara and orani both have ??? locations they sometimes disappear to, and for other characters that indicated a quest i needed to do for them.

how do these quests get started tho? is it time based, so i just wasn't supposed to hit endgame so fast and now i have to mill around and wait for year 5 or whatever? is it just a random chance each day after you reach a certain relationship goal? i'm getting bored just wandering around hoping to see an exclamation mark one day, and with how annoying the game is with just not ever telling you things, i wonder if there's something i'm supposed to be doing to trigger these quests.

[AlphaGodith]

if i'm supposed to be chatting with them (even tho they have nothing new to say) or doing board missions (even tho i don't need the money/saddles/seeds and have maxed relationship) it would be very helpful to know

[AEon]

I noted, as did others, that to grind the relationship of the main NPCs to 7/7 = BFF, you actually need to play the Town Board (in Pebble Plaza & desert town) message board side-quests for the specific character you want to push. On the path to maximising the relationship values things like 5% & 20% discounts are given etc.

Side note: the Orani relationship is especially "grinding" to unlock, it took me around 20 side-quests to get her from BF to BFF (6/7 to 7/7). With Avery I handed in 6 side-quests at once to go from BF to BFF.

Now, also as some have noted, once all the NPCs are at relationship level BFF (level 7/7), you can completely stop grinding / handing in those message board side-quests, AFAICT. And I do not think furthering the character arcs / quests of the main NPCs is related to RNG (randomly spawned quests)... what it seems to depend on is:

1. Waiting / completing enough days in the calendar to unlock the next "automatically" presented character/story-quest.

2. The trick at times seems to be that it is not enough to just run past all NPCs every day to check for their "!" to show up, you also need to catch them at certain locations.

Example: Granny (Agami) seems have a few of her story quests show up only in the evenings when she is at her home in Dapplewood or her garden plot, or at the Pebble Plaza at her sales stand or even at the Pebble Library. Mira might give story quests at her home, somewhere in the valley or in the desert sandy dunes.


Daily Grind: Sleep to the next day on the farm, collect dino poo, fix a few things (I grow almost nothing), then grab a runner dino (I use Lucky or an Allosourus), and then systematically "sprint run" i.e. travel to
- Veridian Valley: at home/in valley: Mira/Owynn
- Pebble Plaza: Agami, Marlo, Owynn, Pinnin, Avery, Orani
- Dapplewood Forest: evening: Agami, Marlo, Pinnin, by day: Mira
- Ariacotta Canyon: dunes: Mira, around lake/at home: Freya, Orani, Zara
and check for any "!" markers.

So, does this help much, no... but at least this is the info I gleaned in the last 20 hours of the above grind (total playtime 10h demo + 64h game on demo save). I posted the info for others who might be curious.

[AEon]

@Devs: Maybe move this thread into the Gameplay Q&A subforum?

[Ominous_P1geon |]

How do you know you are BFF with NPCs, is it when you can stay over at their houses?

[AlphaGodith]

Originally posted by Ominous_P1geon |:

How do you know you are BFF with NPCs, is it when you can stay over at their houses?

in your journal they have info pages, it should say your status with them both with words and with a visual flower that gets colored in as you go.

[mini]

I have waited over a month of days in game and checked in with Freya every evening trying to continue her storyline with Orani and it just will not trigger. I'm about to give up, it's not worth it and it has diminished my whole gameplay experience.