Hangout and Gifts Nerf

[Xain Russell]

So I know the increase to relationship with the Townsfolk when Hanging out with them got nerfed in the latest patch, but it feels like it dropped excessively. For level 0 and 1 characters it's fine, but after level two the growth rate seems to drop off immensely. Started hang out with Benji, who's at level 4, and the gauge BARELY moves when gathering resources. Giving him gifts didn't do much of anything either.

I agree that you shouldn't be able to max out the friendship with just 5 minutes of gathering with them, but this feels like an over correction.

[NaniteTechnology]

The patch notes mentioned a daily fatigue as well. Might be worth it to compare over a few in game days

[Koankitsune]

I definitely noticed this throttle... finally can hang out with Chico, and got a whopping 1.5 bars of Friendship before the bar just seemed to halt.

It's still much more generous than Stardew Valley, I guess... but I already miss becoming someone's best friend in 5 minutes of wordlessly harvesting in front of them.

[BlissfulPluto]

I've noticed this too but thought it was a bug if you run. If you end hangout and rehang out it seems to work again.

[Drago The Dragon]

Yeah it was kind of nerfed to the ground so instead you can get like a level a day? (to remain efficient). So far I feel it's best to just use Talk in every stage of the day as it resets and still nets a lot of points. Hangouts just don't feel worth it anymore to me.
I hope they adjust it later. I get it was a tad too easy but then as there are about 50 folks to level...this cannot be slow. It will only hurt the game when people start putting warnings of being too grindy in their reviews becasue of this.

[Mystic Dragon]

Definitely feels like they over-nerfed it. I ran around with Chico gathering nearly every item (selling raw mats when I'd run out of inv space) and only gained about one friendship level.

I haven't seen the "hangout exhaustion" from them...I was the one getting exhausted. XD

[dhaag0314]

I also found that collecting points opened with amber will not get relationship points, except for the newly added cotton (desert) and ice (snow area). This reduces the chance of earning relationship.

[Mystic Dragon]

Originally posted by dhaag0314:

I also found that collecting points opened with amber will not get relationship points, except for the newly added cotton (desert) and ice (snow area). This reduces the chance of earning relationship.

I noticed that, too! Experimented a couple of times to make sure that it wasn't just my imagination, but it's very disappointing.

[Xain Russell]

Honestly, if you’re going to try and limit how much relationship you can build with a character over time, I’d prefer an actual indicator of how much you can grow during a hangout instead of just nerfing the growth rate into the ground. Like a visible gauge that shows their energy, or they stop you after a certain point and say “That’s enough for me, thanks for hanging out!”

This is probably unrealistic for the scope and time it would take, but I honestly would have preferred if the Hangouts were Persona-esk scripted events. Maybe they’d give you a couple of activities to do, like gathering resources and giving you just a big stack of materials you’d need to craft things they like, or visit other townsfolk, which would build your relationship with them as well.

Even before the patch, hangouts felt a little hollow, only used to quickly build levels.