Relationship seems to take forever to increase?

[Ben]

I spec into social and I still have yet to get a single heart with anyone (two in-game months). WITH social perks, chatting gets +2, sparring and rock/paper/scissors gets +2-3. It seems like you need thousands of points to max someone. Gifts don't seem to do enough, even on birthdays. There also seems to be decay going on if you ignore an NPC for a few days. Getting those random +15 friendship points from quests doesn't mean anything if it'll decay because you aren't "focusing" on them.

The game is already overwhelming enough, I don't see why there needs to be relationship decay. I also don't want to have to run around listing to the same lines of dialog every day, sparing with everyone, and constantly testing my luck with R/P/S for tiny gains. The UI animations make this a very slow and tedious process.

I feel like I am missing something with the social aspect of the game?

[Zalzany]

Overwhelming its so light and casual I always got time to see the ladies eveyr day to talk and play rock paper scisors. I think your in too much of a rush hopping to get married by month 3-4 like its some competiton with a finite time line. I hate playing like that even in Stardew Valley I wait like a year + to get married, and even then I can't find time most days to visit the townies in this I run out of SP and have plenty of time to talk to 4 women every single day.

In fact I plan my day around it I normally find them now before I go to the ruins to mine, like I hit job board first see if there is any easy commisions, then hit up girl at cafe across street, the flower girl, ginger at her house, mine, then I normally catch Emily walking into town as I head back to the shop and talk to her then rock paper scisor her.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Zalzany:

Overwhelming its so light and casual I always got time to see the ladies eveyr day to talk and play rock paper scisors. I think your in too much of a rush hopping to get married by month 3-4 like its some competiton with a finite time line. I hate playing like that even in Stardew Valley I wait like a year + to get married, and even then I can't find time most days to visit the townies in this I run out of SP and have plenty of time to talk to 4 women every single day.

In fact I plan my day around it I normally find them now before I go to the ruins to mine, like I hit job board first see if there is any easy commisions, then hit up girl at cafe across street, the flower girl, ginger at her house, mine, then I normally catch Emily walking into town as I head back to the shop and talk to her then rock paper scisor her.

Talking to someone to hear the same line of dialog every day, playing RPS (which seems pure lock?), and sparring which is basically wait 10 seconds for game to let you 2 shot them. That's just not fun to me. In stardew you just quickly talked to someone for a split second and moved on, gifted them twice a week, etc. It felt much easier and less grindy.

Decay makes it so you can't take it slow, or you'll be grinding for that much longer.The social aspect just feels like climbing a mountain. I am trying to focus on Ginger, and she doesn't even get relationship points from gifts. It'll take in-game years even with the social tree perks?

Do you get more ways to increase relationship points later on or something?

[Zalzany]

Just skip the line of text I do all the time its 100% standard for the genre even SV does that you get the same response a million times. I mean you have any idea how many freaking ingots and pipes I made? To me its jsut part of the game I don't pay it no mind I got do the same task a trillion times.

And the decay is when you don't see them you said, as I said I see them every day so how is it I can't take my time when my daily routine is to visit hit same 4 girls every single day? I mean unless decay happens even when you talk to them, it sounds more like you just doing it the hard way. I mean there is no presure at all in this game no timers worth a damn at all. Even work orders give me min of 3 days, max of unlimited time. And the 3 days I can knock same day by next morning every single time.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Zalzany:

Just skip the line of text I do all the time its 100% standard for the genre even SV does that you get the same response a million times. I mean you have any idea how many freaking ingots and pipes I made? To me its jsut part of the game I don't pay it no mind I got do the same task a trillion times.

And the decay is when you don't see them you said, as I said I see them every day so how is it I can't take my time when my daily routine is to visit hit same 4 girls every single day?

The UI animations makes it impossible to do it quick though.

Wait for buttons to appear > click chat > click exit > wait for buttons to appear > say bye. In stardew it's just run up to someone hit a single button and walk away immediately. I have over 1000 hours in Stardew, you can't tell me it's the same. You also get way more points in stardew, a single birthday gift can give 1-3 hearts by itself. It takes so much longer in this even with my character spec into "social".

If you only focus on 4 girls, sure it won't be a problem, but what's the point of +RP from quests when it'll just decay because you never talk to those NPCs daily?

[Zalzany]

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

Originally posted by Zalzany:

Just skip the line of text I do all the time its 100% standard for the genre even SV does that you get the same response a million times. I mean you have any idea how many freaking ingots and pipes I made? To me its jsut part of the game I don't pay it no mind I got do the same task a trillion times.

And the decay is when you don't see them you said, as I said I see them every day so how is it I can't take my time when my daily routine is to visit hit same 4 girls every single day?

The UI animations makes it impossible to do it quick though.

Wait for buttons to appear > click chat > click exit > wait for buttons to appear > say bye. In stardew it's just run up to someone hit a single button and walk away immediately.

Nope over thinking it man, run up hit E I never wait at all, hit E when complete stop worst case I got bump Emily as she seems in a hurry and won't respond unless I stop her when she comes to town in late afternoon. Yet again no time limit, I run SP if I ignor the ladies by like 16:00.

You trying to court eveyr singel person aren't you? One of those guys? I can talk to 4 girls in less then like an hour in game time. I got worked out easy, cafee girl iseither in plaza on way to job board or just outside it when i leave, flower girl same thing and I hit Ginger up on the way to the ruins, that is my biggest detour in fact. And emily like I said I see her every day as I run out of SP and head home just as she enters town.

You got work out a system man, stoping doing it all the hard way. I mean there is a door right there in this wall you got, and your trying head butt your way in so hard, not realising its 2 feet to your left...

[Sojiro]

I totally agree with Tyrindor, the interface for talking and for gifting is much less smooth than the one in Stardew Valley.


Also, yeah, relationship decay is too fast.

[Ben]

Originally posted by Zalzany:

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

The UI animations makes it impossible to do it quick though.

Wait for buttons to appear > click chat > click exit > wait for buttons to appear > say bye. In stardew it's just run up to someone hit a single button and walk away immediately.

Nope over thinking it man, run up hit E I never wait at all, hit E when complete stop worst case I got bump Emily as she seems in a hurry and won't respond unless I stop her when she comes to town in late afternoon. Yet again no time limit, I run SP if I ignor the ladies by like 16:00.

You trying to court eveyr singel person aren't you? One of those guys? I can talk to 4 girls in less then like an hour in game time. I got worked out easy, cafee girl iseither in plaza on way to job board or just outside it when i leave, flower girl same thing and I hit Ginger up on the way to the ruins, that is my biggest detour in fact. And emily like I said I see her every day as I run out of SP and head home just as she enters town.

You got work out a system man, stoping doing it all the hard way. I mean there is a door right there in this wall you got, and your trying head butt your way in so hard, not realising its 2 feet to your left...

We playing the same game?

I just tested... I run up to someone hit E. Then hit E again. Nothing happens. I must click chat, then either click the screen or hit space to advance dialog. Then watch the UI button animation again, and click leave. If I want to spar or play RPS, x3 this. Every day. For NPC I want to be friends with. I'd have to do this for at least an in-game year (probably longer).

Again I even put my points into being social and it still feels impossible to gain friends without a massive amount of grind.

[Leezeebub]

Ive just been out drinking with some friends i havent seen in over a year and a half. Was like we saw each other yesterday.
If this game were real I would be an adversary of everybody i work with after every weekend.

Its like, friendship works two ways, dont make me bring a cake to your house every day then hate on me cos im busy for a week. How about you bring me a cake tomorrow!

[Ben]

Originally posted by Leezeebub:

Ive just been out drinking with some friends i havent seen in over a year and a half. Was like we saw each other yesterday.
If this game were real I would be an adversary of everybody i work with after every weekend.

Its like, friendship works two ways, dont make me bring a cake to your house every day then hate on me cos im busy for a week. How about you bring me a cake tomorrow!

Indeed. I'd be OK with the grind if decay was removed entirely, at least then we can do the grind at our own pace.

Personally, I also hated the -RP from "bad gifts" in stardew and was sad this game did the same. If I give my friend a gift he doesn't like, he's not going to like me less for it. It should just be 0 RP for disliked gifts, and maybe -1RP for really bad gifts like "soil" or "stone".

[Mysterious Pixie]

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

Originally posted by Leezeebub:

Ive just been out drinking with some friends i havent seen in over a year and a half. Was like we saw each other yesterday.
If this game were real I would be an adversary of everybody i work with after every weekend.

Its like, friendship works two ways, dont make me bring a cake to your house every day then hate on me cos im busy for a week. How about you bring me a cake tomorrow!

Indeed. I'd be OK with the grind if decay was removed entirely, at least then we can do the grind at our own pace.

Since the game is so massive and some relationships have stupidly important perks (+100 health and +100 stamina come to mind), I kinda want to see decay removed as well. It makes world feel more like a small town.

[Ben]

Originally posted by FunnyBunny:

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

Indeed. I'd be OK with the grind if decay was removed entirely, at least then we can do the grind at our own pace.

Since the game is so massive and some relationships have stupidly important perks (+100 health and +100 stamina come to mind), I kinda want to see decay removed as well. At least once you're their friend, or perhaps higher.

I have heard it stops after reaching 4 hearts, but I am not sure if that means it'll still decay to 4 hearts or stops entirely.

Here's a developer comment on the system. It starts decaying THREE points a day, ouch!

-------------------------------

relationships should not decrease if you have 4 hearts or more, and no lower than stranger

It will decrease if
1,not talk to in more than 5 days,
2, no more than 4 hearts,
and it decrease by 1 point per day for 20 days then 3 points per day. (1heart = 100points).

[Mysterious Pixie]

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

Originally posted by FunnyBunny:

Since the game is so massive and some relationships have stupidly important perks (+100 health and +100 stamina come to mind), I kinda want to see decay removed as well. At least once you're their friend, or perhaps higher.

I have heard it stops after reaching 4 hearts, but I am not sure if that means it'll still decay to 4 hearts or stops entirely.

Here's a developer comment on the system. It starts decaying THREE points a day, ouch!

-------------------------------

relationships should not decrease if you have 4 hearts or more, and no lower than stranger

It will decrease if
1,not talk to in more than 5 days,
2, no more than 4 hearts,
and it decrease by 1 point per day for 20 days then 3 points per day. (1heart = 100points).

Ah, seems fair if that currently isn't bugged. It's just that I recently realised dr xu dropped to zero after just rather quickly. I'll see if that's the case soon enough I guess. I then hereby retract my previous complaint lol.

P.S.: this game just keeps getting better and better, mining could maybe do with a bit of love early on - jetpack controls a bit weirdly as I'm always moving and it's also a bit buggy - but other than that, everything seems amazing. And apparently there's also an energy system in the game? Can't wait!

[jjadziadax]

Originally posted by Tyrindor:

Originally posted by Zalzany:

I am trying to focus on Ginger, and she doesn't even get relationship points from gifts.

she does but she gives 1 for like and 2 for love and nothing for meh whereas most give 1 for meh and up to 10 or so for love.

gift spoilers for ginger to follow i guess

I haven't tested these but i've been keeping track of what people have said and she supposedly loves: umbrella, wooden basket, and likes: topaz, power stone, shell necklace, asteria, shell, meat. I definitely got ther to like the shell necklace at least and topaz is another easy albeit expensive 1 point for her. Wooden baskets are pretty cheap so that may be your best bet.

[Badthefirst]

Once you figure out what their favorite gifts are and you get to go on playdates, relationships rise up pretty fast if you are willing to make and stockpile that item to gift daily. I think it is 5 days of no talking is when the decay starts, a whole week would probably be a bit better and less decay if you manage to get the hearts up to a certain point. Friendships take work in these games and is one of the money can buy you love situations. Topaz seems to be really well liked between everyone and so far is only used for making sachtels so you can save just a small handful and pass them around to your favorites until you figure out a better gift.

It's best in this game to pick 2-5 people you want to really befriend and work on them, it would be exhausting in real life and in this game to try to max befriend them all at once. They didn't seem to design this game to have everyone at 8 hearts or higher by the end of year 2. Try to make sure your core potential friends stay in your front page of relationship and make sure you always stop to chat when you can and if you come across them at the end of the day, spar and rps if you have the stamina for it. Choose commissions for them if given the choice. Keep in mind you are a new person in a small town and you only pop up in these people's lifes for 2 minutes of their day, probably only a few times a week and probably aren't giving them that great of gifts. It makes sense that relationships start out slow but once you reach the point of playdates it rises up fast, playing see saw seems a few times followed by talking on the bench under the tree with a well liked gift is a really eay way to rack up the relationship points fast.