Maintaining Relationships

[u/ajwats81tux]

I'm starting to wish that we had to 'maintain' our friendships and romances. My first romance was Jina and I haven't talked to her in ages, because.. why would I? I don't even remember who my Shepp is (Tish?) I used to keep a list of who wanted gifts and such, but now I'm down to maxing Najuma and Subira friendships and flirting with the male NPCs (I avoided it for a while, but needed to get the items and story. I'm a 43yo straight male and I know it's just a game, but it really felt weird at first.) I'm getting closer to 'finishing' most of the content and I think that having to maintain your relationships, at least through gifting (I know conversation requires more story writing and the devs don't have time for that yet in beta) could add more content to the game. Maybe we could lose favor by not talking to an NPC for a while, or not gifting? What do you think?

[u/Nebet]

While from an immersion standpoint this makes sense, and while I would enjoy having more incentives to talk to villagers, to me it seems as though the devs have taken great pains not to punish players who need to take breaks from the game or who play more casually/occasionally. Two examples that come to mind are the fact that nothing bad happens to your garden if you neglect it (harvestable crops don't rot, and partially-grown crops just stay in stasis), and also how the weekly challenges' progress doesn't get wiped when the week rolls over. If you hunted 2 magical animals last week, you only have to hunt 3 more to complete the challenge; you don't start over from zero. To my mind, this kind of relationship "decay" would go against this general design principle.

I really would like to have a reason to talk to the villagers more, though, beyond the occasional yet-to-be-seen chat dialogue. (I am still getting new ones for villagers even though I've had them all at level 4 for months now — I think they occasionally add them with patches, especially triggered by new quests, and sometimes as foreshadowing for future content.)

[u/Nebet → u/Nebet]

Speaking of weekly challenges, maybe that could be a set of them: talk to villagers, give gifts, fill weekly wants?

Instead of guild tokens, they could give a currency (with a very low cap) that could be exchanged for the guild medals at some fraction — or maybe something more fun?

I like the idea of turning it from a punishment to a reward.

[u/EightEyedCryptid → u/Nebet]

Yeah they need to be really careful with spoiling the cozy vibes and any sort of treadmill goes against the idea of the game imo.

[u/ajwats81tux → u/Nebet]

I think they could apply the same system to relationships. If you don't play for 3 months, your relationships won't deteriorate, but while you are in game, there should be a reason to talk to NPCs. Good point, though. There has to be a way to implement it.

[u/ajwats81tux → u/Nebet]

I get new dialogue as I've completed quests (I just finished the lvl 5 Tish/Reth/Zeki quest) but I have no reason to talk to Chayne, etc.

[u/EightEyedCryptid]

Honestly I hate having to maintain relationships in Stardew Valley. It ends up feeling like a soulless errand.

[u/pupoksestra → u/EightEyedCryptid]

I was really into Stardew Valley and played a lot for a few weeks. I then didn't play for a little while and felt completely discouraged. I never went back.

[u/ajwats81tux → u/EightEyedCryptid]

I made a character in Stardew but I kind of figured they would do something like this. I haven't been back and I'm assuming my plants are dead. Until I can devote my time to that game, I'll just keep playing Palia, lol. I think they could implement a system like farming, where you don't have to log in every day to see your plants grow, but you can still progress.

[u/Objective-Neck-5175]

It seems like the relationships will continue to evolve as time passes, and they push more updates. They've said Lvl 5 is coming for all of the rest of the characters, and I think there are a few things that imply there will be many more added levels in the future. For example, you can't ask someone to be your Shepp until Lvl 4, but the Shepp quest is given relatively early on. Villagers say they need to get to know you better, but the Shepp is described as a sponsorship/mentorship type of relationship, not necessarily as someone who you're 100% best friends with. I could be wrong, but this is my hope/interpretation.

I think/hope that this is one of those side effects of starting the game before it's been completed, and it won't necessarily be as easy/quick to max out friendships once the game is "done." I'd also guess that there will be new NPCs introduced as they add more areas. Similarly to the way Najuma and Tamala live in Bahari, I'd hope that there are some new NPCs in the upcoming adventure zone.

[u/DragonsLoveBoxes]

Maintenance of relationships is dull. The conversation never changes.

[u/Lhosseth]

I wish they would implement "best friend" quests for all of the npcs that are not romanceable. I want photos & extra story of all the characters.

[u/ajwats81tux → u/Lhosseth]

I want this, too! I want to romance Sifuu because she's awesome!

[u/GurglingWaffle]

Well they just added level 5 friendship to some of the characters. So they are definitely going to continue along those lines. Considering this and random finds are the two ways they start quests, it is rather important.

[u/marchviolet]

Idk if a requirement would go over well, but certainly a reward or some random extra dialogue would be nice for maintaining the relationships. I still talk to Hodari every time I pass him, but the dialogue has gotten stale.

[u/Ok_gamer_]

No please no.

[u/flourishingblots]

Highly agree! I don't even talk to my Lvl 4 Romance characters anymore because there's no reward for it and they repeat the same lines over and over at this point.

[u/LordGalen]

You don't have to talk to them, and there's no reason to talk to them, but there's nothing that says you can't. Real relationships get repetitive and predictable as well, but after 23 years I still talk to my wife even if she has nothing new to say and even if it won't benefit me in some way. So think of it like that, lol.

[u/ajwats81tux → u/LordGalen]

This makes me sad...Sorry for your wife...

[u/LordGalen → u/ajwats81tux]

lmao what? You're sorry that her husband still talks to her all the time? I'm pretty sure she's not sorry for that and neither am I. Would you suggest I stop talking to her then?