Friendship
You can become friends with Pelican Town's villagers. As your friendships deepen, the villagers' dialogue lines become more friendly, cut-scenes called heart events occur, and the villagers send you gifts in the mail.
Friendship mechanics
Point system
Each villager has a friendship score represented by a ten-heart meter (for a normal villager) or fourteen-heart meter (for your spouse):
Each heart is 250 friendship points. You can view all heart meters on the social tab of the game menu.
When talking to villagers, a circle will appear next to their portrait. Its color will depend on the number of hearts you have with the villager. Blue denotes 0 hearts, green for 2, yellow for 4, red for 6, purple for 8, and at 10-14 hearts a purple star will appear. Hovering the mouse over the circle will display the number of hearts out of 10, if not married.
You can increase friendship points by:
- Talking to villagers (+10 if the villager is in the middle of a special animation, like exercising or using a camera, otherwise +20; can only score once per day)
- Completing an item delivery quest for them (+150)
- Giving them a gift they love, like, or are neutral towards (see Gifts)
- Giving a second loved, liked, or neutral gift in a week (see Gifts)
- Inviting them to the Movie Theater (+200 if loved, +100 if liked)
- Purchasing a snack for them (+50 if loved, +25 if liked) (see Movie Theater)
- Making certain choices in their heart events
You can lose friendship points by:
- Not talking to a villager (see Decay)
- Giving them a gift they dislike or hate (see Gifts)
- Hitting them with a slingshot (-30, can only score once per day)
- Rummaging through a Garbage Can when they're within 7 tiles of you (-25, except Linus who doesn't mind). They will speak to indicate that they have seen you. If more than one is within 7 tiles of you when you rummage, only one will speak and lose friendship.
You may enter a villager's bedroom when the relevant heart meter reads at least 2 hearts. This level improves access to the villager for talking and gifting.
Friendship points can increase up to a maximum of 2749 (one point less than 11 hearts) for villagers whose heart meters show as 10 hearts on the Social tab.
With marriage candidates, the meter pauses at 8 hearts. It will not increase unless you give the candidate a bouquet to indicate your romantic interest. If you do so, that meter is unlocked and operates as before until ten hearts is reached. (Note that after reaching 8 hearts but pre-bouquet, friendship points can continue to rise to just below 9 hearts (2249 points) and will not decay until the candidate is given a bouquet.) It is possible to give a bouquet to any and all marriage candidates, and raise all their friendship levels to 10 hearts, without damage to your relationships with other romantic partners, so long as you have not yet proposed. (If you have proposed, are married, or have a roommate, there is a chance your fiancé/spouse/roommate may become jealous.)
Dating all bachelors or bachelorettes may result in a Group Ten Heart event, which does not affect friendship, but may prevent you from giving gifts for one week afterwards.
When you propose marriage, the heart meters of all other marriage candidates convert to the behavior of all other villagers, since none are marriage candidates any longer. However, their entries in the social tab still show whether you have previously given them a bouquet. (Also, after marriage you can still activate romantic heart events with these other marriage candidates if you have previously given them a bouquet.) After the marriage ceremony, your spouse's meter unlocks once again and can rise as far as 14 hearts.
Decay
Each day, not talking to a villager will slightly decrease their friendship unless their heart meter is full.[1] Marriage doesn't stop decay with your spouse. Calling a villager using the Telephone does not count as talking to the villager.
Relationship | Decay rate | When decay stops |
---|---|---|
Married | -20/day | Never |
Gave bouquet | -10/day | 10 hearts |
Pre-bouquet | -2/day | 8 hearts |
Not romanceable | -2/day | 10 hearts |
Gifts
You can give each villager one gift per day, up to two gifts per week, as indicated by the checkboxes in the social tab. You can review the villager's gift preferences by clicking on their row in the Social Tab to open the "Gift Log". This log keeps track of gifts given, and gift preferences learned via Secret Notes and dialogues with their family and friends.
For the purpose of gift-giving, the week begins on Sunday. If you give a villager two gifts in a week, their heart meter will rise an additional ten friendship points on Sunday morning when you wake up.
You can always give a birthday gift to a villager, even if you've already given that character two other gifts that week.
You can give your spouse one gift every day of the week.
Each villager has individual likes and dislikes, which affects how many friendship points are gained or lost when you give them a gift. The friendship points are multiplied on their birthday (×8) and Feast of the Winter Star secret gifting event (×5):
Gift Taste | Normal | Winter Star (×5) | Birthday (×8) |
---|---|---|---|
Love | +80 | +400 | +640 |
Like | +45 | +225 | +360 |
Neutral | +20 | +100 | +160 |
Dislike | -20 | -100 | -160 |
Hate | -40 | -200 | -320 |
If a gift is liked or loved, the points gained will be further affected by quality of the item:
Quality | Multiplier | Effect | |
---|---|---|---|
Normal | ×1 | +0% | |
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Silver | ×1.1 | +10% |
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Gold | ×1.25 | +25% |
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Iridium | ×1.5 | +50% |
Note that a no-star loved item always gives more points than an iridium-star liked item.[2] The equation is Event Multiplier × Preference × Quality Multiplier
, where Event Multiplier is 1 (any day), 5 (your Winter Star recipient), or 8 (their birthday), Preference is 80 or 45, and Quality Multiplier is 1, 1.1, 1.25, or 1.5. (For neutral, disliked, or hated gifts, the equation is simply Event Multiplier × Preference
.) With this format, the highest possible amount of points would be to gift someone an iridium-quality loved gift, on their birthday. Doing this, you would get 960 points, or just short of 4-hearts for one gift.
Heart Events
Gaining friendship with each villager will unlock unique events (see each villager's article for the requirements). It's possible to permanently miss some events, though most events can be viewed at your leisure or out of order.
Romance
- Main article: Marriage
Some villagers can be romanced by the player (see marriage candidates). Once you've reached eight hearts with an eligible villager, you can give them a bouquet to unlock the ninth and tenth hearts. Once you've reached ten hearts with an eligible villager, you can give them a Mermaid's Pendant to propose. Alternatively, at 10 hearts, you can give Krobus a Void Ghost Pendant to indicate you'd like to move in together as roommates.
After you've moved in with or married a villager, they get an expanded fourteen-heart friendship meter. At 12.5 hearts (3125 points), they will randomly give you a stardrop.
Quests
- Main article: Quests
The game-opening Introductions quest, when completed, increases by 100 the player's friendship points with each of the 28 starting townspeople. (The Wizard is not included among these villagers.)
Completing an Item Delivery Quest awards 150 Friendship points with the requesting villager.
Festivals
- Main article: Festivals
You earn friendship points for speaking to villagers at Festivals, the same as any non-festival day. Three festivals can have special effects on friendship points with villagers:
- The Flower Dance increases friendship 250 points (one heart) with your dance partner, unless the partner is locked at eight hearts beforehand.
- The Luau can increase or decrease friendship points with most villagers (all except Sandy, the Wizard, Krobus, and the Dwarf).
- Your gift to your secret friend at the Feast of the Winter Star is worth 5x the normal amount of friendship points.
In addition, giving gifts to villagers at the Night Market will increase friendship with them, in the same way as it does outside of festivals.
Bulletin Board Bundles
- Main article: Bundles
Completing all Bulletin Board bundles improves the player's friendship rating with non-datable villagers by two hearts (500 points). Note that this applies only to non-datable villagers whom you have met in person. Villagers who do not show on the "Social" tab of the player menu and villagers whose names appear as "???" will not receive 500 points.
Note that you do not have to understand Dwarvish for the Dwarf to receive 500 points. In contrast, you do have to understand Dwarvish for gifts to affect friendship with the Dwarf.
Universal Gifts
- See also: List of All Gifts
Below are lists of items that are universally loved, liked, considered neutral, disliked, or hated. Note that there are some exceptions and that individual villager tastes override any universal tastes.
Preferences for Eggs, Milk, Fruit, and most Foraged Items vary by villager, and are generally not listed here.
Note that Dinosaur Eggs are considered Artifacts and not Eggs for gifting purposes.
Universal Loves
This is a list of items that almost every villager loves to receive as a gift. These items are guaranteed to give the most points (80) towards your relationship, but may be difficult to obtain.
When given a loved gift, villagers usually respond with a heart dialogue bubble.
Universal Loves exceptions
Haley hates Prismatic Shard.
Penny hates Rabbit's Foot.
Universal Likes
Though worth fewer friendship points than a loved gift, a liked gift increases friendship by 45 points, and is often much easier to obtain.
- All Artisan Goods (Except for Oil which is disliked, and Void Mayonnaise which is hated)
- All Cooking (Except for Fried Egg and Bread, which are universally neutral, and Strange Bun and Seafoam Pudding which are hated)
- All Flowers (Except for Poppy which is hated)
- All Foraged Minerals (Except Quartz which varies by villager)
- All Fruit Tree Fruits (Except Banana & Mango, which follow the NPCs preferences for non-Fruit-Tree fruit)
- All Gems (Except Prismatic Shard which is Loved)
- All Vegetables including Fiddlehead Fern (Except Hops, Tea Leaves and Wheat which are Universal Neutrals, and Unmilled Rice which is a Universal Dislike.)
Life Elixir
Maple Syrup
Universal Likes exceptions
Below is an Expandable table of all Universal Likes exceptions, listed by Villager. (See also: List of All Gifts)
Universal Neutrals
This is a list of items that will elicit a neutral response from the villagers, and give 20 points toward friendship. There are some exceptions.
Universal Neutrals exceptions
Caroline likes Tea Leaves.
Elliott loves Duck Feather & Squid Ink.
Emily loves Wool.
Evelyn hates Clam and Coral.
Harvey likes Duck Feather, dislikes Bread, hates Coral, Nautilus Shell, and Rainbow Shell.
Leah loves Truffle, dislikes Fried Egg, hates Bread.
Leo loves Duck Feather, likes Nautilus Shell and Rainbow Shell, hates Hops.
Maru hates Truffle.
Penny dislikes Duck Feather and Wool, hates Hops.
Sandy likes Wool.
Universal Dislikes
This is a list of items that will decrease friendship by 20 points when given as gifts.
- All Building Materials -- Battery Packs, Clay, Fiber, Hardwood, Stone, and Wood
- All Bombs
- All Crafted Floors & Paths
- All Fences
- All Fertilizer
- All Fish (except for Clam which is a Universal Neutral, and Carp & Snails which are Universal Hates)
- All Geode Minerals
- All Geodes
- All Seeds including Fruit Tree Saplings, Tea Saplings, Acorns, Maple Seeds, and Pine Cones
- All Sprinklers
- All Tackle
- Misc. Mined/Metal Goods -- Bone Fragment, Cinder Shard, Coal, Copper Bars, Gold Bars, Gold Ore, Iridium Bars, Iridium Ore, Iron Bars, and Refined Quartz
Universal Dislikes exceptions
Abigail loves Pufferfish; hates Clay
Clint loves Gold Bar, Iridium Bar, Omni Geode; likes Copper Bar, Iron Bar; is neutral toward Coal, Gold Ore, Iridium Ore, Refined Quartz
Demetrius is neutral toward All Fish (except Carp & Snail)
Dwarf loves Lemon Stone and Omni Geode; likes Cave Carrot; is neutral toward Solar Essence, Void Essence
Elliott loves Lobster; likes Octopus, Squid; is neutral toward All Other Fish (except Carp & Snail); hates Sea Cucumber
Evelyn hates All Fish, Clay
George hates Clay
Haley hates All Fish, Clay
Harvey likes Spring Onion
Jas hates Clay
Krobus loves Iridium Bar, Void Egg; likes Gold Bar
Leah likes Driftwood, Spring Onion; hates Void Egg
Leo is neutral toward All Fish, hates Oil and Unmilled Rice.
Linus likes Spring Onion; is neutral toward All Fish (except Carp & Snail)
Marnie hates Clay
Maru loves Battery Pack, Gold Bar, Iridium Bar; likes Copper Bar, Iron Bar, Oak Resin, Pine Tar
Pam is neutral toward All Fish (except Carp, Octopus, Snail & Squid); hates Octopus, Squid
Penny loves Sandfish
Pierre hates All Fish
Robin likes Hardwood
Sam loves Tigerseye; hates Metal Goods
Sebastian loves Obsidian, Void Egg; likes Flounder; is neutral toward All Fish (except Flounder, Carp & Snail); hates Clay
Vincent hates Clay
Willy loves Catfish, Iridium Bar, Octopus, Sea Cucumber, Sturgeon; likes Gold Bar, Lingcod, Tiger Trout; is neutral toward All Other Fish (except Carp & Snail)
Wizard loves Solar Essence, Void Essence, Super Cucumber; likes All Geode Minerals
Universal Hates
This is a list of items that will decrease friendship by 40 points when given as gifts.
When given a hated gift, villagers usually respond with a hate dialogue bubble.
- All Artifacts
- All Bait
- All Fossils
- All Monster Loot (except Solar Essence and Void Essence which are disliked)
- All Trash (except Driftwood which is disliked)
Universal Hates exceptions
Abigail dislikes Sugar
Dwarf likes all Artifacts
Krobus loves Void Mayonnaise; likes Seafoam Pudding
Leah dislikes Seaweed
Leo likes Dragon Tooth and Sea Urchin
Marnie dislikes Seaweed
Maru loves Radioactive Bar, likes Radioactive Ore
Penny loves Poppy, likes all Artifacts, dislikes Red Mushroom
Sam likes Joja Cola, dislikes Seaweed
Shane dislikes Seaweed
Vincent loves Snails
Willy likes Seafoam Pudding
Wizard dislikes Slime
Achievements
There are 6 Achievements related to Friendship:
- A New Friend (Reach a 5-heart friend level with someone)
- Best Friends (Reach a 10-heart friend level with someone)
- The Beloved Farmer (Reach a 10-heart friend level with 8 people)
- Cliques (Reach a 5-heart friend level with 4 people)
- Networking (Reach a 5-heart friend level with 10 people)
- Popular (Reach a 5-heart friend level with 20 people)
References
History
- 1.3: The Golden Pumpkin is now a universal love instead of a universal hate. Added new item, the Pearl, as a universal love.
- 1.4: You can now increase friendship by talking with NPCs at Festivals. Removed glitch where a birthday gift would remove a checkbox on the social tab. Added Gift Logs, accessed by clicking on the villager in the Social tab. Changed jealousy of player's spouse to only apply to marriage candidates who have received a bouquet. Harvey now dislikes many cooked dishes. Willy is neutral towards Maki Roll, Sashimi, and Dish O' The Sea. Vincent loves Snails. Dwarf likes Cave Carrot. Vincent & Jas like Honey and Jelly. Sebastian hates Mead.
- 1.4.4: Mermaid's Pendant and Void Ghost Pendant can no longer be given as gifts at the Feast of the Winter Star. Jas & Vincent now hate Triple Shot Espresso. Dwarf now loves Lemon Stone.
- 1.5: Penny and Dwarf now like all artifacts.