Friendship
The player can befriend Pelican Town's villagers by earning Friendship points with them. High friendship points make villagers respond with friendlier dialogue lines, unlock cut-scenes called heart events, increase the chances of receiving gifts in the mail, and allow romance and marriage with datable villagers.
Friendship Level and Points
Heart and Friendship Points
By default, each villager has a friendship score represented by a ten-heart meter. Each heart represents 250 friendship points. All heart meters can be viewed on the social tab of the game menu, rounded down to the nearest full heart.
Friendship Caps
For non-marriage candidates, friendship meters are capped at 10 hearts. For the bachelors and bachelorettes, the caps are initially 8 hearts. A bouquet is needed to indicate one's romantic interest to the candidate, as well as removing the cap at 8 hearts.
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.
The player's spouse or roommate will have a special 14-heart meter.
Numerical Caps
All friendship caps are set to one points short of earning the next heart. So for non-marriage candidates, the maximum possible friendship points with them is 2749 (one point short of 11 hearts); For candidates who have not been given a bouquet, the maximum is 2249 (one point short of 9 hearts); For spouses and roommates, the maximum is 3749 (one point short of 15 hearts).
Friendship Indicator
When talking to villagers, a circle will appear next to their portrait. Its color will depend on the number of hearts the player has with the villager. Blue denotes 0-1 hearts, green for 2-3, yellow for 4-5, red for 6-7, purple for 8-9, 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.
Gaining and Losing Friendship
Friendship points with the villagers can be gained or lost through a variety of interactions. Most of the positive interactions are recurring, though subject to daily or weekly limits.
If a player has read Friendship 101, all friendship gains are increased by 10%.[1]
For the player's spouse, all friendship gains and losses are reduced by 34%.[1]
Daily interactions
Talking to a villager grants +20 friendship per day.
Kissing a spouse grants +10 friendship for the first kiss of each day.
Natural Decay
Not talking to a villager each day will slightly decrease their friendship unless their heart meter is full.[2] The decay never stops with spouses and roommates even if the player is at 14 hearts with them.
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 |
Gifting
Giving loved, liked, or neutral gifts to the villagers earns the player some friendship points, while giving them disliked or hated gifts costs some points.
The amount of points earned or cost depends on how the villager feels about the gift and its quality. See Gift Mechanics below.
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 friendships with the villager issuing the quest.
Some Story Quests and Special Order Quests will raise friendship with certain villagers.
Movie Theater
Inviting a villager to the Movie Theater awards +200 friendship points if they love the movie, or +100 points if they like it.
Buying a snack for the villager at the concessions counter awards an additional +50 points if they love it, or +25 points if they like it.
Disliked movies or snacks neither earn or cost friendship points.
Heart events
Some dialogue choices during certain heart events can increase or decrease friendship. The amount varies by event and choice.
Festivals
- Main article: Festivals
Three festivals can have special effects on friendship points with villagers:
- The Flower Dance increases friendship by 250 points (one heart) with the player's dance partner.
- The Luau can increase or decrease friendship points with all villagers except Sandy, the Wizard, Krobus, and the Dwarf. This depends on the ingredient that was added to the soup.
- The player's gift to their secret friend at the Feast of the Winter Star is worth 5x the normal amount of friendship points.
Talking to villagers at festivals earns the player 20 friendship points, the same as any non-festival day.
Completing the 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). This does not apply to villagers whom the player has never met in person (shown as ??? in the Social Tab).
The player does not have to understand Dwarvish for the Dwarf to receive 500 points. In contrast, they do have to understand Dwarvish for gifts to affect friendship with the Dwarf.
The day after completing the Bulletin Board, the player will receive a letter from Lewis in the mail. The bonus is applied upon opening this letter.
Other Negative Actions
Hitting a villager with a slingshot reduces their friendship points by -30.
Rummaging though a Garbage Can when a villager is within 7 tiles of the player removes -25 points of friendship with them, except for Linus, with whom the player gains +5 points instead.
Fiancé/spouse/roommate becoming jealous will reduce their friendship points by -30.
Breaking up with a villager instantly lowers their friendship meter to 5 hearts.
Dating all bachelors or bachelorettes may result in a Group Ten Heart event, which does not affect friendship, but may prevent the player from giving gifts to them for one week afterwards.
Proposing marriage reverts the heart meters of all other marriage candidates to their pre-engagement behavior. However, their entries in the social tab still show whether they have previously been given a bouquet. In addition, after marriage, romantic heart events can still be triggered with other marriage candidates if they have previously been given a bouquet.
Friendship Benefits
Bedroom Access
The player may enter a villager's bedroom only after reaching 2 hearts with them. This improves the accessibility to the villager for talking and item delivery. Once opened, the room is permanently unlocked even if the heart meter goes below 2 hearts.
If a bedroom is shared by multiple villagers, such as Evelyn and George's or Jodi and Kent's, reaching 2 hearts with any of them unlocks the room. [3]
Special Dialogues
Villagers may use special dialogues when their friendship with the players is high enough. The dialogues generally become friendlier and reveal more stories about the villagers.
If the villagers have at least one heart with the player, they may hint at their friends' or families' gift preferences.
| Villager | May display dialogue for: | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Non-family | |
Note that stone may be included in a gift preference dialogue, despite the fact that it is disliked, not hated.
Mailed Gifts from Villagers
Villagers may send items to the player via the Mail if the player has high friendship with them. The likelihood of this happening increases with the friendship level.
Heart Events
Gaining friendship with each villager will unlock unique cut-scenes called Heart Events at various number of hearts. Triggering these events usually requires entering a specific map under certain weather or time conditions.
Most heart events will not expire and can be viewed at any time or out of order. Though, some events may be permanently missed if other conditions are met before the player triggers them.
Some heart events will contain dialogue choices that can increase or decrease friendship with certain villagers involved. The maximum possible friendship points that can be earned in one single heart event is +250 from Linus' 8 heart event, and the maximum possible friendship points that can be lost is -1500 from Penny's 8 heart and 10 heart events. Skipping the cut-scene will not increase nor decrease friendship.
Romance
- Main article: Marriage
Some villagers can be romanced by the player (see marriage candidates). Once the player has reached eight hearts with an eligible villager, the player can give them a bouquet to unlock the ninth and tenth hearts. Once the player has reached ten hearts with an eligible villager, the player can give them a Mermaid's Pendant to propose marriage, which the villager will always accept unless the player hasn't upgraded the farmhouse to at least Level 2. Alternatively, at 10 hearts, the player can give Krobus a Void Ghost Pendant to indicate they'd like to move in together as roommates, which Krobus will always accept unless the player hasn't upgraded the farmhouse to at least Level 2.
After becoming the player's spouse or roommate, the villager moves into the player's house and their friendship meter expands to fourteen hearts. After reaching 12.5 hearts (3125 points), the villager will give the player a Stardrop if the player has not received a Stardrop in this manner previously.
Gift Mechanics
Gifting is the main method of gaining friendship with the villagers.
Daily and Weekly Limits
The player can give each villager one gift per day, up to two gifts per week. The checkboxes in the Social Tab keep track of the number of gifts given to each villager this week. The weekly limit of gifting resets on Sunday. If a villager has received at least two gifts in the past week (reached their weekly gifting limit), the player will earn an additional +10 friendship points with them on Sunday morning.
Birthday gifts can always be given, the villager's weekly gifting limit has been reached.
Spouses and roommates may be gifted once everyday without the weekly limit, but any friendship gain or loss is halved.[4]
Friendship Point Multiplier
Giving out gifts under special circumstances may earn (or cost) the player extra friendship points.
Giving a birthday gift to a villager multiplies the friendship value by ×8.
Gifts given to the secret recipient during the Feast of the Winter Star special event have ×5 value multipliers.
Gift Preferences
Each villager has individual likes and dislikes, which affects how many friendship points are gained or lost when you give them a gift. Villagers' gift preferences can be reviewed in the Gift Log by clicking their respective rows in the Social Tab. This log keeps track of gifts given, and gift preferences learned via Secret Notes and dialogues with their family and friends. Any previously-given gifts that are currently in inventory will have a blue backpack icon in the lower right.
If a gift is liked or loved, the points gained will be further affected by the quality of the item:
| Quality | Multiplier | Effect | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | ×1 | +0% | |
| Silver | ×1.1 | +10% | |
| Gold | ×1.25 | +25% | |
| Iridium | ×1.5 | +50% | |
Item quality has no effect for neutral, disliked, and hated gifts.
The highest friendship points possible from a single gift would be to gift someone an iridium-quality loved gift on their birthday, which would yield 960 points, just short of 4 hearts. If the player has read Friendship 101, the highest friendship points would be (960 * 1.1) 1056 points, just over 4 hearts.
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.
Note: Stardrop Tea grants 250 friendship points (equal to one full heart) when given to any villager, and is not subjected to the weekly gift limit. If given on a villager's birthday or at the Feast of the Winter Star, it gives 750 points (3 hearts). It does not count for the "Qi's Kindness" Special Order.
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 (just over half that of a loved gift) and is often much easier to obtain.
- All Artisan Goods (Except for Oil, which is universally disliked; and Void Mayonnaise, which is universally hated, except by Krobus who loves Void Mayonnaise.)
- All Cooking (Except for Fried Egg and Bread, which are universally neutral; and Strange Bun and Seafoam Pudding, which are universally hated.)
- All Flowers (Except for Poppy, which is universally hated, except by Penny who loves Poppies.)
- All Foraged Minerals (Except Quartz, which varies by villager.)
- All Fruit Tree Fruits (Except Banana & Mango, which follow villager-specific preferences for non-Fruit-Tree fruit.)
- All Gems (Except Prismatic Shard, which is universally loved.)
- All Vegetables (including Fiddlehead Fern, but excluding Hops, Tea Leaves, and Wheat, which are universally neutral, and Unmilled Rice, which is universally disliked.)
Life Elixir
Maple Syrup
Piña Colada
Rainbow Shell
Treasure Chest
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.
- All Books (Except the Price Catalogue, which is disliked.)
Universal Neutrals exceptions
Abigail loves Monster Compendium, likes Combat Quarterly.
Alex loves Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Thick, dislikes all other Books.
Caroline likes Tea Leaves.
Clint likes Mining Monthly.
Elliott loves Duck Feather and Squid Ink, likes All Books.
Emily loves Wool.
Evelyn likes Coral and Nautilus Shell.
Gus likes Truffle.
Haley dislikes Mystic Syrup.
Harvey likes Duck Feather, dislikes Bread, hates Coral and Nautilus Shell.
Kent likes Dwarvish Safety Manual.
Krobus loves Monster Compendium.
Leah loves Truffle, dislikes Fried Egg, hates Bread.
Leo loves Duck Feather, likes Nautilus Shell, hates Hops.
Linus loves The Alleyway Buffet.
Marnie likes Stardew Valley Almanac.
Maru hates Truffle.
Penny loves All Books, dislikes Duck Feather and Wool, hates Hops.
Pierre loves Price Catalogue.
Robin loves Woody's Secret, likes Woodcutter's Weekly.
Sandy likes Wool.
Sebastian likes Combat Quarterly and Monster Compendium.
Willy loves Jewels Of The Sea and The Art O' Crabbing, likes Bait And Bobber.
Wizard loves Book of Mysteries.
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, Moss, Stone, and Wood
- All Artifacts
- All Bombs
- All Crafted Floors & Paths
- All Fences
- All Fertilizer
- All Fish (except for Carp and Snails, which are universally hated)
- All Geode Minerals
- All Geodes
- All Seeds including Fruit Tree Saplings, Tea Saplings, and Tree seeds
- All Sprinklers
- All Tackle
- All Trinkets
- Fireworks -- Red, Green, and Purple
- 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; likes Ancient Sword, Basilisk Paw, Bone Flute; hates Clay
Alex likes Dinosaur Egg, Field Snack, Parrot Egg; is neutral toward Frog Egg
Clint loves Gold Bar, Iridium Bar, Omni Geode; likes Copper Bar, Iron Bar; is neutral toward Coal, Gold Ore, Iridium Ore, Refined Quartz
Demetrius likes Dinosaur Egg; is neutral toward All Fish (except Carp & Snail)
Dwarf loves Lava Eel, Lemon Stone, Omni Geode; likes All Artifacts, 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, Super Cucumber
Emily loves Parrot Egg
Evelyn likes Clam, Cockle, Mussel, Oyster; hates All Other Fish, Clay
George hates Clay
Haley hates All Fish, Clay
Harvey likes Spring Onion
Jas loves Ancient Doll, Fairy Box, Strange Doll (green), Strange Doll (yellow); hates Clay
Krobus loves Iridium Bar, Void Egg, Void Mayonnaise; likes Gold Bar
Leah likes Driftwood, Spring Onion; hates Void Egg
Leo loves Parrot Egg, is neutral toward All Fish, hates Oil and Unmilled Rice.
Linus likes Spring Onion; is neutral toward All Fish (except Snail)
Marnie hates Clay
Maru loves Battery Pack, Dwarf Gadget, 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 Price Catalogue, Sandfish; likes all Artifacts
Pierre loves Price Catalogue, hates All Fish
Robin likes Hardwood
Sam loves Tigerseye; hates All Misc. Mined/Metal Goods
Sebastian loves Frog Egg, Obsidian, Void Egg; likes Flounder; is neutral toward All Fish (except Flounder, Carp & Snail); hates Clay
Vincent loves Frog Egg; hates Clay
Willy loves Catfish, Gold Bar, Iridium Bar, Octopus, Sea Cucumber, Sturgeon; likes Lingcod, Tiger Trout; is neutral toward All Other Fish (except Carp & Snail)
Wizard loves Solar Essence, Void Essence, Super Cucumber; likes All Geode Minerals, All Trinkets, Iridium Bar
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 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
Elliott is neutral toward Sea Urchin
Evelyn likes Broken Glasses and Sea Urchin
Krobus loves Monster Musk and Void Mayonnaise; likes Seafoam Pudding and Strange Bun
Leah dislikes Seaweed
Leo likes Dragon Tooth and Sea Urchin
Linus is neutral toward Carp and Wild Bait
Marnie dislikes Seaweed
Maru loves Radioactive Bar, likes Radioactive Ore
Pam is neutral toward Joja Cola
Penny loves Poppy, dislikes Red Mushroom
Sam likes Joja Cola, dislikes Seaweed
Shane is neutral toward Strange Bun, dislikes Seaweed
Vincent loves Snail
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
- 1.07: Decay will now stop if a villager is at max hearts (except when married).
- 1.3.27: The Golden Pumpkin is now a universal love instead of a universal hate. Added new item, the Pearl, as a universal love.
- 1.4: Friendship can now be increased by talking with NPCs at Festivals. Removed glitch where a birthday gift would remove a checkbox on the social tab. Removed bugs where cooking recipes would be sent at the wrong friendship level, and where 10 heart-events were unlockable without a bouquet. Removed the 50% friendship penalty when talking to busy NPCs. 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. Artifacts changed from Universal Hate to Universal Dislike for all other NPCs. Fixed bug where the friendship boost for giving a villager two gifts would not apply if they were given a third gift on their birthday.
- 1.6: Rainbow Shell and Treasure Chest are now universally liked. Added Stardrop Tea, which gives 250 friendship points when given to any villager. Clam is now considered a Fish for gifting, so it is universally disliked. Many individual gift tastes changed. Some items now trigger unique dialogue when gifted to a certain villager. Reading Friendship 101 will permanently increase friendship gain. Friendship gain and loss is reduced by 34% for spouses.