Certain villagers will give you gifts if you befriend them. You can find a list of who gives what further down below. You know if a villager is your friend because when you walk past them they will turn their head to look at you, practically snapping their own necks in the process. It’s a very obvious animation but only occurs when they’re moving.
To befriend a villager you must give them enough gifts to get, what I will be calling, ‘friendship points’ for the sake of communication. Friendship points can be acquired in the traditional, ‘gift-giving’ method but also by giving villagers discounts at your store. This means that if you give them three discounts a day (the maximum number) and one gift a day then you’ve acquired four friendship points. This speeds up the process of making friends by a lot.
These numbers are based on multiple playthroughs and it seems as though sometimes it takes a couple less or a couple more, not exact numbers. Chris, for example, was friends with me at 6 gifts in one game but at 10 gifts in another. I’ll average it out in cases like this.
Below are the numbers of gifts or discounts required until the villager will befriend you, numbers may vary as it may be that they like some gifts more than others. This list is not complete… yet.
Daryl: 7
Patrick: 5
Chris: 8
Wally: 8
Mukumuku: 7 (you can give up to 5 a day)
Ruby: 6
Tim: 5
Vesta: 6
Marlin: 24
Galen: 7
Nina: 4
Takakura: 4
Cody: 12
Carter: 10
Flora: 9
Rock: 19
Romana: 11
Sebastian:
Lumina: (1 heart at 9, 2 hearts at 13, 3 hearts at 17, 4 hearts at 21)
Nami: (1 heart at 6, 2 hearts at 8, 3 hearts at 11, 4 hearts at 15)
Muffy: (1 heart at 3, 2 hearts at 5, 3 hearts at 7, 4 hearts at 8)
Celia: (1 heart at 2, 2 hearts at 4, 3 hearts at 6, 4 hearts at 9)
What the villagers like to be given:
Romana: Flowers, milk, gold coins, clay statues and oranges
Cody: Flowers, eggs, ores and bones
Flora: Fish, milk, clay statues, curry, cheese, fossils
Carter: Fish, milk, cheese, watermelons
Vesta: Flowers, milk, ores, curry and earth soup
Marlin: Eggs, milk, home cooking, S-ranked crops
Ruby: Flowers, milk, tomatoes, cheese and grapes
Tim: Eggs, milk, goat’s milk and coins
Patrick: Flowers, cheese, eggs, fish, silver coins, yam soup
Daryl: Fish, eggs, fossils and coins
Hugh: Coins and milk
Wally: Eggs, milk, coins, cheese
Chris: Flowers, milk, apples and fruit juice
Galen: Mugworts and fish
Nina: Flowers and milk
Griffin: Fish,
Takakura: Home cooking, s-grade milk, s-grade crops
Mukumuku: Flowers
Samantha: Flowers, milk, sashimi
Grant: Milk, goat milk, eggs, golden eggs, sashimi
Kate: Flowers, melons
Celia: Flowers, eggs, vegetables
Muffy: Flowers and ores
Nami: Trickblue flowers, clay statues, fossils and curry
Lumina: Flowers, golden wool, strawberry cake
Rock: Toyflowers, mist moon flowers, coins, butter, cheese, fodder.
Sebastian: Milk, fossils, eggs, cheese
Best times to give people gifts:
Often, your neighbours will go into a state where, no matter how much they would usually love the gift you're trying to give them, they will always reject it. If they reject a gift and you keep trying to give it to them you'll be unable to give them a gift even when they've finished the rejecting behaviour. This will lock you out until the next day so it's best to not attempt giving a gift unless you know they will accept it. To make it easier to recognize I’ll list what the villagers will be doing in their individual 'gift rejecting' states.
Times when villagers will not accept gifts:
Cody: When his arms are folded or he's working on his studio
Romana: When she is sat in her armchair or listening to Lumina play piano
Lumina: When she is playing the piano
Celia: When she is tending to the farm outside
Daryl: When his hands are behind his back, usually in his lab
Hugh: When stretching or 'working out'
Rock: When laying under a hut at the beach
Marlin: When his hands are in his pockets and his head is down
Muffy: When working at the bar
Gustafa: When playing the guitar
Carter: When doing his morning exercises or examining the ground in the dig site
Flora: When she is examining the ground in the dig site
Ruby: When she is Standing with hands in front of her in her kitchen
Kassey and Patrick: When making fireworks in their house
Most villagers work to some kind of schedule but it can be fairly unpredictable. A lot of people like to go out walking, especially once it starts to get dark and this is often a good time to give people gifts. It's a good time because when somebody is walking they are guaranteed to not be performing any 'gift rejecting' behaviours. Some villagers will not go for walks when it is raining, unless it starts when they are already outside. Galen and Nina go for daily walks but they're more likely to be at home if it's been raining all day. Some people don't mind the rain, if it's been raining for more than one day sometimes people will just grim and bare it. Like I say, fairly unpredictable schedules.
Best times to give villagers gifts:
Daryl: When he’s walking past your farm, around 5:30pm
Rock: Walking back from the spring to the inn, 6pm
Nami: When she wakes up, 9am in her room, walking around outside
Romana: When she’s walking outside her mansion, 3 – 5pm
Lumina: Walking outside of mansion, 2 – 6pm, in her room between 8 – 9am or 12pm -
Sebastian: In Lumina’s room at 9am
Chris: Walking to or from work,8am outside your farm,
Wally: Going out for a jog, 8am – 9am, up and down the main road
Hugh: Inside his house
Galen and Nina: When they’re out walking past your farm, 4pm
Carter and Flora: Any time in the dig site, as long as they’re not looking at the ground
Muffy: When she leaves work to walk to the Inner Inn, around 4 – 5pm.
Ruby: In Nami’s room, 9am – 10am or when she's standing outside the inn
Tim: When he's standing outside the inn, usually 6pm – 7pm, varies Patrick: On his way to the Blue Bar, 7:30 – 8pm or when standing outside his house 4pm – 4:30pm
Kassey: Stands outside his house, 4pm, 8pm – 8:30pm
Cody: When he’s outside his studio at 6pm Mukumuku: In winter on the path to the spring,
What you can receive from villagers:
When you are friends with villagers (when they turn their head to look at you when you walk past) you will be able to receive unique items from them. Not every villager has something to give you though that doesn't mean their friendship is useless; making friends with particular people will influence what career your child is interested in later on. Once you are friends with someone you can't not be friends with them anymore, so maybe check out what each person means in terms of your child's career before you choose to be friends with them.
Cat – Romana
In the second chapter Romana will give you a cat if you are friends with her. The cat is a black cat and this is the only colour you can receive. If you've befriended Romana you may be familiar with her cats in the mansion foyer in which case, your cat will operate in much the same way. To trigger the cat-giving event you will need to be friends with Romana and wait until Fall of the second chapter. Even if you miss this event in the second chapter you will still be able to get it in the third chapter. You should try and exit your house just after 7am in the morning, you don't need to wake up after your wife, it's triggered when you attempt to leave the house. If necessary, go in and out the house a few times. Try doing this every day of Fall, although if you get it earlier such as Spring of Summer then let me know.
Watering can W – Romana
Romana has another gift for you; the weird watering can. This watering can has the ability to increase the speed at which trees grow. Trees don't require watering so this watering can isn't about making the moisture last longer but rather it means the tree will grow faster. The Watering can has only one square of water in it so you'll be refilling it a lot.
To trigger the event you must have the great field (meaning you need to be at least partway through chapter 2) and it may be a requirement that you actually use the field. You'll need to be friends with Romana and you should enter her bedroom when she is already in there; the best times to do this is early on, around 6am onwards. Her bedroom is the room beneath the staircase.
Music sheet – Romana
Another gift from Romana. Befriend her, talk to her during Chapter 3 when she’s somewhere in the mansion. You’ll get the music sheet when you talk to her which, when you show it to your child, will boost their interest in music.
Strange sickle – Cody
Befriend Cody and enter his house when he’s in there.
Strange hoe – Tim
You definitely need to have the great field for this event and also be friends with Tim. Enter Tim and Ruby’s room on the ground floor of the Inner Inn when he is in there, it doesn’t matter if Ruby is also in there. You’re best off triggering this in the morning, around 7am.
Necklace – Flora
You receive the necklace from Flora sometime in Chapter 3. The primary purpose of the necklace is for it to be given to your child as a means of dramatically increasing their interest in the scholar career. You’ll need to be friends with Flora to get the necklace and talk to her in the tent during Chapter 3.
Alarm clock – Grant
You don't need to be friends with Grant, a new resident, to receive the alarm clock. As soon as chapter 2 starts, before you do anything else, go as quickly as you can to Grant's house and enter it. He'll automatically give you the alarm clock which means you can set which time you wake up at every morning. This is useful if you like burning the candle at both ends.
Weird hoe – Vesta
You need to have the strange hoe and also be friends with Vesta to receive the weird hoe. When only Vesta is inside the storage house enter it, around 10:30am should be good, the cutscene will then trigger.
The weird hoe tills soil in a chequerboard pattern of 3 x 3. It is much lighter to use than even the ‘light’ tools and is a very efficient tool to use, especially if you already use that pattern to plant your crops.
Fishing pole – Galen
I know, you've already got a fishing rod, but this one is better. For starts, it's a pole, not a rod. Not only that but it's in a sporty black and white colour. Ok so the real improvement is that it's also a lot lighter meaning you can use it without your energy depleting so much. You can get the fishing pole in Chapter 2 after you befriended Galen in Chapter 1. I recommend befriending him in Chapter 1 as you can just bombard him with mugworts whereas, in Chapter 2, it's significantly harder to make friends with him. It's quite a tough scene to trigger but you should try going into his house very early in the morning, around 6am. He'll be living in a new location for Chapter 2; next to where the sea meets with the river on the side where Vesta's farm is.
Wool clippers – Wally
Befriend Wally and enter his house whilst he’s inside to get the wool clippers. They’re no better or worse than the other ways of shearing your sheep.
Medal – Wally
You can get the medal from Wally by befriending him and talking to him in Chapter 3. The medal boosts your child’s interest in athletics if you give it to them.
Painting – Cody
You can obtain this piece of artwork by befriending Cody and talking to him during Chapter 3. The painting will boost your child’s interest in art if you show it to them.
Weird Sickle – Dr. Hardy
Befriend Dr. Hardy who moves into the valley during Chapter 2. Enter his house whilst he’s in there and you’ll obtain the weird sickle, bear in mind that befriending Dr Hardy will stop you from being friends with Daryl.
Ruby’s spice – Ruby
To receive this gift you’ll need to befriend Ruby. You can obtain the spice during any chapter and to do so you’ll need to enter the kitchen at the Inner Inn whilst Ruby is in there. I got this cutscene at 8am in Fall. Ruby will say she’s heard you’ve been trying out some cooking and ask you if that’s correct; say yes and she’ll be pleased and offer you a jar of her special spice. This spice can be combined with other ingredients for particular recipes like curry and will never run out.
Seed maker – Daryl
You must not have spoken to Takakura about the seed maker otherwise it will only be available from the ledger in the storage house. To trigger this event you must be friends with Daryl and enter his house sometime after 1pm, when he’s woken up. You don’t have to trigger any of his previous cutscenes to get the seed maker. Daryl will be frustrated and shouting ‘why!?’ a lot because it seems someone’s stolen his idea. To prove that he was the first person to create the seed maker he will install it in your tool shed for you.
Tumtum – Gustafa
Befriend Gustafa and enter his yurt whilst he’s in there, you’ll need to be in Chapter 3 to get the Tumtum. Talk to him and you’ll obtain the Tumtum which will boost your child’s interest in music if you show it to them.
Patrick – Fireworks
Befriend Patrick and talk to him in his house during Chapter 3. He will give you the Fireworks which will boost your child’s interest in art if you show it to them.
Griffin – Record: Marine jazz
Befriend Griffin then go into his room in the Blue Bar when he's there alone. Talk to him and he'll give you his record. You can get this record during the afternoon, around 2pm.
Rock – Record: Flowerbud Fall
Befriend Rock, something which I found extremely difficult, and talk to him around noon in his bedroom. This is the room opposite what used to be Nami’s room; right side door. He will give you the record after you talk to him.
When Rock starts to like you he’ll ask about writing a book for his fashion ideas, say ‘Maybe so’ to make him like you faster. It will probably take you quite a long time until you can get this record so get in there early with him and give him plenty of Toy flowers.
Marlin – Record: Butterfly
Befriend Marlin (S milk works well) and talk to him on a Van day whilst he’s hanging around by the waterfall, sometime around noon. He’ll give you this record when you talk to him.
Kassey or Patrick – Record: 64 memories
You’ll need to beat either Kassey or Patrick at least 10 times at that territory capture game I mentioned earlier. They will still give you the record even if you beat Kassey 5 times and then Patrick 5 times.
Chris – Record: The bride
Befriend Chris and talk to her whether she is walking outside or in her house
Kate – Record: Winter HM
Befriend Kate then go into her room sometime in the morning when she’s in there and awake, around 6am. She’ll give you the record after you talk to her.
Carter – Record: Summer memories
Befriend Carter and talk to him on the 3rd or 8th day of the month when he’s at the beach.
Makumuku: Record: Joy of fall
Befriend Mukumuku and talk to him. When he says something with music notes, that's the phrase he says when he gives you a record. For some reason you can get another record from him every single day of winter, they’re worth over 400G so it’s an easy way to earn an extra bit of cash.
