Palia is a delightful life sim game, currently in Open Beta, that immerses players in a charming fantasy world. One of the key aspects of the game, as is the case with many popular life sims such as Stardew Valley, involves forming bonds with in-game villagers.
Friendship levels are crucial for unlocking various items and features, including the ability to romance certain characters. This guide focuses on the art of gift-giving in Palia, a major activity that significantly influences these friendships. Read on to learn about Weekly Wants, villagers' liked gifts, and the intricacies of the game's friendship mechanics.
How to Raise Friendship in Palia
There are two main avenues for increasing friendship with the residents of Palia: gift giving and having conversations. Players interested in strengthening their bonds with villagers should stay on top of both of these tasks. As players increase their friendship with a character, they will also unlock new quests and requests. These will also reward friendship, and occasionally grant Renown.
To raise friendship via conversations, the player can speak with each villager once per in-game day to increase friendship with that character. A single day in Palia is equal to one real-world hour, giving players many opportunities each real-world day to interact with the villagers and raise their friendship this way.
To raise friendship via gifting, players can bring one gift per real-world day per villager from a list of specific items. The gift-giving daily reset occurs at 4 AM UTC. Each NPC has a large selection of items which they like and a handful of items which they love. Loved items will give double the friendship gains over liked items, so the player should focus on securing and gifting these items whenever possible.
What Are Weekly Wants?
Each character also has a selection of "Weekly Wants," which players can discover by speaking with that character. Additionally, some characters will share information on what gifts other NPCs are interested in. Each villager's Weekly Wants will change each week. Giving a Weekly Wants gift counts towards the one gift per day limit.
As the player's friendship with a villager increases, a new Weekly Want will be revealed in the character menu at each friendship level. The first two requests, shown at level 1 and level 2, will give the additional friendship gains from any everyday "Liked" items given to that character. The third and fourth shown are considered "Loved," and will award double friendship points. However, it is not necessary to reach these specific Friendship Levels to gift a character all four of their Weekly Wants.
Every player can give each character all four of their Weekly Wants regardless of their friendship level as long as they know which items that character has requested that week. Higher friendship levels will only reveal the items in the game's interface. Players may also discover a character's Weekly Wants via conversations with that character or their close friends.
Einar is unique in that he will accept a gift of any Shiny Stone each day, which count toward specific rewards. It's important to note that giving him a Shiny Stone will count as the gift given for that day, and the player will not be able to gift him any Weekly Wants or other Liked items that day. However, he will still gain friendship when gifted these stones, and doing so counts toward the accomplishment "Pebbled Plunder."
How to Check Friendship Level
Friendship levels with villagers can be viewed in the game menu. Navigate to the fifth tab, identified by a heart icon, to check current friendship levels with each character. Characters that can be romanced will feature a second bar located underneath the friendship bar that can be filled by gaining romance points through romantic activities with that selected character.
The player can unlock romance with a villager by reaching friendship level 3 with that character. There are nine villagers that the player can romance. They can form these relationships with multiple characters simultaneously, with no gender limitations.
During Palia's Open Beta period, the friendship level cap is set at level 4. Since story content for relationships remains incomplete, it's expected that future updates will raise this cap. Presently, the main purpose to give gifts once friendship is maxed is to earn the following Accomplishments:
- Gift 20 Loved Gifts
- Gift 40 Liked Gifts
- Gift 100 Gifts
How to Give Gifts to Villagers
A villager can receive one gift each real-world day from the player, resetting each day at 4 AM UTC. Aim to give villagers their two "Loved" gifts each week to maximize friendship points. On the rest of the days, give the two requested "Liked" Weekly Wants gifts and any other Liked gifts for the remaining three days.
To give gifts to a villager, follow these steps:
- Locate the villager and press F to speak with them.
- Click on the gift box icon found on the left side of the chat window.
- Click the item in the inventory window to give it to the villager.
All Villagers' Weekly Wants & Liked Gifts
Each character's Weekly Wants in Palia will change every week on Sunday. The player can check how long they have before the reset by mousing over one of the items in the Weekly Wants section of the character menu. There are numerous tools made by the talented members of Palia's community, including Palia Gift Tracker, PaliaNPC, and others, that players can use to track their gift-giving activities.
After the player has given all four Weekly Wants, they should move on to each villager's lists of everyday Liked gifts. Give three of these items, one per day, before the week ends. Offering these gifts is a straightforward way for players to boost friendship levels.
Many of the villagers in Palia like parts from the two wild creatures found in Palia: Chapaa and Sernuk. Therefore, it may be worth investing in some Common Arrows to obtain these items. However, if the player would like to save gold or materials required to craft arrows, it is recommended to collect any of the gatherable items, including flowers and minerals, to give gifts without breaking the bank.
Here's a list of readily available and easy-to-obtain Liked gifts for each villager in Palia:
Character | Everyday Liked Gifts |
|---|---|
Ashura | Chapaa Meat, Sernuk Meat, Shell, Sundrop Lily |
Auni | Any Bugs, Any Crabs, Silk Thread |
Badruu | Corn, Apple, Carrot, Cotton, Grilled Mushroom, Silk Thread |
Caleri | Chapaa Fur, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide |
Chayne | Crystal Lake Lotus, Knapweed, Shell, Silk Thread, Sundrop Lily, Unopened Oyster |
Delaila | Chapaa Meat, Sernuk Meat |
Einar | Any Fish, Any Shiny Pebbles |
Elouisa | Chapaa Fur, Sernuk Hide, Sundrop Lily |
Eshe | Copper Bar, Silk Thread |
Hassian | Arrows, Chapaa Fur, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide |
Hekla | Brightshroom, Copper Ore, Pinecone, Silk Thread |
Hodari | Chapaa Fur, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide |
Jel | Chapaa Fur, Crystal Lake Lotus, Sernuk Antlers, Shell, Sundrop Lily |
Jina | Any Mushrooms |
Kenli | Copper Bar, Sundrop Lily |
Kenyatta | Chapaa Fur, Knapweed, Arrows, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide |
Nai’o | Chapaa Fur, Chapaa Meat, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide, Sernuk Meat |
Najuma | Copper Ore, Coral, Shell |
Reth | Chapaa Meat, Knapweed, Sernuk Meat |
Sifuu | Chapaa Fur, Chapaa Meat, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide, Sernuk Meat |
Tamala | Chapaa Fur, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide |
Tish | Chapaa Fur, Crystal Lake Lotus, Sernuk Antlers, Sernuk Hide, Sundrop Lily |
Zeki | Any Fish |
Palia is available in Open Beta for PC. A full release for PC and Nintendo Switch will be released at a later date.