Viva Piñata Frequently Asked Questions (Section 1)
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SPOILER ALERT: The answers below may contain some mild spoilers. The answers in section 9 (yes, I know the numbers aren't sequential) definitely contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.
1. General
1.0 Where can I go to get more information?
Piñata Island Wiki
The official VP website
1.1 What is VP all about?
It's essentially The Sims, with piñatas instead of people, and a garden instead of a house. Piñatas are attracted to your garden by things in it - grass, water, plants, objects, even other piñatas. If they are happy enough and find enough things in your garden that they like, they will stay and become "residents". With some help from you, two piñatas will "romance", producing offspring. There are dozens of different piñata species, with several variants each for you to discover. Along the way to building the ultimate garden/piñata zoo, you will earn dozens of awards and Achievements.
1.2 Will I like this game?
Only you can answer that, though people of all ages and gamer types seem to enjoy it. Search the forum for opinions, starting with
Rocktimus Prime's excellent review.
1.3 Isn't this a kids' game?
The tone of the game is geared towards the under-10 set, but nevertheless it is quite enjoyable for many adults. It's an ideal parent/child game (in the author's opinion).
1.4 Does the game support multiplayer?
Yes, though only on the local Xbox, currently. At any time, a 2nd player can connect a controller and help build the garden. The "help" is limited, though, as both players are controlling the same on-screen cursor (used to manipulate things in the garden). Probably useful for parent/child assistance; not so much for a true two-player game experience.
1.5 How do I gain levels in VP?
You gain levels by attracting piñata, making residents out of them, romancing them, growing trees, achieving "bonus growth" on a plant (by using fertilizer), etc.
1.6 Can I have multiple gardens?
Yes, you can have multiple gardens going at once. However, all gardens under the same Gamertag will share the same bank account, level, shops, tools, etc. That is, if you've earned the 2nd shovel upgrade on Garden 1, Garden 2 will also have that upgrade. For each Gamertag, only the first garden will go through the tutorial; other gardens will just start with the junkyard and leave you to it.
2. Designing Your Garden
2.1 How should I start my garden?
The tutorial does a good job of getting you started. In general, it's fine to whack all the hard soil and clear out all the junk, then plant short grass everywhere. Your first resident - Whirlms - will be attracted by bare soil or short grass, so you don't have to leave any bare soil if you don't want to. After that, go wild! Just keep in mind that trees need space to grow, piñatas don't like to be overcrowded, and there is a limit to how many "things" can be in your garden at once. Also keep in mind that you can always cut grass, sell trees and buildings, and generally rework your garden if the first design doesn't work well.
2.2 How do I get water/ponds into my garden?
After a few levels, you will get a shovel upgrade that allows you to "Dig pond" (X) when the curor is over bare dirt or short grass. Ponds will attract aquatic piñatas such as Lickatoads, Newtgats, and Quackberrys. Certain plants (Water Lilys, for example) require water nearby, as well.
2.3 How do I make my garden expand in size?
Your garden will be expanded automatically at levels 11 and 21.
2.4 What good are pathways?
The primary "benefit" of pathways is that they supposedly will allow your helpers to move around your garden faster, getting more work done in a day. See the section on Helpers for caveats, though. Other than that, they are basically just decorative. Your piñatas will occasionally use them to get around.
3. Growing Plants
3.1 How do I grow plant X?
You need to plant a seed for plant X in the proper type of soil. You can get seeds at Costalot's store, from Seedos (select him and press A for "Talk"), and from certain plants when you "tap" (X) them with the shovel. Most plants will do OK in regular soil or short grass; some plants need to be planted on the edge of a pond area.
3.4 I planted X, but it didn't grow! What happened?
Every plant needs one thing to grow properly: the proper soil. And water. TWO things to grow properly. Proper soil and water. And also enough space. Arggh.
Among the various things a plant needs to grow successfully are such diverse items as:
- Proper soil (careful with water plants!)
- The right amount of water (about half-full on the meter)
- Enough space (especially with trees)
If your plants are not growing, or end up stunted (short trees, very few "active fruit points"), check those five...ah...three things. For maximum growth, maximum value, and maximum flower/fruit/vegetable production, go for bonus growth.
3.3 How do I get "bonus growth"?
By using the correct type of fertilizer, at the correct time. For the colored fertilizers sold by Costalot, match the color to the plant. After you have access to Ivor Bargain's store (see the Money and Shopping section), you can use Ivor's Special Mix Fertilizer on any plant.
As for timing, most small plants can take 3 doses of fertilizer right after planting. For some woody shrubs and trees, you will have to time the fertilizer applications to each "growth period". Watch the plant carefully for a sign that it has completed a growth cycle.
3.4 What's with all the "flower heads"?
When the game says that piñata X needs to eat flower Y, it's really talking about the
flower head from that flower. Piñatas will attack a plant to get to its flower head, but you can also tap them (the plants) with the shovel to knock the flower head off. Sometimes you will get a seed as well as a flower head, and if you had bonus growth on the plant you will get several flower heads. Some plants seem to be more resilient to "tapping", and will survive to produce more flowers.
3.5 Why do my trees die after a few/several days?
This seems to be normal for the game. Trees with full bonus growth seem to last longer than others, but all of them eventually seem to stop producing fruit, eventually turning brown. When that happens, you have to sell and plant anew.
4. Attracting/Romancing/Evolving Pinatas
4.1 How do I attract piñata X?
The tutorial will lead you through the process of attracting at least a few starter piñatas. For other piñatas, you will need to experiment a bit (or search the forum/intertubes for spoilers). Try planting a different kind of grass, or expanding the water in your garden. Plant more trees, or different kinds of trees. Unless your garden is extremely monotone (all short grass, no water, no trees, no flowers), the piñatas should keep making "appearances".
4.2 What's the difference between "appearance", "visit", "resident", and "romance"?
When your garden meets its minimum requriements, a piñata will "appear" outside the boundaries of your garden. At this point you can look it up in the Encyclopedia to see its other requirements. It will stay outside your garden until you've met the "Visit" requirements, after which it will wander in and out of your garden, but remain in black-and-white (non-resident) colors. When you've met the piñata's "Resident" requirements, the piñata will change color and will remain in your garden as long as it's happy enough. When you meet the final set of requirements - "Romance" - two piñatas of the same species will do their little dance and produce offspring.
4.3 How do I keep my piñatas happy?
So long as their environmental "Resident" requirements (% of water area, types of flowers, etc.) are met, most piñatas will stay about half-happy on the little smiley-face meter (you won't see this meter until you've made a few levels; the game tries to add new features a bit at a time). Some things will make them unhappy, however:
Piñata Poopers
- Fights with other piñatas
- Being stepped on by larger piñatas
- Being "watered" (some piñatas actually enjoy this)
- Being whacked with the shovel
- Getting sick
- Overcrowding/no room to roam (especially if hostile piñatas are nearby)
Removing/preventing the above Piñata Poopers will, of course, improve their mood, and so will these:
Piñata Pleasers
- Having a name
- Wearing accessories
- Going to a party
- Eating Happy Candy or Joy Candy
I personally spread a bunch of Happy Candy around the garden from time to time, just to keep my piñatas nice and drugged up.
4.4 How do I get my piñatas in the mood for romance?
Well, you could start by cleaning out the garage like you said you'd do and it wouldn't hurt to do the dishes once in a while and...oh, sorry...wrong discussion.
The Encyclopedia will tell you the minimum requirements for romance - usually involving eating some plant or other piñata, plus having a house of the appropriate type in the garden. Usually that will be enough to get the hearts floating above the piñatas' heads. When the hearts are visible, click on piñata A and "direct" it to (click on) piñata B and off you go.
Sometimes the minimum requirements aren't enough - know what I mean? In those cases, you want to make sure that the piñatas are happy (see above), paying special attention to overcrowding. If there are too many piñatas in your garden, there won't be any romancin' goin' on. Guess the piñatas of Piñata Island are concerned about global overpopulation. Anyway, if the piñatas are happy, but still won't get groovin', try selling off some of your other piñatas. Note: if you're going for Master Romancer (see below), don't sell off any of the target species! Also note that some piñatas only get in the mood at certain times of day, or during certain weather.
4.5 What about Romance Candy? I keep feeding it to my piñatas, but I get no hearts!
Ah yes, the Candy of Canoodling. The Shortcut to Seduction. The Express Train to...something-that-rhymes-with-train. You can only use this shortcut on a piñata species
after you have successfully romanced that species. After that, you can use the candy to meet the romancing requirements of any member of the species.
4.6 Why do the romance hearts keep disappearing?
It's a normal change in mood for the piñatas. Some piñatas are especially finicky and their hearts will only be visible for a few seconds. You have to be quick on the A button to catch two of them.
4.7 How do I get the Master Romancer award for a piñata species?
You must romance piñata species until you have a total of 7 in your garden at the same time. You can romance them in any combination (doesn't have to be 2 parents and 5 children), but you can't sell them off until you're done.
Trick #1 - if your garden is a bit crowded, send some of the Master Romancer target piñatas to yourself. For example, if you send the first 4 offspring to yourself, you will keep your population steady, thereby encouraging further romance between the parents. Then, when the 5th offspring emerges, go open your crates, bringing the other 4 back into the garden to earn the Master Romancer award.
Trick #2 - romance up 7 Sparrowmints, get the MR award, then convert them into Candarys (this is an evolve; see the Variants/Evolves FAQ at the top of the forum) to get the MR award for Candarys with no romancing needed! Same thing can be done with any of the evolves in the list.
4.8 How do I get the Romancer/Master Romancer Achievements?
You must earn the Master Romancer award for 5 and 20 different species, respectively. See Trick #2 above to speed things up.
4.9 How do I make a variant of piñata X?
Please see the Variants/Evolves FAQ at the top of the forum.
4.10 How do I evolve piñata X into piñata Y?
Please see the Variants/Evolves FAQ at the top of the forum.
4.11 How do I keep piñata X and piñata Y from fighting (e.g. Raisants and Buzzlegums)?
Some piñata species just don't get along, and if either of them is a flying species, sometimes there isn't much you can do to keep them from fighting. For walking piñatas, try fencing one species off so the other can't get to it. You can also check Ivor Bargain's shop; he sells some things that will help prevent fights. Sometimes, you just have to sell (or whack) one species whenever it becomes a resident.
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