Tales of the Shire friendship guide

Building friendships should be the number one activity on every Tales of the Shire Hobbit’s to-do list. By improving your friendship level with each of the fifteen locals, also known as the Bywater Townsfolk, you can unlock new conversations, shop upgrades, fishing spots, trading opportunities, and even room expansions.

Even among friendly neighborhood Hobbits, however, forging friendships takes more than a day’s work. Here’s everything you should know about friendships in Tales of the Shire.

How to improve friendships in Tales of the Shire

Friendship levels, which range from 1 to 10, can be viewed in the Townsfolk menu. To boost this friendship level with any member of the Bywater Townsfolk, you must feed them. That’s right, the way to a Hobbit’s heart is through their stomach.

But you can’t just walk up to a Hobbit and hand them a plate; instead, you must organize a Shared Meal. To do so, interact with the writing desk inside your Hobbit-hole and choose “plan a shared meal,” then select a venue.

More venues may become available later in the game, but in early- to mid-game, you can choose one of the following:

• Home: You will eat at your dinner table. There’s enough space for two guests.
• The Three-Farthing Stone: You will eat on the high rock in the northeastern part of the map. This location is large enough for four guests.

On the next screen, select the attendees and send out the invites. The Shared Meal will always take place the following day, but there’s no set time. To begin the meal, just visit the venue (don’t forget to bring food!) and interact with the table — early morning, midday, night, anytime is fine!

At the start of the Shared Meal, open your inventory, select “meals,” and click on a meal you’d like to serve. It’s one meal per guest, and meals aren’t shared, so the placement matters! If you’d like to serve Crispy Fish Pie to Old Noakes, for example, you must place the Crispy Fish Pie directly in front of him. If you place it closer to Nefi’s seat, it will be considered Nefi’s meal instead.

The higher the deliciousness rating (quality) of the dish, the more friendship points you’ll get. You can improve the deliciousness rating by using high-quality ingredients and obtaining better results in the cooking mini-game.

Tales of the Shire Shared Meal tips

To make the most of your Shared Meals and receive as many friendship points as you can, here are a few things to keep in mind.

• If you invite your fellow Hobbits for a Shared Meal but fail to show up, they’ll become disgruntled. Don’t worry too much about this; disgruntled Townsfolk will refuse Shared Meal invites for a few days, but you won’t lose friendship experience.
• If you satisfy a friend’s craving, which is displayed in their Townsfolk profile, or give them the flavor they want, as described in their RSVP letter (check your mailbox), they will give you a gift. However, only the deliciousness rating of the meal seems to affect the amount of friendship experience.
• Hobbits aren’t too picky, though. As long as you serve your friend a meal, the friendship will always improve — even if it’s a one-star dish that doesn’t satisfy a craving.
• To improve your friendship levels as quickly as possible, try to organize a Shared Meal every day. You can send new invites (for the following day) as soon as you’ve completed the previous Shared Meal.
• Beware that you must invite the maximum number of guests per venue – so you can’t sit down with just three Hobbits at the Three-Farthing Stone. Furthermore, you must serve one dish per guest, which means you won’t be able to have your Shared Meal at the Three-Farthing Stone if you only bring three meals.
• Although you may serve meals from your pantry when having a dinner party at home, you’ll have to carry the meals in your backpack if you decide to eat anywhere else.
• A particularly interesting Hobbit to target for friendship points, is Willow. Upon reaching friendship levels 3, 6, and 10, she’ll expand your Hobbit-hole. You’ll have more rooms to decorate!

Tales of the Shire friendship rewards

Serving Shared Meals for 14 hungry Hobbits and one Dwarf is quite an effort, but you’ll receive plenty in return. Here’s an overview of the friendship rewards in Tales of the Shire:

• Basic gifts: If you satisfy a Hobbit’s craving or desired flavor, they will give you a piece of furniture and/or a recipe.
• Special gifts: If you not only satisfy a Hobbit’s craving but also serve the dish with a high deliciousness score, they will give you a special gift, which is usually a special type of furniture.
• Milestone rewards: After reaching a certain friendship level with a Hobbit, you will receive a special reward. This usually happens at friendship levels 3, 6, and 10. Common milestone rewards are trading (you’ll be able to exchange items with this Hobbit), shop upgrades (if they are a vendor), and new foraging or fishing locations. Open the Townsfolk menu and click on a Hobbit to see their milestone rewards.
• Friendship Tales: Upon reaching friendship milestones (usually level 3, 6, and 10), you unlock a Friendship Tale. This involves a tiny side quest, which is completed by speaking with the Hobbit.

To receive your gifts, speak with the Hobbits after enjoying your Shared Meal. Food for furniture — that’s how it works in Tales of the Shire.