Building the Basics
My Time at Portia’s calendar has four months with several weeks each in a year, and the first few seasons serve as a solid tutorial –but even with so much to do in Portia, I didn’t felt like it was dragging me around to see every attraction. Instead, it let me explore everything at my own pace, though it heavily encourages players to start by accepting timed building assignments. Building is your first priority in My Time at Portia, and the first commissions were designed well enough to help me establish a foundation in my routines for gathering resources. After either mining for ore, collecting wood, fighting monsters, or gathering other basic materials, I’d add them together in a recipe to build an item.At first, gathering starts as simple as picking up stray wood and rock piles, but eventually escalates into cutting down massive trees with a chainsaw. I would sometimes dedicate whole days to just gathering resources for my next big project, but as I progressed, I gained things like the chainsaw to collect resources faster. I appreciated that as things got more complicated, new tools and services would arrive not long after to help me grow as a builder.
Those aids were important as I received complex schematics to build even bigger and more important items. They required me to process basic resources into different things before they could be used. Sometimes you have to process goods several times before they’re finally made into the right component. I enjoyed pulling out a notepad to track just how many carbon steel bars I’d need to build an item. Then, once done, I’d submit those items for rewards, town favor, and money. I enjoyed this cycle not only because I found it to be rather relaxing, but also because the biggest assignments you’re given directly change the town.
I enjoyed pulling out a notepad to track just how many carbon steel bars I’d need to build an item.
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I Just Want to Be Friends
The one learning curve I did have issues with was figuring out how to please my fellow Portians. My Time at Portia’s relationship system relies on the player chatting with residents daily, giving them presents, and playing games or sparring for relationship points. Presents give by far the most relationship points early on, but with My Time at Portia’s impressive number of items, it’s difficult to figure out exactly what’s worth giving away. Very few item descriptions give clues to what might be liked by others, and even items I thought a person would enjoy based on their personality usually didn’t work out. Building relationships in the early stages takes way too long without that important information. On the plus side, gaining friendship with one person awards you free friendship points with the people closest to your new friend.At first glance, a majority of the characters seem more like caricatures rather than real people, and their starting few dialogue lines don’t always make sense. Look, I get it Russo, you’re a dedicated butler, but there’s no way you’re always getting food for someone at all hours of the day as he claims to be doing when I talk to him. The clumsy dialogue early on thankfully takes far better shape after gaining people’s friendship and during events. New dialogue lines did make me feel like they were trusting me with better information about themselves. New friendship levels also mean more activities, which further diversify what you do in My Time at Portia.
The clumsy dialogue early on thankfully takes far better shape after gaining people’s friendship and during events.
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Eventually, you can go on to marry select people in Portia. What I like about this marriage system is that your partner will actually help around your workshop. And, if you marry the right person, you can receive discounts at their shop or helpful stat bonuses – though you can get lesser levels of these benefits by just becoming friends. Overall, the relationship system is worth investing in, but I do wish it were tuned better so that the start of a relationship felt less like a chore.
Adventure Time
The RPG layer of My Time at Portia is light and easy to manage on top of everything else. Leveling up gets you more stamina, which powers most things you do, plus improved health, attack, defense stats and a point to put into one of the three skill trees – there’s one for battling, another for gathering, and the third for social. The skills were essential to increasing the efficiency of activities since they mostly offered passive bonuses. For example, as I needed more resources, I invested points in the gathering skill tree for a chance to get double item drops. It ended up being incredibly helpful – and lucrative.It seems no matter what I do, Portia continues to encourage me to keep going for more because it still has more to offer.
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Combat is simple hacking and slashing, but the variety of enemies keep things interesting enough. The dungeons are divided into several levels, each with their own rooms and a boss in the last room. Though I liked how dungeons were often a mix of a few basic puzzles and a handful of enemies, I do wish that the boss waiting at the end of each level were different. Some dungeons share bosses, and the ones I encountered only really required me to have some extra health items and a higher level than them to defeat.
Verdict
My time at Portia is, first and foremost, a game about building, and I've had a great time doing it. From mining to taming wild llamas to dating, there’s a lot to do here, and I’m still discovering and unlocking new and usually interesting things. While each of its parts is lacking in some way or have annoying audio bugs, when you put them all together they bolster each other to add up to something fun. I look forward to seeing how My Time at Portia continues to evolve in the future.