In Fields of Mistria, relationships are built through a system of friendship points and heart-based milestones. Whether you are aiming for marriage or simply building your social network in town, understanding these mechanics is essential for progression.

Building Friendship Points

Friendship points function like experience points for your relationships. You gain these by interacting with townsfolk daily and presenting them with gifts. While gifts are a primary driver, keep in mind that:

  • Loved gifts grant 20 friendship points.
  • Liked gifts grant 10 friendship points.
  • No decay: Friendship points do not decrease over time, and giving a character a gift they dislike or hate will not subtract points from your total.

You can track your progress by checking the heart tab in your journal. This menu displays your current heart level and a pink meter representing the points earned toward the next heart.

Heart Events and Dating

As you accumulate friendship points, you will unlock specific story cutscenes called Heart Events. These trigger at key thresholds:

  • 2 Hearts (180 points): First heart event.
  • 4 Hearts (390 points): Second heart event; allows you to invite a candidate to the Shooting Star Festival and triggers a birthday letter.
  • 6 Hearts (705 points): Third heart event.
  • 8 Hearts (1,125 points): Fourth heart event and the ability to confess feelings.

Once you reach 8 hearts, you must choose to confess your feelings to begin a dating relationship. Note that you cannot remain "best friends" at this stage; you must decide to date or proceed without that status.

Marriage Requirements

Marriage is available once you have reached 10 hearts (1,755 points) with a character you are currently dating. To propose:

  1. Reach level 100 in the mines to unlock the engagement ring recipe.
  2. Use the recipe to craft the engagement ring at a blacksmith station.
  3. Offer the ring to your partner to initiate the marriage process.

Be aware that once a proposal is completed, the engagement ring recipe is removed from your blacksmith station, preventing further proposals in that save file.

Managing Multiple Relationships

If you are dating multiple characters, proposing to one will typically cause the others to send a breakup letter and revert to "best friends" status. You can modify this behavior in the gameplay settings:

  • Breakup letters off: Characters become "best friends" upon your engagement, but you will not receive a letter or specific breakup dialogue.
  • Breakups off entirely: You retain your "dating" status with all partners even after marriage, allowing you to maintain multiple relationships simultaneously.