How is Viva Pinata, hombre?

KaterinLHC wrote:

I've nothing useful to add, except that I love this game. I never expected to, because a) I despise sim games, b) I wanted to use the 360 for shooting things, preferably zombies or aliens. But now, I see the error of my ways. Oh Viva Pinata! How I love thee! I want to take you to Massachusetts and make you mine, 'til death do us part.

We're losin' her, doc. Get her twenty cc's of Dead Rising, stat!

So I hit Lv10... and don't know if it means anything. However, here is the thing... my garden is turning into a concrete jungle like Manhattan. Just too many Piñatas, houses, etc... when can I expect to get more land to play with? I have 4x 9 different piñatas... and at least 5 more that I have the means to get resident but just no space. Although, fodgehog is treating my garden as all you can eat buffet... I don't know if I could resist of killing it.

Some noob questions:

Also, is there a way to get buzzlegums(?) to stop fighting with... an ant-looking piñata (don't know the name)?
How to set Taffiy on fire?
What exactly the Tower of Sour?
How does the special building for buzzlegums works? ...and is it worth it? ...although it's cheap, but expensive on real-estate space!

Woah! Right before I left on my trip, I bred a wild-card pinata! All I know is I got a notification and Leafos was freaking out, saying something about a 1-in-a-million pinata, and I suddenly got my acheivement for pinata worth 10,000 coins. It's a rashberry with tusks. I packed it away so I could play with it later. If I can't breed it, I'm thinking about naming it and then mailing off to you all so we can pass it around and stare in wonder.

Nei wrote:

my garden is turning into a concrete jungle like Manhattan. Just too many Piñatas, houses, etc... when can I expect to get more land to play with?!

You'll get much much more space as you level up. Don't be afraid to wack visiting pinatas, or sell pinatas, etc. You can't have em all at once. Also, don't be afraid to start a new garden! You get the same level, tools, money, etc. I've got 5 gardens right now.

You need a source of fire to set taffys on fire. Just direct them to it.

The tower of sour is a stack of totems that prevent sour pinatas from visiting. You can buy them off one of the vendors, or you can save the money and get them for free if you tame a sour pinata.

Usually the special buildings don't work until you dress your pinatas that use that building.

Pinatas fight with species they don't like. I wack em once on the head if I catch em early enough. Also, pouring water on em works, too, but again I think you need to do it early in the fight.

The best tactic for dealing with species that like to fight with each other is to not have them in the same garden. Pick one that will get to stay, and sell any members of the other species as soon as they decide to join your garden. As you may or may not know, Nei, all of your experience, upgrades, and unlocked shop items are shared between all the gardens you make, so it is pretty easy to just start a second garden to house the species that don't fit in your first for one reason or another, and go back and forth from garden to garden as necessary.

Also, in case you didn't know, you can send animals from one garden to another. Just box them up, ship them to yourself (you will be at the bottom of the list of people to send to) and then open the box in your second (or third, etc) garden.

Nei, I think you get your garden size upgrades at Level 11 and Level 21. Once you get past 21, your garden is as big as it will get.

The hive for the Buzzlegums is a great income generator. If your bees are dressed properly, then they'll produce honey automatically. Then you can sell the honey for a tidy profit.

So this is the first I've heard about properly dressing pinatas. Up til now I've just been throwing random things on them, because it makes them look funny

Not sure where I should post this but a friend told me that there are web rumors that Best Buy will be selling Viva Pinata for just $30 starting this Thursday. I've been lurking this thread for a while now and that's definately the right price for me to finally pick it up.

souldaddy wrote:

Also, don't be afraid to start a new garden! You get the same level, tools, money, etc. I've got 5 gardens right now.

zeroKFE wrote:

The best tactic for dealing with species that like to fight with each other is to not have them in the same garden.

So you guys saying that, if I have 5 piñatas in one garden and 5 piñatas in the 2nd garden... that generally count as if I have 10? Will the 2nd garden still be active... while I'm visiting the 1st?
Sry, I'm a bit slow today"…

souldaddy wrote:

You need a source of fire to set taffys on fire. Just direct them to it.

Odd, I have 4 fire sources and the only thing that gets on fire is the Sparrowmints... I try to direct Taffy to it but all it does is just hover around and then move on.

souldaddy wrote:

The tower of sour is a stack of totems that prevent sour pinatas from visiting. You can buy them off one of the vendors, or you can save the money and get them for free if you tame a sour pinata.

Odd, I tamed 2 sour piñatas... but I still have this Vampire Bat piñata making daily rounds. I don't mind killing it... or I could make it a resident but at same time I got my hands full.

bennard wrote:

Nei, I think you get your garden size upgrades at Level 11 and Level 21. Once you get past 21, your garden is as big as it will get.

Awesome, I'm almost at 11... I had to stop playing last nigh because I only had 3 hours left to sleep before going to work.

bennard wrote:

The hive for the Buzzlegums is a great income generator. If your bees are dressed properly, then they'll produce honey automatically. Then you can sell the honey for a tidy profit.

1. You would not happen to know what exactly needed, regarding proper dressing, for them to start... making honey?
2. Is income worth the trouble...? I have no problem selling of Buzzlegums for 1k since it does not take much for them to hump.

Nei wrote:

1. You would not happen to know what exactly needed, regarding proper dressing, for them to start... making honey?
2. Is income worth the trouble...? I have no problem selling of Buzzlegums for 1k since it does not take much for them to hump.

1) Buzzlegums need to wear a beekeeper hat for them to automatically produce honey. Without the hat, I think you can still manually direct them to hive.
2) It's nice because it's automatic and requires no intervention besides going around and selling the honey. Honey goes for 100 coins/jar I think, and if you have many Buzzlegums in the garden at the same time, it piles up pretty quickly.

There are other ways to make money quick that have been mentioned in the thread. Farming certain "cash crops" like chilis, orchids, and bullrushes can earn you lots of money fast.

Nei:

-Only the garden you have loaded is "active." Time stops in the other gardens when you're not working in them. Money, rank, achievements, awards, etc. you accumulate in one garden apply to all of your gardens, however. Store items and options you've unlocked for purchase in one garden are available in all others. Same goes for Tower of Sour, shovel, and watering can upgrades, etc.

-The tafflys should fly around the firebrands for a few seconds, then fly through the flame and catch on fire. If it's not working, try placing a firebrand in a more wide-open area. Sometimes the pinatas don't interact well with items in a crowded space.

-Every time you tame a sour, you get another section of the Tower of Sour. Each section pertains to that particular pinata and only keeps that sour pinata type out. You'll continue to get new sours until you have all seven tower segments. Your sour sherbat will continue to stop by until you tame him and get the sour sherbat tower upgrade.

-Put a beekeeper hat on a Bee to get it to make honey automatically.

DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

So this is the first I've heard about properly dressing pinatas. Up til now I've just been throwing random things on them, because it makes them look funny :)

Cinnamonkeys won't get it on unless they're wearing fezzes.

So you guys saying that, if I have 5 piñatas in one garden and 5 piñatas in the 2nd garden... that generally count as if I have 10? Will the 2nd garden still be active... while I'm visiting the 1st?
Sry, I'm a bit slow today"…

Well, no. The value of your gardens and the limit on how much stuff in them will be separate. However, your upgrades (like better shovels, watering cans, etc), your money, and what items you can buy at your store will be the same. Also, things only happen in a garden while you are there. Play in one garden and stuff happens there. Switch to another and time freezes in the first one.

Odd, I have 4 fire sources and the only thing that gets on fire is the Sparrowmints... I try to direct Taffy to it but all it does is just hover around and then move on.

You probably have too much clutter near the fire source. I had this problem in my first garden. The flys simply would not fly into the fire when I told them to. Then I set up a second garden with a torch out in the open, and they would go to it every time I told them to.

Odd, I tamed 2 sour piñatas... but I still have this Vampire Bat piñata making daily rounds. I don't mind killing it... or I could make it a resident but at same time I got my hands full.

You may have accidentally turned off the sour block. In your menu you have the option to examine your "tour of sour" and while you are doing so you can turn each piece on and off, allowing you to decide whether or not you will continue being bothered by sours you have already tamed.

1. You would not happen to know what exactly needed, regarding proper dressing, for them to start... making honey?
2. Is income worth the trouble...? I have no problem selling of Buzzlegums for 1k since it does not take much for them to hump.

You need to give them a beekeeper's hat. As for whether or not the income is worth it, I say meh. You can make money a lot easier by constantly burning tafflys every time they join your garden and then selling them off once they've turned to reddhotts or by taking advantage of properly fertilizing a group of fast growing plants. Still, though, it is free money so if you have the space to build it, why not? Also, large amounts of honey are needed to court one of the later pinatas, and buying that much would be annoying if you could just be getting it for free, right?

I believe you have to be a certain level before you can make Redhotts from Tafflies. It's right around 12 I think. Prior to that they won't go into the flame.

Thx for the info...

Damnit, my copy is still "processing shipment" at MSRetail Loyalty.

Viva Pinata Wiki - warning, great spoilers await. I'm not feeling so bad about spoiling this game for myself, though, I'm going on 80 hours, most of the awards and achievements, and I haven't seen 15% of the pinatas yet, especially the fancy ones.

souldaddy wrote:

Viva Pinata Wiki - warning, great spoilers await. I'm not feeling so bad about spoiling this game for myself, though, I'm going on 80 hours, most of the awards and achievements, and I haven't seen 15% of the pinatas yet, especially the fancy ones.

I've decided I'm going the partial completionist route, in that I intend to eventually earn all the achievments for this game. I can't imagine what kind of time it would take take to create all pinatas and their evolutions and variants, though. You'd have to be a little bit insane, I think.

The Fly wrote:
souldaddy wrote:

Viva Pinata Wiki - warning, great spoilers await. I'm not feeling so bad about spoiling this game for myself, though, I'm going on 80 hours, most of the awards and achievements, and I haven't seen 15% of the pinatas yet, especially the fancy ones.

I've decided I'm going the partial completionist route, in that I intend to eventually earn all the achievments for this game. I can't imagine what kind of time it would take take to create all pinatas and their evolutions and variants, though. You'd have to be a little bit insane, I think.

I feel like I'm running a fish farm, just cranking out the pinatas in huge crops before I sell one species and move on to the next. Once you get your first few master romancer awards you see its the easiest way, and some species need to eat 6 pinatas before they get busy with the nasty.

Something about these games, I don't feel like I can experiment all that much. I'm not that interested in discovering the different variations for myself. It feels too much like graduate-assisted science, grow 30 worms and feed them each a different thing. And as cute as these creatures are, I'm not convinced at all that they are alive. I like watching them move and interact, but there isn't a game yet that crossed that uncanny valley.

Pinata question for ya'll: I'm having difficulty directing the pinatas. I'd like a Sparrowmint to eat a Whirlm or a SnakeyGuy to eat a Lickitoad and I can't get them to do it. I select the snake and then direct it towards the toad and nothing happens. Once in a great while, it'll work but it's pretty frustrating.

Do I need to purchase engraved invites or something?

Trashie wrote:

Pinata question for ya'll: I'm having difficulty directing the pinatas. I'd like a Sparrowmint to eat a Whirlm or a SnakeyGuy to eat a Lickitoad and I can't get them to do it. I select the snake and then direct it towards the toad and nothing happens. Once in a great while, it'll work but it's pretty frustrating.

Do I need to purchase engraved invites or something?

I know exactly how you feel. Some species are better hunters than others. Notice you won't have any problem getting a Pretztail to eat a Bunnycomb, but it took me the better part of two hours yesterday to get a freakin' Syrupent to eat a Licktoad. (Stupid snakes. Dumb as bricks. Amazing they haven't died off as a species.) I think it's just the way the AI was purposefully designed. Likewise for the flying species; the programmers seemed to have built in ADHD into the Sparrowmints. I've been trying to breed them, and it's taking forever to get them to eat the stupid Whirlms. Blah.

KaterinLHC wrote:

...but it took me the better part of two hours yesterday to get a freakin' Syrupent to eat a Licktoad.

Odd, I had no problems making Syrupents to munch on Licktoad... may be because it was at night? Although, I don't think syrupents are nocturnal.

Trashie wrote:

Pinata question for ya'll: I'm having difficulty directing the pinatas. I'd like a Sparrowmint to eat a Whirlm or a SnakeyGuy to eat a Lickitoad and I can't get them to do it. I select the snake and then direct it towards the toad and nothing happens. Once in a great while, it'll work but it's pretty frustrating.

Do I need to purchase engraved invites or something?

Some of this depends on the happiness of the pinata. A happier pinata seems to follow direction more readily. Try buying your pinata some accessories or some happy candy and see what happens.

bennard wrote:
Trashie wrote:

Pinata question for ya'll: I'm having difficulty directing the pinatas. I'd like a Sparrowmint to eat a Whirlm or a SnakeyGuy to eat a Lickitoad and I can't get them to do it. I select the snake and then direct it towards the toad and nothing happens. Once in a great while, it'll work but it's pretty frustrating.

Do I need to purchase engraved invites or something?

Some of this depends on the happiness of the pinata. A happier pinata seems to follow direction more readily. Try buying your pinata some accessories or some happy candy and see what happens.

It's an AI thing. Pinatas who fly generally won't listen to you til they stop.

My copy just arrived from Microsoft... just in time for Christmas vacation. Away from home. Sigh.

KaterinLHC wrote:

the programmers seemed to have built in ADHD into the Sparrowmints. I've been trying to breed them, and it's taking forever to get them to eat the stupid Whirlms. Blah.

remember after you have bred them once in any of your gardens you can just feed them romance candy to get them in the mood again.
The bonner or the bow makes the Goobaas go get shorn automatically (I have both on mine and she runs in there on her own)
Remember to have the tinker mess with stuff like pumkins (which turn to Jacko lanterns for taming the sour sherbat) or toadstools 9which turn to mushrooms for taming one of the other sours) or honey (which turn s into a bottle of medicine for taming the sour crowley), also tinkering up a cheap apple turns into a taffied apple which sells for 150 coins

so, I'm a dirty skimmer and cant really read through all the pages in this thread but I'm having a problem.

I had a sour Shellybean in my garden last night and it looked like it was attacking a Whirlm so I whacked it with a shovel. well.. it laid down and these little faces started coming out of it..and it laid there for 3 day cycles.. I cant poke it or wake it up or anything! What should I do? Actually one of the little Raisants fell "asleep" next to it and isn't able to wake up now either.. they look dead.. I'm panicking!

doihaveto wrote:
DrunkenSleipnir wrote:

Crazy addictive game. Kat and I are fighting like Lickytoads and Neutgats over the 360. Incidentally, I've added everyone from this thread to my Xbox Live list and intend on sending random things to people. It just seems like a nice thing to do :)

Awesome. Expect the same in return. ;)

Holy crap, where was this thread? Ah, I see, it started way before I got the game. Anyways, I'm level 21 or so, and loving it. Send me stuff!!!!

Ganguro, sounds like a bugged pinata. I got 1 while I was playing, I couldn't whack or sell it. Eventually it fixed itself. Luckly starting a new garden isn't painful at all.

Ganguro wrote:

so, I'm a dirty skimmer and cant really read through all the pages in this thread but I'm having a problem.

I had a sour Shellybean in my garden last night and it looked like it was attacking a Whirlm so I whacked it with a shovel. well.. it laid down and these little faces started coming out of it..and it laid there for 3 day cycles.. I cant poke it or wake it up or anything! What should I do? Actually one of the little Raisants fell "asleep" next to it and isn't able to wake up now either.. they look dead.. I'm panicking!

I had something like that happen, I think. I just restarted the system and it was fine.

Whew, I just read the whole thread. Picked up some good tips like the starting another garden. My wife was hesitant to play because she thought she'd screw it up (though I told her it wasn't a big deal) and now she can have her own private plot.

If anyone is still on the fence about this game go pick it up. It rocks. A buddy of mine came over the other day and after Gears of War and Viva Pinata became a sudden 360 convert. Hehe.

Thanks for the garden tip.. I started a new one and everything seems to work fine so far.
Plus I have a pond and trees in the new one.