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Have you read other posts regarding what the writers wish they knew and they listed the obvious? I read quite a few like that. Many mentioned to fix up your house asap to get a full night’s sleep. Trust me, it didn’t make my list of things I wish I knew before starting My Time at Portia. The game makes it obvious for the player to know to fix their house because, when you wake up, the game mentions you slept badly.
I am surprised that none of them mention anything that I wish I knew, so I am writing my own. The game does not mention the items I am listing in any way, shape or form! I hope the things will help you as much as it helps me.
Psst… not sure what My Time at Portia is? Read My Time at Portia: What Exactly Is It? first!
If you rather watch the video, click above. Otherwise, you can continue reading below.
1. There is a MISSABLE achievement/trophy
There is an achievement/trophy called City Transporter. This is the one where you must complete all 5 Dee-dee transport commissions. This is the commissions for the cars, not the stops. You can only grab one commission at a time from the city. If you are not careful, Higgins will snatch one or two of them.
The best way to go about this is to make 5 Dee-dee transports in advance and time the commissions to come in on a Saturday. Higgins does not work on the weekends.
Due to a new patch, the Dee-Dee transports commissions goes on the board 2 days after the quest “The Cave on Amber Island.” This means you need to finish the quest on a Thursday for the commissions to show up on Saturday. On Saturday, just bring the 5 Dee-dee cars to the Commerce Guild and accept the commissions one by one.
2. Your Date/ Playdate Can Ride Your Mount With You!
This definitely is something I wish I knew before starting My Time at Portia!
I did not purchase a horse till late in the game and I wish I knew this because of Ginger. Ginger is harder to raise her relationship status because she does not like presents. She does not give out as many relationship points for presents like the other NPCs do. (I don’t understand not liking presents. “Free is free” is my motto! Unless it is the animal feces. I do not want that!)
The best way to raise her relationship status is by play date/date and using the round table restaurant. The problem is that due to her condition, she is very slow. She can only come out night with 18:00 being the earliest possible time to start the date. (This happens if you select the 20:00 for the time. Playdates/dates tend to show up 2 hours early. If you have her meet outside her house, she will show up at 18:00)
If you have her meet you at the peach plaza, she will most likely be late. If you try to take her to the Round Table, you have to wait on her to reach the dining area before you can dine. Many times, she does not make it before the Round Table closes at 22:00. No offense to Ginger but this is frustrating.
Once you get a mount, have Ginger wait by Gale’s house. Ride your horse to Gale’s house. Jump off and talk to her. Get back on your horse and she will join you. Now you two can gallop to the Round Table on time!
If you cannot afford a stable and a horse right now check out the money guide, or if you need to know what gifts to give your dates check out the gift guide!
3. You Can Slow Down Time In The Options
Slow down the time during the day can make your day last longer. Instead of an hour only lasting a minute, you can make it last longer. Ginger might reach the Round Table in time for dinner!
The game speed starts at 100% and the minimum is 50%. When the game speed is at 50%, your day is twice as long.
Using this option, you may go through your full stamina bar a couple of times. Many people go to the Round Table to refill their stamina bar and go back to mining for relics and ore. They also love the massage chair as well!
4. You Can Gather Items From Higgins’s Furnace
After 270 hours into My Time at Portia, I accidentally stumbled upon a gather option by the furnace, closest to the trash can near Higgins’s house. I found a copper bar. I could have used this at the beginning of the game.
It is quite funny how this played out for me. The next day, Higgins caught me. If Higgins catches you gathering his items, he will spar with you.
Win or lose, nothing else happens and you get to keep his items.
However, after the sparring was done, it triggered a quest called the grand theft ax. He claimed I stole his bronze pickaxe. Good thing my character doesn’t have a brain like mine because I said out loud, “No, I stole a copper bar.” Oops, not smart.
You can do this every day as long as you collect the item in the morning. Sprint to the commission board at 8:00 to get the best commission and then sprint to his furnace to get his items before he does. Since he is very mean, he deserves it. Especially if you fell victim to his schemes.
5.You Can Breed Fish
A useful thing I wish I knew before starting My Time at Portia.
Do you know how many Emperor Goliaths I have caught and sold before I knew about this? A lot. I could have bred two of them to keep getting another one every 9 days!
When I got the designs for the fish display and then the large fish display, I thought that they were just aquarium displays like the museum. So I never bothered with them because I thought they were just for decoration, you plop the fish in and you’re done.
Well, I was wrong. You can breed fish. If you can manage to catch 2 king ranking fish of the same type, you can breed them to make another king ranked fish and sell the new one. You have to feed the fish a certain amount of bird eggs and/or dough balls a day so they aren’t hungry. Each type of fish has a different set amount they need to be fed to breed.
It took forever but I finally caught king ranked fish! In the picture above, there are 2 King Goliaths.
This is a great way to make money. If you want to learn more about making money, check out How to Make Money in My Time at Portia.
6.You Can Rent a Horse For the Land Run
I did not participate in the land run during my first year. You need a horse or a llama and I didn’t have one. I also didn’t realize you can rent one and use it for the land run. The rented horse is sufficient for the land run. Both days, (in year 2) the rented horse finished 2 laps before the competitors even finished a lap.
7. There Is a Glitch Regarding the Martial Arts Tournament
Another thing I wish I knew before starting My Time at Portia.
This glitch seems to happen on the console versions. PC users may not experience this.
If you turn off My Time at Portia anytime after you registered for the martial arts tournament but before you complete both tournaments, it will glitch. What happens is the game thinks you never registered and you will not take part in the martial arts tournament as pictured above.
That happened to me during my first year and since I was not allowed to take part, Arlo won. During the second year, however, it acted like I already registered. That time I played all the days through. I turned the game off after the last day of the tournament was over. Doing it this way seems to work. Happy Fighting!
8.Some Food Increase Your Stats Permanently
Have you ever just quit reading every detail on items in video games and it came to bite you in the rear? It did for me.
I was used to winning food items like Spicy Fish Soup and Bacon Fish Roll that I thought the Ocean’s Bounty and the Foie Gras with Orange were simply just more food dishes. I even gave some away! What’s worse is that a certain Hulu brother didn’t even appreciate it. That should have gotten me instant BFF status!
It was when I was organizing for a party that I realized that some dishes like the Ocean’s Bounty and the Foie Gras with Orange increase your attack, hp, and defense permanently. I wanted to bang my head against my coffee table. At least I kept the majority of them in a storage box somewhere.
9.You Can Auto Sort Your Inventory
This might be obvious to some but I misunderstood when it said hold Y to sort. I kept tapping Y and the inventory on me would just get sorted. It would not automatically put items into the chests.
During most of the first year, I was manually sorting. I was remembering where I put what item and I was placing that item into the chest. I did this with all items, every morning. That was time-consuming.
It wasn’t until I was watching a youtube video about My Time at Portia, that I learned this. I can’t remember what video it was exactly, but I saw them auto-sort their items. I realized then I was supposed to hold down Y like it says on the screen. I promise I got great grades in school… I guess being book smart doesn’t help me right now.
That wraps it up for the 9 things I wish I knew before starting My Time at Portia.
My Time at Portia is a game that doesn’t really explain all its features. I came across these by accident, trial and error and research. As a reminder, here are the things I wish I knew before I started My Time at Portia:
- There is a MISSABLE achievement/trophy
- Your Date/ Playdate can ride your mount with you!
- You Can Slow Down Time In The Options
- You Can Gather Items From Higgins’s Furnace
- You Can Breed Fish
- You Can Rent a Horse For the Land Run
- There Is a Glitch Regarding the Martial Arts Tournament
- Some Food Increase your stats Permanently
- You Can Auto Sort Your Inventory
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I hope that this post, 9 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My Time at Portia, helps you and gives you new information about the game! A video is below if you want to see these tips in action. If this post helped you in any way, share it with a friend or two, sign up for the newsletter and make sure to give How to Make Money in My Time at Portia a read. Thanks for reading and enjoy your time at Portia!
Amber Borden
Amber is an avid gamer. The first game she ever played was Super Mario Bros on the NES. She has seen many genres of videos games due to her 30 years of gaming. However, Amber typically sticks to RPGs, Sandbox and Simulation.
Since she loves gaming, her first job was at a Gamestop. Also, she has written guides for Gamefaqs. Amber was a full time worker in the retail world, but now she is working on this site from home. No matter what, however, she still plays her video games.
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