I finally got around to Viva Pinata after hearing such good things about it and I have to say I'm quite baffled. I was expecting some easy, kids game but it's so relentless that I'm having trouble maintaining my garden. See, my "garden" is actually more like an open field for all these pinata to come and live in. I'm thinking that I might be doing it wrong. From your experience, how necessary are things like fences, decorations and plants? Will they attract new pinata and do they affect gameplay? I find that my Syrupents are always fighting with my Pretztails, and my Raisants always fight with my Buzzlegums. Are fences necessary to separate?

I was NOT expecting my pinata to constantly be sick and for them to always be fighting... Is it possible to have too much pinata? Does overcrowding mean more fights and broken pinata?

Also, is there an actual way to make those wild pinata stop coming in to eat mine?! My cute little bunnies keep getting eaten by wild Pretztails. UGH this game it is so good but I think I'm playing it wrong. HELP. Any advice would be great.

I loved that game and played the shit out of it.

Well the nicer your garden is the most animals will want to come to it. Also plants, water etc help meet requirements for new animals to come.

As for the fighting well sometimes that is just going to happen.

Ya, each of those evil guys can be turned into a normal pinata to come join you.

I used a guide myself to find out what all those requirements are and to help myself but if you look in the menus there is a place that tells you what you need to do.

grow chili peppers and use the crazy fertilizer stuff on it 3 times so that they are huge then sell them or whatever it is you do (it's been a while)

Think of it this way, You can have Any Pinata, but you cant have every Pinata. You cant have every single pinata in your land at a time. You should aim for the ones you dont have then when you have them, aim for a new one. If you need one you already owned at one time you can always get the bounty hunter to go get one for you.

That was my experience with the game as well. I wanted to make a pretty garden at my own pace that would attract some pinatas. This approach lead to fighting and mass sickness that I was unable to pay for. Truly I was a unprepared leader for Pinata Island.

@Dagbiker said:

Think of it this way, You can have Any Pinata, but you cant have every Pinata. You cant have every single pinata in your land at a time. You should aim for the ones you dont have then when you have them, aim for a new one. If you need one you already owned at one time you can always get the bounty hunter to go get one for you.

Wow this makes me think about the game much differently. Thank you! I was trying to accommodate every single pinata and was getting pissed off at the small size of land they gave me because houses were just being placed up the ying. Now it makes more sense.

More spread-sheets. Only advice I can give you.

Been a while since I played it but remember selling off lots of pinatas when they started causing too much fighting with other types or trying to do more on the layout to keep things manageable. I can see how someone looking at the game screenshots & expecting something like the gameplay of Skylanders only to find it much more complex than the first impressions. Might have to break out the collectors edition I have of VP to dive into it some more (as I know I never finished it but enjoyed it).