The friendship gauge (abbreviated as FSG) is a mechanic present in every shop in The World Ends with You. It measures how friendly the shop clerk is towards Neku, beginning at 0% and maxing out at 100%. The FSG increases when Neku spends Yen purchasing an item from that store. Each shop's FSG is independent from all other shops (e.g. the FSG at D+B 104 has no effect on the FSG at it's sister location, D+B Molco).
FSG Levels[]
Every shop's FSG is broken up into a number of levels (shortened to LV), starting at LV 1 at 0%. From one LV to the next, a sufficient amount of the FSG, or Yen spent, must be reached. The amount of LVs and how they are distributed depend on the shop. The FSG can only increase up to the next level in a single purchase, resulting in any remaining Yen spent not going towards the gauge. For example, starting at LV 1 in WildKat, it takes ¥1500 to reach LV 2 at 5%; purchasing a One Jump from Eden pin, costing ¥20000, only brings the FSG to 5% and the LV is incremented to 2.
Each FSG LV unlocks Threads Abilities or a QUEST item. If a store clerk can unlock an Ability for a Thread item, they will apprise Neku as he is browsing the shop's inventory or, provided he has the Thread item already, as he enters the shop. QUEST items will only become available at the shop it was unlocked at. Purchasing or, more aptly put, trading for QUEST items do not increase a shop's FSG.
Influence on Clerks[]
Every store clerk has three sets of dialogue for each tier of the FSG that is filled: low (between 0% and some percentage), middle (between some percentage to <100%), or max (100%). The threshold from the low to middle tiers differ and depend on the shop. It also should be noted that these "tiers" are independent from FSG Levels.
Additionally, once the FSG reaches 100%, the clerk's portrait will change to have a friendlier expression, with exception of Makoto Miki as his expression becomes more uncomfortable since he believes Neku is hitting on him.
However, some clerks do not have a different portrait and will instead retain the same portrait at max FSG. Some of these clerks share some characteristics:
- Hideki Kikuchi, Rikako Toda, and Shigemi Konno are all plot-insignificant food vendors.
- Masanori Ito and Yoji Iwata both work at CD shops (but Yosh Ishino of Cyco Records is an exception).
- Tatsuya Omura, Tadafumi Sato, Shigemori Iwata, and Fumiko Nishimura all work in Shibu-Q Heads.