Worst Pester Moments.... a survey

[romancer]

TIP has a number of annoying characters and characteristics -- but I would put Prof. Pester right up there with Hemlock weeds.

What are some of your worse Pester moments?

For me, it has happened TWICE that I am just about to romance a pair
of Swanana... they each are sporting expensive diamond chokers..
they have a stylish home waiting for them... but they don't have the
required quota of water lily flowers. Just at the last minute, Pester
appears and kills one...

So I start again... and Pester intervenes again... the game (or AI) seems
rigged to let him be "victorious" just to frustrate a player.

Tips to get around this situation are welcome.... since I am still
trying to complete this romance,

Maybe Pester is programmed to be an inconsistent character, so
perhaps other players have encountered different frustrations...

[Big_Sama]

I got my Limeoceros as soon as possible to get rid of him. And before that I used decoy pinatas so I never lost anything.

[the spammer81]

Nothing bad ever happened to me.

[thatgeekgirl]

I've been working hard to get all the sour pinatas tamed and the SECOND after my croc transformed pester marked him for the kill. I was so sad, I love the crocs. :(

[pretztailman]

My very first Tigermisu. As soon as Pester marked it, I tried everything I could to save it, bribing Pester, hitting him with a shovel, trying to mail the tiger, and anything else I could think of. But nothing worked, so Pester got it, I couldn't even look at the TV screen when he did.

[theultimateend]

The fact that you can't perma ban pester is the one reason this game is getting continually less enjoyable for me.

Because unless I want a giant limocerous (as cute as they are) in my garden I have to risk a pester who's bum is afire form fighting my dragonache tearing through my garden buildings. HEY! Good now I get to rebuild my helpers home for the 5th time...sweet.

I want to love this game so bad, its the closest thing I've had to a great game in years. But little things like pester, the impossible to delete water (put a treasure island back against a wall and delete it you now have a nice spot of land that even using the custom shaped shovel can fix), then the fact that deleting amber in your storage and then deleting the garden apparently makes ALL future gardens never produce amber.

I've got about 10 hours and millions of coins worth of 9999 deposits to support that hypothesis...

It's a great game but its needs a nice sized patch :). Well at least to fix those things I've noted. Gamefaqs has a band of people with issues too.

Still better than any other 40 dollar game out there (kudos on the price, I bought it first day because of it).

[theultimateend]

I have found that he shows up upwards of 24 times in an hour. That's crazy much. I've not been able to play a half hour since I purchased this without hearing my dragonache fighting him.

The worst thing that RARE could of done was make the cutlass not keep him out. I loved the relaxation after that point.

[Elwakka]

The fact that you can't perma ban pester is the one reason this game is getting continually less enjoyable for me.


Sounds to me like Big Boy Mode isn't for you... perhaps try Just for Fun mode? :p

[Cocoastachio]

Ugh he marked one of my Newtgats today...it was sad to watch. I'm not a high enough level for a Sour Limeceros though...I'm stuck trying to get the Sour Smelba, I just tamed the Sour S'morepion though.

[Newtgat]

So far I've been pretty good at satisfying Pester's CC wants but just today he took Monsieur Quiqui from me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2833197947_abfbfec87e.jpg

My gardens are teeming with lower-level pinata so I haven't had anything truly tragic happen. Yet. *knock on wood*

[SuperBlender]

So I'm newer to the forums so everyone may already know this, but I've just been using the decoy pinata for sale at Costalot's to keep Pester under control. It gets repetitive because you have to replace it each time he breaks it, but he's never killed one of my pinatas while it was in the garden. Maybe I'm just lucky though?

[the spammer81]

Lol I do the same thing.

[Srikandi]

yup, it's a constant cash drain but keeping the decoy pinata up seems to be the best solution.

As for frequency, in my game at least he appears no more than once each pinata day... sometimes less. Are other people getting him more often than that?

[Pretztail4eva]

bribing him with 500ccs works better than a decoy pinata, it costs less and you can make him leave as soon as he comes into the garden

he hasn't smashed any of my pinatas because of the bribing, until today, I didn't know he was in the garden, until I heard that horrific laughter, I turned around to see him get out his stick, and beat my first sweettooth to death

I was going to get 5 of them and free the fizzlybear!:(

[Srikandi]

Advantage of the decoy though is if you get distracted you're still safe ;)

Maybe keep a decoy as a backup, and bribe him when you get to him in time...

[Pretztail4eva]

yeah good idea!

[FlakPanzer4]

So far I've been pretty good at satisfying Pester's CC wants but just today he took Monsieur Quiqui from me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2833197947_abfbfec87e.jpg

My gardens are teeming with lower-level pinata so I haven't had anything truly tragic happen. Yet. *knock on wood*

NO! NOT QUIQUI! *cocks Shotgun* Ohhhhh Pesssstttttterrrrrrrrr.

[Pretztail4eva]

no! he smashed the winning card!

the decoy pinata doesn't work for me, he went for my cluckles, even though I had a wildcard pretztail worth over 10000

[DarkElegance]

O.O last night we got the game (had the first one and have completed it 100%) was chucking along great...have a wild card sweetle...and PESTER came in! he destroyed my bispotti. Took my two mating pair.
I am only at level 17 right now..and dreading going further.
I take it the cutlass doesnt work anymore?
Is there anyway to access your animals from Viva classic?
and what is a decoy pinata?

[DarkElegance]

Oh and one more thing..putting a pet in the mail doesnt save them???
what if they are in the mail before pester targets them?

[pinatalover500]

So far I've been pretty good at satisfying Pester's CC wants but just today he took Monsieur Quiqui from me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2833197947_abfbfec87e.jpg

My gardens are teeming with lower-level pinata so I haven't had anything truly tragic happen. Yet. *knock on wood*

MONSIEUR QUIQUI! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pester has killed my first S'morepian, my first Geckie, and my favoritest blue Pieena, my first Lemmoning, and my first Moojoo! And, in one of my 2 gardens, he comes every day (in game days)! I was so annoyed by this I had to move to good pinatas from that garden into a new garden!

[yinyangmama]

i think the reason Pester is so uber annoying is they have made the AI so smart! he knows exactly which pinata to go for that will cause you the most grief. i was gathering reddhotts to unblock the dragumfly and he kept targeting the reddhotts. i was gathering hoghurts to tame the sour mallowolf and of course he targeted those. usually i'm pretty good at catching him, but sometimes he sneaks in and it's too late to bribe him!

[romancer]

At the beginning of this thread, I described the problems I was having with Prof. Pester - in relation to my trying to romance high-priced Swananas.

I adopted the decoy idea (i must have bought a series of at least TEN of them from Costolots while i pursued the Master Romancer award).

But even so, Pester did not always choose a Decoy to destroy... so I started mailing off the Swananas in crates (addressed to my self)... and then at a time when Pester had sated himself by killing a Decoy, I opened all the crates quickly and got the MR Award in the Swanana category.

There is a degree of difficulty in TIP that is much higher than in the original game. Some players may like it... but I think it is over the top in creating unfair aggravations. Difficulty in a game like BioShock is rewarding... you learn something in the process... but here the obstacles often seem gratuitous and arbitrary.

Still I just got a MR in buzzlegum production (and a wildcard) so I soldier on, but not enjoying the gameplay as much as I did with the original.

[DarkElegance]

I have the MR in the sweetles, the bispotti and working on pengums. so far he(pester) is fairly contained this eve. I can catch him and bribe him...but this has made it so I had to start a "money garden"..one that is for nothing but making CC. a honey hive, a bunch of buzzlegums, tons of fruit bushes, etc and I sell, sell, sell.
Oddly enough, he is leaving that garden alone. LOL

[giantfoot08]

Like many people on this forum, I am very upset with the Pester in this game. He shows up way too often. I spend half my playing time keeping an eye out for him. Whenever I get a valuable pinata, I sell it rather than seeing him break it open, and suck the candy up.

Last night, after 4 hours of playing, he caught me off guard and got my walrusk. I loved that thing....

I know that you can eventually get pinatas to ward off Pester, but this game needs a permanent solution similar to the statue from the first. This game is far too frustrating after losing a pinata you spend hours getting.

[gamergrl1018]

Oh yes an entire topic dedicated to what I came to complain about... =P

I'm incredibly sick of Pester...okay in the last game he was a little pain in the butt, but he didn't show up every five minutes. Now it seems like every time I'm going for a master romancer award or have an awesome valuable pinata that i took a long time to get...he shows up...and kills it.

He killed my first fourheads, and my second fourheads....I'm now on Quatrobeza III, so he better stop...actually I just stopped playing that garden cuz it was so annoying.

Now I'm trying to romance Pengums...and after he killed my first one...and then went for my second one and killed it, I just turned the game off and reloaded it to save him by paying off Pester. But he's killed about four out of the seven I've had now...and it's extremely stupid.

It's like the one small detail that is ruining this game for me....

[Javik]

I haven't had any problems, I always just bribe him with 500 CC's and he go's away. Once a ruffian filled in my pond though....

[steinbeck11]

The dragonache works for me, no dead pinatas. However, I have lost 4-5 cutlasses at 11000 coins, and 2 mines at 16000 coin. I even tried putting iron amd stones walls to no avail. AAAARRGH!!

[Pretztail4eva]

yeah i've been noticing that, I thought that when I got my dragonache it wasn't working, he kept walking on ahead (towards my pretzail house with my WCs) the dragonache was following him, but I thought he was too slow. Then to my surprise, pester walked back towards the dragonache, and the dragonache sent him flaming out the garden

Maybe that's the solution?

[ReaperAP]

I had just gotten the S'morepion when he showed up and destroyed it, then I got another (by this point I was low on funds) and he managed to do the same. Luckily I gained enough money to get a mine and found a Dragonache egg. I hatched it and it seems to keep him away pretty well. It fights him, lights his bum on fire and the only draw back is sometimes he runs into my buildings and breaks them, but I have been putting money down the wishing well and gaining tons of money from that in the making. (Put 1000GC down the well and every so often you make a killing.

[DarkElegance]

what level does the mine become available? it is not available for me yet.(cant wait for the dragonache egg)

[Mat2]

The cutlas only works on regular ruffians, you need a limerocirous or dragon to get rid of him each time

[DarkElegance]

O.O am working on my Limeceros now but the palm seed is not available to me..at level 38.
am I missing something?
(have my dragonache and working tomorrow on getting him all grown up^.^)

[Gorha]

I found a solution to getting rid of him before I have the Limo/Rino. I built a wall of iron railings at the area where he walks into the garden, he just walks upto the fence, but he can't get past it. He just looks at it and yells but he never comes in the garden. I did this about 20 game days ago and I've had no problems with him in the garden anymore.

[Yosh]

I found a solution to getting rid of him before I have the Limo/Rino. I built a wall of iron railings at the area where he walks into the garden, he just walks upto the fence, but he can't get past it. He just looks at it and yells but he never comes in the garden. I did this about 20 game days ago and I've had no problems with him in the garden anymore.

This is a nice strategy, but unfortunately he can get permanently stuck outside your garden. Seems to be a glitch. Trust me, you WILL get tired of hearing his voice after awhile.

My worse Pester moment was the first time he came into my second garden after I got a Rhino. I was so mad because the Rhino DIDN'T attack him for some odd reason. So Pester took out one of my Raisants. No big loss, but I do love my Raisants and whacked the Rhino with my shovel a few times.

Now, he ALWAYS gets rid of Pester when he shows up. See, discipline works even in Viva Pinata LOL

My rhino gets lots of happy candy now:)

[Evil Jerk]

Pester appeared in my garden, so I immediately paid him 500 coins. Just after my Dragonache picks a fight with him. When Pester lost he ran out while on fire plowing through and destroying several fence section and a Flutterscotch home. This just as I got a Twin and Wildcard bonus from romancing two Brown Flutterscotch and prior to the egg being deliver, so no home, no egg. Also the fence he plowed through was to keep my piñatas from several weeds growing and several got in to consume them and became sick.

So I was out of: 500 coins, a Flutterscotch home, several sections of fencing, a would be twin, wildcard Brown Flutterscotch egg, and however many coins it took to heal several piñatas. Then there was the whole pain of controlling the weeds and other piñatas as I laid new fencing. Especially annoying was a Sprinkling, who walked into the fenced area all finished and for whatever reason couldn't get back out despite me opening the gates and controlling piñatas from getting in. Frustrated I hit her with shovel a few times and after she managed to get out, but was unhappy and quit.

Soon afterwards I used the fencing glitch/trick to block his entrance so now he just stands out of my garden for a very long time, leaves, and repeats. The Dragonache worsens more than helps with the annoyance and I wasn't willing to get rid of it.

[Eletius Mk26]

Pester appeared in my garden, so I immediately paid him 500 coins. Just after my Dragonache picks a fight with him. When Pester lost he ran out while on fire plowing through and destroying several fence section and a Flutterscotch home. This just as I got a Twin and Wildcard bonus from romancing two Brown Flutterscotch and prior to the egg being deliver, so no home, no egg. Also the fence he plowed through was to keep my piñatas from several weeds growing and several got in to consume them and became sick.

So I was out of: 500 coins, a Flutterscotch home, several sections of fencing, a would be twin, wildcard Brown Flutterscotch egg, and however many coins it took to heal several piñatas. Then there was the whole pain of controlling the weeds and other piñatas as I laid new fencing. Especially annoying was a Sprinkling, who walked into the fenced area all finished and for whatever reason couldn't get back out despite me opening the gates and controlling piñatas from getting in. Frustrated I hit her with shovel a few times and after she managed to get out, but was unhappy and quit.

Soon afterwards I used the fencing glitch/trick to block his entrance so now he just stands out of my garden for a very long time, leaves, and repeats. The Dragonache worsens more than helps with the annoyance and I wasn't willing to get rid of it.

Rather the same with me. I wonder what Godzilla will do to him. (Mr. Choc)

[half]

Yeap I just paid him, he killed my first ever scanned in pinata card Preztail, its was a special variants with accessories on only available with a pre-order. I was not happy. Then he attacked my variant Cherripin that I was working on to romance. So now I just pay him. Somehow if I miss him he tends to go for the redhotts which I use to sell for a steady flow of chocolate coins. Very annoying but manageable if caught at the right time. I haven't got a mine yet, but I'm working on it.

[HairyBunion]

I put a fence around my prized Bunnycomb, Flopsy and Seedos opened the gate, pester marked Flopsy and I was devistated...

R.I.P Flopsy, 10/9/08-10/9/08 and for americans 9/10/08-9/10/08

[xenocidic]

it is really not that hard to keep a decoy in your garden and pay him off every morning. he comes first thing in the morning and its tough to miss his loud footsteps. if you don't pay him in time, he kills the decoy and you buy another one.

if that's too much, there's always the just for fun mode.

[OmniMaster]

I'll stick with Larry the Limeo, who seems to get Pester when I seem to not notice him.

[Gorha]

Sedos is a right berk for that. He always comes along opening gates and not bothering to shut them behind him. Gates are there for a reason you eedjit!

[Pretztail4eva]

yeah seedos has got to be the most annoying charcter!

1. He always opens my gates, letting ppester and other pinatas in
2. He only ever gives me carrot seeds or the other 3 seeds that only cost 2 ccs! it's much simpler going to costolots

nooooo! that's my 3rd walrusk pester's smashed open!

[darkhunterfan101]

if you put a stone wall along where the tower of sour is he gets stuck there i read this on the site somewhere but it works put the wall in this patteren l--l--l ps sorry about bad example on here

[VioletWhirlwind]

I'm resigned to the fact that Pester is going to make my life miserable...untill I can get that full-size garden and build the fence that blocks him. Once I get that...I should have no more problems...I hope. He IS annoying though. But my wildcard and my varients are safe in the post office for now. He can take the small fry while I build up money...I'm not fond of it...but it happens.

But...when he takes my fudgehogs I smack him like crazy (not that it does any good) I want to take that rock from the opening of Classic and drop it on him. D:<

I still haven't gotten the cutlass...but I remember loving it in the first game, and it IS kinda irritating that it won't keep him out this time around, but...oh well.

Edit: He came in twice so far (a game-day apart)...took my fudgehog (grr) and then a raisant (meh). When he took my fudgehog, he also broke two segments of my bird-proof-fence (where I specifically grow weeds for varienting). This was after bribing him 100cc (must not have been enough).

[FeralKitty]

This was after bribing him 100cc (must not have been enough).

While 100 coins is good enough to send his underlings away, the wiki's Ruffian article mentions that Pester will need a 500 chocolate coin bribe.

[9mario9]

I lost...a brave solder today. Ducky Quackberry. He thought it would be smart to pick a fight with a ruffian. He lost and exploded into a pile of coins. Now, Ducky II will replace him, and live on!!!

[alessandro348]

the only time i can think of when Professor Pestor caused me trouble was when he kept killing my salamangos, of whom i tried everything to protect

[Shadow771]

The worst times have been when Pester came and targeted my Tigermisus. Both times they were both new to my garden and just became resident. :( Ever since then I've used the fence technique to keep him from my garden.

[BIGsheep]

Remember the fake pinata, everyone. A very cheap alternative to protecting your garden, especially beneficial as it will work without you having to pay attention to who's in your garden.

[9mario9]

And if Ruffians are the problem?

[shrly]

And if Ruffians are the problem?

Captain's Cutlass. 11,000 coins but worth every coin. If your level isn't high enough yet, get someone with a higher level to join your garden. Most of us 196ers gladly buy one for the lower level gardeners.

[9mario9]

I can afford a cutlass. I'm level 133 anyway.

[VioletWhirlwind]

heheh...it worked...the Pester-prevention-fence worked...even with the cheap wood fence...Victory is NOT yours, Pester...but it IS mine! *bricked* XP

[pokecoop]

he won in a fight with my dragonache, whitch is very unlucky, and my dragonache died because i didn't have the money to heal him...
Boo Hoo