Date Everything boasts a wide array of dateable items—around 100 to choose from, catering to your various whims regarding the everyday objects in your life. However, just dating objects can become a bit monotonous. Thankfully, there’s more to the experience.
What Are SPECS Points?
Your first chat with Dorian introduces you to SPECS Points. He quickly becomes your ally by giving you five points in Poise, one of the SPECS categories, allowing you to test it in conversation right away. So, what exactly are these SPECS Points? There are five of them:
- Poise – Your overall composure and ability to remain steady and professional.
- Empathy – The capacity to understand and share feelings with others.
- Charm – The skill to sweet-talk your way through dialogues.
- Sass – Sometimes, a playful bit of mischief is needed.
- Smarts – A wealth of trivia and knowledge at your disposal.
While each category is defined, they don’t have unique effects. However, each Dateable character has a specific category linked to them, influencing the points you earn depending on how you interact with them. For instance, Dorian is aligned with Poise, so using Poise-based dialogue will win his favor.
Bear in mind that you won’t always have control over which category appears in conversation, but they will always show up, even if you can’t select them. You’ll be better prepared for future playthroughs. When given a choice, try to align with the Dateable’s dominant category.
What Are SPECS Points Used For?
In general, SPECS Points are mainly used for two key purposes: passing speech checks during conversations and Realizing Dateables. You will primarily encounter speech checks, but there’s no way to predict when they’ll be needed or if you’ll have the required points to succeed.
You only get one shot to use a SPECS check in dialogue. If you miss it, that opportunity won’t return. Generally, this is okay. You might miss out on some collectibles, but these can be acquired in subsequent playthroughs, so you can complete your collection later. SPECS checks may also help you achieve specific endings with characters, though they won’t fully prevent you from obtaining them.
Realization is a different mechanic. Once you unlock it, you’ll see the exact SPECS points needed to Realize each item and can do so as soon as you meet the thresholds. Unlike regular SPECS checks, Realization will require points from all five categories, not just one. For example, Skylar needs a balanced mix of all SPECS to Realize, potentially delaying your ability to do so.
Be cautious not to Realize Skylar too early, as this will eliminate the Dateviators and trigger the game’s end.
Apart from these two functions, SPECS Points don’t have much else to offer. They will naturally increase as you play the game. While you can have fun strategizing with them to better navigate conversations for deeper insights into Dateables, it’s not a strict requirement.
How To Increase SPECS Points
Now that you’re familiar with SPECS points and their functions, let’s focus on how to boost them. Fortunately, this happens pretty naturally. Completing an ending with a Dateable gets you five points in a specific category, regardless of whether it’s a love story, friendship, or otherwise.
Remember, once you achieve an ending, it can only be changed with a Candy. Furthermore, you won’t gain additional points for completing another ending with the same character; each one provides five points only once.
The points awarded by a Dateable aren’t random; they’re tailored to each character’s personality. While you could casually gather points as you go, you can also check each character’s profile in the Date-a-Dex to see which category they contribute to. Simply click on their profile, and a colored circle will appear beside their name. This circle indicates the SPECS category for which you’ll earn five points when you reach an ending with them.
While it’s not necessary to plan everything, this gives you the option to strategize for maximizing SPECS points. Maybe you want to increase your Empathy to successfully complete a check with Cam, or aim for a balanced level across all categories to Realize a specific character. Looking through the Date-a-Dex helps you strategize your dating experience.
You can even check the SPECS of Dateables you haven’t met by looking them up in the Date-a-Dex.
Should You Pass Every SPECS Check?
When you discuss SPECS checks with Skylar, she suggests that while it’s always a good idea to choose them when you can, they’re not essential for achieving endings or blocking your path. Although, not passing certain checks can complicate your journey.
For instance, Cam has an Empathy check later on. If you don’t choose it, you risk steering towards a negative ending. Choosing it can likely secure a positive outcome. Similar situations arise in other character arcs. For instance, if you reveal Stella’s scheme, you’ll face an Empathy check; failing it will likely lead to a negative response.
In some cases, like with Jean Loo, his final interaction is a rap battle requiring high SPECS to succeed, which is crucial to get him to love you. While passing every SPECS check isn’t strictly necessary, it can greatly ease the path to achieving optimal endings, making it less misleading than it sounds.
