Question

[Guest]

Do I still have to give gifts to my chosen bachelorette once there at 10 hearts?

[Cherubae]

It depends on the game you're playing. The older ones tend to have a friendship decay, but the newer ones have been dumbed-down and there is no friendship decay.

[PaleSunflower]

I vaguely remember that HM:AP (and maybe HM:ToT) unlocks extra hearts after the marriage. Giving gifts to the spouse after marriage is recommended due events (such as the ones related to having children) being locked behind the extra hearts.

I also remember hearing about a glitch on the SNES featuring the love interest, Eve. Where most wives gain affection when the player character goes to bed every night (or something like that), Eve loses affection instead. That game also had children being locked behind the wife's affection (and I sort of recall that game having divorce/the wife leaving if her affection gets too low), so the player needs to gift Eve stuff all throughout the relationship.

[Milo]

It depends on the game you're playing. The older ones tend to have a friendship decay, but the newer ones have been dumbed-down and there is no friendship decay.

To merely avoid friendship decay, it suffices to just talk to the character every day, no gifts needed. Gifts help you gain relationship points faster than mere talking does (except with Bianca from Rune Factory), but if you're merely trying to maintain your existing relationship level, that doesn't matter.

(As a personal note, I'm not a big fan of the friendship decay mechanic. Yes, in real life, people may lower their opinion of you if you haven't talked to them in months, but in real life, people don't cycle through saying the same four lines every time you talk to them.)