Amnesic Agriculture 102- Let's Play Rune Factory: Frontier
Alright, current results so far are:
KITCHEN
Bulging - 1
Ba-Bump - 1
Point - 4
FORGE
Cozy - 2
Cool - 0
Creepy - 4
Seems like a pretty strong lead for Pointy and Creepy, but I'll leave the vote open for another couple of hours before I call it.
KITCHEN
Bulging - 1
Ba-Bump - 1
Point - 4
FORGE
Cozy - 2
Cool - 0
Creepy - 4
Seems like a pretty strong lead for Pointy and Creepy, but I'll leave the vote open for another couple of hours before I call it.
Update 19: Money and Lumber
Music: Visions
"...Ah, you're awake. Good morning."
"I am... Hm... I am your maker... I guess I'm something like a father to you."
"First of all, congratulations. No... Thank you for being born."
"To artificially create magical creatures using the Spirit energy of Runes,"
"...to make what are referred to as monsters in this world,"
"...you are the first step."
"What am I saying... There's no need for me to tell you such things."
"Why don't I start off by presenting you with a name? It will be..."
Bush really ought to stop working so late into the night, I'd think. Too much dream monologuing.
Music: Business District Buildings
(Another in the list of songs I don't usually link.)
Daily chores start as usual, here on the 29th of Spring, despite waking up 2 hours late. Today's pretty unimportant, just a moneymaking day, but tomorrow should be our first festival!
Also, our cave cucumbers have finally grown! These are worth 3 times as much as a strawberry, but also take that much longer to grow.
With two regions in prosperity though, we'll see by how much that changes.
MIST: Please grow turnips.
she's figured us out
But for real, Mist's been really slow about giving us any new dialogue at all.
Nothing here but Runey management on the beach.
Up in the clock tower, we find something rather new- Melody's here with Cinnamon!
CINNAMON: I'm teaching Melody some magic right now.
BUSH: Melody, you got Cinnamon to teach you?
MELODY: That's right! ♪
MELODY: I'm so glad I convinced her! ♪ It doesn't matter if she can use magic or not.
MELODY: I live for moments like this!
MELODY: Now I'm really getting into it! Let's do this, Master! ♪
CINNAMON: ... ...Master?
MELODY: Yeah. I'm your student. And you're my master!
CINNAMON: ... ...Oh.
MELODY: Looks like Master loves that! ♪
BUSH: Are you sure...?
MELODY: Of course! Right, Master?
CINNAMON: ...Sure.
...Interpret this however you want- I'm just gonna leave it at that.
On the other hand, this is some more progression into Melody and Cinnamon's respective events. We'll also be able to see some new conversations here from time to time.
MELODY: Don't talk to me! You just made me forget the magic spell I was about to memorize...
MELODY: Did you find out why the hot spring stopped?
MELODY: I was suspecting Whale Island...
CINNAMON: ...Master.
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: (I guess... she likes it?)
Runeys to manage, nothing to see here.
STELLA: You can ask me any time if you need anything.
STELLA: It's my job to maintain a peaceful life for everyone.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Make Her Fall in Love!!~
"To make a girl's heart yours, presents are the best way! Accessories are especially effective!"
"After recieving it, the girl will put on the gift you gave her, and then come to see you to show you."
"If you think,'That does not look good on her,' then give her a new present!"
"However, remember that every girl has a different taste in things so don't give her something she absolutely hates! Get to know her to win her!"
-----------------------------------------------------
It takes me scouring the whole library, but I eventually find some books to read in the upper left corner.
You can give people accessories to dress up in, but it does seem there's limitations on what they'll actually wear from what I've seen. For instance, you can't get Lara to remove her nun's veil, or Melody her hat, as far as I've tested. I could be wrong though.
For instance, Uzuki will still cover up her small hat if given our Hand-Knit Hat, though the long feathers still poke through.
I don't know the full effect this has on LP, it does seem to increase it, but the only person who I know explicity likes accessories is Rita. Regardless, I might be able to organize a vote later to dress up the characters.
also, (insert commentary here on conversations being valued less in this game than gifts)
-----------------------------------------------------
~To Ocean Swimmers~
"Changing Room Reminder:
- Before entering the ocean, please remember to stretch.
- The beach is not your trash can! Let us keep it clean for others."
-----------------------------------------------------
This will be relevant during Summer.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Expanding Your Home~
"1. Save up money and lumber.
2. Go to a carpenter.
3. There has to be a carpenter in town, or else who built your house?
4. You can even expand your house by adding entire rooms."
"5. Customize your interior.
6. Interiors can be purchased from a traveling peddler in town.
7. You want a full-sized bed.
8. Remember, money and lumber!"
-----------------------------------------------------
This will be relevant next update! Or maybe the one after. Depends on how I want to do it.
Money and lumber, friend.
Also this put Selphy up to 4 LP already. That was fast.
SELPHY: I got buried under the books when they fell the other day and Lara had to save me.
BUSH: Didn't the books fall before?
SELPHY: Haha, you got me there! Lara told me it's dangerous so I have to clean up the library.
1. I think you should, too.
2. I think it's fine the way it is.
As much as I'd like the cleaner library back, it's her organization scheme (and her library, I guess?) What right does Bush have to tell her what to do?
If we did agree with Lara on this, we'd get this:
So yeah.
BUSH: I think it's fine the way it is. You have it set up so you know where everything is, right?
SELPHY: I do! You do understand!
I found out after the fact that I possibly have to agree with Lara on this to progress Selpy's storyline, so I guess the option will come up again.
If that is the case, it's not the only time something like this will happen. The other time I know of is, er... questionable.
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: The oily stains on pots can be washed off with vinegar. Did you know?
More HomeEc tips from Eunice! I did not know this.
When we enter Rosetta's shop today, something new happens. Danny's here!
Music: Pinch
Doesn't seem like it's a friendly meeting though.
ROSETTA: Huh? What is that? Are you for real? You sure you're all right in the head?
DANNY: That's my line! You stole my customers with dirty tricks! You think I don't know?!
DANNY: Fight like a man!
ROSETTA: Why do you always end up like this?
ROSETTA: Customers come to my store because it's better.
ROSETTA: It's all because I work hard running it!
DANNY: No way! I know you must be cheating!
DANNY: You're probably blackmailing the customers! I know it!
ROSETTA: How rude! I never even thought of that before!
DANNY: Shut your trap! I'll fight you fair and square until I expose your conspiracy, you dirty cheater!
ROSETTA: Get out of here! This is harassment!
*Slam*
(Presumably this is the door closing, but it's the same sound used for blunt attacks.)
(At first, it really makes this look like Rosetta's just floored Danny in a single punch. I wouldn't put it past her.
Also that thing on Bush's shoulder is the Wappen we've been wearing for a rather long time. It's really hard to see normally.)
Music: Business District Buildings
ROSETTA: Those kinds of people always come out when business is good.
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush. You were here? I'm sorry for making you see that...
Well, that was something. Not all is chill in Trampoli.
ROSETTA: *sigh*
ROSETTA: You know Danny at the general store next door?
ROSETTA: He's saying that I'm selling at a loss so I can run him out of business.
ROSETTA: He's insane. I'm working hard to get my sales up and he's accusing me of that?!
ROSETTA: Say, Bush, could you go smack him with a shovel or something?
Unfortunately, this isn't Animal Crossing so Bush can't do that.
Actually, there aren't any shovels in this game.
ROSETTA: When I was small, I followed a kitten up a tree and neither of us could get down.
ROSETTA: I was a bit of a tomboy back in the day.
I feel it's worth noting that Rosetta's voice acting is quite good in general and this line is delivered with just a perfect amount of finger-wag sass.
ROSETTA: ...What's with that look on your face? You look like you want to say that I haven't changed much.
BUSH: N-no... Do I?
The voice line says "You look like you want to say I still am!" which is better if you ask me.
ROSETTA: I heard! You beat that huge monster in the Green Ruins?
ROSETTA: Not bad... If I ever get attacked by monsters, you have to come save me.
TURNER: *gulp*
TURNER: Sorry if it seemed like I was being shameless in expressing my fondness for this.
Dude, I gave you a yellow grass, chill
Then I spend a long time jammin'.
With the half my Toyherbs thrown in, that's 9000g today already, and we've got 18,000g already in our wallet and 50 strawberries still left to jam.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm sorry to bother you again..." - Melody~
Thanks for the Red Grass. ♪
I'm sorry to ask you this,
but this time, could I have some White Grass?
Please? ♪
-----------------------------------------------------
As referenced last update, this item won't be very easy to get a hold of. We can buy it and find it in Winter, but our only source of it until then is a 1% slime drop. I'll see what I can do about getting it, but no guarantees.
Way up at the Tower of Rest after a bath and a few hours later, the tomatoes I planted have finished growing!
Also that "strong moonlight" just turns on like a spot lamp at 6 PM.
Tomatoes are worth the same as turnips and regrow at pretty much the same interval. You better bet I'm going to have loads of these growing over the Summer.
Alas, Iris hasn't got much to say just yet. We'll be able to start mass producing her favorite gift pretty soon, so she should catch up to the other girls rather fast.
Before I left, I tried to till this land up here at the story progression gate, but the other silver wolves made a mess of it.
[Cinnamon]
Password?
As a random note, Cinnamon's door in the Clock Tower would seem to suggest she gives us a password later. Once we've got enough FP/LP with bachelorettes and/or their parents, we'll get the ability to visit at any hour.
Pickles Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Pickles happen to be worth 70g more than their normal cucumber selves. Thank goodness that vinegar doesn't cost anything in this world, I guess.
Also, I feel this is a good time to point out that Bush is a level 54 cook. He's almost 2/3rds of the way to maxing it out.
Making endless jam will do that for you, I guess.
You can also warm up milk into Hot Milk to increase it's value from 90g to 140g.
Amazing.
I then also finally realize I can make Ice Cream. All it needs is milk and an egg.
With it made, I bring it up to the big red fella blocking the hot springs on Whale Island.
GIANT: "Ice cream!"
GIANT: "You kept your promise! You're a nice guy."
GIANT: "Now for my end of the bargain."
GIANT: "There wasn't much water left in this spring so I added some more."
GIANT: "See ya."
I sure hope this means this giant knows water magic or something. I don't want to think about the other possibilities.
And just like that, he's gone. I don't know if we ever meet him again.
Music: Spring
I clean up the farm a bit more, make some more money, and then hit the bed. Time for Spring 29th, our first festival!
ANETTE: Bush! Good morning!
Anette's still delivering mail today, I see.
Left in the dust again
ANETTE: I just got a flower from Eunice. I never got one before, but it's really nice.
Where Eunice met her to give this flower aside, here's today's first mention of our first festival!
Now to go back and check our mail.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Taking a Breather" - Selphy~
I don't really have much to say.
I just wanted to cool my head from
writing my book by writing a letter.
So I just wrote a letter to you with nothing to say.
Sorry.
-----------------------------------------------------
That's a mood right there.
Still, I would've expected to recieve some mail about the festival. They usually do that in the RF series.
KANNO: I recieved a flower from Eunice from that inn!
KANNO: I suppose I am much too charming despite my age.
Nobody seems to have informed gramps here that she's giving one to everyone.
Melody and Cinnamon aren't around, which is to be expected with the festival and all.
Well, let's go see what all the commotion is about.
Hm. Why is everyone doing their normal things? This is a festival day isn't it? The Foliage Festival, I believe?
On that note, where's the music?
UZUKI: I recieved a flower from Eunice. It certainly is very pretty...
TSUBUTE: Bush, are you adept with the sword?
BUSH: Somewhat.
Ah, here it is, this'll probably be the mini-date invite.
TSUBUTE: Of course. You are nothing but an amateur.
TSUBUTE: Milady has learned the art of the naginata that has passed down for ages. Compared to that, your skill is crude.
No, we're just getting dunked on I guess
BUSH: I guess so.
TSUBUTE: You are quite honest. Good boy.
Well, let's see what's up with Eunice.
EUNICE: I'd like to give you this, Bush.
You got Moondrop!
BUSH: Thank you, but why?
EUNICE: Flowers are very beautiful during this season so I'm giving them out. I just hope it will make people smile.
BUSH: That's great. I'm sure everyone will love it, myself included.
EUNICE: Really? I certainly hope so!
Time to drop the act, this is all today is, really. Eunice has decided to hand out a bunch of flowers to folks around town.
This does end up inspiring it's own festival, just in Year 2. It's like Japanese Valentine's Day, but with flowers instead of chocolate. Our REAL next festival is the 1st of Summer.
Technically, there's an earlier festival in Spring, on the 19th, but it is also Year 2. Mechanically, I don't think this is a great decision, as an earlier, easier to participate in festival is a good way for the player to earn early FP/LP and get more interesting dialogue out of the characters.
We do hand her one right back, of course
ROSETTA: Is there some kind of festival today? Eunice was passing out flowers.
As this flower dialogue overwrites pretty much every other dialogue today, so that's mostly all we'll be seeing.
Doesn't seem like Danny got one, but not a big surprise after yesterday.
GANESHA: I just got a flower from Eunice. Is something happening?
GANESHA: But it feels kind of nice. I don't know why but it makes me smile.
TURNER: Oh, wow. That's for me?
TURNER: Now I can get Ganesha to make me the best kind of kitchen knife.
Turner doesn't immediately eat metal if you give that to him, which is completely reasonable. For whatever reason, the first line plays the voice line for his "what is this" meh gift dialogue.
TURNER: I got a flower from Eunice. People will say that I spoiled her, but she grew up to be such a nice daughter.
yeah, spoiled, sure
RITA: I got a flower from Eunice. It's really pretty.
RITA: Turner hasn't given me any gifts for a long time!
are you two even married
CINNAMON: I got a flower from Eunice. ...Some kind of charm?
SELPHY: Hey, I got a flower from Eunice. Maybe I should press it and use it as a bookmark.
SELPHY: That's a great idea!
Well, I guess it's decided then.
I do stop to read a book, but it ends up being huge, so I opted to put it at the end of the update.
STELLA: I just recieved a flower from Eunice. She thanked me for everything.
STELLA: I'm touched at how she never forgets to feel thankful for others!
STELLA: The flowers are pretty during this season, so maybe I should hand out some flowers to the villagers, too.
STELLA: ...Don't make that face.
BUSH: I-I wasn't!
You got Toy Herb!
but i gave you one of these yesterday
is this the same one
Just gonna re-gift this, you saw nothing
STELLA: A festival where you give flowers to people you feel thankful for... I like it. Let's make this a tradition.
And here's your hint that next year will be different. Flowers make a lot more sense in a farming game than cookies and chocolate, none of which contain materials you can at least produce yourself.
There's also just how in RF1 you can't even participate in the cookie festival on the first year, or really most of the festivals.
LARA: I recieved a flower from Eunice. I wonder if I should give something back...
Kross didn't get one, but then again, the jury's still out on whether or not the other villagers know he exists.
KROSS: Aren't you afraid of monsters?
KROSS: I'm not scared. I'm actually fond of the monsters. They never lie to humans.
KROSS: Heh... I would like to live a free life like a monster.
KROSS: What do monsters have that humans don't...? ...Tails.
KROSS: If only I had the "Cat Tail," would I become like a monster?
Of note is that the Cat Tail is a level 90 accessory. It will be a long time before we ever get the ability to help him out with this.
ERIK: I got a flower from Eunice.
ERIK: It's not my fault I'm so popular. Hahaha!
Given this is Erik, I'm sure his head is running a hundred miles per hour trying to figure out what the flower means.
LUTE: I got a flower from Eunice. Maybe I should give something in return...
Apparently, Candy and Marco are up on the balcony of the clock tower on Thursdays before 12 PM.
Oh, right, I never mentioned that the clocktower has a balcony. Well, it does, here you go.
CANDY: I got a flower from Eunice. I better give her something in return later.
MARCO: I just got a flower from Eunice. I don't know if I should have accepted since there's someone I like...
I think you'll be fine, kid.
There happens to be a ladder up to the top out here as well.
It lets us see the main area of Trampoli as a curved parallax texture in the distance.
I think the only purpose of this place is for Cinnamon's final event.
Music: Lava Ruins
With that done, I dive into the Lava Ruins to burn the rest of this day away.
The rocks on the second floor reward 2 silver, which is pretty sweet.
While I'm doing that, Pony takes down an Ignis on her own. These fire spirits look a bit more fancy than their handheld counterparts, but their modus operandi is the same: "spam a magic spell at you." They have only two related monsters, the Glace and the Soul.
Glace, (or sometimes called Blizzards,) were particularly infamous to me in the power of their Water Laser. Ignis aren't nearly as bad, and all three of these monster types can drop Magic Powder and the ever coveted Magic Crystals. They also have a chance to drop elemental gems, so these are prime item grinding monsters for magic users like ourselves.
Alas, in the process of trying to take down a golem, Pony eats cannonfire at long range from the other golem and is comboed to a knockout.
Sorry about that, Pony
I do however score some Silver and an Earth Crystal off the golems, so the item gains are looking real good.
The Tomahawk has a chance to crit on the special attack and if it does, it guaranteed one-shots even these guys.
Bush's health gets rather low after a while, putting me in knockout range from just one hit, but I'm able to snag another level up.
If you do go down in a dungeon in this game, it does just boot you to the Infirmary the next day as usual, instead of actually killing you and forcing you to load a save, as per RF1 and RF2. Given the likely cold debuff and/or loss of possible progress, you might as well load a save whenever you go down anyways.
I snag one more silver, and then bail.
MIST: I recieved a flower from Eunice. That makes me... happy.
she's found another target
I do take the time to convert 7 of those tomatoes from yesterday to seeds. Will I end up planting all of these? Maybe, maybe not, as I've got to keep room for corn as well.
On my way to take care of the dungeon strawberries, I spot something peculiar.
GIRL: Oh...? Are you from around here?
BUSH: Yes.
GIRL: Oh, really? I thought that no one lived in this area...
I mean, Mist's house is behind you. She's not here, but this place is far from empty.
GIRL: I was thinking of building a church here.
BUSH: Oh?
GIRL: I feel a special charm about this place.
GIRL: Building a church and village here is a dream of mine.
While another church is a possibility, I think there might already be a village here- unless Bush has been tripping for the last season, at least.
Well, anyways, it's flower day, so here ya go.
GIRL: Thank you, but I really cannot accept this.
Huh, maybe this is one of those things like with Selphy where it won't let us gift someone until we know their name.
GIRL: Nice to meet you.
Um. Sure. I guess we'll get your name next time.
She's gone after I enter the Green Ruins, so I guess no more of her today.
Eh, anyways, the shipping box now has 16,000g worth of stuff sitting in it. 89 strawberries and 20 cherries will do that, I guess.
We're looking at 43,929g going into tomorrow, so we're in the clear for what I want to buy, now it's just a matter of getting even more to be set on everything I'd like to get my hands on.
I'm late in getting to the bathhouse today, and it seems it's undergone a bit of a remodel!
MELODY: Hey, Bush! You did this, didn't you?
MELODY: That sure surprised me. I didn't expect the roof to be blown off to make it an outdoor bath!
BUSH: The roof was blown off?!
MELODY: Yeah. But it's fine. I opened it up as an outdoor bathhouse now.
MELODY: It shall now be called... "Neo Laga Springs"!
Only Melody would be completely fine with this.
MELODY: Today's bath is on the house, so come on in! ♪
MELODY: I'm burning some of the incense Rosetta gave me as a gift for the grand opening. It smells really nice, so enjoy!
I'm still going to pay anyways, just in case the freebie here doesn't increase LP. Also it's only 10g, and I have no idea how this girl makes enough money to live.
Oh, and her flower dialogue for the day:
MELODY: I got a flower from Eunice. Don't you think it'll be pretty if I float these in the bath?
It's gotten a lot bigger on the inside at least. I'm still not clear on how any of this works with the island above, but I'm not questioning it!
To close off the day, I head to the Tower of Rest.
IRIS: I feel at peace when I look at flowers. Speaking of which, I see that you grow them from time to time, Bush.
This is all she has to say today, though it is worth noting that she is above 1 FP now, so the main story could theoretically progress. We'll uh, see how long it takes until it does.
I till that land outside of the story locked gate...
...and call it a day. A bit longer of an update today, but there was a lot to show off.
Tomorrow we buy our house extensions, and the day after that a lot of stuff goes down on the 1st of Summer. Because of that, the next update is probably only going to cover our last day of Spring.
Buys me some time to finally get a bit of an update reserve started again, and keeps Summer starting cleanly on Update 21.
To close it off, here's that book I read earlier today. It's a big one, and it would have been nice to remember it existed for the last vote:
-----------------------------------------------------
~Home Improvement Catalog~
"Roomy life begins with a roomy house! Our shop has multiple plans for your home improvement needs. All designs have the same functionality so choose the one that fits you best!"
"*Forge Area
Forge in your own house!
- Cozy Forge Area
Kind, earthen walls.
- Cool Forge Area
Stylish, metallic appearance.
- Creepy Forge Area
For that genuine creepy feel."
"*Kitchen
Cooking with comfort!
-Bulging Kitchen
A slightly bulged roof.
-Ba-bump Kitchen
Two cute bumps on the roof.
-Pointy Kitchen
Pointy roof like a witch's hat."
"*Laboratory Area
Mix and match, then create!
-Apothecary Lab Area
Perfect for making medicine.
-Alchemy Lab Area
A fun research space.
-Magic Lab Area
For those after the Truth!"
"*For a more luxurious life...
-Second Floor Bedroom
A private space for you and that special someone.
Big enough for a Full-sized bed."
"-Barn
Looking for a place to house your monster companions?
Holds up to 10 per room!"
-----------------------------------------------------
See you next time, where we wave farewell to the Spring theme!
As for the voting results, seems like we'll be going for Pointy and Creepy!
Music: Visions"...Ah, you're awake. Good morning."
"I am... Hm... I am your maker... I guess I'm something like a father to you."
"First of all, congratulations. No... Thank you for being born."
"To artificially create magical creatures using the Spirit energy of Runes,"
"...to make what are referred to as monsters in this world,"
"...you are the first step."
"What am I saying... There's no need for me to tell you such things."
"Why don't I start off by presenting you with a name? It will be..."
Bush really ought to stop working so late into the night, I'd think. Too much dream monologuing.
Music: Business District Buildings(Another in the list of songs I don't usually link.)
Daily chores start as usual, here on the 29th of Spring, despite waking up 2 hours late. Today's pretty unimportant, just a moneymaking day, but tomorrow should be our first festival!
Also, our cave cucumbers have finally grown! These are worth 3 times as much as a strawberry, but also take that much longer to grow.
With two regions in prosperity though, we'll see by how much that changes.
MIST: Please grow turnips.
she's figured us out
But for real, Mist's been really slow about giving us any new dialogue at all.
Nothing here but Runey management on the beach.
Up in the clock tower, we find something rather new- Melody's here with Cinnamon!
CINNAMON: I'm teaching Melody some magic right now.
BUSH: Melody, you got Cinnamon to teach you?
MELODY: That's right! ♪
MELODY: I'm so glad I convinced her! ♪ It doesn't matter if she can use magic or not.
MELODY: I live for moments like this!
MELODY: Now I'm really getting into it! Let's do this, Master! ♪
CINNAMON: ... ...Master?
MELODY: Yeah. I'm your student. And you're my master!
CINNAMON: ... ...Oh.
MELODY: Looks like Master loves that! ♪
BUSH: Are you sure...?
MELODY: Of course! Right, Master?
CINNAMON: ...Sure.
...Interpret this however you want- I'm just gonna leave it at that.
On the other hand, this is some more progression into Melody and Cinnamon's respective events. We'll also be able to see some new conversations here from time to time.
MELODY: Don't talk to me! You just made me forget the magic spell I was about to memorize...
MELODY: Did you find out why the hot spring stopped?
MELODY: I was suspecting Whale Island...
CINNAMON: ...Master.
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: (I guess... she likes it?)
Runeys to manage, nothing to see here.
STELLA: You can ask me any time if you need anything.
STELLA: It's my job to maintain a peaceful life for everyone.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Make Her Fall in Love!!~
"To make a girl's heart yours, presents are the best way! Accessories are especially effective!"
"After recieving it, the girl will put on the gift you gave her, and then come to see you to show you."
"If you think,'That does not look good on her,' then give her a new present!"
"However, remember that every girl has a different taste in things so don't give her something she absolutely hates! Get to know her to win her!"
-----------------------------------------------------
It takes me scouring the whole library, but I eventually find some books to read in the upper left corner.
You can give people accessories to dress up in, but it does seem there's limitations on what they'll actually wear from what I've seen. For instance, you can't get Lara to remove her nun's veil, or Melody her hat, as far as I've tested. I could be wrong though.
For instance, Uzuki will still cover up her small hat if given our Hand-Knit Hat, though the long feathers still poke through.
I don't know the full effect this has on LP, it does seem to increase it, but the only person who I know explicity likes accessories is Rita. Regardless, I might be able to organize a vote later to dress up the characters.
also, (insert commentary here on conversations being valued less in this game than gifts)
-----------------------------------------------------
~To Ocean Swimmers~
"Changing Room Reminder:
- Before entering the ocean, please remember to stretch.
- The beach is not your trash can! Let us keep it clean for others."
-----------------------------------------------------
This will be relevant during Summer.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Expanding Your Home~
"1. Save up money and lumber.
2. Go to a carpenter.
3. There has to be a carpenter in town, or else who built your house?
4. You can even expand your house by adding entire rooms."
"5. Customize your interior.
6. Interiors can be purchased from a traveling peddler in town.
7. You want a full-sized bed.
8. Remember, money and lumber!"
-----------------------------------------------------
This will be relevant next update! Or maybe the one after. Depends on how I want to do it.
Money and lumber, friend.
Also this put Selphy up to 4 LP already. That was fast.
SELPHY: I got buried under the books when they fell the other day and Lara had to save me.
BUSH: Didn't the books fall before?
SELPHY: Haha, you got me there! Lara told me it's dangerous so I have to clean up the library.
1. I think you should, too.
2. I think it's fine the way it is.
As much as I'd like the cleaner library back, it's her organization scheme (and her library, I guess?) What right does Bush have to tell her what to do?
If we did agree with Lara on this, we'd get this:
Clean that library! wrote:
SELPHY: Ugh... You're saying that, too?
So yeah.
BUSH: I think it's fine the way it is. You have it set up so you know where everything is, right?
SELPHY: I do! You do understand!
I found out after the fact that I possibly have to agree with Lara on this to progress Selpy's storyline, so I guess the option will come up again.
If that is the case, it's not the only time something like this will happen. The other time I know of is, er... questionable.
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: The oily stains on pots can be washed off with vinegar. Did you know?
More HomeEc tips from Eunice! I did not know this.
When we enter Rosetta's shop today, something new happens. Danny's here!
Music: PinchDoesn't seem like it's a friendly meeting though.
ROSETTA: Huh? What is that? Are you for real? You sure you're all right in the head?
DANNY: That's my line! You stole my customers with dirty tricks! You think I don't know?!
DANNY: Fight like a man!
ROSETTA: Why do you always end up like this?
ROSETTA: Customers come to my store because it's better.
ROSETTA: It's all because I work hard running it!
DANNY: No way! I know you must be cheating!
DANNY: You're probably blackmailing the customers! I know it!
ROSETTA: How rude! I never even thought of that before!
DANNY: Shut your trap! I'll fight you fair and square until I expose your conspiracy, you dirty cheater!
ROSETTA: Get out of here! This is harassment!
*Slam*
(Presumably this is the door closing, but it's the same sound used for blunt attacks.)
(At first, it really makes this look like Rosetta's just floored Danny in a single punch. I wouldn't put it past her.
Also that thing on Bush's shoulder is the Wappen we've been wearing for a rather long time. It's really hard to see normally.)
Music: Business District BuildingsROSETTA: Those kinds of people always come out when business is good.
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush. You were here? I'm sorry for making you see that...
Well, that was something. Not all is chill in Trampoli.
ROSETTA: *sigh*
ROSETTA: You know Danny at the general store next door?
ROSETTA: He's saying that I'm selling at a loss so I can run him out of business.
ROSETTA: He's insane. I'm working hard to get my sales up and he's accusing me of that?!
ROSETTA: Say, Bush, could you go smack him with a shovel or something?
Unfortunately, this isn't Animal Crossing so Bush can't do that.
Actually, there aren't any shovels in this game.
ROSETTA: When I was small, I followed a kitten up a tree and neither of us could get down.
ROSETTA: I was a bit of a tomboy back in the day.
I feel it's worth noting that Rosetta's voice acting is quite good in general and this line is delivered with just a perfect amount of finger-wag sass.
ROSETTA: ...What's with that look on your face? You look like you want to say that I haven't changed much.
BUSH: N-no... Do I?
The voice line says "You look like you want to say I still am!" which is better if you ask me.
ROSETTA: I heard! You beat that huge monster in the Green Ruins?
ROSETTA: Not bad... If I ever get attacked by monsters, you have to come save me.
TURNER: *gulp*
TURNER: Sorry if it seemed like I was being shameless in expressing my fondness for this.
Dude, I gave you a yellow grass, chill
Then I spend a long time jammin'.
With the half my Toyherbs thrown in, that's 9000g today already, and we've got 18,000g already in our wallet and 50 strawberries still left to jam.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm sorry to bother you again..." - Melody~
Thanks for the Red Grass. ♪
I'm sorry to ask you this,
but this time, could I have some White Grass?
Please? ♪
-----------------------------------------------------
As referenced last update, this item won't be very easy to get a hold of. We can buy it and find it in Winter, but our only source of it until then is a 1% slime drop. I'll see what I can do about getting it, but no guarantees.
Way up at the Tower of Rest after a bath and a few hours later, the tomatoes I planted have finished growing!
Also that "strong moonlight" just turns on like a spot lamp at 6 PM.
Tomatoes are worth the same as turnips and regrow at pretty much the same interval. You better bet I'm going to have loads of these growing over the Summer.
Alas, Iris hasn't got much to say just yet. We'll be able to start mass producing her favorite gift pretty soon, so she should catch up to the other girls rather fast.
Before I left, I tried to till this land up here at the story progression gate, but the other silver wolves made a mess of it.
[Cinnamon]
Password?
As a random note, Cinnamon's door in the Clock Tower would seem to suggest she gives us a password later. Once we've got enough FP/LP with bachelorettes and/or their parents, we'll get the ability to visit at any hour.
Pickles Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Pickles happen to be worth 70g more than their normal cucumber selves. Thank goodness that vinegar doesn't cost anything in this world, I guess.
Also, I feel this is a good time to point out that Bush is a level 54 cook. He's almost 2/3rds of the way to maxing it out.
Making endless jam will do that for you, I guess.
You can also warm up milk into Hot Milk to increase it's value from 90g to 140g.
Amazing.
I then also finally realize I can make Ice Cream. All it needs is milk and an egg.
With it made, I bring it up to the big red fella blocking the hot springs on Whale Island.
GIANT: "Ice cream!"
GIANT: "You kept your promise! You're a nice guy."
GIANT: "Now for my end of the bargain."
GIANT: "There wasn't much water left in this spring so I added some more."
GIANT: "See ya."
I sure hope this means this giant knows water magic or something. I don't want to think about the other possibilities.
And just like that, he's gone. I don't know if we ever meet him again.
Music: SpringI clean up the farm a bit more, make some more money, and then hit the bed. Time for Spring 29th, our first festival!
ANETTE: Bush! Good morning!
Anette's still delivering mail today, I see.
Left in the dust again
ANETTE: I just got a flower from Eunice. I never got one before, but it's really nice.
Where Eunice met her to give this flower aside, here's today's first mention of our first festival!
Now to go back and check our mail.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Taking a Breather" - Selphy~
I don't really have much to say.
I just wanted to cool my head from
writing my book by writing a letter.
So I just wrote a letter to you with nothing to say.
Sorry.
-----------------------------------------------------
That's a mood right there.
Still, I would've expected to recieve some mail about the festival. They usually do that in the RF series.
KANNO: I recieved a flower from Eunice from that inn!
KANNO: I suppose I am much too charming despite my age.
Nobody seems to have informed gramps here that she's giving one to everyone.
Melody and Cinnamon aren't around, which is to be expected with the festival and all.
Well, let's go see what all the commotion is about.
Hm. Why is everyone doing their normal things? This is a festival day isn't it? The Foliage Festival, I believe?
On that note, where's the music?
UZUKI: I recieved a flower from Eunice. It certainly is very pretty...
TSUBUTE: Bush, are you adept with the sword?
BUSH: Somewhat.
Ah, here it is, this'll probably be the mini-date invite.
TSUBUTE: Of course. You are nothing but an amateur.
TSUBUTE: Milady has learned the art of the naginata that has passed down for ages. Compared to that, your skill is crude.
No, we're just getting dunked on I guess
BUSH: I guess so.
TSUBUTE: You are quite honest. Good boy.
Well, let's see what's up with Eunice.
EUNICE: I'd like to give you this, Bush.
You got Moondrop!
BUSH: Thank you, but why?
EUNICE: Flowers are very beautiful during this season so I'm giving them out. I just hope it will make people smile.
BUSH: That's great. I'm sure everyone will love it, myself included.
EUNICE: Really? I certainly hope so!
Time to drop the act, this is all today is, really. Eunice has decided to hand out a bunch of flowers to folks around town.
This does end up inspiring it's own festival, just in Year 2. It's like Japanese Valentine's Day, but with flowers instead of chocolate. Our REAL next festival is the 1st of Summer.
Technically, there's an earlier festival in Spring, on the 19th, but it is also Year 2. Mechanically, I don't think this is a great decision, as an earlier, easier to participate in festival is a good way for the player to earn early FP/LP and get more interesting dialogue out of the characters.
We do hand her one right back, of course
ROSETTA: Is there some kind of festival today? Eunice was passing out flowers.
As this flower dialogue overwrites pretty much every other dialogue today, so that's mostly all we'll be seeing.
Doesn't seem like Danny got one, but not a big surprise after yesterday.
GANESHA: I just got a flower from Eunice. Is something happening?
GANESHA: But it feels kind of nice. I don't know why but it makes me smile.
TURNER: Oh, wow. That's for me?
TURNER: Now I can get Ganesha to make me the best kind of kitchen knife.
Turner doesn't immediately eat metal if you give that to him, which is completely reasonable. For whatever reason, the first line plays the voice line for his "what is this" meh gift dialogue.
TURNER: I got a flower from Eunice. People will say that I spoiled her, but she grew up to be such a nice daughter.
yeah, spoiled, sure
RITA: I got a flower from Eunice. It's really pretty.
RITA: Turner hasn't given me any gifts for a long time!
are you two even married
CINNAMON: I got a flower from Eunice. ...Some kind of charm?
SELPHY: Hey, I got a flower from Eunice. Maybe I should press it and use it as a bookmark.
SELPHY: That's a great idea!
Well, I guess it's decided then.
I do stop to read a book, but it ends up being huge, so I opted to put it at the end of the update.
STELLA: I just recieved a flower from Eunice. She thanked me for everything.
STELLA: I'm touched at how she never forgets to feel thankful for others!
STELLA: The flowers are pretty during this season, so maybe I should hand out some flowers to the villagers, too.
STELLA: ...Don't make that face.
BUSH: I-I wasn't!
You got Toy Herb!
but i gave you one of these yesterday
is this the same one
Just gonna re-gift this, you saw nothing
STELLA: A festival where you give flowers to people you feel thankful for... I like it. Let's make this a tradition.
And here's your hint that next year will be different. Flowers make a lot more sense in a farming game than cookies and chocolate, none of which contain materials you can at least produce yourself.
There's also just how in RF1 you can't even participate in the cookie festival on the first year, or really most of the festivals.
LARA: I recieved a flower from Eunice. I wonder if I should give something back...
Kross didn't get one, but then again, the jury's still out on whether or not the other villagers know he exists.
KROSS: Aren't you afraid of monsters?
KROSS: I'm not scared. I'm actually fond of the monsters. They never lie to humans.
KROSS: Heh... I would like to live a free life like a monster.
KROSS: What do monsters have that humans don't...? ...Tails.
KROSS: If only I had the "Cat Tail," would I become like a monster?
Of note is that the Cat Tail is a level 90 accessory. It will be a long time before we ever get the ability to help him out with this.
ERIK: I got a flower from Eunice.
ERIK: It's not my fault I'm so popular. Hahaha!
Given this is Erik, I'm sure his head is running a hundred miles per hour trying to figure out what the flower means.
LUTE: I got a flower from Eunice. Maybe I should give something in return...
Apparently, Candy and Marco are up on the balcony of the clock tower on Thursdays before 12 PM.
Oh, right, I never mentioned that the clocktower has a balcony. Well, it does, here you go.
CANDY: I got a flower from Eunice. I better give her something in return later.
MARCO: I just got a flower from Eunice. I don't know if I should have accepted since there's someone I like...
I think you'll be fine, kid.
There happens to be a ladder up to the top out here as well.
It lets us see the main area of Trampoli as a curved parallax texture in the distance.
I think the only purpose of this place is for Cinnamon's final event.
Music: Lava RuinsWith that done, I dive into the Lava Ruins to burn the rest of this day away.
The rocks on the second floor reward 2 silver, which is pretty sweet.
While I'm doing that, Pony takes down an Ignis on her own. These fire spirits look a bit more fancy than their handheld counterparts, but their modus operandi is the same: "spam a magic spell at you." They have only two related monsters, the Glace and the Soul.
Glace, (or sometimes called Blizzards,) were particularly infamous to me in the power of their Water Laser. Ignis aren't nearly as bad, and all three of these monster types can drop Magic Powder and the ever coveted Magic Crystals. They also have a chance to drop elemental gems, so these are prime item grinding monsters for magic users like ourselves.
Alas, in the process of trying to take down a golem, Pony eats cannonfire at long range from the other golem and is comboed to a knockout.
Sorry about that, Pony
I do however score some Silver and an Earth Crystal off the golems, so the item gains are looking real good.
The Tomahawk has a chance to crit on the special attack and if it does, it guaranteed one-shots even these guys.
Bush's health gets rather low after a while, putting me in knockout range from just one hit, but I'm able to snag another level up.
If you do go down in a dungeon in this game, it does just boot you to the Infirmary the next day as usual, instead of actually killing you and forcing you to load a save, as per RF1 and RF2. Given the likely cold debuff and/or loss of possible progress, you might as well load a save whenever you go down anyways.
I snag one more silver, and then bail.
MIST: I recieved a flower from Eunice. That makes me... happy.
I do take the time to convert 7 of those tomatoes from yesterday to seeds. Will I end up planting all of these? Maybe, maybe not, as I've got to keep room for corn as well.
On my way to take care of the dungeon strawberries, I spot something peculiar.
GIRL: Oh...? Are you from around here?
BUSH: Yes.
GIRL: Oh, really? I thought that no one lived in this area...
I mean, Mist's house is behind you. She's not here, but this place is far from empty.
GIRL: I was thinking of building a church here.
BUSH: Oh?
GIRL: I feel a special charm about this place.
GIRL: Building a church and village here is a dream of mine.
While another church is a possibility, I think there might already be a village here- unless Bush has been tripping for the last season, at least.
Well, anyways, it's flower day, so here ya go.
GIRL: Thank you, but I really cannot accept this.
Huh, maybe this is one of those things like with Selphy where it won't let us gift someone until we know their name.
GIRL: Nice to meet you.
Um. Sure. I guess we'll get your name next time.
She's gone after I enter the Green Ruins, so I guess no more of her today.
Eh, anyways, the shipping box now has 16,000g worth of stuff sitting in it. 89 strawberries and 20 cherries will do that, I guess.
We're looking at 43,929g going into tomorrow, so we're in the clear for what I want to buy, now it's just a matter of getting even more to be set on everything I'd like to get my hands on.
I'm late in getting to the bathhouse today, and it seems it's undergone a bit of a remodel!
MELODY: Hey, Bush! You did this, didn't you?
MELODY: That sure surprised me. I didn't expect the roof to be blown off to make it an outdoor bath!
BUSH: The roof was blown off?!
MELODY: Yeah. But it's fine. I opened it up as an outdoor bathhouse now.
MELODY: It shall now be called... "Neo Laga Springs"!
Only Melody would be completely fine with this.
MELODY: Today's bath is on the house, so come on in! ♪
MELODY: I'm burning some of the incense Rosetta gave me as a gift for the grand opening. It smells really nice, so enjoy!
I'm still going to pay anyways, just in case the freebie here doesn't increase LP. Also it's only 10g, and I have no idea how this girl makes enough money to live.
Oh, and her flower dialogue for the day:
MELODY: I got a flower from Eunice. Don't you think it'll be pretty if I float these in the bath?
It's gotten a lot bigger on the inside at least. I'm still not clear on how any of this works with the island above, but I'm not questioning it!
To close off the day, I head to the Tower of Rest.
IRIS: I feel at peace when I look at flowers. Speaking of which, I see that you grow them from time to time, Bush.
This is all she has to say today, though it is worth noting that she is above 1 FP now, so the main story could theoretically progress. We'll uh, see how long it takes until it does.
I till that land outside of the story locked gate...
...and call it a day. A bit longer of an update today, but there was a lot to show off.
Tomorrow we buy our house extensions, and the day after that a lot of stuff goes down on the 1st of Summer. Because of that, the next update is probably only going to cover our last day of Spring.
Buys me some time to finally get a bit of an update reserve started again, and keeps Summer starting cleanly on Update 21.
To close it off, here's that book I read earlier today. It's a big one, and it would have been nice to remember it existed for the last vote:
-----------------------------------------------------
~Home Improvement Catalog~
"Roomy life begins with a roomy house! Our shop has multiple plans for your home improvement needs. All designs have the same functionality so choose the one that fits you best!"
"*Forge Area
Forge in your own house!
- Cozy Forge Area
Kind, earthen walls.
- Cool Forge Area
Stylish, metallic appearance.
- Creepy Forge Area
For that genuine creepy feel."
"*Kitchen
Cooking with comfort!
-Bulging Kitchen
A slightly bulged roof.
-Ba-bump Kitchen
Two cute bumps on the roof.
-Pointy Kitchen
Pointy roof like a witch's hat."
"*Laboratory Area
Mix and match, then create!
-Apothecary Lab Area
Perfect for making medicine.
-Alchemy Lab Area
A fun research space.
-Magic Lab Area
For those after the Truth!"
"*For a more luxurious life...
-Second Floor Bedroom
A private space for you and that special someone.
Big enough for a Full-sized bed."
"-Barn
Looking for a place to house your monster companions?
Holds up to 10 per room!"
-----------------------------------------------------
See you next time, where we wave farewell to the Spring theme!
As for the voting results, seems like we'll be going for Pointy and Creepy!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:36 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Update 20: The Update Where People Insist It's Summer But It's Not
Once again we return to the idyllic life of Bush, some guy who has amnesia problems, gullibility problems, and a whole lot of money in his pocket.
Music: Spring
This is Spring 30th, so that means this is the last time we'll ever hear this theme. Probably.
There is new content in year 2 as this game's about taking it slow, but I don't know how much of it I'll get around to showing off. Regardless, it's the only music I'm linking today to give this wonderful little piano theme it's sendoff.
Our idyllic life continues pretty much as usu-
why is there mail in the mailbox already
Uh, Anette?
BUSH: W-what's wrong?
ANETTE: What do you think?
ANETTE: I was chased around by a monster outside the village...
ANETTE: I just came back from running away from it! I thought I was gonna die!
If you tell Bush where it's at, I'm sure we can delete it from this world with our pacifist magic axe.
BUSH: Are you okay? Would you like some water?
ANETTE: I'll be fine. I just need to rest up a little.
BUSH: It must be hard...
I'm almost disappointed they didn't go with the watering can joke again, but I think Anette's been through enough.
ANETTE: I'll be fine... So... please... let... me rest...
If you say so!
Worth noting that this means she delivered our mail before half collapsing over here- that's dedication to the job.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New Soap ♪;" - Melody~
We have new soap at the bathhouse ♪;
Enjoy its new, refreshing fragrance!
-----------------------------------------------------
Alas, there's no mechanic around the soap as far as I know. Would've been nice to have something like RF3's cologne mechanic.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Beach Going Season" - Rosetta~
The beach will finally be open tomorrow!
There's an event planned for tomorrow as well, so be sure to come by!
Oh, and don't forget those bathing suits!
-----------------------------------------------------
That's right, our first festival is the beach episode.
It's not that kind of beach episode mind you. If you thought that it would be, given the bathhouse and the whole inspecting beds thing, I don't blame you.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"All prepared for summer?" - Erik~
Did you know that it'll be summer starting tomorrow?!
In the summer, all spring crops will wither, so be sure
to come by our shop and purchase summer seeds.
-----------------------------------------------------
Evidently Erik isn't aware of the clock that floats in the sky above our heads at all times, informing us of the date.
Also this letter didn't open with "hey, young man" and I am greatly disappointed.
Despite having read the mail, it will not leave our mailbox as the letter about the festival tomorrow is considered too important.
We collect our strawberries for the day, and...
then we delete them from the universe. Goodbye strawberries, you served us well. With sickle in hand, Bush shall spare you from withering.
If we don't cut them down now, they'll just turn into withered grass tomorrow, which is like weeds but brown and bad.
In other topics, Bush's weed collection has reached about 140 at this point. We've got a lot of weeds.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the first day of the beach season.
ANETTE: This is the season where I really shine! ...Just kidding.
At 9:00 AM, Ann's back to her usual self.
MIST: Why do mushrooms look so funny?
MIST: They look absurd.
Mist, as per her normal self, is high on turnips.
at least she's not scheming anything
MIST: Oh, look. Tomorrow will be the first day of the beach season. Time sure flies.
Most people today will be talking about the festival tomorrow, and I'll be lucky if I can wrestle any more than that out of them.
proceed to watering our light deprived fruits
runey management
Off to go bother people in town!
KANNO: Your test for today is...
BUSH: When did it turn into a test...?
KANNO: Stop complaining! Bring me an Emerald! An Emerald, you hear?!
BUSH: Okay...
Dire days, Bush has been struck with a pop quiz!
Lucky for us and him, there's no time limit on this. Emeralds, like most gems, are rare drops from minable rocks that can only be obtained with a good hammer.
Our hammer does not count as a "good hammer" in this case.
It's possible I can go make more Norad Fried Chickogriff and get one, but meh some other time.
MELODY: No swimsuits in the bath!
BUSH: W-what's the matter, Melody?
MELODY: The other day, Mist wanted to go straight to the bath after coming from the opening day of beach season. That's why I...
BUSH: That's very like Mist to do that.
MELODY: Bush! You're always taking Mist's side!
Both statements here are true.
Melody hates sand, it's coarse and rough and gets everywhere in the bath.
CINNAMON: I went to go buy swimsuits with Candy.
CINNAMON: ...I won't show you yet.
We're gonna see it tomorrow anyways.
STELLA: When I first came here, only one boy lived here.
STELLA: This village sure has grown since then.
I would guess that "one boy" is Kross, but we don't really know how old he is or when Stella came here.
BUSH: Tomorrow is the opening day of the beach season.
STELLA: Yes, and? Don't tell me you want to see me in a bathing suit.
BUSH: Huh?!
STELLA: I was quite the looker when I was young. Maybe I should take this opportunity to show off... Hahaha. I'm joking.
Bush isn't good at starting conversations, so he just defaulted to what everyone's been talking about today.
LARA: Tomorrow is the first day of the beach season, but I just don't like swimsuits that are too flashy...
Not much of a surprise.
DANNY: Hm? Oh, so tomorrow is the first day of the beach season.
DANNY: But it has nothing to do with me.
Given the massive pec window, I would've thought otherwise, but I guess Danny's committed to being aggressively uninteresting.
DANNY: I'm actually good at sewing.
DANNY: I made these clothes myself. Surprised? So if you have any extra Good Cloth laying around, share some with me. You can spare some right, Bush?
Given the massive pec window, I am not surprised. Still, "Good Cloth" is Danny's liked gift but you're better off giving him his favorite gift of silver in the long run. It's a lot easier to get a hold of.
ROSETTA: Tomorrow is the opening day of beach season. I was right to stock up on swimsuits for this day.
ROSETTA: Of course, I've already got my own.
I have to question how much profit comes from directly stocking swimsuits when there's like 10 people in town that'll ever wear one. Seems like you'd end up with a lot of unbought stock.
Then again, Rosetta's the one here making a commercial empire, not me.
EUNICE: *sigh*
BUSH: What's wrong?
EUNICE: This season has come again...
BUSH: This season...? Oh, right. It's almost summer.
EUNICE: Yes. all the girls in the village are talking about swimsuits...
EUNICE: I made Uzuki's swimsuit this year, but I just can't bring myself to make my own.
EUNICE: We shouldn't talk about depressing things like this! Let's just get to work!
I think you might be able to see where this is going.
RITA: It's already summer now.
We've still got a few hours, don't sign off Spring yet!
RITA: Summer has it's very own specialty drink. Why don't you come try it?
BUSH: N-no... I...
RITA: Hahaha. I'm kidding.
Listen, Bush may be magicking wine into existence by way of bullying what is probably an endangered species, but he doesn't drink.
TURNER: The beach season starts tomorrow. I used to go swim with Rita a lot when we were young.
GANESHA: Summer is finally here. The forge gets really hot during summer so I hate it.
GANESHA: Whoops. I guess it has nothing to do with you.
I would note that Bush has to run through a literal volcanic cavern with siege weaponry attacking him, but he doesn't really have much of stated reason to be doing it. It's just spur of the moment self endangerment.
They are required to progress the main story but we really haven't been given an explicit reason to smashing up the places. Hell, even the large monsters aren't threatening anyone or anything. We mostly just go inside to upgrade our gear easier.
We stop by Kross to blow 360 lumber and 20,000 gold on our new house expansions.
KROSS: Summer... The sun during the summer is cruel. The rays incinerate everything and remind me of the flames.
Evidently, Kross has seen things
Hey, slightly less young man, sell me some corn.
(also some carrot seeds for something later)
SELPHY: Oh, tomorrow is the opening of the beach season?
Yeah, she doesn't care. Nothing to do with books, and she only goes outside like once a week.
MIST: Please water the seeds after you sow them. Crops won't grow unless they have water. Make sure you remember this.
mist
mist, it's been a month
i know how farming works
For all I know, the game could be complaining about that fodder I never bother to water because I've got enough feed and I don't really have the time or RP to worry about them.
Also I liquidate some final stuff to come into tomorrow with a nice bit of pocket change. Our boy Lute's gonna be around and I want to nab the good tools while I can.
Also here's what our house looks like now. Hopefully the villagers appreciate Bush's taste in architecture.
KROSS: You seem to have gotten much stronger. Be careful to not get injured severely.
Also as it turns out, Kross doesn't like random vegetables all that much as I thought he did. His liked gift is Proof Of Warrior, the little masks that goblins and orcs drop.
What I'm saying is that it's not really an accomplishment to have these, but thanks, Kross.
CANDY: Tomorrow is the opening day of the beach season. I can't wait to wear my new swimsuit.
Before anyone gets worried, all the swimsuits in this game are rather tame.
MARCO: It's finally summer!
MARCO: I'm training now so I can fight the monsters of the ocean!
Marco here is ready to go all out on Nessie
Took me all day to find you, but I did eventually!
Looks like I was right about Cinnamon teaching Uzuki fishing, but I don't think that was a very long stretch to begin with.
Cinnamon will end up teaching even more people, believe it or not.
UZUKI: How do you fare, Bush?
UZUKI: I have never swam in the sea. I am eagerly awaiting to go as Eunice is making a swimsuit for myself.
I think it takes a while to get made, otherwise I'm just bad at finding her. Something you'll get to see when Summer starts for real is that it makes all the bachelorettes even harder to find on a daily basis.
You really want to play this game with a character schedule on hand- you can waste in-game hours just trying to find people. The townsfolk are very dynamic in this game compared to previous entries, and you still don't have a minimap of any kind.
Before I head back to the farm, I invest in a good number of grasses from Lara's store. I won't get around to these anytime soon, but I do plan on trying to level up Bush's pharmaceutical skills at least somewhat.
It is worth noting that neutralizers sell for the value of their component parts, so as long as you've got the RP to maintain it, you can just make them on loop for skill points.
Planting my summer crop begins late in the day, but still before I've had a bath. I'd ideally wanted some nice and clean field that only used the front half, but much like real life, things didn't work out so perfectly. At this point I just hastily make way for more tilled land so I can get all of my seeds in the ground.
You can plant the next season's crops on the 30th of the previous season to get a head start on them growing. Even if it is by 1 day, that 1 day can matter a lot in terms of when you get your payout.
Oh, hey, I'd entirely forgotten you didn't have to wait near Rosetta while she checked the shipping box. Neat, I didn't even mean to trigger this today.
That's an extra +1 LP for the Rosetta fans out there.
It's 8:00 PM by the time I make it to the bathhouse today, but rest assured, I will never miss going here!
Apparently, if you buy a bath ticket, come back after 9:00 PM when Melody's not working, and you have enough FP/LP for her to respond to you knocking on her door, there's some sort of special event.
It's probably more
for all I know, but I guess if the opportunity ever arises we'll find out.
speaking of
The long and short of it is that Ganesha's messing with Marco by suggesting he come into women's bath with her, and since he's not five, he's having none of it. And then it gets weirder than it already was when she brings Candy up.
Also, even though she's not part of this event, Lara is just in there as well with this whole awkward thing going on.
why
Moving away from that, I buy two bars of chocolate, some rice, and an apple from the bar. Chocolate happens to be Lute's favorite gift, rated at +9 FP, which is nice since he's around so rarely.
More tomatoes are already ready up on Whale Island as well! With our two prosperity regions, they seem to be regrowing in just 2 days which is even better.
Provided Grant and Gobbs can help out enough, we're going to be absolutely rolling in gold once our summer farm gets started up for real.
Not even counting these or the corn, I've got 8 3x3s of them in the ground, so that's 15,120g every 2 days once they're grown. I estimate we'll get somewhere around 150,000g out of them by the end of Summer.
IRIS: I finished doing that drawing the other day! Please take a look!
BUSH: Really?! Let me see...
IRIS: How is it?
BUSH: It's a very cute Chitter.
IRIS: That's... an apple...
BUSH: What?! I-I'm sorry.
These make up the bulk of Iris's more interesting dialogue. Even better is that we'll soon be able to catch her up to the place of the other girls as her favorite gift isn't far off.
IRIS: There are fields inside Whale Island, too. I wonder who tills them since there are so many monsters here.
In order to break the deafening awkward silence, Iris talks about farming. I would say she doesn't notice we're doing it right outside her door, but she does specify inside Whale Island.
Bush don't do any farming on the inside, so I've got no idea
Bush was up so late watering all the seeds that the clock at the top of screen even changes to reflect that it's properly Summer now. This is the last time we'll have to spend so long watering crops though, I'll tell you that.
And now that we've officially entered Summer, I've gotta close this update out. There's gonna be a lot of content in the next few days, including our final bachelorettes, so I hope that makes up for this being a half-length update.
As a farewell to the Spring theme, I would like to mention that it used to play whenever you visited Runefactoryfrontier.com, this game's webpage. If you can manage to make Flash work again, you can see it for yourself.
As we end our first season and slowly break out of the early game, what's your thoughts so far?
Once again we return to the idyllic life of Bush, some guy who has amnesia problems, gullibility problems, and a whole lot of money in his pocket.
Music: SpringThis is Spring 30th, so that means this is the last time we'll ever hear this theme. Probably.
There is new content in year 2 as this game's about taking it slow, but I don't know how much of it I'll get around to showing off. Regardless, it's the only music I'm linking today to give this wonderful little piano theme it's sendoff.
Our idyllic life continues pretty much as usu-
why is there mail in the mailbox already
Uh, Anette?
BUSH: W-what's wrong?
ANETTE: What do you think?
ANETTE: I was chased around by a monster outside the village...
ANETTE: I just came back from running away from it! I thought I was gonna die!
If you tell Bush where it's at, I'm sure we can delete it from this world with our pacifist magic axe.
BUSH: Are you okay? Would you like some water?
ANETTE: I'll be fine. I just need to rest up a little.
BUSH: It must be hard...
I'm almost disappointed they didn't go with the watering can joke again, but I think Anette's been through enough.
ANETTE: I'll be fine... So... please... let... me rest...
If you say so!
Worth noting that this means she delivered our mail before half collapsing over here- that's dedication to the job.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New Soap ♪;" - Melody~
We have new soap at the bathhouse ♪;
Enjoy its new, refreshing fragrance!
-----------------------------------------------------
Alas, there's no mechanic around the soap as far as I know. Would've been nice to have something like RF3's cologne mechanic.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Beach Going Season" - Rosetta~
The beach will finally be open tomorrow!
There's an event planned for tomorrow as well, so be sure to come by!
Oh, and don't forget those bathing suits!
-----------------------------------------------------
That's right, our first festival is the beach episode.
It's not that kind of beach episode mind you. If you thought that it would be, given the bathhouse and the whole inspecting beds thing, I don't blame you.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"All prepared for summer?" - Erik~
Did you know that it'll be summer starting tomorrow?!
In the summer, all spring crops will wither, so be sure
to come by our shop and purchase summer seeds.
-----------------------------------------------------
Evidently Erik isn't aware of the clock that floats in the sky above our heads at all times, informing us of the date.
Also this letter didn't open with "hey, young man" and I am greatly disappointed.
Despite having read the mail, it will not leave our mailbox as the letter about the festival tomorrow is considered too important.
We collect our strawberries for the day, and...
then we delete them from the universe. Goodbye strawberries, you served us well. With sickle in hand, Bush shall spare you from withering.
If we don't cut them down now, they'll just turn into withered grass tomorrow, which is like weeds but brown and bad.
In other topics, Bush's weed collection has reached about 140 at this point. We've got a lot of weeds.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the first day of the beach season.
ANETTE: This is the season where I really shine! ...Just kidding.
At 9:00 AM, Ann's back to her usual self.
MIST: Why do mushrooms look so funny?
MIST: They look absurd.
Mist, as per her normal self, is high on turnips.
MIST: Oh, look. Tomorrow will be the first day of the beach season. Time sure flies.
Most people today will be talking about the festival tomorrow, and I'll be lucky if I can wrestle any more than that out of them.
proceed to watering our light deprived fruits
runey management
Off to go bother people in town!
KANNO: Your test for today is...
BUSH: When did it turn into a test...?
KANNO: Stop complaining! Bring me an Emerald! An Emerald, you hear?!
BUSH: Okay...
Dire days, Bush has been struck with a pop quiz!
Lucky for us and him, there's no time limit on this. Emeralds, like most gems, are rare drops from minable rocks that can only be obtained with a good hammer.
Our hammer does not count as a "good hammer" in this case.
It's possible I can go make more Norad Fried Chickogriff and get one, but meh some other time.
MELODY: No swimsuits in the bath!
BUSH: W-what's the matter, Melody?
MELODY: The other day, Mist wanted to go straight to the bath after coming from the opening day of beach season. That's why I...
BUSH: That's very like Mist to do that.
MELODY: Bush! You're always taking Mist's side!
Both statements here are true.
Melody hates sand, it's coarse and rough and gets everywhere in the bath.
CINNAMON: I went to go buy swimsuits with Candy.
CINNAMON: ...I won't show you yet.
We're gonna see it tomorrow anyways.
STELLA: When I first came here, only one boy lived here.
STELLA: This village sure has grown since then.
I would guess that "one boy" is Kross, but we don't really know how old he is or when Stella came here.
BUSH: Tomorrow is the opening day of the beach season.
STELLA: Yes, and? Don't tell me you want to see me in a bathing suit.
BUSH: Huh?!
STELLA: I was quite the looker when I was young. Maybe I should take this opportunity to show off... Hahaha. I'm joking.
Bush isn't good at starting conversations, so he just defaulted to what everyone's been talking about today.
LARA: Tomorrow is the first day of the beach season, but I just don't like swimsuits that are too flashy...
Not much of a surprise.
DANNY: Hm? Oh, so tomorrow is the first day of the beach season.
DANNY: But it has nothing to do with me.
Given the massive pec window, I would've thought otherwise, but I guess Danny's committed to being aggressively uninteresting.
DANNY: I'm actually good at sewing.
DANNY: I made these clothes myself. Surprised? So if you have any extra Good Cloth laying around, share some with me. You can spare some right, Bush?
Given the massive pec window, I am not surprised. Still, "Good Cloth" is Danny's liked gift but you're better off giving him his favorite gift of silver in the long run. It's a lot easier to get a hold of.
ROSETTA: Tomorrow is the opening day of beach season. I was right to stock up on swimsuits for this day.
ROSETTA: Of course, I've already got my own.
I have to question how much profit comes from directly stocking swimsuits when there's like 10 people in town that'll ever wear one. Seems like you'd end up with a lot of unbought stock.
Then again, Rosetta's the one here making a commercial empire, not me.
EUNICE: *sigh*
BUSH: What's wrong?
EUNICE: This season has come again...
BUSH: This season...? Oh, right. It's almost summer.
EUNICE: Yes. all the girls in the village are talking about swimsuits...
EUNICE: I made Uzuki's swimsuit this year, but I just can't bring myself to make my own.
EUNICE: We shouldn't talk about depressing things like this! Let's just get to work!
I think you might be able to see where this is going.
RITA: It's already summer now.
We've still got a few hours, don't sign off Spring yet!
RITA: Summer has it's very own specialty drink. Why don't you come try it?
BUSH: N-no... I...
RITA: Hahaha. I'm kidding.
Listen, Bush may be magicking wine into existence by way of bullying what is probably an endangered species, but he doesn't drink.
TURNER: The beach season starts tomorrow. I used to go swim with Rita a lot when we were young.
GANESHA: Summer is finally here. The forge gets really hot during summer so I hate it.
GANESHA: Whoops. I guess it has nothing to do with you.
I would note that Bush has to run through a literal volcanic cavern with siege weaponry attacking him, but he doesn't really have much of stated reason to be doing it. It's just spur of the moment self endangerment.
They are required to progress the main story but we really haven't been given an explicit reason to smashing up the places. Hell, even the large monsters aren't threatening anyone or anything. We mostly just go inside to upgrade our gear easier.
We stop by Kross to blow 360 lumber and 20,000 gold on our new house expansions.
KROSS: Summer... The sun during the summer is cruel. The rays incinerate everything and remind me of the flames.
Evidently, Kross has seen things
Hey, slightly less young man, sell me some corn.
(also some carrot seeds for something later)
SELPHY: Oh, tomorrow is the opening of the beach season?
Yeah, she doesn't care. Nothing to do with books, and she only goes outside like once a week.
MIST: Please water the seeds after you sow them. Crops won't grow unless they have water. Make sure you remember this.
mist
mist, it's been a month
i know how farming works
For all I know, the game could be complaining about that fodder I never bother to water because I've got enough feed and I don't really have the time or RP to worry about them.
Also I liquidate some final stuff to come into tomorrow with a nice bit of pocket change. Our boy Lute's gonna be around and I want to nab the good tools while I can.
Also here's what our house looks like now. Hopefully the villagers appreciate Bush's taste in architecture.
KROSS: You seem to have gotten much stronger. Be careful to not get injured severely.
Also as it turns out, Kross doesn't like random vegetables all that much as I thought he did. His liked gift is Proof Of Warrior, the little masks that goblins and orcs drop.
What I'm saying is that it's not really an accomplishment to have these, but thanks, Kross.
CANDY: Tomorrow is the opening day of the beach season. I can't wait to wear my new swimsuit.
Before anyone gets worried, all the swimsuits in this game are rather tame.
MARCO: It's finally summer!
MARCO: I'm training now so I can fight the monsters of the ocean!
Marco here is ready to go all out on Nessie
Took me all day to find you, but I did eventually!
Looks like I was right about Cinnamon teaching Uzuki fishing, but I don't think that was a very long stretch to begin with.
Cinnamon will end up teaching even more people, believe it or not.
UZUKI: How do you fare, Bush?
UZUKI: I have never swam in the sea. I am eagerly awaiting to go as Eunice is making a swimsuit for myself.
I think it takes a while to get made, otherwise I'm just bad at finding her. Something you'll get to see when Summer starts for real is that it makes all the bachelorettes even harder to find on a daily basis.
You really want to play this game with a character schedule on hand- you can waste in-game hours just trying to find people. The townsfolk are very dynamic in this game compared to previous entries, and you still don't have a minimap of any kind.
Before I head back to the farm, I invest in a good number of grasses from Lara's store. I won't get around to these anytime soon, but I do plan on trying to level up Bush's pharmaceutical skills at least somewhat.
It is worth noting that neutralizers sell for the value of their component parts, so as long as you've got the RP to maintain it, you can just make them on loop for skill points.
Planting my summer crop begins late in the day, but still before I've had a bath. I'd ideally wanted some nice and clean field that only used the front half, but much like real life, things didn't work out so perfectly. At this point I just hastily make way for more tilled land so I can get all of my seeds in the ground.
You can plant the next season's crops on the 30th of the previous season to get a head start on them growing. Even if it is by 1 day, that 1 day can matter a lot in terms of when you get your payout.
Oh, hey, I'd entirely forgotten you didn't have to wait near Rosetta while she checked the shipping box. Neat, I didn't even mean to trigger this today.
That's an extra +1 LP for the Rosetta fans out there.
It's 8:00 PM by the time I make it to the bathhouse today, but rest assured, I will never miss going here!
Apparently, if you buy a bath ticket, come back after 9:00 PM when Melody's not working, and you have enough FP/LP for her to respond to you knocking on her door, there's some sort of special event.
It's probably more
for all I know, but I guess if the opportunity ever arises we'll find out.speaking of
The long and short of it is that Ganesha's messing with Marco by suggesting he come into women's bath with her, and since he's not five, he's having none of it. And then it gets weirder than it already was when she brings Candy up.
Also, even though she's not part of this event, Lara is just in there as well with this whole awkward thing going on.
why
Moving away from that, I buy two bars of chocolate, some rice, and an apple from the bar. Chocolate happens to be Lute's favorite gift, rated at +9 FP, which is nice since he's around so rarely.
More tomatoes are already ready up on Whale Island as well! With our two prosperity regions, they seem to be regrowing in just 2 days which is even better.
Provided Grant and Gobbs can help out enough, we're going to be absolutely rolling in gold once our summer farm gets started up for real.
Not even counting these or the corn, I've got 8 3x3s of them in the ground, so that's 15,120g every 2 days once they're grown. I estimate we'll get somewhere around 150,000g out of them by the end of Summer.
IRIS: I finished doing that drawing the other day! Please take a look!
BUSH: Really?! Let me see...
IRIS: How is it?
BUSH: It's a very cute Chitter.
IRIS: That's... an apple...
BUSH: What?! I-I'm sorry.
These make up the bulk of Iris's more interesting dialogue. Even better is that we'll soon be able to catch her up to the place of the other girls as her favorite gift isn't far off.
IRIS: There are fields inside Whale Island, too. I wonder who tills them since there are so many monsters here.
In order to break the deafening awkward silence, Iris talks about farming. I would say she doesn't notice we're doing it right outside her door, but she does specify inside Whale Island.
Bush don't do any farming on the inside, so I've got no idea
Bush was up so late watering all the seeds that the clock at the top of screen even changes to reflect that it's properly Summer now. This is the last time we'll have to spend so long watering crops though, I'll tell you that.
And now that we've officially entered Summer, I've gotta close this update out. There's gonna be a lot of content in the next few days, including our final bachelorettes, so I hope that makes up for this being a half-length update.
As a farewell to the Spring theme, I would like to mention that it used to play whenever you visited Runefactoryfrontier.com, this game's webpage. If you can manage to make Flash work again, you can see it for yourself.
As we end our first season and slowly break out of the early game, what's your thoughts so far?
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:29 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Also, while I'm still working on figuring out how to scan that artbook, I found some scans already done for me!
Have a seasonally appropriate one:
Have a seasonally appropriate one:
That Christmas art is cute.
I'm interested in Kross' deal and I really like the blacksmith lady.
I'm interested in Kross' deal and I really like the blacksmith lady.
Echoing my post in my other LP, I'll be taking a short break to catch up on things. It'll take me about two weeks at the latest.
I can say that we make some pretty significant progress in the first week of Summer- Bush is at 80 Cooking skill and the money is starting to really roll in. We're almost exactly where we need to be to get ourselves fully geared up and ready to take on the rest of the game's combat.
I won't be gone from the forums entirely, so if you've got any questions or suggestions, I'm here.
I can say that we make some pretty significant progress in the first week of Summer- Bush is at 80 Cooking skill and the money is starting to really roll in. We're almost exactly where we need to be to get ourselves fully geared up and ready to take on the rest of the game's combat.
I won't be gone from the forums entirely, so if you've got any questions or suggestions, I'm here.
Update 21: The Beach Episode- Much Ado About Melons
Summer is finally here! With about 5 hours of sleep, Bush is out the door!
Music: Festival
Also this is playing! It's not bad, but it overwrites the music for everywhere but dungeons so you'll go slowly insane from hearing it for 30 minutes straight.
Sorry, we won't be hearing the new seasonal theme just yet.
Outside, everything is green!
Well, a more blue hued green than before.
Also, the flowers in front of our house have suddenly become sunflowers.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Are you ready for the summer?" - Rosetta~
Summer begins today!
Spring crops do not grow in summer,
so come by Materia for seeds
perfect for the new season!
-----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately it's not open today, and all the Summer flowers take way too long to grow. Most can't even grow in the Homestead field without very high prosperity.
Our crops will probably be tomatoes and corn the whole time.
I take care of chores until 9:00 AM, as nothing really starts up until then. As I planted our seeds last night, we've got a 1 day head start of sorts.
Now folks are about!
CANDY: It's finally summer! I'm going to learn to swim this year...
MARCO: Hey! It's all about the beach during summer, don't you think?
MARCO: Are you good at swimming? Let's race later!
The actual festival can wait, it's time to bother everyone in town first.
GANESHA: Hi, Bush. Did you go to the opening day of the beach season?
BUSH: Aren't you going, Ganesha?
GANESHA: What? You want to see an old lady like me in a swimsuit? Stop flattering me.
The adults will never be seen at the beach, often for this stated reason of apparently being too old for it. I am sure there are folks who are greatly disappointed by this.
TB: Yes... Yes... Right there... Yes, that feels good.
BUSH: What are you doing, Uzuki?
UZUKI: Hm? I was merely giving Tsubute a massage on the shoulders. After all is said and done, he has helped me so.
TB: How kind... I am very touched, milady.
BUSH: Tsubute, you have shoulders?
TB: Graaaggh! How dare you! You...
UZUKI: Ahahaha! I suppose it is difficult to see where Tsubute's shoulders are.
TB: M-milady...
I don't know if it's ever explained what Tsubute is exactly. It's likely, but I don't remember. Tiny cricket man has shoulders though, we have learned this fact today if anything else.
BUSH: Eunice...
EUNICE: No! Stop right there!
BUSH: Huh?!
EUNICE: No! Halt!
Eunice does not like swimsuit season.
Here's a flower, I hope it makes your day better
TURNER: It's so hot. I completely understand why people want to go swim at the beach.
RITA: Well, at my age, I just can't go to the beach in a swimsuit.
At least it's nice to see you two actually doing something together, even if it is just standing in the plaza staring at the weird singing rock.
Anyways, my main focus for right now is our boy Lute. Time to outfit our expanded kitchen and forge!
Our purchases here are the Great Forge, the Great Kitchen, the Great Pot and the Handy Kitchen. This amounts to somewhere around 35,000G, so Lute's going home with quite the payday.
The next purchase we're looking for is the Maestro's Forge, which will take a hefty 28,000g but will finally give us access to as strong as weapons as we can find the materials for.
At some point it'd be really nice to expand my storage as well as getting a fridge. Despite nothing ever rotting in this world, I can't stick all this random grass in my usual storage box.
Enough delay- it's time for the beach!
ROSETTA: Good timing, Bush.
ROSETTA: We just got a sweet and tasty watermelon in. It's a rare item found only once a year. We should use it for melon pinata.
The innovation of growing melons must have not been made yet, as this game doesn't have Pink Melons, yet RF2 does.
This is the festival activity for this year, but we'll wait on it until I've chatted up everyone on the beach.
and no, I'm not making new portraits for this
LARA: It's so hot every day. Please be mindful of your health.
Because it's Summer now, instead of saying the weather is so nice, now everyone will have a decent chance of just complaining about the heat.
LARA: Bush, would like to go swimming together?
Bush would like to go swimming, but we can't do that unfortunately. I don't believe you can swim even in the Rune Factory game based around being in the ocean.
Swimming animations are too hard I guess.
CINNAMON: In this season, you can see the "Buffamoo Constellation."
BUSH: A Buffamoo? How is it different from the Buffalo?
CINNAMON: ...I don't know. The Buffamoo Contellation can't be seen unless it is past midnight. Try your best to find it.
CINNAMON: Aren't you going to swim, Bush?
Cinnamon's usually just up here in the corner.
-------------------
1. I will.
2. I won't.
-------------------
Unfortunately, parallel universe shenanigans are not necessary here as her reply is always the same:
CINNAMON: ...Oh.
Curse you, illusion of choice!
SELPHY: Reading in the shade is the best for hot days like today!
SELPHY: The ocean is more vast than land. Did you know that?
Geography facts!
Selphy hangs out rather far from the ocean, as she's presumably only here to sit on a beach chair and read under an umbrella. I did notice the bracelet on her wrist, though I've no idea if it ever comes up in conversation or if it's relevant to anything at all.
MIST: Today is the opening day of the beach season. I prefer to watch people in swimsuits than wear one myself.
Mist has nothing to say about the weather, and happens to be the only one here actually in the water in some way. From the water, she just stares at everyone else, apparently.
There's a whole southern half to the beach, but it's empty. Some of the other bachelorettes stand in this area, if they're here.
Worth noting that the characters who show up to this event are seemingly random, as I remember that Melody was here on my first time playing the game, and I've heard of Uzuki being here instead of Cinnamon.
With that done, let's get around to smashing that one of a kind watermelon for really no reason other than SUMMER, WOO
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush. We were just about to break the watermelon. Would you like to join in?
Sure!
ROSETTA: By the way, do you know the rules of melon pinata?
What are the rules?
ROSETTA: All you have to do in a melon pinata game is break the watermelon with your hammer.
...Oh, that's pretty easy. I guess it's some sort of mashing minig-
ROSETTA: That alone would be a bit too simple, so for you, Bush, we'll use the blindfold.
ROSETTA: When you're blindfolded, the people around you will tell you where the watermelon is... of course, to make things more interesting, I've asked one person here to lie.
Ah, well, that's a bit trickier.
ROSETTA: Do your best not to get confused and go off in a weird direction. Oh, and don't hit people. Well, that's it for the rules, are you good?
Sure why not, I've done this before.
MELON SMASHING TIME
ROSETTA: Wait... Your clothes will get dirty. Go change into a swimsuit.
Bush fights giant monsters, gets beat up, digs around in the dirt a lot, and has recently been spending a lot of time in a volcanic cavern. I don't think we have to worry about his clothes getting dirty.
For whatever reason though, we manually have to go and change into our swimwear - also known as Bush in his usual bathhouse wear.
This conversation also forces Pony to get sent back to the barn. Looks like no beach fun for our giantdog horse.
BUSH: I'm gonna have all the fun I can at the beach this summer!
Really the most we'll be doing here aside from the occasional conversation is sucking up Runeys and I still hesitate to call that fun. Sorry, Bush.
Also, yes, it doesn't remove our accessories. The neck towel at least makes sense, but not the knit hat.
Let's start the festival proper this time.
The camera does a slow zoom in on our contestants, and each of the girls does a small little animation. Erik is also here.
ERIK: Let's get started.
ERIK: All right, young man! Here, hold this hammer!
ERIK: Well, well, the hammer suits you rather well!
This is just a Cheap Hammer. Apparently both Mist and Erik associate Bush with garbage tier farming equipment.
ERIK: The liar will be...
*DRUMROLL*
ERIK: Rosetta!
ROSETTA: ...Oh, me? Well, Bush, you better keep your ears open.
You may note that this doesn't really match up with what she said earlier about the rules. Something got lost in translation or development here.
Also, yes, they do just tell you who is lying. It severely reduces the challenge of this minigame, and kinda just undercuts a lot of fun that could be had here.
I'll complain about it later and what they could have did instead once we're done with it.
Music: By the Ocean
(Hey, this is finally playing at a time appropriate for the title! Wow!)
We get a brief pan down of the area showing the placement of the girls and the melon, then the screen fades to black again.
ERIK: Go!
And with that, Bush finds himself in the void. He automatically walks forward at a slow pace and turns rather sluggishly.
MIST: To the left, the left!
Periodically, the girls will call out directions. We know Mist isn't lying here, so we adjust our angle a bit to the left.
ROSETTA: A little more to the right!
We've already been told that Rosetta is lying, so we basically ignore anything she says here.
It's worth noting that all of the direction lines are voice acted, so that's neat.
LARA: Straight!
With that, we angle ourselves back to the north and continue on that way.
We get a few more instructions from here, but it's pretty easy stuff.
LARA: Swing. Swing now!
When we're close, the one of the gals will tell us to take the swing. You pretty much have to mash a bit here as the input window is a bit weird.
*SMACK*
LARA: Oh! We did it!
Somehow, we're over here. Luckily, Bush will autotarget the melon when you swing as long as you're next to it. Also it just breaks in half cleanly like we used an axe on it.
ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?
It was alright.
Following this is the conversations for winning the festival. Unfortunately nothing spectacular happens if you fail.
-------------------------------------------------------
LOSER UNIVERSE
LARA: Oh... Perhaps some other time.
---
ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?
ROSETTA: Unfortunately, the watermelon wasn't smashed with the hammer, but I cut it up, so let's eat.
MIST: Too bad, Bush. Maybe next year.
ROSETTA: I even told you to not be confused by my lies!
LARA: Oh, my... This watermelon tastes just heavenly.
BUSH: I'll be sure to smash one open next year.
-------------------------------------------------------
No matter the timeline, the melon is eaten. RIP melon.
Back to the universe where we win.
MIST: This watermelon is so good! Bush, maybe it's because you did such a good job splitting it open.
ROSETTA: Your watermelon splitting was just awesome. You just would not believe any of my lines.
LARA: Today's watermelon pinata was so enjoyable thanks to you.
BUSH: *chuckle* Well, I'm glad my hard work paid off.
Since when do you *chuckle*, Bush?
Following this is a set of conversations unique to winning. I believe it happens regardless of who's here, but really all I remember from my first time doing this minigame is that Melody was the liar and Lara wasn't here. I don't know if this always happens between Mist and Rosetta.
ROSETTA: By the way, Bush. Do you put salt on your watermelon?
-------------------
1. I usually don't.
2. I usually do.
-------------------
MIST: I'm sure you do, don't you? It's common sense.
-------------------
1. The salt makes it sweeter.
2. I like it the way it is.
-------------------
ROSETTA: Of course, I don't, but I do see people do that sometimes.
-------------------
1. I don't.
2. Salt and watermelon are friends.
-------------------
Here's the choice that branches things.
And that's it. As far as I can tell, it doesn't affect LP at all.
Winning the festival itself does provide a decent FP & LP increase across the board. Mist's almost hit 4 LP by this point, with Melody being in third place. Rosetta's in 4th, with the other girls slowly working their way up to and through the 2 LP range.
Selphy's still in first of course, thanks to all of Bush's knowledge gaining
We're free to go off and do whatever now. That was our first festival!
I feel like this would be a lot more interesting if they didn't tell you who the liar was. Then the liar would gain LP if you consistently believed them. Says a lot more about what you think about them than "how well can you ignore me".
You could probably give every character a bit of a tell or something for this, if you wanted to keep it easier.
With the festival done, it's time to wrap up the success dialogue and head off to do other stuff today.
MIST: Good job on the melon pinata, Bush.
ROSETTA: You split that melon pretty well.
LARA: Now that the beach season has started, it sure feels like summer has truly begun.
SELPHY: The watermelon was great! Did you eat it, Bush?
CINNAMON: Was the first day of the beach season fun?
*insert any response here*
CINNAMON: ..Oh.
And that's it! Lara's got actual dialogue to usher in the rest of the day with.
LARA: A nurse always has to prepare medicinal herbs.
LARA: Melody knows a lot about medicinal herbs so I always ask her for advice.
LARA: But I've been talking to Cinnamon about it a lot more recently.
LARA: She knows about these herbs that I've never even heard of before.
You know, you could always write back to your teacher from Kardia. I'm sure Edward knows his stuff, with hair and a mustache like he's got, you just have to.
Music: Festival
Back to hearing this for the rest of the day! :shepface:
Also, here's our improved kitchen! A lot of space to move around in, as well as our new mixer and upgraded pot!
The frying pan can honestly go a long time without being upgraded as there's not much it makes that I'll want. I specifically upgraded the pot so I could eventually make some HP Absorb food with it- that'll be really good for making progress.
Apple Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.
Tomato Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.
At our new mixer, I slam a whole apple in there and bam, we've got juice. Do the same for a tomato and we've got more juice.
The latter is the gift we've been waiting on for Iris. This is worth triple the amount of LP that random flowers are for her, so she'll be catching up to the other gals rather fast.
CANDY: Wow! I love juice! Thanks!
Supposedly Apple juice is her favorite, but I don't know for sure. Regardless, we'll probably toss some excess tomato juice her way and see if we can get her to tell us anything more about the Spirits or Runeys.
At this point, Bush heads back down into Green Ruins on a quest for insect skin. It's a necessary material for our next tier of tools, for some reason.
A bit of farming later with Pony helping out, and I've got a couple pieces of it.
Back to our new forging area! We've got some downright industrial equipment in this room.
And here we are, ready to take our first steps in getting out of the early game for good.
Our tin can goes in the forge, alongside silver, copper, and insect skin.
12 levels above our skill to make, we can just barely do it.
Lion Can Lv:1 was synthesized.
Getting this is huge, and you'll see why soon enough.
Next up in clearing progression blocks is a Silver Hammer. Our iron hammer, 2 silver, and another insect skin later...
Silver Hammer Lv:1 was synthesized.
This is a pretty big get as well. All those rocks we couldn't destroy? Their days are numbered now.
And now I'll show you why I cluttered up my storage box with so many pieces of scrap iron. Take our fishing pole and pairs of scrap iron, all of steadily increasing level...
Starter Pole Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Starter Pole Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
Repeat this process for a while...
And now it's up to level 6! It also costs 4 less RP per swing, which is neat. If you were looking to make your tools more efficient, this is the way to go. It's best to do this on axes and hammers first as they cost the most, but fishing's not a bad choice either as it saves you more RP when looping fried fish for RP. Just be careful that you are using the right leveled materials because if you stick a level 10 tool in with level 1 scrap, the best you can make is level 2.
Doing this is also the best way to grind your forging skill up. You can do this with every tier of tool and it'll add up to a lot. I would have done this to my hammer or my watering can, but the skill cost of this scrap iron method jumps up quite a lot per tier of tool.
To grind ideally, pick a tool you don't care about at the highest skill requirement you can manage, and keep slamming level 1 scrap irons into it. It won't increase in level and you can just bring that forging skill up to par. I'd say the best pick for this is the hoe as you'll be using it less and less over the course of the game.
After all, once you've tilled a field, the hoe's job is done.
Now to show off why this new watering can is so great. Holding 18 water at once is good, but...
The lion can is now capable of watering full 3x3s in one action, for the cost of 1 water and barely any more RP.
This effectively cuts both the RP use and time spent watering by 66%.
If this is the last upgrade I get for the can, I'll be fine with it. This is all I need, and it's honestly the one thing that saves early Rune Factory farming. It's a godsend they give you this tier of tools off the start in RF2.
RF3's watering while walking and general speed helps to alleviate a lot of this, thankfully.
Took me 30 in-game minutes to water all of this. This took me nearly 2 hours before.
What doesn't get any faster is harvesting Hopefully Grant and Gobbs pull their weight when I put them to work.
That all done, I head off towards the mountain road, but as we're passing by Kross's place...
BUSH: Huh...?!
BUSH: I don't remember this building...
Took the words right out of my mouth!
Well, they're not open today, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.
This big mansion is settled up on the hill to the right of the area, and will remain there for the rest of the game. I believe there was a bench here that is now gone forever
But given that runeys don't really clump up on the hill, it should've been a minor hint that something was going to go there eventually.
Anyways, back to rounding up the last bit of conversation for the day.
STELLA: Playing in the ocean is fine, but be careful so that you don't have any accidents.
Bush physically can't play in the ocean, so there's no need to worry at all!
KANNO: It certainly is summer now. I get depressed thinking about how hot it'll continue to be.
The clock tower is a large brick building so at least you don't have it as bad as you could have it.
LUTE: Really?! I love Chocolate.
On my quest to squeeze every last bit of dialogue out of the town, I remember to give Lute the chocolate we bought for him.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: Sorry. I couldn't stop the guy next door... I never thought I would see the only watermelon left destroyed before my eyes. Fate can be so cruel...
RIP melon, sacrificed in vain for an only okay minigame
The only thing more depressing is the fact that the bathhouse isn't open today
It's because Melody is just standing over in this... empty spot next to the clock tower for some reason. I don't know if this spot ever gets used for anything.
MELODY: You have to take a bath whenever you sweat. It's been really hot recently so you have to be careful.
MELODY: Is there anything you don't like to eat, Bush?
MELODY: I hate mayonnaise. Just looking at it sends a shiver down my spine, so don't ever give it to me!
I rather like mayonnaise myself, but hey, I don't judge.
DANNY: Beach season? Not interested.
Danny's only interests are running a shop with a highly specialized inventory and standing around in various places with a slouch.
ANETTE: Hi, Bush.
ANETTE: I hate ho hot it gets all day and night recently... I feel like I'll pass out...
Anette's here on break today, with it being a festival. It's one of the rare times you can hear her afternoon greeting. The only thing rarer is her evening greeting, I guess.
ANETTE: I drink milk every morning but I still can't grow taller. I wonder why.
Does milk affect height?
I don't really know.
And to close out the day, I head down into Green Ruins to try and acquire that White Grass we needed to get for Melody.
It's a 1% drop, so I'm not expecting to find-
Oh. Huh.
Well, I doubt I'm getting that lucky again, so let's hope the questline ends with this.
Well, while I'm down here, I might as well show off the power of our new Silver Hammer.
By using the special attack, we can break through that one section of rocks on the first floor that was blocking a pathway.
Inside is a cluster of rocks and a treasure chest. These rocks have a pretty high chance of dropping silver, so they're not bad to stop by every once in a while.
The treasure chest just dropped normal level 1 rice.
Earring Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Before heading off to bed, I make some space by crafting some various items. This one's really the only one of relative note.
And with that, we end our first festival!
If anything, at least there was a lot of dialogue today.
Tomorrow, may be more interesting as we'll be meeting our last two bachelorettes, and we also finally get to hear the new seasonal theme!
Summer is finally here! With about 5 hours of sleep, Bush is out the door!
Music: FestivalAlso this is playing! It's not bad, but it overwrites the music for everywhere but dungeons so you'll go slowly insane from hearing it for 30 minutes straight.
Sorry, we won't be hearing the new seasonal theme just yet.
Outside, everything is green!
Well, a more blue hued green than before.
Also, the flowers in front of our house have suddenly become sunflowers.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Are you ready for the summer?" - Rosetta~
Summer begins today!
Spring crops do not grow in summer,
so come by Materia for seeds
perfect for the new season!
-----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately it's not open today, and all the Summer flowers take way too long to grow. Most can't even grow in the Homestead field without very high prosperity.
Our crops will probably be tomatoes and corn the whole time.
I take care of chores until 9:00 AM, as nothing really starts up until then. As I planted our seeds last night, we've got a 1 day head start of sorts.
Now folks are about!
CANDY: It's finally summer! I'm going to learn to swim this year...
MARCO: Hey! It's all about the beach during summer, don't you think?
MARCO: Are you good at swimming? Let's race later!
The actual festival can wait, it's time to bother everyone in town first.
GANESHA: Hi, Bush. Did you go to the opening day of the beach season?
BUSH: Aren't you going, Ganesha?
GANESHA: What? You want to see an old lady like me in a swimsuit? Stop flattering me.
The adults will never be seen at the beach, often for this stated reason of apparently being too old for it. I am sure there are folks who are greatly disappointed by this.
TB: Yes... Yes... Right there... Yes, that feels good.
BUSH: What are you doing, Uzuki?
UZUKI: Hm? I was merely giving Tsubute a massage on the shoulders. After all is said and done, he has helped me so.
TB: How kind... I am very touched, milady.
BUSH: Tsubute, you have shoulders?
TB: Graaaggh! How dare you! You...
UZUKI: Ahahaha! I suppose it is difficult to see where Tsubute's shoulders are.
TB: M-milady...
I don't know if it's ever explained what Tsubute is exactly. It's likely, but I don't remember. Tiny cricket man has shoulders though, we have learned this fact today if anything else.
BUSH: Eunice...
EUNICE: No! Stop right there!
BUSH: Huh?!
EUNICE: No! Halt!
Eunice does not like swimsuit season.
Here's a flower, I hope it makes your day better
TURNER: It's so hot. I completely understand why people want to go swim at the beach.
RITA: Well, at my age, I just can't go to the beach in a swimsuit.
At least it's nice to see you two actually doing something together, even if it is just standing in the plaza staring at the weird singing rock.
Anyways, my main focus for right now is our boy Lute. Time to outfit our expanded kitchen and forge!
Our purchases here are the Great Forge, the Great Kitchen, the Great Pot and the Handy Kitchen. This amounts to somewhere around 35,000G, so Lute's going home with quite the payday.
The next purchase we're looking for is the Maestro's Forge, which will take a hefty 28,000g but will finally give us access to as strong as weapons as we can find the materials for.
At some point it'd be really nice to expand my storage as well as getting a fridge. Despite nothing ever rotting in this world, I can't stick all this random grass in my usual storage box.
Enough delay- it's time for the beach!
ROSETTA: Good timing, Bush.
ROSETTA: We just got a sweet and tasty watermelon in. It's a rare item found only once a year. We should use it for melon pinata.
The innovation of growing melons must have not been made yet, as this game doesn't have Pink Melons, yet RF2 does.
This is the festival activity for this year, but we'll wait on it until I've chatted up everyone on the beach.
and no, I'm not making new portraits for this
LARA: It's so hot every day. Please be mindful of your health.
Because it's Summer now, instead of saying the weather is so nice, now everyone will have a decent chance of just complaining about the heat.
LARA: Bush, would like to go swimming together?
Bush would like to go swimming, but we can't do that unfortunately. I don't believe you can swim even in the Rune Factory game based around being in the ocean.
Swimming animations are too hard I guess.
CINNAMON: In this season, you can see the "Buffamoo Constellation."
BUSH: A Buffamoo? How is it different from the Buffalo?
CINNAMON: ...I don't know. The Buffamoo Contellation can't be seen unless it is past midnight. Try your best to find it.
CINNAMON: Aren't you going to swim, Bush?
Cinnamon's usually just up here in the corner.
-------------------
1. I will.
2. I won't.
-------------------
Unfortunately, parallel universe shenanigans are not necessary here as her reply is always the same:
CINNAMON: ...Oh.
Curse you, illusion of choice!
SELPHY: Reading in the shade is the best for hot days like today!
SELPHY: The ocean is more vast than land. Did you know that?
Geography facts!
Selphy hangs out rather far from the ocean, as she's presumably only here to sit on a beach chair and read under an umbrella. I did notice the bracelet on her wrist, though I've no idea if it ever comes up in conversation or if it's relevant to anything at all.
MIST: Today is the opening day of the beach season. I prefer to watch people in swimsuits than wear one myself.
Mist has nothing to say about the weather, and happens to be the only one here actually in the water in some way. From the water, she just stares at everyone else, apparently.
There's a whole southern half to the beach, but it's empty. Some of the other bachelorettes stand in this area, if they're here.
Worth noting that the characters who show up to this event are seemingly random, as I remember that Melody was here on my first time playing the game, and I've heard of Uzuki being here instead of Cinnamon.
With that done, let's get around to smashing that one of a kind watermelon for really no reason other than SUMMER, WOO
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush. We were just about to break the watermelon. Would you like to join in?
Sure!
ROSETTA: By the way, do you know the rules of melon pinata?
What are the rules?
ROSETTA: All you have to do in a melon pinata game is break the watermelon with your hammer.
...Oh, that's pretty easy. I guess it's some sort of mashing minig-
ROSETTA: That alone would be a bit too simple, so for you, Bush, we'll use the blindfold.
ROSETTA: When you're blindfolded, the people around you will tell you where the watermelon is... of course, to make things more interesting, I've asked one person here to lie.
Ah, well, that's a bit trickier.
ROSETTA: Do your best not to get confused and go off in a weird direction. Oh, and don't hit people. Well, that's it for the rules, are you good?
Sure why not, I've done this before.
MELON SMASHING TIME
ROSETTA: Wait... Your clothes will get dirty. Go change into a swimsuit.
Bush fights giant monsters, gets beat up, digs around in the dirt a lot, and has recently been spending a lot of time in a volcanic cavern. I don't think we have to worry about his clothes getting dirty.
For whatever reason though, we manually have to go and change into our swimwear - also known as Bush in his usual bathhouse wear.
This conversation also forces Pony to get sent back to the barn. Looks like no beach fun for our giant
BUSH: I'm gonna have all the fun I can at the beach this summer!
Really the most we'll be doing here aside from the occasional conversation is sucking up Runeys and I still hesitate to call that fun. Sorry, Bush.
Also, yes, it doesn't remove our accessories. The neck towel at least makes sense, but not the knit hat.
Let's start the festival proper this time.
The camera does a slow zoom in on our contestants, and each of the girls does a small little animation. Erik is also here.
ERIK: Let's get started.
ERIK: All right, young man! Here, hold this hammer!
ERIK: Well, well, the hammer suits you rather well!
This is just a Cheap Hammer. Apparently both Mist and Erik associate Bush with garbage tier farming equipment.
ERIK: The liar will be...
*DRUMROLL*
ERIK: Rosetta!
ROSETTA: ...Oh, me? Well, Bush, you better keep your ears open.
You may note that this doesn't really match up with what she said earlier about the rules. Something got lost in translation or development here.
Also, yes, they do just tell you who is lying. It severely reduces the challenge of this minigame, and kinda just undercuts a lot of fun that could be had here.
I'll complain about it later and what they could have did instead once we're done with it.
Music: By the Ocean(Hey, this is finally playing at a time appropriate for the title! Wow!)
We get a brief pan down of the area showing the placement of the girls and the melon, then the screen fades to black again.
ERIK: Go!
And with that, Bush finds himself in the void. He automatically walks forward at a slow pace and turns rather sluggishly.
MIST: To the left, the left!
Periodically, the girls will call out directions. We know Mist isn't lying here, so we adjust our angle a bit to the left.
ROSETTA: A little more to the right!
We've already been told that Rosetta is lying, so we basically ignore anything she says here.
It's worth noting that all of the direction lines are voice acted, so that's neat.
LARA: Straight!
With that, we angle ourselves back to the north and continue on that way.
We get a few more instructions from here, but it's pretty easy stuff.
LARA: Swing. Swing now!
When we're close, the one of the gals will tell us to take the swing. You pretty much have to mash a bit here as the input window is a bit weird.
*SMACK*
LARA: Oh! We did it!
Somehow, we're over here. Luckily, Bush will autotarget the melon when you swing as long as you're next to it. Also it just breaks in half cleanly like we used an axe on it.
ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?
It was alright.
Following this is the conversations for winning the festival. Unfortunately nothing spectacular happens if you fail.
-------------------------------------------------------
LOSER UNIVERSE
LARA: Oh... Perhaps some other time.
---
ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?
ROSETTA: Unfortunately, the watermelon wasn't smashed with the hammer, but I cut it up, so let's eat.
MIST: Too bad, Bush. Maybe next year.
ROSETTA: I even told you to not be confused by my lies!
LARA: Oh, my... This watermelon tastes just heavenly.
BUSH: I'll be sure to smash one open next year.
-------------------------------------------------------
No matter the timeline, the melon is eaten. RIP melon.
Back to the universe where we win.
MIST: This watermelon is so good! Bush, maybe it's because you did such a good job splitting it open.
ROSETTA: Your watermelon splitting was just awesome. You just would not believe any of my lines.
LARA: Today's watermelon pinata was so enjoyable thanks to you.
BUSH: *chuckle* Well, I'm glad my hard work paid off.
Since when do you *chuckle*, Bush?
Following this is a set of conversations unique to winning. I believe it happens regardless of who's here, but really all I remember from my first time doing this minigame is that Melody was the liar and Lara wasn't here. I don't know if this always happens between Mist and Rosetta.
ROSETTA: By the way, Bush. Do you put salt on your watermelon?
-------------------
1. I usually don't.
2. I usually do.
-------------------
MIST: I'm sure you do, don't you? It's common sense.
-------------------
1. The salt makes it sweeter.
2. I like it the way it is.
-------------------
ROSETTA: Of course, I don't, but I do see people do that sometimes.
-------------------
1. I don't.
2. Salt and watermelon are friends.
-------------------
Here's the choice that branches things.
WE DO NOT SALT OUR MELONS wrote:
ROSETTA: Right?! Me, too. We're alike!
MELONS AND SALT ARE FRIENDS, IT'S A BIOLOGICAL FACT wrote:
ROSETTA: What? Really? I thought you and I would agree on this, but too bad.
MIST: I knew it. Bush, you definitely have good taste.
And that's it. As far as I can tell, it doesn't affect LP at all.
Winning the festival itself does provide a decent FP & LP increase across the board. Mist's almost hit 4 LP by this point, with Melody being in third place. Rosetta's in 4th, with the other girls slowly working their way up to and through the 2 LP range.
Selphy's still in first of course, thanks to all of Bush's knowledge gaining
We're free to go off and do whatever now. That was our first festival!
I feel like this would be a lot more interesting if they didn't tell you who the liar was. Then the liar would gain LP if you consistently believed them. Says a lot more about what you think about them than "how well can you ignore me".
You could probably give every character a bit of a tell or something for this, if you wanted to keep it easier.
With the festival done, it's time to wrap up the success dialogue and head off to do other stuff today.
MIST: Good job on the melon pinata, Bush.
ROSETTA: You split that melon pretty well.
LARA: Now that the beach season has started, it sure feels like summer has truly begun.
SELPHY: The watermelon was great! Did you eat it, Bush?
CINNAMON: Was the first day of the beach season fun?
*insert any response here*
CINNAMON: ..Oh.
And that's it! Lara's got actual dialogue to usher in the rest of the day with.
LARA: A nurse always has to prepare medicinal herbs.
LARA: Melody knows a lot about medicinal herbs so I always ask her for advice.
LARA: But I've been talking to Cinnamon about it a lot more recently.
LARA: She knows about these herbs that I've never even heard of before.
You know, you could always write back to your teacher from Kardia. I'm sure Edward knows his stuff, with hair and a mustache like he's got, you just have to.
Music: FestivalBack to hearing this for the rest of the day! :shepface:
Also, here's our improved kitchen! A lot of space to move around in, as well as our new mixer and upgraded pot!
The frying pan can honestly go a long time without being upgraded as there's not much it makes that I'll want. I specifically upgraded the pot so I could eventually make some HP Absorb food with it- that'll be really good for making progress.
Apple Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.
Tomato Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.
At our new mixer, I slam a whole apple in there and bam, we've got juice. Do the same for a tomato and we've got more juice.
The latter is the gift we've been waiting on for Iris. This is worth triple the amount of LP that random flowers are for her, so she'll be catching up to the other gals rather fast.
CANDY: Wow! I love juice! Thanks!
Supposedly Apple juice is her favorite, but I don't know for sure. Regardless, we'll probably toss some excess tomato juice her way and see if we can get her to tell us anything more about the Spirits or Runeys.
At this point, Bush heads back down into Green Ruins on a quest for insect skin. It's a necessary material for our next tier of tools, for some reason.
A bit of farming later with Pony helping out, and I've got a couple pieces of it.
Back to our new forging area! We've got some downright industrial equipment in this room.
And here we are, ready to take our first steps in getting out of the early game for good.
Our tin can goes in the forge, alongside silver, copper, and insect skin.
12 levels above our skill to make, we can just barely do it.
Lion Can Lv:1 was synthesized.
Getting this is huge, and you'll see why soon enough.
Next up in clearing progression blocks is a Silver Hammer. Our iron hammer, 2 silver, and another insect skin later...
Silver Hammer Lv:1 was synthesized.
This is a pretty big get as well. All those rocks we couldn't destroy? Their days are numbered now.
And now I'll show you why I cluttered up my storage box with so many pieces of scrap iron. Take our fishing pole and pairs of scrap iron, all of steadily increasing level...
Starter Pole Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Starter Pole Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
Repeat this process for a while...
And now it's up to level 6! It also costs 4 less RP per swing, which is neat. If you were looking to make your tools more efficient, this is the way to go. It's best to do this on axes and hammers first as they cost the most, but fishing's not a bad choice either as it saves you more RP when looping fried fish for RP. Just be careful that you are using the right leveled materials because if you stick a level 10 tool in with level 1 scrap, the best you can make is level 2.
Doing this is also the best way to grind your forging skill up. You can do this with every tier of tool and it'll add up to a lot. I would have done this to my hammer or my watering can, but the skill cost of this scrap iron method jumps up quite a lot per tier of tool.
To grind ideally, pick a tool you don't care about at the highest skill requirement you can manage, and keep slamming level 1 scrap irons into it. It won't increase in level and you can just bring that forging skill up to par. I'd say the best pick for this is the hoe as you'll be using it less and less over the course of the game.
After all, once you've tilled a field, the hoe's job is done.
Now to show off why this new watering can is so great. Holding 18 water at once is good, but...
The lion can is now capable of watering full 3x3s in one action, for the cost of 1 water and barely any more RP.
This effectively cuts both the RP use and time spent watering by 66%.
If this is the last upgrade I get for the can, I'll be fine with it. This is all I need, and it's honestly the one thing that saves early Rune Factory farming. It's a godsend they give you this tier of tools off the start in RF2.
RF3's watering while walking and general speed helps to alleviate a lot of this, thankfully.
Took me 30 in-game minutes to water all of this. This took me nearly 2 hours before.
What doesn't get any faster is harvesting Hopefully Grant and Gobbs pull their weight when I put them to work.
That all done, I head off towards the mountain road, but as we're passing by Kross's place...
BUSH: Huh...?!
BUSH: I don't remember this building...
Took the words right out of my mouth!
Well, they're not open today, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.
This big mansion is settled up on the hill to the right of the area, and will remain there for the rest of the game. I believe there was a bench here that is now gone forever
But given that runeys don't really clump up on the hill, it should've been a minor hint that something was going to go there eventually.
Anyways, back to rounding up the last bit of conversation for the day.
STELLA: Playing in the ocean is fine, but be careful so that you don't have any accidents.
Bush physically can't play in the ocean, so there's no need to worry at all!
KANNO: It certainly is summer now. I get depressed thinking about how hot it'll continue to be.
The clock tower is a large brick building so at least you don't have it as bad as you could have it.
LUTE: Really?! I love Chocolate.
On my quest to squeeze every last bit of dialogue out of the town, I remember to give Lute the chocolate we bought for him.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: Sorry. I couldn't stop the guy next door... I never thought I would see the only watermelon left destroyed before my eyes. Fate can be so cruel...
RIP melon, sacrificed in vain for an only okay minigame
The only thing more depressing is the fact that the bathhouse isn't open today
It's because Melody is just standing over in this... empty spot next to the clock tower for some reason. I don't know if this spot ever gets used for anything.
MELODY: You have to take a bath whenever you sweat. It's been really hot recently so you have to be careful.
MELODY: Is there anything you don't like to eat, Bush?
MELODY: I hate mayonnaise. Just looking at it sends a shiver down my spine, so don't ever give it to me!
I rather like mayonnaise myself, but hey, I don't judge.
DANNY: Beach season? Not interested.
Danny's only interests are running a shop with a highly specialized inventory and standing around in various places with a slouch.
ANETTE: Hi, Bush.
ANETTE: I hate ho hot it gets all day and night recently... I feel like I'll pass out...
Anette's here on break today, with it being a festival. It's one of the rare times you can hear her afternoon greeting. The only thing rarer is her evening greeting, I guess.
ANETTE: I drink milk every morning but I still can't grow taller. I wonder why.
Does milk affect height?
I don't really know.
And to close out the day, I head down into Green Ruins to try and acquire that White Grass we needed to get for Melody.
It's a 1% drop, so I'm not expecting to find-
Oh. Huh.
Well, I doubt I'm getting that lucky again, so let's hope the questline ends with this.
Well, while I'm down here, I might as well show off the power of our new Silver Hammer.
By using the special attack, we can break through that one section of rocks on the first floor that was blocking a pathway.
Inside is a cluster of rocks and a treasure chest. These rocks have a pretty high chance of dropping silver, so they're not bad to stop by every once in a while.
The treasure chest just dropped normal level 1 rice.
Earring Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Before heading off to bed, I make some space by crafting some various items. This one's really the only one of relative note.
And with that, we end our first festival!
If anything, at least there was a lot of dialogue today.
Tomorrow, may be more interesting as we'll be meeting our last two bachelorettes, and we also finally get to hear the new seasonal theme!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 3:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Feels odd to be putting out an update about Summer fun when it's New Year's Eve, but this Winter has been unusually warm where I'm at, so sure, whatever.
Honestly, I spent that roughly two week period with my nose to the grindstone dealing with other stuff to the point I didn't really have much time to relax. At least it's all out of the way now, even if I definitely didn't get the amount of time to prep updates that I'd planned on.
I do think that at least for a while, I may push updates to being just once a week. Not out of burnout or anything, (I'm still rather enjoying coming back to this game,) I'm just looking to give myself more time to work on each update for a little while. I've still got to go back and fix up some of the old updates.
My recordings so far run up through the first week of Summer, and we'll be making major progress in the coming days. Also, the last two bachelorettes arrivenext update, so look forward to that.
Honestly, I spent that roughly two week period with my nose to the grindstone dealing with other stuff to the point I didn't really have much time to relax. At least it's all out of the way now, even if I definitely didn't get the amount of time to prep updates that I'd planned on.
I do think that at least for a while, I may push updates to being just once a week. Not out of burnout or anything, (I'm still rather enjoying coming back to this game,) I'm just looking to give myself more time to work on each update for a little while. I've still got to go back and fix up some of the old updates.
My recordings so far run up through the first week of Summer, and we'll be making major progress in the coming days. Also, the last two bachelorettes arrive
Update 22: The Lady and the Trampoli
New day for Bush, and our first real day of Summer!
Music: Summer
(At last, the Summer seasonal theme! This one is one of my absolute favorites from Frontier. We'll hear it enough to get sick of it, but for now it's a jam. The main part has that distant up and down stringed instrument that reminds me of RF3.)
With this angle, you can see the grand amount of tomatoes we'll be growing soon enough. This wouldn't be possible to regularly manage without the Lion Can,let alone doing it all in just an in-game hour.
It's actually going to start lagging the game when they do grow.
ANETTE: You want this White Grass delivered, right? Leave it to me.
Anette's got nothing new to say today, unfortunately, but on other topics, I managed to get a Ruby out of some rocks in Green Ruins.
Nothing important about it really, just wanted to note that I found it here.
Now off to go check the mail. It's really easy to get wrapped up in early morning farming and end up with Anette already passing your house.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"It has only been a little while..." - Tabatha~
My name is Tabatha, and I am currently residing in the Viviash Mansion
in accompaniment to Little Miss Bianca for the summer.
Although it is only for the summer, please consider us neighbors.
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, there's the names of the last two bachelorettes. If you've played the first Rune Factory, you'll probably recognize them. You might have already recognized them from the intro movie in the first update, but here's the official introduction.
I'll come back to that last sentence in the letter later.
Crest Lv:4 was synthesized.
Before we go, I decide that Bush ought to make himself look sharp with some various high level monster parts I have sitting around. This replaces our Wappen, being +34 DEF and +24 MAG better than it.
So now instead of having a tiny wooly image on our shoulder, we've got an even smaller carving of a Runey. At least, I think it's a Runey.
Alright, looking our best, we head on over to the manor.
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: Bush...
BUSH: Yes?
But before we get there, Kross has a small event for us as he works on his roof.
KROSS: I'm sorry, but could you get that nail by your feet?
BUSH: Sure.
*He then proceeds to turn in place a few times.*
BUSH: Um... Where is it?
KROSS: Oh? I thought I put it there...
*Then he just jumps off the roof*
KROSS: That's strange... Oh, it was in my pocket. Sorry for calling out to you.
Nah, it's cool, man, that jump was pretty sick. Here have another weird mask thing.
This event is evidence of us getting Kross's friendship up a decent bit. It's going faster now that I'm actually using the right gifts.
Okay, now to the manor.
It has a little fountain in the walled area next to it, but I don't think this spot gets used for anything.
We enter to get another cutscene, after a long time of not having one. It'll be our last one for a long while.:
Music: de-Sainte Coquille
(Two new tracks in the same update! What is this madness?! I like this theme, although it's short enough to become annoying rather quickly as it constantly plays whenever inside the manor.)
*She gives a small bow*
TABATHA: Welcome.
*At the sound of footsteps, she looks to her left*
BIANCA: Is someone there, Tabatha?
BIANCA: Ah!
...A brief smile, then it's gone.
And that's all! At least nobody got hurt this time.
VILLA DE ST.CROQUILLE
Croquille.
croquille
Possibly the most egregious typo/translation mishap yet, especially as it shows up in big letters every time you enter here. It's supposed to be "Coquille", a French loanword about shells and shellfish.
Anyways, it's a big place, and oddly structurally very similar to most of the de Sainte-Coquille manors in the series. I guess they really just like this building style.
TABATHA: Oh hello, Bush. I am Tabatha, Miss Bianca's maid.
TABATHA: Did you move here?
BUSH: Well... A lot's happened since before...
TABATHA: You haven't changed at all, Bush.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca will only be here during summer but I hope we will get along.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca may say some pointed things to you, but please don't let it bother you.
So, here's Tabatha! I kinda miss the country-ish accent she had in the first game. She is an elf, but she keeps her ears hidden... somehow. It visually used to make more sense, but now the maid cap sits further back on her head than before and it's kinda odd.
Either way, she's generally very pleasant and chill, yet also one of the hardest characters to get gifts for. There is an "easier" way to get LP for her that we'll take a look at later, but just know that almost all of her liked gifts are foods requiring hard to get assortments of fruits, and her favorite is 80 cooking.
(It's not the highest requirement though, that goes to Melody and her favored gift of Relax Tea, which requires 95 cooking. It's not actually that hard to make though.)
BUSH: Are you and Bianca the only ones here?
TABATHA: Yes. I care for Miss Bianca and manage the mansion myself.
BUSH: That sounds like a lot of work...
TABATHA: I enjoy it because it is worth doing.
TABATHA: It is quite fun to clean a large mansion. Why don't you try it, Bush?
BUSH: I-I'm fine...
TABATHA: Oh? That's unfortunate.
Tabatha is cool with being a maid.
The de Sainte-Coquille family has a long history of having elves in housework/management positions. RF3's manor is really the only one without an elven maid. Margaret from RF4 is a maybe...?
Also, if there are any Jasper fans out there, he'll be unfortunately absent from the game.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca is not a bad person. She's just a bit... proud.
TABATHA: But she doesn't have may friends because of that...
TABATHA: I just hope someone is willing to be her friend...
She's also going to spend a decent amount of time telling us that "Bianca's not a bad person, I swear."
Well, let's go meet her then.
BIANCA: Oh, Bush... Fancy seeing you here.
BIANCA: I, Bianca de Sainte-Coquille, had this summer home built to spend summers comfortably.
BIANCA: I only came here to cool off so I won't stay for long...
BIANCA: But if you find anything interesting, I'll take it off your hands.
And here's Bianca, the original blue-haired rich girl in the series, a position only held in the other games by her distant relatives. Seriously, almost all the women in this family have some shade of blue hair.
Unfortunately for her, the summer heat here seems to be as bad here as anywhere else. The last line is also a bit misleading, I'll show why in a moment.
What isn't misleading is that part about not staying for long. Bianca and Tabatha leave at the end of Summer. I'm not going to hide the fact we'll manage to find a way to keep them here, mostly because it's incredibly easy to have happen without trying.
Because while marrying the Gourmet in More Friends of Mineral Town takes over 25 years is funny in concept, in practice it's not that enjoyable.
BIANCA: Oh, good morning.
BIANCA: This summer home is a bit small. I wanted the bedroom to be much larger. Maybe I should have extensions built?
Bianca will usually be found in various places across her already enormous manor, and it makes her rather annoying to find some days. At least being inside this place doesn't move the clock any, so you're not losing working hours, just real life minutes.
BIANCA: This is my first time to this village but there's really nothing here. Father should have sent me to the city...
BIANCA: Do you know of anything interesting to do?
Yeah, you really have to have some kind of hobby to live in Trampoli. You can go to church, go get drunk, or go to the library, and that's about it.
I dunno, you want to take up monsterslayingbanishing? It's what Bush does whenever he's not farming.
...I also just find the mental image of Bianca swinging a sword around to be funny for some reason.
BIANCA: What is this? Is it for me? I suppose I'll take it off your hands.
I hand her a Tree Runey because I have too many of the things and also because she doesn't care what you give her. In fact, the only thing that affects her FP and LP positively is just talking to her (...and festivals too, of course).
So yeah, you don't even have to bother gifting her anything. She's beyond such materialistic rituals.
Well, either that or the fact she's got enough money to buy anything she could ever want already.
Bianca- The young miss of the opulent Viviash household. Seems selfish, but has a tender heart.
Her bio and Tabatha's pushing pretty much tells you how her arc is going to go.
Her affection gain from conversation is somewhere between double or triple the usual amount, as she already mildly interested in Bush in some sense.
Well, that or the game's just compensating for the no gifts thing.
Tabatha- The elven maid under Bianca. Gentle and perfect in all her work.
And thus stands our last two bachelorettes. I'm thinking I'll exclude these two from the initial voting for now as they haven't had nearly as much screentime. Iris may or may not get that first round immunity though, as her LP is about to start flying.
With all that out of the way, it's off to explore this massive mansion. Bianca's bedroom is as large as our house used to be!
In fact, the same goes for this... guest bedroom?
There's these little raised sections with chairs and tea tables on both sides, even on the second floor.
Oh, and there's even more to this place when you go through the center door.
Over here on the left a rather large dining room and kitchen combo.
To the right is what I believe is Tabatha's room, it's rathe roomy...
As well as a big storage room.
BIANCA: I heard you went to the Lava Ruins this time.
BIANCA: What's so fun about such a hot place?
The monsters in Lava Ruins aren't much fun, honestly.
One of Bianca's easier to find spots is right here on the edge of her indoor fountain, drinking tea.
BIANCA: It seems that you're saving money, but that's still mere chicken feed.
What is this chicken you speak of? I only know of cluckys.
The de Sainte-Coquilles are ungodly rich in a way that should horribly unbalance the economy, and it remains an eternal mystery as to where they even got the money from. They've got so much they personally fund festivals and other philanthropy just to have something to do with all of it.
What I'm saying is that it'll be a long time before we'll have earned enough to be considered even marginally wealthy by Bianca's standards.
Speaking of feed, why does this manor have an indoor barn? Even if there was a monster in here, wouldn't you have to march it through the rest of the building to let it outside?
And to end our tour, opposite of the indoor barn is a large collection of wine. It's probably Jasper's and he just sent it here to make more room. I think he just likes collecting the stuff, given the Rollabouti sidequest from RF1.
Either that, or he knows how to break the laws of matter and duplicate wine like Bush knows how to. Now that I think about it, it would explain all that money...
No, wait, we've got just a bit more to explore in this place first. Not much of what is spread about the manor can be interacted with, but these paintings can. I'll spare you the screenshots and just list the descriptions of the ones I did look at.
BUSH: It's a painting of a mountain trail. It feels good looking at it for some reason.
BUSH: A beautiful painting of flowers. The flowers are blooming so gently, it's pleasant to look at.
BUSH: It's a beautiful painting of flowers. The flowers are in full bloom.
Now we're done. They honestly put an absolute ton of work into the manor, but it barely gets used for much. Props goes to whoever did the modeling and design for this place, I wish we had more reason to explore it.
Music: Summer
Back to the Summer theme!
EUNICE: I heard you were a friend of Mist... What exactly is your relation to her?
BUSH: Let's see...
oh no she's collecting evaluation info for the ringleader
BUSH: I had no water, no food, no memories, no friends, and no home. Yet, she gave me everything...
BUSH: And she saved my life...
EUNICE: I see... It seems you've been through a lot.
BUSH: Well, I don't remember anything about myself before I met Mist.
BUSH: But I really enjoy my life now.
EUNICE: I guess so! You can always make new memories!
BUSH: I guess you're right.
Bush and his great reverence for the girl who gave him her breakfast once and her rundown farm continues, but you do you, bud. It'd honestly be a pretty chill life to have.
TB: Did you hear me? Just because there is no one to wake you in the morn, that does not give you the right to slumber on!
UZUKI: I know...
BUSH: What happened?
TB: Oh, it's you, Bush... I had some business to tend to this morn so I was not at the inn. It caused milady to oversleep.
UZUKI: Oversleep? I only woke a mere 5 minutes later...
TB: Graaaggh! That "mere" 5 minutes will be the death of you! Besides...
BUSH: There he goes again...
Tsubute proves himself to be once again not only crochety, but unrealistically strict. The dialogue between these two does get better later, but Uzuki is really slow to gain LP.
Also doesn't help that her favorite item is a level 45 accessory with a complicated recipe.
UZUKI: Ah-ahhhhh!!
BUSH: W-what happened?!
UZUKI: Something black and quick scuffled by my feet... Ahhhhhh!
TB: Milady! Please get a hold of yourself!
UZUKI: I-I hate black things that are quick and small!
This is the usual "girl hates bugs/mice" thing, but the concept of courage and bravery is somewhat important to her story arc at least.
I ain't gonna judge, bugs make me jumpy too.
RITA: A tip? How nice of you.
Rita's favorite gift is pretty much any accessory. Apparently those are tips to her.
For reference, the only non-favorite accessory is Cheap Bracelets, which are only liked.
GANESHA: There are lots of monsters in the Lava Ruins that are resistant to heat.
GANESHA: But they're also weak towards cold so you should adjust your equipment in that way.
We'll be working towards some water damage gear soon, but I've found that in practice a lot the current available water weapons are kinda sub-par. There's no water axes, and the lower level water staff is kinda eh. The higher level water staff needs a Magic Crystal, which is going to be a pain to get.
ROSETTA: Thank you for shipping so many things out every day. Thanks to you, business is really good.
Oh, just you wait. I'm going to be shipping out more than triple what I've been selling by the end of this week.
Then following that, I skill up in fishing by accidentally hooking Danny. He has nothing to say but that Rosetta is a cheater, unwilling to accept her superior capitalism skills or risk-taking nature.
SELPHY: People say that I'm not really feminine or ladylike.
SELPHY: I learned a lot of manners and etiquette of a lady from my tutor when I was little.
SELPHY: But they were all such a pain so I ended up forgetting all of it. Hahahaha.
SELPHY: ...
BUSH: Um...
SELPHY: ...
BUSH: (She's concentrating. I should leave her alone.)
Not just concentrating, she's metabolizing the knowledge gained for sustenance.
Oh, hey, the magic book club has expanded!
MELODY: It's better to boil the red plant there!
LARA: Oh really? If you add in the red plant here, you'll make something that can be hazardous to your health.
MELODY: That's what makes it good! Homemade stuff should always have some kinda weird side effect to it!
LARA: We can't give those to sick patients then...
Where Marian mostly just ends up making weird potions, Melody's out to make them.
CINNAMON: ... Then... just add ths herb in.
MELODY: Ah... Now we can get that side effect while still making it an energy drink! ♪;
LARA: It smells a bit odd, but it sure looks like it is good for your health. Good job, Cinnamon.
CINNAMON: ...Done. Bush, try it out.
BUSH: What? Why me?!
----------------
1. Bottoms up!
2. No, thanks...
----------------
It's what you get for listening in on the conversation.
But we also get choices! First the refusal option:
-----------------------------------------------------
No, thanks...
BUSH: I-I'll pass... It has a strange color and besides, is this even safe?
LARA: It should be just fine.
MELODY: A drug with no side effects isn't a real drug! ♪;
MELODY: Melody! Don't chug it down!
*(I don't know who this line is supposed to belong to, but it's definitely not supposed to be Melody.)*
BUSH: Melody! Nooooo!
BUSH: ...
LARA: How... is it?
BUSH: I feel...
BUSH: Much better! This drug is really good!
CINNAMON: ...As expected. No problem.
BUSH: But it tastes terrible. Yech...
CINNAMON: The taste was not considered. Still has room for improvement.
BUSH: Please do so...
I'm pretty sure this would be an ethics violation if Trampoli had any sort of medical committee that wasn't just these three girls. Now for the first option.
-----------------------------------------------------
Bottoms up!
BUSH: Here I go then...
BUSH: ...
BUSH: I feel...
BUSH: Much better! This drug is really good!
CINNAMON: ...As expected. No problem.
BUSH: But it tastes terrible. Yech...
CINNAMON: The taste was not considered. Still has room for improvement.
BUSH: Please do so...
-----------------------------------------------------
So it's mostly the same, but as usual in this game the second option has more to it.
MELODY: Lara learns so fast. I think she'll catch up to me soon.
MELODY: I'm going to try even harder now!
MELODY: I usde to travel to hot springs around the world.
MELODY: Up north, they bathe in hot water and then jump in the snow. It felt so good!
That sounds like... an experience. Apparently this is a real thing for saunas in Finland and has some health benefits?
LARA: Having adventures is good and everything, but please be careful. Staying healthy is the greatest blessing.
LARA: When you get knocked out by monsters or collapse from overworking, you will be brought into the infirmary. But please try to be careful so that it doesn't have to come to that.
Frontier never really explains how you end up in the infirmary, but it's better than dying!
Cinnamon has nothing for us today, so it's time to be off to go do other stuff.
Music: Lava Ruins
"Other stuff" means it's time for some more Lava Ruins.
I'm mostly farming ants, but here's what happens when you strike the bombs spread about. The explosions will hurt quite a bit, but also destroy these rubble piles.
More insect hides for our new forge. I'm hoping to get a Silver Bracelet to help boost our magic power, but I'm also hunting Killer Ants for the better chance at higher level skins as I've got some higher level silver off those Golems from before.
A little more than three hours of hunting and I've got enough. Despite how long this update has been so far, it's been rather short in-game.
I seem to have gotten level 8 insect hides somehow
Silver Ring Lv:5 was synthesized.
With the materials I had at hand, this was the best I could manage. Still, +10 ATK, +36 DEF, and +30 MAG is fantastic. That's a gain of +6, +26, and +20 in the respective categories.
Bush is really starting to seriously gear up now. The golems will still put holes clear through him, but he's getting there. The later floors of Lava Ruins will still have to wait though. The damage spike is crazy.
I still just need an Oven to make toast though. Toast will be a truly reliable source of HP if Lute would just sell the darn thing at some point. I always have problems buying the oven in the earlier RF games.
I've remembered to start bringing Erik some strawberries. It's just rather annoying that he's out in his field before 12:00 PM because I have to run through 4 loading screens just to talk to him. If he's behind the store counter, it's only 2 screens.
The loading screens are still not that fast on emulator, and they add up over time.
NOLAN: The people of this village are all very nice people.
NOLAN: They talk to me like I'm one of their own.
You're here more often than you're not. You pretty much already live here!
I hope Melody doesn't mind me tearing up the floor as I cast spells to burn HP/RP.
I nab a knife piece on my way to visit Iris. I'll need this to upgrade my sickle.
IRIS: Zzz... Zzz...
If you visit the Tower of Rest before 6 PM, Iris will be asleep.
IRIS: Is this for me? Thank you! I love tomato juice!
And with this, we finally can gift someone their favorite item. She'll start catching up with the other gals rather fast and start bringing more conversation to the table. Given she doesn't really leave this place, new dialogue from higher FP/LP is really all we get with her.
IRIS: There are plenty of monsters that are stronger than you, Bush.
IRIS: Please have caution.
This isn't bad advice as the next areas of Whale Island will start to hit like flaming trucks even with our currently boosted DEF.
Before we close out the day, I grab Phanty and head back down into Lava Ruins to hunt some Ignis. The magic staff book we have happens to be the only book for magic staves in the game, meaning we know all the recipes already. With an expanded forge, we can start to make some of the later level ones, but first we need magic powder and crystals.
This spot to the south of the farmfields spawns two Ignis at a time, which makes farming a bit easier.
Ah, finally. I'll nab as much of this as I can before I leave as it is also Kanno's favorite gift.
The danger of these monsters is that they can inflict Seal, as has been done to poor Phanty here, which prevents use of special attacks. Given those are what Bush primarily uses to defeat enemies, we really need to avoid getting hit with it.
At least it doesn't block the ability to use the teleport like RF1 did. That was just pure pain.
Bush does eventually get hit with it, but by that time he's already tapped out, so I was already planning on jumping ship. I managed to get 6 magic powder, so it turned out pretty well.
I do need to get a hold of some roundoff, the seal cure medicine, when we start doing more adventuring for real.
Before we close out the update, I've got one last weapon I'm looking to make: the Gaea Rod.
It boasts a respectable 70 ATK, 7 more than our Tomahawk, and also the extreme requirements of 40 required Magic skill and use of 40 RP per cast. We're only a little more than half of what it wants right now, but we can still make use of it from time to time. The magic boost it grants us is also lower than the earlier staves, but that's to compensate for the stronger spell.
Bush lets out a large yell and causes a minature earthquake when he uses it. Not only does it deal some decently high earth damage that can hit twice in a deceptively large area of effect, it will apply some serious knockback to enemies.
The per hit damage of the bonk is comparable to our axe with decent knockback as well, but the axe's special attack still keeps it way ahead for the moment. Our later axes will easily outmatch it as well.
With Bush moving up in the magic world, it's time to call it for the night, and the update. A bit shorter than usual, but the de Sainte-Coquille manor took up a lot on it's own. Next time we should probably be able to fit in two days.
New day for Bush, and our first real day of Summer!
Music: Summer(At last, the Summer seasonal theme! This one is one of my absolute favorites from Frontier. We'll hear it enough to get sick of it, but for now it's a jam. The main part has that distant up and down stringed instrument that reminds me of RF3.)
With this angle, you can see the grand amount of tomatoes we'll be growing soon enough. This wouldn't be possible to regularly manage without the Lion Can,let alone doing it all in just an in-game hour.
It's actually going to start lagging the game when they do grow.
ANETTE: You want this White Grass delivered, right? Leave it to me.
Anette's got nothing new to say today, unfortunately, but on other topics, I managed to get a Ruby out of some rocks in Green Ruins.
Nothing important about it really, just wanted to note that I found it here.
Now off to go check the mail. It's really easy to get wrapped up in early morning farming and end up with Anette already passing your house.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"It has only been a little while..." - Tabatha~
My name is Tabatha, and I am currently residing in the Viviash Mansion
in accompaniment to Little Miss Bianca for the summer.
Although it is only for the summer, please consider us neighbors.
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, there's the names of the last two bachelorettes. If you've played the first Rune Factory, you'll probably recognize them. You might have already recognized them from the intro movie in the first update, but here's the official introduction.
I'll come back to that last sentence in the letter later.
Crest Lv:4 was synthesized.
Before we go, I decide that Bush ought to make himself look sharp with some various high level monster parts I have sitting around. This replaces our Wappen, being +34 DEF and +24 MAG better than it.
So now instead of having a tiny wooly image on our shoulder, we've got an even smaller carving of a Runey. At least, I think it's a Runey.
Alright, looking our best, we head on over to the manor.
Music: Kross' ThemeKROSS: Bush...
BUSH: Yes?
But before we get there, Kross has a small event for us as he works on his roof.
KROSS: I'm sorry, but could you get that nail by your feet?
BUSH: Sure.
*He then proceeds to turn in place a few times.*
BUSH: Um... Where is it?
KROSS: Oh? I thought I put it there...
*Then he just jumps off the roof*
KROSS: That's strange... Oh, it was in my pocket. Sorry for calling out to you.
Nah, it's cool, man, that jump was pretty sick. Here have another weird mask thing.
This event is evidence of us getting Kross's friendship up a decent bit. It's going faster now that I'm actually using the right gifts.
Okay, now to the manor.
It has a little fountain in the walled area next to it, but I don't think this spot gets used for anything.
We enter to get another cutscene, after a long time of not having one. It'll be our last one for a long while.:
Music: de-Sainte Coquille(Two new tracks in the same update! What is this madness?! I like this theme, although it's short enough to become annoying rather quickly as it constantly plays whenever inside the manor.)
*She gives a small bow*
TABATHA: Welcome.
*At the sound of footsteps, she looks to her left*
BIANCA: Is someone there, Tabatha?
BIANCA: Ah!
...A brief smile, then it's gone.
And that's all! At least nobody got hurt this time.
VILLA DE ST.CROQUILLE
Croquille.
croquille
Possibly the most egregious typo/translation mishap yet, especially as it shows up in big letters every time you enter here. It's supposed to be "Coquille", a French loanword about shells and shellfish.
Anyways, it's a big place, and oddly structurally very similar to most of the de Sainte-Coquille manors in the series. I guess they really just like this building style.
TABATHA: Oh hello, Bush. I am Tabatha, Miss Bianca's maid.
TABATHA: Did you move here?
BUSH: Well... A lot's happened since before...
TABATHA: You haven't changed at all, Bush.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca will only be here during summer but I hope we will get along.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca may say some pointed things to you, but please don't let it bother you.
So, here's Tabatha! I kinda miss the country-ish accent she had in the first game. She is an elf, but she keeps her ears hidden... somehow. It visually used to make more sense, but now the maid cap sits further back on her head than before and it's kinda odd.
Either way, she's generally very pleasant and chill, yet also one of the hardest characters to get gifts for. There is an "easier" way to get LP for her that we'll take a look at later, but just know that almost all of her liked gifts are foods requiring hard to get assortments of fruits, and her favorite is 80 cooking.
(It's not the highest requirement though, that goes to Melody and her favored gift of Relax Tea, which requires 95 cooking. It's not actually that hard to make though.)
BUSH: Are you and Bianca the only ones here?
TABATHA: Yes. I care for Miss Bianca and manage the mansion myself.
BUSH: That sounds like a lot of work...
TABATHA: I enjoy it because it is worth doing.
TABATHA: It is quite fun to clean a large mansion. Why don't you try it, Bush?
BUSH: I-I'm fine...
TABATHA: Oh? That's unfortunate.
Tabatha is cool with being a maid.
The de Sainte-Coquille family has a long history of having elves in housework/management positions. RF3's manor is really the only one without an elven maid. Margaret from RF4 is a maybe...?
Also, if there are any Jasper fans out there, he'll be unfortunately absent from the game.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca is not a bad person. She's just a bit... proud.
TABATHA: But she doesn't have may friends because of that...
TABATHA: I just hope someone is willing to be her friend...
She's also going to spend a decent amount of time telling us that "Bianca's not a bad person, I swear."
Well, let's go meet her then.
BIANCA: Oh, Bush... Fancy seeing you here.
BIANCA: I, Bianca de Sainte-Coquille, had this summer home built to spend summers comfortably.
BIANCA: I only came here to cool off so I won't stay for long...
BIANCA: But if you find anything interesting, I'll take it off your hands.
And here's Bianca, the original blue-haired rich girl in the series, a position only held in the other games by her distant relatives. Seriously, almost all the women in this family have some shade of blue hair.
Unfortunately for her, the summer heat here seems to be as bad here as anywhere else. The last line is also a bit misleading, I'll show why in a moment.
What isn't misleading is that part about not staying for long. Bianca and Tabatha leave at the end of Summer. I'm not going to hide the fact we'll manage to find a way to keep them here, mostly because it's incredibly easy to have happen without trying.
Because while marrying the Gourmet in More Friends of Mineral Town takes over 25 years is funny in concept, in practice it's not that enjoyable.
BIANCA: Oh, good morning.
BIANCA: This summer home is a bit small. I wanted the bedroom to be much larger. Maybe I should have extensions built?
Bianca will usually be found in various places across her already enormous manor, and it makes her rather annoying to find some days. At least being inside this place doesn't move the clock any, so you're not losing working hours, just real life minutes.
BIANCA: This is my first time to this village but there's really nothing here. Father should have sent me to the city...
BIANCA: Do you know of anything interesting to do?
Yeah, you really have to have some kind of hobby to live in Trampoli. You can go to church, go get drunk, or go to the library, and that's about it.
I dunno, you want to take up monster
...I also just find the mental image of Bianca swinging a sword around to be funny for some reason.
BIANCA: What is this? Is it for me? I suppose I'll take it off your hands.
I hand her a Tree Runey because I have too many of the things and also because she doesn't care what you give her. In fact, the only thing that affects her FP and LP positively is just talking to her (...and festivals too, of course).
So yeah, you don't even have to bother gifting her anything. She's beyond such materialistic rituals.
Well, either that or the fact she's got enough money to buy anything she could ever want already.
Bianca- The young miss of the opulent Viviash household. Seems selfish, but has a tender heart.
Her bio and Tabatha's pushing pretty much tells you how her arc is going to go.
Her affection gain from conversation is somewhere between double or triple the usual amount, as she already mildly interested in Bush in some sense.
Well, that or the game's just compensating for the no gifts thing.
Tabatha- The elven maid under Bianca. Gentle and perfect in all her work.
And thus stands our last two bachelorettes. I'm thinking I'll exclude these two from the initial voting for now as they haven't had nearly as much screentime. Iris may or may not get that first round immunity though, as her LP is about to start flying.
With all that out of the way, it's off to explore this massive mansion. Bianca's bedroom is as large as our house used to be!
In fact, the same goes for this... guest bedroom?
There's these little raised sections with chairs and tea tables on both sides, even on the second floor.
Oh, and there's even more to this place when you go through the center door.
Over here on the left a rather large dining room and kitchen combo.
To the right is what I believe is Tabatha's room, it's rathe roomy...
As well as a big storage room.
BIANCA: I heard you went to the Lava Ruins this time.
BIANCA: What's so fun about such a hot place?
The monsters in Lava Ruins aren't much fun, honestly.
One of Bianca's easier to find spots is right here on the edge of her indoor fountain, drinking tea.
BIANCA: It seems that you're saving money, but that's still mere chicken feed.
What is this chicken you speak of? I only know of cluckys.
The de Sainte-Coquilles are ungodly rich in a way that should horribly unbalance the economy, and it remains an eternal mystery as to where they even got the money from. They've got so much they personally fund festivals and other philanthropy just to have something to do with all of it.
What I'm saying is that it'll be a long time before we'll have earned enough to be considered even marginally wealthy by Bianca's standards.
Speaking of feed, why does this manor have an indoor barn? Even if there was a monster in here, wouldn't you have to march it through the rest of the building to let it outside?
And to end our tour, opposite of the indoor barn is a large collection of wine. It's probably Jasper's and he just sent it here to make more room. I think he just likes collecting the stuff, given the Rollabouti sidequest from RF1.
Either that, or he knows how to break the laws of matter and duplicate wine like Bush knows how to. Now that I think about it, it would explain all that money...
No, wait, we've got just a bit more to explore in this place first. Not much of what is spread about the manor can be interacted with, but these paintings can. I'll spare you the screenshots and just list the descriptions of the ones I did look at.
BUSH: It's a painting of a mountain trail. It feels good looking at it for some reason.
BUSH: A beautiful painting of flowers. The flowers are blooming so gently, it's pleasant to look at.
BUSH: It's a beautiful painting of flowers. The flowers are in full bloom.
Now we're done. They honestly put an absolute ton of work into the manor, but it barely gets used for much. Props goes to whoever did the modeling and design for this place, I wish we had more reason to explore it.
Music: SummerBack to the Summer theme!
EUNICE: I heard you were a friend of Mist... What exactly is your relation to her?
BUSH: Let's see...
oh no she's collecting evaluation info for the ringleader
BUSH: I had no water, no food, no memories, no friends, and no home. Yet, she gave me everything...
BUSH: And she saved my life...
EUNICE: I see... It seems you've been through a lot.
BUSH: Well, I don't remember anything about myself before I met Mist.
BUSH: But I really enjoy my life now.
EUNICE: I guess so! You can always make new memories!
BUSH: I guess you're right.
Bush and his great reverence for the girl who gave him her breakfast once and her rundown farm continues, but you do you, bud. It'd honestly be a pretty chill life to have.
TB: Did you hear me? Just because there is no one to wake you in the morn, that does not give you the right to slumber on!
UZUKI: I know...
BUSH: What happened?
TB: Oh, it's you, Bush... I had some business to tend to this morn so I was not at the inn. It caused milady to oversleep.
UZUKI: Oversleep? I only woke a mere 5 minutes later...
TB: Graaaggh! That "mere" 5 minutes will be the death of you! Besides...
BUSH: There he goes again...
Tsubute proves himself to be once again not only crochety, but unrealistically strict. The dialogue between these two does get better later, but Uzuki is really slow to gain LP.
Also doesn't help that her favorite item is a level 45 accessory with a complicated recipe.
UZUKI: Ah-ahhhhh!!
BUSH: W-what happened?!
UZUKI: Something black and quick scuffled by my feet... Ahhhhhh!
TB: Milady! Please get a hold of yourself!
UZUKI: I-I hate black things that are quick and small!
This is the usual "girl hates bugs/mice" thing, but the concept of courage and bravery is somewhat important to her story arc at least.
I ain't gonna judge, bugs make me jumpy too.
RITA: A tip? How nice of you.
Rita's favorite gift is pretty much any accessory. Apparently those are tips to her.
For reference, the only non-favorite accessory is Cheap Bracelets, which are only liked.
GANESHA: There are lots of monsters in the Lava Ruins that are resistant to heat.
GANESHA: But they're also weak towards cold so you should adjust your equipment in that way.
We'll be working towards some water damage gear soon, but I've found that in practice a lot the current available water weapons are kinda sub-par. There's no water axes, and the lower level water staff is kinda eh. The higher level water staff needs a Magic Crystal, which is going to be a pain to get.
ROSETTA: Thank you for shipping so many things out every day. Thanks to you, business is really good.
Oh, just you wait. I'm going to be shipping out more than triple what I've been selling by the end of this week.
Then following that, I skill up in fishing by accidentally hooking Danny. He has nothing to say but that Rosetta is a cheater, unwilling to accept her superior capitalism skills or risk-taking nature.
SELPHY: People say that I'm not really feminine or ladylike.
SELPHY: I learned a lot of manners and etiquette of a lady from my tutor when I was little.
SELPHY: But they were all such a pain so I ended up forgetting all of it. Hahahaha.
SELPHY: ...
BUSH: Um...
SELPHY: ...
BUSH: (She's concentrating. I should leave her alone.)
Not just concentrating, she's metabolizing the knowledge gained for sustenance.
Oh, hey, the magic book club has expanded!
MELODY: It's better to boil the red plant there!
LARA: Oh really? If you add in the red plant here, you'll make something that can be hazardous to your health.
MELODY: That's what makes it good! Homemade stuff should always have some kinda weird side effect to it!
LARA: We can't give those to sick patients then...
Where Marian mostly just ends up making weird potions, Melody's out to make them.
CINNAMON: ... Then... just add ths herb in.
MELODY: Ah... Now we can get that side effect while still making it an energy drink! ♪;
LARA: It smells a bit odd, but it sure looks like it is good for your health. Good job, Cinnamon.
CINNAMON: ...Done. Bush, try it out.
BUSH: What? Why me?!
----------------
1. Bottoms up!
2. No, thanks...
----------------
It's what you get for listening in on the conversation.
But we also get choices! First the refusal option:
-----------------------------------------------------
No, thanks...
BUSH: I-I'll pass... It has a strange color and besides, is this even safe?
LARA: It should be just fine.
MELODY: A drug with no side effects isn't a real drug! ♪;
MELODY: Melody! Don't chug it down!
*(I don't know who this line is supposed to belong to, but it's definitely not supposed to be Melody.)*
BUSH: Melody! Nooooo!
BUSH: ...
LARA: How... is it?
BUSH: I feel...
BUSH: Much better! This drug is really good!
CINNAMON: ...As expected. No problem.
BUSH: But it tastes terrible. Yech...
CINNAMON: The taste was not considered. Still has room for improvement.
BUSH: Please do so...
I'm pretty sure this would be an ethics violation if Trampoli had any sort of medical committee that wasn't just these three girls. Now for the first option.
-----------------------------------------------------
Bottoms up!
BUSH: Here I go then...
BUSH: ...
BUSH: I feel...
BUSH: Much better! This drug is really good!
CINNAMON: ...As expected. No problem.
BUSH: But it tastes terrible. Yech...
CINNAMON: The taste was not considered. Still has room for improvement.
BUSH: Please do so...
-----------------------------------------------------
So it's mostly the same, but as usual in this game the second option has more to it.
MELODY: Lara learns so fast. I think she'll catch up to me soon.
MELODY: I'm going to try even harder now!
MELODY: I usde to travel to hot springs around the world.
MELODY: Up north, they bathe in hot water and then jump in the snow. It felt so good!
That sounds like... an experience. Apparently this is a real thing for saunas in Finland and has some health benefits?
LARA: Having adventures is good and everything, but please be careful. Staying healthy is the greatest blessing.
LARA: When you get knocked out by monsters or collapse from overworking, you will be brought into the infirmary. But please try to be careful so that it doesn't have to come to that.
Frontier never really explains how you end up in the infirmary, but it's better than dying!
Cinnamon has nothing for us today, so it's time to be off to go do other stuff.
Music: Lava Ruins"Other stuff" means it's time for some more Lava Ruins.
I'm mostly farming ants, but here's what happens when you strike the bombs spread about. The explosions will hurt quite a bit, but also destroy these rubble piles.
More insect hides for our new forge. I'm hoping to get a Silver Bracelet to help boost our magic power, but I'm also hunting Killer Ants for the better chance at higher level skins as I've got some higher level silver off those Golems from before.
A little more than three hours of hunting and I've got enough. Despite how long this update has been so far, it's been rather short in-game.
I seem to have gotten level 8 insect hides somehow
Silver Ring Lv:5 was synthesized.
With the materials I had at hand, this was the best I could manage. Still, +10 ATK, +36 DEF, and +30 MAG is fantastic. That's a gain of +6, +26, and +20 in the respective categories.
Bush is really starting to seriously gear up now. The golems will still put holes clear through him, but he's getting there. The later floors of Lava Ruins will still have to wait though. The damage spike is crazy.
I still just need an Oven to make toast though. Toast will be a truly reliable source of HP if Lute would just sell the darn thing at some point. I always have problems buying the oven in the earlier RF games.
I've remembered to start bringing Erik some strawberries. It's just rather annoying that he's out in his field before 12:00 PM because I have to run through 4 loading screens just to talk to him. If he's behind the store counter, it's only 2 screens.
The loading screens are still not that fast on emulator, and they add up over time.
NOLAN: The people of this village are all very nice people.
NOLAN: They talk to me like I'm one of their own.
You're here more often than you're not. You pretty much already live here!
I hope Melody doesn't mind me tearing up the floor as I cast spells to burn HP/RP.
I nab a knife piece on my way to visit Iris. I'll need this to upgrade my sickle.
IRIS: Zzz... Zzz...
If you visit the Tower of Rest before 6 PM, Iris will be asleep.
IRIS: Is this for me? Thank you! I love tomato juice!
And with this, we finally can gift someone their favorite item. She'll start catching up with the other gals rather fast and start bringing more conversation to the table. Given she doesn't really leave this place, new dialogue from higher FP/LP is really all we get with her.
IRIS: There are plenty of monsters that are stronger than you, Bush.
IRIS: Please have caution.
This isn't bad advice as the next areas of Whale Island will start to hit like flaming trucks even with our currently boosted DEF.
Before we close out the day, I grab Phanty and head back down into Lava Ruins to hunt some Ignis. The magic staff book we have happens to be the only book for magic staves in the game, meaning we know all the recipes already. With an expanded forge, we can start to make some of the later level ones, but first we need magic powder and crystals.
This spot to the south of the farmfields spawns two Ignis at a time, which makes farming a bit easier.
Ah, finally. I'll nab as much of this as I can before I leave as it is also Kanno's favorite gift.
The danger of these monsters is that they can inflict Seal, as has been done to poor Phanty here, which prevents use of special attacks. Given those are what Bush primarily uses to defeat enemies, we really need to avoid getting hit with it.
At least it doesn't block the ability to use the teleport like RF1 did. That was just pure pain.
Bush does eventually get hit with it, but by that time he's already tapped out, so I was already planning on jumping ship. I managed to get 6 magic powder, so it turned out pretty well.
I do need to get a hold of some roundoff, the seal cure medicine, when we start doing more adventuring for real.
Before we close out the update, I've got one last weapon I'm looking to make: the Gaea Rod.
It boasts a respectable 70 ATK, 7 more than our Tomahawk, and also the extreme requirements of 40 required Magic skill and use of 40 RP per cast. We're only a little more than half of what it wants right now, but we can still make use of it from time to time. The magic boost it grants us is also lower than the earlier staves, but that's to compensate for the stronger spell.
Bush lets out a large yell and causes a minature earthquake when he uses it. Not only does it deal some decently high earth damage that can hit twice in a deceptively large area of effect, it will apply some serious knockback to enemies.
The per hit damage of the bonk is comparable to our axe with decent knockback as well, but the axe's special attack still keeps it way ahead for the moment. Our later axes will easily outmatch it as well.
With Bush moving up in the magic world, it's time to call it for the night, and the update. A bit shorter than usual, but the de Sainte-Coquille manor took up a lot on it's own. Next time we should probably be able to fit in two days.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Update 23: Master Bush's Monster
Music: Trampoli Daily Life
Morning, Bush! What were we up to?
...No, but seriously I got carried away and played too far ahead- I don't know what's going on. A lot goes on in the next 12 days.
I guess in a way, it makes writing the update more fun?
Pickles Lv:2 were synthesized with expertise!
Seems like we're starting the day with pickles then. Gotta work on that income.
Dye Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise.
Oh, and some sashimi made from trout that had been sitting in the shipping bin overnight, sure.
Music: Summer
Didn't have to chase Anette down to Mist's house today! Feels good.
You know, while I felt like asking for the mail directly might be annoying, doing it as she's putting it in has to be irritating.
Still gives us +1 towards that next level of LP though.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I would love to meet them." - Tabatha~
I heard that you have many monster friends.
Would you be willing to introduce me to them sometime?
-----------------------------------------------------
Tabatha really likes monsters, as we'll get to see soon enough. In fact, to marry her in RF1, you had to have 50 tamed monsters in your barn.
The options for replies are: "Of course." and "Sorry...". I go with the former, because monsters are cool and Tabatha is cool.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thanks♪" - Melody~
Thanks or the White Grass.♪
I'm really really sorry to ask
you again, but do you have any Black Grass?
This will be the last one, I promise!
-----------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't apologize, this is the closest I'm getting to a request chain in this game.
Black Grass is gonna be a bit of a problem to get, as it has the same 1% drop rate from Slimes as the white one did. I've also got a feeling I won't be getting as lucky this time.
Being Summer, there is another way to obtain it, but honestly farming slimes is preferable to it. We'll run into it eventually, but not for a while.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Be careful of those summertime colds!" - Lara~
Summer seems to be in full force now.
It may be hot, but don't sleep with your windows
open at night or without a blanket.
It gets cold in the mornings and you'll be sure
to catch a cold this way.
-----------------------------------------------------
See, where I live it stays hot at night during summer, so I can't relate to this.
Anyways, Bush will continue avoiding getting sick, although I can't guarantee we'll make it the whole season without going down at least once.
Anette sadly has no new dialogue for us today, so the only bit of interesting morning stuff I have to show is how these three Blue Grasses spawned in a line.
Riveting, I know.
Lots of Runeys out on the Grass Farm, but it doesn't really matter as the 7 Day Rule is in effect. I don't have to pay attention to these floaty goobers for the rest of the week.
Oh, hey, it's the girl that we still haven't gotten the name of.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, nice to see you again.
MYSTERY GIRL: Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet.
BUSH: My name is Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: Bush, is it? Nice to meet you.
Um... are you going to tell us your name yet?
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
I... guess not. She does have a little bit of voice acting though. So that's neat.
BUSH: Are you growing these, Mist?
MIST: Yeah. Watching you work on the farm made me want to try it myself...
I can't believe it finally happened. Mist finally started growing stuff herself instead of only watching us do it all the time.
Well, aside from the wildflowers she's been growing.
BUSH: I've never seen leaves like these before. What are these flowers called?
MIST: I wonder... I just found the seeds by chance, so I don't know.
MIST: Well, it's more exciting when it'll be a surprise, I guess.
BUSH: That's true.
I'd be worried that it's not going to grow, but given it's managed a small sprout instead of being withered grass already, it seems like it has survived Norad's extremely volatile growing conditions.
Time to go brush all the monsters in the barn!
If you're wondering why I don't try to level up any of the other monsters to help in combat, it is because the rate at which frienship is gained with monsters is based on their level. If I want higher level eggs, milk, and wool, it's best if I leave the rest in the barn.
Tabatha's so good at her job, she ends up with a decent amount of free time. Thus why she's spending her morning outside our barn.
You can, uh, go in if you want. Bush doesn't mind.
TABATHA: It's very hot every day. But that doesn't mean you should drink only cold things.
TABATHA: How is it? Did you find anything on Whale Island?
TABATHA: Monsters attack humans so they are hated, but they have adorable eyes when you look at them carefully.
TABATHA: I think you can communicate with monsters if you deal with them with lots of love.
I'm sorry Tabatha, but the Love element isn't present in this game. That's a RF3 and later thing.
TABATHA: You look good today, Bush.
I also just wanted to restate that her generic dialogue line is a compliment on Bush's style.
I mean, she'll say this to us any day no matter what he's wearing, but it's the thought that counts.
Unfortunately, we still lack any suitable gifts for her. Apples are probably her easiest liked gift, but those stopped being sold at the bar when it turned Summer. So, really we don't have anything to give her.
KANNO: The next test is to get an "Emerald."
KANNO: Hurry up and get it.
I don't really know where to get that at with mining, so uh, it'll be a while. I'll figure it out eventually.
When in doubt, I can go magick the giant chicken out of this plane of existence again. It has a chance to drop it.
STELLA: The other day, the "Cornucopia Trees" at the lake bore fruit. It tasted really good.
BUSH: Oh, really? That sounds great.
STELLA: Anybody in the village is allowed to take some so you should go try it out. But don't take too many.
BUSH: Haha... I know. So where are these "Cornucopia Trees"?
STELLA: The "Cornucopia Trees" are east of the lake so you have to go by boat. Hit a tree with a hammer and fruit will fall.
BUSH: I see. Thank you. I'll go check it out later.
STELLA: Yes, you go do that.
You might remember the fruit trees from previous updates, but I don't visit them very often. They're alright money, especially in the early game, and as RP food they're not awful, but getting them takes so much time and RP to start with.
This season's fruit is Oranges, so I'll end up grabbing some, but I'm not going to make a dedicated effort to collect all of the fruit. It's not like the fruit fully respawns every day anyhow.
SELPHY: Haha... Lara got mad at me again.
BUSH: You probably didn't sleep or eat again. Of course she would get mad.
SELPHY: Yeah, but people won't die just because they go without food or sleep a little.
SELPHY: The other day, I realized that I hadn't slept in 3 days. But after that, I slept through an entire day.
BUSH: That's exactly why Lara gets mad at you...
Just to note, going 3 days without sleeping means you've already been experiencing blackouts for over a day, and you're probably hallucinating. Well, if your brain can even process anything that is.
Selphy remains amazing and worrying at the same time.
DANNY: Hey, Silver. Thanks, Bush.
Danny's favorite gift is silver. I just had some extra so I threw it at him.
This doesn't get him to say anything new to us though.
ROSETTA: Mist and I are childhood friends, but Eunice and Tabatha come often so we get along really well.
Tabatha's been here for 2 days- how often is she coming by?
ROSETTA: What do you think of my store? I actually like it.
ROSETTA: I guess the shelf behind the counter looks a bit cramped. I guess I should place the merchandise a bit further apart. What do you think?
---------------------------------
1. I think so, too.
2. I like it the way it is.
---------------------------------
Multiple choice time!
The seasonal seeds already aren't on the same shelf as one another, I don't honestly think you can make any more room.
-----------------------------------
In a shocking twist of events, the second option doesn't have more dialogue than the first!
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: You should use egg shells when you clean the blender.
Looking it up, apparently the idea is that powdered egg shells can help clean the blades. Huh.
BIANCA: It's hot. I feel like I'm inside an oven.
You know, the little fur jacket is probably not helping.
A lot of people have very little to say today. Alas!
Bianca's LP gain is slow, but Tabatha took a big jump towards reaching LP 1. I originally presumed this was thanks to the number of monsters we had tamed, but it could also be thanks to the letter from this morning.
I was confused as to why Lara still hasn't hit LP 2 despite being here longer than Selphy, but then I remembered that she's a nun. That would, uh, probably be part of it.
Melody's definitely catching up though.
Speaking of Melody, here's her in a swimsuit without her hat. Her hair is as much of a mess as you'd think it'd be.
Bush fails to give her a gift four times in a row somehow. I wait around for an hour for her to leave the changing room, but she doesn't show and I cut my losses. It's not like I won't see her at the bathhouse later today.
With nothing else really being a pressing matter, I head down to Green Ruins and attempt to get that Black Grass by grinding slimes.
If anything, it's an excuse to level our Magic skill some more so that we can use this Gaea Rod better.
I don't end up finding the grass, and by 2:00 PM, Bush is on the verge of passing out. I head back out to the beach to do... something. Mostly just kill time until I can get into the bathhouse today.
Bianca's at the beach now in her swimsuit. The only bachelorette whose swimsuit we haven't seen yet is Tabatha. Oh, and maybe Anette. I can't remember if we've seen hers.
Oh, and here's Candy. She blends into the environment enough I didn't even notice her while Bush was riding by. I thought her hair was another starfish.
In general I'm really bad about finding her and Marco on the best of days. Beach season just makes it even more difficult.
Anyways, enough time burnt, off to nab a bath so I can get on with the rest of the day.
MELODY: The bath salts I made the other day turn the bath into a pretty green color.
MELODY: But it needs lots of medicinal herbs o make so it's not cost efficient at all. Too bad...
I mean, your profit margin is already extremely thin, so I get it.
NOLAN: I hear that the people in the eastern country drink alcohol while they are in the bath.
NOLAN: I was thinking of sneaking some alcohol into the bath myself...
My dude, I don't think telling Melody that will get her to not throw you out every time you try it, but go ahead. You're going to set some kind of world record at this rate.
Being freshly restored, Bush heads up to Whale Island to visit Iris, taking a stop along the way to grind more Magic skill and hopefully get some White Grass out of a slime.
All I really accomplish in doing this is to collect a lot of Toxin. I don't really have any use for it, so to the shipping bin it goes.
I don't know who Rosetta will be selling this deadly poison to, but it's not my problem.
Also, here's Iris before and after gifting a tomato juice. It's worth a little less than 1/3 the bar,(supposedly valued at +9 points), so I'm going to go off on a limb and say each full point of LP takes about 30 points worth of talking and gifts.
She's going to start catching up to Selphy and Melody very soon.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Gladly!
BUSH: ...(Is this a... ghost? Wait, this happened last time so I should...)
BUSH: That's a very cute Wooly. You're very good.
IRIS: That's... a moon...
BUSH: What?! I-it's a beautiful moon. You're very good!
BUSH: ...Sorry.
Well, with that done, there's not much left to do in the day.
I stop by the bar to stock up on rice...
And go wait out that constellation.
Found Buffamoo Constellation!
It takes until almost 1:00 AM the next day, but here it is!
This one's linked to Anette, presumably due to the comment on how she drinks milk to grow taller.
Well, not much happened. Time to hit the hay and hope more goes on tomorrow.
Music: Visions
Oh, huh. Looks like staying up late is giving us weird dreams again.
GREEN VOICE: "Oh-ho! My thanks."
GREEN VOICE: "So you can lend a hand now. How remarkable."
GREEN VOICE: "This time, I want you to bring that to me."
Well, that was strange.
Time to forget about it and go onto another day of trying to gear up to handle this game's extreme power curve!
And by gear up, I mean make bank. We just made a bunch to cap off last season, but we're about to make even more.
You got a Moondrop Seed.
We're running out of flowers to give to Eunice, so I converted one of the last ones we have to a seed bag. I'll stick 'em on that little bit of field next to the gate that still hasn't opened.
I also make some more tomato juice.
In doing this, Bush hits Cooking skill 60. It's his highest skill by far at this point, mostly just because I've been wrenching every last bit of gold out of everything we can sell.
It'll come in handy though as some of the high level dishes are really strong, and it just means we're closer to the point where we can make any of the bachelorettes' favorite foods.
Grant and Gobbs are hopefully going to pull their weight when it comes to harvesting all these tomatoes, otherwise I'll be spending hours doing it when they're finally ready.
I stop just in time to catch Anette at the mailbox. I'm getting better at it!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I failed." - Mist~
I woke up very early this morning.
Do you want to know why?
I had a dream that I dove into the ocean
and actually fell off my bed.
It was already almost dawn, so I
decided to stay up and go for a walk.
It was actually pretty nice.
-----------------------------------------------------
I think I did this once when I was younger. Nowadays I sometimes just wake up like 30-40 minutes earlier than usual for no reason and just feel bad whether or not I go back to sleep.
Part of me wants to say that this letter is supposed to be headered with "I fell", but I guess it still kinda works?
Still not as good as "I got the turnip." It's hard to beat that one.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'll be looking forward to it." - Tabatha~
Thank you very much.
I am already excited to be meeting Master Bush's monster.
-----------------------------------------------------
Tabatha, you're more formal than Uzuki. I guess that fits.
Also, I have 10 monsters, are you going to ask by mail regarding each one? Hell, I was standing in front of you yesterday with Pony and you didn't say a thing.
I mean if you are, I don't mind. Now that I'm out of books to read, I pretty much look forward to whatever mail I get every day.
ANETTE: *yawn*
ANETTE: Oh, no. I stayed up too late last night so I feel a bit sleepy.
I do that just about every night, but I feel sleepy no matter what- thanks insomnia!
Chopping Axe Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
I take a short break to work on levelling up our wood axe a bit. This is mostly to grind Forging skill as we'll just be better suited just upgrading to the next tier when we really want to do some wood collection.
Another round of gathers from the monsters today. I'll eventually have something to do with all these eggs and milk. We've got stuff to make with the wool as well, and it's not too far off.
Come to me, dungeon strawberries. You may not play a major role in my income anymore, but you're still a good gift for the, like 5 different people in town.
Off to the beach to go fishing!
Sardine(10 cm) Lv:3 was caught.
WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE! GOOD JOB!
Sardines tend to be one of the most disappointing catches you can make, mostly because you need multiple to even cook them into a dish. They are still perfectly fine as gifts for the two girls who like random fish, though!
...Maybe there's a reason why they're lagging behind in LP.
Oh, hey, Anette's stopped by the beach today. She does this occasionally. I apparently just missed Melody and Lara, who are just leaving.
SELPHY: It's cool by the ocean, but the ocean breeze can be bad for the books. I can't read there!
Oh, and Selphy is over here. Seemingly, the girls can have some really random spots on the beach.
SELPHY: Whether to clean or not. That is the question...
Doesn't seem like I'll be getting a chance to change my answer on this, so I guess things will just continue to progress. It's hard to find accurate information on these games sometimes, especially the older ones.
I'm also a bit disappointed that this line isn't: "To clean or not to clean, that is the question..." I get the feeling that's what they were maybe going for, but they didn't commit to it all the way.
Anette's still in there it seems. She's humming something, and it's rather pretty. A number of the girls have some really good singing voices.
At the moment, I wondered if this had something to do with her constellation event, so I knocked on the door.
...Or well, tried to.
Music: Confusion
(A different track is supposed to play in the first half of this, but it happens to be a semi-spoiler. Have the track from the second half instead.)
BUSH: !!
Um, what?
Okay, a fade to blue. That's new.
ANETTE: Hmm hm hmm...♪
ANETTE: ...?
ANETTE: Ahhhh!
Bush (Farmer)
(Is this a reference to something? It has to be because I have no idea why this is here.)
BUSH: I'm sorry!
ANETTE: I-I'm sorry if I surprised you.
ANETTE: And I'm sorry you had to see that.
BUSH: It wasn't anything strange, I don't think.
ANETTE: Really? Thanks.
ANETTE: ...Wait, you saw it?!
BUSH: N-no! I didn't see anything!
Aaaand that happened. I was genuinely just trying to knock on the door, but apparently there's even more than I thought there was in this game. Seriously, I'm no prude, but just... why?
I'm not going out of my way to see these, same deal as the bathhouse.
Oh, and doing this also reduces LP, unlike the ones in the bathhouse.
Music: Trampoli
ANETTE: You know Tabatha? Isn't she so mature, slender, and beautiful? I wish I were like that...
Also, yes, the characters don't really get different poses in their swimsuits. We don't get different poses in general until RF3.
Anette's pose still kinda works anyways.
Anyways, here have a second strawberry. It doesn't actually do anything LP-wise, but it's the thought that counts.
MIST: How's the exploration of Whale Island been going? Everything all right?
Yeah, I'm still waiting on that dang door to open, so it's not like I've really gone much farther.
MIST: Let me tell you some of the most up to date information today. Do you have a notepad ready?
Are we... moving up the ranks? Is Bush part of the inner circle of the underground operation now?
MIST: My birthday is on the 1st of autumn. It's very auspicious to be born on the 1st.
oh.
well ok
MIST: Please grow turnips.
Seems like business as usual, I guess.
MELODY: My birthday is on the 11th of spring. I'll be waiting for a present!
Everyone's telling us their birthday now, I guess.
Also, Melody, we got you a present last time! It's already marked on our calendar that I never look at!
MELODY: They taught me how to use the magic staff, but it's actually really hard. I can't get the hang of it.
I mean, Bush just kinda points it in some direction and yells really loudly. Have you tried that?
LARA: I have been keeping in touch with my old friends through mail after I moved here.
LARA: It's quite nice to keep in touch with friends that are far away since we can exchange information about each other.
I mean, it makes more sense than the mailbox equivalent of passing notes in class that we're doing here, but I should also stop bringing that up because I like the letters.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Buffamoo Constellation?
BUSH: The person who found that complex constellation first must have been amazing.
It's... not really that complex? I guess compared to the others it is.
CINNAMON: That Buffamoo is the legendary Buffamoo that had a contest of strength with a troll and pulled up the celestial river.
BUSH: That must have been an amazing Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: Yes, it's an incredible Buffamoo.
Okay, that's actually pretty sick. I take back what I said about your constellation, Incredible Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: ...What do you want?
More dialogue, but I guess I'm not getting that.
DANNY: It's so hot.
DANNY: The weather is so nice. I want to go outside!
um dan
dan my man
The latter is supposed to be a generic line with the former being the daily weather comment, but I guess we can take it as him liking the heat?
DANNY: I'm good at sewing.
DANNY: I made these clothes myself. Surprised?
DANNY: So if you have any extra "Good Cloth" laying around, share some with me. You can spare some right, Bush?
I'm not surprised that the super deep v-neck shirt is custom made. I don't have any quality cloth though, and I won't have any for a while, even when I go searching for it in a few days from now.
It's supposed to be like a 15% drop off of ghosts in the Lava ruins. In practice so far it's been 0%.
BUSH: Rosetta...
ROSETTA: What is it, Bush? Are you worried about the thing with Danny?
ROSETTA: Thanks, but these things will happen as long as we run businesses. Just watch! I won't let this hold me back!
Rosetta welcomes the competition- go ahead and put your money on the line, she ain't afraid.
UZUKI: I can care for myself! My training with the naginata is for precisely that!
TB: B-but! If anything were to happen where you were to recieve some injury...
TB: I will commit seppuku if anything were to happen to you!
UZUKI: Bush, you must convince Tsubute that he cannot protect me from the monsters.
UZUKI: Well, I am flattered...
I would be doubtful that the tiny cricket samurai man can fight well in combat, but in the land of anime, anything is possible I guess.
TB: Graaagh!
*Cicada noises*
BUSH: W-what's wrong?!
UZUKI: It seems that you have caught me at a terrible time, Bush.
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Right now, I am having an argument with Tsubute. He always becomes overexcited and cannot do anything.
BUSH: Huh?! What happened?
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: I said that you are too noisy so we cannot even talk!
BUSH: What was that?!
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Keep your mouth shut a little, Tsubute!
I guess he's a tiny cicada samurai man, then?
Well, anyways, we better just move on. No use in continuing this communication disaster.
CANDY: Sometimes, Marco's mom treats me to lunch. It's really good.
MARCO: Really? My mom never seems to be able to do housework...
CANDY: Well, Sis and Grandpa just can't cook.
MARCO: Candy, you're not really comparing good examples...
CANDY: Really?!
Everyone's arguing today. It's not like the Runeys here are unbalanced or anything.
Actually, wait, they might be. I don't really check the places that aren't my prospering zones.
CANDY: Recently, I grew to like drinking juice while eating apple pie.
CANDY: Is there anything you like to eat?
That's a lot of sugar, but I guess it fits. Bush, uh, eats anything with high RP values or good buffs.
In practice this has been fried fish, but maybe that'll change soon when we get some real utensils.
Tabatha doesn't have anything new right now, alas.
And neither does Bianca. She does get some good lines later, but it'll take some time to get there.
ERIK: Young man! You sure know what to give. I'll take great care of it.
It's a strawberry. Like, a normal strawberry.
For whatever reason, Erik says different things when gifting him sometimes. I don't really know why.
Some point along the line, we found ourselves a Water Crystal. I believe it dropped off the slimes while I was grinding them for the White Grass, they do have a tendency to drop element crystals.
I stick it in our expanded forge alongside some iron and a teardrop to make...
Water Rod Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
We'll go give this a shot in a minute.
Somewhere along the line I also upgraded to a Steel Sickle, the third tier of its category. It lets me cut full 3x3s at a time, nothing special. If you're desperate for a weapon, it's passable, but you're better off with something real.
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: Did you know? There is a rumor of a farmer that destroyed an iron tank of the Zzyzx Empire with only a watering can...
KROSS: The farming tools that can create the future defeated the weapons made to kill people. That's wonderful, but...
KROSS: Hmph!
KROSS: ...that's only a fairytale.
It was very possible in RF1. Seriously, a third tier watering can did insane damage at full charge, even to a water resistant boss.
Also, the Empire, I've been dancing around it's name until this moment, but for whatever reason they localized it as... that. You might know it as the Sechs Empire in every other RF game.
Also, you okay there, Kross? That "hmph" sounded like it hurt.
I dunno, his HP might be low. Bush gets that a lot when farming.
Speaking of getting hurt, Lava Ruins time! Still attempting to get some Magic Crystals both for the better staves and for Cinnamon.
The watering can deals decent damage to the Ignis, which I suppose makes sense. Just using our axe is better, really.
I wasn't kidding earlier when I said the steel sickle could output some serious damage though. This special attack hit twice for almost 200 damage.
Meanwhile, the Water Laser from our new staff hits for... 80. This is against a spirit of materialized fire.
Unlike previous and later entries of the spell, this one doesn't like to hit more than once. Well, at least when we use it. We'll eventually meet some enemies that will do major damage with it.
I still spent a while trying to make it seem good to myself. Eventually I get sealed, and that's pretty much it for this dungeon delve. All of Bush's damage really comes out of the special action, axe included, so he's kinda a sitting duck like this.
Not like a Duck as in the ones down here that disco explode. Like, a normal duck.
Miss Lara! Help me, Miss Lara! I don't wanna die!
---------------------------------
I don't feel so good...
---------------------------------
LARA: Oh, my! Let me take a look at you. Take a deep breath... Now exhale...
LARA: I see... It seems that you are "Sealed." It's all right. I'll treat you right away. This may sting a little.
LARA: There, it's all better.
LARA: Please be more careful. The treatment is 100 gold.
LARA: Thank you. Please be careful so that you won't have to come here.
As is usual for doctors in the series, you can pay a small fee to get your status effects cleared. Edward from RF1 did it for free on festival days, which was pretty nice, but I don't think that carries over to any other games in the series.
This doesn't do anything for LP though, and I kinda wish it would. Lara's LP is so slow.
And to follow that, we take our bath for the day to get fully restored.
Since I ended up getting a Fire Crystal off the Ignis down there, I reasoned it wouldn't be a terrible idea to make a Hell Branch, the upgraded fire staff.
It follows the same principle as the other second tier staves, it summons an area of effect spell. Hell Branch is pretty underwhelming damage-wise given the name, but it's more stamina efficient than the Gaea Rod.
Up on Whale Island, I give it a test drive trying to get that White Grass.
I still don't find it.
Well, off to visit Iris and close out the day!
Music: Whale Island Outside
But as we approach the door, we get cutscene!
BUSH: ... ...Good evening.
DAPPER MYSTERY MAN: ...
Oh, he's rather fancy. Actually, damn, I kinda really like that getup, even with the cloak pinned at the bicep for whatever reason.
BUSH: ... ...Um...
Bush is evidently in awe of the dapperness, and can't think of anything to say as the stylish dude just wanders off.
he opened the gate
finally
WE CAN PROGRESS
Thank you, wordless dapper man!
Iris, we're throwing a party, right now. Tomato juice! Tomato juice for everyone!
BUSH: I passed by a man in front of your house. Do you know him?
BUSH: I've never seen him around town before...
Oh, er, I got caught up in finally having somewhere else to go other than Lava Ruins that I forgot to question the existence of the dapper man.
You're on point today, Bush.
Actually, wait, Melody can get up here for whatever reason, so it's probably no big deal.
IRIS: Oh, so you met Gelwein.
IRIS: Gelwein is a friend of mine.
BUSH: I see. He's not from Trampoli, is he?
IRIS: I don't really know where he's from, but he comes by from time to time to chat.
IRIS: Gelwein knows so many things, and he tells the most interesting stories. I almost forget the time when I'm talking with him.
BUSH: Is that so... He must be a very nice person.
I dunno, he didn't seem particularly talkative to me. I guess this means we'll have to find him to see for ourselves.
IRIS: Yes. Very very nice!
IRIS: I used to be so lonely, singing to myself all the time, but things have become so much better since I met Gelwein.
IRIS: Bush, you come by as well now, so I'm not lonely at all anymore.
BUSH: I didn't know you sing, Iris. Would you mind singing for me some time?
IRIS: Of course!
BUSH: I'll be looking forward to it then.
I don't know if they forgot or what, but nobody's expression changes at all during this conversation. A development oversight, maybe?
IRIS: I hear that you're going around Whale Island, Bush.
IRIS: Please be careful so that you don't get injured.
Well, things aren't going to be any easier further on, so yeah. I'm hoping to not get too hurt.
TO PROGRESS
TO ENEMIES THAT HURT AS HARD AS THE ONES I'M TRYING TO AVOID
ONWARD, PONY, TO THE FUTURE!
WHALE ISLAND FLANK
New area, same music. I don't mind, this one's still a jam.
This area's characterized by having three layers, the lower one being this brick wall that we run across. Unfortunately, it's broken away in places, so we have to cross up to the middle and upper tiers to go forward.
Zig-zagging ramps control facilitate us moving between these floors. Unfortunately, there's a lot of poison here, and you can't really run around it easily.
Pony's got us covered for this though. The mires themselves only hurt for 1 damage, but the poison deals damage on a percentage basis. She can take it pretty easily though, and all of her debuffs clear between zone transitions unlike ours.
add this to the growing list of stuff she does for us
The third and upper most layer is just like the first, some sort of brick pathway that's blocked off at points. The entire area is basically three pathways connected in such a way to make it as tangled as possible.
What we really care about is off to the upper left though.
There's nothing suspicious about this big, sparkling rock wall. Nothing at all.
If you give it a special attack slam from a silver hammer or better, it'll destroy it. It does have to be the special attack, the normals just clink off it.
WHALE ISLAND CAVE SURFACE
Aaaand, with that we have our first shortcut! This is just a little offshoot section of the first cave room, and saves us quite a bit of time on traveling to Iris.
As a treat, there's also multiple farm plots right along the way that make out of season growing not much of a hassle.
That's for later though, we've got a new area to see!
Hard to see in the nighttime here is a Black Scorpion. They do the usual scorpion things, poison with their tails, snip at you with pincers.
Just a lotta poison in this area.
Here's one of those broken spots in the pathway. This place just kinda forces you to run through the poison or actually bother with neutralizers.
I don't think the neutralizers last either, but I haven't bothered to test. I can just run through it and clear it with an antidote if needed.
Down here are these air flying Fish! The monster kind, not the kind we fry. As is usual for their appearance, they're very annoying, but unusually happen to be rather nonthreatening.
They attack by shooting a very slow shotgun of bubbles, or trying to tail whip you, so overall, their revenge for their watery brethren is easy to avoid.
There's also a spawner for Golems at the end of the lower path just in case you didn't already have enough of fighting ancient siege weaponry.
By St. Poli these things hurt.
It is just the one spawner though, and it only spawns one at at time. It's slower item grinding, but it's a lot safer if you wanted to get metals this way.
There's also treasure chests here from which Bush obtains more mysterious boxes of rice.
Supposedly you can eventually find higher level rice this way, and dupe them by way of giant chicken deletion, but I have yet to find any.
Also hard to see in the darkness is this Hobgoblin, the meaner cousin of the goblins. They just have blue vests as their only visual difference, but they can now do a multi-hit combo instead of just one swing.
Things get a bit dicey though, and Bush is forced to retreat. It's fine, it's way too late at night for him and for me as well. It's been an eventful update!
Music: Goodnight
With that...See you next time, folks.
Music: Trampoli Daily LifeMorning, Bush! What were we up to?
...No, but seriously I got carried away and played too far ahead- I don't know what's going on. A lot goes on in the next 12 days.
I guess in a way, it makes writing the update more fun?
Pickles Lv:2 were synthesized with expertise!
Seems like we're starting the day with pickles then. Gotta work on that income.
Dye Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise.
Oh, and some sashimi made from trout that had been sitting in the shipping bin overnight, sure.
Music: SummerDidn't have to chase Anette down to Mist's house today! Feels good.
You know, while I felt like asking for the mail directly might be annoying, doing it as she's putting it in has to be irritating.
Still gives us +1 towards that next level of LP though.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I would love to meet them." - Tabatha~
I heard that you have many monster friends.
Would you be willing to introduce me to them sometime?
-----------------------------------------------------
Tabatha really likes monsters, as we'll get to see soon enough. In fact, to marry her in RF1, you had to have 50 tamed monsters in your barn.
The options for replies are: "Of course." and "Sorry...". I go with the former, because monsters are cool and Tabatha is cool.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thanks♪" - Melody~
Thanks or the White Grass.♪
I'm really really sorry to ask
you again, but do you have any Black Grass?
This will be the last one, I promise!
-----------------------------------------------------
Hey, don't apologize, this is the closest I'm getting to a request chain in this game.
Black Grass is gonna be a bit of a problem to get, as it has the same 1% drop rate from Slimes as the white one did. I've also got a feeling I won't be getting as lucky this time.
Being Summer, there is another way to obtain it, but honestly farming slimes is preferable to it. We'll run into it eventually, but not for a while.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Be careful of those summertime colds!" - Lara~
Summer seems to be in full force now.
It may be hot, but don't sleep with your windows
open at night or without a blanket.
It gets cold in the mornings and you'll be sure
to catch a cold this way.
-----------------------------------------------------
See, where I live it stays hot at night during summer, so I can't relate to this.
Anyways, Bush will continue avoiding getting sick, although I can't guarantee we'll make it the whole season without going down at least once.
Anette sadly has no new dialogue for us today, so the only bit of interesting morning stuff I have to show is how these three Blue Grasses spawned in a line.
Riveting, I know.
Lots of Runeys out on the Grass Farm, but it doesn't really matter as the 7 Day Rule is in effect. I don't have to pay attention to these floaty goobers for the rest of the week.
Oh, hey, it's the girl that we still haven't gotten the name of.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, nice to see you again.
MYSTERY GIRL: Come to think of it, I haven't asked your name yet.
BUSH: My name is Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: Bush, is it? Nice to meet you.
Um... are you going to tell us your name yet?
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
I... guess not. She does have a little bit of voice acting though. So that's neat.
BUSH: Are you growing these, Mist?
MIST: Yeah. Watching you work on the farm made me want to try it myself...
I can't believe it finally happened. Mist finally started growing stuff herself instead of only watching us do it all the time.
Well, aside from the wildflowers she's been growing.
BUSH: I've never seen leaves like these before. What are these flowers called?
MIST: I wonder... I just found the seeds by chance, so I don't know.
MIST: Well, it's more exciting when it'll be a surprise, I guess.
BUSH: That's true.
I'd be worried that it's not going to grow, but given it's managed a small sprout instead of being withered grass already, it seems like it has survived Norad's extremely volatile growing conditions.
Time to go brush all the monsters in the barn!
If you're wondering why I don't try to level up any of the other monsters to help in combat, it is because the rate at which frienship is gained with monsters is based on their level. If I want higher level eggs, milk, and wool, it's best if I leave the rest in the barn.
Tabatha's so good at her job, she ends up with a decent amount of free time. Thus why she's spending her morning outside our barn.
You can, uh, go in if you want. Bush doesn't mind.
TABATHA: It's very hot every day. But that doesn't mean you should drink only cold things.
TABATHA: How is it? Did you find anything on Whale Island?
TABATHA: Monsters attack humans so they are hated, but they have adorable eyes when you look at them carefully.
TABATHA: I think you can communicate with monsters if you deal with them with lots of love.
I'm sorry Tabatha, but the Love element isn't present in this game. That's a RF3 and later thing.
TABATHA: You look good today, Bush.
I also just wanted to restate that her generic dialogue line is a compliment on Bush's style.
I mean, she'll say this to us any day no matter what he's wearing, but it's the thought that counts.
Unfortunately, we still lack any suitable gifts for her. Apples are probably her easiest liked gift, but those stopped being sold at the bar when it turned Summer. So, really we don't have anything to give her.
KANNO: The next test is to get an "Emerald."
KANNO: Hurry up and get it.
I don't really know where to get that at with mining, so uh, it'll be a while. I'll figure it out eventually.
When in doubt, I can go magick the giant chicken out of this plane of existence again. It has a chance to drop it.
STELLA: The other day, the "Cornucopia Trees" at the lake bore fruit. It tasted really good.
BUSH: Oh, really? That sounds great.
STELLA: Anybody in the village is allowed to take some so you should go try it out. But don't take too many.
BUSH: Haha... I know. So where are these "Cornucopia Trees"?
STELLA: The "Cornucopia Trees" are east of the lake so you have to go by boat. Hit a tree with a hammer and fruit will fall.
BUSH: I see. Thank you. I'll go check it out later.
STELLA: Yes, you go do that.
You might remember the fruit trees from previous updates, but I don't visit them very often. They're alright money, especially in the early game, and as RP food they're not awful, but getting them takes so much time and RP to start with.
This season's fruit is Oranges, so I'll end up grabbing some, but I'm not going to make a dedicated effort to collect all of the fruit. It's not like the fruit fully respawns every day anyhow.
SELPHY: Haha... Lara got mad at me again.
BUSH: You probably didn't sleep or eat again. Of course she would get mad.
SELPHY: Yeah, but people won't die just because they go without food or sleep a little.
SELPHY: The other day, I realized that I hadn't slept in 3 days. But after that, I slept through an entire day.
BUSH: That's exactly why Lara gets mad at you...
Just to note, going 3 days without sleeping means you've already been experiencing blackouts for over a day, and you're probably hallucinating. Well, if your brain can even process anything that is.
Selphy remains amazing and worrying at the same time.
DANNY: Hey, Silver. Thanks, Bush.
Danny's favorite gift is silver. I just had some extra so I threw it at him.
This doesn't get him to say anything new to us though.
ROSETTA: Mist and I are childhood friends, but Eunice and Tabatha come often so we get along really well.
Tabatha's been here for 2 days- how often is she coming by?
ROSETTA: What do you think of my store? I actually like it.
ROSETTA: I guess the shelf behind the counter looks a bit cramped. I guess I should place the merchandise a bit further apart. What do you think?
---------------------------------
1. I think so, too.
2. I like it the way it is.
---------------------------------
Multiple choice time!
Change it up wrote:
ROSETTA: Really? But then I'll have less shelf space that way.
ROSETTA: This is difficult...
The seasonal seeds already aren't on the same shelf as one another, I don't honestly think you can make any more room.
-----------------------------------
Don't change it wrote:
ROSETTA: Really? Then I'll just leave it as is.
In a shocking twist of events, the second option doesn't have more dialogue than the first!
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: You should use egg shells when you clean the blender.
Looking it up, apparently the idea is that powdered egg shells can help clean the blades. Huh.
BIANCA: It's hot. I feel like I'm inside an oven.
You know, the little fur jacket is probably not helping.
A lot of people have very little to say today. Alas!
Bianca's LP gain is slow, but Tabatha took a big jump towards reaching LP 1. I originally presumed this was thanks to the number of monsters we had tamed, but it could also be thanks to the letter from this morning.
I was confused as to why Lara still hasn't hit LP 2 despite being here longer than Selphy, but then I remembered that she's a nun. That would, uh, probably be part of it.
Melody's definitely catching up though.
Speaking of Melody, here's her in a swimsuit without her hat. Her hair is as much of a mess as you'd think it'd be.
Bush fails to give her a gift four times in a row somehow. I wait around for an hour for her to leave the changing room, but she doesn't show and I cut my losses. It's not like I won't see her at the bathhouse later today.
With nothing else really being a pressing matter, I head down to Green Ruins and attempt to get that Black Grass by grinding slimes.
If anything, it's an excuse to level our Magic skill some more so that we can use this Gaea Rod better.
I don't end up finding the grass, and by 2:00 PM, Bush is on the verge of passing out. I head back out to the beach to do... something. Mostly just kill time until I can get into the bathhouse today.
Bianca's at the beach now in her swimsuit. The only bachelorette whose swimsuit we haven't seen yet is Tabatha. Oh, and maybe Anette. I can't remember if we've seen hers.
Oh, and here's Candy. She blends into the environment enough I didn't even notice her while Bush was riding by. I thought her hair was another starfish.
In general I'm really bad about finding her and Marco on the best of days. Beach season just makes it even more difficult.
Anyways, enough time burnt, off to nab a bath so I can get on with the rest of the day.
MELODY: The bath salts I made the other day turn the bath into a pretty green color.
MELODY: But it needs lots of medicinal herbs o make so it's not cost efficient at all. Too bad...
I mean, your profit margin is already extremely thin, so I get it.
NOLAN: I hear that the people in the eastern country drink alcohol while they are in the bath.
NOLAN: I was thinking of sneaking some alcohol into the bath myself...
My dude, I don't think telling Melody that will get her to not throw you out every time you try it, but go ahead. You're going to set some kind of world record at this rate.
Being freshly restored, Bush heads up to Whale Island to visit Iris, taking a stop along the way to grind more Magic skill and hopefully get some White Grass out of a slime.
All I really accomplish in doing this is to collect a lot of Toxin. I don't really have any use for it, so to the shipping bin it goes.
I don't know who Rosetta will be selling this deadly poison to, but it's not my problem.
Also, here's Iris before and after gifting a tomato juice. It's worth a little less than 1/3 the bar,(supposedly valued at +9 points), so I'm going to go off on a limb and say each full point of LP takes about 30 points worth of talking and gifts.
She's going to start catching up to Selphy and Melody very soon.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Gladly!
BUSH: ...(Is this a... ghost? Wait, this happened last time so I should...)
BUSH: That's a very cute Wooly. You're very good.
IRIS: That's... a moon...
BUSH: What?! I-it's a beautiful moon. You're very good!
BUSH: ...Sorry.
Well, with that done, there's not much left to do in the day.
I stop by the bar to stock up on rice...
And go wait out that constellation.
Found Buffamoo Constellation!
It takes until almost 1:00 AM the next day, but here it is!
This one's linked to Anette, presumably due to the comment on how she drinks milk to grow taller.
Well, not much happened. Time to hit the hay and hope more goes on tomorrow.
Music: VisionsOh, huh. Looks like staying up late is giving us weird dreams again.
GREEN VOICE: "Oh-ho! My thanks."
GREEN VOICE: "So you can lend a hand now. How remarkable."
GREEN VOICE: "This time, I want you to bring that to me."
Well, that was strange.
Time to forget about it and go onto another day of trying to gear up to handle this game's extreme power curve!
And by gear up, I mean make bank. We just made a bunch to cap off last season, but we're about to make even more.
You got a Moondrop Seed.
We're running out of flowers to give to Eunice, so I converted one of the last ones we have to a seed bag. I'll stick 'em on that little bit of field next to the gate that still hasn't opened.
I also make some more tomato juice.
In doing this, Bush hits Cooking skill 60. It's his highest skill by far at this point, mostly just because I've been wrenching every last bit of gold out of everything we can sell.
It'll come in handy though as some of the high level dishes are really strong, and it just means we're closer to the point where we can make any of the bachelorettes' favorite foods.
Grant and Gobbs are hopefully going to pull their weight when it comes to harvesting all these tomatoes, otherwise I'll be spending hours doing it when they're finally ready.
I stop just in time to catch Anette at the mailbox. I'm getting better at it!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I failed." - Mist~
I woke up very early this morning.
Do you want to know why?
I had a dream that I dove into the ocean
and actually fell off my bed.
It was already almost dawn, so I
decided to stay up and go for a walk.
It was actually pretty nice.
-----------------------------------------------------
I think I did this once when I was younger. Nowadays I sometimes just wake up like 30-40 minutes earlier than usual for no reason and just feel bad whether or not I go back to sleep.
Part of me wants to say that this letter is supposed to be headered with "I fell", but I guess it still kinda works?
Still not as good as "I got the turnip." It's hard to beat that one.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'll be looking forward to it." - Tabatha~
Thank you very much.
I am already excited to be meeting Master Bush's monster.
-----------------------------------------------------
Tabatha, you're more formal than Uzuki. I guess that fits.
Also, I have 10 monsters, are you going to ask by mail regarding each one? Hell, I was standing in front of you yesterday with Pony and you didn't say a thing.
I mean if you are, I don't mind. Now that I'm out of books to read, I pretty much look forward to whatever mail I get every day.
ANETTE: *yawn*
ANETTE: Oh, no. I stayed up too late last night so I feel a bit sleepy.
I do that just about every night, but I feel sleepy no matter what- thanks insomnia!
Chopping Axe Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
I take a short break to work on levelling up our wood axe a bit. This is mostly to grind Forging skill as we'll just be better suited just upgrading to the next tier when we really want to do some wood collection.
Another round of gathers from the monsters today. I'll eventually have something to do with all these eggs and milk. We've got stuff to make with the wool as well, and it's not too far off.
Come to me, dungeon strawberries. You may not play a major role in my income anymore, but you're still a good gift for the, like 5 different people in town.
Off to the beach to go fishing!
Sardine(10 cm) Lv:3 was caught.
WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE! GOOD JOB!
Sardines tend to be one of the most disappointing catches you can make, mostly because you need multiple to even cook them into a dish. They are still perfectly fine as gifts for the two girls who like random fish, though!
...Maybe there's a reason why they're lagging behind in LP.
Oh, hey, Anette's stopped by the beach today. She does this occasionally. I apparently just missed Melody and Lara, who are just leaving.
SELPHY: It's cool by the ocean, but the ocean breeze can be bad for the books. I can't read there!
Oh, and Selphy is over here. Seemingly, the girls can have some really random spots on the beach.
SELPHY: Whether to clean or not. That is the question...
Doesn't seem like I'll be getting a chance to change my answer on this, so I guess things will just continue to progress. It's hard to find accurate information on these games sometimes, especially the older ones.
I'm also a bit disappointed that this line isn't: "To clean or not to clean, that is the question..." I get the feeling that's what they were maybe going for, but they didn't commit to it all the way.
Anette's still in there it seems. She's humming something, and it's rather pretty. A number of the girls have some really good singing voices.
At the moment, I wondered if this had something to do with her constellation event, so I knocked on the door.
...Or well, tried to.
Music: Confusion(A different track is supposed to play in the first half of this, but it happens to be a semi-spoiler. Have the track from the second half instead.)
BUSH: !!
Um, what?
Okay, a fade to blue. That's new.
ANETTE: Hmm hm hmm...♪
ANETTE: ...?
ANETTE: Ahhhh!
Bush (Farmer)
(Is this a reference to something? It has to be because I have no idea why this is here.)
BUSH: I'm sorry!
ANETTE: I-I'm sorry if I surprised you.
ANETTE: And I'm sorry you had to see that.
BUSH: It wasn't anything strange, I don't think.
ANETTE: Really? Thanks.
ANETTE: ...Wait, you saw it?!
BUSH: N-no! I didn't see anything!
Aaaand that happened. I was genuinely just trying to knock on the door, but apparently there's even more
than I thought there was in this game. Seriously, I'm no prude, but just... why? I'm not going out of my way to see these, same deal as the bathhouse.
Oh, and doing this also reduces LP, unlike the ones in the bathhouse.
Music: TrampoliANETTE: You know Tabatha? Isn't she so mature, slender, and beautiful? I wish I were like that...
Also, yes, the characters don't really get different poses in their swimsuits. We don't get different poses in general until RF3.
Anette's pose still kinda works anyways.
Anyways, here have a second strawberry. It doesn't actually do anything LP-wise, but it's the thought that counts.
MIST: How's the exploration of Whale Island been going? Everything all right?
Yeah, I'm still waiting on that dang door to open, so it's not like I've really gone much farther.
MIST: Let me tell you some of the most up to date information today. Do you have a notepad ready?
Are we... moving up the ranks? Is Bush part of the inner circle of the underground operation now?
MIST: My birthday is on the 1st of autumn. It's very auspicious to be born on the 1st.
oh.
well ok
MIST: Please grow turnips.
Seems like business as usual, I guess.
MELODY: My birthday is on the 11th of spring. I'll be waiting for a present!
Everyone's telling us their birthday now, I guess.
Also, Melody, we got you a present last time! It's already marked on our calendar that I never look at!
MELODY: They taught me how to use the magic staff, but it's actually really hard. I can't get the hang of it.
I mean, Bush just kinda points it in some direction and yells really loudly. Have you tried that?
LARA: I have been keeping in touch with my old friends through mail after I moved here.
LARA: It's quite nice to keep in touch with friends that are far away since we can exchange information about each other.
I mean, it makes more sense than the mailbox equivalent of passing notes in class that we're doing here, but I should also stop bringing that up because I like the letters.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Buffamoo Constellation?
BUSH: The person who found that complex constellation first must have been amazing.
It's... not really that complex? I guess compared to the others it is.
CINNAMON: That Buffamoo is the legendary Buffamoo that had a contest of strength with a troll and pulled up the celestial river.
BUSH: That must have been an amazing Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: Yes, it's an incredible Buffamoo.
Okay, that's actually pretty sick. I take back what I said about your constellation, Incredible Buffamoo.
CINNAMON: ...What do you want?
More dialogue, but I guess I'm not getting that.
DANNY: It's so hot.
DANNY: The weather is so nice. I want to go outside!
um dan
dan my man
The latter is supposed to be a generic line with the former being the daily weather comment, but I guess we can take it as him liking the heat?
DANNY: I'm good at sewing.
DANNY: I made these clothes myself. Surprised?
DANNY: So if you have any extra "Good Cloth" laying around, share some with me. You can spare some right, Bush?
I'm not surprised that the super deep v-neck shirt is custom made. I don't have any quality cloth though, and I won't have any for a while, even when I go searching for it in a few days from now.
It's supposed to be like a 15% drop off of ghosts in the Lava ruins. In practice so far it's been 0%.
BUSH: Rosetta...
ROSETTA: What is it, Bush? Are you worried about the thing with Danny?
ROSETTA: Thanks, but these things will happen as long as we run businesses. Just watch! I won't let this hold me back!
Rosetta welcomes the competition- go ahead and put your money on the line, she ain't afraid.
UZUKI: I can care for myself! My training with the naginata is for precisely that!
TB: B-but! If anything were to happen where you were to recieve some injury...
TB: I will commit seppuku if anything were to happen to you!
UZUKI: Bush, you must convince Tsubute that he cannot protect me from the monsters.
UZUKI: Well, I am flattered...
I would be doubtful that the tiny cricket samurai man can fight well in combat, but in the land of anime, anything is possible I guess.
TB: Graaagh!
*Cicada noises*
BUSH: W-what's wrong?!
UZUKI: It seems that you have caught me at a terrible time, Bush.
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Right now, I am having an argument with Tsubute. He always becomes overexcited and cannot do anything.
BUSH: Huh?! What happened?
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: I said that you are too noisy so we cannot even talk!
BUSH: What was that?!
*Cicada noises*
UZUKI: Keep your mouth shut a little, Tsubute!
I guess he's a tiny cicada samurai man, then?
Well, anyways, we better just move on. No use in continuing this communication disaster.
CANDY: Sometimes, Marco's mom treats me to lunch. It's really good.
MARCO: Really? My mom never seems to be able to do housework...
CANDY: Well, Sis and Grandpa just can't cook.
MARCO: Candy, you're not really comparing good examples...
CANDY: Really?!
Everyone's arguing today. It's not like the Runeys here are unbalanced or anything.
Actually, wait, they might be. I don't really check the places that aren't my prospering zones.
CANDY: Recently, I grew to like drinking juice while eating apple pie.
CANDY: Is there anything you like to eat?
That's a lot of sugar, but I guess it fits. Bush, uh, eats anything with high RP values or good buffs.
In practice this has been fried fish, but maybe that'll change soon when we get some real utensils.
Tabatha doesn't have anything new right now, alas.
And neither does Bianca. She does get some good lines later, but it'll take some time to get there.
ERIK: Young man! You sure know what to give. I'll take great care of it.
It's a strawberry. Like, a normal strawberry.
For whatever reason, Erik says different things when gifting him sometimes. I don't really know why.
Some point along the line, we found ourselves a Water Crystal. I believe it dropped off the slimes while I was grinding them for the White Grass, they do have a tendency to drop element crystals.
I stick it in our expanded forge alongside some iron and a teardrop to make...
Water Rod Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
We'll go give this a shot in a minute.
Somewhere along the line I also upgraded to a Steel Sickle, the third tier of its category. It lets me cut full 3x3s at a time, nothing special. If you're desperate for a weapon, it's passable, but you're better off with something real.
Music: Kross' ThemeKROSS: Did you know? There is a rumor of a farmer that destroyed an iron tank of the Zzyzx Empire with only a watering can...
KROSS: The farming tools that can create the future defeated the weapons made to kill people. That's wonderful, but...
KROSS: Hmph!
KROSS: ...that's only a fairytale.
It was very possible in RF1. Seriously, a third tier watering can did insane damage at full charge, even to a water resistant boss.
Also, the Empire, I've been dancing around it's name until this moment, but for whatever reason they localized it as... that. You might know it as the Sechs Empire in every other RF game.
Also, you okay there, Kross? That "hmph" sounded like it hurt.
I dunno, his HP might be low. Bush gets that a lot when farming.
Speaking of getting hurt, Lava Ruins time! Still attempting to get some Magic Crystals both for the better staves and for Cinnamon.
The watering can deals decent damage to the Ignis, which I suppose makes sense. Just using our axe is better, really.
I wasn't kidding earlier when I said the steel sickle could output some serious damage though. This special attack hit twice for almost 200 damage.
Meanwhile, the Water Laser from our new staff hits for... 80. This is against a spirit of materialized fire.
Unlike previous and later entries of the spell, this one doesn't like to hit more than once. Well, at least when we use it. We'll eventually meet some enemies that will do major damage with it.
I still spent a while trying to make it seem good to myself. Eventually I get sealed, and that's pretty much it for this dungeon delve. All of Bush's damage really comes out of the special action, axe included, so he's kinda a sitting duck like this.
Not like a Duck as in the ones down here that disco explode. Like, a normal duck.
Miss Lara! Help me, Miss Lara! I don't wanna die!
---------------------------------
I don't feel so good...
---------------------------------
LARA: Oh, my! Let me take a look at you. Take a deep breath... Now exhale...
LARA: I see... It seems that you are "Sealed." It's all right. I'll treat you right away. This may sting a little.
LARA: There, it's all better.
LARA: Please be more careful. The treatment is 100 gold.
LARA: Thank you. Please be careful so that you won't have to come here.
As is usual for doctors in the series, you can pay a small fee to get your status effects cleared. Edward from RF1 did it for free on festival days, which was pretty nice, but I don't think that carries over to any other games in the series.
This doesn't do anything for LP though, and I kinda wish it would. Lara's LP is so slow.
And to follow that, we take our bath for the day to get fully restored.
Since I ended up getting a Fire Crystal off the Ignis down there, I reasoned it wouldn't be a terrible idea to make a Hell Branch, the upgraded fire staff.
It follows the same principle as the other second tier staves, it summons an area of effect spell. Hell Branch is pretty underwhelming damage-wise given the name, but it's more stamina efficient than the Gaea Rod.
Up on Whale Island, I give it a test drive trying to get that White Grass.
I still don't find it.
Well, off to visit Iris and close out the day!
Music: Whale Island OutsideBut as we approach the door, we get cutscene!
BUSH: ... ...Good evening.
DAPPER MYSTERY MAN: ...
Oh, he's rather fancy. Actually, damn, I kinda really like that getup, even with the cloak pinned at the bicep for whatever reason.
BUSH: ... ...Um...
Bush is evidently in awe of the dapperness, and can't think of anything to say as the stylish dude just wanders off.
he opened the gate
finally
WE CAN PROGRESS
Thank you, wordless dapper man!
Iris, we're throwing a party, right now. Tomato juice! Tomato juice for everyone!
BUSH: I passed by a man in front of your house. Do you know him?
BUSH: I've never seen him around town before...
Oh, er, I got caught up in finally having somewhere else to go other than Lava Ruins that I forgot to question the existence of the dapper man.
You're on point today, Bush.
Actually, wait, Melody can get up here for whatever reason, so it's probably no big deal.
IRIS: Oh, so you met Gelwein.
IRIS: Gelwein is a friend of mine.
BUSH: I see. He's not from Trampoli, is he?
IRIS: I don't really know where he's from, but he comes by from time to time to chat.
IRIS: Gelwein knows so many things, and he tells the most interesting stories. I almost forget the time when I'm talking with him.
BUSH: Is that so... He must be a very nice person.
I dunno, he didn't seem particularly talkative to me. I guess this means we'll have to find him to see for ourselves.
IRIS: Yes. Very very nice!
IRIS: I used to be so lonely, singing to myself all the time, but things have become so much better since I met Gelwein.
IRIS: Bush, you come by as well now, so I'm not lonely at all anymore.
BUSH: I didn't know you sing, Iris. Would you mind singing for me some time?
IRIS: Of course!
BUSH: I'll be looking forward to it then.
I don't know if they forgot or what, but nobody's expression changes at all during this conversation. A development oversight, maybe?
IRIS: I hear that you're going around Whale Island, Bush.
IRIS: Please be careful so that you don't get injured.
Well, things aren't going to be any easier further on, so yeah. I'm hoping to not get too hurt.
TO PROGRESS
TO ENEMIES THAT HURT AS HARD AS THE ONES I'M TRYING TO AVOID
ONWARD, PONY, TO THE FUTURE!
WHALE ISLAND FLANK
New area, same music. I don't mind, this one's still a jam.
This area's characterized by having three layers, the lower one being this brick wall that we run across. Unfortunately, it's broken away in places, so we have to cross up to the middle and upper tiers to go forward.
Zig-zagging ramps control facilitate us moving between these floors. Unfortunately, there's a lot of poison here, and you can't really run around it easily.
Pony's got us covered for this though. The mires themselves only hurt for 1 damage, but the poison deals damage on a percentage basis. She can take it pretty easily though, and all of her debuffs clear between zone transitions unlike ours.
add this to the growing list of stuff she does for us
The third and upper most layer is just like the first, some sort of brick pathway that's blocked off at points. The entire area is basically three pathways connected in such a way to make it as tangled as possible.
What we really care about is off to the upper left though.
There's nothing suspicious about this big, sparkling rock wall. Nothing at all.
If you give it a special attack slam from a silver hammer or better, it'll destroy it. It does have to be the special attack, the normals just clink off it.
WHALE ISLAND CAVE SURFACE
Aaaand, with that we have our first shortcut! This is just a little offshoot section of the first cave room, and saves us quite a bit of time on traveling to Iris.
As a treat, there's also multiple farm plots right along the way that make out of season growing not much of a hassle.
That's for later though, we've got a new area to see!
Hard to see in the nighttime here is a Black Scorpion. They do the usual scorpion things, poison with their tails, snip at you with pincers.
Just a lotta poison in this area.
Here's one of those broken spots in the pathway. This place just kinda forces you to run through the poison or actually bother with neutralizers.
I don't think the neutralizers last either, but I haven't bothered to test. I can just run through it and clear it with an antidote if needed.
Down here are these air flying Fish! The monster kind, not the kind we fry. As is usual for their appearance, they're very annoying, but unusually happen to be rather nonthreatening.
They attack by shooting a very slow shotgun of bubbles, or trying to tail whip you, so overall, their revenge for their watery brethren is easy to avoid.
There's also a spawner for Golems at the end of the lower path just in case you didn't already have enough of fighting ancient siege weaponry.
By St. Poli these things hurt.
It is just the one spawner though, and it only spawns one at at time. It's slower item grinding, but it's a lot safer if you wanted to get metals this way.
There's also treasure chests here from which Bush obtains more mysterious boxes of rice.
Supposedly you can eventually find higher level rice this way, and dupe them by way of giant chicken deletion, but I have yet to find any.
Also hard to see in the darkness is this Hobgoblin, the meaner cousin of the goblins. They just have blue vests as their only visual difference, but they can now do a multi-hit combo instead of just one swing.
Things get a bit dicey though, and Bush is forced to retreat. It's fine, it's way too late at night for him and for me as well. It's been an eventful update!
Music: GoodnightWith that...See you next time, folks.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 4:13 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 24: tomato
I too wake up in the morning, don a scarf and knit hat in Summer heat, and then proceed to stare at my wall with an oversized axe in hand.
Truly Bush is a most relatable man.
It's a rainy Thursday!
That means it's time for some guest music!
Rune Factory 3 - Summer
Have this recording of RF3's summer theme. Rain sounds that may or may not just be recording static included!
it's probably that the rain is built into the soundfont and remains a constantly playing track in most songs so that you could have music and rain without one having to cancel the other out, just using the track volume variable to hide it on normal days, but whatever
We brush our pets for 1 hour each once a day- the defined rules Bush seems to quote if I try to do more brushing.
Luckily, time doesn't move indoors so this doesn't consume our entire day.
(it doesn't take one hour even if you do it outside)
Do note how I didn't say the rain would absolve us of our farming duties today.
The tomatoes have finally bore fruit, and what a massive harvest and time sink it'll be!
BUSH: Gobbs, I'm counting on you!
I go back set Gobbs to help us with harvesting.
BUSH: Maybe I should have Grant harvest crops instead.
It's at this point I need to restate that I never really used monster farming in this game before this LP. Apparently, only one monster can be assigned to any job type, which means that having two harvesters is completely redundant.
Oh well, woulda coulda shoulda, we'll just let our Ant do the job. Gobbs can go and keep doing goblin things.
What are goblin things? I dunno, I'm no goblin.
Mmm... cave strawberries.
Then I remembered that I forgot about Anette. Whoops!
I catch up with her at the clock tower at about 7:25 AM.
ANETTE: It's so hot! I just hate it.
I love the delivery on this line. Just the perfect, far too relatable level of being completely fed up with the heat.
She doesn't end up having anything else of interest to say, so I opt to follow her on the mail route to see if any new dialogue shows up there.
ANETTE: Kanno! You've got mail!
ANETTE: ...
ANETTE: By the way, I've never seen this clock move at all. Does it even work?
nope
But first, a brief detour!
CINNAMON: It's fun when the three of us talk about magic... I think.
Our resident caffiene deprived college student is out of her room early, I guess due to the rain. She's always at this desk on rainy days.
I gave her a fish. I don't know what she does with them, and I don't ask!
The Runeys are growing nicely in the prosperity zones. As a reminder, I'll want to run them to 50/50/50/40+ so that they'll grow to 60/60/60/40+-2 each day. The Water Runeys will mostly serve to run the grass farm, while the others stockpile to eventually make more prosperity regions.
Anyways, back to mail at the Ann.net.
ANETTE: Stella. You got mail! ♪
ANETTE: I feel myslf straightening up unconsciously when I come here. It is the church after all.
ANETTE: Melody, you got mail! ♪
ANETTE: It's a letter from Mei!
Mei is the first girl in the series from the Eastern "not-Japan" setting. An unaging spy looking to gather information on the movements of the Sechs Empire, she had a holiday all to herself as well as the unique marriage requirement of a level 80 Lover Snapper. It's an incredibly rare fish with a normally impossible level, only obtainable through trading.
Despite being over a century old, she's not the oldest bachelorette in the series.
She shows up again at random in RF3's Miyako Inn where she's capable of changing your name, if so desired. Yue from RF2 also shows up there and is much more useful.
ANETTE: Here's your mail, Danny.
ANETTE: A lot of care seems to have been put in that letter. Is it from your little brother?
More hints to the fact that Danny has a large family. Unfortunately, he's too busy having conflicting opinions about the weather and being bad at business to give us the details.
ANETTE: For days with this kind of weather it's... "Milk" time!
At some point I ought to test if giving her the food she mentions is worth any more LP.
ANETTE: Wow, thanks! I love milk.
Doing this now doesn't net me any more LP as I've already gifted her a strawberry earlier, but she does have a different line for it.
MIST: Mermaids are nice. They get to swim around in the ocean all summer long. I wish I were a mermaid, too...
MIST: Oh, but they have to be in the ocean even in winter. How careless of me.
This is the first mention of mermaids in the series, and the first and only one arrives in the following game.
Mermaids in fact, do not have to be in the ocean during winter; however, life still isn't all fun and games for them in a lot of ways.
TURNER: I feel lonely on days like this because I have no one to exchange cooking info with...
TURNER: Don't misunderstand. It's not that I'm sad because I don't get to talk to young girls.
yeah okay whatever
Also Bush is a level 60 cook who does most of his work through pure experimentation, I'm sure he's got at least something to talk about on this.
UZUKI: We have rain today. It is a blessing from the heavens.
The heavens must hate the soundtrack then.
UZUKI: I meet Anette every morning so we often speak to each other.
...But you didn't meet this morning. I was there!
UZUKI: It seems that you are becoming more skilled with the sword.
UZUKI: But I am also training each day so it will be a while until you catch up.
In a normal scenario, I'd say that she'd win anyways because of the range her naginata affords, but the spear moveset is bad in the land of Norad.
Also, Bush uses mostly magic, so, uh...
TSUBUTE: Graaagh!
We'll call it a future draw.
EUNICE: I got this desk from my father. He'd been using it for years before I got it.
EUNICE: It's old, but it's a very nice desk.
I've got some wooden chairs like that.
EUNICE: It feels like there are a lot more bonuses and better service at the bathhouse recently.
EUNICE: I wonder if something good happened to Melody.
I'd say finally being able to start working towards your life's dream is something good.
Also I will not accept the notion that the service could be any better, as that would suggest it was not already perfect to begin with.
ganesha why are you still talking about the green ruins
that's super old news
In lieu of the kids having nothing new to say, I'll just note that Candy and Marco are sorta the last time this character archetype pair shows up in this series.
Ceci and Nicholas in RF1, Cammy and Roy in RF2, then these two. In RF3, it's just Monica by herself, with no counterpart.
ROSETTA: Oh, by the way, I never liked drinking milk.
ROSETTA: I know I shouldn't be picky about food, but I just can't drink it.
I always just disliked the aftertaste, personally.
ROSETTA: When it rains, you don't have to water your fields. You're probably thinking you have it easy, don't you?
yeah kinda
ROSETTA: Right now, I'm thinking of ways to increase the store's revenue.
ROSETTA: Say, Bush. Tell me if you come up with anything.
Sell that snake oil again
please
more INT is just really good please understand
Shock and awe! I don't have a prepared rice ball for Selphy today!
I'll be back in a few minutes.
STELLA: Eunice is good at cooking and cleaning. She certainly is a girl, after all.
um ok
STELLA: It must be hard working as both a nurse and a sister, but Lara is doing really well.
I don't know if anyone in town really needs medical attention that often. I suppose Selphy is enough of a problem patient though.
LARA: Doing research on herbs while speaking with Cinnamon and Melody...
LARA: ...can be much more fun that simply reading medical books alone. Bush, would you like to join?
BUSH: No, thanks...
Aw, c'mon Bush, you're no fun. This'd be a great side event.
BUSH: You wake up so early every day, Lara.
LARA: I suppose so. I have to sweep around the church and also place some flowers so I have to wake early.
LARA: I'm still in training so I have to make myself useful to Sister Stella.
Does Lara wake earlier than Bush?
We may never know.
SELPHY: The other day, I read a book about a magical organism that absorbs Runes.
SELPHY: Legends are usually based on fact.
SELPHY: But I think this Rune-sucking magical creature is way out there.
Same here. There's no way this could ever be relevant.
Nothing new in the manor, so it's off to go do other stuff today.
To start, I opt to put my homestead back into prosperity. It doesn't take many to put it there, and since it never decays. I don't have to manage it.
Up to Whale Island! We've got a new region to explore.
WHALE: "Bush..."
But first, it seems the Whale has something to say to us.
BUSH: Hello, Whale.
WHALE: "May I ask you for a favor?"
BUSH: ...? What is it?
WHALE: "Do you know about the ancient castle built on my back? That is the castle of the ones known to be, 'the closest to the Spirits.'"
WHALE: "I have told you that the power of the Runes from the castle gave rise to my consciousness."
WHALE: "There is one monster that lives in the water tower of the castle. It said that it wanted to live there because it was comfortable so I let it."
WHALE: "But recently, it must have forgotten that it is on my back and has been getting very violent within that area..."
WHALE: "Bush... Would you please go and punish it?"
BUSH: All right.
WHALE: "Thank you, Bush."
Looks like we got a real quest!
Before we do that though, I go to grind that last piece of grass. Also more free Warrior Proofs from the orc that spawns here.
...Aaaand here it is!
I totally didn't use RNG savestates to manipulate this drop after 30 minutes of savestate abuse. That would be crazy- nay, inconcievable!
We also have tomatoes to harvest up here on Whale Island.
Before we head off on adventure, I plant some extra moondrop. We have to keep up our gift supply. We won't have a better gift for Eunice for quite a long time.
Following the zig-zags of the path to the end, we meet the fish firing squad. This singular spawner puts out 4 fish that try to block your way up the staircase forward.
They're no match for the blazing speed of Pony.Paws hooves in a storm, we break past their lines easily!
We cross the zone transition... and then...
Ah, a cutscene!
We get a scrolling upwards view of this next area. There's a massive vine/tree thing with a spiral ramp up. There's strange, large yellow fruit at the top of the tree, as well a stone bridge breaking off back to the left far up.
That bridge is our next objective.
BUSH: Wow... I've never seen a Rune cluster that big before...
There does, in fact, happen to be a massive rune at the top of this tree. Imagine the RP restoration if we touched it!
Actually, that might be a bad idea. This thing probably powers the whale's flight.
We are immediately met with new enemies before we can consider ascending the tree.
They hit Pony twice for a total of 320 damage and she's back to the barn.
Welcome to Whale Island - Tail Tree!
These are Manticts, and while they're not terribly durable, they hit like a train unlike anything we've seen up to this point. They also just look like giant mantises.
Their moveset has two abilities. The first attack sends wide arc of 5 crescent wind projectiles for about 60 - 80 damage each. The second attack is a double claw attack. It's about 150 damage a hit and pretty fast.
This all being said, we're out of here. Bush is going to end up in the infirmary if I stay here.
SELPHY: Hey! Buy it before you read it!
hey, i'm going to buy one, i just need to figure out which one
The store owners having little lines while shopping is something added to this game, and it gets carried on in to every game following this in the series. It's a small detail, but I always like it.
It takes 83 skill to make V8 for some reason.
I take a peek at some of the books with savestates, but eventually decide on none of them. Of interest is Gourmet Cooking for 5000g, apparently containing recipes for "exotic light meals". We'll mostly want it at some point for the Relax Tealeaves recipe.
It doesn't actually tell you how to prepare the tea though
I didn't know it at the time, but she sells the basic set/stuff you missed on Tuesdays.
I decide to go ahead and spend some time by helping to collect some of the ready tomatoes. I doubt Grant will be able to harvest them all anyways.
Following that, I make some juice to both grind some Cooking skill and extend the value of our tomatoes.
MELODY: I love "Relax Tea." I drink it while I'm in the bath to relax even more.
This is why we'll eventually want the tea.
MIST: When you sing with a loud voice, it feels really good.
A non-sequitur from Mist isn't really even a non-sequitur. It's just kinda the standard.
Anyways...
HARDCORE TOMATO JUICING TIME
I do this for a while, listening to F-Zero in the background.
BUSH: Looks like Grant is harvesting crops right now.
It doesn't look like that to me! He's just hanging out in the barn.
I think it takes a day for it to properly activate or something. I spent a while fiddling with this trying to figure it out.
It takes me two and a half hours to collect the rest of the tomatoes. Here's to hoping Grant gets to work and spares me from most of this soon enough.
Char (23cm) Lv:2 was caught.
Also a bit of fishing. Aside from just keeping up on gifts for Uzuki and Cinnamon, cooked fish are really good at letting me keep up my RP.
More tomato juicing later, and we've hit Cooking 65!
It's late enough to stop by the bar, so I stock up on chocolate and other stuff. I buy a bit of garlic and flour for Peperonico, a pot dish with lifesteal on it.
I forgot to buy the cooking oil though, so whatever. I'll just get it from Danny's tomorrow.
Before we finish this day off, I head on up to Iris.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Of course!
IRIS: I drew a flower patch this time. What do you think?
BUSH: ...(A flower patch...? It looks like a Fluffy exploded...)
BUSH: You're very good. I think you've gotten much better, Iris.
IRIS: Really?! I'll be sure to draw many more pictures then!
Alas, the only one who has gotten better here is Bush. In the art of... uh, "encouragement".
I guess Fluffy is supposed to be Wooly.
IRIS: I'm enjoying the flower patch that you grew. I really love flowers.
In my defense, tomato flowers and moondrops don't look all that different.
IRIS: Flowers can grow here regardless of the season.
IRIS: Because of that, you can mix and the match spring and summer flowers in any way you like.
Maybe if I end up endlessly rich/out of things to do, I'll make some flower arrangements.
IRIS: Gelwein is a dear friend of mine.
IRIS: Oh... but I think you're just as important to me, Bush.
Well, this relationship has certainly progressed faster than the other girls. LP wise, she's only just a little bit behind Uzuki though.
Selphy is almost at 5 LP, Mist is a little bit over 4 LP, and Melody just behind.
With that, it's time for sleep!
New day!
It's not raining, so...
Music: Summer
...here's the Summer theme!
Seems like Anette's been rushed here early again today. I'll give her a breather while I check the mail first.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Help out with the survey, okay?" - Melody~
Thank you for your continued patronage at Laga Springs! ♪
I am writing to you today because I have a question for you.
How is the temperature of the bath at Laga Springs?
Hot? Cold? Perfect?
I'll be waiting for your reply!♪
-----------------------------------------------------
The options are "It is hot," "It is cold," and "It is just right."
The baths are always perfect. I can never complain about a 10g full restore.
My answer should be obvious.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"It has been quite a while." - Tart~
It's been quite a while...
So much time has passed since you've moved.
How are you?
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
1. You got the wrong person.
2. I am doing well.
----------------------------
You might be wondering who Tart is. In fact, even you're played RF1 you might be wondering who this is.
Tart is the...correct?... name for Torte, the original ellipsis loving, bookish girl of the series. She was the daughter of the inn owner and kinda just hung out in the library. Tart was her name in Japan, and at some point it became the standard, in part thanks to this game's translation differences to it's prequel.
She didn't return for this game because her whole quirk is pretty much handled by Selphy and Cinnamon.
We'll still reply positively to her, otherwise she'll never send us mail again. With my supply of books dwindling, I need mail.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Stars" - $@%&~
Oh, stars in the heavens.
I wish to become a snack shop owner,
so that I may eat snacks all day!
-----------------------------------------------------
If you don't recognize this character... that's because we don't know them.
I guess we're getting Mist's weird mail now or something. This is what seeing the Buffamoo Constellation causes.
BUSH: You were being chased around again, Anette?
ANETTE: Yeah... It's so annoying.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
ANETTE: I'll be fine... So... Please... Let... met rest...
Sure, while that happens, I have corn to harvest.
Corn!
Glorious corn! It'll be regrowing every day from now on I believe, and it's worth 150g. 50g more than strawberries, and at the same regrowth period.
MIST: It's so hot every day.
MIST: Oh, right. Even if you give a gift, if it's something they hate, it'll have the reverse effect, so be careful.
MIST: By the way, I hate Pickled Turnips. Vinegar is just too sour for me.
Mist only appreciates the unmarred turnip; great in its natural beauty. The majestic... turnip.
Cave strawberries and cave cucumbers. Unfortunately, nobody pays extra for these likely impossible inventions of Bush's farmer magic.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to be more cheerful than before.
TABATHA: I believe this is all thanks to you, Bush.
Tabatha's got probably the fanciest swimsuit somehow. You can also see her ears now!
Compare what she looks like normally to this and look at the placement of the ears- you'll never forget it.
And now I set off to make more tomato juice.
I do it until I've drained most of my bars and move on to do some chatting.
BIANCA: The weather is very nice. I surely hope it is like this every day.
BIANCA: I hate the heat.
That's all we're getting out of her today, alas. She really does have some good dialogue, but it's slow coming.
I stop by to gift Kross and Selphy, but there's no new dialogue.
EUNICE: You know the monster "Wooly"?
EUNICE: Their fur is like cotton candy and so fluffy.
EUNICE: Oh! I don't mean I want to eat the fur or anything!
GANESHA: I often go drinking with Turner, Stella, and Kanno.
GANESHA: I thought I held my liquor well, but I just can't beat Stella.
GANESHA: Just between you and me, I hear that Rita can drink us all under the table. She is the bar owner after all.
Drinking yourself under the table is one of the few ways to pass the time in Trampoli.
...These people really need to throw more festivals.
DANNY: Hey, Bush.
DANNY: Is it fun working in the fields?
BUSH: It's hard work but I think it's fun.
DANNY: Hm... Maybe I should start a farm or something if I have to go back to my hometown...
Farming in this game is relaxing at best, I'd say. It's not really engaging enough to call it "fun", but it is crucial to the game's innate formula.
But I don't really think this is the time to drop an essay on game design in farming sims or something. I also lack such an essay, and if I keep writing I'll hit the character
DANNY: Thanks!
I buy some turnip seeds as it's extremely more efficient to buy them than make them.
I forget to buy cooking oil though.
LARA: Are you all right? If you're not feeling well, it is best to go to sleep.
No need to worry, but some cooked fish and/or a bath and Bush will be ready for more progress!
KANNO: Hello, Bush.
KANNO: Do you have some time to listen to me?
------------------------
1. Yes.
2. Not now.
------------------------
Why not?
KANNO: Thanks...
KANNO: Cinnamon just loves magic. She helped her parents out with their research many times.
KANNO: But everyone became frantic when Cinnamon made her own original magic. She was considered a prodigy.
KANNO: That's it for today. I'll continue some other time.
Well, we got some backstory info, so that's neat. I'll keep on trying to get his friendship up so we can learn some more.
Back to the farm for now it is.
60 glasses of tomato juice and 27 ears of corn go into the shipping bin for a total of 21450g!
We'll be rolling in this kind of profit every two days from now on.
Oh, hey, unnamed girl.
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: This served as temporary housing until the church was built. I can't always use the sleeping bag.
BUSH: Oh... so where is it?
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, Bush. It's right in front of you.
BUSH: Huh...? This?
*Our view focuses on Mist's house*
MYSTERY GIRL: It's only a makeshift place, but this is my home. I will pray here every day while preparing to build the church.
MYSTERY GIRL: You should come visit sometimes, Bush.
Uh, sure. Apparently she lives in Mist's house then. I'd still say it's more than "makeshift".
MYSTERY GIRL: Where is your home, Bush?
BUSH: My home? It's right over there.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, so you were my neighbor! I had always wondered who was there. I didn't notice at all!
I'm trying to figure out how I never saw you in the first few weeks, lady.
MYSTERY GIRL: Please come to visit at any time.
Um, sure. I'll do that.
Can I have your name yet?
...No?
CINNAMON: The Kingdom of Norad has a lot of magic laboratories, but researching magic that hurts people should never be done.
A bit out of the blue, Cinnamon, but I suppose this is in reference to the Sechs Empire. This is kinda their wheelhouse, aside from tanks and other assorted magitek that is.
UZUKI: This is the first time I have touched moving waves. Tey are much stronger than I thought.
I already can't remember if we've already seen Uzuki's swimsuit. I'm going to assume we've seen all of them at this point. It's odd not seeing her in the poofy shrine clothing.
I suppose this also means that Uzuki isn't from a seaside part of Not-Japan.
While I'm here, I get some various sea fish. It's mostly Needlefish though. They're not very good food and they don't sell well, so they're mostly gift fodder like the sardines.
Blowfish (52cm) Lv:3 was caught.
This happens to be quite a good catch though. Blowfish are valuable on their own, but even moreso when cut into sashimi.
MELODY: Say, Bush, aren't you going to try to make potions with herbs? It's fun!
Eeeeeeeventually. I'll get a lot of fish together, buy a bunch of herbs, and grind pharmacy to sky high levels at some later point. I'll just turn on some F-Zero and the emulation speed up to 200%.
MELODY: I saw an interesting hot spring in a river once. The water still flowed but you could still take a bath, too.
How fast was the river moving though? I'd presume not that fast, but whitewater rapids bathing spots don't sound out of place when you consider this one is supplied by a sentient, flying, whale-shaped island.
Been a long time since I've heard Melody do her humming. It's really nice!
Refreshed from a bath, Bush tries his hand at preparing extremely poisonous blowfish. It's pretty good food, but I care more about it's value.
Fugu Sashimi Lv:3 was synthesized.
I also make another one. These are worth almost 1000g each.
Some more tomato juice later, Bush is all the way up to 70 cooking!
There is a method for my madness in doing this, I assure you.
Our new total value in the shipping bin for today 27346g, gained from some more tomato juice, some pickles, a lot of monster tears, and some raw fish.
BUSH: Selphy, you're not going to clean up the library?
SELPHY: About that... Hm, what to do...
SELPHY: I've never cleaned anything up before and it's just a huge pain.
This plot thread will resolve... at some point.
But not today!
For now, more ocean fishing...
And time to talk to Iris.
IRIS: It seems I'm a night person so I sleep during the day. I apologize if you happen to come by when I'm in bed.
IRIS: I get so sleepy when I'm under the sun.
I know those sorts of drowsy days.
I head off to the Tail Tree again today, but while I do, here's a quick look at Bush's current stats.
Max HP: 212
(Combat stats with the Hell Branch equipped)
Atk: 98
Def: 133
Mag: 146
Str: 28
Vit: 29
Int: 32
Agl: 29
-Skills-
Weapons: 21
Magic: 27
Farming: 35
Lumber: 30
Hammer: 21
Fish: 18
Cook: 70
Lab: 7
Forging: 22
Crafts 10
Today Bush takes the fight to the Manticts!
...Still, without a higher MAG, the Hell Branch isn't that great.
Our tried and true Earth Wand does us well here.
Through careful application of magic, we get a level up and get fully restored. Really the Earth Wand and the classic Fire Rod are all we need sometimes.
I had to send Pony back though, so progress up the tree won't be easy.
This thing is absolutely littered with portals, but of more important note is this steeper ramp. You can't run up it, but you can sure slide down it later.
The same goes for this one. The enemy unable to reach us here is a Beetle. It's main attacks are a flying charge, and a standing stab with the horn on it's head.
They hurt quite a bit, but they're pretty slow. They're not the danger here.
Say I was to theoretically keep running at this point...
So, you know those giant fruit I mentioned?
They come rolling down and they hurt.
A LOT.
Bush can survive it at max health, but 186 damage is nothing to laugh at. You have to time your ascent up the tree to avoid these, and hide in the small nooks created by the steep ramps.
Shrimp Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise!
I instead opt to spend the rest of the night cooking instead. It's a lot safer!
that's some tiny sashimi by the way
I end up sticking about 4500g worth of food into the shipping bin.
I make some yarn...
Then Bush heads to sleep!
This update was all over the place. Will the coming days be more focused?
You'll just have to read the next update!
See you then.
I too wake up in the morning, don a scarf and knit hat in Summer heat, and then proceed to stare at my wall with an oversized axe in hand.
Truly Bush is a most relatable man.
It's a rainy Thursday!
That means it's time for some guest music!
Rune Factory 3 - SummerHave this recording of RF3's summer theme. Rain sounds that may or may not just be recording static included!
it's probably that the rain is built into the soundfont and remains a constantly playing track in most songs so that you could have music and rain without one having to cancel the other out, just using the track volume variable to hide it on normal days, but whatever
We brush our pets for 1 hour each once a day- the defined rules Bush seems to quote if I try to do more brushing.
Luckily, time doesn't move indoors so this doesn't consume our entire day.
(it doesn't take one hour even if you do it outside)
Do note how I didn't say the rain would absolve us of our farming duties today.
The tomatoes have finally bore fruit, and what a massive harvest and time sink it'll be!
BUSH: Gobbs, I'm counting on you!
I go back set Gobbs to help us with harvesting.
BUSH: Maybe I should have Grant harvest crops instead.
It's at this point I need to restate that I never really used monster farming in this game before this LP. Apparently, only one monster can be assigned to any job type, which means that having two harvesters is completely redundant.
Oh well, woulda coulda shoulda, we'll just let our Ant do the job. Gobbs can go and keep doing goblin things.
What are goblin things? I dunno, I'm no goblin.
Mmm... cave strawberries.
Then I remembered that I forgot about Anette. Whoops!
I catch up with her at the clock tower at about 7:25 AM.
ANETTE: It's so hot! I just hate it.
I love the delivery on this line. Just the perfect, far too relatable level of being completely fed up with the heat.
She doesn't end up having anything else of interest to say, so I opt to follow her on the mail route to see if any new dialogue shows up there.
ANETTE: Kanno! You've got mail!
ANETTE: ...
ANETTE: By the way, I've never seen this clock move at all. Does it even work?
nope
But first, a brief detour!
CINNAMON: It's fun when the three of us talk about magic... I think.
Our resident caffiene deprived college student is out of her room early, I guess due to the rain. She's always at this desk on rainy days.
I gave her a fish. I don't know what she does with them, and I don't ask!
The Runeys are growing nicely in the prosperity zones. As a reminder, I'll want to run them to 50/50/50/40+ so that they'll grow to 60/60/60/40+-2 each day. The Water Runeys will mostly serve to run the grass farm, while the others stockpile to eventually make more prosperity regions.
Anyways, back to mail at the Ann.net.
ANETTE: Stella. You got mail! ♪
ANETTE: I feel myslf straightening up unconsciously when I come here. It is the church after all.
ANETTE: Melody, you got mail! ♪
ANETTE: It's a letter from Mei!
Mei is the first girl in the series from the Eastern "not-Japan" setting. An unaging spy looking to gather information on the movements of the Sechs Empire, she had a holiday all to herself as well as the unique marriage requirement of a level 80 Lover Snapper. It's an incredibly rare fish with a normally impossible level, only obtainable through trading.
Despite being over a century old, she's not the oldest bachelorette in the series.
She shows up again at random in RF3's Miyako Inn where she's capable of changing your name, if so desired. Yue from RF2 also shows up there and is much more useful.
ANETTE: Here's your mail, Danny.
ANETTE: A lot of care seems to have been put in that letter. Is it from your little brother?
More hints to the fact that Danny has a large family. Unfortunately, he's too busy having conflicting opinions about the weather and being bad at business to give us the details.
ANETTE: For days with this kind of weather it's... "Milk" time!
At some point I ought to test if giving her the food she mentions is worth any more LP.
ANETTE: Wow, thanks! I love milk.
Doing this now doesn't net me any more LP as I've already gifted her a strawberry earlier, but she does have a different line for it.
MIST: Mermaids are nice. They get to swim around in the ocean all summer long. I wish I were a mermaid, too...
MIST: Oh, but they have to be in the ocean even in winter. How careless of me.
This is the first mention of mermaids in the series, and the first and only one arrives in the following game.
Mermaids in fact, do not have to be in the ocean during winter; however, life still isn't all fun and games for them in a lot of ways.
TURNER: I feel lonely on days like this because I have no one to exchange cooking info with...
TURNER: Don't misunderstand. It's not that I'm sad because I don't get to talk to young girls.
yeah okay whatever
Also Bush is a level 60 cook who does most of his work through pure experimentation, I'm sure he's got at least something to talk about on this.
UZUKI: We have rain today. It is a blessing from the heavens.
The heavens must hate the soundtrack then.
UZUKI: I meet Anette every morning so we often speak to each other.
...But you didn't meet this morning. I was there!
UZUKI: It seems that you are becoming more skilled with the sword.
UZUKI: But I am also training each day so it will be a while until you catch up.
In a normal scenario, I'd say that she'd win anyways because of the range her naginata affords, but the spear moveset is bad in the land of Norad.
Also, Bush uses mostly magic, so, uh...
TSUBUTE: Graaagh!
We'll call it a future draw.
EUNICE: I got this desk from my father. He'd been using it for years before I got it.
EUNICE: It's old, but it's a very nice desk.
I've got some wooden chairs like that.
EUNICE: It feels like there are a lot more bonuses and better service at the bathhouse recently.
EUNICE: I wonder if something good happened to Melody.
I'd say finally being able to start working towards your life's dream is something good.
Also I will not accept the notion that the service could be any better, as that would suggest it was not already perfect to begin with.
ganesha why are you still talking about the green ruins
that's super old news
In lieu of the kids having nothing new to say, I'll just note that Candy and Marco are sorta the last time this character archetype pair shows up in this series.
Ceci and Nicholas in RF1, Cammy and Roy in RF2, then these two. In RF3, it's just Monica by herself, with no counterpart.
ROSETTA: Oh, by the way, I never liked drinking milk.
ROSETTA: I know I shouldn't be picky about food, but I just can't drink it.
I always just disliked the aftertaste, personally.
ROSETTA: When it rains, you don't have to water your fields. You're probably thinking you have it easy, don't you?
yeah kinda
ROSETTA: Right now, I'm thinking of ways to increase the store's revenue.
ROSETTA: Say, Bush. Tell me if you come up with anything.
Sell that snake oil again
please
more INT is just really good please understand
Shock and awe! I don't have a prepared rice ball for Selphy today!
I'll be back in a few minutes.
STELLA: Eunice is good at cooking and cleaning. She certainly is a girl, after all.
um ok
STELLA: It must be hard working as both a nurse and a sister, but Lara is doing really well.
I don't know if anyone in town really needs medical attention that often. I suppose Selphy is enough of a problem patient though.
LARA: Doing research on herbs while speaking with Cinnamon and Melody...
LARA: ...can be much more fun that simply reading medical books alone. Bush, would you like to join?
BUSH: No, thanks...
Aw, c'mon Bush, you're no fun. This'd be a great side event.
BUSH: You wake up so early every day, Lara.
LARA: I suppose so. I have to sweep around the church and also place some flowers so I have to wake early.
LARA: I'm still in training so I have to make myself useful to Sister Stella.
Does Lara wake earlier than Bush?
We may never know.
SELPHY: The other day, I read a book about a magical organism that absorbs Runes.
SELPHY: Legends are usually based on fact.
SELPHY: But I think this Rune-sucking magical creature is way out there.
Same here. There's no way this could ever be relevant.
Nothing new in the manor, so it's off to go do other stuff today.
To start, I opt to put my homestead back into prosperity. It doesn't take many to put it there, and since it never decays. I don't have to manage it.
Up to Whale Island! We've got a new region to explore.
WHALE: "Bush..."
But first, it seems the Whale has something to say to us.
BUSH: Hello, Whale.
WHALE: "May I ask you for a favor?"
BUSH: ...? What is it?
WHALE: "Do you know about the ancient castle built on my back? That is the castle of the ones known to be, 'the closest to the Spirits.'"
WHALE: "I have told you that the power of the Runes from the castle gave rise to my consciousness."
WHALE: "There is one monster that lives in the water tower of the castle. It said that it wanted to live there because it was comfortable so I let it."
WHALE: "But recently, it must have forgotten that it is on my back and has been getting very violent within that area..."
WHALE: "Bush... Would you please go and punish it?"
BUSH: All right.
WHALE: "Thank you, Bush."
Looks like we got a real quest!
Before we do that though, I go to grind that last piece of grass. Also more free Warrior Proofs from the orc that spawns here.
...Aaaand here it is!
I totally didn't use RNG savestates to manipulate this drop after 30 minutes of savestate abuse. That would be crazy- nay, inconcievable!
We also have tomatoes to harvest up here on Whale Island.
Before we head off on adventure, I plant some extra moondrop. We have to keep up our gift supply. We won't have a better gift for Eunice for quite a long time.
Following the zig-zags of the path to the end, we meet the fish firing squad. This singular spawner puts out 4 fish that try to block your way up the staircase forward.
They're no match for the blazing speed of Pony.
We cross the zone transition... and then...
Ah, a cutscene!
We get a scrolling upwards view of this next area. There's a massive vine/tree thing with a spiral ramp up. There's strange, large yellow fruit at the top of the tree, as well a stone bridge breaking off back to the left far up.
That bridge is our next objective.
BUSH: Wow... I've never seen a Rune cluster that big before...
There does, in fact, happen to be a massive rune at the top of this tree. Imagine the RP restoration if we touched it!
Actually, that might be a bad idea. This thing probably powers the whale's flight.
We are immediately met with new enemies before we can consider ascending the tree.
They hit Pony twice for a total of 320 damage and she's back to the barn.
Welcome to Whale Island - Tail Tree!
These are Manticts, and while they're not terribly durable, they hit like a train unlike anything we've seen up to this point. They also just look like giant mantises.
Their moveset has two abilities. The first attack sends wide arc of 5 crescent wind projectiles for about 60 - 80 damage each. The second attack is a double claw attack. It's about 150 damage a hit and pretty fast.
This all being said, we're out of here. Bush is going to end up in the infirmary if I stay here.
SELPHY: Hey! Buy it before you read it!
hey, i'm going to buy one, i just need to figure out which one
The store owners having little lines while shopping is something added to this game, and it gets carried on in to every game following this in the series. It's a small detail, but I always like it.
It takes 83 skill to make V8 for some reason.
I take a peek at some of the books with savestates, but eventually decide on none of them. Of interest is Gourmet Cooking for 5000g, apparently containing recipes for "exotic light meals". We'll mostly want it at some point for the Relax Tealeaves recipe.
It doesn't actually tell you how to prepare the tea though
I didn't know it at the time, but she sells the basic set/stuff you missed on Tuesdays.
I decide to go ahead and spend some time by helping to collect some of the ready tomatoes. I doubt Grant will be able to harvest them all anyways.
Following that, I make some juice to both grind some Cooking skill and extend the value of our tomatoes.
MELODY: I love "Relax Tea." I drink it while I'm in the bath to relax even more.
This is why we'll eventually want the tea.
MIST: When you sing with a loud voice, it feels really good.
A non-sequitur from Mist isn't really even a non-sequitur. It's just kinda the standard.
Anyways...
HARDCORE TOMATO JUICING TIME
I do this for a while, listening to F-Zero in the background.
BUSH: Looks like Grant is harvesting crops right now.
It doesn't look like that to me! He's just hanging out in the barn.
I think it takes a day for it to properly activate or something. I spent a while fiddling with this trying to figure it out.
It takes me two and a half hours to collect the rest of the tomatoes. Here's to hoping Grant gets to work and spares me from most of this soon enough.
Char (23cm) Lv:2 was caught.
Also a bit of fishing. Aside from just keeping up on gifts for Uzuki and Cinnamon, cooked fish are really good at letting me keep up my RP.
More tomato juicing later, and we've hit Cooking 65!
It's late enough to stop by the bar, so I stock up on chocolate and other stuff. I buy a bit of garlic and flour for Peperonico, a pot dish with lifesteal on it.
I forgot to buy the cooking oil though, so whatever. I'll just get it from Danny's tomorrow.
Before we finish this day off, I head on up to Iris.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Of course!
IRIS: I drew a flower patch this time. What do you think?
BUSH: ...(A flower patch...? It looks like a Fluffy exploded...)
BUSH: You're very good. I think you've gotten much better, Iris.
IRIS: Really?! I'll be sure to draw many more pictures then!
Alas, the only one who has gotten better here is Bush. In the art of... uh, "encouragement".
I guess Fluffy is supposed to be Wooly.
IRIS: I'm enjoying the flower patch that you grew. I really love flowers.
In my defense, tomato flowers and moondrops don't look all that different.
IRIS: Flowers can grow here regardless of the season.
IRIS: Because of that, you can mix and the match spring and summer flowers in any way you like.
Maybe if I end up endlessly rich/out of things to do, I'll make some flower arrangements.
IRIS: Gelwein is a dear friend of mine.
IRIS: Oh... but I think you're just as important to me, Bush.
Well, this relationship has certainly progressed faster than the other girls. LP wise, she's only just a little bit behind Uzuki though.
Selphy is almost at 5 LP, Mist is a little bit over 4 LP, and Melody just behind.
With that, it's time for sleep!
New day!
It's not raining, so...
Music: Summer...here's the Summer theme!
Seems like Anette's been rushed here early again today. I'll give her a breather while I check the mail first.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Help out with the survey, okay?" - Melody~
Thank you for your continued patronage at Laga Springs! ♪
I am writing to you today because I have a question for you.
How is the temperature of the bath at Laga Springs?
Hot? Cold? Perfect?
I'll be waiting for your reply!♪
-----------------------------------------------------
The options are "It is hot," "It is cold," and "It is just right."
The baths are always perfect. I can never complain about a 10g full restore.
My answer should be obvious.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"It has been quite a while." - Tart~
It's been quite a while...
So much time has passed since you've moved.
How are you?
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------
1. You got the wrong person.
2. I am doing well.
----------------------------
You might be wondering who Tart is. In fact, even you're played RF1 you might be wondering who this is.
Tart is the...correct?... name for Torte, the original ellipsis loving, bookish girl of the series. She was the daughter of the inn owner and kinda just hung out in the library. Tart was her name in Japan, and at some point it became the standard, in part thanks to this game's translation differences to it's prequel.
She didn't return for this game because her whole quirk is pretty much handled by Selphy and Cinnamon.
We'll still reply positively to her, otherwise she'll never send us mail again. With my supply of books dwindling, I need mail.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Stars" - $@%&~
Oh, stars in the heavens.
I wish to become a snack shop owner,
so that I may eat snacks all day!
-----------------------------------------------------
If you don't recognize this character... that's because we don't know them.
I guess we're getting Mist's weird mail now or something. This is what seeing the Buffamoo Constellation causes.
BUSH: You were being chased around again, Anette?
ANETTE: Yeah... It's so annoying.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
ANETTE: I'll be fine... So... Please... Let... met rest...
Sure, while that happens, I have corn to harvest.
Corn!
Glorious corn! It'll be regrowing every day from now on I believe, and it's worth 150g. 50g more than strawberries, and at the same regrowth period.
MIST: It's so hot every day.
MIST: Oh, right. Even if you give a gift, if it's something they hate, it'll have the reverse effect, so be careful.
MIST: By the way, I hate Pickled Turnips. Vinegar is just too sour for me.
Mist only appreciates the unmarred turnip; great in its natural beauty. The majestic... turnip.
Cave strawberries and cave cucumbers. Unfortunately, nobody pays extra for these likely impossible inventions of Bush's farmer magic.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to be more cheerful than before.
TABATHA: I believe this is all thanks to you, Bush.
Tabatha's got probably the fanciest swimsuit somehow. You can also see her ears now!
Compare what she looks like normally to this and look at the placement of the ears- you'll never forget it.
And now I set off to make more tomato juice.
I do it until I've drained most of my bars and move on to do some chatting.
BIANCA: The weather is very nice. I surely hope it is like this every day.
BIANCA: I hate the heat.
That's all we're getting out of her today, alas. She really does have some good dialogue, but it's slow coming.
I stop by to gift Kross and Selphy, but there's no new dialogue.
EUNICE: You know the monster "Wooly"?
EUNICE: Their fur is like cotton candy and so fluffy.
EUNICE: Oh! I don't mean I want to eat the fur or anything!
GANESHA: I often go drinking with Turner, Stella, and Kanno.
GANESHA: I thought I held my liquor well, but I just can't beat Stella.
GANESHA: Just between you and me, I hear that Rita can drink us all under the table. She is the bar owner after all.
Drinking yourself under the table is one of the few ways to pass the time in Trampoli.
...These people really need to throw more festivals.
DANNY: Hey, Bush.
DANNY: Is it fun working in the fields?
BUSH: It's hard work but I think it's fun.
DANNY: Hm... Maybe I should start a farm or something if I have to go back to my hometown...
Farming in this game is relaxing at best, I'd say. It's not really engaging enough to call it "fun", but it is crucial to the game's innate formula.
But I don't really think this is the time to drop an essay on game design in farming sims or something. I also lack such an essay, and if I keep writing I'll hit the character
DANNY: Thanks!
I buy some turnip seeds as it's extremely more efficient to buy them than make them.
I forget to buy cooking oil though.
LARA: Are you all right? If you're not feeling well, it is best to go to sleep.
No need to worry, but some cooked fish and/or a bath and Bush will be ready for more progress!
KANNO: Hello, Bush.
KANNO: Do you have some time to listen to me?
------------------------
1. Yes.
2. Not now.
------------------------
Why not?
KANNO: Thanks...
KANNO: Cinnamon just loves magic. She helped her parents out with their research many times.
KANNO: But everyone became frantic when Cinnamon made her own original magic. She was considered a prodigy.
KANNO: That's it for today. I'll continue some other time.
Well, we got some backstory info, so that's neat. I'll keep on trying to get his friendship up so we can learn some more.
Back to the farm for now it is.
60 glasses of tomato juice and 27 ears of corn go into the shipping bin for a total of 21450g!
We'll be rolling in this kind of profit every two days from now on.
Oh, hey, unnamed girl.
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: This served as temporary housing until the church was built. I can't always use the sleeping bag.
BUSH: Oh... so where is it?
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, Bush. It's right in front of you.
BUSH: Huh...? This?
*Our view focuses on Mist's house*
MYSTERY GIRL: It's only a makeshift place, but this is my home. I will pray here every day while preparing to build the church.
MYSTERY GIRL: You should come visit sometimes, Bush.
Uh, sure. Apparently she lives in Mist's house then. I'd still say it's more than "makeshift".
MYSTERY GIRL: Where is your home, Bush?
BUSH: My home? It's right over there.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, so you were my neighbor! I had always wondered who was there. I didn't notice at all!
I'm trying to figure out how I never saw you in the first few weeks, lady.
MYSTERY GIRL: Please come to visit at any time.
Um, sure. I'll do that.
Can I have your name yet?
...No?
CINNAMON: The Kingdom of Norad has a lot of magic laboratories, but researching magic that hurts people should never be done.
A bit out of the blue, Cinnamon, but I suppose this is in reference to the Sechs Empire. This is kinda their wheelhouse, aside from tanks and other assorted magitek that is.
UZUKI: This is the first time I have touched moving waves. Tey are much stronger than I thought.
I already can't remember if we've already seen Uzuki's swimsuit. I'm going to assume we've seen all of them at this point. It's odd not seeing her in the poofy shrine clothing.
I suppose this also means that Uzuki isn't from a seaside part of Not-Japan.
While I'm here, I get some various sea fish. It's mostly Needlefish though. They're not very good food and they don't sell well, so they're mostly gift fodder like the sardines.
Blowfish (52cm) Lv:3 was caught.
This happens to be quite a good catch though. Blowfish are valuable on their own, but even moreso when cut into sashimi.
MELODY: Say, Bush, aren't you going to try to make potions with herbs? It's fun!
Eeeeeeeventually. I'll get a lot of fish together, buy a bunch of herbs, and grind pharmacy to sky high levels at some later point. I'll just turn on some F-Zero and the emulation speed up to 200%.
MELODY: I saw an interesting hot spring in a river once. The water still flowed but you could still take a bath, too.
How fast was the river moving though? I'd presume not that fast, but whitewater rapids bathing spots don't sound out of place when you consider this one is supplied by a sentient, flying, whale-shaped island.
Been a long time since I've heard Melody do her humming. It's really nice!
Refreshed from a bath, Bush tries his hand at preparing extremely poisonous blowfish. It's pretty good food, but I care more about it's value.
Fugu Sashimi Lv:3 was synthesized.
I also make another one. These are worth almost 1000g each.
Some more tomato juice later, Bush is all the way up to 70 cooking!
There is a method for my madness in doing this, I assure you.
Our new total value in the shipping bin for today 27346g, gained from some more tomato juice, some pickles, a lot of monster tears, and some raw fish.
BUSH: Selphy, you're not going to clean up the library?
SELPHY: About that... Hm, what to do...
SELPHY: I've never cleaned anything up before and it's just a huge pain.
This plot thread will resolve... at some point.
But not today!
For now, more ocean fishing...
And time to talk to Iris.
IRIS: It seems I'm a night person so I sleep during the day. I apologize if you happen to come by when I'm in bed.
IRIS: I get so sleepy when I'm under the sun.
I know those sorts of drowsy days.
I head off to the Tail Tree again today, but while I do, here's a quick look at Bush's current stats.
Max HP: 212
(Combat stats with the Hell Branch equipped)
Atk: 98
Def: 133
Mag: 146
Str: 28
Vit: 29
Int: 32
Agl: 29
-Skills-
Weapons: 21
Magic: 27
Farming: 35
Lumber: 30
Hammer: 21
Fish: 18
Cook: 70
Lab: 7
Forging: 22
Crafts 10
Today Bush takes the fight to the Manticts!
...Still, without a higher MAG, the Hell Branch isn't that great.
Our tried and true Earth Wand does us well here.
Through careful application of magic, we get a level up and get fully restored. Really the Earth Wand and the classic Fire Rod are all we need sometimes.
I had to send Pony back though, so progress up the tree won't be easy.
This thing is absolutely littered with portals, but of more important note is this steeper ramp. You can't run up it, but you can sure slide down it later.
The same goes for this one. The enemy unable to reach us here is a Beetle. It's main attacks are a flying charge, and a standing stab with the horn on it's head.
They hurt quite a bit, but they're pretty slow. They're not the danger here.
Say I was to theoretically keep running at this point...
So, you know those giant fruit I mentioned?
They come rolling down and they hurt.
A LOT.
Bush can survive it at max health, but 186 damage is nothing to laugh at. You have to time your ascent up the tree to avoid these, and hide in the small nooks created by the steep ramps.
Shrimp Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise!
I instead opt to spend the rest of the night cooking instead. It's a lot safer!
that's some tiny sashimi by the way
I end up sticking about 4500g worth of food into the shipping bin.
I make some yarn...
Then Bush heads to sleep!
This update was all over the place. Will the coming days be more focused?
You'll just have to read the next update!
See you then.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:35 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Rising up, back in the fieldBlack Robe wrote: That ended up as quite the training montage, where are the power ballads?
Till the earth, chop the branches
Made the money, all the gifts done and dealed
Just a man and his will to befriend
So many times it boils too fast
You cook it, finding just failure
Don't lose your hope to make dishes of the best
You must cook just to not offend
It's the fry of the farmer
It's the cream of the crop
Rising up to the tastes of the master
And the well known charmer
Stalks his prey with fish-chop
And he's gifting us all with the fry of the farmer
And with that...
Update 25: HILTMOALTG
Bush resumes his journey to master chefdom!
It's the weekend today, and it happens to be raining.
Music: Rune Factory 1- SummerIt also means it's time for another guest track! With this, we hearken back to Bush's past.
Well, time for another massive harvest day. Maybe Grant will help out this time?
It's been a long time since I accidentally over cut this strip of grass. I finally got around to sticking some more seeds down to make it look not as bad.
Not like it stops the rest of the field from looking like a mess, but hey every little bit counts.
I clean up some branches and collect the corn personally. Anette didn't come by today, I guess she's got the day off.
We also get some harvests off our monsters today. That's 2 eggs, 2 milk, and 2 wool to go with the rest.
I've not really been doing much with any of these, but rest assured I'll have use for them soon enough.
By the time Bush has finished all his farming chores, it's 10:30 AM. I hit up the Clock Tower first, but nobody has anything new to say, despite even the kids being there for once.
Off to the St. Poli Church then. Maybe we'll finally learn about who it's named after.
BUSH: Stella, who used to live in the house that Mist is in?
STELLA: That's a strange question.
Yeah, what brought that on, Bush?
STELLA: I used to live there. It's been rebuilt numerous times so it was smaller than it is now.
STELLA: Come to think of it, your house was here even before I came to this village.
STELLA: There used to be a boy that I became good friends with who lived there.
Huh. Well that sure is a thonker right there. Thanks, you've made this day significantly more interesting now!
Lara's over here doing her holiday table cleaning. It is very squeaky.
LARA: Please be sure not to overwork yourself.
Hey, Bush has gotten very good about that. It's not like very many benefits to passing out in this game, otherwise I'd be doing it all the time.
Well, maybe not, it does lower her LP.
SELPHY: Wow, I'm tired...
BUSH: What happened?
SELPHY: I was just learning how to clean up from Eunice... but it's so tiring...
BUSH: Is cleaning always this tiring?
BUSH: ...Wait... you had to learn how to clean things up?
Hey, manual labor uses up a lot of RP until you skill it up a bit. Of all people, you should know this, Bush.
SELPHY: Lute asked me to sell him a book the other day.
SELPHY: Do you really think my books will sell? I just don't get how merchants think.
BUSH: I think it will. Your books are very popular.
SELPHY: Really? It feels nice when people tell me that. You're a nice guy.
But, Bush... you haven't even read the book.
Speaking of, when do we get to read it? I'm really regretting reading those last couple of books all at once.
We manage to catch Melody upstairs in the bathhouse, so we can finally get her input on the various furniture spread about it.
BUSH: There are decorative plants.... Are these used for creating some new herb?
MELODY: I sometimes put those in the bath. It helps your circulation.
BUSH: The room is adorned with flowers.
MELODY: They're cute right? I picked them myself.
MELODY: The weather doesn't look very good...
MELODY: Lara learns so fast. I think she'll catch up to me soon. I'm going to try even harder now!
Some things are a lot easier to do when you've got a bit of friendly competition. It's peculiar how much of a driving force it can be.
BUSH: What a beautiful flower...
MELODY: The flowers are different everyday, because I've put them on rotations.
I'm not sure how often people are up here to notice this rotation, but neat.
BUSH: There are a lot of books about magic. Melody must study a lot...
MELODY: I have all these books, but I can't remember anything from them.
relatable
BUSH: Something smells very soothing. There must be herbs inside the stuffed animals.
BUSH: ...
BUSH: Zzz...
Music: Goodnight
MELODY: Good morning, Bush! ♪
BUSH: Huh?! I fell asleep.
I just love how they go as far to fade out the screen and play the sleep jingle for this.
Melody's also surprisingly chill about Bush passing out on her bed for like, half a minute. What I wouldn't give to have herbs that make me fall asleep this easily.
Anyways, onto the most important person of the day:
Lute, mate, whatcha got for me today?!
LUTE: Don't you think Summer is a dangerous season?
BUSH: Why is that?
LUTE: Because I'm traveling in this heat...
LUTE: In this heat, the monsters will come inside my canteen.
BUSH: ...
BUSH: Hahaha... really?
LUTE: Yeah. Monsters don't like the heat either.
I was thinking mostly along the lines of heatstroke, but yeah, the monsters are a problem too.
LUTE: The other day, I was sketching on the small island in the lake and I found this little sprout.
LUTE: I was touched to see how even that tiny island is filled with life.
LUTE: Bush, weren't you good at caring for plants? Would you please care for it once in a while? Like watering it and stuff.
Yeah sure, anything for you dude.
(it's also because i've been waiting for this to happen)
Unfortunately, Lute isn't offering the Oven today. I really need that thing to start making more favorite gifts for the girls.
Ah, well, we've got 36,000g in pocket right now, I just go ahead and buy the steamer. I never use the steamer for anything in these games, but there it is.
I also nab the Maestro Forge while we're here, at a grand price of 28,000g. This expands our forging ability to work with the full number of materials now, so no piece of equipment is out of reach for Bush.
Danny's store is closed today. Huh.
I find Rosetta up in her room, sitting on her bed.
BUSH: This couch looks like it'd be comfy to sleep on.
ROSETTA: You better not fall asleep there. I did once and I got so sick!
It's those microorganisms, girl. If you sleep anywhere that's not an officially sanctioned sleeping device, you usually get a cold.
There's nothing else in the room to inspect, so I guess we're doing more of the bed thing.
BUSH: Wait, no... I'd probably get smacked...
ROSETTA: Why you...
ROSETTA: I'm speechless.
Apparently we don't get smacked. Huh.
MIST: You're always outside, so I'm sure you will get very tanned, Bush.
Unfortunately, Bush will remain a pasty anime boy his entire life. Not even a farmer's tan for our farming prodigy.
TSUBUTE: Bush! Look at this!
BUSH: Are these... clothes?
TSUBUTE: This is called a "Jinbaori". In my country, this is considered formal wear for war.
TSUBUTE: Milady made this with her very own hands and presented to me! I am the luckiest man in all of the three kingdoms!
UZUKI: Tsubute, you are always overreacting.
The jinbaori is specifically the sleeveless overcoat that samurai wear. It's that little blue and black thing he's got on.
Also, it's just nice to see Tsubute not being an overprotective grouch, just tiny samurai cricket dad.
I gave Eunice the last flower I had left, and all I got was the generic line
However, I do manage to catch Kross inside his house for the first time. Time to get his input on the stuff sitting around in here.
BUSH: It's a blueprint of furniture and tools. I had no idea Kross could make stuff like this. He's so talented...
KROSS: Heh... As they say, "Necessity is the mother of invention." No one in this town does carpentry, so I had to learn, that's all.
Understandable! Even moreso when nobody notices you exist...
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: If you open that, you won't be able to go back to the way things were. Still want to open it...?
That's a very serious statement for your... wardrobe. Eh, I'm not gonna pry.
Kross only responds to the bed inspect with "that's fine."
He's such a chill dude.
BUSH: The books are mostly about architecture with some others about war chronicles.
KROSS: Bush, you shouldn't pry into people's secrets like that.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: You can't base your actions on curiosity alone. You'll never have enough time to find out everything.
damn i really need to take that advice
too bad it's probably never gonna stick
BUSH: There's a blueprint of various buildings.
BUSH: I wonder what this building is. It almost looks like a castle...
Kross responds with the same advice he gave when we looked at the books. It's good advice, I don't mind.
ERIK: Young man! Crops in the field will wither at the end of a season! You must be careful!
erik please
i know how farming works already, tell me something else
is this revenge for not covering your tutorial dialogue
Bianca's sitting at this table today. Yesterday she was at the identical table set on the other side of the manor.
I guess this is her Holiday table or something.
BIANCA: I'm bored. Do you know of anything fun to do?
I dunno, that's why I'm talking to you.
I reckon I oughta go see that little sprout at Lake Poli that Lute done told me about.
I opt to have Bush water it.
Don't worry about the fact that it's already raining.
It grew! Who could've guessed?
BUSH: ...Can I climb it?
Sure can, my friend!
You might remember from some earlier update where I noted how Whale Island flies above the lake on Holidays.
With this grown, we can now officially visit Whale Island every day of the week.
I never got this in my original playthrough, and I don't really know what triggers it exactly. I believe it's a mix of FP with Lute and Iris, plus seeing the "I found a strange seed" from Mist.
Also, since it drops us off beside Iris's tower, it puts it near a lot of the places we'd want to visit anyways.
Of note is also that the Return warp brings us outside and a bit to the right of the tower, and luckily not at the usual entrance.
Back home we go! I've gotta burn five hours before Iris even wakes up.
MIST: I don't have much to do when it rains so I came to visit. Was I being a bother?
I thought you spent rainy days plugging holes in a leaky ceiling.
Here's our fancy new Maestro forge. It looks very... industrial.
I believe the Bubble Staff is really what we'll be wanting next, despite sporting a massive skill requirement of 60 to use properly, and 45 forging just to make. It's also the only other water staff in the game because new spells are hard, I guess.
(water's pretty bad after Lava Ruins anyways)
Still, those Magic Crystals elude me, as well as most of the gem types.
I'll have to see what I can do about it.
Oh, and here's the steamer I bought.
I'll probably never use it, but it's there!
Outside I find that most of my tomatoes are gone! Who could have done this!?
Oh, it's just Grant doing his work. Good job buddy!
He seems to just kinda move forward and harvest 1x2s in puffs of green smoke and not much fanfare.
Still, he saved me easily hours in the day, so I'm not gonna complain.
Everything he harvests just warps to the shipping bin which is mostly convenient. If you've got anything you don't want shipped you have to either pick it yourself, or get back before 5:00 PM so Rosetta doesn't take it to be sold.
I naturally take all the tomatoes to convert into juice, for both more money and more cooking skill.
The recipe I still desire lies outside of my grasp. Had I the right cookbook, I could have made it all the way back at 60 cooking, but Selphy's not selling it and I am nothing if not stubborn. I will just to grind up to 80 then, as you can't attempt a recipe you don't know unless you match the skill level.
That means one thing...
*HARDCORE JUICING TIME*
Because the HP and RP won't hold out forever, this also includes
*HIGHLY RISKY FISHING*
Raw seafood expertly prepared on the brink of exhaustion powers Bush's efforts to defy the normalization of cookbooks.
Actually, Bush just eats that and use what it gives me to catch more fish. It's 3:00 PM, and he can just go get a bath.
Of course, not before putting a hole in the floor with our hammer. Gotta grind every last little bit of skill.
Grilled Char Lv:6 was synthesized with expertise!
That is Char as in the fish. They're basically a sub-branch of salmon.
Catching higher level fish does result in drastically better RP restoration from the cooked food though.
This is only worth 127 RP though because char are bad.
Who cares about +10 magic, I can easily get better with other recipes.
For the majority of this playthrough, Chub have been my mainstay. They don't sell for much, but they've got real good RP restoration. I can even catch them in the Summer as the fish in this game aren't as strictly locked to seasons as the earlier entries.
Now that I have bestowed this wicked useful knowledge unto you, it's time to resume
BLENDING
A couple minutes later, and over 80 glasses of tomato juice go into the shipping bin.
I have no idea who Rosetta sells all this to.
It's at this point I also remember that I have 36 ears of corn I need to do something with.
Corn Flakes Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Corn and milk in the frypan lets Bush somehow make this. It's decent HP restoration, pretty good RP restoration, and defends against being sealed, but I want to save my milk for other stuff.
So I just start throwing the corn in the pan without the milk to get popcorn.
Popcorn Lv: 2 was synthesized with expertise!
Popcorn's not nearly as good as a food as the flakes, but 100 RP out of 500 isn't terrible.
It's only worth 30g more than the raw ear though.
They do happen to be jumbo buckets bigger than Bush's head though, so it's pretty funny when he just dives his head in while chewing.
I don't know where the bucket actually came from though. Did Bush somehow farmer magick it out of the corn shucks?
And with many more kernels popped, we reach a fateful moment
Cooking Skill 80
Once again, Rice and Milk go into a pot...
It's a very small success range, but Bush can't afford to mess this up...!
Oatmeal Lv: 1 was synthesized.
I never thought Oatmeal would feel like such an achievement.
Also, yes, all this work has been for oatmeal. The title of this update is an acronym for "How I Learned To Make Oatmeal And Love The Grind", not just me rubbing my hand against the keyboard.
I should totally do that for an update name though.
(why does it take 80 cooking to mush some rice in a pot)
Statistically, it's a bit better healing and a bit worse on RP than cornflakes. The Max HP+40 is maybe worth something, but in general that's not really why I've bothered with this food.
This happens to be Tabatha's favorite gift, so that makes two girls we can seriously accelerate the LP gain for.
If Lute was selling an oven I'd be rolling various cakes and pies right now, those being predominantly the favorite gifts of most girls, but here we are.
All that popcorn, juice, pickles, day old fish, and random cave strawberries amount to 31,881g as income for the day.
We just made back everything we spent today, basically.
Guess what we're gonna go do with it?
If you guessed "spend it all at our boy's shop" then you guessed right!
the reward is rice oatmeal
enjoy
We buy the Chef's Kitchen and the Fridge for 18,000g. The former improves our cutting board, and the latter gives me space to stick all those perishable things Bush carries around endlessly.
It'll open up a lot of space in his inventory, that's for sure.
I wasn't able to locate Tabatha, so her gifts will have to wait until tomorrow.
It is time to drop by Iris though.
Disappointingly, she doesn't say anything new.
Our new fridge is pretty neat.
It serves as a great plae to show off Bush's weed collection. We're up to 143!
It is now at this point I need to make a revision to the last update. I did in fact buy the Gourmet Cooking book. I thought I just left without it.
Of great note is the recipe for Tea Leaves. This takes 1 blue grass, 2 purple grass, 1 red grass, 1 yellow grass, and 1 orange grass and turns them into an item worth their total buying price.
It only heals 5 hp too. That's all it does when eaten.
It is, however, a skill 88 recipe with an incredibly cheap material cost, so it'll easily carry us to full mastery of cooking.
At 95 cooking, we can finally take these leaves and make them into the fabled Relax Tea, Melody's favorite gift and a strong food item in it's own right.
Flounder (44cm) Lv:4 was caught.
Alas, such wanton cookery will have to wait until another day, likely tomorrow.
Seeing as how I spent nearly 90 screenshots on one day, I might just have to call this one another short one.
For now, Bush takes a much needed rest after the brutal trials of learning how to make oatmeal.
Tomorrow, we start on Summer 8th, a Monday.
It being the 8th means I also have to begrudgingly start caring about Runeys again so...
yaaaaaaaaay...
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 26: How To Spend An Exorbitant Amount Of Money On Grass
Have an early update, and not because I accidentally hit "post" instead of "preview"!
A new day today, and it's raining again!
Music: Rune Factory 4 - Summer
Here's a 30 minute loop of RF4's summer theme as our guest track today.
I need to find more watery themes. If you know of any good water or summer themes that'd fit for more days like these, send 'em my way.
Because there's not much for me to harvest this morning, I decide to follow Anette around on her route for the first three houses. We don't really see the dialogue for those too much.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you ♪;" - Melody~
Thanks for sending me a "Black Grass".
Bush, you are probably the only one that understands my research.
I must thank you for being so helpful all the time.
Let's see...
Well, I'll think about this one.
I may not come up with anything, though ♪;
-----------------------------------------------------
I did send that Black grass in last update, but I'll be honest and say I don't know when. Couldn't find it in my recordings.
Bush doesn't really understand Melody's research, he's got like 5 skill in the pharmaceutical arts, but he's just nonetheless supportive.
This was probably the closest we'll get to a request chain in this game, so, uh, yay?
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you for your participation ♪;" - Melody~
Thank you for participating in the survey ♪;
I'll be sure to take your suggestions into considerations
for making a better bathhouse, so come aggain, okay ♪;
-----------------------------------------------------
Melody was all in on using the quaver as punctuation when she wrote this. I guess it checks out, her name being Melody and all.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Caught a huge one." - Cinnamon~
I caught a big one. I made a mold of the fish and let it go.
Do you think you can catch one bigger than mine?
-----------------------------------------------------
Oh, so that's what she does with the fish.
um how did you do that with it alive
EDIT:
It's probably not clay molds either, it's probably this:
ANETTE: Erik, you've got mail.
ANETTE: The package from Erik is really big. What could it be?
ANETTE: I got it! It's vegetables! Is he sending them to his mother?
ANETTE: I'm hungry... I'll get Erik to treat me to breakfast later!
Mom's gotta have her greens, I guess. This is also your hint to the fact Anette sometimes hangs out in Erik's house.
ANETTE: There's no one here but I hear voices... Is it a monster?
This scene is only more depressing when you consider Kross's dialogue about wanting to be a monster.
ANETTE: Bianca! Tabatha! You got mail!
ANETTE: So this letter is from Bianca's father. He must be a really nice father.
Jasper is the coolest. In part for just being a fun character in a game filled with not a lot of outstanding dialogue, but also because he's Jasper.
Also, it plays the manor theme just for this, which is neat.
Following this, Bush goes about manually collecting the corn. I could've let Grant do this but, uh, I don't really know why I did this.
As I will later find out, doing this was a good idea!
pet ze animals
TABATHA: Thank you very much. I really love rice porridge. It's good for your health, too.
Yeah, I don't know why they didn't call it rice porridge in game, makes more sense than oatmeal, which is supposed to be made with oats. We can really only chalk it down to another translation oddity.
People in the thread have informed me that it's called porridge in Tides of Destiny, so I guess they eventually got it right.
BIANCA: The weather is terrible. Do something about it.
Unfortunately, any changes that Bush can make to the weather are not immediate. He can change the weather, this is true.
BIANCA: You're always wearing the same clothes... You smell...
BUSH: Oh... Really?! But aren't you wearing the same thing all the time, too?
BIANCA: I never wear the same thing twice. I like the design of this outfit so I had hundreds of it made for me.
BUSH: Oh...
I can easily see how people might find Bianca to be an unbearable snob, but I find it hilarious. This one's also just a really strong opener for poking fun at the fact nobody has different clothing.
A lot of her conversations will follow this sort of formula, similar to Iris and her drawings.
BIANCA: Why, thank you. It's a bit meager for a birthday present, but I will still accept it.
As far as I know, there's nothing you could give her to elicit more of a reaction. I'm pretty sure you could hand her a piece of platinum or a diamond and she'd say the same.
She is halfway to the first LP point at least. That's not bad for what, 6 days?
MIST: Did I mention the rustling around my house?
MIST: It turns out a duck has moved into the lake near my garden.
BUSH: Duck...? Aren't Ducks monsters? It's dangerous!
MIST: It seems pretty tame so it should be all right.
The disco exploding ducks are no joke.
of course, that's why she wants one
MIST: It waddles around with its short feet and looks so cute. It became even more friendly when I started feeding it.
well, uh
i guess you done tamed a monster
we don't really do it that way until the next installment, but congrats
TURNER: Ganesha is really good at what she does.
TURNER: But she won't even sharpen your kitchen knife if you don't take the materials to her.
TURNER: That's why if you have any extra, can you give them to me? Like iron, copper, and silver... Thanks.
[Sharpen: Kitchen Knife] 5g, your mats only
I don't know if I've transcribed this dialogue before, but if I have, here it is again.
Believe it or not, Turner's favorite gift is not food. It happens to be a max skill requirement item, as to what though, I'll leave that for later.
RITA: Bush, do you have any "Wine"?
RITA: Don't show me any "Wine" while I'm working. I'll confiscate it.
Under what authority? You'll never find my secret supply regardless!
Actually this is just to tell you that her favorite gift is wine. Who would've guessed?
I don't have a gift for Eunice today, the flowers should be done growing on Whale Island by this point, but I just wanted to stop and note that her singing is really pretty.
EUNICE: It's raining. I don't really like it because I can't do the laundry.
It's also been raining for two days straight, so that can't be great for the laundry.
Maybe wind magic could help? Maybe an Earth Crystal?
EUNICE: Dad was being yelled at by Mom again the other day.
BUSH: Turner is so whipped.
EUNICE: But they still get along really well. I wish I had someone like that.
uhhhhhhhh
In lieu of addressing the other concerning matter here, I hope you find someone Eunice.
just maybe not exactly like your parents though
EUNICE: Speaking of which...
EUNICE: I heard you stayed at the church when you first came to the village.
BUSH: Well, at the time, I didn't have any money...
EUNICE: Oh, really? But I wished you would have stayed at our inn.
Just that casual lie there to cover up the fact that cutscene Bush is terrible at navigation.
I still question how you ended up at the church, man.
ROSETTA: Recently, I've been selling the leftover stock near closing time for cheap. This actually got really popular.
BUSH: Oh, really? Then I'll go right before closing time from now on, too.
ROSETTA: What are you talking about? Seeds last really long, so I'm not going to discount those.
This is a reference to a thing that's apparently common for stores carrying produce to do in Japan. I don't know if it has a special name or anything, all I know is that it exists.
Edit: Raitzeno informs me that these are usually translated as "time limited sales", and that they usually see them for baked goods more than anything else.
DANNY: It's so hot. I hope it'll be autumn soon.
Sorry, but we've still got 22 days to go, dude.
DANNY: Hey, Bush. Try giving Erik a turnip next time.
DANNY: He's gonna be so happy he'll cry.
Nice try, Danny, but you're not going to troll Bush. We've already terrified Erik with a turnip once before.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Buffamoo~
"The Buffamoo is a summer constellation that appears a little after midnight. It may be a good sight to see while taking a walk on a sleepless night."
-----------------------------------------------------
The event for this constellation will take a while to resolve, as we'll need to get a few more strange letters before Bush says anything.
It's nice to have something to read again though. I've weirdly come to look forward to these, whereas before I was kicking myself when I had to transcribe 5 page long books.
SELPHY: The books can get moldy when it rains so often so I hate it.
Ambient humidity and mold is just the worst. I live in a humid region, which aside from being annoying on breathing some days, usually causes some sort of mold problem in the home at least once or twice a year.
just the absolute worst
BUSH: Maybe it's the clock's parts? I've never seen it actually working...
KANNO: That's broken. Apparently it just cannot be repaired.
Um, weren't you brought here to fix it?
KANNO: I wake up here, eat, then do research.... This is the perfect life for me.
Well, good for you, I guess?
CINNAMON: You can see the "Elephant Constellation" now.
BUSH: "Elephant Constellation" seems to have a lot of syllables.
CINNAMON: Elephants are animals that have numerous legends all around the world.
CINNAMON: You can see the Elephant Constellation relatively early. Look...
I like how Bush's input is just "wow, that's a mouthful". Maybe it was a more insightful thing in the Japanese version? I dunno.
The Elephant constellation corresponds to Bianca, and it's a fun little event. It'll take me a while to catch it though, as it's very easy to miss it with Whale Island shenanigans at the end of every day.
CINNAMON: In this season, you can see the "Wooly Constellation."
BUSH: That sounds like a very cute constellation.
CINNAMON: ...I guess. The Wooly Constellation is a bit weird because it can only be seen late at night if you have a monster with you.
It's a very late constellation, but we'll be sure to see it. It corresponds to Tabatha, but also helps us befriend a monster.
The Runey Situation is doing okay for the time being. I'd have to manually track how much I have to skim off the top off of every zone if I mess with it right now. I'm mostly waiting for them to grow to the 50/50/50/?? range, as I just need to skim 9-10 each day from them afterwards.
Of course I still opted to mess with it for some reason.
Keeping spreadsheets on index cards, yaaaaaay
Oh, and here the explosive device hanging out in Mist's yard. It mostly paddles around in the little pond. That's all.
grass_management.jpg
Enough time passes for Selphy to be working the front desk at the library, so I head back there.
SELPHY: You know...
SELPHY: Don't you get annoyed by the gap between what people want you to be and who you really are?
SELPHY: You don't... I guess you wouldn't...
There's not a choice here, it's just implied Bush answers no. I just imagine Bush just giving a blank stare at Selphy for an awkward amount of time.
I buy the Cont'd: It's Hot!, the intermediate pot recipe book for 2500g. There's some lifedrain dishes I'm looking to make, and I'll need the book if I want to make them at level 2. Without the book, the meters cap out with expert crafts being a nearly frame perfect input that I'd rather not bother with.
I also buy Axe Fan Weekly for 8000g, the book containing all the axe recipes. The formatting on the description is broken and only tells us that "This is the only".
I also scoop up Neck Accentuation for 5000g, "an advanced guide to making neck accessories. Why not just say necklaces...?"
There's some good stuff in there we'll be able to make.
New recipes in hand, we head back to the house.
Peperoncino is some good stuff to make, and the only reason why I bought an upgraded pot to begin with.
It's made only from garlic, cooking oil, and flour, all bought materials. It heals for 50, RP restore for 150, gives +40 max HP as well as the very good HP Absorption effect.
The majority of the neckwear is various necklaces, but there's some other interesting things.
Like Critical 7 for instance, which boosts critical chance, and gives +17 ATK, +77 DEF, +77 MAG.
That's way away from now though.
We've also got a great many axes now at our disposal. There's some good fire element ones later, but for now we've got two real good ones lined up.
First is Alldale, a big ol' golden axe and a series staple. It has a higher level charge attack, an ATK of 80, alongside a new effect of Seal Attack 100%.
That means all swings with this weapon are highly likely to seal our enemies, cutting off a lot of their more annoying attacks. It'll be great to have around for pretty much the whole game.
Requiring some more interesting materials, is the Crescent Axe with it's 30% chance to paralyze and built-in HP Absorption.
It needs some more unusual materials: a Great Axe, Silver, Glittering Edge, and a Moondrop.
We'll have both of these axes in not too long though.
The highest level axe is Executioner with an absolutely terrifying 226 base damage.
The nice thing is that all of these later axes like Heat Hawk and Double Edge are made from these early axes.
The upgrade tree is mostly this:
Normal Axes -> Alldale -> Demon Axe -> Executioner
Normal Axes -> Flame Axe -> Heat Hawk
Normal Axes -> Tomahawk -> Heat Hawk
Normal Axes -> Crescent Axe -> Double Edge.
MIST: That's a wonderful Yarn Ball.
Apparently Mist comments on whatever you make with your various maker machines. I suppose she's impressed with the technology as it's not like Bush does anything but stare at the maker while it churns for a moment.
We've got a lot of yarn balls, and the best way to spend those right now is on Knit Scarves, a pretty good piece of equipment at a skill cost of 20. It should help jump our crafts skill by quite a bit.
It's also 20 DEF and 15 MAG better than our neck scarf, so it's a long needed upgrade.
I end up making 4 of these. They look rather nice, I'd say, but they don't sell for as much as I'd hoped so this prompts me to go throw one at somebody.
BIANCA: I don't need so many.
I gave Bianca one of the scarves to see if it'd have any effect on her LP, and also just to mess around with the dress-up system. Once we get a lot of resources available and a high crafts skill, I'll open up voting once our crafts skill gets high enough to make most of the stuff.
It's also probably a better birthday present than the random colored grass I gave her.
It seems like it raised FP at least.
I think it kinda works with the rest of her outfit?
BIANCA: I came to get away from the heat but it's not cool here at all! Do something about it!
I gave you the scarf. It looks kinda cool!
oh wait, you wanted the temperature to be cool
whoops
TABATHA: Th-thank you... I guess this is for me? I see...
I gave Tabatha the neck towel we've been carrying around, just to get it out of our inventory while I was here. This is absolutely the best/most appropriate response I've gotten for gifting anyone in this game so far.
It kinda works? It's a bit brighter than the rest of her outfit, but that's to be expected with the rendering in this game.
For some reason I felt like blowing more money on crafting books, so here's Head Coordination, "an advanced guide on making accessories for the head. Pretty heady stuff..."
Aside from oddities like the pumpkin mask and turnip head, this is mostly a lot of headbands and animal ears. There's a few hats in here, but no helmets.
There is the supremely high level Tiara, with a +120 MAG on it, and high resistance to all status debuffs.
It might even be worth growing an Emery flower for.
...What am I saying? Nothing is worth growing an Emery Flower for.
For the time being, Bush's Fashion Boutique closes and my focus goes back to cutting up tea leaves and making popcorn.
Almost 9000g for a collection of leftover produce and a few fish sashimis? I'll take it!
ERIK: Young man, what do you do on rainy days?
ERIK: I think it's good to take it easy indoors when it rains.
As you might've noticed already, usually rainy days are an excuse for me to make progress in dungeons or just go on crafting binges.
LARA: The rain is a blessing from the heavens. It would be bad if it never rained.
Bush doesn't know what the heavens are. If he ever attended a sermon he might know, but we're too busy for that.
Lara's suddenly selling moondrops now. Maybe they're used in a medicinal recipe?
I'm just here to buy grass. Lots of it. I'd buy even more, but my wanton spending at the library has left us with only 1000g.
It's fine, we'll just stock up on more tomorrow.
Tea Leaves Lv:1 were synthesized. Many tea leaves.
With enough chopping, we're all the way up to Cooking skill 86.
Following this, I just do some random fishing and orange collection until the bathhouse opens.
MELODY: You have to take a bath whenever you sweat. It's been really hot recently so you have to be careful.
It's fine, Bush comes here every day, no matter what happens.
MELODY: I clean the bath every day. I want everyone to enjoy their time here.
MELODY: It's my dream to go traveling to hot springs all over the world.
MELODY: There used to be a hot spring where a giant tree stump was used as the tub. That one was really nice.
MELODY: But you can't make that tub even if you tried.
Yeah, finding that big of a tree isn't going to be easy.
Following the bath, we head on up to Whale Island Flank to try and get some item drops.
Fighting the hobgoblins here can get us some decently high level knife pieces, which we'll be needing for some of our coming weapon forging.
These happen to be level 8 out of 10 so I really can't complain.
Eventually it gets late enough for me to head onto Iris. Also my carrots have grown!
If you forgot that I planted carrots here, you're entirely forgiven
i almost did myself
I need them for Selphy's favorite gift, that's all.
Iris has nothing new to say, so I dive back into the Lava Ruins.
All I do while I'm down here is get a few materials, mostly just ending up to be some silver, insect skin, and a fire crystal.
The run was mostly for the silver, and you'll see why in a bit.
While it's certainly late enough to trigger a constellation, they do have a minimum requirement of 1 LP with the corresponding girl. Tabatha won't hit that milestone until tomorrow, and Bianca will still take about 8 more days to get that far.
With a Battle Axe, Silver, Warrior Medal, and a Knife Piece (the latter two easily obtained at high levels from hobgoblins), we can make ourselves the Alldale before we go to sleep.
Alldale Lv:4 was synthesized.
This was as high as I could get it at the moment. It was held back by the level of the Silver, a matter really only fixable with a better hammer.
All the higher level does is reduce the RP cost anyways. I think if it was level 5+ or 10 it might get a damage boost, but I'm not clear on that.
I also go and make a Katusha, it needs Insect Jaw, Insect Hide, Cheap Cloth, and a Magic Powder. It's a little red hairband that claims to raise your critical rate, and happens to be useful for the various animal ears later. I make it at level 5.
It's a minor jump up to our defense and magic stats, but I like how the knit hat looks on Bush so he'll keep that on unless we're in dungeons.
Some extra food goes into the fridge. I'm up to 15 plates of tea leaves, but that will get higher in the coming days.
I reserve the middle row of the fridge for sandwich materials.
With all that done, Bush heads to bed...
Egads, a tornado!
BUSH: I shouldn't go outside today.
Tornadoes are awful, and are just staples of the early farming games. You just lose a day and take variable, but usually bad amount of damage to your fields.
Later games in the series let you both run around during these storms, as well as reinforce your crops from the damage.
Frontier is not so nice.
...However, I don't play nice either. I save every night before I go to bed for a reason. Goodbye, stormy summer 9th!
TIME PARADOX
However, RNG is set at the start of the day in this game. If the next day was going to be a storm day, you can't stop it.
...Or can you?
SECOND TIME PARADOX
We go back to the 8th of Summer again and we once again call upon an old friend...
I know there's folks that have been waiting on another of these.
You're welcome!
Music: St. Poli Church
LARA: Did you work until you collapsed again?!
LARA: Be sure to go home and rest before you collapse.
Sorry, Lara, but this was necessary. She took like -10 LP subpoint from that, it's crazy.
You caught a cold.
Bam. Chew on that, bad mechanic!
The developers didn't go out of their way to program a contingency for waking up in the church after passing out, so it guarantees clear weather regardless of what would happen.
I've not tried this in RF1, but I've half a mind to wager it might just softlock the game. RF1 is not designed stably.
I get our cold cleared off for just 100g. Sure, we're starting our day at half HP and RP, but we spared our field from the wrath of wind.
Here's a look at the damage our field would have sustained had we accepted the storm. It's not a lot, but it'd still easily be about 3000g out of our daily profit, as well as a flat 20,000 from missing our tomato harvest.
Consequently, you might notice the white and black grass spread about. This is the easier way to get it.
STELLA: Anette is always so full of energy. It makes me smile just looking at her.
Anette is pretty fun. It's a shame she's not around more.
Also, we won't be seeing her today, likely enough. She might stop by the beach or Erik's, but it's unlikely.
Music: Summer
KANNO: It's too hot. It hurts these old bones of mine.
I know about cold messing with bones, but not heat. Rough, man. I've got arthritis, so I know the pain at least.
Runey regions are filled up, so I'll go mess with those off-screen.
TABATHA: I really like rice porridges. Am I strange for liking it?
TABATHA: I think the cooking method of porridge is actually one of the most elaborate.
You're not joking. It's 80 skill for some rice mush.
While I'm chatting up Tabatha, Grant passes on by to help with all the harvesting. Good on ya there, lad.
EUNICE: I feel so calm inside when everything is cleaned up.
That's nice.
TSUBUTE: Milady! You mustn't blindly recieve gifts from gentlemen!
UZUKI: Why is that? It would be rude to rebuff them.
TSUBUTE: That is the way for commoners. Milady, you must be more discreet.
UZUKI: Very well. Then I shall require your help when Tsubute is not around, Bush.
TSUBUTE: M-milady...?
UZUKI: I was joking. You are much too serious-minded.
Tsubute does not approve of our wanton gifting. However, Uzuki's cool with getting free fish every day regardless.
UZUKI: In this country, there are people with all sorts of colors for their hair and eyes.
UZUKI: In my country, everyone had black hair and eyes. Seeing all these things is very new to me.
In a shocking twist, Not-Japan is not very anime.
The comment about the eyes is inherently wrong though, especially given she's got green eyes herself. Yue from RF2 has blue eyes while RF3's Sakuya and Shino have violet eyes. All black hair, but eyes, no.
ROSETTA: Let me tell you a little secret, Bush.
BUSH: What is it?
ROSETTA: My birthday is on the 21st of autumn. I'll be waiting for a present.
I'll probably forget but give you a gift that day anyways.
ROSETTA: Mist has that weird personality but she's popular with the boys. I can never understand why.
She's popular with some folks in the thread too. I do kinda get it though.
ROSETTA: Maybe I should start selling the stuff I cooked at the store?
BUSH: Rosetta, are you good at cooking?
ROSETTA: What, I don't look it?
ROSETTA: I'm actually pretty good at it, you know.
ROSETTA: When I was living with Dad, I was the one that did all the cooking.
BUSH: Oh, really? Then I hope you'll treat me to some later.
It might add some variety to the store. After all, Bush mostly exports fish and tomato juice.
ROSETTA: W-what?! I-It's not free! I-I-It's not cheap either, you know!
Bush has money. Of course, he's nearly a master chef, so he can kinda make whatever he wants.
Well, that was the light reprise of tsundere Rosetta, I guess.
DANNY: Oh... It's you, Bush...
BUSH: What's wrong? You look really down.
DANNY: The customers are all gone so I think I should just close shop and go back home...
DANNY: I have 5 siblings back in my hometown. I came all the way here to start a business... I just wasn't cut out for it...
BUSH: Oh...
DANNY: Sorry... Can you leave me alone for a bit?
Well RIP Danny's Groceries. Can't say I didn't see it coming. When someone comes along with a better supply than you and you refuse to adapt, that's on you.
SELPHY: Every Tuesday I will have a clearance on the stock! But, it's still not going to be that cheap...
Somehow, it took me this long to find this out.
The tuesday store sells all the basic, low-level books alongside two very pricy and niche books for 10,000g:
Beach Style!: A book of swimsuit patterns that boys are too embarassed to buy at stores.
Happy Toys!: A book with instructions for accessories meant to be presents! Isn't that just awesome!
The latter book just contains recipes for the Fan and Ribbon, two generic gifts that I know nothing about. The former book lets you learn all of two recipes for making swimsuits... as gifts for the girls.
For now, I just buy the rest of the basic utensil recipes. This means that after all this time, Bush can make level 2 tomato juice on regular instead of needing a near frame perfect input to do it.
Following that, Bush spends a few thousand on grass at Lara's clinic so I can continue to go about making Tea Leaves all while listening to the 1975 radio hit, "How Long" by Ace.
Had to mix it up from F-Zero.
MIST: I had a funny dream last night. In it, my roof leaked so much that I had to use my bed as a boat and I sailed on a voyage!
Neat. I only have nightmares!
You should probably get Kross to fix your roof though.
MIST: Adventures are nice, but don't forget to till your fields.
MIST: What you need to do is to till your fields, Bush.
Hahaha
haha
ha
no
Many, many tea leaves later and Bush is at Cooking skill 90. He's going all the way, folks.
(And also everything I'm doing here is a profit, if a minor one.)
Mackerel (24cm) Lv:1 was caught.
While waiting on the bath to open, I went to the beach and caught some fish. I stuck around until I'd burned my bars to the limit before hitting the bath.
That eventually leads into visiting Iris up on the island. Our moondrop are finally ready though!
But I didn't have any tomato juice or tomatoes left on me, so I had to go all the way back home once gathering the ones by the tower.
Given that it was already past 5, Grant's harvest got sold already.
I go ahead and blow the rest of my RP on cooking since that's what I was going to do when I got back anyways. Our skill is up to 94 now!
IRIS: Bush! Bush!
IRIS: Can you model for my next drawing?
-----------------------
1. Sure.
2. Maybe next time.
-----------------------
Oh, wow, a branching dialogue! Running all the way back to make that juice was totally worth it now.
----------------------------
Oh, no... a drawing of Bush from memory. As someone who is terrible with drawing, I know this will likely unleash a cursed horror on the world if we let it happen.
So we say yes, instead, naturally. Bush is just predisposed to say yes to everything anyways, for the sake of content.
-----------------------------
first person to draw that and post it in the thread gets an oatmeal
I think I misjudged Bush, he's not making white lies, he's carefully supporting the world's next top surrealist/avant-garde artist. He's got an eye for talent is what it is.
IRIS: I've never eaten any garlic before, but for some reason, I don't want to try.
I dunno girl, it's got lifesteal on it
some pretty kickin' stuff if you ask me
Found the Wooly Constellation!
Friendship with monster went up!
It's near 9:00 so I drop by the observatory to grab this. Of course, Pony is with us as always for this. It's the least I can do, given everything she does for us.
She's level 34 now, higher than us, thanks to the friendship levels. Her FP gain is going to stay real slow just because of how the calculations work in this game.
Thanks to the weird start this morning, I forgot to water the crops, so I had to do that late in the day.
It also turns out that Grant still doesn't like us enough to do the entire field himself, leaving one section of corn and two sections of tomatoes unharvested.
I can just resolve that by collecting the corn myself on big harvest days. Easy enough.
And with this, Bush hits the hay for the day. Like the saying, not the fodder. I've got enough of that stuff.
He's at skill 94 right now, and I should easily get that 95 next time around, finally closing out Bush's great cooking escapade.
Music: Goodnight
See you then!
Have an early update, and not because I accidentally hit "post" instead of "preview"!
A new day today, and it's raining again!
Music: Rune Factory 4 - SummerHere's a 30 minute loop of RF4's summer theme as our guest track today.
I need to find more watery themes. If you know of any good water or summer themes that'd fit for more days like these, send 'em my way.
Because there's not much for me to harvest this morning, I decide to follow Anette around on her route for the first three houses. We don't really see the dialogue for those too much.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you ♪;" - Melody~
Thanks for sending me a "Black Grass".
Bush, you are probably the only one that understands my research.
I must thank you for being so helpful all the time.
Let's see...
Well, I'll think about this one.
I may not come up with anything, though ♪;
-----------------------------------------------------
I did send that Black grass in last update, but I'll be honest and say I don't know when. Couldn't find it in my recordings.
Bush doesn't really understand Melody's research, he's got like 5 skill in the pharmaceutical arts, but he's just nonetheless supportive.
This was probably the closest we'll get to a request chain in this game, so, uh, yay?
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you for your participation ♪;" - Melody~
Thank you for participating in the survey ♪;
I'll be sure to take your suggestions into considerations
for making a better bathhouse, so come aggain, okay ♪;
-----------------------------------------------------
Melody was all in on using the quaver as punctuation when she wrote this. I guess it checks out, her name being Melody and all.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Caught a huge one." - Cinnamon~
I caught a big one. I made a mold of the fish and let it go.
Do you think you can catch one bigger than mine?
-----------------------------------------------------
Oh, so that's what she does with the fish.
um how did you do that with it alive
EDIT:
It's probably not clay molds either, it's probably this:
A thanks goes out to Karma Guard and their sudden but inevitably useful trivia.Karma Guard wrote: Oh! I think I might know what Cinnamon means by "I caught a big one. I made a mold of the fish and let it go.".
She's making Gyotaku, or fish prints. It was started Back In The Day in Japan to record your big catches. You literally paint ink onto the fish you caught and plap it on washi paper to leave a mark. In real life, though, the fish is usually dead. But maybe she's just that good at fishing she can make a catch-and-release one?
ANETTE: Erik, you've got mail.
ANETTE: The package from Erik is really big. What could it be?
ANETTE: I got it! It's vegetables! Is he sending them to his mother?
ANETTE: I'm hungry... I'll get Erik to treat me to breakfast later!
Mom's gotta have her greens, I guess. This is also your hint to the fact Anette sometimes hangs out in Erik's house.
ANETTE: There's no one here but I hear voices... Is it a monster?
This scene is only more depressing when you consider Kross's dialogue about wanting to be a monster.
ANETTE: Bianca! Tabatha! You got mail!
ANETTE: So this letter is from Bianca's father. He must be a really nice father.
Jasper is the coolest. In part for just being a fun character in a game filled with not a lot of outstanding dialogue, but also because he's Jasper.
Also, it plays the manor theme just for this, which is neat.
Following this, Bush goes about manually collecting the corn. I could've let Grant do this but, uh, I don't really know why I did this.
As I will later find out, doing this was a good idea!
pet ze animals
TABATHA: Thank you very much. I really love rice porridge. It's good for your health, too.
Yeah, I don't know why they didn't call it rice porridge in game, makes more sense than oatmeal, which is supposed to be made with oats. We can really only chalk it down to another translation oddity.
People in the thread have informed me that it's called porridge in Tides of Destiny, so I guess they eventually got it right.
BIANCA: The weather is terrible. Do something about it.
Unfortunately, any changes that Bush can make to the weather are not immediate. He can change the weather, this is true.
BIANCA: You're always wearing the same clothes... You smell...
BUSH: Oh... Really?! But aren't you wearing the same thing all the time, too?
BIANCA: I never wear the same thing twice. I like the design of this outfit so I had hundreds of it made for me.
BUSH: Oh...
I can easily see how people might find Bianca to be an unbearable snob, but I find it hilarious. This one's also just a really strong opener for poking fun at the fact nobody has different clothing.
A lot of her conversations will follow this sort of formula, similar to Iris and her drawings.
BIANCA: Why, thank you. It's a bit meager for a birthday present, but I will still accept it.
As far as I know, there's nothing you could give her to elicit more of a reaction. I'm pretty sure you could hand her a piece of platinum or a diamond and she'd say the same.
She is halfway to the first LP point at least. That's not bad for what, 6 days?
MIST: Did I mention the rustling around my house?
MIST: It turns out a duck has moved into the lake near my garden.
BUSH: Duck...? Aren't Ducks monsters? It's dangerous!
MIST: It seems pretty tame so it should be all right.
The disco exploding ducks are no joke.
MIST: It waddles around with its short feet and looks so cute. It became even more friendly when I started feeding it.
well, uh
i guess you done tamed a monster
we don't really do it that way until the next installment, but congrats
TURNER: Ganesha is really good at what she does.
TURNER: But she won't even sharpen your kitchen knife if you don't take the materials to her.
TURNER: That's why if you have any extra, can you give them to me? Like iron, copper, and silver... Thanks.
[Sharpen: Kitchen Knife] 5g, your mats only
I don't know if I've transcribed this dialogue before, but if I have, here it is again.
Believe it or not, Turner's favorite gift is not food. It happens to be a max skill requirement item, as to what though, I'll leave that for later.
RITA: Bush, do you have any "Wine"?
RITA: Don't show me any "Wine" while I'm working. I'll confiscate it.
Under what authority? You'll never find my secret supply regardless!
Actually this is just to tell you that her favorite gift is wine. Who would've guessed?
I don't have a gift for Eunice today, the flowers should be done growing on Whale Island by this point, but I just wanted to stop and note that her singing is really pretty.
EUNICE: It's raining. I don't really like it because I can't do the laundry.
It's also been raining for two days straight, so that can't be great for the laundry.
Maybe wind magic could help? Maybe an Earth Crystal?
EUNICE: Dad was being yelled at by Mom again the other day.
BUSH: Turner is so whipped.
EUNICE: But they still get along really well. I wish I had someone like that.
uhhhhhhhh
In lieu of addressing the other concerning matter here, I hope you find someone Eunice.
just maybe not exactly like your parents though
EUNICE: Speaking of which...
EUNICE: I heard you stayed at the church when you first came to the village.
BUSH: Well, at the time, I didn't have any money...
EUNICE: Oh, really? But I wished you would have stayed at our inn.
Just that casual lie there to cover up the fact that cutscene Bush is terrible at navigation.
I still question how you ended up at the church, man.
ROSETTA: Recently, I've been selling the leftover stock near closing time for cheap. This actually got really popular.
BUSH: Oh, really? Then I'll go right before closing time from now on, too.
ROSETTA: What are you talking about? Seeds last really long, so I'm not going to discount those.
This is a reference to a thing that's apparently common for stores carrying produce to do in Japan. I don't know if it has a special name or anything, all I know is that it exists.
Edit: Raitzeno informs me that these are usually translated as "time limited sales", and that they usually see them for baked goods more than anything else.
DANNY: It's so hot. I hope it'll be autumn soon.
Sorry, but we've still got 22 days to go, dude.
DANNY: Hey, Bush. Try giving Erik a turnip next time.
DANNY: He's gonna be so happy he'll cry.
Nice try, Danny, but you're not going to troll Bush. We've already terrified Erik with a turnip once before.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Buffamoo~
"The Buffamoo is a summer constellation that appears a little after midnight. It may be a good sight to see while taking a walk on a sleepless night."
-----------------------------------------------------
The event for this constellation will take a while to resolve, as we'll need to get a few more strange letters before Bush says anything.
It's nice to have something to read again though. I've weirdly come to look forward to these, whereas before I was kicking myself when I had to transcribe 5 page long books.
SELPHY: The books can get moldy when it rains so often so I hate it.
Ambient humidity and mold is just the worst. I live in a humid region, which aside from being annoying on breathing some days, usually causes some sort of mold problem in the home at least once or twice a year.
just the absolute worst
BUSH: Maybe it's the clock's parts? I've never seen it actually working...
KANNO: That's broken. Apparently it just cannot be repaired.
Um, weren't you brought here to fix it?
KANNO: I wake up here, eat, then do research.... This is the perfect life for me.
Well, good for you, I guess?
CINNAMON: You can see the "Elephant Constellation" now.
BUSH: "Elephant Constellation" seems to have a lot of syllables.
CINNAMON: Elephants are animals that have numerous legends all around the world.
CINNAMON: You can see the Elephant Constellation relatively early. Look...
I like how Bush's input is just "wow, that's a mouthful". Maybe it was a more insightful thing in the Japanese version? I dunno.
The Elephant constellation corresponds to Bianca, and it's a fun little event. It'll take me a while to catch it though, as it's very easy to miss it with Whale Island shenanigans at the end of every day.
CINNAMON: In this season, you can see the "Wooly Constellation."
BUSH: That sounds like a very cute constellation.
CINNAMON: ...I guess. The Wooly Constellation is a bit weird because it can only be seen late at night if you have a monster with you.
It's a very late constellation, but we'll be sure to see it. It corresponds to Tabatha, but also helps us befriend a monster.
The Runey Situation is doing okay for the time being. I'd have to manually track how much I have to skim off the top off of every zone if I mess with it right now. I'm mostly waiting for them to grow to the 50/50/50/?? range, as I just need to skim 9-10 each day from them afterwards.
Of course I still opted to mess with it for some reason.
Keeping spreadsheets on index cards, yaaaaaay
Oh, and here the explosive device hanging out in Mist's yard. It mostly paddles around in the little pond. That's all.
grass_management.jpg
Enough time passes for Selphy to be working the front desk at the library, so I head back there.
SELPHY: You know...
SELPHY: Don't you get annoyed by the gap between what people want you to be and who you really are?
SELPHY: You don't... I guess you wouldn't...
There's not a choice here, it's just implied Bush answers no. I just imagine Bush just giving a blank stare at Selphy for an awkward amount of time.
I buy the Cont'd: It's Hot!, the intermediate pot recipe book for 2500g. There's some lifedrain dishes I'm looking to make, and I'll need the book if I want to make them at level 2. Without the book, the meters cap out with expert crafts being a nearly frame perfect input that I'd rather not bother with.
I also buy Axe Fan Weekly for 8000g, the book containing all the axe recipes. The formatting on the description is broken and only tells us that "This is the only".
I also scoop up Neck Accentuation for 5000g, "an advanced guide to making neck accessories. Why not just say necklaces...?"
There's some good stuff in there we'll be able to make.
New recipes in hand, we head back to the house.
Peperoncino is some good stuff to make, and the only reason why I bought an upgraded pot to begin with.
It's made only from garlic, cooking oil, and flour, all bought materials. It heals for 50, RP restore for 150, gives +40 max HP as well as the very good HP Absorption effect.
The majority of the neckwear is various necklaces, but there's some other interesting things.
Like Critical 7 for instance, which boosts critical chance, and gives +17 ATK, +77 DEF, +77 MAG.
That's way away from now though.
We've also got a great many axes now at our disposal. There's some good fire element ones later, but for now we've got two real good ones lined up.
First is Alldale, a big ol' golden axe and a series staple. It has a higher level charge attack, an ATK of 80, alongside a new effect of Seal Attack 100%.
That means all swings with this weapon are highly likely to seal our enemies, cutting off a lot of their more annoying attacks. It'll be great to have around for pretty much the whole game.
Requiring some more interesting materials, is the Crescent Axe with it's 30% chance to paralyze and built-in HP Absorption.
It needs some more unusual materials: a Great Axe, Silver, Glittering Edge, and a Moondrop.
We'll have both of these axes in not too long though.
The highest level axe is
Executioner with an absolutely terrifying 226 base damage.The nice thing is that all of these later axes like Heat Hawk and Double Edge are made from these early axes.
The upgrade tree is mostly this:
Normal Axes -> Alldale -> Demon Axe -> Executioner
Normal Axes -> Flame Axe -> Heat Hawk
Normal Axes -> Tomahawk -> Heat Hawk
Normal Axes -> Crescent Axe -> Double Edge.
MIST: That's a wonderful Yarn Ball.
Apparently Mist comments on whatever you make with your various maker machines. I suppose she's impressed with the technology as it's not like Bush does anything but stare at the maker while it churns for a moment.
We've got a lot of yarn balls, and the best way to spend those right now is on Knit Scarves, a pretty good piece of equipment at a skill cost of 20. It should help jump our crafts skill by quite a bit.
It's also 20 DEF and 15 MAG better than our neck scarf, so it's a long needed upgrade.
I end up making 4 of these. They look rather nice, I'd say, but they don't sell for as much as I'd hoped so this prompts me to go throw one at somebody.
BIANCA: I don't need so many.
I gave Bianca one of the scarves to see if it'd have any effect on her LP, and also just to mess around with the dress-up system. Once we get a lot of resources available and a high crafts skill, I'll open up voting once our crafts skill gets high enough to make most of the stuff.
It's also probably a better birthday present than the random colored grass I gave her.
It seems like it raised FP at least.
I think it kinda works with the rest of her outfit?
BIANCA: I came to get away from the heat but it's not cool here at all! Do something about it!
I gave you the scarf. It looks kinda cool!
oh wait, you wanted the temperature to be cool
whoops
TABATHA: Th-thank you... I guess this is for me? I see...
I gave Tabatha the neck towel we've been carrying around, just to get it out of our inventory while I was here. This is absolutely the best/most appropriate response I've gotten for gifting anyone in this game so far.
It kinda works? It's a bit brighter than the rest of her outfit, but that's to be expected with the rendering in this game.
For some reason I felt like blowing more money on crafting books, so here's Head Coordination, "an advanced guide on making accessories for the head. Pretty heady stuff..."
Aside from oddities like the pumpkin mask and turnip head, this is mostly a lot of headbands and animal ears. There's a few hats in here, but no helmets.
There is the supremely high level Tiara, with a +120 MAG on it, and high resistance to all status debuffs.
It might even be worth growing an Emery flower for.
...What am I saying? Nothing is worth growing an Emery Flower for.
For the time being, Bush's Fashion Boutique closes and my focus goes back to cutting up tea leaves and making popcorn.
Almost 9000g for a collection of leftover produce and a few fish sashimis? I'll take it!
ERIK: Young man, what do you do on rainy days?
ERIK: I think it's good to take it easy indoors when it rains.
As you might've noticed already, usually rainy days are an excuse for me to make progress in dungeons or just go on crafting binges.
LARA: The rain is a blessing from the heavens. It would be bad if it never rained.
Bush doesn't know what the heavens are. If he ever attended a sermon he might know, but we're too busy for that.
Lara's suddenly selling moondrops now. Maybe they're used in a medicinal recipe?
I'm just here to buy grass. Lots of it. I'd buy even more, but my wanton spending at the library has left us with only 1000g.
It's fine, we'll just stock up on more tomorrow.
Tea Leaves Lv:1 were synthesized. Many tea leaves.
With enough chopping, we're all the way up to Cooking skill 86.
Following this, I just do some random fishing and orange collection until the bathhouse opens.
MELODY: You have to take a bath whenever you sweat. It's been really hot recently so you have to be careful.
It's fine, Bush comes here every day, no matter what happens.
MELODY: I clean the bath every day. I want everyone to enjoy their time here.
MELODY: It's my dream to go traveling to hot springs all over the world.
MELODY: There used to be a hot spring where a giant tree stump was used as the tub. That one was really nice.
MELODY: But you can't make that tub even if you tried.
Yeah, finding that big of a tree isn't going to be easy.
Following the bath, we head on up to Whale Island Flank to try and get some item drops.
Fighting the hobgoblins here can get us some decently high level knife pieces, which we'll be needing for some of our coming weapon forging.
These happen to be level 8 out of 10 so I really can't complain.
Eventually it gets late enough for me to head onto Iris. Also my carrots have grown!
If you forgot that I planted carrots here, you're entirely forgiven
i almost did myself
I need them for Selphy's favorite gift, that's all.
Iris has nothing new to say, so I dive back into the Lava Ruins.
All I do while I'm down here is get a few materials, mostly just ending up to be some silver, insect skin, and a fire crystal.
The run was mostly for the silver, and you'll see why in a bit.
While it's certainly late enough to trigger a constellation, they do have a minimum requirement of 1 LP with the corresponding girl. Tabatha won't hit that milestone until tomorrow, and Bianca will still take about 8 more days to get that far.
With a Battle Axe, Silver, Warrior Medal, and a Knife Piece (the latter two easily obtained at high levels from hobgoblins), we can make ourselves the Alldale before we go to sleep.
Alldale Lv:4 was synthesized.
This was as high as I could get it at the moment. It was held back by the level of the Silver, a matter really only fixable with a better hammer.
All the higher level does is reduce the RP cost anyways. I think if it was level 5+ or 10 it might get a damage boost, but I'm not clear on that.
I also go and make a Katusha, it needs Insect Jaw, Insect Hide, Cheap Cloth, and a Magic Powder. It's a little red hairband that claims to raise your critical rate, and happens to be useful for the various animal ears later. I make it at level 5.
It's a minor jump up to our defense and magic stats, but I like how the knit hat looks on Bush so he'll keep that on unless we're in dungeons.
Some extra food goes into the fridge. I'm up to 15 plates of tea leaves, but that will get higher in the coming days.
I reserve the middle row of the fridge for sandwich materials.
With all that done, Bush heads to bed...
Egads, a tornado!
BUSH: I shouldn't go outside today.
Tornadoes are awful, and are just staples of the early farming games. You just lose a day and take variable, but usually bad amount of damage to your fields.
Later games in the series let you both run around during these storms, as well as reinforce your crops from the damage.
Frontier is not so nice.
...However, I don't play nice either. I save every night before I go to bed for a reason. Goodbye, stormy summer 9th!
TIME PARADOX
However, RNG is set at the start of the day in this game. If the next day was going to be a storm day, you can't stop it.
...Or can you?
SECOND TIME PARADOX
We go back to the 8th of Summer again and we once again call upon an old friend...
I know there's folks that have been waiting on another of these.
You're welcome!
Music: St. Poli ChurchLARA: Did you work until you collapsed again?!
LARA: Be sure to go home and rest before you collapse.
Sorry, Lara, but this was necessary. She took like -10 LP subpoint from that, it's crazy.
You caught a cold.
Bam. Chew on that, bad mechanic!
The developers didn't go out of their way to program a contingency for waking up in the church after passing out, so it guarantees clear weather regardless of what would happen.
I've not tried this in RF1, but I've half a mind to wager it might just softlock the game. RF1 is not designed stably.
I get our cold cleared off for just 100g. Sure, we're starting our day at half HP and RP, but we spared our field from the wrath of wind.
Here's a look at the damage our field would have sustained had we accepted the storm. It's not a lot, but it'd still easily be about 3000g out of our daily profit, as well as a flat 20,000 from missing our tomato harvest.
Consequently, you might notice the white and black grass spread about. This is the easier way to get it.
STELLA: Anette is always so full of energy. It makes me smile just looking at her.
Anette is pretty fun. It's a shame she's not around more.
Also, we won't be seeing her today, likely enough. She might stop by the beach or Erik's, but it's unlikely.
Music: SummerKANNO: It's too hot. It hurts these old bones of mine.
I know about cold messing with bones, but not heat. Rough, man. I've got arthritis, so I know the pain at least.
Runey regions are filled up, so I'll go mess with those off-screen.
TABATHA: I really like rice porridges. Am I strange for liking it?
TABATHA: I think the cooking method of porridge is actually one of the most elaborate.
You're not joking. It's 80 skill for some rice mush.
While I'm chatting up Tabatha, Grant passes on by to help with all the harvesting. Good on ya there, lad.
EUNICE: I feel so calm inside when everything is cleaned up.
That's nice.
TSUBUTE: Milady! You mustn't blindly recieve gifts from gentlemen!
UZUKI: Why is that? It would be rude to rebuff them.
TSUBUTE: That is the way for commoners. Milady, you must be more discreet.
UZUKI: Very well. Then I shall require your help when Tsubute is not around, Bush.
TSUBUTE: M-milady...?
UZUKI: I was joking. You are much too serious-minded.
Tsubute does not approve of our wanton gifting. However, Uzuki's cool with getting free fish every day regardless.
UZUKI: In this country, there are people with all sorts of colors for their hair and eyes.
UZUKI: In my country, everyone had black hair and eyes. Seeing all these things is very new to me.
In a shocking twist, Not-Japan is not very anime.
The comment about the eyes is inherently wrong though, especially given she's got green eyes herself. Yue from RF2 has blue eyes while RF3's Sakuya and Shino have violet eyes. All black hair, but eyes, no.
ROSETTA: Let me tell you a little secret, Bush.
BUSH: What is it?
ROSETTA: My birthday is on the 21st of autumn. I'll be waiting for a present.
I'll probably forget but give you a gift that day anyways.
ROSETTA: Mist has that weird personality but she's popular with the boys. I can never understand why.
She's popular with some folks in the thread too. I do kinda get it though.
ROSETTA: Maybe I should start selling the stuff I cooked at the store?
BUSH: Rosetta, are you good at cooking?
ROSETTA: What, I don't look it?
ROSETTA: I'm actually pretty good at it, you know.
ROSETTA: When I was living with Dad, I was the one that did all the cooking.
BUSH: Oh, really? Then I hope you'll treat me to some later.
It might add some variety to the store. After all, Bush mostly exports fish and tomato juice.
ROSETTA: W-what?! I-It's not free! I-I-It's not cheap either, you know!
Bush has money. Of course, he's nearly a master chef, so he can kinda make whatever he wants.
Well, that was the light reprise of tsundere Rosetta, I guess.
DANNY: Oh... It's you, Bush...
BUSH: What's wrong? You look really down.
DANNY: The customers are all gone so I think I should just close shop and go back home...
DANNY: I have 5 siblings back in my hometown. I came all the way here to start a business... I just wasn't cut out for it...
BUSH: Oh...
DANNY: Sorry... Can you leave me alone for a bit?
Well RIP Danny's Groceries. Can't say I didn't see it coming. When someone comes along with a better supply than you and you refuse to adapt, that's on you.
SELPHY: Every Tuesday I will have a clearance on the stock! But, it's still not going to be that cheap...
Somehow, it took me this long to find this out.
The tuesday store sells all the basic, low-level books alongside two very pricy and niche books for 10,000g:
Beach Style!: A book of swimsuit patterns that boys are too embarassed to buy at stores.
Happy Toys!: A book with instructions for accessories meant to be presents! Isn't that just awesome!
The latter book just contains recipes for the Fan and Ribbon, two generic gifts that I know nothing about. The former book lets you learn all of two recipes for making swimsuits... as gifts for the girls.
For now, I just buy the rest of the basic utensil recipes. This means that after all this time, Bush can make level 2 tomato juice on regular instead of needing a near frame perfect input to do it.
Following that, Bush spends a few thousand on grass at Lara's clinic so I can continue to go about making Tea Leaves all while listening to the 1975 radio hit, "How Long" by Ace.
Had to mix it up from F-Zero.
MIST: I had a funny dream last night. In it, my roof leaked so much that I had to use my bed as a boat and I sailed on a voyage!
Neat. I only have nightmares!
You should probably get Kross to fix your roof though.
MIST: Adventures are nice, but don't forget to till your fields.
MIST: What you need to do is to till your fields, Bush.
Hahaha
haha
ha
no
Many, many tea leaves later and Bush is at Cooking skill 90. He's going all the way, folks.
(And also everything I'm doing here is a profit, if a minor one.)
Mackerel (24cm) Lv:1 was caught.
While waiting on the bath to open, I went to the beach and caught some fish. I stuck around until I'd burned my bars to the limit before hitting the bath.
That eventually leads into visiting Iris up on the island. Our moondrop are finally ready though!
But I didn't have any tomato juice or tomatoes left on me, so I had to go all the way back home once gathering the ones by the tower.
Given that it was already past 5, Grant's harvest got sold already.
I go ahead and blow the rest of my RP on cooking since that's what I was going to do when I got back anyways. Our skill is up to 94 now!
IRIS: Bush! Bush!
IRIS: Can you model for my next drawing?
-----------------------
1. Sure.
2. Maybe next time.
-----------------------
Oh, wow, a branching dialogue! Running all the way back to make that juice was totally worth it now.
----------------------------
A polite way of saying no wrote:
IRIS: I see. I'm sorry I asked when you're so busy. I hope you can come see it next time.
Oh, no... a drawing of Bush from memory. As someone who is terrible with drawing, I know this will likely unleash a cursed horror on the world if we let it happen.
So we say yes, instead, naturally. Bush is just predisposed to say yes to everything anyways, for the sake of content.
-----------------------------
Draw me like one of your French, uh wait france doesn't exist in- wrote:
IRIS: Thank you very much!
IRIS: I'm going to put a lot of effort into it!
IRIS: Done! I think I did a great job. Please take a look!
BUSH: ...
BUSH: (Um... is this Clucky with a pumpkin on it's head supposed to be... me?)
BUSH: I think it has a lot of... originality, and it shows your personality in it.
IRIS: Really?! Thank you! I'll practice even more to get better!
first person to draw that and post it in the thread gets an oatmeal
I think I misjudged Bush, he's not making white lies, he's carefully supporting the world's next top surrealist/avant-garde artist. He's got an eye for talent is what it is.
IRIS: I've never eaten any garlic before, but for some reason, I don't want to try.
I dunno girl, it's got lifesteal on it
some pretty kickin' stuff if you ask me
Found the Wooly Constellation!
Friendship with monster went up!
It's near 9:00 so I drop by the observatory to grab this. Of course, Pony is with us as always for this. It's the least I can do, given everything she does for us.
She's level 34 now, higher than us, thanks to the friendship levels. Her FP gain is going to stay real slow just because of how the calculations work in this game.
Thanks to the weird start this morning, I forgot to water the crops, so I had to do that late in the day.
It also turns out that Grant still doesn't like us enough to do the entire field himself, leaving one section of corn and two sections of tomatoes unharvested.
I can just resolve that by collecting the corn myself on big harvest days. Easy enough.
And with this, Bush hits the hay for the day. Like the saying, not the fodder. I've got enough of that stuff.
He's at skill 94 right now, and I should easily get that 95 next time around, finally closing out Bush's great cooking escapade.
Music: GoodnightSee you then!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:28 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Whoops, hit post instead of preview, but that's all fine. Have an early update I guess! 
Update 27: Mercantile Mercy
New update! New day for Bush (Farmer)!
Guess the weather, I dare you.
yeah its raining again
i know right
Music: Rune Factory 2 - Summer
Have some more guest music! This is RF2's oddly sort of chiptune summer track. The only thing more unusual than it is the arrangement present on the soundtrack release, which is barely a minute long and is mostly remixed with actual game sounds.
It's something else.
Music: Dark Cloud 2 - Peace Of The World
We've also got another guest track, as per thread recommendation! This one's pretty good, I'd recommend a listen.
We have over 30 tea leaves in the fridge. Neat.
ANETTE: Ghosts are the prime topic among the girls in the village right now.
ANETTE: I always wake up early in the morning so I never get to see the "haunting hour". I feel like I'm missing out or something.
This'll be a random conversation topic for a while that just kinda starts up sometime in Summer. I don't remember when the spooky ghost sightings end though.
I only played this game up to somewhere around Summer 20th originally, so we'll be hitting that new content soon enough.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I have decided to close up my shop." - Danny~
I am sorry to announce that as of today, "Danny's" will be ending operations.
Thank you for your patronage so far.
-----------------------------------------------------
We all saw it comin'. As far as I know, there's nothing you can do to stop this from happening.
ANETTE: Bianca! Tabatha! You got mail!
ANETTE: Whoa!! I can smell Moondrop from inside the mailbox...
Moondrop's not really a gift for either of them, so I don't know what this is about.
Because it's considered an important/store based letter, Danny's resignation has somehow teleported to our mailbox ahead of Bush.
i bet it was the spooky ghooooosts
Another day, another set of eggs, milk, and wool.
Yeah, Danny's shop is pretty deserted. Let's go give Rosetta her victory cave strawberry, I suppose.
DANNY: Welcome!
BUSH: Danny? How did you...?
DANNY: Rosetta took me in.
DANNY: After that happened, Rosetta came to me and asked me if I wanted to work for her since I was closing shop anyway.
DANNY: She even lent me some money to send to my siblings... I'm going to work hard at this store!
ROSETTA: I was short on staff. He would make a good worker so I hired him.
ROSETTA: My store is doing pretty well, you know?
BUSH: That's nice to hear, Danny.
DANNY: Yeah! Hope you'll come to "Materia" more often now!
ROSETTA: Danny! Be more polite to the customer!
DANNY: Sorry!
Well, this turned out nicely. Still, you'd think from all of this that Danny is your pseudo-rival for Rosetta, but no.
Danny being here doesn't really change anything about her store mechanically. We can buy from him or Rosetta and the stock is the same. It just means my only source of cooking oil is the bar.
Also they sell pumpkin heads in the store now. I think it's for some festival coming up way later.
DANNY: Why does it have to rain on days like this?
DANNY: I feel so depressed.
Wow, that good mood didn't last long.
MIST: Bush! Bush! We have huge problem!
curses, she's discovered the resistance- this is a full code RADISH people!
MIST: I walked to the square because I couldn't sleep last night.
MIST: I saw it slide through the ground without making a sound! That has to be a ghost!
You sure it wasn't just a Runey? They do that all the time.
BUSH: Speaking of which, there is a rumor about a gh-
UZUKI: Noooooo!!
BUSH: W-what's wrong?!
UZUKI: D-do not speak of that word!
BUSH: What word? You mean gh-
UZUKI: I told you not to utter it!
BUSH: Okay...
One could hazard a guess that Bush might've been thinking the ghost was her brother. This is probably a better reaction than what we'd get for "hey, your brother might be dead".
UZUKI: I went to the lake with Stella the other day.
UZUKI: Right when I was about to eat the rice ball I brought, I dropped it.
UZUKI: It kept rolling until it went inside a monster hole. What a waste...
The only "monster hole" I know of is Lava Ruins. Outside of Mist's duck, we basically never see monsters remotely close to town.
UZUKI: There are things that you can do when it rains. I suppose I will go maintain my naginata.
She does still have it with her when she's sitting down, although it's a bit hard to see.
EUNICE: Oh, Bush!
BUSH: What's wrong?
EUNICE: I went to go get some firewood this morning and I saw something white staring at me!
BUSH: Could that be the rumored gh-
EUNICE: No! Stop right there!
BUSH: Hahahaha...
Okay, now Bush is absolutely trolling. What happened to our pure and honest boy?
Actually nevermind, I'm down with this side of Bush. Let's go mess with more people.
Next up, Coquille Manor! I'm sure Bianca will find this news to be relatively interesting.
BUSH: Hey! You shouldn't have come all the way here!
For some reason, the little purple elephant has decided to visit the manor too? You know, the one that randomly took up residence in our barn and sat in a corner doing nothing all this time?
Suddenly, it runs off!
BUSH: Wait!
BIANCA: Ack!
BUSH: I'm sorry, Bianca.
BIANCA: Is this your monster?
--------------------------------
1. Yes, it's mine.
2. No, it just followed me here.
--------------------------------
In a weird way, neither of these are really a lie?
Anyways, time for some alternate timelines!
...Or not, because it doesn't matter what we pick, it's the same result.
"Yes, I do own this tiny purple elephant, ma'am."
BIANCA: Hmph. I guess monsters aren't as scary as i thought.
BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?
-----------------------------------
1. Sure.
2. Please don't make me choose...
-----------------------------------
Nested dialogue options! Oh no!
Fortunately these don't really matter.
The second option just gets us this:
BUSH: Please don't make me choose...
BIANCA: Oh, really? But it doesn't seem to want to move away from here...
BIANCA: It seems quite attached to me so maybe you shouldn't force it.
BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?
...cycling back to the non-choice at hand. So, we'll just answer yes. It's not like it was doing anything anyways.
BUSH: Sure. Be sure to take good care of it.
BIANCA: My thanks. For its name, let's see...
BIANCA: "Francoise." Francoise, starting today, I am your master.
And then we fade to black. Fran-swah is how she pronounces it, if you're wondering.
This is the key to making Bianca stay after Summer ends. So the literal requirement is "have a barn + make it through Whale Island Cave".
Not very hard to do.
BIANCA: There have been a lot of rumors about a ghost recently.
BIANCA: I always keep the lights on. The ghosts won't come... The ghosts won't come...
Okay, wow, she's genuinely terrified by the ghost thing.
Francoise takes up permanent residence in that barn room that exists in the manor for some reason. Here she continues her usual life of playing through elefun_idle_01.anim and not moving.
BUSH: This must be Tabatha's diary.
BUSH: ...Hm. Just the thought of reading this makes me nervous.
I was looking for Tabatha and found her diary instead. The game doesn't let you read it, which is fine by me.
And now she's back out in the foyer in her usual spot?
This game has some weird interactions with cutscenes overriding the usual placement of characters.
TABATHA: I hear that there is a ghost that appears somewhere in Trampoli.
TABATHA: I would like to talk to it once.
BUSH: You're not scared, Tabatha?
TABATHA: Oh? Why would I be scared? If it's a ghost, I'm sure we can get along just fine.
Tabatha has NO FEAR.
That and she had a friend back in Kardia that was likely a ghost.
TABATHA: Bush, thank you very much for gifting me with Francoise.
You're uh... welcome?
She was just in the corner- I honestly forgot she existed.
TABATHA: Oh... There's something on your shoulder, Bush.
TABATHA: This is... monster fur, I think.
BUSH: You're right. When did it get on me?
TABATHA: I hear that monsters rub up against people because they want to become friends.
TABATHA: You seem to be good friends with monsters, Bush. I really look up to people like that.
Apparently all monsters are like cats.
This is our little reward for the Wooly Constellation from last time. Bush's natural farmer magicks as an Earthmate are really the only thing that makes him good with monsters- there's not even a communication skill in this game.
Still, this combined with the daily oatmeal has brought Tabatha up to 2 LP already.
Also, Melody has since overtaken Mist in LP, although Selphy is still in the lead.
Most girls are in the 5 range for friendship, with a 6 on a few of them, but the LP is still tending towards the 2 range.
The current standings are:
SELPHY: 5 FP, 5 LP
MELODY: 6 FP, 4.8 LP
MIST: 6 FP, 4.6 LP
ROSETTA: 6 FP, 4 LP
IRIS: 4.8 FP, 3.6 LP
ANETTE: 4 FP, 2.9 LP
CINNAMON: 5 FP, 2.9 LP
EUNICE: 4.8 FP, 2.6 LP
UZUKI: 4.9 FP, 2.5 LP
LARA: 5 FP, 2.2 LP
TABATHA: 1.6 FP, 2 LP
BIANCA: about 0.8 for both.
I've been pretty on point about giving gifts, so this should really go to show the different scaling on LP gain. Lara would be higher, but defying nature is more important.
BUSH: There are rumors about ghosts recently.
CINNAMON: That's superstition. Ghosts don't exist.
BUSH: Oh... is that how it is?
While it's questionable in RF1, I think RF4 disproves this. Maybe.
I haven't played RF4 in years.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Wooly Constellation?
BUSH: Yes. It looked really cute.
CINNAMON: Oh... A Wooly is a monster that has lived with people for a long time. Because of that, there are a lot of legends about Woolies.
CINNAMON: The most famous is one where a Wooly comes back to thank the person who helped it when it was injured.
CINNAMON: We have to take care of the monsters.
BUSH: Haha, I guess so.
I feel like that's a pretty common occurrence, but what do you want for the series mascot?
CINNAMON: I used to do research at a magic laboratory in a large city. I got called here by Grandpa so I came with Candy.
Unfortunately, we have already been told about this in the 29 days you've been here. Like, easily 25 days ago.
KROSS: I really don't like "Curry Powder" and "Flour".
KROSS: I can't make that myself so someone might find out.
BUSH: Isn't it bad if someone finds out?
KROSS: Heh... A man's cooking should be a private matter.
I had no idea curry was such serious business.
STELLA: I have everyone lock their doors when it's early morning or at night just in case.
STELLA: But if it's someone they trust, they should unlock their doors. Why don't you try knocking on the doors?
STELLA: But don't do it when it's too late or you'll just bother them.
We probably have the FP/LP to do this with a lot of houses now, I just haven't bothered. They were pretty straightforward about telling you in RF1.
Of course, RF1 had a funny oversight with house permissions. It had the Moonlit Eve festival way late in the year, where you have a semi-romantic chat with a girl after the usual 9-6 hours. However, given the way the event worked, you could just come in before 9 and have your candlelit dinner or whatever at 7AM in the morning.
Of course, you can credits warp that game by flipping a bunch of turnips and rocks around, so it's not the best programmed thing in the world.
STELLA: Whale Island was here before I came here. It's such a mysterious island no matter how many times I see it.
You'd think this place would be a more famous tourist destination, especially if the Whale's been around that long. It's not like there's other flying islands in the world.
While I'm here I drop another few thousands on grass. They're only 20g a piece, so that should give you the idea of the bulk I'm buying in.
BUSH: Recently, there's been some rumor about a ghost. Don't you like that sort of thing, Selphy?
SELPHY: I like stories that have ghosts in them... but I hate the real thing!
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Elephant~
"The Elephant, a summer constellation, appears a little after sunset. Look up at the sky once it gets completely dark to spot it."
-----------------------------------------------------
That description's not much help finding it, I'll be honest. The tricky part is that it comes out at 8:00 PM and needs 1 LP with Bianca. That's really it.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Wooly~
"The Wooly is the most prominent constellation in the summer skies and can be seen just before midnight."
-----------------------------------------------------
I wouldn't say it's just before midnight, but I don't know if arguing with a pamphlet is the best use of my time.
I end up buying Stylish Wear, the advanced guide to making accessories all the cool kids are talking about.
This actually just teaches torso recipes, most of which are just capes or brooches. It does have the Cat's Tail, Kross's favorite item. The ultimate items it has are the Black Robe and the Corsage, the latter of which needs far too many long-growing flowers for me to care about.
Unfortunately, the Brand Sunglasses aren't an item in this game, and that is the biggest mark against Rune Factory Frontier I can give. It's almost unplayable thanks to that.
I also buy At Your Fingertips, the arm accessory book. This is mostly rings and bracelets. They'll be useful for boosting our spells.
Probably the most interesting thing in here is that we can make a Rolex.
All of this is out of reach right now. Our crafts skill is rubbish, but we'll work on it.
What can we craft?
Tea Leaves Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Tea. Lots of it.
A few plates of leaves later and we hit skill 95. This is the minimum skill we need to homebrew our own tea from pure experimentation alone.
Relax Tea Lv:1 was synthesized.
Good stuff. This was the last thing I really wanted access to. We'll hit the Cooking skill cap in time as I convert all of our leaves to tea.
It restores 175 RP at base level, and provides Status Defense, which gives us high resistance to every status effect in the game. Pretty busted stuff.
It's also a 210g profit over what we bought to make it. We can slowly but surely print money through tea now.
Heart Pendant Lv:1 was synthesized.
With a pendant, a copper, and a fire crystal, I make one of these. It's some small boosts to fire damage, but it doesn't increase EXP gain like it does in RF3.
It's useful as a material for a later accessory though, I think.
Following this, we catch Melody at work cleaning the bath.
MELODY: This is Relax Tea! It's for me?! Thanks! I love you!
She's very happy over the tea. She'll start passing Selphy in LP soon with these.
MELODY: Did you hear, Bush? There are ghosts recently. I wonder if ghosts take baths, too. If so, it should visit!
Melody has her priorities set.
MELODY: Floating seasonal vegetables in the bath can show a really refined taste, don't ya think? I'm counting on you.
BUSH: Wait, I have to bring it?
I, uh, I grow tomatoes and corn. I believe both count as fruit, not vegetables, but you can still float them if you want, I guess?
MELODY: My type of guy is someone that can find hot springs with me!
MELODY: Do you want to go hot spring hunting with me, Bush?
Whoa there, an "I love you" and a dating pitch? Melody, the bachelorette voting hasn't even started yet!
Bush comes back a few hours later to get his daily bath in, and then we're off for adventure!
Boiled Egg Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
And by "adventure," I mean cooking.
Our fridge is getting pretty full already!
I end up dumping into the shipping bin a bunch of corn I can't be bothered to waste RP on making popcorn out of.
Also a leftover battle axe that I'm not going to regret selling at all. Not at all.
Okay, but for real, let's go do some stuff on Whale Island.
WHALE: Bush...
BUSH: Mr. Whale...?
WHALE: Yes... Bush, hurry... The Rune within me is dissipating at an alarming rate.
WHALE: If this continues, I will no longer be able to swim through the skies...
BUSH: Okay. I'll be as quick as I can!
WHALE: I'm counting on you, Bush...
well damn
this ain't good
Music: Whale Island Outside
The sense of urgency doesn't stop me from grinding some warrior medals of goblins though.
It does seem like we should probably make some more progress soon. Let's head back to the Tail Tree.
BUSH: ...!! What in the...!
BUSH: It's so much smaller than when I saw it last time...
He's not wrong. The rune at the top of the tree is looking a decent bit smaller now.
Of course, this doesn't really matter- there's no real time limit. I'm not sure why the game is trying to push me at the moment (we're still rather outclassed by the enemies), but we can take as long as we want to get things done.
Some brutal combat with Manticts ensues, and Bush narrowly level cannons the nonsense thanks to Pony's assistance.
Manticts also seem capable of projecting some kind of barrier, and I'll be honest in saying I don't know what it does. Maybe it reflects projectiles?
Pony gets pretty beat up, so I head back towards Iris and plant some turnips on the way. I'm running out of ones to surrender to Mist's underground root racket.
IRIS: Drinking tomato juice while looking at the full moon can be very nice. You should try it some time.
This would normally be our hint that tomato juice is her favorite gift, but I already knew that
After that, I decide to give it a risky run up the tree as it's already so late in the day.
um, whoops
You just barely can't make it up to the third safe spot on the spiral with aid of a rideable monster.
They will bodyblock the deadly fruit for you though, that's a... it's some kind of silver lining to the fact I just Yoshi'ed our horse.
Bush must now proceed up the tree on his own.
The next safe nook is here, with a gate that spawns two manticts. Caution is necessary here, as it is very easy to slip down the ramp.
It's not like I know that from experience or anything. Hah, that'd be a hoot.
On the upside, our Alldale is really doing a number on these monsters. With pacifist magic, I assure you.
Eventually, Bush reaches the top. Well, the stone bridge out of here, at least. There is a treasure chest at the very top of the tree, but I'm not bothering for what will probably be a centuries old box of rice.
WHALE ISLAND DRAIN
If you were digging that overgrown marble and broken pillars aesthetic, well congrats, here's a whole lot more of it!
The Drain is largest single screen on the island, (maybe in the entire game,) and was also the farthest I ever got on my original playthrough.
The Drain is no slouch either. It opens almost immediately with a gate that deposits Faeries on your face.
You might be thinking these Tinker Bell wannabes are probably pushovers, but there's a reason why they're usually lategame enemies in the series.
Case in point, they shoot large, fast flying projectiles in a shotgun fan, easily doing around 50 HP each.
Those balls of light stop sort of around where you're at and float down slowly instead of just disappearing, creating a brief minefield of active hurtboxes.
Also these can just outright stun you and leave you unable to move for a few seconds- usually long enough to eat a full spread of green light orbs to the face.
These things hurt a lot is what I'm saying. There's still an enemy we've yet to see in the Lava Ruins that terrifies me above all else.
There's also TERRESTRIAL ACCELERATING TORTOISES, or uh, Tortas. Aside from a meh bite or a water laser, they move slowly until they line up a chance to do a super shell slide at you.
It hurts a decent bit, but honestly the worst thing about these is just how resistant to flinching from hits they are. They poise through a lot.
They're also one of the only sources of turtle shells, so we may end up farming a few at some point.
The other pathways from here are blocked off, either from the bridges being inexplicably destroyed or being foiled by waist high walls.
There's this lower platform we can walk down to, but not much we can really do here.
Some pipes down there shoot out water lasers as a neat visual effect, I guess. It's not like we can go down-
Huh.
So, funny story, the perspective here pretty much makes the ramp down nearly imperceptible. Past me from years ago got stuck here because I never actually realized I could just... walk down.
But it's real late, so I decide to warp on out of here for now. We need to gear up some more first.
I stop by the bar before hitting the hay.
STELLA: If only Selphy would go outside a bit more often... The moment you take your eyes off her...
STELLA: It's good to have something you can indulge in.
Books are a way of life for Selphy- I'd say they're more than an indulgence.
GANESHA: A drink after a hard day's work is the best.
For Bush, sleep is the way he ends the day. It's the only time he's not working!
...Man, I really have to get that Forge Storage from Lute at some point. The box is just full.
To make some space, I make another Katusha, the little red headband I should be wearing but I forget to equip on the regular.
Since it's a required material for the various animal ears, I'll want one eventually anyways.
I then spend the rest of our available HP and RP swinging tools around, and send Bush to sleep.
Gonna have to call this one here, likely enough, I don't know what's with some of these single day updates of late.
I guess the recordings for these are usually an hour long with some emulation speed-up abuse, so some days are just going to be more content filled than others. Speaking of, there's gonna be some big stuff going down next time!
See you all next time in what will probably be another action packed single day update!
Maybe one day we'll even have... a three day update
New update! New day for Bush (Farmer)!
Guess the weather, I dare you.
yeah its raining again
i know right
Music: Rune Factory 2 - SummerHave some more guest music! This is RF2's oddly sort of chiptune summer track. The only thing more unusual than it is the arrangement present on the soundtrack release, which is barely a minute long and is mostly remixed with actual game sounds.
It's something else.
Music: Dark Cloud 2 - Peace Of The WorldWe've also got another guest track, as per thread recommendation! This one's pretty good, I'd recommend a listen.
We have over 30 tea leaves in the fridge. Neat.
ANETTE: Ghosts are the prime topic among the girls in the village right now.
ANETTE: I always wake up early in the morning so I never get to see the "haunting hour". I feel like I'm missing out or something.
This'll be a random conversation topic for a while that just kinda starts up sometime in Summer. I don't remember when the spooky ghost sightings end though.
I only played this game up to somewhere around Summer 20th originally, so we'll be hitting that new content soon enough.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I have decided to close up my shop." - Danny~
I am sorry to announce that as of today, "Danny's" will be ending operations.
Thank you for your patronage so far.
-----------------------------------------------------
We all saw it comin'. As far as I know, there's nothing you can do to stop this from happening.
ANETTE: Bianca! Tabatha! You got mail!
ANETTE: Whoa!! I can smell Moondrop from inside the mailbox...
Moondrop's not really a gift for either of them, so I don't know what this is about.
Because it's considered an important/store based letter, Danny's resignation has somehow teleported to our mailbox ahead of Bush.
i bet it was the spooky ghooooosts
Another day, another set of eggs, milk, and wool.
Yeah, Danny's shop is pretty deserted. Let's go give Rosetta her victory cave strawberry, I suppose.
DANNY: Welcome!
BUSH: Danny? How did you...?
DANNY: Rosetta took me in.
DANNY: After that happened, Rosetta came to me and asked me if I wanted to work for her since I was closing shop anyway.
DANNY: She even lent me some money to send to my siblings... I'm going to work hard at this store!
ROSETTA: I was short on staff. He would make a good worker so I hired him.
ROSETTA: My store is doing pretty well, you know?
BUSH: That's nice to hear, Danny.
DANNY: Yeah! Hope you'll come to "Materia" more often now!
ROSETTA: Danny! Be more polite to the customer!
DANNY: Sorry!
Well, this turned out nicely. Still, you'd think from all of this that Danny is your pseudo-rival for Rosetta, but no.
Danny being here doesn't really change anything about her store mechanically. We can buy from him or Rosetta and the stock is the same. It just means my only source of cooking oil is the bar.
Also they sell pumpkin heads in the store now. I think it's for some festival coming up way later.
DANNY: Why does it have to rain on days like this?
DANNY: I feel so depressed.
Wow, that good mood didn't last long.
MIST: Bush! Bush! We have huge problem!
MIST: I walked to the square because I couldn't sleep last night.
MIST: I saw it slide through the ground without making a sound! That has to be a ghost!
You sure it wasn't just a Runey? They do that all the time.
BUSH: Speaking of which, there is a rumor about a gh-
UZUKI: Noooooo!!
BUSH: W-what's wrong?!
UZUKI: D-do not speak of that word!
BUSH: What word? You mean gh-
UZUKI: I told you not to utter it!
BUSH: Okay...
One could hazard a guess that Bush might've been thinking the ghost was her brother. This is probably a better reaction than what we'd get for "hey, your brother might be dead".
UZUKI: I went to the lake with Stella the other day.
UZUKI: Right when I was about to eat the rice ball I brought, I dropped it.
UZUKI: It kept rolling until it went inside a monster hole. What a waste...
The only "monster hole" I know of is Lava Ruins. Outside of Mist's duck, we basically never see monsters remotely close to town.
UZUKI: There are things that you can do when it rains. I suppose I will go maintain my naginata.
She does still have it with her when she's sitting down, although it's a bit hard to see.
EUNICE: Oh, Bush!
BUSH: What's wrong?
EUNICE: I went to go get some firewood this morning and I saw something white staring at me!
BUSH: Could that be the rumored gh-
EUNICE: No! Stop right there!
BUSH: Hahahaha...
Okay, now Bush is absolutely trolling. What happened to our pure and honest boy?
Actually nevermind, I'm down with this side of Bush. Let's go mess with more people.
Next up, Coquille Manor! I'm sure Bianca will find this news to be relatively interesting.
BUSH: Hey! You shouldn't have come all the way here!
For some reason, the little purple elephant has decided to visit the manor too? You know, the one that randomly took up residence in our barn and sat in a corner doing nothing all this time?
Suddenly, it runs off!
BUSH: Wait!
BIANCA: Ack!
BUSH: I'm sorry, Bianca.
BIANCA: Is this your monster?
--------------------------------
1. Yes, it's mine.
2. No, it just followed me here.
--------------------------------
In a weird way, neither of these are really a lie?
Anyways, time for some alternate timelines!
...Or not, because it doesn't matter what we pick, it's the same result.
"Yes, I do own this tiny purple elephant, ma'am."
BIANCA: Hmph. I guess monsters aren't as scary as i thought.
BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?
-----------------------------------
1. Sure.
2. Please don't make me choose...
-----------------------------------
Nested dialogue options! Oh no!
Fortunately these don't really matter.
The second option just gets us this:
BUSH: Please don't make me choose...
BIANCA: Oh, really? But it doesn't seem to want to move away from here...
BIANCA: It seems quite attached to me so maybe you shouldn't force it.
BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?
...cycling back to the non-choice at hand. So, we'll just answer yes. It's not like it was doing anything anyways.
BUSH: Sure. Be sure to take good care of it.
BIANCA: My thanks. For its name, let's see...
BIANCA: "Francoise." Francoise, starting today, I am your master.
And then we fade to black. Fran-swah is how she pronounces it, if you're wondering.
This is the key to making Bianca stay after Summer ends. So the literal requirement is "have a barn + make it through Whale Island Cave".
Not very hard to do.
BIANCA: There have been a lot of rumors about a ghost recently.
BIANCA: I always keep the lights on. The ghosts won't come... The ghosts won't come...
Okay, wow, she's genuinely terrified by the ghost thing.
Francoise takes up permanent residence in that barn room that exists in the manor for some reason. Here she continues her usual life of playing through elefun_idle_01.anim and not moving.
BUSH: This must be Tabatha's diary.
BUSH: ...Hm. Just the thought of reading this makes me nervous.
I was looking for Tabatha and found her diary instead. The game doesn't let you read it, which is fine by me.
And now she's back out in the foyer in her usual spot?
This game has some weird interactions with cutscenes overriding the usual placement of characters.
TABATHA: I hear that there is a ghost that appears somewhere in Trampoli.
TABATHA: I would like to talk to it once.
BUSH: You're not scared, Tabatha?
TABATHA: Oh? Why would I be scared? If it's a ghost, I'm sure we can get along just fine.
Tabatha has NO FEAR.
That and she had a friend back in Kardia that was likely a ghost.
TABATHA: Bush, thank you very much for gifting me with Francoise.
You're uh... welcome?
She was just in the corner- I honestly forgot she existed.
TABATHA: Oh... There's something on your shoulder, Bush.
TABATHA: This is... monster fur, I think.
BUSH: You're right. When did it get on me?
TABATHA: I hear that monsters rub up against people because they want to become friends.
TABATHA: You seem to be good friends with monsters, Bush. I really look up to people like that.
Apparently all monsters are like cats.
This is our little reward for the Wooly Constellation from last time. Bush's natural farmer magicks as an Earthmate are really the only thing that makes him good with monsters- there's not even a communication skill in this game.
Still, this combined with the daily oatmeal has brought Tabatha up to 2 LP already.
Also, Melody has since overtaken Mist in LP, although Selphy is still in the lead.
Most girls are in the 5 range for friendship, with a 6 on a few of them, but the LP is still tending towards the 2 range.
The current standings are:
SELPHY: 5 FP, 5 LP
MELODY: 6 FP, 4.8 LP
MIST: 6 FP, 4.6 LP
ROSETTA: 6 FP, 4 LP
IRIS: 4.8 FP, 3.6 LP
ANETTE: 4 FP, 2.9 LP
CINNAMON: 5 FP, 2.9 LP
EUNICE: 4.8 FP, 2.6 LP
UZUKI: 4.9 FP, 2.5 LP
LARA: 5 FP, 2.2 LP
TABATHA: 1.6 FP, 2 LP
BIANCA: about 0.8 for both.
I've been pretty on point about giving gifts, so this should really go to show the different scaling on LP gain. Lara would be higher, but defying nature is more important.
BUSH: There are rumors about ghosts recently.
CINNAMON: That's superstition. Ghosts don't exist.
BUSH: Oh... is that how it is?
While it's questionable in RF1, I think RF4 disproves this. Maybe.
I haven't played RF4 in years.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Wooly Constellation?
BUSH: Yes. It looked really cute.
CINNAMON: Oh... A Wooly is a monster that has lived with people for a long time. Because of that, there are a lot of legends about Woolies.
CINNAMON: The most famous is one where a Wooly comes back to thank the person who helped it when it was injured.
CINNAMON: We have to take care of the monsters.
BUSH: Haha, I guess so.
I feel like that's a pretty common occurrence, but what do you want for the series mascot?
CINNAMON: I used to do research at a magic laboratory in a large city. I got called here by Grandpa so I came with Candy.
Unfortunately, we have already been told about this in the 29 days you've been here. Like, easily 25 days ago.
KROSS: I really don't like "Curry Powder" and "Flour".
KROSS: I can't make that myself so someone might find out.
BUSH: Isn't it bad if someone finds out?
KROSS: Heh... A man's cooking should be a private matter.
I had no idea curry was such serious business.
STELLA: I have everyone lock their doors when it's early morning or at night just in case.
STELLA: But if it's someone they trust, they should unlock their doors. Why don't you try knocking on the doors?
STELLA: But don't do it when it's too late or you'll just bother them.
We probably have the FP/LP to do this with a lot of houses now, I just haven't bothered. They were pretty straightforward about telling you in RF1.
Of course, RF1 had a funny oversight with house permissions. It had the Moonlit Eve festival way late in the year, where you have a semi-romantic chat with a girl after the usual 9-6 hours. However, given the way the event worked, you could just come in before 9 and have your candlelit dinner or whatever at 7AM in the morning.
Of course, you can credits warp that game by flipping a bunch of turnips and rocks around, so it's not the best programmed thing in the world.
STELLA: Whale Island was here before I came here. It's such a mysterious island no matter how many times I see it.
You'd think this place would be a more famous tourist destination, especially if the Whale's been around that long. It's not like there's other flying islands in the world.
While I'm here I drop another few thousands on grass. They're only 20g a piece, so that should give you the idea of the bulk I'm buying in.
BUSH: Recently, there's been some rumor about a ghost. Don't you like that sort of thing, Selphy?
SELPHY: I like stories that have ghosts in them... but I hate the real thing!
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Elephant~
"The Elephant, a summer constellation, appears a little after sunset. Look up at the sky once it gets completely dark to spot it."
-----------------------------------------------------
That description's not much help finding it, I'll be honest. The tricky part is that it comes out at 8:00 PM and needs 1 LP with Bianca. That's really it.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Wooly~
"The Wooly is the most prominent constellation in the summer skies and can be seen just before midnight."
-----------------------------------------------------
I wouldn't say it's just before midnight, but I don't know if arguing with a pamphlet is the best use of my time.
I end up buying Stylish Wear, the advanced guide to making accessories all the cool kids are talking about.
This actually just teaches torso recipes, most of which are just capes or brooches. It does have the Cat's Tail, Kross's favorite item. The ultimate items it has are the Black Robe and the Corsage, the latter of which needs far too many long-growing flowers for me to care about.
Unfortunately, the Brand Sunglasses aren't an item in this game, and that is the biggest mark against Rune Factory Frontier I can give. It's almost unplayable thanks to that.
I also buy At Your Fingertips, the arm accessory book. This is mostly rings and bracelets. They'll be useful for boosting our spells.
Probably the most interesting thing in here is that we can make a Rolex.
All of this is out of reach right now. Our crafts skill is rubbish, but we'll work on it.
What can we craft?
Tea Leaves Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Tea. Lots of it.
A few plates of leaves later and we hit skill 95. This is the minimum skill we need to homebrew our own tea from pure experimentation alone.
Relax Tea Lv:1 was synthesized.
Good stuff. This was the last thing I really wanted access to. We'll hit the Cooking skill cap in time as I convert all of our leaves to tea.
It restores 175 RP at base level, and provides Status Defense, which gives us high resistance to every status effect in the game. Pretty busted stuff.
It's also a 210g profit over what we bought to make it. We can slowly but surely print money through tea now.
Heart Pendant Lv:1 was synthesized.
With a pendant, a copper, and a fire crystal, I make one of these. It's some small boosts to fire damage, but it doesn't increase EXP gain like it does in RF3.
It's useful as a material for a later accessory though, I think.
Following this, we catch Melody at work cleaning the bath.
MELODY: This is Relax Tea! It's for me?! Thanks! I love you!
She's very happy over the tea. She'll start passing Selphy in LP soon with these.
MELODY: Did you hear, Bush? There are ghosts recently. I wonder if ghosts take baths, too. If so, it should visit!
Melody has her priorities set.
MELODY: Floating seasonal vegetables in the bath can show a really refined taste, don't ya think? I'm counting on you.
BUSH: Wait, I have to bring it?
I, uh, I grow tomatoes and corn. I believe both count as fruit, not vegetables, but you can still float them if you want, I guess?
MELODY: My type of guy is someone that can find hot springs with me!
MELODY: Do you want to go hot spring hunting with me, Bush?
Whoa there, an "I love you" and a dating pitch? Melody, the bachelorette voting hasn't even started yet!
Bush comes back a few hours later to get his daily bath in, and then we're off for adventure!
Boiled Egg Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
And by "adventure," I mean cooking.
Our fridge is getting pretty full already!
I end up dumping into the shipping bin a bunch of corn I can't be bothered to waste RP on making popcorn out of.
Also a leftover battle axe that I'm not going to regret selling at all. Not at all.
Okay, but for real, let's go do some stuff on Whale Island.
WHALE: Bush...
BUSH: Mr. Whale...?
WHALE: Yes... Bush, hurry... The Rune within me is dissipating at an alarming rate.
WHALE: If this continues, I will no longer be able to swim through the skies...
BUSH: Okay. I'll be as quick as I can!
WHALE: I'm counting on you, Bush...
well damn
this ain't good
Music: Whale Island OutsideThe sense of urgency doesn't stop me from grinding some warrior medals of goblins though.
It does seem like we should probably make some more progress soon. Let's head back to the Tail Tree.
BUSH: ...!! What in the...!
BUSH: It's so much smaller than when I saw it last time...
He's not wrong. The rune at the top of the tree is looking a decent bit smaller now.
Of course, this doesn't really matter- there's no real time limit. I'm not sure why the game is trying to push me at the moment (we're still rather outclassed by the enemies), but we can take as long as we want to get things done.
Some brutal combat with Manticts ensues, and Bush narrowly level cannons the nonsense thanks to Pony's assistance.
Manticts also seem capable of projecting some kind of barrier, and I'll be honest in saying I don't know what it does. Maybe it reflects projectiles?
Pony gets pretty beat up, so I head back towards Iris and plant some turnips on the way. I'm running out of ones to surrender to Mist's underground root racket.
IRIS: Drinking tomato juice while looking at the full moon can be very nice. You should try it some time.
This would normally be our hint that tomato juice is her favorite gift, but I already knew that
After that, I decide to give it a risky run up the tree as it's already so late in the day.
um, whoops
You just barely can't make it up to the third safe spot on the spiral with aid of a rideable monster.
They will bodyblock the deadly fruit for you though, that's a... it's some kind of silver lining to the fact I just Yoshi'ed our horse.
Bush must now proceed up the tree on his own.
The next safe nook is here, with a gate that spawns two manticts. Caution is necessary here, as it is very easy to slip down the ramp.
It's not like I know that from experience or anything. Hah, that'd be a hoot.
On the upside, our Alldale is really doing a number on these monsters. With pacifist magic, I assure you.
Eventually, Bush reaches the top. Well, the stone bridge out of here, at least. There is a treasure chest at the very top of the tree, but I'm not bothering for what will probably be a centuries old box of rice.
WHALE ISLAND DRAIN
If you were digging that overgrown marble and broken pillars aesthetic, well congrats, here's a whole lot more of it!
The Drain is largest single screen on the island, (maybe in the entire game,) and was also the farthest I ever got on my original playthrough.
The Drain is no slouch either. It opens almost immediately with a gate that deposits Faeries on your face.
You might be thinking these Tinker Bell wannabes are probably pushovers, but there's a reason why they're usually lategame enemies in the series.
Case in point, they shoot large, fast flying projectiles in a shotgun fan, easily doing around 50 HP each.
Those balls of light stop sort of around where you're at and float down slowly instead of just disappearing, creating a brief minefield of active hurtboxes.
Also these can just outright stun you and leave you unable to move for a few seconds- usually long enough to eat a full spread of green light orbs to the face.
These things hurt a lot is what I'm saying. There's still an enemy we've yet to see in the Lava Ruins that terrifies me above all else.
There's also TERRESTRIAL ACCELERATING TORTOISES, or uh, Tortas. Aside from a meh bite or a water laser, they move slowly until they line up a chance to do a super shell slide at you.
It hurts a decent bit, but honestly the worst thing about these is just how resistant to flinching from hits they are. They poise through a lot.
They're also one of the only sources of turtle shells, so we may end up farming a few at some point.
The other pathways from here are blocked off, either from the bridges being inexplicably destroyed or being foiled by waist high walls.
There's this lower platform we can walk down to, but not much we can really do here.
Some pipes down there shoot out water lasers as a neat visual effect, I guess. It's not like we can go down-
Huh.
So, funny story, the perspective here pretty much makes the ramp down nearly imperceptible. Past me from years ago got stuck here because I never actually realized I could just... walk down.
But it's real late, so I decide to warp on out of here for now. We need to gear up some more first.
I stop by the bar before hitting the hay.
STELLA: If only Selphy would go outside a bit more often... The moment you take your eyes off her...
STELLA: It's good to have something you can indulge in.
Books are a way of life for Selphy- I'd say they're more than an indulgence.
GANESHA: A drink after a hard day's work is the best.
For Bush, sleep is the way he ends the day. It's the only time he's not working!
...Man, I really have to get that Forge Storage from Lute at some point. The box is just full.
To make some space, I make another Katusha, the little red headband I should be wearing but I forget to equip on the regular.
Since it's a required material for the various animal ears, I'll want one eventually anyways.
I then spend the rest of our available HP and RP swinging tools around, and send Bush to sleep.
Gonna have to call this one here, likely enough, I don't know what's with some of these single day updates of late.
I guess the recordings for these are usually an hour long with some emulation speed-up abuse, so some days are just going to be more content filled than others. Speaking of, there's gonna be some big stuff going down next time!
See you all next time in what will probably be another action packed single day update!
Maybe one day we'll even have... a three day update
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Update 28: Axes To Grind
It's not raining today!
Music: Summer
Time for the usual Summer theme!
Bush starts the day of knitting another scarf. These are really good for grinding up skills early on as long as you've got Woolies.
Silver Ring Lv:4 was synthesized.
With some silver and our high level insect skins we can start producing Silver Rings. These are really good to mass grind Crafts skill with, as neither material is particularly rare.
Azure Brooch Lv:1 was synthesized.
With some silver and a sapphire we got from the Chickogriff long ago, I can make this decidedly not azure brooch.
I guess they forgot that Sapphires are only pink in this world when they named it.
I mostly made it for the skill up, it doesn't really compare to the crest we already have. You get more skillpoints for making difficult things and I've really not got much in the way of storage space still, so crafting random stuff is a good way to go about things.
The weird gap in our grass pastures has finally grown back in, so it looks a bit nicer now.
I don't know if anyone but me cared or noticed, but hey, farming!
waterin'
ANETTE: I love it when it's sunny. I wish it would be sunny every day.
But then I'd never get to use the guest tracks!
She doesn't have anything interesting to say after that, so it's back off the usual stuff until Bush can go bug other people for conversation.
LARA: I hear some rumors about a ghost recently...
LARA: It's not a ghost. It's Kross. He has lived here for so long. Everyone needs to be more caring and learn his name.
So other people can see him!
I guess this adds a bit of explanation to why he comes to the church on rainy days.
UZUKI: Maintaining the naginata can also train your concentration. I purify it with the purest of water in the early morning.
UZUKI: There is a dependable blacksmith called Ganesha here, so my regular maintenance is perfect.
Bush never maintains his tools, but that's because he's not beholden to a durability system.
EUNICE: Bush! Your clothes are torn!
BUSH: You're right... Maybe they got torn when I was working in the fields.
EUNICE: Wait just a second. I'll sew it up for you.
EUNICE: Done!
BUSH: Wow! It's as good as new.
EUNICE: I'm good at sewing. You can ask me if it gets torn again.
Given everything Bush goes through in combat, I'm surprised there was only one tear.
TURNER: Rumor says that the Zzyzx Empire next to our country is looking for its chance to invade the Kingdom of Norad.
TURNER: Scary...
They attempted it just a year ago, in fact!
They got kicked hard enough to not attempt it again for what I estimate to be about 15 to 20 years, so that's something.
BIANCA: The weather is nice today. Tabatha was happy about it, too.
Huh, the weather must be real nice. It's the first time people haven't complained about the heat this season.
KROSS: I don't really like it when it's so sunny.
KROSS: Heh... the sunlight is so cruel. It shines upon all the beautiful things as well as the dirty things. Don't you think so?
Kross is evidently more of a moderately cloudy kind of guy.
LUTE: The weather is so nice. My work goes so smoothly when the weather is this good.
It's a Thursday, so Lute is here at the lake! I gave him a scarf, but he didn't wear it...
LUTE: A long time ago, Erik called out to me from behind and tried to hit on me.
LUTE: But when he found out that I was a man, he ran away at the speed of light.
LUTE: Don't you think that's rude? Well, we got to be really good friends after that so all is well.
I still wish Lute was a romance option- he's a cool dude. Compared to Erik, who is a rude dude.
TABATHA: When the monsters run out of food, their frienship with you starts to decline.
TABATHA: Please be careful not to abuse them.
This isn't really an issue for us. We produce almost 5 times the amount of food needed for our monsters every day.
I don't cut it most days though, I let our stock just hover at around 10 days worth of food. It's mostly out of "I've got other stuff to do" energy, but also because it's slowly growing me more Runeys.
I should probably start cutting more so I can stockpile 30 days of food for Winter. Maybe I'll just commit to cutting it every day in Autumn.
SELPHY: The writing from Uzuki's country is pretty different from ours.
SELPHY: I'm learning some of it, but it's actually pretty hard. Still, it's fun to learn it.
Selphy has now entered the import market, trying to find those unlocalized literary gems. Maybe she'll end up going into mail-order translations.
We now interrupt your slice-of-life for serious plot progression.
BUSH: Kanno, the run in the Whale Island's tail shrunk.
KANNO: What?! Are you certain about that?
KANNO: Whale Island stays afloat by the power of that Rune. If the Rune continues to decay, the island will fall and crush the village!
BUSH: Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?!
KANNO: Hm... Perhaps the Rune is shrinking in size because those Spirits have gone somewhere. Do you know of any other places where Runes have gathered like in Whale Island?
BUSH: No... Can't say that I do...
KANNO: Is that so... In that case, let me know if you find a place like that.
BUSH: Okay! I'll start looking for a place where a lot of Runes gather!
We are reminded of the fact that renaming this town to Termina would unfortunately be appropriate.
We now know we're looking for some other mass of runes, perhaps to transplant them or something. We don't really know where to find that yet, so we can really only progress onwards with what we know.
It'll be a while before we get there, and there's no timer, so this urgency isn't real.
Also, yes, neither Bush or Kanno change expression in this dialogue. It seems to only happen in dialogues triggered by story progression. I'm still guessing it's a bit of a development leftover.
KANNO: Whale Island stays afloat due to the vast quantities of Runes gathered there.
KANNO: You saw it, too, didn't you, Bush? That's what it was.
Yeah, the Whale kind of told us so himself.
Never mind that, it's time to work on balancing the runes down here.
Peperoncino Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Never mind that, I'm not going to bore you or myself with the details of Runey management. Instead I'll skip to later in the day where I'm prepping supplies for more Whale Island exploration.
I still don't have the Oven that I really wanted for toast, but the Peperoncino's lifesteal will supplement us well enough for now.
Following that, I dive down into the Lava Ruins to farm more Ignis for magic dust and experience as I run Bush's bars low.
A removal of a Seal debuff and a bath later, and we're ready to do some exploration.
...But before we go, I drop by Selphy's and buy the Ultimate Lab Book, which is the book containing the rest of the Pharmacy recipes, and More Fine Dining which is the intermediate baking book. The latter claims we can "improve our position in the household" which I doubt, as we're already master chefs, and the only one in our household.
Also Melody has officially taken the lead in terms of LP thanks to Relax Tea.
Music: Whale Island Outside
I do some minor farming up on the isle and head in to talk to Iris.
IRIS: It has become so natural for us to speak like this everyday.
IRIS: It feels strange because we were total strangers until a little while ago.
No joke, you've known each other for maybe two, running on three weeks?
...Or, uh, months? You know what, nevermind. Try to think about all the implications of this world's years being 1/3rd the length of ours is a fool's errand.
IRIS: I love the moon. Looking at its pale glow really makes me feel at peace with myself.
You're quite the night owl, so I'd imagine so.
Following that, we head on out to the Tail Tree and on to the Drain.
While I do that, I go ahead and farm a Glittering Edge off of a Mantict- this will be useful for making the Crescent Axe.
Alas, Pony went down in a brawl with some beetles, so I'll yet again have to brave the Drain alone. She's too aggro for her own good sometimes.
Bush is one monster away from hittng level 31, so I try to take down a fairy to get his bars back to full. A chaotic fight ensues, but I manage to separate the two that spawn here.
Seal doesn't really seem to bother the fairy all that much though, it's still got the very deadly fairy dust attack. Did I mention that it can stun you? Yeah, this is pretty much a one way trip to the infirmary-
But somehow Bush breaks out in time and gets a final axe swing off. That was a hell of a close call.
I bop the other one out of existence for good measure, and also because it was almost down too.
Bush is fireballing a Tortas here, but the explosion particle effect kinda covers all that up.
The Fire Staff still does a good job at times, but the more hits of the Earth Staff tend to make it better on the usual.
After doing that for a little bit of experience, it's down into the drain to make progress. We've got 3 hours and 25 minutes from this screenshot until I have to bail out at 1 AM.
As a reminder, staying up past that makes Bush wake up late and I can't have that. Cuts my day short, and also prevents us from meeting Anette.
The water lasers hurt a lot by the way. This one hit for 93, and Bush just clipped it on the side. The fact that flying fish are spawning down here too means that this is about to turn into a bullet hell featuring water lasers.
A fish-made laser narrowly misses Bush as he goes to eat some peperoncino, pretty much just for the HP restoration.
...What? I ain't fighting this mess. I'm getting out of this deathtrap as quickly as I can.
Going up and around through the center area brings us to the third and final part of the drain, with a staircase up and out.
This part of the Drain area is short, but it's a gauntlet.
It's also worth noting that this is all new territory for me- I've never been this far into this zone before. I've finally surpassed my previous attempt at this game!
Up the stairs is a long pathway overlooking the expanse of sky below. There's a farming patch here that nobody will ever use as it's too out of the way, and a spawner just ahead of us. They really like hiding them behind fallen pillars here.
If we head off right past the little field, we run up against a wall which leads us to a chest at a dead end. It's got some cold medicine inside of it, which I guess could possibly save me 100g in the future?
As long as Lara's around, these really aren't worth much.
Holy palette swaps, Bushman! It's a Sealy!
These are just like the other flying fish, the Sky Fish, but with red scales and higher level drops.
It's a pretty early palette swap, I can't say much more about it.
More fighting, more dead ends.
Bush is getting some good experience out of all of this though. The lifesteal off the peperoncino makes enduring the hits we inevitably take much easier.
You lack any sort of ability to dodge in this game, so the only way to avoid damage is to be very light on your feet and rely on staggering enemies.
Eventually the path to the left cuts back downwards and we make it to other side of the short wall where we went down into the drain at. You could definitely just walk past that wall, but whatever, game.
The path goes down and leads further leftwards...
We cross a bridge into a grassy opening...
Shock. And. Awe.
It's aUnicorn dog!
If these show up in any other Rune Factory game, I don't remember where.
The unidog attacks with a horn rush for the most part, but it does have a giant multi projectile green lightning attack.
They also have little wing-like tufts of hair on their haunches for some reason.
there is only room for one pony in our life
One of these grassy terraces has a farm field in it, and I believe one of these rocks is actually another shortcut back to Whale Island Cave, but I ran out of time to check.
Here's that lightning projectile in action- there's two of the unidogs guarding the entrance to this tower.
You'll have to be faster that, fake ponies!
WHALE ISLAND
TOWER OF BIRTH
Music: Whale Island Tower
(If you played Rune Factory 4, you might know this as Autumn Road instead. If you played the rerelease of RF4, then you wouldn't because they changed it for some reason, apparently.
It's still a good theme though, very moody and mystical.)
At long last, we've finally reached the tower that's supposed to have that monster Mr. Whale wants us to bop out of existence.
Unfortunately it's also Bush's bedtime, so it's time to head home.
Battle Axe Lv:4 was synthesized.
Before we sleep for 5 hours, I do a bit of crafting.
Great Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
The Great Axe is made by slapping more bronze on a battle axe. It's got 30% paralysis and a bit more damage, that's about it. Our Alldale is easily better.
It looks cool though!
This is one of the last materials we need for the Crescent Axe, all I'm missing now is some silver.
Expertising these doesn't matter as the glittering edge is only 1. We won't get higher for those until we find the mantict reskin later on.
I also spend the rest of our HP/RP on making tea, but I don't really have to show that at this point.
But I go ahead and show it anyways because Bush has officially hit 99 Cooking. It's only been 40 days since arriving here and he's now a master chef!
Now it's time to wake up fully rested after 5 hours of sleep. Bush's Earthmate abilities really just help out everywhere, I guess.
I know last update I said this was a single day update, but I severely misremembered how much actually happened this day.
Music: Visions
(Another dream! I'll just name these characters by the color of their text.)
RED: This isn't good! Even the readings of the Basic Experimental Facility are dropping fast!
VIOLET: The readings of the Cryogenic Facility are below critical!
GREEN: Release the Runes from the backup units!
RED: We already are! The readings are still dropping! At this rate...
GREEN: ...?! Don't look at me like that. There is nothing to worry about.
GREEN: Just be the innocent self you always have been. If you don't....
:
GREEN: Why in the world are the Runes diminishing for no apparent reason?!
GREEN: At this rate, this plot of land will die, and people will no longer be able to live here...
GREEN: No, this is bigger than that. If this phenomenon spreads, Runes will completely disappear from the world...
GREEN: When that happens....
Music: Trampoli Daily Life
Jeez, Mist, if you're gonna send us your weird dreams, then at least make it the one that aren't anxiety inducing.
Green, whoever they are, isn't having a very good time of it, it seems.
To clear his head, Bush goes about reorganizing his inventory.
I follow up by grinding some more Forging skill by doing the scrap iron upgrade recipe on our chopping axe.
Chopping Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
I manage to bring it up to level 5, so that's not half bad!
I'm still going to throw all that away upgrading it into the next tier of axe anyways, as it'll break stumps very fast then.
...Or maybe not, I'll see if I can get the materials to make it work.
A new, good ol' sunny day!
Unfortunately I missed collecting some of our harvest yesterday.
I blame the Runeys.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm not gonna lose!" - Marco~
Hey! I heard you're even stronger than before. I better work harder so that I'll be stronger than you.
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm not really sure what prompted this, maybe Bush's overall level going over 30?
Marco's not going to be stronger than Bush in cooking, that's for sure.
...but then again, he does have an oven. Which we still don't.
ANETTE: How are you?
Anette has nothing new to say today again...
A little bit of mornin' fishin'. I'm stocking up on cooked fish so I can get to cleaning up these fields at some point.
By the time I finish the morning work, it's time to go bug people for conversation. Bianca's not around in the manor when I stop by, so she's probably at the beach.
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: My birthday? I don't have one because I don't remember.
BUSH: I didn't think you knew how to joke, Kross.
KROSS: When did you come to this village?
BUSH: 2nd of Spring.
KROSS: Heh... I see. What a coincidence. My birthday is also on the 2nd of Spring.
KROSS: On that day, one man went away and I came here.
His life changed for the better when Bush arrived, and this is a new him, I guess?
EUNICE: It feels nice to get more friends. Every single day becomes really fun.
EUNICE: I used to feel lonely but I have many more friends now.
EUNICE: Selphy looks so happy whenever I bring the meals to her.
I can't imagine it was too great before. The only people vaguely close to her age before Mist arrived were Danny and Erik. Marco was around too, but he was probably out swinging his practice sword somewhere. But, seriously, did your parents just never hang out with you at all either?
Selphy's probably just happy to get any food at all though, really. While she may be able to subsist entirely on literature, I don't imagine it tastes good.
TSUBUTE: Listen, Milady. You mustn't forget following the qualities of Yamato Nadeshiko.
BUSH: Um, what's Yamato Nadeshiko?
TSUBUTE: That is a good question, Bush.
TSUBUTE: Yamato Nadeshiko refers to women who are modest and traditional by nature.
BUSH: That sounds interesting.
TSUBUTE: What?! Do you prefer women of that sort, Bush?
TSUBUTE: Hm... I see.
At this point Bush has just learned to tell cicada dad what he wants to hear. It results in less threats and angry samurai cries.
Yamato Nadeshiko is apparently a metaphorical name based on the old name of Japan and a flower. As cicada dad says, it's basically an idealized concept of a woman personality-wise that boils down to the usual pure and noble things you'd expect.
Having distracted cicada dad long enough, we can finally talk to Uzuki.
UZUKI: Bush, have you found any clues to my elder brother?
BUSH: Not really...
UZUKI: I see...
TSUBUTE: Where can Brother be...? He should at least show up seeing how milady is so worried about him...
Yeah, we should probably get to looking for Brother at some point.
...It'd help if we had any idea where or what to even look for.
ROSETTA: *phew* I'm so busy.
BUSH: Your store seems to be really successful, Rosetta.
ROSETTA: It's all thanks to customers like you. But I guess I have some talent in running a business after all.
She's a veritable business tycoon. Capitalism runs through her veins!
...I wonder how her dad's doing after all this time. I'd think he gets enough business from the people in Kardia alone, so he's probably fine.
Ah, the Trampoli Book Club is meeting again today!
CINNAMON: I hate cucumbers. Don't bring them to me...
She hates them enough to muster an expression for them!
CINNAMON: There are magic items for people who have no talent for magic. If you have one, anyone can use magic.
CINNAMON: But, you'll never compare to real wizards.
Bush can cast magic without a staff! He just needs a spellbook, which nobody seems to sell anymore.
LARA: Ouch...
BUSH: What's wrong, Lara?
LARA: I scraped my knee.
BUSH: Really? Are you okay?
LARA: Yes. It happens all the time.
LARA: It's embarassing to say this, but I trip often.
BUSH: I see... You really don't look like a clumsy person, though.
LARA: I get that all the time.
You'd think being such a helicopter doctor she'd have treated the scrape by now, but "doctors are their own worst patients" as the saying goes I guess.
LARA: Whale Island seems to be getting bigger to my eyes.
LARA: I just hope nothing bad will happen.
I'm getting to it! Darned unstable runes.
You know, while this game models shadows for time of day, it doesn't model the shadow that Whale Island would cast.
I suppose that's fair, this whole place would be shadow at noon if that was the case.
LARA: My father and Sister Stella have known each other for a long time. I came here as a sort of messenger for them.
LARA: Right when I thought you hadn't come for a while, I find you collapsed in front of me.
LARA: I felt my heart jump!
BUSH: Haha... Sorry about that.
Bush is a problem patient, but can you blame him? He can change the weather by overworking himself. He can outright stop natural disasters, a little bit of time travel or meteorological provided
I'm just glad Lara doesn't really seem to realize how beat up we get on Whale Island.
MELODY: I know that I don't have the talent for magic. It's just fun to learn it.
MELODY: I think Cinnamon is really good at teaching magic.
CINNAMON: ...I'm only okay.
MELODY: You don't have to be so modest!
Being able to enjoy learning a hobby while lacking the talent for it is a great thing when it happens.
Also wow, we're getting a lot of expressions out of Cinnamon today.
MELODY: I'm actually really picky about my hat. Did you know that I wear a different hat everyday?
How many exact copies of that hat do you have?
Does everyone in this town have duplicate clothing? Bush never changes!
We find the Coquille crew on the beach today.
TABATHA: Sweeping and dusting must be done every day while waxing is done twice a year. That's the trick to keeping floors clean.
That's a lot of work, but I suppose that sounds about right for the super fancy manor.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to be more cheerful than before. I believe this is all thanks to you, Bush.
When you're deathly bored, you need someone as strange as Bush in your life, I guess.
Speaking of Bianca...
BUSH: You're not going to swim, Bianca?
BIANCA: The beach is there for people to relax on, not a place to swim. Understand?
BUSH: Oh...
Relax on sand?! But it's coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere!
BIANCA: Don't you think Francoise is a great name?
Franswah? Sure, I guess.
Despite it not doing anything, here, have a Tree Runey. I've literally got more than a full stack of these buggers.
If I ever got around to cleaning up my fields, I could just start spending them on Lumber Days from Candy. That, and they make good fodder for Rune Stones.
SELPHY: I've always wanted my own library. This library is just the best!
But... you're outside.
SELPHY: I think that a love story between two characters of different rank is classic. Do you like those stories?
BUSH: Me?! I don't know any princesses or people like that so I wouldn't understand...
SELPHY: Hm... That's a really safe answer.
Selphy just really likes The Princess Bride. This topic wasn't brought up for any other reason, I'm sure. Anything else is inconceivable!
Following this literary talk of princesses and stable boys, Bush goes to collect some silver from the Lava Ruins. Time to make that Crescent Axe!
Alright, let's do this.
Crescent Axe Lv: 2 was synthesized.
Pretty rad, it's like two axes melded together into some wicked cleaver. This axe usually just looks kinda like a shortened halberd in the other games.
Bush drops back down into the spicy water cavern to beat up ghosts for a thin stick. We've got another axe to make!
but first
oranges
NOLAN: Hot springs are very nice. Not only do they warm your body, they warm your soul as well.
We've probably seen this line, but this is really more of a reminder that Nolan even exists.
After a bath, I check the runeys and notice that, amazingly, South District is close to prosperity through what I guess is natural means?
I do some intensive Runey management for 3 hours and go ahead and scrape everything needed to put it into prosperity as well. Normally, you'd turn this into another Grass Runey farm, but whatever.
It's kinda bothersome to gather from this area anyways, so I'm just gonna take it while it's free. I make enough extra water and rock from our homestead's growth that I can probably supercharge our one grass farm if I felt like it.
The operative state there is feeling like doing it, which I don't.
Detours done and out of the way, I can finally make that Lumber Axe. This will destroy stumps very quickly, so I can get around to both getting more lumber and cleaning up the field some.
Lumber Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
With all the materials at hand, I'm able to craft it at level 5. Not bad, not bad at all! It's only a few points of RP saved, but for such an RP intensive actvity, I'll take it.
With big, fancy shockwaves just like our combat axes, it wipes stumps in only 3 special attacks compared to the, like 9 it needed before.
Oh yeah. This is good.
Field's getting cleaner already!
I go ahead and till that section so it doesn't get filled with natural growth again, then head up to Iris.
New batch of turnips are done! Phew, had me sweating there. I don't want Bush to get called in for not contributing to the root racket.
I plant some more for good measure.
Unfortunately Iris had nothing new to say, but she'll hit LP 5 tomorrow, I think.
Yeah, that fast. She's already overtaken Rosetta, and will pass Mist tomorrow. Melody's on the edge of getting LP 6 already too- favored gifts accelerate this by so much.
As the day comes to a close, Bush prepares some more gifts for the coming days. It's a never-ending job until they hit 10 LP or they get voted out!
The bar is still open at this late, I so drop on by to nab some more supplies. Even though last update I ran us completely broke, we're back up to being as rich as ever.
STELLA: There are some monsters that are skilled and they sometimes make some strange things.
STELLA: I'm sure there are people that like those things, but I just don't like holding onto the possessions of monsters.
STELLA: That "Warrior Medal" just seems really ominous.
Stella tells us her hated gift, and the viewpoint behind it. Kross, Cinnamon, and Kanno are the only people who like monster drops anyways.
Since we've got over 30,000g, I go ahead and burn some more cash on peperonico supplies. Even though our new Crescent Axe has lifesteal, the food itself is pretty decent on both HP and RP fronts, and we can also share the lifesteal with Pony. Should help her stick around longer.
With that, it's time to call it for today. We've got two more days I think, before I start the first round of Bachelorette voting.
Even once it's said and done I'll still probably talk to the losers of said vote and give them gifts from time to time, but I won't be going out of my way to do favorite gifts. If there's days I've got stuff to do, then I'll be able to leave them out if they're out of the way.
Music: Goodnight
See you next time folks!
It's not raining today!
Music: SummerTime for the usual Summer theme!
Bush starts the day of knitting another scarf. These are really good for grinding up skills early on as long as you've got Woolies.
Silver Ring Lv:4 was synthesized.
With some silver and our high level insect skins we can start producing Silver Rings. These are really good to mass grind Crafts skill with, as neither material is particularly rare.
Azure Brooch Lv:1 was synthesized.
With some silver and a sapphire we got from the Chickogriff long ago, I can make this decidedly not azure brooch.
I guess they forgot that Sapphires are only pink in this world when they named it.
I mostly made it for the skill up, it doesn't really compare to the crest we already have. You get more skillpoints for making difficult things and I've really not got much in the way of storage space still, so crafting random stuff is a good way to go about things.
The weird gap in our grass pastures has finally grown back in, so it looks a bit nicer now.
I don't know if anyone but me cared or noticed, but hey, farming!
waterin'
ANETTE: I love it when it's sunny. I wish it would be sunny every day.
But then I'd never get to use the guest tracks!
She doesn't have anything interesting to say after that, so it's back off the usual stuff until Bush can go bug other people for conversation.
LARA: I hear some rumors about a ghost recently...
LARA: It's not a ghost. It's Kross. He has lived here for so long. Everyone needs to be more caring and learn his name.
So other people can see him!
I guess this adds a bit of explanation to why he comes to the church on rainy days.
UZUKI: Maintaining the naginata can also train your concentration. I purify it with the purest of water in the early morning.
UZUKI: There is a dependable blacksmith called Ganesha here, so my regular maintenance is perfect.
Bush never maintains his tools, but that's because he's not beholden to a durability system.
EUNICE: Bush! Your clothes are torn!
BUSH: You're right... Maybe they got torn when I was working in the fields.
EUNICE: Wait just a second. I'll sew it up for you.
EUNICE: Done!
BUSH: Wow! It's as good as new.
EUNICE: I'm good at sewing. You can ask me if it gets torn again.
Given everything Bush goes through in combat, I'm surprised there was only one tear.
TURNER: Rumor says that the Zzyzx Empire next to our country is looking for its chance to invade the Kingdom of Norad.
TURNER: Scary...
They attempted it just a year ago, in fact!
They got kicked hard enough to not attempt it again for what I estimate to be about 15 to 20 years, so that's something.
BIANCA: The weather is nice today. Tabatha was happy about it, too.
Huh, the weather must be real nice. It's the first time people haven't complained about the heat this season.
KROSS: I don't really like it when it's so sunny.
KROSS: Heh... the sunlight is so cruel. It shines upon all the beautiful things as well as the dirty things. Don't you think so?
Kross is evidently more of a moderately cloudy kind of guy.
LUTE: The weather is so nice. My work goes so smoothly when the weather is this good.
It's a Thursday, so Lute is here at the lake! I gave him a scarf, but he didn't wear it...
LUTE: A long time ago, Erik called out to me from behind and tried to hit on me.
LUTE: But when he found out that I was a man, he ran away at the speed of light.
LUTE: Don't you think that's rude? Well, we got to be really good friends after that so all is well.
I still wish Lute was a romance option- he's a cool dude. Compared to Erik, who is a rude dude.
TABATHA: When the monsters run out of food, their frienship with you starts to decline.
TABATHA: Please be careful not to abuse them.
This isn't really an issue for us. We produce almost 5 times the amount of food needed for our monsters every day.
I don't cut it most days though, I let our stock just hover at around 10 days worth of food. It's mostly out of "I've got other stuff to do" energy, but also because it's slowly growing me more Runeys.
I should probably start cutting more so I can stockpile 30 days of food for Winter. Maybe I'll just commit to cutting it every day in Autumn.
SELPHY: The writing from Uzuki's country is pretty different from ours.
SELPHY: I'm learning some of it, but it's actually pretty hard. Still, it's fun to learn it.
Selphy has now entered the import market, trying to find those unlocalized literary gems. Maybe she'll end up going into mail-order translations.
We now interrupt your slice-of-life for serious plot progression.
BUSH: Kanno, the run in the Whale Island's tail shrunk.
KANNO: What?! Are you certain about that?
KANNO: Whale Island stays afloat by the power of that Rune. If the Rune continues to decay, the island will fall and crush the village!
BUSH: Is there anything we can do? Anything at all?!
KANNO: Hm... Perhaps the Rune is shrinking in size because those Spirits have gone somewhere. Do you know of any other places where Runes have gathered like in Whale Island?
BUSH: No... Can't say that I do...
KANNO: Is that so... In that case, let me know if you find a place like that.
BUSH: Okay! I'll start looking for a place where a lot of Runes gather!
We are reminded of the fact that renaming this town to Termina would unfortunately be appropriate.
We now know we're looking for some other mass of runes, perhaps to transplant them or something. We don't really know where to find that yet, so we can really only progress onwards with what we know.
It'll be a while before we get there, and there's no timer, so this urgency isn't real.
Also, yes, neither Bush or Kanno change expression in this dialogue. It seems to only happen in dialogues triggered by story progression. I'm still guessing it's a bit of a development leftover.
KANNO: Whale Island stays afloat due to the vast quantities of Runes gathered there.
KANNO: You saw it, too, didn't you, Bush? That's what it was.
Yeah, the Whale kind of told us so himself.
Never mind that, it's time to work on balancing the runes down here.
Peperoncino Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Never mind that, I'm not going to bore you or myself with the details of Runey management. Instead I'll skip to later in the day where I'm prepping supplies for more Whale Island exploration.
I still don't have the Oven that I really wanted for toast, but the Peperoncino's lifesteal will supplement us well enough for now.
Following that, I dive down into the Lava Ruins to farm more Ignis for magic dust and experience as I run Bush's bars low.
A removal of a Seal debuff and a bath later, and we're ready to do some exploration.
...But before we go, I drop by Selphy's and buy the Ultimate Lab Book, which is the book containing the rest of the Pharmacy recipes, and More Fine Dining which is the intermediate baking book. The latter claims we can "improve our position in the household" which I doubt, as we're already master chefs, and the only one in our household.
Also Melody has officially taken the lead in terms of LP thanks to Relax Tea.
Music: Whale Island OutsideI do some minor farming up on the isle and head in to talk to Iris.
IRIS: It has become so natural for us to speak like this everyday.
IRIS: It feels strange because we were total strangers until a little while ago.
No joke, you've known each other for maybe two, running on three weeks?
...Or, uh, months? You know what, nevermind. Try to think about all the implications of this world's years being 1/3rd the length of ours is a fool's errand.
IRIS: I love the moon. Looking at its pale glow really makes me feel at peace with myself.
You're quite the night owl, so I'd imagine so.
Following that, we head on out to the Tail Tree and on to the Drain.
While I do that, I go ahead and farm a Glittering Edge off of a Mantict- this will be useful for making the Crescent Axe.
Alas, Pony went down in a brawl with some beetles, so I'll yet again have to brave the Drain alone. She's too aggro for her own good sometimes.
Bush is one monster away from hittng level 31, so I try to take down a fairy to get his bars back to full. A chaotic fight ensues, but I manage to separate the two that spawn here.
Seal doesn't really seem to bother the fairy all that much though, it's still got the very deadly fairy dust attack. Did I mention that it can stun you? Yeah, this is pretty much a one way trip to the infirmary-
But somehow Bush breaks out in time and gets a final axe swing off. That was a hell of a close call.
I bop the other one out of existence for good measure, and also because it was almost down too.
Bush is fireballing a Tortas here, but the explosion particle effect kinda covers all that up.
The Fire Staff still does a good job at times, but the more hits of the Earth Staff tend to make it better on the usual.
After doing that for a little bit of experience, it's down into the drain to make progress. We've got 3 hours and 25 minutes from this screenshot until I have to bail out at 1 AM.
As a reminder, staying up past that makes Bush wake up late and I can't have that. Cuts my day short, and also prevents us from meeting Anette.
The water lasers hurt a lot by the way. This one hit for 93, and Bush just clipped it on the side. The fact that flying fish are spawning down here too means that this is about to turn into a bullet hell featuring water lasers.
A fish-made laser narrowly misses Bush as he goes to eat some peperoncino, pretty much just for the HP restoration.
...What? I ain't fighting this mess. I'm getting out of this deathtrap as quickly as I can.
Going up and around through the center area brings us to the third and final part of the drain, with a staircase up and out.
This part of the Drain area is short, but it's a gauntlet.
It's also worth noting that this is all new territory for me- I've never been this far into this zone before. I've finally surpassed my previous attempt at this game!
Up the stairs is a long pathway overlooking the expanse of sky below. There's a farming patch here that nobody will ever use as it's too out of the way, and a spawner just ahead of us. They really like hiding them behind fallen pillars here.
If we head off right past the little field, we run up against a wall which leads us to a chest at a dead end. It's got some cold medicine inside of it, which I guess could possibly save me 100g in the future?
As long as Lara's around, these really aren't worth much.
Holy palette swaps, Bushman! It's a Sealy!
These are just like the other flying fish, the Sky Fish, but with red scales and higher level drops.
It's a pretty early palette swap, I can't say much more about it.
More fighting, more dead ends.
Bush is getting some good experience out of all of this though. The lifesteal off the peperoncino makes enduring the hits we inevitably take much easier.
You lack any sort of ability to dodge in this game, so the only way to avoid damage is to be very light on your feet and rely on staggering enemies.
Eventually the path to the left cuts back downwards and we make it to other side of the short wall where we went down into the drain at. You could definitely just walk past that wall, but whatever, game.
The path goes down and leads further leftwards...
We cross a bridge into a grassy opening...
Shock. And. Awe.
It's a
If these show up in any other Rune Factory game, I don't remember where.
The unidog attacks with a horn rush for the most part, but it does have a giant multi projectile green lightning attack.
They also have little wing-like tufts of hair on their haunches for some reason.
there is only room for one pony in our life
One of these grassy terraces has a farm field in it, and I believe one of these rocks is actually another shortcut back to Whale Island Cave, but I ran out of time to check.
Here's that lightning projectile in action- there's two of the unidogs guarding the entrance to this tower.
You'll have to be faster that, fake ponies!
WHALE ISLAND
TOWER OF BIRTH
Music: Whale Island Tower(If you played Rune Factory 4, you might know this as Autumn Road instead. If you played the rerelease of RF4, then you wouldn't because they changed it for some reason, apparently.
It's still a good theme though, very moody and mystical.)
At long last, we've finally reached the tower that's supposed to have that monster Mr. Whale wants us to bop out of existence.
Unfortunately it's also Bush's bedtime, so it's time to head home.
Battle Axe Lv:4 was synthesized.
Before we sleep for 5 hours, I do a bit of crafting.
Great Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
The Great Axe is made by slapping more bronze on a battle axe. It's got 30% paralysis and a bit more damage, that's about it. Our Alldale is easily better.
It looks cool though!
This is one of the last materials we need for the Crescent Axe, all I'm missing now is some silver.
Expertising these doesn't matter as the glittering edge is only 1. We won't get higher for those until we find the mantict reskin later on.
I also spend the rest of our HP/RP on making tea, but I don't really have to show that at this point.
But I go ahead and show it anyways because Bush has officially hit 99 Cooking. It's only been 40 days since arriving here and he's now a master chef!
Now it's time to wake up fully rested after 5 hours of sleep. Bush's Earthmate abilities really just help out everywhere, I guess.
I know last update I said this was a single day update, but I severely misremembered how much actually happened this day.
Music: Visions(Another dream! I'll just name these characters by the color of their text.)
RED: This isn't good! Even the readings of the Basic Experimental Facility are dropping fast!
VIOLET: The readings of the Cryogenic Facility are below critical!
GREEN: Release the Runes from the backup units!
RED: We already are! The readings are still dropping! At this rate...
GREEN: ...?! Don't look at me like that. There is nothing to worry about.
GREEN: Just be the innocent self you always have been. If you don't....
:GREEN: Why in the world are the Runes diminishing for no apparent reason?!
GREEN: At this rate, this plot of land will die, and people will no longer be able to live here...
GREEN: No, this is bigger than that. If this phenomenon spreads, Runes will completely disappear from the world...
GREEN: When that happens....
Music: Trampoli Daily LifeJeez, Mist, if you're gonna send us your weird dreams, then at least make it the one that aren't anxiety inducing.
Green, whoever they are, isn't having a very good time of it, it seems.
To clear his head, Bush goes about reorganizing his inventory.
I follow up by grinding some more Forging skill by doing the scrap iron upgrade recipe on our chopping axe.
Chopping Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
I manage to bring it up to level 5, so that's not half bad!
I'm still going to throw all that away upgrading it into the next tier of axe anyways, as it'll break stumps very fast then.
...Or maybe not, I'll see if I can get the materials to make it work.
A new, good ol' sunny day!
Unfortunately I missed collecting some of our harvest yesterday.
I blame the Runeys.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm not gonna lose!" - Marco~
Hey! I heard you're even stronger than before. I better work harder so that I'll be stronger than you.
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm not really sure what prompted this, maybe Bush's overall level going over 30?
Marco's not going to be stronger than Bush in cooking, that's for sure.
...but then again, he does have an oven. Which we still don't.
ANETTE: How are you?
Anette has nothing new to say today again...
A little bit of mornin' fishin'. I'm stocking up on cooked fish so I can get to cleaning up these fields at some point.
By the time I finish the morning work, it's time to go bug people for conversation. Bianca's not around in the manor when I stop by, so she's probably at the beach.
Music: Kross' ThemeKROSS: My birthday? I don't have one because I don't remember.
BUSH: I didn't think you knew how to joke, Kross.
KROSS: When did you come to this village?
BUSH: 2nd of Spring.
KROSS: Heh... I see. What a coincidence. My birthday is also on the 2nd of Spring.
KROSS: On that day, one man went away and I came here.
His life changed for the better when Bush arrived, and this is a new him, I guess?
EUNICE: It feels nice to get more friends. Every single day becomes really fun.
EUNICE: I used to feel lonely but I have many more friends now.
EUNICE: Selphy looks so happy whenever I bring the meals to her.
I can't imagine it was too great before. The only people vaguely close to her age before Mist arrived were Danny and Erik. Marco was around too, but he was probably out swinging his practice sword somewhere. But, seriously, did your parents just never hang out with you at all either?
Selphy's probably just happy to get any food at all though, really. While she may be able to subsist entirely on literature, I don't imagine it tastes good.
TSUBUTE: Listen, Milady. You mustn't forget following the qualities of Yamato Nadeshiko.
BUSH: Um, what's Yamato Nadeshiko?
TSUBUTE: That is a good question, Bush.
TSUBUTE: Yamato Nadeshiko refers to women who are modest and traditional by nature.
BUSH: That sounds interesting.
TSUBUTE: What?! Do you prefer women of that sort, Bush?
TSUBUTE: Hm... I see.
At this point Bush has just learned to tell cicada dad what he wants to hear. It results in less threats and angry samurai cries.
Yamato Nadeshiko is apparently a metaphorical name based on the old name of Japan and a flower. As cicada dad says, it's basically an idealized concept of a woman personality-wise that boils down to the usual pure and noble things you'd expect.
Having distracted cicada dad long enough, we can finally talk to Uzuki.
UZUKI: Bush, have you found any clues to my elder brother?
BUSH: Not really...
UZUKI: I see...
TSUBUTE: Where can Brother be...? He should at least show up seeing how milady is so worried about him...
Yeah, we should probably get to looking for Brother at some point.
...It'd help if we had any idea where or what to even look for.
ROSETTA: *phew* I'm so busy.
BUSH: Your store seems to be really successful, Rosetta.
ROSETTA: It's all thanks to customers like you. But I guess I have some talent in running a business after all.
She's a veritable business tycoon. Capitalism runs through her veins!
...I wonder how her dad's doing after all this time. I'd think he gets enough business from the people in Kardia alone, so he's probably fine.
Ah, the Trampoli Book Club is meeting again today!
CINNAMON: I hate cucumbers. Don't bring them to me...
She hates them enough to muster an expression for them!
CINNAMON: There are magic items for people who have no talent for magic. If you have one, anyone can use magic.
CINNAMON: But, you'll never compare to real wizards.
Bush can cast magic without a staff! He just needs a spellbook, which nobody seems to sell anymore.
LARA: Ouch...
BUSH: What's wrong, Lara?
LARA: I scraped my knee.
BUSH: Really? Are you okay?
LARA: Yes. It happens all the time.
LARA: It's embarassing to say this, but I trip often.
BUSH: I see... You really don't look like a clumsy person, though.
LARA: I get that all the time.
You'd think being such a helicopter doctor she'd have treated the scrape by now, but "doctors are their own worst patients" as the saying goes I guess.
LARA: Whale Island seems to be getting bigger to my eyes.
LARA: I just hope nothing bad will happen.
I'm getting to it! Darned unstable runes.
You know, while this game models shadows for time of day, it doesn't model the shadow that Whale Island would cast.
I suppose that's fair, this whole place would be shadow at noon if that was the case.
LARA: My father and Sister Stella have known each other for a long time. I came here as a sort of messenger for them.
LARA: Right when I thought you hadn't come for a while, I find you collapsed in front of me.
LARA: I felt my heart jump!
BUSH: Haha... Sorry about that.
Bush is a problem patient, but can you blame him? He can change the weather by overworking himself. He can outright stop natural disasters, a little bit of time travel or meteorological provided
I'm just glad Lara doesn't really seem to realize how beat up we get on Whale Island.
MELODY: I know that I don't have the talent for magic. It's just fun to learn it.
MELODY: I think Cinnamon is really good at teaching magic.
CINNAMON: ...I'm only okay.
MELODY: You don't have to be so modest!
Being able to enjoy learning a hobby while lacking the talent for it is a great thing when it happens.
Also wow, we're getting a lot of expressions out of Cinnamon today.
MELODY: I'm actually really picky about my hat. Did you know that I wear a different hat everyday?
How many exact copies of that hat do you have?Does everyone in this town have duplicate clothing? Bush never changes!
We find the Coquille crew on the beach today.
TABATHA: Sweeping and dusting must be done every day while waxing is done twice a year. That's the trick to keeping floors clean.
That's a lot of work, but I suppose that sounds about right for the super fancy manor.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to be more cheerful than before. I believe this is all thanks to you, Bush.
When you're deathly bored, you need someone as strange as Bush in your life, I guess.
Speaking of Bianca...
BUSH: You're not going to swim, Bianca?
BIANCA: The beach is there for people to relax on, not a place to swim. Understand?
BUSH: Oh...
Relax on sand?! But it's coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere!
BIANCA: Don't you think Francoise is a great name?
Franswah? Sure, I guess.
Despite it not doing anything, here, have a Tree Runey. I've literally got more than a full stack of these buggers.
If I ever got around to cleaning up my fields, I could just start spending them on Lumber Days from Candy. That, and they make good fodder for Rune Stones.
SELPHY: I've always wanted my own library. This library is just the best!
But... you're outside.
SELPHY: I think that a love story between two characters of different rank is classic. Do you like those stories?
BUSH: Me?! I don't know any princesses or people like that so I wouldn't understand...
SELPHY: Hm... That's a really safe answer.
Selphy just really likes The Princess Bride. This topic wasn't brought up for any other reason, I'm sure. Anything else is inconceivable!
Following this literary talk of princesses and stable boys, Bush goes to collect some silver from the Lava Ruins. Time to make that Crescent Axe!
Alright, let's do this.
Crescent Axe Lv: 2 was synthesized.
Pretty rad, it's like two axes melded together into some wicked cleaver. This axe usually just looks kinda like a shortened halberd in the other games.
Bush drops back down into the spicy water cavern to beat up ghosts for a thin stick. We've got another axe to make!
but first
oranges
NOLAN: Hot springs are very nice. Not only do they warm your body, they warm your soul as well.
We've probably seen this line, but this is really more of a reminder that Nolan even exists.
After a bath, I check the runeys and notice that, amazingly, South District is close to prosperity through what I guess is natural means?
I do some intensive Runey management for 3 hours and go ahead and scrape everything needed to put it into prosperity as well. Normally, you'd turn this into another Grass Runey farm, but whatever.
It's kinda bothersome to gather from this area anyways, so I'm just gonna take it while it's free. I make enough extra water and rock from our homestead's growth that I can probably supercharge our one grass farm if I felt like it.
The operative state there is feeling like doing it, which I don't.
Detours done and out of the way, I can finally make that Lumber Axe. This will destroy stumps very quickly, so I can get around to both getting more lumber and cleaning up the field some.
Lumber Axe Lv:5 was synthesized with expertise!
With all the materials at hand, I'm able to craft it at level 5. Not bad, not bad at all! It's only a few points of RP saved, but for such an RP intensive actvity, I'll take it.
With big, fancy shockwaves just like our combat axes, it wipes stumps in only 3 special attacks compared to the, like 9 it needed before.
Oh yeah. This is good.
Field's getting cleaner already!
I go ahead and till that section so it doesn't get filled with natural growth again, then head up to Iris.
New batch of turnips are done! Phew, had me sweating there. I don't want Bush to get called in for not contributing to the root racket.
I plant some more for good measure.
Unfortunately Iris had nothing new to say, but she'll hit LP 5 tomorrow, I think.
Yeah, that fast. She's already overtaken Rosetta, and will pass Mist tomorrow. Melody's on the edge of getting LP 6 already too- favored gifts accelerate this by so much.
As the day comes to a close, Bush prepares some more gifts for the coming days. It's a never-ending job until they hit 10 LP or they get voted out!
The bar is still open at this late, I so drop on by to nab some more supplies. Even though last update I ran us completely broke, we're back up to being as rich as ever.
STELLA: There are some monsters that are skilled and they sometimes make some strange things.
STELLA: I'm sure there are people that like those things, but I just don't like holding onto the possessions of monsters.
STELLA: That "Warrior Medal" just seems really ominous.
Stella tells us her hated gift, and the viewpoint behind it. Kross, Cinnamon, and Kanno are the only people who like monster drops anyways.
Since we've got over 30,000g, I go ahead and burn some more cash on peperonico supplies. Even though our new Crescent Axe has lifesteal, the food itself is pretty decent on both HP and RP fronts, and we can also share the lifesteal with Pony. Should help her stick around longer.
With that, it's time to call it for today. We've got two more days I think, before I start the first round of Bachelorette voting.
Even once it's said and done I'll still probably talk to the losers of said vote and give them gifts from time to time, but I won't be going out of my way to do favorite gifts. If there's days I've got stuff to do, then I'll be able to leave them out if they're out of the way.
Music: GoodnightSee you next time folks!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Update 29: This Day Sucks
Welcome back, all! Summer the 13th seems to be a sunny holiday!
Rune Factory 3 - Summer
Even though it's not raining, I'm still linking RF3's Summer theme as I've been jamming out to it a lot recently.
I also need to mention I have a full stack of Rock and Tree Runeys each. It's getting out of hand.
We start the day out expanding our fodder fields. It's free Runeys at least.
No Anette today
I can't be too sad, she deserves her day off. Not many folk have the endurance to sprint between towns delivering mail.
While checking the friendship on our monsters, I accidentally tab over to the profits tab. Seems we just recently passed 30,000g on raw tomatoes, which is quite a way off form our 48,430g in juiced tomatoes.
Our strawberry earnings hover around 36,000g right now, so the math really shows we're going to blow last season's earnings out of the water even more than we already are now.
Heck, our corn exports alone are close to the strawberry earnings.
Doing Runey management by the beach has me catch Mist and Rosetta as they're going to the changing room.
ROSETTA: Mist and I went to the mountains on a picnic when we were small.
ROSETTA: We raced to see who could reach the top first, but we ended up tiring ourselves out and neither of us made it.
I was expecting a "Tortoise and the Hare" kind of story as I've never seen Mist run for anything, but I have been surprised.
It takes folks forever to change, so I'll catch them later. Off to the rest of town!
MELODY: There's a hot spring where the water comes down like a waterfall. It felt so good to just let the water hit you.
MELODY: But I guess it'd be dangerous if I did it here since it'll fall from an island in the sky.
A hot spring waterfall. Huh. A hotterfall?
Regardless, I imagine that a waterfall with water traveling at terminal velocity may hurt.
MELODY: There's a bath where you don't go in the water and just warm up with the steam. It wasn't bath-like at all!
Melody, a noted not-fan of saunas, the fake baths.
(Oh, and also, Melody is 1/4th of the way through LP 6 already. That Relax Tea works fast. I could technically make it faster, but I'm not going to.)
LUTE: Morning!
Lute, my dude, how's it goin'?
LUTE: The paint has softened up too much from the heat...
Oh.
Well, I'm here for that Oven-
why isn't there an oven for sale
lute
please... i need to make cakes...
As it turns out, Lute's utensil list is plain random instead of following some pattern like the previous traveling merchants. You can reset what Lute sells by reverting to the previous day and trying again, but I didn't know this at the time. Even though I know now, all my savestates are too far back.
I was really hoping to have the oven at this point so that I could start working on the other favorite bachelorette gifts, but no.
I drop 10,000g on a Forge Storage, which should alleviate my storage concerns for the time being.
I also buy the max upgrades for all the utensils he does have on sale in misguided frustration. I don't believe this improves my chances of him offering an oven next time, but I did it anyways.
Seriously, there's barely anything you'd need the Legendary Frying Pan, Super Pot, or Mystical Blender for, as most of the good recipes for those utensils don't use more than 1-3 ingredients. Regardless, we now own them as a flex of our rising agricultural income.
You know what? Let's make even more inadvisable purchases.
Beach Style! - "A book of swimsuit patterns that boys are too embarassed to buy at stores."
10,000g down the hole for a swimsuit magazine. Don't judge, Selphy, we saw that book in your room.
(She doesn't actually react to buying this or any of the other books- a missed opportunity if you ask me.)
This recipe book only teaches two recipes, and neither of them are for Bush. They are the Cute Bathing Suit and the Amazing Bathing Suit.
The former is a swimsuit that "follows the latest trends," with a level of 20 skill, and requires 2 cheap cloths and a teardrop. It's honestly not a bad thing to grind skill on if you don't have the wool to make scarves. Cheap cloth and teardrops can be farmed in mass in the second room of Whale Island Cave, with the spawner that puts out an orc and two slimes.
When gifted to a girl, her bathing suit sprite will then be more of a bikini kind of deal rather than the one-pieces we have now. I'm fine with what they've already got, but as I might as well make one for the skill gain given I've already got the materials.
The Amazing Bathing Suit needs 99 crafts skill, 1 quality cloth, 1 aquamarine, and 1 teardrop. Given the description, (and the fact it uses half as much cloth as a bikini) the result likely won't match this game's ESRB rating, and consequently why the girls won't even wear it if you give it to them.
Instead, this is actually Turner's favorite gift.
...Draw your own conclusions for that, I'm moving on.
Cute Bathing Suit Lv:7 was synthesized with expertise!
These things are barely worth the materials when it comes to sale price. Even at level 6, it's hardly worth a tomato juice. It's even less worth it when it's noted that I spent 10,000g for this book and I also could have made this without it.
Also, how is this one of our highest level crafted items?
The Forge Storage is just another box like the one next to our bed, but instead placed in the little hallway to the forge.
I immediately fill up more than half it's capacity dumping stuff from our inventory.
At least if anything, I've finally got plenty of carrying room!
MIST: I wonder if I will get married one day...
MIST: I just can't see it.
Mist is making the most of that bachelorette lifestyle, funded by her underground organization.
MIST: If you throw stuff into a well, the Spirit of the well will double what you dropped and give it back to you.
MIST: I wonder what I should throw in... Oh, but there isn't a well in Trampoli. Would the lake work?
Uh... maybe?
I only know of the giant chicken in the Green Ruins that doubles whatever you were eating while you were beating it up.
ROSETTA: I have to tend to the store during the day, so this is the only time I get to relax.
I suppose having Danny around also gives you a bit more time.
ROSETTA: I was talking Eunice and Melody the other day...
ROSETTA: ...about maybe doing some kind of collaboration with the bathhouse.
ROSETTA: Hm... It's rather difficult to come up with a good idea...
How about some stand-up comedy?
wait no, that's in the future
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: You're not going to swim, Cinnamon?
CINNAMON: ...Can't swim.
BUSH: It'll be fun if you're just in the water. How about it?
CINNAMON: ...No.
Well, that conversation went excellently.
Not a lot is going on today without the planned oven. I even stop to take a break to fish at the beach for a bit, notably nabbing a flounder in the process.
Flounder are really weird fish, but they're one of the more valuable catches.
BIANCA: Yesterday, I had roast meat steamed in wine. The meat was so soft in melted in my mouth.
BUSH: Oh...
Bianca is not impressed at our catch.
I guess it explains why the manor's got all that wine. When I think fish, I don't usually think "roasted", but that is a way you can serve it. There is no other source of meat in the Rune Factory world after all- it's strictly pescatarian.
Well, unless there's some cult somewhere that eats actual monsters.
BIANCA: I like how quiet this village is, but it has nothing else going for it.
I mean, seriously, where are all the festivals?
BIANCA: This beach is very pretty but it's much too cramped.
BIANCA: Maybe I should get Father to buy me a private beach next time...
Now that you mention it, there's a lot of people out here today.
BUSH: Tabatha, isn't it hot in that outfit?
TABATHA: I'm fine. This outfit isn't as hot as it looks.
TABATHA: And this is like a uniform to me. Wearing this makes me feel prepared for my job.
This was clearly meant for dialogue while not on the beach, but it makes for an entertaining bit of silliness.
One could also interpret it as Bush trying to give away that swimsuit I had him make earlier today. He wouldn't be trying to sell it, that's for sure, he just throws stuff in the shipping bin and lets Rosetta handle it.
TABATHA: Rosehip tea is good for maintaining one's beauty. It can make your skin very smooth.
TABATHA: Or does this not interest you very much, Bush?
Rosehips are the fruit that are borne from most types of rose plants- they do more than just make fancy flowers after all. Apparently they're rather high in vitamin C and have a long history of use in the Middle East-Asia region.
There's also apparently itchy hairs on the inside of them? Crazy stuff.
This has been your impromptu trivia for the update. Despite being able to grow roses at a later date in-game, this will be relatively pointless knowledge.
TABATHA: I like how quiet this place is. The atmosphere is somewhat similar to the nation of elves. It's very nostalgic.
BUSH: Huh? You used to live in the nation of elves?
TABATHA: Yes. I'm an elf. My place of birth is the nation of elves.
BUSH: I see. I didn't know that at all.
bush
did you not notice the ears
seriously
I think the nation of elves Tabatha's from is maybe a bit reclusive? I don't really know all the elven lore.
TABATHA: I'm just not used to wearing swimsuits...
TABATHA: It's embarassing.
Kardia had a beach day, but it mostly took the form of a few people standing around the beach fully clothed while everyone else stood about town. Kardia festivals weren't that exciting.
Hey, I say just be glad it's not the Amazing Bathing Suit you're wearing.
All that talking done, I go about other stuff for the day. The fridge is starting to get rather full as well. I've only got 5 spots left open in it.
More fishing to stock up on sashimi and fish fry...
Bathhouse conversations we've already seen!
I have to run a search on all my previous updates sometimes, I forget what dialogue we have and haven't seen, especially if it's something I've seen but the thread hasn't yet.
Doing updates ahead of time has its flaws.
RITA: Oh. Bush. This is the women's bath. You're a bad boy.
RITA: Has the steam scrambled your brain, Bush? Ladies only.
TURNER: Bush, I'm gonna start to get angry...
Hey, chill, you two, I'm just doing my usual talking thing. It's not like you people change right here.
The folks whose conversations you overhear will be in the sort of hallway waiting room thing beforehand.
Melody won't get angry at you unless you actually try to walk into the bath.
Heck, even Eunice doesn't care.
Small penalty to RP restored, as usual.
ERIK: I hear you went to the Lava Ruins.
ERIK: Going to the fields inside the ruins may be good, but you have to care for your own field, too.
ERIK: I care only about my own field so I'm not interested in the fields in the ruins.
ERIK: It's not because I'm scared of the monsters I tell you!
I'm fishing so hard for conversation to fill this nothing day that I went and found Erik. We've probably even seen this dialogue already!
Music: Lava Ruins
Speaking of the Lava Ruins, let's burn some time there since nothing else is going on today and I should do something else with this day if Bush's Baked Beans are having to wait until next weekend.
To open our exploration, we move past the Ignis-filled southern area near the shortcut stairs.
Oh, there's rocks we can't smash with a Silver Hammer in our way on this path.
Well, we're going somewhere else then.
It's been years since I've been to the third floor, and that's the last of this dungeon I've ever seen.
Alright, left from the shortcut entrance we've got a big room with Golems and an Ignis. We head north through the sliding door...
Heeeey, there's the staircase down.
LAVA RUINS
B3F
Some of the worst enemies in the game that I know of are on this floor!
To the north is just a large bunch of minable rocks. I nab some silver from here.
(The area south of the entrance staircase is blocked off by rubble.)
Taking the staircase to near left of where we entered, we reach a branching path that is blocked off on the north side. South and around we go, then.
Another doorway off to the left leads us to...
oh god oh god oh fuck
These are Summers, the reskin variant of the plant monsters from Green Ruins, but are far, far more dangerous. They fire large bursts of moderate to high damage paralyzing projectiles with pretty low cooldown.
These things are pretty much plant-based gatling guns and will absolutely melt you.
The way forward is a bit southwards from there, through a wall that has to be blown open with the bomb nearby.
The southern path behind that wall is also blocked off by a bomb I might be able to snipe with a fireball, but I opt for the intended route up the staircase to the right.
There's a veritable blockade of Ignis and Golems here as well, none of that easily running past them sort of thing.
I find my way through though, and finally end up on the other side of a debris pile blocking the path back to the entrance staircase. I opt to just find the shortcut staircase instead for the moment.
Hidden behind the mass of special effects here is a Little Emperor, the upgraded reskins of Little Wizards. These now pack an earthquake spell (equivalent to our Gaea Rod) and earth spikes (equivalent to our Earth Wand).
Unfortunately, I'm also hitting a bomb here to open this door, and earthquake can stun.
And the Emperor hits me with one just as I set the bomb's timer off.
bushsbushbush
movemovemove
aaaagagggh
not like thiiiiiiiis
I got control back! RUN FOR-
-NO, IT'S TOO LATE!
how
bush, you goddamn hero with your 3 hp
Pony! We're out of here!
run run run run run run
Phew... shortcut open.
After that near catastrophe, survived by a literal pixel of HP, you'd think I'd just leave.
But no, I'm not backing down- Bush dives back in and bolts down the staircase through the open door. The scorpions here are the same as the ones on the Whale Island Flank.
A door leads out from there and around into a U-shaped hallway, cut off from the north by a pit of lava opened by the general dilapidation of this place..
Past a golem and into a door, we find a small farming area. The bomb to the north blows open another weak wall to make the path forward.
I light it with a fire rod blast. I've had enough of being close to those bombs for now.
Bush eats some snack food to gain a paltry amount of HP, gets on Pony, and we continue onwards.
The plan is to hopefully go all the way to the bottom if possible, because Lava Ruins isn't going to make me back down that easily.
We go around this little loop and up the staircase. There's more than a few shortcuts I've just plainly neglected to open around, mostly because they seem to refresh on leaving the dungeon.
This one here is the one I pondered opening with a fireball from across the gap.
To think what I could have avoided had my past self been a bit more forward thinking. Sometimes it's frustrating watching through gameplay recorded in advance as there's a number of things you miss in the moment.
A blockade of Not So Little Emperorsstand float at the top of the stairs.
Getting a taste of my own medicine here is fine...
...but this hitbox is rigged. The special effect isn't even visible anymore!
We reach another large rectangular pathway, and the golem spawns to the south immediately make me run back to the north.
Just running for it at this point. Both Pony and Bush aren't doing so hot here.
NOPE Nope nope nope ....
Coming in for the grand slam in an attempt to intercept our retreat is a Hammer Troll. These mean, lima bean green, fighting machines are the series staple of slow, tanky, hard hitters. Like I needed another of those around when the Golems are already present. They don't seem to actually be wielding their usual hammers though.
At this point I end up having to make a reflex reaction to Return. The next floor must have been very close, but I can say I've officially passed my original playthrough in everything but days played, and somehow, LP progress with Uzuki. I don't know how I got her to LP 4 so fast.
I got to the observatory just in time for the Elephant Constellation, but Bianca's LP is just one conversation away from 1. It's visible right now, but it won't trigger.
I guess I'll get it tomorrow.
Up to Whale Island to close out the day, I guess. We're so beat up, I don't have much in the way of healing back up aside from riskily using lifesteal on low-level monsters.
Music: Whale Island Entrance - Ambient
We get out our usual tomato juice gift. I was sure to save one for tonight- I don't want to do the runback again.
IRIS: Good evening, Bush.
...A fade to black?
IRIS: Oh, yeah. The other day, when I was cleaning my room...
IRIS: !! Oh, no! Bush, you're bleeding!
BUSH: Oh... Maybe a monster got me.
Lest you forget, Bush is absolutely wrecked right now. He took a barrel of explosive powder at point blank, and I'm honestly unsurprised he doesn't remember that's what it was.
IRIS: W-we need to stop the bleeding! I need something to stop the bleeding...
IRIS: I know!
wait what
did you just lick it
why
She jumps back after doing that.
IRIS: S-s-s-sorry!! I didn't mean any... I don't know why I...
IRIS: When I saw you bleeding, I just couldn't think of anything but stopping it... so...
IRIS: I'm really sorry!!
why was this your first thought
BUSH: Don't be. Everyone has something that frightens them.
BUSH: I didn't mind at all.
IRIS: *sigh* Why did I do that...
Bush is as oblivious/extremely polite and accepting as always.
We've got a girl who gets very sleepy in the day, loves the moon, instinctively hates garlic, and her first reaction is to lick our blood.
Seems like something's a bit strange about all of that, but Rune Factory is full of oddball characters so it's probably nothing.
(On a side note, Iris is also at 5 LP now. Yeah. She's surpassed Mist and Rosetta for 3rd place.)
...Man, this is some awkward silence.
IRIS: You can see all the way to the horizon on a clear day. But on a cloudy day, it feels like I am adrift in a sea of clouds.
IRIS: Both of those are wonderful sceneries so I often sketch them.
Ah, a change of topic. Just what we needed!
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Gladly!
BUSH: ...
BUSH: (Is this a... ghost? Wait, this happened last time so I should...)
BUSH: That's a very cute Wooly. You're very good.
IRIS: That's... a moon...
BUSH: What?! I-It's a beautiful moon. You're very good! ...Sorry.
welp
Having finely smashed this forming conversation with that smooth talking, I cut our losses and send Bush out before the air gets any more awkward.
That's all for today, I'm afraid. I was getting worried that today would end up incredibly short, but it turned out to be rather long!
We'll start the first round of bachelorette voting after the next update where I make less inadvisable purchases, so get ready for that!
In the meantime, I do have a small vote to do, I guess. What do we do with that swimwear that needlessly cost us 10,000g? Leave it sitting in the box? Give it to someone? Just sell itand cut our losses for completion?
Welcome back, all! Summer the 13th seems to be a sunny holiday!
Rune Factory 3 - SummerEven though it's not raining, I'm still linking RF3's Summer theme as I've been jamming out to it a lot recently.
I also need to mention I have a full stack of Rock and Tree Runeys each. It's getting out of hand.
We start the day out expanding our fodder fields. It's free Runeys at least.
No Anette today
I can't be too sad, she deserves her day off. Not many folk have the endurance to sprint between towns delivering mail.
While checking the friendship on our monsters, I accidentally tab over to the profits tab. Seems we just recently passed 30,000g on raw tomatoes, which is quite a way off form our 48,430g in juiced tomatoes.
Our strawberry earnings hover around 36,000g right now, so the math really shows we're going to blow last season's earnings out of the water even more than we already are now.
Heck, our corn exports alone are close to the strawberry earnings.
Doing Runey management by the beach has me catch Mist and Rosetta as they're going to the changing room.
ROSETTA: Mist and I went to the mountains on a picnic when we were small.
ROSETTA: We raced to see who could reach the top first, but we ended up tiring ourselves out and neither of us made it.
I was expecting a "Tortoise and the Hare" kind of story as I've never seen Mist run for anything, but I have been surprised.
It takes folks forever to change, so I'll catch them later. Off to the rest of town!
MELODY: There's a hot spring where the water comes down like a waterfall. It felt so good to just let the water hit you.
MELODY: But I guess it'd be dangerous if I did it here since it'll fall from an island in the sky.
A hot spring waterfall. Huh. A hotterfall?
Regardless, I imagine that a waterfall with water traveling at terminal velocity may hurt.
MELODY: There's a bath where you don't go in the water and just warm up with the steam. It wasn't bath-like at all!
Melody, a noted not-fan of saunas, the fake baths.
(Oh, and also, Melody is 1/4th of the way through LP 6 already. That Relax Tea works fast. I could technically make it faster, but I'm not going to.)
LUTE: Morning!
Lute, my dude, how's it goin'?
LUTE: The paint has softened up too much from the heat...
Oh.
Well, I'm here for that Oven-
why isn't there an oven for sale
lute
please... i need to make cakes...
As it turns out, Lute's utensil list is plain random instead of following some pattern like the previous traveling merchants. You can reset what Lute sells by reverting to the previous day and trying again, but I didn't know this at the time. Even though I know now, all my savestates are too far back.
I was really hoping to have the oven at this point so that I could start working on the other favorite bachelorette gifts, but no.
I drop 10,000g on a Forge Storage, which should alleviate my storage concerns for the time being.
I also buy the max upgrades for all the utensils he does have on sale in misguided frustration. I don't believe this improves my chances of him offering an oven next time, but I did it anyways.
Seriously, there's barely anything you'd need the Legendary Frying Pan, Super Pot, or Mystical Blender for, as most of the good recipes for those utensils don't use more than 1-3 ingredients. Regardless, we now own them as a flex of our rising agricultural income.
You know what? Let's make even more inadvisable purchases.
Beach Style! - "A book of swimsuit patterns that boys are too embarassed to buy at stores."
10,000g down the hole for a swimsuit magazine. Don't judge, Selphy, we saw that book in your room.
(She doesn't actually react to buying this or any of the other books- a missed opportunity if you ask me.)
This recipe book only teaches two recipes, and neither of them are for Bush. They are the Cute Bathing Suit and the Amazing Bathing Suit.
The former is a swimsuit that "follows the latest trends," with a level of 20 skill, and requires 2 cheap cloths and a teardrop. It's honestly not a bad thing to grind skill on if you don't have the wool to make scarves. Cheap cloth and teardrops can be farmed in mass in the second room of Whale Island Cave, with the spawner that puts out an orc and two slimes.
When gifted to a girl, her bathing suit sprite will then be more of a bikini kind of deal rather than the one-pieces we have now. I'm fine with what they've already got, but as I might as well make one for the skill gain given I've already got the materials.
The Amazing Bathing Suit needs 99 crafts skill, 1 quality cloth, 1 aquamarine, and 1 teardrop. Given the description, (and the fact it uses half as much cloth as a bikini) the result likely won't match this game's ESRB rating, and consequently why the girls won't even wear it if you give it to them.
Instead, this is actually Turner's favorite gift.
...Draw your own conclusions for that, I'm moving on.
Cute Bathing Suit Lv:7 was synthesized with expertise!
These things are barely worth the materials when it comes to sale price. Even at level 6, it's hardly worth a tomato juice. It's even less worth it when it's noted that I spent 10,000g for this book and I also could have made this without it.
Also, how is this one of our highest level crafted items?
The Forge Storage is just another box like the one next to our bed, but instead placed in the little hallway to the forge.
I immediately fill up more than half it's capacity dumping stuff from our inventory.
At least if anything, I've finally got plenty of carrying room!
MIST: I wonder if I will get married one day...
MIST: I just can't see it.
Mist is making the most of that bachelorette lifestyle, funded by her underground organization.
MIST: If you throw stuff into a well, the Spirit of the well will double what you dropped and give it back to you.
MIST: I wonder what I should throw in... Oh, but there isn't a well in Trampoli. Would the lake work?
Uh... maybe?
I only know of the giant chicken in the Green Ruins that doubles whatever you were eating while you were beating it up.
ROSETTA: I have to tend to the store during the day, so this is the only time I get to relax.
I suppose having Danny around also gives you a bit more time.
ROSETTA: I was talking Eunice and Melody the other day...
ROSETTA: ...about maybe doing some kind of collaboration with the bathhouse.
ROSETTA: Hm... It's rather difficult to come up with a good idea...
How about some stand-up comedy?
wait no, that's in the future
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: You're not going to swim, Cinnamon?
CINNAMON: ...Can't swim.
BUSH: It'll be fun if you're just in the water. How about it?
CINNAMON: ...No.
Well, that conversation went excellently.
Not a lot is going on today without the planned oven. I even stop to take a break to fish at the beach for a bit, notably nabbing a flounder in the process.
Flounder are really weird fish, but they're one of the more valuable catches.
BIANCA: Yesterday, I had roast meat steamed in wine. The meat was so soft in melted in my mouth.
BUSH: Oh...
Bianca is not impressed at our catch.
I guess it explains why the manor's got all that wine. When I think fish, I don't usually think "roasted", but that is a way you can serve it. There is no other source of meat in the Rune Factory world after all- it's strictly pescatarian.
Well, unless there's some cult somewhere that eats actual monsters.
BIANCA: I like how quiet this village is, but it has nothing else going for it.
I mean, seriously, where are all the festivals?
BIANCA: This beach is very pretty but it's much too cramped.
BIANCA: Maybe I should get Father to buy me a private beach next time...
Now that you mention it, there's a lot of people out here today.
BUSH: Tabatha, isn't it hot in that outfit?
TABATHA: I'm fine. This outfit isn't as hot as it looks.
TABATHA: And this is like a uniform to me. Wearing this makes me feel prepared for my job.
This was clearly meant for dialogue while not on the beach, but it makes for an entertaining bit of silliness.
One could also interpret it as Bush trying to give away that swimsuit I had him make earlier today. He wouldn't be trying to sell it, that's for sure, he just throws stuff in the shipping bin and lets Rosetta handle it.
TABATHA: Rosehip tea is good for maintaining one's beauty. It can make your skin very smooth.
TABATHA: Or does this not interest you very much, Bush?
Rosehips are the fruit that are borne from most types of rose plants- they do more than just make fancy flowers after all. Apparently they're rather high in vitamin C and have a long history of use in the Middle East-Asia region.
There's also apparently itchy hairs on the inside of them? Crazy stuff.
This has been your impromptu trivia for the update. Despite being able to grow roses at a later date in-game, this will be relatively pointless knowledge.
TABATHA: I like how quiet this place is. The atmosphere is somewhat similar to the nation of elves. It's very nostalgic.
BUSH: Huh? You used to live in the nation of elves?
TABATHA: Yes. I'm an elf. My place of birth is the nation of elves.
BUSH: I see. I didn't know that at all.
bush
did you not notice the ears
seriously
I think the nation of elves Tabatha's from is maybe a bit reclusive? I don't really know all the elven lore.
TABATHA: I'm just not used to wearing swimsuits...
TABATHA: It's embarassing.
Kardia had a beach day, but it mostly took the form of a few people standing around the beach fully clothed while everyone else stood about town. Kardia festivals weren't that exciting.
Hey, I say just be glad it's not the Amazing Bathing Suit you're wearing.
All that talking done, I go about other stuff for the day. The fridge is starting to get rather full as well. I've only got 5 spots left open in it.
More fishing to stock up on sashimi and fish fry...
Bathhouse conversations we've already seen!
I have to run a search on all my previous updates sometimes, I forget what dialogue we have and haven't seen, especially if it's something I've seen but the thread hasn't yet.
Doing updates ahead of time has its flaws.
RITA: Oh. Bush. This is the women's bath. You're a bad boy.
RITA: Has the steam scrambled your brain, Bush? Ladies only.
TURNER: Bush, I'm gonna start to get angry...
Hey, chill, you two, I'm just doing my usual talking thing. It's not like you people change right here.
The folks whose
conversations you overhear will be in the sort of hallway waiting room thing beforehand.Melody won't get angry at you unless you actually try to walk into the bath.
Heck, even Eunice doesn't care.
Small penalty to RP restored, as usual.
ERIK: I hear you went to the Lava Ruins.
ERIK: Going to the fields inside the ruins may be good, but you have to care for your own field, too.
ERIK: I care only about my own field so I'm not interested in the fields in the ruins.
ERIK: It's not because I'm scared of the monsters I tell you!
I'm fishing so hard for conversation to fill this nothing day that I went and found Erik. We've probably even seen this dialogue already!
Music: Lava RuinsSpeaking of the Lava Ruins, let's burn some time there since nothing else is going on today and I should do something else with this day if Bush's Baked Beans are having to wait until next weekend.
To open our exploration, we move past the Ignis-filled southern area near the shortcut stairs.
Oh, there's rocks we can't smash with a Silver Hammer in our way on this path.
Well, we're going somewhere else then.
It's been years since I've been to the third floor, and that's the last of this dungeon I've ever seen.
Alright, left from the shortcut entrance we've got a big room with Golems and an Ignis. We head north through the sliding door...
Heeeey, there's the staircase down.
LAVA RUINS
B3F
Some of the worst enemies in the game that I know of are on this floor!
To the north is just a large bunch of minable rocks. I nab some silver from here.
(The area south of the entrance staircase is blocked off by rubble.)
Taking the staircase to near left of where we entered, we reach a branching path that is blocked off on the north side. South and around we go, then.
Another doorway off to the left leads us to...
oh god oh god oh fuck
These are Summers, the reskin variant of the plant monsters from Green Ruins, but are far, far more dangerous. They fire large bursts of moderate to high damage paralyzing projectiles with pretty low cooldown.
These things are pretty much plant-based gatling guns and will absolutely melt you.
The way forward is a bit southwards from there, through a wall that has to be blown open with the bomb nearby.
The southern path behind that wall is also blocked off by a bomb I might be able to snipe with a fireball, but I opt for the intended route up the staircase to the right.
There's a veritable blockade of Ignis and Golems here as well, none of that easily running past them sort of thing.
I find my way through though, and finally end up on the other side of a debris pile blocking the path back to the entrance staircase. I opt to just find the shortcut staircase instead for the moment.
Hidden behind the mass of special effects here is a Little Emperor, the upgraded reskins of Little Wizards. These now pack an earthquake spell (equivalent to our Gaea Rod) and earth spikes (equivalent to our Earth Wand).
Unfortunately, I'm also hitting a bomb here to open this door, and earthquake can stun.
And the Emperor hits me with one just as I set the bomb's timer off.
bushsbushbush
movemovemove
aaaagagggh
not like thiiiiiiiis
I got control back! RUN FOR-
-NO, IT'S TOO LATE!
how
bush, you goddamn hero with your 3 hp
Pony! We're out of here!
run run run run run run
Phew... shortcut open.
After that near catastrophe, survived by a literal pixel of HP, you'd think I'd just leave.
But no, I'm not backing down- Bush dives back in and bolts down the staircase through the open door. The scorpions here are the same as the ones on the Whale Island Flank.
A door leads out from there and around into a U-shaped hallway, cut off from the north by a pit of lava opened by the general dilapidation of this place..
Past a golem and into a door, we find a small farming area. The bomb to the north blows open another weak wall to make the path forward.
I light it with a fire rod blast. I've had enough of being close to those bombs for now.
Bush eats some snack food to gain a paltry amount of HP, gets on Pony, and we continue onwards.
The plan is to hopefully go all the way to the bottom if possible, because Lava Ruins isn't going to make me back down that easily.
We go around this little loop and up the staircase. There's more than a few shortcuts I've just plainly neglected to open around, mostly because they seem to refresh on leaving the dungeon.
This one here is the one I pondered opening with a fireball from across the gap.
To think what I could have avoided had my past self been a bit more forward thinking. Sometimes it's frustrating watching through gameplay recorded in advance as there's a number of things you miss in the moment.
A blockade of Not So Little Emperors
Getting a taste of my own medicine here is fine...
...but this hitbox is rigged. The special effect isn't even visible anymore!
We reach another large rectangular pathway, and the golem spawns to the south immediately make me run back to the north.
Just running for it at this point. Both Pony and Bush aren't doing so hot here.
NOPE Nope nope nope ....
Coming in for the grand slam in an attempt to intercept our retreat is a Hammer Troll. These mean, lima bean green, fighting machines are the series staple of slow, tanky, hard hitters. Like I needed another of those around when the Golems are already present. They don't seem to actually be wielding their usual hammers though.
At this point I end up having to make a reflex reaction to Return. The next floor must have been very close, but I can say I've officially passed my original playthrough in everything but days played, and somehow, LP progress with Uzuki. I don't know how I got her to LP 4 so fast.
I got to the observatory just in time for the Elephant Constellation, but Bianca's LP is just one conversation away from 1. It's visible right now, but it won't trigger.
I guess I'll get it tomorrow.
Up to Whale Island to close out the day, I guess. We're so beat up, I don't have much in the way of healing back up aside from riskily using lifesteal on low-level monsters.
Music: Whale Island Entrance - AmbientWe get out our usual tomato juice gift. I was sure to save one for tonight- I don't want to do the runback again.
IRIS: Good evening, Bush.
...A fade to black?
IRIS: Oh, yeah. The other day, when I was cleaning my room...
IRIS: !! Oh, no! Bush, you're bleeding!
BUSH: Oh... Maybe a monster got me.
Lest you forget, Bush is absolutely wrecked right now. He took a barrel of explosive powder at point blank, and I'm honestly unsurprised he doesn't remember that's what it was.
IRIS: W-we need to stop the bleeding! I need something to stop the bleeding...
IRIS: I know!
wait what
did you just lick it
why
She jumps back after doing that.
IRIS: S-s-s-sorry!! I didn't mean any... I don't know why I...
IRIS: When I saw you bleeding, I just couldn't think of anything but stopping it... so...
IRIS: I'm really sorry!!
why was this your first thought
BUSH: Don't be. Everyone has something that frightens them.
BUSH: I didn't mind at all.
IRIS: *sigh* Why did I do that...
Bush is as oblivious/extremely polite and accepting as always.
We've got a girl who gets very sleepy in the day, loves the moon, instinctively hates garlic, and her first reaction is to lick our blood.
Seems like something's a bit strange about all of that, but Rune Factory is full of oddball characters so it's probably nothing.
(On a side note, Iris is also at 5 LP now. Yeah. She's surpassed Mist and Rosetta for 3rd place.)
...Man, this is some awkward silence.
IRIS: You can see all the way to the horizon on a clear day. But on a cloudy day, it feels like I am adrift in a sea of clouds.
IRIS: Both of those are wonderful sceneries so I often sketch them.
Ah, a change of topic. Just what we needed!
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Gladly!
BUSH: ...
BUSH: (Is this a... ghost? Wait, this happened last time so I should...)
BUSH: That's a very cute Wooly. You're very good.
IRIS: That's... a moon...
BUSH: What?! I-It's a beautiful moon. You're very good! ...Sorry.
welp
Having finely smashed this forming conversation with that smooth talking, I cut our losses and send Bush out before the air gets any more awkward.
That's all for today, I'm afraid. I was getting worried that today would end up incredibly short, but it turned out to be rather long!
We'll start the first round of bachelorette voting after the next update where I make less inadvisable purchases, so get ready for that!
In the meantime, I do have a small vote to do, I guess. What do we do with that swimwear that needlessly cost us 10,000g? Leave it sitting in the box? Give it to someone? Just sell it
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Due to an unfortunate freak accident, I have managed to lose nearly all the text I had for today's update. Completely gone, with no recovery.
Rest of my files are fine, don't worry, LP's not dead, this just was a clerical error gone horribly wrong.
Off to go transcribe another 140+ screenshots worth of content in a rather wordy update when I wake up tomorrow, I guess. Couldn't have happened at a worse time for me, damn. Ain't making this mistake again, that's for sure.
Rest of my files are fine, don't worry, LP's not dead, this just was a clerical error gone horribly wrong.
Off to go transcribe another 140+ screenshots worth of content in a rather wordy update when I wake up tomorrow, I guess. Couldn't have happened at a worse time for me, damn. Ain't making this mistake again, that's for sure.
Update 30: A Diamond In the Rough
Music: Summer
Welcome back, folks! Bush totally isn't in a timeloop caused by a clerical error on my part, and by that I mean I had to rewrite this entire update.
But I'm not going to be sour about it, I'm mostly hoping I remember all my commentary from before.
Anyways, new day for Bush!
oat
meal
During the daily chores, I go ahead and water the fully grown fodder grass so I can cut it for feed. Unfortunately, I forget to do that, so this amounted to nothing!
I guess it's still some Farming skill at the end of the day.
Anette's here! She doesn't have much to say today, but she did bring us a letter!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"A favor..." - Eunice~
I am writing you because I have a favor to ask of you.
I want to serve fresh fish to the customers for dinner tonight,
and I was hoping perhaps you could provide me with some fish?
-----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, I don't have any fish on hand right now, so I'll have to go catch some before Anette finishes her route.
no, wait
anette
come back
Once Bush is done eating dust, I go ahead and clean up the rest of the chores for the morning. Aren't I forgetting something?
Oh, right, fishing! I've got to get this done before Anette completes her route!
darn
dagnabit
fish, please
This was recorded after quite a time away from playing the last session, and when that happens my muscle memory for my keybinds deteriorates. I've been hitting B instead of A here, which just cancels the fishing but still tells you it gets away.
I do eventually get a fish, but Anette's already gone. She only hangs around Erik's on Wednesdays.
Eunice is right here, but handing her the fresh fish she wanted tonight is just silly. These kinds of things have to go through the postal system, it's common sense
UZUKI: Bush! Look at this!
What is it? The stray cursor that somehow found its way into the screenshot?
also how did that happen, it shouldn't be there
BUSH: Bush, have you found any clues to my elder brother?
UZUKI: Not really...
TSUBUTE: Perhaps he is no longer in this area...
UZUKI: It cannot be!
I guess Uzuki is capable of ventriloquism or temporarily swapping bodies with us...? I can only imagine this is an unfinished and/or bugged dialogue of some kind.
ROSETTA: I calculated the total amount for what you shipped the other day and it was huge.
ROSETTA: I'll have to thank you for shipping things out all the time.
BUSH: I'm just doing it because I want to...
ROSETTA: It still helps me out a lot. I really have to thank you somehow.
She's not wrong, our profits have been grand of late. We'll take a look at how much Bush is really making at the end of the update.
Oh, and Danny's over there, let's see how he's doing.
DANNY: It's hot! Get away from me!
yep, that's our usual danny
Off to the library!
By Saint Poli, it's so clean!
SELPHY: Tadaa! What do you think?! I knew I could do it!
BUSH: It's much better now! That's amazing, Selphy!
SELPHY: Pfft. This is nothing for me.
SELPHY: Now that it's all cleaned up, time to get some reading done.
Watch out, Eunice and Tabatha, you've got competition in the cleaning game!
SELPHY: The weather is really nice. Maybe I should go read in the shade somewhere.
Go soak up some indirect sunlight, you've spent who knows how long in here this morning cleaning all of this up- you've earned it.
SELPHY: I keep finding all sorts of books in this library. I wonder if the previous manager had a hobby of collecting all of them.
I mean, seems pretty likely for the proprietor of a library.
On both sides of the library, a new shelf are available and not blocked by piles of books but their knowledge still eludes us
The one we're looking at was entirely face-down on the ground before, so somehow Selphy lifted that all herself.
Speaking of books, let's be off to the Trampoli Study Buddies.
MELODY: I saw you getting a monster to help you with your farm work, Bush.
MELODY: So I decided to try it out, too, but the monster was so strong that it broke the flooring.
MELODY: I messed up.
BUSH: What monster did you get to do it?
MELODY: I don't remember... The Golem, I think?
this girl just went and got a siege weapon to go help clean her floors
zero fear at all
BUSH: Hahaha... You know there are jobs that each monster has their own strengths and weaknesses in.
BUSH: How about the Wooly? I think it'll be good.
MELODY: Nah... I'm done with getting the monsters to help out.
I guess a Wooly would be pretty good at cleaning a floor, you could probably have it be a mop, or at least produce wool for replacing mop threads.
MELODY: Shazam! Shazam! I feel like I became a wizard!
Never change, Melody.
BUSH: You wake up so early every day, Lara.
LARA: I suppose so. I have to sweep around the church and also place some flowers so I have to wake early.
LARA: I'm still in training so I have to make myself useful to Sister Stella.
We've probably already seen this dialogue before but I'm including it anyways since we really just don't see much of Lara.
While I'm here, I check up on The Runey Situation. It's doing pretty well!
I've had to deal with it so much that it's starting to bother me less, but I'd still rather it not be there at all. There's a framework here for something rather good, but as is, it's very unrewarding busywork. The farming makes you a lot of money at least, and it's always neat to see how much you bring in at the end of the day- there's none of that with Runeys.
I don't know if I did such a good job or what, but the other zones seem like they're holding kind of stable for now, so maybe the impending doom was oversold a bit.
For some reason, I keep having to play hide-and-seek with Bianca and Tabatha. They'll not be in the foyer, I go deeper and they're not in there, so I go back out to the foyer and they're suddenly there.
I don't know why it keeps happening.
Anyways, Miss Viviash has nothing to say, but it's worth noting that we have finally gotten 1 LP with her and can see that constellation now.
Cinnamon and Kross also had nothing new to say, so uh... time for Erik, I guess?
ERIK: Young man, do you know what this village's specialty is?
BUSH: I don't. What is it?
ERIK: It would be the "Dried Fish" that I make during the winter! That's the village specialty!
BUSH: Really...?
ERIK: Probably!
BUSH: ...
ERIK: By the way, I love it too!
erik you like garlic and strawberries, not fish
what's with everyone and fish today
Talking to Erik proved to be worth the trouble today! I guess we've got something to look forward to in Winter aside from making flower arrangements on Whale Island.
With nothing else at hand, I try out stocking our Grass Runey farm with some Rock. It's supposed to boost production.
If it does, it really does mean that Tree Runeys are just the worst.
CINNAMON: The weather is nice. I feel like taking a nap outside.
Cinnamon really is just an undercaffinated college student at heart. Just don't fall asleep while you're fishing, that'd probably be bad. Sleeping with the fishes isn't a good thing!
KANNO: Hello, Bush.
KANNO: Everything in this world has its own uses.
KANNO: Even failed dishes from cooking may have their own uses that we don't know about.
He's right! There's a reason why I'm saving all these plates of ash and weeds after all, it's not only because I'm hoarding specific trash items for meaningless collection purposes.
KANNO: But the one exception is "Scrap Metal." That's completely useless.
He's wrong! I've already shown how it's useful for upgrading tools and grinding Forging skill.
This is mostly just his "this is what I hate item, don't give it to me" dialogue, although nobody likes scrap metal in this game. Sadly, few people have the refined preferences of Sofia from RF3.
TABATHA: If you pet your monsters inside your barn, you can become better friends with them. Please be sure to pet them.
I do so every day, even if it amounts to very little! Higher FP with monsters makes their level rise, which in turn makes it harder to raise their FP, and you mechanically don't need any higher than 1 FP. I guess if you want higher level milk, wool, and eggs it's good to do, but this game doesn't have the different size distinctions like the handheld games.
There's some sort of mechanic about brushing them in places they like, but I haven't figured that out yet.
(Oh, also fun hint, the reason I'm saving all my cooking flops has to do with Tabatha.)
Anyways, Bush doesn't go swimming, he goes to the local hotsprings!
BUSH: You're always coming to Melody's bathhouse.
NOLAN: Yes. I love hot springs. Now that my son has ascended the throne, I am traveling to the hot springs around the world.
Yeah, that makes-
wait you're ROYALTY?!
that's a hell of a bomb to drop so casually
NOLAN: Going into baths at this time is great. Taking it easy here in the morning is priceless.
BUSH: Is that so? I didn't know Melody's bathhouse was so great.
NOLAN: It is so. It maybe that true happiness can be found in everyday things.
NOLAN: The owner of this bathhouse must really love baths.
Melody doesn't just love baths, she lives for baths. Still, I was not expecting the sudden bombshell that Nolan is royalty, or at least related to it.
As it turns out, I've been doing Nolan wrong all this time: you're supposed to talk to him after you hit the bath. I didn't find this out until after I recorded this two day session, so we'll see what new things he's got in store for us next time.
NOLAN: Did you also come to the bath to wash up, Bush?
NOLAN: Possibly because I have aged, I become dizzy when I stay in the bath for too long.
I believe it's called heatstroke, my man, it's why Melody doesn't want you drinking in here.
Music: Whale Island Cave
Following that, I head up to Whale Island early and spend some time collecting Warrior Medals for Kross. I'm running out!
On the outside, we've got another harvest of turnips at the ready. The only seed I have on hand is a single bag of turnips, so we'll lay down another set for now. I probably need to grow some more moondrop soon or maybe plant pumpkins for Anette's favorite gift.
BUSH: The colors of your eyes are very mysterious, Iris.
IRIS: R-really?! It's the first time some said that to me, so it feels a bit nice.
This would be a rather big statement, but remember that we're her only human contact aside from Gelwein. He's not very talkative either, so I'm not surprised.
Iris isn't the first girl in the series with heterochromia, Lynette from RF1 only wears her eyepatch because she has it, but she's one of the few.
IRIS: I really like to grow flowers.
Believe it or not, this isn't a "I have no more new dialogue" thing, it's just a very simple statement. I guess things are still a bit awkward since the whole blood thing.
Going up to Whale Island early lets me get down to the Observatory in time for that Elephant Constellation. While I wait for it, Bush collects oranges.
Cooking-wise, Apples and Chestnuts are far more useful than these, but we gotta get our Vitamin C!
Just before 8:00 PM, Bush looks to the stars...
Found Elephant Constellation!
BUSH: It does look like an elephant. It's huge...
This one makes a lot of sense! Some of the previous ones were a bit of a stretch, if you ask me.
We finally saw this one, so that wraps up all the star-gazing for the Summer season. We'll see what this does tomorrow.
Music: Lava Ruins
We've still got time and plenty of HP and RP, so it's down into the spicy water caverns in search of gemstones! I'm getting tired of Kanno nagging me for an Emerald all the time, so I figured I'd start checking rocks in here until I found one.
Nothing in this three on the first floor, just copper and scrap.
To the south of this room is a spot with a ghost spawner, a bomb, and a breakable wall. I wonder what's inside?
Blast that open, no need to worry about the integrity of the structure we're inside.
Oh, hey, a chest. It's probably got some old ri-
YE GAWDS
IT HAS TEETH
BEGONE
That there was a Gobble Box! They're basically your usual RPG mimic. Their attacks are nothing special, but their drops are. Consistent of a 55% chance of a fang with the other 45% filled up with a chance to drop gems, they're always guaranteed to drop an item, and it's not unlikely to be a valuable gem. Heck, when tamed they start producing gems like eggs!
Pony helped me take this one down and I got an Aquamarine for our troubles. Nice. I'll be coming back here each day for a while.
There's also two other chests in this room. This one here drops a variety of minables, in this case a ruby, while the other drops... red grass.
I found this entirely by accident and I needed a gem supply, so I'm pretty happy with this!
After this, I fish the rest of the night away stocking up on gifts for the two fish-loving girls and Eunice's fish by post request.
Organize my boxes a bit and...
Sleep time!
Wake up time!
Today is Summer 15th, a sunny Tuesday. Nothing special about that, aside from being the midpoint of the season!
Time sure does fly!
Music: Rune Factory 1- Summer
Here's a summer theme from Bush's past once again, just to mark the occasion.
Oh dear, looks like Anette's had a rough time of it yet again this morning.
BUSH: You were being chased around again, Anette?
ANETTE: Yeah... it's so annoying.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
I dunno, some people just attract animals. A strong scent, maybe?
I do some farm work until 9:00 when she's rested up enough to talk again.
BUSH: How many letters do you write, Anette?
ANETTE: I don't write any. But I do like writing though.
BUSH: Oh, why?
ANETTE: Well, you promise not to laugh?
------------------------------------
1. I can't say until you tell me.
2. I won't laugh.
------------------------------------
A choice! I'll go ahead and ready up the alternate timeline...
----------------------------------
"I make no guarantees."
ANETTE: Then I won't tell you.
...Well, that was short! But Bush is an honest lad, and he hasn't told anyone about or laughed at Anette's...thing that we saw in the changing room, so the second option is a much more Bush thing to say.
-----------------------------------
ANETTE: Really? Well, the thing is...
ANETTE: My handwriting is pretty bad. Sometimes even I can't read what I wrote.
BUSH: Really? The letter you gave me when I moved here was very nicely written.
ANETTE: It took me a long time to write that, you know...
BUSH: So you can write nicely as long as you go slowly. You just need more practice, that's all.
BUSH: I know. Why don't you try sending letters to me? As practice.
ANETTE: Really? Then I'll try that out next time. Thanks.
Huh, good idea, Bush! I can sympathize with bad handwriting, mine's pretty rough because I just want to get what's in my head on paper, and I also went to a school with far too many timed assignments.
I guess we'll start seeing more letters from Anette!
And before I forget, there's a fish delivered to Eunice.
Well, since it's already 9:00, I suppose we might as well go and head off to the highlight of today. Constellation event, ahoy!
To the manor!
Music: de-Sainte Coquille
BUSH: Bianca, you dropped something.
BIANCA: Oh, thank you.
BIANCA: ...What is this? Paper? This dirty piece of paper isn't mine.
BUSH: O-oh, really? But I thought I saw you drop it...
BIANCA: I said it's not mine!
BUSH: There's something written on it. Let's see...
Hmm, really now...?
"When the elephant gazes at the stars, water shall erupt from the trunk."
BUSH: What is this? Is this some kind of code for a secret treasure?
BIANCA: I don't know... If you're that interested, why don't you go check it out yourself?
BIANCA: There's no way you can find it though.
BIANCA: But, even if you do, half of it is mine.
BUSH: Huh?
BIANCA: Of course it is. That paper is mine.
BUSH: O-oh, really?
...B-but...didn't you just say it wasn't yours?
BUSH: All right. But don't expect too much.
BUSH: When the elephant gazes the stars... The observatory comes to mind when you think of stars.
...And the hunt is on! Bush does a pretty good job of thinking where to look during this, must be all those book smarts he's absorbed.
Off we go! The observatory sounds like a good guess.
Hmm, nothing's standing out...
BUSH: Huh...?
BUSH: There's something buried here.
------------------------
1. Dig it up.
2. Don't do anything.
------------------------
Bush is a farmer and dungeon explorer, so he's no stranger to getting dirty. Let's see what it is.
BUSH: It's a letter... Let's see...
"From a solitary teardrop from the eye, erupts a spring, leaving behind a speck of light."
BUSH: A spring... Was there one in this village? I know that there's a lake...
How cryptic. Well, there's that thing outside of Mist's house, but it's more of an oversized puddle. There are hotsprings, but I doubt it's inside the bathhouse or up on Whale Island.
Let's go for the lake anyways, it's the closest to us. On the way, we meet Cinnamon fishing on the bridge.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Elephant Constellation?
BUSH: Yes, it was very cute.
CINNAMON: The ancient people believed that the world is held up by elephants.
BUSH: Oh, really?
CINNAMON: I've never seen it, but I really doubt it.
I've heard of turtles carrying the world, but not elephants. It's a neat idea. I'm imagining two elephants walking side by side, with the world suspended on streams of clouds or vines between them.
Despite knowing all these myths, The Girl With A Spice For A Name isn't very keen on them. Have you looked up recently or over at the impossibly tall beanstalk over there? There's a giant, whale shaped island above us, who's to say this whole place isn't on the back of an even bigger sky whale?
It always goes back go sky whales, I'm telling you.
We leave Cinnamon to her fishing as we take the gondola out on the tiny lake. I suppose we check the island with the lone tree first. It doesn't usually get used for much.
Nothing here, unfortunately...
BUSH: Hey... Something's buried here.
But just to the right of the dock where we disembarked, we've found something! We're prompted to dig it up again, which we of course do so.
BUSH: What is this?
Out pops a sparkling white gem!
BUSH: This is... Diamond!
BUSH: And it's another letter.
"The light always returns. It cycles over and over and arrives back to where it originates."
"The things precious to you are where they are supposed to be. At your feet."
BUSH: Wow, it's Diamond. I should take this to Bianca.
How very cryptic. I guess Bush's boots are very important to him!
Also thanks for the most understated reaction possible, Bush. We got a diamond, the most expensive gem!
Not just any diamond either, a level 10 diamond!
...and it's still only worth 840g. Oh well, this thing is still pretty big! I guess we ought to go back to where this started, with that scrap of paper Bianca did/n't have.
One warp back to the house and a short jaunt to the left later and we're here.
BUSH: Hey, there's another thing buried here.
Of course, we must dig it.
A ring pops out? We pick it up and before we can inspect it...
BUSH: What is this?
(good job photobombing there, Pony)
BUSH: This is...
Suddenly, someone arrives from behind us!
BIANCA: It looks like an old wedding ring.
BUSH: Oh, Bianca... out of the treasures, half of it was supposed to be yours, right?
BUSH: So... should I give you the ring?
BIANCA: That's a wedding ring!
BUSH: But... we had that promise... What should we do?
BIANCA: I don't know!
Good job accidentally proposing, Bush, but she's only at 1 LP.
BIANCA: Oh, but I have heard about two lovers who were separated but swore to meet again...
BIANCA: ...and buried something precious to them.
BIANCA: This ring must be that. They must have buried it for the day when they will meet again.
BUSH: Then we should put this ring back where I found it.
BUSH: But what do I do about our previous promise...?
BUSH: I know. Here. Take this Diamond.
BIANCA: I don't want it!
BIANCA: I mean, Diamond is something that's too ordinary for me... so I'm saying you can have it!
BUSH: Thank you.
BIANCA: You better be thankful!
And that's how it ends.
Good work, Bianca. Bush didn't make it very easy on you.
Music: Rune Factory 1- Summer
And so we stand outside the manor while Pony attacks the air. The diamond is still a great get, and I'll be sure to save it for something where that level doesn't go to waste.
As for why Pony is attacking the air, I think temporary NPCs in on-map cutscenes like those must have some leftover flag that makes our pet think they're an enemy.
Doing that little event got us nearly half a bar of LP with Bianca as well- that's nearly a week of talking!
Well, off to bother the rest of town.
EUNICE: I used to feel lonely but I have many more friends now.
EUNICE: I always goe to Rosetta's store.
It's the only general store!
rip danny
UZUKI: Shrimp! This makes me doubly happy because today is my birthday. Thank you, Bush.
This is the happiest anyone's been for a small, single shrimp, aside from someone lost on a deserted island maybe.
UZUKI: It seems you have started smithery, Bush. I have high hopes for you.
Yeah! I'm aiming to get one of those late game axes eventually, but I definitely need to get back on forging. I'll probably go do a few rounds of collecting scrap metal and see where it gets us.
ROSETTA: Say, do you have any good ideas?
Me? Probably not, since most of them don't work out anyways. Bush has been on a roll this update though!
That's all she's got today. That single line- what is this, Rune Factory 1?
LARA: I have a lot of medicine so please buy the ones that fit your needs.
In our case, it's probably just more colored grass. We can already make better food than the starter energy drink and when we get an oven, we won't really need anything but some debuff cures (or I could just drink tea and never get debuffed!)
Off to the library!
no
selphy, why
it was so clean...
SELPHY: Whether to clean or not. That is the question...
What do you mean? You cleaned it yesterday!
Oh, well. Some things just aren't meant to be.
It's a Tuesday, so Selphy's only got her clearance stock on display today. The only thing left isn't cheap at all- "Happy Toys" still costs 30,000g, which I think is more than we paid for a house extension.
Given it only contains recipes for miscellaneous gifts like ribbons and fans, and does not have a recipe for the Brand Sunglasses, this is something we can safely avoid buying for now.
BUSH: Let's see... a memo... [To Candy...]
While passing by the clocktower, I check up on the Runeys and write a memo to Candy to make a Rock Rune Stone for us. I've got too many, so why not? Aside from a few rune stone doors I saw in the Tower of Birth, there's always that thing about giving one to a favorite monster.
Also, I don't know what's triggered it, but Bush has long since graduated from saying "I don't get it" when looking at the Runey population thing. Now he says stuff along the lines of "Hm..." and "I see...".
I wrote that memo because I didn't expect to see Candy today, but she's the first person I run into at the beach! It's odd seeing her without her hat, although I think hatless Uzuki is still the most jarring.
This is also her in swimsuit, which is luckily not bad at all!
CANDY: I want to see that huge block of Runes near the tail on Whale Island.
It's, uh, not doing so hot the last time I checked. Don't worry about any impending impact though, that won't happen.
It's probably way too dangerous, but it might actually be useful to get Candy up there to the Tail Tree though. Her spirit talking magic might be able to tell her something useful.
I also go ahead and get a Tree Rune Stone made while we're here. Bianca's stuck in the doorway wondering why the heck the girl from the clocktower is sparkling and singing.
MARCO: Curry is great. You like it, too, don't you?
Curry powder is Marco's liked gift, and his favorite gift is literally anything made with it as far as I know. Unfortunately, I have not located any curry powder.
It's apparently sold at the Snowstyle, but I have somehow failed to notice it every single time I've been there.
Also, Marco's swimsuit looks like a Monster Hunter default outfit, and that honestly checks out.
While everyone is off taking in the ocean wind, we're off to take in the Laga Springs heat... after a lot of Runey management. I'll spare you from that.
MELODY: I've got really bad bed hair under this hat. But keep that a secret.
Melody, girl, it's no secret. We can partially see it right now, and it's on full display at the beach.
MELODY: Recently, the spring's flow isn't very good...
MELODY: I hope it's just my imagination.
don't scare me like that
these baths are my lifeline for a dungeon run gone wrong
MELODY: The other day, Selphy went in for a bath and didn't come out for a long time.
MELODY: I got worried so I went in to check on her. Just like I thought, she was reading in the bath and she'd fainted!
MELODY: That's why you're not allowed to read in the bath!
Sheesh, so many irresponsible bath-goers in this town.
NOLAN: My birthday?
NOLAN: Hm... I wonder when it was. We tend to get forgetful when we age.
Sometimes being reminded of how old you are isn't the best of things, so the pro strat is to pretend you forget your birthday. This is has been Trampoli Life Tips with Sir Nolan.
After our bath, there's one last girl we haven't met up with in town, so I go on a search and eventually have to hit up a schedule guide.
Tabatha was in Rosetta's store all along! Also Eunice is here!
TABATHA: My birthday is on the 12th of autumn. It is the day right before the Harvest Festival. I hope you will remember it.
We won't have maxed out your LP by then, so we'll probably gift on that day anyways! A favorite gift on a birthday has to be worth a ton of LP.
If the Harvest Festival is the same as it was in Kardia, it's mostly about giving vegetables to people.
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: If you wash old brooms with water and dry them in the shade, they will be good as new!
Huh, that's pretty good to know! Thanks!
While I'm here, I go ahead and buy a Pumpkin Head mask. We could probably make one of our own if I planted Pumpkins soon, but we've got extra money and I don't know how long it stays available in the store.
Worst comes to worst, we can gift it to someone as a joke, like Danny!
Following this, I head down into Lava Ruins to check my new gem farming spot. Just an Sapphire and a piece of copper today. Oh, well.
But off-screen, Pony takes down a ghost and gets me something I've been looking for for weeks now: Quality Cloth!
This stuff isn't even that rare of a drop, I'm just unlucky.
Music: Whale Island Outside
Out onto Whale Island, I head out back to the Tower of Birth to try and find that shortcut that's supposed to be out there.
As I pass through Tail Tree, I find that Pony can run up the steep branches without slipping! This makes things far safer and easier then!
Music: Whale Island Tower
Still doesn't stop it from taking over 2 hours to get out to the tower.
These two rocks were suspicious to me when I first got here, but I guess they're nothing.
Looking it up, I need to go through the Tower of Birth to some new zone first?
Well, let's see if we can find it.
Well, it's not down here.
And up here are ghosts! More specifically, Fausts! These dark-blue wearing Ghosts have moved on from petty melee attacks to sending out big cutter projectiles.
They do a ton of damage, so I'm getting out of this high level zone!
But first, I load a savestate so I can show this guy off. This is a Necro, a ghost wearing red, and the final recolor of the ghost family. They're even tougher Fausts!
And they're even within walking distance of each other. That's some close palette swapping.
Let's save all of that for some update of a later date- Bush is a bit underleveled and undergeared for all that!
Off to see Iris we go.
IRIS: The night sky is very beautiful today... It seems as if something will fall from the sky.
Please, no more space turnips! I don't want Bush to fall into the notice of the turnip mafia again!
This is all she's got to say, so it's off to home.
Before we sleep, we've got one last thing to do. With that quality cloth from earlier, we can make an alternate headpiece for Bush. It's slighty better at magic and wind effects, but a bit less on defense than our red hairband.
Feathered Hat Lv:1 was synthesized.
With a Quality Cloth, a leftover Bird Feather from the giant chicken boss, and a spare Wind Crystal from all that slime farming for colored grass, we make ourselves a feathered hat!
Unfortunately, the biggest downside is that it kinda looks like a fedora. It's supposed to be a Robin Hood type hat, but the point isn't very pronounced.
Well, regardless, Bush is off to his nightly exercise of tearing up his floor practicing his axe swing, so he'll be off to bed soon. While he's off doing that, we've got some stuff to look through...
----------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS
----------------
But first, the thread's votes regarding that Highly Expensive Swimwear was to offer it to Eunice and Cinnamon, the two possibly worst options to do so. How does that go?
CINNAMON: ...I don't want it.
She won't take it. Fair enough, especially since she can't even swim nor likes Bush that much. I have seen what it looks like, and, well, it's quite a difference.
EUNICE: No... I... Swimsuits are...
EUNICE: T-thank you.
EUNICE: Shouldn't you be giving this to someone much closer to you...?
She turns it down as well. It's a pretty tame response all things considered.
It seems like the girls won't take it unless they like you enough- who could have guessed? I tested it with Melody and she would take it, but Rosetta wouldn't. I guess the starting point is somewhere around 5-7 LP?
Anyways, back in the box it goes for some later date, possibly to get sold when I need room. Somewhere out there, someone might need affordable high quality swimwear. They surely won't have to spend as much on it as we did!
-------------------------------------------
UP NEXT: The vote you've all been waiting for! Probably!
Music: SummerWelcome back, folks! Bush totally isn't in a timeloop caused by a clerical error on my part, and by that I mean I had to rewrite this entire update.
But I'm not going to be sour about it, I'm mostly hoping I remember all my commentary from before.
Anyways, new day for Bush!
oat
meal
During the daily chores, I go ahead and water the fully grown fodder grass so I can cut it for feed. Unfortunately, I forget to do that, so this amounted to nothing!
I guess it's still some Farming skill at the end of the day.
Anette's here! She doesn't have much to say today, but she did bring us a letter!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"A favor..." - Eunice~
I am writing you because I have a favor to ask of you.
I want to serve fresh fish to the customers for dinner tonight,
and I was hoping perhaps you could provide me with some fish?
-----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately, I don't have any fish on hand right now, so I'll have to go catch some before Anette finishes her route.
no, wait
anette
come back
Once Bush is done eating dust, I go ahead and clean up the rest of the chores for the morning. Aren't I forgetting something?
Oh, right, fishing! I've got to get this done before Anette completes her route!
darn
dagnabit
fish, please
This was recorded after quite a time away from playing the last session, and when that happens my muscle memory for my keybinds deteriorates. I've been hitting B instead of A here, which just cancels the fishing but still tells you it gets away.
I do eventually get a fish, but Anette's already gone. She only hangs around Erik's on Wednesdays.
Eunice is right here, but handing her the fresh fish she wanted tonight is just silly. These kinds of things have to go through the postal system, it's common sense
UZUKI: Bush! Look at this!
What is it? The stray cursor that somehow found its way into the screenshot?
also how did that happen, it shouldn't be there
BUSH: Bush, have you found any clues to my elder brother?
UZUKI: Not really...
TSUBUTE: Perhaps he is no longer in this area...
UZUKI: It cannot be!
I guess Uzuki is capable of ventriloquism or temporarily swapping bodies with us...? I can only imagine this is an unfinished and/or bugged dialogue of some kind.
ROSETTA: I calculated the total amount for what you shipped the other day and it was huge.
ROSETTA: I'll have to thank you for shipping things out all the time.
BUSH: I'm just doing it because I want to...
ROSETTA: It still helps me out a lot. I really have to thank you somehow.
She's not wrong, our profits have been grand of late. We'll take a look at how much Bush is really making at the end of the update.
Oh, and Danny's over there, let's see how he's doing.
DANNY: It's hot! Get away from me!
yep, that's our usual danny
Off to the library!
By Saint Poli, it's so clean!
SELPHY: Tadaa! What do you think?! I knew I could do it!
BUSH: It's much better now! That's amazing, Selphy!
SELPHY: Pfft. This is nothing for me.
SELPHY: Now that it's all cleaned up, time to get some reading done.
Watch out, Eunice and Tabatha, you've got competition in the cleaning game!
SELPHY: The weather is really nice. Maybe I should go read in the shade somewhere.
Go soak up some indirect sunlight, you've spent who knows how long in here this morning cleaning all of this up- you've earned it.
SELPHY: I keep finding all sorts of books in this library. I wonder if the previous manager had a hobby of collecting all of them.
I mean, seems pretty likely for the proprietor of a library.
On both sides of the library, a new shelf are available and not blocked by piles of books but their knowledge still eludes us
The one we're looking at was entirely face-down on the ground before, so somehow Selphy lifted that all herself.
Speaking of books, let's be off to the Trampoli Study Buddies.
MELODY: I saw you getting a monster to help you with your farm work, Bush.
MELODY: So I decided to try it out, too, but the monster was so strong that it broke the flooring.
MELODY: I messed up.
BUSH: What monster did you get to do it?
MELODY: I don't remember... The Golem, I think?
this girl just went and got a siege weapon to go help clean her floors
zero fear at all
BUSH: Hahaha... You know there are jobs that each monster has their own strengths and weaknesses in.
BUSH: How about the Wooly? I think it'll be good.
MELODY: Nah... I'm done with getting the monsters to help out.
I guess a Wooly would be pretty good at cleaning a floor, you could probably have it be a mop, or at least produce wool for replacing mop threads.
MELODY: Shazam! Shazam! I feel like I became a wizard!
Never change, Melody.BUSH: You wake up so early every day, Lara.
LARA: I suppose so. I have to sweep around the church and also place some flowers so I have to wake early.
LARA: I'm still in training so I have to make myself useful to Sister Stella.
We've probably already seen this dialogue before but I'm including it anyways since we really just don't see much of Lara.
While I'm here, I check up on The Runey Situation. It's doing pretty well!
I've had to deal with it so much that it's starting to bother me less, but I'd still rather it not be there at all. There's a framework here for something rather good, but as is, it's very unrewarding busywork. The farming makes you a lot of money at least, and it's always neat to see how much you bring in at the end of the day- there's none of that with Runeys.
I don't know if I did such a good job or what, but the other zones seem like they're holding kind of stable for now, so maybe the impending doom was oversold a bit.
For some reason, I keep having to play hide-and-seek with Bianca and Tabatha. They'll not be in the foyer, I go deeper and they're not in there, so I go back out to the foyer and they're suddenly there.
I don't know why it keeps happening.
Anyways, Miss Viviash has nothing to say, but it's worth noting that we have finally gotten 1 LP with her and can see that constellation now.
Cinnamon and Kross also had nothing new to say, so uh... time for Erik, I guess?
ERIK: Young man, do you know what this village's specialty is?
BUSH: I don't. What is it?
ERIK: It would be the "Dried Fish" that I make during the winter! That's the village specialty!
BUSH: Really...?
ERIK: Probably!
BUSH: ...
ERIK: By the way, I love it too!
erik you like garlic and strawberries, not fish
what's with everyone and fish today
Talking to Erik proved to be worth the trouble today! I guess we've got something to look forward to in Winter aside from making flower arrangements on Whale Island.
With nothing else at hand, I try out stocking our Grass Runey farm with some Rock. It's supposed to boost production.
If it does, it really does mean that Tree Runeys are just the worst.
CINNAMON: The weather is nice. I feel like taking a nap outside.
Cinnamon really is just an undercaffinated college student at heart. Just don't fall asleep while you're fishing, that'd probably be bad. Sleeping with the fishes isn't a good thing!
KANNO: Hello, Bush.
KANNO: Everything in this world has its own uses.
KANNO: Even failed dishes from cooking may have their own uses that we don't know about.
He's right! There's a reason why I'm saving all these plates of ash and weeds after all, it's not only because I'm hoarding specific trash items for meaningless collection purposes.
KANNO: But the one exception is "Scrap Metal." That's completely useless.
He's wrong! I've already shown how it's useful for upgrading tools and grinding Forging skill.
This is mostly just his "this is what I hate item, don't give it to me" dialogue, although nobody likes scrap metal in this game. Sadly, few people have the refined preferences of Sofia from RF3.
TABATHA: If you pet your monsters inside your barn, you can become better friends with them. Please be sure to pet them.
I do so every day, even if it amounts to very little! Higher FP with monsters makes their level rise, which in turn makes it harder to raise their FP, and you mechanically don't need any higher than 1 FP. I guess if you want higher level milk, wool, and eggs it's good to do, but this game doesn't have the different size distinctions like the handheld games.
There's some sort of mechanic about brushing them in places they like, but I haven't figured that out yet.
(Oh, also fun hint, the reason I'm saving all my cooking flops has to do with Tabatha.)
Anyways, Bush doesn't go swimming, he goes to the local hotsprings!
BUSH: You're always coming to Melody's bathhouse.
NOLAN: Yes. I love hot springs. Now that my son has ascended the throne, I am traveling to the hot springs around the world.
Yeah, that makes-
wait you're ROYALTY?!
that's a hell of a bomb to drop so casually
NOLAN: Going into baths at this time is great. Taking it easy here in the morning is priceless.
BUSH: Is that so? I didn't know Melody's bathhouse was so great.
NOLAN: It is so. It maybe that true happiness can be found in everyday things.
NOLAN: The owner of this bathhouse must really love baths.
Melody doesn't just love baths, she lives for baths. Still, I was not expecting the sudden bombshell that Nolan is royalty, or at least related to it.
As it turns out, I've been doing Nolan wrong all this time: you're supposed to talk to him after you hit the bath. I didn't find this out until after I recorded this two day session, so we'll see what new things he's got in store for us next time.
NOLAN: Did you also come to the bath to wash up, Bush?
NOLAN: Possibly because I have aged, I become dizzy when I stay in the bath for too long.
I believe it's called heatstroke, my man, it's why Melody doesn't want you drinking in here.
Music: Whale Island CaveFollowing that, I head up to Whale Island early and spend some time collecting Warrior Medals for Kross. I'm running out!
On the outside, we've got another harvest of turnips at the ready. The only seed I have on hand is a single bag of turnips, so we'll lay down another set for now. I probably need to grow some more moondrop soon or maybe plant pumpkins for Anette's favorite gift.
BUSH: The colors of your eyes are very mysterious, Iris.
IRIS: R-really?! It's the first time some said that to me, so it feels a bit nice.
This would be a rather big statement, but remember that we're her only human contact aside from Gelwein. He's not very talkative either, so I'm not surprised.
Iris isn't the first girl in the series with heterochromia, Lynette from RF1 only wears her eyepatch because she has it, but she's one of the few.
IRIS: I really like to grow flowers.
Believe it or not, this isn't a "I have no more new dialogue" thing, it's just a very simple statement. I guess things are still a bit awkward since the whole blood thing.
Going up to Whale Island early lets me get down to the Observatory in time for that Elephant Constellation. While I wait for it, Bush collects oranges.
Cooking-wise, Apples and Chestnuts are far more useful than these, but we gotta get our Vitamin C!
Just before 8:00 PM, Bush looks to the stars...
Found Elephant Constellation!
BUSH: It does look like an elephant. It's huge...
This one makes a lot of sense! Some of the previous ones were a bit of a stretch, if you ask me.
We finally saw this one, so that wraps up all the star-gazing for the Summer season. We'll see what this does tomorrow.
Music: Lava RuinsWe've still got time and plenty of HP and RP, so it's down into the spicy water caverns in search of gemstones! I'm getting tired of Kanno nagging me for an Emerald all the time, so I figured I'd start checking rocks in here until I found one.
Nothing in this three on the first floor, just copper and scrap.
To the south of this room is a spot with a ghost spawner, a bomb, and a breakable wall. I wonder what's inside?
Blast that open, no need to worry about the integrity of the structure we're inside.
Oh, hey, a chest. It's probably got some old ri-
YE GAWDS
IT HAS TEETH
BEGONE
That there was a Gobble Box! They're basically your usual RPG mimic. Their attacks are nothing special, but their drops are. Consistent of a 55% chance of a fang with the other 45% filled up with a chance to drop gems, they're always guaranteed to drop an item, and it's not unlikely to be a valuable gem. Heck, when tamed they start producing gems like eggs!
Pony helped me take this one down and I got an Aquamarine for our troubles. Nice. I'll be coming back here each day for a while.
There's also two other chests in this room. This one here drops a variety of minables, in this case a ruby, while the other drops... red grass.
I found this entirely by accident and I needed a gem supply, so I'm pretty happy with this!
After this, I fish the rest of the night away stocking up on gifts for the two fish-loving girls and Eunice's fish by post request.
Organize my boxes a bit and...
Sleep time!
Wake up time!
Today is Summer 15th, a sunny Tuesday. Nothing special about that, aside from being the midpoint of the season!
Time sure does fly!
Music: Rune Factory 1- SummerHere's a summer theme from Bush's past once again, just to mark the occasion.
Oh dear, looks like Anette's had a rough time of it yet again this morning.
BUSH: You were being chased around again, Anette?
ANETTE: Yeah... it's so annoying.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
I dunno, some people just attract animals. A strong scent, maybe?
I do some farm work until 9:00 when she's rested up enough to talk again.
BUSH: How many letters do you write, Anette?
ANETTE: I don't write any. But I do like writing though.
BUSH: Oh, why?
ANETTE: Well, you promise not to laugh?
------------------------------------
1. I can't say until you tell me.
2. I won't laugh.
------------------------------------
A choice! I'll go ahead and ready up the alternate timeline...
----------------------------------
"I make no guarantees."
ANETTE: Then I won't tell you.
...Well, that was short! But Bush is an honest lad, and he hasn't told anyone about or laughed at Anette's...thing that we saw in the changing room, so the second option is a much more Bush thing to say.
-----------------------------------
ANETTE: Really? Well, the thing is...
ANETTE: My handwriting is pretty bad. Sometimes even I can't read what I wrote.
BUSH: Really? The letter you gave me when I moved here was very nicely written.
ANETTE: It took me a long time to write that, you know...
BUSH: So you can write nicely as long as you go slowly. You just need more practice, that's all.
BUSH: I know. Why don't you try sending letters to me? As practice.
ANETTE: Really? Then I'll try that out next time. Thanks.
Huh, good idea, Bush! I can sympathize with bad handwriting, mine's pretty rough because I just want to get what's in my head on paper, and I also went to a school with far too many timed assignments.
I guess we'll start seeing more letters from Anette!
And before I forget, there's a fish delivered to Eunice.
Well, since it's already 9:00, I suppose we might as well go and head off to the highlight of today. Constellation event, ahoy!
To the manor!
Music: de-Sainte CoquilleBUSH: Bianca, you dropped something.
BIANCA: Oh, thank you.
BIANCA: ...What is this? Paper? This dirty piece of paper isn't mine.
BUSH: O-oh, really? But I thought I saw you drop it...
BIANCA: I said it's not mine!
BUSH: There's something written on it. Let's see...
Hmm, really now...?
"When the elephant gazes at the stars, water shall erupt from the trunk."
BUSH: What is this? Is this some kind of code for a secret treasure?
BIANCA: I don't know... If you're that interested, why don't you go check it out yourself?
BIANCA: There's no way you can find it though.
BIANCA: But, even if you do, half of it is mine.
BUSH: Huh?
BIANCA: Of course it is. That paper is mine.
BUSH: O-oh, really?
...B-but...didn't you just say it wasn't yours?
BUSH: All right. But don't expect too much.
BUSH: When the elephant gazes the stars... The observatory comes to mind when you think of stars.
...And the hunt is on! Bush does a pretty good job of thinking where to look during this, must be all those book smarts he's absorbed.
Off we go! The observatory sounds like a good guess.
Hmm, nothing's standing out...
BUSH: Huh...?
BUSH: There's something buried here.
------------------------
1. Dig it up.
2. Don't do anything.
------------------------
Bush is a farmer and dungeon explorer, so he's no stranger to getting dirty. Let's see what it is.
BUSH: It's a letter... Let's see...
"From a solitary teardrop from the eye, erupts a spring, leaving behind a speck of light."
BUSH: A spring... Was there one in this village? I know that there's a lake...
How cryptic. Well, there's that thing outside of Mist's house, but it's more of an oversized puddle. There are hotsprings, but I doubt it's inside the bathhouse or up on Whale Island.
Let's go for the lake anyways, it's the closest to us. On the way, we meet Cinnamon fishing on the bridge.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Elephant Constellation?
BUSH: Yes, it was very cute.
CINNAMON: The ancient people believed that the world is held up by elephants.
BUSH: Oh, really?
CINNAMON: I've never seen it, but I really doubt it.
I've heard of turtles carrying the world, but not elephants. It's a neat idea. I'm imagining two elephants walking side by side, with the world suspended on streams of clouds or vines between them.
Despite knowing all these myths, The Girl With A Spice For A Name isn't very keen on them. Have you looked up recently or over at the impossibly tall beanstalk over there? There's a giant, whale shaped island above us, who's to say this whole place isn't on the back of an even bigger sky whale?
It always goes back go sky whales, I'm telling you.
We leave Cinnamon to her fishing as we take the gondola out on the tiny lake. I suppose we check the island with the lone tree first. It doesn't usually get used for much.
Nothing here, unfortunately...
BUSH: Hey... Something's buried here.
But just to the right of the dock where we disembarked, we've found something! We're prompted to dig it up again, which we of course do so.
BUSH: What is this?
Out pops a sparkling white gem!
BUSH: This is... Diamond!
BUSH: And it's another letter.
"The light always returns. It cycles over and over and arrives back to where it originates."
"The things precious to you are where they are supposed to be. At your feet."
BUSH: Wow, it's Diamond. I should take this to Bianca.
How very cryptic. I guess Bush's boots are very important to him!
Also thanks for the most understated reaction possible, Bush. We got a diamond, the most expensive gem!
Not just any diamond either, a level 10 diamond!
...and it's still only worth 840g. Oh well, this thing is still pretty big! I guess we ought to go back to where this started, with that scrap of paper Bianca did/n't have.
One warp back to the house and a short jaunt to the left later and we're here.
BUSH: Hey, there's another thing buried here.
Of course, we must dig it.
A ring pops out? We pick it up and before we can inspect it...
BUSH: What is this?
(good job photobombing there, Pony)
BUSH: This is...
Suddenly, someone arrives from behind us!
BIANCA: It looks like an old wedding ring.
BUSH: Oh, Bianca... out of the treasures, half of it was supposed to be yours, right?
BUSH: So... should I give you the ring?
BIANCA: That's a wedding ring!
BUSH: But... we had that promise... What should we do?
BIANCA: I don't know!
Good job accidentally proposing, Bush, but she's only at 1 LP.
BIANCA: Oh, but I have heard about two lovers who were separated but swore to meet again...
BIANCA: ...and buried something precious to them.
BIANCA: This ring must be that. They must have buried it for the day when they will meet again.
BUSH: Then we should put this ring back where I found it.
BUSH: But what do I do about our previous promise...?
BUSH: I know. Here. Take this Diamond.
BIANCA: I don't want it!
BIANCA: I mean, Diamond is something that's too ordinary for me... so I'm saying you can have it!
BUSH: Thank you.
BIANCA: You better be thankful!
And that's how it ends.
Good work, Bianca. Bush didn't make it very easy on you.
Music: Rune Factory 1- SummerAnd so we stand outside the manor while Pony attacks the air. The diamond is still a great get, and I'll be sure to save it for something where that level doesn't go to waste.
As for why Pony is attacking the air, I think temporary NPCs in on-map cutscenes like those must have some leftover flag that makes our pet think they're an enemy.
Doing that little event got us nearly half a bar of LP with Bianca as well- that's nearly a week of talking!
Well, off to bother the rest of town.
EUNICE: I used to feel lonely but I have many more friends now.
EUNICE: I always goe to Rosetta's store.
It's the only general store!
rip danny
UZUKI: Shrimp! This makes me doubly happy because today is my birthday. Thank you, Bush.
This is the happiest anyone's been for a small, single shrimp, aside from someone lost on a deserted island maybe.
UZUKI: It seems you have started smithery, Bush. I have high hopes for you.
Yeah! I'm aiming to get one of those late game axes eventually, but I definitely need to get back on forging. I'll probably go do a few rounds of collecting scrap metal and see where it gets us.
ROSETTA: Say, do you have any good ideas?
Me? Probably not, since most of them don't work out anyways. Bush has been on a roll this update though!
That's all she's got today. That single line- what is this, Rune Factory 1?
LARA: I have a lot of medicine so please buy the ones that fit your needs.
In our case, it's probably just more colored grass. We can already make better food than the starter energy drink and when we get an oven, we won't really need anything but some debuff cures (or I could just drink tea and never get debuffed!)
Off to the library!
no
selphy, why
it was so clean...
SELPHY: Whether to clean or not. That is the question...
What do you mean? You cleaned it yesterday!
Oh, well. Some things just aren't meant to be.
It's a Tuesday, so Selphy's only got her clearance stock on display today. The only thing left isn't cheap at all- "Happy Toys" still costs 30,000g, which I think is more than we paid for a house extension.
Given it only contains recipes for miscellaneous gifts like ribbons and fans, and does not have a recipe for the Brand Sunglasses, this is something we can safely avoid buying for now.
BUSH: Let's see... a memo... [To Candy...]
While passing by the clocktower, I check up on the Runeys and write a memo to Candy to make a Rock Rune Stone for us. I've got too many, so why not? Aside from a few rune stone doors I saw in the Tower of Birth, there's always that thing about giving one to a favorite monster.
Also, I don't know what's triggered it, but Bush has long since graduated from saying "I don't get it" when looking at the Runey population thing. Now he says stuff along the lines of "Hm..." and "I see...".
I wrote that memo because I didn't expect to see Candy today, but she's the first person I run into at the beach! It's odd seeing her without her hat, although I think hatless Uzuki is still the most jarring.
This is also her in swimsuit, which is luckily not bad at all!
CANDY: I want to see that huge block of Runes near the tail on Whale Island.
It's, uh, not doing so hot the last time I checked. Don't worry about any impending impact though, that won't happen.
It's probably way too dangerous, but it might actually be useful to get Candy up there to the Tail Tree though. Her spirit talking magic might be able to tell her something useful.
I also go ahead and get a Tree Rune Stone made while we're here. Bianca's stuck in the doorway wondering why the heck the girl from the clocktower is sparkling and singing.
MARCO: Curry is great. You like it, too, don't you?
Curry powder is Marco's liked gift, and his favorite gift is literally anything made with it as far as I know. Unfortunately, I have not located any curry powder.
It's apparently sold at the Snowstyle, but I have somehow failed to notice it every single time I've been there.
Also, Marco's swimsuit looks like a Monster Hunter default outfit, and that honestly checks out.
While everyone is off taking in the ocean wind, we're off to take in the Laga Springs heat... after a lot of Runey management. I'll spare you from that.
MELODY: I've got really bad bed hair under this hat. But keep that a secret.
Melody, girl, it's no secret. We can partially see it right now, and it's on full display at the beach.
MELODY: Recently, the spring's flow isn't very good...
MELODY: I hope it's just my imagination.
don't scare me like that
these baths are my lifeline for a dungeon run gone wrong
MELODY: The other day, Selphy went in for a bath and didn't come out for a long time.
MELODY: I got worried so I went in to check on her. Just like I thought, she was reading in the bath and she'd fainted!
MELODY: That's why you're not allowed to read in the bath!
Sheesh, so many irresponsible bath-goers in this town.
NOLAN: My birthday?
NOLAN: Hm... I wonder when it was. We tend to get forgetful when we age.
Sometimes being reminded of how old you are isn't the best of things, so the pro strat is to pretend you forget your birthday. This is has been Trampoli Life Tips with Sir Nolan.
After our bath, there's one last girl we haven't met up with in town, so I go on a search and eventually have to hit up a schedule guide.
Tabatha was in Rosetta's store all along! Also Eunice is here!
TABATHA: My birthday is on the 12th of autumn. It is the day right before the Harvest Festival. I hope you will remember it.
We won't have maxed out your LP by then, so we'll probably gift on that day anyways! A favorite gift on a birthday has to be worth a ton of LP.
If the Harvest Festival is the same as it was in Kardia, it's mostly about giving vegetables to people.
EUNICE: Bush! Let me tell you something nice.
EUNICE: If you wash old brooms with water and dry them in the shade, they will be good as new!
Huh, that's pretty good to know! Thanks!
While I'm here, I go ahead and buy a Pumpkin Head mask. We could probably make one of our own if I planted Pumpkins soon, but we've got extra money and I don't know how long it stays available in the store.
Worst comes to worst, we can gift it to someone as a joke, like Danny!
Following this, I head down into Lava Ruins to check my new gem farming spot. Just an Sapphire and a piece of copper today. Oh, well.
But off-screen, Pony takes down a ghost and gets me something I've been looking for for weeks now: Quality Cloth!
This stuff isn't even that rare of a drop, I'm just unlucky.
Music: Whale Island OutsideOut onto Whale Island, I head out back to the Tower of Birth to try and find that shortcut that's supposed to be out there.
As I pass through Tail Tree, I find that Pony can run up the steep branches without slipping! This makes things far safer and easier then!
Music: Whale Island TowerStill doesn't stop it from taking over 2 hours to get out to the tower.
These two rocks were suspicious to me when I first got here, but I guess they're nothing.
Looking it up, I need to go through the Tower of Birth to some new zone first?
Well, let's see if we can find it.
Well, it's not down here.
And up here are ghosts! More specifically, Fausts! These dark-blue wearing Ghosts have moved on from petty melee attacks to sending out big cutter projectiles.
They do a ton of damage, so I'm getting out of this high level zone!
But first, I load a savestate so I can show this guy off. This is a Necro, a ghost wearing red, and the final recolor of the ghost family. They're even tougher Fausts!
And they're even within walking distance of each other. That's some close palette swapping.
Let's save all of that for some update of a later date- Bush is a bit underleveled and undergeared for all that!
Off to see Iris we go.
IRIS: The night sky is very beautiful today... It seems as if something will fall from the sky.
Please, no more space turnips! I don't want Bush to fall into the notice of the turnip mafia again!
This is all she's got to say, so it's off to home.
Before we sleep, we've got one last thing to do. With that quality cloth from earlier, we can make an alternate headpiece for Bush. It's slighty better at magic and wind effects, but a bit less on defense than our red hairband.
Feathered Hat Lv:1 was synthesized.
With a Quality Cloth, a leftover Bird Feather from the giant chicken boss, and a spare Wind Crystal from all that slime farming for colored grass, we make ourselves a feathered hat!
Unfortunately, the biggest downside is that it kinda looks like a fedora. It's supposed to be a Robin Hood type hat, but the point isn't very pronounced.
Well, regardless, Bush is off to his nightly exercise of tearing up his floor practicing his axe swing, so he'll be off to bed soon. While he's off doing that, we've got some stuff to look through...
----------------------------------------------------------------
BONUS
----------------
But first, the thread's votes regarding that Highly Expensive Swimwear was to offer it to Eunice and Cinnamon, the two possibly worst options to do so. How does that go?
CINNAMON: ...I don't want it.
She won't take it. Fair enough, especially since she can't even swim nor likes Bush that much. I have seen what it looks like, and, well, it's quite a difference.
EUNICE: No... I... Swimsuits are...
EUNICE: T-thank you.
EUNICE: Shouldn't you be giving this to someone much closer to you...?
She turns it down as well. It's a pretty tame response all things considered.
It seems like the girls won't take it unless they like you enough- who could have guessed? I tested it with Melody and she would take it, but Rosetta wouldn't. I guess the starting point is somewhere around 5-7 LP?
Anyways, back in the box it goes for some later date, possibly to get sold when I need room. Somewhere out there, someone might need affordable high quality swimwear. They surely won't have to spend as much on it as we did!
-------------------------------------------
UP NEXT: The vote you've all been waiting for! Probably!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 5:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Update 31: Status Update & Bachelorette Vote 1: 50% Elimination Extravaganza
Music: Title Theme
Time for a status update on how Bush is doing so far.
First up, Relationships!
I really need to work on gifting the non-bachelorette townsfolk. Oh well, I've still got plenty of time to do that.
Here's the rankings for the gals from highest LP to lowest, favoring FP in ties:
Melody: 8.5 Friendship, 7 Love
Iris: 7 Friendship, 5.8 Love
Selphy: 6 Friendship, 5.8 Love
Mist: 6 Friendship, 5 Love
Rosetta: 6 Friendship, 4.8 Love
Tabatha: 3.6 Friendship, 3.8 Love
Cinnamon: 5.8 Friendship, 3.3 Love
Uzuki: 6 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Eunice: 5 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Anette: 4.7 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Lara: 5.8 Friendship, 2.6 Love
Bianca: 1 Friendship, 1.3 Love
Bianca's placement is to be expected, and Lara's so low because our LP with her was hurt a lot stopping that hurricane. Iris and Melody show just how much of an advantage the favored gifts are, as Selphy is our highest without favorite gifts at hand and a lot of that LP is from book bonuses.
Cinnamon's bonus from seeing constellations really isn't much, seriously. Eunice has nearly as much as her, and we didn't even have proper gifts for her for like two weeks.
The rest of the townsfolk are as follows, in the order listed by the game:
Turner: 2.6 Friendship
Rita: 2.1 Friendship
Erik: 1.8 Friendship
Kanno: 3.1 Friendship
Candy: 2.1 Friendship
Stella: 3.5 Friendship
Ganesha: 2.1 Friendship
Marco: 1.1 Friendship
Danny: 2.4 Friendship
Lute: 2.9 Friendship
Kross: 3.9 Friendship
Nolan: 3.4 Friendship
Kross being so high up isn't a surprise, I've been trying to be his friend since the beginning. I've got the most reliable gifts for Nolan, so that's not unexpected either.
Marco's so low because of me not finding this fabled curry powder, or him half the time.
I'll work on increasing all of their FP eventually, when the gals max out, they might not have too much new dialogue.
(You may notice that the scrollbar isn't all the way at the bottom, and that is indeed because there are more characters to meet! Somehow. None of them are marriage candidates, so I'm free to do the bachelorette vote.)
Next up is our book collection. We're almost halfway to filling up all of it!
I'm pretty sure there isn't as many books as there are slots though.
Next we've got Bush's profits. He's raked in a grand total of 277,169g over the course of these 44 days, and his biggest profit is Tomatoes and their juice by far, with them accounting for more than a third of his total profits.
Corn is just behind, and Strawberries still holding onto 4th place.
When it comes to the Barn, Only Grant, Gobbs, and Pony are at 2 Friendship. All the others are still at one.
I love how I went out of my way to keep room for an Elefun, but I've pretty much neglected use them up to this point. Oh, well. They were a saving grace on my original run, but Pony's been such a loyal friend I haven't needed anything else.
She's also level 38, 5 higher than Bush!
Speaking of Bush's level, here's his current stats, with that glorious 99 cooking available on the side. One day, Bush's Baked...Goods will be a reality.
Surprisingly, his Weaponry skill lags behind at 21 compared to his 30 Magic. Our farming skills are tied, at 37, except for Hammering which is 10 levels behind.
Fishing, Forging, and Crafts all hover around the 20's, and the ever-so not-great Lab skill remains at 7.
Bush is level 33, with 219 Max HP, with all base stats at 34 except for INT which is still ahead thanks to that snake oil from long ago.
We've got almost 40,000g in pocket and about 60 pieces of wood in the shed.
What we don't have is an idea of which girls to court specifically, and that's where you finally come in, good readers.
-----------------------------------
BACHELORETTE VOTING ROUND
50% ELIMINATION EXTRAVAGANZA
-----------------------------------
Music: The Sweetest Time
Welcome all, to the votes you've probably been waiting for!
This is the Bachelorette Tournament, Round 1, where we narrow down the list of girls that Bush throws gifts at so that he can stop spending the first 9 hours of his day only wandering around town.
We'll be eliminating 6 out of the 12 available options present (somehow I kept miscounting before and thinking it was 11), but those unlucky 6 won't be cut from the LP entirely. It just means that if I decide to take a day out to go do combat or story things, then I'll accept missing them. Oh, and also I won't throw everything to the wind to make their favorite gifts, if they're particularly difficult (looking at you, Mist, Cinnamon, and Uzuki).
The lucky 6 will see me working on making their favorite gift, no matter how difficult it may be.
If a favorite of your doesn't make it in, don't fear, for a redemption round will be held at a later date for a chance to usurp one (or possibly even two!) of the six positions. The true final vote for who Bush will marry will be held once the final 6 are pretty much done with their storylines.
The following is a brief overview of each lovely lass, an overly dramatic title, and some possible reasons one might have to vote for one over another, as well as their official art.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Mist, the Arcane Maiden of Roots-
Birthday: Autumn 1 (it's very auspicious)
Constellation: Turnip
Favorite Gift: Emery Flower
VA: Xanthe Huynh
Mist is the somewhat unusual girl that is the whole reason why we're here. She gave Bush her breakfast on one really bad morning when he had all his memories taken from him and he's been endlessly grateful to her since. At some indistinct point, she up and left the original town of Kardia because voices she heard in her sleep guided her to Trampoli. Since arriving, all she's really done is hang out at Bush's farm, have weird dreams, and adopt an explosive duck.
The Turnip Mafia isn't real, just so you know. It's entirely my weird running joke for her, if me photoshopping the end of that one update didn't make it apparent.
This is the second time she's stuck Bush with a rundown farmfor her underground turnip operation... but did Bush follow her for more than respect for that breakfast?
Reasons to vote for:
- Story relevant?
- You too, eat nothing but turnips.
- You like random non-sequitirs and an odd outlook on life.
- She said she can't imagine getting married and you want to prove her wrong.
-You fear the turnip mafia
Reasons to not vote for:
- She's at least made out to be kind of an obvious pick.
- You do not like the turnip.
- She hasn't really done all that much yet, even 5 LP in.
- She seems to enjoy the bachelorette life, why ruin that?
-this is all a ploy to trap Bush in the root racket forever
-Eunice, the Flower of Snowstyle-
Birthday: 17th Fall
Constellation: Broom
Favorite Gift: Mont Blanc
VA: Minx Lee (Uncredited?)
The second girl we met coming to Trampoli, and the first of the new bachelorettes. Eunice is just generally nice and overall lacks a particular quirk compared to the others around. She's been pretty alone her whole life until now, and doesn't have much to do outside of housekeeping. Her character development will slowly start to focus on her body image, something we've seen glimpses of. She works from 6 to 12 every day, and sometimes it seems like she's the only one who does anything at the local inn.
Eunice has had what seems to be somewhat a rather troubled home life, is Bush looking to turn that around... or is he just a friend?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- She's very chill and very normal.
- She may have more friends these days, but nobody particularly close.
- She and Bush could swap cooking tips.
- You want more helpful housekeeping tips.
- You want to see what was so controversial about her character arc.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- Turner and Rita will be our in-laws.
- She's not nearly as quirky or interesting as the others.
- You think housekeeping is boring and Bush is already a master chef.
- I can't really think of much else, uh, maybe you don't like green hair?
-Rosetta, the Courageous Eye of Gold-
Birthday: Autumn 21
Constellation: Serpent
Favorite Gift: Cherry Pie
VA: Julie Ann Taylor
Our second returning bachelorette, Rosetta is highly skilled in the ways of making money and is very independent (a result of being frustrated with her meek father). She originally came to Trampoli to act as a buyer for the new farmer she heard about, only to find it was us again. She eventually moved into the town as she ran away from home, started up a general store, and put her competitor out of business all in the span of about 30 days. She and Mist are childhood friends, but she seems to think they have a rivalry for some reason and even she can't explain why.
Bush may be a very good source of income for her as her most reliable wholesaler, but is there a chance he's looking to end up as more than that...?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- She's been doing our shipping from day one for two farms now.
- She's very good at business and makes big money.
- Already kinda likes Bush and generally pleasant to talk to.
- Confident and doesn't back down in the slightest.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- Capitalism
- She's doing fine on her own, really.
- She buys stuff from us for about 1/5th of market value, seriously.
- Almost a bit too perfect in some ways.
-Anette, the Everswift Bearer of Scripts-
Birthday: Winter 04
Constellation: Buffamoo
Favorite Gift: Pumpkin Tart
VA: Shelby Lindley
Running fast enough to make dust clouds and send up sparks when she stops, Anette delivers mail to Trampoli on her route. The first time we met her, she gave us a welcoming letter as well as nagging us for not filing a change of residence to the post office, wherever it is. We usually only get to see her in the mornings, where Bush asks for his mail before she's even reached the mailbox, and then throws a cave strawberry at her as she runs off into the distance. Why she can't see poor Kross is a mystery for the ages, and Danny is supposedly our rival for her.
She worries about her height, as well as her handwriting, and monsters seem to chase her on the regular... but will Bush chase after her heart?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You want to see her around town more often.
- You want to follow her around the mail route more often.
- Generally fun to talk to, is the best part of the mornings.
- You want to help her work on her handwriting and maybe that monster problem too.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- We have monsters on our farm, maybe it's not the best combination.
- She won't move in for quite some time.
- 2 fast 4 us
- You like another girl's hat more.
-Lara, the Physician of St. Poli-
Birthday: Winter 1
Constellation: Cross
Favorite Gift: Chocolate Cake
VA: Karen Strassman
The ever kind Nurse/Nun (Nurnse?), Lara's also a returning character from Kardia. Originally meant to come here to deliver some correspondence between Father Wesley, her father, and Sister Stella, she found us collapsed yet again and chose to stay to watch over us. Bush never seems to be nearly as thankful to her for how many times she's dragged his unconscious body from the fields, compared to how he is for Mist. She hates seeing us get knocked out, an unfortunate requirement of warping the weather. She's part of the Trampoli Morning Study Group, being tutored by Cinnamon in the ways of even more medicine. Supposedly, Erik is our rival for her.
Lara's taken her vows, but is there something between Bush and her that could end with her changing that?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is evidently a danger to himself, someone has to watch him.
- Generally nice to talk to and will always save us when downed, somehow.
- Maybe we'll learn what the local religion is even about?
- You too value medicine and health.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She's already a nun and you don't want have to revoke her vows.
- She worries about Bush too much, he's fine.
- Medicine is pretty bad in this game.
- She hasn't had too much in the way of development, her LP moves very slowly being a nun and all.
Selphius Josephi- Selphy, the Literary Dedicant:
Birthday: Fall 3
Constellation: Crown
Favorite Gift: Sandwich
Voice Actor: Wendee Lee
Found in front of our house passed out in some strange cycle of Bush and people falling unconscious in front of farmhouses, Selphy lives for books. Forgetting to eat days on end for the pursuit of knowledge and romance novels with little sense of responsibility- this is her life. She's very cheerful no matter the situation, although she doesn't tend to look at other people's perspectives very often. She's most definitely not from some very high-class background and definitely not a runaway, although story-wise, we haven't yet seen what her deal really is. Her presence is mostly why Lara is still in town, given her general disregard for health over literature.
Could Bush ever become that romance story protagonist she's looking for, or will books be the only thing in her heart?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is already one of her sole sources of food, through both gifts and patronage.
- Familiar with the concept of passing out, similar to Bush.
- Very stylish and regularly very fun to talk to.
- Probably from some high class family???
- Now an established writer.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She doesn't value our farming very much and our house would be a mess.
- Bush is too busy getting beat up and overworked on his own time.
- We're running out of books to read to impress her with.
- Who knows when her rich family is going to show up and cause all sorts of drama?
- You like another girl's hat better.
-Bathhouse Melody, the Whimsical Seeker of Soothing Waters-
Birthday: Spring 11
Constellation: Hat
Favorite Gift: Relax Tea
VA: G.K. Bowes
The ever cheerful girl in search of delivering the perfect bathing experience while also wanting to be a wizard, is the returning bachelorette, Melody. We met her again part way through Whale Island's cave, where she recruited our help to unleash a new hot spring of questionable physics that she instantly had built. Melody lives for the concept of bathing, despite hating it when she was younger. She's part of the morning study group with Cinnamon and Lara learning magic, and in her off time, seems to be very adept at handling monsters. She was rather difficult to charm back in Kardia, but she's far more easily interested in Bush this time around.
Melody most favorite thing in the world is bathing, that's common knowledge, but is Bush looking to usurp that position... is it even possible?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is a regular customer of her incredibly generously priced bathhouse.
- Often very fun to talk to, with a lot of that usual Rune Factory quirkiness.
- She's a good friend who keeps in touch with folk back from Kardia.
- Getting married to her probably means more than a few globetrotting searches for bathhouses.
- She's also tamed monsters before!
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- You think saunas are better than baths.
- You think Bush is more of a guy to settle down rather than travel a lot.
- She's always been around, and opening up only at 3:00 is annoying.
- You are annoyed by her constant application of the quaver as punctuation ♪
- You think one of the other girls has a better hat.
-Cinnamon, the Lone Astrologian of Scales-
Birthday: Spring 26
Constellation: Fish
Favorite Gift: Magic Crystal (a 5% drop that seems more like a 1%)
VA: Cristina Valenzuela
The incredibly uninterested wizard girl who can't cast magic and just fishes instead, Cinnamon arrived a few days after her grandfather Kanno did. Since then, she's mostly instructed us on astronomy, fished a lot, and kept to herself. She's the head of the Book/Cinnamon's Magic & Medicine Club, formed after a lot of insistence by Melody. Kanno's told us a little bit of her magic prodigy past, but it's slow going as is her LP. It's a rare sight to get any emotion out of her, or to find her not sleepy. Oh, and we first met her when she landed on us while flying through the sky with her younger sister.
Will Bush be the one to break through that silent exterior and win her heart, or is he just another fish in the sea?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You love ellipsis, and think they're very good punctuation to have everywhere...
- You want to see her have any sort of emotion.
- We might learn what's up with her past.
- She's already taught Bush a lot of stuff.
- Master of making fish prints and constellations.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- You... hate... ellipsis...
- too much fish, just too much fish
- Kanno is already bossy enough, being his grandson-in-law won't help.
- Her arrival also brought the Runey system.
- You like another girl's hat more.
-Uzuki, the Guarded Maiden of the East-
Birthday: Summer 15th
Constellation: Hairpin
Favorite Gift: Golden Hairpin
VA: Also Karen Strassman? (Uncredited?)
Accompanied by Overprotective Cicada Dad Guardian Tsubute, Uzuki is from the foreign land of Not-Japan in search of Brother. We met her early in Spring where she ran into a door, and then conscripted our help before running off before telling us what for. Ever since, she's been the local inn's only patron and spends from 6:00 AM to noon swinging her naginata around. She likes to learn about different cultures it seems, but lacks courage and struggles to meet the genteel expectations set by the tiny cicada man that follows her around. We've not seen much of Brother or where her story has to go, but it'll be a while.
Is it possible for Bush to ever win her heart and the approval of Cicada Dad, or shall he be threatened with arrows forever?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Only girl with a weapon and vaguely trained in combat.
- You like hearing about Not-Japan and enjoy sashimi.
- You too, want to find Brother.
- You can respect a 6 hour daily training session.
- Bush could also start up a 6 hour training session of his own?
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She won't ever join us in combat, this isn't RF3 and later.
- Tsubute will not like us for a long time, I imagine.
- Her dialogue can be a bit predictable at times.
- She's dissed our combat skills before, and we might still be sore about that.
- You think one of the other girls has a better hat.
-Iris Blanche, the Sky-Island Enigma-
Birthday: Winter 23
Constellation: Whale
Favorite Gift: Tomato Juice
VA: Michelle Ruff
Up on Whale Island is a tower, and in that tower lives a girl named Iris who isn't very good at art, but she really does try. She has pointy ears, heterochromia, only goes outside at night, gets sleepy in the day, instinctively hates garlic, and sucked the blood off our wounded arm- what I'm saying is that she's a bit of an odd one. Given that Bush is the only human contact she has outside of Gelwein, some well-dressed guy who said nothing to us as he opened the gate to plot progression, it's rather understandable.
She also rather loves flowers, but has since failed to notice that we replaced the moondrops outside her door with the similar tomato plants- but will Bush try to get her to notice him?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
-she's totally not a vampire
- Possibly story relevant? She, uh, licked us? Maybe just to learn what her deal is?
- You too like flowers and drawing.
- You think she pulls off the toeless boot look better than Mist does.
- She owns flying whale island property- it'd honestly be a neat place to live and won't be crushed under said island.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- We regularly eat a garlic based dishand it's probably the only reason we're alive right now
- You think heterochromia is overdone.
- You're still annoyed about having to wait for 2 weeks to progress on Whale Island and also about waiting until 6:00 PM to even talk to her.
- You just don't get her accidental postmodern abstract surrealist vision.
- You don't like heights, so a flying island is like a nightmare.
-Bianca de Sainte-Coquille, the Enwreathed In Riches-
Birthday: Summer 8
Constellation: Elephant
Favorite Gift: Talking to Bush
VA: Jessica Straus (Uncredited?)
The rich, snobby, and spoiled single daughter of Jasper de Sainte-Coquille, she had a Summer home built in Trampoli to escape the Kardia heat. Unfortunately, it's just as hot here and as equally as boring to her, but on the other hand it does have Bush, one of the few things she regards as interesting in the world. She's evidently never been good at making friends, as Tabatha is really her only friend, and even then they're a bit distant thanks to work. She would leave after the end of summer, but we gave her the tiny pink elephant that had started squatting in our barn, so now she's staying. She's quite the latecomer, but the last update gave a very good look of how she is.
Bianca might find Bush to be rather interesting, but does Bush think the same about her... or was the scavenger hunt for naught?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You want to see me play this game for a long time, as she would be delivering new dialogue long into the second year.
- Endlessly wealthy.
- Jasper will be our father-in-law and we get a fancy last name.
- Likes Bush for who he is, not the gifts he gives, maybe.
- A fellow monster tamer?
Reasons to not vote for:
- You don't want me playing this game long into the second and third years to show off content.
- Slow LP gain means she doesn't always have new and interesting things to say.
- You can't stand the rich snob angle, and we make enough money on our own.
- de Sainte-Coquille family reunions could be too wild for poor Bush.
-Tabatha, the Handmaiden of Verdant Wilds-
Last but not least is Bianca's maid, and pretty much only friend, Tabatha. She's from the distant Elven lands and lives a chill life of cleaning mansions and admiring monsters. While extremely polite and professional, she carries herself with a strangely casual air. She's the first elf of the series, although it doesn't play a very large role in her current life it seems. What is that elven land like, and why exactly did she become maid for such a spoiled girl?
She's rather keen on trying to get Bush to be friends with Bianca, as she always has been, but is Bush more after her heart instead?
Reasons to maybe vote for her:
- You want to know what her past is and why exactly she's a maid for Bianca.
- Bush like monsters and she also likes monsters.
- She's the only elf we can marry, and she might tell us about what the Elven Lands are like.
- Incredibly efficient at housekeeping, and also provides general cooking and cleaning tips.
- You too, likerice porridge oatmeal.
Reasons to maybe not vote for her:
- She's pushing us to go for Bianca instead.
- You think she's already competing for the same thing as Eunice.
- You liked the country accent she had before.
- You're tired of maid outfits, even if this one is rather sensible.
- She's perhaps too polite and professional.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find the voting form right here- it's fully anonymous so nobody will know what you voted for: https://forms.gle/61pzBdXYEmPc4KwM8
The original plan was to a tournament bracket sort of thing, but that's possibly unfair compared to just doing this.
You can feel free to post about who you voted for, talk about the girls, or who you want to win, that's perfectly fine. Just know that only votes submitted to the form will count. If you want them to count, send them there.
VOTING WILL BE CLOSED ON MARCH 19th, 12:00 PM EST
You have two weeks! Don't miss out!
Music: Title ThemeTime for a status update on how Bush is doing so far.
First up, Relationships!
I really need to work on gifting the non-bachelorette townsfolk. Oh well, I've still got plenty of time to do that.
Here's the rankings for the gals from highest LP to lowest, favoring FP in ties:
Melody: 8.5 Friendship, 7 Love
Iris: 7 Friendship, 5.8 Love
Selphy: 6 Friendship, 5.8 Love
Mist: 6 Friendship, 5 Love
Rosetta: 6 Friendship, 4.8 Love
Tabatha: 3.6 Friendship, 3.8 Love
Cinnamon: 5.8 Friendship, 3.3 Love
Uzuki: 6 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Eunice: 5 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Anette: 4.7 Friendship, 3.1 Love
Lara: 5.8 Friendship, 2.6 Love
Bianca: 1 Friendship, 1.3 Love
Bianca's placement is to be expected, and Lara's so low because our LP with her was hurt a lot stopping that hurricane. Iris and Melody show just how much of an advantage the favored gifts are, as Selphy is our highest without favorite gifts at hand and a lot of that LP is from book bonuses.
Cinnamon's bonus from seeing constellations really isn't much, seriously. Eunice has nearly as much as her, and we didn't even have proper gifts for her for like two weeks.
The rest of the townsfolk are as follows, in the order listed by the game:
Turner: 2.6 Friendship
Rita: 2.1 Friendship
Erik: 1.8 Friendship
Kanno: 3.1 Friendship
Candy: 2.1 Friendship
Stella: 3.5 Friendship
Ganesha: 2.1 Friendship
Marco: 1.1 Friendship
Danny: 2.4 Friendship
Lute: 2.9 Friendship
Kross: 3.9 Friendship
Nolan: 3.4 Friendship
Kross being so high up isn't a surprise, I've been trying to be his friend since the beginning. I've got the most reliable gifts for Nolan, so that's not unexpected either.
Marco's so low because of me not finding this fabled curry powder, or him half the time.
I'll work on increasing all of their FP eventually, when the gals max out, they might not have too much new dialogue.
(You may notice that the scrollbar isn't all the way at the bottom, and that is indeed because there are more characters to meet! Somehow. None of them are marriage candidates, so I'm free to do the bachelorette vote.)
Next up is our book collection. We're almost halfway to filling up all of it!
I'm pretty sure there isn't as many books as there are slots though.
Next we've got Bush's profits. He's raked in a grand total of 277,169g over the course of these 44 days, and his biggest profit is Tomatoes and their juice by far, with them accounting for more than a third of his total profits.
Corn is just behind, and Strawberries still holding onto 4th place.
When it comes to the Barn, Only Grant, Gobbs, and Pony are at 2 Friendship. All the others are still at one.
I love how I went out of my way to keep room for an Elefun, but I've pretty much neglected use them up to this point. Oh, well. They were a saving grace on my original run, but Pony's been such a loyal friend I haven't needed anything else.
She's also level 38, 5 higher than Bush!
Speaking of Bush's level, here's his current stats, with that glorious 99 cooking available on the side. One day, Bush's Baked...Goods will be a reality.
Surprisingly, his Weaponry skill lags behind at 21 compared to his 30 Magic. Our farming skills are tied, at 37, except for Hammering which is 10 levels behind.
Fishing, Forging, and Crafts all hover around the 20's, and the ever-so not-great Lab skill remains at 7.
Bush is level 33, with 219 Max HP, with all base stats at 34 except for INT which is still ahead thanks to that snake oil from long ago.
We've got almost 40,000g in pocket and about 60 pieces of wood in the shed.
What we don't have is an idea of which girls to court specifically, and that's where you finally come in, good readers.
-----------------------------------
BACHELORETTE VOTING ROUND
50% ELIMINATION EXTRAVAGANZA
-----------------------------------
Music: The Sweetest TimeWelcome all, to the votes you've probably been waiting for!
This is the Bachelorette Tournament, Round 1, where we narrow down the list of girls that Bush throws gifts at so that he can stop spending the first 9 hours of his day only wandering around town.
We'll be eliminating 6 out of the 12 available options present (somehow I kept miscounting before and thinking it was 11), but those unlucky 6 won't be cut from the LP entirely. It just means that if I decide to take a day out to go do combat or story things, then I'll accept missing them. Oh, and also I won't throw everything to the wind to make their favorite gifts, if they're particularly difficult (looking at you, Mist, Cinnamon, and Uzuki).
The lucky 6 will see me working on making their favorite gift, no matter how difficult it may be.
If a favorite of your doesn't make it in, don't fear, for a redemption round will be held at a later date for a chance to usurp one (or possibly even two!) of the six positions. The true final vote for who Bush will marry will be held once the final 6 are pretty much done with their storylines.
The following is a brief overview of each lovely lass, an overly dramatic title, and some possible reasons one might have to vote for one over another, as well as their official art.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Mist, the Arcane Maiden of Roots-
Birthday: Autumn 1 (it's very auspicious)
Constellation: Turnip
Favorite Gift: Emery Flower
VA: Xanthe Huynh
Mist is the somewhat unusual girl that is the whole reason why we're here. She gave Bush her breakfast on one really bad morning when he had all his memories taken from him and he's been endlessly grateful to her since. At some indistinct point, she up and left the original town of Kardia because voices she heard in her sleep guided her to Trampoli. Since arriving, all she's really done is hang out at Bush's farm, have weird dreams, and adopt an explosive duck.
The Turnip Mafia isn't real, just so you know. It's entirely my weird running joke for her, if me photoshopping the end of that one update didn't make it apparent.
This is the second time she's stuck Bush with a rundown farm
Reasons to vote for:
- Story relevant?
- You too, eat nothing but turnips.
- You like random non-sequitirs and an odd outlook on life.
- She said she can't imagine getting married and you want to prove her wrong.
-
Reasons to not vote for:
- She's at least made out to be kind of an obvious pick.
- You do not like the turnip.
- She hasn't really done all that much yet, even 5 LP in.
- She seems to enjoy the bachelorette life, why ruin that?
-
-Eunice, the Flower of Snowstyle-
Birthday: 17th Fall
Constellation: Broom
Favorite Gift: Mont Blanc
VA: Minx Lee (Uncredited?)
The second girl we met coming to Trampoli, and the first of the new bachelorettes. Eunice is just generally nice and overall lacks a particular quirk compared to the others around. She's been pretty alone her whole life until now, and doesn't have much to do outside of housekeeping. Her character development will slowly start to focus on her body image, something we've seen glimpses of. She works from 6 to 12 every day, and sometimes it seems like she's the only one who does anything at the local inn.
Eunice has had what seems to be somewhat a rather troubled home life, is Bush looking to turn that around... or is he just a friend?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- She's very chill and very normal.
- She may have more friends these days, but nobody particularly close.
- She and Bush could swap cooking tips.
- You want more helpful housekeeping tips.
- You want to see what was so controversial about her character arc.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- Turner and Rita will be our in-laws.
- She's not nearly as quirky or interesting as the others.
- You think housekeeping is boring and Bush is already a master chef.
- I can't really think of much else, uh, maybe you don't like green hair?
-Rosetta, the Courageous Eye of Gold-
Birthday: Autumn 21
Constellation: Serpent
Favorite Gift: Cherry Pie
VA: Julie Ann Taylor
Our second returning bachelorette, Rosetta is highly skilled in the ways of making money and is very independent (a result of being frustrated with her meek father). She originally came to Trampoli to act as a buyer for the new farmer she heard about, only to find it was us again. She eventually moved into the town as she ran away from home, started up a general store, and put her competitor out of business all in the span of about 30 days. She and Mist are childhood friends, but she seems to think they have a rivalry for some reason and even she can't explain why.
Bush may be a very good source of income for her as her most reliable wholesaler, but is there a chance he's looking to end up as more than that...?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- She's been doing our shipping from day one for two farms now.
- She's very good at business and makes big money.
- Already kinda likes Bush and generally pleasant to talk to.
- Confident and doesn't back down in the slightest.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- Capitalism
- She's doing fine on her own, really.
- She buys stuff from us for about 1/5th of market value, seriously.
- Almost a bit too perfect in some ways.
-Anette, the Everswift Bearer of Scripts-
Birthday: Winter 04
Constellation: Buffamoo
Favorite Gift: Pumpkin Tart
VA: Shelby Lindley
Running fast enough to make dust clouds and send up sparks when she stops, Anette delivers mail to Trampoli on her route. The first time we met her, she gave us a welcoming letter as well as nagging us for not filing a change of residence to the post office, wherever it is. We usually only get to see her in the mornings, where Bush asks for his mail before she's even reached the mailbox, and then throws a cave strawberry at her as she runs off into the distance. Why she can't see poor Kross is a mystery for the ages, and Danny is supposedly our rival for her.
She worries about her height, as well as her handwriting, and monsters seem to chase her on the regular... but will Bush chase after her heart?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You want to see her around town more often.
- You want to follow her around the mail route more often.
- Generally fun to talk to, is the best part of the mornings.
- You want to help her work on her handwriting and maybe that monster problem too.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- We have monsters on our farm, maybe it's not the best combination.
- She won't move in for quite some time.
- 2 fast 4 us
- You like another girl's hat more.
-Lara, the Physician of St. Poli-
Birthday: Winter 1
Constellation: Cross
Favorite Gift: Chocolate Cake
VA: Karen Strassman
The ever kind Nurse/Nun (Nurnse?), Lara's also a returning character from Kardia. Originally meant to come here to deliver some correspondence between Father Wesley, her father, and Sister Stella, she found us collapsed yet again and chose to stay to watch over us. Bush never seems to be nearly as thankful to her for how many times she's dragged his unconscious body from the fields, compared to how he is for Mist. She hates seeing us get knocked out, an unfortunate requirement of warping the weather. She's part of the Trampoli Morning Study Group, being tutored by Cinnamon in the ways of even more medicine. Supposedly, Erik is our rival for her.
Lara's taken her vows, but is there something between Bush and her that could end with her changing that?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is evidently a danger to himself, someone has to watch him.
- Generally nice to talk to and will always save us when downed, somehow.
- Maybe we'll learn what the local religion is even about?
- You too value medicine and health.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She's already a nun and you don't want have to revoke her vows.
- She worries about Bush too much, he's fine.
- Medicine is pretty bad in this game.
- She hasn't had too much in the way of development, her LP moves very slowly being a nun and all.
Birthday: Fall 3
Constellation: Crown
Favorite Gift: Sandwich
Voice Actor: Wendee Lee
Found in front of our house passed out in some strange cycle of Bush and people falling unconscious in front of farmhouses, Selphy lives for books. Forgetting to eat days on end for the pursuit of knowledge and romance novels with little sense of responsibility- this is her life. She's very cheerful no matter the situation, although she doesn't tend to look at other people's perspectives very often. She's most definitely not from some very high-class background and definitely not a runaway, although story-wise, we haven't yet seen what her deal really is. Her presence is mostly why Lara is still in town, given her general disregard for health over literature.
Could Bush ever become that romance story protagonist she's looking for, or will books be the only thing in her heart?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is already one of her sole sources of food, through both gifts and patronage.
- Familiar with the concept of passing out, similar to Bush.
- Very stylish and regularly very fun to talk to.
- Probably from some high class family???
- Now an established writer.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She doesn't value our farming very much and our house would be a mess.
- Bush is too busy getting beat up and overworked on his own time.
- We're running out of books to read to impress her with.
- Who knows when her rich family is going to show up and cause all sorts of drama?
- You like another girl's hat better.
-Bathhouse Melody, the Whimsical Seeker of Soothing Waters-
Birthday: Spring 11
Constellation: Hat
Favorite Gift: Relax Tea
VA: G.K. Bowes
The ever cheerful girl in search of delivering the perfect bathing experience while also wanting to be a wizard, is the returning bachelorette, Melody. We met her again part way through Whale Island's cave, where she recruited our help to unleash a new hot spring of questionable physics that she instantly had built. Melody lives for the concept of bathing, despite hating it when she was younger. She's part of the morning study group with Cinnamon and Lara learning magic, and in her off time, seems to be very adept at handling monsters. She was rather difficult to charm back in Kardia, but she's far more easily interested in Bush this time around.
Melody most favorite thing in the world is bathing, that's common knowledge, but is Bush looking to usurp that position... is it even possible?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Bush is a regular customer of her incredibly generously priced bathhouse.
- Often very fun to talk to, with a lot of that usual Rune Factory quirkiness.
- She's a good friend who keeps in touch with folk back from Kardia.
- Getting married to her probably means more than a few globetrotting searches for bathhouses.
- She's also tamed monsters before!
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- You think saunas are better than baths.
- You think Bush is more of a guy to settle down rather than travel a lot.
- She's always been around, and opening up only at 3:00 is annoying.
- You are annoyed by her constant application of the quaver as punctuation ♪
- You think one of the other girls has a better hat.
-Cinnamon, the Lone Astrologian of Scales-
Birthday: Spring 26
Constellation: Fish
Favorite Gift: Magic Crystal (a 5% drop that seems more like a 1%)
VA: Cristina Valenzuela
The incredibly uninterested wizard girl who can't cast magic and just fishes instead, Cinnamon arrived a few days after her grandfather Kanno did. Since then, she's mostly instructed us on astronomy, fished a lot, and kept to herself. She's the head of the Book/Cinnamon's Magic & Medicine Club, formed after a lot of insistence by Melody. Kanno's told us a little bit of her magic prodigy past, but it's slow going as is her LP. It's a rare sight to get any emotion out of her, or to find her not sleepy. Oh, and we first met her when she landed on us while flying through the sky with her younger sister.
Will Bush be the one to break through that silent exterior and win her heart, or is he just another fish in the sea?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You love ellipsis, and think they're very good punctuation to have everywhere...
- You want to see her have any sort of emotion.
- We might learn what's up with her past.
- She's already taught Bush a lot of stuff.
- Master of making fish prints and constellations.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- You... hate... ellipsis...
- too much fish, just too much fish
- Kanno is already bossy enough, being his grandson-in-law won't help.
- Her arrival also brought the Runey system.
- You like another girl's hat more.
-Uzuki, the Guarded Maiden of the East-
Birthday: Summer 15th
Constellation: Hairpin
Favorite Gift: Golden Hairpin
VA: Also Karen Strassman? (Uncredited?)
Accompanied by Overprotective Cicada Dad Guardian Tsubute, Uzuki is from the foreign land of Not-Japan in search of Brother. We met her early in Spring where she ran into a door, and then conscripted our help before running off before telling us what for. Ever since, she's been the local inn's only patron and spends from 6:00 AM to noon swinging her naginata around. She likes to learn about different cultures it seems, but lacks courage and struggles to meet the genteel expectations set by the tiny cicada man that follows her around. We've not seen much of Brother or where her story has to go, but it'll be a while.
Is it possible for Bush to ever win her heart and the approval of Cicada Dad, or shall he be threatened with arrows forever?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- Only girl with a weapon and vaguely trained in combat.
- You like hearing about Not-Japan and enjoy sashimi.
- You too, want to find Brother.
- You can respect a 6 hour daily training session.
- Bush could also start up a 6 hour training session of his own?
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- She won't ever join us in combat, this isn't RF3 and later.
- Tsubute will not like us for a long time, I imagine.
- Her dialogue can be a bit predictable at times.
- She's dissed our combat skills before, and we might still be sore about that.
- You think one of the other girls has a better hat.
-Iris Blanche, the Sky-Island Enigma-
Birthday: Winter 23
Constellation: Whale
Favorite Gift: Tomato Juice
VA: Michelle Ruff
Up on Whale Island is a tower, and in that tower lives a girl named Iris who isn't very good at art, but she really does try. She has pointy ears, heterochromia, only goes outside at night, gets sleepy in the day, instinctively hates garlic, and sucked the blood off our wounded arm- what I'm saying is that she's a bit of an odd one. Given that Bush is the only human contact she has outside of Gelwein, some well-dressed guy who said nothing to us as he opened the gate to plot progression, it's rather understandable.
She also rather loves flowers, but has since failed to notice that we replaced the moondrops outside her door with the similar tomato plants- but will Bush try to get her to notice him?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
-
- Possibly story relevant? She, uh, licked us? Maybe just to learn what her deal is?
- You too like flowers and drawing.
- You think she pulls off the toeless boot look better than Mist does.
- She owns flying whale island property- it'd honestly be a neat place to live and won't be crushed under said island.
Reasons to maybe not vote for:
- We regularly eat a garlic based dish
- You think heterochromia is overdone.
- You're still annoyed about having to wait for 2 weeks to progress on Whale Island and also about waiting until 6:00 PM to even talk to her.
- You just don't get her accidental postmodern abstract surrealist vision.
- You don't like heights, so a flying island is like a nightmare.
-Bianca de Sainte-Coquille, the Enwreathed In Riches-
Birthday: Summer 8
Constellation: Elephant
Favorite Gift: Talking to Bush
VA: Jessica Straus (Uncredited?)
The rich, snobby, and spoiled single daughter of Jasper de Sainte-Coquille, she had a Summer home built in Trampoli to escape the Kardia heat. Unfortunately, it's just as hot here and as equally as boring to her, but on the other hand it does have Bush, one of the few things she regards as interesting in the world. She's evidently never been good at making friends, as Tabatha is really her only friend, and even then they're a bit distant thanks to work. She would leave after the end of summer, but we gave her the tiny pink elephant that had started squatting in our barn, so now she's staying. She's quite the latecomer, but the last update gave a very good look of how she is.
Bianca might find Bush to be rather interesting, but does Bush think the same about her... or was the scavenger hunt for naught?
Reasons to maybe vote for:
- You want to see me play this game for a long time, as she would be delivering new dialogue long into the second year.
- Endlessly wealthy.
- Jasper will be our father-in-law and we get a fancy last name.
- Likes Bush for who he is, not the gifts he gives, maybe.
- A fellow monster tamer?
Reasons to not vote for:
- You don't want me playing this game long into the second and third years to show off content.
- Slow LP gain means she doesn't always have new and interesting things to say.
- You can't stand the rich snob angle, and we make enough money on our own.
- de Sainte-Coquille family reunions could be too wild for poor Bush.
-Tabatha, the Handmaiden of Verdant Wilds-
Last but not least is Bianca's maid, and pretty much only friend, Tabatha. She's from the distant Elven lands and lives a chill life of cleaning mansions and admiring monsters. While extremely polite and professional, she carries herself with a strangely casual air. She's the first elf of the series, although it doesn't play a very large role in her current life it seems. What is that elven land like, and why exactly did she become maid for such a spoiled girl?
She's rather keen on trying to get Bush to be friends with Bianca, as she always has been, but is Bush more after her heart instead?
Reasons to maybe vote for her:
- You want to know what her past is and why exactly she's a maid for Bianca.
- Bush like monsters and she also likes monsters.
- She's the only elf we can marry, and she might tell us about what the Elven Lands are like.
- Incredibly efficient at housekeeping, and also provides general cooking and cleaning tips.
- You too, like
Reasons to maybe not vote for her:
- She's pushing us to go for Bianca instead.
- You think she's already competing for the same thing as Eunice.
- You liked the country accent she had before.
- You're tired of maid outfits, even if this one is rather sensible.
- She's perhaps too polite and professional.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You can find the voting form right here- it's fully anonymous so nobody will know what you voted for: https://forms.gle/61pzBdXYEmPc4KwM8
The original plan was to a tournament bracket sort of thing, but that's possibly unfair compared to just doing this.
You can feel free to post about who you voted for, talk about the girls, or who you want to win, that's perfectly fine. Just know that only votes submitted to the form will count. If you want them to count, send them there.
VOTING WILL BE CLOSED ON MARCH 19th, 12:00 PM EST
You have two weeks! Don't miss out!
So far, I'm seeing some surprising responses! Some are to be expected, but we've got some gals making a comeback!
I'll give a show of the current standings halfway through, but I can say this: the Hat Wars rage on...
I'll give a show of the current standings halfway through, but I can say this: the Hat Wars rage on...
Music: Simple Music Box
I'll go ahead and put this out a day early: here's the current standings on the vote! We've got a clear 6 winners right now, although two gals have slowly made some progress.
------TOP 6-------
In the most distinct lead is Selphy, who hasn't left 90% voting approval this entire time- to be expected, honestly. 32 votes out of 35!
Following that, we've got Anette, who started out a bit behind, but has since overtaken to be second place. She runs fast once she gets that momentum up!
Iris presently stands in third despite not having a hat, also starting out a bit behind but quickly surging forward around the middle of the week.
Next up is Melody who has been at a pretty consistent position of 3rd or 4th the entire time. Hard to go wrong with the classic wizard hat.
Finally, we've got a tie for 5th/6th between Rosetta and Cinnamon! Rosetta has held a pretty stable position throughout the first week, but Cinnamon quietly found her way in the top rankings- as is her usual way...
-----7TH AND LOWER------
Falling in at 7th & 8th, with the highest chance of taking a qualifying place, are Tabatha and Bianca. Tabatha regularly hovered a few votes behind the above 6 for a while, while Bianca was ranked pretty low for quite some time. She's seen a lot of sudden support of late, but it's not quite enough.
Uzuki has also had a late flash of support, she started out as the lowest ranking for the first few days. Tsubute must have threatened some of the readers with arrows.
Lara's had quiet support throughout, hovering at about 8th place until recently where the sudden support for Bianca and Uzuki pushed her back. She still maintains a 1 vote lead over our last place pair.
Mist's rutabaga yakuza filed in their necessary votes early on, but she's pretty much not received a vote in days at this point. Does the root racket not have as much control as it once did, or is just that she hasn't really stood out?
Meanwhile, Eunice has pretty regularly been close to last place, even falling to it once the late Uzuki support arrived, but thanks to some recent votes is at least tied with Mist now. Unfortunately, being the least quirky of the cast often doesn't win you votes in Rune Factory- that, or people really just aren't into the idea of having Rita and Turner be Bush's in-laws.
Regardless, I found the Cinnamon support so far to be a nice surprise. She doesn't get talked about a lot in the thread, so I really didn't know where she stood. The Iris support was also a similar case, although I think recent events may have something to do with it.
Tabatha's steady 7th place, and Bianca's sudden jump have also been good to see- I was worried that only getting 14 days of content would put them far behind the other girls who have been around lot longer, and originally even considered leaving them out of this vote based on that.
I wasn't expecting Uzuki's sudden leap from last either- these last few days have had some interesting votes!
With this mini update, it'll be interesting to see how the votes from here swing, even if there's probably not too many folks who haven't voted yet. Only time will tell, it's possible there's a bunch of readers who've been waiting for this moment to swing the vote- 35 responses was already more than I was expecting to begin with!
Vote's still open until the 19th!
(Also, I think if you were signed into Google, you can maybe change your response? I've never really used Forms before, and it was sort of a last minute necessity for how this vote had to work mechanically.)
Music: To YouBACHELORETTE VOTE 1: FINAL RESULT
Some more votes did come in, but there wasn't enough swing in them to change the top 6, but a little shifting did happen in the lower ranks.
FINALISTS: Selphy, Anette, Rosetta, Cinnamon, Iris, Melody
NON-FINALISTS: Tabatha, Bianca, Uzuki, Eunice, Lara, Mist
Tabatha and Bianca ended up pulling more votes and remain ahead of the others 4, and Eunice received a decent bit of last minute support in the end, pulling her way out of last place.
Mist remains in last, the root racket connections just not being deep enough to get any more. She did say she couldn't see herself getting married after all, maybe she intended for this result?
So what does this mean for the LP?
The non-finalists won't be cut out of the updates for good, I'll still talk to them when we've got lazy days, but I won't throw everything out the window to manage gifts for them and I'll leave them out if Bush has some important progress to make. As a good long while passes and the current six reach close to marriage range, we'll have a little vote before that for a chance to usurp a position or two in the final 6 to make sure the choice is everyone's favorites.
Iris being a finalist means I'll still need to work my schedule around getting to the island between 6 to 11:59 PM, and Cinnamon means I'm going to have to start grinding Ignis for those magic crystals (I'd have to do it for staves anyway, but I'm going to need to do a lot of it now because her LP growth is miniscule otherwise.) I'll also want to start growing Pumpkins for Anette effective immediately. Selphy and Rosetta's gifts will not be difficult as we've already got the skill and materials for those, we just need the oven this weekend.
I'll hopefully have the next update out this Friday, although this week might end up being a bit too busy for me so I can't entirely guarantee it. We'll see what happens!
Update 31: Workin' In the Magic Mines
(Early update as I'll be too busy this Saturday to post this, will resume normal update schedule next week.)
Bush! You're back! It's been two whole weeks!
In this break, the grand council of voices that control Bush's actions known purely as "The Thread" has pitched their support for specific bachelorettes.
Their immutable first decision has determined that Selphy, Anette, Rosetta, Cinnamon, Melody, and Iris should be Bush's focus. The other bachelorettes won't be cut from updates entirely, but if I need to use the rest of the day for something else, I'll put them aside.
I also won't throw everything away to acquire favorite gifts. This is particularly important for Uzuki (Golden Hairpin, 75 crafts skill) and Mist (Emery Flower, 120 day growth cycle).
This works the other way as well, specifically for Cinnamon and needing to obtain Magic Crystals for her, and needing pumpkins for Anette's Pumpkin Tarts. Rosetta and Selphy aren't much of an issue as soon as we get that oven.
Also, our inventory is a mess, but I'll figure that out on my own time.
Music: Summer
Back to farming!
ANETTE: Morning! Let's make this a great day!
Morning, Anette!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you for the fish." - Eunice~
Thank you very much for the fish.
I am extremely satisfied, thanks to you.
-----------------------------------------------------
uh, okay
Strong response for a fish, but we'll take the thanks anyways.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Hey!" - Anette~
So I wasted no time in writing you my first letter. I'll try my best to learn to write faster.
-----------------------------------------------------
I thought we were helping you learn to write neater? I guess she means writing faster while being neat.
Either way, letters!
ANETTE: It's kind of embarassing to admit, but I hate eggplants. What's with that creepy color?
They are kinda weird. I've never had a particular desire to eat one, but I have before.
We've also got some of the girls down on the beach early this morning.
LARA: Whenever I go somewhere, it always rains.
I mean, it's gonna rain almost anywhere at some point. Unless this is a reference to something that I'm overlooking.
Maybe she's just sad she didn't win the vote.
MELODY: I fixed my bed hair so I could wear this swimsuit.
It's still very much there, so I can only imagine this to mean that she somehow woke up without it this morning but put it back to it's usual messy self.
Gotta keep up that bedhead image, I respect that.
MELODY: You can forget all the bad stuff when you take a bath. It's true!
I don't know what it is about baths, but they really seem to have this effect. Just kind of a mini-reset on the day sometimes.
SELPHY: Looking at the huge ocean makes me see how small my worries are.
BUSH: What are you worried about, Selphy?
SELPHY: N-nothing! I'm not worried about anything!
Yep, absolutely nothing, I'm sure. Nothing at all.
collect wool, eggs, milk
cave fruit
catch fish
Oh, and we pick up the Rune Stone we asked Candy to make.
It just kinda flies out onto the floor after reading the note.
Runeys exist, and I still have to manage them, right.
EUNICE: If you can do everything you can while it's cool in the morning, the rest of the day will be easy.
Real good advice if you live in a hot climate. It's just not worth working in the midday if you can avoid it. Bush is immune to the effects of temperature of course, so this doesn't matter for him.
Whole lot of nothing in the early day today, it seems. I stop by Rosetta's and *gasp* buy seeds for once.
I'm just nabbing a bag of Toyherb seeds, I'll be wanting them for some upcoming things, and to get back on track gifting some of the other villagers.
I end up having to make a quick stop by the house to make a few Rice Balls for Selphy. I'd run out, but luckily we still have a good amount of rice on hand.
When we get to the weekend, we can finally stop making these.
Music: Lava Ruins
We're down in the Lava Ruins today by 11 AM, although the gem farming spot produces some weak results. 1 copper, 1 sharp fang, and
THE FABLED CURRY POWDER
it does exist
Well, it's a gift for Marco, I guess. The copper will just go to Ganesha.
That's not all we're down here for, however. As Cinnamon's now one of the winning bachelorettes, I now have to settle in for the Magic Crystal grind off these Ignis.
Alldale in hand for silencing, it's time to go at it.
I forgot to drink some Relax Tea, letting Bush get sealed himself. This makes this a lot harder as normally Bush can one-shot these monsters with the axe special attack, but it takes three awkward normal swings otherwise.
About 2 hours are spent here with nothing but Magic Powder drops. At least Kanno will be happy.
We'd have to re-enter the entire dungeon to respawn the spawn gate, so we just leave for now. This seal makes it really annoying to farm anyways- I'll be sure to drink the tea next time.
Music: Town Buildings
Since it's past midday, Erik's store is open and I drop by to snag a bag of Pumpkin Seeds. We'll want to go ahead and get these in the ground fast to have Pumpkin Tarts ready for Anette when we get the oven soon.
Erik does sell pumpkins fully grown, but they're 1500g a piece, and that's far too much at the moment.
I just plant them back here in this already tilled region that reminds me of how I still need to clear the rest of this field up. We're long past the field herbs being useful, and the lumber we can source from the various dungeon fields.
For reference, here's the next things we can add to our house:
Expanded Lab: 180 lumber, 15,000G.
Barn Expansion 1: 300 lumber, 18,000G.
Second Floor: 900 lumber, 75,000G.
My aim is the second floor expansion as it's necessary for Bush's eventual marriage, although it's possible we'll just get the barn before then. The money's not an issue, we've bought almost everything else we'll need, it's just 1200 lumber is a lot. We'll want to get on that.
I mostly don't need the expanded lab, but it's there if I ever decide to have Bush jump deep into pharmaceuticals.
Speaking of the pharmacy, I am going to do something with it for once.
Formula A Lv:1 was synthesized.
Normally I don't bother with these, but since I'm trying to rush these pumpkins in before the end of the month, here we go. This'll take one day off a plant's current growing phase, once per phase.
I make a good couple of bottles of this, and it ends up a little more than doubling our pharmacy skill to about 15.
I start looking for something to maybe cook with the curry powder, and take note of Curry Udon being rather cheap to make. This in turn brings my attention to Udon itself, which is just kinda bread but if you made it in the pot. Huh.
That's all a matter for later. Right now, I'll throw on this fertilizer. You know if you've already applied it as ground underneath the plant/seeds will turn greenish.
CINNAMON: It's fun when the three of us talk about magic... I think.
On the way into town, we meet Cinnamon slowly walking along on her way to fish from the nearby stream. It's the first time since she's been here that I've actually caught her walking here rather than her just being here already.
Music: Business District Buildings
One bath later and we're ready to talk to Nolan at the correct timing.
NOLAN: Ah... That was a great bath. Bush... You left so early. It's a sign that you are still young.
NOLAN: By the way... there's nothing like a good drink after a bath. Bush, would you like one, too?
You recieved Hot Chocolate.
Neat. I'll use it later when I try to clear the fields. St. Poli knows I'll need all the RP I can get.
NOLAN: Having a toasty Hot Chocolate after a bath is not too bad either.
BUSH: Thank you.
NOLAN: No need to thank me, but would you do me a favor and listen to what I have to say?
Not going to say no to the guy related to royalty, I suppose.
NOLAN: Bush, do you know Luke?
BUSH: Yeah, I do. He's the peddler that paints, right?
If it's not obvious, they mean Lute. An old translation leftover, it seems.
NOLAN: He showed me one of his paintings the other day, and boy it was beautiful. I ended up buying it.
BUSH: Haha. I guess that makes you a new fan of Luke, Nolan.
NOLAN: That's true. Speaking of paintings, there's an interesting story about them in my country.
BUSH: What kind of story is it?
NOLAN: It went something like...
NOLAN: You fell in love with Luke's paintings and instantly decided to buy one.
NOLAN: Which painting did you buy? A landscape, an abstract painting, a woodblock print, or a portrait?
NOLAN: Bush, which would you choose?
I guess all the stories in his countries are CYOAs, nevermind that it concerns Lute.
This is a choice though, so it's time for alternate reality shenanigansery.
-----------------------------------------------
"A LANDSCAPE, SHOW ME THE HAPPY LITTLE CLOUDS"
BUSH: Most likely a landscape painting.
NOLAN: O-ho!
NOLAN: Bush it's good to work hard, but be sure to take breaks from time to time.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
--------------------------------------------------------
"I PREFER ABSTRACT WORKS, SUCH AS THE WORKS OF IRIS BLANCHE ON THE FLYI-"
Disappointingly, this is the same as the above, but the "O-ho" is part of the same dialogue box as the following line.
--------------------------------------------------------
"WOOD BLOCK, CRAFTED IN MULTIPLE FROM WOOD LOG"
BUSH: Most likely a woodblock print.
NOLAN: Hm...
NOLAN: This is a rather unexpected choice, Bush.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
--------------------------------------------------------
"I WANT A PORTRAIT OF LUTE"
BUSH: Most likely a portrait.
NOLAN: Hm...
NOLAN: I wonder what kind of person you'd like.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
No problem, man! Bush likes everyone, a requirement for him to more optimally seek CONTENT.
Still, you ask a lot of very specific questions, sir.
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: This heat is terrible... I feel like I am going insane.
Meanwhile, Kross is just not having a good day. I hope the little stone mask Bush brought him helps.
Fun little trick for you: returning a monster to the barn fully heals it. Pony was still pretty roughed up from our spicy water cave expedition earlier, so I went ahead and got her healed back up.
Now, we head back there! We've got crystals to get!
However, on returning we get a short scene of Kross pushing a boulder out of his fields for some reason.
KROSS: To live here in peace in this wonderful village...
KROSS: Heh... There is nothing more I would want.
He has no comment on the situation.
This happened because we just got him to FP 4 today, although the meaning of what we saw might not be apparent for some time, I imagine.
Music: Lava Ruins
Second time at the gem farm spot, we get a diamond!
I'm still looking for an emerald though.
Hours of Ignis grinding later, we have magic crystals!
Well, one of them.
That's all we end up finding today, and I think I'll try my hand at making that higher level water staff with this first. Maybe it'll help to grind Ignis faster?
Also, new thing I learned, Selphy's store is open as late as 8:20. She really just does stay up all night reading, I guess.
SELPHY: Oh, wow! The books I sold wholesale to Lute are selling really well!
SELPHY: I'm really surprised, too. Now I'm getting even more excited. I better hurry up and write a new novel!
Selphy's trying to capitalize on her rising fame- maybe soon she'll have money she actually spends on food rather than more books.
It also means Lute's been making money recently, which is good to see.
Far up on Whale Island, I collect the second-to-last batch of turnips and put down those Toyherb seeds. Mist didn't make the vote, so this should be the last batch of turnips I have to bother with.
Iris has nothing new to say, but her art is still masterful.
Bush is slowly learning to appreciate her neo-postmodern abstract surrealist style. Soon, the entire world will understand it!
In order to make that higher level water staff, I need a Fish Fossil. I take to finding this by blasting some Flying Fish on the path to the Tail Tree.
Pony eventually nets us one and we're off back home! Another score for the true MVP of this LP.
And just before we go home completely, we stock up on rice, flour, and some garlic.
As an aside, I have over 200 Tree runeys now. I guess they'll be good to make lots of lumber days with. That's a mechanic you've probably forgotten exists by now, and I don't blame you if you did.
Finally, just barely in our forging range is the Bubble Staff. It's nearly double our Magic skill at 60 out of 100, with a massive RP cost of 59 out of 500, and a very expensive list of materials. A Water Crystal, a Magic Crystal, a Silver, an Aquamarine, a Thin Stick, and Fish Fossil all go into the forge...
Bubble Staff Lv:1 was synthesized.
And so it's made! I rather like the crafting quick-time event because it makes it incredibly easy to craft things outside our skill level. In the handheld games, you just have to get lucky with an incredibly low % chance.
Following this, I make a good amount of Udon aside from various other foods. This should be some decent adventuring food for the coming days.
I'll test out the staff later when we dive back into the Lava Ruins, which we'll have to do because we just spent our only Magic Crystal on this staff.
G'night!
Music: Summer
G'morning!
Hopefully today has more going on than yesterday!
Our fridge is getting terribly full, in part thanks to the assortment of peculiarly colored herbs and our ever expanding-weed and flop collection. Eh, it'll all clean up a bit when we get the oven and I can start making some of these long overdue gifts.
Oh, and I bought some Curry Powder from Rita's. Apparently it really is sold there, and I just completely failed to ever notice this fact. I never said I was the most perceptive.
I guess it's the same way I usually forget Dumpling Powder is a thing in these games sometimes. You'd figure Bush could just make them on his own, but no.
More Formula A! I'm really rushing these pumpkins.
fertilize with concerningly green liquid
ANETTE: I don't know why but I get harassed by monsters all the time.
ANETTE: No other mailman seems to have this problem but me...
The thread reasons that monsters just really like you.
Anette's really full of mysteries though: strange monster attraction, can't see Kross, has some strange unexplained thing on her body she keeps hidden- it's a lot more than I ever expected.
ANETTE: Bush! I need a favor from you!
Ah! A request! These are so rare in this game!
ANETTE: I can't grow taller so I need you to pull me to make me! Now pull!
BUSH: Y-you're kidding, right...?
ann, i don't think spinal decompression will help
No new mail today, very unfortunate. Maybe the talk will be better.
Down on the beach doing Runey Management, I meet Melody on the beach for the second time in a row.
MELODY: A long time ago, I went in a bath in a metal cauldron. It felt like I was being cooked so I didn't like it.
are you sure you weren't actually being cooked
MELODY: You're coming inside my bathhouse today, right?
Bush never misses it!
I believe this is one of her more generic beach lines, possibly from the same set of dialogue she has for just being out here in general. I can't remember how many times we've seen it, but she will come out here in the very early morning some days at any time of the year.
Tabatha's outside our barn, but she's not got anything new to say today.
I do know we have some interesting conversations coming soon, but it does seem like it's dried up a bit at the moment.
Well, back to spicy water world, I guess. Time to work for those crystals.
Our gem haul for this visit is an Amethyst and a Ruby!
Still no Emerald.
At this point I'm just going to Earth Staff the giant chicken out of this universe again.
Well I been workin' in the Mag mines
goin' down down
Workin' in the Mag mines-
-woo, almost got sealed now
Two o'clock in the evenin'
Pony and I show 'em our wrath
When my work day is over
I gotta pay a ten for a bath
...Hey, I don't have many ways to spice up "and then I used the axe special attack to one-shot the fiftieth ignis".
The results are rather exciting though, we level up, get a skill up or two, and net a whole 3 Magic Crystals. This is a lot more than I expected, and not the result of me messing with the timeline at all!
Oh, and a giant pile of magic powder. Safe to say Kanno should be happy for quite a while.
Ye gasp! The Grass Runey count is getting a bit low in the South District!
I'll just go fix that at some other point off-screen. The conversation wells may be strangely dry of late, but I'm not so starved for content I'm going to subject you to Runey Management.
Praise be for the restorative powers of hot springs!
NOLAN: The weather is very pleasant. A nice bath aftter working under the sun the whole day must feel very rewarding.
It does!
...Unfortunately we spent most of our day in a mildly volcanic mountain.
On my way to Cinnamon, Mist was down on the beach. Nothing new today, the comment about gifting too much/should save more money is still showing up.
CINNAMON: ...Thank you. I need more "Magic Crystal."
The voice line differs slightly, it says "I always need more magic crystals." Just a bit of trivia there.
This gift would normally elicit a visible change in emotion, but it doesn't seem to happen while she's in swimwear. Perhaps banana yellow dogtooth one-piece swimsuits demand a stony countenance. That's just a guess though, that recipe book isn't much insight into Noradian swimsuit fashion with it's all of two designs.
CINNAMON: Bush, are you interested in celestial observation?
----------------
1. Yes.
2. Not really.
----------------
I mean given we've seen every constellation available so far... yes?
CINNAMON: Oh...
BUSH: (What's that supposed to mean...?)
The difference here over the other "oh" questions we've gotten from her is that Bush finally had some sort of response.
Or, maybe he did before and I just can't remember.
CINNAMON: Are you using magic?
BUSH: Yes I am, but I don't seem to be improving.
CINNAMON: Don't rush it. Do it little by little.
That's about all you can do with it. Despite Magic being our higher combat skill it's only about 32 out of 100, roughly half the required skill for that Bubble Staff we made. It's also only that high because I pretty regularly remember to spam magic before going to sleep or taking a bath.
Oh, also I can't find where I tested it in my recordings, but the bubble staff is not looking too great. It fires a giant ball of water that lifesteals, but being a higher tier staff, the damage isn't all that impressive really, doing as much damage as one swing from our Alldale for far more RP. There is the potential you could eventually work it into a near 1 to 1 ratio of HP spent to HP stolen for easy magic training, but Bush presently doesn't have the Int/MAG for that.
MARCO: Curry! Awesome!
I just handed him some raw curry powder, but that is his liked gift. Presumably he'll cook it into something, but hey, I'm not gonna judge if he eats it as is.
Due to a test later, I believe his favorite gift is Curry Rice, and not just any Curry Dish as I've seen listed in some places. Curry Rice is unfortunately a very high material cost recipe.
BUSH: Candy, you're always with Marco.
CANDY: Yup. Marco is really nice so he's a great friend!
MARCO: F-friend...
BUSH: (Hahaha. Marco has a hard road ahead of him.)
Marco may be able to stand down any monster, but can he defeat the dreaded friend-zone?
...Eh, probably in a couple years when Bush can probably teach him the secret of awkward conversation and strangely persistent gifts. He's already got a head start on the cooking skills, at least.
Hours pass and Bush finds himself up on Whale Island, trying to collect more Proof of Warriors for Kross. We have no luck here, which is fair given our luck today on other drops.
Oh, and also I plant those Toyherb seeds. I know I said I did it yesterday, but it turns out I forgot.
Eh, one day later doesn't really matter on these.
Bush accidentally drops Iris's glass of tomato juice on the floor, but thanks to the supreme craftsmanship of the glass, it lands upright, spills nothing, and doesn't break.
IRIS: Don't you just feel like drinking tomato juice impulsively sometimes?
IRIS: You don't? I guess it's just me...
I would say Iris is an avid fan of V8 and drinking vegetables, but tomatoes are fruit and there aren't any other vegetables in this juice.
She just really likes tomato juice for no particularly unusual or extraordinary reason, I'm sure.
IRIS: I feel at peace when I look at flowers. Speaking of which, I see that you grow them from time to time, Bush.
Not as often as I would in other games, the profit margin's just not as good. I do usually go for a flower focus in later games though.
Back home, I finish gathering the rest of the tomatoes Grant couldn't get to.
It's also only 9:00 PM somehow, so I set about cleaning up the field some. First to go is these boulders. Some of them have been around since the beginning of the game!
4 of them is almost all of Bush's RP bar. No joke.
Some more minor hammering, chopping, and weeding later we've got this front section finally all cleared. I do have to spend a bit of food in the process of doing this, but it's what I intended it for anyways.
By 11:37, we get it clear, officially having all the land in our first two rows of 9x9s tilled!
But that's all for this time. A little shorter than usual, and maybe not a lot of new stuff going on, but believe me, we've got some exciting stuff coming in soon. Even a bit of, dare I say... romance!
i've also just been really busy this week
(Early update as I'll be too busy this Saturday to post this, will resume normal update schedule next week.)
Bush! You're back! It's been two whole weeks!
In this break, the grand council of voices that control Bush's actions known purely as "The Thread" has pitched their support for specific bachelorettes.
Their immutable first decision has determined that Selphy, Anette, Rosetta, Cinnamon, Melody, and Iris should be Bush's focus. The other bachelorettes won't be cut from updates entirely, but if I need to use the rest of the day for something else, I'll put them aside.
I also won't throw everything away to acquire favorite gifts. This is particularly important for Uzuki (Golden Hairpin, 75 crafts skill) and Mist (Emery Flower, 120 day growth cycle).
This works the other way as well, specifically for Cinnamon and needing to obtain Magic Crystals for her, and needing pumpkins for Anette's Pumpkin Tarts. Rosetta and Selphy aren't much of an issue as soon as we get that oven.
Also, our inventory is a mess, but I'll figure that out on my own time.
Music: SummerBack to farming!
ANETTE: Morning! Let's make this a great day!
Morning, Anette!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Thank you for the fish." - Eunice~
Thank you very much for the fish.
I am extremely satisfied, thanks to you.
-----------------------------------------------------
uh, okay
Strong response for a fish, but we'll take the thanks anyways.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Hey!" - Anette~
So I wasted no time in writing you my first letter. I'll try my best to learn to write faster.
-----------------------------------------------------
I thought we were helping you learn to write neater? I guess she means writing faster while being neat.
Either way, letters!
ANETTE: It's kind of embarassing to admit, but I hate eggplants. What's with that creepy color?
They are kinda weird. I've never had a particular desire to eat one, but I have before.
We've also got some of the girls down on the beach early this morning.
LARA: Whenever I go somewhere, it always rains.
I mean, it's gonna rain almost anywhere at some point. Unless this is a reference to something that I'm overlooking.
Maybe she's just sad she didn't win the vote.
MELODY: I fixed my bed hair so I could wear this swimsuit.
It's still very much there, so I can only imagine this to mean that she somehow woke up without it this morning but put it back to it's usual messy self.
Gotta keep up that bedhead image, I respect that.
MELODY: You can forget all the bad stuff when you take a bath. It's true!
I don't know what it is about baths, but they really seem to have this effect. Just kind of a mini-reset on the day sometimes.
SELPHY: Looking at the huge ocean makes me see how small my worries are.
BUSH: What are you worried about, Selphy?
SELPHY: N-nothing! I'm not worried about anything!
Yep, absolutely nothing, I'm sure. Nothing at all.
collect wool, eggs, milk
cave fruit
catch fish
Oh, and we pick up the Rune Stone we asked Candy to make.
It just kinda flies out onto the floor after reading the note.
Runeys exist, and I still have to manage them, right.
EUNICE: If you can do everything you can while it's cool in the morning, the rest of the day will be easy.
Real good advice if you live in a hot climate. It's just not worth working in the midday if you can avoid it. Bush is immune to the effects of temperature of course, so this doesn't matter for him.
Whole lot of nothing in the early day today, it seems. I stop by Rosetta's and *gasp* buy seeds for once.
I'm just nabbing a bag of Toyherb seeds, I'll be wanting them for some upcoming things, and to get back on track gifting some of the other villagers.
I end up having to make a quick stop by the house to make a few Rice Balls for Selphy. I'd run out, but luckily we still have a good amount of rice on hand.
When we get to the weekend, we can finally stop making these.
Music: Lava RuinsWe're down in the Lava Ruins today by 11 AM, although the gem farming spot produces some weak results. 1 copper, 1 sharp fang, and
THE FABLED CURRY POWDER
it does exist
Well, it's a gift for Marco, I guess. The copper will just go to Ganesha.
That's not all we're down here for, however. As Cinnamon's now one of the winning bachelorettes, I now have to settle in for the Magic Crystal grind off these Ignis.
Alldale in hand for silencing, it's time to go at it.
I forgot to drink some Relax Tea, letting Bush get sealed himself. This makes this a lot harder as normally Bush can one-shot these monsters with the axe special attack, but it takes three awkward normal swings otherwise.
About 2 hours are spent here with nothing but Magic Powder drops. At least Kanno will be happy.
We'd have to re-enter the entire dungeon to respawn the spawn gate, so we just leave for now. This seal makes it really annoying to farm anyways- I'll be sure to drink the tea next time.
Music: Town BuildingsSince it's past midday, Erik's store is open and I drop by to snag a bag of Pumpkin Seeds. We'll want to go ahead and get these in the ground fast to have Pumpkin Tarts ready for Anette when we get the oven soon.
Erik does sell pumpkins fully grown, but they're 1500g a piece, and that's far too much at the moment.
I just plant them back here in this already tilled region that reminds me of how I still need to clear the rest of this field up. We're long past the field herbs being useful, and the lumber we can source from the various dungeon fields.
For reference, here's the next things we can add to our house:
Expanded Lab: 180 lumber, 15,000G.
Barn Expansion 1: 300 lumber, 18,000G.
Second Floor: 900 lumber, 75,000G.
My aim is the second floor expansion as it's necessary for Bush's eventual marriage, although it's possible we'll just get the barn before then. The money's not an issue, we've bought almost everything else we'll need, it's just 1200 lumber is a lot. We'll want to get on that.
I mostly don't need the expanded lab, but it's there if I ever decide to have Bush jump deep into pharmaceuticals.
Speaking of the pharmacy, I am going to do something with it for once.
Formula A Lv:1 was synthesized.
Normally I don't bother with these, but since I'm trying to rush these pumpkins in before the end of the month, here we go. This'll take one day off a plant's current growing phase, once per phase.
I make a good couple of bottles of this, and it ends up a little more than doubling our pharmacy skill to about 15.
I start looking for something to maybe cook with the curry powder, and take note of Curry Udon being rather cheap to make. This in turn brings my attention to Udon itself, which is just kinda bread but if you made it in the pot. Huh.
That's all a matter for later. Right now, I'll throw on this fertilizer. You know if you've already applied it as ground underneath the plant/seeds will turn greenish.
CINNAMON: It's fun when the three of us talk about magic... I think.
On the way into town, we meet Cinnamon slowly walking along on her way to fish from the nearby stream. It's the first time since she's been here that I've actually caught her walking here rather than her just being here already.
Music: Business District BuildingsOne bath later and we're ready to talk to Nolan at the correct timing.
NOLAN: Ah... That was a great bath. Bush... You left so early. It's a sign that you are still young.
NOLAN: By the way... there's nothing like a good drink after a bath. Bush, would you like one, too?
You recieved Hot Chocolate.
Neat. I'll use it later when I try to clear the fields. St. Poli knows I'll need all the RP I can get.
NOLAN: Having a toasty Hot Chocolate after a bath is not too bad either.
BUSH: Thank you.
NOLAN: No need to thank me, but would you do me a favor and listen to what I have to say?
Not going to say no to the guy related to royalty, I suppose.
NOLAN: Bush, do you know Luke?
BUSH: Yeah, I do. He's the peddler that paints, right?
If it's not obvious, they mean Lute. An old translation leftover, it seems.
NOLAN: He showed me one of his paintings the other day, and boy it was beautiful. I ended up buying it.
BUSH: Haha. I guess that makes you a new fan of Luke, Nolan.
NOLAN: That's true. Speaking of paintings, there's an interesting story about them in my country.
BUSH: What kind of story is it?
NOLAN: It went something like...
NOLAN: You fell in love with Luke's paintings and instantly decided to buy one.
NOLAN: Which painting did you buy? A landscape, an abstract painting, a woodblock print, or a portrait?
NOLAN: Bush, which would you choose?
I guess all the stories in his countries are CYOAs, nevermind that it concerns Lute.
This is a choice though, so it's time for alternate reality shenanigansery.
-----------------------------------------------
"A LANDSCAPE, SHOW ME THE HAPPY LITTLE CLOUDS"
BUSH: Most likely a landscape painting.
NOLAN: O-ho!
NOLAN: Bush it's good to work hard, but be sure to take breaks from time to time.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
--------------------------------------------------------
"I PREFER ABSTRACT WORKS, SUCH AS THE WORKS OF IRIS BLANCHE ON THE FLYI-"
Disappointingly, this is the same as the above, but the "O-ho" is part of the same dialogue box as the following line.
--------------------------------------------------------
"WOOD BLOCK, CRAFTED IN MULTIPLE FROM WOOD LOG"
BUSH: Most likely a woodblock print.
NOLAN: Hm...
NOLAN: This is a rather unexpected choice, Bush.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
--------------------------------------------------------
"I WANT A PORTRAIT OF LUTE"
BUSH: Most likely a portrait.
NOLAN: Hm...
NOLAN: I wonder what kind of person you'd like.
NOLAN: Thank you for spending time with me. It was a very interesting chat.
No problem, man! Bush likes everyone, a requirement for him to more optimally seek CONTENT.
Still, you ask a lot of very specific questions, sir.
Music: Kross' ThemeKROSS: This heat is terrible... I feel like I am going insane.
Meanwhile, Kross is just not having a good day. I hope the little stone mask Bush brought him helps.
Fun little trick for you: returning a monster to the barn fully heals it. Pony was still pretty roughed up from our spicy water cave expedition earlier, so I went ahead and got her healed back up.
Now, we head back there! We've got crystals to get!
However, on returning we get a short scene of Kross pushing a boulder out of his fields for some reason.
KROSS: To live here in peace in this wonderful village...
KROSS: Heh... There is nothing more I would want.
He has no comment on the situation.
This happened because we just got him to FP 4 today, although the meaning of what we saw might not be apparent for some time, I imagine.
Music: Lava RuinsSecond time at the gem farm spot, we get a diamond!
I'm still looking for an emerald though.
Hours of Ignis grinding later, we have magic crystals!
Well, one of them.
That's all we end up finding today, and I think I'll try my hand at making that higher level water staff with this first. Maybe it'll help to grind Ignis faster?
Also, new thing I learned, Selphy's store is open as late as 8:20. She really just does stay up all night reading, I guess.
SELPHY: Oh, wow! The books I sold wholesale to Lute are selling really well!
SELPHY: I'm really surprised, too. Now I'm getting even more excited. I better hurry up and write a new novel!
Selphy's trying to capitalize on her rising fame- maybe soon she'll have money she actually spends on food rather than more books.
It also means Lute's been making money recently, which is good to see.
Far up on Whale Island, I collect the second-to-last batch of turnips and put down those Toyherb seeds. Mist didn't make the vote, so this should be the last batch of turnips I have to bother with.
Iris has nothing new to say, but her art is still masterful.
Bush is slowly learning to appreciate her neo-postmodern abstract surrealist style. Soon, the entire world will understand it!
In order to make that higher level water staff, I need a Fish Fossil. I take to finding this by blasting some Flying Fish on the path to the Tail Tree.
Pony eventually nets us one and we're off back home! Another score for the true MVP of this LP.
And just before we go home completely, we stock up on rice, flour, and some garlic.
As an aside, I have over 200 Tree runeys now. I guess they'll be good to make lots of lumber days with. That's a mechanic you've probably forgotten exists by now, and I don't blame you if you did.
Finally, just barely in our forging range is the Bubble Staff. It's nearly double our Magic skill at 60 out of 100, with a massive RP cost of 59 out of 500, and a very expensive list of materials. A Water Crystal, a Magic Crystal, a Silver, an Aquamarine, a Thin Stick, and Fish Fossil all go into the forge...
Bubble Staff Lv:1 was synthesized.
And so it's made! I rather like the crafting quick-time event because it makes it incredibly easy to craft things outside our skill level. In the handheld games, you just have to get lucky with an incredibly low % chance.
Following this, I make a good amount of Udon aside from various other foods. This should be some decent adventuring food for the coming days.
I'll test out the staff later when we dive back into the Lava Ruins, which we'll have to do because we just spent our only Magic Crystal on this staff.
G'night!
Music: SummerG'morning!
Hopefully today has more going on than yesterday!
Our fridge is getting terribly full, in part thanks to the assortment of peculiarly colored herbs and our ever expanding-weed and flop collection. Eh, it'll all clean up a bit when we get the oven and I can start making some of these long overdue gifts.
Oh, and I bought some Curry Powder from Rita's. Apparently it really is sold there, and I just completely failed to ever notice this fact. I never said I was the most perceptive.
I guess it's the same way I usually forget Dumpling Powder is a thing in these games sometimes. You'd figure Bush could just make them on his own, but no.
More Formula A! I'm really rushing these pumpkins.
fertilize with concerningly green liquid
ANETTE: I don't know why but I get harassed by monsters all the time.
ANETTE: No other mailman seems to have this problem but me...
The thread reasons that monsters just really like you.
Anette's really full of mysteries though: strange monster attraction, can't see Kross, has some strange unexplained thing on her body she keeps hidden- it's a lot more than I ever expected.
ANETTE: Bush! I need a favor from you!
Ah! A request! These are so rare in this game!
ANETTE: I can't grow taller so I need you to pull me to make me! Now pull!
BUSH: Y-you're kidding, right...?
ann, i don't think spinal decompression will help
No new mail today, very unfortunate. Maybe the talk will be better.
Down on the beach doing Runey Management, I meet Melody on the beach for the second time in a row.
MELODY: A long time ago, I went in a bath in a metal cauldron. It felt like I was being cooked so I didn't like it.
are you sure you weren't actually being cooked
MELODY: You're coming inside my bathhouse today, right?
Bush never misses it!
I believe this is one of her more generic beach lines, possibly from the same set of dialogue she has for just being out here in general. I can't remember how many times we've seen it, but she will come out here in the very early morning some days at any time of the year.
Tabatha's outside our barn, but she's not got anything new to say today.
I do know we have some interesting conversations coming soon, but it does seem like it's dried up a bit at the moment.
Well, back to spicy water world, I guess. Time to work for those crystals.
Our gem haul for this visit is an Amethyst and a Ruby!
Still no Emerald.
At this point I'm just going to Earth Staff the giant chicken out of this universe again.
Well I been workin' in the Mag mines
goin' down down
Workin' in the Mag mines-
-woo, almost got sealed now
Two o'clock in the evenin'
Pony and I show 'em our wrath
When my work day is over
I gotta pay a ten for a bath
...Hey, I don't have many ways to spice up "and then I used the axe special attack to one-shot the fiftieth ignis".
The results are rather exciting though, we level up, get a skill up or two, and net a whole 3 Magic Crystals. This is a lot more than I expected, and not the result of me messing with the timeline at all!
Oh, and a giant pile of magic powder. Safe to say Kanno should be happy for quite a while.
Ye gasp! The Grass Runey count is getting a bit low in the South District!
I'll just go fix that at some other point off-screen. The conversation wells may be strangely dry of late, but I'm not so starved for content I'm going to subject you to Runey Management.
Praise be for the restorative powers of hot springs!
NOLAN: The weather is very pleasant. A nice bath aftter working under the sun the whole day must feel very rewarding.
It does!
...Unfortunately we spent most of our day in a mildly volcanic mountain.
On my way to Cinnamon, Mist was down on the beach. Nothing new today, the comment about gifting too much/should save more money is still showing up.
CINNAMON: ...Thank you. I need more "Magic Crystal."
The voice line differs slightly, it says "I always need more magic crystals." Just a bit of trivia there.
This gift would normally elicit a visible change in emotion, but it doesn't seem to happen while she's in swimwear. Perhaps banana yellow dogtooth one-piece swimsuits demand a stony countenance. That's just a guess though, that recipe book isn't much insight into Noradian swimsuit fashion with it's all of two designs.
CINNAMON: Bush, are you interested in celestial observation?
----------------
1. Yes.
2. Not really.
----------------
I mean given we've seen every constellation available so far... yes?
CINNAMON: Oh...
BUSH: (What's that supposed to mean...?)
The difference here over the other "oh" questions we've gotten from her is that Bush finally had some sort of response.
Or, maybe he did before and I just can't remember.
CINNAMON: Are you using magic?
BUSH: Yes I am, but I don't seem to be improving.
CINNAMON: Don't rush it. Do it little by little.
That's about all you can do with it. Despite Magic being our higher combat skill it's only about 32 out of 100, roughly half the required skill for that Bubble Staff we made. It's also only that high because I pretty regularly remember to spam magic before going to sleep or taking a bath.
Oh, also I can't find where I tested it in my recordings, but the bubble staff is not looking too great. It fires a giant ball of water that lifesteals, but being a higher tier staff, the damage isn't all that impressive really, doing as much damage as one swing from our Alldale for far more RP. There is the potential you could eventually work it into a near 1 to 1 ratio of HP spent to HP stolen for easy magic training, but Bush presently doesn't have the Int/MAG for that.
MARCO: Curry! Awesome!
I just handed him some raw curry powder, but that is his liked gift. Presumably he'll cook it into something, but hey, I'm not gonna judge if he eats it as is.
Due to a test later, I believe his favorite gift is Curry Rice, and not just any Curry Dish as I've seen listed in some places. Curry Rice is unfortunately a very high material cost recipe.
BUSH: Candy, you're always with Marco.
CANDY: Yup. Marco is really nice so he's a great friend!
MARCO: F-friend...
BUSH: (Hahaha. Marco has a hard road ahead of him.)
Marco may be able to stand down any monster, but can he defeat the dreaded friend-zone?
...Eh, probably in a couple years when Bush can probably teach him the secret of awkward conversation and strangely persistent gifts. He's already got a head start on the cooking skills, at least.
Hours pass and Bush finds himself up on Whale Island, trying to collect more Proof of Warriors for Kross. We have no luck here, which is fair given our luck today on other drops.
Oh, and also I plant those Toyherb seeds. I know I said I did it yesterday, but it turns out I forgot.
Eh, one day later doesn't really matter on these.
Bush accidentally drops Iris's glass of tomato juice on the floor, but thanks to the supreme craftsmanship of the glass, it lands upright, spills nothing, and doesn't break.
IRIS: Don't you just feel like drinking tomato juice impulsively sometimes?
IRIS: You don't? I guess it's just me...
I would say Iris is an avid fan of V8 and drinking vegetables, but tomatoes are fruit and there aren't any other vegetables in this juice.
She just really likes tomato juice for no particularly unusual or extraordinary reason, I'm sure.
IRIS: I feel at peace when I look at flowers. Speaking of which, I see that you grow them from time to time, Bush.
Not as often as I would in other games, the profit margin's just not as good. I do usually go for a flower focus in later games though.
Back home, I finish gathering the rest of the tomatoes Grant couldn't get to.
It's also only 9:00 PM somehow, so I set about cleaning up the field some. First to go is these boulders. Some of them have been around since the beginning of the game!
4 of them is almost all of Bush's RP bar. No joke.
Some more minor hammering, chopping, and weeding later we've got this front section finally all cleared. I do have to spend a bit of food in the process of doing this, but it's what I intended it for anyways.
By 11:37, we get it clear, officially having all the land in our first two rows of 9x9s tilled!
But that's all for this time. A little shorter than usual, and maybe not a lot of new stuff going on, but believe me, we've got some exciting stuff coming in soon. Even a bit of, dare I say... romance!
i've also just been really busy this week
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Update 32: Hey Nineteenth
Salutations and a fine day to-
Egads! Precipitation from the cirrostratus layer! I must commemorate this occasion auditorially!
That's fancy talk for welcome back and have a guest track!
Music: Atelier Ayesha ~ Dance of a Water Drop
All of the grass is finally grown in on the same cycle now, and the rain means it's no hassle to go ahead and cut it for today.
We catch Anette right as she comes off the bridge today. I'm getting better at being right on time for this.
Now if I'd only remember to be at the farm by 5:00 to catch Rosetta's event.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm so happy." - Tart~
I'm glad to hear... you're doing well.
We just had a festival here.
It was very lively and fun.
How are the festivals over there?
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, it sure took a while to get this reply! "Lively festival" and Kardia aren't two words I usually associate with one another, but maybe they've cut loose and started partying harder now Bush is gone.
Responses:
-----------------------------------
1. It is very lively here, too.
2. There will be a festival soon here, too.
-----------------------------------
I'm honestly not sure which she'd like to hear more, but only the first one answers the question. That one it is!
And it's not a lie, we do have a festival coming up in... roughly a week or so I think. I've never actually seen it, my original playthrough stopped about a day or two before it.
ANETTE: I'm low on cash this month because I spend so much on textbooks.
ANETTE: But I still feel okay about it since I'm using the money for what I love.
ANETTE: Bush, I think you should spend money on what you love, too. That way, you won't have any regrets.
Relatable, and I'd say Bush is already doing this. All of his money pretty much goes to gifts for other people or just food in general- these two things he does love.
Although, what's Anette studying with those textbooks?
As the morning continues on, Bush sets about clearing up even more of the fields. I'll have this place finally cleaned up before we hit Autumn.
Also yes, those few rocks to open up these 15 tiles of land cost over 2/3rds of our RP bar.
There's a reason why I didn't get this done sooner.
We're getting there, slowly!
cavecumbers
CINNAMON: ...Thank you. I need more "Magic Crystal."
First on our visits around town today is Cinnamon. Luckily we struck it good with those extra crystals yesterday.
For some reason her expression doesn't change while she's in a swimsuit, but here's us managing to get more out of her than the usual sleepy stare.
CINNAMON: That monster that's always with Uzuki...
BUSH: Oh, you mean Tsubute?
CINNAMON: Yes. I'm interested in it...
BUSH: (What does she mean by interested...?)
Angry Cicada Dad Guy is an enigma that must be solved, evidently.
CINNAMON: I'm reviewing magic right now. I can't use it, but I can still teach.
CINNAMON: But I forgot a lot. That's why I'm reviewing to relearn it.
I imagine it's pretty easy to forget all the details if you can't even use it anymore.
After an uneventful stop by the Church, it's off to the library!
A cutscene!?
SELPHY: Isn't it all nice and clean now?
SELPHY: I can get lots of reading done when it's so clean.
BUSH: If you really think that, you should clean more often...
Bush, you took the words right out of my mouth.
While she doesn't have anything new to say, it seems we've finally got access new books! The interaction placement for this one's a bit odd, I can only really find it if Bush stares at this chair at this angle.
-----------------------------------------------------
~The Ecology of Woolies~
"Woolies, popular on farms for their high quality fur, are very timid monsters."
"They are so shy in fact, that they can only be seen at night when other monsters are asleep."
"Woolies are also famous for their sensitivity to cold weather. Even in summer they shiver when their fur is shaved off."
"But don't worry. Their bodies are extremely strong and they won't even get sick if they're shorn in winter."
-----------------------------------------------------
Pff timid?! every gameRaguna Bush shows up in, Woolies are hyper aggressive and potentially lethal at low levels. They'll stunlock you to death in RF1.
They're really chill in every other game as far as I know though. That bit about coming out at night only applies to Rune Factory 2, where they do indeed only come out at night. They're also probably vulnerable to the Fatigue and Cold debuffs, so um...
This was disappointing. Off to the rest of town!
ROSETTA: How about giving points to people who make purchases? And after a certain amount, they get presents.
ROSETTA: I think it's a good idea.
And thus, the Materia General Store Member's Rosetta Stone was made to keep track of points. In roughly a decade from now, Yue would use this as the basis for her idea of the Yue Swap Ticket, probably.
In other more solidly factual news, Cinnamon's hit 4 LP and Rosetta's hit 5! They're catching up, although Melody has them beat by a long mile.
Speaking of Melody, here she is in her room today. She's still up here thanks to the rain, but-
--------------------------
1. I just came to talk.
2. I came to ask you out.
--------------------------
...Well, we at least gotta try, right?
Music: Romance
(It's a new track! I've never heard this before.)
MELODY: Ask me out...? You mean on a date?
BUSH: Yeah. It's hot lately, so I was wondering if you wanted to cool off by the lake.
MELODY: The lake sounds nice.♪ Sure, let's go!
BUSH: Then let's meet up on the 19th of summer, at noon by the docks.
MELODY: Sounds good. Don't be late, okay!
Well, I guess we got a date, against all odds!
What do I mean by that? Well, it's a long explanation of things that just happened to align.
So, as it turns out, the Relax Tea we gave today was just enough to push Melody just into the 8 LP range- the requirement to ask a girl out on a date (while also being able to meet them in their room before or after hours).
Why is this such a big deal? Well, dating in Frontier is a bit different from the later games, the most important difference being that there's specific days that you can only have a date on. One per season, in fact.
Summer's date day is the 19th, which is literally tomorrow. Also, you can't schedule a date if it would be the same day.
Now, I haven't missed gifting Melody once, it's rather hard to do when we hit the springs every day. And as we just hit 8LP today, this means I somehow picked the second to last day I possibly could have to get this to line up.
I didn't plan this in the slightest, in fact, I didn't even know dating was a thing in this game up until the moment the prompt came up for Melody on this day.
The LP Blessing, I guess?
In high spirits after barely managing to get a date, Bush continues on with his day.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to have become much more amicable lately.
TABATHA: I'm happy for her, seeing how there are many more villagers coming to speak with her now.
Aw, she's finally starting to get along with folks.
BUSH: Is there any food that you like, Bianca?
BIANCA: Anything that Tabatha makes, I will like. Aside from that... not much.
I could imagine Tabatha gets paid a lot for her job for this simple fact alone. Jasper's a guy who loves good food, and more than spoils his daughter, so this part of the job description just kinda writes itself.
Contemplation of the Noradian domestic workforce behind us, it's time to be too cool to look at explosions.
In other words, we're doing our usual raid on Molten Core today.
Our spoils from the treasure room are [Aquamarine] and [Copper Ore] this time around.
Off to go use some [Heroic Strike] on some Ignis! Can we get that lucky purple drop today?
Just more magic powder so far. Who keeps disenchanting all the greens and leaving the dust behind?!
Oh, hey! That makes 1 Magic Crystal so far, good work, Pony!
Also, I believe our Weapons skill is low enough from the stated requirement on our Crescent Axe that some of Bush's swings are actively missing.
I think I originally attributed these misses to status resistances when using the Alldale before, but this kinda proves that's not entirely the case.
We stay down in Fire Fire Rocks for a couple of hours, but the one crystal is all we get before our dynamic duo is too beat up to continue safely.
In other news, the pumpkins still aren't ready yet. If they're not ready by tomorrow, I might just suck it up and buy a pumpkin or two when we finally get that oven.
...Oh right, tomorrow's also the holiday! Man, a date and the long coveted oven, can tomorrow get any better?
All the shipping today amounts to a nice 16,000g, which sits nicely on the 41,000g we've already got in pocket.
Gotta start saving up for that second floor bedroom, after all.
MELODY: It'll be on the 19th of summer. I can't wait. ♪
With how fast today's going, it'll be part of today's update as well!
No Nolan today, so back to work it is.
Pony stares at the stream by our farm while Bush aggressively chops stumps. Take it as a reminder that he does, in fact, let out loud battle cries every time he uses a special attack, including the farm axe and farm hammer.
you must smash it
smash it good
Music: By the Ocean
And we're even around for Rosetta! It's only been... weeks since I did this!
It's interesting that the game uses a different, more static camera if Bush would be possibly in the shot.
ROSETTA: Oh...
ROSETTA: You're shipping out tomatoes? They're crucial for making those healthy salads.
ROSETTA: It's great how tomatoes sell pretty well.
Is that why everyone buys them? I assumed it was for tomato juice. Regardless, I can't deny the profitability- it's why we're so rich right now!
She doesn't have anything new to say aside from that, so she just watches as Bush leaps 6 feet into the air while smashing rocks with a solid metal sledgehammer.
An hour or so later and a lot of Udon, and we've got this whole corner of the field cleaned out.
A bit of fishin' n' cookin' happens to keep fueling our cleaning efforts. I burn through a ton of food just doing all the cleaning up you'll see this update. But who knows, perhaps us doing this will help Selphy stay inspired to keep at her cleaning work?
Then again she doesn't really care too much about our agricultural pursuits.
On other subjects, every upgrade to our utensils comes with a new animation. In practice, it's mostly the same one but a lot faster, (the blender is super aggressive now,) but the Legendary Frying Pan has Bush doing fancy pan flips with an arm behind his back.
A whole lot of tilling later and we finish the last tile of the lower left section of the fields with a skill up.
It's around 9:00 PM despite how dark it looks, so I still have time to go ride out to the Tower of Rest to visit Iris.
When we get to the top though...
Music: Whale Island Entrance
WHALE: "Bush..."
BUSH: Whale... what happened?
WHALE: "There is something I would like you to do, Bush."
BUSH: What is it? I'll do anything I can.
WHALE: "Thank you..."
If it's about the monster in that tower, that place is way out of our depth right now, island buddy. We'll get it eventually.
WHALE: "I have swam these skies for a long time."
WHALE: "But since I am a whale, I would like to swim in the ocean just once."
WHALE: "But that is a dream that cannot be achieved."
Yeah, if we dropped you into the ocean to avoid the impending impact on the town, this place and every other shoreside town in the region would get obliterated by the resulting tsunami.
WHALE: "Bush, is there a way to be one with the ocean even while being adrift in the sky?"
BUSH: All right...
BUSH: It may be difficult, but I'll try to find a way so you can feel like you're swimming in the ocean.
WHALE: "Thank you..."
Unfortunately, it might be quite some time before we can resolve this sidequest, although we can obtain the item for it right now.
Ah, the truly final batch of turnips. I don't know what I'm planning on growing here just yet, eventually pumpkins, I guess. For now, I'll plant some more flowers, but I don't have the seeds on me.
IRIS: *yawn*
IRIS: Oh, excuse me! I thought that having a nocturnal lifestyle is bad so I'm trying to stay awake during the day, too.
IRIS: But I always end up falling asleep halfway through the day so I end up not getting enough sleep.
Nothing wrong with the nocturnal lifestyle as long as you've still got income and you don't mind the night. I've considered it before myself, I'm just generally not a morning person and I'm far more active at night.
We'll have to let Iris manage her sleep schedule on her own, we've got some flower seeds to make and our own sleep to get to.
No way I'm going to bungle this lucky date up, it's gotta go as well as possible.
But we've still got time, so I quickly backtrack up to the island and plant some Moondrop seeds. We've run out of them for gifts, and they're oddly common in forging/crafts recipes, so I want some more.
A bit of late night meal prep and it's time to rest our weary legs.
And like that, it's time for our big day!
The date is at noon, (or more specifically, 11:00 AM for some reason,) so we've still got time for our usual mornin' routine.
No Anette this morning, she must be down on the beach or something.
brush our animals for an hour each in this time vaccuum barn
Also it's a harvest day, so that means more milk and eggs. Good thing too, we're gonna need a lot of it for the pies and cakes we'll be making soon.
(Also this image of Bush saying "You got Milk!" is just good.)
I checked the beach for Anette, but it's just the usual disco party of Runeys. Don't know where she's gone today, maybe she's just on break somewhere outside of town.
Time to try something I haven't really attempted in all this time. Knocking on people's doors to get in before hours!
You do this by swinging the nunchuk while standing near the door, or in my case, the 8 or 9 key, which I can't remember.
CINNAMON: ...Enter.
We even got a smile out of her!
CINNAMON: Pale Carp are the best in the summer. Supposedly, there are no males in that species. It's a mystery.
Even more a mystery, I haven't caught a one since Summer started.
CINNAMON: You can get lots of different medicinal herbs during the summer. ...Good luck.
I just buy 'em from Lara anyways
CANDY: Just because I can sing the Spirit Song, the Spirits don't always listen.
CANDY: Sometimes, the Spirits are friends with someone and they will only listen to that person.
CANDY: I've never met anyone else that could be friends with the spirits so I feel like I'm all alone...
...Candy, you okay?
Sheesh, you'd think Kanno could take you to go meet Ventuswill or something. In the meantime, all I've got for you is tomato juice.
We've got a date to get ready for, and I don't think there's much we can do here, so on we go!
LUTE: Morning!
My man! Tell me you've got that one last utensil I need.
Oh. Yes.
Give me all of the ovens
render unto me unlimited baking power
Oh, and I'll take the rest of the steamers too, why not. They make a good conversation piece, I guess.
LUTE: I was born in this village called Iber.
LUTE: That village always had lots of goblins around. We didn't know what to do with them.
Speaking of conversation, finally a little bit of backstory on our favorite traveling merchant!
Now, that's an oven.
Bread Lv:1 was synthesized.
At last, we finally have Bush's Baked Breads. It was worth the wait.
Cherry Pie Lv:1 was synthesized.
First up, Cherry Pie. It's around 50 in skill or so, and takes 1 Cherry, 1 Flour, and 1 Butter (the latter of which we make in the blender from milk). This is Rosetta's favorite gift, and restores upwards of 200 RP. Pretty good stuff.
(I'm still missing one of the oven books somewhere, so I can't expert craft these.)
Next up is the Sandwich, made from a Cucumber, Tomato, Carrot, Boiled Egg, Bread, and Mayonnaise, for a food that heals nearly 300 HP and over 400 RP alongside a +85 Max HP buff. It's worth an insane 1820g that scales extremely fast with level, and happens to be Selphy's favorite food.
Sandwich Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Good stuff.
I'll spare you the rest of this crafting, this one's gonna be a long update.
SELPHY: Hey, a sandwich! Did you get it just for me?
SELPHY: Thanks! I'm touched! I love you! ...Just kidding. Haha.
As a fan of sandwiches myself, this reaction is completely valid.
SELPHY: Do you ever want to spontaneously get out and run...
SELPHY: ...when you've been inside reading all day?
BUSH: Uh, I rarely ever stay all day indoors to read...
I'm more surprised at the fact that she would ever want to stop reading.
BUSH: Selphy, do you ever want to take a trip and just relax?
bush, no
we have a date today
SELPHY: Why? You get to feel like you're on a trip if you just read a book It's more cost efficient that way.
SELPHY: The book about the travels of someone I read the other day had a city that's on top of water.
BUSH: And you still don't feel like you want to go there yourself?
It seems we've reached the impasse known as the "traveler vs. homebody" situation.
...I don't think anyone calls it that, actually. Eh, onwards, to burning time until our date!
MIST: That whale in the sky should take a swim in the ocean once in a while.
He wants to!
Rosetta still has the same response to recieving the cherry pie as she does strawberries, but it does have the intended effect.
Everyone's down on the beach, should mean we'll have the lake all to ourselves today.
As an aside, Bianca sings surprisingly well when she's doing that idle singing thing the other bachelorettes sometimes do. I might've mentioned it before, I can't remember.
Well, it's almost time to be there, we'll probably meet Melody on the mountainside anyways.
Hi-ho, Pony! To the lake we ride!
And so we do find Melody up here, as per her usual schedule on weekends.
BUSH: Not only do you like baths, you really like magic, too, don't you, Melody?
MELODY: It's not that I like magic. I like wizards.
BUSH: There's a difference?
MELODY: There's a huge difference!
okay bush, we're not even at the date yet, don't drop it here
MELODY: This might sound weird to you, but do you have a minute?
--------------------------------
1. Go ahead.
2. I have to go somewhere...
--------------------------------
A choice! This conversation is just normally triggered by talking to Melody at 8 or higher LP while outside the bathhouse, I believe. It might have to be on the weekends, coincidentally.
Answering the second option only nets us:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MELODY: Oh... Then I hope you can listen when you find the time...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
...But why would we ever opt for less content? Story time!
MELODY: Thanks.
MELODY: I didn't have parents for as long as I can remember.
MELODY: I went out searching for parents because I saw how everyone else had them.
MELODY: But I was still really small and that was the first time I went outside the town... I got lost right away.
MELODY: It was getting dark and I started hearing creepy sounds all around me. I thought I was monster food for sure.
MELODY: It was then that a wizard that was in town came and found me.
MELODY: After that, I started looking up to wizards.
MELODY: I wanted to become a wizard, too, and help people in need so that they can smile again.
BUSH: I'm sure you can do it, Melody. Become a great wizard, that is.
MELODY: Thanks, Bush.
So there's the bittersweet answer to why Melody's out to become a wizard: she wants to be like her childhood hero.
Her lack of parents is also why she became friends with Sharron back in Kardia, and was part of her "questline" back in that game.
MELODY: I make the bath a bit less hot during the summer. Now go inside so you can relax.
melody, we're nowhere near the bathhouse, what are you talking about
MELODY: You know what they say, when the wind blows, the coopers profit. Is that really true? I wanna make profit, too!
You'd have to charge more at the bathhouse to make profit, I think. Kross could probably teach you to be a cooper if you're just suddenly looking to change professions.
MELODY: Bush... You know... I...
BUSH: ?
MELODY: Nothing...
Anyways, this isn't even the date, so let's actually go to the docks and get this started.
Oh, and hearing Melody's backstory jumped her LP up by about 2/3rds the bar, amazingly. She'll probably hit LP 10 before Summer's even over.
Melody's not here yet, so we chat with Stella to pass the time.
BUSH: Do you prefer the heat or cold, Stella?
STELLA: I was born on the 27th of summer so I prefer the hot weather.
Meh, I'm usually a person for cool weather myself. Would rather freeze than sweat.
Uh, Melody? It's almost two hours since the time we were supposed to meet up.
melody
What follows is easily 40 minutes of real life time of looking the scarce information on dates in this game, as well as loading many, many savestates.
Every bachelorette has a different time they'll arrive, and it so happens that Melody is late to any date, every time. What I didn't know is that she's extremely late, only arriving nearly 2 hours behind the scheduled time. In the end I was just loading state too early thinking I missed it somehow.
MELODY: You're late! Well, I was late, too, so I guess it's okay.
Finally, we can start this thing. I'll just chalk it down to cold feet.
(we've been here for almost three hours and you were just up the road the whole time)
Music: To You
We fade to a view of Melody waiting in the boat as Bush approaches. This theme starts up, which is not only the opening theme, but a remix of the first game's opening theme.
MELODY: It sure is hot today. We should go somewhere breezy... How about the island in the lake?
And so we row our way there!
Then we meet up with her at the tree, and...
MELODY: Wow! I had no idea it'd be so cool here! This feels nice...
BUSH: Going to the beach is nice, but I must say cooling off by the lake feels great.
A view of the two looking out over the lake...
Another view from the distant bridge...
A panning shot from the ground...
And yet another slowly zooming out shot, this time from the hillside we can't reach on the boat.
MELODY: Thank you for today. It's always hot in the springs, so the breeze was such a relief.
BUSH: It's gonna be hot for a while, so I hope we can do this again soon.
...And we're finally given back control. If you know Bush, then you know there's one thing he hasn't done yet.
A gift of a masterfully made Relax Tea is necessary here more than ever.
(This doesn't actually give any more LP than it usually would, but it fits.)
MELODY: It's kinda nice going on dates like this.
Indeed! We won't get a chance to do this again until halfway through Autumn, but by then we should have more girls at 8 LP.
uh
what now?
The music's still playing, so...
um, melody
are you gonna get back on the boat
*She waves at us from the island.*
MELODY: Bush, thanks for inviting me out.
MELODY: I hope we can do this again sometime.♪
*She waves one last time.*
BUSH: Of course!
...
i guess you'll just have to swim back
Well, seeing as Bush has just left his date stranded on an island, I'm not really sure what to make of today. I guess Bush is just so suave he can just leave his date to swim back to land and her not even get mad.
There's still some other going-ons today, but those will have to wait until next time, this update's long enough. I was already late putting this update out, after all.
See you next time folks, where we finally further plunge the depths of Fire Fire Rocks and collect that Runey Sprite, or whatever it is we're supposed to do at the bottom.
...It'll probably be another giant chicken or something.
Salutations and a fine day to-
Egads! Precipitation from the cirrostratus layer! I must commemorate this occasion auditorially!
That's fancy talk for welcome back and have a guest track!
Music: Atelier Ayesha ~ Dance of a Water DropAll of the grass is finally grown in on the same cycle now, and the rain means it's no hassle to go ahead and cut it for today.
We catch Anette right as she comes off the bridge today. I'm getting better at being right on time for this.
Now if I'd only remember to be at the farm by 5:00 to catch Rosetta's event.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I'm so happy." - Tart~
I'm glad to hear... you're doing well.
We just had a festival here.
It was very lively and fun.
How are the festivals over there?
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, it sure took a while to get this reply! "Lively festival" and Kardia aren't two words I usually associate with one another, but maybe they've cut loose and started partying harder now Bush is gone.
Responses:
-----------------------------------
1. It is very lively here, too.
2. There will be a festival soon here, too.
-----------------------------------
I'm honestly not sure which she'd like to hear more, but only the first one answers the question. That one it is!
And it's not a lie, we do have a festival coming up in... roughly a week or so I think. I've never actually seen it, my original playthrough stopped about a day or two before it.
ANETTE: I'm low on cash this month because I spend so much on textbooks.
ANETTE: But I still feel okay about it since I'm using the money for what I love.
ANETTE: Bush, I think you should spend money on what you love, too. That way, you won't have any regrets.
Relatable, and I'd say Bush is already doing this. All of his money pretty much goes to gifts for other people or just food in general- these two things he does love.
Although, what's Anette studying with those textbooks?
As the morning continues on, Bush sets about clearing up even more of the fields. I'll have this place finally cleaned up before we hit Autumn.
Also yes, those few rocks to open up these 15 tiles of land cost over 2/3rds of our RP bar.
There's a reason why I didn't get this done sooner.
We're getting there, slowly!
cavecumbers
CINNAMON: ...Thank you. I need more "Magic Crystal."
First on our visits around town today is Cinnamon. Luckily we struck it good with those extra crystals yesterday.
For some reason her expression doesn't change while she's in a swimsuit, but here's us managing to get more out of her than the usual sleepy stare.
CINNAMON: That monster that's always with Uzuki...
BUSH: Oh, you mean Tsubute?
CINNAMON: Yes. I'm interested in it...
BUSH: (What does she mean by interested...?)
Angry Cicada Dad Guy is an enigma that must be solved, evidently.
CINNAMON: I'm reviewing magic right now. I can't use it, but I can still teach.
CINNAMON: But I forgot a lot. That's why I'm reviewing to relearn it.
I imagine it's pretty easy to forget all the details if you can't even use it anymore.
After an uneventful stop by the Church, it's off to the library!
A cutscene!?
SELPHY: Isn't it all nice and clean now?
SELPHY: I can get lots of reading done when it's so clean.
BUSH: If you really think that, you should clean more often...
Bush, you took the words right out of my mouth.
While she doesn't have anything new to say, it seems we've finally got access new books! The interaction placement for this one's a bit odd, I can only really find it if Bush stares at this chair at this angle.
-----------------------------------------------------
~The Ecology of Woolies~
"Woolies, popular on farms for their high quality fur, are very timid monsters."
"They are so shy in fact, that they can only be seen at night when other monsters are asleep."
"Woolies are also famous for their sensitivity to cold weather. Even in summer they shiver when their fur is shaved off."
"But don't worry. Their bodies are extremely strong and they won't even get sick if they're shorn in winter."
-----------------------------------------------------
Pff timid?! every game
They're really chill in every other game as far as I know though. That bit about coming out at night only applies to Rune Factory 2, where they do indeed only come out at night. They're also probably vulnerable to the Fatigue and Cold debuffs, so um...
This was disappointing. Off to the rest of town!
ROSETTA: How about giving points to people who make purchases? And after a certain amount, they get presents.
ROSETTA: I think it's a good idea.
And thus, the Materia General Store Member's Rosetta Stone was made to keep track of points. In roughly a decade from now, Yue would use this as the basis for her idea of the Yue Swap Ticket, probably.
In other more solidly factual news, Cinnamon's hit 4 LP and Rosetta's hit 5! They're catching up, although Melody has them beat by a long mile.
Speaking of Melody, here she is in her room today. She's still up here thanks to the rain, but-
--------------------------
1. I just came to talk.
2. I came to ask you out.
--------------------------
...Well, we at least gotta try, right?
Music: Romance(It's a new track! I've never heard this before.)
MELODY: Ask me out...? You mean on a date?
BUSH: Yeah. It's hot lately, so I was wondering if you wanted to cool off by the lake.
MELODY: The lake sounds nice.♪ Sure, let's go!
BUSH: Then let's meet up on the 19th of summer, at noon by the docks.
MELODY: Sounds good. Don't be late, okay!
Well, I guess we got a date, against all odds!
What do I mean by that? Well, it's a long explanation of things that just happened to align.
So, as it turns out, the Relax Tea we gave today was just enough to push Melody just into the 8 LP range- the requirement to ask a girl out on a date (while also being able to meet them in their room before or after hours).
Why is this such a big deal? Well, dating in Frontier is a bit different from the later games, the most important difference being that there's specific days that you can only have a date on. One per season, in fact.
Summer's date day is the 19th, which is literally tomorrow. Also, you can't schedule a date if it would be the same day.
Now, I haven't missed gifting Melody once, it's rather hard to do when we hit the springs every day. And as we just hit 8LP today, this means I somehow picked the second to last day I possibly could have to get this to line up.
I didn't plan this in the slightest, in fact, I didn't even know dating was a thing in this game up until the moment the prompt came up for Melody on this day.
The LP Blessing, I guess?
In high spirits after barely managing to get a date, Bush continues on with his day.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to have become much more amicable lately.
TABATHA: I'm happy for her, seeing how there are many more villagers coming to speak with her now.
Aw, she's finally starting to get along with folks.
BUSH: Is there any food that you like, Bianca?
BIANCA: Anything that Tabatha makes, I will like. Aside from that... not much.
I could imagine Tabatha gets paid a lot for her job for this simple fact alone. Jasper's a guy who loves good food, and more than spoils his daughter, so this part of the job description just kinda writes itself.
Contemplation of the Noradian domestic workforce behind us, it's time to be too cool to look at explosions.
In other words, we're doing our usual raid on Molten Core today.
Our spoils from the treasure room are [Aquamarine] and [Copper Ore] this time around.
Off to go use some [Heroic Strike] on some Ignis! Can we get that lucky purple drop today?
Just more magic powder so far. Who keeps disenchanting all the greens and leaving the dust behind?!
Oh, hey! That makes 1 Magic Crystal so far, good work, Pony!
Also, I believe our Weapons skill is low enough from the stated requirement on our Crescent Axe that some of Bush's swings are actively missing.
I think I originally attributed these misses to status resistances when using the Alldale before, but this kinda proves that's not entirely the case.
We stay down in Fire Fire Rocks for a couple of hours, but the one crystal is all we get before our dynamic duo is too beat up to continue safely.
In other news, the pumpkins still aren't ready yet. If they're not ready by tomorrow, I might just suck it up and buy a pumpkin or two when we finally get that oven.
...Oh right, tomorrow's also the holiday! Man, a date and the long coveted oven, can tomorrow get any better?
All the shipping today amounts to a nice 16,000g, which sits nicely on the 41,000g we've already got in pocket.
Gotta start saving up for that second floor bedroom, after all.
MELODY: It'll be on the 19th of summer. I can't wait. ♪
With how fast today's going, it'll be part of today's update as well!
No Nolan today, so back to work it is.
Pony stares at the stream by our farm while Bush aggressively chops stumps. Take it as a reminder that he does, in fact, let out loud battle cries every time he uses a special attack, including the farm axe and farm hammer.
you must smash it
smash it good
Music: By the OceanAnd we're even around for Rosetta! It's only been... weeks since I did this!
It's interesting that the game uses a different, more static camera if Bush would be possibly in the shot.
ROSETTA: Oh...
ROSETTA: You're shipping out tomatoes? They're crucial for making those healthy salads.
ROSETTA: It's great how tomatoes sell pretty well.
Is that why everyone buys them? I assumed it was for tomato juice. Regardless, I can't deny the profitability- it's why we're so rich right now!
She doesn't have anything new to say aside from that, so she just watches as Bush leaps 6 feet into the air while smashing rocks with a solid metal sledgehammer.
An hour or so later and a lot of Udon, and we've got this whole corner of the field cleaned out.
A bit of fishin' n' cookin' happens to keep fueling our cleaning efforts. I burn through a ton of food just doing all the cleaning up you'll see this update. But who knows, perhaps us doing this will help Selphy stay inspired to keep at her cleaning work?
Then again she doesn't really care too much about our agricultural pursuits.
On other subjects, every upgrade to our utensils comes with a new animation. In practice, it's mostly the same one but a lot faster, (the blender is super aggressive now,) but the Legendary Frying Pan has Bush doing fancy pan flips with an arm behind his back.
A whole lot of tilling later and we finish the last tile of the lower left section of the fields with a skill up.
It's around 9:00 PM despite how dark it looks, so I still have time to go ride out to the Tower of Rest to visit Iris.
When we get to the top though...
Music: Whale Island EntranceWHALE: "Bush..."
BUSH: Whale... what happened?
WHALE: "There is something I would like you to do, Bush."
BUSH: What is it? I'll do anything I can.
WHALE: "Thank you..."
If it's about the monster in that tower, that place is way out of our depth right now, island buddy. We'll get it eventually.
WHALE: "I have swam these skies for a long time."
WHALE: "But since I am a whale, I would like to swim in the ocean just once."
WHALE: "But that is a dream that cannot be achieved."
Yeah, if we dropped you into the ocean to avoid the impending impact on the town, this place and every other shoreside town in the region would get obliterated by the resulting tsunami.
WHALE: "Bush, is there a way to be one with the ocean even while being adrift in the sky?"
BUSH: All right...
BUSH: It may be difficult, but I'll try to find a way so you can feel like you're swimming in the ocean.
WHALE: "Thank you..."
Unfortunately, it might be quite some time before we can resolve this sidequest, although we can obtain the item for it right now.
Ah, the truly final batch of turnips. I don't know what I'm planning on growing here just yet, eventually pumpkins, I guess. For now, I'll plant some more flowers, but I don't have the seeds on me.
IRIS: *yawn*
IRIS: Oh, excuse me! I thought that having a nocturnal lifestyle is bad so I'm trying to stay awake during the day, too.
IRIS: But I always end up falling asleep halfway through the day so I end up not getting enough sleep.
Nothing wrong with the nocturnal lifestyle as long as you've still got income and you don't mind the night. I've considered it before myself, I'm just generally not a morning person and I'm far more active at night.
We'll have to let Iris manage her sleep schedule on her own, we've got some flower seeds to make and our own sleep to get to.
No way I'm going to bungle this lucky date up, it's gotta go as well as possible.
But we've still got time, so I quickly backtrack up to the island and plant some Moondrop seeds. We've run out of them for gifts, and they're oddly common in forging/crafts recipes, so I want some more.
A bit of late night meal prep and it's time to rest our weary legs.
And like that, it's time for our big day!
The date is at noon, (or more specifically, 11:00 AM for some reason,) so we've still got time for our usual mornin' routine.
No Anette this morning, she must be down on the beach or something.
brush our animals for an hour each in this time vaccuum barn
Also it's a harvest day, so that means more milk and eggs. Good thing too, we're gonna need a lot of it for the pies and cakes we'll be making soon.
(Also this image of Bush saying "You got Milk!" is just good.)
I checked the beach for Anette, but it's just the usual disco party of Runeys. Don't know where she's gone today, maybe she's just on break somewhere outside of town.
Time to try something I haven't really attempted in all this time. Knocking on people's doors to get in before hours!
You do this by swinging the nunchuk while standing near the door, or in my case, the 8 or 9 key, which I can't remember.
CINNAMON: ...Enter.
We even got a smile out of her!
CINNAMON: Pale Carp are the best in the summer. Supposedly, there are no males in that species. It's a mystery.
Even more a mystery, I haven't caught a one since Summer started.
CINNAMON: You can get lots of different medicinal herbs during the summer. ...Good luck.
I just buy 'em from Lara anyways
CANDY: Just because I can sing the Spirit Song, the Spirits don't always listen.
CANDY: Sometimes, the Spirits are friends with someone and they will only listen to that person.
CANDY: I've never met anyone else that could be friends with the spirits so I feel like I'm all alone...
...Candy, you okay?
Sheesh, you'd think Kanno could take you to go meet Ventuswill or something. In the meantime, all I've got for you is tomato juice.
We've got a date to get ready for, and I don't think there's much we can do here, so on we go!
LUTE: Morning!
My man! Tell me you've got that one last utensil I need.
Oh. Yes.
Give me all of the ovens
render unto me unlimited baking power
Oh, and I'll take the rest of the steamers too, why not. They make a good conversation piece, I guess.
LUTE: I was born in this village called Iber.
LUTE: That village always had lots of goblins around. We didn't know what to do with them.
Speaking of conversation, finally a little bit of backstory on our favorite traveling merchant!
Now, that's an oven.
Bread Lv:1 was synthesized.
At last, we finally have Bush's Baked Breads. It was worth the wait.
Cherry Pie Lv:1 was synthesized.
First up, Cherry Pie. It's around 50 in skill or so, and takes 1 Cherry, 1 Flour, and 1 Butter (the latter of which we make in the blender from milk). This is Rosetta's favorite gift, and restores upwards of 200 RP. Pretty good stuff.
(I'm still missing one of the oven books somewhere, so I can't expert craft these.)
Next up is the Sandwich, made from a Cucumber, Tomato, Carrot, Boiled Egg, Bread, and Mayonnaise, for a food that heals nearly 300 HP and over 400 RP alongside a +85 Max HP buff. It's worth an insane 1820g that scales extremely fast with level, and happens to be Selphy's favorite food.
Sandwich Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Good stuff.
I'll spare you the rest of this crafting, this one's gonna be a long update.
SELPHY: Hey, a sandwich! Did you get it just for me?
SELPHY: Thanks! I'm touched! I love you! ...Just kidding. Haha.
As a fan of sandwiches myself, this reaction is completely valid.
SELPHY: Do you ever want to spontaneously get out and run...
SELPHY: ...when you've been inside reading all day?
BUSH: Uh, I rarely ever stay all day indoors to read...
I'm more surprised at the fact that she would ever want to stop reading.
BUSH: Selphy, do you ever want to take a trip and just relax?
bush, no
we have a date today
SELPHY: Why? You get to feel like you're on a trip if you just read a book It's more cost efficient that way.
SELPHY: The book about the travels of someone I read the other day had a city that's on top of water.
BUSH: And you still don't feel like you want to go there yourself?
It seems we've reached the impasse known as the "traveler vs. homebody" situation.
...I don't think anyone calls it that, actually. Eh, onwards, to burning time until our date!
MIST: That whale in the sky should take a swim in the ocean once in a while.
He wants to!
Rosetta still has the same response to recieving the cherry pie as she does strawberries, but it does have the intended effect.
Everyone's down on the beach, should mean we'll have the lake all to ourselves today.
As an aside, Bianca sings surprisingly well when she's doing that idle singing thing the other bachelorettes sometimes do. I might've mentioned it before, I can't remember.
Well, it's almost time to be there, we'll probably meet Melody on the mountainside anyways.
Hi-ho, Pony! To the lake we ride!
And so we do find Melody up here, as per her usual schedule on weekends.
BUSH: Not only do you like baths, you really like magic, too, don't you, Melody?
MELODY: It's not that I like magic. I like wizards.
BUSH: There's a difference?
MELODY: There's a huge difference!
okay bush, we're not even at the date yet, don't drop it here
MELODY: This might sound weird to you, but do you have a minute?
--------------------------------
1. Go ahead.
2. I have to go somewhere...
--------------------------------
A choice! This conversation is just normally triggered by talking to Melody at 8 or higher LP while outside the bathhouse, I believe. It might have to be on the weekends, coincidentally.
Answering the second option only nets us:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
MELODY: Oh... Then I hope you can listen when you find the time...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
...But why would we ever opt for less content? Story time!
MELODY: Thanks.
MELODY: I didn't have parents for as long as I can remember.
MELODY: I went out searching for parents because I saw how everyone else had them.
MELODY: But I was still really small and that was the first time I went outside the town... I got lost right away.
MELODY: It was getting dark and I started hearing creepy sounds all around me. I thought I was monster food for sure.
MELODY: It was then that a wizard that was in town came and found me.
MELODY: After that, I started looking up to wizards.
MELODY: I wanted to become a wizard, too, and help people in need so that they can smile again.
BUSH: I'm sure you can do it, Melody. Become a great wizard, that is.
MELODY: Thanks, Bush.
So there's the bittersweet answer to why Melody's out to become a wizard: she wants to be like her childhood hero.
Her lack of parents is also why she became friends with Sharron back in Kardia, and was part of her "questline" back in that game.
MELODY: I make the bath a bit less hot during the summer. Now go inside so you can relax.
melody, we're nowhere near the bathhouse, what are you talking about
MELODY: You know what they say, when the wind blows, the coopers profit. Is that really true? I wanna make profit, too!
You'd have to charge more at the bathhouse to make profit, I think. Kross could probably teach you to be a cooper if you're just suddenly looking to change professions.
MELODY: Bush... You know... I...
BUSH: ?
MELODY: Nothing...
Anyways, this isn't even the date, so let's actually go to the docks and get this started.
Oh, and hearing Melody's backstory jumped her LP up by about 2/3rds the bar, amazingly. She'll probably hit LP 10 before Summer's even over.
Melody's not here yet, so we chat with Stella to pass the time.
BUSH: Do you prefer the heat or cold, Stella?
STELLA: I was born on the 27th of summer so I prefer the hot weather.
Meh, I'm usually a person for cool weather myself. Would rather freeze than sweat.
Uh, Melody? It's almost two hours since the time we were supposed to meet up.
melody
What follows is easily 40 minutes of real life time of looking the scarce information on dates in this game, as well as loading many, many savestates.
Every bachelorette has a different time they'll arrive, and it so happens that Melody is late to any date, every time. What I didn't know is that she's extremely late, only arriving nearly 2 hours behind the scheduled time. In the end I was just loading state too early thinking I missed it somehow.
MELODY: You're late! Well, I was late, too, so I guess it's okay.
Finally, we can start this thing. I'll just chalk it down to cold feet.
(we've been here for almost three hours and you were just up the road the whole time)
Music: To YouWe fade to a view of Melody waiting in the boat as Bush approaches. This theme starts up, which is not only the opening theme, but a remix of the first game's opening theme.
MELODY: It sure is hot today. We should go somewhere breezy... How about the island in the lake?
And so we row our way there!
Then we meet up with her at the tree, and...
MELODY: Wow! I had no idea it'd be so cool here! This feels nice...
BUSH: Going to the beach is nice, but I must say cooling off by the lake feels great.
A view of the two looking out over the lake...
Another view from the distant bridge...
A panning shot from the ground...
And yet another slowly zooming out shot, this time from the hillside we can't reach on the boat.
MELODY: Thank you for today. It's always hot in the springs, so the breeze was such a relief.
BUSH: It's gonna be hot for a while, so I hope we can do this again soon.
...And we're finally given back control. If you know Bush, then you know there's one thing he hasn't done yet.
A gift of a masterfully made Relax Tea is necessary here more than ever.
(This doesn't actually give any more LP than it usually would, but it fits.)
MELODY: It's kinda nice going on dates like this.
Indeed! We won't get a chance to do this again until halfway through Autumn, but by then we should have more girls at 8 LP.
uh
what now?
The music's still playing, so...
um, melody
are you gonna get back on the boat
*She waves at us from the island.*
MELODY: Bush, thanks for inviting me out.
MELODY: I hope we can do this again sometime.♪
*She waves one last time.*
BUSH: Of course!
...
i guess you'll just have to swim back
Well, seeing as Bush has just left his date stranded on an island, I'm not really sure what to make of today. I guess Bush is just so suave he can just leave his date to swim back to land and her not even get mad.
There's still some other going-ons today, but those will have to wait until next time, this update's long enough. I was already late putting this update out, after all.
See you next time folks, where we finally further plunge the depths of Fire Fire Rocks and collect that Runey Sprite, or whatever it is we're supposed to do at the bottom.
...It'll probably be another giant chicken or something.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 33: A Clean Bed of Dirt
Music: Summer
We return, in medias res, to the events following Bush stranding his date on an island. What a charmer he is!
KANNO: Do you know what day the 8th of autumn is?
BUSH: The 8th of autumn? I don't know.
KANNO: Then let me tell you. It's my birthday. Don't you forget that.
8th of Autumn isn't nearly as catchy as the 21st of September, but we'll remember it.
Since we're here and still have time to burn before the bath opens, we go ahead and check the gem room in Lava Ruins. Neither reward is a gem, therefore this name is proving insufficient. I'm leaning towards "Room of Frequent Disappointment," myself.
Pony's not with us as starting the date automatically sent her back to the barn, so there's little reason to delve any further in here right now.
So instead, I warp back out to the homestead and finish up the rest of the gardening before we nab that bath.
On the way there, I stop by the archives to buy one particular book: Farm Master. An advanced guide on making farming tools, apparently written by a perfectionist, it costs a massive 12,000g, but it's also the last book we really need. We've also got 50,000g in pocket, so it's not that much of a dent.
This will teach us the rest of the recipes for the better tools, and while the ones we've got now are more than serviceable, a better axe and hammer would be appreciated. We can also work our way to the endgame watering cans that pretty much water half the field in one go.
Melody has somehow made it off the island in Lake Poli, and doesn't begrudge Bush at all for taking the boat and leaving without her.
Cleanliness!
I also burn time until Rosetta's daily event as it was already close enough until then.
Just the same discussion of tomato salads as last time, but I'll take the free little bit of LP even if the Cherry Pie makes it pretty much irrelevant.
RITA: The area around her is just so peaceful...
RITA: But, somewhere in the world, they're still having wars.
RITA: I think that everyone could get along if they just shared a drink with each other...
Maybe the Sechs Empire is only waging war because they're incredibly bored and somehow have no other hobbies than magitech and designing world domination plans. Alcohol might give them something to do.
Then again, it might cause some drunken brawl that spirals into a political incident anyways.
Anyways, one of the reasons I came here is that Rita's supposed to give you a free drink after getting a house extension or after securing a date, but it seems they both have to be the day of it's happening.
I buy a bunch of bags of flour, as we've got a lot of baking to be doing in the coming days.
Since it's a Holiday, we've gotta stop on by the Lake again to get to Iris.
IRIS: Bush, I think it's more befitting for you to hold the hoe raher than the sword.
Iris encourages a pacifist approach to life. Luckily, Bush doesn't use swords!
IRIS: Are you always visiting me because you are worried for me or...?
To be fair, I have no idea what you're eating outside of the tomato juice I bring. Maybe all those generic crates are filled with a lifetime supply of granola bars or something?
Back home, it doesn't look like we'll be getting an upgraded can just yet, as it would take Gold ore, something we haven't seen a lick of, and is presumably in the next dungeon.
Speaking of dungeons, let's go blow up the giant chicken again. The gem room has failed to give me an emerald, and I know this boss is likely to drop one.
It absolutely melts. While we have far surpassed this boss's upgraded form, Lava Ruins still manages to hit like a train at times.
I also use this opportunity to dupe more Wine. Profit-wise, I'd be best served doing it with level 2 sandwiches, but I'm mostly doing this for the fun of duping items in the first place.
If I end up needing tons of money to show off content at the end of the LP, then I guess this'll be my nest egg for that (despite the fact I could just Action Replay my way to max money at that point).
Oh, and also Pony makes this really easy to do now, as instead of firing a fireball from a long enough range to fit in the hotbar input, I can just wait her lunge on the final blow.
There's that emeraldKanno's been bugging me I've been looking for!
With a good deal of RP leftover and more time left in the night, I set about doing some of the final cleaning on the field.
I'd say this would make lumber harder to get, but there's just tons of fields elsewhere I can source it from that I wouldn't otherwise visit.
Roughly two hours of work and plenty of food later and this patch is cleared out.
There is still this 3x6 patch on the far southern corner left to clear, so it won't all be done tonight. Tomorrow for sure.
So, we shall progress to tomorrow!
And with the gentle rustle of rain we awake on Monday, Summer 20th.
Guest track time!
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Summer
A call back to Summer days in Bush's past, here's the appropriate seasonal track from the first game.
I had other submissions to give today, but they were smote by the dark force known as copyright strikes.
Blooming botanicals, Bush-man! The wild plants are already retaking the spot I cleaned last night!
I didn't have time to till it all last night, so this is to be expected. The free 11 lumber is nice though.
But first, mail time!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"The Moon" - Cinnamon~
Apparently, the moon is made of cheese.
How do they know that?
How did they get to the moon?
It's a mystery.
I don't quite believe it. Do you?
-----------------------------------------------------
Cinnamon thinks the mouse astronauts and rodentkind based space program is a bit hard to believe. Our options are simply to say "I believe it" or "I cannot believe it".
A tough call, but we'll agree with her on this in case it is a hoax, then we won't look so silly if it does get disproven.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I knew it!" - $@%&~
Oh, stars in the heavens, I decided what I really
want to be is a teacher, after all.
If I become a teacher, I can stay in school forever!
-----------------------------------------------------
Looks like more of that strange mail is showing up again. It's been a long while since the first one, I'd half forgotten about it.
Staying in school forever is just the worst pitch for a spam mail I've ever seen, where's all the dying Sechs Princes needing our help to donate money to a good cause?
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Question" - Selphy~
I wanted your suggestion for my next book.
Should I make the protagonist a prince or a lowly peddler?
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, if you're gonna do it about a peddler, call him a hawker. Such a good word.
Our options are thus:
---------------------------
1. Maybe a prince?
2. Maybe a peddler?
3. How about a princess?
---------------------------
Bush, knowing that Selphy likes stories about princesses and farmhands, reasons that option three is probably the best choice here. Probably to write what you know than what you don't know, although it never hurts to branch out. It's easier, at least.
ANETTE: It seems like all I do is deliver mail, but it's actually hard because of all these exams.
The Noradian postal system has exams? Or, well, I guess she did mention textbooks last time, so she's in school for something?
For what, we still don't know, but what I also don't know is how you manage to juggle this job and schoolwork at the same time, girl. Yowza.
Bush, not knowing what exams or education are, opts to go inside and make a slightly better Feathered Hat using the materials from the Chickogriff we fought last night.
These have an alternate recipe using the Giant Cockscomb and Bird Feathers it drops, so it's not a bad way of getting some skill/good headwear.
If only I didn't waste that level 10 comb from so many updates ago.
And, by 8:18 in the morning, the last of the field is cleared and tilled to make sure no wild plants will ever get in the way of our farming operations.
Typically, weeds and such will grow faster over tilled soil thanks to the act aerating the soil and propagating microorganism growth which accelerates the cycling of nitrogen and other nutrients. Luckily for us, Norad is a place where smiley-faced sprites cannibalizing one another in an unstable cycle governs biological growth so it doesn't follow realism.
CINNAMON: I tried to reflect on my previous mistakes and attemped to bake again.
CINNAMON: For some reason, Candy and Grandpa stopped me. It's a mystery...
Our drowsy magic teacher may have high skill in magic, but her cooking skill is little to none. Don't worry, Bush was once reducing turnips to char with just a knife, you'll get it eventually!
STELLA: Do you know about the "Four Leaf Clover"? They're supposed to bring you good luck.
STELLA: I have some good memories about "Four Leaf Clovers." It's all when I was young.
Unfortunately, clovers take 40 days to grow, and that's just not something I feel like doing.
Stopping by Rosetta's, I decide to finally grab some Pink Cat seeds. I've got all of that field cleared, I might as well make use of it. Like Moondrop, they show up in a couple of recipes you wouldn't expect.
DANNY: What's this? Well, I guess I'll still take it.
I decide to give Danny our old Feathered Hat (the new one has a few points more defense) but he doesn't even wear it.
Dannnyyyyyy
Fine, over to the tavern we go.
Music: Tensions
(This isn't the official title, because spoilers for something later.)
UZUKI: What are you saying? You mean to say that you have lost your spine?
TSUBUTE: It is not that. I merely think that we should return once to gather clues before setting out on a journey once again.
UZUKI: Why go back? How is it different from here?
TSUBUTE: It is not that! The villagers are kind to us. However, we are still in foreign lands.
TSUBUTE: You seem tired so I believe we should start over by returning once.
UZUKI: I will not return there. Brother... Brother is all I have left!
TSUBUTE: Only your brother...? Are you truly speaking that from the heart?
UZUKI: I...
UZUKI: Of course! If not, I would not have come so far if it were not for that!
TSUBUTE: I see... I... I...
*He flies away!*
UZUKI: Oh...
BUSH: Uzuki...
UZUKI: Bush... You caught us at a terrible time.
UZUKI: Tsubute said we should return. It ended in our usual quarrel.
BUSH: Are you sure about this?
UZUKI: Hmph... He is a nuisance anyway. I am glad that he is gone!
BUSH: Uzuki...
Well, that's some drama I wasn't expecting to happen yet! I guess Cicada Dad is gone.
UZUKI: Trampoli is such a vast place...
UZUKI: Oh? Oh! It's you, Bush. Would you please leave me alone for a little while?
I, uh, wouldn't define it as "vast", but maybe her hometown was just really small. Uzuki won't be in a talking mood for quite some time because of this, she won't even accept gifts!
So, we'll do what she asks and go bug Eunice instead.
EUNICE: I just don't like fish...
EUNICE: I know it's bad to be picky about food, but I just can't eat it.
I guess she didn't eat the fish we sent her the other day. I was kinda thinking she wanted it for herself given the second letter, but I guess it did go to some guests.
I don't like most fish either, but for me it's mostly that fish doesn't have much of a taste. Now crustaceans, those can go. Far, far away.
TABATHA: What is my ideal man? *giggle* Why do you ask?
TABATHA: Let's see... My ideal man is...
TABATHA: A secret.
Sheesh, Bush, did your hidden conversation skill level up or something? Such bold questions!
TABATHA: It's so lively with all the monsters at your home, Bush.
Outside of Pony and Grant, pretty much the other 8 just party in there or something.
TABATHA: Fruits were cheap today, so I tried making a different sort of sauce.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca often makes dinner requests very suddenly, so it is up to me to cook something with cheap ingredients.
BUSH: Oh, so you don't buy ingredients in accordance with what Bianca requests.
TABATHA: That's right. Cheap ingredients are cheap because they are in season... and I believe one should never waste money.
TABATHA: Even if you may be affluent, you must be frugal wherever you can be.
BUSH: I guess so. I'll try to keep that in mind.
This feels like two different conversations stitched together. Unfortunately, being frugal and rich can mean less money is going back into the economy, which isn't so great. Capitalism!
BIANCA: I rode on a horse a long time ago. It wasn't very good. It never listened to me and it shook a lot.
BIANCA: Horse drawn carriages are much better. Manipulating animals should be the servant's job.
BIANCA: Riding on top of a monster is very fitting for you.
Horses? What's a horse? Bush only knows ofwolvesponies and unicornscorndogs.
BIANCA: I've seen a lot of maids in my time, but Tabatha is the best.
BIANCA: I will only have Tabatha as my maid.
I suppose it's a good thing Tabatha enjoys her work, as I imagine she'll probably be doing this until she retires 40 years from now.
Or maybe longer? I don't really know if elves are that much longer lived than humans in this setting.
BIANCA: It seems that you have money saved up. You're better off now.
That... actually means a lot coming from the person who pretty much has the infinite money cheat code enabled somehow. Of course, it's all thanks to the thriving tomato and corn business.
Down at Erik's, I decide to take a risk on buying some pumpkin seeds. They take 12 days to grow, but there's only 10 days left in the season. I'm hoping the Runey prosperity will bring that down into a growable range.
Doing a quick little review of our current relationship status, Melody still stands tall in the 9 LP range, while Cinnamon's just about to hit 5. Those crystals have really helped!
Bianca's close to 2, and Tabatha's recently crossed the 5 mark. Even Lara is about to make it into the 3 LP range for once! This means that while conversation's been a little dry recently, we should start to see some new conversations across the board soon.
plant pumpkin
SELPHY: The bathhouse here is really nice. I can feel Melody's love for baths.
SELPHY: Compared to it, my bath back home was just huge, but I couldn't feel any love from it.
BUSH: What kind of place is your home, Selphy?
SELPHY: Don't worry about that! It's not manly to go snooping!
BUSH: Wait, why am I getting yelled at?
I see Bush's streak of passing conversation checks may have come to an end.
SELPHY: Hm? I'm reading this book right now so I'm not selling it!
Unless it has crafting recipes, Bush isn't buying.
SELPHY: I heard that there's an island made of ice all the way up north.
SELPHY: I wonder if it melts in the summer... What a strange island.
I think that's called the North Pole.
Since I spent a little too much time faffing about town today, I might as well burn time until the bath is open.
So I burn time by magicking the giant chicken out of existence again, in a very pacifist manner. (i also dupe more wine because why not)
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Early Boss
To continue the theme of RF1 music for today's update, have the original boss theme that Chickogriff's is remixed from.
It goes about as expected. Alas, I have yet to get another particularly high level cockscomb, but I do still have a level 7 feather leftover. We could get a pretty strong hat!
The flavor text description suggests placing this on other people's heads for fun, but forgets that it's severed from giant chicken right next to me. It may be fun to do so, but I doubt their reaction will be.
MIST: You defeated the monster in the Green Ruins? Not bad.
Bush has done so about six times at this point. You have said this about five times as much at this point.
One thing that I've felt less with this game than in it's two predecessors is stale dialogue, but I will not deny that people bring up the Green Ruins or going into Lava Ruins almost every other conversation.
I imagine it's by design, RF1 and RF2 do this as well.
MIST: Oh, no!
MIST: Now there are two ducks in my garden! I wonder when they became friends...
A reminder that these ducks explode.
Well, anyways, there's another level 2 hat. Yay.
Looking through the other things we could make, it seems we've got the materials for a Cat Ears headband. It does happen to be a decent MAG boost, so why not?
In goes one of those Katusha we made, a Monster Hide, a Sharp Talon, an Emerald, and a Magic Powder.
Cat Ears Lv:1 was synthesized.
This thing is barely in our skill range, so no expert craft on this.
Apparently Bush is forbidden to strike cat poses while wearing these. Fine by me, I think that might make Pony angry if we did.
Heat Axe Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
We also make a Heat Axe while we're at it. It's just a Battle Axe with a Fire Crystal slapped into it. Not too useful right now, but it'll be useful as a material for the fire aspected branch of axes.
Pumpkin Tart Lv:1 was synthesized.
We also make this, Anette's favorite gift, the pumpkin tart. When she does her end of route exclamation about food, I don't remember her saying anything special about this one, but it is her favorite.
Still, requiring two pumpkins makes this very valuable, and very expensive without our own source of pumpkins. The two I used for this are sourced from Erik, which costs more than it should have, but price never stands between Bush and gifting.
Here's to hoping those pumpkins we planted a few days ago are getting close.
a spot o' fishin'
MELODY: If you sweat a lot from going into the dungeon, come to my bath, okay?! ♪
Well, we will be sweating a good deal soon. With little else on the schedule, it's time we plunge the depths of Lava Ruins once and for all.
A bath to get HP and RP sorted, and it's high time we make our way to the final floor of Lava Ruins. I'll be happy to see what's past it, it pretty much stonewalled my original playthrough.
The gem room nets us a Ruby, and in celebration, I switch our soundtrack to another retro track as the lava and heat brings back some old memories of a similarly flaming cavern.
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Clemens Cave
I do take the opportunity to farm some more Ignis briefly. Gotta keep up on those Magic Crystals!
It paid off!
I will not deny that I'm having to use savestates to get some of these, the drop rate is atrocious.
Another reason I have for being down here is to obtain a Thick Stick. I somehow can't find where I turned in the Emerald to Kanno at, but he wants this next.
In my defense, every day is usually about a 70 minute recording, and that's with me using frame delimiting at points. There's 40 hours in this game file already, and we're not really at the midpoint of the game just yet.
A bit of delving later and we're back to the last spot we were at with the Troll spawner. Riding on past this and down some stairs...
Another Troll and some stairs down! At last, I'll finally see floor 4 of this dungeon!
LAVA RUINS B4F
Alright, let's see what's in store here. There's a path down to the left, but I'm feeling like going right, as that would be more in line with the shortcut staircase.
Right here, we can one of the new mechanics: bomb catapults. We just hit the little target with a hammer and it'll launch the bomb in the appropriate direction. These static ones don't do too much, but we'll find some soon that we can manually rotate for puzzle's sake.
The left brings us to this jagged side path, blocked off by some small rocks- our hammer takes care of them easily.
Chest had a free Fire Crystal in it, will be good for making our Heat Hawk at a later date.
Up ahead is many more trolls and a massive boulder precariously held in place by some sort of gravel or something. We can clear these with our hoe.
We've got two paths to the south, so I take the rightmost one.
Whoa, it's a whole lot of bulls! Or, rather, Buffaloo!
These are basically recolors of Buffamoo, but they can only be ridden, not used for the dairy industry.
They somehow managed to completely box Bush in, so I had to slap one across the head with the hammer to make my escape.
Staircase!
...down?
I guess this isn't the right way to the shortcut staircase.
LAVA RUINS B5F
Well, I guess that's all for floor B4F. I'm sure there's more there, but I've got a feeling I'm close to the boss room, and there's guaranteed to be a shortcut there!
To our north is a boulder we can knock loose down a staircase, but as we approach...
Flying in at supersonic speed are Weagles! Sometimes localized as Weegulls, these fast moving red birds are longtime dangerous foes, and for whatever reason cut lumber as their farm job when tamed.
They have two attacks, one is a sonic screech they use while grounded, and the other is their very fast flying charge. Neither feels particularly good to get hit by, but they're not lethal.
Pony ends up going down, but it was inevitable. As I clear out the leftovers, another set of Weagles spawn, so I rush to unleash the boulder. Said boulder clips a Weagle for nearly 300 damage!
It's safe to say we don't want to be standing in front of these when they go. Luckily they start up really slowly, giving you time to bail.
It ends up smashing some rubble at the bottom of the staircase and also deletes the monster gate in the process.
This brings us to a long room with three exits, all of them blocked by rubble in some manner.
The way forward is through rotating this catapult.
Oh, and there's also Dark Slimes here, but they're just stronger recolors of the normal slimes.
Recolors are common in RF, alas.
Although it doesn't look like it lines up exactly, we can fire the catapult left to explode this one broken door/wall.
It just leads to a small farm area and a debris blocked downwards staircase.
Launching the bomb south clears some more debris and gets us to a lower platform with exits on all sides..
Heading right-
WHOA WHOA
CHILL
Pictured is 1 Dark Slime, 2 Weagles, and 2 Minotaur. The Minotauros hit like trains, as their massive muscles and huge axe would suggest. Featuring a high damage bull charge and a deadly axe swing, oh gods this room is full of death
An incomprehenisble brawl ensues and Bush barely scrapes his way back to the 4-way intersection downing full bowls of Udon as he does so.
The south is blocked by another Indiana Jones boulder, so left it is.
The left brings us to the room south of that little farm area, while also bringing us face to face with two more Minotaur.
Further south, the room branches off to a right passage and a south passage, both guarded by Weagles. This floor is just packed with monsters.
Running south, the staircase ends on a large platform with a staircase going right. There happen to be two more Minotaur here- it's like we're assaulting a fortress or something!
Up that staircase is another spherical boulder and a meager amount of dirt holding it in place. With no more apparent path forward, Bush unleashes it and dives down the staircase to narrow safety.
And then a Weagle comes diving in from the previous room and just headbutts the boulder, instantly deleting itself while just narrowly missing Bush's head. If it had flew in a second earlier and hit, it would have staggered us into the boulder and we'd be the one taking 300 damage.
Retreating up that staircase, Bush swiftly ducks past the various axes and birds flying his way to find yet another farming area.
Seeing no immediate path but to the right, we head up and find more cross sections. Ignoring the continuing procession of enemies, we dive downwards to find...
The shortcut stairs, at last!
With the door opened, we're out of this warzone for the night. With that shortcut on our side, we're not far from the boss at this rate. We'll be done with Lava Ruins soon, I think!
Music: Whale Island Outside
Before we call it for the night, I still need to go up to Whale Island. I do not have much time at all, so I'm going to be cutting this close.
Quickly water the crops...
Meh, I don't even need that crop of tomatoes, they'll be fine without water for a day.
IRIS: I hope you'll be my model again, Bush.
Right now he probably looks like he's been caught up in a flaming tornado, so tonight's maybe not the best night for it.
Aside from cautioning us about monsters stronger than we are again, something I think we've had enough experience with today, she's got nothing else to say.
Home it is, then!
Time to do some cooking. We've still got a good deal of RP leftover from all that emergency Udon eating, so we can fit in a bit of gift making before we hit the bed.
A little bit of fridge management...
And some more butter to close out the night. What do you say, Bush?
...Whoops.
Well, this'll put a bit of a dent in tomorrow's plans. And Lara's LP bar.
On the bright side, it guarantees no tornado tomorrow if there was going to be one?
Well, catch you next time where we salvage this mistake and maybe finally put an end to the Lava Ruins! Some real interesting stuff is going to go down before we make it to Autumn- this is going to be a very eventful next 5 days.
Music: SummerWe return, in medias res, to the events following Bush stranding his date on an island. What a charmer he is!
KANNO: Do you know what day the 8th of autumn is?
BUSH: The 8th of autumn? I don't know.
KANNO: Then let me tell you. It's my birthday. Don't you forget that.
8th of Autumn isn't nearly as catchy as the 21st of September, but we'll remember it.
Since we're here and still have time to burn before the bath opens, we go ahead and check the gem room in Lava Ruins. Neither reward is a gem, therefore this name is proving insufficient. I'm leaning towards "Room of Frequent Disappointment," myself.
Pony's not with us as starting the date automatically sent her back to the barn, so there's little reason to delve any further in here right now.
So instead, I warp back out to the homestead and finish up the rest of the gardening before we nab that bath.
On the way there, I stop by the archives to buy one particular book: Farm Master. An advanced guide on making farming tools, apparently written by a perfectionist, it costs a massive 12,000g, but it's also the last book we really need. We've also got 50,000g in pocket, so it's not that much of a dent.
This will teach us the rest of the recipes for the better tools, and while the ones we've got now are more than serviceable, a better axe and hammer would be appreciated. We can also work our way to the endgame watering cans that pretty much water half the field in one go.
Melody has somehow made it off the island in Lake Poli, and doesn't begrudge Bush at all for taking the boat and leaving without her.
Cleanliness!
I also burn time until Rosetta's daily event as it was already close enough until then.
Just the same discussion of tomato salads as last time, but I'll take the free little bit of LP even if the Cherry Pie makes it pretty much irrelevant.
RITA: The area around her is just so peaceful...
RITA: But, somewhere in the world, they're still having wars.
RITA: I think that everyone could get along if they just shared a drink with each other...
Maybe the Sechs Empire is only waging war because they're incredibly bored and somehow have no other hobbies than magitech and designing world domination plans. Alcohol might give them something to do.
Then again, it might cause some drunken brawl that spirals into a political incident anyways.
Anyways, one of the reasons I came here is that Rita's supposed to give you a free drink after getting a house extension or after securing a date, but it seems they both have to be the day of it's happening.
I buy a bunch of bags of flour, as we've got a lot of baking to be doing in the coming days.
Since it's a Holiday, we've gotta stop on by the Lake again to get to Iris.
IRIS: Bush, I think it's more befitting for you to hold the hoe raher than the sword.
Iris encourages a pacifist approach to life. Luckily, Bush doesn't use swords!
IRIS: Are you always visiting me because you are worried for me or...?
To be fair, I have no idea what you're eating outside of the tomato juice I bring. Maybe all those generic crates are filled with a lifetime supply of granola bars or something?
Back home, it doesn't look like we'll be getting an upgraded can just yet, as it would take Gold ore, something we haven't seen a lick of, and is presumably in the next dungeon.
Speaking of dungeons, let's go blow up the giant chicken again. The gem room has failed to give me an emerald, and I know this boss is likely to drop one.
It absolutely melts. While we have far surpassed this boss's upgraded form, Lava Ruins still manages to hit like a train at times.
I also use this opportunity to dupe more Wine. Profit-wise, I'd be best served doing it with level 2 sandwiches, but I'm mostly doing this for the fun of duping items in the first place.
If I end up needing tons of money to show off content at the end of the LP, then I guess this'll be my nest egg for that (despite the fact I could just Action Replay my way to max money at that point).
Oh, and also Pony makes this really easy to do now, as instead of firing a fireball from a long enough range to fit in the hotbar input, I can just wait her lunge on the final blow.
There's that emerald
With a good deal of RP leftover and more time left in the night, I set about doing some of the final cleaning on the field.
I'd say this would make lumber harder to get, but there's just tons of fields elsewhere I can source it from that I wouldn't otherwise visit.
Roughly two hours of work and plenty of food later and this patch is cleared out.
There is still this 3x6 patch on the far southern corner left to clear, so it won't all be done tonight. Tomorrow for sure.
So, we shall progress to tomorrow!
And with the gentle rustle of rain we awake on Monday, Summer 20th.
Guest track time!
Music: Rune Factory 1 - SummerA call back to Summer days in Bush's past, here's the appropriate seasonal track from the first game.
I had other submissions to give today, but they were smote by the dark force known as copyright strikes.
Blooming botanicals, Bush-man! The wild plants are already retaking the spot I cleaned last night!
I didn't have time to till it all last night, so this is to be expected. The free 11 lumber is nice though.
But first, mail time!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"The Moon" - Cinnamon~
Apparently, the moon is made of cheese.
How do they know that?
How did they get to the moon?
It's a mystery.
I don't quite believe it. Do you?
-----------------------------------------------------
Cinnamon thinks the mouse astronauts and rodentkind based space program is a bit hard to believe. Our options are simply to say "I believe it" or "I cannot believe it".
A tough call, but we'll agree with her on this in case it is a hoax, then we won't look so silly if it does get disproven.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I knew it!" - $@%&~
Oh, stars in the heavens, I decided what I really
want to be is a teacher, after all.
If I become a teacher, I can stay in school forever!
-----------------------------------------------------
Looks like more of that strange mail is showing up again. It's been a long while since the first one, I'd half forgotten about it.
Staying in school forever is just the worst pitch for a spam mail I've ever seen, where's all the dying Sechs Princes needing our help to donate money to a good cause?
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Question" - Selphy~
I wanted your suggestion for my next book.
Should I make the protagonist a prince or a lowly peddler?
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, if you're gonna do it about a peddler, call him a hawker. Such a good word.
Our options are thus:
---------------------------
1. Maybe a prince?
2. Maybe a peddler?
3. How about a princess?
---------------------------
Bush, knowing that Selphy likes stories about princesses and farmhands, reasons that option three is probably the best choice here. Probably to write what you know than what you don't know, although it never hurts to branch out. It's easier, at least.
ANETTE: It seems like all I do is deliver mail, but it's actually hard because of all these exams.
The Noradian postal system has exams? Or, well, I guess she did mention textbooks last time, so she's in school for something?
For what, we still don't know, but what I also don't know is how you manage to juggle this job and schoolwork at the same time, girl. Yowza.
Bush, not knowing what exams or education are, opts to go inside and make a slightly better Feathered Hat using the materials from the Chickogriff we fought last night.
These have an alternate recipe using the Giant Cockscomb and Bird Feathers it drops, so it's not a bad way of getting some skill/good headwear.
If only I didn't waste that level 10 comb from so many updates ago.
And, by 8:18 in the morning, the last of the field is cleared and tilled to make sure no wild plants will ever get in the way of our farming operations.
Typically, weeds and such will grow faster over tilled soil thanks to the act aerating the soil and propagating microorganism growth which accelerates the cycling of nitrogen and other nutrients. Luckily for us, Norad is a place where smiley-faced sprites cannibalizing one another in an unstable cycle governs biological growth so it doesn't follow realism.
CINNAMON: I tried to reflect on my previous mistakes and attemped to bake again.
CINNAMON: For some reason, Candy and Grandpa stopped me. It's a mystery...
Our drowsy magic teacher may have high skill in magic, but her cooking skill is little to none. Don't worry, Bush was once reducing turnips to char with just a knife, you'll get it eventually!
STELLA: Do you know about the "Four Leaf Clover"? They're supposed to bring you good luck.
STELLA: I have some good memories about "Four Leaf Clovers." It's all when I was young.
Unfortunately, clovers take 40 days to grow, and that's just not something I feel like doing.
Stopping by Rosetta's, I decide to finally grab some Pink Cat seeds. I've got all of that field cleared, I might as well make use of it. Like Moondrop, they show up in a couple of recipes you wouldn't expect.
DANNY: What's this? Well, I guess I'll still take it.
I decide to give Danny our old Feathered Hat (the new one has a few points more defense) but he doesn't even wear it.
Dannnyyyyyy
Fine, over to the tavern we go.
Music: Tensions(This isn't the official title, because spoilers for something later.)
UZUKI: What are you saying? You mean to say that you have lost your spine?
TSUBUTE: It is not that. I merely think that we should return once to gather clues before setting out on a journey once again.
UZUKI: Why go back? How is it different from here?
TSUBUTE: It is not that! The villagers are kind to us. However, we are still in foreign lands.
TSUBUTE: You seem tired so I believe we should start over by returning once.
UZUKI: I will not return there. Brother... Brother is all I have left!
TSUBUTE: Only your brother...? Are you truly speaking that from the heart?
UZUKI: I...
UZUKI: Of course! If not, I would not have come so far if it were not for that!
TSUBUTE: I see... I... I...
*He flies away!*
UZUKI: Oh...
BUSH: Uzuki...
UZUKI: Bush... You caught us at a terrible time.
UZUKI: Tsubute said we should return. It ended in our usual quarrel.
BUSH: Are you sure about this?
UZUKI: Hmph... He is a nuisance anyway. I am glad that he is gone!
BUSH: Uzuki...
Well, that's some drama I wasn't expecting to happen yet! I guess Cicada Dad is gone.
UZUKI: Trampoli is such a vast place...
UZUKI: Oh? Oh! It's you, Bush. Would you please leave me alone for a little while?
I, uh, wouldn't define it as "vast", but maybe her hometown was just really small. Uzuki won't be in a talking mood for quite some time because of this, she won't even accept gifts!
So, we'll do what she asks and go bug Eunice instead.
EUNICE: I just don't like fish...
EUNICE: I know it's bad to be picky about food, but I just can't eat it.
I guess she didn't eat the fish we sent her the other day. I was kinda thinking she wanted it for herself given the second letter, but I guess it did go to some guests.
I don't like most fish either, but for me it's mostly that fish doesn't have much of a taste. Now crustaceans, those can go. Far, far away.
TABATHA: What is my ideal man? *giggle* Why do you ask?
TABATHA: Let's see... My ideal man is...
TABATHA: A secret.
Sheesh, Bush, did your hidden conversation skill level up or something? Such bold questions!
TABATHA: It's so lively with all the monsters at your home, Bush.
Outside of Pony and Grant, pretty much the other 8 just party in there or something.
TABATHA: Fruits were cheap today, so I tried making a different sort of sauce.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca often makes dinner requests very suddenly, so it is up to me to cook something with cheap ingredients.
BUSH: Oh, so you don't buy ingredients in accordance with what Bianca requests.
TABATHA: That's right. Cheap ingredients are cheap because they are in season... and I believe one should never waste money.
TABATHA: Even if you may be affluent, you must be frugal wherever you can be.
BUSH: I guess so. I'll try to keep that in mind.
This feels like two different conversations stitched together. Unfortunately, being frugal and rich can mean less money is going back into the economy, which isn't so great. Capitalism!
BIANCA: I rode on a horse a long time ago. It wasn't very good. It never listened to me and it shook a lot.
BIANCA: Horse drawn carriages are much better. Manipulating animals should be the servant's job.
BIANCA: Riding on top of a monster is very fitting for you.
Horses? What's a horse? Bush only knows of
BIANCA: I've seen a lot of maids in my time, but Tabatha is the best.
BIANCA: I will only have Tabatha as my maid.
I suppose it's a good thing Tabatha enjoys her work, as I imagine she'll probably be doing this until she retires 40 years from now.
Or maybe longer? I don't really know if elves are that much longer lived than humans in this setting.
BIANCA: It seems that you have money saved up. You're better off now.
That... actually means a lot coming from the person who pretty much has the infinite money cheat code enabled somehow. Of course, it's all thanks to the thriving tomato and corn business.
Down at Erik's, I decide to take a risk on buying some pumpkin seeds. They take 12 days to grow, but there's only 10 days left in the season. I'm hoping the Runey prosperity will bring that down into a growable range.
Doing a quick little review of our current relationship status, Melody still stands tall in the 9 LP range, while Cinnamon's just about to hit 5. Those crystals have really helped!
Bianca's close to 2, and Tabatha's recently crossed the 5 mark. Even Lara is about to make it into the 3 LP range for once! This means that while conversation's been a little dry recently, we should start to see some new conversations across the board soon.
plant pumpkin
SELPHY: The bathhouse here is really nice. I can feel Melody's love for baths.
SELPHY: Compared to it, my bath back home was just huge, but I couldn't feel any love from it.
BUSH: What kind of place is your home, Selphy?
SELPHY: Don't worry about that! It's not manly to go snooping!
BUSH: Wait, why am I getting yelled at?
I see Bush's streak of passing conversation checks may have come to an end.
SELPHY: Hm? I'm reading this book right now so I'm not selling it!
Unless it has crafting recipes, Bush isn't buying.
SELPHY: I heard that there's an island made of ice all the way up north.
SELPHY: I wonder if it melts in the summer... What a strange island.
I think that's called the North Pole.
Since I spent a little too much time faffing about town today, I might as well burn time until the bath is open.
So I burn time by magicking the giant chicken out of existence again, in a very pacifist manner. (i also dupe more wine because why not)
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Early BossTo continue the theme of RF1 music for today's update, have the original boss theme that Chickogriff's is remixed from.
It goes about as expected. Alas, I have yet to get another particularly high level cockscomb, but I do still have a level 7 feather leftover. We could get a pretty strong hat!
The flavor text description suggests placing this on other people's heads for fun, but forgets that it's severed from giant chicken right next to me. It may be fun to do so, but I doubt their reaction will be.
MIST: You defeated the monster in the Green Ruins? Not bad.
Bush has done so about six times at this point. You have said this about five times as much at this point.
One thing that I've felt less with this game than in it's two predecessors is stale dialogue, but I will not deny that people bring up the Green Ruins or going into Lava Ruins almost every other conversation.
I imagine it's by design, RF1 and RF2 do this as well.
MIST: Oh, no!
MIST: Now there are two ducks in my garden! I wonder when they became friends...
A reminder that these ducks explode.
Well, anyways, there's another level 2 hat. Yay.
Looking through the other things we could make, it seems we've got the materials for a Cat Ears headband. It does happen to be a decent MAG boost, so why not?
In goes one of those Katusha we made, a Monster Hide, a Sharp Talon, an Emerald, and a Magic Powder.
Cat Ears Lv:1 was synthesized.
This thing is barely in our skill range, so no expert craft on this.
Apparently Bush is forbidden to strike cat poses while wearing these. Fine by me, I think that might make Pony angry if we did.
Heat Axe Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
We also make a Heat Axe while we're at it. It's just a Battle Axe with a Fire Crystal slapped into it. Not too useful right now, but it'll be useful as a material for the fire aspected branch of axes.
Pumpkin Tart Lv:1 was synthesized.
We also make this, Anette's favorite gift, the pumpkin tart. When she does her end of route exclamation about food, I don't remember her saying anything special about this one, but it is her favorite.
Still, requiring two pumpkins makes this very valuable, and very expensive without our own source of pumpkins. The two I used for this are sourced from Erik, which costs more than it should have, but price never stands between Bush and gifting.
Here's to hoping those pumpkins we planted a few days ago are getting close.
a spot o' fishin'
MELODY: If you sweat a lot from going into the dungeon, come to my bath, okay?! ♪
Well, we will be sweating a good deal soon. With little else on the schedule, it's time we plunge the depths of Lava Ruins once and for all.
A bath to get HP and RP sorted, and it's high time we make our way to the final floor of Lava Ruins. I'll be happy to see what's past it, it pretty much stonewalled my original playthrough.
The gem room nets us a Ruby, and in celebration, I switch our soundtrack to another retro track as the lava and heat brings back some old memories of a similarly flaming cavern.
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Clemens CaveI do take the opportunity to farm some more Ignis briefly. Gotta keep up on those Magic Crystals!
It paid off!
I will not deny that I'm having to use savestates to get some of these, the drop rate is atrocious.
Another reason I have for being down here is to obtain a Thick Stick. I somehow can't find where I turned in the Emerald to Kanno at, but he wants this next.
In my defense, every day is usually about a 70 minute recording, and that's with me using frame delimiting at points. There's 40 hours in this game file already, and we're not really at the midpoint of the game just yet.
A bit of delving later and we're back to the last spot we were at with the Troll spawner. Riding on past this and down some stairs...
Another Troll and some stairs down! At last, I'll finally see floor 4 of this dungeon!
LAVA RUINS B4F
Alright, let's see what's in store here. There's a path down to the left, but I'm feeling like going right, as that would be more in line with the shortcut staircase.
Right here, we can one of the new mechanics: bomb catapults. We just hit the little target with a hammer and it'll launch the bomb in the appropriate direction. These static ones don't do too much, but we'll find some soon that we can manually rotate for puzzle's sake.
The left brings us to this jagged side path, blocked off by some small rocks- our hammer takes care of them easily.
Chest had a free Fire Crystal in it, will be good for making our Heat Hawk at a later date.
Up ahead is many more trolls and a massive boulder precariously held in place by some sort of gravel or something. We can clear these with our hoe.
We've got two paths to the south, so I take the rightmost one.
Whoa, it's a whole lot of bulls! Or, rather, Buffaloo!
These are basically recolors of Buffamoo, but they can only be ridden, not used for the dairy industry.
They somehow managed to completely box Bush in, so I had to slap one across the head with the hammer to make my escape.
Staircase!
...down?
I guess this isn't the right way to the shortcut staircase.
LAVA RUINS B5F
Well, I guess that's all for floor B4F. I'm sure there's more there, but I've got a feeling I'm close to the boss room, and there's guaranteed to be a shortcut there!
To our north is a boulder we can knock loose down a staircase, but as we approach...
Flying in at supersonic speed are Weagles! Sometimes localized as Weegulls, these fast moving red birds are longtime dangerous foes, and for whatever reason cut lumber as their farm job when tamed.
They have two attacks, one is a sonic screech they use while grounded, and the other is their very fast flying charge. Neither feels particularly good to get hit by, but they're not lethal.
Pony ends up going down, but it was inevitable. As I clear out the leftovers, another set of Weagles spawn, so I rush to unleash the boulder. Said boulder clips a Weagle for nearly 300 damage!
It's safe to say we don't want to be standing in front of these when they go. Luckily they start up really slowly, giving you time to bail.
It ends up smashing some rubble at the bottom of the staircase and also deletes the monster gate in the process.
This brings us to a long room with three exits, all of them blocked by rubble in some manner.
The way forward is through rotating this catapult.
Oh, and there's also Dark Slimes here, but they're just stronger recolors of the normal slimes.
Recolors are common in RF, alas.
Although it doesn't look like it lines up exactly, we can fire the catapult left to explode this one broken door/wall.
It just leads to a small farm area and a debris blocked downwards staircase.
Launching the bomb south clears some more debris and gets us to a lower platform with exits on all sides..
Heading right-
WHOA WHOA
CHILL
Pictured is 1 Dark Slime, 2 Weagles, and 2 Minotaur. The Minotauros hit like trains, as their massive muscles and huge axe would suggest. Featuring a high damage bull charge and a deadly axe swing, oh gods this room is full of death
An incomprehenisble brawl ensues and Bush barely scrapes his way back to the 4-way intersection downing full bowls of Udon as he does so.
The south is blocked by another Indiana Jones boulder, so left it is.
The left brings us to the room south of that little farm area, while also bringing us face to face with two more Minotaur.
Further south, the room branches off to a right passage and a south passage, both guarded by Weagles. This floor is just packed with monsters.
Running south, the staircase ends on a large platform with a staircase going right. There happen to be two more Minotaur here- it's like we're assaulting a fortress or something!
Up that staircase is another spherical boulder and a meager amount of dirt holding it in place. With no more apparent path forward, Bush unleashes it and dives down the staircase to narrow safety.
And then a Weagle comes diving in from the previous room and just headbutts the boulder, instantly deleting itself while just narrowly missing Bush's head. If it had flew in a second earlier and hit, it would have staggered us into the boulder and we'd be the one taking 300 damage.
Retreating up that staircase, Bush swiftly ducks past the various axes and birds flying his way to find yet another farming area.
Seeing no immediate path but to the right, we head up and find more cross sections. Ignoring the continuing procession of enemies, we dive downwards to find...
The shortcut stairs, at last!
With the door opened, we're out of this warzone for the night. With that shortcut on our side, we're not far from the boss at this rate. We'll be done with Lava Ruins soon, I think!
Music: Whale Island OutsideBefore we call it for the night, I still need to go up to Whale Island. I do not have much time at all, so I'm going to be cutting this close.
Quickly water the crops...
Meh, I don't even need that crop of tomatoes, they'll be fine without water for a day.
IRIS: I hope you'll be my model again, Bush.
Right now he probably looks like he's been caught up in a flaming tornado, so tonight's maybe not the best night for it.
Aside from cautioning us about monsters stronger than we are again, something I think we've had enough experience with today, she's got nothing else to say.
Home it is, then!
Time to do some cooking. We've still got a good deal of RP leftover from all that emergency Udon eating, so we can fit in a bit of gift making before we hit the bed.
A little bit of fridge management...
And some more butter to close out the night. What do you say, Bush?
...Whoops.
Well, this'll put a bit of a dent in tomorrow's plans. And Lara's LP bar.
On the bright side, it guarantees no tornado tomorrow if there was going to be one?
Well, catch you next time where we salvage this mistake and maybe finally put an end to the Lava Ruins! Some real interesting stuff is going to go down before we make it to Autumn- this is going to be a very eventful next 5 days.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.
The long and short of it is that I'll unfortunately need another week for both of my LPs. I've just been too busy with other stuff these last few days to have a chance to write an update for either.
The thing is, I've got a bunch more projects than just these LPs, and occasionally they get unstuck and just consume all my creative energy for a while. Until, of course, they inevitably hit another sticking point, crash and burn, and leave me free for other creative pursuits. But hey, any progress is progress, and maybe one day I'll have one that just keeps going without getting stuck on something.
I should be back on schedule this week, whether this current pursuit crashes and burns like usual or I have to set time aside to make these updates.
The thing is, I've got a bunch more projects than just these LPs, and occasionally they get unstuck and just consume all my creative energy for a while. Until, of course, they inevitably hit another sticking point, crash and burn, and leave me free for other creative pursuits. But hey, any progress is progress, and maybe one day I'll have one that just keeps going without getting stuck on something.
I should be back on schedule this week, whether this current pursuit crashes and burns like usual or I have to set time aside to make these updates.
Update 34: Ecological Warfare: Call of Runey
Music: St. Poli Church
Welcome back, all, Bush has recovered from being one with the kitchen counter.
I've already had us take a Cold Medicine, so we'll just have to face this new day with less health and RP than usual.
Hopefully this is the last time in a while this happens, every time it does we miss Anette, and she's the farthest behind on the list.
LARA: Bush, live your life so you don't have to use my services here.
But if I did that, I'd have to farm my own colored grass!
First on the morning rounds is the Clocktower, and Kanno. We've got that Thick Stick for him, so let's turn that in and see what else we have to get him.
KANNO: This is the "Thick Stick" that I wanted. Good job. You certainly are bright.
KANNO: Here is something to reward you. It's handmade.
New staff!
You got Hell Branch!
...oh.
We already have one of these. I was expecting a wind element staff given the emerald, but fine, I guess. I'll just forget to sell it and let it clog up my inventory for a while.
Time to check on the Runeys. Everything should be fine-
It begins.
If you've been wondering when that inevitable ecosystem collapse was gonna happen, so was I. I had foolishly begun to think it might not even happen, but here it is.
The Business District is down to just 4 Grass Runeys of all things, the rest of it's population having died out with no interference on my part.
I've got a lot of Rock and Tree stockpiled, so I guess I'll go grab 60 of one of them and just dump them there.
Lake Poli would also be showing up as dying, but it happens to be at exactly 5 Runeys, which registers as healthy. Mountain Road is presently overrun with Tree Runeys, containing 1 Water, 0 Rock, 26 Tree, 4 Grass.
If I paid closer attention to the Runeys in the air then I'd have noticed this, but you really just filter them out visually after a while.
Music: Summer
Between the Homestead and the Grass Farm I forget about half the time, I've been roughly upkeeping the current state of prosperity in the region.
I could technically take one of the regions out of prosperity and it wouldn't change anything in our growth patterns as the pattern is:
1 region : -1 day of growth time
3 regions: -2 days of growth time
5 regions: -3 days of growth time
...and we're sitting at 4 prospering regions, but it is getting me more Water runeys.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"...I see." - Cinnamon~
...I see.
So you think so, too.
I see.
-----------------------------------------------------
This was in reference to us claiming to not believe the moon is made of cheese.
It's rather hard to intuit her reaction here. This is possibly the least telling reaction she could have sent.
At least it was more than "...Oh."
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Hm..." - Selphy~
A princess...?
I guess a princess with super strength could be fun...
All right! I'll go with that!
Thanks, you're a life saver!
-----------------------------------------------------
It seems like our suggestion went over well, now it's only time to see if it ends up selling well too.
...I don't think we're getting a cut of the royalties though.
I then resume the cooking that was cut short last night. I suppose it's good we passed out at the blender and not the oven. Would've been bad if we burned our house down or something.
Enough gifts made for now, it's time to get on with the rest of the day. And by that I mean more chatting.
Mystery girl's back outside of Mist's house! Been a while since we've seen you!
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
BUSH: What are you doing?
MYSTERY GIRL: I was picking flowers. I wanted to place some on the alter.
MYSTERY GIRL: I really like flowers. Especially cute ones like Toy Herbs.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh!
BUSH: What's wrong?
Aside from the fact we still don't know her name?
MYSTERY GIRL: A four leaf clover...
MYSTERY GIRL: Did you know? A "Four Leaf Clover" is a talisman for good luck.
MYSTERY GIRL: Let me give this to you.
BUSH: ...Are you sure?
MYSTERY GIRL: Yes. You are a dear friend of mine.
You got Four-leaf Clove!
Apparently it's just a clove, not a clover. Regardless, Bush's ability to make friends anywhere he goes has finally paid off in him finally recieving a gift in return, and a pretty good one at that.
These normally take 40 days to grow and theory I could toss this into the seed maker and save myself the cost of buying seeds, but then that takes work to actually grow. I'll just opt to keep this and use it for something.
They do sell for a lot, 6500g each, but the profit per day just isn't as immediately good as what some of the quick crops can provide.
One of the later watering can upgrades needs this, so that's probably what I'm using it for.
cave berries
runey management
ROSETTA: Say, Bush.
BUSH: Yes?
ROSETTA: I don't know if I should meddle, but are you having a fight with Mist?
uh what
where did this come from
BUSH: Huh? I don't... think I am...
ROSETTA: Oh? Then I just jumped to conclusions...
are you just now noticing the turnip mafia
I'm not sure what this is on about, even my recording stops here for a few moments, with past me being caught entirely off guard about this.
We talked to her normally just a bit ago, when we were talking to the mystery girl.
DANNY: You know about carrots, Bush?
DANNY: They taste disgusting. I can't believe people eat them.
Carrots are alright. Not my favorite food, but they're good in a stew.
TABATHA: I used to be Miss Bianca's father's maid.
TABATHA: Since my age was close to Miss Bianca, I became her maid after a while.
TABATHA: Of course, Miss Bianca had treated me like her maid even before I became her personal one.
Yeah, that checks out.
TABATHA: Humans and elves alike live on this earth. Runes are a testimony to that earth so we must care for it.
And with runes, we can wield the power of magic, enhanced farming, and toaster ovens. No, seriously, they show up in the handheld games and I don't know what else would power them.
I'm really just hopping all over town today, but next up is to fix the runey situation.
One stack of Rock Runeys later and the Business District is safe for quite a while, hopefully.
Next up is Lake Poli, since it's about to die out as well. Now that I'm looking at it, it is extremely barren of runeys. I really just visually filter them out, I failed to notice this at all during the many establishing shots of the lake while we were on the date with Melody.
Oh, and Cinnamon is up here.
CINNAMON: Candy asked me the other day if there's anyone I like.
CINNAMON: ...I don't understand.
Yeah, same. Does she mean like, like, or just "like", you know what I'm sayin'?
I ask because I don't understand that sentence either, and I just said it.
I choose you, Rock Runey! Go!
And so Lake Poli was spared environmental collapse for like another two weeks or something.
The other two regions will start to fall soon, but I'll wait until I absolutely have to take action first. I already shirk most of my daily runey duties as-is.
On the way past the farm on more Runey Duties, we finally spot Phanty helping out with the watering. I figured I'd set 'em to doing that as they're not really doing anything else.
I originally wanted them just as a combat pet, but Pony has entirely cornered the market there. Bush will accept no subsistutes for a battle companion.
In this incredibly out of order day, I'm finally heading to meet Selphy and get a bath at 6:00 PM of all things. Losing 4 hours off the front of the day and having to deal with Runeys just eats so much time.
SELPHY: I think you're looking a bit smarter now.
SELPHY: Intelligence can open so many doors for people!
I don't think that's a matter you can just determine visually, but, thanks, I guess?
SELPHY: I take a bath every day because if I don't keep myself clean, the books will get dirty.
BUSH: Haha... I guess it's always about the books.
SELPHY: Of course!
Um, Selphy, you wear gloves nearly 24/7. In theory, you should only have to wash the gloves and maybe your coat.
Actually, wait, she probably doesn't need to realize this. I have a suspicion she'd consider bathing to be optional and defer to even more reading.
It's not like she doesn't read in the bath already.
Following this, I destroy the floor of the Laga Springs with our hammer. Gotta grind those skills.
Unfortunately, it's time for more
Been a while, but such is our punishment for reaching the bath so late.
This one's pretty short and tame, it's just Candy being annoyed that she hasn't hit adolesence yet. At least it tells us that Cinnamon is six years older than her younger sister, so I guess that puts Candy at somewhere around 12?
NOLAN: Ho-ho! Bush, you must really like baths to stay long enough to get dizzy.
We do indeed like baths, but this isn't a result of that.
Well, let's put it out of mind and get back to the rest of our day. Off to the Inn for a bit of restocking, then it's off to Iris, and then the Lava Ruins to close out the night.
For anyone wondering, Uzuki still doesn't want anything to do with us. It'll be some time yet.
Buying more baking supplies barely dents our supply of cash.
Off to Whale Island!
IRIS: I had a dream about you yesterday, Bush.
IRIS: I laughed because we were even talking in the dream. It's happening right now, too.
Given that this Gelwein guy seems to hardly be a conversationalist, Iris has probably had more conversation with us in this last month than she's had in years.
IRIS: I do have a parasol, but I sleep during the day so I never used it.
That would make sense, yeah.
Instead of the Lava Ruins, I opt to just do some more cooking before the day ends as watering the rest of our field dented our bars pretty hard.
By combining Flour, Chocolate, Milk, an Egg, and Butter, we can make a Choco Cake.
Choco Cake Lv:1 was synthesized.
While it is expensive in terms of materials, it's some pretty solid HP and RP restoraton, alongside some decent buffs. It also happens to be Lara's favorite food, so maybe this'll help get her out of the 2LP deadzone she's been stuck in the whole game.
Not gonna make these all the time, but we can easily spare it at the moment.
And with a little bit of weapon skill grinding, we close this day out.
Ah, proper sleep!
Music: Goodnight
oh, you have to absolutely be kidding me
it's another tornado day
of course
LARA: Did you work until you collapsed again?!
If Bush told you the real reason, (namely that a violent hurricane would've blown through the town unless he knocked himself out,) you'd just make us stay in bed all day, thinking we'd gone delusional.
Ah, yes, and it's also raining today. Rather happy this happened, in fact, saves me from having to water the field today.
I'll put up a guest track in a bit.
Oh, Anette, we'll get you those Pumpkin Tarts someday.
LARA: Chocolate cake? I love this! Thank you!
It's good stuff. Kinda wish I had some right now.
LARA: When you get sick, please take some "Cold Medicine." You have to take it before it gets worse.
Colds don't really get any worse than they start out, and I believe they're fully cured on going to sleep, so they only ever really last one day.
I could be wrong though, Colds are rarely a mechanic I interact with in these games, I'm usually on point about getting them cleared immediately.
LARA: I dislike "Vegetable Juice." Don't you thing we should all eat vegetables just they way they are?
Lara does not like V8.
A core part of Bush's profession in being a chef is that he cuts up a lot of vegetables, making them not just the way they are- an act in direct opposition to this belief.
Of course, he's never made any Vegetable Juice either, so I guess that cancels everything out?
STELLA: The "Four Leaf Clover" is said to be a the talisman that brings you happiness.
STELLA: But in the end, it is up to the person if they really want to be happy.
STELLA: But it serves well as a talisman to give confidence to those holding onto it or by giving it to others.
Man, all this talk about Four-leaf Clovers, and we even got one yesterday! What a coincidence.
still gonna use it to make a watering can though, you can't stop me
Music: Kross' Theme
KROSS: It's summer... I don't have a lot of good memories when it comes to summer.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: The sticky humidity, attacking monsters... That year was certainly hell for me...
Damn, you've had a rough life, man. At least Summer's almost over?
Another day at 10:00 AM, another day with half meters.
Oh, uh, right, guest track, uh...
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Kardia Park
It's not the most Summer-y or watery, but it's a track I quite like. I used to be able to play a little bit of this on piano, but that's a skill long since rusted away.
KANNO: You have gotten much better. I suppose the student learns best when the master is great.
BUSH: You haven't taught me anything...
KANNO: Your job for today is to bring me a "Cheap Cloth."
BUSH: "Cheap Cloth," is it? All right.
Didn't we already bring you one of these?
Well, Bush luckily already has one sitting around in his bag I picked up in case I might need it.
Not what I'd expected I'd use it for, but hey, it worked out in the end.
KANNO: Good job. Here is your reward, a "Fire Rod."
what
did we go back in time or something, we already did this
BUSH: You gave me that last time...
KANNO: Really...?
KANNO: *cough cough* My chronic illness...
...Alright, now I'm hoping this is just a bit he's doing because he didn't have anything else planned.
KANNO: I hear that fortunetelling can change the weather. I'd like to know how that works.
You know, nobody in RF2 even questions how Alicia does it. Her mother always gives out to her about finding a real job, but never stops to think she can warp the weather at will.
I mean, I guess Bush can also do it by losing consciousness, but he just stops windstorms.
KANNO: What should I make you do for the next test...? Just you wait.
Please don't let it be a demonstration of Bush's weather magic, he really needs some normal sleep so I can try to make real progress.
CINNAMON: Teaching others is... hard.
CINNAMON: You have to completely know the subject yourself.
One can maybe edge by without knowing it fully, but it really helps to do so. Education is difficult on it's own though, as every student learns different and every day comes with new challenges.
At least she's freelance, and doesn't have to deal with any regulations or overhead institutions.
CINNAMON: Is fishing fun?
BUSH: Yes. It's difficult, but it feels nice when I am able to catch something.
CINNAMON: Try harder.
I'm not exactly sure what that advice is for, but uh, alright?
Outside of hooking live bait, fishing's a pretty chill experience. Nice way to spend a few hours in nature and still feel like you've got a potential goal in mind.
CINNAMON: Time flies when I gaze at the stars.
BUSH: You really like to look at stars, don't you?
CINNAMON: ...Not really.
Alright, whatever you say. Still gonna keep bothering you for constellation information no matter what.
In other news, Selphy has cleaned the library again! Will it stay this way for more than a day?
For this we consult the Magic 8 Bush, just a little shake and...
"Reply hazy"
SELPHY: I was thinking of reading Kanno's books somehow.
SELPHY: But he just won't let me! Stingy book hog!
It's likely because he knows he won't get it back if he does lend you one. It'll get lost in the inevitable booksplosion that will happen tomorrow.
SELPHY: Don't you think Trampoli is a bit inconvienent at times?
There's a lot I could complain about, even the falling sky island, but all of those inconveniences are still less than the fact that I have to deal with Runeys.
Inconvenient, yes, yes it is.
SELPHY: Thanks to that, I learned to get changed and bathe all by myself.
BUSH: But you still forget to eat sometimes.
SELPHY: Oh, come on. Why would you say that?!
You know, Selphy, we have entirely different standards of inconvenience.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Our Homeland: Zzyzx~
"Zzyzx is a chosen nation, lead by the great Emperor Eiselbard. Its people have united under his rule, raised up an army, and will one day conquer the world."
-----------------------------------------------------
As you can tell, the Sechs Empire is filled with very chill and reasonable folk, with no superiority complex whatsoever.
If you've played other RF games, you may better recognize Eiselbard as Ethelberd. Frontier and it's localization decisions, I swear.
Also, why is this nationalist pamphlet in the library?
ROSETTA: Having adventures is fine and everything, but you should come shop here more often.
Unfortunately, I rarely need flower seeds and earrings when it comes to dungeoneering.
GANESHA: I hate "Wool."
BUSH: Why is that?
GANESHA: I just hate how soft and bouncy it is. I just want to tell it to "Toughen up!" Don't you agree?
BUSH: Uh...
GANESHA: That's why you better not ever show me any of that Wool!
This is the weirdest way to not say you have a wool allergy I've ever heard. I just wish it was voice acted- it'd just be perfect.
MIST: If you throw money in a spring, your wish will be granted. Of course, there isn't a spring in my garden.
It'd be great if this was actually a thing, as then I'd have a real reason to dupe wine and just dump a bunch of cash in to see what would happen.
MIST: Oh...? You seem to be wearing normal clothes today.
BUSH: Huh? I wear this every day.
MIST: Oh, I'm sorry... That was in a dream.
He really does wear this every day.
MIST: Yesterday, I had a dream where you were working in your field while dressed strangely.
BUSH: How strangely?
MIST: You had rabbit ears, a long scarf...
BUSH: You can stop right there...
MIST: Really? That's too bad.
The irony of all of this is that we're wearing cat ears and a long scarf at the moment. I guess Bush would never dare wear rabbit ears.
RITA: It seems like Uzuki and her caretaker are arguing over a lot of things.
RITA: But I don't think it's something to really worry about.
BUSH: But... aren't you even a little worried, Rita?
RITA: Worried? Why would I be? Those two are bound together in such a way that a little fighting won't change their closeness.
RITA: You should trust them.
This is mostly a signal that Uzuki's event is closer to being able to be progressed.
She still doesn't want anything to do with Bush though.
We'll just go talk to Eunice instead.
EUNICE: The people of the village don't really need to use the inn.
EUNICE: I guess it feels a bit lonely.
I mean, Uzuki's here. I can't imagine she's just got a room for free.
I'll be honest though, I never see any visitors come by. This is something later games got better at showing with generic travelers.
EUNICE: I haven't seen Tsubute recently.
EUNICE: Where could he have gone...?
We'll find out the answer to this soon enough.
TABATHA: The Sainte-Coquille family is a family of epicures. They are all dainty eaters.
BUSH: Really? Bianca doesn't seem that way...
TABATHA: Well, Miss Bianca may eat fewer times, but she eats enough for 3 to 4 people each time.
TABATHA: She's the kind that just does not gain weight no matter how much she eats.
TABATHA: That's why among her relations, they think that she is the only small eater in the family.
BUSH: Th-that's amazing...
Tabatha, I'm not sure this is exactly what "dainty eater" is meant to imply.
In following generations, this view of the Sainte-Coquille line would gradually vanish, as the trademark extreme appetite would prove to show less and less throughout the years. It's not gone altogether though.
Also, apparently it's pronounced "sont coquille", if the VA is anything to go by. The more you know.
Another day, another bundle of eggs, milk, and wool.
Our first set of pumpkins finally grew. I guess I did go a bit overkill on the fertilizer for this set- I was just trying to get it in before the end of the month, but here we are with 8 more days to go.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New Soap ♪" - Melody~
We have new soap at the bathhouse♪
Enjoy it's new, refreshing fragrance!
-----------------------------------------------------
This mechanically changes nothing, but getting little advertisements like these are always a nice attention to detail. I wish they did more of them.
Toast Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
In preparation of what's to come, I start to bake a whole lot of toast.
It seems my previous estimations of how good toast would be have fallen a little short. It's decent RP restoration and still 50 HP though.
The max HP buff is mostly irrelevant, and honestly that's just how a lot of buffs are in this game without healing spells or high level medicine. I really wish they'd have put healing staves in this game, but alas.
Music: Lava Ruins
And so, Bush's Baked Breads in hand, we descend the Lava Ruins.
All the way to floor where we last left off- B5F.
Peeking down the shortcut staircase into B6F, we can see that the staircase we're looking for will be somewhere to the left and south.
Just to the left of the B5F shortcut staircase is this little crossroads section with farm plots and the blockaded path to the south. This seems like where we'll need to be going.
We'll need a boulder from the north, so let's check north.
Going up the north staircase is just another blockade, but we can see there is another boulder behind it.
So it looks like we're going to have to loop around east, north, and east to get to this.
Well, that was easy and surprisingly painless. I suppose we let loose the boulder and see if we had the right idea.
The boulder smashes some ore on the way down, netting us some silver and a ruby- not bad.
Wow, Alright, I guess that was it. Huh.
LAVA RUINS B6F
We stand in the penultimate room of the dungeon, at last. I go ahead and pop the shortcut door offscreen, and well...
There's no better time than now for this, I guess.
Let's do this!
Music: Mimic Slime
(A new boss theme! This one's pretty good, I have to say.)
...Uh, where is it?
Oh, alright, monsters are just gonna explode from the ground then.
A lot of monsters.
This massive group of hornets is also their upgraded form, which shoots multiple shots, so the game has suddenly turned into a bullet hell.
The sting shots are pretty small hitboxes, though, so they're not too hard to avoid.
They fly right over the Earth Wand, which is a problem, but...
The Gaea staff still hits and it just obliterates the large majority of the horde and scores us a level up in the process.
Next up seems to be about 4 Panthers, an enemy we have yet to see normally. They're usually just beefy melee attackers with high crit, but in this game, they're very dodgy enemies with tons of projectiles they shotgun everywhere.
Said projectiles are pictured here, flying all over the place.
Luckily neither these or the hornets' projectiles hurt very much individually.
I try applying the Water Staff here, but it's rather meh in performance.
Pony can melee these guys for 240 on a pounce, which is hilariously strong, but she's not going to last much longer in this fight. Her large hitbox has led to her soaking up quite a lot of ranged attacks.
Given these Panthers like to stay at range, the water staff is putting in a bit of work though, sometimes it does double hit and that performs some decent damage.
I was also previously wrong about how elements work in this game, as it turns out, it's just two pairs of opposed elements. Fire and Water are super effective on one another, and Earth and Wind are super effective on one another. An attack of the same type, say Fire on Fire, is less effective. Everything else is neutral damage.
In time, the Panthers go down, and Pony is still standing thanks to me keeping her outside her aggro range. Seems like we've still got more monsters incoming, and nothing we've done so far has damaged the boss health bar at the bottom.
alright those are some big trolls
Unfortunately, following this, Pony gets completely bodyslammed by the pictured giant troll, so we're on our own. She did a good job getting us this far.
I whip out the Crescent Axe and start going for the special attacks, and this seems to easily do the trick for these big boys. Their ending lag on attacks give me plenty of time to drop these swings safely, and they're nowhere near as evasive as the last groups of enemies.
Get outta here, ya mug
The flames break apart and spread across the floor...
Well that's a lot of slimes. Luckily, the strategy for the hornets works incredibly well here too.
We end up getting two whole levels from this encounter alone. We've leveled up four times over the course of this fight, even.
The flames coalesce in the center, and...
...This goofy looking thing is what we've gotta fight? This is the ruler of the dreaded Lava Caverns?
Well, it looks kinda like a Runey, so that's more than enough motivation for me to punch it.
So far, the Mimic Slime proves to have pretty low defense, and the axe is cutting right through it. It does have a melee range jump and slam though, which does a hefty chunk of our HP bar.
It can also explode around itself, the hitboxes on which are a bit large, but a bit less damaging than the slam. The extra super-armor granted by using a special attack seems to be letting us poise right through it, though.
It can also use a series of targeted, delayed floor explosions to force us to move. This is probably the most annoying attack it has, as these hurt and we can't afford to tank through them.
We take this opportunity to get back and eat some toast. The lifesteal on our axe really helps the HP upkeep in these prolonged fights as long as the damage isn't too bad.
The most terrifying attack it has is this multi-directional flame wave, which can build up damage really fast if you're not standing in the small blind spots when it lets this loose.
You know it's going to use this when it twists itself, stretching upwards.
I take a brief break from the axe and try to spend some of my RP bar lifestealing from the boss with the Bubble Staff. The ratio restored really isn't good, but it keeps me away from a lot of the damage for a bit.
The fight drags on for quite a bit longer, and I try to stick to a ranged approach with the Water Rod. It does alright, but this boss is more than capable at both melee and range which makes approaching in any manner usually an HP trade.
Honestly, that's how it feels a lot of the time in this game's combat, you just have to trade HP to beat anything. It's not as refined as the games that would follow it.
I end up taking a risk and just charge in for the last few hits. I don't have much HP left, but I estimate just two more swings could take it out at this point, and this guess turns out to be correct.
We cut to a cutscene of a now much smaller mimic slime bouncing around, and...
It just peaces out by jumping into the lava pool.
Uh, okay.
Loot!
But more importantly, victory at last! I have avenged my original playthrough of this game by beating this boss. Lava Ruins can go suck a lemon, I'm done with this place if at all possible. The music's nice, but it's just brutal down here.
Of the loot in note, we get a few pieces of Gold ore, which is a nice jumpstart into some recipes we've been blocked from for quite some time. There's also an assortment of level 10 cooking goods, being Chocolate, Flour, Cooking Oil, and Curry Powder.
These are actually prime duplication candidates, given boss drops is the only way you'll ever get these at this quality.
The boss's specific drop is the Red Core, which is apparently candy-like in nature. I can't believe fighting a candy monster took this much combined effort.
BUSH: I think I saw a stone tablet similar to this somewhere in the village.
The most important item of all is the Relic, the item that will finally let us unlock the next dungeon.
When will that happen? Next time! This update's running long.
See you then!
Music: St. Poli ChurchWelcome back, all, Bush has recovered from being one with the kitchen counter.
I've already had us take a Cold Medicine, so we'll just have to face this new day with less health and RP than usual.
Hopefully this is the last time in a while this happens, every time it does we miss Anette, and she's the farthest behind on the list.
LARA: Bush, live your life so you don't have to use my services here.
But if I did that, I'd have to farm my own colored grass!
First on the morning rounds is the Clocktower, and Kanno. We've got that Thick Stick for him, so let's turn that in and see what else we have to get him.
KANNO: This is the "Thick Stick" that I wanted. Good job. You certainly are bright.
KANNO: Here is something to reward you. It's handmade.
New staff!
You got Hell Branch!
...oh.
We already have one of these. I was expecting a wind element staff given the emerald, but fine, I guess. I'll just forget to sell it and let it clog up my inventory for a while.
Time to check on the Runeys. Everything should be fine-
It begins.
If you've been wondering when that inevitable ecosystem collapse was gonna happen, so was I. I had foolishly begun to think it might not even happen, but here it is.
The Business District is down to just 4 Grass Runeys of all things, the rest of it's population having died out with no interference on my part.
I've got a lot of Rock and Tree stockpiled, so I guess I'll go grab 60 of one of them and just dump them there.
Lake Poli would also be showing up as dying, but it happens to be at exactly 5 Runeys, which registers as healthy. Mountain Road is presently overrun with Tree Runeys, containing 1 Water, 0 Rock, 26 Tree, 4 Grass.
If I paid closer attention to the Runeys in the air then I'd have noticed this, but you really just filter them out visually after a while.
Music: SummerBetween the Homestead and the Grass Farm I forget about half the time, I've been roughly upkeeping the current state of prosperity in the region.
I could technically take one of the regions out of prosperity and it wouldn't change anything in our growth patterns as the pattern is:
1 region : -1 day of growth time
3 regions: -2 days of growth time
5 regions: -3 days of growth time
...and we're sitting at 4 prospering regions, but it is getting me more Water runeys.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"...I see." - Cinnamon~
...I see.
So you think so, too.
I see.
-----------------------------------------------------
This was in reference to us claiming to not believe the moon is made of cheese.
It's rather hard to intuit her reaction here. This is possibly the least telling reaction she could have sent.
At least it was more than "...Oh."
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Hm..." - Selphy~
A princess...?
I guess a princess with super strength could be fun...
All right! I'll go with that!
Thanks, you're a life saver!
-----------------------------------------------------
It seems like our suggestion went over well, now it's only time to see if it ends up selling well too.
...I don't think we're getting a cut of the royalties though.
I then resume the cooking that was cut short last night. I suppose it's good we passed out at the blender and not the oven. Would've been bad if we burned our house down or something.
Enough gifts made for now, it's time to get on with the rest of the day. And by that I mean more chatting.
Mystery girl's back outside of Mist's house! Been a while since we've seen you!
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
BUSH: What are you doing?
MYSTERY GIRL: I was picking flowers. I wanted to place some on the alter.
MYSTERY GIRL: I really like flowers. Especially cute ones like Toy Herbs.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh!
BUSH: What's wrong?
Aside from the fact we still don't know her name?
MYSTERY GIRL: A four leaf clover...
MYSTERY GIRL: Did you know? A "Four Leaf Clover" is a talisman for good luck.
MYSTERY GIRL: Let me give this to you.
BUSH: ...Are you sure?
MYSTERY GIRL: Yes. You are a dear friend of mine.
You got Four-leaf Clove!
Apparently it's just a clove, not a clover. Regardless, Bush's ability to make friends anywhere he goes has finally paid off in him finally recieving a gift in return, and a pretty good one at that.
These normally take 40 days to grow and theory I could toss this into the seed maker and save myself the cost of buying seeds, but then that takes work to actually grow. I'll just opt to keep this and use it for something.
They do sell for a lot, 6500g each, but the profit per day just isn't as immediately good as what some of the quick crops can provide.
One of the later watering can upgrades needs this, so that's probably what I'm using it for.
cave berries
runey management
ROSETTA: Say, Bush.
BUSH: Yes?
ROSETTA: I don't know if I should meddle, but are you having a fight with Mist?
uh what
where did this come from
BUSH: Huh? I don't... think I am...
ROSETTA: Oh? Then I just jumped to conclusions...
I'm not sure what this is on about, even my recording stops here for a few moments, with past me being caught entirely off guard about this.
We talked to her normally just a bit ago, when we were talking to the mystery girl.
DANNY: You know about carrots, Bush?
DANNY: They taste disgusting. I can't believe people eat them.
Carrots are alright. Not my favorite food, but they're good in a stew.
TABATHA: I used to be Miss Bianca's father's maid.
TABATHA: Since my age was close to Miss Bianca, I became her maid after a while.
TABATHA: Of course, Miss Bianca had treated me like her maid even before I became her personal one.
Yeah, that checks out.
TABATHA: Humans and elves alike live on this earth. Runes are a testimony to that earth so we must care for it.
And with runes, we can wield the power of magic, enhanced farming, and toaster ovens. No, seriously, they show up in the handheld games and I don't know what else would power them.
I'm really just hopping all over town today, but next up is to fix the runey situation.
One stack of Rock Runeys later and the Business District is safe for quite a while, hopefully.
Next up is Lake Poli, since it's about to die out as well. Now that I'm looking at it, it is extremely barren of runeys. I really just visually filter them out, I failed to notice this at all during the many establishing shots of the lake while we were on the date with Melody.
Oh, and Cinnamon is up here.
CINNAMON: Candy asked me the other day if there's anyone I like.
CINNAMON: ...I don't understand.
Yeah, same. Does she mean like, like, or just "like", you know what I'm sayin'?
I ask because I don't understand that sentence either, and I just said it.
I choose you, Rock Runey! Go!
And so Lake Poli was spared environmental collapse for like another two weeks or something.
The other two regions will start to fall soon, but I'll wait until I absolutely have to take action first. I already shirk most of my daily runey duties as-is.
On the way past the farm on more Runey Duties, we finally spot Phanty helping out with the watering. I figured I'd set 'em to doing that as they're not really doing anything else.
I originally wanted them just as a combat pet, but Pony has entirely cornered the market there. Bush will accept no subsistutes for a battle companion.
In this incredibly out of order day, I'm finally heading to meet Selphy and get a bath at 6:00 PM of all things. Losing 4 hours off the front of the day and having to deal with Runeys just eats so much time.
SELPHY: I think you're looking a bit smarter now.
SELPHY: Intelligence can open so many doors for people!
I don't think that's a matter you can just determine visually, but, thanks, I guess?
SELPHY: I take a bath every day because if I don't keep myself clean, the books will get dirty.
BUSH: Haha... I guess it's always about the books.
SELPHY: Of course!
Um, Selphy, you wear gloves nearly 24/7. In theory, you should only have to wash the gloves and maybe your coat.
Actually, wait, she probably doesn't need to realize this. I have a suspicion she'd consider bathing to be optional and defer to even more reading.
It's not like she doesn't read in the bath already.
Following this, I destroy the floor of the Laga Springs with our hammer. Gotta grind those skills.
Unfortunately, it's time for more
Been a while, but such is our punishment for reaching the bath so late.
This one's pretty short and tame, it's just Candy being annoyed that she hasn't hit adolesence yet. At least it tells us that Cinnamon is six years older than her younger sister, so I guess that puts Candy at somewhere around 12?
NOLAN: Ho-ho! Bush, you must really like baths to stay long enough to get dizzy.
We do indeed like baths, but this isn't a result of that.
Well, let's put it out of mind and get back to the rest of our day. Off to the Inn for a bit of restocking, then it's off to Iris, and then the Lava Ruins to close out the night.
For anyone wondering, Uzuki still doesn't want anything to do with us. It'll be some time yet.
Buying more baking supplies barely dents our supply of cash.
Off to Whale Island!
IRIS: I had a dream about you yesterday, Bush.
IRIS: I laughed because we were even talking in the dream. It's happening right now, too.
Given that this Gelwein guy seems to hardly be a conversationalist, Iris has probably had more conversation with us in this last month than she's had in years.
IRIS: I do have a parasol, but I sleep during the day so I never used it.
That would make sense, yeah.
Instead of the Lava Ruins, I opt to just do some more cooking before the day ends as watering the rest of our field dented our bars pretty hard.
By combining Flour, Chocolate, Milk, an Egg, and Butter, we can make a Choco Cake.
Choco Cake Lv:1 was synthesized.
While it is expensive in terms of materials, it's some pretty solid HP and RP restoraton, alongside some decent buffs. It also happens to be Lara's favorite food, so maybe this'll help get her out of the 2LP deadzone she's been stuck in the whole game.
Not gonna make these all the time, but we can easily spare it at the moment.
And with a little bit of weapon skill grinding, we close this day out.
Ah, proper sleep!
Music: Goodnightoh, you have to absolutely be kidding me
it's another tornado day
of course
LARA: Did you work until you collapsed again?!
If Bush told you the real reason, (namely that a violent hurricane would've blown through the town unless he knocked himself out,) you'd just make us stay in bed all day, thinking we'd gone delusional.
Ah, yes, and it's also raining today. Rather happy this happened, in fact, saves me from having to water the field today.
I'll put up a guest track in a bit.
Oh, Anette, we'll get you those Pumpkin Tarts someday.
LARA: Chocolate cake? I love this! Thank you!
It's good stuff. Kinda wish I had some right now.
LARA: When you get sick, please take some "Cold Medicine." You have to take it before it gets worse.
Colds don't really get any worse than they start out, and I believe they're fully cured on going to sleep, so they only ever really last one day.
I could be wrong though, Colds are rarely a mechanic I interact with in these games, I'm usually on point about getting them cleared immediately.
LARA: I dislike "Vegetable Juice." Don't you thing we should all eat vegetables just they way they are?
Lara does not like V8.
A core part of Bush's profession in being a chef is that he cuts up a lot of vegetables, making them not just the way they are- an act in direct opposition to this belief.
Of course, he's never made any Vegetable Juice either, so I guess that cancels everything out?
STELLA: The "Four Leaf Clover" is said to be a the talisman that brings you happiness.
STELLA: But in the end, it is up to the person if they really want to be happy.
STELLA: But it serves well as a talisman to give confidence to those holding onto it or by giving it to others.
Man, all this talk about Four-leaf Clovers, and we even got one yesterday! What a coincidence.
still gonna use it to make a watering can though, you can't stop me
Music: Kross' ThemeKROSS: It's summer... I don't have a lot of good memories when it comes to summer.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: The sticky humidity, attacking monsters... That year was certainly hell for me...
Damn, you've had a rough life, man. At least Summer's almost over?
Another day at 10:00 AM, another day with half meters.
Oh, uh, right, guest track, uh...
Music: Rune Factory 1 - Kardia ParkIt's not the most Summer-y or watery, but it's a track I quite like. I used to be able to play a little bit of this on piano, but that's a skill long since rusted away.
KANNO: You have gotten much better. I suppose the student learns best when the master is great.
BUSH: You haven't taught me anything...
KANNO: Your job for today is to bring me a "Cheap Cloth."
BUSH: "Cheap Cloth," is it? All right.
Didn't we already bring you one of these?
Well, Bush luckily already has one sitting around in his bag I picked up in case I might need it.
Not what I'd expected I'd use it for, but hey, it worked out in the end.
KANNO: Good job. Here is your reward, a "Fire Rod."
what
did we go back in time or something, we already did this
BUSH: You gave me that last time...
KANNO: Really...?
KANNO: *cough cough* My chronic illness...
...Alright, now I'm hoping this is just a bit he's doing because he didn't have anything else planned.
KANNO: I hear that fortunetelling can change the weather. I'd like to know how that works.
You know, nobody in RF2 even questions how Alicia does it. Her mother always gives out to her about finding a real job, but never stops to think she can warp the weather at will.
I mean, I guess Bush can also do it by losing consciousness, but he just stops windstorms.
KANNO: What should I make you do for the next test...? Just you wait.
Please don't let it be a demonstration of Bush's weather magic, he really needs some normal sleep so I can try to make real progress.
CINNAMON: Teaching others is... hard.
CINNAMON: You have to completely know the subject yourself.
One can maybe edge by without knowing it fully, but it really helps to do so. Education is difficult on it's own though, as every student learns different and every day comes with new challenges.
At least she's freelance, and doesn't have to deal with any regulations or overhead institutions.
CINNAMON: Is fishing fun?
BUSH: Yes. It's difficult, but it feels nice when I am able to catch something.
CINNAMON: Try harder.
I'm not exactly sure what that advice is for, but uh, alright?
Outside of hooking live bait, fishing's a pretty chill experience. Nice way to spend a few hours in nature and still feel like you've got a potential goal in mind.
CINNAMON: Time flies when I gaze at the stars.
BUSH: You really like to look at stars, don't you?
CINNAMON: ...Not really.
Alright, whatever you say. Still gonna keep bothering you for constellation information no matter what.
In other news, Selphy has cleaned the library again! Will it stay this way for more than a day?
For this we consult the Magic 8 Bush, just a little shake and...
"Reply hazy"
SELPHY: I was thinking of reading Kanno's books somehow.
SELPHY: But he just won't let me! Stingy book hog!
It's likely because he knows he won't get it back if he does lend you one. It'll get lost in the inevitable booksplosion that will happen tomorrow.
SELPHY: Don't you think Trampoli is a bit inconvienent at times?
There's a lot I could complain about, even the falling sky island, but all of those inconveniences are still less than the fact that I have to deal with Runeys.
Inconvenient, yes, yes it is.
SELPHY: Thanks to that, I learned to get changed and bathe all by myself.
BUSH: But you still forget to eat sometimes.
SELPHY: Oh, come on. Why would you say that?!
You know, Selphy, we have entirely different standards of inconvenience.
-----------------------------------------------------
~Our Homeland: Zzyzx~
"Zzyzx is a chosen nation, lead by the great Emperor Eiselbard. Its people have united under his rule, raised up an army, and will one day conquer the world."
-----------------------------------------------------
As you can tell, the Sechs Empire is filled with very chill and reasonable folk, with no superiority complex whatsoever.
If you've played other RF games, you may better recognize Eiselbard as Ethelberd. Frontier and it's localization decisions, I swear.
Also, why is this nationalist pamphlet in the library?
ROSETTA: Having adventures is fine and everything, but you should come shop here more often.
Unfortunately, I rarely need flower seeds and earrings when it comes to dungeoneering.
GANESHA: I hate "Wool."
BUSH: Why is that?
GANESHA: I just hate how soft and bouncy it is. I just want to tell it to "Toughen up!" Don't you agree?
BUSH: Uh...
GANESHA: That's why you better not ever show me any of that Wool!
This is the weirdest way to not say you have a wool allergy I've ever heard. I just wish it was voice acted- it'd just be perfect.
MIST: If you throw money in a spring, your wish will be granted. Of course, there isn't a spring in my garden.
It'd be great if this was actually a thing, as then I'd have a real reason to dupe wine and just dump a bunch of cash in to see what would happen.
MIST: Oh...? You seem to be wearing normal clothes today.
BUSH: Huh? I wear this every day.
MIST: Oh, I'm sorry... That was in a dream.
He really does wear this every day.
MIST: Yesterday, I had a dream where you were working in your field while dressed strangely.
BUSH: How strangely?
MIST: You had rabbit ears, a long scarf...
BUSH: You can stop right there...
MIST: Really? That's too bad.
The irony of all of this is that we're wearing cat ears and a long scarf at the moment. I guess Bush would never dare wear rabbit ears.
RITA: It seems like Uzuki and her caretaker are arguing over a lot of things.
RITA: But I don't think it's something to really worry about.
BUSH: But... aren't you even a little worried, Rita?
RITA: Worried? Why would I be? Those two are bound together in such a way that a little fighting won't change their closeness.
RITA: You should trust them.
This is mostly a signal that Uzuki's event is closer to being able to be progressed.
She still doesn't want anything to do with Bush though.
We'll just go talk to Eunice instead.
EUNICE: The people of the village don't really need to use the inn.
EUNICE: I guess it feels a bit lonely.
I mean, Uzuki's here. I can't imagine she's just got a room for free.
I'll be honest though, I never see any visitors come by. This is something later games got better at showing with generic travelers.
EUNICE: I haven't seen Tsubute recently.
EUNICE: Where could he have gone...?
We'll find out the answer to this soon enough.
TABATHA: The Sainte-Coquille family is a family of epicures. They are all dainty eaters.
BUSH: Really? Bianca doesn't seem that way...
TABATHA: Well, Miss Bianca may eat fewer times, but she eats enough for 3 to 4 people each time.
TABATHA: She's the kind that just does not gain weight no matter how much she eats.
TABATHA: That's why among her relations, they think that she is the only small eater in the family.
BUSH: Th-that's amazing...
Tabatha, I'm not sure this is exactly what "dainty eater" is meant to imply.
In following generations, this view of the Sainte-Coquille line would gradually vanish, as the trademark extreme appetite would prove to show less and less throughout the years. It's not gone altogether though.
Also, apparently it's pronounced "sont coquille", if the VA is anything to go by. The more you know.
Another day, another bundle of eggs, milk, and wool.
Our first set of pumpkins finally grew. I guess I did go a bit overkill on the fertilizer for this set- I was just trying to get it in before the end of the month, but here we are with 8 more days to go.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New Soap ♪" - Melody~
We have new soap at the bathhouse♪
Enjoy it's new, refreshing fragrance!
-----------------------------------------------------
This mechanically changes nothing, but getting little advertisements like these are always a nice attention to detail. I wish they did more of them.
Toast Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!
In preparation of what's to come, I start to bake a whole lot of toast.
It seems my previous estimations of how good toast would be have fallen a little short. It's decent RP restoration and still 50 HP though.
The max HP buff is mostly irrelevant, and honestly that's just how a lot of buffs are in this game without healing spells or high level medicine. I really wish they'd have put healing staves in this game, but alas.
Music: Lava RuinsAnd so, Bush's Baked Breads in hand, we descend the Lava Ruins.
All the way to floor where we last left off- B5F.
Peeking down the shortcut staircase into B6F, we can see that the staircase we're looking for will be somewhere to the left and south.
Just to the left of the B5F shortcut staircase is this little crossroads section with farm plots and the blockaded path to the south. This seems like where we'll need to be going.
We'll need a boulder from the north, so let's check north.
Going up the north staircase is just another blockade, but we can see there is another boulder behind it.
So it looks like we're going to have to loop around east, north, and east to get to this.
Well, that was easy and surprisingly painless. I suppose we let loose the boulder and see if we had the right idea.
The boulder smashes some ore on the way down, netting us some silver and a ruby- not bad.
Wow, Alright, I guess that was it. Huh.
LAVA RUINS B6F
We stand in the penultimate room of the dungeon, at last. I go ahead and pop the shortcut door offscreen, and well...
There's no better time than now for this, I guess.
Let's do this!
Music: Mimic Slime(A new boss theme! This one's pretty good, I have to say.)
...Uh, where is it?
Oh, alright, monsters are just gonna explode from the ground then.
A lot of monsters.
This massive group of hornets is also their upgraded form, which shoots multiple shots, so the game has suddenly turned into a bullet hell.
The sting shots are pretty small hitboxes, though, so they're not too hard to avoid.
They fly right over the Earth Wand, which is a problem, but...
The Gaea staff still hits and it just obliterates the large majority of the horde and scores us a level up in the process.
Next up seems to be about 4 Panthers, an enemy we have yet to see normally. They're usually just beefy melee attackers with high crit, but in this game, they're very dodgy enemies with tons of projectiles they shotgun everywhere.
Said projectiles are pictured here, flying all over the place.
Luckily neither these or the hornets' projectiles hurt very much individually.
I try applying the Water Staff here, but it's rather meh in performance.
Pony can melee these guys for 240 on a pounce, which is hilariously strong, but she's not going to last much longer in this fight. Her large hitbox has led to her soaking up quite a lot of ranged attacks.
Given these Panthers like to stay at range, the water staff is putting in a bit of work though, sometimes it does double hit and that performs some decent damage.
I was also previously wrong about how elements work in this game, as it turns out, it's just two pairs of opposed elements. Fire and Water are super effective on one another, and Earth and Wind are super effective on one another. An attack of the same type, say Fire on Fire, is less effective. Everything else is neutral damage.
In time, the Panthers go down, and Pony is still standing thanks to me keeping her outside her aggro range. Seems like we've still got more monsters incoming, and nothing we've done so far has damaged the boss health bar at the bottom.
alright those are some big trolls
Unfortunately, following this, Pony gets completely bodyslammed by the pictured giant troll, so we're on our own. She did a good job getting us this far.
I whip out the Crescent Axe and start going for the special attacks, and this seems to easily do the trick for these big boys. Their ending lag on attacks give me plenty of time to drop these swings safely, and they're nowhere near as evasive as the last groups of enemies.
Get outta here, ya mug
The flames break apart and spread across the floor...
Well that's a lot of slimes. Luckily, the strategy for the hornets works incredibly well here too.
We end up getting two whole levels from this encounter alone. We've leveled up four times over the course of this fight, even.
The flames coalesce in the center, and...
...This goofy looking thing is what we've gotta fight? This is the ruler of the dreaded Lava Caverns?
Well, it looks kinda like a Runey, so that's more than enough motivation for me to punch it.
So far, the Mimic Slime proves to have pretty low defense, and the axe is cutting right through it. It does have a melee range jump and slam though, which does a hefty chunk of our HP bar.
It can also explode around itself, the hitboxes on which are a bit large, but a bit less damaging than the slam. The extra super-armor granted by using a special attack seems to be letting us poise right through it, though.
It can also use a series of targeted, delayed floor explosions to force us to move. This is probably the most annoying attack it has, as these hurt and we can't afford to tank through them.
We take this opportunity to get back and eat some toast. The lifesteal on our axe really helps the HP upkeep in these prolonged fights as long as the damage isn't too bad.
The most terrifying attack it has is this multi-directional flame wave, which can build up damage really fast if you're not standing in the small blind spots when it lets this loose.
You know it's going to use this when it twists itself, stretching upwards.
I take a brief break from the axe and try to spend some of my RP bar lifestealing from the boss with the Bubble Staff. The ratio restored really isn't good, but it keeps me away from a lot of the damage for a bit.
The fight drags on for quite a bit longer, and I try to stick to a ranged approach with the Water Rod. It does alright, but this boss is more than capable at both melee and range which makes approaching in any manner usually an HP trade.
Honestly, that's how it feels a lot of the time in this game's combat, you just have to trade HP to beat anything. It's not as refined as the games that would follow it.
I end up taking a risk and just charge in for the last few hits. I don't have much HP left, but I estimate just two more swings could take it out at this point, and this guess turns out to be correct.
We cut to a cutscene of a now much smaller mimic slime bouncing around, and...
It just peaces out by jumping into the lava pool.
Uh, okay.
Loot!
But more importantly, victory at last! I have avenged my original playthrough of this game by beating this boss. Lava Ruins can go suck a lemon, I'm done with this place if at all possible. The music's nice, but it's just brutal down here.
Of the loot in note, we get a few pieces of Gold ore, which is a nice jumpstart into some recipes we've been blocked from for quite some time. There's also an assortment of level 10 cooking goods, being Chocolate, Flour, Cooking Oil, and Curry Powder.
These are actually prime duplication candidates, given boss drops is the only way you'll ever get these at this quality.
The boss's specific drop is the Red Core, which is apparently candy-like in nature. I can't believe fighting a candy monster took this much combined effort.
BUSH: I think I saw a stone tablet similar to this somewhere in the village.
The most important item of all is the Relic, the item that will finally let us unlock the next dungeon.
When will that happen? Next time! This update's running long.
See you then!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 35: bath family
Ah, time for another update! Where were we?
Oh, right, we just made a giant candy monster jump into a pool of lava.
Rune Factory 3 - Summer
Well, with that, we're finally on the way to some more new content.
One victory bath later, and I'm left figuring out what to do today. I've got plenty of time left and I feel like we're sorta done for the day.
I could do Runey work, but I'd just rather not.
MIST: I think it's pretty dashing to be doing farm work inside the dungeon.
MIST: The monsters will look after you.
Yeah, they take care of me alright. Just not in the way you're thinking.
MIST: You defeated the monster in the Lava Ruins? Amazing.
MIST: By the way, don't you think the Lava Ruins could be like a giant hot pot? Mmm... Turnip hotpot.
...This is about the response I expected from Mist.
We didn't come back to our house for nothing, after all, we've got that fancy new Gold ore to work with.
We can upgrade our Lion Can into a Rainbow Can with some Gold, an Aquamarine, a Teardrop, and a Magic Powder. We happen to have all of these!
Rainbow Can Lv:1 was synthesized.
Easier watering? There's no way this could backfire!
oh, how naive i was, dear reader
I also make some more scarves while I'm at it. We really don't have much use for the wool at the moment, aside from this. We'll be getting to some better recipes soon though.
We do end up with a slighly better scarf from all of this, but it's only a +4 Def improvement.
Our new watering can now waters a 5x5, which is a bit awkward in practice as it means it only waters evenly in 15x15 chunks. It uses a bit more RP, sure, but this should make working the field even faster.
Up on Whale Island, we've got another harvest of Moondrops.
also some tomatoes, but when do we not have tomatoes
The Rainbow Can is very fabulous in appearance, and is the height of farmer fashion. I'd say it fits perfectly with our cat ears and Summer scarf in this strangely dark farming game.
Iris has nothing to say about Bush's fashion choices, unfortunately.
It's not even 8:00 PM yet, so why don't we take a peek into the next dungeon?
Next to the Rune Archives is this gigantic headstone thing, with a conspicuously missing chunk.
BUSH: I think something can fit inside this dent...
-------------------
1. Jam in Relic
2. Do nothing.
-------------------
What could go wrong?
Jammed in Relic.
BUSH: There's an entrance to the ruins here!
And so the giant stone slides to the side, opening our way into the...
SNOW RUINS B1F
Music: Snow Ruins
(The music down here instills a forlorn, almost dreadful sense, and it matches. It's not as much of a bop as some of the other dungeon themes in the series though.)
What, you thought it was going to be Autumn themed? Silly you.
...It does count as Autumn down here for growing things, but for this dungeon more than any other you're better off using Whale Island.
Walking forward progresses us into a cutscene!
BUSH: ...! What is that?!
BUSH: A Dark Rune? Something's not right here. I should be careful hereon out.
Bush somehow knows what this dark ball is already. Unfortunately, the game's never told us what it is, and this has never showed up in the series before from what I know, so I can only assume it's bad.
Surprise, it's more Hornets! Or, rather, Hornet Queens! These are the real deal version of the ones the Mimic Slime used against us just earlier today.
This is also one of our first sources of Fair Hide, the upgraded tier of Insect Skin. This is effectively the Quality Fur and Speckled Skin from other games combined into one item.
I handle these Queens easily this time, but unlike their mimic counterparts, these can inflict poison, as well as doing roughly double the damage in general. They're not to be trifled with.
One of the gimmicks of this dungeon is the ice blockades. These are merely walls that have to be destroyed with a fire magic spell, or a fire weapon as I'll find out later. The Heat Axe is really useful for this purpose, as it's faster and cheaper than using a fireball.
The next gimmick is present right in the next room: freezing machines. These accursed things spray out ice mist that hit for about 50-60 in all directions, as well as freeze certain doors shut.
I'd later figure out that these weird arcs of metal, one of which is pictured here, power these. Just hit it with anything, and the machine will explode shortly.
Pony takes twice as much damage from the mist as Bush does, and she's already down to a third of her HP after all of this. It's safe to say the damage just ramps up a ton in this place.
More hornets down here, as well as a set of farm fields off to the left.
It's so dangerous even getting to this field, it's really not worth farming down here. There's plenty of more easily reached plots on Whale Island.
Going north leads us to find Panthers! Not as large as their mimic counterparts, but just as annoying and deadlier. Their energy projectiles hit for around 70 damage right now, which is nearly as much as the Mimic Slime was hitting for on it's strongest hits.
They can do all sorts of sidesteps and flips, which is really annoying in a game where I can do none of that myself.
Clearing that one and the spawner, we've got two paths. One's blocked by ice, and the other visibly leads to more ice mist.
It's about 10:00 PM, so I just say heck with this and head on home for the night. We're gonna have to train up a bit to get read for this place. I think I direly need better armor, but most crafts recipes are inconvenient for grinding.
In theory, I could burn piles of cash buying wool from Erik and just spam making scarves, but I have to imagine they fall off quickly given we're already past their crafting level.
I clear some stuff out of our inventory for an extra little bit of cash before we end the day.
And what a day it was! So much dungeoneering I had to split it between updates.
Music: Goodnight
Music: Summer
Bush awakes to a sunny Thursday morning. What kind of things are we gonna get into today?
...I really need more fridge space.
Pumpkin Tart Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Getting only the best ready for Anette now that we'll actually see her for once.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
Looks like she's had another morning of being chased around, hopefully this tart brightens her day up.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I hear you found the Snow Ruins." - Kanno~
I hear you have entered the Snow Ruins.
The Norad Kingdom used to conduct researches on how to
effectively increase the number of Runes there.
Monsters of cold regions are especially strong,
so be sure not to push yourself too much.
Understood?
-----------------------------------------------------
Given how the kingdom left all these places in ruins, I guess they gave up on dealing with Runeys as well.
Nice to see magic grandpa is looking out for us, though.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New shipments!" - Erik~
New items now available at Erik's Farm!
They are all high quality items from my personal field,
so feel free to come by and take a look!
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure if his stock has changed at all from what it was, but I guess we'll go see sometime soon.
ANETTE: Whooaaaaaa!
The voice line is more of a "wooooow", the same one she does at the end of her mail route in fact.
ANETTE: Huh? It's for me? Thanks!
I guess she's so worn out from schoolwork, postal work, and running from monsters she didn't realize we were giving this to her.
Either that, or she was just really impressed at how good the Pumpkin Tart looked.
Time to do our daily chores while she catches her breath. Look at how much watering we can do!
...Holy St. Poli our RP bar just vanished.
Sure, we only had half of it leftover after all the morning cooking, but still. That all vanished in 4 can charges, and the missing 1/4th of our HP is from just one following can use.
Uh...
Maybe the Rainbow Can wasn't the best idea.
Looks like I'm back to eating food just to finish my daily routine again. The incredibly disorganized layout of the field is also a problem, but I should have that solved when Autumn hits and I can re-organize the whole field.
and so both Bush and Anette stand around tired for a little while
BUSH: It must be hard running around everyday making deliveries.
ANETTE: Yeah... it was hard at first, but I'm used to it now.
ANETTE: Besides, I run everyday so I know I'm fit. I never get sick, you know!
She has to be the healthiest person in town, honestly. All that running around and a strong diet of eggs and natural milk has to make for some calves of steel.
ANETTE: You went deep inside the Lava Ruins? Wow!
ANETTE: If I ever went in there, I would get harassed by the monsters right away.
It happens regardless! It's a battlfield down there!
TABATHA: Do you like monsters, Bush?
----------------
1. I like them.
2. Not really.
----------------
Given our best friend, Pony is right beside us, I think the answer should be obvious. I'll go ahead and split the timelines anyways:
KANNO: I hear you fought a monster that kept shifting shapes.
KANNO: There sure are so many kinds of monsters in this world.
Yeah, but just not here. The palette swapping's a bit frequent, if I'm honest!
...Those 60 rock runeys didn't last long. Seems like I accidentally made a mini Grass Farm of sorts?
Strange, I'll take note of this and experiment with it at a later date.
note: i wont
I reason with how dangerous things seem to be getting, it might actually be worth messing with the Pharmacy skill. With our great wealth of cash, I take a small sum of it and buy a bunch of Neutralizers, cutting one step out of the many steps it takes to make a decent potion.
LARA: When I went to the library to borrow a book, I found Selphy on the floor.
LARA: I was so surprised. She told me she forgot to eat because she couldn't stop reading. What ever will I do with her?
Maybe bring her a lot of food she can read with one hand? That way there's no way she can't forget it?
Perhaps I'm underestimating the ultimate desire for LITERATURE that Selphy has, I could be wrong on this.
LARA: Birthdays are the day when you celebrate the life your parents gave you as express thanks to them for it.
BUSH: Oh. When is your birthday, Lara?
LARA: My birthday is on the 1st of winter.
Is that as auspicious as being born on Autumn 1st?
STELLA: When I went to the batthhouse the other day, Melody kept lecturing me on how good baths are.
STELLA: She really must love baths.
I think even that is an understatement.
Another day, another messy library. Cinnamon's here though!
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: Um...
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: She's concentrating. I should leave her alone.
Bush says that without parentheses, so I assume he just said this out loud.
UZUKI: Trampoli is such a vast place...
UZUKI: It's so quiet...
Uzuki's still dealing with Tsubute's departure, but at least we've got new dialogue out of her for once.
I wouldn't really call Trampoli vast, but then again, I'm not living alone on a different continent from my homeland.
EUNICE: I was cleaning the bar early in the morning and I saw Mom sleeping.
EUNICE: I was about to wake her because I was afraid she'd catch a cold. But then, Dad came in and put a blanket over her without saying anything.
BUSH: That sounds really nice.
EUNICE: I know! I'm a bit jealous of Mom.
Gotta agree with Bush, it's nice to hear something about these two that doesn't point to domestic troubles.
Things are looking up, I guess?
Oh, and Eunice has the Feathered Hat here that I originally gave to Danny. I forgot that I loaded a savestate and gave it to her instead. She'll actually wear it despite it clipping terribly through her braids.
As we've entered a new dungeon, Ganesha's stock has improved. She now sells up to level 5 elemental crystals, as well as the Scimitar, Katana, and Pitchfork. These are the second. third, and second tier non-elemental weapons of their respective categories.
KROSS: So you wentt to the Snow Ruins.
KROSS: Heh... The monsters there are resistant to the cold and weak against heat. You'll have a hard time surviving unless you aim for their weaknesses.
I'm definitely going to want to try and get the high level fire axe made now that we're in there. It'll hopefully do some good damage, otherwise we just stick to our two usual axes.
Really our combat strategy is to just one shot the enemy before they hurt us. Our chest accessory could really use an upgrade as well, although the Water Cape is a bit far off at 64 crafting skill.
A new ring is probably in order too.
For whatever reason, Selphy is in Erik's store today? Did she get an advertisement as well?
BUSH: How is your new novel coming along?
SELPHY: I'm in a slump... I can't think of any ideas!
SELPHY: I think I'm done for... Well, maybe not that serious.
Girl, do I know this feeling.
Anyways, I suppose The Piquing Predicament of the Proud Pugilistic Princess Punch is going to have to wait for another day.
ERIK: Oh! Dried Fish as a birthday present seems a bit dreary but I like it so it's all good!
erik
erik, I gave you a strawberry
As far as I know, you can't make Dried Fish, so it seems this is a developmental leftover.
Also, it's Erik's birthday, but you probably already gathered that.
ERIK: It's the most basic things that will make you excel in farm work. You better be sure to care for it every day!
You know, I'm really needing to excel in farming right about now, the penalty for being underskilled on our watering can really seems to bite.
ERIK: I hear you went to the Snow Ruins.
ERIK: Are you sure you can manage all these fields? Well, you could just let the monsters take care of the fields in the village.
ERIK: The reason I don't use monsters to help out is because I decided to do everything myself.
ERIK: It's not because I'm scared of the monsters I tell you!
If only monster happiness didn't take so long in this game, I'd let them do a lot more work for me.
In hindsight, I might be a lot less strapped for RP if I just did more farming in the dungeons, but then I wouldn't have such massive profits!
I think I'm close to the point where I might go clear out the first field in Lava Ruins to exclusively use as RP restoration.
I'll just put some grass there or something.
Profits for the day are racking up!
We're sitting at 58,000g, and have 22,000g in the box!
I now have to eat copious amounts of stored oranges in order to water the rest of the fields
rainbow can was a mistake
runey management
Selphy's just all over town today.
And now that it's 3:00, we can finally get refreshed.
Music: Tensions
(So, you know that track I've avoided showing twice now because the name's a spoiler? Here it is again, however without any indication of the spoiler.
I don't really know why I bother, it's not that big of a deal, but I've gone this far with it so why not go all the way?)
...Or we get a cutscene?
MELODY: I said I don't want it!
NOLAN: But it can be of great assistance to you.
MELODY: And I'm saying I don't need it! I run this bathhouse because I love this bath!
NOLAN: Then let us take the entire bathhouse to the castle. Doing that can be very simple...
What in the world is going on here?
MELODY: Wha... Wha...
MELODY: G-get out of here!! If you really like baths then think about their feelings!!
*She runs from the building.*
Apparently Bush has been awkwardly standing just off-screen.
BUSH: What happened?
NOLAN: You caught me at a terrible time.
Yeah, pretty much.
NOLAN: I came to Melody to ask her if she would like to be adopted by myself.
NOLAN: I heard that she has no other family so I did it out of good will. However, it appears I have offended her in the process...
BUSH: I see...
...You didn't handle it the most tactfully from what I can tell, what we walked in on was a bit pushy for such a delicate question.
BUSH: I'm going to find Melody. We have to talk it over.
NOLAN: I suppose so... Please do so.
Bush is going to go and get the other side of the story. What a thing to walk in on when we're half dead from farming.
NOLAN: I will be waiting right here. Please take care of Melody.
First up, we gotta go find her. I munch down some oranges in preparation of whatever is to come, and go outside.
While she does like looking at the Lava Ruins, there is one thing definitely more important to her, and that's the Laga Springs. What better place to go than it's source?
To the caverns of Whale Island we go!
The game never really acknowledges the fact we climb a miles tall beanstalk to get up here, and it doesn't acknowledge it for anyone else. It is an act that happens in a matter of seconds, somehow.
Riding through the caverns, we go to where we first met Melody, and...
Music: Pinch
Egads, Melody's been cornered by goblins! Normally I expect she'd have destroyed them offscreen, but I guess she's been caught off-guard.
BUSH: Melody!
Bush charges in between them, heroically wielding the, uh, harvester.
As we gain control, they immediately go to attack!
Bush fumbles to draw the Gaea Rod and Pony oneshots two of them in a single lunge.
And then Bush absolutely deletes the other three with an earthquake, throwing them across the room.
I've seen a guide recommend level 30 for this.
With the power of magic and Pony's constant assistance, Melody has been saved from this deadly encounter!
Music: Whale Island Cave
BUSH: Are you okay, Melody?
MELODY: I'm fine. I was just a little surprised.
BUSH: Let's go back. Nolan is worried about you.
MELODY: No!
Bush, that was... hardly the right sentence...
MELODY: He wants to take away the bathhouse and tells me to become a princess! Can you believe it?!
BUSH: A princess...?
MELODY: He used to be a king of a small kingdom up north. He said that he's retired now and is just a regular bath lover.
BUSH: But Melody, isn't that a good thing?
Bush, my dude, you're too oblivious for your own good sometimes.
MELODY: No, it's not! I love Laga Springs! I have no intention of leaving this place!
BUSH: That's all the more reason you have to talk it over with Nolan.
MELODY: I know... But still...
BUSH: You already made up your mind, right?
BUSH: Then there's nothing to worry about. Let's go back.
BUSH: Didn't you say people who love baths can't be all that bad?
MELODY: That's a cheap shot, Bush... Now I HAVE to go back.
MELODY: ...Fine.
Finally, Bush starts passing speech skill checks again.
And so we fade to black as they leave the cavern.
Music: Sadness/Resolve
NOLAN: Melody! I was worried sick! If anything happened to you, I would have...
MELODY: ...I'm sorry. But, I don't intend to be adopted by you.
NOLAN: I see... Since we both have no family, I thought we could get along...
BUSH: But I thought you had a son that ascended to your throne...?
NOLAN: Yes, well... That son is quite power hungry...
NOLAN: Though retired, I still have some power and he views me as a rival. My wife also passed away and...
NOLAN: ...my youngest daughter as well when she was about your age, Melody. I do not have anyone that I can call family anymore.
MELODY: Then I'll be your family!
wait what
but you just
NOLAN: What?! But...
MELODY: No, not in that way.
(A special CG! It also super lags on emulation!)
MELODY: Anyone who takes baths is my family!
MELODY: That's why you're also family, Nolan!
NOLAN: I see...
NOLAN: True happiness can be found in things we take for granted. I guess I forgot that simple truth... Thank you, Melody.
MELODY: I'm sorry for saying all those terrible things to you, too.
MELODY: I also forgot that people who love baths can't be bad people.
NOLAN: May I come again to take a bath here? May I be able to stay as your family?
MELODY: Of course!♪
Music: Business District Buildings
...and that's it. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I think it was good?
bath family
Regardless, that was Melody's final event, as she's our first bachelorette to hit LP 10! Oh, and this takes at least 1 FP Nolan to trigger, but we've got like 4 for him or something.
This has it's upsides and downsides. On one hand, we got to see the dating event early, we no longer have to make gifts for Melody, and we'll unlock a little bit of stuff regarding marriage.
On the other hand, Melody won't have all that much in the way of new dialogue, so we'll be seeing a bit less of her outside of festivals and that one event I've yet to trigger. I'll include some stuff about her in RF1 every once in a while, I guess.
Well, back to business. We need to get to Farming 59 to no longer take extra RP to use our new watering can, although I'm not sure it'll make that much of a difference. We might be better off just rushing the maximum sized watering can and take advantage of it's 6x6 watering range.
...that could also backfire even harder, so maybe we just wait a bit on that
MELODY: Looks like I got you all worried, Bush.
MELODY: But I'm okay now! I'm back to my usual self!
Yep, all is back to normal.
The bath is also open again, so we can get ourselves refreshed for the rest of the day.
Music: Snow Ruins
Following this, we duck into Snow Ruins to train our skills up. Unfortunately, Pony's pretty much been defeated by just the first two hornets this time.
Because of that, I decide to turn this into a scouting run. I need to know what I'm up against.
For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, this room that originally just had 1 or 2 Shadow Panthers before now has 2 Shadow Panthers and 2 Queen Hornets.
Heading north from there, we find Death Stalkers, upgraded scorpion enemies. They're really just deadlier than their normal counterparts with better drops as well.
A path is off to the right and the room extends northwards a bit more.
There also happens to be Glaces hiding in the mist of this ice mist generator. They can either shoot three large balls of ice, or create and drop 4 icicles around them.
Weirdly, it's rather easy to run through this generator's mist, not sure why that is. Pony would still get destroyed thanks to her big hitbox.
The door to the north is frozen shut due to the mist generator so I head into the upper right path to find farmland. There's an exit to the right, but it's blocked off. I suppose we head back to the lower right next time.
This place still hurts a ton, so I load back a savestate following that first rough encounter with Queen Hornets. Nothing lost, and nothing gained I couldn't have gotten by just looking up a map.
rainbow power is so exhausting
Nothing new from Iris, but we're close-ish to some more interesting stuff with her.
...Wow, just dumping a pile of Rock Runeys in a location really doesn't do anything for its stability.
The lake is in rough condition already, and I've still got two other locations on clock to die out.
I may try stocking all of these dying areas with a few of all 4 kinds of runey, and see if that brings them to stability faster. The 7 day grace period is almost here with Autumn just around the corner, so it might be the best shot I have to promote a whole bunch of growth across the board.
I might be able to skim more than usual off the top of the prosperous areas, and stock most of the areas up to about 10 or so runeys each. Hm... If not, I guess I may have to keep them on the edge of death to spare runey expense.
This could actually be mildly fun from a management perspective if the act of actually harvesting and moving runeys wasn't so cumbersome and time wasting.
I've got some Rocks on hand from management today, so I ride up to the lake and throw another 25 or so out into the wild. I also throw out about 30 Trees, hoping that this might prolong it's decay.
I don't really have much Water to spare.
I spend the rest of our meters on gift cooking and preparing Tomato Juice for the coming days. Bush may now have to partake in his Tomato Juice frequently to keep up with the drain this new watering can is causing.
Looking in the *gasp* Pharmacy for once, the best potion seems to be Energy Drink X, which heals for 300. That's the kind of bulk healing I need, double the healing you used to get for basic potions in previous games.
These take two Energy Drink S and a White Grass to make, the latter requirement making them frustratingly difficult to get. I might have some White Grass to spare if I'd let my fields get obliterated by storms, but then I'd be broke.
The Energy Drink S requires two normal Energy Drinks to make, and heals for 105.
This means in total, to make a E. Drink X, we need
4 Yellow, 4 Orange, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple grasses, alongside 4 Medicinal Herbs, 1 White Grass and a minimum 50 skill.
That's not bad, but the thing I dislike the most is how many individual crafts we have to do to make these from scratch. We're talking 19 separate crafting steps to make just 1 potion.
We can buy Energy Drinks premade for 260g each, which is 160g more than the individual materials cost. Honestly, it's not that bad a deal when you factor in the RP cost to make it all individually. Maybe I'm just too frugal.
I get to making some Energy Drink S anyways to end this day off, we're not skilled enough to do X, nor do I have the White Grass outside of a lucky drop I got yesterday.
This whole pharmacy talk was mostly to put more things in perspective about our gear setup now that we're at a new dungeon.
This is pretty much the end of today though, just one stop by the bar for more baking supplies, leaving us with nearly 90,000g in pocket.
Before he heads to bed, Bush lights his bed on fire with the Hell Rod. Classic Bush.
See you next time as we prepare for the upcoming festival on the 25th! I'll give you a hint, it involves boats.
Ah, time for another update! Where were we?
Oh, right, we just made a giant candy monster jump into a pool of lava.
Rune Factory 3 - SummerWell, with that, we're finally on the way to some more new content.
One victory bath later, and I'm left figuring out what to do today. I've got plenty of time left and I feel like we're sorta done for the day.
I could do Runey work, but I'd just rather not.
MIST: I think it's pretty dashing to be doing farm work inside the dungeon.
MIST: The monsters will look after you.
Yeah, they take care of me alright. Just not in the way you're thinking.
MIST: You defeated the monster in the Lava Ruins? Amazing.
MIST: By the way, don't you think the Lava Ruins could be like a giant hot pot? Mmm... Turnip hotpot.
...This is about the response I expected from Mist.
We didn't come back to our house for nothing, after all, we've got that fancy new Gold ore to work with.
We can upgrade our Lion Can into a Rainbow Can with some Gold, an Aquamarine, a Teardrop, and a Magic Powder. We happen to have all of these!
Rainbow Can Lv:1 was synthesized.
Easier watering? There's no way this could backfire!
oh, how naive i was, dear reader
I also make some more scarves while I'm at it. We really don't have much use for the wool at the moment, aside from this. We'll be getting to some better recipes soon though.
We do end up with a slighly better scarf from all of this, but it's only a +4 Def improvement.
Our new watering can now waters a 5x5, which is a bit awkward in practice as it means it only waters evenly in 15x15 chunks. It uses a bit more RP, sure, but this should make working the field even faster.
Up on Whale Island, we've got another harvest of Moondrops.
also some tomatoes, but when do we not have tomatoes
The Rainbow Can is very fabulous in appearance, and is the height of farmer fashion. I'd say it fits perfectly with our cat ears and Summer scarf in this strangely dark farming game.
Iris has nothing to say about Bush's fashion choices, unfortunately.
It's not even 8:00 PM yet, so why don't we take a peek into the next dungeon?
Next to the Rune Archives is this gigantic headstone thing, with a conspicuously missing chunk.
BUSH: I think something can fit inside this dent...
-------------------
1. Jam in Relic
2. Do nothing.
-------------------
What could go wrong?
Jammed in Relic.
BUSH: There's an entrance to the ruins here!
And so the giant stone slides to the side, opening our way into the...
SNOW RUINS B1F
Music: Snow Ruins(The music down here instills a forlorn, almost dreadful sense, and it matches. It's not as much of a bop as some of the other dungeon themes in the series though.)
What, you thought it was going to be Autumn themed? Silly you.
...It does count as Autumn down here for growing things, but for this dungeon more than any other you're better off using Whale Island.
Walking forward progresses us into a cutscene!
BUSH: ...! What is that?!
BUSH: A Dark Rune? Something's not right here. I should be careful hereon out.
Bush somehow knows what this dark ball is already. Unfortunately, the game's never told us what it is, and this has never showed up in the series before from what I know, so I can only assume it's bad.
Surprise, it's more Hornets! Or, rather, Hornet Queens! These are the real deal version of the ones the Mimic Slime used against us just earlier today.
This is also one of our first sources of Fair Hide, the upgraded tier of Insect Skin. This is effectively the Quality Fur and Speckled Skin from other games combined into one item.
I handle these Queens easily this time, but unlike their mimic counterparts, these can inflict poison, as well as doing roughly double the damage in general. They're not to be trifled with.
One of the gimmicks of this dungeon is the ice blockades. These are merely walls that have to be destroyed with a fire magic spell, or a fire weapon as I'll find out later. The Heat Axe is really useful for this purpose, as it's faster and cheaper than using a fireball.
The next gimmick is present right in the next room: freezing machines. These accursed things spray out ice mist that hit for about 50-60 in all directions, as well as freeze certain doors shut.
I'd later figure out that these weird arcs of metal, one of which is pictured here, power these. Just hit it with anything, and the machine will explode shortly.
Pony takes twice as much damage from the mist as Bush does, and she's already down to a third of her HP after all of this. It's safe to say the damage just ramps up a ton in this place.
More hornets down here, as well as a set of farm fields off to the left.
It's so dangerous even getting to this field, it's really not worth farming down here. There's plenty of more easily reached plots on Whale Island.
Going north leads us to find Panthers! Not as large as their mimic counterparts, but just as annoying and deadlier. Their energy projectiles hit for around 70 damage right now, which is nearly as much as the Mimic Slime was hitting for on it's strongest hits.
They can do all sorts of sidesteps and flips, which is really annoying in a game where I can do none of that myself.
Clearing that one and the spawner, we've got two paths. One's blocked by ice, and the other visibly leads to more ice mist.
It's about 10:00 PM, so I just say heck with this and head on home for the night. We're gonna have to train up a bit to get read for this place. I think I direly need better armor, but most crafts recipes are inconvenient for grinding.
In theory, I could burn piles of cash buying wool from Erik and just spam making scarves, but I have to imagine they fall off quickly given we're already past their crafting level.
I clear some stuff out of our inventory for an extra little bit of cash before we end the day.
And what a day it was! So much dungeoneering I had to split it between updates.
Music: GoodnightMusic: SummerBush awakes to a sunny Thursday morning. What kind of things are we gonna get into today?
...I really need more fridge space.
Pumpkin Tart Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Getting only the best ready for Anette now that we'll actually see her for once.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
Looks like she's had another morning of being chased around, hopefully this tart brightens her day up.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"I hear you found the Snow Ruins." - Kanno~
I hear you have entered the Snow Ruins.
The Norad Kingdom used to conduct researches on how to
effectively increase the number of Runes there.
Monsters of cold regions are especially strong,
so be sure not to push yourself too much.
Understood?
-----------------------------------------------------
Given how the kingdom left all these places in ruins, I guess they gave up on dealing with Runeys as well.
Nice to see magic grandpa is looking out for us, though.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"New shipments!" - Erik~
New items now available at Erik's Farm!
They are all high quality items from my personal field,
so feel free to come by and take a look!
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure if his stock has changed at all from what it was, but I guess we'll go see sometime soon.
ANETTE: Whooaaaaaa!
The voice line is more of a "wooooow", the same one she does at the end of her mail route in fact.
ANETTE: Huh? It's for me? Thanks!
I guess she's so worn out from schoolwork, postal work, and running from monsters she didn't realize we were giving this to her.
Either that, or she was just really impressed at how good the Pumpkin Tart looked.
Time to do our daily chores while she catches her breath. Look at how much watering we can do!
...Holy St. Poli our RP bar just vanished.
Sure, we only had half of it leftover after all the morning cooking, but still. That all vanished in 4 can charges, and the missing 1/4th of our HP is from just one following can use.
Uh...
Maybe the Rainbow Can wasn't the best idea.
Looks like I'm back to eating food just to finish my daily routine again. The incredibly disorganized layout of the field is also a problem, but I should have that solved when Autumn hits and I can re-organize the whole field.
and so both Bush and Anette stand around tired for a little while
BUSH: It must be hard running around everyday making deliveries.
ANETTE: Yeah... it was hard at first, but I'm used to it now.
ANETTE: Besides, I run everyday so I know I'm fit. I never get sick, you know!
She has to be the healthiest person in town, honestly. All that running around and a strong diet of eggs and natural milk has to make for some calves of steel.
ANETTE: You went deep inside the Lava Ruins? Wow!
ANETTE: If I ever went in there, I would get harassed by the monsters right away.
It happens regardless! It's a battlfield down there!
TABATHA: Do you like monsters, Bush?
----------------
1. I like them.
2. Not really.
----------------
Given our best friend, Pony is right beside us, I think the answer should be obvious. I'll go ahead and split the timelines anyways:
i hate monsters and lava ruins and all the monsters in there wrote:
TABATHA: I see... That's unfortunate.
seriously that place is pain
I mean, Pony is standing right there.*gestures towards large dog/horse* wrote:
TABATHA: That's good. I love them, too.
KANNO: I hear you fought a monster that kept shifting shapes.
KANNO: There sure are so many kinds of monsters in this world.
Yeah, but just not here. The palette swapping's a bit frequent, if I'm honest!
...Those 60 rock runeys didn't last long. Seems like I accidentally made a mini Grass Farm of sorts?
Strange, I'll take note of this and experiment with it at a later date.
note: i wont
I reason with how dangerous things seem to be getting, it might actually be worth messing with the Pharmacy skill. With our great wealth of cash, I take a small sum of it and buy a bunch of Neutralizers, cutting one step out of the many steps it takes to make a decent potion.
LARA: When I went to the library to borrow a book, I found Selphy on the floor.
LARA: I was so surprised. She told me she forgot to eat because she couldn't stop reading. What ever will I do with her?
Maybe bring her a lot of food she can read with one hand? That way there's no way she can't forget it?
Perhaps I'm underestimating the ultimate desire for LITERATURE that Selphy has, I could be wrong on this.
LARA: Birthdays are the day when you celebrate the life your parents gave you as express thanks to them for it.
BUSH: Oh. When is your birthday, Lara?
LARA: My birthday is on the 1st of winter.
Is that as auspicious as being born on Autumn 1st?
STELLA: When I went to the batthhouse the other day, Melody kept lecturing me on how good baths are.
STELLA: She really must love baths.
I think even that is an understatement.
Another day, another messy library. Cinnamon's here though!
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: Um...
CINNAMON: ...
BUSH: She's concentrating. I should leave her alone.
Bush says that without parentheses, so I assume he just said this out loud.
UZUKI: Trampoli is such a vast place...
UZUKI: It's so quiet...
Uzuki's still dealing with Tsubute's departure, but at least we've got new dialogue out of her for once.
I wouldn't really call Trampoli vast, but then again, I'm not living alone on a different continent from my homeland.
EUNICE: I was cleaning the bar early in the morning and I saw Mom sleeping.
EUNICE: I was about to wake her because I was afraid she'd catch a cold. But then, Dad came in and put a blanket over her without saying anything.
BUSH: That sounds really nice.
EUNICE: I know! I'm a bit jealous of Mom.
Gotta agree with Bush, it's nice to hear something about these two that doesn't point to domestic troubles.
Things are looking up, I guess?
Oh, and Eunice has the Feathered Hat here that I originally gave to Danny. I forgot that I loaded a savestate and gave it to her instead. She'll actually wear it despite it clipping terribly through her braids.
As we've entered a new dungeon, Ganesha's stock has improved. She now sells up to level 5 elemental crystals, as well as the Scimitar, Katana, and Pitchfork. These are the second. third, and second tier non-elemental weapons of their respective categories.
KROSS: So you wentt to the Snow Ruins.
KROSS: Heh... The monsters there are resistant to the cold and weak against heat. You'll have a hard time surviving unless you aim for their weaknesses.
I'm definitely going to want to try and get the high level fire axe made now that we're in there. It'll hopefully do some good damage, otherwise we just stick to our two usual axes.
Really our combat strategy is to just one shot the enemy before they hurt us. Our chest accessory could really use an upgrade as well, although the Water Cape is a bit far off at 64 crafting skill.
A new ring is probably in order too.
For whatever reason, Selphy is in Erik's store today? Did she get an advertisement as well?
BUSH: How is your new novel coming along?
SELPHY: I'm in a slump... I can't think of any ideas!
SELPHY: I think I'm done for... Well, maybe not that serious.
Girl, do I know this feeling.
Anyways, I suppose The Piquing Predicament of the Proud Pugilistic Princess Punch is going to have to wait for another day.
ERIK: Oh! Dried Fish as a birthday present seems a bit dreary but I like it so it's all good!
erik
erik, I gave you a strawberry
As far as I know, you can't make Dried Fish, so it seems this is a developmental leftover.
Also, it's Erik's birthday, but you probably already gathered that.
ERIK: It's the most basic things that will make you excel in farm work. You better be sure to care for it every day!
You know, I'm really needing to excel in farming right about now, the penalty for being underskilled on our watering can really seems to bite.
ERIK: I hear you went to the Snow Ruins.
ERIK: Are you sure you can manage all these fields? Well, you could just let the monsters take care of the fields in the village.
ERIK: The reason I don't use monsters to help out is because I decided to do everything myself.
ERIK: It's not because I'm scared of the monsters I tell you!
If only monster happiness didn't take so long in this game, I'd let them do a lot more work for me.
In hindsight, I might be a lot less strapped for RP if I just did more farming in the dungeons, but then I wouldn't have such massive profits!
I think I'm close to the point where I might go clear out the first field in Lava Ruins to exclusively use as RP restoration.
I'll just put some grass there or something.
Profits for the day are racking up!
We're sitting at 58,000g, and have 22,000g in the box!
I now have to eat copious amounts of stored oranges in order to water the rest of the fields
rainbow can was a mistake
runey management
Selphy's just all over town today.
And now that it's 3:00, we can finally get refreshed.
Music: Tensions(So, you know that track I've avoided showing twice now because the name's a spoiler? Here it is again, however without any indication of the spoiler.
I don't really know why I bother, it's not that big of a deal, but I've gone this far with it so why not go all the way?)
...Or we get a cutscene?
MELODY: I said I don't want it!
NOLAN: But it can be of great assistance to you.
MELODY: And I'm saying I don't need it! I run this bathhouse because I love this bath!
NOLAN: Then let us take the entire bathhouse to the castle. Doing that can be very simple...
What in the world is going on here?
MELODY: Wha... Wha...
MELODY: G-get out of here!! If you really like baths then think about their feelings!!
*She runs from the building.*
Apparently Bush has been awkwardly standing just off-screen.
BUSH: What happened?
NOLAN: You caught me at a terrible time.
Yeah, pretty much.
NOLAN: I came to Melody to ask her if she would like to be adopted by myself.
NOLAN: I heard that she has no other family so I did it out of good will. However, it appears I have offended her in the process...
BUSH: I see...
...You didn't handle it the most tactfully from what I can tell, what we walked in on was a bit pushy for such a delicate question.
BUSH: I'm going to find Melody. We have to talk it over.
NOLAN: I suppose so... Please do so.
Bush is going to go and get the other side of the story. What a thing to walk in on when we're half dead from farming.
NOLAN: I will be waiting right here. Please take care of Melody.
First up, we gotta go find her. I munch down some oranges in preparation of whatever is to come, and go outside.
While she does like looking at the Lava Ruins, there is one thing definitely more important to her, and that's the Laga Springs. What better place to go than it's source?
To the caverns of Whale Island we go!
The game never really acknowledges the fact we climb a miles tall beanstalk to get up here, and it doesn't acknowledge it for anyone else. It is an act that happens in a matter of seconds, somehow.
Riding through the caverns, we go to where we first met Melody, and...
Music: PinchEgads, Melody's been cornered by goblins! Normally I expect she'd have destroyed them offscreen, but I guess she's been caught off-guard.
BUSH: Melody!
Bush charges in between them, heroically wielding the, uh, harvester.
As we gain control, they immediately go to attack!
Bush fumbles to draw the Gaea Rod and Pony oneshots two of them in a single lunge.
And then Bush absolutely deletes the other three with an earthquake, throwing them across the room.
I've seen a guide recommend level 30 for this.
With the power of magic and Pony's constant assistance, Melody has been saved from this deadly encounter!
Music: Whale Island CaveBUSH: Are you okay, Melody?
MELODY: I'm fine. I was just a little surprised.
BUSH: Let's go back. Nolan is worried about you.
MELODY: No!
Bush, that was... hardly the right sentence...
MELODY: He wants to take away the bathhouse and tells me to become a princess! Can you believe it?!
BUSH: A princess...?
MELODY: He used to be a king of a small kingdom up north. He said that he's retired now and is just a regular bath lover.
BUSH: But Melody, isn't that a good thing?
Bush, my dude, you're too oblivious for your own good sometimes.
MELODY: No, it's not! I love Laga Springs! I have no intention of leaving this place!
BUSH: That's all the more reason you have to talk it over with Nolan.
MELODY: I know... But still...
BUSH: You already made up your mind, right?
BUSH: Then there's nothing to worry about. Let's go back.
BUSH: Didn't you say people who love baths can't be all that bad?
MELODY: That's a cheap shot, Bush... Now I HAVE to go back.
MELODY: ...Fine.
Finally, Bush starts passing speech skill checks again.
And so we fade to black as they leave the cavern.
Music: Sadness/ResolveNOLAN: Melody! I was worried sick! If anything happened to you, I would have...
MELODY: ...I'm sorry. But, I don't intend to be adopted by you.
NOLAN: I see... Since we both have no family, I thought we could get along...
BUSH: But I thought you had a son that ascended to your throne...?
NOLAN: Yes, well... That son is quite power hungry...
NOLAN: Though retired, I still have some power and he views me as a rival. My wife also passed away and...
NOLAN: ...my youngest daughter as well when she was about your age, Melody. I do not have anyone that I can call family anymore.
MELODY: Then I'll be your family!
wait what
but you just
NOLAN: What?! But...
MELODY: No, not in that way.
(A special CG! It also super lags on emulation!)
MELODY: Anyone who takes baths is my family!
MELODY: That's why you're also family, Nolan!
NOLAN: I see...
NOLAN: True happiness can be found in things we take for granted. I guess I forgot that simple truth... Thank you, Melody.
MELODY: I'm sorry for saying all those terrible things to you, too.
MELODY: I also forgot that people who love baths can't be bad people.
NOLAN: May I come again to take a bath here? May I be able to stay as your family?
MELODY: Of course!♪
Music: Business District Buildings...and that's it. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I think it was good?
bath family
Regardless, that was Melody's final event, as she's our first bachelorette to hit LP 10! Oh, and this takes at least 1 FP Nolan to trigger, but we've got like 4 for him or something.
This has it's upsides and downsides. On one hand, we got to see the dating event early, we no longer have to make gifts for Melody, and we'll unlock a little bit of stuff regarding marriage.
On the other hand, Melody won't have all that much in the way of new dialogue, so we'll be seeing a bit less of her outside of festivals and that one event I've yet to trigger. I'll include some stuff about her in RF1 every once in a while, I guess.
Well, back to business. We need to get to Farming 59 to no longer take extra RP to use our new watering can, although I'm not sure it'll make that much of a difference. We might be better off just rushing the maximum sized watering can and take advantage of it's 6x6 watering range.
...that could also backfire even harder, so maybe we just wait a bit on that
MELODY: Looks like I got you all worried, Bush.
MELODY: But I'm okay now! I'm back to my usual self!
Yep, all is back to normal.
The bath is also open again, so we can get ourselves refreshed for the rest of the day.
Music: Snow RuinsFollowing this, we duck into Snow Ruins to train our skills up. Unfortunately, Pony's pretty much been defeated by just the first two hornets this time.
Because of that, I decide to turn this into a scouting run. I need to know what I'm up against.
For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, this room that originally just had 1 or 2 Shadow Panthers before now has 2 Shadow Panthers and 2 Queen Hornets.
Heading north from there, we find Death Stalkers, upgraded scorpion enemies. They're really just deadlier than their normal counterparts with better drops as well.
A path is off to the right and the room extends northwards a bit more.
There also happens to be Glaces hiding in the mist of this ice mist generator. They can either shoot three large balls of ice, or create and drop 4 icicles around them.
Weirdly, it's rather easy to run through this generator's mist, not sure why that is. Pony would still get destroyed thanks to her big hitbox.
The door to the north is frozen shut due to the mist generator so I head into the upper right path to find farmland. There's an exit to the right, but it's blocked off. I suppose we head back to the lower right next time.
This place still hurts a ton, so I load back a savestate following that first rough encounter with Queen Hornets. Nothing lost, and nothing gained I couldn't have gotten by just looking up a map.
rainbow power is so exhausting
Nothing new from Iris, but we're close-ish to some more interesting stuff with her.
...Wow, just dumping a pile of Rock Runeys in a location really doesn't do anything for its stability.
The lake is in rough condition already, and I've still got two other locations on clock to die out.
I may try stocking all of these dying areas with a few of all 4 kinds of runey, and see if that brings them to stability faster. The 7 day grace period is almost here with Autumn just around the corner, so it might be the best shot I have to promote a whole bunch of growth across the board.
I might be able to skim more than usual off the top of the prosperous areas, and stock most of the areas up to about 10 or so runeys each. Hm... If not, I guess I may have to keep them on the edge of death to spare runey expense.
This could actually be mildly fun from a management perspective if the act of actually harvesting and moving runeys wasn't so cumbersome and time wasting.
I've got some Rocks on hand from management today, so I ride up to the lake and throw another 25 or so out into the wild. I also throw out about 30 Trees, hoping that this might prolong it's decay.
I don't really have much Water to spare.
I spend the rest of our meters on gift cooking and preparing Tomato Juice for the coming days. Bush may now have to partake in his Tomato Juice frequently to keep up with the drain this new watering can is causing.
Looking in the *gasp* Pharmacy for once, the best potion seems to be Energy Drink X, which heals for 300. That's the kind of bulk healing I need, double the healing you used to get for basic potions in previous games.
These take two Energy Drink S and a White Grass to make, the latter requirement making them frustratingly difficult to get. I might have some White Grass to spare if I'd let my fields get obliterated by storms, but then I'd be broke.
The Energy Drink S requires two normal Energy Drinks to make, and heals for 105.
This means in total, to make a E. Drink X, we need
4 Yellow, 4 Orange, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple grasses, alongside 4 Medicinal Herbs, 1 White Grass and a minimum 50 skill.
That's not bad, but the thing I dislike the most is how many individual crafts we have to do to make these from scratch. We're talking 19 separate crafting steps to make just 1 potion.
We can buy Energy Drinks premade for 260g each, which is 160g more than the individual materials cost. Honestly, it's not that bad a deal when you factor in the RP cost to make it all individually. Maybe I'm just too frugal.
I get to making some Energy Drink S anyways to end this day off, we're not skilled enough to do X, nor do I have the White Grass outside of a lucky drop I got yesterday.
This whole pharmacy talk was mostly to put more things in perspective about our gear setup now that we're at a new dungeon.
This is pretty much the end of today though, just one stop by the bar for more baking supplies, leaving us with nearly 90,000g in pocket.
Before he heads to bed, Bush lights his bed on fire with the Hell Rod. Classic Bush.
See you next time as we prepare for the upcoming festival on the 25th! I'll give you a hint, it involves boats.
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:43 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 36: The Day Bush Didn't Bathe
Music: Trampoli Daily Life
Welcome back! Bush is continuing his morning routine of baking food. Eventually we'll hit a point where we just don't have to do this anymore outside of adventuring provisions.
It seems as if those Pink Cats I planted are almost ready.
...I think I mentioned planting those? My memory is as unreliable as Bush's it seems!
Morning, Anette!
Mail!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"See you at the lake!" - Ganesha~
Tomorrow is the Ganesha Cup Boat Race!
As its name suggests, I am the sponsor.
Everyone, come by Lake Poli tomorrow to participate!
-----------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow is indeed the Ganesha Cup Boat Race! It'll be a fun day, and the first time I get to do this festival.
Also, I just like festivals.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"How goes exploring the Snow Ruins?" - Kanno~
How goes exploring the Snow Ruins?
Creatures in cold climates tend to grow
much larger than those of warm climates.
According to my documents, a monster
used to guard the ruins.
If that monster were still alive and fulfilling its duty...
Impossible.
That would be impossible.
-----------------------------------------------------
I somehow think there's a high chance said monster is still fulfilling its duty.
Also to respond to how the exploring is going: "im getting my ass handed to me over here"
ANETTE: The other day, I was making my deliveries half asleep and I crashed into Erik's mailbox...
ANETTE: I can't believe I did that. He always treats me to meals, too... I mean, I fixed it, but still.
News Report: Lack of sleep is now leading cause of vandalism in Trampoli, with all of a devastating one case having been reported in the last two seasons.
Is this a downward spiral for our tranquil little town?
But seriously, I don't think he cares too much. He's an odd guy, but he is pretty chill.
Danny, on the other hand, he's not got much chill for how chill he tries to look.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. I love festivals! Are you going to join, too, Bush?
-------------------------------
1. I will.
2. I'm still thinking about it.
-------------------------------
Unlike other questions, this one's attached to a holiday so it'll show up again if I just talk to her some more. I don't even have tosavestatetime warp to show both responses!
-----------------
"I will."
ANETTE: Really? Then maybe I should join, too.
-----------------
"I'm still thinking about it."
ANETTE: Oh, come on! Do it! It'll be fun!
Anette is very hyped for the boats, as you might be able to tell.
well, time to get extremely exhausted from the rainbow can
I'm having to even drop by to grab the rune from the cave strawberries. At least this will hopefully get better when Autumn drops.
manage those runes
BIANCA: Boat Race? I'm not going to participate. Aren't boats for servants to row?
Bianca doesn't like having to work for fun. I think even Selphy might be more athletic than her, and that's one low bar.
You can get her to participate, but that'll be a long way off from now.
TABATHA: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. Will you be participateing, Bush?
TABATHA: I wish you luck.
Tabatha knows Bush well, and immediately assumes he will be boating.
MIST: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. You race with boats.
She's... she's not wrong.
KANNO: Do you know why a boat can float on water?
KANNO: The Spirits in the water are pushing the boat up. But, the reason why the Spirits are...
KANNO: Bush! Are you listening?!
Bush believes in floatational physics, and has no need for runic theory.
MELODY: I hear that there's going to be a Boat Race tomorrow. I think they'll be racing with boats.
MELODY: Not a very witty name, don't you think? ♪
It really isn't. At least I don't have to wonder what we're doing though!
CINNAMON: Tomorrow is the Boat Race so you can't go fishing at the lake. Too bad.
There wouldn't be anything to catch anyways. All the fish are going to be hiding while Trampoli Drift is going on.
LARA: Sister Stella is getting very excited as she prepares for the Boat Race tomorrow.
Apparently, Stella is an avid boater. No wonder she's up there on the weekends, she must be shredding waves while nobody's looking!
UZUKI: Bush...
UZUKI: Tsubute... has not returned. I can hear him so I know he is nearby, but...
Uzuki's really not handling this well.
UZUKI: What shall I do, Bush?
BUSH: That's easy. If you think you were wrong or if you said horrible things, you just need to say you're sorry.
UZUKI: Say that I'm sorry...? But even if I did, Tsubute will never...
UZUKI: I don't know what to do...
UZUKI: Tsubute...
This is our sign it's time to progress this event for once!
In a minute though, I've got people to talk to.
EUNICE: Bush, will you be participating in tomorrow's Boat Race?
EUNICE: I can't. It's too scary to row a boat...
Part of me would like to think it would be pretty fun, but I'm also afraid of falling, so any loss of balance just sends my heart racing and not in a good way.
DANNY: Tomorrow is the Boat Race!
DANNY: Did you train for it, Bush? Even if we end up going up against each other, I won't go easy on you!
danny what are you going on about
you've never even been to the lake, what do you know about boats
Ganesha oddly has nothing to say about her own boat race, and instead continues to impress upon us the idea that wool is too soft and that the Green Ruins are dangerous.
Outside the shop, we hear an oddly familiar insect.
We follow the noise to the left of Ganesha's shop, and...
*Cicada noises*
BUSH: That voice... Tsubute?
Music: Sadness/Resolve
TSUBUTE: Bush, did you come to laugh at my pitiful self?
BUSH: Of course not!
TSUBUTE: It is all right. I am not needed by milady, and her brother, milord, is still nowhere to be found.
TSUBUTE: All I can do is to rot here alone...
BUSH: ...
Seriously, have you been out here this whole time? What have you been eating?
Uzuki seems to have heard us, and approaches.
TSUBUTE: Milady...
UZUKI: Tsubute... It is all your fault... You were the one to say we should return...
Hold up, what did Bush just tell you?
UZUKI: ...No. I misspoke. That is not what I want to say!
Uzu: I'm... sorry, Tsubute. I am sorry for saying those things to you...
Uzu: I know I may be pushing my luck... but would you please come back...? I need you.
TSUBUTE: Milady... Those words alone are enough for me.
There ya go. I'm starting to seriously think you've really got too much stress built up or something.
Music: Festival- Celebration
(This new track is obviously for festivals, but it also sounds very Mineral Town-ish so I dig it.)
TSUBUTE: I am unworthy, but I shall work to aid you the best I can, milady!
TSUBUTE: And it seems that you still cannot live without me!
UZUKI: What say you?! I am an adult now! You can stop treating me like a child!
st. poli's stromboli, this lasted all of 5 seconds you two
seriously
Music: Let the Games Begin!
TSUBUTE: Graaagh! What was that?!
TSUBUTE: You are still a child if you cannod admit your mistakes and apologize with all of your heart.
UZUKI: But I did apologize! Stop digging up what is past! You are an elder but you still act a child!
TSUBUTE: I am still better than someone who cannot even wake up on her own every morning!
UZUKI: Th-that only happened once! How dare you, you stubborn old coot!
TSUBUTE: Stubborn, you say?! Well, that is all because...
BUSH: (...They're back to how they were before. That's a relief.)
I wouldn't call it a relief, but it's better than depression, I guess? Maybe?
I'm starting to think Cicada Samurai Dad is the problem here.
Music: Trampoli
UZUKI: Bush. It seems that I have caused you much worry. But there is no need for that anymore.
Yeah, you know what, you two do you
gonna go talk about boats with people
BUSH: Turner, are you going to participate in tomorrow's Boat Race?
TURNER: Not with how fat I am right now. I'll sink the boat! Hahaha.
Despite saying this, this won't actually stop him from trying. You'll understand what I mean tomorrow.
RITA: The Boat Race sure brings back a lot memories.
RITA: Of course, Turner can't row the boat being how fat he is now.
You could get a bigger boat, maybe? That little gondola's part canoe at this point anyways.
ERIK: Are you prepared to pick up the oar?
ERIK: Did you rub oil onto the base of the ship?
ERIK: Did you find someone to ride with you?
ERIK: Do you think you can beat me?!
Yes, no, no, and yes, in that order.
Selphy is now in the LP 8 range, about a week late for the Summer date. Asking her out now would only schedule for the Fall date, which is a tad odd given that's like 24 days away or something. It's almost a whole month off.
We'll have most of our bachelorettes available to date by then, and I'll show all of them off when we do.
SELPHY: The Boat Race? I'll pass.
SELPHY: Well, if I row a boat, I'll definitely get muscle pain the next day.
It's following this that I try to do another fight against Mimic Slime, but I briefly forgot that bosses get tougher after the first fight.
These Queen Hornets have double the damage and nearly triple the HP it would seem, so we get thoroughly owned in short order.
It's a good thing this was just an alternate timeline!
Back to the magic crystal mines we go, to impress our constellation teacher.
Today, I prepared some cookies as working food, and they're not too bad, despite the cost of 2 milk and 1 flour total being about 700g. The healing's okay, too, but they're definitely not the most efficient option for either choice. Just Warm Milk and Bread alone would probably be better.
I've got a lot of leftover Relax Tea Leaves, so I might just brew all that up and use it as RP food in the coming days. It's not like I need to give Melody any more now.
I think our next ring of choice is going to be a Silence Ring. Bush just relies so much on special attacks between his Axes and Magic that silence is such a killer.
Mist is continuing to misinterpret Bush's combat wear as rabbit ears and a scarf, rather than cat ears and a scarf.
Bahumbug, we need an Insect Jaw to make a Silence ring, and I just sold one the other day. Usually these things drop all the time, but now that I want one and don't have it, it'll never show.
Regardless, the materials are a Silver Ring, a Magic Crystal, a Pink Cat, and an Insect Jaw, and it's just barely in our craftable range.
Honestly kind of a rude move to make so many of these accessories need Magic Crystals later. I'm only getting as many as I do because I'm abusing savestates.
I spend a while looking through what we can craft, but remain just out of skill or just one material off on everything.
I then go to check with Kross about how close I am to the bedroom expansion. I don't really need it right now, but it's necessary for us to get married in the distant future.
The cost is 75,000g, which is something we can afford, but we still need 766 lumber. I suppose I'll have to get to choppin'.
Kanno's outside and therefore would tell us more about Cinnamon's backstory, but the festival dialogue is overriding it.
Following that, I ride to the church clinic and buy 10 energy drinks off of Lara. This costs 2600g, and is only going to net me about 500 HP worth of healing.
Such a pricy tradeoff, but the way I see it I can consider that 75,000g put in the bank, and everything else open to spending on food and medicine.
Music: Snow Ruins
Bush takes a brief dip into Snow Ruins, but it goes south from the first Hornet. The difficulty ramp in this game is nothing like the others, and I remain continually punished for treating it like it is.
At this point I duck back to take a bath, something I would show if the recording hadn't seemingly broken at the end.
Luckily, nothing much of importance happens the rest of today, I take a bath, Iris had nothing new to say, and I go to sleep after finishing up some busywork.
Also, luckily, I record in chunks rather than one long recording, so I'm able to pick up tomorrow just before we go do festival things.
Music: Festival
It's a bit after 10 the next day, a result of field watering and preparing some fish as work food. I hadn't yet thought about just using my tea supply instead.
UZUKI: I will not be participating in the Boat Race. The reason... Ah... My arms cannot reach! It is not because I am scared!
yyyeah, sure
whatever you say
EUNICE: Bush, good luck at the Boat Race.
...and that's it. Thanks, I guess!
SELPHY: Are you going to join the Boat Race, Bush?
SELPHY: Well... Good luck.
There is a yes/no prompt here, but her response is the same either way.
TABATHA: Today is the Boat Race. It is a race where you row a boat and gather balloons.
Well, I guess that says what we'll be doing!
BIANCA: You want to take part in the Boat Race? Then why don't you go to the lake?
In a minute, I gotta talk to people! Get all that juicy festival dialogue content that comes oh-so rarely!
MELODY: Today is the Boat Race. Be careful so that you don't fall off the boat and get taken to the bathhouse.
At first I thought this meant the bathhouse was somehow filled by the lake, but then I remembered the little water canals around Trampoli square and just outside the Laga Springs. I guess if we got sucked into the waterfall, we'd end up down in the canal outside it. We'd definitely want a bath after that, so I guess it's somewhat convenient?
You can alternatively take this as a comment that if we fall off the boat, Melody will be the first to try and rescue us. Evidently she knows how to swim or teleport given how she got back after that date.
MIST: Are you going to join in on the Boat Race today, Bush?
-------------------------------
1. Yes.
2. I haven't decided yet.
-------------------------------
Unlike Selphy's these do have different responses.
--------------------
"Boats, boats, boats, boats-"
MIST: Oh. Good luck to you then.
-------------------
"Not really sure yet."
MIST: You say that now, but you always end up joining.
She knows that about us, at least. Bush never misses a festival. Really the whole town seems to know.
ROSETTA: I heard that the Boat Race is today. The people of this village sure love their Festivals.
I say there's not enough festivals. Went all spring without a single one! Alvarna's got more, even if half of them are pointless!
CANDY: Are you going to join in today's Boat Race? Good luck.
MARCO: Today's the Boat Race. I wanted to join but I couldn't...
MARCO: I was told I should come again after I grow a little taller...
Man, Marco just never gets to have any fun. I really don't see why they can't hold a kids contest, aside from maybe these two being the only ones in town.
RITA: I'll just take it easy here for today.
TURNER: I used to ride the boat a lot with Rita before we got married.
So we have heard, yesterday, in fact!
KROSS: This year's Boat Race will be exciting.
BUSH: Really?
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: The reason is you...
I guess he's got faith in our boating skills?
LUTE: So it's a boat festival?
LUTE: I'm not very fit so I won't join in.
To be fair, travel only really works your legs. It won't inherently do anything for your arms.
KANNO: I'm actually good at boating. I used to ride with so many kinds of people.
KANNO: Of course, men weren't allowed on.
Oh, Magic Grandpa, what are we gonna do with you? I mean, we kinda already got the idea he used to be a ladies' man from his comment way back on Foliage Day, here's just the confirmation of it.
LARA: Today is the Boat Race. Just be sure that you don't fall off and catch a cold.
Lara seems to think anything can cause a cold. I suppose Noradian medicine only goes so far when you have known cures to the common cold, poisons, and paralysis.
DANNY: Hm?
DANNY: Let's see what you're made of, Bush!
I would like to point out that Danny is still so shell-shocked from losing to Rosetta that he still greets with "W-welcome, good morning."
What I'm saying is that you're going down, son.
ANETTE: The Boat Race is today. I'm getting excited.
Anette got the day off, and she'll also be a competitor today!
although maybe not take the mailbag with you when you do it
ERIK: You better get pumped up about this!
ERIK: I've trained for this day!
Must be nice to have nothing else to do but practice for a boat race that happens once a year. No seriously, I'm not being sarcastic, that'd be great.
GANESHA: Did you come to join? Then talk to Stella.
GANESHA: Bush, I'm counting on you to do well!
With Danny and Erik presumably being the only competitors for the last year, I guess people are hyped to see what we can do.
STELLA: You want to enter the Boat Race?
hell yes
STELLA: If you're entering, would you like to hear the rules?
Saves me from explaining them, so sure.
(i've also never done this before)
GANESHA: I'll explain the rules.
GANESHA: It's simple. Row the boat around to gather balloons. Blue ones are worth 1 point, yellow are worth 5, and hearts are 10 points!
GANESHA: If you gather a heart while a girl is with you, you'll get a speed boost! Oh, the power of love...
GANESHA: Of course, if you're alone, hearts won't do you any good other than as points.
GANESHA: Time limit is 60 seccs. The one with the most points wins. The winner will recieve a prize that will make his girl very happy.
That's a lot, but I think we've got it. Now then...
STELLA: Bush entered the race!
Music: To You
GANESHA: Oh? Just you? This could have been your chance to impress...
Yeah, I dunno, none of 'em asked. I'm just here to beat Danny and Erik.
VOICE: Bush, hold just a moment!
TURNER: *huff* *huff* *gulp* *huff*
TURNER: Bush, I can't let you get on that boat alone.
BUSH: (Whoa, Mr. Turner's already drunk!)
TURNER: I won't let you, Bush. The flower of all Boat Races are girls!
TURNER: I cannot allow a young man to row a boat alone! If that's what you were planning, I have something.
TURNER: It can't be helped. I'll get on the boat with you!
BUSH: But...
Bush says this, sweating and with tears in his eyes, fearing the impending disaster of having a drunk Turner on board. Alas, all he wanted was to show up General Store Guy and Vegetable Store Guy. Heck, he could just bring Pony.
I told you Turner would find a way on that boat, didn't I?
VOICE: Hold up!
GANESHA: Huh?
Music: Romance
MELODY: Hunter of Hot Springs, Melody, makes her entrance!
MELODY: I heard, Bush! You're going to look for a hidden spring in the lake, right?
BUSH: What?! When did that story get around?
MELODY: It sounds fun, so let me come, too! Okay? Cool!
Luckily, for us, and Bush's desire to win all festivals, Melody has come prepared with a plausible-ish story as an excuse to get on the boat.
...Or something like that. You have to have gone on a date with a girl before they'll show up for this, which means that date a few updates ago is even luckier than it seemed.
MELODY: Well, if you're ready, let's go!
TURNER: *gulp*
MELODY: Bush - Melody pair wishes to enter!
Given we'll be making waves, Melody has come prepared with her swimsuit. With how fast she changes and how there's no changing room up here, I can only presume that she was wearing this under her robe and was maybe just planning this the whole time?
Turner has presumably already forgotten about the situation and is drinking even more wine.
GANESHA: Bush, your life is tougher than it looks...
You don't know the half of it.
Music: By the Ocean
A familiar tune strikes up as we get to see the gauntlet of balloons that lie ahead. Our targets in this quest.
STELLA: All right, then. Start!
In a rare moment, this line is voiced!
Music: Let the Games Begin!
Also, boating! In between that black screen, Bush changed into his swimwear because I guess it'd be awkward if Melody was the only one.
The boat's rather hard to get up to speed at first, you've roughly gotta time it when the paddle just hits the water again. It also doesn't show the usual B button prompt either, so you have to time it without that as a guide.
It doesn't really matter too much though as-
THE POWER OF LOVE IS EQUAL TO THE SPEED OF SOUND
Put more coherently, as long as you've got a date on board and hit those heart balloons, you go to max speed instantly, and will maintain it for a couple of seconds.
The problem is that your turning speed isn't really that good, and it's easy to miss a lot of balloons.
MELODY: Keep going!
Part of me thinks it might be easier without a date, despite everything, but we're not getting out of this if we wanted to. There's no way to turn down a girl jumping on board.
Also, whatever date you have will also give some encouragement as you go around. It contrasts a bit with Bush's constant "HYEAGH!", (the same battle cry as the axe special,) every time he hits a heart balloon.
Balloons you collected recently will also be underwater until a certain amount of time elapses.
STELLA: Goal!
Our first attempt nets us 295 balloons.
Music: Goodnight
MELODY: Rune Factory Frontier!
Location: Lake Poli
Results after this.
Before we head to the judging, we get short little zoom out from Melody where she exclaims the title of the game. Also a text box informing us that we are at the lake, as well as that the results are coming after this, as if this was a commercial break for an anime or something.
I think that's what they were going for? At least it's the only time we hear anyon else but Bush say the game's title- unlike other games, only he does it on the main screen.
Music: Festival- Results (de-Sainte Coquille Remix)
As the song's title suggests, the results them is in fact a remix of the Coquille manor's theme.
STELLA: Now for the results of the Ganesha Cup Boat Race!
*Many "whoa"s can be heard, the same for when we expertly craft*
This line is also voiced. A lot of budget went into this festival.
STELLA: 3rd place. With 61 points, Erik!
ERIK: *sigh*
hah owned
STELLA: 2nd place. With 295 points, Bush!
...Oh.
BUSH: Oh, man... I was so close!
MELODY: We were almost there. Let's try harder next year. ♪
STELLA: And finally, the winner of this year's Ganesha Cup Boat Race is...
STELLA: With a whopping 375 points, Danny!
DANNY: Naturally.
No, I can't accept this. If it was Anette, sure, but I'm not losing to Danny.
It's time to turn back time.
Oh and also we get a safety mask as a surprise, oddly menacing in the age of Corona. It's rather hard to see from all the bloom.
Cutting this attempt here, let's try this again.
---------------------------------------------------
Music: Let the Games Begin!
After 3 more tries, I get to this run, our 5th attempt. I've finally managed to find a working strategy by this point.
MELODY: Just keep going!
The paths are curved in a way you can hit most of the hearts in a loop, but you have to be very aggressive about turning. Starting off, I actually grind against the edge of the left island here.
You'll inevitably miss a couple of blues and yellows, but if you keep grabbing the hearts, you should be in good shape.
This turn on the right side is the worst given how sharp it is, the best you can do is hard cut left when you grab the heart here.
Oh, and as a general tip, hold forward movement any time you want to stabilize your turn, it seems to help a lot.
MELODY: Just a little more! Keep rowing!!!
This time, I finish with 414 points.
Skipping ahead of what we've already seen out of the awards ceremony, Erik gets third again, but...
Music: Festival- Results (de-Sainte Coquille Remix)
STELLA: 2nd place. With 374 points, Anette!
*She does a little jump off the ground.*
ANETTE: Aw, so close. I was this close!
Anette, absolutely shredding it out there solo.
STELLA: And finally, the winner of this year's Ganesha Cup Boat Race is...
STELLA: With a whopping 425 poins, Bush!
Apparently we grabbed a few more balloons as the screen faded out or something.
BUSH: All right! I won!!
*Melody does a little pose*
MELODY: Yay!♪ We're great together, don't you think?
That's up to the thread to decide!
STELLA: The winning prize is... Cat Ears!
...Oh. We're already wearing those. I'd give it to Melody and we'd match, but she will not wear anything but her awesome witch hat as far as my testing has shown.
STELLA: This concludes this year's Boat Race. Did you have fun?
It was more realized than the melon smashing, at least!
MELODY: Congrats on winning the Boat Race!
MELODY: Riding with you was so fun!
I have no idea how it controls without a bachelorette on board, and no way to test, so I'm left assuming you made it much easier!
Winning this with Melody has absolutely maxed her bars out, as well as jumping everyone's LP by roughly 1/3rd of a bar!
STELLA: Isn't it time for you to think about settling down and getting married?
BUSH: Huh?! I... Uh...
Valid response, Bush.
STELLA: This is a good time for you so let me give you this.
BUSH: A... recipe?
STELLA: That's right. This will tell you how to make a "Wedding Bouquet".
STELLA: You take the person you like to a romantic place. Then you give the bouquet when things are getting exciting.
STELLA: This is how we propose marriage in this village.
BUSH: Propose?!
BUSH: I think it's a bit too early...
No kidding, the others haven't even finished their storylines yet! Also, I don't think we can even get married until we finish the main story anyways.
STELLA: It doesn't do you any harm to hold onto it. Just give it when you made up your mind.
You got Happiness 101!
STELLA: This is something you just can't do alone. You have to think carefully about who you give it to.
BUSH: All right...
Luckily, I've got the thread to make these decisions for me.
We're running a bit long on this update today, but before we close this out, let's go over the more important conversations.
EUNICE: Bush! Umm... Do you have a minute?
BUSH: W-what's wrong, Eunice? What happened?
EUNICE: Bush... Do you...
EUNICE: ...ve...ne...like?
BUSH: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.
EUNICE: Bush, do you prefer thinner girls?
BUSH: Um, I guess so.
bush, you dink
-----------------------------------
1. Yeah, I prefer the slimmer type...
2. Well, not exactly.
------------------------------------
Let's be honest, we all probably expected this question to come up eventually.
This is the bit of Eunice's storyline that was a bit controversial, namely you can influence her to lose weight (and perhaps that it's even the default option).
Now, I don't have anything against the idea of a character trying to lose weight and wanting our help as a workout buddy or the like, exercise is a lot easier when you do it with someone else, I've found. That would've been a fine direction for this.
But what we get is this toxic situation entirely based on what the protagonist wants visually, and that's the killer.
Given Eunice isn't one of the 6 vote winners, I'll make the choice I think the thread would probably go for anyways.
BUSH: Of course not. I think it's best for people to just be themselves.
EUNICE: Really? It seems more hopeful now. Thank you so much.
BUSH: O-oh... (I feel like I just made a very important choice...)
Girl, you fine, don't change yourself for nobody.
KROSS: Congratulations. Who will you give the prize to?
KROSS: If you'd like, you can give it to me... I mean, nothing...
Is there anyone else we'd give it to?
KROSS: Thank you... I will gladly accept it.
You can have it, my dude. Happy boat day!
(It won't visibly show on him, but how could I say no?)
... I could've sworn I watered this this morning. Huh.
Anyways, before we close out we've got one last person to talk to.
Hey Mist, we-
...Mist?
---------------
BUSH: "...Right..."
BUSH: "...That's how I wish I could say that day went at least."
BUSH: "But the truth? Well, you might already know this didn't happen."
BUSH: "You see, yesterday..."
BUSH: "I didn't go to the bathhouse."
BUSH: "That's... when he entered the picture."
Music: Trampoli Daily LifeWelcome back! Bush is continuing his morning routine of baking food. Eventually we'll hit a point where we just don't have to do this anymore outside of adventuring provisions.
It seems as if those Pink Cats I planted are almost ready.
...I think I mentioned planting those? My memory is as unreliable as Bush's it seems!
Morning, Anette!
Mail!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"See you at the lake!" - Ganesha~
Tomorrow is the Ganesha Cup Boat Race!
As its name suggests, I am the sponsor.
Everyone, come by Lake Poli tomorrow to participate!
-----------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow is indeed the Ganesha Cup Boat Race! It'll be a fun day, and the first time I get to do this festival.
Also, I just like festivals.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"How goes exploring the Snow Ruins?" - Kanno~
How goes exploring the Snow Ruins?
Creatures in cold climates tend to grow
much larger than those of warm climates.
According to my documents, a monster
used to guard the ruins.
If that monster were still alive and fulfilling its duty...
Impossible.
That would be impossible.
-----------------------------------------------------
I somehow think there's a high chance said monster is still fulfilling its duty.
Also to respond to how the exploring is going: "im getting my ass handed to me over here"
ANETTE: The other day, I was making my deliveries half asleep and I crashed into Erik's mailbox...
ANETTE: I can't believe I did that. He always treats me to meals, too... I mean, I fixed it, but still.
News Report: Lack of sleep is now leading cause of vandalism in Trampoli, with all of a devastating one case having been reported in the last two seasons.
Is this a downward spiral for our tranquil little town?
But seriously, I don't think he cares too much. He's an odd guy, but he is pretty chill.
Danny, on the other hand, he's not got much chill for how chill he tries to look.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. I love festivals! Are you going to join, too, Bush?
-------------------------------
1. I will.
2. I'm still thinking about it.
-------------------------------
Unlike other questions, this one's attached to a holiday so it'll show up again if I just talk to her some more. I don't even have to
-----------------
"I will."
ANETTE: Really? Then maybe I should join, too.
-----------------
"I'm still thinking about it."
ANETTE: Oh, come on! Do it! It'll be fun!
Anette is very hyped for the boats, as you might be able to tell.
well, time to get extremely exhausted from the rainbow can
I'm having to even drop by to grab the rune from the cave strawberries. At least this will hopefully get better when Autumn drops.
manage those runes
BIANCA: Boat Race? I'm not going to participate. Aren't boats for servants to row?
Bianca doesn't like having to work for fun. I think even Selphy might be more athletic than her, and that's one low bar.
You can get her to participate, but that'll be a long way off from now.
TABATHA: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. Will you be participateing, Bush?
TABATHA: I wish you luck.
Tabatha knows Bush well, and immediately assumes he will be boating.
MIST: Tomorrow is the Boat Race. You race with boats.
She's... she's not wrong.
KANNO: Do you know why a boat can float on water?
KANNO: The Spirits in the water are pushing the boat up. But, the reason why the Spirits are...
KANNO: Bush! Are you listening?!
Bush believes in floatational physics, and has no need for runic theory.
MELODY: I hear that there's going to be a Boat Race tomorrow. I think they'll be racing with boats.
MELODY: Not a very witty name, don't you think? ♪
It really isn't. At least I don't have to wonder what we're doing though!
CINNAMON: Tomorrow is the Boat Race so you can't go fishing at the lake. Too bad.
There wouldn't be anything to catch anyways. All the fish are going to be hiding while Trampoli Drift is going on.
LARA: Sister Stella is getting very excited as she prepares for the Boat Race tomorrow.
Apparently, Stella is an avid boater. No wonder she's up there on the weekends, she must be shredding waves while nobody's looking!
UZUKI: Bush...
UZUKI: Tsubute... has not returned. I can hear him so I know he is nearby, but...
Uzuki's really not handling this well.
UZUKI: What shall I do, Bush?
BUSH: That's easy. If you think you were wrong or if you said horrible things, you just need to say you're sorry.
UZUKI: Say that I'm sorry...? But even if I did, Tsubute will never...
UZUKI: I don't know what to do...
UZUKI: Tsubute...
This is our sign it's time to progress this event for once!
In a minute though, I've got people to talk to.
EUNICE: Bush, will you be participating in tomorrow's Boat Race?
EUNICE: I can't. It's too scary to row a boat...
Part of me would like to think it would be pretty fun, but I'm also afraid of falling, so any loss of balance just sends my heart racing and not in a good way.
DANNY: Tomorrow is the Boat Race!
DANNY: Did you train for it, Bush? Even if we end up going up against each other, I won't go easy on you!
danny what are you going on about
you've never even been to the lake, what do you know about boats
Ganesha oddly has nothing to say about her own boat race, and instead continues to impress upon us the idea that wool is too soft and that the Green Ruins are dangerous.
Outside the shop, we hear an oddly familiar insect.
We follow the noise to the left of Ganesha's shop, and...
*Cicada noises*
BUSH: That voice... Tsubute?
Music: Sadness/ResolveTSUBUTE: Bush, did you come to laugh at my pitiful self?
BUSH: Of course not!
TSUBUTE: It is all right. I am not needed by milady, and her brother, milord, is still nowhere to be found.
TSUBUTE: All I can do is to rot here alone...
BUSH: ...
Seriously, have you been out here this whole time? What have you been eating?
Uzuki seems to have heard us, and approaches.
TSUBUTE: Milady...
UZUKI: Tsubute... It is all your fault... You were the one to say we should return...
Hold up, what did Bush just tell you?
UZUKI: ...No. I misspoke. That is not what I want to say!
Uzu: I'm... sorry, Tsubute. I am sorry for saying those things to you...
Uzu: I know I may be pushing my luck... but would you please come back...? I need you.
TSUBUTE: Milady... Those words alone are enough for me.
There ya go. I'm starting to seriously think you've really got too much stress built up or something.
Music: Festival- Celebration(This new track is obviously for festivals, but it also sounds very Mineral Town-ish so I dig it.)
TSUBUTE: I am unworthy, but I shall work to aid you the best I can, milady!
TSUBUTE: And it seems that you still cannot live without me!
UZUKI: What say you?! I am an adult now! You can stop treating me like a child!
st. poli's stromboli, this lasted all of 5 seconds you two
seriously
Music: Let the Games Begin!TSUBUTE: Graaagh! What was that?!
TSUBUTE: You are still a child if you cannod admit your mistakes and apologize with all of your heart.
UZUKI: But I did apologize! Stop digging up what is past! You are an elder but you still act a child!
TSUBUTE: I am still better than someone who cannot even wake up on her own every morning!
UZUKI: Th-that only happened once! How dare you, you stubborn old coot!
TSUBUTE: Stubborn, you say?! Well, that is all because...
BUSH: (...They're back to how they were before. That's a relief.)
I wouldn't call it a relief, but it's better than depression, I guess? Maybe?
I'm starting to think Cicada Samurai Dad is the problem here.
Music: TrampoliUZUKI: Bush. It seems that I have caused you much worry. But there is no need for that anymore.
Yeah, you know what, you two do you
gonna go talk about boats with people
BUSH: Turner, are you going to participate in tomorrow's Boat Race?
TURNER: Not with how fat I am right now. I'll sink the boat! Hahaha.
Despite saying this, this won't actually stop him from trying. You'll understand what I mean tomorrow.
RITA: The Boat Race sure brings back a lot memories.
RITA: Of course, Turner can't row the boat being how fat he is now.
You could get a bigger boat, maybe? That little gondola's part canoe at this point anyways.
ERIK: Are you prepared to pick up the oar?
ERIK: Did you rub oil onto the base of the ship?
ERIK: Did you find someone to ride with you?
ERIK: Do you think you can beat me?!
Yes, no, no, and yes, in that order.
Selphy is now in the LP 8 range, about a week late for the Summer date. Asking her out now would only schedule for the Fall date, which is a tad odd given that's like 24 days away or something. It's almost a whole month off.
We'll have most of our bachelorettes available to date by then, and I'll show all of them off when we do.
SELPHY: The Boat Race? I'll pass.
SELPHY: Well, if I row a boat, I'll definitely get muscle pain the next day.
It's following this that I try to do another fight against Mimic Slime, but I briefly forgot that bosses get tougher after the first fight.
These Queen Hornets have double the damage and nearly triple the HP it would seem, so we get thoroughly owned in short order.
It's a good thing this was just an alternate timeline!
Back to the magic crystal mines we go, to impress our constellation teacher.
Today, I prepared some cookies as working food, and they're not too bad, despite the cost of 2 milk and 1 flour total being about 700g. The healing's okay, too, but they're definitely not the most efficient option for either choice. Just Warm Milk and Bread alone would probably be better.
I've got a lot of leftover Relax Tea Leaves, so I might just brew all that up and use it as RP food in the coming days. It's not like I need to give Melody any more now.
I think our next ring of choice is going to be a Silence Ring. Bush just relies so much on special attacks between his Axes and Magic that silence is such a killer.
Mist is continuing to misinterpret Bush's combat wear as rabbit ears and a scarf, rather than cat ears and a scarf.
Bahumbug, we need an Insect Jaw to make a Silence ring, and I just sold one the other day. Usually these things drop all the time, but now that I want one and don't have it, it'll never show.
Regardless, the materials are a Silver Ring, a Magic Crystal, a Pink Cat, and an Insect Jaw, and it's just barely in our craftable range.
Honestly kind of a rude move to make so many of these accessories need Magic Crystals later. I'm only getting as many as I do because I'm abusing savestates.
I spend a while looking through what we can craft, but remain just out of skill or just one material off on everything.
I then go to check with Kross about how close I am to the bedroom expansion. I don't really need it right now, but it's necessary for us to get married in the distant future.
The cost is 75,000g, which is something we can afford, but we still need 766 lumber. I suppose I'll have to get to choppin'.
Kanno's outside and therefore would tell us more about Cinnamon's backstory, but the festival dialogue is overriding it.
Following that, I ride to the church clinic and buy 10 energy drinks off of Lara. This costs 2600g, and is only going to net me about 500 HP worth of healing.
Such a pricy tradeoff, but the way I see it I can consider that 75,000g put in the bank, and everything else open to spending on food and medicine.
Music: Snow RuinsBush takes a brief dip into Snow Ruins, but it goes south from the first Hornet. The difficulty ramp in this game is nothing like the others, and I remain continually punished for treating it like it is.
At this point I duck back to take a bath, something I would show if the recording hadn't seemingly broken at the end.
Luckily, nothing much of importance happens the rest of today, I take a bath, Iris had nothing new to say, and I go to sleep after finishing up some busywork.
Also, luckily, I record in chunks rather than one long recording, so I'm able to pick up tomorrow just before we go do festival things.
Music: FestivalIt's a bit after 10 the next day, a result of field watering and preparing some fish as work food. I hadn't yet thought about just using my tea supply instead.
UZUKI: I will not be participating in the Boat Race. The reason... Ah... My arms cannot reach! It is not because I am scared!
yyyeah, sure
whatever you say
EUNICE: Bush, good luck at the Boat Race.
...and that's it. Thanks, I guess!
SELPHY: Are you going to join the Boat Race, Bush?
SELPHY: Well... Good luck.
There is a yes/no prompt here, but her response is the same either way.
TABATHA: Today is the Boat Race. It is a race where you row a boat and gather balloons.
Well, I guess that says what we'll be doing!
BIANCA: You want to take part in the Boat Race? Then why don't you go to the lake?
In a minute, I gotta talk to people! Get all that juicy festival dialogue content that comes oh-so rarely!
MELODY: Today is the Boat Race. Be careful so that you don't fall off the boat and get taken to the bathhouse.
At first I thought this meant the bathhouse was somehow filled by the lake, but then I remembered the little water canals around Trampoli square and just outside the Laga Springs. I guess if we got sucked into the waterfall, we'd end up down in the canal outside it. We'd definitely want a bath after that, so I guess it's somewhat convenient?
You can alternatively take this as a comment that if we fall off the boat, Melody will be the first to try and rescue us. Evidently she knows how to swim or teleport given how she got back after that date.
MIST: Are you going to join in on the Boat Race today, Bush?
-------------------------------
1. Yes.
2. I haven't decided yet.
-------------------------------
Unlike Selphy's these do have different responses.
--------------------
"Boats, boats, boats, boats-"
MIST: Oh. Good luck to you then.
-------------------
"Not really sure yet."
MIST: You say that now, but you always end up joining.
She knows that about us, at least. Bush never misses a festival. Really the whole town seems to know.
ROSETTA: I heard that the Boat Race is today. The people of this village sure love their Festivals.
I say there's not enough festivals. Went all spring without a single one! Alvarna's got more, even if half of them are pointless!
CANDY: Are you going to join in today's Boat Race? Good luck.
MARCO: Today's the Boat Race. I wanted to join but I couldn't...
MARCO: I was told I should come again after I grow a little taller...
Man, Marco just never gets to have any fun. I really don't see why they can't hold a kids contest, aside from maybe these two being the only ones in town.
RITA: I'll just take it easy here for today.
TURNER: I used to ride the boat a lot with Rita before we got married.
So we have heard, yesterday, in fact!
KROSS: This year's Boat Race will be exciting.
BUSH: Really?
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: The reason is you...
I guess he's got faith in our boating skills?
LUTE: So it's a boat festival?
LUTE: I'm not very fit so I won't join in.
To be fair, travel only really works your legs. It won't inherently do anything for your arms.
KANNO: I'm actually good at boating. I used to ride with so many kinds of people.
KANNO: Of course, men weren't allowed on.
Oh, Magic Grandpa, what are we gonna do with you? I mean, we kinda already got the idea he used to be a ladies' man from his comment way back on Foliage Day, here's just the confirmation of it.
LARA: Today is the Boat Race. Just be sure that you don't fall off and catch a cold.
Lara seems to think anything can cause a cold. I suppose Noradian medicine only goes so far when you have known cures to the common cold, poisons, and paralysis.
DANNY: Hm?
DANNY: Let's see what you're made of, Bush!
I would like to point out that Danny is still so shell-shocked from losing to Rosetta that he still greets with "W-welcome, good morning."
What I'm saying is that you're going down, son.
ANETTE: The Boat Race is today. I'm getting excited.
Anette got the day off, and she'll also be a competitor today!
although maybe not take the mailbag with you when you do it
ERIK: You better get pumped up about this!
ERIK: I've trained for this day!
Must be nice to have nothing else to do but practice for a boat race that happens once a year. No seriously, I'm not being sarcastic, that'd be great.
GANESHA: Did you come to join? Then talk to Stella.
GANESHA: Bush, I'm counting on you to do well!
With Danny and Erik presumably being the only competitors for the last year, I guess people are hyped to see what we can do.
STELLA: You want to enter the Boat Race?
hell yes
STELLA: If you're entering, would you like to hear the rules?
Saves me from explaining them, so sure.
(i've also never done this before)
GANESHA: I'll explain the rules.
GANESHA: It's simple. Row the boat around to gather balloons. Blue ones are worth 1 point, yellow are worth 5, and hearts are 10 points!
GANESHA: If you gather a heart while a girl is with you, you'll get a speed boost! Oh, the power of love...
GANESHA: Of course, if you're alone, hearts won't do you any good other than as points.
GANESHA: Time limit is 60 seccs. The one with the most points wins. The winner will recieve a prize that will make his girl very happy.
That's a lot, but I think we've got it. Now then...
STELLA: Bush entered the race!
Music: To YouGANESHA: Oh? Just you? This could have been your chance to impress...
Yeah, I dunno, none of 'em asked. I'm just here to beat Danny and Erik.
VOICE: Bush, hold just a moment!
TURNER: *huff* *huff* *gulp* *huff*
TURNER: Bush, I can't let you get on that boat alone.
BUSH: (Whoa, Mr. Turner's already drunk!)
TURNER: I won't let you, Bush. The flower of all Boat Races are girls!
TURNER: I cannot allow a young man to row a boat alone! If that's what you were planning, I have something.
TURNER: It can't be helped. I'll get on the boat with you!
BUSH: But...
Bush says this, sweating and with tears in his eyes, fearing the impending disaster of having a drunk Turner on board. Alas, all he wanted was to show up General Store Guy and Vegetable Store Guy. Heck, he could just bring Pony.
I told you Turner would find a way on that boat, didn't I?
VOICE: Hold up!
GANESHA: Huh?
Music: RomanceMELODY: Hunter of Hot Springs, Melody, makes her entrance!
MELODY: I heard, Bush! You're going to look for a hidden spring in the lake, right?
BUSH: What?! When did that story get around?
MELODY: It sounds fun, so let me come, too! Okay? Cool!
Luckily, for us, and Bush's desire to win all festivals, Melody has come prepared with a plausible-ish story as an excuse to get on the boat.
...Or something like that. You have to have gone on a date with a girl before they'll show up for this, which means that date a few updates ago is even luckier than it seemed.
MELODY: Well, if you're ready, let's go!
TURNER: *gulp*
MELODY: Bush - Melody pair wishes to enter!
Given we'll be making waves, Melody has come prepared with her swimsuit. With how fast she changes and how there's no changing room up here, I can only presume that she was wearing this under her robe and was maybe just planning this the whole time?
Turner has presumably already forgotten about the situation and is drinking even more wine.
GANESHA: Bush, your life is tougher than it looks...
You don't know the half of it.
Music: By the OceanA familiar tune strikes up as we get to see the gauntlet of balloons that lie ahead. Our targets in this quest.
STELLA: All right, then. Start!
In a rare moment, this line is voiced!
Music: Let the Games Begin!Also, boating! In between that black screen, Bush changed into his swimwear because I guess it'd be awkward if Melody was the only one.
The boat's rather hard to get up to speed at first, you've roughly gotta time it when the paddle just hits the water again. It also doesn't show the usual B button prompt either, so you have to time it without that as a guide.
It doesn't really matter too much though as-
THE POWER OF LOVE IS EQUAL TO THE SPEED OF SOUND
Put more coherently, as long as you've got a date on board and hit those heart balloons, you go to max speed instantly, and will maintain it for a couple of seconds.
The problem is that your turning speed isn't really that good, and it's easy to miss a lot of balloons.
MELODY: Keep going!
Part of me thinks it might be easier without a date, despite everything, but we're not getting out of this if we wanted to. There's no way to turn down a girl jumping on board.
Also, whatever date you have will also give some encouragement as you go around. It contrasts a bit with Bush's constant "HYEAGH!", (the same battle cry as the axe special,) every time he hits a heart balloon.
Balloons you collected recently will also be underwater until a certain amount of time elapses.
STELLA: Goal!
Our first attempt nets us 295 balloons.
Music: GoodnightMELODY: Rune Factory Frontier!
Location: Lake Poli
Results after this.
Before we head to the judging, we get short little zoom out from Melody where she exclaims the title of the game. Also a text box informing us that we are at the lake, as well as that the results are coming after this, as if this was a commercial break for an anime or something.
I think that's what they were going for? At least it's the only time we hear anyon else but Bush say the game's title- unlike other games, only he does it on the main screen.
Music: Festival- Results (de-Sainte Coquille Remix)As the song's title suggests, the results them is in fact a remix of the Coquille manor's theme.
STELLA: Now for the results of the Ganesha Cup Boat Race!
*Many "whoa"s can be heard, the same for when we expertly craft*
This line is also voiced. A lot of budget went into this festival.
STELLA: 3rd place. With 61 points, Erik!
ERIK: *sigh*
hah owned
STELLA: 2nd place. With 295 points, Bush!
...Oh.
BUSH: Oh, man... I was so close!
MELODY: We were almost there. Let's try harder next year. ♪
STELLA: And finally, the winner of this year's Ganesha Cup Boat Race is...
STELLA: With a whopping 375 points, Danny!
DANNY: Naturally.
No, I can't accept this. If it was Anette, sure, but I'm not losing to Danny.
It's time to turn back time.
Oh and also we get a safety mask as a surprise, oddly menacing in the age of Corona. It's rather hard to see from all the bloom.
Cutting this attempt here, let's try this again.
---------------------------------------------------
Music: Let the Games Begin!After 3 more tries, I get to this run, our 5th attempt. I've finally managed to find a working strategy by this point.
MELODY: Just keep going!
The paths are curved in a way you can hit most of the hearts in a loop, but you have to be very aggressive about turning. Starting off, I actually grind against the edge of the left island here.
You'll inevitably miss a couple of blues and yellows, but if you keep grabbing the hearts, you should be in good shape.
This turn on the right side is the worst given how sharp it is, the best you can do is hard cut left when you grab the heart here.
Oh, and as a general tip, hold forward movement any time you want to stabilize your turn, it seems to help a lot.
MELODY: Just a little more! Keep rowing!!!
This time, I finish with 414 points.
Skipping ahead of what we've already seen out of the awards ceremony, Erik gets third again, but...
Music: Festival- Results (de-Sainte Coquille Remix)STELLA: 2nd place. With 374 points, Anette!
*She does a little jump off the ground.*
ANETTE: Aw, so close. I was this close!
Anette, absolutely shredding it out there solo.
STELLA: And finally, the winner of this year's Ganesha Cup Boat Race is...
STELLA: With a whopping 425 poins, Bush!
Apparently we grabbed a few more balloons as the screen faded out or something.
BUSH: All right! I won!!
*Melody does a little pose*
MELODY: Yay!♪ We're great together, don't you think?
That's up to the thread to decide!
STELLA: The winning prize is... Cat Ears!
...Oh. We're already wearing those. I'd give it to Melody and we'd match, but she will not wear anything but her awesome witch hat as far as my testing has shown.
STELLA: This concludes this year's Boat Race. Did you have fun?
It was more realized than the melon smashing, at least!
MELODY: Congrats on winning the Boat Race!
MELODY: Riding with you was so fun!
I have no idea how it controls without a bachelorette on board, and no way to test, so I'm left assuming you made it much easier!
Winning this with Melody has absolutely maxed her bars out, as well as jumping everyone's LP by roughly 1/3rd of a bar!
STELLA: Isn't it time for you to think about settling down and getting married?
BUSH: Huh?! I... Uh...
Valid response, Bush.
STELLA: This is a good time for you so let me give you this.
BUSH: A... recipe?
STELLA: That's right. This will tell you how to make a "Wedding Bouquet".
STELLA: You take the person you like to a romantic place. Then you give the bouquet when things are getting exciting.
STELLA: This is how we propose marriage in this village.
BUSH: Propose?!
BUSH: I think it's a bit too early...
No kidding, the others haven't even finished their storylines yet! Also, I don't think we can even get married until we finish the main story anyways.
STELLA: It doesn't do you any harm to hold onto it. Just give it when you made up your mind.
You got Happiness 101!
STELLA: This is something you just can't do alone. You have to think carefully about who you give it to.
BUSH: All right...
Luckily, I've got the thread to make these decisions for me.
We're running a bit long on this update today, but before we close this out, let's go over the more important conversations.
EUNICE: Bush! Umm... Do you have a minute?
BUSH: W-what's wrong, Eunice? What happened?
EUNICE: Bush... Do you...
EUNICE: ...ve...ne...like?
BUSH: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.
EUNICE: Bush, do you prefer thinner girls?
BUSH: Um, I guess so.
bush, you dink
-----------------------------------
1. Yeah, I prefer the slimmer type...
2. Well, not exactly.
------------------------------------
Let's be honest, we all probably expected this question to come up eventually.
This is the bit of Eunice's storyline that was a bit controversial, namely you can influence her to lose weight (and perhaps that it's even the default option).
Now, I don't have anything against the idea of a character trying to lose weight and wanting our help as a workout buddy or the like, exercise is a lot easier when you do it with someone else, I've found. That would've been a fine direction for this.
But what we get is this toxic situation entirely based on what the protagonist wants visually, and that's the killer.
Given Eunice isn't one of the 6 vote winners, I'll make the choice I think the thread would probably go for anyways.
BUSH: Of course not. I think it's best for people to just be themselves.
EUNICE: Really? It seems more hopeful now. Thank you so much.
BUSH: O-oh... (I feel like I just made a very important choice...)
Girl, you fine, don't change yourself for nobody.
KROSS: Congratulations. Who will you give the prize to?
KROSS: If you'd like, you can give it to me... I mean, nothing...
Is there anyone else we'd give it to?
KROSS: Thank you... I will gladly accept it.
You can have it, my dude. Happy boat day!
(It won't visibly show on him, but how could I say no?)
... I could've sworn I watered this this morning. Huh.
Anyways, before we close out we've got one last person to talk to.
Hey Mist, we-
...Mist?
---------------
BUSH: "...Right..."
BUSH: "...That's how I wish I could say that day went at least."
BUSH: "But the truth? Well, you might already know this didn't happen."
BUSH: "You see, yesterday..."
BUSH: "I didn't go to the bathhouse."
BUSH: "That's... when he entered the picture."
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 37: Flowers of Contrast
you know something serious is going down because this is a real update title for once
"We return to the 24th... 5:00 PM..."
Music: Snow Ruins
But for real, I went in for an extended grinding session on the two opening Queen Hornets. It was going pretty well, somehow, but it's slow going.
Eventually, I decide to go in a bit more to try to find some better place to grind.
In hindsight, maybe I should've just progressed into Whale Island further, but I don't claim to make good decisions.
Our Heat Axe is a faster, maybe cheaper way of breaking the ice barriers, but not really by much in either regard.
When I get to the room with 2 panthers and 2 hornets, I opt to just run past everything on Pony. There's gotta be a better place in here to just farm anyways.
To the right of the scorpion room is another 2 Death Stalkers, but with one of the power arc things for the ice mist generator.
Fighting these turns out to be ill-advised, and Pony almost goes down. We lack any real way to heal her, so I'm just going to have to make do,
These Death Stalkers do drop Magic Talons, higher tier versions of the usual Sharp Talon.
With that arc destroyed, the ice mist generator has exploded, and the door to the north is now unfrozen.
This also happens to lead downstairs!
SNOW RUINS B2F
Immediately to our south is a long, wide room that spawns 2 Glaces up front- not a welcome sight.
Back up and right, there's a hallway almost blockaded by two Death Stalkers.
Pony goes down in the confrontation, and there's just a machine-frozen door down at the end of a long hallway. Guess it's time to hoof it on foot past those glaces.
There's pathways going left, right, and to the south, yet the south is frozen by these two mist generators right here.
oh, and there's two more panthers, but when aren't there panthers down here
I destroy one arc, but just opt to retreat out to the leftwards door. The monsters close in on me too fast to get the other one.
It ends in a hallway branch going north and south...
And the northmost room is incredibly suspicious with it's blue (higher rarity) chest sitting out in the open alongside two spawners that haven't spawned anything yet.
As soon as I approach the loot, Glaces drop down, so I nope right on out of there.
The south pathway leads to a farming room that is terribly out of the way, but also to another southern room.
Bush stops to smash some ore, and gets only scrap for his troubles.
To the right is a staircase down, but it's guarded by more panthers. I opt to not fight them and just go to the left through the ice barrier instead.
It's a long room running south, absolutely packed with monsters. Most notably, we've got a new one, the Demon! There's demons down here, that's a great sign.
Demons have a pretty expected poke attack with their pitchfork, but they can also meld into shadow on the ground and try to stab from underneath. In previous games, they're rather deadly for their ability to paralyze and silence, but I don't know if they can do that in this one.
i just ran away
Down a rightwards path, specifically.
Oh, and there's also the recolor of the Elephant here, the Mammoo.
SLIDE! SLIDE! SLIDE!
This slippery ramp dumps us into another farming room. This one's rather long and extends to the right quite a ways.
There's a ramp up at the right end, of which I find a power arc, a machine, and more panthers.
Running to the south, I get clipped by a projectile attack from a Glace, getting Bush paralyzed. This, incredibly annoyingly, slows him to a walk.
I am able to make it into this southern door safely though- I think this might have been frozen shut by that machine?
I do thankfully have Para-gone on hand, kept for situations like these exactly.
The hallway takes a turn to the left, opening up into a long room running further right.
Aside from a Mammoo, there's a chest here that drops... a Para-gone of all things.
This was a bust.
Warping back in time, I go south in the room we saw a demon in. This is surprisingly one of the only times I used asavestate timewarp down here.
Oh, hey, the staircase was right here all along!
SNOW RUINS B3F
Third floor!
There's more ore here, but I only get scrap. Scrap's not useless, I'd just rather have Gold or Platinum.
Fun fact, the staff bonk attack doesn't deal elemental damage, and therefore cannot break the ice barriers.
The only path is to the north into this massive room, notable for that iced ramp to the upper right. There's a mist generator up top causing the ramp to be frozen like it is, but we can't get up the frozen ramp to clear it.
Oh, and there's also demons andunicorns corndogs down here.
Apparently the demons can also wind up and throw their spears! Neat.
They have absolutely no tracking with it though, so it's pretty easy to avoid.
To the north is more demons and corndogs, but with a mist generator we can actually reach.
Oh, and there's also a recolored Duck here, also capable of exploding. I don't actually have an information on what this is called, aside from maybe a Peck? That's usually reserved for recolors of cluckadoodles though.
Ramp unfrozen!
After waiting for the duck to finish disco bombing, Bush drinks down the last energy drink I had prepared. We head up the ramp and to the south...
And we're at the first ramp now! I clear the arc, and start to look around for what it might have unfrozen, as it didn't seem to unfreeze the ramp.
Oh, there's a door down and around the first ramp that was frozen. Huh.
This leads into a roughly square room with exits to the south and east, but also a giant CANNON
It doesn't track well, so I'm able to clear the arc powering it pretty easily. Huh.
Going further east, is a hallway that branches north (to a room with another cannon,) and even further east.
The eastern room is a dead end, so north it is!
The cannon is powered by an arc defended by a couple of demons, but I slip in and take it down pretty easily.
Further north in this room is an ice mist machine, and a big minotaur frozen in ice blocking a doorway.
Running up and around the nearby staircase leads Bush past more demons and to the arc that powers the machine.
Oh, hey, that unfroze the minotaur! This blue minotaur, compared to the red ones we've seen before, is a Minotaur King. As far as I know, just generally stronger than its counterparts.
I say that because I just ran past it to the big door.
This door's actually rather fancy. When I approach, however...!
*We cut to Bush walking up to the door dramatically.*
VOICE FROM BEHIND US: "Bush."
*Bush turns around to see Mist and Candy!*
BUSH: Mist! Candy, too!
BUSH: What are you doing here? It's dangerous!
seriously
i didnt clear any monsters
MIST: Sorry... It's just that I hear a voice from in here asking for help.
CANDY: A lot of Spirits are inside here. I think the Spirits from Whale Island are in here, too.
BUSH: The Spirits...? And the voice that Mist heard is coming from in here, too...?
BUSH: Does that mean there's really something inside?
Alright, yeah, these are totally valid reasons to be down here.
I guess I'm just going to have to prepare myself to eat floor here, as I'm not really best of shape to fight a boss.
*Bush turns to the door and we fade to black...*
BUSH: Darn, it won't open.
MIST: It won't open?
*Mist walks up to the door and it suddenly opens!*
MIST: It opened...
BUSH: Ahaha... Looks like it did...
...Huh, mysterious. Also unfortunate as I'd otherwise we could turn around and put this off until later.
CANDY: There are so many Spirits in here... They sound so... sad...
Alright, yeah, that's no good. Looks like it's time for some ill-advised heroism!
The crew walks in...
To see a massive Dark Rune! It causes this constant magical whirling noise that fades in and out.
BUSH: ...!! Whoa...
MIST: Oh my...
CANDY: Wow...
*We then get a panning view of the Dark Rune, where we can see this complicated magical circle in yellow and red underneath.*
Suddenly...
Sound: Noire's Spirit Song of Sorrow
... A distantly familiar song is sung- the same one from the singing rock in the town square! (This clip of it I had to record myself, so enjoy the added waterfall sounds from the Trampoli town square in the background.)
MIST: Do you... hear something...?
CANDY: I hear something... A melody... A Spirit Melody?!
*Then a cutscene begins!*
*We finally see who's singing: a girl... Iris?*
*Red and green eyes...*
*And from her flies out another Dark Rune into what can only be a massive one above her!*
BUSH: Iris...?
BUSH: No, the atmosphere is slightly different... Mist, is this the voice you heard Iris'?
MIST: No... I don't think so. The voice I heard was...
*Mist points towards her.*
The cutscene made this look more intimidating, I'll be honest.
BUSH: Runes are... gathering...
BUSH: They gathered here and became this giant Rune...
CANDY: Just like how I sing to talk to the Spirits, that girl's singing must be calling out to them.
*She tears up.*
CANDY: You have to stop that girl! If all the Spirits gather here, Whale Island will lose its Rune and fall to the ground!!
BUSH: Iris, stop! Why are you doing this?!
IRIS: I have nothing else... This is all I have...
BUSH: What are you talking about?! You're the one that told me you're not lonely anymore! You told me that you'd sing for me some day!
BUSH: A sad melody like that doesn't suit you, Iris!!
I don't remember that conversation, but I'm sure it happened. We do however get to see Iris's new sprite, her eye colors switched, her hair silver and slightly longer, and her outfit entirely black instead of white.
IRIS: Who... are you? My melody is...
BUSH: It's me! We used to talk on Whale Island, remember?! Did you forget?!
IRIS: I... don't know you... I have nothing...
BUSH: Iris!
This conversation is going nowhere unfortunately.
MAN'S VOICE: "What are you doing?! I never told you to stop singing!"
...Someone else enters the fray!
It's... Gelwein!
Music: Pinch
GELWEIN: There's no one in this world that would ever befriend a worthless fool like you other than me!
GELWEIN: You want me to cast you out?! You can't live without me! So do as I say and sing, fool!
And it turns out when he does say something for once, he's a massive dinkus- who could've guessed?
BUSH: Iris, stop it! Please!
GELWEIN: Who in the world are you...?
GELWEIN: You dare enter into this facility without my permission? This is why trash like you...
BUSH: You... I saw you before in front of Iris's house...
BUSH: Iris had nothing but good things to say about you. She called you her "friend"... How could you?!
Bush is getting ready to throw hands already.
GELWEIN: I knew I remembered your face from somewhere... You're the one that visits "Blanche."
BUSH: "Blanche"...?
GELWEIN: Haha... Hahahahaha! I see! You can't tell apart "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island!
Bush is generally oblivious, this is to be expected.
GELWEIN: "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island are two separate entities.
GELWEIN: Well... I guess it'd be more accurate to say that they're "separate entities right now."
BUSH: Wha-What do you...
GELWEIN: That Iris you met on the floating island is not really Iris.
GELWEIN: There once was a girl that lived here, who split into two because she wanted someone to talk to.
BUSH: You're telling me... Iris... One girl split... into two?!
GELWEIN: That's right!
GELWEIN: Iris is the last of a vampire tribe legendary for being those closest to the Spirits in this world.
Iris is a vampire?!
(i mean ok, it was pretty telegraphed, i think we all knew)
GELWEIN: She alone knows the secret art that controls the Spirits through song. That art is what gripped me!
GELWEIN: The two Irises continued to sing from above and below the earth. Their powers are the same, since they were one person to begin with.
GELWEIN: By going back and forth between the two Irises, the Spirits brought balance upon this world.
GELWEIN: This is where I devised a plan. I kept the Iris underground singing while stopping the Iris above.
GELWEIN: Of course, as a result, the Spirits began gathering underground around the Iris that continued to sing.
GELWEIN: And behold! The fruits of my labor! This giant Dark Rune!
Fancypants here evidently has had nobody to gush about his grand evil plan to until we arrived. Being a villianous sort doesn't lend you to having many people you can do this to.
*We get another panning view of the Dark Rune*
BUSH: Stop! If you keep doing this, Whale Island will lose all of its Rune Power and fall to the ground!
GELWEIN: Why should I care?! I will have my revenge on the fools that envied my genius and banished me!
BUSH: I can't let you do that!
GELWEIN: Hmph! You seem to have some skill with a sword, but that won't be enough to defeat me!
Finally, I've been waiting for Bush to just deck this guy in the nose and put an end to this. Alas, Cutscene Law of Anime defines we just have to stand back and wait until both sides are done with the rhetoric and its already probably too late.
BUSH: We'll see about that...
Or he could just brandish his axe and get ready to cut a man, that works too, the pacifist magic only sort of works on humans.
GELWEIN: What a fool! Then why don you give it a try!
GELWEIN: Let's see how you stand up to this!
*He swings his arm in dramatic declaration, flaring his cloak.*
Music: Iris Noire Battle
(A new track! It's dramatic, but not as high energy as the other ones if you ask me.)
GELWEIN: Go, Iris! Wipe out these fools that dare interrupt my plan!
oh of course he isnt going to fight us
ya coward
BUSH: Stand back, both of you!! Mist, I'll leave Candy to your care!!
MIST: Okay... Be careful!
*Iris Noire struggles to her feet as Gelwein throws his cloak out again.*
*A close up of vampire fang...*
*Bush staggers back in surprise as she charges him at high speed!*
*Her eyes have gone to a full, glowing solid color now as she's right in front of Bush...!*
*Gelwein smirks...!*
*And she leaps right at Bush!*
IRIS: Stop!
Iris?!
wait
I mean, the other Iris?!
*Suddenly, Iris Blanche appareas in front of Bush!*
BUSH: Iris...? She's speaking through me...
IRIS: Please, stop this!! You can't do this...!
IRIS NOIRE: I have nothing else... This is all I have...
IRIS: That's not true! You have me! Bush will also become your friend, I promise!
IRIS: If you continue down this path, you can never return! You really will lose... everything!
believe me, he's got a lot of tomato juice
IRIS: This isn't you, Iris!! Come back, please...!!!
IRIS NOIRE: I... don't know you... I... I have...
IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!
*She grabs her head in pain.*
GELWEIN: "Blanche"... Why are you here?
GELWEIN: Wait... You...!!! You gave your blood to "Blanche"!
GELWEIN: No, this can't be! The awareness-control will break...!!!
IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!
*Noire cries out one last time before we fade to white.*
So, that moment where Iris awkwardly licked the blood off our hand? Turns out it was a good thing!
Normally, there's a boss fight here, but we just get to skip it instead and continue onwards into this incredibly long cutscene uninterrupted.
*Mist and Candy return from where they were hiding.*
MIST: Are you all right?
BUSH: I'm fine. How's Iris...?
*He turns to check her...*
BUSH: Don't worry. She just fainted.
MIST: *phew*... That's good.
It's all very confusing, but I guess it turned out alright?
Music: Sinister
(Another new track! This one's renamed to avoid spoilers, but it definitely works here.)
GELWEIN: Bush, was it...? You worthless piece of...
BUSH: This is the end. Leave this place. If not...
GELWEIN: ...?! Ha... I get it... It's no wonder my awareness-control was broken so easily.
BUSH: ...? What are you...?!
GELWEIN: I never imagined there would be someone with a more powerful song than Iris, here, in a place like this!
GELWEIN: No matter! I still have the upper hand. In fact, this is the perfect chance to solidify my plan!
GELWEIN: Bush... I must thank the likes of you!
*He swings his arm dramatically again, causing another fade to white!*
RED VOICE: "I'll let Iris go, as you wish. She is of no use to me, now that I have the final ingredient in my hands!"
RED VOICE: "Hahahahaha!!"
...Well, I suppose that partially answers our question about who those voices in our dreams we were hearing.
Also, I'm pretty sure we just got Candy kidnapped.
Another fade to black...
Music: Visions
RED VOICE: "The diagnostic results are in. As we thought, the reason behind the Rune dissipations was...
GREEN VOICE: "I see. A body that endless absorbs Runes since birth..."
GREEN VOICE: "Why did it fail...?"
GREEN VOICE: "Is it sinful for man to create life by his own hands...?"
GREEN VOICE: "But the child has not sinned... I should have been the one to be punished..."
GREEN VOICE (???): "If we do nothing, all the Runes of the world will be absorbed by this child...and the world will perish. I must do something. Something..."[/b]
And Bush wakes up on his bed! He must have had cutscene overload and collapsed.
We have some visitors in Lara, Noire, Kanno, and... Candy?
BUSH: ...Where am I?
LARA: You're in your room, Bush. Do you hurt anywhere?
BUSH: No... I'm fine...
*He gets off the bed.*
BUSH: What am I doing here...?
BUSH: Oh, no! Iris was being controlled, and I...
IRIS NOIRE: If you're worried about me, I'm fine...
BUSH: Iris! You're back to normal! I'm glad...
BUSH: What were you doing in a place like that? Besides that Gelwein guy...
IRIS NOIRE: I'm not the Iris from Whale Island...
BUSH: Huh...?!
Unfortunately, the cutscene overload is bringing back Bush's amnesia.
Also get ready to have a recap of everything we just heard.
IRIS NOIRE: A long time ago, the Iris that lived in this land became so lonely she split into the Iris on Whale Island and me.
KANNO: Hm... So both Miss Iris of Whale Island and Miss Iris of the underground were singing the Spirit Melody.
KANNO: That is why Runes were in equilibrium, and Whale Island could soar in the sky.
KANNO: However, Miss Iris of Whale Island stopped singing while the other Miss Iris continued on due to Gelwein's plots.
KANNO:As result, all the Runes began gathering underground while the Rune within Whale Island shrunk.
IRIS NOIRE: That's my hypothesis anyway.
What do you mean, "hypothesis"? Gelwein literally told us all of this.
BUSH: Then the danger has passed? Whale Island is safe?
BUSH: I mean, you're here with us and you're not singing.
CANDY: It's... not that simple...
BUSH: What? Why not?
Bush doesn't like it when conflicts get complicated.
CANDY: The Spirits are now called below by an even stronger force than before. My song won't reach them...
BUSH: How can that be...? Iris isn't singing anymore, so...
KANNO: There must be a great power we don't know about that is drawing the Spirits to it.
BUSH: A great power...?
KANNO: I dare say tha this has something to do with Miss Mist going missing.
BUSH: Mist is... misssing?
LARA: She disappeared when that whole fiasco ended, and we can't find her...
BUSH: What?! She might still be in that room! We have to go save...
KANNO: That room has been sealed by magic and cannot be breached.
BUSH: No way... Then Mist is...
Once again, Bush must go locate Mist, like we did at the start of the game.
IRIS NOIRE: I'm so sorry... It's all my fault...
BUSH: No, Iris. You were being controlled. You didn't do anything wrong.
BUSH: Besides, I'm sure Mist is totally fine. So... don't blame yourself like that.
IRIS NOIRE: Bush...
IRIS NOIRE: Bush, I want you to take me to where the other Iris is. If we work together, we may be able to bring the Spirits back to Whale Island.
IRIS NOIRE: Magic cannot be used without Runes, so if we bring back the Runes, we may be able to weaken the magic seal on that room.
KANNO: Then I'll look into this Gelwein fellow.
LARA: Bush, just don't do anything rash, okay?
Sounds like a plan, because we're honestly not prepared to do anything about this. I just triggered this on accident because I ran past everything!
I don't know if I could call that scouting run a success or a failure.
*We fade to black and return to see Bush escorting Noire to Iris's tower.*
*The two Irises see one another, Noire starting to cry.*
*Noire runs to Blanche and they hug.*
IRIS NOIRE: I missed you...
This is the first time we actually hear a voice line from her- she's decently deeper voiced than her counterpart's higher, cheerful tone.
Also, since they'll regularly be in the same room now, I suppose I'll need to defer to saying Blanche and Noire to differentiate them.
Music: Iris' Spirit Song
(Another) new track! This is a rather good one, although if the Spirit Song really is just "la", then I'm not sure why it's such a big deal.]
IRIS BLANCHE: I understand what you're trying to do.
IRIS BLANCHE: I never dreamed that Gelwein would do something so...
IRIS BLANCHE: ...I'll believe you.
IRIS NOIRE: We will sing together.If we can bring back the Spirits that went underground, Whale Island won't fall.
BUSH: We'll all be counting on you.
Way to lay on the pressure, Bush.
Music: Festival
And THAT's why I started the festival day out at 10:00 AM. The pacing has kind of been obliterated, and the only previous save state I have is pretty far back so I couldn't really undo this once it happened.
Really, I just want to know if Gelwein is the reason why Runeys are so bad, because if he is, he's really going to regret this plan twice over.
...Uh, next time we finish up the festival day? This really didn't do anything to help the pacing did it gosh darn it all
-----------------
MYSTERY: "...I don't get why you waited to tell this part. It didn't help the pacing at all."
BUSH: "I, um..."
MYSTERY: "..."
BUSH: "T-That's just how it happened, okay? So, then I watered the tomatoes-"
MYSTERY: "can we not go over the tomatoes again"
you know something serious is going down because this is a real update title for once
"We return to the 24th... 5:00 PM..."
Music: Snow RuinsBut for real, I went in for an extended grinding session on the two opening Queen Hornets. It was going pretty well, somehow, but it's slow going.
Eventually, I decide to go in a bit more to try to find some better place to grind.
In hindsight, maybe I should've just progressed into Whale Island further, but I don't claim to make good decisions.
Our Heat Axe is a faster, maybe cheaper way of breaking the ice barriers, but not really by much in either regard.
When I get to the room with 2 panthers and 2 hornets, I opt to just run past everything on Pony. There's gotta be a better place in here to just farm anyways.
To the right of the scorpion room is another 2 Death Stalkers, but with one of the power arc things for the ice mist generator.
Fighting these turns out to be ill-advised, and Pony almost goes down. We lack any real way to heal her, so I'm just going to have to make do,
These Death Stalkers do drop Magic Talons, higher tier versions of the usual Sharp Talon.
With that arc destroyed, the ice mist generator has exploded, and the door to the north is now unfrozen.
This also happens to lead downstairs!
SNOW RUINS B2F
Immediately to our south is a long, wide room that spawns 2 Glaces up front- not a welcome sight.
Back up and right, there's a hallway almost blockaded by two Death Stalkers.
Pony goes down in the confrontation, and there's just a machine-frozen door down at the end of a long hallway. Guess it's time to hoof it on foot past those glaces.
There's pathways going left, right, and to the south, yet the south is frozen by these two mist generators right here.
oh, and there's two more panthers, but when aren't there panthers down here
I destroy one arc, but just opt to retreat out to the leftwards door. The monsters close in on me too fast to get the other one.
It ends in a hallway branch going north and south...
And the northmost room is incredibly suspicious with it's blue (higher rarity) chest sitting out in the open alongside two spawners that haven't spawned anything yet.
As soon as I approach the loot, Glaces drop down, so I nope right on out of there.
The south pathway leads to a farming room that is terribly out of the way, but also to another southern room.
Bush stops to smash some ore, and gets only scrap for his troubles.
To the right is a staircase down, but it's guarded by more panthers. I opt to not fight them and just go to the left through the ice barrier instead.
It's a long room running south, absolutely packed with monsters. Most notably, we've got a new one, the Demon! There's demons down here, that's a great sign.
Demons have a pretty expected poke attack with their pitchfork, but they can also meld into shadow on the ground and try to stab from underneath. In previous games, they're rather deadly for their ability to paralyze and silence, but I don't know if they can do that in this one.
i just ran away
Down a rightwards path, specifically.
Oh, and there's also the recolor of the Elephant here, the Mammoo.
SLIDE! SLIDE! SLIDE!
This slippery ramp dumps us into another farming room. This one's rather long and extends to the right quite a ways.
There's a ramp up at the right end, of which I find a power arc, a machine, and more panthers.
Running to the south, I get clipped by a projectile attack from a Glace, getting Bush paralyzed. This, incredibly annoyingly, slows him to a walk.
I am able to make it into this southern door safely though- I think this might have been frozen shut by that machine?
I do thankfully have Para-gone on hand, kept for situations like these exactly.
The hallway takes a turn to the left, opening up into a long room running further right.
Aside from a Mammoo, there's a chest here that drops... a Para-gone of all things.
This was a bust.
Warping back in time, I go south in the room we saw a demon in. This is surprisingly one of the only times I used a
Oh, hey, the staircase was right here all along!
SNOW RUINS B3F
Third floor!
There's more ore here, but I only get scrap. Scrap's not useless, I'd just rather have Gold or Platinum.
Fun fact, the staff bonk attack doesn't deal elemental damage, and therefore cannot break the ice barriers.
The only path is to the north into this massive room, notable for that iced ramp to the upper right. There's a mist generator up top causing the ramp to be frozen like it is, but we can't get up the frozen ramp to clear it.
Oh, and there's also demons and
Apparently the demons can also wind up and throw their spears! Neat.
They have absolutely no tracking with it though, so it's pretty easy to avoid.
To the north is more demons and corndogs, but with a mist generator we can actually reach.
Oh, and there's also a recolored Duck here, also capable of exploding. I don't actually have an information on what this is called, aside from maybe a Peck? That's usually reserved for recolors of cluckadoodles though.
Ramp unfrozen!
After waiting for the duck to finish disco bombing, Bush drinks down the last energy drink I had prepared. We head up the ramp and to the south...
And we're at the first ramp now! I clear the arc, and start to look around for what it might have unfrozen, as it didn't seem to unfreeze the ramp.
Oh, there's a door down and around the first ramp that was frozen. Huh.
This leads into a roughly square room with exits to the south and east, but also a giant CANNON
It doesn't track well, so I'm able to clear the arc powering it pretty easily. Huh.
Going further east, is a hallway that branches north (to a room with another cannon,) and even further east.
The eastern room is a dead end, so north it is!
The cannon is powered by an arc defended by a couple of demons, but I slip in and take it down pretty easily.
Further north in this room is an ice mist machine, and a big minotaur frozen in ice blocking a doorway.
Running up and around the nearby staircase leads Bush past more demons and to the arc that powers the machine.
Oh, hey, that unfroze the minotaur! This blue minotaur, compared to the red ones we've seen before, is a Minotaur King. As far as I know, just generally stronger than its counterparts.
I say that because I just ran past it to the big door.
This door's actually rather fancy. When I approach, however...!
*We cut to Bush walking up to the door dramatically.*
VOICE FROM BEHIND US: "Bush."
*Bush turns around to see Mist and Candy!*
BUSH: Mist! Candy, too!
BUSH: What are you doing here? It's dangerous!
seriously
i didnt clear any monsters
MIST: Sorry... It's just that I hear a voice from in here asking for help.
CANDY: A lot of Spirits are inside here. I think the Spirits from Whale Island are in here, too.
BUSH: The Spirits...? And the voice that Mist heard is coming from in here, too...?
BUSH: Does that mean there's really something inside?
Alright, yeah, these are totally valid reasons to be down here.
I guess I'm just going to have to prepare myself to eat floor here, as I'm not really best of shape to fight a boss.
*Bush turns to the door and we fade to black...*
BUSH: Darn, it won't open.
MIST: It won't open?
*Mist walks up to the door and it suddenly opens!*
MIST: It opened...
BUSH: Ahaha... Looks like it did...
...Huh, mysterious. Also unfortunate as I'd otherwise we could turn around and put this off until later.
CANDY: There are so many Spirits in here... They sound so... sad...
Alright, yeah, that's no good. Looks like it's time for some ill-advised heroism!
The crew walks in...
To see a massive Dark Rune! It causes this constant magical whirling noise that fades in and out.
BUSH: ...!! Whoa...
MIST: Oh my...
CANDY: Wow...
*We then get a panning view of the Dark Rune, where we can see this complicated magical circle in yellow and red underneath.*
Suddenly...
Sound: Noire's Spirit Song of Sorrow... A distantly familiar song is sung- the same one from the singing rock in the town square! (This clip of it I had to record myself, so enjoy the added waterfall sounds from the Trampoli town square in the background.)
MIST: Do you... hear something...?
CANDY: I hear something... A melody... A Spirit Melody?!
*Then a cutscene begins!*
*We finally see who's singing: a girl... Iris?*
*Red and green eyes...*
*And from her flies out another Dark Rune into what can only be a massive one above her!*
BUSH: Iris...?
BUSH: No, the atmosphere is slightly different... Mist, is this the voice you heard Iris'?
MIST: No... I don't think so. The voice I heard was...
*Mist points towards her.*
The cutscene made this look more intimidating, I'll be honest.
BUSH: Runes are... gathering...
BUSH: They gathered here and became this giant Rune...
CANDY: Just like how I sing to talk to the Spirits, that girl's singing must be calling out to them.
*She tears up.*
CANDY: You have to stop that girl! If all the Spirits gather here, Whale Island will lose its Rune and fall to the ground!!
BUSH: Iris, stop! Why are you doing this?!
IRIS: I have nothing else... This is all I have...
BUSH: What are you talking about?! You're the one that told me you're not lonely anymore! You told me that you'd sing for me some day!
BUSH: A sad melody like that doesn't suit you, Iris!!
I don't remember that conversation, but I'm sure it happened. We do however get to see Iris's new sprite, her eye colors switched, her hair silver and slightly longer, and her outfit entirely black instead of white.
IRIS: Who... are you? My melody is...
BUSH: It's me! We used to talk on Whale Island, remember?! Did you forget?!
IRIS: I... don't know you... I have nothing...
BUSH: Iris!
This conversation is going nowhere unfortunately.
MAN'S VOICE: "What are you doing?! I never told you to stop singing!"
...Someone else enters the fray!
It's... Gelwein!
Music: PinchGELWEIN: There's no one in this world that would ever befriend a worthless fool like you other than me!
GELWEIN: You want me to cast you out?! You can't live without me! So do as I say and sing, fool!
And it turns out when he does say something for once, he's a massive dinkus- who could've guessed?
BUSH: Iris, stop it! Please!
GELWEIN: Who in the world are you...?
GELWEIN: You dare enter into this facility without my permission? This is why trash like you...
BUSH: You... I saw you before in front of Iris's house...
BUSH: Iris had nothing but good things to say about you. She called you her "friend"... How could you?!
Bush is getting ready to throw hands already.
GELWEIN: I knew I remembered your face from somewhere... You're the one that visits "Blanche."
BUSH: "Blanche"...?
GELWEIN: Haha... Hahahahaha! I see! You can't tell apart "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island!
Bush is generally oblivious, this is to be expected.
GELWEIN: "Noire" here and "Blanche" up on that floating island are two separate entities.
GELWEIN: Well... I guess it'd be more accurate to say that they're "separate entities right now."
BUSH: Wha-What do you...
GELWEIN: That Iris you met on the floating island is not really Iris.
GELWEIN: There once was a girl that lived here, who split into two because she wanted someone to talk to.
BUSH: You're telling me... Iris... One girl split... into two?!
GELWEIN: That's right!
GELWEIN: Iris is the last of a vampire tribe legendary for being those closest to the Spirits in this world.
Iris is a vampire?!
(i mean ok, it was pretty telegraphed, i think we all knew)
GELWEIN: She alone knows the secret art that controls the Spirits through song. That art is what gripped me!
GELWEIN: The two Irises continued to sing from above and below the earth. Their powers are the same, since they were one person to begin with.
GELWEIN: By going back and forth between the two Irises, the Spirits brought balance upon this world.
GELWEIN: This is where I devised a plan. I kept the Iris underground singing while stopping the Iris above.
GELWEIN: Of course, as a result, the Spirits began gathering underground around the Iris that continued to sing.
GELWEIN: And behold! The fruits of my labor! This giant Dark Rune!
Fancypants here evidently has had nobody to gush about his grand evil plan to until we arrived. Being a villianous sort doesn't lend you to having many people you can do this to.
*We get another panning view of the Dark Rune*
BUSH: Stop! If you keep doing this, Whale Island will lose all of its Rune Power and fall to the ground!
GELWEIN: Why should I care?! I will have my revenge on the fools that envied my genius and banished me!
BUSH: I can't let you do that!
GELWEIN: Hmph! You seem to have some skill with a sword, but that won't be enough to defeat me!
Finally, I've been waiting for Bush to just deck this guy in the nose and put an end to this. Alas, Cutscene Law of Anime defines we just have to stand back and wait until both sides are done with the rhetoric and its already probably too late.
BUSH: We'll see about that...
Or he could just brandish his axe and get ready to cut a man, that works too, the pacifist magic only sort of works on humans.
GELWEIN: What a fool! Then why don you give it a try!
GELWEIN: Let's see how you stand up to this!
*He swings his arm in dramatic declaration, flaring his cloak.*
Music: Iris Noire Battle(A new track! It's dramatic, but not as high energy as the other ones if you ask me.)
GELWEIN: Go, Iris! Wipe out these fools that dare interrupt my plan!
oh of course he isnt going to fight us
ya coward
BUSH: Stand back, both of you!! Mist, I'll leave Candy to your care!!
MIST: Okay... Be careful!
*Iris Noire struggles to her feet as Gelwein throws his cloak out again.*
*A close up of vampire fang...*
*Bush staggers back in surprise as she charges him at high speed!*
*Her eyes have gone to a full, glowing solid color now as she's right in front of Bush...!*
*Gelwein smirks...!*
*And she leaps right at Bush!*
IRIS: Stop!
Iris?!
wait
I mean, the other Iris?!
*Suddenly, Iris Blanche appareas in front of Bush!*
BUSH: Iris...? She's speaking through me...
IRIS: Please, stop this!! You can't do this...!
IRIS NOIRE: I have nothing else... This is all I have...
IRIS: That's not true! You have me! Bush will also become your friend, I promise!
IRIS: If you continue down this path, you can never return! You really will lose... everything!
believe me, he's got a lot of tomato juice
IRIS: This isn't you, Iris!! Come back, please...!!!
IRIS NOIRE: I... don't know you... I... I have...
IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!
*She grabs her head in pain.*
GELWEIN: "Blanche"... Why are you here?
GELWEIN: Wait... You...!!! You gave your blood to "Blanche"!
GELWEIN: No, this can't be! The awareness-control will break...!!!
IRIS NOIRE: Ah... Aaaaaah!
*Noire cries out one last time before we fade to white.*
So, that moment where Iris awkwardly licked the blood off our hand? Turns out it was a good thing!
Normally, there's a boss fight here, but we just get to skip it instead and continue onwards into this incredibly long cutscene uninterrupted.
*Mist and Candy return from where they were hiding.*
MIST: Are you all right?
BUSH: I'm fine. How's Iris...?
*He turns to check her...*
BUSH: Don't worry. She just fainted.
MIST: *phew*... That's good.
It's all very confusing, but I guess it turned out alright?
Music: Sinister(Another new track! This one's renamed to avoid spoilers, but it definitely works here.)
GELWEIN: Bush, was it...? You worthless piece of...
BUSH: This is the end. Leave this place. If not...
GELWEIN: ...?! Ha... I get it... It's no wonder my awareness-control was broken so easily.
BUSH: ...? What are you...?!
GELWEIN: I never imagined there would be someone with a more powerful song than Iris, here, in a place like this!
GELWEIN: No matter! I still have the upper hand. In fact, this is the perfect chance to solidify my plan!
GELWEIN: Bush... I must thank the likes of you!
*He swings his arm dramatically again, causing another fade to white!*
RED VOICE: "I'll let Iris go, as you wish. She is of no use to me, now that I have the final ingredient in my hands!"
RED VOICE: "Hahahahaha!!"
...Well, I suppose that partially answers our question about who those voices in our dreams we were hearing.
Also, I'm pretty sure we just got Candy kidnapped.
Another fade to black...
Music: VisionsRED VOICE: "The diagnostic results are in. As we thought, the reason behind the Rune dissipations was...
GREEN VOICE: "I see. A body that endless absorbs Runes since birth..."
GREEN VOICE: "Why did it fail...?"
GREEN VOICE: "Is it sinful for man to create life by his own hands...?"
GREEN VOICE: "But the child has not sinned... I should have been the one to be punished..."
GREEN VOICE (???): "If we do nothing, all the Runes of the world will be absorbed by this child...and the world will perish. I must do something. Something..."[/b]
And Bush wakes up on his bed! He must have had cutscene overload and collapsed.
We have some visitors in Lara, Noire, Kanno, and... Candy?
BUSH: ...Where am I?
LARA: You're in your room, Bush. Do you hurt anywhere?
BUSH: No... I'm fine...
*He gets off the bed.*
BUSH: What am I doing here...?
BUSH: Oh, no! Iris was being controlled, and I...
IRIS NOIRE: If you're worried about me, I'm fine...
BUSH: Iris! You're back to normal! I'm glad...
BUSH: What were you doing in a place like that? Besides that Gelwein guy...
IRIS NOIRE: I'm not the Iris from Whale Island...
BUSH: Huh...?!
Unfortunately, the cutscene overload is bringing back Bush's amnesia.
Also get ready to have a recap of everything we just heard.
IRIS NOIRE: A long time ago, the Iris that lived in this land became so lonely she split into the Iris on Whale Island and me.
KANNO: Hm... So both Miss Iris of Whale Island and Miss Iris of the underground were singing the Spirit Melody.
KANNO: That is why Runes were in equilibrium, and Whale Island could soar in the sky.
KANNO: However, Miss Iris of Whale Island stopped singing while the other Miss Iris continued on due to Gelwein's plots.
KANNO:As result, all the Runes began gathering underground while the Rune within Whale Island shrunk.
IRIS NOIRE: That's my hypothesis anyway.
What do you mean, "hypothesis"? Gelwein literally told us all of this.
BUSH: Then the danger has passed? Whale Island is safe?
BUSH: I mean, you're here with us and you're not singing.
CANDY: It's... not that simple...
BUSH: What? Why not?
Bush doesn't like it when conflicts get complicated.
CANDY: The Spirits are now called below by an even stronger force than before. My song won't reach them...
BUSH: How can that be...? Iris isn't singing anymore, so...
KANNO: There must be a great power we don't know about that is drawing the Spirits to it.
BUSH: A great power...?
KANNO: I dare say tha this has something to do with Miss Mist going missing.
BUSH: Mist is... misssing?
LARA: She disappeared when that whole fiasco ended, and we can't find her...
BUSH: What?! She might still be in that room! We have to go save...
KANNO: That room has been sealed by magic and cannot be breached.
BUSH: No way... Then Mist is...
Once again, Bush must go locate Mist, like we did at the start of the game.
IRIS NOIRE: I'm so sorry... It's all my fault...
BUSH: No, Iris. You were being controlled. You didn't do anything wrong.
BUSH: Besides, I'm sure Mist is totally fine. So... don't blame yourself like that.
IRIS NOIRE: Bush...
IRIS NOIRE: Bush, I want you to take me to where the other Iris is. If we work together, we may be able to bring the Spirits back to Whale Island.
IRIS NOIRE: Magic cannot be used without Runes, so if we bring back the Runes, we may be able to weaken the magic seal on that room.
KANNO: Then I'll look into this Gelwein fellow.
LARA: Bush, just don't do anything rash, okay?
Sounds like a plan, because we're honestly not prepared to do anything about this. I just triggered this on accident because I ran past everything!
I don't know if I could call that scouting run a success or a failure.
*We fade to black and return to see Bush escorting Noire to Iris's tower.*
*The two Irises see one another, Noire starting to cry.*
*Noire runs to Blanche and they hug.*
IRIS NOIRE: I missed you...
This is the first time we actually hear a voice line from her- she's decently deeper voiced than her counterpart's higher, cheerful tone.
Also, since they'll regularly be in the same room now, I suppose I'll need to defer to saying Blanche and Noire to differentiate them.
Music: Iris' Spirit Song(Another) new track! This is a rather good one, although if the Spirit Song really is just "la", then I'm not sure why it's such a big deal.]
IRIS BLANCHE: I understand what you're trying to do.
IRIS BLANCHE: I never dreamed that Gelwein would do something so...
IRIS BLANCHE: ...I'll believe you.
IRIS NOIRE: We will sing together.If we can bring back the Spirits that went underground, Whale Island won't fall.
BUSH: We'll all be counting on you.
Way to lay on the pressure, Bush.
Music: FestivalAnd THAT's why I started the festival day out at 10:00 AM. The pacing has kind of been obliterated, and the only previous save state I have is pretty far back so I couldn't really undo this once it happened.
Really, I just want to know if Gelwein is the reason why Runeys are so bad, because if he is, he's really going to regret this plan twice over.
...Uh, next time we finish up the festival day? This really didn't do anything to help the pacing did it gosh darn it all
-----------------
MYSTERY: "...I don't get why you waited to tell this part. It didn't help the pacing at all."
BUSH: "I, um..."
MYSTERY: "..."
BUSH: "T-That's just how it happened, okay? So, then I watered the tomatoes-"
MYSTERY: "can we not go over the tomatoes again"
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 7:07 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 38: Much Ado About Marriage and Kids
Welcome back! Last time, Mist either wandered off or got kidnapped, we met the alternate half of Iris the vampire who split off due to solitude induced depression, we shredded waves at a boat race immediately following that, and now the environment is dying.
Oh, wait, that last part is always happening.
In this update we'll actually escape Summer 25th, a day we've been on for a total of 3 updates now.
I'll fire through the victory dialogue for the festival first though.
ROSETTA: So you won the Boat Race... Not bad.
Rosetta is evidently impressed. By the next time we have a date based festival, we should probably be able to take anyone from the main 6 out for it.
BIANCA: So you won the Boat Race. That's amazing.
Miss Sainte-Coquille is less impressed by some degree.
TABATHA: I heard that you won the Boat Race. Congratulations.
Neither of them seem that excited about it. Maybe expert boating is just that common in all the fancy places they go to.
MARCO: Did you win the Boat Race?
MARCO: I know I would win if only I joined. But Mom...
This phrasing opens up the possibility he didn't enter just because his mom would embarass him. To be fair, at the end of the day Ganesha does seem like the kind of parent who'd go overboard cheering for her kid.
DANNY: It's sunny right now so you should buy some seeds while you're here.
Danny, having been thorougly trounced by everyone in the boat race is now evidently in a daze, thinking he's still running a shop.
ERIK: Not bad, young man! But you fell one step short of me!
Ah yes, if you lose, merely claim that you won regardless. Truly the strategy to win at life with.
GANESHA: Hello, Bush. I put a rose pattern on a shield the other day because a customer wanted it that way.
GANESHA: I have some extra roses I used to design it with so you can have them.
BUSH: Thank you so much.
Oh, that's neat. Free flower!
GANESHA: Put that into the into the "Seed Maker" to grow "White Roses."
GANESHA: Good luck!
BUSH: ...?
You got White Rose!
The context of this situation makes more sense when I note that the wedding bouquet recipe that Stella gave us requires a rose to make- a flower completely unavailable up until this point.
Either way, Stella put her up to this, or she wants the town to have more kids in it so that Marco and Candy have someone to hang out with.
GANESHA: Congratulations on winning the Ganesha Cup Boat Race! Your rowing sure is a sight to behold.
Honestly, I wanted to see Anette's attempt at it. She got nearly as much as us without anyone on board for free speed boosts.
...Did she just run across the water at high speed, or is she that good at boating?
Speaking of Anette-
ANETTE: Not bad, Bush!
ANETTE: Bush, it was really great just watching you row the boat!
CINNAMON: Did the Boat Race... end?
BUSH: Yes, it's over.
CINNAMON: ...Oh. Now I can fish again. Great.
She doesn't care if we win or lose, she just wants her fishing spot back. I respect that though, good spots to fish at are hard to find.
Took me forever to find her here though.
LUTE: Did that boat festival end?
LUTE: You seem like you had a lot of fun.
Lute! We haven't seen you in a while!
i keep forgetting to go to the lake on thursdays
Since we're sitting at a massive 90,000g, I decide to go and buy a bigger storage box for our house. It only costs us 10,000g.
SELPHY: So you won the Boat Race.
SELPHY: You're amazing. It would have been impossible for me.
Who would win in an arm-wrestle contest, Bianca or Selphy?
As the day winds down and the summer cicadas start up, Bush is down in the fields collecting the rest of the harvest.
We got some more Pink Cats today alongside the usual corn and tomatoes. Those pumpkins should be done soon, also.
We got a lot of Pink Cats, actually, but I don't need most of them so in the shipping bin they go. I'll keep 15 on hand as gifts and crafting materials.
nearly die of exhaustion watering the fields
It's pretty dark by the time we finish, so I head inside to make the white rose into seeds- I'll plant them on Whale Island. The description makes mention of a long lost method of how to turn them into blue roses, how mysterious!
...And convenient as the recipe for the bouquet calls for blue ones!
They're also worth 810g a piece each and can grow in any season but winter, so they're honestly good money.
The Wedding Bouquet itself requires a Blue Rose, Green Grass, a Moondrop, a Toy Herb, a Pink Cat, and Baleen. That last thing is the big ol' filter bristles on whales by the way, commonly referred to as whalebone, which isn't really bone.
Say, we know a whale! I guess maybe we can get some from him sometime.
It's a holiday, so the path to the Tower of Rest is a lot shorter.
Music: Iris' Spirit Song
And when we enter, the music's completely different! This plays from now on inside the tower as...
They're both singing it! We can still talk to them as they have to take a break at some point.
It doesn't stop the respective vocals in the background, which is understandable, but it would've been a neat detail.
IRIS BLANCHE: We're both singing, but it's not doing much.
IRIS BLANCHE: This just shows how strong of a power is calling the Spirits below.
IRIS BLANCHE: We'll keep singing, although this may do nothing more than ease our minds...
BUSH: Okay. I'll keep looking for a way to get into that room in the ruins.
BUSH: Don't push yourselves too hard, okay?
IRIS BLANCHE: Thank you. Bush, you be careful out there, too.
Last time, Blanche said she promised she'd sing for us at some point, which makes me wonder if there wasn't another alternate progression to this storyline at some point. Had she done so, the Whale might have recognized it was helping.
Then again, it'd probably mean Gelwein would probably just kidnap Blanche too.
IRIS BLANCHE: Do you know about "Blue Roses"?
IRIS BLANCHE: Blue roses don't usually grow in nature. But, if you let moonlight shine on white roses for a few days, they will turn blue.
IRIS BLANCHE: I'd like to see it at least once.
If you think back all the way to how we first met Blanche, there's our answer of what to do with the roses! There's strong moonlight out here on the fin, so I suppose we just plant it anywhere.
IRIS NOIRE: It's because of me that Mist...
IRIS NOIRE: I don't know what to say...
BUSH: It's not your fault, Iris. I'll be sure to find Mist.
BUSH: Iris, please don't say that. It's not your fault.
IRIS NOIRE: Thank you, Bush.
I'd just keep calling the other Iris just that, and this one Noire, but the game insists on referring to both of them as just the former. I mean, technically they are both the same Iris, but they're also kinda different?
It's confusing to say the least.
IRIS NOIRE: There is also a field inside Whale Island. I wonder who it belongs to.
Given Bush is the only one willing to risk his life for farmland, I guess it's his by default.
IRIS NOIRE: I hope we, including my other self, can get along from now on, too.
IRIS NOIRE: The night is still young.
I assume that latter line is a vampire reference. From what I've seen, she leans a little bit more into the vampire side.
Oh, and Noire is a full character now, although her lines will be occasionally eaten by plot relevant dialogue.
She even loves tomato juice just like Blanche.
IRIS (NOIRE)- "The other half of Iris. A liveliness returned to her upon meeting Bush."
And she even has a separate FP and LP bar of her own. She's evidently a bachelorette candidate, but she's still Iris. As they're the same person, Bush has to raise both of their LP to 10 in order to marry one of them. It's all very unusual, even when you put aside the matter of them being vampires and one of them now bloodlinked to Bush aside.
Whether or not it's intentional, there is an odd mechanic unique to Iris in that you can gift her multiple times in the same day for extremely diminished returns. In theory, you could max both of them out in the same day if you had enough tomato juice.
I'm not doing that though.
Back out on the fin, Pony shows her superiority over the native wolves while Bush plants the rose seeds. These wolves up here used to be capable of nearly one-shotting Bush, but now they can only deal 1 damage to her as she one-shots them in return.
Back at home, I finally make use of our box. It's double the size it once was, giving us plenty of space to store all the random materials we're gonna need to get our crafts and forge skills built up.
A lot goes inside, and the bathing suit we do have is still put at the very bottom. One day, we'll do something with this.
It'll probably be next Summer though.
Music: Goodnight
Sleep ahoy! Time to finally be done with this day!
Music: Trampoli Daily Life
Ah, 6:00 AM. How long it's been since we've seen you!
Cook food!
Gather food!
This is a lot of pumpkins. Hopefully it's enough to never need to grow any more?
Mail!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Curry" - Cinnamon~
I ate curry for dinner lat night.
I asked Candy to make fish curry next time and only got yelled at.
I'll have to cook it myself.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------
1. Do your best.
2. Maybe you should reconsider?
----------------------
Hey, a person will only remain terrible at something if they never practice the skill. Master Chef Bush says do your best!
I think the context of this is mostly that Candy's probably sick of fish.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"The other day..." - Eunice~
I was cooking the other day, and I accidentally
poured too much sauce, and it splattered on my apron.
It was so hard getting rid of the stain.
Bush, you should be careful, too.
-----------------------------------------------------
This is starting to feel like a question corner from back when people used to write letters into shows.
BUSH: "These are things you have to be wary of when cooking, otherwise it turns into a plate of char, and not the fish kind!"
Tell me I'm wrong. Bush has somehow progressed to T.V. celebrity chef without the presence of television.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Like I said...!" - Bush~
I've had enough of this!
I told you I don't care!
I have nothing to do with this,
and I'm totally fine by myself,
so just stop!
Don't write me anymore!
-----------------------------------------------------
uh ok
I think Selphy sent this to the wrong address?
Maybe we'll learn what this is about today, although Bush doesn't usually talk about his mail.
Well, anyways, off to the usual routine.
ANETTE: Wow, you're early!
Bush was actually a few minutes late today!
Although him being zonked out in his house as frequently as he has recently probably doesn't set a good example anyways.
ANETTE: The other day, I found a lost kid. We looked everywhere for his parents. Thanks to that, I was late with the mail.
ANETTE: But it's okay since the mom was found.
Aw. There are valid reasons to be late with the mail, and this is definitely one of them.
ANETTE: *phew* This is so heavy.
BUSH: That looks tiring.
ANETTE: Yeah. But this weight is nothing compared to the emotions everyone puts in these letters.
ANETTE: So I can't sit around complaining, you know?
Anette is regularly the bright spot in this occasionally dark town.
ANETTE: Where did Mist go? I'm getting worried.
Speaking of dark, we will get reminded of Mist's absence by the townsfolk every once in a while. It'll be a while before we really have the means to find her, so there's not much I can do.
In other news, we broke the 100,000g mark yesterday. This Summer has been incredibly profitable for Bush. Just but a season ago I was having to scrounge every last bit of money out of strawberries, now we just sell raw produce without a care.
LARA: If you have "Energy Drink X," it can heal all wounds right away. But that doesn't mean you can stop being careful!
It heals a little over 300 HP last I checked, which is still more than Bush has in max HP. It'd be really nice if we had some, but the pharmacy needs so many extra steps.
I'll still try to work on our pharmaceuticals, but I do think a healthy supply of rice oatmeal is probably good enough?
LARA: I know you are worried about Mist, but you must take care of yourself, too.
More than that, Bush must prepare himself. Over the course of the next few days, I'm going to be going hard on gearing up.
The first week of Autumn will also give me lots of time to prepare as I don't even have to bother with runeys.
Library's clean again!
By the way Selphy, uh, what's with this very angry letter
SELPHY: Hmmm Hmm Hmmmm! ♪
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! Look!
BUSH: A... book?
SELPHY: I bought a new book! I can't wait to see what it's about!
SELPHY: Time to read!
i guess we're not getting any answers on the letter then
Also no new books that I can find. Despair and tarnation!
Music: Trampoli
BUSH: Rosetta, you're always working so hard at your own store. I really respect you for that.
ROSETTA: I-I sometimes dream about having a knight in shining armor to come take me away.
ROSETTA: ...I'm a girl after all...
BUSH: W-what's wrong? Did I say something to make you mad?
ROSETTA: It's n-nothing...
Bush remains ever oblivious.
Rosetta was a lot more forward in her original characterization, but I guess in a way, this is still pretty forward when you think about it. While Bush is capable of romance, as we've seen with the date he had, he just can't pick up on it when it's coming from anyone else.
He is an enigma.
Let's have a change of conversation!
ROSETTA: Maybe I should put up more flowers in the store. Don't you think the place looks a bit drab?
----------------------------
1. That's a great idea.
2. I like it the way it is.
----------------------------
A choice!
Perhaps it's best we hold back on messing with the timelines and commit to one.
"I like it the way it is."
ROSETTA: Really? Well, you're a customer so if you think it's fine, I'll keep it the way it is.
This isn't an excuse for forgetting to make a savestate, I assure you.
ROSETTA: Mist... Where did you go...?
ROSETTA: Don't make me worry about you like this...
UZUKI: I was born on the 15th of summer. I do not know if it is because of that, but I do like summer very much.
Something I didn't notice until just now is that Uzuki never complains about the heat. Or at least I can't remember her doing so. Huh.
UZUKI: In my country, people belonging to the upper class have people that serve as wet nurses.
UZUKI: That person is the one who will raise the child.
UZUKI: We did not have someone like that, but others around me had children that never recieved love from their parents. I felt sorry for those ones.
UZUKI: If I had a child of my own, I would never be indifferent to its upbringing. I will raise the child myself.
(i feel like someone forgot to make her stop smiling during that third line)
TSUBUTE: Bush, one must not ever be indifferent to one's child, right?
UZUKI: Why are you asking for Bush's opinion in this matter?!
TSUBUTE: Now then... I wonder why.
is your face stuck uzuki
Anyways, sheesh, all the adults trying to get us to have kids this update. Bush isn't ready to settle down yet!
I guess this means we have Angry Samurai Cicada Dad's approval?
UZUKI: Is that large tree near the clock tower a sacred tree? It certainly looks grand.
I don't go down that path too often these days, so I've mostly forgot it's there. I presume it's where the wedding ceremony actually takes place.
EUNICE: I can sew, too. I made this outfit.
EUNICE: You can tell me if you ever tear your clothes, Bush.
Eunice is a good friend.
...I'm surprised Bush still has clothing left after all he goes through to be honest. Whatever this is, it's durable. It's never really explained why he showed up on the Sechs border wearing farm clothes or where this outfit came from.
It might not even be his!
MARCO: I'll tell you right away if I find out where Mist is. Don't feel down.
BUSH: ...Thanks, Marco.
MARCO: No problem!
Marco's also a good friend.
I wish I was better at finding him on the regular
Tabatha's up in the square today.
TABATHA: The water around here is very clean so the vegetables look very nice.
TABATHA: Do you like working in the fields, Bush? I love my work as a maid very much.
I'd say we technically don't grow vegetables, just fruit, but that'd be a lie as we did just harvest pumpkins this morning.
Working in the fields is chill, although this watering can makes it less so. Still kinda wish I hadn't upgraded it.
By 2:00 PM, we're in the magic crystal mines yet again.
Aquasword Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
An hour later, we've got one, and it's time for a bath. I also used a spare water crystal to make an aquasword to see if it'd be better to either farm Ignis or to just grind weapon skill.
It turns out to be bad at the first and indistinguishable at the second.
MELODY: Welcome!♪ The bath is perfect as always today!
And am I finally glad to be back! Not bathing that one time resulted in disaster.
NOLAN: My birthday?
NOLAN: Let's see... I think it was...
NOLAN: Yes, I remember! I believe it is on the 8th of spring.
One bath later and we're off to really get our day started!
Music: Snow Ruins
...Huh, there's actually a boss shortcut portal in Snow Ruins. Might as well take it to see what happens.
Well, we're back outside the door where found Noire. The way out is blocked by the Minotaur King, inconveniently re-frozen in the hallway's entrance. Bummer, this would be a good experience farming shortcut.
I guess we try the door and see?
*We get a short montage of Bush inspecting it.*
BUSH: Man, this is shut tight. It'd be nice if I could find some other way in.
Welp, it was worth a shot.
I take the portal back and do some tests on RP consumed to weapon skill gained, but I wasn't able to really find anything noticeable.
So I opted to just fight some hornets instead.
Occasionally Bush will critical hit, I believe thanks to the cat ears. This does hilarious damage with the axe's charge swing.
Still getting that missing issue.
Roughly three and a half hours later I give it a break, our RP bar thoroughly drained with crops on Whale Island still needing to be watered.
So we head on up there.
Music: Whale Island Entrance
WHALE: "A Spirit Song... I have not heard it in some time..."
BUSH: Whale! Iris' Spirit Song is calling to the Spirits. Now...
WHALE: "Unfortunately, it will be difficult... The power summoning to the Spirits to the underground is too srong. At this rate..."
WHALE: "Unless the source of that power is stopped, I will continue to fail..."
WHALE: "Bush, please discover what's causing the Spirits to gather under the ground. Please..."
Can you give me, like, two weeks? I should be ready by then.
Seriously, I've got a feeling that Noire would have just killed us if it wasn't for Blanche stepping in.
Got some Toyherbs almost done up here. I'll save one or two for some high level recipes and the bouquet, and the others I can probably give to Stella.
St. Poli knows these two probably need some refreshment if they've still been singing for hours on end.
Your voice has to blow out at some point, right?
IRIS BLANCHE: I'm so glad we can talk again.
I'm glad you stopped us from having to do that boss fight!
They don't really have anything else to say today, alas. I suppose speaking of that boss fight, I should cover it.
The problem is that I don't have a save file anywhere close to it and I'm having touse cheats hidden farming arts to make my progress back. That didn't take long. What has taken long is getting the door to Noire open.
I've spent a few hours on it, and still haven't gotten the event where you meet Gelwein for the first time, which seems to be the trigger for Noire's boss door. I was hoping to have it for this update, but I guess it'll happen when it wants to happen.
So what I'm saying is I'll cover it eventually.
In the meantime, that's all for this one. It's a bit short, but the last two have been some big stuff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUSH: "In the coming days, I would need to gain as much skill as I could. There wasn't much time left."
MYSTERY: "Finally, we're past those two days. So bored of hearing about those."
BUSH: "Those were two of the most important days of my life!"
MYSTERY: "What about when the first town was-"
BUSH: "I am obligated to say that was somebody else."
MYSTERY: "...wait why are we still doing this bit"
BUSH: "Um...I don't know."
Welcome back! Last time, Mist either wandered off or got kidnapped, we met the alternate half of Iris the vampire who split off due to solitude induced depression, we shredded waves at a boat race immediately following that, and now the environment is dying.
Oh, wait, that last part is always happening.
In this update we'll actually escape Summer 25th, a day we've been on for a total of 3 updates now.
I'll fire through the victory dialogue for the festival first though.
ROSETTA: So you won the Boat Race... Not bad.
Rosetta is evidently impressed. By the next time we have a date based festival, we should probably be able to take anyone from the main 6 out for it.
BIANCA: So you won the Boat Race. That's amazing.
Miss Sainte-Coquille is less impressed by some degree.
TABATHA: I heard that you won the Boat Race. Congratulations.
Neither of them seem that excited about it. Maybe expert boating is just that common in all the fancy places they go to.
MARCO: Did you win the Boat Race?
MARCO: I know I would win if only I joined. But Mom...
This phrasing opens up the possibility he didn't enter just because his mom would embarass him. To be fair, at the end of the day Ganesha does seem like the kind of parent who'd go overboard cheering for her kid.
DANNY: It's sunny right now so you should buy some seeds while you're here.
Danny, having been thorougly trounced by everyone in the boat race is now evidently in a daze, thinking he's still running a shop.
ERIK: Not bad, young man! But you fell one step short of me!
Ah yes, if you lose, merely claim that you won regardless. Truly the strategy to win at life with.
GANESHA: Hello, Bush. I put a rose pattern on a shield the other day because a customer wanted it that way.
GANESHA: I have some extra roses I used to design it with so you can have them.
BUSH: Thank you so much.
Oh, that's neat. Free flower!
GANESHA: Put that into the into the "Seed Maker" to grow "White Roses."
GANESHA: Good luck!
BUSH: ...?
You got White Rose!
The context of this situation makes more sense when I note that the wedding bouquet recipe that Stella gave us requires a rose to make- a flower completely unavailable up until this point.
Either way, Stella put her up to this, or she wants the town to have more kids in it so that Marco and Candy have someone to hang out with.
GANESHA: Congratulations on winning the Ganesha Cup Boat Race! Your rowing sure is a sight to behold.
Honestly, I wanted to see Anette's attempt at it. She got nearly as much as us without anyone on board for free speed boosts.
...Did she just run across the water at high speed, or is she that good at boating?
Speaking of Anette-
ANETTE: Not bad, Bush!
ANETTE: Bush, it was really great just watching you row the boat!
CINNAMON: Did the Boat Race... end?
BUSH: Yes, it's over.
CINNAMON: ...Oh. Now I can fish again. Great.
She doesn't care if we win or lose, she just wants her fishing spot back. I respect that though, good spots to fish at are hard to find.
Took me forever to find her here though.
LUTE: Did that boat festival end?
LUTE: You seem like you had a lot of fun.
Lute! We haven't seen you in a while!
i keep forgetting to go to the lake on thursdays
Since we're sitting at a massive 90,000g, I decide to go and buy a bigger storage box for our house. It only costs us 10,000g.
SELPHY: So you won the Boat Race.
SELPHY: You're amazing. It would have been impossible for me.
Who would win in an arm-wrestle contest, Bianca or Selphy?
As the day winds down and the summer cicadas start up, Bush is down in the fields collecting the rest of the harvest.
We got some more Pink Cats today alongside the usual corn and tomatoes. Those pumpkins should be done soon, also.
We got a lot of Pink Cats, actually, but I don't need most of them so in the shipping bin they go. I'll keep 15 on hand as gifts and crafting materials.
nearly die of exhaustion watering the fields
It's pretty dark by the time we finish, so I head inside to make the white rose into seeds- I'll plant them on Whale Island. The description makes mention of a long lost method of how to turn them into blue roses, how mysterious!
...And convenient as the recipe for the bouquet calls for blue ones!
They're also worth 810g a piece each and can grow in any season but winter, so they're honestly good money.
The Wedding Bouquet itself requires a Blue Rose, Green Grass, a Moondrop, a Toy Herb, a Pink Cat, and Baleen. That last thing is the big ol' filter bristles on whales by the way, commonly referred to as whalebone, which isn't really bone.
Say, we know a whale! I guess maybe we can get some from him sometime.
It's a holiday, so the path to the Tower of Rest is a lot shorter.
Music: Iris' Spirit SongAnd when we enter, the music's completely different! This plays from now on inside the tower as...
They're both singing it! We can still talk to them as they have to take a break at some point.
It doesn't stop the respective vocals in the background, which is understandable, but it would've been a neat detail.
IRIS BLANCHE: We're both singing, but it's not doing much.
IRIS BLANCHE: This just shows how strong of a power is calling the Spirits below.
IRIS BLANCHE: We'll keep singing, although this may do nothing more than ease our minds...
BUSH: Okay. I'll keep looking for a way to get into that room in the ruins.
BUSH: Don't push yourselves too hard, okay?
IRIS BLANCHE: Thank you. Bush, you be careful out there, too.
Last time, Blanche said she promised she'd sing for us at some point, which makes me wonder if there wasn't another alternate progression to this storyline at some point. Had she done so, the Whale might have recognized it was helping.
Then again, it'd probably mean Gelwein would probably just kidnap Blanche too.
IRIS BLANCHE: Do you know about "Blue Roses"?
IRIS BLANCHE: Blue roses don't usually grow in nature. But, if you let moonlight shine on white roses for a few days, they will turn blue.
IRIS BLANCHE: I'd like to see it at least once.
If you think back all the way to how we first met Blanche, there's our answer of what to do with the roses! There's strong moonlight out here on the fin, so I suppose we just plant it anywhere.
IRIS NOIRE: It's because of me that Mist...
IRIS NOIRE: I don't know what to say...
BUSH: It's not your fault, Iris. I'll be sure to find Mist.
BUSH: Iris, please don't say that. It's not your fault.
IRIS NOIRE: Thank you, Bush.
I'd just keep calling the other Iris just that, and this one Noire, but the game insists on referring to both of them as just the former. I mean, technically they are both the same Iris, but they're also kinda different?
It's confusing to say the least.
IRIS NOIRE: There is also a field inside Whale Island. I wonder who it belongs to.
Given Bush is the only one willing to risk his life for farmland, I guess it's his by default.
IRIS NOIRE: I hope we, including my other self, can get along from now on, too.
IRIS NOIRE: The night is still young.
I assume that latter line is a vampire reference. From what I've seen, she leans a little bit more into the vampire side.
Oh, and Noire is a full character now, although her lines will be occasionally eaten by plot relevant dialogue.
She even loves tomato juice just like Blanche.
IRIS (NOIRE)- "The other half of Iris. A liveliness returned to her upon meeting Bush."
And she even has a separate FP and LP bar of her own. She's evidently a bachelorette candidate, but she's still Iris. As they're the same person, Bush has to raise both of their LP to 10 in order to marry one of them. It's all very unusual, even when you put aside the matter of them being vampires and one of them now bloodlinked to Bush aside.
Whether or not it's intentional, there is an odd mechanic unique to Iris in that you can gift her multiple times in the same day for extremely diminished returns. In theory, you could max both of them out in the same day if you had enough tomato juice.
I'm not doing that though.
Back out on the fin, Pony shows her superiority over the native wolves while Bush plants the rose seeds. These wolves up here used to be capable of nearly one-shotting Bush, but now they can only deal 1 damage to her as she one-shots them in return.
Back at home, I finally make use of our box. It's double the size it once was, giving us plenty of space to store all the random materials we're gonna need to get our crafts and forge skills built up.
A lot goes inside, and the bathing suit we do have is still put at the very bottom. One day, we'll do something with this.
It'll probably be next Summer though.
Music: GoodnightSleep ahoy! Time to finally be done with this day!
Music: Trampoli Daily LifeAh, 6:00 AM. How long it's been since we've seen you!
Cook food!
Gather food!
This is a lot of pumpkins. Hopefully it's enough to never need to grow any more?
Mail!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Curry" - Cinnamon~
I ate curry for dinner lat night.
I asked Candy to make fish curry next time and only got yelled at.
I'll have to cook it myself.
-----------------------------------------------------
----------------------
1. Do your best.
2. Maybe you should reconsider?
----------------------
Hey, a person will only remain terrible at something if they never practice the skill. Master Chef Bush says do your best!
I think the context of this is mostly that Candy's probably sick of fish.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"The other day..." - Eunice~
I was cooking the other day, and I accidentally
poured too much sauce, and it splattered on my apron.
It was so hard getting rid of the stain.
Bush, you should be careful, too.
-----------------------------------------------------
This is starting to feel like a question corner from back when people used to write letters into shows.
BUSH: "These are things you have to be wary of when cooking, otherwise it turns into a plate of char, and not the fish kind!"
Tell me I'm wrong. Bush has somehow progressed to T.V. celebrity chef without the presence of television.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Like I said...!" - Bush~
I've had enough of this!
I told you I don't care!
I have nothing to do with this,
and I'm totally fine by myself,
so just stop!
Don't write me anymore!
-----------------------------------------------------
uh ok
I think Selphy sent this to the wrong address?
Maybe we'll learn what this is about today, although Bush doesn't usually talk about his mail.
Well, anyways, off to the usual routine.
ANETTE: Wow, you're early!
Bush was actually a few minutes late today!
Although him being zonked out in his house as frequently as he has recently probably doesn't set a good example anyways.
ANETTE: The other day, I found a lost kid. We looked everywhere for his parents. Thanks to that, I was late with the mail.
ANETTE: But it's okay since the mom was found.
Aw. There are valid reasons to be late with the mail, and this is definitely one of them.
ANETTE: *phew* This is so heavy.
BUSH: That looks tiring.
ANETTE: Yeah. But this weight is nothing compared to the emotions everyone puts in these letters.
ANETTE: So I can't sit around complaining, you know?
Anette is regularly the bright spot in this occasionally dark town.
ANETTE: Where did Mist go? I'm getting worried.
Speaking of dark, we will get reminded of Mist's absence by the townsfolk every once in a while. It'll be a while before we really have the means to find her, so there's not much I can do.
In other news, we broke the 100,000g mark yesterday. This Summer has been incredibly profitable for Bush. Just but a season ago I was having to scrounge every last bit of money out of strawberries, now we just sell raw produce without a care.
LARA: If you have "Energy Drink X," it can heal all wounds right away. But that doesn't mean you can stop being careful!
It heals a little over 300 HP last I checked, which is still more than Bush has in max HP. It'd be really nice if we had some, but the pharmacy needs so many extra steps.
I'll still try to work on our pharmaceuticals, but I do think a healthy supply of rice oatmeal is probably good enough?
LARA: I know you are worried about Mist, but you must take care of yourself, too.
More than that, Bush must prepare himself. Over the course of the next few days, I'm going to be going hard on gearing up.
The first week of Autumn will also give me lots of time to prepare as I don't even have to bother with runeys.
Library's clean again!
By the way Selphy, uh, what's with this very angry letter
SELPHY: Hmmm Hmm Hmmmm! ♪
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! Look!
BUSH: A... book?
SELPHY: I bought a new book! I can't wait to see what it's about!
SELPHY: Time to read!
i guess we're not getting any answers on the letter then
Also no new books that I can find. Despair and tarnation!
Music: TrampoliBUSH: Rosetta, you're always working so hard at your own store. I really respect you for that.
ROSETTA: I-I sometimes dream about having a knight in shining armor to come take me away.
ROSETTA: ...I'm a girl after all...
BUSH: W-what's wrong? Did I say something to make you mad?
ROSETTA: It's n-nothing...
Bush remains ever oblivious.
Rosetta was a lot more forward in her original characterization, but I guess in a way, this is still pretty forward when you think about it. While Bush is capable of romance, as we've seen with the date he had, he just can't pick up on it when it's coming from anyone else.
He is an enigma.
Let's have a change of conversation!
ROSETTA: Maybe I should put up more flowers in the store. Don't you think the place looks a bit drab?
----------------------------
1. That's a great idea.
2. I like it the way it is.
----------------------------
A choice!
Perhaps it's best we hold back on messing with the timelines and commit to one.
"I like it the way it is."
ROSETTA: Really? Well, you're a customer so if you think it's fine, I'll keep it the way it is.
This isn't an excuse for forgetting to make a savestate, I assure you.
ROSETTA: Mist... Where did you go...?
ROSETTA: Don't make me worry about you like this...
UZUKI: I was born on the 15th of summer. I do not know if it is because of that, but I do like summer very much.
Something I didn't notice until just now is that Uzuki never complains about the heat. Or at least I can't remember her doing so. Huh.
UZUKI: In my country, people belonging to the upper class have people that serve as wet nurses.
UZUKI: That person is the one who will raise the child.
UZUKI: We did not have someone like that, but others around me had children that never recieved love from their parents. I felt sorry for those ones.
UZUKI: If I had a child of my own, I would never be indifferent to its upbringing. I will raise the child myself.
(i feel like someone forgot to make her stop smiling during that third line)
TSUBUTE: Bush, one must not ever be indifferent to one's child, right?
UZUKI: Why are you asking for Bush's opinion in this matter?!
TSUBUTE: Now then... I wonder why.
is your face stuck uzuki
Anyways, sheesh, all the adults trying to get us to have kids this update. Bush isn't ready to settle down yet!
I guess this means we have Angry Samurai Cicada Dad's approval?
UZUKI: Is that large tree near the clock tower a sacred tree? It certainly looks grand.
I don't go down that path too often these days, so I've mostly forgot it's there. I presume it's where the wedding ceremony actually takes place.
EUNICE: I can sew, too. I made this outfit.
EUNICE: You can tell me if you ever tear your clothes, Bush.
Eunice is a good friend.
...I'm surprised Bush still has clothing left after all he goes through to be honest. Whatever this is, it's durable. It's never really explained why he showed up on the Sechs border wearing farm clothes or where this outfit came from.
It might not even be his!
MARCO: I'll tell you right away if I find out where Mist is. Don't feel down.
BUSH: ...Thanks, Marco.
MARCO: No problem!
Marco's also a good friend.
I wish I was better at finding him on the regular
Tabatha's up in the square today.
TABATHA: The water around here is very clean so the vegetables look very nice.
TABATHA: Do you like working in the fields, Bush? I love my work as a maid very much.
I'd say we technically don't grow vegetables, just fruit, but that'd be a lie as we did just harvest pumpkins this morning.
Working in the fields is chill, although this watering can makes it less so. Still kinda wish I hadn't upgraded it.
By 2:00 PM, we're in the magic crystal mines yet again.
Aquasword Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
An hour later, we've got one, and it's time for a bath. I also used a spare water crystal to make an aquasword to see if it'd be better to either farm Ignis or to just grind weapon skill.
It turns out to be bad at the first and indistinguishable at the second.
MELODY: Welcome!♪ The bath is perfect as always today!
And am I finally glad to be back! Not bathing that one time resulted in disaster.
NOLAN: My birthday?
NOLAN: Let's see... I think it was...
NOLAN: Yes, I remember! I believe it is on the 8th of spring.
One bath later and we're off to really get our day started!
Music: Snow Ruins...Huh, there's actually a boss shortcut portal in Snow Ruins. Might as well take it to see what happens.
Well, we're back outside the door where found Noire. The way out is blocked by the Minotaur King, inconveniently re-frozen in the hallway's entrance. Bummer, this would be a good experience farming shortcut.
I guess we try the door and see?
*We get a short montage of Bush inspecting it.*
BUSH: Man, this is shut tight. It'd be nice if I could find some other way in.
Welp, it was worth a shot.
I take the portal back and do some tests on RP consumed to weapon skill gained, but I wasn't able to really find anything noticeable.
So I opted to just fight some hornets instead.
Occasionally Bush will critical hit, I believe thanks to the cat ears. This does hilarious damage with the axe's charge swing.
Still getting that missing issue.
Roughly three and a half hours later I give it a break, our RP bar thoroughly drained with crops on Whale Island still needing to be watered.
So we head on up there.
Music: Whale Island EntranceWHALE: "A Spirit Song... I have not heard it in some time..."
BUSH: Whale! Iris' Spirit Song is calling to the Spirits. Now...
WHALE: "Unfortunately, it will be difficult... The power summoning to the Spirits to the underground is too srong. At this rate..."
WHALE: "Unless the source of that power is stopped, I will continue to fail..."
WHALE: "Bush, please discover what's causing the Spirits to gather under the ground. Please..."
Can you give me, like, two weeks? I should be ready by then.
Seriously, I've got a feeling that Noire would have just killed us if it wasn't for Blanche stepping in.
Got some Toyherbs almost done up here. I'll save one or two for some high level recipes and the bouquet, and the others I can probably give to Stella.
St. Poli knows these two probably need some refreshment if they've still been singing for hours on end.
Your voice has to blow out at some point, right?
IRIS BLANCHE: I'm so glad we can talk again.
I'm glad you stopped us from having to do that boss fight!
They don't really have anything else to say today, alas. I suppose speaking of that boss fight, I should cover it.
The problem is that I don't have a save file anywhere close to it and I'm having to
I've spent a few hours on it, and still haven't gotten the event where you meet Gelwein for the first time, which seems to be the trigger for Noire's boss door. I was hoping to have it for this update, but I guess it'll happen when it wants to happen.
So what I'm saying is I'll cover it eventually.
In the meantime, that's all for this one. It's a bit short, but the last two have been some big stuff.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUSH: "In the coming days, I would need to gain as much skill as I could. There wasn't much time left."
MYSTERY: "Finally, we're past those two days. So bored of hearing about those."
BUSH: "Those were two of the most important days of my life!"
MYSTERY: "What about when the first town was-"
BUSH: "I am obligated to say that was somebody else."
MYSTERY: "...wait why are we still doing this bit"
BUSH: "Um...I don't know."
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update 39: "i do regret the rainbow can"
(So for some reason I redid part of yesterday in my recordings, but I don't remember having done it. All the same stuff still mostly happened, but I made better use of my time and collected some crafting materials on the side. That's and some late night fishing is about it. We now resume as if nothing happened.)
The Bush awakens!
We start our morning off smashing some scrap iron into our sickle. Not to actually upgrade it, just to grind forging skill. A better weapon's not really on the table for a while given we still take some penalties on the Crescent Axe, but I might as well.
The skill we need do need to raise is crafts. I'm looking to get an elemental cape of some kind, (preferably a water one,) but the lowest skill requirement is 54. That one's also the Wind Cape and wind is rarely an issue, so I've set my sights on the next highest, the Fire Cape at 59 skill.
That means getting 12 more points of skill from our current 27. Given the relative rarity and overall variety of materials, grinding to this point won't be easy.
But with the season winding to a close, a boss room to break into, and no other immediate goals, I can't think of anything better for us to start working on.
I'm also starting to burn through that Relax Tea supply so that our watering can doesn't completely exhaust us for the day.
Music: Summer
It's another clear and sunny Summer day!
Morning mail time!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Yes." - Cinnamon~
Fish curry must be delicious.
I just know it.
-----------------------------------------------------
It's an actual food, although I can't vouch for it's taste. I don't like the taste of fish and I've never had curry.
Regardless, Bush salutes your cooking endeavors, Cinnamon. He too was once a beginner with dreams of unique dishes.
ANETTE: Well?
BUSH: Well, what?
ANETTE: I'm wearing boots that make me taller!
ANETTE: They're uncomfortable and no one noticed so I'm gonna quit wearing them!
I'd imagine running in platform boots is far from a comfortable situation.
She's only like an inch or two shorter than Bush, but alas. Perhaps someday Anette will find her magical height solution.
Anette still delivers Mist's mail as if nothing has changed, but she is aware of the circumstances. Perhaps it is a means of coping with this shocking situation, or perhaps it is merely continuing things as normal just in case she's wandered back.
It's also me reading far too deeply into what is just a minor oversight.
Ah, runes, you sustain us in these trying times
so much more useful than runeys
MELODY: I fixed my bed hair so I could wear this swimsuit.
While it doesn't look any better than usual, perhaps it is far more chaotic than we think underneath that hat.
TABATHA: Human food seems to have all sorts of ways to prepare dishes.
TABATHA: I have learned quite a lot of cooking methods from Uzuki recently.
TABATHA: It has helped me greatly since Miss Bianca is so particular with her food.
Apparently, the elves don't have the most diverse food recipes. In a way, this can be taken as a vague hint to something we'll might get to in a week or two.
I'll leave what that is a secret for now.
Being honest, there was a period of time in which I had begun to think the whole hullabaloo over runeys and the environment falling apart was a bit overblown, but no, I'm really seeing it now. Everything outside of my prosperity zones is gradually vanishing.
A free week is coming soon with the start of Autumn, I'm just hoping things can hold until then.
By the time I hit the archives today, I realize I don't have a gift for Selphy. My supply of carrots for sandwiches is getting low, and I keep forgetting to buy more cooking oil from the bar. I'll have to make her a rice ball for today I guess.
Honestly, the one disadvantage of Danny going out of business has manifested in that my only source of cooking oil is from the bar.
UZUKI: The weather is so nice. Respecting the sun is common among all cultures.
Except for the mole people, they seek to wage war on sunlight.
EUNICE: My birthday is on the 17th of autumn. It's the season when everything tastes good.
Eunice is evidently a fan of pumpkin spice.
More seriously, her favorite gift specifically requires the chestnuts that grow on the trees in Autumn.
ROSETTA: You seem really close with Mist.
ROSETTA: Are you two... What kind of relationship do you have?
BUSH: Huh? I don't know what you mean.
It's very difficult to explain the bond created by giving someone your breakfast on new years day.
it's also a very pricy favor in terms of the turnip mafia
ROSETTA: Then... What about... me...
ROSETTA: N-nothing! Forget what I said!
Rosetta's really trying to make a move on Bush, but just can't get it out. Part of me feels like she hasn't had too much screentime, but she kinda has?
I guess she hasn't had too many big events yet, but that's about to change. She's been climbing up in LP since we got our oven.
GANESHA: I heard you started blacksmithing.
GANESHA: Looks like I have some competition now.
BUSH: I still have a long way to go...
GANESHA: No no. I feel more motivated when I have someone to compete with. I hope you'll do well.
I guess it says something about our forging skill that we're just seeing this dialogue now, nearly halfway through a year in the game.
Following this, I take a pit stop into the Green Ruins for some metal while looking for some of the other townsfolk. This little spot on the first floor only accessible with a silver hammer or stronger reliably gives at least 1 per visit.
I nab some more scrap in general while I'm down here. Might as well.
I also have another reason to be here, which is to grab an Insect Jaw off one of the ants. I don't need it to be high level, so I might as well farm the easiest option.
Then I do some tests to see if chopping wood with our combat axes gives either Lumber or Weapons skill- it would seem to be just the former.
Regardless, I clean most of the stumps out of this area, so that's a few steps closer to getting a two-story house.
Not much later, it's time for a bath.
Following this, I get to grinding some crafting skill using anything I've got to make things with. I've ended up with a lot of iron and copper that need to go, which have basically no use beyond the mid 20's skill range, really.
I do have something more important to make though, and that's with the Insect Jaw I just grabbed.
Using the Silver Ring we're already wearing plus one of our few Magic Crystals, a Pink Cat flower, and an Insect Jaw, we can make a Silence Ring.
Aside from being a minor jump in stats over a base Silver Ring, it provides complete immunity to Seal and also gives us a 100% chance to inflict Seal with any attack, (monster resistances aside.)
Silence Ring Lv:1 was synthesized.
Finally, we no longer have to worry about losing our ability to use magic or special attacks on our axe. It also means we can even seal enemies with our stronger Crescent Axe rather than needing to use Alldale for it.
There are other good options for arm accessories, but I've got a feeling we'll be wearing this one for a long time.
Also apparently it makes people chatty when they wear it, which won't really affect Bush. He already actively seeks out conversation by any means necessary.
Following that, I spend some Silver and Insect Skin on 3 rings purely for skill gain. I might make these into the other status rings later if getting the Magic Crystals isn't too much a pain.
We're up to 30 crafts skill now, that just puts us 9 more away from our goal.
I drop by the Materia General Store to pick up a basic pendant following this.
I've got enough extra materials lying around, and now enough skill to make an Earth Pendant.
Earth Pendant Lv:1 was synthesized.
And so ends the long era of Bush's wearing a knit scarf as this edges it out in stats. He almost looks wrong without it at this point.
*sigh* You served us well, Knit Scarf. We only wore you through the hottest season of the year, but it was worth it.
I use a whole bunch more scrap metal on our sickle, pushing our forging up by about 5 levels in the process. This gets us in range to start slapping scrap iron onto the Rainbow Can, which being a higher skill item, pretty much guarantees a skill up per forge at this point.
We still have to get our skill up quite a lot before we can even access forging for expertise to lower the RP cost.
Unfortunately, I ran out of scrap metal, so grinding forging more can wait for now.
A few more Earrings and other bits later, we've thinned out the material box further and gained two more points in crafts. Things are coming along!
Just not finding that much new dialogue today, unfortunately. I hope the crafting escapades make up for it.
Unable to find new, riveting conversation, Bush dives into Lava Ruins and begins mining there for usable materials.
The ore vein on the second floor near the exploding Duck gives us an amazing yield of 3 silver ore!
This is what we're really looking for. Silver is featured prominently in many of the accessory recipes presently, and basic Silver Rings are some of the least complicated things to make.
Following this, I while the evening away farming Ignis. We're finally making some amount of progress with Cinnamon, and she's got a long way to go still, so farming these will be a part of our day to day life for quite some time.
Now that the Ignis can't seal Bush and every hit seals them, it does make farming a bit easier. Doesn't improve the drop rate any, but it does mean less time is wasted between waves.
Finally, by 8:00 PM we get one. Not only are these a favorite gift, they're a component in so many recipes.
This drop rate is just brutal given all that.
With nothing else left to do in the day but some passing runey management, it's off to Whale Island.
BUSH: Whale...?
WHALE: "What is it, Bush?"
BUSH: I found this crystal by the seashore. It's not much but it might help bring the ocean to you.
WHALE: "Ah, it is almost as if I can feel the waves already... Thank you, Bush, this is is wonderful!"
BUSH: You're welcome, Mr. Whale.
WHALE: "If there's any way I can return the favor to you, please let me know."
WHALE: "I owe you one for the 'Tide Cluster'."
BUSH: Well... I can think of something. Can I have some of your "Baleen"?
WHALE: "That can be easily arranged."
WHALE: "Every time you bring me a 'Tide Cluster,' I will exchange it for some more of my 'Baleen'."
*And it appears on the ground in front of us!*
...And that's how we get the other important material for our wedding bouquet! This dialogue would have triggered yesterday, but the conversation about the two Irises singing overrode it.
If you don't remember, the Tide Cluster was that white crystal we found on the beach like a week ago or so. I didn't bring too much attention to it at the time, but this is what it's used for. We could have turned it in before getting the bouquet recipe and still gotten the same dialogue, but Bush would have saved the favor for later.
(Due to shenanigans, I had to sort of recreate the above script as I'd already turned in the Tide Cluster, but lost the small recording where I did that. I hope you don't mind. So many technical difficulties this update.)
Music: Iris' Spirit Song
IRIS BLANCHE: Should I grow out my hair?
IRIS BLANCHE: Do you prefer girls with longer hair, Bush?
Blanche is getting self conscious over her other half now, I think. Noire's got minorly longer hair, mostly just longer bangs. Then again, she might just be thinking about longer than that in general.
I don't think much longer hair would really work with the giant collar they wear, unless they run it in front like Noire's already kind of doing. That could be a good look, now that I think about it. Two long tails in front? Maybe just one long braid?
There isn't any choice to be made here though, unfortunately. Only way we can influence their style is to give them an accessory.
IRIS NOIRE: My hobby is actually fortune telling with tarot cards.
IRIS NOIRE: Do you want me to tell your fortune?
------------------
1. Yes, please.
2. Not now.
------------------
One can only wonder when and how she had the time to get this hobby with Gelwein over her head. Regardless, what could it hurt?
(saying no here doesn't provide any interesting dialogue, if you were wondering)
IRIS NOIRE: Now then...
*Card shuffling*
*rustle*
*SNAP*
IRIS NOIRE: ...There. Let's see...
IRIS NOIRE: "Anything you do today will turn out well. If you want to start something, do it today, but do not get carried away."
IRIS NOIRE: There it is. Of course, fortune telling is always a hit or miss affair.
I'd say we followed that advice pretty well retroactively. Hit or miss is about right though, fantastic Silver luck today, abysmal Magic Crystal luck.
Alas, tarot doesn't involve the branch of fortunetelling that includes weather shaping magic.
IRIS NOIRE: The scenery from here looks wonderful. It feels like I am swimming in the sky...
We'll probably be getting more dialogue from Noire than Blanche for now, as the latter is nearing LP 10.
IRIS NOIRE: I really like to grow flowers.
IRIS NOIRE: You can grow flowers for spring, summer, and autumn on Whale Island. I'm glad I came over here.
Noire also shares similar tastes to her counterpart, given they're two halves of the same person.
Following this I remember to stop by the bar for cooking oil, and we're off to bed.
I do manage to make a level 5 Silver Ring before we do that.
So many rings!
Alas, we're 1 skill point away from making a Poison Ring. It'd be worth a skill point on it's own.
We blow our remaining RP on grinding some Magic skill, and then it's off to bed for Bush.
Music: Goodnight
Music: Trampoli
We awake to a sunny Summer 28th. Just two days left in the season! Next update will be the last we see of this season for a long time!
Music: Summer
watering everything is still a strain on resources
i do regret the rainbow can
so fashionable yet so painful
I manage to meet Anette before she even makes it off the bridge today. Getting a lot better at timing this!
ANETTE: Bush, you must get so tired from working in the fields.
ANETTE: When that happens, you can recharge your batteries by eating some fruit. But maybe that's just me.
Timely advice! It's quite true, the supply of oranges I gathered earlier in the month has kept me alive while watering. They're not a lot of RP, but they're enough to stop you from passing out.
My only question is how she knows what batteries are. Norad doesn't have electricity! Maybe she means like artillery?
One silver from Green Ruins today. I don't think I've ever not gotten at least one from here.
r u n e y
m a n a g e m e n t
LARA: I'm relaxing a little before I do my daily morning work at the church.
LARA: We all need some time off.
I'll say! I don't think I ever see you not working outside of these trips to the beach.
This reminds me that these last three days is also the last we'll really see of the beach. While it made locating some characters annoying, there was a certain fun in not knowing who'd be here each morning.
Melody and Uzuki still come out here occasionally anyways, just not in swimwear.
BIANCA: That Mist... Where could she have gone...? Making us all worry about her like this...
BIANCA: I-I'm not...! I mean... Tabatha was worried...
Every once in a while Bianca lets something slip through- she's a good person at heart, but is just afraid to show it.
I don't really know what relationship she'd have with Mist, but she must have found her at least somewhat interesting given her oddball conversations.
BIANCA: Once I get bored of Trampoli, I may move to another summer home. You'll have to entertain me so that doesn't happen.
As we've given her Francoise already, she's not going to leave. This could be a real shock to someone who doesn't know this is coming, but the conditions are so easy I don't know how you'd miss it.
If there is an LP requirement of some kind, Bianca's almost at 3LP thanks to all the conversation and winning the boating festival.
UZUKI: There's really not much to do when you go fishing.
UZUKI: I swung my naginata to kill time and the fish got away.
If you're a restless person, bait fishing can be really hit or miss. I normally have to keep myself occupied all the time, but fishing's the one time where I can really just sit back and take in the atmosphere. It's the perfect mix for me, the feeling like I'm doing something alongside the ability to just simply relax.
If it's too slow, then fly fishing might be more your style. It's constant action.
EUNICE: I used to be lonely, but I have so many more friends now.
EUNICE: Cinnamon always comes to pick up Kanno every morning. I'm really grateful for her.
Magic Grandpa's usually out on his own by 12 AM. He actually doesn't get much sleep from what I can tell, I don't think he goes to sleep until like 3:00 AM.
EUNICE: I feel so calm inside when everything is cleaned up.
It's a strange feeling, but I've had it before.
I also feel like I've covered this before.
GANESHA: The Snow Ruins, as the name suggests, has monsters that are resistant to cold.
GANESHA: But, they're also weak towards heat, so adjust your equipment that way to prevent needless damage to yourself.
This is why I'd like a Water Cape, but that just so happens to be the one with the highest skill cost. Ah, well, I'm still making one for the massive improvement it'll be over that Crest we made at the beginning of Summer, I think.
I buy a Wind Crystal while we're here, as I've got something I can make with it.
CINNAMON: I've gotten good at back rubs recently. Grandpa loves it when I do it for him.
Cinnamon's racking up a list of skills now- fishing, fish prints, constellations, magic theory, medicine, dabbling in cooking, and now massage!
A few more and she'll catch up to the jack-of-most-trades that is Bush!
CINNAMON: Melody seems really... motivated recently.
Melody's usually pretty motivated, so she must be putting into overdrive now. Must be thanks to getting more bath family.
MELODY: I'm actually really picky about my hat. Did you know that I wear a different hat everyday?
Speaking of Melody, here's some Melody Facts for you. We've seen this before, but with the springs of content being a lot drier for her now her storyline's complete, I've gotta do something to not just leave her out.
SELPHY: In Uzuki's country, there's a legend about a princess that came from the moon. Isn't that romantic?!
SELPHY: But yeah. I discovered that hearing someone tell a story directly can be really fun, too.
Selphy has branched out from literature to also being interested in the wider world of storytelling. If this keeps up, she might end up inventing tabletop roleplaying with "Woolies & Warriors, 1st Edition".
That just leads to the fun question of who in town would play the game. Melody's a hard yes, Cinnamon's a maybe, and I've got a feeling Bianca would really want to join but wouldn't say so. You'd proably have to ask her directly so she can claim she's bored and has nothing else to do.
SELPHY: Books are so good. They're compressed packs of human knowledge. Everyone should read more books!
Despite getting into oral tradition, Selphy will continue to espouse the virtues of reading. It will forever be the supreme form of storytelling in her eyes.
Conversations done for the day, we return to home base to continue our accessorizing. First up, I make some yarn from our recent wool harvest.
I also try out making some yogurt.
Its basically worthless as a food, so either it's an ingredient for something, or a really really minor profit.
Next up, we stick a Wool, a Yarn Ball, a Monster Hide, and a Toy Herb together to make...
Furry Belt Lv:1 was synthesized.
A Furry Belt. With this and the cat ears, Bush is entering dangerous territory, I know, but this is a long needed replacement for our horribly outdated Crest.
It's a pretty decent jump in DEF, but this'll soon be replaced by that Fire Cape I've got my eyes on. It was also a free skill up.
And so the Crest goes into the shipping bin alongside some whatever earrings. You served us well, sort of, but you were so tiny I pretty much forgot you were even equipped.
Rest In Profit, good soldier
It's around this time I check in with Erik and his supply of wool he somehow has despite being terrified of monsters and not raising any himself. For only 360g, we can buy two wool and make a scarf, so that may be a viable means of us to speed grind the craft's skill.
We're rolling in cash and the only big purchases are far off from now, so it's not a horrible idea.
I do buy one and make another few belts while I'm at it. I've got a good number of leftover monster hides I can use for this, but it digs into my Toyherb supply a lot.
It's a cost I'm willing to pay though, as each one of these is getting me a skill up, and I've got enough to get me just to that coveted 39 crafts skill.
They're worth a lot thanks to how much Toyherbs are worth, so it adds a pretty hefty profit to today's earnings.
KANNO: Trampoli is a very nice village...
KANNO: ...but it's so deep in the countryside that there isn't any place I where can gather materials for research.
Just give me quests to go hunt stuff for you, I'm pretty sure I can get most of what you need.
Also, it's been a while since we've seen a typo. Hard to tell if it happened because of an editing pass to "any place I can" or just putting the "I" before "where".
Time to grind items in Lava Ruins!
After far too much fighting, I manage to acquire a Quality Cloth. Two in fact! I never get this kind of luck on drops so frequently, that tarot reading must be really working it's magic.
That's one material for our cape down!
Time for our daily bath!
Refreshed, we examine the materials left for us to acquire. It would seem all I need now is some Cheap Cloth and a Quality Fur.
Before I go get that specifically, I've got another thing in mind. So I go magick the giant chicken away again.
The HP bar doesn't even get to finish draining before it goes down.
And bam, another Feathered Hat, just like that.
If you're asking why I needed another of these, it's because I sold the old one and gave the spare to Eunice because I am a master of planning ahead. But with it, I can now make one other new piece of gear to add to our ensemble.
That hat, plus a Toy Herb, a Fair Hide from the hornets in the Snow Ruins, and a Quality cloth make...
Stylish Hat Lv:1 was synthesized.
One stylish hat!
It may not have the passive crit from the ears, but it's a decent little jump in DEF and MAG. If that flower on the side was a feather, then this would definitely be a pimp hat but as is, it's only close to it.
Now, off to Whale Island for the day!
Music: Whale Island Outside
Before we go visit the Tower of Rest, we've got some other business to attend to.
All the way back up to the Tower of Birth we go, a place we haven't visited in a long time.
Up here, I start to grind theunicorns corndogs for Quality Fur. They're pretty much our only source of it really, and while this was far away, this area only spawns the enemies I need. Not having to clear enemies I don't care about to get respawns speeds this up a lot.
Far too many hours later, a quality fur finally drops. Sealing really shuts them down, locking them to using only their basic horn poke attack.
With that done, we can go visit Blanche and Noire.
IRIS BLANCHE: People change, but one should never be afraid of it.
Sudden, but good advice, I guess.
IRIS NOIRE: It's most dangerous right when you get used to things. Please be careful when you explore the ruins.
They're just throwing all sorts of advice today.
Back at home, we're still missing 2 materials for the cape: the Cheap Cloth and a Fire Crystal. These are both pretty easy to acquire, so we'll have it for sure next time.
Not today though, it's gotten far too late. I spend out the last of our RP on various skill grinding as usual, with nothing else left in the day to do with it.
With that, I shall see you next time, in which our obtainment of drip shall continue, and we give a send-off to the season.
---------------------------------------------
MYSTERY: "Wow, they still said 'drip' back then?"
BUSH: "Yes, although I'm still not sure I know what it means."
MYSTERY: "Eh, that's fine. The rapid mutation of multi-dialectic slang in the modern world means that a lot of these words don't stick around."
MYSTERY: "Unless of course it progresses to its own dialect of our language, and then evolves past that into it's own separate language consisting of references to things you had to be there for to understand."
MYSTERY: "Said shorthand reference language will then consume the world leaving a nearly indecipherable written history behind, which will confuse our alien successors who become fed up with the language and pass it off as merely a strange form of art instead. And thus, we will be lost to time."
BUSH: "Uh... can I continue my story now? The network said we had to keep these short."
(So for some reason I redid part of yesterday in my recordings, but I don't remember having done it. All the same stuff still mostly happened, but I made better use of my time and collected some crafting materials on the side. That's and some late night fishing is about it. We now resume as if nothing happened.)
The Bush awakens!
We start our morning off smashing some scrap iron into our sickle. Not to actually upgrade it, just to grind forging skill. A better weapon's not really on the table for a while given we still take some penalties on the Crescent Axe, but I might as well.
The skill we need do need to raise is crafts. I'm looking to get an elemental cape of some kind, (preferably a water one,) but the lowest skill requirement is 54. That one's also the Wind Cape and wind is rarely an issue, so I've set my sights on the next highest, the Fire Cape at 59 skill.
That means getting 12 more points of skill from our current 27. Given the relative rarity and overall variety of materials, grinding to this point won't be easy.
But with the season winding to a close, a boss room to break into, and no other immediate goals, I can't think of anything better for us to start working on.
I'm also starting to burn through that Relax Tea supply so that our watering can doesn't completely exhaust us for the day.
Music: SummerIt's another clear and sunny Summer day!
Morning mail time!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Yes." - Cinnamon~
Fish curry must be delicious.
I just know it.
-----------------------------------------------------
It's an actual food, although I can't vouch for it's taste. I don't like the taste of fish and I've never had curry.
Regardless, Bush salutes your cooking endeavors, Cinnamon. He too was once a beginner with dreams of unique dishes.
ANETTE: Well?
BUSH: Well, what?
ANETTE: I'm wearing boots that make me taller!
ANETTE: They're uncomfortable and no one noticed so I'm gonna quit wearing them!
I'd imagine running in platform boots is far from a comfortable situation.
She's only like an inch or two shorter than Bush, but alas. Perhaps someday Anette will find her magical height solution.
Anette still delivers Mist's mail as if nothing has changed, but she is aware of the circumstances. Perhaps it is a means of coping with this shocking situation, or perhaps it is merely continuing things as normal just in case she's wandered back.
It's also me reading far too deeply into what is just a minor oversight.
Ah, runes, you sustain us in these trying times
so much more useful than runeys
MELODY: I fixed my bed hair so I could wear this swimsuit.
While it doesn't look any better than usual, perhaps it is far more chaotic than we think underneath that hat.
TABATHA: Human food seems to have all sorts of ways to prepare dishes.
TABATHA: I have learned quite a lot of cooking methods from Uzuki recently.
TABATHA: It has helped me greatly since Miss Bianca is so particular with her food.
Apparently, the elves don't have the most diverse food recipes. In a way, this can be taken as a vague hint to something we'll might get to in a week or two.
I'll leave what that is a secret for now.
Being honest, there was a period of time in which I had begun to think the whole hullabaloo over runeys and the environment falling apart was a bit overblown, but no, I'm really seeing it now. Everything outside of my prosperity zones is gradually vanishing.
A free week is coming soon with the start of Autumn, I'm just hoping things can hold until then.
By the time I hit the archives today, I realize I don't have a gift for Selphy. My supply of carrots for sandwiches is getting low, and I keep forgetting to buy more cooking oil from the bar. I'll have to make her a rice ball for today I guess.
Honestly, the one disadvantage of Danny going out of business has manifested in that my only source of cooking oil is from the bar.
UZUKI: The weather is so nice. Respecting the sun is common among all cultures.
Except for the mole people, they seek to wage war on sunlight.
EUNICE: My birthday is on the 17th of autumn. It's the season when everything tastes good.
Eunice is evidently a fan of pumpkin spice.
More seriously, her favorite gift specifically requires the chestnuts that grow on the trees in Autumn.
ROSETTA: You seem really close with Mist.
ROSETTA: Are you two... What kind of relationship do you have?
BUSH: Huh? I don't know what you mean.
It's very difficult to explain the bond created by giving someone your breakfast on new years day.
ROSETTA: Then... What about... me...
ROSETTA: N-nothing! Forget what I said!
Rosetta's really trying to make a move on Bush, but just can't get it out. Part of me feels like she hasn't had too much screentime, but she kinda has?
I guess she hasn't had too many big events yet, but that's about to change. She's been climbing up in LP since we got our oven.
GANESHA: I heard you started blacksmithing.
GANESHA: Looks like I have some competition now.
BUSH: I still have a long way to go...
GANESHA: No no. I feel more motivated when I have someone to compete with. I hope you'll do well.
I guess it says something about our forging skill that we're just seeing this dialogue now, nearly halfway through a year in the game.
Following this, I take a pit stop into the Green Ruins for some metal while looking for some of the other townsfolk. This little spot on the first floor only accessible with a silver hammer or stronger reliably gives at least 1 per visit.
I nab some more scrap in general while I'm down here. Might as well.
I also have another reason to be here, which is to grab an Insect Jaw off one of the ants. I don't need it to be high level, so I might as well farm the easiest option.
Then I do some tests to see if chopping wood with our combat axes gives either Lumber or Weapons skill- it would seem to be just the former.
Regardless, I clean most of the stumps out of this area, so that's a few steps closer to getting a two-story house.
Not much later, it's time for a bath.
Following this, I get to grinding some crafting skill using anything I've got to make things with. I've ended up with a lot of iron and copper that need to go, which have basically no use beyond the mid 20's skill range, really.
I do have something more important to make though, and that's with the Insect Jaw I just grabbed.
Using the Silver Ring we're already wearing plus one of our few Magic Crystals, a Pink Cat flower, and an Insect Jaw, we can make a Silence Ring.
Aside from being a minor jump in stats over a base Silver Ring, it provides complete immunity to Seal and also gives us a 100% chance to inflict Seal with any attack, (monster resistances aside.)
Silence Ring Lv:1 was synthesized.
Finally, we no longer have to worry about losing our ability to use magic or special attacks on our axe. It also means we can even seal enemies with our stronger Crescent Axe rather than needing to use Alldale for it.
There are other good options for arm accessories, but I've got a feeling we'll be wearing this one for a long time.
Also apparently it makes people chatty when they wear it, which won't really affect Bush. He already actively seeks out conversation by any means necessary.
Following that, I spend some Silver and Insect Skin on 3 rings purely for skill gain. I might make these into the other status rings later if getting the Magic Crystals isn't too much a pain.
We're up to 30 crafts skill now, that just puts us 9 more away from our goal.
I drop by the Materia General Store to pick up a basic pendant following this.
I've got enough extra materials lying around, and now enough skill to make an Earth Pendant.
Earth Pendant Lv:1 was synthesized.
And so ends the long era of Bush's wearing a knit scarf as this edges it out in stats. He almost looks wrong without it at this point.
*sigh* You served us well, Knit Scarf. We only wore you through the hottest season of the year, but it was worth it.
I use a whole bunch more scrap metal on our sickle, pushing our forging up by about 5 levels in the process. This gets us in range to start slapping scrap iron onto the Rainbow Can, which being a higher skill item, pretty much guarantees a skill up per forge at this point.
We still have to get our skill up quite a lot before we can even access forging for expertise to lower the RP cost.
Unfortunately, I ran out of scrap metal, so grinding forging more can wait for now.
A few more Earrings and other bits later, we've thinned out the material box further and gained two more points in crafts. Things are coming along!
Just not finding that much new dialogue today, unfortunately. I hope the crafting escapades make up for it.
Unable to find new, riveting conversation, Bush dives into Lava Ruins and begins mining there for usable materials.
The ore vein on the second floor near the exploding Duck gives us an amazing yield of 3 silver ore!
This is what we're really looking for. Silver is featured prominently in many of the accessory recipes presently, and basic Silver Rings are some of the least complicated things to make.
Following this, I while the evening away farming Ignis. We're finally making some amount of progress with Cinnamon, and she's got a long way to go still, so farming these will be a part of our day to day life for quite some time.
Now that the Ignis can't seal Bush and every hit seals them, it does make farming a bit easier. Doesn't improve the drop rate any, but it does mean less time is wasted between waves.
Finally, by 8:00 PM we get one. Not only are these a favorite gift, they're a component in so many recipes.
This drop rate is just brutal given all that.
With nothing else left to do in the day but some passing runey management, it's off to Whale Island.
BUSH: Whale...?
WHALE: "What is it, Bush?"
BUSH: I found this crystal by the seashore. It's not much but it might help bring the ocean to you.
WHALE: "Ah, it is almost as if I can feel the waves already... Thank you, Bush, this is is wonderful!"
BUSH: You're welcome, Mr. Whale.
WHALE: "If there's any way I can return the favor to you, please let me know."
WHALE: "I owe you one for the 'Tide Cluster'."
BUSH: Well... I can think of something. Can I have some of your "Baleen"?
WHALE: "That can be easily arranged."
WHALE: "Every time you bring me a 'Tide Cluster,' I will exchange it for some more of my 'Baleen'."
*And it appears on the ground in front of us!*
...And that's how we get the other important material for our wedding bouquet! This dialogue would have triggered yesterday, but the conversation about the two Irises singing overrode it.
If you don't remember, the Tide Cluster was that white crystal we found on the beach like a week ago or so. I didn't bring too much attention to it at the time, but this is what it's used for. We could have turned it in before getting the bouquet recipe and still gotten the same dialogue, but Bush would have saved the favor for later.
(Due to shenanigans, I had to sort of recreate the above script as I'd already turned in the Tide Cluster, but lost the small recording where I did that. I hope you don't mind. So many technical difficulties this update.)
Music: Iris' Spirit SongIRIS BLANCHE: Should I grow out my hair?
IRIS BLANCHE: Do you prefer girls with longer hair, Bush?
Blanche is getting self conscious over her other half now, I think. Noire's got minorly longer hair, mostly just longer bangs. Then again, she might just be thinking about longer than that in general.
I don't think much longer hair would really work with the giant collar they wear, unless they run it in front like Noire's already kind of doing. That could be a good look, now that I think about it. Two long tails in front? Maybe just one long braid?
There isn't any choice to be made here though, unfortunately. Only way we can influence their style is to give them an accessory.
IRIS NOIRE: My hobby is actually fortune telling with tarot cards.
IRIS NOIRE: Do you want me to tell your fortune?
------------------
1. Yes, please.
2. Not now.
------------------
One can only wonder when and how she had the time to get this hobby with Gelwein over her head. Regardless, what could it hurt?
(saying no here doesn't provide any interesting dialogue, if you were wondering)
IRIS NOIRE: Now then...
*Card shuffling*
*rustle*
*SNAP*
IRIS NOIRE: ...There. Let's see...
IRIS NOIRE: "Anything you do today will turn out well. If you want to start something, do it today, but do not get carried away."
IRIS NOIRE: There it is. Of course, fortune telling is always a hit or miss affair.
I'd say we followed that advice pretty well retroactively. Hit or miss is about right though, fantastic Silver luck today, abysmal Magic Crystal luck.
Alas, tarot doesn't involve the branch of fortunetelling that includes weather shaping magic.
IRIS NOIRE: The scenery from here looks wonderful. It feels like I am swimming in the sky...
We'll probably be getting more dialogue from Noire than Blanche for now, as the latter is nearing LP 10.
IRIS NOIRE: I really like to grow flowers.
IRIS NOIRE: You can grow flowers for spring, summer, and autumn on Whale Island. I'm glad I came over here.
Noire also shares similar tastes to her counterpart, given they're two halves of the same person.
Following this I remember to stop by the bar for cooking oil, and we're off to bed.
I do manage to make a level 5 Silver Ring before we do that.
So many rings!
Alas, we're 1 skill point away from making a Poison Ring. It'd be worth a skill point on it's own.
We blow our remaining RP on grinding some Magic skill, and then it's off to bed for Bush.
Music: GoodnightMusic: TrampoliWe awake to a sunny Summer 28th. Just two days left in the season! Next update will be the last we see of this season for a long time!
Music: Summerwatering everything is still a strain on resources
i do regret the rainbow can
so fashionable yet so painful
I manage to meet Anette before she even makes it off the bridge today. Getting a lot better at timing this!
ANETTE: Bush, you must get so tired from working in the fields.
ANETTE: When that happens, you can recharge your batteries by eating some fruit. But maybe that's just me.
Timely advice! It's quite true, the supply of oranges I gathered earlier in the month has kept me alive while watering. They're not a lot of RP, but they're enough to stop you from passing out.
My only question is how she knows what batteries are. Norad doesn't have electricity! Maybe she means like artillery?
One silver from Green Ruins today. I don't think I've ever not gotten at least one from here.
r u n e y
m a n a g e m e n t
LARA: I'm relaxing a little before I do my daily morning work at the church.
LARA: We all need some time off.
I'll say! I don't think I ever see you not working outside of these trips to the beach.
This reminds me that these last three days is also the last we'll really see of the beach. While it made locating some characters annoying, there was a certain fun in not knowing who'd be here each morning.
Melody and Uzuki still come out here occasionally anyways, just not in swimwear.
BIANCA: That Mist... Where could she have gone...? Making us all worry about her like this...
BIANCA: I-I'm not...! I mean... Tabatha was worried...
Every once in a while Bianca lets something slip through- she's a good person at heart, but is just afraid to show it.
I don't really know what relationship she'd have with Mist, but she must have found her at least somewhat interesting given her oddball conversations.
BIANCA: Once I get bored of Trampoli, I may move to another summer home. You'll have to entertain me so that doesn't happen.
As we've given her Francoise already, she's not going to leave. This could be a real shock to someone who doesn't know this is coming, but the conditions are so easy I don't know how you'd miss it.
If there is an LP requirement of some kind, Bianca's almost at 3LP thanks to all the conversation and winning the boating festival.
UZUKI: There's really not much to do when you go fishing.
UZUKI: I swung my naginata to kill time and the fish got away.
If you're a restless person, bait fishing can be really hit or miss. I normally have to keep myself occupied all the time, but fishing's the one time where I can really just sit back and take in the atmosphere. It's the perfect mix for me, the feeling like I'm doing something alongside the ability to just simply relax.
If it's too slow, then fly fishing might be more your style. It's constant action.
EUNICE: I used to be lonely, but I have so many more friends now.
EUNICE: Cinnamon always comes to pick up Kanno every morning. I'm really grateful for her.
Magic Grandpa's usually out on his own by 12 AM. He actually doesn't get much sleep from what I can tell, I don't think he goes to sleep until like 3:00 AM.
EUNICE: I feel so calm inside when everything is cleaned up.
It's a strange feeling, but I've had it before.
I also feel like I've covered this before.
GANESHA: The Snow Ruins, as the name suggests, has monsters that are resistant to cold.
GANESHA: But, they're also weak towards heat, so adjust your equipment that way to prevent needless damage to yourself.
This is why I'd like a Water Cape, but that just so happens to be the one with the highest skill cost. Ah, well, I'm still making one for the massive improvement it'll be over that Crest we made at the beginning of Summer, I think.
I buy a Wind Crystal while we're here, as I've got something I can make with it.
CINNAMON: I've gotten good at back rubs recently. Grandpa loves it when I do it for him.
Cinnamon's racking up a list of skills now- fishing, fish prints, constellations, magic theory, medicine, dabbling in cooking, and now massage!
A few more and she'll catch up to the jack-of-most-trades that is Bush!
CINNAMON: Melody seems really... motivated recently.
Melody's usually pretty motivated, so she must be putting into overdrive now. Must be thanks to getting more bath family.
MELODY: I'm actually really picky about my hat. Did you know that I wear a different hat everyday?
Speaking of Melody, here's some Melody Facts for you. We've seen this before, but with the springs of content being a lot drier for her now her storyline's complete, I've gotta do something to not just leave her out.
SELPHY: In Uzuki's country, there's a legend about a princess that came from the moon. Isn't that romantic?!
SELPHY: But yeah. I discovered that hearing someone tell a story directly can be really fun, too.
Selphy has branched out from literature to also being interested in the wider world of storytelling. If this keeps up, she might end up inventing tabletop roleplaying with "Woolies & Warriors, 1st Edition".
That just leads to the fun question of who in town would play the game. Melody's a hard yes, Cinnamon's a maybe, and I've got a feeling Bianca would really want to join but wouldn't say so. You'd proably have to ask her directly so she can claim she's bored and has nothing else to do.
SELPHY: Books are so good. They're compressed packs of human knowledge. Everyone should read more books!
Despite getting into oral tradition, Selphy will continue to espouse the virtues of reading. It will forever be the supreme form of storytelling in her eyes.
Conversations done for the day, we return to home base to continue our accessorizing. First up, I make some yarn from our recent wool harvest.
I also try out making some yogurt.
Its basically worthless as a food, so either it's an ingredient for something, or a really really minor profit.
Next up, we stick a Wool, a Yarn Ball, a Monster Hide, and a Toy Herb together to make...
Furry Belt Lv:1 was synthesized.
A Furry Belt. With this and the cat ears, Bush is entering dangerous territory, I know, but this is a long needed replacement for our horribly outdated Crest.
It's a pretty decent jump in DEF, but this'll soon be replaced by that Fire Cape I've got my eyes on. It was also a free skill up.
And so the Crest goes into the shipping bin alongside some whatever earrings. You served us well, sort of, but you were so tiny I pretty much forgot you were even equipped.
Rest In Profit, good soldier
It's around this time I check in with Erik and his supply of wool he somehow has despite being terrified of monsters and not raising any himself. For only 360g, we can buy two wool and make a scarf, so that may be a viable means of us to speed grind the craft's skill.
We're rolling in cash and the only big purchases are far off from now, so it's not a horrible idea.
I do buy one and make another few belts while I'm at it. I've got a good number of leftover monster hides I can use for this, but it digs into my Toyherb supply a lot.
It's a cost I'm willing to pay though, as each one of these is getting me a skill up, and I've got enough to get me just to that coveted 39 crafts skill.
They're worth a lot thanks to how much Toyherbs are worth, so it adds a pretty hefty profit to today's earnings.
KANNO: Trampoli is a very nice village...
KANNO: ...but it's so deep in the countryside that there isn't any place I where can gather materials for research.
Just give me quests to go hunt stuff for you, I'm pretty sure I can get most of what you need.
Also, it's been a while since we've seen a typo. Hard to tell if it happened because of an editing pass to "any place I can" or just putting the "I" before "where".
Time to grind items in Lava Ruins!
After far too much fighting, I manage to acquire a Quality Cloth. Two in fact! I never get this kind of luck on drops so frequently, that tarot reading must be really working it's magic.
That's one material for our cape down!
Time for our daily bath!
Refreshed, we examine the materials left for us to acquire. It would seem all I need now is some Cheap Cloth and a Quality Fur.
Before I go get that specifically, I've got another thing in mind. So I go magick the giant chicken away again.
The HP bar doesn't even get to finish draining before it goes down.
And bam, another Feathered Hat, just like that.
If you're asking why I needed another of these, it's because I sold the old one and gave the spare to Eunice because I am a master of planning ahead. But with it, I can now make one other new piece of gear to add to our ensemble.
That hat, plus a Toy Herb, a Fair Hide from the hornets in the Snow Ruins, and a Quality cloth make...
Stylish Hat Lv:1 was synthesized.
One stylish hat!
It may not have the passive crit from the ears, but it's a decent little jump in DEF and MAG. If that flower on the side was a feather, then this would definitely be a pimp hat but as is, it's only close to it.
Now, off to Whale Island for the day!
Music: Whale Island OutsideBefore we go visit the Tower of Rest, we've got some other business to attend to.
All the way back up to the Tower of Birth we go, a place we haven't visited in a long time.
Up here, I start to grind the
Far too many hours later, a quality fur finally drops. Sealing really shuts them down, locking them to using only their basic horn poke attack.
With that done, we can go visit Blanche and Noire.
IRIS BLANCHE: People change, but one should never be afraid of it.
Sudden, but good advice, I guess.
IRIS NOIRE: It's most dangerous right when you get used to things. Please be careful when you explore the ruins.
They're just throwing all sorts of advice today.
Back at home, we're still missing 2 materials for the cape: the Cheap Cloth and a Fire Crystal. These are both pretty easy to acquire, so we'll have it for sure next time.
Not today though, it's gotten far too late. I spend out the last of our RP on various skill grinding as usual, with nothing else left in the day to do with it.
With that, I shall see you next time, in which our obtainment of drip shall continue, and we give a send-off to the season.
---------------------------------------------
MYSTERY: "Wow, they still said 'drip' back then?"
BUSH: "Yes, although I'm still not sure I know what it means."
MYSTERY: "Eh, that's fine. The rapid mutation of multi-dialectic slang in the modern world means that a lot of these words don't stick around."
MYSTERY: "Unless of course it progresses to its own dialect of our language, and then evolves past that into it's own separate language consisting of references to things you had to be there for to understand."
MYSTERY: "Said shorthand reference language will then consume the world leaving a nearly indecipherable written history behind, which will confuse our alien successors who become fed up with the language and pass it off as merely a strange form of art instead. And thus, we will be lost to time."
BUSH: "Uh... can I continue my story now? The network said we had to keep these short."
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Wed Apr 19, 2023 7:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Update 40: Bush Becomes a Debt Collector
We resume the adventures of Bush, master chef, as we approach the end of the season. I've got a good deal to cover, so let's waste no time in getting to the good stuff.
Music: Summer
Morning, Anette! Hello, Summer theme!
This'll be the last time we hear it, pretty much forever. Give it a good listen!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Pumpkin Festival" - Stella~
Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival.
To participate, you simply have to wear a pumpkin on your head.
I hope you'll join me!
-----------------------------------------------------
This'll be why today is the final day for the seasonal theme, tomorrow's festival theme will override it.
It's also good that I bought that Pumpkin Mask forever ago even if I could make one now. Gotta save all my pumpkins for Anette.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"All prepared for autumn?" - Erik~
Did you know it'll be autumn starting the day after tomorrow?!
In autumn, all summer crops will wither,
so be sure to come by our shop and purchase autumn seeds.
-----------------------------------------------------
Despite him reminding me to do thhis, I'll go ahead and say I forget to anyways. It's not much of a loss, we've got plenty of money, and I'll want to wait to plant my crops anyways.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. Everyone in the village wears pumpkin masks.
ANETTE: When I first saw it, I thought the village was being attacked by monsters!
There is an enemy in the series with a pumpkin for a head, but they're not in this game as far as I know.
MELODY: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival, I hear. You have to wear a pumpkin on your head all day. That's so weird.
It's a really simple holiday, but that's fine, not every holiday has to be a minigame.
I'm not gonna deny I like them all being minigames, but still.
CINNAMON: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival where people wear pumpkins.
CINNAMON: ...Can't wait.
Evidently, Cinnamon's going to enjoy this one, unlike the boating festival.
Also get used to people telling us what tomorrow is and what we do then, that's pretty much all the dialogue for today.
CANDY: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's a festival where everyone wears pumpkin masks.
amazing
To shake things up a bit, we head onto Whale Island for a short time to fight some orcs. After a short time, we get that Cheap Cloth we needed for the cape. That's the last thing we need!
LARA: I am very conscious of my health. I can't have people say that a caretaker of health is unhealthy herself.
Given that even the VA reads this out like a poem, this semi-rhyme was definitely intentional.
Also this is coming from the person who I've been giving slices of chocolate cake to most mornings.
LARA: Tomorrow is actually the Pumpkin Festival... I'm actually not too fond of it.
BUSH: Why?
LARA: Isn't it... embarassing to wear a pumpkin?
Not if everyone else is doing it!
I also buy some energy drinks while I'm here because I can't be bothered to make my own at this point.
STELLA: You came at the right time. Can I ask a favor from you?
STELLA: A priest that I know wants me to send him "Scriptures." I think Lara has it so can you go fetch it for me?
BUSH: All right. "Scriptures," was it?
STELLA: Thanks.
Hey, a little quest! Wasn't expecting this today!
Lara's literally in the next room over, but I'm not gonna turn down content.
BUSH: Lara, I'm looking for the "Scriptures" for Stella.
LARA: "Scriptures"? I think I lent it to Selphy.
LARA: You came at the right time then. Since it's on the way, can you ask Selphy to return it?
BUSH: Oh... All right...
Calling it now, she's not going to be able to find it.
Or I'm not going to be able to find her! I guess she's down at the beach, although Cinnamon's here.
Well, next on the list, to Materia!
um, cutscene?
Rosetta's just come trudging out of the store, a heavy bag on her back.
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush.
BUSH: What happened? Why are you carrying so much luggage?
ROSETTA: My father collapsed. He may be worthless, but he's still my father.
ROSETTA: I'm going to be gone for a while. I left Danny in charge of the store so it's business as usual.
And so she leaves.
Well, uh, I guess our LP went a bit faster than I thought it would. She'll be gone for a few weekends although for how long, I don't know.
This is kinda inconvenient timing, but I'll work with it.
She's also already at 9 LP somehow? Wow.
EUNICE: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's fun to make your own mask.
EUNICE: Did you make yours already, Bush?
Make, yes, I definitely made it. Sure did.
UZUKI: The Pumpkin Festival? I am sorry, but what is so fun about wearing a pumpkin on your head?
I'm not sure, really. Perhaps tomorrow will enlighten us.
GANESHA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. That's why I'm making the mask now. My job makes this a piece of cake!
Her hammer's got that big spike on the back, so I can only imagine her going at carving a pumpkin with that.
TURNER: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. Did you get your pumpkin yet?
TURNER: Our family has been eating pumpkins since half a month ago.
That's about when they'd finish growing, so that makes sense. We're still carrying two dozen around with us.
RITA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival.
RITA: I always grow pumpkins at home every year. I can't wait to try it this year, too!
This just made me realize how almost everyone uses the exact phrase "tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival" and now I can't stop noticing it.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. I prepared a great pumpkin just for today.
ERIK: This day has finally come. I'm going to wear a great pumpkin in front everyone this year!
Erik is hype for the festival as usual.
...What? I did say I'd forget to buy anything from him even though he's standing behind the counter right now.
...
We then return home, have a sudden craving for tomato juice, and get to the big moment of the day.
To the workbench goes a Cheap Cloth, a Quality Cloth, Quality Fur, one Fire Crystal, and one Pink Cat...
Fire Cape Lv:1 was synthesized.
Now we stylin'
Honestly, the only elemental color that doesn't look that good on Bush is green. He's got dark blue, red, and brown in his outfit so the Water, Fire, and Earth capes all match somewhat.
These will be our threads for quite some time, as these should jump our capabilites quite a good amount.
Now back to finding people to talk to.
BUSH: Selphy, Lara wants you to return the "Scriptures" she lent you.
SELPHY: "Scriptures," right? I already finished reading it so I was about to return it anyway.
SELPHY: Just wait a sec...
*And so we're forced to wait while she searches around...*
SELPHY: Hm... Looks like it went missing.
BUSH: What? Come on...
SELPHY: It's not like I lost it or spilled something on it. Let me think...
BUSH: *sigh*...
Totally called it. I guess we'll have to get back to this quest at a later date.
SELPHY: A story about a princess and a knight is really cliche but that's what makes it good.
BUSH: Are you the kind that wishes you were a princess?
SELPHY: Me? I'm actually the kind that wishes I were the evil tyrant...
SELPHY: I'm tired of being a princess, and I know what the knights are really like...
SELPHY: *gasp* Ahaha! Forget what I just said!
Selphy, you're just the worst at hiding these things. If you hadn't already guessed it already, this little bit of dialogue should inform you of who Selphy really is.
MELODY: The bathhouse opens at 3. Just wait a little longer.
but it's already 1:00 PM and i need RP
please
where's the benefits for being bath family
Fine, I guess we'll go fish with Uzuki.
UZUKI: Bush, are you out for a walk? The town square is a nice place. It certainly is a pleasant place for everyone.
UZUKI: It is so peaceful...
Or we could just get a cutscene too, I guess. I always find it funny this is the "square" although it's a big circle.
UNKNOWN: Ahhhh!
BUSH: !!
Music: Pinch
UZUKI: This bloodcurdling scream! We have an emergency!
TSUBUTE: Let us go, milady!
And so 2 out of the 3 people in town with weapons charge to the rescue!
Music: Confusion
EUNICE: It's so cute!
FRANCOISE: *mowp* (That's about what she sounds like.)
Ah, it would seem thew were not bloodcurdling screams, merely bloodcurdling squees over the tiny pink elephant.
UZUKI: What is going on?! I shall defend the peace of Trampoli!
CINNAMON: ...What's wrong?
UZUKI: I thought I heard Eunice scream...
CANDY: We were just looking at Bianca's Francoise together.
Uzuki was about to put all that morning training to work for once, rather than being afraid of everything.
BIANCA: I normally won't allow it, but I'll let everyone pet it today.
MARCO: It's so fluffly. Try it out, Uzuki!
UZUKI: I-I am fine...
TABATHA: You don't need to act so modest. Francoise loves being petted.
UZUKI: I-I... But...
BIANCA: ...What? Are you saying you can't pet Francoise?
UZUKI: No, it's not that...
Faced with her most adorable foe yet, can Uzuki, Defender of Trampoli's Peace, overcome the challenge before her?
UZUKI: Very well, I come from a family of samurais. I shall harden my resolve to do this.
CINNAMON: It's not supposed to be that serious of a matter.
And so she steps forward...!
UZUKI: Oh! It is much more tame than I imagined. And it is warm.
BIANCA: My Francoise is the best in the world.
UZUKI: Well well. This was a wonderful experience. I thank you, Bianca.
TABATHA: I hope Uzuki's hatred of monsters will be eased a little bit with this.
UZUKI: That is a difficult thing to follow through with.
That happened!
I think, oddly enough, this is a Bianca triggered event rather than Uzuki triggered.
fishin'
bathin'
Music: Mimic Slime
bossin'
I thought that my new fire resistant gear would let Bush handle fighting Mimic Slime better but I forgot about it powering up after the first victory.
This took entirely too long in real world time, to the point I forgot that I didn't record any more beyond this.
There was many savestates involved, as I the game's not nice enough to just let you warp out once you're in.
Out of RP restoratives and with the boss's big slam capable of eating nearly 200 HP off us still, I had to devise a very safe strategy. It goes thus:
Bait out the targeted explosion, count the sound effect 4 times, use axe special, retreat.
Then repeat on loop, being ready to dodge any of the other attacks.
I even managed to tie with the boss once.
The only part of this that was worth it is the Gold Ore which I somehow simultaneously feel that I both did and didn't earn it.
Oh well.
And now we cut to one real-world month later, as in, yesterday, where I realized I didn't have enough recorded and had to play more.
This 4 week gap is probably how I forgot to buy seeds, but it's not going to be much of an issue.
I go around, do some fishing and cooking for RP food since we're bushed and still easily have 8 hours left in the day, then go ahead and craft those 30 Energy Drinks into 15 Energy Drink S. I'm aiming to get some more of these, as they're not horrible.
I'll probably mostly survive off of oatmeal in dungeons from now on, but these are nice enough.
Black Fish(57 cm) Lv:4 was caught.
Such a creatively named fish.
Either way, the rest of this day pretty much goes to fishing and cooking more supplies for the next few days. While I won't have much farming on my hands, (Erik's store will be closed for the next 2 days,) I've got leveling up to do and lumber to chop.
IRIS: I feel like I've gained more things that I hold dear after I met you, Bush...
IRIS: I had a dream about you yesteday, Bush.
IRIS: I laughed because we were even talking in the dream. It's happening right now, too.
Most of the bachelorettes are at very high LP now, so we're gonna be seeing a lot of stuff like this.
IRIS: I believe there are no bad people among flower lovers.
Well, if there are no bad people among flower lovers and bath lovers, then someone who loves both must be amazing.
Noire can also do the tarot reading every day, which is neat.
IRIS NOIRE: "You are undecided about Something, but if you must make that choice now, do it and it may go in your favor."
IRIS NOIRE: There it is. Of course, fortune telling is always a hit or miss affair.
There seems to be different ones, and they're even all voiced, so we'll see how many of these we can get.
I respect that she just does it for fun, there's no mechanical benefit as far as I can tell.
With our nightly fortune read, Bush is bushed and hits the hay but not with a sickle.
Music: Goodnight
Morning!
Music: Festival
Here's the requisite festival theme to play on loop all day and drive you mad.
Music: Rune Factory 3 - Festival
If it helps at all, here's a festival theme from the future (where it's also raining).
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Looks fun." - Tart~
I see. Festivals are so... fun.
I like them very much.
Now that the festival is over,
I am writing... to you while
reading a book on this... peaceful night.
What do you do at nights usually?
-----------------------------------------------------
1. I just sleep.
2. I sometimes read books.
3. I frequent the tavern.
---------------------------------
Wow, Tori finally got back to us! I guess this is letter mail between indistinctly distant towns, we can't expect it to go as fast as the in-town mail.
I say number 2 is the most correct answer, and it's not because I'm picking what she wants to hear. I do save in the diary most nights, more nights than I just hit the bed or go to the bar.
Oh, if you were wondering what she looks like, you can see a bit of her portrait when looking through the letter on your table, but here you go.
Ah, the grungy 2006 DS sprites and freehanded character art. She's not a candidate, but it would've been funny if she was a secret bachelorette only available after answering many, many letters.
This is our only letter today though.
After brushing the animals, we don our terrifying seasonal visage. We have become...
The Headless Horseradish Farmer :iit:
And then we head up to Whale Island immediately. Why?
Because Blanche and Noire are still awake!
...yes really
I figured this out when working on that file to show off the boss fight we skipped- apparently the Irises stay up from 6:00 PM to 9:00 AM.
This fixes my scheduling quite a lot as it means my mornings can now go Anette -> Animals -> Iris -> everyone else -> fighting and farming.
If only I'd known this sooner.
IRIS NOIRE: Don't you just feel like drinking tomato juice impulsively sometimes?
IRIS NOIRE: You don't? I guess it's just me...
Bush denies that he felt the need to down vegetable-less V8 yesterday, it's part of being in character for the festival.
They really do just share some lines- I can't tell if I was supposed to somehow get to the Irises later or sooner.
Anyways, back to the festival.
Hail, pumpkin-eered fellow!
LUTE: So today was the Pumpkin Festival.
LUTE: I get surprised every year. I thought all the villagers turned into monsters!
Hey Lute! I believe this is the first time we get to see him on a Friday as this festival isn't also on a holiday like other ones. We can't even buy from him today if we wanted.
sorry i ate all your chocolate fighting the confectionary slime
LARA: If it was possible, I didn't want us to meet today...
BUSH: But, I think you look good in that, Lara.
LARA: Am I supposed to feel happy about that?
Bush has unusual tastes in aesthetics and women's fashion.
Lara does have one of the better masks though, hers is just a small face mask that doesn't cover her hair or habit.
LARA: Bush, would you please do me a favor?
BUSH: What is it?
LARA: Well, I had lent Selphy some money...
LARA: It's past the due date but she still hasn't returned it.
LARA: Would you please collect it from her?
BUSH: All right.
Oh dear, more quests from the church! At this rate, we'll sideclass into Farmer-Paladin!
It's also even more Selphy failing to return anything.
And so two pumpkins meet in a clean library.
SELPHY: Hmmm hmm hmmmm! ♪
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! Look! I bought a new book! I can't wait to see what it's about!
BUSH: Didn't you just read that book the other day?
SELPHY: Of course not! I never forget about which books I read. There are plenty of books with similar titiles so maybe you mistook it for that?
BUSH: Oh...
Hm, how weird. Well, maybe we'll figure out what these new books are about at some point. We're here on other business.
BUSH: Did you find the "Scriptures"?
SELPHY: "Scriptures"? What are you talking about?
SELPHY: I'm kidding! Don't look at me like that.
SELPHY: Scriptures... I last read it while I was in the bath.
SELPHY: I know! I left it at the bathhouse! Razor sharp detective work by me.
SELPHY: I'm sure it's still there so why don't you go get it?
selphy, what are we ever gonna do with you
Also wouldn't the humidity and steam just ruin the books?
BUSH: Uh... Isn't it in the women's bath?
SELPHY: Don't worry about that! Be a man about it!
BUSH: That's the problem here... (I guess I should talk to Melody about it.)
Yeah, she'd punch us into next week if we just waltzed in there. Conveniently, this mirrors the questline where Father Wesley loses his holy book in RF1 because Nicholas plays a prank on him by hiding it in the women's bath.
Presumably, this is also who Stella wants to send these Scriptures to anyhow, so there's just a weird precedent for holy texts getting lost in the women's bath in Norad.
Anyways, we were here on other business.
BUSH: Selphy, Lara wants you to repay the money she lent you.
SELPHY: Whoa! I didn't think she'd send a collector to come get it!
SELPHY: Not bad, Lara!
"Scarlet Sister, sending someone to do your dirty work for you- not bad..."
"In the name of St. Poli, you will repay...!"
...She's probably workshopping this story right now.
BUSH: Setting that aside, would you please pay back the money?
SELPHY: Well, about that. I want to pay it back, but I just don't have the funds.
BUSH: So, you don't have the money to repay it?
SELPHY: Well, if you put it like that, I don't know how to respond!
SELPHY: That's why I need a favor from you. Can you pay it back for me?
BUSH: ...
This set of conversations is only enhanced by the fact everyone has jack-o-lantern heads today, I think.
MELODY: Hahaha! This festival is so weird! But, I like stuff like this.
Melody won't have the bath open at all today (egads!) so we're not getting anywhere on the scriptures front for now. Bush won't even dare try to sneak in.
LARA: How was it? Will Selphy pay it back?
--------------------------------------------
1. Yes, I have the money.
2. No. She said she didn't have any money.
--------------------------------------------
I didn't savestate here, although I should have. I reasoned it couldn't be that much anyways, and we're crazy rich. What's a little generosity?
LARA: Bush, you shouldn't lie.
LARA: I suppose that Selphy just had you pay in her place?
BUSH: How did you know?
LARA: It's because you're a terrible liar.
LARA: All right. I will speak with Selphy directly later. Thank you for your help.
busted and burned
KANNO: I've found out some things about Gelwein.
BUSH: Really?!
KANNO: Yes. Apparently he worked for the Imperial Magic Research Center in the Kingdom of Norad.
BUSH: Imperial Magic...? That's where you and Cinnamon used to work, right?
KANNO: No! We were at the Imperial Magic Academy! Don't you ever compare our Majesty's personal facility to those bumpkins!
BUSH: S-sorry...
you could also say those pumpkins
Okay that was an extremely bad low hanging fruit, sorry
also why is so much development happening on today of all days
KANNO: Anyways, they were researching for a way to utilize Runes effectively.
KANNO: Gelwein's reputation there was most terrible, but apparently his skill was top-notch.
(the former's not surprising)
KANNO: Of course, his skill is nowhere near mine or Cinnamon's. Hohoho.
BUSH: Okay...
KANNO: It seems as time went on, Gelwein began to devote himself to a particular area of research.
BUSH: What was he researching?
KANNO: Military use of Runes. In other words, immoral experimentation that sought to use Runes for war.
BUSH: That can't be right... Using Runes for warfare is supposed to be forbidden in the Kingdom of Norad.
Somehow, Bush knows this. I guess he remembers it from the first game.
KANNO: Yes, it still is. That's why the monarchy cut off funding the research and the facility fired him.
KANNO: Now, Gelwein is here, in Trampoli.
BUSH: Do you think he's trying to continue his research?
KANNO: I doubt it's that simple. According to his past co-workers from the facility, Gelwein apparently swore revenge on the monarchy and the research center that kicked him out.
KANNO: He's most likely trying to use his research to use Runes as weapons against the Kingdom of Norad.
BUSH: We need to stop him, now!
KANNO: We don't have much time. Hurry, Bush!
Alright, we'll get right on that
but first, pumpkin festival
You'd think Gelwein would've been arrested rather than exiled, but okay. If he wasn't blinded by ego, he'd probably have just signed up with the Sechs Empire and continued his research there. They're looking to destroy Norad, just as soon as they get the right stuff to do it.
KANNO: What do you think? Candy made it herself.
KANNO: You can't have it even if you want it! Hohoho.
Magic grandpa is a proud grandpa, even if he is a bit grumpy.
BUSH: This book... It's unbelievably hard. I can't even read it, it's so hard.
BUSH: Kanno must be even smarter than I thought...
KANNO: "Than I thought"?! I am smarter than you could ever imagine!
CINNAMON: Candy made this mask for me.
CINNAMON: Looks good.
Cinnamon's into pumpkin fashion.
GIRL: Guess who!
-------------------------
1. Candy...?
2. I don't know...
-------------------------
A mysterious figure! How could we ever guess who they are with that mask?!
BUSH: I don't know...
CANDY: It's Candy! I love how weird the Pumpkin Festival is!
If you do guess right, you get this:
CANDY: You got it! I guess it's too easy to tell it's me.
DANNY: H-hey. I'm not Danny! Honest!
You almost fooled me, but the massive pec window gave it away, I'm afraid.
UZUKI: It felt a little embarassing at first, but this Pumpkin Festival can be enjoyable after one gets used to it.
Also, yes, Tsubute is also wearing one and it's also almost as big as his entire body.
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! What do you think? I made it myself.
SELPHY: I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
As it turns out, we never got her comment on her mask thanks to all the loan collecting we were doing.
EUNICE: Well? Are you enjoying the Pumpkin Festival?
EUNICE: This festival originated in the town where my father used to work.
EUNICE: When he moved here, he wore the pumpkin by himself but Stella grew to really like it.
EUNICE: That's how it became an official festival.
This does absolutely sound like something Turner would do. The guy has zero reservations.
BIANCA: I'm only wearing it because Tabatha made it!
Ssssure you are
Honestly, it's a missed opportunity that her hair drills don't come outside of the pumpkin.
TABATHA: How is my mask? I made two for Miss Bianca and myself yesterday.
Another missed opportunity is that all the masks are the same design, but missed opportunity is the name of the game with Neverland, and I'll hit the wordcount limit if go on about all the things they could have done.
Still a good festival so far, it's simple, but it's fine that way.
STELLA: Are you enjoying the Pumpkin Festival?
STELLA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's a festival where you wear a pumpkn mask all day.
STELLA: It all started from when a monster with a pumpkin head helped a lost innkeeper.
w-whahuh
but today is the fest...
Does Pumpkin Festival never end?!
KROSS: ...!!
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: D-do you want to build e-e-extensions?
Kross is probably handling the pumpkinhead anxiety the worst today
While I'm out in this direction, I go ahead and harvest the last of the oranges. All 30 take me most of my bars and nearly three hours.
Rosetta...?
ROSETTA: How do I look?
ROSETTA: I always thought that Pumpkin Festival was stupid, but it's actually fun when you take part in it.
So the deal is, she'll still show up on Holidays and festivals, but she's back to living with her dad for the moment.
I didn't know this until I looked it up, so I don't handle this as efficiently as I could.
Either way, if you were worried she was gonna vanish completely for a while, rest assured she's not.
MARCO: H-hey. What do you think of this mask?
-----------------------------
1. It looks good on you.
2. It looks weird on you.
-----------------------------
Well, time to do a bit of timeline splitting-
---------------------------------
We get a different story each way! You're a sly one, Marco.
Regardless of what we answer though:
CANDY: I think that mask's pretty cute.
MARCO: R-really?! I actually think it's really nice!
oh marco
what a future you have ahead of you
RITA: Haha. It's me, Rita.
RITA: Well? Are you having fun?
Moderately!
CHEERFUL MAN: Hi! I'm the mysterious Pumpkin Mask!
BUSH: Turner...
CHEERFUL MAN: I'm not Turner! I'm Pumpkin Mask!
TURNER: Hahaha. You have to go with the flow here.
ERIK: Take a look! This pumpkin... is sure to win!
BUSH: Win what...?
Erik treats every festival as a contest, no matter what.
He desires minigames
ANETTE: How do I look, Bush?
ANETTE: When I first saw it, I was scared, but it started being fun once I joined in.
Anette's also here, although she's a bit hidden. I had to look up a schedule to find her, even.
I can't really tell how much this festival has helped our LP, but we really are in general in a way better state than where we were at the first bachelorette vote.
Heck, Iris Blanche has capped out even!
Ah, our last harvest of tomatoes and corn. I skimmed a couple off the top so that I have some for juice.in the coming days.
What seeds I do have on hand is fodder, so I just plant one half the field into fodder because why not.
I'll just use it as runey growth material I guess- if I need more space, I'll get rid of some of it. Stuff barely costs anything anyways.
Following that is a lot of prepared meals for the season ahead.
Aaand finally, sleep.
All pumpkin partied out, we now wave goodbye to Summer for good. So much money made, so many skills grinded, we pretty much cut through about half the game in this month.
What lies ahead?
Character development and new characters, actually!
We resume the adventures of Bush, master chef, as we approach the end of the season. I've got a good deal to cover, so let's waste no time in getting to the good stuff.
Music: SummerMorning, Anette! Hello, Summer theme!
This'll be the last time we hear it, pretty much forever. Give it a good listen!
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Pumpkin Festival" - Stella~
Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival.
To participate, you simply have to wear a pumpkin on your head.
I hope you'll join me!
-----------------------------------------------------
This'll be why today is the final day for the seasonal theme, tomorrow's festival theme will override it.
It's also good that I bought that Pumpkin Mask forever ago even if I could make one now. Gotta save all my pumpkins for Anette.
-----------------------------------------------------
~"All prepared for autumn?" - Erik~
Did you know it'll be autumn starting the day after tomorrow?!
In autumn, all summer crops will wither,
so be sure to come by our shop and purchase autumn seeds.
-----------------------------------------------------
Despite him reminding me to do thhis, I'll go ahead and say I forget to anyways. It's not much of a loss, we've got plenty of money, and I'll want to wait to plant my crops anyways.
ANETTE: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. Everyone in the village wears pumpkin masks.
ANETTE: When I first saw it, I thought the village was being attacked by monsters!
There is an enemy in the series with a pumpkin for a head, but they're not in this game as far as I know.
MELODY: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival, I hear. You have to wear a pumpkin on your head all day. That's so weird.
It's a really simple holiday, but that's fine, not every holiday has to be a minigame.
I'm not gonna deny I like them all being minigames, but still.
CINNAMON: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival where people wear pumpkins.
CINNAMON: ...Can't wait.
Evidently, Cinnamon's going to enjoy this one, unlike the boating festival.
Also get used to people telling us what tomorrow is and what we do then, that's pretty much all the dialogue for today.
CANDY: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's a festival where everyone wears pumpkin masks.
amazing
To shake things up a bit, we head onto Whale Island for a short time to fight some orcs. After a short time, we get that Cheap Cloth we needed for the cape. That's the last thing we need!
LARA: I am very conscious of my health. I can't have people say that a caretaker of health is unhealthy herself.
Given that even the VA reads this out like a poem, this semi-rhyme was definitely intentional.
Also this is coming from the person who I've been giving slices of chocolate cake to most mornings.
LARA: Tomorrow is actually the Pumpkin Festival... I'm actually not too fond of it.
BUSH: Why?
LARA: Isn't it... embarassing to wear a pumpkin?
Not if everyone else is doing it!
I also buy some energy drinks while I'm here because I can't be bothered to make my own at this point.
STELLA: You came at the right time. Can I ask a favor from you?
STELLA: A priest that I know wants me to send him "Scriptures." I think Lara has it so can you go fetch it for me?
BUSH: All right. "Scriptures," was it?
STELLA: Thanks.
Hey, a little quest! Wasn't expecting this today!
Lara's literally in the next room over, but I'm not gonna turn down content.
BUSH: Lara, I'm looking for the "Scriptures" for Stella.
LARA: "Scriptures"? I think I lent it to Selphy.
LARA: You came at the right time then. Since it's on the way, can you ask Selphy to return it?
BUSH: Oh... All right...
Calling it now, she's not going to be able to find it.
Or I'm not going to be able to find her! I guess she's down at the beach, although Cinnamon's here.
Well, next on the list, to Materia!
um, cutscene?
Rosetta's just come trudging out of the store, a heavy bag on her back.
ROSETTA: Oh, Bush.
BUSH: What happened? Why are you carrying so much luggage?
ROSETTA: My father collapsed. He may be worthless, but he's still my father.
ROSETTA: I'm going to be gone for a while. I left Danny in charge of the store so it's business as usual.
And so she leaves.
Well, uh, I guess our LP went a bit faster than I thought it would. She'll be gone for a few weekends although for how long, I don't know.
This is kinda inconvenient timing, but I'll work with it.
She's also already at 9 LP somehow? Wow.
EUNICE: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's fun to make your own mask.
EUNICE: Did you make yours already, Bush?
Make, yes, I definitely made it. Sure did.
UZUKI: The Pumpkin Festival? I am sorry, but what is so fun about wearing a pumpkin on your head?
I'm not sure, really. Perhaps tomorrow will enlighten us.
GANESHA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. That's why I'm making the mask now. My job makes this a piece of cake!
Her hammer's got that big spike on the back, so I can only imagine her going at carving a pumpkin with that.
TURNER: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. Did you get your pumpkin yet?
TURNER: Our family has been eating pumpkins since half a month ago.
That's about when they'd finish growing, so that makes sense. We're still carrying two dozen around with us.
RITA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival.
RITA: I always grow pumpkins at home every year. I can't wait to try it this year, too!
This just made me realize how almost everyone uses the exact phrase "tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival" and now I can't stop noticing it.
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. I prepared a great pumpkin just for today.
ERIK: This day has finally come. I'm going to wear a great pumpkin in front everyone this year!
Erik is hype for the festival as usual.
...What? I did say I'd forget to buy anything from him even though he's standing behind the counter right now.
...
We then return home, have a sudden craving for tomato juice, and get to the big moment of the day.
To the workbench goes a Cheap Cloth, a Quality Cloth, Quality Fur, one Fire Crystal, and one Pink Cat...
Fire Cape Lv:1 was synthesized.
Now we stylin'
Honestly, the only elemental color that doesn't look that good on Bush is green. He's got dark blue, red, and brown in his outfit so the Water, Fire, and Earth capes all match somewhat.
These will be our threads for quite some time, as these should jump our capabilites quite a good amount.
Now back to finding people to talk to.
BUSH: Selphy, Lara wants you to return the "Scriptures" she lent you.
SELPHY: "Scriptures," right? I already finished reading it so I was about to return it anyway.
SELPHY: Just wait a sec...
*And so we're forced to wait while she searches around...*
SELPHY: Hm... Looks like it went missing.
BUSH: What? Come on...
SELPHY: It's not like I lost it or spilled something on it. Let me think...
BUSH: *sigh*...
Totally called it. I guess we'll have to get back to this quest at a later date.
SELPHY: A story about a princess and a knight is really cliche but that's what makes it good.
BUSH: Are you the kind that wishes you were a princess?
SELPHY: Me? I'm actually the kind that wishes I were the evil tyrant...
SELPHY: I'm tired of being a princess, and I know what the knights are really like...
SELPHY: *gasp* Ahaha! Forget what I just said!
Selphy, you're just the worst at hiding these things. If you hadn't already guessed it already, this little bit of dialogue should inform you of who Selphy really is.
MELODY: The bathhouse opens at 3. Just wait a little longer.
but it's already 1:00 PM and i need RP
please
where's the benefits for being bath family
Fine, I guess we'll go fish with Uzuki.
UZUKI: Bush, are you out for a walk? The town square is a nice place. It certainly is a pleasant place for everyone.
UZUKI: It is so peaceful...
Or we could just get a cutscene too, I guess. I always find it funny this is the "square" although it's a big circle.
UNKNOWN: Ahhhh!
BUSH: !!
Music: PinchUZUKI: This bloodcurdling scream! We have an emergency!
TSUBUTE: Let us go, milady!
And so 2 out of the 3 people in town with weapons charge to the rescue!
Music: ConfusionEUNICE: It's so cute!
FRANCOISE: *mowp* (That's about what she sounds like.)
Ah, it would seem thew were not bloodcurdling screams, merely bloodcurdling squees over the tiny pink elephant.
UZUKI: What is going on?! I shall defend the peace of Trampoli!
CINNAMON: ...What's wrong?
UZUKI: I thought I heard Eunice scream...
CANDY: We were just looking at Bianca's Francoise together.
Uzuki was about to put all that morning training to work for once, rather than being afraid of everything.
BIANCA: I normally won't allow it, but I'll let everyone pet it today.
MARCO: It's so fluffly. Try it out, Uzuki!
UZUKI: I-I am fine...
TABATHA: You don't need to act so modest. Francoise loves being petted.
UZUKI: I-I... But...
BIANCA: ...What? Are you saying you can't pet Francoise?
UZUKI: No, it's not that...
Faced with her most adorable foe yet, can Uzuki, Defender of Trampoli's Peace, overcome the challenge before her?
UZUKI: Very well, I come from a family of samurais. I shall harden my resolve to do this.
CINNAMON: It's not supposed to be that serious of a matter.
And so she steps forward...!
UZUKI: Oh! It is much more tame than I imagined. And it is warm.
BIANCA: My Francoise is the best in the world.
UZUKI: Well well. This was a wonderful experience. I thank you, Bianca.
TABATHA: I hope Uzuki's hatred of monsters will be eased a little bit with this.
UZUKI: That is a difficult thing to follow through with.
That happened!
I think, oddly enough, this is a Bianca triggered event rather than Uzuki triggered.
fishin'
bathin'
Music: Mimic Slimebossin'
I thought that my new fire resistant gear would let Bush handle fighting Mimic Slime better but I forgot about it powering up after the first victory.
This took entirely too long in real world time, to the point I forgot that I didn't record any more beyond this.
There was many savestates involved, as I the game's not nice enough to just let you warp out once you're in.
Out of RP restoratives and with the boss's big slam capable of eating nearly 200 HP off us still, I had to devise a very safe strategy. It goes thus:
Bait out the targeted explosion, count the sound effect 4 times, use axe special, retreat.
Then repeat on loop, being ready to dodge any of the other attacks.
I even managed to tie with the boss once.
The only part of this that was worth it is the Gold Ore which I somehow simultaneously feel that I both did and didn't earn it.
Oh well.
And now we cut to one real-world month later, as in, yesterday, where I realized I didn't have enough recorded and had to play more.
This 4 week gap is probably how I forgot to buy seeds, but it's not going to be much of an issue.
I go around, do some fishing and cooking for RP food since we're bushed and still easily have 8 hours left in the day, then go ahead and craft those 30 Energy Drinks into 15 Energy Drink S. I'm aiming to get some more of these, as they're not horrible.
I'll probably mostly survive off of oatmeal in dungeons from now on, but these are nice enough.
Black Fish(57 cm) Lv:4 was caught.
Such a creatively named fish.
Either way, the rest of this day pretty much goes to fishing and cooking more supplies for the next few days. While I won't have much farming on my hands, (Erik's store will be closed for the next 2 days,) I've got leveling up to do and lumber to chop.
IRIS: I feel like I've gained more things that I hold dear after I met you, Bush...
IRIS: I had a dream about you yesteday, Bush.
IRIS: I laughed because we were even talking in the dream. It's happening right now, too.
Most of the bachelorettes are at very high LP now, so we're gonna be seeing a lot of stuff like this.
IRIS: I believe there are no bad people among flower lovers.
Well, if there are no bad people among flower lovers and bath lovers, then someone who loves both must be amazing.
Noire can also do the tarot reading every day, which is neat.
IRIS NOIRE: "You are undecided about Something, but if you must make that choice now, do it and it may go in your favor."
IRIS NOIRE: There it is. Of course, fortune telling is always a hit or miss affair.
There seems to be different ones, and they're even all voiced, so we'll see how many of these we can get.
I respect that she just does it for fun, there's no mechanical benefit as far as I can tell.
With our nightly fortune read, Bush is bushed and hits the hay but not with a sickle.
Music: GoodnightMorning!
Music: FestivalHere's the requisite festival theme to play on loop all day and drive you mad.
Music: Rune Factory 3 - FestivalIf it helps at all, here's a festival theme from the future (where it's also raining).
-----------------------------------------------------
~"Looks fun." - Tart~
I see. Festivals are so... fun.
I like them very much.
Now that the festival is over,
I am writing... to you while
reading a book on this... peaceful night.
What do you do at nights usually?
-----------------------------------------------------
1. I just sleep.
2. I sometimes read books.
3. I frequent the tavern.
---------------------------------
Wow, Tori finally got back to us! I guess this is letter mail between indistinctly distant towns, we can't expect it to go as fast as the in-town mail.
I say number 2 is the most correct answer, and it's not because I'm picking what she wants to hear. I do save in the diary most nights, more nights than I just hit the bed or go to the bar.
Oh, if you were wondering what she looks like, you can see a bit of her portrait when looking through the letter on your table, but here you go.
Ah, the grungy 2006 DS sprites and freehanded character art. She's not a candidate, but it would've been funny if she was a secret bachelorette only available after answering many, many letters.
This is our only letter today though.
After brushing the animals, we don our terrifying seasonal visage. We have become...
The Headless Horseradish Farmer :iit:
And then we head up to Whale Island immediately. Why?
Because Blanche and Noire are still awake!
...yes really
I figured this out when working on that file to show off the boss fight we skipped- apparently the Irises stay up from 6:00 PM to 9:00 AM.
This fixes my scheduling quite a lot as it means my mornings can now go Anette -> Animals -> Iris -> everyone else -> fighting and farming.
If only I'd known this sooner.
IRIS NOIRE: Don't you just feel like drinking tomato juice impulsively sometimes?
IRIS NOIRE: You don't? I guess it's just me...
Bush denies that he felt the need to down vegetable-less V8 yesterday, it's part of being in character for the festival.
They really do just share some lines- I can't tell if I was supposed to somehow get to the Irises later or sooner.
Anyways, back to the festival.
Hail, pumpkin-eered fellow!
LUTE: So today was the Pumpkin Festival.
LUTE: I get surprised every year. I thought all the villagers turned into monsters!
Hey Lute! I believe this is the first time we get to see him on a Friday as this festival isn't also on a holiday like other ones. We can't even buy from him today if we wanted.
sorry i ate all your chocolate fighting the confectionary slime
LARA: If it was possible, I didn't want us to meet today...
BUSH: But, I think you look good in that, Lara.
LARA: Am I supposed to feel happy about that?
Bush has unusual tastes in aesthetics and women's fashion.
Lara does have one of the better masks though, hers is just a small face mask that doesn't cover her hair or habit.
LARA: Bush, would you please do me a favor?
BUSH: What is it?
LARA: Well, I had lent Selphy some money...
LARA: It's past the due date but she still hasn't returned it.
LARA: Would you please collect it from her?
BUSH: All right.
Oh dear, more quests from the church! At this rate, we'll sideclass into Farmer-Paladin!
It's also even more Selphy failing to return anything.
And so two pumpkins meet in a clean library.
SELPHY: Hmmm hmm hmmmm! ♪
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! Look! I bought a new book! I can't wait to see what it's about!
BUSH: Didn't you just read that book the other day?
SELPHY: Of course not! I never forget about which books I read. There are plenty of books with similar titiles so maybe you mistook it for that?
BUSH: Oh...
Hm, how weird. Well, maybe we'll figure out what these new books are about at some point. We're here on other business.
BUSH: Did you find the "Scriptures"?
SELPHY: "Scriptures"? What are you talking about?
SELPHY: I'm kidding! Don't look at me like that.
SELPHY: Scriptures... I last read it while I was in the bath.
SELPHY: I know! I left it at the bathhouse! Razor sharp detective work by me.
SELPHY: I'm sure it's still there so why don't you go get it?
selphy, what are we ever gonna do with you
Also wouldn't the humidity and steam just ruin the books?
BUSH: Uh... Isn't it in the women's bath?
SELPHY: Don't worry about that! Be a man about it!
BUSH: That's the problem here... (I guess I should talk to Melody about it.)
Yeah, she'd punch us into next week if we just waltzed in there. Conveniently, this mirrors the questline where Father Wesley loses his holy book in RF1 because Nicholas plays a prank on him by hiding it in the women's bath.
Presumably, this is also who Stella wants to send these Scriptures to anyhow, so there's just a weird precedent for holy texts getting lost in the women's bath in Norad.
Anyways, we were here on other business.
BUSH: Selphy, Lara wants you to repay the money she lent you.
SELPHY: Whoa! I didn't think she'd send a collector to come get it!
SELPHY: Not bad, Lara!
"Scarlet Sister, sending someone to do your dirty work for you- not bad..."
"In the name of St. Poli, you will repay...!"
...She's probably workshopping this story right now.
BUSH: Setting that aside, would you please pay back the money?
SELPHY: Well, about that. I want to pay it back, but I just don't have the funds.
BUSH: So, you don't have the money to repay it?
SELPHY: Well, if you put it like that, I don't know how to respond!
SELPHY: That's why I need a favor from you. Can you pay it back for me?
BUSH: ...
This set of conversations is only enhanced by the fact everyone has jack-o-lantern heads today, I think.
MELODY: Hahaha! This festival is so weird! But, I like stuff like this.
Melody won't have the bath open at all today (egads!) so we're not getting anywhere on the scriptures front for now. Bush won't even dare try to sneak in.
LARA: How was it? Will Selphy pay it back?
--------------------------------------------
1. Yes, I have the money.
2. No. She said she didn't have any money.
--------------------------------------------
I didn't savestate here, although I should have. I reasoned it couldn't be that much anyways, and we're crazy rich. What's a little generosity?
LARA: Bush, you shouldn't lie.
LARA: I suppose that Selphy just had you pay in her place?
BUSH: How did you know?
LARA: It's because you're a terrible liar.
LARA: All right. I will speak with Selphy directly later. Thank you for your help.
busted and burned
KANNO: I've found out some things about Gelwein.
BUSH: Really?!
KANNO: Yes. Apparently he worked for the Imperial Magic Research Center in the Kingdom of Norad.
BUSH: Imperial Magic...? That's where you and Cinnamon used to work, right?
KANNO: No! We were at the Imperial Magic Academy! Don't you ever compare our Majesty's personal facility to those bumpkins!
BUSH: S-sorry...
you could also say those pumpkins
Okay that was an extremely bad low hanging fruit, sorry
also why is so much development happening on today of all days
KANNO: Anyways, they were researching for a way to utilize Runes effectively.
KANNO: Gelwein's reputation there was most terrible, but apparently his skill was top-notch.
(the former's not surprising)
KANNO: Of course, his skill is nowhere near mine or Cinnamon's. Hohoho.
BUSH: Okay...
KANNO: It seems as time went on, Gelwein began to devote himself to a particular area of research.
BUSH: What was he researching?
KANNO: Military use of Runes. In other words, immoral experimentation that sought to use Runes for war.
BUSH: That can't be right... Using Runes for warfare is supposed to be forbidden in the Kingdom of Norad.
Somehow, Bush knows this. I guess he remembers it from the first game.
KANNO: Yes, it still is. That's why the monarchy cut off funding the research and the facility fired him.
KANNO: Now, Gelwein is here, in Trampoli.
BUSH: Do you think he's trying to continue his research?
KANNO: I doubt it's that simple. According to his past co-workers from the facility, Gelwein apparently swore revenge on the monarchy and the research center that kicked him out.
KANNO: He's most likely trying to use his research to use Runes as weapons against the Kingdom of Norad.
BUSH: We need to stop him, now!
KANNO: We don't have much time. Hurry, Bush!
Alright, we'll get right on that
but first, pumpkin festival
You'd think Gelwein would've been arrested rather than exiled, but okay. If he wasn't blinded by ego, he'd probably have just signed up with the Sechs Empire and continued his research there. They're looking to destroy Norad, just as soon as they get the right stuff to do it.
KANNO: What do you think? Candy made it herself.
KANNO: You can't have it even if you want it! Hohoho.
Magic grandpa is a proud grandpa, even if he is a bit grumpy.
BUSH: This book... It's unbelievably hard. I can't even read it, it's so hard.
BUSH: Kanno must be even smarter than I thought...
KANNO: "Than I thought"?! I am smarter than you could ever imagine!
CINNAMON: Candy made this mask for me.
CINNAMON: Looks good.
Cinnamon's into pumpkin fashion.
GIRL: Guess who!
-------------------------
1. Candy...?
2. I don't know...
-------------------------
A mysterious figure! How could we ever guess who they are with that mask?!
BUSH: I don't know...
CANDY: It's Candy! I love how weird the Pumpkin Festival is!
If you do guess right, you get this:
CANDY: You got it! I guess it's too easy to tell it's me.
DANNY: H-hey. I'm not Danny! Honest!
You almost fooled me, but the massive pec window gave it away, I'm afraid.
UZUKI: It felt a little embarassing at first, but this Pumpkin Festival can be enjoyable after one gets used to it.
Also, yes, Tsubute is also wearing one and it's also almost as big as his entire body.
SELPHY: Hey, Bush! What do you think? I made it myself.
SELPHY: I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
As it turns out, we never got her comment on her mask thanks to all the loan collecting we were doing.
EUNICE: Well? Are you enjoying the Pumpkin Festival?
EUNICE: This festival originated in the town where my father used to work.
EUNICE: When he moved here, he wore the pumpkin by himself but Stella grew to really like it.
EUNICE: That's how it became an official festival.
This does absolutely sound like something Turner would do. The guy has zero reservations.
BIANCA: I'm only wearing it because Tabatha made it!
Ssssure you are
Honestly, it's a missed opportunity that her hair drills don't come outside of the pumpkin.
TABATHA: How is my mask? I made two for Miss Bianca and myself yesterday.
Another missed opportunity is that all the masks are the same design, but missed opportunity is the name of the game with Neverland, and I'll hit the wordcount limit if go on about all the things they could have done.
Still a good festival so far, it's simple, but it's fine that way.
STELLA: Are you enjoying the Pumpkin Festival?
STELLA: Tomorrow is the Pumpkin Festival. It's a festival where you wear a pumpkn mask all day.
STELLA: It all started from when a monster with a pumpkin head helped a lost innkeeper.
w-whahuh
but today is the fest...
Does Pumpkin Festival never end?!
KROSS: ...!!
KROSS: Heh...
KROSS: D-do you want to build e-e-extensions?
Kross is probably handling the pumpkinhead anxiety the worst today
While I'm out in this direction, I go ahead and harvest the last of the oranges. All 30 take me most of my bars and nearly three hours.
Rosetta...?
ROSETTA: How do I look?
ROSETTA: I always thought that Pumpkin Festival was stupid, but it's actually fun when you take part in it.
So the deal is, she'll still show up on Holidays and festivals, but she's back to living with her dad for the moment.
I didn't know this until I looked it up, so I don't handle this as efficiently as I could.
Either way, if you were worried she was gonna vanish completely for a while, rest assured she's not.
MARCO: H-hey. What do you think of this mask?
-----------------------------
1. It looks good on you.
2. It looks weird on you.
-----------------------------
Well, time to do a bit of timeline splitting-
Alternatively...lookin fresh mate wrote:
BUSH: It looks good on you.
MARCO: Really?! I don't really like it... but Mom made it so I felt like I had to wear it.
---------------------------------
wot u wearin wrote:
BUSH: It looks weird on you.
MARCO: I knew it... I didn't want to but, Mom just made me wear it...
MARCO: That's why I'm still wearing it. You should know how I'm feeling right now!
We get a different story each way! You're a sly one, Marco.
Regardless of what we answer though:
CANDY: I think that mask's pretty cute.
MARCO: R-really?! I actually think it's really nice!
oh marco
what a future you have ahead of you
RITA: Haha. It's me, Rita.
RITA: Well? Are you having fun?
Moderately!
CHEERFUL MAN: Hi! I'm the mysterious Pumpkin Mask!
BUSH: Turner...
CHEERFUL MAN: I'm not Turner! I'm Pumpkin Mask!
TURNER: Hahaha. You have to go with the flow here.
ERIK: Take a look! This pumpkin... is sure to win!
BUSH: Win what...?
Erik treats every festival as a contest, no matter what.
He desires minigames
ANETTE: How do I look, Bush?
ANETTE: When I first saw it, I was scared, but it started being fun once I joined in.
Anette's also here, although she's a bit hidden. I had to look up a schedule to find her, even.
I can't really tell how much this festival has helped our LP, but we really are in general in a way better state than where we were at the first bachelorette vote.
Heck, Iris Blanche has capped out even!
Ah, our last harvest of tomatoes and corn. I skimmed a couple off the top so that I have some for juice.in the coming days.
What seeds I do have on hand is fodder, so I just plant one half the field into fodder because why not.
I'll just use it as runey growth material I guess- if I need more space, I'll get rid of some of it. Stuff barely costs anything anyways.
Following that is a lot of prepared meals for the season ahead.
Aaand finally, sleep.
All pumpkin partied out, we now wave goodbye to Summer for good. So much money made, so many skills grinded, we pretty much cut through about half the game in this month.
What lies ahead?
Character development and new characters, actually!
Last edited by Odd Wilson on Thu Apr 20, 2023 1:46 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Update will be somewhat late, (I suppose that's pretty evident at this point,) as my hands hurt too much yesterday to type a lot. It's okay-ish today, but I'm not gonna push it too much. Worst case scenario, this'll 1 week break will just become a 2 week break.
We've got good stuff coming that I want to get to as we're sorta entering Bush's second training arc, but I can't argue with my hands.
arthritis is fun
We've got good stuff coming that I want to get to as we're sorta entering Bush's second training arc, but I can't argue with my hands.
arthritis is fun
It's true!Cloudmonkey98 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:41 pmTake your time, after all, indoors, time stands still~
But seriously take care of yourself, thanks for all the fun but we ain't rushed!
Thanks for the patience, I've already learned the hard way to not push my hands when they're not feeling it. It just always bothers me a bit when I don't get an update out on schedule, despite the schedule being an entirely arbitrary thing I've made for myself that I could adjust at any time.
Ah well. Update on the next page!