The Let's Play Archive

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

by LordHippoman

Part 8: Continuation, Concerning Carmite Cave

Update 8: Continuation, Concerning Carmite Cave

Well, right now that Carmite Cave is going to kick Donnel’s ass. We’ll need to make some further improvements to our cash, food, and combat situations. I honestly think Carmite is the hardest dungeon in the game just because of what limited resources you have when you start it. I don’t remember anything else taking this much preparation.

Speaking of preparation, I’ll have the marriage poll options and such up once we’re done with Carmite, if everything goes on schedule.



Anyway, hey! They grew!




Our days of watering have paid off.



...Cost 60? That, uh, that’s not great. Of course, these are only Level 1. Maybe we’ll be able to enhance our output someday.



Well, might as well ship all of these. There are certainly reasons to keep crops, eating, cooking, etc., but for now I’d just like the money.



Oh, and that blue thing?



That’s a Rune. You touch it, you get RP back. It’s handy, but much more important in caves. Doesn’t really matter out here.



Well, back to the ol’ grind.



Just wanted to point out that killing even one of these enemies dents my RP meter. It’s a huge bottleneck in this first dungeon.



Then you mix in the watering, and...yeah. Carmite’s rough. We’ll be working on ways to mitigate it, though.



The right side of the cave doesn’t seem to have much but these rocks for now.



But to the north...more monsters!



And, uh, Lev U. These spin and it’s...not the easiest screencap. Oops.



More fields! Donnel scarfs down this bamboo root to celebrate. It does little to nothing.



More importantly, wood. I want a monster hut ASAP because I really like taming monsters in this game. It’s just fun.



Now to till Every Square Here.

There’s a reason here.






We’re well on our way to that first hut. Well, Wood-wise, anyway. The 20G is a bit embarrassing.



Welp, all done. Time for a victory popcorn and continuing on.



The popcorn is not very effective. That little apple means we’re full, and can’t eat again until it’s gone. That’s just to prevent you from tanking every boss by shoving 20 apples down your throat.



There’s a nice little crossroads here next to the water, in case you want to plant in this field, you don’t have to run all the way back to the bridge area.



There’s a path over here covered in purple. If you touch it, you get poisoned. Don’t touch it.



The other path has...Ivan.





Has Ivan tilled enough squares for this cave? He doesn’t even live here.

: It’s a radar device!



I’m not sure if this is a typo or Donnel is just dumb.



Holy shit, Ivan’s like the Iron Man of this universe.

: You mean those things the monsters come out from?

: That’s right. If you use this, it’ll make a sound to notify you how many of those devices are on each level. Equip it with the B button, and press the L+B buttons to set the radar. Then press the B button to hear the signal. The number of beeps indicates the number of devices on that level.


: That’s amazing!


: Thank you. I designed it myself.

Wait, didn’t Mist say the devices just started showing up? And you made it that fast? Ivan is quickly approaching Mist in suspicious levels.

: That’s got to cost a fortune, though. I don’t have much money.

: For this item, you can pay me for it later. After all, you could really use it now.

: Really? Thanks!

(we will never pay him back)


: Consider it a special gift for a special customer. I’m sure we’ll be doing lots of business in the future!

: I hope so!

: All righty then, good luck!!




This would be cool, but...I have a guide, so…



Anyway, continuing on, a new monster! These green guys are...unremarkable. They’re pretty much the melee Orcs, but they have minorly higher stats. They’re Goblins.



Here’s their spawner, and some more rocks!



Another floor? Carmite’s expansive.



And a glowy sigil!



These are handy. Save points, I doubt I have to explain them. Sadly, unlike your bed, these do not restore HP/RP.



In the next room OH FUCK

Bees. These are bees. Now, apparently the game calls them “Hornets”, but this is just a way to conceal BEES.

Bees fuckin’ suck. They’re ranged. They come in pairs. They can poison you. The best way to deal with them is to try and catch both in a sword swing at once and combo them to death. The saving grace is that they have low HP. Well, let’s take them on!



Ah shit.



...I mean, it was nice there was a Save Point there.



This time I minorly healed up by munching an Herb first.



To the south, SHIT.

Ants. I don’t know what it is about this game and bug enemies, but Ants? Also a pain. They heal when they hit you, and can inflict “Seal”. It just means you can’t cast spells. Another reason magic in RF1 is garbage.



This double pronged assault of mandibled monstrosities is too much!



Also I’m bad at this game, time to go.



I had to walk out because Seal blocked Escape. So no orbin’ for me.



Hey there again, Mist.





Please ignore my many bug related injuries, Mist.



I feel like they’re just mocking me now.





Well, 726g isn’t too bad. That’s more than I got for all the Radishes, just, FYI.



It’s time to pay Leo a visit.



Yeah, it would be cool if I could do that.



It would also be cool if I could do that.



Oh thanks.



Leo won’t give you the Hammer until you’ve tilled 50 squares in Carmite, thus all the hoeing earlier.





Time to restore and return.



The bath doesn’t even cure Seal. Seriously, magic is boned in this game.



Well, headed in again, but this time with a new goal in mind.



Well, first grinding off the archers.



These guys are pretty much EXP fountains.



Now then, business. See these rocks?



Fuck these rocks. They have prizes.



I broke every rock on Floor 1 and got 15 pieces of Scrap Iron. It’ll come in quite handy soon.



Rounding out the day with a little fishing, just because.



Donnel is the king of Cherry Salmon.



Oh, hey, the turnips sold! Since it’s past 5:00, Rosetta has sold them for us and EXP Farm has an additional 540 G for me to go blow on popcorn or whatever.



Finally, an entry in this thing.



That was a pretty well rounded adventuring day. Sorry it wasn’t the most exciting update, but this game starts pretty slow. Next time, more Carmite Cave. I promise it won’t be the only thing in this LP.