Part 12: Honey For Nothing, Fish For Free

Update 12: Honey For Nothing, Fish For Free

Donnel’s back from unconsciousness, let’s do some more Factorying. I’m still comfortable with taking my sweet time waiting for some crops to grow before I really try to dive into the depths of Toros, but last time we acquired some Monster partners, and I’d like to let them show their stuff.



First, though, Donnel finds religion. I actually came here hoping to start a sidequest, but I got my days wrong, that only happens on Holidays. I think that’s really the only thing that ever happens at the church aside from marriage. Poor Wesley. Let’s drop by Neumann’s, since there are two new items we can snag there.



Uh, what? We had never discussed this, Felicity.

: This is a brush. Press the B button to prepare it and use it to brush the monster. From now on, you should be able to get along with monsters better.

: Thank you very much!



I mean, okay. So, the Brush raises the affection levels of your monsters at the cost of some RP. Affection improves the quality of the products of monsters that make them, and I believe it might also boost combat stats?



You’d be welcome to come with but you’re dying of wizard flu or something.



: It’s a basket. You can use it with monsters that lay eggs or make honey.

: Thank you very much!



We’ve already got a friend who can use this.



Inside PARTS, we have the rare wild Tabatha not standing on a staircase all day.



They really suck, it’s like 1 Defense, don’t even bother, friend.



So uh, here’s why Grazing Grass is also a pain. It costs 600 for the 3x3 square. I don’t remember if it regrows, if it does, that might be worth it, but you still have to water and chop it every day. Again, maybe better planted in caves.



This is what the inside of the hut looks like. Yes, it is, in fact, bigger on the inside.



I fish for the basket we got from Neumann as Kate holds an arrow to Dante’s neck. Don’t do that, Kate.



Oh hey, OhGod just gave us some free honey!




Honey is only accessible this way, and it never improves in quality with Affection. That said, 300G is a decent amount early game, and I believe some recipes later require it, so you’ll definitely want at least one Bee monster on your farm. You can get new honey once every 4 days.



So I’m trying to pet my monsters but uh



It’s not working.



I’m doing something stupid here, see if you can spot it.



Anyway, I think it’s time we headed back to Toros, with a partner in tow.





When you get a monster to join you, you are forcibly Orb’d out of the hut. I imagine this is just to avoid some weird AI bugs or something.



Alright, Kate’s joined our party.



You can check your current companion’s stats on the pause screen. HP, ATK, and Def should be pretty self explanatory. The 4 square grid is, I believe, for elemental attacks, although Kate has none. Friendship is how much Kate likes us (not at all.), and the Ability box shows off any special abilities. Kate can inflict a silence with her bow. Allegedly.



Into the Cave!



Ah fuck wrong button.



Okay, trying again.



Kate, thankfully is smart enough not to step on these poison tiles. She’ll also sit back and snipe from a range, doing fairly little damage, but it does help.



I’m still shitty at fighting the Demons.






Always appreciate more of these.



Just caring for the crops now.



Kate got stuck on a stump.



I wanted to try and show how much damage Kate was doing here but my mad SKILL UPZ got in the way.



While I’m here, I’m going to get some mining minerals. Always useful, that. We’re going to need nicer tools if we want to make a lot of the higher end items.



Still, Scrap Iron shows up, much to my chagrin.



Good shot, Kate.



Now that’s how it’s done.



So, this is the furthest west we’ve gone in the cave. If people would like me to start making some shitty MSPaint maps of these, let me know, although if you’ve read the earlier updates you know the quality to expect. But what’s in here?



AH FUCK A WIZARD



ABORT



So, uh, admittedly that was, again, a wrong button. Thankfully it doesn’t boot you out of the cave. Also check out the description of that spell. The Grand Mage has a great name.



It turns out Escape-ing also doesn’t reset the HP of the spawners, I had it down in one hit and the wizard didn’t even show up. Those guys are called “Little Mages”, and they’re kinda...goat looking dudes? Kinda hard to tell on an early DS game.



Heading North and Kate’s immediately dashing into danger. What’s she after?



Oh fuck. A laser elemental.



So this is a “Shindra”, and it’s hella annoying. They have one attack, a channeled blast of water that goes in a straight line, but it does heavy damage and comes out quick. It can also heal itself. It would be handy if we could turn some of its moves on ourselves….(hinthint i’m almost definitely recruiting a Shindra)



Yikes, 37 Damage from a single blast. That’s about double the damage of a Demon poke.



Luring out the attack and strafing is about the only way to gain any ground on these foes.



One room north we get a nice little iceberg, but I’m more concerned with something else right now.



RETURN OF LITTLE MAGE



I fucked off into the corner and decided to let Kate duel it.



She’s hitting for about 14 on this guy, which is respectable. Still, I never saw him get Sealed, sadly, that would have ruined him.



Kate killed one, but another immediately spawned and this time the tactical retreat was entirely on purpose.



Well, that was a productive trip.



Farewell, Kate. Thanks for your assistance.



I stopped by Leo’s to sell off some stuff, and to check something.



Still staring longingly at this thing.



I would like a better ‘ammer. We could use one to find the Crystals that are useful upgrade materials and gifts for a certain NPC people in the thread seem to like.



I have 3 Iron. Dammit.



Here’s a prime shot of Rosetta looking into my shipping box and being disappointed yet again.



Well, let’s while away the rest of the day with our friend the antisocial specter.



Some things will never change.



I am the most skilled fisherman.



I am so skilled I collapse into Sharron’s model as I faint from exhaustion out of just how skilled I am.



“Also you clipped through someone that was fucked up”



Okay, sure, but Edward…





Wanna buy some fish?




Since it’s a Holiday, Ivan’s in town.



He doesn’t seem to be a fan of small talk.





Ivan’s stock changes each week in a month.



The Shelves will store items for you. This is critical later, but right now, Donnel’s inventory is large enough that I really don’t care about it yet.



As for the table set, I think it’s literally useless. Just decor.



So I bought nothing from Ivan. NOW, though, I can start that sidequest.



To the church!




Tori’s not involved, but we’ve seen so little of her I figured we might as well get some dialog from her.



It’s Neumann we want.




: If I could have done that, Sabrina wouldn’t be so angry!


: Did you anger Sabrina?




What the fuck does this even mean

So, anyway, that kicks off the longest side quest in the game. Also one with a pretty interesting payoff. For the next step, we’ll need to coax Sabrina into giving us some information, but she won’t do it for just anyone.



Alright, now I’m brushing properly. If you didn’t notice before, I was trying to brush these guys with the Friendship Glove earlier, and that doesn’t work. Whoops.



OhGod is going to join me this time.



Interestingly, his stats are flat out better than Kate’s. He can also inflict poison and get crits. Not bad at all.

this goes poorly




Off to Carmite to water the ol’ cucumbers first, and since we’ve seen so many interesting monsters in Toros, I’d like another hut…So I’m going to chop some stumps as well.






Also this orc archer hit me with one arrow, did 1 damage, and Sealed me again. Perhaps Donnel was simply never meant to be a wizard.



Yeah, chopping wood still beats the hell out of my HP/RP. I can’t decide if I want to prioritize upgrading the Axe again, Hammer, or Fishing Rod first.



...Donnel what are you even talking about?



Oh. Yeah, you can’t take monsters into town. We’ll need to go back for OhGod before heading for Toros.



Chatting with Camus outside the bathhouse wields...little information.



Post bath, holy shit it’s Lara outside of the Clinic. This is a day for rare villager sightings.



Alright, cool, Lara.



Okay, so, uh. I walked in here without the sword equipped and backed off to grab it. The satans aggro’d onto OhGod and decimated him. Farewell, insect pal. He’s not permadead or anything, just back at the hut.



Still hate fighting those damn demons. However, I am on a quest for a rather valuable monster, and I must press on, even without my buzzing buddy.



Back in the first room to the west, this breakable rock hides a passage…



Also a Skill Up.



But more to the point, hot damn, look at this field. So much nice shit in here.



I’ll definitely be back, but first, in the top right...a passage to a room with a one of a kind enemy.



Sheep! They’re called “Woollys” in this game.



They just kinda...flop at you. I just went ahead and cleared them out this time, because I’m missing something crucial before I recruit one. A name. Submit your best sheep jokes.



The rest of my HP bar was invested in choppin’



And I think that’s enough for now. I know these are sort of slow, plodding updates, but this is kinda how Rune Factory plays if you don’t rush it. If people would rather I try to speed things up, let me know.



Also we missed Neumann’s birthday.

Marriage Poll is still open, and Now accepting names for Little Mages, and ESPECIALLY Shindras and Woolys

Thanks for reading another of Donnel’s amazing adventures, like “getting a basket”.