Part 41: Just Eat It

Just Eat It

Music: Festival


It's a festival today, but more importantly, my first golden crop came in! Golden produce has a select few uses, the most important one being Gold Juice. Gold Juice recovers HP and RP by half, boosts Vit by 10 and Int by 28% for the day, and has a base price of a jaw-dropping 41940G. It also requires Gold Turnip+Cabbage+Pumpkin and the rare Emery Flower along with a Gold Potato.


Link prepares for the eating contest by totally on purpose 100% intentionally eating a raw egg.


Evelyn stopped in our house to give us blatantly obvious information.


And Shara's hanging out dispensing low-grade sexism to her sister.


Marjorie is a spoilsport who says the exact same thing for every single festival. It really stands out considering even Sherman(whose daily dialogue tends to cycle through the same 3-4 things while everyone else gets new dialogue every day for a long time) gets unique things to say on festival days.


Blaise is low-key sabotaging our chances of success.


Pia is Pia.



Well, with those two...(It's better to just give up.)
I won't lose...
Huh?





Huh? (Isn't that the opposite?)
Opposite of the opposite...
Ah. (Maybe she hit her head...)

OK, time for the actual festival.


tl;dr: Eat food. Don't eat Failed Dishes. Cooked food is worth more points than fruit. You have to mash B repeatedly to eat, instead of just pressing it once like you normally would.


This isn't a very hard contest, especially once you get in a groove of getting to the cooked dishes first.


The runners up are exactly who you'd expect. And as usual, the prize is a huge stack of cooking bread.


My eating skill is 41, so yes.


Daria is more impressed by our talents.



That would be pretty impressive...


We're really crushing all her hopes and dreams lately, huh?



...I'll win next time.


Either she ate too much, or she's in awe that we out-ate her dad, or both.


If I beat you again, can I have your tiny hat?


I suppose I should respond to this date request that's been sitting in my mailbox for weeks.



I thought I could start giving tours of the town to our customers. So I wanted you to come with me on a practice run.
Oh, I see.



It's nothing to be embarassed about! Oh, well. So, will you do it?
Yes. But where are we going?
Any tourist spot outside of town.
Tourist spot?
Like Privera:Flower Field, Sol Terrano:Star Dunes, Oddward:Rainbow Falls or Vale:Icy Rosebush.
So we just need to go to one of those?
That's right. We should go by two of them at least. So let's go.

Spoilers: We're going to see all four because I said so.



Because there's always a rainbow in the afternoon. And sometimes you can hear "rainbow" being shouted.



RAINBOW!

Did I mention Daria has a RAINBOW! voice clip? Because she does, and it plays here even though you never actually see her.



The weather's so nice, and the falls can change so it's popular with couples.
And it's really quiet.



RAINBOW!



Let's go to the next place.


But first, harvesting the moondrop flower. Getting close to finishing this plot bouquet!



It's traditional to get married here. You either wish for your love to never dry up, like the flowers. Or you wish that your love stays true, whether it dries up or blossoms.


This is barely even a choice. Why even make this interactive?

I like the latter. That's what's important. It's not about anyone else, it's about you. You have to be willing to put it all on the line. You know?

"You have to be willing to put in the work to keep love going through the years" is a surprisingly mature take for an anime video game featuring a rainbow-obsessed elf, a father and daughter who speak in opposites, and a Pia.

Yeah...
Well, anyway. This flower field is really something special. I hope you think so too. We can go back to the inn if you want. There are other spots. Shall we visit those?


Never not extra content.



Did you know?
What?


The goofiest answer must be chosen.

...You don't have a romantic bone in you, do you?
What?
But you know that that wasn't what anyone wanted to hear, right?
Umm, well...
Right?
I-I'm sorry...
Well, anyway...This is the only place you can see the stars like this. Maybe you could invite someone here that you're close to.

Next!



It's so amazing. A plant growing here...
Hey, Link, do you know why this plant is like this? Have you heard before?
What?
This flower and plant, they're not frozen to begin with. See, over there, those aren't frozen.
Oh, you're right.
And you can see dew on the leaf and flowers. After they've grown to a certain point, they take on water to freeze themselves.
What? They do it to themselves?
They make themselves fragile and wait for animals to step on them and break them. The seeds that fall on the ice can't germinate, so they need the flower to be crushed. The reason why they're pretty is to draw attention to themselves so they'll be walked on.



Each of these might look like they're separate. But this flower field is all part of the one flower. It won't break and disappear. The more they're stepped on, the prettier the flower becomes. I think that it's really a strong and pretty flower...
...
Oh, and at night, it's even prettier, you should come see it. That's all for the tour. Let's go back now.



I'm a bit more confident now, so thanks.
You're welcome.
This is for you. Thanks for today. See ya.


The real reward is useless-but-interesting trivia, but I'll take the elemental crystals too.


I'm not bothering showing off all the simple requests I do, because they're boring and repetitive, but this one...



Oh, yes please.
Then this is for you. Please let me know what you thought. Well, then.



...Blaise, this is just juice. It's not even mixed juice.


And here's a neat thing if you try to do Kuruna quests during this bit of the plot.


You can't. Because you're a filthy Hornless traitor.


My fully upgraded new sword's stats compared to my old axe.


Incidentally, the spikes are actually brown and not red. I'm as disappointed as you are.


I happen to learn the ultimate longsword attack while testing it out, and admire the game's refusal to tell me what it actually does.


In the morning I harvest another gold potato, and sickle the third so I can start the hellish process of leveling up golden produce.


More importantly, Sofia.


Poor Gaius, crushing on someone whose only love is bizarre fashion.

Music: Pinch



Calm down!



What's going on?



Why don't you doubt me, Father?!
That's not my line! Just don't do whatever you want, then!
I'll do exactly that!



...

Music: Sadness



She's such a drama queen.



Is this what you wanted, Father?
Of course not! Just leave her be!
I swear! The way you two communicate, it's amazing anything ever gets done! Link, can you find Sofia for me?
What? ME?

Why are you so shocked by this? You've spent the better part of a year being voluntold to do things.

You handle Sofia. I'll take care of Father.
Got it.


Unlike most quests, this one actually involves a bit of detective work and a lot of legwork. Step one is talking to Evelyn for a (admitedly obvious, if you've been paying attention to how Sofia acts) hint. This narrows down our initial search from to wherever Karina or Raven are.



Your words may be correct. But your heart is wrong, Father.
If it's possible for this family to make even less sense than zero, they've accomplished it!


There's Karina with no Sofia around, so let's go straight to Raven.



Do you know where they were going?
Can't say. She told me not to tell.
Oh. That doesn't help me much, then.
Gaius only goes out to mine, and he hates the cold.
At least that gives me something to go on.
...
Uh...thanks!

Raven clarifies this if you talk to her again, but basically Gaius will be in one of the dungeons except for Vale River. But which one is he in? You actually can't just pop in to each one and look for him & Sofia on the minimap - they won't show up there during this quest, even if you're in the right dungeon. And going through each dungeon looking for them takes too long - which one they're in changes every few hours. Thankfully, which dungeon they're in is preset for each time block, so it's just a matter of figuring out where they are when. (Or looking it up on the RF wiki, but where's the fun in that?)

So, let's wander around and talk to people until we figure this out.


Privera Forest around sunset. Got it. But that's a while from now, so let's see if we can figure out where they are without having to stand around all day.


Useless!


So the earliest they'll be at Privera is around 4PM. It's 11AM now, for the record.


Does he not take baths, or...


So he's in Oddward Valley at some point during the morning, and leaves at 1PM.

(Incidentally, he and Sofia teleport from dungeon to dungeon during this. No camping out between dungeons and catching them then.)



...and?
And ignores everything else around her!


Heading towards the treehouse at one? Well, he hates cold so he's not going to Vale, so he must be going to the desert then instead. Sounds like a good time to catch him without waiting around too much.

In the meantime I'll bug more people about where he is.



Customer confidentiality. Hope you understand.
Lemme guess...You actually forgot where he is.
Maybe?
It's okay. I'll ask someone else.


This is basically what Daria already told us!


Wow, way to ignore one of the best characters in town, kid.


Hey! An actual (slightly incorrect) time block!


Enough messing around. Here's the full schedule for this, in case you were curious:


Each of those areas are full of mining rocks, which is probably how you're supposed to know to look there. The one here is that room in the bottom right.


Link, shoo, that's not your side of the text box.

...
I have everything, so.I guess I'll go home. You guys should come.home with me.



Okay, follow me! Uh...wait. So you mean you're NOT coming home, then?
No. Not until Father apologizes to me.
That doesn't seem too likely...



Really? THAT'S your comeback?!
What of it? Anyway! I'm not going home!
Evelyn's worried about you, you know. And Sherman...Well, okay, I can't figure out Sherman. But Evelyn's worried.
I know she is.
But Father stole something really important to me! How can I NOT be so happy?!
Then let's go confront him about it. If he fights with you, that can only mean he loves you very much.
You really...think so? Well...if you say so.
I don't say so. I know so.
So...are you coming?
If you want me to.
Then don't!
Okay, fine. I won't.
You know what I mean!
I do. So, shall we go?
...No!



Music: Love



I'm sorry.
Well, it's not like I was worried, my dear.
You...were?
Sofia, I have something to say as well. Do you still hate me?
Why are you even asking that, Father? Of course not!
Whew. I always hate to see them fight like that.
That was a lot harder to figure out than most family quarrels, too.
And it's all thanks to you.
Oh, I didn't do anything. You convinced Sherman.
Think what you want. Now go to Sofia.
What? But they're...
I said, go to Sofia!
I-If you say so!



No...Thank you, Link. It's your fault we made up!
Heh. Well, it wasn't all me. It takes two to argue...and forgive.
Hmm... Interesting!
Uh...Father? You have a weird look in your eyes.
I have just had an epiphany! A catharsis! An...awakening, if you will.
About what?!
Sofia! You aren't in love with Link! I see it! All has been revealed!
Sherman?!
Father?!
I'm so unglad that the marriage talks fell through! I can't trust my daughter to Link!
Marriage? So Sofia left because...
Yes. Father's been.trying to rush Sofia into marriage.
Evelyn certainly knows all about tact!
But Sofia said that she had someone else in mind.
E-Evelyn?! Shush!
Take good care of her, Link!

Whoa whoa, I still need to advance the plot and do more of the other bachelorette's quests and make a marriage poll and-

So soon?! I can't just rush--
HOLD EVERYTHING!
I can't think about marriage yet, so I didn't make that part up!
Sure you did.
Rrrrggh! Shut up, Evelyn!
Sofia?!



...Okay. I won't.
Sofia?!
That...wasn't opposite-speak.
After all...I hate my sister.
Now THAT was opposite-speak!
I "hate" you too, Sofia!


Un-


I mean, this was honestly pretty simple once you remove the opposite-speak from it.



Somehow, it all makes sense...


And before the update ends, here's a neat thing I don't think I've shown off yet. The top screen of the bath changes throughout the day, ending with the (magically always full) moon at night.