Part 6: Fishing Fun

Fishing Fun

Music: Spring


Another day, another round of crops to water.


This cutscene has a very dumb trigger. See, it only shows up when you're going out the door to the mailbox. Except there's no reason to take that door, since you can head downstairs, water your crops, and circle outside to check the mailbox at your leisure(and that's what I do 99% of the time). The good news is that it's not anything important, just a festival reminder.

Link? Are you here?
What is it?
Hee-hee. Tomorrow is the first festival of spring!
Really? Neat!
Yes. It's called the Bean Throwing Festival.
What happens at the Bean Throwing Festival?
Well, everyone gathers in the plaza, then a few people dress up as demons. Then everyone throws beans at them! The people who are dressed as demons compete to see who can get hit by the most beans. Grandpa says you can be one of the demons this year! It's tons of fun!
That sounds...really strange.
Really? I've been going to it for as long as I can remember, so I've never thought about it.
How do I join the festival?
My grandpa will be in the plaza. Just talk to him. He'll tell you all about the rules. And then you can choose whether or not you'd like to participate.
Got it.
Hee-hee. I hope you'll sign up. I think you'd make a great demon!
Uh, thanks...I think.
See you later!


It's really hard to forget about a festival because that's all everyone will be talking about, even without Shara bursting in to remind us.


Time for the last of the tutorial quests.


Now, where'd I put my practice beans...?
You seem pretty eager to win.



Uh...is that really necessary?


Talking to Wells the day before a festival gives you a sneak preview of the rules. This doesn't matter much for this festival, but there are future ones where it's good to prepare ahead of time.

tl;dr: Get hit by beans. Don't get hit by Failed Dishes. Get hit by lots of beans in a row to start a combo and get even more points.



We actually have this festival in my home country, as well. But in our festival, the beans also call forth good fortune. It seems like Sakuya is treating them the same, though.


This corner of the diner is easy to miss, but Rusk hangs out here sometimes.



Hey, did you even READ the bulletin board? I'm your "master" when it comes to fishing now!
Uh...I think I missed that part, actually.
"Missed that part"? Oh, you have much to learn, apprentice. Well, I'll let you off the hook for today! Now, let me teach you basics of fishing! _(sic)
The basics?
Yes, the basics! Are you ready, apprentice?! First, we need to find a fishing spot! You can see shadows where fish are! Not all bodies of water have fish, though! Got it? Now, you'll have to keep this a secret! Guess what?! You can find some fish in the sand! Isn't that amazing?!
What? In the sand?!
Yes, but it's a secret as to where you can find these fish! You'll have to find them yourself!
Wait, can't I get a hint or...
Anyway, let's move on! When you find a fish, press B to cast your line! The fish will come near your lure! Next, the fish will poke at your lure for a bit. However, just be patient!
Then, suddenly, the fish will bite! When it does, push B! PUSH IT! PUSH IT HARD!
Um... A-Are you okay?
*pant pant*...sorry, I got a bit carried away! Well, that's pretty much the basics of fishing!
I think I got it.
Anyway, the better you get at fishing, the more fish you can catch! So keep working at it! Just remember to be patient! Fishing isn't easy to master!
I... I can tell.



Usually, you'd have to buy a fishing rod from Gaius! But you can't start fishing without a fishing rod! You should be thankful you have such a kind master! Anyway, do you have any questions?
Uh, not in particular, no.
Great! Then why don't you go catch something?! How about...1 fish? Yeah, that sounds good...go catch 1 spring fish! Since it's spring now, you can catch them around our store! You can even go to Privera Forest to catch them! Oh! But be careful of the monsters! Well, good luck!
Uh...you mean you want me to catch the fish right now?
That's right! Now hop to it! Off you go!


I just barely missed her punching Link.

I look forward to seeing what you can catch! See ya!
Y-Yeah...see ya.


We actually lost 2 HP from Carmen punching us. Brutal.


It is, but one I never remember to use. It's not very useful once you're past the earlygame resource bottleneck.



Wow, it sounds like you're really into it!
Really into it? Of course! Who WOULDN'T be? If anything, you're not into it enough!


Fishing time.


The squid counts as a fish for the purposes of this quest, but I went back and fished up the trout because I forgot you actually have to give the fish to Carmen.



It looks like you've got what it takes to be a fisherman! Good work! Here's a special treat from your master!
Thank you!
Just keep on practicing! You are now dismissed, apprentice!
Yes, master!
Oh, wait a sec!
Uh...yes?
Have you been looking in your mailbox?
My mailbox?
Yeah! You know, the mailbox next to your front door! As you get to know the people around here better and better, they'll send letters to your mailbox!
Oh, really?
Yep! So be sure to take a look in your mailbox sometime! Someone might be looking for your help, and you wouldn't even know it! So be sure you don't ignore them!
Okay! I'll be sure to look!
Great! Dismissed then, apprentice! This time for real!

We haven't had any mailbox requests yet, but now that they're unlocked, we'll be getting a bunch. You can take one bulletin board and one mailbox quest per day, so this effectively doubles the number of quests I can do.


And our reward was...a sardine. Sure.


While I'm bumming around the Inn/Bathhouse, I stumble upon a reference to RF1! Mei was one of the bachelorettes in that game, and was a fucking pain in the ass to marry because you needed to level up a Lover Snapper using Nintendo WFC(which is impossible now) or local wireless(which involved having a friend who also owned RF1 having 2 DSes and 2 copies of the game).

Also she's apparently immortal or something.

Y-Yes...how do you know who I am?
Calm yourself. I only know of you due to your unusual name.
I-I see...
I am Mei. I have the ability to affect people's memories and change your name. However, I will only change your name if you wish it. Would you like to change it?


Mei's purpose here is to let you rename your character & farm, in case you decided you made a big mistake. But we're not going to do that. She doesn't have affection values or anything so there's no reason to talk to her again, but she does have some interesting dialogue here and there.


Time for some dungeon crawling. This event has another weird trigger; I'm pretty sure it won't happen while you have a request active, which is why I'm getting it even though Link's been to the forest already.

What are you up to?
Wells?
You shouldn't wander into Privera Forest unless you're prepared.
Why? What's in there?
Monsters, of course! If you don't have a weapon with you, you're liable to get walloped! And I hear that troublesome raccoon is hiding in there too. It'd be nice if someone would take care of him.
Wells...


Wouldn't it be easier to call an exterminator? I mean, it's a raccoon. Link doesn't have time for this shit.

Nonsense! You ought to at least be a match for a raccoon. Have a little faith in yourself. The monsters in Privera Forest aren't too tough if you're ready for them. Just don't try exploring any other areas yet.
Other areas?
On the west side of town are entrances to Vale Rive and Sol Terrano Desert. On the east side, you'll find Oddward Valley. The monsters in those places are a lot more dangerous than the ones you'll find in Privera Forest. So you'd better stick to Privera Forest until you've got a lot more experience fighting monsters.
Got it.
I should also tell you about Teleport. You can use Teleport when you need to get home fast. If you're in a dungeon, it'll take you to the entrance. If you're in town, it'll take you straight to the.Sharance Tree. Open the quick equip menu with L and equip the spell to X or Y. It doesn't use any RP, so you can use it any time. Teleport is a special ability. You can't remove it, so you'll always have it with you.

Way ahead of you, Wells.

Sounds useful. I'll try it out.
Oh, and don't you go bringing any monsters back into town! I hate those danged things!



Right. You're not a fan of monsters. Got it.

We're definitely going to be defying him and taming some monsters eventually. But not today.


One thing I haven't shown off yet is giving gifts to villagers. They have some items they like/love and some items they dislike/hate, which raise and lower affection by a little/a lot, respectively. Daria is relatively easy to gift earlygame, since she likes the colored grasses blanketing the fields.


Time for some murder. Pomme Pommes are barely more dangerous than Woolies, since they'll actually attack you but are lousy at it.


Orcs are the first dangerous enemy here, since they attack you aggressively & some flavors come with a ranged attack. Fortunately, the hammer's knockback+stun makes them a lot easier to deal with.


They also drop a variety of things, including our first accessory!


There's not much that uses magic this early on, but it's better than nothing.

After fighting my way through one side of the lake:


Hmm.


But it's getting late and Link's beat to hell, so it's time to call it a day.


Just FYI: I'm going to be gone for a week. I've pre-recorded the next couple updates, so regular updates will resume around April 10th.