Part 35: Love & Colds In the Air

Love & Colds In the Air

Music: Summer


I'm going to be up front with you. I took these screenshots back at the end of August. It's probably for the best I was stalling on advancing the plot, since I don't remember why I took most of the not-quest screenshots. Like these ones of Link harvesting a ton of pumpkins. It's usually not too hard for me to piece together what was going on, but it's not as coherent as it'd otherwise be. Thankfully I'm almost at the end of that backlog.


tl;dr: Hey guys, I remembered magic seeds exist. I might even show them off at one point!


Uhh.

>Everything but winter

A shame. I thought you knew me better than that, comrade.

>Winter

You...remembered?! I'm touched.

Yes. Remembering is definitely what that was.

(Her birthday's Winter 17, so I assume that's why it's her favorite season.)


Since Link is a man of integrity, I decided to have him use his Love Potion on everyone. Normally using it consumes the potion, but I don't care about that thanks to save fuckery.


Spoilers: 90% of these are actually fairly uninteresting variations on generic anime swooning(for the ladies)/"you're a good friend, keep it up!"(for the gentlemen). Since I don't want an entire update of Love Potion shenanigans, I'll keep it to the more interesting reactions.


The potion bumps its victim up an affection level. This is pretty much useless, since you can see how close villagers get to max affection just from talking to them daily for two seasons.


Shit, I think he's on to us.

Link...The effects of this drink are worth researching, but it's potent. So be careful.



What?!


I guess I should give Sakuya a present.


Just don't tell Pia it's not squid.

Thanks! I really like these. I'll be sure to have it with my birthday dinner!



Hmm...I guess that'd be cool if I were on a long hike or something. Maybe.

Corn: For when your society hasn't invented trail mix yet.


Love potion time.

Have I ever told you how handsome you are, Link? All that farming has really made you fit. You're practically chiseled out of stone! You can come by and say hi any time!

Hazel's just a tiny bit thirsty.



What?! What a waste of such a big field!

I think if he saw how little of the field I actually use, he'd go berserk.


Incidentally, the love potion is one of the few things that makes him chill the fuck out for a minute.



What?!
I'm kidding. It's really fun to mess with you.





*glance*
?!

Carlos is the only guy who reacts to the love potion with hearts and blushing. Make of that what you will. ()



Oh...Y-You knew?
I am a doctor. Of course I know about medicine. Now, give it here then. Thank you.

Well, that and Marjorie was the one who gave us this love potion in the first place. That might help a little.



What?! Umm, well. I was thinking about a certain disease.
?

Well, she certainly doesn't need the love potion's help! (Also her response to it is boring)


Incidentally, you can give items to NPCs. Including the love potion. There's no effect or interesting dialogue. But hey, if you really want to waste items, you can!


Normally I wouldn't show me repeating a simple quest, except...


There's actual good stuff this time!


Including this belt, which will be a pretty solid accessory once I upgrade it.


There's also this spell that I might remember to use once.


Time for a real quest.



Well then, let's go.
Where to?
Didn't you read the letter?! To talk of course!
N-No, not that...I meant, where are we going to go?
Oh...Tee-hee, sorry I jumped on you like that.
That's okay.
Well, let's go to your house then. I want to talk to you about something.
Just the two of us...?
Oh...
...
L-Let's just go already! You're embarrassing me!
Y-Yeah, okay.

Apparently our quest is taking us to the Generic Anime Romance dimension, where everyone is forever doomed to act like awkward preteens at the very idea of spending time near their crush. Even if they're actually adults.



...
What is it?

Music: Love


Warning: Incoming monologue.

My dream is to make the Sharance flowers blossom. My grandpa has spent the last 50 years trying to get the Sharance flowers to blossom. I guess having watched him, I started to want the same thing as well.
I've been trying. Watering every day, pruning the branches, making special plant food. At one point, I actually.lived here too.
Oh, is that right?!
I thought it would help me understand.the plants.



I tried everything,.but like Grandpa, I couldn't get anything to work. I almost gave up.
...
I just left the tree alone for a while. Then somebody came to town. He had lost his memories, and didn't know what he was going to do.
Is that...?
That's why I brought him here. Perhaps this person could affect the tree...
If he hadn't come, I might have given up on my dream already. But now I have hope.
Shara...



But you made this tree bigger, Link. I was surprised.
Shara...
And I promised myself...I'm never going to let myself think that way again! I'm going to keep trying with all my might! I'm going to make the Sharance flowers bloom!
Shara!
That's been my dream! I can't just give it up! Link, will you help me?

The player's not given an option here, presumably because any right-minded person would be mashing "NO" at this point. Sure, it's obvious what's going to happen during the plot anyway, but who says we have to do it for Shara's boring sake?

Also it's time for Link to monologue back a bit.

Of course.
You gave me those flower seeds way back. You told me to make them grow strong.
You were forceful...
But I was happy. You gave me a reason to be here. I owe you so much.
Link...
I'll do anything for you! Anything at all!
Tee-hee...Thank you very much...
So I guess something changed after I came.
Well, I don't know. Link, maybe you did something without telling us?
No way!
Are you sure...?
H-Honest!



I wonder what caused it then.
Hmmm...



Since you came, the crops have been better.
Would better crops mean a bigger tree? That would be...
When my grandpa grew crops, the tree was the same size. It must be love!
What?
You must have lots of love for your crops!
...
A love for veggies! That's what made the tree so big!

Easy experiment: Have Rusk live in the tree and see if it shrinks.

Um...Shara...?
Yes! That's brilliant!
Oh, I'm not so...
Well, if that's the case...



Ha ha...
Tee-hee. I hope you grow even better crops from now on.
Okay.
I'll be going now. See you later.



And...



I don't think it's the veggies.



Horray, I can now make a bunch of crops grow slightly faster.


On a completely different note, let's try out this sword magic seed Link got at the start of the game and never used.


It's a ruthless killer.


I have no idea how its damage scales, but I'm assuming it's based off Link's stats and/or level.


Your plant friends are more than happy to follow you across multiple screens, including going into buildings.


To get rid of a magic plant, just pick it up and put it in your pocket like any other item. Once you do that it turns into a Tired (whatever) Seed, and can't be used again until the next day.


I use all that Formula C after I get back home, and am reminded that each one's only good for a single crop. God I got spoiled by QOL improvements in RF4.

In the morning...


This is definitely how corn flakes are made, right? In a frying pan?


Let's see what bullshit Karina's getting up to today.



I want to catch a cold. Right now.
Huh?
Could you give me a cold?
Well...I'm not sure how I could do that.
I need to catch one. There has to be a way.
(I've never seen Karina so serious...) Okay. Let's think...
Yeah. If we put our heads together, I'm sure you can think of something. How are we going to give me a cold?
Hmmm...I guess we should talk to Marjorie about that.
Marjorie...? (Well, as long as it's not Marian.)
What's the matter?
It's nothing. Never mind.


Yes, but why are you friends with her in the first place?



Hmmm...I'm sorry, I can't help you.
You can't?
I can't go out of my way to make someone sick. That would go against my Hippocratic Oath. No ethical, responsible doctor would do something like that!

Talk to Marian then. Got it.



I see...That sounds like a fun experiment!
This already sounds like a bad idea.
I know! We need the opposite of cold medicine! So we'll just make cold medicine, but, you know, do the opposite!
That doesn't sound very scientific...
Good idea, Marian! (What was I thinking? She's actually the perfect person to get me sick!)
?!
Okay! I'll need some ingredients.
No problem. (As long as Link is here.)
Okay. So for the opposite of cold medicine, I'll need...Yellow Grass, Purple Grass, Grape, and Rice. That sounds about right, right? Sure, why not! Oh, and I just need one of each.
So...I'm guessing the one who is going to gather all these ingredients is going to be...?
Thanks, Link.
I guess I didn't need to ask...
I'll make you a super-duper, double extra-strength cold potion!
Hey, she just needs a normal cold. I don't think she needs an extra-strength potion.
Yeah! It'll be the strongest cold potion ever! One mouthful and she'll be knocking on heaven's door!
She's not listening at all...



Uh, no thanks...

The grasses I need are in-season, so no need to buy them. Although they're cheap enough that it wouldn't really matter if I got lazy.


Rice: Check.


Purple grass: Check, after making sure I picked the right one out of the three grasses that are some shade of purple.


Yellow grass: Check.


I'm starting to have second thoughts about this.



Grapes and dead goblins: Check.



Now we just need to find a good place to prepare it.
A place to prepare it?
Yeah! I can't make it here. This is where we make medicine, so I need to make it in some place that's the opposite of here!
And where is that? (I hope it's not far.)
Hm. So we'll need to do things opposite...Do you know how medicine is usually made?

You go to the Pharmacy crafting station, find the apppropriate recipe, and go. Easy!

What?! Umm...
It's made by boiling stuff like grass and roots!
I'm pretty sure it's a little more complicated than that...

Yeah, you need your skill level high enough that you won't fail a bunch while crafting. You also need some medicine breads(or an FAQ) to find out the recipe. Not being Marian also helps.

But we've gotta do the opposite today! So do you know what we're going to do?


D) All of the above?

Nope! We're going to freeze the crushed mixture with snow!
Oh, I see. (Link wasn't even close.)
...
Well, let's get to Vale:Entrance!
But...that's so far... (I guess it's worth it if I can get a cold.)


Link: Master of good life choices.

Music: Vale River




Marian mixes stuff with her syringe revolver for a minute...



More mixing...



Hey! Don't go to sleep in the snow!
I hear a voice, but it's so distant...Sleep...calling me...
Karina?!

...you two know it's, like, three steps back to a non-winter zone, right?



We're cold!
Then why are you waiting there?
Because you told us to!
Really? Oops. Well, whatever. It's not so cold.
Are you kidding?


Here lies Karina, died of being too lazy to move out of the cold.

Music: Home


No, you're not missing anything. The game warps from Vale River to Karina's room.

Hmph. She didn't need to! Falling asleep outside in the snow like that...That would give anyone a cold! Of all the stupid...
Stop yelling...
You're young! A little cold isn't going to kill you!
Yeah...But that doesn't mean you have to yell at me.
Whatever happened to that hardworking little girl I used to know?
I... (It's not your fault, Mom...)
...
...?
Hey, Mom.
What...?
I'm hungry.
*sigh* Fine. I'll go make you something.



Well...I heard it was a big epidemic in the city.
Huh?
Everyone there had it.
...
And, well, I didn't want to miss out on such a big trend.
I see...
*cough cough*!



Link? (Are you...?)
Ugh. I don't feel so hot...
I see...Looks like I've already started the trend here. See? I told you it was cool to have this cold.
...
Hey, by the way, I need to repay you...I'll put some medicine in there for you too. (Feel better.)
...Thanks.
Well, bye then. (Ah, I'm tired...)


And yes, this actually does give Link the Cold status effect(which you normally get from not sleeping several days in a row & slowly eats away at your RP).


Our prize is cold medicine and a bunch of leek seeds(which are a winter crop).


[citation needed]

Vegetables are amazing...Maybe I should try harder to like them.


And now for a small amount of Carlos time.



Carlos, that's over and done with.
To be honest, it's a little complicated for me...because I can tell from the way she acts. You don't need to hide it from me any more. You're close to Carmen, aren't you?
Huh?
You're a good guy. But, I don't know if you're worthy of my sister. That's why I'm giving you this test.
Carlos, I...
Please, let me finish. Just humor me. Catch 2 Lover Snapper. It might sound crazy,. but I want to know what kind of man you are. You'll do it, won't you, bro'? I'm serious here.
(Carlos...)
Okay.
It's a bro's promise then. I'll be waiting.


...and he's going to be waiting a long time, because although I have one Lover Snapper in my fridge, catching a second will take who-knows-how-long. Thankfully they spawn in any season, but they're still a rare fish.


I'll be back.

Next time: I actually start advancing the plot again.