Part 43: Labyrinth

Labyrinth

Music: Fall


Today is not an important day. It's Sofia's unbirthday! I'll make sure to give her something she hates.


Karina isn't on the same page. Or is on the same page? Does she mean 'loves' in oppositespeak or


Let's see what Monica wants.



What am I gonna do with you? So, there was something that I wanted to ask you.
Yeah, what is it?
Umm...
Yes.
Well...Do you like Shara?
Huh?!
I'm asking you...Do you like my sister?!
Ha ha, w-well...That's hard to answer...
So you hate her?
N-No! I don't hate her!
Then you like her?
Well, that's...
Make it clear! You're a man, aren't you?!
H-Hmmmm...
I'd be a little sad if you liked Shara. Because I...
Monica...
But! I'd be even more sad if you liked someone other than my sister. *sniffle*...
I'm sorry to make you cry.
I'm not crying...
Sorry.
You don't like her?
I have feelings. But I'm not sure if that feeling is love, yet.
Well, don't come crying if someone takes Shara while you're wasting your time...

It's okay Monica, this game doesn't have a rival system.

Take...? Where did you hear that?
Don't worry, I'll marry you if Shara rejects you.
Ha ha...Thanks.
You're welcome!


Requests like this are literally just speedbumps on the way to marry someone. In Shara's case, you have to complete her questline and some requests from Monica and Wells.



And I recognized it as Blaise's.
Huh...?

That's it. That's the entire conversation. Blaise is truly a man of mystery.





Sofia's birthday present! I give her an offal-studded outfit every year!
I don't even want to know what that looks like. Or smells like, for that matter.

I guess I should give Sofia her valuable birthday present now.



What?
Today is my birthday.


Great. Have one from the pile.



Thanks! I hope you bring me more sometime!



Yeah! A big one! And we gutted it on the spot. It was a big lover snapper!
But then he said my knife wasn't sharp enough, and took off to sharpen it for me.
He must've been going through withdrawal. I guess he just calms down when he's striking iron.
Makes sense.

Gaius continues to be a national treasure.


Pop culture references? In my Rune Factory?



Well, back to business! Take a look around!


Yue doesn't have anything too notable today, so enjoy a weapon description.


Just because, have some shipping stats. I'm not going for 100% completion because I'm not insane, but you can get decently far as long as you're crafting & cooking a lot.

And now, How To Catch A Lover Snapper, in three easy steps:


1)Go to the underground area before the boss in Privera Forest.


2)Run in and out of the area until a fish with a silhouette this size appears.


3)Catch that lover snapper.

This trick works because the lover snapper is in the largest silhouette category, and nothing else that spawns in Privera is. So instead of sitting and fishing all day, you can just reset the screen until the right size fish shows up. Now I can finally finish that stupid Carlos quest.



If you can draw with a hammer, then you know you've become a real artist.
I am not an artist, nor are hammers brushes.




Tomorrow: So close to full-grown charm blues. So damned close.


Let's finish this quest that's been hanging out there since...November? Jesus. (Click the link and head to the end of the update if you need a refresher. tl;dr catch two lover snapper to prove we're good enough for Carmen)



Music: Title Theme

I can't trust a guy who would give up on my sister. But you're not like that.
What? Then--
I know what kind of man you are! You are worthy of my sister! I have nothing more to say. Take care of Carmen.
Carlos...Thank you.
Now, with my sister off my hands, I can focus on picking up some nice ladies! Ha ha ha...


That's it. The only prize is fulfilling a requirement to marry Carmen. The later requests involved in bachelorette questlines are really bad about that.


Speaking of which, let's see what Shara wants. It's never said anywhere, but she's hanging out in the Privera flower field for this.


Rude.



Yes. And so, apparently Wells made Blaise drink wine. And then Blaise--
*Gulp* What happened?



Whaaat?! What happened?!

This is one of my favorite daily dialogue subplots.




Oh no. She might be attacked by an insanely dangerous Wooly.

Link?!



I'm curious about this wooly, too.
I found it like this. It seems hurt. I did some first aid, but I'm still worried. I want to take it home and look after it.
That's a bad idea!
Why?! It's injured and weak! I can't leave it!
It's a wild monster! It could attack you, Shara!
I don't mind. Help me please.
...
Okay.

For the record, this is where the Big Half-Monster Reveal would normally be. The two woolies here were parent and child, and the parent was getting medicine. But since we've done the Big Reveal in the plot already, that little plot thread is just...left unsaid, I guess. Quality!



Monster!
Hush, grandpa. It's hurt.
But...!

Again: It's a Wooly. It's the weakest and least aggressive monster in the game. The horror!

Grandpa!
...Forget it.



By the way...What are you going to do?
I'll keep it here.
I see...Be careful.
I'll help with anything, just let me know.
Thank you very much. I wanted to give this to it...But I wasn't sure.it was okay to give, so I was wondering if you'd like it.
Oh, yes. Thank you.


...why were you going to give a ring to a Wooly?



What do you think? What could be more fun that that?

Her not being a hazard to everyone's health? Her having a basic understanding of medical ethics?

The next several hours happened, but then they didn't happened. You see, I've been religiously saving every few in-game hours, because I want these goddamned plot flowers grown already and am sick of typhoons. One happened at the end of the day, and...


Yeah, fuck that. Luckily I didn't lose more than a few minutes of progress.


This is also around when I dug around my fridge enough to realize I already had a pink cat in storage. Only charm blues left for the bouquet now!



So you think about the opposite words before saying them?
You've got me pegged!
I'm...even more confused now. By the way, Sofia, would you like to go somewhere sometime?





With that out of the way, it's time to see something I keep forgetting to show off: The labyrinth dungeons. Once upon a time you could do these multiplayer, but Nintendo WFC.

Our only dungeon choice right now is Forest Quest, which is rated level 15. Which makes sense, since these dungeons unlock the instant you can turn into a Wooly.

Let's get to it!

Music: Dungeon (Multiplayer)



Welcome to the labyrinth. The entire layout is randomly generated, each room is pulled from a very few setpieces, and ways you can't go are blocked off by convenient obstacles. Simple enough.


The monsters may look familiar, but their levels are scaled to match the dungeon level. Not a big deal now, but important to remember in later labyrinth dungeons.


One big reason to go in here is semi-painless upgrade item farming. None of the rooms in the labyrinth have monster spawners, so you can run through decently fast.


A bigger reason is the item chests. Their contents are similar to Yue's stock - ranging from total garbage to game-changing.


Each level of the labyrinth has a boss monster guarding the way out, in this case the Wooly King. It has the same AI as a regular Wooly, ie. completely harmless.

Before anyone asks: You can't recruit the giant versions of regular monsters.


I could keep exploring, but let's just keep things moving and get out of here.


Beating Forest Quest unlocks Mystery Tree. It's level 30, so it might pose something resembling a challenge. (For comparison, Link is level 36)


Not gonna lie: The scenery here is giving me war flashbacks from RF4. _{Rune Prana: Never again.}


The stuff here's tougher for sure, but not enough to be a real threat.


The layout was also oddly linear.


All in all, this run was pretty boring. No notable loot. The boss was just a goblin captain or something mundane enough I didn't realize it was the boss until the gate appeared.


Noticing a pattern with the levels? I might be able to handle Forest Hunt since my weapons are nuts, but it's getting late and .


I need all my effort for remembering to upgrade farm tools, after all.


No farm is complete without a seasoned hoe.


The Lion waterpot can water three large farm squares at once. I feel so pressured to actually organize my farm plots instead of growing stuff wherever.


Two charm blues means I can finish the bouquet and the next Pia quest!


tl;dr for this one was that Pia messed up the bath, and she sent us to get a Charm Blue while Sakuya had a little chat with her. You know, normal stuff to leave hanging for an in-game week or more.






It wouldn't be right if I made it. You do it, Shara.
What are you saying? There's no way I could make it as pretty as you...
We aren't concerned with appearances here. Just do what comes naturally for you. Go on, give it a try.
Shara, please.
You can do it, Shara!
...Okay. I'll give it a try. Link, can you give me until tomorrow?
Okay. I'll come get the Bouquet tomorrow. I know you can do it, Shara.
Thank you...!

Why does it it take an entire day to make a bouquet? Oh well, it's not like this part of the plot hasn't already dragged on forever.


Rude.


Why are you all starting to comment on this now?


...I have questions, Blaise.


Aaaand walking right back in to finish this quest.


Look, it's not my fault I'm compelled to win so many of them.

What?! What about them?!
Don't worry about it. Her noggin's not exactly working at the moment.


I mean, she's always strange, but...yeah, this is strange even for Pia.

You could describe it like that.
What's going on?



Why are you being so polite?
I...don't know!
Are you...feeling okay?
It's the end of the day as I know it! But I FEEL FINE!
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!



What...was that? That made no sense.



Hey, Sakuya. What did you do to Pia?
Nothing. Actually it's more your fault.
What?
Seems like it'll be me and Pia squaring off.
What are you talking about?
Something that has absolutely nothing to do with you!


Well, that was...something.


Let's go talk to relatively normal people.


Let me tell you about this thing called 'carrot cake'...



He's been in a bad mood lately. And he suddenly said he wanted to invite you to our home. Do you have any idea what it could be?
Well...I suppose I might have an idea.
Oh, then could you come to our house around 8PM to 11PM? I'll cook you up some of my special fish. What do you think?
Okay. I'll be coming hungry then.
Yay. I'm sure Carlos will be happy. Don't be late!


Welp, time to kill time by killing monsters.


Fun fact: The watering can can be weaponized. Somehow.


8PM hits, and we beat Carmen to her own house.


Not that it matters, since she magically teleported in and has been in there long enough to make dinner. Don't think about it too hard.

Wow, smells great.



What's gotten into him?
You know, I've been looking after Carmen forever now.
I see......Munch munch.
She kept wetting the bed back in the day, you know?
W-Wait! Why did you tell him that?! I hate you!!
Huh? What do you mean? It's just the truth. Nothing wrong with that.



He's asleep.
I've never seen him so drunk before. That's so strange. I guess we should call it a night. He's not going to be getting back up.



I'm glad.



He's so silly, getting ahead of himself like that! Ha ha ha ha! Come again, OK? Anytime you want.
Thank you very much.
Well, see you later. (I'm going to hit Carlos.)


The reward is-hey wait, didn't you just go back inside?


Too tired for this shit, try again tomorrow.

Next time: I hope you like plot, because boy howdy do I have plot.

And as a reminder:
Name suggestions will be open until I decide to play some more.