Introduction

---The Game---
Rune Factory is a Fantasy, Action RPG spinoff of Bokujou Monogatari (AKA: Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons) by Neverland Co. You can farm and kill things! And you're supposed to, this time.

RF4, in turn, is the culmination of all of the experimentation Neverland did with the admittingly odd genre mix. While the previous games had good ideas but varying execution, RF4 has tightened all of its mechanics into one of the most entertaining, most addicting, and all-around best of any games on the 3DS or games tangentially related to Bokujou Monogatari. They also figured out how to make quirky townsfolk who aren't annoying twats. Mostly. Couldn't figure out how to write a compelling, non-cliche'd anime story or to not have it descend into a ballbuster grindfest by Act 3, but they gave it a whirl.

The story is such:
Our protagonist, ~~Lest~~ Pubert, is an Earthmate on a mysterious mission to the land of Selphia... until he gets smacked in the head with a sword and kicked off an airship. He lands on top of the Divine Dragon, Ventuswill, who decides that he's the prince who was expected to arrive and take over Selphia's farming and people-bossing duties. Having utterly eviscerated any memories he'd had up to that point, Pubert goes along with it. Of course, the real prince shows up, but he loads off all of his duties on Pubert anyway.
Thus Pubert must use his farming prowess to make his little patch of dirt glorious, thereby reinvigorating the country's rune power and... I dunno, recovering his stamina...? All the while he befriends the quirky and colourful townsfolk, beats up innocent wildlife, enslaves chicken and cow monsters with grass, and levels up by doing every single little action possible.
Just in time for the Sechs Empire to cause trouble again, and for monsters to start turning into humans...

---The LP---
This is a straightforward run through the game with viewer interaction: goons gave suggestions for names of monsters or requests to have monsters named after themselves. They also voted on Forte as Pubert's spouse, though voting was withheld until all of the bachelorettes were unlocked.
While not quite a completionist LP, I do complete all 3 acts, Sharance Maze, and the entire request board.
My co-commentator for Parts 1-7 is BigTUnit1, and then Skippy Granola and YamiNoSenshi for Part 8-onward.

See also: LordHippoman's screenshot LP of the first Rune Factory. SSLP's of RF2-4 are active at the time of this LP's archival, so search them out in case they also got archived.

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Shei-kun posted:

In the course of a year, Pubert:

Fell off an airship and lost his goddamn (selective) memories.
Saved four people from horrible fates.
Became a millionaire through his own farming and hunting skills.
Became besties with an entire town.
Became a master blacksmith, craftsman, cook, tailor, and potion maker from not knowing his hands from his own ass.
Defeated an evil empire.
Got a girlfriend.
Grew literal dungeons in his garden.
Proceeded to dominate all the festivals and contests.
Tamed more than one fucking dragon and made them cooperate with one another.
Went to hell and beat up everything in it to find the soul of a veritable deity and give it form again.
Succeeded in giving it form again.

Sweet Googly Jesus Pubert.

EponymousMrYar posted:

'Oh you, you've always been that peculiar stranger from the sky to me.'
'Venti, you never learned my name did you?'
'Of course I did Pubber.'
'Uh...'
'Perry?'
'...'
'Rupert?'
'Venti...'
'OH YEAH! It's Pancakes! Man I can't believe I almost forgot your name there for a second Pancakes.'
'you just named me that because i keep bringing you them for your birthdays'
'I now proclaim you, Pancakes and Forte!'
'oh dragondamn it you changed my legal name on my dragon-damned wedding day didn't you'
'Don't worry my love, I consider Pancakes an egg dish.'
'look what you did venti. look. what. you. did'