Part 27: Hello, Neumann

Update 27: Hello, Neumann

It is time for the beginning of Rune Factory Grinding Season. The Great House Grind is, thankfully, the only one of its kind in the game, but it does require two resources, Wood and Money.



Edward has no more lines. We’ve exhausted his limit for “holy shit you faint a lot”, but it’s just really convenient. I don’t know if that got changed in future RFs, but games like Stardew Valley seem to NOT actively encourage it.




So, the money is easy to come by. Wood’s the hard part, and it’s going to save me a lot of sanity, and you a lot of screenshots, if I upgrade my axe as much as I can.





Balls.




I’ve only got 3 on me. Well, I guess I at least have a mission.



On a side note, our inventory is starting to get cluttered. Buying the Shelf from Ivan would be a good investment, next time I see it available.




But hey, I’ll bet we’ve got new spells to check out!




I have no desire to investigate, but the plot forces me. The entrance to the next cave is one we’ve walked past a thousand times, but I am bound by the linearity.




OKay, SWORDSTORM sounds pretty rad.







Gimme that SWORDSTORM.



Don’t mind me, I’m just at home lamenting my lack of a Shelf. I make poor decisions.



Oh, yeah, I never properly showed this off. You can draw on screenshots you take here. Only one at a time though. You could also send these to friends over Wi-Fi, if you were very bored and did not know what MS Paint was.

Give me a second.



Therreee we go.



“Graffti”



Shaun’s going to accompany me to Clemens this time. Also, I never really noticed, but look how terrified his portrait looks. You’ll be fine, buddy.

(he probably won’t)



Alright, time to get some silver.



So WInd is still way better against the Troll in the opening hallway. Trying to use the Flame Saber on me got me awful damage and a punch to the face.




Shaun did not survive the ant barrage. Oh well, SKILL UP!




The ant bites only do 1 damage to Donnel now, which is kinda nice. They were never a huge threat, but now they’re completely inconsequential.




Now that the mine is cleared out, let’s try out SWORDSTORM



Oh, it’s this thing! Mandragora and Grimoire used it. It’s sort of a shotgun of wind crescents. I guess those are supposed to be swords? It’s wind elemental.



It’s also total shit, 10 damage.



As usual, the strategy of “Just fucking hit it” is more effective.



However, Ignis is a pain in the ass, because if it uses the AOE, you can’t hit it, and it can still snipe at you from inside of there for a few seconds.



The Titan still goes down fast, but oh?




This is new.



Huh, nice. This is an accessory, like the rings. It gives 2 defense (meh) and 2 Dexterity, which I honestly don’t know the effect of, as the game never tells you the effects of any of the stats.

I mean, I guess it can’t hurt.

Okay, I looked it up, apparently it was in the manual (Holy shit how do I still have the MANUAL for this game?) and Dexterity increases dodge and hit chance. For the record, Strength is melee damage, Int is Magic Damage, and Vitality “is a lot like your constitution, the higher your vitality, the better your defense will get”. But there’s a Defense stat, so that one is still a mystery.

Anyway, back to what we were doing.




So many precious gems, but not a Silver in sight.



And here’s where the inventory system finally catches up with me. Since items that are the same, but have different levels, don’t stack… there’s a ton of different slots taken up by Fire Crystals and Rubies.



I can...probably afford to toss this, though.



That’s enough of that for now. Still no Silver. I think our hammer is just too good. I’ve got another plan, though.



Also Mei’s outside. You can find her up here sometimes. Speaking of which…



Sharron has abandoned her post! She goes into the ruins on Wednesdays, and we can’t follow her inside yet.



No, Mist. I have to wait 2 months.



Just take the mayonnaise and get outta here.



Sold everything but the level 1 Fire Crystals, those are for Sharron. I don’t think Level effects how much villagers like your gifts. Melody’s bath isn’t open yet, so for now, shopping trip.




So, let’s try this again.



Holy shit, MR. SHIELD?



THE MR. SHIELD?



DRAGONS CRINGE!

(we can’t do anything with this until the house gets upgraded)



Oh, also, the description for Swordstorm, as is custom. You let me down again, Egam.



I went to Neumann’s to see if I could advance his sidequest, but apparently he’ll only do that at night, he’s just vaguely unhelpful during business hours.



It’s 3:00, bath time.



And I just cut to Toros because you all know the drill. That’s 18 squares of Grazing Grass, actually successfully planted this time!




So, upgrading the can might be a good idea soon, as I have to go one tile at a time right now. Also it only has 12 uses.



With that taken care of, though, let’s get to mining.



Oh, finally. Three more to go.



Huh? The heck is this?



Oh, I totally forgot these were in here. This is Toros Cave’s gemstone. I don’t think Carmite has one.



The room with the Woolie spawner is a fantastic spot to grind for mining stuff in here.



And, eventually, I hit 7 Silver. Nice.



Also, a quick update on the current Wood situation. Little over 15% there. This is going to take a while.



So, it’s late, but I want to unload all this stuff. I was just going to faint and sell it to Edward in the morning, but…



The bar is open late. That...that makes sense. I just totally forgot about it.



45k. Once you get a solid hammer, money is no object in RF1.



Sabrina and Neumann are here too. I wonder if I can…



Oh, he’ll totally talk about this with her right there. Okay.



Get ready for some backstory dump.

: It’s an ancient treasure in Sabrina’s family. Legend has it that if a couple drinks spring water from that chalice on their first anniversary, they’ll be happy for life. But, I don’t know for certain whether that’s true or not. After marrying her, I put everything into making Sabrina happy our first year.



I don’t think this game was proofread. Also if it doesn’t work until your first anniversary, then why would the first year be...never mind.

: Then, the day before our anniversary, I took the chalice out to bar (sic) in the down where I drank all night long.

: What happened?

: I was drinking by myself at first and was getting happily drunk, when a strange girl came in and sat next to me. We both got drunk and ended up drinking from the chalice.

: Hmmm…


: I felt bad about this, and as I was thinking about leaving the bar, in walked Sabrina!




Haha, Sabrina rules.

: The next day she moved out. Maybe that’s why Sabrina moved to this town!

: I see. So where did the chalice go?


: Apparently she threw it away somewhere! I asked her many times, but she never told me.

: So you came to this town because you were worried about Sabrina?


: I was worried about both Sabrina and Nicholas. I wanted to be able to help out if anything happened, so I’m living close by.

: So that’s why you’re living here?

He literally just said that, Donnel.

: Well, I didn’t tell any of the townsfolk yet. But I felt I could tell you, Donnel. You’re a strange one!

Well, let’s see if Sabrina can shed any more light on this.





Welp. Maybe another time.



Still one more thing I have to do tonight. Advance Donnel’s own romantic quest.



Hiya, Sharron.

: She’s always smiling, but that’s the flip side to her true loneliness. Donnel, ask her about it if you like.

This is part of a short sidequest required to marry Melody. What else does Sharron have to say?

: The people of this town are very kind, but that can be a burden at times.




Uh. I think she might actually be undead.

: It’s rare to meet in a place like this.

This is your room.

Anyway, gift time.




Note that she does take the whole stack. I’m not sure if that effects LP any more than usual, but if you want to play it safe, separate them first.



I completed our romantic evening by passing out on her floor. Donnel’s almost as much of a charmer as Neumann.

Next time more side stuff and wood grinding.