Part 25: Grimoire and Marriage Results

Update 25: Grimoire and Marriage Results

Well, I cleared Mt. Gigant up to the boss last time around, this time we should finish the job.



But first? Ivan.





Ivan has 5 things for sale today, and surprisingly, we can buy and use all of them!

The Cheese, Yarn, Mayonnaise, and Yogurt machines each take an animal material (Milk for Cheese/Yogurt, Wool for Yarn, and eggs for Mayonnaise) and “refine” it into something that sells for more, and will have crafting purposes later.

Seed Maker’s a bit different, but I’ll get to that.



They’re only 1000G each, so I plan on buying them all.



Unfortunately, this is a typo, I AM short on money. Apparently I’m slightly poor right now. Whoops. Flame Saber market will do that to ya. We’ll want an old friend back to make some cash.



And Leo’s got it finished.






Here’s what the Silver Hammer looks like in the inventory screen. I also sold all the excess fish and junk, I should really start storing some things on the shelf.



A quick trip to Mt. Gigant and we can try out this new upgrade on an old favorite.



WE’VE STRUCK IT RICH



There is, in fact, gold in them hills.



And selling the two pieces I got is enough to pay off the rest of the machines from Ivan. Nice.



So, the Seed Maker takes crops you grow and essentially allows you to eternally duplicate the seeds, since each unit of seeds comes out to 9 squares. Handy if you never want to see Jean for too long.

I believe this is also how you get better quality seeds/crops, but don’t quote me on that, my memory is admittedly a little hazy on the farming in this farming based game.



Back home, all our new devices are lined up!

Using them is easy, I just take out an egg and...



There you have it.



420 G, when I think it was about 150 before. Not bad for a literal instant process. Also these items scale with the size of their raw inputs, which means I’ll want to work on that one barn’s happiness soon.





These work the same way. Sadly there is no Honey refiner. Poor OhGod.

Speaking of food, however, the thread has dictated a use for the Ultimate Curry.



A gift, for our beloved friend Jasper.



GO TO HELL JASPER THAT SHIT’S LIKE THE BEST HEALING ITEM IN THE GAME

I can’t believe I hate Jasper now. This is truly the worst update.



Oh, but on a brighter note, completing Emmet’s quest has maxed out his Friendship for us. Again, not that it means anything, but hey.



And so, in protest, Donnel smashed his hammer against Jasper’s floor until he collapsed.





I’m proud of him.

Let’s just do the damn boss.



Mt. Gigant has been repopulated with spawners and enemies, but they’re pretty trivial to just dash around. I could have ridden D-Dog and made this quicker, but I forgot.



Just skipping to the end here.



Well, this looks ominous.



That looks...worse.







: Mist! So the Grimoire is actually a dragon?

: I’m not sure, but that dragon looks hostile.

What dragon doesn’t?

: You’re right. You’d better get back.

: Okay.

That’s about the shortest pre-boss conversation yet.



Meet Grimoire. This dragon is going to be the longest and probably most difficult boss so far. He has about 1000 HP, a mix of melee and magic, and he can hit like a fucking truck.



I almost immediately got slammed by his tail swipe, probably his most common move. It’s got knockback and comes out fairly fast.



There’s also THIS SHIT, which I don’t know the name of, so I’m just going to call it the Wind Arc.



Getting hit by this does about 50 damage to Donnel, and it knocks you down, so when you get up, you can get smacked again. He fires it about 3 times, and because of the spread, it’s nearly impossible to strafe your way around it. The best way to avoid this attack is to pray he doesn’t use it.

Or you could run away and try to slide between the blades, but it’s rough, and you might not have room.



The other melee attack in his arsenal is a lunging bite, it’s got quite a windup, but it can crit and also knocks you on your ass.



The best times to hit Grimoire are right after his lunges. It’s worth noting that a full combo will knock him back, which isn’t as good as it sounds, as he’ll almost immediately follow with a tail swipe to punish you if you try to capitalize on that. Don’t get greedy.

By the way, each hit of the Wind Sword does 10-13 damage here. That’s close to 100 hits to finish him. And each detracts from your HP or RP.

I don’t like this guy.



Here’s a great example of me trying to cast Medicate and him deciding I don’t get to do that today.

He’s weak to Water, but I don’t think Leo even sells a water weapon right now.



My basic strategy was to go for the combo, pull back a bit to avoid the tail, then go back in. It was super aggressive and I paid for it.



His last attack (in this phase) I only saw once, he breathes fire a little in a cone in front of him. It’s pretty non-threatening.



I’m out of RP, so I burned the Recovery Potion. I’m trying to damage race him. We’ll see how that works out.



Because, like all Rune Factory bosses, he turns red and gets angry at 25%.

This makes him much faster, so I can’t really get the full combo out of the sword without eating a tail swipe. That’s a problem.



Here’s Donnel holding a cheese as I desperately try to find a safe spot to eat for some RP to Medicate.



Ah fuck



Oh darn



Okay, got it off that time, just need to hope he doesn’t-



Dammit.



Here’s his last attack, it’s weird. It’s that AOE fire spell, but it covers almost the whole arena, except for a few areas, usually right in front of him. This isn’t that big a deal, unless it cuts off your escape. Like here.



Honestly it kinda feels like he avoids casting this directly on you.



Still, that wasn’t my best showing. Time for try #2.



Just wanted to show off the Flame Saber doing 1 damage per hit. His Fire Resistance is pretty much impenetrable. So Fireball would suck here, but it sucks everywhere.

This time I played it a lot safer, waiting for him to go for the lunge bite before going in for a combo.



I am still cutting it close, it’s cheese time again.



You know, maybe I can eat it over here, near the toasty fire.



With enough perseverance, and a newfound fear of tail swipes…



Grimoire finally goes down.



Ooh. Someone wanted this…





: I’m so relieved!


: So...that was the Grimoire, right?


: I can’t say for sure, but I can see how a dragon might be considered a servant of the gods.

: I can’t argue with you there.

The gods are jerks who love stunlocks.

: In any case, it is just a legend, so no one knows for sure.

: Right.



Oh wow, this is the first time the game just boots you out of a boss arena.

: I think I’ll go back, too.


: Why don’t we go together, then?


: Sure.



Ah, now the place is all nice and cleared up for…



Foreshadowing???









Well, she seems on the level.






And I think that’s a good place to end the update.

BUT HOLD ON!

Marriage Poll Results!

It’s finally time to decide who wins the bloodstained, calloused hand of Donnel.

Lotus was cool enough to provide me with wedding portraits for all the potential brides, so I’ll show them all off here! We’ll go from last to first.

FORBIDDEN CHOICE: MEI


I still don’t get Mei, but I’m super glad I didn’t have to do her dumb sidequest. The headdress thing is cool though.

9th Place: Tori


I don’t think Tori got a single vote. It’s okay, she’s pretty dull. And this way I have to transcribe less ellipsis, so I’m fine with this.

8th/7th Tie: Felicity and Lara



Felicity’s side quest didn’t win her many fans, probably because the magical rock polio is pretty silly at best. Lara just kind of...exists.

6th Place: Tabatha


No, you never see her elf ears. Kinda surprised she didn’t get more votes, I like Tabatha.

5th Place: Rosetta


Don’t worry, we can still do the quest for her LEGENDARY ROCK, we’ll just have a different use for it.

4th Place: Bianca


Bianca’s been kind enough to give us a ton of shit from her basement, at least. But Donnel’s not marrying into money.

3rd Place: Mist


Mist only took 3rd, spitting in the face of that opening cutscene.

2nd Place: Melody


This was close. Melody had a surge of votes towards the end there, despite the huge glitch associated with marrying her. I mean, she dresses like a wizard for no reason, so I get it. Also yes, she does take off the hat.

WINNER: SHARRON

In the end, nobody could overcome the cage Sharron had placed around Donnel’s heart, and her neck. Sometimes you find your true love loitering outside a cave, constantly mumbling about crystals. That’s how it happened for me too.

I won’t show the portrait here since we’ll be seeing it in game eventually.

Thanks to everyone for participating and voting! See you next time.