Part 39: Battlebots

Update 39: Battlebots

Welcome back to Rune Factory. Last time, Donnel entered Kasimir Ruins, and had his passage blocked by a puzzle door. It was dealt with, and then he got his path blocked by ANOTHER door. Let’s see what we can do about that one.



I just wanted to point out that on “rainy” days during the winter, snow will fall instead. It doesn’t do anything special, as far as I know, but it’s a nice touch!




Today Donnel is accompanied by SSX, the Tricky Mush.




Here’s a stat block! Back to the Ruins!




One thing that sucks about this huge hallway is how easily your monsters can get trapped on the geometry, even little guys like SSX here.



The Dark Slimes shouldn’t prove much of a challenge at this point.



Neither did the Gigantus’. So, now that Sharron’s tipped us off about the Golem with the key, we’ll need to find it. Time to get searching.




A rare screenshot of me using a rune, actually obeying the game mechanics.




So, the Golem isn’t in this room...he’s not behind that other locked door...but what about the giant empty room from last time?




No, Donnel. That’s what we call a “good sign”.




Aha! He was hiding in nonexistence until being mentioned by an NPC! Classic monster strategy.







The Golem is...kinda sorta a “miniboss”, because he has no spawner, and he’s got a very slightly high HP pool compared to the rest of the dungeon, but he’s still a chump. He slowly walks around and slowly swings at you.



I fired a sword beam or two and let SSX do most of the work.





: (This just might unlock that door.)



Well, that was easy.




To the second floor! There’s nothing in this room but the water and some farming plots.




I kinda sped through it last time because the update was getting long, but this is the room under those steps. It’s laid out like a big +, the north end has the locked door, the other three have rooms attached.

I’m going to be going clockwise from the east end.




Here we have...a monster spawner.




More Dark Slimes




And some rocks.

Okay, Sharron, I really hate to break it to you, but I’m not seeing what’s got you so into these ruins.




To the south, it’s a Mimic! That looks nothing like the normal chests! What a bad Mimic!




Also these GOLD Mimics! They murdered SSX!

These are the “Packun Box” (black) and “Monster Box” (gold). They have no special attacks, they just kinda hop around and chomp at you. They’re also total pushovers. The Packun Box has slightly better stats.




To the west we have a recolor of our old friend “Beetle”. This is… “Heracros”. No, not that other one. This has one S.



He’s actually quite a pain in the ass, because all of his hits cause Donnel to fall on his ass for a couple of seconds. It’s more an annoyance than a serious concern, but it’s worth watching out for.

That’s all the side rooms clear, time to use the main key.







Uh oh. Right or Left. We’ve got a choice to make.




I just went with right.




Damn, enough with the poison tiles. Anyway, this monster is a “Hell Spider”, and allegedly it can poison you, but I never really found out because these guys are, like their predecessor normal spiders, pretty much just fodder for mashing the sword button.




Seriously, someone really loved those poison tiles in this one. To the north, there’s another room.



Surprise more Hell Spiders and some statues.




Ooh…




Fuck.




The adjoining hallway is pretty neat, I think. Those statues don’t do anything, but they’re only in this area and help it feel more like “Kasimir Ruins” and less like “Kasimir It’s-Just-A-Cave-With-Tiling”.




And now that he’s done appreciating art, Donnel comes across a tiny gap he cannot cross, Misty Bloom Cave memories flood back, and the joy is dead.




Also there’s a damn Fairy up here!

Fairies are the most dangerous enemy in the dungeon, which isn’t too bad because there’s just one. They’ve got that obnoxious Swordstorm attack, and they can cast it pretty rapidly. They can also use Cure to heal themselves, just like Siren.



Still, not too tough. Now then…







Hmm. If you say so.



So, back to the Golem Door, going left this time.




Another Packun Box waits at the end of the hall.




This path just leads to this little divot on the other side. Rather underwhelming.



Not that it’ll stop Donnel from mining.




Ooh, nice, a wind crystal.




But, to get right to the point, we’re still missing a spawner. The key lies across this little poison field. Thankfully Antidote Herbs are as strong as ever.




Behind the poison wall is another hallway.




With a Shindra! No, really, it is just a Shindra. Like, from the second cave? Same stats and everything. Still more dangerous than most of the monsters in here, because it at least has range.

Even the Spawner is tuned for Toros Cave, so I destroyed it in two hits.




It’s also guarding one last chunk of farmland and a save point.




But, more importantly, we can now open the door to the boss room.




Not that I’m going in there yet. Gotta heal up first. Also might be worth it to check and see if any of the townspeople have interesting dialogue.




Oh, Sharron, I caught a...Oh.

It’s not quite the same.




Russel’s feeling pretty...extreme.




Also, it was a Tuesday, so I finished Donnel’s collection of Crafting Books.




Looks like only 3 “Plot Items” remain...we’re nearing endgame here.

Sadly none of the villagers really had anything interesting to say.




This isn’t interesting but Jasper .




Okay, time to confront whatever the heck’s in that room.







Oh no. A larger version of...Golem?

(Actually, the one before is called Mini-Golem, this is the real Golem. I didn’t mention it because man, that’s like spoiling the boss before it shows up.)







So, uh, Sharron’s whole thing is that she’s obsessed with these Ruins because she’s obsessed with Grimoire. I think she’s meant to mention that in her intro speech for this dungeon that didn’t show up. Unfortunately, it turns out she picked the wrong ruins.

I love Donnel’s incompetent ghost wife.


: Sharron, why did you come here? It’s dangerous!


: I’m sorry, I had to get a closer look at these ruins.


: You’re not safe here. Please, stand back.


: O-okay…




Alright, here’s Boss #6, the Golem. 2000 HP, but no Siren dodging gimmick, so he goes down faster than she did. Fairly resistant to most elements, except Wind.




Golem’s most common attack is a fuckin’ rocket fist which already makes him way cooler than Siren. It causes a pretty painful amount of damage and knocks you down.




Golem also tends to fire a few fists in a row, so you aren’t safe after just dodging the first.




His second attack is a blast of missiles from the chimneys on his shoulders. The missiles all fall down around him and cause an AOE of explosions around his legs. The only way to avoid this is really running away from him.




The last move he’s got is to summon two additional fists from nowhere (golem kinda rules) and start chasing you around the room. If you get hit by this, you’ll just take some very minor damage, so it’s not much to worry about. It’s really just a way to force you out of melee range.




One nice perk of Golem’s arena is that it’s huge, so you can duck out to heal if you need to.




Still he loves to knock you down, so that can be a bit annoying.




The fists DO actually come out of Golem’s arms, though, which means that, since he’s so huge, you can sorta position yourself between his arms and avoid damage while you lay in with a combo. This is probably my favorite way to pump damage on him.




Remember to run for the AOE, though. He’ll usually use it right after a fist volley, but there’s an additional tell in that he crouches down first.




Now he’s turned red. When this happens, you have very little time to do damage between the fists and missile drops, and his fists can be pretty lethal.




I took a lot of unnecessary hits in this fight, but it was my first take, and I’m screenshotting, so I’m firmly gonna call that a “good excuse”.




Yeah, there’s really no hitting him mid-AOE. Look at that shit.




Still, he can’t take much more.




And Golem’s thrown his last (rocket-propelled) punch.




...Sharron, I gave you a sword made of its scales.




We already fought it.


: Thank you, Donnel. You really are kind. You know, I think you’re right. I think it really does exist!

There’s a whole update about it.


: Sure it does.

I know this actually does kinda make sense given that wasn’t the real “Grimoire”, but shouldn’t nobody really know that yet?


: Was that golem able to return to its own world?


: Yes. I used a Retornen weapon, so it’s safe.


: That’s a relief. Still, there’s been such an increase in monsters inside these ruins lately.

And now we pivot back to the standard end-cave conversation.


: You mean because of those devices?


: Exactly. Those weren’t here before. And the only people I know who could engineer things like that are…

Golems?


: ...the Sechs Empire!

damn.


: Bingo. The question is, why would they place those around this town?


: I don’t know, but I’m trying my hardest to find out.


: Why are you so intent on doing so, Donnel? You’re not even from this town.


: I wish I could answer that. I don’t even know myself!

If only someone could explain our protagonist’s motivation.




I was wondering where she was.





: Mist? You...you know why?


: Sure! Donnel, despite where you may have lived before, you’re a resident of Kardia now!


: A resident?


: Uh huh! Everyone in town feels that way!


: But...I don’t even know who I am. How can they accept someone they don’t know?

Donnel, nobody in Kardia is really that interesting. I’m enamored with a guy whose two character traits are “i’m rich” and “i like food”.


: You married Sharron and settled down here.

Hey, so this is rad, variable dialogue! I always like this, and with all the script errors RF1 has, I think it’s cool that this managed to sneak in anyway.


: The only thing you’re missing is your past. As to your future, you can make that with Sharron! Isn’t that enough?


: I...I guess so! That makes me feel pretty good!




I love how Sharron’s just like “I’M HERE TOO!”


: Now then, let’s head back to town. To our town!


: Okay!




Well, the dungeons are certainly going down much faster now. Probably not much longer before the end at this point. Hopefully you’ll stick through to the end with me.

I promise I’ll give another monster a dumb name.

speaking of that, names would be nice for: Dark Slime, Gigantus, Packun Box/Monster Box, Heracros, Hell Spider, or Fairy!