Part 12: Nowhere Near Fin-ished
Update 12: Nowhere Near Fin-ished
Music: Whale Island EntranceRepeating the theme of the last two updates, we begin again as we head into a dungeon!
Music: Whale Island Cave
Heading to check the southern farm field by the entrance, I see a few colored grasses have grown.
Purple grass doesn't belong to the Spring season, a benefit of Whale Island having all seasons. It's not very useful right now anyways, but it'll eventually get used.
Maybe. I honestly forget which medicine recipes use it.
As I progress through the cave I'll be clearing out some monsters to grab a level or two, but fighting's not really my main focus here, progress is.
Making progress here should be easier than Green Ruins, and now that I've got moondrop seeds available, there's something up here I need to do with them as quickly as possible.
North of the entrance is another small farm field, but it's not near any water source so it's hardly worth the time it takes to get to it.
A few more spawners banished, and I come across some mineral rocks.
The charge attack does way more damage than is necessary to these things and only serves to potentially increase the level of the resulting metals.
I only get one iron from this, but it's not a complete waste of time. Scrap iron isn't as useless as it immediately seems, it's just that using it right now is beyond our ability. A majority of the weapons and some tools in the game have a recipe to mix it with scrap iron, resulting in the same item, but giving you a chance to boost the resulting item's level.
Higher level means more damage and less RP used per swing, so it's a good deal, it just requires a larger forge than we have now.
Another field, spawner, and some more rocks later, I finally make it back to where we met Melody. It's only taken me over a week to come back here.
To the southwest from here is where we go to continue our adventure.
These giant puddles of purple goop are poisonous. So we don't step in them.
They've appeared in previous games, but like in RF1, bothering to clean them up is pointless most of the time as they'll respawn later.
Neutralizer, the agent used to do this isn't that expensive, but we need it for other stuff.
Found here swinging it's mace wildly is the pig-like Orc. In this game all they do is face you and then slowly move forward while flailing their weapon about until they get dizzy.
They're hardly a threat, and the only thing worth noting is that, like other humanoid monsters, taming them feels a bit weird.
This one dropped a Mark of Warrior. They largely drop the same things as Goblins.
Not too far to the west of them is a spawner with Orc Archers. They're orcs, but with a bow.
On some level, they're more advanced than the people of this world as they figured out the art of archery. Noradians just don't have ranged weapons.
In-world, in what I guess is about 25 years later in Rune Factory 4, the Elven Harp ends up being a thing, even if calling it a ranged weapon is a bit strong.
As we run southwards past more orcs, we hit a cutscene.
In which a tiny, purple, grass-covered elephant approaches us. It also sounds kinda like a cat or something.
BUSH: Is this monster... lost?
BUSH: It doesn't seem to be hostile...
It then walks a circle around us before wandering off.
BUSH: There it goes. I wonder what was with that monster.
After this, we regain control, but the nearby spawner puts out a small army of orcs, so I just move on past the waterfall.
There's a very large field down there, yet as it takes so long to reach, it's hardly worth it.
Also there's this strange pedestal that Bush instinctively knows Rune Stones can be fit into. It opens up that nearby door, which I think just has a chest behind it with some slightly better than average loot.
The 10 runeys it costs to open it probably isn't worth it, but I'll investigate it sometime when I remember to.
As we head south... there's light and grass?
Music: Whale Island Outside(Been a while, but it's finally a new track! I really quite like this one, it's got the right level of unusual to it for the kind of place we've found ourself in. It's ethereal, but with a bit of action to it.)
Surrounded by walls absolutely covered in vines, broken marble pillars and overgrown tile, it's already apparent there's more to Whale Island than it's relatively boring cave would suggest.
Welcome to the Whale Island Fin!
There's even some summer grass up here at this small field. Blue grass has it's uses, although I also forgot which recipes it's used in.
At least there's still a good amount of grasses that Melody likes. Once Spring is over, finding those won't be as easy.
Just south from the field is a Wooly spawner! These bipedal, floppy eared sheep were first seen in Anette's introduction, but now we've finally met them in the wild. They have only one attack in this game, and that is to fall onto their back attempting a dropkick. It hurts when it connects, but it's range is so short it's easily avoided.
They're useful for the fact they're the only monster to give you wool. At least one of these is a must, though we may end up wanting more.
They also kinda sound weird, but that's just me.
Down the stairs some more, we encounter a Buffamoo, or Peekamoo as they've been called in some games. They're kinda like buffalo, but spotted like Jersey cows. Maybe kinda like an auroch?
They predictably attack with a charge like a bull. Also predictably, they're the only source of milk.
There's a lot of them up here, in fact. This spawner puts out 3 well placed to charge you down.
As it's getting late, I ignore them and follow the stairs down even more and hit another cutscene.
We get a nice view of this intact tower and the rest of the zone. It also lets you see how this really is one of the fins of the whale.
*Watering can noises*
And only now does Bush notice this girl in bright white clothing watering some yellow flowers.
BUSH: ...Um.
However, she walks off before Bush can introduce himself or do something that would make him need to apologize.
Into the tower she vanishes.
There does seem to be a lot of light here for almost 9:00 at night, seems like the moonlight is really strong here.
This little untouched 3x3 farm plot is important, and the reason why I needed those moondrop seeds. Unfortunately, I'll have to go buy some now as I planted them in my field last update.
We're also a good distance above the clouds- it's hard to really see from the island's entrance, but you can see it on the fin very well.
There's always a chest on this little bit of the fin, so I grab its contents and get ready to warp back.
But before I do, let's check out the last path available to us. Up here are spawners for Silver Wolves. The first monster we can ride, and the first monster that is insanely out of our depth.
Their only attack is a lunging bite, but it comes out pretty fast and these doggies move real fast as well. The only saving grace here is that they get stuck on terrain easy, and they have to reposition before they can lunge again.
Our sword hits for 1 damage. 1 damage.
And they hit for 99 in return. If I wasn't wearing that stuff from Rosetta's shop, this would have been an instant KO.
The Woolies and Buffamoos aren't that bad, they're fightable at this level. The wolves absolutely are not.
I've got a solution to this, however; Bush won't be stonewalled by these wolves for too long.
Music: Snowstyle Tavern
Stella offers sermons everywhere.
STELLA: Uzuki made me a handmade charm the other day.
STELLA: It seems weird to have a god of another country protect me, but I think it feels quite nice too.
Kanno's also here, also still asking for cheap cloth.
Luckily, I picked one up off the orcs inside Whale Island Cave.
KANNO: What is this?
BUSH: What is it? You're the one that told me to get it...
KANNO: *cough cough* My chronic illness...
It's still unspecified whether or not Kanno's actually got something or he's just messing with us. It seems a lot like the latter, but you never know.
KANNO: Setting that aside, it seems that you have brought me the "Cheap Cloth."
KANNO: I shall give you this as a reward.
You got Fire Rod!
BUSH: What is this?
KANNO: It's a magical staff. With this, even those who have no talent in the ways of magic can cast spells.
KANNO: Of course, you will never compare to real wizards like myself and Cinnamon.
BUSH: Thank you very much.
KANNO: No need to thank me. It is my utmost pleasure to watch my student grow and mature. Hohoho.
This game tries to partially retcon magic from what I can tell, given that every other region in Norad just has magic books. Even Bush is able to learn spells from them in the first game, but given how bad they were, maybe he really does just lack talent.
Regardless of talent or not, magic is rather overpowered in this game. The Fire Rod in particular is just kinda busted, but in my experience the other magic rods will not disappoint us either.
TURNER: How about a drink? A drink after a hard day's work is great!
RITA: What are you talking about? You drink even when you don't work.
Turner's thing is that he likes drinking, if you haven't noticed.
That said, I wonder why we never see Nolan in here.
GANESHA: Oh, stop it.
Hahaha... That's great!These two are really smashed tonight. Turner's voice line says "Isn't that a hoot" instead, and I wish they would've went with that one.
Since I'm here, I go ahead and buy 4 more boxes of rice. These must be tiny boxes, or the rice balls Bush makes are huge.
And since it's so late already, I head up to the observatory and set the emulation speed to 200% for a while.
By about 1:20 AM...
You found the Crown Constellation!
BUSH: It's a crown so there are lots of big stars included in it.
...And that's it. No crazy turnip meteor shows up or anything like last time- this constellation is just a normal one. It does correspond to Selphy though.
After warping back home, Bush prepares some more food for tomorrow and hits the hay.
Well, the bed. I still don't have any hay growing presently.
Music: TrampoliNext morning opens with trying to clean my inventory up some. Your inventory is decently spacious, but without a fridge right now, I'm left to carry a lot of unnecessary stuff on me.
I forge a Spear at the forge using one of the Thin Sticks we've found alongside some iron.
In my opinion, Spears really aren't that good in this game as you can't use it's charge attack to clip through enemies like RF1, and there's no Rune Abilities like RF2. They're kinda slow as well, and the range isn't nearly as helpful as you'd think.
Day 16 is another day without Anette, as she doesn't seem to show up on days where you wake up at an unusual time.
All the Anette fans have my apologies. Also, I forgot to mention that since we were awake up to 1 AM for the constellation, we woke up 2 hours later than usual, starting this day at 8:00 AM.
I get all the farming done in about 2 hours as well, so I head off to collect incidental dialogue like usual.
Mist today only requests us to grow more turnips, which we're already doing.
Next on our daily trips is Cinnamon.
CINNAMON: Did you find the Crown Constellation.
BUSH: Yes, it was beautiful.
CINNAMON: There is a legend about a king who set his crown in the heavens to honor his late queen.
BUSH: Oh... That sounds like a beautiful story.
CINNAMON: ...Yes.
CINNAMON: You can see the "Serpent Constellation" right now.
BUSH: A serpent? That constellation sounds interesting.
CINNAMON: ...Not exactly. In some regions serpents are said to control the weather.
BUSH: Oh really? That's the first time I've heard of that.
CINNAMON: You can see the "Serpent Constellation" a bit late at night... Try to stay awake.
Lots of constellation talk today. She might not think the Serpent constellation is interesting, but I'd say it is. You'll see what I mean when we do trigger it.
I check the Runeys while we're here, and it seems that Grass Farm I made last time is doing alright. I'll be honest and admit I won't be incredibly vigilant about properly pulling out Grass and restocking with Water, but I'm not going to entirely waste it.
STELLA: This church is getting really old. I suppose we should start restoring it soon.
I can't see anything wrong with it myself, but honestly, just put Kross on the job. Knowing him, it'll take about 4 seconds.
LARA: Money is necessary to live, but obtaining more than necessary will only cloud your heart. Please don't be too attached to money, Bush.
Lara's advice on my constant gifting is this, which boils down to "keep doing it" I guess. And believe me, I'm not attached to my money in this game, I've always got something to spend it on.
Although we just went through a big moneymaking section with getting the crafting stations, there's always going to be something else we need to work towards. Right now, it's the house expansion for the Forge. The base level stations only allow us to work with 2 materials at a time, and that's going to be incredibly limiting as soon as we beat the Green Ruins.
In the library, we find that Selphy is trying to usurp Cinnamon's niche even more.
SELPHY: I got a new book! It's called the "Book of Constellations." It's about myths and legends associated with the stars.
SELPHY: I love myths so this is a must-read. I'll keep it on the shelf so read it whenever you want.
SELPHY: Summer is said to be the season for encounters. I wonder what kind of book I'll find this year.
Um, Selphy, I hate to break it to you, but we're only halfway through Spring.
SELPHY: I have a ton of books I want and not enough bookshelves. I also need book covers...
SELPHY: I just don't have enough money!
SELPHY: That's why I need to sell some books. Please buy some!
Part of Selphy's thing is that she's constantly broke despite her snazzy attire.
The pursuit of KNOWLEDGE is a taxing one indeed.
BUSH: What do you like, Selphy?
SELPHY: Books! Don't ask me such a silly question.
BUSH: I meant what kind of food do you like.
SELPHY: Oh, then you should have mentioned that beforehand.
You do have to specify these things, Bush.
SELPHY: I like... Hm, there's nothing in particular. There are times that I even forget to eat.
SELPHY: Oh! I like sandwiches and rice balls. Things that I can eat with only one hand.
No, it's not because she likes the taste, it's just because she can eat and read at the same time.
I opt to do her a favor and buy the books on medicine and accessories, completing our baseline collection for crafting.
~Happy Farm: Part 2~
"As you probably know, different crops grow during different seasons. However, do you know what happens to crops grown in the wrong season?"
"Simple. They wither. No matter how young the crop is, it will wither once the season changes, so be careful when you sow seeds. Also, you can't farm during winter."
"Always remember to love your farm and thank the earth and Runes. As long as you do, your crops will respond to your heart! May your farm prosper!"
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And now it's time to use our almighty tiller-
Right, too much Bob Ross. Regardless, that was our book of the day.
ROSETTA: Oh, yeah! You know those Moondrop Flowers? I heard that they become very beautiful when they're grown in a place with a lot of moonlight.
ROSETTA: Why don't your try growing some if you find a place like that? Of course, the seeds are available at theis very store.
*She does a little excited motion. I don't really know what else to call it.*
BUSH: Ahaha. Rosetta, you're quite the sales person, as always.
ROSETTA: But I wonder where that place is... Does it mean that it's a very high place since it's closer to the mooon?
So, here's your hint on what to do with that farm plot outside the tower on Whale Island's Fin. They take some time to grow, so it'll be a bit before we actually get to see what it does. That last line is something I spliced in from her other dialogue on the matter that acts as an extra hint. Felt like the better way of handling it.
It'll be even longer as another Holiday is coming up soon, so we'll miss out on a day of watering it.
ROSETTA: Decorating the store with a vase is probably overdoing it. We're a general store after all.
Unfortunately, my buying of those crafting books means I'm running a bit short for even the moondrop seeds.
I'll see if I can do anything about it later today, but I think this means I've got to wait until tomorrow to get them.
UZUKI: Do not come close or you may get hurt, Bush!
Outside, Uzuki is still practicing, as always.
BUSH: The weapon you have has a very strange shape, Uzuki.
UZUKI: Yes. This is called a 'Naginata' and is a weapon from my country that even women can use deftly.
UZUKI: I used to be sickly when I was young, but after training with the naginata, I became better little by little.
Well, there's a bit of early backstory for you.
RITA: This is a really scenic place. I was born in the city, but I like places like this because you can take it easy.
You say this, Rita, but I've never seen you outside of a building.
KROSS: This is a peaceful day, very fitting for Spring. I want to just forget everything and sleep just for today...
KROSS: When I see the flowers scatter, it reminds me of my old friends... I thought we would always be together. But now they're all gone...
BUSH: Did everyone move to the big city when they grew up?
KROSS: Heh... Something like that. Everyone became free.
I think we've already seen the latter part there, but I included it anyways.
After that, I stop by Erik's and grab a bunch of fodder seeds. They'll be good to have, and I'll have more money come in through shipping out some more food tonight.
At this point, I went around pruning the Water Runey population a bit. Admittedly, the next few updates were done before I'd fully researched everything about how Runeys work, and was running with an out of date guide on the subject.
Back home, we get an eye-opening letter that I can't say wasn't entirely unexpected:
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~My shop is in serious trouble! - Danny~
"Man, I'm in a pickle.
At this rate, my shop's gonna have to close down.
You don't want that do you?
Help me, please??"
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Unfortunately, there are no options for telling him to get some new stock. Just telling him to reduce his prices or that we can't help. I opt for the former as it's at least trying to be helpful.
Regardless, the vicious maw of Capitalism, brought about by Rosetta is doing him in, it seems.
On less economic topics, Mist got back to us regarding sleeping on the dirt.
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~I'm glad. - Mist~
"Bush, you must like napping, too.
Who doesn't? I mean it's so nice, isn't it?
The thing is, when Ms. Lara sees you doing that, she'll get mad.
'You'll' catch a cold!' I think is what she said."
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Bush can confirm all of these statements.
I do a bit more work on the farm, manage the Grass Farm a bit, until it hits bathhouse time.
BUSH: Melody, you run a bathhouse, but why do you dress like a wizard?
MELODY: Oh, this? Well, I actually wanted to become a wizard. I really like this outfit. I have a lot of them with the same design.
Well, that answers a few questions.
At this point, Melody's also starting humming like Mist was. Looking at our relationship list, it seems like this triggers at 1 LP.
Although it doesn't really matter, our present relations for the bachelorettes is as follows, in order from highest to lowest:
MIST: Almost 2 FP, 2 LP
SELPHY: 1 FP, 1.5 LP
MELODY: Almost 2 FP, 1 LP
ROSETTA: 1.5 FP, Almost 1 LP
CINNAMON: 1 FP, Almost 1 LP
ANETTE: 0.75 FP, 0.6 LP
LARA: 1 FP, 0.5 LP
UZUKI: Almost 1 FP, 0.35 LP
EUNICE: Almost 1 FP, 0.2 LP
We've known Uzuki for 2 days, and she's already doing better than Eunice.
Nothing new is up with Nolan, so it's back to the farm to cut lumber.
I start working on planting some of that fodder, and then as it gets late, I head in for some crafting.
The accessory crafting table happens to be just to the south of the forge, it just kinda blends in with the environment.
I go ahead and make some Iron Bracelets, which are just pretty much metal plating on the outside of our gloves.
It's a neat detail that all of Bush's equipment does show up on his model, but it does get kind of ridiculous sometimes.
The pharmacy on the other hand isn't hard to find, it's the materials that are hard to find. After how good the skill was in RF2, I think they went out of their way to nerf it pretty hard in this game.
A basic recovery potion only restores 35 of our health, and requires us to make both an Antidote Herb and a Para-gone. This in total requires 1 Yellow Grass, 1 Orange Grass, 1 Blue Grass, 1 Purple Grass, and a Medicinal Herb. To get a better potion, you need 30 skill and two of the basic potions for a heal of 105 HP.
The previous two games made getting those as easy as a few medicinal herbs that you could even buy from the clinic. This game's clinic barely offers any useful grass types, so for out of season grass, you'll have to scavenge dungeons.
They did buff food by quite a lot though, so I guess I can't complain too much.
Since it's late enough, I stop by the bar and stock up on more rice so I can forget about it for a while...
Catch some more sashimi fish...
Found Serpent Constellation!
And wait out the Serpent Constellation. It shows up at 9:00 PM.
BUSH: I see... It does look like a serpent.
And that's it! The constellation doesn't do something immediately, but we'll get it's effect tomorrow.
Tomorrow will have to wait until next update!