Part 24: tomato
Update 24: tomato
I too wake up in the morning, don a scarf and knit hat in Summer heat, and then proceed to stare at my wall with an oversized axe in hand.
Truly Bush is a most relatable man.
It's a rainy Thursday!
That means it's time for some guest music!
Rune Factory 3 - SummerHave this recording of RF3's summer theme. Rain sounds that may or may not just be recording static included!
it's probably that the rain is built into the soundfont and remains a constantly playing track in most songs so that you could have music and rain without one having to cancel the other out, just using the track volume variable to hide it on normal days, but whatever
We brush our pets for 1 hour each once a day- the defined rules Bush seems to quote if I try to do more brushing.
Luckily, time doesn't move indoors so this doesn't consume our entire day.
(it doesn't take one hour even if you do it outside)
Do note how I didn't say the rain would absolve us of our farming duties today.
The tomatoes have finally bore fruit, and what a massive harvest and time sink it'll be!
BUSH: Gobbs, I'm counting on you!
I go back set Gobbs to help us with harvesting.
BUSH: Maybe I should have Grant harvest crops instead.
It's at this point I need to restate that I never really used monster farming in this game before this LP. Apparently, only one monster can be assigned to any job type, which means that having two harvesters is completely redundant.
Oh well, woulda coulda shoulda, we'll just let our Ant do the job. Gobbs can go and keep doing goblin things.
What are goblin things? I dunno, I'm no goblin.
Mmm... cave strawberries.
Then I remembered that I forgot about Anette. Whoops!
I catch up with her at the clock tower at about 7:25 AM.
ANETTE: It's so hot! I just hate it.
I love the delivery on this line. Just the perfect, far too relatable level of being completely fed up with the heat.
She doesn't end up having anything else of interest to say, so I opt to follow her on the mail route to see if any new dialogue shows up there.
ANETTE: Kanno! You've got mail!
ANETTE: ...
ANETTE: By the way, I've never seen this clock move at all. Does it even work?
nope
But first, a brief detour!
CINNAMON: It's fun when the three of us talk about magic... I think.
Our resident caffiene deprived college student is out of her room early, I guess due to the rain. She's always at this desk on rainy days.
I gave her a fish. I don't know what she does with them, and I don't ask!
The Runeys are growing nicely in the prosperity zones. As a reminder, I'll want to run them to 50/50/50/40+ so that they'll grow to 60/60/60/40+-2 each day. The Water Runeys will mostly serve to run the grass farm, while the others stockpile to eventually make more prosperity regions.
Anyways, back to mail at the Ann.net.
ANETTE: Stella. You got mail! ♪
ANETTE: I feel myslf straightening up unconsciously when I come here. It is the church after all.
ANETTE: Melody, you got mail! ♪
ANETTE: It's a letter from Mei!
Mei is the first girl in the series from the Eastern "not-Japan" setting. An unaging spy looking to gather information on the movements of the Sechs Empire, she had a holiday all to herself as well as the unique marriage requirement of a level 80 Lover Snapper. It's an incredibly rare fish with a normally impossible level, only obtainable through trading.
Despite being over a century old, she's not the oldest bachelorette in the series.
She shows up again at random in RF3's Miyako Inn where she's capable of changing your name, if so desired. Yue from RF2 also shows up there and is much more useful.
ANETTE: Here's your mail, Danny.
ANETTE: A lot of care seems to have been put in that letter. Is it from your little brother?
More hints to the fact that Danny has a large family. Unfortunately, he's too busy having conflicting opinions about the weather and being bad at business to give us the details.
ANETTE: For days with this kind of weather it's... "Milk" time!
At some point I ought to test if giving her the food she mentions is worth any more LP.
ANETTE: Wow, thanks! I love milk.
Doing this now doesn't net me any more LP as I've already gifted her a strawberry earlier, but she does have a different line for it.
MIST: Mermaids are nice. They get to swim around in the ocean all summer long. I wish I were a mermaid, too...
MIST: Oh, but they have to be in the ocean even in winter. How careless of me.
This is the first mention of mermaids in the series, and the first and only one arrives in the following game.
Mermaids in fact, do not have to be in the ocean during winter; however, life still isn't all fun and games for them in a lot of ways.
TURNER: I feel lonely on days like this because I have no one to exchange cooking info with...
TURNER: Don't misunderstand. It's not that I'm sad because I don't get to talk to young girls.
yeah okay whatever
Also Bush is a level 60 cook who does most of his work through pure experimentation, I'm sure he's got at least something to talk about on this.
UZUKI: We have rain today. It is a blessing from the heavens.
The heavens must hate the soundtrack then.
UZUKI: I meet Anette every morning so we often speak to each other.
...But you didn't meet this morning. I was there!
UZUKI: It seems that you are becoming more skilled with the sword.
UZUKI: But I am also training each day so it will be a while until you catch up.
In a normal scenario, I'd say that she'd win anyways because of the range her naginata affords, but the spear moveset is bad in the land of Norad.
Also, Bush uses mostly magic, so, uh...
TSUBUTE: Graaagh!
We'll call it a future draw.
EUNICE: I got this desk from my father. He'd been using it for years before I got it.
EUNICE: It's old, but it's a very nice desk.
I've got some wooden chairs like that.
EUNICE: It feels like there are a lot more bonuses and better service at the bathhouse recently.
EUNICE: I wonder if something good happened to Melody.
I'd say finally being able to start working towards your life's dream is something good.
Also I will not accept the notion that the service could be any better, as that would suggest it was not already perfect to begin with.
ganesha why are you still talking about the green ruins
that's super old news
In lieu of the kids having nothing new to say, I'll just note that Candy and Marco are sorta the last time this character archetype pair shows up in this series.
Ceci and Nicholas in RF1, Cammy and Roy in RF2, then these two. In RF3, it's just Monica by herself, with no counterpart.
ROSETTA: Oh, by the way, I never liked drinking milk.
ROSETTA: I know I shouldn't be picky about food, but I just can't drink it.
I always just disliked the aftertaste, personally.
ROSETTA: When it rains, you don't have to water your fields. You're probably thinking you have it easy, don't you?
yeah kinda
ROSETTA: Right now, I'm thinking of ways to increase the store's revenue.
ROSETTA: Say, Bush. Tell me if you come up with anything.
Sell that snake oil again
please
more INT is just really good please understand
Shock and awe! I don't have a prepared rice ball for Selphy today!
I'll be back in a few minutes.
STELLA: Eunice is good at cooking and cleaning. She certainly is a girl, after all.
um ok
STELLA: It must be hard working as both a nurse and a sister, but Lara is doing really well.
I don't know if anyone in town really needs medical attention that often. I suppose Selphy is enough of a problem patient though.
LARA: Doing research on herbs while speaking with Cinnamon and Melody...
LARA: ...can be much more fun that simply reading medical books alone. Bush, would you like to join?
BUSH: No, thanks...
Aw, c'mon Bush, you're no fun. This'd be a great side event.
BUSH: You wake up so early every day, Lara.
LARA: I suppose so. I have to sweep around the church and also place some flowers so I have to wake early.
LARA: I'm still in training so I have to make myself useful to Sister Stella.
Does Lara wake earlier than Bush?
We may never know.
SELPHY: The other day, I read a book about a magical organism that absorbs Runes.
SELPHY: Legends are usually based on fact.
SELPHY: But I think this Rune-sucking magical creature is way out there.
Same here. There's no way this could ever be relevant.
Nothing new in the manor, so it's off to go do other stuff today.
To start, I opt to put my homestead back into prosperity. It doesn't take many to put it there, and since it never decays. I don't have to manage it.
Up to Whale Island! We've got a new region to explore.
WHALE: "Bush..."
But first, it seems the Whale has something to say to us.
BUSH: Hello, Whale.
WHALE: "May I ask you for a favor?"
BUSH: ...? What is it?
WHALE: "Do you know about the ancient castle built on my back? That is the castle of the ones known to be, 'the closest to the Spirits.'"
WHALE: "I have told you that the power of the Runes from the castle gave rise to my consciousness."
WHALE: "There is one monster that lives in the water tower of the castle. It said that it wanted to live there because it was comfortable so I let it."
WHALE: "But recently, it must have forgotten that it is on my back and has been getting very violent within that area..."
WHALE: "Bush... Would you please go and punish it?"
BUSH: All right.
WHALE: "Thank you, Bush."
Looks like we got a real quest!
Before we do that though, I go to grind that last piece of grass. Also more free Warrior Proofs from the orc that spawns here.
...Aaaand here it is!
I totally didn't use RNG savestates to manipulate this drop after 30 minutes of savestate abuse. That would be crazy- nay, inconcievable!
We also have tomatoes to harvest up here on Whale Island.
Before we head off on adventure, I plant some extra moondrop. We have to keep up our gift supply. We won't have a better gift for Eunice for quite a long time.
Following the zig-zags of the path to the end, we meet the fish firing squad. This singular spawner puts out 4 fish that try to block your way up the staircase forward.
They're no match for the blazing speed of Pony.
We cross the zone transition... and then...
Ah, a cutscene!
We get a scrolling upwards view of this next area. There's a massive vine/tree thing with a spiral ramp up. There's strange, large yellow fruit at the top of the tree, as well a stone bridge breaking off back to the left far up.
That bridge is our next objective.
BUSH: Wow... I've never seen a Rune cluster that big before...
There does, in fact, happen to be a massive rune at the top of this tree. Imagine the RP restoration if we touched it!
Actually, that might be a bad idea. This thing probably powers the whale's flight.
We are immediately met with new enemies before we can consider ascending the tree.
They hit Pony twice for a total of 320 damage and she's back to the barn.
Welcome to Whale Island - Tail Tree!
These are Manticts, and while they're not terribly durable, they hit like a train unlike anything we've seen up to this point. They also just look like giant mantises.
Their moveset has two abilities. The first attack sends wide arc of 5 crescent wind projectiles for about 60 - 80 damage each. The second attack is a double claw attack. It's about 150 damage a hit and pretty fast.
This all being said, we're out of here. Bush is going to end up in the infirmary if I stay here.
SELPHY: Hey! Buy it before you read it!
hey, i'm going to buy one, i just need to figure out which one
The store owners having little lines while shopping is something added to this game, and it gets carried on in to every game following this in the series. It's a small detail, but I always like it.
It takes 83 skill to make V8 for some reason.
I take a peek at some of the books with savestates, but eventually decide on none of them. Of interest is Gourmet Cooking for 5000g, apparently containing recipes for "exotic light meals". We'll mostly want it at some point for the Relax Tealeaves recipe.
It doesn't actually tell you how to prepare the tea though
I didn't know it at the time, but she sells the basic set/stuff you missed on Tuesdays.
I decide to go ahead and spend some time by helping to collect some of the ready tomatoes. I doubt Grant will be able to harvest them all anyways.
Following that, I make some juice to both grind some Cooking skill and extend the value of our tomatoes.
MELODY: I love "Relax Tea." I drink it while I'm in the bath to relax even more.
This is why we'll eventually want the tea.
MIST: When you sing with a loud voice, it feels really good.
A non-sequitur from Mist isn't really even a non-sequitur. It's just kinda the standard.
Anyways...
HARDCORE TOMATO JUICING TIME
I do this for a while, listening to F-Zero in the background.
BUSH: Looks like Grant is harvesting crops right now.
It doesn't look like that to me! He's just hanging out in the barn.
I think it takes a day for it to properly activate or something. I spent a while fiddling with this trying to figure it out.
It takes me two and a half hours to collect the rest of the tomatoes. Here's to hoping Grant gets to work and spares me from most of this soon enough.
Char (23cm) Lv:2 was caught.
Also a bit of fishing. Aside from just keeping up on gifts for Uzuki and Cinnamon, cooked fish are really good at letting me keep up my RP.
More tomato juicing later, and we've hit Cooking 65!
It's late enough to stop by the bar, so I stock up on chocolate and other stuff. I buy a bit of garlic and flour for Peperonico, a pot dish with lifesteal on it.
I forgot to buy the cooking oil though, so whatever. I'll just get it from Danny's tomorrow.
Before we finish this day off, I head on up to Iris.
IRIS: I drew another picture. Would you like to see it?
BUSH: Of course!
IRIS: I drew a flower patch this time. What do you think?
BUSH: ...(A flower patch...? It looks like a Fluffy exploded...)
BUSH: You're very good. I think you've gotten much better, Iris.
IRIS: Really?! I'll be sure to draw many more pictures then!
Alas, the only one who has gotten better here is Bush. In the art of... uh, "encouragement".
I guess Fluffy is supposed to be Wooly.
IRIS: I'm enjoying the flower patch that you grew. I really love flowers.
In my defense, tomato flowers and moondrops don't look all that different.
IRIS: Flowers can grow here regardless of the season.
IRIS: Because of that, you can mix and the match spring and summer flowers in any way you like.
Maybe if I end up endlessly rich/out of things to do, I'll make some flower arrangements.
IRIS: Gelwein is a dear friend of mine.
IRIS: Oh... but I think you're just as important to me, Bush.
Well, this relationship has certainly progressed faster than the other girls. LP wise, she's only just a little bit behind Uzuki though.
Selphy is almost at 5 LP, Mist is a little bit over 4 LP, and Melody just behind.
With that, it's time for sleep!
New day!
It's not raining, so...
Music: Summer...here's the Summer theme!
Seems like Anette's been rushed here early again today. I'll give her a breather while I check the mail first.
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~"Help out with the survey, okay?" - Melody~
Thank you for your continued patronage at Laga Springs! ♪
I am writing to you today because I have a question for you.
How is the temperature of the bath at Laga Springs?
Hot? Cold? Perfect?
I'll be waiting for your reply!♪
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The options are "It is hot," "It is cold," and "It is just right."
The baths are always perfect. I can never complain about a 10g full restore.
My answer should be obvious.
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~"It has been quite a while." - Tart~
It's been quite a while...
So much time has passed since you've moved.
How are you?
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----------------------------
1. You got the wrong person.
2. I am doing well.
----------------------------
You might be wondering who Tart is. In fact, even you're played RF1 you might be wondering who this is.
Tart is the...correct?... name for Torte, the original ellipsis loving, bookish girl of the series. She was the daughter of the inn owner and kinda just hung out in the library. Tart was her name in Japan, and at some point it became the standard, in part thanks to this game's translation differences to it's prequel.
She didn't return for this game because her whole quirk is pretty much handled by Selphy and Cinnamon.
We'll still reply positively to her, otherwise she'll never send us mail again. With my supply of books dwindling, I need mail.
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~"Stars" - $@%&~
Oh, stars in the heavens.
I wish to become a snack shop owner,
so that I may eat snacks all day!
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If you don't recognize this character... that's because we don't know them.
I guess we're getting Mist's weird mail now or something. This is what seeing the Buffamoo Constellation causes.
BUSH: You were being chased around again, Anette?
ANETTE: Yeah... It's so annoying.
ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?
ANETTE: I'll be fine... So... Please... Let... met rest...
Sure, while that happens, I have corn to harvest.
Corn!
Glorious corn! It'll be regrowing every day from now on I believe, and it's worth 150g. 50g more than strawberries, and at the same regrowth period.
MIST: It's so hot every day.
MIST: Oh, right. Even if you give a gift, if it's something they hate, it'll have the reverse effect, so be careful.
MIST: By the way, I hate Pickled Turnips. Vinegar is just too sour for me.
Mist only appreciates the unmarred turnip; great in its natural beauty. The majestic... turnip.
Cave strawberries and cave cucumbers. Unfortunately, nobody pays extra for these likely impossible inventions of Bush's farmer magic.
TABATHA: Miss Bianca seems to be more cheerful than before.
TABATHA: I believe this is all thanks to you, Bush.
Tabatha's got probably the fanciest swimsuit somehow. You can also see her ears now!
Compare what she looks like normally to this and look at the placement of the ears- you'll never forget it.
And now I set off to make more tomato juice.
I do it until I've drained most of my bars and move on to do some chatting.
BIANCA: The weather is very nice. I surely hope it is like this every day.
BIANCA: I hate the heat.
That's all we're getting out of her today, alas. She really does have some good dialogue, but it's slow coming.
I stop by to gift Kross and Selphy, but there's no new dialogue.
EUNICE: You know the monster "Wooly"?
EUNICE: Their fur is like cotton candy and so fluffy.
EUNICE: Oh! I don't mean I want to eat the fur or anything!
GANESHA: I often go drinking with Turner, Stella, and Kanno.
GANESHA: I thought I held my liquor well, but I just can't beat Stella.
GANESHA: Just between you and me, I hear that Rita can drink us all under the table. She is the bar owner after all.
Drinking yourself under the table is one of the few ways to pass the time in Trampoli.
...These people really need to throw more festivals.
DANNY: Hey, Bush.
DANNY: Is it fun working in the fields?
BUSH: It's hard work but I think it's fun.
DANNY: Hm... Maybe I should start a farm or something if I have to go back to my hometown...
Farming in this game is relaxing at best, I'd say. It's not really engaging enough to call it "fun", but it is crucial to the game's innate formula.
But I don't really think this is the time to drop an essay on game design in farming sims or something. I also lack such an essay, and if I keep writing I'll hit the character
DANNY: Thanks!
I buy some turnip seeds as it's extremely more efficient to buy them than make them.
I forget to buy cooking oil though.
LARA: Are you all right? If you're not feeling well, it is best to go to sleep.
No need to worry, but some cooked fish and/or a bath and Bush will be ready for more progress!
KANNO: Hello, Bush.
KANNO: Do you have some time to listen to me?
------------------------
1. Yes.
2. Not now.
------------------------
Why not?
KANNO: Thanks...
KANNO: Cinnamon just loves magic. She helped her parents out with their research many times.
KANNO: But everyone became frantic when Cinnamon made her own original magic. She was considered a prodigy.
KANNO: That's it for today. I'll continue some other time.
Well, we got some backstory info, so that's neat. I'll keep on trying to get his friendship up so we can learn some more.
Back to the farm for now it is.
60 glasses of tomato juice and 27 ears of corn go into the shipping bin for a total of 21450g!
We'll be rolling in this kind of profit every two days from now on.
Oh, hey, unnamed girl.
MYSTERY GIRL: Hello, Bush.
MYSTERY GIRL: This served as temporary housing until the church was built. I can't always use the sleeping bag.
BUSH: Oh... so where is it?
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, Bush. It's right in front of you.
BUSH: Huh...? This?
*Our view focuses on Mist's house*
MYSTERY GIRL: It's only a makeshift place, but this is my home. I will pray here every day while preparing to build the church.
MYSTERY GIRL: You should come visit sometimes, Bush.
Uh, sure. Apparently she lives in Mist's house then. I'd still say it's more than "makeshift".
MYSTERY GIRL: Where is your home, Bush?
BUSH: My home? It's right over there.
MYSTERY GIRL: Oh, so you were my neighbor! I had always wondered who was there. I didn't notice at all!
I'm trying to figure out how I never saw you in the first few weeks, lady.
MYSTERY GIRL: Please come to visit at any time.
Um, sure. I'll do that.
Can I have your name yet?
...No?
CINNAMON: The Kingdom of Norad has a lot of magic laboratories, but researching magic that hurts people should never be done.
A bit out of the blue, Cinnamon, but I suppose this is in reference to the Sechs Empire. This is kinda their wheelhouse, aside from tanks and other assorted magitek that is.
UZUKI: This is the first time I have touched moving waves. Tey are much stronger than I thought.
I already can't remember if we've already seen Uzuki's swimsuit. I'm going to assume we've seen all of them at this point. It's odd not seeing her in the poofy shrine clothing.
I suppose this also means that Uzuki isn't from a seaside part of Not-Japan.
While I'm here, I get some various sea fish. It's mostly Needlefish though. They're not very good food and they don't sell well, so they're mostly gift fodder like the sardines.
Blowfish (52cm) Lv:3 was caught.
This happens to be quite a good catch though. Blowfish are valuable on their own, but even moreso when cut into sashimi.
MELODY: Say, Bush, aren't you going to try to make potions with herbs? It's fun!
Eeeeeeeventually. I'll get a lot of fish together, buy a bunch of herbs, and grind pharmacy to sky high levels at some later point. I'll just turn on some F-Zero and the emulation speed up to 200%.
MELODY: I saw an interesting hot spring in a river once. The water still flowed but you could still take a bath, too.
How fast was the river moving though? I'd presume not that fast, but whitewater rapids bathing spots don't sound out of place when you consider this one is supplied by a sentient, flying, whale-shaped island.
Been a long time since I've heard Melody do her humming. It's really nice!
Refreshed from a bath, Bush tries his hand at preparing extremely poisonous blowfish. It's pretty good food, but I care more about it's value.
Fugu Sashimi Lv:3 was synthesized.
I also make another one. These are worth almost 1000g each.
Some more tomato juice later, Bush is all the way up to 70 cooking!
There is a method for my madness in doing this, I assure you.
Our new total value in the shipping bin for today 27346g, gained from some more tomato juice, some pickles, a lot of monster tears, and some raw fish.
BUSH: Selphy, you're not going to clean up the library?
SELPHY: About that... Hm, what to do...
SELPHY: I've never cleaned anything up before and it's just a huge pain.
This plot thread will resolve... at some point.
But not today!
For now, more ocean fishing...
And time to talk to Iris.
IRIS: It seems I'm a night person so I sleep during the day. I apologize if you happen to come by when I'm in bed.
IRIS: I get so sleepy when I'm under the sun.
I know those sorts of drowsy days.
I head off to the Tail Tree again today, but while I do, here's a quick look at Bush's current stats.
Max HP: 212
(Combat stats with the Hell Branch equipped)
Atk: 98
Def: 133
Mag: 146
Str: 28
Vit: 29
Int: 32
Agl: 29
-Skills-
Weapons: 21
Magic: 27
Farming: 35
Lumber: 30
Hammer: 21
Fish: 18
Cook: 70
Lab: 7
Forging: 22
Crafts 10
Today Bush takes the fight to the Manticts!
...Still, without a higher MAG, the Hell Branch isn't that great.
Our tried and true Earth Wand does us well here.
Through careful application of magic, we get a level up and get fully restored. Really the Earth Wand and the classic Fire Rod are all we need sometimes.
I had to send Pony back though, so progress up the tree won't be easy.
This thing is absolutely littered with portals, but of more important note is this steeper ramp. You can't run up it, but you can sure slide down it later.
The same goes for this one. The enemy unable to reach us here is a Beetle. It's main attacks are a flying charge, and a standing stab with the horn on it's head.
They hurt quite a bit, but they're pretty slow. They're not the danger here.
Say I was to theoretically keep running at this point...
So, you know those giant fruit I mentioned?
They come rolling down and they hurt.
A LOT.
Bush can survive it at max health, but 186 damage is nothing to laugh at. You have to time your ascent up the tree to avoid these, and hide in the small nooks created by the steep ramps.
Shrimp Sashimi Lv:4 was synthesized with expertise!
I instead opt to spend the rest of the night cooking instead. It's a lot safer!
that's some tiny sashimi by the way
I end up sticking about 4500g worth of food into the shipping bin.
I make some yarn...
Then Bush heads to sleep!
This update was all over the place. Will the coming days be more focused?
You'll just have to read the next update!
See you then.