Part 27: Mercantile Mercy

Update 27: Mercantile Mercy

New update! New day for Bush (Farmer)!

Guess the weather, I dare you.



yeah its raining again

i know right


Music: Rune Factory 2 - Summer


Have some more guest music! This is RF2's oddly sort of chiptune summer track. The only thing more unusual than it is the arrangement present on the soundtrack release, which is barely a minute long and is mostly remixed with actual game sounds.

It's something else.

Music: Dark Cloud 2 - Peace Of The World


We've also got another guest track, as per thread recommendation! This one's pretty good, I'd recommend a listen.



We have over 30 tea leaves in the fridge. Neat.




ANETTE: Ghosts are the prime topic among the girls in the village right now.


ANETTE: I always wake up early in the morning so I never get to see the "haunting hour". I feel like I'm missing out or something.


This'll be a random conversation topic for a while that just kinda starts up sometime in Summer. I don't remember when the spooky ghost sightings end though.

I only played this game up to somewhere around Summer 20th originally, so we'll be hitting that new content soon enough.


-----------------------------------------------------
~"I have decided to close up my shop." - Danny~

I am sorry to announce that as of today, "Danny's" will be ending operations.

Thank you for your patronage so far.

-----------------------------------------------------


We all saw it comin'. As far as I know, there's nothing you can do to stop this from happening.




ANETTE: Bianca! Tabatha! You got mail!


ANETTE: Whoa!! I can smell Moondrop from inside the mailbox...


Moondrop's not really a gift for either of them, so I don't know what this is about.



Because it's considered an important/store based letter, Danny's resignation has somehow teleported to our mailbox ahead of Bush.

i bet it was the spooky ghooooosts



Another day, another set of eggs, milk, and wool.




Yeah, Danny's shop is pretty deserted. Let's go give Rosetta her victory cave strawberry, I suppose.




DANNY: Welcome!


BUSH: Danny? How did you...?


DANNY: Rosetta took me in.


DANNY: After that happened, Rosetta came to me and asked me if I wanted to work for her since I was closing shop anyway.


DANNY: She even lent me some money to send to my siblings... I'm going to work hard at this store!




ROSETTA: I was short on staff. He would make a good worker so I hired him.


ROSETTA: My store is doing pretty well, you know?


BUSH: That's nice to hear, Danny.


DANNY: Yeah! Hope you'll come to "Materia" more often now!


ROSETTA: Danny! Be more polite to the customer!


DANNY: Sorry!


Well, this turned out nicely. Still, you'd think from all of this that Danny is your pseudo-rival for Rosetta, but no.



Danny being here doesn't really change anything about her store mechanically. We can buy from him or Rosetta and the stock is the same. It just means my only source of cooking oil is the bar.

Also they sell pumpkin heads in the store now. I think it's for some festival coming up way later.




DANNY: Why does it have to rain on days like this?


DANNY: I feel so depressed.


Wow, that good mood didn't last long.




MIST: Bush! Bush! We have huge problem!


curses, she's discovered the resistance- this is a full code RADISH people!




MIST: I walked to the square because I couldn't sleep last night.


MIST: I saw it slide through the ground without making a sound! That has to be a ghost!


You sure it wasn't just a Runey? They do that all the time.




BUSH: Speaking of which, there is a rumor about a gh-


UZUKI: Noooooo!!


BUSH: W-what's wrong?!


UZUKI: D-do not speak of that word!


BUSH: What word? You mean gh-


UZUKI: I told you not to utter it!


BUSH: Okay...


One could hazard a guess that Bush might've been thinking the ghost was her brother. This is probably a better reaction than what we'd get for "hey, your brother might be dead".




UZUKI: I went to the lake with Stella the other day.


UZUKI: Right when I was about to eat the rice ball I brought, I dropped it.


UZUKI: It kept rolling until it went inside a monster hole. What a waste...


The only "monster hole" I know of is Lava Ruins. Outside of Mist's duck, we basically never see monsters remotely close to town.




UZUKI: There are things that you can do when it rains. I suppose I will go maintain my naginata.


She does still have it with her when she's sitting down, although it's a bit hard to see.




EUNICE: Oh, Bush!


BUSH: What's wrong?


EUNICE: I went to go get some firewood this morning and I saw something white staring at me!


BUSH: Could that be the rumored gh-


EUNICE: No! Stop right there!


BUSH: Hahahaha...


Okay, now Bush is absolutely trolling. What happened to our pure and honest boy?

Actually nevermind, I'm down with this side of Bush. Let's go mess with more people.

Next up, Coquille Manor! I'm sure Bianca will find this news to be relatively interesting.




BUSH: Hey! You shouldn't have come all the way here!


For some reason, the little purple elephant has decided to visit the manor too? You know, the one that randomly took up residence in our barn and sat in a corner doing nothing all this time?

Suddenly, it runs off!




BUSH: Wait!


BIANCA: Ack!




BUSH: I'm sorry, Bianca.


BIANCA: Is this your monster?


--------------------------------
1. Yes, it's mine.
2. No, it just followed me here.

--------------------------------

In a weird way, neither of these are really a lie?

Anyways, time for some alternate timelines!

...Or not, because it doesn't matter what we pick, it's the same result.


"Yes, I do own this tiny purple elephant, ma'am."




BIANCA: Hmph. I guess monsters aren't as scary as i thought.


BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?


-----------------------------------
1. Sure.
2. Please don't make me choose...
-----------------------------------

Nested dialogue options! Oh no!

Fortunately these don't really matter.

The second option just gets us this:



BUSH: Please don't make me choose...


BIANCA: Oh, really? But it doesn't seem to want to move away from here...


BIANCA: It seems quite attached to me so maybe you shouldn't force it.


BIANCA: Won't you give it to me?


...cycling back to the non-choice at hand. So, we'll just answer yes. It's not like it was doing anything anyways.




BUSH: Sure. Be sure to take good care of it.


BIANCA: My thanks. For its name, let's see...




BIANCA: "Francoise." Francoise, starting today, I am your master.


And then we fade to black. Fran-swah is how she pronounces it, if you're wondering.

This is the key to making Bianca stay after Summer ends. So the literal requirement is "have a barn + make it through Whale Island Cave".

Not very hard to do.




BIANCA: There have been a lot of rumors about a ghost recently.


BIANCA: I always keep the lights on. The ghosts won't come... The ghosts won't come...


Okay, wow, she's genuinely terrified by the ghost thing.



Francoise takes up permanent residence in that barn room that exists in the manor for some reason. Here she continues her usual life of playing through elefun_idle_01.anim and not moving.




BUSH: This must be Tabatha's diary.


BUSH: ...Hm. Just the thought of reading this makes me nervous.


I was looking for Tabatha and found her diary instead. The game doesn't let you read it, which is fine by me.



And now she's back out in the foyer in her usual spot?

This game has some weird interactions with cutscenes overriding the usual placement of characters.




TABATHA: I hear that there is a ghost that appears somewhere in Trampoli.


TABATHA: I would like to talk to it once.


BUSH: You're not scared, Tabatha?


TABATHA: Oh? Why would I be scared? If it's a ghost, I'm sure we can get along just fine.


Tabatha has NO FEAR.

That and she had a friend back in Kardia that was likely a ghost.




TABATHA: Bush, thank you very much for gifting me with Francoise.


You're uh... welcome?

She was just in the corner- I honestly forgot she existed.




TABATHA: Oh... There's something on your shoulder, Bush.


TABATHA: This is... monster fur, I think.


BUSH: You're right. When did it get on me?


TABATHA: I hear that monsters rub up against people because they want to become friends.


TABATHA: You seem to be good friends with monsters, Bush. I really look up to people like that.


Apparently all monsters are like cats.

This is our little reward for the Wooly Constellation from last time. Bush's natural farmer magicks as an Earthmate are really the only thing that makes him good with monsters- there's not even a communication skill in this game.



Still, this combined with the daily oatmeal has brought Tabatha up to 2 LP already.

Also, Melody has since overtaken Mist in LP, although Selphy is still in the lead.



Most girls are in the 5 range for friendship, with a 6 on a few of them, but the LP is still tending towards the 2 range.

The current standings are:


SELPHY: 5 FP, 5 LP

MELODY: 6 FP, 4.8 LP

MIST: 6 FP, 4.6 LP

ROSETTA: 6 FP, 4 LP

IRIS: 4.8 FP, 3.6 LP

ANETTE: 4 FP, 2.9 LP

CINNAMON: 5 FP, 2.9 LP

EUNICE: 4.8 FP, 2.6 LP

UZUKI: 4.9 FP, 2.5 LP

LARA: 5 FP, 2.2 LP

TABATHA: 1.6 FP, 2 LP

BIANCA: about 0.8 for both.

I've been pretty on point about giving gifts, so this should really go to show the different scaling on LP gain. Lara would be higher, but defying nature is more important.




BUSH: There are rumors about ghosts recently.


CINNAMON: That's superstition. Ghosts don't exist.


BUSH: Oh... is that how it is?


While it's questionable in RF1, I think RF4 disproves this. Maybe.

I haven't played RF4 in years.




CINNAMON: Did you find the Wooly Constellation?


BUSH: Yes. It looked really cute.


CINNAMON: Oh... A Wooly is a monster that has lived with people for a long time. Because of that, there are a lot of legends about Woolies.




CINNAMON: The most famous is one where a Wooly comes back to thank the person who helped it when it was injured.


CINNAMON: We have to take care of the monsters.


BUSH: Haha, I guess so.


I feel like that's a pretty common occurrence, but what do you want for the series mascot?




CINNAMON: I used to do research at a magic laboratory in a large city. I got called here by Grandpa so I came with Candy.


Unfortunately, we have already been told about this in the 29 days you've been here. Like, easily 25 days ago.




KROSS: I really don't like "Curry Powder" and "Flour".


KROSS: I can't make that myself so someone might find out.


BUSH: Isn't it bad if someone finds out?


KROSS: Heh... A man's cooking should be a private matter.


I had no idea curry was such serious business.




STELLA: I have everyone lock their doors when it's early morning or at night just in case.


STELLA: But if it's someone they trust, they should unlock their doors. Why don't you try knocking on the doors?


STELLA: But don't do it when it's too late or you'll just bother them.


We probably have the FP/LP to do this with a lot of houses now, I just haven't bothered. They were pretty straightforward about telling you in RF1.

Of course, RF1 had a funny oversight with house permissions. It had the Moonlit Eve festival way late in the year, where you have a semi-romantic chat with a girl after the usual 9-6 hours. However, given the way the event worked, you could just come in before 9 and have your candlelit dinner or whatever at 7AM in the morning.

Of course, you can credits warp that game by flipping a bunch of turnips and rocks around, so it's not the best programmed thing in the world.




STELLA: Whale Island was here before I came here. It's such a mysterious island no matter how many times I see it.


You'd think this place would be a more famous tourist destination, especially if the Whale's been around that long. It's not like there's other flying islands in the world.



While I'm here I drop another few thousands on grass. They're only 20g a piece, so that should give you the idea of the bulk I'm buying in.




BUSH: Recently, there's been some rumor about a ghost. Don't you like that sort of thing, Selphy?


SELPHY: I like stories that have ghosts in them... but I hate the real thing!


-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Elephant~

"The Elephant, a summer constellation, appears a little after sunset. Look up at the sky once it gets completely dark to spot it."

-----------------------------------------------------

That description's not much help finding it, I'll be honest. The tricky part is that it comes out at 8:00 PM and needs 1 LP with Bianca. That's really it.


-----------------------------------------------------
~Constellation: Wooly~

"The Wooly is the most prominent constellation in the summer skies and can be seen just before midnight."

-----------------------------------------------------

I wouldn't say it's just before midnight, but I don't know if arguing with a pamphlet is the best use of my time.



I end up buying Stylish Wear, the advanced guide to making accessories all the cool kids are talking about.




This actually just teaches torso recipes, most of which are just capes or brooches. It does have the Cat's Tail, Kross's favorite item. The ultimate items it has are the Black Robe and the Corsage, the latter of which needs far too many long-growing flowers for me to care about.

Unfortunately, the Brand Sunglasses aren't an item in this game, and that is the biggest mark against Rune Factory Frontier I can give. It's almost unplayable thanks to that.



I also buy At Your Fingertips, the arm accessory book. This is mostly rings and bracelets. They'll be useful for boosting our spells.

Probably the most interesting thing in here is that we can make a Rolex.


All of this is out of reach right now. Our crafts skill is rubbish, but we'll work on it.

What can we craft?



Tea Leaves Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!


Tea. Lots of it.



A few plates of leaves later and we hit skill 95. This is the minimum skill we need to homebrew our own tea from pure experimentation alone.




Relax Tea Lv:1 was synthesized.


Good stuff. This was the last thing I really wanted access to. We'll hit the Cooking skill cap in time as I convert all of our leaves to tea.

It restores 175 RP at base level, and provides Status Defense, which gives us high resistance to every status effect in the game. Pretty busted stuff.

It's also a 210g profit over what we bought to make it. We can slowly but surely print money through tea now.



Heart Pendant Lv:1 was synthesized.


With a pendant, a copper, and a fire crystal, I make one of these. It's some small boosts to fire damage, but it doesn't increase EXP gain like it does in RF3.

It's useful as a material for a later accessory though, I think.



Following this, we catch Melody at work cleaning the bath.




MELODY: This is Relax Tea! It's for me?! Thanks! I love you!


She's very happy over the tea. She'll start passing Selphy in LP soon with these.




MELODY: Did you hear, Bush? There are ghosts recently. I wonder if ghosts take baths, too. If so, it should visit!


Melody has her priorities set.




MELODY: Floating seasonal vegetables in the bath can show a really refined taste, don't ya think? I'm counting on you.


BUSH: Wait, I have to bring it?


I, uh, I grow tomatoes and corn. I believe both count as fruit, not vegetables, but you can still float them if you want, I guess?




MELODY: My type of guy is someone that can find hot springs with me!


MELODY: Do you want to go hot spring hunting with me, Bush?


Whoa there, an "I love you" and a dating pitch? Melody, the bachelorette voting hasn't even started yet!



Bush comes back a few hours later to get his daily bath in, and then we're off for adventure!



Boiled Egg Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!

And by "adventure," I mean cooking.



Our fridge is getting pretty full already!



I end up dumping into the shipping bin a bunch of corn I can't be bothered to waste RP on making popcorn out of.

Also a leftover battle axe that I'm not going to regret selling at all. Not at all.



Okay, but for real, let's go do some stuff on Whale Island.




WHALE: Bush...



BUSH: Mr. Whale...?


WHALE: Yes... Bush, hurry... The Rune within me is dissipating at an alarming rate.


WHALE: If this continues, I will no longer be able to swim through the skies...



BUSH: Okay. I'll be as quick as I can!


WHALE: I'm counting on you, Bush...


well damn

this ain't good



Music: Whale Island Outside


The sense of urgency doesn't stop me from grinding some warrior medals of goblins though.



It does seem like we should probably make some more progress soon. Let's head back to the Tail Tree.




BUSH: ...!! What in the...!




BUSH: It's so much smaller than when I saw it last time...


He's not wrong. The rune at the top of the tree is looking a decent bit smaller now.

Of course, this doesn't really matter- there's no real time limit. I'm not sure why the game is trying to push me at the moment (we're still rather outclassed by the enemies), but we can take as long as we want to get things done.





Some brutal combat with Manticts ensues, and Bush narrowly level cannons the nonsense thanks to Pony's assistance.

Manticts also seem capable of projecting some kind of barrier, and I'll be honest in saying I don't know what it does. Maybe it reflects projectiles?



Pony gets pretty beat up, so I head back towards Iris and plant some turnips on the way. I'm running out of ones to surrender to Mist's underground root racket.




IRIS: Drinking tomato juice while looking at the full moon can be very nice. You should try it some time.


This would normally be our hint that tomato juice is her favorite gift, but I already knew that



After that, I decide to give it a risky run up the tree as it's already so late in the day.



um, whoops

You just barely can't make it up to the third safe spot on the spiral with aid of a rideable monster.

They will bodyblock the deadly fruit for you though, that's a... it's some kind of silver lining to the fact I just Yoshi'ed our horse.



Bush must now proceed up the tree on his own.



The next safe nook is here, with a gate that spawns two manticts. Caution is necessary here, as it is very easy to slip down the ramp.



It's not like I know that from experience or anything. Hah, that'd be a hoot.



On the upside, our Alldale is really doing a number on these monsters. With pacifist magic, I assure you.



Eventually, Bush reaches the top. Well, the stone bridge out of here, at least. There is a treasure chest at the very top of the tree, but I'm not bothering for what will probably be a centuries old box of rice.



WHALE ISLAND DRAIN

If you were digging that overgrown marble and broken pillars aesthetic, well congrats, here's a whole lot more of it!

The Drain is largest single screen on the island, (maybe in the entire game,) and was also the farthest I ever got on my original playthrough.



The Drain is no slouch either. It opens almost immediately with a gate that deposits Faeries on your face.

You might be thinking these Tinker Bell wannabes are probably pushovers, but there's a reason why they're usually lategame enemies in the series.



Case in point, they shoot large, fast flying projectiles in a shotgun fan, easily doing around 50 HP each.



Those balls of light stop sort of around where you're at and float down slowly instead of just disappearing, creating a brief minefield of active hurtboxes.

Also these can just outright stun you and leave you unable to move for a few seconds- usually long enough to eat a full spread of green light orbs to the face.

These things hurt a lot is what I'm saying. There's still an enemy we've yet to see in the Lava Ruins that terrifies me above all else.



There's also TERRESTRIAL ACCELERATING TORTOISES, or uh, Tortas. Aside from a meh bite or a water laser, they move slowly until they line up a chance to do a super shell slide at you.

It hurts a decent bit, but honestly the worst thing about these is just how resistant to flinching from hits they are. They poise through a lot.

They're also one of the only sources of turtle shells, so we may end up farming a few at some point.



The other pathways from here are blocked off, either from the bridges being inexplicably destroyed or being foiled by waist high walls.



There's this lower platform we can walk down to, but not much we can really do here.



Some pipes down there shoot out water lasers as a neat visual effect, I guess. It's not like we can go down-



Huh.

So, funny story, the perspective here pretty much makes the ramp down nearly imperceptible. Past me from years ago got stuck here because I never actually realized I could just... walk down.



But it's real late, so I decide to warp on out of here for now. We need to gear up some more first.



I stop by the bar before hitting the hay.




STELLA: If only Selphy would go outside a bit more often... The moment you take your eyes off her...


STELLA: It's good to have something you can indulge in.


Books are a way of life for Selphy- I'd say they're more than an indulgence.




GANESHA: A drink after a hard day's work is the best.


For Bush, sleep is the way he ends the day. It's the only time he's not working!



...Man, I really have to get that Forge Storage from Lute at some point. The box is just full.



To make some space, I make another Katusha, the little red headband I should be wearing but I forget to equip on the regular.

Since it's a required material for the various animal ears, I'll want one eventually anyways.



I then spend the rest of our available HP and RP swinging tools around, and send Bush to sleep.

Gonna have to call this one here, likely enough, I don't know what's with some of these single day updates of late.

I guess the recordings for these are usually an hour long with some emulation speed-up abuse, so some days are just going to be more content filled than others. Speaking of, there's gonna be some big stuff going down next time!

See you all next time in what will probably be another action packed single day update!

Maybe one day we'll even have... a three day update