Part 9: Questionable

Update 09: Questionable

Music: Spring



Another new day in Trampoli.



Today's an important day, even if the calendar doesn't know. Other Rune Factory games usually have this thing already pre-filled with birthdays and festival dates, but Frontier gives you no such mercy.



Caught up to Anette very early today.


Hey, this is a girl's handwriting...

So it's from your mother. You're living apart from her?


I think we've seen this already, but I included it again anyways.



Cinnamon remains brief no matter the medium.



Kanno's also sent us some advice about the Green Ruins.

"Monsters that grew to towering heights?" Psh, there's no chance of that.







But I thought it still wasn't working?



Nothing really too new in the mail today. I was mostly following Anette to kill time until 9:00.



If you say so. I guess if you've got nothing else to do it might be.



Anyways, into the inn!



Music: Business District Buildings



*Rapid footsteps*




Oh, hey. It's the character from Fantasy Japan. They're a staple for the Rune Factory series.






*Loud crash*




I'll be honest, I don't know if we somehow hit her while opening the door, or that we just decked her in the face. This cutscene goes by fast, and still doesn't make much sense when slowed down through screenshots.



At least we didn't get hurt this time, but it really does seem like everywhere Bush goes people are out unconsious or getting hurt somehow.




She's awake, so I guess this isn't another person that needs to be dragged off to the clinic.

She is another girl that Bush is apologizing to.



Aaah! A monster?!




Milady...

I said I am fine!

Milady...


Yes, he says this twice. This is 'milady' as in before fedora-tipping milady.



By the way, do you abide here?

Yes, I do...



A NEW QUEST IS AVAILABLE



...She's leaving, so I guess

QUEST ACCEPTED



Well, hell. Guess we gotta go find her- Bush didn't even get a chance to introduce himself and say that he moved here recently!



I've been trying to hand Eunice some random stuff because we really don't have anything she likes right now. One of the things she likes is sold in the bar, but I won't even remember to buy that an in-game week from now.




Yeah, I'm still on that quest, why do you ask?




This is all part of the search, I assure you. Trout's a good fish for early sashimi, if I remember right.




You could say that, I guess.






I need to read it from time to time not to forget...



This whole looking at someone's bed thing is very weird.



Oh...







Music: Town Buildings

I like you! You should become my student!

What?! N-no thanks...


Don't deny the pursuit of KNOWLEDGE, Bush.



What?

Now I need you to run an errand for me. Find a "Cheap Cloth" for me to use in an experiment.

Huh?! Why me?



Selphy is looking to join Cinnamon in being sleepy all the time.




I go ahead and nab these two crafting books for this weekend. The cooking book will let us make sashimi a lot easier, which is a good way to quickly work our cooking skill up. The weaponry book won't be of too much help immediately, but it will come in handy later.



"On your field, tree branches and stumps may get in the way of tilling. If you see them, chop them with an axe to turn them into lumber. Just remember, you need a good axe to remove tree stumps."

"If you do not till your farm, things such as weeds and rocks will appear. If you find getting rid of them to be a pain in the neck, till your entire farm."

"Tilled land never reverts unless a storm blows by. There is not stopping nature, so if this happens to you, do not give up and till again."
--------------------------------------------------------

Good info in this book, but part of me feels like it should've been called Happy Little Farm. Maybe I've watched too much Bob Ross.




Here's that second floor I said exists.



Rosetta was up here for some reason.

I'm still looking for that other girl, don't worry.




You can go up into the stands of this amphitheatre place. Sometimes the kids are up here.



Of course, I'd beat them up right away if I saw them.


Sure, kid, as long as you don't attack my tamed monsters.

...When I, uh, get some. I assure you we will, eventually.



This is the first time I saw so many Runeys.

I don't know why... but... It feels... sad...

Ah! Don't mind what I just said!


Candy predicts my inevitable ruining of the ecosystem by trying to do this Runey thing.




Not every fish can be made into sashimi, but this Char can. They're not a common catch though, so I'll probably want to find a better location if I'm to grind cooking skill up.



If you enter early on some days, you'll find Melody cleaning the baths.



She tells us some of her dark, unclean past.



I-I like them.


Good answer, Bush.


Baths are great. They can wash your soul! Take a bath once a day for happiness to come to you!♪

What's that?

It's like a theme of mine. Haha.


Melody hits us with a hot, new slogan that praises basic hygiene. Either that, or she's breaking the fourth wall and identifying her main character trait.



Sixty screenshots ago I said today was an important day, and this is why!



Then I proceed to smash my sword into the walls of her establishment for a few minutes. This is a minor exploit I only learned of late in my last time playing this game, and it is one thing I remembered clearly. The Weapons, Magic, Farming, Lumber, and Mining skills can all be raised by swinging their respective equipment at nothing, and using up excess RP and HP doing this can really build those skills up over time.



One bath later and it's all back. I've really not got all that much work to do today.

...What? No, I didn't forget about that person from this morning.



By the way...



Nolan, I need this bathhouse, don't get me kicked out with alch-



Um.



Grass Juice. Sure.


Thank you.



Oh hey, another request today!


What is it?

Let's see...



Now then, what do you do with your extra strawberries?



That's, er, not much of a story, exactly. I'm not sure what that was, translators.



But we do have more multiple choice shenanigans!

------------------------------------------------
Put into the shipping box.

I would put them into the shipping box.

That's unexpected. Lute answered the same way.

I see...

------------------------------------------------
Give to a girl you like.

I would give them to a girl that I like.

That's a wonderful choice. That's just like you, Bush.

I see...

------------------------------------------------
Turn them into jam.

I think I would turn them into jam before they spoiled.

That's unexpected. Lara also chose the jam.

I see...

------------------------------------------------
Share them with the villagers.

I think I would enjoy sharing them with the villagers.

That's a wonderful choice. That's just like you, Bush.

I see...

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

What answer is canon for Bush? He's pretty likely to any of these, so I think it's up to you to decide.



This seems like it was supposed to be some kind of hint conversation regarding who likes strawberries, as both Nolan and Lara both like them. In this case, Rosetta would make more sense in place of Lute given her profit-oriented nature.

I guess I'm looking into this too deeply.



What was that...?


When I think about it, those could be the same woolies that were following Anette around from the intro.

I wonder what's up with them, myself. The game will likely never deliver on this, but one can hope.

Back to wandering around I guess.



I can't help it. We're way in the countryside.


Given that Rosetta was able to walk here and back regularly for a few days, It's probably not that far away. She was able to keep the store in Kardia well stocked, so I don't know what to tell you, Danny.



Regardless, I do end up buying a Pendant from him. I'll end up replacing it soon, but it's a notable boost to our DEF given we have none.

This might seem like a waste, but it'll save our life in the coming updates.



Rosetta's also outside looking out at this rock spot now. She's in all sorts of weird places today.


What is it?

It's not something for me to worry about since I'm running the general store...

But, I think you should at least save a little money.



I'm going to be getting this from people for a while, and I don't know if it's the game actually reacting to how much gifting I'm doing or it just happens to be a well-fitting coincidence. Gonna assume the former.

While she's not wrong, and I'm losing a decent bit of possible profit (about 1000g) each day, I've got enough on me right now that I'm good.



Besides, I'm trying quickly push as many of the bachelorettes' LP up as I can on purpose. I want the thread to see as much of each character as I can before I open up the votes for our eventual choice.



I never get tired of just looking at her.


I'm thinking the first of those votes is gonna be somewhere a week or two into Summer, when we'll have finally seen all but one of the choices, and it'll be a sort of elimination round to lower the number of girls I have to put time towards buying the affections of with material possessions.



The idea of not gifting things to everyone in a casual playthrough will be a bit strange to me, because I usually just hand out stuff so I can see new dialogue. I don't really mind the glacial pace, but I'll see if it ends up being necessary.

Anyways, enough about me rambling about LP stuff, back to the actual LP.

These sparkly bamboo shoots are the ones spawned by Candy's free Miracle yesterday.



But without the librarian, you probably can't find any good books.


The Selphy Decimal system isn't common use yet, apparently.



Char Sashimi has a Cooking Skill of 19, so the minigame is notably more... compact. We can still get away with this, but some things will be too far out of Bush's ability to even attempt. Previous games had all crafting set to a random chance based on skill instead of a minigame, so this is a much better deal in the end.

I want this sashimi for a reason, you'll see why in a minute.



Empty out our bars before heading to bed, and...



Tomorrow it happens to be raining! This means I don't have to water my crops. This is great!

It also means there's no music but ambient rain sounds almost everywhere. This is less than great.

But people also stay in easy to find locations on rainy days, so all in all, this is still a plus.



As a solution to this, on rainy days, I will merely link some other songs.

Music: AC- Rainy Day

I was going to link the music from RF1's Town Square, but I couldn't find it by itself. Have this somewhat related track instead.



Too bad it's raining. I'm worried that the letters will get wet.


Anette still delivers on rainy days. No rain, nor snow, nor storm, nor monsters will stop her delivery



But considering how much mail I have to carry, I can't trade for a smaller bag.

BUt carrying a bag that's too big can be dangerous.



I-I didn't...


She's actually about as tall as we are, really. This dialogue happens to be well voiced... use of "midget" aside.

Another occasion of this game showing it's age from time to time.



Cinnamon is also having to hold back falling asleep while looking at these books. Mornings are hard.



Yes... You can see many constellations when you look up at the night sky in this village... I recommend going to the observatory to do it.

I guess so. I'll try it out later.

Ah... but I don't know anything about constellations.



Thank you very much. I can't wait.


So this is a neat little side mechanic, and is pretty much the main reason the "look up at the sky" feature exists at all.

Cinnamon will tell us when there is something to be seen and give a rough time estimate of when to do it. A number of them are related to other bachelorettes and provide a small, LP boosting scene and other rewards, while others just get us neat worldbuilding dialogue from Cinnamon. Seeing any of them is a small boost to her LP, so I'm going to go out of my way to try and see them all.



A turnip...? That's a strange constellation.

...I guess. If you want to see the Turnip Constellation, look up at the night sky while it's still early.


She'll also give us a rough estimate of when to stay up to see things.



Music: Kross' Theme

Yes.

Do you know? You can make friends with monsters. Equip this "Pet Glove" and rub the monsters with it.

You got Pet Glove!

If you can communicate to them, they'll be your friends.



Ahaha... That's amazing.



So, yes, taming in Rune Factory is furiously petting wild creatures until they stop mauling you. Just like how managing the environment is about abducting the spirits of the earth with a futuristic vaccuum cleaner.


Of course, there are monsters that will refuse to accept you no matter what.

By the way, even if you manage to befriend a monster, it won't be your companion if it doesn't have a place to live.



They greatly reduced the cost of them, which is nice. That, or maybe Kross is just that damn good he can do it with less for less.







I just wanted to talk...


One does not get in the way of Selphy and her books.




Ahaha...







~Cooking for Men:~
"You there!
Do you think 'men and kitchens don't mix'? If so, then you are condemning yourself to a life of unpopularity!
You, sir, must cook!"

"To begin cooking, you must first enter a kitchen.
...Seriously.
So many people do not realize this."

"Now, just because you are in a kitchen does not make you a master chef. Let us first look at some tools. TO start, you need a frying pan, a pot, an oven, a steamer, and a blender. Use them accordingly."
------------------------------------------------


This book is something else.

We'll get those tools later, but Bush is doing rather well with just a knife and cutting board for now. A hammer and tongs alongside a mortar and pestle are what we need first.



Did you get the right equipment? You'll be in a world of pain if you're not careful.


She's not wrong, I meant it when I said Green Ruins was a bit above our punching weight right now. The enemies we saw aren't too bad, but believe me, they ramp up in difficulty fast.



People just naturally become closer the more I talk to them.


Eunice proves that she understands the mechanics of the world that surround her.

And yet, we're not very good friends still.



Hey! Stop looking through my books!

S-sorry...


Bush's pursuit for knowledge is hindered yet again.




I want to work hard at it, but I just can't continue long enough...


I just find it unrewarding myself. Never been good with being consistent about exercise.



Not yet. Too busy selling it for cash.



Rita reveals she endures an unclean soul in the pursuit of capitalism. Melody would be shocked.

Also, you don't do anything until 6 PM anyways, I'm sure you can find the time.



Oh no, she's evaluating our performance again-



GIFT GIFT GIFT

Crisis averted, I think.



I obtain some strawberry seeds to set up my endless supply in Green Ruins.



I personally like Autumn more myself, but Spring is cool too.

Also, Rosetta is just here in the rain. There's er, not really much of an overhang there.



I also gather some Runeys for a bit. This area's going to be useful for something I'm going to try to do with the environment later.



Music: Green Ruins (RF1 Carmite Remix)

Dungeon music does play on rainy days, which is nice.



Bush prepares to head in deeper, but we'll have to save that for next time!


...What? I didn't forget anything.