Part 21: The Beach Episode- Much Ado About Melons

Update 21: The Beach Episode- Much Ado About Melons



Summer is finally here! With about 5 hours of sleep, Bush is out the door!

Music: Festival

Also this is playing! It's not bad, but it overwrites the music for everywhere but dungeons so you'll go slowly insane from hearing it for 30 minutes straight.

Sorry, we won't be hearing the new seasonal theme just yet.



Outside, everything is green!

Well, a more blue hued green than before.

Also, the flowers in front of our house have suddenly become sunflowers.


-----------------------------------------------------
~"Are you ready for the summer?" - Rosetta~

Summer begins today!
Spring crops do not grow in summer,
so come by Materia for seeds
perfect for the new season!

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


Unfortunately it's not open today, and all the Summer flowers take way too long to grow. Most can't even grow in the Homestead field without very high prosperity.

Our crops will probably be tomatoes and corn the whole time.



I take care of chores until 9:00 AM, as nothing really starts up until then. As I planted our seeds last night, we've got a 1 day head start of sorts.



Now folks are about!




CANDY: It's finally summer! I'm going to learn to swim this year...




MARCO: Hey! It's all about the beach during summer, don't you think?


MARCO: Are you good at swimming? Let's race later!



The actual festival can wait, it's time to bother everyone in town first.




GANESHA: Hi, Bush. Did you go to the opening day of the beach season?


BUSH: Aren't you going, Ganesha?


GANESHA: What? You want to see an old lady like me in a swimsuit? Stop flattering me.


The adults will never be seen at the beach, often for this stated reason of apparently being too old for it. I am sure there are folks who are greatly disappointed by this.




TB: Yes... Yes... Right there... Yes, that feels good.


BUSH: What are you doing, Uzuki?


UZUKI: Hm? I was merely giving Tsubute a massage on the shoulders. After all is said and done, he has helped me so.


TB: How kind... I am very touched, milady.




BUSH: Tsubute, you have shoulders?


TB: Graaaggh! How dare you! You...


UZUKI: Ahahaha! I suppose it is difficult to see where Tsubute's shoulders are.


TB: M-milady...


I don't know if it's ever explained what Tsubute is exactly. It's likely, but I don't remember. Tiny cricket man has shoulders though, we have learned this fact today if anything else.




BUSH: Eunice...




EUNICE: No! Stop right there!


BUSH: Huh?!


EUNICE: No! Halt!


Eunice does not like swimsuit season.



Here's a flower, I hope it makes your day better




TURNER: It's so hot. I completely understand why people want to go swim at the beach.




RITA: Well, at my age, I just can't go to the beach in a swimsuit.


At least it's nice to see you two actually doing something together, even if it is just standing in the plaza staring at the weird singing rock.



Anyways, my main focus for right now is our boy Lute. Time to outfit our expanded kitchen and forge!

Our purchases here are the Great Forge, the Great Kitchen, the Great Pot and the Handy Kitchen. This amounts to somewhere around 35,000G, so Lute's going home with quite the payday.



The next purchase we're looking for is the Maestro's Forge, which will take a hefty 28,000g but will finally give us access to as strong as weapons as we can find the materials for.

At some point it'd be really nice to expand my storage as well as getting a fridge. Despite nothing ever rotting in this world, I can't stick all this random grass in my usual storage box.



Enough delay- it's time for the beach!




ROSETTA: Good timing, Bush.


ROSETTA: We just got a sweet and tasty watermelon in. It's a rare item found only once a year. We should use it for melon pinata.


The innovation of growing melons must have not been made yet, as this game doesn't have Pink Melons, yet RF2 does.

This is the festival activity for this year, but we'll wait on it until I've chatted up everyone on the beach.

_{and no, I'm not making new portraits for this}




LARA: It's so hot every day. Please be mindful of your health.


Because it's Summer now, instead of saying the weather is so nice, now everyone will have a decent chance of just complaining about the heat.




LARA: Bush, would like to go swimming together?


Bush would like to go swimming, but we can't do that unfortunately. I don't believe you can swim even in the Rune Factory game based around being in the ocean.

Swimming animations are too hard I guess.




CINNAMON: In this season, you can see the "Buffamoo Constellation."


BUSH: A Buffamoo? How is it different from the Buffalo?


CINNAMON: ...I don't know. The Buffamoo Contellation can't be seen unless it is past midnight. Try your best to find it.




CINNAMON: Aren't you going to swim, Bush?


Cinnamon's usually just up here in the corner.


-------------------
1. I will.
2. I won't.
-------------------

Unfortunately, parallel universe shenanigans are not necessary here as her reply is always the same:




CINNAMON: ...Oh.


Curse you, illusion of choice!




SELPHY: Reading in the shade is the best for hot days like today!


SELPHY: The ocean is more vast than land. Did you know that?


Geography facts!

Selphy hangs out rather far from the ocean, as she's presumably only here to sit on a beach chair and read under an umbrella. I did notice the bracelet on her wrist, though I've no idea if it ever comes up in conversation or if it's relevant to anything at all.




MIST: Today is the opening day of the beach season. I prefer to watch people in swimsuits than wear one myself.


Mist has nothing to say about the weather, and happens to be the only one here actually in the water in some way. From the water, she just stares at everyone else, apparently.



There's a whole southern half to the beach, but it's empty. Some of the other bachelorettes stand in this area, if they're here.

Worth noting that the characters who show up to this event are seemingly random, as I remember that Melody was here on my first time playing the game, and I've heard of Uzuki being here instead of Cinnamon.

With that done, let's get around to smashing that one of a kind watermelon for really no reason other than SUMMER, WOO




ROSETTA: Oh, Bush. We were just about to break the watermelon. Would you like to join in?


Sure!


ROSETTA: By the way, do you know the rules of melon pinata?


What are the rules?




ROSETTA: All you have to do in a melon pinata game is break the watermelon with your hammer.


...Oh, that's pretty easy. I guess it's some sort of mashing minig-




ROSETTA: That alone would be a bit too simple, so for you, Bush, we'll use the blindfold.


ROSETTA: When you're blindfolded, the people around you will tell you where the watermelon is... of course, to make things more interesting, I've asked one person here to lie.


Ah, well, that's a bit trickier.




ROSETTA: Do your best not to get confused and go off in a weird direction. Oh, and don't hit people. Well, that's it for the rules, are you good?


Sure why not, I've done this before.



MELON SMASHING TIME




ROSETTA: Wait... Your clothes will get dirty. Go change into a swimsuit.


Bush fights giant monsters, gets beat up, digs around in the dirt a lot, and has recently been spending a lot of time in a volcanic cavern. I don't think we have to worry about his clothes getting dirty.

For whatever reason though, we manually have to go and change into our swimwear - also known as Bush in his usual bathhouse wear.

This conversation also forces Pony to get sent back to the barn. Looks like no beach fun for our giant dog horse.




BUSH: I'm gonna have all the fun I can at the beach this summer!


Really the most we'll be doing here aside from the occasional conversation is sucking up Runeys and I still hesitate to call that fun. Sorry, Bush.

Also, yes, it doesn't remove our accessories. The neck towel at least makes sense, but not the knit hat.

Let's start the festival proper this time.



The camera does a slow zoom in on our contestants, and each of the girls does a small little animation. Erik is also here.




ERIK: Let's get started.


ERIK: All right, young man! Here, hold this hammer!




ERIK: Well, well, the hammer suits you rather well!


This is just a Cheap Hammer. Apparently both Mist and Erik associate Bush with garbage tier farming equipment.






ERIK: The liar will be...


*DRUMROLL*




ERIK: Rosetta!




ROSETTA: ...Oh, me? Well, Bush, you better keep your ears open.


You may note that this doesn't really match up with what she said earlier about the rules. Something got lost in translation or development here.

Also, yes, they do just tell you who is lying. It severely reduces the challenge of this minigame, and kinda just undercuts a lot of fun that could be had here.

I'll complain about it later and what they could have did instead once we're done with it.




Music: By the Ocean

(Hey, this is finally playing at a time appropriate for the title! Wow!)


We get a brief pan down of the area showing the placement of the girls and the melon, then the screen fades to black again.




ERIK: Go!



And with that, Bush finds himself in the void. He automatically walks forward at a slow pace and turns rather sluggishly.




MIST: To the left, the left!


Periodically, the girls will call out directions. We know Mist isn't lying here, so we adjust our angle a bit to the left.




ROSETTA: A little more to the right!


We've already been told that Rosetta is lying, so we basically ignore anything she says here.

It's worth noting that all of the direction lines are voice acted, so that's neat.




LARA: Straight!


With that, we angle ourselves back to the north and continue on that way.

We get a few more instructions from here, but it's pretty easy stuff.




LARA: Swing. Swing now!


When we're close, the one of the gals will tell us to take the swing. You pretty much have to mash a bit here as the input window is a bit weird.



*SMACK*




LARA: Oh! We did it!


Somehow, we're over here. Luckily, Bush will autotarget the melon when you swing as long as you're next to it. Also it just breaks in half cleanly like we used an axe on it.




ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?


It was alright.

Following this is the conversations for winning the festival. Unfortunately nothing spectacular happens if you fail.

-------------------------------------------------------
LOSER UNIVERSE


LARA: Oh... Perhaps some other time.

---


ROSETTA: Well, how was it? Was it fun?


ROSETTA: Unfortunately, the watermelon wasn't smashed with the hammer, but I cut it up, so let's eat.


MIST: Too bad, Bush. Maybe next year.


ROSETTA: I even told you to not be confused by my lies!


LARA: Oh, my... This watermelon tastes just heavenly.


BUSH: I'll be sure to smash one open next year.

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

No matter the timeline, the melon is eaten. RIP melon.

Back to the universe where we win.




MIST: This watermelon is so good! Bush, maybe it's because you did such a good job splitting it open.


ROSETTA: Your watermelon splitting was just awesome. You just would not believe any of my lines.


LARA: Today's watermelon pinata was so enjoyable thanks to you.


BUSH: *chuckle* Well, I'm glad my hard work paid off.


Since when do you *chuckle*, Bush?

Following this is a set of conversations unique to winning. I believe it happens regardless of who's here, but really all I remember from my first time doing this minigame is that Melody was the liar and Lara wasn't here. I don't know if this always happens between Mist and Rosetta.




ROSETTA: By the way, Bush. Do you put salt on your watermelon?

-------------------
1. I usually don't.
2. I usually do.
-------------------


MIST: I'm sure you do, don't you? It's common sense.

-------------------
1. The salt makes it sweeter.
2. I like it the way it is.
-------------------


ROSETTA: Of course, I don't, but I do see people do that sometimes.


-------------------
1. I don't.
2. Salt and watermelon are friends.
-------------------

Here's the choice that branches things.





And that's it. As far as I can tell, it doesn't affect LP at all.




Winning the festival itself does provide a decent FP & LP increase across the board. Mist's almost hit 4 LP by this point, with Melody being in third place. Rosetta's in 4th, with the other girls slowly working their way up to and through the 2 LP range.

Selphy's still in first of course, thanks to all of Bush's knowledge gaining



We're free to go off and do whatever now. That was our first festival!

I feel like this would be a lot more interesting if they didn't tell you who the liar was. Then the liar would gain LP if you consistently believed them. Says a lot more about what you think about them than "how well can you ignore me".

You could probably give every character a bit of a tell or something for this, if you wanted to keep it easier.


With the festival done, it's time to wrap up the success dialogue and head off to do other stuff today.




MIST: Good job on the melon pinata, Bush.


ROSETTA: You split that melon pretty well.


LARA: Now that the beach season has started, it sure feels like summer has truly begun.


SELPHY: The watermelon was great! Did you eat it, Bush?


CINNAMON: Was the first day of the beach season fun?

*insert any response here*


CINNAMON: ..Oh.


And that's it! Lara's got actual dialogue to usher in the rest of the day with.




LARA: A nurse always has to prepare medicinal herbs.


LARA: Melody knows a lot about medicinal herbs so I always ask her for advice.


LARA: But I've been talking to Cinnamon about it a lot more recently.


LARA: She knows about these herbs that I've never even heard of before.


You know, you could always write back to your teacher from Kardia. I'm sure Edward knows his stuff, with hair and a mustache like he's got, you just have to.



Music: Festival

Back to hearing this for the rest of the day!

Also, here's our improved kitchen! A lot of space to move around in, as well as our new mixer and upgraded pot!

The frying pan can honestly go a long time without being upgraded as there's not much it makes that I'll want. I specifically upgraded the pot so I could eventually make some HP Absorb food with it- that'll be really good for making progress.





Apple Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.
Tomato Juice Lv:1 was synthesized.

At our new mixer, I slam a whole apple in there and bam, we've got juice. Do the same for a tomato and we've got more juice.

The latter is the gift we've been waiting on for Iris. This is worth triple the amount of LP that random flowers are for her, so she'll be catching up to the other gals rather fast.




CANDY: Wow! I love juice! Thanks!


Supposedly Apple juice is her favorite, but I don't know for sure. Regardless, we'll probably toss some excess tomato juice her way and see if we can get her to tell us anything more about the Spirits or Runeys.



At this point, Bush heads back down into Green Ruins on a quest for insect skin. It's a necessary material for our next tier of tools, for some reason.



A bit of farming later with Pony helping out, and I've got a couple pieces of it.



Back to our new forging area! We've got some downright industrial equipment in this room.



And here we are, ready to take our first steps in getting out of the early game for good.

Our tin can goes in the forge, alongside silver, copper, and insect skin.



12 levels above our skill to make, we can just barely do it.



Lion Can Lv:1 was synthesized.



Getting this is huge, and you'll see why soon enough.



Next up in clearing progression blocks is a Silver Hammer. Our iron hammer, 2 silver, and another insect skin later...



Silver Hammer Lv:1 was synthesized.

This is a pretty big get as well. All those rocks we couldn't destroy? Their days are numbered now.



And now I'll show you why I cluttered up my storage box with so many pieces of scrap iron. Take our fishing pole and pairs of scrap iron, all of steadily increasing level...




Starter Pole Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!
Starter Pole Lv:3 was synthesized with expertise!

Repeat this process for a while...



And now it's up to level 6! It also costs 4 less RP per swing, which is neat. If you were looking to make your tools more efficient, this is the way to go. It's best to do this on axes and hammers first as they cost the most, but fishing's not a bad choice either as it saves you more RP when looping fried fish for RP. Just be careful that you are using the right leveled materials because if you stick a level 10 tool in with level 1 scrap, the best you can make is level 2.

Doing this is also the best way to grind your forging skill up. You can do this with every tier of tool and it'll add up to a lot. I would have done this to my hammer or my watering can, but the skill cost of this scrap iron method jumps up quite a lot per tier of tool.

To grind ideally, pick a tool you don't care about at the highest skill requirement you can manage, and keep slamming level 1 scrap irons into it. It won't increase in level and you can just bring that forging skill up to par. I'd say the best pick for this is the hoe as you'll be using it less and less over the course of the game.

After all, once you've tilled a field, the hoe's job is done.



Now to show off why this new watering can is so great. Holding 18 water at once is good, but...





The lion can is now capable of watering full 3x3s in one action, for the cost of 1 water and barely any more RP.
This effectively cuts both the RP use and time spent watering by 66%.

If this is the last upgrade I get for the can, I'll be fine with it. This is all I need, and it's honestly the one thing that saves early Rune Factory farming. It's a godsend they give you this tier of tools off the start in RF2.

RF3's watering while walking and general speed helps to alleviate a lot of this, thankfully.



Took me 30 in-game minutes to water all of this. This took me nearly 2 hours before.

What doesn't get any faster is harvesting Hopefully Grant and Gobbs pull their weight when I put them to work.

That all done, I head off towards the mountain road, but as we're passing by Kross's place...






BUSH: Huh...?!


BUSH: I don't remember this building...


Took the words right out of my mouth!



Well, they're not open today, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess.



This big mansion is settled up on the hill to the right of the area, and will remain there for the rest of the game. I believe there was a bench here that is now gone forever

But given that runeys don't really clump up on the hill, it should've been a minor hint that something was going to go there eventually.

Anyways, back to rounding up the last bit of conversation for the day.




STELLA: Playing in the ocean is fine, but be careful so that you don't have any accidents.


Bush physically can't play in the ocean, so there's no need to worry at all!




KANNO: It certainly is summer now. I get depressed thinking about how hot it'll continue to be.


The clock tower is a large brick building so at least you don't have it as bad as you could have it.




LUTE: Really?! I love Chocolate.


On my quest to squeeze every last bit of dialogue out of the town, I remember to give Lute the chocolate we bought for him.




KROSS: Heh...


KROSS: Sorry. I couldn't stop the guy next door... I never thought I would see the only watermelon left destroyed before my eyes. Fate can be so cruel...


RIP melon, sacrificed in vain for an only okay minigame



The only thing more depressing is the fact that the bathhouse isn't open today



It's because Melody is just standing over in this... empty spot next to the clock tower for some reason. I don't know if this spot ever gets used for anything.



MELODY: You have to take a bath whenever you sweat. It's been really hot recently so you have to be careful.


MELODY: Is there anything you don't like to eat, Bush?


MELODY: I hate mayonnaise. Just looking at it sends a shiver down my spine, so don't ever give it to me!


I rather like mayonnaise myself, but hey, I don't judge.




DANNY: Beach season? Not interested.


Danny's only interests are running a shop with a highly specialized inventory and standing around in various places with a slouch.




ANETTE: Hi, Bush.


ANETTE: I hate ho hot it gets all day and night recently... I feel like I'll pass out...


Anette's here on break today, with it being a festival. It's one of the rare times you can hear her afternoon greeting. The only thing rarer is her evening greeting, I guess.




ANETTE: I drink milk every morning but I still can't grow taller. I wonder why.


Does milk affect height?

I don't really know.



And to close out the day, I head down into Green Ruins to try and acquire that White Grass we needed to get for Melody.

It's a 1% drop, so I'm not expecting to find-



Oh. Huh.

Well, I doubt I'm getting that lucky again, so let's hope the questline ends with this.



Well, while I'm down here, I might as well show off the power of our new Silver Hammer.

By using the special attack, we can break through that one section of rocks on the first floor that was blocking a pathway.



Inside is a cluster of rocks and a treasure chest. These rocks have a pretty high chance of dropping silver, so they're not bad to stop by every once in a while.

The treasure chest just dropped normal level 1 rice.



Earring Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!

Before heading off to bed, I make some space by crafting some various items. This one's really the only one of relative note.



And with that, we end our first festival!

If anything, at least there was a lot of dialogue today.

Tomorrow, may be more interesting as we'll be meeting our last two bachelorettes, and we also finally get to hear the new seasonal theme!