Part 35: bath family

Update 35: bath family

Ah, time for another update! Where were we?



Oh, right, we just made a giant candy monster jump into a pool of lava.



Rune Factory 3 - Summer


Well, with that, we're finally on the way to some more new content.



One victory bath later, and I'm left figuring out what to do today. I've got plenty of time left and I feel like we're sorta done for the day.

I could do Runey work, but I'd just rather not.




MIST: I think it's pretty dashing to be doing farm work inside the dungeon.


MIST: The monsters will look after you.


Yeah, they take care of me alright. Just not in the way you're thinking.




MIST: You defeated the monster in the Lava Ruins? Amazing.


MIST: By the way, don't you think the Lava Ruins could be like a giant hot pot? Mmm... Turnip hotpot.


...This is about the response I expected from Mist.



We didn't come back to our house for nothing, after all, we've got that fancy new Gold ore to work with.

We can upgrade our Lion Can into a Rainbow Can with some Gold, an Aquamarine, a Teardrop, and a Magic Powder. We happen to have all of these!




Rainbow Can Lv:1 was synthesized.

Easier watering? There's no way this could backfire!

oh, how naive i was, dear reader



I also make some more scarves while I'm at it. We really don't have much use for the wool at the moment, aside from this. We'll be getting to some better recipes soon though.

We do end up with a slighly better scarf from all of this, but it's only a +4 Def improvement.



Our new watering can now waters a 5x5, which is a bit awkward in practice as it means it only waters evenly in 15x15 chunks. It uses a bit more RP, sure, but this should make working the field even faster.



Up on Whale Island, we've got another harvest of Moondrops.



also some tomatoes, but when do we not have tomatoes



The Rainbow Can is very fabulous in appearance, and is the height of farmer fashion. I'd say it fits perfectly with our cat ears and Summer scarf in this strangely dark farming game.

Iris has nothing to say about Bush's fashion choices, unfortunately.



It's not even 8:00 PM yet, so why don't we take a peek into the next dungeon?

Next to the Rune Archives is this gigantic headstone thing, with a conspicuously missing chunk.




BUSH: I think something can fit inside this dent...

-------------------
1. Jam in Relic
2. Do nothing.
-------------------

What could go wrong?



Jammed in Relic.




BUSH: There's an entrance to the ruins here!


And so the giant stone slides to the side, opening our way into the...



SNOW RUINS B1F

Music: Snow Ruins

(The music down here instills a forlorn, almost dreadful sense, and it matches. It's not as much of a bop as some of the other dungeon themes in the series though.)


What, you thought it was going to be Autumn themed? Silly you.

...It does count as Autumn down here for growing things, but for this dungeon more than any other you're better off using Whale Island.



Walking forward progresses us into a cutscene!




BUSH: ...! What is that?!





BUSH: A Dark Rune? Something's not right here. I should be careful hereon out.


Bush somehow knows what this dark ball is already. Unfortunately, the game's never told us what it is, and this has never showed up in the series before from what I know, so I can only assume it's bad.



Surprise, it's more Hornets! Or, rather, Hornet Queens! These are the real deal version of the ones the Mimic Slime used against us just earlier today.



This is also one of our first sources of Fair Hide, the upgraded tier of Insect Skin. This is effectively the Quality Fur and Speckled Skin from other games combined into one item.

I handle these Queens easily this time, but unlike their mimic counterparts, these can inflict poison, as well as doing roughly double the damage in general. They're not to be trifled with.



One of the gimmicks of this dungeon is the ice blockades. These are merely walls that have to be destroyed with a fire magic spell, or a fire weapon as I'll find out later. The Heat Axe is really useful for this purpose, as it's faster and cheaper than using a fireball.



The next gimmick is present right in the next room: freezing machines. These accursed things spray out ice mist that hit for about 50-60 in all directions, as well as freeze certain doors shut.

I'd later figure out that these weird arcs of metal, one of which is pictured here, power these. Just hit it with anything, and the machine will explode shortly.



Pony takes twice as much damage from the mist as Bush does, and she's already down to a third of her HP after all of this. It's safe to say the damage just ramps up a ton in this place.



More hornets down here, as well as a set of farm fields off to the left.

It's so dangerous even getting to this field, it's really not worth farming down here. There's plenty of more easily reached plots on Whale Island.



Going north leads us to find Panthers! Not as large as their mimic counterparts, but just as annoying and deadlier. Their energy projectiles hit for around 70 damage right now, which is nearly as much as the Mimic Slime was hitting for on it's strongest hits.



They can do all sorts of sidesteps and flips, which is really annoying in a game where I can do none of that myself.



Clearing that one and the spawner, we've got two paths. One's blocked by ice, and the other visibly leads to more ice mist.



It's about 10:00 PM, so I just say heck with this and head on home for the night. We're gonna have to train up a bit to get read for this place. I think I direly need better armor, but most crafts recipes are inconvenient for grinding.

In theory, I could burn piles of cash buying wool from Erik and just spam making scarves, but I have to imagine they fall off quickly given we're already past their crafting level.



I clear some stuff out of our inventory for an extra little bit of cash before we end the day.



And what a day it was! So much dungeoneering I had to split it between updates.

Music: Goodnight



Music: Summer


Bush awakes to a sunny Thursday morning. What kind of things are we gonna get into today?



...I really need more fridge space.



Pumpkin Tart Lv:2 was synthesized with expertise!


Getting only the best ready for Anette now that we'll actually see her for once.





ANETTE: The other mailmen don't get chased. Why only me?


Looks like she's had another morning of being chased around, hopefully this tart brightens her day up.


-----------------------------------------------------
~"I hear you found the Snow Ruins." - Kanno~

I hear you have entered the Snow Ruins.
The Norad Kingdom used to conduct researches on how to
effectively increase the number of Runes there.

Monsters of cold regions are especially strong,
so be sure not to push yourself too much.

Understood?

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


Given how the kingdom left all these places in ruins, I guess they gave up on dealing with Runeys as well.

Nice to see magic grandpa is looking out for us, though.


-----------------------------------------------------
~"New shipments!" - Erik~

New items now available at Erik's Farm!
They are all high quality items from my personal field,
so feel free to come by and take a look!

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


I'm not sure if his stock has changed at all from what it was, but I guess we'll go see sometime soon.




ANETTE: Whooaaaaaa!


The voice line is more of a "wooooow", the same one she does at the end of her mail route in fact.




ANETTE: Huh? It's for me? Thanks!


I guess she's so worn out from schoolwork, postal work, and running from monsters she didn't realize we were giving this to her.

Either that, or she was just really impressed at how good the Pumpkin Tart looked.



Time to do our daily chores while she catches her breath. Look at how much watering we can do!



...Holy St. Poli our RP bar just vanished.

Sure, we only had half of it leftover after all the morning cooking, but still. That all vanished in 4 can charges, and the missing 1/4th of our HP is from just one following can use.

Uh...

Maybe the Rainbow Can wasn't the best idea.



Looks like I'm back to eating food just to finish my daily routine again. The incredibly disorganized layout of the field is also a problem, but I should have that solved when Autumn hits and I can re-organize the whole field.



and so both Bush and Anette stand around tired for a little while




BUSH: It must be hard running around everyday making deliveries.


ANETTE: Yeah... it was hard at first, but I'm used to it now.


ANETTE: Besides, I run everyday so I know I'm fit. I never get sick, you know!


She has to be the healthiest person in town, honestly. All that running around and a strong diet of eggs and natural milk has to make for some calves of steel.




ANETTE: You went deep inside the Lava Ruins? Wow!


ANETTE: If I ever went in there, I would get harassed by the monsters right away.


It happens regardless! It's a battlfield down there!




TABATHA: Do you like monsters, Bush?

----------------
1. I like them.
2. Not really.
----------------


Given our best friend, Pony is right beside us, I think the answer should be obvious. I'll go ahead and split the timelines anyways:





I mean, Pony is standing right there.




KANNO: I hear you fought a monster that kept shifting shapes.


KANNO: There sure are so many kinds of monsters in this world.


Yeah, but just not here. The palette swapping's a bit frequent, if I'm honest!



...Those 60 rock runeys didn't last long. Seems like I accidentally made a mini Grass Farm of sorts?

Strange, I'll take note of this and experiment with it at a later date.

note: i wont



I reason with how dangerous things seem to be getting, it might actually be worth messing with the Pharmacy skill. With our great wealth of cash, I take a small sum of it and buy a bunch of Neutralizers, cutting one step out of the many steps it takes to make a decent potion.




LARA: When I went to the library to borrow a book, I found Selphy on the floor.


LARA: I was so surprised. She told me she forgot to eat because she couldn't stop reading. What ever will I do with her?


Maybe bring her a lot of food she can read with one hand? That way there's no way she can't forget it?

Perhaps I'm underestimating the ultimate desire for LITERATURE that Selphy has, I could be wrong on this.




LARA: Birthdays are the day when you celebrate the life your parents gave you as express thanks to them for it.


BUSH: Oh. When is your birthday, Lara?


LARA: My birthday is on the 1st of winter.


Is that as auspicious as being born on Autumn 1st?




STELLA: When I went to the batthhouse the other day, Melody kept lecturing me on how good baths are.


STELLA: She really must love baths.


I think even that is an understatement.



Another day, another messy library. Cinnamon's here though!




CINNAMON: ...


BUSH: Um...


CINNAMON: ...


BUSH: She's concentrating. I should leave her alone.


Bush says that without parentheses, so I assume he just said this out loud.




UZUKI: Trampoli is such a vast place...


UZUKI: It's so quiet...


Uzuki's still dealing with Tsubute's departure, but at least we've got new dialogue out of her for once.

I wouldn't really call Trampoli vast, but then again, I'm not living alone on a different continent from my homeland.




EUNICE: I was cleaning the bar early in the morning and I saw Mom sleeping.


EUNICE: I was about to wake her because I was afraid she'd catch a cold. But then, Dad came in and put a blanket over her without saying anything.


BUSH: That sounds really nice.


EUNICE: I know! I'm a bit jealous of Mom.


Gotta agree with Bush, it's nice to hear something about these two that doesn't point to domestic troubles.

Things are looking up, I guess?


Oh, and Eunice has the Feathered Hat here that I originally gave to Danny. I forgot that I loaded a savestate and gave it to her instead. She'll actually wear it despite it clipping terribly through her braids.



As we've entered a new dungeon, Ganesha's stock has improved. She now sells up to level 5 elemental crystals, as well as the Scimitar, Katana, and Pitchfork. These are the second. third, and second tier non-elemental weapons of their respective categories.




KROSS: So you wentt to the Snow Ruins.


KROSS: Heh... The monsters there are resistant to the cold and weak against heat. You'll have a hard time surviving unless you aim for their weaknesses.


I'm definitely going to want to try and get the high level fire axe made now that we're in there. It'll hopefully do some good damage, otherwise we just stick to our two usual axes.

Really our combat strategy is to just one shot the enemy before they hurt us. Our chest accessory could really use an upgrade as well, although the Water Cape is a bit far off at 64 crafting skill.

A new ring is probably in order too.



For whatever reason, Selphy is in Erik's store today? Did she get an advertisement as well?




BUSH: How is your new novel coming along?


SELPHY: I'm in a slump... I can't think of any ideas!


SELPHY: I think I'm done for... Well, maybe not that serious.


Girl, do I know this feeling.

Anyways, I suppose The Piquing Predicament of the Proud Pugilistic Princess Punch is going to have to wait for another day.




ERIK: Oh! Dried Fish as a birthday present seems a bit dreary but I like it so it's all good!


erik

erik, I gave you a strawberry

As far as I know, you can't make Dried Fish, so it seems this is a developmental leftover.

Also, it's Erik's birthday, but you probably already gathered that.




ERIK: It's the most basic things that will make you excel in farm work. You better be sure to care for it every day!


You know, I'm really needing to excel in farming right about now, the penalty for being underskilled on our watering can really seems to bite.




ERIK: I hear you went to the Snow Ruins.


ERIK: Are you sure you can manage all these fields? Well, you could just let the monsters take care of the fields in the village.


ERIK: The reason I don't use monsters to help out is because I decided to do everything myself.


ERIK: It's not because I'm scared of the monsters I tell you!


If only monster happiness didn't take so long in this game, I'd let them do a lot more work for me.

In hindsight, I might be a lot less strapped for RP if I just did more farming in the dungeons, but then I wouldn't have such massive profits!

I think I'm close to the point where I might go clear out the first field in Lava Ruins to exclusively use as RP restoration.

I'll just put some grass there or something.



Profits for the day are racking up!

We're sitting at 58,000g, and have 22,000g in the box!



I now have to eat copious amounts of stored oranges in order to water the rest of the fields

rainbow can was a mistake



runey management



Selphy's just all over town today.



And now that it's 3:00, we can finally get refreshed.



Music: Tensions

(So, you know that track I've avoided showing twice now because the name's a spoiler? Here it is again, however without any indication of the spoiler.

I don't really know why I bother, it's not that big of a deal, but I've gone this far with it so why not go all the way?)


...Or we get a cutscene?




MELODY: I said I don't want it!


NOLAN: But it can be of great assistance to you.


MELODY: And I'm saying I don't need it! I run this bathhouse because I love this bath!


NOLAN: Then let us take the entire bathhouse to the castle. Doing that can be very simple...


What in the world is going on here?




MELODY: Wha... Wha...


MELODY: G-get out of here!! If you really like baths then think about their feelings!!



*She runs from the building.*



Apparently Bush has been awkwardly standing just off-screen.




BUSH: What happened?


NOLAN: You caught me at a terrible time.


Yeah, pretty much.




NOLAN: I came to Melody to ask her if she would like to be adopted by myself.


NOLAN: I heard that she has no other family so I did it out of good will. However, it appears I have offended her in the process...


BUSH: I see...


...You didn't handle it the most tactfully from what I can tell, what we walked in on was a bit pushy for such a delicate question.




BUSH: I'm going to find Melody. We have to talk it over.


NOLAN: I suppose so... Please do so.


Bush is going to go and get the other side of the story. What a thing to walk in on when we're half dead from farming.




NOLAN: I will be waiting right here. Please take care of Melody.


First up, we gotta go find her. I munch down some oranges in preparation of whatever is to come, and go outside.



While she does like looking at the Lava Ruins, there is one thing definitely more important to her, and that's the Laga Springs. What better place to go than it's source?



To the caverns of Whale Island we go!


The game never really acknowledges the fact we climb a miles tall beanstalk to get up here, and it doesn't acknowledge it for anyone else. It is an act that happens in a matter of seconds, somehow.



Riding through the caverns, we go to where we first met Melody, and...



Music: Pinch


Egads, Melody's been cornered by goblins! Normally I expect she'd have destroyed them offscreen, but I guess she's been caught off-guard.




BUSH: Melody!




Bush charges in between them, heroically wielding the, uh, harvester.



As we gain control, they immediately go to attack!



Bush fumbles to draw the Gaea Rod and Pony oneshots two of them in a single lunge.



And then Bush absolutely deletes the other three with an earthquake, throwing them across the room.

I've seen a guide recommend level 30 for this.



With the power of magic and Pony's constant assistance, Melody has been saved from this deadly encounter!



Music: Whale Island Cave


BUSH: Are you okay, Melody?


MELODY: I'm fine. I was just a little surprised.


BUSH: Let's go back. Nolan is worried about you.


MELODY: No!


Bush, that was... hardly the right sentence...




MELODY: He wants to take away the bathhouse and tells me to become a princess! Can you believe it?!


BUSH: A princess...?


MELODY: He used to be a king of a small kingdom up north. He said that he's retired now and is just a regular bath lover.


BUSH: But Melody, isn't that a good thing?


Bush, my dude, you're too oblivious for your own good sometimes.




MELODY: No, it's not! I love Laga Springs! I have no intention of leaving this place!


BUSH: That's all the more reason you have to talk it over with Nolan.


MELODY: I know... But still...


BUSH: You already made up your mind, right?


BUSH: Then there's nothing to worry about. Let's go back.




BUSH: Didn't you say people who love baths can't be all that bad?




MELODY: That's a cheap shot, Bush... Now I HAVE to go back.


MELODY: ...Fine.


Finally, Bush starts passing speech skill checks again.



And so we fade to black as they leave the cavern.



Music: Sadness/Resolve



NOLAN: Melody! I was worried sick! If anything happened to you, I would have...


MELODY: ...I'm sorry. But, I don't intend to be adopted by you.


NOLAN: I see... Since we both have no family, I thought we could get along...


BUSH: But I thought you had a son that ascended to your throne...?




NOLAN: Yes, well... That son is quite power hungry...


NOLAN: Though retired, I still have some power and he views me as a rival. My wife also passed away and...


NOLAN: ...my youngest daughter as well when she was about your age, Melody. I do not have anyone that I can call family anymore.







MELODY: Then I'll be your family!


wait what

but you just



NOLAN: What?! But...


MELODY: No, not in that way.



(A special CG! It also super lags on emulation!)



MELODY: Anyone who takes baths is my family!


MELODY: That's why you're also family, Nolan!


NOLAN: I see...


NOLAN: True happiness can be found in things we take for granted. I guess I forgot that simple truth... Thank you, Melody.




MELODY: I'm sorry for saying all those terrible things to you, too.


MELODY: I also forgot that people who love baths can't be bad people.


NOLAN: May I come again to take a bath here? May I be able to stay as your family?


MELODY: Of course!♪



Music: Business District Buildings


...and that's it. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I think it was good?

bath family



Regardless, that was Melody's final event, as she's our first bachelorette to hit LP 10! Oh, and this takes at least 1 FP Nolan to trigger, but we've got like 4 for him or something.

This has it's upsides and downsides. On one hand, we got to see the dating event early, we no longer have to make gifts for Melody, and we'll unlock a little bit of stuff regarding marriage.

On the other hand, Melody won't have all that much in the way of new dialogue, so we'll be seeing a bit less of her outside of festivals and that one event I've yet to trigger. I'll include some stuff about her in RF1 every once in a while, I guess.



Well, back to business. We need to get to Farming 59 to no longer take extra RP to use our new watering can, although I'm not sure it'll make that much of a difference. We might be better off just rushing the maximum sized watering can and take advantage of it's 6x6 watering range.

...that could also backfire even harder, so maybe we just wait a bit on that




MELODY: Looks like I got you all worried, Bush.


MELODY: But I'm okay now! I'm back to my usual self!


Yep, all is back to normal.



The bath is also open again, so we can get ourselves refreshed for the rest of the day.



Music: Snow Ruins


Following this, we duck into Snow Ruins to train our skills up. Unfortunately, Pony's pretty much been defeated by just the first two hornets this time.



Because of that, I decide to turn this into a scouting run. I need to know what I'm up against.



For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, this room that originally just had 1 or 2 Shadow Panthers before now has 2 Shadow Panthers and 2 Queen Hornets.



Heading north from there, we find Death Stalkers, upgraded scorpion enemies. They're really just deadlier than their normal counterparts with better drops as well.

A path is off to the right and the room extends northwards a bit more.



There also happens to be Glaces hiding in the mist of this ice mist generator. They can either shoot three large balls of ice, or create and drop 4 icicles around them.

Weirdly, it's rather easy to run through this generator's mist, not sure why that is. Pony would still get destroyed thanks to her big hitbox.




The door to the north is frozen shut due to the mist generator so I head into the upper right path to find farmland. There's an exit to the right, but it's blocked off. I suppose we head back to the lower right next time.



This place still hurts a ton, so I load back a savestate following that first rough encounter with Queen Hornets. Nothing lost, and nothing gained I couldn't have gotten by just looking up a map.



rainbow power is so exhausting



Nothing new from Iris, but we're close-ish to some more interesting stuff with her.



...Wow, just dumping a pile of Rock Runeys in a location really doesn't do anything for its stability.

The lake is in rough condition already, and I've still got two other locations on clock to die out.

I may try stocking all of these dying areas with a few of all 4 kinds of runey, and see if that brings them to stability faster. The 7 day grace period is almost here with Autumn just around the corner, so it might be the best shot I have to promote a whole bunch of growth across the board.

I might be able to skim more than usual off the top of the prosperous areas, and stock most of the areas up to about 10 or so runeys each. Hm... If not, I guess I may have to keep them on the edge of death to spare runey expense.

This could actually be mildly fun from a management perspective if the act of actually harvesting and moving runeys wasn't so cumbersome and time wasting.




I've got some Rocks on hand from management today, so I ride up to the lake and throw another 25 or so out into the wild. I also throw out about 30 Trees, hoping that this might prolong it's decay.

I don't really have much Water to spare.



I spend the rest of our meters on gift cooking and preparing Tomato Juice for the coming days. Bush may now have to partake in his Tomato Juice frequently to keep up with the drain this new watering can is causing.



Looking in the *gasp* Pharmacy for once, the best potion seems to be Energy Drink X, which heals for 300. That's the kind of bulk healing I need, double the healing you used to get for basic potions in previous games.

These take two Energy Drink S and a White Grass to make, the latter requirement making them frustratingly difficult to get. I might have some White Grass to spare if I'd let my fields get obliterated by storms, but then I'd be broke.



The Energy Drink S requires two normal Energy Drinks to make, and heals for 105.

This means in total, to make a E. Drink X, we need

4 Yellow, 4 Orange, 4 Blue, and 4 Purple grasses, alongside 4 Medicinal Herbs, 1 White Grass and a minimum 50 skill.

That's not bad, but the thing I dislike the most is how many individual crafts we have to do to make these from scratch. We're talking 19 separate crafting steps to make just 1 potion.

We can buy Energy Drinks premade for 260g each, which is 160g more than the individual materials cost. Honestly, it's not that bad a deal when you factor in the RP cost to make it all individually. Maybe I'm just too frugal.



I get to making some Energy Drink S anyways to end this day off, we're not skilled enough to do X, nor do I have the White Grass outside of a lucky drop I got yesterday.

This whole pharmacy talk was mostly to put more things in perspective about our gear setup now that we're at a new dungeon.



This is pretty much the end of today though, just one stop by the bar for more baking supplies, leaving us with nearly 90,000g in pocket.



Before he heads to bed, Bush lights his bed on fire with the Hell Rod. Classic Bush.

See you next time as we prepare for the upcoming festival on the 25th! I'll give you a hint, it involves boats.