His & Her Circumstance - Let's Play Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny!

Donatello is my favorite Ninja Turtle, and he uses a staff. So use the Staff.

And the Golem is a big burly dude... he needs a name that implies manliness.

Name the golem Cadillac

Just wait till you see his giant cucumbers! If you're lucky you'll get giant versions of crops and of course there are cucumbers.

Of course, she's the ONLY person Seiji demands introduce themselves before introducing himself as well. So I'm not sure who's worse right now.

The character names inspired me to go a lot dirtier than I might have but I still decided against going there.

To be fair, "You introduce yourself first" is a Japanese symbol of respect. Since this is a Japanese game, the original dialogue probably made it out to seem like she was being INCREDIBLY rude, and Seiji was only asking for due respect.

Golem: Volkswagon
Guys I was searching for manly german car company names and found this: "Excelsior-Mascot"
Sounds pretty golemy to me.

Weapon: Dual Swords, let's see how much things have changed.

This is great, and whoever wrote it deserves a medal.

Golem: Bonsly or Sudowoodo
Weapon: Dual Swords

Golem: Sudowoodo sounds awesome.

As for weapon, Staff because magic is always the best.

I can't think of a name for the golem, but I vote for the spear. More protagonists should use spears!

Sudowoodo is a great golem name.

And since I think there's a bunch of ties in the weapon votes, I'll change my vote to spear (though staff would be fun to see down the line somewhen).

Staff is practically required to get through some of the boss fights so getting me to not use staff on those would be the hard part.

All the cool heroes are using spears these days.

Yep cause we all know that Midori just wants to take control and play with his spear.

You know as well as I do she'd like his staff much better.

Does it have a knob on the end?

The hammer... is my penis.

Father Gerard, I think, would be much more keen for some Dual Swords action with Seiji.

...I love you people.

Please hang out with Father Gerard if you can, and use spears.

Sudowoodo is perfect for our kind of golem.

Midori: Seiji! Let's go for a ride on Sudowoodo!

Before that, what do the other girls present think?

Elena: Oh, I get it. The roots of the golem sprout extend throughout it, allowing one to control it. And something this size... Oh, shush! Don't talk to me!

Still thinking aloud about how golems work. I'm so glad Elena is around to help us pretend this turn of events makes sense.

Lily: Oh my... This is so exciting!

Oh my... You're kind of boring. I hope you improve with time. Until then, stick with the low-cut tops.

Violet: It's so big...

Too easy.
Yes. Yes she is.
Huh?

Odette: If you want to keep it, you better be ready to take care of it.
Seiji: Don't talk about it like it's some pet...

We're gonna need a really big pooper scooper.

Seiji climbs aboard and checks out the convenient door right by the... dock? Landing platform? Oh nevermind.


Midori: What is this?
Seiji: Hey, this is a monster barn.
Midori: Hey, Seiji, look at that!

You see that, in the middle of the floor? The thing that's not there? Seiji picks it up.

Seiji: It's a monster brush.
Midori: Yeah. If you brush monsters with it, you can tame them.
Seiji: Of course, they'll be beating me up while I'm trying to brush them...
Midori: Well sure, they'll treat you like an enemy at first. But if you're persistent and show them you love them, you can win them over!
Seiji: Easy for you to say! It's not your body they're going to be beating up on!

Midori has watched Beauty and the Beast far too many times.

When you tame monsters, you have the option of naming them. The names don't really matter, since they don't come up in dialog, and I'm never going to be sure exactly what I'll capture. Also monster housing is limited so there's no point getting attached, since most monsters will be abandoned eventually. But if people wish to suggest names I will use them.

Seiji checks out that book in the back of the monster barn.

Midori: Hey, Seiji! What is this?
Seiji: It's a Monster List. It shows you the condition of your monsters and lets you manage where they are kept.
Midori: Huh! What kind of things are written in there? Let me see!
Seiji: Since I don't have any monster, there's nothing to see. You should look at it after we tame some monsters.
Midori: To tame monsters, you have to use the brush, right?


Seiji climbs up to the chest area and looks out at the endless sea. Majestic music swells, and -


The moment is ruined. Gotta love how they don't even try to attach the anime sweatdrop to the person.

Elena: Wow, cool! I want to ride it next!

Elena must be shouting pretty loud. Seiji looks around for her but she's still on that cliff behind the inn. Then everything begins to shake.

Seiji: Whoa! What was that?


Sudowoodo is going on automatic! Oh hey, you can see the elevator that goes between the docks and the church from here. The elevator that goes diagonal for no apparent reason. Well, maybe an engineer could come up with a reason. I wonder who built that elevator...


After a short stroll, Sudowoodo digs down into the water and pulls up a whole frickin' island. It hurls the island a short ways and this time it stays afloat. Suddenly I'm getting a Dragon Quest 7 vibe from this game.

Midori: W-Why did it do that?
Seiji: I thought it was just going for a stroll, but then it ripped an island right out of the sea.


Midori: Still... It's a lovely place.
Seiji: Yeah. It's hard to believe it was at the bottom of the sea all this time.
Midori: Hey, Seiji. Since we're here anyway, do you want to check out the island?
Seiji: Sure. Sounds like a plan.

Things to note, from left to right:
- The white log with sparkles around it
- The treasure chest at the very top of the island
- Glowing green monolith
- The white tree stump, which is effectively the same as the log
- Easily broken pot (actually ignore that, it's boring)


Midori: Look, a treasure chest! Let's open it.
Seiji: There are weapons in it.

Hooray! Something to hit things with! Let's check out all the options before making a selection.


Seiji: Why take one sword when I could take two? I can chain together lots of attacks with the dual blades, even though each hit might not be that strong on its own.


Seiji: A longsword? It's powerful, but it might leave me open to counterattacks between swings.


Seiji: Maybe a katana? It's got a good balance of speed and power.


Midori: A staff...? Seiji, you can use magic?
Seiji: Sure, why not? Magic will let me attack from long range, but it can be a little slow.


Seiji: A spear is great because I can attack enemies that are far away. The only downside is that it's not very good for side-to-side attacks.

It's a good thing hammer didn't win the poll, since it turns out there isn't one in the box! Seiji picks the ridiculous looking spear so he can stay as far away from the enemies as possible without being a staff chick.

Seiji: Haha. A free weapon! You can't beat that deal!

You know what's better than a free weapon? Five free weapons. Unfortunately that's against the rules. Video games rules.


Two goblins conveniently ZAP into existence as soon as Seiji grabs the spear.

Midori: !! Monsters!
Seiji: What the heck are monsters doing here? I guess I'll have to take them down!
Midori: Seiji, do you remember how to equip a weapon?
Seiji: Of course I remember. Come get some!

Monsters are generated by small dimensional gateways, making a zappy noise and appearing from a bit of lightning like these guys. Of course this is a plot/tutorial battle so we don't have a gate to worry about just yet.


I'm pretty sure that's not how a spear is used. After far too much swinging and not enough stabbing, the goblins are vanquished.

Seiji: Phew, I managed to beat them. But I wasn't expecting to run into monsters here.
Midori: Well, maybe they live on this island. There are lots of monsters in the wilderness, you know.
Seiji: Yeah, you're right. There might be other monsters around here. We should probably be ready for anything.

You're the one invading their habitat. If you keep killing monsters PETM's gonna go after you.

There's a monster gate. They don't cause damage but as long as they're around, monsters will keep appearing, so it's a good idea to seal them as quickly as possible. Elder Signs optional. They come in various colors to represent their elemental affiliation but color/element doesn't mean anything as far as monsters generated go. With one exception, which I'll get to in a bit.


Behold, a non-goblin monster. This is a Wooly. It's a bipedal sheep that produces wool every other day if captured. If you hit a Wooly with a fire spell, the wool burns off and it continues fighting naked.


This guy's a Spring Flower and the first monster Seiji does not slaughter. It's a planting-type monster so when we get the first farmable island, it will be assigned to produce tons of pretty flowers to woo ladies. Every monster has a few default names and this flower will henceforth be named "Haru."


A closer look at the pale log. Spirits float around it and Seiji can pick a few up every day or two he visits this location.


Mysterious Tutorial Voice: To use the Dash Attack, press the square button while you're running. You'll need to have been running for a few steps for it to work.
Seiji: Use the Dash Attack to race across the battlefield at your enemies!

The first few skill levels of any weapon grant Dash Attack and whatever other special attacks. If those special attacks happen while I'm playing, I just treat it as a happy accident and continue mashing buttons.


The Sheep of Oblivion!! The gate in the left picture is white, a Light element gate. Beating the gate's no problem but the monsters it generates are so much stronger than anything else around! That Wooly took one damage from my attack and could probably kill Seiji in a couple hits. I fell for it my first time playing but this time I'm wise to their games. I run like hell.


Treasure! In a fancy chest! Gimme gimme!!

???: Not so fast!
Seiji: Who are you?

To get the full feel of how awesome this scene (and character) is, video goodness.


Seiji: Never have I been so glad to be a landlubber...
Goblin Captain: Arrr, enough talk! Aye, we be taking that there treasure now! Cut 'im down, mateys!

Sweet hat. I can do without the unicorn bandanas worn by his lackeys.


I'm not even sure that's possible with a spear. In addition to the goblin pirates, the nearest monster gate adds its own contributions to the fight. The scene transitions as soon as the fourth pirate is beaten, no matter how many non-pirate monsters are around.


The captain and his lackeys run off, even the guy on the end who's lying down.

Seiji: Jeeze, that guy takes his pirate cliches seriously.
Midori: Seiji, are you okay? You aren't hurt at all?
Seiji: Eh, I'm fine. Those guys were wimps.
Midori: Oh, that's good.


Now the sweet treasure chest is all mine!

It's a recovery potion.

Oh. Doesn't that mousy nurse sell these at the church? Lame loot.

A little farther up the hill, Seiji finds the monolith and three goblins show up to protect it.


Pretty impressive reach, eh? This battle is a cakewalk as long as you're not badly injured from the pirate battle.


The green force field disappears and a chest appears in front of the monolith.

Midori: Ooh, a treasure chest! What's in it?
Seiji: Let's see... A sea chart?
Midori: You use a sea chart when you're traveling the ocean, right? Why is this here?
Seiji: I don't know, but with this chart, and Sudowoodo, I bet we can go all over the ocean.
Midori: Go on the ocean? With Sudowoodo? But how?
Seiji: We ride on Sudowoodo. You saw Sudowoodo raise this island from the sea, right? I bet he could raise a lot of other things from the sea too. Like treasure.
Midori: But will Sudowoodo do what we tell him to?
Seiji: I think he will. Remember? Elena said that we're his masters.
Midori: Well, yeah, but...
Seiji: Besides, if we don't ride Sudowoodo, we won't be able to get back to Fenith Island. Let's get back to Sudowoodo.


You're not tricking me that easily! I saw treasure at the peak of island and I'm gonna get it! It's easy to overlook the ivy hanging down and get really mad at not being able to jump high enough. The prize is pretty good for where we are right now: Leather Belt ★. The star means it's higher quality, granting better stat boosts and worth more money than a normal leather belt. Considering Seiji's only equipment until now has been that hat, this is a huge find.


Video of Sudowoodo moving as commanded this time. They'll be heading back to Fenith Island for a little socializing, questing, and cooking.... Next time, on Let's Play Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny!

Sometime in the near future, we'll be capturing a Goblin, Wooly, and possibly a Buffamoo (read: cow) if we find one. Name suggestions are welcome and I'll try to look up what lives on future islands before we get to them.


Note: Despite the spear snark, I would not want it to more accurately portray how spears work. One of the previous games (can't remember which) had a truer depiction of spears and they were damn near unusable because you had to be so accurate.

It feels like there should be an off-color joke here. :3

So weird how they have the speaking character in both the "foreground" and the "background," though.

In Rune Factory 2 (DS), the only one of these games I'm more than vaguely familiar with, the spear stabs only in a straight line in front of the character and is moderately fast. If you can get a mob or two and a portal lined up with each other, you can make short work of clearing out the area for your farming or whatever else you need to do. Targeting is automatic within a certain angle in front of the character so it isn't too finicky, either. Too bad about the slowdown though, excruciating

At first I thought the goblin pirate was wearing a handpuppet of himself on his hand.

Just looking at the intro sequence, this game seems to place a lot less focus on the actual farming. I mean, compare it to Rune Factory 2, which I started yesterday (as a direct consequence of reading this LP!): There, the intro sequence is about two minutes long, and allows you to discover the rest yourself (even if it's through triggered tutorials).

On another note: GOBLIN PIRATES

Yeah, there are a lot of awkward moments related to that.

I would buy it.

Very true. I can't think of a single thing for which farming is required. It's handy for making gifts for townsfolk but just talking will eventually get affection up. Rune Factory 3 only required farming to get through the final dungeon but the townsfolk at least acted like you were a farming adventurer. Here they pretty much never mention it.

Rune Factory 1 forced you to plow a certain number of squares in each dungeon to get permission to enter the following dungeon. Fully grown crops could restore some RP simply by existing so the dungeons were designed with that in mind. Good luck surviving without farming in dungeons.

It's almost as if Natsume forgot what the whole point of the Harvest Moon franchise was.

...Given their most recent titles under that banner, I am terribly unsurprised.

To be fair, the Rune Factory series hasn't carried the Harvest Moon moniker since the first game. And I can't say anything about this game, but in Rune Factory 3 at least, while Farming wasn't exactly required in most cases, it was the easiest/fastest way to make money and get quick stat-ups from Runeys when you harvest your crops.

And I don't think Namco had anything to do with this game.. or any of the Harvest Moon games that I'm aware of.

Anyway aside from that I'm really enjoying the Let's Play - I bought this game but haven't had a chance to play it yet but so far it looks interesting although I'm thinking I should hold off on reading any more until I get a chance to play my own copy.

I'm okay with the Rune Factory drifting away from its farming roots. I don't think farming will ever be gone for good but they know people who really really want to farm will pick up the Harvest Moon games anyway. To me, Rune Factory is all about being a "peasant hero", right down to fighting with farming implements if you really want to.

Tell you what, though; The reason I could never get into the one Harvest Moon game I did try is not because it was nothing but farming, but because of the less realistic art style and comedic-style plot (this is the first Harvest Moon for the DS); Rune Factory got my attention because it wasn't all of those things, and I like the farming in it.

Spring 3, Part 2


Bismark: When I gave her the present that I'd bought for her this year, do you know what she'd done? She'd just bought herself a present instead of waiting for mine! She didn't even act happy about the accessory that I'd picked out for her! Oh, that sister of mine!

Bismark and Sierra have the first birthday of the game and it's really hard to come up with presents this early. Bismark likes various foods that require crops to make. Sierra likes accessories, so I suppose we could scrounge up the money to buy her some earrings or something.


Sierra: But Bismark bought a present to give just like usual, so he didn't end up with a present for himself. I had no choice but to give him what I had bought for myself. I REALLY wanted that accessory, too!

But does a girl like this even deserve a present? Sierra makes it really hard to like her. And I can't help but picture Bismark wearing a ribbon or other similarly feminine accessory. We might have to hook him up with one when we get a chance.


Seiji: Okay.
Kelsey: I made it up.
Seiji: What kind of riddle is it?
Kelsey: What do you call a grumpy buffamoo?

- Angry.
- Moody.
- Grumpy.
- Crabby.

Kelsey: Right! It's a Buffamoo, so it's moo-dy! Since you answered it right, you get a prize!

** Request completed. Received Wonderful Gift Recipes as a reward!

Kelsey: Play with me again later!

If you mess up this request it's a very long time before you get another chance to pick up the Winderful Gift Recipes. I think it's a reward for the 4 FP request from a character who's only on the island two days per week, so it's very hard to raise her FP in the first place. No, we haven't met her yet.


Seiji: Can I have a hint?
Quinn: Um... It's in a holy spot overlooking the town. Get it? It's a pretty good hint. Come give me the treasure if you find it.

It's a bird feather up at the dragon shrine.

Quinn: You found it already? I thought it would be hard to find... Okay, you can have the treasure, then! Play with me again later!

Not the most exciting prize but a very fitting quest for a little girl like Quinn.


Violet: I always know when Electra's birthday is coming up because Maerwen gets so fidgety.

Wow, even Violet sees it.


Seiji: Why not?
Odette: She'll turn it down because she doesn't want to feel obligated. Keep that in mind.

Electra actually likes nearly anything (except jewels) that can be turned into an accessory. Like that bird feather we got from Quinn might go her way. She's a pretty cheap date, despite the pimped out dress and huge mansion.


Seiji: You're a dark elf, right, Maerwen?

"You're black, right?" It's okay because it's fantasy races!

Maerwen: That's right. I'm working here as a maid so I can learn about humans and their culture. ...
Seiji: What is it?
Maerwen: Sometimes I wish there were more animals and monsters on this island. Elves and dark elves actually get along very well with those creatures. They're a part of our society. I... miss being around them. Though that does remind me of a place I heard about...
Seiji: What place?
Maerwen: Supposedly, there used to be an island near here that was great for animals... It was supposed to be about an hour west of here. But right now it's beneath the ocean. I'm sure you could look into it, right?
Seiji: Probably...
Maerwen: Well, I'd appreciate it if you could. Don't worry about it if there's nothing there, though.


This is our sea chart. The two islands we've been to so far are right next door to each other and Maerwen's island isn't much farther away. Things get spread around a lot more as the game progresses, in part because moving Sudowoodo uses RP (energy/MP/whatever) and until Seiji levels up a bunch more it can't go very far before running out for the day. Sudowoodo and Seiji have separate RP/HP pools so Seiji can still do stuff when Sudowoodo runs out of gas but the base numbers are the same.


Sudowoodo can be driven around manually but it's slower and easy to lose track of where you are. This is Sudowoodo in automatic mode, where you pick a destination and it moves there on its own, the clock moving at an accelerated pace. If RP/HP get dangerously low, you can stop mid-trip, teleport Seiji back to Fenith Island, and resume the next day. Oh, and if it nears sleepy-o-clock - when Seiji passes out and wakes up late the next morning with a cold - Midori stops movement and yells at him to go to bed.


TA-DA! Much smaller island this time.

Midori: This island...


Seiji: Yeah... it's like the whole island has been turned to stone...

A petrified island? Trippy.


Midori: Huh? Did this little guy follow us? Maybe it's lost...
Seiji: It's a spirit.
Midori: A spirit?
Seiji: Yeah. It holds the energy of the earth inside of it. They appear in places where the land is brimming with life. Oh, I get it! That's why this island is like this! There are no spirits on it!

Welcome to every environmental themed animated movie ever. The spirit disappears into the ground with no apparent effect.

Midori: Did you see that? I guess that spirit was looking for a new home! Hey, Seiji, if we bring more spirits to the island, maybe we can bring it back to life.
Seiji: Hm, I think you're right. Let's find some spirits and bring them to this island!

A quest! Hooray!


Oh hey, we picked up a few spirits from random logs and tree stumps last island! The different colors mean they're associated with the different seasons. As we dump spirits here, the island will eventually reach 100% restoration. The yellow spirits count for 2% while the others are only 1%. Those blue spirits will be worth 10% if we save them until we find the winter island or could be +5% if we dump them off here. I haven't decided what to do with them...


However dropping off even 1% worth of spirits is enough to restore the island to green.

Midori: Seiji! Can't you use your Spirit Magic? I want to see how Spirit Magic makes plants grow!

My first time playing, I spent far more time getting through the first island and had amassed a lot more spirits by the time I got here. This time, the only planting point that lights up as usable is this guy.


Midori: Look, a sprout! Now what do we do, Seiji?
Seiji: This is as much as I can do. Spirit Magic can make a seed sprout, but can't tend the plant as it grows.
Midori: So it will just stay a sprout forever?
Seiji: No, there are certain monsters that can tend plants. We need to get those monsters to tend the plants for us. [/COLOR]
Midori: We can give jobs to monsters we've tamed with the brush, right?
Seiji: That's right. Using the Monster List in the Monster Barn, we can send our tamed monsters to work on this island. Monsters specialize in different kinds of work. Each monster can only do the one job it specializes in. And some monsters don't do any work, but they provide products like wool and eggs. If we have monsters harvest crops, they'll be placed in Storage on the island where they're picked. Then we go pick them up. But you have to have Monster Cookies to give the monsters in exchange for the jobs they do. And we buy the Monster Cookies at the general store...? It's a lot like the Earthmate work I'd do back on our Fenith Island.
Midori: That's right! Good thing you already know your way around a farm! Tee-hee!

That poor sprout is not going to grow any time soon because it's destined to become a tree and the first tree-cultivating monsters don't show up for quite a while yet. Once we get the percentage up a little higher, our Spring Flower monster will be able to grow flowers here.


You might have noticed from the areal view the tree at the center of the island had a large opening in it. It leads to a brand new doorway in the back of Sudowoodo's monster barn! So we don't have to drive Sudowoodo back to the spring island whenever we want to do any farming. Very handy.


Maerwen: And what did you find?
Seiji: Well, we found an island, but it doesn't actually look great for animals. Not yet, anyway.
Maerwen: Hmmm... Well, at least the rumors I heard were partly true. I' glad you found that island. Thank you.

** Request completed. Received Kitchen Recipes (Lv. 2) as a reward!

A fairly pleasant exchange with Maerwen, for a change! While we're here, let's hear one more opinion on Electra's upcoming birthday.


Beatrix: Though I suppose Electra would hate it...

It's okay, Beatrix. I'm sure Maerwen or Lily will make cake and you can eat it.

Beatrix's dialog throughout the day is frightening but unsurprising. She is always talking about the next meal, even if she's sitting at the table for the current meal. That includes a midnight snack!


While on the topic of food, it's time to show off the money trick. I can only afford four milk right now but it's good enough to get things started.


Over in the inn's kitchen we use the pot to turn the milk into hot milk. It's a level 2 recipe so the difficulty level will drop quickly as we abuse this trick, soon making it nearly impossible to fail. Hot milk is worth almost double the cost of milk.


But how the heck is it selling for 440 suddenly? The bulletin board has a notice today that dishes are in high demand, so they sell for a good chunk more than usual. Adding to that, Seiji can attempt to haggle the price up. If he fails, the sell price goes down but you can just exit out of the sell menu and try again. If he succeeds, the sell price increases by varying amounts. Haggle is a skill and the amount is probably influenced by skill level but I don't know the details.

In a single trip to the kitchen, we went from being able to afford four milk to fourteen milk. Since the milk shop and the kitchen are in the same building, not a minute of in-game time was spent on this scheme. Seiji will run out of RP to continue before long, but if some of the profits are spent on RP-restoring food items (sold by Odette!) this can continue forever. Or until you go mad.

I will try to resist abusing this trick too much but it's a decent way to use up the last of Seiji's RP before bed (since the Inn kitchen is open all night). Let's take a look at the other modes of item creation before we go to bed, shall we?


Seiji: Accessories?
Electra: Yes. This crafting area is where you can make accessories. Making accessories is a hobby of mine. If you're going to begin crafting, let me give you this. If you follow that, you can make simple accessories.
Seiji: Okay, thanks.
Electra: You're very welcome. Hee hee.

Accessories give stat bonuses like defense, HP, etc., but they also change a character's appearance. Seiji's hat will be the most immediately obvious when it changes but there are also pendants, rings, belts, glasses... All the teenagers in town (marriage candidates for Seiji or Midori eventually) will wear any accessories we give them. You know what that means. Let's Play Dress Up!

Not that we have many ingredients to work with just yet. Once we get the ingredients to get started, equipping Seiji is the top priority and other characters can have his cast-offs. Later on we should have a surplus and can start making things purely for the sake of gifting.


Violet: This is a mixing area for making medicine. If you're interested in it, I'll give you some recipes. I apologize for it being so dusty.
Midori: Thank you.
Violet: You're welcome. You can buy ingredients from the clinic, so please stop by any time. Um... You too, Seiji...

Making medicines is not nearly as much fun. Recovery potions only restore HP and so are generally inferior to food, which can also restore RP. Honestly the best use of a recovery potion is increasing Joe's FP. He fancies himself an adventurer, after all. The status-restoration medicines can be handy when islands full of poison-inflicting monsters start popping up.

I like how Midori handles this conversation instead of Seiji, letting Violet speak coherently long enough to get through the scene.


Seiji: I think it looks kind of fun.
Elena: Oh, okay. Why not? Here, I'll give you these forging recipes. You can't make anything without a recipe, after all. Good luck! We sell materials for forging, so I hope you'll buy from us.

The sales golem's stock never upgrades from the base weapons of each type, so forging is the only way to upgrade weapons and tools.


And we just happen to have an Earth Crystal on hand to actually upgrade something! The spirit wands activate planting points within a certain radius around Seiji and upgrading it expands that circle. It's not flashy but it sure is useful! Level + 20 is the most difficult recipe you can attempt, so this is barely possible.


Every kind of crafting boils down to this. A line moves across this bar and you have to try to stop it in the blue area. The line can move one of two speeds, so it can trip you up even if you get used to one speed. If the line gets back to where it started on the far left, you've failed and have to try again, though ingredients are only sacrificed in cooking. It still costs RP so you can't keep going forever, though even failures give you some skill experience.

Much later in the game, when you have all the crafting stations in your house and RP to kill before bed, intentionally failing isn't a bad way to level up crafting skills. Cooking's the only one that you can level up profitably on easy-to-acquire ingredients.

I think last week's update got lost among all the other LP updates that day, so to catch up: Post 1 & Post 2

Spring 4


Seiji: Why are you-- Oh yeah. You're inside my... Anyway, you don't have to wake me up. I can get up just fine on my own.
Midori: Huh? I used to have to come wake you up all the time!
Seiji: Wasn't that like ten years ago?
Midori: Hmph! You're no fun. But honestly, how long has it been since the days when I would come and wake you up in the morning? It brings back memories.

Fact: Midori does not necessarily sleep when Seiji sleeps. She probably sleeps the minimum required for mental health and maybe some extra out of boredom.

You two better not have this same conversation every morning. The bulletin board is restocked with requests so let's start with people who are available first thing in the morning.


Seiji: Accidents? That's not good.
Electra: Yes... Although I'm sure you don't need to worry about that with Sudowoodo. It's such a headache. But all I can do is warn you...
Seiji: That's it! Maybe I could use Sudowoodo to do something about the boulders.
Electra: Huh? ... That would be wonderful if you could.
Seiji: I'll give it my best shot.
Electra: Then I'd like to formally ask you to do that. I'll pay you 5000G.
Seiji: First off, I'll go check the area out.

It really sounds like Electra's trying to manipulate Seiji into offering Sudowoodo's services, but she needn't bother. For 5000G this early in the game Seiji'd do just about anything.


There are only two big boulders to clear out, but I guess this is meant as a "Sudowoodo can pick up rocks!" tutorial. Boulders appear randomly all over the ocean and Sudowoodo gets back a little RP from picking them up but it's not enough to be worth the effort.


Electra: Oh, thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Here's your reward. Again, thank you so much!

** Request completed! Received 5000G as a reward!

Yeah, we totally finished that quest before they finished breakfast. Gotta love that hourly rate!


Seiji: You're right.
Midori: What is it?
Seiji: It's a harvester.
Midori: A harvester?
Seiji: Yeah. For picking up items that you can get from tame monsters, like wool or eggs. You just use this on a monster that produces items, and it'll share its item with you. But monsters only make items every so often. Once you've gotten an item from it, you'll have to wait a while before you can get another.
Midori: I see... Let's look for monsters that make items and tame them!

Maybe Electra's boulder request triggers this scene, but my first time playing I'd already bought a harvester from a shop when it played. I was pretty annoyed, since there's not even anything you can do with a spare harvester except sell it.


Seiji: Yeah. I'm Seiji. And this is...
[COLOR="Magenta"]Midori: I'm Midori. Nice to meet you.
???: Whoaa...! Who said that? Did you hear someone say something?
Seiji: Ha-ha-ha! About that... it's complicated.
[exposition skip]
???: Huh... The world is full of strange things... I've experienced some strange things myself, but sharing a body with someone else's soul is a new one to me... Oh, pardon me! I haven't introduced myself. I'm Anette! Delivery girl extraordinaire!
Seiji: Delivery girl...?
Anette: Fenith Island doesn't have its own delivery person, right? My job is to delivery letters and packages. It's a way for people far apart to keep in touch.
Seiji: You can deliver letters beyond the island, too? That's convenient.
Anette: Isn't it? Delivery service only started on this island recently, but there's no delivery person on the island. So once a month, I come to make sure that packages get delivered. It's nice to meet you, Seiji and Midori!

Anette is a cameo from Rune Factory Frontier and only appears on the 4th of each month. She's adorable but even if you're super duper patient, she is not a marriage candidate and she doesn't really have an affection score. She has a series of conversations that'll trigger at each appearance, so we'll get to know her better on Summer 4.


Who's next? Well since Sierra's advertising a nice new spear (and anything's better than the one we have), we'll start there. The "golden turnip" requests move the main plot forward. Everything else is optional I think.


Sierra: How about this legendary spear? You won't find this just anywhere! It can be yours for only 1000G! It's made from a branch of the tree said to be the longest-living tree in the world. It's full of incredible energy!

** Request completed. Received Bunbunir (1) as a reward!

Sierra has a few requests like this, appearing at the start of each season. Apparently the order is dependant on which weapon you pick starting out, because when I picked the dual swords my first time playing, she offered dual swords with the spring request.


It looks like a stretched out bamboo sprout. According to the forging list, this baby is two ranks higher than the starting spear. Not as exciting as Sierra's sales pitch suggested but still a huge improvement. Sierra's got another request, so after a quick trip back to the inn...


Seiji: Man, you're impatient.
Sierra: I can't help it, I'm dying to know! There's a creepy yellow light in the sea, and I think it's a ghost! Can you go investigate? I mean, I've never seen a ghost before! How cool would that be?
Seiji: Well, it could be a lot of things. I wouldn't say it's a ghost just yet.
Sierra: Don't be silly. It's totally a ghost! I'll write down the place the ghost was seen on your sea chart, okay? You better find it for me!
Seiji: You're really excited about this. Well, show me where to go.

Time for another outing, Sudowoodo!


Our explorations expand ever outward. The target location being on the opposite side from the previous one is probably done to keep us from progressing overly fast but as you can see Sudowoodo still has more than enough RP to make the trip.


TA-DA! This island is so tiny it doesn't float when Sudowoodo tosses it back in the ocean (no, that probably doesn't make sense either way), but Seiji can explore it while Sudowoodo's holding it up.


I shall beat you on the head with my bamboo shoot!

** You learned the Spear Charge Attack! To use the Charge Attack, hold down the square button, then release it. This attack will blast your enemies up into the air!

Like I'm ever going to remember to use that. More button mashing, please! Seiji picks up another yellow spirit while he's here.


And at top of the island there's a treasure chest, containing... a treasure chest. The small treasure chests have to be appraised before we find out what they are and the appraiser is here on Thursdays and Holidays, so we'll find out more tomorrow. All the tiny islands have small treasure chests and their contents are chosen randomly from a small list. Some islands are worth camping out at for a few days due to the high quality loot.


Sierra: Aww... That's no fun at all! So do you think there are more sunken islands with lots of spirits on them?
Seiji: Good question. It might be a good idea to look for them...
Sierra: And I'll keep on looking for ghosts! Bwahaha!
Seiji: Wow, you're really set on that.
Sierra: I think it would be so much fun! Here's your reward. Eat it later, okay?

** Request completed! Received Sardine Sashimi (5) as a reward!

Good lord, woman! What are you doing with that much raw fish in your pockets? Anyway, next?