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

Seiji: Of course.
Lily: Thank you. I need a piece of iron and a piece of scrap metal from the blacksmith's.
Seiji: Oh? What are you using it for?
Lily: I'm making a stand for my lute. When you've been asked to get multiple items, you don't need to wait until you have everything; you can bring the items one at a time. But if you cancel a request after you've given someone some of the items, you'll lose any items you've been given. So be careful. So I need iron and scrap metal.

Lesson: Don't give people stuff until you have everything. It's never a good idea.

While we're at the blacksmith's, let's say hi to Elena.


Seiji: That was random! What are you talking about?
Elena: Just shut up and bring them.
Seiji: Before I do that, how about explaining clearly what you want them for?
Elena: What a pain... Not long ago, I took a little sample of Sudowoodo...
Seiji: Whoa! When did you do that?
Elena: And based on that, I designed some decorative parts for Sudowoodo. Just bring me the materials I need and you'll be able to decorate Sudowoodo so he looks really cool! Keep in mind that this will just change his appearance... his powers will be the same as they were before. Got it? One toyherb and one moondrop, pronto!

They're both spring flowers so in theory it shouldn't take too long to collect. A month, maybe. Hey, Haru doesn't even like us yet and the spring island's barely unpetrified! You can't expect fast results! Elena doesn't pester Seiji for these things after mentioning it the first time, which is nice but it's easy to forget about it.


Lily: I should be able to make a really cute lute stand! Thank you! Here's your reward. I'll see you later!

** Request completed! Received 1000G as a reward!

Not bad for fetching 100G worth of merchandise. I hope Lily doesn't seriously injure herself while trying to make her lute stand. Normally this would call for hammer humor but working with hunks of metal? Clumsy girl does not need to be working with a blowtorch or soldering iron!


Seiji: To drink?
Joe: I just want the bottle. Grandpa threw the one I was saving away.
Seiji: Oh, okay... I'll go check.
Joe: Thanks!

Bacchus throwing away Joe's previous wine bottle might sound like a "Yer too young!" thing. But the thing is... Bacchus is an alcoholic.* He drinks himself to sleep every night at the inn. I suspect Bacchus was trying to protect Joe from falling into the same trap.

* I'm not spoiling anything coming up by saying that and it's the sort of thing that might not come up otherwise.


Seiji: Lens?
Joe: Heh heh heh. Yeah, for a telescope! It's gonna be awesome! Is this okay as I thank you? I found it, but I can't use it myself.

** Request completed! Received Fire Rod (1) as a reward!

Sweet! We've gotten an upgraded spear and a fire rod out of requests today. There were plenty of requests to see staff during the weapon poll so I will try to level up those skills so it's actually usable (instead of a RP hog) before long.


There aren't any more requests so I head back to the island to try out the new staff. There's some autotargeting to help ensure the fireballs hit their mark but it doesn't go up hill, so in terrain like this you've gotta position yourself carefully. On the right image you can see a wooly with its fur burned off. How cute! ♥


Once the monster generator and most of the monsters are cleared, Seiji befriends the survivor, a fire slime.


So, here's some monster stats. Slimes are ore-producing monsters but ore is only produced on the winter island so for now this fellow's only purpose is to keep Seiji company while adventuring. That seems like a good chunk of HP, at least compared to Seiji's right now, so at the least it'll distract enemies from hitting Seiji as much. As for the name... I was hungry.


This wooly is not as receptive to Seiji's love. Maybe it saw him burn the wool off the other one? Midori's commentary is rather inappropriate, don't you think?


And so Seiji was eaten by sheep and never heard from again.

Or wakes up the next morning with a cold. Same difference.

Man, that's my pockets pretty much every time I play a Harvest Moon game.

Well, a character named Bacchus is pretty much always going to be an alcoholic. It's one of those self-fulfilling prophecies.

Spring 5


I had some weird dreams last night, about sheep and fire and pain... I guess it's from this cold I caught but I never used to get crazy fever dreams like that! I feel like every kind of yuck and it's raining and I'd rather just go back to bed... I probably would but I don't have any medicine and I'm not going to sit around hoping someone checks in on me.


Violet: Oh, you think you might be sick? Let me examine you! Okay, take a deep breath! Hmm... It looks like you have a cold, Seiji! Don't worry, I'll fix you right up. This may hurt a little. Be brave.

Ugh, I would far rather play doctor than actually get doctored. But... ow!

Violet: You're all better! The treatment fee is 100G. Thanks very much!


Violet: So take care of yourself!

That takes care of the cold, now about the halved HP/RP bars.

Know what I could really use? A bath. Actually... I haven't had a bath since I got here, three days ago. I could REALLY use a bath!


Seiji: What? What's gotten into you? Aiiiiee! Whoa! That's right! I forgot you were here!
Midori: W-What are we gonna do? I don't really want to be around while you're taking a bath, Seiji...
Seiji: Of course I feel the same way! So what are we going to do? Should I skip the bath?
Midori: That would be kind of gross too...
Seiji: What do we do, then?
Midori: Hmmm...


Midori: O-Okay... I will.

Oh man, how long am I going to be stuck bathing in swim trunks? I've got to get Midori back in her own body or I'm gonna go crazy!

Anyway, let's head back to the inn for a quick bite.


Good think I took a bath!

Seiji: With pleasure.
Lily: Tee-hee! Thank you!


Fenith Island's great. Can't say the same about the double-occupancy body...

Midori: You bet! And thank you so much for letting us stay in such a nice place!
Lily: I'm so glad you like it! But we still haven't thrown a welcome party for you!
Seiji: Huh? You don't have to do that!
Lily: I know! Let's have it now! I'll make a special meal for you!


Lily: Oh no! I stumbled again!

You know what Lily needs? Shorter skirts. She might not trip as much, and if she does at least there'd be a chance of seeing something.


Odette: Hold on a second!
Lily: Oh! Odette and Violet! What is it?
Odette: W-We'll handle the cooking, okay?
Violet: Th-That's right! Lily, why don't you keep chatting with Seiji and Midori while we cook?
Lily: Oh, I couldn't do that!
Odette: No, no, it's fine! Leave it to us!


Lily: Oh, we don't mind at all! Though I wasn't planning to make my sisters do all the work... It always turns out that way... The two of them never let me in the kitchen. I know I'm not a very good cook, but it's not like I'll burn the kitchen down the instant I set foot in there.
Midori: You know what you should do? Secretly practice cooking and then surprise your sisters!
Lily: What a good idea! I'm going to do just that! This will be our little secret, just the three of us! Don't tell!

And if you do burn down the kitchen, they'll never suspect what happened! ...I'm glad the guest house isn't connected to the rest of the inn.


Seiji: It looks delicious!
Violet: N-No, it's nothing special, really...


And there we have our first Heart Event. They trigger any time someone's FP (Friendship Points) rise high enough to hit the next level. Right now the cap is 6 and it'll stay that way until Seiji and Midori separate. At that point we'll pick which of them to continue playing as and their potential mates will have their cap raised to 10. Everyone else stays at 6.

The other complication, and the reason I haven't asked who Seiji should focus on wooing, is every potential mate - female and male - must reach 6 before the story can be completed. There's some story reason why but the real reason is all the Heart Events before then call for Midori to still be stuck in Seiji's body and coming up with an extra two versions of every heart event would be a lot of extra work for the writers.


A glance at the affection levels for the first eight villagers on the list. Fulfilling requests boosts FP, which accounts for some of the variance, but some people just like Seiji better from the start. I think Lily's bar is half full right away, and Violet's is similar. Elena isn't good with people and Makoto is very formal and standoffish.

I thought I'd be able to move along to the next island today but there aren't any new requests. I believe that's because it's raining and the Thursday/Holiday market isn't held on rainy days, preventing us from meeting the individual who might offer the next story request. But that's just a theory. Last time I checked, no one had determined what exactly triggers the next golden turnip requests.