Rune Factory 5

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Always wanted to play one these games, but haven't until now bc you can have queer relationships in this one.

Placing your crafting tables around seems awkward. Can you keep them outside? Are you supposed to? I went to bed at 2 PM one game day because I was almost out of energy/health and forgot I could take infinite baths for now. Now it is the day of a cooking contest and I have expended all energy trying to level up my cooking skills but I still need to do farm stuff. Hope I can take on this day and/or restore my energy somehow. Will this cooked food help? I was exhausted considering the possibilities and went to play EU4. But I'll come back! Maybe I'll need to reset this day and approach it differently... (don't think I can win; it's fine)

Haven't gotten to combat yet but while I normally prefer a lither weapon, the two handed sword has really pretty animations and I value prettiness above all else in a game like this.

Please tell me how ur enjoying this or not and present tips and tricks...

 

[Kazin]

I completely forgot about this game. I was looking forward to it then it got delayed and now I have a Steam Deck so I kiiiiinda want to wait and see if it gets a PC port, does anyone know if that's in the cards?

I haven't played 5 yet obviously, but if it's like 4, you can put your crafting tables anywhere you want, if I recall correctly. So, I'd just put them where it's most convenient for you. You're right that you probably can't win the cooking contest in your first year, especially if it takes place not long after the start of the game, so winging it for now is probably fine (again, based on 4).

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Triggered some event with Martin where we were spending the night at the inn/spa together at the end of the day when I was out of energy. Somewhat surprising how immediately romantic several of the cutscenes with the fellas are; even though I knew they're romanceable by Ares. (I don't think I did anything in particular to trigger this aside from talking to him and giving him gifts) The bachelors and bachelors are just indiscriminately pratfalling into the protagonist. Anyway, event ended at 9:00 AM the next day and I had no energy recovered, even though there was spa time!!

Missed my morning pickup and some farming time. And I needed it bc I then had to spent like six hours farming. Also "need" to level up my seeds but I'm not sure you can see what level a plant is before either picking or sickling it. I take it you automate farming with monsters so I'm trying to get four but then I'm not sure what to do with them. Also I have no idea what to give them to tame them, hoping for a FAQ or wiki update soon...

I discovered I didn't need to individually craft pickled turnips (only thing I can reliably cook so far) to level up cooking; (desperately needed to bc I have all these cooking breads that wouldn't teach me things yet) you can mass produce things. Ate the bread. Horrifically, a bunch of fishing recipes. I'm bad at fishing in this and all video games. But I'll do it. Doesn't seem like the one fish I could catch and cook gave me any more exp than the pickled turnips, though.

First time I ran out of space in the shipping bin; I know I can buy more but I need to make sure I can buy the next festival with a minigame I won't succeed at. At the end of the day, I just chopped wood bc I had nothing to do, but then I destroyed my well when the stump near ran out. Was a bit annoyed - am I going to have to buy another one?? No, it regenerated in the morning.

I believe the numbers in this game go up too high!

Is there a way to get a lot of weeds or what. What's the point of weeds? What does a sickle do to weeds? (seemed to just destroy them)

 

[Rosewood]

I've ordered this one and it's expected to arrive Thursday. I've played RF 2, 3 and 4 (and less than a season into one of the Wii games), and have enjoyed each iteration more, so I'm fully expecting to get sunk into this one for a month and not get much else done. More in a bit!

 

[Rosewood]

Also "need" to level up my seeds but I'm not sure you can see what level a plant is before either picking or sickling it.

If it works the same as in RF4, if you sickle the plant, the chances of the seed being a higher level than the plant you've chopped down are fairly high (it could even be 100% but I'm not certain of that, it's been a few years since I played RF4 on 3DS). Do it with a few turnips or other cheap plants you don't care if you lose the item, and see what happens!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

That's how it works, but apparently that stops being as effective after level 3. I am able to craft the second tier of tools, though, and just got some level 4 seeds immediately. Hoping I can get to level 5 (for a quest) relatively painlessly. And hope I get a fishing pole recipe via bread soon so fishing can be less frustrating, maybe. You can see crop levels before harvesting with the... magnifying glass or whatever. And "soil health" which I don't know what to make of. You have to... till things, occasionally? When will my beast friends do farmwork for me! Farming is second only to fishing terms of not really what I like to do in farming sims. Not touching the fire dragon plot until I have help. Also don't have much money for seeds because I'm trying to buy the myriad cooking equipment sets. Just bought the clinic expansion for a cold medicine quest too. (Had the recipe, but not the materials to make it)

This game feels jaaaaanky. (why six thousand different cooking sets, among other things!) I guess your "level" affects combat damage but I've found I can circumvent doing 0 damage to capture request monsters by just slamming them with the glove special moves. Then I have to get a safe distance away to capture them, because I will die immediately if one of their moves lands. I guess this could be a circumstance where I'd want help (other targets) but I do my adventuring at night and it seems companions leave then. Seems rude to drag the monsters along because I'll be working them hard soon...

I think I have unlocked all potential boyfriends. (well, Lucas isn't on the character subscreen yet but he's shown up) I suppose I have to do another dungeon for the last gf? Also Martin's "romance event" was perhaps unusually suggestive; the others haven't seemed as clearly about you hooking up with a townsperson yet.

Anyway, even though this game feels pretty weird sometimes I like my anime friends and I will eventually run out of big ticket items I feel obligated to buy. Right?

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

I really enjoyed my time with RF4, but I never got to the end game, so I feel obligated to go back to that game versus throwing down money for a brand new one. A year ago I would have been happy to buy this no reservations. But after "beating" Olive Town, I am extremely gunshy of buying games developed by Hakama on the Switch. Endgame Olive Town was essentially unplayable with how hard the Switch hardware had to chug with how big my farm had gotten. My trust has been completely shattered. Really wish these games had PS4 ports, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards.

 

[Rosewood]

RF5 has chugged from the beginning, notably right after zone changes.

Initial thoughts:

- Amnesiac MC. Novel!
- It's been very easy to get into the flow even after not having played one of these for years.
- Not impressed with the waifus or husbandos I've seen thus far.
- Recipe bread feels just as weird and pointless as it did in RF4.
- I am still tickled by skills like sleeping and bathing.
- I've never gone for full completion on any of these games (craft every item, ship every item, post-game, etc) and this one is very unlikely to be an exception.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

I don't mind the chugging; most pressing technical issue for me is aiming, whether in combat or farming, is just finnicky and awkward.

- I am still tickled by skills like sleeping and bathing.

My favorite is walking... makes me feel so productive and happy when I get that little notification. Ares is pumped, too. But I still feel there are too many numbers that I believe go up way too high in this game. Luckily I have not been infected with a desire to max them or whatever. I don't think I'll try to ship one of everything bc there's so much garbage here but I am becoming more willing to ship one of anything I have just in the name of preserving storage space. Just got a seemingly fancy permanent strength up consumable from a monster hunt that seems worthless bc it's just one strength and you get so much strength from countless random skills. Should Probably Ship
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I am going to try to finish all the monster quests before progressing further just so they don't take up a quest slot. Still cannot normally damage them but slamming them is perfectly safe and effective. Dangerous when other powerful nearby mobs get involved. Rude! But they can be slammed as well.
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First headgear I could craft was a bow which frankly looks cute on Ares. Then I got glasses which had better stats (not enough to matter) but covered Ares' eyes. Not cute. If the frames were clear, that would be Fashion. But they had swirly spirals. Picked up a recipe for a pumpkin hat and it seriously improves my defense (nice for these monsters) but yes, covers his face. Hate this in all videogames; cute hats only or let me hide them. (maybe you can hide them) Well, I'll just keep one around for when it's monster catchin' time.
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Apparently level 3 is when monsters start working for me but I haven't really experimented with it. I only saw an option for having a monster plant seeds which seems like the only thing I'd like to control, but I probably had done everything else by that point. I mostly just wish I no longer had things I needed to buy that I don't care about and could just spend money on clothes then stop farming. No more farmland, please! I want to spend less time farming!!! (I know it's my choice...) But I know I will get at least one more plot...
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Got another "romance event" with Martin. Less romantic, for sure. I bring this up bc once again it was an all-nighter with no refresh. Most others don't seem to be. Anyway, ended at 5:00 AM the next morning. I was able to go to sleep and recover all my energy by 6? Is this normal? Can you just stay up all night with no ill effects? Don't think so. But interesting. I don't really feel like refreshing my energy that often. I'll just go to sleep at around 10 like I have been.

Also don't have much money for seeds because I'm trying to buy the myriad cooking equipment sets.... (why six thousand different cooking sets, among other things!)

Well, you can consolidate them for a modest seed point fee... I guess that's next on the list. Goofy. Too many things to spend resources on! imo
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Fishing did not really seem any easier with the second tier of rod!!! My eternal foe, in terms of ubiquitous RPG mini-games....

 

[Vaeran]

I picked this up last week and have been pecking at it a bit, but other demands on my time (Gundam) have prevented me from really sitting down with it and getting into the nitty gritty.

Placing your crafting tables around seems awkward.

But OH MY GOD I HATE THIS LIKE POISON. Is there seriously no way to place your furniture on a grid or something? All I can do is pick up a wardrobe over my shoulder like Superman and then kinda eyeball it with the extremely sensitive controls? Then when I think I've got it perfectly flush I set it down and check, and it's actually at like a 27.5 degree angle and two feet from the wall. I HATE IT

 

[Aeonus]

But OH MY GOD I HATE THIS LIKE POISON. Is there seriously no way to place your furniture on a grid or something? All I can do is pick up a wardrobe over my shoulder like Superman and then kinda eyeball it with the extremely sensitive controls? Then when I think I've got it perfectly flush I set it down and check, and it's actually at like a 27.5 degree angle and two feet from the wall. I HATE IT

There's no grid, but if you hold R while carrying furniture you lock your facing and move slower. It's not as good as a grid but it's way more precise than free-move.

 

[Vaeran]

Ah, thank you! I'll definitely try that.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

I don't know what people consider spoilers so proceed with caution!

I got tired of having my seal ability locked so I decided finish a plot dungeon in the morning before farming, which seemed like it skipped some time, but I wanted to confirm, so I was just going to click through the cutscene and holy shit it just kept going. 150 times longer than it needed to be. Anyway, yes, did skip a day which is I guess bad for the crops so I will reload.... This quest also gives me a new villager, who seems kinda fun, but unfortunately I must resent her for resetting my progress on a "get everyone's friendship to a certain level quest." That's just one quest, though. I hope I get my seal ability back like immediately because it's blocking me from so many things, mostly the Crest that gives you more SEED points. I wasn't quite strong enough to finish the last 5-star monsters before Atohl's End but I got stronger quickly enough and should've just toughed it out. You spend way too much time without that ability... imo...

Do villagers' affection levels go down if you don't click on them every day? I really wish I could more time interacting with them but so much other bullshit I have to do I'd like to just ignore them all for several days to do it. Sorry for not wholly appreciating a video game I'm playing.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Typhoon came. Never played one of these. Apparently it will just keep destroying your crops all day. Just planted some rare flower; probably gone. But who cares. They have this "wettable powder" with which you can prepare for typhoons somehow but I just have no motivation to spend more time pressing a button in the name of farming. Just irritating! Also I'm apparently going to get yet another villager resetting a quest's progress. There needs to be 10 times less game here, imo! Read that typhoons cause more damage the longer you play; was going to do a plot dungeon today without talking to anybody. I just I should just sleep. Please do not moralize to me about not liking this.

You can ride a coelacanth with two people. Now that I appreciate!

 

[Kazin]

This came out on PC today, and plays pretty well on Deck, but so far there's no way to force the game to display controller prompts, which is annoying, though that's something that will likely be ironed out in an update.

I'm glad I waited! All the reviews I've skimmed of the PC version say how much better the game runs on PC as opposed to Switch. I will say that if you're playing on Steam Deck, you'll want to enable Proton Experimental compatibility, otherwise the main menu will look all messed up (though will still be navigable). I haven't fought a big group of enemies yet or anything, but will graphics set to high and framerate set to 60, I'm getting about 4 hours of battery on a full charge.

 

[Kazin]

Hey, this is fun so far, put a few hours into it so far. My main gripe with 4 - that it's hideously ugly - is fixed here, even if the graphics aren't super high end, they're a nice style and are charming. I think my favorite thing about this and 4 (and Stardew Valley) is that there's no pressure - do things at your own pace, you won't be punished for doing things wrong or subpar or whatever.