Topic: Rune Factory Frontier

[Stratos]

We should get someone like Greg on staff to do a staff blog about his adventures when it comes out.

So how do you all recommend making money since half my field is no good for crops at the moment? Or is that what the plots in the dungeon are for?

[Mop it up]

Just try to best utilize the space you have available. Growing crops in dungeons takes a bit more time that you should probably be using for other things.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Grow your important, cheap-to-maintain crops like Strawberries in those first few patches inside Green Ruins.  It'll never suffer due to weather/seasons, and it's generally closer to a water source than the perceived majority of your farmland.  Plus, you can treat the rest of the floor as a farm for RP-repleninishing Rune Crystals that you can run to quickly.

Running your ass to the Bathhouse as your primary refill location can use up precious time.

[EasyCure]

if you're desperate enough you can pound away at the trees on the mountain as well as the ones near the lake to harvest some fruit and sell but.. you'll just be wasting RP that way.

[Stratos]

Where are these RP replenishing crystals? I've never seen one.

[SilverGrey]

Where are these RP replenishing crystals? I've never seen one.

You get them when you grow crops in dungeons, they're white glowing orbs that hang over the fully-grown crop.  You would get them in your fields on your farm too but outside of caves Rune Crystals become Runeys instead.

[Stratos]

Do the crops ever die or can I just leave them there fully grown to get the crystals?

[SilverGrey]

As nearly as I can tell from my own experience, you can just leave them there.  Perhaps someone who's further into the game can weigh in with a different experience, but I have several plots that I just have stuff sitting on doing nothing.

[EasyCure]

SG's right; they don't die, ever. I have plots of turnips in Whale Island from my first trip there, and i'm in the second spring. the rune crystals appear every day as long as the crops are intact. also, you won't have to worry about blizzards or storms killing them inside the dungeons.

[Mop it up]

Would crops wither if you don't water them before they are fully grown?
I don't know what it means when a crop is described as "takes some care to grow". Does that just mean that you can't miss a day of watering, or do you have to do something special with them?

[Spinnzilla]

Has anyone here played the new Harvest Moon?

My girlfriend says it's the best one in quite a while.

[SilverGrey]

I'm having an exciting Rune Factory day.  I bought a spear, found new stuff in the Green Ruins, and my monsters decided that they should start doing their jobs.  I guess that whole feeding them thing does wonders for their opinion of me.  Can I get some Runey help though?  On the distribution map, what should the pie chart look like for the 4 colors of Runeys?  Should they each be a quarter of the pie?

[Mop it up]

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to handle Runeys myself, so I can't be of much help. Here's the guide I've been looking at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=946789&topic=48823743

[SilverGrey]

Wow, thank you so much!  I don't really get it, but I shall keep reading it until it makes a little more sense.  Apparently a grass factory should be something I set up.  Anyone have thoughts on a good place?  I had no idea the Runey system was so......complicated.  This game is a lot more detailed than I originally thought.

[Mop it up]

Yeah, I don't like the whole Runey thing and it's one reason why I'm taking a break from this game.

You might not have seen this post on the previous page, so here is what somebody here had to say to me when I posted about my Runey problem. Maybe it can help you:

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=25222.msg560122#msg560122

[Stratos]

Do you learn more about Runeys in the game at some point or do I just have to find this out on my own? I don't want to have them all die off while waiting for something that may never happen.

@Spinzilla
I haven't heard much concerning it but I'd like to hear your impressions. Go ahead and start a thread for it. My little sister loves Harvest Moon games so I may get that one for her since she probably has little interest in the Rune Factory games.

[Mop it up]

At some point you'll be able to read the books in the library which will tell you about certain things like the Runeys, so be sure to check it every now and again. Though, if you ask me, the books about Runeys are pretty vague and don't really stress their importance.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Remember to feed your monsters.

[Stratos]

So let me see if I get this straight: to build new areas on your farm like the lab or forge you have to commission Koss to build the building but that is useless until you talk to the peddler guy and buy equipment to put in the buildings, right?

Also, how do I find out what the different ladies like? Do I just give them random crap until I get a positive reaction or can I find it out somewhere in the game?

Also, I just figured out that the 'little rocks' can be broken by the cheap hammer. I thought that it was just rocky soil that had to be dug up later with a shovel or something so I never tried the hammer on them until now. So I can actually fit more than three pieces of solid 3x3 plants on my farm.

[Mop it up]

So let me see if I get this straight: to build new areas on your farm like the lab or forge you have to commission Koss to build the building but that is useless until you talk to the peddler guy and buy equipment to put in the buildings, right?

You can buy the beginning cooking, lab, and forge equipment before you expand your house, but before you can get equipment upgrades you need to build the corresponding extension on your house.

Also, how do I find out what the different ladies like? Do I just give them random crap until I get a positive reaction or can I find it out somewhere in the game.

Trial and error is the fastest way. If you talk to them every day then they may make a comment about something which they like or dislike. When all else fails, check GameFAQs.

I'm not sure if you know this since I didn't know it for some time: you can clear stumps with 12 regular axe swings. That's a lot of RP use though so only clear out one that's really in your way.

[Stratos]

I was going to try chopping stumps with my cheap axe but never found enough RP left over to see it through. That is a lot.

I'm beginning to see how important growing crops in the dungeons will be to complete them. I can't get halfway through without running out of RP unless I get lucky and level up mid dungeon.

I'm hesitant to check gamefaqs because for one I try not to use guides until I beat a game or get horribly stuck and for two if I check it once it becomes hard to resist checking again and again and again and I end up spoiling the whole game early on.

[decoyman]

Just started playing this game again. It is now winter, and I had a storm that made my field look just like EC's. Only about halfway through getting rid of the stumps after 3 days.

I'm beginning to see how important growing crops in the dungeons will be to complete them. I can't get halfway through without running out of RP unless I get lucky and level up mid dungeon.

Dungeon farming really helped me in more than just getting through the dungeon. In the green ruins, my entry level is devoted to long-term spring flowers (for easy access), but I have several other areas with fields full of grass (which is good, because I didn't have quite enough fodder to over-winter my monsters), which MORE IMPORTANTLY gives me a ready supply of RP-replenishing crystals. The best thing about the grass is that, even if I need to cut some down, it's fully regrown and supplying crystals again in just two days. Makes a quick trip to replenish my RP after de-stumping my field much easier. Then, more de-stumping. And more. And more! Thanks, winter storm!

I actually plant a ton of grass in my above-ground field for runey management too. Because of this, I've got two areas in prosperity, the rest are decent, and even after redistributing runeys, it doesn't take long before I'm fully-stocked (60's the max in any area) at my homestead again.

Also, I was surprised at how fast re-harvestable vegetables grow when you have multiple areas in runey prosperity. I had yams every day through fall. I'd pick them, and they'd regrow by the next day. That was pretty nice.

All in all, though, I have to agree with the majority that runeys are a gigantic pain the rear.

[SilverGrey]

I wonder why if the Runeys are so integral to the game, they chose to make the system for moving them around so awkward!  I've spent most of my playing time this morning moving those little suckers about.  I'm going to have to start writing down the numbers in the areas so I stop having to run back to the map all the time.  Also I do not like the Runey vacuum Harvester device.

[decoyman]

I wonder why if the Runeys are so integral to the game, they chose to make the system for moving them around so awkward!  I've spent most of my playing time this morning moving those little suckers about.  I'm going to have to start writing down the numbers in the areas so I stop having to run back to the map all the time.  Also I do not like the Runey vacuum Harvester device.

I'm no fan either... I wish there was some other way to view the distribution than finding/asking that one girl or going all the way to the second floor of the clocktower. Maybe they're trying to re-kindle the old days of RPG gaming when you used to need a freaking 3-ring binder to keep track of everything, draw maps of dungeons, remember hints, etc...

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

You don't get anything for nothing in this game.  Everyone should realize that.

Plain results require plain effort.

Special results require EXTRA care.