fogu.com information on Rune Factory
Swords indeed.
So I ‘acquired’ Rune Factory already and suffice to say I am impressed. Farming is basically the same as with any other Harvest Moon, except now you can finally walk over growing crops. No more are the days of the past where that god damn center tomato is forever out of your reach. Also every time a group of 9 plants matures, one of them will have a floating orb above (plants are rune factories, get it?) which restores 25 RP. If you don’t harvest the plants a rune will appear every day.
The fighting aspect takes place inside various caves (this time around time passes normally inside caves, however the speed at which time passes has been slowed down for the entire game as to give you more time to explore), and is actually pretty good as long as you’re wielding an actual weapon rather then a tool, as tools are really really slow compared to swords. Caves also each have a specific seasonal climate they follow, so they’re the best place to grow respawning crops.
Farm animals have been completely removed, they are now replaced by being able to befriend monsters by petting them while they unmercifully beat on you. There are various monsters that provide milk, wool or eggs just as cows, sheep and chickens did before. There are also a various different monsters that replace your horse, and other monsters that will water or harvest your plants for you if asked. On top of that some monsters can enter the caves with you to speed up killing shit for sweet sweet experience.
Also added is a wifi system where you can trade items and screenshots (which you can doodle on). Trading items is awesome, as every time an item moves to a different played it increases its level, and every level an item has increases it’s base selling cost or it’s effectiveness (in the case of weapons). This can be horribly abused by buying Strawberry seeds the first day, trading to level 10 (which is the highest level you can grow of crops) and planting them in the first cave to forever grow massive amounts of Strawberries that sell for 10 times the normal shipping price.
Quickstart Guide (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS):
After the cute little intro, Mist will walk north to your farm. You’ll notice that until you talk to her, time doesn’t progress. Use this opportunity to gather every plant on your field, and sell everything (including weeds, why not, better then littering) except HP healing grass and the antidote plant. (You can ship items on holidays and after 5:00 PM, it’ll just get picked up the next day). After you’ve done this, talk to Mist, at which point a monster will appear for you to destroy with your trusty Cheap Hoe. Time is still frozen at this point, so till a bunch of your field until your RP meter is empty, then talk to Mist to end the intro.
Plant and water the Turnip Seeds she gave you, then immediately run north into town, then east to the beach, learn about the shell, then run to the end of the docks to get your fishing pole. Fishing is an excellent way to make money when you have nothing to do, and we’ll need some cash for spelunking in a bit, so fish until 9:00 am, then run around town talking to whoever you can find (a lot of stuff is closed because it’s a holiday). Also check a dresser in Mist’s house for an empty bottle. When you’re done, if it’s still before 3:00 PM, fish some more in the ocean until it is.
3:00 is when the bathhouse opens up, which you can use once a day to completely restore your RP and HP for 10gp. Awesome. Heal up, then go back to your fields and till until you have 100 or more squares dug out. This is the requirement to open the first cave. Once you finish you can go fish in the ocean some more if it’s not very late, just make sure you don’t pass out.
The next day, water your Turnips, then go fishing until 9:00 am again. At 9:00 go visit all the shops that were closed the previous day. If you have over 50 squares dug you can get a Sickle from Rosetta in the Seed Shop. Make sure you go to the Major’s House to unlock the first cave if you have 100 squares dug out. You can also get an Axe from Bianca, another bottle if you check some Barrels in her basement (the Mansion), and the Pet Glove from Tabatha (the first cave needs to be unlocked to get this).
Enter the cave, they’ll be an event and you’ll get the return spell. Then go up and immediately left dodging the enemy. Dig this area out. Once finished, go east across the bridge, then north at the eastmost path, in the next screen there will be another set of fields to the east, so dig enough of that to get a total of 50 squares dug, which will make it so the blacksmith will give you a Hammer.
Sweet, we have all of the basic tools now. Make sure you put all that fish you caught in the shipping bin before 5:00, so you get enough cash to buy some Strawberry seeds before the shop closes at 6:00. I think you see where this is going, so go trade those bitches across Wifi until they’re level 10, then plant them in the cave. Now you have a constant stream of income starting the second day of the game. 
Have fun farming in the future. :moogle:
My Friend Code: 0172-8803-8251
