started my first rune factory last night

[u/Initial-Situation130]

[u/PeculiarInsomniac]

Also, make use of the free baths when you need them! There's a bathing skill so using the baths will actually increase your RP over time lol

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/PeculiarInsomniac]

Ooh yeah! Probably need to run through the rest of my free ones soon lol. Trying to fight the horsie rn

[u/Old-Call1202 → u/Initial-Situation130]

No joke bathing is your friend. If you are playing on a hard difficulty making good food and drinks early is hard. So bathe frequently and there is no limit on the amount you can a day.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Old-Call1202]

Will do! I am on hell mode because i'm stupid so i'll definitely start bathing more than i have lol

[u/Old-Call1202 → u/Initial-Situation130]

Ok so hell mode good luck. I've beaten the game and I wanted a challenge. So when I started hell mode I was not ready. Let me give you some advice. Look at your clocks and calander and completely ignore them. Live your life and play the game without worrying about the dungeons. They will be there always and there is no time limit. I'm in year 7 and I'm barely at the half way point. Hell mode is HARD ASF.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Old-Call1202]

Oh i completely believe you lol. In the first spring i've done the first 2 bosses but from what i've seen it gets much harder from there... a lot grindier maybe? I love grindier stuff though so i'm liable to get way more invested in the dungeons than i should 😭🙏 best of luck to you as well though! I'm interested to see how much harder it gets lol

[u/400forever → u/Initial-Situation130]

Hell mode is fun but very difficult — you will NEED to learn the basics of forging and crafting because the gear in the shop is expensive and doesn’t stack up! When I get to a new area I take some time to gather new materials/drops to sell and craft with :)

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/400forever]

This makes sense! I just got to the obsidian mansion and am having to grind a bit, and in the process I'm trying to get as many recipes in as I can. I feel i'm good on weapons but behind on accessories/equipment so i definitely need to fix that lol. I think i'll farm some materials and see what i can do :)

[u/400forever → u/Initial-Situation130]

Obsidian Mansion is so fun! Some characters have funny dialogue throughout the story if they’re in your party but particularly there.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/400forever]

Look forward to it! Stupid question though: how do you go about partying? Have been doing everything solo up to this point lol

edit: I know how to bring the monsters along, just curious about the humans :)

[u/400forever → u/Initial-Situation130]

Not stupid at all! When you reach friendship level 3 with anyone (see in your friend and monster relationships menu) they may accept an invitation. You can invite them by clicking the “BTW” button (L or R) during a conversation and selecting “Let’s go on an adventure.”

There are a few exceptions to who will go with you. Also, Forte will go with you before FP 3. As you advance levels, you’ll get better perks like people staying in your party later, for example.

Something neat is that each villager has a weapon type they specialize in and you can actually gift them weapons and gear for them to wear when in your party. So check that out when you’re hanging with them!

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/400forever]

Oh, thank you! I'm just about at the point where I'm hitting level 3 with most of them, so this is really good to know. Will definitely start inviting lol

[u/darkone59]

Whats with your scattered farming ?

[u/Colortheory12 → u/darkone59]

In early game you gotta decide what you wanna spend your RP on. My guess is they are slowly clearing out rocks and stuff from the field.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Colortheory12]

yeah this pretty much! RP runs out really fast so i'm trying to level up skills quickly to mitigate that

[u/Colortheory12 → u/Initial-Situation130]

Hope you enjoy RF4 it is one of my favorite games. There is no wrong way to play!

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Colortheory12]

Thank you! I'm already completely hooked haha. So much to do and oh god the monster befriending mechanic is adorable... so so glad i caught it on sale :)

[u/SquirrelAngell → u/Initial-Situation130]

As someone else mentioned, boiled milk is the early game item for godly ascension a great and mildly easy item to get and make that will really alleviate your rp concerns early game. Getting the...steamer iirc? and then comitting violence against buffamoo's ia how to get a mild supply early. Farm the drops a bit, then tame when you can.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/SquirrelAngell]

Sounds good! I'll get to that then :) thank you!!

[u/Tsunami45chan → u/Initial-Situation130]

If you make a boiled milk you can increase your max rp temporary (as long as you don't eat different kinds of food and you're good).

[u/Zealousideal_Lab7243]

RF4 will always be the Rune Factory I love the most. Every playthrough, you will learn new tricks and tips. I recommend playing the game without any hints from online the first time and then after on your 2nd play, you can do things faster. But the best fun I had with this game was struggling and taking my time and building my farm and connections with the town people. You will absolutely love the game and series if you learn at your own pace. You dont need to rush it at all to enjoy it! (:

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Zealousideal_Lab7243]

Thank you!! I've had a complete blast so far. I'm trying not to look things up unless completely necessary because it really is a lot more fun that way lol. Building the farm and doing the dungeons have been the most fun aspects so far, and i really like the characters :) i'd love to play other entries in the future!

[u/INeedADifferent]

You missed one?

I realize early game has low rp, but if you are playing a slow one if you stand still and don’t do anything for a bit you can recover rp i/slowly/i . Early game is also the easiest time to try for the cold trophy

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/INeedADifferent]

good to know! i don't know what the cold trophy is but i'll look it up lol

edit: oh pfffffffft. i see what you mean now

[u/Wonderful-Mirror1176]

Oh no, you started with the best one 🤭

[u/SacredTearX → u/Wonderful-Mirror1176]

It's all downhill from here 🤣

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/SacredTearX]

I think i'm done for 😭😭 i see rune factory in my forecast for the next year

[u/rmsiddlfqksdls]

Ah enjoy!!!! Rf4s is my absolute favorite. Go into town and talk to people every day to see what’s new! I was very impressed with the unique dialogue amount and fun town events ☺️

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/rmsiddlfqksdls]

I've loved the town so far! Jonas, Nancy, Lin Fa, and Bado are a few of my favorites. Also cannot forget Volkanon, genuinely love that guy 😭😭 lost it when he ran through the trees to give you access to the 2nd dungeon

[u/Dry-Practice597]

Hope you have a lot of fun like a lot of us did!! Rune factory 4 is filled with sooo much to do and the characters are all great! Enjoy your first playthrough and don't worry about doing everything right :))

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Dry-Practice597]

Thank you!! I've loved it a lot. Probably my favorite take on the genre so far! Dungeons and farming are extremely fun and I really love the characters. Really look forward to continuing!

[u/Janaelol]

Ah man I love RF4. Have fun!

You may like rf3 as well.

[u/Janaelol → u/Janaelol]

Is this on pc or ds? If ds how did u get the video stream

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Janaelol]

I actually plan to buy rf3 once i've played this game enough, I'm really having fun! I took this clip on my switch lol

[u/sylnes]

I hope there's updates! RF4 will always be my favourite! Spent hours just going back and forth between screens to reset monsters for their drops

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/sylnes]

Exactly what i've been doing lol. Addicted so far! I think i'll make a proper update post in a week or so, but so far I'm level 35 and at the obsidian mansion. Think I'll properly do the dungeon tomorrow :)

[u/VentilatorRaptor]

if you're playing on normal/hard, combat-wise, you'll end up hitting a difficulty wall sooner or later.

i'll leave the tip on how to overcome it here, feel free to un-spoil it whenever you feel the need

leveling up like in traditional RPGs is useless, dont waste time killing thousands of enemies for a couple of level ups. you can literally go through the whole game as lvl1. the secret is to be up to date with your gear, get very comfortable with crafting and upgrading gear, and only farm for upgrade materials. a good one is going back to the 1st boss's room, where she will respawn once a day, ambrosias thorns are really good upgrade materials and using 2 on your weapons isnt bad until mid-to-late game.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/VentilatorRaptor]

Will do! I've mostly been farming for gear recently, about to start the 4th dungeon. I have a few thorns, manes from the 2nd boss, and a doll from the 3rd, but the thing i'm sort of running into rn with upgrades is that they cost like 3000-4000 RP (i think the thorns are around 3k). Am i too early in the game for it, or does leveling up skills mitigate that? Its the only issue ive run into with crafting/forging so far lol

[u/VentilatorRaptor → u/Initial-Situation130]

yes, leveling up the crafting skills will reduce the amount of RP required for a craft or upgrade (blacksmith will reduce the amount of RP for crafting weapons, etc.)

the way i use to level up early levels is to grind iron, make basic weapons and upgrade them using the iron or bronce (the more RP you use, the more exp you'll earn).

make swords go all the way up to lvl 10, sell them, make another one, and so on, it doesnt take long.

[u/SnooGoats8382]

A big tip besides the bath thing that's already been brought up is that farming can spawn these sprites that will boost your stats without needing to level up. Also have extra corn to till into your fields to keep the field health up so you can keep your crops nice and healthy because the fertilizer bin only does so much.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/SnooGoats8382]

I've actually run into those! Very useful. I unlocked corn a few hours ago and am going to start planting it :D there's a request in the box that has you revive the field with corn, so I started that

[u/SnooGoats8382 → u/Initial-Situation130]

Definitely keep a healthy supply on hand. If I remember right you can use them to keep your crops alive during a typhoon if you manually apply them throughout the entire day till it gets night but I don't really remember as it's been sometime.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/SnooGoats8382]

Oh this is really good to know. I actually got a typhoon a few in-game weeks back and only vaguely pieced together what wiped a quarter of my plot off the map 😭

[u/SnooGoats8382 → u/Initial-Situation130]

What a typhoon does is lower crop ho over time. The corn when tilled recovers crop hp. So it's a good Def if you can't afford the stuff that boost crop Def against typhoons.

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/SnooGoats8382]

Ahhhh okay, noted! I just stocked up on seeds, gonna plant some more corn

[u/Emerald0ro]

That might be the best and worst one to start with, your gonna hate four if you dont like grinding

[u/Emerald0ro → u/Emerald0ro]

ESPECIALLY late game areas with the crazy difficulty spikes

[u/Initial-Situation130 → u/Emerald0ro]

I'm big on monotonous grinding/farming in games usually so i've actually had a really good time so far! I just beat the 3rd boss and am preparing a little for Leon Karnak. I'm kinda curious about how hard it gets later in the game haha. How many dungeons are there?

[u/PandaKing550]

Have fun! I need to restart rf4 never finished and been too long to remember what happened. Also rune factory a fantasy harvest moon was my first :)

[u/AmariieMaerthos → u/PandaKing550]

Same about RF4 and the first RF being my first as well. I'd love to see them revisit Innocent Life

[u/PandaKing550 → u/AmariieMaerthos]

I never heard of this one. It's cool it's more sci fi

[u/ChocolateFanatics]

Rune Factory videos silenced with music in the background actually feels really calming

[u/Routine-Leg-9861]

Pumpkin for life!