Line #141 VideoGame/RuneFactoryFrontier


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cover1_0.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:A familiar face in an unknown land...]]
3
4	''Rune Factory Frontier'' is a direct sequel to the first ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' game and the series' debut on a home console. Unlike some were led to believe, this is neither a port nor remake.
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6	Raguna, TheHero from the original ''Rune Factory'', left Kardia in search of Mist and arrived at a border village called Trampoli. Turns out Mist moved there because someone's been calling out to her in her dreams. With Mist anchored in Trampoli for now, [[ExcusePlot Raguna also decided to stay and keep an eye on her]], doing what he does best; running a farm. But there seems to be some disturbance on [[SpaceWhale Whale Island]], a giant mass of land floating above the village; and he'll have to do something about it before that island loses its power and falls upon Trampoli right below.
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8	Being the series' debut on a home console, ''Rune Factory Frontier'' is given an extended voice cast and more characterization for the characters. It also took a bit of a sharper turn to the comedic side than before; many {{Lampshade Hanging}}s, humourous conversations and funny ''item descriptions'' are waiting around corners to make you smile. Long story short, [=RFF=] is a really smart and powerful update to the VideoGame/HarvestMoon formula, an attempt which yielded ''many'' things made right... except for one big flaw: a new and major game mechanic they added to the game horribly backfired.[[note]]The new "Runey System" meant for speeding up crop growth while supposedly providing extra challenge to maintain demanded excessive effort and attention; it didn't help that the consequences for neglecting it are too severe. So, despite the good intention, the price was that ''Rune Factory Frontier'' essentially lost the spirit it was originally intended for; taking things slow and steady, and enjoying your progress.[[/note]] Even so, if you can manage to work around it, [=RFF=] is a really fun game for veterans and newcomers alike.
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10	----
11	!!''Rune Factory Frontier'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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13	* AccidentalPervert: Knock on the beach changing room in summer while a heroine is inside, sit back and watch as HilarityEnsues.
14	* AttackAttackAttack: A very good way to get yourself killed, considering the stat growth is pretty low. Tactics, instead, go a long way here. And lots and ''LOTS'' of running.
15	** It's still quite conditional, depending on your resources[[note]]Level, equipment and recovery items.[[/note]]. It's not impossible, but it demands tons of recovery items AND constant attention on HP/RP.[[note]]Unless you managed to max out stats by permanent enhancers, and that's gonna take ''a while''.[[/note]] In short, it's not for everyone.
16	* AwesomeButImpractical: Magic wands. They're powerful but take a lot of RP, slow to fire and hard to aim. Not to mention they won't be very effective if you don't know the target's weakness.
17	** Also depends on the rod. The "[[BlowYouAway Storm Rod]]" is invaluable. It surrounds you with a wall of wind that hurts enemies. Meaning you can ''run'' at your enemies to hurt them, until the effect wears off. While the duration isn't long, that it reflects fireballs, defends against physical attacks, and still lets you charge at your target and hit with considerable knockback, makes it handy in quite a few situations. There are a few other rods with similar effects, but the RP cost on them his higher, or they don't grant the same mobility.
18	*** Really, it's a pain to get good with them, but once you get the hang of it the projectile spells actually make boss fights a hell of a lot easier.
19	* BarelyThereSwimwear: The Amazing Swimsuit ([[TheUnreveal never actually seen, just described]].)
20	* [[BeachEpisode Beach]] [[strike: Episode]] [[BeachEpisode Event]]
21	* BigBad: [[spoiler: Gelwein]]; not really a surprise [[spoiler: after the Iris Noire encounter]].
22	* BigEater: Bianca, despite her appearances. Lampshaded in-game. She even gets her own ''festival'' for it starting from the 2nd year.
23	* TheBlacksmith: Ganesha.
24	* BlessedWithSuck: For some reason, monsters find Anette irresistible. Perhaps that explains her fast footwork...
25	** It doesn't exactly help that she has an acorn around her neck...
26	* {{Bookworm}}: Selphy; she forgets to ''eat'' while she's reading a book, often for days. Her current record is "one week".
27	* ButtMonkey / ChewToy: Kross, from time to time. For example, Anette thinks he's a ghost. Also, on the day of Hotpot festival, he'll mention that he's getting the leftovers.
28	* [[CallARabbitASmeerp Call A Sheep A Woolly]]: Numerous monsters, though there do tend to be distinct differences between the monsters and the animals we're used to (Woollies walk on two feet for example)
29	** Actually, that's about the only one that's totally different. The Buffamoo is a regular cow (with a bit of a mane), the honey-giving hornets are normal-looking except for being [[BigCreepyCrawlies rather large]], and the chicken has longer wings (as would be fitting a wild fowl that actually flies and does not spend all its time in a coop).
30	* CanNotSpitItOut: Rosetta actually ''loves'' Raguna, as she [[spoiler: admits after marriage that he's the reason she followed to Trampoli]]. The problem is that she's either too proud or just holding it in on grounds of feminine dignity.
31	* CastFromHitPoints: Once your [[strike: magic]] rune points run out.
32	* CatchPhrase: Erik's "Hey, young man!".
33	** Would Kross' constant sighing count too?
34	** Cinnamon's "It's a mystery" is somewhere between this and VerbalTic
35	* ChekhovsGun: Remember that [[spoiler: "strange seed" Mist mentioned to be growing a while back]]?
36	** Also [[spoiler: the Clock Tower, which Kanno mentions early on as being mysterious]].
37	* CloudCuckooLander: '''Mist'''. Man oh man oh man, Mist.
38	** Apparently, lightning can take your belly button away and chicks (as in baby chickens) have lots of problems with seniority.
39	*** In Japan there's a legend that if you piss off the thunder god he'll punish you by stealing your belly button.
40	** Also, there's "that". Though Mist can't remember what "that" is, even though "that" makes the beach inconvenient...
41	** There's a rumor that the director told her [=VA=] to "Think brain damage. Lots and lots of brain damage."
42	** Selphy has her own unique sense of logic as well, like writing you a letter saying that she's really hungry asking you to mail her food.
43	* CommercialBreakCliffhanger: Spoofed; they cut in the middle of ''festivals''.
44	* ContinuityNod: [=RFF=] constantly brings up hints and references to its prequel. A number of them can be seen if you follow Anette on her delivery rounds. [[SuperSpeed if you can catch up]], that is.
45	** Likewise, most questions in the quiz contest were submitted by the cast of RF1
46	* CrashIntoHello: How Uzuki is "introduced" for the first time.
47	* CuteClumsyGirl: Lara. She doesn't look like one, but granted, ''[[LampshadeHanging she'll tell you that herself]]''.
48	* [[spoiler: DamselInDistress]]: [[spoiler: Mist, right after freeing Iris Noire. She'll be gone until you beat the storyline.]]
49	* DeityOfHumanOrigin: [[spoiler:Gelwein, after powering up with the Dark Rune.]]
50	* DontTryThisAtHome: Eating raw fish, cheating on your wife, etc.
51	%% * {{Emo}}: Kross.
52	* ExcusePlot: Mist has run away! So of course Raguna has to go after her, even if that means leaving behind a wife & kid. Made worse if his spouse is one of the characters to follow as ''[[FridgeHorror there's no sign of their kid]].''
53	* EyeCatch: Spoofed along with the "commercial breaks"; Candy in her swimsuit. And that includes festivals ''right in the middle of winter''.
54	* {{Fanservice}}:
55	%% ** ''[[BeachEpisode Summer 1.]]''
56	** Apart from Marco and Candy, the only [=NPCs=] to actually don bathing suits are potential spouses. And if you get their affection high enough you can give them skimpier ones as gifts.
57	* FinalBossNewDimension: The monster being used by [[spoiler:Gelwein]] to fuel his power is sealed in a seperate dimension called the Era of Disconnect in order to prevent it from sucking all the energy out of the world.
58	%% * FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire: Iris Blanche and Noire. Though WordOfGod is they aren't really vampires, even if they like blood, tomate juice, are nocturnal, can't enter the church, and faint if you give them garlic.
59	* FuroScene: Subverted; you don't get to see the girls on the other side, but you can clearly hear what they're talking about. You pay a very small price for accidental eavesdropping, though.
60	* GenkiGirl: Selphy, especially when it comes to books. Melody's generally quite peppy herself.
61	* GreenAesop: A ''lighter'' way to look at the Runey system.
62	* GuideDangIt: The Runey system, finding out where to get all of your tools (especially the hammer), where anyone is at any particular time is and how to enter in a few of the dungeons could take you a '''lot''' of time guessing, if you can figure it out at all, or you could just look it up online.
63	* HelloInsertNameHere: Just like its parent series, VideoGame/HarvestMoon, you can name your player character, your farm and the monsters you succeed in taming. Unlike VideoGame/HarvestMoon, though, default name for the player is already given.
64	** Lampshaded by Raguna after naming the farm and Mist says that it's a very good name:
65	---> '''Raguna''': I hope you weren't prepared to say that no matter what I named it...
66	*** Unless you named the farm by the default name ("Mist"), which prompts Mist to say, "T-that's a name that will spread around fast..."
67	%% * HotLibrarian: Selphy, obviously.
68	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In the English version, Raguna is voiced by [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo]], so he's probably already familiar with the Irises, who are voiced by [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Rukia]].
69	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Any item you can equip can be used to fight monsters (other then the brush that befriends them). While the sickle and hoe seem somewhat reasonable to use as weapons, you may also use the fishing pole and watering can, which tend to do more damage than a sword.
70	* InexplicableTreasureChests: Not made any more comprehensible by the fact that all chests reapear between dungeon runs.
71	* InformedAbility: The other warriors in town. As is common for the series, you can almost never, EVER see them fight anyone or anything, despite everyone else saying how tough they are or how well they fight. Due to Gameplay And Story Segregation, most likely, but even so, it's become a running joke for many fans of the series. Also goes for some other characters, such as the blacksmith who makes "The best swords around", that turn out to be almost trivial projects once you have your own forge...
72	* ItemCrafting: Necessary to get anything past the most basic equipment. The game contains 4 separate crafting skills for you to LevelGrind: Cooking (with the kitchen), Lab (Making medicines etc. with the Laboratory), Forge, and Craft (Creating farm tools/weapons and armor/gifts respectfully, both using the Forge)
73	* {{Jerkass}}: We're [[strike: looking]] ''staring'' at you, Brodik. His attitude is justified later as [[spoiler:he thinks that Raguna is an escaped soldier of the Zzyzx Empire which he was ordered to look for]] and letters from Candy and Marco thanking him for helping out in the fields reveal he's not really that bad of a guy.
74	** Of course, the only reason he clears out all the rocks and weeds in the fields is because [[spoiler: he's dumping them on YOUR field.]]
75	* KatanasAreJustBetter: The strongest two-handed swords are katanas, although the strongest Katana has the same attack power as the strongest one-handed sword, so this is not a full example.
76	* KidsHateVegetables: When you ship fruits Rosetta likes she'll applaud you when she comes to pick them up, but if it's Danny's turn to collect shipments and you've got just about any vegetable in your bin he'll whine, expressing a desire to not even ''touch'' them.
77	* KillItWithWater: You can hurt monsters with your watering can.
78	* KillerRabbit: Is dat a Woolly? Awwwww... look at it stumble, you fwuffy little... [[GroinAttack Oof!]]
79	* LampshadeHanging: Featured repeatedly; from in-game concepts to the prequel, and sometimes, the concepts of VideoGame/HarvestMoon series as a whole.
80	* LateArrivalSpoiler: [[spoiler:"There are two Irises."]] ''Thank you'', cover print...
81	* LethalChef: Cinnamon.
82	--> '''Cinnamon''': I imitated Candy and tried to bake some sweets. For some reason they exploded. [[VerbalTic It's a mystery...]]
83	* LevelGrinding: Depending on your playstyle this may become necessary.
84	* LimitedWardrobe: Most of the time. Raguna, however, can at least change his equipments.
85	** An arguable subversion is that there are more than one character sprites for Raguna, the girls, Candy and Marco, in their beach outfits.
86	** It gets lampshaded by two bachlorettes. Melody and Bianca will both inform you they have several (hundreds, in Bianca's case) of the same outfit since they like it so much
87	*** Cinnamon also mentions that she has many copies of the same outfit, though in her case it's because the magic academy she attended supplied them for her, rather then her liking the outfit particularly.
88	*** Add a fourth to the list: during winter, Brodik mentions that he thought his job (running Raguna out of town) would be done before then, and he didn't prepare any winter clothes.
89	* MagicMusic: In the final battle, [[spoiler: when Gelwein is recovering all the damage you do, [[AllYourPowersCombined all the heroines]] appeared in the Era of Disconnect through {{hologram}}s and start singing]].
90	* MaleGaze: On a date with a girl with whom you've met all the conditions for marriage, just before you are given the option to take out the bouquet and propose, dramatic flashes of the sprite of the girl are shown. The final, longest, and most conspicuous one is a closeup of her chest.
91	* {{Miko}}: Uzuki.
92	* [[spoiler: MadScientist]]: [[spoiler: Gelwein.]]
93	* MeaningfulName: Iris ''Blanche''[[note]]French: "White"[[/note]] and ''Noire''[[note]]French: "Black"[[/note]]. You'll be surprised how many people confuse the two names.
94	* {{Meido}}: Tabatha.
95	* {{Nerf}}: Again, [=RF1=] veterans will notice the differences. However, most of them just serve as challenges, and not overly gamebreaking.
96	** EXP yield: Making LevelGrinding a ''lot'' longer.
97	** Stats, and particularly HP: Your HP ''barely'' gets close to 400 at Level '''80'''. In other words, you can die very, VERY quickly if you're not prepared or not careful.
98	*** Though, perhaps for compensation, the RP gauge is set at 500, which is 5 times the amount from [=RF1=]. And as your skill and weapon/tool levels increase, the RP costs lower noticeably per level[[note]]Each weapon, tool, and crafting recipe has a "required level" listed on it. While it is possible to use the item with a skill level lower than the one listed, you use more RP in doing so. Once your skill level = the level of the item, the RP cost will not decrease anymore (so an item with required level 10 will cost more to use at level 6 than at level 10, but the cost at 10 is the same as the cost at 99). In addition, using the crafting system to increase the level of a weapon or item will decrease the RP cost of using it[[/note]].
99	** Selling prices, excluding the crops': A Level '''10''' Diamond sells for only 840. That's about '''four''' bloody Level 1 Turnips, mind you.
100	* NerfArm: Sacred Pole, the final upgrade to the fishing pole, holding a massive 255 ATK, out-powering ''any'' other weapon you can forge. Sadly, [[AwesomeButImpractical the lag and lack of chain attacks hold it down]].
101	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Raguna is the recipient of one of these if he dares to propose to another girl after he gets married.
102	* NunTooHoly: Lara isn't the most extreme example out there, acting just about how you'd expect her too, but the fact still remains that nuns take celibacy vows.
103	* OddlyNamedSequel
104	* OminousFloatingCastle: A labyrintine castle atop a floating island miles up in the sky filled to the brim with monsters capable of easily murdering you... Sounds like a matching description!
105	* OurElvesAreDifferent: Tabatha, as good as she can be. [[spoiler: She even turned out to be ''the Queen of Elves''!]]
106	** Also [[spoiler: Minerva]], good enough to qualify as a maiden. [[spoiler: Sadly, she won't stay in Trampoli forever.]]
107	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Iris, both Blanche and Noire. The point here is that [[strike: she]] they're never seen sucking blood as food.
108	** They do love ''tomato juice'' though...
109	** However, there is a scene that shows they may, in fact, drink blood. I believe you need Iris Blanche at 2 LP to access it. If you go into the Whale Island Tower of Rest and talk to her while injured, you will get a scene where Raguna is bleeding and Iris freaks out. She then attempts to lick the unseen blood off of his hand.
110	*** WordOfGod is they aren't actually vampires, just some sort of creature that likes blood, faints around garlic, and can't set foot in the church. They also aren't pure breeds.
111	* PickyEater: If you're shipping vegetables when it's Danny's turn to empty your bin he'll complain, and try to think of a way to remove them without touching them.
112	* TheQuietOne: Kross and Cinnamon.
113	** This is lampshaded by Raguna and addressed during on conversation with her.
114	--> '''Raguna''': Cinnamon, you're really... uh... to the point.
115	--> '''Cinnamon''': ...It's a pain to talk.
116	* RichBitch: Bianca. Her [=VA=]'s potrayal only pushes the point further.
117	* RummageSaleReject: Equip the highest stat gear combinations you can get your hands on, and see how long it'll keep you laughing.
118	--> '''Mist''': Oh. You're wearing normal clothes today.
119	--> '''Raguna''': What? I wear this everyday.
120	--> '''Mist''': Oh, I'm sorry. That was in a dream.
121	--> '''Raguna''': What do you mean?
122	--> '''Mist''': Last night, I dreamt that you're working in your fields, [[LampshadeHanging dressed strangely]].
123	--> '''Raguna''': [[TemptingFate How strangely?]]
124	--> '''Mist''': Well, you had a rabbit ear, and a [[RummageSaleReject long scarf]]...
125	--> '''Raguna''': [[TooMuchInformation You can stop right there.]]
126	--> '''Mist''': Really? That's too bad.
127	* ShoutOut: Two of the equipments you can make are ''way'' too blatant to miss; "Straw Hat" is a dead-ringer to [[Manga/OnePiece Luffy]]'s, "Lunar Eclipse" is basically [[Manga/{{Bleach}} Ichigo's Bankai]] with a silver blade instead.
128	** There's also a couple of books in the Rune Archives called "WebVideo/AskANinja".
129	* SingleMindedTwins: Both Irises, ''if'' you consider them twins, most of the time. When one of them says something about a topic, you can pretty much guess what the other will say.
130	* SkippableBoss: [[spoiler: Iris Noire.]] But only if [[spoiler: you have Iris Blanche's Love to 4 and activated an event beforehand.]] There are no benefits either way, however.
131	* [[strike: Space]] [[SpaceWhale Sky Whale]]: Whale Island.
132	* SweetTooth: Eunice.
133	--> '''Eunice''': I love sweets!
134	** Lute, too. He practically faints with excitement over a present of chocolate.
135	** And Lara. "CHOCOLATE CAKE?!"
136	* TakeYourTime: Is the Whale Island going to fall anytime soon? [[spoiler:Is your friend kidnapped by the BigBad?]] No worries!
137	** Then again, rushing things would be against the point of the VideoGame/HarvestMoon formula, so...
138	* ThatCameOutWrong
139	--> '''Rosetta''': You seem to have a nice body... Ah! I didn't mean it that way! Don't misunderstand me!
140	* [[spoiler: TheyCalledMeMad]]: [[spoiler: Gelwein. To be fair though, he experimented military uses of Runes in a country where they're blatantly banned in.]]
141	* TokenMiniMoe: Uzuki, among the heroines.
142	** Among ''all'' the villagers, however, Candy takes the cake.
143	* {{Tsundere}}: '''Rosetta'''. PERIOD.
144	** Also, Bianca.
145	* TurnsRed: The dungeon bosses play this straight. What color they turn differs with each one though.
146	* VerbalTic: Cinnamon has a tendency to end her sentences with "It's a mystery."
147	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: How does [[spoiler: "Era of Disconnect"]] sound?
148	** IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace.
149	* WarpWhistle: "Return" spell. Utter abuse suggested.
150	* YamatoNadeshiko: Uzuki, currently in training. Tsubute often reminds her about that.

Context VideoGame / RuneFactoryFrontier