Chasing a Chipsqueek

I wanted to keep a journal about my adventures in Rune Factory 4 but the sheer joy of playing the game (Ha! you lost the game!) while sitting on my throne prevented that from ever happening (I did keep a mind-journal of the things the people of the town likes). I'm now at Spring 26 (Amber's birthday!) with my 12 hours of gameplay, normally it'd only take a little over 10 hours to get to day 26 if the time moved constantly but conversations between characters, arranging stuff and other scenarios pauses the time which is why I have excess time in gameplay.

I didn't focus much on leveling up especially on ordinary days when I just want to farm materials, learn new skills and recipes, and give gifts. So far my current level is 31 but I don't think it makes that much difference.

The latest area that I conquered is the extra creepy Obsidian Manor. My first time entering that haunted mansion sent chills running down my spine I had to mute the volume and hold the system as far from my face as I can. I was probably at level 23 at that time, my best weapon was the Spear. I enjoyed using the weapon's second skill (charged attack) it reminds me of Ren Tao's Golden Chuka Zenmai.

Anyway, despite my level I still had a hard time fighting off all those grim reaper and other ghosts. To top it all off there's that eerie NPC (I get a feeling he has a larger role to play) that keeps following you on certain areas of the manor. I only got my edge once I got the Steel Edge (pun intended) weapon on the latter part of the story scenario. I fought the boss on that part at a bad time, though. I was already at the second half of the battle when my character yawned instead of drinking the damn potion in his hand! I forgot that the time display of Rune Factory 4 uses a 24 hour cycle and not an AM-PM system. That 1:08 and yawn signaled "way past bedtime".

Dolce is a charming character. She has a unique air surrounding her that separates her from the other girls in the town. Still my best girl is Clorica. But I think I have to do a lot more to finally get going on a date with someone. I also thought about creating a second file for the female character (Frey) and see if yuri relationship works in the game...I can actually try it now but I do not approve of yaoi with my character.

My current materials in the game are still the tier 1 freebies given at the start of the game. I already have a forge, chemistry set, refrigerator, oven and stove but so far I can only cook/make onigiri, baked onigiri, turnip stew, bread and rice...such skills, wow.

I don't know if I haven't done much yet or the story's progress is just the way it is but I think there's a lot of serious moments already happening so early in the game. I said before that Rune Factory 4 is a game that doesn't pressure the gamer to complete tasks that would progress the story. Because of that I thought that the in-game story would stretch pretty far requiring at least 30 to 50 hours of straightforward gameplay but now I'm getting worried that the story might be shorter than expected. I've already saved Amber, Dylas and Dolce from their respective areas. All of the characters in the game manual have been introduced, unless there are more not included in the manual to avoid spoilers (but come on, it's the damn manual which doubles as an art book). My current story task now is to track down the damn Chipsqueek that took Venti's charm from Weiss (my character).

the room of a multi-skill prince

The Chipsqueek led me to the Yokmir Cave where some serious monsters are up. Even at level 31 they're all beating the living daylights out of me. It's good that I got a Cure Rune at the exit of the Obsidian Manor but then again it takes a lot out of my RP. Well then, it is a game that doesn't have a set time for everything so I might as well wait an in-game year before tracking that damn chipsqueek.

The top hat attracts to much attention. I knew it.