Rune Factory 4 Special – Complete Guide And Walkthrough

Quick Links

  • Daily Life Guides
  • Relationship Guides
  • Festival Guides
  • Crafting Guides
  • FAQs

Rune Factory 4 is often hailed as the best in the series and it's easy to see why. The robust farming system, expansive crafting system, and engaging combat system make the game a compelling one to play. It is no surprise, then, that it has been remastered and ported to modern consoles.

Even with all of the quality of life additions the game has, Rune Factory 4 is bursting to the seams with things to do and that can be a bit overwhelming. If you're looking for some pointers or some handy reference guides then, we have you covered.

Rune Factory 4 will see you being attacked onboard an airship and then falling, luckily, into the safe lap of Ventuswill the Divine Wind. After a comical series of events, you are made a stand-in royal, farmer, and general confidant for an entire town of big personalities. So, now what?

Daily Life Guides

With so many things to do in Rune Factory 4 it's possible to be a bit overwhelmed at first, but once you start to explore the game piece by piece, it'll all fall into place. We recommend utilizing the Request Box as much as you can – it offers intuitive tutorials that also reward you nicely.

For everything the game doesn't tell you, though, we have guides.

Farming Guides

Farming is one of this game's biggest draws. It will be your principal method of making money and acquiring valuable ingredients for your crafting adventures. You have five farming tools and each of them is crucial to being a good farmer:

  • Axes and Hammers: Farms will end up covered in rocks, branches, stumps, and the like. Use axes to clear wooden obstacles and hammers to clear mineral obstacles. This is also how you acquire lumber, material stone, and plenty of other items in the game.
  • Hoes: You use a hoe to till soil – this is a necessary step before planting seeds. You can also use a hoe on a dropped Withered Grass, Weed, or ear of Corn to improve a patch of soil's health.
  • Sickles: Scythes can be used to clear away grasses, but their main purpose is to harvest seeds from fully grown plants. If the scythe is of good quality and the soil is healthy, the seeds will be at a higher level than the crops just grown.
  • Waterpots: Predictably, these are used to water your crops and you will need to do this every single day. You can also set your tamed monsters to water crops and rain will also water your fields automatically.

It's important to keep your tools upgraded whenever you can – higher-level tools can be charged up and cover a wider area in exchange for more RP. This will be a great timesaver when you end up with more farms than you can handle.

  • How To Grow Giant Crops

The above guide will teach you how to grow gigantic crops. These crops take more effort to grow but sell for more money and get better results when used in crafting recipes.

Combat Guides

  • Monster Taming Guide | Boss Taming Guide
  • Combat Tips

Other Guides

  • Complete Guide To Fishing
  • Money Making Tips

Back to top

Relationship Guides

Selphia is a town full of interesting characters just waiting for you to meet them, and it's very possible to become the best of friends with each and every one of them. Some can even be romanced and married! There are six bachelors and six bachelorettes for you to choose from, and marriage may even lead to a bundle of joy heading your way.

  • Gift Guide
  • Romance Guide

The romance guide above not only details how to date a character, but every step required to marry them – including the Town Events related to them. This is one of the most contentious features of Rune Factory thanks to how obscure some of the events are.

Back to top

Festival Guides

There are four seasons in Rune Factory 4 and they all have festivals to enjoy. We've prepared a calendar to let you know when to expect a holiday.

Spring

Holiday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
1 New Year's Day 2 3 4 5 6 Cooking Contest
7 8 9 10 Bean Toss Contest 11 12
13 14 15 Fishing Frenzy 16 17 18
19 De-Fluffing Festival 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 Harvest Festival 29 30

Summer

Holiday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
1 Beach Day 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 Turnip Festival 12
13 14 15 Big Catch Contest 16 17 18
19 Firefly Festival 20 21 22 23 24 Buddy Battle
25 26 27 28 Harvest Festival 29 30

Fall

Holiday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
1 2 3 4 Eating Contest 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 Valentine's Day
13 14 15 Fish Variety Contest 16 17 18
19 Handicraft Contest 20 21 22 23 24
25 White Day 26 27 28 Harvest Festival 29 30

Winter

Holiday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
1 2 3 4 5 Turnip Flurry 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
13 Quiz Contest 14 15 Catch the Most Squid Contest 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24
25 Christmas 26 27 28 Harvest Festival 29 30 New Year's Eve

In the calendars above, any festival in italics is one that you must order and arrange with your Prince/ss Points. This can be done from the main room of the castle and every festival costs 1,000 PP to arrange.

We also have some specific festival tips and guides in case you want to take home the grand prize:

  • Bean Toss Contest: The pink bean will always be thrown by the character in the center of the screen. Keep this in mind if you want to get as many points as possible.
  • De-Fluffing Contest: The best weapon to use here is the Spear thanks to its charge attack that lets you mash the attack button for tons of hits. Use it liberally.
  • Eating Contest: When eating, you can mash the eat button to make the animation progress quicker.
  • Catch the Most Squid Contest: You will need at least five Squid to have a chance of winning – this is one of the most luck-based fishing contests in the game.
  • Harvest Festival Guide
  • Quiz Contest Answers

Back to top

Crafting Guides

Making new items is a massive part of Rune Factory and is key to being able to progress neatly through the story. We have compiled every recipe in the game in the guides listed below.

  • Complete Guide To Forging – For Weapons and Farming Tools.
  • Complete Guide To Crafting – For Armor, Shields, Headgear, Shoes, and Accessories.
  • Complete Guide To Medicine – For restorative items and farming items.
  • Complete Guide To Cooking – For every type of dish.

Back to top

FAQs

Is There Same-Sex Romance?

There is no official support for same-sex romance in the game, but some players have found something of a workaround that involves changing their character's appearance.

Once you have finished the game (or started a New Game+) you can pay some Prince/ss Points to change your appearance to that of another character. This includes both the male and the female main character options. Swapping your character's appearance will make it look like you can enter into same-sex romances, but you will be misgendered as the game doesn't recognize this as an actual gender change.

Why Are My Plants Withering?

The patches of soil in the game have various stats that you should be keeping track of. A patch's stats will increase over time as you harvest crops, but doing so will also decrease the patch's health. To remedy this, make sure your fertilizer bin is always full of weeds and grasses.

You can also use your hoe on a piece of Corn or some Withered Grass on top of a patch of soil to give it a big health boost in a short amount of time.

Alternatively, you may also consider crop rotation. Let some fields go without crops for a while if you don't want to micromanage your soil – health will recover naturally over time.

What Is New In Rune Factory 4 Special?

There are a few new features in the Special version of the game:

  • A new opening theme.
  • A new difficulty option: Hell.
  • Newlywed mode, which lets you see additional stories from the points of view of the bachelors, bachelorettes, and Ventuswill.

Are There Time-Limited Events?

No, you can take the game as slowly or as quickly as you wish. There are no events that can be missed by waiting too long, and there are even four unlockable season-specific farms that allow you to grow seasonal crops no matter what the actual date is.

There is no end date and festivals will come around every year. If you missed something like a birthday or a festival, you can be sure to make up for it in the future.

Back to top

Source: Read Full Article