Happy Farm'n Friday! Mid-May means the peony bushes are beginning to bloom. I just wish I had more of them! This fellow is the first of three peony plants at the edge of the walkway leading to the front door. The lily flowers are coming up right in front of them, so in a few more weeks there'll be another splash of color as the peonies die back to their green foliage for the summer.

The cherry tomato seeds that were planted to replace the bent-stem plant that wilted have now sprouted, though the carrot seeds I also planted have done nothing. I keep trying these carrot seeds every year, but they just don't seem to like me or the local environment here. Perhaps the seeds are now too old to germinate? I understand that carrots don't like hot weather, and this so far this Spring it has been at most about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it has been raining all week long.

This year's mystery crop also hasn't emerged from under the soil where they were planted. I just need to be patient... grow, plants, grow!

DoraeBokuMono Demo

In this month's edition of Korokoro Comic magazine, Bandai Namco revealed that there will be a demo of Doraemon Story of Seasons in the Switch eShop in Japan. The contents of the demo will be revealed at a later date. The game is scheduled to be released on June 13, so let's hope the demo becomes available soon!

Bandai Namco also released a new promo video for the game showcasing the crop system that's typical for Bokujou Monogatari games.

The video highlights Noby tilling the soil with his Cheap Hoe and fast-forwards to him buying Turnip Seeds. Each bag of seeds will cover one square of tilled soil. The planted seeds will respond visually when watered, and fertilizer can be added while the crop is growing. Crops will wilt if you forget to water them!

Harvested crops have a star rank, with a maximum of 5 stars for your best crops. When shipping, you can even see the contents of what was placed into the shipping bin. The ledger at Mayor Yamei's house will keep track of your shipments and how much you've earned.

The video also confirmed that both a package/retail and digital download version will be available in Japan, with a price of 6100 Yen (about $55 USD) plus tax. The game is now on the Nintendo Japan eShop for digital pre-order for 6588 Yen if you have a Nintendo JP prepaid eShop card or a credit card with a physical address in Japan. File size is 834 MB.

For the English version, Bandai Namco has already confirmed that the game will be digital-only on Nintendo Switch and Steam/PC in North America, and will have a physical retail release in Europe along with the digital Steam/PC release.

RF 4 SE Opening Movie

The second live broadcast from Marvelous' Rune Factory channel aired on the 15th. Though I slept through it, the presenters did reveal a new opening movie for the upcoming Nintendo Switch release.

To commemorate the second broadcast, Marvelous launched a retweet-and-win campaign for Twitter folks in Japan. Tweeters just need to follow @RuneFactory_PR and retweet a specific Tweet to be one of 10 random winners of this super cute Wooly plushie. The retweet-and-win campaign ends on May 22nd. The rules specify that it contest is limited to Japan (drat!), and the prize will only be sent to a Japan mailing address (drat drat!).

Maaaaybe a super-nice seed company will consider making it a pre-order bonus for those of us outside of Japan? The fans in Japan are getting a butt-load of pre-order choices based on the retailer they pre-order RF4SE from. The 3D engraved block of Frey with the LED light-up stand is pretty interesting; there's even Youtube Video of it.

As for my adventures through Rune Factory 3, I finished Blaise's Boiled Pumpkin request after figuring out that I could just experiment in the kitchen and didn't need to keep eating Cooking Bread to try and learn the recipe. The Sharace Tree even grew a room to hold a forge, workshop, and pharmacy. But now Wells appears to be stuck. I accepted a request to bring him a Cheap Bracelet, which I haven't found yet, and now he just stays in his room waiting for his trinket. There was a Catch the Biggest Fish contest a few days ago in-game and Wells wasn't around to sign me up for the contest. He just stands in his bedroom and patiently waits for me to deliver the gift he wants to give to Monica. I've to find that dang bracelet!