Rune Factory 4 - Questions, Answers and Info Thread

Covering Innocent Life (PsP/Ps2), Rune Factory 1 (DS), Rune Factory 2 (DS), Rune Factory 3 (DS/Switch), Rune Factory Frontier (Wii), Rune Factory Tides of Destiny (Wii/Ps3), Rune Factory 4 (3DS/Switch/Steam), and Rune Factory 5 (Switch/Steam).
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Rune Factory 4 Questions, Answers and Information Thread
Updated as of 9/16/2013
What is this thread for? It was made to answer all those burning RF4 questions you might have! Are you stuck somewhere in the plot and can't advance? Can't get a certain somebody to join your party? Here is the place to ask! I'm going to be building this up over time with the help of the everyone, so it's going to look a little barren at first. If someone has a question and you know the answer to it, please respond to them! This is more for the community to help out each other more than anything.


::Rules::
1. Be kind to each other
2. Make sure you've read the thread in its entirety before asking your question. I will try my best to keep this readable and easy to navigate. If there is a new question, I'll tag it as "NEW". (Give me awhile to finish formatting though please)
3. Don't spam questions or be demanding. If it hasn't been answered, most likely no one at the moment knows the answer. Be patient! If it's been awhile and no one has an answered, feel free to repost your question. Don't go running off and posting a separate topic unless you want multiple opinions; it clutters up the forum otherwise.
4. Tag ALL spoilers--I absolutely cannot stress this enough. Please do not spoil people. Do you have a late game storyline or marriage sub-event question? Here is how you should post it:

Leon marriage sub-event question
Spoiler:
Why is he so swoon-worthy?

Tag the outside of the spoilers so people don't accidently click on it. When in doubt, ALWAYS spoiler tag.

5. If you want chat about RF4 in general, please head over to Dai's "RF4 Discussion II" thread here: Link or create your own topic.
6. If something is incorrect, please let me know!







::System and General::
What is Rune Factory 4?
RF4 is a life simulation/role-playing game, and is a spin-off of its Harvest Moon sister series. You can get married, have a kid, grow and farm crops, explore dungeons and fight monsters, craft your own weapons/armor and much more!

Who made and published RF4?
It was originally developed by Neverland Co. and published by Marvelous AQL in Japan. In North America it was localized and will be published by XSEED games.

Is there an official RF4 website?
English: http://www.runefactory4.com
Japanese: http://www.maql.co.jp/special/game/3ds/runefactory4/

What is it rated?
E10+ - For fantasy violence, language, mild suggestive themes and use of alcohol. Please visit the ESRB for more details.

Can you play as a girl or boy?
Yes. The girls default name is Frey and the boys default name is Lest. You can change the names to your liking at the beginning of the game.

When is RF4's release date?
October 1st for North America. Currently unknown for Europe/Australia regions. It was released in Japan on July 19th 2012.

What systems can it be played on?
Nintendo 3DS

How many save files are there?
There are 3 save files.

Can you save anywhere?
No. Only in your bedroom and save points outside/inside dungeons.

Is there DLC (Downloadable Content) for the game?
No.

Can you change difficulty?
Yes. There are 3 difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard.

Is it fully voiced?
No, but there is quite a bit of voiced dialogue throughout the game.

Is there a NG+? (New game plus)
Yes, but not in the traditional manner. Fogu user Zhang created a nice post with the details about it here: Link

Can you change your rename character after the start of the game?
Yes. You have to talk to a specific nameless NPC, and for free, they can change your protagonist name, farm name, and monster hut names.

Are there any bugs?
There were some notable bugs in the Japanese version of the game, but Xseed has tried their best to make sure those don't get ported over. We'll have to wait and see.





::Story::
Does it have an engaging story?
I personally believe so! It's also quite long as well. There are 3 story "arcs" to complete.

How long is the story?
It really depends on your playstyle (difficulty, speed, etc) it's a hard question to answer, so your mileage may very well vary. It's as short or as long as you want it to be! (I personally finished the first 2 arc's in around 40 hours give or take)

Does the game end after you finish the main storyline?
No. Keep playing as long as you'd like!


::Friendship, Romance and Marriage::
Bachelor/ette Character Data (Liked/Disliked gifts, Birthdays, Lunchbox)

Bachelorettes (Some item names will change with translation)
Spoiler:
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Birthday: Spring 21st
Specialty Weapon: Staff
Loved Gifts: Pink Melon, Gold Vegetables, Prelude to Love, Pineapple Juice
Liked Gifts: Flowers, Shrimp, Lobster, Fruits, Fruit Juice, Vegetables, Sweets, Mushroom
Disliked Gifts: Squid, Squid dishes
Lunch box: Shrimp Sashimi, Flavored Radish, Fruit Juice, Fruit Sandwich, Baked Apple

Image
Birthday: Spring 26th
Specialty Weapon: Watercan
Loved Gifts: Emery Flower, Mixed Ole, Gold Juice
Liked Gifts: Flowers, Honey, Fruits, Juices
Disliked Gifts: Fish, Ironleaf
Lunch box: Honey, Mixed Ole, Tempura Bowl, Popcorn, Fruit Sandwich

Image
Birthday: Summer 22nd
Specialty Weapon: All weapons (especially two-handed swords)
Loved Gifts: Stew, Omelet Rice, Chocolate Cake
Liked Gifts: Flowers, Eggs, Egg dishes, Western Sweets
Disliked Gifts: Curry Dishes
Lunch box: Rainbow Sashimi, Bonito Sashimi, Boiled Pumpkin, Salad, Object X

Image
Birthday: Winter 18th
Specialty Weapon: Staff
Loved Gifts: Pudding, Cakes
Liked Gifts: Fur, Wool, Yarn Ball, Spider Silk, Sparkle String, Cheap Cloth, Quality Cloth, Silk Cloth, Medicines, Warm Beverages, Moondrop Grass
Disliked Gifts: Raw Vegetables, Cold Beverages
Lunch box: Sandwich, Risotto, Gratin, French Toast, Fried Rice

Image
Birthday: Summer 26th
Specialty Weapon: Axe
Loved Gifts: Crystals, Emery Flower
Liked Gifts: Flowers, Oriental Dishes
Disliked Gifts: Salad, Tomato, Large Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Sandwich
Lunch box: Steamed Gyoza, Milk Porridge, Vegetable Stir-Fry, Plain Manju, Fried Rice

Image
Birthday: Spring 12th
Specialty Weapon: Spear
Loved Gifts: Apple Pie, Platinum, Orichalcum, Diamond, Shade Stone
Liked Gifts: Apple, Apple Dishes, Western Sweets, Silver and Gold Jewelry
Disliked Gifts: Grapes, Grape Dishes
Lunch box: Apple Pie, Apple Jam, Baked Apple, Pumpkin Pudding, Pancakes
Bachelors (Some item names will change with translation)
Spoiler:
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Birthday: Fall 17th
Specialty Weapon: Twin Blades
Loved Gifts: Gold Vegetables, Curry Dishes
Liked Gifts: Raw Vegetables, Gyoza, Steamed Gyoza, Meat Dumpling, Plain Manju, Croquette, Fried Rice, Omelet Rice, Pudding, Ice Cream
Disliked Gifts: Turnips, Turnip Dishes
Lunch box: Curry Rice, Rice Ball, Failed Dish, Super Fail

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Birthday: Fall 9th
Weapon Specialty: Fist weapons
Loved Gifts: Milk Porridge, Tuna, Lover Snapper, Glitter Snapper, Lover Sashimi, Sunsquid
Liked Gifts: Milk, Milk Dishes, Fish, Sashimi, Carrot
Disliked Gifts: Sweets
Lunch box: Ice Cream, Sandwich, Rice Porridge, Rainbow Sashimi, Vegetable Stir-Fry

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Birthday: Summer 4th
Specialty Weapon: Staff
Loved Gifts: Salmon Rice Ball, Gold Turnip, Turnip Heaven
Liked Gifts: Glasses, Turnip, Pickles, Rice Ball, Sandwich, Plain Manju, Curry Bun
Disliked Gifts: Grilled Fish
Lunch box: Pickle Mix, Rice Ball, French Toast, Miso Eggplant, Sandwich

Image
Birthday: Winter 2nd
Specialty Weapon: Staff
Loved Gifts: Stew, Chocolate Cake, Boss Drops,
Liked Gifts: Sweets
Disliked Gifts: Sashimi
Lunch box: Gyoza, Boiled Pumpkin, Butter Roll, Chocolate Cake, Seafood Doria

Image
Birthday: Fall 6th
Specialty Weapon: One-handed sword
Loved Gifts: Tempura Bowl
Liked Gifts: Rice Dishes
Disliked Gifts: Bread, Bread Dishes
Lunch box: Tempura Bowl, Egg Bowl, Bamboo Rice, Baked Rice Ball, Rice Ball

Image
Birthday: Summer 9th
Specialty Weapon: Spear
Loved Gifts: Fried Lamp Squid, Salted Poison Trout
Liked Gifts: Lamp Squid, Lamp Squid Sashimi, Poison Trout, Poison Trout Sashimi, All Grilled Fish, Charm Blue, Big Charm Blue, Pom-Pom Grass
Disliked Gifts: Milk, Milk Dishes
Lunch box: Tempura Udon, Fried Skipjack, Bamboo Rice, Vegetable Stir-Fry, Corn on the Cob

NEW - Can I take villagers/candidates into dungeons to fight with me? What does it take for them to join?
They have to be at 3FP to be able to be able to join your party. There are exceptions to this, however. Forte can come with you in the beginning regardless and Doug takes a long time to get to this point. See the question below.

NEW - HELP! Why isn't Doug's FP/LP raising? Why can't I date him? Why can't he join my party even though he's at 3FP??
Doug isn't as trusting as some of the other characters in the town of Selphia. It's going to a much longer time for him to warm up to you, meaning that he won't join you until
Spoiler:
after the 2nd story arc is completed. From there you can raise his LP/FP, take him into battle, marry him etc.


NEW - HELP! Why does _____ tell me they can't join my party right now? They have 3+FP/LP so I'm not sure what the problem is?
Check your "condition of the town" (at your bed save point) and see if there is a quest activated. If so, then you need to complete that quest first before they can join. Don't see a quest? It might be a "pajama party sleepover" invite.. if you are playing as Frey, go talk to Margaret (For Lest, go talk to Doug). She might invite you that night to her house for a PJ sleepover party. If that fails, walk around town in the morning and talk to everyone to see if a sub-event or "mini" sub-event triggers.

NEW - Are there rivals in RF4?
No.

NEW - Can you date multiple people at the same time? What happens when you get married to one of them?
Yes, you can date multiple people at the same time with little repercussions. Although if you are hareming, the more lovers you have, the harder it'll be for the next guy/girl to accept your confessions. Percentages are here. Other lovers/villagers might make comments about you hareming as well.

When you marry someone (and if you have multiple lovers) all of the other lovers will immediately go back to being friends with you after you get married.

NEW - Can you break up with people? Can you get a divorce after you get married?
No, once you are dating a person, you will stay dating them until you get married. There are no divorces in RF4.

NEW - Are there jealousy events?
Not really an event, but there's a unique jealousy dialogue you can get while married. If you are married and go and "profess your love" (Clicking the BTW button, and telling the person that you love them) the next time you talk to your spouse they will bring this up. It's quite heartbreaking, but it doesn't do anything but make you feel bad. No LP reduction.

Why can't I marry Nancy, Lin Fa, Illuminata, etc?
Not being able to marry the older ladies in RF is a running gag in the series. Sorry. There's plenty of other quality candidates to choose from, so don't get too depressed!

Is there same gender relationships and marriages?
Unfortunately no, but there is a sprite swap feature to somewhat make up for it.

The sprite swap feature is available after you beat the 2nd storyline and costs 50pp (princess/prince points) each time you swap. If you swap to Frey/Lest the characters will be voiced and their portraits will be changed. But, for example, if you are Frey as a main character and you swap to Lest, the characters will still refer to you as a "she" "princess" etc.

If you switch sprites with any other character, they will be silent in conversation and your portrait will stay the same as whichever main character you are (Frey or Lest). But in battle they will use their voice.
Example video of the system:

Do you have to finish the plot to get married?
No. With certain characters though you need to get to a certain part of the story to be able to romance them.

NEW - Do you automatically have a child after marriage?
Yes. It automatically happens after a certain period of time. Your spouse will ask if you want a kid or not, and if you say yes then it'll go through the events (after more time has passed). If you say no your spouse will ask you again at some point.


When more questions are asked and answered, I'll put in more categories~

Image Credit: XSEED's RF4 Website
Fabulous Icons are by the lovely Sprinkles&Cupcakes
Character Data translated from: http://wikiwiki.jp/rf4/
Some questions answered by: Kaze no Travelers blog - http://kaze-no-travelers.tumblr.com/

Contributors:
Marinneta
Lon Lon
Daisuke Tsubasa
Runefactor
Informative Fishy
Nurse Fin
Last edited by RopeMaidenKirie on Sep 18, 2013 8:55 am, edited 18 times in total.
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RopeMaidenKirie
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RopeMaidenKirie
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Okay! I know it looks a bit barren now, but I'll put in more stuff next Monday after the weekend (I'll be on mobile only, so no updates until after). I'll try to separate it and make it more readable if possible.

I'm definitely not going to be able to do it all myself (I really don't have the time to answer all the questions people might have, and honestly there are many things I still don't know about RF4) so this is more of a community helping thread for after the release of the game. I just wanted to get it started and fill in some parts of it myself before the game comes out and we get an influx of new users :D
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Blue Rose
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Looks great, Rope! :D

I'll try to help out any way I can when the game comes out, although I'm sure there won't be too much I can provide (others will probably beat me to it, hahaha).

Anyway, it's all looking good! <3
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RopeMaidenKirie
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Thanks Brosey! :D <3 Much appreciated!

If anyone has any suggestions or anything, let me know~
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Sprinkles&Cupcakes
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Ooo I can make banners or icons for the bachelor/ette bios if you'd like u v o
But still, I've got a question! Does RF4 have a MC name change feature sorta like RF3's?
Like when you went to the second floor of the inn and spoke to Mei and she gave you the option to change Micah and your Farm's name haha
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Marinnetta
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oh gosh, this looks great so far! thanks especially for the link to the japanese site, i wanted one of the wallpapers that was featured on there. (●´∀`●)

i plan to grab the game the moment it's available so if there's anything that'll need providing after the game comes out i'd be glad to help as well as long as no one beats me to it that is! great job so far rope!! (⌒▽⌒)☆
Sprinkles&Cupcakes wrote:But still, I've got a question! Does RF4 have a MC name change feature sorta like RF3's?
Like when you went to the second floor of the inn and spoke to Mei and she gave you the option to change Micah and your Farm's name haha
according to kaze-no-travelers, yeah, you can change your name! by talking to a faceless NPC. apparently she lets you change the player name, farm name, and monster hut names? i could be wrong with that last one but
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Docga
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I read Zhuang's entire post, but I still don't really understand--what are the benefits/changes of NG+? Is it just harder? (Besides only certain items carrying over and all that.)
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When you import from another game data file, you carry over all your stats, skills, items, money, and shipping history. The more important aspects of your field's status are also preserved as well as villager's statuses and equips.

The things that do not carry-over are mostly scenario-related: story progress, villager LP/FP, revealed areas in maps, and all of the orders. One curiosity is that recipes are not carried-over, which means you have to be prepared to stock both regular and high-level recipe bread to be able to start off where you left.
If anything it looks like NG+ serves to make the game a little easier if you want a new file.
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Sprinkles&Cupcakes
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Marinnetta wrote:according to kaze-no-travelers, yeah, you can change your name! by talking to a faceless NPC. apparently she lets you change the player name, farm name, and monster hut names? i could be wrong with that last one but
yesss good I'm glad they added that feature again
Thank you for the quick reply adfghjk sorry for replying so late
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Do you have a kid automatically, like past RF games, or is it more like HM now, where you have to buy some sort of new bed/upgrade after marriage?
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^Happens automatically after a certain period of time. Your spouse will ask if you want a kid or not, and if you say yes then it'll go through the events (after more time has passed). I never said no, but I'm assuming your spouse will ask you again at some point.

Thanks Marin and Lon for helping answer questions :D I'll put up answers in OP on Monday~

Sprinks - I would love that so much! If you have the time of course :D
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Thank you! I'm glad they at least let you prevent it. Now my third file can be kid-free~
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