Rune Factory 3 Travel Journal Part 4: Vale River
Sharance Women, Cold Dungeons, and Useless Monsters
When last you joined me in my adventures through Sharance, I found myself making a best friend out of my Pokemon-like pet monster Rush and losing a potential bride in the red-haired Raven. I had cleared three of the game’s dungeons, and my wallet was fairly bulked up with tremendous amounts of riches. Here we are shortly after my character was dumped by Raven, and it seems more mystery continues to plague the world of Rune Factory 3.
Where did I go from here? Would I lead my character closer to his goal of regaining his lost memories? Would I continue to chase the elusive Raven and unravel the mystery of her character? Join me as I continue my playthrough of the latest Rune Factory game on the Nintendo DS.
The Icy Vale River
Before I set out to do anything else within the confines of Sharance, I headed for the Vale River to defeat the fourth boss. I took Rush along because I figured I could use the help. It turns out this darn wooly wasn’t nearly as useful as a Pokemon; the moment we encountered some tough enemies, the little fleece ball merely sat there and watched as I battled it out alone. I pondered for a moment whether or not I should have focused my monster training on a more capable beast, but I decided to let it go. Rush had helped me plenty before, and now it was time to let him live happily on my farm.
I got to the icy boss of the Vale River, and I took him on courageously. While I did take a decent amount of damage and genuinely feared meeting with failure every so often during the bout, I was able to defeat the cold villain on my first try. (Fun fact: the Vale River boss looks a lot like the first incarnation of Andross from Star Fox.) After defeating the boss, Micah remembered another moment from his past. After this short cinematic, I guided the protagonist back to Sharance.
Patching Things Up with Raven
Immediately after clearing the Vale River, I attempted to fix things with Raven. I disguised myself as a wooly that she had been following throughout the game and I got close to her, revealing my true identity shortly after. Raven then confided her deep secret as well: She too was half-monster. That’s right, Raven was part human, part majestic bird (the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh comes to mind). I was surprised to discover this, but it was pretty cool learning that the Sharance girl that I chose to court was also half-monster. We made up, and we headed back to Sharance where there was more work to be done.
Uniting the Tribes
My next goal was made clear after watching a few cutscenes and reading some text. I had to unify the humans and Univir. A “unity festival” was in order, and the members of both societies would have to talk things through, make peace, and live happily as one community. The first step in making this happen required me to reveal my half-monster identity to the humans and my half-human identity to the monsters. Afterwards, it was my objective to make a beautiful bouquet of flowers as a peace offering to the Univir. This was easier said than done as I had to plant seasonal seeds in their respective dungeons throughout the game world.
After several in-game days of collecting materials, caring for the flowers, and level grinding just for the heck of it, I finally had the peace bouquet in my hands. I took it over to Kuruna, and she accepted it willingly. The festival followed, and after hearing elders from both tribes say their piece, I managed to successfully bring the two races together.
What’s Next for Sharance, the Univir, Micah, and Raven?
So I’ve cleared four dungeons, won back the heart of the most mysterious woman in Sharance, and united the humans and the Univir which hated one another. What’s next for me in the world of Rune Factory 3? Why, marriage, of course! Check out the next entry of Road Journal to see what happens when I finally decide to pop the question and continue the tradition of marriage in the Harvest Moon series and its spin-offs.
This post is part of the series: Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Road Journal
BrightHub’s David Sanchez enters the world of Rune Factory 3 and sets out to tend to his farm, battle strange enemies, and engage in many interesting conversations with the in-game characters.
