Harvest Moon Forever: Blackbirds

Showing posts with label Blackbirds. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2008

Monsters in the 2nd Generation of Rune Factory 2

Some players expressed some concern that, if they spent too much time in the 1st Generation polishing their Skills, they would not find the 2nd Generation challenging enough in terms of combat.

Let me assure these players that this will NOT be the case by any means! I did not have my combat levels quite at maximum when I moved forward to the 2nd generation in my test game but, even so, my Skills were more than decent both in regular Weapons and in Magic. Nonetheless, there are Monsters in the 2nd Generation who could 'knock my socks off' as it were. I could defeat any Monster ultimately but it wasn't easy in every case.

It does appear that one will meet with the best success if one follows the Seasons in terms of exploring 2nd Generation Caves. That is how the game intended progression to occur and it does make sense, although you can change the order if you like. As a matter of fact, in my very first day in the 2nd Generation, I walked to the northern screen in the Trieste Forest rather carelessly and thereby encountered the 'Boss' Monster in the form of the Terror Tree. I actually was able to defeat him without any of the 2nd Generation Magic Spells like Cure... and indeed it does not affect the plot much to do things out of order. I didn't save the result, however, as I wanted to experience dialogues with characters BEFORE I bested that particular Monster.

There are 'ordinary' Monsters who can be more challenging than the 'Boss' Monsters actually. It is even more challenging when you wish to tame a Monster rather than defeat it.

The Blackbirds in the 2nd Generation will destroy stumps on your field for you but they are both very vicious and fast, with multiple attacks that can reduce your HP to zero in an instant if you fail to use 'Cure'. While engaged in petting them to try to tame them, you must endure punishing attacks. They are very useful, however, until you are able to increase your Forging Skills to the point where you can upgrade your Tools. Recipes in general take time to learn, as neither Mana nor Barreet will teach more than two lessons each day and the holiday is a true holiday in terms of School attendance. (I use the term 'Recipes' not only for Cooked Dishes but for the Forge and Pharmacy.)

I am updating my Rune Factory 2 General Guide with 2nd Generation material as quickly as I can. Among other things, I have added to the Bestiary...

It is only in the 2nd Generation that you can encounter the adorable Chipsqueek Monster. It is fitting that he was chosen as the plush toy for Rune Factory 2.

N.B. The miniature sword in the photograph has a damascus steel blade and carved mammoth ivory handle. I'm afraid that the blade has been neglected a little and needs to be both oiled and sharpened! It is a 'working' sword of tempered Damascus, even if it is sized for a pocket princeling or pocket Valkyrie.

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For all Harvest Moon fans and players

As Freyashawk, I have written about 150 guides for games, most of which have been guides for Harvest Moon games. These are published on IGN. IGN has given me the title of 'Mistress of Harvest Moon' and I strive daily to earn the right to maintain that title. Although there is a link page on IGN that lists all the guides published there, they are not organised by game, but rather given in alphabetical order. I therefore created this page in order to provide links to the guides I have created for each Harvest Moon game. If you access the General Guide for any game, links should be included to all other guides for that game in a section at the end. I will try to add links to ALL guides as time permits, but until I do, you always can refer to my user page at IGN for the complete list.

I wrote the Official Strategy Guide for Tree of Tranquility for BradyGames as well.
Harvest Moon Forever!

How to Use my Guides

I write three different basic types of game guides. I usually write a General Guide for every game, which is fairly comprehensive and deals with all aspects of the game. It may or may not be in the form of a Walkthrough, dealing with game aspects as they occur. My Innocent Life General Guide is an example of a General Guide that is organised as a Walkthrough.

After writing a General Comprehensive Guide, I often write a Calendar Guide giving birthday and festival dates, with additional information that may be helpful, such as favourite gifts for each individual. For all Harvest Moon games, I usually write a number of 'mini-guides', such as Events Guides for each year of gameplay, or Recipe Guides that give all recipes one can make. Fishing, Mining, Shipping or Item Value Guides are other mini-guides that can be very useful when playing Harvest Moon. Character Guides give detailed information about every character in any specific game. My Courtship and Marriage Guide is devoted to all aspects of Courtship and Marriage, including schedules of Heart Events, Rival Heart Events and the likes and dislikes of every Eligible Girl and/or Bachelor.

Although this site is devoted to Harvest Moon, I have included links to game guides for other games. I created a separate link section for Animal Crossing Wild World as well, because I wrote more than one guide for that game.

N.B. All my game guides are published by IGN. This webpage has been created simply to allow players to find links to all my guides more easily.

Copyright Infringement Warning

It is really sad to discover that there are individuals who are willing to steal my guides and to attempt to publish them under their names. Fortunately, there are many players who recognise my guides when they see them anywhere on the internet and who are willing to alert me when some one tries to steal my material. I want to thank all those players for their help in these cases.

Some one stole one of my guides and tried to publish it on Gamefaqs under his/her name. The guide has been removed and the poster has been banned. I now have a contact in the Legal Department at CNet. I spend many months sometimes writing a guide. They are available for the private use of any individual without cost, but they are not available for theft!
If you want permission to include a link to one of my guides on your site, please contact me directly.

Friends of Mineral Town and More Friends of Mineral Town

You will notice that I wrote far more guides for More Friends of Mineral Town than I did for the original 'Friends of Mineral Town'. At some point, I would like to publish more specific Events Guides for Friends of Mineral Town, but players should be aware of the fact that ALL Calendar Events Guides for MFoMT can be used when playing the original FoMT. The Events are the same in most cases in both games. If, therefore, you are playing FoMT and you wish to know the events that can be experienced in the third year of gameplay, refer to the 'Third Year Calendar Events Guide' for 'More Friends of Mineral Town'.