Eunice's Transformation: A Changing Portrait of a very Sweet Girl

I initially felt guilty when I chose to tell Eunice that my character preferred 'thinner girls', even though I suspected that was what Eunice herself wished to hear. In fact, as her Heart Level increased, her dialogue proved that my instincts had been sound. Her own dream was to be able to join the other girls at the Beach in Summer without embarrassment. Despite the fact that Eunice was pretty from the very start, her transformation after 60 days of slimming made her absolutely ravishing.

To honour Eunice's hard work and determination, I made a little video that shows her changing Profiles and Portraits in Rune Factory Frontier.

One of my favourite 'changes' during the period when Eunice is slimming is her training with the naginata each morning, standing side-by-side with Uzuki. I was rather sad when the broom replaced the naginata again after she succeeded in attaining her own physical ideal.

Of all the Eligible Girls, Eunice is the most straightforward, entirely without artifice or guile. She has a loving and generous nature and always is happy to serve, whether by cleaning the bar for her parents or by repairing your character's clothing. Lara's dedication to a life of service is religious in nature and her rather stern devotion to duty and good health sets her apart from ordinary girls. Eunice, on the other hand, is motivated simply by her own generous spirit and she displays both a very natural earthiness and purity of heart.

Eunice and your Dilemma in Rune Factory Frontier

In Harvest Moon and Rune Factory, you always will have some influence over the futures of other characters both in your role of 'saviour' of the land and as a spouse and parent. In Rune Factory Frontier, there are a number of events that give your character the power to determine a critical decision in some one else's life.

When an eligible girl reaches 4 Hearts, you can experience a special Event. In Eunice's case, you will have the choice of influencing her to embark upon a slimming programme if you tell her that you like slender girls. To do so felt rather 'wrong' to me personally as I never would make that sort of comment to any one, whatever my opinion might be... but it is obvious that Eunice WANTS your character to motivate her. It is obvious that she is not happy with her own appearance. Furthermore, when you look at her father, you can see that Eunice may run the risk of developing a dangerous measure of obesity if her habits do not change...

That having been argued, I still was uncomfortable dictating to her in that way. Nonetheless, I look forward to the future when Eunice can join the other girls in their bathing costumes at the Beach.

By the way, if Eunice does decide to lose weight, her former 'Most Favourite gift' of Mont Blanc no longer will be accepted happily. She will tell you: 'N-no! I can’t eat cake while I’m on a diet!'

Best to give her flowers instead!

What is very endearing is to see how she begins to train with Uzuki in martial arts, wielding a naginata herself (rather clumsily, but with great determination!)

Later: As I wrote in a comment here, I believe that Marvelous may have been influenced by the current world-wide campaign against 'adolescent obesity' in creating Eunice's character and her dilemma. I never had any problem with weight myself, but have close friends who do. Although I understand the real threats to health, such as an increased risk of diabetes and so on, I nonetheless believe that there is something intrinsically wrong with our culture, founded as it is upon a fashion sense that encourages anorexic super-models. Furthermore, adolescents have more than enough problems with self-esteeem and confidence and to add more pressure to their lives in the form of physical appearance issues relating to weight strikes me as counterproductive and cruel.

In the States, schools actually send letters to parents now chastising them for allowing their children to gain a little weight. Even when the child's weight is within current 'acceptable' limits, the parents are told that there is a 'risk' of obesity if the child actually could not be considered slim.

By the way, in my next game, I shall allow Eunice to stay as she is. Rune Factory Frontier only allows one save file per game. This appears to be the new trend for Wii games, and it is supremely annoying. I liked the games better when one could keep three save files for the same game at different points. One then could take alternate paths stemming from the same beginning. Now I shall be unable to add the alternate information to the guide until I start the game again and choose a different option. I do understand that it is necessary to play multiple games in Rune Factory Frontier in order to complete all the Memories, but when one is writing guides for a game, the amount of time needed to do all of this means that the guide will not be completed for a year or so.