Harvest Moon Forever: Monster Levels

Showing posts with label Monster Levels. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Monster Allies in Rune Factory Frontier and Rune Factory 2

There appears to be a fundamental difference between Rune Factory Frontier and Rune Factory 2 in the way Monster levels operate. In Rune Factory 2, a Hunter Wolf definitely was superior to a Silver Wolf. Even at 10 Hearts, with as much combat experience as I could give the Silver Wolf, when I was able to tame a Hunter Wolf in the 2nd Generation, he represented a superior Ally even at low heart level.

In Rune Factory Frontier, on the other hand, heart level and the amount of time that a Monster has spent with you in combat situations does create an Ally that is stronger than his 'superior' cousins.

For example, my Silver Wolf at only 7 Hearts had the following:
Level 82, MAX HP 1284, ATK 258, DEF 314, MAG 239

The Hunter Wolf initially is at Level 74 with: MAX HP 1080, ATK 254, DEF 273, MAG 22 which makes the Silver Wolf, with his experience and affection for me, a superior choice.

Heart Levels increase more slowly in Rune Factory Frontier than in Rune Factory 2. In Rune Factory 2, Monsters who never left the Monster Barn increased in heart levels fairly quickly as long as you cared for them properly and made certain they had food. In Rune Factory Frontier, a Monster who never leaves the Monster Barn to accompany you on your peregrinations will increase in Friendship far more slowly than one who does. The entire business of Monster levels and Friendship is a bit more complex in Rune Factory Frontier than in previous Rune Factory games, as Monsters of different types increase in Friendship at different speeds. Some Monsters, put simply, are more disposed to Friendship with humans than others.

In a way, it is rather satisfying to discover that time and energy lavished on a Monster have an intrinsic value and that taming a more powerful Monster may not signify any 'upgrade' when compared with one who has been a loyal and faithful companion throughout your combat experiences.

Note that there are exceptions and this is only an example of two Monsters from the same family. If I were to tame a Mini Dragon and compare it to my trusty Silver Wolf, the Wolf would suffer from the comparison.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Monster Levels in Rune Factory 2

As a tame Monster continues to live with you, his/her Levels will increase. Originally, I thought that their levels increased with time but now I believe that they increase according to the amount of experience they gain.

A Silver Wolf when first tamed has an HP level of 65. My Silver Wolf now has an HP of 186. Yesterday, his HP was 180. this morning, when I took him with me into a Cave, he was fighting a Monster when I received a prompt to the effect that a 'Level increased.' MY level did not increase. In fact, I was walking towards a Generator at the time, and was involved in no other activity. It was the Silver Wolf's level that increased, adding 6 points of HP to his total.

I need to confirm this, but it appears to me now that you need to use the Monster actively in order to increase his/her levels. In terms of a 'farmhand' Monster, I imagine that levels would increase with farm labour. In terms of Monsters that give Ranch products, levels should increase according to the number of times that you have obtained product from them. It is not combat alone that raises levels but use, I believe. It cannot be Heart Level that determines total HP as all the Monsters I have are at 10 Hearts and have been at 10 Hearts for a couple of seasons. Nonetheless, their HP continues to increase.

I would be interested in confirmation by other players as to the speed and amount by which their tame Monsters' HP increases. Unfortunately, you cannot see your Monsters' actual Skill or Experience levels but only their total HP and Heart Levels.

You can see any tame Monster's HP when you access the board in front of the Barn that displays the status of all the Monsters in the barn as well as total Feed, Friendship Levels, Ranch Products to be obtained and any farm tasks that a Monster can perform. When you tap on an individual Monster, its description and total HP will appear on the top screen.

My Orc currently is at a total of 170 HP. If I send him to the Forest of Beginnings and tame a new Orc, his total HP will be 45. All of my Buffamoos are at a total of 205 HP. If I send one back to the Forest of Beginnings and tame another, her total HP will be only 80.

I would have thought that total HP increased according to the length of time that one had the Monster, but when my Silver Wolf's HP was the only one to increase and it occurred when his level increased during HIS combat with an enemy, I realised that it must be a situation where each Monster's HP increases individually. The only way to disprove this would be NOT to use a Monster at all for a couple of seasons and see if his/her total HP nonetheless continues to increase...

By the way, the Silver Wolf is the only Monster I use in combat situations. The Orc is used to harvest Crops, my Goblin Pirate waters crops and the other Monsters in the Barn produce Ranch Products. All have increased in total HP over the course of time. I expect therefore that obtaining Ranch Product would increase those Monsters' levels and performing farm tasks would increase the farmhand Monsters levels.

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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'.