Pathway to the 7th Floor of the Snow Ruins

Path to Stairway to 7th Floor

When you descend to the 6th floor, you will find yourself in an area covered with thick ice. Two Tricky Mucks will confront you instantly as well as a swiveling cannon in the north. The arch for the cannon is next to it, but two Arch Demons await you there. Two the north of the Arch Demons is the Generator that spawns them and east of that, another swiveling cannon. The east side of this area is dominated by two Mini-Dragons.
Your own exit is in the northwest, along a narrow corridor crammed with Tricky Mucks and arch Demons. The generator that spawns them is at the northern end of this corridor where you will find a ramp that leads to an elevated walkway. Ascend and move south along the walkway, which is guarded by Tricky Mucks. At the southern end of the walkway is the Generator that spawns the Tricky Mucks. To the right is a ramp that leads downwards back to the main floor in the east.
A single Treasure Chest is tucked into an ‘elbow’ of the walkway. To the northeast are two Mini-Dragons in an area that contains both real Treasure Chests and Gobble Boxes.
The Generator that spawns the Monsters is to the east below the southern wall of a walkway in the north. From the position of the actual Monsters (Dragons and such), find a little path that skirts the northern wall of the dungeon and leads east. Here you will find a ramp that ascends to the elevated walkway. Go south along the walkway, then east to a ramp that leads downwards to an area in the east that actually is an elevated walkway at a lower level. Here the floor is covered with ice and a crack bisects it from east to west. In the north, you will be confronted by two Soul Monsters and in the south by Arch Demons. You will be able to skirt the crack in the floor to reach the southern half of this area where you will find a narrow walkway that leads first west, then north where it ends in a ramp that descends to the main floor. Here there is little space, as there are many walkways above you. Go instantly to the northern wall and journey west past Tricky Mucks. You will see that the floor here is bisected with another crack that runs from north to south. Skirt the edges of the crack at the southern tip and continue west past a Monster Generator. When you go north again to the west of the crack, you will see another Monster Generator as well as the stairway that leads to the 7th and lowest floor.

To find the elusive Micro-Dragon, go to a chamber in the southeast corner of the 6th floor containing tillable fields and two white urns. On the northern outside wall of this chamber is a Monster Generator. When it is activated, a Micro-Dragon will spawn in the chamber with the tillable fields.

Outside this chamber is a swiveling cannon as well as Souls, so be careful!

The 7th Floor of the Snow Ruins

The 7th Floor of the Snow Ruins is easy to navigate. From the position of the stairway in the north, simply walk south down a narrow corridor to find a peaceful chamber that contains one large tillable field with eight plots. A water source in this chamber is an excellent fishing location. To the south of the field is a sliding door that needs to be unlocked. Walk through it, then walk south down the narrow corridor to reach the very end of the shortcut stairway, giving you easy access to the 7th floor in the future.
If, instead of going through the sliding door in the south, you walk east from the chamber with the tillable field, you will find yourself in a small ice chamber. There is a single door in the north. Press ‘A’ and you will see a prompt:
Freyr: I can feel something powerful up ahead…
Your choices now:
I should turn back.
Let’s go!
This is the lair of the Ice Snake, an ‘optional’ Boss Monster as its defeat does not affect the main story. Its Tongue is a very useful item, as it is an ingredient in many Recipes.

Walkthrough for the 4th Floor of the Snow Ruins

Path to the Stairway to the 5th Floor


The fourth floor introduces you to a new element in the form of elevated walkways that traverse the level. When you first enter the fourth floor via the isolated stairway, you will find yourself on one of these elevated paths. Two ramps lead downward to the main floor. One is located at the northern end of the walkway and the other is at the southern end.

Take the southern ramp to the west to find yourself in a peaceful antechamber with exits to the west and south.

Take the exit in the south and you will find yourself in an ice chamber with an ice ramp that leads upwards to a platform containing a swiveling Cannon, an Eye Generator, a Treasure Chest and two arches. Hunter Wolves and Buffazoos guard this area.

Continue south from the platform along an elevated walkway to find another platform that is a dead end and south of it, two ice ramps descending to the east and to the west.

(If you descend to the east, all you will find is the Generator that spawns the Buffazoo.)

If you go west instead, you will see a Generator that spawns a Minotaur and Hunter Wolves. A Mini-Dragon encased in ice bars access to a sliding door in the west.. Destroy the Mini-Dragon in ice and go west through the sliding door to a narrow corridor with branching paths that go directly west or north.


Unlocking the 4th Floor Shortcut


If you go west, you will find a sliding door. Go through it to unlock the 4th floor entrance to the shortcut stairway.

If, after going through the sliding door west of the Mini-Dragon, you go north instead, the path will turn to the west, then take you north along a narrow corridor.

(The first exit to the west leads to a peaceful chamber. You will see two white urns along the northern wall. The chamber contains three tillable fields, two with two plots and one with four as well as three rocks that can be smashed for ores/gems.
It is a dead end.)

Return to the narrow corridor and as you continue north, you will encounter a swiveling cannon unless you destroyed its arch previously. North past the cannon's position, ice will frost the floor. You will arrive at a junction.

If you go west here, you will come to an Eye Generator and its arch. You MUST destroy this Eye Generator if you wish to be able to proceed through the next sliding door.

Go northeast afterwards to find yourself in a small ice chamber with a swiveling cannon and its arch. An ice ramp leads upward west of the cannon to an elevated walkway covered with ice.

Take the pathway where it leads, first south, then west, then north to a ramp that descends to the main floor. It is a small area with a Monster Generator that spawns two Hunter Wolves in the elbow of the walkway.

In the north is a sliding door. Go through it to find a narrow corridor free from ice that leads north, west, then north again to an area guarded by Blood Panthers. You will not find the Generator that spawns them until you ascend a ramp at the north end of the path to arrive at a platform that spans the eastern side of the corridor. On this platform, you will find the Generator that spawns the Blood Panthers as well as a swiveling Cannon and its arch. Two white urns are located near a ramp that goes downward to the east.

When you take the ramp downward, you will find yourself again on the main floor. The platform to your west actually cuts a chamber in half and the narrow corridor with the Blood Panthers constituted the western half of the chamber. Go north to find a Monster Generator that spawns a Buffazoo. Near the northern wall, you will find two rocks that can be smashed for ores/gems and an exit that leads east.

Go east along a narrow passage to arrive at a peaceful chamber with two tillable fields, each consisting of four plots as well as 2 white urns. The only exit is in the southwest. Take it and go south along a brief narrow passage to a large area free of Monsters. (An ice ramp to the right leads upward to the east.) Ignore the ice ramp if you wish to find your way to the 5th floor as the stairway to the 5th floor is at the southern end of this area.

Direct Path to Gelwein and the Rune Storage Chamber

See the previous post for direct walkthroughs to all stairways on the 1st and 2nd floors of the Snow Ruins. This post contains a walkthrough for the three main destinations on the 3rd Floor.


Direct Path to the Rune Storage Chamber and Shortcut Stairway


The third floor is different from the first two in that you now often will find platforms along the walls of the various chambers.

If you wish to go directly to the Rune Storage Chamber, ignore the platform in the first chamber.

From the first isolated stairway that leads to the 3rd floor, you need to find your way to the doorway where the Rune Storage Chamber is located. This is the ‘secret’ of the Snow Ruins and is the place where you will face Gelwein for the first time.
When you descend the isolated stairway to the third floor, you will find yourself in a small chamber containing two rocks that can be smashed for ores/gems. An ice barrier in the north prevents access to any other area.

Destroy the ice barrier and go north into a chamber that contains a single Generator that spawns Unicos and Demons as well as an Eye Generator.

Destroy the Eye Generator in this chamber to create an explosion that melts the ice on the sliding door in the east. Go east through a narrow corridor through another sliding door into a small chamber containing a swiveling cannon. Destroy its arch to destroy the cannon.


Unlocking the Shortcut Stairway

You will see two exits from this chamber. One is on the eastern wall and one is on the southern wall. Take the exit in the south first to open the sliding door to the shortcut stairway. Now return to the chamber in the north that held the cannon and take the exit in the east.

Path to the Rune Storage Chamber

You will find yourself in a little area with exits to the north and east. Go north into an ice chamber with a platform in the west and a swiveling cannon in the main area. The arch that controls the cannon is on the platform with a single monster generator that spawns 4 Demons.
If you continue north, you will find a ramp in the east that leads upward to another platform. Directly north, however, is a huge Minotaur encased in ice. Break the ice and destroy the Minotaur at one blow with a fire Axe and you will find yourself in front of the door to the Rune Storage Chamber.

Provided you encountered Gelwein previously in front of the Tower of Rest at Whale Island, you will experience an Event when you attempt to access the locked door to the Rune Storage Chamber.

Note that, when you have bested Gelwein here, a Circle Portal will appear leading directly to the entrance of the Snow Ruins. Whenever you use the Circle Portal, you will find yourself to the north of the ice-encased Minotaur.


Path to the 4th Floor Stairway


From the Circle Portal on the 3rd Floor and Rune Storage Chamber, go south to the little T-junction. If you are in the ice chamber that contained the ice-encased Minotaur, you will be at the ‘leg’ or lowest point of the T. You therefore will see a path that leads both east and west. If you go west, you will find yourself in the little chamber with the swiveling Cannon that leads to the shortcut stairway.

Go east instead if you wish to access the fourth floor for the first time.
You will find yourself at the southwest corner of an ice chamber with a platform to the east that is accessed by means of an ice ramp. The platform acts as a barrier to the eastern half of the ice chamber.

Asccend it to find an Eye Generator and a Treasure Chest. You will not find the arch for this Generator on the platform. Another ramp in the southeast leads downward to take you to the eastern half of this ice chamber.

The only other exit is in the northeast. Go through it to find yourself in a narrow chamber with two Monster Generators. The one in the north spawns a Mamoo and a Demon. Two rocks that can be smashed for ores/gems are in the middle of the chamber. Below it, to the south, is another Monster Generator that spawns two Demons and a Mamoo. You need not activate the southern Generator if you are bound for the 4th Floor.

If you go north from this chamber along a narrow corridor, you will find the isolated stairway to the 4th floor.

Screen-by-Screen Walkthroughs for the Snow Ruins

I am working on screen-by-screen walkthroughs of the Snow Ruins now. E3 is in progress this week, which means that updates to my guides will not be uploaded on IGN until Friday at the earliest. I therefore will post the walkthroughs here instead.

I suggest that players disregard the preliminary Screen-by-Screen Walkthrough for the Snow Ruins that is in the actual Bestiary and Caves Guide until the next update is uploaded as it is too confusing! Apologies for that... I was writing quickly for a player who requested the information but a poorly written guide is worse than no guide at all.

What I will post first here are the direct routes to each stairway on each floor.

Afterwards, I will post the complete walkthrough, giving every chamber and its contents, whether hostile or in the form of treasure or tillable fields.

In the first 'direct' walkthrough, I will give the location of BOTH stairways. Whenever you first explore a new floor in a dungeon, you will have two goals in terms of finding a stairway. You need to find the preliminary stairway that leads downward to the next floor, of course, but you need to open the sliding door that leads back to the shortcut stairway as well.


Screen-by-Screen Walkthrough of the Snow Ruins

The Snow Ruins is a maze and there are many chambers that resemble one another. One frame of reference is direction. Another is borders. Always look outside the walls. If you see darkness on any side, you will know that you are at the border of the dungeon. I will use this darkness as a frame of reference when describing various chambers.
The first Walkthrough section will give the direct path from one floor to the next, explaining the path that you need to take to find the first stairway to the next floor as well as the path you need to take to open the sliding door to the ‘shortcut stairway’.
Remember that you have two initial goals when you first explore a new floor in a dungeon in Rune Factory Frontier. One is to find the stairway that leads to the next floor and the other is to find the sliding door that leads to the shortcut stairway to ‘unlock’ it for future visits.

There are some 'new' obstacles for the player in the Snow Ruins. The first is an ice barrier that often blocks a path. It can be destroyed with an ordinary hammer or any Fire Weapon.

The second is what I named an 'Eye Generator'. This is a device with an eye in the centre that blasts out puffs of ice air that cause damage. The 'Eye Generator' is controlled by an arch of wires. You may or may not find it next to the Generator. On lower floors, it often will be on a different platform or in a corner somewhere. Destroy the arch and the Eye Generator will explode. The arch causes no damage, but you need a fire weapon to destroy it.

The third is ice that freezes a sliding door. When you see this, look for an Eye Generator nearby and destroy it. The ensuing explosion will melt the ice, allowing the door to open. Note that Eye Generators often are found in the same chambers as large Monsters encased in ice. If the explosion is close enough to the Monster, it will free it from the ice and you will be forced to deal with it. It often is best to destroy the ice-encased Monster BEFORE you cause any explosions in the chamber.

The fourth is a swiveling cannon. This will react to your own movements but it is controlled by an arch of wires as well. Destroy the arch and the cannon will explode. You can hit the cannon directly as well.

The fifth is large ball held in place by ice. As in the Lava Ruins, if you release the ball, it will roll, smashing everything in its path, allowing you to gain access to an area that otherwise would be inaccessible. You will find these only on the lowest floors of the Snow Ruins.


1st Direct Path from 1st to 2nd Floor

The entrance to the Snow Ruins is at the eastern limit of this dungeon. When you go north to the first chamber, you will see only darkness in the east beyond the wall. Keep this in mind.
From the entrance, go north, then find the ice barrier in the west that is guarded by a hornet spawned by a generator in the east. Continue west, destroying the Eye Generator in the chamber with an ice barrier that blocks an exit in the southwest. Destroy the ice barrier, go down the short stairway and through the sliding door as this will open the shortcut stairway to all floors.
As none of the lower floors have been opened yet, return to the chamber in the north where you destroyed the eye generator.
You will find another ice barrier in the northwest. Destroy it and go down the short stairway. Here you will be in a small antechamber with two Hornets spawned by a single generator. If you go west, you will find your first tillable fields. Go north instead up the short stairway to find a large ice chamber with a single generator that spawns both Shadow Panthers and Hornets.
If you take the exit in the north, you will find yourself in a similar large ice chamber with an Eye Generator, scorpions and glaces but the door to the north is blocked by ice. Whenever you see a sliding door that is ‘frozen’ by ice at the bottom of it, you need to create an explosion to melt the ice.
When you destroy any Eye Generator, whether by hitting it directly or by destroying the arch that controls it, the resulting explosion will melt all ice in the vicinity. Sometimes the only ice will be that on a sliding door. Often, however, there will be a large Monster encased in ice and the explosion simply may melt the ice to free the Monster. It is a good idea to use any Fire Weapon directly on the ice-encased Monster before you create any explosion in the chamber, as this will eliminate the Monster rather than allowing it to become free.
Destroy the Eye Generator, therefore, to melt the ice that freezes the sliding door. When you go north through this sliding door, you will find your first stairway to the 2nd floor. Near the stairs, you will find a single white urn.

First Direct path from 2nd to 3rd Floor

Go down the stairway to find a large ice chamber in the south, a real ‘chamber of death’ dominated by Glaces and Shadow Panthers in the north, two Eye Generators and a Mamoo encased in ice in the southeast.
You will see a sliding door frozen with ice in the west of the chamber of death leading to a downward ramp. To unfreeze the sliding door, destroy the Eye Generator in the west. Now go through the sliding door and down the ramp to a narrow corridor that goes both north and south.
Go south down the narrow corridor to find a large peaceful chamber with a single tillable field with four plots and 1 white urn.
An exit in the southeast leads to a small chamber with a single Monster Generator that spawns three Shadow panthers in the east and three rocks that can be smashed for Ores/Gems in the west. You often can find Platinum in one of these rocks.
In the southwest of the small chamber is an ice barrier. Smash it and when you go west, you will find yourself at the northern end of another large ice chamber with four Glaces spawned by a generator at the northern end, an Eye Generator in the centre and two scorpions and a Demon spawned by another Generator at the southern end. The only other exit from this chamber is at the southern end, guarded by an ice-encased Mamoo. Destroy the ice-encased Mamoo and go south into a small chamber with the first stairway that leads to the third floor.
Do not take it yet as you first need to open the sliding door to the shortcut stairway. Go north, therefore, back into the ice chamber. You will see an exit in the east consisting of a narrow corridor that leads to a downward ice ramp. Take it and you will find yourself in a peaceful chamber with three rocks that can be smashed for ores/gems and a single tillable field that contains four plots. This peaceful chamber has many exits but it is the exit on the western side of the southern wall that leads you to the shortcut stairway. Destroy the ice barrier that prevents entry and continue south to a sliding door. Open it to find yourself at the shortcut stairway. Now return to the peaceful chamber as you will not have access to the third floor via this stairway until you have opened the sliding door to THAT floor from the other side.