Rune Factory Frontier Strategy Guide

Talk to Mist until you have the hoe, water can, and a bag of turnip seeds. Equip your water can, fill it with water at your well, then un-equip it again to prevent accidentally using your energy.

Go back to the church and take Stella's Bamboo Shoot quest. This will unlock the village shops and most of the NPCs. Follow it through to the end. If you have problems finding Turner just go out of the Inn, then back in, and look again. Depending on the time of day he should be behind the counter in the Inn or somewhere within the building.

While at Erik's, buy a few more bags of turnip seed. Turnips are your best money-making crop this first season, costing only 10 gold a bag and bringing in a nice return when sold. You can plant about 3 bags per RP bar, this first day. If you want to make money faster, this is the strategy for you. If you want to focus on the fighting elements and spending time in the dungeons, you can buy your first weapon from the blacksmith, instead.

The grocer has a tiny selection of defensive gear, though you won't need it until you're at least to the second floor of the Green Ruins. The best strategy is to make your own defensive gear. By the time you need it, you should have purchased the forge, and making your own not only saves you money, it builds your skills to make those higher quality defensive items you'll want later.

There's a clock tower in the same zone as the Church. Find it, and you'll notice a sparkling sprout off to one side. Water that to unlock Whale Island. When you have control of your character again, run over to the little black monument you were shown in the cutscene and look at it.

Now, you can enter the first cave of Whale Island, and avoid the enemies by dodging/walking around them, while working your way fairly straight-forward to your right. When you go through the exit into the next cave you'll meet an NPC and receive another free starting tool. Fulfill her request that you break the rock with it, and you have now opened the bath house in the village, allowing you to refresh your life and energy once a day for 10g. Retrace your steps to leave and climb back down the stalk. If you bought your first weapon, you could fight those first enemies rather than avoid them, but that would quickly drain your energy, leaving you unable to plant as many crops this first day as you could have following this guide. Your call.

If you go into the zone to the left of your house, and follow the path straight on toward the left, you should see Kross standing outside his house. This is the man to see for all your building needs, but, also, if you've opened Whale Island as described above, he'll give you the Pet Glove, which is used to tame and befriend monsters.

Return to your farm, and use the energy you have to till a 3x3 patch of ground and plant your turnips. Find a clear spot, don't waste energy on any rocks or wood yet. You don't have the axe at this point so attacking the wood is fruitless anyway. Put any weeds you clear out of your way into your shipping box. The girl who comes to get them will complain but each one is worth 10g, which is quite a bit this early in the game. Don't forget to water your newly planted turnips. If you started this with full energy you should be able to plant about three bags worth. When your energy bar runs down the first time, visit the bath house to take a bath for your single daily refilling via this method. The more turnips you manage to get planted and watered, the more $$ you'll make your first week.

When you run out of energy, it's time to sleep.

Care for your growing crop, and plant more as you have energy to spare for it.

Use the bath house, it's worth it.

If you talk to Nolan a few times when you first see him at the bath house, he'll give you a juice.

If you ask Erik about farming, choosing the topics tilling soil and seeds, he'll give you a bag of turnip seed.

On the fourth, be sure to talk to Stella, and follow up on what she says about Mist.

On the fifth, Lara will arrive, opening the infirmary. She sells medicines and herbs needed to make them, though at first her selection is very limited. As you progress, it will improve.

On the sixth, Selphy arrives, and will open the Rune Archives (library). She will sell recipe books for cooking, crafting, and forging, and, like Lara, her offerings improve as you progress.

Keep talking to Erik and Stella throughout the week, until each give you a starting tool. Stella has the axe, Erik has the sickle. Both conversation lines come up randomly and can be a pain to get. Your first two recipe books can be obtained the same way, just talk to Rita (for food recipes you can make using the cutting board) and Ganesha (for your first farm tools upgrade manual).

The cheap axe breaks the wood that looks like a fallen branch, the cheap hammer breaks the rocks that look like a few small rocks on the ground. You won't be able to break the larger stumps or rocks until you have the upgraded tools with special attacks.

When Mist asks you to mow her yard, and Erik has given you the sickle, do that.

Be sure to talk to Mist until she mentions dreams and asking the dreams to visit you. This is part of your primary storyline.

With any energy you have left after tending your crops, you could be delving into your first dungeons - you should have two open now. When you've explored Whale Island's Fin area, that's as far as you can go at this point and should focus on the Green Ruins.

By the end of the week you should have grown and shipped enough turnips to build your barn. When you're about ready to do this, plant a patch or two of grass for fodder. You can buy seed from Erik, it's on his store's top shelf. Fodder is ready when it looks like tall grass, and covers your boots when you stand in it. You mow it with your sickle. It is stored in your barn after you cut it, automatically feeding your animals, and will regrow every few days throughout the growing seasons, so patches planted now will keep going until winter. To build your barn, see Kross.

Right after your barn is built, talk with Rita for a gift of a food item to celebrate the day.

With a barn, and a little fodder stocked, you're ready to tame your first monster(s). One that harvests is a good beginning monster, freeing you to focus on other things. A rock breaker will help clear your field for more planting. Depending on how far you've gotten into the Green Ruins, a woodcutter might also be a good start, clearing the stumps in your way. You can tame a monster to take into battle with you as a fighting ally, as well. Just depends on how you want to play. A few production animals are available from the Fin and the Green Ruins, but they only produce every few days and aren't worth the feed at this point. Visit my FAQ page for a list of the earliest monsters you can get who will work for you. Take care not to fill your barn so much your ability to grow their food is outpaced. You can't grow fodder in winter and will need a stockpile, and going hungry will decrease their friendship level. When it drops low enough they'll stop working.

You can find the peddler in the Town Square on most holidays (as opposed to festivals, when he's set up near the church). One of the first things you're going to want is a forge to craft your gear and upgrade your tools. The handy forge costs 2000 g. Get it if you can. (Note that you do not need the forge house upgrade from Kross to buy this first forge.) Your farming tools should be ready to upgrade now, and doing so will give you their "special attacks" which affect a wider area - this will really help. If you managed to get 3 or more patches of turnips in the ground the first day, and watered them faithfully every day after, the harvest will have given you enough for this as well. If money's tight for some reason and you'd prefer to focus on the forge, rather than the barn, you can certainly do that. The advantage to this is possibly getting the upgrades sooner, and, unlike the forge, the barn can be obtained during the week. The negative is that you'll be waiting to obtain and train your monster workforce.

Kanno appears the seventh of spring. As soon as you can after that, catch him inside the Clock Tower, between 9am and 11am, and talk to him about his granddaughters. Walk outside and the girls will arrive. Then talk to Candy. She'll be inside, upstairs, after the cutscene. If you just chat with her she will create a Rune Wonder that will increase the amount of bamboo shoots that grow the next day. Then talk to her about Runeys and Rune Wonders for her to give you the harvester, your multi-purpose runey-catcher and gatherer of all monster produced farm products.

Obtaining the fishing pole is slightly more difficult - you have to find Cinnamon when she's outside, fishing, and chat with her until she brings up fishing and gives you a pole.

With all your beginning tools acquired, you're now set to explore, train in the dungeons, tame animals, fish, farm, and socialize as you like.

As you're ready, you can work your way through the storyline.

1) Water the sprout to open Whale Island.

2) Talk to Mist until she mentions dreams and says she will ask them to visit you.

3) Mow Mist's yard at her request. Walk right up to what you find there, to "discover" the Green Ruins. As you work on the rest of this list, you will also need to be fully exploring the Green Ruins, defeating its boss to move on to the Lava Ruins, completing the Lava Ruins, and opening the Snow Ruins. Explore the Snow Ruins until you find the locked door on floor 3. This is as far as you need to go into these dungeons for the storyline. It's going to take awhile, and a lot of levels. (If you need help figuring out how or where to open one of the other Ruins, check my FAQ.)

4) Go near the tower on Whale Island's Fin after 6pm to see a cutscene.

5) Talk to Rosetta until she mentions moondrops and moonlight. Buy a bag of moondrop seed from her, and go back to the Fin. Right outside the tower is a small farming plot. Walk across it to see your character remember Rosetta's conversation. Plant the moondrops there, and care for them until they bloom. Don't pick them yet.

6) After they've produced a rune, return to the tower after 6pm to see a new cutscene. You can pick them now, and begin to use them to befriend the girl. You have to have begun this process to continue, but you don't actually have to have even one complete friendship point with her to move on.

7) Mist will mention finding a strange seed. Visit her home in the morning when she's watering plants to see it.

8) Dream.

9) Return to the tower on the Fin at night, to see a new cutscene. A man will leave the tower and go through the previously-locked gate into other areas of Whale Island. The way will now be open for you to do the same.

10) Make your way through the Whale Island Flank area to find the Whale Island Tree. Your character will remark on it.

11) The next time you visit the Whale Island Tree, your character will notice the Rune is smaller.

12) Talk to Kanno about it.

13) Dream.

14) Return to the locked door on floor 3 of the Snow Ruins.

15) Boss battle.

16) Talk to the Whale.

17) Talk to the girl in the tower on the Fin.

18) Talk to Kanno.

19) Return to the door on the 3rd floor of the Snow Ruins. It's locked again.

20) Go to the cemetery beside the church. Cutscene. Go after Marco.

21) Find the book within.

22) Give the book to Kanno, and wait for him to translate it. It will take a few days.

23) Kanno will give you flower seeds. Give one to each maiden, to grow for you. This will take another few days.

24) Retrieve the flowers, and put each on the altar on the bottom floor of the Clock Tower.

25) Nothing happens, and you and Kanno figure out why. Wasn't there another strange flower...?

26) Go to Mist's house and check her plant she was growing. Take it to the Clock Tower and put it on the altar.

27) Portal opens. You can choose to prepare before using it. Go in prepared for major Boss Battle.

Credits will roll when you're done. Don't worry, it will let you resume game play when the credits are finished.

His mischief seems to advance when you talk to him. I ignored him until winter and he caused me no mischief at all until I did.

First he knocks on your door in the dead of night, and runs away.

Next he loads your shipping box with rocks, and Rosetta will gripe at you about it.

Then he will destroy your crops, but only in seasons you have crops in the field. If you wait til winter to talk to him, he'll wait til spring to destroy your crop.

If you befriend Kross to 4fp or higher, you'll unlock chain of events that will reveal much more to you about Kross, and Brodik. You'll know this worked when you see a cutscene of Kross pushing a big rock across his field.

Later Brodik will block your door with a rock, and Kross will help you by moving it away.

A few days after this, you'll find a Golem in your fields.

If you catch Anette outside Brodik's house delivering his mail, you'll find out he was seen gathering rocks. The next time you talk to Brodik he will deny it, then be surprised you say you believe him. This and your mention of friendship sends him into seclusion to contemplate things.

Talk to Anette the next month to find out he's been depressed. The following day, you'll get a letter from Brodik with a challenge. Go prepared for a boss fight. Defeat his challenge, and in the morning he'll send you another. Defeat that one, and he'll leave town.

Runeys are the little glowing, floating spirits you see. They assist with the growth of your crops. Each area has its own runey distribution, with runeys being created or disappearing according to the overall population, game design, and chance factors. If they get too far out of balance in an area the different types of runeys will die out, one by one, until there are none left. At this point your ability to grow crops will start to be affected, with their growth slowing down or even beginning to wither and die. This happens no matter which area it is that has died out, so you'll want to keep an eye on things and try not to let it get that far. On the positive side, if areas reach prosperity, which is 35 or more of each type of runey, your crops will grow faster.

Some players micromanage their runeys to an extreme degree. Common in this type of play is to check runey levels weekly or even daily and use the harvester to gather a few from populations that are over a decided amount to store or move into areas that need them. I wasn't one of these. I preferred to take a laid back approach, only checking on runey levels about once or twice a game-month and re-balancing if needed. If I noticed things didn't look right when I ran through an area, that only one or two types of runeys were showing, I'd stop and do something about that.

My way of re-balancing was to harvest all the runeys, and release 20 each back into the area. Then I'd ignore them until the next time. This would never get every area into prosperity but it kept them from all dying off, and made it so I didn't have to spend a lot of time on something I found tedious.

Rune Factory Crop Profit Guide
This is the only guide on this page not by me, and I'm glad to feature it for all the hard work he put into it. If you'd like to know how the crops measure up in terms of profit per season, here's the guide you need.