Hints (Rune Factory 2)

The following is a collection of miscellaneous pieces of advice that may not necessarily comprise optimal play, but could prove beneficial to a new or inexperienced player.

== Generation 1 ==

• When starting the game, time won't begin moving until the player interacts with Mana and Douglas in front of the farm. It is pragmatic to use this moment of infinite time to collect the assorted herbs and grasses from the landscape so that more time on the first day can be spent elsewhere, such as collecting detritus from the seasonal dungeons.

• If the player stays up too late, they will be penalized with reduced HP and RP the subsequent day, in addition to waking up at a later time. The latest the player can stay up without penalty is 2:59 PM, and it is encouraged to rest before that point.

• For posterity, runes from cut flowers yield 12 RP.

• It is advisable to keep a stockpile of medicinal herbs from the farm detritus in storage early on as an early quest requires one on hand, and 3 are required for Natalie to create a healing potion. Tilled land cannot produce medicinal herbs and buying them is mildly expensive in the midgame, so it is preferable to acquire them early on when they're abundant.

• There is an argument to be made not to till many tiles early on, as each day untilled tiles have a chance to produce some form of detritus most often in the form of grasses or herbs. These can be sold for a small profit when money is limited early on, though the chance of having to spend money on clearing poison tiles later means there's often a cost offset down the line.

• The purple circles often seen on dungeon farm tiles early on in the game are poison tiles. To remove them one must purchase the Neutral Agent from Natalie in the Alvarna Clinic for 100G, hold the neutral agent in one's hand directly facing the poison tile, and press A as though intending to drop the item. This process is somewhat obfuscated without prior knowledge. Growth formulas and Greenifiers act the same way, only in front of crops that are still seeds.

• Early on, Mana will post a request to get her a four leaf clover. It is possible to acquire the clover and give it to Rosalind instead of clearing the quest, increasing her FP and LP greatly as it is one of her liked items. The quest can be cancelled and reset infinitely, making it exceedingly easy to raise Rosalind's affinity.

• Once the player has a barn set up, it is suggested to maximize friendship with two ants from Trieste Forest and two Goblin Pirates from Blessia Island. When at max affinity, these four monsters combined will be sufficient to water and harvest the entirety of the farm, grass tiles excepting.

• On large harvest days, the player will often be faced with a surfeit of energy that they cannot feasibly spend within the timeframe. This can be remedied by entering their house and repeatedly performing actions, such as casting the fireball spell at their walls, swinging an axe, etc. to drain RP before collecting more runes and repeating the process. The game only checks that an action was performed at all, not whether or not it successfully hit a target, so it will reward the player with skill experience for taking these actions.

• To compound the benefit of spamming actions within one's home, certain tools increase multiple categories of experience simultaneously. The battle axe increases logging and weapons, the battle hammer increases mining and weapons, and the charged attack of the rod increases weapons and magic.

• Runes from crops restore exactly 50 RP, or half the stamina bar. If optimizing for stamina consumption, it is optimal to exhaust RP completely before consuming exactly 2 runes to restore RP to 100.

• If the player marries Alicia she will not charge for location or weather readings, as long as they remain in generation 1. Paired with the change in schedule that positions Alicia within the player's home at all times, this enables the player to very easily change the weather to rain daily and reduce the amount of exertion required to maintain the seasonal dungeons' crops.

Preparing for the Transition

• When planning to move to generation 2 it is encouraged to visit the schoolhouse after midnight, as reportedly this may save the player's crops during the transition. The behaviour is noted to be inconsistent, however.
• Gold can be obtained by using the Battle Hammer on Padova Mountain's ore deposits in generation 1. The hammer provided by Gordon does not share this property.
• Yue's shop of gifts will change when moving to generation 2. It is advised to purchase a reserve of the platinum if the player has excess funds, as it will take time to acquire that resource later.
• Likewise, it is encouraged to stockpile 33 excess feed per monster in the barn when planning to make the transition. This excess will preserve the monster's friendship value during the transition.