Thunderbolt’s boy form is Dylas, who remains passed over
night with Dr. Jones and Nancy. He
escapes, and when Nancy discovers him gone, the whole town is in an uproar,
sending Lest (of course) running around to find him. When Lest catches up with Dylas, he is passed
out again in Ventuswill’s chamber. Venti
asks Lest to retrieve the new arrival, but the friends’ brief exchange hints
that Ventuswill is surprisingly exhausted.
Once again hauling the body unconscious back to the Clinic, Lest is
discharged of duties for the day, and permitted to work quietly on the farm, or
on his crafts. My calendar called for a
Fishing Tournament, and fun was had by all while the NPCs thoroughly out-fished
me! Grumble, grumble…
Rune Factory 4 treats its players to another Saturday
morning anime-Jump story, as Amber, the girl I was sure was going to be
trouble, pulled something I’d never expected.
Her guardian, Illuminata, comments off-handedly about a random spot in
the fishing pond and that it feels like it is missing something. The next morning, Illuminata is tearing her
own way through town proclaiming that some of her flower stock is gone, and
that there must therefore be a thief!
Xiao Pai, for whom this really isn’t her business, asks Lest
to believe her, that she knows that whomever took it must have had a good
reason. Lest is given a choice to
believe her or not, but believing her adds Xiao Pai to the party and sends them
of looking for the thief, trying to beat the mystery-addicted Illuminata to the
punch. The next scene is a comical, but
highly cliché scene proving that it is not wise to get between Illuminata and
her mark, as she blows them down without a care, tearing off into the fishing
hole. Belatedly, Xiao Pai and Lest give
chase.
The source of the trouble turns out to be Amber, who must
have heard Illuminata talking, and took the flowers to decorate the random spot
on the map. Players have to look
reeeeaaal closely, and sort of imagine them there. I kid, the spot continues to look for all the
world, like a random rock on the wall.
Continuing to play up the family TV vibe, Amber explains her
indiscretion. Illuminata does the only
thing a responsible business person could do… she smacks Amber, then scolds her
for taking the flowers without asking, then agrees to support her decision to
spread flowers.
The slightly hammy plot lacks nothing for charm, but there
are many problems that emerge from this type of narrative delivery. Setting aside the parental abuse issues, Lest
and Xiao Pai are both conscripted into witnessing this scene directly, but don’t
actually contribute that much to it. Their
roles are pretty … well serving as a witness in a child services investigation
is a full narrative role, maybe something will come of it later. For right now, it feels like there is no real
point, and I can’t say the game generally is feeling any better than this one
small scene.
What would I have done differently? Hard to say, but …
Okay, so Illuminata is still tearing up the town, and Lest
and Xiao Pai leave unmolested towards the fishing hole. When they near the fishing hole, Illuminata
is still somewhere else, anywhere really, but it is still implied that the two
will have to hurry to beat her to the culprit.
Once in the fishing hole area, they find Amber, and with patience and
understanding, they talk Amber into confessing what she has done to
Illuminata. Maybe she agrees, maybe she
stares blindly and uncomprehendingly.
Maybe they go find Illuminata, maybe Illuminata finds them. I’m 50/50 about the bitch-slap scene. The scene, and its message, is largely
unchanged, Amber learns a valuable life lesson, let’s go get some flowers. The difference is that Lest and Xiao Pai now
play an active role in this drama, with the key word being “active.” This is a video game after all… actions are
everything! Aside from witnessing some
shockingly bad parenting, the player and his accomplice haven’t *done*
anything.
But what do I know of drama?
Such a scene probably wouldn’t stand out in memory so starkly if I’d
been in it, rather than trampled under it…
The next day Dylas is back on his feet again, and a totally amnesiac.
After giving Dr. Jones, Nancy, and Lest
a heaping dose of attitude in his thank you, he wanders off, complaining that
he needs to know who he is. Porcoline
intervenes, announcing that he requires a new waiter, and has a room to spare
if Dylas can be persuaded to take it.
Amber is a character who largely shrugged off her memory
problems, but Dylas has much more trouble accepting this state. He hints that he was doing something
important, but of course can’t recall what.
With more tall hints at the larger metaplot thus dropped for Lest and
the player to ponder over, RF4’s designers must have taken immense delight in
dropping the next micro event virtually on top of Lest, and sweeping him into
his next big adventure.
Next time: Selphia is haunted!
No comments:
Post a Comment