Rune Factory 2: The Tragic Story of Marrying Dorothy

Rune Factory 5 has at last made it to our shores. After over eight years since the last numbered entry hit America and its developer Neverland Company filed for bankruptcy (A drink poured out for the makers of Lufia 2), we will finally have our answer for what the franchise will begin to resemble. I have no idea if XSeed's shepherding has fixed what was initially a buggy effort on its initial release in Japan. If you would like me to know and want to give me the ability to tell others, advanced review copies would've been nice, but I also have to do things like make consistent content, get an audience, that sort of thing. What I do have is plenty of knowledge of the franchise as a whole, and I bring a random tale from those musty file drawers that must once again be opened and organized. 

What brings us here today is the tragedy involving the player's desire of Dorothy, one of the quirky marriageable characters of Rune Factory 2. It is hard to say if it is a cautionary tale, for nobody does anything wrong. There is no lesson to be learned, no truth of the universe to be gleaned, no monologue for Rod Serling to put it all into focus. It is simply one of those things that happens.

Say hello to Dorothy. She will probably just nod and run, but that's her way and I relate to it much too much.

Dorothy is a monumentally introverted person if you haven't noticed, hiding her face in a hood and messy hair while also occasionally using a plush dog named Fern to speak for her. This is the story about how you ruin her dreams with the simple act of favoring her company.

Now, none of this is an intentional stroke of cruelty, but rather the consequences of being cogs in an extremely funky machine. You see, Rune Factory 2 was an ambitious idea for a sequel rather than simply taking the spark of inspiration from the original and sanding away its many rough edges. That would have to wait for Rune Factory 3. For the second title, the game is built on the unique mechanic of having the story rely on two generations of the village to complete the story. The main character Kyle (Though you can name him whatever you'd like) will find someone to marry in the village of Alvarna, and then the story will be picked up and concluded when your son or daughter go on an adventure of their own. In fact, the bulk of the game is held in this second generation where you learn how to craft items, the harder dungeons open up, and the main story comes into play.

The problem is neither director Masahide Miyate or producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto had the money or resources to properly make a complete second generation transition with new art for all of the characters, changes in scenery, or what have you. To accomplish this, after marriage, there is about one season where your wife gets pregnant, gives birth, you build an entire school, and your character disappears in the middle of the night. At about 5-7 years later, Kyle's offspring, still with baby teeth, goes on an adventure to find him. This is apparently not long enough to age ANY of the children in the village through even a hint of puberty, but more on that in a bit.

To understand how this puts a wrench into the fate of Dorothy (Or, more pointedly, how YOU throw a wrench into the fate of Dorothy), let's go back to the beginning. When you first meet her, she can barely tell you her own name, and her flight instincts kick in at the end of two sentences. Introduced in this series is the errand system where you take care of tasks for villagers, and you in turn get raised affection as well as basic rewards (PROTIP: Hit up the Sainte-Conquille family even if you don't plan on marrying Rosalind. They are LOADED). It is here where the you go through the character arcs with the various citizens of Alvarna. With some, they become less of a dick to you, and for others, you act as a bridge to their life-long dreams.

In Dorothy's arc, she desperately wants to become a nurse. Of course, being someone who speaks through a stuffed animal does not lend itself well to the interpersonal care required for the job; Maybe pediatrics. With your help, you goad and coach her to being able to hold a conversation, to stop dissociating to Fern, and overall moving her away from behaving like the ghost of a murdered child in a horror movie.

What does this all lead to? Eventually, love, marriage, and the ability to see her face for five seconds. But for her career, your efforts are supposed to lead her to being a professional, confident nurse. That doesn't happen because we have that thing where after Dorothy becomes pregnant and gives birth to your son or daughter, Kyle disappears. At least she still kept Fern to talk to.

Obviously, this puts Dorothy in a bit of a bad situation. Running a ranch by herself (Though it strangely does not change for YEARS. The same crops growing before the time skip are there when you drop back in), being a single parent, and the only person she truly opened vanishing without a single word of what's going on kind of force her into staying in her outfit, never becoming a nurse, and only leaving her home once a week.

But it's not just about you. It's your KID, Marty! If you have a boy, the boy will have romantic interests as well, even though they're still figuring out what foods they like. The result is a pretend wedding. It's kids being cute and imitating adult stuff. I don't have anything against it, except... there is one candidate that sticks out. Okay, three if you count the twins. Shakes head and shivers But one specifically if you married Dorothy. This can potentially be avoided by having a girl because lesbianism wasn't a thing in Rune Factory yet, and even if it was, localizer Natsume chopped out what same-sex content was in the Harvest Moon games they had, and I have no doubt would do the same here. 

The one love interest for the boy that is not a child of the couples is Cammy. Cammy is 5-10 years old when the entire game starts, depending on what wiki/fan group you depend on. With the time skip, she would be 12-17 years old. And is the love interest of a 2nd-to-3rd grader. There is also Roy, who has a similar issue if you raise a girl, but there is. Just. One. More. Thing. Cammy is Dorothy's sister. You've made your son attracted to your tween/teenage aunt, Marty!

We have to go back! All right, so you messed up Dorothy's career aspirations in exchange for being a single parent attempting to run a damn farm. So what? Despite mostly keeping to the house and raising your kid you left behind for YEARS who seems like he could potentially incest, she seems happy. I bet if we used a time machine and went back, we would see without you, she doesn't nearly have as fulfilling or joyful of a life. Hey, look, I have one right here. Made by Mephistopheles Industries, model 666. I feel like I should do more research into those names, but it's probably nothing. 

We're back to my save file that exists before I did the final request that led to marriage! Like magic, it was all undone! Now let's select another character to express our undying love for. Let's say... Alicia! 

I always liked her, and felt she was kind of weirdly swept under the rug by the rest of the community because she's a poor salesperson for her abilities. She does do this thing where she tries to force her predictions to happen, but it's all fun. Did she make a "bad" prediction that pissed off the wrong person because it's not what they wanted? Does everyone judge her because of how she dresses? Look, it's not practical for 75% of the year, but if it makes her comfortable, who gives a crap? I love her, even if her chant was heisted from Hadgi in Johnny Quest, which is a smidge cringe. Plus, her family tends to not believe in her magic mumbo jumbo, so she at least needs a place away from them to relieve the tension. She has a decent set of friends as well, so it's not like me disappearing completely wrecks her social setup. Let's get married and roll around on that giant hat of hers. 

Here we are in the second generation again! Let's check in on Dorothy. Surely, she is still by herself, all alone and...

Nope. She's a nurse. Seems pretty decent at it, too. Also, she has a husband and a kid. Who is her husband? This guy....

This rude, sullen guy who likely has 2004 rock/rap playing in his head at all times provided Dorothy a fulfilling life giving her everything she could've ever wanted. See, Butthead, it really is a wonderful life without you!

Yes, Barrett fans, I know he's actually soft-hearted and kind beyond his extremely rough exterior, and he even becomes a teacher, which is a job you don't survive if your interior matches. Don't at me.

Anyway, it's not really a plot twist about how your character shouldn't exist. No matter who you choose, everyone seems happy in that cheerful, escapist, farm RPG way, and if you're not there, the village is probably doomed based on what is really going on, and Yue, the merchant who marries whichever guy who is left single by your actions, is all alone. I'd like to think Yue just needs a house to store her excess stock, even if she's the least merchant of the Rune Factory merchant marriage candidates.

 This whole story is merely an interesting footnote on how one ambitious choice by the makers to shake up the formula (Farm the stuff, do the story, marry the one you like, probably forget to do the post-story content) caused a ripple in the usual reason people like this side of the game. You find the person you like, you bring out the best in them, and your character gives them a happy life of joy and comfort, sending the good-feeling juice to your brain. I wouldn't say this prevents similar feelings, but it does make one think a bit more, especially given Dorothy is set up to be the marriage candidate most in need of your help. Also, it affected me a bit more than your normal person, because I can't even play Final Fantasy XIV with my social anxiety. Ghosting your extremely introverted wife is not cool, bro, even if it is for The Greater Good (THE GREATER GOOD).

So that was one of the weirdest stories within Rune Factory. If you enjoyed this, I have an article in one of the latest Hardcore Gaming 101 books on Stardew Valley, so check out it out, if you'd like! Now if you'll excuse me, I have an XSeed shipping e-mail I have to click the tracking number on about 20 more times to see if it updates....