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Monsters are back inRune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, acting as the main enemy type you’ll face in the game, but also something you can put to work to help you earn money and get around the world quicker. All of this isn’t unlocked right away, though, and you’ll need to put some work into befriending monsters before you can get them to work for you. ThisRune Factory: Guardians of Azumamonsters guidewill explain everything you need to know about befriending them and how to ride them.
How to Befriend Monsters in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Time to Make Friends with Those Monsters
As noted above, you won’t be able to befriend monsters immediately inRune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.This is unlocked aspart of the main storyonce you reach the Autumn Village. After unlocking the ability to build a barn, you’ll now be able to befriend monsters so you can keep them in a barn and collect their produce every day to bolster your money-making efforts.
Once you’ve reached this point in the story, find an enemy that you want to befriend, and before you attack it,use your Dance of Bonds with the Sacred Plum Branch when standing in front of it. If this has worked correctly, a smiley face will appear above the monster’s head.When the smiley face appears, defeat the monster in battle and wait for it to stand back up. When it does, interact with it by pressing Y on Xbox, Triangle on PlayStation, and X on Switch. Select the ‘Befriend with a Gift’ option.
The gift-giving element of befriending monsters inRune Factory: Guardians of Azumais arguably the most difficult, as you need to give the monster an item that they will like. If you fail to give them an item they like three times, you’ll fail the check and they’ll disappear, requiring you to find another monster of that species.
If you give a monster the right item, a heart will appear above its head. However, some monsters require multiple items to be befriended, and even then, you might not be successful. If you fail, a gray icon will appear above their head after the initial heart, and you can choose another item.If you’re successful, flowers will appear above the monster’s head, and you’ll then be able to name your new addition to the family.
In my experience, whether or not you succeed with this item-giving system seems to be random. I successfully befriended a Buffamoo with some green grass and an onigiri one time, and then failed when trying to get another with the same items.
After you’ve named your new monster buddy, you’ll assign them to one of your barns. Be warned that larger monsters, such as Buffamoos and wolves, will take up two of the three slots in a barn. As such, make sure you’ve always got at least two slots free in a barn if you’re going out befriending monsters, otherwise, you may have to release them.
How to Get Produce from Befriended Monsters in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Time to Put Them to Work
Monsters in a barn will create produce every day. This can range from milk to eggs to monster horns or fluff.To gather this, go to the barn that they’re housed in and interact with the brown basket by the gate to the pen. Any produce from the animals will automatically be collected and added to your inventory or your storage box (if your inventory is full).
Alternatively, go to the ‘Villagers’ menu and assign a villager to the ‘Herding’ job and select the barn with the monsters in it. Your villagers will now automatically collect the produce from your monsters and put it in the Produce Box to be sold every day. Produce from monsters ranges in sell value, but you may earn agood amount of money each dayfrom it once you’ve befriended a few different monsters that produce crafting materials or cooking ingredients.
How to Ride Monsters in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Get Around the World Quicker
Only certain monsters can be used as a mount. You can check which ones can be by going to the Villagers menu and selecting the Barns option in the top left corner by pressing X on Xbox/ Square on PlayStation/ Y on Switch. From here, select a monster, and at the bottom of their profile, there will be a green tick next to ‘Rideable’ if you can use them as a mount.
Now go to the Party menu and select a slot. Move over to the ‘Monsters’ tab and select the rideable monster that you’d like to use as your mount.
You can only use a monster as a mount in the open world areas outside a village. When you’re in one of these areas and your party appears,walk over to the monster in your party and press Y/ Triangle/ X to mount and ride it.
While mounting a monster, you can use attacks that are shown on the right side of your HUD, as well as traverse the world a bit faster.
