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Bugfragged · 2017-04-27, 19:01

Spoiler for Screenshots:

Faraway Story is a freeware ARPG developed by Fantasy Factory and translated to English by vgperson. Part 1 of the game is complete while the first three chapters of Part 2 are included in the current version of the game.

Story: The main character, Pia, sets up shop in Port Fina in order to cure a mysterious local disease and to become an independent adult. At the same time, an eccentric man named Ellevark lives alone on a nearby floating continent, the Faraway Continent. After some story events and after the disease is cured, Pia and Ellevark cross paths and the latter decides to train the former so she can become the strong and reliable pharmacist that she always dreamed of being. While traveling to other towns, the two gain more friends and end up in more incidents that eventually result in a grim twist to this lighthearted story.

Crafting and Shop System: All characters have levels indicating their skill at alchemy, forging, and running a shop.

Alchemy and forging work identically, with the latter producing equipment and the former producing everything else.
Your alchemy/forge levels determine your chance of success at making the item, though you still get EXP even if you fail.
Later on, you get the option to embed special stones into your equipment to grant them additional effects, as well as an option to combine weapons of the same name. Of course, this means each weapon will take up their own inventory slot and can't be stacked like other items.
For the shop, you can set the price and quantity of each item before opening. The price of each item depends on a percentage of their market price, and obviously, higher percentages result in a lower chance of the item being sold. Even with high shop levels, I have a hard time selling higher than 130%. There are other factors like regional demand and random daily demand, but these are hard to take advantage of.

Combat System

All dungeons except story dungeons and certain map-generated dungeons have randomly determined structure. Try not to question the blatantly impossible wall formations and landscape too much.
Opening the menu in battle won't pause the action, so have all your skills and equipment prepared.
Combat takes place on a 2D plane. Use whatever buttons/keys are assigned to Cancel and Sub-key to attack and guard respectively.
You can assign usable skills and items to an array of shortcut slots in the bottom right corner. To use a skill/item, use Tab Left & Right to select a slot and use the Tab OK key/button to use it.
To learn skills, you have to use an option on the chalkboard to access your skill tree. You'll also need to gather the necessary items to spend in order to unlock new skills.
Pia can learn all kinds of skills, but she can only use skills that she has the required element levels for. There'll be an optional mission to adjust her element levels near the endgame.

Quests

Most board missions are tutorials. Luckily, you'll eventually be able to revisit them in the Past Archive in case you forget how certain mechanics work.
In order to assign orders to your allies and add them to the battle party, Pia will have to defeat (most of) them in a duel. Ellevark can't simply allow his apprentice to depend too much on stronger allies, which means Pia has to prove herself stronger first. If you want, you can refight them in the Past Archive for the sake of practice.
Before beating Part 1, finish all the board missions because they'll soon be replaced by new ones. That includes the mission for the toughest duel in the game.

Tips:

I recommend playing this game with a controller while using a program like AntiMicro or JoyToKey to map the D-pad to the arrow keys. I find it easier this way than using the default keyboard controls.
While this game is similar to the Atelier series in many ways, it doesn't have a time management system, meaning you can usually spend as long as you want on grinding and farming before moving on with the story.
If you run into an optional-victory boss and you can't beat them, be sure to cast Analyze on them to at least fill their monster book entry.
If you overleveled yourself while trying to farm rare items and recipes, you can talk to an NPC in Port Fina's training grounds to lower your level.
While using a greatsword is a lot easier than smaller weapons, I recommend using the smaller weapons as a means of practicing your accuracy with the controls, and then using the greatsword for boss fights.

Eisdrache · 2017-05-01, 23:08

What makes this different from Recettear?

Bugfragged · 2017-05-02, 11:39

I haven't played Recettear, but I suppose the main difference is that the story actually doesn't focus that much on running the shop.

2017-04-27, 19:01	Link #1
Bugfragged Member Join Date: Oct 2014	[PC] Faraway Story Spoiler for Screenshots: Faraway Story is a freeware ARPG developed by Fantasy Factory and translated to English by vgperson. Part 1 of the game is complete while the first three chapters of Part 2 are included in the current version of the game. Story: The main character, Pia, sets up shop in Port Fina in order to cure a mysterious local disease and to become an independent adult. At the same time, an eccentric man named Ellevark lives alone on a nearby floating continent, the Faraway Continent. After some story events and after the disease is cured, Pia and Ellevark cross paths and the latter decides to train the former so she can become the strong and reliable pharmacist that she always dreamed of being. While traveling to other towns, the two gain more friends and end up in more incidents that eventually result in a grim twist to this lighthearted story. Crafting and Shop System: All characters have levels indicating their skill at alchemy, forging, and running a shop. Alchemy and forging work identically, with the latter producing equipment and the former producing everything else. Your alchemy/forge levels determine your chance of success at making the item, though you still get EXP even if you fail. Later on, you get the option to embed special stones into your equipment to grant them additional effects, as well as an option to combine weapons of the same name. Of course, this means each weapon will take up their own inventory slot and can't be stacked like other items. For the shop, you can set the price and quantity of each item before opening. The price of each item depends on a percentage of their market price, and obviously, higher percentages result in a lower chance of the item being sold. Even with high shop levels, I have a hard time selling higher than 130%. There are other factors like regional demand and random daily demand, but these are hard to take advantage of. Combat System All dungeons except story dungeons and certain map-generated dungeons have randomly determined structure. Try not to question the blatantly impossible wall formations and landscape too much. Opening the menu in battle won't pause the action, so have all your skills and equipment prepared. Combat takes place on a 2D plane. Use whatever buttons/keys are assigned to Cancel and Sub-key to attack and guard respectively. You can assign usable skills and items to an array of shortcut slots in the bottom right corner. To use a skill/item, use Tab Left & Right to select a slot and use the Tab OK key/button to use it. To learn skills, you have to use an option on the chalkboard to access your skill tree. You'll also need to gather the necessary items to spend in order to unlock new skills. Pia can learn all kinds of skills, but she can only use skills that she has the required element levels for. There'll be an optional mission to adjust her element levels near the endgame. Quests Most board missions are tutorials. Luckily, you'll eventually be able to revisit them in the Past Archive in case you forget how certain mechanics work. In order to assign orders to your allies and add them to the battle party, Pia will have to defeat (most of) them in a duel. Ellevark can't simply allow his apprentice to depend too much on stronger allies, which means Pia has to prove herself stronger first. If you want, you can refight them in the Past Archive for the sake of practice. Before beating Part 1, finish all the board missions because they'll soon be replaced by new ones. That includes the mission for the toughest duel in the game. Tips: I recommend playing this game with a controller while using a program like AntiMicro or JoyToKey to map the D-pad to the arrow keys. I find it easier this way than using the default keyboard controls. While this game is similar to the Atelier series in many ways, it doesn't have a time management system, meaning you can usually spend as long as you want on grinding and farming before moving on with the story. If you run into an optional-victory boss and you can't beat them, be sure to cast Analyze on them to at least fill their monster book entry. If you overleveled yourself while trying to farm rare items and recipes, you can talk to an NPC in Port Fina's training grounds to lower your level. While using a greatsword is a lot easier than smaller weapons, I recommend using the smaller weapons as a means of practicing your accuracy with the controls, and then using the greatsword for boss fights.

2017-05-01, 23:08	Link #2
Eisdrache Part-time misanthrope Join Date: Mar 2007	What makes this different from Recettear?

2017-05-02, 11:39	Link #3
Bugfragged Member Join Date: Oct 2014	I haven't played Recettear, but I suppose the main difference is that the story actually doesn't focus that much on running the shop.