How To Bond With Party Members in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

Quick Links

  • Building Bonds

    • Do The Dailies
    • Hanging Out
    • Keep Your Friends Close
  • Personal Requests
  • Bonding Quests

To effectively collaborate with someone, it’s essential to understand them better. This principle isn’t limited to our everyday interactions; even in a game like Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, where you manage a diverse group of party members, the same rule applies.

Approach closely, and there’s a chance you may uncover a blossoming friendship or possibly something more profound with one of your companions in the game. Interestingly, the game “Guardians of Azuma” distinguishes between “Bond Strength” and “Intimacy”.

In this game, the benefits you earn from having a high Bond Level with one romantic character won’t prevent you from enjoying similar advantages with other potential love interests.

To clarify, avoid getting too excited. It’s important to establish friendships first, and here’s a guide on strengthening bonds with your companions in the game Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.

Building Bonds

A character’s Affinity or Relationship Level grows through social encounters, shared experiences, and by fulfilling specific tasks. Rewards are earned at each level-up, but these incentives differ for each individual character. Notably, all companions adhere to the same system for unlocking new dialogue options.

As a gaming enthusiast, reaching Bond Level 6 grants me an exciting feature – the “Cooking Together” option. This special tag, represented by a chef’s hat in the cooking menu, allows me to team up with a character to prepare some unique recipes. The result? A brand new (often potent) consumable unlocked!

Do The Dailies

In simpler terms, engaging in conversation with your fellow players is one of your primary social actions. For the very first time you opt for “Chat” when interfacing with a Non-Player Character (NPC), you’ll make a small step forward towards achieving the next level in our relationship.

You can chat without losing game time, which means you can talk to every character, even if their daily dialogue isn’t particularly memorable. However, there’s no way to tell if you’ve already spoken to an NPC before. This can lead to repeatedly checking the same character on lengthy play sessions, potentially without any progress.

Furthermore, the initial Sacred Artifact you possess, known as the Plum Branch, slightly increases your Bond Levels every time you employ it in their proximity. This operation requires 2 Resource Points (RP), and you may only boost an NPC’s bond using this method once a day.

So, you may as well do both at once when making your rounds!

Hanging Out

The most straightforward method to increase a party member’s Affinity Level is through the “Spending Time Together” option, which initiates a conversation offering four activities to choose from. Each day, you can only spend time with a character once, and if you haven’t done so before, a yellow icon will appear on their head when you approach them.

Hanging out always costs in-game time. The time spent depends on the chosen activity.

Time Example Activities
10 minutes Telling a joke, making small talk
30 minutes Going for a walk, giving a gift
60 minutes Going out to eat, taking a nap

In the captivating world of Guardians of Azuma, my personal feelings towards certain activities are clearly depicted using icons: Loved, Liked, Disliked, or Hated. (There’s no icon for ‘neither’.)

Activities that are longer or more complex tend to contribute more towards your next Bond Level. But it’s crucial to note that this is significantly overshadowed by picking an activity you enjoy. Engaging in 10-minute activities you love will progress you further than neutral tasks lasting 60 minutes. Contrarily, acting against the NPC’s preferences results in losing points.

As a gamer, whenever I need a break from questing, I can always rely on dining at either Iroha’s Teahouse or Yachiyo’s Izakaya. Although it takes about an hour of my gaming time, I’ve never encountered a character who didn’t appreciate those choices.

Whenever you’re socializing, you can always opt for “Sharing a Gift.” The recipient’s response varies based on the present chosen. Listening carefully to conversations provides insights into many characters’ tastes and dislikes. Often, these preferences are subtly mentioned in other characters’ dialogues—Non-Player Characters (NPCs) tend to be less forthcoming about their own favorites.

After selecting an item as Loved, Liked, Disliked, or Hated, it gets logged in your Profile section. The next time you present this character with a gift, the selected item will display an icon. Similarly to activities, there will be a penalty for gifting Disliked or Hated items by deducting points.

As you move forward in the game’s narrative and increase your Social Activities ability, additional hangout opportunities become available to you. However, if an NPC’s relationship level is not high, avoid choosing more advanced activities as they may reprimand you, causing a setback in your progress. This can get challenging when there are numerous higher-level options available.

In contrast to existing relationships, only new friendships or connections classified as Level 0 have an exception – they don’t involve any specific activities at this level. However, when it comes to initiating an activity with these new contacts, you can start with a Level-one engagement (keep in mind that giving gifts is considered Level 1).

Benefits under the Social Interactions branch offer a chance to renew social gathering choices on a daily basis, not for each character individually, so it’s best to conserve their use. I typically refresh to discover less complex activities suitable for building new friendships.

Keep Your Friends Close

As you traverse Azuma, the bond between you and your party members gradually strengthens. While the development might seem modest initially, you’ll eventually notice its significant effects.

Most of the time when your teammates engage in conversations during exploration, you’ll get a notification about their relationship strengthening. Choosing characters who interact, like Iroha and Ulalaka, will boost this development process more quickly. When either character initiates their conversation, your bond level will grow with both.

In simpler terms, you’ll find an option called “Party Chat Frequency” within the Menu. This setting determines how often your party discusses things. Although I haven’t fully explored its capabilities, I believe keeping it at a normal pace enhances our progress in adventures more swiftly.

Following our conquest of the Winter Region, our crew expands to an impressive squad of six unique characters! Remember, it’s only interactions among the active party members that lead to engaging dialogues. So, to foster the strongest connections and bonds, ensure you switch up your active team regularly!

Personal Requests

Apart from the standard demands made by the Ema Board, each Non-Player Character (NPC) also has unique requests called “Personal Quests.” Completing these quests will earn you experience points and improve your bond with the village, as well as granting the usual rewards of gold and items.

As a devoted player, I wanted to clarify that while Ulalaka’s requests are numbered, they aren’t necessarily in sequence. So, if you encounter “Ulalaka’s Request 6,” it doesn’t mean you’ve missed out on quests one through five. In fact, each Non-Player Character (NPC) like Ulalaka has more than a dozen potential Personal Quests to undertake. Even repeating quests still offer rewards, making your journey through the game even richer!

Characters not always possessing a Personal Quest. Such quests emerge over time, persisting unless you choose the “Surrender” option.

Sadly, it’s impossible to identify who has a fresh Personal Request at this moment. You’ll just have to go out and ask people about it instead.

Bonding Quests

As you elevate your Relationship Rank, you’ll gain access to a series of “Familiarizing Yourself with So-And-So” missions. These bonding missions can only progress when you reach a specific relationship level, and some may also require extra conditions to be met.

Quest Number Required Bond Level
1 4
2 5
3 6
4 7

Essentially, Bonding Quests aren’t demanding. They serve as your narrative reward for building connections with your game companions. Each quest often portrays an NPC grappling with personal issues or crises that the Earthdancer assists in resolving. During this process, you’ll typically be asked to complete a straightforward task, such as collecting a few necessary items.

One of Matsuri’s relationship-building tasks involves finishing the Winter Region due to subsequent character interactions in the main plot. This scenario paves the way for a clash during her final bonding quests, ultimately leading to a replay against the Summer Region’s leader.

Instead of advancing the Bond Level, the process is referred to as completing Bonding Quests which enhance your connection with a character. The intimacy level is tracked independently from the Bond Level. Once you attain Bond Level 7, you can embark on a character’s fourth Bonding Quest and unlock the possibility of romance.

Though not as extreme as certain other games, the romantic storylines remain an enjoyable perk for those who enjoy being sociable.

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2025-06-02 16:11