Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Marriage and Relationships Guide

Our Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Marriage and Relationships Guide will go over how to befriend, romance, and marry each dateable character.

Quicklinks: Friendship | Dating (Dating multiple characters) | Marriage (Marrying someone else) | Children

Relationship Basics

Your relationships with characters in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are split into two stats, Bond Level and Intimacy. The former is available for all characters, while the latter is only used for characters you can date and marry.

Bond level increases in a number of ways:

• Chatting to a character daily
• Using the Dance of Bonds
• Hanging out with a character (including gifting)
• Completing requests
• Cooking with a character (even when not making a dish that requires it)
• Attend events together

Unlike earlier Rune Factory games, there is no way to lose Bond points with a character in Guardians of Azuma. This means there's no penalty for not talking to them for a while, or even giving them bad gifts.

Hanging out with characters is also the primary way to increase bonds this time. While you can still give gifts, hanging out with characters daily gives more than enough points without this.

Each character can go up to Bond Level 10, with each level increasing their effectiveness while in your party. Bond levels also unlock new hangout events like eating together, or the ability to cook meals. 

Meanwhile, Intimacy is a representation of your progression through Bonding Quests, shown as 4 blue hearts, 4 red, and one final symbol.

The blue hearts fill as you complete friendship events, while the red ones are via dates. The final symbol can only be filled on one character at a time, as it shows that you've chosen to marry them

Friendship

Friendship covers the four blue hearts for Intimacy, and takes place over Bond Level 3 to 6 with each romanceable character.

At Bond Level 3 (and having progressed through the early story), you'll be able to view a character's first friendship event. After this initial event, future Bonding Quests require higher Bond Levels. Quests that require a certain bond level are titled "Getting to Know [Character Name]".

A lot of Bonding Quests are also locked behind story progression, though none are missable is you take too long to complete them. Quests locked behind story will show this as one of the requirements in your quest list.

After completing all Bonding Quests for someone up to "Getting to Know [Character Name] 4", you'll be able to ask them them out.

Dating

Dating in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is pretty simple compared to a few of the earlier entries. Once you've reached the above requirement (including Bond Level 7), the option "I love you!" will appear when talking to that character.

From there, they'll ask you to meet somewhere the next day. Going to the location at the right time will give you one final chance to back out, but if you confirm your relationship you'll start dating the character.

Dating is required to use some of the Social Activity options in the skill tree, like holding hands or embracing. These are worth unlocking since they give lots of Bond points, and usually show up as a priority when choosing to hang out with a character you're dating. 

Bonding Quests related to dating work slightly differently from the friendship ones. Instead of heading to a quest marker, you'll instead have to ask the character out on a date. You'll then be given a time and place for the next in-game day.

Dates require Bond Level 7 (for the initial dating unlock) to Level 9, though like previous Bonding Quests there's no time limit before you have to start them. Just make sure to actually attend the date on you've initiated it, as you'll have to a wait before trying again if you miss it.

Dating Multiple Characters

It's possible to date multiple characters at a time, including confessing to multiple characters on the same day. You can progress through dates and then decide who you want to marry later.

If you do confess to multiple people on the same day, then you'll have to wait progressively longer for their responses (i.e. if it's Spring 10, you'll wait until Spring 11 for the first response, then 12 for the second etc.) 

Marriage

After viewing all of the dating Bonding Quests and reaching Bond Level 10 with a character, you'll be woken by Woolby the next day. He'll talk about marriage, and mentions a place called Fateweaver Shrine.

Before being able to take your partner to Fateweaver Shrine, you need Divine Spirits (Woolby gives you the recipe for this) and a Red Plum Tree Branch. A seed for the Red Plum Tree is given to you by Woolby, and can be planted behind any of the shrines. 

After a few days, the tree will grow and you can take a branch for it. Meanwhile, Divine Spirits is made with Rice (a common crop planted in Rice Paddies) and Wisteria (a tree that can be grown in any village).

Once you have both, head to the character you want to marry and you'll have the option to invite them to Fateweaver Shrine. Doing so will let you marry this character, and removes all red hearts from the Intimacy levels of any other charactery you were dating (Bond Level is unaffected).

Once married, your partner will now live with you in the Spring Dragon Shrine. Talking to them each day also gets you a meal. 

Marrying Another Character

While you can only marry one character at a time, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma includes a new feature called "Rewoven Fates".

Rewoven Fates can be access at Fateweaver Shrine, via a glowing orb to the right of the main shrine. This lets you head into a an alternate timeline where you're not dating or married to anyone.

One you select to start a new fate, your current partner will be set to Intimacy 4 (only blue hearts) and you can ask out all characters you meet the requirements for again (including anyone you've married previously).

You wont be able to go back to a previous fate or start a new one until you marry someone. Otherwise, you're free to keep trying out other marriages — useful for the achievements — and children combinations.

Children

After some time has passed after marrying someone, they'll talk about wanting to welcome a new family member. This will happen regardless of which main character you chose or your partner.

Agreeing to having a child will take you to Fateweaver Shrine, triggering the wait for your child. In the case of a same-sex couple, you'll receive a turnip that you must plant behind one of the Dragon Shrines.

After a few more days, you'll head back to Fateweaver Shrine, and have the option to choose what your child looks like and their personality. Your child's appearance will be based on its parents, including traits like Fubuki's ears and tail. 

Eventually, either you/your partner will give birth, or the turnip will grow to its full size. This will welcome your child into the world, initiating a 5 year timeskip.

Children in Guardians of Azuma function similarly to other non-romanceable characters, having a Bond Level and the ability to join your party. However, they'll naturally also live with you alongside your partner.

In addition, the first time you have a child will unlock the postgame bosses and dungeon after a few days (you don't need to do this again in other timelines). You can also get a second child after waiting a few more weeks, which initiates another 5 year timeskip once they're born.

That's all for relationships and marriage in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. Make sure to check out more of our guides for the game below.