I totally got Rune Factory 4: Special Edition. Aside from the first one, it was the only one that I hadn’t played through to the “end” (and by that, I mean the main story). So yeah – as a result of it being re-released on Switch, I was finally able to rectify that sorry state of affairs. And yes, I thought the game was quite good. I wish that the graphics had seen a bigger upgrade, but it wasn’t a big deal.
Rune Factory 3 was also just ok. I’ve noticed among many fans, it stands out as being perhaps the best game in the series, but – even though I really liked its surprisingly deep crafting system and the beautiful aesthetics of its setting – I found the game to be mostly frustrating.
Initially, I liked the idea of time always moving but – in practice – it made me feel rushed. If the days were longer, it would have been good, but that wasn’t at all the case.
Similarly, the game’s uniquely dynamic “It could randomly rain at any point during the day, sometimes for a couples hours and sometimes for a couple minutes” weather concept seemed neat on paper – but only on paper. Unlike how in other entries, rain was an all day thing – a day off from watering, as it were – storms in RF3 come and go, often in the blink of an eye. This wouldn’t have been a problem except that in this game, it takes time for all of your crop tiles to become damp. Even when it would rain 2 or 3 times in a day (which was surprisingly / laughably often), since each storm usually only lasts for a couple minutes – which is not nearly enough time to soak everything – I would still, at the end of the day, more often than not need to water at least half of my crops by hand.
This ended up being obnoxious to me that at some point in time in year 2, I essentially stopped farming altogether. I think the game also took the idea of having super quirky / humorously one dimensional characters way, way to far to the extreme.
As for OG – Rune Factory 1 – I only played it on a friend’s DS for an hour or so, and that was it. I really liked what I played of it (I love Raging), but unfortunately, I never got around to buying it. It would be awesome if they’d ever do a remake for it. I mean, Frontier was all but a direct sequel and – as stated above – I loved that game. If they would update the original to look like Frontier, I’d be a happy cropper.
As for Rune Factory 5? I am cautiously optimistic. Some of the things I’ve seen of the game so far look great, but other things perhaps loom, well, potentially less than great. For instance, I think the visuals are strange. They’re colorful, but also somehow bland – and surprisingly empty, especially inside of the buildings. But, I won’t judge a book by its cover. Unless it’s widely panned across multiple sites, I can’t imagine in not being a day one purchase. I can’t wait!
What do you guys think of the series as a whole? I assume we’re all fans here.
