Rune Factory 4 - Nintendo 3DS

Fans, this is a sad day. Neverland, the company responsible for these games has closed their doors. We can hope and wish for another company to purchase development rights... but that is a prayer likely to go unanswered. Even if another developer picks up the franchise, they might ruin the series - as so many other developers have done to other series. Well, Neverland gave us the best swan song they could. Rune Factory 4 takes the recipe from previous installments, shakes it up, and then gives us a fresh, less tedious game to enjoy. At the heart the game is still Rune Factory. Cue cheesy 3rd party character animation introductions! (Seriously though, the animation is great - but the music and the creepy noises they make when being introduced really are odd). My biggest gripe with the game is somewhat minor: the main story quest is short. Granted, if you spend a lot of time farming and maxing out your skills the game takes over 40 hours. But if you focus on fighting to the finish, you get about 10 to 15 hours of actual story game play. It works out okay though. You spend a bit of time getting the story, then you have long stretches where you can farm or do other tasks and come back to the main story line later. But don't expect the typical, story heavy game play. So positives? Well I know that the big game websites and magazines moan about the story - but then they all to often complain about innovative stories that try to be different and fail (FF13?). Rather, this is an entertaining story with some humor sprinkled throughout. Compare the traditional RPG themed story to another recent 3DS title, Bravely Default. I adore Bravely Default - but it has one of the blandest stories in a GOOD RPG I've played in awhile. At least in Rune Factory we have the multitude of fun characters to add to the story. Without the characters adding their own little humor and separate stories, one would have the traditional 'kid with amnesia' story so common to the genre. Other nice things? Being able to pick male or female. And - bless you Japan and XSEED: they left in the Yaoi element. Meaning you can have a non - ahem - traditional relationship. So if you want to, you can have your male character fall in love with another male character. One of the biggest improvements is in the quest features. They have really toned down the boring fetch quests. There are still a number of quick 'delivery' quests - but typically these involve farming for or collecting an item (or having already acquired it) and placing it in your deliver box. The nice thing is that if you have already fulfilled this earlier, it counts it as having been completed. So if it asks you to deliver a potato, and you already did, then you can immediately 'complete' the quest. But far less quests involve 'go to character A and pick up item, deliver to character B, then return to speak to character A'. Those easy, nonsense, boring quests are gladly absent. Some of the quests are more interesting and involved ('raise all character and monster friend levels to X' for example). The variety is nice, and one can fulfill quests in a variety of orders and fashions. Completed quests yield 'Prince Points' used to upgrade your room, the village, gain licenses, or expand your storage. The airship is also nice. You can now freely fast travel to and from discovered save points. This eases the travel time and makes it possible to skip over a lot of trekking. Sometimes the trekking is fun, but often completing a more challenging part of the story quest requires several attempts at completing a dungeon or beating a boss, so it's nice to have instant access to those points near the action. Lastly I would point out that the music score is very impressive. The town and surrounds have nice tunes, but the dungeons and distant areas have remarkable scores. Graphics are also impressive for the format, though the 3D is pretty lackluster. Granted, I rarely play in 3D, but this game is not tweaked for the style like some of the other 3DS titles (such as Mario Kart 7 and Bravely Default). Bottom line? I would say 4.5 / 5 Pros: + Engaging NPCs + Adjustable difficulty setting + Great musical score + Immense fun and variety: crafting, battling, fishing, farming, etc... + Vastly improved quests over previous installments Cons: - Traditional, 'safe' RPG story (not a big negative point) - Short main story quest - Sub par 3D effects

This game is, undoubtedly, the most fun I have ever had on a handheld device. Touching storylines that will definitely stir up "the feels" and super fun gameplay combine for 200+ hours of a masterful game creation. For the first time, the Rune Factory series caters to the choice of a female protagonist at the beginning of the game...YES! That being said, there's way more "YES!" to the game than that. The game's main storyline paces at the player's discretion where you can choose to do a variety of things. Some people claim that the Rune Factory series is almost stressful with how much there is to do but this is what makes the game great. There's always something to do: farming, interacting with towns people, crafting, fighting monsters, taming monsters, fishing, cooking, exploring dungeons, etc. And this game in the series serves new treats to the table, as well. The farming aspect of the game is similar to past games. You have an expandable field with expandable barns that you can fill with monsters who will tend to your field. But wait! There's more! This game introduces new seeds. That's right. Seeds that can create weapons. And seeds that can create an entirely new dungeon to explore! The towns people are as cute and entertaining as ever. Events in the game work a little differently, however. Events are random. So, one day, you may be walking through town or into a shop when an event will begin. Which, though it definitely makes the game more realistic, can be a little irritating when you are attempting to trigger certain character events. Nonetheless, many events are fun and are worth any inconvenience. The games dating sim aspect introduces a new part to romance: you and your loved one(s) will be straight up boyfriend and girlfriend until one of you proposes to the other. Romance events are also very cute. Super cute. Crafting in this game made a lot more sense to me in this game than in the past games of the series. There's a lot of new weapons to make and upgrade as well as farming tools, armor, and accessories. Battling is similar to how it has been in past games and magic definitely becomes a lot more important to your character's survival. In this game, bosses are hundreds of levels strong. Not kidding. And there are tons of bosses. Super fun. Monster taming is one of Rune Factory's qualities that make it so wonderful. Monsters can end up being super useful to you in dungeons as some can be very strong. And, being able to have a party of up to two, you can bring even more with you! Fishing and cooking are the same as they have been in other games but still enjoyable and preparing fish before shipping them rakes in some easy cash. Exploring dungeons. There is literally so much to explore. The game offers tons of dungeons that the storyline will take you through but there are also secret dungeons hidden in between trees that are only available at certain times of the year and you can literally grow a dungeon in your field. Dungeon exploring in this game is a massive improvement from its predecessors. And you are a prince/princess in the game. YOU RUN THE TOWN. The game has "Prince/Princess Points" which are points that you can acrue through running your town to either build new shops that sell new items, expand your backpack and other storage places, expand your farm and barns, PUSH AWAY TYPHOONS, and more! You even get to open your OWN shop where you can sell goods you find in dungeons, farm, or craft to the towns people for gold. I seriously had/have so much fun with this game. There is so much going on and so many new challenges that this game just will not let you put it down. I HIGHLY recommend.

This is my new favorite game of all time. It even surpasses Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the Pokemon games for me. This game is just... wow. I was hesitant for the longest time to try this. I added this my wishlist years ago because it looked interesting and seemed to incorporate elements I liked (farming, dating, befriending monsters, battling, helping a town, etc.), but my unfamiliarity of the series coupled with the price made me hesitate. A few days ago I was looking at me 3DS, which I hadn't touched in maybe eight or nine months, and my pitiful collection of five 3DS games and five DS games and realized I was really wasting the investment I'd placed in the console by never buying any games to play; as much as I love my small collection of games, I'd played them all so much that I'd frankly lost interest in replaying them yet again, at least not for a long while. I was browsing around on Amazon once more and somehow found my way to this page again. I saw a used copy for $34 and I snatched it up on a whim, thinking that the worst case scenario would be that I'd ship it back to the Amazon warehouse and lose out on six dollars. But oh my god, I should have bought this games years ago (kind of glad I didn't because then I wouldn't be enjoying it now, but you know what I mean) I love absolutely everything. The graphics, the game play, the story... and you know what? This game is even better than the harvest moon games I've played. For one thing, doesn't make it impossible to get your hands on cooking ingredients (like flour; oh my f****** god, in Tale of Two Cities there were like seven ingredients I could never ever get and it frustrated me to death) and there's not a much of a feeling that time is of the essence; while a clock counts down daily, the game is so open and allows you to do so much that you don't feel pressed to get home from wandering around battling monsters and picking up stuff to water your crops (crops only need to be watered once a day). I really appreciate a game that has a lot to do, but doesn't make a player get wound up with time crunches and requirements. There are so many wonderful things about this game that I'd make this review super long if I listed and spoke about each one. I'm not even through the game entirely and already I'm in love. This feels like the kind of game I could play on the same file for a very long time or have no issue with restarting from the beginning. There's also different difficulty levels, which I appreciate a lot. I usually stick to easy mode because I don't usually care for challenges; I like being able to freely and easily play and enjoy games, not stress myself trying to defeat them. All in all, there's a reason over 80% of the reviewers for this game gave it 5 stars and it's still so expensive despite it being out for three years now. It's amazing. I wish the company that made this series hadn't gone bankrupt; I imagine Rune Factory 5 would have been mind blowing. Should the creators ever resurface with another Rune Factory, I'll absolutely try it out, and for now I'm going to look into the previous games. If you're considering this game and love games like Harvest Moon and Pokemon, this is a game for you.

INITIAL THOUGHTS: I've been with the Rune Factory series since the beginning and have always loved them. I could never tolerate the Harvest Moon series but the combat/crafting aspect along with the story line of the Rune Factory series made me fall in love with it. To all fans and players of the series previously, you probably know what to expect already. The gameplay itself is still the same with improvements such as sorting, stacking, etc (which Rune Factory 3 also ha to a point) The plot line itself is...simple I suppose; nothing really out of the ordinary; a story about friendship with all the necessary components that can be kind of cheesy depending on your age. Of course, you start off amnesiac, a trademark of the franchise. To first-time players of the Rune Factory series I don't know if this game will win you over or not. It depends on what you look for in a game and such. I think it's a shame it doesn't have a free trial given it's hefty price. Then again, given what I got from it, an still continue to get, it was well worth it. If you don't have a 3ds, but have a ds, I'd suggest trying out the earlier Rune Factories for the half the price and see how you like it. GAMEPLAY: The controls are not that hard to figure out and the tutorial along with the already lengthy beginning, in my opinion, makes the start of this game a bit long to sit through, but oh wells, just enjoy the music! You can farm, craft weapons/armors/accessories, make medicine, cook, date, flirt, etc etc...You can't really progress through the game without doing all of these things though, except maybe the dating and flirting parts, IF you want to unlock new seeds and get recipes for way higher recipes that are unattainable through any other means. It's a lot to do, but the game will let you do them at your own pace. It'll remind you what you should be doing, but again, it's just a reminder. The introduction of PP (Prince/Princess Points) in this installment was interesting. You use these points to expand your farm or expand your storage and other such stuff. In the beginning, garnering these points can be hassle and how you use them will vary depending on what you prioritize. Combat has variety in it depending on what weapons, or magic, are more to your liking. My first playthrough I stuck with mainly Spears, but my second playthrough has me falling back in love with the basic short sword (you can enhance it with a certain item to increase it's range though if you want a broader range). Thankfully, suing weapons doesn't use up any of your RP in this game, which, is a godsend as you will be using your RP for many other things. I actually loved farming in this game. Once I could make greenifier+ I spent a good amount of time leveling up ALL my crop seeds to the max! Crop level really makes a big difference in your cooking products and the effect they give you. Cooking itself is also fun. Depending on which utensil (knife, pot, oven, etc) you use to cook your food, the added bonuses will differ. Crafting/Forging you can probably do without in the beginning parts of the game but you will need it later on. Your level in this game really is just a number that helps to increase your HP/RP but it's your armor and weapon that can make a dungeon either super easier or super hard, especially towards the latter half of the game. MARRIAGE/CHARACTERS: The world of Rune Factory 4 is BIG compare to it's predecessor, however, the town you are in is relatively decent sized. The townsfolk have individual...quirks that you may or may not adore. This hold true for the Bachelor/ette(s). OVERALL: I loved it. It's replay value for me is wonderful and I have yet to get tired of re-leveling myself up with each new start. There is the option for you to 'inherit' a data (after you've beaten the game in it's entirety) if you don't want to start from level 0 with a new file, but eh, I found that to just strip away all the fun of the game. For already lovers of the the series, I'd suggest to go ahead and buy a 3ds if you haven't got one yet. For first time players of Rune Factory, I'd say either play an earlier series, or try it out if a friend has the series to see if it'll fit your taste. All in all, <3

The easiest description is what I told my brother: "Harvest Moon plus dungeon crawling. So, you fight, level up, and craft gear, but you also farm and date everyone." "That sounds weird but very much like your kind of game." And he was right! Playing this game is all I do when I get home from work, so beware if you want to maintain any sense of productivity. The game allows for casual play if you just wanna chill, meet the characters, dress in silly costume combos, and meander through the dungeons. But you can also go full out, gear up, customize, tame the best monsters, and wipe everything. Overall I think there's something for everyone. You like art? - There are small cut scenes for important moments, like main character reveals, in a crisp, anime style. They're replayable from a spot in the basement of your house, in case you (god forbid) weren't paying attention the first time. - You can also see certain outfits and headgear on your character as you run around the game world. Have fun pairing pumpkin heads with sheep costumes! The core appearance of your main character is set though. - Give villagers headgear to see them potentially wear it while walking around the game world. Are the characters interesting? - Get to know them through random events (just like real life!) that expand upon personalities and histories of NPCs, and unlock story elements. - Get super close to the eligible bachelors/bachelorettes and date all at once without penalty, unlocking more personal dialogue, and enabling you to make an educated choice in who to marry. - Play as a male or female, or both! There are a couple save slots available. - Each character has a unique voice that speaks relevant sounds or full sentences depending on the discussed topic. This is in English. I want to fight! - Each weapon category (I think there are 7 weapon types?) has tons of options within, and enhancing them with items allows for amazing optimization. - Craft mass amounts of armor, accessories, and more to uniquely fit your play style. - Bring two NPCs at a time to dungeons for extra help, and enlist the aid of monsters by taming them (and keeping them on your farm for free recipe ingredients). I prefer Harvest Moon elements... - Craft increasingly helpful farm tools to get more done in less time. - Tame and care for monsters of your choice, some of which produce helpful ingredients to use in crafting. - Expand your farm size or locate other patches of farmable land around the map for extra room. - Spend "Prince/Princess" points to develop the town, add shops, and attract more tourists.

I've never played any of the Rune Factory series before, but after reading all the glowing reviews, I was incredibly excited to buy this game at full price so I could see what all the fuss was about. I honestly regret buying this right away. I like cute games, really I do, and Rune Factory 4 is cute, but there is a line. My biggest complaint has to do with the characters--for example, there is a character, Clorica, who falls asleep all the time, and while I guess it's supposed to be a cute habit, it gets ridiculous after day two. Just like Clorica, there are a number of characters--male and female-- whose "quirks" are just plain annoying rather than endearing. In fact, I only chose my bachelorette based on the fact that she was the least irritating out of my options. I try to avoid interacting with most of the villagers, but I sort of HAVE to deal with them in order to advance the story. The graphics and music are lovely, and I enjoy the farming and fishing aspects very much, though the inventory seems disorganized. Combat is one of my favorite parts of the game, as I can go through and master each weapon if I want to, as well as the magic. The story is interesting, too, and there have been a few times where I've played this a lot longer than I should've, just so I could find out what happens next. But is the story good enough for me to put up with a soldier who constantly admits she likes sweets, then gets embarrassed when she realizes what she's said? What about the blacksmith whose dialogue, literally, consists of "I want to make money."? The creepy chef? The wannabe detective? Maybe I'm looking too far into this, but I want to know how these people kept the town running before my character arrived. So, herein lies my conflict: I like most of the game, but dislike one BIG part of the game enough that it's almost no fun to play.

I didn't expect to enjoy this game as much as I did. It stays true to its roots as a spin-off of harvest moon (which I did NOT enjoy). However, the farming and other boring chores are very much tempered by the dungeon's, storyline, and family fun adventure. Pro's: The town comes to life -- The characters have routines, move around, and kinda do their own thing. If they have something else going on they won't join you for an adventure. Characters that can turn down the main character? Woah! The town also includes annual events where you compete against other townsfolk. Sensible Romance -- Those familiar with this franchise know there is always the ability (though no requirement) to date/romance eligible townsfolk. A lot of it is percentage chance based which adds some novelty and randomness to whether they will accept/decline. Your chance is determined by your general relationship level. The romances are entirely optional but cute little side quests. Involves actual dates, lovey-dovey chatter, pet-names, and even marriage/child if you decide to go that route. Taming system -- The monster taming system is kind of enjoyable. They drop items used in crafting each day. Up to two at a time can accompany you to fights. If they like you enough they'll even help you farm (THANK GOD!) Con's: Terrible event system -- The event system is entirely random. You can't choose what event will pop up next and it can be difficult to even know you're in the middle of an event without checking. What this means? The game is in three acts. You need to trigger an event to enter act three. Which is exceedingly difficult if you haven't cleared many town events as it gives no priority to this crucial event. Farming -- Still have to spend way too much time gathering materials and farming (actual farming, not monster farming) for money.

I'm in love with it! It's like Harvest Moon meets Zelda. I believe that a lot of people say the same thing but it's true. The game is a lot of fun. I don't want to say much because I don't want to spoil it for other players. But I will say that the people that you meet in the game are fun and you will have the ones that you will like and those that you will hate. Now right now I've been playing as the girl or Frey as the game has pre-set. Let me say that if you don't like the name you do have the chance to pick what you want but it can't be a long name like; Kaitlyn or Elizabeth. I do believe that even after you start playing there is a person in town that will ask you if you want to change your name. (I've only talked to that person once so I don't know if it's true) Also on the topic of names you get to named the monsters you tame for pets, the name of your farm(s), and your spouse when you get married. I love how when you are reading the dialog the characters do talk a bit and I LOVE hearing Vishnal's voice. ~~~ I mean if you love Vic then you will fangirl over him. Also the same with Leon's voice actor. Levi's voice from AOT... ~~~ Anyways in this game you have to save these four Guardians (where I'm at) and in doing so you fighter their monster forms but once beat them you can go back later and try to tame them. But from what I've read it is very hard to tame them. At least I've been having a hell of a time trying to tame Thunderbolt- Dylas. (Sorry I keep getting off topic.) The Four Guardians! When you do reach their area you will find a sign and when you read it it will tell you what level that you should be in hopes of having a better success rate. For me I'm always 5 to 10+ levels above it because when you fight one they take a long time to fight. It also helps when you take a monster along because during the fight the boss seems to go after them first, but it gives you and advantage to do as much damage before the monster faints. I do believe that even after you finish the Guardians that any new place with a boss will tell you what level to be. In the game though you have to make orders and do quest all the while you are trying to hook up with someone and in my case a boy. What I find annoying about the game is eating these types of bread in order to learn cooking, crafting, ect... And getting a license to use an air ship, or to make your own weapons. But all in all this game is really fun and everyone should give it a try.

It's a great rpg game! It's perfect for gamers who wants a long gameplay and want to complete the full game. It has funny and interesting dialogue, many festivals, weapons, forging etc. I truly recommend this game to those who haven't heard of this yet, please! Give it a try!

This game is impossible to put down! I bought it a couple years ago and played it non stop! I started to play it again this year after already beating it, and I'm obsessed all over again. This game is like a vamped up harvest moon. You get your own farm, you get to accept quests, tame monsters to help you fight or keep as farm animals (Some produce eggs milk, etcc..) There is a great story line with arcs that require you to beat dungeons that get increasingly harder. Monsters drop materials and items that you can use to upgrade and craft armor and weapons. There is so much of the world to explore! The first time I played I missed so many hidden things because there is just so much to do in this game! Each new dungeon has new ores, and metals to mine, materials to make things with. You can collect grasses or grow flowers to use to make medicines and fertilizers. Oh, and duh. One of the bigger things you can do in all harvest moon games. Get married! You can choose to be either male or female. The bachelors and bachelorettes in this game are all very unique and likable. I can't remember how many there are to choose from, but definitely more that 5 bachelors and bachelorettes. You can date in this game, which is pretty neat (Can also date multiple people at once if you choose to do that) You start out with the usual giving gifts and talking to them to get their friendship points up, then profess your love. This doesn't initiate marriage, but instead makes them your boyfriend/girlfriend, which will make them available to invite for dates, and occasionally say romantic or sweet things. Marriage come after that if you so choose. Another aspect to this game that is very cool! You can invite the villagers out to fight with you. You simply ask them if they would like to come along with you, and they will follow you to the field, or dungeons etc, and help you fight enemies! They will level up just like your own character, and any armor/weapons you make, you can give to said villager and they will equip it! Which of coarse adds to their attack/defense. It's a very cool feature! (When I said villagers, that includes anyone you can marry in the game) Just like previous harvest moon or rune factory games, there are festivals, and cut scenes. The cut scenes/events can be somewhat random, I'm not totally sure what triggers some of them, but it's cool to see how all the villagers get involved and react. When something happens in the story, everyone will be talking about it. People aren't just stuck saying the same 1 or 2 things they're programmed to say. Example: You asked someone on a date and your walking around with your characters lover. People you walk by will coo and poke fun "Ohh, what are you to up to?" or if your dating multiple people, "It can't be!" It's a much more intelligent program than the older harvest moon/rune factory games. Anyways, hope I didn't give to much away. This is a very addictive game, with so much to offer! If you haven't already, I recommend picking this game up. If you already like runefactory, you'll love this! If you haven't played before, this is a great game to start with! You don't need to have played any of the previous games to understand it.

es wäre denke ich besser wenn der Verküfer direkt im Titel sagt das es aus den U.S.A kommt und nicht weiter unten erst bei den Fragen.

Estoy enamorada de este juego, puedo hacer lo que quiera, usar el arma que quiera e ir avanzando en la historia a mi propio ritmo aumentando el nivel de un montón de cosas. Cuando lo ví pensé que las gráficas me iban a quitar las ganas de jugar pero en realidad me he acostumbrado y los personajes me gustan mucho. Aunque me gustaría que hubiera más personalización en el personaje además de la ropa o armadura. Sí tiene algunos detalles que podrían mejorarse tanto en lo de cosechar como en crear nuevos objetos, pero de momento nada que me moleste a mí. Muy feliz con este juego.

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi ce jeu est disponible sur le site d'Amazon France alors qu'il est incompatible avec les DS achetées en France. C'est la version US. Très décevant. Ce jeu est par conséquent inutilisable.