Rune Factory

Rune Factory is a fantasy spin off from the harvest season games. This was developed by Neverland before the company went defunct. This is one part farm sim and another part jrpg.

The game you are inhabiting is called Kardia a small town.

Like in harvest season, it focuses on farming,forming relationships be it from friends or marriage and also taking care of the town and with the rune factory series, it also means jrpg elements as well too. As this game focus on monster slaying than it does with purchasing animals. There is a decent variety of enemies and the controls were pretty easy to learn as well too.

Farming is a busy task as you have to grow plants water them to help them get ripe and cut weeds as well too.

Raguna must go back to the cave to water them every day so they can fully ripen. Once they are ripe, a blue orb will appear above every 9 squares of the crops. If Raguna runs over the orb, he will replenish some RP. Usually by running over 3-4 orbs all of his RP can easily be restored. These orbs are better known as "Runes" and when Raguna has many patches of ripened crops, there will be Runes hovering over them, thus creating small "Rune Factories". As long as Raguna never picks the crops, the Runes will appear every day, and once Raguna steps over them, he will instantly replenish some RP, but that Rune will not appear again until the next day.

You can also make allies, with the monsters in the world as well too and help you out with tasks.

The story focuses on the character Raguna or you can name him whatever you like, and also a series tradition as well having amnesia and must fight through dungeons and learn about the truth of the circumstances of the player and the towns situation. I liked the enviromental design of the world.

You can check the mail from time to time to see if you’ll get anything like whats happening in town at the moment.

The characters were all charming and fun to interact and the closer you are to them the more benefits you can get as well.

You can gift items to your friends as well as another way of getting closer to them.

Theres also schedules as well as some places won’t be open during seasonal holidays and you can use this as an chance to rest and be closer, to your friends you’ve made in the game.

Combat is pretty straight forward as well you can slash enemies with a sword or your farm hoe and also cast magic but it costs rune points as well. In caves aside from growing plants and defeating enemies to get to unlocking other caves you have to do certain tasks like destroying those bells that spawn enemies so that you can clear the cave to explore other areas of the world. It can feel like button mashing a lot of the times though.

Theres also skills as well the more you do a certain task the better you become with certain areas of life in the game like swordsmanship for example.

I did liked the opening cutscene animation as well.

You can customize you character and name them whatever you wish.

The dialogue is cheesy and lighthearted fitting given the nature of the series.

The graphics was decent and the art and character designs were charming.

The game is meant to be slow and calming so have a lot of patience, when doing tasks in the game.

You have to keep on a eye on your stamina meter, and make sure not to over exert yourself or else you’ll collapse.

You can refill your health and stamina when you go to sleep at night. Eating food as well also helps, restore it. In caves its game over but outside of it you meerly collapse and all status ailments and health are restored.The bathouse as well, can also restore your rune points and health.

The caves are also based around the seasons as well and they have certain conditions as well on based on how they thrive too.

You may not be able to go outside during certain days because of the weather conditions keep in mind.

The graphics were ok and the art was certainly nice.

You can also draw graffiti in your home to make your place feel unique. As well as display the prizes you won to win popularity with the town.

You can even have a child in the game but, you can’t name them or interact with them after marrying them sadly.

Controls were pretty straightforward to learn as well. You can find materials and use it to craft weapons or other tools for exploration and farming.

I wish there was an quest log to help you reminded what to do next as you may forget on where to go next unless you interact with the townspeople on what to do next like the mayor for example as he is the one who issues the passes for caves once you complete certain tasks.

The music is also pretty good.

It gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Defiently worth a lot of fun.