Topic: Rune Factory 4

Hi, is there a rule for replying too late on a thread? If so I apologize, but I do have to say that I'm having an amazing time with this game. I thought about buying the game for about 2 years but I always ended up buying something else and a few weeks ago it was on discount (and a good one I think it was about 50%), which I've never seen in this game despite visiting the shop regularly.

Anyway, I always doubted in the last moment since I'm not a fan of games like Harvest Moon and I also tend to get bored with games that have overhead perspective like A Link to the Past, which are important aspects of this game. Also, I wasn't impressed with the graphics and while I'm not someone who tends to focus on graphics when choosing a game, there was something about the pictures and videos I always saw that didn't do the game justice and that made me think that it looked bad. I mean, it doesn't have great graphics, but it has a pleasant aesthetic to compensate once you actually see it for yourself.

Now that I have the game, I can see why many find it so addictive. There's so much to do and see, the character interactions are decent (with many great and genuinely funny moments) and while the game is sometimes a bit cloying (for the lack of a better word) I have enough alternatives to pass the time and avoid anything that I don't like or annoys me at the moment. The pacing of the game is also quite fast considering it's type, since you can farm, go fishing, explore, tame monsters (by the way it's impressive that you can tame almost any monster), cook, gather materials, craft and interact with npcs, all in the same day. The combat feels great, I mean, it's simple but again, it feels fast and fluid and allows combos. The game has this heartwarming sensation than many games lack, making you want to pick your 3DS for a while that easily ends up being acouple hours and after finishing playing, you end up feeling alot better than before, or at least that happens in my case.

Many dialogs and item descriptions are great:

Dolce: "Pico I choose you!"
Dolce: "Pico use Thunderbolt!"
...
Pico: "I don't know Thunderbolt but I'm sure if I did it would've been super effective."

The wooly description is also priceless:

"During winter, it pleads you not to cut off it's fur with big, watery eyes. You do it anyway... because that's how you roll. You monster."

Anyway, thanks for the people that recommended the game here. Honestly, I checked many sites before I got convinced but some of you definitely influenced in my purchase. If you are reading this because you are in the same position as I was, I highly recommend you to give the game a chance.

Really depends on how you bring the thread back, and on the thread itself. Since this is a game specific thread and you didn't post with "bump" or whatever, you're ok. lol

But, since this is back, Rune Factory 4 FINALLY has a 3DS theme.

@Joeynator3000 Awesome! I'm really liking that theme, specially because it has Forte and Xiao Pai. I would change Doug for any other character though.

I think Dylas has a man crush on my character when all I wanted was to be in good terms with him lol, it seems he likes fish that much. Being serious he's quite nice once he starts to change his attitude.

Yeah really good game. I think the looks of the game are actually pretty nice. I think 3d games on the 3ds are mostly ugly but this 2d style is beautiful. My favourite rune factory is the first on the wii (Frontier i think) though it has this spirit stuff included that made me refill each region with spirits. Got relly annoying even with grass production. The atmo, music, village and villagers were just perfect.

I find the art direction of the new harvest moon and story of seasons to be pretty ugly. I definitely prefer rune factory especially in the gameplay department. Takes much longer to get boring. And leveling and crafting is just fun. Sadly the developer is dead. At least i cant find more than a tease in 2015. Would be glad if the series would be continued.

@Jhena I think so too now that I finally have it and had enough time to appreciate it with good quality. I don't know if you played it, but the backgrounds remind me of the first digimon world game for playstation: http://imgur.com/znL38Pi

Now that you mention harvest moon, I did see the last game trailer ( Skytree Village) and I find the character models and scenarios quite bland. The colors doesn't help either. However I have to admit that I' ve never been a fan so maybe it's because of that. I did like how the one for game cube looked though. I may be wrong, but I believe that I did read somewhere that the team involved in the rune factory games was hired by Marvelous AQL, so maybe we can see a similar game in the future.

@roy130390 Yeah played digimon in a videogamestore. That together with harvest moon back to nature. Thanks for reminding me of good childhood summer days^^. I can see similarities though it reminds me more of ff 7 backgrounds.

Normally im not one to say the past was better but at least the artdesign of harvest moon was. It was much better. Seriously i dont get what went wrong there. Even the 3ds should deliver something more harmonious. I can live with bad graphics but bad artdesign is a real turnoff. Only played a wonderful life on gamecube. That was nice from an artdesign perspective. But for me the game had a kinda depressing feeling to it. I like melancholia but it was something diferent. Or maybe you mean magical melody. Havent played it but i think it looks beautiful.

Yes lets hope well see something like rune factory. Team had real talent and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

I was thinking of starting over actually, maybe I could choose Frey this time.

I got this game on sale ($20) but haven't started it yet