Topic: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for NSW1/NSW2

@kerr9000 My original plan was Matsuri, but the fact that Hina made it into this game (and I wanted to romance her mom) has me thinking I will wait until I discover everyone. I always do the social bits last anyway. Rune factory only pushes that up because you can form a party with NPCs. But if I had open choice, it would be Zaza. The fact that they pulled an Amaterasu reference makes me wanna romance Kanata. Will likely stick with Matsuri though.

Iroha and Ulalaka are the two I have gotten closest too just by playing, both of them are pretty much at the point where they are open to romantic suggestions.

I am just straight up auto evicting slackers. Those that work, eat.

Any Idea how to attract vendors? I have a bunch of stores I can’t open.

Edit: Got the hang of the villages system. Doing well now.

It turns out the full game is actually on the cartridge, but because of some weird Nintendo server issue, when the Switch 2 version starts to download any patch, it will automatically download the full 12 GB Switch 2 upgrade pack, even though that isn't needed. This video has more information on the subject:

The only way you won't be forced to get the 12 GB update is to always play Guardians of Azuma in airplane mode with no internet connection, which obviously isn't very practical, and you won't get any patches either. I hope this will eventually get fixed by Nintendo/Marvelous, but as for now, in practice you need to have extra 12 GB of memory on your console to be able to play the game.

Is it just me, or is the combat in this game way too easy even with the "hard" difficulty? I get it that it's supposed to be a cozy game and not sweat-inducing action romp, but I would've liked a bit more challenge. It would've been better if the normal mode is super chill and the hard mode is similar to normal difficulty level in proper action adventure games.

@Polvasti

I have found it kinda easy but not too bad but then I have basically not done a very good job of bothering to update my weapons and armour

Anybody else gonna redo your towns after you max them out and unlock all the decorations? Mine look like a hodgepodge right now.

Edit: yep Got two towns maxed so I am slowly redesigning them top to bottom.

Edit 2: The wedding and courtship was super cool and drawn out. Probably the most fun I have had courting in a game. Didn’t expect that at all. Married Hina. Didn’t intend to at the start but the characters were nicely fleshed out so that they had personality quirks that made them more affable or not. The wedding voyage was lovely.

Had two daughters.

37 hours in, get the feeling the next big mission is the last, not ready to end it yet so doing my getting to know you type missions, haven't romanced yet either just upping all the relationship levels.

@kerr9000 Just know you have to marry to access the post game dungeon and some equipment and frog statues.

Thanks for letting me know that.

I know despite loving the game I'll probably only play it once so am kind of trying to max people out so I can romance one then not save, quit and see how it goes with another ..... I guess I could just choose one and watch the rest on Youtube

@kerr9000 I haven't played Guardians of Azuma far enough to be able to romance anyone yet, but wasn't this game supposed to have some kind of parallel timelines mechanic so you're able to romance more than one character in a single playthrough without save scumming?

Of course, a much easier solution would be to allow the player to have polyamorous relationships if they so choose. But most game developers don't seem to know polyamory even exists, or they don't want to put it in their games, even as a completely optional choice. I can count the games I've played which present a polyamorous romance as a valid option with the fingers of one hand.

@kerr9000 They have the fates mechanic for multiple marriages but sounds like you aren’t trying to use that.

I have to admit I didnt even realise this was a thing... This is the most ive played a Rune Factory in years.... I played DS ones a lot but I dont remember them that well, I play a lot of games. I own 3,4 and 5 on Switch but kind of got 15 hours into 4 and didnt touch the other 2 (I collect a lot of stuff wish I had the time to play it all).

@Polvasti

I think Polyamari in this type of game could be cool, it would be neat if some characters were up for it and others were not, same with same gender relationships and stuff make it just like real life.

@kerr9000 The fates mechanic is new for this game. I am not using it but it is my understanding that you can pause a marriage, go to a new timeline (so same gameplay settings, just you are single again) and you can do that for every marriage. However, if you are speeding through it then just save scum or make a second save. The idea behind this seems to be for those that want to take their time with each candidate or get different kids.

Just saw the credits roll earlier today, started messing around post game and started romancing Inorha, I've really enjoyed this game but despite the odd little mess around on it I'll probably drop this once I get Shadow Labyrinth.

Shame the misses isn't in to Rune Factory, she loves Story of Seasons but just wants to farm without fighting.

Is this game worth 70 USD? I've been considering it, but the only Rune Factory game I've played is 4- and I didn't get too far into it.

@VoidofLight If the combination of a farming sim, a town builder and a Zelda-like action adventure (with some RPG elements like levelling up and a skill tree) appeals to you, then yeah, you're likely to get your money's worth. Guardians of Azuma is very fun to play, there's tons of different activities to do every day, and the characters are colourful and mostly well written.

They've also gone out of their way to make the various game mechanics feel very effortless and smooth, so farming, fishing, constructing and placing buildings, doing various tasks for the NPCs, etc. never feels like a chore. The only downside to this is that the combat is quite easy, even on the hardest difficulty setting, but I guess they didn't want to interrupt the generally chill tone of the game by having your character die too often.

I enjoyed every single minute of it, paid full price for it and don't regret it one bit, I have played for like 45 hours seen the credits and I'm still messing around on it, RUne Factory 4 on Switch I got second hand for cheap so while I wouldn't say I didn't get my money's worth I did kind of bounce off it 15 hours in and never finished it. Hope that helps

Is there been video online comparing SW1 vs SW2 and or SW1 upgrade to SW2 versions?