Rune Factory Review. A Fantasy Tale Of Harvest Moon.

And I thought that is a sheep....

The name says it all.
No different than it's predecessors, Rune Factory still needs you to plow the field, sow the seeds, water the plants, harvest them, ship them and any other activities you have to do while running a farm.

Now you know what is this game roughly about, I can further on explain the gameplay.

Gameplay

You start off with basically nothing in this game. No friends, no money, no farm and no past memories.

Your adventure starts when a girl, Mist, took you in and giving you a place to live, a farm to be exact.

You will help her to take care of the farm until you regain your memories.
Crops are still your main income for the game. And they are still straightforward as always, get the seed, spread them to the sowed fields, water them and watch them grow day by day.
Livestocks are now monsters that provides milks and eggs instead of the usual cows and chickens.

It looks like I am wrong, it ain't a sheep... It's a flying sheep.


Here comes the fun part, after you've plowed a certain amount of farm's field, the mayor will offer you permission to explore a nearby cave.
This cave is full of monsters for you to take on. Although the battle system are not that satisfying, it still give some new sensation to the players.
Second thing you can find is a field for you to grow crops inside this cave.
Each cave has different climate, allowing you to grow many different crops. It's winter outside, but you will see some corn sprouting around in this cave.
Last but not least, you will encounter ore for you to mine and upgrade your tools.

Good character design, I give ya that.

Compared to it's predecessors' kid-sytle design, this series it's more towards Anime style. Resulting great yet astounding character design. Although the sprite model is a bit lacking and doesn't suits the background It is still a breakthrough for Natsume. *Note that Harvest Moon series has been always very kiddy with their character's design.

Time is the most important in any Harvest Moon series. You will have plenty of time in this series, what you must keep an eye on is the Rune Points(RP) and Hit Points (HP).

Boss fight!! En Garde you hideous creature!

RP were used when you perform various action from your tools, fishing, plowing, watering, chopping, smashing and etc. Once it is depleted, your hp will be taken account instead.
If your HP hit zero in the surface, you will quickly rush to the clinic for treatment. Meanwhile, if you run out of HP in the cave. You will be kicked out to the game menu. In other words, game over.

The In-game menu, so many tabs and description. This will take some time.

You will gained skill experience for wielding your tool every time. If you have fulfill the experience's amount, your skill will received an additional level for Skills.
Skills are now introduce in this series, apart from farming skills *duh*. You will have alchemy skills, which you can create potions to heal your HP. Then, you will have forging skill, which you can upgrade your tool yourself instead of going to the blacksmith. The higher your skill levels are, the lesser it consumes your RP.

Conclusion.

A very good breakthrough for the series, having you to farm and fight monsters at the same time really does sound engaging.

The stylus helps you to pick up shippings, items and venturing your in-game menu.You now have enhanced game controls and it now more easy to harvest crops with the stylus, allowing you to plan your next action at least 9 times. Unlike the other previous versions, having hundred of crops in your farm field is not a good sight( in this case, your fingers.)

For the fans of Harvest Moon, it is not your usual farming management game. It is a new concept. Building your own hut and tending monsters for eggs and milks is fun xD.
While for the new players, it can be fun and to past time with. But you will not notice the difference between the previous harvest moon series and Rune Factory.

Nevertheless, this game still makes you facing your computer or NDS for hours.
The game deserve a 8/10
The art-style for each character is superbly done, nice interactions and interesting dialogs are remarkable, good concept and awe-nistic storyline.
This is a game for the bored, the young, the old, and the liveless. xD.

PS. Anyone who wants to play this game can leave your email at the comments. I will send it to you. Fear not, I will filter the comments, so your contacts will not be exposed.