Rune Factory - try or avoid?

[VincentASM]

I've been tempted for a while, but I haven't bothered to try a Rune Factory game.

For somebody who completely couldn't get into and hated Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, because of the tedious farming and dull town/characters, does anybody reckon it's worth them trying out Rune Factory 3 or another title in the series?

For reference, and if it matters, I like Action RPGs, RPGs and general and the Lufia series.

EDIT

Might as well add a poll.

Edited November 1, 2011 by VincentASM

[AstraLunaSol]

Well, I would say to give it a try.

Rune Factory is like Harvest Moon, but with more other things.

For example while Harvest Moon really only had farming and courting girls (As well as things like mining) Rune Factory has that, and more. Rune Factory has dungeons where you can fight various monsters. It has Quests, Forging and crafting, among other things. It also helps that in RF3 the battle system is the smoothest out of the DS RF's

[Roxas]

Try

Try.

TRY.

Edited November 1, 2011 by Roxas

[Othin]

Hell yes, try. I haven't played Harvest Moon, but I feel similarly about tedious mechanics and I love Rune Factory. I've only actually played Tides (but seen much of Frontier), but yes, excellent, excellent games.

[Chalis]

Sup.

It's like the marriage of Harvest Moon and Zelda-style fightan. Give it a shot, there was a recent price reduction and you can get the first two games for about $10 each. They are at-your-own-pace so you should never feel rushed to complete the game. You don't even have to play them in order but Rune Factory 3 has improved everything where combat and mobility is concerned that it makes it very difficult to go back to the older ones. Hard mode is fun mode.

For the Wii titles:

Rune Factory Frontier is a mixed bag, I personally have problems with the loading times and difficult Runey system that makes farming a much bigger chore than it's supposed to be. It's also Rune Factory for masochists as the difficulty spikes between floors of the same dungeon. Boss fights should always be taken in a more tactical approach as you die VERY easily in this game.

Rune Factory Tides of Destiny is much more combat oriented but in return simplified farming a great deal. The greatest plus here is the freedom of mobility and very short load 1-second-long load screens. The difficulty likes to keep you on your toes--I don't know if this is a good or bad thing yet. There's also the ability to double jump.

mite b cool, just saying.

Edited November 2, 2011 by Chalis

[eCut]

I wasn't really a big fan of it myself. To be honest, I thought the gameplay was a bit shabby.

Granted, I only own/played the first Rune Factory so it may be different now.

It is worth trying if you like Harvest Moon though(that's why I did).

[Solanum Tuberosum]

Giving it a try wouldn't hurt. The gameplay is ok, not amazing. 3 is probably a good choice. Avoid Frontier because the runey system real #1 pain to maintain every day... If not it would be the best by faaaaaaaaaaaaar. If you're willing to put up with Runeys go ahead for Frontier.

Character depth is pretty weak imo, the have their quirks, but some are really bland, like the main girl from 2. You run up affection points and bam insta love kaboom!

If you liked Lufia for the DS, the action in 3 should be decent.. It's definitely not in depth, but since RF is a actionrpgdatingsimfarmsimlifesim, I suppose it'd be hard to make it AMAZING.

Edited November 2, 2011 by ಠ_ಠ

[Galenforcer]

If you dislike the farming and character relationship building, then RF3 isn't for you. The game is pretty much all about grinding most of the time and can get boring if you don't put effort into it.

I only really played for the marriage system and out of boredom. It was okay.

[Tangerine]

If you don't like the core gameplay of Harvest Moon you are probably not going to get a whole lot of enjoyment out of Rune Factory.

[Ϲharlie]

I've played Rune Factories 1 and 2. I'd say both games are mixed bags. RF1 is really simple in all regards; the story is as basic as you could possibly get, the characters have maybe one vague defining trait to them and the gameplay is easy to get into. Farming is tedious, but it isn't necessary (mining is better, but also kind of tedious...). To me, the biggest problem is the characters. They're all dull and boring, and it doesn't help that relationship points (or whatever they're called) develop kind of slowly.

Rune Factory 2 isn't much of an improvement in my opinion. The characters have more personality, but everything else is either the same or worse. Combat, for example, is much slower than RF1 (seriously, the characters look like slideshows when swinging their weapons compared to RF1). RF2 also introduced some tedious and unnecessary mechanics. The entire "first generation" consists of running around doing nothing until you develop enough relationship points to marry one of the girls, and taking notes in the "second generation" serves no real purpose.

I gave RF1/2 a fair chance, but neither of them struck me as particularly good games. The best thing I can think of to say about them is that they might be worth looking into if you're looking for something different from the ordinary RPG. Maybe RF3 is better, I can't say.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

If you don't like the core gameplay of Harvest Moon you are probably not going to get a whole lot of enjoyment out of Rune Factory.

this is what i was going to say, so i'll just qoute it

[Roxas]

I've played Rune Factories 1 and 2. I'd say both games are mixed bags. RF1 is really simple in all regards; the story is as basic as you could possibly get, the characters have maybe one vague defining trait to them and the gameplay is easy to get into. Farming is tedious, but it isn't necessary (mining is better, but also kind of tedious...). To me, the biggest problem is the characters. They're all dull and boring, and it doesn't help that relationship points (or whatever they're called) develop kind of slowly.

Rune Factory 2 isn't much of an improvement in my opinion. The characters have more personality, but everything else is either the same or worse. Combat, for example, is much slower than RF1 (seriously, the characters look like slideshows when swinging their weapons compared to RF1). RF2 also introduced some tedious and unnecessary mechanics. The entire "first generation" consists of running around doing nothing until you develop enough relationship points to marry one of the girls, and taking notes in the "second generation" serves no real purpose.

I gave RF1/2 a fair chance, but neither of them struck me as particularly good games. The best thing I can think of to say about them is that they might be worth looking into if you're looking for something different from the ordinary RPG. Maybe RF3 is better, I can't say.

Hold up, Mumu. You haven't played RF3 yet?! D:

[Ϲharlie]

No, and I don't plan to since the first two didn't exactly leave a good impression.

[13th]

I'd say give it a shot. If all else fails, its a good distraction.

[monkymeet]

Depending on personality, they can be massive timesucks, or meh experiences.

[IGdood]

RF3>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>RF1 and RF2