Rune Factory (1) Review

Rune Factory (1): A Fantasy Harvest Moon (ルーンファクトリー 新牧場物語)
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG, Farming Simulation, Dating Simulation (Boy Pursues Girl), Fantasy, Commercial
Voiced: Partially
Rated: Everyone
Useful Websites: Ushi No Tane, Ranch Story, Official Website (日本語)


    When you’re thirsty, what do you want most? Water, right? Well, one girl’s idea of giving you water is to hand you a watering can...

    Rune Factory is a game from the popular makes of the Harvest Moon series, aptly dubbed “A Fantasy Harvest Moon”. What started as a single game meant to be a 10th anniversary special, ended up spawning it’s own series.
    Who wouldn’t want to go tame giant bulls to work in your field, and then go and battle a couple dozen orcs with nothing but a hoe in hand?
   
Plot 3/5:
    A lone amnesiac waif wanders into town, and meets a strange girl who offers to allow him to live on her farm. He, having no where else to go, accepts and soon begins turning the ramshackle place into a workable farm.
    A per chance exploration south of his fields introduces him into a nearby cave. The farm girl, Mist, soon runs after him and informs him that strange devices have begun appearing in the caves, summoning monsters and making the places very dangerous.
    However, the hero, Raguna, decides that the caves house a great deal of interest, especially since he needs said monsters to aid him in farm work. Over the series of the game, he must prove himself on both the farm and in battle, allowing him to progress to more dangerous caves and learn why these machines are there
    As any Harvest Moon, Raguna must learn to balance his new found adventures and farm work with social life, partaking in town festivals and meeting the local people, who will often give him tasks or hints. The biggest pro-factor in this game is that it doesn't try to be something it's not; it keeps the aspects simple.

Dating-Sim Aspect 3/5:
    Admittedly, this game’s dating aspect isn’t as developed as the later games, and is entirely optional. By visiting the various girls, and giving them gifts, you can woo them, and doing so will unlock various “heart events” that give you more insight into their characters. There are rivals for these girls, but they will never confess their feelings to them, so you are free to take as long as you like wooing them.
    One nice aspect is that the girls don’t just fall in love with you for giving them gifts: their interests also play a large part (and sometimes the only part) in winning their hearts. The girls also have unique ways to propose to them: most require a special item, in addition to seeing the events, for them to accept marriage, or some other requirement such as befriending the townsfolk or raising as many monsters as possible.
    However, after marriage, the girls all degenerate into mindless zombies; they never leave the house and don’t go to festivals (or even mind if you ask another girl to one!), but do cook you a dish (or in Mist’s case, three… strange ones) each day. 150 days after being married, you wife will magically bear a child, without any indication of being pregnant before. Your child will look the same no matter whom you marry, and does not have a name.

Bachelorettes:
    There are 11 potential wives for you to choose from.

Mist found Raguna outside her doorstep; she is quite a space-case, often saying weird things, especially about turnips. She manages to follow him into dungeons, somehow escaping danger despite not knowing how to fight. She's a bit of a girly-girl, but is overall cheerful. Apparently Rosetta is her rival, although she seems a bit oblivious to it.

Rosetta acts as half-rival and half-friend to Mist, and this tomboy is generally not as inclined to be as helpful as her counterpart. Regardless, she helps her father at the general store and picks up items from Raguna’s shipping bin daily. She loves frequent gifts, and is secretly a bit of a bookworm.

Bianca is a wealthy and aloof girl, who almost never goes outside or about the town, and only seems to get along with her maid, Tabatha. She has no need of any gifts, due to her wealth, and will not accept them. Despite being very antisocial, she enjoys conversation above all else-if one can get her to talk in the first place.

Tabatha serves as the maid for Bianca’s family. Her soft personality is quite a contrast to her mistress's. Above all, this elf wishes all of the races to live together in harmony, and is especially thankful when people care for each other and their monsters well.

Felicity is the mayor’s daughter, a kind girl who contracted a mysterious illness about a year ago. Despite this, she tries to remain optimistic, and wishes the best for the townsfolk. She seems to love children, and gets along especially well with the half-elf girl, Cecilia. She really only enjoys gifts during festival days.

Lara, the town's nurse, constantly worries about others health and does her best to help care for the town. She lives in the church along with her father, Pastor White. She is very much a classic motherly figure, and likes daily gifts.

Mei came to the town for unknown reasons from a faraway land. She keeps to herself and dislikes talking, often acting angry to keep others away. Secretly, she loves fishing and the seaside, although getting her to admit it is a challenge.

Tori is the resident bookworm of the town, she is a meek girl who loves reading, and is almost always at the local library. She worries somewhat frequently, especially when Raguna is in the caves, and wishes for his health. She is also very knowledgeable, but hopes to eventually see more of the world she has read about in books.

Melody is a bubbly witch who runs the bathhouse. She loves taking baths, and doesn’t particularly like gifts. She seems to get along with everyone, but her closest friend is Sharron. She will often be humming to herself as she goes about her work, and only leaves the bathhouse to visit her friend at the ruins once a week.

Sharron is investigating the strange powers of the Kasmir Ruins. She tends to avoid the townsfolk, because they do not understand her fascination with the ruins, but does not hold any true dislike for them. She is always alone at, or inside, the ruins, except when Melody visits her.
  

Lynette is only available after you have beaten the game, when she moves in with Mist. This ex-commander holds a fierce presence, but is interested in learning about the town and their way of life. She feels like an outsider to the town, but secretly wishes for their approval.






Graphics/Artwork 3.5/5:
    Overall the graphics are quite good for the DS, and overall the character artwork is well done (and in a much more serious style than the other Harvest Moon games). They only tend to have about four different paperdolls per character, however, not counting the wedding outfit. The people’s sprites’ arms are a bit long, but doing so keeps the animations smoother.

Voice Acting 4/5:
    The voice acting is only small tidbits, but I did distinctly enjoy the voices and am especially fond of Melody’s singing and Tabatha’s adorable accent. Both the English and the Japanese voice actors and actresses are amazing, and I especially adores Melody’s singing (in both languages) and Tabatha’s darling country accent in the English release.

Music 3.5/5:
    Rune Factory music is very distinctive. While I didn't turn it on and instantly declare how great the music was, I distinctly remember leaving my DS on one evening to listen to the Autumn theme. (Of course then I puzzled the next day why my batteries died, but que sera, sera.) The only downside is that the DS’ low audio capabilities can make some aspects, such as rain, sound off or only come from one speaker or headphone.
    The only song I disliked in the game was, sadly, the introduction song. The singers are the same as the Japanese version, but they seem to have a penchant for bad Engrish and it gets quite grating.

Translation 5/5:
    Overall, the U.S. translation by Natsume was handled superbly. (What a shock, eh?) There are no major errors, or any that I can remember, and each character has a distinct feel to their dialogue, and it appears to be faithful to the Japanese dialogue.

Controls/Gameplay 4/5:
    Overall, this game handles it’s combination of farming and combat aspects very well. Changing tools and weapons is easy, and they can be upgrades and charged for more power.
    Monsters can be hired to act as sheep, cows, and chickens, but in addition they can also fight alongside Raguna or help him on the farm. Organizing the barns is done on a first-caught basis, however. The A.I. could also use some work, they tend to do some strange things, such as watering every tilled soil spot, even if no crops are planted there.
    The dungeons and combat is all done uniquely, and the various weapons make combat interesting, although admittedly they do not have quite the wide range of differences in this game as in later ones.
    Sadly, the villagers do not often walk around, and on festivals stay in the same spot all day. This does, admittedly, make it easier to deliver cookies on white day and such. The festivals themselves are fun, some involving crafting, others sending you into dungeons, etc, and granting rewards for doing well.    One of the best aspects of Rune Factory, however, is its extensive crafting and leveling system. Raguna can mine, smith, make accessories and medicines, and cook. Aspects such as farming and combat are also able to be leveled, as well as the tools and weapons used can be upgraded. Many of the materials are obtained from monsters, which admittedly don’t like to drop what one needs, but overall the system is very well done.

Overall:
    I adore this series of games, and despite the various improvements in the later ones, Rune Factory one is still my favorite game in the series. I highly recommend it’s unique style for any RPG or Harvest Moon fan. It takes some getting used to, but still has quite a penchant for sucking up hours of time. Most importantly, it doesn't try to be more than it is: fighting monsters with gardening tools is ridiculously fun, after all!