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Another day in paradise
posted by JCDenton (FREEDOM, NH) Oct 14, 2009
Member since Mar 2006
3 out of 3 gamers (100%) found this review helpful
Rune Factory is a series that gets compared to Harvest Moon quite often. That's unfair because I don't like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory: Frontier is very good.
True, these have some similarities. Both are RPGs centered around farming. However, Rune Factory takes things a step beyond by adding combat and dungeon-crawling. Better yet, your farming aids you in dungeons and vice versa.
It adds some unique twists on the Harvest Moon model as well. Instead of buying farm animals, you tame monsters in the dungeons who give you milk, wool and eggs. Some animals can be used as mounts and others can be trained to perform tasks like watering your garden and harvesting crops. That's right: Rune Factory found a way to take the tedium out of Harvest Moon.
And there's so much to do. You have a bunch of skills to improve. Farming, lumber, fishing, hammer are joined by weapons, magic, crafting, forging, etc. The war trophies and treasures you find in dungeons allow you to improve both farm tools and weapons as well as equipment.
Overall, the combat is simple, but effective. And by continually unlocking dungeons, expanding the story and moving through seasons with the other residents of the town, the game stays fresh.
Now, there are still some flaws. There are way too many load screens. Since your A button controls your tools and interaction, you'll often end up in a dialog box with a monster ally while trying to smack your enemy. There are still tedious activities to perform. Also, if you want to cook 25 pickled turnips, I don't know why I have to select it from a menu 25 times (there should be automation for these things).
I hope Xseed makes another Rune Factory for the Wii. With less load screens, deeper combat, better presentation and automation to streamline tedious activities it could be truly remarkable. Then again, you might still be playing Frontier when that title comes out.
True, these have some similarities. Both are RPGs centered around farming. However, Rune Factory takes things a step beyond by adding combat and dungeon-crawling. Better yet, your farming aids you in dungeons and vice versa.
It adds some unique twists on the Harvest Moon model as well. Instead of buying farm animals, you tame monsters in the dungeons who give you milk, wool and eggs. Some animals can be used as mounts and others can be trained to perform tasks like watering your garden and harvesting crops. That's right: Rune Factory found a way to take the tedium out of Harvest Moon.
And there's so much to do. You have a bunch of skills to improve. Farming, lumber, fishing, hammer are joined by weapons, magic, crafting, forging, etc. The war trophies and treasures you find in dungeons allow you to improve both farm tools and weapons as well as equipment.
Overall, the combat is simple, but effective. And by continually unlocking dungeons, expanding the story and moving through seasons with the other residents of the town, the game stays fresh.
Now, there are still some flaws. There are way too many load screens. Since your A button controls your tools and interaction, you'll often end up in a dialog box with a monster ally while trying to smack your enemy. There are still tedious activities to perform. Also, if you want to cook 25 pickled turnips, I don't know why I have to select it from a menu 25 times (there should be automation for these things).
I hope Xseed makes another Rune Factory for the Wii. With less load screens, deeper combat, better presentation and automation to streamline tedious activities it could be truly remarkable. Then again, you might still be playing Frontier when that title comes out.
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