Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (Nintendo DS)

First of all I will apologise to Amazon...I simply couldnt wait for the UK release date so I imported.

Rune Factory, as part of the Harvest Moon franchise, manages to pull away from the traditional rule of Harvest Moon games by incorporating RPG hack n slash into the formula. This is the main theme for Rune Factory and it works very well indeed.
Now dont worry...every core element that made Harvest Moon so enjoyable is still present. You start with a small farm, a field full of debris and of course you are conveniently next to a town for supplies and social interaction.
At the start you will really want to get working on your field and plant those seeds...money is very important in Rune Factory and I'd say more so than any other game in the series to date. On a personal level I solely concentrated on farming for the first year and am now moving on to the cave exploration and combat aspects. And thats another great part of the game: you can literally take it at your own pace and plod along as a farmer until you feel the need to move on.
So, that said, onto the combat...Eventually (if you work hard) the Town Mayor will give you his authorisation to proceed into the nearest cave. Caves are cool and offer a few spin offs and healthy suprises. Heres the first improvement over the series: each cave has a climate within and it coincides with the seasons. So the first cave you enter has all the characteristics of Spring - yep thats right you can plant Spring veg in that cave all year round. Now thats good and it all fits in without seeming completely unrealistic.
Monsters lurk in caves and this is where the combat comes in. Equip a sword, swing away, and pending on your level of proficiency you deal damage. Its typical RPG affair - a little repetetive but based on the fact that the game is so rich in depth it adds another layer of quality.
The livestock feature is the only key element missing from Rune Factory. You can no longer go into Town and buy chickens or cows etc Monsters function as the games livestock so its up to you to catch them, house them, and feed them. Once you have a few monsters you can ask them to help you out with your chores , ie harvesting and watering (giving you more time to go off and do whatever it is you wish to do).

This is a really nice game to play. Very slow at first but once it gets hold of ya its easy to pass the hours.
So - a new take on Harvest Moon which is very very entertaining.

This is worth a place in any DS owners collection. Buy it.

Lets face it, Harvest Moon: DS was pants. Compared to the classics on the original Gameboy, the Gameboy Color and the GBA, the DS version was just a rehash, didn't make any use of the technology and was generally buggy.

Rune Factory is what the DS version of Harvest Moon should have been. Keeping the core elements of the series, Rune Factory (RF) adds in traditional Action RPG elements like swords, shields, dungeons and monsters. Players can play through without killing a single monster and can play through without planting a single crop (though fishing might help). It's made by the same people that produce the main series, so it's certainly true to form.

There is a fair bit of humour in this, and long standing fans of the series will enjoy references to old clichés. The player starts off as usual in charge of a farm in need of a serious touch up. The field has naturally been hit by some sort of hurricane and your house is barely big enough for the bed. Yet fear not, as through fishing, crop growing, monster slaying, mining and many other staple Harvest Moon (wait monster slaying?!) activities you can earn money and make the Harvest Goddess proud.

Crop growing is the safe option to build up funds, as is fishing once you acquire a rod to fish with. Tools can be upgraded so they use up less of your stamina and so they can obtain better items and perform generally better (for instance mining more precious materials, catching larger and rarer and more valuable fish, etc). Your house can also be upgraded to accomodate more items, a larger bed (wahey!) and other conveniences.

Now we come to the interesting bit, up until now, it sounded like a regular HM game. The new addition is monster slaying. There are a number of caves dotted around the world (dungeons basically). Each one has it's own microclimate and you can grow seasonal crops all year round in different caves. The caves also have monsters which you can go and bash about once you get a sword. The caves stand as a vague achievement system - they must be unlocked by performing various feats like "till 100 squares of land in cave X to unlock cave Y". Different caves have different monsters and also different things to mine/fish/harvest. Caves are levelled as well, and so you can plant health rejuvenating plants at lower levels to help you along. Phew, it's quite complicated but not over yet. One final thing is that there are no harvest sprites in this game - little gnome like fellows who help you out on your farm - you must now catch/befriend monsters to do it for you. There are some monsters which will do jobs for you like harvest crops, others will produce wool and milk type items for you to harvest, and so forth. You house them in little huts on your farm and you can have a fair number before you'll run out of space.

For veteran players there are a number of handy improvements. You can now walk over crops - negating the need for fiddly hoeing patterns - so you can harvest all 3x3 without extra help. The inventory is massive and everything can be sold to anyone in a shop. VERY handy for when you miss those shipments.

The interface is nice and clean, the graphics are good - although the character models (3D of course) are a bit low-poly - ie they look a bit low resolution and out of place. The backgrounds are often uniquely drawn rather than tiled, which is a nice touch - the town is particularly good in this respect. Control wise it works well, and the touch screen is used to good effect.

Overall, it's what HM:DS should have been. The RPG element is a good addition, and it's amazing how the developers have crammed so much into one game. The open-endedness of harvest moon continues and so does the fun!

Imported the game as I was far too impatient to wait for release in Uk...but anyway....

Loved Harvest Moon but had only borrowed it so took the plunge with Rune Factory.

If you've played Harvest Moon you'll know the routine of till soil, plant seeds, water seeds, wait, harvest crops, ship crops etc.... there are many changes, one of which is the ability to walk over growing crops so you don't have to plant in silly formations or loose crops when the season changes. Also instead of just one cave beyond the waterfall there are caves that you will gain access to to grow crops out of season. You don't get so exhausted and there is a permanent indicator of your health. If yourun low you can take a bath at Melody's place to recover, or use the Rune Points from your crops. In the caves you can fight or befriend monsters. I like the Wooly's that I can get Wool from! Loads of new people and of course you can still fall in love and marry your sweetheart.

Only down side for me so far....can't get the hang of chopping logs even with my superduper axe.

A must for a Harvest Moon fan or an Animal Crossing fan for sure