The game speeds forward some years, and begins a second part centered around the child’s nine-year-old problems. After completing the main storyline and getting married, players were able to choose their child’s gender.
Though most games in the series feature a male lead, Rune Factory 2 allowed players to partly play as a female protagonist by introducing a second generation to the story. Every game in the series begins with an amnesiac character that learns the ways of the town along with the player. This first game introduced players to the town of Kardia, where an amnesiac male protagonist collapses in front of a kind villager’s house. North America received it a year later, and it was brought to Europe and Australia in 2009, a year after Rune Factory 2 was already out in Japan and North America. There are six games so far in the series, all beginning with Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS, released in Japan in 2006. Different events occur often, and NPC birthdays are important to keep track of if you want to grow a friendship. Time, weather, and seasons all affect NPCs and available actions. With the seemingly infinite choices a player has, planning ahead is always important. The game’s freedom even spreads into the linear storyline of each game: players are never forced to pursue the story’s end, and even the final boss battle can be ignored. They can battle their way through dungeons, focus on friendships, develop their farm, or even start a relationship and get married! NPCs all have personalities and backstories, reacting to the world around them and thus extending the game further. Unlike Harvest Moon, players in Rune Factory are able to choose what they want to spend their time on. Inspired by the exploration allowed by Dragon Quest, Yashimoto set out to create an open world game with a focus on exploration and giving players a choice long after the end credits. However, Hirofumi wanted to expand the world of Harvest Moon and add in more “western ideas” into his game.
The game contained a lot of similarities to its predecessor: players can grow crops, players can upgrade their farm equipment, certain actions require stamina (or Rune Points), and the passage of time is relative to the real world (one minute goes by for every real world second). According to Rune Factory Producer Yashimoto Hirofumi, the first game in the series, Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, was created as a special product to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Harvest Moon but took off with a life of its own after receiving high reviews. So, in spirit of the game’s eventual North American launch, let’s take a look back at the history of Rune Factory.ĭeveloped by Neverland Co., Rune Factory was published by Marvelous Entertainment, famously known for their other series, Harvest Moon.
Rune Factory 4 is not only exceeding expectations as Japan’s highest selling game of the series, but is also already leading towards the announcement of a Rune Factory 5. The game was already released in Japan last year to rave reviews, and was also shown off with an extensive demo at E3 which we were able to play …extensively. After a double delay and with anticipation mounting, Rune Factory 4’s North American release can’t come soon enough.