I came across Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for quite a good discount price, and doing some mental equations I worked out I would be getting the game literally for free, as it was on discount and I had some credit left - so out of all of the games, as I enjoyed the Harvest Moon series I decided to give Rune Factory a chance.
The story-line is simple enough like Harvest Moon games, you have entered a town dazed, without any memory and in need of help; and a resident of the town helps you. She generously gives you a farm, and a house to live in and you can begin to farm the land, and make some quick cash. It's a simple premise, as to be expected from the Harvest Moon creators.
As for it's game-play, Rune Factory is just like Harvest Moon; using farming equipment to work the land you've been given, by planting crops and herding animals. The only addition not in Harvest Moon is now combat, as you can fight monsters and explore caves and dungeons for resources you can use on your farm. The controls are simple, to fight or attack a monster you just need to face them as you would the farm land, and hit them with the hoe or axe you carry. Nothing really special here, as we've seen this level of game-play in past Harvest Moon games.
Visually the game is good enough to enjoy in terms of how the environments and world look, but sadly character models and designs are chunky, and quite unattractive making it hard to see facial features and such. When farming, the visuals are simplistic as you move around your land, herding animals and farming the land.
As for it's musical score, it's always quite joyful or mysterious music that plays throughout your farming and exploration - to be expected as the game even with combat involved, is still very child friendly like the Harvest Moon games.
The Good:
- The fun, and thrill of farming and such from the Harvest Moon games are here; and you can waste hours upon hours just farming your land.
- Customization is extensive, over time more options open up to you gradually.
The Bad:
- Lack of any real plot of story, like with Harvest Moon games.
- Graphics look horrible at times, the 2D and 3D graphics badly work in unison.
- The game takes quite long to move on, in terms of getting access to new equipment, crops, animals or resources.
- Access to dungeon and cave exploration takes a long time to become accessible.
For fans of the Harvest Moon games, it's worth buying for the nostalgia of similar controls and concepts - but for those new to the series or the gaming concepts it feels slow, and takes too long to open up with it's options and it can sadly water down the experience.