t1z4l

The Rune Factory games can get a bit odd, what with the fact that there are both numbered and unnumbered entries. People might wonder if certain titles are optional or if it is necessary to play them in a certain order. Especially since there are some recurring characters who pop up in multiple installments. The thing is that they are largely like the Final Fantasy series, in that you don’t have to play the Rune Factory games in any particular order. However, there are some guest characters that appear and might make playing certain ones in order more desirable.

What are the Rune Factory games? 8673v

It's honestly very simple. This is a Story of Seasons/Bokujou no Monogatari spin-off series. So there's still the farming and daily life elements from those simulations. That also means you can develop relationships with characters. However, this is paired with action-RPG elements and dungeon-crawling, which can also be done alongside love interests in some entries.

Which Rune Factory games you should absolutely play in order? 5f5c33

Guess what? There are only two that really feel like they need to be played one after the other. These are the original Rune Factory on the DS and Rune Factory Frontier for the Wii. This is because the first game introduces the protagonist Raguna and heroine Mist. The follow-up is a direct sequel in which Raguna sets up a new homestead in Trampoli while searching for a missing Mist and gets caught up in an endeavor to protect that town.

What if I do want to play mainline entries in order? r4l6v

Well, in that case, following the numbered entries one-by-one works. Especially since you’ll see Rune Factory 2’s Barrett and Rune Factory 3’s Raven in Rune Factory 4, as an example of “guest” characters. Not to mention 4’s Doug and Margaret show up in 5.

1. Rune Factory (DS)
2. Rune Factory 2 (DS)
3. Rune Factory 3 (DS) or Rune Factory Special (Switch, PC): Since the Special version involves additional features like the Hell difficulty and Newlywed mode, people might want to go with that one.
4. Rune Factory 4 (3DS) or Rune Factory 4 Special (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC): Again, the Special version adds a new difficulty option and Newlywed mode, it might be the preferred one for a newcomer.
5. Rune Factory 5 (Switch, PC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69rjJZexlPY&ab_channel=Natsume_Inc

Is there any Rune Factory game that doesn’t require any possible tie-ins to other entries? 5n2767

Yup! That would be Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny. This is a self-contained story involving different characters, new elements like controlling both the male and female protagonists Aden and Sonja, and dealing with sunken islands. It’s available on the PS3 and Wii, though the Wii version is regarded as the better of the two.

The post How to Get into the Rune Factory Games appeared first on Siliconera.

Gamestop's Cyber Monday sale has PowerGig and Bioshock 2 on blue light special. Out of all the discounted games, we'd like to turn your attention to the Rune Factory series. Two of the Nintendo DS games, Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon and Rune Factory 2, are just $10.

Harvest Moon DS s the $10 Natsume blowout, but you may want to consider Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar at $20 instead. It's the most recent Harvest Moon game in North America. Harvest Moon: Animal Parade for Wii is also available for the same price.

The post Rune Factory 1 And 2 Now Just $10 appeared first on Siliconera.

Rising Star Games has four titles slated for fall. Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is one of them!

My World, My Way for the Nintendo DS, Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga (simply called Eldar Saga in PAL regions), and Pang: Magical Michael are the other three.

Pang is an old arcade game (pictured) where you blast bouncing bubbles with a harpoon so they break apart. Pang: Magical Michael is an all new game in the series developed by Tokyo based Mitchell, makers of Magnetica and the original arcade game. There doesn’t appear to be a Japanese equivalent of Pang: Magical Michael on the market now, which makes this game even more curious.

The post Rising Star’s Autumn Line Up Includes… appeared first on Siliconera.

Rising Star Games hasn’t announced it yet, but they will be publishing Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon someday.

’s ever-leaky rating board reviewed Rune Factory 2 and deemed the Nintendo DS game suitable for ages 6 and up. More importantly, they listed Rising Star as the publisher.

Rune Factory 2 ripened in Japan and North America back in 2008. Maybe Europe will get Rune Factory 2 this year... after Avalon Code, Fragile Dreams, and Rune Factory Frontier which Rising Star Games has slated for PAL regions this spring.

The post Rune Factory 2 Sprouting In Europe appeared first on Siliconera.

The second half of Rune Factory 2's storyline may seem a bit unbelievable, but provides much more challenge and story than the first generation provides. After the player steps into the shoes of the hero Kyle's seven year old son or daughter, the opportunity to level up, explore the world's storyline further and build new relationships presents itself.

Kyle leaves mysteriously, and so his wife and child are left alone. His son or daughter decides to take it upon his/herself to find out where he is and bring him home. This means exploring dungeons, building relationships with the townspeople and learning to make items at the school in order to successfully save the town, the land and possibly the world.

The whole plotline in generation two is unbelievable. After all, it is difficult to expect a seven year old being able to take down fearsome monsters, traverse all the areas around Alvarna and save the country - all while still visiting school and possibly finding a boyfriend or girlfriend. And yet, in this fairytale land and game, it works.

Personally, I was bothered more by the idea that Roy and Cammy could be eligible as a boyfriend/girlfriend for the new hero/heroine, rather than the age of the hero/heroine as they take on the dangers of the world. Roy and Cammy were the town's two children in the first generation, so by the second generation they could be between the ages of 12-16. In fact, they "may" even be 17 or 18. And yet, these two older children joyfully and willingly interact with the seven year olds, and even are willing to date them. If they're 12, it could happen, but the older I considered Roy and Cammy, the more it bothered me. Since there are so few children in Alvarna, I guess I could see the older kids hanging around with the younger ones. Dating them, however, still seems out of the question.

I also would have liked to have seen new character portraits for Roy and Cammy. Kids grow up quick, and it seems unlikely that those two characters would still look the same after seven years. Plus, Roy's voice actor could have changed his voice to make it sound more mature (and thus made it less annoying). Its nitpicking, I know, but I couldn't help noticing it.

As for the boyfriend/girlfriend system in general - its adorable. You build relationships with the children of the bachelorettes and rivals from the first generation. You can't get married, but you can have a pretend wedding at the church with the girl or boy that likes the hero/heroine best. It would have been nice to see a new family or two move to town, so you'd have more people to interact with and more possible boyfriends or girlfriends, but three possibilities for each gender still works.

Much of what was said in the review of the first generation of Rune Factory 2 holds true for the second generation. The controls are improved over the original Rune Factory. The background music is wonderful, and the scenery is beautiful and changes with the seasons. Alicia is still one of the most useful NPCs. The message board quests still provide more motivation to play and make friends with the townsfolk. Sadly, most all of the annoying issues are also applicable. Voice acting doesn't change from the first generation to the second, there is still a noticeable slowdown in crowded areas and some translation errors pop up. The "black outline aura" also still surrounds every character portrait.

There is a little hope, at least in the realm of voice acting. The voice actors for the next generation's children, Leann, Orland, Sera, Serena and Leonel are all easy on the ears. After hearing voices like Jake's and Roy's, theirs are a joy.

The way school is handled is pretty ingenious as well. You can stop by during the day and talk to either Mana or Barrett, the two teachers. There, you can learn recipes for cooking, how to make medicine, how to make badges and how to forge. Once you build workshops and a dojo, you can begin making items and participate in monster battles.

It is awkward, how Sera and Serafina's situation is handled. Roy and Rosalind's daughters are twins, and inseparable. So, if you play as Kyle's son, the two of them together are considered one girlfriend. Yes, its crazy and almost seems lazy. And yet, it's somewhat realistic - the twins want to share everything, and since all the second generation children are seven, it doesn't seem that unnatural to have them share a boyfriend. Things are going to get pretty complicated when they grow up though.

The best thing about the second generation is the challenge. The first generation felt like it was focused on farming and socializing with the townspeople. The second generation feels more like the original Rune Factory, where challenges from the dungeons and message board give you an actual incentive to dungeon crawl, improve your tools, talk to townspeople and develop your farm.

Rune Factory 2's first generation was undeniably addictive, but the second generation is even better. It hooks you in with new quests and expanded dungeon paths and bosses that will make you want to play as often as you can, just so you can succeed and prove that a seven year old can save the town and have a huge effect on the world.

Images Courtesy of Natsume.

The post The Second Generation Saves The World In Rune Factory 2 appeared first on Siliconera.

In a way, Rune Factory 2 is like having two games in one. The focus of the first generation of the game, where you play as a young man with amnesia who decides to settle in the town of Alvarna, has a different feel and sense of purpose than the second generation, where you play as the son or daughter of the young man.

Rune Factory 2 begins with a nameless young man on a quest for, well, something. He doesn't know what it is, or why he's traveling, because he has amnesia. (Surprise surprise.) He happens upon the town of Alvarna during the cherry blossom season, and finds the town peaceful and charming. After meeting the item shop owner Douglas and his daughter Mana, the main hero, we'll call him Kyle, decides to settle in Alvarna and work the abandoned farm there.

The focus of the first generation of Rune Factory 2 is socialization and farming. The difficulty level on all four dungeon areas is one star, so level grinding isn't really an option after you reach level 10 or so. Instead, your time is better spent talking with the people in town, giving gifts, tending your farm, raising monsters and taking message board requests. Don't worry about making accessories, forging weapons, cooking or making medicine - you don't get into any of that until generation 2.

The message board is a wonderful new innovation. It actually motivated me to make friends with all the villagers, instead of just the girl I wanted Kyle to marry. Every new level of friendship with a townsperson means a new errand or quest on the bulletin board from them. Completing this quest could result in you receiving money, seeds, food, a new tool or 100 pieces of wood. Often time, these are just fetch-quests, but they're a good means of making money and acquiring items.

The whole first generation moves at a wonderful pace, so its easy to get addicted and you won't find yourself bored. Relationships grow quickly, as long as you take the time to talk to the townsfolk at least once a day. Its also easy to get the initial bachelorettes to fall in love with you, after you get a hammer from Gordon's quest or your Spring crops grow. I found Cecilia, Alicia and Yue were the easiest to get 10 hearts with, as Cecilia likes all gems, Alicia is happy with diamonds and fortune telling requests and Yue is pleased with Aquamarines from Trieste Forest.

Speaking of Alicia, she's easily the most useful NPC, despite her rather flamboyant appearance. She's the town fortune teller, and has two fantastic abilities. First, for 20g she will tell you where anyone in town is. Since she's practically the only NPC who stays in one area on a regular basis, this is a huge help when you need to find someone to report back after completing a quest. She also can control the weather - for 1,000g you can make it rain.

The controls are also just incredible. You can almost play entirely with the stylus. I say almost, because outside the fields and monster barn, it can be difficult to make Kyle attack or perform an action. You can change equipped tools, skills or items by holding the L button and A, B or Y button, then scrolling through the options. You can enter the menu by tapping start or Kyle's character portrait. Everything is smooth and effortless.

The only control problem I encountered was an auto-targeting system that implements itself in dungeons. Sometimes I'd want to just run in and mine some gems, but the game would automatically make Kyle take a swing at a nearby monster or portal instead of the rock cluster. It was more of a nuisance than anything, and I found I'd just have to take more care when positioning Kyle.

The game, as a whole, is not without its flaws. A recurring problem in both generations is a noticeable slow-down that occurs whenever a large number of characters are present onscreen. For example, on holidays in the first generation, Cecilia, Mana and Alicia will gather in the North Square Alvarna area. If the main character Kyle moves towards them, his typical run will slow to a leisurely walk. It is even more prominent if you ever have to use the monster barn - especially if you decide to have, say, four buffamoos on one floor. At this point Kyle will begin crawling. Heaven forbid if you decide to actually milk one of the said buffamoos, as the game may start to glitch, with an occasional black line ing over the screen as Kyle performs the action and retrieves the milk.

There's also the outline issue. Every character portrait is, for reasons unknown, framed by either a black or very dark brown line. I noticed it about five minutes in, and couldn't look away. Instead of looking at the character art, I would be captivated by this inexplicable black line that surrounded most of the characters. All of the other outlines in the art are completely unnoticeable, so it perplexed me that the developers would feel the need to outline the edges of each portrait.

Translation issues also come up. I have two personal favorites in generation 1. The first sometimes happens when you give Rosalind a gift she isn't fond of. Like, a cookie purchased from the item shop. No matter what you set as Kyle's name, she'll call him Aaron instead, and offer a half-hearted thank you. I like to pretend that she was so displeased with the gift, that she decided to insult Kyle by forgetting his name. The second happens when you purchase a recovery potion from Natalie in the clinic. Instead of saying you received a recovery potion, it will say you received something ridiculous, like milk or grass. Something like that. If you check your inventory, you'll only find the potion.

The final issue is voice acting. I haven't yet reached generation 2 (rest assured, when I do there will be a review of that stage of the game), but the voice acting in generation 1 of Rune Factory 2 ranges from adequate to horrendous. Characters like Dorothy, Gordon, Alicia and Byron are tolerable, if not well done. But for every Dorothy, it seems like there is a Jake. Or a Barret. Or a Roy. Or a Cammy. Cammy is supposed to be a child, yet she sounds like a 20-something stewardess. Jake, a half elf, sounds like a member of the Lollypop Guild.

The regular music is very pleasant and wonderful, but I have to play with the sound off. I can't subject my ears to the English voice acting. I won't. Its easier to appreciate the beautiful, watercolor painting styled backgrounds and fantasy-gothic character portraits, and think of the game as beautiful, without the sudden disruption from a miscast voice actor.

Aside from those few issues though, Rune Factory 2 is wonderful. I quickly found myself totally addicted to this title. The first portion seems ideal for people who are fans of the Harvest Moon series, and could be a great way to gradually easy Harvest Moon fans into the more complicated and RPG oriented action that takes place in generation 2 of Rune Factory 2, or in the original Rune Factory.

Images Courtesy of Natsume.

The post Rune Factory 2: Examining The First Generation appeared first on Siliconera.