Rune Factory 4 [3DS] review

[kryss]

Another case of amnesia and another sucker working the fields, this time in 3D.

I have to admit there is much less farming in this than the others in the series, at least that's how it feels. Adventuring is fun anyways, and there are plenty of monster to friend or send back to the Forest of Beginning (so kids don't actually kill anything see). There is a MASSIVE difficulty spike between the 2nd and 3rd dungeons that I'm only just getting over which has set my progress back slightly. Also the

->Open Spoiler<-

dungeon bosses actually being people that have been turned into monsters

is an interesting idea, and I wonder where they're going with that.

The 3D is very subtle: leaves in the foreground, the characters...One or two things jumping out of the screen at times. It's there, but it's not in your face.

The usual eclectic mix of potential spouses is present. Shy spice, Lethargic spice, Musical spice, Adventure spice, Onsen spice and even Fate/Stay Night Sabre vague lookalike spice. All just waiting for you to feed them enough turnip pickles and Castella to love you. You could choose a female lead, in which case you have a multitude of boys to choose from. Probably not as many as if you were a bloke though.

Leveling up my farming abilities has given me "earthmate" status and now lets me plough my fields anywhere, rather than in a set grid pattern. Which is actually annoying as I have to spend more time maximising the space I'm using rather than just pressing the button and Resto (male lead default name) doing the work.

The 16 or so hours I've put in so far are just scratching at the shiny outer cover, and I imagine that once the lid has been torn off the insides (story) won't take too long to get through.

Odd to say but a little more farming would be nice...Still, two green thumbs up from me.

And mods, if you could attach a poll as I can't post one...

[ItsThere]

Poll attached. With hilarious consequences.

Is there online play?

[kryss]

There is no online aspect, nor streetpass or anything 3DS-enhancement related.

I would have perhaps gone with Rune F*ctory for 10, but 1 I throughly approve of. Thankies!

[Asura]

[MENTION=9333]kryss[/MENTION], no idea if you'll see this, but I have a question - can you save anywhere?

I'm about to buy this, but I'm hovering over the button because I can't get an answer to this question. I struggle with 3DS RPG-type games where you can't save anywhere (I've got rid of games in the past for this reason). It wasn't a problem on the DS because its standby function was very good, but the 3DS's is comparatively poor.

[kryss]

Mention me and of course I'll see it!

I understand they problem 100% and it puts me of playing certain games too (the portable SRW can save anytime but the home console ones can't - kind of stupidly inconsistent if you ask me).

So, there are two options when it comes to saving: your diary in your house, and save points outside dungeons. You have ability to warp back to either of these at any time (I forget if there's a skill you have to get first, it has been a long time since I played the game). Inside a dungeon you warp back to the entrance where the save point is, outside a dungeon you warp back to your room and right in front of your diary.

[Asura]

Mention me and of course I'll see it!

I understand they problem 100% and it puts me of playing certain games too (the portable SRW can save anytime but the home console ones can't - kind of stupidly inconsistent if you ask me).

So, there are two options when it comes to saving: your diary in your house, and save points outside dungeons. You have ability to warp back to either of these at any time (I forget if there's a skill you have to get first, it has been a long time since I played the game). Inside a dungeon you warp back to the entrance where the save point is, outside a dungeon you warp back to your room and right in front of your diary.

Thanks; someone on Reddit got back to me with the same info, so I went for it.