Nintendo Switch #7: Rune Factory 4 Special

Developed by: HAKAMA/Neverland

Published by: Marvelous Inc.

Release Date: July 25, 2019

I have been a little unfair to Switch on my blog so far. Despite it being one of my favorite consoles ever I have mostly limited my reviews to bad digital shovelware titles that no one but me will ever play. So it’s nice to finally have a real game to review again, and not just any game but Rune Factory 4, everyone’s favorite Japanese farming sim/RPG series. It is everyone’s favorite, right? In case you’ve never played any of the Rune Factory games the name is a little misleading. Going in the first time I thought it was going to take place in a literal factory where runes were made. I thought the main focus would be collecting materials and using runes to augment weapons. That actually sounds fun, but the titular factory is metaphorical. Of course since this is already everyone’s favorite farming sim/RPG series you probably already knew this. I’m always a little late to the party.

 The Rune Factory series is an interesting beast. It was originally designed as a more action-based spinoff of Harvest Moon. You farm and make friends in town of course, but there is also an RPG plot featuring monsters and dungeons. I’ve played the first one, and should probably review it first, but its a little too rough around the edges for me to make much progress. I’ll review it if I can ever actually finish it. Luckily most of my annoyances in the series have been fixed by the fourth installment. The goals are much clearer, it’s much easier to get started, and all the items needed for crafting are easy to obtain.

 

What’s fun about this game is that practically everything you do gains you levels and raises your stats. It’s hard to think of an action in this game that does not improve your character somehow. Walking, sleeping, and bathing increase stats along with every different type of attack and magic type. There is no wasted time in this game. Even if you are just wandering around town talking to people you are leveling up skills. If a certain dungeon area is too difficult than it’s time to get back to work raising those skills, and with so many different skills to chose from it never feels tedious or grindy. You can spend the day gardening, or crafting, or running your store, or fighting monsters with lower level weapons. There is a rhythm and routine to it all, but there is a lot of variety too. Every day I would wake up to check on my crops and ship anything that had grown. The game even starts with a long rainy season which keeps watering plants at a minimum until you can get a better watering can and monster friends to help you out. It’s a game full of pleasant routines and endless possibilities.

 My only gripe is that I wish the story portion of the game lasted a bit longer. The overworld is surprisingly small and there are only a handful of dungeons. I was able to get the credits to roll in the middle of my first fall. Of course the story can be traversed at your own pace, but I thought I was taking my time. There is still plenty to do of course, and you can keep right on playing, but it does lose something with the plot finished. At least it does for me. I am no longer leveling up to fight my way through the next dungeon or saving up money to get better equipment. I may be greedy, but in a game with everything I was expecting even more.

 

I’m not going to quibble too much though. Rune Factory 4 Special is a great game, and since I have a 12,000 game backlog I should probably be glad that it didn’t take me 100 hours to complete. Hopefully I can review a few more prominent Switch games and swing the percentage back in the right direction. Rune Factory 4 Special is going all the way up to #15 right under the similar but even more interesting Viva Pinata. I gotta say, I might have to redo my list somewhat. I think 1-10 is fine, but 11-20 is a bit messed up. Is Wrecking Crew really better than Pac-Man? It’s something I have to ponder in the future. Anyway I reiterate, it’s a great game that deserves to be high up on the list.

 

Switch Quality Percentage: 3/7 or 42.85%

(images are from mobygames.com)