Rune Factory 4 - Nintendo 3DS

This game is, undoubtedly, the most fun I have ever had on a handheld device. Touching storylines that will definitely stir up "the feels" and super fun gameplay combine for 200+ hours of a masterful game creation. For the first time, the Rune Factory series caters to the choice of a female protagonist at the beginning of the game...YES! That being said, there's way more "YES!" to the game than that. The game's main storyline paces at the player's discretion where you can choose to do a variety of things. Some people claim that the Rune Factory series is almost stressful with how much there is to do but this is what makes the game great. There's always something to do: farming, interacting with towns people, crafting, fighting monsters, taming monsters, fishing, cooking, exploring dungeons, etc. And this game in the series serves new treats to the table, as well. The farming aspect of the game is similar to past games. You have an expandable field with expandable barns that you can fill with monsters who will tend to your field. But wait! There's more! This game introduces new seeds. That's right. Seeds that can create weapons. And seeds that can create an entirely new dungeon to explore! The towns people are as cute and entertaining as ever. Events in the game work a little differently, however. Events are random. So, one day, you may be walking through town or into a shop when an event will begin. Which, though it definitely makes the game more realistic, can be a little irritating when you are attempting to trigger certain character events. Nonetheless, many events are fun and are worth any inconvenience. The games dating sim aspect introduces a new part to romance: you and your loved one(s) will be straight up boyfriend and girlfriend until one of you proposes to the other. Romance events are also very cute. Super cute. Crafting in this game made a lot more sense to me in this game than in the past games of the series. There's a lot of new weapons to make and upgrade as well as farming tools, armor, and accessories. Battling is similar to how it has been in past games and magic definitely becomes a lot more important to your character's survival. In this game, bosses are hundreds of levels strong. Not kidding. And there are tons of bosses. Super fun. Monster taming is one of Rune Factory's qualities that make it so wonderful. Monsters can end up being super useful to you in dungeons as some can be very strong. And, being able to have a party of up to two, you can bring even more with you! Fishing and cooking are the same as they have been in other games but still enjoyable and preparing fish before shipping them rakes in some easy cash. Exploring dungeons. There is literally so much to explore. The game offers tons of dungeons that the storyline will take you through but there are also secret dungeons hidden in between trees that are only available at certain times of the year and you can literally grow a dungeon in your field. Dungeon exploring in this game is a massive improvement from its predecessors. And you are a prince/princess in the game. YOU RUN THE TOWN. The game has "Prince/Princess Points" which are points that you can acrue through running your town to either build new shops that sell new items, expand your backpack and other storage places, expand your farm and barns, PUSH AWAY TYPHOONS, and more! You even get to open your OWN shop where you can sell goods you find in dungeons, farm, or craft to the towns people for gold. I seriously had/have so much fun with this game. There is so much going on and so many new challenges that this game just will not let you put it down. I HIGHLY recommend.

This is my new favorite game of all time. It even surpasses Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and the Pokemon games for me. This game is just... wow. I was hesitant for the longest time to try this. I added this my wishlist years ago because it looked interesting and seemed to incorporate elements I liked (farming, dating, befriending monsters, battling, helping a town, etc.), but my unfamiliarity of the series coupled with the price made me hesitate. A few days ago I was looking at me 3DS, which I hadn't touched in maybe eight or nine months, and my pitiful collection of five 3DS games and five DS games and realized I was really wasting the investment I'd placed in the console by never buying any games to play; as much as I love my small collection of games, I'd played them all so much that I'd frankly lost interest in replaying them yet again, at least not for a long while. I was browsing around on Amazon once more and somehow found my way to this page again. I saw a used copy for $34 and I snatched it up on a whim, thinking that the worst case scenario would be that I'd ship it back to the Amazon warehouse and lose out on six dollars. But oh my god, I should have bought this games years ago (kind of glad I didn't because then I wouldn't be enjoying it now, but you know what I mean) I love absolutely everything. The graphics, the game play, the story... and you know what? This game is even better than the harvest moon games I've played. For one thing, doesn't make it impossible to get your hands on cooking ingredients (like flour; oh my f****** god, in Tale of Two Cities there were like seven ingredients I could never ever get and it frustrated me to death) and there's not a much of a feeling that time is of the essence; while a clock counts down daily, the game is so open and allows you to do so much that you don't feel pressed to get home from wandering around battling monsters and picking up stuff to water your crops (crops only need to be watered once a day). I really appreciate a game that has a lot to do, but doesn't make a player get wound up with time crunches and requirements. There are so many wonderful things about this game that I'd make this review super long if I listed and spoke about each one. I'm not even through the game entirely and already I'm in love. This feels like the kind of game I could play on the same file for a very long time or have no issue with restarting from the beginning. There's also different difficulty levels, which I appreciate a lot. I usually stick to easy mode because I don't usually care for challenges; I like being able to freely and easily play and enjoy games, not stress myself trying to defeat them. All in all, there's a reason over 80% of the reviewers for this game gave it 5 stars and it's still so expensive despite it being out for three years now. It's amazing. I wish the company that made this series hadn't gone bankrupt; I imagine Rune Factory 5 would have been mind blowing. Should the creators ever resurface with another Rune Factory, I'll absolutely try it out, and for now I'm going to look into the previous games. If you're considering this game and love games like Harvest Moon and Pokemon, this is a game for you.

It's a great rpg game! It's perfect for gamers who wants a long gameplay and want to complete the full game. It has funny and interesting dialogue, many festivals, weapons, forging etc. I truly recommend this game to those who haven't heard of this yet, please! Give it a try!

This game is impossible to put down! I bought it a couple years ago and played it non stop! I started to play it again this year after already beating it, and I'm obsessed all over again. This game is like a vamped up harvest moon. You get your own farm, you get to accept quests, tame monsters to help you fight or keep as farm animals (Some produce eggs milk, etcc..) There is a great story line with arcs that require you to beat dungeons that get increasingly harder. Monsters drop materials and items that you can use to upgrade and craft armor and weapons. There is so much of the world to explore! The first time I played I missed so many hidden things because there is just so much to do in this game! Each new dungeon has new ores, and metals to mine, materials to make things with. You can collect grasses or grow flowers to use to make medicines and fertilizers. Oh, and duh. One of the bigger things you can do in all harvest moon games. Get married! You can choose to be either male or female. The bachelors and bachelorettes in this game are all very unique and likable. I can't remember how many there are to choose from, but definitely more that 5 bachelors and bachelorettes. You can date in this game, which is pretty neat (Can also date multiple people at once if you choose to do that) You start out with the usual giving gifts and talking to them to get their friendship points up, then profess your love. This doesn't initiate marriage, but instead makes them your boyfriend/girlfriend, which will make them available to invite for dates, and occasionally say romantic or sweet things. Marriage come after that if you so choose. Another aspect to this game that is very cool! You can invite the villagers out to fight with you. You simply ask them if they would like to come along with you, and they will follow you to the field, or dungeons etc, and help you fight enemies! They will level up just like your own character, and any armor/weapons you make, you can give to said villager and they will equip it! Which of coarse adds to their attack/defense. It's a very cool feature! (When I said villagers, that includes anyone you can marry in the game) Just like previous harvest moon or rune factory games, there are festivals, and cut scenes. The cut scenes/events can be somewhat random, I'm not totally sure what triggers some of them, but it's cool to see how all the villagers get involved and react. When something happens in the story, everyone will be talking about it. People aren't just stuck saying the same 1 or 2 things they're programmed to say. Example: You asked someone on a date and your walking around with your characters lover. People you walk by will coo and poke fun "Ohh, what are you to up to?" or if your dating multiple people, "It can't be!" It's a much more intelligent program than the older harvest moon/rune factory games. Anyways, hope I didn't give to much away. This is a very addictive game, with so much to offer! If you haven't already, I recommend picking this game up. If you already like runefactory, you'll love this! If you haven't played before, this is a great game to start with! You don't need to have played any of the previous games to understand it.

Estoy enamorada de este juego, puedo hacer lo que quiera, usar el arma que quiera e ir avanzando en la historia a mi propio ritmo aumentando el nivel de un montón de cosas. Cuando lo ví pensé que las gráficas me iban a quitar las ganas de jugar pero en realidad me he acostumbrado y los personajes me gustan mucho. Aunque me gustaría que hubiera más personalización en el personaje además de la ropa o armadura. Sí tiene algunos detalles que podrían mejorarse tanto en lo de cosechar como en crear nuevos objetos, pero de momento nada que me moleste a mí. Muy feliz con este juego.

Je ne comprends pas pourquoi ce jeu est disponible sur le site d'Amazon France alors qu'il est incompatible avec les DS achetées en France. C'est la version US. Très décevant. Ce jeu est par conséquent inutilisable.

A great game that helps pass time.