The classic of farming and role Rune Factory, the Spin off saga of Harvest Moon, arrives on Nintendo Switch, in which we must improve our farmer skills in order to face the dangers that threaten our kingdom.
Rune Factory 4 Special, developed by Marvelous Entertainment and remastered for Nintendo Switch, is a video game mixing RPG and social simulation. This saga was born as a spin off of Harvest Moon, from whom it inherits the social simulation and farm management part, but, in addition, it adds elements of dungeon exploration, object creation, fighting, evolution by level and other typical RPG components , making a very complete, complex and entertaining game.
Our story begins in an already traditional way in the saga: an event, in this case a blow to the head in a confrontation, causes us to lose our memory and arrive in an unconventional way to the kingdom of Selphia. There we are received by Ventuswill, one of the four Native Dragons, magical and very powerful creatures chosen to rule the world. Ven offers us to stay in his castle, since he thinks we are the princess, or the prince, awaited by all, at least until we recover our memory or start a new life in the kingdom.
The first almost two hours of play are constant dialogues to get in position and introduce the mechanics. We can observe that all the typical characteristics of the saga are still present, almost immutable, and we can glimpse the infinite possibilities that they offer us for the development of our adventure.
The importance of being a good farmer
From the first day we have an orchard in the back of the castle where, once we clean the floor of wooden stumps and weeds, we will be free to grow all kinds of seeds, from flowers to food, they will help us recover energy and vitality or to conquer that character so attractive and charismatic. A very important part of the game is social simulation, talking with the inhabitants of Selphia, giving them favors and giving them their favorite flowers or food, to raise their level of friendship or even love. If they are our friends it is easier for them to collaborate with us and, if we work hard, we can find the love of our life and marry him.
In Rune Factory 4 it is very important not to neglect the skills of blacksmithing, mining, crafting or cooking, our team will depend on them to face the dangers that lie in Selphia. We will start with a basic equipment, but the same development of the game, and the difficulty of the enemies, forces us to roll up our sleeves and search the confines of the kingdom to find the necessary materials and thus make the most powerful equipment that our level of blacksmith allow. Almost as important as the materials are the recipes, without them we can venture to create some gourmet object or dish, but we will need more energy and have a high probability of failure. The recipes are sold by Porcoline in the form of Recipe Bread, recipe bread, and are completely random in its category, some of these are: kitchen, weapons or accessories.
Crown weight
One of the novelties of the game are the Orders, mandates that we can do thanks to our status as a princess and that have to be fulfilled yes or yes. These may be, among others, kitchen, medicine, blacksmith or flight licenses; festivals to attract more people to the kingdom; backpack extensions; a pen for the monsters … Depending on the number of inhabitants and visitors of the kingdom and how happy we are to our subjects, we will have more or less princess points, necessary to carry out these Orders.
The game has a spectacularly colorful and striking artistic section, we can see an improvement of the graphics in this HD version, compared to what we could see in Nintendo 3ds, although it does not reach the full potential of Nintendo Switch. The character design, its wonderful anime aesthetic, full of funny expressions, makes us more bearable the fact that the game does not reach us in Spanish, the Switch version for this Reviews is in English and Japanese, although the European version will arrive also in French and German. This is a point to consider when buying the game, there are many dialogues, instructions, requests, specific vocabulary of the professions associated with our skills, or the same story of the title, we can not enjoy it one hundred percent Due to this inconvenience.
The soundtrack, included in the Memorial Box edition, envelops us in the atmosphere of adventure and takes us to the fantastic landscapes of Selphia. The opening could be taken from a series of Clamp, a famous studio of mangakas known, especially for their Chobits series, or Card Captor Sakura, among others.
A known challenge
Despite having known mechanics, sometimes the game has difficulty peaks that force us to rethink our strategy, develop our level, our team and our skills. Therefore, we have emphasized not to neglect that aspect of the game, since it will be of great help. On the contrary, we found dungeons where common enemies represented a greater challenge compared to the chief of that same area. The combat mode is in real time and is not very complex, however, we must make our strategy for each level leader, since they have different patterns and weaknesses.
Rune Factory 4 includes three game modes: the main Story Mode, Another Episode, and a new game mode called Newlywed, more focused on personal relationships. In it we will explore the story of the protagonist and her husband or wife, the title gives us the possibility, with each new marriage, to unlock a new chapter of this game mode.
CONCLUSION
Rune Factory 4 is a continuous title that does not bring major changes compared to its predecessor. Not for that reason it is less enjoyable, the game offers us infinite possibilities, unlockable content and side missions that significantly extend the life of the title. It complies with the canons of the genres it represents, it has the essence of a role-playing game, social interactions and farm management that he inherited from Harvest Moon.
THE BEST
- A very striking artistic section.
- Crowd of content, missions, unlockables … there is always something new to do.
- Charismatic characters with very different personalities.
WORST
- Sudden difficulty peaks
- Completely in English
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
