Mr Robot

This automated RSS Feed post is about: Rune Factory is one of those games in which you swear to yourself you’ll not spend more than an hour or so playing and then look up at the clock three hours later in surprise.

I’m new to the Harvest Moon family of games and this title feels something like a cross between the Sims, Sim City, Diablo and the dating game. You set up farms, construct buildings, hunt monsters, recruit monsters, do in-game dating, and a whole host of other combinations.


You awaken to find yourself in an unfamiliar village with no memory of who you are or how you arrived. Mist, a beautiful young woman comes to your aid and helps you start to build a life for yourself…on a farm. Till the land, grow crops, raise animals, catch fish and battle monsters! Battling against fierce beasts is very important for your survival, but making friends with them is essential for your farm life. What mysteries lie ahead….
Since the original Sim City came out I’ve always been vulnerable to spending large amounts of time building, managing and lording over my simulations. There’s so much to do in this open ended simulation. You can farm, hunt monsters, train monsters, meet women, woo women, mix potions, explore, fight bosses – you’ll need to spend some time with this game to come even close to doing it all.
You can’t truly explore the dungeons made available to you without the permission of the Mayor – the more you farm and the more you hunt though, the more passes the Mayor will issue to you and the more exploring you can do.
Rune factory features Rune Points (RP) and Hit Points (HP). Doing things, just about anything from swinging a scythe to swinging a sword drains first your RP and then your HP. If you HP get to 0 you can expect to pass out and spend the next day at the doctors. Your HP increase with levels and you can replenish your RP by eating, drinking potions or through the act of farming itself.
If you enjoy the Harvest Moon world you’ll be very happy with this title. It’s hard to imagine a more in-depth and play ready game for the DS than this one. You won’t be disappointed – in fact I predict many hours spent tending to your character and the world he helps create.
The touch screen gives this game a big leg up.* In previous Harvest Moon games it was tough to get the planting/farming square in the correct location.* Now, just tap the square with your stylus and you’re good to go. Same with switching items in inventory and lots of other tasks.
The Good
Hours and hours of play, with many things to do and explore
Great presentation.
A solid game without many holes.
The Bad
Cut scene dialog could use some work.
You’ll lose hours of your life to this game.
Overall Score: 8 out of 10
Gameplay: 7
Experience (Sound/Graphics) 8
Replayability: 8
Fun Factor/Price: 8.5
Technorati Tags: harvest moon, rune factory, review, DS, nintendo, ds lite, farming


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