Rune Factory 4

[Jordan]

I decided to replay this game for some reason. On hard mode it can actually be a substantial challenge.

I feel like this is one of the best games on 3DS, surprisingly. There's so much stuff to do and the game improves upon its predecessors in nearly every way. Does anybody else like Rune Factory 4 or/and the series in general?

[The Shoemaker]

This was my first Rune Factory, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The game can really hook you for hours. My only problem is that the story has three arcs, and the triggering of each arc is random. I finished the first two but I got tired of waiting for the third to start.

[pdSlooper]

The triggering of the 3rd arc is random, the 2nd arc trigger isn't. But yeah, that's a real problem with the design. Probably the worst.

RF4 was the first game I got for 3DS and is still my favorite. I spent a good 400 hours on it and have kept the cart to play later.

I really like the way leveling up is designed. Nearly every action in the game can be leveled by doing that action, and when it levels, 2-3 of your stats raise. So if you want to get better at dungeon diving, you don't necessarily need to go dungeon diving -- you can walk, bathe, farm, sell items, pet monsters, mine, or do a number of things, and wind up making yourself strong enough to handle the dungeons you need to get through to advance the plot. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can just tackle the dungeons head-on and level that way.

[Jordan]

I really like the way leveling up is designed. Nearly every action in the game can be leveled by doing that action, and when it levels, 2-3 of your stats raise. So if you want to get better at dungeon diving, you don't necessarily need to go dungeon diving -- you can walk, bathe, farm, sell items, pet monsters, mine, or do a number of things, and wind up making yourself strong enough to handle the dungeons you need to get through to advance the plot. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can just tackle the dungeons head-on and level that way.

Agreed. That's one of the best aspects of Rune Factory. Everything is intertwined together. Improving your skills at farming, mining, crafting, etc. improves everything else, while dungeon diving to advance the plot increases the amount of content available to you for your farm, forge, etc.

I agree on the bullshit regarding the third chapter though. I remember that really aggravating me the first time I played the game. Incidentally, that is actually where I quit during my first playthrough. By that time, however, I had already sunk at least a hundred hours into the game and felt that I had gotten my money's worth.

[The Shoemaker]

I really like the way leveling up is designed. Nearly every action in the game can be leveled by doing that action, and when it levels, 2-3 of your stats raise. So if you want to get better at dungeon diving, you don't necessarily need to go dungeon diving -- you can walk, bathe, farm, sell items, pet monsters, mine, or do a number of things, and wind up making yourself strong enough to handle the dungeons you need to get through to advance the plot. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can just tackle the dungeons head-on and level that way.

I agree on the bullshit regarding the third chapter though. I remember that really aggravating me the first time I played the game. Incidentally, that is actually where I quit during my first playthrough. By that time, however, I had already sunk at least a hundred hours into the game and felt that I had gotten my money's worth.

I'm about at the same point, 85 hours in, third chapter won't start and I'm perfectly okay with calling it quits. Got plenty out of the game already.

[Jordan]

I kinda regret the fact that I never ended up getting married and having a kid. The choices were just too good though. Xiao Pai was so cute and funny but Dolce, Forte, Clorica, Margaret...everybody except Amber really....would all be fun choices too. I couldn't decide.

[Kong Wen]

I kinda regret the fact that I never ended up getting married and having a kid.

Oh man, this thread just got heavy!

[The Shoemaker]

I kinda regret the fact that I never ended up getting married and having a kid. The choices were just too good though. Xiao Pai was so cute and funny but Dolce, Forte, Clorica, Margaret...everybody except Amber really....would all be fun choices too. I couldn't decide.

Near the end of the game I was having a hard choice choosing between Forte and Clorica. Forte was the one I set my eyes on from the beginning, but I soon loved Clorica's sleepy personality. It got a little funny when I was dating both :p. In the end I never married anyone either because the required scenario for marriage never occured. Curse you randomly generated scenarios!!

[Jordan]

I didn't even know there was a random event required for that! That's terrible!

The whole randomness element in this game could be entertaining at times, but I think they went a bit too far with it at other times.

Oh man, this thread just got heavy!

[The Shoemaker]

I didn't even know there was a random event required for that! That's terrible!

The whole randomness element in this game could be entertaining at times, but I think they went a bit too far with it at other times.

Oh man, this thread just got heavy!

I like the idea that the game resembles real life, which isn't predictable. But way too many people got screwed over waiting for certain events to happen, most of them unknowingly I would think! But yeah for marriage I believe you have to wait for two separate events per character to happen. I got the first event, but never got the second proposal event. Funny thing about the proposal event is that if you're male and you don't have a ring on you during the event, you can't marry! I think you can re-propose later, but still funny.