Rune Factory is a role-playing simulation video game series developed
by Neverland Co., Ltd. for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii and the
PlayStation 3 video game consoles, and a spin-off of the Story of Seasons video
game series. It is described by Yoshifumi Hashimoto, producer of the
Harvest Moon series, as "Harvest Moon where you wield a sword."
Common gameplay elements The gameplay of the Rune Factory series
is similar to that of Harvest Moon. For every one real-world second, one in-game
minute passes. The player can grow crops, using upgradeable farm equipment.
However, the Harvest Moon game mechanic of purchasing animals has been replaced
by defeating and befriending monsters in dungeons. If a monster is tamed, it can
help the player in battle, produce goods, or help to tend the crops. The
game's combat is in the action role-playing game style.
Like most Harvest Moon games, the player is given a limited amount of stamina, in
the form of "Rune Points", or "RP". Rune Points get depleted as the player
performs tasks at the farm or fights using a weapon or magic. The player is
given hit points as well. The player can attack with no RP by sacrificing HP. The
player can replenish RP by using Runes created by fully-grown crops or potions,
while HP can be restored using medicine or healing spells. The town bathhouse
restores both HP and RP. If the player runs out of HP while working on their
farm, they will collapse and be rescued; however, in Rune Factory and Rune
Factory 2, dying outside the town causes game over. In all other games, the
player will not die while fighting in the caves or ruins.
Crops can be planted in different areas to sell for gold; other activities
include mining for metal and minerals, fishing, or collecting food such as milk
and eggs from befriended monsters. The player can then spend money and material
to buy a variety of upgrades for their house, weapons, and tools.
In addition to their open-ended gameplay, the games possess a linear
storyline, which can be furthered by exploring dungeons and defeating certain
monsters. Just like in the Harvest Moon series, the main character's
relationship with the other villagers increase by talking to them or
performing actions that please them, like giving items they like as presents
for example. Some of them can even be married if their relationship improves
enough. Some games of the series requires the protagonist to get married
as part of the storyline. Games
Development According to Marvelous's managing
director and Harvest Moon's creator, Yasuhiro Wada, Rune Factory 2 does not
borrow the Harvest Moon name for the Japanese release. This was done in order
to grow Rune Factory as an independent series and Marvelous will continue to do
this with all future installments including Rune Factory Frontier. Despite
this, Natsume applied the subtitle A Fantasy Harvest Moon to Rune Factory 2
and Rune Factory 3. Rune Factory Frontier was announced
during an interview between Cubed3 and Yasuhiro Wada on June 6, 2007, and was
fully revealed on June 4, 2008 in the Japanese magazine Famitsu. On July 11,
2008, Marvelous Entertainment USA and Xseed Games announced that they were
both bringing Rune Factory Frontier to North America. As of 2012, Rune Factory
Frontier has been the only game in the Rune Factory series not to be brought to
North America by Natsume. Rune Factory 5 was said to be expected
at "some point in time", according to series producer Yoshifumi Hashimoto. In
November 2013 Neverland Co. filed for bankruptcy, leaving the future of the
series in question at the time. However, in February 2014 it was revealed that
the Rune Factory development team had been hired by Marvelous AQL, and that
they were developing the Nintendo 3DS simulation role-playing video game Lord
of Magna: Maiden Heaven. Media
Rune Factory 2 has had multiple manga series to help promote the game, in such
magazines as Dengeki Nintendo DS, Monthly Wings, Dragon Age, and Dengeki
Maoh. If players pre-ordered the game in Japan, they would receive a free CD with
three mini-dramas as well as an 18-page art book. Sometime after the release of
the game in Japan, a CD with all the background music, three mini-dramas, and
the two theme songs was released with a novel based on the game following
sometime after. The American pre-order bonus was a plush Chipp—a monster in the
series similar in appearance to a squirrel—that was included in the box
when ordered from participating websites.
Reception The Rune Factory series has been well
received. Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon
received an 8.4 rating from IGN's Mark Bozon. Bozon commented that the art
style was "amazing", and that it was "the Harvest Moon you've been waiting
for". 91/100 from Gamebrink, 7.0/10 from Nintendo Power, and 4/5 from X-Play.
IGN rated Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon at 8.4/10, commenting on
its similarity to the original, and Game Rankings has given it an aggregated
score of 80.58%. References
External links Official website