I guess it was a foregone conclusion that I was going to be excited about Rune Factory 3. I was already hanging on every word about its existence before Natsume announced it, bugging them about it when they did, practicing sheep-jitsu in my backyard, you name it. I am a series addict. But when I finally got into the review copy Natsume sent over last night, I surprised even myself by how wholly impressed I was. I have this feeling—keeping in mind that I've played a handful of hours so far, of course, there's much more—that 3 might be the magic game that transcends cult awesome and brings it into mainstream-quality greatness.

This is due to a combination of a plethora of little factors, of course; but I think the key success that many of them work towards and achieve is a fantastic sense of pacing. The previous Rune Factory games were chock-full of things to do, of course, but they could also be huge time sinks, leading some to burn out. Rune Factory 3 lights a blazing fire under it all, leaving you still doing a large number of the same things that made its predecessors so engrossing, but burning away every possible bit of chaff that slowed you down.

Underlying all this is what looks like a major overhaul of the game's engine. It certainly doesn't look any different from 10,000 feet, but the feel is another story entirely. Slowdowns and occasional glitchiness are things of the past; the only evidence you'll get that your DS is struggling to keep up is the occasional slight framerate drop when a majority of the town's population happens to be on-screen at once. (Yes, this does happen from time-to-time, particularly as nobody really stands still much in this game—you'll come to appreciate the top-screen townsperson radar quite a bit!) The engine also lets you do some great new things like grab a large pile of goods all at once without putting away each individual piece; just tap A repeatedly 'till you've got it all. You've also got the ability to bring along magic seed companions, tame monsters, and townspeople to fight with you, of course—we knew this already—but you can actually do two of the above at the same time without the game breaking a sweat, with only the sheer chaos that ensues as the tiny DS screen fills with enemies and allies causing you any trouble.

Combat pacing is also radically improved, something I suspected, but didn't fully realize until I got my hands on 3 after poking at 2 a bit last week. But there's also a number of really great and useful new moves, including an a bit of an air game—you can't actually jump (at least, I haven't been able to thus far), but you can hit and kick enemies up into the air with some of your moves, even juggling them indefinitely if you like. I genuinely liked the slow-ish, simpler combat in Rune Factory 2, but I can't imagine going back to it now. I've also just now unlocked the transformation into Wooly form, which prohibits weapon or tool use but has its own highly kinetic fighting style.

But the majority of improvements are for what did tend to drag past games down a bit: farming, crafting, and the like. I already mentioned your ability to grab a number of items in one go, but there's more than just engine enhancements at work here. The Rune Factory team has also worked at making farming a more interesting proposition. Most notably, the series hallmark, the runes that appeared daily for every nine mature crops, don't work the same way anymore—instead, harvesting a crop will randomly drop either a rune or a Runey, both of which not only give you an RP (stamina) recharge but also boost a skill or a stat. Seed bags also are only good for a single square instead of a 3×3 plot, as well. I was a bit unsure about both of these changes when I discovered them, but I'm happy to report that the game economy not only seems unharmed but actually better-off, giving me enough money to get by without burying me in excess funds.

Farming (and the rest of the world) also get a much more dynamic weather system. No longer is it simply raining or sunny all day, but the weather can change from hour to hour, and you can even watch a just-arrived rain shower gradually water your fields. Monsters you've tamed—which is done by tossing them food and hoping they see you as formidable enough—can also perform any task needed when you ask them to work your farm, including buying and sowing their own seeds if you're willing to give them access to your bank account. And crafting (which includes cooking, forging, pharmacy, and the like), as I mentioned, is a lot easier to deal with, with recipes you know automatically pulling from your inventory, including the fridge and storage chest, all without you having to juggle things in your backpack to bring them to the forge.

I could go on about a number of other little touches, of course, and I imagine I'll be finding more as I progress—I've really just barely begun this game. But barring some later catastrophe, I feel very confident in saying that Rune Factory 3 is the high point of the series thus far. I'll have a full review in awhile, of course, when I've had a chance to get through the main quest; and I'll be trying out the multiplayer dungeon later, too, so look for that. (If you can't wait for the articles, you can catch some occasional updates on our Twitter feed.) What I've seen so far, though, absolutely impresses. I was expecting a solidly better version of the cult hit, but the level Rune Factory 3 takes it to is astonishing.