If you've followed me for any length of time, you may know that I'm rather a fan of the Rune Factory series. While I still doubt that I'd be much for Harvest Moon itself, something about the combination of that series' gameplay with venturing off into caves and slashing at monsters really clicks with me—particularly with developer Neverland at the helm, who clearly understands this series and makes it work very well.
Rune Factory 3 is the latest entry, due out in America by the end of the year, and—as with 2—it's very clearly based on previous entries, but both added-to and massively improved. My intent today will be to share what those additions and improvements are. (For a primer on the past games, start with my original post on the series and/or my Rune Factory 2 review.) Know, though, that you do not need past experience with the series to jump into this game.
The first thing that stands out, particularly as Wii entry Frontier was a sort of mid-game sequel to the original Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 held a slightly-changed-up but still-similar storyline, is the premise of Rune Factory 3. This time around, you play as Micah, a half-human, half-monster adventurer who has the job of playing peacemaker to the feuding communities of Sharance, where the humans live, and Univir, hometown of the beasts. Micah's got a transformation belt that lets him turn into a sheep—and yes, you get to do this in-game. I'm told he can attack by headbutting, though I sadly didn't get to try this out—none of the save files on the floor were anywhere near the point in the game where he gets this ability.
There was so much else that was interesting for Rune Factory vets to see, though, that I didn't mind overmuch. Our demonstrator was the one who had played the game to assemble the looping demo reel playing above the stations, and I saw quite a few interesting improvements at play. The thing that stood out right away was how fast Micah moved. It wasn't as if previous Rune Factory games moved at a glacial pace, but as you do spend a lot of time performing repetitive tasks, it was very interesting to see an emphasis on increased efficiency. Not content with making Micah sprightly, though, Neverland's also added a number of improvements to common tasks to make everything flow a little faster, like being able to pick an entire apple tree in one go, carrying a tall stack of the fruits all at once.
Another series feature I had made much use of, particularly in Rune Factory 2, was the ability to take one of your tame animals along with you as you ventured into caves. For example, I'd frequently till the patches of land in caves while my pet wolf, Steve, took out nearby monsters. In 3, this feature gets a shot in the arm, as you can invite NPCs, with their own levels and stats, along on your expeditions. You can also plant magic seeds that will grow into fantastic monsters to accompany you. ("Fantastic" seems to be a rather good word to characterize 3's themes over past games, actually.)
Beyond Micah's sprightliness, he can also handle a brand-new weapon, dual blades, and does he ever handle them, with a decidedly acrobatic flair. This I did get to try, though the poor guy was at such a low level that swinging his swords ran down his Rune Points (essentially, stamina) pretty quickly—which was likely what was frustrating the show attendee on the next station over, who was grumbling quite a bit about how quickly he was getting himself killed. (He was also challenging some creatures which I had quickly learned in past outings that you just don't do until you get quite a bit stronger.) But it felt great, and knowing my limitations, I was able to take on a few of the easier creatures with ease and flair. It felt really good, a little like coming home again and finding it's both been awesomely redecorated and decked out with all the latest appliances.
One more feature that I didn't get to see: if you have some fellow Rune Factory 3 owners nearby, you can take on some randomly-generated dungeons together over local wireless. It makes me wish I knew a few more Rune Factory 3 players... maybe I can convince a family member to join in. Our Natsume demonstrator also told me that Neverland has been hard at work with the game engine, too; slowdowns like I noted in certain areas in the previous game should be a thing of the past. (I certainly didn't see any while carrying a stack of what looked like ten apples.)
Rune Factory 3 joins several other games that are going to make this a busy year for me late this year. I fully expect it's going to be as huge a game as past entries, so I can only fervently hope I can fit it in to its fullest. And then, I'll finally get to feel what it's like to be a warrior sheep.
Rune Factory 3 is the latest entry, due out in America by the end of the year, and—as with 2—it's very clearly based on previous entries, but both added-to and massively improved. My intent today will be to share what those additions and improvements are. (For a primer on the past games, start with my original post on the series and/or my Rune Factory 2 review.) Know, though, that you do not need past experience with the series to jump into this game.
The first thing that stands out, particularly as Wii entry Frontier was a sort of mid-game sequel to the original Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 held a slightly-changed-up but still-similar storyline, is the premise of Rune Factory 3. This time around, you play as Micah, a half-human, half-monster adventurer who has the job of playing peacemaker to the feuding communities of Sharance, where the humans live, and Univir, hometown of the beasts. Micah's got a transformation belt that lets him turn into a sheep—and yes, you get to do this in-game. I'm told he can attack by headbutting, though I sadly didn't get to try this out—none of the save files on the floor were anywhere near the point in the game where he gets this ability.
There was so much else that was interesting for Rune Factory vets to see, though, that I didn't mind overmuch. Our demonstrator was the one who had played the game to assemble the looping demo reel playing above the stations, and I saw quite a few interesting improvements at play. The thing that stood out right away was how fast Micah moved. It wasn't as if previous Rune Factory games moved at a glacial pace, but as you do spend a lot of time performing repetitive tasks, it was very interesting to see an emphasis on increased efficiency. Not content with making Micah sprightly, though, Neverland's also added a number of improvements to common tasks to make everything flow a little faster, like being able to pick an entire apple tree in one go, carrying a tall stack of the fruits all at once.
Another series feature I had made much use of, particularly in Rune Factory 2, was the ability to take one of your tame animals along with you as you ventured into caves. For example, I'd frequently till the patches of land in caves while my pet wolf, Steve, took out nearby monsters. In 3, this feature gets a shot in the arm, as you can invite NPCs, with their own levels and stats, along on your expeditions. You can also plant magic seeds that will grow into fantastic monsters to accompany you. ("Fantastic" seems to be a rather good word to characterize 3's themes over past games, actually.)
Beyond Micah's sprightliness, he can also handle a brand-new weapon, dual blades, and does he ever handle them, with a decidedly acrobatic flair. This I did get to try, though the poor guy was at such a low level that swinging his swords ran down his Rune Points (essentially, stamina) pretty quickly—which was likely what was frustrating the show attendee on the next station over, who was grumbling quite a bit about how quickly he was getting himself killed. (He was also challenging some creatures which I had quickly learned in past outings that you just don't do until you get quite a bit stronger.) But it felt great, and knowing my limitations, I was able to take on a few of the easier creatures with ease and flair. It felt really good, a little like coming home again and finding it's both been awesomely redecorated and decked out with all the latest appliances.
One more feature that I didn't get to see: if you have some fellow Rune Factory 3 owners nearby, you can take on some randomly-generated dungeons together over local wireless. It makes me wish I knew a few more Rune Factory 3 players... maybe I can convince a family member to join in. Our Natsume demonstrator also told me that Neverland has been hard at work with the game engine, too; slowdowns like I noted in certain areas in the previous game should be a thing of the past. (I certainly didn't see any while carrying a stack of what looked like ten apples.)
Rune Factory 3 joins several other games that are going to make this a busy year for me late this year. I fully expect it's going to be as huge a game as past entries, so I can only fervently hope I can fit it in to its fullest. And then, I'll finally get to feel what it's like to be a warrior sheep.