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[matmanx1]

I just finished the Winter dungeon area last night so I'm getting closer to the ending but I still need to do some leveling up.

I'm mostly using the Needle Spear although I found that the charge attack on most magic staves can do some pretty serious damage as well. I also found Yue in Shino's Inn last night and she had the fireball Rune ability (as well as other nifty items for sale) which is spammable and with a high enough magic attack power can be a very effective ranged weapon.

Had to work late tonight so sadly no play time for me but I've already put a bunch of hours into RF3 in a fairly short period of time and have really enjoyed it and have alot more game to go.

 

[sfried]

I was thinking about starting this...

...but then I haven't finished playing the first game, Frontier, nor even started with 2 yet!

Should I play those first? I feel the third game will spoil me and I'll never be able to enjoy those games.

 

[dock]

Tempted to get this as my first Rune Factory, but I still haven't beaten DQ9 and I have Etrian Odyssey III still sealed on my shelf! I need to be more diligent with my DS time, and by that I mean I need to spend more time playing games!

The multiplayer stuff sounds interesting. I played through a lot of DS games in 4 player co-op, so I'm always curious about these things. Do you think the game would spoil once players are at vastly different levels?

Also, if I'm not insane, what's a realistic number of hours for this game?

 

[Jintor]

...put it this way, I spent around a week completely immersed in this game every spare waking moment I had before I even began to consider playing other games. And I had a fuck-tonne of other games to play.

 

[zigg]

I was thinking about starting this...

...but then I haven't finished playing the first game, Frontier, nor even started with 2 yet!

Should I play those first? I feel the third game will spoil me and I'll never be able to enjoy those games.

I... kinda think that is actually a fair concern. 3 can make the others feel a bit clumsy. But as you haven't finished the other ones, I would honestly just not worry about it, really. I mean, if you want to go back and complete the others (which I did with the original; it's not really that difficult to get back into it), then sure, but I don't think you should let "unfinished prior entries" stop you from getting into 3 if you want.

The multiplayer stuff sounds interesting. I played through a lot of DS games in 4 player co-op, so I'm always curious about these things. Do you think the game would spoil once players are at vastly different levels?

Well, just to be clear, you're not playing through the game itself in multiplayer. There's a sizable set of random dungeons (pretty sure there's at least 15?) that you can play with friends. They are a lot of fun, though, particuarly when you choose to play as one of the other folks in town.

Level differences can be a bit of an issue. At least earlier on, though, you can use the dungeon itself to grind levels on one player.

Also, if I'm not insane, what's a realistic number of hours for this game?

You know, I didn't time myself... heh. If you play through in normal mode, though, I don't think you'll need all that many hours to get through just the main story. 20, maybe? Just guessing though.

 

[matmanx1]

Yeah I think just a story run-through could be done in 20-30 hours if you focused on only one girl and ignored the majority of the requests. I don't think it would be the most fun playthrough but it could be done.

I'm not positive how many hours I have in the game but I would say I've easily passed the 30 hour mark and I'm only half-way through Fall in the first year. I am working on

Spoiler

unifying the towns

and should have that done tonight. There's a TON of gameplay in this little cart.

 

[Jintor]

Don't forget post-game content


awwwwww yeah that's right my nickname is...

1)None
2)Darling
3)Dear
4)Woolykins

 

[zigg]

Don't forget post-game content


awwwwww yeah that's right my nickname is...

1)None
2)Darling
3)Dear
4)Woolykins

Woolykins FTMFW. I chose it, nothing else had a chance. :lol

 

[Cow Mengde]

At first the girls throw their annoying quirky personalities at you and totally turned me off, but as I got more friendly with them, their personalities actually got better. Their quirks actually become funny.

 

[ExtraKr1spy]

Beat the game and its one of the shorter Rune Factory games.

There's the basement dungeon but the main game is pretty short. Not much to spend money on. You cant just skip farming and mine ore/minerals.

Town is awesome and feels more lively

high level cap so there's still a lot to grind I guess but not much else to do post game besides multiplayer through the basement dungeon(which is a good way to get high level weapons/items early on).

Married Carmen because her relationship with her brother was on the verge of crossing the incest line(wincest for certain gaffers :/). Her brothers a bro(with a bit of brokeback) though

Storage is smaller than what I would like.

 

[zigg]

Beat the game and its one of the shorter Rune Factory games.

Understatement of the year. :lol I think I'd rather say that it felt a lot better-paced with the story mode... I liked the planting-crops-for-runes idea of the old games, but not having to do it did speed things up quite a bit, I suppose.

Even though I "completed" the game, I still have a number of quests to go through, had taken some time off to go through Golden Sun for review, but now I'm back!

 

[sfried]

I... kinda think that is actually a fair concern. 3 can make the others feel a bit clumsy. But as you haven't finished the other ones, I would honestly just not worry about it, really. I mean, if you want to go back and complete the others (which I did with the original; it's not really that difficult to get back into it), then sure, but I don't think you should let "unfinished prior entries" stop you from getting into 3 if you want.

The truth is, I feel there might be stuff tied in with the rest of the series that I feel I would miss out if I skip ahead to 3, and since seeing I technically have all the RF games available to date, I feel I should finish the first and Frontier because of all this talk about some reoccuring villain.

 

[zigg]

The truth is, I feel there might be stuff tied in with the rest of the series that I feel I would miss out if I skip ahead to 3, and since seeing I technically have all the RF games available to date, I feel I should finish the first and Frontier because of all this talk about some reoccuring villain.

Link me, if you would, because this recurring villain idea is news to me... There are some very slight connections between the games but apart from RF and Frontier they're basically self-contained stories.

 

[ronito]

Beat the game and its one of the shorter Rune Factory games.

Really? How much so? I finished the first rune factory in like 20 hours. The second in like 35-ish, frontier ended up taking like 60-80.

 

[zigg]

Really? How much so? I finished the first rune factory in like 20 hours. The second in like 35-ish, frontier ended up taking like 60-80.

Geez, it's been ages since I played the first, but RF didn't seem as short* as 3—that said, it was my first anything to do with HM, so I probably spent a lot of time figuring the game out as I played.

* I hesitate to throw that word around too much, because it's really better-paced more than anything. Earlier games were probably longer but also felt stretched more thinly; 3 is dense.

 

[matmanx1]

Alright guys, trying to find a sapphire to complete my magical lance and I'm having no luck mining one in the Winter area. I can't seem to find a list of what drops what so have you guys run across a monster that has dropped a sapphire for you?

 

[zigg]

Alright guys, trying to find a sapphire to complete my magical lance and I'm having no luck mining one in the Winter area. I can't seem to find a list of what drops what so have you guys run across a monster that has dropped a sapphire for you?

I know I've had several, but I can't remember where from. Sorry...

 

[EVH]

Seriously, this game is awesome.

I'm enjoying it a lot so far. Also hard is really hard. Man that racoon was a pain in the ass. The game feels very polished and with things like that fish you can ride, all the conversations, the combat system and the habilities that you can equip, crafting, farming...

I love it

Have you noticed all the references the game has? Because I found 2 Castlevania SotN references already:
Secret Boots that made you taller.
Heart Refresh.

 

[zigg]

This particular localization is definitely really dense with a lot of stuff... watch for the innuendo later. There are also some parts that just don't plain make sense, though, too—it ain't perfect, but I'll take the 95% that is.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know I've reached skill level 50 in LOVE. :lol

 

[matmanx1]

Speaking of funny stuff, have you seen the item description for the Safety Lance? Definitely look that one up, hehe!

 

[zigg]

I haven't, but I was handed a stack of NINE love potions by the leaderboard door last night!

The next few (game) hours were quite a bit of fun.

 

[zigg]

Man, I can't speak highly enough of the random mazes under the Sharance Tree. They might actually be a little broken in terms of high-level drops and treasures that appear within but a friend and I had a great time last night tackling the level-120 dungeon (

Spoiler

Grimoire

was at the bottom—they get multi-level at level 100) with our own levels in the mid-70s and 80s.

It was a great fight; he had found a couple spells in chests for what amounted to berserk mode while I was trying to avoid getting hit so I could eat cheese and cast Cure All.

Game's got freakin' everything.

 

[EvilMario]

Just picked it up today. Plugged well over 100 hours into Frontier, but never reached the end (Runeys!!)

 

[zigg]

Been having fun taking my real wife (Marian, after I got everyone up to 10 LP; Karina was a convenience-wife so I could test out the story mode for review purposes) into the Sharance Maze or whatever you want to call it (I'm actually not sure, does it have an official name in the localization?) She's leveling up fairly quickly and becoming quite useful.

EXCEPT when she sits there and blasts the ice boss with water laser. Please, Neverland, add a simple AI for "green numbers issuing from a boss are bad" and make them change tactics next time!

I let her die and just left her dead till I finished off the boss. :lol

Oh, also, pro tip, because I actually unlocked the fall boss with a char I got from my friend's treasure chest explorations in multiplayer: you can fish the friggin' things in the stream at the opening to the desert. Don't waste time in the sand sea like I did!

 

[matmanx1]

Finally finished this one up tonight. I had a great time with it, all things considered. The townspeople were quirky and cute and I enjoyed the little quests and interactions with them alot. My only complaint would really be that the actual story itself felt short and a little on the quick side.

To be sure there's no problem with the amount of content in the overall game as there's really a ton of stuff to do. And the game itself is actually a fun little action rpg with a nice crafting and item upgrade system that puts many "larger" rpg's to shame. There are some great ideas at play here as well. The recipe bread system especially I thought was a great way to inject some fun and flavor into acquiring new recipes which in the past and in other games has been something of a chore.

I ended up marrying Raven as I really liked her story arc the best although I had actually considered Pia and Sophia right up until the very end. (What can I say? I like the odd ones!) The story ending scene was cute and fitting and appropriately happy and the whole game is generally upbeat in a way that I wish more games were. Love is a common theme and even though the game is mostly appropriate for all ages I as a 35 year old married man was still entertained and amused enough by the story to keep playing and to want to see the ending. Some of those little characters can be downright endearing!

Finally, I really hope that the gameplay refinements and improvements in Rune Factory 3 make it into Oceans. A bigger, longer and more expansive story with the same kind of attention to detail that 3 got really would be the best of all possible worlds.

 

[zigg]

Happy to see this thread live again--thought I was the last person who cared :lol

I had just about said "OK, time to pack the game in now" and then played for a good 7 hours with my friend--now I'm into grinding crafting and accumulating the best drops to
forge into awesome accessories, weapons and such. All so we can best take on the bosses in the Sharance Maze. In the level 140 dungeon, which we haven't cleared yet, we found

Spoiler

Terrable AND Fiersome

... holy cow. I mean,

Spoiler

in RF1 you didn't even actually fight Terrable, IIRC? Just Grimoire. And he was in level 120!

Point is, beating the story seems like so far in the past now.

I expected this game to best the others in the series but it just blew them away, plain and simple.

 

[Caesar III]

We got our games as well last weekend and I'm having a blast. Carrying stacks of items is so great. As is fighting now. I don't get the item upgrade so far though. Do I need a recipe for a better hoe and axe and such?

Am playing on hard so far and don't have any trouble besides when I do big mistakes (eat super fails) :lol

 

[matmanx1]

We got our games as well last weekend and I'm having a blast. Carrying stacks of items is so great. As is fighting now. I don't get the item upgrade so far though. Do I need a recipe for a better hoe and axe and such?

Am playing on hard so far and don't have any trouble besides when I do big mistakes (eat super fails) :lol

Go talk to Blaise in his diner and buy recipe bread. There's different categories for weapons, accessories, farm items, medicine, etc. Note you will need the right workshop type to make the item!

 

[zigg]

Go talk to Blaise in his diner and buy recipe bread. There's different categories for weapons, accessories, farm items, medicine, etc. Note you will need the right workshop type to make the item!

And high enough skill levels. Oh god the pain I have right now trying to get level 80+ recipes...

 

[ronito]

So my lovely beautiful wife got me a copy of this for xmas. Finally really started playing it the last few days. Combat seems better and I LOVE that they show where people are in the map and they're more active than in RFF, I swear that town just felt dead.

Not used to not having the traditional 3X3 square for crops.

Also the bachelorettes just keep looking younger and younger in this series. Time to get the pedo on I guess. I really wish they'd change that, would be nice to play the game and not feel like a predator.

When the nicest rack in the game is on a dude you know you're playing Rune Factory.

What are the secrets I shouldn't miss?

 

[zigg]

I know a lot of definitely-majority-age women without huge breasts... Just sayin'.

As far as secrets, not really aware of anything you expressly need to be aware of. The biggest thing I pursued was getting through everyone's FP/LP and seeing all their quests. You will lose access to some of that when you marry, of course.

P.S. Cleared the level-220 "Mystery Maze" last night with my friend, with an epic (though not all that difficult) boss fight to cap it off. Great stuff. I wonder if in RF4 we'll

Spoiler

fight all four of the dragon gods

 

[tiff]

Also the bachelorettes just keep looking younger and younger in this series. Time to get the pedo on I guess. I really wish they'd change that, would be nice to play the game and not feel like a predator.

They don't really seem any younger than typical anime girls to me.

Anyway, I've only spent a few hours with the game since Christmas, but I like it so far. The girls all seem pretty fun and interesting. Gameplay's pretty solid too so far.

 

[ronito]

So is there a point to tilling your whole field? In all the prior RF's that the first thing I did, but now that when you harvest you have to re-til and the 3X3 square gone I don't see much value.

Personally it seems I'll be making most of my money off cooking and hunting instead of farming this time. I like the random bag of seed you get. That's cool but everything else is sorta meh.

 

[zigg]

So is there a point to tilling your whole field? In all the prior RF's that the first thing I did, but now that when you harvest you have to re-til and the 3X3 square gone I don't see much value.

Personally it seems I'll be making most of my money off cooking and hunting instead of farming this time. I like the random bag of seed you get. That's cool but everything else is sorta meh.

There's actually a new soil quality mechanic in effect that makes it a good idea to leave a section untilled. There's restedness and soil quailty to think about. It's easy to manage, though. Nothing like Runeys.

Just leave a quadrant unused for a bit and it'll rest. If you need to raise its quality, spread out the cheapest out-of-season seed you can find and hoe in the withered grass the next day. Between that and pharmacizing Formula C from red and yellow grasses I was consistently growing important crops much faster than their advertised rates. I made millions fairly easily by the end of the game... plenty to go buy all the fun spellbooks and what not.

I think my favorite part about the new farming mechanics and the seed drops is the fact that crops will automatically raise in levels with good-quality soil, with seed drops, or if you sickle mature crops down for guaranteed seeds. It ramped up my income at a nice rate.

Oh, related... I can make Levelizers now. Sorta. I have a 10% chance of making one with a bunch of ingredients, and I'm closing in on a >0% chance of making one with just a single four-leaf clover. Yes, that's the potion that, when you drink one, you level up.

 

[ronito]

Can someone explain to me the "Upgrade Item" thing in the forge?
How does this work?

 

[zigg]

Can someone explain to me the "Upgrade Item" thing in the forge?
How does this work?

It's not just forged items; it also works for accessories in the workshop. You can take many materials and use them to upgrade; i.e. upgrade a sword with platinum for stat bonuses.

Some upgrade materials have effects like poison, etc.; boss drops can also specifically be used as upgrades to staves to allow you to use that boss's attacks. I hear it uses a lot of RP, but by time I was doing this, I had a pretty ridiculous amount of RP

If you look at the details of the material (I forget which button it is) you can see the stat changes it will bestow if the upgrade is successful. Other effects are listed in the description.

 

[Caesar III]

you need to press L when in the forge screen to see the description and the effect the material will have to the newly made weapon. It's really cool but I hard to figure out at first. Platin, Gold and some materials are really great. Got my sword with poison and health stealing

 

[zigg]

It's a good way to grind forging/crafting too. Make something, then upgrade it through to level 10 (did I forget to mention that? you can only upgrade things to level 10.), ship it. Repeat.

 

[ronito]

So I just got my barn. And befriended a few monsters.

However, in the past certain monsters did certain jobs, like clear the field, chop the wood, cut the grass, water, etc.

I'm currently only seeing the choice to let them sow the field. Is that really it? Or have I just gotten the wrong monsters?

If that's really it I'm quite disappointed. It was really fun to go out and look for that specific monster you needed.

 

[Jintor]

Everybody does everything now.

 

[ronito]

Everybody does everything now.

well crap

 

[Caesar III]

now you can only set up a certain part of the field to a specific monster. Then it'll do all the work on this. It's even possible for them to sow seeds on top of that. So you don't have to pet your fields anymore.

 

[zigg]

The key diffs between monsters now are how useful they are in combat/for transport And, of course, what they produce each day.

I really should re-play this game on hard sometime. Does anyone happen to know if hard only affects Micah, or does it mean AI partners are gimped as well?

 

[Caesar III]

I'm playing on hard all the time and don't think it's that complicated at all. I did not bother much about the AI though. Took the bar keeper and the forge girl with me a few times and they were damn weak. I was like lvl 46 and they were lvl 8. But I guess I can level them up as well.

 

[ronito]

So I "finished" the game a week ago I guess I should post my impressions.

Overall, it's just like every other Rune Factory game, by which I mean grossly under rated. It's fun and it's an improvement in almost every way to all the previous titles including Frontier. Still it felt really short and some of the changes weren't for the better. I like how your relationships with others were affected directly by the quests you undertook.

Pluses:
+ I LOVE how alive the town feels. Frontier's town felt just dead.
+ The map of where everyone is was a freaking godsend. About freaking time!
+ A good cast of characters
+ Plenty of quests to keep you busy
+ Forging, Cooking, Crafting all were awesome
+ Combat was a bit funner
+ At first I hated that the 3X3 seed stuff was gone but I actually grew to love that.
+ UI was a lot better and streamlined.
+ No f***king runeys!
+ I like how the weather can change mid-day
+ Pretty neat how villagers will notice you don't talk to them in a while
+ A shocking amount of food recipes.

Minuses:
- Way too much pedo in this game. Would it kill Marvelous to give us a bachelorette that looks like she's at least 16?
- While there are a lot of quests a lot of them are ridiculously easy, like "Eat this I made!" Quests should be a lot harder
- Dungeons were way too simple. For all of Frontier's faults the dungeons were great. The dungeons here were pretty basic to say the least.
- No house upgrade
- Hurricanes and blizzards were FAR too destructive. I went from about half the field planted to seriously having one plant left. Luckily I didn't need much money at that point
but if I did it'd be a crippling blow.
- No more monster specific jobs. That sucks. I loved in prior games how I went to hunt out that specific monster that did that job I needed. Now they all do everything. Which really means you don't need more than 4 for your farm. This is a step backwards.
- The whole wolly thing wasn't really needed/didn't add much.
- Combat was too simple. I just needed dual blades and a healing spell and that was it.
- Rather short, especially when compared to Frontier.
- Pacing. This is true of every rune factory game. The pacing tends to be pretty terrible.
- A lot of the humor from Frontier is gone (like the changing room scene).
- Recipe bread was a good idea but it sorta sucks not knowing if you've got everything, or if you can't learn more because of level before you buy it. It'd be nice to at least know how many more levels you need to get the next set of recipe breads.

Overall I had a lot of fun with this and can't wait for the next installment. With the exception of the monster job thing I hope the next installment keeps the improvements they made with this.

 

[Deleted member 21120]

Bump!

A few months ago, someone here on GAF recommended this game to me, and I finally got around to picking it up. I "finished" it this past week. This was the first Rune Factory I've ever played, and the first Harvest Moon I've played in over a decade. The last Harvest Moons for me were Harvest Moon GB and Harvest Moon 64.

I don't know what it was about the world that Neverland Co. created here, but it totally sucked me in. The characters, the town, even the cheesy story of reuniting the monsters and humans, it was all really engrossing. Helping the characters through their problems and watching them grow and change behaviors was really engaging.

Spoiler

Shara's sister Monica is a good example. It was really rewarding to see Monica's behavior shift in a permanent way after I completed her quests.

I would do a plus/minus list but ronito's post above pretty much covers it all. However, many of his minuses didn't bother me at all, though this was probably due to the fact that I haven't played any of the other Rune Factories (quest lengths felt fine to me, game length was good, recipe bread was fine, etc.).

Overall, I was completely blown away. However, I can understand why this game is "underrated" because the Harvest Moon formula is definitely not for everyone; but for whatever reason this game really grabbed me and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

So my next question is: are Rune Factory 1 and 2 just as good? I wish I would have played those first because I'm afraid now that they'll be lacking in features since they're earlier iterations, and that will make them difficult to enjoy (sort of like going back to a Pokemon game with no Running Shoes). I don't have time these days for another console game, so Frontier is out of the question (unless someone can really convince me that it's that much better than RF3). So should I pick up Rune Factory 1 or 2 on the DS, or just wait two years for RF4 to release and get localized?

 

[PataHikari]

Sadly, Rune Factory is one of those series that the formula just improves drastically every game. After playing 3, 2 feels clunky and 1 is nigh unplayable.

 

[daffy]

Yeah, I wouldn't go back if I were you. A new Harvest Moon on 3DS/DS is coming in September for NA though.

 

[Deleted member 21120]

Thanks for warning me about the other Rune Factories. Disappointing, though.

But is Harvest Moon 3DS worth looking forward to? The thread for it has a lot of negativity, some are saying that Harvest Moon is catered towards kids/girls?

 

[daffy]

Thanks for warning me about the other Rune Factories. Disappointing, though.

But is Harvest Moon 3DS worth looking forward to? The thread for it has a lot of negativity, some are saying that Harvest Moon is catered towards kids/girls?

This thread? Haven't heard much but a couple gaffers have said they liked it alot (Japanese version). This is the DS game Twin Villages localized and up ported to 3DS. The actual 3DS Harvest Moon is currently unannounced I think.