talking summarization





Splog Filter



newsplus summary

ping 歸納

reviewer













Internet   News   animation   retail sales   Sport   Movie   Video Game   Entertainment   Politics   Eats   Music   Drama   Hardware   Software   Health   japanese culture   Technology   automobile   Business   Fashion   Books   Manga   Broadcast   Cooking   electronics   Leisure   Science   Locality   Phrase   Beauty   Nature   Fancy   Comedy   Avocation   Education   Gamble   Art   Livelihood  

Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon




  • Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Rune Factory 3 is the 3 ' rd of its kind for the DS and the 4 ' th installment overall in the Rune Factory series . So far , I'd have to say it is the best one yet despite not being on a console . PROS : * Beautiful graphics . You are no longer a 3D character running over 2D backgrounds like in the previous two for the DS . * The most beautiful and most interesting set of bachelorettes ever known to the Rune Factory series . This includes a beautiful yet ditsy mermaid , a gorgeous and mysterious half-human / half-monster girl of few words , the strange little witch whose plans never go right , the adorable girl who tends to always be the victim of the witch's experiments , the Japanese girl in traditional attire whose mother was once a warrior , an elegant girl who tends to speak in opposites , the Mayor's daughter whom is quite beautiful and helps you as the story goes , the general store owner's daughter whom is always sleeping on the job when she's not complaining about work , a tomboyish girl with an overprotective brother whom both cannot get enough of fishing , and the horned Univer girl whom bares an intense hatred for humans while serving as her tribe's elder . There's so much variety and each girl is not without her own unique charm ! Your character is interesting too seeing as he is a half-monster / half-human ! * You can only take 3 requests a day . One from the bulletin board , one from your mail box , and one from the owl in the settlement . While some see this as a con , I see it as a pro ! You're able to do enough where you still feel busy , but not too much so that you fly pass it too quickly . I often did that in Rune Factory 2 and ended up fulfilling most all the requests before I was even halfway through the first year . * There's a HUGE IMPROVEMENT in the English dub . Unlike in Rune Factory 2 for the DS , I didn't have to mute my game to withstand it . Everyone has pretty nice voices except Karina , the general store owner's daughter . I really couldn't get used to her Sup ? and Ving . just because she's too lazy to speak properly . Maybe if her voice were cuter as her appearance , it would've been more acceptable . Instead , she sounds like a bored goth teenager . Despite that , everyone else's voices are easily withstandable and some are even enjoyable . * Any character ( bachelorettes included ) with 3 hearts or more can be invited to take walks with you or go into battle alongside your character ! * Rune Factory 3 has a realistic affection system . Unlike Natsume's Harvest Moon franchise in which gift-giving plays a big factor in winning your dreamguy or girl's heart , it doesn't really matter here . Whether someone likes you or not depends on how much you talk to them and how many requests of theirs you respond to . While giving gifts does help their affection rise more quickly , it isn't a have to . Another thing about the affection system in Rune Factory 3 is that is does not rise too quickly . In its predecessor , Rune Factory 2 , I was married to Yue by Summer / Year 1 . It was nice , but it felt like it happened too suddenly . In Rune Factory 3 , characters ' personalities also change the more you get to know them : Sofia starts becoming more understandable , Raven begins to open up to you , Monica stops biting you , Shino lets you know more about her mysterious past , etc . ! Bachelorettes also get hearts that appear above their head whenever you pass by them depending on how much affection you've gotten with them . They even begin to greet you differently and sometimes even blush when you speak to them once you've gotten their 7 hearts or so . Once you've shown your monster-side to a bachelorette after earning 8 hearts or more , they will stay out on a walk with you pass their curfew and will even still be there the next day after you've gone to bed if you have not dismissed them . The realistic qualities are quite an impressive feature that surprised me upon my playthrough . * Dailogue is never repetitive as everyone says something different every day ! * The storyline is much more captivating than all other Rune Factory titles . I find myself actually interested in it and curious to find out more . * The dungeons are more interesting as are the monsters you face within them . Each dungeon is largely expanded and there are so many different types of monsters you can befriend . Harvest Moon fans won't be disappointed as you can still adopt certain monsters that resemble livestock / poultry and still produce the same kind of products such as milk , eggs , and wool . It's alot more interesting as well because you could have pet elephants , wolves , penguins , and so much more . You also no longer have to use a harvester of any sort to recieve produce from the animals ; it's lying on the floor every morning when you enter the barn - all ready for you to simply pick up ! This means you have extra space in your rucksack and less hassle to get your animal products ! * The weather system can be considered both a pro and a con . I despise the typhoons that come mid-day because they completely destroy ALL your crops - even if you grow them in a dungeon . However , I do love how realistic the weather changes are because life itself is like that . It's a feature that I find bittersweet . * Picking up items is even more simple - especially if its a multiple of the same type of item . You can just pile them ontop of eachother without having to individually tuck every single one into your rucksack . * I love how you can learn recipes for your kitchen , pharmacy , forge , and crafts by simply eating recipe bread . OK OK . . . it's not realistic , but it makes things ALOT more easier and stress-free . * The bathhouse is open very early in the morning to late at night ! There is also a multitude of shops & stores in town . Every building in the game has one store or more attached to it . Sofia's home is the setting for Evelyn's clothing store in which you can buy your much-needed swimsuit for the Summer , the bathhouse holds a variety of things - especially if Yue & Mei are opened up on the top floor , Raven's place sells a wide range of weaponry and farming tools that change everytime you beat a new dungeon with new Special Deals changing daily , etc . ! - Truthfully , I cannot say everything I love about this game because it'd take ALL DAY - CONS : * Not enough festivals nor dates . This could be major to minor depending on who you are . * Not enough game files . This game has such high replay value and so many lovable bachelorettes that I wish we'd have four files instead of only two . * No option to play as a girl . I constantly find myself liking Zaid and wishing I could marry him as a girl character ! Haha ! * Some requests ask too much of you . * When taking a character out for a walk or alongside in battle , they will often say the same things over & over very frequently which can get annoying . My advice - when you're looking to marry a certain someone , don't take them out on walks too often . I've had just about ENOUGH of Collette's I'm sooo hungry or Pia's I wanna eat squid ! . Ugh . * Your children will always look the same regardless of who you married . They are also slightly boring with repetitive dialogue . I wish I could've had children that looked more like Raven . . * sigh * Overall , this game was the best 30 $ ever spent . It's my favorite DS game and the best Rune Factory to me . I spent hours playing it and really couldn't get enough ! For my first file , I married Raven . For my second , I'm either going for Pia or Sofia . Once again , I wish you could only have more files ! Haha ! This is truly a great game that can appeal to just about anyone of any age ! Not too easy for adults , not too difficult for children ! : ) If you find it too easy , set the difficulty on Hard once you've gained access to the lower portion of the right side to your house . : ) Enjoy & Happy Gaming !
    • 002   I am impressed with this next installment of the Rune Factory series . Like usual , the main character has amnesia , and Shara finds an unconcious golden wooly at her door . When the wooly wakes up , he is actually a human . Shara offers him a vacant house to stay at and Micah ( default name of main character ) agrees . Then you must meet all the people and Shara will teach you the basics of farming . New Features : - Faster movement of the main character - Brand new monsters ! ( I love the elephant and penguin ones ) - Unique new characters - The village is a lot bigger than previous Rune Factory villages - New weapons ( duel blade sword ) - The bath house opens at 10 AM instead of 3 PM - The cave layouts have improved graphics and detailing - Micah can transform into a golden wooly - The music is tasteful and doesn't get annoying - A map on the top screen shows the village and where all the villagers are - Tons of quests to complete ( you can only do one per day though ) - Villagers can fight with you in caves once you befriend them Cons : - Sometimes it feels like the main character moves too quickly , it takes some getting used to - Recycled plot of amnesia ( doesn't bother me , but some players may not like it ) - Can get repetitive Overall , this is a good game and well worth the $ . I have been playing non-stop and I'm having a lot of fun . I like this game more than RF2 , it has improved a lot . The new monsters are cool looking and strong . I love all the new marrige candidates and the graphics are great . Definately a must buy !
    • 003   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Okay , with my day off today I feel like I've had this game long enough to write a fair review . This game is pretty standard for a rune factory game , but they've improved on some things that make it more beginner-friendly than the other RF / HM games . Pros : - There's a tutorial at the beginning that's fairly detailed . For new players who have never played this game before , it's very helpful . For me it was a lot of hitting A over and over to speed it up , but I'm sure anyone who doesn't know the actual goal of the RF games will really need the help . - The graphics are very , very good for a DS game . The character sprites are meh , but the backgrounds and scenery are awesome . - You start with a fridge and a tool box to store things . - The characters are all so adorable . I think this is the first HM / RF game where I'm not sure who I want my character to marry because they all are so great . - The NPCs have more dynamic schedules which makes them seem more realistic . The map also keeps track of where they are . ( Unless they're inside a building , in which case you'd have to go inside to see if they're in there . ) - The combat is smooth and easy . The game uses a form of auto-targeting which makes your character automatically turn and swing in the direction of the monsters . IIRC this was in the other RF games , but it's nice to see it come back . - The music is also very good . So that means the game has the 3 basic hallmarks of a good game . Good gameplay , good music , and good graphics . Thumbs up . - Your inventory isn't as limited as it is in other HMish games . - There's a lot to do . Talk to the NPCs , do requests , farm , fight monsters and level up . No boredom here ! ! - Saving is quick and easy ! - This is a pro that probably only I care about , but the default text speed is fast and you can hit B to speed it up more . As a fast reader , I really appreciate this . Cons : - Sometimes the controls are a little questionable . For some reason they flipped a lot of the buttons around . ( I'm used to the B button being for canceling things , not equipping them . ) THis led to some initial awkwardness as I was starting to play . At one point I received a treasure chest at the end of a request , and I had my watering can equipped . I ended up pressing , B instead of , A which made the watering can water the chest and somehow kill it . Yeah , I don't know how either . I had to restart that day so that I could actually open the chest properly and get the item . - Farming can be a little more awkward due to the speed of the character , but you can walk and make it easier . Also , if you keep moving forward while watering , you can water 2 spaces at a time . Saves some time . - Only 1 request per day . : ' ( I understand it's to help slow the game down , but still . . . booooo . - If your RP runs out , prepare to die as your HP drains really quickly just by doing mundane things like swinging your hammer or hoe . You can restore RP by standing still , but it takes a while . - The voice acting gets really old after only a little while playing . Every time you run past a character they'll say , Hi ! or whatever , and a lot of them have voices for their lines . Could go either way : - You get skill ups for everything . EVERYTHING . You get skill ups for sleeping and walking . I'm not kidding . It's a little strange to go to bed and get a skill up for sleeping . I guess an accomplishment is an accomplishment . . . ? The skill ups for certain things also boost your stats so . . . sure , yeah . Okay . I guess . - There are 2 characters in the game that speak in opposites . At first I was like , Sure , eh , okay . But after a while it got tedious . - The plot isn't exactly spectacular , but you can't expect miracles from an RPG that is , at its heart , a farming sim . Don't come into the game expecting the next great fantasy game . In all , I'm very happy with this purchase . I think it offers something for everyone with a blending of the styles that doesn't focus on any one more than the others . For example , part of the things I disliked about other RF games was the dungeon system and how it was pretty much a requirement to go through them most times . In this game it's still a requirement , but I don't feel as forced to go through them all the time . If a newcomer is looking to explore this kind of genre , RF3 would be the game I would recommend over the other titles .
    • 004   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Okay , with my day off today I feel like I've had this game long enough to write a fair review . This game is pretty standard for a rune factory game , but they've improved on some things that make it more beginner-friendly than the other RF / HM games . Pros : - There's a tutorial at the beginning that's fairly detailed . For new players who have never played this game before , it's very helpful . For me it was a lot of hitting A over and over to speed it up , but I'm sure anyone who doesn't know the actual goal of the RF games will really need the help . - The graphics are very , very good for a DS game . The character sprites are meh , but the backgrounds and scenery are awesome . - You start with a fridge and a tool box to store things . - The characters are all so adorable . I think this is the first HM / RF game where I'm not sure who I want my character to marry because they all are so great . - The NPCs have more dynamic schedules which makes them seem more realistic . The map also keeps track of where they are . ( Unless they're inside a building , in which case you'd have to go inside to see if they're in there . ) - The combat is smooth and easy . The game uses a form of auto-targeting which makes your character automatically turn and swing in the direction of the monsters . IIRC this was in the other RF games , but it's nice to see it come back . - The music is also very good . So that means the game has the 3 basic hallmarks of a good game . Good gameplay , good music , and good graphics . Thumbs up . - Your inventory isn't as limited as it is in other HMish games . - There's a lot to do . Talk to the NPCs , do requests , farm , fight monsters and level up . No boredom here ! ! - Saving is quick and easy ! - This is a pro that probably only I care about , but the default text speed is fast and you can hit B to speed it up more . As a fast reader , I really appreciate this . Cons : - Sometimes the controls are a little questionable . For some reason they flipped a lot of the buttons around . ( I'm used to the B button being for canceling things , not equipping them . ) THis led to some initial awkwardness as I was starting to play . At one point I received a treasure chest at the end of a request , and I had my watering can equipped . I ended up pressing , B instead of , A which made the watering can water the chest and somehow kill it . Yeah , I don't know how either . I had to restart that day so that I could actually open the chest properly and get the item . - Farming can be a little more awkward due to the speed of the character , but you can walk and make it easier . Also , if you keep moving forward while watering , you can water 2 spaces at a time . Saves some time . - Only 1 request per day . : ' ( I understand it's to help slow the game down , but still . . . booooo . - If your RP runs out , prepare to die as your HP drains really quickly just by doing mundane things like swinging your hammer or hoe . You can restore RP by standing still , but it takes a while . - The voice acting gets really old after only a little while playing . Every time you run past a character they'll say , Hi ! or whatever , and a lot of them have voices for their lines . Could go either way : - You get skill ups for everything . EVERYTHING . You get skill ups for sleeping and walking . I'm not kidding . It's a little strange to go to bed and get a skill up for sleeping . I guess an accomplishment is an accomplishment . . . ? The skill ups for certain things also boost your stats so . . . sure , yeah . Okay . I guess . - There are 2 characters in the game that speak in opposites . At first I was like , Sure , eh , okay . But after a while it got tedious . - The plot isn't exactly spectacular , but you can't expect miracles from an RPG that is , at its heart , a farming sim . Don't come into the game expecting the next great fantasy game . In all , I'm very happy with this purchase . I think it offers something for everyone with a blending of the styles that doesn't focus on any one more than the others . For example , part of the things I disliked about other RF games was the dungeon system and how it was pretty much a requirement to go through them most times . In this game it's still a requirement , but I don't feel as forced to go through them all the time . If a newcomer is looking to explore this kind of genre , RF3 would be the game I would recommend over the other titles .
    • 005   Okay , with my day off today I feel like I've had this game long enough to write a fair review . This game is pretty standard for a rune factory game , but they've improved on some things that make it more beginner-friendly than the other RF / HM games . Pros : - There's a tutorial at the beginning that's fairly detailed . For new players who have never played this game before , it's very helpful . For me it was a lot of hitting A over and over to speed it up , but I'm sure anyone who doesn't know the actual goal of the RF games will really need the help . - The graphics are very , very good for a DS game . The character sprites are meh , but the backgrounds and scenery are awesome . - You start with a fridge and a tool box to store things . - The characters are all so adorable . I think this is the first HM / RF game where I'm not sure who I want my character to marry because they all are so great . - The NPCs have more dynamic schedules which makes them seem more realistic . The map also keeps track of where they are . ( Unless they're inside a building , in which case you'd have to go inside to see if they're in there . ) - The combat is smooth and easy . The game uses a form of auto-targeting which makes your character automatically turn and swing in the direction of the monsters . IIRC this was in the other RF games , but it's nice to see it come back . - The music is also very good . So that means the game has the 3 basic hallmarks of a good game . Good gameplay , good music , and good graphics . Thumbs up . - Your inventory isn't as limited as it is in other HMish games . - There's a lot to do . Talk to the NPCs , do requests , farm , fight monsters and level up . No boredom here ! ! - Saving is quick and easy ! - This is a pro that probably only I care about , but the default text speed is fast and you can hit B to speed it up more . As a fast reader , I really appreciate this . Cons : - Sometimes the controls are a little questionable . For some reason they flipped a lot of the buttons around . ( I'm used to the B button being for canceling things , not equipping them . ) THis led to some initial awkwardness as I was starting to play . At one point I received a treasure chest at the end of a request , and I had my watering can equipped . I ended up pressing , B instead of , A which made the watering can water the chest and somehow kill it . Yeah , I don't know how either . I had to restart that day so that I could actually open the chest properly and get the item . - Farming can be a little more awkward due to the speed of the character , but you can walk and make it easier . Also , if you keep moving forward while watering , you can water 2 spaces at a time . Saves some time . - Only 1 request per day . : ' ( I understand it's to help slow the game down , but still . . . booooo . - If your RP runs out , prepare to die as your HP drains really quickly just by doing mundane things like swinging your hammer or hoe . You can restore RP by standing still , but it takes a while . - The voice acting gets really old after only a little while playing . Every time you run past a character they'll say , Hi ! or whatever , and a lot of them have voices for their lines . Could go either way : - You get skill ups for everything . EVERYTHING . You get skill ups for sleeping and walking . I'm not kidding . It's a little strange to go to bed and get a skill up for sleeping . I guess an accomplishment is an accomplishment . . . ? The skill ups for certain things also boost your stats so . . . sure , yeah . Okay . I guess . - There are 2 characters in the game that speak in opposites . At first I was like , Sure , eh , okay . But after a while it got tedious . - The plot isn't exactly spectacular , but you can't expect miracles from an RPG that is , at its heart , a farming sim . Don't come into the game expecting the next great fantasy game . In all , I'm very happy with this purchase . I think it offers something for everyone with a blending of the styles that doesn't focus on any one more than the others . For example , part of the things I disliked about other RF games was the dungeon system and how it was pretty much a requirement to go through them most times . In this game it's still a requirement , but I don't feel as forced to go through them all the time . If a newcomer is looking to explore this kind of genre , RF3 would be the game I would recommend over the other titles .
    • 007   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I've played RF1 and 2 . Three takes it to a whole new level . The game play is much faster and takes a bit of work to get used to . Once you do , however , you will disappear into the game and may not come out again until you finish . ( Bit of a spoiler ) - the game begins with a golden monster woolie appearing at a doorstep and a young woman taking it in to to a bedroom to dry off and rest . She leaves and a young man appears in the woolie's place , ( of course his memory is erased - this IS RF after all ! ) He runs off and shows up in the town where he is given a place to live and is warned against monsters which live all around the town and also given tools to grow crops . Pros : the townpeople are very interactive . They move , they converse with other people ( instead of standing in one place all the time as in RF1 / RF2 ) . Of course , it IS a bit of a pain when you are looking for one particular person . The quests are more involved than RF1 / RF2 too . Sometimes you can spend a whole day doing one quest . Festivals - I'm up to summer and so far I LOVE the festivals . ( The first day of summer most of the townspeople actually show up at the beach in bathing suits . ) Fighting - WHEW ! You level up really really fast and can do all kinds of moves . I'm loving the fighting . Plus when you get bored with using your sword , you can change into a woolie ( who has some really good moves ) . Cons : the day goes by really fast so you have to plan ahead and decide how you are going to spend it . Will you fight ? Make tools , cook ? Flirt ? The farming is more of a pain because a storm in the middle of the day can wipe out your entire crop . Plus you have to either fertilize a lot or keep planting in other areas because your land deteriorates if you don't and you get lousy crops . Really haven't found anything BAD or anything I truly disliked . And I'm loving the storyline . There's even more than one storyline . There's yours , why the town hates monsters , why some of the human monsters hate the town ( there's actually TWO towns ) , a couple of the townsfolk have their own storylines . And then there are the girls ( I think my character is in love with MOST of them ! ) They are quite attractive ( there's even a mermaid ) . Getting to know them and the other townsfolk is what makes this a really great game . There's a lot of humor and warmth that the makers put into this game . And I'm loving it .
    • 008   I've played RF1 and 2 . Three takes it to a whole new level . The game play is much faster and takes a bit of work to get used to . Once you do , however , you will disappear into the game and may not come out again until you finish . ( Bit of a spoiler ) - the game begins with a golden monster woolie appearing at a doorstep and a young woman taking it in to to a bedroom to dry off and rest . She leaves and a young man appears in the woolie's place , ( of course his memory is erased - this IS RF after all ! ) He runs off and shows up in the town where he is given a place to live and is warned against monsters which live all around the town and also given tools to grow crops . Pros : the townpeople are very interactive . They move , they converse with other people ( instead of standing in one place all the time as in RF1 / RF2 ) . Of course , it IS a bit of a pain when you are looking for one particular person . The quests are more involved than RF1 / RF2 too . Sometimes you can spend a whole day doing one quest . Festivals - I'm up to summer and so far I LOVE the festivals . ( The first day of summer most of the townspeople actually show up at the beach in bathing suits . ) Fighting - WHEW ! You level up really really fast and can do all kinds of moves . I'm loving the fighting . Plus when you get bored with using your sword , you can change into a woolie ( who has some really good moves ) . Cons : the day goes by really fast so you have to plan ahead and decide how you are going to spend it . Will you fight ? Make tools , cook ? Flirt ? The farming is more of a pain because a storm in the middle of the day can wipe out your entire crop . Plus you have to either fertilize a lot or keep planting in other areas because your land deteriorates if you don't and you get lousy crops . Really haven't found anything BAD or anything I truly disliked . And I'm loving the storyline . There's even more than one storyline . There's yours , why the town hates monsters , why some of the human monsters hate the town ( there's actually TWO towns ) , a couple of the townsfolk have their own storylines . And then there are the girls ( I think my character is in love with MOST of them ! ) They are quite attractive ( there's even a mermaid ) . Getting to know them and the other townsfolk is what makes this a really great game . There's a lot of humor and warmth that the makers put into this game . And I'm loving it .
    • 009   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Rune Factory 3 is the 3 ' rd of its kind for the DS and the 4 ' th installment overall in the Rune Factory series . So far , I'd have to say it is the best one yet despite not being on a console . PROS : * Beautiful graphics . You are no longer a 3D character running over 2D backgrounds like in the previous two for the DS . * The most beautiful and most interesting set of bachelorettes ever known to the Rune Factory series . This includes a beautiful yet ditsy mermaid , a gorgeous and mysterious half-human / half-monster girl of few words , the strange little witch whose plans never go right , the adorable girl who tends to always be the victim of the witch's experiments , the Japanese girl in traditional attire whose mother was once a warrior , an elegant girl who tends to speak in opposites , the Mayor's daughter whom is quite beautiful and helps you as the story goes , the general store owner's daughter whom is always sleeping on the job when she's not complaining about work , a tomboyish girl with an overprotective brother whom both cannot get enough of fishing , and the horned Univer girl whom bares an intense hatred for humans while serving as her tribe's elder . There's so much variety and each girl is not without her own unique charm ! Your character is interesting too seeing as he is a half-monster / half-human ! * You can only take 3 requests a day . One from the bulletin board , one from your mail box , and one from the owl in the settlement . While some see this as a con , I see it as a pro ! You're able to do enough where you still feel busy , but not too much so that you fly pass it too quickly . I often did that in Rune Factory 2 and ended up fulfilling most all the requests before I was even halfway through the first year . * There's a HUGE IMPROVEMENT in the English dub . Unlike in Rune Factory 2 for the DS , I didn't have to mute my game to withstand it . Everyone has pretty nice voices except Karina , the general store owner's daughter . I really couldn't get used to her Sup ? and Ving . just because she's too lazy to speak properly . Maybe if her voice were cuter as her appearance , it would've been more acceptable . Instead , she sounds like a bored goth teenager . Despite that , everyone else's voices are easily withstandable and some are even enjoyable . * Any character ( bachelorettes included ) with 3 hearts or more can be invited to take walks with you or go into battle alongside your character ! * Rune Factory 3 has a realistic affection system . Unlike Natsume's Harvest Moon franchise in which gift-giving plays a big factor in winning your dreamguy or girl's heart , it doesn't really matter here . Whether someone likes you or not depends on how much you talk to them and how many requests of theirs you respond to . While giving gifts does help their affection rise more quickly , it isn't a have to . Another thing about the affection system in Rune Factory 3 is that is does not rise too quickly . In its predecessor , Rune Factory 2 , I was married to Yue by Summer / Year 1 . It was nice , but it felt like it happened too suddenly . In Rune Factory 3 , characters ' personalities also change the more you get to know them : Sofia starts becoming more understandable , Raven begins to open up to you , Monica stops biting you , Shino lets you know more about her mysterious past , etc . ! Bachelorettes also get hearts that appear above their head whenever you pass by them depending on how much affection you've gotten with them . They even begin to greet you differently and sometimes even blush when you speak to them once you've gotten their 7 hearts or so . Once you've shown your monster-side to a bachelorette after earning 8 hearts or more , they will stay out on a walk with you pass their curfew and will even still be there the next day after you've gone to bed if you have not dismissed them . The realistic qualities are quite an impressive feature that surprised me upon my playthrough . * Dailogue is never repetitive as everyone says something different every day ! * The storyline is much more captivating than all other Rune Factory titles . I find myself actually interested in it and curious to find out more . * The dungeons are more interesting as are the monsters you face within them . Each dungeon is largely expanded and there are so many different types of monsters you can befriend . Harvest Moon fans won't be disappointed as you can still adopt certain monsters that resemble livestock / poultry and still produce the same kind of products such as milk , eggs , and wool . It's alot more interesting as well because you could have pet elephants , wolves , penguins , and so much more . You also no longer have to use a harvester of any sort to recieve produce from the animals ; it's lying on the floor every morning when you enter the barn - all ready for you to simply pick up ! This means you have extra space in your rucksack and less hassle to get your animal products ! * The weather system can be considered both a pro and a con . I despise the typhoons that come mid-day because they completely destroy ALL your crops - even if you grow them in a dungeon . However , I do love how realistic the weather changes are because life itself is like that . It's a feature that I find bittersweet . * Picking up items is even more simple - especially if its a multiple of the same type of item . You can just pile them ontop of eachother without having to individually tuck every single one into your rucksack . * I love how you can learn recipes for your kitchen , pharmacy , forge , and crafts by simply eating recipe bread . OK OK . . . it's not realistic , but it makes things ALOT more easier and stress-free . * The bathhouse is open very early in the morning to late at night ! There is also a multitude of shops & stores in town . Every building in the game has one store or more attached to it . Sofia's home is the setting for Evelyn's clothing store in which you can buy your much-needed swimsuit for the Summer , the bathhouse holds a variety of things - especially if Yue & Mei are opened up on the top floor , Raven's place sells a wide range of weaponry and farming tools that change everytime you beat a new dungeon with new Special Deals changing daily , etc . ! - Truthfully , I cannot say everything I love about this game because it'd take ALL DAY - CONS : * Not enough festivals nor dates . This could be major to minor depending on who you are . * Not enough game files . This game has such high replay value and so many lovable bachelorettes that I wish we'd have four files instead of only two . * No option to play as a girl . I constantly find myself liking Zaid and wishing I could marry him as a girl character ! Haha ! * Some requests ask too much of you . * When taking a character out for a walk or alongside in battle , they will often say the same things over & over very frequently which can get annoying . My advice - when you're looking to marry a certain someone , don't take them out on walks too often . I've had just about ENOUGH of Collette's I'm sooo hungry or Pia's I wanna eat squid ! . Ugh . * Your children will always look the same regardless of who you married . They are also slightly boring with repetitive dialogue . I wish I could've had children that looked more like Raven . . * sigh * Overall , this game was the best 30 $ ever spent . It's my favorite DS game and the best Rune Factory to me . I spent hours playing it and really couldn't get enough ! For my first file , I married Raven . For my second , I'm either going for Pia or Sofia . Once again , I wish you could only have more files ! Haha ! This is truly a great game that can appeal to just about anyone of any age ! Not too easy for adults , not too difficult for children ! : ) If you find it too easy , set the difficulty on Hard once you've gained access to the lower portion of the right side to your house . : ) Enjoy & Happy Gaming !
    • 010   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Rune Factory 3 is the 3 ' rd of its kind for the DS and the 4 ' th installment overall in the Rune Factory series . So far , I'd have to say it is the best one yet despite not being on a console . PROS : * Beautiful graphics . You are no longer a 3D character running over 2D backgrounds like in the previous two for the DS . * The most beautiful and most interesting set of bachelorettes ever known to the Rune Factory series . This includes a beautiful yet ditsy mermaid , a gorgeous and mysterious half-human / half-monster girl of few words , the strange little witch whose plans never go right , the adorable girl who tends to always be the victim of the witch's experiments , the Japanese girl in traditional attire whose mother was once a warrior , an elegant girl who tends to speak in opposites , the Mayor's daughter whom is quite beautiful and helps you as the story goes , the general store owner's daughter whom is always sleeping on the job when she's not complaining about work , a tomboyish girl with an overprotective brother whom both cannot get enough of fishing , and the horned Univer girl whom bares an intense hatred for humans while serving as her tribe's elder . There's so much variety and each girl is not without her own unique charm ! Your character is interesting too seeing as he is a half-monster / half-human ! * You can only take 3 requests a day . One from the bulletin board , one from your mail box , and one from the owl in the settlement . While some see this as a con , I see it as a pro ! You're able to do enough where you still feel busy , but not too much so that you fly pass it too quickly . I often did that in Rune Factory 2 and ended up fulfilling most all the requests before I was even halfway through the first year . * There's a HUGE IMPROVEMENT in the English dub . Unlike in Rune Factory 2 for the DS , I didn't have to mute my game to withstand it . Everyone has pretty nice voices except Karina , the general store owner's daughter . I really couldn't get used to her Sup ? and Ving . just because she's too lazy to speak properly . Maybe if her voice were cuter as her appearance , it would've been more acceptable . Instead , she sounds like a bored goth teenager . Despite that , everyone else's voices are easily withstandable and some are even enjoyable . * Any character ( bachelorettes included ) with 3 hearts or more can be invited to take walks with you or go into battle alongside your character ! * Rune Factory 3 has a realistic affection system . Unlike Natsume's Harvest Moon franchise in which gift-giving plays a big factor in winning your dreamguy or girl's heart , it doesn't really matter here . Whether someone likes you or not depends on how much you talk to them and how many requests of theirs you respond to . While giving gifts does help their affection rise more quickly , it isn't a have to . Another thing about the affection system in Rune Factory 3 is that is does not rise too quickly . In its predecessor , Rune Factory 2 , I was married to Yue by Summer / Year 1 . It was nice , but it felt like it happened too suddenly . In Rune Factory 3 , characters ' personalities also change the more you get to know them : Sofia starts becoming more understandable , Raven begins to open up to you , Monica stops biting you , Shino lets you know more about her mysterious past , etc . ! Bachelorettes also get hearts that appear above their head whenever you pass by them depending on how much affection you've gotten with them . They even begin to greet you differently and sometimes even blush when you speak to them once you've gotten their 7 hearts or so . Once you've shown your monster-side to a bachelorette after earning 8 hearts or more , they will stay out on a walk with you pass their curfew and will even still be there the next day after you've gone to bed if you have not dismissed them . The realistic qualities are quite an impressive feature that surprised me upon my playthrough . * Dailogue is never repetitive as everyone says something different every day ! * The storyline is much more captivating than all other Rune Factory titles . I find myself actually interested in it and curious to find out more . * The dungeons are more interesting as are the monsters you face within them . Each dungeon is largely expanded and there are so many different types of monsters you can befriend . Harvest Moon fans won't be disappointed as you can still adopt certain monsters that resemble livestock / poultry and still produce the same kind of products such as milk , eggs , and wool . It's alot more interesting as well because you could have pet elephants , wolves , penguins , and so much more . You also no longer have to use a harvester of any sort to recieve produce from the animals ; it's lying on the floor every morning when you enter the barn - all ready for you to simply pick up ! This means you have extra space in your rucksack and less hassle to get your animal products ! * The weather system can be considered both a pro and a con . I despise the typhoons that come mid-day because they completely destroy ALL your crops - even if you grow them in a dungeon . However , I do love how realistic the weather changes are because life itself is like that . It's a feature that I find bittersweet . * Picking up items is even more simple - especially if its a multiple of the same type of item . You can just pile them ontop of eachother without having to individually tuck every single one into your rucksack . * I love how you can learn recipes for your kitchen , pharmacy , forge , and crafts by simply eating recipe bread . OK OK . . . it's not realistic , but it makes things ALOT more easier and stress-free . * The bathhouse is open very early in the morning to late at night ! There is also a multitude of shops & stores in town . Every building in the game has one store or more attached to it . Sofia's home is the setting for Evelyn's clothing store in which you can buy your much-needed swimsuit for the Summer , the bathhouse holds a variety of things - especially if Yue & Mei are opened up on the top floor , Raven's place sells a wide range of weaponry and farming tools that change everytime you beat a new dungeon with new Special Deals changing daily , etc . ! - Truthfully , I cannot say everything I love about this game because it'd take ALL DAY - CONS : * Not enough festivals nor dates . This could be major to minor depending on who you are . * Not enough game files . This game has such high replay value and so many lovable bachelorettes that I wish we'd have four files instead of only two . * No option to play as a girl . I constantly find myself liking Zaid and wishing I could marry him as a girl character ! Haha ! * Some requests ask too much of you . * When taking a character out for a walk or alongside in battle , they will often say the same things over & over very frequently which can get annoying . My advice - when you're looking to marry a certain someone , don't take them out on walks too often . I've had just about ENOUGH of Collette's I'm sooo hungry or Pia's I wanna eat squid ! . Ugh . * Your children will always look the same regardless of who you married . They are also slightly boring with repetitive dialogue . I wish I could've had children that looked more like Raven . . * sigh * Overall , this game was the best 30 $ ever spent . It's my favorite DS game and the best Rune Factory to me . I spent hours playing it and really couldn't get enough ! For my first file , I married Raven . For my second , I'm either going for Pia or Sofia . Once again , I wish you could only have more files ! Haha ! This is truly a great game that can appeal to just about anyone of any age ! Not too easy for adults , not too difficult for children ! : ) If you find it too easy , set the difficulty on Hard once you've gained access to the lower portion of the right side to your house . : ) Enjoy & Happy Gaming !
    • 011   Rune Factory 3 is the 3 ' rd of its kind for the DS and the 4 ' th installment overall in the Rune Factory series . So far , I'd have to say it is the best one yet despite not being on a console . PROS : * Beautiful graphics . You are no longer a 3D character running over 2D backgrounds like in the previous two for the DS . * The most beautiful and most interesting set of bachelorettes ever known to the Rune Factory series . This includes a beautiful yet ditsy mermaid , a gorgeous and mysterious half-human / half-monster girl of few words , the strange little witch whose plans never go right , the adorable girl who tends to always be the victim of the witch's experiments , the Japanese girl in traditional attire whose mother was once a warrior , an elegant girl who tends to speak in opposites , the Mayor's daughter whom is quite beautiful and helps you as the story goes , the general store owner's daughter whom is always sleeping on the job when she's not complaining about work , a tomboyish girl with an overprotective brother whom both cannot get enough of fishing , and the horned Univer girl whom bares an intense hatred for humans while serving as her tribe's elder . There's so much variety and each girl is not without her own unique charm ! Your character is interesting too seeing as he is a half-monster / half-human ! * You can only take 3 requests a day . One from the bulletin board , one from your mail box , and one from the owl in the settlement . While some see this as a con , I see it as a pro ! You're able to do enough where you still feel busy , but not too much so that you fly pass it too quickly . I often did that in Rune Factory 2 and ended up fulfilling most all the requests before I was even halfway through the first year . * There's a HUGE IMPROVEMENT in the English dub . Unlike in Rune Factory 2 for the DS , I didn't have to mute my game to withstand it . Everyone has pretty nice voices except Karina , the general store owner's daughter . I really couldn't get used to her Sup ? and Ving . just because she's too lazy to speak properly . Maybe if her voice were cuter as her appearance , it would've been more acceptable . Instead , she sounds like a bored goth teenager . Despite that , everyone else's voices are easily withstandable and some are even enjoyable . * Any character ( bachelorettes included ) with 3 hearts or more can be invited to take walks with you or go into battle alongside your character ! * Rune Factory 3 has a realistic affection system . Unlike Natsume's Harvest Moon franchise in which gift-giving plays a big factor in winning your dreamguy or girl's heart , it doesn't really matter here . Whether someone likes you or not depends on how much you talk to them and how many requests of theirs you respond to . While giving gifts does help their affection rise more quickly , it isn't a have to . Another thing about the affection system in Rune Factory 3 is that is does not rise too quickly . In its predecessor , Rune Factory 2 , I was married to Yue by Summer / Year 1 . It was nice , but it felt like it happened too suddenly . In Rune Factory 3 , characters ' personalities also change the more you get to know them : Sofia starts becoming more understandable , Raven begins to open up to you , Monica stops biting you , Shino lets you know more about her mysterious past , etc . ! Bachelorettes also get hearts that appear above their head whenever you pass by them depending on how much affection you've gotten with them . They even begin to greet you differently and sometimes even blush when you speak to them once you've gotten their 7 hearts or so . Once you've shown your monster-side to a bachelorette after earning 8 hearts or more , they will stay out on a walk with you pass their curfew and will even still be there the next day after you've gone to bed if you have not dismissed them . The realistic qualities are quite an impressive feature that surprised me upon my playthrough . * Dailogue is never repetitive as everyone says something different every day ! * The storyline is much more captivating than all other Rune Factory titles . I find myself actually interested in it and curious to find out more . * The dungeons are more interesting as are the monsters you face within them . Each dungeon is largely expanded and there are so many different types of monsters you can befriend . Harvest Moon fans won't be disappointed as you can still adopt certain monsters that resemble livestock / poultry and still produce the same kind of products such as milk , eggs , and wool . It's alot more interesting as well because you could have pet elephants , wolves , penguins , and so much more . You also no longer have to use a harvester of any sort to recieve produce from the animals ; it's lying on the floor every morning when you enter the barn - all ready for you to simply pick up ! This means you have extra space in your rucksack and less hassle to get your animal products ! * The weather system can be considered both a pro and a con . I despise the typhoons that come mid-day because they completely destroy ALL your crops - even if you grow them in a dungeon . However , I do love how realistic the weather changes are because life itself is like that . It's a feature that I find bittersweet . * Picking up items is even more simple - especially if its a multiple of the same type of item . You can just pile them ontop of eachother without having to individually tuck every single one into your rucksack . * I love how you can learn recipes for your kitchen , pharmacy , forge , and crafts by simply eating recipe bread . OK OK . . . it's not realistic , but it makes things ALOT more easier and stress-free . * The bathhouse is open very early in the morning to late at night ! There is also a multitude of shops & stores in town . Every building in the game has one store or more attached to it . Sofia's home is the setting for Evelyn's clothing store in which you can buy your much-needed swimsuit for the Summer , the bathhouse holds a variety of things - especially if Yue & Mei are opened up on the top floor , Raven's place sells a wide range of weaponry and farming tools that change everytime you beat a new dungeon with new Special Deals changing daily , etc . ! - Truthfully , I cannot say everything I love about this game because it'd take ALL DAY - CONS : * Not enough festivals nor dates . This could be major to minor depending on who you are . * Not enough game files . This game has such high replay value and so many lovable bachelorettes that I wish we'd have four files instead of only two . * No option to play as a girl . I constantly find myself liking Zaid and wishing I could marry him as a girl character ! Haha ! * Some requests ask too much of you . * When taking a character out for a walk or alongside in battle , they will often say the same things over & over very frequently which can get annoying . My advice - when you're looking to marry a certain someone , don't take them out on walks too often . I've had just about ENOUGH of Collette's I'm sooo hungry or Pia's I wanna eat squid ! . Ugh . * Your children will always look the same regardless of who you married . They are also slightly boring with repetitive dialogue . I wish I could've had children that looked more like Raven . . * sigh * Overall , this game was the best 30 $ ever spent . It's my favorite DS game and the best Rune Factory to me . I spent hours playing it and really couldn't get enough ! For my first file , I married Raven . For my second , I'm either going for Pia or Sofia . Once again , I wish you could only have more files ! Haha ! This is truly a great game that can appeal to just about anyone of any age ! Not too easy for adults , not too difficult for children ! : ) If you find it too easy , set the difficulty on Hard once you've gained access to the lower portion of the right side to your house . : ) Enjoy & Happy Gaming !
    • 014   This is easily the best game in the Rune Factory series , which is nice , since Rune Factory 2 was more of a lateral shift than an actual improvement . The farming simulation is deeper . The combat is more kinetic . The characters are better-developed and more entertaining . There are lots of neat little stories to experience . The main character is probably the most interesting of the series ( which surprised me , since the character design concerned me slightly . . . but in personality , he's significantly less girly than other RF characters ) . And once you reach a certain level of friendship , you can actually bring villagers along with you . Probably the best improvement is that time passes indoors . There always came a point in the earlier installments when I found myself going to bed at noon simply because there was nothing left to do , and I needed time to pass . In this game , once my farming chores are done , there's talking to villagers , or training , or working on requests , and because time passes indoors , all of these take time out of the day . You actually have to manage your time , which keeps the suspension of disbelief going quite well . The only downside with regard to gameplay is that money management is not necessary . Money comes easy in this game , almost from the beginning . But it isn't that much of a detriment , since time management is important enough to keep things interesting . The girls are really over-the-top . They all seem crazy in some way , fitting various anime archetypes : the sweet girl with the crazy family ( arguable the least interesting ) ; quiet and surly but intensely affectionate inside ; the boisterous and always hungry girl ; the insane nurse with the giant needle ; crazy-about-souvineers ( and the resident specifically Japanese stereotype , like Yue and Mei before her ) ; ditzy mermaid fish-rights activist ; rich-girl with a penchant for speaking in opposites ( okay , that one I've never seen before ) ; the tomboy fishing girl ; the crazy artsy girl ; and if humans aren't enough for you , the ethnocentric horned girl ( like a unicorn ) from the nearby monster community . They all become more interesting as you get to know them . All in all , an awesome product . I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to create a place of his own , save the world , and get the girl .
    • 019   This game takes everything I love about Harvest Moon ( growing veggies , raising animals , interacting with the townsfolk ) and makes it even more awesome by adding action-RPG elements . It has a really extensive crafting system ( there are literally hundreds of recipes to learn ! ) and a dozen or so different potential girlfriends / wives , all of which I like . What's more , those items you craft have in-battle effects , like boosting your strength or restoring some RP ( energy , basically - - it's much more visible in this game than in other Harvest Moon games , so you can actually see when you've getting tired ) , and you can invite almost every single person in the game to join your party to help you take out baddies . As far as animals go , instead of standard sheep and cows , you actually have to go out and tame wild monsters by giving them food . After you've tamed them , you can either take them into battle with you , or have them help out around the farm , including sowing seeds , watering plants , and carrying veggies to the shipping bin . You don't have to do a lick of work on your farm if you don't want to . It's also really forgiving about your sleep schedule . Staying out a little too late rarely results in any major problems , and so far it has never automatically sent me to bed unless I died in a battle , and it always starts you out again at the same time you died , so you never miss anything . A few things bother me on occasion . When you're making weapons and armor , it doesn't show all of an item's abilities . It will show you how it changes your stats and what kind of damage it does , but it won't tell you its chance of causing poison or sleep , for instance , so some items seem a lot more useless than they really are . The 3D models of the characters really aren't that pretty to look at , either , but the 2D drawings of each character that come up every time you talk to them look really good . The storage bin and refrigerator are also kind of restricting in size , even with their size upgrades you can get later in the game . I wish I could hold more types of items . All in all , it's a really great game . It's everything I want from this genre , and I'm really sad I haven't heard more about this series elsewhere on the ' net .
    • 022   Ever since I received this game I couldn't put it down . After buying Rune Factory 2 I was annoyed with certain features of the game and the repeative tasks you had to do . Not in this game . Rune Factory 3 fixed all those annoying parts and you stay with your main character the entire time ( no second generation ) which is a major plus . Of course you still farm and fish and do all the skill building as in other Rune Factory games , but luckily it doesn't take up as much time as the other games in my opinion . Instead , you are free to do requests ( one each day per request board ) and wander about as you like . The characters are very unique with more people and personalities in the town than ever , not the mention having a quite useful map that shows where they are instead of having to waste time running around . Also , you play a sort of double-life in this game which shakes things up a bit . Overall this game is a 10 in fun . The only negative I could possibly give this game is the time during each day goes a bit faster than I'd like , but you adjust as you play the game . From one Rune Factory Player to another , this game is worth buying !
    • 027   I hadn't played any of the previous Rune Factory games before picking this one up , although I have played the Harvest Moon series that it is based off . The Japanese art style is nice and the game has a nice relaxing tone to it overall . The main goals of the game are farming and marriage , although you can get along without farming by fighting monsters and selling the items they drop instead of by growing crops or fishing . There are a large number of weapons to use to fight monsters as well and the combat plays surprisingly well despite being only one aspect of the game . Each weapon has a different feel to it and there are different weapon types available . You are able to craft weapons yourself using items you gather at the forge or by simply buying them at the store . You can upgrade weapons and farming tools you already own and you can also cook food . The game will reward you for exploring it as much as possible , every activity in the game you do can increase your characters rune points ( essentially his stamina ) allowing him to work for longer before he gets tired . Each day runs on a realtime schedule , an ingame day is about 10 or so real minutes . You will be running around busily trying to fit in socializing , fighting monsters , watering your crops and more before the day runs out . Every 30 days counts as a season ( spring , summer , etc ) and each season has its own crops , fish and weather patterns . Despite the colorful nature of the game it is probably enjoyed more by a slighter older audience due to its main goals being farming and marriage . There are also a few sexual innuendos in the game that kids won't spot . What really makes the game memorable is its characters , they change their dialogue frequently and have all have interesting personalities and things to say . You can watch them run around the town every day looking busy . Some days are holidays to give the player a break and time to interact with them . You can also take on a variety of tasks from the villagers ranging from delivering a message to taking them to a romantic spot and you will often get a reward or a funny scene after completing these . It is worth replaying the game multiple times in order to marry a different girl ( I had trouble picking the first time ) . The game has a whopping 12 marriage candidates for you to choose from . As you can guess , it can occupy a huge amount of time , if you need a game for a long ride or something , look no further . I can't recommend it as a gift , since the game is about living on a fantasy farm and it may not appeal to some people . However for anyone who's interested , definitely pick it up . This is one of the best games out there for the system .
    • 028   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I have never played the other Rune Factory games , but I can state for a FACT this is a fantastic video game ! ! A stroke of genius to combine Harvest Moon and Fantasy together ! ! I love the music , characters , battle system ( like Legend of Mana's off playstation ) , and the plot ! It's different from what I'm used to playing ( usually Final Fantasy , Harvest Moon , etc-related ) and I like the change . However , the cons : While you're playing , you may not always know where to go next and no one even gives you a hint where to start , but nonetheless it's usually not too difficult to figure out on your own - mostly I just had to search everywhere if I had no clue , which could be both fun and beneficial ( find items , lvl up , etc ) . Another - after you beat the game , the only thing left to do is raise your family ( if you're married ) , tend to your farm , and keep on finishing villagers ' requests . That's not a bad thing , but I wish there was a longer storyline to it than what is provided . I still recommend this for others to buy and play !
    • 029   I have never played the other Rune Factory games , but I can state for a FACT this is a fantastic video game ! ! A stroke of genius to combine Harvest Moon and Fantasy together ! ! I love the music , characters , battle system ( like Legend of Mana's off playstation ) , and the plot ! It's different from what I'm used to playing ( usually Final Fantasy , Harvest Moon , etc-related ) and I like the change . However , the cons : While you're playing , you may not always know where to go next and no one even gives you a hint where to start , but nonetheless it's usually not too difficult to figure out on your own - mostly I just had to search everywhere if I had no clue , which could be both fun and beneficial ( find items , lvl up , etc ) . Another - after you beat the game , the only thing left to do is raise your family ( if you're married ) , tend to your farm , and keep on finishing villagers ' requests . That's not a bad thing , but I wish there was a longer storyline to it than what is provided . I still recommend this for others to buy and play !
    • 034   TL ; DR Recap : Rune Factory 3 is fun and worth your purchase if you like Harvest Moon games or light hack-and-slash games . - - - Rune Factory was originaly created in tandem with another offshoot of the Harvest Moon franchise , Innocent Life : A Futuristic Harvest Moon for the Play Station Portable . Innocent Life failed to capture an audience perhaps for being TOO different from the forumla fans of the games have come to expect . Rune Factory meanwhile has seen four games in the series , with a fifth on the way as of this review , and that can be boiled down to the games being very much like their mother series with the added bonus of breezy dungeons to hack and slash through . Now , if you have ever played a dunegon crawler in your life , or even a Legend of Zelda title , the dungeons in this series will almost never be a challenge for you . The original Rune Factory was easy in terms of all areas of gameplay ( earning money , progressing through dunegons , wooing women ) but that can be forgiven for being the first of the experiment . Rune Factory 2 decided to up the ante and offered harder dunegons than the first and made it not AS easy to completely dominate the in-game economy . Yet with the shoehorning of having it so only your child can complete the dungeons , the game felt a little hollow to me as it tried to create a grander story . Rune Factory Frontier offered a larger experience that only a console title could and was a great improvement over the first two titles . The dungeons got progressively harder and you had to really work at conquering the last two , a fun departure . However , the developers introduced micromanagement in the form of regulating the population of little spirit critters called Runeys . This was always extremely vexing to do due to clunky controls for the process and if you let the Runeys die out of neglect / over-management / sheer spite , the game would happily punish you with severe weather , ruining your crops . Rune Factory 3 has taken most of the improvements made to the series over time and exorcised just about everything that wasn't working for it . It is my deepest hope that Rune Factory Oceans will take the improvements and new features of this game and run with them , because Frontier was great aside from the Runey System . The women have unique personalities , the localization has vastly improved over every other game Natsume has ever published , the festivals are fun , and monster management is now easier than ever . Sadly the dunegons return to being rather easy , but in this title I happily cranked them out just to progress the story and see how the villagers would change due to it . Also , unless Natsume cleans up the WiFi player rankings of the fine lads and lasses who are using Action Replay to enhance their gameplay , you will never see yourself anywhere close to the top of the charts . It is still worth logging your scores however , as the game is generous with prizes if you update regularly .
    • 035   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) okay , so , i havent played any other RF games other than the 3rd one , but i think its GREAT ! : D i have played harvest moon series but the games were too hard and i couldt figure out what to do . . . BUT ! while playing this game , i really enjoyed myself ! ! ! the game wasnt so hard , the gameplay was great and i loved the graphic . its a game which even beginners can play without too much trouble hehe : ) i usually like to play games like role-playing and adventure , ( even though im REALLY bad ) but i suck at fighting , but in this game its actually the fighting that i like the most ! ! ! i loveee buying the newest , coolest weapons and crafting them . fighting isnt so hard , and you can level up sooo fast ! which i really like . ALso , i really love the characters . Even though IM a girl , i love the girls in the game ! ! theyre so cute and they each have their own personalities , so i have a lot of options . . i havent finished the game , still have to beat the last boss moster , but i really cant choose which one to marry . . . theyre all so pretty and cute ! ! ! . . . . Anyway , all the characters in the game are really nice and theyre so adrable , that i even wish they were real . . . When i fisrt bought this game , i couldnt stop playing it ! it was sooo fun that i couldnt let go of it . well i kinda stopped playing because of school and stuff , but since im on summer break , ill finish this game : ) well its my first time writing a review for something on amazon . . but i had to for this game because it is really amazing . if youre hesitating to buy this game , BUY THIS GAME . ITS REALLY AMAZING . : )
    • 036   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) okay , so , i havent played any other RF games other than the 3rd one , but i think its GREAT ! : D i have played harvest moon series but the games were too hard and i couldt figure out what to do . . . BUT ! while playing this game , i really enjoyed myself ! ! ! the game wasnt so hard , the gameplay was great and i loved the graphic . its a game which even beginners can play without too much trouble hehe : ) i usually like to play games like role-playing and adventure , ( even though im REALLY bad ) but i suck at fighting , but in this game its actually the fighting that i like the most ! ! ! i loveee buying the newest , coolest weapons and crafting them . fighting isnt so hard , and you can level up sooo fast ! which i really like . ALso , i really love the characters . Even though IM a girl , i love the girls in the game ! ! theyre so cute and they each have their own personalities , so i have a lot of options . . i havent finished the game , still have to beat the last boss moster , but i really cant choose which one to marry . . . theyre all so pretty and cute ! ! ! . . . . Anyway , all the characters in the game are really nice and theyre so adrable , that i even wish they were real . . . When i fisrt bought this game , i couldnt stop playing it ! it was sooo fun that i couldnt let go of it . well i kinda stopped playing because of school and stuff , but since im on summer break , ill finish this game : ) well its my first time writing a review for something on amazon . . but i had to for this game because it is really amazing . if youre hesitating to buy this game , BUY THIS GAME . ITS REALLY AMAZING . : )
    • 037   okay , so , i havent played any other RF games other than the 3rd one , but i think its GREAT ! : D i have played harvest moon series but the games were too hard and i couldt figure out what to do . . . BUT ! while playing this game , i really enjoyed myself ! ! ! the game wasnt so hard , the gameplay was great and i loved the graphic . its a game which even beginners can play without too much trouble hehe : ) i usually like to play games like role-playing and adventure , ( even though im REALLY bad ) but i suck at fighting , but in this game its actually the fighting that i like the most ! ! ! i loveee buying the newest , coolest weapons and crafting them . fighting isnt so hard , and you can level up sooo fast ! which i really like . ALso , i really love the characters . Even though IM a girl , i love the girls in the game ! ! theyre so cute and they each have their own personalities , so i have a lot of options . . i havent finished the game , still have to beat the last boss moster , but i really cant choose which one to marry . . . theyre all so pretty and cute ! ! ! . . . . Anyway , all the characters in the game are really nice and theyre so adrable , that i even wish they were real . . . When i fisrt bought this game , i couldnt stop playing it ! it was sooo fun that i couldnt let go of it . well i kinda stopped playing because of school and stuff , but since im on summer break , ill finish this game : ) well its my first time writing a review for something on amazon . . but i had to for this game because it is really amazing . if youre hesitating to buy this game , BUY THIS GAME . ITS REALLY AMAZING . : )
    • 041   The game starts on a rainy night , when a young girl finds a golden woolly passed out . She drags the woolly in , over the protests of her grandfather , and puts it in bed . The next morning , the woolly has turned into a human and become your main character . So beings the unique role playing experience that is Rune Factory 3 . Compared to other role playing games ( such as the also excellent Final Fantasy IV for the DS ) , the game feels more lighthearted , even as the storyline explores prejudice - - - humans and monsters have separated into 2 separate towns , long ago . In terms of gameplay , the game is completely open-ended . You can do such things as combat ( which is more fast-paced than it was in previous Rune Factory offerings ) , spellcasting , farming , fishing , raising monsters , cooking and eventually make your own potions , craft your own weapons and make your own accessories ( such as shields , hats , and so on ) . In the Rune Factory series , your character can only do so much per day . The game represents this with Rune Points . Every action you perform with a tool , weapon or magic spell you cast ( except Teleport ) costs you Rune Points . When the Rune Points run out , your character will quickly die - - - your Hit Points are used up VERY quickly once your RP run out . However , you do slowly regain RP if you stand still and do nothing . If you die in the game , you wake up at the Apocathery . At first , revival is free . After a certain point , she starts charging you - - - more money as you go higher in level . As in any classic RPG , the main character goes up in levels . However , there are no specific classes in the Rune Factory games . Instead , the more you perform tasks , such as fishing , the skill goes up . This makes the task less strenuous ( i.e . uses less Rune Points ) and more effective ( weapons , for example , do more damage ) . This is an interesting mechanic which pushes you to become effective at a wide variety of tasks . Beyond that , the other non-player characters ( several of whom the main character can court ) are much more lively than in previous Rune Factory games . You can often see them moving around the town , carrying items , instead of standing in one place for hours like Zen masters . As for women you can court , there are a wide variety , including a mermaid and another half-human hybrid . Courting a woman , like in other Rune Factory games , is a matter of giving the right gifts and talking to them daily . Courting a woman is essential to the plot . In terms of farming , you even have to rotate crops - - - planting the same thing over and over causes the soil to become less effective , so crops take longer to grow . Unlike other Rune Factory games , weather can change twice a day , and storms do not lock you inside . Instead , you get to see your crops destroyed as you watch . One key thing to watch for is , unlike all other Rune Factory games , you can get rid of your farming implements , requiring you to either buy them again , or craft them again ( once you have a Forge ) . At a certain point , you regain the ability to transform back into the golden woolly . This is essential to the plot . As a woolly , you cannot use weapons or tools ( except magic ) but do a very good job fighting bare-handed . The more you fight bare-handed , the stronger you become at it . Overall , the game is excellent , and the wide variety of women you can court , plus the huge variety of skills , including 5 weapons skills , gives the game excellent replay value . As in other Rune Factory games , once you finish the main story arc , you can continue playing as long as you like .
    • 042   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I did alot of research before buying this gmae and ended up getting it because it was cheaper out of the 2 I wanted , but I am SO glad I did . I play it hours on end . ( Not to mention all those nights staying up ' till 4 in the morning playing it ) This is the first harvest moon game I've played besised the first ever harvest moon . I at first thought it a little odd that fighting monstars was put into a peacefull game like this but once I started playing I couldn't put it down ! Ususally I am a bit dissapointed in having to pay $30 for a game , but this one is completly worth it ! ! ! It is the best DS game I've played , nintendogs comming in second . Pros to the game : - the music , oh the music ! So pretty , especially when he finds the orb - The characters actually seem real . The don't say computer-ish things . They say things that a real person would say . - Lots to do ! There is always something to be done so you don't sit around waiting for the day to be over . - keeping monsters I thought was incredibly fun and cute ( ' specially the woolies ! ! ) - The bosses are a perfect difficulty to beat . Not to hard but definately not easy . - So many single girls ! Usually there are only like 5 - You're able to turn into a butt-kicking sheep ! - The anime art is amazingly pretty * stares at the screen jealous of their art ability * - YOU GET TO COOK ! : D - Fishing is alot more fun then in the GBC harvest moon . . . . alot . . . . - Huzzah for lotsa festivals ! Cons to the game - Your kids always look the same no matter who you marry - Weeds appear pretty much every 2 seconds - I really can't think of anymore . . . . Could go either way : - Hurricanes make life sad and depressing . . . . but for some they might like a challenge . - You can't play as a girl , but I guess it's more traditional to play as a boy . . . . idk : p Personal frustaration with the game : > : ( I can't win any of the festivals . . . . sad day . . . Over all this game is amazing and I highly reccomend it : D
    • 043   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I did alot of research before buying this gmae and ended up getting it because it was cheaper out of the 2 I wanted , but I am SO glad I did . I play it hours on end . ( Not to mention all those nights staying up ' till 4 in the morning playing it ) This is the first harvest moon game I've played besised the first ever harvest moon . I at first thought it a little odd that fighting monstars was put into a peacefull game like this but once I started playing I couldn't put it down ! Ususally I am a bit dissapointed in having to pay $30 for a game , but this one is completly worth it ! ! ! It is the best DS game I've played , nintendogs comming in second . Pros to the game : - the music , oh the music ! So pretty , especially when he finds the orb - The characters actually seem real . The don't say computer-ish things . They say things that a real person would say . - Lots to do ! There is always something to be done so you don't sit around waiting for the day to be over . - keeping monsters I thought was incredibly fun and cute ( ' specially the woolies ! ! ) - The bosses are a perfect difficulty to beat . Not to hard but definately not easy . - So many single girls ! Usually there are only like 5 - You're able to turn into a butt-kicking sheep ! - The anime art is amazingly pretty * stares at the screen jealous of their art ability * - YOU GET TO COOK ! : D - Fishing is alot more fun then in the GBC harvest moon . . . . alot . . . . - Huzzah for lotsa festivals ! Cons to the game - Your kids always look the same no matter who you marry - Weeds appear pretty much every 2 seconds - I really can't think of anymore . . . . Could go either way : - Hurricanes make life sad and depressing . . . . but for some they might like a challenge . - You can't play as a girl , but I guess it's more traditional to play as a boy . . . . idk : p Personal frustaration with the game : > : ( I can't win any of the festivals . . . . sad day . . . Over all this game is amazing and I highly reccomend it : D
    • 044   I did alot of research before buying this gmae and ended up getting it because it was cheaper out of the 2 I wanted , but I am SO glad I did . I play it hours on end . ( Not to mention all those nights staying up ' till 4 in the morning playing it ) This is the first harvest moon game I've played besised the first ever harvest moon . I at first thought it a little odd that fighting monstars was put into a peacefull game like this but once I started playing I couldn't put it down ! Ususally I am a bit dissapointed in having to pay $30 for a game , but this one is completly worth it ! ! ! It is the best DS game I've played , nintendogs comming in second . Pros to the game : - the music , oh the music ! So pretty , especially when he finds the orb - The characters actually seem real . The don't say computer-ish things . They say things that a real person would say . - Lots to do ! There is always something to be done so you don't sit around waiting for the day to be over . - keeping monsters I thought was incredibly fun and cute ( ' specially the woolies ! ! ) - The bosses are a perfect difficulty to beat . Not to hard but definately not easy . - So many single girls ! Usually there are only like 5 - You're able to turn into a butt-kicking sheep ! - The anime art is amazingly pretty * stares at the screen jealous of their art ability * - YOU GET TO COOK ! : D - Fishing is alot more fun then in the GBC harvest moon . . . . alot . . . . - Huzzah for lotsa festivals ! Cons to the game - Your kids always look the same no matter who you marry - Weeds appear pretty much every 2 seconds - I really can't think of anymore . . . . Could go either way : - Hurricanes make life sad and depressing . . . . but for some they might like a challenge . - You can't play as a girl , but I guess it's more traditional to play as a boy . . . . idk : p Personal frustaration with the game : > : ( I can't win any of the festivals . . . . sad day . . . Over all this game is amazing and I highly reccomend it : D
    • 057   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I gotta say this was my first time buying and playing a Rune Factory . I had played Harvest moon and it was good but I rather liked more this Rune Factory ; 3 the graphics look really great , the designs of the characters are so cute ! After playing this one I tried playing RF2 but as I got used to RF3 I felt it quite slower than the other , Sooo RIGHT NOW I'm trying to fully complete this rune factory and waiting for the next one , that's coming soon X3 ( RF Oceans XD ) ps : I married Shara : 3
    • 058   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I gotta say this was my first time buying and playing a Rune Factory . I had played Harvest moon and it was good but I rather liked more this Rune Factory ; 3 the graphics look really great , the designs of the characters are so cute ! After playing this one I tried playing RF2 but as I got used to RF3 I felt it quite slower than the other , Sooo RIGHT NOW I'm trying to fully complete this rune factory and waiting for the next one , that's coming soon X3 ( RF Oceans XD ) ps : I married Shara : 3
    • 059   I gotta say this was my first time buying and playing a Rune Factory . I had played Harvest moon and it was good but I rather liked more this Rune Factory ; 3 the graphics look really great , the designs of the characters are so cute ! After playing this one I tried playing RF2 but as I got used to RF3 I felt it quite slower than the other , Sooo RIGHT NOW I'm trying to fully complete this rune factory and waiting for the next one , that's coming soon X3 ( RF Oceans XD ) ps : I married Shara : 3
    • 062   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game is great ! ! At first , I wasn't sure if I liked the controls because they ARE a bit faster than Rune Factory 2 . But it's just a matter of getting used to them . Now I don't even think about it . I like the fact that you can only accept 1 mission from each of the 3 mission boards each day . I cranked through the missions in Rune Factory 2 . This new set up made me focus more on the farming / fishing / collecting / forging every day . . . . . which was good because I found that I had more of the items ON-HAND to complete the missions . The music is wonderful ! The commentary of the characters is SUCH a refreshing change from Rune Factory 2 because they actually have different things to say every day . The day DOES go by pretty fast in this game , but I'm finding that to be one of it's pluses . I found it to be a nice change from some of the Harvest Moon games . . . where you go to bed at 11 : 00am just to get the day over with . The graphics are really well done . I LOVE that the main character lives in a tree . I thought my little house was kind of crappy looking in Rune Factory 2 . Who doesn't like living in a cool looking tree house ? ? ? ? My ONLY COMPLAINT about this game is that my character is THE MOST girly looking guy I have ever seen in a video game . I don't know WHAT the creators were thinking ! What's with the detatched poofy sleeves ? And the little cropped furry vest ? ? ? And the HAIR ? ? ? My husband looked over my shoulder and asked me if my character was supposed to be a boy or a girl . That pretty much says it right there . If I'm going to play a boy in a video game ( and it IS the only choice in this game ) I'd like to have some rippling muscles and some cool hair . Why couldn't the main character look like Carlos in this game ? ? ? ? And Carlos's relationship to his sister is a bit too creepy for me . . . . . tended to steer clear of them both if I could help it . Overall . . . . . awesome game . I'm going on my 4th week of playing it . . . . and I play it for a few hours every day . Definitely worth the money .
    • 063   This game is great ! ! At first , I wasn't sure if I liked the controls because they ARE a bit faster than Rune Factory 2 . But it's just a matter of getting used to them . Now I don't even think about it . I like the fact that you can only accept 1 mission from each of the 3 mission boards each day . I cranked through the missions in Rune Factory 2 . This new set up made me focus more on the farming / fishing / collecting / forging every day . . . . . which was good because I found that I had more of the items ON-HAND to complete the missions . The music is wonderful ! The commentary of the characters is SUCH a refreshing change from Rune Factory 2 because they actually have different things to say every day . The day DOES go by pretty fast in this game , but I'm finding that to be one of it's pluses . I found it to be a nice change from some of the Harvest Moon games . . . where you go to bed at 11 : 00am just to get the day over with . The graphics are really well done . I LOVE that the main character lives in a tree . I thought my little house was kind of crappy looking in Rune Factory 2 . Who doesn't like living in a cool looking tree house ? ? ? ? My ONLY COMPLAINT about this game is that my character is THE MOST girly looking guy I have ever seen in a video game . I don't know WHAT the creators were thinking ! What's with the detatched poofy sleeves ? And the little cropped furry vest ? ? ? And the HAIR ? ? ? My husband looked over my shoulder and asked me if my character was supposed to be a boy or a girl . That pretty much says it right there . If I'm going to play a boy in a video game ( and it IS the only choice in this game ) I'd like to have some rippling muscles and some cool hair . Why couldn't the main character look like Carlos in this game ? ? ? ? And Carlos's relationship to his sister is a bit too creepy for me . . . . . tended to steer clear of them both if I could help it . Overall . . . . . awesome game . I'm going on my 4th week of playing it . . . . and I play it for a few hours every day . Definitely worth the money .
    • 067   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I found this game rather interesting . I've never even heard of the Rune Factory series so I wanted to get the newest version of it ! So I one-day shipped it ( waited a whole terrible day at school ) and then played it non-stop for four days . Yes it took me exactly four days to beat the evil thing . Why ? Because thefinal boss was a grr . Anyways the gameplay is pretty nice minus the confuzling button usage . I fully enjoyed the fact that I could run around and spear gazillions of monsters , in Harvest Moon we could not do this , no instead you got tackled by dogs and scared away by bears . Now we kill the bears and love the dogs ( there are actually no pet befriending as far as I know , but you can befriend monsters ) . The marriage candidates are sweet . So much better then Harvest moon . Instead of 3 you get like . . . hmm many more . I chose the freaky witch who screws everything up but it was worth it trust me she's hilarious . The fightining was a lot of SMASHING your B button like crazy in an attempt to get the ultimate move to work . I used a lot of what they called ' Magical seeds ' which allow you to produce a companion that will help you till it either A . Dies from you throwing it , or the monster inflicting too much damage . Or B . You acidently pick it up to flee and end up putting it away - _ - . There are also a ton of weapon choices , man I couldnt choose so I used them all at some point . My favorite is the spear and is reccomended for the last boss . Growing crops can be frustrating due to the fact that the weather system sucks . Meaning a hurricane can and usually will come mid-day and destroy all your precious produce . Thankfully if your like me , who likes to fight , you probably wont have to farm much because you can earn just as much by killng monsters and cashing in all the pretty things that you earn from them . I easilly can make 20k just from fighting monsters everyday . It's not that hard and plus some of the items that they drop are actually useful woot . An option that I HATED was the fact that you pretty much HAD to have 3 kids or never talk to your wife again . Meh . I hated it . So far I have two cute girls who look the same but say different things . They're adorable . . . granted but boring since they never leave the house and pretty much say the same things everytime I enter the room and talk to them . The store chick Hazel told me that she'd have some kids toys . . . I say she's lying but who knows . Like I said I never really slept . Perhaps a few hours a day which is bad because I have school . So parents I suggest being the bad guy and only allowing your child to have it on Friday and Saturday as long as exams or a test in not on Monday . SPOLIER . . . . perhaps . To get to the last boss you HAVE to get married . Also I'm a wimp and got slaughter , so I took advice from a website and it said I had to be level 80 . I was level 51 . . . . You can just imagine how this all went by . HAVE FUN ! ! !
    • 068   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I found this game rather interesting . I've never even heard of the Rune Factory series so I wanted to get the newest version of it ! So I one-day shipped it ( waited a whole terrible day at school ) and then played it non-stop for four days . Yes it took me exactly four days to beat the evil thing . Why ? Because thefinal boss was a grr . Anyways the gameplay is pretty nice minus the confuzling button usage . I fully enjoyed the fact that I could run around and spear gazillions of monsters , in Harvest Moon we could not do this , no instead you got tackled by dogs and scared away by bears . Now we kill the bears and love the dogs ( there are actually no pet befriending as far as I know , but you can befriend monsters ) . The marriage candidates are sweet . So much better then Harvest moon . Instead of 3 you get like . . . hmm many more . I chose the freaky witch who screws everything up but it was worth it trust me she's hilarious . The fightining was a lot of SMASHING your B button like crazy in an attempt to get the ultimate move to work . I used a lot of what they called ' Magical seeds ' which allow you to produce a companion that will help you till it either A . Dies from you throwing it , or the monster inflicting too much damage . Or B . You acidently pick it up to flee and end up putting it away - _ - . There are also a ton of weapon choices , man I couldnt choose so I used them all at some point . My favorite is the spear and is reccomended for the last boss . Growing crops can be frustrating due to the fact that the weather system sucks . Meaning a hurricane can and usually will come mid-day and destroy all your precious produce . Thankfully if your like me , who likes to fight , you probably wont have to farm much because you can earn just as much by killng monsters and cashing in all the pretty things that you earn from them . I easilly can make 20k just from fighting monsters everyday . It's not that hard and plus some of the items that they drop are actually useful woot . An option that I HATED was the fact that you pretty much HAD to have 3 kids or never talk to your wife again . Meh . I hated it . So far I have two cute girls who look the same but say different things . They're adorable . . . granted but boring since they never leave the house and pretty much say the same things everytime I enter the room and talk to them . The store chick Hazel told me that she'd have some kids toys . . . I say she's lying but who knows . Like I said I never really slept . Perhaps a few hours a day which is bad because I have school . So parents I suggest being the bad guy and only allowing your child to have it on Friday and Saturday as long as exams or a test in not on Monday . SPOLIER . . . . perhaps . To get to the last boss you HAVE to get married . Also I'm a wimp and got slaughter , so I took advice from a website and it said I had to be level 80 . I was level 51 . . . . You can just imagine how this all went by . HAVE FUN ! ! !
    • 069   I found this game rather interesting . I've never even heard of the Rune Factory series so I wanted to get the newest version of it ! So I one-day shipped it ( waited a whole terrible day at school ) and then played it non-stop for four days . Yes it took me exactly four days to beat the evil thing . Why ? Because thefinal boss was a grr . Anyways the gameplay is pretty nice minus the confuzling button usage . I fully enjoyed the fact that I could run around and spear gazillions of monsters , in Harvest Moon we could not do this , no instead you got tackled by dogs and scared away by bears . Now we kill the bears and love the dogs ( there are actually no pet befriending as far as I know , but you can befriend monsters ) . The marriage candidates are sweet . So much better then Harvest moon . Instead of 3 you get like . . . hmm many more . I chose the freaky witch who screws everything up but it was worth it trust me she's hilarious . The fightining was a lot of SMASHING your B button like crazy in an attempt to get the ultimate move to work . I used a lot of what they called ' Magical seeds ' which allow you to produce a companion that will help you till it either A . Dies from you throwing it , or the monster inflicting too much damage . Or B . You acidently pick it up to flee and end up putting it away - _ - . There are also a ton of weapon choices , man I couldnt choose so I used them all at some point . My favorite is the spear and is reccomended for the last boss . Growing crops can be frustrating due to the fact that the weather system sucks . Meaning a hurricane can and usually will come mid-day and destroy all your precious produce . Thankfully if your like me , who likes to fight , you probably wont have to farm much because you can earn just as much by killng monsters and cashing in all the pretty things that you earn from them . I easilly can make 20k just from fighting monsters everyday . It's not that hard and plus some of the items that they drop are actually useful woot . An option that I HATED was the fact that you pretty much HAD to have 3 kids or never talk to your wife again . Meh . I hated it . So far I have two cute girls who look the same but say different things . They're adorable . . . granted but boring since they never leave the house and pretty much say the same things everytime I enter the room and talk to them . The store chick Hazel told me that she'd have some kids toys . . . I say she's lying but who knows . Like I said I never really slept . Perhaps a few hours a day which is bad because I have school . So parents I suggest being the bad guy and only allowing your child to have it on Friday and Saturday as long as exams or a test in not on Monday . SPOLIER . . . . perhaps . To get to the last boss you HAVE to get married . Also I'm a wimp and got slaughter , so I took advice from a website and it said I had to be level 80 . I was level 51 . . . . You can just imagine how this all went by . HAVE FUN ! ! !
    • 072   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game is great ! I've played a lot of Natsume games over the years , and this one is right up there with the original Harvest Moon . I've been around to play classics , like harvest moon , harvest moon 64 , legend of the river king , and many more , and this game did not disappoint . it was on par with all of them . Good Job Natsume !
    • 073   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game is great ! I've played a lot of Natsume games over the years , and this one is right up there with the original Harvest Moon . I've been around to play classics , like harvest moon , harvest moon 64 , legend of the river king , and many more , and this game did not disappoint . it was on par with all of them . Good Job Natsume !
    • 078   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) THESE aspects THAT ARE GOOD / Make YOU WANT TO BUY THIS GAME . * Cute graphics that look good the DS * Interesting concept hybrid of a Harvest Moon and a Dungeon Crawler * A TON of side activities that , if you are a compeletionist , will take you a good amount of time to complete . * This game is fun . * Nice multiplayer concept . * Creative character design * the music grows on you after a while . THINGS THAT MAKE YOU NOT WANT THIS GAME . * not Challenging ( FOR THE MAIN GAME . ) * Don't expect much story telling here . * On farming . It is not a major part but it could of easily of been soo much better . I bought this game at the wrong time : midterms . Buying a game around midterms means that what could have been hours spent on gaming where put towards STUDYING . ( uck . ) With this being my first game to come from Natsume being I started out wanting to choose something that would fill my hunger for a farm simulation game which is like an RPG to Square Enix and after looking over some Harvest moon titles I found this gem . Looked cool , read some reviews , and wanted to try something new . A week later Rune Factory 3 was inside my Nintendo DS . First impressions are always found in the opening of videogames I found the dub singer to be awkward , but I loved the animation though it really set the mood for the game well . Anyway , what I grew to love about this game is that the time aspect makes you choose between different activities during the day from going out on dates to killing monsters to earn back your memory . I found this part challenging at first because I Love to farm so I would spend time there not realizing that I SOULD be doing other things in the game . Event though I am new to these types of games it didn't take long before I had learned to use time wisely in Rune Factory 3 . I liked the fact that there was a little clock for me to look at it . The core game play to this game is like a challenging Animal Crossing : noting too difficult but at the same time it is very casual . One of the apparently new features of Rune Factory 3 that I enjoyed was the fact that you could get monster slaves ! HAHA I beat you up now you have to work for me and kill your brethren ! Muh ha ha ! Oh and I found the atmosphere and character design to be awesome and adorable . The fact that there is a level of tightness from one to ten with your neighbors made me play the game more and more to try and be the awesome neighbor that everybody loved . Rune Factory 3 has a level for EVERYTHING from walking to fighting ( with over four types of weapons and including magic spells . ) I really enjoyed trying to level up my every move and activities like cooking ; it added tremendous value to my game and added hours . I don't believe in highly negative reviews * cough * IGN * cough * so I'll just sum it up . The music was okay it grew on me though but not at the level of I'm going to buy the OST or anything . The game play is great but I didn't find much to challenge me here just bits and pieces . Also , the farming aspect of this game could have easily had a greater impact . The plot I think that is not what you come to buy this game for but I would have enjoyed a little more beef to my plot . With all of everything to do in this game I found myself not wanting to farm which is the motivation for me to buy this game . I just wished that farming was on par with everything else to do it isn't necessarily a bad thing tough . All in all this game was a great installment to the series and a great game for your Nintendo DS it now sits comfortably in my DS library . It has tremendous reply value which I want because you want to play a game and enjoy it too . ( BTW I'm happy married to the mermaid girl and have two sons and a daughter . ) * Just a side note here but if you do purchase this game look at the manual it is really good . The manual to this game is one of the best I've seen it mirrors some from Atlus . Colorful and informative just . Just awesome . Please leave a reply because I actually want to improve and make quality game reviews .
    • 079   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) THESE aspects THAT ARE GOOD / Make YOU WANT TO BUY THIS GAME . * Cute graphics that look good the DS * Interesting concept hybrid of a Harvest Moon and a Dungeon Crawler * A TON of side activities that , if you are a compeletionist , will take you a good amount of time to complete . * This game is fun . * Nice multiplayer concept . * Creative character design * the music grows on you after a while . THINGS THAT MAKE YOU NOT WANT THIS GAME . * not Challenging ( FOR THE MAIN GAME . ) * Don't expect much story telling here . * On farming . It is not a major part but it could of easily of been soo much better . I bought this game at the wrong time : midterms . Buying a game around midterms means that what could have been hours spent on gaming where put towards STUDYING . ( uck . ) With this being my first game to come from Natsume being I started out wanting to choose something that would fill my hunger for a farm simulation game which is like an RPG to Square Enix and after looking over some Harvest moon titles I found this gem . Looked cool , read some reviews , and wanted to try something new . A week later Rune Factory 3 was inside my Nintendo DS . First impressions are always found in the opening of videogames I found the dub singer to be awkward , but I loved the animation though it really set the mood for the game well . Anyway , what I grew to love about this game is that the time aspect makes you choose between different activities during the day from going out on dates to killing monsters to earn back your memory . I found this part challenging at first because I Love to farm so I would spend time there not realizing that I SOULD be doing other things in the game . Event though I am new to these types of games it didn't take long before I had learned to use time wisely in Rune Factory 3 . I liked the fact that there was a little clock for me to look at it . The core game play to this game is like a challenging Animal Crossing : noting too difficult but at the same time it is very casual . One of the apparently new features of Rune Factory 3 that I enjoyed was the fact that you could get monster slaves ! HAHA I beat you up now you have to work for me and kill your brethren ! Muh ha ha ! Oh and I found the atmosphere and character design to be awesome and adorable . The fact that there is a level of tightness from one to ten with your neighbors made me play the game more and more to try and be the awesome neighbor that everybody loved . Rune Factory 3 has a level for EVERYTHING from walking to fighting ( with over four types of weapons and including magic spells . ) I really enjoyed trying to level up my every move and activities like cooking ; it added tremendous value to my game and added hours . I don't believe in highly negative reviews * cough * IGN * cough * so I'll just sum it up . The music was okay it grew on me though but not at the level of I'm going to buy the OST or anything . The game play is great but I didn't find much to challenge me here just bits and pieces . Also , the farming aspect of this game could have easily had a greater impact . The plot I think that is not what you come to buy this game for but I would have enjoyed a little more beef to my plot . With all of everything to do in this game I found myself not wanting to farm which is the motivation for me to buy this game . I just wished that farming was on par with everything else to do it isn't necessarily a bad thing tough . All in all this game was a great installment to the series and a great game for your Nintendo DS it now sits comfortably in my DS library . It has tremendous reply value which I want because you want to play a game and enjoy it too . ( BTW I'm happy married to the mermaid girl and have two sons and a daughter . ) * Just a side note here but if you do purchase this game look at the manual it is really good . The manual to this game is one of the best I've seen it mirrors some from Atlus . Colorful and informative just . Just awesome . Please leave a reply because I actually want to improve and make quality game reviews .
    • 080   THESE aspects THAT ARE GOOD / Make YOU WANT TO BUY THIS GAME . * Cute graphics that look good the DS * Interesting concept hybrid of a Harvest Moon and a Dungeon Crawler * A TON of side activities that , if you are a compeletionist , will take you a good amount of time to complete . * This game is fun . * Nice multiplayer concept . * Creative character design * the music grows on you after a while . THINGS THAT MAKE YOU NOT WANT THIS GAME . * not Challenging ( FOR THE MAIN GAME . ) * Don't expect much story telling here . * On farming . It is not a major part but it could of easily of been soo much better . I bought this game at the wrong time : midterms . Buying a game around midterms means that what could have been hours spent on gaming where put towards STUDYING . ( uck . ) With this being my first game to come from Natsume being I started out wanting to choose something that would fill my hunger for a farm simulation game which is like an RPG to Square Enix and after looking over some Harvest moon titles I found this gem . Looked cool , read some reviews , and wanted to try something new . A week later Rune Factory 3 was inside my Nintendo DS . First impressions are always found in the opening of videogames I found the dub singer to be awkward , but I loved the animation though it really set the mood for the game well . Anyway , what I grew to love about this game is that the time aspect makes you choose between different activities during the day from going out on dates to killing monsters to earn back your memory . I found this part challenging at first because I Love to farm so I would spend time there not realizing that I SOULD be doing other things in the game . Event though I am new to these types of games it didn't take long before I had learned to use time wisely in Rune Factory 3 . I liked the fact that there was a little clock for me to look at it . The core game play to this game is like a challenging Animal Crossing : noting too difficult but at the same time it is very casual . One of the apparently new features of Rune Factory 3 that I enjoyed was the fact that you could get monster slaves ! HAHA I beat you up now you have to work for me and kill your brethren ! Muh ha ha ! Oh and I found the atmosphere and character design to be awesome and adorable . The fact that there is a level of tightness from one to ten with your neighbors made me play the game more and more to try and be the awesome neighbor that everybody loved . Rune Factory 3 has a level for EVERYTHING from walking to fighting ( with over four types of weapons and including magic spells . ) I really enjoyed trying to level up my every move and activities like cooking ; it added tremendous value to my game and added hours . I don't believe in highly negative reviews * cough * IGN * cough * so I'll just sum it up . The music was okay it grew on me though but not at the level of I'm going to buy the OST or anything . The game play is great but I didn't find much to challenge me here just bits and pieces . Also , the farming aspect of this game could have easily had a greater impact . The plot I think that is not what you come to buy this game for but I would have enjoyed a little more beef to my plot . With all of everything to do in this game I found myself not wanting to farm which is the motivation for me to buy this game . I just wished that farming was on par with everything else to do it isn't necessarily a bad thing tough . All in all this game was a great installment to the series and a great game for your Nintendo DS it now sits comfortably in my DS library . It has tremendous reply value which I want because you want to play a game and enjoy it too . ( BTW I'm happy married to the mermaid girl and have two sons and a daughter . ) * Just a side note here but if you do purchase this game look at the manual it is really good . The manual to this game is one of the best I've seen it mirrors some from Atlus . Colorful and informative just . Just awesome . Please leave a reply because I actually want to improve and make quality game reviews .
    • 086   As a long-time player of Harvest Moon games on both the DS and Wii , and a big fan of Rune Factory : Frontier for the Wii , I was disappointed in Rune Factory 3 . The biggest problem for me were the controls . Nothing about the controls of this game are intuitive , or like we're used to other DS games , even other Harvest Moon games . Unequipping and putting things away , like dropping off your items in the sell-box , are unnecessarily complicated . This is a real problem when this plays such a big part of the game , and because use of equipped items does drain your stamina and can ultimately cause your character to pass out . Worse is that there can be no real reason for making such basic controls that ridiculously unintuitive . Time also flows much too fast . In Frontier and other Harvest Moons , you have time for several different activities in a day . Not so here . Rune Factory games are pretty , and this one is no exception to that . It's just a pity such basic things as time flow and controls are going to suck all of the enjoyment out of it for many players .

  • Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) The game starts on a rainy night , when a young girl finds a golden woolly passed out . She drags the woolly in , over the protests of her grandfather , and puts it in bed . The next morning , the woolly has turned into a human and become your main character . So beings the unique role playing experience that is Rune Factory 3 . Compared to other role playing games ( such as the also excellent Final Fantasy IV for the DS ) , the game feels more lighthearted , even as the storyline explores prejudice - - - humans and monsters have separated into 2 separate towns , long ago . In terms of gameplay , the game is completely open-ended . You can do such things as combat ( which is more fast-paced than it was in previous Rune Factory offerings ) , spellcasting , farming , fishing , raising monsters , cooking and eventually make your own potions , craft your own weapons and make your own accessories ( such as shields , hats , and so on ) . In the Rune Factory series , your character can only do so much per day . The game represents this with Rune Points . Every action you perform with a tool , weapon or magic spell you cast ( except Teleport ) costs you Rune Points . When the Rune Points run out , your character will quickly die - - - your Hit Points are used up VERY quickly once your RP run out . However , you do slowly regain RP if you stand still and do nothing . If you die in the game , you wake up at the Apocathery . At first , revival is free . After a certain point , she starts charging you - - - more money as you go higher in level . As in any classic RPG , the main character goes up in levels . However , there are no specific classes in the Rune Factory games . Instead , the more you perform tasks , such as fishing , the skill goes up . This makes the task less strenuous ( i.e . uses less Rune Points ) and more effective ( weapons , for example , do more damage ) . This is an interesting mechanic which pushes you to become effective at a wide variety of tasks . Beyond that , the other non-player characters ( several of whom the main character can court ) are much more lively than in previous Rune Factory games . You can often see them moving around the town , carrying items , instead of standing in one place for hours like Zen masters . As for women you can court , there are a wide variety , including a mermaid and another half-human hybrid . Courting a woman , like in other Rune Factory games , is a matter of giving the right gifts and talking to them daily . Courting a woman is essential to the plot . In terms of farming , you even have to rotate crops - - - planting the same thing over and over causes the soil to become less effective , so crops take longer to grow . Unlike other Rune Factory games , weather can change twice a day , and storms do not lock you inside . Instead , you get to see your crops destroyed as you watch . One key thing to watch for is , unlike all other Rune Factory games , you can get rid of your farming implements , requiring you to either buy them again , or craft them again ( once you have a Forge ) . At a certain point , you regain the ability to transform back into the golden woolly . This is essential to the plot . As a woolly , you cannot use weapons or tools ( except magic ) but do a very good job fighting bare-handed . The more you fight bare-handed , the stronger you become at it . Overall , the game is excellent , and the wide variety of women you can court , plus the huge variety of skills , including 5 weapons skills , gives the game excellent replay value . As in other Rune Factory games , once you finish the main story arc , you can continue playing as long as you like .
    • 001   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I am impressed with this next installment of the Rune Factory series . Like usual , the main character has amnesia , and Shara finds an unconcious golden wooly at her door . When the wooly wakes up , he is actually a human . Shara offers him a vacant house to stay at and Micah ( default name of main character ) agrees . Then you must meet all the people and Shara will teach you the basics of farming . New Features : - Faster movement of the main character - Brand new monsters ! ( I love the elephant and penguin ones ) - Unique new characters - The village is a lot bigger than previous Rune Factory villages - New weapons ( duel blade sword ) - The bath house opens at 10 AM instead of 3 PM - The cave layouts have improved graphics and detailing - Micah can transform into a golden wooly - The music is tasteful and doesn't get annoying - A map on the top screen shows the village and where all the villagers are - Tons of quests to complete ( you can only do one per day though ) - Villagers can fight with you in caves once you befriend them Cons : - Sometimes it feels like the main character moves too quickly , it takes some getting used to - Recycled plot of amnesia ( doesn't bother me , but some players may not like it ) - Can get repetitive Overall , this is a good game and well worth the $ . I have been playing non-stop and I'm having a lot of fun . I like this game more than RF2 , it has improved a lot . The new monsters are cool looking and strong . I love all the new marrige candidates and the graphics are great . Definately a must buy !
    • 012   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This is easily the best game in the Rune Factory series , which is nice , since Rune Factory 2 was more of a lateral shift than an actual improvement . The farming simulation is deeper . The combat is more kinetic . The characters are better-developed and more entertaining . There are lots of neat little stories to experience . The main character is probably the most interesting of the series ( which surprised me , since the character design concerned me slightly . . . but in personality , he's significantly less girly than other RF characters ) . And once you reach a certain level of friendship , you can actually bring villagers along with you . Probably the best improvement is that time passes indoors . There always came a point in the earlier installments when I found myself going to bed at noon simply because there was nothing left to do , and I needed time to pass . In this game , once my farming chores are done , there's talking to villagers , or training , or working on requests , and because time passes indoors , all of these take time out of the day . You actually have to manage your time , which keeps the suspension of disbelief going quite well . The only downside with regard to gameplay is that money management is not necessary . Money comes easy in this game , almost from the beginning . But it isn't that much of a detriment , since time management is important enough to keep things interesting . The girls are really over-the-top . They all seem crazy in some way , fitting various anime archetypes : the sweet girl with the crazy family ( arguable the least interesting ) ; quiet and surly but intensely affectionate inside ; the boisterous and always hungry girl ; the insane nurse with the giant needle ; crazy-about-souvineers ( and the resident specifically Japanese stereotype , like Yue and Mei before her ) ; ditzy mermaid fish-rights activist ; rich-girl with a penchant for speaking in opposites ( okay , that one I've never seen before ) ; the tomboy fishing girl ; the crazy artsy girl ; and if humans aren't enough for you , the ethnocentric horned girl ( like a unicorn ) from the nearby monster community . They all become more interesting as you get to know them . All in all , an awesome product . I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to create a place of his own , save the world , and get the girl .
    • 013   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This is easily the best game in the Rune Factory series , which is nice , since Rune Factory 2 was more of a lateral shift than an actual improvement . The farming simulation is deeper . The combat is more kinetic . The characters are better-developed and more entertaining . There are lots of neat little stories to experience . The main character is probably the most interesting of the series ( which surprised me , since the character design concerned me slightly . . . but in personality , he's significantly less girly than other RF characters ) . And once you reach a certain level of friendship , you can actually bring villagers along with you . Probably the best improvement is that time passes indoors . There always came a point in the earlier installments when I found myself going to bed at noon simply because there was nothing left to do , and I needed time to pass . In this game , once my farming chores are done , there's talking to villagers , or training , or working on requests , and because time passes indoors , all of these take time out of the day . You actually have to manage your time , which keeps the suspension of disbelief going quite well . The only downside with regard to gameplay is that money management is not necessary . Money comes easy in this game , almost from the beginning . But it isn't that much of a detriment , since time management is important enough to keep things interesting . The girls are really over-the-top . They all seem crazy in some way , fitting various anime archetypes : the sweet girl with the crazy family ( arguable the least interesting ) ; quiet and surly but intensely affectionate inside ; the boisterous and always hungry girl ; the insane nurse with the giant needle ; crazy-about-souvineers ( and the resident specifically Japanese stereotype , like Yue and Mei before her ) ; ditzy mermaid fish-rights activist ; rich-girl with a penchant for speaking in opposites ( okay , that one I've never seen before ) ; the tomboy fishing girl ; the crazy artsy girl ; and if humans aren't enough for you , the ethnocentric horned girl ( like a unicorn ) from the nearby monster community . They all become more interesting as you get to know them . All in all , an awesome product . I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to create a place of his own , save the world , and get the girl .
    • 015   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I have played Rune Factory and Rune Factory 2 , both were okay games b7ut Rune factory 3 is by far the best in the series . Very fun game with basically infinite things to do , and ALOT of replay value . I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes Harvest Moon games or Jrpgs . Probably the best game I have played on the DS personally , thats all I really have to say .
    • 017   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game takes everything I love about Harvest Moon ( growing veggies , raising animals , interacting with the townsfolk ) and makes it even more awesome by adding action-RPG elements . It has a really extensive crafting system ( there are literally hundreds of recipes to learn ! ) and a dozen or so different potential girlfriends / wives , all of which I like . What's more , those items you craft have in-battle effects , like boosting your strength or restoring some RP ( energy , basically - - it's much more visible in this game than in other Harvest Moon games , so you can actually see when you've getting tired ) , and you can invite almost every single person in the game to join your party to help you take out baddies . As far as animals go , instead of standard sheep and cows , you actually have to go out and tame wild monsters by giving them food . After you've tamed them , you can either take them into battle with you , or have them help out around the farm , including sowing seeds , watering plants , and carrying veggies to the shipping bin . You don't have to do a lick of work on your farm if you don't want to . It's also really forgiving about your sleep schedule . Staying out a little too late rarely results in any major problems , and so far it has never automatically sent me to bed unless I died in a battle , and it always starts you out again at the same time you died , so you never miss anything . A few things bother me on occasion . When you're making weapons and armor , it doesn't show all of an item's abilities . It will show you how it changes your stats and what kind of damage it does , but it won't tell you its chance of causing poison or sleep , for instance , so some items seem a lot more useless than they really are . The 3D models of the characters really aren't that pretty to look at , either , but the 2D drawings of each character that come up every time you talk to them look really good . The storage bin and refrigerator are also kind of restricting in size , even with their size upgrades you can get later in the game . I wish I could hold more types of items . All in all , it's a really great game . It's everything I want from this genre , and I'm really sad I haven't heard more about this series elsewhere on the ' net .
    • 018   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game takes everything I love about Harvest Moon ( growing veggies , raising animals , interacting with the townsfolk ) and makes it even more awesome by adding action-RPG elements . It has a really extensive crafting system ( there are literally hundreds of recipes to learn ! ) and a dozen or so different potential girlfriends / wives , all of which I like . What's more , those items you craft have in-battle effects , like boosting your strength or restoring some RP ( energy , basically - - it's much more visible in this game than in other Harvest Moon games , so you can actually see when you've getting tired ) , and you can invite almost every single person in the game to join your party to help you take out baddies . As far as animals go , instead of standard sheep and cows , you actually have to go out and tame wild monsters by giving them food . After you've tamed them , you can either take them into battle with you , or have them help out around the farm , including sowing seeds , watering plants , and carrying veggies to the shipping bin . You don't have to do a lick of work on your farm if you don't want to . It's also really forgiving about your sleep schedule . Staying out a little too late rarely results in any major problems , and so far it has never automatically sent me to bed unless I died in a battle , and it always starts you out again at the same time you died , so you never miss anything . A few things bother me on occasion . When you're making weapons and armor , it doesn't show all of an item's abilities . It will show you how it changes your stats and what kind of damage it does , but it won't tell you its chance of causing poison or sleep , for instance , so some items seem a lot more useless than they really are . The 3D models of the characters really aren't that pretty to look at , either , but the 2D drawings of each character that come up every time you talk to them look really good . The storage bin and refrigerator are also kind of restricting in size , even with their size upgrades you can get later in the game . I wish I could hold more types of items . All in all , it's a really great game . It's everything I want from this genre , and I'm really sad I haven't heard more about this series elsewhere on the ' net .
    • 020   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Ever since I received this game I couldn't put it down . After buying Rune Factory 2 I was annoyed with certain features of the game and the repeative tasks you had to do . Not in this game . Rune Factory 3 fixed all those annoying parts and you stay with your main character the entire time ( no second generation ) which is a major plus . Of course you still farm and fish and do all the skill building as in other Rune Factory games , but luckily it doesn't take up as much time as the other games in my opinion . Instead , you are free to do requests ( one each day per request board ) and wander about as you like . The characters are very unique with more people and personalities in the town than ever , not the mention having a quite useful map that shows where they are instead of having to waste time running around . Also , you play a sort of double-life in this game which shakes things up a bit . Overall this game is a 10 in fun . The only negative I could possibly give this game is the time during each day goes a bit faster than I'd like , but you adjust as you play the game . From one Rune Factory Player to another , this game is worth buying !
    • 021   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Ever since I received this game I couldn't put it down . After buying Rune Factory 2 I was annoyed with certain features of the game and the repeative tasks you had to do . Not in this game . Rune Factory 3 fixed all those annoying parts and you stay with your main character the entire time ( no second generation ) which is a major plus . Of course you still farm and fish and do all the skill building as in other Rune Factory games , but luckily it doesn't take up as much time as the other games in my opinion . Instead , you are free to do requests ( one each day per request board ) and wander about as you like . The characters are very unique with more people and personalities in the town than ever , not the mention having a quite useful map that shows where they are instead of having to waste time running around . Also , you play a sort of double-life in this game which shakes things up a bit . Overall this game is a 10 in fun . The only negative I could possibly give this game is the time during each day goes a bit faster than I'd like , but you adjust as you play the game . From one Rune Factory Player to another , this game is worth buying !
    • 023   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) This game is fun , with an easy to pick up game controls . The side quests are fun , but you can only do one per day . The characters are fun and unique , but the best part is that you can take them into the dungeons with you to fight alongside you . Nifty option , but you have to level them up . My only other complaint is that the dungeons are a bit small . Beyond that , this game is a great addition to the franchise , and a definite improvement to the DS line .
    • 024   This game is fun , with an easy to pick up game controls . The side quests are fun , but you can only do one per day . The characters are fun and unique , but the best part is that you can take them into the dungeons with you to fight alongside you . Nifty option , but you have to level them up . My only other complaint is that the dungeons are a bit small . Beyond that , this game is a great addition to the franchise , and a definite improvement to the DS line .
    • 025   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I hadn't played any of the previous Rune Factory games before picking this one up , although I have played the Harvest Moon series that it is based off . The Japanese art style is nice and the game has a nice relaxing tone to it overall . The main goals of the game are farming and marriage , although you can get along without farming by fighting monsters and selling the items they drop instead of by growing crops or fishing . There are a large number of weapons to use to fight monsters as well and the combat plays surprisingly well despite being only one aspect of the game . Each weapon has a different feel to it and there are different weapon types available . You are able to craft weapons yourself using items you gather at the forge or by simply buying them at the store . You can upgrade weapons and farming tools you already own and you can also cook food . The game will reward you for exploring it as much as possible , every activity in the game you do can increase your characters rune points ( essentially his stamina ) allowing him to work for longer before he gets tired . Each day runs on a realtime schedule , an ingame day is about 10 or so real minutes . You will be running around busily trying to fit in socializing , fighting monsters , watering your crops and more before the day runs out . Every 30 days counts as a season ( spring , summer , etc ) and each season has its own crops , fish and weather patterns . Despite the colorful nature of the game it is probably enjoyed more by a slighter older audience due to its main goals being farming and marriage . There are also a few sexual innuendos in the game that kids won't spot . What really makes the game memorable is its characters , they change their dialogue frequently and have all have interesting personalities and things to say . You can watch them run around the town every day looking busy . Some days are holidays to give the player a break and time to interact with them . You can also take on a variety of tasks from the villagers ranging from delivering a message to taking them to a romantic spot and you will often get a reward or a funny scene after completing these . It is worth replaying the game multiple times in order to marry a different girl ( I had trouble picking the first time ) . The game has a whopping 12 marriage candidates for you to choose from . As you can guess , it can occupy a huge amount of time , if you need a game for a long ride or something , look no further . I can't recommend it as a gift , since the game is about living on a fantasy farm and it may not appeal to some people . However for anyone who's interested , definitely pick it up . This is one of the best games out there for the system .
    • 026   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I hadn't played any of the previous Rune Factory games before picking this one up , although I have played the Harvest Moon series that it is based off . The Japanese art style is nice and the game has a nice relaxing tone to it overall . The main goals of the game are farming and marriage , although you can get along without farming by fighting monsters and selling the items they drop instead of by growing crops or fishing . There are a large number of weapons to use to fight monsters as well and the combat plays surprisingly well despite being only one aspect of the game . Each weapon has a different feel to it and there are different weapon types available . You are able to craft weapons yourself using items you gather at the forge or by simply buying them at the store . You can upgrade weapons and farming tools you already own and you can also cook food . The game will reward you for exploring it as much as possible , every activity in the game you do can increase your characters rune points ( essentially his stamina ) allowing him to work for longer before he gets tired . Each day runs on a realtime schedule , an ingame day is about 10 or so real minutes . You will be running around busily trying to fit in socializing , fighting monsters , watering your crops and more before the day runs out . Every 30 days counts as a season ( spring , summer , etc ) and each season has its own crops , fish and weather patterns . Despite the colorful nature of the game it is probably enjoyed more by a slighter older audience due to its main goals being farming and marriage . There are also a few sexual innuendos in the game that kids won't spot . What really makes the game memorable is its characters , they change their dialogue frequently and have all have interesting personalities and things to say . You can watch them run around the town every day looking busy . Some days are holidays to give the player a break and time to interact with them . You can also take on a variety of tasks from the villagers ranging from delivering a message to taking them to a romantic spot and you will often get a reward or a funny scene after completing these . It is worth replaying the game multiple times in order to marry a different girl ( I had trouble picking the first time ) . The game has a whopping 12 marriage candidates for you to choose from . As you can guess , it can occupy a huge amount of time , if you need a game for a long ride or something , look no further . I can't recommend it as a gift , since the game is about living on a fantasy farm and it may not appeal to some people . However for anyone who's interested , definitely pick it up . This is one of the best games out there for the system .
    • 030   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) After playing the first Rune Factory game , I was pretty disappointed but I knew my love for any Harvest Moon type game would have me coming back . Rune Factory 2 was an improvement , though not without its own faults and shortcomings . I waited eagerly for the third installment and boy , was I rewarded for my patience ! Rune Factory 3 is hands down the best of the DS Rune Factory trilogy . Both the farming and the RPG aspects of the game have been polished for great gameplay and hours of addicting entertainment . If you find yourself getting bored with one feature , try your hand at one of the many other undertakings offered to your monster cum farmer . Had enough of tending to your plants for now ? Give your soil a rest , pick up your hammer , and go out mining ! While fans of the Rune Factory series will love this charming gem , it's not a game for everyone . Hardcore RPG players may be disappointed at the limited dungeons and simplistic weapon / magic system . The plot is trite , but anyone playing for the plot seriously needs to reevaluate their game decisions . Die hard Harvest Moon fans won't be crazy about raising monsters instead of cows , chickens , and sheep . But overall , Rune Factory 3 should stand up to any DS owner's desires ! If you enjoy funny , cute , entertaining games , this one is absolutely worth the buy !
    • 031   After playing the first Rune Factory game , I was pretty disappointed but I knew my love for any Harvest Moon type game would have me coming back . Rune Factory 2 was an improvement , though not without its own faults and shortcomings . I waited eagerly for the third installment and boy , was I rewarded for my patience ! Rune Factory 3 is hands down the best of the DS Rune Factory trilogy . Both the farming and the RPG aspects of the game have been polished for great gameplay and hours of addicting entertainment . If you find yourself getting bored with one feature , try your hand at one of the many other undertakings offered to your monster cum farmer . Had enough of tending to your plants for now ? Give your soil a rest , pick up your hammer , and go out mining ! While fans of the Rune Factory series will love this charming gem , it's not a game for everyone . Hardcore RPG players may be disappointed at the limited dungeons and simplistic weapon / magic system . The plot is trite , but anyone playing for the plot seriously needs to reevaluate their game decisions . Die hard Harvest Moon fans won't be crazy about raising monsters instead of cows , chickens , and sheep . But overall , Rune Factory 3 should stand up to any DS owner's desires ! If you enjoy funny , cute , entertaining games , this one is absolutely worth the buy !
    • 032   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) TL ; DR Recap : Rune Factory 3 is fun and worth your purchase if you like Harvest Moon games or light hack-and-slash games . - - - Rune Factory was originaly created in tandem with another offshoot of the Harvest Moon franchise , Innocent Life : A Futuristic Harvest Moon for the Play Station Portable . Innocent Life failed to capture an audience perhaps for being TOO different from the forumla fans of the games have come to expect . Rune Factory meanwhile has seen four games in the series , with a fifth on the way as of this review , and that can be boiled down to the games being very much like their mother series with the added bonus of breezy dungeons to hack and slash through . Now , if you have ever played a dunegon crawler in your life , or even a Legend of Zelda title , the dungeons in this series will almost never be a challenge for you . The original Rune Factory was easy in terms of all areas of gameplay ( earning money , progressing through dunegons , wooing women ) but that can be forgiven for being the first of the experiment . Rune Factory 2 decided to up the ante and offered harder dunegons than the first and made it not AS easy to completely dominate the in-game economy . Yet with the shoehorning of having it so only your child can complete the dungeons , the game felt a little hollow to me as it tried to create a grander story . Rune Factory Frontier offered a larger experience that only a console title could and was a great improvement over the first two titles . The dungeons got progressively harder and you had to really work at conquering the last two , a fun departure . However , the developers introduced micromanagement in the form of regulating the population of little spirit critters called Runeys . This was always extremely vexing to do due to clunky controls for the process and if you let the Runeys die out of neglect / over-management / sheer spite , the game would happily punish you with severe weather , ruining your crops . Rune Factory 3 has taken most of the improvements made to the series over time and exorcised just about everything that wasn't working for it . It is my deepest hope that Rune Factory Oceans will take the improvements and new features of this game and run with them , because Frontier was great aside from the Runey System . The women have unique personalities , the localization has vastly improved over every other game Natsume has ever published , the festivals are fun , and monster management is now easier than ever . Sadly the dunegons return to being rather easy , but in this title I happily cranked them out just to progress the story and see how the villagers would change due to it . Also , unless Natsume cleans up the WiFi player rankings of the fine lads and lasses who are using Action Replay to enhance their gameplay , you will never see yourself anywhere close to the top of the charts . It is still worth logging your scores however , as the game is generous with prizes if you update regularly .
    • 033   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) TL ; DR Recap : Rune Factory 3 is fun and worth your purchase if you like Harvest Moon games or light hack-and-slash games . - - - Rune Factory was originaly created in tandem with another offshoot of the Harvest Moon franchise , Innocent Life : A Futuristic Harvest Moon for the Play Station Portable . Innocent Life failed to capture an audience perhaps for being TOO different from the forumla fans of the games have come to expect . Rune Factory meanwhile has seen four games in the series , with a fifth on the way as of this review , and that can be boiled down to the games being very much like their mother series with the added bonus of breezy dungeons to hack and slash through . Now , if you have ever played a dunegon crawler in your life , or even a Legend of Zelda title , the dungeons in this series will almost never be a challenge for you . The original Rune Factory was easy in terms of all areas of gameplay ( earning money , progressing through dunegons , wooing women ) but that can be forgiven for being the first of the experiment . Rune Factory 2 decided to up the ante and offered harder dunegons than the first and made it not AS easy to completely dominate the in-game economy . Yet with the shoehorning of having it so only your child can complete the dungeons , the game felt a little hollow to me as it tried to create a grander story . Rune Factory Frontier offered a larger experience that only a console title could and was a great improvement over the first two titles . The dungeons got progressively harder and you had to really work at conquering the last two , a fun departure . However , the developers introduced micromanagement in the form of regulating the population of little spirit critters called Runeys . This was always extremely vexing to do due to clunky controls for the process and if you let the Runeys die out of neglect / over-management / sheer spite , the game would happily punish you with severe weather , ruining your crops . Rune Factory 3 has taken most of the improvements made to the series over time and exorcised just about everything that wasn't working for it . It is my deepest hope that Rune Factory Oceans will take the improvements and new features of this game and run with them , because Frontier was great aside from the Runey System . The women have unique personalities , the localization has vastly improved over every other game Natsume has ever published , the festivals are fun , and monster management is now easier than ever . Sadly the dunegons return to being rather easy , but in this title I happily cranked them out just to progress the story and see how the villagers would change due to it . Also , unless Natsume cleans up the WiFi player rankings of the fine lads and lasses who are using Action Replay to enhance their gameplay , you will never see yourself anywhere close to the top of the charts . It is still worth logging your scores however , as the game is generous with prizes if you update regularly .
    • 038   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Most games have a couple of different things to do - this game has so many that I can't even list them all . It's a game that is a cross between a dungeon crawler , farming management , dating simulation and full-featured RPG . Very innovative , very addicting , highly recommended .
    • 039   Most games have a couple of different things to do - this game has so many that I can't even list them all . It's a game that is a cross between a dungeon crawler , farming management , dating simulation and full-featured RPG . Very innovative , very addicting , highly recommended .
    • 040   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) The game starts on a rainy night , when a young girl finds a golden woolly passed out . She drags the woolly in , over the protests of her grandfather , and puts it in bed . The next morning , the woolly has turned into a human and become your main character . So beings the unique role playing experience that is Rune Factory 3 . Compared to other role playing games ( such as the also excellent Final Fantasy IV for the DS ) , the game feels more lighthearted , even as the storyline explores prejudice - - - humans and monsters have separated into 2 separate towns , long ago . In terms of gameplay , the game is completely open-ended . You can do such things as combat ( which is more fast-paced than it was in previous Rune Factory offerings ) , spellcasting , farming , fishing , raising monsters , cooking and eventually make your own potions , craft your own weapons and make your own accessories ( such as shields , hats , and so on ) . In the Rune Factory series , your character can only do so much per day . The game represents this with Rune Points . Every action you perform with a tool , weapon or magic spell you cast ( except Teleport ) costs you Rune Points . When the Rune Points run out , your character will quickly die - - - your Hit Points are used up VERY quickly once your RP run out . However , you do slowly regain RP if you stand still and do nothing . If you die in the game , you wake up at the Apocathery . At first , revival is free . After a certain point , she starts charging you - - - more money as you go higher in level . As in any classic RPG , the main character goes up in levels . However , there are no specific classes in the Rune Factory games . Instead , the more you perform tasks , such as fishing , the skill goes up . This makes the task less strenuous ( i.e . uses less Rune Points ) and more effective ( weapons , for example , do more damage ) . This is an interesting mechanic which pushes you to become effective at a wide variety of tasks . Beyond that , the other non-player characters ( several of whom the main character can court ) are much more lively than in previous Rune Factory games . You can often see them moving around the town , carrying items , instead of standing in one place for hours like Zen masters . As for women you can court , there are a wide variety , including a mermaid and another half-human hybrid . Courting a woman , like in other Rune Factory games , is a matter of giving the right gifts and talking to them daily . Courting a woman is essential to the plot . In terms of farming , you even have to rotate crops - - - planting the same thing over and over causes the soil to become less effective , so crops take longer to grow . Unlike other Rune Factory games , weather can change twice a day , and storms do not lock you inside . Instead , you get to see your crops destroyed as you watch . One key thing to watch for is , unlike all other Rune Factory games , you can get rid of your farming implements , requiring you to either buy them again , or craft them again ( once you have a Forge ) . At a certain point , you regain the ability to transform back into the golden woolly . This is essential to the plot . As a woolly , you cannot use weapons or tools ( except magic ) but do a very good job fighting bare-handed . The more you fight bare-handed , the stronger you become at it . Overall , the game is excellent , and the wide variety of women you can court , plus the huge variety of skills , including 5 weapons skills , gives the game excellent replay value . As in other Rune Factory games , once you finish the main story arc , you can continue playing as long as you like .
    • 045   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I don't really have a lot of money so I put oodles of time into research before buying this , and I wasn't disappointed . This game has everything , from monster hunting , to farming , to finding a bride it's all in here . You can even turn yourself into a monster and visit a village of monster people . ( who are actually very pretty looking in my opinion ) . If you want a go at your own pace game with a bazilion ( slight exaggeration ) things to do , then I highly recommend !
    • 046   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I don't really have a lot of money so I put oodles of time into research before buying this , and I wasn't disappointed . This game has everything , from monster hunting , to farming , to finding a bride it's all in here . You can even turn yourself into a monster and visit a village of monster people . ( who are actually very pretty looking in my opinion ) . If you want a go at your own pace game with a bazilion ( slight exaggeration ) things to do , then I highly recommend !
    • 047   I don't really have a lot of money so I put oodles of time into research before buying this , and I wasn't disappointed . This game has everything , from monster hunting , to farming , to finding a bride it's all in here . You can even turn yourself into a monster and visit a village of monster people . ( who are actually very pretty looking in my opinion ) . If you want a go at your own pace game with a bazilion ( slight exaggeration ) things to do , then I highly recommend !
    • 048   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Really enjoyed this game so far . Love the Rune Factory and Harvest Moon series . Have to say this one is better than Rune Factory 2 . Graphics are super cute and it flows a lot nicer . Not very far into the game yet , but really enjoying it so far .
    • 049   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Really enjoyed this game so far . Love the Rune Factory and Harvest Moon series . Have to say this one is better than Rune Factory 2 . Graphics are super cute and it flows a lot nicer . Not very far into the game yet , but really enjoying it so far .
    • 050   Really enjoyed this game so far . Love the Rune Factory and Harvest Moon series . Have to say this one is better than Rune Factory 2 . Graphics are super cute and it flows a lot nicer . Not very far into the game yet , but really enjoying it so far .
    • 051   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I loved the series , being its never ending : ) its not tiredsome being you xplore alot in different areas . Highly recommend it to anyone that wants a game that never ends and thats fun and has patience to explore different things on it .
    • 052   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I loved the series , being its never ending : ) its not tiredsome being you xplore alot in different areas . Highly recommend it to anyone that wants a game that never ends and thats fun and has patience to explore different things on it .
    • 053   I loved the series , being its never ending : ) its not tiredsome being you xplore alot in different areas . Highly recommend it to anyone that wants a game that never ends and thats fun and has patience to explore different things on it .
    • 054   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I got this as a gift for my gf and ended up playing it myself . This game is really fantastic ! It's far more fun and engaging than my initial impression . The game has a good pace and a lot of flexibility to do what you like . It's also nice that it has multiple save files . Graphics and sound are great too .
    • 055   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I got this as a gift for my gf and ended up playing it myself . This game is really fantastic ! It's far more fun and engaging than my initial impression . The game has a good pace and a lot of flexibility to do what you like . It's also nice that it has multiple save files . Graphics and sound are great too .
    • 056   I got this as a gift for my gf and ended up playing it myself . This game is really fantastic ! It's far more fun and engaging than my initial impression . The game has a good pace and a lot of flexibility to do what you like . It's also nice that it has multiple save files . Graphics and sound are great too .
    • 060   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Woooooo , after a good while of playing Rune Factory 3 I absolutely love it . The system is nice , the time advances even in buildings so you have to pace your work , the combat system is also a lot better than the past games . The system is definitely an improvement from it's predecessors . Hell , the weather system is also dynamic since it can change mid-day . Of course , that means hurricanes mid-day which are absolutely trolls . At least the game allows you to work during hurricanes as well as visit the other characters . The party system is also very good , since you can now invite villagers to fight with you in dungeons and stuff . None of the villagers are any good at first until you've actually leveled them up or raised their stats by giving them certain items . Their favorite items of course heal them quite a bit . The only problem I had was most likely the depth of the story , the dungeons are amazingly short . They could be longer , a lot longer . Of course , they give you another dungeon in the Sharance Tree that Micah , the main character , lives in . A randomly generated dungeon that can give items and can be used for general training , not farming of course . If I had to say one thing it would be : If you ever play Rune Factory 3 , you will never go back to 1 , 2 , or Frontier ever again . That's my opinion though .
    • 061   Woooooo , after a good while of playing Rune Factory 3 I absolutely love it . The system is nice , the time advances even in buildings so you have to pace your work , the combat system is also a lot better than the past games . The system is definitely an improvement from it's predecessors . Hell , the weather system is also dynamic since it can change mid-day . Of course , that means hurricanes mid-day which are absolutely trolls . At least the game allows you to work during hurricanes as well as visit the other characters . The party system is also very good , since you can now invite villagers to fight with you in dungeons and stuff . None of the villagers are any good at first until you've actually leveled them up or raised their stats by giving them certain items . Their favorite items of course heal them quite a bit . The only problem I had was most likely the depth of the story , the dungeons are amazingly short . They could be longer , a lot longer . Of course , they give you another dungeon in the Sharance Tree that Micah , the main character , lives in . A randomly generated dungeon that can give items and can be used for general training , not farming of course . If I had to say one thing it would be : If you ever play Rune Factory 3 , you will never go back to 1 , 2 , or Frontier ever again . That's my opinion though .
    • 064   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I bought this game for my daughter for Christmas . She has spent many hours after homework and school stress playing this game . She often smiles and laughs as she plays it . I have sat beside her and watched her play . It's confusing to a modern equipment challenged mom , but the younger generation would enjoy it !
    • 065   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I bought this game for my daughter for Christmas . She has spent many hours after homework and school stress playing this game . She often smiles and laughs as she plays it . I have sat beside her and watched her play . It's confusing to a modern equipment challenged mom , but the younger generation would enjoy it !
    • 066   I bought this game for my daughter for Christmas . She has spent many hours after homework and school stress playing this game . She often smiles and laughs as she plays it . I have sat beside her and watched her play . It's confusing to a modern equipment challenged mom , but the younger generation would enjoy it !
    • 070   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) I'm a hardcore gamer , so most DS games do not appeal to me . A lot of DS games are so casual that I can't even see children enjoying them . Rune Factory 3 is not one of those games . The time and detail put into creating this game is so clear ; it is refreshing . Any gamer , young or old , could appreciate the quality of this game . While the plot is basically nonexistent , it is supplemented by the numerous diverse and interesting characters . Many characters offer quite a bit of development with their deep dark pasts - a JRPG mainstay . Unlike old school Harvest Moon games , Rune Factory 3 has a combat system , and a great one at that . It is simple enough to appeal to any gamer , and deep enough to allure even more dedicated players like myself . Brilliant art design ( though in obvious stereotype anime style ) coupled with vibrant voice acting created a very sensual experience . It brings the world and characters to life - a welcome change to the silent characters of yesterday . My only gripes are the repetitiveness of quests ( mostly fetch it quests ) , the often poor quest rewards , and the almost pointlessness of the farming aspect of the game ( for me it only serves as extra cash to fund my adventuring ) . These minor gripes can be overlooked with the many ways the game keeps things fresh and progressive .
    • 071   I'm a hardcore gamer , so most DS games do not appeal to me . A lot of DS games are so casual that I can't even see children enjoying them . Rune Factory 3 is not one of those games . The time and detail put into creating this game is so clear ; it is refreshing . Any gamer , young or old , could appreciate the quality of this game . While the plot is basically nonexistent , it is supplemented by the numerous diverse and interesting characters . Many characters offer quite a bit of development with their deep dark pasts - a JRPG mainstay . Unlike old school Harvest Moon games , Rune Factory 3 has a combat system , and a great one at that . It is simple enough to appeal to any gamer , and deep enough to allure even more dedicated players like myself . Brilliant art design ( though in obvious stereotype anime style ) coupled with vibrant voice acting created a very sensual experience . It brings the world and characters to life - a welcome change to the silent characters of yesterday . My only gripes are the repetitiveness of quests ( mostly fetch it quests ) , the often poor quest rewards , and the almost pointlessness of the farming aspect of the game ( for me it only serves as extra cash to fund my adventuring ) . These minor gripes can be overlooked with the many ways the game keeps things fresh and progressive .
    • 074   This game is great ! I've played a lot of Natsume games over the years , and this one is right up there with the original Harvest Moon . I've been around to play classics , like harvest moon , harvest moon 64 , legend of the river king , and many more , and this game did not disappoint . it was on par with all of them . Good Job Natsume !
    • 075   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) An excellent entry into the already fantastic Rune Factory series . Combat is far more fluid than its predecessors and feels satisfying , and a lot of the more cumbersome aspects of farming have been greatly streamlined . The writing and localization are of good quality , and though the story itself isn't remarkable , the characters themselves can be very engaging . If you enjoy RF 1 , 2 , or Frontier on the Wii , you'll easily enjoy this .
    • 076   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) An excellent entry into the already fantastic Rune Factory series . Combat is far more fluid than its predecessors and feels satisfying , and a lot of the more cumbersome aspects of farming have been greatly streamlined . The writing and localization are of good quality , and though the story itself isn't remarkable , the characters themselves can be very engaging . If you enjoy RF 1 , 2 , or Frontier on the Wii , you'll easily enjoy this .
    • 077   An excellent entry into the already fantastic Rune Factory series . Combat is far more fluid than its predecessors and feels satisfying , and a lot of the more cumbersome aspects of farming have been greatly streamlined . The writing and localization are of good quality , and though the story itself isn't remarkable , the characters themselves can be very engaging . If you enjoy RF 1 , 2 , or Frontier on the Wii , you'll easily enjoy this .
    • 081   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Other reviews have done well explaining the pros and cons of this game . I'm going to tell you about the multiplayer of the game . You can only locally que up with 2 other people , and it lags when a lot of things are going on in the game , but it does not take away from the enjoyment of the multiplayer dungeon crawling part . If your bother by slow down , it might bother you . Now , me and my two family members , just got down fighting a shell fish level 65 ( us being in the range of 40 - 45 ) , and it was awesome . We have a tough time being under level , but we had a designated healer . We slash , use magic , use more magic to find the best magic that deals the most damage , and died . . . a lot . You can only attack the front due to the shell shielding most of it's body . It toss exploding barrels , and we had to dodge it . Long story short , our healer died , and I was screaming for heals , 100 hp from death , my sister decided to throw a potion at me to see if that will work , and it did . . . she then proceeded to just throw potion , and we manage to kill the boss . We all had a good laugh at the part were the potion was thrown to save the fight . . . extremely funny ; the best part is , she tried to review our dead healer by throwing a potion at him . . . it did not work . Overall , the multiplayer was a blast to play with friends and family . We all played on our Nintendo DS Lite . I'm not sure if there is slow down on the DSI since it has better hardware . Great game , now , I have to decide who I want to marry ; Raven or Pia , I can't decide ! Story mode is just as fun , and you will love the characters in the game .
    • 082   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) Other reviews have done well explaining the pros and cons of this game . I'm going to tell you about the multiplayer of the game . You can only locally que up with 2 other people , and it lags when a lot of things are going on in the game , but it does not take away from the enjoyment of the multiplayer dungeon crawling part . If your bother by slow down , it might bother you . Now , me and my two family members , just got down fighting a shell fish level 65 ( us being in the range of 40 - 45 ) , and it was awesome . We have a tough time being under level , but we had a designated healer . We slash , use magic , use more magic to find the best magic that deals the most damage , and died . . . a lot . You can only attack the front due to the shell shielding most of it's body . It toss exploding barrels , and we had to dodge it . Long story short , our healer died , and I was screaming for heals , 100 hp from death , my sister decided to throw a potion at me to see if that will work , and it did . . . she then proceeded to just throw potion , and we manage to kill the boss . We all had a good laugh at the part were the potion was thrown to save the fight . . . extremely funny ; the best part is , she tried to review our dead healer by throwing a potion at him . . . it did not work . Overall , the multiplayer was a blast to play with friends and family . We all played on our Nintendo DS Lite . I'm not sure if there is slow down on the DSI since it has better hardware . Great game , now , I have to decide who I want to marry ; Raven or Pia , I can't decide ! Story mode is just as fun , and you will love the characters in the game .
    • 083   Other reviews have done well explaining the pros and cons of this game . I'm going to tell you about the multiplayer of the game . You can only locally que up with 2 other people , and it lags when a lot of things are going on in the game , but it does not take away from the enjoyment of the multiplayer dungeon crawling part . If your bother by slow down , it might bother you . Now , me and my two family members , just got down fighting a shell fish level 65 ( us being in the range of 40 - 45 ) , and it was awesome . We have a tough time being under level , but we had a designated healer . We slash , use magic , use more magic to find the best magic that deals the most damage , and died . . . a lot . You can only attack the front due to the shell shielding most of it's body . It toss exploding barrels , and we had to dodge it . Long story short , our healer died , and I was screaming for heals , 100 hp from death , my sister decided to throw a potion at me to see if that will work , and it did . . . she then proceeded to just throw potion , and we manage to kill the boss . We all had a good laugh at the part were the potion was thrown to save the fight . . . extremely funny ; the best part is , she tried to review our dead healer by throwing a potion at him . . . it did not work . Overall , the multiplayer was a blast to play with friends and family . We all played on our Nintendo DS Lite . I'm not sure if there is slow down on the DSI since it has better hardware . Great game , now , I have to decide who I want to marry ; Raven or Pia , I can't decide ! Story mode is just as fun , and you will love the characters in the game .
    • 084   Amazon Verified Purchase ( What's this ? ) This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) As a long-time player of Harvest Moon games on both the DS and Wii , and a big fan of Rune Factory : Frontier for the Wii , I was disappointed in Rune Factory 3 . The biggest problem for me were the controls . Nothing about the controls of this game are intuitive , or like we're used to other DS games , even other Harvest Moon games . Unequipping and putting things away , like dropping off your items in the sell-box , are unnecessarily complicated . This is a real problem when this plays such a big part of the game , and because use of equipped items does drain your stamina and can ultimately cause your character to pass out . Worse is that there can be no real reason for making such basic controls that ridiculously unintuitive . Time also flows much too fast . In Frontier and other Harvest Moons , you have time for several different activities in a day . Not so here . Rune Factory games are pretty , and this one is no exception to that . It's just a pity such basic things as time flow and controls are going to suck all of the enjoyment out of it for many players .
    • 085   This review is from : Rune Factory 3 : A Fantasy Harvest Moon ( Video Game ) As a long-time player of Harvest Moon games on both the DS and Wii , and a big fan of Rune Factory : Frontier for the Wii , I was disappointed in Rune Factory 3 . The biggest problem for me were the controls . Nothing about the controls of this game are intuitive , or like we're used to other DS games , even other Harvest Moon games . Unequipping and putting things away , like dropping off your items in the sell-box , are unnecessarily complicated . This is a real problem when this plays such a big part of the game , and because use of equipped items does drain your stamina and can ultimately cause your character to pass out . Worse is that there can be no real reason for making such basic controls that ridiculously unintuitive . Time also flows much too fast . In Frontier and other Harvest Moons , you have time for several different activities in a day . Not so here . Rune Factory games are pretty , and this one is no exception to that . It's just a pity such basic things as time flow and controls are going to suck all of the enjoyment out of it for many players .

Global Market ( in english )

midi, music score     livejournal taktak0 blog