Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

THE BAD:
- If you faint in the caves you are returned to the title screen and have to start from your last save.
- Some characthers/scences do not have voice overs.
- Sometimes the graphics may play tricks, and you think you have died, or you are hurt and they didn't touch you.
- One Bacholorette only moves in after you beat the game.
- You need to do both sides of the game - Caves and Farming - to get the full enjoyment.

SUMMARY:
Harvest Moon has always been about farming, and starting a family. Rune Factory combines those two aspects with fantasy. Monsters are introduced to the world of Harvest Moon, and a storyline that leaves you baffled is nothing short of a thrill. With many new mysteries to solve, and a whole new array of villagers to befriend, Harvest Moon is at a new level.

It all starts when you, a young boy who lost his memory, faints in front of a house. A young girl, who goes by the name of Mist -who just might be one of those lucky girls-, finds you. You tell her that you are hungry, and she brings you a hoe, you tell her you are thirsty, and she brings you a watering can. You then tell her you wanted bread and drinking water, and she gets it for you.

She tells you that she thinks you have the makings of a farmer. You are offered a plot of land, and she persuades you to take it. While she tells you about the land, a monster appears, you have to fight it. After you defeat it, is when the real adventure begins... but Mist will tell you the reason.

Not long after meeting Mist, you will be visited by another young girl, named Bianca, who is also an eligible Bacholorette. She is the richest person in town, and she will quickly introduce herself, then complain about your house and leave.

While you explore the town, you meet 7 of the other eligible Bacholorettes: Felicity, Lara, Tabatha, Tori, Melody, Mei, and Rosetta. On the outskirts of town near some ruins, you meet Sharron, another Bacholorette.

If you speak with Felicity's father, Godwin, the mayor, he will tell you about the caves, and then tell you the requirements to get into them. After completing the requirement, the storyline finally comes to the caves, where many things will be revealed about you.

But watch out, and be careful, the monsters aren't push overs. A couple of people will help you along your way in the caves, and one just might be the key to your past. But Lynette, another Bacholorette whom you shall meet later in the storyline, just might be your end...

After the storyline, the game may become a little repetitive. But there is always something to look forward to. You can get married, if you haven't already, get all monster huts built, and even choose what monsters you want to befriend. If you set a goal, you will find yourself with hours of thrilling gameplay. If you tire with In-game play, why not show off on wi-fi? Perhaps trade? Your choice!

The down points amongst all the action and strategy, are the few glitches that lie within the game, which can either jepordize or benefit your file. The first glitch is the Winter 30th Glitch. This happens in Misty Bloom Cave, if you use the sleeping bag, a tool given to you before you beat the first cave boss by a villager, inside the cave on the 30th of winter, your game file will become corrupt. Very few have bypassed this.

The second is the Ride Your Wolf Anywhere glitch. For this glitch, you need a specific monster, called a Silver Wolf. The monster needs to be on the very edge of the screen, you then jump on it's back, and you can ride it anywhere. Very few people could do this, it's all by luck. Most use it to Get into Misty Bloom Cave during any season other than Winter.

The third glitch is the No Time Clearing glitch. At the beginning of the game, you can use this 'glitch' to organize and clear your field partly, without any time passing by. It's a useful trick for beginners, just to get your farm going!

So to all Harvest Moon Fans, and to all those who aren't, I recommend this game to you. The challenges that await are worth it.

THE BAD:
~Inconsistent voicing
~Graphics are sometimes rough and seem unfinished

SUMMARY:
Yes, we've all played a Harvest Moon game at some point in our lives. From the late '80s to today, it has become a great fad among gamers and non-gamers alike, introducing a game where you don't need to know how to swing a sword, defeat a boss, or get a high score. But after a few versions of this, it seems almost a little repetitive. Rune Factory to the rescue, my fellow gamers! From fighting monsters in caves to forging weapons, this game makes sure we won't forget the Harvest Moon game for a long, long time.

Harvest Moon is, basically, a farming sim. You raise animals, grow crops, befriend the always-cheerful villagers, marry, and have children. What Rune Factory does is add in a little action. You stumble into the little village of Kardia, faint and exhausted and ready to just keel over. You can't remember who you are or where you came from. A young girl named Mist finds you and gives you a home, working on her quite spacious farm. Soon, you realize you have a gift for fighting, which is just what the mayor, Godwin, needs. The caves nearby are full of monsters, and he's had to shut them off to all Kardia's residents - until now.

What you discover as the game goes on is that the Sechs Empire, a great country to Kardia's west, is trying to get someone - the chosen Earthmate - to awaken a great beast. You must find a way to stop them before they wipe out your new home! And maybe in the end, you will finally find out who you are and what part you have to play in this story.

Rune Factory is a great change of pace from regular HM games. It's faster paced and is the first game to introduce a fighting-based gaming style. As you run through the caves, you can also befriend monsters to do work on your farm and fight with you, mine precious gems and ore, farm (where the plants never go out of season), and collect items that will help you make medicines and decorative items, something never put in an HM game before. And the characters are different enough to keep you interested throughout the whole game.

One of the failings of the game, however, is the voicing. Of course, a game on a handheld platform is hardly going to use much audio for the people. Rune Factory tries to change that, with an entire sentence spoken by each character when you first meet them. Afterwards, they normally say things like "Hello" or "Good Morning/Evening" when you talk to them. Sometimes, however, voices are absent. Also, the graphics are sometimes unimpressive, especially in the case of each character's 3D figure in the game plane. They aren't built well, and some have strange things going on with their arms.

In conclusion, Rune Factory is a supreme effort, and most definitely a stand-out in the Harvest Moon series. Fans will find the game quite exciting, and non-fans will probably find the fan in themselves. With a storyline written to appeal to RPG lovers everywhere, this game will entertain you for hours on end. Rune Factory should be your first choice if you're ever looking for a more relaxed pace than an RPG and faster pace than HM game in general. I promise that!

THE BAD:
One of the annoying aspects is the season time line, besides pausing the game, the time will keep going on even if the time is beyond 12 am. This is very important to sleep before that time or the character can face very harsh status changes that can cause him to faint and lose track of valuable days.

The very beginning puts the character very prone to get ko'ed very easily if avoiding monsters and struggling monster taming become difficult, so be sure to at least stock money for Cure before trying to focus on lumber or frequent crop harvesting.

Our thoughts on the Harvest Moon's worst problem is the common glitches and errors it can face regardless of how many years its gone by. While some have exploited and made use of the usual "wolf" traveling. Others like the Winter graphic errors and the sleeping bag can cause the game to freeze and evidently "corrupt" the data if not careful. Hopefully the English release fixes this problem.

SUMMARY:
While its still a few days away before the US release is confirmed, bear in mind that if picking this game up from Asia, as mentioned above, glitches can be one of the very most problems the player can face if saving is not their frequent hobby.

depending on which tasks performed, the game can be played through from either 20-30 hours, but of course, there will always be alot of replay value to play around with as well.

Will Rune Factory win it's USA gamers?