Rune Factory 3 Special review

Feeling a bit sheepish is understandable

For some, the Story of Seasons and its spin-off, Rune Factory are a single, hulking monolith. Undoubtedly, there’s a shred of validity to that perspective since each entry revolves around filling a simulated day with autonomous agrarian duties. And if you’re motivated, you’ll simultaneously woo a romantic partner, making time for flirty banter and a steady lure of gifts.

But for those who truly appreciate the two franchises, fascination is rooted in the iterative changes of each release. I still remember playing 2007’s Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon and thinking that the addition of combat to the usual farming duties felt revolutionary. But I’m also one of those obsessives who find game collecting nearly as enjoyable as game playing and enjoy observing new additions to a familiar formula.

Best Suited for Rune Factory Regulars

And here’s the thing: less fervent Rune Factory fans should probably purchase the cheaper fourth entry rather than this new release of Rune Factory 3 Special. It’s cheaper, longer, and improves on details like inventory management. But if you’re one of the perceptive folks who are infatuated with Yoshifumi Hashimoto’s agricultural-RPG, the Switch remaster of Rune Factory 3 Special has a few distinctions.

Instead of inheriting a ranch from a relative who literally and figuratively bought the farm, Rune Factory 3 opens on a stormy evening, with an odd half-human, half-wooly creature losing consciousness. Although a kindly young girl named Shara wants to take the exhausted visitor in, her grandfather advises against it. Given the cold reception for the protagonist (named Micah by default), it’s obvious that there’s friction between humans and other creatures. Shara’s compassion provides to be a catalyst. By offering Micah lodging in a house whittled out of a giant tree, she instigates an economic and social windfall for the quaint town of Sharance.

Pulling the Narrative Wool over Our Eyes

Like countless role-playing leads, poor Micah suffers from a case of amnesia. But mercifully, Rune Factory 3 offers a convenient panacea, with memory orbs earned after defeating key foes, each gradually revealing new backstory pieces. However, when it comes to exposition, the game’s plotline is rather predictable. Instead, Rune Factory 3 leans on its characterization. The rapport with the game’s eleven quirky ladies is a bit more interesting and there’s also more conversational dialog. This time, the franchise depicts dates, making the representation of romance feel less transactional and more organic.

Building on previous entries, NPC intelligence is noticeably improved, as characters pursue their favorite activities at predictable schedules. This time they’ll even acknowledge you as you walk by. Later, they’ll aid Micah during dungeon exploration, so you’ll want to make friends as soon as you can and scour the game for an artifact that doubles their damage output. And while you’ve been able to recruit creatures in previous outings, it makes a lot of sense given Micah’s heritage.

Yes, there are Still Plenty of ‘Cheap Hoe’ Jokes

When Rune Factory 3 was released on the Nintendo DS in 2010, it made several improvements to the franchise’s control scheme. Farming forgoes the tedious button hold when tilling or watering a larger patch of land, allowing gamers to rhythmically tend to territories. There’s no longer the constraint of carrying a single item at a time, now multiples of the same fruit, vegetable, or flower may be stacked sky-high.

That said, it’s still a bit too easy to accidentally drop your pile of items when attempting to pick up an additional piece. Likewise, inventory management can be annoying as there’s no ‘move all’ option. However, combat feels much more responsive due to the game’s increased speed and the usefulness of combos. Other positive changes include a speedier time clock, variable weather cycles, and the eased accumulation of wealth, the sum of each adjustment endowing Rune Factory 3 with a quicker pace.

But the single best quality of Rune Factory 3 is the sophistication of its skill system. Nearly every in-game activity is tracked by a behind-the-scenes stat that levels up at regular intervals, rewarding you with a gratifying “Skill Up” notification. Rune Points (or “RP”) are your core resource, consumed by each action in your daily routine, and forcing you into bed when depleted. Pleasingly, growth means that each task consumes less RP, cultivating a strong feeling of character growth. You can even increase your tolerance toward poison through repetitive contact, which should be an option in more games.

Conclusion

Rune Factory 3 merits its “Special” moniker with higher resolution environmental and character portraits that a bit reveal more detail. Beyond the inclusion of the melodramatically named “Hell” difficulty, Special also offers Newlywed mode, which simulates the constrained interactions between Micah and his new spouse. The best part is Live2D character animation, which should have been retrofitted into the base game.

While there’s a story to follow, players are also free to follow their own capricious interests. From cooking, fishing, spell casting, mining, instructing monsters how to be capable farm hands, to making friends (and potential spouses), there’s always another objective when the current duty grows tedious.  Herein lies the beauty of Rune Factory– as each day ends, there’s always an array of pressing errands awaiting players. For task-oriented games, the title can be astonishingly addictive, making the title ideal for both everyday commutes and long-distance traveling. Just make sure that you’ve played Rune Factory 4 first, OK?

Rune Factory 3 Special was played on Switch with review code provided by the publisher.