[Wii] Rune Factory: Frontier

[Parshias]

Well, after having the last two weeks having my life swallowed up by this game, I thought I'd make a topic about it. People say the Wii doesn't have any RPGs, but this one's really good. (even if its only kinda-sorta an RPG) Here's the opening:

YouTube - Rune Factory Frontier Opening (Better Quality)

For those unfamiliar with the Rune Factory series, (this is my first one) its a series made by Marvelous Entertainment as a sort of "spin-off" from their Harvest Moon series. Its what happens when you combine a traditional Harvest Moon game (farming, ranching, wooing the ladies) with a dungeon crawling RPG. And I must say, from a big Harvest Moon fan, it is fantastic. I'm not sure if I can go back to a normal Harvest Moon any more, it seems like such a step backwards.

The game is pretty damn long. I'm about a week (in game) away from being able to beat the final story boss, and I'm already over 80 hours in. (just got through the first week of my second year) And I will certainly keep playing after finishing the story, as there are still two more bosses to beat, and high level crafts and equipment to finish, not to mention marriage. It will probably match up to the amount of time I sunk into Harvest Moon 64, although that game never had a timer, so I don't know how long I spent on it. (I think I was in year 4 or something ridiculous)

So, in summary, if you like Harvest Moon, buy this game. If you don't, still buy it! You can actually mostly ignore the farming, past a little bit in the beginning to get some initial money and house upgrades.

[Julian]

I didn't like the rune factory ones on the ds all the recent harvest moons have sucked imo, needs moar friends of mineral town-like HM

[Metah]

I was always interested in Rune Factory but just never got around to it. I'd pick it up for Wii if I had cash to spare, or at least Rune Factory 2 for DS

[Meian]

How is this compared to the DS Rune Factory games? May try those first before considering the Wii version.

[Parshias]

How is this compared to the DS Rune Factory games? May try those first before considering the Wii version.

I haven't played the DS ones, so I can't really compare directly, but from what I hear from others, this is the best in the series so far. It is a "sequel" of sorts to the first Rune Factory.

[Pendas]

Must Resist Urge... I have such a hard-on for Harvest Moon / Rune Factory Games, I had no idea this one came out already...

Shit, I've already made plans to buy it tonight... Damn You!!

[Faxanadu]

For those that don't know, this game is like a single player, offline version of FFXI. Oh, and you can farm too. Which is, amazingly enough, very thereputic.

there is:
cooking
weapon smithing
alchemey
misc. crafting (armor, rings, etc...)
Fishing
minning
Beast tamming (kinda like a pokemon deal)
Dungeon crawling
gardening
hell, there is even a dating aspect

The great part is, you can play this game however the hell you want, nobody is making you do anything in this game.

Its definatly not for everyone, but worth checking out at any rate.

[Imitarate]

This is apparently a sequel to the first Rune Factory DS game, with the same main character and a couple of women carrying over (though it seems to assume that the main character never got involved with any of them in the first game). The second DS game (I just recently started) has a new main character, and is set a good ~10 years ahead of the first, since one of the children from the first game is a... "bachelorette" in the second. I dunno, this looks kind of interesting. The series is pretty decent, if only because you can spend the day doing just about anything if you want, once you unlock a few options. In the first game, I've spent days fighting, mining, farming, crafting, fishing... The second one is pretty decent so far, they even have more to "do" with a bulletin board system that occasionally has odd jobs. Even if I'm out of jobs to do, I can pick a "training" mission, go kill some monsters and make some money. If the first game is any indication, though, once I get access to crafting I'll basically never need to worry about money again.

Once I beat the main game of RF1, though, I had a little trouble being motivated to do anything more. I saved any romancin' for after that, so I spent some time wooing a bonus wife option just to see the dialogue (awkward), I blew through a few months maxing friendships and growing year-growth plants, but by that point there just wasn't much point. RF2 offers year-growth plants pretty much off the bat, though, so I'm planning on planting a few soon so that I might actually see some benefit from them.

[Parshias]

I blew through a few months maxing friendships and growing year-growth plants, but by that point there just wasn't much point. RF2 offers year-growth plants pretty much off the bat, though, so I'm planning on planting a few soon so that I might actually see some benefit from them.

One-year growth plants are more manageable in this game. There's a new "prosperity" system dealing with "Runeys" and each of the areas in town. Having areas in prosperity speeds up the growth of your crops. Plus there's an item you can buy to use on one square of crop each day that advances that crop 3 days ahead in the growth cycle. Plus the seeds are available by something like the second week of you very first Spring. With max prosperity and spamming the drug to speed up your growth, you can churn out a year-long growth flower in one season. You need them for the absolute best equip in the game and the final tool upgrades.

[Julian]

Well, I guess I'll download it and give it a try.

I much prefer the more traditional HM compared to these newer ones, but who knows

[Parshias]

Amazon.com: Rune Factory: Frontier: Nintendo Wii: Video Games

Game is selling for $30 on amazon. Don't know if this is a one-day thing, or just a price drop, but now would be a good time to pick the game up if you were interested before.