WhenRune Factory 4 SpecialandRune Factory 5were announced on Switchby Marvelous and Nintendo on the latest Nintendo Direct, many people around the world were ecstatic, myself included. All of us had lost hope that a newRune Factorywould ever be released, and for good reason. Why do we love the series so much? And why didn’t we ever expect it to come back? Let’s take a look at the history of the franchise and explain why fans are so hyped aboutRune Factory 5.
As you may already know,Rune Factoryis a spin-off ofBokujou Monogatari, the farming game series known outside Japan asStory of Seasons. Until 2015, the series was known as “Harvest Moon,” but had to endure a name change following legal issues. Currently, new farming games calledHarvest Moonare still getting released, but by different developers at Natsume, while Marvelous is now continuing the original series asStory of Seasons.
[pullquote]“Harvest Moonon SNE had the basis of nearly all gameplay elements for which the series is beloved for today."[/pullquote]
The firstBokujou Monogatari/Harvest Moongame released on SNES in 1994. The father of the series is Yasuhiro Wada, who was the person who came up with the original concept. Wada worked on the series for over 20 years, and rose up the echelons at Marvelous, ending up as executive producer. In 2010, however, he quit the company and later ended up making his own company, Toybox Inc. One of their most recent games isBirthdays the Beginning,which shares some ideas with Wada’s previous works.
In any case, while it didn’t age too well,Harvest Moonon SNES had the basis of nearly all gameplay elements for which the series is beloved for today; the farming land was organized in a grid-like way, there was a fishing system, the stamina system, and animals to raise. The calendar was organized in four seasons, each lasting 30 days, with their own events. The relationship and wedding system was inspired by dating sims, etc.
Moreover, with each game, the series kept improving itself with new features, like being able to choose between a female or male protagonist right with the second game of the franchise,Harvest Moon GBon Game Boy. Though ironically,Harvest Moon GBis also one of the very few games in the series that doesn’t have a marriage system, possibly because of development constraints. This is probably why instead of systematically letting players choose between a female and male protagonist–like it is always the case now–olderStory of Seasonsgames would get an enhanced version only a few months after their release, with bug fixes, new elements and where players would mandatorily control a female protagonist.
As a side note,Story of SeasonsandRune Factoryare very differentfromAnimal Crossing. You shouldn’t expect to love one because you like the other. I actually dislikeAnimal Crossing,mostly because of its real-time mechanic.
[pullquote]“Friends of Mineral Town’s winter mine was 255 floors long and past a certain point, monsters would actually appear in it."[/pullquote]
In my opinion, twoStory of Seasonsgames were pivotal to the creation ofRune Factory. The first one wasHarvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, released in 2003 on GBA. This game was such a revolution for the series, with so many new features, gameplay improvements, and so much content to do, you could easily play it for well over a hundred hours. Along with its beautiful 2D GBA graphics and the charismatic cast of characters, one particularly memorable aspect of the game was a mine with randomly-generated floors you could explore to find ores and gems, useful to upgrade your tools and make money.
Furthermore, there was a second mine made of 255 floors, only accessible during winter. When you started certain floors, monsters would actually appear in it. Players would use their tools to defeat them, and being hit would reduce your stamina, as the game had no HP. In lower floors, there were even boss-like monsters, who looked like shadow versions of the protagonist. They were basically Dark Links like fromThe Legend of Zelda.
Exploring the winter mine was worth it as you could get the Cursed Tools, the second-best tool upgrades in the game. These tools couldn’t be removed once equipped, and each one of them had a specific method to follow to transform them into Blessed Tools, which kept their power but removed all the handicaps. Some of the tools required you to keep them equipped for 10 days straight, meaning you had to carefully plan ten days in advance. In any case, you should remember thatFriends of Mineral Townwas an exhilarating game, and the enhanced version with a female protagonist had even more content.
The second game which was essential toRune Factory’s birth wasInnocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon, released on PSP in April 2006 in Japan. It was the first time the series went towards a pretty different direction. It still had farming, but also a heavy focus on exploration. The game was set in a technologically-advanced setting, and players would ride a buggy and explore dungeons.
[pullquote]“Very few are the series who managed to greatly improve themselves with each episode, andRune Factoryis one of them."[/pullquote]
Following this,Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatarireleased on Nintendo DS in August 2006, and asRune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moonin the west in August 2007. As the name suggests,Rune Factoryis a spinoff set in a fantasy-themed world, with an action-RPG battle system.Rune Factorywas produced by Yoshifumi Hashimoto and developed by Neverland, a Japanese studio known for theLufiaRPG series or the pretty goodRecord of Lodoss Wargame on Dreamcast.Rune Factory 1had extremely charismatic characters and a really well-built and developed fantasy world, despite the relatively small world you can actually explore in-game. You could really feel the amount of work that has gotten into the game’s writing, setting the foundation for future games.
And one of the best aspects of theRune Factoryseries is the fact that with each episode, it managed to greatly improve itself in all aspects. When you playedRune Factory 2in 2008, the game was so much better that it felt as ifRune Factory 1sucked (even though it didn’t). Most notably, Rune Factory 2had a deeper magic system and a story spanning two generations, with the choice of playing the protagonist’s son or daughter. WhenRune Factory 3released in 2009, it was a huge revolution and a billion times better than 2.Rune Factory 3’s additions included tons of new crafting systems and skills to develop, bonus online dungeons, being able to compare your progress and your farm’s stats with friends, and the ability to ask any character you’ve befriended to accompany you in battle. The game also had so many ergonomic changes and improvements that compared to everyRune FactoryandStory of Seasonsgames so far, I almost felt like crying when I first tried it. PlayingRune Factory 3never feels repetitive or like a chore, even after spending a hundred hours on it.
Very few are the series who managed to greatly improve themselves with each episode, andRune Factoryis one of them. Many others through the ages failed to accomplish this:
Another entertaining way to realize how theRune Factoryseries improved is to check all of the games' opening animations, who gradually improved as well. The latter ones have stronger direction, good storyboarding, and nice animation quality. And starting with2, every game exceptFrontierhave two opening animations depending on your progress, like inSakura Taisenor many good old SEGA Saturn and PS1 anime-style games.
I could keep going like this for four hours. I absolutely love this feeling, how despite thinking the previous episode was great, the new one completely obliterates it. I had that exact same feeling when I playedPersona 5, despite consideringPersona 4a masterpiece.
[pullquote]“While eachRune Factorygame is standalone, the games have an overall linked storyline."[/pullquote]
In a sense, this is also a double-edged sword. Newcomers who picked up theRune Factoryseries with a later episode, or who will start with the upcomingRune Factory 4 Special, will have a very hard time going back to1and2to better understand the story. While eachRune Factorygame is standalone, the games have an overall linked storyline. There are recurring characters too. For example,Rune Factory 1had a half-elf little girl, who appears as an adult inRune Factory 2,set a few decades or so later. All theRune Factorygames take place not too long after each other.
Besides the numbered titles,Rune Factory 1 to 4, there are also two otherRune Factorygames. The first one isRune Factory Frontier, released on Wii in 2008. That one was a direct sequel to1, with the same protagonist and many returning characters. The game had a very interesting story and was really good, though undermined by multiple small problems, like its frequent loading times. It didn’t stop me from locking the game’s playtime counter at 99 hours though, spending much more time on it, and even then I didn’t 100% the game.
The other isRune Factory Tides of Destiny, released on Wii and PlayStation 3 in 2011, and it’s the best with4. The main difference with all the others is how it features fully-explorable 3D environments with an actual jump button and verticality. You also had a giant mecha golem controllable to explore a whole ocean map; you could fight giant monsters with it too. On land, you could do insane combos, launching enemies in the air, and switch weapons at any time.
The game’s story was really good too, featuring a boy and a girl stuck in the same body. Players would control the boy, with the girl’s spirit acting as an advisor, but once you cleared the game and found her body back, you could choose to start playing as her, and tons of postgame content awaited. Along withRune Factory Frontierand4,Tides of Destiny’s content feels endless, and a lot of its ideas were reused inRune Factory 4.
[pullquote]“The fact thatRune Factory 5is actually coming out on Switch in 2020 (in Japan) kinda has a symbolistic feel to it."[/pullquote]
This is why I’m so hyped forRune Factory 5, mainly for the fact that the game will definitely be even better than4. However, there’s also a deeper reason behind the hype. In November 2013, around a year afterRune Factory 4’s release, its developing studio Neverland went bankrupt. While theRune Factoryteam got absorbed by Marvelous, any hope that a newRune Factorygame would ever come out was lost. A few weeks after this sad news, Producer Hashimotoposted a messagebasically hinting at a new game by theRune Factoryteam.
However, that game turned out to beLord of Magna, released on 3DS in 2014.Lord of Magnawas quite different fromRune Factory, but also a spiritual successor of sorts, so many believed theRune Factoryseries was definitely dead. And yet, here we are now. In an era where many studios are closing down or experiencinghuge lay-offs, the fact thatRune Factory 5is actually coming out on Switch in 2020 (in Japan) kinda has a symbolistic feel to it.
With all of that said, here is a rundown of my expectations and possible improvements coming inRune Factory 5:
After seeing the series' track record, unless something goes horribly wrong, there’s absolutely no wayRune Factory 5won’t be a masterpiece, and it’s easily the game I’m anticipating the most now in the future.
