After he joined my village, I wooed him with gifts every day (as one naturally does in any Harvest Moon/Story of Season or Rune Factory game) in order to raise his affection for me so I could get to know him. I ended up courting a character that had originally presented themselves as a boss I encountered while progressing the main story. The relationships in Rune Factory 4 are cute, though a bit simplistic. In the end, I opted for the Princess option and lived my days with a boss-turned-bachelor on my farm. Rune Factory 4 Special does not include same-sex marriage or even the “friendship marriages” that have appeared in other Marvelous titles like Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. Regardless of this the only limitations of the avatar, outside of obvious customization, are the marriage options.
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Costumes are also specifically limited to your wardrobe (which you need to unlock and purchase, similarly to costumes) so things like hair or skin color cannot be changed, which was somewhat disappointing. Rune Factory 4 Special allows the player to pick an avatar of their choice - the Prince or Princess option, and while some cosmetic options are available, you really can’t customize either beyond a handful of costumes. This does come at a cost, as you’ll need to pay your monsters, but it is especially worthwhile if you don’t want to deal with the farmwork yourself. And if you raise the affection of your monsters high enough you can even have them help with chores like planting seeds. If the monster likes what you’ve given them, they can return to your farm and give you items like milk, eggs, feathers, and whatnot. Once you can cook items you can present them to monsters you meet in the forest outside of Selphia or in dungeons. The one unique feature to Rune Factory is monster taming. You purchase seeds, till the land, water your crops and eventually something will grow and yield the harvest you’ve been toiling over. The farming in Rune Factory 4 Special is the same as all previous Marvelous titles.
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This works in tandem with raising the amount of tourists that visit Selphia, so it always helps keep the player active in responding to tutorialized requests in the early game or encourage them to always ship produce.
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You gain points based on shipping items or fulfilling requests for villagers and with these points you can “order” new shops to open or even get licenses to purchase your own kitchen equipment or forge. It might sound a bit overwhelming, but the way that Rune Factory 4 - Special handles this mechanic is quite simple. This includes setting the dates for festivals and events like fishing competitions, opening up new shops, or expanding the inventory of what local merchants can sell in your shops.
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Since you’re a stand-in for royalty, it is your duty to manage all of the activities in the village. The premise is pretty simple as far as narratives go, and while it does briefly introduce more complex elements when you progress through the subsequent chapters and get to know characters better, it’s easy to follow.Īll activities to the player are introduced right away. Mistaken for royalty upon your untimely landing (quite literally as you get thrown out of an airship at the start of the game), you are tasked with managing all of the happenings in the charming village of Selphia.
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Rune Factory 4 Special puts you in the place of a traveler on their way to deliver a gift to a “god,” however on your way you get into a fight with a few soldiers and awaken without your memories. Does Rune Factory 4 Special live up to that legacy and is it accessible for those who are unfamiliar with this special type of Farming Simulator/Dungeon Crawler hybrid? I think so. Originally released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2013, Rune Factory 4 is the best selling title in the franchise to date. But here we are, in 2020, with Rune Factory 4 Special on the Switch. It has been some time since there were whisperings of a new Rune Factory game, let alone a port of previous installments.