When I saw the art style and basic description of Rune Factory 4 Special, I initially assumed it would be a JRPG – a genre I don’t particularly enjoy – but while I was expecting turn-based combat and party management skills, what I got was something so much more enjoyable for me. I imagine this game as a cross between Minecraft and Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon, and considering how great those games are, that says a lot. Rune Factory 4 Special really blew me away. I could play it for hours on end (and have done so multiple times already), which I cant say about most games. The story of the game is simple. You fall from the sky off your ship and lose your memory. After having fallen right into the Native Dragon Lady Ventuswill’s castle, she mistakes you for a prince. You assume your position as prince of the land and take care of the people in every way you see fit until you can regain your memory.
Let me get into the core mechanics of this game. There are a lot of them, but I love all of them. My favorite part of Rune Factory 4 Special is being able to tend to my own farm. This includes not only vegetables and flowers, but also monsters from the wild that I’ve tamed and keep in a barn. Every in-game day, I wake up and tend to the field right on schedule. It’s nice to feel like I’m always making progress towards something, even if that’s just earning money by selling what I harvest.
The next big thing is the combat aspect. The people in the town and Lady Ventuswill will send you on various quests into the monster infested forest. Combat is in real time and takes into account different types of weapons, different abilities you find by exploring, and different skills you learn as you level up and become comfortable with your weapon of choice. I really enjoyed that feeling of unlocking more abilities and decking out my character the more I played. Fighting enemies became more impressive with new flashy moves, and I was thoroughly satisfied.
The third major mechanic is keeping your townsfolk happy and engaged. As the prince, you must enrich the town by spending your prince points, which are earned by doing your duties as prince. You can spend these prince points on hosting festivals for the town, building new structures, or a number of other things. I must say that it’s certainly hard balancing being a farmer, a warrior, and a prince, but it makes it so that no day is a dull one. There is theoretically a fourth big mechanic of the game which is flirting with and marrying the villagers of the town, but personally I chose to just stay away from that entirely, which I’m glad didn’t hinder my experience.
As I said earlier, Rune Factory 4 Special has a very distinctly Japanese art style, to the point where character introductions are done by way of a 2D animation akin to a clip from an anime. Apart from that, there’s not much to say about the art. Most of the actual assets don’t innovate, but that’s okay because they don’t have to. The game was fun enough for me to forgive the 3DS era character models. In fact, it almost made them somewhat endearing.
Personally, I went into Rune Factory 4 Special with low expectations, which was admittedly unfair of me. Despite that, I really enjoyed this game. I didn’t expect to stay up until all hours of the morning tending to my little farm and taking care of my sheep, yet there I was more than just once. This game is a must-have for any Nintendo regular.
9/10
Check Out the Rune Factory 4 Special Launch Trailer:
For more information, please visit: https://store.xseedgames.com/product/rune-factory-4-special/
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I am an aspiring game designer looking to explore the philosophy behind game creation. Some of my favorite games include Overwatch, Super Smash Bros, Portal, and Beat Saber.
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