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Meldonox posted:This is a weird general question, I know, but I've struggled with this after a break from every last Harvest Moon and Rune Factory game I've played: In either series villagers/logs can usually bring you up to speed on what activity you were up to before leaving the game for awhile. To get the hang of controls again I'll screw around with them, and savescum if I did something stupid like destroy a crop or lose an item in the process. To get the hang of fighting again in Rune Factory, go hit up a low level dungeon and just go to town to get back into the swing of things.
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Jul 21, 2014 03:45
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Wow what a bombastic ending to the 3rd arc. I'm super glad I got to see that extremely fulfilling ending.  I want a the size of the sun for that. Is there anything else to the game now other then farming? There's better equips but if there's nothin' to use em on I think I'm finally done.
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Jul 22, 2014 03:41
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ThisIsACoolGuy posted:Wow what a bombastic ending to the 3rd arc. I'm super glad I got to see that extremely fulfilling ending. Sharance Maze has six dungeons that ultimately go up to level 1,000, otherwise marriage/babies. So no, nothing of real importance from here on out unless you like grinding or anime families.
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Jul 22, 2014 04:04
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So I've been playing Back to Nature. My horse was taken away in year 2 although I'm sure I brushed and talked to him on a daily basis. I've read that a lot of the animals like to go outside but if you leave them out all day they get distressed and they're a pain in the rear end to get back into the barn. The one time my horse got out of the barn it would have taken me an entire in-game day to get him back inside but thankfully I was able to use save states. Picking up crops that aren't in the hothouse is so time consuming. I try to setup my crops near the barn, hothouse and chicken coop so I can take advantage of time not moving indoors. Anyway, the last Harvest Moon game I played was 64 and I think I enjoyed that one a bit more although I don't remember exactly why. I also remember playing a gba or gbc version that was pretty fun. I liked how when you upgraded the watering can it didn't just get a charged version but instead became a whole new item that would instantly water the crops. Do you guys like the new 3D versions or prefer the classic top view ones?
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Jul 31, 2014 21:16
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Sephiroth_IRA posted:I also remember playing a gba or gbc version that was pretty fun. I liked how when you upgraded the watering can it didn't just get a charged version but instead became a whole new item that would instantly water the crops. That's the same game as Back to Nature, just with different graphics/viewpoint and other minor changes.
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Aug 1, 2014 08:32
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I should have listened before, Rune Factory 4 was a dull game that I traded in for Fire Emblem Awakening.
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Aug 3, 2014 05:07
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My sister really likes these games, and has bought an absurd number of Harvest Moon games (though of course, she never played past year 2 on any of them). I was thinking of buying her one of the Rune Factory games as a gift, so I'd like to hear some thread opinions. I own (and my sister now de facto owns, since I moved out for college and left most of my old dumb anime games behind with her) Rune Factory 2, which I personally thought was waaaaay better than any of the Harvest Moon games. My sister didn't think so at the time, but I talked with her recently and she agreed that Rune Factory 2 was the best of the Harvest Moon games (specifically because it had less of an issue with that whole "there's nothing to do once you get married" deal). I hear that Rune Factory Frontier wasn't particularly good, is this true? What are the thread's thoughts on 3? Was it better than 2? Is there much content post-marriage? Is 4 much better than 3? better than 2? Post-marriage yadda yadda? Is it worth the additional cost over 3? Also how was Tides of Destiny? A quick glance at Metacritic seems to show that it didn't review terribly well (I didn't even know there was a second non-handheld Rune Factory)
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Aug 13, 2014 10:22
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Tides of Destiny is loving terrible. Can't compare 4 to any others because I didn't play them, but it was an okay time waster and has a lot of random poo poo to do.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:27
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ninjewtsu posted:My sister really likes these games, and has bought an absurd number of Harvest Moon games (though of course, she never played past year 2 on any of them). I was thinking of buying her one of the Rune Factory games as a gift, so I'd like to hear some thread opinions. 3 and 4 are both great and if she liked 2 at all, she would love either. I found 3 pretty short but enjoyable, 4 has the most content (items, locations, plot progression, etc) I've seen in a HM type game but is a bit bland compared to 3. Personally, I liked 4 better but I was pining for the more interesting characters from 3 the entire time I played it and there's a decent chance you'll get hosed by the rng deciding it doesn't want you to progress the plot for an ingame year or two (or four). Both games wipe the floor with 2, in my opinion. e: if you plan on playing both, go with 3 first. There's no plot connection but there are some QOL changes you'll miss going from 4 to 3.
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Aug 13, 2014 10:57
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Rune Factory Frontier is really good if you can homebrew your Wii. This is mostly because the Runey system is really awful and tedious and the best thing to do about it is cheat and just have your Runey levels set to their baseline levels for every area. If you can do that it becomes a really good game; it doesn't have a lot of the streamlining of RF3 and RF4 like quickly picking up items, but it's a solid Rune Factory with good writing. The fact that XSEED localized it and not Natsume doesn't hurt. Tides of Destiny is alright, but most of the characters are pretty boring and there's not a whole lot to the farming.
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Aug 13, 2014 13:42
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Small amount of info about The Lost Valley and Story of Seasons here. The art for The Lost Valley looks pretty cute, but I'm not too sure about the in-game sprites.
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Aug 13, 2014 14:09
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Tides of Destiny is pretty much the most dungeon crawlery of the series. It also lets you pilot a giant robot and get into giant robot fisticuffs with giant octopuses. I liked it, but I get why some people wouldn't.
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Aug 13, 2014 14:13
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I kinda liked the villagers in tides, and liked how they handled the friendship system overall, (though I hate it when it gates relationships with story completion, it at least makes some sense here) but the farming being so bare bones hurt it pretty badly for me.
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Aug 13, 2014 14:16
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Tides does have Pandora, who is pretty great.
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Aug 13, 2014 14:36
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Honestly, I'm interested in the new Harvest Moon game because of the Minecraft like functions. It also helps the MSRP is  less than a regular 3DS release.
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Aug 13, 2014 14:58
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Blhue posted:(though I hate it when it gates relationships with story completion, it at least makes some sense here) I don't care for that sort of thing if it's done arbitrarily, but at least if it's plot-relevant I don't mind it. I finished the first arc of Rune Factory 4 with a chunk of spring left in year one, and I haven't yet triggered the start of the next arc, but I'm kinda enjoying spending time minding the farm and villager relationships. If it's sort of a gated breather I can appreciate it.
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Aug 13, 2014 15:49
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3 & 4 are undeniably better, but I still enjoyed Tides. Tides is shorter than the others, so much shorter that it's shallowness in farming wasn't a problem. Tides probably has the most fun combat of the three. It is also the only game ever I liked all the characters in. 3 & 4 have awesome crazy anime characters, but there's a few in both that I wish would just go away. By the end of Tides, every villager was cool and relatable, even the ones who start out weak our annoying. If you only get one, get 4.
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Aug 13, 2014 16:57
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Tides of Destiny has some of the absolute best music in the series though, enough that RF4 actually ports in a number of the songs for its own dungeons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVO0z4HrOUI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB8zxvzDufA LLSix posted:By the end of Tides, every villager was cool and relatable, even the ones who start out weak our annoying. I disagree with this, as a lot of the characters flip back into the "wtf" zone in major ways after you complete the story and get them to friendship 7+
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Aug 13, 2014 17:12
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If you can, I would suggest playing Frontier before RF3/Tides of Destiny before RF4. Unlike with the main Harvest Moon series, Natsume keeps implementing general quality-of-life improvements in every game so it becomes a little difficult to go back. I didn't play Frontier that much because the combat was lacking (although riding monster mounts was pretty fun). It's a solid game in terms of farming and such, but it took me a long time to access any of the plot. Please install the Runey homebrew system if you can. Tides of Destiny owned.  I also agree that it had some of the best music in the series. Incidentally, you can listen to the soundtrack in RF4 through the music player/a postgame order - worth it. I liked all the villagers, thanks to the events that occur after each heart level increase. It was a good system, although I found it a little annoying that the non-datable NPCs were capped at 6 instead of 10. Farming is negligible in this game, but the combat is super great to make up for it. Who can say no to fighting kaijus at sea with a giant golem named Ymir?3 and 4 are the best Rune Factory games. The former is kinda short (you can blitz through the 4 main dungeons in about 2 in-game months), but the characters are absolutely crazy. There's one bachelorette obsessed with squid, and another who is a crazy elf artist living on the outskirts of town. Gains is the best though. Unfortunately there isn't much to do once you beat the main game except have a kid. 4 has a ton more content in general. Huge area maps, lots of dungeons, several story arcs, etc. If you don't like a whole bunch of random crazy like 3, then 4 has more toned-down, sane characters. It's nice.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:31
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ninjewtsu posted:I own (and my sister now de facto owns, since I moved out for college and left most of my old dumb anime games behind with her) Rune Factory 2, which I personally thought was waaaaay better than any of the Harvest Moon games. My sister didn't think so at the time, but I talked with her recently and she agreed that Rune Factory 2 was the best of the Harvest Moon games (specifically because it had less of an issue with that whole "there's nothing to do once you get married" deal). I should actually answer these questions; Rune Factory 2 is the odd step-child of the series and harvest moon in general, because the campaign is played in "reverse". The first thing you do in that game is get married, the rest of the game carries on with your child as the main character afterward. The farming and dungeon crawling accessible to you in that first year is stunted until you unlock everything as the child. Frontier came after 2 and is better in various ways, but it's a significantly slower-paced game as it was the first foray into 3D. It also is bogged by the "Runey" system, which should by all means be hacked away in any fashion you can manage via homebrew. It ruins the entire game and can actually gently caress your game up really badly if you don't learn how to micromanage it (which is a giant chore). RF3 is better than RF2 in general due to major QOL improvements and an expanded script (though the catch is that everyone in the village is basically insane/mentally deranged in some fashion), but the post-game is severely lacking (there are post-game objectives but they don't take long to work through, secret bosses and the sharance dungeon which is just an endless run that gets more and more difficult). A lot of the post game comes in the form of crafting uberweapons to get as far in that endless dungeon as possible. RF4 is easily the best of all of the games. Has by far the most content, plenty of post-marriage, etc. Really good for sperging as well. Tides of Destiny is a Rune Factory game in name, but it trades the majority of the "farming" aspect for the combat engine. IMO it's a fantastic action game and puts the combat of all of the others to shame, but if you're really tied to the farming part of the games you will be sorely disappointed. It's also "short" in that there's 4 dungeons and very little post-game, but it'll still take you a solid 50+ hours to complete if you're keeping up with everything to do.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:44
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So I haven't played anything like Harvest moon in 10 years and Stardew Valley is taking its sweet time, but I recently got my hands on a DS so I'm looking into getting Rune Factory 4 and maybe a Harvest Moon if goons can recommend getting both. I'm in Europe though and apparently RF4 was never released here, will a North American version run on my DS if I import? And also if I should get a Harvest Moon which one is currently the best one?
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Aug 13, 2014 17:48
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Get 3 if 4 isn't available, and A New Beginning is the best 3ds one currently. There's a sequel that uses a refined version of the same engine, but it won't be out in English this year most likely.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:51
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The DS is region free, so you should be fine with an imported copy. Also, stay away from Tale of Two Towns. It is unbearably slow paced.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:52
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Demiurge4 posted:So I haven't played anything like Harvest moon in 10 years and Stardew Valley is taking its sweet time, but I recently got my hands on a DS so I'm looking into getting Rune Factory 4 and maybe a Harvest Moon if goons can recommend getting both. I'm in Europe though and apparently RF4 was never released here, will a North American version run on my DS if I import? And also if I should get a Harvest Moon which one is currently the best one? I'm assuming you mean a 3DS, so no, a NA version of RF4 will not work on an EU console. Unfortunately the 3DS is region-locked.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:52
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Nondevor posted:
 Natsume just localized most of them until recently. Also RIP Neverland, what is left of you guys please hurry up and finish anime meido waifu game so you can maybe get back to Rune Factory.
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Aug 13, 2014 17:54
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I Watson posted:
Whoops.  yeah, I wish Neverland didn't go bankrupt. It's a shame that we're probably not going to get any more Rune Factory games...
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Aug 13, 2014 18:01
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Nondevor posted:I'm assuming you mean a 3DS, so no, a NA version of RF4 will not work on an EU console. Unfortunately the 3DS is region-locked. I have a 2DS so I'll try and import a copy then, cheers. A new beginning seems to be 3DS only though, whats a good harvest moon option for the 2DS?
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Aug 13, 2014 18:09
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Nondevor posted:I'm assuming you mean a 3DS, so no, a NA version of RF4 will not work on an EU console. Unfortunately the 3DS is region-locked. If you're lucky enough to have a 3ds with an early enough firmware, you can use the gateway 3ds to circumvent region locking. Though it's not particularly cheap, so getting an old usa 3ds might be cheaper.
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Aug 13, 2014 18:12
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Wait, do you mean you have a normal ds? A 2ds is just a 3ds with a different shape and the 3d functions disabled, it plays 3ds titles.
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Aug 13, 2014 18:12
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Demiurge4 posted:I have a 2DS so I'll try and import a copy then, cheers. A new beginning seems to be 3DS only though, whats a good harvest moon option for the 2DS? 2DS is also region-locked, sorry. 
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Aug 13, 2014 18:14
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Oh No way for me to get RF4 then? That sucks. Maybe I'll get 3 then, if I can find a copy. I guess I can get A New Beginning though!
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Aug 13, 2014 18:23
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Am I the only one who preferred the way RF3 managed relationships? I stopped playing RF4 after finishing the second act because there's no way to get to know better the villagers other than waiting for a random event that may take ages to trigger and may involve characters that you don't care about. I remember most of the villagers from RF3 due to all the quests but I'd be hard pressed to name one from RF4.
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Aug 14, 2014 01:38
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gmq posted:Am I the only one who preferred the way RF3 managed relationships? I agree with you and I stopped playing around the same point. The town events was a good idea that was poorly implemented. Should've let us choose events we want to do off a board or something, the way quests are handed out.
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Aug 16, 2014 04:48
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Jimmybob posted:I agree with you and I stopped playing around the same point. The town events was a good idea that was poorly implemented. Should've let us choose events we want to do off a board or something, the way quests are handed out. It would nice to do it as a post-game order to force a random available town event to fire the next day.
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Aug 16, 2014 05:17
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Caved and ordered Rune Factory 3, I played it a while ago with an emulator and I really liked it. A New Beginning hasn't really grown on me much. I know someone said its really slow to start but I'm past the first month now and for the longest time I don't have anything to do past 1pm so I go to bed early and it sort of feels like a grind. I have 4 cows now and 2 chickens, is there a trick to getting them outside for grazing with the bell or do I really have to push them all out the gate myself?
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Aug 18, 2014 15:57
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Demiurge4 posted:Caved and ordered Rune Factory 3, I played it a while ago with an emulator and I really liked it. That's it for now. Later you unlock a bell you can place that automatically moves all your livestock on its own, but you need to have 10 animals and some friendship benchmark with animal store guy who's name I forget. Also it takes some materials you need to have unlocked the mines to have any chance of reasonably getting. I would generally recommend waiting on any cows beyond the initial one and just getting chickens up to that point, since they take less time to move. Taking care of animals is basically the worst thing in that game, I don't know why they made moving them so goddamn tedious.
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Aug 18, 2014 16:16
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Hey guys, you ready for a new Rune Factory game?! Yes? Well keep waiting because the next RPG-flavored Bokujou title is going to be PoPoLoCrois with farming elements. I played the PSP PoPoLoCrois title awhile ago and was seriously unimprssed, but goons in the 3DS thread assure that at one point early on the series was really good. It does seem like a good esthetic and story match, so I will probably pick it up if it ever comes over to the West.
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Sep 2, 2014 16:42
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Has there ever been a 2 player version of Harvest Moon? I was listening to the retronauts podcast about HM and started thinking how cool a 2 player version would be. Like one player could run to the market and buy seeds/equipment and the other could clear fields, fish or whatever. That would give players enough time to do the things they enjoy doing and would make the chorish parts the of the game much shorter. Many hands make light work.
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Sep 22, 2014 17:34
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Closest thing I've ever seen or heard of is Stardew Valley, but lord only knows if that's going to be any good.
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Sep 22, 2014 17:39
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Take a look at Viva Piņata. It claims to have two player support.
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Sep 22, 2014 19:05
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