Harvest Moon was a deceptively simple game when it came out for the SNES back in the early 90s. You played as a young adult who came into possession of the family farm and had to clean it up and tend to it. The player was free to spend his days fishing and talking to townspeople if he wanted, or he could raise cows and chickens, cut timber and make his house bigger. There were different girls to court and give gifts to. The game was relaxing and enjoyable, and it had a real sense of progression with well-placed events and seasonal changes. I played through that game maybe 3 or 4 times as a kid.
Then, I got Rune Factory 3 as a present. The Rune Factory series includes the description: "A Fantasy Harvest Moon." Naturally, I was excited to play it.
This review is about Rune Factory 1, though, so I'll tell you about this. I played RF3, then 4, then jumped back to 1. Compared to its successors, Rune Factory 1 is pretty clunky and lacks some of the features and charm of later installments. On its own, though, I can safely say that this game is very enjoyable.
It takes the freedom of Harvest Moon and gives you even more options. There is now cooking, crafting, and forging of armor and weapons. There are more festivals, birthdays, and events. There are monsters to fight and dungeons to explore. There is a long-form storyline that's not necessary to complete but is rewarding and enjoyable. Coming right off the SNES Harvest Moon, Rune Factory is exactly what you want from a "Fantasy Harvest Moon".
Unfortunately, this game is not coming right off the SNES Harvest Moon. There had been years of sequels and innovations separating these titles, yet Rune Factory plays much like and old game. The combat is barely better than A Link to the Past, where you run around and try not to get hit, waiting for the right moment to mash the attack button. You do have a good variety of weapons, but the combat is still stale. It's sad that the villagers don't have very varied dialogue, something that later series entries incorporated. The RP system was way too restrictive on your actions. Marriage and having a family was very poorly managed. Once you get married, your wife now has only a handful of dialogues and just stands around at home every day. After 180 days, she will remark that she had a baby and you get to see an artistic rendering of the infant, but then he's never heard from again. The gameplay of farming and getting rich is surprisingly less infectious than Harvest Moon. Once I had gotten married and completed the story, I didn't feel compelled to keep farming and keep playing, so that was the end for me.
To me, these are all nitpicks, things that could be added to make the game better, not that their inclusion made the game bad. I really liked Rune Factory. Sure, it's old and clunky, but it's fun, charming, and relaxing. It's definitely worth playing.
