Harvest Moon: Rune Factory Frontier
PostPosted:Mon Apr 13, 2009 11:56 am
So I have had the game for a little while now. I have put in about 45 hours, and my girlfriend has put in almost 70... Indicative that it is addictive.
First of all, the game stays true to the original Rune Factory title on DS; all the ideas are there.... Except this time they all work well. The original game was a lot of fun because it was fresh, but it was flawed in many ways; the fact that mining trivialized all other forms of income in the game. This is no longer the case; economy was fixed by making each level on an item only increase it by 20% instead of 100%; so if you get 4 or 5 level 10 silvers, you're not going to be filthy rich anymore. Everything is balanced out very nicely, and I find myself doing everything rather than just mining this time around. Some other improvements include:
-The game has a lot more depth in the plotlines; it is relatively steady rather than all at the beginning and then at the end. There are 13 girls, and the plot advances when certain milestones are met with them in friendship points and love points; but also on a seasonal basis, and on a basis of how far you are through the dungeon; as well as a number of other triggers.
-The dungeons are no longer trivial in difficulty, the first game was WAY too easy; this time around it is very well balanced. Your character will gain only trivial experience from monsters too far below in level (not the case in the first one, you could grind to a Godly level in half an hour on one type of enemy). Essentially, you get to a point in a dungeon where you can access new types of ore/items, these things will be needed for the next level of armour.... provided you have invested in the upgraded forges and expansions to build this stuff (money required).... If you move ahead without being up to date on equipment, the difficulty is extreme; once you have the upgraded armour, it's still difficult, but then you fight, level up, get the items you need for the next set of armour, etc.... It's a lot better than the previous game. In addition, instead of 8 or 9 short dungeons, there are 4 very long dungeons (one is essentially a series of caves and fields leading to a large castle; there are people located in this place as well, one of the girls lives in this "dungeon). In addition, you no longer have to kill off all the enemies in order to get to the boss; there are shortcuts to the different floors you can find (it would be nearly impossible to navigate a dungeon in a single game day otherwise).
-In addition, none of the dungeons are locked to certain seasons like the last game (if you missed dungeon #6 in the first game by the first winter, you had to wait until next winter to attempt it again).
-Combat is way more fun
-Music is inspired from Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9 (there are songs that sound TOO much like they're from each of these 4 games to be coincidence; not to mention there are three characters with the same names as FF8 characters that I have found: Raguna, Kross, and Selphy = Laguna, Kiros, and Selphy). Graphics remind me a lot of Skies of Arcadia mixed with the first game (no weird looking giant hands though). The first game seemed more Chrono Trigger inspired.
-Graphics are very easy on the eyes.
-There's a lot of voice acting in the game, it's not fully voice acted, but somewhere around 50-60% of the dialog is voice acted.
-One major improvement is that there are no longer giant expansions that you spend a long time working towards; rather, it is a lot of smaller expansions; this makes that pacing feel a lot better.
-The economy (which I already briefly covered) was fixed as well. In the first game, each item had a level, each level increased the value of the object 100%. For example, a level 1 item worth 100, would be 200 at level 2, and 1000 at level 10. This was fixed so that each level now only increases the value of an item 20%. This makes everything more solid; in other words, level 1 items are now no longer trivial (before it was a HUGE investment of time to get any crops to level 10, but you could get level 10 silver in no time); everything is much better balanced here.
There are tons of other little things added as well which I won't cover; an example is now you're no longer guessing how much water is left in the can, it shows you when the watering can is equipped.
Overall I find myself doing a lot of tasks; forging, cooking, everything. The systems have all been improved, and where the original was worth it because it was fresh, this one is worth it because it has improved a great deal; and reached the potential the original had. I don't know how much there is to do in this game; but in 45 hours I am still in my first autumn, my girlfriend is just past her first year (at around 70 hours). The major thing is that 45 hours of this game is much easier to swallow than 10 hours of most other games. It's a very relaxing, very satisfying, very fun game. This game will easily be the game I sink the most hours into a single playthrough (previously it was a few years back with Ogre Battle 64 at just over 60 hours; probably followed by Skies of Arcadia or Xenogears).
I may be the only one here who has this one, but if you want it, now is the time to get it. From what I understand this game is very difficult to get.
First of all, the game stays true to the original Rune Factory title on DS; all the ideas are there.... Except this time they all work well. The original game was a lot of fun because it was fresh, but it was flawed in many ways; the fact that mining trivialized all other forms of income in the game. This is no longer the case; economy was fixed by making each level on an item only increase it by 20% instead of 100%; so if you get 4 or 5 level 10 silvers, you're not going to be filthy rich anymore. Everything is balanced out very nicely, and I find myself doing everything rather than just mining this time around. Some other improvements include:
-The game has a lot more depth in the plotlines; it is relatively steady rather than all at the beginning and then at the end. There are 13 girls, and the plot advances when certain milestones are met with them in friendship points and love points; but also on a seasonal basis, and on a basis of how far you are through the dungeon; as well as a number of other triggers.
-The dungeons are no longer trivial in difficulty, the first game was WAY too easy; this time around it is very well balanced. Your character will gain only trivial experience from monsters too far below in level (not the case in the first one, you could grind to a Godly level in half an hour on one type of enemy). Essentially, you get to a point in a dungeon where you can access new types of ore/items, these things will be needed for the next level of armour.... provided you have invested in the upgraded forges and expansions to build this stuff (money required).... If you move ahead without being up to date on equipment, the difficulty is extreme; once you have the upgraded armour, it's still difficult, but then you fight, level up, get the items you need for the next set of armour, etc.... It's a lot better than the previous game. In addition, instead of 8 or 9 short dungeons, there are 4 very long dungeons (one is essentially a series of caves and fields leading to a large castle; there are people located in this place as well, one of the girls lives in this "dungeon). In addition, you no longer have to kill off all the enemies in order to get to the boss; there are shortcuts to the different floors you can find (it would be nearly impossible to navigate a dungeon in a single game day otherwise).
-In addition, none of the dungeons are locked to certain seasons like the last game (if you missed dungeon #6 in the first game by the first winter, you had to wait until next winter to attempt it again).
-Combat is way more fun
-Music is inspired from Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9 (there are songs that sound TOO much like they're from each of these 4 games to be coincidence; not to mention there are three characters with the same names as FF8 characters that I have found: Raguna, Kross, and Selphy = Laguna, Kiros, and Selphy). Graphics remind me a lot of Skies of Arcadia mixed with the first game (no weird looking giant hands though). The first game seemed more Chrono Trigger inspired.
-Graphics are very easy on the eyes.
-There's a lot of voice acting in the game, it's not fully voice acted, but somewhere around 50-60% of the dialog is voice acted.
-One major improvement is that there are no longer giant expansions that you spend a long time working towards; rather, it is a lot of smaller expansions; this makes that pacing feel a lot better.
-The economy (which I already briefly covered) was fixed as well. In the first game, each item had a level, each level increased the value of the object 100%. For example, a level 1 item worth 100, would be 200 at level 2, and 1000 at level 10. This was fixed so that each level now only increases the value of an item 20%. This makes everything more solid; in other words, level 1 items are now no longer trivial (before it was a HUGE investment of time to get any crops to level 10, but you could get level 10 silver in no time); everything is much better balanced here.
There are tons of other little things added as well which I won't cover; an example is now you're no longer guessing how much water is left in the can, it shows you when the watering can is equipped.
Overall I find myself doing a lot of tasks; forging, cooking, everything. The systems have all been improved, and where the original was worth it because it was fresh, this one is worth it because it has improved a great deal; and reached the potential the original had. I don't know how much there is to do in this game; but in 45 hours I am still in my first autumn, my girlfriend is just past her first year (at around 70 hours). The major thing is that 45 hours of this game is much easier to swallow than 10 hours of most other games. It's a very relaxing, very satisfying, very fun game. This game will easily be the game I sink the most hours into a single playthrough (previously it was a few years back with Ogre Battle 64 at just over 60 hours; probably followed by Skies of Arcadia or Xenogears).
I may be the only one here who has this one, but if you want it, now is the time to get it. From what I understand this game is very difficult to get.