Rune Factory: Frontier - Nintendo Wii

I have been playing Rune Factory Frontier (RFF from now on) for about 25 hours and well into the middle of the game, but far from calling it "conquered." My review will necessarily be based on what I have experienced so far. Below I will summarize the contents of the game in terms of structure, story, graphics, and overall impression. Structure: The map of RFF is subdivided into districts such as business district, church district, public square, beach, your ranch, etc. On top of that there are four dungeons to explore. You will find different kinds of monsters in the dungeons but that will be discussed later. Basically you will commit yourselves into farming in your ranch, at least earlier in the game (such as clearing up the weeds, stones, tree branches, till, sow seeds, water, and harvest). Besides your ranch, you will be able to do some faming in the four dungeons (one can grow independent of seasons, the other three grow depend on specific season; no seeds grows in the winter). Other than farming, you will be able to fish, cook, work on the foundry, do crafting and concoct the herbs. You will be able to fight monsters in the dungeons with your weapons or farming tools too. Your skills levels will increase as you practice more of the tasks and your physical level will increase as you get rid of the monsters. Higher physical level means more HP and higher skills levels means less consumption of RP (Rune Points). Rune Points maximum barometer never changes throughout the game (set to 500) and once emptied, your HP starts to be consumed. RP can be refilled by eating or drinking. If your HP is 0, you will be sent to the infirmary in the church district. The weather system in the game is like that of harvest moon. Rain, sun shine, or snow. There are four seasons in the game, each month corresponding to each season. One of the dungeons, "Whale Island" does not have any season and can grow any crops. There are relationships barometer for each resident in the town. By giving the things he/she likes, you will increase the friendship barometer and love barometer if she happens to be a girl (the main character is a boy) you can marry to. When the love barometer gets to like 8 out of 10, you will be able to call out for a date. Rune system is rather complicated. Suffice it to say that there are four color runes (blue, pink, yellow, green) that corresponds to water, stone, tree, and vegetation. There are runes in each district, but I am not sure how they arise or get destroyed. I haven't taken care for like 3/4 of the year about rune and by the time I realized it, runes are gone completely in half of the map. I hypothesize that some hierarchy exists among the runes and we would like to monitor and add/take the runes so as to optimize the overall numbers. Right now I try balancing the rune numbers to about 25 each in my ranch to observe how it will turn out. Story: The main story is probably the tasks given by the Whale in the Whale Island. It is about getting something or destroy something, but I haven't accomplished any one of those yet...The bosses in the dungeons are not related to the story, I think. There is sub-story from each heroine as you get higher friendship or love barometer. Graphics: Graphics relies more or less on anime style drawings than like that of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Considering that this is a Wii game as well as rather simple rpg/simulation, the graphics level suffice in my opinion. Overall: The things I like are the various choirs that can be done in the game, from fishing and cooking to concocting the herbs and crafting a weapon/armor. I also like the point of being able to ask out a lady. Special events offered by the town may be fun too. The things I do not like are the unchanging behaviors of the people. Yes, they do go different places throughout the week and speak different things as the relations improve, but I find it repetitive and dull eventually. As far as I know, there aren't that many rpgs in Wii. I believe RFF to be one of the best out there because RFF presents balanced tasks in fighting, farming, and relations building. Story may be lacking in depth, but other tasks kept me playing the hours. I hope my review helped you in someway in deciding or not in getting this game.

Hey! I purchased this game from Amazon a week ago today, along with another Wii game, Epic Mickey. When I first clicked on the button to buy it, I was very nervous. I'd never played a Harvest Moon or Rune Factory game before. It sounded interesting, but what if I hated it? What if it turned out to be the worst $15.00 I ever spent? When the games arrived I rushed to open the box and inserted the game I'd looked forward to playing all week into my Wii. That game was not Rune Factory: Frontier. After a few hours of playing Epic Mickey, which I quite enjoyed, I took the game out for someone else to use the TV for a while and moved on to something else in my life. But I still wondered about that other game I'd bought. I couldn't even remember the name of it, but I knew it sounded cute, so I wanted to try it out. When I came back to my Wii, I decided to play Rune Factory rather than Epic Mickey just to see if I liked the game enough not to return it and get my money back. I haven't stopped playing it since. And that's only a slight exaggeration (I do have to eat, sleep, and work at some points of the day). I have played this game for over 40 hours already and my attention has yet to flag. It really quite surprised me. But this game is more addictive than anything else I've ever played. Usually, by this time, I've moved onto something else of interest for a while. Not with this game. But should you buy it? Will your tastes coincide with mine? Here's a list of what I did, and didn't, like: THE GOOD: ~~ Wonderfully Addicting Gameplay: I love this game. There's so much to do, so much to discover, so many secrets to uncover, there's never a lag where you don't know what you can do. It's more of a problem of how you can fit all you need to do in the time and energy you have to do it with! ~~ Interesting Love Interests: From the foreign warrior to the librarian (whose past is AWESOME) to the mail-lady who visits you each morning, you have so many cute, sweet girls to choose from. Being a girl myself, the looks of these girls didn't interest me much, but I'm really fascinated by some of their pasts. The librarian is my personal fave, but there are a total of 12 girls to choose from, so everyone's tastes can be catered to. ~~ Fun Dungeons: I like games like Zelda and Pokemon for their battle scenes and linear RPG story-lines. This game offers that alongside of the simulated-lifestyle games similar to The Sims (games I've always adored but never been able to play for long). The dungeons are really interesting and rewarding. You get great items, monsters to fight or befriend, and new hints to various parts of your storyline as you explore them, too. ~~ Beautiful Artwork & Cute Cut-scenes: Trampoli is painted with vivid colors and sharp contrasts, and, yet, remains simple and refined unlike many games I've seen. Plus, the scenery changes with the seasons, adding a bit of a realistic touch. The little anime cut-scenes introducing new characters and major events only last a few seconds, but are a nice touch and really add a special something to the game. ~~ Befriended Monsters: Maybe I'm alone in this, but I find something immensely satisfying in going into my barn each day and brushing my monsters. These adorable little hearts float up from their heads and make me smile every time. If only farm animals in REAL life treated you this way. *sigh* THE BAD: ~~ Formulas For Crop Growth: For a game that is supposed to be all about connecting with nature and teaching more "green" methods of life, having you create chemical formulas to treat your crops with is very annoying. The problem could be easily fixed, too, with just a little addition to the barn called a compost pile. You could create fertilizer there like you mix medicines in the lab, only use things like eggshells, withered grass, etc. I think that would be much cooler. (*Hint hint*) ~~ Stick Skinny or Just Too Young: The Eligible Girls in this game are far too skinny, of course, being based off anime. I look at that kind of like Barbie dolls, however, and it doesn't bother me. But the only non-skinny girl in the game, Eunice, being forced on a diet if you say you prefer skinny girls seems plain cruel and unusual to me! And she isn't even fat (unless you go by anime standards, which are unrealistic at best)! In fact, all through my first Spring in the game, I thought Eunice was a 5 or 6 year old girl who simply had what most term as "baby fat". She doesn't need to go on a diet! She needs to grow up a few years! Even if she looked that way as an adult, I've seen what she looks like after a diet, and I think she looks disgusting. It's ridiculous to put this in a game that can influence the minds of children. She isn't fat, she doesn't need to go on a diet, and she looks and acts too young to be considered an Eligible Girl, if you ask me. Child brides are not my thing, so Eunice is automatically NOT on my list of prospective mates. I think the people who drew these characters need to study a few adult bodies for a change, and leave the children to be friends and not courted. ~~ Unpredictable, Illogical, Unexplainable Events: How do you get the axe? You talk to Stella, the nun, for several days in a row after tilling your field 40 times. Why? Because some designer decided to make it that way. How do you discover this information? Either by deciding to talk to Stella over and over again yourself for some random reason, or by looking it up online, because you can bet no one in the game is going to clue you into this nice, little tidbit. What about the sickle? You have to use the hammer or the axe on your field at least once, and then talk to Eric, the farmer who lives in the South District. How do you discover this? Either talking to Eric after using the hammer or the axe yourself, or look it up online. How do you get the Pet Brush? Talk to Kross, the carpenter who lives in the South District, after visiting Whale Island or the Green Ruins for the first time. Why? Because of secret information in his past, I'm guessing...or some designer decided you needed to go on a wild goose chase for giggles. Sadly, these are not the only things it will take extensive research to discover and understand. My advice? Look up strategy guides online whenever you have the time. There's plenty out there. ~~ Single Sex Gameplay: Why must I be male? Why? I'd really prefer to play this game as a female warrior and check out some cute, anime boys for love, marriage, and progeny. However, this is a small nitpick, and isn't much worse than reading a book from a male point-of-view, so I don't mind TOO much. I just think a game partially based on dating and marriage should allow you to play as your own sex if you want to. THE UGLY: ~~ RUNEYS: This horrible system cannot be understated. The Runey system was designed TERRIBLY. It is, by far, the worst part of this otherwise incredible game. The worst part about it, as far as I'm concerned, is that it is such a great idea, but the implementation of it went very wrong. The Runeys themselves are gorgeous, floating balls of color that you see everywhere in Trampoli, but you really grow to hate their guts after you find out what you must do to manage them. You must talk to Candy or go to the 2nd story of the Clock Tower to view the Runey Distribution Map. Really? Why can't we view this map everywhere we go? Isn't the whole point of this to show us the balance of nature and how we should work with the ecosystem, instead of destroying it? But I find myself wasting REAL trees by writing the stupid numbers of Runeys on paper to try to balance these suckers out on a regular basis. Then, once you know the numbers of Runeys you have in each district, you must take your harvester from place to place and manually change these numbers to a more balanced, equally distributed order. The harvester, when used to collect Runeys, is one, annoying vacuum cleaner. There is no filter system, so you can't say what type of Runeys you want to collect, and have it collect them. No, you vacuum up whatever Runeys are within range with unbiased certainty. This leads to the ordeal of sucking up the wrong Runeys and having to go through your inventory to manually set them back free. Then, it doesn't even tell you how many of which Runeys you collected. You can take the number of that type of Runey you originally had in your inventory and subtract it from the ones you have now, or you can count the cute, little balls of color that get sucked in your harvester. That's the only way you'll know how many you've taken. And the information you find in the game about this complicated system? As useful as putting a band-aid on a septic wound. You'll have to research it online for a while before you understand just how to get them to Prosperity level (though I don't think I'll ever try to do that myself; I'm just satisfied if none of my areas die). Look up things like "Grass Factories" if you really want to get good at it. Overall, it's a fantastic game, with tons of things to do: fish, cook, make medicines and formulas in your lab, forge weapons, craft defense items, make toys, make swimsuits for your lady-friends, read books, talk to characters, fall in love, get married, have a child, grow crops, have livestock, do magic, fight monsters, mine for ores, be a lumberjack, uncover secrets, fight enemies, uncover the storyline, and find constellations. I've been trying to decide on my favorite part of the game, and still can't put my finger on one thing. It's all so much fun. However, there are a few design flaws that mar the game, like bubbles in an otherwise flawless diamond. Do I still recommend this game to others? Whole-heartedly! Despite the flaws, it's a very addictive, fun game that hooks you in better than any other game I've ever seen. I haven't picked Epic Mickey back up since I started it, and that's saying a lot. Hope this helps all you potential buyers, and that you all have a nice day! Luv ya, Tashi :)

I was a huge fan of Harvest Moon 64, playing at friends' houses when I was a kid, and have been disappointed with the more recent Harvest Moon games I've tried. This is a different, slightly more complex game (what with the monster-taming and all), but it keeps the awesome spirit of Harvest Moon and, in many ways, improves on it. The most annoying thing are the unskippable cutscenes, particularly the opening one. It'd take a lot for me to start a new file just because I know I'll have to sit through 5-10 minutes of cutscenes I can't skip (plus the unskippable tutorial stuff) just to get into the game. Additionally, unlike Harvest Moon in which you start with a full set of basic tools, here you have to be given each tool by a different person. There is no in-game guide or quest progression to give any indication who will give you the next tool, nor how to get them. It's frustrating, though not a big problem considering the wealth of information on various online wikis about the game.

I'm a huge fan of the Rune Factory series particularly their DS games so I was hesitant to play a Wii game in the series. I haven't played much of it yet but I am enjoying the game so far. The art and animation in cut scenes and gameplay is wonderful. I was pleased to be able to see the lovely Rune Factory art on a large screen for once. The Wii showcases the art wonderfully. The gameplay itself is a bit hard to get used to but it's okay, though admittedly I still prefer playing these types of games on my DS as I think they benefit from the portable devices as they're very much "pick up and play" games. The story is great. I really enjoy that it picks up with the main character of the very first Rune Factory. You could say it's the closest "sequel" the Rune Factory series has given to date. The reason for this is probably because it's weird to have a main character (in this case Raguna) who married in the last game in the next game with completely different set of bachelorettes. Still it was interesting to see a sequel from a series that's never really done it.The sky island is a neat concept and the farming seems to be pretty much the same as some of the other games which is nice. I can't say it's my favourite game in the Rune Factory series but the creativity, art and characters are lovely and I feel confident in recommending it to other Rune Factory fans. If you're new to Rune Factory I wouldn't start with this. Not because you wont get the story, even if you haven't played the very first Rune Factory DS game it's easy to catch on. The reason being I believe their are other games that would serve as a better introduction to the series just because of story and gameplay. Again I think it works so much better for DS than Wii but that doesn't mean it's a bad game! In fact there are concepts and characters that are really good. If you're a Rune Factory fan with a Wii I would highly recommend it but it's not worth buying a Wii over.

Très bon jeu déjà plus de 80 heure de jeu en 3 semaine

The graphics on this game are stunning; and the anime style cut scenes I really enjoyed. Besides the one charcter, all the charcters are really enjoyable to deal with. Winning over the monsters, to get them to help on the farm was fun as well. Then I became stuck in the game. I was having a hard time balancing farming and fighting. Farming is difficult when your feild is full of stumps and rocks. By the time I had a spot cleared, a storm came and ruined all my hard work. The tools take a lot of engery to use, to upgrade them, you have to get ore. To get ore, you have to fight past the monsters. You have to do this to help yourself out, and to complete part of the story line. I found once I did one thing had no time to do the other. Fighting vs. farming, and least I forget gettting the girl. I found myself getting a bit frustrated at this, I had to put the game aside, unfinshed. Perhaps I can finish it later, but the same problem, at least for me, will arise. If you can get past this, or figure it out better. Then it would be a great game to have. If you can't see yourself figuring this out, then I would pass on it.

Arrived on time, was adequately wrapped. The game plays well and is an excellent game. This is a game for anyone who enjoys a good rpg but also likes the laid back feel of a Harvest Moon game.