ET… Blob

On Saturday night I’ve tried out the newest game of the Harvest Moon (HM) Franchise. It’s called Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (ルーンファクトリー -新牧場物語). The game is only available on the Nintendo DS. Click here for Official web site.

Traditional HM games have always been a farming simulation game. Rune Factory (RF) combines the farming simulation with the RPG component of fighting monsters and playing to a plot. Marvelous Interactive probably realised that most HM players also love RPG, so it’s clever that they found a way to combine the two genres.

The only problem as with all HM games, it’s time consuming. Although it’s fun and you get a sense of “accomplish” when you reach a goal, it takes far too much of your time to get all the things you need. I guess this emphasises the fact that “hard work pays off”?

I couldn’t finish HM: AWL on the GameCube cuz it took too long and the progress is far too slow ~_~ Even after reading reviews, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of people who hv finished playing that game. When I have time I’d like to eventually try to finish this game (AWL) and of course, RF as well.

Storyline from Wiki:
The game takes place exclusively in Kardia, a small city on the eastern tip of the Adonia continent that is surrounded by farmland. The game opens with the protagonist Raguna, wandering into town. Starved and dehydrated, he collapses in front of the house of a landowner named Mist. With no idea who he is or where he came from, Raguna suffers from amnesia. Mist discovers him outside her home, fetches him food and water, and because he doesn’t know his name, they both decide to name him “Raguna” (changeable). Afterwards, Mist offers Raguna a house on her land if he promises to work the farm. Raguna accepts, and this is where the game begins.

From then on, the game is very open ended. The player can work on the farm, fish, or explore the caves in the wilderness around Kardia. The player can propose to some of the eligible girls in town, capture monsters, and expand the player’s house. The game’s plot mostly revolves around the monster-infested caves and mountains around Kardia, which the goal is to fight through them and defeat the bosses at the end of each cave. As the story progresses, more and more caves open up, and the player gradually learns more about who is causing this influx of monsters.