Rune Factory
Encyclopedia
is a simulation
/role-playing video game developed by Neverland Co., Ltd.
and published by Marvelous Interactive Inc.
and Rising Star Games
for the Nintendo DS
handheld video game console.
Rune Factory is a fantasy farm simulation game and a spin-off of the Harvest Moon video game series, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the franchise. It is described by Yoshifumi Hashimoto (longtime producer of the Harvest Moon series) as "Harvest Moon where you wield a sword." Rune Factory Oceans
is the most recent game of the series, released in Japan as of February 24, 2011.
. However, the usual game mechanic of purchasing animals has been replaced by defeating monsters in dungeons, using a similar fighting mechanic to the SNES
and GBA
Legend of Zelda
games. The player can befriend monsters, and in return, they help the player in battle or provide sellable goods. The player can also upgrade farm equipment to make the game easier.
Like most Harvest Moon games, Raguna is given a limited amount of stamina. Since Rune Factory is also a fighting game, the player is also given a limited amount of HP (hit points) which is equivalent to his life. This installment of the series' stamina is displayed on the upper left hand side of the DS touch screen, in a blue bar known as Raguna's "Rune Points". Rune Points are necessary if Raguna wishes to cast magic - a certain amount of RP is needed for each individual spell. Two magical spells are an exception to this, Teleport (in which Raguna instantly goes back to his home) and Escape (where Raguna is taken to the entrance of the cave, thus escaping a fight). Raguna's RP are essential to farm work, as using a tool, creating weapons/medicine, and cooking all decrease his RP. If Raguna does not have any Rune Points, daily chores and fighting will decrease his HP. Should Raguna lose all of his HP while doing farm work, he will merely collapse
, but if he loses all of his HP while fighting in a cave, Raguna will collapse in the cave and the player receives a "game over". The player is then taken back to where he last saved the game.
Even if he has plenty of RP while fighting in a cave, the player will still receive a game over if a monster attacks him and he loses all of his HP. Some spells, such as Cure and Medication can be used to recover HP for a small cost of RP. While fighting in a cave, certain monsters can inflict different status effects on Raguna. For example, if Raguna is sealed he will be unable to use any of his magic. If he is poisoned, his HP will slowly decrease in small increments. If he is paralyzed, he will be unable to run. If Raguna has some RP, he can use Medication to remove most ailments, or create/buy medicine to remove it. Certain rings can be purchased or forged in Raguna's home to decrease the chance of being inflicted with a status effect.
RP and HP can be replenished most easily by sleeping at night. Cooking food can also slightly restores some of Raguna's HP/RP, and going to the local bathhouse run by Melody in the village will fully restore all HP/RP. However, while fighting in a cave, it is in Raguna's best interest to grow crops in the fields found inside every cave. Each cave is season-based, so Raguna can purchase and plant crops of a certain season in a certain cave (as specified by the sign outside of the cave). Raguna must go back to the cave to water them every day so they can fully ripen. Once they are ripe, a blue orb will appear above every 9 squares of the crops. If Raguna runs over the orb, he will replenish some RP. Usually by running over 3-4 orbs all of his RP can easily be restored. These orbs are better known as "Runes" and when Raguna has many patches of ripened crops, there will be Runes hovering over them, thus creating small "Rune Factories". As long as Raguna never picks the crops, the Runes will appear every day, and once Raguna steps over them, he will instantly replenish some RP, but that Rune will not appear again until the next day.
At the start of the game Raguna is given 100 HP and 100 RP. His HP meter can be increased as he levels up through fighting, but his RP will always stay at 100 points.
. 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. Raguna suffers from amnesia
, and has no idea who he is or where he came from. 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. In short, the player is free to do what he desires, but the storyline will not progress if new caves aren't opened up and cleared by beating the boss at the end. As the player fights their way through the caves, he slowly unfolds the mystery of the monsters attacking the village, and also begins to try and regain his memories
of who he is and where he came from.
rated the game at 8.4, or "impressive", saying that the art style was "amazing", and that it was the Harvest Moon "you've been waiting for". 91/100 from Gamebrink, 7.0/10 from Nintendo Power
, and 4/5 from X-Play
.
Game (simulation)
A simulation game attempts to replicate various activities in "real life" in the form of a game for various purposes: training, analysis, or prediction. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, just running around, playing as a character...
/role-playing video game developed by Neverland Co., Ltd.
Neverland Co.
Neverland Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer founded on May 7, 1993. It has developed games for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color, Nintendo DS, PSP and the Wii...
and published by Marvelous Interactive Inc.
Marvelous Interactive Inc.
is a multinational corporation that produces animation, music, video games, television series. MMV is most widely known for its involvement in the Harvest Moon series....
and Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games is a video games publisher formed as a joint business venture between Scandinavian distributor Bergsala and Japanese video game publisher and content developer Intergrow....
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
handheld video game console.
Rune Factory is a fantasy farm simulation game and a spin-off of the Harvest Moon video game series, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the franchise. It is described by Yoshifumi Hashimoto (longtime producer of the Harvest Moon series) as "Harvest Moon where you wield a sword." Rune Factory Oceans
Rune Factory Oceans
Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny is a Wii and PlayStation 3 role-playing game developed by Neverland Co. and published by Marvelous Entertainment. Players control a male and female character in one, the male side named Aden and the female side named Sonja, as they traverse the seas on a giant beast...
is the most recent game of the series, released in Japan as of February 24, 2011.
Gameplay
The game mechanics-wise stays true to its original roots. In 10 seconds, ten in-game minutes pass, creating a second/minute ratio, like in most Harvest Moon games. The player can still grow crops, and swinging tools for the farm decreases staminaEndurance
Endurance is the ability for a human or animal to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. In humans, it is usually used in aerobic or anaerobic exercise...
. However, the usual game mechanic of purchasing animals has been replaced by defeating monsters in dungeons, using a similar fighting mechanic to the SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and GBA
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda, originally released as in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Nintendo, and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Set in the fantasy land of Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link, the playable protagonist, who aims to collect the eight fragments...
games. The player can befriend monsters, and in return, they help the player in battle or provide sellable goods. The player can also upgrade farm equipment to make the game easier.
Like most Harvest Moon games, Raguna is given a limited amount of stamina. Since Rune Factory is also a fighting game, the player is also given a limited amount of HP (hit points) which is equivalent to his life. This installment of the series' stamina is displayed on the upper left hand side of the DS touch screen, in a blue bar known as Raguna's "Rune Points". Rune Points are necessary if Raguna wishes to cast magic - a certain amount of RP is needed for each individual spell. Two magical spells are an exception to this, Teleport (in which Raguna instantly goes back to his home) and Escape (where Raguna is taken to the entrance of the cave, thus escaping a fight). Raguna's RP are essential to farm work, as using a tool, creating weapons/medicine, and cooking all decrease his RP. If Raguna does not have any Rune Points, daily chores and fighting will decrease his HP. Should Raguna lose all of his HP while doing farm work, he will merely collapse
Collapse (medical)
Collapse is a sudden and often unannounced loss of postural tone , often but not necessarily accompanied by loss of consciousness.If the episode was accompanied by a loss of consciousness, the term syncope is used. The main causes are cardiac , seizures or a psychological cause...
, but if he loses all of his HP while fighting in a cave, Raguna will collapse in the cave and the player receives a "game over". The player is then taken back to where he last saved the game.
Even if he has plenty of RP while fighting in a cave, the player will still receive a game over if a monster attacks him and he loses all of his HP. Some spells, such as Cure and Medication can be used to recover HP for a small cost of RP. While fighting in a cave, certain monsters can inflict different status effects on Raguna. For example, if Raguna is sealed he will be unable to use any of his magic. If he is poisoned, his HP will slowly decrease in small increments. If he is paralyzed, he will be unable to run. If Raguna has some RP, he can use Medication to remove most ailments, or create/buy medicine to remove it. Certain rings can be purchased or forged in Raguna's home to decrease the chance of being inflicted with a status effect.
RP and HP can be replenished most easily by sleeping at night. Cooking food can also slightly restores some of Raguna's HP/RP, and going to the local bathhouse run by Melody in the village will fully restore all HP/RP. However, while fighting in a cave, it is in Raguna's best interest to grow crops in the fields found inside every cave. Each cave is season-based, so Raguna can purchase and plant crops of a certain season in a certain cave (as specified by the sign outside of the cave). Raguna must go back to the cave to water them every day so they can fully ripen. Once they are ripe, a blue orb will appear above every 9 squares of the crops. If Raguna runs over the orb, he will replenish some RP. Usually by running over 3-4 orbs all of his RP can easily be restored. These orbs are better known as "Runes" and when Raguna has many patches of ripened crops, there will be Runes hovering over them, thus creating small "Rune Factories". As long as Raguna never picks the crops, the Runes will appear every day, and once Raguna steps over them, he will instantly replenish some RP, but that Rune will not appear again until the next day.
At the start of the game Raguna is given 100 HP and 100 RP. His HP meter can be increased as he levels up through fighting, but his RP will always stay at 100 points.
Story
The game takes place exclusively in Kardia, a small city on the eastern tip of the Adonia continent which is surrounded by farmlandArable land
In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...
. The game opens with the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, Raguna, wandering into town. Starved and dehydrated
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
, he collapses in front of the house of a landowner named Mist. Raguna suffers from amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, and has no idea who he is or where he came from. 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
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 American computer-animated film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Lee Unkrich and David Silverman, and written by Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett...
, and expand the player's house. In short, the player is free to do what he desires, but the storyline will not progress if new caves aren't opened up and cleared by beating the boss at the end. As the player fights their way through the caves, he slowly unfolds the mystery of the monsters attacking the village, and also begins to try and regain his memories
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
of who he is and where he came from.
Reception
IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
rated the game at 8.4, or "impressive", saying that the art style was "amazing", and that it was the Harvest Moon "you've been waiting for". 91/100 from Gamebrink, 7.0/10 from Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, and 4/5 from X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
.