One game series that I’ve been a hardcore fanboy over throughout the years has been Harvest Moon. As a fanboy, I’m generally blinded to the fact that most Harvest Moon games are rehashes of previous titles. For those who wear the rose-tinted glasses like I do, it’s time to admit it. Since Harvest Moon 64, has the series really seen an earth shattering change to its formula?
With the semi-new Rune Factory series, we are potentially seeing the jump start that the Harvest Moon franchise needs. If you’re puzzled; Rune Factory is an offshoot of the Harvest Moon games that saw two releases on the Nintendo DS. Adding to the farming sim style of play, Rune Factory inserted another layer to the game based on dungeon crawling, and monster battling. Now, we only have a couple of weeks to go before its third release, Rune Factory: Frontier on the Nintendo Wii.
I admit that I haven’t played either of the Rune Factory games on the DS yet. They seem to be the game that I always want to buy, but for some reason I end up purchasing something else. Hence, leading to me not playing either of the games. However, I’m dedicated to picking up Rune Factory: Frontier on March 17th.
There have been a couple of major updates for the title. First, the official english Rune Factory: Frontier website is up, and available for viewing. After perusing the site, I came away very impressed. As someone with web design roots, I’m always happy to see a company take time to create a nice, and informative website based around their game. Unlike Winter, whos developer thought Front Page would be a good choice for making a professional site.
There’s plenty of info to check out on the site. It seems most of the Harvest Moon mainstays are intact (farming, romance). While the addition of monster battling, and raising seems like an intriguing addition to the gameplay formula. It’s also looking to be the first Harvest Moon game I’ve played that will tie-in heavily to a story. Here is a synopsis of the background story of Rune Factory: Frontier –
“A familiar face in an unknown land…
In search of a missing girl, our hero stumbles upon the frontier town of Trampoli. Here he finds the object of his search but his task doesn’t end there. In this mysterious town inhabited by spirits called Runeys and shadowed by a gigantic flying whale island, he must start life anew.
Farmer, explorer, warrior…
In this idyllic setting our hero can pursue various trades (farming, forging, crafting, cooking, etc.), explore the town and the floating island above, or seek out adventure in the dungeons. Over time the town will grow, as do the number of inhabitants. Shopkeepers, farmers, tavern masters, and craftsmen; all are ready to be our hero’s friends, enemies, and maybe more. However, trouble in the sky above soon interrupts our hero’s new life. What is this ominous power that threatens such a peaceful town? How will he protect his friends, his love and the village that has become his home…”
Here’s the first english trailer to be released, which shows off some more of the gameplay and story elements of Rune Factory: Frontier…
So, any other Harvest Moon fans out there? What’s the last Harvest Moon game that you’ve played and been addicted to? Have I been missing out on an awesome game with Rune Factory for the DS? If so, can’t wait until March 17th for my first play through.
[Thanks to: Ranchstory]