Paul RobertsApril 08, 2022Maxi Geek Review, Rune Factory 5, Marvelous, SwitchComment

Rune Factory 5 - Review

Paul RobertsApril 08, 2022Maxi Geek Review, Rune Factory 5, Marvelous, SwitchComment

A fair few Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons have shown up over the last decade, but it’s been a whole decade since we last got a new Rune Factory (yes the Switch got a remaster of 4). Rune Factory 5 has been out in Japan for nearly a year and it’s finally made its way here. Are you ready to fight n farm?

You are a mysterious figure who has lost their memory. Before you know it, you find yourself recruited into SEED, a peacekeeping organisation that helps out the town of Rigbarth. You choose whether you want to play as male or female ranger-to-be, each has a different voice actor. Compared to Story of Seasons your character actually has things to say, you feel more involved in the world than just giving responses during the odd event.

The story doesn’t end there, in Rune Factory 5 something is messing with the Runes and disrupting the natural harmony of the world. Being the amnesia-riddled hero who just has that something special about them, it’s up to you and SEED to investigate and stop whatever threatens the town. It’s not just all fighting monsters and saving the town, you’re also planting crops and gathering resources to be a farmer as well.

The farming and village life portion of the game is pretty standard, especially with Story of Seasons games happening often enough. You’ll till, you’ll sow seeds, water, and harvest them when the time is right. You’ll be chopping wood and mining for metal and ores, in fact, it feels like I’m doing those more than ever as they regenerate quickly and block up any spots on the field without something growing. In the Story of Seasons games you have barns for cows and sheep, and your coop for chickens. Rune Factory 5 has left that behind, you get a Monster Barn to house your monsters. Just like the farm animals, if you take good care of your monsters they’ll provide resources and help out.

While farming and resource gathering is still important, combat also plays a major part here. You can choose from a variety of weapons; short swords, longswords, spears and rods/wands. Early on you start gathering spells and emblems that provide special moves, you can have a surprising amount of weapons and abilities by the end of the first season.

You also have a Spell Seal, which is kind of like catching a Pokémon. You have a spell you charge up and throw out at an enemy monster to capture them. Some will capture easily and fight alongside you for one in-game day, some will take some wearing down. Once you have a monster captured and fighting alongside you, you’ll be able to go through the process to befriend them and have them live in your Monster Barn. Monsters will help out with crops if they’re well looked after, as well as being able to provide resources for crafting and cooking.

Another staple of the farming game is the ability to woo and potentially marry the NPCs. Rune Factory 5 has same sex relationships which is always great to see, and there is a varied selection of townsfolk to get to know and lavish with gifts to build up their relationship meters enough to trigger events. As with Story of Seasons you will be copping a lot of repeated dialogue from everyone if you talk to them every day, although it felt like it changed enough to make it worth seeking out my favourites. It’s a hard issue to address for any game like this, when you’re expected to play season after season, how many different lines can everyone have? I guess it’s just about keeping the characters interesting enough.

A convenience that should be included in every game of this genre is the ability to warp to locations from the map. If you’re out in the woods taking down monsters but you don’t have the space for any more stuff, you’re spared all the time running back. Early into the game I even found myself just warping across town as the running pace is so slow to get around a fairly lifeless world.

You gain experience by doing anything in Rune Factory 5 - farming, watering, cooking, fighting and even walking and sleeping. It feels like there are level up notifications on a regular basis as you’re just going around playing the game. It’s always nice to level up and see your character is getting better, only you won’t necessarily see the benefits. When you cook different recipes and level up your cooking you are able to learn more recipes through eating Recipe Bread. There’s also Weapon Bread for your weapon-based skills. You’ll also pick up new moves as you level up your weapon type through using it. It’s an interesting way of gaining new cooking and crafting recipes, although it feels like an unnecessary extra step for a game that already has so much going on.

Voice commentary by the voice actors for the different characters vary from the sincere to the quite funny. While the game isn’t fully voiced, over time you’ll hear plenty of sounds and parts of conversation voiced by them (if you play with the Japanese voice cast). It’s a fun addition which is worth having a listen to.

The frame rate is very uneven, regardless of whether you have dynamic resolution turned on or off. Whether you’ve just exited/entered a building, running or fighting, the game will get choppy. Given it's been a year since the game was initially released, it’s a shame they couldn’t address the performance when the game doesn’t feel like it’s pushing the Switch that hard.

You can’t just save anywhere, you need to find a book either in your bedroom or out near the entrance to one of the combat areas. It feels like a slap in the face when you go to the Save/Load screen in the + menu only to be unable to use the save option that’s sitting right there! If you want to reload your save game quickly it’s easy to get to at least. It’s kind of like the warp system in the game, you can warp around the map, but only to limited warp points. It can save time getting around the world, but then the points are so spaced out it’s usefulness is really limited.

Placing items in 3D isn’t perfect here. They don’t have an obvious grid to snap, and won’t let you place items up against a wall. This leaves an annoying and often crooked gap between your cupboard or storage crate and the wall. Instead of feeling like I’m making my living area my own, it’s just a dumping ground for the furniture I need because nothing can be placed properly.

Rune Factory 5 is here and gives fans of the series more of what they want, but not without issues that weigh the game down. It’s still hard not to be charmed by the town of Rigbarth and it’s citizens as you see them every day as you run around. Hopefully it won’t be such a long wait for the next Rune Factory, time will tell if they freshen up the familiar formula.