DS Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

Jintro

O Colaborador
Agora que perdi grande parte da expectativa na versão NDS do jogo Harvest Moon chegou a altura de virar a minha atenção para Rune Factory, uma espécie de Harvest Moon com combates. O jogo foi lançado em Agosto no Japão, estive a procurar por datas de lançamento Europeias ou Americanas e não encontrei nada. Alguém sabe?

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IGN disse:
When I was in high school, I was all about fast-paced action titles, and truth be told, I'm still very much in love with them. The problem is that since I've gotten older, my reflexes have slowed to a crawl, and actually reacting to things quickly has been a problem. Now that I'm older and one step closer to senility, slower and more relaxing games are what I seek. But unfortunately I can't get those kinds of games in America, because games usually target the younger crowd. In Japan, it's a different story. There is a wealth of games that appeal to older players, or those who just have crappy reflexes, like me. Take for example, Natsume's Harvest Moon series. Who would've thought that a farm simulator would actually be popular amongst gamers? But it has been popular for a long time, and with the newest installment, called Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatari, the game gets a serious upgrade on the DS.

In Rune Factory, players take control of Laguna, a young man with amnesia that is befriended by a young woman named Mist. From here, Mist puts you to work on the farm, and you get to live in a nice house. It's a good deal for both parties. Like previous Harvest Moon titles, the game is basically a life simulator where you go about your ordinary day, which includes harvesting crops, going into town to buy supplies, and of course, hitting on every fine female that pops up on your radar. The town that you live in is quite small, with only a few shops here and there, but everything that you could possibly need is available. What makes the game so charming is the cast of characters that you'll encounter in your daily life, from the shy Torute to the nurturing Mist, all of them have very different personalities that ensure the game doesn't slide into a good, callous experience. Of course, this is important since one of the aspects of the Harvest Moon series is that you'll eventually have to settle down and choose a wife.

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There's a lot that you can do in Rune Factory. You can be a simple farmer and plant crops, go fishing by the bay or become a blacksmith and make weapons to sell. Whatever you do in the game will net you some skill points, making you more proficient as time progresses. What makes the title totally different from previous iterations is the fact that you have a full-blown action portion to go along with the life simulator. In the first few minutes of the game, you'll have to protect Mist from a monster, and that sets off an adventure through the numerous caves and dungeons that are scattered around the town. By obtaining a sword and a cave pass, you can go into dungeons to build up your character as a lean, mean, fighting machine. The two aspects of the game are interwoven really well though; in order to do some farming, you can just stay the hell away from the caves, but you're really missing out on one half of the game. However, if you're really itching to butt heads with monsters, you need to do some farming first before you can have your fun. This also works with the various jobs that you can do around your farm. There are no animals in Rune Factory, so you have to capture and tame various monsters in dungeons before you can use them. Capturing a bee will allow you to produce honey, and capturing a wolf will give you a faster mode of transportation.

Combat occurs in real-time, although it's a rarity to see more than two or three monsters on the screen at the same time. Although you can equip a shield to increase your defense, you don't actually have to block manually, leaving you room to attack using magic or a weapon. There are two meters at the top of the screen, one representing your hit points, and another Rune Points (your stamina). With each swing of the sword or your farming tool, your Rune Points slowly decrease. When they reach zero, every action afterwards saps away your HP. Unlike previous Harvest Moon titles, when your hit points reach zero, you don't "faint," you actually die and have to continue from your previous save point.

Surprisingly, the graphics in the game are really well done, although they aren't fully 3D. The title uses 2D graphics with 3D character models, but it works extremely well. While not as technically impressive as, say, Final Fantasy III (which came out on the same day), the style makes it stand out a lot. Sure, the characters look like Popeye with their overly exaggerated arms, but that's a minor annoyance. This is probably the first time it's been pulled off on the DS, but you can actually produce screenshots in-game by pressing the L Trigger and Select. While you can only save one screenshot at a time, there's also the option of editing your screenshot in your house, and then sending it to your friend via Wi-Fi.

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If you're thinking of importing Rune Factory, then make sure that you at least have a rudimentary knowledge of katakana, since the game features no English at all. However, knowing katakana will at least allow you to understand most of the objectives and instructions that Laguna is given by various people in the game. It'd be even better if you knew kanji and hiragana too, so that you can read most of the item descriptions.

There is no scheduled release for the game in America or in any other part of the world, but since previous Harvest Moon titles eventually got localized, there's a good chance that this one will receive the same type of treatment as well. Given the success of the DS in America, it should be a no-brainer, but we'll have to wait and see if Natsume will be able to push this title out in a timely fashion or not.

Fonte

Mais Imagens (scans de revistas):

http://www.n-europe.com/newsgfx/runescan1.jpg
http://www.dsrevolution.com/images/im/9825413nindreamrune2.jpg
 
O Rune Factory está muito bom!! a adição de combate ao jogo deu uma aliviada grande no sistema Harvest Moon que já estava massante e batido. E este jogo tem o carisma que o primeiro Harvest Moon tinha.
Comprei o Harvest Moon DS e detestei aquilo, já o RF conseguiu me cativar de verdade.
É agradável de jogar, bonito graficamente e com montes de coisas para fazer.
O combate esta integrado na historia do jogo, tem um motivo de ser. Mas não ficamos o tempo todo em combate, só entramos em combate quando precisamos realmente fazer. Ou fica em combate quem quer... Existem varias cavernas e cada caverna tem o seu clima inalterável, as 4 estações do ano. Dentro destas cavernas tem os bichos que temos que matar se quisermos trabalhar la dentro.
Os dias continuam a durar pouco, da para fazer bastante coisa em 1 dia, mas podia durar um pouco mais.
O modo online serve para troca de items/sementes, chat e trocar fotos da nossa quinta :D

Ja esta no forno o Rune Factory 2 :x2:
 
Epah o conceito do jogo agrada-me! Harvest moon mas com uma vertente rpg e com o facto de poder-mos apanhar monstros e cada um deles tem uma funcionalidade diferente... Afinal já está a venda ou nem por isso?
 
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