Rune Factory 4 Special Edition is a delightful game. The issue is that it feels a little under-developed and adds an unnecessary layer to an already fairly complex game. You can set dates for festivals, purchase licences that allow you to do more complex things as well as increase your storage and dictate what is available for sale in the shops. As a Royal you are expected to make royal edicts that are designed to help bring tourists to Selphia. There is also the Royalty stuff to contend with. This Special edition of the game also features some post-game content called “Newlywed mode” which provides extra content based on who you chose to marry in the main story mode, fleshing out a little more detail on your relationships. Chatting to them and giving them gifts helps you to build your relationship with a view to settling down with them and starting a family. Marriage is a big thing in Rune Factory 4, with a number of keen bachelors (or bachelorettes if you are a Prince) available for you to choose from. There again, if you aren’t that way inclined and prefer a more relaxed approach, Rune Factory 4 has plenty of other stuff to keep you busy. It is all too easy to waste valuable hours in a day and not achieve much, so it is better to have some focus. Spend a day re-arranging your farm layout, with the next focused on visiting a dungeon to farm for materials for the next day to craft better armour. However, once you have levelled up a bit and completed the fairly lengthy tutorial that spans several hours of play time you will need to get focused on what you want to achieve in each day. In the beginning it is fairly easy to accomplish things as there is very little for you to do. The day cycle sets limits on your play style. By levelling up your skills you will decrease the amount of RP it takes to perform tasks, whilst also increasing the overall pool allowing you to do more and more in each day cycle. RP along with your health can be replenished by eating the plants that you grow and the meals that you can cook. Everything you do depletes it with some actions taking more than others. Levelling them up has a positive impact on your RP or stamina, which acts as the currency you use to be able to perform tasks. There are tonnes of skills to level up that range from throwing things, to cooking recipes, harvesting crops and even sleeping. This in turn gives me a boost to my water attack and will protect me from water based attacks. Engaging in tasks levels up a number of skills, for example ensuring I water my crops on a daily basis will level up the Water skill. Working in the background is a compelling feedback loop of inter-locking systems that encourage you to repeat activities over and over.
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Through a process of trial and error I managed to get into a rhythm of clearing the land around my farm and planting turnips, then selling them to make money to open up another tier of things to do.
The gameplay loop is pretty satisfying, however in the early stages there is a sense of aimlessness as you wander around the town chatting to the folk who inhabit it, and trying to work out what to do. These are small niggles, though, in an experience I’ve largely had a great time with. It is also a shame that there has been very little done in terms of adapting the interface to incorporate the functionality of the touch screen. This Switch version is a remaster of the 2012 game that launched on the Nintendo 3DS, and at times that shows with dated looking character models and text that looks entirely too small. These tasks range from holding cooking and fishing competitions, to clearing the surrounding areas of monsters that threaten the safety of the village and its inhabitants. The fall has caused you to lose your memory and you are quickly mistaken for royalty and set to your tasks of improving and protecting the town to bring in more tourists.
You play as the heroine (or hero) who literally drops into the small town of Selphia from their airship. I just wish that it explained its systems a little better in the early hours. Rune Factory 4 Special satisfies a lot of that, with some added dungeon delving and a ton of content to work your way through. I like to potter about in games, finding my own enjoyment from doing mundane things like fishing, farming or making things look pretty. I’ve a confession to make: I have never played a Rune Factory game despite them encompassing a lot of what I like to play when I am in a certain mood.
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