Born as a spin-off of Harvest Moon, the Rune Factory series currently has a considerable portfolio of titles: the fifth chapter is basically recent, the sixth is currently in development and also in 2023. XSEED Games e wonderful They decided not to leave their fans in the lurch. At the time of writing these lines, there is very little left for the official publication of Rune Factory 3 Special on Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam), the same title that we tested for you about a month ago, anticipating a whole series of new features . and improvements that we have evidently now been able to contextualize and delve into much further.
What follows therefore is the Rune Factory 3 Special Review, which we have completed once again, for the occasion on Nintendo Switch. Choose whether you wield the sword or the shovel, keeping in mind that in the game world in question you will need both equally.
Remaster news: more than ten years and I haven't heard it
Rune Factory 3 Special is the remaster from the almost homonymous video game published in 2010 for Nintendo DS: Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (perhaps it was too detailed and once again underlined the debt to its sister franchise). The initial product was not rethought from scratch or structurally modified, but rather updated (stylistically, graphically and technically) to make it more attractive for modern times. The work deserves applause, because not only has Rune Factory 3 not been distorted, but keeping the original on Nintendo DS and the "updated version" on Nintendo Switch on hand, the latter seems to be the adult version of the former, its natural evolution. , perfectly credible and successful.
As we anticipated in the test, it is an almost entirely conservative operation and, although sensible, it may not fully satisfy those who expected news more substantial. Aside from the technical update, Rune Factory 3 can essentially boast two new things: Inferno mode, which raises the level of challenge even further; and a post-game dedicated to romance. Fans know that the title was one of the "simplest" in the entire series, both due to the relative flexibility of the boss battles and the generally small number of puzzles; Despite its RPG nature, Rune Factory 3 is also for this reason quite short, and also does not require a disproportionate number of hours to reach the end credits. The introduction of additional difficulty therefore ultimately intervenes to rebalance the overall challenge level, previously calibrated more downwards than upwards.
The second innovation is more substantial and refers to the romance and finally satisfies all the players who at the time were left with a bitter taste when they thought that by marrying their favorite heroine the adventure would come - exactly at that precise moment - to its conclusion. All this effort in vain? Now the conclusion of the plot will not involve the end credits, since you can still continue playing to develop a series of additional scenes (visual novel style) in the company of your better half. Specifically, eleven sweet halves, because the girls ready to get married in Rune Factory 3 are precisely a dozen. And with additional saves, there is also the possibility of enjoying all the additional post-marital materials, thus creating an implicit harem of sorts. Nothing scandalous, on the contrary: the proposed images are all extremely modest and "romantic", in the Spanish sense of the term.
It's a shame that these two concessions to fans, which would have been necessary at the time, constitute all the new features of Rune Factory 3, which in the end is still almost the 1:1 version of the first adventure for Nintendo DS (but that It is not like this). say that it is necessarily bad, in fact).
The gameplay: plow fields and defeat monsters.
Today, as more than ten years ago, the game Rune Factory 3 Special shows extreme versatility in its alternation of life simulator mechanics with those expected more appropriately from a role-playing game. Certainly, the production aspect of "Animal Crossing" is not inconsiderable: you will spend much of your time tending your personal field, alternating crops from the different biomes of the game world. No element is useless: from consumables to the sale of agricultural products, everything in Rune Factory 3 Special is functional for the growth of the protagonist Micah. Even simple "walking" is a skill that is properly mastered... with training, that is, by continuing to move from one point to another on the map. And so do dodges, hits with certain weapons, etc.
If the agricultural aspect of production does not interest you, perhaps you will be intrigued by the relational dynamics with the other inhabitants of the main center, a town that is home to 25 souls (including maidens waiting for a husband). And if you don't like that either, in the end exploration is the fight They constitute the other half of the real recreational offer. The remaster has preserved the battles in real time, so there is (thankfully) no continuity between movement in the environment and the start of a fight. The ability to dodge any attack at the right time makes everything even more interesting, because even the strongest monsters can be dealt with with a lot of patience and a pinch of cunning. The areas on the map correspond to the seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, plus the final section), and those that are not recommended to access at this time are marked with a sign indicating the required level. Clearer than that...
Everything else was left virtually identical To the past. Therefore, Rune Factory 3 Special still has a respectable arsenal, which can be updated and improved by continuing with the main narrative and engaging in secondary activities (keep an eye on the town bulletin board, they are also important for the "lore") . Each fighting style is easily accessible, and the ability to swap weapons and magic on the fly even during battle further enriches the variety of battles. It's a shame about the on-screen interfaces, which are less intuitive than the two-screen Nintendo DS and, in our opinion, not particularly intelligently optimized on the Nintendo Switch.
Conclusions
Tested version Nintendo Switch digital delivery Vapor, Nintendo eShop Price 39,99 € Holygamerz.com 7.0 Readers (4) 7.6 your voteRune Factory 3 Special is a very conservative remastering, but it recovers the style and experience of the very distant Rune Factory 3: A Fantasy Harvest Moon for Nintendo DS. The fundamental additions, in addition to the obvious graphic update (which does not betray the original style), consist of an additional level of challenge, finally demanding, and the possibility of enjoying additional scenes with your beloved, even once the main plot is over ( which was not possible in the original chapter). It's not much, but it's what fans have been asking for for a long time; For the rest, Rune Factory 3 Special remains a fun and immediate RPG, capable of combining that pinch of philosophy of Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing-style life simulators with the exploration and confrontations typical of Japanese RPGs (and beyond). . A combination of elements that should satisfy even the most demanding palates of today's players, demonstrating once again how some titles from the past have not aged a day (and will not age for a while).
PRO
- New level of difficulty
- The plot no longer ends with the wedding
- Stylistically very faithful
AGAINST
- Very conservative
- Interface and menu not very functional.
- It is still intended for the use and consumption of fans of the series.
