Rune Factory 4

Am I formatting this right?

As Clever Iguana or whatever the hell he calls himself here said, we're going business casual at the Axis, with a heavy emphasis on casual.  Also no business.  So here's a fun example of the kind of medium-effort posts to expect from now on assuming we don't get bored and leave again.

I have a 3DS.  Owners of the 3DS probably know that it has a decent but not great selection of games.  In a recent attempt to make the purchase of said console worth the money, I bought basically every 3DS game with an 80% or higher on Gamerankings that I didn't own and had interest in.  It turns out this amounted to Bravely Default and Rune Factory 4.  They were good purchases.

I've played Rune Factories 1 and 2 and they're...fine.  They're Harvest Moon but with a mediocre combat system and a significantly stronger emphasis on interpersonal relationships, which in Rune Factory means giving a present to everyone in town every single day.  As you might imagine, this is horrible.  Eventually you reach a point where the only way to progress is to curry the favor of everyone in town.  In my experience this is the point where you stop playing forever.

RF4 does not have this problem as much.  Yes, I'm currently sitting on a quest to get everyone in town to a level 5 friendship, but there are enough other things to do that it doesn't really matter.  The farming system is easily the most complex of any Harvest moon game thus far with more things to grow than there are stars in the sky.  The combat system is significantly improved, at least over 2, to the point where it doesn't feel tacked on.  I actually spend more time fighting than farming, whereas in 2 it was mostly just something to do when you had too much time.

In fact, 4's combat system is just as complex as any action RPG you've played.  Maybe a bit too complex.  You see, each time you do an action you get experience in that action.  You can level up each element of magic, each weapon, and your ability to resist status effects.  When you level a skill your overall stats go up, along with, of course, your proficiency at that particular skill.  But there are, shall we say, some fringe skills.  Fringe skills like eating.  Yes, you become better at eating the more you do it.  Sleeping, too.  And bathing.  And throwing things.  It's ridiculous.  And since gaining levels in skills makes you stronger, that does indeed mean that a viable way to increase your combat potential is to take a lot of baths.

There are also six categories of weapon, each entirely different from one another, and each containing a good ten weapons that I'm aware of.  There are seven elements of magic, again each with a selection of spells within.  You can craft weapons and armor, buy them, or find them in chests.  Really, Rune Factory 4 took the RPG part of the series and grew it to a far bigger size than the farming aspect.  Whether or not that sounds like something you'd like is up to you, but I really enjoy it.  You can only water your crops so many times before you start to feel like you're wasting your time.  It's nice to be able to do the day's chores and then go take down some skeletal dragons or giant...man-sheep.  It's like two games at once!

Of course, there's a story here too, and boy is it a long one.  I'm about halfway through Summer (each season being 30 days in Harvest Moon land) and I just recently got to Act 2.  I don't know how many acts there are and I don't really want to know, but considering I'm still on the second tier of farming tools you can bet I'm halfway through at most.  It's not a particularly riveting story, having plenty of anime cliches and whatnot strewn about, but it's a reason to keep playing.  Plus the further you get in the story, the better stuff you can craft.

There are a lot more things to mention, but there's not enough room.  There's the Prince system, the townsfolk, festivals, dungeons you grow - yes, grow, from a seed - the omnipresent marriage mechanic, and the rest.  But I'm going to let you learn about those on your own, because my eyes are starting to unfocus.