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Rune Factory Frontier is almost exactly a copy of the
Harvest Moon games. You farm, wander around town, and develop relationships with people in the town. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a different game from
Harvest Moon as well. It has elements from
Fable,
Harvest Moon,
Zelda, etc. It's a really open, open world game. Almost too open. I have found myself trying to find a certain object to go further in the game, but I don't have a clue on where to look for it, nor does the game tell me where to find it. The holidays are completely random.
Visually, this is an amazing game. Graphics are quite detailed. There are fairies floating around that are defiantly a visual stimulant. The cut scenes right when you meet another character is exactly like watching an anime on TV. It's that detailed. Unfortunately with that, it's way too short. The characters are quite unique, an elven blacksmith for example. One of the draws to this game is building relationships with the other characters. There is a tab in the menu labeled "Relations," and it shows your standings with the other characters.
The dungeon stages are way too awkward. You use your RP to do anything, including swinging your sword. So you basically have to either choose to water your crops or go into the dungeon. I have found myself getting only so far into the dungeon then running out of RP. But here's the kicker, once you leave the dungeon, the monsters in the dungeon respawn. So you find yourself having to kill the same monsters again, thus bringing you to the same spot where you run out of RP. Once you run out of RP, and you don't notice it, it starts to use up HP. I've had times where I haven't noticed it, then when I looked up a little later, I had 1/4 of my health left, and I was in the middle of the dungeon and had to try to run out without getting hit.
Rating: Super Silver
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Running out of stamina is the worst part, but luckily it's not hard to avoid enemies if you're in a jam. Early on in the game after a day of farming and depleted energy I would still get some exploring in by zig-zagging between enemies.
Admittedly, it's my own fault for not paying attention to it, but I didn't think it would start negatively affecting my farm if I didn't want to bother with it. That's right - you have to maintain balance with those stupid little floating pieces of crap if you want to keep the ability to have fertile farming land.
Why didn't I bother with it? One simple reason: the frigging Runey distribution map belongs to a resident and you have to see them /every time/ you need to check the numbers for each area. If that wasn't annoying, harvesting Runeys is a pain in the ass. You can't choose one color to nab at a time. For example, you walk into a multi-colored group and you start the harvester. You will suck up everything around you and it's up to you to re-release the ones you don't need. That would be fine and dandy if it was one area, but it's not - it's the whole blinking map excluding dungeons. Grrrr...
The RP system is a nuisance until you can start cooking and make some dishes. It's still annoying, but not as annoying as having to plow a ton like the first game to get licenses to other dungeons. -_-
And OP: Why would you need to run out of the dungeon if you're low on health? You have an escape spell since the very second you start the game. Just hit + and select escape, bing, you're out and safe.
Admittedly, I got the game way after it was released, but I still haven't played enough of it to feel like I can give it a fair review.
Hopefully in the next few days that will change.
As for the Runey thing, it hasn't bothered me thus far, as having a sucky farm isn't that big of a deal.
Or is it? Do you know something I don't?
Cleaning Guy, if you like Harvest Moon and dungeon crawlers, Rune Factory Frontier could end up being you favoriate game of all time!
Buy it before it disappears! These kinds of games often do.