I picked up (I’m absolutely lying, I made a digital purchase). Anyway I picked up a copy of Rune Factory 4 Special probably not too long after release. Admittedly, I’m usually late to these things so later is probably mid-2023 to it’s 2020 release. I also got it for PS4 because I’m a dork. Anyway, I picked up this game and gave it a few hours of play for the nostalgia. Which is ironic because I’ve never made it all the way through. I recently picked it back up and YA’LL. I can’t put it down.
For those that are uninitiated, Rune Factory 4 is a game where you can choose a female character (Frey) or a male character (Lest). The game starts off with the main character loosing their memory during a failed mugging. They land (quite literally) in the town of Selphia and meet one of the four Native Dragons, Ventuswill. Despite the memory loss, your character takes it day by day as acting prince or princess, making friends, helping the townspeople, and farming. You can also fight and tame monsters to help you in your journey. There is a romance element to the game as well. All in all, very well rounded.
I find that the game takes some diligent effort on the players part to make it worthwhile. You have to be in it for the long haul with this game. In order to have a party to travel with you and assist with dungeon raids you have to have a friendship level of at least 3 to invite them along. I should note that the knight Forte and the General store shopkeeper Doug are an exception to this rule. Forte will join the moment you crash land in Selphia and Doug…well I think there’s a lot more to Doug’s storyline that I’ve not gotten to just yet.
Likewise with beast taming. It takes a while to get the creatures you bring home, comfortable enough to help you do farm work. Let me tell you, it is such a help to have them water for me because it usually take 3 trips to the well per farm. Not to mention if you have upgraded to a second farm (which is a development option) you will absolutely need the additional assistance. So you can get back to monster slaying. Or taming.
The economy of Rune Factory 4 is something to truly marvel at. As you progress in the game you can beef up the stock of the shops in Selphia as well as invite new shop owners to move in. I myself recently unlocked a clothing merchant. In order to change clothes at home, I found you have to own a wardrobe which means you have to increase Blossom’s inventory to include furniture. To do this you must spend some hard earned princess points. These are upgrades that you can get through spending through your princess points like the previous example and some smaller upgrades you can do through farming. You can increase the level of seeds sold at the general store or Illuminata’s flower shop by reaping the crops you grow and replanting those begotten seeds.
Something that I missed out on in previous plays of RF4, was the town events. These are triggered at random (though I believe in Special this was revamped to have better odds of triggering) and give you greater insights into the personalities of the cast and crew. Some of them are also necessary for advancing the marriage storylines. A good rule of thumb is to check if you see the notification in your diary and watch your map to see if there’s any activity with the mentioned characters. The events may be triggered by a seemingly innocuous comment from a character and suddenly, you’re on a wild chase through town.
Rune Factory 4 seems to have stumbled back into my life and I’m so glad it did because I was lamenting losing my copy for 3DS. It probably would have made sense to have gotten it for my Switch but I don’t think I owned one at the time. Once I finish this play through, I may try to find the other games in the series. To answer the earlier question, I absolutely think it’s worth picking up in 2024 as it has no shortage of things to do. Expect more articles on Rune Factory 4 in the future! Now go. Go purchase it. You won’t regret it.
