Rune Factory: 2 Games in One

Remember Harvest Moon? The game when you would spend hours farming and planting and tilling you farm. Well now its back with a complete graphic overhaul and some very new features.

Rune Factory is at the most basic element Harvest Moon 2. The main plot is that you are a lost character with no memory of who you are or what your last profession was. You happen to walk to a small town and meet a young farmer named Mist. She gives you food and water and then helps you get back on your feet.

She offers you her spare farm, tools and seeds to get you going. From there on there is a small monster battle and some tutorial features. Once you get past the second day you are pretty much on your own. You can always talk to Mist to get more information or help, but the forced tutorial part is over. Now your main goal is to grow some vegetables and make money.

I highly suggest talking to the people in the town. They will introduce themselves and allow you to dive a bit deeper in the game. The most important NPC to talk to is in the parts shop. This is the first shop on the left once you leave your farm. Now you have the ability to farm, sell your produce and purchase seeds and tools. From here on your main goal is farming. But there is much more to this game than just the farming.

Remember that monster I was talking about earlier? You can fight monsters with your hoe or my favorite weapon, the sword. But yes, you can fight and capture monsters. On top of that you can train your monsters to either fight or help you farm your patch of land. The monsters you capture can also provide you with milk, food and some other items.

This type of game is not one that can be beat quickly or by grinding until your character is a tank. This game has something to offer each day you play the game. And it rewards you every time you turn the DS on. The game also offers seasons along with days of the week. One thing regarding the days of the week though, the Sunday slot is changed with a "holiday" slot. This is a slight hindrance, since the town shuts down almost completely on this day. But having an internal clock and seasons makes this game have a very high replay value.