Rune Factory 4 box art

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Rune Factory 4

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Rune Factory 4

Jul 19, 2012

Main game

4.20 average rating based on 346 ratings

5
166
4
106
3
57
2
12
1
5
Rune Factory 4 marks the return of the popular Harvest Moon spinoff that combines farming with dungeon adventuring. For the first time in the series, the player can select to play as a male or female hero, and potential suitors of either gender are also available in order to pursue love, marriage, and possibly a child. As the newly-appointed prince or princess, you can fulfill your royal duties of protecting the town from invaders, or take a more rural approach to governing by raising your own fruits and vegetables and helping townsfolk. Should some dungeon adventuring be on the days … More
Rune Factory 4 marks the return of the popular Harvest Moon spinoff that combines farming with dungeon adventuring. For the first time in the series, the player can select to play as a male or female hero, and potential suitors of either gender are also available in order to pursue love, marriage, and possibly a child. As the newly-appointed prince or princess, you can fulfill your royal duties of protecting the town from invaders, or take a more rural approach to governing by raising your own fruits and vegetables and helping townsfolk. Should some dungeon adventuring be on the days itinerary, you can select from the castles vast armament of swords, spears, and staffs along with magic for battle against dangerous foes, or even bring along a companion or friendly monster to aid you during your travels. Less
Developers
Neverland
Publishers
Marvelous AQL, XSEED Games
Franchises
Rune Factory
Series
Rune Factory
Platforms
Nintendo 3DS
Genres
Role-playing (RPG), Simulator
Themes
Action, Sandbox
Steam
View on Steam
Release Dates
Jul 19, 2012 Full Release (Japan)
Nintendo 3DS
Oct 01, 2013 Full Release (North_America)
Nintendo 3DS
Dec 11, 2014 Full Release (Europe)
Nintendo 3DS
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User Stats
1118
In Collection
274
Wish Listed
104
Playing
415
Backlogged
How Long Is Rune Factory 4?
Main story: 10.0 hours
Main + extras: 113.4 hours
Total completions: 8
Related Content
Morcys
Morcys gave May 30, 2024
Morcys gave May 30, 2024
Morcys's review of Rune Factory 4

In the past, I had held the opinion that Rune Factory 3 was the pinnacle of the series, but boy was I wrong. Rune Factory 4 is undoubtedly the best game in the franchise and probably in the entire genre. I was surprised by the amount of things you can do in this game (without getting bored), it's simply wonderful. If you're considering diving into the Rune Factory series, there's no better place to start than with Rune Factory 4.enter image description here

danacore
danacore gave Aug 9, 2024
danacore gave Aug 9, 2024
danacore's review of Rune Factory 4

was forced to romance the horse

scaredofspiders
scaredofspiders gave Mar 8, 2022
scaredofspiders gave Mar 8, 2022
Good entry
This review is for the Nintendo Switch version

I've played through the story of this game twice and if there's a flaw in it, it is that the story ends before you can actually form relationships with most of the rescued characters. Once you fly with the dragon and roll credits I sort of check out.

Witt997
Witt997 gave Dec 27, 2021
Witt997 gave Dec 27, 2021
a caccia di rune

gioco carino e piacevolissimo, sebbene non il mio tipo. molto lungo e grosso focus sull'agricoltura, crafting e relazioni, che non è ciò che cerco in un gioco. dungeon carini, anche se il combattimento è impreciso. Voto: 7.8/10

V1CGaming
V1CGaming gave Aug 29, 2023 (edited)
V1CGaming gave Aug 29, 2023 (edited)
V1CGaming's review of Rune Factory 4

Rune Factory 4 Special is an updated version of a 2012 3DS game and while it's a faithful recreation, it's let down by some clunky mechanics and the fact it's better suited to mobile play rather than sat on a couch.

Bliceheart
Bliceheart updated their status Dec 17, 2023
Bliceheart updated their status Dec 17, 2023

After a very patchy start I managed to focus on this somewhat which I am pleased for because the plot is better than in 5. The controls in this one are a mad janky.

As much as I love mechanically heavy games, good god restoring soil statuses suck for me

Shirochwan
Shirochwan updated their status Nov 10, 2023
Shirochwan updated their status Nov 10, 2023

Allez. On y croit. Cette fois on va le finir ce jeu et pas stagner à l'acte 2 !

SIGINT
SIGINT updated their status Jun 2, 2021
SIGINT updated their status Jun 2, 2021

I didn’t expect when starting this up to play for 3 hours, nor did it really feel like that long, which is a good sign. Though the NPCs aren’t as good I guess, I overall like it more than the somewhat similar Stardew Valley, probably just because there’s slightly more of a defined structure and action-RPG element. I don’t feel like any one particular part of it is amazing so far, but it’s all coming together into a fun whole.

fanofgames
fanofgames updated their status Mar 15, 2021
fanofgames updated their status Mar 15, 2021

wanted to like this game.. but i dont like the combat and i dont like the farming. dont include soil depletion without including some sort of crop rotation mechanic to counteract it... feels like its a rich full game underneath all that. but those are two hurdles i can't get past.

supersaiyanchrono
supersaiyanchrono updated their status Mar 16, 2020
supersaiyanchrono updated their status Mar 16, 2020

I think I'm done with Rune Factory 4 for now. I beat the story and had a kid, so with no real visible long term goals my desire to play has waned. I usually get really bored really fast with these sort of life simulator games, but Stardew Valley was the exception to this rule, becoming one of my favorite games. I was hoping Rune Factory 4 would be another surprise, but didn't quite do it for me. Though I can't really say for sure why, outside the random nature of town events which was a major source of frustration. I liked the music, the efficiency thanks to teleportation and high level farming tools, and the whole monster recruit system. Not a huge fan of the art style, as the characters all look 6-10 years younger than their actual age, and grinding for specific skills like crafting felt tedious and time consuming. Still a solid game and definitely recommend for anyone who typically enjoys farm simulators.

Gilded
Gilded updated their status Oct 14, 2019
Gilded updated their status Oct 14, 2019

Just started playing Rune Factory 4 and so far its pretty good! Although I love Farming Sim games like Harvest Moon they never hold my interest for that long... Hopefully the story and dungeon crawling will help me stay invested till the end.^^

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 26, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 26, 2018

The humor in this game is magnificent. I love that I have the option to be a snarky asshole at all times.

Clorica asking "Do you have time to chat for a minute?" with player options "Sure!" and "Not enough FOR YOU!"

Also why... WHY is Bado not a love interest oMFG

Bado saying "But when I look at you, I know there's nothing to worry about."

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 20, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 20, 2018

THIS GAME IS SUCH A TROLL. It was playing the END CREDITS. I thought the game was over??? i was like... well that was a really short game. OMG. NOPE.

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 19, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 19, 2018

this game has an "escape" spell that instantly teleports you back to your bedroom and I have never wanted any superpower more than this

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 18, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 18, 2018

When I booted up this game, I had apparently played it once before for 28 in-game days and then never came back..... and I'm almost to the 28-day mark this time and might end up doing the same...

I've already blown through 3 dungeons, but there's isn't really a lot of character events yet... and that's kind of the driving reason why I play these games. Where's my romance!? haha.

Also you have to unlock new seeds by fulfilling requests from the box... and I accidentally chose one to raise my crop shipping rating to 10% which I guess you can only do by having a variety of items shipped out... x___x and there's no way to cancel a request... you only get one at a time... hngggg.

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 16, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 16, 2018

...Why does the recipe for an IRON hammer require bronze????

thewritingj
thewritingj updated their status Aug 14, 2018
thewritingj updated their status Aug 14, 2018

Instead of wishing other games were more like Rune Factory, I decided to just go play Rune Factory, haha. I bought this one years ago but never got into it... so I'm going in with fresh eyes!

I set the combat on hella easy because I suck at hack-n-slash, but this is honestly almost too easy, even for me. Which is saying something, LOL.

Also the tutorial is a major troll. "I'm going to teach you how to give people gifts! Do you already know how to do this?" I selected yes, and it goes "But I bet you want to hear it anyway!!" OMG.

dreadnoughtus
dreadnoughtus updated their status Mar 12, 2018
dreadnoughtus updated their status Mar 12, 2018

This is basically the first Rune Factory game I've really tried to play after being a huge fan of the Harvest Moon series and I'm already addicted to it.

AloneWeStand
AloneWeStand updated their status Apr 1, 2017
AloneWeStand updated their status Apr 1, 2017

This is my favorite game on the 3DS. It just sucks you in and doesn't let go. There's so much to do. So many little quirks. The quality of life improvements over its older brother series Harvest Moon make it feel better too, like being able to pick up a stack of crops/the same item just by holding down the A button (which then teeter precariously over your character's head but never fall). Cook, make medicine, forge weapons, armor, talk to townsfolk, make friends, fall in love, fight with many different weapon types, and of course farm and raise animals.

Rune Factory 4 is not a game you pick up and play through, it's something you incorporate into your life for a time, if you're lucky enough to fall under its trance (and not everyone will be able to).

Stinalina
Stinalina updated their status May 28, 2015
Stinalina updated their status May 28, 2015

Digital copy