Farming, dungeon crawling, monster fighting, never ending main stories one after the other, massive expansive map, secret levels, hidden stuff, relationships, romance, monster taming, building, blacksmithery, cooking, contests/mini games, puzzles, side quests, mini character stories, great visuals and character designs, character voices, chill music, can tame most bosses as pets, put your monsters to work on your farm so you can do something else, day cycles, calendar cycle, events on specific days, can go on dates and get married and have a family, ride pets...the list goes on this game is my fave game ever. Can also download for the 3ds and bring a mini portable version with you everywhere as it was originally released on 3ds (will need homebrew as eshop no longer avai and a physical copy for EU was not released, only in Japan). The last and greatest Rune Factory game. The newer ones dont go as in depth as RF4 and the graphics seem outdated but this is typical RF style. Thanks for this game, has brought me many good memories x

Super fun, super cute, lots of story and things to do and great replayability

Very good port. Runs on windows with 0 issues. Linux can very, very rarely have a repeating sound bug depending on your distro, but that's Linux for you.

The game itself is a very fun romp through fantasy holland, with many animu/JRPG tropes alive and well. The game wobbles a bit into creative territory with the storyline and people's motives. It's not pulitzer prize winning, but it's good enough to get immersed into.

The gameplay is fairly fluid, but could do with a dedicated tool button when you clear a room and want to harvest some ore or wood. Fortunately, there's a lot of binds for combat abilities and spells, and you'll want to use a variety to train up magic attack, element resistance, and intelligence, so that keeps you from being buried in menus to swap those at least.

The leveling system while dependant on XP, plays more like an elder scrolls game. While you do get levels and those seem to boost your HP/Rune Points (Stamina), it doesn't seem to do anything to your raw stats. If you want to be anything other than a more durable punching bag, you need to train skills which give you the base stats you need. Don't be suprised if you go big on being a greatsword user, never cast spells, and then eat a ton of damage by the first magic attack you get hit with.

Difficulty is adjustable at any point in town, if you find it too overwhelming or underwhelming. The game won't ever punish you for adjusting your playstyle and I only wish more games were like this. As a side note, increased difficulty does more than just up the numbers. Monsters will get new attack patterns and their AI will be more aggressive and intelligent. Spiders will back off from melee range after webbing you up and let spellcasters pelt you from ranged, or hide behind their tougher allies, for example.

To sum up, it's a really fun game to play and makes for a fine entry point for a first time player of the series. It'd be a great pick full price even, but is a must-have when it's on sale. You won't be disappointed either way.