Story & Playability

This is a review of Rune Factory Frontier,I ain't gonna bother to make the review of the first one :P

Term Sypnosis :

The 12 Maidens - There are 12 Maidens that are vital to the plot...

Whale Island - This is a floating Island above the village of Trampoli.

Runeys - These are pretty much spirits with a food chain.They can be used to perform miracles or can be used as keys when turned into concentrated cystalised Runes.These have magical properties and sustain life in an area.

Hero :
Raguna (Default Name.) - The main character of the series.He came wandering into the village of Trampoli to find a girl which turns out to be Mist.Raguna's personality is overall based on your response.Early in the game,if your able to recognise Mist,previous characters of Rune Factory will recognise Raguna as well.If you say you have no idea who Mist is,previous characters won't remember you either.

The 12 Maidens :
Mist - A slightly air headed girl who likes Turnips.She met Raguna in the 1st Game and lent him a Farm for his livelihood.In Frontier,the similar thing happened.Mist stumbled into the Church and met Stella and Raguna. (Depending on your response,she will have slightly different reactions.) Stella gave Raguna and Mist a house to stay in and Raguna was given a farm as well.Mist also enjoy watching Raguna toil the soil of the fields.

Rosetta - Childhood friend of Mist and she's really competetive and sharp compared to Mist's dreamy and laid-back attitude.Rosetta will open a new shop in the Village after a while and she is the one who is buying supplies off you.Of course,if you give her trash she's gonna get annoyed.Rosetta is also somewhat tomboyish.

Melody - A girl whose simply obsessed with hotsprings.You will meet her in the Whale Island and she gave you your first Hammer to break boulders and rocks with.She is also aiming to be a witch,despite her magician's robes,she's incapable of sorcery but she's adept in making solutions and potions.She also hates mayonaise.

Eunice - A fairly obese girl.She enjoys eating sweets and desserts but she also likes to do chores and house work.Due to her...obesity,she gets really bad tempered during Summer Vacations (Beach day,basically.) but if you want to,you can go through a sequence of events to slim her down.

Anette - The postman of the Village.She doesn't live in Trampoli but she goes on her rounds to deliver her letters.She is also somewhat concerned about her height and gets rather sensitive if she thinks someone is calling her a midget.Anette is also often chased by monsters and she gets rather disturbed by it.

Lara - The Nurse of the Church.She enjoys eating Jam of all type despite knowing that it is unhealthy.She also send letters out to everyone with every Seasonal change to remind them to take care of their health.She gets really annoyed if anyone is not taking care of themselves properly.

Selphy - This lady fainted on your doorstep and you kindly brought her to the infimary.Apparently,she had forgotten to eat.Lara is annoyed by her negligence of her own health as well.Selphy later turned up in the abandoned Library of the village and she will sell you books occasionally.Selphy,apparently,adopted a love of books at a young age when she was frail so she stay indoors and read books and this habit stuck on.

Cinnamon - She doesn't like to talk too much.She is also a sorceress (Melody hopes that Cinnamon will teach her a thing or two.) and she enjoys examining star formations and fishing.She is also the one who gives you your first fishing rod.

Uzuki - A girl who came from the lands of Yamato.She is searching for her brother and she accidently ran head first into Raguna one day as she rushed out of the Inn hurriedly.Raguna offered to help her and said that he will inform her on the news of her brother if he ever heard one.Uzuki also likes fish and would be delighted if you give her meals of her culture.Uzuki is also keen on learning the culture of Trampoli.She also dislikes monsters.She is also adept in using the Naginata. (A large spear-like weapon.)

Bianca - A rich girl who moved in during Summer to stay in her Villa.She is unable to express her feelings well but slowly opened up after a while.You would need to do some things in order to let her stay permanently.Due to her wealth,giving her anything is pointless unless it's a special holiday.

Tabatha - The elven maid of Bianca.Tabatha also enjoys watching monsters and is the guardian of Bianca and she takes care of that large villa by herself. (Oh boy...and she still finds time to go to Raguna's Barn to watch monsters.)

Iris Blanche - You meet her initially in the Whale Island after taking care of some Moondrop flowers in front of her tower.She likes painting and flowers and is somewhat a polite figure.She turns out to be a vampire but she isn't evil though :P Iris can only be active at night as well.

Iris Noire - Their not twins,their the one and the same.Iris' personality was split into two different beings and were seperated out of a certain event.Blanche is dressed in white and pale.Noire is slightly tanned and dressed in black.So their more oftenly known as Black and White Iris on the net.Note that both of them hates Garlic...makes sense since their vampires.

Other Characters / Supporting Cast :

Stella - The founder of Trampoli.She is friendly and helpful and also runs the Church of the Village.She also mentioned that when she came to this place when she was young,there was only a boy there.Actually,the boy was Raguna.Due to some sort of Time Paradox event,Raguna managed to see a younger version of Stella....and she isn't lying when she said she was a beau back then.

Danny - A sloppy runner of the local General Store.His goods,services and attitude is simply terrible.Either way,when Rosetta opened up a store,his losing business fast and he blames Rosetta for it despite his own lousy goods.

Erik - A fellow farmer of the village.He gives you tips on how to farm and is your supplier of crop seeds. (Go to Rosetta if you want Flower Seeds.) Erik is also atheletic,he performs really well in most physical contests.

Turner - Father of Eunice and the boss of the local Inn and Bar.He likes to drink but he gets drunk very often.

Rita - Mother of Eunice.She takes care of Turner whenever he gets drunk. (Not as in...kindly taking care but...slapping him awake.)

Ganesha - The local smiths.It is unusual for elves to smith in the first place but it seems her master is a Dwarf.Ganesha also refuses to smith anything unless the materials were given to her.Ganesha also doesn't smith anything for Raguna and encourages him to do it himself.

Marco - The son of Ganesha.He wishes that he can grow up quickly so he can take part in battles.He is also fond of Candy.

Kross - The local gothic carpenter.He takes care of any construction within the village but of course,the prices are steep.Kross was an ex-Mercenary and he hates the battles and stuff like that so he became an...what people call "emo" now a days.But don't judge him too harshly,he have a tough life.Kross is also physically inhuman in some sense...he jumps great arcs while carrying a heavy man...that's not human now,is it?Oh yeah,Kross is also somewhat forgotten due to his withdrawn attitude.

Kanno - Gramps of Cinnamon and Candy.He used to be a researcher in some distant facility but he moved into the Clocktower to research on the Runeys.

Candy - The little sister of Cinnamon...and she's really cute.Candy is often seen with Marco,whom she sees as a good friend and Candy seems to have a great liking of Raguna.She isn't able to use magic like her sister but she is able to communicate with the Runey spirits and perform Miracles.She also take care of the household chores since Kanno and Cinnamon is apparently unable to do it.

Nolan - A frequent patron of the hotsprings when it is opened.He is dressed in a noble's suit and seems to have a great liking of cats and hotsprings.

Brodrik - A person who appeared out of no where to pester you all day long.He ruins your fields,your storage and pretty much every thing as long as he is around.Unfortunately,he mistaken you for some one else.

Minerva - A good friend of Tabatha to check how she's doing. (She only appears on certain circumstances.) She later stays 'round the Villa after she arrived.Minerva,oddly enough,like slops. (Burnt meals.)

Lute - A wandering painter and also a seller of rare goods.He aims to be a renowned painter and he sells you the things you need for your farm.He only appear in holidays.

Tsubute - A companian and seemingly a guardian of Uzuki.He looks exactly like a cockroach of some sort and he dislikes Raguna as he sees him as a threat towards his lady.

Villain :
Gelwein - The person who caused the Iris' plight and the one who caused the negative events to happen in the game.

Overall :
The plot isn't that heavy since 60% of the time it's pretty much free roaming.Generally,the plot is about the Whale Island,which Raguna managed to go to.He is requested by the Island itself to find the source of the problem of why he the Whale's energy is dying out,if it dies out completely,the Island will fall.Mist is also drawn to this village because she have constant dreams about some one requesting for aid.Raguna is told to find 12 Maidens as well.He is confused by this,at first.He later meets Gelwein and he attempts to put an end to his plans.

Genres :
Action
Stimulation
Adventure
Harem

Rating: 8

Graphics

Portrait Artwork Review :
The portraits of the characters are excellent.They cover half of the screen to be honest :P the Characters are well drawn and the girls are pretty and adorable XD But I have to say Raguna looks somewhat feminine :P

Significant Designs :

To be honest,most of them are pretty significant.The girls are anyway.The males,come to think of it,wear bland clothings.The more significant males would probably be Brodrik,Kross or Erik.

Rating: 9

Sound

Music Review :
I don't really like the Opening to be honest.The BGM music is decent,it somewhat brings out the taste of the Seasons. (Each Season have their own Theme.)

Voice Review :
I only heard the English Dubs so far (Since I have the English version :P ) but the voices are actually pretty good.It brings out the personality of the characters really well.

Rating: 8

Fun

Overall :
This game is not for the impatient.You need decent equipment to survive dungeons and you need to farm and fish to earn more money.This is basically Harvest Moon except it have Action / Dungeon Crawler / RPG Elements.

Gameplay Elements :

Runeys - You need to maintain the right amount of Runeys to keep them alive so your crops will grow properly.

Farming & Tools - There are a variant amount of tools for your farm,barn and Runey population maintenance.(Or fishing,crushing boulders,clearing soil obstacles...etc. etc.)

Weapons - There is a constraint of weapons to be honest.Tools can be weapons as well,however.

Your House - It can be expanded and fitted with facilities for your usage.

Farming System - Exactly the same as Harvest Moon...fertilisers,tilling...etc..etc..

Barn - You can tame monsters and keep them here.They can provide milk,wool or other raw products or even go to battles with you.

Seasonal Changes - There are 3 Seasons,Spring,Summer,Autumn and Winter.Each Season have their own limitations of crops but each and every Dungeon have their own permanent Season so you can grow flowers that require 100 Days to grow.

Marriage - You can marry one of the any 12 Maidens.Your wife would then bear your child which would grow up to a certain age and they would also provide you with your bentos...I'm yet to reach this stage :P Note that every character needs you to do some required events in order to be able to marry them.Oh yeah,note that once your married,don't ever try to propose to any other Maiden.Your wife would literally kill you. (You will wake up with 1HP and 1 EP.)

FP & LP - Friendship points and Love points.If your high on these for some characters,they will allow you to go into their house late at night and it allows you to initiate some events.LP is needed for Marriage of course.

HP and EP - I don't remember the official term for EP :P Either way,your HP should be an obvious factor but your EP is like your energy bar.Doing rough labour will decrease it.Once it's empty,you will faint.

Skill Level - The higher your skill level for a certain tool,the less EP you use and you can equip more advanced tools proficiently.

Trivia :
-This game is a sequel of the 1st Rune Factory,supposedly that the Main Character didn't marry anyone on the original game.
-Rune Factory is essentialy Harvest Moon.It's full name is Rune Factory : A Fantasy Harvest Moon.
-There is another release for the Nintendo DS of it,Harvest Moon 2.It isn't a sequel of the 1st Harvest Moon,however.
-This game is for Nintendo Wii.The other Rune Factory is for the DS.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.50 (very good)

Reviewed by z827, 7wk 3d ago

Zerochan | Anime Wallpapers | Anime Galleries | Anime Lyrics | Advanced Anime | Anime Online
DA! | Watch Anime Online | Anime Stocks | DigitalArt | VNDB | Anime Wallpapers

© 2004-2009 Minitokyo - About | FAQ | Policy | Privacy