• Rune Factory 4 Cooking License

1. For Rune Factory 4 on the 3DS, Recipe List by Paladin_Rolan.
2. Rune Factory 4 is a game that you could easily dive into for twenty minutes or two hours at a time, and it seemingly never ends. There’s always one more thing you can do to improve your station in the town, or the town’s station in the world. Neverland Co.’s debut on the Nintendo 3DS is an absolute blast to play no matter what you’re doing in it.

Feb 26, 2015 - Cooking - Rune Factory 4: One of the crafting options available in RF4 is cooking, but the set up of the 'kitchen' is vastly different than usual.

Rune Factory 4

by Kimberly Keller - October 9, 2013, 3:54 pm PDT
Total comments: 5

With so many things to do in this microcosm of a game, where do you even start?

Rune Factory 4, the sixth title in Neverland Co’s hit series, is easily the most immersive and well-rounded installment yet. Rune Factory has always been more expansive than its sister series Harvest Moon, building off of the social and farming focus to include battles and broader skill sets. Rune Factory 4 is no different, adding in new elements and polishing previous mainstays. With so much to see and do within the game, this simulation is perfectly set up to sabotage any social life you have as you get sucked into the world of Selphia and all it has to offer.

True to tradition, players take control of an amnesiac hero, whose gender is determined by the player for the first time in the series. Our hero is travelling by airship on a mission to deliver a mysterious object to the god-dragon, Lady Ventiswell, in the town of Selphia. Unfortunately, no sooner have they announced their intention when looters show up, knocking out the protagonist and all their memories. The object falls off the airship, followed soon by our hero.

Usually a fall from that height would prove deadly, but luck is on our side as Lady Ventiswell’s head conveniently breaks the hero’s fall as they land in Selphia’s palace. Ventiswell, or Venti, mistakes the player for the prince they’ve been expecting and trains you to rule over the town. The real prince does show up soon, but is perfectly okay with the hero taking over, preferring to focus on his own business interests in town instead.

The role of town royal creates a perfect segue into the game’s mechanics. As a royal, players are responsible for the town’s well being, and can increase their royal power by accumulating prince or princess points by attracting tourists or helping out the townsfolk. These points can be used to throw festivals, expand businesses, open shops, obtain various licenses, increase different storage spaces, or even to decide who wakes you up in the morning.

Festivals are a fun diversion, and the citizens of Selphia certainly find a reason to celebrate on a near weekly basis. These holidays are usually competitive and wonderfully varied, so they never grow old. They can range from simple farming competitions where you advocate for your chosen plant, fishing competitions, or even fun mini-games such as the Turnip festival where you throw balls at falling turnips worth different points.

If you manage to place in a festival (and don’t think it’s a done deal, the townsfolk don’t take festivals lightly) a trophy appears in your basement. If the trophy was for a mini-game festival, you’ll be allowed to play it again any time you want by inspecting it. The trophy room also contains the high and low records for each fish you catch, the option to change the difficulty level for the game, and the winning pictures, complete with character commentary, for an illustration contest Neverland Co. had before the game’s release.

Once unlocked, farming opens up a world of possibilities as different crops can be used in cooking, forging, crafting, medicine, as gifts, or as a simple means of income through shipping. Each plant has an ideal growing season, takes a different amount of time to grow, and can be easy or hard on the soil. A good supply of fertilizer is needed to upkeep the soil’s richness, and monsters can be asked to help out with the farm’s daily chores, which of course means they’ll need a daily supply of food as well.

The townsfolk provide their own source of distraction of course, and the game does a good job at keeping daily interactions fresh and interesting. Not only are there normal conversations to have with everyone, but also optional mini-adventures to partake in. These can range from simply running around town on a comical wild goose chase, to more involved stories that take you back to previously completed dungeons as you unravel a new mystery. Characters all have their own quirks and some conversations are so surprising you may find yourself laughing out loud.

The dating scene in Rune Factory 4 has been expanded, most notably with the addition of long-term relationships before marriage. It’s a small but welcome addition, which allows you the freedom to learn more about the characters without the permanent commitment of wedlock, and there is definitely a wide selection of characters to choose from. The inevitable inclusion of rivals also serve to spice up the dating scene, as it adds a bit of challenge to winning over your chosen guy or gal.

The last heavy hitter for attention is, of course, the battles. In past games this is where the series really shines, and Rune Factory 4 is no different. The main story requires players to traverse through dungeons and complete boss battles if they hope to find out what happens next in Selphia’s saga, but there are plenty of other reasons to charge into the dangers of battle, such as completing townsfolk’s requests, finding items, and leveling up different magic and weapon skillsets.

The game does a good job at increasing battle difficulty as you progress, and even posts warning signs suggesting what level your character should be at before entering certain areas. If grinding is your thing, enemies and items do randomly respawn after you leave an area, so you can literally run back and forth between sections, including boss battles if you’re looking for really big points.

It is important to consider befriending monsters, which can be done by carefully offering gifts as they try to attack you. Townsfolk can also join your party (up to two monsters and/or people at a time) if they aren’t busy and if they like you enough. Each monster and person has their own specialties and weaknesses which can be important to take into consideration, but sometimes it’s just funny to pick someone like the sweet nurse or lazy blacksmith and force them into battle.

Dungeon crawling can be frustrating, especially when you don’t know where the next save point is. If you die, you get sent back to the clinic, and usually have to pay a steep price for your medical attention unless Nurse Nancy wakes you up instead of the doctor. Some dungeon rooms even contain magical blockades that prevent you from proceeding until every monster is destroyed, made all the harder when portals are present that keep sending out new enemies until you break it. This is an understandably smart mechanic, as it prevents you from running past the more difficult enemies in favor of just finding the boss. However, if you do get stuck, there is an escape spell conveniently located at all times on the left hand side of the touchscreen that can be used for a small amount of RP.

There are other elements to focus on, like fishing or bartering, and the game offers nearly infinite ways to feel the rush of achievement. Besides farming, battling, and socializing, players can open up their own shop, learn recipes for cooking or other crafts, and can even raise a skill level just by walking or sleeping. Obviously some skills actually require a lot of effort to raise them, but it nonetheless feels good to see “skill level up!” flash onto the screen with congratulatory music as you play. This constant reward system successfully creates an addiction to the game as you’re always achieving something and improving your character’s stats. Even something as simple as opening a treasure chest, which you might think is a reward in itself, contributes to your “searching” skill which improves your max RP and intelligence level when raised.

Rune Factory 4 Cooking License

The game makes it very easy to view and learn about all these skills. In fact, it’s easy to learn about almost everything you want right from the touchscreen’s menus. The UI is intuitive and easy to navigate, showing the time, date, weather, money, and map on the touchscreen at all times. The map shows what rooms you’ve explored in dungeons, or if you’re in town, it shows the location of every citizen and visitor. There are also buttons for the escape spell, your backpack, and notebook. Your notebook shows active requests, but can also show the calendar or your shipping log when you hold down L or R while clicking it.

Opening your backpack is like falling through the rabbit hole into a wonderland of information. Items you are carrying are shown on the right hand side, and equipped armor, weapons, abilities, and spells are displayed on the left while the top screen shows your player’s stats. There is also a nifty tab on the side that slides out to show all available abilities and spells. The top section contains six tabs that lead to other menus: main, skills, recipes, party information, friendship levels, and general settings. Each menu contains a wealth of knowledge about everything, such as bios for the townsfolk, what each skillset does for you, and stats on all your befriended monsters.

If you want to quickly equip or use an item outside of the backpack menu, pressing the L button brings up a quick selection menu that appears at the bottom of the top screen. Gameplay is paused during this, making it easy to grab a potion or change weapons in the heat of battle. Items are also sorted into four categories, which you can view by scrolling up or down, making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.

The graphics are really the only thing that falls short of expectations. There are moments whenever a potential love interest is introduced where the game plays a short anime video, but for the most part you are stuck with graphics reminiscent of sprites and a static picture of whomever you are talking to. The static images are nicely drawn though (you can even hide the speech bubbles to see their whole outfit by pressing X), and character’s expressions and sometimes posture changes based on what they are saying. A nice touch is how the seasons affect character appearances, so expect to see townsfolk in swimsuits while on the beach in summer, and bundled up in winter. The time of day and weather also affects the town’s appearance, but since one real world second is equivalent to one in-game minute, you have to be quick if you want to catch someone in their pajamas.

The normal gameplay graphics have hard, somewhat jagged edges and try to cram a lot of detail in. It’s not insanely bothersome, but does make the game hard to play in 3D. However, this seems a fair tradeoff as the lack of graphical information means the game is crazy fast. Every room, store, and area seamlessly loads after an ultra-quick fade to black eliminating downtime and keeping the game going. This is very important for a game like this, as you run from place to place constantly and any lag would become annoying almost immediately.

Rune Factory 4’s soundtrack is enjoyable for the most part. Each season offers a different score for the town, and each dungeon also changes it up. Festivals, weather, stores, and time of day bring with it their own mood music as well. These tunes provide a nice variety to the game, but can also become tiresome when you hear the same town song for 30 in-game days. It’s really a built-in pitfall for any simulation game, and one can hardly expect developers to create a new melody for every day of the year. Sound effects are done well, even taking into account details like what shoes your character has equipped when you run.

The Rune Factory series has proven time and time again that it has grown from merely being a Harvest Moon spinoff into a force of its own. This latest installment is easily the best of the series so far, smoothing out any problems in the previous titles, and adding in just the right amount of content to create a fuller experience. Rune Factory 4 provides an infinite amount of gameplay that doesn’t end once the main story does.

Summary

Pros

• An almost endless amount of gameplay
• Expanded features from previous games in the series
• Fun and comical interactions
• Personalized experience
• Varied gameplay style

Talkback

Thank you for the review.
I'm glad that you think this is a fun game, and I hope that I will too, once I buy it.

It LOOKS like this game makes much better use of the second screen than Harvest Moon A New Beginning...though I think I'll wait for Rune Factory 5 to see if they take advantage of everything the 3DS has to offer.

Great, thorough review. Thanks.
The game sounds really fun, like Animal Crossing with more of a point to it. I might check it out in the future, once I attend to a bit of 3DS backlog. Never played a RF game.

I will give a flower to my nearest relations daily until they love me enough to get this for me for Christmas.

I have played this game!! and i love it so much!! yayy!! rune factory 5!! I can't wait to play it!

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“I’m flyin’ high, baby!”

“Goodness, I’m so high up!”

Believe it or not, those two dialogue choices are how you pick between a male or female character, respectively. After a bad fall in Selphia, the prince or princess lands right on top of the ruling dragon. Unfortunately, the prince(ss) also contracted a bad case of amnesia and can’t remember anything past a name. The dragon, named Ventuswill, takes pity and invites her/him to stay, beginning the (mis)adventures of our memory challenged royalty.

In Rune Factory 4, your job as a visiting princess (or prince!) is to make the town of Selphia lively and thriving. This is done by increasing the number of tourists that come to Selphia, which in turn is accomplished by actions such as holding festivals and attracting new merchants to town.

These and other actions–such as getting new sale items in shops, acquiring new licenses, increasing the size of various objects, building monster barns, etc.–are carried out when the character gives an order. Orders are new to the Rune Factory series and require Princess/Prince points, which are gained through quests and other positive actions.

As a guest of the land, (s)he must also farm different kinds of crops and befriend the villagers, while aiding in quests. There are then main story quests that progress the plot, and side quests that net extra items and Prince(ss) points. In between all of this you can craft weapons, farming tools, equipment and armor, as well as cook a variety of dishes. As a bonus you can even tame monsters, which serves three purposes: to help you farm, to get cooking ingredients and to receive rare and valuable items.

Rune Factory 4 is best described as the farming-sim and marriage system of Harvest Moon combined with the slice of life, neighbors and daily events of Animal Crossing; there’s even some nice fantasy thrown into the works, if elves and talking ruler dragons didn’t tip you off already.

Everyday you start off taking care of any self-given chores–my own routine involved taking care of my monsters, planting and harvesting crops and then taking care of any issues in and out the town while chatting up all my neighbors.

Speaking of…well speaking, remember the main reason for the massive delay in this game’s release in the first place? It was because of all the dialogue that needed to be spot checked, which becomes very apparent when you factor in the unique daily convos for each neighbor, town events, character events and of course the main plot itself.

There’s so much to discover in dialogue alone, and the best part is that, unlike Animal Crossing‘s real-time, Rune Factory 4 runs on its own special time system (a full game day equals 24 minutes), letting you discover and complete everything on your own time.

Nestled in the myriad dialogue options is the friendship/marriage system. By speaking with neighbors everyday, as well as giving them gifts they like, you can raise your friendship meter with them. Since I chose the female character, she can pair up with almost all the male characters, sans the happily married Doctor Jones, eccentric Chef Porcoline, Blacksmith Bado and Butler Volkanon.

For the male character, he can also marry certain eligible bachelorettes, barring a few candidates (and no you can’t shack up with Ventuswill). Here’s a little tease: if you manage to successfully propose or get proposed to, you’ll have a special surprise waiting for you in the end.

While the friendship system does give you far more incentive to befriend and get closer with the townspeople, your use of it is completely optional. The game never forces you to marry, nor get past a certain level of friendship with anyone. And if you really need a quick party member, Forte will always agree to accompany you no matter what your friendship level is with her.

On top of the multitude of side activities, the princess must traverse several dungeons over the course of the game–yeah that’s right, royalty can fight, and well at that. That’s where the weapons, equipment and accessories you buy and create come into play. There are many types of weapons, so you can choose one or two main ones that fits your preferred playstyle. Keep in mind that each weapon does wield differently, so switching them on the fly to suit the situation at hand is vital.

The dungeons themselves are challenging and later on can become downright grueling, in both length and difficulty. Each one is filled with winding paths, tons of enemies and ends with a boss battle. After the first pushover boss shows you the ropes, later ones really pack a punch.

The combat itself isn’t some mindless affair either; even though you can move freely around in battle as you would in the field, you must read attack patterns carefully and dodge moves while keeping your health and RP high. This is also where it becomes useful to cultivate friendships among the villagers.

Sure, you can go it alone for every single dungeon but it’s much easier to bring up to two party members along, especially for extra healing and diverting enemy attacks from yourself. And for reference, any villager who you can befriend can fight, up to and including the kind old lady, who uses her fists in battle.

On a side note, there is no game over screen if the prince(ss)’s health drops to zero, but you’ll wish there was one once you see the exorbitant costs for being revived and treated in the town clinic. The prices are far too high, particularly if you’re just starting out in the game. And if you can’t afford the price of admission, the doctor will regretfully take all of your money. Makes me wish my own princess could exploit his fear of blood and throw some from her wounds into his face.

If his wife revives you, though, she won’t charge you (bless her soul). However, I generally found myself restarting from my last save state if I died in combat, to avoid the fee in the first place. I suppose this too simulates the perils of real life medical care.

Rune Factory 4 never overwhelms you with all you can do but instead gives you the chance to try out a multitude of different tasks while letting you learn everything at your own pace. The farming is easy, never tedious and yields high rewards for very little effort. The combat is excellent as well and is easy to grasp yet takes a while to fully master.

The characters and dialogue are varied, interesting and undeniably charming. There are absolutely no complaints on the soundtrack front and the character designs are adorable and well-suited for the tone of the game.

In terms of tutorials, while some might not appreciate the long period of hand-holding, the game never once forces you to suffer through overly long and boring tutorials. There are side quests that introduce you to the game’s various mechanics but they’re completely optional. Honestly they’re worth doing due to the ease and rewards. I actually was ahead of the game in certain areas but in others, the quests came in handy. And I could work independently right from the beginning.

A special mention should go to the plot, which is simple yet incredibly effective. During the course of the story, I bonded with every townsperson, and especially with Ventuswill, whom the plot focuses on. I’ve actually teared up at some points because I genuinely felt the character’s suffering. And while the other characters in the game have their personality flaws, you never stop caring about them and their lives.

The plot makes each one of them come alive and by the end of the game, I found myself sharing an unbreakable bound with all of my precious neighbors, just as strongly as the main character does. It’s refreshing to play a JRPG that doesn’t require characters to contemplate their navels every five minutes to make them human and relatable.

The few flaws of this game are rather minor and nitpicky, but they’re still there. For instance, the aforementioned fee for revival is far too steep. The price is never balanced nor reasonable, even when you first start the game and barely have a piece of gold to your name.

Another issue, albeit a rare one, is the occasionally wonky collision physics. Occasionally, my princess got easily trapped in certain areas, thanks to either an item or even a party member blocking my way. Normally a character can go through other characters in a video game to prevent this issue but in Rune Factory 4, each character is completely solid.

One time during a dungeon, I brought alone two party members and got trapped between them and a rock. I thought I would never squeeze out because the other members refused to move. Worse, it was an area that caused continuous damage just by being there. And if I died or was forced to restart then, I would have lost a good chuck of dungeon progression. Luckily, I managed to squeeze my princess out.

I also found the ease of accidentally flying into another area while attacking in the field, which can be annoying when you’re trying to defeat an enemy. The good thing about this is that if the enemy dropped an item and you accidentally run into a different area, the item stays there until you pick it up so you’ll never lose any rare drops.

Finally, I’m fully aware of an issue in previous Rune Factory games in which a surprise typhoon would hit the town and cause players to loose an entire harvest on their farm. However, in this version you can purchase an item called Wetter that boosts your crops’ survivability rate, so having my crops destroyed wasn’t an issue for me, even in winter months when storms can occur much more frequently.

Rune Factory 4 has very little flaws and surprisingly deep mechanics. The pacing of the game is entirely up to you, as it’s possible to beat the game as slowly or quickly as possible. The optional side quests and busy work can be mastered at your own pace as well and you can choose your level of involvement. There are tons secrets to explore, which will happily keep you playing for many hours.

Overall, it may sound like Rune Factory 4 is a Jack of All Trades, Master of None type of game but it somehow combines all the separate gameplay features into a excellent, highly polished and addictive game that is greater than the sum of its parts. Even if you’re a newcomer to the series (like me) or to the genre of simulations as a whole (me again), you’d be hard-pressed to find a game as downright fun as Rune Factory 4.