• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

StarTopic Rune Factory 5 |ST| New Farm, Who Dis?

zroid

zroid

This Space For Sale
headerm7j0v.png




keyinfojxjx3.png

Platform:
Nintendo Switch​

Release Date:
JP: May 20, 2021​
NA: March 22, 2022​
EU: March 25, 2022​

Publisher:
Marvelous (XSEED)​

Developer:
Hakama​

Genre:
Life Simulation; Action-RPG​

Digital Version Download Size:
5.8 GB​

Price:
JPY: 7678​
USD: 59.99​
EUR: 59.99​
CAD: 74.99​
GBP: 49.99​

Languages:
Japanese, English, French, German​

Features:
HD Rumble; touch-enabled menu controls​


background7wkgo.png

Welcome to the Rune Factory 5 ST! If you are new to the series, you have nothing to fear because this is a fully standalone entry. Rune Factory is essentially a spin-off of Story of Seasons (formerly known as Harvest Moon in the West) with a fantasy theme and action RPG gameplay in addition to the staples of Story of Seasons titles. The previous entry in the Rune Factory series -- Rune Factory 4 -- was released in 2012 in Japan, so it was an incredible 9 year wait for this new entry. Rune Factory 4 which was released first on 3DS and much later ported to other platforms was considered a success, but unfortunately its developer declared bankruptcy in 2013, which led many fans to wonder whether Rune Factory 5 would even be made. It was a long wait, but in the end it's finally here!

Rune Factory 5, as always for the series, drops your amnesiac protagonist into an unfamiliar place -- the seaside village Rigbarth -- to make a life for his or herself, and unravel the mysteries which you encounter as you progress. You will take the role of a newly recruited "SEED Ranger" whose job it is to protect and care for the people of Rigbarth.


gameplay3kkqx.png

Rune Factory 5's basic gameplay loop is similar to Story of Seasons, with the main difference being that to progress the story forward you must engage in a bit of action-RPG adventuring and combat through both open fields and dungeons. One of the fun elements of RF is that almost every activity you perform in the game has a level-up system. This includes proficiency with different weapons (as you'd expect), but you can also level up your skills at crafting, walking, and sleeping, among other things. Every level gained in each category improves your character's stats in different ways which will help you carry out your activities such as farming and battling monsters.

The game progresses on a 4 month calendar system where each month represents a different season. Each season will bring its own unique elements which affect your day-to-day routine a little bit. For example, different crops will be grown depending on the season, and different festivals occur throughout the year.

Over the course of the game your main goals will be to (1) improve the state of your farm by producing and harvesting more and better crops; (2) grow your relationships with the various characters in Rigbarth; (3) upgrade your home and the village's numerous outposts; (4) go out adventuring to progress the story and tame monsters to help you out on the farm and in battle (the capture system is not unlike Pokemon -- whittle down their HP and then throw out a "catch" spell to give you a better chance of taming them); and lastly (5) find your special someone among the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes and perhaps start a family!

In the original Japanese release of this title you could only marry bachelor/ettes of the opposite gender but the option to marry any of the eligible characters regardless of gender was eventually added, and is available immediately at launch for the Western release of the game. Yay!


protagonist3ckbt.png

N.B.: click on the portraits below to link to their respective pages on the official website for more information and their voice actors.


fun fact: if you aren't familiar with Japanese pronunciation, Ares and Alice sound basically the same in Japanese, which is why they chose these names


bachelorettesr2k0m.png











othercharacters11jw8.png




locations4xja4.png

Town of Rigbarth, located at the border of the Norad Kingdom:
rigbarthenj2a.png




SEED Outpost in Rigbarth (also called "The Silo")

This is where you make your home and your base of operations:
seed38j2q.png



Sweet Hearth
Rigbarth's bakery where you can stock up on "recipe bread" which teach you how to produce all the tools, culinary dishes, and medicines you will need​

Lackadaisy
Dine-in restaurant where you can grab a bite to eat to replenish your health and stamina.​

Clinic
Rigbarth's mayor Simone lives and works here as the town physician. If you pass our in battle you will wake up in this building under her care. You can also purchase various medicines.​

The Blue Moon
The Inn! Take a bath to replenish your health and stamina.​

The Crystalabra
The go-to shop for magical needs.​

Studio Palmo
Craftsman Palmo and his apprentice Ryker will fashion for you all sorts of furniture as well as construct upgrades to the town's facilities.​

Serendipity
General store where you can purchase seeds to plant among other goods.​

True Strike
Purchase equipment in this smithy.​

Flowerstruck
Ludmila's flower shop 🌹​

Terry's Detective Agency
Local detective Terry and apprentice Cecil are the people you can turn to to solve problems and riddles that arise in and around town.​
​
Phoros Woodlands
Field located to the East of Rigbarth. Forested and grassy area. If you venture farther East you will come across a desert region.​

Kelve Volcanic Region
Tropical area to the North West of Rigbarth.​

Lake Yumina
Snowy field and frozen lake to the South West of Rigbarth.​

medial5kye.png

Launch Trailer:




Animated Opening Movie:




Screenshots:

rf5_lifeadventure_09_qfksh.jpg


rf5_lifeadventure_06_fej1j.jpg


rf5_lifeadventure_28_e8kh6.jpg


rf5_lifeadventure_31_1ijr8.jpg
Click to expand...


linksgpjvk.png


Official Website
Nintendo.com product listing
Metacritic (70 as of 2022/04/04)
Gift guide for all characters
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the ST! Will be contributing more to this thread once I manage to nab a copy. I'm highly considering going digital though.
 
So, these are my thoughts on the much maligned technical aspects of the game:

Visually the game is just okay, particularly the environments which are quite simple. The character models generally look much better (I think that's normal for most low budget JRPGs to be honest -- they focus on making the characters look good). The colourful and varied locations definitely help save the graphics on the whole.

As for how the game runs... the framerate is pretty low, but even during combat the game doesn't really require extreme precise inputs so it's not a huge deal and doesn't affect the gameplay much. If you can forgive the overall choppiness it's really not too bad, and the gameplay loop is fun so I am enjoying my time with it. The most noticeable issue is definitely when you enter/exit buildings or areas the game really slows down for a few seconds. It's pretty bad, but because it only lasts a short time and only happens when nothing too exciting is happening, it's easy to overlook. The loading times aren't too bad either.

I think there is a bit of whiplash going from Rune Factory 4 which is 10 years old but quite a beautiful and well made 2D game to this one which dives head first into 3D and let's be honest it's obvious that the developers don't have much experience making a 3D game which can be called contemporary. It's rough but with that said, I'm glad they are moving forward rather than sticking to their comfort zone. There are more pros than cons here.
 
Last edited:
Good OP! I got this on release and have put like 30 hours into it. The core gameplay loop holds up even if a number of the environments don't.
 
0
Grabbed my dude right out of the bath to go dungeon crawling. Dressed for success.

FPlG4ELVcAIeNlf
 
Having a lot of fun with this game so far, I'm getting towards the end of the first spring. I will say the days seem very long and I quite often find myself going to bed at around 7pm rather than staying up until the last possible min with something like Stardew. I love the features like the storage box being the same no matter where you build one and access it from and the warp system is very generous.

In terms of technical problems, It's ok for me I can handle some frame rate drops. I actually turned off dynamic resolution as I found the resolution dropping more distracting than the odd bit of stutter. I'm playing in handheld, not sure if it's different in docked.
 
thanks for the thread OP

did not know the game had catgirls
 
0
Absolutely whiffed on the spring harvest festival because I forgot to account for the crop being "in season"

hate to see it 🥬
 
0
OK, this game has really clicked with me now. I'm about 15 hours in apparently and I can now say I love it. Before I would have said I liked it but now I'm properly enjoying.

It does feel like it has a very slow start, games of this kind normally do tbf, but as of this point the story is interesting me and the gameplay loop has got me sucked in.
 
for those of you that have played this for a while, do you think it's worth getting over 4 Special?
 
Made it to level 7 friendship with the character whom I'm intending to marry. Once you get to level 7 the conversations suddenly become hilariously flirtatious, even before confessing to them.
 
That stretch in the game where you don't have your ZL button thing available is rather annoying. Finally got it back, felt like it lasted an eternity.
 
0
I’ve bought Rune Factory 5! Will get to it once I’m done with a few of the games in my backlog.
 
0
I beat the main story yesterday, I feel I kind of rushed it at the end and neglected every other activity for a few in game days. Overall I had a lot of fun and will now enjoy jumping back in at my own pace for the post game.

Honestly I think the performance issues were overblown. I played exclusively in handheld and turned off dynamic resolution and for about 90% of the game I found the framerate fine. Especially in dungeons when fighting when it is most important.
 
Porygon-Z said:
Honestly, probably not. That game feels a lot better to play than this, even if this has some neat stuff going on.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this, I literally came into the thread to ask about this!
I can get RF4 for less than €20 for the Switch over this game for full price. Now I might just get RF4 and see if I want to get into this one a few years down the line.
 
Ahmed said:
Thanks for this, I literally came into the thread to ask about this!
I can get RF4 for less than €20 for the Switch over this game for full price. Now I might just get RF4 and see if I want to get into this one a few years down the line.
Click to expand...
I would definitely support buying RF4. It’s excellent and a perfect example of what Rune Factory has to offer.
 
So I finally got around to playing RF5. I’ve only just finished my third in-game day, partly because a few other games are eating up my gaming time too.

There is definitely a lot of jank, which is a downgrade from the snappiness of RF3 and RF4, but I think the longer days compensate for that. The environmental graphics and textures are a bit too simplistic for my liking, but the character designs and portraits are as lovely as ever. Also loving that classic RF “level up whatever you do” ping. Feels so good.

I’ve planted some turnips, introduced myself to people in town, and got knocked out by a pink frog with a leaf umbrella. Planning to get myself a spear and a fishing pole for the time being. Can’t wait to continue living the fantasy farm life
 
The longer days seem to be part of the jank? It feels like there's no need to prioritize decisions with how long they are.
 
0
Once again RF gives us incredibly attractive women and denies us the chance to date them. Someone needs to mod Simone and Misa into being marriageable.
 
0
I have just met Reinhard and Beatrice and I think I've found the girl. Her princess look is adorable.
 
0
Just finished Beach Day and I have to say it’s a travesty that Simone doesn’t have a swimsuit. A travesty!

I also think my pace is a bit slow since I haven’t set foot in the ice area yet. But that’s fine, I’m having fun just fishing and cooking and farming.
 
meatbag said:
Just finished Beach Day and I have to say it’s a travesty that Simone doesn’t have a swimsuit. A travesty!

I also think my pace is a bit slow since I haven’t set foot in the ice area yet. But that’s fine, I’m having fun just fishing and cooking and farming.
Click to expand...

Just a heads up - there are new characters added to the town based on main story progression and some are important for game aspects you may want at some point.

Take it at your own pace though - there’s no real rush, but I had no idea some things were locked behind getting far enough in the story to get some town features that are helpful :)

Also, i am playing on PC right now and it runs well but I have had a few weird issues and it stutters more the longer you play (restart fixed it). Some black screens on cutscenes that made me force close and lose progress that I tracked down to changing a couple settings in NVCP. Weird stuff.
But overall it is nice to have 4k60 with pretty smooth gameplay. Guess I’m really addicted, since I double dipped and am now over 50 hours on PC after 90 hours on Switch lol
 
Mudo said:
Just a heads up - there are new characters added to the town based on main story progression and some are important for game aspects you may want at some point.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’ve only unlocked Ludmila in late summer. Kinda hope I got her sooner because she’s so funny.

Thinking I’ll have to progress the story soon since I need gold for the new forgery recipes and I still haven’t found where those ores are. Also apple tree seeds continue to elude me.

By the way, it blew my mind that the touchscreen works in this game. Not enough Switch games let you fiddle with your inventory with the touchscreen. Soooo neat.
 
meatbag said:
Yeah, I’ve only unlocked Ludmila in late summer. Kinda hope I got her sooner because she’s so funny.

Thinking I’ll have to progress the story soon since I need gold for the new forgery recipes and I still haven’t found where those ores are. Also apple tree seeds continue to elude me.

By the way, it blew my mind that the touchscreen works in this game. Not enough Switch games let you fiddle with your inventory with the touchscreen. Soooo neat.
Click to expand...

Oh ok cool you got Ludmila that’s what I was referencing lol.

Apple tree seeds are
in Phoros Woodlands if you run straight out, off to the right before the river, near town, there is a big tree stump and some bamboo and grass everyday. If you have the SEED crest that lets you see hidden items, the tree stump will have something most days and a chance of apple seeds. Grape and orange and twinkle seeds are all hidden loots too. Orange is in volcano area in a tree next to the water with 2 enemies in it that’s on the left wall a ways in - in the grassy area
 
Mudo said:
Oh ok cool you got Ludmila that’s what I was referencing lol.

Apple tree seeds are
in Phoros Woodlands if you run straight out, off to the right before the river, near town, there is a big tree stump and some bamboo and grass everyday. If you have the SEED crest that lets you see hidden items, the tree stump will have something most days and a chance of apple seeds. Grape and orange and twinkle seeds are all hidden loots too. Orange is in volcano area in a tree next to the water with 2 enemies in it that’s on the left wall a ways in - in the grassy area
Click to expand...
Yeah I knew where the tree seeds were, just had bad luck of the draw since I’ve only gotten Grape, Twinkle and a couple of Oranges. No Apples yet.

On that note man the way of finding those tree seeds is too obtuse. A regular player who doesn’t have the habit of searching every nook and cranny is likely to miss them.
 
meatbag said:
Yeah I knew where the tree seeds were, just had bad luck of the draw since I’ve only gotten Grape, Twinkle and a couple of Oranges. No Apples yet.

On that note man the way of finding those tree seeds is too obtuse. A regular player who doesn’t have the habit of searching every nook and cranny is likely to miss them.
Click to expand...

Agreed! My first play through on Switch I had no idea what that Crest did and hours later realized that little chest icon was popping up in weird places es all around lol.

I then looked up where to get tree seeds as I thought the game would direct me to them in some way but I do not remember the game doing that.

Makes more sense to me for something as important as a crop, to offer it in a shop, maybe locked behind a quest or something. I can see someone going through the game and never getting any trees lol (if unlucky).

I’ve managed on PC to just now get 1 of each - assuming there are only 4 Apple, Orange, Grape, and twinkle, so I’m growing away.

1 other minor gripe is you get a typhoon before there is a reliable way to make or buy wettable powder, meaning you might be SOL with crops lol. I grew a ton of corn and had all plots over 200 HP but I am not sure how typhoons work - if HP is the only thing you need to worry about for them, then that’s doable with corn, but yeah I’m not really sure of the mechanics.

I’m rambling now but this game seems to have really not sold much or at least isn’t talked about so it’s fun to actually have any conversation about it! Farming/life sim /rpgs are probably my favorite game type so even with its faults I’m hopelessly addicted to RF5 :)
 
Yeah my thought on the fruit trees was that I thought you could get them from the fruit trees in the wild. Complete coincidence I found out that the tree stump spawned fruit tree seeds.

The typhoon did hit me even before I knew about non-wettable powder. All those crops, decimated.

And as far as I know RF5 was a sales success, so there’s plenty of incentive to continue the series. With the upcoming Harvestella and stuff like Bit Orchard the farm sim genre has never been healthier.
 
Still playing through the game. I'm sorry Beatrice but I've decided to pursue Ludmila, she feels like she walked in from Rune Factory 3 and I can't help but adore that wacko energy.

I still only have one fruit tree actually bearing fruit, I'm tempted to brew a bunch of Formula A and spam it. I've religiously stocked up on the fertilizer bin anyway. I'm currently addicted to leveling up crops. I'm not even making a lot of money of the vegetables, most of my income comes from mining gems and fishing.

One thing I want for the next RF is the ability to stay platonic with some of the marriageable characters. I like you Priscilla, Fuuka, Martin and Lucas, but only as friends.

Also quoting myself here:
meatbag said:
And as far as I know RF5 was a sales success, so there’s plenty of incentive to continue the series
Click to expand...
Well, RF6 has been confirmed. Yes!
 
0
Having played RF5 earlier this year and immediately replayed RF4 after, I still really enjoy RF5. Flawed, sure, but I am very excited for the next game.
 
Mudo said:
I’m rambling now but this game seems to have really not sold much or at least isn’t talked about so it’s fun to actually have any conversation about it! Farming/life sim /rpgs are probably my favorite game type so even with its faults I’m hopelessly addicted to RF5 :)
Click to expand...

Sorry about the multipost, I really cannot figure an easy way to edit in another quote, I'm sure it's easy but

Anyway, RF5 sold at least 500k. Which makes it an enormous success.
 
Dolce said:
Sorry about the multipost, I really cannot figure an easy way to edit in another quote, I'm sure it's easy but

Anyway, RF5 sold at least 500k. Which makes it an enormous success.
Click to expand...
Where did you get the numbers? Would love to see it for myself, and maybe compare it to the sales of the other entries. That's really good though!
 
meatbag said:
Wow that is amazing. And likely the majority of that was at full-price too. Very happy for the devs.
Click to expand...

Story of Seasons was already getting popular on 3DS, but Stardew Valley helped make many more people aware of these games. Even selling 100k in the past was a huge success for some of the largest of these kinds of games.
 
Dolce said:
Sorry about the multipost, I really cannot figure an easy way to edit in another quote, I'm sure it's easy but

Anyway, RF5 sold at least 500k. Which makes it an enormous success.
Click to expand...

Oh that’s great to hear! 500k sounds really low but I’m glad that’s considered successful:)
And they recently announced a new RF is in development so I’m really excited for a refinement of the systems in 5.
 
Mudo said:
Oh that’s great to hear! 500k sounds really low but I’m glad that’s considered successful:)
Click to expand...
Half a million is actually really good especially for a 60 dollar full price release. And consider that most games in HM/SoS have sold only around 100K, as Dolce said.
 
0
Dolce said:
Sorry about the multipost, I really cannot figure an easy way to edit in another quote, I'm sure it's easy but

Anyway, RF5 sold at least 500k. Which makes it an enormous success.
Click to expand...
For a series near death's door, this is fantastic news. The Switch bump continues to be real.
 
My character is finally dating Ludmila! She’s a love-crazy riot.

I think I’m also at the tail end of what I think is the final dungeon. I’m not seeing a lot of orichalcum so I assume that’s postgame mats.
 
0
Got married to Ludmila. I'd like to think she and Ares are super cuddling every day.

The postgame seems interesting and I might tackle that in the future, but for now it'll have to give way to S/V.
 
0
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top Bottom