Something More Recent

Figured I'd change things up a little bit and try a unique genre mix.

Rune Factory: A New Harvest Moon -- Gameboy DS

Plot Synopsis:
You are a young traveler making his way past a rural town when you suddenly collapse outside the home of a young woman. After she tends to you and you awaken, much to your dismay you have lost your previous memories and have no idea who you are. Mist, the woman who came to your aid offers you a plot of land and some tools to do some farm work in the time it takes you to remember your past. Shortly after setting out to start your work, the character comes across a mysterious cave that houses a multitude of monsters and untold discoveries. The player goes through the game befriending the townsfolk of a local village, and bettering the farm as they explore the caves and dungeons of the island in hopes of regaining the main character's lost past.


As a Harvest Moon game, this is a very specific target for audiences. Not everyone is going to like this game, and to that extent I'd even go as far to say that the percent of people who like it is fairly small in itself. There is a lot of repetitive action involved, over extensive periods of time and not everyone can get into a game like that. Though to be fair, this is the first of the game series to have a battle system and a new form of exploration which adds a bit more flavor to the game. It's an odd combination, but farming and monster hunting has an interestingly comfortable feeling once you get into it.

As with any other Harvest Moon, the main sources of income usually revolve around the maintenance and production of your farmland. Increasing the amount of used land, and the variety of crops makes it much easier to get larger amounts of money faster. Though some of the better forms of income actually come from exploring the caves and dungeons of the game. Most would assume the killing of monsters and finding treasure would be a great money-maker, but in this game the best source of money seems to be mining for ore. Within the first week of in-game time, the player can instead of working on the farm and getting a meager 300-450 gold every few days net somewhere in the lines of 10-25,000 gold in one day. It's a bit extreme, and actually makes the game have almost no challenge if used excessively, but it does provide an easy way to make some fast money.

The battle system isn't anything to marvel at, but it still holds it's merits for entertainment. With a simple three attack combo with the equipped weapon the system is very easy to work with and as every tool in the game can be used as a weapon, the variety of possible weapons is fairly sizable. Though the part I did and did not like about battling monsters was that the health and fatigue system was at your disadvantage. The player has two bars on the top left of the screen, the top for HP, and the bottom for RP (which basically is your energy). When using any tool, for farming or otherwise it depletes your RP, and once all RP is used it takes it from your HP. After going through a good portion of a dungeon, you more often than not had to leave the dungeon before reaching the bottom due to too little HP. The system has you using your own HP to kill monsters too quickly, and they can also hit you and take your HP as well.

The befriending of the townspeople is fairly easy, to be completely honest. Just talk to everyone each day, maybe give them an item they like and attend the festivals as they show up. With enough patience any character can easily have their affection grown rather rapidly. Though they mixed up the process to proposing to the girls in this game, and most girls have a unique system of events that must be done in order to ask for her hand. The festivals also give the player something to take away from the monotony of farming. Though not as numerous as previous titles, this game has a good collection of festivals, ranging from animal exhibits to romantic spots for you and a love interest.

Overall, the graphics are pretty good for the hand held genre, and some of the musical scores are beautiful. Some of the best are located only on the farm though, which limits the accessibility to the better pieces. And though the battle system leaves some to be desired, the interactivity with the in game world and the interesting mix of farming and fighting gives a unique pull into the game.

Overall - 6/10

Graphics - 7/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Story - 6/10
Sound - 8/10
Controls - 7/10
Replay Ability - 4/10

Starting Things Off

Alright, for my first post I thought I'd go over one of my favorite games from a classic system.

Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinistrals -- SNES

Plot Synopsis:
A monster hunter by the name of Maxim has seen an increase of business lately as more and more monsters have been roaming the fields and caves near his hometown. As routine excursions turn to rescue missions for the local inhabitants, Maxim eventually finds himself strewn into a journey which holds the very sake of the world in it's hands. Along the advice of a mysterious traveler named Iris, Maxim pursues his quest for peace as he battles four god-like beings known as the Sinistrals. With strong allies, and an unwavering courage players take the side of Maxim in his struggle to qualm the ever growing devastation.


Though to the first glimpse, this game may seem like just another role playing game for an older system, beneath it's common visage is the makings for one of the most intriguing and innovative games of the system it was made for. Besides the habitual makings of any RPG consisting of continuing battles, leveling, and equipping your party to better suit the perils ahead this incorporates something most games these days don't; thinking. Throughout the game the player can find harder and more challenging puzzles to pacify any critical thinking enthusiast.

Along with an interactive style of dungeon crawling, this game gives a unique method of monster encounters for the time in which you can actually stall or completely avoid any encounter outside of the world field. With the ability to use commands to either halt, or push away the enemies before they reach you, it leads to preventing the player from being forced into too many battles. Though once inside the battles, they are incredibly straightforward, and easy to maneuver. Even so much so that the entire game can almost be played with just your left hand, simply holding the L button will cycle through all your battle commands acting as a primitive version of auto battle.

Aside from the Battle System, the game's story gives enough to keep the player wanting more. Though some facets to the game have become common place in today's gaming libraries, In it's time the plot twists, and gripping drama made more than enough of a pull to keep me glued to the game for hours at a time. This is one of the main reasons I've been able to play this game time and time again since the first days of owning it. On the average play through, it should take the commonplace gamer about forty or so hours to complete a single run through the game. But the interesting part is that the game doesn't end there. With extras piled into the game it can keep one entertained for far longer than the required time to beat it.

One of the most astonishing, and addicting parts of this game is the Secret Dungeon. With 100 randomly generated floors, stronger monsters than can be found in the normal game, and items more powerful than most otherwise found it's hard not to give this dungeon a go at least a couple times. And with the added affect of being able to make the progress of the dungeon easier by repeated visits, the replay ability of it is phenomenal.

On the down sides of the game it is a Super Nintendo game, so in today's standards it's almost pathetic in terms of graphics. And since the gameplay outside of the puzzle solving can be incredibly easy, some may find themselves looking for something else to do while they wait for their party to beat the encountered enemies as they hold the L button. The music is also Par for the time period, but lacking with the symphonic compositions of today's games. And with the larger time requirement it may be hard for some to find the time to play all the way through it.


Overall: - 6.5/10

Graphics: - 3/10
Gameplay - 7/10
Story - 7/10
Sound - 5/10
Controls - 9/10
Replay ability - 9/10