Just like every other Harvest Moon game, Rune Factory opens with the main character being the unexplained inheritor of a derelict farm. The player is charged with the task of cleaning up the farm and becoming a productive member of society from the humblest of beginnings. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve cleared weeds, twigs, and rocks out of a field for half an hour before actually doing anything of value.

One of the biggest downfalls of Rune Factory becomes very apparent immediately upon starting the game. There is absolutely no direction given to the player as to what to do next. Now, a player can fully satisfy themselves for hours upon hours just making a large, productive farm and taking care of all the menial daily tasks required to keep it up, but there actually is a story tying everything and everyone in the town together. However, even after eight hours of gameplay, I still hadn’t figured out what was going on.

In the opening, I described Rune Factory as “Harvest Moon with swords,” and haven’t yet mentioned any swords. Eventually, the player will stumble into one of the dungeons in the game. They provide a nice break from the farming tedium and are another source to level up the main character. The farm tools, such as the axe and hammer, work as weapons to fend off the monsters inside, but only against the weakest of them. Weapons like swords and pikes can be bought or made by the player to venture into the depths of the caverns.

This brings me to my next point, and one of my absolute favorite parts of the game. The player is required to make the most of the items he obtains. There is a much stronger emphasis on self-sufficiency as opposed to needing the other townspeople on a daily basis like in the Harvest Moon games.

The various pieces of junk the player loots off of defeated monsters in the dungeons are actually ingredients for all of the game’s items. In fact, the only things that actually need to be bought from the villagers are the preliminary crafting tools and recipe books. This mechanic cements a strong tie between the combat and farming elements of the game. In order to craft better items, the player needs to get money for recipe books, and by far the quickest way to do so is by farming. Likewise, to make farming even easier with more efficient tools, the player must brave the depths of the dungeons and defeat their inhabitants.

The tie between farming and dungeon-crawling goes even further than that, though. All of the “monsters” that the player encounters are also potential pets. Instead of attacking them, if the player approaches and befriends the creatures, they may end up back at the player’s barn. Once there, a creature will either produce a sellable product such as wool or eggs or help out on the farm. Creatures can clean up the farm, water crops, and harvest them once they’re ripe. With a properly trained staff of animals, the farming aspect could be fully automated. Talk about a dangling carrot; this is every Harvest Moon fan’s dream.