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Rune Factory 4 Special is my favorite game of all time. I have yet to find a game that surpasses this one in terms of sheer fun factor. It takes the same gameplay formula of Rune Factory 3, and refines it. It’s as fast paced as ever, quick farming, quick combat, quick menu navigation, quick dialogue, it’s fast and snappy. The movement does not feel as slippery, and has analogue support. Dashing is now a separate button. You can now craft in bulk. Better item sorting and more inventory space in general. A lot of changes are small, but improve the overall experience. You can also now play as a female protagonist and romance cute guys. There’s a lot of depth beneath the surface, the game keeps surprising me when I discover something new. A LOT more content, the game that will last you a while. It certainly did for me across three different platforms (3DS, Switch and PC).
The story is good, and it’s quite tragic, exploring themes of friendship and sacrifice. The relationship between Ventuswill, protagonist and the guardians is nice, and there are good emotional moments. After replaying the game, I think it’s better than I remember. The dialogue in general is quite fun, and usually funny. The characters are not as zany as those in Rune Factory 3, but still fun in their own right.
Be warned. This PC version is not amazing, as there are some issues that weren’t present in the Switch and 3DS versions. Of all things you could mess up, the sound engineering is all over the place. Some sounds have wrong pitches, for example, the money ding when buying items now sounds like metal clanking, air magic attacks that reflect off walls also sound metallic for some reason. There’s also some instances where sound effects cut off abruptly. Most noticeable is during a drumroll for festival results. Instead of a prolonged drumroll, it ends midway through, which is laughably bad. Did you know that NPCs that sell items are supposed to play voice lines when you shop? You wouldn’t know that if you played this version, because these voice lines straight up don’t play. The music transitions are only half-functional. Instead of fading the previous track out and fading in a new one when e.g. entering a new area, the current track simply stops, fading in the new track afterwards. There’s also a rare glitch when a sound effect may repeat itself over and over. I am not sure if it’s a new bug or it was in the Switch original, and it IS rare, I only got it twice. Lastly. Changing audio output device, like plugging in a headphone in the middle of the game causes the sound to get all glitchy, and can cause the game to crash.
Aside from the sound, another issue I noticed is that randomized dungeons (seed dungeons, Sharance maze dungeons) do not display areas you’ve been to on the mini-map, which means you can get lost if you have to backtrack. Again, this wasn’t present in the originals. There’s a memory leak issue of some sort, I noticed that zooming in character stat profiles got slower the longer my session was, as well as navigating inventory. I don’t recall having that issue in the switch or 3DS versions. Last and least, the game crashed occasionally when trying to quit to the main menu through the save screen, which is when I was trying to save scum or quit the game. Which is to say, it’s minor. I have not encountered any other major issues or crashes during the gameplay part of the game. But, yeah, I don’t know how this port passed QA (and it seems like there were a lot of QA testers, which is hard to believe). This version is still playable and you could still have fun with it, but if you want to have a definitive experience, I’d recommend getting the Nintendo Switch version. I cannot comment about PS4/Xbox One versions, but I’d imagine they have similar issues as they all released at about the same time. The only upside of this PC port is that there are mods for it. I’m happy to know that there are dedicated fans that make mods for this game and other Rune Factory games.
You may be wondering, what’s so special about Rune Factory 4 Special? Let me walk you through a list of changes from the 3DS original (not comprehensive ofc):
-“Improved” visuals. I think the character portraits have been properly updated and they look nice. Otherwise… yeah, “AI” upscaled textures and sprites. It’s like one of those filters you can find in an SNES emulator. I originally thought that these were kinda good, with some ugly textures and sprites, but after playing Rune Factory 5… yeah, the visuals are just okay. However, I can confidently say that if you can look past the visuals, there’s a genuinely fun game to be had here. Don’t judge a book by its cover as they say.
-Rock solid 60FPS. The original 3DS version did have some dips in areas with many NPCs/action-heavy scenarios.
-Hell difficulty. If you thought hard isn’t hard enough, you can go even further beyond! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
-Escape spell is now a separate button, ZR/Right Trigger. This is a nice QOL feature that frees an ability/magic slot (you could still use switch’s touch screen and click on it on PC, but why would you?)
-According to many reports, the RNG for the third act of the story has been fixed. The game has an infamous RNG system for events, usually short and quirky stories involving other townsfolk. And the devs decided to tie a major story element to that. I didn’t have to wait for long before triggering arc 3, but I also don’t remember waiting long in 3DS original (European region). Must have been luck.
-Newlywed mode. You unlock one for the character you have married, but you can spend prince/princess points to unlock the rest of them. These are essentially the main game with objectives tacked on for story purposes that ends when you fulfill all of them. Most of them are pretty simple. You start with no skills at a specific level, with some things unlocked and some good gear. My favorite is Vishnal’s, it has an OPTIONAL challenge to beat a tough boss for a crystal skull item. You could just walk into a cutscene and move on, but it was fun to get it legit, on a time limit no less. I think that’s how I’d like to have these stories. Straightforward, but challenging if you so choose. Unfortunately, Rune Factory 3 Special’s stories usually ended in tedium, because of challenges that weren’t optional (like fishing a rare Sunsquid). The protagonist and marriage candidates use Live 2D sprites, and I’ll be honest, I don’t think they’re very good. I think it’s in part due to them being uncanny. I’m so used to the static sprites and now they move! The animations are pretty awkward. I’m not a fan of them here and neither in Rune Factory 3 Special.
-Another Episode mode, narrated episodes of protagonist x spouse with cute artwork. Venti is in there, they are clearly teasing us with a dragon waifu.
-Autumn Road/Winter Field music has been changed for some reason. Apparently the new song choice is from Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny. I personally think the 3DS version fits the mood better. Even without knowing the Tides of Destiny origin, the new song sounds too “breezy” for autumn/winter.
-You can choose between English VO and Japanese VO, if you were ever curious how Japanese people sound (apparently they sound louder than English ones).
-A new artwork after beating the third act and interacting with “Beat the Game” trophy. It’s pretty cute.
-Updated intro cinematic.
-More than 3 save slots.
Overall, Rune Factory 4 Special is plain fun. Lot’s of things to do, it’s quick and snappy, a lot of mechanical depth, fun and memorable characters, good story and funny moments. The Special moniker is fitting if you’re a Rune Factory fan, waiting for the return of the beloved series after original developer’s bankruptcy, but it is applicable to the game as a whole. Rune Factory 4 truly is a special game, therefor it’s Rune Factory 4 Special.