Rune Factory 3 Special Review (Balakiel ~Sensual Birdfeed~)
I haven't powered through to end game yet and in fact hit a stopping point for the story (possibly a timegate) but I figured 20 something hours is probably a fair time to review.
I think this is good but doesn't have the quality of life you would expect from later rune factory games.
This is a visual upgrade to a ds game, I haven't played the original for a direct comparison, but the models definitely look really good, and the UI is crisp. I think they put more effort into the upgrade than they did with 4, but I feel like they probably didn't touch the core game at all.
The characters and town is nice. I think the characters are all charming and have a lot of work put into them, and this is the only one where I was split between like three bachelorettes.
On that note, you can only play male and romance the women, so it's a lot more restrictive on the sim life front than the other Rune Factory or Story of Seasons offerings on store, but there is actually a plot reason for this and they have relevance to the story, so I suppose you can view it as quality over quantity, but they still have all the cute boys as villagers so I'm sure a lot of the audience of this game was pretty bummed about it.
You cannot immediately grow anything out of season, and item management is a lot more tedious. I think normal story of seasons games can get a pass for this because they're juggling a lot less, but it kinda gets under my skin in this? There is a metric ton of inventory management in these games. I wish they implemented the tabbed inventory and the ability to pull up the inventory at the shipping bin the same way it is in 4 and 5.
Maybe late game will wow me, but I recommend this game on sale. Rune Factory 4 costs less, and much more fully featured in the quality of life, romance and farming aspects. 5 is less and while some consider it a weaker entry, it still retains a lot of the basic quality of life that 4 had, as well as letting you experience it from a more intimate angle. I recommend getting 4 or 5 first if you don't have them.