Rune Factory 3 Special Review (snesevermore)
If you're an old fan of the classic Harvest Moon and Rune Factory titles, you know exactly what this is. Remastered for better and worse, but otherwise it's Rune Factory 3 again. Buy if you'd like, but you're not getting much that's strictly new.
If you're a new fan fresh off of Rune Factory 5 or 4, there are things you're going to have to adjust to. Rune Factory 3 was a Nintendo DS game from late in the era, with improvements over the previous four games (yes, four - the Wii and PS3 titles are unnumbered spinoffs, basically) in as many areas as they could squeeze into a cartridge. Unfortunately, Rune Factory 4 and 5 have both improved in their own ways, so there are things that will be a bit off for you.
Movement feels a bit...squishy? The way they scaled the game is visually appealing, but it changes distances and scales subtly in a bunch of areas. To keep it working right, your character also moves a bit differently than you might expect from a game that supports analog sticks. Think of Pokemon BDSP - changing from four directional D-pad to analog stick changes a lot of the core design, and it's not always ideal.
Still, I loved Rune Factory 3 almost as much as the original (which is more nostalgia than anything). I am excited that more people can play it, even if it does have some issues that an emulated DS wouldn't have...in theory.