Ranch Story’s Rune Factory 5 Review

Welcome back to the world of Rune Factory, Earthmates! It’s been almost ten years since the Japanese release date of the fourth entry and, finally, Rune Factory 5 is here. For a long time it felt uncertain this day would ever come, but Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Hakama, and Marvelous went through the hoops to make it happen. Did they stick the landing though? Hopefully our review will help you come to your own conclusion on that. 

Presentation, Performance, and Controls

Presentation

Rune Factory is undoubtedly beautiful, and the added animations are a nice touch. As usual, the Rune Factory character portraits that are added to each character’s line offer a great visual image of each townsperson, and allow the player to see the emotions of the character beyond the 3D models’ animations. The 3D models themselves are very well done, and arguably, could exist without the portraits, but we’ll never say no to more art! There is a slight difference to the 3D model and the portraits themselves. The portraits also do not update for the protagonist if they change outfits, unless it’s one of the main outfit categories: pajamas, swimsuit, and wedding.  

There are some visible flaws, such as clipping of hair on the 3D models during scenes; but this issue is a common struggle for most series, with clipping collision being a noticeable issue when dealing with hair on 3D figures.

There is a noticeable lag existing at the time this review was written. Though minimal, there is a small amount of improvement to this delay when played on the handheld version of switch. While docked, the ten to twenty second delay between maps and the staggered loading can be disruptive to overall game experience and immersion. 

Performance

While there’s a lot of quality of life improvements in Rune Factory 5 compared to earlier entries, there’s also a few issues that, hopefully, will one day be resolved through patching. At the time of this review, there is a delay in loading when going from map to map, and using the dash ability accentuates this issue; patience is needed when getting to new locations and navigating around to do daily tasks. It’s not enough lag to be detrimental to overall game play enjoyment, but it is noticeable, and for that, we have to dock a few points from the score for this installment. 

Controls

An abundance of menus allows the player to customize their battle and farming experiences. However, it can be slightly disorienting if you aren’t accustomed to the joystick on the switch to navigate these menus, and it can even be somewhat of a bother even while using touchscreen controls. Browsing through the quick menus, the menu has skipped more than once, resulting in holding a tool above the protagonist’s head instead of equipping it. Re-calibration of the switch controllers may help with this issue, but it also exists when trying to quickly navigate the menu during battles. It’s imperative to smooth game play to utilize the shortcut features by assigning tools, weapons and abilities before you enter dungeons or battles. 

Music

As with its predecessors, the music for Rune Factory 5 is phenomenal. Each track immerses the player in their surroundings and accentuates the mood for whatever scene or terrain they happen to be viewing. With its boisterous notes and dynamic rhythms finely crafted for each area, this original sound track is bound to be one that players will listen to even after the game has ended.

Game play

Farming is as straight-forward as ever, so any fans or newcomers will be able to slip right into the process. There’s no rigid structure to how you need to maintain your land, so taking your time and growing crops as you see fit will do you just fine.

Some mechanics returning from previous entries in the series include the item fade-away if there are too many freely placed objects set on the ground, and you can stack nine similar objects at a time and stack items in your bag. You also regain rune points and stats when running through runey orbs after harvesting a crop, and it will also level up a randomly selected skill, just like in Rune Factory 4 Special.  

Intermingled with the old mechanics, there are a few new features; one being the ability to run over objects and they will auto-collect if you have room in your bag. You can also lock onto objects by holding down the R joy con stick, so you can toss your items across the field into the shipping bin, fodder bin, waste collection bin, or materials bin. 

Instead of farming areas located on land in various places on the map, your additional farming spots are located on the back of large dragons after you unlock them by completing parts of the story; this space also doubles as additional areas for monster barns. If you give the dragon certain crystals that you have constructed at The Crystalabra, run by Heinz, you can create certain weather conditions to help you with your daily chores as well. For instance, an ice crystal causes rain to occur, which waters all your crops for a short time.

By using Palmo’s Studio, you can add rooms to your monster barns as well. Once tamed, monsters can aid you in farming and chores or accompany you into battle. 

Plot

As all Rune Factory games go, we begin as a character who has acquired amnesia. We have no idea where they’re from, but we know where they’re going: to a small town full of fantastically eccentric but pleasant townsfolk, and we’re going to farm there. The protagonist is introduced to Rigbarth by saving one of the townsfolk, and from there we’re introduced to SEED, an organization that has been protecting the region from injustices of all sorts. After joining SEED as a Ranger, we start our life in the town, and the story really begins. 

The flow of the story involves waiting increments of time between plot points, and there are quite a few times where it leaves what seems to be chunks of the story missing. The characters in town are vibrant and lovable, but as far as being instrumental to the story, only a handful actually take part closely in the story, and the rest of the characters are seen only in side quests and romance quests. 

Where the previous games followed a formula of presenting problems to resolve -> cut-scene -> quest -> cut-scene -> resolution to the problem, Rune Factory 5 sometimes skips parts of this formula. Days being incredibly long, around 48 minutes to one in-game day, also creates a lull in progression to the story. Some characters have story lines that do not appear to finish, or are left unresolved, and it leaves a feeling of wanting more to the core story line at the very end. While the dialogue has beyond exemplary detail and many puntastic jokes, which is always commendable and should be noticed, this doesn’t alleviate aforementioned issues with the story. 

Romance

When Rune Factory 5 first released in Japan, same sex marriage was not a component included in its initial release. This feature was added later, with efforts to do so credited to XSEED Games.

These efforts are greatly appreciated by many fans. Same sex marriage was a welcome edition in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town and Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, and it was one of the most frequently asked questions around the community during the making of Rune Factory 5. Disappointment was heavy when it was initially released without, and after playing the game with the addition, the inclusiveness creates a welcoming feeling of visibility to the world of Rune Factory. 

Even though marriage is locked behind beating the main story, this isn’t a new mechanism to the series: a similar set up was used in Rune Factory Tides of Destiny, where the main plot had to be finished in order to pick Aden or Sonja to play the after game. Fortunately, Rune Factory 5 doesn’t lock the female protagonist behind beating the game as the male protagonist first, so you can play as either or even though you’re still waiting for after game events to open up, mainly marriage and romance. 

Dating is very similar to Rune Factory 4 Special, where you can visit date spots and spend time with your favorite candidate. After 3 hearts, you can have your love interest accompany you on quests. By giving them their favorite items, they can be wooed faster. From a glance, saving marriage for something to be acquired after the main story has been completed adds something to do after the main story is wrapped up, which is a nice epilogue to the romance you pursued while playing. 

Adventuring

Exploring is fairly rewarding, as chests and enemies are often generous with dropping equipment the player can use. Trying out a new weapon style or rune ability you encountered by just running around the wilderness as you please can be uniquely exciting and offer something that, perhaps to some players, simply crafting their own equipment wouldn’t provide. If you would still rather make your own gear, there’s plenty of mining, foraging, and fishing spots to be found for you to take back to Rigbarth and get crafting with as well.

The dungeons have a very strong Rune Factory Tides of Destiny vibe to them, with levels sectioned in layers and each one can be teleported to after you’ve reached it by using the handy teleportation menu. Some fun new additions – or not so fun, depending on the difficulty level you prefer – are the old dodge-an-object adventure style challenges, where objects will roll, fall or come flying at you from the side and you have to dodge them. If hit, the damage isn’t draining, but in a row, several of these spots could severely lower your HP if you run through them with low defense.

You have to fully explore maps for levers and treasure chests; they aren’t labeled on the map. Monsters are shown on maps as red dots, so as long as you take a glance at what’s coming up next on the open-map layout, you’ll be prepared before you rush into a room that will seal the exits until you defeat everything inside it. 

Combat

Compared to previous entries, Rune Factory 5 leans more towards Tides of Destiny/Oceans than it does Rune Factory 4. Being more action-oriented and combo heavy, faster weapons like the Dual Swords and Fist are favored in an incredibly lop-sided fashion as even extremely outdated weapons can stunlock average enemies into being helplessly juggled until they’re felled. If players desire something more challenging, they may want to stick to slower weapons like battle axes, hammers, long swords, or changing the difficulty to Hard mode.

The player can also recruit up to 3 additional party members from either the monsters they’ve tamed or the townsfolk they’ve befriended. Both will be able to level up alongside you and townsfolk can also be given additional equipment and perform devastating Link Attacks to really help with any battles you find challenging. It’s also just kind of cool to pull off a big move with your bestie.

Town Expansion

In Rune Factory 5, you’re entrusted with the task of not only protecting Rigbarth and resolving issues that arise, but also the development of the town. By using Palmo Studio’s development menu, you can request upgrades to the stores around town, which expands what that shop sells. For instance, expanding the Bakery (Sweet Hearth) allows Yuki to start selling new outfits. The task of issuing Directives also affects Rigbarth by allowing you to hold new festivals, upgrade your storage, or gain licenses to things like forging, crafting, cooking and chemistry.

You start your adventure in Rigbarth living in what would be considered a loft apartment in the Rigbarth Outpost, also affectionately called the Silo by the townsfolk. This can change after you’ve played the game for a while, and you will be able to move into your own home – a necessity if you plan on getting hitched to one of Rigbarth’s lucky singles looking for love. 

Final Thoughts

Rune Factory devotees could have only dreamed of Rune Factory 5 prior to February 13, 2019, but now that it’s a reality, this installment will undoubtedly bring back the magic of the series for many and draw in a new crowd of fans. There’s a familiar homey feel in this game with all the callbacks to the previous installments, that rekindles the love for the fantasy farm sim even though there’s been approximately 1,902 days where we thought all hope was lost and Rune Factory 4 was the inevitable end of the much beloved series. 

Despite Rune Factory 5 being a solid entry to the Rune Factory series, it does contain some points that could have used more polishing in the story line, and it needs a bit of TLC to fix the issues that are currently interfering with game play like the occasional lag, the stun-effect heavy battles, and graphical errors with items clipping into other objects. With this in mind, we have to give it 7.5 Golden Turnips. As the game is, we can’t go higher, but if patches in the future correct the points that lowered the score, we will revisit this review and add amendments to it. 

For what it is now, Rune Factory 5 is a breath of life into the series, and we hope to see many more installments delivering this energy and more. 

Disclosure Notice: One of Ranch Story’s collaborative reviewers who worked on this review, Chickee, is also a moderator in XSEED’s official Discord.

Review codes provided to Ranch Story staff by XSEED and Marvelous Europe.

Thanks to Ranch Story team member Durotos for proofreading!

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References

[1] XSEED Games. 2021, September 23. Rune Factory 5 Localization Blog 2. https://www.xseedgames.com/2021/09/23/rune-factory-5-localization-blog-2/