Rune Factory: Frontier

by Xseed

• Use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to do everything from plowing, shaking hands with townsfolk to strengthen relationships. (also compatible with the Classic Controller)
• Open-ended play structure allows for Life Sim gaming, RPG action or a mix of both, however or whenever you want it.
• NPCs come and go and join the game based on player actions. So, be careful to treat them well or they may get upset and leave the town.
• You are responsible the fertility of the land, so, breathe life into the barren wilderness through cultivation and begin a food chain that attracts larger and rarer creatures.
• Explore a floating island in the sky full of wonder and dangers.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001HB7KAO
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches ; 5.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 17, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,947 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #4 in Video Games > Wii > Games > Role-Playing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

From the creators of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory for the DS comes the first installment of the Rune Factory series for a home console. Developed exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, Rune Factory: Frontier is a singleplayer adventure that features all the popular life Sim gameplay and hack and slash role-playing fans know and cherish, but now with the stunning graphics and flexibility of the Wii's unique control system to fully immerse players in the Rune Factory universe. Breath life into the land. View larger. Dungeon crawl for baddies. View larger. Make game changing decisions. View larger. The Story Our hero enters the frontier, where no one dares enter, to cultivate the unforgiving soil. As time passes, his lonely town of one becomes a town of two, three...until it grows into a town to behold. The town is not the only thing to behold. Among the newcomers are beautiful ladies who have moved to the town to start a new life. Which one will be our hero’s lucky lady? However, our hero is soon faced with a problem. Creatures of the frontier, many of them hostile towards humans, pose a great threat to the safety of his townsfolk. To find a way to live in peaceful coexistence or perhaps destroy them along with the danger they bring – the decision is up to our hero. Gameplay As with previous related games, Rune Factory: Frontier features a myriad of Life Sim activities like farming, raising livestock, building relationships with NPCs, etc., as well as role-playing elements like dungeon crawling and item collection and leveling, but in structuring gameplay it goes to great lengths to incorporate an open-ended structure that allows players to choose the type of game they wish to experience at all points in the game. This means that although at the beginning of the game players will find themselves presented with the familiar opportunity of starting a farm, selling their crops at market and by doing so improving the overall prosperity and size of their town, they are not necessarily tied to the land. Although farming is an excellent way to finance adventuring, the rich RPG elements of the game can be pursued at any time. These elements present themselves mostly in the form of battling monsters and bosses that have found their way into the land, but seem to be coming from the mysterious 'Whale Island,' which floats in the sky above your town. Players can either battle the monsters or make friends with them, raising them as a kind of livestock. As with everything in Rune Factory: Frontier, the choice is yours. Whether it's growing crops, expanding the town, fighting (or befriending) monsters or even falling in love, the experience is unique to each player. Key Game Features: Lifelike Interactions - NPCs will come and go based on the player’s actions. Want to get along with your neighbor? Want to give fellow townsfolk something they might hate? Go ahead, but they may get upset and leave the town. Be nice to attract more newcomers. Natural Ecosystem - Breathe life into the barren wilderness by cultivating it and planting crops. Small creatures (spirits) will gather first, triggering a food chain to later attract larger and rarer creatures. You are responsible for bringing more fertility to the land. Floating Island to Explore - There is an island that floats in the skies. When you see it, you must quickly find a way to get on it as new discoveries await. Intuitive Wii Controls - Use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to do everything. Plow the land, shake hands with townsfolk to strengthen relationships, or even wave it around when you’re on a date with a girl. (Also compatible with the Classic Controller.) Open-ended Play Structure - Whether you prefer Life Sim gaming, Action RPG action or a mix of both, Rune Factory: Frontier lets you game as you want, when you want. Console Debut - Frontier is the console debut of the popular Rune Factory series.

Product Description

Our hero enters the frontier, where no one dares enter, to cultivate the unforgiving soil. As time passes, his lonely town of one becomes a town of two, three...until it grows into a town to behold! The town is not the only thing to behold. Among the newcomers are beautiful ladies, who have moved to the town to start a new life. Which one will be our hero’s lucky lady? However, our hero is soon faced with a problem. Creatures of the frontier, many of them hostile towards humans, pose a great threat to the safety of his townsfolk. To find a way to live in peaceful coexistence or perhaps rid of them along with the danger they bring – the decision is up to our hero. From the creators of Harvest Moon and Rune Factory for the DS comes the first installment of Rune Factory for a home console. Developed exclusively for Wii, Rune Factory: Frontier features stunning graphics and takes full advantage of the Wii’s unique controls to fully immerse players in the Rune Factory universe. Rune Factory: Frontier incorporates an open-ended structure that allows players to choose the type of game they wish to experience. Whether it’s growing crops, expanding the town, fighting (or befriending) monsters or even falling in love, the experience is unique to each player.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

155 of 158 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great game with tons to experience but with some annoying flaws. March 24, 2009

By Halicon5 VINE™ VOICE

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Thus far, Rune Factory: Frontier is probably the best in the Harvest Moon/Rune Factory series of games. In fact this game is held back from true greatness only by some seriously questionable and very annoying "features." In the end, the good outweighs the bad by a good margin.

If you've never played a Harvest Moon or Rune Factory title, the premise is really basic. You move into a town, you start a farm, you interact with townsfolk, go fishing, raise monsters, cook foods, go mining, craft items, do some adventuring, and try to start a family. It has a very open ended design allowing you to play in whatever style you prefer. In fact, the game allows you to do so much it is almost overwhelming. If you like farming you can stick to farming. If you like dungeon crawling, go for it. As the seasons change and the years go by, more and more the game gradually opens itself up to you.

THE GOOD:
+++ Addictive gameplay. Several times, long after I should have gone to bed I've said "I'll just play through one more day..."
+++ The graphics are simple yet beautiful. Lush colors are used throughout the game to good effect.
+++ Huge amount of variety. Sometimes there is too much choice it seems, but there is nothing in place that really keeps you from going back and doing other stuff in the game as long as you've unlocked a feature.
+++ Deep RPG experience that allows you to steer your character's life the way you want to. There is a lot of strategy for those of you who want to look for that depth, or you can just plow through it headlong. Either way the game will let you succeed in your own way.

THE OK BUT COULD BE BETTER:
=== The relaxed gameplay flow can get repetitive.... You only have so much time each day to accomplish tasks and so much energy before you collapse. Because of this it isn't uncommon to take days of time in the game to accomplish a goal.

=== The game map is made up of independent sections or districts, such as Church District, Homestead, Business District, etc. This isn't bad or good in of itself, but learning the layout of the entrances and exits to each section honestly takes far longer than it should have when it should have been absurdly easy.

=== Music is sometimes excellent and other times annoyingly repetitive.

=== The "Runey System"... I'm really on the fence as to whether I hate the Runeys or think they are a good idea. Basically you use the Runey System to help keep the environment in the different areas of the town in balance. On the surface, the Runey system works, but... see later in the review for some harsh criticism of the Runey system.

=== What voice acting exists in the game was done by some good voice actors, but with some really awkward scripts that didn't make it through the translation from Japanese to English so well.

=== Controls are functional and tight, but questionable design decisions keep them from being great. For example, it is too easy to accidentally pick items up instead of performing special actions because pick-up is mapped to the trigger (B) and special actions are mapped to A+B. This also causes extra strain on your hand while farming. The good news is that the Classic Controller is supported on this game, which is very nice and reduces hand fatigue. The bad news about the Classic Controller is that you can't knock on doors because that action is mapped to shaking the nunchuck.

THE BAD:
--- Fixed camera angles. The player has absolutely no control of the camera which results in spending a lot of time running towards the camera.

--- Load times... lots and lots of brief four and five second load times. Every time you go though a door or move to a different section of the map you will be greeted with a load screen.

--- Lack of logical direction regarding some of your tool locations and plot devices, such as the Axe. Why does the nun have the axe? I have no idea. Why do you not get the axe until after you've used the hoe 40 times? I have no idea. Why is the Pet Brush tool acquired randomly from a conversation with the carpenter? Absolutely no idea. What's worse is that the game doesn't give you any decent hints to speak of. Luckily the internet is the perfect solution and some folks have already written excellent tutorials on how to quickly get all of the tools in the game.

--- The Runey system is good idea gone bad because of a few really bad game design decisions. While not completely broken, the Runeys are dealt with very clumsily almost every step of the way. 1) The game explains the Runey system very poorly. I still don't understand it, but I have found out the hard way that neglecting the Runeys and allowing them to go extinct will cause your crops to stop growing. 2) Collecting Runeys is slow, time consuming, and kind of random. 3) Distributing Runeys is also slow and time consuming, but at least it isn't random. 4) Checking on the status of Runeys in each district requires you visit a specific part of town instead of just going to a simple menu option. Status checking is probably the worst design flaw of the Runey system. Luckily, if you focus on the runeys about one day out of every two weeks or so you should be able to keep a lid on it.

The good definitely outweighs the bad in this game. While it may look like I don't like the game based on the number of criticisms I have, I would like to emphasize that this game is VERY fun and most of all, addicting. I can easily see the most obsessed gamers getting well over 100 hours out of this game and more casual gamers could easily break the 40 hour mark. If you enjoy Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, or The Sims and you haven't burnt yourself out on life simulation games yet, pick this game up. Read more ›

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars When Harvest Moon meets Final Fantasy March 21, 2009

By Panda

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Ever wondered what would happen if you combined Harvest Moon series with Final Fantasy? Well you'll get something like this: Rune Factory: Frontier. While fans of Harvest Moon series will find this game very, (I stress the very), similar to it don't be afraid to buy it thinking it's a bad rip off. Trust me it's not.

While the gameplay is basically the same as Harvest Moon: raise crops, interact with the villagers to build friendship, and of course woo your mate and get married, there's a couple unique aspects in this game that Harvest Moon does not have. The Final Fantasy aspect. There are dungeons to explore in the world of Rune Factory and these dungeons have... MONSTERS! But don't be afraid. You have your weapons... and if you can't afford them yet, you can use your farming tool (isn't this great!? Now you can vent your anger on these poor creatures!). There are also boss battles as well so if you get bored of whacking gnomes and wild squirrels, just go deeper into the dungeon.

You can customize your character's armor, use magic, forge weapons, tools, and accessory, cook, fish, and level up your character and skills. What's even better is you can become friends with those monsters and eventually they will live in your barn and help you do your farming chores. There are so many secrets and things to do in Rune Factory, as well as progress the plot (yes there is actually a plot in this game besides making a family), that'll leave you with hours of fun.

So in summary:

Pros
+ Unique game play (many interesting aspects
+ Good Graphics
+ Music is good
+ There's actually VOICE ACTING (something Harvest Moon did not have!... but whether it's actually good...)
+ A wide range of things to do that'll have you gaming for months!...
+ Quick loading time (unlike Havest Moon: Tree of Tranquility)
+ A huge number of potential spouses (12!)

Cons
- You can only be one sex (male)
- Some of your potential mates... looks quite young... TOO YOUNG
- Too similar to Harvest Moon in gaming aspects (I would like a little more uniqueness... I mean even the crops are the same!)
- Extremely awkward dialogue at places... (At least I wouldn't find myself saying those things...)
- Your protagonist... looks totally androgynous

So overall it's a great game. It offers a lot more than Harvest Moon has with its dungeon and fighting concept. Read more ›

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Gem in the Wii library June 23, 2009

By Russell D. Carroll

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

This game isn't for everyone, and I'm not sure who it is intended for, but it's definitely for me.

It takes some basic Zelda action/rpg dungeon adventuring, and then mixes in a dating sim and a crop-growing simulation. Whenever I say that I know some people cheer at parts of the sentence and grown at others, which is perhaps why the game isn't for everyone.

However, I found myself unsuspectingly hooked to the game and have played it far more, in a shorter period of time, than any game in recent memory (though I'm 35 and don't play now like I did when I was 20!).

The game is one of the most peaceful and enjoyable I've played, and there is just so much to do, that I find I am running all day every day in the game to get the most out of the time available (I quickly found that taming a Wolf and taking him with me everywhere I went greatly increased the speed of my travel, in addition to giving me a great companion for battling in the dungeons!).

I play A LOT of games, but there are few games that I can count on to leave me smiling when I turn them off, and this is one of them. Honestly, one of the best things I can say about it is that I always enjoy my time in Rune Factory. It is challenging, and I've gone online more than once to look at game guides, but it isn't frustrating or heavy stress inducing (in fact is quite the opposite!).

...and the time I've spent playing it just keeps going up. I'm at 25 hours in the game so far (The Nintendo Channel to date shows an average of 35 hours played per person for the game), and I never turn it off without thinking about just how many things I want to do, but haven't been able to do yet....

Item forging, creating potions, capturing & caring for your monsters, and cooking food are just the tip of the iceberg in a game that provides players with an absolutely ENORMOUS number of things that players can do. However, everything is introduced at a very reasonable pace so that you are never overwhelmed with what is absolutely an overwhelming amount of stuff in the game.

The only knock on the game is that first hour. You essentially just need to walk around and talk to everyone over and over and over. The game doesn't give you much direction at first, and instead you learn by just trying things, and initially the only thing you can do is talk. For some people that's great, and it really does get you into the groove of peaceful pace that the game has, but you feel a little lost at first.

Once you get past that first piece and find your way into the caves at Whale Island, or the monster-infested Green Ruins, everything settles into the fantastic fun that the game offers. The storyline is engaging, and though the voice acting is inconsistent, the game provides some of the most memorable characters I've interacted with in any game ever.

It's not a perfect game, but it's just so engaging and interesting that I can't fault it. It's one of the most fun experiences I've had on the Wii (or any console for that matter) and it's a shame that there aren't more people playing it. Read more ›