Did Ya Hate It? Rune Factory 4 Review

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: What's up everybody and welcome to another episode of our Patreon exclusive series, Did

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Ya Hate It?

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_00]: In this series, Will and I go back and forth playing one game from our backlog that has

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_00]: a 50-50 chance to make us cry tears of sadness or smile while praising the sun.

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_00]: But before all that, if you listen to the Friday Night Gamecast and you're hearing

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_00]: this episode either on our Patreon or the main feed, please make sure if you haven't

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: us a rating or review on your podcasting platform of choice, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: or Goodpods.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It does wonders to boost our engagement and helps make sure we stay on top of these search

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: pages.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_00]: That's what's very important here, folks.

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you have already rated or reviewed us, just know you have a very special

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: place in our heart.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Now we're in the show.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Will, did you hate Rune Factory 4?

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_00]: I hate you!

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Congratulations, Nicholas.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_01]: You picked a game that I indeed hated.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: We did it, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: We finally found one game that Will or I both could decisively say we hated it.

[00:01:34] [SPEAKER_00]: We hated our time and experience with this game.

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: For folks who don't know, Rune Factory 4 was a game that was released on the

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: 3DS.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It came out in Japan on July 19th, 2012 and came to the US on October 1st, 2013,

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_00]: so about a year of a difference.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Published it and distributed by Marvelous AWL, XSEED Games and developed by Neverland.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: It came out originally on the 3DS and then was ported to Switch and then later also

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: received a port update, I believe, on the Xbox Series X and S platforms.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I believe Will, if I'm not mistaken, played this through Game Pass.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Yep, played it through Game Pass on the Xbox Series X.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Right.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And then shortly after that came to those platforms, Rune Factory 5 came out.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is where we kind of get into the nitty-gritty because I saw a streamer friend

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: of mine, Cell Kitten's very good.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Go check her out on twitch.tv slash cell and she was playing Rune Factory 5 from

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: what I understand now going back to play that and I was like, oh, it looks kind

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: of cool.

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: It looks like Genshin Impact.

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I know that you played Genshin Impact.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it was what it was.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I was like, oh, this seems like Will might like dig a game like this

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: is in that same similar genre.

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_00]: How wrong I was.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Incredibly wrong.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: The most wrong.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: This is first off, I think this spin-off game, if I'm not mistaken, the series

[00:02:52] [SPEAKER_01]: Rune Factory is either a direct ish spin-off or at least very much in the vein of Harvest

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Moon.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So I think the first Rune Factory has like a second title that's like Rune

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Factory, a fantasy Harvest Moon or something.

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I imagine that's what it is.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So no, you do farming.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: You do a lot of farming.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of farming.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And if I never see another turnip again, I'll be incredibly happy.

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, but what about the turnip boy commits tax evasion?

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Look, I'd rather commit tax evasion in real life and play this game again.

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd rather risk the IRS come after me than boot this up one more time.

[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01]: I played this game for two hours and 16 minutes.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: It felt like a lifetime.

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Total of two hours, 16 minutes play time.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm looking at Xbox right now unless it's lying to me, which I mean, it might

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: be because I would swear if you would ask me before looking, I thought I played 10

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_01]: hours.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Ten hours of this game.

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: I played 10 hours and it felt like forever.

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I bet it did.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I bet it did.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: So a plot overview really quick of this game and just a quick breakdown.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: I actually picked this game up Saturday and I just downloaded it real quick to

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the Xbox just to check it out and just to kind of get my grounding to get

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: ready for this conversation.

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And oh boy, this was a game.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't, I'm not going to give you any pushback honestly because your takes are

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: completely valid.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we don't really see the purpose in giving you a plot breakdown,

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but just the introduction to the story there apparently three arcs, typical JRPG

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: adjacent nonsense.

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: You're some random hero traveling the land.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: You get attacked by some buffoonery thugs, buffoons, straight up.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: They're straight up just idiots.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Goon one, goon two.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I bought an airship and they, the bumbling henchmen and they kick you out of the

[00:04:38] [SPEAKER_00]: airship.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: You go crashing down to earth and you land on top of a dragon goddess?

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Question mark.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_01]: Who's also sassy question incredibly just in just like the smallest bit.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not necessarily horny.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_01]: The dragon is not really horny, but she's very flirtatious.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_01]: She's pretty flirtatious.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Uncomfortable.

[00:04:57] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you call her out the flirtatious.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm not flirting with you.

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_01]: What are you talking about?

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm uncomfortable.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Unless.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh no.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: That's another part of this game too is aside from the farming, it's of course you have

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: to build the relationships with everyone.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So quite a few people you can romance.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Other people you just want to be very nice to and they talk nice to you.

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_01]: But that includes the dragon goddess.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh wow.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, incredible.

[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So you get mistaken as the prince or princess of this land when you go crashing

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: down into this kingdom, an actual member of the royal family, depending on what gender

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00]: you don't choose that the game chooses for you.

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Or you talk about the other.

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the prompts.

[00:05:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the prompt at the very beginning, I remember it was like it gave you a selection

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: on how to react to the situation and was like, oh cool, we're in an airship or

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: oh my gosh, we're so hot in the airship.

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And it chooses your gender based on that response.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: So you say, oh man, this is sweet.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Or do you say, oh, this is beautiful?

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like, okay, you're a boy.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, how dare you.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_01]: How dare you developers.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, you forgot the best part though.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: When you fall out of the airship, out of the literal sky and crash land onto

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_01]: the hard scaly dragon, are you injured?

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: No, no.

[00:06:07] [SPEAKER_01]: You do happen to lose your memory.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: Amnesia.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: But actually I think you lose your memory.

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_01]: No, when you're in the airship.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because they like knock you out.

[00:06:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you get knocked out by the bumbling guard and one strike to the temple

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01]: gives you amnesia.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And then 10 minutes later, you fall out of the sky.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: Damn perfectly fine.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: They don't make brain cells like they used to.

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Sure don't.

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, so essentially this this royal guard, this royal person of the family

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: shows up with the prince or princess and is like, oh, yeah, you do kind of look

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: like me, but fuck it.

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_00]: You can just be my stand in.

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to do this shit anyway.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go and go to this banquet over here.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: You do you do the farming.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you're designated to farm the land while they go fuck off

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: somewhere and from here basically, it's just when all of the mechanics play

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: out, you start discovering more of this kingdom and it's a balancing act

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: between doing your normal farming chores, Allah, Harus moon, Allah, Stardew Valley

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_00]: and then going into the woods where you can fight different monsters and

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: collect resources.

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_01]: I imagine which was a surprisingly fun part.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: So that part was fun.

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Nice.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: I enjoyed that part.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, it gave me of course not anywhere near as polished, but the

[00:07:11] [SPEAKER_01]: similar kind of vibe of OK, you spend half your time in camp and then

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_01]: half your time out fighting things very much like a culture lamb.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: They said culture land.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Is there?

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, significant weight.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: What I see.

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't played it yet, but no, even just looking at it.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: I recommend that way better.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_00]: From what I've seen, especially on sales these days, this is not a

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: cold lamb episode, but you can definitely pick it up for cheap if

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_00]: you really wanted to.

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: So in kind of like jumping into sections of this game, clearly the

[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_00]: basis of it is that, yeah, we did not enjoy our time with his title

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: from from Will's standpoint.

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: This is his review.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to ask, do you think like you talked about the combat

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_00]: being surprisingly fun?

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Are there any other redeemable aspects of this game?

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the art itself is not bad and it's very anime, which for me

[00:07:55] [SPEAKER_01]: generally is a good reference when you're saying that.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's pretty cool whenever you talk to somebody for the first time,

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_01]: they all, for the most part, get their kind of individual hand

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: drawn 2D entrances.

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's like you meet the local shopkeeper for the first time

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_01]: and then it gives like a zoom in on him and he's all just like,

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_01]: huh, I'm an anime guy.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And then it cuts back out to like their sprites and they

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_01]: talk to you that way.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Gotcha.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Very little voice acting itself.

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Occasionally they'll say some of the lines, but for the most part,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01]: you're doing a lot of reading because as mentioned, ported

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_01]: DS games, not a whole lot in there, but the fighting itself is fairly fun.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Trying to think that's really the big takeaway from me was

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_01]: the most fun part.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Some of the writing is actually very funny.

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's quite a bit of the writing that I didn't enjoy talking

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_01]: to people so that would go to say that, Hey, it wasn't necessarily

[00:08:42] [SPEAKER_01]: wasn't a chore chatting with people because for the most part,

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: there's quite a bit of really good dialogue between characters and

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_01]: talking about things and when certain instances in the story,

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01]: quote unquote are happening.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But really it's the writing and the actual combat itself was fun.

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_01]: Everything else like I'm not a harvest moon Stardew Valley guy.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_01]: So while I can't say the farming mechanics suck, they

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_01]: just did not appeal to me.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Even some of the other things that are a little bit more unique to this,

[00:09:09] [SPEAKER_01]: such as you can go out and fight monsters or eventually you get to the

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: point where you can tame the monsters, kind of like a Pokemon type thing,

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_01]: and then have them join your party and they can help you fight other

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_01]: monsters in the world.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So I thought overall very cool, but very convoluted when you're doing it.

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And then just like when you're talking to people out in the town and raising

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_01]: their affinity, you have to do the same thing with the.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Monsters that you collect in order to have them do stuff for you.

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Like you can eventually get to the point where the monsters are doing all

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_01]: of the chores for you, which would probably be nice.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01]: If you took the time to you're willing to grind, fight with them,

[00:09:42] [SPEAKER_01]: give them food every single day, pet them every single day.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh wow.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_01]: You have to really.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a lot to get that automation built on a ton to get there.

[00:09:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, I, from everything that I've done in terms of like

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_00]: researching and looking at other reviews for this game, people say

[00:09:58] [SPEAKER_00]: that it is very content heavy, like in the mechanics actually go

[00:10:02] [SPEAKER_00]: relatively deep for a game like this, for a game that is on the 3DS.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_00]: However, it just, there's a certain amount of tedium that is baked into that.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're not somebody that is going to enjoy a farming

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: sim and that or farming sim to go back to what this was the game,

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: at the time that this came out on the 3DS, it's probably not going to be for you.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_01]: Like every single thing in this game has a level attached to it.

[00:10:26] [SPEAKER_01]: So every individual weapon, you can level up by using them more often.

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Walking around, you level up by walking around.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_01]: No way.

[00:10:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Fishing, you level up by fishing.

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Every person you talk to, you level up by talking to.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: It's every single thing cooking, fishing, grilling, talking to people,

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_01]: running, sleeping, I, right before coming out here, I think it was over the weekend.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_01]: I played a little bit more just to make sure I hated it.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_01]: And yes, confirmed.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And I went to sleep again because you have to sleep in that game

[00:10:55] [SPEAKER_01]: in order to not just progress the day, but in order to make things happen

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_01]: for the next day.

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So for the most part, you should sleep every day.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_01]: You can stay out really late, but you should still eventually go to sleep

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_01]: before it gets daybreak for the next day.

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, I went to sleep and then I woke up the next day and it said level up.

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, what?

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, sleeping level two.

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_01]: No, it's like it's only one.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of need that in real life.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_01]: But oh, I mean, I could.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I could.

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's still just like an unnecessary part.

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just tedium on top of tedium.

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, you X UI, the character presentation,

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: the overall presentation of this game, it definitely 3DS oriented.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, very Nintendo 3DS oriented.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_00]: If you had the opportunity to play this on a 3DS

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: or even on the Nintendo Switch because it did get ported to the Nintendo Switch.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think that your experience would have improved?

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: It would have had the same exact mechanics.

[00:11:47] [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, my experience would have stayed the same.

[00:11:49] [SPEAKER_01]: It just would have been something that I was playing like I feel like

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_01]: if I was taken back to being a kid when, you know,

[00:11:55] [SPEAKER_01]: you felt like you had all the world all the time, all the time

[00:11:58] [SPEAKER_01]: to play Pokemon when you're on vacation or something

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_01]: or maybe like you're driving back and forth.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And this would be something cool to play when I was younger.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01]: But I got so many other fun games to play and things going on.

[00:12:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is just a drag on you.

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Like there are plenty of other games that have their own tedious nature.

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to say that these games like this are not worth playing

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_01]: because I just I'm not a Stardew Valley-esque person.

[00:12:19] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a Harvest Moon person.

[00:12:21] [SPEAKER_01]: If that's something that you find comfort in,

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_01]: then that's definitely for you.

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And Rune Factory might be something that's good for you too.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm sitting here playing it and I'm.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_01]: Sleeping to level up and I'm pulling up turnips

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'm pulling up weeds every single day and chopping up

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_01]: pieces of wood to go put into my wood things so that I can buy extra stuff.

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just like, I'm doing chores.

[00:12:41] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm straight up doing chores.

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: People love that.

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, people love doing their fakes chores.

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_01]: I got dishes in my home to wash.

[00:12:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm over here doing chores.

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: No, but it's like if you do the chores in the video game,

[00:12:53] [SPEAKER_00]: it like it counts twice.

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, for sure.

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're doing double time if you're in the video.

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Tell that to my wife.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: So something that like was immediately jarring for me when I did boot it up

[00:13:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and I played like all together, maybe 25 minutes tops of this experience

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: was the sound.

[00:13:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, it is a visual novel when you're playing it

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and the characters are talking to each other.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm assuming that you do a lot of that where you're going up

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: to a character and you're having conversations with them.

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the 2D figures come up, hand drawn figures come up on screen.

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you're reading out the dialogue in the text box.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And they do this thing that is done in a lot of games that are 2D

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: or, you know, top down isometric where the characters do pop up.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they do this in Fire Emblem to a certain extent,

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_00]: not necessarily the same way, but it's where the text is reading

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_00]: across the screen and every individual letter gets like a beep,

[00:13:47] [SPEAKER_00]: like a little dot dot dot dot dot exactly to like show that dialogue

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: is happening or somebody maybe they increase the speed of it

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: to show when someone's excited.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And but the sound of that like like beeping when it goes along

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: with the text is so jarring to me that I was like, I can't I can't

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_00]: imagine anybody doing this on an actual screen.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: That's like the size of a TV, let alone with a speaker set up

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_00]: that's like more than just your TV speaker.

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, even the TV speakers, it was too much for me to watch that.

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_00]: So I was I was wondering, like, obviously, that bothered me

[00:14:22] [SPEAKER_00]: besides what you've mentioned already or even just to retread

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: that ground, was there anything?

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_00]: What would you say is the most egregious failure on their part?

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Like thing that took you out of this game the most?

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, nothing necessarily.

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The one thing that took me out was a lot of the stuff

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I've already talked about.

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_01]: One thing I do want to bring up that I feel like is really bad.

[00:14:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like most games, it probably gets great

[00:14:43] [SPEAKER_01]: by the time you get to the end.

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_01]: But you have to have your game have a hook at least

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER_01]: or at least be more fun to me to get to that end.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_01]: But everything costs so much money.

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_01]: Everything costs so much gold.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And the way to get gold is to just farm turnips,

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_01]: which take at least three to four days to do it properly

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_01]: and then sell them.

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01]: So it takes, you know, four to five days as far as turning around

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_01]: in game to make any decent amount of money.

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_01]: And it costs so much money to do things that you're just burning

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_01]: through days selling stuff.

[00:15:12] [SPEAKER_01]: They just want you to be in this.

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_01]: They want you to be doing this.

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_01]: They just want you to be locked in.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's different where, you know, you're playing a mobile game

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_01]: or something where you go and do dailies and you're done.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like they want you to be locked in and then go to sleep

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_01]: so that you can then do your thing the next day in game.

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, it's not, hey, I'm going to come back

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_01]: the next day in real life.

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like, no, you can sit there for 10 hours

[00:15:31] [SPEAKER_01]: and play through a month's worth of that game.

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_01]: And that's kind of what they want you to do.

[00:15:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm like, it ain't me.

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not. It ain't it. It ain't it.

[00:15:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And especially like, I understand the part of it.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And it was a jarring thing for me, you know, to harken back

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: to the Half Life 2 episode is that it is hard to go back

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to games like that.

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to go and play games classically out of the backlog,

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: especially when you don't have original hardware or CRT TV

[00:15:57] [SPEAKER_00]: that would actually support that original hardware.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's like games like this, I imagine, are just very,

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_00]: very much built to live on the specific system.

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And when they have ports, the likelihood of those ports being good

[00:16:09] [SPEAKER_00]: is only going to be increased with the actual gravity

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_00]: of the game itself or rather the relevance of that game.

[00:16:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So if you get a port of something like like a Fire Emblem Awakening,

[00:16:18] [SPEAKER_00]: you would imagine that Nintendo is going to pay to make sure

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: that if a port's coming from the 3DS to the Switch,

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_00]: it should be quality, right?

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be good.

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_00]: But for something like this is an incredibly niche title.

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, there are those farm sim girlies and boy

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: those out there that just love this shit and they eat it up with a spoon.

[00:16:36] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, hey, it's called Rune Factory 4.

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_01]: So obviously the series is doing well.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you said they have a five.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not like they do have a five.

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So it's not like they're all one and done or two and done.

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_01]: So there is a audience for this.

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_01]: The audience is just not me.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You talk about there, too, with the porting over.

[00:16:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's like this game, you can't quit to the menu.

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_01]: You can't quit to the main menu when you're in the game.

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. The only way to get out of the game

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: is to hard and lock it down like a hard close.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01]: The actual app itself.

[00:17:04] [SPEAKER_00]: It's like it's like having a game and not having a safe function.

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy.

[00:17:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Also, the save function is incredibly archaic.

[00:17:10] [SPEAKER_01]: Is it have a diary that you write in and that's your safe function.

[00:17:13] [SPEAKER_01]: And there are places out in the overworld, too,

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_01]: where they're like little floating diaries, where you can also save

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_01]: so that's nice.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to go like, oh, I'm across the map.

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_01]: And then I have to go back home in order to save.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Which once again, they do make a little bit easier

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_01]: because you have a teleport level up your walking.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, or is there like a different level system for walking versus running?

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Or is it all just walk?

[00:17:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I will say if I'm not mistaken, I think you just have the one walk speed.

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, pretty quick.

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_01]: No. OK. So it's fast.

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_01]: It's a good thing.

[00:17:42] [SPEAKER_01]: OK. I do say thanks for that.

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_01]: They make your standard speed fast.

[00:17:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And the world itself is not that big.

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, they're all kind of interconnected, little levels, quote, unquote.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can get across them pretty quickly if you're just sprinting.

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, there's nothing really stopping you when it comes to monsters.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So you can just run past them.

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_01]: You don't have to sit there and fight.

[00:18:01] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. OK. All the time.

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: Gotcha. Gotcha. That makes sense.

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_00]: So we've talked a little bit about games that this is compared to,

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, a harvest moon, a, you know, Stardew Valley.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, we did bring up I didn't even think of the Cult of the Lamb comparison.

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, there is the comparison nonetheless.

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Do you think like a title like this has put you off farm PG Sims for good?

[00:18:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Or would you be more interested in trying out more Western

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: oriented titles like a Cult of the Lamb in the future

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_00]: if it promises some engaging combat and gameplay?

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I definitely do want to check out Cult of the Lamb.

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to see if they were able to make that mix better than I could think.

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's also a little bit different, too, just because

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you can consider, I guess, people farming in Cult of the Lamb.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm definitely not big on just straight up farming itself.

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I even like Animal Crossing, but the worst part is pulling up the weeds

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and doing that kind of manual labor, shaking trees to get apples.

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm just like, oh, I'd rather go catch butterflies or go fish or something.

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. But I definitely want to check out Cult of the Lamb.

[00:19:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And I feel like there's the occasional thing that I see that looks cool.

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: Stardew Valley never jumped out to me once again.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So sorry if you love Stardew Valley, I feel like I'm over here saying no

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Stardew Valley, not that I hate it.

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just it's never really been a thing that jumped out to me

[00:19:16] [SPEAKER_01]: aside from maybe the co-op aspect, which I think is very interesting.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So maybe two.

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_01]: Like this is the kind of game I feel like Room Factory 4.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't enjoy and I don't have any intention of playing.

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_01]: But if somebody was like, hey, there's a co-op version in Room Factory 5

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_01]: and it's free on Game Pass, I'd be like, let's hop in and like,

[00:19:33] [SPEAKER_01]: you know, trash the game while playing it together,

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01]: because everything's more fun with friends.

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So that's that's kind of my thing there.

[00:19:39] [SPEAKER_01]: If I get another one of these farm PGs that have co-op aspect

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_01]: or has a more engaging kind of background, a la Cult of the Lamb,

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_01]: then I'm not completely out of it.

[00:19:51] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just the Room Factory series.

[00:19:52] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd have to look at some Room Factory 5 gameplay

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_01]: and be really impressed in order to look at this series again.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Gotcha. That makes perfect sense to me.

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_00]: I think we have pretty much covered everything that there is.

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: It's so interesting, too, because just to kind of get in the weeds

[00:20:07] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll get in because we're wrapping up here at the end.

[00:20:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But just to I in preparation for the show, I was going through YouTube

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and I listened to and watched

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_00]: probably six to eight reviews of Rune Factory 4 special

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_00]: both on the 3DS and on the Nintendo Switch.

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And it is so jarring to me that like every single one of those reviewers

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_00]: were like, oh, yeah, you know, there's clearly some issues

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_00]: with this game in terms of like the presentation.

[00:20:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it looks like, you know, the cherry blossoms that are falling

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_00]: on the screen are falling in a 2D pain and they don't even look like

[00:20:41] [SPEAKER_00]: they're part of the real world.

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But then they turn around and they give it a nine out of ten.

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_00]: They give it like they give it like top marks.

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm like, what is your scoring?

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_00]: First of all, what's your scoring assessment?

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And even there was one guy that was like breaking it out into like music,

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_00]: visuals, combat presentation, and he was giving it like 17 out of 20,

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_00]: 18 out of 20.

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's like 20 out of 20.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_00]: So basic.

[00:21:05] [SPEAKER_00]: And then I was and but then people were comparing it.

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_00]: And there was this one guy who I completely don't trust

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_00]: because he sounded like a mouth breather.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: But he was like, he was like, yeah, so I played all of Rune Factory

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_00]: four games to prepare for, you know, to Rune Factory five release.

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I play this.

[00:21:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just going to play this game.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And he did this like zany commentary.

[00:21:25] [SPEAKER_00]: It was the most strangest thing I've ever seen.

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: But he was saying Rune Factory four, obviously the best in the series

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00]: with the best, the best writing, the best story that you can play.

[00:21:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was just like, the best story.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to tell you right now.

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. What are you playing?

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Did I beat this story? No.

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to talk about this story a little bit?

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_01]: OK. OK.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_01]: We already talked about the beginning when you come in as the prince.

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. From there, the game just kind of says, do whatever you want.

[00:21:47] [SPEAKER_01]: OK, so while you should be sitting there exploring the city itself

[00:21:52] [SPEAKER_01]: and maybe doing stuff occasionally, dipping your toes into the monsters outside.

[00:21:55] [SPEAKER_01]: And then eventually the dragon queen priestess goddess says like,

[00:22:00] [SPEAKER_01]: hey, there's been some rumblings out in the woods

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_01]: and we need you to go check that out.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_01]: And then you go. I do my usual.

[00:22:05] [SPEAKER_01]: You give me an open world, quote unquote, and I'm going to go do whatever I want.

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_01]: I immediately fought my way through all the monsters

[00:22:11] [SPEAKER_01]: because that was the fun part of the game.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Until I got to the game's first boss

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_01]: who beat the hell out of me the first time I fought her.

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, I'm going back.

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So then I went back and I cheesed her and I beat her.

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no. And it's interesting because these bosses,

[00:22:24] [SPEAKER_01]: when you beat them for the first time in this first act that you're in,

[00:22:27] [SPEAKER_01]: they turn into villagers and then you take the villagers,

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_01]: well, take them back as in you'll teleport back to town.

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_01]: They're knocked out for like two days.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01]: So you have to go farm some radishes and then you talk to the town doctor.

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_01]: You get an intro to this person and they're just like, hello.

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what was happening. I have amnesia.

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh, so do you conscript them as indentured servants or what?

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, they just become people in the town.

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_01]: And then some of them are potential love interests.

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_01]: Some people you just talk to and they become town members.

[00:22:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But so you have to kill them before you can marry them. Exactly.

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_01]: So there was like a fairy vine lady killed her.

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_01]: She became a little girl in the town.

[00:23:05] [SPEAKER_01]: There was an electric horse god killed him.

[00:23:09] [SPEAKER_01]: He became some brooding dude in town. Nice.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And then I didn't get to their boss because I was like, I'm going to be in sickness.

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting sick of this.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_01]: It's so interesting that it's happening.

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_01]: There's an overall arching, well, an overall arc, I should say,

[00:23:23] [SPEAKER_01]: hey, there's issues going on out here.

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, these monsters shouldn't be running around.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_01]: We have to figure out what's going on.

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER_01]: So there's subtext. Sure.

[00:23:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, OK.

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_01]: The most is just like some world building.

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_01]: Go out there and fight and we'll find out.

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And for what I understand, you know, you get stuff later on in the game.

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_01]: But it's never anything in the story that makes me want to pull along

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_01]: and go through the the decades of farming in order to get there.

[00:23:49] [SPEAKER_01]: The years of farming, which, you know, you go through a full year

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_01]: cycle, at least that game's equivalent in that game.

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_01]: You use your points.

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_01]: It's called Prince points to do things like, hey, I'm the prince.

[00:24:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Right. So I'm going to throw a festival for the village.

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And then in the festival, you can take place and it increases

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_01]: your favor with people, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_01]: So you're the one doing that.

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01]: It's almost like when you're the mayor of Animal Crossing,

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER_01]: I think in the latest game, I believe is the one where you become the mayor.

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_01]: So then you get to make all the decisions right and do stuff.

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. Yeah. So you got that going on.

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_01]: You also have this very annoying mechanic that I didn't bring up,

[00:24:21] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's probably my most hated mechanic, which is RP,

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_01]: which is right under your health.

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_01]: For lack of a better term, I'm just going to call it ruin points

[00:24:28] [SPEAKER_01]: because I don't remember what the R actually stands for.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. But that effectively is your stamina.

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_01]: OK. So that determines what you do in the day.

[00:24:37] [SPEAKER_01]: Pretty much over the day.

[00:24:38] [SPEAKER_01]: It does slowly regain, but it's very slow.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: You could eat mushrooms to make yourself regain it faster.

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: But everything you do other than walking,

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_01]: if you want to chop wood, that costs RP.

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_01]: You want to scythe up weeds that cost RP.

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I believe when you're planting, it costs RP.

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't recall off the top of my head.

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: When you want to water your plants, it costs RP.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_01]: When you want to swing your weapons, it costs RP.

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_01]: When you want to use your magic, it costs RP.

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_01]: And when you get to the end of your RP and you have no RP left

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_01]: and you go to do something, guess what it costs?

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_01]: RP. Health points.

[00:25:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. OK. Health points.

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you have no RP left and you go to do something, it costs your health.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: So you start dying.

[00:25:17] [SPEAKER_01]: And it's gigantic chunks of your health.

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, my God. Really?

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_01]: It's like a six to a fifth of your health.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_01]: If you swing a sword and you don't have RP.

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_00]: This seems to be very similar mechanic.

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Stardew Valley does the exact same thing,

[00:25:30] [SPEAKER_00]: except they just give you a stamina bar.

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's very easy to monitor.

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it a daily bar? Yeah.

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. So that same thing.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_01]: That's another reason why I'm saying, like, they really want you to go to sleep.

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Like, it's not in your best interest to stay up and not sleep,

[00:25:40] [SPEAKER_01]: because that's how you get your RP back to max immediately is taking a little snooze.

[00:25:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, like what's interesting about this is that, you know,

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and again, not struggling to make a comparison,

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_00]: but I just because I have the grounding point in Stardew Valley.

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's like the thing that's funny about Stardew Valley or mildly intriguing

[00:25:58] [SPEAKER_00]: or interesting is that depending on where you are,

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: if you are in the middle of like a dungeon and your stamina runs out,

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_00]: you pass out. It doesn't matter what time it is.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Or I think it's like either you're if your stamina runs out or if it's 2am,

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you pass out and then somebody finds you and they drag you to the clinic.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you have to pay money for the clinic because they were like,

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_00]: oh, we found you on the road, but here's your medical bill.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And then they tell you to fuck off and get back to farming.

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's but what's funny about it is the way that the characters say it.

[00:26:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They're always like very cheeky.

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And it seems like games like this would have greatly benefited from

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_00]: like a story twist, like a Doki Doki Literature Club,

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_00]: where you start realizing that, oh, all of these villagers are trying

[00:26:44] [SPEAKER_00]: to murder me. Like if they were to do something interesting like that,

[00:26:47] [SPEAKER_00]: not to, you know, backseat develop a game or anything like that.

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, and you do have to pick which lane you're going to be in.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Are you going to be in the cutesy ASMR like, you know, cozy game?

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Or are you going to be on like the mildly chaotic,

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_00]: ridiculous style sim of like a Cult of the Lamb or, you know,

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Doki Doki Literature Club, that sort of thing,

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_00]: especially if you have a light novel.

[00:27:08] [SPEAKER_00]: There's just lots to play with.

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm playing my 3DS.

[00:27:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm playing Fire Emblem, you know, Conquest at bedtime, getting,

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, just having a blast because of how well written it is,

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_00]: how good the music is, how well done the sprites are in the battle systems.

[00:27:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And of course, it's not going to hold up to, you know, three houses

[00:27:27] [SPEAKER_00]: or even even the newest iteration engage.

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_00]: But still, I'm having a blast because it's fitting perfectly

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_00]: on the system that I'm playing it on.

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's just it's a shame to see that this doesn't necessarily

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_00]: have that level of depth in writing.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: But the writing is good.

[00:27:44] [SPEAKER_01]: But no, I would say depth is not really in this game.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_01]: It's not in the conversation. No, not at all.

[00:27:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Got it. Well, Will, before we close out the show,

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_00]: do you have any final thoughts or recommendations for listeners to the show?

[00:27:56] [SPEAKER_01]: If you like farming, check it out.

[00:27:59] [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't like farming, do not go near this game.

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_01]: There are plenty of fun things on Game Pass.

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Go play Dead Space. Go play Dead Space.

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_00]: We just reviewed it twice. Yep.

[00:28:09] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, with that, folks, that's going to be it.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_00]: If you agreed with our assessment or wanted to take us to task

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_00]: for a review of Rune Factory 4 special,

[00:28:18] [SPEAKER_00]: make sure you leave a comment or tweet at us at FNGCPOD.

[00:28:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Until then, I'm Nick.

[00:28:23] [SPEAKER_00]: That's Will. And we are the Friday Night Gamecast.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Have a great Friday night. Deuces.