I’ve yet to play a Rune Factory title, and I consider that a crying shame. With my newfound love for the Atelier series and borderline obsession with doing everyday tasks like fishing and furniture purchasing in games like Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, with combined elements Harvest Moon and traditional RPGs, is clearly up my alley. So, of course, I was very excited when I heard there was a Rune Factory game coming out for the PS3. Not only that, but this time it was to feature a female protagonist! Best of both worlds, right?
Unfortunately, a couple of things have come to my attention recently in regards to Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny (also known as Rune Factory: Oceans in Japan). You do get to play as a female, that’s true, but there’s a catch: Azel and Sonia, the male and female protagonists, are trapped in the same body. As such, you’re required to play through the game’s main story as Azel, the male protagonist, before unlocking the ability to switch to Sonia.
Even more frustrating than that is the number of bride to groom options. One of the big draws of Rune Factory, much like Harvest Moon, is the number of potential partner choices available, allowing you to woo the man or lady you choose depending on the gender of your main character. Of course the lack of a same-sex relationship option is a bit disappointing, even though it’s not surprising. In Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny, though you do have the option to marry while playing as Sonia, the pickings are rather slim: there are only 4 marriageable men in the game, including childhood friend Azel, contrasted by a whopping 10 marriageable women for gamers who choose to play as Azel.
According to Yoshifumi Hashimoto, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny producer, the decision to keep the number of groom characters low was so that they wouldn’t have to cut into the number of bride characters, given the time it takes to create each one. Mr. Hashimoto, I’m sorry, but that just seems like you’re saying,”we couldn’t really be bothered to make more grooms because we’re really catering this game to men anyway” to me.
Needless to say, I’m a bit disappointed… But that probably won’t stop me from buying the game in the future (Even with all the ladies, that trailer still looks gorgeous). I hope that when Rune Factory 4 comes out for the 3DS, however, they will give gamers wishing to play as the female character an experience that is on par with that of the male equivalent.
Well, that’s too bad 🙁 I esp. don’t like that you have to play through the game as the boy before you can play as the girl. Why not just allow players to do it from the start?
Anyway, I’ve yet to play a Rune Factory game myself. Of course, I’ve yet to play a Harvest Moon game, too. I think I’ll start with the latter, honestly, as they seem more up my alley.
Wow, before this post I actually had no clue what Rune Factory was. Well, I knew the name of course but never looked into the series. It sounds like one I’d love to play though.
In regards to the whole wife/husband disparity that’s really cheap. If anything they should have knocked it down to like 6 wives and 6 husbands, not just given the male character a ton of choices. I guess because the female plot is unlocked (kind of like a side story?) that they figured it wasn’t a big deal to have less husband-to-be characters :(.
Bryan- Yeah, I was really disappointed when I heard you have to play through as the male character first. Here I was thinking you’d be able to pick whichever you’d like to be right from the get-go, and I was really excited about that!
In all honesty I’ll probably try Harvest Moon first too. I do like the fact that the Rune Factory games have a bit of story to them, though.
Hi Marcus!
6 men and 6 women, that’s exactly what I was thinking! I guess they were worried about a backlash if they decreased the number of marriageable females, but really, if they’re going to go all the way and allow you to play as a female character in the first place, then it might as well be fair.
I really don’t like how people just assume that women will be ok with playing male characters (and subsequently romancing women) because that’s very common in these kind of games, but when it comes to men having to play as a woman (and romancing men), then the creators start to get all worried about turning off their fanbase. The fact of the matter is I think there are just as many female Rune Factory fans as there are male, and they’ve been playing as the male characters all along.
Of course, I’ll often choose a male avatar to represent myself just ’cause, but I don’t think the majority of gamers are as open-minded as I am 😉
Actually, I found it EASIER having less grooms to choose from. My mom and I are playing this at the same time. She stayed as Azel and I played as Sonia. There’s just WAY too many girls interested in her, which makes things complicated.
I guess it’s a little disappointing, but honestly I just like the game because it’s fun.
inb4: yes, I am a girl.
Hi Amanda!
No, I can totally understand that. You raise a good point! Though I do feel it’s slighting people who want to play as the female character a little, you are true about the fact that sometimes it’s easier to have fewer options.
I’m playing through a Harvest Moon title now as a girl and I just can’t decide who I want to be my husband! Unfortunately the flip side of that is you may not get as much variation in terms of character choices (but too many characters can present the issue of having little originality between characters apart from their appearance).
Have you played any of the other Rune Factory titles? If so, how do you think this one compares? And you mom plays, too?? That is very cool.
playing both series of games i find that run factories dungeon component breaks the more montogonus bit of the farming bit. ofton in harvest moons i get to a spot where it’s the same thing over and over again, though yes, the ability to play as a girl is nice in harvest moons, minus the very first
Hi anon!
I’m actually playing through a Harvest Moon game now, and have yet to try a Rune Factory game. From what I’ve heard, Rune Factory: Frontier is a good place to start… Have you played it?
I do like that they have option to play as a girl and have many male suitors in Harvest Moon, but agree with you that just farming 24/7 can get a tad tedious. I definitely have to try a Rune Factory game sooner rather than later!
Hi there! I’ve played two Harvest Moon games for the Wii and this is my first Rune Factory game for the PS3 and I would’ve liked more bachelor options. I’m playing Sonia and believe it or not I had a hard time choosing between Joe and James! I read somewhere that making Sonia a playable female character was last minute and that’s why she can only choose between four bachelors. I guess someone pushed them to add the female player option. But it seems the game is more focused on the male character since there are more bachelorettes to choose from. I think because there is more fighting in this game, they assumed it was more for guys? That seems strange to me since I love fighting monsters and dungeons. Tides of Destiny is a really fun game. I wish there was more complexity in the game. My biggest complaint is the writing. The grammar in this game is driving me crazy. I don’t know why I’m taking the grammar so seriously, but they need to work on that!
Hi Suz! Thanks for your comment!
It’s great to hear from someone who’s played this game. You raise a good point about the game focusing more on male player characters because of the emphasis on fighting… I hadn’t thought of that! But titles like the Atelier games for the PS3 feature both relationship building (though no marriage) and fighting, and those are quite popular with both men and women.
I’m very excited for Rune Factory 4 for the 3DS, though! I hear they will be taking the female character route more seriously this time. I think in order to really be considered “on par” with the Harvest Moon series, they need to up the ante for the female playable characters.
That’s funny that you mention the grammar in the game – I can’t stand wonky grammar, either! A good localization is really important my enjoyment of the game.
Either way, I’m glad to hear you still had fun with it! I’m thinking of trying one of the DS Rune Factory games, just because I found that after playing Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Wii, I’d really like a portable Harvest Moon/Rune Factory game.
I’m going to start by saying I completely agree with you about the lack of grooms but my following comments are more directed toward what Brian was saying about being able to play a male/female from the beginning.
I do strongly disagree. What people have to understand is that there is, generally speaking, a strong story arc to the Rune Factory games and that playing the male is part of the story. While having the option of being female from the beginning would be doable, at the same time, I feel it would create a lot of plot holes. Because the male is the one who has the abilities to use earth magic. It says nothing about the female having such, but after spending such an extended period of time within him, it would make more sense that she would be affected by his abilities and learn them for herself.
To my point though. It is part of the story. If you want a game where you can choose whether you play as a male or female, then play Harvest Moon (also a fantastic series released by Natsume)
I stumbled across your post while searching for a guide for this particular game. While I can understand you being upset, you also have to look at where this game is coming from. There have been a couple of Harvest Moon games released featuring a primarily female protagonist. The first was sold separately and kind of flopped. The second was technically the same game, but was bundled with the boy game. From the makers point of view the female game just doesn’t sell. So I saw this initial less as them having something against females and more of a testing of the waters.
Late addition: I just read that there are a couple of other Harvest Moon games with female protagonists that did sell well. Perhaps that’s what prompted them to test adding them in this game.
D.Craw.Shuk – Thanks for your comment. As you may have noticed, this post was written back in October of last year, and either the game had just come out or was not even out yet. As such, my commenters and I weren’t entirely aware of the game’s plot, or how the female playable character factored into the game.
Though I still think it’s unfortunate that there aren’t as many potential grooms as there are brides, it makes a lot more sense that the female character only becomes playable later on in the game, given the premise.
Actually, I’ve been playing some Harvest Moon recently, and I quite like it! I also can’t wait for Rune Factory 4 for the 3DS, as it looks like you’ll be able to pick from a male of female character from the beginning.
Anon – Thanks for your comment!
I understand where you’re coming from, but I feel like if the developers are going to include a female character, they should at least make her presence equal to that of the male character. I have nothing against a game that only has a male playable character, though. Oh well, that’s what Rune Factory 4 is for, right?
As an aside, I’ve been playing some Harvest Moon games recently, and I love how there’s an equal amount of content regardless of whether you choose a male or female character at the beginning.
Rune factory 4 you can play as a girl from the start. and there are 6 boys and six girls.
Keep it simple there is no need for same-sex in game like this. Rune factory and Harvest moon, keep it sweet and simple. I like it how it is good old plain boy girl relationships. Though saying that some people may take this as an attack. But Leave all that gay marriage out of rune factory.
Attack? No, just horribly ignorant.
There’s no reason that you can’t play the game without gay relationships if you don’t want to. Is there a reason you think you have a right to tell other people how they should enjoy their games?
Surely you should be happy that the developers have allowed people to experience Harvest Moon the way they want to.
You’re an idiot. We absolutely need gay marriage in a series like Rune Factory. Nothing is more awesome than pairing up two cute anime girls (or guys if you prefer) and you’re a pathetic piece of shit for thinking otherwise.
As long as you can’t marry older women (like Rita and Ganesha in RFF, Joceyln in RFToD), I don’t care much for gay marriage. If and when you can marry those hot older women, then I’ll support it.
You want gay marriage in a video game? Well, I want my rights to marry older women in a video game, but we can’t always have what we want.
But instead of complaining and whining about wanting the developers to listen to us on how to make their games, we should just enjoy it as it is.
So until then, gtfo.
I’m not going to take the time to reply to everyone who’s commented in the last month or so (this post seems to have gotten popular all of a sudden even though I wrote it over a year ago), but I would like to point out that while same-sex relationships in games (and the lack thereof) is a very important discussion to have, I only touched on it in ONE SENTENCE in this post. If you want to have this discussion, fine, but if you’re going to continue to throw insults at one another and refuse to be civil about it, I’m going to start deleting your comments.
And for everyone pointing out that you can play as a female character from the start of Rune Factory 4, I know, and I look very forward to playing it.
I have no problems with older women marriage options. What you just did is a strawman argument and you just made yourself look like an idiot.
To be fair, though, in most of the recent games, the bachelor options were all kind of either nice guys, shy guys, or jerks with a heart of gold. This is the first one in a while I was presently surprised to see an adventurous and tough without being a huge emo. Also, as a gay guy, I LOVE the recent ways they have cleverly subverted the “only heterosexual relationships” in North American releases in Rune Factory 4 and A New Beginning. Technically, my character retains all the female organs (which I never have to see or think about) so that keeps complaints at bay, but since my character looks and acts like a guy (which is all I care about) then I’m happy too. Granted, it would be nice, if my character was ACTUALLY a guy, but it is still WAAAAY less awkward than trying to convince myself that the character I’m playing with breasts and long hair is a just a guy who needs a haircut, and he just has REALLY big pecs.
Thanks for your comment, Bob! I wrote this post long before Rune Factory 4 was out, but I definitely agree with you that the romance options are so much better this time around! Glad you’re able to fun with it even though you can’t have a male avatar and romance guys. Maybe someday!