The imagining your own story is so true. I gave the engagement ring to Cecil on first day of fall and it was on a runey day(?). He was at top of the stairs, wanting to go to the detective place. The main character was at the bottom of the stairs. I imagine the MC hastily running towards Cecil and kneeling on the stairs, diamond ring in hand, while fall leaves and runeys fly about.

You should try Rune Factory 4 Special Edition. It’s an HD version of original 4, better frame rates, town layout is nice, characters are totally lovable, added more quality of life improvements from the original, and for a 3DS HD remaster it’s pretty solid.

Love this review! I especially laughed out loud when you pointed out the bread and carbs part to learn how to make weapons ("Just let the carbs enligthen you." 🤣😂) and the way you dryly said "Happy Halloween" when you placed pumpkin heads on your party members! 😆

Honestly, I feel the same way. I initially put this game down fairly quickly when I first played it earlier this year. I just couldn't look past all the performance issues and a few more minor inconveniences. But I decided to give it another shot about 2 months ago and I've been hooked since. BTW, you made the right choice not dating multiple characters. I figured I'd try dating a few so I could learn as much about them as possible before committing to marriage. So I ended up in a relationship with Martin, Priscilla, Lucy and Scarlett, expecting it to work in the same way it did in the Friends of Mineral Town remake a couple of years back. In that game, after you got married, everyone else you were dating reverted back to their normal dialogue and started acting like you were never in a relationship to begin with. But this game... After marrying Scarlett, I go over to talk to Priscilla and I notice that she uses my characters actual name in the introductory text rather than the silly pet names we had been using, so all seems normal. But then the first words out of my characters mouth were "Priscilla, I love you." Like, dude, WTF?! Now every time I talk with Martin Lucy or Priscilla there is a chance that they will use their romance dialogue lines, and even after 3 seasons of it I still find it really awkward. Seems like a bit of an oversight TBH. I've still been really enjoying the game though. Looking forward to going back and experiencing the other games in the series. Especially since this one is generally considered to be one of the weaker entries and I still loved it.

Wanted to say that this is a fantastic review! You should definitely do more of them! I loved Rune Factory 4 but was hesitant to pick it up after hearing lukewarm reviews. But this review explains those first impressions well and helps me feel better about the game.

Great review. I felt a bit lite you during the opening hours and have put the game aside. Excited to get back in and hope it gets better. ☺️

This game currently is on sale on the Nintendo eShop, so I was looking for a good video review. This review is done in a very matter-of-fact way with your own personality injected into it that I found both informative and enjoyable. I hope to see more videos from you!

I've had the collector's box sitting in my cabinet since it's release, barely touched, because of my bad first impression. But this has made me want to restart and give it an honest try. Thank you ❤

I’ve never really played a RF game before, but I tried DQB2 (which felt like it was in the same vein) and LOVED it. I just got RF5 and was feeling a little disappointed, but you have inspired me to keep going. Thank you so much for your honest insight!

For your first review vid, this was honestly fantastic. Definitely well made and informative. I've always been interested in the Rune Factory series as it seems to offer everything I could want in a video game, the issue is that all of those things look like they're individually underwhelming. Like each aspect alone is at a 5 or 6. I love farming in games, I love combat, I love crafting, romance, fishing, etc, but on their own these things seemed to slightly miss the mark in Rune Factory 5. I've been trying to find a game like Fantasy Life on the 3DS (an underrated god-tier of a game in my opinion and one of the few games that lets me play as a blacksmith) and this one seemed close, it's just hard to pull the trigger with it at full price. Definitely might pick it up the next time it goes on sale though. Also the 100+ hours on Monster Hunter tho. Idk if you've gotten the expansion but based on the crab Pokemon tier list video I'm guessing you would like the crabs monsters in the expansion.

This is the most informative review of the game, I have a much better idea of what to expect from it compared to other reviews

of all the rune factory 5 reviews that I watched, this is the best review, thank you very much

Got this on PC just the other day after not being able to stomach the performance on Switch. I'm really loving it!

I will try it right now! :) great video!

I really wanted to play this game and was looking forward to the western release. It was also nice that the developers finally made a same-sex romance (I missed being able to express to Gaius from RF3 how much he charmed me). But I was bothered by the mixed reviews. Many players praised the previous games too much, especially RF4, while this one was criticized. However, I couldn't read anything clear enough anywhere. This review still doesn't cover everything I'm interested in, but at least it gives a better idea of the first impression - the consistency of your story is so good that it's one of the few reviews I listened to from start to finish completely (which is a bit difficult for me since I'm not a native speaker, but then again I understood everything said, no unfamiliar words I heard). Thanks for the review, it convinced me that I'm still interested in the game. 💙

As someone who's favorite game series is rune factory, I have gone back and beat rune factory 3 about 7 times, rune factory 4 3ds, 8 time (special about 3 times) and the first impressions of 5 was a little disappointing as I waited for years after it was announced. I think I'm going to give it another try because of this. You gave me hope for it

Super informative review, thank you!

Glad I found your channel, very good review! Have a sub!

Best RF5 review I've seen, as a Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons/Rune Factory cult member myself lol, I really enjoy seeing someone who truly does enjoy the series give their two cents.

This video is great, thank you. I just bought the game and this made me really excited to play it

Very nice review, thanks! I think I'll play it on pc as performances are better and some mods seem to fix interesting problems like for the housing :)

Great review, Kiki!

My only question is why were rooms with heat or poison damage removed in RF5? How many hours would you say the story is? It felt short, for me, atleast. I was disappointed it only had 2 story arcs.

Finally it will be released on Steam next month. Hope the performance is improved

This looks really good. Thanks for the honest in depth review.

Nice review, I agree with a lot of your points, I find the story a bit boring and the world is kind of...basic in comparison, but I'm spoilt with having played RF4 Special- have you given that a try?

I am finally gonna be able to buy this on Friday and I am super happy to hear positive things about it from someone. I have always been a huge rune factory fan and I am sure I will love this game just as much as I did 3 and 4

this is such a helpful review! most of the others were so general as to not be really helpful

This would be a game id look forward to modding. Theres so much potential and it needs some more polish and QOL changes. Ive also been really dissapointed with the dlc outfits. I bought them and they kinda look off pallette...

I’ve always roleplayed these games almost as isekais so I’m stoked to pick this one up on monday

hi, your video was really good, i really like the way you talk, im brazilian and i could understand everything 😊

Very informative review.

i went to snowdon a few week ago its a mountain in wales uk where the water is fresh out of the mountain there are no plants or fish in them and the paths are bare with no trees so the empty paths are almost realistic and remind me of the trek

Great review. I never really played any of the rune factory games before so, i'm going to buy rune factory 5 for the nintendo switch. It really looks great and i also love the animation of the game too.

Best review of this game by far, can tell your dedication from it easy

"No connection to eachother" ma'am, there are returning characters that you can recognize from previous installments (Ceci is a child in rf1 and a marriagable candidate in rf2, for example) and there are very obvious mentions of previous games events (the blooming of the Sharence tree, for example... Ventuswill, etc.)

They make it a lot more spaces , cuz that way you get the feeling like how it is from way back then. Like from when the monsters roamed and it’s always always about nature , but also to live as a Ranger that helps out with everything. But to me: There’s no need to complain about this game , cuz this game is beautiful as it is. But it’s about finding your place in the world and how you get to help out.

Watching this now makes me consider giving the game another chance. Still own the special edition copy. Got mad and put it down after I did horrible in the first fishing festival since the game didn't tell me that you have to check in first.

I agree about wishing there was more voice acting. I could easily overlook that if it wasn't for the weird decision where in alot of scenes with actual voice acting only 1 character seems to get a voice and everyone else in the same scene is just silent text. Just a very weird choice.

it's crazy to me how the Wii games were so much prettier!! the graphics are really, truly painful

Fun fact that can help is that you can destroy items by using your weapon and the put the other item you want in the area you want and for the most part it will be fixed lol

"Let the carbs enlighten you." That's just beautiful. Poetic! Talking about "kneading" the knowledge! LOL

Welp I'm sold. Also I'm assuming that Misasagi isn't romanceable? that's a very classic move from RF to make the bath house moms unmarriable. Shino from RF3 was my favorite lol

“Just let the carbs enlighten you” What a game and what a line lol

I totally agree about some of the romance characters looking way too young. Fuuka being a romance character actually frightened me. She looks like she's 12 😦😦😦

How did that ghost just drop 4 things????

I was so excited for a new RF but I really really hate how the game looks and I’m trying to get over it ugh 😣 I loved RF4 and Frontier to death. Maybe I need to just pick it up and start. Also you riding that fish with Ryker had me dying lol

I'm really happy I found this review. I've been playing RF since the beginning, and I really love the series. I put a LOT of time into Frontier and 4 in particular. Seeing the way 5 introduces itself to the player, I was like, "...really? 10 years and this is what we get huh?" The initial farm being so sad-looking, the empty huge unimaginative town, the poor communication of some mechanics, the repetitive music. I was ready to put it down. Even if it was just a reskin of 4 with gay marriage, though, I think that's enough of an improvement for me to give it a chance. And from the sound of things, it's much more than that. I'll stick with it and give it a proper go. Thanks for laying out your honest opinion in such detail like this. Your context with the series, and some of the additional details you filled in that others have missed, were the missing pieces I needed to decide how I feel about 5. Also since the main organization is called SEED, I get to pretend I'm a child soldier from final fantasy 8 so yeah that's fun

very helpful, thank u

Have they patched this yet to fix any of the loading/framerate issues? I can forgive some bad game design but I can never forgive a game created specifically for 1 console that doesn't RUN correctly. That's insane to me.

Thanks, I got the game recently and I was a bit disappointed by all the videos in the game, the furniture thing like you said at the end and I think some of the characters are a little too risqué for my taste. I'd also have appreciated a bit more customized character design. (I'm a new person from nowhere, I should be able to look like anything) That said I played the original rune factory 2 decades ago and loved it, then kinda drifted away while life's priorities took hold. I'm excited to play the new one, and I hope I enjoy it. (I have played a lot of Stardew Valley, but I really appreciate that I get farming experience from each phase of farming rather than just the harvesting at the end) I am really looking forward to taiming some monsters buddies and we'll see who I decide I want to hang out with in-game.

If a game has so much empty space that it needs fast travel. Why does it have the empty space to begin with? Always my gripe with games these days.

You know, about the same sex marriage thing, maybe it's because I mostly avoided the male events (unless they were in the way of the female ones lol.) But it was rarely present for me. The events I did do gave me more of a friendship vibe even when they were all flustered. I am planning on doing a second playthrough as the female character, I'll probably notice it more then.

Thanks for the review

Is it really worth it ? I don't wanna be disappointed like story of seseon in switch 😑 cause I played it !

sorry to pop in on an old video but my biggest complaint is theres not much to do while waiting for contests but otherwise i totally agree w all of your points!

I was store and my heart is telling me to buy Rune Factory 5 though its my first time buying these series but i want to try it theres something that catching me, and i was watching this video while i just stood at the store thinking if i will buy it, but thanks for this video i bought it ❤

hasn't expecting nothing from RF5 but actually I'm enjoying it more than RF4, got 83h into RF4 but RF5 is more my vibe, similar to My Time at Portia vibes (graphics only, the rest are the same as RF4, even better)

Hey iam considering to buy rune factory. But this my first gameplay with this game, which rf should i play first? Rf 4 or rf5? Which game will you recomend to play?

Interesting, I only played og Rune Factory 4 and Tides of Destiny, plus a little bit of Stardew Valley, and I was really hyped for Rune Factory 5. I also got a lot of bad first impressions and felt really let down, but I might give it another shot if you say it gets way better Im the same way with emergent storytelling, I love making little stories with the ingame characters (partially cuz of Fire Emblem) and Rune Factory also reallt brings that out for me too. Thank you for the review, Ill give it another go :D

TBH My Fav Character Is Priscilla (The Pink Haired Girl), I Just Love It How She Is Overprepared for everything! And I Gave My Invincibuff Potion To Her On Accident

This video is super great quality. I'm still compelled to try it even though I've seen all romance events for all characters and none of them are better than Rune Factory 4 in my opinion. Murakumo is nice though I don't like big, tall and muscular men (I'm 153 cm and 22 years old. Murakumo is probably 190 cm), I like the in between like Martin's build. Beatrice turned me off with the temporary relationship thing but I'll marry her anyway

I bought this game on release and got pretty far, but I put it down because of other game releases. Sadly, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is coming out soon, so I still can’t commit to playing this game, but I’ll be back one day!

This is a great video! It's really well scripted, and it helped me decide whether to buy the game.

10:05 that looks beautiful

Considering I absolutely loved Bioshock for Switch and it had a lot of problems this did I think I'll be fine. And for $29.99 I can forgive errors if I get more than 60 hours out of RF5.

So I just started playing and I have to say so far I hate magic, which sucks because I always like to go magic. The problem is it's SO SLOW and targeting is really wonkey. Does it ever get faster/better? Magic in tides was super fast and fun.

Thank you for the review. I was on the fence about Rune Factory 5. Regarding the houses all facing the same way, I have a feeling Rune Factory 5 started as a 3DS/top down game they then made 3D. If you notice the wii rune factory games, the plots of land, combat, art, etc, were much different and I think that's because it was made with 3D in mind. If you're wondering about a cis person's feeling about seeing a love event between same sex people, that's something I've wanted since Rune Factory 4. I hated how the male protagonist looked and sounded in 4 and I hated almost all the bachelors in that game. Let me play how I want to play, that's my approach. I hate the recipe breads... how what you learn is random and, at least in 4, you can only get so many in a day >.< Edit: NO~~~ you can't make a monk staff in this game >.

I'm nearly 100 hours in as well. I still don't understand how Tides of Destiny looks so much better...

I really want this game because im a big Rune Factory fan but holly molly is the price for this thing super expensive on steam

Oh, the big town will bother me so much. The clock is always ticking and it will just increase the time I have to spend moving around.

Just started Rune Factory 5. I wasn't able to customize my character and a big man just went AWOOOO at me. I'm very frightened. Send help.

About the furniture they don’t stick to the wall there is a gap

what's the game at 7:55 ? it looks amazing !

Hi there, stumbled upon your video while looking for RF5 guides. Regarding your point about gay storylines, I highly recommend you look up a video where Dan Harmon goes on this tangent about Fallout 4 and Preston Garvey lol.

Debatin on grabbin this or waitin for xeno blade chronicles 3

I had the same feel for my first impression! I'm so glad I'm not the only one... The emptyness ain't as much of a problem for me compared to how clunky and how awkward the 3D model is.. I think it mostly just because I love the visual of RF1-4 , and this 3D model is the first thing that makes me put the game in bad light before even giving it a try... And I honestly decided to never even get the game, until my partner told me to just give it a try (2 years after the game launched and it was on sale) and bought it for me.. At first I was so reluctant, and I kept complaining for the first 2-3hours of the game about how empty, clunky and too big for no reason.. But I don't wanna waste my partner money and let the game collect the dust without giving it a go.. Fortunately, after 5-6hours I realized I already fell already for my usual love of farming-crafting-grind that I love so much from the series.. and OMFG 3D models for some of the monsters are just so cute, I end up motivated to keep playing just to see them... Now I quite enjoy my time with the game, sure it's different with my expectations and love for the previous titles.. but it is a wonderful game as well, and I think this is one is actually pretty good for people who first dive to rune factory series...

How weird would it be if you went to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere and EVERYONE was gay and the problem was that in this tiny village not every race and creed is represented.

Cool review, and I appreciate you talking about representation in your review too! I didn’t know this game had same-sex couple options either, so that’s really appreciated to me as a queer person.

Not going to lie…. “Let the carbs enlighten you” was a golden line.

Martin too serious and might literally work himself to death if someone doesn't look after him. I don't want to blame myself for the rest of my life if he accidentally works himself to death. Working to death happens a lot in Japan, karoshi Ryker is a thief even though he means well. I'm not into Robin Hood type characters. I like mysterious and cool design characters but the bad traits aren't good Cecil doesn’t feel like an adult, so many people look after him. Reinhardt, a knight but broke my heart after choosing princess Beatrice to be number 1 priority instead of me in one of the events Lucas looks too old and a god Fuuka, too much like a kid and annoying Ludmilla, too horny and too extra Priscilla is meh. Bland and nothing interesting about her. Last place on popularity polls but the most canon girl to be the wife. Basically Clorica, Clorica was always meh. Scarlett is normal but not my type, too uptight even if she becomes a bit less uptight Lucy is alright Beatrice straight up says this relationship might only be temporary but she's the most like Emilia from Re:Zero. I wouldn't date any celebrity if they say it's only temporary in real life, doesn't matter if it's Harry Styles or Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. Murakumo is close to my type but not into huge guys with the big hohoho laugh. I might marry Murakumo and Beatrice. Margaret is my favourite, I would marry her but too bad you can't in 5. In an event, Beatrice says the relationship might last only a short time because she has to return to the palace makes me not want to commit to that relationship. I don't think you could start off a relationship where they say they might leave. But still Beatrice is so sweet and it’s like marrying Emilia from Re:Zero. So process of elimination for RF5 is Murakumo and Beatrice. Murakumo's height difference is crazy thoughhh. I didn't need process of elimination for RF4 because all the characters were great. I wish they let you marry Margaret and Doug in Rune Factory 5 but it seems that Margaret married Lest and had some children with him as said in Rune Factory 5 Rune Factory 4 I had trouble over choosing Doug or Vishnal. I was worried about getting the way of Vishnal's work and him not having enough time for me but then I saw his wedding event and I cried. He actually would sacrifice his butler title to be with me. That's just crazy and I instantly made the decision to marry him instead and I'm so happy he still got his 1 star Butler rank. He works so hard and I do admire his passion and that he wants to help people. I married Vishnal a week ago. Also Doug does like too show off kind of too much and he thinks it's not manly that he helps Granny Blossom so also that's why I chose Vishnal. Doug is also a bit lazy but really really caring while Vishnal is almost too hardworking but he does tae breaks but his passion is immense immense like Martin’s. Leon. Teases way too much and too sarcastic. He likes eating poisonous things too and I don't want to worry about him every time he eats it like how Martin overworks too much. I married Vishnal in 4 and was afraid he would only work and leave no time for me but he does. I was hoping on marrying an animal type character but then Dylas is too tsundere, I'm not into tsundere. But I still love both as characters, not romantically. They have so much dept to them. Kiel, too young. Like a little brother. Arthur, I like his character a lot too. Really charming and sassy and you could actually marry a prince, I guess you could marry Beatrice in RF5 to be a prince who knows Rune Factory 3 is probably better than 5 but I'll play both and see. I'll be able to get this game in June

I play this game and. I like it is fun. And the good thing games like that help to get better in my English😅 I still working in my English 😅

I haven't played Rune Factory since my mom got me the first one on DS for Christmas. It was not good. Even then. LoL but, Rune Factory 5 looks pretty good so far. One thing that stood out to me almost immediately is that, the main character is hot as hell regardless of their gender. I've played a lot of Japanese games like Rune Factory. In my experience, unless they have really in depth character creator, the only way to get a sexy avatar was to play a female character.

I love this game super hardcore!

I have it and honestly i had no expectations just like rune 4 but so far theirs a lot of quality of life stuff improving a lot of things i didnt like in rune 4 the game looks great to me at least because i know veterans of the franchise like older titles so i dont have much to go on it but so far its welcoming to newcomers

Should buy rf4 or rf5? Thank you

nothing to do with this review but is the game really that over saturated? it looks like mabinogi.

Edit: bought the game on sale on switch. It's addicting if you're a completionist. The characters have life. The performance is only ok but manageable on dock. Looks a little blurry to me on handheld. I also have SOS: Olive Town and I prefer the farming on that game as well as the targeting option. You only get a small field and seperate plot in RF5. You can't own a house, which is a bummer. Although you do get a lot of time during the day and your character always wakes up early even if you sleep late past midnight. Don't buy this game full price. I'm still torn whether or not to buy this. It's on sale again, original price tag is quite hefty for what they present, you can't even customize your avatars appearance, also the whole forced to be in love with same sex characters is off putting to me, let us have a choice.

Eating an unhealthy amount of bread sounds like a dream come true.. 🤤🤤

I have the first one on ds. I see i haven't missed much

Ha la lingua oppure i testi in italiano?

The whole system isnt everybodys cup of tea. Should i rush the story? (Seed fortress below 100, nothing enhanced gear and fighting chicken as helper only was an bad idea ..) or should i do more "side stuff"? Decisions, decisions...

i played rf3, rf4 SE, rf5. tbh rf5 isnt that bad and i really enjoyed the game, its just the previous games was so good. thats why most of us had very high expectation 😂😂

Quirky as ever, Rune Factory. Part of it's charm. haha.

I mean, it's a fine game. It scratches the itch of farm-life-dungeon-crawler, but it doesn't introduce anything revolutionary to the genre let alone franchise. It's a safe game with safe characters and a safe plot. The only thing that I found glaringly terrible is the placement mechanics when decorating your home. God awful. I would much prefer a grid system to their current free placement system. Not only is it a massive waste of space with furniture taking up entire blocks of space, but you don't have fine control over the placement so you're stuck doing your best and shooting for 'good enough'. Hope they revamp this feature in the future.

RF5 really makes you FEEL like you'd rather be playing RF4

You got a like for the xenoblade reference.

Idk as a straight player it was a little odd because its kinda unrealistic for every single guy to end up flirting with you but idk i just ignore it lmao like alright bro you do you. I find this more fun than zelda cuz i get impatient having to do grav puzzles constantly. Thats the thing too. I like jrpgs that mostly leave the story up to your imagination. I can come up with better writing than most jrpg writers lol

Shall I buy it or not ?! ... I wonder 🤔

Honestly I think the selling point for me in the game is the fact there is gay romance. I do love Rune Factory as a whole. though I am a little sad about the art style direction of this game. From the review you showed seems like most of the work went into content and character and monsters which is good. but the world that surrounds you just seems sorta bland looking. I know budgets are thing. I guess being this was the fifth main line title and was going to be full 3d like frontier and tides, I was hoping it would look as good if not better than those. Though as it is Rune Factory it still is very charming. Thank you for the in depth review ^^