Rune Factory 3
Encyclopedia
is a simulation/role-playing
video game developed by Neverland Co.
and published in Japan by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo DS
handheld console. It was published in North America by Natsume on November 9, 2010. It was released in Europe on September 30, 2011 by Rising Star Games
. It is the fourth game in the Rune Factory
series, and the third on the DS.
The game features new AI with dynamic schedules, as well as new battle commands and NPC interaction. Other changes in the game include: the player to transform into a golden Wooly (bipedal sheep-like creatures), plants can be grown underground under a special tree that Micah lives in, villagers can now join you in battle and lend you their skills as battle companions, and the game's new multiplayer mode lets up to three players work together to conquer dungeons with rare items and monsters more interactively than the previous games.
When Micah finally becomes engaged with one of the game's heroines, his bride mysteriously disappears on their wedding day and he sets into a ruin located on the outskirts of the village to find her. Reaching the deepest part of the ruins, Micah is forced to confront Aquaticus, a large water dragon who is keeping his lover imprisoned, claiming that humans and Univir should never become together and he, a half-monster should not marry into neither race. Seeing Micah's determination to fight for his bethroed, Aquaticus reveals that all was part of his plan to have both humans and Univir truly reconciled as only then the Sharance Tree could be fully restored to prevent the world's destruction. The game ends with Micah and his bride's marriage under a full blooming Sharance Tree.
Role-playing game (video games)
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
video game developed by Neverland Co.
Neverland Co.
Neverland Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer founded on May 7, 1993. It has developed games for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color, Nintendo DS, PSP and the Wii...
and published in Japan by Marvelous Entertainment for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
handheld console. It was published in North America by Natsume on November 9, 2010. It was released in Europe on September 30, 2011 by Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games
Rising Star Games is a video games publisher formed as a joint business venture between Scandinavian distributor Bergsala and Japanese video game publisher and content developer Intergrow....
. It is the fourth game in the Rune Factory
Rune Factory
is a simulation/role-playing video game developed by Neverland Co., Ltd. and published by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and Rising Star Games for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console....
series, and the third on the DS.
Gameplay
Like the other Rune Factory games, the story begins with a character (Micah) who has lost his memory showing up in a small town. He is greeted by a female (Shara), and is tasked with raising the town's farm. Crops can be grown for profit, along with fishing, gathering, etc., and there are dungeons to explore, grow crops, and fight monsters in.The game features new AI with dynamic schedules, as well as new battle commands and NPC interaction. Other changes in the game include: the player to transform into a golden Wooly (bipedal sheep-like creatures), plants can be grown underground under a special tree that Micah lives in, villagers can now join you in battle and lend you their skills as battle companions, and the game's new multiplayer mode lets up to three players work together to conquer dungeons with rare items and monsters more interactively than the previous games.
Plot
Tasked with raising the farm around the massive Sharance Tree, Micah learns that for some reason the tree has not bloomed for fifty years, and since then the land started decaying. After recovering the ability to transform into a golden wooly, he discovers that he is a half-monster and decides to keep his true nature a secret from the other villagers. He also makes contact with a Univir settlement located into a desert, but only interacts with them in his wooly form, hiding his human form from them. Both the villagers and the Univir had a friendly relationship in the past, but since a few decades before, they started to estrange each other, but Micah eventually gains each faction's trust and manages to have them settle their differences and resume their peaceful coexistence.When Micah finally becomes engaged with one of the game's heroines, his bride mysteriously disappears on their wedding day and he sets into a ruin located on the outskirts of the village to find her. Reaching the deepest part of the ruins, Micah is forced to confront Aquaticus, a large water dragon who is keeping his lover imprisoned, claiming that humans and Univir should never become together and he, a half-monster should not marry into neither race. Seeing Micah's determination to fight for his bethroed, Aquaticus reveals that all was part of his plan to have both humans and Univir truly reconciled as only then the Sharance Tree could be fully restored to prevent the world's destruction. The game ends with Micah and his bride's marriage under a full blooming Sharance Tree.