Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

The very definition of a "buy on sale" game. The story is just "ok". The combat is just "ok". The farming is just "ok". At no point does the game actively draw you in to its story or mechanics. Everything is just "ok".

I haven't had as much fun with a farming/life sim game as I've had with Guardians of Azuma in a long while! If you're a fan of games like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons with combat mechanics, this game should be a good one to try. I also really like how in depth the social interaction mechanics are in this game. They've deviated from the typical and tedious "chat and gift every day to level up hearts" system that you'd usually see in other farming/life sim titles. I literally haven't gifted a single villager, yet I've got two girlfriends. This makes getting to know villagers and interacting with them everyday an actually enjoyable experience in which each character clearly has their own unique personality. The only con that's sticking out like a sore thumb to me is how absolutely terrible the soundtrack is. I had to lower the music volume in the settings menu due to how bad the background music is, especially in the Spring village. It's not even music. It's cheap "this is what we stereotypically think of when we think of classical Japanese worlds lol" ambient sounds. Absolutely horrifically bad.

Very Addictive. Time passes by so fast in this game and real life

Completed main story line in under 80 hours. Most of the game spent at normal difficulty. I had to switch to story mod in the last quarter of the game. Overall a good experience. Last few fights made it not as "cozy" as I prefer. I give it a good 4 out of 5. Lost a point because I had to toggle to a "easier" setting just to make it through some points.

This has so far been my favorite Rune factory title. Its close to RF4 complete edition. The combat is more fluent the 3rd person perspective is less overwhelming like it is in RF5.. Yes the gathering is simpler and less time consuming once you get to mid game. But some people have jobs and family so they dont want the grind, thats not to say the grind is completely gone there will still be times you have to hunt down certain monsters or ores for things. I do have a few complaints the biggest one being Monster taming why not just make the people monsters and keep the same system... I feel like the romanceable characters have less effort put in them then other titles all of them fill shallow. I find myself hitting skip alot more than in other titles. lastly decorations... just why its such a waste of time

Without the previous skill system, there's nothing to do between the story and romancing the characters, so I got bored quickly. You can't become overpowered and do dedicated grinding for individual stats, which makes no sense for a Rune Factory game, and because there's little purpose to the game without the power fantasy, I got bored and couldn't even bring myself to complete my favorite romance option, which has never happened to me when playing a Rune Factory game before. The whole point of the series for me when it came to gameplay was just grinding to become overpowered, so with that gone, they basically ruined the game for me.

Its a fantastic and very enjoyable game.

Its a fun cozy game, it is familiar and repetitive but never the less an enjoyable experience

Great game with well-written dialogue. The part where [redacted] is threatened with getting his, well, downstairs equipment shrunk made me actually laugh out loud. Wasn't expecting to love some of the characters as much as I do or to be as invested in the story as I am. While I was expecting a farming sim, I'm glad it really is more of a JRPG with life sim elements rather than that being the entire focus. I've had so much fun and at 32 hours I still don't feel close to finishing the main story. My only gripe would be the pacing. Beginning is a bit slow (and definitely more farming/life sim) but once you reach the fourth village it picks up fast and doesn't stop! Also plays great on Steam deck.

Solid game.