This review was made after obtaining all achievements.
Rune Factory Guardians, what can i say about this?
Compared to the previous game, RF5, its a "half-step up", it does some things alright, and others that really ruined my mood for the game.
I'm going to start with the bad points first, since people tend to post the good and people skim that text and move on without getting the full info. Note that these are my opinions on the matter, and can vary from player to player.
CONS;
Locked Romance routes: There is a good choice of men and women to date, all of which have their own reasons in life, to get better and to overcome. HOWEVER, there are 2 partners around midway in the story (one male and one female) that you cannot date unless you hand over more money for their dlc. This leaves a huge sour taste in my mouth, even more so when normal conversations with them are like normal npcs you can have normal relationships with, yet when you do partner cooking with them, they give off the hearts that clearly show they ARE datable. This clearly shows they were to be partners in the game from the very beginning, and they decided to lock them behind a paywall. THIS IS JUST FLAT OUT GREED AND SHOULD NOT BE ACCEPTED IN THIS STYLE OF GAME!!! Have everyone that can be a romance route be there from the very start, not locked behind peoples wallets/purses.
Village Building: The main meat of the game is restoring the villages, so clearing fields of corruption, building homes for villagers, and producing food to use for cooking or selling. My main gripe however is when every piece has a stat tied to it. Each piece you put down can give you stats (limited to one of said item) towards your avatar, so when it eventually comes close to the endgame, and you get some of the better decorations, they are big and take up alot of space. So it makes sense to flood an entire field where you can find space with the best decorations that give the most stats possible, and takes away the farming part of the game. I liked it more where your stats were tied to your actions you did alot of, and your own gear you make or find in the fields.
The Villagers: Never have i been frustrated with dealing with villagers. Each individual villager has pros and cons tied to them, so they can be good at one thing, and bad at others. When it comes to farming mostly however, they can help grow more crops or even give you better quality foods/seeds. What they are terrible at however, is their job at farmers. It takes them forever to plant any seed, which you have no control over what they plant, and those seeds can be planted in awkward places like in the middle of the field rather than end to end. They take forever to harvest, they take forever to water, at best, they are only best if they are in small fields, and i mean REALLY small farming fields. Honestly, you are better off doing the farming yourself rather than let the villagers take control of it.
Giant crops: Naturally, getting a giant crop can net you alot of money to go towards upgrades and crafts, the only thing i don't like however, is when you gather a giant crop, you do not gain any seeds in return. This can be irritating if you only had for example one seed, hoping to get a refund of it after harvesting, and its all going to waste over a giant crop that is slightly worth more money than a normal version.
COULD BE BETTER;
Skill Trees: For a first, Guardians uses skill trees rather than earning stats through repeated actions. It was an interesting choice, and i decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, til i realised you get two different types of EXP. One for the job/action you do, and another which is all tallied up at the end of a day. The former is used only in that specific action/job, while the other can be used in all the skill trees. I could see what they was aiming for, but i feel like it could get abused so much that you could level one skill tree without the need of doing such actions that its for. If they decide to bring skill trees back in Rune Factory 6, i would hope they remove the all-purpose EXP, so they make players engage with the activity more to level it up. Additionally, i would also prefer that people can pick and mix what skills they could obtain, rather than having to follow a skill route just to reach a skill people would make most use of.
PROS:
Sacred Treasures: I actually enjoyed using the tools they give you in the game, as it came with multiple effects. It served not only as a attacking tool to fight monsters, but they also had added benefits both for exploring and tending to your farms. I highly doubt such tools/skills would make a return in later Rune Factory games, but it was a fun and interesting experience.
Looking back at this, it felt like more negatives than positives, so why did i recommend this game?
Honestly, for what troubles it brings, its your standard pen on paper Rune Factory story. The people are interesting, farming and combat is decent, overall, its very mid, is the best way i can describe it. To the point where i miss the old Rune Factory games, that i might just return to, i had more fun with the past games than this.
This recommendation in my opinion would be more middle of the world, not a yes, but not a no either.
It does a few things that are interesting that i could get behind, but it does many that i flat out do not like or agree with.
To the devs that made this game, use this game as a lesson and a stepping stone, learn from mistakes, and DO NOT lock romance routes under a paywall. Do better. Make Rune Factory the game that we know and love, and not a form of greed.
