Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma - Discussion Thread

Covering Innocent Life (PsP/Ps2), Rune Factory 1 (DS), Rune Factory 2 (DS), Rune Factory 3 (DS/Switch), Rune Factory Frontier (Wii), Rune Factory Tides of Destiny (Wii/Ps3), Rune Factory 4 (3DS/Switch/Steam), and Rune Factory 5 (Switch/Steam).
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What’s with all the RF5 hate here? Seems pretty ignorant, some of you even calling it straight up bad. I’m thinking you just have nostalgia for the past games, because 5 is just more Rune Factory, but a 3D mainline one. As opposed to the two other 3D ones that did things a bit differently from the numbered games.
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Guest wrote: Dec 30, 2024 3:49 pm What’s with all the RF5 hate here? Seems pretty ignorant, some of you even calling it straight up bad. I’m thinking you just have nostalgia for the past games, because 5 is just more Rune Factory, but a 3D mainline one. As opposed to the two other 3D ones that did things a bit differently from the numbered games.
Or, you know, we could just be disappointed after waiting 10 years and receiving a product that fails to catch the magic of the previous numbered entries. I like Rune Factory 5 well enough, but it's not ignorant to see 4 is a better, well put together gaming experience. And before you go on about 'nostalgia' again, my favorite in the series is the original, which is extremely hard to swallow gameplay wise in today's day and age. RF4 is in no way my favorite, but it's the most polished entry in the series by far. For numbered entries, 1-4 continually built upon themselves to the point of reaching gameplay that not only pleased the target audience, but got a ton of other people into the series. Rune Factory 5... clumsily tried to transition into 3D like the spinoffs without all their quirky features, and it failed to recapture the audience RF4 had brought in. It humbly sits a being 'OK' or 'Bad' among the fans and masses while they go onto recommend the previous two (remastered) numbered entries instead because they're just better overall gaming experiences. So yes, it's 'more' Rune Factory in '3D', but it's objectively worse than it's predecessors. While I've replayed every numbered entry before 5 more times than I can count each, RF5 has yet to pull me back to it for a second playthrough - because it wasn't as fun, and quite frankly, was a chore to play at times.

Anyways, we have a release date, y'all.

https://www.gematsu.com/2025/01/rune-fa ... hes-may-30
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Bluie wrote: Jan 15, 2025 1:12 am Anyways, we have a release date, y'all.

https://www.gematsu.com/2025/01/rune-fa ... hes-may-30
Neat! This is cliche, but...that's my birthday. NOTHING releases on my bday, and no interesting celebrities are born on my bday and no interesting historical things ever happen on it, either.

The ONE thing I've got is Hamlet. It's why Hamlet is my all-time favourite AC villager. He's born on May 30.

So...I guess I am obliged to like Guardians of Azuma, now. I hope it's good, lol.
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The new information has made me more weary about this game than before, so I think I'll wait until after it is out before I consider buying it.

I was worried that the next (spinoff or otherwise) Rune Factory game would stray further away from the farming aspects of the series and, with Director Maekawa wanting to return the series to role-playing over farming, it appears my concerns are verified. On top of that, the new information is reminding me of Marvelous' recent not-successful attempts at merging farming with non-farming genres. We got town-raising, we got townspeople management, we got farming, we got combat, we got team-building (now with bigger teams), we got crafting, we got shooting, we got melee, we got spell-casting magic dancing, and probably a ton of other things. It's reminding me of Deadcraft and its myriad systems, and I'm worried that Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will run into the same issue of none (or hardly any) of those systems being particularly fleshed out and engaging.

I'm also finding it strange that the bonus outfits are only for Rune Factory 4, the most well-received Rune Factory game (I think), instead of the less-adored but more recent Rune Factory 5 or even Rune Factory 3. The director mentioning that the setting was partially chosen because other Eastern-set games were well-received adds to my feeling that this game is really trying to win back the crowd via pandering to players. Some pandering is fine, but I'm worried it's happening at the expense of something else in development. (I also don't think that the series needed an animal/monster sidekick/mascot, but I may just be tired of seeing them in films more than anything.) I am hoping that the new systems in particular are not just in the game to pad out the game and make it look more expansive in a sense than it actually is.
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May 30th, huh? That is much later than I expected. Excited that it will be released simultaneously worldwide though. I'm a bit tempted to wait a few months longer before purchasing this. I want to hold a bit more and see if they'll release a Switch 2 version with much nicer performance and visuals.

I'm actually liking what I see but I also want to see if they're actually going to implement these features well. My only complaint right now would be how overwhelmingly eccentric the designs are. It's nice when it's some of the cast looking like that but the entire cast having crazy designs seems like an overkill to me. It's like having back to back special marriage candidates. :lol:
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Yeah, I think this is going to be one I wait to buy. I think it looks more polished than it did the last time it was shown but none of the new info is really enticing me, especially after how mediocre RF5 was.

I don't usually care about graphics much but I really don't like the recent art direction, it all seems so bright and generic. If you showed me a screenshot and asked me what it was I'd probably guess a Pokemon or Genshin ripoff - I really miss the more muted vibes from the earlier RF games.
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I've noticed that people the whole internet over (including in lots of YouTube videos I've seen) seem to be about half forgetting that this is NOT the next Rune Factory game. It's a spin-off. Rune Factory 6 is still on the way, and as yet, largely unrevealed.

There's no reason to worry if Azuma doesn't look like good Rune Factory, because it's supposed to be more of its own thing. Different from classic RF.

I was VERY on-the-fence before. Honestly, I figured I wouldn't get Azuma at all. But the new info has me really interested. Day one is now a possibility...though I think I want to wait at least a bit to see how others receive it.
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I don’t know how to feel about being able to marry Hina 🤣 I know she’s of a marriage age now, but I still see her as an adorable little child.

Also, isn’t Mauro the son of the RF5 protagonist (I’m either going to marry him or the fox bro with anxiety xD)? Iirc, it was confirmed a while ago that a child of the RF5 protagonist would be making an appearance in this spin-off.

Edit: Just kiddinggg, it wasn’t confirmed. I had speculated that the dude looked like the RF5 protagonist,and Cher had also speculated that he looked like a son of the protagonist.
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I'll be honest, I don't want to play this on Switch. All this footage is WAY too crisp to be original Switch footage. Whatever they've been showing is either the PC build or the Switch 2 enhanced footage (or version). I am way, waaaay too spoiled by how games run on the PS5 to suffer through another jank/lag mess. I'll be waiting for a PS5 version or I'll make it my first Switch 2 game.
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Quite of few redditors are also worried about how the game performs on the original Switch, since RF5 had performance issues on the Switch and RF:GoA at least seems to have more going on than RF5 does. Some are speculating that this game will have at least 2 versions, one for the Switch 1 and Switch 2. Others believe that the Switch 2 will run the game better regardless, so waiting until after the Switch's 2 release is for the best.
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I'm not worried about waiting for Switch 2, personally. I don't think they're going to have different versions, just updates on S2, to let the game run at higher performance. Or perhaps the game will just have settings, and the higher ones will be unavailable on original Switch but become available if you're playing on 2. We already know that most games that run on Switch will also run on 2...you don't have to re-purchase anything...so if I get it and it doesn't run that well on the OG Switch, all I'll have to do is wait until I can get the new console. No big deal, for me.

I'm not one who cares about high definition or frame rate or stuff like that. I wouldn't like crashes, or if the game was downright blurry, but that's about the limit of my possible complaints.

I think it'll probably run fine on the original switch, though. If I wait, it'll be more about time and money constraints than anything else. Plus my desire to have games fluctuates continually. Maybe I won't want it that much when the day comes around and I'll end up waiting.

But I'm not worried, anyway. Marv has never left games in an unplayable state, so even if it ends up being messy at first, they'll fix it.

Be easier for most people to decide when they know how much S2 will cost and when it'll be released, too, I bet. But I know I'm getting the console as soon as I can afford it (as long as it's available, that is.)

Those who are nervous might as well wait, though. Why not? The game's not going to evaporate if you do, especially if you plan to buy digital.
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I'm not sure how I managed to miss this trailer until last night. At first glance, I'm still very excited for this game. Plus, the extra info on Cher's website post helped confirming things that I wasn't sure I understood correctly in the trailer. I do like that since this is a non-numbered spinoff, it is allowing itself to experiment a bit and see what sticks. The farming is around and initially I thought a lot of it would be there but reskinned with magic dances but it turns out those are just perks you unlock later for better results. There does seem to be some possibility for automation (aka let the game do it for you) which isn't really new to the series or Story of Seasons in general though I guess it's the first time done by actually hiring villagers to do it. Also I do prefer having multiple farmlands which is permanently set on a specific season so I do like that this is taking a bigger emphasis again. My concern is the fact that you have multiple villages so it will be "padded" by generic NPCs. This has been a thing since RF4 (RF3 might have too but I forgot) but there was always a weird vibe when you have the villagers who are actual characters and then random people with no portrait passing by. However, it looks like this time those non-character villagers will have a purpose to serve so this might be the solution. We'll see.

The village reconstruction feature is likely going to fulfill the need some people had when building up their island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Though I'm guessing some of those structures have to be earned before you can set them up like the shrine that gives lots of STR otherwise it might make you overpowered too quick. I might have also missed that detail but does those stat boosts stay in effect everywhere you are or you must be in the same region as the village to benefit from them?

I'm not too worried about the RPG side of things here. The interview made it clear that they wanted to focus on it this time so it will be odd if it was that aspect that would feel off.

With all said and done, this looks like a follow up to Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny in spirit though I am let to believe that farming will not take as much of a backseat as it did back then. I was all in before and I'm still all in now. Speaking of birthdays, the game might not come out on mine, but their scheduled live stream sure is so looking forward to hear more then.
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Hello, can I ask something without spoilers? I usually avoid new info about these games to be surprised, but I read some posts here, and apparently they hinted at us meeting characters from previous games, like Hina? Is that true? Or maybe people were just joking :P
Guest wrote: Dec 30, 2024 3:49 pm What’s with all the RF5 hate here? Seems pretty ignorant, some of you even calling it straight up bad. I’m thinking you just have nostalgia for the past games, because 5 is just more Rune Factory, but a 3D mainline one. As opposed to the two other 3D ones that did things a bit differently from the numbered games.
I liked it, too, you're not alone. My only gripe was how ridiculously easy the combat was. I really wanted to take companions with me, because it was so fun to hear them talk and react, but having them for combat just trivialized the whole game. Oh and that horny girl with heart-eyes was obnoxious, I don't know who came up with her but they sure made it their life mission to annoy the players :shock:

I didn't wait for that game for 10 years, though, maybe I'd be more jaded if I did. I played RF4 and RF5 with just a little bit of time in between. Fair enough, though, I've always suggested people at reddit to go for RF4 rather than RF5 if it was their very first RF game. I don't even know what made me think so, but there's something about RF4 that felt like a definitive classic. I still love RF5 anyway :heart:
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Velvet wrote: Jan 20, 2025 11:27 am Hello, can I ask something without spoilers? I usually avoid new info about these games to be surprised, but I read some posts here, and apparently they hinted at us meeting characters from previous games, like Hina? Is that true? Or maybe people were just joking :P
Hina from RF5 is definitely in RF:GoA. She's grown up now (so she looks different), but she's present.
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PaleSunflower wrote: Jan 20, 2025 12:50 pm Hina from RF5 is definitely in RF:GoA. She's grown up now (so she looks different), but she's present.
Thanks! Does that mean that the game is situated in the same location or close by?