I know this must have been asked before, but I've hunted through the topics and can't find something similar, so forgive me if you're all tired of this question!
I've had my eye on the RF series since 1 but never plaed them, then when 4 was announced and everyone was raving about it I thought 'Hey it's on 3DS and seems great, I'll get that one!' Then of course it was cancelled in Europe, and I talked myself down from it. But now it's back! (And I am horribly late with discovering that I realise.)
I know that I would probably miss out on some references by starting with 4 but basically I wondered if you could play it without having played the other Rune Factory games? I figure if I really love it I can hunt out the others (and keep in mind that graphics/gameplay will be older) but I don't really want to start doing that now when 4 is all shiny and sitting on the eshop. So is there a huge story I'd be missing by starting with 4?
Yes it's a great game to start with. There is a few reference to past RF games but not enough that you'll get confused. Each of the RF games are kind of kike there own so you don't need to go in order. If you want you can start with 4 and if you like it you can get 2 without worrys.
If you do buy it I hope you have fun. It really is a good game.
You can definitely start with it. I speak from personal experience since I did. There's a few vague references (parts of the plot, Raven and Barrett) but you can basically understand what's going on. The references aren't huge like LOOK AT ME I'M A HUGE PLOT SPOILER/REFERENCE IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THE OTHER GAMES THEN TOO BAD. It's reasonable and can stand on it's own. But everyone's different so your opinion might vary from mine.
Yes you can definetely begin with RF4.
I played RF1, RF2, RF Oceans and RF 4 xD
And there aren't any similarities.
Raven for example was a bachelorrette in RF 3, Barret was in RF 1 and 2.
So it does have a nice "Hey you're here too!" to it, if you played the previous ones.
The story is it's own, but I think it's awesome that it plays in the same world as the other games, but you're just living in a different town
It sounds like you're going to get it but I want to throw in my two cents anyways.
RF4 is probably the best place to jump into the series. There are references to the other games and they're not giant spoilers to the others stories, like others have said. I say RF4 is the best launching point because it is SO newbie friendly compared to it's older entries. I played RF2 first myself, but they just kind of plop you into the world and away you go. RF4 gives you a better explanation on how to do things, via little tutorials, so you're not lost. Which I think is why it's easily my favorite of the entire series so far, because I didn't get frustrated trying to do a feature I didn't quite grasp.
And if you ever feel like playing the older ones after RF4 you'd have an understanding as to how things work for the most part because of what you learned from RF4. That's my view on this anyways, take from it what you will. (I'm not saying the others are bad, in fact I really like the other handhelds I've played so far! If you enjoy RF4, I definitely recommend playing the other ones as well. )
