im in the middle of my first playthrough of this game and i think that's a testament to how 'meh' it is considering i've owned it for over a year and i typically plow through the main story of rune factory titles quickly and obsessively.

it's not a bad game, don't get me wrong, but unquestionably could have been SO much better. rune factory 5 feels outright lacking in many spots and unpolished in others- i stand with others saying that locations and buildings feel empty in a way previous titles haven't, combat is overwhelmingly mediocre, and a lot feels pieced together rather than a cohesive whole. overall i just find myself mourning what this game could have been if executed better. my interest is kept afloat solely by charm and love for the series a lot of times while playing. what shines the most to me though is the characters, i like them, i like interacting with them, but again they feel flatter than, say, rf4 (ESPECIALLY daily dialogue), and it's not enough to balance out the flaws.

(that wouldn't have been true if they'd just had terry as a marriage candidate . this review would've gone up by a whole point at least)

6/10.

Mehhhhhhhhhhh, é bacana.
Esperava mais vindo de RF 4.

A performance da versão de switch é uma bem ruim, incomodou algumas vezes.
Tirando isso é um rune factory bem fraco em quesito fazenda, medíocre em parte rpg e esforçodamamente fraco no slice of life.

I don't know if I would give this game a try again. It's a very unpolished game and coming out as a sequel to Rune Factory 4 AND as a 2023 game I would say it just doesn't hold up.

I'm aware of the conditions this game was made in and its success is the only hope of seeing the series strive, so I'm glad ultimately it sold well enough but for me this was a very uninteresting game. I think the upgrade to 3D was an overly ambitious idea and they were not able to properly handle it: the performances are terrible and so are many other things such as the environments being flat and boring, how it makes the gameplay much slower (such as moving from one part of the town to another) and how clunky things can be (such as the farming, compared to RF4). RF4 feels like the peak of a genre and is extremely optimized in many aspects, every single action is incredibly satisfying so playing a game that feels extremely average as its sequel feels very disappointing.

I think RF5 doesn't really understand how much effort it takes to make 3D into something good. For example, it has much wider environments than RF4 and they both probably took about the same effort to make. But RF4 has overall tight and small areas, what's more separated by a grid system, compared to an open field type of design this is obviously easier to fill, the movement is snappier, etc. It's very difficult to have a 3D game with large spaces feel alive instead of empty, hence why it's mostly the focus of very big studios. RF5 really feels like a generic modern JRPG which aims too much at being modern and following the trends of third person view, open areas, etc. when it can't do it that well. Ultimately I wouldn't say the game is bad but it's so average that there's really nothing special about it. RF4 wasn't a perfect game but it had so many things that made it unique and were so well crafted that I will never forget the game. RF5 is just like a lot of the indie farming sims which don't really offer anything and are painfully average, only existing for hardcore fans of the genre who are already bored of the better games.

I only hope RF6 will bring back some of the things I loved about RF4 as it's one of my favourite games, but this one is not for me. One thing that I really liked however is the great art style, this was a big upgrade and feels much more mature than RF4 (the chara design not so much) but the in-game portraits fall pretty flat in comparison. The opening animation is a banger though, I really have to praise whoever directed it.

I've beaten it on both computer and switch. It's super jank regardless of platform, but it doesn't stutter on PC at least.

It's even easier than 4, and you can blast through the entire story within a month. The character designs all feel kind of unappealing and off to me. All the music is forgettable, and the town is a bit on the ugly side.

For the event system, while it's great that you can see where to go, it's also super overwhelming to look at the map and see like ten events, some of which are where you want to go.

It's flawed, but it's still fun.

I would like to start off by saying that I am so glad that Rune Factory is back. I found Rune Factory 4 back in 2014 and I was somewhat upset at the time as it seemed like there would never be any new Rune Factory games again.

When Rune Factory 5 was official announced in February 2019, I was so excited to see my favorite series comeback. Lots of people, including myself, was hoping that this game would be bigger and better than Rune Factory 4. But… it wasn’t.

The main things that hinders this game is the performance issues. When I first load up my save file, many things take at least 5 seconds to load in properly. The games frames can drop when there’s lots of characters and enemies on screen.

I think the 3D models for the characters and monsters look rather nice, but the environments can look amateurish. Characters have a lot less dialogue than RF4 as well, so the dialogue can get repetitive.

This game also introduces farm dragons, but also take away the seasonal farms. This was confusing to me at first because I had assumed dragons like the fire dragon for example would be for summer crops, but nope, it’s just like your main farm. I feel that the voices are not the same volume resulting in some voices sounding louder or quieter than others despite changing the character volume.

This game did continue to do something that every RF game does. Make QOL changes. You can now automatically pick up most items besides grass, flowers, rocks, and branches. You can put all your lumber and material stone in the box with a click of a button. You can do the same with the fertilizer bin, except only with weeds. You can look through your storage box and then just press L or R to cycle to another storage unit (like a refrigerator for example) without actually having to walk over to the object. You can also teleport practically anywhere on the spot. You can even customize your little quick menu (L Pocket) by adding and removing categories that you’d like to see.

In short this game shines in it’s QOL updates. The game falls because of it’s performance. Even if performance wasn’t an issue, the dialogue is such a downgrade from RF4. The amount of dialogue in RF4 was crazy and you could probably go an in-game year before dialogue starts repeating. RF5’s dialogue can repeat probably within an in-game week of playing.

Goodness do people dislike this game. In the whole genre of Story of Seasons, and Harvest Moon, this iteration fits very well right above RF:F, and under RF4 for me. The fact that this game went through severe difficulties during development really shows in its graphics. While the main city avenue is beautiful, it all falls flat the moment you venture further. The frame rate is all over the place, the mechanics as breakable as ever. Yet I absolutely adore it.

The story, while not as impactful as RF4, kept me on my toes. It was nothing spectacular, but I appreciate how goofy the implementation of fields in this game has become. We went from a cosy cottage to a water giant to a noble courtyard to fucking dragons. The progression was a little to easy for my taste, and some more juice in the post-game would have been greatly appreciated. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the themes surrounding the Sechs aftermath, a flawed police institution, and how it ties into the established dragon lore. What I was missing was more information on the environment we were in. As much as I liked the setting, I barely got to understand what the history of Rigbarth is.

I loved the characters, and hope they will go even further with more mature characters to date, such as my beloved Lucas. Young characters like in past iterations have always been a major problem for me, and I hope that with the next two games coming up, the cast will become rich and mature. I did enjoy the character concepts, and the traditional gift loop that all the games have remains fun. I hope they improve on the gift-back mechanic, and make you genuinely think about what characters love. Gifting a smith ore is not getting more fun when it's in every game. The slow development of every character is intriguing, and the events are cool, but limited by the visual dissonance.

I think the mechanics are pure fun, and where the game shines the most. As ever, I feel like the game should tone it down with the many systems it tries to tie together.I enjoyed just choosing how I want to spend my time with the game. It's neat, and I never got a moment where I didn't know what to do. It felt way slower compared to RF4 where I got through my day pretty much until 8pm max. This may be a bad thing for some, but a good thing for me. I still believe that the soil mechanics are by far the strongest in the whole farming sim genre, which is why I wish it to be way more transparent and accessible. What I throughly disliked was the furniture system which is just such a shame because of how clunky and unappealing everything is. Where my home looked like an empty mess, I couldn't leave my eyes off of the monster and character models. Genuinely fun to look at, and exploring the drops of every boss and critter was very engaging to me. I went in very deep into the grind, and taming those bosses is a peak Rune Factory experience to me now. I do miss all of my monster living on an island like in ToD, though. There is so much to explore.

Genuinely fun game if you can brush over the terrible frame rate when you leave your house or when 10 mages cast a spell at the same time. The music is nice, the characters are delightful, the mechanics as rich as you want them to be. I hope that the studio can find footing with their two new releases, and really tune the experience they want to create.

oh, man. it's a miracle this even came out at all, but this isn't a fate i'd wish on a series i liked even half as much. the basic formula is there under all the muck, but there is SO much muck: the game runs like shit despite its low frame rate, low-res textures, and wooden models; the character writing has regressed back to the beginning of the series, and nearly all the female bachelors come off as children; the combat is much slower, marred by the lock-on system, and has poorly-tuned damage formula behind it that leads to odd breakpoints; going anywhere takes forever between how big and empty the game world is and the loading screens that pop up everywhere, making the fast travel a misnomer. such a letdown

A total failure.
Take everything's good in RF, and make it mediocre.
3D graphism are hideous. Combat are meh. Dialogues are generic, like the npc are all the same. The vast, empty, green plains of void are empty. You walk a lot for nothing, and that's boring. The controls don't make sense.
etc.

It's the worst of all RF. I don't think it was made by professionals but by the interns.

Hoooo boy. This game is going to be impossible to review.

Never before have I seen a sequel so simultaneously better and worse than its precursors. In every single aspect, RF5 changed from previous entries in bizarre ways.

RF5 introduced many new quality-of-life features like picking up items automatically. But only some of them? And other quality-of-life features were removed. In fact, RF5 is one of the clunkiest in the series, especially since you are juggling so many more different things.

A lot more effort was put into the dating mechanics and the unique dialogue with each marriageable candidate. Also, there are no restrictions on gender (hooray)! However, this additional effort only goes to reveal how generic most of the characters are. The most interesting characters are locked behind other story content. Dating is incredibly slow, tedious, and sometimes obtuse.

The jump to 3D graphics was a complete failure. The game looks utterly bland. There is barely even foliage to break up long stretches of ground. The town is weirdly huge and undetailed. For some reason, the later game areas look much better. Similarly, the main story is extremely confusing and poorly written at the beginning, but it picks up later. The ending villains are genuinely awesome. I would love to know what production shenanigans happened to cause the early game to be so shoddy.

Meanwhile, the combat and crafting are the best in the series! More mechanics, crafting ingredients, and enemies. There are obscure ways to make overpowered gear and post-game that requires it. NPCs are also genuinely useful in battle and you can take multiple with you at a time. Dungeons are mazelike, but there are plenty of them. The open-world segments are good. There's a lot to explore!

I stuck through RF5 all the way to the end, but I'm not totally sure if I'm glad for it. This entry has the most to offer, but it's marred by clunky controls, bad writing, and a pivot to 3D that was entirely unnecessary.

This was my first Rune Factory game and while it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it was still fun. I actually enjoyed the combat way more than I thought I would and I also loved the monsters. The farming was lackluster and I wanted to blow through it as quickly as I could every day to get to doing the story, going through dungeons, and wooing my precious Lewdmila. I played on the Switch so the game didn't run super great, but it was manageable to me. Overall I liked it and am excited to try the other Rune Factory games.

I want to like Rune Factory 5 so much more than I do. I've gone back to it time and time again, after playing and enjoying plenty of other games that run poorly, thinking "if I just give it a little more time, everything will click!". It never did. As much as it hurts for me to say, this game sucks.

I adore the other RF games I've played (1,2, 4, and ToD). I thought there would never be another RF after 4 since Neverland died. I bought the special edition of this game. I listened to all the voice actor interviews and I could feel how excited they were for the project. Then I played the game and was incredibly disappointed. The core of the game is still Rune Factory, so it's not unplayable, but everything is a step back from previous games. The writing was fine I guess and I liked some of the characters, but the story was weirdly paced and Marvelous thought it would be a great idea to take away the game's new gimmick mechanic for a big chunk of the second act. The fully 3D world is nice on paper, but it looks awful, runs terribly on Switch despite the fact that the game was released as an exclusive, and just feels empty. I get that they were going for a more rural feel by spacing everything out so much, but without a quicker way to move around, exploring just feels like a chore. Combat feels sluggish despite the fact that it was actually pretty cool in Tides of Destiny and serviceable in every other game. Magic is still designed like you're playing a top down title (forward beams, short range magic shields, etc.) but the space between you and your enemies makes it nearly unusable, and the abysmally slow cast rate means that even if you find a spell that works, going and hitting the monster with anything else would always be more efficient.

I want to forgive the developers for a lot of these faults. The previous RF game was released over 10 years ago. The studio that made it went under and Marvelous stepped in to put an entirely new team together to revive the franchise, so they were definitely getting back into the swing of things with the series. The thing is there was a little less than a year between the Japanese and Western releases. Now I'm not going to rant about how the localization team forced the developers to spend that time adding in same sex marriage or anything (it's a little odd that everyone overtly flirts with you now even if you're not anywhere close to being in a relationship with them but that's a minor nitpick and there are probably plenty of people who don't mind that), but that shows the development team was still working on the game after its release. Maybe the actual team moved on to the two upcoming RF games after 5's original release, and a skeleton crew of just writers and basic programmers was left to implement the changes for the worldwide release so they couldn't really fix anything, I don't know. I also get that there's a large enough subset of the game's audience that actually cares about things like same sex marriage and appreciates the fact that it's in the game now, so it wasn't like they completely wasted their time by implementing that feature. But they had from May 2021 to March 2022 to improve the game, and the only difference performance wise is that in the version we got, the load times are shorter. Because the game puts you into an area when things are still half loaded and you have to wander around for 10 seconds before the UI even shows up. It's one of the worst games I've ever played on a technical level, and I'm an ardent defender of both modern Falcom and modern Pokemon titles, so I'd say I have a very high tolerance for jank and games that are barely held together. There's just something about how shitty RF5 really is that pushed me over the edge into not being able to enjoy it. I'm aware this is an unhinged rant about a low budget farming game, but there's just so much wasted potential here that it hurts. 3D Rune Factory has worked before, and it could have worked here. The team behind the game, or at least the voice actors, were clearly passionate about the project, and that passion just went to waste. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road for Rune Factory, and 6 and Project Dragon turn out to be much better games than this.

[European Portuguese - Windows PC/STEAM - Dated 04/08/2022]

"Apesar de algo divertido quando não perturbado pelos problemas acima descritos, Rune Factory 5 é o primeiro título completamente 3D da franquia e um passo na direção certa para a saga (se existirem sequelas depois da bancarota dos desenvolvedores). Os sistemas já tradicionais de Rune Factory, como o combate, agricultura e as famosas relações interpessoais encontram-se intactos em certa medida, mas é triste verificar que os visuais chegam a ser demasiado simplistas para uma transição de larga escala como a verificada. Com os controlos a dificultarem a vida aos jogadores, recomendo que primeiro adquiram Rune Factory 4 Special e, caso gostem, prossigam para esta quinta iteração."

See more @ https://squared-potato.pt/rune-factory-5-pc-analise/