When I started playing this, I was really surprised that the vibe was closer to RF4 than RFF. I even checked to see if it was a remake thing, but no. I think this is mostly a plus gameplay wise, even if it doesn't have some of the quality of life changes from the later games (I don't mind much except for not being able to take stuff out of the shipping box).

Writing wise, though... it also does the thing where characters have one trait that all of their dialogue revolves around. It's annoying! It's especially bad with Rusk, who literally mentions a vegetable he doesn't like every time I talk to him. Granted, you do get to see actual personality from them when you do their requests, which are pretty nice (and I've felt like it's easier to raise affection without much effort in this game), but still.

The story is almost nonexistent too, but that's not all negative. It's nice to have a shorter farming game for once! And the way they integrated marriage into the main story was nice, even if the pacing was kind of awkward for me specifically because I chose to marry Kuruna. I think it's a very solid game despite all the flaws, and this remake really does it justice.