The former is the one that opens up the most for the first half of Rune Factory 2, so it's what you'll devote the most time to initially, though the individual tasks the local residents give you more often than not require a venture into those dungeons. The game strikes an even balance between the two main activities you can do farming, and monster battling/dungeon exploring. Pleasant, ear-pleasing melodies accompany these places, used brilliantly in conjunction with the seasonal aspect. Each and every part of the game is shown in immaculate detail, with striking seasonal weather effects, highly detailed pre-rendered backgrounds, and effective 3D where and when it is used. The game world as a whole doesn't reach Galactus levels of size, but every main area is connected effectively for quick travel and access, with confusion on where to go kept at a bare minimum. The latter is helped along with some striking, if oddly placed, voice-acted segments for certain characters, and what is in general excellent writing for each and every one of them - a very helpful trait for seeking a companion later on. The game starts off fairly light, with a gradual introduction to your living quarters, all the tools at your disposal, the nearby dungeons that you can explore at your behest, and the locals living in the village. Thus your two main tasks begin: turning your new home into a profitable business, and seeking answers to your amnesia. He meets a girl named Mana, who helps him out by letting him take over a derelict farm on the outskirts of the village. Rune Factory 2 begins with the introduction of your first controllable character, Kyle (renameable if you wish), as he wanders into the village of Alvarna with only a talent for monster battling and farming to his name - but no memories to go with them. Fans of the original Rune Factory will be in familiar, but comfortable territory here. Rune Factory 2 builds upon the first game in every sense of the word, with new features, tasks, and a whole new world to maintain and explore, all the while reintroducing a couple of old faces. Gracing the same machine as its predecessor, does Rune Factory 2 on DS blossom in a sea of colour, or wilt in a bed of weeds?
Rune Factory is a more recent spinoff series of Harvest Moon, and it combines more proficient role-playing elements with the agricultural traits that Harvest Moon is known and loved for. Perhaps the most gruelling profession on the planet, the muddy, smelly world of farming, has been well represented in the form of the Harvest Moon franchise since 1996, and new editions have graced consoles and handhelds to this very day. Arguing a case in the courtroom is snoresville in the real world, but the Ace Attorney games are anything but. Maintaining the budgets and spending of a bustling metropolis may sound mundane, yet SimCity delivers in gaming value. One of gaming's most significant draws is the medium’s ability to turn what would be an otherwise mediocre task or real-world job, into something that - with tweaking and alterations here and there - can actually entertain.