Finished Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma's main story. The ending starts to drag a bit when you're stuck bouncing between islands that all feel pretty similar, fighting the same bosses again. It gets repetitive, but thankfully that part doesn't last too long. The story mostly recovers by the end, though the final boss is a bit of a letdown and the soundtrack doesn't do those last few scenes any favors.

Story-wise, I won’t say too much since plot has never been Rune Factory’s strong suit. While I did care about a few characters, the story itself is pretty predictable and feels shallow in some spots. It’s really the characters that carry it. The combat is fun enough to keep things moving, but I didn’t find much depth in it, and I’m not sure there is any. The main plot issue also gets solved way too quickly, and the villain is forgiven in just a few lines, which felt weird and kind of rushed.

Even with those flaws, this is easily my favorite Rune Factory game so far. It has the best overall soundtrack (even if the ending tracks are forgettable), the strongest cast of characters and romance options, and the best gameplay the series has had to date. I used to give that title to RF: Oceans, with RF5 coming close, but this one takes the lead. I'm still a bit on the fence about the farming changes, but I think it was time for the series to evolve, and I welcome the new direction. That said, some quality-of-life tweaks are needed, like being able to micromanage your workers more easily.

Also, shoutout to the protagonists, who are hands down the best in the series. I played as Kaguya and Yui Ishikawa’s voice work was an absolute joy to listen to. I’ll definitely do another run as Subaru just to romance her.

Still need to dive into the post-game, but overall this one's a solid 7/10. Good, fun, and something I’ll likely return to. Definitely worth grabbing on Steam, especially if it gets a good discount.

#gaming #gamestr #runefactory