Topic: Rune Factory Oceans Announced for Wii and PS3

[Crimm]

The newest "Fantasy Harvest Moon" features a number of firsts for the series.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24269

Marvelous Entertainment announced the next entry into the Rune Factory series, Rune Factory Oceans for Wii and PS3.  This game, the fifth Rune Factory title and the second for Wii, is the first time a Rune Factory title has been released on a non-Nintendo console.

The Rune Factory series, a spin-off of Natsume's Harvest Moon series, builds on the mechanics of its predecessor.  The titles in the Rune Factory series add dungeon crawling RPG elements to the farm management tasks.

"Oceans" takes its name from the fact the game takes place on the back of the giant beast Ymir as he crosses the ocean.  Throughout the game he will come across sunken ships, lost islands, and other seafaring beasts.  Some of these encounters will result in battles between the giant beasts.

In another first for the series, Rune Factory Oceans starts the game with two characters: Azel (male) and Sonia (female).  Near the midpoint of the title's story the player will be forced to pick who they wish to continue to play as.  Yoshifumi Hashimoto, the title's producer, said the game is being designed in a way to encourage players to experience both characters.

The game will be released February 24, 2011 in Japan.  While no details for foreign release have been offered, all of the other Rune Factory titles have seen or will see release in the West.

Natsume will be releasing Rune Factory 3, for Nintendo DS, on November 22 in North America.

[Stratos]

Curious it is coming out on PS3. I know some previous Harvest Moon games had releases on the PS2 but not that often. It would be interesting to know how well it performs.

[Mop it up]

I'm stoked for this game. Rune Factory Frontier has its ups and downs, there were times when I really enjoyed it and times when it was extremely tedious. If they fix the game's pacing issues and horrible Runey system, I'm easily sold. This series still has so much potential, I hope that it is realized.

[Stratos]

I want the game to go online similar to Animal Crossing meets Gauntlet. Farming and crawling dungeons together would be awesome. I still have a lot to do in the first one so I may not pick this one up for a long while. I also want to see how the third DS one turns out as a handheld one may be a better fit for me right now.