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| Bryan Grosnick |
Guest characters, mock-marriages, customization and more!
01.27.11 - 3:31 PM
The release of Rune Factory Oceans is less than a month away now in Japan, and even more details are starting to spill out regarding the latest entry in the Harvest Moon spin-off series.
Fans of the previous console Rune Factory title, Rune Factory Frontier, may be pleased to hear that three guest characters from Frontier will be making their way to Rune Factory Oceans. The three guest characters are Tabatha the maid, Annette the mail girl, and Candy the rune stone maker. Not all of the characters will have prominent roles in the new game, but all three girls will be back in some form.
Rune Factory Oceans is also introducing a type of mock-marriage into the game called a "sea ceremony." The sea ceremonies are used when the player likes a character that they cannot marry in the main game. These pseudo-marriages only last one night, and it is confirmed that Candy is one of the characters that you can share a sea ceremony with.
Another feature, one that carries over from the most recent Rune Factory 3 for Nintendo DS, is that townsfolk are more interactive in Rune Factory Oceans. If you have a good relationship with one of the townsfolk, they will greet the main character as you pass by them. In addition, if you present an NPC with a gift, that gift will be represented in the way they appear to the player.
Equipment-based changes in appearance aren't just limited to townsfolk, however. The main character will be able to equip items onto four areas: head, neck, arms, and body. These items change the way your character looks, and this carries over to conversation scenes as well. But if you feel that your costume is too silly, or ruining the effect of a scene, the simple press of a button will revert you to your default look for the rest of the scene.
Lastly, producer Yoshifuni Hashimoto mentioned that storage space in the game has been expanded. As of yet, there are no specifics as to how storage areas have been increased, but this will surely be a benefit to those players who are racking up tons of items.
Rune Factory Oceans is set for a February 24th, 2011 release in Japan. While there's no word yet on a North American release, keep checking back in with RPGFan for more details as they become available.
