Rune Factory 3 Special

While perhaps the depth of each of those systems is diminished by focusing on all three, RF3 is definitely a "more than the sum of its parts" situation, with each of the three gameplay loops flowing into each other seamlessly and allowing you to drastically switch up the gameplay so you don't get bored.

The characters are very unique and fun, the writing is, in my opinion, the funniest out of all entries, which makes this game stand out.

There's a whole host of weapons to choose from, plus a hand to hand combat style that's available to you at all times, as well as elemental weaknesses, enchantments, etc. to mess with.

It’s accessible, has some new content, great new visuals and a few improvements, but I can’t help but feel disappointed by the missed opportunities for even more improvement, I think it could've been better, as it is, it's faithful to a fault.

i think this entry probably has the strongest characters of the series. all of the characters are interesting in their own way and the friendship events were all fun to look forward to. in a genre where character interaction matters so much, I believe the roster for this game to be simply incredible.

It's very painfully obvious that they simply took the original art and used an AI upscaling tool to blow it up, and when you look at it super close it doesn't look that great... however if you play the game in windowed mode or on a smaller screen (such as the Steam Deck, which this game is a great fit for), it's honestly not nearly as noticeable.