My thoughts.
How I came to love this game is a funny story actually. I've played Rune Factory games in the past––Rune Factory 1 and 2 specifically––but none of them held my attention for very long and I quickly grew bored of them. I'm pretty sure I never made it past summer, although it is possible I did. It has been way too long so I don't remember. When I saw my sister buy Rune Factory 4 I had zero interest in buying it at all. Why am I all crazy for this game now?
Well, one day, out of the blue my sister asked me if I wanted to try out Rune Factory 4. I said "sure" just for the heck of it and what came next I was not expecting at all. Right from the very moment I fell on Venti's head I was in love. Everything about the game was awesome; the characters, the music, the story, all of it. I didn't want to give it back to my sister. Because she had been wanting to play it too, and sharing it was a bit of a pain, I knew I had to buy myself my own copy of the game, so as soon as I had the money I did. I think Rune Factory 4 is easily one of my favorite video games ever. It is absolutely incredible.
When it comes to Rune Factory 4 I have found it difficult not to have favorite things, whether it be a specific monster I like to take with me when venturing into dungeons or who I would like to spend the rest of my (in-game) life with. As such I decided to talk about some of my favorite things in this game here which I have not already talked about elsewhere on this site.
Weapons and abilities.
When it comes to using weapons I am torn between Short Swords and Dual Blades. I love weapons that attack fast so it's difficult to choose between these two. I like short swords because they look nostalgic with a shield and I like dual blades because the fighting style looks cool. I like fist weapons too, but I find them to be a bit hard to control and often find myself running into things I shouldn't be (some of which end up putting me in the clinic). Spears are my least favorite weapon because I find it hard to hit things with it. I can't even seem to break crates right in front of my face with them; it's ridiculous. I don't use staffs at all.
Rune abilities I haven't played around with too much (mostly because they seem to be an RP hog), but with spells I often find myself relying on Cure All and Delta Laser a good deal of the time. While Delta Laser is mostly for show (but has proven super useful on more than once occasion), Cure All has been an absolute lifesaver in many a boss fight when I find myself unable to get close enough to attack without getting my face wrecked by an unexpected powerful attack. Instead I'll let whoever is with me fight the boss and then spam heal them until the boss is dead. While this strategy is often slow going (especially if those in my party are prone to dying a lot) and requires a lot of food to restore my RP it generally works.
Befriending monsters.
I have a lot of monsters I like for one reason or another so trying to narrow this list down is super crazy difficult. When I want to do dungeons I'll normally take a monster with me. Those monsters are commonly boss monsters such as Ambrosia, Thunderbolt, or Siren. Ambrosia and Thunderbolt are easy to get early on and they're both super great. Siren is obtained much later, and a is lot harder to get, mostly because she likes to dive underwater and summon monsters. Despite that though she is an amazing monster to have so the extra effort is worth the frustration. She was the only one who could take the massive hits from the final boss (whereas my Crystal Mammoth I was CONSTANTLY reviving and throwing Magical Potions at only to have it die again in the next two seconds) thanks to her naturally high magic defense.
Other monsters I like include Woolies, Buffamoos, and Cluckadoodles. Mostly just because they are reminiscent of the Harvest Moon games and produce wool, milk, and eggs respectively, which can sell for a lot in the higher levels. I also have a thing for the Palm Cats for no particular reason other than I think they're cute. Green, Red, Yellow, and Blue are also monsters I like to befriend because I like the look of them. I also like trying to befriend boss monsters for the challenge, but only if I actually like them enough to want to take the time to try.
Bachelors & bachelorettes.
When it comes to eligible bachelors I have a hard time choosing between Dylas and Arthur. I love them both so much for reasons I can't really explain. In my first playthrough I had plans to marry Dylas, but after a year of dating there was no proposal in sight and I was POSITIVE I had done all the requirements. I'm not sure if I maybe forgot something or if RNG was just against me (which is highly possible). Either way I decided to date Arthur as well. Oddly enough, less than a season later I was married. I have no regrets though. In marrying Arthur I learned a lot about him which made me break for him (I suppose I have a thing for conflicted characters?), and I think it may have put him slightly ahead of Dylas.
As for bachelorettes I was really into Forte when I first started playing the game. She struck me as someone I would like, which I very much do, and I love her reactions to anything about love, probably just because I'm as clueless about the whole thing as she is. However since doing an event involving Dolce and Margaret at the Obsidian Mansion where she had to play a song for a couple Margaret became my favorite bachelorette. I love her bossy, but kind personality and she is all around adorable. While not a high priority I have started a male character save file where I plan to court her so I may have more to add in the future.
Forging and crafting gear.
While this isn't necessarily talking about what kind of gear I like to make this is more of what kind of upgrades I like doing to my weapons and armor when making them more powerful. Because, honestly, when it comes to gear you want what's gonna protect you the best or deals the most damage, right? When it comes to upgrades I like focusing a lot on defenses with the armor and attack power with the weapons, while also giving magic attack some love. I also like to throw some points into strength, intellect and vitality as those boost a few stats too. I also like to carry a few different kinds of weapons with different elemental types just in case I run into a monster that is resistant to the type of weapon I am using. When upgrading I like to try using items with more than one stat on them so I can get more stats from my upgrades as you are limited in how many times you can upgrade an item.