Worth it for those who played the 3DS version?

[Mallomar]

I played RF4 on 3DS and enjoyed it quite a bit. I never bit on RF4 Special for the Switch. Are the extra features worth the double dip?

[Astrobia]

I mean it's been 8 years. I'm amazed at just how much of the game I'd completely forgotten about on my replay. Unless you've been new game plusing it on 3DS this entire time... And if you have you are probably a completionist... So the new story content...

But it's really not a lot. You could call it the definitive versions but it's just some bells and whistles and QOL stuff. There's more but it's microtransaction level content additions. Not like, "expansion pack" level additions.

If you are going to replay, this is how I'd do it. Like if I could be bothered I'd sell my 3DS version (it's probably held it's value), I'm not going to load it again now. This version also brings the potential of modding down the line.

But other than that, if you need like, a whole new map with a second campaign for it to be worth it picking it up again, you wont find that.

[A birbday Aya]

If i'm perfectly honest, the main reason to even buy this game on Steam is just to ask for a PC version of Rune Factory 5. If you already have the 3DS version, you'll probably be content with just playing that if all you care about is the enjoyment of RF4.

[ElZavier]

well not really, there are QoL improvement such as better RNG for event, events will happen if the requirement is meet, this is great for some event such as the event to unlock the final arc, other than that there are some new feature such as newlywed mode and another episode which is extra cutscene, and also new difficulty called Hell mode and now makes the game actually fun for me, hard mode is still really easy.

well ultimately you buy the steam special edition if you want to play the game on PC or steamdeck when it's released, also to be able to mod the game, there are already some mod on nexusmod which add new crafting recipe and some changes, also if you want to support the dev so they will release RF 5 on PC, which is my main reason to buy this game.

[xAlphaStarOmegax]

I think it's worth it just to play on the PC alone, but it's a plus to know that they fixed the RNG for events with the special edition.

[Metric Guard]

Rune Factory 4 Special is more or less the same game, only with additions and enhancements that make it truly worthy of the "Special" moniker.

• "Newlywed Mode" is the biggest addition. It's basically new town events for the marriage candidates, with some new voiced dialogue and experimental animated character portraits. The mode is entirely separate from the main game, and the 12 events—one for each bachelor/bachelorette—can be unlocked via marriage in the main game.
  
• "Another Episode" is a collection of ultra-cute short stories that, while non-playable, are fully narrated by the VAs. This was DLC for the Switch version, but it's included in the PC version.
  
• A new difficulty level, "Hell". You are become death, the destroyer of monsters.
  
• While the graphics certainly aren't advanced, the art assets and models look a lot nicer due to not being compressed and limited to a low-resolution 3DS screen. I'd say the visuals are quite pleasant without the hyper-aliased pixel creatures.
  
• The animation and music of the opening has been updated. I personally prefer the old opening, but the new one is pretty rad.
  
• Due to the lack of a second screen, the map appears in the bottom left corner. It can be enlarged or disabled with a single button.
  
• 20 save slots instead of 3.
  
• You can swap between English and Japanese voices.
  
• New French and German translations.
  
• Many bug fixes. For instance, a nasty crash during the final fight no longer occurs, Margaret's harp doesn't malfunction anymore, and the Search skill now functions properly (in the 3DS version, it lowered the probability of finding items). The English translation has also been polished a bit and reformatted to utilize the larger text boxes, though I did notice a script goof where Kiel erroneously referred to the protagonist by a pet name.
  
• "Memories" is no longer random. Once you meet the requirements, the event will occur as soon as it can. Same is true for marriage events, though the town events required to trigger marriage events are still random.

For me, the sharper visuals, bug fixes, and Arc 3 being much easier to access make it an especially worthwhile upgrade, and I'm still working on completing it 100% on my Switch. However, this PC port apparently isn't flawless for some people, but thankfully, the dev team seems to be interested in fixing issues that are reported to them.