Newbie to the series here. Why is RF4 better?

[Shiny Umbreon]

I have never played a rune factory game before, and this one popped into my feed so I tried it out. In all the reviews and discussion, I constantly see people saying RF4 is better, but I never see why, only people trash talking RF5.

What makes RF4 better than RF5?

[Kratos263]

I'd say the #1 reason is the world. Rune Factory 5 suffers from the 3d shift and you can feel it when playing. By switching to 3d the game lost a lot of the graphical style it had in the previous games. The town is also too big so you interact less with the other villagers, so you feel disconnected. The maps are big but feel empty.

Then there is the fact that even though RF5's gameplay is basically based on RF4, there are many quality of life features that were previously present that are now missing or are now clunky. Can't water while walking, throwing is clunky, hammer and axe needs to register what they are aiming at instead of simply hitting whatever is in range, can't buy flower seed at the start of the game, etc.

Finally the story is shorter than 4. Though it's not necessarily a problem, it is most noticeable to Rune Factory veterans.

[Shiny Umbreon]

Does 5 have any QoL features that 4 didn't? I'm surprised to hear that QoL features got removed, rather than added.

What main features does 5 have that 4 does not?(If any?)

[kittykat0510]

Originally posted by Shiny Umbreon:

Does 5 have any QoL features that 4 didn't? I'm surprised to hear that QoL features got removed, rather than added.

What main features does 5 have that 4 does not?(If any?)

Well the biggest one is same sex marriage was introduced in RF5.

Another thing I think RF5 did better is town events. You might see people complaining that town events are too easy to trigger, but trust me, it's a lot better than in RF4. RF4 had a system where a town event would be randomly chosen out of all the events which was a real pain when you need to see certain events to marry your favorite character. You could possibly be super unlucky and not see the event you want for a couple game years. In RF5, you'll see available events on your map and can go to the location of the event you want. Of course, multiple events can happen in the same location, so you'll need to finish any events blocking the one you want. This might be slightly annoying but I'll take it over RF4's event system any day.

Something else I like in RF5 is the spell seal. If you use this, it gives you two chances to get the drop you want, once with the seal and once when you beat the monster.

Overall, I do think RF4 is better, but I think some of the hype might be due to a nostalgia factor. A lot of players played RF4 when they were younger and then we all thought there would never be a RF5. I think this also put some unfair expectations on RF5, but this is all just my opinion.

[Huillam]

Originally posted by Shiny Umbreon:

What makes RF4 better than RF5?

It's mostly that RF5 lacks any kind of ambition and aside from moving to 3D it's RF4 with less content and some minor improvements on the GUI. That and abominable performances on Switch.

But there's a bit of backstory to that:
Neverland the studio behind the Rune Factory serie went bankrupt during the early development of RF5 and the game was canceled. Most of the team was quickly hired by Marvelous (that published most of the game made by Neverland) but that kind of thing can explain why RF5 looks like a step back from RF4 in many fields.
RF5 isn't a bad game at all and on PC I'd go for RF5 over RF4 due to a better port. On console I'd suggest the opposite.

[Dunkelheim]

My only problem is that the slow animations make the game more clunkier. Granted you can dash cancel out of a lot of animations, but when coming from the buttery smooth responsiveness and speed of RF4, yeah...

Everything else is small beans and the complaints about the open world being too big and empty? I don't know, I mean it's RF4's Forest, into another Forest, into another forest but brown, into another forest but snowy and hey a tower! versus RF5's open grass fields with hills, into wasteland with a ancient tower overlooking it, into a volcanic jungle that transitions into volcanic hellscape, ect, ect. I don't really get what the complaint is other than it's too big (which it is when compared to RF4 but small as hell compared to other games). RF4's world was boring as hell so it's a blessing that game's world was small. Here at the very least, I can run around with a mount and appreciate the variety.

Edit: Also, god bless auto pickup. It's just too bad it's not very functional when harvesting crops.

[GameAW]

The way I see it, RF5 isn't so much a downgrade as it is a sidegrade. It definitely does some things better than 4 but is inferior in other areas and feels different enough to be its own thing. Some recommend using 4 to judge whether to play this one at all but I feel they are best played on their own. Hell I've seen some people who hate 4 and love this one.

I think the best option would be if Marvelous released a playable demo that stopped after the first dungeon but since that isn't happening to my knowledge, you're best off looking at videos and reviews.

[PandoraWolfCrow]

blablabla,
always people complaining ...
so,
don't go there. if theses gameplay and all don't bother you, or if you don't care about peoples pNJ there, and their stories, and do everythings you can here.
people always hate when they can't have fastly what they need.
Hooo poor baby, you can't have your sweet here. oh poor thing.
tsss
There is so much people that have to learn how is the real life, and the earth don't need royal baby

[VinchenzoTheJackal & Shoon]

Originally posted by Shiny Umbreon:

I have never played a rune factory game before, and this one popped into my feed so I tried it out. In all the reviews and discussion, I constantly see people saying RF4 is better, but I never see why, only people trash talking RF5.

What makes RF4 better than RF5?

The biggest complaint people have is Rune Factory 5 has same sex relationships and same sex marriage.
Another big complaint people with Rune Factory 5 is that it has inter-racial relationships and marriage.
Werebeasts and Elves are marriage options, and people hate that, as well as the fact that Fuuka has dark skin and she is a marriage option.
They think Rune Factory 4 is better because of the complete lack of same sex relationships, marriage, and inter-racial options are signficantly less.
To be honest, a lot of the people who played Rune Factory 4 are also people who are westerners who never had access to the Asian versions of Rune Factory 4 which had the option to switch their character's sprite's gender to access same-sex marriage... which was cut from the western versions... so their complaints are founded on the embrace of western ignorance, homophobia, and bigotry, and lack of knowledge of western censorship.

Rune Factory 5 is a huge improvement and WAY BETTER in so many ways that there is no real complaints tied to game mechanics, game story, amount of game content, and more.

I think the only real complaint I've ever seen is that the Asian versions had Radea and Livia as relationship and marriage candidates, which was cut from the western versions of Rune Factory 5.
Because apparently numerous western countries view marriage to dragons to be bestiality and thus incredibly taboo, so they won't touch it with a ten foot pole. That's on top of Livia's elf form she is almost always in having to be a child body... and Radea almost always being in Dragon form and almost never in her humanoid form.

To be honest, the fact people hate the addition of marriage candidate options and the fact that Rune Factory 5 gives more options says that there are a lot of bigots out there.

Rune Factory 5 is 100% better though, no question about it. There isn't a single thing that makes it worse.

[Kratos263]

Originally posted by VinchenzoTheJackal & Shoon:

Originally posted by Shiny Umbreon:

I have never played a rune factory game before, and this one popped into my feed so I tried it out. In all the reviews and discussion, I constantly see people saying RF4 is better, but I never see why, only people trash talking RF5.

What makes RF4 better than RF5?

The biggest complaint people have is Rune Factory 5 has same sex relationships and same sex marriage.
Another big complaint people with Rune Factory 5 is that it has inter-racial relationships and marriage.
Werebeasts and Elves are marriage options, and people hate that, as well as the fact that Fuuka has dark skin and she is a marriage option.
They think Rune Factory 4 is better because of the complete lack of same sex relationships, marriage, and inter-racial options are signficantly less.
To be honest, a lot of the people who played Rune Factory 4 are also people who are westerners who never had access to the Asian versions of Rune Factory 4 which had the option to switch their character's sprite's gender to access same-sex marriage... which was cut from the western versions... so their complaints are founded on the embrace of western ignorance, homophobia, and bigotry, and lack of knowledge of western censorship.

Rune Factory 5 is a huge improvement and WAY BETTER in so many ways that there is no real complaints tied to game mechanics, game story, amount of game content, and more.

I think the only real complaint I've ever seen is that the Asian versions had Radea and Livia as relationship and marriage candidates, which was cut from the western versions of Rune Factory 5.
Because apparently numerous western countries view marriage to dragons to be bestiality and thus incredibly taboo, so they won't touch it with a ten foot pole. That's on top of Livia's elf form she is almost always in having to be a child body... and Radea almost always being in Dragon form and almost never in her humanoid form.

To be honest, the fact people hate the addition of marriage candidate options and the fact that Rune Factory 5 gives more options says that there are a lot of bigots out there.

Rune Factory 5 is 100% better though, no question about it. There isn't a single thing that makes it worse.

I think you're just looking for a reason to virtue signal because I've seen next to no complaint about this

[Endora]

Fact is, if you love a game, you'll allways long for it, so the new one will be labeled as inferior.
I personaly like RF4 more because I love bitmap art, but it doesn't means that I would dismiss RF5, because it have some better mechanics .
There is some flaws and even more great features on both games. As Alone said, it's way better to look for some gameplays to see for yourself what you like.

[Scyris]

Originally posted by Endora:

Fact is, if you love a game, you'll allways long for it, so the new one will be labeled as inferior.
I personaly like RF4 more because I love bitmap art, but it doesn't means that I would dismiss RF5, because it have some better mechanics .
There is some flaws and even more great features on both games. As Alone said, it's way better to look for some gameplays to see for yourself what you like.

They both are good games, Rf4 has way more content even the base game than Rf5 does though. I'd suggest going thru rf5 first then going and playing Rf4, as Rf4 is more like the orignal series, while Rf5 is kinda.. different, still a RF game, but it just doesn't feel the same, its hard to explain it. I'd not say its bad though. Rf4 was pretty much the best RF game in the series overall easly (least I think so). So there was alot to live up to for 5.

I'd reccomend as I said going thru Rf5 first, this way you have a unbiased opinion of it, then play Rf4. Going thru rf4 first and expecting 5 to be as epic, is possibly going to let you down, so better to play them in reverse order I feel. Protip for Rf4: after the first boss, grow a giant toyherb flower (u can buy giantizer from a store pretty early), you can use it to tame the first boss, shes an amazing monster companion to have. Have 4 toyherb plants in a square formation, in the same 4 plot block, and then use giantizer on them once planted, they will grow, and eventually half fuse, then a few days later, totally fuse into 3-4 giant ones, go to 1st boss area, save, go in and toss them at boss and hope it tames it. if not, reload save and try again. In Rf4 you can tame almost all the bosses pretty much, but it requires a specific item, they won't get tamed unless you give them that one specific item.

[d_d_c_95]

my main issue with the game is it feels like theyve taken some stuff out cheaped out on other stuff and didnt rlly put enough "new" stuff into the series to justify the high ass price a quick google shows rf4 for 40 and i think this was 60 sumthin?? imo these prices need be reversed if this game was only 40 id feel teh content amount just fine i also wouldnt hate paying this games price for 4 with how much i enjoyed that one..aside from rage quitting my last play cause i couldnt trigger 1 event to be able to marry xaio pai. as for wat jackle and shoon was talking bout ive read different things and i think i some some people saying the same sex marrage thing was added as a last minute hey do this or no publish thing and ppl were saying it was poorly executed and made teh switch version suffer . in which case if thats true yea i might have gripe inclusivity should be done because its what u believe not because u think itll be good pr like any big company during pride month and def not at expense of gameplay . idk about others but i liek playing games to escape reality and all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ it entails last thing i want is my escape to also be plagued with bs