Rune Factory may not be dead after all:
Yea, figured that would happen. Marvelous said they wanted a RF5, and they were doing fine as the parent company. The next Harvest Moon is in production, and I’m sure we’ll see the new RF5 leaks after they’re done hyping and advertising for it. Both series basically sell to the same customer demographic… so for one to die, the other would die too.
We can finally marry an older woman in Harvest Moon!!! I’ve long believed that the MILF’s and Christmas Cakes were the hottest women in Harvest Moon and Rune Factory… but you were always stuck with the teenage ladies for possibilities (ignoring the 300+ year old immortals with teenage bodies). Not anymore. Feast your eyes on Iris:
Yesh… the cake is not a lie. She will be mine… SHE WILL BE MINE!!! :twisted:
Well… fuck…
Rune Factory 4 European Release Cancelled
Condolences to our European brethren and sistren. 
There’s two more winnable spouses in the upcoming Harvest Moon. Guys can date a DFC in kneesocks… …while the Ladies get dark skinned bishounen.
Holy shit Iris will be mine. And my farmer will bury his face in her titties every single night thereafter.
Rune Factory is dead.
But from it’s glorious ashes arises a new series: Forbidden Magna
Looks like a grimdark version of Rune Factory. All hail the new “darker and edgier” Rune Factory! :twisted:
Long live Forbidden Magna!!! 8)
Harvest Moon is dead.
But from it’s glorious ashes arises a new series: Story of Seasons
It’s kinda complicated… but explained here: http://www.siliconera.com/2014/05/28/pa … rvest-moon
So we’re getting a Harvest Moon… it’s just not called Harvest Moon anymore. 
In other news: Natsume is probably gonna die a slow miserable death now. They’ve lost their two cash cow series in rapid succession.
Also the Forbidden Magna trailer made me jizz in my pants. So much Rune Factor vibes… music… animation sequence… character designs… everything. 8)
That part with the harem joining hands to fight together was a neat touch. Nakama FTW. :o
Official website for the game got a major update at some point…
http://www.maql.co.jp/special/game/3ds/kinki/index.html
I noticed that the highest number spirit girl is 06, yet there’s only been 5 of them revealed so far. We’re missing one (or perhaps even two if there’s a 00 girl). Maybe one of them is actually a twin? Oh that would be so lovely. 8)
Looks like since Natsume owns the Harvest Moon name in North America, they’re going to release a Harvest Moon game in North America.
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/06/03/na … tendo-3ds/
I’ll keep a skeptical eye on it for now.
Edit: Just now looking at the new Marvelous/Xseed game, Forbidden Magna. Should be interesting, and I’m always glad to have another game to play on my 3ds.
I’m very skeptical of the next Harvest Moon from Natsume. Hometown Story was created by Natsume with Yasuhiro Wada… and it sucked hardcore. The gameplay was terrible and the low budget really showed. Now they’re gonna do it again, only this time, with the franchise title on the line.
That being said… I hope I’m wrong and it turns out awesome. Story of Seasons and Forbidden Magna look great, but it wouldn’t hurt to have real competition in this genre. More innovation isn’t a bad thing.
Ya know… with all this trademark ownership stuff… I wonder who owns the Rune Factory franchise. A bit strange that Marvelous Entertainment has the development team for that series, but didn’t bother making another entry in it. They just created a new franchise from scratch. Who’s gonna make the “amnesia warrior farmer, who’s looking for a wife, and slays dragons” game?
EDIT
I hope XSEED and Natsume are still friends despite the Marvelous Entertainment favortism. I don’t wanna see a lawsuit from either company, suing the other for the unavoidable cloning between Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon. 
Yeah, if Hometown Story wasn’t a giant turd I’d have higher expectations. I won’t completely write it off yet.
If they were to enter a lawsuit I can’t see anything good coming out of it. If it were to happen, no matter who wins, we would all lose.
It’s official. That new “Harvest Moon” sucks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7NMd5P-EE
Those character designs are HORRIBLE.
Story of Seasons and Forbidden Magna are the true successors. That Natsume thing is just pure shit being called Harvest Moon.
The full animated OP for Forbidden Magna has been released. Suspicion there was more winnable girls was correct, and a more complete set of numbered girls is now seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksB6hNaFu3s
If anime and manga has taught me anything: there’s nothing more deadly than a combat harem that’s found their true love and willing to share him.
The numbering of magic warrior girls reminds me of Sekirei.
I’m guessing the armored bad guy’s magic girl in black is #8… wondering if their’s gonna be a #9 to just cover all the “single digits” – the inevitable sequel probably expanding to having double digits girls.
Interview with Yoshifumi Hashimoto – the project leader of Story of Seasons (Japanese Harvest Moon), Rune Factory, and Forbidden Magna. He gives his musings about the future of the “original” Harvest Moon series.
Blog of CeeCee – the community director for Natsume. She gives random info about the “new” Harvest Moon series.
On a side note note: it appears the XSEED and Natsume split is a friendly one. Neither side has any current intentions to sue the other for “IP infringement” or anything like that. They both appear to believe there’s more than enough room in this niche market. I’m assuming XSEED thinks their game is superior as the true series sequel, while Natsume thinks having the Harvest Moon name will give them more store leverage. Either way, them not wasting time or money on lawyers and courts is great: friendly competition is a good thing.
So what type of game is this supposed to be? I like Rune Factory, and the Ys games, and stuff like Xenoblade Chronicles, so I hope it’s similar to that system of gameplay. Generally speaking, real time combat.
Story of Season is 90% translated as of today:
http://xseedgames.tumblr.com/post/99008 … -blog-1-go
They’re still trying to get it out before 2014 ends, but I’m thinking it might be early 2015. They still have to do testing of the translation, get that ESRB rating, have Nintendo manufacture the carts, etc. There’s only two months left…
Game is out in Japan. No official word on a US release, but I suppose mid or late 2015.
Description of the battle system:
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/10/01/or … tle-system
Taken from article: