History YMMV / RuneFactory

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: ''Rune Factory'' used to be one of the few games, if not the first, that mixed both FarmLifeSim with fantasy elements, item crafting and monster taming/fighting. Nowadays there are plenty of games with about the same things, some done in a much larger scale, albeit usually having their own twists to stand out.

* VanillaProtagonist: Most protagonists tend to be rather easygoing and passive which makes the other villagers stand out a lot more. With that said they all have their OnlySaneMan and DeadpanSnarker moments when dealing with some of the truly silly cast characters they may come across. [[VideoGame/RuneFactory3 Micah]] in particular stands out more than the rest since the entire [[QuirkyTown Sharance]] is full of really weird people.

* VanillaProtagonist: Most protagonists tend to be rather easygoing and passive which makes the other villagers stand out a lot more. With that said they all have their OnlySaneMan and DeadpanSnarker when dealing with some of the truly silly cast characters they may come across.

* HoYay:
** The games are chock full of this.
*** For ''Rune Factory,'' some of the female friendships seem romantic in nature. Also, if you marry Rosetta, [[StalkerWithACrush Lukas]] will be jealous, but the way it's phrased makes it sound like he's jealous of Rosetta rather than the player (this is likely a result of ''Rune Factory 1's'' many, many script errors rather than anything intentional, though)
----> '''Lukas''': [Player]!!! I was so determined not to let Rosetta get ahold of you!
*** In ''Rune Factory 2,'' there is a romantic sounding dialogue Max gives Kyle, comparing their relationship to a fine wine. Those are the most YMMV options.
*** In ''Rune Factory 3,'' if you give Carlos his favorite dish, his dialogue, after a pause, ends with a blush and a "...Can I kiss you, bro?". (Micah responds with "N-No thanks!")
*** If you marry Lara in ''Frontier,'' Selphy says "I know she'll be the best wife because I actually really want to marry her!" Furthermore, if you take the flower bouquet and propose to anyone (including the guys), they all will get a blush and heart effect on them. (Not to mention some of their starting lines sure sound like they might accept.)

** In ''Rune Factory 2,'' you can court and "[[ChildhoodMarriagePromise marry]]" a pair of twins, regardless of your gender. Together. However, in the [[HideYourLesbians English version]], they act oblivious to marriage and talk about toast the whole time. However, it is kind of cute in context.

* HoYay / LesYay:

** LesYay: In ''Rune Factory 2,'' you can court and "[[ChildhoodMarriagePromise marry]]" a pair of twins, regardless of your gender. Together. However, in the [[HideYourLesbians English version]], they act oblivious to marriage and talk about toast the whole time. However, it is kind of cute in context.

** [[TheEmperor Ethelberd]], ruler of [[TheEmpire the Sechs Empire]], is a deranged madman with a knack for treating even the slightest failure extremely poorly. In [[VideoGame/RuneFactory1 the first game]], he wipes out the memories of a young Earthmate named Raguna as part of a complex plan to summon the Divine Earth Dragon Terrable. Foiled in this, Ethelberd returns in ''VideoGame/RuneFactory4'' where, [[DisproportionateRetribution blaming every single Earthmate for his current condition, he elects to annihilate them all]]. Ethelberd wipes out the vast majority of a village of dwarves while pinning the atrocity on the Wind Dragon Ventuswill. He manipulates the one survivor of his massacre, Doug, into serving him, eventually deciding to possess the Wind Dragon and destroy the town of Selphia out of raging spite. Bloodthirsty and power-hungry to the core, Ethelberd is a megalomaniacal dictator who will destroy anything or anyone who gets in his way to accomplish what he wants.

** In an official Rune Factory 2 character popularity poll, Barrett ranked in first place, beating out Kyle (the main protagonist) by about 100 points. He makes a cameo in Rune Factory 4 where he can analyze which materials are used to enhance equipment.
** From Rune Factory 3, Sofia, Pia, and Raven are the top 3 bachelorettes in terms of popularity.

*** Mei from the first game also got the chance to cameo in Rune Factory 3 after being left behind in Rune Factory Frontier.

** Made worse by the de Sainte-Coquille character from [=RF4=] who looks just as swollen as the rest of the adult family, but was apparently a looker in his youth. If you try and imagine him younger and thinner, you get something similar to Max.
*** {{Lampshaded}} by Barrett in [=RF4=], who wonders the same thing during one of his regular dialogues.

*** For [=RF1=], some of the female friendships seem romantic in nature. Also, if you marry Rosetta, [[StalkerWithACrush Lukas]] will be jealous, but the way it's phrased makes it sound like he's jealous of Rosetta rather than the player (this is likely a result of Rune Factory 1's many, many script errors rather than anything intentional, though)

*** In [=RF2=] there is a romantic sounding dialogue Max gives Kyle, comparing their relationship to a fine wine. Those are the most YMMV options.
*** In [=RF3=], if you give Carlos his favorite dish, his dialogue, after a pause, ends with a blush and a "...Can I kiss you, bro?". (Micah responds with "N-No thanks!")
*** If you marry Lara in Frontier, Selphy says "I know she'll be the best wife because I actually really want to marry her!" Furthermore in Frontier, if you take the flower bouquet and propose to anyone (including the guys), they all will get a blush and heart effect on them. (Not to mention some of their starting lines sure sound like they might accept.)
** After completing Rune Factory 4, there is an extra option to change the MC into any other character, including those of the opposite sex.
** LesYay: In Rune Factory 2, you can court and "[[ChildhoodMarriagePromise marry]]" a pair of twins, regardless of your gender. Together. However, in the [[HideYourLesbians English version]], they act oblivious to marriage and talk about toast the whole time. However, it is kind of cute in context.
* LauncherOfAThousandShips: A rare in-game example, in Rune Factory 2, Yue the wandering salesgirl. Most of the marriage candidates, if you don't get married to them, will eventually wind up married to one of the other [=NPCs=]. If you marry one of those girls, Yue winds up married to whoever that girl would have eventually married in the first place; presumably this is to ensure that everyone who is supposed to be married as of the timeskip actually is, since many of the new post-timeskip [=NPCs=] are actually the children of the townsfolk from the start of the game.

** Alternatively, in ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'' [[spoiler:if you marry Raven, it is possible to trigger her birth cutscene when she is in phoenix form. Impossible not to laugh as she groans and Micah rushes her to the clinic.]]

** Jake, who replaced Nicholas from Rune Factory 1 as the love interest of Cecilia. Doesn't help that he's a complete asshole at first, and his FreudianExcuse is barely even alluded to (hell, isn't [[FridgeLogic his mother a human?]]).

** The first three games all have canon love interests for the main characters (Mist in the first game, Mana in the second, and Shara in the third). While Shara is absent in the first opening of VideoGame/RuneFactory3, and her relationship with Micah doesn't steal from the other girls, the second opening of the game is almost entirely dedicated to Micah and her being romantic, with all the other girls DemotedToExtra.
** Actually averted with Mist in the end; [[VideoGame/RuneFactoryTidesOfDestiny Oceans/Tides of Destiny]] makes it pretty clear that the rank 10 event for Iris took place. This is the ONLY confirmed rank 10 event.
** VideoGame/RuneFactory4 defies this, since not only is there no "official" love interest, but it's entirely possible to complete the game's main story without getting married, something not possible in the numbered entries since the first game. In fact, if one wants to, you don't even have to consider getting married (although doing so prevents you from getting HundredPercentCompletion).

* ToyShip: A number, but most notably the above ChildhoodMarriagePromise examples in ''Rune Factory 2''.
** Nicholas and Cecilia in the first Rune Factory, Roy and Cammy in the second, and Marco and Candy in ''Frontier''.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: Frey, the female protagonist of [=RF4=], as part of her standard outfit, wears a cleavage-shaped chestpiece that appears to have tassels over her nipples, with what looks like a ''soda can tab over the left side''. Some fans hate her outfit to the extent that they either never have her wear her standard outfit and/or immediately change Frey's character model to Lest as soon as possible.
** Unfortunately for many fans, the DLC costume heavily based off Frey's outfit in [=RF5=] retains these tassels.

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: In the first two games, if you save deep in a dungeon while both [[StandardStatusEffects poisoned and sealed]], you can find yourself unable to get out before the poison kills you. Later games fix this both by allowing the [[WarpWhistle Escape]] spell to work even while sealed, and by reducing the penalty for fainting in a dungeon from an instant GameOver to a massive hospital bill.

* UnwinnableByInsanity: In the first two games, if you save deep in a dungeon while both [[StandardStatusEffects poisoned and sealed]], you can find yourself unable to get out before the poison kills you. Later games fix this both by allowing the [[WarpWhistle Escape]] spell to work even while sealed, and by reducing the penalty for fainting in a dungeon from an instant GameOver to a massive hospital bill.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Frey, the female protagonist of [=RF4=], as part of her standard outfit, wears a cleavage-shaped chestpiece that appears to have tassels over her nipples, with what looks like a ''soda can tab over the left side''. Some fans hate her outfit to the extent that they either never have her wear her standard outfit or immediately change Frey's character model to Lest as soon as possible.
** Notably, the DLC costume heavily based off Frey's outfit in [=RF5=] lacks these tassels entirely.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Frey, the female protagonist of [=RF4=], has ''a soda can tab over the left side of her chestpiece''.

* {{Narm}}: In Frontier, activate the events involving the BigBad, [[spoiler:Gelwein]], on the Pumpkin Festival. Now try to take the events seriously as he confronts you with a Halloween pumpkin mask on his head.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheEmperor Ethelberd]], ruler of [[TheEmpire the Sechs Empire]], is a deranged madman with a knack for treating even the slightest failure extremely poorly. In [[VideoGame/RuneFactory1 the first game]], he wipes out the memories of a young Earthmate named Raguna as part of a complex plan to summon the Divine Earth Dragon Terrable. Foiled in this, Ethelberd returns in ''VideoGame/RuneFactory4'' where, [[DisproportionateRetribution blaming every single Earthmate for his current condition, he elects to annihilate them all]]. Ethelberd wipes out the vast majority of a village of dwarves while pinning the atrocity on the Wind Dragon Ventuswill. He manipulates the one survivor of his massacre, Doug, into serving him, eventually deciding to possess the Wind Dragon and destroy the town of Selphia out of raging spite. Bloodthirsty and power-hungry to the core, Ethelberd is a megalomaniacal dictator who will destroy anything or anyone who gets in his way to accomplish what he wants.

* FridgeHorror: If Herman is his father... what's Max going to grow up to look like?

** After completing Rune Factory 4 there is an extra option to change the MC into any other character, [[http://www.kano-bi.com/3ds/rf4omake.jpg including opposite sex]].

** LesYay: In Rune Factory 2, you can court and "[[ChildhoodMarriagePromise marry]]" a pair of twins, regardless of your gender. Together. However, in the [[HideYourLesbians English version]], they act oblivious to marriage and talk about toast the whole time.
** However, it is kinda cute in context.

* {{Moe}}: Leann

* ReplacementScrappy: Jake who replaced Nicholas from Rune Factory 1 as the love interest of Cecilia.
** Doesn't help that he's a complete asshole at first and his FreudianExcuse is barely even alluded to (hell, isn't [[FridgeLogic his mother a human?]]).

* StrangledByTheRedString: Mist in the first game and Mana in the second, for they're both the "official" love interests for the respective protagonists in each game.
** Actually Averted in the end, Oceans makes it pretty clear that the rank 10 event for Iris took place. The ONLY confirmed rank 10 event.
** Shara in the third game. While she's absent in the first opening and her relationship with you doesn't steal from the other girls, the second opening of the game is almost entirely dedicated to you and her being romantic, with all the other girls DemotedToExtra.
** ''4'' defies this, since not only is there no "official" love interest, but it's entirely possible to complete the game's main story without getting married. In fact, if one wants to, you don't even have to consider getting married (although doing so prevents you from getting HundredPercentCompletion).
* TearJerker: The second opening of ''Rune Factory 2.''

* WTHCostumingDepartment: Frey, the female protagonist of [=RF4=], has ''a soda can tab over the left side of her chestpiece''. How are we supposed to take her seriously?

* LauncherOfAThousandShips - A rare in-game example, in Rune Factory 2, Yue the wandering salesgirl. Most of the marriage candidates, if you don't get married to them, will eventually wind up married to one of the other [=NPCs=]. If you marry one of those girls, Yue winds up married to whoever that girl would have eventually married in the first place; presumably this is to ensure that everyone who is supposed to be married as of the timeskip actually is, since many of the new post-timeskip [=NPCs=] are actually the children of the townsfolk from the start of the game.

* TearJerker - The second opening of ''Rune Factory 2.''
* ToyShip - A number, but most notably the above ChildhoodMarriagePromise examples in ''Rune Factory 2''.

* GameBreaker: The wireless dungeon under your house in Rune Factory 3. Accessible early in the game, it provides the player with an absurd supply of income, items and equipment (especially on the higher levels), all with no penalty for fainting if you choose the multiplayer option.