#even with my favorite bachelor/ettes it will be hard to find the motivation to continue past marriage so i can have kids

[my-current-obsession]

Taking a break from Rune Factory 4 Special to fantasize about a potential Rune Factory 5 Special. Which probably won’t happen, but I can dream. This is basically just a list of updates/changes/etc. that I would like to see.

- (re)incorporate a lot of the stuff found in datamining, like the ability to run a shop and the DLC love interests - Livia, Radea, & Terry. Whether those three remain DLC or are just added in as new options, I would LOVE to have them. I wouldn’t even care if I have to wait until post-game to properly romance one or both of the girls, since it would be worth it. I’d also like Misasagi to be a love interest but I just don’t think that’s feasible since she has a child already and the writers/developers won’t want to have to deal with you marrying & moving in with someone who already has a kid.

- Speaking of Hina, she and Julien ABSOLUTELY need to grow up some after you’ve had kids. Those two are like... somewhere around 7-11 initially, and there’s at least a three or four year timeskip after having a kid (plus ANOTHER timeskip after the twins). It’s REALLY jarring to see those two looking/acting barely older than your own kids when at minimum they’re seven(ish) years older. Ideally I’d like the “young adult” models/sprites (as in, all the marriage candidates basically) to get a bit older too but that’s less of an issue than the two kids who noticeably Don’t Age.

- Bring back the “reverse” proposals from RF4S. I understand giving the player the agency to choose when to propose, but having an event that ends with their love interest proposing is SO GOOD, and it’s not forcing you to accept, so you can still propose on your own terms later. And several love interests make it clear they WANTED to propose when you do it, so just... let them do it! I think ideally I’d want MOST of the guys (3-4?) and at least one or two girls to do this, while the others still leave the proposing to you. In all cases, they’d need either one more new event or tweaks/add-ons to their final event to flow more naturally into this.

- Make sure the game is actually optimized and performs well on the Switch this time. I’ve heard the PC version is much better, but I got the game when it first came out on Switch, and it’s... not great. Lots of lagging, random crashing and visual glitches... Fix all of that.

- I ASSUME this was an oversight and not intentional, but definitely fix the issue where if you date multiple people in one run and then get married the other love interest(s) still act(s) like you’re together. The pet names are dropped but the romantic dialogue is not. It was SO awkward when I talked to Martin like the day after I married Ryker and he contemplated whether Cecil would approve of “our” relationship. Well, considering I’m married now, and not to you, probably not!

- This is a little less important, but along a similar vein I’d like if the game actually noticed and slightly altered some events depending on who you were dating, or if that’s too difficult make an effort to NOT have “date” events feature multiple potential love interests. Once again, on my first date with Ryker, Martin strolled up and interrupted us which embarrassed Ryker SO MUCH he left. I was pretty embarrassed too, considering Martin then casually said “Sorry I interrupted your date, Love.” Ideally either change date events so other love interests DON’T casually appear, or go immersive and have them react DIFFERENTLY if they also happen to be dating you. There’s also a non-date event where you and a few others play the King’s Game but Ryker is rigging it to help Ludmilla flirt with you. Again, odd to see it when I’m dating him and NOT her.

- It would honestly be nice to set your sexuality/preferred love interest gender at the start of the game simply so you’re not bombarded with EVERYONE’s events and not getting hit on by everyone when you’re talking to them every day. This way you’re only given the events and flirting by the gender you want.

- Bring back dungeon seeds/field dungeons! That’s just a simple and fun way to spend a lot of your time and get random rewards.

- Include more random conversations between townspeople! Literally the only “group” conversations in 5 are between the 6 boys and 6 girls at festivals. Let two or three people meet up during the day and have conversations. I miss that from 4 so much, it really helps flesh out the town and how certain characters interact with each other.

- Newlywed Mode would be nice.

- Murakumo being the only person running the bathhouse often causes problems. Any time he’s NOT there, such as festival days or just when he’s eating lunch/dinner, you can’t take a bath even though the inn is technically open/available. He has an in-universe reason to work alone so you can’t give him a helper, but you COULD do something like leave a note at his desk that we can investigate which says how much to pay. Bado in RF4 had something like that for whenever he was slacking off. Basically, we need some way to access the bath even if Kumo isn’t doing his job.

EDIT - thought of one more! Give us a way to access the flower shop earlier. Having Ludmilla be the sole person running it when she doesn’t even join the town until halfway through the game is... A Choice. It is RIDICULOUS how late in the game this shop becomes available. I think you could have Priscilla run it initially, and just decide where Lucy works between the shop and the bakery. Then when Ludmilla joins and takes over, Priscilla takes the other open job.