Rune Factory as whole is a spin-off series of Bokujō Monogatari (formerly 'harvestmoon', currently 'story of seasons') and the orignal tagline was 'a fantasy harvestmoon'which is a little strange since harvestmoon is already a fantasy game since it has magic and gods but okay. I personally think that Rune Factory is superior to harvestmoon / story of seasons because I'm biased.

Rune Factory 3 is actually the 4th rune factory game, despite what it's name may suggest. I assume this is because it's prediccessor, Frontier, was on the Wii while Rune Factory 3 is on the DS like the rest of the numbered installments. It's also my personal favourite out of them all, which isn't saying much since I've only actually played 3 and 4.

You play as a Micah a half-human, half-sheep-monster boy who one day wakes up in a mountain town called Sharance without any of his memories. The main plot revolves around unifying the people of Sharance and the Univir, who are a monster race that are basically just people with unicorn horns and cool robes, we also never see any other univir in the following games, which is a little sad as I am an absolute sucker for fantasy characters with horns. (they're just so neat!)

Rune Factory 3 has everything you'd expect from a harvest moon game and more!

You are put in charge of a small farm and get to live in a giant tree called the Sharance Tree, here's where you'll do most of the farming and cooking.

The Sharance Tree is located near the town of Sharance, this is where you'll interact with the villagers

There are also 4 explore areas connected to Sharance, each one representing one of the 4 seasons, here you can grow seasonal crops no mater what time of year it is and fight monsters to progress in the story

Rune Factory's leveling system is rather... unique, you have your main character level and your skill levels which are for basically every action in-game, anywhere from battling with claymores to sleeping.

You're able to use any weapon or magic spell you want whenever you want

You're able to bring most of the villagers along with you on your explorations

There are more aspects to the game-play side to RF3 but
1. I'm too lazy to list them all and
2. I think that these should be discovered for yourself.

BTW, you're only able to marry girls in RF3 and I assume it will be the same with the special version

Im the beginning, I was very tied between Pia, a strange mermaid girl, and Daria, a slightly less weird artist. I'm the end, I set my sights on Pia I had gotten stuck on of Daria's 2nd quest, not a clue how since all you have to do is give her some grass. :/ I'm pretty sure I just instantly forgot about Daria's existance after that haha.

Gifting-wise, Pia was really to befriend since she really likes fish and fishing in RF3 is real fun.

I actually ended up marring Kuruna, one of the univir, because she girlbosses, gaslights and gatekeeps, what an icon. She's also incredibly easy to befriend as her most liked item only requires chocolate which can easily be bought at any time in game.

Micah's the player character and he's great. He's definitely the most normal down-to-earth out of the whole cast, probably since he's a stand-in for the player. He's able to transform into a wooly, a sheep-like monster, in this form, his only method of attack is his fists. I think it's real fun to watch a tiny sheep absolutely decimate a massive dragon 200 times bigger then them.

Ondorus is one of the two univir in game. He likes fruit juice and reading and I love him. He's just so quaint and chill, which makes him stand out from the rest of the cast. It's an absolute shame that you cannot marry any of the men because I was absolutly whipped for this man. Woke up at the crack of dawn just to make this man some apple juice. + I really like his voice, idk who the english voice actor is though. It's a shame that you can barely hear any character voice lines because of how loud the music is.

Kuruna is the univir elder, which means that's she's in charge of all three residents of the univir settlement. She's rather stern and stubborn but that's okay because I love her. She also has a pet fireball-thingy called 'Will', he's alright I guess, just a little forgettable.

Pia is a mermaid who works at a bathhouse. She's kind of childish and, for lack of a better term, quirky. She likes eating squids because she hates them. What a girl boss!

Daria is an energetic elvin artist who has a strange obsession with rainbows. She lives outsite of the main town and I didn't really see much of her during any of my playthroughs.