Natsume was kind enough to let me sit in on a phone conversation with Graham Markay, Vice President of Operations for Natsume. The conversation lasted about an hour where we were able to ask him any questions about their upcoming Wii title, Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny.

Tides of Destiny is the first Rune Factory title to come to the PS3. According to Markay, Natsume found the PS3 install base large enough and bringing in casual fans to support Tides of Destiny. Both the PS3 and Wii version use their respective motion controls, with only the PS3 offering the ability to play with the normal controller; so no classic controller support for us Wii owners. Do not expect the motion controls to be used for battle but only pointing at the screen.  There are slight differences between the PS3 and Wii versions, but hey, we are a Nintendo site so we will not talk about those. I am sure you can imagine what the differences are.

For those of you familiar with the Rune Factory series, Tides of Destiny has a similar framework as the rest but offers some new twists to the game. According to Markay it is hard to get away from a formula that works. The only thing developers can do is trying to expand on current ideas by adding in new things and hoping they will work.

Tides of Destiny is the first Rune Factory game that the player can actually play as a woman, but not right away. The story starts out with the two life long friends Aden and Sonja awaking to find that their two souls are fused together somehow. As they begin to explore their home island they realize that the island that was so familiar to them is now full of new faces.  You physically look like Aden but you have the spirit of Sonja who seems to want different things. A good example thrown around for their interaction is: Aden is a stubborn boy or Sonja is a demanding girl. This can add an interesting dynamic to the game where your female side wants to do one thing and you male side another. At some point in the story it is revealed why the two are combined and then you will be able to play as either character.

There are a few minor differences in this Rune Factory from the other ones. According to Markay there is still the social RPG aspect that Rune Factory fans expect. Farming has been toned down a little and the animal husbandry has been replaced with monsters…. Yes monsters. Tides of Ruin allows for the capture and ability to be-friend monsters to help accomplish different tasks like farming and battling. All monsters found in the game can be befriended except for the boss monsters. According to Markay there are about 50 different types of monsters.

The map seems pretty vast with many different types of islands to explore. According to Markay there are over 20 different islands.. Some islands are needed to move the story along, the others are found by exploring and then raising them from the depths of the sea. Some islands may consist of different seasonal environments for growing different season crops; an example given is an ice/snow island. There are also islands that the main purpose is to have dramatic awesome battles as well as finding treasure.

The battle system is pretty much the same but with slight differences. For those of you who played a Rune Factory game before it sounds like the fight mechanic is pretty much the same but maybe a little more action based. (This was not too clear)  In other Rune Factory games the ability of party battles, where you could invite other town’s people to come battle with you, has been taken out. Instead you can bring with you certain monsters to the battlefront.

Tides of Destiny is said to have over 1000 lines of voice over and last about 60 hours, main story only. Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny is set for a release of October 11th for $39.99.

If you have any more questions about the game feel free to leave them in the comments. I will see if I can answer them or I can find out the answer for you.