Rune Factory 3’s New Protagonist

Today Famitsu revealed to us the main hero of Rune Factory 3. Wait 3? I’m still trying to get the bad taste of Rune Factory 2 out of my mouth.

Oh Marvelous, why do you torture us like this? With every passing Harvest Moon game, it only seems that our main male protagonist degenerates in masculinity. I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer be excited for Rune Factory 3. When your only Male character is more feminine than the girls he is chasing, we’ve turned farming from a man’s duty into a woman’s play thing. And farming is serious business.

But putting our protagonist’s gender preference aside, what exactly does Rune Factory 3 have to offer us that Rune Factory 2 and 1 did not? I’m positive there are improvements, but just how few are enough to justify purchasing yet another Rune Factory game? I already decided long ago that Rune Factory 2 just wasn’t worth the time and money after 1, and I had to trade it in out of sheer disappointment. Needless to say, I’ll probably find myself at home a few months from now staring at my pre-order recipt.