In my opinion this game is an amazing mix of casual and rpg gaming. A game easily allowing yourself to get lost in the fun with the and addictiveness of Harvest Moon and rpgs like Skyrim and the witcher. This game is fit for a large prethra of gamers wether their hardcore or just starting out, you could just farm and be royal or fight through dungeons on hard mode, this game is for everyone.
As always combat is a very important aspect of an RPG but in this case, Rune Factory adds farming into the mixture. Craft your own gear and take it into battle. Buy seeds from the store, plant them and water them every day with help from your farm animals. This is only a small peice of the farming and combat in RuneFactory 4.
To start you will be given some turnips from vishnal to start your farm. The farm is covered in weeds, grass, rock, stumps and stick so i suggest to clean those off before planting. Once you till you entire farm no stumps or rock will appear. As you complete more requests, you unlock more seeds to buy from the store. Start off by planting seeds in vertical chunks that your monsters can water and eventually plant seeds. The more you water your plants, till the land and chop the wood, the less RP it takes. As for the individual plants, some of them grow better when you have higher fertilizer number or depending on the season. You can go to the flower shop to buy growth booster, fertilizer and potions to make your plants a lot bigger. When i first played the game (as of 11/18/16 i still am) i started growning normal crops but eventually i bought an exstention and filled my first farm with fodder, so i don't have to constantly plant more seeds and what not.
Again as always combat is a key aspect in this game.