The director of the upcoming Rune Factory 5 has explained the game's LGBTQA marriage options in a recent interview. The Rune Factory series is a JRPG spin-off of the popular Story of Seasons series. Rune Factory contains elements of Story of Seasons like farming and romancing NPCs, but also adds other features like exploring dungeons and fighting monsters.
Publisher Xseed Games announced in September of last year that the English localization of Rune Factory 5 would give the player the option of marrying all 12 of the available marriage candidates. Rune Factory 5's new same-sex marriage options are a first for the series. To accomplish this new feature, the developer explained that it had to alter certain game mechanics like pet names for partners, gender pronoun use in the game's dialogue, and the achievement stamp design for marriage. Alternate cutscenes for the inclusive relationships were also added so that players could experience the same wedding scene regardless of gender.
In an interview with Game Informer, Rune Factory 5 director Shiro Maekawa gives fans more information about the same-sex features in the new localization of the game. Maekawa explains that while same-sex marriage was made possible in Rune Factory 4, it was not fully implemented, stating:
"In a certain sense (i.e., swapping the outward appearance of the protagonist), same-sex marriage was possible in Rune Factory 4, but not truly implemented. At the time, this choice was meant to give players the freedom to play the game as they wished. But Rune Factory 5 marks its official inclusion, and lets us welcome more fans to the series."
For the new installment in the Rune Factory series, the same-sex marriage option is officially included, thus welcoming more fans to the series. Shiro Maekawa also comments that he believes that they should continue to include the same-sex marriage feature in future Rune Factory titles.
Fans were delighted when an English localization of the Japanese video game Rune Factory 5 for Nintendo Switch was announced during E3's June 2021 Future Games Show. The Japanese version of the game was released in May 2021, and fans of the series were previously worried about having certain aspects of the game spoiled for them. However, as the LGBTQA marriage option is not currently available in the Japanese version of the game, fans can rest easy that that aspect of the game will not be spoiled for them. Once the North American localization of the game is released, those with the Japanese version of the game will be given the opportunity of downloading a patch that will add the same-sex marriage option.
With the inclusion of same-sex marriage, it seems that Rune Factory 5 will be one of the most highly-anticipated JRPGs releasing in 2022. Rune Factory 4, the last installment in the series, was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS a decade ago. Rune Factory will be gaining a whole new fan base thanks to this newest feature.
Rune Factory 5 will be available on the Nintendo Switch on March 22.
Source: Game Informer