I have a feeling that there are a lot of "sim" games up to and including the Maxis "Sim-" brand that are only interesting enough to make a half dozen posts on, but which might be more interesting being discussed in the context of their peers and rivals.
...
Yeah, my first instinct was to put this in the dump thread that Kazz (rightly) closed.
So I like sim games and fake life games in a way that my therapist would probably disapprove of, but I wanted the boards to know that where Rune Factory 3 is a really good game.
Even subtracting points for my apparent love of tedium and low bar for NPC likability it's still really good. It's good because combat is fast, fun, and suitably customizable. You feel like your character is the lovable little killing machine you more-or-less want him to be. Also, while murdering things is required to progress in it, no other skills are. You are never required to actually farm making any farming I did do feel way less tedious. Also farming made me better at murdering things.
So did flirting with girls.
And eating cake.
And sleeping.
It's a game that gives you lots of little level and stat up indicators.