Over in Japan this week, Marvelous Entertainment announced the first details behind Rune Factory 3, the series of Nintendo DS farm/love/fight-'em-ups that Neverland Company has been developing over the past few years. The newest game in the series, another DS release, is slated to come out within 2009 in Japan; no release plans for America have been announced.
The main new gimmick in Rune Factory 3 appears to be the fact that your hero can use a magical belt to actually transform into the monsters you're collecting. This unlocks a wealth of new attacks and battle moves, and talking to people in animal form can also change the way the respond to you.
Other than that -- and the fact that much of the game takes place inside a gigantic tree -- it's more of what you've come to expect from the series.


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