HELP: Rune Factory IV v. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Going on a few trips over the next few weekends and need a really strong portable game to hold me over. Played a lot of the other big games on the system (Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, etc) but working my way through some of these other great games.

I'm trying to get away from Turned Based games right now because I've played so many lately. Now it's down to Rune Factory IV. I like the fact that they are both open world, both feature lots of content with a lot of varied stuff to do, but I just can't settle.

I know I would like either, so the truth is, can anyone tell me why the WOULD choose one, or why they WOULD NOT choose one? I have tried the demo for Monster Hunter, and I enjoyed it a great deal (though the underwater combat is pretty damn clunky), and only know that Rune Factory is really well reviewed and is a more interesting version of Harvest Moon (which I tried on the 3DS and didn't like because I was farming turnips for the first 10 hours).

Thoughts?

@Essian: honestly, if you didn't like harvest moon you won't like rune factory. While it does have more to do outside of farming, you will be doing a lot of farming, and farm maintenance. I'd go with monster hunter because it has a lot of content and the boss battles are great

Thanks for the reply! I actually did like the idea of farming and building a town and farm. The thing I didn't like was that I was farming ONLY TURNIPS for 10 hours. I don't know if I was doing it wrong, or if the game is just REALLY slow, but 10 freaking hours of farming one plant is just ridiculous.

I especially like (and correct me if I'm wrong), using the items I farm to construct consumables and equipment that will aid me in battle. I have always loved that kind of element. I actually like that Rune Factory balances combat/dungeons and farming, as I feel like it will balance out well.

Still, can't deny that Monster Hunter has epic boss battles. Thanks for the suggestion, does anyone else have an opinion?

Rune Factory is out of print so that's the game to get first

That would definitely influence my decision.

I have a feeling I'll go with Rune Factory, because I might get a WiiU down the line, and if I do I'll get Monster Hunter there. Still, might get it eventually, but I'm feeling Rune Factory in the immediate

Monster hunter pretty much wins regardless of what the second choice is for me. Mh is one of my favourite franchises though. Ever.

Besides you could play on your ds for your trip and come back and load your saved character onto your home console as you can have the same saved data on both systems.

I wasn't completely sold on Rune Factory when I bought, but I am now. I sank 60 hours and i'm not done yet.

You don't have to farm If you don't want too, but its a fair apart of the game. You can also gain cooking, weapon, ect. skills and gain money that way if you wish. You can even get monsters in your barn to farm for you, so you can send time doing better things. full of content to the max, and the game is out of print. So, its worth picking up.

Have you played Monster Hunter 3? If you have, I'd say get Rune Factory because Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is just a decent expansion of 3. They could have done sooo much more with 3 Ultimate.