So much to do and see, which makes up for the flaws.
The whole objective of the game is to level up your character and get him stronger so he can tackle the 5 elemental dungeons in the town of sharance so he can remember his past and what brought him to the town in the first place. The 5 main dungeons can be pretty easy at times, but there is an option to increase the difficulty setting. To give you a more refined and simplistic look at what is good and bad in this RPG, here is a pros/cons list...
Pros~~~
-Tons of skills to master and enjoy, such as cooking, mining, forging, alchemy and soooo many more!
-Tons of weapons and accessories to buy, loot, upgrade and forge! Customize your weapon or accessory of choice by upgrading it with the loot you find in the dungeons!
-A series of dungeons that are randomly generated and level suggested are offered in the dungeon labyrinth so you can keep looting and adventuring! Even after the 5 main dungeons are complete!
-Get married, participate in festivals and take on quests that are fun and offer valuable rewards to the player! Connect to the leader boards via wifi to rank up and earn helpful loot with each rank!
-Capture and raise monsters as pets, and even use some as mounts to ride into battle with! Level them up and grow a bond together.
-Tons of monsters to slay and each monster has different variants.
-Buy new cloths and furniture for your house!
-Earn trophies, memorabilia's and achievements!
-Lots of unique crops with different properties from the normal crops. Grow golden vegetables and earn lots of gold for their harvest! Or grow crystalized flowers that sell for bunches! Level up your farming skill so you can level up your crops too, earning more gold for harvests!
These pro's really affect the gameplay in a positive way, increasing the games replay value by so much. Especially the dungeon labyrinth.
Cons~~~
-Having children is useless, as they do nothing.
-The 5 main dungeons are very small compared to Rune Factory 2 dungeons!
-Marriage has a bit of an immature feeling to it, as all candidates have silly sides to them that outshine their romantic maturity.
-Story is somewhat lame and not serious enough at times.
-By the time you reach the final boss you will be strong enough to kill Zeus and rip out all his internal organs and eat them. So the final boss is not much of a challenge considering your equipment is as prestige as your level.
-Festivals are sillier then the predecessors were. Rewards for festivals are repetitive and stupid. It's always a bread loaf that teaches recipes for cooking or something other.
-After marriage, story line quests and romance quests will stop, leaving only replayable quests.
-Storms sometimes happen to often, ravaging your crops and ruining the harvest.
CONCLUSION:--- If you want an awesome, epic action RPG with harvest moon simulations in it for your DS, then Rune Factory 3 is your answer.