Rune Factory 2 intrigues me.
I loved the first until I hit a wall of enjoyment. I woke up one day and just HATED the game. i did the same crap over and over again and lots of grinding and boring level design for caves and basic AI. Natsome doesn't add much in its sequels so this might be a better translation and less glitches, but the main problem was the festivals were HORRIBLE and I actually missed the mini-games ( horse race, dog Frisbee, etc ) The beasts also helped to much with the farm it as pretty much automatic after I got a few.
Lots of good but still those kinds of games can only entertain you so much.