The game begins with the protagonist riding a flying ship heading to Selphia to deliver a blue orb to the Native Dragon, Ventuswill.
Marvelous AQL had previously announced that Rune Factory 4 would not be released in Europe in the foreseeable future, stating that, 'While MarvelousAQL has made every effort to secure the title's release for this territory, it is, unfortunately, not possible to do so at this time.' XSeed has released an eShop only version in PAL regions and as of December 11th, 2014, the game has been officially released in Europe. The plot has also been divided into three arcs with the first and second arcs being the main plot, and the third arc adding a bonus plot and an additional dungeon. There have been many improvements to the game system such as the addition of pajamas for bachelors and bachelorettes, slumber parties, a new request system, and much more.
As with Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny and Rune Factory 2, Rune Factory 4 has two protagonists: a male and a female. In Rune Factory 4, however, the protagonist's gender is chosen at the beginning of the game, and the same character is used for the entire storyline. By default, the male protagonist's name is Lest, and the female protagonist's name is Frey.
