So many changes happening with Harvest Moon and Rune Factory. I haven't gotten into any of them. Which series do i start and what are the best games for both of them? Do the games stories connect?
Okay, a quick lesson:
Prior to the most recent games, there was only Harvest Moon here in the West. That was because Natsume was still just Natsume, whereas these days it's whatever is left of Natsume and a different company. If I recall correctly, Rune Factory is made by a totally different developer that went under for good and apparently the Rune Factory series went with them.
Basically though, none of the games are related. Pick up whichever one you want and have a go. I'd probably recommend the GBA title Friends of Mineral Town, or the variant More Friends of Mineral Town if you want to chase men as a woman, for a simple although not lacking in challenge introduction to the Harvest Moon series. I don't even like the series much, and I had some fun with this one. Harvest Moon is a straight up farm and waifu simulator with some mining and such mixed in, so don't go in expecting an amazing adventure. If you enjoy something like Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon may be up your alley in that that they're both similar seeing as both are essentially life simulators. That's not to say they are the same, rather, they just fall within different offsets of the same base genre.
Rune Factory is a mix that combines RPG gameplay with the farming aspects of Harvest Moon. This tends to be a preferred series here on the forum, although I think it managed to be more niche than Harvest Moon somehow. This is probably the most friendly series to try if you find regular Harvest Moon to be a little too dry. Once again, no real order, just pick one and have at it. Everyone has their favorites in the series, so you're better off just picking one at random, really. They all have their faults, but they're ultimately well rounded experiences.
Okay, now, this is where it might get confusing:
Story of Seasons is basically a continuation of Harvest Moon, whereas Harvest Moon now just holds the title but is sort of its own thing. The split is fairly recent all in all, but the most prominent way you can see it is the most recent releases from these two series. The latest Harvest Moon is Lost Valley and is an awful pile of suck that hardly resembles the series it takes the name from. There is only one Story of Seasons game, totally independent from this upcoming title, but unless you have an N3DS, it's probably worth passing on due to frame rate issues hampering the experience. There are a couple Harvest Moon games on the 3DS pre-split, but they are lackluster compared to earlier titles.
People commonly say the best Harvest Moon games are the ones from SNES and N64, but I feel nostalgia factors in a bit there, so it's really up to you whether or not you want to start with either of them.