Story of Seasons: A Great Life Overview

After 20 years for the reason that authentic launch, Harvest Moon, now known as Story of Seasons, is again in motion. Anybody who’s a fan of the hit sport Stardew Valley would certainly love one of many video games that extremely impressed it. This acquainted farming gem Story of Seasons: A Great Life initially launched on GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2003, making this a long-awaited remake and assessment. The Story of Seasons franchise had just a few rocky titles within the modern-day, however there’s little doubt that the allure from 20 years in the past remains to be current inside this remake.

Like most within the collection, you begin a brand new life at your grandfather’s previous farm. Within the nation city of Forgotten Valley, you get to customise your farmer, select the animals you deal with, and develop quite a few completely different crops. Not solely that, however there are a number of completely different residents of the Valley, some who’re single and able to mingle. The principle function and purpose of this Story of Seasons sport is to seek out somebody to marry by the top of your first 12 months, and develop a household with them. This sport brings again the allure from the unique, and it nonetheless serves as a terrific sport in 2023.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

A return to kind

As somebody who loves Stardew Valley, and having solely performed a Story of Seasons sport on the Nintendo DS as a child—regardless of me proudly owning a GameCube and PlayStation 2—reviewing this sport was a deal with. Sadly, I received’t be capable to examine it an excessive amount of to the unique, however what I can say from doing my analysis is how a lot Marvelous Inc. did a terrific job. Nice as in with the ability to not solely replicate what the farming simulator method was, however to maintain it in a contemporary mild.

Whereas the unique had a duller coloration palette, the remake has saturated Forgotten Valley and introduced life into the sport once more. In the event that they had been to promote this as a brand new Story of Seasons title, it could nonetheless maintain up. The gameplay loop is satisfying, and there are consistently new issues to do because the seasons and years go by. You don’t even get to a lot of the good things till you attain the second 12 months, which makes this a sport you’ll be taking part in for days on finish.

The concept of with the ability to develop a household and watch your youngster develop is one thing that’ll make gamers stick to the sport for awhile. Regardless of a few of the early gameplay turning into a bit of monotonous, which I’ll clarify additional into the assessment, the very best stuff comes later. If any participant was upset by any of the newer Story of Seasons titles and wished one thing contemporary however acquainted, I extremely advocate choosing this one up. Though it sits on the identical worth level as a brand new sport, it actually does really feel updated.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

The day-to-day life on a farm

When you get into the swing of issues, you’ll discover your personal farming routine that works for you. Most gamers will discover that they do related stuff. Get up, feed your animals, gather animal merchandise like Milk and Eggs, water your crops, after which let the animals exterior. When you’ve achieved your morning routine, there are some things across the Valley to do. You may go fishing, gather assets like flowers and mushrooms, or assist out on the dig website.

Many of the stuff you’ll be doing all through the day will assist contribute to your earnings. For instance, I often find yourself spending many in-game hours on the dig website looking for valuables to promote to Van twice a season. Every season lasts 10 days, and naturally, there are 4 seasons in a 12 months. You may as well spend your day making an attempt to provide presents to the romance choices in hopes that they’ll need to marry you. By the top of the day, I deliver my animals in, possibly prepare dinner a meal or two, after which head to mattress. The cycle repeats, with sure occasions popping up and making some days really feel new.

Ultimately, you’ll unlock issues like your personal retailer, or new amenities to make higher merchandise to promote. You may even begin rising hybrid crops, and every of those will slowly earn you more cash. I nonetheless haven’t felt compelled to place the sport down but, however there are occasions after I really feel prefer it isn’t stimulating me sufficient. For instance, digging on the dig website is an effective way to become profitable, but it surely’s extremely tedious. I generally have to tug my telephone out to double activity as a result of digging simply in a single spot takes a real-life minute.

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When it feels aged

To proceed on what I used to be saying, sure issues concerning the sport do remind me that it’s a 20-year-old sport. Each the digging and fishing aren’t actually difficult, all you do is press one button and also you accomplish the factor. However for the dig website particularly, it’s important to preserve urgent that button again and again till you get treasure. If Marvelous Inc. had been to alter issues up a bit, I might’ve fairly had a tiny minigame for fishing or digging that might preserve me engaged sufficient to benefit from the exercise.

The sensation of an aged sport continues as I sometimes attempt to busy myself with different actions. As soon as I end my duties on the farm, and don’t have any requests to deal with, I generally really feel obligated to finish the day early. There are solely two everlasting retailers on the town, one which’s a café and one other that sells seeds. Van the travelling service provider will come by on the third and eighth, that are my favourite occasions of the season. It might be neat to produce other retailers, reminiscent of a furnishings store to embellish your own home and farm.

You may as well journey to town for just a few hours, however the display screen will fade to black and it’ll simply move the time. I perceive this can be a remake, and by no means marketed itself so as to add a ton of recent options, however I generally want for issues that I may do in fashionable farming simulators that I can’t do in Story of Seasons: A Great Life. An almost one-to-one remake is what the staff behind the unique was going for, so I can no less than commend them for that.

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A pleasant polish

Since 20 years have handed for the reason that authentic, you’ll anticipate a leap in graphics. It positively seems so much cleaner than the unique, since we’ve handed just a few console generations since then. That’s to not say it has impeccable graphics or something. I just like the cartoonish fashion, however it’s going to sometimes look flat texture clever. It’s not one thing to complain a lot about although, I don’t assume it could honest properly with high-definition graphics. The pop in colours actually assist, and taking part in on my PC makes it seems good, particularly when the solar units and the lighting adjustments.

One factor it added that I admire is character customization. Apparently, the unique by no means had this characteristic, and I’m glad that in the event that they added something, it was this. There are just a few face choices, and a ton of hairstyles. If this wasn’t added, I really feel as if it could actually make the sport really feel dated. However now you may make your farmer look much like you! Additionally, they mean you can select between he/him, she/her, they usually/them pronouns, which is sudden, however nice to see.

The adjustments that Marvelous Inc. added make the remake value it, particularly for the bachelors and bachelorettes. Not solely did they add extra romance candidates, however you possibly can marry anybody, irrespective of the pronouns you selected! There appears to be a superb cause behind each change, making this really feel like a well-updated remake.

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Price your time

General, I can say with certainty that irrespective of if you happen to’ve performed the unique or not, you must try Story of Seasons: A Great Life. Though I’ve some gripes about it, the great elements of the sport overshadow the unhealthy. Anybody all in favour of video games with farming like Stardew Valley, or life simulations like The Sims, ought to get pleasure from this remake. There are many stuff to do because the seasons go by, and the gameplay loop is gratifying.

I hope Story of Seasons continues to comply with what it does finest, since I can inform that is in all probability one of many higher video games within the collection. I’m actually not achieved with this sport, and have much more to find. Marvelous Inc. did a superb job with holding the identification of the unique, whereas including quality-of-life updates that make it playable 20 years later.