Story of Seasons, also known as Bokujo Monogatari in Japan, is the longest-running farming franchise (and previously known as Harvest Moon in North America). The series, now in its 25th year, developed a model that has influenced popular video games like Stardew Valley. It has, however, been struggling to come up with new concepts in recent years. By having you build a community and adding interesting elements like a photo mode and museum, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town aims to keep the spark alive. It’s a fun game, but the rewards aren’t worth the time and effort it takes to achieve them.
As in previous games in the series, you begin your new life as a farmer in Pioneers of Olive Town. The mayor of Olive Town has asked for your help in reviving the town. You are given development projects that need you to gather the correct materials to improve important aspects such as roads, benches, and the town hall. ‘ It’s rewarding to watch Olive Town’s transformation as more people visit the area and Olive Town’s appearance improves. The town’s metamorphosis is unlikely to be under your control. As though your input and point of view count, you’re peppered with questions, yet the answers all point in one direction, and going on retrieval missions after retrieval missions get old soon.
But the basic storyline of starting from scratch and growing it into a profitable business is still engaging. I eagerly awaited each new facility upgrade, new animal, or crafting recipe that I could gain access to. Wild animals can be tamed and brought to the farm, so you no longer have to spend money on new livestock when roaming the countryside. Money is simple to come by, but the resources you need for crafting, town requests, and building renovations are what test your patience and resourcefulness in this game.
In the beginning, I found this to be an easy task: crushing rocks for ores and chopping down trees for lumber. Each machine is specifically designed for a single task, such as processing the milk into cheese or spinning wool into yarn. What exactly is the source of this dilemma? It takes a long time to convert 50 pieces of a specific sort of timber since there are far too many of them and adding the appropriate ingredients only generates one converted item. Each type of machine may be built multiple times, but it takes up a lot of room.
My experience with Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive town, Part #2.
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— Cakey (@Nooby_Cake) August 6, 2022
Pioneers of Olive Town took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Wooing the townie of my choosing was either too easy or needed too much work, depending on the situation. I was astounded by how much there is to do, but I also felt like I would never be able to devote the time necessary to learn new skills, such as sewing or cooking, because of the time they need.
There are many ways to expand Olive Town’s areas, such as building bridges to new places, meeting Earth Sprites, and exploring various tunnels with treasure-filled floors. For every fundamental chore you do, you learn new talents that lead to new crafting formulas that allow you to make items like automatic feeds for your cattle or decorative furnishings. This gives you a good feeling of how far your character has come and gives you something to look forward to in the future.
Fun elements like being able to ride a motorcycle or use the various mounts to go around were also a big part of my experience. Some festivals are more engaging than others, so you never know what to expect until you go to one. Animal Crossing-style museums are also available in the game, where you can donate your treasures and photographs of nature. Even though your home is somewhat constrained in terms of where you can put items, there are lots of opportunities for furniture and home improvement projects. You’ve got a lot of space, but only a small portion of it that you can make your own.
Walking around town and conversing with the locals provides a continual stream of new scenes, which piqued my curiosity and compelled me to pay a visit to the villagers. I was looking forward to getting to know the residents of Olive Town in these sequences, but the cast as a whole didn’t do much for me. The villagers don’t annoy anyone, but they merely complete their responsibilities as store owners and members of the community and don’t add anything new. The events that unfold throughout a relationship perform far better, as they accurately reflect the chemistry and development of the couple’s relationship.
Pioneers of Olive Town is a fun game, although it isn’t particularly well-made. Patches have made my experience better, however, there will still be slow loading times, stuttering, and freezing from time to time. It’s not the smoothest experience, but I didn’t stop playing because of any frustrations.
Olive Town Pioneers is a passable addition to the Story of Seasons, but it falls short of the expectations set for it. Still, the underlying formula for improving my farm captured my attention, and I relished the opportunity to learn new things along the way. There are many aspects of this game that I appreciate, but there were just as many that fell short of my expectations. I can’t help but wonder, after all this time, why hasn’t this series progressed and left a more lasting impression?
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