Story of Seasons

I never paid much attention to this game, but apparently, it's not a bad one? That said, I need a little more information which I can't seem to find anywhere. I've never played a Harvest Moon game. All I know is that you plant stuff and then harvest it, and eventually, you can marry someone. So, errr, can you actually beat this game? What's the main goal? When/how do I get to the credits? //rmwforums.s3.amazonaws.com/emoticons/default_biggrin.gif Help!

Story of Season is the latest entry of the Harvest Moon series (the publisher took the name via copyright, but not the people that actually continuing to make the games) and I find it is one of the weaker ones in the series personally (still good, but not the best).  Due to weaker then average characters and a REALLY long tutorial.  It is probably harder to find info about due to the old publisher taking the harvest moon name and putting it on a Minecraft wannabe instead (which was terrible and failed commercially) which led to many casual fans not knowing about Story of Seasons (and thus less people to spread info around).


The game is about trying to work your way up on the ladder (by getting more money via farming, mining, etc) and forming relationships with the town folks.  You start off with the ability to not do much in a day (have to work to upgrade tools, find more ways to get income and such).  There is no end per say, but many find doing the games primary objective (usually saving the harvest goddess), getting married (+maxing relationship with kid) or maxing out all relationships.


I actually would recommend to try Rune Factory 4 instead (otherwise known as the fantasy harvest moon series) since it is the best (or second depending on who you ask) in the series.  It is also on 3DS and has much better characters, an overarching plot, more activities and combat (and leveling), while at the same time having a similar relationship system and a comparable farming system.  Plus this was the last game the company made due to financial issues (they went bankrupt about when the game hit shelves), so there will not be any new entries (unless a new unknown quality developer takes over).

Wow, thanks for the info. That was thorough! //rmwforums.s3.amazonaws.com/emoticons/default_smile.gif So there actually IS an objective in the game? Then I might be interested. I thought it was like Animal Crossing or Fantasy Life where there's (to my knowledge?) no, like, credits-triggering goal/finale.

I would recomment Rune Factory 4 as well. But if you're looking for Harvest Moon game without the fantasy aspect, Story of seasons is a great game. To me, it's probably the best Harvest Moon game (not counting the Rune Factory series ^^°) It has more features than the ones before and they are what makes this one so good. 1. Instead of simply upgrading your house, you can also make furniture and place it wherever you like, 2. You can completely customize your protagonist and make the clothes yourself 3. You can compete with the other farmers to get the best farming spots.


These are the ones I find most interesting. Especially making the clothes yourself. I probably won't stop playing it until I have collected all clothes XD


Anyway, depending on what genre you're looking for, I would recomment both games.

I remember following SOS, but I never really went through to buying it. I know my opinion should hold little weight due to never playing the game, but there were things in the trailer that definitely rubbed me the wrong way, being a fan of classic Harvest Moon.


At it's core though, it's by all means a Harvest Moon game. Harvest Moon holds some similarities to other simulator games like Animal Crossing, but there IS an objective to each one... it just varies between each entry in the series. However, Story of Seasons case, it's much more subjective, giving you a list of things you can do but it's up to you to really decide when the game is done. The credits just happen to roll when you get married.


I guess that's part of the reason why I never picked up this game. My favorite Harvest Moons are Harvest Moon SNES and DS, and those two games are the ones with the most defined in the series. In Harvest Moon SNES, your goal is to get a successful farm to prove your worth to your parents in 2.5 in game years, while in DS you have a checklist of tasks and goals you need to do. In short, the more freedom you give me, the less reason I feel like it's worthwhile to continue.


I would also be one to recommend the Rune Factory series, while I don't think 4 is the best it's definitely the most beginner-friendly. If the fantasy elements turns you off but you still want to give the classic farming mechanic a try, I still push to recommend some of the older Harvest Moons, since they never really overcomplicated things. I don't know what consoles you own, but some of the games are on Playstation Network or Wii U Virtual Console for reasonable prices.

For PC there a new game called Stardew Valley, very similar to Harvest Moon. It's not very expensive and has great reviews. I haven't tried the game yet, but it seems interesting.