Farming simulators have boomed previously decade, and it’s straightforward to guess what’s accountable: Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone’s Stardew Valley. The indie darling will flip 10 years previous this February, however effectively earlier than ConcernedApe’s private mission, one other sequence outlined the idea of the farming simulator: Story of Seasons (formerly known as Harvest Moon) within the West.
Previously, ConcernedApe has defined that Stardew Valley was impressed by what he needed in a Story of Seasons recreation after he felt the sequence began going downhill for him. Developer Marvelous’ flagship farming franchise has refused to fade into obscurity even after Stardew Valley broke its monopoly over the farm sim style, nevertheless, and it’s value testing as its thirtieth anniversary approaches this yr.
Stardew Valley: All Golden Walnut Locations
With the Stardew Valley 1.5 replace, there are 130 Golden Walnuts that may be discovered round Ginger Island to commerce for uncommon rewards.
Story of Seasons has a storied historical past, being one of many best-known simulators wanting The Sims itself. The essential gimmick of every entry follows the identical setup as Stardew Valley: the participant strikes to a brand new place after coming into possession of a run-down farm, and it’s as much as them to make one thing of their life by way of the ability of agriculture. Alongside the best way, they’ll meet the opposite villagers, a few of whom may be romanced in Story of Seasons.
How this all performs out is completely different between entries, and a few installments spice issues up by throwing in a rivalry system, completely different endings, and even having the characters age as the sport goes on. However not each recreation’s gimmick hit the mark, so Barone’s give attention to substance over fashion received over many embittered Story of Seasons veterans. Some, like him, felt that the video games had been too centered on altering issues up each time to the detriment of refining what made earlier entries so nice. That’s to not say that not one of the video games had been any good, although—Story of Seasons has all the time had one thing to supply.
Story of Seasons’ Worlds Really feel Like They Preserve Transferring
A part of what made Story of Seasons so revolutionary was the way it turned an idea as monotonous as heavy agricultural labor into a fascinating gameplay loop. The way in which the greatest Story of Seasons video games did this wasn’t essentially by way of seeing how a lot cash the participant might make in a single day, although that was a part of it. What saved folks farming was the best way the world round them would change whereas they did it, generally instantly because of their time tilling the fields. Whether or not it was by rising sufficient carrots or just having the persistence to attend for the second in-game yr to begin, gamers might look ahead to the evolution of their little city. New folks would transfer in, new areas could be unlocked, and new methods to farm would turn out to be out there. The adjustments all through the video games had been large-scale and significant.
Stardew Valley is the inverse. Stardew Valley has unlockables and does them well, however they’re largely extra delicate. The desert, for instance, is sectioned off from the Valley to the purpose that no person from the city will ever go to it. Each main recreation mechanic and marriageable character is offered indirectly from the beginning, so the unlockables are extra about quality-of-life facets like quick journey through cart or including on to preexisting issues just like the Cranium Cavern. That is nice, because it means the participant doesn’t have to attend very lengthy to get to the meat of issues, however it could actually generally be overwhelming. The quantity of freedom Stardew Valley presents nearly instantly is considered one of its biggest strengths, however gamers who wish to take issues slightly at a time would possibly discover it simpler to get used to Story of Seasons compared.
Outdoors of getting extra outlined objectives, the perfect characters in Story of Seasons are much less static than the characters in Stardew Valley. That is most blatant within the rival marriage system: in a number of entries, farmers who had been too gradual to marry their chosen partner would have them stolen away by one other character. Every potential non-player couple received a number of occasions to flesh out their relationship, which actually helped the city really feel prefer it was progressing and fewer just like the world revolved across the participant. In just a few video games, these {couples} even had youngsters of their very own.
Stardew Valley doesn’t have a “rival marriage” system, and plenty of gamers have lamented how marrying somebody will imply the remainder of the potential companions received’t get the event they in any other case would have in the event that they married the protagonist. Admittedly, rival marriage has its detractors, and the final recreation to function it was 2008’s Harvest Moon: Animal Parade. However for these searching for a extra dynamic city, the rival-era video games actually allowed the in-game communities to evolve.
Stardew Valley: The 6 Best (& 6 Worst) Romances
Stardew Valley is an unobtrusive recreation that stole gamers’ hearts, and listed here are the perfect and worst in-game romance choices.
Drama is Scrumptious, However Lethal in Massive Doses
Simply because the characters in Stardew Valley can really feel static doesn’t imply that they’re poorly written, and simply because some Story of Seasons video games have extra apparent character development doesn’t imply that they’re all the time effectively written. Stardew Valley’s cast has more adult issues like alcoholism, affairs, and abuse, for instance. Whether or not they’d performed the sport’s inspiration or not, grownup followers had been glad to see a life sim that didn’t discuss right down to them. And whereas Story of Seasons has proven its enamel earlier than, it’s nonetheless a really idealistic sequence the place a lot of the forged doesn’t even have deep trauma to dive into. This optimistic vibe can really feel infantile generally, nevertheless it may also be a breath of recent air that helps the video games dwell as much as their cozy status.
It’s irritating to observe Lewis deal with his relationship with Marnie as a shameful secret or see Clint perpetually mope over his unrequited love for Emily. And don’t get anybody began on Pierre’s much less savory enterprise practices if you happen to promote any of your merchandise on to him. As of Stardew Valley version 1.16.15, none of those characters have had any growth, so their drama simply continues to hold over the valley. It isn’t that each single character wants an specific scene of them turning to the digicam and saying, “I’ll by no means do the dangerous factor once more,” however these three are removed from the one ones residing within the valley to have some sort of angst happening. After enjoying lengthy sufficient and attending to know everybody, the quantity of drama may be suffocating.
Story of Seasons doesn’t all the time have a deep forged, and plenty of video games don’t even have that sense of character development talked about earlier. Heck, the Harvest Goddess herself in Harvest Moon: Associates of Mineral City is notorious for having nearly no dialogue each earlier than and after marriage. However generally, sitting down, petting some fluffy digital cows, and watching characters fall in love over mutual pursuits relatively than shared trauma is all you want after an extended day of real-life work.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar – Beginner Tips & Tricks
The following pointers and methods will assist gamers on their first few weeks on the Zephyr City farm in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar.
Stardew Valley did a lot for Farming Simulator, and there are such a lot of causes one would possibly choose it to its religious predecessor. Nonetheless, Story of Seasons has lots going for it, even when it’s simply more of what’s good about Stardew Valley. It’s value testing each for perception into how the style has advanced and since the video games are nonetheless good in their very own proper, and with the thirtieth anniversary, there isn’t any higher time.
For anybody searching for a extra mature tackle the farming sim method with out sacrificing the participating moneymaking facets, Stardew Valley is great. However we shouldn’t neglect how Story of Seasons impressed it and what a pioneer it was for cozy games as a complete.
- Launched
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February 26, 2016
- ESRB
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E for Everybody (Fantasy Violence, Delicate Blood, Delicate Language, Simulated Playing, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)
- Developer(s)
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ConcernedApe
- Writer(s)
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ConcernedApe
