The Story of the Seasons: The Origins of Olive Town: The New Harvest has a lot to do with the moon

Ryder is now known as Twix and has been known as the Story of Seasons since 2014 due to the Harvest Moon license deals. Change in distribution does not always come without problems. Anyone who knew the series had so far only had to deal with a different name. Despite the story of the seasons, the rest of the farm simulation remains the same: Olive Town’s forerunners strike a lot in terms of purpose.

There are sober video game players after work to escape the stress of daily suffering. Then there are people who play a game after work, where they do other people’s work. For example, a game like Agricultural Simulator. Or the harvest moon, or the story of the seasons. To build, build, build a house as a gaming pleasure?

Yes, if you have a weakness for organization and material management, the fun in consideration is hidden. There is also a small dating simulation. Story of Seasons simulates flight from one reality to another, so you experience the dream of becoming a game of liberation from the shores of modern civilization. Get on your moped, get out of town, work in a field. Pure country love.

At least the introductory sequence suggests that the main character does just that: he travels to Olive Town (in English Olivine) to escape the city’s stress at a slow pace and instead settle on his grandfather’s heritage farm. Whether you are a man or a woman, your voice, hairstyle and other personal characteristics will suit everyone. There are no limits to being a man with a peephole or a woman with a boy’s hairstyle.

The old farm is now a fully developed, running area. So there is a lot to do. For example, cutting down trees to make room for a field. Plant a few flowers here, let some fruits grow there, rest a chicken here and keep it in a permanent place. Water, affection, care. It takes strength for the courage to steal one unit after another from the hearts of diligence at the top of the screen. If your mannequin does not find your tent on time (which is three times bigger than the one outside in Dortis style), he or she will even fall into place. Not a good idea, because the next day you will have more trouble. Sleeping in bed at home is the most sober thing.

How much time is wasted on this sleep! Good to eat something in between. Fortunately, Olivier’s Dosing City is right next door, so you can fill your stomach at a cafe or restaurant and build your muscles. You can find love even when you murmur loving you with small gifts. Even here, gender is not a bar. Regardless of the gender of your incarnation, you can date boys and girls.

A whole plan every day

The speakers of the series are amazed at this interpretation. Everything has been known for a long time, albeit enriched by small zeitgeist variations. The Story of the Seasons: Olive Town’s predecessors did not try to update the wheel. It is only refined as much as possible. Other than the graphic, it seems a little more common if you don’t ignore the villagers. The latter maintains a beautiful anime style, which gives them a lot of characters and makes a wonderful addition to the basic village kitsch theme. Everything comes from the property kit. Like every bush, every cow and every chicken there is only one version of each tree.

But there is a reason for this, because multiple use of an existing model from main memory consumes less performance hardware than representation of individual objects. In the long run, this is a wise decision because Nintendo’s switch will eventually reduce the frame rate even with this size.

Even if it is divided into smaller areas that you need to open first, your farm is expanding. Only a tutorial to know the first land. Here you first cut down trees, smash ore stones, learn how to extract clay from rain puddles, and build the first processing machines that make solid building materials out of all this. For example, logging is very important because you can use it to repair bridges. The latter provides access to a new piece of land on the other side of the dividing stream, with new crumbling huts and barns, the best (although very difficult to break) material and new animals you can control and move into your barn.

This is the starting signal for an eternal cycle of resources that can only be maintained by hard work. Freshly chop, tap, weed, scoop every day. It works faster in the end as you get upgrades for your tools and experience points that enhance your skills. Manual work on each virtual day still fills most days.

Does it have to be relaxing? Better than city life? One could argue about that. But there is something around. Grown vegetables, for example, you can sell in the mail, as well as animal products from your livestock. Alternatively, you can cook it yourself after exchanging a real home tent at home. Of course, this also requires resources – or, alternatively, just money, because you can pay an artisan for repairs. Anyway, there is a lot to do.

One hand washes the other

As usual with Story of Seasons, there are no limits to the basic gameplay. Theoretically, you could be up to the fields and herd cattle until Santa Day. Limited targets are also available to provide a silver lining on the horizon for regular i-play-through-gamers. These mainly revolve around the expansion of Olivia, or increase the attractiveness of the city so that more tourists can spend time and money there. Your yard is one of the attractions of the future, but it’s only part of a plan made by the mayor. Also to be funded are beautiful sidewalks, luxurious wellness options and other regular tourist amenities.

Fortunately, you do not have to manage everything yourself. Getting tangible contributions in the form of products is half the battle, and the residents of Olivine reward you with thankful and friendly gestures. Sometimes they invite you to seasonal celebrations where you can relax or do small bonus tasks that are primarily useful for transition from everyday life.