PoOTing along

 I am so sorry that it took me so long to get back to you! It's that time of year when my tendinitis acts up and I've had more than a few days when my wrist has been way too swollen to write. Fortunately for me, a new video game came out which lets me use those muscles in a way that's easier on them than writing (and forces me to rest when the battery runs out). 

Of course, I'm talking about Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town (SOS:PoOT. I'm not that far into the game but I am loving it so far. Then again, I got into the series back in the early 2000's When it was still known as Harvest Moon. Still, the series didn't hit its stride until they became Story of Seasons a few years back.

So, what do you in this game? Well, it's a farming sim, so on the surface, you're raising crops and animals. Generally, there is some helping of the nearby towns and some sort of spiritual connection to the land, usually through a Harvest Goddess, sometimes through a Witch, and once through the God, Inari. Still, this barely touches the surface. I love this game for the people you meet in the games, for clearing the land, raising the crops, befriending your animals... there's so much more that you'll never see if you just dismiss it as a farming sim. In this game there are multiple little islands of land for you to care for, wild animals to tame (like cows and chickens left running around from when your grandfather died years before) and a mystery to solve (so far shown in the guise of a young-looking woman in a torn black dress and a skull mask, decorated like the Día de Los Muertos masks. Also, in a new "twist", partially seen in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (released last year), you can choose your pronouns (male or female) and wear any outfit/hairstyle in the game, allowing you to really customize a character to be your avatar. All of the marriage candidates are bisexual, meaning that whatever you choose, they are romanceable so long as you spent the time hanging out with them. 

Which doesn't mean that they made a perfect game, no matter how much I am adoring the gameplay. There are a few noticeable bugs and the loading screens can run a bit too long, but there is only one item where they really dropped the ball (the dozens of maker machines need too much micromanaging to be fun). Also, the townsfolk really need more comments. So far, everyone has maybe three things to say in everyday conversation, plus the extra two dialog pieces that they use around the festivals, one for before the event and one for after. Still, the conversations in the cut scenes are fun, if a bit contrived. Now, the company has already addressed all of these concerns, promising that they already have the team working on fixing bugs, adding new dialog, and such. Right now, it means that I would give the game a solid 7/10 stars right now, most likely raising that higher when the updates start fixing these issues. 

So do I suggest you run out and buy it now or should you wait for those fixes first? Honestly, I'd suggest running out to get it. Right now, it is very playable and the core fun of the game is obviously there. I can easily see myself spending a few hundred hours playing this game. Right now, I'm romancing two of the marriage candidates, the young traditionally Japanese lord, Iori, and the tourist information girl, Laura. One is clearly more carefree and fun than the other, but despite that Iori is definitely holding his own by having a storyline that includes ninja who seem to want him dead. Clearly, that is something that I'm looking forward to finding more about later. 

And that's all I have for you today. Will you be picking up the game? Would you be interested in seeing a bit of a Let's Play for it? If you're playing, who are you romancing and what is your biggest project on the go in your game? I'm still trying desperately to clear my second island. See you next week. 

An Interview Link and a Review

Today is going to be a little bit different. The video game that I've been waiting months for finally released. I haven't been playing non-stop or anything, but I have played it long enough to have my review for it. However, most of you don't come here for my video game reviews. Heck, I'm pretty sure none of you come for my rare book reviews either. Fortunately, in addition to my review below, I have an interview I gave on Talena Winters' website. It was really fun to do and I get to talk about my books, so if you want to read that (and I totally suggest you do), head over there. 

Now, for the review.

Years ago, after I'd tried and failed badly writing my first book, my boyfriend gave me his old Gameboy Advance. Unfortunately, he didn't have any video games of the sort that I enjoyed, so we took a run over to Wal-Mart to see what they had. I got a few games that day, all out of a $10 bin. One of those games was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. I fully admit I picked it up because my boyfriend promised me that if I didn't like it, he had a friend who would buy it from me, for the $10 afterward. After all, there was literally no downside to buying a game I was pretty sure I was going to hate. "Extreme Farming" just didn't sound all that entertaining to me. After trying the other few games I got, and becoming bored with them before a week, I finally took 'Extreme Farming' out of its case for a test run.

I got probably got over a hundred hours in that game over the next two weeks. I was playing it on the bus to work, on the bus home, during my breaks, during the evening, pushing back bedtime just to finish one more day, which always became 5 or 6 before the system actually got turned off. 

Even after that extreme rush ended, I was still playing it quite often for the next year. I bought the next games, but they kept going right downhill until Story of Seasons came out. Apparently, they made the original Harvest Moon series, but lost the name and the publisher just kept using it (more on that here if you're interested). Story of Seasons took everything I loved about the original game and made it even better. Since then, I've lost thousands of hours to the Story of Seasons franchise and this game looks to be no different. 

Now that you know the history, on to my review. 

Friends of Mineral Town is a solid 8 out of 10 stars for me. As I mentioned, its a remake of the original, so to keep the vibe it originally had, they kept the story pretty simple and didn't change the characters much. This does mean that the townsfolk tend to be less nuanced than what we've seen from Story of Seasons up to this point. It's more like the more recent Harvest Moon games for that. On the other hand, the dialogue has been upped a notch from the original to make everybody seem a bit more alive and interesting. The new character designs were made with the idea that everybody is hot in their own way. This is more hit and miss. The original pictures had a bit more life to them, showing their personalities through pose and dress, as well as expression. Now we have a lot more to the expressions, and less about the way they dress and stand. Personally, I like most of the new designs, though Zack and the Mayor do nothing for me. Also, the Harvest Goddess was always elegant and beautiful, my marriage candidate of choice in the first one. Here, they made her more cute than eloquent and hot... much to my disappointment. 

I should mention that they've now opened up romances to either gender. You still get a child in the end, and life continues. You can play with it or not as you choose. Personally, I am all for this change, and I hope that we'll have it in every game moving forward from this point. 

In addition to the original bachelors and bachelorettes, we've got a new girl and guy as well. I love Jennifer, everything from her character to her design is awesome... Brandon on the other hand has to be more than the beefcake he appears to be, but for the life of me, I don't see it. He's surly every time I talk to him, to the point where I don't care to learn about him further. 

The controls are a bit wonky... less intuitive than you would expect, but you'll pick them up rather quickly. The days feel like they're passing by too quickly, but if you plan your days in advance (from the comfort of your nullspace home), I can guarantee that you won't feel anywhere near as flustered trying to finish everything. 

One thing I dislike is that we are missing the customization that we've come to expect from a Story of Seasons game. You choose your character (one of four options) and while you'll have different outfits, you won't be able to change your hair color or anything. Also, the skin colors are notably white, pale, and something near tan... I would have liked to see more diverse skin tones, though, with perhaps with them not offering hair options, they felt it was best to limit colors to match the hair tones they chose. Regardless of the reasoning, I missed the ability to change my character and house to match what I wanted it to be. I hope that they'll add DLC or add a quality of life update adding in the options for it, eventually. 

And that's about it. I entirely suggest getting this game. It isn't as complex as the more recent offerings from Story of Seasons, but that simplicity is part of its charm, in my opinion. There's still going to be tons of playability to the game and hundreds of hours of fun for you to enjoy while you play out the different lives you can live in Mineral Town. 

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