Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review

On today’s docket, we’ll be harvesting a Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life Review, fresh from Final Weapon. How quality is this remake? Will it fetch a fair price at the market? Read on to see if you need this game in your life!

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is a remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life which was originally released on the Nintendo Gamecube on September 12, 2003. There would later be a version called Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life, where you played as a female rather than a male like the original release. Later, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life Special Edition was released on PlayStation 2 with extra content. This remake is mostly based on the Special Edition but with further tweaks and even more content.

As a little tidbit for those who may be unfamiliar, Harvest Moon was the original localized name of the 牧場物語 (Bokujō Monogatari), aka Ranch Story series. Natsume was responsible for the English releases of the game in the United States up until 2013. This was when the developer of the series Marvelous! would hand over localization duties to their own company, XSEED. Long story short, Story of Seasons is the ‘real’ series of classic farming sims that we love. Natsume still uses the Harvest Moon name, but that is its own series now.

Farming

The main conceit of the Story of Seasons franchise is ultimately farming. These mechanics are strongly made and ooze personality. Different entries have their “other half” to offer variety, but farming is and always will be the backbone of this series. And boy, am I here for that.

Succeeding at farming takes some careful planning. You only get good at planning when you have amply expanded your awareness. Awareness is only achieved when you have tried, failed, and learned. You have to understand what kind of crops grow when, how to lovingly take care of your livestock, knowing when to expand your farm with new facilities and several micro-mechanics on top of these. There’s a lot to this game! It really seems simple at first, and it is! It’s quite easy to get started, but it’s just as easy to get in over your head. You must learn from your mistakes and grow. When you do that, you can begin to optimize your routines. This may lead you to become a super-farmer where you spend hours planning and sifting through menus to min-max your profits like a crazed RPG fan who crunches numbers on a spreadsheet for fun. Or you can go with the flow, chill, and almost lose a cow and definitely lose some crops because you spent too much time shirking work and chasing a relationship… Like I did!

Forming Friendships

Earlier entries in the series didn’t really have much more than you and your farm. That’s just lonely, ain’t it? However, as the series grew up, so did the population. Eventually, your lonely farm life wasn’t so lonely. During your off time, you could talk to and befriend townsfolk! Eventually, you could even -marry- certain folks.

Forgotten Valley is home to a variety of people who all have their own reasons for living here, just as you do. They are people with unique schedules and preferences. Getting to know them is quite fun. Learning what they do and when they do it is a puzzle, and then figuring out what kind of gifts they like is a 1000-piece puzzle. Once you become good enough friends with certain people, they will actually give YOU gifts or trigger special scenes that allow you to form a deeper bond with them. Aaaaaaand, you never know! It’s entirely possible you could find your special someone by doing this!

One thing you can count on is that the years will roll by. People change, as do you. Some people even come and go. People are ever wayward on the path of life. Pay attention and always treasure your good memories while planning for a brighter future.

Don’t forget that you can interact with your pet(s)! This type of interaction is closer to that of making friends and certainly deeper than caring for your other animals. You can talk to your pet, pick them up, feed them, and even train them! There are even unique scenes tied to this, just like Townsfolk Events.

Fostering a Family

Marriage isn’t exactly a new feature in the series. It wasn’t when the original came out, and it is even LESS of a new feature now, 20 years later. Ya know what is unique about this game? The passage of time. Because time marches on, undeterred, people age, and things change. This includes your family. If farming is one of the pillars of this game and family is the other, then raising your child is the foundation AND the roof that both supports the ‘family’ pillar and is what covers it.

The very first thing that happens during the intro of the game is that you get a farm, right? This farm that is now in your possession actually belonged to your father. Alright. Receiving your land from your grandfather or other bespoke family member is a common trope within the series. However, I would argue that in this game, it is much more thematically appropriate. You should understand what I mean somewhat, but you’ll grow to understand me more as you put the pieces I leave behind together.

Marriage is something that has been a mainstay in the series for quite a while. It works about the same here as it does in every game that features it. You make friends with a lovely lady (and now lads, too!) by talking and giving gifts. After you two grow closer through many life events, you may feel some special feelings start to swell in your heart. This is when you will seek out a Blue Feather to present to your beloved. You’ll then present them with an offer they can’t refuse; a proposal to love one another and only one another for the rest of your lives. Your enjoyment of this will depend on if you happen to like the local singles in your area. Personally, I settled on Nami pretty early on. I adored her tomboyish appearance and blunt personality. Those qualities veiled what was truly a caring and devoted person who only wished to find someone who’d accept her. A fun tidbit I’ll point out; many of the added scenes involve you and your partner, so be sure to treasure yer time together!

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes little Kyoji (my son) in a baby carriage. Yup. After ya get hitched, you then have a child with the love of your life. This is probably the deepest aspect of all of the relationship mechanics in the game. For the Townsfolk (who your spouse was formerly among), you just talk to them and give them gifts. For animals, all you really have to do is tend to their needs a couple of times per day. For your child, though, you must dedicate several in-game years to them. Your parental decisions will actually influence aspects of their personality and will ultimately decide their future career.

Some of the major new content in this version of the game has to do with Takakura. He gets many extra scenes where he spends time with your family. His original intent was just to watch over you, as he believes that is what your father would do if he were still around. Throughout these new scenes, Takakura truly becomes part of your family. Even outside of the prime of his youth, he is learning and feeling new things.

Fumbles and Stumbles

Even if you have a job you love, friends you love, and a family you couldn’t live without, sometimes there’s just something missing. In the search for filling this mysterious void, we will cynically discover ‘flaws’ within our lives or even ourselves.

I’ll be honest; I don’t hate the new art style. In fact, I love it. But, I do miss the SOUL of the old art. Some characters like Gustafa, Murray/Pui, and Gordy are also extremely different in terms of design, so there’s that. It’s definitely something to keep in mind.

I’m including this so that I can play some Devil’s Advocate. Some may miss the more muted art style, but I prefer the more vibrant one, personally. I also hear that the original game was more difficult. As in, things require more planning, and your animals could actually die. I think a ‘Classic’ difficulty could have been instated. I believe the Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town actually did include something of the sort.

I have a few nitpicks. I do love these characters, but I wish they had more to say. New events do help some characters, but I wish there were more. What’s there is good! So good that I want to beg for more like a spoiled child. My other major nitpick involves the Dig Site mini-game. CARTER AND FLORA NEED TO MOOOOOOVE. They got in my way so much sometimes. It HAS to be intentional. Well, it does make sense… Sometimes folks just get in your way, ya know? And guess what? That’s annoying.

Despite all of this, it’s flaws and changes that add texture to our lives. Yes, there are things that definitely bother me or irritate me in this game. However, I’m not sure if I’d have it any other way (mostly). Some of the things I don’t like or am unsure about are welcome, actually. The changes in mechanics or art style are what makes this version of the game unique. Changes like that, in fact, increase the value of both this remake and the original.

A Fulfilling Life

I, of course, already enjoy the farming mechanics plenty. They have depth and are very engaging. Shockingly this system is compromised of a low-skill floor and a high-skill ceiling. A-anyways, that’s not what I need to discuss. I wanted to say that this game is really tied together by its theme of life.

Think about it. It makes so much sense for a farming game to be about life. You nurture plants and animals to sustain your own life. This game has you change others’ lives and even embark on the journey of creating life. You even get your farm due to a life-ending. This farm is one that was the centerpiece of someone else’s life, as it is now your own life centerpiece. Everything loops back together, just like the circle of life. All of life’s mysteries, glories, and sadnesses weave into one another and coalesce into something oh-so-special.