In 2004 a little girl stands on the shelves of the Bart Smit to buy her first game for her brand new GameBoy Advance. She had already owned Pokémon Leaf Green from her grandparents, but she would buy this game from her own pocket money. Her eye falls on a game with a cute farmer on his farm on the front, surrounded by animals. The game becomes her favorite that she keeps returning to throughout her childhood. This game was Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town. Now sixteen years later, a remake of this game has been released under a new franchise name, Story of Seasons, and I have to review it. I started this remake with enthusiasm to return to the quiet farm life in Mineral Town, but also with the fear that the game would still be as magical as I remembered from the past.
Start a farm in a quiet village
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a farming / life simulation game developed by Marvelous. In the game, the player inherits his late grandfather’s farm and heads to the rural village of Mineral Town to take over the farm. Now you may think hey, this sounds like the Stardew Valley story and you’re right. Eric Barone used this game as inspiration for his game.
Once you get through the quick and simple storyline, it’s up to the player what they want to do. Do they want to focus on growing plants, keeping livestock, going into the mines to collect gems, or want to befriend everyone in the village and find their true love? Marvelous leaves this choice to the player. This freedom in all Story of Seasons games has always been one of the main reasons I liked the game so much and that is certainly no different in this remake.
Two levels of difficulty
The first major difference between the original and the remake is the two levels of difficulty, Easy and Normal, which the player can choose from. This has been added to the later Story of Seasons games and now also with this remake. With easy you start with a little more money, you make friendships easier, you sell products for a little more money and a number of turnips are already growing in the field. This mode is suitable for the beginners or players who want to get through the game faster. The normal mode is for the veterans and gives a bit more challenge, by starting the player with almost nothing. With these two levels of difficulty, Marvelous leaves it up to the player whether they want to make it harder or easier for themselves and that is something that I very much welcome.
Holy sh * t of controls
Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town was already a good game (in my view) on the GameBoy Advance. The graphics are a bit outdated, but it remains an entertaining game that I have often started over the years. But when I started playing the game on the Switch, I quickly found out that another mechanism from the original was out of date, because holy shit what the controls improved in the remake! It is that I know all the short cuts from the original, but despite that, the GamBoy Advance compared to the Nintendo Switch was very limited. Marvelous has used all the buttons on the Joy-Cons to give the game a simple and convenient operation. The left Joy-Con is for moving the character and selecting tools, The right Joy-Con is for picking up things, talking to residents and using the tools. Frankly, if you’ve played the remake, I don’t think you can handle the controls of the original anymore.
The necessary modernization and graphic update
Not only the controls have had an update. The graphics and character designs have also been upgraded. This was all necessary and everything looks fine, except for the occasional small glitches in the corner, which disappear within three seconds. Some character designs took some getting used to. Most are still recognizable, but others were somewhat disappointing. This may be my nostalgia glasses, but for some characters I find their new designs no longer fit the personality. Furthermore, Marvelous has added the necessary new pets and plants from the newer games to the remake. In addition to cows, chickens and sheep, you can also keep alpacas, rabbits and fruit cows (which I find a bit strange myself).
The dating system has also been modernized. It is possible in all Story of Seasons games to enter into a romantic relationship with certain characters, get married and start a family. The characters for whom this is possible have a heart in different colors under their portrait, the color indicating how strong your relationship with the person is. At first this was only possible with heterosexual relationships, but in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town it is possible for the first time to start a relationship with all bachelors, whatever gender you choose. This is a very welcome and much requested addition from the fans of this franchise.
Unfortunately, something has also disappeared from the dating system that I was not so happy with. In the original, you had rivals chasing someone, and if you weren’t fast enough, someone else ran off with that bachelor. Although the new remake gives the appearance of a romantic relationship, the rivals do not eventually marry each other. This is a shame, because it made many players feel that after they got married, life in the village continued. Now every single person remains single for life if you don’t choose him or her and if you think about it a bit more, it is quite sad.
A classic with a new look
Despite a few minor negatives, I enjoyed myself again very much in Mineral Town. Just like before I could hardly put it away. Secretly I was disappointed that I had to write this review, because I wanted to continue playing. Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is a classic Story of Seasons game with a modern twist. I can tell a lot more about this game, but then this review would be too long.
Now the most difficult thing is to give a number. I really enjoyed this game, even more than Animal Crossing: New Horizons (sorry Claudia), but does this game deserve as high a rating as the world-dominating life simulator? In my opinion, to be honest, this is the game that I have enjoyed the most in years since Breath of The Wild and that is saying something! However, I admit that this game is not for everyone. So if you read this and think, “What the hell is this about?” Don’t buy this game, because then the game is just not for you. If you have read this and think it is fun, then I heartily recommend that you try this game, because this remake is the ultimate way to get acquainted with this underexposed franchise!
The final verdict of Jolien Mauritsz
Although I was afraid that my nostalgia glasses would be destroyed, I was extremely surprised with Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. It is the same classic game that I bought from the Bart Smit sixteen years ago, only with the much needed modernizations and control update. While it is a shame that Marvelous changed some things, like the removal of rivals and some redesigns, the charm of Mineral Town is exactly the same as it used to be.
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- Pros
- Much better controls
- Much needed modernization
- Charming characters
- Improved graphics
- More romantic options
- Game as charming as the original
- Negatives
- Number of redesigns are disappointing
- Rivals have been removed from the remake
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ScoreGood –
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About author Jolien Mauritsz
Jolien may look sweet, but under that cute layer is an unprecedented news tiger. This lady knows everything and does not shy away from serving her opinion hard on a silver platter. Television, movies, games, series or even talk shows, Jolien literally knows everything. No no, really everything! You don’t believe us? Put her to the test!
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