STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar

If you're looking for a relaxing farming sim to scratch a Harvest Moon itch, I definitely recommend this! As a kid, I only had the chance to play Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands, and I loved it so dearly that I even bought game guides for it. I have been a little wary of Story of Seasons since I didn't particularly enjoy their first release, but I'm glad I was given the chance to play this by my husband. I never played the original HM:Grand Bazaar, but this game exceeded my expectations for my Harvest Moon nostalgia. So far it's been very hard to put down even after hours of play, and even when I'm not playing, I'm still planning and thinking about things I have to do in the game! Overall, it's been a great and cozy experience, though there are a few things that I was not fully satisfied with. Pros: - Great visuals and runs smoothly - Music is pleasant and reminiscent of some melodies from older HM games - Upgrading (tools, crops, farm plots, etc.) is straightforward and not too difficult - Bazaar mechanics is easy, though it is your main source of income to last the week - No rival marriage system! Villagers only begin to marry each other after you are married - You can romance all the bachelors/bachelorettes at the same time with no consequences, so you can experience every romance route! - Lots of customization for the player character - You can own LOTS of cute livestock and pets - Dogs and cats can be trained to herd your livestock in and out of the barn, so you don't have to worry about accidentally leaving them outside overnight! - Cutscenes and small animations that make the villagers feel like they actually live in the town - Cutscenes are also fully voiced Cons: - Not a con for me, but likely for others. This is a VERY grindy game. It's not particularly hard, but it takes patience and effort if you want high quality items for anything. You'll end up grinding for higher quality anyways since villagers will request items of a certain quality, and you won't be able to progress friendships or the bazaar otherwise. - Not enough crafting slots in the windmill imo. I have so much I need to craft, but I am usually limited by the available slots, which is 6 for each windmill. - Windmill crafting speed is sometimes reeeally slow. Example: typically it takes two days to craft 9 seeds for a farm plot. A way around this is to break up whatever you're crafting into several stacks (e.g., using 3 slots to craft 3 seeds each) since they all have separate timers, but this takes up more crafting slots. - Friendships with villagers get locked behind requests at certain friendship levels. You cannot gain any further friendship points with a villager until the request gets completed, which sometimes takes a long time depending on what they're asking for. - The romances are... just okay. I personally didn't feel super compelled to pursue anyone (aside from maybe 2 characters), even after getting all the bachelors/bachelorettes to at least 5 hearts. - Some foraging areas you can't access unless on windy days with a glider (i.e. the sprites' home) - Horse riding is a bit clunky with poor turning radius. Even though the game encourages riding your horse to get around faster (and thereby also training it), generally I can get to areas faster by jumping/gliding since it's easier to navigate that way. - Personally I found the English voicing to be a little grating on the ears when it came to certain characters. Changed it to Japanese voicing and found it to be much better. I still have a lot more to play through since I'm only up to late autumn of Year 1, so this review might change in the future, who knows. Still, I highly recommend it for farming sim lovers that want to relive some old Harvest Moon nostalgia like me! :)

If you liked the old version, its a must. As an standalone story of seasons game its really fun with the bazaar mechanic, but it hasnt features you could expect from this games series, you will not have mines, for that reason winter its a crops season as the others. The field you can use to grow stuff feels tiny, and you will meet no automatization at all (There is sprinklers and thats it). Its a DS game remake, so if you have any love for the old version, this one is absolutely a must, at a level I can´t even explain.

I have put more hours into this game, then I have in ANY of my games, and let’s just say, I’m an avid gamer… so 100 plus hours 🤣 I love the grind of making items for the bazar, and getting to know the locals. It’s over all, very entertaining and worth the money.