Somewhere above the Los Angeles Convention Centre, the Harvest Goddess was smiling over this year's E3; along with Natsume's in-house-developed Harvest Moon: Skytree Village, XSEED brought a farming-fan-favourite in Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns — the latest game in the long-running Bokujō Monogatari series (localized as Harvest Moon prior to 2013). Adding in three explorable towns and a big focus on pets, it looks set to offer the cream of the crop in agricultural life sims; we loved what we played in our hands-on time.
After digging around in the demo, we sat down with Head of Development Yoshifumi Hashimoto — longtime producer of both the Bokujō Monogatari and Rune Factory series — to talk about exploration, localization, and relaxation in this brand-new Trio of Towns.
First off, could you give us a quick introduction to this Story of Seasons?
In Trio of Towns, the main character — either a girl or a boy — gets their start by visiting their uncle's farm, and that's where they learned to farm. So one difference between this and the last Story of Seasons is that here, the main character's family becomes involved in their farm life.
Having three towns instead of just one to explore is a big change; what inspired that?
It wasn't inspired by anything in particular, but I did think that since it's the 20th anniversary of the series I wanted to do something different. Story of Seasons usually takes places in just a Western-themed town, but I thought fans might want to visit a Japanese-style town, or a tropical island town as well. It's really hard to travel around in real life, so I thought it would be fun to make that possible in the game — that's my inspiration.
Story of Seasons usually takes places in just a Western-themed town, but I thought fans might want to visit a Japanese-style town, or a tropical island town as well. It's really hard to travel around in real life, so I thought it would be fun to make that possible in the game — that's my inspiration.
What were you able to do with the three towns in terms of the gameplay? Did that open up more festivals, or dating options?
As you said, there are various types of festivals in each town, and depending on where you are the festivals can be different. For a year-end festival you might want to go to one town, for instance, and for something like Thanksgiving you might want to go to another town. There are also different stores in each town, and they can have different hours. Westown, the Western-themed town, is open from morning to night, but in Lulukoko, the tropical-themed town, the stores have a siesta, so they close for a break in the middle of the day before opening again. Differences like that make it fun to play in all three towns.
Westown looks to be based on the North American Wild West, and Tsuyukusa on traditional Japan — is Lulukoko based on a specific culture or country?
Actually Westown isn't just based on North America — it's a mix of North America and other countries too, and it's the same for Lulukoko. I made it as a mix of lots of tropical island countries.
Besides the three towns, another thing that jumped out at me while playing the game was how much more animals felt a part of the experience, especially pets. How did that come about?
As you mentioned, in previous Story of Seasons games there would always be farm animals, like cows and chickens that you can get products from, but this season there's going to be lots of pets that you can have as well — 28 different kinds! That's mostly different kinds of cats and dogs, but there are also going to be Capybara and some special pets too. In real life it's hard to have some types of animals, like a Capybara or a Maine Coon cat, but you can have them in this game! They can stick with you everywhere you go and help with whatever jobs you have, and even go to events with you, so they'll be next to you to see how you do on the farm, and they'll always be there to cheer you up.
It seems like that's a theme of the game, getting to do things you wouldn't be able to in the real world!
Yes; I want players to be able to do things, like have different animals, they can't easily do in real life. That's always really enjoyable!
Communication seemed like a big part of the last Story of Seasons game, does that play a role here as well?
As for communication, I think the biggest feature here is that we actually have a small island in the game for people to visit with others, through online connectivity or local multiplayer. So people who want to play with other people can go to this island to connect, and they can chat and talk to each other, or fish together. I think that is the biggest form of communication this season.
Bokujō Monogatari titles have often included references to previous games, in people, names, and places — will we see that in Trio of Towns too?
I know when some people played previous Story of Seasons games, they enjoyed when they'd see a reference from previous games, but sometimes new players won't be able to enjoy those as much as returning players would, so we didn't really put in any references like that for this Story of Seasons. But we'll try to get fans' ideas for what people think about that for future titles.
One thing we really loved in the first Story of Seasons was the Super Mario-themed crops; do Nintendo fans have any easter eggs to look forward to in Trio of Towns as well?
We're still adjusting everything for the North American version, but in the Japanese version we have Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad costumes that players can wear. Each costume has different attributes too, so wearing them can give you a boost in relationships, running speed, or fishing, for instance, though we're still finalizing things for the North American release.
Before, it was more like simple translation, but now since we can hear more of North American fans' voices, and our North American staff's ideas too, we can work in improvements for the North American release.
Speaking of, when we talked two years ago, you mentioned that now that you're localizing the games through XSEED [a subsidiary of MarvelousAQL, the developers of the Bokujō Monogatari series] you'll have a lot more work to do! How has that played out for this game?
Ever since we started working with XSEED, as you said, I've become more involved in the North American releases. Before, it was more like simple translation, but now since we can hear more of North American fans' voices, and our North American staff's ideas too, we can work in improvements for the North American release. It's really great to be involved with the North American release, and to get to hear all these ideas.
One thing I noticed when playing was that the art style seemed quite different to the first Story of Seasons; can you talk about the art direction in Trio of Towns?
Every single title that I work on I always try to make, I don't want to say different, but I do try to differentiate them all little by little. I feel responsible to make people who buy the game happy, and since we've released a few Story of Seasons titles on 3DS, we don't want to make the same exact thing on the same hardware. So I always try to make it a bit different and make adjustments like this, so that players will enjoy the changes.
I think a lot of kids tend to buy Story of Seasons games too, since it's a good game for children, and, well, video games aren't cheap! They have to spend their monthly allowance that they've saved up to buy the game, so I feel that it's our duty to try and make them happier with what they're spending that allowance on.
It does seem like Story of Seasons is a series that appeals to a wide-range of people, and in particular it's a series that means a lot to so many players. What do you think it is about farming sims that make them so enjoyable?
I think where that comes from is that lots of people like to go through all different types of games, like shooting games, battle games, and action games, but I believe that deep down, everybody has times when they just want to relax and take a break. These types of games [like Story of Seasons] can bring people that feeling of relaxation with no stress, and I think that's a big part of why people keep loving this genre.
Even with keeping that base of relaxation through farming, the series has changed and evolved so much since the original Super Nintendo release — what's been your favourite innovation since then?
For me the biggest turning point was with the GameCube, when we released Bokujō Monogatari: Shiawase no Uta [Harvest Moon: Magical Melody]. Until that title, we always had to switch out whether players were a boy or girl farmer in each game, but for [Magical Melody], we put both female and male farmers in the same game, so players could choose which they wanted to be. Since then we've continued to do that, putting both male and female farmers in each game, so I think that's been the biggest change.
What inspired that change?
There are certainly a lot of female players, and the number increased more at that time. We'd been making the games as either male-only or female-only, and it wasn't easy to do both, but players wanted to choose, so that's why we added in that system.
What are you most excited for players to experience when they pick up the new Story of Seasons?
This season we've put in a feature where players can actually control the attributes of the character they create, so if you like fishing, you could set up your character to be good at fishing right from the start, or you could have them be good at sports or other activities. We also have different difficulty settings, so players can choose an easier mode if they're newcomers, or a harder mode if they're longtime fans.
We've tried to make it easy to enter and easier to enjoy, so that should be exciting for all players. And I think that it will be great for people, when they're playing something like a shooter or a more complicated game, to just stop by this Story of Seasons game and relax. I hope everyone will enjoy that feeling!
We'd like to thank Hashimoto-san for his time, and Mai Okuno from XSEED for translating. Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is currently set for a Winter 2016 release in North America.
Comments 21
So excited for this game to come to NA!
My biggest complain about this series just only character design. I saw a lot of weirdos, both villagers and marriage candidates. For marriage candidates, i have almost no choices but Hinata or Kasumi for the best looking for me. The rest just Blah.... >_<
I wonder, who is character designer from A New Beginning until Trio of Towns ? Because the artwork style is too feminine for me. When i take a look very close for some character, let's say Brad. Brad doesn't even look like a proper man looking. Looks like bishounen style. Yuzuki looks even worst. I thought 'SHE' was a 'SISTER' of Kasumi. But when i got further information, i realized that 'HE' is a 'MAN' with 'GIRLIE' looking (And then i want to vomit after realized that). My thought was ' Oh, Come On. Man with Woman looking ? Seriously ? When i choose female character and then married with Yuzuki, doesn't it looks like a relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune ( girl and girl) ?
Where is manly looking Bachelor like Owen from Tree of Tranquility ( My reaction was OMG!!! He is so HANDSOME and muscular. I'm melting to see handsome young man like that.) ? And for Inari / Fox Guardian, who's idea to get married with a deity that BIGENDER and have a Girlie looking ? I don't want to get married with him/her. Yuck!
Despite of character design's flaw, the gameplay still somewhat good IMO. But i still noticed a lot of Jaggies for 3D rendering. For me, the graphic itself much like HD version of NDS engine. And when i was watching the Japanese gameplay, my reaction was mixed between excited and disappointed. Yay... new Bokujou Monogatari series but at the same time also NOOO.... they ruined my hype by the character design. Almost no good looking people that i can interact. Who's idea to design Marco, the chef veteran looks like Classic Donald Duck ? I thought 'IT' was a 'Monkey' that fishing around with the player when i watched the first trailer.
I hope for next project, hire an artist who can draw both boy and girl very balance. No bishonen looking despite some Japanese like that, No gender confusion, Give at least 8 until 10 pairs of marriage candidates just like Wii version, No repeated SAME sound effects that i noticed taken from A Wonderful Life. Sorry, just to be honest my impression with this series. Quite interesting and disppointed at the same time.
That's quite a noggin!
I just want to say that I enjoyed the crap out of Popolocrois and now I'm looking forward to this too. This will
be my first "Harvest Moon" title so I'm really looking forward to it.
Sadly I just picked up Rune Factory 4 yesterday and I'm enjoying it so much. Man I hope I have enough time for all this! But yeah holy crap I'm excited for this! Never played them before because I felt it awkward to play something like this on a console. But on 3DS it's a no-brainer!
Really excited for this! Harvest Moon: A New Beginning was my return to the series since the last one I played before then was 64, and man was ANB so much fun! Then the first Story of Seasons came along, and I've put in almost 80 hours, even while getting into Stardew Valley (which is quite lovely). Really, really, REALLY looking forward to Trio of Towns!
@TerrapinJess
Welcome to Bokujou Monogatari series. Rune Factory itself is spin-off of that series, so it will do same thing minus hunting for monster and using magical techniques. Just enjoy the game that you can sit down and relax, spent your siesta time quietly. You can also try Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility on Wii, i've finished the story plot for more than 3 times, play as both girl and boy. I believe you will like it.
Thanks for the great interview Morgan. As a long time fan of the Harvest Moon(Story of Seasons) franchise this is greatly appreciated. I like that they're going back to multiple towns and the ability to tweak character attributes sounds awesome. Hopefully I can mine a little sooner now 😃. Like I said in another post I'm really looking forward to the pets having more of a role as well. Definitely picking this up and I cant wait! If I could put a request in though I would love a Story of Seasons game on the NX that's built for the system. It's been too long since Tree of Tranquility on Wii and I absolutely loved that game. Please Marvelous and XSeed, make it happen!
Honestly, after playing Stardew Valley I just don't know if I can go back to this series. SV has everything I've ever wanted in a Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons game and more.
Maybe if they ad same-sex marriage and put mining back into HM/SS I'll come back but for now I'm perfectly happy with SV!
@Shiek
Why would same sex marriage be a game changer?
@Andrzej777
I would think that would be pretty obvious
A Tale of Two Towns was everything but relaxing. I had to learn lots of data that the game did not tell me and went about my days scurrying around.
@Shiek
To everyone its own!
Personally I dont think gay marriage would fit the game at all. I mean, this is a country life theme, rural area farming. Its got a classic vibe to it. Have you ever seen same sex marriage in classic literature? Me neither! I think such an option would spoil the atmosphere of a farming game like story of seasons.
@Andrzej777 I really don't want to get into a debate about lesbian/gay lifestyles here, but I don't agree at all with what you're saying.
So gays don't belong in the country...? That doesn't make any sense. There's a town 45 minutes from me that only has about 4k people living there and it's known as a lesbian breeding ground. Should they stay in the closet because they live in a small town? I certainly don't think so.
You might not know this, but gays and lesbians are EVERYWHERE. Not just in big cities.
@Shiek
Sorry I don't think same sex marriage has any place in a Story of Seasons game and I'm honestly sick and tired of a vocal minority bringing it up. It's been a great game without it for this long so it's not needed to make it a great game now. Stop trying to shove your lifestyle down everybody else's throats. The developers obviously don't like the idea either and like the other guy said I think it would ruin the atmosphere.
@Shiek
I was talking about a game that has a somewhat classical setting - classical romance and stuff. The gay/lesbian revolution happened not too long ago, definitely much later than the classic periods. Not saying there werent any gay/lesbian people during that time, but like you say, they were hiding in the closet back in the day.
Hopefully they will not include it in this game!
@Andrzej777 Well, like I said, I've got all the lesbian loving I could ever need in Stardew Valley. And because of that I don't need Story of Seasons or Harvest Moon. We can just agree to disagree on this topic
Actually the conservative nature of most games on Nintendo platforms lately have made me steer further away from the Wii U and 3DS and more towards the PC and it seems like I'm not the only one. Most of the hate I see on other sites for Nintendo stems from the opinion that they play it too safe in their games.
@capitalism Well us gays have been fed up with you straights shoving your lifestyle down our throats for hundreds of years so.. Cry me a river? It's not about forcing you to be gay, anyway. We just want some representation, which is something you've never had to worry about.
Anyway, I'm done talking about this. Just wanted to throw in my two-cents about the game. But it's the internet so you can't throw an opinion out there without getting angry replies.
@Shiek
Sad to hear. I must admit that I couldnt care less about any romance in games. Romance is something that can only be experienced in real life, virtual romance has always been a little bit odd to me, but I guess thats just me.
Nintendo playing it safe? Well, I think they stick to tradition, which is fine by me. Like I said before gay marriage shouldnt be a game changer IMHO.
@Shiek
I think we are all talking about games here, nobody is attacking anyone because of their sexual orientation.
What makes me wonder, however, why games are judged so hard wether they include or exclude gay marriage.
Today I have read about a guy who got married to his Iphone in Las Vegas.
Are the days coming where people will complain about not including the possibility to marry your cell phone? Or dog? Or car?
@Andrzej777 Did you just compare same-sex marriage to marrying a dog or inanimate object? Mkay, I'm definitely done with this conversation.
@Shiek
No, I didnt.
I just implied that you cannot have everything in a game. Sorry, if I offended your feelings.
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