Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate's not impressed by what she's seen of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life so far...
My very first Harvest Moon game was A Wonderful Life on the GameCube, which is lucky, because it's one of the best. I'm not just saying that because I'm basically a nerd donut filled with delicious nostalgia jam, but because it was a really weird game. It had characters that died. It had a full lifecycle in which you could live 30 years and then pass your farm onto your kid. There's a talking plant, and a yeti, and a mysterious homeless man who sometimes steals from your farm unless you train your dog to chase him away.
It's not the only weird game in the series' history. Harvest Moon DS was full of strange stuff, like the mermaid that lived in a mad scientist's basement, or the fact that you have to murder your own animals to marry the Witch Princess. Friends of Mineral Town lets you marry a pond monster. Even as recently as Trio of Towns, there was the option to marry Woofio, a large dog mascot, and you're informed at one point that there's no one actually inside the costume, and he's in fact a human being that was cursed by a forest spirit.
In later games, that trademark weirdness has slowly been draining away. Pioneers of Olive Town, the latest game, is full of rather boring normal people, and although you can dress up as a cat or a buffalo every single day if you want, that's about as funky as things get.
Unfortunately, it seems like Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life might be heading in the same direction, i.e. boarding the train to Normie Town. We haven't seen much of the game yet, it's true, but we've been treated to a lot of the character redesigns, and... well, they speak for themselves, really:
To address a potential elephant in the room: Cody (now named Gordy) was desperately in need of a redesign, as his original design was a pretty racially insensitive one. But they've steered in entirely the opposite direction, turning him from a muscular, punky-looking guy into someone who looks like he'd sulk if you beat him at a football game.
And Gustafa? He used to be this bizarre, pointy hippy with sunglasses that were unnervingly opaque. Now he looks like an oat milk latte version of John Lennon with no fashion sense. At least the glasses are still unnerving, just in a cult leader way rather than a "guy who grows his own mushrooms, if you know what I mean" way.
Don't get me wrong, these character designs aren't bad by themselves. But compared to the originals, they seem so sanitised, and samey. The characters don't have the cartoonish, memorable natures that they did in the GameCube original, and although they're now much more realistic, they're also a bit more inoffensively boring.
But I think my heart breaks most for Nami. In the original game, she's a quiet, standoffish tomboy who leaves the town at the end of the first year unless you marry her. She's hard to win over, because she's independent and distant, and because she keeps to herself; but that's part of the reason I love her so much. The other bachelorettes, Celia and Muffy (now named Cecilia and Molly), are both friendly and warm to you from early on, but Nami is her own person, and unlike the other two girls, she's not particularly femme in her presentation, preferring to wear Converse and flannel.
She's still kept pretty gender-ambiguous in the remake, which I appreciate, but now she has makeup on. It seems silly to be sad, and it seems like it's not a big deal. Of course androgynous and masc-presenting people can wear makeup; I do all the time! But that thin line of baby-pink lip gloss is bigger than it seems.
Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons have always been slow when it comes to progressive additions to their games, dragging their feet all the way into conceding that maybe you can play as a girl and maybe you can marry someone of the same gender. Back in the early 2000s, Nami — an androgynous character who doesn't particularly care about the player, who goes by her own schedule, and is reluctant to open up to anyone — felt special, especially amongst the more typical bachelorettes.
It's probably not hugely surprising to hear that a lot of people who enjoy farming games and life sims are queer women like me, and though I highly doubt Nami (or Celia, or Muffy) were ever designed for that demographic, they nevertheless have their fans in the queer community, and Nami — even accidentally — is a queer-coded character. LGBTQ+ gamers have always found ways to find their own stories in games, even as they are forced to play as straight men over and over again, and marrying Nami was one of those.
Listen, for the record, I went for Celia, because I was a child and she was the easiest to woo, but Nami felt like representation of how a woman could be — representation that I didn't see much elsewhere.
Perhaps Nami's boyishness was part of why A Wonderful Life was so weird. Back then, it felt like Harvest Moon wasn't afraid to be a little different, because it was in a category all of its own. It wasn't competing with anything, or vying for new players with some shiny new feature. It wasn't afraid to have characters that perhaps weren't typical. For players like me, weird was what we were, and weird was what we wanted.
But when one door closes, another opens. For the first time in Harvest Moon history, players will be able to select "non-binary" as their protagonist's gender, as confirmed by XSEED themselves. And you can marry whomever you want, meaning that same-gender marriage is possible once more. So, I can forgive them giving Nami lipgloss, and I can even forgive them for making Gustafa into a tedious hipster, because player representation is the kind of progress that truly matters.
Also, if I'm totally honest... Nami's still hot.
Do you agree with us that the character redesigns in A Wonderful Life are a bit boring? Are you still going to marry Nami? Tell us in the comments!
Comments 41
The current character illustrations look like the result of a Japanese character designer attempting to emulate the style of a Western character designer doing a poor imitation of Japanese character designs.
They aren’t stylised enough to be engagingly whacky or interesting, but they also lack any realistic ‘depth’. They just look like almost-normal people but… boringer.
I don't mind the new character designs. I think they were kind of necessary to modernize the game. I don’t see Nami as wearing makeup, and I actually really like her redesign — even as much as the original. She was also a big deal to me as a queer kid raised Catholic. I'm afab nonbinary and Nami was the first character in a video game that I really resonated with. So, of course I used the internet to learn how to woo her as soon as I saw her. I'm super excited I can play as a nonbinary character in this game, and I can't wait to have (Another) Wonderful Life with Nami! ^_^
If only we could buy classic games like HM FoMT along with the remakes
I used to like the farming in the older versions of these games.
Kate said it best with the term "sanitized." Marvelous is trying to take every edge off of these games — including any aspect of difficulty or any feature requiring a little patience — to make the games more appealing to younger players who want an easy, vanilla experience. I was excited for this remake at first but now seem more inclined to simply replay the original.
They are a bit more boring. Nami was the best and now she’s just that bit less interesting. I can’t with Gustafa though, he just looks like Paul Dano.
The more I see of the remake the less I am interested which sucks since the original was one of my favourite games on the GC. Good thing Stardew Valley exists, it's kind of all anyone needs anyway.
It’s just an artstyle change for the guys. Nami has had the tousled hair since special edition. Her wardrobe keeps changing though. Likely to make her more modern fashion wise. I’m super excited to raise a daughter with her however. Which is all I ever wanted from a remake.
The game will flop like Disney's latest animated film. People are just getting tired of woke BS. They want games and movies with characters that are MORE than just their race, gender, and/or sexuality. If you truly want a wonderful life, play the original, where the characters clearly had more personality and effort put into them.
If Gustafa starts singing "Imagine", I'm outta here!
@Ability-King-KK gamers when the big gay appear.
Like seriously. You see the things that are changing with the remake and of ALL the changes the fact that people can choose a non binary character is the thing you are bothered by? Really?
Removed - inappropriate
Cody/Gordy went from a punk rock Rufio, to a Ring Fit Adventure trainer. At least all of that fitness seems to be doing his hairline some good.
@victordamazio Don't you think "colonialism" is a weird accusation to throw arround tho? Also, to my knowledge, this game is offering an option. They are not forcing you to do anything.
@jowe_gw White europeans going to native land, forcing the natives to change their culture and their language, this is not OK, but white americans telling latinos to change their culture and language, say words like "latinx" and "latines", this is OK?
Remember that these countries do not have the first amendment and actual laws forcing these changes in the language can totally happen.
And pay attention that I'm not talking about the game, my birth language is much more precious than a game.
@victordamazio Again, it seems to me like you are exaggerating.
And if you are not talking about the game in a comment section about set game then what are you doing here? Just being angry against a non existent thread? Is people asking for pronouns such a big deal to you? Like, if you don't want to use them just ignore them. It's not that hard.
@jowe_gw Languages like spanish, portuguese and french are gendered languages, the separation between male and female words is more than just the pronouns, many words like adjectives and articles are divided between male and female versions, even things that aren't alive like a car or a chair are called he or she, these languages will require a complete overhaul to become gender neutral, this is too much to ask to poor countries that already struggle to teach kids and even adults the regular language.
@victordamazio I'm aware. I speak spanish... I still don't get your point. For one, the tweet is about english, which has neutral pronouns already. Besides, you're literally comparing colonialism to grammar. I hated language classes at school too but this seems to far.
Jokes aside. Real talk here: Ignore them. I personally hate all the examples of non gendered language in spanish. I think they don't fit at all. I just don't compared them to colonialism and let them be. I don't need to be angry about such little things in my day to day life.
Language changes over time based on use and if people truly don't like them then those would dissapear over time or at least only be used in certain groups. Which is fine and doesn't affect me or you at all.
Literally Soul vs Soulless
The only design change I really dislike is Cody's. I can get reining it in somewhat but it's just too radical of a departure, it loses the appeal of just how big and burly he is.
That said I do really, really like the new Nami look. Hadn't really even noticed the makeup, I just like the tweaked outfit and haircut.
@Ability-King-KK People who don't like diverse games don't have to play them.
My thought with the character design changes.
Marlin -> Matthew = Hoosha! He looks better in new design.
Rock = Eh.... A little bit Boho style on his outfits
Gustafa = Nah... Never like his looking
Cody = No way ! He looks way much better in new design.
I think the new character designer is a female artist as from my thought the female artist have tendency to design the characters with cartoonish looking in softer style than the character designer by male artist.
With the statement "It's probably not hugely surprising to hear that a lot of people who enjoy farming games and life sims are queer women like me." If I'm honest, I really don't get the link here, the conclusion or the causation??
We can clearly see that people like different thing. I played the original and think it's the most boring and uninspired in the series. I had to force myself to finish it.
That said, I'm happy for those who like it, but it's not for me.
@Ability-King-KK
Strange World flopped because there was zero marketing and the film is pretty dull. It has nothing to do with the lead character being gay or a the inter racial relationship. It is essentially this generation's Treasure Planet. It will earn a cult following but it was destined to bomb regardless of the characters sexuality. I've seen massive Disney fans question what the film was simply because they only heard of it when news articles published that it was flopping.
Meanwhile Wakanda Forever is reaching 700 million very soon despite the lack of the original's lead, Aneka and Ayo being lesbians and the lead cast being prominately black women.
This game will only gain sales by allowing people to play as they desire. If it loses sales it will be due to an oversaturated farming sim market, art style changes and possibly poor quality if that's the case.
Need I point out that the Fire Emblem series has only been increasing in sales when they introduced same sex relationships? That is mainly due to the overhaul of the series, but introducing same sex romances didn't hinder growth.
So no, people like yourself seem to directly tie quality of a product to diversity. Which is definitely not the case. Products simply sell based on recognisability and quality. End of story.
I’ll probably be getting this for my mom as she likes this style of game but the originals art does look way more interesting to me. These new designs just look so plain and boring…
Removed - flaming/arguing
@Ability-King-KK You need to stop being all that angry all the time and stop inventing narratives in your head. Because that's what you are doing.
You know that there are good media that is also diverse, right? Unless you are making the argument that having diverse characters in a piece of media makes it bad then those things are independent of each other.
I've never played Harvest Moon but I agree with you. The character redesigns make me sad.
I played the original, but I actually like the new designs. It's just standard anime which makes sense given it's from Japan. I don't really think there's a deeper reason for it than that.
I definitely don’t hate the redesigns, but I don’t love them either. Cody’s is probably my least favorite; he just looks so basic. I don’t have too much of a problem with the other two you mentioned, but I do agree with you about the problems you pointed.
Umm... No!
Not a fan at all.
@Ability-King-KK The fact my main priority for a game or movie is 'diversity', 'inclusion', and 'representation' over a well-written story and characterization, says something about me? Whatever it says about me I wear as an absolute badge of honor. ❤
@EaglyTheKawaiiShika The entire way of thinking is flawed full stop. 99.9999999% of all media is utter garbage. More is released every day than you could ever keep up with, the vast majority of which falls through the cracks such as music on Bandcamp or movies that barely got funded. You’ll find that a tiny tiny minority of media contains ‘woke’ themes and will actually have a higher percentage chance of being decent, due to companies not taking chances on this sort of media in the same way that they’ll throw money at a Z list celebrity to write a children’s book or a John Travolta action movie that goes straight to DVD. Its basic logic, entrepreneurship is much much harder for minorities in society, which extends to the creation and promotion of media. So there will of course be media of this sort which isn’t great, that’s the way of things, but percentage wise, they lack the widespread saturation of traditional media.
Looks and sounds terrible, no thanks.
Wait... they keep mentioning Nami, Celia, and Muffin... but what about Lumina? Is Lumina not available anymore or something??
I hope she is, she's my favorite.
When it comes to woke stuff, to each their own. I’m more excited to be able to play this in handheld mode since I played the heck out of this on the GameCube. I just want them to fix the baby cow glitch. The calf is born and then disappears from the farm only to come back complete malnourished and almost dead. The poor baby cow.
People will complain about the diversity being "shoved in their faces", but I'm really happy to have this option now. It's what I was dreaming of when I played Harvest Moon 64 as a 16yo whose sexual orientation was rarely represented.
Some people act as if this will affect their sacred straight experience in any way.
The biggest thing that stands out to me with the Cody redesign, he has the most generic 'male love interest' face imaginable. In my eyes his facial structure just doesn't tally up with either his skin colour nor his original design. It just looks like a generic pretty boy sprite with a hue edit to get some darker skin.
I don't think it's fair to brand the redesigns as woke or anything like that. They are just massively over sanitised by a studio that's lost it's sense of style and design.
Cody is disappointing, just boring. He had a more interesting design originally. I was disappointed when we couldn't date the mad scientist in the ds version. He was just so entertaining.
Excited to play regardless of the character updates though I echo what others have already said with taking some of the pizazz out of the style of the characters. You can modernize the character or fashion etc without taking away what made them standout as a likeable character.
On the orientation front I am happy people are able to play as they like I think that is the inclusive way everyone can experience the game. However, I do wish this was a choice at the menu option level rather than a blanket all characters. I just don't enjoy trying to engage with the non marriage characters from you our chosen orientation and all take it as flirting rather than just trying to have friendly conversation or befriending through a gift and open the paths for that NPC. I would think there are probably many who would prefer this regardless of how they identify there is the option do the same IRL without someone defaulting to interpreting as flirting. It just loses a little bit of the appeal for me but I'm sure it will still be a very fun game for all.
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