Same-Gender Marriage Will Apparently Be Available In Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town

The ‘best friends’ mechanic has been there for years. They need to bloody well grow up and call it what it is - marriage. It’s 2021.

When I played Harvest Moon as a little boy I cried because the guy I liked would never take my marriage proposals seriously

@nessisonett It’ll likely be changed in the English translation, it was in the new MT game. I don’t think same sex marriage is recognized in Japan still, so that’s most likely why it’s still being called that in the Japanese release.

“I’m sorry! I misunderstand! You say boyfriend, I thought you say best friend! Carlos is my best friend!”

That seems like a real stupid addition. Like I don't know why it exists other than to make it more obvious your series doesn't have gay marriage.

I mean I guess there's an aromantic Story of Seasons player out there who will be really happy about this?

also wait are they implying boys and girls can't be best friends? I just thought of that. lol

Eh, I prefer the approach of making characters that fit that particular sexuality rather than just make everyone like that though that would mean more work so yeah nope ain't gonna happen.

Just feels shoehorned in otherwise like it's a meaningless part of these characters.

Great to hear same-sex marriage is an option, now I just hope it gets confirmed for Rune Factory 5, there's some rather attractive men in that.

@lpalmss exactly. Its news worthy because same gender marriage would actually be a new feature in games if the game didn't have them before OR if other similar series don't offer the same expanded features.

@Bass_X0 Thanks for reminding me I need to watch Legally Blonde again!

The title is misleading. The game does not have same sex marriages. Not buying this best friends BS, it is actually humiliating. Not buying the game. Support the right thing with your wallet 🏳️‍🌈✊

Always a good thing, and always notable when it comes to video games.

Yes! You can run away and live with your best friend like the Ladies Of Llangollen did

On a serious note I've genuinely never one thing be both progressive AND erasure, that's actually impressive. But hey at least I'm finally being represented in more games, bringing the grand total of game characters I can relate to to 3 (Ghirahim from Skyward Sword and Bernadetta from Fire Emblem Three Houses being the other two)

Still surprised it took this long to implement it (yet still not call it gay marriage) when Stardew Valley did it years ago.

Well they changed it to marriage in the localization of mineral town so here is hoping that happens again. Glad that news outlets are willing to let gamers know if they have the option as there are so many games that have romantic relationship aspects but still pretend everyone in the world is heterosexual. No different than when bokumono games were originally male only and then finally branched out to female PCs (in a separate game for a while... which sucked). Now we finally can play as either sex and marry as we wish. Just waiting on it to be ubiquitous so I don’t have to ask/cross my fingers.

Japan doesn’t have same sex marriage nationwide so sadly it makes sense why they say “best friends”. Solidarity for my sisters in the land of the rising sun.

Just saying it... Gender and sex are not synonyms. These are important key words but people use them interchangeably. They aren't interchangeable.

Alright y’all who are you gonna romance? I’m picking Laura, I think.

Nice. All gay ppl are ok in my book

@DavidMac the irony is they're getting all mad about a bit more inclusion, about the maturing of games as an art form, instead of having fun playing games.

All, might I recommend celebrating this news and ignoring those that would tear down our joy? You won’t change minds of those that hate, but you give them a win when you lose focus on the positives. Don’t give them a win.

Who’s romancing whom? Like I said earlier I think I’ll go with Laura.

@Ryu_Niiyama haha I like where you are steering things. I wish the characters didn't look kiddish. I'm guessing that's the chibish art style? I guess my character will marry whatever girl is cool 😎

Again best friends ceremony in this social climate is just humiliating.

@Friscobay Let's see what happens if a game came out where everyone was gay but the villain who was a bad stereotype of pervy straight men

@LilMuku I would buy that game!

@Kirby_Girl lol it’s the bokumono artstyle; honestly these look more adult/realistic than some of the previous games. I’ve been playing since the beginning (usually I play celibate since same sex marriage is recent in the series in the west if this article didn’t give that away) and at this point I think I find the artstyle wholesome lol.

There was an article on the marriage candidates a few days ago if you want more info.

@Ryu_Niiyama I already declared my love for Bridget, and now I know I can marry her, YOU BET I'M GOING TO. My back-up is Damon, because I always seem to go for the bad boys in these games, although Iori does like tea (and I like tea)...

Anyway, as a queer woman, I'm disappointed that the feature is still called "Best Friends" in Japan, but it's better than denying the existence and preference of queer people altogether. Me and Bridget will just have to pretend that we're spinsters in the 1950s who ~mysteriously never married~.

@Ryu_Niiyama cool thanks ill check it out!

I love how it's 2021 and there's still people here who can't comprehend the fact that people are allowed to be gay and feel the need to argue about it, even though all it does is waste their time and nothing else lmao

Yays for the gays!

All the folks in the comments asking why this is important... it’s difficult to explain to people who aren’t queer.

Representation is so important and so absent in video games.

The only reason this is called a ‘best friend ceremony’ is because the developers are weak, cowardly people. Maybe same-sex marriage is illegal in Japan, but there’s a way to work towards that.

@JammyD You said it, JammyD. Representation matters.

While I am not a fan of videogame characters being playersexual, at least acknowledge that gay marriage exists.

@stache13 Yes thats what I'm trying to say.

@KateGray Ahh yes “roommates” yeah that old chestnut. I’m mixed about it. I don’t know if they would be forced to remove it or if the rating would go up in Japan if they called it marriage. I am the first to stand up for equality, but I feel if representation is taken away due to the law of the land I would rather have the fake term for now.

Not because I don’t want same sex marriage everywhere but because representation means so much especially in ones formative years. I don’t want a generation to go without and unheard just because of human laws. Hylia knows that I clung to sailor moon (Original not dub) like a life preserver growing up thanks to the representation in that series.

Still it will likely just be called marriage in the western version. Y’all might not be spinsters after all.

What happens if a new user comes on nintendo life and see's this there are going to think everyone is toxic, bc we are all doing somthing wrong here one person dosn't like what the other is saying and that's ok but they don't think about how it is from another view point and that't why this has gone has far as it has.

"Best friends." I see.

goes back to Stardew Valley

Silly that they call it "best friends" in the Japanese version, but hopefully they'll change it to marriage in the Western release. Inclusion is a good thing!
/from an atheist 😋

We are all gamer's here right? can we like echother as gamers instead of hating echother everyone I knew on this site is now turning agents echother, And I don't like it.

@Snatcher
This is par for the course. If you see a headline that has “black”, “minority”, “gay”, god forbid, “Brie Larson”, then you’re in for a treat.

@JammyD well said! Idk if some people here are that tone deaf or just mean spirited.

It’s been apart of the series since Harvest Moon DS Cute, if anyone is going to complain you would need a time machine.

@Eel @KateGray it's a shame that articles like this are immediately controversial. It's ridiculous, really. It shouldn't be. And although this particular story is actually a half-step, know that covering LGBTQ+ representation in games is just as necessary as the thing itself. Maybe consider disabling comments? I remember Push Square doing it on a recently sensible topic. Far from ideal, but better than not reporting at all.

@ecco6t9 to be fair Natsume patched that out of non JPN versions. I’m glad Marvelous split with them.

Edit: I just realized I skipped the DS version. Hmmm, welp time to hit up ebay and import a JPN copy of cute. Finally, I’ll be able to marry Nami while playing female.

Ok let's refresh the page and stop arguing.

If I missed anything, feel free to report the comments.

@Ryu_Niiyama
"Alright y’all who are you gonna romance?"

I will play as boy farmer, try to get Ralph, Emilio and Jack as my husbandos. 😉

Is it March yet?

I'm probably going for the woman in the kamino(That is if I ever buy this game)

@KateGray
I wish there is at least 1 bachelor have muscular body like Bob from Save the Homeland / Magical Melody or Owen from Tree of Tranquility.
I'm a fan of muscular guy for the bachelor. 😅

Btw, any report about how many Save data slot in Pioneer town ?
I hope there are 3 Save slots so i can Woo 3 different husbandos.

Guys, I'll be deleting comments that continue the same arguing I already deleted, so let's please stop

80 comments were just deleted so people need to get extra angry again to make up those numbers!

@jump go to the timeout corner!

@LilMuku never expected to see the ladies of Llangollen referenced here. I love Plas Newydd, such a gorgeous building.

I was able to marry a character of the same sex in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. The character repeatedly referred to himself as my husband, too. Maybe it’s called a best friends ceremony in Japan but a marriage in the US version?

@Mr-Fuggles777 I'm a simple enby. I see LGBT erasure, I think of my favourite couple

Well since it's an option I'll choose not to.
Good for them, though.

@Eel how long are you gonna hold that candy cane? It has to be stale by now....

@Ryu_Niiyama it's stuck 😬 Edit: ah turns out sugar dissolves in water.

@klatcher yes these best friends ceremonies get localized as regular marriage

@Eel please do not edit my comment if it did not have anything bad in it.

@Arkay & everyone else curious: refer to post #51

And for moderation comments and suggestions, please use the contact form and talk directly with an admin.

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Happy to know I’ll be able to pursue anyone I want!

@Eel lol I wasn’t trying to make you change it. Just wanted to lighten the thread a bit.

@Ryu_Niiyama hah I had honestly forgotten about the candy cane

This is all well and good but when can we start dating the villagers in Animal Crossing?

@Averagewriter not sure which one it was, but it was either for consistency or by accident (my bad!).

@Joe-b let's stop with that, please.

@Anti-Matter 3 husbands? You heartbreaker

@LilMuku
One is not enough since there are more than 2 bachelors that caught my attention.
I played as Girl and getting married with 3 bachelors on Magical Melody Gamecube (Blue, Basil and Kurt). 😉
I created 3 different save datas for each husband from my 1st Save data before getting married and i still keep the 1st Save Data, just in case if i have another Gamecube memory card, i can pick another 4 Bachelors as my husbands (7 bachelors by total) 😁
So i don't have to start over again from beginning, just continue the current game by getting married with other Bachelors.

For Tree of Tranquility, i played as Girl and picked Owen and Luke as my husbands. I really wished Gray on Tree of Tranquility was the bachelor candidate but alas he wasn't.

@Anti-Matter Modern problems require modern solutions
If you have this conundrum in real life however you could just propose to three different men in three different disguises

Did they just mass delete a bunch of comments? You know what I'm cool with that, pog

@LilMuku
It just a game
The bachelors will not complain if i have multiple romantic relationship as if the game have multiple Save slots, so i can experience by living with different husbands.

@Anti-Matter Don't worry my guy I'm just having a laugh <3

The Sims had same-sex romance options long before there were same-sex marriage in western countries. Just saying.

It's in Japanese culture not to have same sex marriage. Maybe we should stop trying to force our culture on them