Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town received a whole lot of criticism on launch thanks to its slow, time-consuming way of doing things. Luckily, the developers heard the feedback and promised a huge patch to fix many of the issues, with more patches to come later in the year, too.

Patch 1.0.5 is the big one, and it went live in Japan last week (it's not yet available in the West), bringing a host of changes that will hopefully improve the game's performance, playability, and writing. Here's the full list of changes, as noted by Harvest Moon blog FOGU:

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town: Better Makers
Image: Cher / FOGU
  • Maker machines can now process up to ten of the same item — e.g. 50 silver ore can be placed in the machine to make 10 silver ingots. Materials cannot be mixed, and the output will still be one at a time
  • The stuttering and pauses have been improved for a smoother experience
  • Players can now exit buildings without having to press A to confirm, although they will still have to press A to enter a building
  • A visible affection heart has been added to the dialogue boxes for marriage candidates. The more full the heart is, the more that character likes you
  • The tool target box has been changed, and now you can hold down one of the shoulder buttons to lock the target box in the four main directions — up, down, left, and right. The target box will still appear on areas you can't use your tools, like in Olive Town
  • The food that you order in the café will now more accurately reflect the meal you chose, instead of always appearing as a grilled fish with tea. However, this change has not been applied to villager meals or to your spouse's meals in the farmhouse
  • Some simple dishes, like Potato Salad, now take only 15 minutes to cook, instead of 30 minutes
  • The conversations and dialogue with the villagers has been improved, with slightly more topics than just the upcoming and past town festivals
  • The silo and silage can now store up to 99 fodder each
  • There's been a change to do with same day gift-giving, love confessions, and proposals
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town: New meals
Image: Cher / FOGU
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town: Silo storage
Image: Cher / FOGU

As well as all these changes, there's also a 1.0.6 patch in the works, which will add more interest to the Egg Festival and minor bug fixes, and more patches to come later.

Just to reiterate — the patch isn't yet live anywhere except Japan, where the game has been out for a month longer. Presumably, we'll be getting it some time in June or early July.

Will these changes make you pick up PoOT again, or have you put down the pitchfork for good? Let us know in the comments!

[source news-bokumono.marv.jp, via fogu.com]