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hey-its-kay-streams · 3 years

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HKP's Unsolicited Review of Pioneers of Olive Town

The review will be in parts, including; Characters, plot, mechanics, graphics. Each section will get a score out of 10 and a (hopefully) short commentary.

Intro! I've played a few farm Sim games since stumbling across Harvest Moon, back when it was still ported under that title, as a teen. I had no idea what it was or how it worked but when I was looking for a new game to play, the title caught my interest and the rest is history. The Story of Seasons franchise is pretty extensive and I've enjoyed all the ones I've played over the years. At time of writing I have sunk over 600 hours into Stardew Valley and the announcement of a new Story of Seasons, not a remake, had me excited to get back to the series that had lured me into its universe of crops and companionship in the past.

Characters. 4 of 10

One of the best parts of farming sims is getting to know the townspeople, falling for one of the designated love interests, and starting a family of your own. Story of Seasons has changed how it handles the dating mechanics over the years, recently allowing for same-sex unions, and eliminating rival marriages. PoOT tries to strike a balance between concurrent Town romances and singles, ready to mingle. It does not do it well.

I have not gotten married in FoMT yet because I honestly like all the love interests and while I have favorites, the more I play, I find it harder to commit. In comparison, PoOT's selection feels depressingly flat. As I met the people who lived in Olive Town, I was intrigued by what seemed to be a bigger selection of singles than normal. Imagine my confusion when I realized that a lot of the people I found interesting were townies, and thus, not available to possibly date.

There is some appeal to some of the singles occasionally. A lot of it, for the bachelors is negated by the perception that the townies are also eligible. There are so many pale, blond townies that they just kinda… fade into one another. They all have hints of personality, nothing substantial but the potential I can see makes it so much worse that the game fails to clear the bar.

Damon has a bad boy aesthetic, Emilio is a relaxed but attentive big brother figure, Iori is foriegn and formal, Jack is easygoing and quirky, Ralph is… quiet, I guess he’s supposed to come off as silent but reliable and they don’t get there.

Bridget is family orientated, Blair is the perky waitress, Lihn is demure but friendly, Laura is a capable and amiable guide, Reina is sociable and dedicated to her job.

Lars is dating Beth, very cute background relationship, his eccentricity is tempered by her steadfastness. Jacopo has hints of something with Jeanne but she apparently moved to Olive Town because Karina did, so who knows.

Gifting is disgustingly empty. There are no disliked gifts, I can give everyone the same rock and gain friendship. There are liked and loved gifts and fortunately, reaching 2 hearts with a person gives you a definitive like but, why bother when you have plenty of rocks?

Plot. 5.5 of 10

It’s a familiar tale by now: new farmer taking over a dilapidated farm and you know nothing about doing it. Good times. Local mayor wants to utilize your outsider's perspective to help revitalize and/or save the town. After Stardew Valley, I have no sympathy for ineffective mayors, though Victor seems to be a better one, overall. Our character, Farmer, is just a yes man in this case; Victor has ideas and plenty of invested townies but our opinion is the one that gives him the confidence to follow through. While every plot event asks for 3 items from Farmer, we only have to contribute 1. It's both disconcerting and refreshing to not be the sole implied reliable person in a community.

I can't justify a full 6 out of 10 for plot but it's comparatively solid for an otherwise uninteresting game.

Mechanics. 2 of 10

Crafting.

After the July maker update, I was excited to get back to the game, hoping to find more balanced gameplay. I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the maker update was an improvement but not enough. Makers remain needlessly large, off puttingly slow and each maker has a limit to how many can be placed. Sure, I no longer need to babysit my rows of machines to change out materials one by one and finished products stack but it’s still incredibly inconvenient to use. The crafting menu is clunky and poorly designed. It seems to just unlock as I level up skills but there’s no way to sort to find diys by type or by name. To top it off, there’s no real incentive to make things. Sure , it's nice to be able to make gifts for people but crafted items can end up selling for less than the individual materials making the extra searching and button pressing seem wasteful.

Cooking.

I don’t understand it. Not at all. I thought maybe I accidentally skipped a cutscene or pop up explanation, even checking the guide in the bookshelf. There was nothing. I never eat at the cafe or diner, outside of cutscenes, because I have no idea what the point is. There’s a fullness meter, apparently. And there is no clear indication of how food affects your health. Over it, TBH. I leave food to the sprites.

Storage.

It sucks, fullstop. It’s limited to 12 to 15 storage boxes, same huge size as the makers. The boxes on special areas count toward the limit. Personal inventory is expandable but I still find my inventory filling up during daily gathering, making me run back and forth to put stuff away. Between animals, crops, harvesting and stocking makers, I rarely make it to town which leaves me less interested in getting to know the people who live there. Hovering over an item in storage to box menus gives you no information beyond the item name. When looking for spring seeds, I have to take everything out, and view it within my bag to see what's in season and then go back into the box to put away the excess.

Farming.

Again, the mechanics escape me. There's no clear explanation of how quality works and it is not intuitive at all. If not for dedicated YouTubers and guide sites I would not have learned that I need to make seeds from grown crops to get quality higher than whatever my field maxes out at. The only reason I have to buy seeds once unlocking the seed maker is because the maker is very slow.

Once you plant something, there's no way of knowing what it was until it sprouts, at the very least. There's no map indicator or pop-up when you pass over the item. I like the random varieties that can occur; giant crops, different shapes. I always feel like I should hold onto them, but there's not much redeeming benefit done because of it.

Map.

One thing I actually like. Shows store hours and villager locations, thank the Harvest Goddess. While I rarely use it, I appreciate having it, should I want to track someone down for a birthday gift or something.

Mines.

The first two mines are okay. The third mine, once you get to orichalcum levels, have the most annoying baddies, mole creatures, with an AOE impact and further static electricity. The 1 room areas with 3 baddies are the things of nightmares, rage-inducing, even. Screw that hydroculture plant.

Sprites.

They changed the sprite game up. Why? I can't tell you. Instead of the familiar elf-like creatures, we get egg-like creatures that act as interaction points to fluffy lint balls that we encounter while working on the farm.

Graphics. 4 of 10

I feel like this is the type of game that would be acceptable on the DS line. We have passed that moment in time. Animations are limited, designs are clunky, there is a lot of cosmetic empty space, the dlc areas make the realization of that worse. All wander room, nothing to hold your attention unless you like fishing. The limited voice acting is not necessary, it comes off as synthetic, artificial. Character portraits would have gone a long way to add personality, the perspective of characters emoting in game isn't bad, however, it's just... lacking. I think the flatness of the game overshadows what little charm it has.

Overall. 3 of 10

In conclusion, I'm over this game. If it wasn't a gift from a friend who knew I was excited for it, I wouldn't have bothered finishing the first year. I admit, I'm actually quite disappointed. Right now, I'm not interested in playing further, or even getting married. I feel compelled to at least max all the skills but, I honestly don't see a point.

Here's hoping for a major overhaul update soon. The scores average out to 3.875 out of 10 but I can't bear to give it higher than a 3. In the meanwhile, I'm going back to FoMT, Stardew, and Portia.

If you enjoy the game, please feel free to let me know what you like about it. I’d love to know, honestly, where your favorite parts are.

#hkpstreams #hkp streams #sos: poot #hkp review #pioneers of olive town #story of seasons #what are my tags?

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