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rainyday-deer · 3 years

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I’ve been playing Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town and I have..... Thoughts™

Some light spoilers.

I can’t call it a bad game, I’m having fun, but it’s not.... Good, either.

The character customization is FANTASTIC, imo. I really like a lot of the options, and the ability to change the color of your individual eyes is pretty neat! I’ve really enjoyed the addition of being able to customize the MC in the newer games, and I’m glad it’s something they’ve kept around (even if the default MCs are rly cute too)

The addition of a moped is neat, though I’ll admit it seems... Superfluous. The horse in previous games was primarily used as a way to get around faster. I understand you have to unlock your moped, but the same goes for the horse, and with the way the game mechanics work, I have my moped back before I have the stable rebuilt, which kind of...Renders the horse moot. Why would I bother to build the stable now and waste fodder/stamina on an animal when I have a moped again?

In terms of the villagers, I can’t say I’m very attached to any of them. I’ve got a small handful that I guess I like but I’m just generally not invested in any of them or their lives.The dialogue is all very samey, and I feel like there’s little variation in what they say to me-- Which is generally a problem in most of the games, but it seems more noticeable here, and almost makes me ache for Save the Homeland’s dialogue style instead.

The voice clips are a nice touch, remind me vaguely of Magical Melody, and I’ll admit it’s a nice little touch. To be frank, the lack of visible talksprites and heart meters being hidden in notes VERY much reminds me of StH or MM, and isn’t necessarily something that bothers me (even if the camera angles get a lil wonky.)

As for how the farm works... I absolutely hate that the makers can only make one item at a time. I hate hate hate that I have several of these damn things lined up on my farm, taking up space, just so I can have the materials I need, and even then I only get ONE AT A TIME! And I need SEVERAL of these items to do anything from upgrading my tools, to expanding my house, to making clothes. In previous games, YES, you had to have certain items to do these things as well, but you (usually) didn’t need to turn ores into ingots first. Lumber was straight up logs that you cut down, and stones were actually useful. But here? HERE?

Cut the tree down. Save the logs. Put 3 logs into a maker. Get one (1) piece of lumber. Repeat ad nauseam.

By the way, there’s at least 5 different types of lumber. And grass. And you need them all for different things! And you need a lot of them for the different things!

There’s 3 mines, which are, frankly, kind of disappointing. The 3rd and largest mine is only 50 floors, and while the addition of the moles make for an... Interesting angle (and fighting off enemies isn’t new at all in certain games) it’s just... Boring. Part of the reason I enjoyed the mines so much in previous games was part of the challenge! It zapped your stamina so easily, and the further down you got, the more exciting it was! But it (personally) feels like there’s no challenge to these mines, and their low variety makes them boring. In reality, you’re only down there to get ores to shove into the ingot makers, so you can progress. (Because remember, these take more than one ore, to make just one (1) ingot!)

Your farm also has various trees and grasses growing over its 3 levels, which is all well and good. However, they crop up and grow VERY fast, including in places you don’t want them to. You have to cover spaces with flooring to stop them from popping up somewhere inconvenient, and even then, they’ll appear where you weren’t ALLOWED to place the flooring. You can’t just sickle the saplings, either. You have to mash those down with a hammer.

Your sickle is ONLY used for cutting the grass, which makes it almost useless in terms of upgrading. You cannot use it on crops, weeds, etc. Just the grass.

There’s also these blue stepping stones across your farm in various places. To my knowledge they cannot be moved or broken, and you cannot till them away, or place anything over them, resulting in wasted space, frankly.

As for the animals, it’s very... Strange? In my opinion. I’m unsure if it’s because of the mode I selected, but the livestock does not NEED to be brushed every day. Rather, when you go to take care of them, the animal will have a small speech bubble over them, indicating what they want at the moment. Your cows and goats will often have a milk icon over their head most days, and only OCCASIONALLY (in my experience) will they want to be brushed. Strangely, you don’t need to buy any tools to do so, either. You interact, they’re milked. You interact, they’re brushed. It’s all very quick, as well.

Also strangely, you have to purchase the ability to breed your chickens, rather than just putting an egg into the incubator.

As for the animal variety... I like it! The goats and the rabbits are very fun additions! And simply finding your animals (and the new varieties) randomly on your farm and then ‘taming’ them is kind of fun, but it does feel like you don’t particularly get a say in if you want to have the new animals in the first place, even if you CAN release animals via the Earth Sprites.

Which, by the way, make me miss the Harvest Sprites, very much. They’re sort of cute, I guess, but ultimately a little boring, if not helpful. Even the Spirit is... Interesting, and beautiful as she is, she’s so. Bland. You can’t really befriend her, just sort of talk to her, but it doesn’t really seem to do much.

I miss you, Harvest Goddess.........

There’s an added museum feature, very similar to animal crossing, but save for the small statues being built of animals you take photos of, it’s just another way to pad out the game, and is very unimpressive to look at.

Crop, meanwhile, are very... Eh, to me. Crops that previously used to be able to be harvested from all season, last 1-3 harvests before disappearing, and then need to be replanted--Including things like tea bushes. Thankfully, the seed makers are a maker that give you 2 seeds out of 1 item-- Though the seed bags only cover 1 tilled square, rather than 9, like in a few previous games.

Your rucksack is also limited in space-- Once again, nothing new, but very frustrating for a game that requires you to have a variety of materials on hold to make XYZ thing. The shipping bin ALSO only holds so many items, and to my knowledge cannot be upgraded. Got 25 items to ship? Sorry! You can only ship 24! Guess you have to wait until tomorrow :)

There’s also only 2 festivals per season, one of which is a mini game, while the other... Is not. It’s kind of a bummer, actually, and I don’t find myself looking forward to them at all.

It’s not all bad, though!

I do enjoy the ability to build sprinklers and let THOSE water your crops for you. It’s very time and stamina saving, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

The variety of crops and wild flowers is nice as well! You can get some crops grown wild, pop those into a seed maker, and then BOOM! You just got strawberries, or melons, or pineapples for free! Nice!

I DO like that your farm has 3 different levels, and unlocking them by fixing bridges is pretty cool, and genuinely feels like it’s been earned when you DO save up enough money (or materials) to unlock them.

The character models look pretty nice, if not a little strange at times. I feel like they can move stiffly in cutscenes, and they have very limited expressions, but they’re still nice to look at. I thoroughly enjoy the happy dance villagers do when you give them a gift they particularly like.

But...

I won’t lie to you guys, but EVERY time I pick up to play (which I’ll admit is a lot, despite my complaints), I find myself wanting to play the older games instead. Now I’ll admit a lot of the newer games could be lacking in particular areas, but there was ALWAYS a lot of enjoyment for me while playing them, so to have this absolute ACHE to dig out my ps2 or my gamecube to play Save the Homeland or Magical Melody INSTEAD is.... Kind of astounding to me.

It’s a fun game to turn your brain off and play, but I don’t think it’s deserving of the price tag-- Even with the new downloadable content on the way (that also costs money, even if you can save some with the expansion pass.). It feels oddly hollow and very... Mobile-game like to me, and while it’s not the WORST game I’ve ever played, it feels like it’s missing a lot of the charm that previous titles have had.

#Story of Seasons #pioneers of olive town #;;Harvest Moon #Moga Chatter #sos: poot #Harvest Moon

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punz4lyfe · 3 years

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MisPokonceptions: Goh and Grookey

No this this is not a rip off of The4thSnake’s series shut up

Surprise, everyone! Instead of waiting tomorrow to do this blog, I’ve decided to do it now because I’m bored. Simple as that.

Anywayz, even before the episode came out, many fans have been clamoring that Goh doesn’t deserve Grookey and that either Ash or Chloe should have it. I, personally, disagree with this notion and feel Grookey very well fits fine in Goh’s team and here’s why:

1. Starting with Ash, assuming he’s gonna start to use Dracovish sometime soon, Ash already has 6 Pokemon on his team. (no, Mimey does NOT count since he was only used for one battle for conventional reasons and has not been used again since!) The thing is, Ash only having 6 mons seems to be the main status quo the anime has been going for him recently, as shown in XYZ and Sun and Moon.

2. Goh, on the other hand, while having a huge abundance of Pokemon that grows every episode or two, still seems to be sorting out his own main team. While Cinderace and Sobble are duhs and Scizor and Flygon are high possibilities, there really isn’t a clear answer at the moment. While the past opening did indicate that Heracross and Aerodactyl would also be big factors for a main team of his, it’s really not best to take that seriously considering how minimal of appearances (if any) those two made after they debuted. Grookey, being the grass Starter of Galar, kinda fills up a good space, which brings me to my next point.

3. Remember in the Original Series when Ash was an actual beginner and he had all three Kanto Starters on his team? Well, it’s kind of a parallel here with Goh, the new beginner (next to Chloe), having all three Galar Starters. Adding on to that, like with Ash back then, Goh’s Fire Starter is fully evolved while the other two are currently in their first stages. While I have no clue whether this is intentional or not, it is a nice callback to the OG series and I like that.

4. Going back to Ash, it’s kinda symbolic that he won’t have a starter on his team this time. Think about it, he’s now an official regional Champion, so it’s probably about time his team progression got a little more serious. I mean, the first mon he caught in Journeys was a freakin’ Dragonite, and then he caught a freakin’ Gengar. He then got a Riolu which evolved to the highly regarded mon: Lucario. While some say Farfetch’d is a contraster to all of this, do remember that this Farfetch’d is very battle-born and actually won a few rounds before joining Ash’s team, so in a when, it’s like a slightly more hardened version of past top-tiers like Hawlucha or Incineroar. And lastly, Ash got a Dracovish, a popular Gen. 8 mon highly regarded for its powerful stats. So yeah, bascially speaking, the bar for Ash’s team this time around is kinda too high for starters.

5. One common complaint to this whole fiasco is that Ash should get Grookey because him having a grass-type is always a common trends in his regional teams. In actuality, the anime already has been breaking basic trends for Ash’s teams way before Journeys. Examples being include in Best Wishes where he had Juniper look after his non-battling Pokemon instead of Oak, XYZ where he didn’t even have a grass-type on his team (y’know, just like now), and in Sun and Moon where he didn’t catch a water-type or even the regional bird. So yeah, breaking common trends in Ash’s team is nothing new, people.

6. With what we’ve seen of Grookey’s personality so far, it can draw some great dynamics between it, Cinderace, and Sobble due to all of their contrasting personalities (Cinderace’s leadership and friendliness, Sobble’s shyness, and Grookey’s mischievous streak. Use your imagination.)

7. And now going into Chloe, she’s only now starting to become a trainer and she needs to development more with Eevee and maybe Yamper first before adding in other mons.

#pokemon #pokemon journeys #anipoke #pokeani #goh #grookey #cinderace #sobble #scizor #flygon #ash ketchum #pikachu #chloe #eevee

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