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STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town
Digital
STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town + Expansion Pass Set
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Welcome to Olive Town, a peaceful community established by your trailblazing grandfather and his friends. Now that you've taken over his farm, it's your job to carry on his legacy.
Plant crops, raise animals, build relationships, and get to know the residents of your new home in this brand-new entry in the STORY OF SEASONS series!
▪Cultivate Your Farm, Cultivate Your Town
Tame the wilderness and build your farm from the ground up! Gather and process materials to fulfill requests and improve Olive Town's infrastructure, upgrade tools, or
commission new outfits and accessories.
▪A Farm of Endless Possibilities
Clear the land, repair old facilities, and place new ones wherever you see fit. Level up your farming skills and craft a variety of decorations and facilities, from fences and automatic feeders for livestock to sprinklers for crops!
▪New Adventures Off the Beaten Path
Finding Earth Sprites while exploring your farmland may lead you to mysterious, fantastical lands such as gardens where the seasons never
change, an island in the sky, or even the inside of a volcano!
▪There's Always Something Going on in Olive Town!
Participate in local festivals and watch the town come to life! Get to know your neighbors better with over 200 unique events, and you may even find love with a special someone!
Software description provided by the publisher.
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ESRB rating
Supported play modes
TV mode, Tabletop mode, Handheld mode
Game file size
Supported languages
English, French, German, Spanish
Play online, access classic NES™ and Super NES™ games, and more with a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
This game supports:Save Data Cloud
Learn more
Downloadable content [DLC]
WARNING: If you have epilepsy or have had seizures or other unusual reactions to flashing lights or patterns, consult a doctor before playing video games. All users should read the Health and Safety Information available in the system settings before using this software.
A Nintendo Switch Online membership [sold separately] is required for Save Data Cloud backup.
Pre-order the digital edition of STORY OF SEASONS: Pioneers of Olive Town to receive the Buffalo Costume as a bonus outfit.
©2021 Marvelous Inc.
Licensed to and published by XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Inc.
Familiar comfort food for farming game lovers, and plenty of it.
It’s a hassle to have to fuss with machines instead of all the other, far more fun bits, like exploring the enormous farm I'd inherited.
It’s a hassle to have to fuss with machines instead of all the other, far more fun bits, like exploring the enormous farm I'd inherited. As with prior games in the series, Story of Seasons starts you with a small, overgrown bit of land that you will slowly clear of trees, rocks, and grass with tools like an axe, a hammer, and a scythe. You'll also repair dilapidated structures, like a chicken coop, using the materials you get from clearing the land [and, later, from running those materials through like 20 different machines]. Early on, the stretch of land you start with seems like plenty to deal with and certainly enough space to farm in.
Then, you'll repair the bridge.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review
Crossing the bridge to the southwest of your farm reveals a plot of land twice as big, equally overgrown, and with new run-down structures of its own to repair. And there are even more sections of land beyond that. Look, the farm is just huge, okay? By the time you repair the horse stable, you'll need the horse to get you back and forth across the stretches to do your daily chores. That means plenty of space to build and grow whatever you want, including crafting ridiculous decorations like, I kid you not, a giant topiary cow.The size does unfortunately make it obvious that Story of Seasons is struggling to run at a steady framerate, especially when you're running across an area with a lot of things on screen. And the farm's scale can become time-consuming later on because puddles, weeds, and trees grow back quickly. If you want to keep the land clear, you'll be spending a lot of time running over your entire farm hammering down unwanted sprouts. The worst offenders are puddles and even larger ponds, which appear in abundance each time it rains and require repeated, tedious use of a bucket to drain if you want your space back.
There's clearly been a lot of love put into both the original writing and the localization of some of these scenes, as well as a willingness to be goofy
But the size mostly works in its favor, as you'll need all that space for your hundred or so converter machines, but also for crop growing and animal grazing. And it's just fun to explore these new areas too, because each new section you unlock includes new forageable items, new materials for building, new buildings to remodel. Plus, each season brings new adorable roaming animals that you can eventually tame and add to your barn and coop. A highlight of my entire playthrough was unlocking new areas, discovering the embarrassment of riches waiting for me within, and delighting even seasons later in new roaming animals like a goofy brown cow and the dumbest, cutest-looking rabbit I've ever seen, ready to be tamed.It's a good thing the days in Pioneers of Olive Town are long, because tending to your farm is only half the job and there really is just piles to do each day. Olive Town itself is sizable and will grow with new shops and activities as you complete quests for the town's mayor. For example, you'll unlock a salon with a wide array of customization options that will grow even more over time. Delightfully, all options are available to every character, regardless of your gender selection.Olive Town's residents may not seem like much when you initially speak to them. Most of them will make similar comments about whatever event is nearest on the calendar – so, anticipating the Pet Derby for a few days, then discussing the results of the Pet Derby for the next several days after. It's unfortunate that the everyday dialogue is so bland, because the cutscenes are where characters really get to shine. There's clearly been a lot of love put into both the original writing and the localization of some of these scenes, as well as a willingness to lean in and be goofy and tongue-in-cheek on the regular.The solid writing extends to the cast of five bachelors and bachelorettes, all of whom have numerous charming interactions with you as you increase their affection toward you with gifts and conversation. The bachelorettes are a bit more diverse in appearances and personalities than the bachelors, but the good news is that if the gents aren't wooing you effectively you can date the women just as easily, regardless of which gender you're playing as. Thank the Harvest Goddess that Marvelous did away with "friendship ceremonies" after the remake of Friends of Mineral Town made being as gay as you like a standard for the series.
Verdict
Pioneers of Olive Town recognizes it does not need to reinvent the plow to present a full, relaxing, pleasant farming game. Aside from its sprawling size, there is not much novel about collecting materials, upgrading tools, clearing land, raising animals and crops, and befriending the townspeople – and there doesn't need to be. It is enough to simply have a wealth of interesting things to plan out and do, colored by ridiculously cute animals and interesting characters and fleshed out with piles of new things to unlock over 30 hours and beyond. While the struggling framerate and tedious crafting can be annoying, these are small blips in a pleasantly packed day-to-day cycle of tending to your farm, exploring interesting new areas, and flirting with Bridget...or Reina….or Blaire.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Review
good
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is familiar comfort food for farming game lovers, and plenty of it.
Rebekah Valentine