Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Premium Edition - Nintendo Switch

I love farming sims with great characters and a relaxing gameplay loop. SOS: PoOT is a great example of this and a wonderful entry point for anyone new to Story of Seasons / Harvest Moon.

I've been playing the Bokujō Monogatari series since it came to the West as Harvest Moon in 1997, and still have my SNES cartridge. This is a bit of a departure in that you don't need individual tools to care for animals anymore (finally!) and you need to use Makers to produce/refine your materials as opposed to just harvesting/chopping/pulling them. This becomes slightly cumbersome after awhile as you need fields of Makers to achieve your goals. There are elements borrowed from Animal Crossing, as well, such as starting your farm from scratch, while sleeping in a tent. All of that said, this is an excellent entry into the series. I've been playing since release day, fairly nonstop. The customisation of placing farm buildings precisely where you want them, and the gradual progression of unlocking more areas with newer materials upon your farm itself is rewarding. My only complaint is the maker system needs some redoing, which I suspect/hope they can tune up in future planned updates. Being able to make stacks in the makers, as well as in requesting identification of Treasure at the museum, would make the game ideal. The Buffalo plush and fabric wall hanging included with this are very good quality, definitely worth the extra $10 purchase price. I absolutely love that there is a physical booklet included. Too few games do that these days. (Please note that the Marvelous Harvest Moon games since Animal Parade have not ACTually been Bokujō Monogatari/"real" Harvest Moon titles. Don't let the more recent "Harvest Moon" games swear you off the series entirely.) TL;DR: IF you enjoy Animal Crossing, crafting games, or other Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons titles, you should definitely give this one a chance, too.

Love the game and the premium edition came with a cute buffalo plushie keychain and a fabric poster, that I think I could make a small bag out of it, or use it as a large mousepad. It is really cute!! >v<The box can also be recycle to be use for storage. Love it!! If you are only interest in the game, I recommend just buying the game and save yourself the ten dollars, since the items that came with this Premium Edition is only two extra collectible products and the cute box it came out of. This Premium Edition does NOT include the extension pass. T_T

This game is such a big step up from the previous ones in the series. It’s so pretty! I also really appreciate that the team was willing to listen to community feedback and make changes/patches accordingly. I’m excited for the DLC to come out!

New game system. Quite fun. Love the plushies. Also recommended if you love original harvest moon series which become story of season now

Game definitely has some interesting features I haven’t seen in other similar farming sims but there’s a lot I don’t like. ( - ) The loading time between locations is stupid long and extremely irritating if you’ve accidentally traveled somewhere and need to turn around and travel back out. ( - ) So many of the characters that would be fun to romance aren’t marriage candidates and the ones that are have bland cut scenes and heart events. ( + ) You can romance same sex partners in this SoS which you can’t do in the older ones ( + ) graphics are very cool and much nicer than older versions ( - ) Graphics lag and skip during town events when all characters are present ***Spoilers below (Just a quick feature list)**** This contains spoilers if you’re just starting out! Likes: - Animal taming is cool - Tools upgrade instantly - Tools usefulness significantly improve with upgrades verses minor improvements - Mining isn’t terribly hard - LOVE the fishing system - Graphics are very cute - Chonky Sprites - Summer Jamboree was very cute - Mini games - Cooking for fancy pants guy - Having to scoop/pump the water is a very interesting concept but gets old fast - Cute animals - Animals needs are thought bubbles - The Quest/Reward system in townhall - Tourists - Post cards - Wildlife picture feature ( I use the camera to look for forgeables through all the trees) Dislikes: - The best (IMO) npcs aren’t romanceable? - V limited dialogue. I get tired of hearing about X event for days before and days after it happens. - WHY WE GROWN’ SO FAST?? The trees and weeds grow so fast I feel like The Happening is about to start. - Limited shipping bin spaces - Makers are too niche and bulky. I would have preferred actual appropriate machines instead of weird boxes with the light - Cant put chests inside??? - 3rd bridge only unlocks a mine - Egg hunt just a cut scene and not a mini game - Heart events are kind of boring - Cant decorate with our pictures

Gameplay Pros: -lots of quality of life improvements, ex. sprinklers and unlockable bonus farmland -a variety of animal breeds you can find wild seasonally plus lots of cute pets and mounts -progression feels fair and balanced -lots of crops, flowers, recipes, and clothes -cute new farm deco, ex. animal-shaped topiary -a variety of customization options for your character -the map tells you where NPCs are Gameplay Cons: -NPCs look cute but are completely forgettable -town events feel generic and impersonal -dialogue is currently very bland, there’s an update in the works to improve it as of this writing -frame rates drop just from having seasonal clutter growing on the farm -too many makers required at present, there’s an update in the works to improve it as of this writing All in all, I thought I got my money’s worth out of the game and I’m happy to keep playing it. It could stand to be better optimized, but as it is now it’s still a fun game with enough in it to keep you coming back. The special edition extras: The fabric “poster” feels stiff and starchy but quite durable, I have no issues with tacking it to the wall and expect it to last. The plush buffalo is significantly softer than I expected, a cute palm-sized friend.

My sister and I grew up playing this franchise (once called harvest moon). It's something we bonded and enjoyed years back, so I got this as a birthday gift for her. She loved Tybee cute little plush that came with it!